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Tweak says, "So come inside"

Sam Winchester (tallerthanthou) wrote in marinanova,
@ 2013-05-12 13:43:00

Entry tags:

:class, :mingle, artemis crock, bonnie bennett, buffy summers, dawn summers, elena gilbert, jack harkness, kitty pryde (aoa), klara guildsen, laura kinney, martha jones, peggy carter, piper halliwell, puck, saitou yakumo, sam winchester, spencer reid, tear grants, xander harris, yuuki kuran, zero kiryuu

Class 002 : Day 218 : Wendigo [action]
Welcome or welcome back to Paranormal Studies.

[Sam starts off with another disclaimer-type comment for the new students as he did at the beginning of his last class about how this isn't a class on hunting.]

Topic: Wendigo

Today, we're talking about wendigos. The name means "evil that devours" and it's a pretty good description. They were actually human once, but something happened to them. Something extreme. Maybe long, cold winters without enough supplies. Whatever the case, they find themselves turning to cannibalism to survive. Obviously, not every cannibal becomes a wendigo, but some do. It changes them. The get taller, leaner, faster, stronger, vicious and always hungry. [Sometimes this class sounds like a scary story, doesn't it? He should teach around a campfire.]

They often hibernate for long periods of time, storing live food. Meaning they abduct and hold people, eating them slowly, stripping off pieces of skin and keeping them alive as they do it as long as possible.

It's the perfect hunter. It has all the power it needs for any prey and the intelligence too. It can stalk you without you knowing it's there, biding it's time to take out a full traveling party. It can also imitate human voices to lure you out.

[ WENDIGO ]

Case Study: Black Water Ridge, Colorado

We—Dean and I—were sent coordinates to Black Water Ridge, Colorado, where we discovered a Tommy Collins had gone missing on a hike. With some research I found people had been going missing in that area in 23-year cycles. We needed better information of what we were up against, so we found a survivor of a "bear" attack. [He actually uses the finger quotes, yes.] It's not unusual for people to come up with neat labels for things that don't make any sense to them, so it's important to look through all records for anything that doesn't seem to fit. Sometimes it's swamp gas or unusual diseases or animal attacks. This time it was a bear attack.

The survivor was able to tell us the thing that killed his family was smart and fast and didn't sound like a man or an animal. With a little more research we were able to figure out we were up against the Wendigo.

Knowing that didn't exactly make things easy from there. We ended up out in the forest with a guide, and Tommy Collin's sister and younger brother. We had to keep all of them safe while finding and rescuing Tommy and not getting ourselves killed in the process. The guide didn't make it. [He clears his throat a little. It's one of those moments where the weight of turning hunting into a class topic catches up to him. He's talking about some pretty strong subjects here even if this was a pretty easy case compared to a lot of what he faced. There was always a body count.]

We did recover Tommy. The Wendigo had been storing people in an abandoned mine. Dean also managed to kill the Wendigo.

[ BLACK WATER RIDGE, COLORADO ]

Practical: Defense of Wendigo

So, how did we do it? Fire. They are vulnerable to it. He was shot once in the chest with a flare gun. There are also some protection symbols from the Anasazi. If they're drawn correctly and you stay in their area of protection they'll act as a ward, keeping a wendigo at bay. A lot of taking them on is knowledge, skill, and luck. There is no conventional fighting with them, but it's also possible silver-tipped arrows can take them down.

[ ANASAZI SYMBOLS ]

Questions & Discussion

Okay, I think that's everything I had. Has anyone else ever heard of or encountered a Wendigo or something similar? Or are there any questions?

(OOC: Backdated to late afternoon. Mingle style. Notifs are off so tag Sam during class with questions or catch him before or after. Use your discretion with the links provided. Sam didn't necessarily cover every detail, but feel free to bring more into it. Warnings for talk of cannibalism and torture.)

