#good to see eberwolf again!

[backupblogforjg]

We can love the person he has turned out to be without whitewashing the crappy things he has done

Guys, I know Darius is cool, but can we please stop victim-blaming Hunter and acting like the way even the good adults in his life treated him is NBD?

‘Cause I keep seeing a lot of “okay Darius was mean to Hunter at first, but Hunter was a brat who got the job because of nepotism, so...” comments.

And look, I really think people in general are hugely underestimating just how badly Hunter was screwed over not just by Belos but by *ALL* the adults around him.

1) Let’s start by establishing something first: Hunter was never a brat to anybody in the castle.

Now, to be clear, even IF Hunter had been a brat, people 30 years older than him should still have not made his bad situation worse. If there are two people, and one of them is an adult while the other is a kid, the adult is supposed to keep their cool even if the kid acts out. You can punch up but you can’t punch down.

But that point is moot because all the evidence we have points at Hunter being a little nerd who adored the adults around him and was desperate to please them.

Exhibit #1: Dana’s official art, where Hunter freaks out over being slightly less overworked because it will make Lilith hate him. Even with the mask, you can tell he has a frantic expression.

Exhibit #2: the Hunter’s Palisman Observation stream, when Hunter has a question and is looking for an answer, he reaches out to the Coven Heads to ask them. He sees them as wise and knowledgeable, and wants to learn from them. That makes it extra hurtful that “Darius ignored me, as per usual. Eberwolf hissed at me, also as per usual.”

Exhibit #3: in ASIAS, we learn that Hunter genuinely loves rules and authority. Does that sound like somebody who’d disrespect an adult in charge?

Exhibit #4: pretty much the entirety of ASIAS. The whole reason Hunter went to Hexside is because an adult who technically ranks below him gave him an order.

There is a grand total of TWO examples in the series where Hunter talks back to an adult.

The first one is when he sees Kikimora again after she tried to murder him.

Note that he never tells Belos what she did, even though he didn’t realise that she had recognised him by his burnt hair, so he thought that she had actually bought his “travellers found me” story and wouldn’t be able to respond to his accusations with any of her own. He could have easily thrown her under the bus, and actively chose not to, even after she almost killed him.

The second one is in ASIAS, where an angry Hunter confronts the Coven Heads after they rescheduled the meeting behind his back, right after they physically pushed him aside hard enough to almost make him fall and walked away smirking at his misery.

Note that, immediately after, he looks like this. Arguing with the Coven Heads makes him miserable. He doesn’t want to fight them. He’d much rather ask “how high” when they say “jump.” But they still casually assault him.

They all knew that Belos had given him the order to leads the meeting. And they knew that Belos is a control freak who is infamous for his lack of mercy. They knew that Belos would see their decision to reschedule as Hunter’s fault, even though they did it behind his back.

If you think he was being arrogant or whatever here, I want you to look me straight in the eyes and tell me that if your coworkers screwed you over in front of your infamously vicious boss and walked away smirking while pretending they can’t see you and literally pushing you around, you would totally keep your cool.

2) The nepotism excuse also doesn’t work.

Nepotism is supposed to make your life easier.

Hunter is a child covered in scars with huge eyebags and absolutely no social life whatsoever who rolls over and shows his neck the second an authority figure expresses any displeasure with him.

It’s plain to see that getting Belos’ “special treatment” is harming him.

Hunter eventually does pull out the “Belos’ nephew” card, in an attempt to get Darius to back off.

But by this point, he:

- knows he has disappointed Belos, something that he fears more than death (as per Eclipse Lake)

- has been assaulted by the other Coven Heads...

- ...who added insult to injury by pretending they couldn’t see him, really rubbing it in that they find him worthless

- and then Darius, a man twice his size and thrice his age, grabbed him, spun him around, and stole his clothes

Tl:dr: Hunter is not acting entitled here, he is acting *cornered*. He is lashing out because he is scared, and like any scared kid he is calling out to his “dad.”

And the moment Darius tells him that he has to earn his position as Golden Guard, Hunter immediately agrees to do anything. There is no entitlement there, only a desperate desire to be good enough.

3) On the Boiling Isles, a half-a-witch is at best a social outcast and at worst a target.

For starters, a half-a-witch can’t get an education. You have to be able to perform spells to be allowed to go to school.

Granted this is for Amity’s advanced class, but the idea is that you have to get there eventually, even if it takes you much longer than the gifted students. In order to go to Hexside, you must at least have the potential to use magic.

Before Luz came into the scene, glyphs were a forbidden knowledge that had been lost for hundreds of years. Add in that palismen are close to extinction, and there is simply no way for a half-a-witch to do magic.

So, you can’t go to school. But can you at least get a job?

Ah. No.

Eda gets robbed in public by an officer of the law, in plain view of a huge crowd, and their reaction boils down to “sucks to be powerless.”

A half-a-witch essentially has no rights. They are not treated as citizens. It’s completely legal to ban them from essential functions and to refuse them pay for their labor.

If Eda had not found the Selkiedomus’ treasure, she and her family would have starved.

The discrimination against magicless creatures is so bad that even Hooty, arguably the nicest character in the show, still expresses scorn for them.

Hunter wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest here.

Being magicless is basically the BI equivalent of being disabled in a society that actively favours eugenics.

 4) So, what did Darius do that was so bad?

Now, before anybody takes this post as Darius bashing, I want to bring up why he did it.

- Darius was clearly traumatised by the death of his mentor...

- ...who not only died, but also died in circumstances that must have been highly suspicious at best, so that Darius never even got proper closure and has been living with that open wound for years...

- ...in addition to the fact that Darius is extremely protecting of his loved ones, so that he must have felt the urge to protect the memory and legacy of his mentor...

- ...and that’s made ten times more painful if the replacement, who acts like the antithesis of everything his beloved mentor stood for, looks almost exactly like his mentor.

Can you imagine the grief is somebody you love with all your heart dies, and then some time later they appear to come back as an insult to everything they were?

So, I’m not denying that Darius had his own reasons here, nor am I arguing that he is a terrible person.

In case you don’t know, I like Darius so much I wrote a meta titled “Why Darius is a much better person than Fandom gives him credit for.” I like the guy, okay?

Nevertheless, he almost caused irreparable damage.

One of the reasons Hunter is so desperately loyal to Belos, is that Belos is the only one who never looked down on him for his lack of magic.

Now of course the bitter irony here is that Belos is racist against witches.

But Hunter didn’t know that.

All Hunter knew was that every person he ever met thought he was worthless for the way he was born, *except* for Belos, who said he was special.

And what does Darius do? He goes and reinforces Hunter’s belief that nobody but Belos will ever accept him.

Now, we know that Darius wasn’t really talking about magic there. We don’t know if all grimwalkers lack magic or just Hunter, but either way, later context clues indicate that he was talking about “strength of heart” or something like that.

Nevertheless, he most definitely came across like he was saying that Hunter has no place in the EC because he has no magic.

And Darius is not stupid. He had to know what he sounded like. And he didn’t bother correcting Hunter’s assumption, let him believe that the problem with him were the circumstances of his birth.

Why did Hunter befriend the Emerald Entrails? Because he accidentally stepped on a griffon’s tail. It was sheer dumb luck. If Hunter had put his foot a couple of inches aside, he never would have met Willow.

If not for a single stroke of extraordinarily unlikely good luck, Hunter would have gone back to the castle more convinced than ever that Belos was the only person in the world who could ever give a damn about him, the only one Hunter could ever love and trust.

Darius’ words would have driven him even further into the grasp of his abuser.

This is on top of the fact that Hunter canonically reaches out many times to Darius and Eberwolf over the years, and they always responded by giving him the silent treatment. Again, “Darius ignored me as per usual, Eberwolf hissed at me also as per usual.” How can they blame him for being an ignorant fanatic, if they have systematically rebuffed any and all of his attempts to talk to the only people in the castle who are not Belos’ stooges?

And on top of the fact that “you always do as you are told” is one hell of a line to give a kid *who gets blades thrown at his face* if he says a single word Belos doesn’t like. Hunter’s devotion to Belos is also his shield from violent beatings. If Hunter ever acted “rebellious” to Belos, Belos wouldn’t just send him to his room without dinner.

5) Has Darius changed?

Duh.

6) So what’s the problem?

Remember when people were like “Amity is doing right by Willow now, but she still needs to apologise”?

And when people were like “Alador has finally started walking in the right direction towards eventually becoming a decent father for his kids, but the first step was admitting that he treated them horribly”?

As far as I know, nobody was like “Amity is cool now so there is no need for her to say sorry to Willow, and Willow kind of sucked anyway” or like “Alador is cool now so wtf does Amity have to bitch about and move his hand away, just hug it out and ignore the past”?

What this whole tl;dr essay boils down to, is that S3 needs to have a scene where the good adults in Hunter’s life acknowledge that they did him dirty, without excuses and without victim blaming.

That’s all.

[welcometogrouchland]

I feel like for the first few years of guardianship Darius and Hunter really struggle to figure out how to refer to each other.

Like it's easier for Hunter, he pretty quickly settles on "guardian" for explaining their relationship to other people and just referring to Darius by name when talking to the man himself. Overtime the phrasing gradually warms, becoming "foster parent" and eventually, once Hunter's already an adult old enough to move out, "Dad".

(Sidenote: he doesn't move out til he's in his mid to late twenties, bc he's under no obligation too, Darius low-key doesn't want him too, and the two of them want to make up for lost time in a sense, since Hunter only had 2 years of legal dependency on Darius before aging out of the system. Darius adopts Hunter retroactively as an adult)

Darius on the other hand has a real conundrum on his hands for those first few years. He has a lot of options! But "ward" is too formal and makes it sound like Darius picked him up off the street like after his parents were murdered, "apprentice/student" isn't really accurate considering the focus of Darius and Hunter's relationship has less to do with Hunter learning magic and more to do with Hunter being housed and fed. "Kid" and "foster son" are there...but...

Look, Darius isn't going to refer to Hunter more familiarly than Hunter refers to him! He's not gonna make it WEIRD. He's not a dad, because Hunter doesn't want/need him to be (and also parenthood is scary <3). Darius doesn't know the first thing about being a dad, despite how his friend group teases him.

Eda and Eberwolf are the two who are worst about it. They torture him with how 'fatherly' he's allegedly being (allegations Darius will DENY til his GRAVE!!!) And Eda specifically compares his journey to hers, saying it always starts off with you referring to them as your apprentice (again, Darius doesn't plan on doing that), as your roommate (...kinda weird in Darius' opinion? But okay Eda), or even your pet (????HELLO???). But eventually, they always become your dumb kid when you least expect it.

