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nixxx11 · 3 years

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So...we know that Luz was seen by most people as an outcast and a weirdo in the human world, according to what we see of her time there.

I think a large part of what makes her so quick to help others and express affection is that she's never had that outlet.

It's funny to see her share a dance with Amity and tell her “it’s what friends do” but it’s also kinda sad and understandable?

She'd been friendless for a long time, like Amity. Luz might not have had as much internal trauma as Amity before coming to the Isles, but I think she’s so eager to give love to others because she hasn't been able to enjoy that in the past. It's so much fun for her to finally be able to have friends to love and help.

It's why she has a hard time comprehending romantic signs from Amity-

Luz blushed back in Escaping Expulsion because Amity spoke to her through her own way of love- taking risks and helping others. That's Luz's love language; when Amity returns that favor, it's easier to reciprocate.

In previous episodes...Because helping others was merely a way of expressing her love, Luz didn't connect it back to having a possible crush on Amity. Luz's love language is shown in almost every episode with conflict (with Eda, Willow, Amity, etc). Her determination to succeed often makes her overlook potential risks and signs. Luz’s desire to befriend Amity goes beyond her Azura fantasies.

It’s why Lumity wasn’t able to work in that way before-

As a result of Luz and Amity's different love languages, they weren’t able to realize that their crush was reciprocating their love. They understand love in two different ways.

Also, this was probably the first time she had any friends. It’s exciting; so why not make more, right? Having connections with others is so important to her. Luz likely hasn't had a crush on anyone who she could actively call a friend, so any feelings of romantic attraction simply seem to be kind, platonic affection to her. It’s the only actual love she’s ever known. And as Dana already mentioned, she had lots on her mind, such as Eda's curse or her conflict about sharing the truth with her mother.

She’s thrilled with having friends that care about her, which is why she has trouble distinguishing platonic and romantic feelings. Luz is affectionate in general, so her obliviousness is understandable. Another important thing to note is that Luz could also be self conscious. What does she really think of herself? It’s possible that she thinks too highly of Amity (among the first things she learns about Amity is her high academic and social standing) to suspect that she would be interested in Luz.

We’re talking about a girl (platonically or romantically) has been rejected her whole life. Think about it. Her lack of friends back home makes it difficult for her to adjust to people being friendly and accepting of her. Adding someone being romantically interested in her on top of that? If I was Luz, even even I would struggle to comprehend it. Luz never had an outlet for receiving affection in general- even friendship is something she’s still discovering. That’s mainly why she doesn’t pick up on Amity’s crush.

Luz's kindness is unconditional. She doesn’t help others expecting a reciprocal reaction from them in any way. Aside from that, she's seen Amity's parents and is aware of their standards for who Amity is allowed to associate with. She’s also seen that Amity is willing to push that limit if they hurt her friends.

Initially, Luz was the one who befriended and helped Amity. Luz being taken aback and blushing in Escaping Expulsion was the result of Amity reciprocating that. Returning her act of service.

While Luz has struggled as much as Amity, it's less obvious because she's always been so bubbly and happy, she's that character who gets swept away by her radiant personality and jumps over the shadows. Amity is the opposite.

“That’s what good friends do.” Having Luz offer a dance under the blanket of friendship is her way of being able to help someone she genuinely cares about; it's also a way for Amity to justify the dance to herself. And to help Amity cope with rejection. We all know who Amity actually wanted to ask out- But Luz is probably still under the impression that Amity was rejected by someone else.

Luz indulges in others’ fantasies (King’s requests, dancing with Amity, helping Willow, Amity and Eda, etc) partly because she herself has fantasized about things a lot, but never got the chance to live them out. The thrill of living the fantasy she's always imagined is what made her want other people to experience it too. This is also one of the reasons Luz is so kind. Knowing what it's like to have her interests downtrodden, she knows how good it feels to be loved by others.

Love is touch for Amity, not service. I'm not going into that, but it's obvious that Luz's touch makes her blush and physically react. WILW was basically Lumity trading love languages - Amity rushed to go talk to Willow and Gus to help Luz, and played the game with her and Willow despite it meaning destroying her social status. And despite her “weak nerd arms” Luz offers to carry Amity to the nurse when she’s hurt.

Also, Luz and Amity are literally inseparable- Luz is always helping her out. Even if the love was rivalry at first, it still kept them actively thinking about one another. In Covention, we get to see Amity's depth and the reasons behind her behavior in I Was A Teenage Abomination. Luz immediately tries to befriend her after the duel.

Intimidation was the way Amity kept her place and hid her weakness.

But suddenly, here’s the girl she was deliberately mean to, trying to build a genuine relationship with her to gain her trust. When she realizes that Luz isn't as she thought and, regardless of her generally wacky attitude, is willing to put in her best and succeed, she accepts the friendship.

Lost in Language is another important episode where they continue to build trust. That’s where Luz sees a different side of Amity and wants to know more. To do so, she tries to better understand her, and in the process, they get captured and need to work together to get out alive. (Unrelated, but I’ve always imagined that this is the episode Amity started developing her crush on Luz lol)

Throughout every shared episode they have, there's some sort of growth. First, we have Luz offering her book about Good Witch Azura so they can discuss their interests further. Then Adventures In The Elements- she accidentally endangers their friends, so she takes it upon herself to help Amity save them. Despite Amity's protests, Luz basically does whatever she can to ensure that she helps. There’s Luz expressing her love language to the fullest. Throughout Understanding Willow, Luz also tries to help Amity correct Willow's memory, and other than the moment in the room, Luz isn’t angry with her. Instead she understands her mistake, and tries to encourage Amity. And then of course, Enchanting Grom Fight, where Luz offers her a dance just to make her feel better about rejection.

She's repeatedly gone out of her way for Amity, whether it's picking her up books, carrying her, or fighting Grom for her, it's evident she'd do anything for her.

The reason Lumity wasn’t working, traces back to their two different love languages. After WILW, the next episode with these two is Escaping Expulsion- in which Amity decides to openly disobey her parents out of love for Luz. And something finally happens. First time we see Luz blush over Amity's actions. Now that they've both learned more effective ways to communicate, we're seeing lots of progress. Only lack of communication was the reason Luz wasn't able to tell Amity was into her (besides the other things on her mind like Eda's curse). Amity wasn’t anywhere close to confessing and the idea wasn’t even consciously there for Luz.

Now that they're developing a better understanding of each other, Luz is finally realizing and reciprocating and Amity is becoming more comfortable around her.

(I want the library episode so badly rn)

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sepublic · 4 years

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Understanding Willow!

Big surprise- ANOTHER great episode!

You know what, let me just try to process what happened, by going through the beginning and from there! Firstly, it’s funny that the show confirmed that Amity is only tolerating Boscha and Skara at this point (and I guess some of those other friends), and she’s making it pretty clear to them as well- At BEST, her expressions are neutral around them! Honestly, Boscha and Skara’s parents being friends with Mr. and Mrs. Blight makes sense, it’s messed up but not surprising that they’d use their kid to try to establish connections with OTHER families! I have to wonder what Boscha and Skara’s parents are like… We know Boscha’s mom is, well…

Also, I was wondering why Dana confirmed Skara’s name, and now we know- It’s because she’s slightly plot relevant in this episode! I love the details of the literal butterflies being converted into birthday invitations, that’s always neat… Apparently Skara is also considered ‘popular’, too? Anyhow, I also noticed that the one girl in the Healing Track with glasses, who was also at Amity’s Moonlight Conjuring, got the haircut we saw Matthieu Cousin draw her with! THAT was a neat little easter egg! We also see a young Bo with Boscha at some point, and this is super-pointless… But would their ship-name be BOscha? Boschabo? Bo squared?

Gus’ little B-plot was pretty funny, and I’m glad we’re getting more interactions between the cast now! I love the callback to Sense and Insensitivity, with Not-Dana/Tiny Nose being ‘missing’ ever since her deal with Piniet… I can only imagine what happened there! Honestly, there’s not much for the dude to squash into a cube, but you get the idea! Eda and King competing for Gus’ interview was also hilarious, and DANG IT KING, answer the question- WHEN were you born, I know a couple of people, myself included, who are VERY interested in this answer…! I suspected Hooty would be chosen and I was right, but also not surprised, when Gus quickly regretted his decision! But hey, at least Hooty is happy!

(Also, that Eda dance.)

Luz is such a dork as always, loudly declaring that she’ll stick her face into something random, and then just going NYOOM when Inner Willow chucks her in- I wouldn’t have her any other way, and I love that we have ANOTHER picture of her when she was younger! Season 1B just keeps giving… Although let’s be real, it’s an extension of Season 1, and THAT gave us this entire show and Luz to begin with!

Onto the meat of this episode! First off… WILLOW’S DADS ARE GAY! Honestly didn’t see that coming, but I love it and I wish we got to see more of them! I’m also interested to see which dad (assuming it’s not both) has a Magic Staff, and if it has a Palisman, but that’s another discussion for another day! I WANT MORE WILLOW AND HER LOVING PARENTS, dang it! Parents who put her in Abominations but also still mean well and have Christmas morning with her! I want to see Willow’s house and life at home, dang it! I want to MEET her parents properly, see them react to Luz!

