Deadmoon, as yet unaware of the mess her life was about to become, had been hunting on her own. Successfully, she might add. Not as gloriously as if she had caught a rabbit, but she had made her way back to camp with a pair of mice in her jaws so really all was well. She had left one on the fresh-kill pile, and had the second one with her still. Might as well pay a visit to the nursery. That had never ended with her getting irrationally attached to a small child, now had it? Never. No excessive affection for a kit turned apprentice turned warrior had ever come out of her going to the nursery with prey.
She was lying to herself again. She wanted another cute little kit to play about with, sue her. Deadmoon was well aware she wasn't mother material, she had no plans to become one, but kits were fun and seemed not to worry about her leg that much. If they mentioned it, it was generally in a weird, impressed way. Like she'd done something cool to 'earn' it. And then, she could make up a nice, funny little story about some heroic deed she had supposedly perpetrated, and go on her way back to hating its existence and her inability to catch rabbits or race with the rest of the clan. A very healthy way of living, she was convinced.
So she was here now, with this absolutely TERRIBLE plan fixed firmly in her mind, with her mouse and a greeting on the tip of her tongue. She really hoped she didn't attract the attention of a queen instead. That would mean an actual conversation with someone very capable of sussing out her insecurities if they so desired, and she wasn't in the mood for that. Deadmoon was never in the mood for emotional anything. Another reason kits were superior to adults, at least until they got older like Snowybreeze and learned to be frighteningly insightful and give you heart attacks all of the time.
Hello? she called softly, sliding through the entrance of the nursery into the dimmer light.
Does anyone want to try a mouse? That, too, was why she loved kits. She could pretend like it was a treat that they could try a mouse, something new and exciting, not the only damn thing she could catch. @
hiraeth