Up On The Mountain
May. 28th, 2021 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jimmydragon OOC: This takes place after THIS POST.
Grandfather Takawitha pronounced his blessing over Jimmy, Mark, and Walter. TIn turn the Adamses thanked the holy man and his assistant with offerings of tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, cedar, boxes of foodstuffs carefully packed, and an envelope of cash that would cover any expenses for their trip home.
Before leaving Grandfather Takawitha pulled Jimmy aside and told him, "Tonight or tomorrow, the spirit of the Faraway Mountain will come," the old man said in his low, gravelly voice. "Listen to their voice, but do not be afraid to follow what your ancestors and the people who have accepted you as theirs have to show you."
Jimmy nodded his acceptance of the holy man's words. He was filled with both a sense of relief and trepidation at once. Would he finally come to know who his real father was? With no further remarks, the old man and his younger assistant got into their old blue Chevrolet sedan and headed down the gravel drive toward the road. The heavy vegetation slapping the side mirrors of the old car as it lumbered off.
After a light meal, Jimmy and Mark mounted the two horses that they would take partway up the mountain to where the permanent tipi site was set up. Walter, Erica, and Lily had helped the two men check and double-check the things they would need that had not already been hauled up to the tipi site the day before. JImmy was mounted on Walter's black gelding, Marvin, while Mark would be taking the bay mare, aptly names Sassy, that both Lily and Erica tended to ride rode the most. Erica seemed almost chuffed by the thought that her new friend, Mark, would be riding what she considered to be her horse.
"You be nice to my friend, Sassy!" Erica pressed her forehead against that of her horse. "You know your way around and Mark is new here."
The horse blinked and let out a sigh, and looked back over her shoulder at Mark as if she had completely understood what the girl had said to her. Jimmy suppressed a laugh. In all probability, the horse probably did understand every word. At least, that's what he was always raised to believe anyway.
"Ah, don't you worry about us, Erica," Mark grinned as he patted the horse's neck. "I'm sure that Sassy and I will get along just fine. And if I'm not mistaken, I think I spied her watching me packing an extra apple or two as an incentive, so I bet she knows."
"We'll back tomorrow sometime, Kitten," Jimmy pulled back on the reins to back Marvin up slightly. "Can we count on you to keep an eye on the ridge and let your Mama and your Papa know when we're coming back down?"
Erica's face blossomed into a smile and she nodded in agreement. There was hardly anything that her favorite cousin could ask of her that she wouldn't agree to. That Jimmy set her about such an important task along the same lines as she had done in helping her mother for the sweatlodge was of particular importance. For Indigenous people, it was important to include the children the sacred and the spiritual into their daily lives from a very young age. It was how he was raised and he was pleased that the traditions were continued. The modern world always presented its own set of problems but Lily and Walter seemed to be managing the balance better than many others that he knew of.
The pair said their goodbyes to Jimmy's aunt, uncle and the kids and headed toward the well-worn trail that led to bluffs where the tipi was tucked. Of course, they could have hiked the nearly two-mile distance, but given how long the sweat lodge ceremony had taken, it was important that they get to where they were going by nightfall.
The morning fog had long since burned off and dappled sunshine shone through the leaves that sheltered around the homestead and up the mountain. After they reached the edge of the forest, Mark was the first to break the silence.
"You have a really nice family, Jimmy," Mark smiled. "Thank you for bringing me and for trusting me with something this important."
The sweatlodge had left Jimmy feeling oddly connected yet somehow removed from his usual consciousness. He was aware of his best friend's words but didn't respond right away. At last, a smile crossed Jimmy's face and he nodded. "You make a difference, Bro. Who else could I possibly trust with something like this?" Suddenly, he let out a soft chuckle aand grinned at Mark. "And who knows what we are going to find once we've got you settled at the tipi and me half naked on the side of the mountain under a full moon?"
Grandfather Takawitha pronounced his blessing over Jimmy, Mark, and Walter. TIn turn the Adamses thanked the holy man and his assistant with offerings of tobacco, sage, sweetgrass, cedar, boxes of foodstuffs carefully packed, and an envelope of cash that would cover any expenses for their trip home.
