Scylla wasn't the biggest fan of her hostess's latest guest, not that she was allowed to verbally complain. But this turned into yet another mouth to feed on their dwindling supplies. She found Raelle in the kitchen debating eating a piece of toast with jelly. Scylla was acknowledged after moving some dishes around.
"Morning," they both greeted in awkward unison before slipping back into silence.
Raelle took her plate to the backyard after the burning tension proved too much, leaving Scylla to figure out what she wanted. Ramshorn fixed herself a portion of grits, a simple meal from her childhood. She was soon joined by their host who came out dressed nicely for the weekend.
"Can I have some?"
"Yeah. Not going to lie, I'm not good at grits, but it will be edible."
"I have spices in the cupboard over your head."
"Thanks. So, am I going to play domestic with you until I leave?"
"I'm not your parent, so if you wish to live here indefinitely, you'll have to find a way to pay."
"When do you think it'll be safe for me to start looking for one?"
"I'll keep an eye out and let you know. How's it going with Collar?"
"I don't want to talk about it," she muttered. "If she didn't want to see me, why would you bring her here?"
"I had nowhere else to keep her. I was hoping she'd be more civil."
"Damn it," Scylla muttered and covered her eyes. "I thought it was bad enough having her emotions from miles away, but now I can feel everything. Last night- has she found someone else?"
"I don't know, I barely see her. Don't worry about that kind of stuff, I don't want you two screwing in my house anyway."
"I'm more afraid of getting into a fight now."
"We'll figure out a safe way through this. I also brought her here to hopefully break the bond you two have. What was the work you used?"
"Homebrew," Scylla began as she found a napkin and pen to use. "I used some old Celtic slash Nordic work for that. It was a tune from the OG Celtic songs and mixed it with Runes." She sketched out the Guidonian notes and runes she infused into her work.
"Wow, so we're going to need more than our work to break this?"
Scylla shrugged with a short nod and pulled out a list. "This is what we'll need for the week. Do you think she'll expose us?"
"I'm not one hundred percent sure right now, but hopefully we- or, I can talk her down."
"Thank you, by the way, for housing me. Um, quick question before you head out, have you ever heard of the AAC, Americans Against Conscription?"
"Not to my knowledge. Why?"
"I was approached by a rep in an alley. He knew I was a witch?"
"I'll ask around the base, then. As for this," she gestured to the grocery list, "I may have found an alias for you."
"Cool, a new name."
Anacostia rooted through a drawer and pulled out a bag of ID cards and documentation. "I figured you'd need a new one at some point, so I went ahead and did so. You do not need to repay me for these. I don't need or want the money."
Scylla took the bag and glanced at the Driver's License. "A Civilian name?"
"Do you want to stick out?"
"You're right. Renée Mina Deacon, thank you."
Anacostia's eyes glazed over for a moment. "I'm needed on base."
"Why, was Raelle noticed?"
"Developments on Spree and Army relations. I should be back by the afternoon. Don't break anything, Ramshorn."
"Tell that to your other guest," she called on her way out.
Scylla cursed herself for a moment then peaked out at the backyard where she spotted Raelle sitting on the grass looking up at the clouds. She really wasn't sure how to approach her or if she should. Scylla felt Raelle battle out her emotions with annoyance and pity, something that only made her feel worse.
"Not helpful," she called through the glass.
Raelle lolled her head to the side and mouthed, "No shit." She grabbed the plate and went back inside. "How do we work this out?"
"Do you really want to cut the bond?"
"Yes."
"Well, then I need some help. The first step would be to think of a work or style that could counteract this. Do you know any Celtic or Nordic works?"
"Only Christo-Pagan."
"Well, that has roots in Celt, so hopefully we can find some similarities." She produced the napkin and explained, "I used this to make my work. It's the tune to a common binding spell for Warlocks of the Celtic days and a Nordic Rune meant for luck and family."
"Mhm, so we need to create something to counteract this?"
"Exactly."
"How did you learn all of this?"
"Spree taught me the tunes, friends taught me the runes. Now, about runes…" Scylla quickly jotted down the ones she recalled with their meanings below. "Christo-Pagan and Celtic songs perform the same function, the only difference is the complexity of the notes. In all honesty, it's what makes Spree works stronger than the Military's."
