Work Text:
Three light taps on the door were all that Raine’s heart could manage at the moment, their own anxiety causing the organ to almost beat out of their chest as they clutched their hostess gift, a bouquet of flowers, closer to themself. Instantly after they knocked, they jumped back at the sound of a loud shout from inside the house.
“THEY’RE HEREEEE!” Oh, that was Eda. Inadvertently, a smitten smirk crossed their face, their shoulders dropped from their tense position, and a small, relieved sigh escaped them.
They expected that the door would wrench open violently, but they did not expect the grinning face of Eda Clawthorne to very nearly come tumbling out on top of them, causing them to stumble backwards off the step of the porch to avoid colliding with her. They clutched their gift ever closer as they screwed their eyes shut and braced for the painful impact of the earth on their back, but it never came. Rather, a firm hand clasped around their upper arm, quickly pulling them back on the step before they could fall.
They blinked their eyes open in shock, meeting Eda’s own golden irises just inches from their own. They both stood stock-still for a moment before Eda jumped, releasing their arm from her grasp and stepping back.
“I’M SO SORRY, RAINE. ARE YOU OKAY???” She very nearly yelled, worry creasing her brow. Raine released the breath they had been holding in a small laugh. They reached out, placing their own hand delicately on her upper arm.
“I’m great, Eda. Thank you.” The Clawthorne blushed, but smiled at her friend in earnest.
“Ahem.” A tired voice remarked from behind them, causing both of the young witches to jump as they whipped around to find its source.
Lilith was standing there, wearing a long, rather cozy-looking skirt and sweater. “You’re letting the cold in.” She finished, gesturing to the door and crossing her arms.
Eda rolled her eyes good-naturedly, but still stepped aside for Raine to enter the Clawthornes’ house, aggressively closing the door behind them.
The house was still very warm, despite Lilith’s protests, and Raine found themself immediately calmer now that Eda was dragging them around, giving them the full run-down of, well, everything.
They’d stopped in the living room, Eda telling them the elaborate story behind one of the photos on the wall before the calmer, but still obviously excited, voice of her mother interrupted.
“Edalyn! Is that Raine? Come here and introduce them!”
Eda bounced on the balls of her feet, eyes shining as she grabbed their hand, “They’re gonna love you!” Raine blushed at the thought. It’s just meeting their best friend’s parents, no big deal! ...right?
“Good evening, Mrs Clawthorne.” Raine greeted politely as Eda dragged them into the kitchen.
Gwen pshawed from her place at the counter, dusting off her hands on her apron before scooping them up in a crushing bear hug.
“Any friend of Edalyn’s is a friend of ours, dear. Call me Gwen!” She stepped away from the hug and gave them a delighted smile that they returned, only slightly nervous.
“Yes, Mrs Gwen.” The elder Clawthorne let out a small laugh before turning back to the stove.
“Our Eda hasn’t stopped talking about you for days!” They heard Eda let out an embarrassed cough as they felt their own cheeks reddening, “We’re so delighted you could join us for supper.”
Raine nodded, “Thank you for inviting me.” They remarked, pausing for a beat until they became aware of the bundle in their hands, “Oh! These are for you and Mr. Clawthorne.”
Gwen turned from the stove, “Oh! Thank you, dear. They are just beautiful!” She gently took them from a blushing Raine, “Lilith, sweetflea, would you grab a vase for these?”
Lilith nodded her assent, taking the flowers from her mother. Raine couldn’t help but notice a certain look that Lilith gave them when she passed by. Disdain perhaps? They grimaced internally, already picturing the hex she would put on them by the end of the night.
“Can we go now, mooommm?” Eda drawled, exasperatedly, already sick of her mother sucking it up to her best friend.
“Of course, dear. Run along to the table, dinner’s almost ready.”
Eda was already dragging Raine out of the kitchen to the dining room table, pre-laid with silverware and plates. A bland vase full of the flowers Raine had brought was sitting off-center in the whole scheme.
“Dad and Mom sit there,” Eda explained, pointing to the head of the table and the chair to the right of it, “And me and Lily sit on the other side, so you can sit at the foot!”
Raine nodded, but gulped nervously at the idea of sitting across from the Dell Clawthorne.
They also noticed that the seats were rather uneven, and instead of another chair next to Gwen’s spot, there was some sort of wooden structure.
“What... is that?” Raine asked, gesturing to the T-shaped post by the table.
Eda rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing ever, “That’s where Hawksley and Toast sit! My parents’ palismen.”
“Oh,” Raine nodded in understanding, “They don’t eat, do they?” The bard was dreading another element of this dinner that could possibly go wrong; getting mauled by a hawk for leftovers was not on the pros and cons list they had prepared earlier in the day.
“Pfft, nope!” Eda chided, “They don’t really like our food. They mostly rely on sunlight and the magic of the witches they’re bonded to. But some palisman will eat normal stuff, it just depends!”
Eda continued to explain the intricacies of palisman nutrition and care until the back door opened with a gust of wind, revealing Dell Clawthorne, having just come from his workshop.
“There’s the guest of honor!” Eda’s father chimed, delightedly. Raine couldn’t help but smile at the friendly man as he reached out to give them a firm handshake, “Eda tells us that you’re quite the accomplished bard,” He winked at them with a grin, “I was never much one for playing instruments myself, but I’d be daft if I said that bard magic wasn’t some powerful stuff!” Raine glowed at that, not expecting their craft to be seen with any such prowess by one of the most accomplished palisman carvers on the isles.
