Work Text:
Eda was leaning her head against Raine’s shoulder, halfway nodding off and beyond a point where she caught anything from the orb movie they were watching. It was technically far too early for her to be this unreasonably tired, but that was what she got for staying up so late to help Luz with her potions homework, she supposed.
King had had a long day and had gone to sleep already, so what should keep Eda from doing the same? Neither her nor Raine had any important business to attend to. Now that they didn’t have Belos and the Emperor’s Coven to worry about, why wouldn’t they go to sleep early for once?
It was a nice and quiet evening—so nice and quiet, in fact, that she should have known it wouldn’t last.
Her eyes had just drooped shut for what she’d hoped to be the final time when the front door was slammed, announcing Luz’s return from her little shopping trip with her mom.
“Eda, Eda, Eda!” she yelled from across the room, somehow more chipper than she usually was, and by a lot if Eda was able to pick up on it despite being so sleepy.
“I’m awake!” Eda said, and tragically it was the truth. She lifted her head off of her partner’s shoulder.
Luz looked at her like she’d only just realized what scene she’d walked into and cringed. “Oh no, were you asleep? Sorry.”
The last part was a whisper, like she was trying to talk quietly enough not to wake her now. Little late for that, but oh well.
“Well, I’m not anymore.” Eda yawned. “Did you have a good day? How’d your mom like our maul? Find anything fun to wear?”
“Very! And well enough. Mom actually tried some food this time, and she almost bought a jacket for herself, but then it tried to eat her, so that’s postponed for now. I warned her that it’s called a maul for a reason! Oh, and I got a couple new shirts plus two pairs of pants, in addition to the ones she brought that’re all freshly sewn up and washed so I can tear them again.”
Eda snorted. “Wow, you didn’t pause for breath there once.” This was not as unusual for Luz as it might’ve been for other people, but combined with her posture and the name-screaming, something was definitely up. “You gonna tell me what’s got you buzzing out of your skin?” She paused. “Not literally, I hope. Getting an antidote for a badger bee sting is quite the pain, let me tell you.”
“Nope! No worries. No badger bees involved. Or anything else, really. It’s nothing.” Luz seemed shy and reluctant all of a sudden, brushing a strand of her freshly cut hair behind her ear. That was that question answered, then.
“Do you usually enter rooms shouting Eda’s name over nothing?” Raine raised an eyebrow, seeming pretty amused. They were still getting used to having the children around, but at least Luz and King liked them. Eda had picked her kids well, it seemed. (Not that she hadn’t known that part before.)
“I, uh,” Luz started, then stopped, looking even more awkward.
“Spit it out, kid. We haven’t got all day.” Eda rolled her eyes. It’d been a while since she’d last seen Luz squirm this much. “Besides, it’s not like I don’t already know this is about Boots.”
Luz blushed. “Oh. Right. So,” she seemed to relax marginally, “there’s this festival being set up right now. We walked by it earlier.”
“Wait, is it time for the Festival of Fights already? I really am getting old if I managed to forget when that’s taking place. I loved that event as a kid.”
“She really did. We went together a couple of times.” Luz ‘awwed’ at that. “Word of advice: except for the main event, the games are all rigged. Don’t waste your snails.”
“Oh.” Luz deflated a little. “I was gonna ask Amity to go there together and try to win her a prize, but… maybe that’s not a good idea, then.”
“Please. Rainestorm wasn’t saying you shouldn’t go there together. Just to, specifically, not waste your—or in this case, my —snails.” Eda grinned. “They’re saying you should steal the prizes. Weren’t you, Raine?”
They blushed, all the way to their ears. It was adorable.
“I, uhm. Right. That is what we did, back in the day.”
“Really?” Luz gasped. “So you guys were always partners in crime and in love? And then you found each other again through fighting the corrupt system! That’s so romantic!”
“Thankfully we were never as mushy as you two. Gross,” Eda said, shuddering exaggeratedly while her partner just laughed.
“Come on! You can’t leave me hanging like this! I need the full story!”
“Kid, not to disappoint, but Rainestorm and I were just about to-”
“Eda,” Raine chimed in. “You really don’t want to tell her? What, are you embarrassed?”
“Embarrassed? Me? Please. If anyone has a reason to be embarrassed, it’d be you.”
“And I really don’t,” they replied. Traitor. “So I say we tell her.”
“Please?” Luz beamed up at Eda. “How else am I going to know the best robbing techniques if you won’t teach me?”
And, well, how could any good parent have said no to that?
“It all started in the first week of spring, a couple months after me and Raine first met. They’d just turned fifteen...”
