02x06 - My 3 Dads

[bunniefuu]

Previously, on Motherland:

Willa: Jonas, wait! The Camarilla are picking us off.

Jonas: I'm not here for the Camarilla. I'm here to change things.

Tooms: In this twilight of the world, the evil of witch is super abound

[HISSES]

[GRUNTS]

[CROWD GASPS]

Bonnie (whispers) Not our daughters!

[STABS]

[LIGHTER CLOSES]

M: Samhain tradition, cadets! Tonight, we wake the dead!

Tally: Valda Esterbrook.

Valda: [CRIES OUT]

[SQUELCHES]

Raelle: Willa Collar.

Raelle: Why didn't she come? Why didn't she want to talk to me? I need to go pack for the break. I need to see my dad.

Abigail: Charvel Bellweather.

Charvel: You are Abigail Bellweather. And you. Are. Vengeance.

Abigail: Charvel set me straight. I need to find the people who took her voice and get it back.

Abigail: Time to make them feel hunted. And we start with the one who k*lled Charvel.

---

[FIRE CRACKLES]

Woman in hood (Nicte Batan): From our first born breath to the last song we sing, we are at w*r. There was never a choice. So, if we must bleed, let us bleed for freedom. With this act, our w*r will end. And your faith in me will be repaid.

[CLINKS, SIZZLES]

Woman in hood (Nicte): Thank you, Jonas. From our blood, a new day will rise for all witches!

[GROUP CHANTS] We are the Spree. [repeating]

Jonas Blackfoot joins in: We are the Spree. [repeating]

---

Opening cedits

---

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Tally Craven: Wow! It's beautiful here, Rae.

Raelle Collar: Um, hey-hey, Tal?

Tally: Mm?

Raelle: Maybe, just around my dad don't...talk about the Witchbomb. Or deployment. Or the Spree. And, yeah, definitely not Scylla.

Tally: That's a lot not to talk about.

---

Abigail Bellweather: A couple things before we go in. The house should be empty except for my grandma.

Adil: Will she mind what we have to do?

Abigail: Oh, Minerva cannot know. She's the only woman alive tougher than Alder. Avoid contact.

Adil: Then, as long as we can get to Charvel's remains, we'll be in and out quickly.

Adil: You okay?

Abigail: We put our dead right in the earth and plant a tree to grow from their body.

Adil: You help them turn to new life. That's not unlike our tradition.

Abigail: Yeah, but will that be a problem?

Adil: As long as I can get a little bit of Charvel's blood, everything should be fine.

Adil: I thought the house was gonna be empty?

---

Raelle: Yeah, people in the Cession have never really been shy in expressing an opinion.

Tally: She causes more problems than she fixes, doesn't she?

Raelle: Is that what your ghost told you?

Tally: More or less. Esterbrook made me see the truth. Alder had Nicte Batan k*ll the Liberian Front and make it look like a mass suicide. She could, she could order you to do something like that with the Witchbomb.

Raelle: Well, if Esterbrook was telling the truth--

Tally: She showed me. I saw it.

Raelle: Then, Alder made Liberia worse. And that fight eventually k*lled my mom. So, there's not much worse she can do to me, is there?

Edwin Collar: Rae?

Raelle: Don't worry, Tal, I'll always have a choice.

Edwin: Hey, kid. How ya doin'?

Raelle: [LAUGHS] Good.

Edwin: Good to see you.

Raelle: Good to see you, too. I'm starving.

Raelle: Tal.

Tally: Hi! I am starving. Good to see you.

Edwin: Good to see you.

---

[QUIET CHATTER]

[CLASSICAL PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]

Fermin Bellweather: Daughter.

Anton Bellweather: Sweetheart.

Claude Bellweather: Hello, offspring. What do you think? Hm?

Abigail: Is there a wedding that I don't know about?

Claude: [CHUCKLES]

Anton: Not yet. They're all here for you.

Claude: And this must be Adil.

Adil: Hm.

Claude: Your people are quite the topic of conversation in our circle. And you brought him because...?

Abigail: Because he has no home to go to for the break. Is that an issue?

Claude: Of course not. We'll make room. Anton, Fermin and I invited all your top ranked suitors here for Fall break. Seemed like the perfect time for you to make a choice.

