Nordbear DTA Entry - The familiar footprints

Name: Ciroc (SIR-ick)

Gender: Male

Species: Si Hy-am/Nordbear

Class: Feral

History: Ciroc was once a lively Nordbear. He had spent most of the beginning of his life among other Nordbears where he was raised by his mother, often playing with the other Nordbear cubs; he was originally born along with a sister, however due to a horrible snowstorm that occurred during the winter months in which Ciroc was born in, the sister cub was lost to the devastating cold, and Ciroc was left alone with no sibling. Despite his not having a sibling, Ciroc never ceased his happy, playful attitude, and enjoyed his life in pure bliss. 

When Ciroc was a yearling, at the age of 2, he would travel in the fluff of his mother's halo to a human village so that his mother could converse with the human-influenced Nordbears. While in the human village, Ciroc would remain close to his mother, but still observe the humans and look upon them with curious eyes. He would often find humans to be quite odd creatures, walking on two legs, moving their arms to display certain gestures, Ciroc was quite astonished at the humans weird capabilities, but he was also intrigued. Even though his curiosity of humans compelled him to get closer to them, to become familiar with their ways, his instincts of being a Feral class Hy-am told him that his place was among others of his kind, but that did not quench his interest of the humans. 

As Ciroc grew older, he took his responsibilities as a Feral class Hy-am more seriously, by helping the Hy-am society with their heavy workloads, such as like hauling lumber, his main job. During his free hours, he would go down to the human village simply just to watch them at their work. He took great notice that the humans inventions were quite remarkable. During this time, Ciroc held high respect for the humans, and saw only goodness in them and figured they were incapable of doing harmful things. When Ciroc reached his late adolescence/early adulthood he changed his home from living in the Hy-am society to living a solitary life in the forests, somewhat near to the human village, but far away enough to be secluded. He had made his home of just using a moss bed surrounded by trees, and well, moss. Ciroc was comfortable and happy in his new home and with his new life. One day, he traveled to the village, given he had no activities for the day, and simply wanted to observe the humans, as that became his favored passing of time. While in the village, he encountered a small human female, not quite yet into adolescence. The young female was holding some maroon colored cloth and was gesturing at Ciroc's tail. Ciroc looked at his tail and back at the human and showed off his toothy grin of a smile, allowing the young girl to come closer. The girl took the cloth and wrapped it around Ciroc's tail. After it was tied, the girl stepped back to let the Nordbear admire his gift. He looked at his tail, and after admiring how the new wrapped cloth looked, he wagged his tail up and down a few times and showed the human girl a smile. She smiled back but then had to go because of her mother calling. Ciroc returned home after some time had passed through the day and once he went to bed he fell asleep admiring his new tail cloth from the young human girl. 

Some time during the night, Ciroc went looking for food in the dead of night, but he was unaware that he was being followed by a pair of humans. After stopping at a berry bush, Ciroc began snacking when a red-feathered arrow was suddenly shot into his shoulder. He roared in pain and began to blindly swipe his paws back and forth, searching for his attacker. Another arrow was released and this time, was struck closer to his back. Ciroc cried out in agony, and not waiting to let his attacker stick him with more arrows, he ran! Ciroc galloped through the woods, avoiding trees and shrubs, attempting to get away from his unknown assailant. After a few minutes, he stopped by a large bush. Shaken, and hoping his attacker was long gone behind him, he carried himself onward, occasionally grunting from the pain of the arrows. As he walked on, the sound of a galloping horse had quenched his hope of escape. Ciroc quickly jumped into the large bush, and just in the nick of time too, for the galloping horse had appeared from beyond the trees. Ciroc looked through the bush and saw a pair of humans jump down from the horse with their weapons drawn. 

"I know it came this way!" One human shouted. 

"Are you sure? I don't see it anywhere," said the second human. 

"It's probably hiding somewhere," replied the first. "Look for it!" he demanded. 

