Chapter 129: The Clawthorne Family Reunion
Art by Crash X Fusion: Time to meet the rest of the family.
Our main Clawthorne family attends the extended family reunion, where they connect with several of their relatives.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Luz manages to get a chuckle out of Cross by telling him Zee's better at being a Clawthorne than him.
- Adaptation Deviation:
- Instead of Stringbean, Luz's Palisman is a mockingbird named Atticus.
- Donna is the one who finds the letter addressed to King, and delivers it to him.
- Adapted Out: Stringbean doesn't become Luz's palisman in the LCU, as she doesn't match up with the personality forged from Luz's experiences here. Instead, Luz carves her palistrom wood into a purple mockingbird named Atticus.
- Alternate Self: While exploring the Palm Stings haunted house "Dr. Heckle's House of Horrors", Luz quickly sees that its workers are witch doubles of the Pines family, Wendy, and Soos. As a result, she and Amity step outside.
- Ambiguous Situation: Luz and Amity wonder if Kadabe's visions were actually the Titan speaking to her, or through her.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: A cousin variant. Now that Luz knows Cross is her cousin, she declares she now has the right to be invested in his personal life and stick her nose in his business. As such, she demands to know all the details of his love life.Cross: [sighs] Of course...
- An Arm and a Leg: Eartha is missing a leg, having a peg leg in its place.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Zee gives two of these when convincing Cross and Clair to go to the reunion. First she tells her brother it doesn't matter if he keeps Luz and Eda in the dark about their relations because they'd find out for themselves if given the chance; then she reminds them that she's not as lucky as them to have an extended family to get to know. With these points, they agree to go to the reunion.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Crane was unable to move on because he feared his legacy, the orphanage, would be tarnished under Eda's care. Once he sees it's in good hands with not just Eda, but Donna too, he is able to rest in peace.
- Bait-and-Switch: After learning that the Drakescales are a branch family to the Clawthornes, Luz seems to be getting ready to lay into Cross for not telling her the truth. But instead of trying to kick his ass like he seems to expect, she's ecstatic to hear the news and have him and Zee for cousins.
- Black Sheep: Discussed twice.
- Lilith has come to accept that she's this for the Clawthorne clan thanks to all the bad press she got from the trial, no thanks to her cousin Jason reminding her even though the rest of the family make an effort to welcome her.
- Belos is hit far harder with this as being a Clawthorne who caused a palisman shortage, thus threatening the clan's legacy as palisman carvers, would undoubtedly be branded an outcast should the truth be confirmed to them.
- Big "WHAT?!": The chapter ends on Luz and King deciding to travel beyond the Boiling Isles to find King's family and get answers on what King is and what Luz has become. And then...Luz: Oh, I just had another idea; we'll be taking Cross with us on our adventure!
Cross: [confused/surprised] Wait, what!? - Birds of a Feather:
- Luz gets along well with Denise and Zee since they're experienced witches in both of her tracks of magic.
- Amity and Felix both make a good first impression after meeting due to their interests in abomination magic.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Luz starts lecturing Maya for insulting Barbara over her working for the Emperor's Coven when she doesn't know what Belos is really like, yet acknowledges that Maya has the right to be angry about Barbara giving up her palisman to Belos because they know what he does to them. Still, Luz asks Maya to not lecture Barbara for the rest of the day because she doesn't want to bring her drama to the family reunion, which Maya agrees to.
- The Bus Came Back:
- The dograptor that survived the siege on the Owl House in "What is it Good For?" turns up, apparently having been taken in by the kids at the orphanage.
- After not showing up in "The Tarot Guild" arc, Cups, Mugs, and the ghost of Scooter Crane return since "Resolutions" seeking Donna's help in getting Crane to pass on to the afterlife.
- Call-Back:
- Once everyone's heard why Eda doesn't want to go to the reunion, Jak reminds her of what she told him about not letting the past define them. Later when Scooter's ghost brings up how difficult it was finding Jak a family, Donna brings up Eda talking to him about giving the families a chance.
- Amity mentions smuggling wild witches out of the Isles so they could escape to other Titans, which was part of her work with the Thians.