She's had a couple cups of appleblood by this point, but Darius knows on some level she's right and he's steadfastly ignoring that fact, even as Eber continues to refer to Hunter as his "cub" (kinda cute but Darius doesn't know how Hunter would feel being compared to an animal). The only people who are even remotely reasonable about all this (besides Lilith who's a bit disinterested in kid talk) is Raine and Alador, who both sort of neutrally, a bit awkwardly refer to Hunter as Darius' Boy.

Darius referring to Hunter as "my boy" is funnily enough what sticks the longest before it evolves to son boy. Hunter's crushing it at a derby match? Darius is whooping and cheering, yelling "THAT'S MY BOY!!!" At the other parents in the stands. Hunter is doing something dangerous or inadvisable where others can see him? "Darius, your boy-" "AHH! MY BOY". Hunter, a year into his stay with Darius finally comes clean about everything to do with him being a grimwalker, and is afraid that he's going to go back to seeing him as just an inferior replacement for Darius' beloved mentor? Darius (who has just had to process some of the most bonkers, emotionally heavy information in his life) gently, hesitantly puts a hand on his shoulder (the 'good' one Hunter doesn't mind people touching), and says that Hunter's much more than that. He's Darius' Boy and he's not going to kick him out or get angry or love him any less for things out of his control. It's good. They're good.

Like I said, it evolves over time and 'boy' becomes somewhat obsolete as the two get caught up in the joy of finally feeling able to explicitly refer to each other as family. But unlike "guardian" or "ward" the word never gets fully retired. Even when Hunter is 30 and is arguing that he's more of a man than a boy now, he is still getting referred to by Darius as "his boy", the way some parents never really stop calling their adult kids baby or kiddo (Camila and Eda respectively btw).

Hunter makes one of those corny matching shirt sets at some point for a father's Day gift when he's 17/18, where the two shirts say "if lost, return Boy to me" (Darius) and "I'm Boy" (Hunter). Hunter mostly did it so he could own a funny shirt that says "I'm boy". Darius openly weeps upon seeing them. Like Oh my Titan he's boy. He's my boy. Oh wow

[kitt357]

The Owl House characters with a s/o that has a curse head canons:

Characters included: Belos, Darius, Adrain, Eda, Raine, Alador

Belos:

He'd be the least understanding at first

Considering he has his own 'curse' (which is what he tells you) to deal with, he probably won't pay too much attention to it and too focused on his own.

He'll ban you from missions outside the castle. He doesn't want a cursed soldier embarrassing the coven and drawing attention to it, so he makes you do things inside the castle, he keeps telling you its for your own good and to keep you safe.

He'll mostly get Hettie and the healing coven to watch out for you, telling you he's too busy for you, which may make your curse flair up or even feeling a little neglected, but you try to understand it from his point of view, he is the Emperor after all.

But there's also the over side to it, where he may make it his mission to try and cure you, to try and save you from wild magic infecting your body.

He'll send scouts to the night market, looking for anything, clues, potions, items that may be able to help cure it, or at the very least make it more manageable.

If your curse begins to flair up, he'll keep you confined somewhere until it goes down again. He may visit from time to time to see how you're doing. But if you want him to stay, you may have to keep asking him

He won't do activities willingly, and he won't be prepared for them, so you may have to wait a while to do anything and sit in silence.

If he finds you asleep, he'll place his coat over you and smiles softly if he sees you snuggling into it

Darius:

He'd be hyper focused, always making sure you're okay. He might come across as a little overbearing, but it's with good intention.

But as soon as you tell him this, he'll respect it completely and will ask you how much he needs to back off. He wants you to feel safe and comfortable.

He'll worry about you going on mission, but he knows you can handle it, but may need a tad of convincing from you, just to make sure you're 100% okay with it.

Takes a list of everything that stresses you out or upsets you and tries his best not to do those things, and if he does, he'll immediately apologize and ask of you're okay, communicating is key

Has days worth of activities ready for you if you need them, and if there's something he doesn't have, he'll have it with in hours, sending scouts, or an abomination to get it.

He doesn't trust vitimir to make you your elixirs if you need them, so he'll go to some he can trust, so he'll probably ask you where you get them so he can have some stocked up in his quarters whenever you stay over.

If you're having a rough time with your curse, he'll run you a bath and will get you your favourite snacks, hoping it may cheer you up

If that doesn't work, he'll gossip with you about whatever appears on his penstagram feed to take your mind off things, which will mostly be Alador, for a guy that doesn't want anything to do with him he sure likes seeing him on his feed and gossiping about him.

He may even give you his cape to snuggle into or sleep with. But definitely has an abomination to watch over you when he can't if you're asleep.

He'll definitely research curses and may even ask Eberwolf for some assistance if it's a beast/insect type of curse. He wants to understand the creature you turn into, so if you do ever fully transform, he'll know how to handle it.

Adrian:

Like Darius, he'll be overbearing, but he's on the more dramatic side, and probably won't listen to you until he sees you in full curse mode, once that happens he never wants you to be in pain like that again, and takes precaution, but probably too many.

He'll literally keep everyone at more than an arms length if you're walking through the castle, so no one gets too close to scare you or stress you out.

If you try to explain to him that you don't need it, he'll completely disregard it, telling you he's keeping you safe and sound, but once he sees your curse flaring up at times because of that, he may back off, but only slightly.

He'll dread you going on missions without him. It's not that he thinks you're incapable or incompetent. He just worries your curse may flair up, and you'll panic without him.

If he sees a little bit of your curse showing, he'll take you back to his quarters where he'll help you de-stress, but hes definitely unprepared, and sits you down as he runs around, trying to find elixirs and anything else to help you, which may unintentionally make you more stressed.

If you have elixirs, he'll make sure you drink as many as you need, he'll order some scouts out to get more for you, so you're stocked up and can take some with you around the castle.

Whatever you do to de-stress, he'll do with you, the time he's having as coven he needs to de-stress too, whether that's breathing exercises, hugs, sleeping, or anything else you want to do.

If you're having a particularly rough time, he'll stay by your side and do his best to comfort you, which just comes out as vague noises.

He'll put the lights on dim, so not to strain your eyes or to give you a headache, and he'll recite a script or his notes for a mission to you, getting your opinion on it, to take your mind off things.

Might put a show on with his illusions, knowing how much you love them

Eda:

She'll be the MOST understanding person in this list.

With her own curse, she'll know the do's and don'ts, but she'll 100% understand that each curse is different, but with the similarities you both may share, she'll give you a helping hand, asking you what you need and want, and general advice, especially if you're new to it.

She has elixirs fully stocked and labelled, hidden all around the house for easy access.

Has your favourite pillow in her nest, so you have something comfy to sleep with, but she also keeps one in a cupboard with some of your elixirs and anything else you may need, so you can rest on the sofa, should you need to.

Constant reassurance, telling you you're not bothering anyone, you're not stopping their day or anything, all her focus will be on you.

She'll get you your favourite foods and may do some baking with you, which may or may not end in a mini explosion.

May even get some surprises for you at the night market or something you've particularly been after to cheer you up.

She wants you to take it easy, but knows you're more than capable of doing things for yourself and to go out day to day, so she won't stop you, and instead may join you.

If there's a time where you can't make it with eda, King and luz, she'll write you some notes and leaves whatever you need out, along with a scarf she knitted you in your favourite colour

Raine:

Raine will probably try to read as much as possible on curses to try and understand it better and how to approach the topic with you to then compare your own thoughts and feelings on the matter

Once they a somewhat developed understanding, they'll do whatever you need them to, no questions asked

They'll play you soft music to help you sleep or calm you down if you've had a particularly hard day

They'll take you around the castle and to your favourite places to make you laugh or smile

In their room, raine is fully prepared. They have every activity under the sun to keep you entertained or calm in various cupboards

But if you need space, raine might panic a bit, thinking you're pushing them away, but if you explain saying you just need a few hours of nothing, then they'll be okay

If they see your curse flairing you, they'll hug you if you want the contact, stroking your hair and complimenting you, anything to help it go down.

if you dont want a hug, then raine will just sit with you and talk it out, trying to get whatever upsetting you off your chest

Raine may consult Eda on advice if things start to lose their effect, but they won't do this without your permission

Raine will mix some of your elixirs in your favourite drink, especially if it's a bitter elixir, knowing you've always hated the taste. They wanted to try and help with the flavour

Made you a special whistle that only they can hear if anything happens, so they know where you are and how to help you, with each whistle hole signalling different levels of urgency

Alador:

He'd be way more curious at first, wanting to see and understand the different reactions you have, or maybe even what your cursed form looks like, which you may have to pull the plug on.

After that he may put your needs aside on accident if something does happen, cause he really wants to study it so he can try and help in a more scientific way, until you talk to him about it.

But once he notices, he'll apologise and try his best to help when he can, but he'll still be distracted at times, but you know he doesn't mean to

If he's super busy, he'll get an abomatron to watch over you and to alert him immediately should anything flair up, no matter how small

He may even try to make a cure himself, mixing abomination and potions, but once you see it move with a face, you decline, under the impression you can handle it, which he takes at face value and understands

Since Em knows healing magic, he may get her help at times, but she always checks with you if its okay. And with Ed knowing beastkeeping magic, he may also assist if things get out of hand.

He'll visit you often, bringing you gifts, or food he tried to make, just so he can catch up, talk about your days and making sure you're okay

Whatever you need, he'll try his best, since he's no longer making abomatrons for the emperors coven anymore, he has a lot more free time, but he does spend it with his kids, which you don't want to take time away from, knowing the lifestyle he had previously

But when he does make time for you, he'll probably take naps with cuddles, just because he's so tired, but you join him, knowing that sleep can sometimes help keep you rested, making it easier to fight against it.

[possibly-a-table-or-just-gay]

I Had All And Then Most Of You, Some And Now None Of You.

The ringing seemed to echo in his ears, becoming the loudest noise in the room by far. Darius found himself nervously tapping patterns onto the sofa, subconsciously biting the tip of his tongue.

Please pick up.

Please.

-Click-

"Darius? Hello?"

Chapter: 1 2

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Hello!! This chapter is long overdue, I have terrible work ethic, but I think it is longer than the first one, if that makes up for it. It's not my best work, but enjoy!!

Again thank you so much to @theninjabozo and @genderlessjacky for helping me with this one, you're the best and I love you /p

Also @thenugking you are a godsend thanks a million

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Darius couldn't sleep. This wasn't an unusual occurrence, between Hunter's night terrors, Eberwolf's zoomies at 3 a.m and his own... uncomfortable wake-up calls, a late night reunion wasn't an uncommon scene in the Deamonne household.

However tonight he just didn't feel like going back to his empty room.

He leaned back on the couch cushions, scrolling through his camera roll, looking for a good photo of Hunter to send to Principal Bump tomorrow morning for the official flyer derby team (if he was going to be awake at a titan-awful hour he might as well get some of the things he was putting off out of the way.)