Abigail: Does my mother know about this?

Claude: It was her idea, of course. Shellbark! Good to see you again!

Gregorio Shellbark: Always a pleasure, sir.

Claude: Mm-hm.

Gregorio: Bellweather! [SCOFFS] Thanks for the invite, what a pleasant surprise.

Abigail: A surprise, being the key word. Right, Claude?

[GREGORIO CLEARS THROAT]

Adil: How many fathers does Abigail have?

Gregorio: Just the three. Average for a High Atlantic kid. Why?

Adil: I didn't understand the scope of Abigail's family.

Gregorio: [SCOFFS] My friend, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

---

Edwin: All because he was a guy?

Tally: Mm-hm.

Raelle: Dad, no dudes. Ever.

Tally: Ever.

Raelle: [LAUGHS]

Tally: Then my mom comes running up "Don't hurt him! Don't hurt him! He's my lawyer!"

[RAELLE LAUGHS]

Tally: Turns out, the guy was there to help me get my dispensation. The only guy to ever set foot in the Sacramento matrifocal community, and survive.

Edwin: That reminds me of when Rae was born.

Tally: Mm-hmm!

Raelle: Dad...

Edwin: Willa gave birth at Fort Senox and I had to get special access to go on base. So, as I'm walking up to Willa's room in the infirmary, this soldier stops me. Now, she can tell I'm a civilian.

Tally: But you were cleared to be there?

Edwin: But when she found out I was the father, she went off about how wrong that was, how, how I'd made my daughter weak.

Tally: That's awful!

Edwin: Yeah, it was, until Willa stepped out of her room, still covered in blood from the birth, holding our baby girl.

Tally: Aww

Edwin: Yeah. How did Mom tell this part, again?

Raelle: Oh, gosh, I don't know.

Edwin: What she said next?

Raelle: I don't remember.

Edwin: Well, anyway, Willa Collar looked that soldier in the eye and said, "Does my daughter look weak to you?!"

Tally: [LAUGHS] Wow.

Raelle: I'm gonna get this packed up.

Edwin: Sure.

[NEWS ANCHOR ON TV, in OJIBWE]: The Indian Military claims the attack in India was caused

Raelle: Hey, uh, can we get a box? Thank you.

[NEWS ANCHOR ON TV, in OJIBWE]: by a civilian anti-witch group called "The Camarilla"

---

dialogue-less scene

---

[CAR DOOR OPENS QUIETLY]

[BIRDS CALLING]

[TRAIN HORN BLOWS IN DISTANCE]

Scylla Ramshorn: What are we going to tell her?

Anacostia Quartermaine: Think the truth's a good place to start.

Scylla: Well, if she's going to disappear, she might as well know, right?

Anacostia: Disappear? She's not going on the run with the Spree.

Scylla: She can't go to the army.

Anacostia: It's the Camarilla she has to worry about, not conscription.

Scylla: This isn't about you. Or me. This is about her. The Dodgers can keep her safe just like they did with me, until she's old enough to make her own choices.

Anacostia: The Fosterling program did pretty right by me.

Scylla: And where are you now? Out here with me, a t*rror1st.

Anacostia: I saw you at that mall during the vigil. You are not the same person you were a year ago.

Scylla: Then why did I laugh when I k*lled Shane?

Anacostia: You m*rder*d Shane?

Scylla: Tell me he didn't deserve it, for what he did to Tiffany?

Anacostia: And what did you do to Brianna by taking her father away from her?

Scylla: She shouldn't hear us fight like this.

[SCYLLA VOCALIZES]

Scylla: [WHISPERS] Let's go for some hot chocolate.

---

Raelle: Bye, Pops.

Tally: Have a good day!

Raelle: Tal, can we just relax? This is our first break, ever.

Tally: And it'll be over in a blink of an eye. Which is why you should talk to him about your mom.

Raelle: I just...I don't wanna upset him.

Tally: It isn't him that's getting upset.

Raelle: Well then, tell me how not to be upset about Samhain. Your dead was a total stranger and showed up with bells on, and I waited on my own mother all night, and she didn't show.

Tally: He wouldn't want you to go through this alone.