—
“Edaaaa,” Raine groaned as their best friend pulled another gift out from behind her back. “That’s way too much! How am I supposed to make up for that on your birthday? I don’t have that many snails!”
“Yeah, well,” Eda replied with a wink, “I didn’t say I paid for any of this, did I, Rainestorm?”
They blushed. The nickname always made them blush, unfailingly. It was Eda’s favorite thing.
Raine was always so confident and in general the coolest witch she’d ever met. The only two things that could throw them were stage performances and Eda’s nickname.
She took great pride in being on that list.
“Still!” They sounded a bit affronted. Adorable. Next to their uncaring attitude concerning Eda’s thievery, this was what made Raine the perfect best friend for her. “I’ll feel like a terrible friend!”
“Who knows, maybe that was my vicious, evil plan all along! Maybe I want you to owe me.” She grinned wider. “But, tell you what. I’ll offer you an opportunity to come out of this predicament with your friendship honor unscathed.”
“As long as we’re not driving another principal into early retirement, I’m listening.”
“Don’t pretend like you didn’t enjoy that.” Eda snickered, and Raine joined her soon enough. “There we go. And nah, Faust just sucked. Bumpipoo is cool, for the most part.”
“Bumpipoo?” Raine raised an eyebrow.
“He hates when I call him that. Joke’s on him, though, that just makes me use it more.”
“Of course it does.” Raine snorted. “So, what’s this offer you were talking about?”
“Right. That.” It was the perfect plan to make herself seem disinterested and have Raine feel like she was doing them a favor, not the other way around. Eda was so cool about this. Just totally chill. Not nervous at all. “Come to the festival with me.”
…okay, that had maybe come out a bit too fast and excited to be nonchalant. Still, she wasn’t nervous. Not at all.
“Oh right. I forgot the Festival of Fights will be in town soon.” They rubbed the back of their neck in a gesture that Eda had learned to read as nervousness. “I take it the event is good, then? I’ve never been. We didn‘t have it on the Knee.”
“I know, silly. That’s why you’re obviously going with me. You’ll need someone to show you around. Show you how to actually win the games and stuff. They’re always rigged. And you couldn’t ask for a better tour guide. I go every year.” She held out her hand. “What do you say?”
“It’s hard to say no to you,” Raine said with a smile and took her hand.
Eda ignored the little flip her heart and bile sack did simultaneously. She mock-bowed, continuing to hold up Raine’s hand in what she assumed was an elegant regal motion. “Why thank you.”
“Is your sister coming, too?”
Oh. They were thinking of a friendly outing. That was… yeah, that was totally what she’d meant.
“Eh, probably. We always go together.” Eda shrugged. It wasn’t like she’d actually asked Lilith (or planned to, for that matter). Well, now she’d have to, despite her sister knowing about Eda’s intention to ask Raine out. Great. She would never live that one down. “Lily’s probably gonna be a lot more lame than usual, though. With the Emperor’s Coven recruiting soon, she’s really stressing herself out. Might bring cue cards and everything. Not like she’d ever actually fail. Unlike me, Lils is a proper little nerd. She studies and everything. Can you imagine?”
Eda blew a raspberry. Raine burst into another bout of laughter. They had a really cute laugh.
“Sounds fake to me.”
“Well, at least she won’t bring that random stranger who tried to ask her out. You should’ve seen her face when she got the card. It was hilarious.” Eda snickered. “Between you and me, the only thing that Lily would willingly date is a history book.”
“It’s nice she already has that figured out.” Raine shrugged. “I’m still not totally sure what I like. The right person coming along helped, though.”
“So… not history books, huh?” Edalyn asked carefully, wondering who this ‘right person’ they’d mentioned was. There was no way Raine was talking about her… was there?
“That much I can confirm.” Raine winked at her. Eda’s cheeks burned. No, it was more than that—she briefly felt her soul leave her body.
“Okay. Uh. Awesome!” She cleared her throat. “I’m not picky. I can like anyone, as long as they’re not boring or dream of becoming a guard.”
Raine raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you say you wanted to join the Emperor’s Coven?”
“Only so I can use all kinds of magic. Duh.” Eda elbowed them. “Would be no fun if I had to arrest myself for theft. Anyway, did you think about whether you want to come?”
“I-” they started, but Eda was far too antsy to give them the chance to finish.
“If you need more selling points, I’ve got them. One, I’ll pay. Two, they’ve got sick rides this year. Three, there’s this one stand that makes the best fried pixie eyes on the entire Boiling Isles. Coated in blood sugar and everything. Trust me, you haven’t lived until you’ve tried these.”
