#princess luz au worst timeline

[crimeronan]

Amity after she arrives to check if Hunter succeeded: "You two are getting married?!"

Luz, for the exact same logic: "Oh right, we need to get married too!"

*Amity faints*

FJSJDDH. i know the point of this is the lumity hilarity but i'm also thinking about, like:

vee: you can't marry more than one person here, luz. you're gonna have to pick one of them :(

luz: what. why NOT. that's STUPID. what if there are MULTIPLE PEOPLE I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT IF THEY'RE UNCONSCIOUS IN THE HOSPITAL...????

vee: ......oh wow. masha is about to have SO MUCH FUN radicalizing you.

#you cant look at masha and tell me thats not someone who's been campaigning for ethical non-monogamy acceptance since like age 13 #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #shitty idiot repression gang #lumity #vee noceda

[crimeronan]

thinking about worst timeline AU luz and hunter navigating the human world again. currently half-shitpost half-earnestly pondering luz trying to figure out how tf human social structures work, and how humans create their families, and how people establish rights of kin to one another, because she has some perfectly reasonable neuroses about losing her family members. & then she works herself into a panic like "hunter, if one of us is unconscious in the hospital then the other won't be able to visit or make any decisions or get any information unless we're legally related and sign a bunch of paperwork about it. hunter the human world is evil and trying to tear us apart and all human laws are stupid forever. you HAVE to marry me."

camila, overhearing all this from the kitchen, about to have a heart attack: MIJA. YOU ARE SEVENTEEN.

hunter, raising his hand, already seeing some mild issues with this plan: forget her being seventeen. i don't have a legal identity?????

#'don't i need a legal identity to even get admitted to a human hospital' 'no actually. it helps to have one to get married though' #if it's a timeline where vee is there then vee is like luz. do you even know what human marriage is FOR #and luz is like YES. FOR BEING ABLE TO SEE SOMEONE WHEN THEYRE UNCONSCIOUS IN THE HOSPITAL. WHY DO YOU ALL THINK I'M CRAZY #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #horrible mindscape trauma pals #camila noceda

[crimeronan]

"It seems like he's good for you," Camila says.

The Luz sitting at the kitchen table is certainly different from the one Camila has gotten to know over the past few months. The hope in her expression is guarded, still, like she's scared to feel anything good - but it's a thousand times better than her usual listless stare.

"He's my best friend," Luz says. Then, more cautiously, "I need him to stay here. With me."

The boy is the reason that Camila's search history has just gotten very peculiar and probably put her on a watch list. Things like Stahl's ear and oculocutaneous albinism next to unsolved missing children 2000s connecticut. That last one pulls up way too many current-day news pieces about Luz for comfort.

"Baby, I know you don't like to talk about it," Camila starts, and Luz tenses. "You don't have to answer me if you don't want to. But have you been missing him this whole time? I would have found him, mija. I know you don't like the police, I don't either. But if I needed to find a way, I'd find a way."

Luz blinks rapidly, pressing her palms to her cheeks.

"Is there anyone else you're looking for?" Camila asks, very gently, very non-judgmentally. "Maybe someone you don't want to get in trouble?"

Luz shakes her head and clears her throat. Then she smiles in the peculiar, diplomatic way that never reaches her eyes.

"I just thought he was dead," she says lightly. "Silly me. I should have remembered humans don't kill people. I got some bad intel."

"Okay," Camila says. "Do you understand why that was a concerning thing to say?"

Luz shrugs.

"He has a lot of scars," Camila adds.

Another shrug.

"Baby," she says, "I need to know at least a little bit. I can't keep guessing forever."

Luz's mouth crumples. "I'm not what you think I am," she whispers.

"That's okay." Camila takes a seat across from her, exhaling softly. "I'm all ears."

#toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #not doing a full fic but. woe snippet of the various scenes playing in my head be upon ye #my writing #horrible mindscape trauma pals #camila noceda #luz noceda

[crimeronan]

my purpose on tumblr these days really is just to plague you guys with a million permutations of hunter and luz being clingy and weird. god himself cannae stop me from coming up with new scenarios for princess AU luz to desperately clutch a presumed-dead hunter against her . i am gonna doom that boy in EVERY NARRATIVE

#i think she should lose and regain her boy like ten thousand more times actually #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #horrible mindscape trauma pals

[crimeronan]

The worst timeline AU where Hunter comes to find Luz but when he arrives, he’s still badly hurt. He refuses to let Camila come near him though, so Luz has to be the one to convince him that she’s not a threat, he *needs* help, and Camila can help him. Nice way for Luz to in a way tell Camila she appreciates her as much as it’s possible in the circumstances

luz throws herself on hunter and he weathers it without any complaint whatsoever but after a few minutes she feels something warm/sticky on her hand n arm where it's wrapped around him & discovers he's bleeding through his shirt. from some apparent deep wound that he has not mentioned or told her to stay away from

luz calls out "mom? mami, please, please, mom, i need you," and it's, like. literally the first time she's ever directly addressed camila as such.

#she hasnt been avoiding it on purpose or anything she just. hasnt been talking. at all #she almost always only speaks if camila speaks to her first and only gives monosyllabic answers or 'i don't know's #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #horrible mindscape trauma pals #camila noceda

[crimeronan]

still imagining amity showing up in the worst timeline after hunter has been with luz in the human realm for a while. hunter is paranoid and mistrustful to the point of growling at the UPS guy for needing a signature on packages but this girl in a fucking death plague mask and armor shows up & suddenly he's all AYOOO BLIGHT WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE. GETTA FUCK OUTTA HERE LMAOOO ARE YOU SERIOUS. YOU LOOK LIKE SHIT. CMERE. while camila is like.

d.... did. did you just spontaneously develop a new york accent???

#hunter and amity are new yorkers but only when talking to each other: an incredibly stupid headcanon that nonetheless should be popular #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #and who is that other witch

[crimeronan]

doctor's appointment today so i have to stay awake even tho i wanna go back to bed so bad. thinking more about luz getting hunter back after going thru hell in the worst timeline i was posting about earlier. luz on the kitchen floor hanging onto him and asking him a million questions about their shared childhood to prove his identity, which hunter assumes is because she's afraid this is an illusion & which is actually more because she's afraid this may be a new grimwalker....

#'if i can't tell the difference between my hunter and a copy of him then aren't i just belos' #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #even though this really isnt the worst timeline when hunter is alive. it's just a very dramatic hurt/comfort timeline #autoimmune tag #re doctor. good news is the leg problem i'm seeing her for is acting up today #bad news is the leg problem i'm seeing her for is acting up today #hoo boy that leg sure can.... crippled and nerve pain

[crimeronan]

Camila starts moving away from the alien theory and towards the lab expirment theory, but then Hunter slips up and refers to Spanish as Luz's and Camila's 'human' language.

FJSJDB. i'm imagining luz never even, like, trying to sell camila on hunter being human. at first it doesn't even occur to her that she'd need to explain his appearance, because she's grown up in a society where it's her own ears that need constant explanation. and then she's like well. mami hasn't asked and i kind of really don't want to talk about it

so hunter makes the human language comment & it isn't even really a slip-up. and camila pauses and then is like "okay, i'm just going to come right out and ask. hunter. ARE you human??"

and hunter is like "n... no....?"

and then is like "wait, hang on. my bad. luz. am i supposed to pretend to be human."

#hunter's like if i knew i was playing a human here i'd have made more of an effort #luz: HOW. #hunter: i dunno. purred less. worn contacts. DIY bathroom cosmetic surgery on the ears #luz: NO!!!!!!!!! #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #camila being like god. could i have just asked and gotten a straight answer the whole time #and the truth is yeah probably. but there are other reasonable questions that would freak luz and/or hunter the fuck out #her caution isn't unwarranted here.

