Chapter Text
The Human Realm had a lot of things Raine needed to get used to. They’d only been there for a few days so far, and already, they felt like everything they knew was being flipped upside down. The food was so different, though Raine was pleased with the options of spices that they had available, but still. The people seemed a lot more tame, and the absence of magic in the streets was obviously a weird one. No people flying their palisman in the sky - though obviously that had become more rare as of late even on the Boiling Isles, due to the decrease in palistrom trees.
The point is, it was weird, and Raine wasn’t used to it.
Eda however, took to it quickly. She’d go out daily and find something new to try (and new to steal) and bring it back for Raine, who was far more nervous about exploring the world. Adventurous they might be, but honestly they were a bit worried about transforming in this new realm. It was hard enough to explain in the Demon Realm, let alone in the Human Realm. They’d probably be sent to the human-equivalent of the conformatorium (which is exactly where their mothers said they’d end up if they didn’t take control of this curse, but let’s not go there right now).
As usual, Raine returned to their blanket nest after a soothing walk in the woods, wherein they were forced to interact with zero people, exactly as they liked it. Eda was still out exploring, and considering it was barely noon, they expected her to still be out for a bit longer. Yesterday Eda had returned home with more blankets for their nest, explaining how people were basically giving them away, hanging them in their backyards on a flimsy line of string. Raine figured that that was not the actual intent but didn’t say anything - beggars can’t be choosers, and it did seem a bit silly to them to leave the warm blankets outside where anyone could snatch them.
Summoning their violin, they began to play a soft lullaby to keep their mind relaxed. They’d been attempting some meditation that their mother had shown them before they ran away in an attempt to keep the curse at bay. Eda was resolved to just ignore the problem, but Raine was taking active measures to prevent it (hopefully). Fortunately, Eda had shown them the stone they’d obtained from the healer, and it had the barest bit of darkness at the bottom of the stone, meaning she wasn’t close to her magic being overtaken.
After playing through the lullaby twice, Raine took a deep breath and dismissed the violin, laying back in the nest and pondering their life. They’d been doing a lot of that recently. They weren’t sure if they liked it, but they didn’t have much else to do. Eda had offered to take them into town with her today, but they’d once more asked to push it off until tomorrow. Eda thankfully ignored the fact that they’d said this the day before. And the day before that, as well.
Suddenly interrupted from their musings, Raine was on guard at the sound of rustling outside their haphazard cabin. They were about to summon their violin back when Eda pushed the door open and entered, excitement on her face.
“I found us something to do in this weird place!” she announced, yanking Raine off the ground with one tug, and looped their arms together. She began marching out of the cabin with her partner on her arm as she continued. “There’s this thing called a ‘movie’. It’s like a crystal ball, but way bigger, and the sound practically shakes the entire room. It sounds fun! And you, my friend, need to get out.”
Raine couldn’t really argue that, and honestly, it did sound a bit fun. So they sighed, adjusted their glasses with their free hand, and resigned themselves to be tugged towards this ‘movie theater’.
The walk was only about 10 minutes, and despite their fear of interacting too much with the humans, no one seemed to point them out and start muttering to their neighbor, so they supposed it was safe. The more they walked in the neighborhood, the more they seemed to relax. Eda was talking about her adventures in a cafe earlier that day, where not only did they not take snails, but they didn’t think Mr. Wiggles was suitable payment either, and really, what kind of place wouldn’t take a cute face like that ? Raine chuckled at their girlfriends usual antics and shook their head.
Once they arrived, Eda pulled a small rectangle out of her pocket, from which she took even smaller, green rectangles out of and handed them over to the ticket merchant, selecting whatever movie was playing next.
“What was that?” Raine asked, pointing to her pocket as they walked into the theater.
“It’s called a wallet, bard-brain,” she said, brushing her hair back with the hand that wasn’t holding Raine’s. “Humans use it to keep their cold-hard cash, which, guess what - it’s freaking paper . Ah, so flimsy. And so easy to steal . It’s just hanging loosely in their pockets.” Raine rolled their eyes at that, not the least bit surprised to hear Eda had been pickpocketing. It was her favorite pastime, after all.