Before leaving Grandfather Takawitha pulled Jimmy aside and told him, "Tonight or tomorrow, the spirit of the Faraway Mountain will come," the old man said in his low, gravelly voice. "Listen to their voice, but do not be afraid to follow what your ancestors and the people who have accepted you as theirs have to show you."
Jimmy nodded his acceptance of the holy man's words. He was filled with both a sense of relief and trepidation at once. Would he finally come to know who his real father was? With no further remarks, the old man and his younger assistant got into their old blue Chevrolet sedan and headed down the gravel drive toward the road. The heavy vegetation slapping the side mirrors of the old car as it lumbered off.
After a light meal, Jimmy and Mark mounted the two horses that they would take partway up the mountain to where the permanent tipi site was set up. Walter, Erica, and Lily had helped the two men check and double-check the things they would need that had not already been hauled up to the tipi site the day before. JImmy was mounted on Walter's black gelding, Marvin, while Mark would be taking the bay mare, aptly names Sassy, that both Lily and Erica tended to ride rode the most. Erica seemed almost chuffed by the thought that her new friend, Mark, would be riding what she considered to be her horse.
"You be nice to my friend, Sassy!" Erica pressed her forehead against that of her horse. "You know your way around and Mark is new here."
The horse blinked and let out a sigh, and looked back over her shoulder at Mark as if she had completely understood what the girl had said to her. Jimmy suppressed a laugh. In all probability, the horse probably did understand every word. At least, that's what he was always raised to believe anyway.
"Ah, don't you worry about us, Erica," Mark grinned as he patted the horse's neck. "I'm sure that Sassy and I will get along just fine. And if I'm not mistaken, I think I spied her watching me packing an extra apple or two as an incentive, so I bet she knows."
"We'll back tomorrow sometime, Kitten," Jimmy pulled back on the reins to back Marvin up slightly. "Can we count on you to keep an eye on the ridge and let your Mama and your Papa know when we're coming back down?"
Erica's face blossomed into a smile and she nodded in agreement. There was hardly anything that her favorite cousin could ask of her that she wouldn't agree to. That Jimmy set her about such an important task along the same lines as she had done in helping her mother for the sweatlodge was of particular importance. For Indigenous people, it was important to include the children the sacred and the spiritual into their daily lives from a very young age. It was how he was raised and he was pleased that the traditions were continued. The modern world always presented its own set of problems but Lily and Walter seemed to be managing the balance better than many others that he knew of.
The pair said their goodbyes to Jimmy's aunt, uncle and the kids and headed toward the well-worn trail that led to bluffs where the tipi was tucked. Of course, they could have hiked the nearly two-mile distance, but given how long the sweat lodge ceremony had taken, it was important that they get to where they were going by nightfall.
The morning fog had long since burned off and dappled sunshine shone through the leaves that sheltered around the homestead and up the mountain. After they reached the edge of the forest, Mark was the first to break the silence.
"You have a really nice family, Jimmy," Mark smiled. "Thank you for bringing me and for trusting me with something this important."
The sweatlodge had left Jimmy feeling oddly connected yet somehow removed from his usual consciousness. He was aware of his best friend's words but didn't respond right away. At last, a smile crossed Jimmy's face and he nodded. "You make a difference, Bro. Who else could I possibly trust with something like this?" Suddenly, he let out a soft chuckle aand grinned at Mark. "And who knows what we are going to find once we've got you settled at the tipi and me half naked on the side of the mountain under a full moon?"
Re: Revelation
Date: 2021-08-18 04:14 pm (UTC)"Relax, Mark," Jimmy let out an almost shuddering sigh. "I didn't do anything to your friend. I am your friend."
Mark made a quizzical face, his eyes growing wider. "Is...is that really you?!"
"Yeah, it's me," he said flatly, resisting the temptation to shake his now very large and heavy head. "Nice to see Sassy isn't too worried about me looking like this. On Game of Thrones, apparently, dragons eat horses. I mean I'm hungry and all, but, I don't think Erica would speak to me if I ate her horse."
Of course, Game of Thrones was a work of fiction, but at the moment, he had no other frame of reference. it wasn't like he had read Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series or any other fantasy or scholarly book in that realm. Jimmy guessed it was probably a good thing to do research once he got back into his human form......IF he ever did!
