Sawtooth Spire sailing through the mist, into the abyss, if you knew, would you sail out to me?

for whenever u have time <3

it was midmorning. the forest was quiet. too quiet. most times the girl was compliant with entertaining herself, as mama spent most of her waking hours hunting, chasing foxes off the lot, and other things outside the bounds phaedra wasn't privy to. 
it appeared she was presently refamiliarizing herself with the concept of sleep on a warm swathe of sunshine when her daughter strutted up proudly upon her with what looked to be an angry noose cherished between her jaws. "l'ok whadt afoumd!" she said as loudly as she could between gently clenched teeth. 
in an abandoned rodent hole in some chaparral, she'd found and somehow wrestled into her mouth, a long pink rubber boa.
and before she'd even given @Wylla a chance to open her eyes, the little shit dropped her bounty on her mother so she could properly bellow: "mama i havse catched da big-gedest worm ever! LOOK!" as the snake righted itself and slithered confusedly amidst a veld of mottled fur. 

Wylla was still muzzy from sleep, trying to comprehend words with no cylinders firing to make any sense of them, when something cold and hairless collapsed over her thin muzzle and began moving.

WHAT THE FUCK!! she shrieked, leaping to her feet with her fur all on end. Phaedra proudly announced that what she'd dropped was the biggest worm ever, but Wylla was too busy skittering away from the undulating boa and shuddering with disgust to admire the size of said worm.

You can't just drop worms on people! she chided, voice edging on a horrified whine. Where did you even find that thing?! Whether it was a mutant worm or not remained to be seen—Wylla hadn't inspected it closely enough to know it was, in fact, a snake.

phone post bc can't sleep sry 4 quality

wylla's boisterous and theatrical response to phaedra's "hazard spaghetti" presentation caused a gale of giggles from her daughter, who had meant only the best when she'd ditched the snake upon her sleeping mother. the child flirted and lopt on the soles of her feet, inventorying the exciting new four-letter-word word for later use. 
the bubblegum boa tried to slither away from the commotion but the eisen's precious dumpling hadn't trekked all this way home for it to simply ... snake (kek) away! of all the worms she'd ever found, this was her piece de resistance, and it wasn't slipping out the side door like some liberal socialist cousin avoiding family gathering political debates. 
"bud theydre soooo wiiiggly! ids funny!" she bargained, quite poorly. her need for entertainment didn't constitute a demand to perform on her mother's part, but as far as her daughter was concerned, it most certainly did. 
she intercepted the snake and gently scooped it back into her jaws; it was rather docile and curled around her snout, exploring the white muss of her head. phaedra breathed a snicker at the ticklish movement, traipsing back towards mama as her ophidian crown flicked its tongue. 
"foundsd id inna hole." she trilled with a giggly shrug as her new friend draped across her shoulders. "kindsa like ours but widh bunches of sdicks an suff coverings idt." 

Wylla had a simple philosophy in life: don't touch weird shit.

How unfortunate for her that her daughter was a connoisseur of weird shit, the weirdest by far being this gigantic worm. A full-bodied shudder worked its way from her ears to her tail, prompting her to back as far into the den as possible. Her hindquarters touched the back wall, but still the Eisen recoiled further into herself, disgusted and uncharacteristically frightened of her daughter's unusual find.

Phaedra, on the other hand, seemed quite comfortable with her mutant worm friend. Get away from that thing! Wylla hissed as it curled around her daughter's face and slithered toward her nape, but she was too petrified to physically force the worm away from Phaedra. You shouldn't go poking in random holes! You could get bit by a bear or a mongoose or a wolverine! More like outright killed when it came to any of those animals at her size, but being bit was enough of a threat, right?

Her daughter thought the worm was funny, so Wylla could already anticipate her response, but that didn't stop her from quietly requesting, can you take that... that thing... outside, sweetie?

she got the sense that her mother did nto appreciate her seminal work in the research of worms and mustered a mighty huff when she was commanded to let her friend go. "ids no'a dhing, hids name ids dulip." she said matter-of-factly with a froward nod. tulip—because they were both pink, of course. 
phaedra looked her mother squarely in the eyes, lamblike, and splayed her ears at the scolding she recieved, "the hole wads d'small fow a bear." she informed her murmuringly from the side of her mouth, ignoring the names of other possible menaces with a flippant sulk. 
the snake dotingly dubbed tulip hung from the girl's shoulder and coiled around her leg, flicking its tongue. 
wylla's tone waned to a kindly plea and phaedra nodded with a smile. "sure ok mama," she agreed, watching as her ophidian friend escaped to the ground again, giggling "come back here you silly!" as it slithered towards wylla. phaedra danced giddily on the balls of her feet, nabbing it by the tail to begin dragging it outside. 

Okay, but who the fuck named a worm Tulip?

Wylla's daughter, evidently, was more of a worm savant than Wylla could ever hope to be. She couldn't stop herself from grimacing. Tulip?! It was a fucking disgusting massive worm. Why not name it Dirtmouth or Slimebelly or Pukeupguts? Something pertaining to worms. Something simple. Logical.

She eyed the alien worm and knew she could never see a tulip the same way again. It flicked its little tongue and Wylla visibly recoiled. If she scowled any deeper, her face would collapse in on itself. Did worms even have tongues?! Or was that another symptom of its gross mutation? Maybe it's a very small bear, she argued, unwittingly sinking to a toddler's level by even justifying that with a response.

