Children of Pandora's Box

"Luka don't worry. Anya's going to be freaking out and taking care of everything later. She will also probably be tending to goats like they are children for the rest of her life. She's just in shock now. Once she processes, she'll have a completely normal reaction. For this situation. Which is not completely normal." Yay for not-actually-mindreader Kostya

Luka gave a humorless laugh. "You can say that again." Then she shot a sort of apologetic look towards Kostya. "I didn't mean to tell her. She appeared in my house, then Irina broke in and promised to tell her, and I just sort of...blurted it out." She could only imagine the bullshit Irina would tell her. The little the pink haired woman had thought in the situation had reasoned that telling Anya the truth would be less catastrophic than anything her former sister in law could have told her.

Kostya nodded, "I know. Irina does that. It was her favorite ploy to get me to do what she wanted." He wasn't ever sure if his sister actually would tell Anya, but he had never risked it. "I'm glad it came from you, though. She needed that. She might not know it yet, but she needed it..." The she needs you went unsaid. Kostya wasn't going to push her.

Luka perceived the implied comment, and looked sort of uncomfortable. "The sucky thing is that we actually were kind of getting along at first." Then the shit hit the fan, and quality time with her daughter went out the window. Literally, in fact.

Kostya brightened immediately, "That means she likes you! She barely talks to anyone outside the family." The realization of what he just said hit him like a semi-truck (don't you dare). "Luka, I didn't mean it like that."

Luka's expression didn't really change, even if the comment stung. "Well, technically you aren't wrong..." She gave a small shrug with her words. "It can't be helped."

Kostya shook his head, "You're her mother, and you're her family." Kostya couldn't get the saying family doesn't end with blood out of his head. He knew that's how Anya felt about it as well. To her, Luka was only her biological mother. She had no mother, not with the emotional connection at least. He didn't let his thoughts show, however. "It can, you know. If you actually try with her."

"Fat chance of her talking to me right now." Luka pointed out. Not without Luka getting caught on fire, getting pissed, and magic-punching Anya. "She pretty much said she wanted nothing to do with me."

"She's angry, and upset." Kostya pointed out, "You lied to her. You met her, and didn't immediately tell her who you were. She obviously felt rejected herself. You need to love her, not just be her biological mother."

"Which is exactly why I'm not talking to her right now. She needs a chance to calm down, and then I'll talk to her." Luka left out the part where she needed to calm down too. For Kostya, that implication was obvious. Luka was more used to meeting her daughter than Anya was on the flipside of this situation.

Kostya let out a little puff of air as he fought a smile, although the edge of his lip did tilt slightly upward on one side. He wasn't putting much effort into hiding his smile. "Good, good." He paused, before suggesting, "I was going to teach her myself, but I have to go to Germany in a few days. Ella's going to be watching her, but there's no way that she can teach Anya about fire magic." Irina wasn't even considered as an option.

"As much as I don't like the idea of Irina teaching Anya, I'm completely useless at fire magic." Luka inferred that Kostya wanted her to teach their daughter. Buuut try as she might for thousands upon thousands of years, the pink haired sorceress had never been able to have any sort of proficiency in fire magic. "I can help her with pretty much anything but that. I can ask Sam though?" To be totally honest, Luka had no idea if Sam could bend fire. It was a better shot than Irina, though, so she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"I tried getting Sam back into magic before Anya was born. She remembers, but she completely refuses to use it now that she has her kids." Kostya groaned, "Irina's going to have to teach her control. I can't have Anya going around burning people." He was not happy about this, but he also wasn't happy with all his goats not having fur anymore. His grunt would be find, Ella put some healing magic into the ointment she put on him, but his goats? He didn't know how to fix his poor babies.

"Hold on, I'll talk to her." Luka promised. There was no way in hell Irina was teaching Anya. The witch would just as readily offer to follow Anya around and splash her with water to keep shit from igniting than let that happen. Hell no.

