Cover art for the fanfic.
In Better Care
is a The Owl House fanfic written by Itonomen.
In canon, Eda was cursed by her sister Lilith, and their mother tried to cure her. But what if Eda wasn't cursed by Lilith? In fact, what if Lilith was Eda's younger sister who she didn't meet until her 21st bithday, five years after cutting all ties with their mother?
In Better Care contains examples of:
- 13 Is Unlucky: Gwendolyn forced Lilith to be born early on March 13th, which is ironically seen as the luckiest day of the year in the Demon Realm. The reason behind this is that according to an old wives tale, any child born on that day would become a powerful witch. Instead, Lilith was born with several medical complications like damaged lungs and a potentially compromised immune system that never got treated.
- The '90s: This fic takes place in the year 1995.
- Abusive Parents: Gwendolyn fits the bill big time.
- Accomplice by Inaction: While it’s not clear what Dell did, the fact that he allowed Gwendolyn to treat Lilith the way she did is a sign that he is one of these.
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade: While she’s still a wild witch and technically a criminal, Eda’s life has been much easier without having to deal with her curse.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Poor Lilith has had it rough since she was born, being abused by her mother with absolutely no medical care. She was eventually abandoned by her mother for a while before Eda met her.
- Adaptational Badass: Because she was never cursed, Eda never has to deal with losing her magic or transforming into the Owl Beast.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- Eda’s relationship with Gwendolyn was shown to be strained thanks to the latter’s obsession with curing her curse, but the two eventually started to repair their relationship later on in their lives. In this fic, Eda ran away from home at the age of 16, and hasn’t seen her mother since, though the state she found Lilith in has only lowered her opinion on Gwendolyn even more.
- As a result of the Age Lift, Eda becomes Lilith’s guardian.
- Because she was never cursed, Eda and Raine are still in a relationship.
- Adaptational Villainy: Gwendolyn treated Eda and Lilith poorly for different reasons (Eda for being obsessed with curing her curse, and Lilith for not giving enough attention to her), but she eventually started to mend her relationship with the two. This Gwendolyn is much more cruel, having treated Lilith poorly since birth, not giving her proper medical treatment, and verbally abusing her for not being like Eda.
- Age Lift: Lilith is four years old in this fic.
- Ambiguous Situation: The revelation that the documents on Lilith's medical history were forged throws a lot of things into question, like whether Gwendolyn actually refused to give Lilith proper medical treatment or not.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Eda first discovers Lilith and how poorly Gwendolyn treated her on her 21st birthday.
- Conspiracy Theorist: When Raine suggests going to see Principal Bump for more information on Lilith, Eda is heavily opposed to it due to the belief that he has an ulterior motive.Eda: I know that old fart’s game! "Oh, let me help you, Edalyn. My door is always open, Edalyn." And right when I let my guard down, that’s when the bars slam over the windows and ol’ Bumpikins reveals that it was a trap-Raine: Here we go.Eda: -to blackmail me into joining his child Conformatorium as one of his stooges!Raine: He asked if you’d considered taking an educator’s apprenticeship once-Eda: Once was enough! A massive slip up on his end, because now, (narrows her eyes) I’m onto his game.
- A Day in the Limelight: "Bird" gives more focus to Raine as they get to know Lilith more.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Gwendolyn’s old-fashioned beliefs are given more realistic consequences here, as the whole reason she requested to give birth to Lilith earlier was so it would be on a day an old wives’ tale said would give her child a lot of magical power. Not only did Lilith end up with several medical complications, Gwendolyn didn’t even let the healers properly treat them, as the medical records Bump found claim that she had no treatment after the day she was born.
- Didn't Think This Through: After learning more about Lilith’s medical history, Eda decides to take Lilith clothes shopping as a way to destress (something Eda likes to do), but she didn’t consider that the loud noises of the store would be overwhelming to a four-year-old like Lilith.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Averted. Raine gets Lilith a stuffed bird, which she initially wants to name “Bird”, but Raine and Eda manage to convince her to give the bird a different name, in this case, Mike.
- The Ghost: Eda and Lilith's parents have yet to be seen in this fic, though their influence has been discussed plenty of times.
- Hidden Depths:
- Because he works with kids as part of his job, Principal Bump is shown to know a lot about child custody laws and legal counsel for these kinds of situations.
- While looking for clothes to get Lilith, Eda manages to apply her potion making knowledge by thinking about how easy it would be for stains to come out depending on the color or material of her purchases.
- House-Hunting Montage: Chapter 7, aptly named “House Hunting”, is one of these.
- In Spite of a Nail: Lilith and Hooty still end up becoming friends.
- Noodle Incident: Eda and Raine’s last date at a carnival involved them hiding from security guards who were after Eda for cheating at the games, and the ending somehow involved an explosion with stuffed animals and some security guards getting caught in a cotton candy machine.
- Not What It Looks Like: While Eda is cleaning up Lilith, she texts Raine to ask if they have any soup, causing Raine to assume Eda is sick. In reality, it was for Lilith. When Raine gets back to their and Eda’s apartment, they see the hair Eda cut off Lilith in the trash, they panic and assume something bad happened to their girlfriend.Raine: EDA! (knocks at the bathroom door frantically) Eda! I saw the hair—What happened? Did you throw up? You didn’t have to cut it! Vomit washes out!
- Prequel: This fic takes place before the events of canon.
- Promotion to Parent: Eda immediately takes Lilith in, and plans to work with Bump to legally become her guardian.
- Self-Made Orphan: Averted. After finding Lilith and learning about how poorly she was treated, Eda wants to kill Gwendolyn for revenge, and still thinks about it for a few chapters. Bump tells Eda that killing Gwendolyn will most likely cause Child Protective Services to see her as an unfit guardian for Lilith, causing her to work with the system for the time being.