“You make some very convincing points, I’ll admit.” Raine smiled at her. “It’s a date.”
Talk about mixed messages.
“I have more important things to do than third-wheeling all day!” Lilith complained to her sister as they waited for Raine by the school gates. She’d been trying to get out of this all week. “Just tell Raine I got sick. Then I can study like I planned to, and you can actually have your date.”
“Raine just saw you in Runes two hours ago! They’ll know something is up if you don’t come! Besides,” Eda slung an arm around her sister’s shoulders at this, “I need my wingwoman.”
“But-”
“You owe me for the time I got detention for getting your lunch money back.”
“I didn’t ask you to fight Odalia for me!” Lilith sighed, and Eda could tell she was wearing her down.
“And yet, I still did it! Because I’m a good sister like that. And today, you’re gonna be a good sister and join me and- Raine! Hi!”
“Edalyn!” They did their secret handshake, newly extended and culminating in a hug. “I missed you in Advanced Melody.”
Raine had taken up a seat beside the hidden door to the room of shortcuts that Eda frequented, which made the class twice as fun for them both—even when Raine was nerding out about music. (Especially when they were nerding out about music.)
“Was it good today? Can you share your notes? I’m so mad I couldn’t make it. Stupid Mrs. Philter said she’d fail me if I missed another class.” Not that Eda usually would’ve cared too much about failing one class, but aside from the risk of her and Raine sharing less classes, it wouldn’t look good on her Emperor’s Coven application.
“Wow, she sucks. Shouldn’t teachers encourage more learning?” They got it. “And sure, I’ll send them over after we get back from the festival.”
“Thanks, Rainestorm. You’re the best.”
Lilith already looked annoyed by the time they made it to the festival, and to Eda’s horror, she had indeed brought cue cards.
“For a Draught of Gills, you need mermaid scales, Selkigris, fairy teeth and… is it moondrops? No, I feel like that‘s wrong.” She thought for a moment, then sighed in frustration. “Edalyn, what am I forgetting?”
“We’re not here to study.” Eda rolled her eyes. “It’s fishbones and frozen Gristlehorn spit, though. Moondrops can prolong the effect, but aren’t necessary for the potion to work.”
Lilith sighed when she turned the cue card. “Ugh, you’re right, that was it. How do you keep doing this?”
“I’m just that good.” Edalyn winked. “Now c’mon, put the stupid cards away. Let’s check out the triple swing! We’ve never been able to use that before!”
She slipped one arm into her sister’s elbow and pulled. Lilith let it happen.
By the end of their swinging session, Eda had taken out four people, which qualified her for a tiny plush prize. She picked a cheap acid gun.
“That was soooo fun!” She raised her fists into the air in a victory motion.
“It was! Good job on the prize, Edalyn!” Raine grinned at her. “Shame I couldn’t get anything.”
“You’ll get there.” Or maybe they wouldn’t, and then Eda could continue to impress them with her skills and win them a bunch of prizes. That sounded great, too. “For now, I believe I promised you fried fairy eyes?”
“That you did.” Raine slipped their arm into Eda’s. “Lead the way, Calamity.”
Edalyn mock-bowed. “You got it.”
Lilith groaned in the background.
The walk wasn’t very far, and thankfully, it was one of the less-visited stands. They only waited in line for fifteen minutes, and then ten more right by the stand while the glazing process of the fresh batch finished.
Glazed fairy eyes were best when they were still hot enough to burn your lips and tongue.
Eda bought one stick for Raine, one for Lilith and one for herself, wasting no time to bite into it. The blood sugar melted onto her tongue, painfully hot and awfully sticky. They were perfect. Well worth the wait. Eda would’ve been content eating nothing but glazed fairy eyes for the rest of her life—which was how she felt every year. Maybe she should start building a stock.
Raine really enjoyed them, too, which was a definite plus, and Eda also wasn’t complaining about their arm slipping back into hers as they ate.
Afterwards, they shared a Caramel Crab Apple (the extra snappy kind) since neither of them was that hungry anymore but both of them wanted to try one, while Lily wandered off to grab some Rotten Candy.
Then, it was time for the rides. One would think that having the snacks beforehand seemed like a bad idea, but a fair experience wasn’t an authentic fair experience unless at least one person threw up after a ride, as far as Eda was concerned.
