All Too Familiar
Raine sees a bit too much of they're partner in her adopted kid, it was almost too uncanny. Maybe Eda sees so much of her own partner in her kid, too.
(old gays, what could be better?)
ao3
Eda’s kid really was Eda’s kid. With the way she dove head-first in to action, took every matter in to her own hand, garnered attention without trying, it was like Raine travelled back in time and saw the same fearless, selfless and stubborn little girl. They were almost convinced that the two were biologically related.
Their theory was further solidified when they once asked Luz about what track she chose to study at Hexside. Raine could’ve sworn something inside them croaked when Luz told them she was taking them all at once.
They had caught her doing catch up homework in the kitchen of the Owl House one morning. She looked so absolutely determined to catch up on what she missed the two weeks she was gone before The Day of Unity. They caught a glimpse of Abominations schoolwork, a Potions assignment and the Constructions work Luz was currently focused on.
“Morning Raine.” Luz greeted, not as usually energetic, but still more lively than the bard themself.
“Morning, Luz. Early worker, aren’t you?” Raine greeted as they got themselves a cup of tea. “You drink tea?” They asked.
“I’m good. Got a lot of schoolwork I got a lot catch up on!” Luz stretched her back before going back to work. “Post Dictatorship isn’t gonna stop the school curriculum. Besides, can’t slack off when you’re taking every track.”
Incredible, Eda.
They found the pre-whipped pancake batter in Eda’s magic-powered fridge and decided Luz needed her stimulants. They fried away as Luz got to talking.
“Bump lets you guys do that now?” Raine asked. Luz did what Eda usually did on the rare chance you’d catch her bashful—raises her shoulders and grabs her non-dominant arm. Raine felt a strong adoration towards the girl, if nothing else.
“Yeah, uh, Hexside had an incident with The Greater Basilisk last year. Me and a bunch of kids kinda, y’know, saved the school by using the different tracks we wanted to take. That kinda got Bump to change his mind.” Luz recalled. “Honestly, that should’ve been the most unforgettable adventure of a lifetime for me, but I kinda forgot that happened.”
The Greater Basilisk attacked Hexside, huh?
Raine paced a plate of warm pancakes in front of the girl, right beside her schoolwork.
“But yeah, that day change Hexside’s entire curriculum. Which was great, because if it didn’t, I would’ve been stuck with potions for the rest of my time at Hexside.” Luz continued.
Ah yes, the stereotypical Clawthorne track of choice. That was what pushed Raine over the edge that they couldn’t help themself anymore. “Luz, why is it that everything I hear about you remind me more and more of your mom when we were kids?” They let out a laugh in between their words
That was the biggest compliment Luz had ever heard anyone gave her. To know there was some part of Eda that she managed to project. “Aww, Thanks Raine!” For both the compliment and the pancakes.
The bard smiled at her. They sat down on the table where Luz was eating up her pancakes. “So, tell me, how does that work? Doesn’t it take up too much of your time?”
“Heck No!” Luz exclaimed. “I mean, I’m not taking every class every day." She explained her very own, very filled up schedule and it baffled Raine even more. But they're not gonna go deeper into this child's choices.
“So which ones do you like the most?” Raine asked. Sitting next to this kid was a delight.
“Well,” Luz dragged her L's as a shade if red crept up her face, “I share abominations with my girlfriend so, y'know, I try my best in that class specifically.”
“I used to do that with potions, until I started to focus all my time in bard magic.” Raine commented. “The things we do when we're smitten.”
“Exactly!” Luz replied. “They're like, the world's greatest motivation and inspiration!” To this Raine let out a laugh.
“But!” Luz interjected. “That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy every class I have. Plants with Willow is great. Illusions, I'm a natural at, not to brag. Oracles, Constructions, Healing, Potions —Eda takes this one very seriously— Beasts, Bard Magic!” Luz recalls with stars in her eyes. Raine wonders how she has so much energy this early in the morning.
“When you enjoy everything, it seems less like schoolwork and more of an adventure.” Okay, this was the core difference between Luz and Eda. Their partner despised school, while this kid just takes every piece of education she could get.
“Actually! I agree! Especially at Hexside. Never a dull moment in class.” They said, sipping their tea. Luz hummed in cheerful agreement before turning back to her homework.
Raine watched Luz lay out several glyph papers and set them down to summon constructions. This was all still incredible to the bard.