- After seeing that Wrath and Faust now appreciate her efforts in helping them for their own reasons, Luz starts to see that Lindsay may have been right about angry people needing kindness and forgiveness to be better.
- After seeing Felix's abomination and being asked to make one herself, Amity is forced to decline due to her mental block still being an issue.
- Zee mentions that she can't bond with Anna's family because they're either dead or evil.
- As it turns out, Eda gave Luz the message Boils gave the former about Emily not wanting to take revenge on their family despite returning to the Emperor's Coven.
- Amity tells Drayden what Sly told her about having to give up her mortality to achieve her own dragon form.
- Child Prodigy:
- Donna Crane was a talented bard with a piano and could've succeed Scarmadeus Keys as head of the Bard Coven, had she not fallen into the wrong crowd.
- To a lesser extent, Cross falls into this as Zee mentions he has a scholarship to St. Epiderm.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Discussed. Cross may have been unable to avoid getting involved with Luz's adventures, but she points out that he chooses to get involved, as he wanted to save Emily and help Faust when not many other people would. Amity tells him it's a good character trait to have, as it makes him empathetic to those who need it, and he should be proud of it.
- Cliffhanger: Whoever's been following Hunter around kidnaps him when he tries to confront them.
- Connected All Along: Barbara's a Clawthorne and Denise's niece through her twin brother Dennis.
- Continuity Cameo:
- Numerous characters appear in Luz's video for Camila such as Gary the librarian, Wrath, Faust, the Bat Queen and her kids, Lindsay, Jackie, Apple, Banjo, and the Shadowy Secret Expozers.
- Among the things Hooty throws up besides Acorn and Maurice is Brucy.
- Continuity Nod:
- Luz brings up the times Camila left the Owl House; her tour of Hexside before the Glandus War, Titan Service, and to check up on Luz at the Bonesborough Brawl.
- While King and the girls are at the Conformatorium, Wrath mentions Nicole threatening his son.
- While observing the construction going on at the Glandus ruins, Luz mentions how Meteora destroyed the school. Faust also appears overseeing job interviews for new teachers.
- Clair remembers when she met Luz and Eda at Geist's bar after the Alchemist incident.
- Flying pigs are mentioned for the first time since "King and Lil Luz's Day Out".
- Yet again, somebody fawns over King. However unlike Mabel, her friends, Anne & Marcy, Donna, and Haley, Zee isn't drawn in to King because he's cute.
- Beocrow surviving a demon bear attack and meeting Cross while recovering is mentioned.
- Cross brings up Donna's mothers wanting him to be their daughter's bodyguard and Beel's funeral.
- Luz says "Light bulb!" after having an idea again.
- Dead Guy Junior: When Crane found Karona the night Eda left her on his doorstep, he named her "Donna" after his deceased niece.
- Determinator: Darkquills the griffin. Eda is honestly surprised the old bird is still kicking, and Jason says it's living out of stubbornness.
- Dope Slap: Jolene hits Jason on the head with her walking stick because he keeps talking about the scandals Lilith had been involved in.
- Dramatic Irony: King receives a letter from a clan from a nearby island telling him to come meet them, with King believing he'll meet his demon kin. The audience, for their part, knows exactly what King will be in for...
- Easily Forgiven:
- Denise doesn't hold it against Eda for all the pranks she pulled on her at past reunions and forgives Eda because she missed her all those years she had been missing.
- Same goes for Luz forgiving Cross when he owns up to not telling her they're cousins, understanding his reasons for not being upfront with her.
- Everyone Knew Already:
- Eda attempts to discretely inform Clair about her knowing what her husband and children really are, only for Clair to tell her that some members of their clan, such as Denise, already know.
- Cross tells Luz that Emily isn't seeking revenge against her family, but Luz tells him Eda gave her Boils' message on the topic.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: As Amity explains how the citizens of the Underground never leave their community, Luz notes they're comfortable...too comfortable. It makes her realize that none of the citizens of any towns on the Titan really leave their communities or travel beyond the borders of the Isles. She even notes how she has never gone farther beyond King's Island in all her life. She does get the chance to change this after reading King's letter from Tarak.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Luz gets the idea to journey across the sea to find the warrior clan that asked for King to meet with them, once again saying "Light Bulb!" in conjunction to it.