"Well then why did you wait so long to abduct me?" Scylla cringed at the memory. Raelle nodded, "Yeah, pretty shitty, right?"
"It's easier if you have a base we can build upon. Alder's canon works are simple which makes it easier to master on a mass level than the works she grew up with. That's also why yours are so much more effective than the armies, even if it didn't always completely work. I'm sure that if you had gotten more training, you wouldn't have suffered the side effects. I could fix them if you want-"
"No, no thank you. I'm fine."
"Or teach you." After no response, she continued, "You know what, brainstorm outside about your songs I'll figure out a rune."
Raelle turned to the garage again but looked back to speak before deciding against it.
"No, don't do that. What do you want to say?"
"I don't hate you, you know that right? I'm just not sure what to feel with you. And I know you aren't inherently bad, you've just made poor choices."
Raelle gave a single nod and went outside. It at least dampened the constant emotional rampage. She felt like a teenager again, the constant torment of hormones controlling how she felt, except it was her ex.
She looked up at the sky, she would give anything to be in the Cession again with her dad. Even her life if it meant being back home in spirit. The new pressures of being an experiment coupled with her strained relationships now ate away at her. She should have just run away, Raelle thought, at least to have freedom. A panging in her head broke her thoughts. She looked back from her spot on the grass at Scylla. She seemed more of a poster child of the Lost Children than the Necro prodigée she was a year prior. She even looked more sallow than before, like death personified. Scylla met her gaze for a moment before turning back to her task.
They feigned work for the next few hours until Realle returned for a drink. "Would you like to go for a walk?"
"I can't until we're sure the Spree aren't tracking me, but we can… walk around the house?"
"Okay."
"I know you pity me, I finally identified what you were feeling when you looked at me." They began their first round in the living room.
"You don't look great."
"I'm going through some shit."
"I know, me, too. Did you know I was supposed to be dead?"
"Really, when?"
"During my mission with Alder. I touched Izadora's Mycelium and it fused with me."
"Wait, you touched Her?"
"Yes, when you phrase it like that it sounds weird though. It was like an angel-hair pasta-worm hybrid."
"I've always been curious about how it felt. So how did She save you?"
"It mended my heart."
"Fascinating," she beamed. "What else has She done?"
"Apparently it reacts to my emotions, something Izadora wants to use."
"Has She manifested physically before?"
"Not outside of my body."
"I want you to try something, it's a seed sound that agitates fungus."
"Okay," she warily agreed.
"Um, copy me."
Scylla began to sing an unfamiliar series of seeds to her, similar to their Seeds of Creation and Time, but with an unfamiliar loure and timbre. Raelle copied as well as she could, struggling to match the length of each sound before finally catching on their second try. Scylla nodded and stopped singing as she watched Raelle.
"Try thinking of someone or thing you miss. Imagine yourself in complete satisfaction. This song relies on pure happiness."
Raelle prepared herself for a moment before restarting. Her body began to feel overwhelmingly powerful and adrenaline pumped through her veins. Raelle glanced down at her tingling arms and fingers as glowing white strands began to protrude from her fingertips.
She gasped and jumped back. "Holy Shit! That was awesome!"
"Your eyes!"
"What?" She rushed to the bathroom and watched her iris pulsate between blue and near white before finally returning to their natural hue. "That was weird."
"How did it feel?"
"Exhilarating."
"Do you want to try again?"
"Yeah!" She took another breath. "Let's try it on something?"
Scylla glanced around before jogging to pick a flower from outside. "Here."
Collar began to sing again, holding the peony in front of her. Once the white strands reached the flower, it petrified in her grasp until bioluminescent mushrooms sprouted from it. She stopped and studied the flower.
"Wow, that is new. Can you imagine what kinds of fungus you could grow? I mean, this is a rare mushroom grown in South America we aren't allowed to work with."
"Oh my god, what does it do?"
"It's a food replacement. Something Izadora's been trying to replicate. One of these holds enough calories and nutrients for a meal."
"Really?"
"It looks exactly like it, I'd have to take samples. Making a synthetic version was going to be my project in College."
"I was told you were more interested in Chemical Weapons?"
"I excelled in it, but it didn't really interest me," she curtly responded.
