Eda meets the Bat Beast

Raine walked into the Owl House with a piercing headache well on its way. He’d felt it coming on all morning, but the sounds from the town really hadn’t helped much. Even their fly back was noisy, with a patrol of Beast Keepers working on their griffon’s aerial work. Constant squawking filled their ears when all they wanted was a peaceful ride home.

When they opened the door, they heard the sound of pots and pans banging around and groaned. There was no way for Eda to know they were going into a sensory overload, but they wished there was. It felt like she should know, even if they knew that was nonsensical. They were just in so much pain they didn’t really care at this moment. 

“Raine? That you,” Eda asked from the kitchen. “Of course it is, nobody else knows we’re here. Anyways, I was thinking for dinner-” by now she’d popped into the living room and seen Raine clutching their head. She immediately stopped talking and walked over to them.

“Headache?” she asked quietly. Raine nodded once before realizing that was a bad idea, the movement making it feel like their brain was rattling around in their head. “Want some water?”

“No,” Raine muttered, moving away from her. “Just want t’sleep.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Just let me know if you need anything.” Raine flashed her a quick smile before wincing and heading upstairs.

They’d always had issues with noises being too loud, but it’d been much worse since they were cursed. Noises sent them into sensory overload far more frequently now, and to a worse degree. They were ready for the day to just be done.

But of course that wasn’t the case. They came upstairs and dropped into the nest, pulling a blanket over their head to block out the light. Nothing seemed to help though. They groaned in pain and clutched their head, feeling at the end of their wits. They couldn’t take the pain anymore.

And suddenly it went black.

Eda was finishing up the dishes when she heard a loud noise from upstairs, causing her to drop a pan and wince at the noise it made. Hopefully Raine hadn’t heard that. Turning the water off, she slowly made her way towards the stairs and listened, not hearing anything odd now.

“Raine?” she called out quietly. “Everything okay?”

No response. It could have just been that they didn’t hear her, or something could be wrong. Preferring to be safe than sorry, she quickly made her way up  the stairs and towards their room.

“Raine? I heard a- oh shit.” Opening their door, Eda didn’t see Raine in their room. Well, she did, but they’d changed into the bat beast. Eda gulped and backed away as the bat beast noticed her and zero’d in. Her back hit the wall and she began shuffling to the side.

“Easy there, Rainestorm,” Eda coaxed, holding a hand out placatingly. “It’s just me, no need to freak out.” Raine couldn’t seem to hear her though, as they growled angrily and swatted at her - thank the TItan for her grudgby skills, because she dodged the swipe easily. 

Eda had no idea what to do here. She’d had some wild adventures, sure, but she’d never actually faced anything trying to kill her before… unless, of course, you counted Terra’s insane H.E.C.K. Suddenly, they remembered what Raine said about how their mother’s had handled them the last time this happened.

They’d put them to sleep.

“Boom! Sleep spell!” Eda called out as she made a golden spell circle, causing the Bat Beast to drop in the hallway. Eda let out a sigh of relief and ran her fingers through the furry feathers on Raine’s back. It wasn’t like any bat she’d ever seen, but she was no beast expert, she supposed. And either way, it was pretty soft. Part of her wanted to bury her face in it, but the rest of her realized that was probably a bad idea.

But the temptation…

Shaking her hand and stepping back, she decided to summon her mandolin and play a bit until Raine woke back up, hopefully as themself this time.

“What… what happened?” Raine asked as they slowly rose from their place on the floor, blinking away the darkness.

“Easy there, Rainestorm,” came Eda’s voice from beside them as she helped them to a kneeling position. “You’re probably a bit sore, and that’s even if your headache healed.”

“Eda?” Raine asked, turning to look at her. They couldn’t see well, as they’d taken off their glasses before falling asleep. Though, they didn’t really remember falling asleep…

Wait.

“Shit,” Raine cursed before sighing and turning towards Eda. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? Raine, I’m more worried about you,” Eda admitted, wrapping her arms around them. “The bat beast is a big baby, all it takes is a little old sleep spell to knock ‘em out.” 

“Thank the Titan,” Raine said, letting out a sigh of relief.

“You did do a bit of a number on our room though,” Eda admitted, gesturing to the door behind them. Raine groaned and dropped their head down, ashamed of themself.

“Sorry,” they whispered to the point where Eda could barely hear them. But hear them she did, and she slapped them on the shoulder.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Rainestorm,” Eda protested with a glare. “Shit happens, okay? And we’ll deal with this shit one step at a time.”

