anko214

The illustration came first, which is what the anko is based on.

Summary:

In a forest, there's a very unusual sight. A little Marisa is shivering in corner of her home while her mother kept telling her to die.

The reason is her sisters. Two weeks ago, their mother give birth to three baby Marisas in a mammalian pregnancy. The eldest and youngest daughter are the rare Shell Marisa type. The whole clan comes and greets them, Shell Marisa is easy. This made their mother proud.

But the middle daughter is a normal Marisa, which the clan doesn't respond as excited as to her sisters. Ever since then, their mother treated this second daughter Marisa differently and her sisters do the same because they think it's fine to call this Marisa stupid.

Every night, Marisa lay alone, crying and thinking what she did wrong to be treated like this. She always did what her mother told her to do, but she never got loved like her sisters.

===

A Marisa is chasing a Shell Marisa riding Suii.
Amazingly, Marisa had a Suii. But her sister always "borrow" it from her and already returning the Suii after it's damaged. Without even thinking that it's thanks to the Suii, Shell Marisa thinks she's faster than the slow Marisa.

Today it's the youngest Marisa. She only see Marisa as nothing but someone who has Suii. That's why she never called Marisa "big sis", only Marisa.

Marisa can't refuse because it mother's order. "Obey your older sister", "Listen to your younger sister".

Every time, the Suii is always damaged because of the sisters' reckless driving. They just leave it there to return to its real owner. Marisa then lick licked the Suii while crying.
This happens every night. Amazingly, the Suii gets better with Marisa's lick lick and rub rub.
Meanwhile inside the nest, her mother and sisters sleep like nothing's wrong.

===

Today, mother Marisa bring her Shell Marisa children to show to the clan again. Of course, Marisa is told to not come close at all because nobody want to see the usual kid.

Marisa just waits until her mother is satisfied, then greets her family with bug she catches. That's when she realized her mother hit her.
Today, everyone is not as excited so she's really annoyed.

Even so, Marisa didn't let out a cry, just her tears are flowing from her eyes. If she cried, her mother would call her noisy and hit her again.

Mother Marisa swallows the bug that's "dropped over there" and goes home. The two Shell Marisa just took Marisa's Suii and ride home following their mother, leaving Marisa alone. This place is too far from their nest for baby yukkuri to walk, so they're abandoning Marisa.

When Marisa realizes it, her family is long gone. Suii, her only friend, is also not there. She cried as night falls, thinking what she did wrong.

Is it because she's "usual" and her sisters are "special" ? It's true that she never see other yukkuri like her sisters, but that's only their appearance. She has seen something more unusual... but then, "unusual" is not "special".

Marisa still can't think too much about that. What she understands now is just the difference between the shape of their accessories.

Marisa is tired. She knows she's not wanted, so she will just sleep here. Soon, predators will came out and she will be eaten.

That's when a young Alice and Patchouli couple find and adopt Marisa into their family.

===

Several months passed.

The Shell Marisa sisters have grown into adults, but they still speak like babies. Their boddies have grown fat and they treat their mother like a slave. They don't want to help with hunting, after all, they're cute.
Mother Marisa can't remember when things became like this, but she can no longer take them out to hunt on her hat, and the Suii they used to have disappeared.

The only thing they want to do is to ask for food from the other yukkuri in the clan, after all, they're cute.

Even so, they're slow even for a Shell Marisa. They're slower than baby yukkuri. When told to move faster, they yell back saying they're taking it easy or else they will get tired.

In the clan's gathering place, they beg for food. The family has been doing this often ever since Mother Marisa realized she can't hunt enough for her daughters.

But the clan is already tired of them. They did this all the time and the two daughters are already adults, they have better ways to look for food. They're given grasses and Mother Marisa knows what they mean, but the two daughters don't and their words keep making their image worse.

Fruit never falls far from the tree. Mother Marisa herself is a selfish yukkuri who will even use her own daughter for her own advantages.

Nobody will speak to them anymore. Besides, recently there's word of a Dosu Marisa's appearance near the clan's easy place.

