Disclaimer- I have not caught up with Season 2 (The last episode I saw was season two episode ten, I hope to catch up soon) of The Owl House. I was going to but sometimes I do this thing where I procrastinate doing deep lore research and then start getting upset about not writing the fic and… Anyway, here I am. So please don't put spoilers in the comments but do continue leaving questions in the comments if you want to and I will try to answer them in:
Ro's Question and Answer Corner (Questions collected from and ao3)
Ford and maybe Lilith's reaction to Cary will be addressed
No one outside of Gravity Falls knows that Stan has a daughter and that includes Dipper and Mabel
This part of the story, like Gravity Falls, is set in 2012, The Owl House is set in 2022 so Cary and Eda won't meet Luz for a while. King also won't be in this part of the story because Eda meets him sometime in 2014
Cary has encountered some of Gravity Falls' weird creatures but probably not a lot of them, and I don't know if Stan has shown her the journal or not because he doesn't want to put her in unnecessary danger.
Cary's ears are in fact pointed.
Okay! That was a lot of questions and answers- I appreciate all the questions and I will gladly answer more, some of them I didn't answer because they'll be answered eventually in the fic. Sorry if not everything makes sense, but I hope these answers provided some clarity :D
If Cary was terrified, she didn't show it. The house itself wasn't that bad, it was just an abandoned house in the middle of the woods. There were plenty of those in Gravity Falls. Cary wasn't even afraid of the possibility of ghosts, because there were plenty of those in Gravity Falls as well. Cary had never seen any, but Wendy said her dad had an old unused cabin that was apparently rotten with ghosts, and Cary didn't need any more proof than the fact that Manly Dan believed. This house didn't seem all that haunted, but it was undeniably supernatural.
Cary had searched the entire house and then set up a little campsite to wait for something to happen. Most of her camping supplies had come from Nana Whiskey because Cary hadn't thought to bring a sleeping bag to "theatre camp" and they hadn't let her bring her switchblade on the airplane. Fortunately, Nana had knives to spare.
For the first few days, nothing happened. Cary was happy to be a squatter in the woods. It really did almost feel like she was back home in the Falls, camping with Wendy and Tambry or her dad and Soos. She kept track of the days, dismally noting that she had missed Summerween and still had nothing to show for it, and she hadn't talked to her dad in almost a week. She was beginning to wonder if this trip to Connecticut had been worth it. And then something happened. Her destiny flashed before her eyes. Her destiny and a glowing portal.
The glowing yellow door unfolded in front of her and abruptly swung open. A little owl hopped out, looked around, and dove straight for her sleeping bag, beginning to drag it back through the portal. Transfixed, Cary followed, grabbing her backpack and gripping the knife she'd been loaned. This was definitely more than she bargained for, but it made sense. A tiny, thieving owl was leading her to her answers about the owl creature that haunted her dreams. That was what this was, a chance to get answers. If Cary was terrified, she didn't show it.
The world opened up around her when she stepped through the door. She looked around and gasped. She was in a tent filled mostly with human garbage. She saw a woman with wild orange hair (with a few grey streaks) and pointed ears in front of her and knew in an instant who this woman was.
"Mom?" That was the wrong thing to say. The tiny owl flew to her cane -no, it was a staff- and the woman pointed the staff at Cary.
"Who are you? What are you talking about?" The woman was standing her ground, but she seemed a little nervous and agitated.
Cary held up her hands, and it was clear that the six fingers caught the woman's attention.
"My name is Cary Pines. Are you Marilyn? Or rather, is Marilyn a pseudonym you use?" Cary was very careful with how she phrased her questions, not wanting to give this woman plausible deniability if she was in fact her mom.
The woman shifted and lowered her staff.
"The name's Eda, kid. I might've used the name Marilyn before. What did you mean when you said mom?"
"Around 15 years ago you met, married, and robbed my dad, Stan Pines. You stole his car and ditched it with an egg inside. I hatched from that egg."
"Whoa. Shit. I did not know I could do that."
