Of Bears and Vantha [Solo]

[Jaiun]

37th Fall 511 AV.

"Up and at 'em, cub! Syna's light waits for no one, least of all you!"

Oh, how Jaiun hated his commander some days.

She'd woken him up at the break of dawn, first off. Normally, Jaiun wold have been fine with that. However, it was the first rest he'd gotten in two days, as the past few days had been a bit...hectic. He'd just come off a long shift at the Icewall Gates the night before, and had been looking forward to a much-deserved rest at the barracks...only to have it interrupted by a fiery Vantha woman with a penchant for tirelessly working the troops under her command (read: his superior officer).

Needless to say, Jaiun was not perhaps the happiest person that morning.

"What do you see?"

"...People."

Rafresa Frostfawn clicked her tongue against the bottom of her mouth when she heard Jaiun's answer. She was a lithe and slim Vantha, nearly as tall as Jaiun, a form which hid the taunt muscles hidden beneath the graceful exterior. Locks of her short black hair were sent flying as she shook her head in mock disappointment, one hand placed sprightly on her leather-clad hip. Her eyes, a light shade of orange, glimmering with a cheery light as she looked over the rather irascible Jaiun.

"They aren't just 'people', Jaiun." Jaiun's watch commander corrected him, thrusting her arm out to gesture towards the throngs of Vantha that stood around them. The Kelvic polar bear and Rafresa stood at the edge of one of Avanthal's busiest thoroughfares, on the edge of a literal sea of people meandering back and forth over the ice-crusted street. The business day had just began, the sun lighting up the street and picking out all those who walked it.

"They're suspects. One and all. Once you begin your watch, Jaiun, you take up a solemn vow to defend Morwen's city against any and all aggresors. Each and every one of these people could be a threat towards the fragile peace we keep within these walls, and you are the only one who can stop them, Jaiun. Do you understand?"

Jaiun merely grunted in response to Rafresa's words, an expression of unfathomable lassitude struggling to overcome his face.

Rafresa, perhaps interpreting Jaiun's body language correctly, frowned in his general direction, a fiery expression dawning on her face.

"Does the big bad polar bear think he already knows this, that this exercise has no point?"

Jaiun shook his head and, breaking out of his lethargy, attempted to explain,

"Commander, it's simply been a long night, and I-"

"No! I can see you don't think this is worthwhile. Very well. We shall see if that is the case." Rafresa abruptly turned her back on Jaiun and started to walk away.

He followed, a bit alarmed as to see what Rafresa might have in mind.

"All right. In the next ten chimes, I want you to find and capture me. Use whatever means necessary to do so, so long as they do not break Avanthal law. That is all." She tossed back the words over her shoulder, not even looking at Jaiun. "If you do, you can go back to the barracks and have a nice long rest. If you do not...a double shift at the Icewall Gates."

A double shift? Damn, damn, damn... "Commander, come now, I didn't mean..."

"We begin now."

And just like that, Rafresa was gone. A second it took her to slip into the crowd and disappear, and but for only one another second, Jaiun could see her bob of hair dipping and weaving within the crowd of Vantha. And then she had disappeared altogether.

Now fully awake, Jaiun leaped into the crowd. He walked around for what seemed much more than a minute only to end up where he started, hopelessly confused.

Jaiun groaned. This was going to be a long day.

[Jaiun]

"Has a tall woman with her hair in a ponytail passed by here?"

The boy shrugged, his messily cut black hair falling down into his purple eyes.

"I sees lots of Vantha women. Wussit worth too ya?"

Jaiun sighed wearily.

When it had first come to him, asking around if anyone had seen Rafresa had seemed a brillant idea. Now, confronted by the people of the streets, it didn't seem so brillant.

"Here's a miza, kid. Now, have you seen her or not?"

The boy's eyes lit up as he accepted the gemstone, turning to a happy shade of yellow. He kept his attention focused on the coin even as he spoke to Jaiun,

"There was this one lady, she walk by only a minute or so ago. Tall woman. Orange eyes." The boy looked up, frowned. "I didn't like her eyes."

