backdated for end of oct, open to all who were visiting! cousins meeting esp welcome! <3
she had visited the death ulaq.
she had heard the songs of sialuk.
she had allowed her daughter this mourning.
she was grandmother; she taught the children to strip tissue from skins, to soak them, to chew. to dry meat. to forage among the trees and beside the sea.
moontide's caches would be filled before they departed.
The boy wasn't very attentive to his lessons.
When shown how to chew and soften meat he would take more than necessary and sneak mouthfuls; he would growl lowly when a sibling tried to correct him, and sometimes snap his teeth.
The finer details of the visit were lost on Salaksartok. He did not want to sit and work, he wanted to explore and to play and to show off how big he had gotten!
When grandmother's head was turned he pilfered a strip of meat meant for drying, then made a clumsy escape.
as kukutux was fond of sharing constant morsels with her grandchildren, she did not approve of the little boy's theft.
"go on! run away! the qualupilik sees which children are bad! then you will not be called salaksartok, we will call you monster-food-boy!" moonwoman threatened in a voice which had, as of late, grown more grandmotherly.
He did not know fear yet. The things that grandmother said were only part of the game, he thought, and in response as he was caught Salaksartok held tighter to the meat and hummed a childish growl!
The meat was hoisted high; there was no point in being sneaky with it after being spotted, and besides he thought himself tall and strong while she was old and slow.
"tttcha!" kukutux clucked loudly, showing disapproval in every part of her body as her eyes rested severely upon the boy.
"what would your anaa think? why do you steal when we have so much, monster boy?" the duck demanded in a scolding voice, though the name was soft, humorous.
for inside herself, she was greatly amused. the making of a warrior and hunter was already in the child!
The mention of his mother did give him pause.
His head tilted as if the word were a curious foreign sound, ears aloft. He gave a triumphant rrrrr! Shaking the meat like a banner!
Those needle teeth had cut through too far, and a bulk of the strip came away, flinging through his periphery and being lost. Salasartok was surprised a moment longer and then defiantly swallowed the remaining mouthful.
Licking his lips, a successful hunter!
kukutux raised a paw to hide her smile, but she could not keep her chastisements up. she sighed loudly and tossed the boy another portion of meat with a slender muzzle.
"come and help me with the rest. you must learn how to do this, yes. it is almost time for winter hunting."
truly, it was beyond time, but she waited for all sons to return.
The boy scampered after the meat and downed it so fast that he almost choked, and then sniffed after his grandmother in search of more.
She wanted to teach him! This wasn't a fun game anymore; he did not want to work. The boy gave a drawn-out groan and sat down among the supplies.
Why!
He drawled with his meat-breath perfuming the space; this was unfair! He was a boy who should have been playing, and wasn't a fan of child labour.
kukutux offered another treat, this time quivering deer fat.
"because we are part of many. because our village is large. we must all learn to help."
a smile.
"what would you choose to do, salaksartok?"
He didn't like that answer and blew a raspberry at his grandmother. If they were many then why would he need to work at all? Others could!
Play! Eat! Nap!
the chant of a generation. Give me leisure or give me death!
she grinned. "if you want to play, then take this skin with you to where i say. if you want to eat, i will give you the very best deer fat when you are done. and then we will rest together, monster boy."
she loved him dearly.
Deliberating for aeons (thirty seconds at most), Salaksartok made his decision and grappled with the skin. He was too rough with it at first and was quickly corrected, and even so, he hoisted it up over his head where it would drape across him, and parade with it like a cape; he looked like the skin made animate again.
The promise of food was a motivating factor.
Around the skin he hummed the word, Monstaaa!
as he marched, high-stepping, as he could not see.
she laughed again; "take it outside and lie it on the ground," and when he had done so, she would offer not only more deer fat but a scoop of marrow besides.
fond eyes watched her grandson; kukutux thanked the spirits often for allowing her to become grandmother, for the years in which she could watch these young ones grow.
He carried it out until he tripped on his own feet, but he didn't care at all, and sprang back up when the sweet treat was offered.
As Salasartok chewed at the fat he appeared to mellow out. His tail swept the earth in happy arcs.
and she sang to him a song she had sung to all her sons and daughters, of a running rabbit and a cunning fox.
twice she repeated the rhymes, watching to see if her beloved monster boy would fall asleep where he lay chewing on the fat.
A bit of fat got stuck on his nose, and he craned his head up up up to try and get at it with his tongue, but ended up rolling in the dirt instead, and then giggled to himself; as Kukutux began to sing, Salaksartok mellowed enough to listen and then, as intended, the song put him in to a drifting state. The dollop of fat melted across his nose and gave it a shine, and otherwise Salaksartok was asleep on his back with his paws half-tucked.