YOUNG WILLOW AND AMITY! YOUNG WILLOW AND AMITY! That’s just adorable… I love their little memories together, and the egg-pit gag was hilarious! It’s also super-minor but I adore that we got a cameo from the librarian during their past memories as well!

Inner Willow, though… At first I thought the flame-being was just, like, the incarnation of Amity’s spell. But then Eda mentioned the Inner Willow, and was like, OHHH… Oh boy. She was out for BLOOD, too! Angry Willow is pretty terrifying, but rightfully so- I’m glad the show didn’t shy over her anger and her genuine grievances with Amity! That had to have HURT, being on fire, but at the same time you can tell that Willow also genuinely wanted to burn her memories with Amity, too… Oof. How many years of pent-up rage and grief, manifesting, before spilling over at this final straw of being burnt? Amity is thematically associated with Fire, which burns plants, and her last name literally refers to a plant disease! You can tell just how BADLY Willow has been hurting on the inside, possibly even hating herself in the process, and I...!

You know, I doubt there’s any substantial connection between Willow and Belos beyond this, but I think it’s interesting to see that they BOTH have glowing green eyes- It’s interesting that such characters are shown (or at least implied) to be powerful, and now I can’t help but imagine Willow meeting Belos, and Willow going HAM for her friends… I wonder if the glowing eyes are a sign of being emotionally repressed, until it all just comes flowing outwards? Given how Belos values control, this may also apply to himself as well… Anyhow, I adore Willow’s friendship and love of Luz though, she has NOTHING against her and I love how even after almost losing her mind she still jokes with her! Willow’s got that scary side, but she’s also sweet and I love the show acknowledging how gangly Luz can be!

Amity! Looks like her dad got to have a voice, after all! Not much to her memories (Makes sense, we’re going into Willow’s here), but we clearly had insightful character moments! I have to wonder, did Amity know about how destroying the photos would destroy the mind as well? We don’t know if she’s in Photo Class and if she knows about the Memory Tweezers, so who knows? Either way that was NOT cool…

Honestly, I like that the show doesn’t shy away or forget what Amity did to Willow! I love Amity with all my heart, but I was definitely anxious to see how these two felt about one another- I had a feeling that Amity may not have totally gotten over her issues and still felt a little harsh towards Willow, which makes sense! She’s a flawed, messed-up character with her own problems. But speaking of problems…

DANG, her parents really made Amity get rid of her friend, on her own BIRTHDAY?! Jeez, at least wait until tomorrow at least… And not a big fan of them apparently deciding Amity’s guest list for her, it’s like they’re using their kid as a means to heighten their social status! Not that I’m shocked, I’ve already suspected this, but c’mon. I wonder how Emira and Edric felt about the whole thing with Amity breaking ties with Willow- Were they concerned for Mittens? Did they know about the parents threatening Willow, or to them did their little sister just suddenly become so cold and distant? I can only imagine how harsh Mr. and Mrs. Blight could be to them, but the twins seem a lot more independent and self-assured; It helps that they have each other!

ALSO, Amity is in the Owl House for the first time! She gets to see how weird the shenanigans are, and I love how she makes the choice to enter a wanted criminal’s home to fix what she did wrong! I really have to wonder what went on in her head, when she chose to burn that photo of her and Willow… SUPER MESSED UP, of course, and I love how Eda just unapologetically gives Amity flack for it! But at the same time, I wonder if that moment was Amity’s greatest regret… It’s unlikely, but perhaps there was the tiny hope in Amity’s heart that if Willow forgot (assuming that was the intention), maybe they could be friends again? Again, not likely- What is more likely though is Amity not wanting Luz to think badly of her and ‘lose’ THAT friendship, but I digress!

Poor Willow… I can only imagine how much PAIN she was in, both beforehand and when her Inner self was on fire! It was cute seeing her young and current Inner Selves interact, but at the same time it hurts because Willow is clearly someone who is used to being quiet and not noticed, and she just bottles up her rage and wrath inside until it manifests! I wonder… Could this be related to her glowing eyes? Could this apply to Belos? I dunno.

I appreciate the detail of Willow and Amity not exactly being willing to be friends again, I half-expected it and it makes sense! Amity clearly regrets what she did, it wasn’t her choice to begin with and she partly did it to protect Willow (Seriously, Mr. and Mrs. Blight were going to abuse their power to RUIN Willow’s education, what the heck?!) but she still let Boscha and Skara bully Willow. I’m glad she apologized for it, it shows a lot of growth on her part… It’d have been easy for Amity to blame her parents for what happened (and she wouldn’t even be WRONG, either) but she still owns up to not only her mistake of burning the memories, but just in general of being apathetic to Willow’s plight!

(Unrelated but I appreciate the Azura poster in her bedroom)

Overall- A fascinating episode, as expected! I did have issues with DisneyNOW constantly cutting the episode off with its Error symbol… And recently, every time the Error thing shows up and I click back in, instead of resuming the episode as always, the website is now forcing me to watch a few ads EVERY SINGLE TIME- I had to watch, like, seven times the ads I normally would have! Near the end it got pretty bad too, although I suspect this is because a lot of people are watching the episode! And I know it only became available at 2:08 AM or so (yeah I was EARLY and checked) but let’s be real here- We’re ALL pulling all-nighters for this show!

(I mean, I didn’t, I slept and woke up at the most convenient time without meaning to, but you get the idea.)

I didn’t touch on it as much earlier, but I love Luz’s whacky antics (or should I say shenanigans?) and how Willow and Amity are just… USED to it at this point! Willow totally expects Luz to try to repair her friendship with Amity, her kindness is just so well-known at this point and she’s so unconditionally well-meaning! Luz could’ve easily relegated the task of fixing Willow’s memories to Amity, who caused the problem- But her friend was at stake! And yeah she also wanted to experience Willow’s memories too, but still.

Honestly, with how much Luz is willing to do for both of these girls, it’s no wonder they love Luz so much! And with Enchanting Grom Fright up next… Even if there is no ‘declaration’, I can see their being the beginnings of a certain crush… for Amity, Luz is an anomaly who came out of nowhere but offers her unconditional love and support and has been changing her life for the better!

#the owl house #owl house #the owl house willow #the owl house amity #amity blight #the owl house luz #luz noceda

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Star Vs: Monster Bash Review or “Holy Shit Concentrated Into An Episode”

Hello everybody! I’m Jacob Mattingly and welcome back to my tom lucitor retrospective, where I go through every major apperance of everyone’s faviorite demon boy boy. In case you watch my schedule or reguarlly read this blog, and if so thank you.. especially you Kevin your a peach, you’ll know this one got pushed back two weeks because the day it was scheduled.. was the day AFTER the US Capitol Insurgency. So yeah an episode HEAVILY dealing with racisim, with a downer ending and a lot to dig into on the same day a bunch of racists stormed the captail to try and illegally keep another racist in office due to his bullshit claims the electoin was fraud, when it wasn’t he just can’t admit he lost, and their own idocy, violence and hatred was not something I could handle that day and I did some mickey mouse instead. But while the effects of said riot are still being felt, and unlike many republicans are saying we shouldn’t just “move on” or “try to heal” because the wound needs to be properly examined so the people who carved our country open with a rusty knife can be prosecuted for it, enough time has passed that I can get back on the horse and eat that horse when it comes to this episode. Also expect new tomtrospective weekly with some exceptions till it’s done. So with the real world reasons for the delay out of the way, on with the show. Previously on Star Vs: Star had a full subplot dealing with her super powered mewberity form, which was now golden and creating bunches of portals. While she wanted to just let it go loose on Eclipsa’s suggestoin, eventually it caused too much damage and Hekapoo was livid when Marco revealed he’d been covering for her and Star, realizing her friend was running himself ragged and ruined a friendship to help her, went to the source of all magic to fix things, metting the baby unicorns and with thier help gaining control over her form. While she does not use it given she JUST got it before this episode, it’s very relevant and makes her come off very stupid but we’ll get to that

In more directly relevant stuff, and our main event, we need to talk about Ms. Henious. Ms. Henious was introduced all the way back in Season 1 as head of St. Olga’s School for Wayward princsesses. She’s voiced by Jessica Walter, aka Malory Archer, Lucille Bluth and .. Fran Sinclair from dinosaurs?

I’ll process that later. Point is she’s a talented lady and voiced Henious perfectly. Henious ran the school as a nightmarish hellhole that stripped away princsesses indviduality when they became too much for their parents. Granted some did genuinely need to be reigned in, Pony went there and so did princess squishy a princess that tried to reinact the plot of face off despite her and star not even being the same species let alone looking remotely similar.. she also liked to say camera phone a lot despite all phones being camera phones for over a decade.