"I would explain all of this, but I think this is going to definitely take a couple of cases of beer on the beach to explain it all."
The sun was moving through the sky and soon it would be evening again. He knew that he had to figure out how to un-dragon himself before his Aunt Lily insisted that Walter and some of the other men in the village come help search for him and Mark.
Re: Revelation
Date: 2021-09-09 12:17 pm (UTC)It was probably a good thing that dragon Jimmy would explain later over some beers – which he most definitely needed now – as he barely knew what question to ask first…what? how? why? Speaking of which, dragon Jimmy, Jimmy Dragon, now how could that be a fucking coincidence? Even if his friend hadn’t been aware of it, there must have been something on a subconscious level.
He cleared his throat again. “Well, I suppose you won’t have a problem cracking open a beer with one of those claws.” Humour was always good to fall back on when your mind was still reeling. “But I’d prefer to have a beer with, er, human Jimmy than…errr...” He pointed to the huge beast before him. “Or are you – what’s its name? – Drogon from now on.” Jimmy had introduced him to Game of Thrones some months back when they had spent a few weeks binging the series.
Re: Revelation
Date: 2021-09-09 11:32 pm (UTC)When Mark hesitated then compared him to the fictional dragon on Game of Thrones, he let out a snorting laugh that moved aside more dirt and rocks Of course, he didn’t mind. During their Game of Thrones binge, Jimmy, not surprisingly, had been rooting for Team Targaryen all the way. But still….
In spite of his current predicament and the fear that he may have lost his best friend over it, Jimmy was grateful that Mark chose to use humor instead.
“Oh, ha, ha, Brah,” Jimmy shook his very large head. “No. The Cliff’s Notes version of this sordid tale is apparently my real Dad, who just happens to be a shapeshifter of some renown, showed up.The smug bastard….” Jimmy resisted the temptation to grind his jaw. Who knew with the teeth he now had if that would cause damage to his human form. “Apparently, this is a part of who I am. Still, I have this idea niggling in the back of my head as to how I can get out of this form and back to my old self….” Jimmy mused, then quickly added, “Hopefully anyway.”
Jimmy realized that his cousin Erica’s horse, probably wouldn’t take too kindly to a huge, toothed thing the size of a plane getting a running jump and flying overhead. He couldn’t say he would blame Sassy for it, either. “Maybe you can take Sassy back down to the tipi rounding the other side. I will take off in the opposite direction toward the lake. It’s straight down, and with any luck, I’ve figured out this flying thing well enough that I can avoid hitting any trees this time.”
In spite of Mark’s obvious surprise at the turn of events, if anyone could help him come to terms with what was going on, his best friend could. If he were fortunate, maybe, just maybe, Mark could help him broach the subject with Jocelyn, too, when the time came.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The two friends agreed that Mark would get a bit of a head start back down to the tipi, while he would attempt to fly down from the ridge and into the lake. If he figured out how the wings and tail worked, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to take a nosedive into the lake, and no one would be the wiser.
“I’ll meet you back down there,” Jimmy reassured his friend. “Just remember, not a word about this to anyone - until I figure out what’s going on.”
“Hey, you’ve got my word on it,” Mark said as he mounted Sassy and gently reined her back toward the trail he had taken up to the ridge.
When Jimmy could no longer hear the ring of horse’s hooves echoing off the side of the hill he lumbered to a place where he would get a good running start toward the upper ridge. Suddenly remembering what it took for the dragons on Game of Thrones to take to the air, Jimmy imagined that might not be a bad approach for him to take. Half unfolding his wings he began running toward the ridge as best he could. Just before a sharp dropoff of the ridge to the lake surrounded by evergreen forest, Jimmy gave two flaps of his wings, and turned his nose upward to try to gain altitude. He cleared the rocks, with only the tip of his tail catching a small wayward sprig of a tall Norway spruce.
As he felt the wind lift his wings, Jimmy focused momentarily on the wing strokes that could take him higher or a slight pulling in from what would have been his wrist, to steer him. Below, he could see deer, bear, and a moose or two wandering in the forest. The deer were most skittish when his large, dark shadow passed overhead. Even if he was famished from his vision quest, he didn’t want to give in to the hunger pangs - not yet. Taking a deep breath, he pulled back slightly on his wings before beginning his nose dive toward the lake. The dark, blue to black waters beckoned and sparkled below him, giving an almost overwhelming sense that it held the answer he was looking for.