He noticed he'd been mindlessly scrolling for too long when instead of the grinning faces of his friends and family looking back at him, it was a much younger Darius and Eberwolf.

He flicked past several old photos of stiff coven events and Eberwolf's smug selfies.

His fortys

His thirties. 

His twentys.

Alador's wedding.

Ah.

There was one picture of that night, a large group photo with the newlyweds pride of place in the centre. He saw the tense smiles of people he didn't recognise. He saw Odalia's nails digging into Alador's shoulder like she was expecting him to make a run for it. He saw his own grimace, his well disguised concern.

He felt tears prick up behind his eyes. Titan. Why couldn't he just say what he thought when Odalia weaseled her way into Alador's life, instead of letting his unease grow and grow until he was screeching it at the man he loved.

He needed to talk to Alador. To apologise, to say the words fumbling at the bottom of his stomach, to just hear his voice.

His thumbs trembled as he searched for Alador's contact, still punctuated with the little purple hearts from his teenage years.

Would he even have Darius's number saved anymore? Their arguments were legendary, Darius knew himself well enough to know he didn't always have the best control of his temper.

Well. Here goes nothing.

The ringing seemed to echo in his ears, becoming the loudest noise in the room by far. Darius found himself nervously tapping patterns onto the sofa, subconsciously biting the tip of his tongue.

Please pick up.

Please.

-Click-

"Darius? Hello?"

/

Darius's breath caught in his throat. He hadn't exactly expected to get this far.

"Hey, um h-hi."

"... are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, are you- are you alone?"

"Uh, the kids are in bed?"

"Can I come over?"

"Sure."

"I'll be there in ten."

-Click-

\

Darius stood on the doorstep to the Blight family manor, debating whether he should ring the doorbell or not.

He hadn't planned to turn up at Alador's feet at some ungodly hour when he woke up that morning but well, here he was.

Before he could ditch this whole situation while he had the chance, the heavy wooden doors swung open to reveal Alador still in his work coat, despite it being well past a reasonable time for that.

"Hi."

Seeing his face hurt so much more than Darius expected. All that was flashing through his mind when he saw the dark bags under Alador's eyes was the foul words he spat, the insults he let escape his mouth and leave a bitter taste on his tongue.

All reasonable thought left him at that moment. He couldn't feel his feet move beneath him as he stepped forward, enveloping Alador in a hug.

/

Alador jolted, feeling Darius's weight on his body, his well built arms wrapped around his shoulders. He noted the witch's shuddering chest, soft muffled sobs. It took him by surprise for a second. Darius seemed to always hold up an air of cold elegance. He was never vulnerable.

He reached his hands up to hold Darius's back, locking the two of them together. He heard Darius's breath choke up, staying like that for just a moment longer before the former coven head pulled away, tearing them back to reality.

He thought he saw Darius's face flush for a second as his green eyes refused to meet Alador's.

"... Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah I just- I- I'm sorry."

The engineer's brow furrowed in confusion.

"For what?"

"For everything. For being an absolute asshole to you for twenty years."

A smile tugged at Alador's lips, and Darius breathed a soft sigh of relief, although he was quick to refocus his attention.

"Are you still in your work clothes?"

Alador looked down as if he was also only registering this now.

"Oh, yeah. I was working on a project and lost track of time and-"

Darius rolled his eyes and scoffed fondly. He moved forward to unfasten the buttons holding the sagging overcoat closed before catching himself and realising this was maybe too close a gesture for someone he'd only had his first real conversation with in over two decades just a few days ago.

He glanced up at Alador's face and murmured a soft "Can I?"

Alador flushed a beet red, stammering to find any words to say before just nodding.

Darius slowly unbuttoned the remaining tarnished clasps, untied the faded grey belt that cinched it slightly at the waist and slid the jacket off Alador's shoulders. He did his best to hide the smug grin spreading across his lips at Alador's reddening face as he melted the coat into abomination matter in his hands, reappearing hung up in the coat rack behind him.

"So erm, do you want coffee?

Darius shrugged. If he was being honest, he hadn't planned what he was going to do once he'd actually spoken to Alador.

"Sure."

He followed the engineer down the winding halls to the kitchen, seating himself at the counter, one leg crossed over the other.

"How do you take your coffee?"

"Black is fine."

"Ever the purist, as usual."

Darius let his shoulders relax, leaning into the playful banter.

"Well at least I have taste. That coffee maker is absolutely hideous."

"I apologise it's not up to your incredibly high standards, Sir Deamonne."

Alador grinned, sliding the coffee across the counter to his guest.

Darius sipped the drink, eyeing the engineer up and down, noting the slumped posture and dark shadows under his eyes.

"You're not sleeping."

"Wha- Yes I am?!" 

He raised an eyebrow sceptically, not buying it in the slightest.

"Hm. No."

Not giving Alador an opportunity to object, he continued.

"You look like you haven't slept in at least a few days, most likely a week, which means the last time you actually rested would be..."

Darius let his sentence trail off when he saw the other witch turn pink, but his statement was made. His expression softened, and when he next spoke his tone was soft and gentle.

"You need to rest. You're working yourself into the ground and it's going to come back to bite you sooner rather than later if you carry on like this."

Alador kept his eyes pinned to the floor, shifting on his feet. The motion sent Darius back several days, to the conversation whispered under the silence of those quiet hours before morning. I didn't want to be alone again.

Darius tiptoed cautiously into his next words, trying to force the uncertainty out of his voice and keep it low and hushed.

"...Lead the way?"

He saw a soft smile cross Alador's face and let go of a breath he didn't realise he was holding. Turns out he didn't want to be alone tonight either.

/

Alador stopped at the doorway to the room, freezing at the threshold. Darius joined him at his side, peering into the master bedroom.

It was modest enough, starched white sheets layed out on the seemingly untouched bed. Cardboard boxes labelled "Odalia" in messy black marker were stacked against the walls next to a half disassembled vanity. Try as Alador might have, the room still clearly belonged to his ex wife. Darius could taste her cheap perfume on his tongue, a sickly floral scent marking her territory.

The only part of the room that didn't fit the sanitised atmosphere was a worn blanket and pillow that lay on the.... on the floor.

Darius's stomach sank as he slowly came to the realisation of what that meant. When he spoke his voice died in his throat, coming out choked and hoarse.

"Alador... you slept in a bed, didn't you?"

The engineer stammered, tripping over his words.

"She... she didn't make you sleep on the floor."

Aladors scrambled excuses and explanations were drowned out by the dull pounding in Darius's ears as he felt his blood boil. The whites of his eyes blackened, his irises glowing as he balled his fists. She was going to pay, She was going to regret ever coming near Alador, if she lays a wretched finger on him-

"Dare?"

And just like that he was yanked back to reality, becoming acutely aware of every movement around him. He felt Alador's hand brush against his knuckles. He let his past lover grasp his hand, interlocking their fingers. He closed his eyes and exhaled heavily, quelling his fury. He gently squeezed Alador's hand. The last thing Alador needed was the wrathful, violent Darius that always seemed just under the surface.

When he opened his eyes again, they had returned to their normal appearance. He noticed Alador trembling, his feet practically nailed to the floor. His eyes shone with a terror like a deer caught in headlights, reflecting the pale moonlight.

He was paralysed there, frozen. He wasn't going to snap out of it, not on his own. He needed to get out of there, he needed someone to take him away from here-

"OH MY TITAN DARIUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?-"

He didn't even remember to keep his voice down when he felt his feet being swept from under him, lifted up by strong arms. His hands grappled for something to hold on to, clinging to Darius's shirt with an iron grip.

Darius couldn't stifle his laughter at Alador's reaction, shrieking like a wild teenager.

"Come on, you. You are going to sleep somewhere, whether you want to or not."

He made his way down the stairs, engineer in arms, trying to slow down to hammering of his chest, trying to ignore how Alador holding onto him for dear life made his face flush.

Alador did his best to not think about how easy it was for Darius to just carry him away. Titan, he hadn't been held like this since they were kids, when Darius used to whisk him away like a rescued damsel.

Descending the last few steps, Darius held Alador a little closer to not jolt the engineer around too much as he retraced his steps back to the living room, setting him down on the lavender couch as gently as possible. Alador looked down, trying to hide his reddened face.

"So, erm. Do you want to stay a bit or, or do you want to watch something or-"

Darius smiled softly, sliding next to Alador.

"So what incredibly important project has you working through the night without a minute of rest?"

Alador's eyes lit up.

"Okay, so even though the part of the coven sigils that activated with the draining spell is non-functional now, they still limit the witch's ability to do magic. But I was thinking, if we rearrange the components of the branding gloves, we can probably remove the sigils and reverse the limitations on magic usage!!"

Darius tried his best to listen, but tiredness was taking over and Alador's words were turning into white noise in his head. His mind wandered to how cute Alador got when he was excited, how his hands seemed to be doing just as much talking as his mouth.

"-We'd need someone with experience at using abomination magic in that extension-of-self way though. You'd be really good at that actually."

Alador paused, glancing back at Darius who just gestured for him to continue. The gaps between Alador's yawns were getting shorter and shorter and Darius figured if he let him ramble for a little longer he would finally tire himself out.

/

Alador's breathing slowed as his sentences trailed into silence, exhaustion finally winning out in the end.

A small smile danced across Darius's lips, as he stood slowly, his joints sore from not shifting in a while. He scooped Alador into his arms and let him curl sleepily into  his chest.

Padding up the stairs as quietly as possible, he made it to the landing. Pausing for a second at the doorway of the master bedroom, he pushed it open with his hips as to not wake up the witch he was holding too harshly. He placed Alador's sleeping body down on the pressed white sheets, shifting pillows to support his head.

He knew he should leave now, he should leave Alador to rest undisturbed, but he couldn't move, like there was a thread tethering him to the witch by the pit of his stomach. Pulling the duvet over Alador's shoulders, his hands lingered over the other witch for a second longer.

He tore his gaze away, using every ounce of determination to rip himself from the moment. Every step away felt exhausting, like swimming upstream. Every step away was just wrong.

That night was a one-off, he found himself murmuring, rubbing circles into his palm with his thumb in a way he hadn't done since he was a lost teenager. A one time situation, and that is all it will ever be.

The creak of the heavy front door closing behind him did nothing to ease his mind.

These things don't fix themselves overnight.

/

-------------------------------------------------------

:DDDD

@linkdudehero @non-bee-knees it has been posted at last!!

