Completed [Bronze Woods] Beary Interesting Grizzly Situation (Artur)

[Fubuki Kouri]

Lycoris The Bronze Woods, 15th of Bell, 43rd of Summer 513 A.V "Hmmm hmmm~" A seemingly normal little girl with knee-length wavy black hair and vibrant sapphire blue eyes were sitting on the forest floor, near a white rose flower bed, humming happily and watching the flowers. Kouri was in her "human" mode, perfectly materializing herself to be utterly indistinguishable to the naked eye except through various magical means such as Auristics and Spiritism. Touching her with enough physical force could also reveal her soulmist-formed body but if given the time to prepare, she would prepare her soulmist projection to harden at the contact to pass the image of normal 'impact' though. "Ahahahaha~" She was very much happy at this development, her powers had gone to the point where she could remain in a constant materialized state without any problems whatsoever, no tiredness, no fatigue even after hours and hours of keeping the state, it came naturally to her now like turning the back of her hand. This new power of hers... also came with a sinister effect... for those unfortunate enough to cross her, her touch could not only cause physical harm but could actually kills a living being with unbearable deadly frost touch. She could control the degree of her touch so it would only kill only if she wished it to. Her growth was almost conveniently happened just when a bounty was put on her head weeks ago, some man named 'Peython' was offering a reward for her capture, a measly seventy-five gold mizas. Kouri could only snort in disgust, she should worth more than just seventy-five... though seemed tempting, not a single worthy soul had actually accepted the job, she could only wonder why. When a noble put up a public announcement about the bounty on a little girl's head, it tended to drive people away instead of attracting them, a little girl with a bounty? What kind of 'little girl' was she? That was in the mind of the general populace. Not that it matter though, in her nigh perfect disguise, even the knights at the city gates thought of her as an ordinary little girl who was out for a stroll in the Woods, they even asked her if she wanted to be accompanied by a squire, Ha! To protect her identity further - well to protect Rena mainly, Kouri had no qualms about killing every single fool dumb enough to attack her - Kouri went by a new name in her Vantha form, 'Lycoris'. So, Lycoris was just sitting on the ground, enjoying the windy day and the white roses, her very long black hair swaying elegantly in the wind and a happy grin on her healthy-looking face.

[Artur]

If there was one thing Artur couldn't get enough of it certainly was the wilderness that filled the Bronze Woods, he had spent almost everday out here now even though the warmth of the winds heated him up. That was one thing he wanted gone, was the winds that whipped the area and especially the heat it brought. The bear had left his clothes all bundled up under a hidden bush near the entrance back to Syliras, and carefully marched his way through the woods in search of possible foods to come by. He kept a sharp nose out for herbs and spices he could find that grew around the places he walked, with hopes that he might take some back with him when he would decide to head back. But the more relaxing thing to do was lazily stroll on through, go whereever his curiosity took him as he treked the forest floor of the woods.

It just so happened that his sense of hearing could pick up a faint trace in the winds, a small giggle that piqued his interest to the very core. Who would walk out to this part of the wood alone? A knight? A local? A little girl?? Those giggles did match that of a young one, small human gleefully lost in the world she had around her. Perhaps it was just his imagination, maybe he just needed water after the venture he made today. The bear had to know just what it was though, no way could that laughter be his imagination because for one; this had not been Alvadas. Things here were far different, remained the same in it's own different in the end. Alvadas loved to change constantly however, so the idea that the whole world was like Alvadas was hard to let go after a season there. Artur nudged the thought of the city from his head as he followed the giggles till they grew louder, slowly and slowly as he lazily approached the area of the source. He had come to find that there was a bush with white roses, a bush that couldn't help but let that strange yet cute little giggle out.

"The bushes here giggle?" He pondered curiously with a half raised brow, the bear noisily approached the bush and sniffed at it. The scent of the roses filled his nostrils with sweet nectar, almost enough to make him roll his eyes to heavens above. When the bush giggled again he popped back a bit in surprise, brow fully raised from astonishment as his curiosity only increased further. "It's ticklish?! Is the wind tickling this bush? Is that how it giggles?!" He cautiously inched his nose closer, before he sniffed it though another giggle came from behind the bush this time. Intent on seeing if it had been the bush or not he nudged his head through the leaves and twigs to poke through, and before him was a little girl who sat in front of the rose bush. Her hair the color of night and eyes that of a blue gem, she had the adorable look of a child at play in her own world. Though Artur probably ruined that now with his random appearance, the bear grunted in an effort to get her attention, a bit of a smile on his mug as curious brown eyes were upon her.