“First things first - snacks,” Eda announced, pulling the bard off to another counter. “Hello, good sir, I will take your largest bucket of popped corn, and two medium cups.” Raine had zero idea what she was talking about. What the hell was corn, and why was it popped? And what was the use of an empty cup?
Once Eda had received the food and cups, she tugged her partner over to a weird display where they could see the woman before them dispensing a drink into her cup out of the contraption. “So just put your cup under one of these thingamajigs, and press the button, and get a magical bubbly drink that pops in your throat!”
Well that sounded… unpleasant, but okay. They grabbed something called ‘Root Beer’ which sounded honestly disgusting (who wanted to drink roots?) but at least they could recognize the words, as opposed to ‘sprite’ or ‘coke’. What did those even mean? The colorful displays told them nothing of the taste, so they went in blind.
Eda, however, shoved her cup under each option and took a little bit of everything. Popping a lid on, she stabbed a straw through the top and took a sip. “Kind of gross. I like it!”
Raine just shook their head, and they made their way into the theater.
“That. Was. Amazing!” Eda exclaimed as they left the theater, narrowly missing the trash can as she tossed her empty bucket of popped corn (which they still did not understand the name of, but it tasted delicious). “How do you think they made all those explosions without magic?” Suddenly she gasped and turned to Raine, dropping her ‘soda’ on the ground to grasp the bard’s shoulders. “Do you think they really killed people for it? That’d be… so cool.”
“It was… a little loud,” Raine admitted with a wince, rubbing at their left ear. It was illusioned so the humans didn’t notice their points - wild witchery really was good for a few things, it seemed. Thank the Titan for Eda making them ditch class to watch in on a few illusion track lessons. “And no, I don’t think they killed anyone. That seems counterproductive.”
“Aww,” Eda pouted, leaning against Raine. “But it would be so much more meaningful that way. They literally died for their production!”
“I sincerely doubt anyone would apply for the job.”
“Spoilsport,” Eda muttered, crossing her arms. Within seconds she was back to smiling at her partner. “So, a bit loud, but did you have fun?”
“You know what? I did,” Raine admitted, bumping their elbow into Eda’s. “It was nice to get out for a bit and spend some time with you not in an old, rotting cabin.”
Eda laughed before replying, “I suppose a better environment does make it easier to admire me.”
“Always the goal, Calamity,” Raine joked with a soft chuckle. “A bit hard in the dark, but I made do.” They reached over and squeezed her hand.
“Thanks for coming out, Rainestorm. I know you didn’t really want to,” Eda said softly.
“For you? Always.”
In this foreign land, even the stars in the sky were so different. Raine had never studied their placement back on the Boiling Isles - that was more of an oracle thing if anything - but they could tell it was different. Even just the overall atmosphere felt so… off.
Raine and Eda were lying on one of their many, many blankets that Eda had stolen, outside of the cabin. Just watching the stars for the night. They would go back in soon, but for now, the view was nice, and the company even nicer.
“It was my dad,” Eda said, around ten minutes into the silence. Raine turned to her and raised an eyebrow in confusion. “That I… you know. He let off a popper and next thing I know I’m standing over him like some… monster.” She refused to look up at them.
“Eda… you don’t have to tell me about this if you don’t want to.” They were thrilled she was opening up to them, but didn’t want to push her right now. She’d seemed to be ignoring everything Owl Beast related since they’d gotten to the human realm.
“I know, but. You told me about you and your moms so… I don’t know. Maybe it’s better to get it out to someone who gets it.” She fiddled with a loose string on the blanket. “He’ll never be able to carve again,” she admits after a few more moments of silence. “I ruined his hand. And his eye. Fuck, I just about ruined his life, Raine.”
Raine didn’t have a response, simply adjusted their hold on their girlfriend so that they could rub her arm.
“And then my mom’s crazy went from level five to eleven, she brought so many healers over in the next few days. The last one? She told them to just cut it out of me . As if the curse was a tangible tumor that could just be ripped out. Heh, wouldn’t that be easier.” She stopped for a moment, and Raine noticed a few tears silently rolling down her face.