“I appreciate it, sir. And I agree.” Raine replied with a bashful smile.
Toast, having been perched conspicuously in Dell’s hair, flitted over to sit on the bard’s shoulder. Raine jumped slightly, standing stiff as a board as the small yellow cardinal seemed to give them a thorough inspection. Dell and Eda laughed as Toast gave an approving ‘chip!’ and went to sit on their perch with Hawksley, who was also looking at Raine inquisitively.
“Supper’s on!” Gwen called as she crossed the threshold, carrying a large, steaming dish of ghoulash with Lilith trailing behind her, carrying a basket of bread.
Eventually, everyone got settled with hearty bowls of food and started being able to have actual conversations, something that Raine had been dreading, but was actually going quite well.
“Have you had any thoughts about palismen, Raine? You and Eda are getting to that age!”
Raine nodded to Dell’s question, “I have actually, sir.” They paused for just a moment to collect their thoughts. Eda looked their way curiously, palismen was a subject they had given many conversations to over the past few weeks, but it was more so how to take care of them, and less what their individual thoughts were.
“I was actually thinking about, um, a palisman... instrument?” They cautiously looked from Eda, who had an inspired grin on her face, to Dell, who seemed delightfully surprised.
“Is that so? How do you think it would work?” Eda’s father asked. Raine was surprised at the genuine curiosity in his voice.
“Well,” Raine started, scratching their neck a little nervously now that they had the attention of the whole table, “I, uh, I’ve heard of palisman wood being used in parts of an instrument, just to give it a little more umph in its magic capabilities.” Dell nodded at this. It was one of the many ways that low-grade palistrom wood was used when it wasn't structurally sound enough to be crafted into a figure.
“I thought that maybe, and this couldn’t be for just any instrument, of course, but um, a viola was the idea I had. Turning the scroll, err, the top part, into an actual palisman? Like maybe the body of the instrument could act as the staff? Or they could interchange between that and an actual staff form?” Raine eventually came to a stop in their rant, surveying the reactions of those at the table.
Lilith seemed to be folding her napkin into some sort of shape, a fox maybe? But Eda and Gwen both looked surprisingly awe-struck, although Gwen’s expression was a little less impressed with what they just said, and more “Why do they like Eda?”
“That is very industrious thinking!” Dell complimented, “I’ve had a few customers with a similar wish, but they all wanted me to do the heavy lifting. It seems like you’re working through the logistics all on your own.” Raine dipped their head at the compliment.
“It’s a very interesting subject, sir.” They replied in earnest.
Eda spoke up, then, “I KNEW there was a reason you kept asking me about palisman!” Everyone laughed at that, even Raine.
“You know everything there is about them! How could I not?” The bard replied with a cheeky grin. Eda playfully slapped their arm, and they stuck their tongue back at her.
“Would you two stop flirting? Some people are trying to eat.” Lilith snarked from her place beside Eda. The two younger witches froze, wide-eyed as Gwen and Dell shared a look and a hearty laugh.
Eda whipped around in her chair, “We were not flirting!” she spat back to her sister.
Lilith crossed her arms defiantly, “Please. You were practically making out.”
Eda squawked at the accusation, reaching to grab her sister’s hair in retaliation before a spell circle was cast and the two girls' chairs were magically pushed apart.
Gwen shook her head as Dell spoke up, “Now, girls, is this any way to act when we have a guest over?” Eda slumped in her chair with a dramatic, defeated sigh as Lilith dragged her chair closer to her father.
Gwen cleared her throat and changed the subject rather abruptly, asking Raine how they were liking Bonesborough since moving there from the knee, how school was going, honestly, every stereotypical mom question in the book. They tried to be engaged with Gwen’s endless questioning, but they couldn’t help but be distracted by Eda and Lilith’s earlier exchange.
“So, Edalyn,” Raine was relieved when Gwen seemed to finally be turning the questioning on someone else, “what are your intentions with sweet Raine here?” Gwen asked absentmindedly, occupied with buttering a piece of bread. Eda sputtered, redder than Raine had ever seen her.
“Intentions?!” She nearly shrieked, “Wait. That’s not how that’s supposed to go! You’re supposed to ask Raine their intentions... with... me...” She trailed off as her parents shared a knowing laugh.
“That’s not even fair!!! I didn’t mean...” The rest of the exchange filtered in and out of the bard’s ears as they were suddenly very preoccupied with the napkin folded delicately in their lap.
“What if she actually liked me back...?”
“Welp. Sorry my parents are super gross and my sister might hate you.” Eda droned as she walked them out the door, seemingly disappointed with how the dinner had gone.
“Eda,” The Clawthorne looked up as the bard turned to face her, softly grabbing her hands in their own, “I had an awesome time.” Eda’s mouth fell into a soft ‘o’ as she looked down to their clasped hands, glancing up to their face a moment later.
They smiled at her calmly, trying to reinforce the complete honesty of their statement, but they were surprised to feel her squeeze their hands, meeting their eyes with determination as she leaned down, chapped but warm lips smooshing against their cheek for a second before the sensation retreated.
She’d kissed them. Sure, it was only on the cheek, but as they brought their hand up to touch where her lips had been, they could have shouted in delight if not for the shock they felt.
“OKAYYY. Well! Goodnight! See you never!” She darted back up to the porch and through the front door, nearly forgetting to shut it in her haste.
Raine stood outside the house for a moment, hand still sitting on their cheek. They shook their head after a moment, laughing to themself.
“We have school tomorrow.” They said out to no one in particular.