02x09 - Mother of All, Mother of None

[bunniefuu]

Grafton (in Mothertongue): Luwil shù lunyánèír Ébù mé ‘Ajèzó [Will you stand the Right of Proxy]

Tally: I lost you at the end

Adil: He's challenging you to a duel.

Previously, on Motherland:

Abigail: Blood compass.

Adil: I keep a vial of Khalida's around my neck. And she has mine.

Willa: That's Witch Plague.

Raelle: I don't understand.

Willa: I have always loved you.

Abigail: They're never gonna stop coming after us.

Petra: You're not alone in wanting the truth to come out. Tell me everything you know about Nicte Batan.

Tally: I think Nicte created the Spree.

Tally: Why isn't General Alder a bigger part of that story?

Nicte: They already surrendered.

Abigail: I am so sick of your prattling peace-maker bullshit!

Raelle: My mother loved me. She died for me!

Tally: Stop it! We have to find Nicte!

Raelle: Tal? Tally.

Abigail: You just took down the leader of the Spree.

Nicte: Hello, Sarah. You're looking surprisingly well.

Alder: This is still my army. Don't forget that.

---

Sarah Alder: Mr. Vice President, it wasn't necessary for you to come all the way out here.

Vice President Blanton Silver: General, it wasn't my call.

Alder: Madame President. General Bellweather didn't tell me that you'd be attending the interrogation.

President Kelly Wade: I know. Where is Nicte Batan?

---

Nicte Batan: You haven't aged a day.

Alder: I could say the same about you.

Batan: At least witches don't have to die to keep me looking young.

Petra Bellweather: It's our hope, Madame President, that rendition will yield the names and locations of Spree leaders and their cells.

Alder: And then the threat of the Spree will be behind us, and we can focus our efforts where they should be: the Camarilla.

Interrogation witch: [screams]

Nicte: Oops. Was it something I thought? I'm more than happy to tell you what you'd like to know. Using my mouth. But I'm going to need Tally Craven asking the questions from here on out.

Petra: Then we don't have any time to waste.

---

Opening credits

---

Raelle Collar: Tally. [laughs] He deserved it.

Tally Craven: I guess the rest of Sekhmet gets back later today, huh?

Raelle: You think anyone else tried to k*ll each other over break?

Anacostia Quartermaine: sh*t, you three tried to k*ll each other?

Abigail Bellweather: Kinda, yeah.

Raelle: With a little present from Nicte.

Anacostia: Well. All that matters now is that you. Three. Pains in my a*s. Brought in the founder of the damn Spree.

Raelle: Sure did.

Abigail: We did that.

Tally: Oh, yeah!

Raelle: Anacostia. Whatever you and Scylla were up to, it brought her and my mom back to me. And I'm back here with all of you because of it. So thank you. To Anacostia Quartermaine.

Anacostia: To Willa Collar.

Petra: I hate to interrupt. I need to borrow Craven for a bit. The prisoner is asking for you.

Abigail: We're coming, too.

Petra: Uh, she was very clear she'll speak to Tally, and only Tally.

Tally: I'll be all right.

---

Adil: Sister.

Khalida: Where have you been?

Adil: Making the world a safer place for our people.

Khalida: You k*lled someone?

Adil: I know tradition forbids crossing certain lines.

Khalida: Justify and rationalize all you want, but violence is not our way.

Adil: Sometimes it's the only way.

Khalida: You liked it, didn't you?

Adil: They had girls in cages, Khalida. Girls no older than you. They think we're animals that can be slaughtered. They take our voices and use them against us.

Khalida: All the more reason to stay quiet.

Adil: In silence, we won't survive.

Khalida: Then we won't. And peace...will die with us.

---

Scylla Ramshorn: Your dad's really good with Tiffany.

Raelle: Yeah, he's an old pro. Um, have you, uh, have you met Quinn yet?

Scylla: I did. I like her. She's finding a new home for Tiffany. Does your dad know?

Raelle: About us?

Scylla: Is there an us to know about?

Raelle: Kinda stepped into that one, huh?

Scylla: I mean, does he know who I used to be.

Raelle: I think he knows not to ask too many questions. You doing all right otherwise?

