Tongues and Teeth [solo]

[Neptune.]

Lilyfrost
she/her // Dark Forest

Stupid, useless daughter, running off when she'd gotten everything Lilyfrost had expected from her. She had power, and she threw it all away when thing's got a little rough. Typical. That's just like her. The Dark Forest Queen knew that useless worm would crash and burn, how very like her, then, to be at the top of the food chain in the dredges of what was once RiverClan and then throw it all away because of something as stupid as paranoia. Well, all Lilyfrost would need to do is pay that wretched thing a visit... perhaps then she'll learn her place and what she owes the one who gave birth to her.

Shadowy paws leave clan territories, senses zeroed in on one cat in particular, asleep in a barn of all places. Lilyfrost has to hold in her disgusted grunt as she nears her target. For a moment, the tortoiseshell looks down at her spawn with contempt, amber eyes picking apart every aspect of this cat who has the audacity to be a nearly exact copy of herself. Distain colors the queen's expression, but she quickly shoos it away - there are things to do and having her displeasure on full display will not help her now.

Closing her eyes, Lilyfrost pulls her daughter into a dream... a vision of the RiverClan nursery surrounds them - not the nursery in the current camp, but the old camp, the one her daughter was born in. The dilute tortoiseshell curls around her sleeping daughter, inky muck of the Dark Forest willed to appear invisible... the child does not need to be aware of where her mother ended up. A low, gentle purr sounds from Lilyfrost's chest, loud enough to 'wake up' her daughter.

"Oh, my dear Larkkit~" She purrs sweetly, tail brushing down her daughter's back gently, ever the picture of a loving mother. "Wake up now, darling, there's much to talk about," gentle and sweet, Lilyfrost waits for her daughter to stir to wakefulness.

[Neptune.]

Lark
she/her

Sleep does not come easy to her anymore. When she closes her eyes all Lark can see are the faces of those she failed to protect, the ones whose blood stains her paws. Falconfeather. Minkpaw. She should have been there for them. Should have protected them. But she didn't. Her fault. All her fault.

"You doin' ok, there?" A gruff, accented voice asks, and Lark's head snaps to attention immediately, always on edge, nerves frayed at the edges and jumpy. It's only Humphrey. The old grey barn cat waddles over to her, a fat rat in his jaws. "Thought you migh' be hungry," he says simply, dropping the rat at her paws and licking his fuzzy lips. "You didn' eat yesterday, so now ol' Humphrey is gonna sit right here til you finish at leas some o' that there rat." His voice is good natured enough, but Lark knows the old cat well enough by now to know that he'll stubbornly sit there the whole night until she finishes a bite or two of the mean he brought her.

"...thank you, Humphrey," she says, voice small and hoarse. The she-cat leans over to take a small bite from the rat, if only so she won't be chewed out later. It's dry and stringy in her mouth, and it takes effort to chew, but once she swallows, Lark has to admit that the food is good and leaves her belly warm.

"That ain't so hard, now, is it?" The barn cat asks, and Lark tries to give him a smile. She's not sure it reaches her eyes.

"Thank you, again, for letting me stay here - for a little while, at least, I appreciate it."

"Ah, shoot, s'no problem at all, really. 'Sides, that gash on your there leg looked real nasty. How's it healed up?"

Lark straightens her back leg out, examining the new scars on her flank with a frown. The muscles are stiff, and her range of motion isn't what it used to be. She's lucky it healed at all without getting infected. "It's... ok..." is her answer, but maybe her upset is apparent, because Humphrey frowns sympathetically. She takes another bite of the rat, the prey feeling thick in her throat, mostly so she can avoid speaking any more.

"Well," Humphrey says, "I'm sure you'll find a way to work with it, you clan cats always seem to!" Lark winces at that, but the old barn cat doesn't seem to notice, because he gets up and leaves her to her peace a moment later.

Lark pushes the rat away from her, she doesn't think she can eat another bite. Sullenly, the tortoiseshell curls into a tight ball, closing her eyes and praying her sleep is not plagued by any more nightmares.



She stirs to wakefulness again greeted by the soft rumbling of purrs, a weight pressed into her side, and a comforting tail running down her spine. The scent that fills her nose is one that's familiar to her, yet she hasn't scented in a long time. Her mother. Startled by this, emerald eyes flash open and her head springs up, gaze locking with amber, entranced by the warmth she finds within their depths - something she never saw when her mother had been alive.

"M-momma..?" Lark manages to push out, stammer filled with disbelief and barely contained joy. Her mother was here! She was visiting her! A purr rumbles to life in Lark's chest, uncontrollable and so very hopeful. "Momma what're you doing here? Am I- does this mean I'm dead..?" She wants to collapse into the embrace, but she does not allow herself that luxury.

