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Vodyanitsa's always had a possessive streak.
You can't really blame her! It's not as bad as that of her Water Imp cousins, who were prone to drowning objects of their affection who had spurned them. She would never drown Odette, no matter the circumstances. Sure, if Odette left her, the streets of Sneznograd would overflow with tears that ran all the way down to Korolevskiy Theater, but that's normal!
Okay, maybe that's not normal for humans, but whatever. Back to the point!
The point is, she's Odette's first relationship. Humans are less monogamous than Water Imps. It's only been Odette for Vodyanitsa, and it will only ever be Odette for her.
But is it the same for Odette?
Here are the facts that Vodyanitsa outlines in her diary:
1. Odette has never had a romantic partner before. Unsurprising, since all of her focus must have gone towards perfecting her craft of ballet, her Fatui duties, and being the most notorious member of the Rokot, apparently, which Vodyanitsa totally isn't annoyed she didn't know about!
2. Humans are known to have multiple partners. And, while they can be prone to jealousy and possessiveness as much as the next person, they pale in comparison to Water Imps. Maybe it's their shorter lifespans that make them a lot better at letting go. Oh my goodness, am I going to outlive Odette??? Don't think about that right now, Vodyanitsa, that's counterproductive!
3. Because of facts 1 and 2, there is a non-zero chance that Odette will want a partner other than Vodyanitsa in the future. And Vodyanitsa's really not sure if she can handle that. Maybe if she and Odette are still dating, and maybe if Odette's other partner is a close friend, but even then, she's worried that she'll lash out one day, take out her irrational feelings on someone who doesn't deserve it.
There's a fourth thing that Vodyanitsa doesn't write down, because there's a small, terrified part of her that wonders if it will become even more true if she commits it to paper. Also, it's technically not a fact, but in Vodyanitsa's mind, it might as well be.
"Okay," Vodyanitsa says, staring down at her diary entry (and pointedly ignoring the blank space at the bottom of the page). "I can work with this."
She rips out a blank sheet of paper from the back of her diary and starts scribbling a letter, loopy handwriting quickly filling up the page. Odette is hers. No one else's. And if Vodyanitsa has to resort to drastic measures to prove it... so be it.
-
"So!" Vodyanitsa clears her throat, more for effect than anything else. "I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here today."
Alyosha looks up from where he'd been wolfing down his meal. "Not really." On the floor next to him, Tugarin is sniffing, pacing around and craning his neck towards the dishes on the table he can't reach. Alyosha rips off a small portion of ribs and hand-feeds it to him.He spoils that dog way too much. Vodyanitsa still has no idea how he gets away with bringing him into Podvorye Restaurant. "Rokot business, right?"
"Don't say the R-word!" Vodyanitsa hisses--well, shrieks, really--scanning around to check if anyone heard. Luckily, the rich bigwigs around them seem far too preoccupied with their own meals, although a couple of them glance up at her exclamation. Oops. "And no. Our last mission went as planned. I called you here for a different reason."
Alyosha tilts his head, slightly confused. "So you didn't just want to get lunch together?"
"Yes...?" Vodyanitsa says. "I mean, no. Or yes? Ugh, how do you humans understand each other when your words are so unclear?"
"Take your time," Alyosha says, amused.
"Thank you," Vodyanitsa sighs. "This," she says, waving a hand around at their setup, "is nice, don't get me wrong, but I have a mission for you, or more of a commission, really. Not a Rokot one."
"Let's hear it." The mirth fades from his eyes as he folds his arms; now, he's all business.
Vodyanitsa leans forward, as if letting him in on a secret. "How good are you at singing?"
-
"That was amazing!"
"You girls were beautiful out there!"
"The pride of the theater!"
Vodyanitsa soaks up the praise like a sea sponge, beaming as she thanks every member of the tech crew. She kind of wants to roll her eyes, though, because she knows she was pitchy towards the end of the aria, why didn't anyone else hear it? But whatever! Whatever!
Odette takes the praise much more calmly, receiving it with a simple nod of the head, even though Vodyanitsa has told her to be more expressive! What if one day the Tsaritsa herself decides to grace them with her presence, and Odette can't even muster up the barest flicker of elation, huh? What then?
Finally, the chatter dies down as coats are slipped on and goodbyes are tossed over shoulders, people filtering out of the dressing room one by one.
Odette turns to Vodyanitsa, and, oh, there's that smile. A tiny one, and yet, as soft and light as sunbeams filtering through a winter morning haze. "You did wonderful out there today, as always."
"Not you too, Odette!" Vodyanitsa whines as she clings onto Odette's arm, leaning her head onto her shoulder. "Why can't I get some actual feedback for once?"
"Is it such a surprise that I'd prefer to focus on your strengths rather than your shortcomings?" When she sees Vodyanitsa's pout, she gives in. "The E flat at the end of your aria was a little sharp, and your pronunciation of podruzkhami was slightly garbled."
Oh, this is why she loves Odette so! The only girl who will tell it like it is, both the good and bad. She says as much to Odette, and is rewarded with a faint blush dusting her cheeks.
"You're quite the sweet-talker," Odette murmurs.
"And you, my dear, are sweeter!" She snuggles in closer, until her lips brush the side of Odette's neck.
