Collecting himself after witnessing the spectacle of "lucy" performing his "Surgery", which he had been careful not to watch closely because of how grotesque it was in his opinion, (and putting thoughts about that old goat taking mama apart like that, no matter how effective the process may have been, out of his mind) he purposefully strained his eye at where the only person seemingly older than himself was prodding at a wall intently.
The feeling of danger in the room had subsided, but not completely left. Darkness was quickly overtaking the room again, as the elf-girl's fires began sputtering and going out.
Fighting back his terror enough, he made the belated contact he had been deeply yearning for this entire traumatic time. Mama was the same as ever, if a bit testy. She Thought it was good how he had not hesitated to take on that "whirling thing", as it was something she did not fancy running into in the dark. She wondered if he had seen it prior, and that's why he was so scared earlier. He did his best to explain that the darkness had nearly robbed him of all his useful senses except hearing, and that he could only hear it in the dark. He had been unable to determine its size or even its true distance, just a general direction. He was honest-- He had wanted the two of them to be near the exit, in case they needed to run. She indicated her agreement with that line of thinking, while slipping a pointed question in along with it-- why *had* he moved further into the room, to roll the strange smelling container of "plant juice" to the stupid deer? He felt his mind train-wreck, then did his best to straighten it out, and explain. The concepts of keeping a group together, and not needlessly butchered, even if they are being young and stupid, were hard for her to grasp. Bears are not truly social creatures, and males even practice infanticide and other unsavory things. The collage from mama, as she tried to make sense of what he was sending her, finally resolved into at best, an approximation of the idea--- A mama bear will shepherd and protect her cubs, and the cubs will stick together for awhile after she thinks they are grown enough to be on their own, and she leaves them. That was a thing she was familiar with, and knew very well. It formed the basis of this new understanding about 2 legged things-- Perhaps they never really grow up? She could tell hers was older, had a stronger and more mature scent, and carried himself like one who was well experienced about the world. She was glad that the one she had picked at least understood how to take care of itself, but was still floored that he would take a risk like that for a "cub" that was too foolish for its own good, and one that wasn't even his to begin with.
Jack let it go-- he did not try to correct her. He felt it was the closest to understanding she was probably capable of; The subtleties of how humans interract, and how stupid they are when they are young, would have only confused her further. Still, she persisted with the questioning.
He tried to explain, that humans live a very long time (comparatively), and that because humans were capable of so many dangerous and also wonderful things, young ones often think they can take on, or accomplish anything. He rubbed his face where his eyepatch was, and carefully formed a concept, indicating that hard experiences as one ages, teaches the truth, and helps them learn their true strengths and true limits.
She radiated amusement at that, before returning to the question-- Why care for/about a young-one that was not his own cub? The concept was so alien to her, she could not wrap herself around it. The closest she could come, was that had hidden mothering impulses that needed satisfying because he had spent too much time "alone", and needed to go chasing after females to satisfy it properly. (With a strong shot of lewd undercurrents and indecent suggestions that made his cheeks hot.) She felt it was more appropriate for him to make his own cubs, and care for those, than to try and get killed looking after cubs that weren't his, and had already been let loose into the world to finish growing up.
Where to start?..... The implications she was throwing at him had him flustered so many different ways...
After what seemed a long time (at least to him anyway), he settled on an answer, as best he could. Each individual human was unique, and different, in terms of what they could do, and could not do. Rather than live alone (like he did), most live in close proximity to each other, to leverage those differences for the greatest group benefit. Jack indicated the old-goat, as he was working on Dixie, and pointed out how he seemed physically frail, but could do --- THAT--- then amended that he himself had no idea how to even begin doing something like that. Jack suffused the answer with the raft of emotions he had been keeping down; He was worried about the Clever-girl, and felt powerless watching her succumb to the dangers in this darkened place, and while he greatly was disturbed by what was.. ..going on... over there, the old goat was repairing the damage quickly and efficiently. He nuzzled mama, and amended-- that the old goat had done HIM a good turn, by taking the source of mama's pain out of her, coupled with the bundled up carpet of emotions he felt about the idea of her being 'unraveled' and 'put back together again' in order to accomplish it-- The saving grace, being that she was whole, and healthy, and not in pain any more. Without the old goat around.....
