Ouroboros Spine hymn

chickadee had been in moonglow almost a month, and for most of that time she'd lived with @Kivaluk. 
over the course of several days, she had arranged the rocks out front better and put down a sort of welcome-mat she'd gathered from the soft inner fluff of milkweed plants. her own crude attempts at curing hides hung here and there from the trees nearest the den.
today she lazed in the sunlight, half-asleep as she listened to cardinals sing overhead. summer was coming, and with it maybe she would ask her roomie on a hunting trip.

as promised, kivaluk spent many nights outside beneath the vast expanse of the heavens; silvery-champagne gaze tracing the shapes of the constellations. a secreted passion that he does as a hobby ... because he does not find tracing the constellations and coming up with stories for them in his mind terrible pragmatic — and because without a teacher he wasn't terribly good.

the stars were, however, useful in night tracking.

but he did not do much of that, either; realizing but not entirely wanting to admit that he was giving up looking for sakhmet.

coming to an assumed conclusion that despite what he desperately wished to think otherwise: maybe she didn't want to be found.

it didn't exactly track with the way he thought kukutux had made her happy and having shortly given birth to his baby sister ... but he was out of options.

it was these thoughts that plague kivaluk as he makes his way back to the shared den; starting with surprise as he is drawn from the somber tendrils of his own thoughts to see the decorating sorcha had done.

he lets out a low chuff of greeting, studying the stone placements and welcoming mat. it looks good. he compliments earnestly.

"you think so?" chickadee answered, starting awake with a thump of her tail; her jaws split in a yawn as she rose to greet him. "figured the place could use a little living-in, since that's mainly what i do." and the iota was right; he spent many nights away and she had the den to herself, gratefully sprawling across all of it.
the sun was still bold, but evening was not far off. chickadee clumsily stacked a pebble on top of another. "i was thinking, when summer comes, we could go hunting farther. i uhh, i need to visit brecheliant and let them know i'm okay. but aside from that, i haven't been so many places yet." her eyes moved shyly to his.

there is a soft smile, genuine in it's nature and unconscious that tugs at the edges of kivaluk's lips as he answers, yeah, i do.

it turns mischievous a moment later; teasing.

did you neutralize all the dust bunnies?

he turns serious in the next moment, though, when she mentions hunting farther in the summer: a want to visit brecheliant and to see territories she hasn't yet seen.

yeah, kivaluk agrees. that sounds like fun. it threatens to bring to the surface his recent rumination on his abandoned quest to search for sakhmet but he pushes those aside quickly; not wanting to let it dampen his time with sorcha. and, he adds with a soft half chuckle of embarrassment. would help break me out of my 'homebody' shell.

though he would willingly argue ( to anyone and anything that would listen ) that if he was a homebody it meant he was content in moonglow ( and he was. very much ).

"nothing wrong with being a homebody!" chickadee declared, trying not to flutter when he smiled like that. she was so dumb, boy-crazy, ani might have called her. after a second's rumination on antigone, which she found she often did, chickadee nodded toward kivaluk.
"all right. then it's a road trip."
belated! "also i did neutralize all of them, and took down a couple cobwebs. but not all of them," she added, lifting a paw to point toward a large and lovely orb weaver who had set her egg sac high above the den-mouth. "she'll keep the flies and things away."

perhaps not, kivaluk murmurs in quieted agreement, a small flick of his right ear given. but it's the threat of becoming a hermit that frightens me.

it is half a jest.

half because there is many of the pack he has not socialized with yet, let alone meeting wolves from other packs.

sorcha was a rare occurrence, a twist of fate, a ... touch of destiny.

he cringes slightly as she points out the orb weaver that had made her home on the threshold of their own. as long as she and her spiderlings stay out of the den i'll be fine.

there was something about a creature with that many legs that gave kivaluk the ick.

"you don't like spiders? i love em," chickadee revealed, teasing kivaluk by sticking her tongue out a little. "but you're right. not in the den. i like to think they're smart enough to know that, though. look how high up she is."
pleasant moments passed, and then she rolled her shoulders. "you ever sparred before, kivaluk?" the girl asked on a whim, stepping away from the denmouth into the small clearing. she whirled in a little circle, then smirked at her roomie. "or what about a race?"

she admits that she loves spiders and kivaluk has to fight the shudder that threatens to slither down along his spine. it has too many legs. he offers as an explanation as why he cringes away from them.

mhm. he murmurs, champagne silvered gaze rising to touch upon the orbweaver again, trying not to think about what happens if she came down ... and hoping that she did not ever drop on his head or back.

it was a silly thing to be afraid of: spiders. being afraid of hooves or antlers spearing him while hunting would have been much more practical and logical but no: neither of those things bothered him.

spiders were what plagued kivaluk.

she asks of sparring, saving him from the dark rabbit hole he was about to spiral down and his gaze breaks from the orbweaver back to sorcha.