Jaiun waved his hand impatiently. "And...?"

"Her hair was in a pony...pany...tied back."

Jaiun started to get excited. This was sounding more and more like Rafresa by the second. "And...? Where did she go?"

A strange expression filled the boy's face, then disappeared as soon as it had come. Tucking his miza into a pocket of his furs, the boy pointed north, down the road. "She walked that way, then turned into that alleyway." He said, avoiding Jaiun's gaze.

"Thanks, cub." The boy frowned at the odd epithet, by Jaiun had already moved on by now, eagerly moving in the direction the boy had pointed. He didn't notice the burly Vantha that stopped down after him to talk to the boy, nor the way the man's eyes turned to a deep shade of red as the boy whispered in his ear.

After working his way down the street, the bear paused at the alleyway, listening for sounds within. It was hard to tell with all the noise of the street just behind him, and all Jaiun could see was a snow-covered passageway between the two houses the abutted the alley. If Rafresa was in there, she was further in.

"What the petch..." Jaiun muttered, and moved forward. A bit cautiously (for one could never tell what that crazy Vantha was thinking) Jaiun moved into the alleyway.

He was halfway down the alley when he heard the footsteps. Not in front of him, as he had hoped; no, from behind.

Abruptly, Jaiun stopped and turned. Two men, muscular and dressed in raggedy cloaks, had followed him into the alley, blocking Jaiun from leaving via that way. Naked daggers were held in their hands.

Jaiun growled, exposing his long canines. A sound behind him alerted him to the presence of more people. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the boy, followed by another man with a full-on sword in his hands and red eyes burning in his head. Trapped on all sides. Jaiun realized the connotations. But why would they follow him, an Icewatch bear?

"Where do you think you're going, tikita?"

And suddenly, Jaiun knew what was going on. His human form was tall, blond, and pale. Unlike that of the other bears and even the Vantha. And so these men had taken him for a outsider. A very ambush-able outsider.

He groaned. This was exactly what he didn't need right now.

[Jaiun]

OoCBolded text is Common. Italicized text is Vani.

Laughter came from the two behind Jaiun as they heard their leader's comment, but the man quickly shut them up with a shout in Vani.

"Quiet, you fools! I want this over with." The red-eyed man turned back to Jaiun, eying the bear with loathing.

The man glanced at his young companion, putting his hand behind the boy's back and roughly pushing him forward. "Go and get the man's mizas." The man said.

The boy's eyes widened. "Me? Ieiug, no..." he pleaded, "I can't do that..."

Ieiug's eyes turned a darker shade of red, and the Vantha man's eyes jutted together. Unexpectedly, he brought his sword up to the boy's thin throat.

"Listen, Erim, you little shit. If you don't get me and get that man's money, I'll slice your throat." So saying, the man removed the sword from the boy's throat, shoving him forward.

"Alright, warmblood, just give us all your mizas, and nothing will happen to you. If not...well, I think you know what will happen." The man said, addressing Jaiun this time. "My friend here will come up to you- just give your money to him. Just don't make us do anything rash." The man smiled, exposing yellow teeth.

"I don't think you don't want me to do anything rash."

Jaiun's comment, as well as the fact it was spoken in Vani, stunned everyone into silence and froze the young boy, Erim, in his place. Unsure, he looked back at his boss, but Ieiug just laughed.

"So the tikita has a pair! And speaks Vani, too. Too bad that doesn't change anything." The man's smile turned horrible as his eyes connected with Erim's. "Go on, boy, just do it! the red-eyed man spat.

Erim's shoulders slumped, and he turned back to Jaiun. His eyes were now a scared shade of yellow. For the first time, Jaiun actually sized up the boy; his furs were torn and ripped and in places merely patched-together. His hair was ratted and a literal bird's nest. Something about the piteous state of the adolescent told Jaiun robbing strangers was not something the boy had chosen willingly.

