Livien

Family

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Livien's parents - Frey and Tabor - She's the second and only female child of her middle-class family. She supports her three brothers after the fourth one dies of illness and her parents decide she's ready for a husband and children. It's more an attempt to force the siblings to separate than it is anything related to reputation, but they arrange a marriage to a wealthier man and make her move out. She's the last one to wed and is imbued with determination not to settle after seeing her brothers miserably pawned off to people they'd rather not be with, so while Tabor is nice, he's not The One and she gives him no reason to think otherwise. Frey makes for a disastrous wife, although continuing both housework and medical duties as she did before and even agreeing to a child at some point - but she resents the 'etiquette' that comes with marriage in high-class Kiiai parts and draws the line at changing her personality to better fit the title. And she burns quite a few bridges because of it, even one with Tabor - although the poor sod's done nothing wrong, her ire at his family transfers onto him as well. She bears the child and she leaves with it. He's nice, he's lovely, he's wealthy and he uses that money well, he's handsome, but humble and meek and, sure, he needs someone to take care of him like Frey does, but he'd do better with a wife that loves him. And Frey would do better with the exact same.

Frey's wife - Kefkeza - She comes from the middle seams of society as well and is a child of divorce, dragged around through two homes and stepfathers by a mother who spent her youth and beauty on a man that left her and a daughter that amounted to "nothing more than expected". Kefkeza is exactly that daughter, but her mom secretly isn't any fonder of her second, more beautiful, more talented stepdaughter either, from her third husband. In fact, she hates both - her stepdaughter is everything she used to be and her own daughter is the type of girl even she looks down upon. Kefkeza's comfortable living in the shadow of her sister though, who is as undemanding and easy to live with as her, but they somehow find each other being pitted against one another over and over again. Their parents' veneer doesn't hold up for long and the war between 'mine and yours' escalates. Kefkeza grows up insecure and pliant, shaped by the people around her and only seeking love and acceptance wherever she may find it. She ends up as an unassuming baker feeding all adjacent the neighbourhoods and struggles with the possibility of becoming an old maiden until Frey finds her and goes through hell and high water to convince her she's in love with her.

Frey and Kefkeza's unofficial partner - Narani - She's an only child and an absolute princess despite her middle-pretending-to-be-high class family. Her parents grow up unimaginably poor, vow to achieve enough wealth to give their children a good life and do it together - but only have enough money for spoiling one. Narani is the apple of their eye, ever-flawless, talented, sweet and smart. They accept no ill spoken towards their little angel. She grows up coddled and pampered, alongside nannies, private tutors, violin and singing instructors, countless courtiers and her parents' universal love. What a surprise it is to her when she ventures out into the world and isn't immediatelly adored by all? An attempted career in the arts and then music flops on its face when she can't handle the criticism and takes things a bit too personally. From it stems a perfectionist streak she still hasn't shaken off. Her love life suffers her inability to handle hardship as well - she's a romantic and idealist and her heart breaks a bit too easily to sustain a relationship for long. It takes Ravenna, and then Frey and Kefkeza, to show her some fairytales do come true - she suddenly finds herself thrice as much as she'd ever been. Ravenna in particular fulfills that 'knight in shining armour' trope Narani's always been so fond of. The two just had to be convinced they both loved each other. Then they had to convince Narani's parents to let their princess marry.

Narani's wife - Ravenna - An orphan that often resorts for begging, Ravenna has a rough life until a group of soldiers stationed in her city take pity and begin feeding her. Much like a stray dog you grow fond of, they keep her alive and teach her tricks to pass time and have some entertainment, leave her to inhabit their barracks as well, even if they're away. She owes shelter, food and whatever education they can muster up between themselves to the men - owes them her life. They teach her to fight as well, lend her their weapons for training and act the role of a bunch of dads teaching their collective daughter how to defend herself. In two years she can hold and handle her own, is overqualified for the military and has multiple raving reviews - not to mention she passes the physical requirements as a teenager, but she has neither the age nor the gender for the place. She spends some years working physical labour and returns in better shape, breezing through the physical test she'd already passed once before and, like many women before her, earns her place there by being exceptional 'for a woman'. She's resented for being favoured by the same soldiers from her past now either turned generals or retired. She's less a prodigy to them as much as she is a fond memory from their youth, so while she receives no help and has no desire for it, she has the stable backing of people who want to see her make something of herself. They've grown distant with so much time apart, but when she earns her title, most of them are in the crowd, beaming with pride. She meets a young Narani before she goes to the military, while both of them are doing temporary gigs at a bar - Ravenna as security and Narani as a lounge singer. No matter Narani's flare for dramatics which are sometimes fleeting and mean little, it's still lovely to hear to woman say 'I'll wait for you'. Surprisingly, she does.