The rides went, in order: Roller Ghoster (fun, only Lilith screamed the whole time), Cauldron Spinner (Edalyn got pushed into Raine and they remained stuck against each other until the ride stopped), Scarris Wheel (the monster was extra big this year, which was exciting), and, of course, the Bumper Carcasses. Eda gave two people a concussion and blacked out once. It was her favorite fair activity. (Lilith sat that one out. Lame, just like Edalyn had feared.)
Then, it was time for more games. Eda really, really wanted to impress Raine. They were so cool. She just had to show them how great she was, and then maybe she’d finally work up the courage to properly ask them out—or maybe they’d see her skills and ask her first. Yeah, for sure, that was totally how it would go.
…okay, so the start was a little rough. In her defense, the Jump Scares House was tougher than Edalyn had remembered from last year. At least Raine got pretty much as startled as her, and they both got out—prize-less, but alive and holding hands, which Eda counted as a win, just not a material one.
It didn’t matter. There were other games. (Okay, so they might have lost Lilith, but in Eda’s defense, she wasn’t even sure her sister had gone in with them.)
‘She probably ran off to study or do something equally boring,’ she thought, not too worried. Lily could fend for herself, and besides, after the child death at the last Festival of Fights, safety regulations had been tightened, banning the intentional murder of participates to keep them from winning and putting a small fine on accidental deaths. That was more safety regulations than their school had, and Lilith survived there, too.
“Hey, you wanna make a bet?”
“Sure!” Raine grinned. “What kind?”
“Let’s see who can bring home the most prizes. Whoever wins gets to dare the other person. No restrictions.”
“So I could dare you to turn yourself into a slug for a week?” they asked, curious, though Eda was pretty sure Raine wouldn’t actually waste a dare on something like that if they won. Which they wouldn’t, so she didn’t really need to contemplate that, anyway.
“Sure.” Eda linked her hands together, looking up at Raine with exaggerated hellhound puppy eyes. “So long as you’d still love me if I was a slug.”
Raine laughed. “You’re such a dork.”
“You’re one to talk.”
“Either way, you’re on.”
Eda pumped a fist into the air. “Awesome! Let’s go!” And then she grabbed their hand and pulled them to the next game stand.
They settled on taking turns with picking the games, and Eda was up first because, as Raine loudly proclaimed, they were too nice.
“Your funeral,” Eda joked, and picked Screeball. It was the obvious choice considering she was the star Grudgby player and had an excellent throwing arm—though, as she’d seen in the past, Raine also wasn’t too shabby with a Grudgby ball. But they weren’t on a team, and she definitely had a lot more practice. She’d win this.
…
She didn’t win this. It took her two excellent throws to realize the game was rigged, and six more to admit to herself that it was, in fact, impossible to beat the game with pure skill. Two times, the ball screeched just as she was about to throw it, breaking her concentration and making her miss.
Once, it screeched in mid-air, changing trajectory with no possibility for her to intervene.
Once, it bit her, causing her to drop the ball in agony, which counted as a throw.
The rest of the time, even if she did throw excellently and right at 40 or 50 points, the holes just changed places, moving so her ball always missed, landing in the 10 at most. Then Eda gave up and tried to cheat—not the same as impressing Raine with pure skill, but she might still impress them with her flawless cheating, win them a prize and look cool in the process.
With a sneaky twirl of her fingers she sewed the mouths of her next five balls shut, preventing them from screaming and biting. No more distractions. She then fixed the holes to the board with a just as smoothly hidden spell. She should finally stand a chance now. Ironic that she could only give herself a fair shot by cheating.
She threw the next of her balls in a perfect curve, and it flew smoothly, hitting the 40. Eda was about to cheer, but just before the ball hit, the number underneath the hole changed to 4.
“This is bullshit!”
“Subtraction for the angle and the hit not being perfect,” the stand owner announced smugly.
“I was amazing, what the hell, dude. No one can win this!”
“Or maybe you just aren’t trying hard enough.”
Eda clenched her fists. “I’ll show you.” She slammed five more snails onto the counter. “Someone’s feisty. Alright. Good luck.” He grinned and handed some balls back to her. She now had nine. That should get her somewhere.
Eda enchanted her next ball. Perfect angle. Perfect curve. Perfect hit. 50. But the number changed again, to zero this time.
“Too flawless. You cheated.”
“So what? This game is rigged! How is me making it possible to win cheating?”
“It says it right here in the rules!” He pointed to a sign over his head. It read: ‘No spells. No wins. No refunds.’
“How is winning against the rules?”
“Because it hinders my profit, obviously! Since it’s impossible, winners have to be cheating. Speaking of: you’re disqualified. Should’ve read the fine print. And like it says there, no refunds.” He took her balls back. “Now screw off.”
