How to get your bearings (Bijou)

[Alea Davenport]

59th, Fall 511 AV

Alea left the menagerie after making the last of her purchases, a pale dun Gilding. She'd never seen glow-in-the-dark horses before, and something about them struck her fancy. The last day had been the most exciting and terrifying of her life, but since then she'd found her cat, purchased her supplies (leaving her with exactly 100 gold mizas left), and found a secluded-looking spot on the edge of town near the sea where she thought she could get away with setting up camp.

She was looking forward to setting up her tent and celebrating her newfound independence... and getting away from these crowds. She couldn't say for certain, but it felt like there were more people just in the marketplace than in the whole village of Denval. She was also putting off thinking about what she was going to DO with all this freedom she'd coveted so greatly.

At least she had some companions. To her relief, the cat had become instant friends with the Gilding, loosing no time in making the horse's back its new favorite napping place. (Little did she know, she'd just saddled herself with twice the trouble.) She hoped making new friends would continue to be this easy.

[Fari]

The orders had been issued, if Bijou was going to continuously try to escape from the barracks then they might as well put her to work. There wasn’t a whole lot of trouble the bear cub could get into since she was the size of an adult male human anyways and she’d already had some combat training. They sent out the little bear with a small bag of mizas tied on a cord around her neck and a letter in her mouth. Her job was simple deliver the letter and the mizas to the Frozen Falls Market, without detours or delays. After the delivery she was to make one patrol around the market, should she see anything illicit she was under no circumstances to attempt to stop it only report it to a full Icewatch guardsmen. The delivery was simple for a bear as smart as Bijou. She held the letter in her mouth by a corner to avoid hurting its missive and to keep the drool-cicles to a minimum. She ambled into the Market and located the clerk and stall that had been described to her. The clerk took her letter, read it and then removed the small miza pouch. After giving Bijou an affirmative answer and a date for delivery, the clerk went about his business and she went about hers. Bijou began to patrol the area following the same path the elder bears took. She didn’t see much trouble and most shadier elements recognized her for an icewatch bear, albeit a small one, so kept themselves out of her sight. Even though the bear had been taught to fight and the patrol routes, she hadn’t really been taught yet how to spot such lowlifes so for the most part the little bear just patrolled around without stopping. Until she spotted someone clearly not a Vantha, to the little bear this in itself seemed suspicious. Bijou hadn’t met many non-Vanthas and so when she came upon one she assumed it must be up to no good! The little cub began to follow this poor innocent young girl as stealthily as the 150 pound bear could manage. What this meant was she flopped herself into snowdrifts and stuck her head out to get a good look. As soon as the young woman began to move on the cub would climb out and scrambler over to a closer drift and dive right in. If the woman were to notice Bijou the most evident part of the bear was her little black nose sticking up above the hole as the cub observed her.

[Alea Davenport]

The loud noise behind her nearly made Alea jump out of her skin, and her nervousness wasn't exactly inspiring the horse. She turned to look behind her while attempting to keep a hold on the reins, but trying to two things at once was making her not very successful at either (as her father would often say). She decided to just go faster to her campsite and hope that she wouldn't immediately die before she got there.

By the time she made it to within sight of her tent, the loud thumps had all but shattered her poor nerves, and she was practically wrestling with the horse. Once she had it mostly calmed down, she finally turned around once more, and here eyes were drawn to a black spot, vivid against all the white snow. She peered closer, trying to see what it was. When she realized it was the nose of a bear, she gave a short shriek of surprise and nervous energy, which, of course, was all it took for the Gilding to break free of her hold and trot around her camp.

"No! Stop that! Come back!" Alea cried in Denvali while chasing the horse frantically and trying to keep an eye on the thing that she hoped wasn't going to eat her. The horse, blast it, always stayed just out of her reach, and made a noise that sounded suspiciously like snickering. To make matters worse, her cat chose that moment to launch itself from the Gilding's back and take off in the opposite direction. Completely overwhelmed and at a loss, Alea sat down in the snow and burst into tears.

[Fari]

Bijou knew as soon as the girl started crying she’d been wrong, criminals didn’t cry! So the cub launched herself from her hole and headed straight for the crying girl, if she was crying there must be something Bijou could do to help. Besides wasn’t it the duty of the Icewatch to help citizens in distress? By the time the little bear had cleared half the distance she shifted in between strides. It sent out a swirl of lights that dissipated quickly leaving a naked little girl running in the snow towards her distressed peer. The little girl had long black curls that looked like they may have never seen a brush in her life time. She skidded to a stop infront of the crying girl and spoke in Vani. “Don’t cry please, I didn’t mean to scare you. What’s wrong can I help?” The little girl seemed to hop gingerly from one for to the other; she was naked in the snow and hadn’t yet received her mark from Morwen.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea saw the bear barreling toward her and had a very strong impression of her own mortality. She was going to die on her second day in a new place. Then the bear turned into a little girl...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

The bear...turned into a little girl.... It was a bear...and then it was a girl...what?

Oh, and also the girl was naked...and talking? She was saying something... it sounded like it was in Vani, at least some of the words sounded like they were in Vani. Alea could only really pick out "I" and "you." It DID seem like the...small an rather nonthreatening... girl was trying to be friendly, and NOT eat Alea.

