[Altamira] Jhans’s Training: Volume 4.

As you can guess, your next assignment is to follow through with this storyline. Take it where you will and be creative. No word minimum.

This is Jhans' training thread, which directly follows on from this, which follows on from this, which -- in turn -- follows on from this...

I've been going for almost a year now.

(Ic)

It was nearing dusk, and Jhans stood in the shade of a massive tree with the crown Prince, Hunter Merridale. They were just outside of the city walls of Bartholemew -- in the Prince's country -- and are listening into the conversation of some horse thieves. Earlier that day, they stole the Prince's mare and some stable horses from the city palace while Jhans and Hunter attended a council of war.

Hunter gave a signed indication, and crept round the corner. Jhans swiftly followed, his feet slipping in the wet leaf mould. If he had stopped to listen, he'd have known that the horses were whinnying nervously in the far corner. If the thieves had listened, Hunter's footsteps were so loud they could have shot him in the dark. Hunter silently passed through the shadowed gap in the building, and is now inside what's left of the walls, hiding behind a ridge in the tree's immense trunk. He gestures for Jhans to get round the other side of the building.

The thieves were looking through the horses' saddlebags, and the one called Daret was ripping open some paper packages, and making little whoops of delight. Jhans went round the other side, and then silently doubled back again.

Hunter never appreciated the effects of drama on the human mind. Jhans found it gave you more then the element of surprise with humans, their imaginations simply presumed the worst and ran -- dragging the rest of the mind with it.
But you can't tell the guys on your side; 'We'll do this, right, it'll look really scary and they'll just wet themselves with sheer terror' -- because then your side tried to act, and mucked it up.

Hunter stepped out of the shadows, slingshot drawn and poised. Daret froze like a cat, eyes gleaming, while the woman -- who turned out to be fat and stumpy -- didn't notice until her partner kicked her. Slowly, the both rose side by side.

"I am Hunter Merridale. These horses are mine, and you shalt deliver them unto me."

"Kind sir, I don't..."

CRACK Daret's hat was knocked off his head by a metal pellet. Hunter fumbled for another, and then Daret lunged forward and wrenched the shot from him. He was lucky, Hunter had an insecure footing and fell hard.

"Kind sir," Daret spat the words as he drew a knife, "and whose army?"

Jhans loved these moments. On Svalbard, he would never have considered using this kind of manoeuvre, time-wasting and potentially risky as it is, but it was his secret weapon against all mankind. He punched through the crumbling brickwork, and the sun and dust shining at his back, stepped upright through the gap, hammer in hand. He brought it up into fighting stance, and then answered in a deep, resounding voice;

"Mine."

Jhans didn't feel pleasure, it was an emotion he'd found it hard to grasp. But there was such a thing as satisfaction...

"The horses. Now." Hunter took the opportunity to scramble up and get Daret in an armlock. All three of them fixed the woman with a patronising glare. She hurried to untie them. If Daret moved, Hunter would break his arm. Jhans picked up the discarded knife, and bent it easily before tossing it carelessly over his shoulder.

Hunter unhanded Daret as the woman handed him the horses' rope -- and the two thieves stood shivering in the autumn breeze as they contemplated their imminent future. Hunter glanced at Jhans, who stared back.

"I think they're learnt their lesson, and they should be let go -- as long as they understand that I'll be watching. That would make a life worse then gaol." He glanced at Hunter, so proud and full of his country. Who was in charge here?

"It's your call, prince." Jhans dropped down to all fours and growled at the thieves, indicating Hunter's dominance.

"Let them be taken to the derry goal. It'll be less of a punishment then your eye, Jhans."

And so they were bound, and led by Jhans, rope in maw, through the streets to the city's gaol... a massive, imposing structure where they would sit trial for their crimes. Jhans disliked this. Thieves were alright, in moderation. The palace could easily afford a thousand stable horses. What you couldn't have was a country that made a living from stealing each other's washing.
The most irritating is this notion of domination -- of humans ruling other humans is that those at the bottom of the pile were no better than slaves, bound by a thousand rules.

Bears had two laws:
µ.Treat others how you would like to be treated.
Ð.Protect the weak.

This means that you may be ripping off the head of your enemy, but it was an honourable way to die -- you're actually doing them a favor... and protecting the weak is pretty much optional, since there's generally nothing opposing them apart from other weak bears. The idea is that, once you're old and frail, you'll be happy that the tables have turned, so suddenly you're on the receiving end of the Filieal pivot, and benefiting.
This means that bears can do it for selfish reasons, and not for the good of all. Economists from all the other races of the world said that this system couldn't work, because all sentient creatures are greedy and selfish, and enjoy having more than everyone else. But the bears continue to make it work regardless of this. This is rather rude in the eyes of the economists. But, while warlike and simple, bears are notoriously easy to rule... and corrupt.

But really, bears didn't pay the laws much heed -- and used something called, in human tongue, common sense.

That's why, after the magistrate had locked the thieves in a cell until their morning trial, they found a key waiting for them under the window.

~:†:~

After delivering the horses back to the nervous stableboy, they made their way back to Guth's vegetable store in quiet. The streets, cold and empty in the dusky air, rebounded every footstep and hoofbeat. Hunter spoke up first.

"They won't be in there for long." Hunter mused.

"Why is that?" Said Jhans.

"Because you slipped a key through their window."

