Mourning Sickness

I stare at my character sheet. Is there anything to give me progress with Diana? She's been wanting to talk about...something. Not to mention I still need to talk to her about this quest...

Build Your Army: Time Limit: 4 weeks. Grow your forces to a sufficient number. This quest has multiple, optional objectives. Each completed objective will give an additional reward. Individuals need not be matured. Children sired by those other than you do not count toward quotas.
-Surging Swarm: Have the Hornet Empress give birth to 50 Hornet Queens. Reward: Honey Lactation for Hornet Empress and any hornets you've sired, +50% Hornet Lover effectiveness
-Growing Garden: Enthrall 50 individuals via the Rose Empress. Reward: Selective Rooting for Rose Empress, Rose Gardener
-Rapid Recruitment: Grow your army of goblins, hornets, and thralls by at least 150 individuals. Reward: Angelic Evolution of your choice

Assuming it's 2 kids per day, then I've got some time, but I'd prefer to get started sooner rather than later. I sigh. But nothing seems to be...huh. That...might actually be useful. Just gotta find a way to trigger it...

"-sk!"

I blink. Huh?

"Dusk!"

Suddenly, I feel wet on my...stomach? I open my eyes, no longer among the sea of stars, and instead in the dark, barely-moonlit cabin. A quick touch confirms that my gut is, indeed, wet with some pseudo-solid, liquid mixture, and it smells, too. What's more concerning is groans of pain echoing through the room. Kara's even shaking me, although putting a meager effort into it.

"Dusk, you, you need to stop, stop Cammy."

It takes a moment, but I realize Camilla's not in bed with us...and the front door is open. "Where'd she go?"

"Use me, Dusk. Hurry."

I focus, and feel my perspective shift, immediately feeling queasy, pain coursing through my body. Oh gods, that's what that smell is... I push myself away from the bed, clutching my stomach in pain as I make my way to the door. It's already open, the sound of raindrops reaching my more sensitive ears. At the threshold, I lean against the wall, the moon giving enough light to show...blood. A trail. I **** my body along, leaning against the houses as I follow the trail. It's slow, my stomach twisted in knots.

...Harold...the meat he gave us today... The picture's that much clearer now. Cammy...what're you gonna do...

I find another open door, and trudge across the road to get to it. I can already hear grunting and crying from inside. "You bastard!"

"...cammy..." I almost collapse against the doorframe. "Cammy..." Peering inside, I find my fiance straddling who has to be Harold as she punches him over and over. "Cammy..." My muscles ache, but I **** them to comply, pushing closer.

"You...you bastard...you killed him...you killed him..." Her fists are bloodied, but whether it's hers or his, I couldn't tell.

I collapse only a few feet away, but keep pushing. Somehow, my hand falls onto her shoulder, and I can see her pause, turning her head to me, tears streaming down her face. "Kara...Dusk..."

"I'm here, Cammy..." My voice cracks as I weakly pull her closer, with no resistance. Our arms wrap around each other, and her tears turn to wails.

"...he killed him...he killed him..."

. . .

I feel exhausted, even though I've only been up an hour or so, my arms holding my sick daughters to my chest. "I honestly want to kill him...but...with being lord now, I should probably have some restraint." I grit my teeth. "Miki, Gilford, what should I do? I'll trust your judgement on this."

Miki looks at me curiously, while Gilford seems concerned. He shakes his head. "I knew he wouldn't take your lordship well, but to think he would go so far..."

One of the kitsune's tails twitch, a scowl on her face. "I'm sure we can think of a proper punishment for him, Dusk. Rest up, and take care of the girls." She almost pushes Gilford out the door, leaving us alone.

My gaze drops to the twins, both napping after being up for only an hour. They're both pale, and Violet's breathing is labored. I take my own deep breath. "Matria...please watch over us..." My hands flicker with light, my depleted mana struggling to produce any more healing.

Camilla

"Ramel...is this punishment?" I look up to the stained glass window, having run out of tears to shed. "...is this what I get for being with Dusk?" My gaze drops to the kitsune sleeping in my lap. "...with Kara?"

It's quiet, only a handful of others saying their prayers this morning. I've gotten some stares, being as bloody as I am, but that's the least of my problems... We were so close...and Harold... I can't even bring myself to clench my fists.

"My child, I heard what happened." I look up to Gilford, and he winces, before setting a hand on my shoulder. "It's tragic, but you're strong, Camilla, far stronger than others in your situation. Your parents would be proud of the woman you've become." He squeezes, before moving on to others.

...would they?

Miki

"Attempted **** of the local lord, attempted **** of five others, and successful feticide." I stare at the culprit, bloodied and tied up in the barracks. "Your poison was effective, Harold, and if healing hadn't started when it did, we'd have at least two other deaths."

He grunts, but offers no further cooperation.

I slowly walk behind him. "Back in my homeland, you'd be executed for even attempting to **** a reigning noble." Leaning in closer, I whisper in his ear. "Tell me why you shouldn't be."

