Tiss/Layout
My name is Tsino:wen Jones. See-nooo-when. Long O. Forget it, just call me Tiss, I hate when people get my name wrong. I'm not from around here. I was born under the halogen lights of a birthing room in the Canadian Polar Bear Habitat in Western Ontario, Canada. I weighed less than a pound. A tiny thing. Mouselike, hence my name. It means mouse in Iroquois. The runt of the litter. My four siblings are not *ahem* gifted. So far as I know anyway. One day I'm enjoying the bear necessities, watching people watch me in my enclosure. Wondering what it would be like to walk on two legs and have no fur to keep you warm, Y'know the normal things. The next thing I know, I have no fur and I'm sitting naked in a pond of ice-cold water. Not a great start to the day. The bear handlers came in and got me quickly, thankfully. Doubly thankfully, they were there on purpose. They had relatives in the enclosure. They were Kin-folk. They thought there might be a changing event and I certainly did not disappoint. They adopted me as a foundling. A kid left on their doorstep, a product of a single mother who couldn't hack it. Not entirely untrue I suppose. They taught me human stuff, and over the years I got really good at it. Got good at going back and forth too. They taught me medicine, both human and animal. First aid type stuff, and older remedies.
But when I turned 21 (yes human years, don't be dumb) I was introduced to my Aunt Sam, a friend of the family so to speak. She opened my eyes to what the world really was. Taught me how and who to be. My place in the world, even beyond the Iroquois spiritualism that my parents taught me. She taught me... Praise Gaia, just everything. I will forever be indebted to my Buri-Jaan. She taught me what it means to be a protector. A healer. Then sent me on my way. That is our way, to wander in the world fixing it as we go. And you know what? I'm damn proud to count myself among those who came before.
