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The Huntsman (cryoverwildlife) wrote in expresslogs,
@ 2012-07-15 21:50:00

Entry tags:

!open, {artemis, {the huntsman

WHO: The Huntsman and Open!
WHAT: Wandering the train, observing, exploring and looking for meat for Wolf.
WHERE: The corridors between Car 11 and the back dining car, finally the back dining car
WHEN: Sunday evening
WARNINGS: None expected
STATUS: Open/Ongoing

The room in which he had found himself was small and cramped, and the motion of the train had been making him feel a little ill. He'd never liked small spaces, and had always been glad he'd never felt the need to leave Storybrooke - the idea of hours stuck on a plane or train (or even a car, for that matter) had never been the least bit appealing, even before his memories had returned and made everything clear.

And now...

Well, the best he could say was that at least now his heart wasn't caged. Watching Wolf pace the room with increasing agitation had only increased his own restlessness and after a few hours, he had suddenly stood and stalked out of the tiny room, Wolf at his heels. The conversations he had on the device (his time in Storybrooke had at least taught him how to use technology, which was proving to be incredibly convenient) had left him ill at ease - especially the one he had with Regina. Her Majesty. The evil ~~bitch~~ witch. He was free now, yes, but her words and accusations still haunted him - especially when she had implied that he had come to her out of some desire of his own. That he had wanted to be with her. He had never wanted to be with her. Sometimes there had been physical desire. Passion. But mostly it had been a strange pull, a need, an ache, an emptiness that she had convinced him could be filled by her.

But it never had been. Perhaps because she was incapable of love, of tenderness, of any sensitive emotion. Perhaps because he had never been acting on his own free will when it came to her.

Whatever it had been, it made him feel ill now. Used. Dirty. He stopped a bit suddenly, swallowing the bile that rose at the thought of it, forcing himself not to be sick here in the corridor. Wolf butted her head against his knee in concern, and he reached down to scratch her ears, feeling more than a little comfort from the touch. In that world, in the world that he had been raised, things made far more sense than they did in this complex and cruel human world.

Gathering himself together, he headed back down the corridor, finding himself thrown into the wall by a sudden lurch of the train. He was having trouble adjusting to the unnatural movement He could walk without a sound through a forest blanketed by fallen leaves, but in this strange artificial metal environment, he felt so entirely out of place...

A few doors later, the corridor opened into what was obviously the kitchen car, and he made his way to the fridge, pleased to find some sort of wrapped meat inside. He unwrapped it, threw it on a plate and threw it into the microwave just long enough for the blood to begin to ooze before putting it on the ground in front of Wolf, idly scratching her ears as she ate, looking around him and taking in his surroundings as he tried to adjust to this new and disturbing place.

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timelesshunter
2012-07-16 02:24 am UTC (link)

"Your companion is gorgeous," Artemis said from the corner of the kitchen, where she sat with a glass of water. It wasn't the nourishment that she usually partook of on Mount Olympus, but neither was it the food of the mortal humans. It was water, necessary and life-giving; it would suffice.

She yearned for a stop, so she could go outside and leave the train; she yearned for the pull of a fully-bodied Luna; her fingers twitched for the hunt that could not come. Animals she appreciated, on a far greater level than their human counterparts.

Still, Artemis was learning the ways of the humans and gestured at the animal, "May I?"

She missed her companions, and to rub her fingers in the fur of one, would bring her great joy.

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cryoverwildlife
2012-07-16 02:32 am UTC (link)

His eyes flicked to her, filled with shock that he had not noticed her in the room. His observational skills were usually far better than that; he blamed it on the stormy state of his mind at the moment.

"She is," he agreed, running his fingers again through her thick, soft fur. He liked this woman immediately, referring to Wolf as his companion instead of his pet. A pet was owned, controlled, inferior. Wolf was his friend, and remained with him only because she herself chose to do so.

At her question, he shrugged slightly.

"She is not mine to command."

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timelesshunter
2012-07-16 02:46 am UTC (link)

Artemis was a small girl in her Hunter form, easy to miss. It was also entirely possible that she had camouflaged herself against the backdrop upon seeing the man. Most men she would not have addressed, but this man had a companion with him. Being the goddess of animals (it sounded really pretentious when you thought about it, the list of things Artemis was goddess of), Artemis was naturally drawn to him.

