Ocean's Breath Plateau [ insert thread title here ]

The return of two of her parents had Puffin in high spirits; she loved @Tullik dearly, but nothing could fill the space left by their absence. Nothing but their return. Between clinging to @Chakliux's legs and chewing Marina's ears, she took to enticing her siblings into games.

She was searching for @Chagak now, swinging a long piece of kelp around in playful invitation. But really, any of her siblings would do; she searched too for @Sea Hunter, @Sirmiq, and @Kilalurak. It never took her long to find one of them.

The young seal hunter was never too far from searching eyes. His immediate family most especially always seemed to be tripping over him, and the trailing kelp acted as a lightning rod, summoning him from the aether.

Chagak sprang from the woodwork, making a hasty grab for the prize. His teeth only grazed it before it was whipped clear of his reach. Still —

"You brought a gift!" he cheered, tumbling into her path and splaying his forepaws wide as if to block her path.

A gift! More like a weapon! Puffin swung the kelp to slap Chagak across the face with it, not missing a beat.

Anticipating swift retribution, the girl spun on her paws and darted away — or tried. She'd forgotten the length of the kelp. It tangled immediately between her paws, sending her crashing to the ground as quickly as she'd turned to run.

Although Chagak could not have put into words the way that he viewed women, and his sister and mothers in particular, his beliefs were bone deep and hard-ingrained. Women were simultaneously powerful and mysterious, and yet also in need of careful tending and protection. It was impossible not to see them all as individuals — they were all so different from one another, just as he and his brothers had developed personalities of their own — but there was some shared quality of otherness in women that he could not see in other men.

Chagak believed in Puffin's intrinsic strength despite her diminutive size. He had not yet come to see bodies as things that could be broken, nor did he fully comprehend that he could cause his sister more than fleeting, momentary pain. He would have given no quarter to any of their brothers —

But he pounced very delicately when Puffin stumbled, moderating the force of his landing and the snap of his teeth without thought. Oh, he still shoved a rude paw in her face to try and wrestle the kelp away. He still threw himself down and rolled like a crocodile just to be a pest. But this thrashing would not so much as bruise her. Chagak gentled instinctively, unwittingly, each time they played.