There was an uncomfortable quiet... but they kept on walking, Mannie's hoofbeats remaining steady and echoing off the surrounding walls. It slowly dawned on Jhans that Hunter wasn't about to extend this sentence.

"You did see then?"

"Yes." Hunter paused, and uttered a short snort of laughter. "And you wanted me to, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Hunter sounded incredulous... Jhans was, of course, perfectly capable of doing it without Jhans knowing.

"So you had a chance to stop me."

"But why did you do it, Jhans?"

"Because the crimes will keep on happening until their hold on Kaan is abolished." Jhans looked at Hunter sideways. "You intend to tell him." It wasn't a question. Hunter shrugged.

"Yes, of course."

"Then there was no reason for them to be inprisoned."

"You're very diplomatic for a bear, aren't you?"

"It hangs like rancid air around humankind."

Hunter laughed. Jhans had, to the trained ear, made a joke.

I'm so proud of my Awky. *sniffles* You won't have to wait much longer for graduation, sonny...

...Aherm, down to business now though :

There is at least one instance where you change tenses within the same sentence, and it makes it a little confusing. I'll point out one I noticed right away, and then you can skim your post to check for any others:

They were just outside of the city walls of Bartholemew -- in the Prince's country -- and are listening into the conversation of some horse thieves.

The verbs I bolded signify where you changed from past to present tense within the same sentence. You usually don't have trouble with that, but watch out for it nonetheless.

That's the only issue I find within this piece. Great job! I always love how you have Jhans allude back to bear matters--really reminds me that I'm not reading about just another human, and it makes reading Jhans unique and entertaining. I enjoy learning more about the bear society through his eyes.

Assignment time! Write an intro for a Crossroads or battle involving Jhans, Kellson, and Hunter, just as we did for Field Trip. When you finish, you, Duke, and I will vote on whether we’ll do your intro, or Duke’s.

Graduation? Whaay! And then, I suppose, we can start training Asha >=D.

(Ic)

Months passed since the Bartholemew incident. The egg had hatched into a handsome falcon, Grey. Jhans stood at the window of his chamber, throwing strips of meat out of it for the bird to catch. It did so, and returned to land on the bear's outstretched forearm, talons digging into the thick leather he'd attached to the shipad. He didn't say 'Good bird,' or even 'Well done'. These things were distinctly Human. If you shot someone, but got off the case because it didn't kill them, and it technically wasn't an arrow, it was a steak -- that was being technically legal. Grey wasn't owned by Jhans, and was free to leave whenever he felt inclined to do so.

Jhans headed downstairs, Grey on another leather piece, attached to the bear's shoulder. It was good practice to read through the noticeboard, which covered the whole of one wall in this circular lobby. On it were such signs such as 'Do not remove this sign!' (Been there for 34 days), and 'Due to lack of interest tomorrow is cancelled!' (Just 12). Every so often, someone would finally figure one out and rip it off. Jhans hated the idea of a routine -- so he chose to sit and watch the sunrise on a parapet before paying the world any more attention.

Jhans, in his prison of months, was bored.

When the sun was high in the sky, Jhans returned to the lobby -- making for the Doro. Now he spotted the note addressed to him, as hard to miss as a metre-long piece of animal hide with the word 'JHANS' scratched across it in red paint. Ripping it off, Jhans read the footnote. It was from someone he knew and, by the time indicated, he was late once again.

~:†:~

An immense library exists in the dome. It has most every book ever written and, near the back on thousands of transparent shelves, books that haven't been written yet. Jhans walked through the newly-fitted grand double door, and sauntered over to Kellson, sitting at a bench. Jhans was good at awkward, people find it difficult to commute with a bear.

"Jhans," Kellson said, looking up from the bench.

"Kellson." Jhans replied. Kellson looked to Jhans' shoulder.

"Bird."

"Eat him and I'll kill you." Norman the hedgehog poked his nose out of Kellson's bag, having a good old sniff at the bear. Kellson had evidently been through much. His face was scarred, his hair had grown, and he was broader and more muscular than the last time. This was partly due to a familiar amulet round his neck. He smiled a spiky grin.

"A Hunter Merridale took over my training back in Sektober -- and then went away to war." Kellson spat onto the cobbled floor."You know him, right? Well he told me to meet him in this town called Sturmford, near some lake, and then we'd come here to pick up the cavalry. I got there, and it was burnt. Right away, some monkey on a horse rode up to me and said that I was henceforth enlisted in the Khakastan army, and property of the state. I couldn't find Hunter."

"What happened to the guard?" Jhans asked, knowing the answer. Kellson was ruthless. There was a mad sparkle in his eyes as he spoke.

"Guess."

(OoC)
There you are! Duke can still Kill Hunter... once we find him.

Yes, my dear sonny, your graduation. *weeps* I'm so proud. *sniffle* But...bwuh? Train Asha next? You should probably be training me, silly!

Everything with the intro looks good. There's just a small typo I'll point out so that you can fix it if we end up using your intro. It's here:

I has most every book ever written and, near the back on thousands of transparent shelves, books that haven't been written yet.

You're missing a "t" there. Should be "it", as I'm sure you know.

I'll get to PMing you and Duke about voting now! I'll let you two cast your ballots first. If you don't agree, then I'll cast the deciding vote.

For the sake of orginisation and filing and suchlike, my training will be concluded here .