But again like most reform schools it’s a hell hole dedicated more to beating and psyihholically tourturing the rebel or asshole out of you than actually helping so Star and Marco broke in to break out. It naturally was difficult and strenious but in the process our heroes freed the other girls and Marco became feminsest icon Princess Marco. And Marco’s possible gender fluidity, or being trans, was well loved and while he was later said to hate the princess marco idntenity later.. I still dont’ quite buy it and feel Disney just wanted to nip any implications in the bud. Because their stupid and often non-inclusive to the queer community and have to be fought to get inclusivity in there half the time. Could’ve been clumsy writing and the writers not getting people really relating to marco possibly being gender fluid or trans, which given this season’s clumsy writing with marco in general I could buy, but i’m banking more on disney, where one executive can somehow stonewall gay representation because apparnetly one guy was the one who objected to enchanting grom fright.. and he can also go fuck himself with an old rhino’s horn. Which horn is up to you. Also we got two major hints at the future iwth her: a creepy mural star found of monsters and Henious being revealed to have cheek marks she supressed with her very own brainwashing machine.

Our heroes revolution had uintetional side-effects as St.O’s became a party school, though it’s students actually still came back better for the moast part. Henious was thrown out, reduced to sleeping in her car with her manservant gemini and sending Rasticore, a septarian mercinary afer star.. and then carrying his arm around when he got reduced to that.. not because of star but because of a rogue gift card. We don’t have time to unpack that, so she later tried attacking one more time in season 2, in one of the single worst episodes of the series, as she attacked and Marco’s Parents, instead of being concerned about the strange woman and man and lizard man arm attacking thier children, were more concerned about.. tehir cool neighbors. which could’ve been funny but just got frustrating, especially because Marco defended himself well, pointing out while he trashed her school, and gets merchandising rights from princess marco merch, she you know, brainwashed innocent to semi innocent children and was in general horrible and his parents are only humoring her because they were both out of hte loop, which due to this being shortly before star and marco leaves amounts to nothing, and because of the stupid plot.

So after that we got one more apperance in season 3 with her trying to expose marco as a boy to turn the princsses against him and get her school back.. but it was clearly a desperate and flimsy plan and they knew that already, and don’t care because their accepting. And again have done better without her so she gets thrown out and swore revenge on Marco, and here we are. Finally, since returning Star’s been more active in monster rights, replacing their old batshit insane and patronizingly racist expert with Buff Frog and starting a position to get royal signatures. Obviously this dosen’t sound like the most effective way to do things but it’s both teenager accurate and not the worst plan i’ve heard from a teenager this week.. granted that’s also because I covered a teenager trying to win back her good for not a lot 23 year old boyfriend by stabbing his current girlfriend he left her for a bunch, so it’s not exactly a high bar to clear. So outside of the golden form thing, which i’ll get to in the review proper why I brought that up, that’s what’s all built up to this the mid season finale. While Stump Day DID come after this, I chose to cover it before it since it both takes place before that and feels out of place in the very story heavy episodes after it. So with that out of the way we’ll be taking a look at the full episode and Star’s horrible, no good, very bad night under the cut.

We open at the Monster Temple, that place Ludo and Toffee were headquartered at for season 2 and the battle of mewni mini, where Star is holding a PARTY!

This.. this came up when I typed party. I don’t know why and I don’t WANT to know. I mean party is in the name.. is that a party line? Is this phone sex? No.. just no.. I don’t want dirty sweaty pigs in my phone sex.. I want Rocko like a gentlemen.

Now THAT’S hot. And honestly with what i’ve admitted about myself at this point, can you genuinely tell if i’m joking or not? Point is Marco and Rich Pidgeon are pitching in. Oh yeah those of you who didn’t get this far in the series, again hi kevin, might wonder wait whose that... well he’s a rich pidgeon, part of the pidgeon kingdom a kingdom of pidgeons that moved into another family’s castle, presumibly killed them, the book wasn’t specific on that and is now just a large bunch of pidgeons that don’t talk human except rich and get all creepy. They also have an excutioner which is as great a visual as you imagine.

That and Marco tried faking singing rich singing it by shving a pien in his foot and making him sign it.. he didn’t know he was fully sapient but still. But it’s also season 3 marco. The fact he didn’t accidently burn the castle down trying to impress star and being mad when she wasn’t happy he comitted arson is an achievement. Rich apparently holds a grudge but says just kiddng.. maybe.. i’d be prepared for a pidgeon with a machete if I were Marco. Thankfully i’m not.. I mean I hate myself enough.

Anyways the party is in full swing, as both monsters and mewmans are there. On the mewman sides are the royals we met at the Silver Bell Ball and on the monster side are a bunch of monster teens who look up to star we previously met during the Ludo arc in season 2. Pony arrives bringing a photo booth. And kelly!

And also Johnny Blowhole...

That dolphin what showed up a few times, including in the comic and the show, like most of it’s supporting cast, just sorta forgot. Also was going to be my porn name, just in case till it ended up attached to a fictonal teenager. Did.. did not think naming a character “blowhole” through did they?

Anyways the party is at “middle school dance” levels of awkward with the monsters and humans on other sides. Rock seems to be getting ready for a racist tyrade and singles out a yak like monster.. only to instead compliment the guy’s ripped jeans and the two compliment each other on horns... turns out the ones Rock always wear aren’t decorative but part of him due to a boating accident. Shame we never got more of this kid. that’s a good kid I tell you what. But honestly and since the moment is right given their all in this episode.. we never get a lot of the other royals outside of tom and star PERIOD. While Penelope would show up one last time and Larry would make a cameo for the most part their just.. background filler. Even this pettitoin arc was two episodes long. Rich is BRAND new and he gets way more focus.. and even he only gets to show up again for the big “Gondor calls for aid moment” in season 4 where star summoned whoever she could get on short notice. And is the ONLY royal to besides Ponyhead. Larry has an intresting enough design but the underwater kingdom only got featured in the deep trouble tie in comic that got cut short, and he wasn’t created yet so he doesen’t even show up for it. Jagg’s is such a footnote to the creators she dosen’t ever show up after this, and finally Rock, despite being star’s COUSIN and despite his kingdom being specifically mentioned as the hardest to make sympathetic to eclipsa during her own entirely ignored arc trying to win over the other kingdoms, and despite it being where River comes from and thus possibly providing some more insight into that awesome, awesome man.. we get nothing. Hell the Cloud Kingdom of the Ponyeheads ONLY gets two visits despite being home of one of the main cast.. god I just realized Ponyhead was part of the main cast.

So while I grapple with that, Star figures the punch is too warm and while Marco goes to get ice, she tries to remind him she can do magic and accidently puts it in your standard cartoon ice block.. and being star gets her tounge stuck. Thankfully her savior comes in the form of tom who being.. you know.. tom.. can simply melt it down and reminds her he’s been there the whole time. She’s just been a bit distracted with you know, trying to ease centuries of racial tension in a well meaning but ultimately pointless at best and risky at worst, partay. And dosen’t seem to get WHY she dosen’t want to dance.. even if they do have a REALY fucking cute moment where he leans in to kiss her, she catches him on it.. then blows a raspberry into his mouth when he does and smooches him on the cheek a bunch.

But the whole thing leaves him as a grumpus venting to marco and boiling the punch.. though at least Marco gets to use that ice now so silver linings and all that. And when marco tries to explain he tells him he dosen’t “talk politics”

My baby boy.. i’m so disapointed in you. And Marco points out as he leaves “your a prince everything you do is political. “. Which is.. HALF true. I mean tom going to the bathroom or eating a taco or taking his grandpa fo ra walk on his leash so he dosen’t gouge anyones eyes out isn’t political.. but he’s also not wrong that being the half demon half mewman son of two royals, DOES mean tom can come off political and one previous episode which he made a cameo in even had Tom being profiled, with a shopkeep who shoed out another monster kid tried that on tom.. only to realize who he was dealing with and beg for mercy he probably only got because Tom’s trying to be a better person now. And I don’t think i’ts even malcious on tom’s part, tom isn’t the most empathetic guy. He’s nice, he’s sweet, and once he knows you he can be really thoughtful.. but as we’ve seen throughout this retrospective.. empathy is something he’s struggled with. He stalked star because he didn’t see HER side of him creeply and obessively persuing her until Marco got through to him. He missed the point of his therapy assignment, seeing it as a goal to get passed instead of hwat brian intended: for him to geninely make amends with someone he hurt. He didn’t get that while star didn’t, at the time, want to date him ignoring her would hurt her... though that on’es not on him. He’s not a bad guy at all but he’s not at all great at reading people or being selfless.

