A Cub and Her Caretaker (Kendall & Hadrian)

[Fari]

OOCWhat time stamp works for you?

Timestamp: 88th of Fall, 511 AV Bijou was headed for the nursery today. She usually avoided that room but since it was a day off and she couldn’t find someone will to escort her into town she had nowhere else to go. The biggest reason Bijou disliked the nursery is it was only cubs that didn’t have bond mates. It wasn’t intentional but it just happened that bonded cubs spent their days off with their bond mates and not stuffed into a nursery. It was like a giant reminder of which cubs got skipped over for getting the best toy in the world, but it would be ok someday Bijou would get hers. While Bijou did have the option of spending the day training or sleeping in her room she had an ulterior motive for visiting the nursery. There’d been a rumor going through the cubs about a new caretaker and Bijou wanted to see for herself. On all four paws the cub trotted into the spacious nursery. Around the room she caught glimpses of cubs. Some of the bears were from the year before her, this winter they’d be considered adults and would get to officially start their Icewatch duties, Bijou still had a whole year before she could. Some of the bears were playing mancub games in human form, most of them were even dressed which meant they had intended to come as they were. Another mound of wriggling white fur was at least 3 cubs wrestling but there could be more. A few cubs just lounged around with small crafts holding their attentions. Bijou pad around the outskirts of the room, she was trying to catch the scent of the adults. She didn’t often to look at faces so attempt to spot the new caretaker by face seemed like a poor choice. After combing through several scents and some rather unpleasant bear odors Bijou caught a whiff of something foreign. Not a bear and he didn’t even smell like a Vantha, was it a he? The odor had a soft edge to it, like the perfumed soaps women would sometimes use. Of course no one would ever dare try to use perfumed soap on Bijou, they were lucky to force her into a bath at all. Regardless this scent trail was definitely the new comer. Placing her nose as close to the trail as she could Bijou followed the owner’s path around the room, first through the mass of tumbling cubs where Bijou admits a few nips might have been given. Next she followed the trail towards the lounging cubs and their projects and even the kelvics playing their mancub games. If Bijou had been using her eyes as well as her nose she would have realized she’d actually been following only a pace or two behind the new caretaker for at least a couple of chimes. Instead she just waddled onward, jingling every step thanks to her little bell. When the new caretaker stopped Bijou of course didn’t notice and barreled right into the poor nicely smelling fellow. Bijou let out a bear cry of surprise and jumped back a pace to take a look at the origin of the scent trail. Her landing caused her bell to make a harsh clang and then slowly fall silent while the bear stood frozen. It was a male, she’d been right. He was different though, so very different from the Vanthas. He looked gentle to the little bear, but that could have been skewed Bijou could see tenderness in two thousand pounds of furry white muscle. What really struck her was his hair and eyes. He had blonde hair like Jaiun bear but his eyes were something else entirely. Looking at him directly with near black eyes Bijou couldn’t help but wonder how someone could get two different colored eyes. Vantha’s eyes changed but she’d never seen them change independently of each other. To break her awkward one-sided staring match Bijou let out a little greeting growl and watched the new caretaker expectantly.

[Kendall Saarinen]

OOC88th good? Purple text is in Vani
It was another day at the barracks looking after the cubs. This job was a lot more interesting than the stable job had been. It was a lot less laborious as well. Although if he did have to pick up one of the cubs, it was a bit of a strain. They bred them big in the north.

The job was not boring exactly. It just drove Kendall to seek some thing to bide his time with when the cubs all crashed for nap time. Normally, Kendall would read or write, maybe even draw. Today Hadrian had come along. The blond had wanted to introduce him to the cubs since he started the job and finally, the mage was able to accompany him. "You'll love them. Just watch out for the fangs. They like to nip."

Once in the nursery, Kendall looked to Hadrian. "Here it is. My office… so to speak." The room was big and of course, filled with big white bear cubs and their children counterparts. There were structures and places for the bears to nap and play. It was much like a human nursery, but the equipment was built to withstand fangs and claws, not nails and teeth.

Kendall walked forward, motioning for Hadrian to follow. As he walked, not knowing there was a little cub following in his tracks. A pair of cubs ambled past, one chasing after the other. Kendall stopped short so he would not collide with them. "Sorry, it can get to be a bit chaotic in here at times." He felt a bump at the back of his legs shortly after he stopped. It was followed by what sounded like a little yelp of surprise and… a bell?

The blond turned to look behind him. It was one of the cubs! He smiled down at her, kneeling before the creature. "Hello, I'm Kendall." He held a hand out to the cub before looking up at Hadrian. "She seems old enough not to take a bite out of your arm. You can say hi if you like. I'm going to introduce her to you. I think all of the bears speak Vani but I don't know if they speak common. You can try it though." It was easier to work with the cubs knowing there was an intelligence in them. Not just kelvic intelligence, but dire as well. The Northern animals were known to be smarter, although Kendall did not know this. "This is Hadrian." Kendall motioned to the mage at his side. "He is a friend. He is shy, but nice."