Raine disagreed, but nodded their head just to get Eda to drop the subject for now. Raine’s hand went up to rub their temple, the pain having mostly subsided, but there was still a dull ache. Eda noticed and ran her fingers through their hair in a soothing manner. 

“How about I go get you some water and meet you in the nest? I fixed that up at least, and I can handle the rest while you’re asleep,” Eda said, already moving to stand up.

“No, no, leave the mess for me, you’ve done enough,” Raine insisted, feeling horrible that their girlfriend was doing so much for them.

“Sometimes you have to let me take care of you,” Eda insisted.

“Hypocrite,” Raine said, raising an eyebrow at Eda.

“Alright, then you can use this situation against me next time, now get to bed,” she said, swatting them on the butt as she made her way downstairs. Raine blushed, but did as told. 

Walking into their room, Raine saw… a mess. The dresser had drawers yanked out, and clothes were strewn about coming from the closet. The Bat Beast had made a mess in its search for the way out of the room, that was for sure. 

Thinking back on it, Raine could remember bits and pieces. Not of trashing the room, but of running. Of the need to get out out out out . Raine was pretty sure they had even seen the Bat Beast in their mind, but how could that be possible?

“Here you are,” Eda announced her entrance, handing the glass of water to Raine after they’d settled down into the nest of blankets. They mumbled their thanks and took a large sip, suddenly realizing how parched they were. After draining half the glass, they put it down beside them, and looked toward Eda as she joined them. 

“I found these on the floor,” Eda said, holding out their - thankfully unbroken - glasses towards them. Raine let out a sigh of relief that they were unharmed, and put them to the side where the glass was. It was not cheap to get a new pair.

“Thanks. You know, for everything,” Raine repeated. Eda just shrugged and held them close as they lay back down.

“You’d do the same for me,” she insisted.

“That doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.”

“Yeah but I’d do it again,” she said, tucking their head into the crevice of their neck. “Now stop worrying and go to sleep.”

And they did.

Raine meets the Owl Beast

Things had been a bit chaotic in the Owl House lately. They were running low on funds, the house was becoming cluttered with Eda’s human junk, and both teens had zero idea how to run their own lives, let alone a household. Small tiffs kept popping up due to stress and general miscommunication, though thankfully nothing that couldn’t be easily resolved with a bit of time alone. 

Lately though, the two had been snapping for little things. Both were exhausted from trying to find odd jobs around the place, and Eda was getting frustrated about being denied for said odd jobs due to people knowing about her curse. To them, Raine was just a faceless nobody, but everyone knew about Eda the Owl Girl. 

Eda knew it was irrational, but part of her was pissed that only she got the bad rep for the curse. Raine had been cursed the same as them, but only she had to deal with the public ridicule. Sure, the part of Bonesborough that knew Raine existed probably thought they were dead by now, but at least they didn’t get trash thrown at them when they walked by the market. 

Right now though, Eda was pissed for a different reason altogether. She’d been working on fixing up their nest when Raine came in to take a nap and freaked out for no reason . Well, maybe they had a reason, but it was a stupid one. It was her instinct to build a nest, maybe trust her instinct on just how to build said nest.

“I don’t want to sleep on a pile of sticks, Eda!” they shouted, throwing a handful that had been used to build a perimeter at her. “No one does that! That’s weird! And uncomfortable!”

“Well I do that so I guess I’m just a nobody!” Eda shouted back, fists filled with a collection of sticks and leaves that she’d been maneuvering into place. Her grip only tightened as she seethed, all the built up resentment as of late coming through.

“Look, I’m not trying to fight with you. I’m tired, and I just want to sleep on our already weird bed,” Raine explained, realizing they were being harsh and trying to stop the fight before it got out of hand.

“Well I guess I’m just too weird for you then aren’t I?”

“That’s not what I’m saying!”

“That’s sure what it sounds like! Poor perfect Raine, had their life torn apart by Eda and her stupid curse! Living in this stupid house with this stupid nest!” She kicked the pile of sticks near her, causing them to spread about the room. 

“I’m not trying to blame my life on you!”

“You may not be trying, but you are succeeding!”

“Can you just shut up for a minute?”

“Make me!” 

Both teens were heated at the moment, smoke practically coming out of their ears. Eda could feel tears of frustration growing behind her eyes but blinked them away, refusing to cry because of some stupid fight. 

