[SpringsSong]

(This RP will discuss some sensitive topics, such as abusive relationships and severe depression.  Just a warning.)


Aina (f2bb5c), Kanika (97499b)
(This is Kanika's new form.  It does not apply to the breeding she was just in [obviously].  Her hatred towards her nephew for his mistreatment of Aina lead her to essentially change into a Doomsberry Kuhna.)

"And you're sure that your daughter won't mind me just... showing up all of a sudden like this, especially so... informally?" Aina asked Kanika, whose hair was darkening and changing colors already.  Where it had been shades of purple before, it was now starting to take on hues of black, red, and purple instead.

"Yes, yes; it should be no problem at all," Kanika said.  "Mirua is quite mellow about these sorts of things; she doesn't mind the company at all, to be honest.  The question should be, are you okay with four young children climbing all over you and pulling at your wings and... well, doing what children do?"

"Ah, so they're at THAT stage," Aina said, laughing.  "Father never let me play with his wings.  Something to do with the fact that he was a Fallen Luhna or something like that, you know?"

"Yes, Fallen Luhnas are a bit strange like that--ah!  Here we are," she said, opening the door to the house.  "Mirua!  I'm home, and I brought someone special with me!" she called.


Mirua (8871cd)

Iasko (056f42), Acella (dcc62f), Naideva (721e53), Zaendar (7b2305)

"Mother!  You couldn't give me a little more warning than this that you were bringing someone home?" Mirua asked, stopping just short when she saw who the company was.  "Oh!  You didn't tell me you were bringing your new girlfriend home, Mother.  I would've gotten the children a little more fancied up than this."

"It's fine, Mirua.  And... well, I guess you could say that she's my girlfriend--actually, that would be a touch inaccurate, wouldn't it, Aina?" Kanika asked as she wrapped her arm around the Holy Lakundra's waist.

"It is just a touch inaccurate, Kanika.  It would be more accurate to say that we're engaged to become lifemates," Aina said.

[SpringsSong]

"Wait, engaged?  You mean you're actually settling down with someone, Mother?  That's a shock.  So, do you mind introducing me to my stepmother-to-be?" Mirua asked, and Aina couldn't help but stare blankly at the Pixii Kuhna woman for a moment.

"Y-she doesn't find it odd that you're with another woman?" she asked, turning to Kanika as her jaw dropped, along with her four wings.  Almost instantly, two of the children--one who had wings similar to Aina's (save for it was only one pair instead of two) and one who loooked rather raddy in appearance--ran to examine the wings.

"Acella!  Zaendar!  Don't pull at her wings!" Mirua snapped, but Aina laughed and shook her head as Kanika smiled.

"This is Aina, Mirua--and it seems as though two of yours have already taken quite a liking to her," she said.  Aina knelt on the ground, allowing the two children easier access to her wings.

"They're soooo soft~" cooed the female, Acella.  "I'll only ever have this one set of wings.  You're SO lucky that you have two~"

"Do you have to fawn like that, Acella?" asked her brother.  "I mean, don't feathered wings molt and eventually never regain their feathers?  I'm perfectly fine with my wings," he said, raising his battered bat wings slightly.  Kanika laughed here as she bent down to pick up the young boy.

"Oh, Zaendar.  You have to be one of the strangest Zombie Kuhnas I've ever come across, you know," she said.

"He's the ONLY Zombie Kuhna you've known, Mother," Mirua said softly.

[SpringsSong]

"Yes, right--that's what I meant, of course," Kanika said, smiling nervously as she hugged the little boy close.  After a few minutes, he started squirming.

"Gramma!  Put me dooooooown!" he whined, finally prying himself free from the older woman's grasp.  Acella, however, had found her way into Aina's lap, where she had promptly curled up against the woman's chest and closed her eyes.

"Well, that's the fastest I've seen little Acella take to anyone," Mirua said, looking rather impressed.

[SpringsSong]

"She's certainly a sweet one," Aina said, putting an arm around the little Spirit Kuhna girl.  "She reminds me a lot of myself at a younger age..."

"Not that I'm big on life stories, since Mother's is screwed up beyond measure," Mirua said, which merited a glare from Kanika, "...what is yours?  Mother rarely ever takes such a shine to someone--while you're her second partner to consume that lovely little potion, she's quite the flirt, normally."

"My story?" Aina asked, looking down at the peacefully-sleeping Acella once more.

[SpringsSong]

"Well, you see, my father was a Fallen Luhna, and my mother was a blind Echo Kuhna," Aina began, wrapping her lower set of wings around Acella as she continued to ponder.  "I had a normal childhood--well, aside from my father never wanting me to touch him and being positively afraid to ever once lay a hand on me because of the rumors behind the creation of the Fallen Luhnas."