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	trytobenormal 2013-06-04 03:23 pm UTC (link)
	[She sighed.] And if I don't want to? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-04 03:33 pm UTC (link)
	Then I repeat: "no fun". Or is it a sensitive topic? You were the one to bring up magical families. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-06 06:15 pm UTC (link)
	[Slip of the tongue, really.] I didn't think talking about what someone was could be considered a game. I wouldn't have considered it that. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-06 06:26 pm UTC (link)
	You're welcome! [For having her life enriched with this new perspective, yes.] How lucky for you I was here and could enlighten you, isn't it? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-07 02:12 am UTC (link)
	... [He had an odd way of thinking.] Welcome for what? I never asked for anything. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-07 09:25 am UTC (link)
	[And/or he thinks very highly of himself and his awesome ideas.] And in spite of that you now know a brand new, brilliant way of introducing yourself. It's sure to be an ice-breaker. Great way of making friends. Thus-- [he pronounced it carefully, since she clearly has trouble grasping this perfectly logical concept] you're welcome. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-09 07:30 pm UTC (link)
	That's all great and wonderful. If you want to share that kind of information right off the bat. Not many people do. [Think about that one.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-10 01:15 am UTC (link)
	Take a look at me. [He makes a gesture in the general direction of his ears, hair, or both.] That kind of thinking is Greek to me. [Which is complete bs; he can of course disguise his looks if he wants to. He sighs theatrically.] And here all I wanted was to play a friendly game. But what can you do when the crowd's tough? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-10 09:01 pm UTC (link)
	You're telling me that you don't have the ability to disguise yourself among humans? [Not that all magical beings did, but there were a good many back home that went about perfectly fine amongst mortals without being detected.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-10 09:12 pm UTC (link)
	And she says it with such incredulousness! Yours is a world of shapeshifters, I take it. [But okay, she asked a question.] But no, I'm not telling you that at all. Just that I'm firmly on Team Magic Pride, as it were. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-13 07:45 pm UTC (link)
	[She leaned her chin on her hands.] So you want me to let you guess what I am, but you won't tell me anything about yourself? That's hardly fair. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-13 07:59 pm UTC (link)
	Few things are. [Fair, that is.] But then let's make it more so! --Although I have told you a couple of things already. [Anyway. He's happy that she finally (maybe) playing along.] Want to guess, or are we doing the traditional quick-rundown-of-your-life thing? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-14 01:42 am UTC (link)
	We can try guessing. [Let's see how far this will go.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-14 05:16 pm UTC (link)
	Then by all means~ [Inviting hand gesture. Guess away.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-14 08:54 pm UTC (link)
	Okay. [She was going to be boring and start with the obvious.] You're an elf. [You know... pointy ears and all that?] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-14 11:24 pm UTC (link)
	Hmmm. Oh dear, should I give you a pass for that one? I do certainly answer to "elf". Do you have elves in your world? More specifically, outside of books? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-16 04:12 am UTC (link)
	Well. Kind of? We've got leprechauns, fairies, demons, cupids, angels... you know. The usual fair. I haven't run into anyone who specifically identifies as an elf, though. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-17 04:42 pm UTC (link)
	In that case you can consider it a 100% correct guess. [Because new experiences!] Your very first elf, at your service. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-18 04:42 pm UTC (link)
	Only because I don't have them? What if I had said yes? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-19 07:15 pm UTC (link)
	Not only because of that - had you said yes you still would've been right. It just tipped the scale ever so slightly. [He realises this is a terrible explanation, but it's fun being mysterious sometimes.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-20 08:18 pm UTC (link)
	Oookay. [She leaned her arms on the desk, debating if she should point out it was his turn again or just hope he forgot...] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-06-22 03:15 pm UTC (link)
	[No forgetting, just enjoying tangents.] Well then, as for you... Wiccan? Wiccan roots, at the very least. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trytobenormal 2013-06-25 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	[She glanced at him for a moment, and then sighed.] In a nutshell, yes. [Magical being to magical being, it wasn't as big of a deal, she supposed. It was a lot more complicated with the whole Charmed Ones bit, but she'd leave that alone.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mightbefun 2013-07-09 06:21 pm UTC (link)
	And thus we see once again that the obvious guess usually is so for a reason. [Because hurray, he was right. Ish.] It feels like only yesterday when people with medial abilities wouldn't think to call themselves Wiccans, but there you go. [Not that he thinks it's a bad name to use just because it's relatively new.] (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

trytobenormal
2013-07-09 06:43 pm UTC (link)

Medial? [Funny he would say that when, in her world, she was considered one of the most powerful witches of all time, but hey. Whatever, right? Piper had never thought she'd actually be insulted by something like that, because it had never been a real issue or majorly important before, but suddenly she was. She kind of gave a little laugh, but not from amusement. She was more surprised by the word and her own reaction.]

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