[PRP] Stacked [Depths + Cue Queue]

[Maxx D]

A lynx.
A mongoose.
And a mouse.

He stacked them neatly, taking them off his back, into a little structure in front of her.

"She's about to be a mother." He said. (And if that didn't work, at least the offering could go to the bustling store right behind.)  

[Jun D]

Cue Queue stared at the little pyramid. She had a face like a storm on the best of days, but, inside, it was hard not to laugh at how comical the tiny mouse looked at the top of it. But the buck was so serious.

"Is that so," she said, instead.  

[Maxx D]

"Yes." He looked somewhat critically at it after her lacklustre reaction, and pushed the mouse a little more centered. "Should I - get something else...?"  

[Jun D]

"Tell me," she said, touching the mouse just so with the tip of a hoof, "is she happy?"  

[Maxx D]

"Mm," he said, tilting his head at the mouse's minor shift. "I assume. It wasn't foremost in mind - that sacs would happen - but it wasn't an unpleasant surprise. A fact of life. As such, I assume she is satisfied with the outcome." Should he have gotten a water snake? "Maybe a water snake, as well? That would round it out, perhaps."  

[Jun D]

"Would you lay it around the lynx like a frame?" her voice was cool as death.  

[Maxx D]

"Or fill out the space around the mongoose." He gestured around the expanse of the lynx. "To ask for happiness and the lot is too much. I'm hoping for 'safe.'"  

[Jun D]

"You could get a water snake, as well."  

[Maxx D]

He dipped his head at her reply, and slipped off, quick and stealthy.

It wasn't long before he returned with one in his mouth. Looking down, then up at her face, and down again at the arrangement, he laid it around the lynx like a frame.  

[Jun D]

"Excellent," she said, and a toothy smirk drew across her face like a skull.

"May your children be safe," she said, a hoof on the mouse, "and happy also. They can figure out the rest of the lot themselves."  

[Maxx D]

He bowed, head almost touching his hooves, and left before it was dark. At some point of time, a songbird appeared upon the pile, its twisted corpse with its wings flared like a halo.

END