Raine didn't take his last hang out with Eda well, spending the time afterwards with a rather unhealthy amount of Hex Mix and Ice Scream. Spending a lot of time between scrolling Penstagram, his magic orb, and most of the time sleeping.
*Two weeks later*
After two weeks, Raine finally managed to get what happened with Eda to the back of his mind and continue with his plan of joining the Bard Coven, he'd been putting this off because of his worries of Edalyn but right now he needed a distraction. He took his time to prepare and even played a couple of songs to help get his head straight, "I need to lay of the Ice Scream, said Raine as he looked into the mirror, a small bump in his stomach, but weirdly enough it was rather firm. Still tired, Raine just took a slow cruise to the Bard Coven Headquarters, it was located rather close to Bones Borough, situated in a dense red wood forest located close to the Titans right armpit. It was peaceful and beautiful, with the dense foliage giving the natural sunshine a feeling of serenity as it passed through the leaves, illuminating and giving a glow to the red grass and bushes. It also was home to a lot of the Boiling isles bird population, with a rather large amount of nests, this brought out a calming feeling as the sounds of birds chirping with the wind and rustling of the fauna gave it the magic that suited the bard coven. As Raine flew deeper, he soon was able to hear a choir of instruments.
It was rather surreal, you could hear all manners of instruments playing different songs, as Raine flew closer, he noticed a strong aura of Bardic magic, it gave the surrounding dim but decently illuminated forest a strong glow, the amount of bard magic was able to illuminate the entire place, as if the dense foliage didn't exist, he noticed tree houses of all shapes and sizes, with a huge tree house situated in a grand red wood tree with the Bard coven flag over the entrance. As he flew in, he walked over to the receptionist desk, it was being overlooked by a female witch with shoulder length brown hair playing a harp. As Raine walked closer, he was called by someone, as he turned around, he saw the current bard coven head, Scooter Crane. A 5'4 red impish demon who was rather tall for his species, he was known for having defeated many powerful wild demons and witches who caused a lot of chaos to the Boiling Isles, showcasing the height and power you can achieve through Bard Magic. He was also Raines mentor and had been the one to help Raine decide to join the Bard Coven over just being a wild witch who sold potions and other things for a living.
"Ahh, Raine Whispers, I've been waiting for you, follow me" said Scooter as Raine walked up to him. "Hello mentor, how have you been doing?" asked Raines as they walked deeper into the tree house, the main headquarters of the Bard coven dug into the red wood tree, the tree itself was massive as it was a whole kilometer in circumference, "I've been doing well, how has your practice been going?" Raine responded to this by transforming Fiddlesticks who was snug in his shirt into his viola, he played a song that carried a harmony to the wind as a gentle breeze and the glow of bardic magic illuminated the whole headquarters, outshining the already strong glow as anyone who listened relaxed. "Marvelous!" exclaimed Scooter at the powerful display of magic, "I see that my teachings helped you, now have you decided to join my coven?" asked Scooter. Fiddlestick transformed back into its fox form and hopped onto Raines shoulder, "Yes, I have".
"I have a commission from the Emperors coven regarding a rather large Gryphon, who has been terrorizing merchant caravans, I think this might be suitable for you" said Scooter as he stroked his mustache. "The task itself is rather high ranking due to the Gryphon managing to gather quite the high bounty, but considering your abilities you wont have to do menial tasks to gain a high rank", Raine looked at his mentor with some surprise, having expected to be stuck doing normal tasks due to putting off joining the coven much sooner. As they walked, they eventually found themselves at the Bard Coven head witch's office, as they walked in, Scooter gestured to Raine to sit down. Scooter walked behind his desk and pulled out a folder, Raine opened it and saw a bounty page with a massive Gryphon with a bounty of almost 10 million snails, "The reason this commission was sent out is because of the Gryphons rampage, having destroyed millions of snails worth of merchandise and even a couple of casualties" said Scooter. Raine looked over the pages, it named multiple merchant caravans and companies that got attacked by the Gryphon, even showing a picture of 10 emperor coven scouts laying across a destroyed clearing. "You will have to act quickly, as this commission is rather recent and a good chance to push ones reputation up" said scooter who pushed a compass towards Raine, "This is a tracking compass, I managed to plant a tracker on the Gryphon and send out a team to deal with it"
Raine took the compass and stood up, "I will be going then" said Raine as Scooter waved him goodbye. Before he left however, a cowl with the bard coven sigil appeared on him, "This is too make sure you don't run into trouble until you get the Bard coven sigil later" said Scooter as Fiddlestick transformed into staff mode and took off. As they left the grounds of the Bard Coven, Raine looked at the compass, it was pointing towards the knee, proceeding to fly faster. It took an hour before they noticed a massive gryphon, easily over 20 feet in just height attacking a fancy looking carriage, Fiddlestick zoomed towards it. As they approached, Raine let out a powerful whistle from his mouth that send out a gust of wind that toppled the Gryphon, prompting an angry glare and shriek as it took flight towards them, as the two parties grew closer, the gryphon slashed at them, Fiddlestick easily weaved the attack under the Gryphon where Raine sent out another powerful whistle, breaking the gryphons flight and sending it up into the air before crashing into a small hill. Raine looked over at the carriage and noticed them recovering and repairing the carriage, eventually leaving the area.
