Chapter Text
Edie waved goodbye at the driver as the bus sped away and turned to face the village for the first time. A few weeks prior, she had been accepted as a lab assistant to a mycology lab in rural Romania and eagerly flew out to begin her new job as soon as possible, leading up to her standing in the snow covered village now. Edie’s eyebrows rose slightly as she walked towards the old building in the center of the village for her first meeting. The research position Edie accepted did mention the job site being in a remote village in Europe; she just was not expecting it to be this remote. Brushing her musings aside, Edie pushed open the heavy doors and was greeted by a meeting with her new… colleagues?
Multiple pairs of eyes snapped into Edie as she stepped in. A giant woman in white dress caught Edie’s attention first; it was hard to miss such an elegant and imposing figure in the room. Her attention quickly shifted to the scruffy (and much more normally sized) man swinging a metal hammer around animatedly as he barked insults up at the tall woman. A few humanoid figures leaped across the ceiling beams and closer to her; were they snarling? Before she could further observe the humanoid creatures above her, a toddler—no, a doll the size of a toddler—scuttled towards her giggling. Edie’s jaw dropped in surprise, snapping it closed as a hunched figure a little taller than her pushed the doll aside to get a better look at her.
The man had a tattered cloak covering most of his body and partially covering his face. His watery eyes peered out met hers as he took a tentative step towards Edie, almost as if he was afraid she would run away if he got any closer. He offered a weak smile, revealing two rows of crooked teeth.
Edie blinked slowly, gathering her thoughts a bit; this was her chance to make good first impressions and hopefully some new friends, not the time to get all shy. She stepped forward and closed the gap between them, extending her hand towards the cloaked man in front of her. “Edie,” she smiled, “I’m the new research assistant and I’m excited to start working with you all.”
Slightly taken aback, the man paused a moment before reaching out with his webbed hand to accept Edie’s handshake. “Moreau,” he said in a low voice, “Salvatore Moreau. Pleased to meet—” He was shoved away quickly before he could finish. “Move ugly!” the doll shrilled out, “Angie wants a better look.”
“Silence,” a cold voice rang across the room, an eerie silence replacing the chatter. Edie somehow had not noticed the masked woman standing at the raised area in the center of the room, but the commanding presence radiating from the woman was unignorable now. Edie’s eyes darted back to a veiled woman picking up the rapidly retreating Angie before returning her attention to the leader of the group.
“Welcome to my village,” the woman greeted, her wings—why did she have wings—rising slightly, “I am Miranda, we spoke briefly on the phone. Apologies for my childrens’ excitement—we do not get visitors often.”
Miranda continued addressing the others in the room now, “As we previously discussed, progress with our research has slowed recently. New data have not been as… helpful as I had hoped and the girl is here to help with that.”
“Castle Dimitrescu could always use an extra pair of hands,” the woman in the white dress replies smoothly, “I would be happy to accept—”
“Oh please,” the hammer wielding man snapped, “you think we’d just hand you another maiden to drain?” He shifted his tone, speaking imploringly to Miranda, “Give her to me and I’m sure we could produce results everyone would love.”
The tall woman huffed and glared down at the man, “You and your childish games have never produced anything of worth.” She took a drag from her intricately designed cigarette holder and blew out a thin line of smoke into his face. The man looked livid, looking like he was about to take a swing at her. From the back, Angie let out a giggle again, “Fight fight fight fight!”
“Alcina. Heisenberg.” Miranda’s voice cut through the squabble, “Bickering again, where are you manners before our guest? Clearly bad hosts,” She smiled cruelly at them before continuing. “Moreau, she will go with you.”
“Mother Miranda I must protest—”
“To the moronic freak? You gotta be kidding!”
More gleeful laughter from Angie as she sat on the veiled woman’s lap.
Moreau however, was singularly focused on Miranda. He looked at Mother Miranda in awe. “Mother you mean it?” he gasped, “thank you mother, oh I won’t let you down.”
Alcina and Heisenberg looked like they were about to argue again and Miranda cut them off before they could start. “She’s well versed in mycology,” Miranda drawled matter of factly, “Alcina, you already have your daughters to help. Karl, I doubt her skills would be of much aid in the factory. And Donna? Well you never asked for company at the Beneviento estate, I’d assume everything is running smoothly.” No one dared to object after that.
“Well then my children, meeting adjourned. Return to your tasks immediately. I look forward to seeing the fruits of our labor.” And with that, Miranda vanished in a flurry of black feathers.
The three other lords quickly took their leave as well, each looking curiously at Edie as they passed by her on their way out—walking, not disappearing into thin air. They looked like they wanted to talk to her more but avoided doing so to respect Mother Miranda’s commands. Soon enough, she and Moreau were the only ones left. He looked too nervous to talk, and Edie was still processing the meeting and failed to form words as well. Moreau turned and trudged out the door, beckoning Edie to follow him. They walked out silently, both trying to think of something to say to the other as they left the meeting hall.
