Chapter Text
Raine, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be around you, being associated with a wild witch will only hinder you in your mission to rise up the ranks. I packed my essentials and I have some food to last me for a while. I wish you the best
~Laika
Nuts nuts nuts nuts-
"Get back here!" A coven scout yelled, drawing a circle in the air. Laika just barely moved out of the way in time, almost being blasted in the back by a fireball. They had to think quickly if they wanted to get out of this situation unscathed. Using old reliable, they drew a magenta circle in the air and summoned a cloud of smoke.
"Stay vigilant! They're still in there!" Another scout yelled.
Then, from the depths of the smoke, multiple copies of her ran out, all in different directions. There was confusion, anger, and soon all the scouts also bolted in different directions, each one going after one of the copies. After they were long gone, the dust cleared, revealing that the real Laika had never left. They sighed in relief, falling to their knees and clutching onto their bag.
" Titan that's never going to get easier." They breathed, trying desperately to get some air back into their lungs. Some witches were staring, others were chatting amongst themselves while pointing at her. She wished she could say she stopped caring, but that'd be a foolish lie. Slowly they rose to their feet again, trying to think about what their next actions should be. They were running low on food, so maybe a tavern trip? She was low on snails too though, maybe-
" Ow! "
A sudden sting on her hand brought her out of her thoughts. They shook it off, thinking maybe it stung because of something that happened during the chase, but then it happened again, this time on her head.
Uh oh. Boiling rain.
Clutching the strap of their bag, they began to run as fast as their legs would let them. Left and right, other witches and demons ran for cover anywhere they could get it. Unfortunately for Laika, she was on a semi busy road, so almost every place was taken. The rain stung, it hurt like ratworm bites, but there wasn't any cover anywhere . Red marks started to appear on his skin, if he didn't find anything soon, she didn't even want to think about what would happen.
Right there!
A house with an overhang. Normally, people avoided hiding under things like that, it was viewed as rude and intruding onto a witches life, but at this point that mattered very little to her. Quickly, they ducked over the cover, sighing when their skin started to sting just a little less. Any moment now, the owner would come out and tell her to buzz off at best, attack her at worst. The small break from the rain was worth it though, in their eyes anyways.
Maybe they should have packed more clothes than the ones on their back.
Then their bag vibrated with a faint bzzt , the sound making them wince. She shut her eyes, whispering to themselves under their breath.
"Go away, go away, go away."
Bzzt
Bzzt
Bzzt
Frustration boiled up to the surface, and finally he zipped open his bag and rummaged around before finally pulling out their scroll.
BZZT
The notification sound was obviously much louder now. Against his better judgment, they opened it up and checked. Penstagram notifications. He already knew who they were from.
And yet, they opened the app and looked anyway.
rainy.day
Laika are you there?
Please talk to me
We can make it work, I know we can!
You're my sister, I care about you
They shouldn't.
BZZT
I don't want to lose you
It felt like knives straight through the heart. She didn't want to do this, of course not, but she had to. They wouldn't be able to achieve their goal otherwise. It was this, or join a coven and lose the ability to do what she loved, one of the only things that was helping her get through life.
Turning their scroll to the side, grabbing the ends and shutting their eyes.
"Sorry."
BZZT-
In one swift movement, she tore the scroll in half. The screen glitched and fizzled out until it was completely blank. They threw it out into the road, watching as a boiling rain destroyed it further. She hugged herself tightly, swallowing the thick lump in her throat.
"Hello?"
Laika practically jumped 50 feet in the air, already panicking about the owner coming out so quickly. The door was opened a crack, a witch with dark skin and hair poking his head out. He seemed tired, his brown glasses slightly crooked and small eye bags in their beginning stages.
"I-I'm sorry!" She began to profusely apologize. "I was just trying to get a break from the rain, I'll leave-"
"Wait, Laika??" The man interrupted her, eyes suddenly wide. They were confused, squinting at him for a moment before they finally made the connection.
"Perry??"
Perry Porter, an old but close friend she had during her Hexside years. They hadn't talked in years, let alone even seen each other after graduation.
"Oh Titan, please come inside." He opened up the door, gesturing for them to come through the door. They hesitated for a moment, but inside in a warm, comfortable house was too tempting for them to refuse. They practically ran inside, Perry closing the door behind them. "Please, sit down. I'll grab a boiling rain kit and some water."
"No no, I'll be okay, I can just-"
"Nuh uh." He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back towards the couch, practically forcing them to sit. "You're not going to brush off your injuries like you did at Hexside. Just wait there." He walked out of sight into a different room, leaving her alone on the couch.
