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It was a beautiful day out. The sun was shining, making the red grass seem almost like flames. Raine was raring to go outside and soak in the sun for once, but Eda seemed to have taken up the morning moodiness that usually belonged to them.
“Come on Eda,” they said, motioning to the window. “It’s beautiful. We should be out there enjoying it, not huddled inside around a crystal ball.”
“If I want to melt my brain with drama, I will,” Eda protested, wrapping herself in a blanket. “I’m comfortable and if I get up, I will never be this comfortable again.”
“You say the same thing every morning, and yet you still manage,” Raine said with a roll of their eyes. “Come on, don’t make me go alone, it’s not the same.”
“Your addiction to a hill is astounding,” Eda muttered.
“It’s beautiful there, and you love it too, don’t argue,” Raine said. “Come on, it’s our place . Do you really want it to just be my place .”
“You know, you tried to break up with me there,” Eda said, not actually upset about that anymore, but still willing to use it as ammunition. “Maybe I don’t want it to be our spot anymore.”
“You literally begged me the week after to take you there for a picnic,” Raine deadpanned. Eda just shrugged.
“Maybe I changed my mind.”
“You’re being obstinate just to be obstinate now, aren’t you?” Raine asked. Eda smirked. “Okay, that’s it.”
They walked over and grabbed both of her arms from underneath the blanket, hoisting her into a standing position. They dropped one arm and turned to walk towards the door.
“Let’s go.”
There was surprisingly less resistance than expected.
“Um… Raine…” Eda said, sounding… much farther behind them than expected. They stopped and turned.
Eda was still standing in front of the couch, staring at her arm.
Or, lack thereof.
“Holy shit!” Raine shouted, looking out the forearm in their grip. In a panic, they dropped it to the floor and jumped away.
“Hey, I need that!” Eda protested. “How the fuck did you just, take my entire arm, and not notice?”
“How are you not more freaked out that your arm just fell off .”
“I’m trying real hard to stay calm here, Rainestorm, but I’m a second away from screeching in panic,” she admitted, leaning over to grab her arm. She looked it over for a moment. “This is… really freaky. I think I might pass out.”
“Why is there no blood? Shouldn’t losing a limb be bloody?” Raine asked.
“You sound like you wish there was blood. Do you want me to bleed out or something?” Eda accused, pointing the dismembered arm at them.
“Can you not aim that… thing at me? Of course I’m glad you’re not bleeding out, but I’m really fucking confused right now!” They threw their arms in the air before slapping them over their face. “I think I might throw up.”
“Don’t you dare,” Eda accused. “I should be the one panicking, it’s my arm.”
“Then panic! I am!” Raine screamed.
Instead, Eda just stared at the arm for a moment before just… pressing it against where the part of the arm it had torn from. It sealed right back on.
“Huh. That was easy,” she said, staring at it. “I think I’m going to pass out now.”
“Please don’t leave me alone like this,” Raine begged, still panicking despite the problem technically being solved.
“MY ARM JUST FELL OFF, RAINE!” she shouted, glad to be able to use both arms to articulate her shock. “IF I WANT TO PASS OUT, I’M ALLOWED TO PASS OUT!”
Raine couldn’t argue with that.
“We-we should both just calm down,” Raine said, failing to do so themself. “Your arm’s back on, right? Maybe we hallucinated it.”
“Both of us? The same thing?” Eda argued. “Not to mention, you had it actually in your hands . You could feel it . That’s a pretty weird hallucination if you ask me.”
“Well, do you have any better ideas?” Raine accused.
“My body is literally falling apart piece by piece and I’m going to die?” She didn’t sound so sure of it, but also sounded scared at the same time. “I’m going to collapse into a pile of loose limbs and be eaten by Slitherbeasts!”
“There’s not even any Slitherbeasts around here,” Raine pointed out. “And you seem to be holding together just fine now.”
“Well, what did you do to pull it off?” Eda asked.
“I just. Grabbed your arm like this-” they showed her by grabbing their own arm “-and pulled and- shit shit shit shit.”
They’d pulled off their own arm now.
“CAN YOU STOP DOING THIS?” Eda shouted, jumping to crouch on the couch and be away from them.
“I didn’t do it on purpose!” they defended, staring at their unattached arm. “Holy shit this is not good.”
“You don’t say?!” Eda shouted, also staring at the arm.
They sat in silence for a moment, too panicked to say anything.
“How’d you put it back on?” Raine eventually asked.
“I just… put it back in place, I don’t know!” Eda tried to explain.
“That’s not helpful!”
“Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not the one ripping limbs off today!”
Raine couldn’t argue, and instead tried as Eda instructed. They just placed their arm on their newly acquired stump and…
Presto, their arm was reattached.
“That feels too easy,” Raine said, stretching the now attached arm. “Why is this even happening?”
“It must be the curse,” Eda said, looking at her own hand. “That’s the only reason it would happen to both of us, right? Unless this secretly happens as you get older and it’s a conspiracy adults never tell us about.”
“Eda.”
“It could happen!”
They both focused on their newly attached limbs now, confused. They continued to bend them in weird ways, stretching out their fingers, making sure everything was solid.
“I don’t think I want to go for that walk anymore,” Raine eventually said.
“Good, because I’m sure as hell not joining you now,” Eda replied.
“I think I just want to go to sleep now,” they admitted, not taking their eyes off their hand, as though if they did, it would fall off again.
“That sounds like a good plan. I’ll join you.”
The two walked up the stairs, silent aside from their footsteps. They were both too creeped out to talk anymore on the matter right now.
They crawled into their nest - now more branches, leaves, and grass than blankets thanks to Eda’s increasing owl urges - and faced each other, just staring blankly at one another.
“Raine?” Eda eventually asked.
“Yes?”
“Would you still love me if I was a broken pile of limbs?”
Eda’s voice sounded exhausted at this point, and Raine couldn’t help but laugh sleepily.
“Yes, I would still love you as a disassembled pile of limbs.”
“Good. I’d probably use your limbs to tame a Slitherbeast,” she admitted.
“So long as you save my head and keep it on the mantle.”
“I can manage that.”