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| Art by Powell? And taken from a issue of nature boy comics |
And so, baby Bill began his new crazy life with his new crazy family, being taught the divine medicines from Coyote and Badger, learning the magic of the world and how to use them, what plants did what, how to practice ceremony, the dos and don'ts of things and the like.
Coyote, the master of trickery and mischief, taught Bill about being clever, using his mind to befuddle and confuse, figuring out how to make traps and tactics that could be both humorous or harmful or something in the middle, depending on what he wanted or needed.
While Badger was the master of healing and protecting, taught Bill about being kind, how to heal or hurt things with what could be found in the world around him, and how to judge a situation and approach it with whatever it called for, whether that be a careful hand or a fierce fist.
But he wasn't just taught things by his new ma and pa but all the aunts and uncles of the forest around his new home.
He learned how to bite from Beaver, putting those steel like chompers of his to good use, he eventually got to the point where he could chew through rocks no sweat, although them black stones he found deep in the cave he called home did a number on his stomach, ended up that was coal he done ate and eventually when the coal came out the other end, well it wasn't exactly coal no more, and if he went into the world of man he'd be a very wealthy feller let's just say.
After that he learned wrestling and how to use his strength from Bear, quickly learning how to use his opponent's weight and force against them, as well as how to fight and just normally function with his immense strength, most notably mastering the bear hug and granite grip.
This being a thing where if Bill liked ya you could tell from a hug or a shake, like if he was indifferent to your existence he would give ya a normal shake or hug, and if he liked ya he'd give a squeeze that had the perfect amount of force behind it, you know, just enough the crack one's back or really feel the pressure on your hand, but if he didn't like you, well best case your not walking again or you still have your arm with a broken hand at the end of it.
He would also learn a bit about strength from Buffalo, but endurance was the major thing he'd learn from the giant beast and walking flesh tank of wisdom.
For hours every day Bill and Buffalo would square up and charge each other, with Bill and Buffalo everytime ending up head to head and nose to nose, pushing at each other's bodies until one would yield or buckle under the continuous and immense force of the other.
At the beginning more often than not Bill would be the first one to buckle of course, ending up pushed over onto his ass, his endurance and stamina wasn't there yet ya see, but very quickly this would begin to change as Bill would last longer and longer.
These tests of endurance going from lasting minutes a try, to hours and even days, until Bill eventually had the endurance and toughness to beat Buffalo in these tests.
Bill gained such an immense level of endurance that for one entire month he ended up holding a boulder a loft, this thing was 3 times his size, and he held it all the way above his head, and by the end of the month he had forgotten that he was even holding it.
From there he learned how to jump from Rabbit, with him using his spindly and light body but strong legs Pecos took to this Like, Well a hare to hopping, soon he was jumping so high Badger worried he would wallop his head on the sun or moon.
Although he never exactly did get that high, it was high enough for Badger to worry about the boy, but then again Badger always did call Bill her "bouncing baby Bill", something Coyote would always bring up in the conversations they'd have while Bill was jumping about and showing off to his Mamog and Papog.
Coyote would tease her about it whenever she got worried about Bill hopping so high, sometimes Rabbit would even join in Coyote's teasing, this teasing always to Badgers chagrin, and ultimately it would always be repaid with a knock to the head, sometimes to Rabbit when he was in reaching range, but always to Coyote as he cackled.
Speaking of funny stories that end with pain and humor, when he learned how to run fast from Antelope, he got so fast that when a new moon was happening, and the night dark as can be, and the sun began to rise he would challenge himself to race its rays, keeping pace with the morning's beams of light and even surpassing them at one point, this leading bill to run face first into a cactus, and that was not pretty I tell you what, for both Bill and especially the cactus, poor thing stood no chance.
After that is when he was taught about how to slow down and appreciate things from Turtle, as well as the strength of stillness and knowing how to step back from something, just stopping and looking around at everything, basking in the world he was surrounded by.
This eventually led to him learning how to see further and better from Hawk, and with this super sight he was noticing all sorts of details he hadn't before about the world around him, from the intricacies of the smallest critter to the details on the furthest mountain on the horizon.
He even was able to look upon the heavens at night and see the stars play, shift and, disappear in real time, instantly seeing minute and major changes in them that it would take the normal folk thousands upon thousands of years to even see the beginning of, sometimes he even felt like he could almost see through things like the walls of a cave or trunk of a tree.