Raelle: Yeah, sure, I'll just ask him, "Um, hey, Dad, any idea why my mom would abandon me a second time?"

Tally: Hey. Do you recognize that car? It was outside the diner, too.

Raelle: Yeah, and on our way into town.

---

Raelle: [HISSES, VOCALIZES]

Raelle: That was a warning. I know you.

Tally: You're military?! Wait, where's the other two?

Officer: We have orders to keep Miss Special Projects here out of trouble. I remember you from Basic. You are the trouble, Cadet.

Raelle: Yeah, well, don't expect me to invite you in for coffee and cookies.

Raelle: Tally!

---

[KNOCK ON DOOR]

Anton: Do you have a minute to talk?

Abigail: A minute. Sure.

Anton: She inherited that exactness from you.

Fermin: Which makes for superior tactical planning, of course.

Anton: I'm sorry we sprung this on you. I know it's all happening so fast.

Abigail: Surprises I can handle. But I have other priorities right now.

Fermin: Such as Adil?

Abigail: Such as being a soldier.

Fermin: Having a daughter, goddess permit, is part of being a soldier.

Anton: There's no greater joy, you'll see.

Abigail: This isn't a time for joy. A kid shouldn't come into this world right now.

Anton: Your children will be lucky to have you around to protect them. And not just them, but the future of the line.

Fermin: Stop sermonizing, Anton. Please, keep an open mind at dinner.

---

Sarah Alder: You let her get the drop on you, and now the child that you rescued is in the Spree's hands?

Anacostia: Ramshorn isn't planning on keeping Tiffany with them.

Alder: You're naive to believe that. It was a mistake to work with her at all.

Petra Bellweather: General, it stands to reason the Camarilla may have taken other young witches hostage.

Alder: Bring our daughters home safe, Petra, and spare no one who tries to stop you.

Anacostia: I'll start by tailing the Exarch Tooms.

Alder: No. Your time on this operation is over.

Anacostia: General, I'm of more use to you in the field.

Alder: Where the Camarilla's seen your face? No. Intelligence has this from here.

Petra: Things are already in motion. I'll continue to monitor from Annapolis.

Alder: Give Minerva my regards.

Alder: This is a dire moment in our w*r, Anacostia. Civilians question my credibility and the Camarilla are emboldened with every attack.

Alder: You did a fine job. But now I need you back by my side, where you can do the most good.

---

Tally: I thought you didn't wanna talk about your mom.

Raelle: Well, I mean, not with my dad, but Quinn's a different story.

---

Quinn (echoing): I bring the blind by the ways they knew not. I will lead them on paths unknown. I make the darkness light before them.

Quinn: [LAUGHING] Get going, Frank! My favorite troublemaker just rode in on the wind.

Raelle: This is my friend Tally Craven.

Tally: Hi!

Quinn: I'll get a look at you soon enough.

Raelle: Quinn was my mom's best friend.

Quinn: Cheapest babysitter, too.

[ALL LAUGH]

---

Tally: Mmm. Oh, this is good!

[RAELLE CHUCKLES]

Quinn: Ancient Christo-pagan brew. Allows you to commune with the Holy Spirit.

Tally: Really?

Quinn: [LAUGHING] No, not really.

[TALLY LAUGHS]

Quinn: I cooked this up when we were stationed in Norilsk. Willa ever tell you about that siege?

Raelle: No. Never got the chance to, I guess.

Quinn: Me and your mom, running from foxhole to foxhole, closing wounds. That woman was a force!

Tally: Raelle's just like her, but more. A goddess of destruction! Or is it creation? Either way, mushrooms have been summoned.

Raelle: All right, that's enough. Sorry. We're not supposed to talk about that.

Quinn: [CHUCKLES] It's no surprise to hear that you have gifts. Willa always said.

Raelle: Yeah, I know. She always said it in her letters, too.

Quinn: You say that like it's a bad thing.

Raelle: No, I just...Sometimes letters aren't enough, you know.

Quinn: True. But I was there in the mud with her, I watched her write to you. There's nothing but love on those pages. And that's never going away.

Tally: Raelle tried to summon Willa on Samhain, but she didn't come.