He’s getting there, stump day showed him put stars needs before Marco’s and not out of any selfish dick measuring contest but because he knew what she wanted and what made her happy, but it’s hard to have empathy for a problem you don’t get how bad it is. To tom it’s just getting stopped once in a while and then having to glower or literally roast someone. To these monsters... it’s a life of being denied a decent standard of living, housing and being treated as a crminal and a beast just for existing. Tom has a fancy castle, loyal subjects, tons of money.. his privlage has insulated him from the real dangers of being the minority he is, of getting beaten up by the cops or arrested just for being a monster. And yes i’m using real world paralells.. but so does the end of this episode so shhh. It’s also a moral that hits home since as a white person, the last year has hit me HARD with just how much I didn’t know about the racial situation in america and how complacient i’d become. I wasn’t actively racist.. but like many americans I had the bad tendency to forget the horrible things that happpend on a daily basis to people of color in this country when it got out of the news. Privlage can blind you, and I cannot speak for if it does so for any real life minorties as i’m not touching a subject i’m not qulaified to talk on due to being super white with a ten foot pole, but I can speak for me that sometimes you just.. dont’ notice a problem unless i’ts happening to you. And while it has happened to tom it’s such a minor inconvience he probably just forgets about it and moves on. And these next two episodes with him, though we have some plot stuff to get too before we get back to Tom in feburary, are him getting his bubble popped and realizing just WHAT Star has been fighting against. And Star’s own privlage will be an issue later.. but we’llg et to that in it’s own time. So while Tom skulks off Rich startles Marco to get him to do his kung fun hand pose “the sword hand dance” and everyone uses it to dance which Marco understandably objects to until kelly asks him to dance. Cue adorable ship tease.. again this is why i’m thrownig in the kelco episode in the next batch: because the trajectory of this relationship eeerily lines up with tom episodes. No sense avoiding the ONE other episode about the ship , especially if i’m going out of my way to cover the Meteora arc on top of it and my other 80 projects. And regular coverage. And comissions. And you get the idea it’s a lot but i’m happy to do it.

Meanwhile we meet Slime, a friendly slime monster who introduces himself to penelope and her massive spider bite... and then drips a bit giving her the wrong impression. Thankfully.. this does not turn into the PG-Rated versoin of BLue from the heathers musical.

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No he just was offering to aloe up her spiderbite, and she’s all too happy to accept since her family never thought about it.. though as we see next season their not against it suprisingly. They are still dicks though. But not racist, though that’s a very low bar to clear and only gives them credit because mewni as a whole is pretty racist when it comes to Monsters. Point is I hate their parents but love these ship as the two share some ship tease and go downstairs.. only to get attacked. Meanwhile, Marco’s getting a goblin dog while being watched by Henious.. who despite Gemini’s objections.. no longer cares about her cheeks as she grins sinesterly and has him play her music, some heavy metal. FORESHADOWING!

Back at the party, Star adreses her public and is all proud and blushy.. till Penelope stumbles in, covered in scars, telling the crowd something took Slime.. and both sides start blaming one another, especially since it turns out a LOT of the monsters have gone missing. So with everything she worked towards and had achieved crumbling, Star calms the crowd and says she’ll investigate. Outside Marco is getting a goblin dog with roy, and wondering why he has strawberry, who orders a strawberry.. who wants that? And then decides to get one out of curiosity which I would but i’m also fat and love strawberries so i’m not a beacon of good decisionmaking.

So Star grabs him before he can roll that metaphorical dice and passes tom who tries to downplay her concerns and get her to go make out, thinking that’s what’s going on despite that.. making no sense, as a ton of them are missing and 6 is a bit much for polyamory.. I mean it works for some people

But not everyone can be a majestic space grandma whose also a caterpillar. And their too young to orgy so that’s out too. Point is Tom is an idiot this time and Star RIGHTFULLY calls him out for belitting her cause, not really caring about it, or the other teens who are in danger right now from god knows what and tells him to either help or get out of the way.

So while Tom licks his well earned wounds, Star and Marco journey into the depths and find a campsite with fresh dog eared pages indicating whoevers behind the abudictions is not only sapient, but still here... oh and it somehow gets worse as they find out WHOSE behind it.

And a second question you might be having: Who dis. Well this is Mina Loveberry, solarian warrior, whose a legend in Mewni and was one of star’s childhood heroes who she found wondering around homeless and clearly not mentally well in the park on earth.. and then tried to conquer it, but the electoral process stopped her... I don’t know why but a half crazed maniac being defeated by due electoral process makes me feel all warm and fuzzy right now, on this specific day this is coming out late on. Hmmmm.. INTERESTING aint it?

Point is Mina is a super powerful, super not in her right mind super warrior, who is naturlaly the kidnapper, as this episode also reveals she’s violently racist and assuemed something was up and whiel Star, who despite said cou still loves and respects her and gets she’s not well, tries to talk her down it increasingly becomes clear there’s no reasoning with her. And really with most racists.. there isn’t. Racisim isn’t something that’s rational and while some people are just indocrinated at a young age and CAN be turned around on it.. some are just so deeply up their own ass with hatred you can’t reason with them or save them. You just have to stop them. Via impeaching them, making sure they get called out and taken out of office.. or in this case using rainbows on them. But we’ll have to wait a second as a bunch of debris falls on mina taking her out!

.. Only to reveal Henious and while Marco’s willing to fight her and her posse, Raasticore grabs star and henious hooks him up to the brainwash machine, probably planning to kill him with it while playing the music

But before she can kill or do worse to one of our heroes.. the door behind them opens up.. and reveals a child’s play room.

And Henious.. gives up on the attack and enters, disturbing Gemini as she looks around in what’s easily one of the best scene sin the entire series: her slow walk, the way the animation follows her as it sinks in just what Metora might be.. and her picking up two dolls, the ones seen above.. her dolls to Gemini’s increasing discomfort. And while the animation is stellar and utterly moving as we slowly put the pieces together... it’s Walter’s delivery that REALLY STUNS.Gone is the harsh, unforgiving nightmarish woman we’ve known.. and instead is someone whose confused.. and remembering. Remembering WHY she has those cheek marks, remembering this was her room, her home.. and those were her parents. She remembers now.. and Mina rises to say of course she did “I knew you’d be back here one day meteora!” And as Gemini tries to refute this.. Meteora agrees with MIna, no longer henious at last freed form her deep and abusive brainwashing we’ll cover soon enough. And deeply confused. And as everyone else is deeply confused... Mina, not realizing this whole thing was covered up, again we’ll get to that soon too, spells it out for them and the audience in case you missed it. When Star asks how Eclipsa plays into any of this? “Don’t you ding dongs know anything? She’s her mamma!” (Marco and Star stare in shock as it sinks in) Marco: “Wait HENIOUS is a princess?!” Star: “she’s a butterfly”

Yeah quite obviously this is one of the biggest wham episodes in the entire series. In one moment we not only find out Henious is indeed a butterflfy as fans thought.. but Eclipsa’s daughter, half monster, and her entire existance raises questions of how much her family hid and if not WHO DID. I mean some of you alreayd know the answer but the rest of you can wait a week.. or a few mintues it’s hinted at soon enough. Point is Star has questions.. questions the violent racist whose pretty messed up in the head for a variety of the reasons and spent decades hunting her.. is not willing to hear out and instead prepares to smite her. While Star tries DESPERATLEY to talk her friend out of this it’s very clear Mina’s not going to listen... so Star rainbow fists her.. and prepares to face her former friend and inspiration for Meteora’s saftey and the answers she BADLY needs right now. Oh and just in case you thought “oh well the magical girl who sounds like amy sedaris can’t be that big a threat”... Yeah I didn’t mention broly for nothing.

Mina bulked up. Meet Solarian Mina. And like the Legendary Super Sayian form from Dragon Ball.. i’ts a beserker of a form that turns the already obessive and insane Mina.. into an unstoppable rage fuled killing machine with horrifying levels of power who can beat down anyone nearbye. And unlike Broly, where he was just a one in a million fluke in both versions... Mina was PLANNED to be this. The solarian program was something Eclipsa’s mom came up with, a series of spells that slowly turn the target into a rampaging super soldier. It’s like if Nuke from marvel comics, a vietnam era version of captain america who dind’t turn out so good, was INTETIONAL;

As you can see it removes fear.. but also the targets concisce, so Mina is incapable of empathy or being cure dof her racisim. Solaria turned her from a humble volunteer just hoping ot help and improve her station into the crazed monster star now faces. And as the Broly comparision should make clear... yeah Star dosen’t do so good and neither does Marco. She shrugs off Star’s hits and while botht he kids and meteora escape, both just piss Mina off MORE, and put star in more danger as she’s thrown around like a ragdoll. She then runs into tom who shows off his growht: While he was a dick up there.. unlike before where he assumed he was always the wronged party.. he realized he crossed a line and while he dosen’t know WHY he did, is still willing to apologize and presumibly talk about it. A bit clueless yes but it’s effort and his tone is sincre so it’s less “I’m apologizing for whatever I guess” bullshit and more “I genuinely don’t know wha ti did wrong please tell me so I can say sorry”.. which given how awkard tom is with people and how I pointed out his trouble relating to them over htis retrospective, is the more beliviable one. Naturally while Star does appricate it she’s kinda busy.. and when Tom see’s what’s going on he leaps in with NO hesitation. And given how close the luictors once were and are again with the butterflies it’s doubtful he hadn’t heard of mina so he likely KNOWS what he’s going up against..a nd dosen’t care. His girlfriend needs his help and this person’s trying to hurt her. That’s all he needs to kick her ass. Or try.. unlike with the z warriors.. our heroes don’t win this one. Tom tries a really cool move i’m dubbing the onyx coffin, a black coffin with runes and chains.. that does nothing to her. She breaks out and our heroes flee and Mina causes a massive ruckuss above, and the only reasons our heros don’t die.. is that the knights and Rhombulus of the high comission arrive. And since the high comission are going to be vastly important a refresher: The high comission were created by glossaryck, the little man who lives in stars book who used to be voiced by an asshole and next season is voiced by keith motherfucking david, to police the multiverse and it’s various issues. The four we know are Lekmet: a goat man who died last season and controlled entropy and could heal at the cost of his own life hence the death, Hekapoo, a close assiocate of marcos who controls the scissors beings use to cross dimensions and can do so herslef effortlessly, Omnitraxus Prime, a powerful and giant antler skulled being who watches space time and timelines and is voiced by Karl Weathers so...

