Author Topic: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?  (Read 28453 times)

wavewright62

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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #150 on: April 10, 2021, 01:50:04 AM »
Day 15:  Leaves and blossoms

MollyVampiric thinks this one developed a bit off-prompt, but I certainly am enjoying it - now you can, too.

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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #151 on: April 10, 2021, 07:16:38 AM »
Molly, that's wonderful! I can't have enough of Lalli's glowing eyes!

As for being in-topic, at a first I thought those were (autumn) falling leaves, but then I see them as butterflies, leaving me wondering if those are leaves that start behaving as butterflies under Lalli's magic (which would be awesome). :)
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #152 on: April 10, 2021, 07:17:14 AM »
Lovely animation, Molly. Cute spirit butterflies. Lalli seems to have grown indifferent towards them but I certainly adore them.

Also, thank you everyone for the nice words. And thank you for your beautiful haiku, Grey.
I certainly wish not to steal the spotlight of this perfect little animation, but I had written a little fic surrounding the scene of with the bears. It's more about one of our dear protagonists rather than the bears (who are just the other protagonists at this point, really). I never write anything so it is a bit wonky, but if you wonder how things may go from the perspective of a certain little forest mage, this is how I imagined it.

Spoiler: show
Lalli wasn’t sure if he could get this one right. Bears always required tedious work, three bears even more so. And this time one of them didn’t even have a skull! He still did his best, carefully applying what he remembered from the teachings of grandma and tweaking what he couldn't recall.  Not that he cared, really.  Why would he care about some stupid sickly bears? It was just something that had to be done. It was just work.

Others were slightly familiar with Kallohonka from the dog-beast incident, and they mostly left him alone to do his "forest mage thing". So Lalli sat alone in the quiet shade of the great oak and cleaned the bears, slowly and surely he did it. When he was done, he took the bears to the pine he chose before. It was a tall, leafless pine. It was much taller than the ones around it. Once as great as the oak back there, no doubt. But now it was ugly and dead. It was also a dangerous one to climb, but he knew it was a perfect fit and he was going to do it. He was going to get the bears across safely no matter what, even if it meant dealing with a stupid flimsy dead pine.

He tied the bears to his belt and quietly climbed the dead pine. He placed the mama on the very top, the naked cub a little below it, and then he tucked the headless one next to its sibling. The pine was pretty shaky, so didn't tag along for long. He hopped down the last branch at looked up. The bears seemed pretty comfortable up there as the summer breeze gently danced around them.

He watched them a bit longer to make sure everything looks all right, and then he started singing. He first sang for the mama and the naked cub, for he knew how to get them across quite so well. But the headless cub he wasn't sure. He had given his utmost care to cleaning and placing it, but with no skull, he just couldn’t be sure. Even if grandma mentioned such a situation Lalli couldn’t remember it. One stupid cub, it was, stupidest cub he ever saw. Too awkward it was, too weird. It hadn’t even let out a noise as it got hunted down, as his family flickered out. Even when cornered, it was so silent and so still. Ripped clear of any emotion and any will to fight back.

Still, for reasons he had no intention to dig into, the thought of him being left behind, all alone, was a lump in Lalli's throat. As he sang for the cub, it somehow felt even worse than none of them getting across. So he prayed and prayed, his words curled around the dead branches as they softly climbed up to the top. Eventually, Lalli exhausted all the songs he could utter out. He stood still for the length of a deep breath, gazing quietly at the pine needless gathered around his feet. It was just work, anyway...

As turned back to climb the hill back towards the camp, a wave of buried anger slowly snowballed inside him. What was up with the skulls, anyway? Tapio and Mielikki should know very well how to fetch souls regardless! Why were they being choosy about which bones they like? Why would they do it? Why would they leave the cub behind? Why would they leave him behind over such stupid, pointless, awful things? What was the good in that? Annoyed by how much some stupid dead bears bothered him, he hastened his steps.

The others were sitting around dinner, but by the looks of it, they were waiting for Lalli. Emil noticed him first and started waving his hand enthusiastically. One stupid swede he was, Lalli was already looking at him anyway! The others made some greeting noises that Lalli came to understand after hearing them again and again. Reynir acted a bit weird though, his sight was lifted from Lalli right away without uttering a word. His eyes and mouth widened simultaneously as if Lalli came into the camp in the form of a ten-meter tall flying moose. What did he even saw anyway? Some random bird they apparently lack in their weird island again? He unamusedly looked back, following Reynir's gaze. His eyes saw the huge brown shape on the top of the hill next to their camp right away, but it took one more moment for his mind to perceive just what it was. It was the bears. Huge and ghostly, sure, but it was them. One cub was napping peacefully on the mother's back as she groomed the other one, cozily placed in between her arms. Laying comfortably on the high pine woods like it was soft grass, they looked at peace, they looked complete.