Quinn: On the hallowed ground of Fort Salem, the requested dead cannot refuse to appear.

Raelle: I guess it's more of a suggestion than a rule, because...she didn't show.

---

Ciro Hood: on the other hand, my line's been fully vetted to join the Bellweathers.

Gregorio: Yeah, but, uh on the other other hand, [CHUCKLES] wouldn't it be kind of weird, you know, having been engaged to her cousin?

Hood: Um, would it be so weird to bond over the love and memory of Charvel?

Gregorio: Yes. It would be very weird.

Wyatt Gambeson: I'd be more than happy to stay with our child full-time, until your second spouse joins us.

Fermin: And what would you contribute to our line?

Adil: That isn't why I'm here. As Abigail explained, I just needed a place to stay.

Anton: It had better be unique because she already has incredible Weatherwork.

Adil: You wanna know what physical traits I have to offer?

Claude: How else are we to know what sort of soldier you'd produce?

Adil: It's like you're talking about breeding stallions.

[CLAUDE ANTON AND FERMIN CHUCKLE]

Claude: Mares, but you're starting to get the hang of it.

Fermin: We'll also be taking stock of your temperament, intellect and your family's standing.

Adil: So, all-all of you, with Abigail's mother?

Anton: We each contributed the best of us to make Abigail.

Adil: At the same time?

[CLAUDE, FERMIN, ANTON LAUGH]

Fermin: Whatever the general wants.

Anton: It was a delicate process.

[HELICOPTER WHOPPING NEARBY]

Fermin: So, what would you bring to this very hypothetical union?

Adil: I don't know. I wasn't planning on having an official union with Abigail.

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACH]

Petra: On behalf of my daughter, thank you all for coming. Sorry to be t*rd, but the world waits for no woman.

Petra: Is there something we need to talk about, Abigail?

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACH, CANE TAPPING]

Minerva: This residence isn't your personal drop-zone, Peti.

[CANE TAPPING, FOOTSTEPS]

---

Willa: Do you remember where Brianna's dad took you?

Tiffany: He took me lots of places.

Willa: Was there any place with other kids around? Yeah? Can you remember what it was like there? It's important, so we can go help them.

Tiffany: It was dark. I could hear someone crying. And it smelled funny, like dog food.

[ECHOING INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Tiffany (echoing): It smelled funny, like dog food.

Willa: [WHISPERS] I'm proud of you, Tiffany. Sleep tight.

Willa: They're keeping them in a vet's office. In cages.

---

Raelle (in Mothertongue): Imáà vú. Amìbùrénzhì zèmò vú--rúvú t’ábú mézè. [To my mother. Wherever she is--above or below.]

Quinn: Never thought I'd live to see a Collar speaking Mothertongue. You're all w*r College fancy, now.

Raelle: Were you there? The day she...

Quinn: No. God, Greenville was chaos. It was a lot of those mines to deal with.

Raelle: : What type?

Quinn: Uh, Weaponized Pushing. In bottles.

Tally: Do you know when those bottles first started showing up?

Quinn: I believe it was '94? Sudan. Then a year later, in Minsk during the Belarus partition. They tweaked it, somehow. It got a whole lot worse than just bottles.

Tally: The two conflicts weren't connected, though.

Quinn: As much as I love a good history lesson, it is getting late and you ladies have tired me out.

Tally: Okay, but...

Raelle: Come on. Bedtime for Tally.

---

Raelle: Tal?

Tally: So, wait--So, the suicide bottles moved halfway across the world in the two years after the Martyrdom. Nicte invented the Work. No one had seen anything like it before, not even Alder. So, it had to have been taught to them by her. And then...

Raelle: And then what?

Tally: Everything changed. The first confirmed Spree attack was in '97.

Raelle: So, you think Nicte gave her Working to the Spree?

Tally: I think Nicte created the Spree.

---

[HEAVY BREATHING]

[WOMEN VOCALIZING]

Woman in hood (Nicte): It's okay to be scared. We'll be with you to the very end.

Jonas: I'm not afraid anymore, Nicte.

---

[BEADS RATTLE]

Raelle: Were you able to get Abigail on the phone?

Tally: The guy who answered said that she was unavailable, at some dinner event. I think he was their butler.