Edie trotted behind Moreau, taking note of the different houses in the village as they went. Though the buildings were old, there was something quaint about the older architecture, mostly because Edie had never lived somewhere like this before. The lords Edie briefly met at the meeting were even stranger to her. Not in a bad way of course: she was certainly glad that they were lively, and she was sure that her future interactions with them would be anything but dull. She let herself get lost in her thoughts as she followed Moreau out of the village center with a spring in her step. As they reached the dock, the young scientist’s excitement falters and a small frown tugged across her face. They had to travel on water?
Before she could mask her mild displeasure, Moreau turned around and offered his hand to bring the young woman onto his boat. “Oh…” Moreau sighed, “I’m sorry you had to come with me. She might be mad that you won’t work in my lab, but I can talk to Mother—”
She cut him off quickly, “No! I’m excited to work with you.” Continuing as she wrung her hands nervously, “I’m just not a huge fan of boats that’s all. The rocking always throws me off balance and such.”
Not quite believing the girl, Moreau nodded. Still too shy to look at Edie for too long, he stole quick glances at her face, trying to read her expression. He could not tell if she was trying to spare his feelings by feigning politeness or if she was being genuine. It has been a long time since anyone has been excited to spend any amount of time with him.
Seeing the skeptical look on Moreau’s face, Edie quickly grabbed his outstretched hand and stepped onto the boat. Tugging at him to come along too, she flashed a small smile at him, hoping to convince him, and herself frankly, that she would not get horribly seasick on the way to her new home. She let go of his hand and plopped down on the wooden bench near the back of the boat, then immediately popped back up on her feet animatedly. Snapping a salute at Moreau, Edie pushed a goofy grin off her face and tried to put on a serious voice, “Awaiting orders captain. Ready to sail at your command.”
Her playfulness seemed to push Moreau’s worries away and his face lit up with a smile. Playing along with his new assistant, he jokingly called out a command, “Stand down. Sailing conditions iffy, strong winds and choppy waters but nothing our crew can’t handle. Set sail immediately.” The two of them looked at each other, pleasantly surprised by how the other had a better sense of humor than they each expected. Moreau’s tone grows more serious, “Sit down and hold tight Edie,” he warned, “water can be pretty rough.”
Edie sat down and gripped the edge of her seat tightly. The boat’s motor sputtered to life and the boat slowly began to accelerate into the icy waters of the reservoir. Taking a deep breath to calm her stomach, Edie looked behind them, taking in the view of the village fully for the first time. Castle Dimitrescu loomed over the village, sunlight glinting off of some of its spires. Edie was almost certain that the inside of the castle was equally imposing and intimidating as the outside, much like the lady of the castle herself. She brushed a mop of hair out of her face and trailed her eyes down into the misty valley, making out an obscured manor that she assumed must be the Beneviento estate. Donna and her estate were both shrouded in mystery. The village was shrinking as the boat steered them further and further away from land. Edie threw one last glance backwards, scanning the village for Heisenberg’s factory but only managed to see columns of smoke drifting up from the factory. Just like Karl, the presence of his home was obvious even when he wasn’t immediately within view. Edie chuckled to herself; it seemed like each of the lord’s domains matched their personalities well.
She had a habit of speaking to herself when she made observations, taking in the village views being no exception to this. Moreau listened to her soft ramblings, taking delight in how his new assistant was able to assess his family’s personalities fairly accurately. As much as he was grateful to finally have some company in his home, he felt even luckier that his new companion had a sharp mind as well. He stole a look at Edie’s face as she was still scanning the village. Her eyes were bright and full of curiosity, and Moreau hoped that arriving at his rickety abode would not snuff the excitement from her eyes.
As they passed the center of the reservoir, a particularly strong gust of wind blew past them. Despite Moreau’s best efforts to counter the rocky waters, the boat lurched forward; Edie’s stomach lurched up as well. She gasped, hoping that a gulp of fresh air could quell the waves of nausea. Unfortunately for her, an icy spray hit her face as she opened her mouth, tickling her throat and throwing her in a small coughing fit. Moreau turned and looked at her apologetically, “Wind’s mean today,” he frowned, “we’ll be there soon.”
Moreau looked like he wanted to continue talking to Edie but stopped as Edie squeezed her eyes shut. She nodded in his direction, failing to notice his disappointment as she did her best to distract herself from her seasickness. Eyes still closed, she began humming a cheerful tune to distract herself. Moreau was surprised for a moment but relaxed as Edie’s mood seemed to improve. The rest of the trip continued wordlessly, only the sounds of the waves hitting the boat and Edie’s humming keeping silence at bay.
Eventually, Moreau’s boat reaches the reservoir dock, the engine coughing to a stop. He climbed out of the boat with the towing rope and secured it to a post with a rolling hitch. The waves pushed the rocked the boat gently, knocking the bow of the boat onto the worn wooden dock. Edie was leaning on the side of the boat with her forehead leaned into her arm. She groaned softly at the boat’s movement and pushed herself to sit up straighter. Unfortunately for her, this boat ride turned out for the worse, and she was using every ounce of strength to keep her breakfast down.