And Rhombulus, a diamond headed he-man reject with snakes for hands becaue his dad is a well documented dickhead.. no really that’s the entire explination i the book of spells: Glossaryck turned his hands to snake to teach him the lesson i’ts hard to get through life with snake hands. He’s a gung ho guy who imprisons the wrost of the worst criminals thus his presence here as Mina clearly had a falling out with the comission and thus flees. So while Star and Tom are given blankets afterwords and some cocoa, Tom comforts her and admits if nothing else.. he gets it now, having been finally faced with the type of horrible shit monsters have had to deal with in the past and sees why his girlfriend tried hard to help it. But Star.. realizes she can’t fix this that easy. That she dosen’t know enough and clearly ther’es even more than she ever could’ve thought possible she has ot know if she’s going to fix this.. and that it’s not an EASY problem to fix. You really CAN’T fix racisim you can just make society better, but you’ll never be rid of people like Mina. Though this arc will.. yeah in one of the more baffling decisions Mina is given this huge reindrocution, with Amy Sedaris showing that while a very funny lady and a very talented actress as bojack had previously shown off for both.. she can be FUCKING TERRIFYING. But nope, she’s just..g one outside of a cameo, gets beatne off screen and dosen’t become big bad for a season. And I get it, the metora arc needed room.. but you had a WHOLE EXTRA EPISODE to have her defeat mina. Inastead you used it for Marco Jr which amounted to almost nothing and could’ve been saved for season 4 wher eit probably woudln’t of been terrible. I”ll get to that one some day. Point is it’s bad storytelling.

So yeah Star’s feeling lost, her family history is in flux, she got beaten badly, not horribly injrued but still lost handily, her party ruined and she was hit with the realization her plans were overly idealistic. Well meaning sure but a party was never going to cure this. Oh and Rhombluus naturally isn’t coming clean about why the temple is off limits or what’s going on here so that dosen’t help. And somehow.. IT STILL GETS WORSE. The Wizard Cops try to take the monsters in , profling them and not having done so and star thankfully talks them out of it but the monster kids turn down any afterparty or anything. They get she means well tbut hte moment’s over. And their not even excesivley sad.. their just.. used to the police treating them like this. Like less than human, like automatic suspects when THEY were the victims. IT’s nothing new... and god does this feel relevant as hell.

And this i where I meant Star’s privlage bites her: While not as bad as tom, it took some very harsh reality for her to see that solving racisim.. is not only nigh imposisble but not that easy. To her it was easy as a party and friendship and what’s worked before in her fairly shelted world. Advetnures or not she’s still a princess whose never experinced prejudice. In both worlds she’s in the majority. It’s probably why Marco conttoned on to monster racism in seconds during “Menipendence Day’ when Star hadn’t her whole life: to Marco, whose latix and thus dealing with all kinds of racist shit his whole life, it was easier to pick it up. He’s firmly part of his culture.. and thus probably firmly aware of the racism he faces. Star is so insulated she just dosen’t get it till it nearly beat her to death. So yeah Star’s at her lowest point, having failed to make things better, the answer to her questions being lost and not sure what’s real. Metora on the other hand as they dodge the cops.. has ascended. As Gemini calls her henious once last time.. she says that’s not her name.

“My name is meteora”

SHe’s been dreaming the wrong dream.. and it’s long past time she woke up.

Final Thoughts; Monster Bash.. is one of the best episodes in the series. Unlike a lot of Seasons 3 and 4 it dosen’t suffer from lack of proper payoff, as the next few episodes deal with how the fuck any of this is happening and why the fuck any of it happened. Mina’s absence nonwithstanding.. this is one of the series best and most gripping arcs. And the swerve is great: you think i’ts Henious doing the kindappings, only for her not to be the threat again just yet. And for her to be something far more. It’s just masterful, starting iwth fun hyjinks and ending in one of the best nad most nightmarish fights in the series if not the best, watching as our heroes slowly but surely LOOSE.. and THEN it gets worse. Out and out a must watch for the series and a sad sign of what it COULD’VE been had it moved past it’s worst insitncts next season and become what i should’ve been. Next week: We take a tom break as Eclipsa nad Mon investigate all of this and we get the SECOND biggest wham episode in the series.

Until the next rainbow, be excellent to each other.

#star vs the forces of evil #star vs #star butterfly #marco diaz #tom lucitor #startom #rich pidgeon #kelly #lilica ponyhead #meteora butterfly #gemini #mina loveberry #slime #penelope spiderbite

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tardisman14 · 4 years

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Enchanting: Chapter 3: A Night to Remember

A novelized version of Enchanting Grom Fright, told from Amity’s pov. A look into what was going through her mind in that episode, with snippets of happenings in-between scenes. Told in 4 parts (3 main chapters, plus the prologue), rated to be safe, and obviously Lumity.

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Bits of final scene and flashback inspired by this tweet (12/28/20 update: screencap because Dana deactivated her Twitter) and this image which was cut from the episode for time

That wasn’t Eda. It appeared to be some kind of human. In fact, Amity could’ve sworn they looked quite a bit like… Luz.

Amity saw Luz start to back up nervously. Was this one of her relatives? What was going on? With all these questions going through Amity’s head, she suddenly heard Grom’s form shout something from the arena.

“...have you been lying to me?!”

All of a sudden, Grom turned into a more monstrous form of whoever this was supposed to be. Lying? What could Luz have been lying about? Could it really be so bad that she couldn’t bring it up during the training session? This was bad. If Amity was reading the look on Luz’s face right, she wouldn’t last much longer.

And she was proven right. Amity saw Luz make a break for the door. And… Oh no. Grom was escaping! All around her, everyone started piling out of the bleachers and went right for the hallway. But Amity was so in shock over what just happened, she was frozen in place.

“Hey, kid! You in there?”

Amity was snapped out of it by Eda, now standing in front of her.

“Come on!”

Amity and Eda started following the others already in the hallway.

“Yeah, that's right, so let's follow them and see what happens next.”

Apparently King and Gus were leading the others to see the rest of the battle. Amity and Eda were still a bit behind, but with one look at each other, they both had the same thought. They had to help Luz, and fast.

Once they made it outside Eda summoned her staff.

“I’m gonna follow them from the air. Try not to fall behind.”

With that, the Owl Lady took to the sky while Amity followed from the ground. Judging by Eda’s current direction, Amity figured that Luz and Grom must’ve been headed for the woods.

As Amity ran towards that direction, her mind was racing. This was all her fault. She LET Luz get involved because she was too scared to face her fear. She KNEW Eda was right about Luz getting in over her head, and she went forward with it anyway. And now because of her, Luz was in danger. All because she couldn’t face the possibility of Luz not reciprocating any feelings she STILL didn’t know whether or not even exist!

Amity had to make this right. She just HAD to.

She made it to the woods, but lost sight of Eda. Just then, she heard some kind of blast and figured that Eda had caught up to them. She went towards the source, and came across the other students and Principal Bump gathered behind some bushes. She went to see what they were looking at and saw Luz, Eda, and Grom several yards in front of them.

Whatever thoughts might have been going through Amity’s mind at that moment, her body started acting on instinct. And right now, it was telling her to protect Luz, no matter how dangerous it might be.

Deciding to act, Amity lept out from behind the treeline and rushed to put herself between Luz and Grom.

“Stay away from her!”

Just then, Grom reached out and grabbed a hold of her. Amity knew what was coming next.

“I'm sorry, Luz. I should have fought my own battle. I-”

Right then, Amity could feel Grom going through her head, searching for what it was that she feared the most. She could barely hear Luz calling out to her. And then, Grom had found what it was looking for.

Amity had felt Grom set her down. When she came to, she had seen that it had transformed into some kind of humanoid form, roughly around age if she had to guess. It reached into her pocket, took out the note, ripped it in half, and crumpled it right in front of her.

And with that, Amity had her answer. And it hurt even worse than she could have imagined. It didn’t matter how vague Grom’s form was. Deep down, she knew exactly who it was supposed to be. And while she knew it wasn’t the real them, she could still feel her heart shatter into a million pieces in that moment.

