04-20-2020, 12:32 AM
risk
Spirit reminds him so much of when he was a child – fearless, loud, and running headfirst into whatever adventure lay just ahead. Maybe that’s why he worries so much when the boy runs out of his sight. But Risk swallows the worry and watches carefully for the shimmer of his son’s blue marbling between the trees. His ears turn forward as he catches the sound of padded little paws bounding over crunching leaves. The boy is eager to take the form of predators like his mother despite never being shown how. It brings his father a quiet sense of pride to see him transition from each shape so naturally.
“Do you intend to scare your mother?” he calls, and the crunching leaves come to a quick stop. Risk peers around a wide tree to find a young bobcat staring back up at him, snickering and giggling to himself. A smile finds his face as Spirit nods and pounces onto his leg, playing nipping at him with needle-like kitten teeth. The elder male lowers his head to breathe a snort across the child’s face in disapproval. “Your teeth are sharper than you realize. Try to dull them when you play fight, won’t you?”
The finer mechanics take time. Slowly, with his eyes squinted in effort, he manages to give himself little puppy teeth instead. Risk nods and places a light kiss across his forehead before continuing forward. With each step, his fur grows shaggy and his limbs grow longer. Antlers rise from his skull until he is a towering elk. He is careful to watch for the kitten following him, which is easy considering the way he makes himself known by loudly bounding alongside him.
“Step in my tracks to quiet your movements. You don’t want her to know you’re coming,” he explains. Spirit looks up at him with ever mischievous green eyes glistening. He slows his speed and seems to take his father’s advice into consideration, leaping carefully from each hoof print to the next. The elk is well aware that Sochi would most likely feign some surprise for their child, but he teaches him to properly stalk all the same. Risk doesn’t want his son to ever learn whether he comes back from the dead or not.
“Do you intend to scare your mother?” he calls, and the crunching leaves come to a quick stop. Risk peers around a wide tree to find a young bobcat staring back up at him, snickering and giggling to himself. A smile finds his face as Spirit nods and pounces onto his leg, playing nipping at him with needle-like kitten teeth. The elder male lowers his head to breathe a snort across the child’s face in disapproval. “Your teeth are sharper than you realize. Try to dull them when you play fight, won’t you?”
The finer mechanics take time. Slowly, with his eyes squinted in effort, he manages to give himself little puppy teeth instead. Risk nods and places a light kiss across his forehead before continuing forward. With each step, his fur grows shaggy and his limbs grow longer. Antlers rise from his skull until he is a towering elk. He is careful to watch for the kitten following him, which is easy considering the way he makes himself known by loudly bounding alongside him.
“Step in my tracks to quiet your movements. You don’t want her to know you’re coming,” he explains. Spirit looks up at him with ever mischievous green eyes glistening. He slows his speed and seems to take his father’s advice into consideration, leaping carefully from each hoof print to the next. The elk is well aware that Sochi would most likely feign some surprise for their child, but he teaches him to properly stalk all the same. Risk doesn’t want his son to ever learn whether he comes back from the dead or not.