- Familiar: Luz surprises everyone by revealing her completed palisman at the family dinner, Atticus the mockingbird.
- Fanboy: The orphans show themselves to be fans of Luz and Amity, with Beans firing off rumor after rumor of alleged adventures Luz has had.
- Fatal Flaw: For Cross, it's a downplayed case of poor communication skills. He never tried to hang out with Beocrow's friends even though his cousin would've been welcoming to the idea, and he's been dating Donna but isn't sure where they stand in their relationship despite retaining his feelings for Lindsay and wanting to date her. It takes a talk with Luz about being honest with both girls and asking how they feel to get him thinking straight.
- Foreshadowing: For Atticus' debut, Luz had said at the end of her video in the Cold Open that she has a surprise for everyone. Later when visiting the Bat Queen's forest, she asks Luz if she still has her palistrom wood. Before she can answer, the camera cuts to static.
- Funny Background Event: As Luz and Zee congratulate each other on a good game after the griffin riding rodeo, King gets chased off by Darkquills.
- The Ghost:
- Gary brings up Malphas, who's been locked up in the Forbidden Stacks for some time.
- The members of LOWTH who aren't Donna, Beo, or Lindsay don't appear, but the team as a whole is brought up due to Rule of Symbolism. Tabrella is also mentioned.
- Emily is constantly brought up due to her not taking action against the Clawthornes, with the chance that Zee brings her up while shopping.
- Laura is mentioned by Luz when she tells Cross that she ribs King about his girlfriend.
- Given Name Reveal: Regarding the double cousins of the Clawthorne family; Dell and Brolin's sister is named Bella while Gwendolyn's sisters are named Eartha (Brolin's wife) and Jolene (Bella's wife). Additionally, Gwen's premarital name and that of her family is "Thorngood".
- Green-Eyed Monster: Zee admits she's jealous that Cross and Clair have an incredible extended family but want nothing to do with them while she's stuck with the criminals her birth mother betrayed or killed to protect her. Heck, she wishes she could be a Clawthorne herself.
- History Repeats: Donna seems to feel this way as she sees the similarities between herself and Crane's niece.
- I Lied: When Luz asks Jackie if apple blood is really alcoholic, Jackie says it isn't but people add alcohol. Luz gripes that Eda was just lying about that so she wouldn't have to share her apple blood with her kids.
- Incompatible Orientation: Played for Laughs. While talking to Cross about whether he likes Donna or not, Luz questions if he doesn't because he just realized he's gay. Cross reacts in flustered shock before telling her he's straight.
- In Spite of a Nail: Someone points out that Amity's hair is dyed purple which brings to mind abominations.
- Internal Reveal:
- While touring the Isles for the video, Amity learns that Luz got on Faust's good side, meets Banjo, and sees Metropelvis and Lokitown with King for the first time. The three of them also visit the orphanage, explore the Torso Villa and the Underground, and meet the orphans, Ban, Ms. Hicky, Jackie, and Apple for the first time.
- The SSE tell Luz, Amity, and King about what Venoma did.
- Luz, Eda, and King finally learn that the Drakescales are their cousins, along with Amity. They later meet Barbara for the first time.
- Donna learns that Cups and Mugs have been haunted by Scooter Crane since returning from the Underworld.
- Donna tells Crane about Belos allegedly killing Amber and Derwin as well as her origins.
- Eda tells the rest of the Drakescales about the Longs and the Dragon Council.
- Beocrow tells Amity about his experience with the demon bear.
- It isn't given attention, but Zee learns that her brother, Luz, and Amity know Hunter.
- Hunter informs Lilith that he knows Darius is alive.
- Luz learns that Cross has a thing for Lindsay.
- Zee confirms to Amity that she has a dragon form.
- Zee, Barbara, and Pugsley learn of Maya through her interactions with Luz.
- Beocrow tells the extended family, Gwen, Dell, and the Drakescales about his trip to Wonderland.