Raelle: [SMALL LAUGH]

Tally: Do you think Alder's known about Nicte this whole time?

Raelle: If you figured it out, I'm sure she has, too.

Tally: No wonder she was redacted. Alder can just blot out all her mistakes.

Raelle: I'm surprised she hasn't tried to blot out the Spree altogether.

Tally: It's another w*r she's gotten us into. I mean, how many fronts are we supposed to fight at the same time?

Raelle: Tal.

Raelle: We'll survive whatever Alder or anyone else throws at us.

Tally: I don't wanna just survive. Not if I can change things.

Raelle: [SOFTLY] Yeah.

---

Gambeson: This might be my least favorite part of the matchmaking process. Is it the same with your people in the Tarim?

[DISHES CLATTER]

Adil: Not exactly.

Gambeson: It must be difficult for you to compete with us like this.

Adil: I'm not competing.

Gambeson: Oh! Think you're a sure thing?

Gregorio: Don't underestimate him. Have you seen his earth Working? He could split a boulder in a blink.

Hood: Is that how you woo your women? Splitting boulders?

Gambeson: Or do you only use your Earthwork in battle?

Adil: We're pacifists. And as for wooing...We tend to go on very long walks.

Suitors: [LAUGH]

---

Petra: The Imperatrix and I can at least agree on Gregorio's viability.

Edith Bellweather: [CHUCKLES] I suppose, if humor is the trait you care most about adding to the family line.

Abigail: [MUTTERS QUIETLY] We could use it.

Petra: What was that?

Abigail: I could use some sleep.

Petra: You're excused, as soon as you tell us who you're gonna pick.

Abigail: I need more time to decide.

Petra: I'm sorry Abigail, but we're out of time. The Camarilla's made that very clear.

Abigail: You're right, they have. Which is why we need to fight back.

Petra: Rest assured, we are.

Abigail: Alder said the same thing.

Petra: I am not Alder. I have agents spreading out across the country, even as we speak.

Abigail: The army won't stop them by staying on the defensive, waiting for their next move! We need to bring this w*r to them.

Petra: Abigail, I have my duty in this w*r and you have yours.

Minerva: We have other things to discuss, Peti. You can deal with this later.

Petra: When you run from your responsibilities, you bring shame on all Bellweathers, going back to Jem!

Minerva: [SLAMS CANE] Enough! [SIGHS] You scold Abigail for all she has yet to do.

Petra: I am reminding her what's best.

Minerva: And what about you? You promised me a Bellweather at the top. That you would answer to no one. [SIGHS] Since we lost Charvel, I've been thinking...it won't be long until I'm with her. My sycamore will grow beside hers in the family grove.

Minerva: I go, content with all that I did for this family. My choices, my sacrifices...and the victories we all share because of them.

Minerva: What will yours be?

Minerva: Oh, that! That fire in your eyes. Follow it to the ends of the earth, Abigail. Don't let us stop you. Don't let anyone stop you. Make your mark, not your mother's. Not mine, not Jem's.

---

Abigail: Glad to see you survived the dinner.

Adil: It was certainly enlightening.

Abigail: This is Jem.

Abigail: And this is Charvel.

Adil: You may wanna look away.

Abigail: No. If we're gonna do this, I can't look away.

Adil: [DEEP GROAN]

Adil: [DEEP GROAN]

Abigail: Time to hunt.

---

Tally: One song. I promise to never tell Abigail.

Tally: [SQUEALS]

Raelle: [PLAYING SOFTLY] [SINGING]

♪ The book of love is long and boring ♪

♪ No one can lift the damn thing ♪

♪ It's full of charts

♪ and facts and figures ♪

♪ And instructions for dancing ♪

♪ But I ♪

♪ I love it when you read to me ♪

♪ You ♪

♪ You can read me anything ♪

Tally: [EXHALES] I'm gonna take a walk.

Edwin: I miss your songs. The ones you'd sing with Mom.

Raelle: Well, we could never agree on which one to play.

Edwin: [CHUCKLES] Yeah. She always liked the happy ones. You, not so much.

Edwin: What's eating at you, Rae? If there's one thing Collars do well, it's speak their minds.