As Amity picked up half of the crumpled note, she saw Luz run over and pick up the other half. Well, looks like the secret was about to get out.

“You were afraid of getting rejected.”

And when Amity looked up at Luz, she could see her start to… smile?

“Amity, it's okay. What if I went to Grom with you instead?”

Had Luz not seen the half that had her name on it? Whatever the case, Amity started to feel as a weight was being lifted off of her.

“Really?”

“That’s what friends do.”

In all that time Amity had spent that day worrying about the idea of her now-confirmed crush turning her down, she had forgotten about one of things that she admired about Luz the most. Her kindness. All those times. At the covention, the library, fixing Willow’s memories. It was always Luz trying to reach out to her. There was no way she could see Luz deliberately hurting her like that.

With her worries eased, Amity felt a renewed sense of determination flow through her. There was a shapeshifting fear monster that needed to be dealt with. She knew that Luz would be by her side to face it together. And given the occasion, there was only one way she could think of at that moment.

“Well, then, if that's settled, may I have this dance?”

It was now Amity’s turn to reach out to Luz. And Luz seemed more than happy to accept. They joined together, and it was as if something had clicked in that moment.

The two began their dance, taking one step after another. Throughout it all, the two were in perfect sync, never missing a beat. It was like neither one needed to tell the other what to do next. Amity used the routine to cast a spell circle with her feet, rising her and Luz atop a giant abomination. They continued from there, with Luz placing her glyphs on the abomination before they leapt off, sending the abomination into Grom itself. At that moment, the glyphs start to take effect, causing various plants to bloom from Grom’s body. Finally, the two land, finishing off their routine in a flourish as Grom explodes behind them.

In Grom’s place, a tree stood before them. The two look in awe as tiaras appear on each of their heads. They look at each other and smile as, for the first time that night, all felt right.

“Sooooooo.... who did you wanna ask out?”

“Oh, it’s… not important.”

Amity tossed her half of the note aside. As amazing as that moment was, she still didn’t feel like she was ready to tell Luz. Not yet, anyway.

“And there you have it, folks. A happy ending for this year's Grom. Let's give a big hand to our Grom queens, Luz and Amity!”

Well, Amity was certainly caught off guard. She had been so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten there was anyone there besides her and Luz. Right then, the rest of the students and Principal Bump came out from behind the bushes and started cheering the two queens. As the two were lifted up by the crowd and started to make their way back to Hexside, Amity felt on top of the world.

---

Hexside gymnasium,

Not much later

Now that Grom had been taken care of, the rest of the evening went a lot smoother. More students had been dancing than before the main event. The photo line was even longer than before. Everything was going great.

...And then, there was Amity just standing off to the side.

“Hey, kid. Why the party-of-one?”

Amity looked to her side and saw Eda standing next to her.

“*SIGH* I know I should be thrilled that Grom was defeated. But… you were right. Luz got in over her head trying to help me, and she almost got hurt because of it. I should’ve done more to keep her from doing it, but I was too scared to face my own fear to do anything about it.”

There was a few seconds of silence before Eda spoke up.

“Look, don’t be too hard on yourself. Fear can be a powerful thing. Even for most powerful witches, having to face your worst fears can be intense. The importanting thing is that when the time came, you stepped up and were willing to face yours so that Luz would be safe. The way I see it, it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Also, speaking from personal experience these last few weeks, it gets harder and harder to say no to Luz when she offers to help. The kid’s just more endearing that way.”

“Heh, yeah.”

Amity would admit, trying to turn down Luz’s help was getting difficult for her at this point.

“Plus, I won’t lie. You two look rather cute together.”

...WHAT?

“Uh- W-well I mean, I g-guess it WAS a rather impressive dance routine, and I suppose Luz’s outfit COULD’VE been way more unusual than what it already was. But, um… Is it me, or is the room getting smaller?”

“Kid, you can save it. I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at her all night. I’ve seen it plenty of times before with many different people.”

“...Oh.”

So it was that obvious.

“Listen, I’m not gonna tell her if you don’t want me to. That’s your business, so it’s up to you to decide when you’re ready.”

Huh. That’s actually pretty cool of her.

“Although, I will say this. You can’t wait for the right moment forever. ...But for now, I’d say enjoy tonight. Have fun with your co-Grom queen”

At that moment, Eda looked behind Amity.

“Speaking of which…”

“Get in here, Blight!”

Amity felt Luz yank her towards where the photos were being taken. She was so caught off guard, she could feel herself blushing. Right then the photographer spoke up.

“Say ‘Grom Fright!’”

“‘Grom Fright!’”

Amity realized that there were two other voices there that weren’t her or Luz. After the photo was taken, she turned to see that Willow and Gus had managed to get in as well.

Maybe Eda was right. The worst part of the night was over with. Amity should be having fun with her friends. If Luz could be enjoying herself after everything that happened, then so could she.

---

Blight Manor,

Later that night

The walk home that night had been surprisingly quiet. While Amity may have had a lot on her mind then, it was rather jarring to not hear a word from the twins. Although, given what she had heard, she couldn’t really blame them. Apparently their dates had stood them up. While they could be annoying a good amount of the time, she couldn’t help but feel a little bad for them. She was just glad that HER night hadn’t been as bad as she feared it would be.

As Amity made it to her room for the night, she decided to reflect on the evening. The night had certainly been eventful. Not just for her, but also Luz, if that one conversation was anything to go by.

*flashback*

“You really think Willow and Gus will be able to convince Bump to let you back into the dance?”

“We’ll see. Looks like I at least found one thing magic school and mortal school have in common. Otter suits are a ‘no’ at dances.”

“Yeah… Sorry you got kicked out because of it.”

“Eh. I at least got a picture in with it, AND I lasted longer than my last school dance. I still consider this a win.”

“Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it. So, just in case they can’t convince Bump, you want me to stay here until Eda’s done chaperoning?”

“I’d like that,”

There were a few moments of silence. Then, Amity figured this would be a good time to ask about something that had been on her mind since the fight against Grom.

“Hey, there’s something I wanted to ask about. But, you don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Well… I guess it depends on what it is.”

“That last form Grom took when you were going up against it. It wasn’t anything you had brought up while we were training. And from what I saw, you weren’t expecting it either.”

Luz looked uneasy for a moment. Did Amity cross a line? After a bit, Luz gave an answer.

“That last form that Grom took… That was my mom.”

“Your mom? Did something happen between you two? All I was able to hear from where I had been sitting in the stands was something about lying. What did she mean?”

“*SIGH* You know how I can be a bit of a weirdo at times?”

“Um… yeeeeeessss?”

While Amity didn’t like saying it after how close they had gotten, if Luz wanted the truth, she supposed it was only fair to tell her.

“Well, back home, it was starting to become a problem. My mom had decided to send me to a summer camp to help straighten out my eccentric tendencies. While I was waiting for the bus, Eda’s palisman, Owbert, got a hold of one of my Azura books. So I chased him to this old house, which actually turned out to be a portal to the Boiling Isles that Eda had been using.

Eda agreed to send me back if I helped her and King with something. After I helped her, she held up her end of the deal. ...But I decided I wanted to spend some time in the Isles so that she could teach me magic. And the rest is history.

While I’ve still been able to keep in touch with my mom through my phone, I still haven’t told her where I am or what I’ve been up to these last several weeks. I feel bad about having to lie to her, and I know I’ll have to tell her eventually. But, I still don’t know how, when, or even IF I’ll be able to tell her.”

To say Amity was surprised would be an understatement. To think that Luz has been having to deal with this for weeks… No wonder she looked so freaked out when Grom took that form.

“...Wow. I had no idea.”

“Yeah. I know I should have brought it up during training so I could’ve been better prepared. But, I guess I thought that I could distract myself from one big fear with another. Guess we both know how well that turned out.”

It was then that Amity remembered what Eda had said to her earlier.

“Well, as someone rather wise told me, you can’t wait for the right moment forever. Maybe at least start with trying to open up to her a bit more.”

“...yeah, maybe you’re right. Thanks Amity. I felt good to talk about this with someone other than King.”

“Did he have any advice?”

“Well… sort of. But, I think yours was more helpful.”

“Anytime.”

*end flashback*

It really put things into perspective for Amity. If she had been having a difficult time trying to tell Luz how she feels, she imagined that Luz was feeling even worse. She hoped that Luz would be able to work it out somehow.

As she took off her tiara and placed it in her hope chest, Eda’s words ran through her head once more. ‘You can’t wait for the right moment forever.’ Amity knew that at some point, Luz was going to have to leave the Boiling Isles and go back to her realm. She didn’t know when, but she knew that it was certain. How will she know if she’ll be ready by the time that happens? It looked like all she could do for now was make the most of her time with Luz and hope for the best.

But, Amity would choose to worry about it tomorrow. For now, it had been a long night, and she needed to get some rest. As she got ready for bed, she thought about everything that night had been. Intense, nerve-wracking, and scary for sure. But most of all, that night had been… enchanting.