Maybe it was because they had been practically outside 24/7 for the…last however long it's been since she left their house, or because of the day they were having, but man this couch felt like the comfiest thing in the world. They couldn't help but sink into the cushions while closing their eyes. It felt nice to actually relax. Perry came back a few minutes later, a kit in one hand and a cup of water in the other. He was silent at first, frowning a bit at his past friend, before he finally cleared his throat to get them to open their eyes.
"You look exhausted." He walked over to them and sat down, handing them the water. Initially they wanted to refuse, but their body acted before their mind and they gently took the water with both hands.
"Well, you're one to talk." She tried to joke, smiling a little. His frown didn't waver so their smile quickly fell. He opened up the kit, grabbing some cotton balls and a bottle with blue liquid, a white cross on a red label indicating its contents.
"What were you doing out in the boiling rain? I'm sure you know how bad it is." His voice was firm, but caring. It honestly reminded her of a concerned parent.
"Well, I didn't plan on it." She took a sip from the cup and relished in how the cool water felt in her throat. "I was…doing something. I guess I didn't see the clouds coming in. Ow! "
"I know I know, it stings." He had already placed the cotton into one of the red marks on her left arm. "It should heal up quickly after it's applied though."
"Right."
Neither of them said a word after that, Perry focusing on the injuries while Laika was silently cursing herself. They weren't happy about having to be "taken care" of. She's an adult, she should be able to handle themself. Why was it so hard? At least the pain was slowly melting away. After a few minutes, Perry spoke.
"Alright, now the other arm." He held out his hand, intending for them to simply hand over their arm so he could continue. Instead however, he was met with wide eyes and them leaning back.
"O-Oh, that's not necessary! It doesn’t hurt as bad as my other arm." They sputtered out an excuse, waving their hand as they spoke.
"I literally saw both of your arms when you walked in. Come on." He reached out and grabbed her wrist. Not hard, just enough to turn their body so he could reach.
"Wait, hold on!" Her voice was panicked, full of fear, while he was just confused at the sudden change in behavior.
"I'm just doing the same thing I did to your other arm, why are you so- …oh."
Their wrist was completely empty.
No sigil.
That's why.
A deafening silence followed for what felt like an eternity. Surely he was going to throw him back out into the boiling rain. Maybe even call down some coven scouts and have him forcibly join a coven.
Instead, he rubbed the cotton in his hands on a red splotch.
"You know, after we drifted apart, I did always wonder what coven you'd join. You've always been so indecisive." He flashed her a smile. "I'm guessing that's why you were out in the rain?" After the surprise of his response wore off, he silently nodded.
"Yeah…"
"What about Raine? They were your biggest supporter back in the day." He watched their face turn into one of pain, tears near threatening to make themselves seen.
"They…they wanted to climb the ranks…" they took a deep breath, fighting back choked sobs. "...Raine still wanted me around but…I was only going to harm them in the long run. It was…better, for me to leave."
"Well, it explained the huge bag." he thought. Everyone knew how hard it was for wild witches to do anything , no one wanted to house or sell to such huge criminals, most were homeless and starving.
"Well, you can stay here, until the rain passes at least." Finally, the last of the red disappeared. He put everything back in the kit and closed it. "I don't have a guest room, so I hope the couch is okay."
"Wait, you're okay with just letting me stay the night??" Laika asked, confused.
"Of course, we're friends." He said that as if it was the easiest thing in the world to know, like it was an absolute fact. That seemed so crazy to her. "The bathroom is in the hall, you can go clean up and I'll cook a late dinner." He got up, heading to the kitchen before he felt her hand pull him back.
"Perry, you don't-"
"Hey." He placed one of his hands on top of theirs. "You know you've always had a hard time accepting help. Trust me when I say I want to help you. All I ask in return is for you to take care of yourself."
She forgot how well he knew them. She might be stubborn when it came to her own self care, but he was even more stubborn than her. She sighed.
"Alright, alright. I'll freshen up." She finally returned his smile. He gently patted her hand and was able to pull away, heading towards the kitchen.
"Do griffin eggs sound good? I haven't been able to stop by the market recently so it's the only thing in surplus I have." He asked.
"Honestly, I haven't had good food in forever, anything sounds good." Thank Titan he laughed a little in reply.
"Alright alright, go wash your hands."
Looking around a bit, almost forgetting where the doorway to the hall was, they walked through and temporarily froze.
There were multiple doors in this hallway. Perry hadn't told them which one was for the bathroom.
Well, he would figure it out! He wasn't going to bug them any further.
They walked down the hall, studying each door for any hints of “bathroom.” all the doors were a dark oak brown, except for one. It was painted over, a light blue that was pleasing to the eye, like a pastel or baby blue. Normally they were better at being able to tell, though it had been awhile since they’ve been able to draw in their journal. Gently turning the knob he pushed open the door, only to quickly find that no, this was not the bathroom, but in fact a nursery.
A baby’s room.
