Reprogrammed (Hunter Angst)

Kin of My Trauma

Eventually, without even really thinking about it, he relocated himself to a couch in the corner. It was a little thing that Darius kept in the basement, and only had it dragged up when he had lots of people coming over (which was almost never).

The table's occupants noticed his absence, gave him gentle smiles one by one, and kept going with their own business. One person, however, did a little more than just idly excuse him. After just a few minutes of sitting in the darker living room, distanced just a little from the noise, Raine Whispers walked over and plopped down next to Hunter. They managed to do it with the grace of a dancer.

Hunter always saw Raine as a quiet witch, aloof and nervous to talk to others at the best of times. Eda knew this very well, and Hunter had quickly learned it too. Over the past few years, Hunter watched them become more confident and comfortable in their own personality and mind over the last few months, especially as they continued to live with Eda. Hunter assumed that just a little bit of the Owl Lady's persistent confidence had rubbed off just a little on the bard.

"How are you feeling?" They asked. Hunter sighed.

"I think I just needed a break from... all of that" The teenager gestured. Now, Willow and Eber were trying to peer pressure Gus into doing illusion magic to give Eberwolf a fake mohawk. It was working, by the looks of it.

"Can't blame ya, that's why I'm here too." Raine's response surprised Hunter. He had assumed that they had come over here to check up on Hunter, not for their own personal needs. It was... kind of nice. Most adults only addressed him as though he needed something, or if it looked like something was wrong. They all approached him like he was some kind of wounded animal; cautiously, as though he could spook easily. Raine's approach seemed different.

He looked at the scars stemming from their under eyes, like permanent tear tracks flowing down their cheeks and ending at their jawbone. His own scars shivered. Hunter had heard, very briefly, that Raine had also endured the experience of being possessed by Belos. But just like the boy, they never really talked about it much.

Hunter supposed that now was a better time than any to explore the topic.

"When it gets cloudy or rainy, do your scars ever feel weird?"

The question pulled Raine out of their comfortable daze, and they considered it for a moment. "Now that I do think about it, yes. Sometimes I can feel storms coming because the air pressure changes."

Hunter nodded in complete understanding. "Mine always get really itchy, and sometimes they get kinda red the day before a storm. Sometimes, it's kinda convenient because I can prepare ahead of time for a storm."

"Haha, it's like our bodies have their own built in warning systems!" Raine exclaimed. Hunter could feel their empathy mingling with his own.

"When you got possessed, do you remember a weird taste in your mouth at all?" the bard prompted, grimacing at a memory.

"Yeah, it was awful ! I also had pond water in my mouth."

Raine agreed with a shiver "Probably the weirdest thing I've ever tasted in my life."

Gears were starting to turn in his head as he continued to process the situation. Raine was the only person that he knew who could actually genuinely relate to his own harrowing experience. From the brief and vague descriptions that he'd heard in the past, Raine had actually been possessed by Belos for quite some time during the Collector's reign.

"When you... when you broke free of Belos's control, how did you do it?" Hunter took the leap into more private territory.

Raine shrugged. "I guess I just got lucky. It was incredibly hard. He was sapping my magic and my energy with every second he dragged my body around. All I felt like doing was just to give up and go to sleep, I was so tired."