As he drew near, Erim mouthed a silent 'I'm sorry' at Jaiun. This, combined with all the other things, was probably what was convinced Jaiun to spare the boy's life.

A sudden hand flashed outward, hitting the boy in the cheek and sending him reeling. Even as his hand continued it's arc, Jaiun was shifting; clothes ripped
as the huge polar bear suddenly appeared.

He didn't like destroying the clothes, but to overcome the odds of being three against one, he needed to be in bear form, and there was no time to save the clothes. Without a second thought, the bear left the tattered remains of his uniform were it was and launched himself as the two men behind him.

The first man was too slow to react, having been stunned by what just happened. Jaiun's shaggy polar bear form collided with his, breaking several bones on impact and sending him flying.

The other man, on the other hand, had managed to break out of his inertia, and, with a wild cry, leaped forward and stabbed his dagger into Jaiun's side.

The nerve! He managed to miss, actually, coming in from a weird angle and only managed to cut through Jaiun's shaggy fur. Nonetheless, he required attention.

A sudden turn wrenched the dagger out of the man's hands as Jaiun's sharply turned, coming around to face this new attacker. His claw flashed across the man's stomach, stained red as they came out. Blood spurted from the cuts as the man collapsed to the floor, the red liquid staining the icy ground.

Only one foe left. Jaiun turned, looking for him. The boy lay, stunned, in the side of the alley, but none stood near him. Jaiun looked farther down the alley, and finally spotted Ieieg; he was running away from Jaiun, nearly halfway down the alley already. The bear gave a savage smile.

The man had about two seconds for a scream before the bear bounded down on top of him.

---

A couple minutes later, a young human with brownish-blond hair came back to the sight of the fight, dragging a unmoving form behind him. He deposited the figure in the middle of the alley with a distasteful expression. The burly Vantha was merely unconscious, moreso from terror than anything else. The young man almost wanted to chew the guy up, but he knew that would be the easy way out for that piece of trash.

The man stood up and brushed his naked legs off. His eyes focused on the boy to the side of the alleyway. A hand-shaped bruise was quickly blossoming on his cheek, but he paid no attention to that. The boy was watching the young man with fear plain on his face.

Jaiun sighed. "Get out of here, cub, before I take everything in this alleyway to Svanhildur." The boy took the hint, He booked it.

"And keep the miza." Jaiun called after him, and then turned around to collect the other two bodies.

[Jaiun]

Rafresa was waiting for him back at the barracks, as Jaiun knew she would be.

It took him a total of about half a bell to finally reach home after the incident in the alley. He had to make a trip to Whitevine Hold to drop off his three friends, with express orders they were to be delivered to Svanhildur after they were patched. Then, Jaiun had to make the long journey back from the Whitevines to the Icewatch Barracks. During which it started snowing again. Petch.

She was standing in the doorway of the barracks, her slim figure casually propped up against the door. Her eyes flickered between several colors as she considered the bedraggled Jaiun before her.

"Nice to see you, cub!" She said brightly. "You look a little beat-up. I'm sure the boys at the Gates will be able to fix that right up, though."

The Vantha woman took in the shocked expression on Jaiun's face. "Oh, you didn't think I would hold up the deal just because you shouted up with a couple of bruises, did you?" she said smugly.

Jaiun's hands rolled up into fists. "Rafresa, I was-"

"Commander, you mean." she corrected swiftly. "Hop to it, cub. Your shift begins in ten minutes."

The woman opened the door behind her and started to walk in, pausing two steps in and looking back.

"By the way, thanks for dealing with those thugs for me. They've been causing quite a trouble in that district lately."

Rafresa smiled when she heard Jaiun's exhausted groan, and closed the door behind her.

FIN

[Cheshire]

Character: Jaiun Experience: Observation +1, Interrogation +1, Tracking +1, Intimidation +2, Brawling +2 Lore: Looking like an Outsider, Rafresa [Basic] Additional Note: Is it bad that I kinda like Rafresa? Great thread. PM me with concerns.