Set a bit in the past.

Vali's diagnosis left her shaking. Pregnant? The white coated wolf said she couldn't be completely certain as she hadn't really dealt with it before, but the signs were clear enough. Sickness, to start, the weird appetite, the increase in weight. Pretty obvious, she had said.

Well.... Great. Now time to deliver that news. To both Lark, and eventually, to Sparrow. Great. She had no idea how either was to react. Sparrow, probably with disgust. Lark...? They'd never really talked about children. The whole idea of it filled Lillianna with absolute anxiety. What if they fucked up? They had to go through with it now, since it had happened.

"Lark?" she called out quietly. They definitely needed to discuss this.

Lark had felt oddly uncomfortable since the pack's previous meeting. His sister's discontent had been palpable even before she'd started speaking at the meeting. Of course, his attention had mostly been on Lillianna at the time, selfishly more concerned with her health than with anything else regarding Abaven. Despite that, he knew Sparrow had been on to something.. they all needed to be more productive pack members, himself included, and he'd been trying to make more of an effort. Perhaps he might even try to wrangle one or two fellow packmates up for a small hunt soon.. His aimless thoughts were scattered to the wind when he heard Lillie call to him, somewhere in the thicket. He rounded a corner to face her, an easy grin spreading across his muzzle "Hey, Lillie," he offered easily, moving forward to nuzzle her gently. To say he hadn't noticed that she'd gotten a bit chubbier lately would be a lie, and he'd been able to sense a slight change in her scent, but he was blissfully unaware of the cause. Maybe she'd just been eating a bit more, and moving less, since getting a bit sick? He had no idea.

The meeeting - Lillie hadn't been acknowledged, and that was fine with her... for the most part. Sparrow had said a demotion, and yet hadn't bothered telling Lillie of it with her lateness. To a degree, it really did make sense. Sparrow didn't care about her; Sparrow even seemed afraid that one day. Running and yelling, acting paranoid and unreasonable. She wondered if that was stopped now. Or... if the paranoia held on.

Lark's voice sent flutters of nervousness through her, and her smile was strained as she returned his affectionate greeting. "Sooo, I went to Vali like I said I would and she was able to figure out what the weirdness was, even though she hadn't dealt with it much...." She paused, glanced down, glanced back at him, looked away, and with a very low mumble that she was sure he heard anyway. "I'mwithpups."

Something about the way Lillie moved, and the way she started speaking, made him immediately worry something was wrong. She'd seemed oddly indifferent about her demotion, though with her scarcity around the back she shouldn't have been all that surprised, and the first thing he thought was maybe she'd want to talk about that. Whatever kind of rivalry existed between his sister and Lillianna wasn't something he necessarily wanted to get in the middle of, and he hoped desperately it wasn't about to resurface. But no. She was talking about something else entirely. She'd went to see Vali about being sick and... holy fuck. His eyes widened at her admission, noting she seemed about as okay with it as he personally felt. "Oh," Lark breathed, quietly, stunned into silence for a moment. He wasn't unexcited, persay, but he was scared shitless. He wasn't fit to be a father. What if he turned out like his mom, abandoning his family? Or worse, what if Lillie pulled her disappearing act again and left him alone with a litter of kids? Not that he expected that, but the sudden wave of panic that gripped him made him think the worst. "I.. uh.. holy fuck." They'd mated enough that it seemed more surprising that this hadn't happened before now, but he still found himself surprised, like he was being thrust into a role he was totally and completely unprepared for. Eyes still wide, he pulled back and asked, "Are you.. um.. excited? Terrified? Because I'm both, I think." He tried to force a grin, hoping the panic he felt didn't totally overwhelm the part of him that looked forward to this. There was nobody else he would rather have kids with, that'd been obvious for years, so maybe this was all just something that was due and he should've anticipated. But still.. holy shit. He was going to be a father.

She had been worried about the demotion, and it did bother her - but not quite as much as her own sickness and weird moods had. Lots of appetite, little appetite, sickness for days like that meeting with no real cause and it randomly coming and going. That had preoccupied her thoughts, and coupled with her disdain for Sparrow, it made the demotion bitter, but not life-focusing.

Perhaps it made her a bad person, but she couldn't help but feel at least a little bit of amusement at Lark's expression at the admission. Perhaps it was just the mild panic lurking beneath her skin and the desperate need to feel normal - something she expected would never be what it was again - that caused the amusement. "Yeah." His first reaction nearly mirrored her first reaction when Vali gave her the news. Unexpected, surprising, and yet logically it shouldn't have been either.

A high-pitched, stress giggle escaped her at his questions. "Yeah I think I'm both too. I mean, I'm excited. I'm uh, terrified too. What if we suck at parents? It's not like either of us had good examples to follow... but pups." Her voice was breathless, high-pitched, and very much showed all the emotion she spoke of; there was just no hiding it. There wasn't. "We should uh, probably tell Sparrow." She didn't want to. Not at all. The idea of it completely bothered her, but she knew that was how it would have to be - and therefore she'd do it.

