[closed] welcome home, always

ooc; this thread takes place when Dacekit is three moons old

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Dacekit sat in the entrance of the nursery, blinking her big green-hazel kit eyes as she stared hard towards what she had been told was the  main entrance of camp. The little she-cat had been told that her father, Sparkfrost, was on patrol, and that he would be coming home soon. She had asked her mother, Dappleshine, if she could greet him upon his return, and the queen was supportive but did not fail to remind her daughter of the proper manners and rules of behavior around camp. Dacekit listened to the lessons as attentively as she could, though her eyes regularly drifted to the nursery exit as the queen spoke before springing back with an obedient nod or a mew of acknowledgement. Then she had been instructed to wait in the nursery until Sparkfrost arrived, and that was where she sat, her toes just slowly edging out. Her patience was wearing out, excitement starting to bubble over. Where's daddy?! she thought pleadingly.

Then, the rushes at the entrance of camp rustled, and one by one a patrol of RiverClan cats slipped in on after another. "Daddy!" Dacekit mewled at their entrance; she wasn't certain if this was the patrol that Sparkfrost was on, but he was on a patrol, and this was a patrol, and there was no way to know if it was his unless she checked. "Daddyyyyy! Where's my dad?' she squeaked at the patrol, waiting with an eager expression for him to separate from the crowd.

He'd wanted to leave, to flee, and seek out the home that his heart seemed to crave. But something had distracted the dilute calico tom's thoughts, at least momentarily. There was now a thing here for him--a kit to call his own. Never before had the warrior's paws lead him so easily back to the camp. Between his jaws were several fish, tightly crammed between the teeth. Although he had no memory of his previous life, the fishing skill he possessed proved the blood that ran through his veins. As he followed the rest of the patrol in, the tom tried not to spit out his catches, which proved to be harder to carry than he thought. The salmon he had managed alongside several minnows was almost as big as Dacekit. Just thinking about her quickened his pace ever so slightly. This was perhaps the only thing that he could busy himself with more than the anxious drive that patrols brought. And it was so much better. Fishing was just fine too, though.

Everything else slipped from his mind as he burst through the entrance to the pelt of Dacekit. Immediately, the fish fell from his maw, showering the kit with a few minnows and one namely large salmon. In his excitement, he had not considered the prey would so easily slip away as an excited expression broke out across his face. His whiskers twitched as the kit was sprayed with prey and he stopped to laugh suddenly before crouching in front of her, "Dacekit! I thought you were to young for fishing. But it looks like you've brought in quite the catch." He dipped his head to lap at her now damp forehead before using his paw to gather up some of the minnows. Once there was a good pile, he grabbed a couple gingerly between his teeth and motioned for her to do the same, "I'll race you to the freshkill pile!" Sparkfrost fully intended for there to be a fair race despite her young age, but quickly, he managed to stumble over his own paws and tripping to the ground, threw the minnows over the camp floor once again.

Dacekit did not have to wait long to discover her father's whereabouts; the unruly-furred tom burst through the entrance and sprang over to her. The she-kit squealed with delight, "Daddy you're home!" As she was speaking, Sparkfrost lost the grip on his maw full of fish, and Dacekit's delight only intensified as she suddenly found herself showered in wet, sparkling fish. She bounced up and down, stomping on the earth with great pleasure as she shook the fish-slime from her own fluffy pelt, and then her green-hazel eyes turned up to her father, positively glowing with love and adoration and great amusement as he joked that she had caught the fish.

"Noo, I didn't catch them!" she protested with a giggle as she pushed a few towards Sparkfrost, "You caught them! And you'll teach me to catch them!" The tom licked her head lovingly and she purred her characteristic monster-roar of a purr. Sparkfrost picked up some of them before motioning to Dacekit to do the same. The tortoiseshell grinned and, jumping on the chance to be helpful and to play with her dad, she opened her mouth wide to try to gather the rest of the fish in her teeth and hold them there awkwardly. Dacekit lifted her head with her new prey, stretching up on the tips of her toes and marching awkwardly to try not to trip on the fresh-kill she carried.

It was after only a few kitten-bounds that she realized Sparkfrost had tumbled and lost his fish, and Dacekit's own immediately fell from her mouth onto the floor as she laughed, rolling onto her back until tears stung at her eyes. "You dropped your fish!" she cackled, as if it were the funniest thing in the world.