Arrival of the bear (open to all)

[Feeves]

Outside the gates:
“Now remember Fyn. Call us at home,” Feng said as she, Ge, and Fyn finally stopped moving. The fiery spirit fox which they had been riding rapidly diminished to a mere, glowing white Kitsune that stood next to Feng who brushed her long black hair back quickly with her hands. Fyn frowned as he picked up his suitcase. It was obvious that something was annoying him, an expression that his mother saw often.

“Mother you know I will. I could have gotten here on my own.”

“You didn’t print or mark out a map last night. I had to send you off, else we would have found you in the woods months later as a wild tiger, still trying to find his way to the Arcane Academy” she chided somewhat forcefully, leaving Fyn grimacing his black eyes flashing somewhat angrily.

“Now now,” Ge said before his son could emotionally retort against his mother, which would inevitably lead to both of them yelling at each other again, “control yourself Fyn. You know you need…”

“Yes, father. Patience. It’s the virtue that allows me to make such miraculous transformations.”

“If you know so then show so,” his father’s voice rose a bit, leaving Fyn with only a mark of exasperation on his face. Ge’s eyes softened a bit.

“Now go show them your shape-shifting,” the older man said, making shooing motions with his hands, “and when you come back from break we can discuss some of the ridiculous things that our country’s still doing.” Fyn’s face brightened. It was always funny to hear those stories.

“Yes father. Goodbye father, goodbye mother.” He hugged both tightly before stopping down to pet the white fox.

“Good bye, Kyoko.”

The White fox sat for a moment her nine tails fanning out along the ground and waving the grass around in a happy sort of wag.

“Good bye Fyn. Learn how to transform into a fox for me,” her voice was sort of incandescent and transcendent, a sign that she was in fact a spirit. Fyn nodded.

“Of course. When I return, I’ll be sure to pass down the fox as a family heirloom.” His father looked in mock disgust and disapproval, while Kyoko burst out in a laughing yelp.

“Of course dear, have fun.”

With that Fyn strode off, his form slowly changing, his flowing white robes being overtaken. By the time two paces had been taken, he had taken the form of a great brown bear with silver tattooed markings flowing over it. The form was well suited to carrying his items which he had bound together with rope. Feng shook her head.

“That child does love to show off.”

“Yes Feng. He also has a bit of your stubbornness,” Kyoko said. For a moment neither of them spoke.

“Hey!” Kyoko had already taken off as Feng summoned leaf spirits to chase after her, “You’ll take that back!” Kyoko merely laughed as she playfully tossed the leaf spirits along with her. Ge merely stood with his eyes closed and concentrated on the scene, laughing for the sheer irony. A man of such patience couldn’t be shaken. Patience to all things… except his son.

With that he had transformed into a great blue serpent, carrying both his wife and her spirit fox off.

This left the massive bear ample time to wander through the gates onto school grounds. The first thing that struck him was the massive courtyard, and the students that were in it. He wasn’t sure what he quite expected though, but he heard several murmurs from students hidden or stationary.

Of course even with the practicality of being able to carry all his bags at once, there was still another issue. Shifting out would require that he of course take multiple trips to place his bags in his room. Which… he didn’t actually know where that was either. So he would have to probably carry these bags around as a bear for a while.

Perhaps he should ask someone for help.

The thought immediately flew from his mind. It was just a dormitory. How hard could it be to find? Besides it would look silly if a bear had to ask people for help. So he strode on, a bear looking like he knew exactly what he was doing.

[Xavier]

Xavier hummed happily as he made his way through the halls of the Academy. But these weren't just the halls of a learning instiution anymore, this place he had come to accept as his home. He had met the love of his life here and definitely done a bit of growing up in this place. Nails clacked gently against the stone of the floor as Birazcir trotted beside his master. The two of them were on their way to the forest for a bit of meditation. As Xavier grew in skill as a Druid he found it necessary to spend more and more time in commune with nature and Mother Gaia.

He stopped as he saw a bear and grinned, "Well hello there brother bear..." but then he stopped and focused on the bear a bit more, cocking his head to the side a little, "Wait, you're not a bear...at least not a natural one," he said, watching the 'bear' more carefully.

Biz sniffed the air a little and nodded in agreement. "This one is not a bear Xavier..." the wolf said and also watched the 'bear' carefully.

"You're right the mana...it's not that of nature, I think it's a shapeshifter," Xavier said, approaching the bear and poking it inquisitively, "You're a pretty skilled shapeshifter...almost passed for a real bear," Xavier said with a chuckle.

[Feeves]

He had managed to wander into the school halls nearly completely lost it seemed. This school was just a bit too large for his taste (and perhaps his pride). He had passed a number of students, none of which seemed to wish to approach him to talk to him. And that was fine. He didn’t need their help either.

Unfortunately due to this, he had ended up wandering the halls as classes broke out and in. Students didn’t seem the slightest bit afraid of him either, as though he was a normal part of this school.

Thankfully there was at least one student that seemed to be somewhat interested in his brand of magic. And what luck. It seemed that this one was willing to approach him first. And to give him a compliment about his bear form. He was already happier, and gave a bearish sort of grin, immediately feeling more prideful.

"Thank you," Fyn said noticeably glowing, his voice gruff, a highly guttural voice "I should hope so. This bear cost me a lot of work. "

He nose caught on to a number of different scents. All of these scents of the natural world which seemed to surround this student in an aura. It was somewhat faint, but it was definitely there. It seemed to permeate him. He focused his eyes into the other man’s closely.

