Mastodons are Cooler

Fili was surprised when his sister collided with him, nearly shoving him nosefirst into the sticks he was carefully piling up as busywork. She then managed to steal a swipe of the tongue across his face - his fur fluffed out in alarm like the hair of a startled cat - and he jerked back quickly enough to nearly send himself into the pile of hides he had just finished stacking. Blah! Blugh! Sisters, were they all like this or just his? But the contemplations of sibling dynamics would have to wait, since the group had apparently finished gathering and Red was ready to talk. Fili perked up slowly as the alpha's mate spoke, because it seemed that the obligation was fast becoming interesting to him despite his reluctance to be in strange company (and it was strange company, as there were several wolves he'd never even seen before). The idea of hunting such an odd creature appealed to the budding young hunter, though he harbored a concern about Red's story. An age of ice and snow that lasted beyond the lifespan of any wolf? And that was when these... mammoths lived? And they were back now so... was it going to be snowy and icy forever? From his mother's complaints he knew that it was already far later in the year than it was supposed to be this cold... The dark male sat back, eyes going distant and broody as he considered that.

He wasn't given long to brood, though, as they were set to making torches. With the tip of his tongue caught thoughtfully between his teeth, he did his best to copy what he'd seen the ginger brindle doing, twisting the pitch-soaked moss around one of the sticks he'd been stacking earlier and then shoving it into itself to glue the whole sticky mess together. It wasn't pretty, but it seemed like it would stay on the stick pretty well, so it would probably be ok. He carefully set it aside so that it wouldn't get sticky pitch on anything else, then copied Red's method of bundling poles and hide together for his own travois, which was kind of exciting. Luckily he was large enough even at his age that the poles would be the right size for him and not ridiculously big or anything. Learning how to make and use one would probably be really useful in the future, as he got old enough to range further out on his quest to learn to hunt and take care of his family. He'd be able to carry back more than what he could fit in his mouth with this, that was for sure.