Here, she paused as she tucked some of her hair behind her yellowish ear.  When she looked back up, she noticed that Mirua, Zaendar, Kanika, and the other two children were listening intently.

"The home where I came from was small, but even still, there were a lot of Kuhnas that were there," Aina continued.

[SpringsSong]

"There was this one Kuhna--a Blazeberry Kuhna.  His name was Nostarien," Aina said, trying her best not to let pure scorn drip through her tone.  "He... was a different one, I guess you could say.  Unfortunately, I didn't notice a lot of things until it was almost too late, I guess."

Here, she paused and said, "I don't think that this is a truly appropriate story for the children to hear, Mirua."

[SpringsSong]

"Of course, Aina--children?  Come on, let's get you situated in your playroom upstairs, shall we?" the Pixii Kuhna woman said, and the four children all collectively moaned, but began to make their way upstairs.  Acella was the most reluctant of the four children.

"B-but... I can handle whatever it is that's in her story; really, I can!" she protested, clinging to Aina.  However, Aina shook her head as she chuckled.

[SpringsSong]

"Maybe when you're older, little one," Aina said.  "There are some things that little kitten ears should never hear, and this story is one of them--what I endured is one of those stories that you hope never comes true and wish you could deny up and down."

Acella frowned as she folded her arms indignantly, but with a stern look from the Holy Lakundra, she sighed and slowly trudged up the stairs.  Mirua stayed a moment longer to make sure that the little Holy Kuhna girl had actually gone into the playroom, waiting for the click of the door.

Once they had heard that confirming sound, Aina cleared her throat.

[SpringsSong]

"Nostarien only had one sibling that came to live with us--his sister, Castiel.  She was diagnosed with some odd disease when she was born, and wasn't expected to live much past a certain age.  Nostarien was fiercely protective of her--in that if she whimpered under someone's gaze, or if he felt that someone was looking at her 'the wrong way', he would beat them up," Aina said.  "When she was about to pass into her twilight, he forbade anyone see her--even doctors were forbidden--but somehow, someone got her to a doctor.  That man saved her life."

[SpringsSong]

"I'm guessing that Nostarien didn't like that fact at all," Mirua said, and Aina shook her head.

"Aside from the fact that Cassie had to explain the fact that she had been pregnant in the final months of her disease, AND that she was going to keep the triplets?" she asked, and shuddered.  "However, I've strayed from the point.  Nostarien retained the fierce protectiveness that he had for Cassie when we started dating.  However, it was... almost to an extreme that he was protective of me," she said.

[SpringsSong]

"After about a week of dating, I was told that I couldn't talk to any men--with OR without him around," Aina began to explain.  "I mean, that, I could understand not talking to men if he weren't around.  After two weeks, this expanded to women, as well.  Since I was spending all my time with him, I paid this no real thought," she continued.

"However, when he proposed to me after three weeks of dating, he became quite adamant that my father fell under the categories of people I couldn't speak to," she added darkly.

[SpringsSong]

"Wait, he tried to keep you from talking to your own FATHER?" Mirua asked, clearly shocked.

"And that's not the worst of it," Aina said.  "After about a week and a half of being engaged to him, I began to question my decision to say 'yes'.  I mean, I could ONLY talk to him; I couldn't go anywhere without him; my life had to be centered around him... but he could go off and do whatever he wanted to do," she said.  "After five weeks of debating how best to put it to him--that I felt like the engagement either needed to be postponed or, preferrably, called off entirely--I finally got up the courage to talk to him about it."

[SpringsSong]

"I'm going to guess that didn't go over well at all," Mirua commented, and Kanika shook her head as she fumed in a chair in the corner of the room.

"No, it didn't," Aina said, frowning.  "The first thing he did was ask me how long I had felt like a postponement or cancelation of our engagement might be the best thing for our relationship.  When I told him how long it had been, he took me into this dark room that I'd never been in before.  Instantly, I was frightened as to what he might do to me, and rightfully so."

[SpringsSong]

"Before I had a chance to react to anything, he practically threw me against a wall," Aina said.  "He cuffed me to the wall, with my back facing towards him.  It didn't take me long to realize that, actually, I wasn't cuffed to a wall at all.  He ripped my top off, spewing at me how he protected me from creeps that would try to take advantage of me because I was so pretty, and said that I deserved to be punished for being ungrateful for that fact."

"That sick, twisted bastard..." Kanika muttered darkly as she rose from her seat, walking over towards Aina.

[SpringsSong]

"He scratched my back with his claws--one scratch for every day I had been thinking about breaking off our engagement," Aina said, shuddering.  "He scratched me as deep and hard as he could--some of the scars have only barely begun to heal.  Even when I begged him to stop, he dug his claws in deeper and raked them all the more slowly across my back.  And, after that was done..."

Here, she paused as she shuddered, tears coming to her eyes.