"You practice some nature magic?" It was very evident that he had very little experience with magic. His mother's shamanism was the only other true from of magic he had ever really seen. But all the clues seemed to lead him to believe that this man who was very close to nature. One no doubt well versed in magicks of the natural world. Not quite an elementalist… His aura seemed far too focused.

He should probably end up asking where the Dormitories were... But curiosity simply got the better of him. This man’s wolf was also an interesting subject to him.

[Xavier]

He chuckled as the shapeshifter seemed to be rather happy that someone had taken the time to notice him. It was a very good transformation, especially since it had almost fooled him at first glance. Though now that Xavier realized it wasn't a real bear there were somethings about it that didn't seem natural. Just something about him didn't seem natural, perhaps it was merely that intelligent spark in his eyes. Bears were intelligent but they didn't have that spark that you could see at first glance, denoting intelligence. Bears had a habit of hiding their intelligence, it seemed too much work for them to try and prove that they were intelligence so over the years they just slipped into the habit of letting humanity think they were unintelligent.

"Well here, this will make things a little less awkward," he said with a chuckle as he transformed into his own bear form, "There we go...now we're both bears," he said with a toothy grin as he listened to the shapeshifter ask if he practiced some sort of nature magic.

Xavier nodded his massive furred head in a yes, "I do in fact, Xavier Mcallister, druid at your service," he said giving a slight bow. It was a bizarre thing to see a bear, haunched over on all fours attempting to bow. But Xavier managed to pull it off and after completing the little bow he straightened up again, "So what's your name?" he asked as he continued to watch the shapeshifter with interest.

Birazcir sighed a little and sat down on his haunches licking his paw boredly. Biz didn't have the affinity for learning about new types of magic like Xavier did. All Birazcir cared about was his type of magic, that was all that mattered because that was all he was going to practice. Druidic magicks were the only thing that mattered because they were all he was going to practice, no point in learning about magic you were never going to use. That was Birazcir's opinion about magic, an opinion that differed greatly with his master's.

[Feeves]

“A druid… I thought they were merely legend,” Fyn was silent as he contemplated this information. He had heard several stories about the spellcasters close to shapeshifters, beings who had always been close to nature, who communed with animals in similar ways they did. But as he recalled, his father had told him that they had never focused on just the creatures, but instead they focused on what they believed to be the greater picture. They asked the lady nature, nay, badgered and cajoled her to do their bidding as though they were close enough to her to condescend to ask for such favors. In return they were given her powers, control over the plants and animals that wandered this world.

Brutes.

The creatures of the world. They are an entity not tied with nature. Close to yes. But mutually exclusive nonetheless. Who could ask of the great lady herself? The creatures of this world are they that held the true powers. The lady nature herself had to ask for their aid, to ask for that power. The power of patience, of resilience. It was the power of malleability of form and mind. To not see that… to not see that would be to disregard the very purpose of the magic of shapeshifting.

He hid his disgust and held his tongue. He had a respect for those who wielded the powers of nature; his mother was after all one who could commune with the very spirits of nature. But to compare his own bear form to the bear of true shifters was a grievance as deep as killing a creature of the wild without first paying its proper dues. Something he knew a druid would not stand for. Insufferable.

Yet he would bear it.

His grin quickly faded, though he didn’t wish to give his views to this wielder of nature’s wrath quite yet.

“I am F...” he paused for a moment. His own name he was fiercely guarded of. There had always been the tradition within his family for centuries, in fact amongst most true shifters that one’s true name is something to be fiercely guarded. The true name is one’s true core, and to give such a name away is akin to giving away any one of his forms. It was archaic tradition, and Fyn had always followed it to the letter.

“Call me Feeves,” he finally said, going with his mother’s chosen nickname for him.

“By the way…” on a less serious note, “Where am I?”


((OOC: the contents of the RP does not necessarily reflect the views of the author ^_^;;)

[Xavier]

((heh, someone's character is a bit of a bigot, only kidding, only kidding ^.^))

Xavier nodded as Feeves, told him his name. He had a feeling that wasn't exactly his real name. But Xavier would keep his suspicions about this new boy's name to himself for now. It was always good to have a new friend and Xavier didn't really like the idea of getting into a fight with Feeves over the legitimacy of his name.

Xavier decided he was done with his bear form for now and shifted back into his regular human form, "Well Feeves, it's nice to meet you," he said with a friendly grin as he watched the shapeshifter with a fascinated look in his eyes. Feeves really was an interesting character and Xavier would enjoy getting to know him.

"As for where you are, you're in the main hallway of the Academy," Birazcir answered, looking up from his paw with a bit of a bored expression. Xavier chuckled a little and shook his head as the wolf addressed Feeves. The wolf always had an air of bored interest in humans.

"Oh and this is Birazcir, my animal companion," he said patting the wolf on the head with a grin.

[Feeves]

((OOC: You'll not here me denying such an allegation ^_^;;)
Ah the main hall. Well that was good. He had gotten all of nowhere since he had gotten here then. Had he been walking in a circle this whole time? He certainly hoped not. These boxes on his back were getting tiring.

“Well it’s nice to meet both of you. Xavier and Birazcir,” he easily noted the Wolf’s bored expression, deciding not to dwell on it. Many times magic users tended to clump various animals into a group based on how they acted. His mother had always considered the wolf to be a strange animal. She had always thought it an animal based on contradictions. Sometimes friendly, sometimes angry, sometimes social, other times brooding.

But from firsthand experience, he had realized it was futile to classify the beasts of the world in such a way. He shouldn’t fall into the trap of rationalizing Birazcir’s behavior based on the fact that he was a wolf, and instead assume that Birazcir just had little love for humans outside his companion.

“Is there a chance you could show me where the dormitories are? I do need to put away these boxes.”