[crimeronan]

thinking abt amity somehow finding luz and hunter in this timeline... insane.

shes at the door and her and hunter immediately start cursing at each other like??? what the fuck?? and since i bet amity would be in her scout uniform, i think camila would make some quick deductions. (they sent a child to kidnap my children? hello?)

but then luz comes at the door and is like "!!! amity!!!! :D" and instead of hunters usual insane protectiveness hes. oddly ok with this? and it takes exactly five seconds of amity and luz looking at each other for camila to pick up some vibes. (is the cult.. not homophobic? is this why her and hunter arent a thing? (shes wrong but efforts appreciated))

thinking about camila trying to glean the specifics of luz and hunter's paramilitary bunker doomsday death basement cult through context clues is So Fucking Funny. this poor woman. she's like statistically speaking they were almost certainly fundie christians but like. WERE THEY NOT FUNDIE CHRISTIANS??? luz doesn't even know who jesus IS.

i think if amity showed up at the door, after everyone had been introduced and it was established that there was no danger, camila would privately sit luz down and be like, "okay. luz. baby. you know i don't push you to share things you aren't ready to, you know i want you to feel safe and comfortable here above everything else. but luz. if there's, like. an entire schoolyard worth of kidnapped children living out in your former basement being tortured by a cult somewhere. Do You Understand Why I Need You To Tell Me About That,"

#camila having gleaned that hunter had SOME kind of genetic tie to the cult leader or whatever #and being like okay. he and luz Must have been the only kids there because they sort of. very clearly only had each other as peers #these are not children who were socialized with other children. #these are children who were locked in a basement together for 13 years. #amity shows up and camila is like okay. actually i think maybe 80% of unsolved missing childrens cases in new england are tied to this #i'm about to go full conspiracy nut. i'm gonna download the true crime podcasts about you luz. please for the love of GOD #LUZ. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT IF THERE ARE A BUNCH OF KIDNAPPED CHILDRNE IN A BASEMENT I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT RIHGT #poor camila. she's trying SO HARD. #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #shitty idiot repression gang #horrible mindscape trauma pals #and who is that other witch #camila noceda

[crimeronan]

i've spent the entire evening thinking about hunter going to find luz in the princess AU worst timeline without vee.

the thing about it is: luz has had several months of living in the human realm while thinking that hunter is dead. this has taken an Intense physical toll on her. camila is doing her Absolute Best to be patient and kind and accommodating of luz's Ten Million Issues, but luz isn't talking to anyone about what she went through, and she's not adapting to life at home or getting better despite presumably having like eight different types of regular therapy and a social worker and eight different doctors and whatever else a locked-in-a-basement-for-thirteen-years kid would need.

so like. hunter tracks luz down after months without any contact with her or any knowledge about how she's doing. it presumably takes this long because he just survived an execution attempt that left him dead enough for belos to consider the job finished. there was SOME kind of long recovery involved

and when he does find luz, she's living with a stranger who has 'parental authority' over her, and she's SO thin and tired and her hair is a mess and she looks So Unbelievably Sick....

like. i don't think hunter would go to "grief" as the first explanation. (even with luz having an immediate and complete nuclear meltdown when she sees him.) i think hunter would have the exact same reaction to camila that he does in the main AU timeline, of "i see this lady has been worse to you than belos. i am going to be normal about this"

hunter being very keen on following camila's household rules and making it repeatedly clear that he doesn't want to cause any trouble, & then whenever camila leaves the room, just being like "luz. let's just go. Let's Just Goooo. we don't even have to go back to the castle luz listen. you can look like a witch with a concealment stone let's just build a house in the woods and plant a garden and never talk to anyone again. luz i swear to god Let's Just Go-"

#toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #horrible mindscape trauma pals #i have to believe he is not successful in this because it breaks my fucking HEART to imagine camila losing luz TWICE #but oh my god that first impression. hunter is like i see the human realm is hell incarnate. the demon realm sounds less like hell actually

[crimeronan]

I remember someone sending an ask about Darius coming to the human realm after Hunter in the worst timeline AU, but also. Raine would absolutely go after Luz, too. That’s their witchlet.