Eda was about to throw hands, but Raine put a hand on her shoulder.
“Come on, Calamity. It’s not worth it.”
“I guess,” Eda huffed. “What a scam.”
“Maybe the next game will be better,” they tried encouragingly.
The next game wasn’t better. Neither was the one after that. Skull toss wasn’t even done with proper skulls, but instead with fake ones made of a material far heavier than bone. It made preparing for the throw extremely hard, never mind throwing at the right angle. The fact that the skulls were all different shapes, sizes and quality also didn’t help. She got a single one in through sheer luck, and that was it for that game. No prize this time, either, despite how close this should have been to Grudgby, skill-wise.
Worse, perhaps—or better, depending on your perspective—was the fact that Raine stopped watching her and disappeared out of her line of sight for several moments. This was annoying because they could hardly be impressed with her skills if they weren’t around to see them in action… but at least it meant they also weren’t around to see her fail.
The Hall of Rats was unreasonably difficult, to the point that Eda was sure the rats had either been enchanted or drugged so you’d be unable to catch them. She tried cheating with spells, but wasn’t subtle enough and got caught, causing immediate disqualification and the two rats she had caught through sheer luck to be confiscated with no reward in return. She tried arguing as she was dragged out, wondering once more where Raine was until they rejoined her outside.
“Where do you keep wandering off to?” she asked, starting to get a little annoyed.
“Oh, nowhere.” They shrugged. “Just walking out like a normal person instead of being dragged by my hair.”
“Boring.”
“Alright, my turn to pick. You wanna try Blood Shot?”
“Urgh. Okay. But I’m starting to think every last one of these games is rigged beyond a point where you can win at all, even with cheating. I’m already down like fifty snails.”
“That’s because you don’t know when to call it quits,” Raine commented, smiling at her. “I like that about you.”
“My ability to waste snails?” Eda raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know that was so attractive, but since that gives me an excuse to spend more money, I’m not gonna complain.”
“No, you dork.” Raine laughed. “That you don’t give up.”
“Oh my Titan, you’re a sap today, Rainestorm.”
“Maybe I’m being a sap to get you to lower your guard,” they suggested innocently. “Have you thought about that?”
“We both have zero prizes right now, so how’s that working out for you?” Eda teased, slipping her arm back into Raine’s.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Blood Shot turned out to be the only game of the day that didn’t go terribly, the swinging at the start aside. Eda still didn’t get any big prizes, but she also didn’t get caught cheating, being rewarded a small owl plushie. There was also the added bonus of her school uniform now being covered in blood.
Ring toss went back to being ass, the stupid moving bottles continuously foiling her plans. She’d argued with that stand owner for a full five minutes about a prize she totally should have won if the game wasn’t so damn rigged before Raine reappeared from the abyss they continued to disappear into whenever Eda wasn’t looking and dragged her away.
They had just enough time left for one more game before the fights, those obviously being the main event that they both really wanted to attend.
Raine got to pick their last game, and since they didn’t want to risk being out of it for the fights, it wasn’t going to be “guess the contents”.
This left them with Dump the Skeleton, the claw machines—ripping toys apart with these was always a good time—or… “oh, they have Whack a Giraffe here! Let’s do that!”
It was adorable how excited they got, even though it turned out that Raine wasn’t especially good at that game, using up their shots insanely quickly with barely two points. The game was cursed and moved far too fast so it wasn’t like they or Eda would have stood much of a chance anyway. Eda did get four points, but that was far from enough for a prize.
She reunited with Raine, who was just putting their bag back around their arm.
“Well, that was a pretty expensive bust,” Eda said, kicking a rock a couple steps away. It bounced right back and hit her in the shin. Of course even the rocks in this place were cursed. “Oh well. At least it was a fun one.”
“This is why I didn’t let you pay for anything other than my food. You’re good enough at spending all your snails without my help.”
“But that’s kind of the point,” Eda insisted. “Speaking of food, you wanna grab some proper lunch now? I’m getting kinda hungry, and we need food to throw at the candidates.”
“It is time, huh? I saw a stand that has ghoulash earlier. And you’re gonna grab some merlion sticks and mashed woetatos, I assume?”
“You assume right!”
The food here was ridiculously expensive, but at least it tasted great. Edalyn hadn’t technically meant to also grab dessert, but they had dragonfire flambé, and she’d never been able to resist the hot and spicy temptation. Raine got a bleeding goreberry tart, because they loved these and not also bringing them dessert when she got some for herself would have been rude. Not that Eda cared about being rude a lot, but she did when it affected her best friend.