They imagined their own mothers saying something like that. They’d been dealing with a few healers in secret themselves - their mothers not wanting word to get out about their curse - and couldn’t even imagine hearing their mothers say something like that to them. It was mostly just disappointment at the lack of results, and threats to keep this quiet.
“I’m so sorry, Eda,” Raine said, not really knowing what else to say. “Is that why you ran away?”
“Yup,” Eda admitted, still not looking up from the blanket. “Right out the window and into the woods. That’s when I found the portal.”
Well, at least they now knew the portal wasn’t some secret she’d been hiding from them for their entire friendship. They’d never gotten around to asking about it, letting their tight-lipped girlfriend drop whatever hints she felt like and not forcing any more out.
“I doubt he thinks you ruined his life. He loves you. But… I get it,” they admitted, thinking about Dell, and then thinking about what they would do in Eda’s shoes. Had their mom not been so quick with her sleep spell, it could have been them in her shoes. “I get wanting to run away. I’m… kind of relieved you took me with you, in a way.”
They hadn’t admitted that to themself until now, but it was true. They felt so much freer since they’d arrived in the human realm, and not just because they were no longer trapped in their house. The expectations and responsibilities that had been weighing on them were mostly gone. The only person they needed to please was Eda and realistically, they just had to be themself to do that. Eda didn’t even care when they refused to be social and just wanted to hide in the nest with a blanket over their head for the day. She made fun of them, of course, but she ultimately left it up to them.
But she also did her best to help them be the best version of themself. She pulled them out of bed on the days they really needed it - never fully against their will, but a bit. She made sure they weren’t just gorging themselves on the new spicy snack they’d found, and had some fruits to balance it out.
She was just there, and honestly, that was perfect.
“I’m glad you came, too,” Eda admitted, finally looking up at her partner. Raine leaned forward and laid a soft, slow kiss to her lips, eyes drifting shut. Eda returned it happily, tears slowly drying from her face. She wouldn’t be over the trauma of what she’d done for a long time, but at least she was still accepted by the one person that mattered most to her.
“We’re in this together,” Raine reminded her, brushing a lock of her hair off of her face.
They both turned back to the sky just in time to watch a shooting star race by. Raine silently wondered if it had any effect here the way it would back home, but, there was no magic on the human realm, so what could they do with it? Make a wish? Lame.
“Together,” Eda agreed, eyes staying on the sky. But now, Raine only had eyes for her.
“Raine. Raine I have discovered something amazing .”
Raine had been outside, attempting to wash their clothes in a nearby creak when Eda came running over to them, shaking their shoulders and making them drop the dripping wet shirt from their hands.
“Huh?” Raine asked, not having expected to be shook.
“Okay so, there’s this place. It’s called a fire station.” Eda immediately got down to it, releasing the Bard’s shoulders to use her hands as she talked. “I thought, oh my Titan, a STATION entirely focused on FIRE. This place has GOT to be cool. Turns out, it’s kind of lame. They don't make fires there. But they do FIGHT fires. You know those loud siren things we hear at night sometimes? Apparently, those mean they’re going to go FIGHT FIRE. They wear these SUITS so they can GO INTO THE FIRE.”
“I’m not sure where you’re going with this,” Raine said, a bit nervous.
“We’re gonna go watch.”
“Wha-what?” Raine asked, very nervous now.
“Yeah I watched a truck leave a bit ago and I followed them and it’s pretty close by, let’s gooo!” Not waiting for a reply, Eda grabbed Raine’s arm and yanked them towards the street.
“Couldn’t you have let me put the clothes up to dry first?” Raine asked as they tried not to trip and fall.
“NO TIME WE COULD MISS IT.”
Raine sighed and focused on keeping up with their girlfriend.
“We made it!” Eda said as they ran up to a giant red machine in the middle of the road. Eda had explained to them what a car was but this seemed… excessive. Who needs a ladder on their car?
“Made it to what, exactly?” Raine asked. They glanced at the house in front of them - it seemed fine. There was a little bit of smoke coming from the backyard, but otherwise, everything seemed fine.
