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Closing the door to the empty office behind herself, Scylla sighed. Raelle took a seat perched against the desk in the dimly lit room. It was starting to get dark outside. Slowly, Scylla made her way over to the desk, taking a seat on the chair next to Raelle.
They needed to talk.
Back when they first got on the bus, Scylla had promised Raelle honesty. She had made that promise to herself as well. That meant she wouldn’t hide behind deflections anymore. It also meant that she needed to be honest about Raelle about her own feelings.
In the time since they arrived at AM-Corp and were taken in by the Dodgers, they had been working on rebuilding trust. It was a slow-going process, and it was easy to get distracted by one another. They often found themselves rediscovering the other’s body instead of talking about their relationship when they could steal a moment away.
It was easy to see the tension rolling in waves off of Raelle. Scylla looked down at the desk to avoid staring at Raelle’s rigid posture.
“So…Who was that?” Raelle asked.
“That was Vira. Like I said, we used to run together before I conscripted.”
“With the Spree.” She stated.
“Yes.”
“She was very, uh, friendly.”
“Yeah, we used to spend a lot of time together. Whenever we’d meet up, well, we would hook up, I guess.” Scylla internally grimaced. She hadn’t ever expected to have to explain this to Raelle, “I guess she wasn’t expecting things had changed.”
It was quiet for a moment, and Scylla took the opportunity to steal a glance at Raelle.
“And they have changed, right?” Raelle asked.
Scylla glanced at Raelle, then. “Of course. Raelle, you know that I love you. That I’m in love with you. I don’t want to be apart from you anymore.”
“Like ever?” Raelle responded, a slight smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.
Scylla let out a small laugh, “Yeah, like ever.”
“I guess, I don’t know. There’s a lot about your past that I don’t know still. And then, she tried to kiss you. It was—I wasn’t sure what to think.” She admitted.
Scylla nodded, “I could tell.” A gleam entered her eyes, “Though your face was kind of priceless, Rae.”
Raelle grumbled in response. “I’m glad it was amusing to you.”
Scylla’s face sobered. There was something else they needed to discuss. She could see Raelle look at her from the corner of her eye, concern etched into her features, pulling at the scar on the side of her face. The one Scylla loved to kiss. The one that, along with the scar marring Raelle’s chest, she was drawn to the first time they reconnected. A symbol of how close she came to losing Raelle, in an even more heart-wrenching way than Scylla imagined was possible. She had thought that losing Raelle to her own mistakes had been the worst pain she could’ve felt. The realization that Raelle died , that she could so easily lose her forever, had made her want to puke. It still did. Raelle was full of life, she couldn’t bear to imagine her as anything else.
Raelle reached out, gave her shoulder a squeeze. “What is it, baby?”
She wasn’t sure what to say. Wasn’t sure how to explain what she felt. Scylla had meant it, when she told Raelle that she didn’t open up easily. It was something that Raelle was well aware of, something that Raelle knew that she had to be patient and give Scylla time to verbalize her thoughts. To be vulnerable.
After a minute, “Why are you so against changing your face?”
Raelle paused, her hand still resting on Scylla’s shoulder. If she thought about it, Raelle wasn’t exactly sure why she was so against changing her face. She had never been completely against the Spree, had always thought there was some merit to what they were doing.
“I don’t know.” Raelle settled upon, “I guess the thought of using Spree work made me uncomfortable. I know it shouldn’t, it’s just work.”
She paused. There was no reason to be uncomfortable with using it. Wasn’t that the same response she got to her own fixing work, back when she first came to Fort Salem? Talked down on for using spoken work, what her Mama taught her. Thought of as lesser than for it.
There was no reason for it to be. It was common in the Cession. But, Raelle thought, that was the problem. Spoken work like her fixing was associated with the Cession. Witches at Salem looked down on her for it. It was the same reasoning with the Spree. There wasn’t anything wrong with face-changing work, but the affiliation with the Spree made it seem inherently as if there was.
“Maybe spending the time in the army made me more sympathetic to their message that all the Spree are are terrorists. I guess it didn’t help with what we went through either.” The blonde finally decided on.
The sun had set completely outside by now. The din of the warehouse settling down for the night. Scylla glanced out the window, then back to Raelle.
“It hurt. When you were so adamant about not being associated with anything Spree related.” She took a breath, “It’s just, I was Spree. That was a big part of me, and to hear you say things like that, it hurts. I can’t help but feel as if you’re talking about me.” Scylla sighed.
“Scyl, I don’t—I would never say that about you. I love you. So much. You’re—You’re my future. And, I think that you’re amazing, and I know there’s so much on your plate. I know it hasn’t been easy, trying to handle keeping the three of us under the radar,” she paused. A moment, then she was continuing on earnestly. “I’m not completely against changing my face. I don’t want to, and I know Abs doesn’t either. But I would, if it came to it. I would do anything to help make sure we’re safe, to keep you safe. Okay? I promise, I’ll work on it. We’re in this together, yeah?”
An unwitting tear sprung to her eye, and Raelle wiped it away with a thumb as Scylla nodded.
“I am glad we talked about it though. I want this to work. Us. I want us to work. It’s hard for me to be vulnerable too, still. But I’m working on it, just like I know you are. I love you.”
Scylla leant in for a kiss. It was slow, there was no urgency to it. Their mouths met their familiar dance for a few minutes, before pulling apart slightly. Their foreheads rested against each other, and Scylla whispered, “I love you too.”
She pulled back, moving to rest her hand on Raelle’s thigh, looking at her as she turned her gaze out the dark window.
Scylla remained like that until the door burst open, drawing her attention to Adil and Abigail.