"What does it taste like?"
"Alder said it's savory cooked and sweet raw."
Raelle placed the flower on a plate and collapsed on the couch. "Did you find any good runes?"
"A few, but I won't know until we experiment."
"How did you experiment with it originally, or do I not want to know?"
"Nothing bad, I just practiced on birds."
"How many are you connected to?"
"One, I named him Ralph."
"How long did it take?"
"I screwed around with it for years before I decided to actually put it to the test."
"Oh, great." Raelle slumped even further into the couch. "Do I show Izadora or act like I don't know how to control Her?"
"I think you should prove how important you are. It might just buy you an out."
"In twenty years, maybe," she nihilistically noted. "So, your Mother Mycelium creates food. Does she do anything else?"
"She has killed students before."
"What?!"
"Yeah, that's why it's amazing you turned out okay. She's picky about what she does to her subjects. I once saw a rat's face get ch[ewed]-"
"Oh my god, there should be a sign!"
"There is one, you just don't follow directions well."
Raele considered her statement, "That song you used, is that Celtic work?"
"A homebrew based on that, yes."
"I can see what you mean by the power. I wish we could use it in battle. It felt like the work was coming from my gut instead of my vocal cords."
"I know, right?"
"That was awesome!"
Scylla nodded in agreement and went back to the dining area. "And very similar to Military work, so think up some seeds and I'll figure out a way to tie them together with that sound."
"So, using the sounds one, twelve, and sixty-two, we should be able to get some interesting results," Ramshorn explained.
"Switching between one and twelve is hard, though."
"Well, yeah. It's not meant to be easy. You're making your own work and it won't be in common style."
"I guess I just didn't expect it to be this hard."
"It took me a shit ton of time to perfect."
"Why did you initially begin making it?"
"To stay in contact with my parents, but well, that ended poorly, so I stopped working on it. Then I found another reason to continue, I just didn't realize it would have this side effect."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's fine, really. I'm the one at fault for using this without a way to undo it."
Raelle took note of her humble demeanor. "So, I think the pattern for Proverbs 4:25 through 27… Romans 8:13 through 14. I could see Matthew 6:14 through 15 working for this as well."
"How did you memorize the bible?"
"I was taught from it before I knew what a seed sound was. Besides, It was a good foundation before I got shipped off," Raelle explained. "Um, so how do we go about doing this?"
"We'll need some subjects to test on."
"What works best?"
"I used birds, but rodents are probably easier to catch and keep. We could set up traps or, do you know how to summon animals?"
"You know what, I actually do. I got a little gift from one of the male witches."
"Let's go outside and practice then."
They sat at the door from the garage to the backyard as Raelle began mimicking birds. She felt her ex's eyes bore into her as they patiently waited. Once she identified the emotion attached to that, Collar stopped mimicking and turned to her.
"I care about you. Everything you've done, the red flags and gaslighting I should have noticed and called you out. You- just you," she failed to explain. "I thought it was all one-sided at first, but now that I can feel this, now that I look back… I can see that you did in fact want to save me. You were in an impossible situation, but that still doesn't excuse what you did to me." Scylla nodded and listened to her grievances. "I don't want to lose you," Raelle begrudgingly confided, "but I don't know if I can trust you. Especially since I can feel you hiding something from me. Something big."
"I don't know if it's my secret to tell."
"Does it pertain to me?"
Scylla studied her closely and shrugged, "I can't say."
"It's really tearing you apart, isn't it? What's going on?
"I'm not the right person to tell you."
"Who can I go to then?"
"You'll have to wait until they contact you."
"I'm not going to like this secret am I?"
"I don't know." Silence settled between them again before they felt they could continue. "Are we okay?"
"Yeah, we're okay," Raelle confirmed. "Not perfect."
"Can you try to summon a subject?"
"Of course."
They spent another five minutes without success, so Raelle went inside for some water.
"Why are you giving me a second chance?" Ramshorn suddenly inquired.
"Can't you just leave it alone? Fine. I can feel your remorse. I know how you feel and, for the most part, what you're going through. I'm starving, let's take a break. What do you have in here?"
"How about you continue finding a subject and I'll make us something edible."