“Just a small bonfire gone a bit out of control, folks,” a man said, coming over in a very thick looking tan coat, with a weirdly-shaped hat on. “Nothing to worry about.”
“What do you mean nothing to worry about?” Eda said, disappointment evident in her voice. “I came here to see a man fight FIRE!”
“W-well,” said the man, clearly confused and concerned. “They’re just finishing up out back, but we’re not supposed to let civilia-”
“Kay, thanks, byeeee!” Eda interrupted him, pulling Raine out back with her despite the man’s protests.
They make it out to the backyard where they can see the charred remains of a brick circle, and some scorched leaves surrounding the area. A small fire remains a small distance from the ring of bricks, and Eda looks at it with wide eyes. Suddenly, a large tube was aimed towards the fire and blasted it with water.
“Wh-what?” Eda whispered, shocked. “That’s… that’s it?”
‘Uh-oh’ Raine thought, biting their lip as they were sure this ‘fun adventure’ had turned out to be a major disappointment for their havoc-loving girlfriend.
“That’s IT?” Eda repeated, louder this time. The two other people in uniforms in the back turned to look at Eda, and the one not holding the weird tube moved towards her.
“Hey, you’re not supposed to be back here!” She said, an angry look on her face.
“We’ll just be going then-” Raine started before being interrupted.
“And YOU’RE supposed to be PUNCHING THAT FIRE INTO SUBMISSION!” Eda called out to the woman, pointing to the now diminished flames. “Not throwing water on it like a wimp!”
“Eda…” Raine was getting worried about being kicked off the premises at this point.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the woman in uniform said, crossing her arms. Which looked difficult in that heavy of a coat, Raine noted.
“And I’m going to have to ask you to-... to be less of a DINGUS!” Eda shouted, grabbing Raine’s arm and running. They heard the uniformed people shout at them but ignored them in favor of trying to keep up with their girlfriend. Man, thank Titan for the breathing exercises they did for their wind instruments, otherwise they’d be screwed right now.
“Who calls themselves a fireFIGHTER if you’re not going to FIGHT the FIRE!” Eda screeched once they’d gotten far enough away. “I mean, come on, they just tossed water at it! Bo-ring!”
“I mean, it seemed to be a pretty efficient way of stopping the fire,” Raine said, wincing as Eda turned to face them.
“But where was the PIZZAZ! The showmanship! The ACTION!” Eda protested, tossing her hands in the air as she continued to stomp off.
“I’m not sure that’s the priority in the middle of a fire,” Raine objected. “We fight fires in overall the same way in the demon realm, you realize.”
“Which is why I thought it’d be COOLER here!” Eda shouted, beginning to feel defeated. “Ugh, sorry to drag you all the way out here for such a bore.”
“I had fun,” Raine admitted, running a few steps to catch up to their girlfriend and toss an arm around her slumped shoulders. “Not every day you see your girlfriend scream at authority.”
“I’m pretty cool, aren’t I?” Eda asked with a smirk.
“The coolest dingus I’ve ever met,” Raine teased.
“BACK TO THE CABIN!” Eda shouts, suddenly jumping on Raine’s back. They stumble for a second before laughing and gripping the back of her legs to hold her up. “Onwards, my noble ratworm!”
“You so owe me,” they replied, but did as requested.
“Let’s go on a picnic,” Raine suggests as they walk back from their latest ‘shopping’ trip at the grocery store. Is it shopping if you don’t pay for anything? Raine is going to go with yes. Because otherwise, they weren’t entirely sure Eda had ever gone shopping in her life.
“You? Wanting to go out?” Eda joked, turning towards her partner. “I’m shocked. Mystified. Truly astounded. The stars have never aligned so-”.
“I get it, I get it,” Raine interrupted, covering Eda’s mouth with a hand full of plastic bags. “I’m a hermit, I got it. But, seriously, would you want to go?”
Eda pretended to think about it, tipping her head back and forth in thought. “I mean, I guess I can be convinced. But you’ll have to bribe me.”
“Oh?” Raine smirked, leaning towards their partner as they neared the cabin. “And how might I do that, your majesty?”
