Fandom We Were Inseperable

[acecadet]

jademage
Owlbert was giving her The Look.

Eda was doing her damnedest to ignore him.

"Rainestorm, Heyy~" She said to the dumpster behind Bagels and Spooks, swirling a bouquette out in front of herself in what she hoped and prayed was a suave manner. "My favourite witch. Looking minty fresh as always! Say, How about you and me go and hit up some place cool, just the two of us?"


Her Raine stand in (i.e. the dumpster) looked just as unimpressed as she was sure the real Raine would. Eda felt sweat prickle at the back of her neck. She cleared her throat, trying to ignore the way the Snapdragons were starting to wilt as she clutched them tightly in their pretty purple wrapping. The alleyway was confettied in their multicoloured petals.

"Rainey, Looking good! Guess who's back- No, no, not that...Don't bring it up, you idiot,"

Owlbert ruffled his feathers and hooted his two cents.

Eda pinched her brow. "No. No, I'm not telling them I've been awol because of a buncha' coven scouts. Do you got feathers for brains?" She huffed. "No, we're sticking to my story. I got a job. I'm the new mercenary slash strong arm for the merchant caravans. That is definitely, 100%, totally why I haven't been around for the last couple of days. You know. On the road. Which isn't entirely off the mark, so hey, it ain't entirely a lie either,"

Owlbert was still looking at her, all knowing.

Eda's arms flopped to her side.

"OKAY, it's still a lie! But "I saw a buncha witches getting carted off, decided to ambush the Emperor's Guard and had to lose a whole patrol of sycophants on a wild griffin-chase through the Spleen" doesn't sound much better, Owlbert!"

Owlbert's expression shifted into one of concern, and within a moment, Eda saw why. She looked down to find three auburn brown feathers sprouting from the hand holding the bouquette. Eda swallowed her frustration and tried to think calming thoughts. She pulled the feathers out without hesitation.


"It's fine." She said, deliberately. "I'm fine. See? Look, I don't...feel good about this either, but what else am I supposed to say? They're already going to be worried."


Eda made a big deal about hating scrolls and having an unusual schedule at the best of times. She knew that Raine did their best to deal with it, but it still couldn't be easy.


Fluttering off from his perch, Owlbert came to roost on her left shoulder. With a quiet hoot, he smooshed his face into hers. It was reassuring and comforting, but it still made Eda feel bad for disregarding Owlbert's sage advice. She briefly patted his head in apology. She had to do this her way.


"Alright. Let's...get this over with," Eda inhaled, channelling her bravado.


Raine's home was just across the street, a small sublet room off of the bookshop that they'd lived in for the better part of the year. Eda rarely hesitated and yet her fist dangled for a moment to long before she finally brought it down on their door in three hard knocks that made the frame shudder.


Here goes everything,



She held out the flowers and did her best to totally look like she hadn't dropped off the face of the Isle for the last three days.

 

[jademage]

Raine scrubbed at their face with a tired fist. They had stayed up all boiling night trying to distract themselves with work, of all things. They’d never been a workaholic, but practicing or composing music left too much time for empty heads and contemplation, and they certainly weren’t in any position to find nor help their rogue partner, so they had turned to work.

The work was frustrating, Raine admitted to themselves as they packed up their piles of missing witch reports and festival performance lists, but at least it provided a distraction. Again.

“I really need sleep,” they muttered, padding on bare feet to shove the papers into a trunk. “Did I sleep last night?” They paused a moment, thinking back.

No, they’d been too worried about Eda, who had up and disappeared three days ago and, consequently, had not been in contact nor contactable. Raine had never considered themselves particularly overprotective, but it was clear from this three-day hiatus without any word or even a sign of Eda that perhaps they’d better reconsider their view of their own personality.

Then the door rattled with the force of three hard knocks.

“What time even is it?” Raine mumbled to themself, more in the farce of caring rather than actual inquiry. “Better get that.” They smoothed their mussed mint hair fruitlessly, pretending it wasn’t sticking up at all odd angles, adjusted their loose-fitting white shirt left over from when they’d gotten dressed yesterday, and opened the door.

“Eda?!” For a moment, it was difficult to comprehend what they were seeing — was it a hallucination from lack of sleep? a figment of their imagination? or was it really just Eda, not so missing after all? — and then their elbow smacked the doorknob as their arm dropped and reality crashed back in.
“Eda!! What—?” they spluttered, looking her up and down. Their green eyes took her in, flowers and messy hair and all. “What took you so long?”

 

[acecadet]

The door opened and all practice went straight out the window.

Raine looked exhausted. That was the first thing she noticed. Her eyes did a quick sweep of them, up and down, noting their rumpled clothes and the bags under their eyes.
Well no shit, anyone would look that way if their girlfriend up and disappeared for three days, said the unhelpful critic. She forced a smile and buried that thought deep, whipping forward the flowers,

"Rainestorm! My favourite person. You look-" Yeah probably better not to go there. Eda cleared her throat and had the wherewithal to at least look somewhat guilty for the part she might have played in that. She only briefly met their gaze as she rubbed the back of her neck. All her excuses had dried up.
"I'm sorry. It's been a busy coupl'a days. Can I come in? Unless you're busy. I can come back another time..."