Mother softly raised her head, just a little so Lalli’s eyes could meet hers. Two healthy, bright, black eyes. All across the great many worlds lying between their two realms, two souls saw into each other as clear as clear can be. She then slowly tilted her head down, almost like greeting, or even, thanking him. As if waiting for that very moment, the air moved and wrapped itself around the bears, gently taking them away from sight.  The same wind that took them came passing through their little camp in the form of a strong breeze. It blew roaring through Lalli's hair and clothes. It took the family where they belong, and even forced Lalli to take one step back towards the camp. As the breeze quieted down, Lalli felt a soft chuckle escape his throat. He turned around to meet the people waiting for him, and this time the anger didn't feel so heavy in his heart.

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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #153 on: April 10, 2021, 10:25:43 AM »
Molly, what a great animation! I don't think it's too far off-prompt. I like grey's interpretation, which makes it totally on-prompt.  ^-^

Oh, and grey, I totally missed saying how much I liked your haiku in response to yesterday's piece. Haunting and hopeful.

Alkia, thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the lichen, they are amazing. There seem to be a lot of lichen-fanciers on this forum!

Goshdarnit, Sevseres, you made me get grit in my eyes again! Beautiful companion to the drawing, which is beautiful in its own right.
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #154 on: April 10, 2021, 01:06:33 PM »
Oh, these are all so lovely!
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #155 on: April 11, 2021, 01:34:28 AM »
Day 16: OC Bear

We have JoB to thank for this new registrant on the Bear Registry, and without further ado....

Spoiler: Electric Bugbearroo, at your service: show

Operation Dalanalle

"Alright, it's decided, then; we will task the 5th pioneers with the construction of a second secret sub dock at Björköfjärden, the objective being to have it operational in time for the commissioning of the first Nynäcken class vessels ... and that concludes the written agenda. So, would anyone have a topic that needs to be added?"
"I think so, general. We have a ... guest waiting outside, and I would like to motion that we let him explain his plea himself."
"A ... 'guest'? You mean, a civilian? What security clearance does he have?"
"None whatsoever, but bear in mind that the topic he wants to address doesn't touch Swedish interests in the first place ... yet."
"... next you'll tell me that he's not even a Swede?"
"A Finnish 'mage' by the name of Ilmari Järvinen, we have a dossier on him, if a rather thin one. Point is, he's under the impression that his fellow Finns are dealing with a certain situation in too Finnish a way, so he'd like to bring it to the attention of the next-door neighbors, so to speak."
"... so he claims that it could become a notable problem of ours if we leave it to his fellow Finns for too long? Hm. Considering that humans or even nations working against each other has fallen further into disgrace post-Rash, I would hate if we were to talk to this guy and the next thing is that Finland accuses Sweden of lending support to a group of revolutionaries or somesuch. What do your dossier and your sources say about his background and connections?"
"They agree that Ilmari is even more of a loner than a Finnish mage should already be expected to. No sign of him ever disagreeing with his government before, either. He's immune and works as a prowler-style noita based in the settlements around Jänissalo."
"... can you put that into terms I can find on an actual map of Finland, please?"
"About one third along the line from Kuopio to Joensuu, Sir."
"That's even outside this eyes-of-whatnewt 'defense' system of Saimaa they think we don't know about, isn't it? No wonder that you have trouble dredging up intel about the guy ..."
"On the other hand, if there's a new threat coming out of the Silent Lands in the area, he would be the kind of guy to know about it early on ..."
"Alright then, bring him in, we already missed lunch, anyway. If we're lucky, we'll lose our appetites over his accent as well ..."
"Yeah, or he could 'magic' it away for us ..."