Raine flew down and transformed Fiddlestick to her viola form, and played a quick pace symphony, causing the winds to grow stronger, the gryphon stood up and glared at the witch as it made a mad charge, Raine finished the song with a stroke across all the strings of the viola as the gathered wind pressed down on the gryphon, slamming its massive frame into the ground and causing a small crater. The attack didn't knock it out however as its claws swiped a large chunk of earth and sent it towards the witch, Raine sidestepped most of the debris and played a single not, causing a spell circle to draw itself in the air and sent out a powerful blade of bard magic, cutting through the rest of the debris and sending the gryphon back into the ground and sliding across the earth, toppling a couple of trees. Raine walked up to it, prepared to send out another attack, as he drew closer, he noticed the gryphon not moving, earning a sigh of relief, as a witch, probably from the carriage ran over to him. It was a demon with pale green skin with a buzzcut and silver beard, "Hey, thank you for saving us, my names bridge from the healing coven" said the demon as he showed off his coven sigil. "We were looking for a specific herb that is normally used for healing magic as a task" said Bridge, but as he looked behind Raine, giving a surprised look that the Bard witch noticed.
"LOOK OUT" exclaimed Bridge as Raine turned around, a massive bushy tail from the gryphon swept out, sending Raine flying and crashing into a tree. He quickly stood up and played multiple notes, sending multiple blades of sound that sent the gryphon flying again, bridge ran over to him and drew a spell circle, examining Raine and proceeding to heal any injuries that might have occurred. "Everything looks fine, but mister, why are you out here in the first place" said Bridge as he gestured to Raines stomach. Raine was slightly embarrassed at this, considering the amount of junk food he ate, "What do you mean?" asked Raine. Bridge looked surprised, "I mean that you are currently pregnant" Raines face went to one of shock as he stared at the demon who just diagnosed him, "I don't have to equipment or am at the level to make sure the kid is ok, I'd recommend you too head to the healing coven or a hospital as soon as possible too make sure you're alright". Raine stood there, stunned, it took him a minute, before he summoned a crow and called Scooter Crane, informing him that the commission was done and the location, he got confirmation and was told that the Beast Keeping Coven was heading over to deal with the rest. As soon as all that was over, Raine flew to a hospital in Bones Borough.
He got checked and was given the all good from his doctor, he was also given a pamphlet that gave instructions and also a diet plan. As that was all taken cared of, he flew back to the Bard Coven Headquarters, sporting a dazed look as he knocked on Sooters office, "Come in, ahh Raine, wonderful job!" exclaimed Scooter who noticed the look on Raines face. "Is everything alright?" asked Scooter as Raine took a seat, "Everything's fine mentor, but I have a problem" said Raine as they placed a hand on the back of their head. "I'm apparently with a child" said Raine, Scooter had a look of surprise then contemplated for a minute. "That's fine, with the task you just completed you can take an office job for now and avoid doing anything strenuous." Raine was surprised by the hospitality he was receiving as Scooter continued. "I will assign you accommodations so that you don't have to fly from Bones Borough to get here, and also take it easy, continue practicing with gentle songs, it helps. Also, keep the cowl, you will receive the coven sigil later so as to not complicate things for you" said Scooter. They continued to talk about what Raine will be handling before Raine headed off to a cozy treehouse located more into the Covens compounds. "Should I arrange for my stuff to be moved here?" said Raine as he took in his new home. It was a circular tree house hanging from a branch of a giant redwood tree, it had lamps that illuminated the house, with a king sized bed, Sofa, Dining area and a desk with a bathroom in another room. A simple studio type room as Raine walked outside with a small balcony and set of handrails to prevent someone from falling off. He admired the scenery and music as Fiddlestick jumped off his shoulder and explored the place.
*Author Note: Raine is pregnant, don't ask how but it made more sense for what is happening to make it so that male witches can carry a baby, at least until they are put into some kind of incubation capsule or something, this stuff isn't explained in the story so yeah. Also everything is buffed compared to canon, this will be important later.*