Trees, rocks, and the landscape streaked by on either side of him until at last, he folded his wings until he skimmed, nose-first into the beckoning depths. Even at the speed, he was traveling, he knew the lake was far deeper than he would be prepared to go. What if he did turn back into his human form and was so deep he couldn’t get back up to the surface again? He forced the thought away. Of course, he reasoned to himself, with everything else that had happened in his life, the people like Mark, Stelios, and now his true father, there didn’t seem to be much that would surprise him.
Arching his back, he turned his nose back toward the surface. The light of the sun on the surface showed as a small, distorted dot of orange, and what he could perceive of the sky seemed to be showing red and mauve that foretold of the end of the day. Even as he moved in the water, wings, and tail, he began to feel a tingling in his arms and a feeling in his gut as if he were being pulled inside out. The sensation grew until it almost knocked the breath out of him. When he looked down, he saw what had been his ‘wings’ disappear. Glancing back, he realized he no longer had the tail that had been almost as long as a city bus.
By the time he broke the surface of the lake, he was almost completely returned to his human form. Had it all been a dream? Seeing what remained of the scales he had seen while in the sweatlodge convinced him otherwise. It was something he was going to have to come to grips with. He had no idea what had triggered his changing form, nor what the limitations were. Again, he would have to rely on Mark to try and figure it out.
As he padded up onto the shore, he realized he was completely naked with not even a breechclout to cover himself. As Jimmy hiked the short distance back up to where the tipi was, he mused to himself that it was a good thing that he was Indigenous. If he did happen to encounter someone, it was likely that no one would even notice his nakedness as anything out of the ordinary. Besides, he grinned to himself, once he got back to the camp, it certainly wasn’t anything that Mark hadn’t seen before.
Re: Revelation
Date: 2021-10-11 03:11 pm (UTC)He nodded agreement about taking Sassy down away from being spooked by a huge ass dragon flying over them. Giving Jimmy his word to not say anything, which was no problem. He had his own secrets that he'd shared with Jimmy as well as other not quite normal human friends and acquaintances, he added, "Good luck, bro! And I hope to see you down there on two legs and no wings or massive teeth." He reined against Sassy's neck to turn her around. "I'll keep an eye out for you!" And then he rode away back down the mountain.
Back at the tipi, Mark turned Sassy loose in the pen with Marvin once again. He had seen Dragon-form Jimmy flying over the lake, and he started down towards the shore, grabbing a blanket because with the sun starting to go down, the air had picked up a distinct chill. Before he even got to the lake's edge, he saw a dripping wet and naked friend walking up towards him. Not that he cared, naked men were nothing out of the ordinary for him, Jimmy included. He did grin as he tossed the blanket over to him. "So, a packed bag would probably a good idea to carry around, I'm thinking, just in case you do this in not such a secluded place." Despite himself, Mark found himself watching his friend with some curiosity, looking to see if there was any sign of the dragon left.
"You okay?" It felt right to just check in with him, all his other questions would wait. It would be dark soon enough and they still needed to head down the mountain and back to Uncle Walter's before any worried relatives sent out a search party.
Re: Revelation
Date: 2021-10-23 10:22 pm (UTC)Jimmy chortled at Mark’s suggestion. “Yeah, remind me to buy two of everything from here on out - just in case,” he quipped as he began wrapping the blanket around himself. While some of the family may wonder why he was wandering around naked without so much as a breechclout, the blanket would be an acceptable substitute until he could get a hot shower and get dressed again.
"You okay?" Mark asked, as nonchalantly as possible.
Jimmy opened the blanket back up, looked down at his intimate bits. Not seeing any visible sign of dragon scales, he glanced up at Mark and gave a sharp nod before wrapping the blanket back around himself. “Yep. Everything seems to be in order.”
Mark gave a laugh and shook his head. The two had been close enough to each other knowing that there wasn’t much in the world that would come as a surprise about the other and so many times when they would laugh at things that others just wouldn’t understand. Jimmy had to admit to himself, in spite of Stelios and Mark roundly drinking him under the table on his first night in Los Angeles, he truly valued Mark as he would a brother.