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Ehehe... hmm?" Kouri's ears perked up at the sounds of heavy footsteps, by the sound of it... most likely a bear. She knew because she already spent so much time here in the Bronze Woods, first living here, then started the hobby of slaughtering wolves then moving on to mountain lions and sometimes... bears. Her hunting-killing spree was toned down considerably after she met with her little sister, Rena, and Ama, the dire wolf kelvic and guardian of the woods. But, she sometimes still got this urge to just... end the life of something, preferably an animal or evil people. In her eyes, animals and evil people worth almost next to nothing, she saw Kelvics as people though so she treated them with the same morals she had for sentient beings. Do note that Kouri's view of good and evil was extremely black and white, her child-like mind couldn't grasp the concept complex that good and evil are relative; this fact combined with her powers to actually take life made her a dangerous being in the veil of a cheerful little girl. When the bear showed his fluffy fur through a bush, Lycoris giggled mischievously and slowly stood up, she faced the brown bear and waved at it. Should I... have some fun or... 'fun'? Hmmmm... Lycoris made a thinking expression but looking at the bear's adorable face and fluffy brown fur reinforced her decision, she would play with it, not in the bloody and gory way but like a girl with her animal companion. But of course, if the bear showed any signs of hostility, Kouri would just hug it and... kill it with her deadly frost touch. "Hello~" She slowly approached the bear with her hands behind her back. Lycoris then extended her hand to rub the bear's cheek, she controlled the degree of her touch so the bear would only feel as if a normal ice cube was pressed to its face "Ehehehe~ You're so warm~ What are you doing here? Want to play?" Powerful or not, Kouri still very much relished in the body warmth of the living.

[Artur]

The way the little giggles and smiled at him just made Artur feel drawn in, she had such an adorable demeanor about her he couldn't quite understand somehow, but nevertheless he wanted to learn what it was that made her so different. Artur hardly took notice to the children that ran through the city streets, probably because he was still learning the layout to Syliras. This girl in particular was out here all alone, in the middle of nowhere like it wasn't dangerous at all. That was indeed something to be aware of, something that made Artur wonder just what it was that set this girl apart from the rest. When she waved and said hello Artur's animal smirk became a wide smile as he too returned the greeting with a wave of his front paw, "Ruuurhr." He grunted as a hello as he watched her approach.

She then touched him with hands that felt like ice, almost instantly his fur felt like frozen icicles when she made contant. It sent a wild chill up his spine that caused the bear to shiver for just a moment, but then the cold touch felt more relieving than the heat of the wind. In truth the bear looked to her hand with curious fascination, then to the girl with wide brown eyes full of interest. "How are you so cold?! I'm like in a big bubble of hot air and you!... You're so cold!" His mind cried out in amusement, unaware of what she really was. He shrugged with a smirk when she wondered what he was doing ear, but when the girl mentioned playing the bear nodded a bit. He hadn't really done any playing since he was a cub after all, and this girl interested him so much he just couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Artur wiggled his large body through the rest of the bush, even though he probably smashed it underneath his weight. He brought his nose close to the girl to sniff her curiously, one long whiff of the air around her chilled his nostrils just as her touch did his cheek. "How are you so cold?! Are you cold blooded?!" The question bounced in his mind continuously, but he didn't think to change his form to speak with her yet. She wanted to play after all, why not go ahead and play. "Rurarrhur." The bear grunted as he laid on his belly, Kouri would then be able to get on Artur's back if she wanted, and he could take her with him as they strolled. If she had another idea of fun, then he would probably just play along as well.

