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cover art

Dangers in Fiction

by bats
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515 / 147k

Description

Luz finds a printing press deep in the underbelly of Hexside and is struck with the idea: she’d always wanted to be part of a school zine, and with a little bit of trial and error and a whole bunch of hard work, the printing press would let her do just that. All she needs is the right help to make her vision a reality, and she knows that Amity is perfect for the job.  Despite Luz’s excitement to try something new and Amity’s excitement to work on something so closely with Luz, things are rarely just what they seem at Hexside.  Messing with a mysterious magical artifact that nobody’s used in decades might be a dangerous proposition.

An Owl House novel, taking place roughly eight months after Young Blood, Old Souls.

Editing by Jetstream.

Nothing's been added yet!

Come back later when there's something to read.

25 comments
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JackOfSomeTrades
null

Reported for premarital handholding.

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Thought Prism
Row Row Fight the Power!

A great start, and I'm excited to see how this balloons. Who will write and judge for the zine, and what sorts of tales will be submitted? Is the printing press secretly home to some eldritch horror like basically everything else on the Isles? Will Hooty be ignored? Most importantly: will the shared experience coax Amity and Luz into taking their relationship wholly into ‘girls kissing as they support and cuddle eachother’ territory?

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Jetstream
Seeker

Fantastic. It begins.

Thought Prism said:

A great start, and I'm excited to see how this balloons. Who will write and judge for the zine, and what sorts of tales will be submitted? Is the printing press secretly home to some eldritch horror like basically everything else on the Isles? Will Hooty be ignored? Most importantly: will the shared experience coax Amity and Luz into taking their relationship wholly into ‘girls kissing as they support and cuddle eachother’ territory?

 

Mwahahahahah.

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Thought Prism
Row Row Fight the Power!

Okay, what brand of phone does Luz have such that it can hold a charge for like a year and a half?

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bats
Be Trans Throw Hands

Thought Prism said:

Okay, what brand of phone does Luz have such that it can hold a charge for like a year and a half?

She'd been charging it through the portal up until the end of the season, so it's only been 8 months, but still, it's been a while, phone's probably haunted. :V

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 5)

Really interesting! The mystery of the printing press and the underwing is intriguing, and the story of Luz and Amity putting together the magazine is fun in and of itself.

The characters' voices really pop. The bit in chapter 4 where Luz reacts to Eda laughing about kids dying especially stands out.

This makes me think about a sequel to my own TOH fic.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 7)

The mystery of the printing press grows. Bit of unexpected characterization with neither Gus nor Willow being interested in reading, but it isn't bad. I liked the confusion about how “press” became a word for journalists in the Boiling Isles. Good to see things progress on the 'zine side.

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Thought Prism
Row Row Fight the Power!

I was not expecting POV sections for Gus and Boscha. Gus' story got a chuckle out of me. The whole zine plot device is making things quite meta.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 10)

This chunk of chapters was a bit slower in terms of revelations, but it was interesting seeing them slowly piece together the history of the newspaper. Plus, it's better than them not looking into this. I like how you were able to incorporate what the show established of the history of the coven system. Also, lol, Penstagram.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 12)

Whoa, the zine's way more successful than I expected. Honestly, I feel like the sequence of them figuring out how to anonymize the submissions could have been shortened a fair bit without much loss, but the rest of what we got with this set has been great. Maybe Amity's finally starting to realize what's going on with her relationship with Luz? Nah. Can't be a disaster lesbian if she does now.

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Thought Prism
Row Row Fight the Power!

Can plants on the Isles actually transmit vibes, or is that just a Willow thing? If other people can feel the vibes, I imagine most of them aren't as nice as Fifi.

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bats
Be Trans Throw Hands

Can plants on the Isles actually transmit vibes, or is that just a Willow thing? If other people can feel the vibes, I imagine most of them aren't as nice as Fifi.

I think it's mostly just a Willow thing, but not unique to her, you've just gotta be really skilled at plant magic to pick up on plant vibes, and if you're that skilled, the plants probably like you quite a bit and are sending you good vibes.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 14)

Things continue moving forward with the magazine. Not much to say about these two chapters, just that it's nice to see the characters interact. Oh, and Luz and Amity bonding over tea is great.