[Neptune.]

Lilyfrost
she/her // Dark Forest

Oh, how wonderful to know that simply showing up in her wretched daughter's dream was enough to get the girl practically mewling like a kit. How wonderful to know Lilyfrost still has her claws wrapped around the girl's throat even after death. Lilyfrost puts on her sweetest, most motherly smile and nuzzles in close with her daughter, trying desperately hard not to gag.

"My dear, you've had it rough lately, haven't you?" The queen asks, voice dripping with false sympathy, brows knit together in fake concern. When Lark nods, chocking back a sob, Lilyfrost pulls her child close to her, letting her head rest against a chest that could not offer the comfort of a beating heart and tut's sympathetically. "I'm sorry for your losses, darling, and I should have visited you sooner... perhaps when that brother of yours died... Falconface, was it?"

"F-Falconfeather," Lark corrects at once, and Lilyfrost cannot hide the disapproval in her hum of acknowledgement. Falconfeather. He, too, had it all, the power over who in RiverClan lives and dies, and yet he'd thrown it all away when crossing a border. Stupid boy.

"Yes, him," Lilyfrost ammends, "I'm so sorry I couldn't come visit you sooner, darling, but you know I love you, right?" While she waits for an answer of some sort, the queen takes stock of her child's appearance and general condition. She's covered in scars, it's unseemly. Her fur is falling out in clumps in places and she looks as if she'd never had a good sleep in her life. It's, frankly, disgusting. Lilyfrost cannot believe she actually gave birth to this wreak of a cat.

[Neptune.]

Lark
she/her

Her mother sounded angry, and Lark couldn't help the way she shrunk back, old fear singing in her veins as she gazed into dead, golden eyes. Part of her registered that the fear was warranted - she'd always been at least a little afraid of the mother who rejected her as a kit, but most of her so desperately wanted the love her mother seemed to be offering now, that reasonable judgement was pushed to the side in favor of indulging.

"I- I know, mom. I love you too," she tried to believe it, but doubt circled her like a vulture would rotting carrion. "Are you... are you doing ok? In StarClan, I mean?"

"Oh, I simply love it there," Lilyfrost purrs, and part of Lark can clock that she seems to be holding something back, the way her ear twitches - a tell that she passed on to her daughter - making the living tortoiseshell uneasy. "You know," her mother purrs, standing now and circling her daughter, seeming to take stock of her condition once more, eyes cold and unfeeling, like she was appraising a misbehaving kit, trying to decide what punishment would be best. "I was so sorry when you did not go to StarClan to claim any of the lives you were owed as leader..." there's a pout on her mother's face, and the tone of her voice seems to suggest that being pulled into the Dark Forest for that awful meeting had been entirely up to Lark, wholly her choice and within her control. It makes her feel small.

"I-" Lark begins to say, to try and defend herself, but her mother cuts her off, a paw on her muzzle to silence her. She is not solid, but it's still effective.

"Ah, ah, ah," Lilyfrost coos, "I wasn't finished, dear," she says sweetly, but her smile doesn't reach her eyes. "Of course, you couldn't have known any better, could you?" The dead tortoiseshell continues with a pout. "How were you to know that the Dark Forest would make you fight to earn your lives? Of course you thought you could just take them! I don't blame you for thinking so, but you've got a good head on your shoulders... it would be wise of you to use it from time to time." Lark shrinks further back, feeling tears prick the corners of her eyes at the harsh tone her mother suddenly takes. "And this whole running away business..? What in all the clans were you thinking? Are there bees where your brain should be? You had everything. You had power. And you threw it all away for what? You were scared?"

Her mother is snarling now, advancing on her daughter with teeth bared, and Lark scrambles backward, the fear rising in her throat like bile. She tries to say something to defend herself, but the words only come out in broken stammers of "I- I- I don't- I didn't-!"

"Oh, spare me!" Lilyfrost snaps, and Lark flinches back, emerald eyes wide with fear as her mother looms over her menacingly.

[Neptune.]

Lilyfrost
she/her // Dark Forest

Anger courses through the dead queen, and she glares harshly at her spawn, venom in her snarl. She'd tried being nice, clearly that got her nowhere. "All I'm hearing leave your mouth right now are pathetic excuses!" She snaps, ghostly teeth barred. "The only thing I want to hear out of you is 'yes ma'am' - do you understand me?" She intones. Trembling, her daughter nods. She nods. A deliberate disobedience. Lilyfrost take a step closer, "do I need to repeat myself?" She asks, deceptively calm.

