PotH: Revolution (NSFW)

Luna's face scrunched comically. "Y'know, I think you should ditch the name Danica, altogether. It's so dreary... I like Donatella better."

Dusk smiled. "The beautiful star instead of the morning star, huh?"

"Yup!"

"Mew? Can I still be Danny?"

Luna shrugged. "If that's what you want, then by all means."

Shine then pulled the girl into a hug. "Welcome to the family, Danny."

She purred, smiling happily. "Thank you! Will I like being in a family?"

"Oh, yeah. We sometimes get on each other's nerves, but we stick together, no matter what."

Dusk's smile faltered. "You still have to go through Star. Those eyes are..."

"I know. That's why I'm gonna defend her with everything I've got."

"I asked him to change them, but he laughed at me... So I didn't ask again... I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. Like I said, you're family now, and family sticks up for each other."

Smiling, she resumed her purring. "Okay!"

Aurora grinned widely. "Hooray! New family!" And she pounced on the pair of them.

*

Star was smiling, bouncing Nat on her knee. "You handsome little guy. You won't have to worry about getting any girls."

"Eeeeewwww!"

And the hedgecat laughed, nuzzling her grandson fondly. She looked up when she heard, 'Mom' and her smile widened. "Shine! You're home!" Purring, she darted over and hugged her daughter tightly.

"You guys are back so early! Is something wrong?"

"Auntie Shine!" Nat greeted, stealing a cookie from a tray on the table.

Shine grinned. "Keep an eye on your cookies, Mom; they're gonna be gone. Anyway, the band didn't win, but they got a nice honorable mention."

"Aw. Well that's better than nothing. I hope they're not coming home with their tails between their legs. Nat, quit it." She snaked out her tail, wrapped it around the boy, and lifted him. "Did you enjoy yourself, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, we all did. We made a new friend, down there. She decided to come with us, back home." It sounds like she wasn't told about what actually happened. Were the other parents really that afraid of those eyes? Or just afraid of Mom's reaction?...

"Okay." She smiled. "That's good. I was hoping for some time alone with your father, but I ended up with this one instead. They're all at Nova and Aurélie's house, but I can't quite figure out why."

Sunny strode into the room, grabbed Nat. "You're about to find out. Come on, hedgecat."

She looked between her daughter and her best friend, heart skipping a beat. "What happened?" she asked quietly. "Is someone hurt?"

"Not anymore."

Her fur stood on end. "Sunny?"

"Everyone's cool, right, Shine?"

She nodded. "That's right. But a word of caution: her looks might throw you off a little." That was putting it lightly.

"Oh, come on, she can't be that bad." But she couldn't quite fight off the nerves.

*

The cat looked at the echidna nervously. This was Shine's dad and she wasn't quite sure what to say or do...

"Well... I'll let you be the judge of that. C'mon."

*

Cross stared into those eyes of hers. There was no doubt, they belonged to him, the man he had sworn to kill, something he never did. He had seen them before, and last time, he let them go, like the naive goody-two-shoes hero he was. And now, those eyes were in his grasp again, but in this girl.

All the same, her eyes felt different from his, for some reason. They felt innocent, harmless. When Shine had introduced her, she seemed to deeply trust in this girl... No. There was more to it than that. His daughter felt a downright sisterly bond with her. If Shine felt so adamantly about someone, then...

He didn't know what to feel. A part of him wanted to hate her, harm her as revenge against her father. Another part wanted to trust in Shine, to trust in this girl, maybe even treat her as family. Another part just wanted her out of his sight, away from him, away from his family. He was simply caught in a torrent of emotions, and it kept him from speaking.

Danny looked at everyone curiously, keeping very close to Luna and Aurora. They were all just staring at her... Fear began to seep into her eyes as she shrank back, pressed against Luna's side. Did they hate her? Had she done something? She didn't know - she'd only just met them... Why would they hate her?

Elesis sighed. Yeah, she had those eyes, but she looked too innocent to do something dangerous. Even if she could, she was most likely forced into it. Besides, it was enough that Aurora seemed to like her, but Luna, too? She couldn't be all bad. "So, um... hi," she said, looking for kindness in her own voice. "I'm Elesis. It's, um, nice to meet you."

She smiled. "My name's Danny. Is your name with an a or an e?"

"With an e." She smiled. This girl didn't seem to bad. "So, what brings you all the way here to our small town?"

"They brought me because they don't want me to be finished." She purred softly. "It's really nice because I don't want to be finished, either. I don't like what my job's supposed to be and I don't have to do it if I'm not finished."

"...It's vague," Dusk said. "But by the sound of it, this 'finishing' process seems to involve her becoming infertile."

"Nani...?" Sol snarled quietly. Mani gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth in horror. She could relate: The mess she had been put through as a child could have led to infertility. She got lucky, though.

Danny covered her mouth, burrowing closer to Luna. She'd said something wrong again...

"Don't worry," Aurore said comfortingly. "We're not mad at you. Just upset at the idea. It's not your fault at all."

"...Also," Dusk continued. "They seemed to have mastered cryogenic technology."

"He froze me when he got bored," she said quietly.

Aurora hugged her, tail wagging. "Maybe you should tell them everything he did, okay?"

"But... but it made Shine upset. I don't want to upset anybody!"

"...It's okay," Cross finally spoke. Spawn of the Devil or not, this girl deserved better than to be ignored or thrown out with the trash. "We're all adults here. We can handle it a little better."