Childhood

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Livien is the child of Frey and the husband she divorced from. Rumour has it he was the consequence she had to suffer for wanting to separate from his father - laws are laws - but the only thing she regrets about having Livien is who she had him with. A shrewd woman from a hard-working family, Frey manages a child and a medical profession all on her own, stubbornly and not without error, but successfully. And then Livien's growth into a restless toddler makes Frey aware of her humiliating need for help, and she seeks it out despite elevated and misguided opinions of independence. Kefkeza, a sweetheart baker that Livien's sociability has forced Frey to befriend, is a good, trustworthy woman barely able to afford housing and, in this, Frey sees opportunity to spend little money, get a babysitter for Livien and not have to owe anyone any favours. Their house is large and there's a guest room for Kefkeza ready for habitation - safe to say, things fall into place quickly. Turns out, despite a lucrative business with fairly high demand, Kefkeza practically gives half her stock away to the needy and is too soft to say no to children with a sweet tooth, so whatever coldness Frey kept up around her for the sentiment of her reputation, it melts away into fondness and trust after she learns of this. When Kefkeza isn't home and Livien isn't at school, he goes and idles around the bakery. With only Frey, Livien received the hard education and life lesson part of parenting and with Kefkeza he finally has someone he can spin around his little finger and involve in his childish adventures. He finally discovers the joy of sleepovers and late bedtimes, extra candy sneaked to him and the like. And a staggering amount of cheek kisses. The two women make a balanced team, their domesticity reaches extremes and soon the questions begin. "Do you have two moms?" And Livien supposes he does, regardless of his answering with a shrug. He kind of wishes he does. Frey changes the subject whenever the curious, meddling child brings it up and Kefkeza is caught tonguetied by it. Something's happening but he can't quite put his finger on it.

Then Ravenna and Narani come into their lives. Frey meets Ravenna at the hospital after she gets taken in for injuries and after prioritizing her out of curiosity over seeing a female soldier, she finds the woman returning to her for service. With the tall, fit woman comes a tinier, worried one that often visits, chews the nurses' heads off and always bags a place in Ravenna's hospital rooms - Narani is a pain in Frey's ass but she understands her concern. Senses a spark between the two as well and tries not to let her envy show. In the scarse moments that she brings Livien to the hospital for a shift out of inability to leave him home, he hangs around his favourite and most frequent patient friend - Ravenna, who at one point spends a few months recovering from serious bodily harm. 'Home recovery' Frey says but Ravenna has no home. She has to stay at the hospital the entire time she's out of commission and by the end, she's met and babysat Livien, grown closer to Narani, has had Kefkeza bring her treats at the hospital and has kissed Frey in the late hours of a night shift. She returns to her duties confused and guilty-feeling. Frey sends her off with a determined spark in her eye.