Securing the blanket around himself he had his arms free enough to untie the other horse that Mark had had the foresight to bring down to the lake. They weren’t too far from Aunt Lily and Uncle Walter’s cabin and likely the kids, and especially Erica would be looking for any sign of their return. Thankfully, even on horseback, they were less than a half-hour away.
Jimmy tried to respond coherently to any attempts that Mark made at conversation, even though he knew his head was still likely to be soft from the effects of the vision quest and his transformation. His mind would sometimes wander to Joie and he would feel a tiny pinprick of worry as to whether or not she or his future in-laws-to-be would understand what happened and about who…or more importantly, what he was. Then there was his own family to consider. Had his vision of his sister’s spirit been right? Would they, would the ancestors understand about his being able to shapeshift into……something so different from most anyone else he had heard of who could do such things?
Of course, it would take days, weeks or even longer for all of it to settle within him and make sense. But one thing was for sure, Mark was right. If what happened upon the mountain were to happen again and unexpectedly, how on earth would he be able to explain it?
Re: Revelation
Date: 2021-11-16 12:59 am (UTC)He was about to say something to reassure him, when they turned the final bend in the trail and Walter and Lily's house came into view. Jimmy's young cousin, Erica was standing at the end of the driveway, obviously waiting for them. Mark raised his hand in greeting. The door to the house also opened and Jimmy's aunt, uncle, and other cousins came spilling out having clearly been looking out for their return from the windows.
He waved again and glanced at Jimmy, not even trying to guess what he was feeling. "However you want to tell them what happened, or if you don't want to talk about it at all." Although given the blanket covering him, probably some explanation would be needed at the very least. "I'm right beside you, bro."
Re: Revelation
Date: 2021-11-29 03:49 pm (UTC)When he and Mark arrived back at the cabin, Aunt Lily, Uncle Walter, and the kids didn’t question his state of dress or inquire as to how things went. They knew that it would take a while for him to process what happened and what he had seen
He went through the motions of taking a shower, getting dressed in clean clothes that he still had in his knapsack. After he was fully dressed, he took a bit of the food that was offered. The elk stew and fry bread were more than enough, but beyond taking a single serving of each, surprisingly he wasn’t feeling too hungry.
That night at the fire pit outside the cabin under the stars Aunt Lucille sat down next to him on the log bench. In the background, he could hear Mark and Uncle Walter nearby playing some sort of game with the kids. Those were the kinds of sounds that he remembered from when he spent his summers with his maternal family. Even now as a grown man, the smells, sights, and sounds of the place helped him to relax. It was what he needed after all he had seen and experienced on his vision quest.
“Auntie,” Jimmy began carefully, “Did my mom ever tell you about my real father?”
Aunt Lily was silent for a few moments before she nodded. “Yes,” she acknowledged. “Patrice told me on the night that the two of them had been together. As sisters, I knew she was seeing something in the woods. Of course, you know our people - there are some things you don’t discuss or speak their names out of fear or just not wanting to know. Anyway, I never questioned her version of anything she told me…..after.”
“Did she describe him to you at all?” Jimmy asked.
Lily let out a long sigh. “Just a little. Your mother said that he was at once beautiful, terrible, strange, and not quite human.”
Jimmy scoffed at the last. “Yeah. Definitely ‘not quite’!”
There was another silence between them, and it seemed as if the entire forest, including Mark, Uncle Walter, and the kids got quiet, too. Jimmy was certain that his aunt was choosing her words carefully, even though she had no idea what had happened to him during his quest.
“Jimmy,” Aunt Lily spoke at last. “There is nothing you can do to change my mind, your family’s mind about you. We love you, we helped raise you, and as you must know, we and the Mohawk People will always protect you as one of us. We have always suspected who or what your real father was. It doesn’t matter. Not to us.”
Jimmy let out a scoff and poked a stray coal back into the circle of stones that made the fire pit. “Not even if I end up being some huge dragon?”
Aunt Lily shook her head and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, planting a kiss on the side of his forehead. “Hell, you’re already a rock and roll star! So you can believe me when I say, not even then.”