Scylla: I am.

[bird caws]

Scylla: I think I've even made a new friend.

---

Petra: She's briefed and ready.

Alder: You don't have to do this, Cadet. If you don't feel comfortable.

Tally: No, I think it's important that we hear what she has to say.

Batan: You can hardly blame me for stealing that face. Look at those dimples. I could winter in one and summer in the other.

Tally: We know a gathering of Spree leadership was attacked by the Camarilla earlier this year in Brussels. How many other Spree cells are still in operation?

Batan: Wipe out one. Wipe out one hundred. You can't stop an idea.

Tally: Names of cell leaders, then. Failing that, locations.

Batan: There's a tenacity there that Alder hasn't marched out of you yet. We could use that on our side. You're wasting her here, Sarah. Fighting for civilians who would just as soon watch her burn as pin a medal on her chest.

Tally: They might have a higher opinion of us if you'd stop murdering them.

Batan: How many witches died in military engagements in the last year, globally?

Tally: I'd have to check.

Batan: When you do, run those numbers against our civilian bodycount.

Tally: You expect us to believe you k*ll one civilian for every witch that dies in combat?

Batan: Do the math.

Wade: My God.

Silver: That can't be true, can it?

Tally: You told them that you would answer questions from me. So answer them.

Batan: That isn't why I asked for you. I wanted someone questioning me who was interested in the truth.

Alder: This is getting us nowhere. Craven, you are dismissed.

Tally: You talked about numbers. How many civilians died in the very first Spree attack?

Batan: That's easy. One for every one of Esterbrook's rebels in Liberia.

Tally: But the rebels k*lled themselves.

Batan: That's because General Sarah Alder forced them to, using my Work, without so much as telling me, against innocent people.

Tally: Is that why she tried to erase the fact that you ever existed?

Batan: That. And, of course, because I then used that same Work to start the Spree.

Wade: General. Let's have a chat about the future. General Bellweather, accompany us, please.

---

Wade: Three hundred years. Done a lot of good, haven't you?

Alder: America deserves nothing less.

Wade: Too true. We should talk about the lines you've crossed in order to make that "good" happen.

Alder: w*r is not a pretty thing.

Wade: Neither is politics. My many transgressions, however, have never included the deployment of untested Basic cadets against the Spree.

Alder: Lives were saved.

Wade: And what about being one step removed from the creation of the Spree? How many lives were saved then, General?

Alder: Everything I have done and continue to do is in the best interest--

Wade: Of yourself! Just last week, you were attacked and you neglected to inform the chain of command.

Alder: A regrettable lapse in judgment on my part.

Wade: [scoffs] No more regrettable than when you took it upon yourself to "puppet" me. That is what you call it, yes? "Puppetting." And "Pushing" is what you did when you made me agree to open the testing centers.

Petra: The distinction is accurate.

Wade: Hm.

Alder: How do you propose we move forward?

Wade: Based upon the strained relations between the civilian and witch communities, it is best that no one outside of this room be aware of your connection to the creation of the Spree. And having delivered a major victory with the capture of Nicte Batan, you will step down.

Wade: With distinction.

---

Abigail: I honestly don't know what else I was expecting to see when you said "it's a mushroom wall." Can I touch it?

Raelle: She'll let you know if you can't.

Izadora: Cadet Bellweather, this is a confidential project.

Raelle: You sent word for me, and I figured Abigail deserves to see where the Witchbomb comes from.

Izadora: Need I remind the two of you that I'm in charge here. But even my authority only extends so far.

Raelle: Being taken off active duty?

Izadora: Apparently your unique talents are needed elsewhere.

---

Tally: So, you're gonna be a show pony?

Raelle: On a P.R. tour of the States, trying to convince people that the testing centers are a good thing. "Look at what you can do if you find your voice." I guess they think I'm most useful as a recruiting tool.

Tally: Oh, it's just hard to picture you as the poster girl for conscription.

Abigail: Yeah. Have they met you?

Raelle: Screw you both.

Raelle: Have you had any fallout from questioning Nicte?

Tally: No. Not yet, but the truth is out.

Abigail: Hey, something's up.

Raelle: M, what's going on?

M: Alder's stepping down.

