hang on, hang on, hold up

The cave system that they'd been born into was alright, there was plenty of room to run around and more than enough fun stuff to do. He particularly enjoyed finding large antechambers and screaming as loud as he could, just to see if the echo would deafen anyone. So far, it hadn't. He'd almost given dad a heart attack, that one time. So it was worth the effort, easily. When he heard the old man haul himself to his feet in their den and gruffly command that they all get up and out of his way, the boy was already on his feet. He watched their dad grab Hen by the scruff and hoist her off of Cos, who was the current focus of her bullying. He bounded along after his dad with Raka, who nearly took his eye out with a swing of her horns. He growled a quick warning, and tried to bowl her over with a solid cross-check for the trouble.

It was bordering on painful, waiting for his dad to scoop him up and toss him over the towering bank of heavy snow that blocked most of the entrance to the crypt. So when he had the misfortune of being the very last one to get lifted off the ground and quite forcefully thrown out of the cave's mouth, he couldn't help squealing with delight. However, hitting the snow on the way down was an entirely new sensation. The top layer of powder gave way with a poof that sent it flying in all directions, but the dense layers of snow beneath that held his weight easily. Instead of landing on his feet, the boy hit the ground on his ass and had the wind knocked out of him by the impact.

He sucked in a huge breath, golden eyes wide with shock. No one had ever hit him so hard, and he wasn't sure what to make of it. Instead of wailing, he let out a triumphant "WHOO!" and leapt to his paws. Grinning from ear to ear, the brightly hued boy immediately rushed his father. "AGAIN! AGAIN!" he shouted, wriggling with glee.