"So, we hear that you would like to warn us about a threat that might exceed the capabilities of the Finnish military?"
"Indeed, general, and the subtopic is bear beasts. May I ask what your opinion is about the Finnish take on them? As far as I can tell, Sweden doesn't see them as anything fundamentally different from other beasts?"
"Well, we have no reason to. For all practical reasons - the threat they pose, their movements, how to hunt and kill them -, they line up well with other beasts of similar size. And that's not just the Swedish position; lots of Norwegian hunters agree with that assessment, too."
"You are aware that few Finns would agree with that, right? We maintain special registries for them and have rites that, at least initially, were meant specifically for them. You think of all this as superstitious humbug, don't you?"
"Umh ... I wouldn't put it that bluntly [to your face], but basically ... but since you announced that you have an opinion differing from that of your fellow Finns, may I ask what your position is?"
"I hadn't thought much about the matter for most of my life and pretty much went along with the Finnish beliefs, but recent events changed my opinion. Not in the way you now expect, though. Now I'm not only convinced that the bear beasts of Finland merit special treatment, I have actual proof of it. You heard of our troops disposing of the one called Möntti, I trust?"
"Oh, right, that basically happened at your doorstep. So your pitch is about it initially being taken as not even a mammal, possibly heralding the spread of the Rash to other parts of the fauna? That has been disproven once it was slain, it did originate as a bear."
"Originate, indeed." Ilmari pushed a binder across the table. "Here's copies of the full mission reports from two of the hunters involved in dispatching it, one of them being a skald-level biologist as well. You will find that, bear origins or not, Möntti had far more actual similarities to a frog than just its outward appearance. The skald found it necessary to give a warning that Mönttis slow change into a 'pseudo-frog', down to basics of its body chemistry, could very well provide the Rash pathogen grounds to evolve into something that can also infect and survive in amphibians! And yet, the leaders of that hunting expedition had no better sense than to have what should have been handed over to researchers ASAP cleaned and dangling from a tree in the middle of nowhere!"

The general disguised his affright by taking the binder and leafing through it, while Ilmari took a breather to calm down again. No use getting taken as a raving lunatic.

"We will hand these documents to our biologists and hear what they make of it, of course. But in the meantime, what do you suggest we do about it? There seem to not have been any similar findings in beasts, bear or not, here in Sweden. Mönttis carcass is now useless, as you said. And we cannot send troops to Eastern Finland for a systematic search without the Finnish government learning of it and - probably - going all indignant about it, can we?"
"No, of course not. First and foremost, I'm convinced that this ... effect is in fact something limited to the bear beasts of Finland. I mean, look at that Finnish registry; it is supposed to list all bear beasts we know about, and yet every single one listed there is some sort of body horror show. 'Often retaining a treacherous resemblance to their former beings', nope, not their style at all."
"... dangit. General Trolle, what do our records have to say on that matter!?"
"I will have another look at them to be sure, general, but off the top of my head, about half of the reports alerting us to a bear beast indicated that they were initially taken as 'possibly' or even 'not' infected."
"So it really seems to be something fishy - or in this case, froggy - going on specifically with the bears of Finland. But my point remains, Ilmari: What can we do about that, short of mounting what would look like a small-scale attempt at invading Finland? I presume that your army has at least observers posted everywhere a known bear beast dwells?"
"As it happens, I have more to offer to you than just information, general. As you said, Möntti was found and slain in the area I patrol. And thanks to their haste to perform the rites, the hunters never realized that Möntti was actually a female still leading a cub."
"... waaaaaaiiit a golden-haired second, Ilmari. Möntti was slain almost a year ago. Are you implying that you found that cub, tracked it, made your plans, set out to Sweden, sat through a two-week quarantine, and are now calmly talking to us, without having told anyone else in Finland of that second beast near your settlements!? That's something people get jailed for here in Sweden as well, you know!"
"As they should. But do not worry about the safety of my home, general, the people there are perfectly safe. The cub will not come near them. You see, I spent most of that year gaining control over it, so as to be able to sneak it out of Finland on a Swedish ship, by making myself its surrogate mother."

This time, there were audible noises from the rest of the meeting room, though it remained unclear how many were prompted by their fearless leader leafing through a binder held upside down.