He turns away. "...monsters shou'nt rule o'r people..."

My eye twitches, and I move back in front of the prisoner. "Oh, is that the case? Well, you're aware of the hardships of the town, so correct me if I'm wrong. Lord Blackwing has successfully defended us from a hornet invasion, and even led the fight against the nearby hive. Yes or no?"

He grunts, spitting out some blood onto the floor. "Tha' was the Captain."

"But he did defend us. Moving on, he has pacified the nearby goblin tribes. Yes or no?"

Another grunt. "He brought 'em right to us."

"The peaceful ones, yes. Next, despite his imprisonment, he was appointed the lord of this land...whether you like it or not." I lean closer again, just out of his reach. "You can feel it too, despite your lack of magical aptitude. This land, this village, it all belongs to Dusk. He took your home. He took your dignity in that little duel of yours...and he took both the women you've fawned over for years."

The brute strains his restraints, trying to stand up, but all it takes is a tap on the head and he's sitting back down, though admittedly an inch or so further away.

"I thought you'd been a bit more aggressive these past weeks. You've always hated monsters, but this one made you the fool. Maybe after we're done with Rose, you'll sing a different tune."

He looks confused for a moment, maybe still recovering from that 'pat' on the head. "Who th'fuck is Rose?"

Diana

[Demonic]

A feminine voice wakes me from my slumber. Sitting up, it's obvious my stomach still aches from last night's meal. Poison. I can't believe I was **** to eat that...

My bed shifts around, and a man's voice hoarsely screams in that human language. I sit up enough to see over the red petals surrounding my bed, witnessing a bloodied man get more and more tangled up in the verdure's vines, despite his struggling. Near him are two women, one older, I think, with sunflower hair, and a strangely mischievous grin on her face, and the other, a younger one I think, hair black as a hornet's stripes with a violet rose in it. She was here earlier, when I awoke this morning in that damned hut with that damned man, with a damned pain in my gut from that damned poison...

They're discussing something, I assume to do with the entangled man, and while the sunflower glances to me, she does not seem alarmed by my presence. Upon closer look, she seems to be related to that fox girl that is always around, and I've seen her a couple times around the colony.

Sunflower eventually turns to leave, some time after the man has been completely wrapped in vines - save most of his head. Violet Rose sits on a different, much larger vine, which rises towards me.

"I see you're awake, Diana." She steps down, onto my bed. "We didn't get to properly talk when you...arrived, this morning."

One of my eyebrows rises, but I refuse to, merely leaning against the petal wall surrounding us. "You can speak something other than that nonsense the other humans do."

She sits cross-legged. "I picked up a few things from my thralls." She stares for a moment. "What do you think about what that incubus offered us?"

A pause. Of course, she's also enslaved by that bastard... "It's tempting, though I'm sure it'd be no better than working for that damned devil."

"It'd probably be worse, even. A saying feels apt here: it's better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't."

"Hmph. We don't know either." I cross my arms...arm.

"I don't know. He's gotten stern with me, but...let's say we enjoyed some other activities together." Her smirk leads me to believe it was sexual in nature.

I hum. So...it's possible, then... Another pause. "How do you handle him so well? You act like you're free, yet he has chains around your neck."

Purple Rose hums in response, a finger on her chin. "I suppose it's...desire. Feed his desire, and he'll feed yours."

I scoff. "His desire? What could he desire beyond me?"

She shrugs. "Well, what has he asked of you?"

Dusk Blackwing

I'm startled from my nap by the door opening, Diana not even bothering to slow her entrance. She strides up to the side of the bed, staring down at me and the girls. "[D] They're still not awake?"

"[D] That poison took it out of them." Pulling the twins up, Daisy stirs a bit, but Violet is out of it. With a glow, I begin healing the latter a bit more. Another glance with God's Eye shows the same as it has been: Violet was more affected than Daisy, but my magic has stemmed the worst of it.

"[D] If this were one of my hives, I would have replaced them by now." A glare is all it takes for her to know she said something wrong. "[D] ...but this isn't one of my hives." She sits down, lifting Daisy slightly to make room.

I do my best to shift the three of us over, though am admittedly confused. "[D] This is...unusual for you."

The blonde freezes a moment. "[D] I know." She shifts around, and we eventually settle in a somewhat awkward position where we're both leaning on each other and the wall -made even more awkward with our wings- Daisy between us and Violet on my other side. There's a long silence, and I almost doze off again before Diana speaks up. "[D] Why do you care so much?"

...what? I pause, mulling it over. How can I even answer that? "[D] ...why wouldn't I? My kids, my friends, my family...they're all I have. I came to this world with nothing, but now...I've got people to live for." I can't help but squeeze the twins.

She stares for a moment, before wordlessly returning her gaze to our daughters.

. . .