Tally: Did they announce why?

M: Does it matter?

Tally: Yes. People need to know why.

M: You three brought in Batan, Alder's going out on a high note.

Tally: Well, that's not the whole story.

---

Batan: Hey, Red. New shampoo?

Tally: Alder's stepping down.

Batan: After my execution. How ceremonial of her.

Batan: [scoffs] What did you think was going to happen? Truth comes out. Alder learns a valuable lesson about ethics, everything's all better with a pretty little bow?

Tally: What, and you don't care that nobody's gonna know the truth?

Batan: One way or another, this was always going to end with my death.

Batan: Don't let this end you, Tally. I know how much it hurts to believe in someone and find out that person isn't who you thought they were. Live a life. Find something to love. This is not your story.

Tally: I need to do something. And this whole messed-up system needs to change. We have to stop fighting each other and start fighting the real enemy before it's too late.

Batan: Good luck with that. My death will inspire new Spree and that crone's not calling the shots anymore. I call that a win, Tally.

---

Alder: I'll need to address the base.

Petra: A statement will be provided by the White House. After Nicte's execution, power will officially transfer to me.

Alder: What will become of the Biddies?

Petra: The program is being retired, along with you.

Biddies: [hissing]

Petra: Did you have any idea what you were doing, when you swept Nicte under the rug?

Alder: Not at first. I underestimated the situation. And soon enough, it became advantageous for the world to have a common enemy so we didn't destroy each other. And the Spree were easy to hate.

Alder: You think you would have done a better job? How many Heads of Intelligence do you think I've appointed?

Petra: Must be at least a dozen.

Alder: Twenty-eight. How many conflicts do you think I've fought? On the ground.

Petra: Fifty.

Alder: Eighty-one wars. Each more brutal than the last. You can't even imagine what I've seen. The Bay of Bengal, running red with British blood as far as the eye could see. The whole of the Anatolian plateau swarming with just-woken dead so thick, you could not see the ground. A glacier cutting through downtown Vienna in the height of summer. 130,000 died in an afternoon. All the horror, all the glory, gone. For good. You're ambitious, Petra. And foolish.

Petra: I'm human. Somewhere along the way, I think you forgot you are, too. Welcome back.

---

Penelope Silver: Hey, we're not supposed to be in here. Not yet anyway, but we'll get there.

Tally: Privates.

Shireen: I knew we shouldn't have done this.

Tally: At ease.

Penelope: Tally, uh, this is my unit.

Shireen: We're very excited to start Basic. Together.

Tally: The day you find your unit, and your unit finds you, is a good one.

Penelope: I'll catch up with you, guys.

Penelope: There's an execution today. That's, that's insane, right? The first one in, like, two hundred years?

Tally: It's quite something.

Penelope: Are you going?

Tally: Don't really have much of a choice.

---

Abigail: I wanted to congratulate you.

Petra: This is a momentous day. Not only for our family, but also for the country. Now, get to class. That's an order. There's more than a few things I need to get settled before the transition tonight.

Abigail: I'm not going to class.

Petra: And where, pray tell, will you be going?

Abigail: To the front lines of the fight with the Camarilla.

Petra: I understand and a-appreciate your enthusiasm. But there isn't even a "front" to speak of yet.

Abigail: You're wrong. I was there, ma'am. I've been there every day since the wedding. There's something Adil and I didn't say in the debrief.

Petra: What is this?

Abigail: What they took from Charvel at the wedding. It belongs with her, back in the Grove.

Petra: Oh. You have done our family proud. But I can't just jump my daughter over the rest of w*r College. How would that look?

Abigail: It would look like you were acknowledging that the rest of w*r College hasn't taken out a Camarilla facility. With all due respect, we can't wait any longer for the fight to come to us, General.

Petra: Tell me what you need to get started, soldier.

---

Raelle: We need to talk about the publicity tour.

Izadora: After class, Cadet.

Raelle: All right, I'll wait.

---

Raelle: Mom?

Willa Collar: Hello, sweetheart.

Raelle: What's happening? How are you here? Are you still dead?

Willa: Yes. But part of me lives on.

Raelle: What part?