The sudden knowledge did feel like a small punch in the gut, like reality suddenly hitting them at full force. It felt strange, seeing old friends be so grown up. It seemed nice and comfortable, or as comfortable as it could be for a baby. The walls had some stick on decals, a crib with the same light blue hue(it seemed to be confirmed to be a baby blue now), and some toys strewn about. Quickly they backed out of the room, shutting the door almost all the way before he heard the smallest little whine.
Aw nuts.
She froze in place, unsure of what to do. She didn’t mean to wake the baby, they’ve never even been around one for decades at the least. She opened up the door a little more, peeking inside. Despite the dark room, the light from the hallway was enough to see the little tiny tot standing in their crib, very similar to their father. Dark eyes, dark skin, dark slightly frizzy hair, all on top of a pudgy little face. A very cute baby basically, looking around 1 year old.
“Uh…heyyy…little guy.” Laika awkwardly whispered, waving a little. The baby got more frightened, their lips quivering and eyes watering. “No no no, you’re okay!” He held up both of their hands, only to immediately feel stupid for doing so. The baby can’t understand that “unarmed” means “usually not a threat.” What were you supposed to do with an almost crying baby?? Coddle them?? But she hadn’t cleaned up yet, what if she got the little fella sick?!
Well, there was one thing they could try.
Drawing a circle in the air, a silver lyre harp appeared in a puff of smoke, floating momentarily in the air before he caught it in his hands. Taking a deep breath, they drew another circle, an illusion of a butterfly flying around the room. It caught the baby’s attention, looking up at the insect in awe. With a small smile, they finally began to pluck the strings. The butterfly landed on the railing of the crib, and from its perch a blue hue began to sweep across the room. It transformed the little nursery into the sunny outdoors, orange trees strewn about, critters running around here and there, all accompanied by a lovely, calming melody. The baby laughed, clapping and falling back into their bottom as they looked up and watched the trees sway in the pretend wind.
“You feeling better now?” the musician awkwardly asked, walking closer to the crib. The baby turned towards them, hands out and happy babbles leaving their lips. “I’m going to assume that you’re saying something along the lines of yes.” She laughed a little to herself, something the baby returned in kind. With a particular strum, the butterfly from earlier flying over to land on their nose. More laughter emerged. Then, an idea came to mind, and they quickly summoned up an illusion of himself, handing the harp off to them to continue playing. With another illusion, they gave them both pairs of wings. The baby’s eyes shined like stars, standing up in their crib to grab the railing and bouncing up and down.
“Seems like you two are having fun together.” Perry's sudden voice rang through the room, the slightly tired dad leaning against the doorway. Laika once again nearly jumped 50 feet, looking wide eyed at him. Meanwhile the baby was babbling happily, still bouncing up and down.
"I'm sorry, I accidentally came in here and they seemed upset so I was trying to calm them down, I'll stop the spell-" they started to talk at a mile a minute, then Perry's laughter interrupted them.
"Hey, it's fine! I haven't seen Augustus this happy in awhile, normally he's crying from sundown to sunset. I think it's because he likes keeping me up." He walked over, joking about before he reached in the crib and picked up his child, Augustus she now knew. The little guy started to babble some words, mostly just "Dad!" and "Fly!" while pointing to the short entertainer. "He seems to really like you."
"Really?" I mean, it definitely seemed like he did, she just didn't connect the dots. The thought made her smile, so she leaned over and booped the baby on the nose. "Ashamed to know he's got bad taste already at such a young age. Normally that happens during highschool."
"Oh you be quiet." He let out a hearty laugh. "You're good enough to be a performer with your skill level, I'd say that means good taste."
"Me? A performer?" She laughed openly at that. "You're joking, there's no way I can do that."
"I'm serious!" Augustus interrupted his dad with more baby babbles, and his father nodded as if it was a proper sentence. "See? He agrees. He's a good judge of character."
"Clearly you've forgotten everything about me." They smirked. "Me and Raine both had stage fright during that one play, remember?"
"Yes, and then you put on that rat queen mask and became a 5-star actor. You almost won an award from it."
"Oh…I actually forgot about that." Laika rubbed the back of their neck. "That honestly felt like a fluke."
"It probably was just the mask. Maybe that's all you need?"
"...Maybe. I'll think about it." She smiled at him, which he returned.
"Alright, know any songs to get this guy back to sleep?" He asked, Augustus still happily watching the flora around them.
"Oh yeah, sure! Let me get my harp back."
And that was how it started. Sort of at least. It was when the idea was planted in their head. After some eggs and a nice sleep on a particularly comfy couch, he found themselves drawing outfit ideas in their sketchbook, going with many different themes until the idea of a jester sounded the most appealing. And, to her surprise, right before they left Perry's house, he had surprised them by ordering a custom order of the exact outfit they sketched, combined with a mask to match.