She knew that Raine could be in the middle of a Titan's damned orchestra and they would still make time for her. Yet some small part of her still hoped she could avoid this whole charade of her own making if she was lucky enough...

 

[jademage]

Raine paused for a long, long moment, and it was unclear for a moment whether the silence was because they were tired or because they were upset. Eventually they blinked, sighed, and nodded.

“Of course, yes. Come on in, please, and try not to get flower petals on the floor,” Raine acquiesced, still quite unreadable from expression and intonation. Of course they were happy to see her. Of course they were. That didn’t, however, null the fact that she had been gone for three days with not as much as a note. Raine was pretty sure that even with a note, they would have been angry.

Their emotions were a mess, a jumbled concerta that might’ve been melodious, but each of the players chose to play a different section and at a different tempo so the piece was a cacophony of sharp, angry notes and low, relieved tones and resonant, tearful whistles and even the gentle undertones of the pleasure they took in their girlfriend’s company. A mess, to say the least.

They ushered Eda to the small sofa, gesturing for her to sit, then stand across from the chair.

“Explain.”

 

[acecadet]

Raine's tone of voice gave her nothing to work with.
She clutched the flowers close and followed them up into the apartment. Owlbert hopped off her shoulder with one last meaningful look, before flying off to settle himself by the window.

Eda was still looking for the best way to explain herself as she settled on the couch. It suddenly felt far too much like the million and one times she found herself sitting across from Faust in the principal's office. Raine's single word demand didn't help the illusion.

She briefly debated with telling them the truth.

"Well, I got great news. You're looking at the newest hire for the caravan runs outta Bonesburrough," Eda crowed. The witch hated herself for it, but stuck with the lie she built up over the long trip back home.

The Coven Guards had no way of knowing who she was.
Least of all, they had no way of knowing she was from Bonesburrough.
Bonus, Wild Witches weren't the only thing they were transporting, and Eda had made off with more than enough snails to last her the rest of the month, at which point she could fake an equally convincing story about how she was fired unreasonably for something something, yada yada.
There was no point in worrying Raine with consequences that were never going to hit the dirt.

"There was an unexpected trail run, nothing too difficult or anything. Heck, they weren't so sure about the no coven thing at first, but after a couple of days on the road, they were singing a different tune entirely, and it was in the key of 'Eda Clawthorne.'"

Eda had the wearwithall to look properly ashamed for a moment. Her attention flitted down to the flowers in hand and she cleared her throat as she held them out to Raine again, looking genuinely sorry.

"Sorry for not uh....getting in touch with you. I was out in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't much opportunity,"

 

[jademage]

Raine was still and quiet for another long moment, trying through their foggy lack of sleep to process Eda’s lightning words.
Something nagged at them, something about the situation, but they trusted Eda, and her story seemed to check out so far. At least, they were pretty sure it did. They were having a hard time keeping up. They rubbed their face with their hand and finally formulated enough words to make a nearly-complete sentence.
“Right, yeah,” they mumbled. “And it would have been so hard to send me a letter because…?” Their voice was sharp with snappish, petty anger, mostly founded by concern, and softened only by the weariness in their tone that made them incapable of being truly angry or upset.

 

[acecadet]

That...
Was an excellent point and one Eda had not considered in the complicated weavings of her lie,
"I...- Didn't think of it," She admited after a moment. She pressed a hand to her face. "Look, I messed up and I'm sorry. I was just trying to make sure that I was going to get the job and," Her excuses floundered. The guilt felt like a stone, heavy in her gut.

"Thats why I want to make it up to you," Eda said, "There's something I've been meaning to show you, actually. And I think you'd find it super cool. Just come with me. One night of splendor and extravagance, totally on me! And if you're still mad at me by the end of it, then I owe you a new viola,"

It would take a good chunk of her snails to afford anything remotely good enough for Raine. Eda's knowledge of instruments was spotty at best, and everytime the bard gushed about this new model or that, it tended to go in one ear and out the other, but surely it would be worth it. She couldn't stand the idea of Raine being upset at her. She was mad at herself for making them upset with her.

"Please?"

 

[jademage]

Raine pursed their lips as Eda babbled on, trying to explain. They dearly hoped that her usually-calm composure had fallen because she was guilty and nervous, and suddenly they felt quite guilty themself for making Eda struggle through words like a waterlogged bird.

Their eyes softened as she made her offer, and despite their rational concern they decided to set aside their anger for now. It was just three days, they told themself.

“Promise you won’t disappear on me like that again and you’ve got a deal, Clawthorne,” Raine smiled, extending a conciliatory hand. The offer was tempting, and Raine could never turn down a chance at an instrument, despite their angry distress still bubbling beneath their thoughts like a cauldron set to simmer in a forgotten corner.

“Better be one heck of a night.”

 

[acecadet]

She didn't deserve to feel relieved, but Raine's smile was the best kind of treasure, small but sure. Grinning, Eda offered up the flowers with a flourish, rising dramatically from the couch.
"How can I stay away from you on purpose? You're literally the best witch to ever walk the Isles," She said ernestly, meaning every word.
Who else would put up with her?

Feeling more like herself, the red haired witch grinned,
"So," Eda said. "What do you know about the human realm?"