🥺

yeah you are 100% right. i feel like raine at first is involved in whatever the fuck is going on with the isles' government after having their monarchy collapse, bc raine's first priority is typically Keeping Things From Falling To Pieces For The Common People, but once they're sure that the world is stable enough for them to leave for a little while.......... Yeagh

raine sees luz and even if it's been a few months since hunter arrived in the human world, luz still looks Significantly More Wrecked than she did in the isles, and raine IMMEDIATELY shifts into Fretful Parent mode. luz have you been Eating. where do you sleep?? are you warm enough?? when was the last time you got any sunshine. have you been to any human healers. how are you feeling. what's going on with you

while camila is like. ....okay. who are you and how am i supposed to feel about you being here.

#camila being like .....luz doesn't seem scared of you so you're probably not the cult leader. but you are also very charming. [Suspicion] #how this goes down with camila would depend a lot on how much she does or doesn't know about the isles & hunter i suppose #if it's the timeline with vee there then it's pretty easy to accept raine #raine is among the people who were Not involved in the basilisk shit At All. yay #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #raine whispers #luz noceda

[crimeronan]

One day Camila forgets to replenish her stock of coffee, leading to a very sleepy Hunter lying on the sofa, a very happy and content Luz that is right there with him, and a confused vet who needs to confront what she is hearing with her knowledge of the exact anatomical reason for why humans can't purr.

FKSDJH. camila going from gaslighting herself about hunter like "you are exhausted and crazy, camila. this is just a boy with genetic differences. you're being a discriminatory asshole and have to get a grip" to "i..... really think this boy might not be human" to "....is he an escaped secret government lab experiment. does he have cat DNA" to "....is LUZ an escaped secret government lab experiment?????"

someone help this woman.

#bonus points if luz is kneading on him like a cat. she has no cat DNA she's just autistic #camila who already doesn't trust the cops being like well! i have more things to be paranoid about now #i like to think this is where her sci-fi nerd heart would go. she doesnt default to fantasy elf she defaults to alien chimera experiment #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #camila noceda #horrible mindscape trauma pals

[crimeronan]

i think worst timeline AU luz's most common recurring nightmare while she thinks hunter is dead is that she opens the door to find him on the doorstep healthy and whole, but then -- sometimes with a slow horror creep, sometimes all at once -- it becomes apparent that this is not the hunter she grew up with, nor is he the confused terrified grimwalker she helped kill. this is a copy of hunter that doesn't remember being hunter but still apparently remembers loving her. in the worst dreams he apologizes for not being the right hunter and he so so so earnestly loves her and he's still Not Right and nothing at all has ever been his fault.

#just thinking about how fears and past experiences can manifest in nightmares. as per usual #luz waking up from these dreams to a world where her hunter is dead and the facsimile doesnt exist #and not knowing whether she wishes her dream hunter was real or if that really is the worst thing that could ever happen to her #you know when her actual hunter shows up alive he's gonna have to deal with the Mother of all interrogations #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #horrible mindscape trauma pals #on this note. now i try to eep myself

[crimeronan]

Lmao, Vee sees the theories about Luz and is just thinking “This is an insult to kids who grew up chained up in basements. I am so much more functional than that.”

FJDJFJ YEAH. vee has a few uncharitable moments of being like "luz. you have GOT to pull it together. if i can pull it together then so can you" and then upon finding out luz's best-friend-slash-life-partner died horrifically, is like, "well, okay. this does in fact explain some things. YOU STILL NEED TO PULL IT TOGETHER IN PUBLIC, THOUGH,"

#you know the feeling when an older autistic sibling is anxiously trying to teach a younger one to mask better. #anyone else have this growing up?? just me?? #vee means well she is just So Fucking Anxious. #and who can blame her really. the spotlight is very much Not what she is looking for #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #vee noceda #luz noceda