She approached lightly, easy on her feet, maintaining eye contact as she spoke to the animal from within.

"I am Artemis," she said to the man quietly, still concentrating on gaining the trust of the beautiful creature.

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cryoverwildlife
2012-07-16 02:54 am UTC (link)

Wolf seemed to understand that she meant no harm, and turned from him to trot to the girl, sitting at her feet and looking up at her with gentle eyes.

He himself stayed in a crouch, resting his elbows on his knees as he curiously watched their interaction. Wolf was far from being vicious, but neither was it regular for her to be as social as this. It made him look much more deeply at the young woman, and kept him slightly on edge.

When she gave her name, he hesitated briefly. He would not use the name she had given him, the name by which she had trapped and enslaved him in Storybrooke. It was not his name, and he was free of her.

"I am known as The Huntsman."

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timelesshunter
2012-07-16 03:09 am UTC (link)

The second Artemis' fingers touched fur, all the tension of the last month melted away. Gone was the strain of being trapped on the train, gone was the worry over Piper (her disappearance, while also worrying, was also relieving, given that the demigod had wanted to give her blood to others), and gone was the pain of an incomplete Luna. Her fingers ran through the fur, and she knelt to bring her face close to the animal's, breathing her love deeply. She loved all creatures, and this was no exception.

After a moment, the words of the man broke through, and her concentration broke. She leaned back, fingers still caressing fur, and looked at the man. "Huntsman. You are a Hunter?" She wished she had her arrows on her back, but she'd left them in the room. Now that Piper was gone, she would start wearing them again. The room was used for nothing else; Piper had been the only one to sleep in the bed and use the facilities.

She regarded him carefully. He had a companion, and his face looked weary, well-travelled. "If I may ask a question of you, Mr Huntsman, what is your prey?"

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cryoverwildlife
2012-07-16 03:27 am UTC (link)

"Only what we need to survive," he said, looking intently at Wolf.

And it was true. He had learned to hunt from the wolves, learned to respect all of nature, even the animals they killed. Life was precious, and even when one had to take it to survive, there was still grief to be found in doing so. He thanked each and every animal he felled, and often when he did, the tears came. Tears of gratitude, and of sadness. It was for this reason that he found honing his skill important - he had no desire to injure animals from his own ineptitude. He would let them die quickly, with as little pain as possible, and with honor. He was not a man who hunted for sport.

"Deer, rabbits. Squirrels occasionally. Usually to eat ourselves, but sometimes to sell the pelts so we can buy the few things the forest cannot provide."

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timelesshunter
2012-07-16 03:36 am UTC (link)

"What could the forest not provide?" Artemis asked intently, gazing from him to the wolf. She hadn't asked sharply, but it was clear from the way she asked that she disagreed with the premise he was offering, that there were things the forest could no provide. He was a curious man, and his companion was deeply loyal to him, and he to her; it didn't take any special skills on Artemis' end to see that.

He was a True Hunter, or he sounded like one, very unlike most any mortal she'd met; a man who did not hunt for sport, who shared a connection deeper than the surface connections of most mortals and their 'pets', who had not yet dismissed her. More importantly, she had not dismissed him.

She kissed the wolf lightly on the nose and pulled her fingers back, instantly feeling the loss of the connection. "I should like, if your companion permits it, for she and I to be friends." She gazed deeply at the wolf, wanting nothing more in the moment than to dance in the moonlit forest with the stunning creature.

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cryoverwildlife
2012-07-16 03:50 am UTC (link)

"Very little," he admitted with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But I lack the skill to make spirits, and there are certain tools and implements that are better made by a blacksmith than with my crude hands."

To be honest, he preferred to spend as little time around other people as possible, he found their company grating, for the most part, their conversation course and unmannered. They made a great deal of noise but heard nothing, they wasted a great deal and provided little. They could walk through the forest and miss the beauty of the trees, seeing nothing but the value of the wood. His time in Storybrooke had tempered those feelings to an extent, but here with Wolf and this woman, they were filling his (liberated) heart again.

"If she permits it, then I can do nothing to stop it, even if I wished to."