She stopped screaming. She took a deep breath. Establishing communication was the first step, if communication could be established. "I don't suppose you speak Denvali." She switched to common. "Do you speak Common?"

Then she notice the girl hopping in the snow. She was going to get frostbite like that. Alea held open the flap of her tent and said, again in Common, "Please, come inside."

[Fari]

“Common yes, little.” Bijou nodded and dived into the tent, it would still be cold but not nearly as much as outside. She quickly turned back to the young woman to complete the task she’d shifted for. “Stop cry, Please. I am icewatch bear.” Bijou preferred her bear form most of the time, not that she felt uncomfortable as a human she just found it less useful. The exception to this was speaking, to speak she had to be human. But she really hated speaking common, she wasn’t good at it and Vani really should be all a bear needed. Bijou did feel bad though, it was her fault the innocent girl had cried and so it was her responsibility to see things right. She just needed to see things right quickly, she was expected back at the barracks soon and she didn’t want to be late. “Need help?” She remembered the girl had been chasing her horse, maybe if she caught the horse that would be enough to make up for it? Bijou peeked out of the tent again at the horse; it didn’t really seem to be going anywhere away from the camp so maybe that wasn’t he trouble. What about the cat? She’d seen the cat bolt as well, but she could never report to her superior that she was late because of a cat that would not go over well. Aside from that this was Bijou’s first set of orders that had her leave the barracks since the incident. If she messed this up it might be a whole season before they let her out alone again. No this had to be taken care of quickly. Bijou turned back to the young woman to see what she could do to help her before heading back to the barracks.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea hurried to reassure the girl. "Sorry, no, I am fine. I was...surprised." She gave the girl a puzzled look and said, "Um...you were a bear. I don't understand." The girl was still stark naked. She must be freezing. Alea took off her cloak and offered it to the child. "Are you cold? You can borrow this."

Her mind's translating finally caught up with her. "Ice...look...bear? What are you?" She was so exasperated that she muttered in Denvali, "I'm so confused."

She gave herself a mental shake. Falling to pieces was not going to get her anywhere. She needed to think. This girl...bear...bear-girl, whatever she was, seemed to be a native and therefore would know who to talk to. She began formulating a request, speaking slowly to give herself time to translate complicated clauses. "Look, can you take me to...someone who...can explain? Everything?"

[Fari]

Bijou looked completely mystified; she spent several moments trying to discern the meaning of the woman’s questions. The first question had an easy answer she is Bijou but the second seemed more complicated. What did explain mean? She understood most of the sentence she wants to be guided to someone for everything, but what someone? Maybe the lady didn’t know what someone and that’s what she was asking Bijou. Yes, that seems correct; the girl was asking to be taken to someone who knew everything. The cub wiggled her human toes, they were still cold and she was starting to shiver but the cloak wasn’t nearly as good as her soft white fur so she’d answer quickly. “Bijou is Bijou. Come, follow, I take you place . . . bears who know everything.” Without waiting for a reply Bijou shifted again lighting up the tent with brilliant whirl of lights that dispersed away from the polar bear cub. It was perfect the woman wanted to find people who knew everything and the wisest people Bijou knew were the adult bears who lived back at the barracks. She could make the girl happier and not be late going back, what great luck this little cub had today. Bijou trotted out of the tent and sat own outside in the snow. She was much warmer now, comfortable even. Briefly the cub eyed the horse unsure if her presence would scare it further. Hopefully it was an Avanthal horse, they were at least used to the smell of the bears if not their actual manifestation.

[Alea Davenport]

Bears who know everything, Alea thought in disbelief. And what is a Bijou? it doesn't sound like a familiar word... It had taken less than a day for her entire world to be turned completely upside-down. She doubted anything could surprise her anymore...
...only to be proven wrong as the girl turned back into a bear in a fit of sparkles. Trying not to be so shocked that she couldn't move or think, Alea followed the BEAR CUB out into the snow (after putting her cloak back on). She glanced at her faintly shining horse in disgust as she noticed that he seemed completely unaffected by the presence of a magic bear in his vicinity.

Alea thought about striking up a conversation with the bear, but the language barrier was agonizing and she had enough stress. She decided to just follow the bear in silence, and took the time to admire the beautiful architecture of this strange new city.

[Fari]

OOCI'm sorry this is an awful post but I couldn't really think of anything else to say.

Bijou made sure the girl was coming before she headed off towards the barracks. The most direct route from here to barracks involved a little trailblazing so to help the young woman Bijou plowed a path through the snow like an adult bear usually did for a cub. Eventually Bijou came to a road where she turned and waited. As she walked she tinkled thanks to the bell around her neck, the little bear began consciously making the bell jingle to make a happy little rhythm. Bijou continued trotting up the road, headed straight for the Icewatch barracks which could now be seen. She wanted to play but she was probably already late headed back and if she detoured any further the consequences could be severe. Upon approach the cub gathered the attention of a guard standing at the door and promptly sat down and looked to the young woman she'd brought along. She hoped this guard could give her the answers she needed.