The Illusion Jester. That was what the scouts called him anyways, so he adopted the name. Wasn't the most creative, but it stuck well and he liked that. They went to every single part of the Titan, performing all sorts of skits. From recreations of storybooks, to silly and exaggerated tales of her past, even the occasional daring critique of Belos and the coven system. That was why the bounty on her head happened to be higher than most.
And that was also why he was around. A particular duo or scouts would. Not. STOP bugging the abomination coven head, begging for him to lend some assistance. Apparently this "clown" had a harder time dealing with abomination magic, almost getting caught multiple times whenever someone used it. But they always outsmarted them, and Darius was sooo smart, couldn't he just pleaaase give them some of his time, away from all of his important coven head duties, to catch this one simple wild witch?
For the love of Titan couldn't believe he actually ended up agreeing after consistent asking for multiple months. Here he was, in one of the gross alleyways of Latissa, hidden in the shadows as he waited for something to happen. The plan apparently was that they'd chase them into here, and then he'd grab and flip them upside down with his abomination goop, and tada! Finally caught!
"This place is disgusting. This is not worth it." He muttered to himself, giving himself another once-over for any grime or dirt. Then, a patter of footsteps rapidly started approaching. So he rolled his eyes, "readied" himself, and waited.
"Heh, I feel like this gets easier every time." A voice said, laughing to themself. "Wonder how they feel about losing to a jester just about every other week."
Step
SNAP
"WOAH!!" before they had realized it, purple abomination goo shot up their legs, and suddenly from the middle of their chest down was encased in a slime like prison. Also, they were upside down. Not that fun. Their bag had fallen during the scuffle too, landing on the ground with a thud!
"That was it?" The purple haired coven head exclaimed to himself, walking out into the open with disappointment and annoyance lacing his words. "Titan, I did not even need to be here. How are they even training scouts these-" in the middle of his angry ranting to himself, the mask fell off the red and blue jester, landing with a clatter on the floor. It stopped him for a moment, looking down at it before looking back up at this criminal.
Wait-
"Laika?!"
"Uh…hi, Darius." The jester laughed nervously.
"Wh… you're The Illusion Jester?" He pointed to them as he asked that question. Adding onto his surprise, they smiled widely and nodded.
"Mhm! Performing all over the isles!" They boasted. "It's been a lot of fun! Who knew I'd be a good performer, huh?"
"...How are you so calm?!" He nearly yelled, baffled. "I literally have you hung upside down right now! You're telling a coven head how you enjoy doing crimes!!"
"Oooh riiight…I forgot you became a coven head. Congrats by the way!"
"Forgot??" His head was starting to hurt, why was Laika always so weird? And calm??
"Oh, I got rid of social media and my scroll forever ago. I don't keep up with much of anything these days." Their smile then wavered, now uncomfortable. "Okay, I know you'll say no but humor me, do you think you can put me right side up? All the blood is rushing to my head and I'm feeling horrid."
He thought about it. Of course he'd say no, why would a coven head follow such a request? At least that's what she thought. Silently, with a twirl of his finger, she was moved back to the solid floor. And, much to her surprise, the goo melted off her entirely. Before any questions could be asked, Darius picked up both the mask and bag off the guard, handing them both to him.
"Look, you get out of here. Scouts aren't far behind."
"Huh? But you caught me, aren't you supposed to-"
"I don't want to deal with the paperwork." Was his excuse. "Just go."
She opened her mouth, intending to say something before he stopped himself. She really didn't want a sigil, even if he could get in trouble.
"I…thank you." It was quick, in a moment they already had her mask back on and was gone. A minute later, a group of scouts finally ran up to the alleyway, some a little out of breath.
"Where are they?" The one up front question. He turned to them with a most upset, soured and annoyed expression he could possibly muster.
"They never came down here, you've made me wait in this disgusting place for who knows how long, just for a plan that never worked because you couldn't even get them to run down here." His voice was flat, like a rumbling of thunder clouds before a bolt would shoot from the sky on some poor witch.
"S-sorry sir, we were sure-"
"Sure of what? Sure that you'd waste my time?" He finally pushed past them, one hand holding onto his cloak. "This was your one shot, I am never helping either of you with any of your ridiculous plans ever again."
"Sir-" swift on his heels he turned back around at him, letting go of his cloak and encasing his forearm with abomination goo, especially actually as a huge glove.
"That. Is. Final." With those final words, the slime melted away and he continued his walk out of town.
That encounter was…unexpected. His old Hexside crush, Laika Whispers, suddenly appears and is now a wild witch? It fit them well at the very least. He found himself wondering how their performances went, as he only heard of them secondhand.
Maybe someone posted something on Penstagram. It wasn't like he'd get to see a show in person.