Willa: The strongest part of me. My love for you. I'm sorry I had to leave you. But it was the only way. What else was I supposed to do?

Raelle: Stay. You were supposed to stay.

Willa: One of us wasn't walking out of that room, and we needed you to live.

Raelle: What "we"?

Willa: We need you to see how everything began.

Raelle: How what began?

Willa: This, my daughter, is the day we were born.

---

Alder: [weeping]

Raelle: Alder.

Willa: She helped the Militia push back the British to the sea. When she returned, she found this.

Raelle: The Camarilla took everything from her. Again and again.

Wille: They took her sister, her first coven. And yet she kept fighting so that none would ever have to endure the grief she has.

Raelle: What does this have to do with the Mycelium?

Alder: [singing]

Willa: This.

Willa: Her song of Grief, is how we came to be.

Willa: She built Fort Salem on this very spot. So that no matter how long she lived, she would never forget about Us.

Raelle: The Mycelium is dead witches. That's how you're here, talking to me. Is this where we go when we die?

Willa: We live on through the Mother, and our power lives on through you. So that our Ancient Enemy can finally be defeated, and the Great w*r can be won.

----

Izadora: Cadet?

Raelle: I can still smell them burning. Can't you smell it? They're right there. And they're all around us. My mom's with them. And they're a part of me. So she's with me. They all are. She gave me this gift, and I'm not gonna let anybody tell me how to use it.

Izadora: Is this about the recruitment tour?

Raelle: I'm not going on any tour.

Izadora: That's above both our pay grades, Cadet.

Raelle: No, it isn't.

---

Anacostia: Nice bars, General.

Petra: Yours aren't bad either, Captain Quartermaine.

Anacostia: Thank you for the promotion.

Petra: How's your "special initiative" against the Camarilla shaping up?

Anacostia: I'm afraid that's "need to know".

Petra: [scoffs] Intelligence suits you, Captain.

Sterling Woodlot: "Intelligence"?

Anacostia: Sterling Woodlot, what are you doing here?

Sterling: Well, clearly not moving up in the world like you. I'm on Silver's detail now. Stop pretending like you don't keep tabs on me.

Anacostia: How's life?

Sterling: Busy. Strange. This Batan situation is a mess.

Anacostia: It's worse than you think.

Sterling: How?

Anacostia: See, I'm in Intelligence now. If I told you, I'd have to k*ll you.

Sterling: Well, then I'd die a happy man.

---

Quinn: This is Morgan.

Morgan: Hey.

Quinn: Sarah.

Sarah: Hi.

Edwin Collar: Now what you're doing to help Tiffany is, uh...it's no small thing. Here, look, I--I don't know what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into, but, uh, when this is done, you're feel free to stay on at the house for as long as you like.

Scylla: I've imposed too much already.

Edwin: Look, if you're a part of my little girl's life, then you're a part of mine, too.

Quinn: She'll be safe with the Dodgers.

Scylla: The Community saved me, too.

Tiffany: So you remember me, okay?

Scylla: Thank you, Tiffany.

Edwin: Yeah. Come on, Tiffany, I'll, uh, I'll walk you out.

Scylla: Would you mind going for a walk? There's something I'd like to show you.

[birds cawing]

♪ Twisting in the shadow ♪

♪ Anything more ♪

♪ Promises are hollow ♪

♪ Whoa-oh-oh ♪

♪ Twisted games ♪

♪ Twisted games ♪

♪ Whoa-oh-oh ♪

♪ Twisted games ♪

♪ Twisted games ♪

♪ Twisted games ♪

♪ It's a twisted game ♪

Quinn: What do you call it?

Scylla: I call it Morrigan's Whisper.

Quinn: How do we use it against the Camarilla?

---

Alder: I take no pleasure in ending a witch's life. But this woman is no mere witch. Nicte Batan is a m*rder*r. Her crimes against the citizens of the United States cannot go unanswered. With her death, we send a signal to Spree cells around the world that we will hunt them. We will find them. And we will end them.

[stomping]

Alder: She will not be burned, because even our most rank, vile enemy deserves better than that. With three strikes, Nicte Batan will meet the Goddess.

Alder: One for the heart. One for the head. And one for the soul.

Tally: Stop!

Alder: What are you doing?