And from Hawk he would meet other birds like Blue Jay, Owl, Eagle, Robin, Hummingbird, Woodpecker and even Crow.
The ladder of which he'd later find out had a rivalry with Coyote and later Pecos would have his own spat with Crow, but those are stories for later.
Anyways he met the other birds and they taught him the magic of music, Woodpecker with his rhythm, Hummingbird with her humm, Blue Jay and Robin with there whistle, Owl and Eagle with there mighty screeches and crow mimicking sounds he had heard folks on the trail make, all of these different sounds coming together with the natural sounds of the earth in a beautiful harmony, that Bill only felt right to add to with lyrics.
And after this he got to know Eagle who taught Bill of healthy pride and how to commune with the spirits of the sky world, often ending up riding and even surfing on Eagle's back, this all starting after Eagle caught Pecos before a potential crash landing Bill had after jumping a little to high and losing confidence in his landing skill, later Bill would even perfect this bird surfing skill with a little advice from Crow.
Hell, he even learned a little bit on how to regrow parts from Lizard, him learning this after losing his pinky in a ruff landing, Bill immediately noticing the missing digit, and then freaking out before getting approached by Lizard, who showed Bill how he could regrow his tail, ripping off the tail he had to demonstrate, Bill seeing this then grabbed this tail and put it where his pinky used to be, and, low and behold at worked.
And when it was all said and done, the pinky was functional but a bit funky, with it being a tad shorter and scalier than the original it replaced and a lightish pink skin color compared to the rest of Pecos tanish skin, with it remaining this pink color for the rest of his life.
This for Pecos being the first of many scars he'd get in his long life, and a scar he held with pride, as he, soon after regrowing the finger, proudly bolted home to show his Mamog and Papog.
Not remembering that Mamog Badger was afraid of something exactly like this happening, or how long he'd exactly been away from home, as it had been a day and a half.
So when Pecos got home he was met with a rapid fire of emotions from Badger going from livid, to worried, to livid and then to hugging him so hard, Pecos finally knew exactly how others felt when he hugged them, and during all of this Coyote laughed himself senseless.
After this Coyote and Badger decided to try teaching Bill how to shape shift, seeing how he already showed himself to be able to mold his body a bit with him replacing a finger and all.
But unlike many of the things Bill had attempted and succeeded at, and despite the ease and elegance Badger and Coyote showed in they're demonstrations, explaining to Bill in detail how it's done.
Shapeshifting just seemed like the one thing Bill could not conquer, the one mountain he couldn't exactly climb, every time he tried he'd only strain himself, him even getting to the point where he ended up giving himself a hernia after trying too hard one day.
Coyote and Badger seeing that Bill wouldn't stop trying till he'd end up killing himself or worse, decided to make a compromise of sorts, if Bill couldn't shape shift, then he could still make folks change back into their true forms if they had shape shifted.
So they taught him a special magic, a powerful attack that would cause any being who had shapeshifted to immediately turn back into their true form, Bill went on to perfect this technique in the form of his patented True Self Chop, a chest chop that would reduce or sometimes even transform anybody into their true form.
And so eventually, Bill at the age of 12 was ready to deal with his first true challenge, a task given to him by his Mamog and Papog to deal with a horrendous pest sweeping through the area, seriously, these things made the locusts of Egypt look like a bunch a ladybugs.
This dreadful pest of course being the blood sucking swarm known as the Monsquitoes.
(author's/scribe's note: This chapter is the first that's leaving off on a proper cliffhanger and in general is more of a compilation of various different smaller stories that my family would tell about Pecos growing up with Coyote and Badger compiled into one full chapter.
With this chapter focusing on Bill mostly just learning the basic stuff as the more complex or nuanced things are saved for their own chapters.
Also important to note that there is actually a song for this chapter, specifically for the part where Pecos learns how to sing and about the magic of music from the birds, however it's been years since my mom has sung it, so it's probably going to take a while for her to remember and me to write it down or archive it.
so that'll be a separate post from this one, so be on the lookout for that, When it does eventually come out you'll be able to find an edit to this article with a link to it, Also it should include recordings of my mother singing the song as examples of how it sounds)
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