Pagan Gods: Of Brotherhood and War

00:41 Garras: There's a curious rhythm afoot, as the bear takes steps through the forest, measured and slow, taking note of the splotch of moss and the dust pattern in betweens, and the catch of light on a long ebonstaff filigreed with silver, its blunted cylindrical ends swirling metal up into bear heads on each end, and stepping slowly, breath even and calm, an ebb and flow of air current that makes his sable pecs rise, the centered white blaze compressing with every exhale.
00:50 Big_Gus: A snout rises as a scent tickles the hairs within. Snuffles deeply as he gathers himself to his full height and tests the thick air around him. A paw reached down to scritch at the cord, newly wrapped down around his orbs, as he scents all around. A direction comes to him, the thicker, deeper nuances to the musk coming from this area leading him, literally by the nose. A long stride takes him quickly through the trees, skilled in passing through unseen when the need arises as the brown, scarred ursine darts forward. As he reached the edge of a familiar clearing he spies the darker bear, wondering, spinning what looks to be a staff of dark wood. He crouches and watches, waiting to see what comes....
00:56 Garras: The bear sways his weight in a way, that being staffless would disallow, his stagger step an unnatural gait, slow and yet determined as he follows a giant anteater. The long crescent snout, the curl of thick digging claws.. shagged and yet ambling, the beast finds a fallen log and its pointed nose snuffles as it peers curiously and begins to scrabble with his claws. The bear appears silent but there's a subsonic rumbling, a pitch only bears vocalize on. <<Welcome, brother Gus>> The bear's mouth a stoic line as his nose twitches and his shoulders hunker watching the anteater slick out its tongue at some treasure trove of bustling insects revealed by the scrape of claw. The bear's knuckles gnarled and thick around his staff as his fingers slowly grip.
01:03 Big_Gus: Hunkered on thick, gnarled haunches watching his fellow Bear follow this anteater around until it stops to eat. His head tilts to the side as the deeper bones in his ears vibrate to the sounds he has not heard for so long since living in the human world. The brown Bear lifts his head forward and the rumbling utters from deep within his throat, the anteater undisturbed in its quest to devour a meal. <<Well met, Brother Garras. What brings you to this place?>> He keeps himself still as only a bear can when in the forest so as not to disturb whatever ritual, or watching his fellow ursine is partaking in.
01:11 Garras: The anteaters tongue is rife with forty or fifty termites for a single whitespeckled pinktongue moment before being slipped back into its maw as it leans back in and goes fishing once more, the bear smiling to himself before slowly standing upright, his shoulders squaring, dappled in forest sunlight and shadow, bones creaking and popping.. enough to make the anteater lift its head to look at the bear, but the bear is already ambling away while it returns to its feast, the black bear's staff lifting and laid upon his shoulder, swaying its end so as to avoid low hanging vines with cavalier sway. Until he comes to Gus, that ursine channel filtering with an unfamiliar cadence until the memory of sub sonic chuckle rises, bubbling up from the guttural murk. "Simply embracing our grounds, brother." He speaks audibly, hardly more than murmur, but its loud, compared to their guttural channel as he flickers a broad toothy grin. "Your spoor is quickly becoming a part of the forest fabric."
01:20 Big_Gus: The brown bear begins to shift in the dark shadows of the undergrowth, slowly, without effort going from hunkering to standing with a silence that would be threatening to another. A slow step forward brings him into step with his brother as they pace through the dappled light. Sunlight playing across thick fur, lighting golden eyes with a flash of fire. His snout ruffles as scents catch his attention and he files them away as dwellers of this place. "This one is grateful to be becoming part of this place so rapidly. A purpose needed has been granted and I too am learning embrace the lands that I am now sworn to protect" No glances to either side as he strides with purposed next to the black bear. Paws silent on the leaves and brush.
01:30 Garras: The bear's dark brown oaken eye traces over Gus with purpose, until he comes to the bear's side and Garr looks ahead, silent trust as they weave through the trees, past large moss riddled stone cubes, over the twisted roots that cross the forest floor. "Your strength is welcome here." The bear murmurs as the symphony of cicada, a loud monkey's howl, and the rumbled snarl of spotted jaguar mother silently baring fangs while cubs peek between her legs. "I see that you have spoken with Minot and his presence has anchored you. It is good." The bear cocking his head with a smile as the mouth of the forest opens up to white sands and fallen trees, a jewel of a shining lake refracting scales of light on rippling waves. The sand warm and crunch whispered under foot. "I doubt you've come across many enemies here." The bear stopping at the line of the shore were the trickle flow of tide soaks his pads before ebbing back towards the lake, a distant promontory looming with a cave behind.
01:39 Big_Gus: Garr's presence eases the brown bears mind and allows him to learn more about his new home with each step. New sights, creatures, sounds and scents assail his senses, but his training allows him to file them away with ease. As they step out of the trees his step falters for a moment at the sheer beauty of this place. A low sigh of wonder, contentment and maybe more escapes him as his head turns from side to side, taking in the whole vista. Almost missing the first words from his Brother, he once more forces himself to resume his steps as he nods. Then as his eyes turn to the cave, a shiver ripples across the dense fur. "What is that place? Why have you bought me here?"
01:44 Garras: The black bear can't help but flicker a small smile. "You feel it." The ursine sweeping the horizon before settling too upon the cave. "It has no name. What it is, is more than a name, pure as memory, pure as synchoncity. Here, where the past is as alive to me as the present and the future."