It was hard to tell immediately if she was offended or amused at his reaction; maybe something else entirely? She'd always seemed entertained by saying things that would surprise him, especially since she was one of the few wolves that could even elicit that kind of startled reaction from him.. but this was something different. But the laugh that escaped her throat told him everything he needed to know before she had to explain: she, too, was terrified of the same ridiculous things as he was, but also excited. She agreed with his feelings, and he let his own sort of anxious laugh leave his lips.  "I'm just afraid of ending up like my mom, honestly. What if I disappoint them?" Lark knew how petty kids could be in the first place.. and he also knew just how badly his mom had let him down, in more concrete ways, and the thought of having kids who felt that way about him made him feel nauseous with fear.  "I..." Lark almost gulped, pausing as he tried to regain his thoughts. Telling Sparrow. Holy shit; that made a whole new world of anxiety come crashing down before him. How would she feel about this all? It was obvious she had a disdain toward Lillie, even if he didn't fully understand why. Surely she wouldn't feel the same about their children? Lark really had no idea.  "I can tell her, if you want. I can't imagine you're all that thrilled to break the news to her..." Lark shrugged, feeling oddly uncomfortable. Shouldn't having kids be something that he thought his family would be excited over? He'd envisioned this day being something celebrated, by his dad and siblings, but now only Sparrow was left.. the very wolf he thought would be least excited for.

Sympathy clouded her expression before she moved forward to nuzzle him gently. "Your mother abandoned you and your siblings repeatedly. You won't do that to them. We won't do that to them. My mother didn't raise me - I never found out why - but these pups will be raised with us and we won't abandon them." They wouldn't; that much Lillianna could promise. There was no way she'd let these pups lose a father or a mother. No. No way. Not unless something forced them away, some disaster happened.

Ahhh, Sparrow. Lillianna cringed a little at it, before flashing Lark a sympathetic look. "I'm not thrilled at all, but with this omega bullshit it would probably be best for both of us to tell her. I can't imagine she'll be happy; she rather despises me - I still don't know why - and she doesn't trust me at all. Also don't know why. We should probably just call her here." Thankfully, that was okay to Lark, and so she tipped her head back and called for Sparrow.

Sparrow heard the call and wandered towards it. Lillianna and Lark were at the end of it. She may have been early in her pregnancy, but Sparrow could smell it. She kept her face flat as she approached the two.

She stopped a little ways away from them. There was no warmth as she greeted Lark, and her expression didn't falter as she looked towards lillianna.

"What?"

She asked, but she already knew. She just waited for the words to fall out of their mouths. Her face remained cold and emotionless. She didn't have the capacity to feel anything at the moment so she just waited.

There was no mistaking the animosity in Sparrow's gaze when she approached, but at least the woman had answered the call. For a second, Lillianna didn't think she would. Why would she? Though, Lillianna had been surprised by the coldness in Sparrow's eyes as she looked at her brother. What had happened there? She glanced at Lark, the troubling thoughts reflecting in her gaze momentarily before she looked back at Sparrow. Was something wrong? Lark had given no inclination, and he definitely would with her; was it just Sparrow? The woman was... Well, she definitely didn't think sanely at all. Either way, she had been made alpha.

"I'm with pups. Lark's, of course." She fell silent then; she didn't really know what else she would say. Or what she could say, really.

Lark couldn't breathe a slight sigh of relief at Lillie's words, promising that she - and they - wouldn't abandon them. The last thing he wanted to do was raise children that hated them, or were disappointed by them. The thought made him feel a heavy pressure grow in his chest.  "I know you won't," he assured her with a small smile. Despite the worries he felt, he knew they'd both try their best - just as his father had done. His mother's effort was debatable. But the rest.. well, only time would tell. Despite the look that Lillie flashed at the mention of his sister, she agreed.  "Hopefully she doesn't fault our kids. I mean, they didn't pick their parents, after all," Lark teased with a gentle chuckle. But he, too, stiffened slightly when she raised her muzzle to call for Sparrow. It didn't take her long to arrive, and Lark stiffened instinctively, though offered his sister a gentle smile. He wondered if she knew before Lillie even had to tell her, by the sharp look she cast them, and his crows furrowed tightly. "I.. yeah," Lark added as an afterthought, chuckling nervously as he waited for her response. Surely she couldn't be that mad, right? Please don't be mad, he hoped silently in his head.  "I'm.. looking forward to raising them here." Abaven was quiet, but it was still his home and he couldn't imagine his kids knowing any other pack as their own.

Sparrow honestly didn't even know where to start. It wasn't like she could pull Lark aside and tell him all the things Lillianna had done. Besides, she had more or less been reduced to a wishy-washy shadow of her former self. Perhaps she had given up. Perhaps this was her last, desperate grasp for some part in the family she so idolized.

So be it.

Sparrow honestly didn't have it in her to even throw a fit anymore. She wasn't excited, she wasn't surprised, she was just tired. She just sighed in disappointment.

"Fine. I'll start collecting herbs for the time they're born. Don't leave the pack till after you've had them. Judging by how Storm's pups went vanishing left and right, I'd encourage you to make your den far from the borders." Sparrow listed the sentences mechanically, as if rehearsed.

She turned to leave. She needed to be alone.

"Don't think this contributes as doing something for the pack. You're still an omega until you prove yourself again. Raising pups doesn't by itself count as doing something for the pack."

Sparrow cleared her throat, "Please consider that, going forward." She implied that she would hate to have to take action, but that it wasn't out of the question. It wasn't a threat; Abaven simply couldn't continue to have idle members. She could only hope that the added activity of pups would inspire the pack.

-exit-