Date: December 1, 1998
Place: Beach - South of Ettowealona Territory
Cast: LittleBear, Spirit-Whisperer
Scene: Earlier, LittleBear had gotten into a fight with StoneCougar, whose desire for her was too possessive. She shifted into bear-form to flee, and Spirit-Whisperer, a halfbreed shapeshifter, followed. After a late-night pursuit through the forest, he has finally caught up to the young graisha. He then teaches her a little bit about the difference between being a shapeshifter and being a graisha, and understanding that difference.

Beach - South of Ettowealona Territory:
      Soft sands from years of gentle ocean currents greet the feet of those who explore the expanse of beach that leads from the wild forest to the edges of ocean. The hushed roar of the waves can be heard, a lulling sound to the attentive ear. The sand stretches out for about a quarter of a mile and is completely barren but for the occasional shell or piece of driftwood. Depending upon the time, you may be graced by the awe-striking sunset, the peaceful glow of the moon, or the comforting rays of the midday sun. Several ocean birds fly overhead, frolicking around and playing in the air, occasionally swooping down towards the ocean surface to retrieve a tasty morsel.
      The ocean itself seems to be calm and relaxing near the shore for several hundred feet before the sands slope harshly and drop. There, the water is rough and tumultuous.

It's night. A golden, autumn moon hangs nearly full over the horizon. The stars have taken on that icy shine brought by winter, yet it's still warm, a light breeze blowing. A big, black shadow lies stretched out on the white sand, a female brown-bear, to every appearance unconscious. Or sleeping.

A silent shape in the night sky, the feathered form of a large owl alights on a sparse branch that overlooks the beach. The trail in the sand from the forest edge to the unmoving bear is as clear as the path of broken vegetation that led from Ettowealona lands. The bird's perch sways gently as it pauses in its pursuit.

LittleBear snorts, finally moving. The bear female has been lying on the ground in that flat manner bears rarely take on when conscious, and not exhausted, yet there she is. Looking around her in a somewhat dazed manner... And then, perhaps seeing no one else around, she shimmers. Shifting back to human shape, a naked graisha lies on the sand.

Just as silently as it arrived, the owl takes flight again, this time gliding over the sand to approach the graisha's prone form. At about five feet away, it flaps to momentarily hover close to the ground, and then the animal's shape twists and grows to quickly reveal Spirit-Whisperer in his humanoid form. A little bit out of breath, he stands over the woman on the sand.

LittleBear brushes sand off her face, looking up at the you. "Who? Oh. Spirit-Whisperer..." Her hair is tousled, and there are marks over her body. Apparently, not even her heavy bear-coat could protect her from every damage in her panicked escape through the forest.

Spirit-Whisperer looks at her severely, concern plainly evident on his face. "Are you seriously hurt?" he asks, "That was some trail you left me to follow..." Apparently deciding that she has no serious injuries, a hint of his usual smile appears.

LittleBear smiles back a little, slowly sitting up though she keeps her legs pulled up beneath her. "No, I'm all right. Just some..." A slight frown. "What's the word? I scrubbed myself raw against some stones, I think."

"Hmm..." Spirit-Whisperer looks her over once more. "You'll survive," he says with more of a smile. After a pause, "You changed back, I see. That's good. Very good."

LittleBear seems to relax a whole lot suddenly, her own previous big smile coming back to play over her mouth as she nods. She should've known better than to even for a moment think Spirit-Whisperer might be coming to yell at her, like StoneCougar did, and that... Fox person. "Because it means I'm not stuck in bear-shape? No. Bear came out because Stone made me feel like he was choking me, and then it got even worse when he wouldn't let me go. I felt cornered."

Listening to her speak, Spirit-Whisperer nods appreciatively. "You listen to Bear speaking and you understand him. You know why he comes to you." Smiling, "That is a big step." He continues, "Many graisha know only that the passion comes. They do not think on why." Blue eyes hold her black ones as he reaches his arm out to offer LittleBear help in standing up.

LittleBear chuckles a little, taking the hand as she rises. "Thank you. It's not that hard. I know how I feel and why I feel it, and then I also know why Bear wants to get out, even if I rarely try to stop him now. My head is clear, except when I go all bear, like I did there. But I almost always remember what happens."

Nodding, Spirit-Whisperer offers, "That is the next step." A hand goes to the woman's back as he attempts to turn and walk with her toward the surf. "After realizing, one must prepare for the urge and then fight it." He shakes his head as he says, "And fighting it is sometimes the hardest part."

LittleBear walks along, pulling her hands restlessly through her mohawk, combing. "Yes, but... It feels good, to be bear? To let it loose. I hurt all over those times I fight it back." She doesn't say 'tries to fight it back,' but 'I fight it back.' As if she's never found herself to fail when she does try it.