#the owl house #toh #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #luz x amity #eda clawthorne #king toh #willow park #gus porter #edric blight #emira blight #principal bump #enchanting grom fright #fanfiction #fanfic

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womanlalaboy · 5 years

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Lublob #1: Liwaliw sa Liwliwa

My friend, Mina often tells me that it's easier to find a better job, a better company and a higher salary, but it's never easy to find colleagues that you can truly get along with and a boss that genuinely cares about your well-being. I'm lucky to have found colleagues that aren't just professionals but treat each other like family. It also happens that we all share our love for stories and the sea. There was a point where we had to part ways. Most of us had to leave the workplace to venture in different fields, and the rest of us who were left behind were just devastated. Nothing would have compared to every day feeling as if something's missing- that things could have been more fun if we're complete. We've accepted the inevitable change, but we needed something to really start facing whatever tomorrow would bring. I thought of having a quick escape to Liwliwa Zambales as a symbol of our resilience and courage to embrace whatever is ahead of us.

There were a few things I learned in this trip that I wouldn't have fully understood hadn't I experienced them first-hand.

Never underestimate commuting from Imus, Cavite going to Manila. It'll take you ages.

It wouldn't hurt to ask around.

It's not that bad to be scared of getting scammed in the streets while you ask for directions or whatnot, so you better ask as many people as you can until you're satisfied with the answers you've got.

Take advantage of the opportunity to use this generation's technology. You a have a phone? Mobile data? Then utilize Google Maps!

Never underestimate EDSA. It's okay to walk from Heritage Hotel going to the bus terminal only if you're not running late.

Never fully trust your friend who, despite her adult age, still couldn't differentiate right from left.

I just realized that there are still adults who are having a hard time distinguishing right from left. Well, who am I to speak? I only learned how to commute on my own when I had to enter college.

We dropped off at San Felipe around four in the afternoon. We asked around to find a place where we can stay. We chose to let the situation take us to where we're supposed to be instead of planning and reserving for a place to check into. We knew that there weren't many tourists around that time so we calmly walked through the area until we found Kaptina's Liwa.

Right after checking in and fixing our stuff, we went straight to Villa Santos- just across Circle Hostel, a few steps away from Kapitan's Liwa. We were told that they ran out of stock since a lot of tourists swarmed the area the past weekend. There were only a few food options, but we're glad that they're both affordable and delicious. Sulit!

We went back to Kaptian's Liwa and prepared for surfing then walked a few minutes to get to the beach where we saw a few fellow tourists. We almost had the place to ourselves around sunset since the waves are getting bigger and harder to swim. It was pretty hard to look for an instructor and we didn't know where to get one. The caretaker from Kapitan's Liwa told us that we can get lessons with Kila-bot, so we decided to check them out, but before we got to the bamboo walls, we saw a surfer with his long board and we immediately asked if he does lessons or if he knows a place where we could get surfing instructors. While he went to the beach to surf, we're lucky he teaches surfing and was willing to help us out.

He really went that afternoon to the beach to surf. He said he just got back from Siargao where a Surfing Championship was held and he misses home so much that the first thing he wanted to do was surf the waves of Liwliwa. We gave him a few minutes to be reunited with his mother wave and after playing around a bit, he went to call out his fellow instructors. All four of us had the opportunity to ride that afternoon. We had no photos of us surfing, but we did enjoy the massive tide and the spectacular sunset. Charina and I also used hard top single fin mini mals for the first time. We were so used to using soft top long boards in Baler so imagine the anxiety we had to conquer that beautiful afternoon in Liwliwa. Not to mention the waves weren't for beginners at that time. We were the only ones who braved the waves that were eating up the shore.

It's always a nice idea to talk to the locals and hear their stories. My instructor at the time would often watch a grom practicing his shuvs and turns. He told me that there are many kids in Liwliwa who want to learn surfing, but there weren't many opportunities for them or there weren't enough board to surf with, so the elder surfers would often help them with their practice and surfing needs. I also agreed with him when he said that it's better for the kids to get into activities like surfing instead of going elsewhere. Before we get to the shore after our session, he told the grom that he'll give him a shorter board next time he visits Manila. He found someone to sponsor them, he said.

I can say that all the hassle getting to Liwliwa paid off when we got to see the sunset. The one we saw at Liwliwa perhaps was the best I've seen so far. Our surf session started around five in the afternoon- the waves are getting bigger, the sun was setting, and the tide was rising. It was dangerous, the locals said as the waves were eating up the shore, the sea bed was uneven and the waves were crashing against each other almost simultaneously, but all is well since we've got our trusted instructors and that the sunset kept us company. All of us were distracted and kept looking at the horizon. We weren't able to take photos of that magical moment since we were all out surfing and just taking everything in. When we finished the session and the sea calmed down a bit, we sat there by the beach waiting for the nightfall. Only when we decided to go back I remembered to take some snaps.

We went back to Kapitan’s and prepared to go food hunting. Asking around proved to be very beneficial to us since the locals know the place better than we do and it also helped us to connect easily with Liwliwa's people. One told us to ride a tricycle going to Cosmic Pares. Their crew was teaching a few foreign travelers how to speak in Filipino. If you're a Filipino, you already know how things like that hilariously get. Even us couldn't help but laugh with them.

They had many options, but we got ourselves some Beef Mami, Pares, Bangsilog, Sisig and beer. We finished the dinner off with a platter of Chicken Wings. They were trying things out since they just opened their stall so they offered a few samples with us like their Lambanog with lemon and when they were challenging the foreigners to eat Balut, they gave us some as well. If I remember it correctly, they were planning to add Balut sisig to their menu, but I'm not really sure how that worked out.

Cosmic Pares wasn't really that far from Kapitan's Liwa so we decided to just walk back and stop at Villa Santos's to get a few more beers. We had the whole night talking about our frustrations in life, work, and love life. We had plenty of time to cry things out, comfort each other and just breathe- which was really what we came here for.

The night was long, but like everything else, it eventually had to end. The next morning, we took our time preparing for a long day ahead. We chilled out, roamed around, experience the enchanting sound of the wind and watched the dancing of the Agoho trees. After then, we went to the beach as if bidding goodbye. We took a few photos and chilled out by the beach like we're memorizing every curve of the waves and the way the sea touches the shore. When we finally accepted the fact that we had to leave soon, we went back to Kapitan's Liwa to take a bath and fix our stuff- the heaviest and saddest part of visiting Liwliwa.

The entire trip only lasted for about two days and a night- pretty short, but I had the chance to run away from work, get away from the chaos in the city, the noise of the high ways, the foolishness of political news and the dirt in the streets. I had the opportunity to enjoy life with friends in a place that accepted us for who we are, with no judgment, no inhibitions. My soles finally were able to touch the sand again; we were able to eat good food with good company, laugh with people we don't know, got free lambanog, actually got some good rest. I was able to surf again and witness the sun's magical show. Moments like that remind me that there are so many things to be grateful for. Moments like that make me value my life more. Moments like this remind me that despite the chaos, there are still so many things to be thankful for.

What about you- what have you been thankful for lately?

MORE...

Also read: Liwaliw sa Liwliwa: Womanlalaboy's Travel Guide to Liwliwa, Zambales Also read: Womanlalaboy's Travel Guide To Talisayen Cove, Zambales

#travelogues #womanlalaboy #lublob #liwaliw sa liwliwa #zambales #kapitan's liwa #cosmic pares #kilabot sa liwliwa #mommy phoebe's #circle hostel #circle hostel zambales #villa santos #kila bot #travel #travelph #philippines #pilipinas

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tardisman14 · 4 years

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Enchanting: Chapter 1: Royal Announcement

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Hexside School of Magic and Demonics,

Mid-morning

The halls of Hexside were even more lively than usual as students and faculty alike helped set up decorations for that night’s festivities. There was also, of course, various students working in last-minute Grom-posals, ranging for simple to elaborate.

But right now, Amity’s mind was somewhere else. As she made her way towards Luz’s locker, note in hand, she went over the plan in her head again:

Step 1: Write a note to give to Luz asking her to Grom. Done. Step 2: Find the right place and time to give Luz the note. In progress. Step 3: If Luz agrees, go to Grom together. If she’s just happy to be around Luz, strong friendship. If she feels something more, ...she’ll work that out later. Step 4: If Luz turns her down, ...she’ll know based on how she takes it.

It was a simple plan. Not too complicated. She had her note in hand ready to deliver it. ...But that last part really gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

It didn’t make sense. Amity was the top student in her class. She had a clear path towards a future in the Emperor’s Coven. She was the envy of practically every student. So why did ONE hypothetical scenario have her this worried?

*BUMP* That worry, however, was soon replaced with irritation towards whoever had just collided with her.

“Watch it, nitwit!-”

But once Amity sees who she bumped into, she backtracks.

“Oh. Hi, Luz... and co.”

Wow, she REALLY needed to work on not snapping the moment she bumps into someone. Especially considering that this time Luz was just off to the side talking with Willow and Gus. It was her not paying attention.