His thoughts turned dark, but mama nudged him and told him to stop- but she had some idea at least why humans would stick together like that, even if the idea of mutual benefits as payment to cover for individual deficits, and living-- permanently-- as a group, were alien to her. There was an undercurrent in her demand though, a silent doubt and wonder, just what someone/thing like "the old goat" gets out of performing such a service, or what the group was expected to give in return. The thought made Jack shudder-- He responded honestly-- he did not know.
She kept plying him with questions though-- What this group got from him, aside from his showing them how to get food (which their mothers should have already taught them, before setting them loose), and why he had suddenly decided to change his habits, and join this group-- so many hard things for him to answer in ways she could understand.
By the end of it, he was convinced she had formed a solid and concrete view about it, that was definitely distorted and skewed away from what the reality was. But at least she was happy with those answers.
He scratched in her thick fur, feeling the bits of mud drying in it, before brushing his hands over his own fur clothing, and feeling the mud doing the same there. He asserted to Mama that they would need to get clean at some point. She mused that he should just lick himself, and not overthink it. This whole exchange had been nothing but one difficult (or embarrassing) topic after another-- and this was just one more to add to the heap-- He informed her that humans... Cant do that. Mama boggled at him, much like she had done when he had admitted that his nose sucked, and he couldnt smell much other than the strongest scents. She wondered how it was he ever survived alone, if he couldn't even clean himself. He chuckled inwardly, despite himself, before responding that, while it had been a long time since he had been able to do it, humans DID have ways of cleaning themselves, it just took more work, and required them to make use of their skills and abilities to alter the environment. Mama was suddenly a whirling collage of images, and confusing ideas, as her imagination ran wild with the idea. She had seen humans literally unknitting and then reshaping one another, and others producing fire out of nothingness and hurling it into the dark. When Jack had suggested "altering the environment", this kind of thing is exactly what came to her mind-- and it disturbed her-- she did NOT want jack to try getting her clean.
Jack broke contact, and laughed into his hands, trying to keep it under control, before fighting the emotion down, and connecting with her a second time.
He informed her about the concept of a "bath", and how it was 'kinda' like getting into the waters of a river or a lake, and getting the dirt off that way, only you could do it year-round, even in the winter, and the water was warm, not cold. He did the best he could to explain it, but mama just got more confused. Rather than keep on, he just told her he would show her when they got back-- Surely the humans in the village had the needed things for it, and he would need it when they got back. That piqued her interest, as she demanded that he had better not disappoint her with the demonstration, or come out smelling icky. Jack chuckled again, and scratched her head, and nuzzled her, before gently chewing her ear in affection.
She was such a silly old bear, and she thought he was such a silly and strange old thing.
The thought crossed his mind that they could be silly and strange together, and he liked it.
He looked into the gloom again. The old "doctor" shoved on the wall he was fiddling with, and to jack's astonishment, it swung in. This revelation was disrupted by clever girl suddenly bolting upright-- the work the Old Goat had been doing apparently finished. A wave of relief washed through him. He liked the clever girl. Probably more than he did the others. He wasn't sure why. He as just glad she as OK. The old goat started talking to clever girl, and things seemed alright, but he still had that instinctual distrust he could not put his finger on. It bothered him. Especially after Mama's question. He pushed it out of his thoughts, then stretched.
He stood up from crouching on the floor next to mama, bent over to rub his face on hers one more time affectionately, before grasping his walking stick in one hand, and leaning on the wall with the other, and tracing a path, rapping on the floor tiles in front of him with the stick as he felt his way along, toward the strange light leaking out of the secreted room at the far end. He was curious what the doctor had found over there, and in higher spirits, now that he had spent some time with Mama. Nothing seemed to work quite like it.
He really liked that old bear.
The sound of wood clanking against stone flooring, and shuffling of his hands along the wall faded into the gloom as he shuffled away from the stairs.
Mama sniffed to catch his scent as he went, shook her big head in mild frustration at him, then laid down to wait. She knew he'd be back; but the idea of his going to check on "the cubs" was just so silly to her. She waddled in a small circle, then landed on the stone floor with a plop.
He'd be back.
She wondered if he would look after her cubs like that.. then wondered if she would be able to let him get close enough to find out... For the first time ever, she began questioning her own instinctual behaviors.... Having another minder around really WOULD be helpful... but.. He was a male... and....
She sat there and waited, her thoughts going in circles.
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Topic: Mystville [Game Thread] (Read 119946 times)