“Ah, why, kind mx, with a kiss,” Eda said, dropping her bags as soon as they crossed the threshold of their hideaway.
“I suppose I can comply,” Raine muttered softly, leaning in fully and dropping their bags in order to place their hands on their girlfriend’s hips. Eda wrapped hers around Raine’s neck, sighing contently between kisses.
“I suppose you’ve won me over,” Eda whispered, looking into Raine’s eyes.
“Good,” Raine said, pulling back. “Otherwise this would’ve been far more awkward.” And with that, they reached their hand into Eda’s hair and pulled out a picnic basket they’d stollen from the store. Eda looked at them in shock for a moment before shaking her head.
“I’ve been a bad influence on you, Whispers,” Eda said, putting her hands on her hips as Raine put the basket on the floor and began to pick foods out of their stock to pack up.
“Perhaps I was always this way,” Raine teased, “and you’re only still learning just how devious I truly am.”
“Or perhaps,” Eda began, sneaking up behind the bard to toss her arms around their neck once more, placing a kiss on their cheek, “you’re just a nerd.”
“Perfect comeback, Calamity.” Raine raised their hands in mock applause, dropping an apple into the basket before they did so. “Ten out of ten, never been a better comeback, amazing, astounding!”
“Shut your mouth,” Eda objected, pushing them away with a shove.
“Or you’ll shut it for me?” Raine teased.
“You wish!”
The two witches continued to joke around as they packed a basket, Eda being of little use in the actual process, preferring to complain about Raine’s choice in foods. Raine just shook their head and made sure to add an extra bag of spicy chips, just for Eda. Eda threw her shoe at them in retaliation.
By the time they’d packed the basket and stopped goofing off, it was around six in the evening. The sun was just beginning to set as they arrived at the park, providing a soft atmosphere for the couple. Raine smiled softly at Eda as they made their way over to an empty patch of field and Eda spread out a blanket before dropping herself unceremoniously on it.
“Mmm, this was a good call, Whispers,” Eda said, leaning back on her hands and enjoying a soft spring breeze. “Get you out of the house, get mama some grub, perfect plan.”
“I’m not sure I’d call what we’re staying in a ‘house’,” Raine joked as they began to unpack the basket, passing Eda her sandwich. Not the fanciest of dinners but they’d been mostly living off of them for the few weeks they’d been in the Human Realm. “Bit more of a hovel.”
“House, hovel, same thing,” Eda said, mouth full of sandwich already. “Point is you left it and I’m very proud of you.” It was said in a joking tone, but Eda knew how much the bard hated being just at risk of being in the public eye, especially since they’d been cursed. Being in the human realm had both helped and made it worse - there was no one that they knew there to judge them, but it was so much easier to do something ‘unnatural’ in front of humans.
“And I’m proud of you for not kicking that woman in the shins who insulted your hair,” Raine said with a smirk, referring to an incident inside the grocery store earlier that day. Some people really just needed to mind their own business.
“My hair could kick her hair’s ass,” Eda shouted in outrage, getting fired up again. Instead of being concerned over their girlfriend’s rage, Raine just laughed and took a bite of their sandwich, looking up at the setting sky.
“You know we have to go home soon,” Raine said after some moments of silence. “We can’t stay here forever.”
“Yeah, okay, but not home home, right,” Eda rushed out, worried. “Because, I’m not going back to that home. We can find a new home.”
“We’re 16, Eda,” Raine whispered, looking down at the blanket now. “And barely, at that. We’ve been doing okay, but I mean… it’s only been a few weeks.” They lifted their head slightly so they could just see their girlfriend’s worried face. She was worrying away at her lower lip, clearly not liking what they had to say. “I just don’t know if it’s going to work.”
“We’ll make it work,” Eda insisted, grabbing Raine by the shoulders and giving them a shake. “We’re two strong, determined witches, we can do anything! It’s not like you were getting anything useful out of being at home - they already pulled you out of school, at least this way we could learn from real world experiences! Ooh, we can be wild witches on the run!” Eda’s eyes widened at the idea. “It’ll be so cool!”
“But Eda, I’m a bard witch,” they insisted, shrugging off Eda’s hands. “I only know bard magic, really.”