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Ehehe... ehehehe~♪" Kouri kept giggling as she absorbed the bear's warmth, he only flinched a little and didn't run away or show any signs of hostility, that was a good sign. Friendly animals didn't deserve to be killed, Kouri only attacked animals that attacked her first like wolves, mountain lions, and sometimes... hostile bears. Those animals were just acting in self-defense though, seeing a white translucent being floating around, dropping the temperature, with buzzing metallic weapons of death around her did not bode well with a predator's instinct. The bear seemed genuinely interested at her, this took back Lycoris, she didn't really thought another animal other than Akilia's dog, Ginger, liked her ghostly touch. She wondered on where the heck was the wolf Kelvic, she hadn't seen her since Spring. "Ow... ouch..." She winced when the bear crushed the poor bush underneath his impressive weight and body. "Oh hey! Ehehe~ that tickles!" Lyco closed her right eye when the bear's snout made contact with her fake corporeal skin, she was staring to like this particular bear more and more. It was far more friendly than the usual bears. All plans of killing were gone from her mind, she would keep his as a pet... nah, he was too big for that, perhaps she could befriend him and asked him to become companions with her... no that's a silly idea, unless the bear was a Kelvic. Was he? Lyco decided to postpone the thought for now. Lyco found it very adorable when the bear laid on his belly, it looked so cute that she couldn't keep herself from squealing like the little girl she was. Its gestures meant that it agreed to play with her! Lyco walked to beside him and grabbed his fur and... Eh? It's a bear, it wouldn't notice... jumped up to cutely sit on his back, the jump looked so unnatural that it looked like the girl was floating up instead of jumping, but an animal couldn't notice that... right? Lyco then shifted her small body and lay on a prone position on his back, fully relishing in his warm fur, she could hear his strong heartbeat when she pressed her left ear onto his back. "Aaaaaaah~" She made a long contented sigh. "Let's go for a walk, Kuma!" She decided to nickname him... 'Kuma'. She just thought it sounded cute and oddly... fitting.

[Artur]

"Haha, she's cute I can admit that." The bear's grin grew wide to show his teeth he had after her little giggles, but he nonetheless already proved that he wasn't some wild bear out for lunch; although the idea sounded great for Artur anyway. He liked this girl that's fur sure, she had an adorable nature about her he already grew fond of, and her touch was just so... "Haaa! Cold!" His mind screamed as she "climbed" on his back, he had to admit he didn't think such chills felt so good in the summer heat like this. "You're an impressive climber to get up there like that." He admired with a look up to her as she sighed, chills from her body ran all through his body that just made his fur almost stand aat end. He couldn't quite explain it but this girl had something about her, something that made her different from humans he actually did interacted with.

"Kuma? Am I named Kuma now? I suppose it's something to go by, only when you're the one to say it though." He mused as he trekked forward with the grin still on his mug, he started to walk with the wind until a scent came to his nose that smelt so... sweet. So appealing to his cravings he would generally get, he just had to trail the scent in order to find this substance and it sure wasn't hard. Not with the wind whipping about like it did anyway. Artur sniffed at the air curiously to find the smell of honey he had traced, and sure enough the bear was off in the direction the sweet aroma came from. He hadn't forgotten that the girl was on his back of course, that was impossible to do with natural frost touch she had going on. "Let's go get lunch little one!"

Artur's walk was a steady one but he would occasionally have a bit of fun and raise his shoulders to cause her to rise and fall with his steps, a playful tease to bring laughter as he strolled his way over to where ever he smelt the honey wafting from. Sure enough the sound of buzzing came into play next, and soon after Artur discovered the source of the buzzing and the wonderful smell of honey. Their leisurely walk came to a halt near the tree with his big brown eyed locked on the bee hive that hung cleverly high, the damned bee's were always so clever to make a nest where a bear couldn't reach it. Artur licked his lips a few times as he eyed the nest dreamily, and looked to the girl on his back with a smirk on his mug. "You hungry? Oh right." He forgot he was in his animal form, thus he would have to communicate as a bear instead. "Hurru, hur." He tried to communicate with her, although he doubted she understood what he said. He would just have to assume she could connect the dots and agree on eating some shared honey.