Hopefully there were some funnies in there with the angst, and if you were in anyway dissatisfied with the ending, please be comforted by the fact there is a chapter 3 in the works (but don't get your hopes up about it being posted in a timely manner)

[sepublic]

            I sometimes think back to King’s Tide and how Darius backed down when Hettie threatened Eberwolf, and I think what Raine would’ve done in his situation. Because they are the person who in their debut episode, attempted a one-sided suicide pact to save the isles. Someone who knowingly estranged and hurt Eda, to their own agony, for the sake of Eda’s kids who really needed her and couldn’t risk losing to the rebellion.

         There’s also the fact that Raine was able to make the tough, yet healthy, move to cut Eda out of their life when Eda continued to isolate them with secrets about her condition and push them away. So with all that in mind, Raine continues to support this idea of someone who can and WILL make the tough call, do the unpleasant job, for the greater good. It hurts right now and certainly in the short-term, but Raine does have the larger sight to consider it all in the long-term.

         Compare that to Darius, whose attachment to his relationships is STRONGLY felt, even occasionally detrimental. He backs down for Eberwolf’s life, even though Eber is dead either way, because he cares too much. Darius clings to the memory of his mentor, to the point that he judges Hunter rather unfairly as his successor. While Alador never brings it up on his own, Darius is the one to initiate continued contact with a signed book, telling Kikimora to relay a message, and then checking Al’s Penstagram account in his free time.

         (Makes me wonder if losing Alador and Odalia were really things under Darius’ control either, in addition to the fact that they are their own people capable of making their own decisions. A lack of control in losing people might explain a bit…)

         That isn’t to say that Raine is cold and emotionless, either! They’re very in favor of revealing themselves to Eda in Hollow Mind… Though, you could argue it’s because their original reason for estranging her, keeping her kid safe, was at jeopardy to begin with. Contrast that with Darius, who tries to stick to the mission, but when Hunter is brought up, he immediately loses his cool.

         Anyhow, this is all to loop back and ask; If that was Raine there. And if it was not just Eberwolf, but even Eda being threatened… Would they back down to Hettie’s threat, or keep going? Because I can actually see them keep going. They very much accepted Eda’s own agency and choice in deciding to sacrifice herself to sabotage the ritual, and only stepped in when it was out of Eda’s hands, and because Luz had asked them to; Luz, one of two reasons Raine had done these difficult things for in the first place.

         They’d accepted the murder-suicide pact with Eda, both under the impression it’d save the isles. So with Eda already prepared to die for this… Yeah, I could see Raine just letting it happen, and Eda insisting they do. This is not to judge Darius or Eberwolf; They are their own people with understandable, human flaws. Dana said that Eberwolf trusts Darius a lot, so it’s possible Darius feels more responsible for Eber’s rebellion, and thus the danger they got themselves into. Darius feels very strongly and is very attached to his relationship, he just… clings to people like a pile of goop (I’m sorry).

         Whereas with Raine is fascinating, because they can and have made the tough call to cut themselves away from a loved one, for the greater good. An interesting parallel to Eda pushing them away, really, though arguably more justified and healthy in Raine’s case… But even if it’s healthier, does that make it healthy in general?

         (Man, Raine and Darius both have their shortcomings as rebels, but their own strengths as well. There’s what I mentioned, but on the other hand Darius was a lot more discreet as a rebel, and remained beneath detection until THE last second. They go well together.)

         Again, Raine is hardly cold; Raine gave up Eda and sabotaged their own cause for two kids they never even met and had only heard about once before during the petrification ceremony, having not yet made the familial connection. If that doesn’t betray a bleeding heart, I don’t know what does. Especially since Raine likely related to these kids, guessing correctly that Eda was pushing them away over her curse, and wanted to prevent the tragedy that happened between them and Eda, by reminding Eda to stick with THESE kids this time.

         And she did! Raine couldn’t get Eda to stay by their side those years ago, but they avoided repeating history for Luz and King, who also needed Eda. Man, it’s crazy how much is changed and re-contextualized in Eda’s Requiem with the very next episode afterwards. 

        Anyhow, with Raine being quite the public speaker with their own following, and the aforementioned pattern of making the difficult decision at times to cut others away, even accepting their own death and that of others, all for the greater good… They’re an understated parallel to Philip “I just need to live long enough to see this through” Wittebane, who sacrificed his brother for God’s will. Except, of course. Raine isn’t evil, just forced into actual dilemmas, by Belos himself. Man, so many characters really do reflect different facets of this messed-up puritan, huh?

[luzswonderland]

Thoughts on “Watching and Dreaming” Part 2

I cannot stress how much I value Eda and Raine’s relationship ❤️

Raine whistling Eda’s Requiem while they were trapped was so sweet🥹

I’m happy that Raine was able to join in on the final battle. It really does show that Raine is officially apart of the Clawthorne unit😊

“NOW EAT THIS SUCKA!” 📢

The callback to Azura’s quote in the first episode really did it for me. I teared up🥹

“Don’t you want to make peace, Luz?”

Oh please, what a loser lmao 🙄

I love how Luz just stands there in silence and let’s nature take it’s course. She realizes that this is not her fight anymore

Sweet justice is served 🙌🏾👏🏾 😊😭

“Well, we ain’t!”

“That was extremely satisfying.”

You could say that again lol

And it’s finally over 😌

The Hunter, Darius and Eberwolf moment ❤️

I’m glad the other coven heads were put in their place lol. Was kind of worried about that before the finale.

Lol at the one coven head trying to touch the throne anyway tho

This is bliss 😌🥰

I was waiting for this moment for so long OMG! 😭🤗😩

I’m glad the Collector found their way 🥹

I’m going to miss Luz doing magic through drawing glyphs. It made her unique in the Boiling Isles. At least she has Stringbean now to help her do magic though

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the epilogue at the end. They could have just ended the series with Luz overlooking the Boiling Isles, but they gave us more😭

Luz enrolling in a magic university 👏🏾

Look! All the adventures we did and didn’t get to see

I’m really curious about the Hooty one with Luz and Amity lmao

“Luz, you saw them last week.” 😐

Loved that she maintained the balance of her life on Earth and the Boiling Isles

Things I loved in the montage ❤️:

The Nocedas buying the abandoned sack

Hunter making Palsimen

This Moment 😊

Flapjack’s gravestone🥹

Lilith’s haircut

Amity’s entire new character design

Success in eliminating coven branding

Gus’ hairstyle 👏🏾

THIS MOMENT!!!

From former criminal of the Isles to headmaster of an educational institution. You love to see it😄

The chaos that Luz, King and Eda will cause now lol

Also, Vee’s family was saved 🙌🏾

King’s necklace too❤️🥹

Luz spending her past four birthdays rebuilding the Isles demonstrates so much about her character. She never slowed down in the past four years.

The attempt at the Quinceanera was sweet? 

Gotta appreciate the effort at least😅

King doing glyph magic opens up a new range of possibilities

Potentially for a spin-off?!!

The four year time skip is such a breath of fresh air😤

The world building for this show is so good!

My favorite shot in the episode 🥹

I love how the series ends with Luz thanking Eda and King for being there for her when things were confusing in her life. She found them at a time where she needed the most support and I love that for her. Not a lot of shows come full circle like this.

Love the collective “BYYYEEE!!!” at the end 😄🥹

It has been a pleasure doing these “Thoughts” on episodes over the past few years, I hope to one day I get a chance to do these again for The Owl House 😊🤗 BYYYYEEEE!!!!👋🏾👋🏾

[thousand-winters]

Remember how Amity accidentally called a teacher mom? Imagine Hunter calling Alador Dad. Dad Darius overhears and is incredulously or jealous. He gets Hunter new gruby uniform cause he's worried Hunter likes Alador more.

It really doesn't help that both of them are abomination users, and frankly? Hunter is used to the one adult who listens to him and guides him gently being Darius, so that kind of mentor-ish attitude Alador is taking with him at the moment while showing him what he's working on (I picture Alador working not only on the sigil removal but on other projects to help overall on the Isles, especially to make up for the damage his creations made + the sort of ableism he was promoting when he and Odalia forbid Amity from being friends with Willow because she couldn't do magic well) threw him off a little.

He didn't even realize Darius had heard that one because he was a little too busy going all red and apologizing frantically to an increasingly confused Alador. He truly doesn't see him as a father figure, he just has a complicated relationship with actual kind adult figures in his life, considering the first one to be kind to him ended up becoming his dad, and then when he was in the Human Realm, he was sort of registering Camila's behaviors with Luz and Vee and the rest of them like "oh, so this is what a parent is supposed to act like" and while of course there's Camila herself, Eda, Raine, and other adults who are actually good and are not his parents, he's still adjusting to the reality of authority figures not acting abusive with their power.

So between that, and the reminders of his sewing lessons with Darius, when Alador picked up something to show him with abominations, the "dad" just sort of slipped out.

Alador is very understanding about the whole thing once he stops being all ??? and Hunter can go back to his normal life just a little more mortified than before, but it's all fine. Or so he assumes, anyway, until he notices that Darius is being increasingly doting and affectionate.

It wouldn't even be that weird; Darius was probably also holding back from being too affectionate at the very beginning because Hunter wasn't used to that kind of familiar dynamic and he got overwhelmed quickly with physical affection, mostly, plus feeling like he had to repay every single gift or thing Darius bought for him. It was progressive, and this almost could pass at that if Darius didn't seem slightly frantic about it.

Now, Darius truly does want what's best for Hunter, and he wouldn't have protested, even if it's not what he would have wanted, if Hunter had preferred to be taken in by another family (provided that they were good people, of course), but at this point, when they're officially a family? And the fact that it's Alador of all people? Please, that man is still trying to repair his mistakes with his own children, he's not well suited to adopt another kid out of nowhere. Darius is aware he might be letting a bit of bitterness slip in there but he's just a little panicky wondering what he did so wrong for Hunter to see Alador as his dad.

Eberwolf would probably be the one to call him out because if anyone knows Darius well, it's gonna be Eberwolf, but if he was absent for whatever reason, it would take a bit longer for the situation to come to a head, though probably not that long. Hunter, ultimately, did learn to read adults fairly well, or at least their emotions, as a survival mechanism, so he would eventually pick up on how Darius seems almost anxious whenever he offers him something these days. Again, it's not that Darius isn't doting usually, but to this extent that seems practically? Yeah, no, something's off.

He's very hesitant to bring it up because he's not the best still at confrontation with adults, let alone his parent since Darius is, in some sense, "above" him in his vision of things, but the question of what's going on might just be enough for Darius' facade of normalcy to just break.

Hunter wouldn't even think it's silly, he knows what he would feel if he heard Darius calling another kid his child, so he doesn't hesitate to explain the logic behind that whole thing, as sheepish as he is to also imply that Darius has enough similarities to Alador for his mind to get all jumbled up.

In the end it's an embarrassing event for everyone involved and they do NOT want to talk about it once they have solved it. They are swearing not to mention it once Eber gets back.