“Your ears say differently,” Eda smirked, causing Raine’s illusioned ears to twitch slightly. “And I can teach you more! There’s no better multitracker than me!’
“That’s because you’re the only multitracker,” Raine teased, before returning to their serious demeanor. “I mean, this all sounds great in theory, Eda, but we have to be at least a little practical.”
“Practical, shmactical,” Eda waved her hand in distaste. “Practical would have me in dear old Lilith’s shoes, and she’s too scared of her sister to even talk to her! Impractical has gotten me to where I am today and I like it .”
“You like being cursed?” Raine felt a bit of anger growing in them at this point. They knew it wasn’t rational, but Eda was just being so blasé about everything, and they couldn’t handle that right now. They needed to be serious , THIS was serious. Nothing was going right and part of them wanted to just curl into a ball and cry but a larger part of them just wanted to scream about how unfair everything was. They never asked for much, they just wanted to be a bard, to play and make people happy with their music, maybe teach one day. To be around their awesome girlfriend and their friends. Now they had no one left but Eda and it seemed like Eda was content to leave it that way.
“Of course not!” Eda replied in outrage. “But it’s happened and I can’t change that!” Eda took a deep breath and let it out, looking down now. “Look, Raine, I get life’s not going how you wanted-”.
“How I wanted?” Raine felt all rationality leave their body at this point. They hadn’t really had a chance to just be angry about everything, and their mind seemed to decide that now, out in the open at a family friendly park on a nice date with their girlfriend was the perfect time. “How I wanted was to finish school as a normal witch and graduate and join a coven just like every other witch on the isles! How I wanted was for my parents to not look at me like I’m some unjust abomination that’s going to attack them at every minute! How I wanted was to just be normal! ”
There was silence for a moment before Eda spoke again.
“Yeah, well, normal’s overrated.” There was no joking in her tone, just pure seriousness. “Normal is for losers and dweebs who don’t want to stand up for themselves and do what they believe in instead of what society believes in. I’d much rather be a freak than be normal.” Her face softened at this point as she held a hand out towards them. “But I’d really rather not be a freak by myself. Please, join me?”
“This isn’t going to work,” Raine said, shaking their head but not taking their eyes off of Eda’s hand.
“We can make it work. No one’s ever managed to tell me I can’t do something and be right,” she joked.
“We need to do a lot more planning than this,” Raine said, slowly coming around to their girlfriend.
“And we have time,” she replied.
“I’m sorry,” They said, reaching their hand out to grab Eda’s and threading their fingers through hers. “Of course I want to stay with you, and of course I don’t want to go home, but this is all so… UGH!”
“That’s a pretty good way to describe it,” Eda replied, pulling Raine close and resting her head on their shoulder. Their grip tightened as they heard Raine release a quiet sob. She gently rubbed one hand along their back as they clung to her for dear life. “It’s pretty shit.” Raine laughed through their tears.
The two stayed like that for a while. A few humans looked over at them in concern, corralling their children away from the two crying teens, but they took no notice. Eventually, the tears stopped, and Raine wiped their face on their hands.
“We should get back,” they said, throwing the mostly uneaten food back into the basket.
“Or we can stay here and watch the stars for a bit,” Eda suggested, leaning against Raine’s shoulder.
“Or we could do that,” Raine agreed. And so they did.
“Raine. Raine! RAINE! ”
“I’m up! I’m up. What’s wrong?” Raine said, shooting up to a sitting position in their nest. Eda was shaking their shoulders and pointed to a hole in the ceiling a few feet from them when Raine saw it.
A drip.
It was raining.
Oh shit .
“We did not plan well for this,” Raine admitted, looking at the many holes in the ceiling with fear. The two moved to huddle together more in the corner of the room, their nest forgotten. They stayed that way for a few moments before Eda went from a face of fear to a frown.
“Wait a minute,” Eda said, crawling away from Raine despite their protests - which consisted of literally trying to hold her in place. “This place should be burning down.”
Raine stopped at that, and turned toward her in confusion, before realizing she was right. This place was made of wood . Sure they had wood structures on the Isles, but they had spells to protect them from the rain. Shouldn’t this place be burning around them?