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Thought Prism
Row Row Fight the Power!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

This is the incredible, super cute payoff I was waiting for. The bludgeoning of heteronormativity to death is just icing on the cake.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 16)

Oh huh, the confession really happened. I admit I sort of glossed over that part at first, since I assumed Amity was just imagining it. But then it kept going and I went back. Nice that Luz was able to figure things out from that poem, and that things worked out well.

Speaking of working out well, the judging went shockingly smoothly. I'm surprised they were able to wrangle everyone into finishing it.

In chapter 16, while the explanation of codes was informative, and it was interesting to see the culture clash, I also thought it dragged out a bit.

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Jetstream
Seeker

(Chapter 16)

Oh huh, the confession really happened. I admit I sort of glossed over that part at first, since I assumed Amity was just imagining it. But then it kept going and I went back. Nice that Luz was able to figure things out from that poem, and that things worked out well.

Speaking of working out well, the judging went shockingly smoothly. I'm surprised they were able to wrangle everyone into finishing it.

In chapter 16, while the explanation of codes was informative, and it was interesting to see the culture clash, I also thought it dragged out a bit.

 

HAH. I predicted it was a dream when I was editing it, too. You see bats!? We're all prepared for your bait and switch cruelty!

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 17)

I understood that reference with entry 42 :eyes:

Nice fluffy chapter. I liked how Eda reacted to all of their disgusting homework and studying.

So now that we know part of the printing press's secret, seems like it's innocent after all. Or so it seems.

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Thought Prism
Row Row Fight the Power!
Welp, Gus is processed. Hopefully they can find an exorcist.
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SigmasonicX
null but not void
(Chapter 20) Hmm, I wonder what could be going on with those posters. I suspect some sentience on the part of the printing press, with Gus used to move what it prints. Also, nice to see the twins being good sports about the whole thing.
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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 21)

Eda finally catches them in the act!

You know, I was thinking for a while that the judging was going way too smoothly, given how we know FimFiction contest judging goes, but now we see issues. It is weird that there haven’t been any no-show judges, though.

Good chapter, though I have to be honest, I am starting to get bored with the descriptions of the judging.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 22)

And now a full news article has come out of the printing press. The fact who ever made it had to make various attempts at the proper format makes my theory that it’s the printing press acting on its own less likely at first glance, but it could also be the press getting back up to speed.

It was nice to see some comforting girlfriends (and also friends) too, though I did find it a bit odd that they reacted to the content of the paper and assumed it was true before focusing on who made it.

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bats
Be Trans Throw Hands

I did find it a bit odd that they reacted to the content of the paper and assumed it was true before focusing on who made it.

That would likely be a rational response to it in general, and were it just Luz, Willow, and Gus in the room, Luz would have probably focused on wondering about who wrote it and why first and largely ignored the content of it. Amity, on the other hand, is both predisposed to believing the worst out of Boscha and reacting with anger thanks to the bad blood between them, and is primed to assume everything in the article is true thanks to it lining up with the rumor mill stuff she heard about Boscha earlier. Even if the who wrote it and why part is the better series of questions to be asking, Amity just saw red, and thus Luz’s initial reaction then shifted to focusing on Amity, since the article upset her so much. All and all not the most rational way to deal with some random rumors they found, but sometimes being rational first is hard.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

Makes sense. Thanks!

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 23)

And judging is done! It was interesting to see what sorts of other stories succeeded and who wrote them.

So whoever is putting up these posters was able to do it very quickly, such that no one saw it happen even though people were taking bathroom breaks. Assuming the article is accurate, this provides an alternative explanation for Gus’s bad state, though I’m not dismissing the idea that the printing press is using him as a medium. However, the fact that the printing press is how they left it, meaning it doesn’t appear to have been shifted to print the article, is intriguing.

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SigmasonicX
null but not void

(Chapter 25)

Nice set of fluffy chapters. The observation that the printouts are focused on their friend group could be another hint toward this being the printing press itself.