"What do you mean you didn't know you could do that? You did it!" Now Cary was getting a little mad. Eda didn't seem to care that she'd ditched her daughter.
"Listen, kid. I might have done it, but, well… It wasn't really me. I mean it was, but…" Eda sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
"Listen, let's get somewhere safe."
"I'm not going anywhere with you until you give me answers."
"Then go right back through that door because it isn't safe for you here."
"No! I came for answers and I will get them," Cary snapped.
Eda let out a low growl, "We're going to get caught!"
"I don't get caught-"
"Hey! There she is!" Someone in a creepy plague doctor mask pointed at Cary and Eda and Eda grabbed Cary's arm.
"You want to keep that track record of not being caught? Come with me." Cary pulled away, hesitating a moment, not sure if she could trust the person who had left her once before. That moment of hesitation ruined her track record, and she was grabbed as Eda made her own escape.
Sitting in the dungeon, the "Conformatorium", Cary was filled with thoughts and regrets. This was nothing like the one time she'd gotten kicked out of laser tag, or the brief stint she'd spent in pool jail last summer. This was cold, hard, and terrifying. She shouldn't have come to this world, she shouldn't have been so desperate for answers that she was willing to go to another state and another universe all by herself. She shouldn't have hesitated when Eda offered her protection. Even if Eda turned out to be unreliable, unreliable was better than here, right? But now she was trapped in another world, and she had no idea how she'd get back to Gravity Falls. The only person who knew she was here had no reason to save her.
Cary broke down and sobbed. She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be back at home with Team Pines, back where it was safe and at least a little bit sane. She wanted this to be a bad dream, and instead, it was a prophecy that had come true. A glimpse at a weird world that she hadn't completely comprehended when she'd dreamt it, but now she knew it was real. Which meant that the beast was real too.
Cary stood up, still sniffling, and banged on the bars.
"You're going to regret this! I'm going to unleash my inner demons and you're all going to regret this!"
"That's insensitive to demons, just so you know!" Someone in another cell yelled across to her.
"Oh, sorry?" Since her empty threats were useless, Cary sat back down and hoped for a miracle.
Edalyn Clawthorne had never intended to leave the little girl in a cage. How could she? Whether or not she bought that this kid was her daughter, she was still someone in need. And anyway, Eda always loved having a chance to flip off the emperor. And Owlbert was on board with the rescue mission as well.
Cary's sobs had calmed to silent tears when Eda broke into the conformatorium.
"Ready to get out of here, kid?" Eda asked before stopping by the cell where Cary was being held.
"You came to rescue me," Cary sobbed.
"Yeah, yeah, stop crying and stand back, you can thank me later." Eda blasted the door open, making sure not to hit Cary, and then held out her hand.
"Are you going to trust me this time?"
"Yes. I'm sorry-" Eda pulled Cary onto the staff.
"Hold on. There will be time to talk later."
Cary squeezed her eyes shut as they took off, taking a minute to acclimate to the feeling of being up in the air. Then she looked around.
"Where are we?"
"The Boiling Isles. Where are you from?"
"Oregon."
"Huh, I've never been to Oregon… Where'd I meet your dad, again?"
"Las Vegas."
"Ah, yeah, that sounds familiar. And you said I left an egg in the stolen car?"
"That's what dad told me."
"Damn… That means… Why did you come here?"
"I've been having… Prophetic dreams. I know they're prophetic because some of them have come true. And all of them lead me towards a grim future where I become some sort of feathered beast."
"The owl beast," Eda said, sounding glum as the staff lowered towards a house.
"You know about it?" Cary had known Eda knew about it, but she wanted to hear Eda say it.
"When I was younger, a bit older than you, I was cursed. I don't know how or by whom, but the curse makes me turn into this beast sometimes. I don't know how to cure it, but I know how to manage it. If you think that's your future… I don't know what to tell you, kid."
"Teach me how to manage it. I'll do whatever I have to, Eda. I just… I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."
Eda turned away, hugging herself.
"Yeah, I know how that is. Come on, kid. We've got a lot of catching up to do."