When Raine tuned back to their surroundings, they saw Eda inching closer to one of the holes in the roof where there was a steady ‘drip drip’ coming in. The moment they realized what she was about to do, they let out a scream of ‘no!’ and dived for their girlfriend.
But they were too late. They tackled her to the ground, and saw a drip of rain on right hand.
It was… just wet.
Her flesh wasn’t burning, there was no blistering going on on the skin. It was just… wet. The two looked at her hand in mystified wonder and Raine reached over and touched the drop on her hand. It felt… cool.
“Wh-what?” they asked, holding her hand and turning it over in wonder.
“I have… no idea,” Eda said, just as shocked. Raine paused for a moment to glare at their girlfriend.
“Are you telling me you just reached your hand into the rain without knowing it was safe?!” Raine shouted in exasperation.
“I had a hunch!” she objected, pulling her hand out of Raine’s to throw them in the air.
“Witches die over hunches, Eda!”
“Well, I’m just fine, so no harm done,” Eda said, hands on her hips. Which was an odd position when kneeling on the floor.
“I’m pretty sure you gave me a heart attack,” Raine deadpanned, shoving her in the shoulder and causing her to lose her balance. She fell onto her back and laughed as more drops of water fell onto her face. Raine had to laugh too, still mystified that the water was harmless.
Suddenly Eda shot up and yanked on Raine’s arms, pulling them into a standing position.
“I’ve got an idea.” She pulled them all the way outside and into the rain and laughed, turning her head up to the sky. Raine tried to resist her pull but she was definitely stronger than them. “Dance with me, Rainestorm!”
Eda began to jump around, shouting in delight in the rain. Her feet sploshed in the wet grass, and the rain began to come down harder and harder until it was pouring. Raine just stared at their girlfriend in wonder until they began to laugh too, and jumped over to their girlfriend, hands in the air.
Once they joined her, Eda stopped for a moment and gave Raine a soft look before reaching her hands around their neck and planting her lips on theirs. Raine returned it with fever, leaning into her and holding tightly onto her waist. When they separated, they didn’t go far, and instead leaned their foreheads against each other and began to softly sway.
“I love you, Rainestorm,” Eda said, meaning every word of it.
“I love you too, Calamity.”
“This has been fun,” Raine said, adjusting their backpack strap on their shoulders. Eda, Raine later learned, had come to the human world without packing her own bags, so they’d ‘borrowed’ a backpack from the convenience store down the road in preparation for returning to the demon realm.
“I learned just how weird - and gullible - humans are, so I’d say it was pretty successful,” Eda said, dumping some random human junk into her bag with the leftover space. Raine thought there probably could have been better use for that space, but who were they to judge. “I wonder if I could sell some of this stuff on the isles.”
“Probably,” Raine said, looking over their cabin for what may be the last time. “It’ll be mystical to us over there, might as well profit off of the ignorance of others.” Raine was joking. Mostly. Probably.
“Down to business,” Eda said, hefting the backpack over her own shoulders. “We have a plan.”
“Indeed.”
“And… remind me of said plan?” Eda smiled in a way that told Raine she’d totally forgotten.
“We go back to the demon realm. Based off your first visit there, we’ll reappear right where we left, meaning we’ll be in the woods surrounding my house. We’ll head off in search of a place where we can make shelter. If we can’t find anything suitable by tonight, we can pop back to the human realm and sleep here,” Raine repeated for the umpteenth time.
“Got it,” Eda said, nodding her head. “This’ll be great! Us, camping in the great outdoors!”
“Titan grant us luck,” Raine joked, faking a wince when Eda smacked them on the arm. “Edaaa.”
“We’ll. Be. Fine!” Eda punctuated each word with a poke to Raine’s arm, nearly pushing them over. Their wince was no longer fake.
“Okay, okay, jeeze!”
With that, Eda pulled the key from her hair and pressed a button. The door on the cabin suddenly seemed to hold a light behind it.
“Are you ready?” she asked, turning to her partner. They smiled and waved her ahead.
“After you.”