Drinks were also picked up—fizzy juice for Eda, bilewort tea with firebee honey for Raine, because they were the kind of person who drank tea at festivals. Beverages were important when watching fights. Perhaps the most important part. Raine helped her carry everything while they looked for a free table.
It was there, at the tables around the arena, that they finally spotted Lilith again. She had her cue cards spread across the table in front of her, and a demon was chatting with her, rapid-fire. Since every other table was occupied by people who didn’t want to share, they walked over.
“Lily! There you are!” Eda greeted her, almost dropping her food as she lifted an arm. “Think your table has two more spots for your favorite sister and a friend?”
“Uh… sure.” She gestured for them to sit. “Edalyn, Raine, this is Adelaide. I wasn’t sure what prize to pick when I finished the Jump Scares game, so she helped me out.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Adelaide seemed very content with herself. “I’d say I have very good taste.” She winked at Lilith, which seemed to totally go over her head.
“I got a game that’s supposed to improve mental capacity. Adelaide offered to help me study once I’d made my pick. She’s been very helpful.”
“Aw, it was nothing.” The demon twirled a lock of her green hair around her finger and smiled. “You want me to get you another drink? I’m paying.”
“Maybe another dragon fruit smoothie? They really are excellent.” Lilith didn’t even look up from her cue cards. “You’re missing out.”
“I could grab a second straw and try yours?”
“Isn’t that a little… unhygienic?” Lilith argued, and Eda struggled not to burst out laughing. She wasn’t getting it.
“I suppose?” Adelaide seemed disappointed, but went off to grab the drinks either way.
“This is already the third drink she’s buying me! I’m not sure what the purpose is. Do you guys think I can get her to buy me a book if she’s this eager?”
Eda did laugh now. She couldn’t help it.
“You’re aware that she’s flirting with you, right?” Raine noted, and Eda did almost consider that better than pointing it out herself. She could always tease Lily later. For now, it was great that Raine could get in on the fun.
“Are you sure? I thought she was just being polite…”
“Titan’s tits, how are you this oblivious.” Eda snorted. “She bought you three drinks, Lily! Three! And most people wouldn’t ditch fun festival activities to help a stranger study.”
“…oh.” Lilith sighed. “Well, that’s another person I will have to turn down.”
“Better to do it now before she starts getting too hopeful,” Raine said. “Maybe you guys can still be friends.”
“Yeah, maybe. I hope so. She seems sweet.”
There was the incredibly loud clang of a bell, and Eda immediately turned away from her sister and her best friend to face the arena. “Okay, enough with the relationship drama. The fights are starting.”
“Next time, I’m gonna sign up for the fights myself,” Eda declared afterwards as they made their way away from the arena. Sadly, they hadn’t been close enough to be in the splash zone, but watching the fights had still been incredibly fun, and Edalyn wanted in. Maybe she’d even be able to win an actually good prize.
They were currently making their way over to their final destination of the day—the photo booths. Totally tragically, these only fit three exact people, so they’d had to ditch Lilith’s new friend who somehow still hadn’t gotten the hint. Lily had looked a mixture of relieved and sad when they’d left her.
Eda’s scroll had kept snapping pictures all afternoon, but that wasn’t quite the same as getting some printed out to share with Raine immediately.
Even with three people, the booths were sort of tight, so much so that Raine was halfway sitting on Eda’s lap. Not that she was complaining.
The pictures turned out great, and would make beautiful memories for the day that both she and Raine were already planning to hang up, but it was getting late, which meant it was finally time to get home.
“It’s almost dinner time. My parents probably cooked.”
“Yeah, ours too.” Eda sighed. “You want us to walk you home? Since it’s not far, I mean.”
“Yeah, sure. I’d like that.” Raine reached out and took Eda’s hand, intertwining their fingers.
Lilith sighed audibly in the background. “No. I actually need to get home and study. If you want to walk your friend home, do it alone.”
“Okay, sure. I can do that. Have fun with your cue card snoozefest!” Eda waved. Lilith was genuinely the best for giving her another moment alone with Raine, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t still get on her nerves.
Eda and Raine walked back to their place slowly, chatting excitedly about the day they’d had, Raine already beginning to catch her up on some of the school stuff she’d missed. Of course she’d be banned from leaving her classroom the day they learned a new spell in Advanced Melody. Such bullshit.
“I’ll send you my notes and then I’m sure you’ll have it down in no time,” Raine said, squeezing her hand one more time. “Well, I guess this is me.” They looked a little bummed as they gestured to their front door. “At least it means you get the notes soon.”