[crimeronan]

i occurs to me re: Camila letting her sci-fi background guide her thinking about Hunter that she might, if she starts to voice her guess, blurt out "is he a clone? did they MAKE him? is THAT why he has no legal identity" and I'm just. Luz's reaction. Particularly if Hunter is in the room and still doesn't know. (DOES he know in this scenarion? I guess Philip might let it slip while torturing him and whatnot…)

FKDJDJ. GOD.

i got an ask a while back about belos letting the grimwalker thing slip when torturing hunter, which Does compel me. i think hunter probably doesn't know exactly what he is..... but he knows he was Created by belos, that belos later ~*~realized~*~ hunter had actually been Made For Luz, and that it's such a shame that luz could never appreciate the gift she'd been given as much as hunter appreciates/lives for her, because maybe then belos wouldn't be so tragically forced to break her toys like this. it's really not hunter's fault at all that he feels the way he does for her. so sad.

(he says all of this while, like, methodically breaking hunter's fingers. or something.)

hunter loves and believes in luz enough that he'd never blame her or question her for a Second. a shitload of broken bones would explain why he's not able to track her down for a while, he can't move enough, he has to rest and heal. despite probable attempts to go find her anyway. (i like to think somehow darius is involved. and keeps punting him back to bed)

but there IS a question for hunter of whether he'd still love luz like this if he hadn't been literally created to. that doesn't matter to him, like At All, but he knows it would matter to luz. and he's scared of her rejecting him.

so he.... wouldn't tell her that he knows.

which brings me to. camila asking if he's a clone/lab experiment.

and both hunter AND luz responding with the Exact Same, "HAHA NOOOO LOL NOO WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT SILLY. THAT'S SO CRAZY"

and then pausing and looking at each other like.

🤨🤨🤨

#replies #MUCH TO CONSIDER. #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #horrible mindscape trauma pals #camila noceda #injury #torture m

[crimeronan]

Worst timeline AU where as soon as Luz has a meltdown about being told they need to sleep in separate rooms Camila folds so hard and is like “Ok ok ok you have bunk beds it’s fine just leave the door open and use the different bunks and it’ll be okay.” This seems to work as a compromise until Luz starts having a nightmare so Hunter wakes Camila up and _Begs_ for permission to cuddle Luz to sleep. And so Camila watches Hunter delicately crawl into bed and calm Luz down with the most gentle shushes and touches until she sleeps peacefully and is left with her heart tangled in knots about all of what she just saw. But also her trust levels for Hunter would shoot up EXPONENTIALLY because of this

🥺🥺🥺

ough this is Getting Me.

what gets me the Most is hunter waking camila up to ask permission instead of just breaking the rules, because He Absolutely Would. not because he's a particularly huge fan of rules in this AU (long exposure to luz and darius has made him So Much Mellower in this regard than his canon self), but because keeping camila's favor is priority number one. he needs her to like him and he needs her to not be upset with luz. it's so instinctive for hunter to place himself between luz and a parent that he doesn't even consciously realize he's doing it. or Why he's doing it

also the mental image of camila being like "you can cuddle her if i can sit in a rocking chair in the corner while you do" is so funny. i can't decide if it's funnier/sadder if hunter is completely confused or if he clocks her worry perfectly. like sure you can do whatever, but why do you need to, it's not like i'd hurt luz...? oh wait you 100% think i'd hurt luz.

hm. well you're wrong but i Do approve of your priorities. I Guess

meanwhile i doubt camila has seen luz sleep peacefully even once since coming home, she barely sleeps and when she does, she has awful dreams. she has all the expected attention and resources that one would ideally receive after being held captive in a basement for thirteen years but nothing has really Helped. between this and hunter getting luz to eat a full meal for the first time since she came home, camila is like. she's trying to hold onto her caution because she's Terrified of doing something that hurts luz worse than she's already been hurt, but she's also like.

thank god.

#hunter luz nightmare cuddles remain my kryptonite. what else is new #replies #toh #princess luz au #princess luz au worst timeline #horrible mindscape trauma pals #camila noceda