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Post by Silverback on Apr 11, 2005 10:41:06 GMT
From under the dark eaves of the forest woodland a low-pitched snorting growl could be heard accompanied by the audible clack-clack-clack as of two pieces of wood striking. As Jakes eyes became accustomed to the shadowy shapes he spotted the distinct shambling mound of a bear. He'd seen grizzly bears before but this bear, with its black fur and brown muzzle, lacked the humped shoulders of the grizzly. Upon its chest was a white patch and, as the creature paced into a dappled clearing, cinnamon brown highlights dotted its hide. From deeper within the woodland Jake could hear the distinctive sounds of other bears calling out. From the higher pitched squeals it was obvious that some of them were youngsters. He began to wonder whether he'd accidentally stumbled into a family of black bears.
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Post by Tomahawk on Apr 14, 2005 8:46:24 GMT
Sitting in calm meditation in his home, Kangìnupà set about ceremonially and ritually preparing himself. “Kiss of the Firebird![/I]” he intoned, bringing a small flame into his hand which he quickly applied to a small bunch of twigs and other kindling, lighting the small fire which he’d need for the rest of his ceremony. Content that the small fire was contained and controlled, he carefully and deliberately added various dried herbs to the flames, allowing some to sit and smolder near the edge. In short order, his lodge began filling with intense-smelling herbal smoke. He picked up his medicine rattle and began to chant.
“Hey yo hey ya ha, heyo hey. Hey yo hey ya ha, heyo hey…”
DANGER!!!
He reacted with a start, surprised at the response which had come so quickly, but even more so by the message’s content. “I call to the Spirits for Aid…[/I]” he intoned, but the Spirits were already there. At the very least, his intonation allowed him to see the Spirit whom he was addressing. As the smoke coalesced into a vaguely bear-like form, he heard,
FEAR!! PROTECT THE YOUNG!! DANGER!!
“Show me.” He said, and in a cloud he could see the scene laid out before him: A family of black bears with cubs, a careless wasichu who had stumbled upon them.
A strange wasichu, he thought- definitely not from around here. From things he had heard and some of his meager travels, he would guess that this man came from one of the Villages of Tall Stones- the cities- but what was he doing here?
His first impression was to simply do nothing, and allow this fool to get what was coming to him, what any fool would deserve for trooping about carelessly in the forest and disturbing a mother bear and her cubs. He then noticed that this fellow carried a gun, and began to realize the reason for the Spirit’s concern. In a flash, he saw two scenarios in his mind's eye, neither of which pleased him in any way, shape, or form.
In the one scenario, City Man panicked and killed the mother bear and her cubs with his very fancy-looking gun. This was not a good scenario- the death of the innocent bears for no good reason at all was something that raised a twinge of anger inside the Sihasapa Medicine Man.
In the other scenario, City Man did not react quickly enough and was mauled by the mother bear protecting her cub. In this scenario, he became the innocent who was killed for no good reason- although Kangìnupà was certain that Bear would consider it justified. But you can not just allow a white man to be killed, because then there will come more. And in these days, it would bring trouble for his tribe, and then all the others who would come, to seek out the “Killer Bear”- this was decidedly not a good thing.
Kangìnupà realized quickly that there was only truly one option- he had to get involved and prevent either of them from harming the other. Addressing the Spirit, he said,
“You have come to me and requested a favor, that I should prevent this disaster from taking place. It is good; I will do so. And someday when I am in need, I shall call upon you for your aid…”
The cloudy form the Spirit had taken nodded in agreement, as Kangìnupà knew it would. Looking again at the scene, he realized that it was not very far from his lodge- he could be there in a matter of minutes. He quickly grabbed up his staff and his satchel containing the things he would need for his Medicine- should it come down to that.
“Pilamaya, Spirit- now I must hurry- unless you would bring me there even quicker?”<br>
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Post by Madclergy on Apr 20, 2005 1:17:42 GMT
Jake slowly moved his finger from the trigger of the gun.
"I almost did it, I almost shot a bear. Probably not a bad idea, but right now it seems all to easy to slowly back away from her and her cubs"
Jake began to slowly step away from the bear, keeping his gun ever at the ready.
"I am a detective, not a hunter but I am pretty sure I know where to aim; if she attacks. Just keep a steady head Jake, they can smell fear."
Humans, guns, explosions, near death expierences Jake could handle those, he didn't drop a bead of sweat but this was nature and nature didn't stop at just death. No this bear would maul him and then when he was an inch from death she would allow her cubs to begin eating him so that the food was still fresh.
Then from Jake's right side he heard a noise, one that sounded like it was coming at him fairly quickly. Jake didn't know which way to turn, so he opted for an easy out. Jake slowly turned to a middle ground then waited as the sound got closer.
With as soft a voice as possible Jake managed to let out a steady voice in the direction of the sound that was getting closer.
"Don't come any closer, there are bears" the irony of the idea hit him after he had already said it.