“We’re here,” Moreau called out tentatively, noting the young woman’s discomfort. He reached his hand out again, offering to help Edie off the boat and onto some more solid ground.
Not wanting to seem dejected, Edie stood up quickly to exit the boat. Bad move: her stomach somersaulted and her head spun but she managed to keep herself together. She clutched onto Moreau’s hand like a lifeline, thankfully he was strong enough to support her weight and help her out the boat. She muttered a small thank you and offered him a tight smile, sweat beading along her hairline as she felt another wave of nausea wash over her.
Still holding onto Moreau’s hand, Edie let him gently guide her towards his home. Whatever introductory remarks he was giving about the lab and living at Reservoir failed to reach her. She tried her best to nod or force out disgruntled sounds in acknowledgement, though her inattention was fairly apparent at that point.
They paused a bit as Moreau fished out some keys and unlocked his door. “Here we are,” he announced with a small flourish, “please come in.” Edie lingered near the door for a moment and followed him in. It was noticeably darker inside and the glints of light from the lamps on the wall made Edie’s dizziness worse. Moreau began speaking again, “Wasn’t expecting company today… sorry it’s messy. I can clean—”
Suddenly the young woman wrenched away from the fish man and bolted out the door. Bewildered, Moreau watched as Edie crumpled over on the dock, chest heaving as she emptied the contents of her stomach. Ah, of course. Why would anyone be anything but disgusted by him? He should have known that Edie was no different. That whatever miracle prompted Mother Miranda to assign Edie to him was in no way promising him companionship. Though Edie accompanied him back to the Reservoir, he felt like he had returned home utterly alone. Still, he wanted to check up on the young woman. Moreau was no stranger to vomiting and felt compelled to offer Edie some comfort.
Edie coughed weakly after regurgitating her breakfast from earlier. She felt a little drained, but otherwise feeling immensely better than she felt earlier. Wiping her mouth, she noticed her new surroundings for the first time. She saw some small fish had gathered in the water near her, a windmill spinning lazily in the wind, a sign reading “Moreau’s Clinic” pointing to the side, a sullen-looking Moreau walking hurriedly in her direction. Moreau! In her hurry not to make a mess indoors, she had momentarily forgotten about her host. Edie smacked her palm to her face and groaned, embarrassed that Moreau had to deal with her getting sick within the first hour of meeting her. She turned to him quickly, opening her mouth to apologize but stopped when she noticed his expression. Why did it look like he was about to cry?
“Are you alright?” Moreau asked, trying to hide the tremble in his voice as he held back tears.
Edie closed her mouth and opened it again, “Yeah. I’m uh, I’m feeling a lot better. Sorry for just running out like that.”
A pause, Moreau searched her face, confused at her lack of disgust. “No. I’m sorry for the state of my home. It’s no place for someone like you and—”
Edie cut him off in a hurry, “Oh no! Oh shit um is that what it looked like?” She continued frantically, “I’m so sorry Dr. Moreau. Please don’t think this is your fault at all. The journey here was lovely, the view out on the water is beautiful. I really just get horrible seasickness and the boar ride over unfortunately made me feel sick.”
“You mean you weren’t disgusted by the thought of living with me?” Moreau asked, not quite believing Edie yet.
Edie’s face paled, “Absolutely not! That would be so rude of me, oh god. It really was only seasickness and I’m so sorry for all of this mess.” She began speaking quickly and adamantly, “Please don’t think I’m not thrilled to be here. I was ecstatic that Miranda let me come with you. My experience so far has always been with mycology and parasitology but I’ve always wanted to work more with pathology you know? I was already so happy when I got this job but when she informed me that I would be working with you in your clinic? I was ecstatic, truly!”
She paused to take a breath, noticing the tears that began to spill over onto Moreau’s face. “Oh no please don’t cry. I’m so sorry I started us off like this.” Edie slapped around her pockets, fishing out a napkin and reaching out to dab Moreau’s tears. She stopped herself, unsure if that would be unprofessional of her; she already made her boss upset enough to cry, and she really didn’t want to make it any worse. “Here,” she offered, “Please tell me how I can fix things.”
Moreau accepted the napkin gratefully, and he was even more grateful for her explanation. For once, things turned out to be much better than he anticipated and he let himself have a little hope that maybe, just maybe Edie’s arrival could help him be a little less lonely. He managed to stop crying, offering the young woman a genuine smile when he finally spoke, “It has been a very long time since anyone has wanted to be in my company. I, too, am ecstatic for you to be here.”
The two of them looked at each other again. A smile crept across Edie’s face as well when she realized that one: she wasn’t in huge trouble, and two: Moreau’s tears were surprisingly not of hurt but rather of a deep melancholy being lifted. It seemed that the two of them could start a good friendship after all.
“Welcome to my home Edie.”