“Sorry about that.”

“No problem, let me help you!”

At least Luz was kind enough to help pick up her books and-

“Here, your note.”

WAIT, WHAT?

Amity quickly snatches the note from Luz’s hand.

“Man, you got some quick grabbers.”

“It's just- it's private.” What was going on with her today? Part of the plan was making sure Luz got the note. And yet… she couldn’t let Luz see it. But why? Didn’t she WANT to know what Luz would say?

Just then, there’s a screeching sound coming from the speakers. All around Amity, the other students were muttering.

“Attention Hexside students. This is your principal speaking.”

This had to be it. Bump HAD to be announcing who has been selected to be Grom royalty. And knowing her luck that day, Amity had a bad feeling about what was coming next.

“This year, I have the privilege to bestow our highest Grom honor to... Amity Blight. Our Grom queen!”

With that, all the uneasiness she had felt not a minute before had just been made even worse.

“WHOOOO! Amity, get it, queen!” she had heard Luz shout just then.

She needed to get out of there. For some reason, she couldn’t be around anyone right now, especially not Luz. She quickly ran off towards her first class.

---

Amity was a wreck that morning. She did her best to pay attention during her first few classes, but her teachers and classmates had noticed that she hadn’t even volunteered to answer a single question. Although they weren’t too surprised given her current position.

Lunch time rolled around, but Amity wasn’t feeling all that hungry. She decided to go somewhere less crowded to think. She figured the gym would be her best bet. There weren’t any classes in there that day due to Grom being set up. She knew that Principal Bump as well as some student volunteers would be working on preparations, but she figured they would be too busy with that to notice her just sitting in the bleachers.

Amity knew what being chosen as Grim queen meant. She supposed it only made sense that she would be selected, given her status as top student. But still, based on what she had heard from her siblings about previous years, it was a challenge for even the BEST students. And given how tense she had already been that morning…

Amity wondered. She had already dreaded the thought about what would happen once she gave Luz the note. And for some reason, it felt stronger than anything else she could rationally think of. Even stronger than her chances of joining the Emperor’s Coven being put at risk or anything her parents threatened her with over the years. She was still trying to figure out exactly how she felt about the human. But could the idea of Luz not reciprocating any potential feelings really be her worst fear? And if so, would that mean that those feelings would be confirmed?

Amity was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a rumbling and looked towards the source. She saw that Luz had apparently stumbled across the arena.

“Medieval torture seems like a strange theme for Grom, but hey-”

With that, Amity recalled Luz’s reaction from earlier. She supposed it would only make sense that Luz didn’t know about Grom tradition. Any dances in the human realm would likely be different than those in the demon realm. Deciding that Luz should know the truth about what would be happening that night, she spoke up.

“They're not for decoration. This arena is where I'll make my debut as Grom queen.”

“Right. Why don't you seem excited?”

“Because this isn't just some dance party.”

As if on cue, that black gloop that would be Amity’s opponent for the evening decided to make itself known.

“That's Grom. Short for Grometheus, the fear-bringer. It's a monster that lives under the school. Every year it tries to break out, and a student has to defeat it before it invades the town. Ever the optimist, Bump holds a party and calls it tradition. The worst thing is that Grom can read minds and shape-shift into your worst fear.”

Amity then looks back on her thoughts from a few minutes ago.

“And mine is... very embarrassing.”

“If it worries you so much, then why don't you tell Principal Bump you want out of this death match biz? *GASP* Unless talking to Bump is your greatest fear.”

Amity let out a small chuckle at Luz thinking THAT would be what she fears the most.

“No, but that's a good idea. Thanks, Luz.”

Maybe Luz was right. Maybe if Bump knew about how stressed she felt, he could find a way to get her out of it. With that, she left the gym to go find him.

---

Amity took a deep breath as she approached Principal Bump’s office. If talking with him really was her best chance of getting out of being Grom queen, she could not afford to mess this up. She knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in”

Amity entered the office, hopeful that Bump would hear her out.

“Ah, Miss Blight. What can I do for you?”

Amity hesitated for a few seconds. But she knew what she needed to say right then and there.

“Principal Bump, I’m aware what a huge responsibility it is to be selected as Grom Royalty. But the thing is… I don’t know if I’m entirely up to the challenge. If there’s any way you can get me out of it, I’d be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Bump was silent for a few moments. Amity knew that couldn’t be good.

“*SIGH* I can’t say that I’m entirely surprised. In my time as principal, there have been many students chosen, even those who have been considered the best, who have been unsure about their chances. Unfortunately, you know as well as I that if Grometheus isn’t kept in check each year, it WILL cause havoc throughout Bonesborough. I get that the prospect can be terrifying. But as Top Student, you statistically have the highest chances among the student body of being able to keep Grom at bay.”

As much as Amity dreaded to hear it, she knew Bump had a point. The risk of Grom escaping was too great to be left to chance. She was about to leave when Bump spoke up once more.

“Look, I understand your worries, so I am willing to make a deal. If you can find anyone else willing to take your place before tonight, you’ll be relieved of your duties as Grom queen. Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck tonight.”

With that, Amity left Bump’s office and decided to get ready for her afternoon classes. Although for the rest of the day, there was only one thing going through her mind. She was doomed.

---

The moment the final bell screeched, Amity couldn’t get out of the school fast enough. She didn’t care where she was going, just that she needed to get out of there as fast as she could. She saw a set of woods not too far by. At least she knew no one would go looking for her there.

It seemed like a good idea from Luz at the time. But who was Amity kidding? Grom was too dangerous to be left unattended. Of course there was now way that Bump would allow the top student to get out of this. Sure there was one solution brought up, but that required someone to WILLINGLY agree to go up against a monster that can bring your fears to life. What was she going to do?!

*BUZZ* She pulls out her scroll to see a new group message from Ed and Em. Great. Just who she wanted to hear from right now.

Ed: ‘Hey Mittens. We saw you bolting out of the school earlier.’

Em: ‘Listen. We may mess with you from time to time, but we get what you’re going through right now.’

Ed: ‘We remember how our J felt when they were chosen as Grom royalty 2 years ago. We can’t imagine you feel any better about it.’

Em: ‘So, we figured that the least we could do is help you prepare a little. Ed and I can use our illusion magic to help you practice facing your fears. Let us know once you get home.’

Oh yeah. How could she forget? At this point, she wasn’t sure what made her feel worse. The idea of the entire school seeing what she feared the most, the prospect of what she felt that fear might be, or the fact that because of all of this, she likely wouldn’t have a chance to give her invitation to-

“LUZ CHOP! AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

*WHACK*

“Ow!”

Great. What now?

“Oh my gosh, Amity! I'm so sorry!”

Wait. Luz?

Amity then saw her clear as day thanks to that light spell the human had become known for. And just like earlier Luz helped her up.

“And here I thought this day couldn't get any worse.”

“Did you talk to Bump yet? Was it as terrifying as you imagined?”

“*SIGH* He said no. I'm Grom queen, unless I can find a replacement. And who'd want to switch with me?”

There was nothing Amity could do at this point. Why bother to hide it?

“I would.”

“What?”

Did she hear that right? Could Luz be serious about this?

“Amity Blight, I'll do it. I'll take your place and face Grom in the arena. I'll be your fearless champion!”

Was that a large spider on Luz’s face?

“GAAAHHH!!!”

Aaaaaaaaand Luz was face down in the mud.

“fearless... champion…”

Amity wasn’t sure this was the best idea.

“Luz, are you sure about this? I mean, I told you earlier what this means.”

Just then, Luz gets up and places a hand on Amity’s shoulder.

“Listen. I know how much this has been bothering you. I can’t just stand by and watch my friend go through something that makes them feel that uneasy knowing that there’s something I can do. I WANT to help.”

Amity knew that determined look in Luz’s eyes. She had seen it plenty of times before. When Luz first challenged her to that duel, when Luz tried to save her from Otabin, when they were going up against the Slitherbeast, and when they were fixing the damage she had done to Willow’s memories. Knowing that look, Luz wasn’t going to back down anytime soon, no matter what anyone would say.

...plus, if it meant that she wouldn’t have to face Grom, it couldn’t hurt to try.

“Well, if you really are going to take my place, you’ll at least need to be prepared.”

“Great! I’ll go tell Bump that I’ve volunteered. We can meet at the Owl House in an hour to start training. See you then!”

As Luz ran off to see Principal Bump, Amity was still unsure about letting Luz do this. But for now, she needed to help her friend get ready. And she knew just the annoying siblings to help her.

---

Upon making it back home, Amity opened the door to get inside, only to find Ed and Em waiting for her. ...well at least they could be convenient when the situation called for it.

“So Mittens, ready to train to go up against your worst fears?

“Slight change of plan. I’m not the one who’s gonna need your help preparing.”

#the owl house #toh #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #luz x amity #willow park #gus porter #principal bump #edric blight #emira blight #enchanting grom fright #fanfiction #fanfic

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