Have books coming tomorrow but I need to vent about my idea okay. Currently am Anime only.
So. For context. In owl house, there is our fantastic, ADHD riddled protagonist, Luz. Grade A. Now, idk where it comes from, it might have been concept art, but, there is this idea of a "beta Luz." Who is basically just... The way I have seen it in fics, is if the joyful cheer of canon Luz was kicked out of her until she went darker and more edgy.
So, I present to you, Beta Coco! Aka Vanilla
(her in universe name isn't actually Vanilla but I refer to her as Vanilla because that was my original placeholder for a name until I went down the name websites.
Here is how I explained it to my friend. This is Coco if she
-watched every single person dear to her die
-it was the fucking brimmed caps
-she thinks it was her fault
-the brimmed caps did it to try and get her to either a, become a brimmed cap, or b (and my personal pick), to be the keystone of some big power-sizing move.
Because even in witch hat atilier, there seems to be a certain level of..... If I want it to happen, the magic will make it happen, and thus consent is now important.
Coco.... Doesn't agree. Because they fucking killed the other apprentices (and, notably for my idea, killed agott in front of her), killed her master, shattered her mom, and at the end when she still refused? They try and kill her and just are ready to start over with a new child.
This is where that "magic will make it happen bit comes in. Coco... Doesn't really know what she's doing. She is loosely trying to make a spell that will stop what they are planning. Maybe it kills the brimmed caps. Maybe it erases their knowledge. She doesn't know and doesn't really care.
But, one thing that she wants even more than that, is her family to be safe.
Guess which one the magic focuses on.
Yeeee so this is a time travel fix it type shit
Coco (who will be now refered to as Vanilla) wakes up, still bleeding and not very alive, at the edge of the pool/ fountain we see in episode 1.
Coco's mom comes to wash laundry (because that thing would have been found before) accompanied by baby coco who is freshly obsessed with magic thanks to a book gift.
Coco's mom, rather understandably, freaks the fuck out over the woman bleeding out on the ground. Shouts are shouted, ect ect. Coco's mom asks for her name.
Vanilla just asks for master Qifrey.
But wellllll people that are bleeding out aren't always the most understandable.
Vanilla properly wakes up now. She's in the mom's house because.... I'm assuming that Coco looks like her dad and just because of the resemblance Vanilla has with coco, the mom is assuming that either the dad had a one night pop with someone before they got together, or someone in his family did because "you look just like my daughter" doesn't immediately connect with "time travel."
So Vanilla wakes up to a baby Coco in her face. Like... This child would sit on her chest if she was allowed.
Vanilla probably thinks she died or this is a dream. Moreso when her mom comes in, refers to her as Keeley, and tells her to "rest up dear, it'll be okay"
She slowly understands what probably happened.
She realizes that she could take the book from Coco and stop this before it starts.
She decides that she can't, for two reasons.
1 she knows the brimmed caps are on her fucking ass and that taking the book won't stop them
2... She can't take away her magic, her family, from herself. She just can't do it.
But she is also a traumatized, vengeful woman and is healthy enough to recognize that... Holy shit would she be a terrible teacher.
So she doesn't take Coco as her apprentice. But she does tell her stories. Some are real stories of actual things, some are just the kinda stories that witches hear growing up. Gives Coco a head start on some witch philosophy and morals.
She comes and goes through Coco's village as she grows up, becoming "the cousin" when people are being polite, and "the bastard daughter" when they are less so. Coco's big sister.
(brush buddy can also be there, depending. If he is, then Vanilla's is still named Puff Puff, and lil'coco's is named pom pom. The two brush buddies low-key hate each other, but will immediately shut the fuck up and work together if either Coco is in danger or distressed.)