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Mhm~ Mhmhm~♪" Lyco happily hummed a happy song as she lay on his back and tilted her head to the side, enjoying the scenery and body warmth at the same time. The walk was so calm and relaxing that Lyco could feel herself getting sleepy, not that she needed it but a sleep did seemed nice. "Fueh~" She yawned and purposely made herself sleepy, as she closed her eyes Kuma suddenly walked a bit faster. "Eh?" Lyco cancelled her sleep and shifted to a sitting position, curious on what Kuma so excited. "Ehehe~ Ehehehahaha~♪" Lyco giggled as Kuma rose his shoulders up an down, making her weightless body following his movements as well. Speaking about weightless... did the bear realize that the little girl on his back weighed next to nothing? Lyco herself didn't give it much thought, the flaw to her disguise by being weightless didn't occur to her at the moment. The buzzing sounds of bees also attracted Lyco's attention. Kuma stopped just under the beehive, his adorable big brown eyes staring at it as if it was some kind of treasure. She also noticed him licking his lips, an obvious sign of hunger. "Uhm..." Lyco didn't know that bears liked to eat honey because dire polar bears of Avanthal didn't do so, but she assumed that there were many kinds of bears, just like humans. So brown bears like honey, huh? Cute~ Sadly, Lyco couldn't really consume anything other than soulmist, but her materialization ability let her regenerate her soulmist by literally freezing a living creature to near death, sometimes truly death. She was like an energy sucker. The bear let out his cry, Lyco got it, he was asking her to get the honey for him, that was definitely it. "You want me to get you that? Okay~!" A normal person could perhaps question the bravery of this little girl to disregard the possibility of being stung by the bees, but an animal couldn't understand that so Lyco felt safe. She stood up and jumped to the tree, clinging to it like a monkey. Lyco decided to not just use her tendrils to grab the hive or fly to it, it would alert the bear. Even an animal could see something was definitely wrong when ghastly black tentacle-like tendrils jutted out from a human girl's back. "Here I go!" Lyco 'climbed' the tree or at least made herself looked like it. Her movements were rather unnatural and fast for not being a monkey, in just a matter of ten ticks, Lycoris was already sitting on the tree branch with the beehive just within her arm's reach. Lyco focused the soulmist energy on her palms and grabbed the hive, ripping it away from the branch. The bees, of course, sensed the freezing presence of the intruder and promptly armed themselves with their stingers, they launched to Lyco's body and... promptly dropped dead when their tiny body touched her skin, their nerves wracked with an ungodly amount of cold. It was an interesting sight as a rain of dead bees dropped from the branch, some of them hitting Kuma. "Ehehe~" Lyco didn't feel any sympathy for the bees, they were just insects... literally. "Catch!" She shouted to Kuma and threw down the bee hive for him to receive, perhaps it would bounce off his fluffy body. Lyco then proceeded to climb down the tree, her movements were again, rather unnatural.

[Artur]

The young girl had laughed well enough on the trip to the honey and that made Artur, or Kuma, laugh inside as he carried her, of course he didn't think much about her body being lighter then a feather at that moment, the constant chill was more so the curiosity driver than anything. When the girl said she'd climb up to grab the honey Artur's eyes bulged a bit, surprise filled his expression as she jumped off his back and to the tree. She demonstrated a rather strange and unique way to climb compared to how Artur would've done it. "You're one brave little girl, and how do you climb like that?!" He watched as she was already getting close to the bee hive, once the nest had been stirred the inhabits declared war.

Bee's started to buzz out and swarm the girl, however her natural frost touch she had affected them just as it did Artur. Only their small bodies couldn't handle the sheer cold her own body tempature held, thus they all fell like leaves in the days of autumn. Some of them actually rained on Artur's mug, in which the bear looked cross eyed and snuffed the insects off as the little girl prepared to drop the nest. When she gave the word and let the nest itself fly down Artur had stood on his hind legs with a wide smile, arms wide open like a net to hopefully catch the nest when it came to his grasp. He probably looked silly when he stood like this, but the bear couldn't contain his excitement as honey was now one step closer to being his. As the nest came closer to him he brought his arms up to try and catch it, only to miss as the hive fell to the ground and cracked open into three split parts. The bear looked down at the hive a bit disappointed in failing to to catch, but since there was honey before him he didn't feel so disappointed for long.