- Donna, Amity, and the main Clawthornes discover the letter for King.
- Irony: At the end of the night, Luz notes that Zee's more of a Clawthorne than Cross is, a comment he knows will make his sister happy.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Crane passes on just as Donna asks him what his deal is with Cups and Mugs is, and they're certainly not going to be confessing.
- Mama Bear: When Eda and Lilith arrive at the reunion, they both go from mentally panicking about how the extended family members will treat them to how they're treating Amity over her Fae status.
- Meaningful Name: Atticus, which is a Double Meaning and a Shout-Out. Namely, it's meant to symbolize Luz's witch and human heritages.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Darkquills, an old griffin who's part raven.
- Morph Weapon: Since Luz doesn't need a staff to fly, she made Atticus with another purpose in mind: to function as a duel disk and power both her glyph magic and her natural magic.
- Mythology Gag:
- Kikimora's niece is called Miki, her alias in "For the Future". Additionally, Hunter mentions that he had expected Luz's palisman to be either a bat or a dragon, choices Willow and Camila guessed.
- At the Palm Stings boardwalk, King and Zee play a ring toss game, which King had done with Luz in "Really Small Problems".
- Noodle Incident:
- Once Eda learns about the dograptor, she brings up how she used to keep wild animals for pets as a kid herself, one of which was a griffin.
- Luz and King once brought home a snake-rat to keep as a pet and hid it from Eda until Hooty ate it.
- At the previous Clawthorne family reunion, Dennis, his wife Yvonntte, and their nieces Daniela and Andreea drained the spider-cows because there wasn't enough blood for them to consume.
- King once tried to start his own holiday called "King's Day", where he would've had a party dedicated to him and a feast in his honor. Naturally, Luz and Eda didn't take it seriously.
- Denise discovered Cross and Zee were dragons while watching them at a young age due to Zee sneezing fire. Denise thought she had the fire flu until she saw Zee's scales.
- Hooty ate Acorn, Maurice, and Brucy at some point in the day while everyone was at the Clawthorne family reunion.
- Official Couple: Deconstructed. Even though they've been together for four days and had two dates, Cross isn't certain if he and Donna qualify as a couple since they haven't really decided if they're actually together.
- Oh, Crap!: Luz makes Hunter, Cross, and Barbara panic when she tells them that giraffes are easy to find in the Human Realm. She later has her own minor freak-out when she realizes why the workers in Dr. Heckle's House of Horrors seem familiar.
- Once More, with Clarity: The story behind Beocrow and the demon bear attack. Denise set up a playdate for him with Tina and Veronica's parents, and he shielded the girls from its attack with his own body, resulting in the scar on his back.
- One-Steve Limit: Also Played for Laughs. One of the Clawthorne cousins is named Lulu, which is Hooty's nickname for Lilith. Eda jokes that she should've brought Hooty to the reunion just to hang this lampshade.
- Open-Minded Parent: Because of her father having this mindset and telling her to do the same, Denise is perfectly fine with having half-dragon relatives. And despite what Eda and Lilith believed at first, none of the attending adults in the Clawthorne clan hold anything against Amity for being half-Fae, with Drayden even inquiring about her abilities. The same initially cannot be said for Hunter, since he's the Golden Guard.
- Pie in the Face: At one reunion when they were kids, Eda did this to Denise due to being bored from listening to her story about flying pigs.
- Poor Communication Kills: Not yet it hasn't, but it can be prevented. After learning about Cross' girl troubles, Luz sums it all up to him not talking to Donna or Lindsay about who he wants to date and how they feel about it.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Once Luz learns that Cross is stuck between dating Donna and hesitating to break up with her desite caring about her while wanting to ask Lindsay out now that he knows he's got a shot, she calls him "a real-life Peter Parker". He flatly says he doesn't know who that's supposed to be.
- The Reveal:
- The final dograptor created by the Tarot Guild ended up at Crane's orphanage under the kids' care and was named "Sugarcup".
- Eda used to cause trouble at every family reunion she attended out of boredom and always targeted Denise just because she was the closest in her proximity. As a result, she became afraid Denise would hold a grudge against her for it.