Kostya grinned. This may or may not have been his plan all along. Nevertheless, the outcome was the one of his choice. "Perfect! I don't feel so bad about leaving now." He placed a hand on her shoulder, "You'll do fine."

"I feel like I've just been conned." Luka made a derisive noise at the look on Kostya's face. "I'll try, but if you come back and I'm on fire and throwing a stapler at her, you know what happened."

Kostya crossed his arms, "Luka. I feel the need to tell you that you cannot abuse my daughter, which includes throwing a stapler at her." He tried to look serious, but come on he was too happy that his daughter and Luka would finally spend some quality time together.

"I was joking, I was joking. The only time I've had to throw a stapler was from Ene and Dylan being little shits, after about five hundred warnings when they think it's fun to snoop around. Anya wasn't a part of the Bullshit Brigade." Which is now probably how Luka was going to refer to Ene, Dylan, and sometimes Dani. She really didn't like people, especially the kids, nosing around her stuff. "Your dog jumps really well, by the way. I have no idea how in Levia's name Anya got him through the window, but I'm impressed." The real question was, was Anya allowed to abuse her? Those flames looked like nothing to play around with. She wasn't really joking, though. If her daughter set her on fire, there would be office supplies thrown.

"Ivan? He might have a slight magical kick due to him being her guard dog." Kostya shrugged, "She wouldn't let the grunts follow her everywhere, but she hardly notices with Ivan." He wondered where the dog was, and made a mental note to put a fireproofing spell on him later. Anya wouldn't forgive herself if she hurt him. "I'm serious, though, Luka. Do not hurt her, physically or emotionally. Ella made me come back here, and I won't hesitate to leave again if Anya asks."

"Wait. Hold up." Luka was confused, seriously. "Anya told me Ella was pissed that you came back, and wasn't talking to you." She gave a quizzical look toward Kostya. "I really won't hurt her, trust me. The worst I'll do is hit her with a water spell if she sets herself on fire." The witch rolled her eyes. "I really wouldn't hurt her. I was kidding."

For some reason, Kostya didn't feel like it was a joke. But, none the less, Kostya laughed, "Ella's pissed because I finally listened to her. She always asks me to come back, it's our thing. She stopped meaning it once Anya was six. It was just habit by then. She just doesn't want drama, and us coming back is apparently all one big key to unlock a shit storm." Kostya wasn't sure when Ella started swearing like that, but he figured it was when she realized Meelo was... Meelo. "Her words, not mine."

"I wouldn't say a shit storm." The pink haired woman shrugged dismissively. "A bump in the road, but from the way Ella was acting, I'm pretty sure she thought I was about to have an anxiety attack." Rolling her eyes, she continued with, "I appreciate her concern, but a lot of weirder shit has happened than my daughter breaking in through my office window with three of my nieces."

"I think it was more like:" He did a very good impression of Ella here, "Luka will find out, then Neya will find out, then Sam, and she'll tell Alex, who will tell Anne, who can't keep anything from anyone, and one way or another, Kyo will find out. Which means their son will find out. Which means Luka being banished from the home." Kostya shrugged with a smile, "She's very worried about you."

Luka gave another small shrug. "If Kyo finds out, he finds out." She seemed markedly less concerned than her best friend. "Honestly, if it spreads to that extent there's no stopping it anyway." This is true. She didn't want to hurt Kyo, but if it happened, it happened.

Kostya shook his head, his eyes becoming dark. He didn't say anything to that, however. He wasn't going to fight her about this, he wasn't going to fight for her anymore. He had Anya, he had to protect her. Kostya would always be in love with Luka, but Anya was his top priority, and had been since he first held her in his arms. He blocked out his emotions and silently went outside to check on Ella and Anya, who was slowly burning a leaf, trying to stay calm. She could feel her father's eyes on her, and was distracted. The flame flew up, and Kostya manipulated the rain before anything could catch on fire again.