"Hope I'm not interrupting."
Vodyanitsa stifles a shriek, clapping a hand over her mouth as she whirls around to see her friend lurking ominously in the doorway. "Alyosha! You scared me!"
Alyosha raises an eyebrow. "You invited me here," he says, and she can almost hear the duh in his voice.
"No Tugarin?" Vodyanitsa asks, curious.
Alyosha shakes his head. "The Traveler agreed to watch him for the night."
Belatedly, Vodyanitsa realizes that Odette has gently removed her head from her shoulder. Her posture is stiffer now, her expression serene. "I don't believe we've met," she says. "You're a friend of Vodyanitsa's, I presume? From the organization?"
Vodyanitsa answers for him. "Yep! Odette, Alyosha. Alyosha, Odette. You guys have met before..." Wait. That... may have been the Ruler of Death. "You guys have met now!"
Odette curtsies. "The pleasure is all mine"
Alyosha inclines his head. "It's an honor to meet you, Lelek."
"No need for that," Odette says, looking a little out of her depth. "Lelek has retired."
"Got it," Alyosha says.
"Wonderful!" Vodyanitsa clasps her hands together. Yikes. "Now that that's settled, Alyosha would like to perform something for you."
Odette's facial expression is hard to read as Alyosha settles onto a nearby stool, unstrapping the instrument from the case on his shoulder. A guitar, an instrument so uncommon in Snezhnaya that Vodyanitsa has no idea where he could have gotten it.
Then, he starts singing.
"Today," he sings, in a voice like a rusty wheel axel, "is gonna be the day that I'm gonna throw it back to you."
It's painful. There's no way other way to describe it. Vodyanitsa chances a glance next to her, where Odette hasn't moved a muscle. Her face is still; clearly, yet another way her years of training are paying off.
The chorus hits, and Vodyanitsa is this close to disassociating when Odette taps her on the shoulder. "...do you feel any different?" Odette speaks up, barely audible over the sound of out-of-tune guitar.
Vodyanitsa blinks. "...Pardon?"
Alyosha's playing falters for a second, but then he redoubles his efforts. Vodyanitsa wishes he wouldn't.
"I fear we may have died again," Odette says, delicately, "and entered a much more unsavory afterlife."
Vodyanitsa giggles.
"Should I stop?" Alyosha asks.
"Yes," both girls say in unison.
Alyosha shrugs, and his fingers cease their movement across the strings. The last tonally dissonant chords reverberates off the walls of the dressing room before (finally) dissipating into the aether.
"So...?" Vodyanitsa says, nearly bouncing on her heels.
"..." Odette purses her perfect, glossy lips, before choosing to keep them pressed together.
Alyosha frowns. "That bad, huh?"
"I wouldn't say that," she demures.
"Come on, Odette, you've gotta be harsher than that!" Vodyanitsa wheedles.
"Alright." Odette says. "While I'm not a singer, Alyosha, I believe I have witnessed better technical performances by the Snezhnayan Children's Choir. Although," she adds, to soften the blow, "if Vodyanitsa is training you, I'm sure you'll improve in no time."
"Yes!" Vodyanitsa cheers.
"You don't have to sound so happy about it," Alyosha says.
Odette looks back and forth between them, a frown creasing her perfect forehead. Vodyanitsa kind of wants to smoothe it out, so she won't get wrinkles. Such a shame that humans get wrinkles. She wouldn't mind Odette with them, but she wants to keep that forehead like a placid lake for just a while longer. "I don't understand," she says. "If you were training him, why are you glad that his performance was not up to par?"
"Oh!" Vodyanitsa says. "I'm not training him. I just wanted to show you that you should never ever date someone who can't sing, no matter how nice they are to you."
"I'm sorry," Odette says, "what?"
"Well, think about it," she says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "You love me, right?" At Odette's confused nod, she presses on. "We met at the theater, and we're the best of the best, so clearly, you value talent. If you date someone else, you should keep your standards high."
"If I date someone else?"
"...yes?" Vodyanitsa says. Judging from the stricken expression on Odette's face, that's the wrong answer.
"Rybka," Odette says, more emotion flooding into her voice than Vodyanitsa has ever heard from her. "I'm not going to date someone else."
"Really?" Vodyanitsa says. She's an expert at controlling the pitch of her voice, but even she can't mask her disbelief. "Not even when my voice cracks more and I can't hit all the notes I used to, and there's a new prima donna girl?"
"Really," Odette says, fiercely. "If there's a new prima donna, there will be a new prima ballerina too. I know you'll always be my prima donna."
My prima donna. The words warm up Vodyanitsa from the inside out. She likes the sound of that.
"Glad you guys worked that out," Alyosha says, and Vodyanitsa startles again. How does he do that? "I'm going now."
"Not so fast," Odette says. "Sit back down. Rybka," she says, addressing Vodyanitsa once more, "can you teach him the basic solfège scale? It's not a completely hopeless case, but we're going to have to start at the very beginning."
"...I have to feed Tugarin."
"Nice try," Vodyanitsa laughs, and in this moment, although she's going to be stuck teaching scales to a boy who's nearly tone-deaf for the next hour, there's nowhere else she'd rather be. "Now repeat after me. Do... re.... mi..."