He did not understand how humans treated pets, as if they were little more than animated toys. But he simply assumed that the soul of an animal, its freedom and its heart, were also things easily missed by those who seemed to find little time to look.

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timelesshunter
2012-07-16 04:07 am UTC (link)

"You are a curious man, Mr Huntsman," Artemis said. "Most mortals I know show even some ownership over their companions, yet you cede that you have none. If you were from the place I am from, I would have heard about you. Indeed, you remind me of the Hunter Orion, one of the few males I have found pleasant to share company with."

He was a mortal, he required mortal things, she reminded herself. He was not a god, who could survive for millenia in the forest, and never catch the scent of a human. For a human, he passed the test that most gods - including her twin brother - could not meet; he had the soul of the forest and a humility that all but a few of her fellow Olympians lacked.

She stood and said, "I am goddess of the Hunt. Perhaps when the train permits us, we could partake in ritual together." He didn't know it, but it was an exceptionally rare offer. He did, however, remind her of Orion, and she was intrigued.

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cryoverwildlife
2012-07-16 04:18 am UTC (link)

"Ownership? One does not own ones family and friends, my lady. One loves them as permitted, but they own their own hearts. It is a very human concept, this idea of ownership. I...have come to understand it in some ways in the years of my enslavement, but I have never come to hold it to great value."

Even in Storybrooke, with no memory of the man he had been, he had placed very little importance on things. He had spent his time at work, or volunteering at the animal shelter, or walking the trails in the woods, which always had brought him a deep calm, even through the depths of the curse.

He did not understand her words, exactly, but he felt them deeply, on an innate level, beneath the need for verbalization. Like Wolf, there was something about her that drew him, and he found that he trusted her as well. Even though the word 'ritual' evoked magic, which in turn evoked Regina, he was confident that this was an honor, and not a terrible thing such as that.

"I would be honored, my lady," he said, bowing his head slightly and in deep respect.

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timelesshunter
2012-07-16 04:34 am UTC (link)

"I did not mean to offend," Artemis said quietly. "I agree with you, ownership is a very human concept, yet it is one you rebuke. I could not own the forest if I tried, and there is no force that can compel Luna to do other than her bidding." She did not ask who had enslaved him, or why. He would tell, if he chose to, in his own time, and she found she did not much care for the tale.

"I lay my bow alongside yours," Artemis said with deep reverance and respect. It was symbolic more than anything else, but it was a mutual showing of respect and friendship. "When the train permits me to use my powers fully, I shall find you, and we shall hunt."

The wolf would come too, Artemis knew; the pull of the forest would likewise be too much for her to miss. If music was the soul of the world, Apollo's long, beautiful notes, then Artemis' forest was the heartbeat, with its steady pulse, pulling those remarkable enough to be touched by it, in.

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cryoverwildlife
2012-07-16 04:53 am UTC (link)

"I...was not raised by humans, their morality is not mine," he said simply. "There is a beautiful freedom from all such things in the wild, that is there for any who seek it, but it eludes those who are too loud, or too busy, or too human to know that it is there. It is that freedom I have always sought, and in my better days, have found."

He nodded, his eyes at the floor, his entire posture showing his deep respect for this woman who stood before him. There was a strength in her he could sense - an age and wisdom that went far beyond her delicate appearance.

"I shall wait for your call, my lady," he said in a soft voice, dripping with reverence.

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timelesshunter
2012-07-16 05:06 am UTC (link)

He hadn't proved anything to her, but Artemis didn't require him to, she could tell that he was ... special. She would not show deference to a mortal, but she smiled gently at him, "There is a poet named Wendell Berry that I admire, a human whose affinity for the forest parallels yours." Then she recited the poem, in a soft lilting tone.

"When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

She smiled again at him, "I shall leave you to your needs. It was an honour to meet you, and you," she said to the wolf.

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cryoverwildlife
2012-07-16 05:17 am UTC (link)

He was silent as she recited the poem, listening closely to the words she spoke, and feeling their deep impact. They touched him deeply, and he did not try to hide the several tears that escaped from his heart and made their way down his cheeks.

"It is my honor, I assure you. I shall hold those words close until we meet again," he said, looking up at her at last. Wolf brushed her hand with her muzzle one last time, a gentle touch that said what she had not the ability to articulate.

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