[Hadrian]

Hadrian had humored Kendall's request to come to work with him, and it was certainly interesting to watch the young Kelvics at play. Auristically speaking, he was already trying to understand the fusion of man and beast that Marcus Kelvic had managed, but study of Cathan and Ethan hadn't yielded up those secrets. Perhaps observing their development, he might learn something. But for now he hugged the wall as they walked, not sure how to properly engage in human children let alone young bears and young bears that looked like human children. He noticed Kendall's tail before the collision, and turned to watch the interaction. Kendall was certainly good with the young ones. It made him wonder what things would be like if they managed to recover Kendall's body, if they would become the magicians behind that commonplace miracle of human reproduction. Frowning, he tried to pronounce properly one of the few Vani words he knew. "Hel-lo."

OOCI have an 88th. How about 89th?

[Fari]

Bijou curiously watched the very unVantha humans speak. The Vani was simple for the bear to comprehend but when the Kendall changed to speak in Common the cub encountered some trouble. Pretending to watch attentively was easy though, like when being scolded but you didn’t really want to listen anyways. As the other unvantha spoke Bijou turned to look at him. His Vani was bad but she could understand it. Looking between the two humans Bijou gave a small snort, they had given introductions which meant she had to speak back. Looking much like a bull readying to charge the cub rolled her shoulders and lowering her head slipping the leather cord from her neck and it fell to the floor with a tinkle. Before the bell had even stopped jingling Bijou sent out a brilliant flash of light without any warning to the humans and left behind the small naked pale girl. Hardly four feet in height with a mop of unmanageable black curls sprouting from her head the child was well under a third of her bear size. Speaking carefully in broken common so that the Hadrian could understand well too, Bijou gave her introduction in a mechanical tone that spoke of forced manners. “Hello, Bijou is Bijou. Good meet you Kendall. Good meet you Hadrian. ” Now that introductions were over Bijou squatted down and snatched up the little bell and placed it back around her neck. It always had to be around her neck. Turning towards the child’s curiosity clearly showing on her human face the torrent of questions began in Vani. “Are you the new caretaker? Why are your eyes funny? Is Jaiun Bear your brother? You have yellow hair like him. Is Hadrian a caretaker too?”

[Kendall Saarinen]

Kendall watched the little bear curiously. He had never seen a cub before, although he had never seen a bear either until he came to Avanthal. Of course, there had been books with pictures but he had never seen them in person before Avanthal. Now it seemed as though the great beasts were wherever he looked.

It made Kendall happy that Hadrian tried to communicate with the bear. It was nice to show him his job since the last one had been much less interesting than this one. Not that cubsitting was a world of excitement either.

When the cub shifted, Kendall was surprised by the mess of dark hair. He supposed he should have expected it. A lot of the Kelvic were born with Vantha parents. Still, the only other bear he had seen in human form was Jaiun and he was light haired.

Kendall nodded at the girl when she asked her question. "Yes. For the season." The girl seemed to spout questions faster than he could reply to them. He could not keep up in Vani though. He switched over to common mostly so Hadrian could be part of the conversation as well.

The question about his eyes hit Kendall a bit hard. The girl was just a child thought. She did not know better. "My eyes just look a bit odd I guess." He bit his lip, trying to keep from saying anymore. The real answer would not have made sense to the girl, nor did he want to discus it.

"Jaiun is not my brother, but I met him a little bit ago. He seems like a nice bear." Kendall liked the chance to talk to a child, even if it was a more animalistic one. He had always wanted to be a mother but clearly, that was not an option at the moment. Of course, the blond had no intention of claiming the cubs as his own. He liked the chance to talk to children though. He liked to think he was good with them.

"Hadrian is not a caretaker. He is a friend." Kendall hoped the conversation would sway into common, although if it proved to be too hard on the cub, he would try to switch over. "Why do you wear that bell Bijou? If you don't mind me asking that is."

[Hadrian]

"Hello, Bijou," he said in Vani, though he was fast approaching the limit of his vocabulary. He was going to have to demand lessons from someone or another. But when Kendall and the little girl began to speak in Vani beyond his comprehension, he let her aura seep gradually into his awareness. Kelvics fascinated him, and he hoped one day to figure out what Marcus Kelvic had done to create them. There were similarities between her aura and Ethan's, greater similarities between hers and Jaiun's and Belgar's, but that only made sense; the bestial soul was granted the ability to assume human form, not the other way around, even though they came from human or Kelvic parents so far as he understood it. Perhaps he would find one someday who had been born of Kelvic and animal. It would be an interesting thing to study someday, but the breadth and reach of magic was impossibly great. He studied too the other little bears, their auras so like Bijou's, though there must have been a shift in hers when she shifted forms because she stuck out like a sore thumb, auristically speaking, among her brethren. Knowing he was quite tall and that could be intimidating to an animal, he knelt down, folding himself up, so he might be more welcoming to the little beasts who were, he would have to admit, rather adorable.