01:50 Garras: The bear slowly angles the staff off his shoulder and with a short jut, the staff sticks into the wet silt as the bear slowly reaches for his worn leather eyepatch and removes it before tying it to the staff, the wind here enough that it sways that patch. And for a moment, it's hard to recognize what's different.. a moment of confusion as there is no white of eye behind his patch, a seeming void until the glint of light on his black glass obsidian eye registers that his socket is not empty.. the surface seemingly polished to a mirror shine as the bear rolls his shoulders back and cracks his neck from side to side. "That cave is where my first brother gave himself to me of his own volition. I brought you here, because this place is why the Pagan wood is important to me. To show you a place that did not exist here until I crossed the misted edge of this forest." The bear slowly shuts both his eyes and inhales the salted air, a slow drawing in of breath that lasts a minute.
02:02 Big_Gus: The brown ursine watches this, listens to the revelation of his new Brother. His eyes dart once more to the polished orb within the recess of the sable face and then roam over the tight features of the grizzled face before him. A large, rough paw lifts and plants on one muscled shoulder and as it sinks into the dark fur he watches as his brother seeks calm. Not wanting to break the quiet quest for serenity he senses within Garr he stands, showing his Brother he is with him and will stand with him through all. Moments pass and he cannot stay quiet any longer. "Garr, who was this FIrst Brother you speak of? How did he give himself to you? You bought this place with you? How?" Questions tumble like stones down a mountainside as a need to know hits the brown bear. Something has happened here.......Something that could threaten the peace he wishes to keep for all of the dwellers here. His jaw clenches to stop more questions pouring forth as he searches around for anything.....
02:02 Big_Gus: that may be coming as he waits for Garr to recover.
02:12 Garras: The bear exhales his breath. "His name was Konu. Konu Vanistok. And this is the place where I took his right eye." Garr's eyes half lid as he waves away the other questions, his chest rising and falling with breath before turning and looking Gus in the eyes head on. "It doesn't really matter how far we go, Gus. We never truly escape out pasts. They come with us. Blending illusion and reality, they follow in our wake, even as we look toward the future." The bear looks back towards that cave. "There, where I lived with my carnal brother Fen. There, where I carved my sin into my brother. Here, where I tell you that you have not met many monsters here. Here, where I tell you I am one of those monsters." The bear smiling ever so slightly. "May you never know the violence it took for me to become this gentle, brother Gus."
02:21 Big_Gus: The brown bears eyes sparkle with barely held back tears, of rage, pain, sadness, who can tell as thick lids slowly descend to quell the tide before it starts. An ache begins deep within, an itch that was thought to be scratched and dealt with. Normally golden eyes darken to slate as the great ursines head lowers. His own intake of breath is ragged and slow. The paw resting on his brothers shoulder tenses once before it is withdrawn and drops heavily to his side. "If such things make you a monster........then you stand next to another. We each of us have done things that we are not proud of. Some were needed and yet eat at the soul once done. They persist within and become a knot in our core and twists us into the absolute need to peace and my need to protect" The bear turns and stares across the lake.
02:29 Garras: The bear says nothing at first. There is nothing to say, nothing to do but listen, beast standing next to beast. And then the black bear turns to face Gus and reaches out with his right paw to grip the fellow ursine's forearm. "I am the monster. I am the man. I am the Zen Gardener and the slow regard of silent things. My brother..." The bear smiles but its a fragile, paperthin curl. "In you, I see more than just the monster. And someday, I hope you find the acceptance.. the peace and grace I know." The bear opens his other arm, wide with acceptance for a hug. "I just wanted you to know, that you were not alone. You are the you that you can be, and I embrace you as brother all the same."
02:39 Big_Gus: At first the bear stands, not moving, except for the shaking he cannot control. Slowly he gains control and with a final shudder he turns at this new Brothers words. A rush of movement as he folds himself into the embrace of his darker furred sibling. Jaw clenched as his long arms encircle Garr and hold him, no words utter forth, just a long shuddering breath. As the brown bear pulls back, his paws resting on Garrs shoulders. Eyes lock with the singular and just a brief nod of acknowledgement. "I need to be alone for a while Brother. Your words spark meaning, and meaning will take form into thought and maybe acceptance in time. For this moment I need to walk. I will look for you soon and we may talk if it pleases you"
02:42 Garras: The bear welcomes that embrace with the same gravity with which it is given. When their eyes lock the bear nods, meeting your gaze with oak and onyx. "You are free to do as you will here brother. As am I. As are the others." The bear turning once more to look at the lake and grip the haft of his staff in his right hand. "You know how to find me."
02:46 Big_Gus: A smirk cracks the grim facade of the brown bear for a brief moment. "Aye your scent is unmistakable for sure. I will find you as I need you, or you find me as need arises." The brown locks eyes with the sable for one last moment before turning and with grim determination sets off amongst the trees, fading into the shadows with practiced ease.
02:48 Garras: The bear does not turn to watch his ursine brother leave. He shuts his eyes and his tail nub wags slightly, as unseen as the melt of form into wood, and a true genuine smile forms on his lips as he begins to make his own trek towards the cave, the tep of his staff wet with moist sand.

Published: 2022-09-26, viewed 58 times.