"... uh, and how exactly do you keep control of it now that you're in Sweden?"
"I 'borrowed' a rowboat and moved it onto an uninhabited island before setting out to Sweden. It's not accustomed to swimming yet. And as you know, it takes more than a couple weeks to starve a grossling ..."
"And your plan is that we send a ship to take it out of Finland and bring it ... where?"
"I trust that your scientists can come up with suggestions for that better than I can. I do not know of suitable institutions in Sweden beyond the laboratories at Mora."
"But they're not dealing with live specimen there!"
"... umh," a voice came from a second-row seat, "that might not be entirely correct, Sir ..."
"... uh huh. Would someone have a bright idea how to get a large-ish, entirely Swedish-navy-crewed ship that deep into Saimaa, too!?"
"Actually, yes, general," it came from a different second-row seat. "The works of Skellefteå are supposed to ship a replacement stator to the hydroelectric plant of Eno in about two months, and have made arrangements with our navy for a ship that can carry that load and still fit through the locks of the Saimaa Canal and the shallows of the Saimaa lake system ..."



You seem to be in a good mood, Ilmari?
"Silmätähti!? I didn't know that you can reach out that far!"
Neither did I, but then again, I've never before had someone to try with. Your meeting with the Swedish military is over, I take it?
"Indeed it is, and I narrowly escaped having to stay with them for dinner. I am to return to Finland at once, with a camouflaged radio, and wait for further instructions."
Wonderful! You made no mention of us, I trust?
"No, of course not. You were right, if they had had the impression that I represent a group of Finns, they would have refused to even talk to me."
Good. Did they ask to receive more photos of our hyppäänalle? You didn't mention them giving you a camera ... ?
"They looked at the one I brought, with scales on its babyface and a forked tongue, and immediately accepted that it's about to cross into a different clade like its mom was. They had me give a wordy description, of course, but no need for further photos."
Any idea where they'll bring it? Do they have secret labs of their own?
"I'm not sure. Nobody openly suggested another site, or tried to have Mora ruled out. By the way, the ship they'll send is officially delivering equipment to the hydroelectric plant at Eno; we got lucky there."
Hah, coincidence! Eno had a bit of trouble today, as I took our little sunshine for a tour ...
"Wait, what!? You risked the staff of that plant seeing it?"
No, no, we never came anywhere near the actual plant! But near the power line from there into Saimaa. As it turns out, junior has ... a certain talent with electricity. We were gone before they sent out someone to check for the cause of the outage, of course.
"Electricity ... ? Interesting. While I'm on my way back, you may want to talk to Marjatta about that. She's a young noita - still a child, actually - on Vasaransaari, with the power line passing nearby, and rumor has it that her magic also interacts with electricity."
Oh? Consider it done, then. If she can provide a plan B to overcome those Swedish electrified fences, I look forward to talk to her eye to eye ...
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Róisín

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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #156 on: April 11, 2021, 02:06:03 AM »
Good one JoB! So that’s where the kade went.....
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #157 on: April 11, 2021, 06:07:33 AM »
Hmm, very very intriguing! I trust the second part will shed at least some more light on all of this!
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #158 on: April 11, 2021, 06:10:54 AM »
Hmm, very very intriguing! I trust the second part will shed at least some more light on all of this!
Spoiler: show

Sorry, no, after all, the "second part" serves an entirely different prompt and was actually written first. You're supposed to work with only the hints included in today's installment. >:D
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #159 on: April 11, 2021, 10:16:17 AM »
Oh, well done! And complete with "references". Most enjoyable (if somewhat chilling) read.  :))
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #160 on: April 11, 2021, 12:50:49 PM »
Dammit JoB don’t even think you are getting out of explaining any of this!

Sevseres your story is lovely! And not wonky in the slightest!
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #161 on: April 11, 2021, 01:07:21 PM »
Dammit JoB don’t even think you are getting out of explaining any of this!
... says the one who should have the least problems to "get" the Finnish terms, for starters ... :P
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #162 on: April 12, 2021, 02:33:48 AM »
Day 17:  Night in the Forest

Vulpes looks back to an early episode in our favourite cleanser's career (not at all inspired by John Denver).


The test

“The night belongs to beasts of prey, and always has. It's easy to forget that when you're indoors, protected by light and solid walls.”
– Cornelia Funke, Inkheart


Cleansers basic training – Week 1


Emil was beginning to suspect that his fondness for cake had put him at a disadvantage. Although the Cleansers were not exactly choosy about their recruits, they did require a basic level of physical fitness. Basic training involved bringing those less fit up to speed. Within the first two days of basic training, he had acquired the nickname “Dumpling”, usually heard in the phrase, “Move it, Dumpling.” He had never run, lifted, carried, and hauled more in his entire life. Every muscle and every joint ached, but he’d be damned if he was going to give up.

