Swanana sat in her small shack out in the woods and tried to groom her papery feathers, carefully folding her coat to keep out the cold. The wind was cold at this time of year, and it blew right through the cracks in her awful home.
She hated living here. She hated the un-paved ground, the creaky door, the smell of filth...but going back home was not an option.
Swanana's head was hanging before she could stop it, the underside of her bill touched the diamond collar that had landed her in this awful mess. She had often debated taking it off and throwing it away, but it wouldn't change her situation. Right now, she only held onto it in the hope that its value might be enough for a ticket off of Pinata Island.
She would take a third class ticket. Oh, she would be happy to have a spot on any boat, no matter how dirty or crowded!
Swanana felt her eyes sting, and she pushed back the tears. She had many things to do before Rashberry and his pals got back. Rashberry didn't like it when the house wasn't as he liked it.
Swanana moved through the dirty shack, and used her scraggly wings to swipe the floor clean from hay and dirt. The delicate paper on her wings was grimier than ever before in her life, but she would take a dip in the water near the house soon. She just had to be careful not to move too much this time, or the mud on the bottom would stir and just make her dirtier. Rashberry liked it when she was muddy.
Swanana shuddered, and she started on the long task of picking all the candy-wrappers from the floor. Rashberry and his friends loved to pig out on a large platter of joy candies, topping it off with a few happy candies, but Swanana had lost her taste for them. She was sure that the sickly sugary sweet taste of the romance candies would stay in her beak for the rest of her life.
Joy candies, happy candies, romance candies…. More and more joined the singular garbage bin of the house, until the floor was clean. Swanana deposited the candy wrappers, and began cleaning the hopelessly dirty couch in the middle of the shack.
As always, she made sure to run her feathers through the stained cushions. There was always the chance there were a few more stray chocolate coins hidden there to add to her getaway-fund. She held no illusions that her diamond choker would get her far. She knew enough about the world outside of Pinata island to know that obtaining candy was far harder out there.
The catch was meagre, as it usually was, but she still felt proud as she slipped five more chocolate coins under her secret floorboard.
She moved onto cleaning the windows. Rashberry was very peculiar in his demands that she clean those- quite a few of them were broken, or boarded up. But barely anything that Rashberry ordered functioned on logic.
She emptied the garbage bin outside, on the designated trash-pile, and then began to root through the rotten heap of food that Rashberry referred to as his 'food' to find something edible. How Rashberries could stand to eat rotten food was beyond her, but at the very least Rashberry took home some more tolerable food for her to eat.
Her feathers began to feel like lead as the time dragged on. She would have to bathe soon if she wanted to appease Rashberry.
Oh, how ironic was it that she would once come to dread her most favourite pastime? She had been so loved…. But now every Pinata in the forest knew what she had done.
Slowly, dragging her webbed feet, she headed for the watery pool in front of Rashberry's yard. She carefully stepped into the shallow water and tried not to disturb the mud. Slowly, she dipped her paper wings into the water, and waited for the dirt to loosen. She swished her wings through the water, and brushed the parts of her body that she couldn't submerge. The very back of her neck had to miss out on the cleaning – there was not enough water to dive, and her wings couldn't hope to clean with any efficiency.
For a few moments she allowed herself to idly stand in the water, curling her neck and closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see her reflection. Like this, she could almost feel like her old self again.
Head up so high that only flying birds would be able to look her in the eye, strutting through garden and yard like a queen….
When she opened her eyes, she was met with the cruel reality of shedding feathers and filth miscolouring her one beautiful patterns.
A shuddering breath escaped her, and she closed her eyes again. She stroked her paper feathers flat with her bill, and polished the disgusting diamond collar around her neck. She wouldn't give Rashberry the pleasure of being as dirty as he wanted her to be.
After she was done, she shook the water droplets from her wings, and tried to absorb the rays of the sun. Sun-bathing had been one of those short-lasting trends within the Swanana community, but it'd been said that it helped build energy and strength. Swanana needed both of those more than she wished for.
At the sound of rustling bushes and oinks, she raised her head and turned her bill up to the sky, trying to look like the graveful Swanana that she'd once been. Rashberry was about to come home.
And indeed; from the rustling bushes Rashberry came meandering towards the shack, followed by his friends.
"Welcome home." Swanana forced herself to say. She couldn't quite keep the disgust out of her voice – not even now.
"Hello my Golden Goose." Rashberry smiled. There were bits of candy, chocolate and rotten fruits still in his teeth. "Did you do everything you had to today?"
"Of course I did." Swanana replied. Not that it mattered. Rashberry never changed his routine, no matter if she begged, did her best, or fought. "Everything is as cleans as it can possibly get."