Too late to worry about that. The boa slipped from Phaedra's shoulders and made a beeline for her and Wylla backed away with a shriek. Don't touch me! she hissed at the mutant worm, which Phaedra thankfully began to tow outside. If wolves could sweat, Wylla would be drenched. She waited until Phaedra and Tulip the Freakshow had vacated the den entirely before following at a cautious distance with her ears pinned down the sides of her head. I think Dirtbre— I mean, I think Tulip would be happier if you returned him to his hole, don't... don't you think?

perhaps if she were older, phaedra would have conjured a name for wormzilla more to her mother's approval. alas, she remained yet a child, and the names stirring about her cerebral cauldron were all names of flowers she knew. tulip was better than violet anyway, wylla should be proud to know that her little dumpling could tell colours apart. 
and now mama was clearly distressed, so phaedra hastened her backwards pedaling, fighting against the snake's strong resistance to leave the cool barrow. "c'mon dulip, we pay ouside! mama said so," she grunted between her teeth, falling back against her haunches when the snake was successfully plucked out and slithering mazily in the grass. 
"he jus wannad gives you kisses, mama ..." she huffed, cutting "tulip" off at all corners while he tried to vacate the area. "asides, bears d' sid on eggs," phaedra said distractedly, giggling and shimmying her rudder with playfulness as she brushed off wylla's concern about returning the snake to her nest.
"i disagree!" she bleated.

Don't want his kisses, Wylla grumbled, splaying out on the grass a considerable distance from where Phaedra was busy corralling her worm friend. The sunlight speared straight through her retinas into her skull, manifesting in a dull ache between her temples. It was probably the worst wake up call she'd ever had, and she groaned imperceptibly.

Then went rigid when Phaedra mentioned eggs, with a giggle that suggested she knew all along that this would horrify her mother. Devil child! By now, Wylla ought to have learned that the more she reacted, the more interested her pups would be, but she was a pretty slow learner when it came to motherhood. Instead of coolly accepting this information with a vow to find and destroy the nest, Wylla spluttered.

Excuse me, what? Eggs?!

i jus.. i just found out rubber boas give birth to live young sooooooooooo ಠ_ಠ

devil child by all means, but her giggle could also be chalked up to the fact that phae was endlessly amused by the oddities of the world around her, and there was so much world around her she had yet to explore. this giant worm was her new favorite thing, how could she keep the clucks and cackles from fleeing their coop in her tummy?! 
she glanced over at mama when she noticed the flustered note in her question and slapped her paws on the ground to cut off the snake's trajectory again before responding, "wwwwwell nod soo much sidding as much eading them," she gave her pink friend spaghetti a pointed look, "worms ead dirt, nod eggs, dulip! like ... see me!"
phaedra proceeded to claw up the earth and munch on mouthfuls of dirt. a kaleidoscope of expressions crossed her features as she tried to resolve how she felt about this decision, her tastebuds contemplating this new cuisine with reservations.
alas, the stubborn girl-child perservered, "mmmmh, sooo y-umb-myyyy," she mumbled between reluctant munches. 

Thought only skinks did that, what freaks

It took a lot of rubbing her brain cells together, but Wylla finally put two and two together when Phaedra revealed that Tulip the mutant worm was eating eggs, not incubating them. Abject horror crawled slowly across her face, causing her jaws to slacken, her eyes to darken and her whiskers to creep back along her lips. Nope. Hell to the nope.

That was no worm.

Get away from it! she hissed, and then she was on the move. A series of choppy steps brought her looming over Phaedra. She flung her muzzle down between her child's paws, seizing the imposter snake by its tail. It tried to curl back on itself, but Wylla quickly flung her head back and released it, sending it sailing inelegantly into a nearby bush. Probably not the best way to deal with a potential threat. Wylla wasn't necessarily known for her commendable foresight. She was the type who would take a stick to a wasp's nest out of sheer panic.

Then again, it hadn't hurt Phaedra yet, so maybe it would be a good little demon and slither back from whence it came instead of being offended at its impromptu flying lesson.

last from me

before she could even defy her mother's hissed orders, the woman was mincing steps towards her daughter and tulip. "ooohooooohoohohoo mama wanna pay with yooou," dirt crumbled from her mouth as spoke.
alas, mama did not want to play with them. phaedra was none the wiser and giddily stepped out of the way to graciously allow her mother to indulge in her sport of keep tulip from running away, but mama was about to break the cardinal rule of keeping tulip from running away because tulip was about to be airborne, how little did she know
once wylla snatched him up, phaedra's eyes widened, then followed his parabolic trajectory with an appalled gasp as her new friend went YEET.
alexa, play my hero by foo fighters. 
"WHAAaa tHE— you threw him!" the offense was categorical. yep. threw him like an unpinned grenade. she ran up to the bush he'd broken through, but the pink snake had already gone. 
phaedra turned back to face her mother with a clouded brow already prepared. "i do nod think, you unders'anding game," she deadpanned lowly before stomping off to find something and/or someone else to play with.

You're lucky I didn't kill it! Wylla retorted hotly, though she privately wished that Tulip's charter ended with a fatality. Phaedra scrambled after her slithery friend and Wylla didn't follow. She sucked a slow breath in through her nose, willing away her desire to argue. If this was Tiercel, she'd have railed against her daughter until the sun went down to prove she was right, but Phaedra was a more delicate child. And Wylla liked to think she was a better mother to her than she'd been to the first.

But maybe she wasn't. The expression Phaedra shot at her reminded her so starkly of Mahler that she was too taken aback to say anything at all. Her daughter stomped away and left Wylla standing there, feeling strangely gutted — no doubt thanks to the reminder of how many times she'd stoked Mahler's ire and received that same expression from him, and it being tenfold worse from her own child — until she eventually shook her head, turned and headed off for a patrol.