"That's probably daddy bear coming to the rescue, oh god help me get through this"
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Post by Tomahawk on Apr 25, 2005 9:38:24 GMT
As Kangìnupà watched, the Mathò Spirit leaped across the small fire he had built and dove within him. As Mathò- Bear- mingled his essence with that of the young Medicine Man, he felt himself separating from his body, a feeling he was not all that unaccustomed to, albeit this time it was considerably different, as it had been Mathò who had initiated the Astral Projection, and not Kangìnupà’s own, personal energies. As the two-made-one sprung through the walls of his humble lodge and rushed through the woods, the Sihasapa Shaman could sense that something was definitely different about this form of Spirit Travel than that with which he was more accustomed. It was difficult to explain exactly, but it seemed a bit more… tangible… than the Astral Travel he did on his own.
At a rate faster than the swallow flies, they moved in a direct course towards the location of the disturbance- the invader in their woods. Passing through the trees and brush along the way, Kangìnupà was astonished at how he could feel his own spirit passing through those of the mighty Standing Ones, and began to wonder what all might be possible were he to somehow find a way to merge himself with them. In very short order they arrived like a rush of wind and shadow on the scene, and he could see the Wasichu, backed away from the bear, in a somewhat defensive, but notably frightened pose. The Wasichu had spoken something in his direction, which led Kangìnupà to assume that he somehow knew he was there- or perhaps had heard him coming- but the words made no sense to his ears, and he did not wish to waste his time trying to figure out what this Wasichu was trying to say.
“Good,” he thought to himself, “Perhaps the Wasichu is too scared to act. At least we have arrived in time before he has done anything overly foolish.”<br> As swiftly as they had flown, they manifested in spirit form in plain sight of the mother bear, but behind and to the left of the white man. Kangìnupà could tell that the mother bear could sense his presence- as most animals intuitively could- and he did his best to draw her attention in his direction. Pulling out the spiritual manifestation of his Medicine Rattle, he began using it to weave an incantation which would allow him to communicate with this bear in her own tongue.
“All My Relations- Mitakuye Oyasin…[/I]” he intoned, shaking the rattle which worked the spell into reality, echoing through these woods like a rattlesnake whispering on the wind. Confident that his spell had worked, he began a short song to the mother bear.
“This one, he tastes very bad- White meat is no good. He stinks of yellow water, of sulfur springs most foul. Look! Look! He shakes like a small rabbit. Yell and he will run, yell and he will jump. He will run away like a small hare- He will leave you and your children in peace…”*
((*OOC: I wrote the words here in English, although they should be assumed to be in his native language, or perhaps like the low growls of a bear.))
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Post by Silverback on Apr 27, 2005 12:09:27 GMT
The shambling mound of fur gave a further parting growl as it escorted its cubs back into the cover of the woodlands eaves. As it disappeared under the shadowy green and sunlight dappled shade the mother kept glancing back towards the spirit of the medicine man. It's nose wrinkled at the stink of oil, metal and cordite. With one final look it nudged its offspring and commenced running in a shambling trot to escape the strange apparition.
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Post by Madclergy on May 9, 2005 21:51:19 GMT
Jake breathed a sigh of relief quietly, he realized how lucky he was and it hit him like a ton of bricks. He didn't dare making any kind of sounds to redraw the attention of the bears as he carefully continued on his way down the river bank.
Jake's mind raced the entire time he walked, going over the situation that had just occured and his current task. After about 100 feet he noticed that his hand was still tightly gripped around the handguns.
"Old habits I suppose" Jake mused to himself, the situation had him thinking as he walked though and he continued the thought process "I wonder if this is a test? The files seemed real enough as did the situation, but a man in a cave? Finding a red skin to help me find the cave that the man has disappeared in to? Could just be the excitement talking but this all seems kind of fishy, despite the fact that I am next to a river.." Feeling that he was far enough away from the incident Jake chuckled to himself and continued down the bank of the river.
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Post by Tomahawk on May 11, 2005 13:23:30 GMT
“Either this Wasichu is incredibly brave,” Kangìnupà thought to himself while still in apparition form, “or he is incredibly stupid. To truly determine which of these are true, I should follow him for a while, lest he endanger any of my other Four Footed relatives…”<br> Moving cautiously and silently, he followed at a safe distance from this strange white man, observing his every move and watching his mannerisms like a hawk.
“Hmm… He holds to his thunder-sticks quite tightly, even though the danger is past. He must be very frightened, or perhaps they are his sole source of strength. But what is he doing down by our river? Surely he is not going to do like so many others have tried, and pollute our only source of fresh water!” he thought, growing more and more concerned with this outsider’s actions.
“At least he is headed well enough away from my lodge- that is a very good thing. But why is he going up to the Source?”<br>
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Post by Silverback on May 13, 2005 10:49:10 GMT
This wasn't turning out to be a good day for Jake. His clothes were covered in dust, he'd nearly been attacked by a bear and he was heading into the lands of redskins of whom he knew little of. To top it all, despite the cooling wind, he was feeling incredibly thirsty with all the trekking he was enduring.
Taking a well-earned break he refilled his canteen from the crystal clear stream and rested heavily upon the fallen limb of a tree that spanned the short distance between the two banks. Stretching the kinks from his legs he signed heavily and wished he'd known how to ride a horse. At least then the journey would've been easier.
His thoughts were interrupted by an unintelligible shout from across the watercourse. There, gesticulating with a rifle, was, what Jake could only assume to be, one of the natives of this land. Again the figure pointed back the way Jake had travelled and shouted again.
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