It was cold!
Brrr, the boy shivered.
Ipiktok wandered around the woods at a brisk trot in an attempt to heat up his body. As a child born late in the season, he lacked the bulk to warm his bones so his body would have to quickly adapt.
Suddenly, he passed by an odd-shaped root sticking out of the ground. With a playful pounce, he grabbed hold and began to tug.
each day, the reality that she was to be married settled more and more upon chickadee. she became more settled, adding new things to the den they had already shared for some time now.
ipiktok was ahead, grandson to the moon woman herself. "hey," she greeted, grinning to see him at play. chickadee wasted no time in offering a growl of encouragement as he wrestled the root.
Ipiktok heard the sound of encouragement and tugged even harder!!
The pliable root stretched and stretched. He dug his milk teeth, which were ready to come out, into the bark and sat his weight back.
Suddenly – SNAP! The root broke and Ipiktok went tumbling backwards cartoon style.
oop —! chickadee lunged to stop him from hitting the ground too hard, stretching her forelegs out to take the brunt of impact. "woo! good job, dude!" she exulted, panting a bit.
when they were disentangled, she looked him over, ignoring the root for now.
Chickadee managed to catch Ipiktok like a runaway bowling ball.
His skinny tail wagged triumphantly, the piece of root clutched in his jaws like a trophy.
“Didja see that?!” Ipiktok crowed when he found his feet, unaware of how easily he could have been concussed. “I’m so strong!” he boasted.
"super strong!" chickadee exulted. "i bet that's something your mom could even use," she said, sniffing at the root's torn end. "so it counts as hunting, technically!"
she celebrated with a wag of her tail, proud of his confidence.
Ipiktok stood up and pranced around with the root as Chickadee fanned his diminutive ego.
“I will be a great hunter, someday!” the child proclaimed, mumbling because of the object in his mouth.
Then, Ipiktok spit it out and nosed it to the side. “Let’s hunt some more, Dee!” He begged. “Together! Plleeaasseee?”
"i know you will be, ippy," chickadee crowed, feeling a spur of the moment urge to bestow a new nickname on the boy. "what do you want to hunt next? birds? rabbits? stoats! oh, what about pretty falling leaves?" she teased her charge, though she was genuinely pleased to know what he desired to stalk.
omg IPPY
Ipiktok hopped into a play bow as Chickadee listed potential prey!
Stoat? Rabbit? Leaves? No, no, no, they were much too small!!
The boy gasped as he had a lightbulb moment.
“I know!” Ipiktok shouted.
“Have you ever hunted a wild-er-beast-ie?” he asked.
:D <3
"a wilderbeastie? now what's that?" she asked, humoring the boy. she considered the traditions she had learned since being in the spine, and remembered that in spring, ipiktok and salaksartok were going to be considered old enough for manhood ceremonies. that spirit journey where massaraq and arrluk and kassuq had been sent.
she was worried about them. and now, prematurely worried for ipiktok.
"how do you hunt them?"
Hope you don't mind if I wrap this one up!
“It’s a biiigggg hairy monster,” Ipiktok explained as his imagination ran wild.
“With HUGE teeth and BIG feet.” The boy showed his own little fangs for effect and then stomped his paws in a circle.
“I’ll show you!” Ipiktok agreed with a wag of his tail. He would spend the rest of the afternoon with Chickadee going over the finer points of wilderbeastie hunting: chasing them into a hollow log to trap them.