Cleansers basic training – Week 3

Emil was still the Dumpling, and he was still bringing up the rear, but now he was among the stragglers rather than a distant last. He had a natural aptitude for all things fire-related, and gained the respect of the other recruits by his fearlessness around explosives. In a couple of weeks time, they would get outside the training compound and do a real-world exercise. He was excited and nervous about it, but confident that he would show them how good he really was.

Cleansers basic training – Week 5

Emil hadn’t realized that their real-world exercise was going to involve spending the night in the forest, alone. He had spent little time outdoors at night, and even then there was always someone’s window in sight. But here there were no lights. The darkness was a physical thing, so thick that he had to push through it. It filled his eyes, his ears, his nose, his mouth, and he felt like he was suffocating. He could hear his rapid, shallow breathing and feel his racing pulse. To help calm down, he closed his eyes – he couldn’t see anything anyway, maybe it would help him forget the pressing darkness.

He was sitting at the foot of a tree, leaning against its comforting trunk. He focused on breathing slowly and deeply, and his heartbeat slowed. He could do this. He would do this. All they had to do to pass the test was to spend the night in the forest and return to the encampment the next morning. He would be fine.

*crack* off to his left.

Emil scrunched his eyes tighter shut, and told himself firmly that it was nothing.

*snap* somewhere in front of him.

He opened his eyes. There was little difference compared with having them closed, although now he noticed that the sky made a slight paleness through the treetops. He scanned around, looking for animal shapes in the darkness. Nothing moved.

*scuffle scuffle* to his right.

He whipped his head around – nothing! He was on a little knoll, and it sounded as though something was circling it. The hair on his arms was standing up, and a trickle of sweat was making its way between his shoulder blades. He clutched his knife tightly.

*crunch crunch crunch* back in front of him.

They had been told only to use light in an emergency. There was a penalty for doing so, and to keep them honest they were each given a torch with a strip of paper glued over the switch. If they used it, there was no way they could hide the fact. Emil fished the torch out of his pack, and held it, like a security blanket.

*scuffle crunch* a bit further left.

Whatever it was sounded closer – it must be zigzagging its way up the knoll towards him! He still couldn’t see any of the dark shapes below him moving. He tried to guess its size based on the sounds and where they appeared to be coming from. Maybe a midsize dog? A small bear?

*snap scuffle* in front of him again.

He couldn’t stand it – there was probably hideous bear beast right in front of him, just about to tear him to shreds, surely that counted as an emergency! He ripped off the paper and turned the torch on.

The reassuring yellow beam shone straight out in front of him, and illuminated… nothing. He carefully swept it back and forth, pointing it down the slope. Finally he saw the gleam of an eye reflecting it back. For a brief instant, his heart raced, until he realized that it was a small, perfectly normal, terrified mouse a hands-breadth from his feet.

He tipped his head back against the tree trunk, switched off the torch, closed his eyes, and groaned. He was never going to live this one down. Then again, he had the rest of the night to come up with a good story.
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #163 on: April 12, 2021, 06:37:48 AM »
Heeh, in the dark all cats are grey, and all other animals are huge beasts :)

We (Finns, that is, but I wouldn't be surprised if the same applied to Swedes) tend to pride ourselves on how we are not afraid of the forests. Forest has rather been the place of safety, where people flee from the villages when the enemy comes. In the SSSS situation this would be very different, with the Rashlings all around. Sad thought  :'(
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Re: Chapter Break Filler - Does a Bear REDACTED in the Woods?
« Reply #164 on: April 12, 2021, 10:54:08 AM »
sevseres, what a fantastic story! Fits perfectly with your (amazing) drawing, and...
*wipes eyes, again*
...and captures very well Lalli's way of seeing things. Well done!

JoB, that's very interesting! I don't recall reading any story from you. Is that a first?
I really like it, with all those references and details, that show how carefull you were with the setup. And that twist on the final part... :)  As Jitter I'd really like to know more.

Vulpes... I'm still laughing about it! So very very Emil! (While I'm sure that as someone that never slept a night outside solid walls I'd probably feel exactly like Emil, and also probably take less time to use the torch... ). But now I want more of Emil training and cleansing times!

Thank you all so much! :)
Chapter break survivor: :chap20: :chap21: :A2chap01: :A2chap02: :A2chap03: :A2chap04: :A2chap05:
Languages: :pt: :br: Capable: :gb: Can read and survive: :es: Knows a bit: :fr: :it:

proud member of the Sigrun Eide for God-Emperor of the Universe Society