- Bonesborough has a corrupt and lazy mayor who lets the Emperor's Coven do his job, and the library is the oldest building in town.
- Glandus High used to be a castle during the Savage Ages, until the royals living there died from the Red Death.
- St. Epiderm was an actual fortress and home to a defense force led by a paladin during the Savage Ages.
- Amity's been rethinking her atheism ever since Cat told her about Jamila.
- Jesse has the ability to speak to both animals and ghosts.
- Clair hasn't been to the Clawthorne family reunion in years as her parents don't have a good opinion of Damien; she's never even brought their kids to one. She's said to have used a different surname before she married into the Drakescale family.
- Manus-sapiens, the demons with hand-like characteristics such as Kikimora and Osran, originate from Palm Stings.
- The studios of Titanwood were previously independent from the coven system but when Adrian succeeded previous head Sven Starberg, he had all the studios merge with and fall under the authority of the Illusion Coven through his family company. Movies have to be made under his direction, and this caused many layoffs.
- Regarding the Clawthorne clan and its family tree;
- According to Lilith, Jessebelle Everest Clawthorne, the first owner of the family ranch, and her children Mallard, Larson, Mildred, and Lucy protected their home as a group called the Griffin Riders. Eda, on the other hand, believes they were bandits due to finding treasure belonging to Lucy. While most of the kids went their separate ways to start their own families, Mildred stayed at the ranch with Jessebelle.
- Denise has a twin brother named Dennis who married a self-proclaimed vampire countess and became a vampire himself.
- Denise was a jingle writer in the past and now works in recording and sound editing.
- Dell, Brolin, and their sister Bella are Mallard's great-grandchildren.
- Denise, Dennis and their sister Lulu are Brolin and Eartha's kids, while Bella and Jolene had two sons named Jason and Zeke.
- Brolin inherited the Clawthorne family ranch when Mildred's son died.
- Gwen, Eartha, and Jolene have an elder sister named Beverly.
- Clair is Lucy's descendant and by extension, so is Cross.
- Barbara is a Clawthorne (Dennis' daughter) and a dhampir with enhanced strength, agility, senses, and levitation.
- Sly cut his training with Amity short so he could help deal with the shift in power Maleficent caused on Avalon.
- Zee reveals she's a student at Merlin Meadows and mentions that her friends tame beasts all over the Titan.
- Donna was named after Crane's deceased niece, who died in an accident.
- Beocrow carved Takai from palistrom wood he received from Brolin. As for Zee, Aqua chose her as her witch and Zee's had her since she was 14.
- Pugsley implies that he and Kikimora know why Belos wants Luz for his endgame and is planning to capture her.
- Luz has been carving her palisman ever since she got her palistrom wood chunk back from the Bat Queen.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- St. Epiderm was named after Saint Epiderman, a witch paladin and hero who led the Isles' main defense force during the Savage Ages. Luz notes that since he was a hero, this makes Donna, Cross, and the entirety of LOWTH being students at Epiderm fittingly appropriate.
- Atticus. His name and appearance are meant to symbolize Luz accepting her heritage from both sides of her family, with his being a bird palisman signifying her as an official Clawthorne while his name is inspired by a piece of human literature.
- Secret-Keeper: Beo never told his friends that he and Cross were related because he knew that Cross would want to keep the truth undisclosed and respected his privacy.
- Sequel Hook:
- Hunter asks Lilith to set up a meeting with Darius for him and Gavin.
- With Luz's advice in mind, Cross will be talking to Donna and Lindsay about where he stands with them and what path he wants to take with them romantically speaking.
- Luz promises Cross and Zee that she'll tell them the truth about Belos. The rest of the family also start questioning Eda and Lilith about it.
- Hunter's just been kidnapped by the person who's been tailing him since he left the griffin ranch.
- The end of this chapter sets up this fic's adaptation of "Edge of the World".
- Series Continuity Error: Despite having seen Maya emerge and hearing her talk at different points before, Beocrow and Cross act surprised when she shows up to lay into Barbara.
- Shopping Montage: Amity, King, and Zee are briefly seen shopping in a souvenir store, with Zee picking up a climate-appropriate outfit and a knick-knack she'll likely give to Emily.