"Good!" Rashberry snorted, and walked past her, into the house. He trudged mud in with him, his friends following suit.
Swanana's wings trembled, but she said nothing, and followed the rashberries inside with her head held high. The newly cleaned floor was already littered in muddy footprints and garbage. They had plainly ignored the floormat.
Rashberry settled himself on the couch, and clicked on the TV. His friend had already discovered Swanana's homemade 'meal', and were in the process of eating it on the couch, adding a few more stains to the fabric.
Swanana simply waited, and tried to minimize the amount of dirt and trash that the rashberries made with their eating. She didn't manage very much as long as she was trying to keep her wings and feathers clean. She ate a bit of carrot cake and a sip of milk.
It wasn't long before all the food was gone, and the moment she dreaded was coming closer and closer. She stared at the TV and the inane programs playing on the screen, urging her mind towards carefully cultivated neutrality.
"Swanana, my golden goose." Rashberry said. His friends were still watching the TV, but some of them had turned their heads to watch Swanana and Rashberry. Swanana wished even more fervently that the dirty little shack had more rooms than just this one. "It's time for your dinner now."
They both knew he was not referring to food.
"…. Of course. Dear." Swanana forced out, and her choker felt tighter around her neck. She hated being called a goose, and the way he had found his nickname for her only made it worse.
"That's a good girl." Rashberry said tenderly. "It won't be long until we have enough coins, I promise."
Swanana knew he was lying, but it still hurt to hear him say it. The TV standing in the shack was brand new, and it most certainly wasn't a vital part in Rashberry's promise of a paradise. She wanted to scream at him, cry, and then fly to her own room to soak a pillow with her tears.
She said nothing.
The romance candy he handed her was sweet and delicious, and it burned on her tongue. Rashberry himself didn't bother unwrapping his romance candy before putting it in his mouth, spitting out the wet wrapper after he was done.
Swanana tried to ignore the feeling of buzzing arousal that came with the candies, just as she tried to ignore the increase in eyes watching her and Rashberry as she waited for him to get ready.
His 'object', for lack of a better word, slowly extended from between his paper curls. Whereas Swanana's own feathers suffered from the dirt and grime, Rashberry didn't seem to mind it, even though Swanana could see bits of mud falling from him with every move.
"Well? Come on then." Rashberry said, and Swanana forced herself not to look at the other rashberries in the room. She stood before Rashberry and presented her rump, her slit feeling cold and tight with dread as she did so.
Rashberry wasted no time, and heaved himself over her back, pressing himself inside of her.
Swanana held her breath through the painful sting and burn. The act had become less painful now, but the fact remained that her slit had been made for fellow Swanana's. Not rashberries.
Rashberry began to rut forwards and backwards, and Swanana had to spread her legs as far as she could to keep from losing her balance. Even as she told herself that she should be used to it by now, Swanana had to squeeze her eyes shut to keep the tears from coming out. After how much she'd been disgraced, her slit might as well be used by rashberries!
Rashberry's weight on her back suddenly increased, and he panted long and hard in her neck. "Ohh… goldie…" He moaned, and rolled off her. Swanana's breath caught on her diamond choker as she felt Rashberry's wetness dripping out of her slit. "I don't regret us for a moment."
Swanana didn't say anything. She could already feel the growth of an uncomfortable lump in her lower belly, and she swallowed down her disgust. She said nothing of her regret to Rashberry. She had found out on that faithful night, just how far Rashberry went to get his right.
The other Rashberries watched her waddle away, and Swanana felt her shame weighing in her like the weight of a house. On trembling legs she walked over to her bed in the corner. A pile of straw, as far away from the other 'beds' in the shack. She wiped at the dried stains of her previous lays, and settled down, trying to sleep through the swell of her new egg.
The rashberries continued to watch TV.
Swanana cried, as she had cried almost every night since then.
Such a marvellous party, and so prestigious… There had been drinks galore, and everyone had gone a little nuts. Swanana, Whirlms, Badgesicles and all other sorts of Pinata's had danced and fed on candy. She remembered Rashberry. She remembered his gift, that now hung like a chain from her neck…
Just a night of fun, in exchange for a diamond necklace.
It had been a wonderful night. The painful stretch and the wetness she now so hated had been thrilling and arousing on that night. Rashberry's dirty rutting had made her feel like a poised Queen, bestowing an ultimate gift upon someone unworthy of her brilliance. In that bush, shielded by foliage, she had found bliss.
Rashberry had not been her only tryst during that night. It had filled her with perverse amusement to offer her slit to other Swanana, imagining their shocked reactions at knowing that they had pushed their shafts into someone who was still wet with Rashberry seed.