She conquers Ravenna and Narani first, brings them together and then inserts herself in the middle. They welcome her with open arms. Then they move onto convincing Kefkeza, who's spent that time sulking at home, aware of what's happening. Frey's plan is simple - if she couldn't convince her alone to believe she was worthy of love, then perhaps it would take three people to achieve that. It's exactly what happens over the course of a few weeks, although the fight is hardly over once all four of them move in together. There's a few months of a learning curve, conquering Frey's coldness, Kefeza's insecurities, Narani's self-destructive perfectionism and Ravenna's workaholic tendencies, and the ride becomes much smoother in the long run. Livien takes to all of them, enjoys spending time with each one and gives back as good as he's given. He grows up smart, kind, charismatic and hard-working. And becomes brutally biased towards the women who raise him together. He's the ringbearer at the double wedding - Frey and Kefkeza, Ravenna and Narani. Sure, they want to all marry, but the second best is just living together and getting wed two by two. They don't fool anyone - it's clear Livien has four mothers, not just two and then a pair of women who live in the same house. He gets his fair share of ridicule but takes it with grace. And then Ravenna gets kicked out of the military and he chews a poor financial worker to damn pieces. He understands why, his mother spent most of her life doing heavy physical labour - it ruins the body, makes it weaker and less durable, muscles start going quicker, but he doesn't understand why they suddenly can't keep the house anymore, why his moms are sadder and why Ravenna has to go back to part-time labour jobs that leave her tired and achy way more often. It feels... unfair.

Teenage years

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Finds his first job at a printing agency, nothing exciting. Probably first love or something like that?

Adulthood

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Joins the military following in the footsteps of his mother Ravenna and ends up joining the unofficial 'infamous troublemakers' club without intending to. It's a bit of a breakfast club situation. Escapes dishonorable discharge by the skin of his teeth, but makes it out the other end as infantry. Turns out navy would've been safer somehow...

Frey
Mother
Have you ever met a woman you're sure has killed someone?

Livien's biological mother. Unlike his... other mothers. She divorced Livien's father, fell in love thrice over and married all three.

She was good and righteous, maybe a bit too righteous for a doctor, but goddess did Livien get his morals from her. Maybe because she didn't surround him or herself with anything different. She was always focused inward, in her own world, since the one outside was so awful, and bet you, she treated outsiders as scum, so much that she always created the illusion that her tiny inner circle was the prosperous castle and everyone else was dying of disease around it. Sometimes she ventured out to try and cure another mind but retreated when the cure proved useless. Others thought of her as pushy and egotistical, but Livien now knows how right she was. Her opportunism was nothing more malicious than a woman opting to ignore the social order to cater to her family's needs.

She was the one to bring all four of them together, Livien remembers Ravenna telling him. Frey was always the no-nonsense type and they all knew they owed the happiness they have to her. She found a kind self-conscious girl, a beautiful but finicky one and Ravenna who was an overworked tired entity at that point in time, realized all four of them were in love with each other and rolled up her sleeves...

Kefkeza
Mama
Love is so kind to you when you nurture it.

Kefkeza was born to be a mother, born to be a wife, a sister, a daughter, anything and everything that involved loving and caring for another being, she'd always been governed by the need to please. And feed, what with being a cook. For a fairly poor woman at first, she managed to live in excess of everything positive - food, love, happiness, kindness. Livien remembers everything who met her being blown away by how channelled she was towards goodness. And how susceptible she was. Kefkeza had always needed protection, from bad people, from being taken advantage of and even from Livien's puppy dog stare. It's why she married Frey, the most assertive one while Narani married Ravenna. It was the perfect balance.

Livien remembers favouring her most out of all four, her advantage being her youthful spirit and disregard for social cues.

Narani
Mommy
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Praesent sit amet elementum purus. Sed interdum nunc at fringilla pellentesque. Vestibulum iaculis consectetur felis, sit amet malesuada lorem vulputate ut. Curabitur massa purus, convallis sit amet vestibulum vitae, aliquet et leo. In sed lacinia eros, sed dapibus nunc. Curabitur tellus massa, blandit eu tellus convallis, finibus elementum lorem. Quisque ut rhoncus ligula. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi vestibulum ultricies maximus. Donec laoreet lorem vitae tellus eleifend interdum. Aliquam metus tellus, iaculis id turpis vitae, interdum sollicitudin leo. Ut ante tellus, viverra quis tincidunt nec, feugiat non mi. Pellentesque volutpat lacus in feugiat lacinia. Fusce ut accumsan odio, et consectetur lorem.