[drabbles-of-writing]

as the OG source of the A Little Kindness AU aka Raine adopting Hunter I would LOVE to know how you would change it to be canon compliant. i mean obviously the reveal would be after everything, but god just imagine Hunter worrying about his anonymous friend/caretaker and he finds out its the FUCKING OWL LADY'S PARTNER and hes just so happy theyre ok and to know who helped him out all the time but also OH TITAN LUZ IS GONNA BE HIS SISTER EVEN MORE NOW!

~adoption anon

the little gray box who started it all!!!! welcome back

good lord there would be so many overhauls...just so incredibly many I gotta try to break it all down to smaller sections to even get. a glimpse

1) okay so as we have learned Raine was NOT, in fact, under any mind control, just pulling the biggest brained move on Snapdragon she ever did see. so raine doesn't even go missing in the first place, if anything they might halt the notes altogether but still remain in the castle just because they were under constant vigilance and meeting eda again mightve made them triply afraid of getting other people involved with their work. hunter stresses about it, as you do, but flapjack isn't freaking out cause HE'S seen raine's face, and he knows that they're fine, but he has no idea what happened, so Hunter is less concerned since Flapjack isn't. not by a lot tho.

2) so INSTEAD of Hunter booking it to Luz to plead for help on some criminals, he instead takes all of this suppressed fear and worry and stress and just kinda. balls it up. and then shoves all of it out in the open during Eclipse Lake. he goes HARD trying to get that Titan's Blood and the thing where he tried to relate to Amity over being a failure? he doubles down on that shit TREMENDOUSLY and their shared failing to live up to what other ppl wanted and pushing away their friends (granted Amity actually pushed Willow away to try and help, Hunter didn't push Raine away he just thought he did). you think his breakdown in Eclipse Lake was concerning? hes about to make it even more concerning. hes very very afraid for Bat and he would really rather they hate him than anyone found out they'd been talking to him and they got murdered, so he better try and beat the shit out of Amity! if Belos is pleased with him, maybe he'll hesitate on whatever punishment Bat might be having right now

3) Raine, bless 'em, keeps trying to help Hunter how they can, dropping these tiny hints they don't mean to drop. Hunter's part of setting up and preparing everything for the Coven Day Parade and Raine is noticeably always checking in on the Golden Guard. we know now that Hunter started showing his face more after the Palisman incident, but Raine isn't seen around often, so I imagine it's around the Coven Day Parade that they finally see what Hunter looks like--and good lord that IS a literal teenager what the hell did they DO TO HIM---alright scrap all the plans. darius, eberwolf, change of plans. everything stays the same, but we're kidnapping Hunter on the way out

4) Any Sport in a Storm is pretty much the same, Hunter is just even antsier & more desperate to get these new friends to like him bc. Bat. and also punts Darius twice as hard. Darius for his part is only marginally nicer because he knows Raine's weirdly attached to this little rat of a child--oh wait nvm he sees why now. alright valid point. Darius is a firm believer in "for the love of god just tell him you're Bat it will save everyone a lot of stress" but unfortunately Raine subscribes to "if anyone i really care about is within fifty feet of me we are All Going To Die"

5) mostly everything would stay the same in Hollow Mind, i think? Raine, Darius and Eberwolf might actually go up to the Owl House and speak when Hunter and Luz get trapped in Belos's mind since its both Raine and Darius that are stressed as fuck over the kid? in that instance then everyone teams up much quicker (and in confusion) but Hunter still books it out at fast speeds into the woods and somehow makes it to Hexside. he's a slippery little bastard, but luckily now theres a whole gang teamed together to track him down and hes found by Darius pretty quickly after the Owl House is evacuated and torn apart. however Hexside is VERYYYYY on edge over coven heads claiming to want to "help" and "have betrayed the Coven" so they're all beating Darius back like a rabid raccoon and Hunter thinks he's here to kill him. so thats fun. eventually Darius gives up, scruffs Raine, and throws them down at Hexside and demands they finally clear shit up. its a very cute scene of Raine sneaking in and slipping little notes under the door of whatever classroom Hunter's hiding for his life in, wherein he realizes Bat's come back. and Hunter's finally brave enough to yank open the door to---RAINE?????

6) more stuff that mostly stays the same. Hunter however is very stressed over Raine when they're trapped in the human realm which eventually leads to him and Luz talking a lot and him realizing "im sorry waht the fuck do you MEAN that the owl lady and raine whispers were a THING??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERES STILL SOMETHING THERE????" but above all i want to fuck this boy up so insanely bad and at least give him a GLIMPSE of Raine's puppet body being possessed by Belos. even if there is no interaction other than Hunter seeing them for a brief flash I know in my heart that would fuck him up so bad. he would blame himself so so much. Belos really here to kill everything he loves before he can finally be free huh

7) MOST importantly they finally get to hug when everyones reunited and hunter feels SO INCREDIBLY GUILTY when he sees all the fresh new scars Raine has courtesy of Belos. to which Raine, in peak parent fashion, just goes "nah, i dont mind 'em. now we match :]" and Hunter's just god u are missing the point so badly but i'll let it slide. how'd you know my new scars were from belos. and raine just stares like "how did i know your new scars were from WHAT????? oh im so glad i killed his ass" "YOU DID WHAT"

[polyhexian]

Darius frantically googling childcare tips in the runaway au, hoping to god that the Emperor's Coven isn't monitoring his scroll. how do you take care of a child? how do you reassure a child? how do you feed a - okay actually that one's easy, Hunter has his father's painfully simple taste in food, if his looks didn't make it obvious that he's Jasper's son the fact that he considers salt a spice would be proof enough.

Eberwolf is like, I can give you some tips but they're all gonna be based on raising ratworm litters and Darius is like STOP.

Hunter is probably kind of an easy kid to take care of in most respects, tho. like you said, he's had to become independent. self-sufficient. I feel like a lot of his childhood he was kinda like a fawn - like, a mother deer will leave her baby in a place she deems safe and hidden, and the fawn will lay there completely still for HOURS until mom gets back. Jasper's definitely had to do that with Hunter, except as Hunter has grown older Jasper has likely left him alone for longer periods of time, so Hunter gets to wander around a bit while waiting for his dad to get back. Swipe some food, maybe work some odd jobs for some snails, visit the library and see if he can finish a book before they have to move on again.

so he doesn't complain easily, and he doesn't really get bored the way a regular kid might, he's used to either sitting perfectly still or going off to find something to take up his time. he probably also gets more mileage out of entertainment items Darius gets for him. Darius is like "uhhhh I found some crappy crayons and some paper, sorry, best I can do on short notice" and Hunter is just like, oh, cool! cuz he's rarely had time/space/resources to sit down and color on paper.

Darius is still fumbling his way through this tho. one night he wakes up to find a sniffling Hunter climbing into bed with him and he starts to panic like OH GOD IS HE SICK I DON'T WANNA DO GERMS BUT I WILL IF I HAVE TO except no, the kid just misses his dad. Darius surreptitiously grabs his phone to type in "what to do when a kid crawls into bed with you crying" except to his everlasting horror he did NOT type that into Ghoul-gle, he typed it into a text message and now Eberwolf is responding like DARIUS ARE YOU SERIOUS and Darius is like I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO and Eber is like JUST HUG HIM THE WAY YOU'D NEVER HUG A BABY RATWORM.

Rjjsjsjd Darius trying to figure out how to care for this kid via eberwolf describing how to care for various baby animals

Yeah yeah yeah. Hunter is a baby faun. He's very good at hiding and he's very good at following instructions. Jasper has to weigh a lot of risks. Is it riskier to steal what he needs, or is it riskier to earn it by bounty hunting or selling something or what have you? And things just get riskier as Hunter gets older. Another timeline where jasper can't give hunter the childhood he wants him to have, but he's going to make sure he has one that he makes it out of, at least. He would rather have an unhappy adult than a dead child.

Hunter is a little fuckin monkey. He's always stealing shit. Just to prove he can. I love this little goblin version of hunter, a highly skilled little artful dodger.

When I was a teenager and my dad left it was pretty hard on my family. My brother has down's syndrome and autism; he's nonverbal, low-functioning, legally dead/blind. So he has a lot of trouble communicating effectively. He was like nine around this time and yeah, normal stuff was no problem. He knew how to let me know he was hungry or he needed me to come hit play on his DVD or something- assistive communication devices were and I think still are thousands of dollars lol and my folks and I were eating out of the food bank so. Yeah. Not happening.

In any case, the point is that one night my brother started crying. Like. Really crying. Crying in a way id never heard before. And obviously my mom came but I drove him to the hospital and we spent all night in the ER while he screamed and sobbed and they did test after test after test trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong.

Nothing was wrong. He was completely fine, physically. The end "diagnosis" was... Our dad had been gone three months and it was finally hitting him that he might not be coming back.

Just thinking about poor little hunter trying to cope with the idea his dad might not be coming back because he doesn't know where he is or what happened to him; he's just gone and it hurts! Reminded me of that night (can you believe I had to go to school the next day lol)

All Darius can do is hold this sobbing little guy and tell him that at least HE isn't going anywhere because... What else can he say? It's going to be okay? Jasper is going to be okay? Jasper will come back? He doesn't know that. He doesn't know any of that. All he can do is his own best. And hunter just :(

[whotfelsewantedtobelynnyx]

So I’m a firm believer in “The BATTs are Raine’s kids” but one thing that always bugged me a little was the fact that Raine- who was willing to throw away the whole plan to kill Darius and Eber because Eda had kids, and who purposefully did everything they could to keep the people they loved out of harm’s way, like lying to Eda and leaving Amber on the airship during the DOU- was willing to let themself die in the forest with Eda when their kids were still in prison. And then I read this post by @icedmochasi

And suddenly it made sense.

Raine didn’t go after their kids because they thought their kids were dead.

Remember this line? Raine’s no fool. They know what happens to traitors. And to make things worse, Darius made it clear that the younger BATTs weren’t the ones he was looking for- meaning they’re disposable. For all Raine knew, Darius destroyed them right then and there- and if he didn’t, he was probably sending them off to be killed. Hell, if it were any of the other Coven Heads, they probably would have sent them off to die. Luckily, it was Darius, and he just plopped them in an unlocked cell.

But Raine didn’t know that.

And this just breaks my heart. Look at their expression when Darius teleports the BATTs away.

Honestly, I’d argue that this is almost the most outwardly distressed we see them in the entire show (with the exception of right after their capture in King’s Tide, when they cry out for Eda). They just look so shocked, so absolutely horrified. Eda looks alarmed too, but more in a “holy shit, did that just happen?” sort of way. Raine, on the other hand, looks totally devastated. That’s the face of a mentor/parent who just lost their kids.