Hearing that, Mother Marisa brings her two daughters to meet that Dosu who lives in a clan deeper in the forest.
Dosu is a yukkuri who lets other yukkuri take it easy. If she comes to Dosu, then Dosu will let her take it easy. She will also show her daughters to the clan and they will surely accept her.

Finally when they arrived, Mother Marisa saw the clan. It's a lot smaller than the clan she's living in, with only several dozen yukkuri. But they all look so happy and easy.

Mother Marisa greeted and asked to meet Dosu because she will join the clan. Not "let me join the clan" she speaks as if it's already decided.

A Reimu came forward and asked "Can't Marisa see Dosu ?"

The clan go on taking it easy, while Mother Marisa told her daughters to start looking for Dosu.

One of Dosu's abilities is to appear invisible to those who are uneasy. Apparently this ability works not only against humans but also other yukkuri. This way, Dosu can build a clan of only easy yukkuri.

Since her daughters are useless, Mother Marisa gives up searching on her own. She will catch and interrogate one of the clan's members.

Seeing her intent, a voice came to warn her. Dosu appeared, a young Dosu not yet two meters tall. Under her is a big and strong Suii that could support hundreds of yukkuri. This is how Dosu can follow Mother Marisa without a sound.

Dosu tried asking them to leave, she won't take this family into the clan because they're selfish. More than anything, Dosu had a history with this family.

But eventually Dosu gave in, she'll let them into the clan on one condition. The clan will not help them with food, they must not beg. Dosu even gave them unused animal nest to the family near the opening they usually use to hunt. The place Mother Marisa found is not the real clan's area.

With stealth, Dosu and the clan went back to their home, unseen by Mother Marisa and her daughters.

===

Dosu's parents realized her troubles.

This is the Patchouli and Alice Dosu is proud of, her only parents. Patchouli is weak so she's lucky to be able to marry a smart Alice. But to give birth is impossible.
Alice thought of being a mother, but expecting Patchouli to hunt is impossible. Pregnant yukkuri need a lot of food, while Patchouli is more focused on quality than quantity.
That's why they spend their life with just each other.
All Yukkuri desire children, and as we know, Alice types are THAT. But Patchouli's husband has amazing self-control.

Heaven granted them another miracle. They found a lonely baby Marisa. At first they wanted to return the baby to its family, but the Marisa had already lost all will to live, so they instead took her in to their home.

With their love, Marisa grew to a Koyukkuri and can smile again. That night, the family made a feast and a child Suii arrived in front of their house.

From her mother, Marisa learned knowledge. From her father, Marisa learned reason and faith. From her friend Suii who grew with her, she learned courage and spirit.

Then, one day, Marisa evolved into a Dosu.
Even at her young age (she's not even an adult yet) she has already gained many abilities. Stealth, yukkuri aura (and the reverse), and Dosu Spark that she has never used before.

Marisa has no regrets. Her parents have raised her with love and warmed her heart. If she stayed, she wouldn't be a Dosu, maybe she'd even die like trash. If anything, she hoped her old family would at least recognize her face.

===

Winter...

Unable to bear their new life at the new clan, Mother Marisa runs away to her old home and begs for food again to the annoyance of the other clan members.

Now, as expected, she can't gather enough food to pass the winter and her daughters keep on demanding food. She has had enough of them.

There's also one other thing. Mother Marisa felt like she know that Dosu somewhere. But because they rarely meet, Mother Marisa only feels something is bugging her.

This time, she will get over that feeling. She's going to see Dosu and left her useless daughters in their nest to shiver and cry in the cold.

Mother Marisa is lucky. She gave birth to two Shell Marisas and her one other daughter turns into a Dosu. Now, shes also gathered enough food for two yukkuri, so if she rations it well they would survive the winter.

But even if she realized Dosu's past, what will happen ? Will Dosu choose the mother who left her to starve, or will it be her current parents ? Nobody know the answers.

That's all a what if scenario. For now, it's either she will survive the winter, or she will sacrifice herself for her daughters. The second option is unlikely.

Illustrations: post #9681 post #9822 post #49209