Ciroc remained hidden among the bushes. He saw the second human go one way, and the first came up beside the bush, right where Ciroc was hiding. At first, he was afraid the humans would find him, and worse, kill him. Then he reminded himself that he was a Feral class Hy-am, no human's strength could match his, but then Ciroc turned his attention to the arrows in his shoulder. The humans' weapons had stung, but Ciroc figured he could take them by surprise. He got up just enough to get into crouch position, and then, he leapt at the human! The human cried out in shock! Ciroc had him held in his jaws and shook the human side to side like a rag doll. The second human came around from behind a tree and pulled an arrow from his quiver, but not before Ciroc flung the unconscious dead weight aside and struck his paw against the second human and sent him flying into the side of a tree. Ciroc came up to the dazed human, lowered his head to be eye-level with the human, and growled a warning to him. The human knew what he meant and fled the scene, taking his unconscious friend with him. Once they were gone, Ciroc slumped to the ground out of fatigue. Panting, his sides going in and out from his deep breathing, he looked up at the arrows in his shoulder, reached a paw out and tried to grab at the arrows to pull them out. "RAAHH!" he screamed. He quickly put his paw down, looked at the arrows again and started to see white blood trickle down his arm. "Gah... so much pain... it h-hurts..." Ciroc whimpered. He slowly got up and limped his way down to the human village near his home. "Need... human help. Cannot... remove... a-arrows." 

When Ciroc reached the village, he sought out a human. As he walked through the village he saw a group of them crowded around the door and windows of a cabin. He crept closer and began to hear a human shouting and screaming. The only words Ciroc understood from the ranting were "Nordbear" and "attacked". When he peered into the window he saw the two humans that had attacked him and a third that he assumed was the human's healer. The human that Ciroc had bitten was being looked after by the healer, who was using his two fingers and was pressing into the soft spot of human flesh just under the head. After the healer was done, he slowly shook his head, and the other human, the one Ciroc had swiped at, began crying out in agony; the bitten human had died from his wounds. Before the second human had time to recover he glanced at the window and his eyes met the Nordbear's. He quickly cried out and the other humans quickly backed away. Ciroc turned to show them the arrows and said, "Help." The second human began shouting angrily and soon the entire group had grabbed torches and pitchforks and were pointing them at the Nordbear. Ciroc, fearing for his life again, sprinted back into the forests. 

Ciroc dashed through the trees, he hustled past bushes and shrubs. He dug his back feet into the ground in order to launch himself more forward with each step. Behind him, he could see the humans chasing him, some on horseback, others were not. Ciroc bolted into the nearest set of bushes, only this time he dug himself deeper into them. Dealing with two humans were no problem, but an entire group of them, with weapons a little worse than arrows, and with the arrows in his shoulder, stinging with pain, Ciroc was in no mood to fight. "Humans," he said bitterly. "Humans... do this." Ciroc's entire perspective on the humans had changed. He originally thought that humans were good and could only do good. However, the recent event has changed his mind entirely. He growled. "No... more. Humans. Bad. Must... get a-way." Ciroc bolted out the opposite end of the bushes and just ran.

He ran for hours and hours, and all throughout his running, Ciroc continuously promised that he would never go back. He would forever remain in a life of solitude away from humans. He would even stay away from the Hy-am society, for fear they would take him to another human village to remove the arrows, but Ciroc didn't want them to be removed. Instead he kept them as not only a reward for his survival, but as a reminder to never go back. After hours of running, Ciroc ended at the base of a mountain, and looked for shelter. He found a cave at the base of the mountain and slept there for the night. He moved into a position where his head was facing his tail. Ciroc opened one eye and looked again at the red cloth that the young girl had wrapped around his tail. He didn't want to remove the cloth so he kept that as well. He instantly started thinking about the young girl. "Hope... young human... don't turn... bad. She... only one... I like." With those last words, he fell asleep. 

Present day (the art): After a year of going into hiding, Ciroc spends his days finding food, gathering herbs for medicine, whatever he can do to survive, and the routine continues. Part of his routine, Ciroc will hide his ground den with a blanket of moss, and venture out to check the border markers he's set around his territory, to make sure no humans cross into it. As he went to check the borders one day, upon his returning, he was about to enter his den when a set of footprints in the mud caught his eye. Ciroc walked up to the mud slowly and looked upon the prints. He peered at them slowly and only one word came to mind. "Human," he muttered. However they were small. Ciroc peered closer and could only think of one person whom they belonged to. "The girl. She... here? How?" The Feral Nordbear looked up and looked around. The human girl was in his territory, so far from her home. The only question was, where was she?