Of course they were willing to kill Darius afterwards. Of course they were willing to die. They’re in shock, they’re heartbroken, and they’re probably absolutely furious. And they’re probably not thinking straight, hence why they didn’t fight Eda on it when she decided to die with them.

But then they learn that she has kids, and they throw everything out the window, because now more than ever they understand just how much her kids need her and how much she needs them. They understand because they’d do anything to be with their kids again right now, to have been able to save them or at least hold them one last time. They won’t let Eda make the same mistake they did.

Just…ouch.

Bonus because I can’t take anything seriously:

Darius: …and so after my mentor’s death, I started to become suspicious. I dug deeper and discovered some sketchy things about the Day of Unity. From there, I approached Eberwolf and started to plan. When we found out that you were causing trouble, we volunteered to try and “capture” you in hopes of intercepting you before the likes of Kikimora got to you. Any questions?

Raine: Yeah, just one. WHERE THE FUCK ARE MY CHILDREN, DARIUS?!

[sergeantsporks]

Dadrius Week Chapter 3: Daily Life

“So… Darius offered to let me stay with him.”

Hunter watched Ms. Noceda carefully, waiting for her reaction.

She put down her kitchen knife, blinking. “Oh. The abomination head, right?”

Hunter nodded.

“And… how do you feel about the idea?”

Hunter took a deep breath. “Well, logistically speaking, it would be the best option. It’s closer to Hexside, so I wouldn’t have to cross dimensions every day to get to school. And he doesn’t already have a couple of kids, so it would be less of a hassle for him.”

“Hunter, you’re not a hassle. And I don’t want you to think you have to live with him just to somehow make life easier for me.”

Hunter nodded a couple of times to that. “Okay. But just. Yes. As far as the logical choice goes, Darius seems to be a good plan.”

“But how do you feel about it?”

Hunter leaned against the counter. “I don’t know. We didn’t get along in the coven, not for a while. And maybe that’s just because of how things were there, because it’s been a lot better more recently, but… what if we get along more now because we don’t see each other as often? And we’re always somewhere else. I’m just worried that… if we’re in each other’s space again… we’ll start to get on each other’s nerves.”

Ms. Noceda ‘hm’ed thoughtfully. “What if you had a weekend visit, to test?”

“A what?”

“It’s something some adoption agencies do. Before parents make a decision on an adoption, the kid goes out to their home for a weekend, to test the waters. See how they fit into the household. You and Darius could do something similar. Go over to his home for a weekend, maybe longer if you’re still not sure, test and see how you like it, how he likes it. See if it’s a good fit. If so, then maybe you move in with him. If not, well, I’m happy to have you here as long as you want, Hunter.”

“A weekend visit,” Hunter echoed softly. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s try it.”

Xxx

A weekend visit.

Slow and cautious.

Not the worst idea.

Darius led Hunter up the stairs to a room that had once been a guest bedroom—well, it technically still was, until he made a decision. “I already put all your clothes in the closet. There’s a bathroom attached to your room. My room is just down the hall. You can go in if you need something, but otherwise, please respect my privacy. The rest of the house is fair game.” Darius tapped a small statue that was sitting on the counter. “If you do move in, you can give back any of the decorations you don’t want, the space will be yours.”

Hunter nodded, setting his bag down on the bed. His fingers twisted around each other, and he glanced around the room awkwardly. “Sooooo…”

“I’ll… leave you to unpack?” Darius suggested, backing out of the room. Titan, this was awkward. He traipsed back down the stairs to see Eberwolf curled up on his couch. He was getting dirt on the cushions, but Darius almost didn’t care. He nudged the demon. “Thank goodness you’re here. You’re used to hosting litters of baby creatures. What do you do to make things not stilted?”

Eber shrugged and stretched. “Feed them,” he signed, “Make them a nest.”

“He has a nest—well—a bed. Food is a good. I can do food.”

“Give them time and space to explore their surroundings,” Eber added, “Everything is strange and new. Let them figure out their new environment.”

Darius nodded. “Hunter?” he called.

Hunter’s head poked down the stairs. “Yes?”

“Eber and I are going to the store to pick up some things for dinner. We’ll be back in an hour.”

“I don’t want to go shopping,” Eber complained, “They think I’m your pet.”

“You’re coming anyway,” Darius told him, picking him up and setting him up on his usual shoulder perch. “Bye, Hunter.”

“Bye.”

Xxx

Hunter waited for Darius to disappear down the street, then set an alarm for forty-five minutes and thumped down the stairs, leaving his bag half unpacked on the bed. He wandered through the house, noting points of entry. Windows. Doors. There was the front door, of course. And then another door in the kitchen that led to the back of the house.

Explore the yard later.

Kitchen, living room, laundry room. Normal enough. Hunter hopped up to sit on the washer, reading the instruction manual for it and the dryer. Bathroom. Hunter picked up the soap bottle. It was similar to the one in his room’s bathroom, a foaming scented soap.

Where does he get these?

Come to think of it, where did Darius get anything? Hunter knew he liked the finer things, and he liked to be comfortable, but he didn’t know anything about where you found that stuff.

Hunter set the soap back down and climbed back up the stairs. Guest room—although this one was significantly less in the tastes of the rest of the house, with plants in the windowsill, a range of combs and brushes next to fur shampoos and scale care kits in the bathroom, and a pet bed in the corner. Where Eber slept if he stayed over, if Hunter had to guess. Hunter opened the door to a room with bookshelves and a massive desk.

Darius has an office?

He spotted a couple of papers with the seal of the abomination coven and winced. Those were old. He picked them up anyway. Growth charts on the number of young witches choosing the abomination track. There was a typewriter set up, words like little black ants marching across the page. Hunter had known Darius had written a book, but he’d never read it.

There it was, on the shelf, though.

Abomination Creation.

Hunter put the book back and left the office, carefully shutting the door behind him. Another guest room. A linen closet. Another bathroom. And…

Hunter’s hand hovered over Darius’ bedroom door.

He said not to go in there unless I needed something.

Still.

Why would he say that?

Before he could stop himself, Hunter twisted the knob, shoving open the door and then leaping back.

No traps. Not on the door, at least.

Just a quick peek.

Hunter poked his head in the door, and something gold glinted in the light from the window, shining directly into his eyes. Hunter looked behind himself to check for Darius, then went inside, picking up the golden object from its place on a little table, two candles burning next to it.

It was an emperor’s coven cloak pin. It was shiny and bright, but Hunter could see russet stains in the cracks and crevices of the sigil.

His cloak pin.

There was a picture on the little table, a photograph in a golden frame. A younger Darius and a man in a golden mask.

Darius looks… happy.

Hunter set the cloak pin back down and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

He’s not hiding anything from you.

He just wants some privacy.

Hunter went back to his room, unpacking the rest of his few belongings and putting them in drawers. His toothbrush went to the bathroom. The frog plushie Luz had helped him rescue from the keep went on the bed.

The room looked sparse, compared to his room in the keep, or even the room at the Noceda house.

If I stay, I could fill it.

If.

Xxx

Darius kicked off his shoes at the door, setting the bags of groceries down on the kitchen counter. “What do you think the odds he actually stayed out of my room are?”

“Next to none,” Eber signed, then hopped up on the counter and started emptying the bags.

“Mmmm, that’s what I thought.”

“Do you still have that creepy shrine in there?”

Darius flushed. “It is a memorial, and it is not creepy.”

“You know how my family coped with the death of a loved one?”

“Ugh—oh, titan, Eberwolf, not this again, you will put me off my dinner.”

“We ate their corpse.”

“I am not eating a corpse.”

Eber picked up the package of griffin meat off the counter and waved it at him.

“That isn’t the same. Get down from there.”

Eber hissed at Darius’ hand as he reached for the tiny demon, then hopped off of the counter on his own, proceeding back to Darius’ couch.

Darius opened the meat, cutting it into smaller pieces and putting them in a bowl. He mixed a sweet and sour cooking sauce in another bowl, then tossed it all together in a pan, moving the pieces around in the sizzling broth. An abomination tendril snatched up a package of presliced vegetables, tossing them in with the meat.

“Oh, hey, Eberwolf,” Hunter’s voice said from the living room, “Are you staying for—”

Eberwolf hissed, and Hunter yelped. Darius poked his head into the living room just in time to see Hunter backpedaling away from the couch, Eber puffed up and baring his teeth.

“Eber, play nice. You don’t need the whole couch.”

Eber stretched his paws all the way out while laying on the middle cushion, effectively making the whole couch unsittable.

“You are a horrendous houseguest,” Darius told him.

Hunter followed him back to the kitchen. Darius continued to toss the meat and vegetables, abomination tendrils snaking out and opening cabinets that had plates and glasses.

“What’re you making?”

“Stir fry. I’ll put together a salad in a minute. Did you finish unpacking?”

“Yes.” Hunter shifted just a little closer. “It smells good.”

“Thank you. Almost done. Please go tell Eber that if he wants dinner, he has to wash his paws first.”

Eberwolf ate like a ravenous animal. It was almost enough to put Darius off of his own dinner, but at least he was used to it.

No, it was the way Hunter ate that worried him. He watched to make sure Darius ate a bite first. Then he ate slowly, testing the food.

Then he devoured it in three seconds flat.

“You two are going to choke,” Darius commented.

“Can’t choke,” Eber signed to him, “Have a separate breathing tube from my nose to lungs, just in case.”

“Of course you do.” Darius nudged the bowl of stir fry towards Hunter. “You can have seconds if you’re hungry.”

“I’m not.”

“Really? Could have fooled me the way you scarfed that down. Camila’s feeding you, isn’t she?”

Hunter flushed. “Of course she is.” His shoulders hunched, and he shrank back into himself. “It was delicious. Thank you.”

Think it out.

Locate the source.

He was well fed in the coven, all the scouts were, they had to be kept in top physical shape.

The food in the mess halls wasn’t anything special, but it wasn’t disgusting, either.

Darius remembered his own mentor tending to ‘dine and dash’ as he called it, inhaling his food in between missions and guard duty and patrols. Darius had been guilty himself of eating meals in his office on particularly busy days as head of a coven.

There it is.

Darius leaned back, rolling a fork between his fingers. “It’s alright. You don’t have to go anywhere. You can just enjoy the food. You too, Eber, goodness.”

Eber licked sauce off of his fingers. “Got to go home, my ratworm delivered a litter.” He wrinkled his nose at Darius. “Good luck.”

Then he was gone, bounding out the door.

Darius stabbed at a vegetable, pointing his fork at Hunter, who’d settled back into a state of mostly-relaxed. “So. How many times exactly has someone tried to poison your dinner?”

Hunter blinked at him. “What?”