yes, he answers, a bit relieved to have something else to think about. with my father, with a woman my father had brought back with him and the star hunter. in hindsight: it didn't sound like much. not in a while though. he admits, a bit sheepishly.

we could race also, he agrees with a soft chuckle. but to where? and what does the winner get?

where on the map is this den lol i shoulda asked before

chickadee was coming to recognize that kivaluk went off in his head sometimes. he chose his words with utter care, and sometimes that took more time than someone else might have given him. were there other things that had made him so cautious?
making a mental note to remove the spider — somehow! — chickadee hmmed aloud. "well, let's race then." he seemed more into that anyway. "and we'd have to go far. i need a good long run. and the prize would have to be something really cool."
she pretended to think intently, then broke into a mischievous grin. "winner gets to throw the other into the lake. from a high up rock."

i'm not even sure, lmao. hmm, i'll say somewhere overlooking uggungak repose, like up on the actual 'spine' a bit.

she proposes a race.

kivaluk considers it for a moment, before agreeing with a soft grin tugging up the corners of his lips.

alright, he agrees.

his bulk would weigh him down but he holds perhaps misput confidence that he knew the paths better than her ... even if it was a straight shot from their den thru the uggungak repose and to the anik lake.

but he falters, reconsidering her words.

is it a straight shot race? thru uggungak repose and to the lake?

ok awesome! <3

"mm, around the lake, i think. to the grove." moonwoman often brought her children there to play and to do the never-ending work of scouring hides. it might entertain the kids a little to see her and kivaluk running.
it might be nice for his mom to see them together too, but chickadee stowed that right away. "so what do you think?" she asked the firsthunter, itching to start off.

with the race track mapping itself out in his mind, kivaluk gives his silent approval in the form of a determined nod.

i think...— kivaluk lets it hang in the air for a moment; mischievous. coy. as if he is still thinking about it. that the last one there is a rotten egg! he crows delightedly before he leaps forward with a cackle.

"oh!" but he was off, and she wasn't about to spend time arguing. she sped after him, slowing at first, but gaining speed, ducking beneath branches and leaping fallen debris.
his tail revolved ahead of her, bobbing; chickadee redoubled her efforts to catch up, pacing herself now.

there's a thrill to this race that kivaluk has not felt in ... a very long time. so long that he cannot rightly recall from memory.

a sort of buoyant, weightless, happiness as a labored laugh passes betwixt his lips, snagged by the wind that breezes thru his fur.

a feeling that is, tragically, almost a stranger to him.

a feeling that kivaluk is weary to trust for it never seems to ... last.

still, he tucks those dark thoughts away to focus himself in the moment. of the earth beneath his paws, of the sound of her catching up —

he peers over his shoulder to gauge the distance between them and doesn't realize there's a wayward branch fallen in the last snowstorm until he's tripped over it; his body tumbling over itself with the momentum from the run, landing with a grunt and a breathless and winded oof—.

in the excitement, chickadee, who was still learning the terrain herself, didn't see kivaluk's twist, nor the way he lurched; she stayed behind him, even reaching to nip his hip —!
which struck her jaw and then his limbs were twining with hers, and she fell with a surprised cry right on top of him.
heart-raced, dazed, and now rapidly flushing as she tried to disentangle herself from how close their faces suddenly were.

his tumble down was anything but suave, especially as he ended up taking sorcha down with him.

it is blinking moments, rapid fire snapshots in kivaluk's mind:

the tangle of their limbs, the weight of her body atop his, the sudden closeness of their faces.

suddenly, kivaluk is breathless for a new reason, his heart galloping in high gear all over again as if he is still running —!

his ears burn, partially from embarrasment and partially from something else all together.

if he were human, he might've kissed her, tempted by the spin of the red strings of fate.

instead, he settles for a low, rumbling chuckle at himself, glad that it didn't betray the flush of embarrassment he feels at how utterly uncool he probably looked and says hi — as if his inattention didn't cause all of this.

"hey —"
and she thought about the same, too, too keenly aware of the touch, of the way his intense eyes watched up into her own; her face mirrored his flush.
at last they were apart; she laughed a little but couldn't look at him. chickadee put her fur back into order and then swallowed.
"uh. we'll say we both won, yeah?" too shy still! to even glance kivaluk's direction.

he rolls to his side as she moves off of him, a small cloud of dust and dandelion fluff rising as he disturbs them.

he pushes himself to his paws with a small groan, stretching his muscles carefully. he was a little sore but it was more from trying to catch himself with his shoulder, where the impact hit than anything else.

she offers settling on a tie ... and she doesn't look at him.

a soft frown tugs at kivaluk's lips.

well, you probably would've won if i wouldn't have tripped soooo, he drawls the word. i think you should be crowned winner.

can fade here <3

"but! we don't know that for sure, so — we're both winners, umm no take-backsies, times infinity. that means i win."
she stuck her tongue out at him and whirled away, her face hot as their eyes met, and then chickadee bounded back the way they came, shouting, "rematch!" over her shoulder at kivaluk.