The girl had climbed back down and Artur waddled his way over to the broken nest and stood on the other side to face the girl, and then the bear fell to his rear end with a plomp as he looked to the sweet golden goo that waited to be devoured. Artur looked up to the girl and pointed with his right paw to the side across from him, curious whether or not the girl wanted to take a seat and enjoy the honey with him. "Rurr?" He sounded relatively close to asking a question, although he still hadn't been able to say the exact words as he wasn't human. Not right now anyway. Regardless of her answer though Artur couldn't wait, he leaned forward and slid one of the three pieces of the next too him. Shortly after he was eating away at honey and the comb that rested in the bee hive, the sweet taste made him go "mm" even as a bear as he indulged that craving he always had.

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Ehn~♪" Lyco she put her arms up and flexed her non-existent muscles, sighing cutely while doing that. She looked to the fluffy brown bear who immediately ran to the hive's crash site, his eyes brimming with happiness. Lyco couldn't help but grinned at the sight, perhaps this bear could change her views on animals after all. The bear offered her to take some of the honey, but before Lyco could answer, he was already helping himself. "...." Her grin shrunk to just a small smile as Lyco walked and sat down beside Kuma, on his right. She extended her left hand and rubbed his fluffy body "Thank you, but I don't... eat honey" She couldn't eat anything other than soulmist was the more accurate statement, but Lyco couldn't possibly say that, not that he bear would understand her anyway. She hugged her knees and put her chin on top of it, watching the bear with her big blue eyes. The moment was slightly disturbed when Lyco felt another presence approaching them... "Ruhr~" the hungry sound of another brown bear could be heard as Lyco turned around and saw a slightly smaller bear than Kuma was sniffing the ground, its movements suggested that it caught the sweet smell of honey and wanted to take a bite as well. The other bear caught notice of the seemingly human girl sitting beside his kin and it snorted in confusion. The bear then made some sounds, but to Kuma, it would be recognizable as his native bear language. "Brethren! Can I have some too? And why's a human with you?" The bear wanted to approach, but felt some kind of unnatural presence within the tiny human girl. He voiced his concern to Kuma gain "I think girl next to you is bad, something's not right, not like other humans" Lyco couldn't understand any of that obviously and just tilted her head in curiosity.

[Artur]

The way her touch could just made his spine nearly break in automatic shivers and chills was just something Artur could not get over at all, but the way it cooled him down in this warm weather made him all the more relax at the same time. It was a sensation he could only describe as refreshingly haunting in this case. Yet as she told him she didn't eat honey, he looked from his fraction of the hive to her with honey all over his lips and mug and his brow furrowed with amazed surprise. "What?!" He scoffed a bit and looked at her with a jokingly smirk. "You're kidding! What kind of kid doesn't eat honey! It's sweet and good for you!" To the girl he probably just looked like a crazy bear trying to comminucate, but the attempt to understand had been cut short as another made himself known to the two.

He was smaller then Artur sure enough, but nevertheless the Kelvic Brown Bear was still nervous about meeting a Wilder Brown Bear out here; especially since he had a little girl with him now of all times. "Sure, there's enough for you as well. Little one here isn't hungry I guess, so you can have one of the two parts of the hive." He thought it best to avoid the chance that his "brethen" go into a fit, and the possibility of a fight that would come on if the fit did come. Though Artur was a bear he hated the idea of violence, all the same he was a bit of a lazy coward when it came to such a thing. Still he made good food whe in the kitchen. Though the bear had been invited for a share, he backed off as though something intimidated him. Strange enough his gaze was transifixed on the girl, and shorty after he expressed his concern to Artur. "Nonsense! Hiw can something as harmless as a rabbit be bad? Besides she looks human enough, only different is she's colder though. And lighter." He looked to her with a grin on his mug as she just sat there, head tilted with curiosity present.

"And paler." He pointed out with another look to the bear, unaware that he just pointed out the three important things that defined what she really was. A ghost girl. Overall he found this girl to be human enough despite her differences with the "normal" humans if they could ever be referred to as that, a lot of them tended to have many different things that set them apart from their general being. He remembered that he met one human in Syliras that loved his food a lot, K something from what he could recall anyway. That guy stunk of wolves in mating season for some reason. This girl who he hadn't come up with a name yet was different by her touch, in which frosty was too much of an easy give away. Still he enjoyed her presence chills and all, and he couldn't quite understand why any other could not; be they man or animal.