“Thank King that worked!” Luz exclaimed, proud of her infinity-shape construction.
A true prodigy.
“So does the glyphs work for every form of magic?” Raine asked.
“Oh definitely!” Luz sounded so proud of herself, almost as much as Raine was. “You just gotta learn which combos to use. Took me a good half a year to figure out a lot of them. And I haven’t scratched the surface.” Luz had every right to brag about that, whether she meant to or not.
A self-taught magic prodigy. Eda, you sure she isn’t yours?
Suddenly, a thought hit the bard’s interest. “You can do Bard magic? With your glyphs?” They asked.
They watched as the girl’s face lit up in excitement. “Wait here! I’ll be back, don’t go anywhere!” Luz exclaimed as she dashed off.
There was this tinge of pride that Raine felt, seeing their partner’s kid-not-kid be so enthusiastic about bard magic. They weren’t sure how Luz would make it work, but the kid’s already crossed worlds and beyond. There were no limits to what she could have done.
However, she still was Eda’s kid, so hearing a thud, followed by a small ‘ow’ probably shouldn’t have given Raine that much of a mini-heart attack.
“Nope! I did not fall down the stairs!” Luz said as she got back up and continued running back to the table with an undamaged and well taken-care of mandolin.
Raine’s breath hitched when they saw the lightning cloud engraved on it. “Oh, my Titan…” Raine stared at the mandolin in awe.
“It’s not broken, I swear! Actually, nothing’s broken, nope!” Luz swore. “But yeah, Eda gave this to me. I wanna learn the guitar eventually, but this is pretty cool, too.” Luz said smiling.
“Eda gave this to you?” Raine asked. The last time they saw the mandolin was the last time they though they would ever see their Edalyn. They wondered if Eda had any qualms about letting go of the few remaining pieces of memoirs of what they used to be.
“Well, not gave, per se. She taught me my first Bard spells with this. She said I could use it for school.” Luz said, oblivious to Raine’s inner turmoil slowly dissolving.
Of course, Eda wouldn’t let it go.
“So, which spells did she teach you?” Raine asked, wanting to hear only one answer. But they would be lying if they said they weren’t curious to know how deep Eda’s bard magic knowledge went.
“Levitation spells, plant growing spells,” Luz said as she stuck a glyph unto the back of the mandolin, “but I’m not too good yet, so…”
The girl turned to Raine. “you’re not allowed to make fun of me, okay Head Bard?” She said with a smirk.
That was Eda. No doubt about it.
“I promise. Your mom would kill me in cold blood if I ever said anything negative towards you.” Raine swore.
Luz took a deep breath before her she placed her fingers on the board. “This one’s Eda’s comfort healing spell.” She said, nervous about being watched, but she persisted.
The song rang through the kitchen like a melody that travelled through time. Luz was playing their song, Raine’s love letter to Eda, and the kid just got lost in the tune. She played slower than the song intended, like she was afraid of making a mistake. Aside from that, Luz played like she didn’t need to be taught, like she knew this song.
Eda’s prodigy, no, Eda’s child.
As the song had ended, Luz turned to the bard with wonder in her eyes. “Why? What’s wrong?” She asked.
Raine hadn’t realized they were tearing up. The let out a small sniffle as they wiped their cheeks. “Oh, it’s nothing, I just remembered something.”
Luz let out a small sigh. “Sorry if it was a bit off, I haven’t been playing for long.”
“Hey, hey, hey. No. None of that,” they said placing their hand on her left shoulder, “you played good, kiddo.” They said with the sincerest smile they’ve ever given off in a while.
Luz sighed with relief. “Oh, good. Eda’d have my head if she found out I butchered it.”
“Luz, did you know where she learned that song?” Raine asked, wanting her to say no. They wanted to share this with the kid, and had really hoped Eda wouldn’t mind if they told a few of their stories to the girl. She shook her head. “Wanna hear about it? Or do you wanna finish you’re Abominations work?”
“Oh, titans!” Luz exclaimed. “Eda and Raine Backstory Time!” She said, dropping her pen and stacking her papers together.
“Alright, alright! Just, finish your pancakes.” Luz went directly to eat up. She watched Raine in anticipation.
“Okay, so, do you know the song title?” Raine asked. Luz shook her head as a no.