“You checked to make sure I ate first, probably because you were worried about being poisoned. Not that it would matter, if I was going to poison you, I’d simply use a poison I had the antidote to, in order to fool you. Checking to make sure I eat first is the oldest trick in the book.” Darius took another bite, then swallowed, shaking his head at Hunter’s frozen stare. “I’m speaking in hypotheticals, Little Prince, don’t worry, I haven’t poisoned your food, and I don’t intend to. Promise. But how often has that happened to you?”

Hunter’s shoulders hunched up again. “Once or twice.”

“Often enough that you check.”

“Sent me to the hospital,” Hunter muttered, “Missed a lot of work.”

Darius shook his head. At least the way he was acting cagey about it showed he didn’t think it was normal anymore. Hooray for progress. “No more worrying about that. You’re safe here. All unpacked?”

Hunter nodded.

“Did you have enough time to look around?”

“Yyyes.” Hunter’s eyes flicked from side to side. Oh, yes. He’d definitely gone into Darius’ room. And for the first time, Eber’s words nettled at Darius.

Is the memorial creepy to him?

Since the whole… thing.

Too late to worry about it now.

Darius finished the last of the food on his plate, then set his fork down and pushed his chair back with a sigh. “So.”

“So,” Hunter repeated.

“Today has been… awkward. For both of us, I think.”

Hunter nodded.

“It was bound to be that way. I know this was supposed to be a test on how well you clicked in the household. But I hope you won’t base your decision on one day.”

“There’s… always tomorrow?” Hunter suggested.

Darius nodded, gathering up plates and utensils. “There’s always tomorrow.”

[icedmochasi]

Darius passed out from the spell not only thinking about Eberwolf and Raine but also how he failed the 16 year old teenager who wormed his way into his heart. How, somewhere, Hunter’s sigil is going to light up, and he’s going to die. 

And then for Darius to find out Hunter was closer to the Titan’s Head than he wanted him to be, went to fight Belos, and now he’s missing/trapped in the human realm? And Darius hasn’t seen him for months, has no idea how he’s been doing for months? Has no idea if Belos severely harmed him or if he’s severely scarred from the spell being activated. Has no idea if he will ever see Hunter again. 

How he lost a father/big brother figure to this mess already and now he’s potentially lost the kid he cares deeply about for good as well? 

Internally, Darius must be panicking severely about Hunter. 

I’m just saying, let Darius and Hunter hug. Let this man hug his son in every way but legally at this point. 

[hunterdadrius]

Sick prince

(Summary: Hunter wakes up sick but insists he's fine causing him to faint leaving Darius and Eberwolf to take of him.

Notes: *** means slight or major change in setting/ rooms they're in.

1/3)

Words: 2,012

It was quiet in the Deamonne house when Hunter woke up, Darius and Eberwolf were still sleeping. He hadn't gotten much sleep that night, he had a horrible headache that wouldn't go away and every bone in his body hurt too much to move. He tried to go back to sleep but found it difficult with his runny nose. All he could do was deal with it and hope it was gone in the morning. After another half hour of not being able to sleep he managed to get up and go to the bathroom, by the time he got back to bed his runny nose was mostly gone and he could now finally get some sleep.

***

Later that morning, Eberwolf was in the living room laying on the couch on his scroll, while Darius was sitting at the kitchen table. It was 8am and Darius noticed Hunter hadn't woken up yet which wasn't unusual for him since Darius had often told him to get more rest after practice.

9am rolled around and hunter still wasn't awake. Darius was starting to wonder if hunter was still sleeping or if he just didn't want to come down which also wasn't unusual for him since on the weekends he would stay in his room perfecting his stitches. Darius turned to looked at Eberwolf,

"Can you go check on Hunter, I'm going to start breakfast."

Eberwolf growled something under his breath that Darius couldn't understand then made his way upstairs.

***

He knocked on Hunters door only to get no response back, he knocked again only to again, get no response. He slightly opened the door to see Hunter still in bed with the blanket covering his whole body including his head. He walked into the room and made his way over to Hunters bed trying to avoid the mess on the floor. He gently moved Hunters shoulder to try and wake him up. Hunter groaned in pain and told Eberwolf to go away. Eberwolf could barely make out the words but when he did, he hesitantly turned around and left to go downstairs.

***

"Is he up?"

Eberwolf shook his head and pointed upstairs.

"He told me to go away, and he sounded like he was in pain or something"

Darius looked at him confused then at the staircase.

"Take care of the food, I'll go check on him."

***

When Darius got to the room the door was halfway open because of Eberwolf. He still bothered to knock since he knew Hunter cared a lot about his room since it had become his safe place. He got no response from Hunter, so he decided to come in after 3 mins of waiting outside. He walked toward Hunters bed and moved his shoulder just like Eberwolf had done before.

"Come on Hunter wake up breakfast is almost ready."

Hunter didn't respond even though he was awake. Darius moved his shoulder again.

"I'll be down in a minute just leave me alone."

He accidentally said it a bit louder than he expected which Darius took notice of since Hunter didn't usually raise his voice at him or in general. He also noticed how raspy and weak hunters voice sounded. He chose to respect his decisions and exited the bedroom.

***

5 mins later hunter wabbled his way down the stairs somehow making it to the round kitchen table without falling over. He sat down with his head in his hand, gazing at the plate of food in front of him with Eberwolf to his left and Darius to his right. Darius looked at him intensely as Hunter started to pick and play with his food while Eberwolf was somehow almost halfway done.

"Good morning little prince"

"Good morning"

He said it without moving his gaze from the plate of food in front of him.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were having trouble walking down the stairs."

Darius continued to look at hunter while he placed a spoon full of food in his mouth. Hunter looked up at Darius then back at his plate of food.

"I'm just tired from practice yesterday that's all."

"Your voice sounds sore, do you want me to make you a tea?"

"No, I'm okay"

Eberwolf finished his plate and made his way to the sink while Darius and Hunter stayed eating at the table.

"I'm not very hungry, I'm going to my room."

Hunter had only eaten slightly more than half his food and didn't wait for a response to get up. Hunter wabbled his way over to the sink then the staircase trying his best not to fall over.

***

(Around an hour or two later)

Hunter was in his room sitting on the side of his bed practicing his stitches when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in"

Darius walked in and sat next to hunter, he looked up at him with confusion.

"Am I in trouble???"

"No, I just wanted to check in with you."

"Oh...okay"

"How are you feeling?"

"good... why?"

"You looked really pail this morning and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Oh, well I'm fine, you don't have to worry."

"You still look pretty pail, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yea I'm sure..."

Hunter looked back down at the needle in his hand trying not to make eye contact with Darius.

"Can I touch your forehead?"

Hunter wanted to say no but instead nodded slowly hoping his forehead wasn't too hot for him to notice his fever.

"geez kid you're burning hot!"

Hunter didn't look at Darius trying to ignore what he had just said.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a fever?!"

"I'm fine it's just a cold"

"You're not, you're seriously sick."

Darius had a worry expression on his face and Hunter was starting to feel guilty for making him worry about him.

"I'm sorry to make you worry about me but I can handle it, I've been worse when I was the golden guard and I still went out on missions"

"Yes, but you're not the golden guard anymore and it's not healthy."

"It's fine, I'll be better by tomorrow"

"And what if you get worse?"

"Then I'll just deal with it like I used t-"

Darius pulled Hunter into a hug causing him to freeze but then calmed down knowing he was safe and hugged Darius back with tears streaming down his face. After a while Darius pulled back and placed his hands on Hunters cheeks wiping away his tears since he still had the needle and thread in his hands.

"Sorry I should have asked before I hugged you"

"it's okay, I know I'm safe here"

Darius couldn't help but smile since even after months of Hunter living with him and Eberwolf he rarely left his guard down. Hunter ended up falling asleep on his shoulder which he didn't mind since he was just happy Hunter was getting rest.

After an hour Darius moved hunter to a pillow since he and Eber had to go out to do their weekly grocery shopping and to buy Hunter medicine.

***

(At the market)

"Do you think Hunter would prefer vanilla or chocolate?"

"Idk"

"I'll just buy both"

"You should buy some tea we don't have much left at home and hunters probably going to need it."

"that's true"

Darius grabbed the tea from the shelf and placed it in the cart next to the vanilla and chocolate flavored yogurt.

"Can we get apple blood?"

"Uh sure and while you're at it get some griffin eggs, I'm going to call hunter to see if he's okay"

"He's not answering, he's probably still asleep"

"The more rest he gets the better but we should probably hurry up"

"You're right."

***

Hunter had woken up from his nap about 25 mins ago to the crow tapping on his window which left a message from Darius. He started to practice his sewing but was stopped half way by a jolt of pain in his head. He tried to get up but was immediately stopped by another jolt of pain that went through his entire body. He placed his work on the desk and grabbed the pillow next to him curling up into a ball. He heard the front door open and knew Darius and Eberwolf had arrived home from the market.

"Hunter we're home"

Hunter heard Darius even though his door was closed but didn't have the energy to response even though he wanted to. He ended up falling asleep again when Darius later came in to check up on him.

***

(At 2pm)

Eberwolf and Darius were sitting on the couch, Eber was curled up on his best friends' lap while Darius brushed his hair. All of a sudden, they started to hear loud noises come from hunters' room. They looked at each other then back at the top of the stair case where hunters room was located, Eberwolf got off Darius' lap and moved to the empty side of the couch. They made their way out of the living room and up the stairs to Hunters room.

"Hunter you in there?"

no response.

"May we come in?"

no response.

"We're coming in."

He slightly opened the door and waited to see if hunter responded (which he didn't) then opened the door completely. He looked around the teenage boys' room to see it was messier than it was just a few hours ago when he last came in. There were pillows and blankets on the floor and unfinished sewing projects on his desk that weren't there before. He was confused to not find Hunter in his room then he noticed Eberwolf making his way to hunters' bathroom door which was slightly open. When they walked in, they were shocked to find hunter laying on the bathroom floor next to the toilet bleeding from the side of his head.

"SHIT! Eber get me some bandages!"

Eberwolf ran out of the room as fast as possible while Darius stayed with Hunter. He carefully picked up Hunter holding him tight in his arms as he carried him to the bed. Eberwolf returned soon after with their first-aid kit handing it to Darius, he carefully cleaned the blood and disinfected the wound then wrapped the bandages around hunters head to stop the bleeding.

"He's ganna get himself killed one day..."

Eber sat next to Hunter with a sad and worried face as he grabbed hunters' hand to check his pulse while Darius tried to wake up Hunter with no success.

"He's not ganna wake up his heartbeat is too low"

"Is that bad?! Is he going to die?!"

Eberwolf shook his head quickly realizing that he probably should've said that in a different way.

"He's just going to be out for a while"

"How long?!"