Edwin: Tell me the truth.

Raelle: Do you remember, um...Mom's letter you gave me before I deployed to China? She said she loved me more than the sky above and earth below. And that she'd always be close.

Edwin: Sounds like her.

Raelle: The last day that she was with us, when you went to work...we fought.

Edwin: 'Bout what?

Raelle: She'd been leaving the house at night, all week. Who knows where. It was weird. And when I finally asked her about it, she denied it, and...[CRYING] Dad, I got so angry.

Edwin: Rae...

Raelle: I called her a liar. I said that if she kept secrets from me, then, she didn't really love me. And then, the next day she was gone. [SNIFFLES] And I just keep thinking that...that the moment she died, m-my words were ringing in her ears.

Edwin: [SIGHS HEAVILY]

Edwin: Come here.

Edwin: Raelle Collar, you are the toughest girl on this green earth. And it was your mother that made you that way. And there ain't a thing you could do to break your bond with her. So. If you can't feel her by your side, it just means she hasn't gotten there yet. You give her time. [WHISPERS] Give her time.

Raelle: [CRYING]

---

[WOMEN VOCALIZING]

---

[SLOSHES]

Izadora: This is the only active sample I could retrieve from the wreckage of the train attack in India. Observe.

Izadora: They've engineered it to become a self-sustaining hunter. It can lie dormant until the witch is near. And once it latches on, death follows in only minutes.

Alder: How far can it spread?

Izadora: As long as the contagion has prey to feed on, it can self-replicate. It has no limit.

Anacostia: Then, how do we stop it?

Izadora: Aside from total incineration, I have no idea.

Alder: This is your top priority, Izadora. And if we must burn this evil from the earth...then, so be it.

---

[WOMEN VOCALIZING]

[VOCALIZING INTENSIFIES]

Nicte Batan: Thank you.

[SIZZLES]

Jonas: [SCREAMING]

---

Alder: Is it hot--Oh!

Anacostia: [SCREAMS] General!

Alder: [SCREAMING]

[BIDDIES SCREAMING]

[SCREAMING CONTINUES]

---

Camarilla squad leader: Exarch, no one told us you'd be coming.

Marcus Tooms: Been a tough day. Always cheers me up to see the good work we're doing for the cause.

[RATTLES]

Tooms: You're all dismissed.

Squad leader: Sir, where's your security detail?

[HIGH-PITCHED PIERCING SOUND]

Scylla: Don't worry. I always come prepared.

Willa: [HISSES]

[MEN EXCLAIM]

---

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

[BIDDIES GASPING]

Magda Verger: Don't try to speak, General. You've suffered severe injuries. If not for your Biddies sharing the hit, you would've been dead three times over.

Anacostia: I've never seen Off-Canon like this.

Verger: It was a remote attack. Sympathetic Work.

Anacostia: Camarilla?

Verger: Not a chance. They can only mimic our Work up to a point.

Anacostia: Spree, then.

Verger: And there may be more attacks to come.

Biddy (played by Dianne Adams or Gwenda Lorenzetti): [GASPING] Stay with me, Anacostia.

---

Willa: [SIGHS] There's gotta be another room somewhere.

[CABINET SCRAPING]

Willa: We're too late. They've already moved them.

Scylla: They really believe we're less than human.

Willa: Not less. More. They're terrified of what we're capable of.

---

Raelle: I was feeling generous.

---

Scylla: Goddess, protect her!

---

[OFFICERS GASP]

[CLATTERS]

Raelle: You should be getting behind me.

Officer: Quiet!

[CAMARILLA HISS]

[VAN THUNKS]

[GRUNTS]

Raelle: [VIBRATING] [GASPS]

Tally: [SCREAMS] Raelle!

Tally: [GRUNTS]

[VAN ENGINE STARTS][REVS]

---
End credits

Raelle (singing): ♪ The book of love ♪

♪ Has music in it ♪

♪ In fact, that's where

♪ music comes from ♪

♪ Some of it's just transcendental ♪

♪ Some of it's just really dumb ♪

♪ But I ♪

♪ I love it when you sing to me ♪

---

Mothertongue transcriptions and translations provided by the conlang creator:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/32598 ... /141049429