Tally (in Mothertongue): Inyánèír Ébù mé ‘Ajèzó. Yébù anyás vú. [I declare a Right of Proxy. My life for hers.]

Wade: General Bellweather, I do not know what this is, but do something about it.

Petra: I can't. I've never seen a witch invoke it before. This is between the two of them now.

Alder: Craven, I don't want to hurt you.

Tally: You're going to have to, unless you want to tell everyone why we are really here.

[GRUNTS]

Alder: And one for the head!

Raelle: No!

Raelle (in Mothertongue): Pényánèír Ébù mé ‘Ajèzó. [We declare the Right of Proxy.]

Abigail (in Mothertongue): Pébù anyás vú. [Our lives for hers.]

Gregorio Shellbark (in Mothertongue): Yébù anyás vú. [My life for hers.]

M (in Mothertongue): Yébù anyás vú. [My life for hers.]

Raelle: Nicte is guilty of every crime she was accused of, but the world needs to know why she did what she did. Tell them.

Tally: Nicte was a soldier, just like us. Until the General betrayed her, and tried to erase her from history. She started the Spree, and plunged us into twenty years of w*r; witch against witch.

Abigail: If Nicte is ex*cuted, it's one less witch in the world. And that's just what the Camarilla wants, for us to keep k*lling each other, while they sit back and watch.

Tally: Nicte should pay for her crimes, but not like this. And she is not the only guilty one here.

Wade: General, if you don't do this, we will just carry it out ourselves.

Alder: I know.

Anacostia: General. Sarah.

Alder: My fellow soldiers. I am sorry I brought us to this place. Our Ancient Enemy has taken advantage of the conflict between us to fester and spread like an infection that threatens to k*ll us all. On my watch.

Alder: I was worried that I was leaving you unprepared for the future. But you are more ready to face it than I ever was. Do not make the same mistakes I have. And please, never forget that we are also human.

Petra: We will meet the Camarilla with storm and fury.

Tally: With storm and fury.

Crowd: With storm and fury!

[foot stomping]

---

Reporter: Let's try and get a white balance. We good?

Penelope: Ow.

Reporter: Yeah.

TV staff: Sometimes it gets you. Sorry.

Blanton: Oh, she'll be fine. She's made of tougher stuff than that. Give us the room, will you? Please.

Blanton: So I wanted to check in with you before I went back to Washington. Thank you for taking the time to talk to the press.

Penelope: Yeah, it's a big night.

Blanton: Are you okay, considering everything that's happening.

Penelope: Yeah, there's no place I'd rather be. Are you okay?

Blanton: Yeah. I'm just, uh...I'm just really proud of you. That's all. I love you, Pen.

Blanton: You're gonna do great.

---

Raelle: Did we just change the world?

Tally: It feels like a start, doesn't it?

M: I guess the question is, what happens next?

Abigail: Next we start focusing on our real enemy.

---

Anacostia: Looks like your boss has finally come around to having a witch for a daughter.

Sterling: Yeah. He's actually a pretty good guy, for a civilian.

Anacostia: Sterling and Silver.

Sterling: Oh.

Anacostia: That's kinda cute.

Sterling: It's purely coincidental.

Anacostia: Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on him?

Sterling: He already left.

Anacostia: Hm.

Sterling: And, um...I have the whole weekend off.

Anacostia: Is that a fact?

Sterling: Mm-hmm.

Anacostia: Hm. And what are you planning on doing to me on your whole weekend off?

Sterling: Hmm.

[soldier over Farspeech]: [garbled] --we've been infiltrated.

Sterling: Something I said?

Anacostia: It's Farspeech.

[soldier over Farspeech]: All units--

Anacostia: It's garbled, but it sounds like something's going down. Go. Go. I'm right behind you.

Anacostia: [vocalizing]

---

Gregorio: Collar! We need a Fixer!

Raelle: What's wrong?

Gregorio: I don't know. Front step, come on, let's go!

Gregorio: Over here!

Gregorio: What's happening to her?

Cadet: [groaning]

Raelle: Run.

Raelle (screaming): Run!

---

Mothertongue transcriptions and translations provided by the conlang creator:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/32598 ... /141049813