"Probably a minimum of an hour to three hours at max"

*sigh*"Thank Titan"

Eberwolf placed his chin on Hunter's chest and closed his eyes while quietly whimpering, Darius noticed and placed his hand on Eberwolfs head causing him to stop whimpering and calm down. They ended up falling asleep on Hunters' bed since neither of them wanted to risk leaving Hunter alone.

(Two hours later)

Hunter woke up not knowing what had happened a few hours ago, he tried to get up but was stopped by a jolt of pain more painful than the ones in the morning. He tried to grab his head but was stopped by someone's hand. He looked up to see Darius sitting next to him and Eberwolf sleeping on his chest.

"It'll hurt more if you touch it"

"What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure but me and Eber found you on the bathroom floor bleeding"

Hunter looked back at Eber and placed his hand on Eberwolfs head causing him to wake up and look at hunter, he smiled then closed his eyes again happy to know hunter was finally awake. Hunter then placed his head on Darius' shoulder,

"Thanks for taking care of me"

"No problem little prince."

______________________End______________________

This is my first time writing fan fiction, I hope you like it and sorry if I made any spelling mistakes

[unfried-mouth-wheat]

More freshly uprooted Cain shenanigans please?

As you wish!

Grimwalkers take about a year to reach the age of their ortet when forming. Cain was "conseived" about halfway through Hunter's formation. Both were extracted early.

When freshly emerged, Grimwalkers usually have a "training" phase that lasts about a week, in which they are at their most malleable in terms of temperament and behavior. Cain, however, was running on frightened Palisman instincts for the entirety of that week. He bit a total of six Coven officials, which include Belos (Only once), Terra (Five times), Kikimora (Thrice), Steve (Once on accident), Lilith (It was more like teething than any actual biting) and Adrian (Bit his tail like eight times).

Training with Eberwolf lasted for years, and even when Cain became one of the emperor's guards, he still has lessons with them once a week.

Cain is dressed very similarly to how Belos did during the majority of his childhood. It's instinctual on Belos' part, rather than intentional.

When Hunter became the Golden Guard at twelve years old, Cain, only six years old, became inconsolable. He was always fearful of losing Hunter, and he thought he might never see him again. He was only brought back to a manageable state when told that he could train to work under him. A year later, the Silver Soldier appeared alongside the Golden Guard.

Belos had attempted to 'muzzle' Cain with the traditional coven scout masks, but they just weren't solid enough. Ultimately, he settled on something he had thought nearly buried. It only made sense that Cain would inherit it, though.

Cain got his own training staff when he was six. It was proportionate to him, and had much weaker magic than regular staffs. He still has it as a memento.

His favorite game is Covens Vs Wilds. Hunter always played the wild witch.

Cain has always had nightmares, and always of the same event.

He tried to explain how he often saw the ghostly figure of a blond man with round ears to Belos once, but was quickly ushered out by Hunter before anything could happen to him.

Cain has scarred Belos, but Belos hasn't scarred Cain.

The castle had to be child proofed for a good amount of years because of Cain's affinity for getting into places he really, really shouldn't be.

He used to call Lilith and Darius "Aunt Lily" and "Uncle Dari".

He literally eats sticks so often it became a concern just how much fiber he was eating.

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Palisman headcannons 2: Because I still Think about These Little Guys

There are 8 palismans in this picture. Only one of them (Flapjack) found a good home in hunting Palismans. They all deserve good homes. Staring at them now though I can think of 7 good witches who don’t have palismans yet and who I could see bonding to these little guys

the little bell sprout thing: Pre-”Hunting Palisman” I was sure that this was going to be Willow’s palisman, simply because it was a plant. But when the Bat Queen explained how palisman bond to witches, and we saw Clover go to Willow, and  it made a lot of sense. So who would connect with this little plant? Darius! He doesn’t have a palisman, and might not want an animal one since animals like to run around, tear up things, and make a mess. But a plant palisman wouldn’t do that. This little plant probably just wants a nice sunny place to relax and look beautiful; just like Darius

Bell Goose: Originally thought this would be Gus’s (silly and loud) but his little Chameleon is a much better fit for him, an birds are a Clawthorne thing. So who is a Clawthorne (or will be one once they marry their love) who does not have a plaisman? Also, who cares about music and being heard enough to form a tight bond with a bird that carries around a musical instrument. I cannot think of a better bird for Raine Whispers. 

Spider Pig: Spider Pig is an unusual animal, part livestock part creepy crawly, and also they appear to be the most beat up of these poor palisman. So they might need special care for their scars and helping them trust again. Livestock, Creepy crawlies, and animals that have been scarred are all animal types we have seen Eberwolf work with. Plus Eberwolf is small and so is Spider Pig so that works because Eber would have an easier time carrying and running around with the little critter.

Mew Cat: So I was right in my guess that Amity’s palisman would be a cat. Wrong in that instead of her adopting Mew Cat she either adopted or carved Ghost at a later time. Ghost and her get along well though, and given Mew Cat’s injuries they probably need someone with a bit more experience taking care of frightened people, and is a little more used to mystery and unpredictability, becaue those elements will inevitably come with it. That can still be a Blight though. Emira Blight doesn’t have a palisman yet. Emira come get Mew Cat

Spiky Porcupine Dog thing (updated): When I first saw this thing I thought of Mattholomule, but I have been thinking about it more and more and I think he might be better match for Edric Blight. My reasons are 1.) I am kinda giving the Blight children bigger paliceman because they seem to deal with some...pretty high-maintenance magic. This will be particlarly true for Edric who is now taking 3 complicayed track tracks. 2.) The more I look at spikes the more I see the same hyper curiosity I see in Ed. Imagine Spike having roles in illusionary shows, hearding other beasts, and running to get potion ingrediance or Emia and Amity when Ed gets a really foolish idea. In conclusion Spike goes to Ed because they could make a dream team.

little hermit crab thing (updated): At first I was going to give this funny little guy to Edric... But after 1.) Learning a bit more about Hermit crabs, and 2.) thinking more about bonds and metaphors I have decided this little guy would actually be better for Mattholomule. Mattholomule’s whole arc is how his magic wasn’t strong at first, he was treated badly for that at his old school, then he came to Hexside and tried to do the same to others, only to realize becoming his bullies didn’t work and finally deciding to be better. Something like that on the Physical scale probably happened to this little Hermit crab. I could see Matty fining it, lettting it crawl on his arm and saying to it “You were a loser in your old life weren’t you? It’s okay so was I, but I am improving”. Then a bond is struck.... Also Hermy would make a really cute playmate for Emmy and the next one.

I have no idea what the purple thing is: I am going to headcannon that Steve adopts it. Steve gets sad when he recounts how Belos confiscated palisman from recruits for the Emperor’s coven. Some people picked up on this and pointed out how it sounds like he may have once had a palisman buddy before, but he was tricked/forced to give it to Belos who later killed it. Steve has been changing though (he is great now) and would no doubt do a better job of keeping a new one safe this time around.

Look I know we are probably do not have time to see any of these witches get palisman, and will most likely never see any of these orphan palisman again. But these little palisman deserve good homes and if Disney cutting the owl house short means Dana won’t have time to do it, then I am going to here. She has said she likes how creative and fun fans ideas can be, so I am going to take that as permission. All these parings happen until the show proves me other wise

[eda-au]

Evil Dadrius Adoption Au

Golden Cage

Darius and Eberwolf kidnap Hunter by luring him to their home disguised as celebrating his promotion to Golden Guard then refuses to let Hunter leave. They eventually successfully manage to manipulate Hunter into willingly staying with them and Hunter develops stockhome syndrome.

Darius starts off as a dark rebel but once Belos is overthrown he makes himself the new ruler of the Boiling Isles and keeps Raine brainwashed to be on his side figuring it better for them to be brainwashed then Darius having to kill them if they turn against him.

Unhinged

Everything is good in the beginning, Darius is your typical doting protective loving father to Hunter and Hunter enjoys every bit of it. Then Hunter dies and Darius is desperate to have his son back to revives him. Darius is frazzled at losing his son but nothing more and they continue having a happy father son relationship.

Then Hunter dies again... And again... And again... Each time Hunter dies, Darius loses more of his sanity and becomes more obsessed and controlling, willing to do anything to keep his son safe and taking care of anything he views as a threat. Hunter begins to long for the time when his father was normal, the good times but he knows it's his fault for not listening to Darius in the beginning and dying so many time.

Cycle of Abuse

Where the previous GG never realized Belos for the horrible person and parent he is and it changes more then you think. Previous GG sees the abuse he suffered as something he deserved to happen to him and what happens to children who are naughty, that's just how things are.

When he adopts a dark skinned baby who appears on his doorstep, Belos goes ballistic and so Prev GG kills him for the sake of his new adopted son. Unfortunately for Darius and later Hunter, that switch of Belos being a bad person and parent was never flicked on and Prev GG chalked it up to him just being too traditional. Prev GG raised Darius much in the same way Belos raised him and so Darius learned to be cruel and cold to most.

When the Prev GG died, Darius got lonely and came across Belos' old instructions on a grimwalker and so Darius creates his own child in the image of his late father to love and adore. With his own child now though he holds similar belief to the Prev GG on child raising he finds he can't bear to do half those things that were done to him to his beloved baby boy so Hunter was saved from most terrors but not all of them. Darius may not be able to bring himself to hurt Hunter in any way but that doesn't mean he won't manipulate Hunter into behaving like a good son should.

Mostly Evil Family

The most fluffy version where Eberwolf and Darius are evil and Hunter's his normal sun Bean self that's absolutely adored by his new father and new uncle. No manipulation or kidnapping took place. Darius just started early and showed Hunter what true love was so when it came time, Hunter chose Darius over Belos.

Darius and Eberwolf are perfectly normal to Hunter, doting, protective but just the right amount. Everyone else? Well that's a different story... Hunter knows how they treat everyone else and though he encourages Darius and Eberwolf to be more lenient or relaxed, he figures that's just how things should be.

Multiple Hunters

Darius has adopted three children, Hunter (16), William (13) and Jasper (8), he originally planned to only adopt Hunter but after coming across uncompleted grimwalkers, he felt obligated to adopt the others. The brothers don't like eachother, Hunter thinks Jasper is too childish while William is too uptight, William is tired of having to take care of Jasper and seeing Hunter getting all of their father's love and Jasper sees William as the bossy mean older brother and Hunter as someone pompous and smug asshole. Doesn't help they are jealous of eachother as well. Hunter envies his brothers freedom and no rules, his brothers envy the love he gets.

William and Jasper look like the beta designs of Hunter but with the trademark magenta eyes and pointy ears.

Have questions? Feel free to send some asks in! They are open! Just make sure to specify which AUs you want talked about!