Chapter 15: Friendship Dynamics
Art by Crash X Fusion: He's gotta accept it sooner or later.
Gus worries about the future of his friendship, while a certain mischief maker begins causing trouble.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Accidental Pervert: Boscha accuses Mattholomule of being a creep when his locker spits out her stuff that went missing, including her boot and her grudgby uniform.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Emperor Belos and the Golden Guard debut in the story's version of "Something Ventured, Someone Framed". In the show, they both debuted in "Agony of a Witch".
- An Aesop:
- Friends fight, but they'll make up as long as they're given time.
- If something about your past is bothering you, it helps to talk about it instead of pretending it didn't happen.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: Just before Gus finishes realizing who Luz has a crush on, the rest of the Human Appreciation Society barges into the room comforting Bo.
- Audience Surrogate: Gus describes himself as this, word for word.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Thanks to years of putting up with her siblings' pranks, Amity is able to tell what's an illusion based on the lack of shadows in certain lights.
- The Cameo: King only has brief appearances in the first and last flashbacks, doubling as Bookends.
- Continuity Nod:
- Mattholomule mentions the troublemakers are still clearing out the ghosts from the Abomination classroom.
- Luz and Willow haven't spoken since the moonlight conjuring and the first time they do, Amelia (who's with Willow) mentions Luz getting arrested.
- Skara informs Willow of the knife she saw in Amity's binder.
- Emperor Belos is informed of the graffiti painting Luz made, which he is impressed by.
- Crush Blush: Luz has one as she tries (and fails) to explain to Gus how she and Amity are friends now, but she wants to be more.
- A Day in the Limelight: Gus for the A-plot, Mattholomule for the B-plot.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When it seems like Mattholomule is messing with Boscha on purpose, she forces him into several painful situations as payback.
- Dumped via Text Message: A rare platonic example. When Boscha orders Skara to end her friendship with Bo, she pulls this on her; i.e., sending her a message over Penstagram.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Gus's bully appears in a flashback before he's seen properly in Book 2.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Luz refers to Mattholomule as just "Mule".
- Epic Fail: In addition to Amity seeing through his illusion, Gus' plan to get Luz and Willow talking again bombs because he wouldn't stop chuckling while invisible allowing Amity to find him.
- Everyone Can See It: Because she does a poor job of hiding it, Willow is able to figure out Luz is crushing hard on Amity in an instant. Gus figures it out after a bit of time, but is interrupted before he can finish putting the pieces together.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: The first meeting and formation of the friendship between Luz, Willow and Gus is revealed.
- Flashback B-Plot: The chapter's flashbacks reveal how Gus and Willow first met the Clawthornes and became friends with Luz.
- Foreshadowing:
- Perry looks at a photograph that features the whole Porter family, including Gus' mother.
- Belos notes that Luz's artistic talent is worthy of the Bard track.
- Humiliation Conga: Mattholomule, who's constantly being scared by the Fae and ends up TO'ing Boscha who punishes him. In order, he's tied to a chair in front of an exploding cake, used as a "William Spell" target, forced to volunteer for testing a potion that turns his head into various fruits, and thrown to a demon squirrel and shaken like a ragdoll.
- I Miss Mom: Gus spent a long time trying to subvert this by finding other problems to fix, but caves to Luz and Willow and admits he does need to talk about his mother with his dad.
- Internal Reveal:
- Willow learns about Amity and the knife from Skara, Luz getting arrested from Amelia, and (along with Gus) Luz's crush on Amity, which the troublemakers already know of.
- Emperor Belos is confronted by Lilith who's learned of all the cover-ups involving Luz.
- I Work Alone: Luz considers herself a lone wolf who doesn't have time for complicated politics.
- Jerkass Ball: The Fae and Boscha towards Mattholomule, with the former setting the latter up to mess with the triclops and her taking revenge on the boy.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: There's no struggle involved, but the Fae steals Boscha's boot while she's still wearing it and without her noticing.
- Meet My Good Friends Lefty and Righty: Luz tells Gus that if his bullies come after him again, she'll have "Hellraiser" (her left fist) and "Bone S. Crusher" (her right) put the fear of the Titan in them.
- A Minor Kidroduction: 4 years ago, Luz and King saved Gus from a pack of bullies and he became fascinated by Luz, which made her uncomfortable. A while later, Luz met Willow at Eda's stand while she was trying to get Gus to leave and she left when Gus called her a thing. It was with Eda's encouragement and an apology from Gus that Luz opened up to them and they became friends.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: After Boscha orders her to under the threat of doing so herself, Skara ends her friendship with Bo to maintain her popularity, a decision she immediately regrets.
- Point of Divergence: Compared to "Something Ventured, Someone Framed", Mattholomule doesn't get the chance to even attempt seizing control of the H.A.S. because the Fae decides to mess with him, Willow plays a larger role, and Amity & Boscha appear.
- The Reveal:
- Gus' mom left his dad five years ago. For the first year, his dad told him she was on a business trip.
- A human man came to the Boiling Isles years ago, and Lilith was responsible for watching him but supposedly failed.
- Part of the Fae's name is revealed: "Goodfellow".
- Shout-Out:
- The song that plays on the boombox Luz shows the H.A.S. is Snap's "The Power".
- Perry compares himself and his former friend Terry to an 80's singer duo known as Hell and Goats.
- The second time Luz met Gus, she had forgotten his name and called him Gaston.
- When Jerbo asks what happened to the Luz that hated Amity, Luz responds with "That Luz is dead and buried!"
- Jerbo's advice to Luz is chocolates, flowers, and promises she doesn't tend to keep.
- Eda gives lemons to students to use in order to see through a Fae's glamour, by squirting the juice into their eyes.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Gus has had a habit of surprising Luz by popping up out of nowhere since the day they met. Eda does this at least once.
- Sticky Fingers: The fae steals some of Boscha's stuff and plants it in Mattholomule's locker.
- Villain Respect: Getting a look at Luz's slanderous graffiti, Emperor Belos admits the girl's got artistic talent worthy of the Bard track while the Golden Guard says he'd drink from a mug with that image.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After being tricked by Gus into thinking he was seriously injured, Luz and Willow chew him out for making them worry before demanding an explanation.
- We Used to Be Friends: It's confirmed that Luz and Willow are this, at least for the time being. By chapter's end, Skara and Bo have become this as well.
- Wham Episode: Lilith confronts Emperor Belos about the cover-ups involving Luz, and he reveals it was because she'd make it personal after losing a human she was assigned to watch.
- Wham Shot: The last scene shows the fae writing their name on the troublemaker wall in the Secret Room of Shortcuts: Goodfellow.
- William Telling: As punishment for catching her in a net and calling her a monster, Boscha sentences Mattholomule to a round of "William Spelling".