Spirit-Whisperer chuckles a little. "What exactly feels good to you? Being a bear, or letting yourself give in to Bear's urging." His eyes narrow. "They are two separate things, you know, even though one does lead to the other." He continues with her in a direct route to the waves, bare feet barely making marks in the packed, wet sand.

LittleBear idly takes down one hand to click a claw against her fangs in thought. "Hmm. Being a bear is wonderful. The other I'm not certain of... I haven't thought of the two in that way before."

He's smiling broadly now. "To feel life in the shape of an animal is a magnificent sensation," Spirit-Whisperer relates with some excitement in his tone, "There is nothing like feeling air under your wings... or feeling the raw power of one of the great hunters." His eyes are alight. "Or whatever it is that the form offers." A slight pause for emphasis, then, "That is where the thrill lies. No one will dispute that. But does Raven demand to me the times that I should change?" He waits a bit for an answer to the scholarly question.

LittleBear shakes her head even before the question is really finished, her reply coming after a polite pause. "No, he doesn't. You're shapeshifter, not graisha. But what do you do when both oneself and Bear or Raven or Cougar feel the same way about something? That is very hard to fight. And that's mostly how it is with me. I get angry and want to fight, and Bear get angry and wants to fight--I want to flee, Bear wants to flee as well. How do I separate what I want from what Bear is saying I want?"

A wave thrusts itself up onto the sand, and the shallow sheet of water quickly surrounds the pair's bare feet. Spirit-Whisperer angles the direction of their walk to be parallel to the shoreline. "That is a very tricky thing. And that very thing is what separates the Shapeshifter from the graisha." He's on a roll now. "When you're a graisha, Bear tells you to flee, but if you're a magician, you tell the same to Bear. In the same way, if you are stronger, you choose when to change, but if Bear is stronger, he chooses."

LittleBear holds her hands up, frowning slightly as she tries to explain, both to him as well as herself. "But how do I do that? I haven't tried to do that for so long, to separate myself from Bear... How do I know when I choose and when he chooses?"

Spirit-Whisperer shakes his head, "Ah, child, you have so far to go." He separates himself from her and skips playfully into shin-deep water. With a grin, he says, "You can only know that when you know that, I'm afraid. Experience may be able to help you see." He bends over to trail his hands through a passing swell. "Think on your fight with StoneCougar. Did you fight the change?"

LittleBear nods slowly, ears flattening slightly. "Yes, because of what you said to him. But I still wanted to flee, and then when Bear tried to get out... I didn't fight it as much as I could've, I suppose."

"That was good for you, then," Spirit-Whisperer continues, "And it also holds part of the answer to the question you just asked." He lifts his now-wet hands up to the sides of his neck and brushes them against his gills. "You know that was Bear who chose to change. And you also know that you chose not to. And finally, you know that Bear is stronger." He looks at her to measure a reaction.

LittleBear is already shaking her head in reply. "No, that's not right. I didn't fight Bear as much as I could've. The urge to get away from Stone was stronger than wanting to show you I could resist. If I hadn't changed... I wouldn't have been able to get out of there." Pausing in her steps momentarily, she idly digs at the wet sand. A crab lifts its claws up in defense, the hole it had dug out now invaded, left open.

Spirit-Whisperer is chuckling, "So you're telling me that you can control the change when you want to?" Amused eyes regard her.

LittleBear shakes her head, smiling in reply as her shoulders shrug. "I'm saying that I don't know? I've never been in a situation where I really didn't want to do something Bear told me to. Bear and LittleBear's personalities are so close--he gets angry and I get angry, I get scared and he gets scared. They are two separate things, yes, but so close sometimes I don't know where when one begins and the other ends."

He backs away from her toward slightly deeper water. Still smiling, Spirit-Whisperer says, "It's how you get to the result that is important. Is it you or is it Bear that takes control when you are in a tense situation? As I said, telling the difference takes experience, but realize that Bear will cause a change and react if he is in control. If you are in control, you will react, and then maybe choose to change."

LittleBear crouches down on the sand, still facing him though idly picking up the stupidly not-fleeing crab to examine it closer. As the claws of the soon-to-be-seafood picks the air just a few inches from her nose, the graisha nods. "I'll try to find out, Spirit-Whisperer. Somehow. Stone'd better not try something again for a while, though. I didn't like that situation one bit."

Satisfied for now, Spirit-Whisperer crouches in the ocean, then lies back to submerge himself momentarily. A few seconds later, he's up again and walking toward the graisha. "Do think about it. As long as you use your reason, you are keeping the feral side at bay." He stops in front of her and adds, "Now I must be going back. I am expected soon, I think."

LittleBear nods, smiling a little as she holds the crab out to him with raised eyebrows. "I'll do that. Want something to eat while you're walking?"

Spirit-Whisperer laughs, shaking his head. "No thank you. I won't be walking. Be well." Then he takes a step back in the direction of the forest, and with a shimmering change, he's once again an owl, quietly winging its way through the night as hints of dawn are just beginning to show on the horizon.

FIN  

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