“Eda… you really need to calm down now,” Raine said, looking at Eda’s neck. But she was too irritated to stop and notice the feathers sprouting out aggressively. 

“Oh, you’d just love that, wouldn’t you?” she continued, throwing whatever was in her hands at them. A few sticks hit them meekly, but the leaves just floated to the ground. “Love for me to just calm down . Well, maybe I can’t calm down, did you ever think of that?”

And then it all went black for her.

It was scarier seeing the Owl Beast the second time, because the first time it just wanted to run away. This time, it was angry, and angry at them . It arched its head low and let out a ferocious growl, the wind from it sending a few more leaves flying towards Raine. 

Raine backed up carefully, trying not to trip on the sticks that still littered the floor. Their hands were up to defend their chest and face, and they were pretty much scared for their life.

“Eda?” Raine called out hesitantly. “I know you’re in there Eda, can you hear me?”

The responding roar didn’t feel very comforting. With a quick spell circle, Raine summoned their violin. They shouted an apology as they quickly played a note, shooting a blast in the Owl Beast’s direction. Fortunately, that knocked her back. Unfortunately, that was into their closet, knocking down everything that was hanging there.

They’d fix it later. If there was a later.

“Sleep spell, sleep spell,” Raine muttered, quickly playing the first few notes they remembered as part of a lullaby. While not as immediate as Eda’s sleep spell - Raine didn’t know how to cast one without bard magic - it still did its job. Raine noticed the eyelids on the beast start to droop, and its attempts to stand back up were stuttering. Eventually it fell back to the floor and succumbed to sleep.

Raine let out a sigh of relief and placed their hand on their chest as they released the summons on their violin. Slowly, they walked over to the Owl Beast’s still form and sat down next to it. They ran their fingers through its mane and found it to be softer than expected, the feathers plush. Sure, they’d seen the feathers sprouting on Eda before, but one feather was a very different experience to an entire body full. 

Against their better judgment - they were just so, so tired - they rested their head back against the Owl Beast’s thick mane and fell asleep.

“Wha?” Eda said, lifting her head off the ground. Okay, this was weird. It definitely wasn’t normal for her to sleep face down on the floor. Trying to sit up, she felt a weight against her back and turned her neck, seeing Raine leaning against her. Okay, double weird then. 

“Raine?” she asked, poking them with the arm that wasn’t holding her up. “Would you mind maybe not crushing my spine?”

“Hmm? What?” they asked drowsily. “What are you talking ab- oh! Titan! I’m so sorry.” With that they sprung to their feet and offered Eda a hand, pulling her up off the floor. 

“Now… what the fuck happened,” she said, wipping the debris off of her skirt. 

“You, don’t remember?” Raine asked, adjusting the skewed glasses that sat on their face. Eda loved when they sat crooked - she found it adorable. But nope, not the point right now. 

“Uhh, not really, should I?” she asked, looking around the room. Man, it was a mess. And why were they basically in the closet? 

“Well, you see…,” Raine stuttered, not looking at Eda.

“Wait,” she interrupted, still looking around. Her eyes zeroed in on the nest, which was currently a mess of torn blankets, leaves, and sticks. “I think I remember.” Her mind flashed through screaming and flashes of mint hair and then pain and-.

“Titan,” she cursed, turning towards Raine. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” they insisted. “You were… certainly fierce, but I’m fine.” Eda looked them over just to be sure, not trusting the bard to be honest with her. It caused them to chuckle. “Eda, I promise I’m fine. Actually… I’m really sorry for freaking out at you.”

“You’re sorry ?” she nearly shouted as she placed down the arm she’d been checking. “I’m the one that literally turned into a raging beast! I could have killed you!”

“But you didn’t,” Raine said cheekily, trying to diffuse the situation before Eda was riddled with guilt. “Look, really, I’m fine. And if you want to put sticks and other pieces of nature into our nest, I won’t complain.”

“Really?” Eda raised her eyebrow. “You’re not just saying that because I tried to kill you for saying no?”

“We’ve both… changed, since being cursed,” Raine admitted. “I sleep later in the day than I used to, my eyesight is worse and my hearing is better… if one of your changes is going to be the urge to build a literal nest-” they motioned to the mess in their room “-then I can deal with that.”

Eda smiled and held her partner close. “Thanks, Rainestorm.”

“Anything for you, Calamity.”

“Now… I’m starving, let’s go make some grub,” Eda said, racing her sore body out of the room and down the stairs.

“Please don’t tell me you mean literal grubs this time… Eda?... EDA!”