It had been such a wonderful night…
The day after, she had felt heaviness in the pit of her belly, and the oncoming ache of an egg that wanted to be laid.
Of course, Swanana had plenty of ways to turn it in her favour. An unexpected egg was simply an unexpected way to gain leverage over one of the many Swanana she had mated with the previous night. A bit of gossip here, a few dramatic displays of emotion, and all of the Swanana had been all over her. After all, only a most disgraceful Swanana would leave a partner with a child they had sown in her.
Oh, oh, if Swanana had known…. If she had known, she would have smashed that filthy egg as soon as it had popped out of her slit! If she'd know what kind of atrocity would hatch from that slimy orb, she would have fed it to a Mallowolf! But she hadn't known. She hadn't known it was even possible for an egg to come from a Rashberry's seed.
Laying the egg had been a spectacle, just as she'd planned. All the potential fathers were sitting around, waiting to see the child that might be theirs, and Swanana had been surrounded by friends and family. The very moment that she had let the large, painful egg pop from her slit, the swananas around her silken sheets had gone quiet and worried. The colour had been off. That was when the initial worry had set in.
Still, Swanana played it off, acting delighted. What else could come from this egg, but one of the most special swanana that the island had ever seen? After all, there had never been a Swanana egg of this colour before.
Of course, when it had hatched….
Swanana couldn't keep a small sob from escaping, and a tear dribbled down her face. Her slit burned with more than just the pain of Rashberry's entry.
The Swanana of her flock had turned on her as if she was a Juicygoose. Swanana that had been holding her wings flinched back from her, and beaks curled with disgust. Sympathy and goodwill evaporated, right then and there. The Swanana's had then begun to slowly, yet steadily, work her out of the flock.
It started with her bed being pushed away from the others. Sheets going missing. Pillows ending up in the mud. Rotten food in her bed… and of course the gossip and jokes.
No other swananas dared to be seen with her, in case of people thinking that they were friends. Heads turned up as she arrived. Rumps turned her way as she tried to mingle, and finally they had kept her from entering the Swanana house.
She had immediately spurned the thing that had come from the filthy egg. Rashberry had taken it in, and Swanana had been happy for that at first. The thing had been more rashberry than swanana.
But life in the island had been unbearable without a house to go to in the night, and any small noise sent her skittering to the air, afraid of jaws and claws.
Rashberry had taken her in where no one else would, but the tables had turned. Rashberry was a hero among his fellows. The misformed beast that had hatched from Swanana's egg was living proof that Rashberry's claims of buggering a Swanana were true. His friends admired him!
So, when she had arrived at this filthy little shack that the rashberries called a home, Rashberry had acted distant and aloof. Hadn't Swanana told him that this was just going to be a one-time thing, that nobody would ever hear of? Hadn't she promised him that he'd be lucky to even sniff one of her feathers ever again?
He had made her promise to clean for him, and in return, he would save chocolate coins for a trip off the island. He would need her help to pull it off, of course.
Swanana should never have agreed, but how could she have known?
The people off the island – apparently they liked their deformed squealing offspring. Rashberry had been able to sell the screaming piglet for several thousand chocolate coins, and he had invested in romance candies.
Swanana didn't want to anymore. She hadn't wanted it the first time, let alone a second time, but Rashberry had tasted what power over another felt like.
He had been too large and heavy to dislodge, not to mention she had been surrounded by the time she'd heard his plan. Pictures had been taken the second time. He had let different rashberries… on top of her, in the dirt…
He had shown her the pictures when she had still been recovering. Crying, and in pain. He had told her he would send them to the papers.
That alone had been enough to keep her in his home, mortified to lose of last shreds of her dignity. Then he had made pictures of her second egg, peeking out of her slit. Re-assurance he called that, as his friends kept her still for a good picture.
Swanana slumbered, and watched the floor through blurry eyes as the night went on.
By the time morning came around, Rashberry woke her up by feeling at her slit. She let him, as she'd let him countless times before.
She forced the egg through her burning stretched ring, and into Rashberry's hands. He patted her rump, and tucked the egg under his arms.
"And the golden goose delivers again." He said, and he pasted a kiss on the back of her head. "Don't worry love. Paradise is coming for you, one egg at a time."
Swanana said nothing, and thought of her slowly growing fund, hidden under the floorboards. Rashberry left her in her dirty nest, and set off to sell his new golden egg.
Swanana struggled to get up, and felt her legs tremble. Thin laying-syrup dripped from her widened hole, and she wiped it off with her wing. Once upon a time, she would have cared more for such dirtiness. As it was, she needed to clean a pigsty, and try to repair her crumbling mental walls for the evening.
She could lay one egg a day after all, and Rashberry was nothing but efficient.