“Nonononono, you are not getting away that easily.” Edalyn pulled her best friend into a hug, then leaned back and pulled her two hard-earned prizes out of her bag. “I can hardly let you go without cashing in my prize, can I? I won our little competition, after all.”
It hadn’t been as fun as she’d hoped, considering neither of them had won a ton of prizes (or any, in Raine’s case), but she wasn’t going to complain about getting the dare she’d hoped for. She already knew what she wanted to do with it.
“You didn’t, actually,” Raine said matter-of-factly, leaning down to their own bag. They retrieved a huge plushie, and another, and another. And a gigantic board game. And a CD. And-
“Where did you get all this? You didn’t win once!”
“You didn’t even see?” They seemed a little disappointed. “I stole them.”
“Really?” Eda beamed. “And nobody noticed? Not me, and not any of the people running the stands? That’s amazing! How did you do that? I’m so proud!”
She pulled them into another hug.
“Oh, it’s nothing, I just…” Raine blushed, pulling at the edge of their school uniform skirt anxiously. “I brought a shushroom and nibbled on it whenever it seemed like a good moment—mostly when you had the stand owners distracted. That’s also why I intentionally lost so many games so quickly, so they’d shift their attention to you. Then I used the invisibility spell from illusions class that you taught me.”
“That’s so smart! Look at how much stuff you got, holy shit.” Eda was beaming ear to ear. “Didn’t think it was even possible for you to become even cooler, but here we are! I’ve been such a great teacher.”
“You have been.”
“Well, guess that means you get to pick a dare. Is it gonna be the slug thing?”
“Hmmm, tempting, but you were so excited about getting to dare me, and we just said that whoever takes the most things home wins, so… you wanna swap bags?”
Edalyn could have kissed them. She really, really wanted to.
They spent the next several minutes swapping the contents of their bags, Eda gaining a bunch of stuff, and Raine getting the acid pistol and the owl plush in return.
“This seems like a loss for you, are you sure you want this? You put so much effort into stealing all that.”
“I’m positive. My parents would murder me if I brought that much stuff home.” Raine laughed. “So, you wanna dare me before you leave or are you planning to jump it on me some other time? I hope I won’t regret this.”
“I hope so, too,” Edalyn said, suddenly feeling very shy. “And I’d dare you now, if that’s okay with you? It won’t take long. Don’t think your parents’ dinner will even have a chance to get cold in the meantime.”
“Alright. So what terrible things do you have in mind for me?”
“Kiss me.” It came out more confidently than she felt. Then she quickly backtracked. “I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, though, so this is optional, which makes it kind of a lame dare, but whatever.”
“I didn’t say that I don’t want to,” Raine replied, smiling softly at her, and then they leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Eda’s cheek. “Does that count or do I owe you one on the lips?”
“I… uhm.” She beamed widely. “I mean, if you want to, I’d say you owe me another one.”
“That seems like cheating,” Raine joked, and still kissed her.
Eda’s heart skipped a beat.
“I knew you were into me,” she said confidently after, still beaming. “Obviously you are. I’m awesome.”
“You are,” Raine agreed, and she melted. “I was actually thinking about asking you out to the festival, but well… since you asked first and said you wanted to bring Lilith, that wasn’t possible anymore. Damn me for being so shy.”
“I didn’t want to bring her!” Edalyn replied immediately.
“But when I asked if she was coming, you said yes. Why did you do that if you didn’t want her to come?”
Something clicked. Wow, that was a really stupid miscommunication.
“You were trying to ask if it’d just be the two of us, weren’t you? Whoops. I didn’t realize. I took it as you either not wanting to go on a date with me or assuming my question wasn’t meant that way.” Eda face-palmed. “Next time, I’m gonna be more specific.”
“Let me beat you to that.” Raine looked pretty shy all of a sudden. “Would you like to go on a movie date with me this weekend?”
“Yeah, that…” Eda smiled, slipping her hand into theirs, fingers intertwining. “That sounds perfect.”
“Wow, Raine really won a lot of prizes,” Lilith commented, whistling while she watched Eda spread her new treasures out across her room. They’d just gotten back. Eda had caught Lilith on her way home—it had turned out she was waiting for her by the bus station, which was nosy of her, but also kind of sweet, and confirmed Eda’s suspicion that she’d just wanted an excuse to give her and Raine a moment alone. Lilith might have been oblivious to others flirting with her, but she still made an excellent wingwitch.
The whole way back, the two sisters had been teasing each other, Lilith’s cue cards forgotten in her bag. It felt great. A little bit of normalcy after she’d drawn back so much lately.
