Jack doubled over as the impression slammed through him. His senses recoiled, and his gripping his stick was the only thing keeping him off the ground. Mama's eyes were showing lots of whites, which was a rare occurrence for a bear. She backed up, and shivered.
He tried to calm her.
Through the connection, he felt a wild dancing whirl of pure terror, concern, the desire to grab him and run whipping around him from her. He did his best to calm it, adding his own fears and doubts, tempered with more-human reasons to resist them.
She felt that you could not win a fight against a storm, or a fire. Forces of nature cannot be killed, you can only run if you want to survive.
He shared with her how the first creature was nearly destroyed. He was worried, but concerned in many complex ways. His biggest concern of all, was for her. Her safety, her life after, even after she one day leaves (as he knows she must, but loves her anyway). It felt like it took an eternity, even though these exchanges happened nearly instantly to outside observers, but he carefully laid out a series of impressions--
Nature exists as a balance. A sudden change, or an invading form of life trying to live where it does not belong, can cause great harm, even death, to nature. It can, in fact, die. -- He is a human; See the village, how their homes mean the death of the trees, and with it, loss of the homes for squirrels and birds. The humans do not mean to harm these, it simply happens, by them living the way they do. As they are, they are harmful to a forest. They can even kill nature, just by indifference. -- He sees this, and by choice, lives differently. Opposes his true nature, and lives as something else. Something that can live with her, without hurting her, or the forest she lives in. He measures every action, against what that outcomes it will cause. Strives to heal damaged balances where he finds them, and preserve them where they exist. -- He expresses compassion, knows this is hard for her to understand. But that he loves her, and so, must face this thing. For her. For her future.
His thoughts shift. He wants to know what will happen if these creatures perish-- How will the forest handle their loss.
Mama tells him that she does not know. They are a new thing; they appeared about the time the pain started.
Jack wraps her frightened mind in duty, honor, purpose, and self-sacrifice tempered with pure love. He intended it to mean that if these things did not protect this place like they should, and refused to see how their actions were harmful, he would remove them like he would an invasive weed, before it could destroy the entire way of life for every creature in a forest. They surely had their place, but if they sought to control and dominate, rather than integrate and sustain (as he did), then they were no better than the ignorant villagers, destroying through ignorance, and that they needed to be stopped.
There was a pause, then he changed his feelings slightly-- If it was a mistake, and they really were needed, he would do their work for them instead. No beast should ever truly fear him, like she feared these things now. If he replaced them, he promised this would be so.
Mama was bewildered. It as too much, too complicated, too fast. His reasons were like watching the sky explode. She was fearful how something could have a mind that worked like his. She just wanted him to be safe, Away from here. She liked the 'simple-him' he always showed her. The one that just wanted to be near, with no other wants.
He responded more simply-- For there to BE a place that was safe, away from here, that the two of them could be in-- He had no choice but to fight. Because he wanted that, more than anything else, He could not run.
There was a sense of conflicting feelings from Mama. She understood that-- barely. She licked his hand, and the connection ended.
Jack looked up the field at the approaching creatures, filled with purpose.
The crowded knot of people he was trapped behind prevented him from closing. Instead, he aimed higher than normal, and tried a long shot.
---
OEJ uses Animal Empathy 1x with Mama
OEJ fires on the creature pinning GSH with deadly force, accepting long-range penalty.
Author
Topic: Mystville [Game Thread] (Read 120059 times)