Raelle playfully gawked, "Is that a dig at my cooking skills? I'll let you know, I grew up as a latchkey kid, so I have some useful skills."
"Ramen and grilled cheeses are not a meal," Scylla jibed.
"What- I'll have to cook sometime, show you what I've got."
"I'll hold you to that. Before I lose you, have you ever heard of the group Americans Against Conscription, stylized AAC?"
"We had a group in the Cession, weirdos if you ask me. Have they made their way here?"
"Yeah, I was approached by one yesterday. I think he was a dodger because he could perform fixer work."
"That's a little concerning. Did you get a contact?"
"Yeah, hold on," she went through her belongings to find the paper. "Reynard Calvistan?"
"I don't recognize the name."
"Are they dangerous?"
"No, kind of hippies in all of this. They want the same thing as the Spree but they do it through civil and community service."
"Really?"
"Be careful, I'm not really sure what they're up to and you don't want to be in debt to another group."
"Yeah, good point."
Scylla glanced back at the address and put it back in her pocket. She went to cook while Raelle retrieved a subject. After a couple of minutes, she returned with a sparrow in her palm.
"Perfect," Scylla plated their food and tested some work on the bird. "Here, let me see what I can do."
Raelle watched her closely as she carefully held the bird in her hand, singing works before testing. Scylla crossed out the patterns that failed and worked diligently on the next one.
"This isn't going to work," Raelle finally gave in. "I just want to stop."
"We can stop for now?"
"No, I mean stop. I want to stop everything, I just want to stop," she muttered. "I've been moving and continuing for so long for the sake of my dad you, my Units, and I think I've finally reached the end of my rope. I just don't have anything else to give."
"Oh."
"You and this Mycelium shit- I just want to stop." She sat in silence for another few minutes before resuming her stream of thought, "I feel so lost right now."
The front door unlocked as Anacostia returned from the base. "Good news, we have a final meeting with the Spree before drawing up an official truce."
"Bad news?" Scylla called from the kitchen.
"Your absence has been noted. Apparently, Izadora has been searching around for you, Raelle," She informed her on her way to the table.
"Great," Collar responded.
"Why is there a bird in the house?"
Scylla showed off the creature, "Science."
"Please tell me you haven't named it?"
"Now that you mention it," Raelle began, "I was thinking Amanita."
"I like that, very on-brand," her ex complimented.
"How did anyone manage to parent you two?" their hostess inquired.
"With a very long leash."
"Huh, lots of discipline on my end." Scylla continued performing work on the bird.
Anacostia hung up her jacket and nodded at Raelle, "I'm going to take you back to base tomorrow. I was called back at eight a.m., so be ready to leave by seven."
"Yes, ma'am."
"You know, despite the mixed news, I'm glad to see you two haven't killed each other, yet. I don't want to pry, so please do not tell me why you two are getting along."
"Was this your secret plan the entire time? A little Romeo and Juliet replay?"
"That's- that has an unfortunate ending, but I do enjoy a good star-crossed story," she corrected her.
"Oh!" Scylla exclaimed. "It worked!"
"What did?" Quartermaine interjected.
"Homebrew, give me your hand," Ramshorn asked her partner. She repeated the work. A few hand-burning seconds later and their bond was broken.
They stared at each other for a while before Raelle looked down at her palm. "Thank you," she nodded. "Not going to lie, it feels weird but good, you know, healthy."
"So that's what the bird was for," Anacostia realized. She took her belongings to her room and informed them, "I'm off to the store, is there anything else you think we need, Scylla?"
"No thank you," she called out to her, not breaking her focus on Raelle. She didn't feel as lonely or empty as she thought she would, nor did she have any sense of loss from the work. It tingled and burned a little, but no lasting damage even as they tried their sigils. "How do you feel?"
"Like I'm in my own body, it's weird, but I think this is a good change. You know I learned something today, there's a reason we think before we speak."
"Oh god, now's not the time for lessons." She released the sparrow and cleaned up. "Now that we aren't connected, is there anything else you'd like?"
"No," she sighed. "Feels kinda final, right?"
"Well, it doesn't have to be?"
"I think it should." Raelle stood up from the table, rapping her knuckles on the old wood. "I think I'll clean up, I haven't had a warm shower in months."