The haul was incredible. In full, Eda had brought back: three plushies, two games—one of them a board game—a movie and three CDs of a band she liked, plus a book, plus a keychain and a poster. Raine really was amazing. And Eda was dating them. Almost, anyway.
“They didn’t win these. They just used a shushroom and an invisibility spell to get past the stand owners and take prizes while they were distracted.” Eda beamed. “I’ve taught them so well.
Lilith’s eyes widened. “Raine stole these?”
“Yeah. What, you gonna report them and get them sent to the conformatorium to get some bonus points with the coven scouts?”
“Obviously not!” Lilith protested immediately.
Of course she wouldn’t. She might have been perfectly prissy and studious, but not to the point that she’d have screwed someone over. Unlike Eda, she believed in nonsense like ‘hard work pays off’ and ‘honesty is the best policy’, and that achievements only had any worth if you actually earned them. Boring.
“Then what is it?”
“I’m going to try and report the stand owners. Give people a real winning chance next time. I won’t blame Raine for stealing from people who rigged their games and intentionally made them unwinnable so they get more snails.”
“Heh. Look at you, agreeing that theft is a valid, viable option.” Eda grinned and gently punched her sister in the arm. “I’ll corrupt you yet.”
—
“…and I managed to eventually,” Eda concluded, “just took me a lot longer than I thought it would.”
“You’re right about that one.” Raine chuckled, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “That was fun to think back on. Titan, can you believe how awkward we were as kids?”
“Excuse me? You were awkward. I was always totally chill about everything.”
“Sure.”
“Did that help, kiddo?”
Luz looked even more ready to bounce off the walls now. She’d made some sketches, like last time, which was dorky, but also adorable. “Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Maybe I can get the twins in on this to teach me the illusion spell. And do we have shushrooms somewhere in the kitchen? Oh, Amity will be so excited to cause trouble.”
That was not at all the Amity Eda had met so many months ago. It was good to see her change so much and come more into herself and her troublemaker ways. She seemed much more comfortable with just existing these days, and if even Eda was noticing it despite them not spending a ton of time together, that meant something.
“Of course we have shushrooms!” Eda raised an eyebrow. “What kind of wild witch do you think I am?”
“Hell yeah!”
“You’re quite the artist, aren’t you?” Raine asked Luz quietly a moment later, glancing at her drawings. “These are beautiful.”
“Oh. Uhm. Thank you.” Luz got up and handed the sketchbook over. “You can have them, if you’d like.”
“I’d love that. Thank you Luz.”
“My pleasure.” She smiled. “Now, maybe you could tell me the story of how-” she started again, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“HELLO AMITY! IT IS SO GOOD TO SEE YOU! ARE YOU HERE TO SEE LUZ?”
“I should probably get that before they beat each other up again,” Luz said sheepishly, walking in the direction of the door. “Sweet Potato! Hi! I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I wanted to give back your notebook.” Amity smiled at Luz with stars in her eyes, handed it over, and pressed a quick kiss to Luz’s cheek. “You left school before I could return it. I knew you had a day with your mom today, so I thought I’d wait until later.” She paused. “Oh Titan, I’m rambling again.”
“I don’t mind. You’re cute when you ramble.” Luz took her hand. “If you want, we can go upstairs for a bit? I’m sure Eda wouldn’t mind if you stay for dinner, and I have to tell you about our plans for the festival tomorrow.”
“Kid, I didn’t even say I’d make dinner today,” Eda replied dryly.
“That means yes.”
Raine chuckled, elbowing their girlfriend gently. “She really does know you well, hm?”
“No comment.”
“Alright, thank you, Miss Eda.” Amity nodded politely. “So, what are our plans?”
“Raine said the games are rigged and gave me some ideas for theft!” Luz announced, full of a still unreasonable amount of energy.
“I have got to hear this.” Amity seemed genuinely excited to cause mayhem, just like Luz had suspected. Apparently overthrowing the government had done quite the number on her goody-two-shoes attitude. Good for her.
Luz dragged her up the stairs, hands still linked.
Eda watched them go and sighed, smilingly. “Ah, look at them. Already planning crimes all on their own. They grow up so fast.”
“Someone’s a sap today.”
“Maybe I’m being a sap to get you to lower your guard,” Eda said innocently. “Have you thought about that?”
“And why would you need me to lower it?”
“I mean, since we now know the festival is in town, and considering that was how we got together… what do you say we go there again? Just the two of us this time? As a proper date?”
Raine wrapped their arms around her neck and kissed her gently. “I’d say that sounds perfect.”