“It’s actually Raine’s Rhapsody.” Luz’s eyes widened, unable to say anything with her mouth full. “I-well- wrote that, for your mom.” Raine’s face was swallowed with a hue of red. “It was supposed to calm her down during Beast episodes, but, I guess, y’know, it calmed me down a lot too. It was supposed to be a violin solo, but Eda managed to play it on that mandolin, so, y’know, it’s been a duet ever since.”
Luz looked so starry eyed. After swallowing down her food, she awed. “That is the sweetest thing I have heard all day!” Raine wanted to comment that it was 8 in the morning, but they’d take it.
“Thanks kiddo.” Raine said with a smile.
“I wanna do that, too. I’ll compose something for Amity,” her voice got softer, face flushing a bit, “just, something that reminds her of me, y’know?”
“You’ll do great, Luz. Amity would love anything from you.” They meant it.
Luz hugged Raine and skidded off, papers forgotten.
“Well, that’s not something I expected to witness this morning, but I definitely needed that,” Raine heard from their favorite voice in the world. It still gives them pixies in the stomach.
“Edalyn! How long have been watching?” they asked, heart still sped up.
“Heard my kid fall down the stairs and just wanted to see if she broke any bones. Turns out she was on her way to break my partner.” Eda said. She emerged from the stairs with her arms crossed and her smile intact.
“Yep, that’s, yeah, that’s right.” Rained stuttered a bit. “That’s one incredible kid you got there, Eda.”
“Nah, that one’s on Cam. Kid’s an overachiever for no one else but herself. Getting full experiences and all.” Eda remarked, sitting next to her partner. “All this talk about being a real witch, and she doesn’t realize she’s realer than anything in my life.”
“I’m not talking about that.” Raine answered. “She’s a lot like your mini-me. Rash, impulsive, having the flair for dramatics, makes questionable choices, “
Eda stole their cup of tea and chugged down the contents as she looked them dead in the eyes. “You’re dating me again, so what does that say about your choices?” She cut them off.
“But! She’s extremely passionate, headstrong and very rambunctious,” they continue, “that’s Edalyn Clawthorne in my eyes.”
Eda looked at them in awe, then quickly softened her expression as she let out a small laugh. “Honestly, she reminds me of you a bit too much. Maybe that’s why I was so quickly taken by her.”
“What? How?” They ask.
“Come on, Rainestorm. Our first meeting in almost two decades and you were rebelling against the very thing you served. Albeit the kid could’ve done better, but you know what I mean.”
“Hey! I was inexperienced, okay?” Raine butted in.
“Also, she’s a magic prodigy and I only taught her basic stuff, like flying and potions. Everything else, she figured out on her own.” Eda stated. “Also, who the heck takes 9 different tracks and catches up on schoolwork on a Saturday morning? After a tyrannical apocalypse she helped stop?!”
“And said schoolwork was forgotten in the name of love.” She added. Raine watched as Eda gathered the papers and placed them away from any possible stains.
That shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was.
“So, you taught her Raine’s Rhapsody?” Raine asked.
“Oh, yeah, hope you don’t mind. I played it for her before when I still had my magic. She had the worst headache and I wasn’t sure if potions were safe for humans. The song helped her a lot. She begged me to teach her.” Eda recalled.
“I don’t mind at all. Kid’s pretty self-conscious about playing.” Raine said.
“Much like a certain bard I know.” Eda teased.
“Hey! That’s different! I’m one person! I constantly have to play in front of people!” The defended, bright red and flustered.
Eda let out a laugh. “Still, Luz’s all the best people in one. I don’t know how she manages with all she’s been through.” “She’s been through more at 15 than anyone else I’ve ever known. That’s gonna create issues with her psyche.” Raine commented. “She’s lucky she has you.”
“Oh, please. I dragged her into this, and now she’s my-not-mine kid and Cam’s counting on me to take care of her. If anything, I’m the lucky Momma Bird.” Eda said, smiling with a sigh.
Raine placed their hands unto Eda’s and looked at her with a softness that Eda’s only ever seen with them. “Eda, anyone’s lucky to have you. I know I am.”
They found each other staring, quickly looking away from each other, red and flustered.
“Ay! No! Too early for gushies!” A small voice came up out of nowhere.
“Watch yourself, Whispers! That’s my mom!” King declared pointing at the bard.
Eda burst out laughing as Raine melted in puddle of shame.