Nunc congue ipsum neque, sit amet posuere neque auctor sit amet. Ut placerat leo nec augue aliquam, in feugiat purus scelerisque. Etiam tempor eros et nibh scelerisque dictum id id felis. Curabitur consequat ligula leo, quis vehicula urna malesuada a. Cras vel porta velit. Aliquam feugiat leo orci, a pellentesque quam sodales sed. Proin non libero non mi dignissim sodales eu varius diam.

Ravenna
4th mother
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Praesent sit amet elementum purus. Sed interdum nunc at fringilla pellentesque. Vestibulum iaculis consectetur felis, sit amet malesuada lorem vulputate ut. Curabitur massa purus, convallis sit amet vestibulum vitae, aliquet et leo. In sed lacinia eros, sed dapibus nunc. Curabitur tellus massa, blandit eu tellus convallis, finibus elementum lorem. Quisque ut rhoncus ligula. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi vestibulum ultricies maximus. Donec laoreet lorem vitae tellus eleifend interdum. Aliquam metus tellus, iaculis id turpis vitae, interdum sollicitudin leo. Ut ante tellus, viverra quis tincidunt nec, feugiat non mi. Pellentesque volutpat lacus in feugiat lacinia. Fusce ut accumsan odio, et consectetur lorem.

Nunc congue ipsum neque, sit amet posuere neque auctor sit amet. Ut placerat leo nec augue aliquam, in feugiat purus scelerisque. Etiam tempor eros et nibh scelerisque dictum id id felis. Curabitur consequat ligula leo, quis vehicula urna malesuada a. Cras vel porta velit. Aliquam feugiat leo orci, a pellentesque quam sodales sed. Proin non libero non mi dignissim sodales eu varius diam.

Regina Lutierre
Daughter
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Praesent sit amet elementum purus. Sed interdum nunc at fringilla pellentesque. Vestibulum iaculis consectetur felis, sit amet malesuada lorem vulputate ut. Curabitur massa purus, convallis sit amet vestibulum vitae, aliquet et leo. In sed lacinia eros, sed dapibus nunc. Curabitur tellus massa, blandit eu tellus convallis, finibus elementum lorem. Quisque ut rhoncus ligula. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi vestibulum ultricies maximus. Donec laoreet lorem vitae tellus eleifend interdum. Aliquam metus tellus, iaculis id turpis vitae, interdum sollicitudin leo. Ut ante tellus, viverra quis tincidunt nec, feugiat non mi. Pellentesque volutpat lacus in feugiat lacinia. Fusce ut accumsan odio, et consectetur lorem.

Nunc congue ipsum neque, sit amet posuere neque auctor sit amet. Ut placerat leo nec augue aliquam, in feugiat purus scelerisque. Etiam tempor eros et nibh scelerisque dictum id id felis. Curabitur consequat ligula leo, quis vehicula urna malesuada a. Cras vel porta velit. Aliquam feugiat leo orci, a pellentesque quam sodales sed. Proin non libero non mi dignissim sodales eu varius diam.

Caspian
Son
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Praesent sit amet elementum purus. Sed interdum nunc at fringilla pellentesque. Vestibulum iaculis consectetur felis, sit amet malesuada lorem vulputate ut. Curabitur massa purus, convallis sit amet vestibulum vitae, aliquet et leo. In sed lacinia eros, sed dapibus nunc. Curabitur tellus massa, blandit eu tellus convallis, finibus elementum lorem. Quisque ut rhoncus ligula. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi vestibulum ultricies maximus. Donec laoreet lorem vitae tellus eleifend interdum. Aliquam metus tellus, iaculis id turpis vitae, interdum sollicitudin leo. Ut ante tellus, viverra quis tincidunt nec, feugiat non mi. Pellentesque volutpat lacus in feugiat lacinia. Fusce ut accumsan odio, et consectetur lorem.

Nunc congue ipsum neque, sit amet posuere neque auctor sit amet. Ut placerat leo nec augue aliquam, in feugiat purus scelerisque. Etiam tempor eros et nibh scelerisque dictum id id felis. Curabitur consequat ligula leo, quis vehicula urna malesuada a. Cras vel porta velit. Aliquam feugiat leo orci, a pellentesque quam sodales sed. Proin non libero non mi dignissim sodales eu varius diam.