- Shout-Out:
- Jesse talking to the Dograptor and ghosts is a reference to Anne-Marie doing the same.
- Dennis' first meeting with Luz, Amity, and King goes similarly to how Webby questioned Huey, Dewey, and Louie about who the evil triplet is in the DuckTales (2017) premiere.Dennis: [weary] Tell me, which one of you takes after Eda more?
Amity & King: [pointing] Luz.
Luz: [shrugs] Eh. - As Hunter starts to integrate into the reunion with everybody, the Phil Collins version of "Welcome" plays as everyone starts playing games. Also, before dinner, the clan engages in a tradition where they list something interesting that's happened to them in the past year.
- The Clawthorne kids, Hunter, Kikimora, and Pugsley sing their own cover of "We Don't Talk About Bruno", but about Belos.
- Luz's palisman is a mockingbird named Atticus, a nod to the main character of To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch.
- With Atticus' ability to turn into a duel disk, his name is a Double Meaning to Atticus Rhodes, a major supporting character from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
- Something Only They Would Say: To confirm Jesse, Cups, and Mugs can see Scooter, Donna asks that he have Jesse say something he only told her. The results are conclusive.Jesse: He says that you can't make it to falsetto if your voice isn't high-pitched enough to fracture glass.
Donna: [eyes widen] That...that was what he said... - So Proud of You: Crane tells Donna through Jesse that he's proud of the witch's she's become, no matter what mistakes she's made.
- Squirrels in My Pants: Eda once set a colony of ants on Denise during a performance, laughing as Denise suffered when they went in her trousers.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Zee's reasoning for buying a slightly revealing outfit when Amity questions her: because it's hot in Palm Stings.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Jessebelle Everest Clawthorne, the Clawthorne family's ancestor and first owner of the family ranch, is noted to resemble Eda.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Eda had worried that Denise would still have feelings for Raine after all these years. Denise proves her wrong by saying she got over Raine and odds are they never even knew she liked them, so she wasn't gonna spend 30 years being "lamentable".
- That Came Out Wrong: Cross reacts like this once he hears his explanation to Luz for how complicated his dating life is to him.Donna's my first girlfriend, and I don't want to hurt her feelings since I do care about her. But Lindsay's been my crush for a while, and well...I thought I missed my chance with her until I learned that I still have a chance...it does sound worse when you say it out loud.
- Throw the Dog a Bone:
- Zee's never met the extended Clawthorne clan because Clair and Cross don't want to associate with them due to Clair's parents. Considering Zee's blood relatives are either "dead or evil" she has no direct family to connect with, so they agree to attend the reunion so she can have those bonds.
- Seeing Donna break down in tears over both her identity crisis and her feeling like she isn't living up to her namesake's supposed legacy prompts Jesse to give her a hug.
- Title Sequence: Naturally, the story arc's intro is included, and as a first, in the first chapter.
- Unfinished Business: Scooter's ghost has been haunting the Holder brothers for over a week, having been unable to pass on until he was sure his legacy with the orphanage was secure.
- The Un-Reveal:
- How long have the orphans been keeping the dograptor a pet?
- The crate of apple blood sent to Eda for her services to the Titan didn't have a return address, so who sent it?
- We never see if Luz actually went ahead and told the Drakescale siblings that Belos was a Clawthorne following the family dinner.
- Wham Line: After Luz shares her story and declares she's glad to be part of two worlds, one family, she declares it's time to add another member to the family. Cue...
- Wham Shot: Atticus, Luz's newly-finished mockingbird palisman, who flies out of her bag and presents himself to everyone at the dinner table.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Subverted when Luz reacts with pride when she finds out the Drakescales are her cousins instead of being mad Cross kept his relations secret from her and Eda.
- Played straight, however, when Luz lectures Maya for insulting Barbara and saying she doesn't deserve sympathy for giving up her palisman to join the Emperor's Coven and supporting Belos since he's the reason palistrom trees are endangered and palismen are in short supply.
- Played for laughs when King is irked to learn that Hooty had eaten a letter for him.