"N-no, ma'am," Lark stammers out, her voice satisfyingly small. Lilyfrost smiles. Perfect, she's wrapped right around her claw...

"That's more like it," she purrs sweetly, slinking over and twining her ghostly tail around her daughter's. "Mom's sorry for her little outburst, dear, you know she still loves you, don't you?" She puts on a fake pout, blinking her large amber eyes pitifully. "I didn't mean to lose my temper it's just... well, there's many things I wish to discuss... perhaps tonight isn't the right time, though, hmm..." The she-cat makes a show of considering her options, hemming and hawing over all the choices she could possibly make right now.

Pressed against her, Lark is still as a rock, though Lilyfrost can feel the slight trembling in her tensed muscles. It's so vindicating. "Ah, I know!" She announces, a large smile on her face and making a show of figuring it out, "how about I visit your dreams again in a few nights, hm? Give you some time to think about what I've said, yes? Excellent! Well, I'd best be going!" She barrels on, making sure her spawn doesn't have a chance to say anything in between her own declarations - she doesn't want to listen to protests.

"Well! I'll see you soon, my sweet," affectionately, Lilyfrost nuzzles into her daughter's cheek, trying not to gag in the process, and rises to her feet. She takes a few paces away before turning to glance back. Lark still sits frozen, eyes locked on her mother with fear. The dead tortoiseshell can't help but smirk. "I'll visit again soon, darling~" she coos, before continuing to walk away and fading out of her daughter's dream.

Oh, yes, she'd forgotten how wonderful it was to mess with cats!

[Neptune.]

Lark
she/her

Fear. The most potent emotion she felt right now was fear. Funny, how her mother managed to drag her back to a time when she was such a small kit, maybe two or three moons old, trying to do anything to get her approval only to be met with harsh words and less and less attention directed her way until she was crying for her mother to even look at her.

That was one battle she had never seemed to win.

Almost numbly, Lark watches as her mother vanishes into the encroaching darkness, consumed by smog and shadow. Part of her is starting to believe that StarClan was not where Lilyfrost resides... a larger part of her cannot fathom that. She'd said she loved her... why would anyone who loves her belong to the Dark Forest? Her subconscious wanes as the dream fades, and, what feels like a moment later, the former leader is blinking open her eyes back in the barn. Her head hurts, and her hip feels stiff where the badger wound is - she'll have to do some walking to stretch out the muscle today... but moving feels a little too much right now.

Sighing, she notices the rat she'd only taken a bite out of last night was replaced with something more fresh smelling. On the bottom floor of the barn, below the loft where she'd been sheltering, Humphrey is humming something, a song Lark doesn't know, and she curls in on herself tighter. She wants to cry, but the tears aren't coming out. Instead, she sits there. trembling.

What does her mother want with her? Why did she come see her now? Just to berate her for running away? Well, Lark's pretty sure she can beat herself up enough over that for the both of them. She'd said... she'd said something about being resentful that Lark gave up the power she had. Does she want her to go back and fight for her place as leader again..?

No. No, Lark would never do that. She'd given that up. She hadn't been ready for that. She wants nothing to do with leading a clan ever again. She's had enough of that life. But, still... she yearns to be back in her clan. Birdsnow... Birdstar now, maybe, assuming nothing had happened to her... she missed her friend, but would Bird hate her? Would she resent her for leaving without a word? If Lark explained what happened, would she forgive her? Lark wants to hope so, but she's unsure. She doesn't think she'd deserve that forgiveness.

There are others, too, Tansypaw... Wingpaw... Rushwater... Fishfreckle... and countless other faces. Guilt floods her when she thinks of how she abandoned them all... and a bitter laugh forces its way out of her unwillingly; Fishface was right. She was unfit to lead her clan. He probably feels real vindicated about that now, doesn't he? The thought makes her angry. She'd tried so hard to be good, to be at least ok, and she'd still failed in the end.

Her mom wants her to take back her proverbial throne? Clearly Lilyfrost only cared about the power that came with it, not the fact that there's no way in hell Lark would ever dream about taking it back. Well... maybe she'd dream about it so long as it was her mother taking the reigns of the dream.

She needs to clear her head, to ponder an idea she'd been toying with for the past moon... she think's she's ready for it, but uncertainty still wrinkles her resolve. Taking a tentative bite out of the rat, Lark resolves to at least think the idea through more thoroughly today... perhaps Humphrey can shed some light on what the right thing to do is, but she'll need more than a few bites of prey to start regaining what strength she lost.