It's hard to say the time of day when I wake up again, but the first thing I notice is that Daisy's gone. She's not in the room, so I can only assume she woke up and left at some point. I'm about to shake Diana awake to ask where she went, but that's when I notice something else different: her stomach is...bigger? Not much, but definitely noticeable. I look at her through God's Eye.

She's pregnant? But we didn't... That's when I notice a secondary bit of information. Impregnated by Rose Empress? I pause, the words registering. That can happen? I get Diana's able to have hybrid kids, but how can...how can Rose even DO that?

My head falls back to the wall again. Although...maybe it's not a bad idea to...diversify? That feels like a weird way to describe my kids. I do have that one ability to breed other types of monsters...and humans. I'm pretty sure someone said something about that. I stare at Diana best I can, with her head on my shoulder. But I still don't know what she thinks on this...and it's probably not a great idea to...experiment, like this. How am I supposed to know if a hybrid is even viable?

A knock on the door shakes me from my thoughts. "Come in."

Kara carefully comes in and shuffles her way to the bed, sitting at the foot of it. "How are you doing?"

"I think I should be asking you that. You still look pale."

She chuckles. "I'm through the worst of it." Then, she looks down, her ears folding back. "I'm more worried how you and Cammy are handling all this. You both lost your child..."

I pause. Why...why am I not more upset about that? There's a silence. Here I am, trying to figure out future kids...when the one I nearly had...is gone.

"...though I suppose we should wash out these sheets. I could smell the vomit from the church." A **** chuckle. "Should I take you to the river for a bath?"

Another pause. "...I don't think I've taken a bath since I got here..."

The blonde's hand rests on my knee, a smile on her face. "I know."

. . .

Somehow, with a lot of help from Kara's fox form -which is honestly bigger than I thought- she's taken me to the river, to a familiar patch of riverbed a short ways away from town. Although, she's definitely exhausted from the effort, leaning on me as we sit naked with our bottom halves in the water.

"And you're sure you're okay with being naked in front of me?"

"Dusk, you are me. You can literally strip me naked whenever you want." She giggles. "In a lot of ways, we're the same person, but...I still can't imagine what the two of you are going through right now."

I sigh. "Camilla has it a lot harder than me..."

Her turn to sigh. "...I know... She's still at the church. Hasn't eaten anything all day." She wraps herself around my arm, not sexually, but for comfort.

Taking her hand, I squeeze it tight. "Why aren't you with her right now?"

"She...needed some alone time..." She squeezes my arm tighter, her head falling on my shoulder. "I just...don't know what to do. I've never felt so...helpless."

"There's not much we can do, really... She'll come to us when she's ready." I lean my head against her own. "Until then, we just-"

I'm interrupted by a draconic roar coming from the village. We both turn, but before I can even question what's going on, Kara's already shifting back to her foxy form. "Climb on."

Olivia Alister

"Yeah, these'll do nicely." The smith sets the hornet chitin down, looking at the cart. "This much, with the lances... I can do twenty-five."

"Thirty. The lances are in near-perfect condition, and the carapaces have minimal damage to them." I stare him down, even though I'm looking up at him.

He sighs. "I can go up to twenty-eight, but you'd better not be pulling my leg, Otis." He reaches out his hand.

The butterflies suddenly rise back up in my stomach as we shake on it. "I-it's Olivia, now."

He looks just as uncomfortable as me, now, glancing down my cleavage before looking away. "Uh, sorry, Olivia. How is...that, by the way?" He gestures to my flower. "I've heard some rumors..."

"It's...difficult to say, right now. Everything's different. I suppose I'm just trying to make the best of it." I **** a smile.

"And the lady?"

"She's still in the prison - most of us are. Hopefully, they'll release us all soon. I was only in there a couple days; I can't imagine how the others are feeling." I shiver, remembering my brief time there. "I should go check on her, actually. I don't have much time before I need to head back to Riverbend." Maybe I can convince the guards to let her come with me...

Freya and I take a stroll through town, and eventually end up at the prison. Staring up at the walls, it's even more unthinkable for me that the other flowers are staying sane in there. It's so confining...so dark...Marian...please be okay...

"Welcome, Lady Alister." I'm brought back to my senses by a guard at the front gate. Curiously, she's a flower, like us. She's flanked by a couple other guards, notably not flowers. "The lady is awaiting you, now."

I smile, relieved. She's okay... "Can you take me to her?"

She nods, and we tread through the stone prison, hearing many a catcall from the inmates. We eventually make our way to a secluded area of the building, not quite in the same area I had been in, myself. As we get closer to our destination, though, I...can feel Marian, the same way I can feel the Empress, but not to the same extent. It's not...overpowering, like with the Empress, but her presence is definitely there.

The door to her cell is open, with another guard standing watch just outside. Freya and our escort join her while I enter. "Marian?"

The raven-haired woman sits on a chair in the only ray of sunshine coming from the small window. "Olivia, it's nice to see you again." She turns to me, revealing a flower on her head that's much larger than the rest of ours...