Heron Lake Plateau the honey pot
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#1
All Welcome 
He had wandered to the southwest portion of the territory, one of the few places he hadn't explored in depth before the arrival of his usurpers family. Here he traipsed along the waterway's edge until the earth showed a clear declination - and he found the water emptying in to the hinterlands. The sound of the water crashing made his ears twist back. Eventually he turned and left the roaring behind, and was perusing the rest of the territory's edge in an effort to patrol.

What Raven had said did sink in to him. He understood that nobody trusted him and the best way to fix that was to work. Screech wasn't sure what he wanted to work on — so he was left to wander. He kept retracing his steps along the southern border until he found a copse of trees, where he stopped to relieve himself, and in the process of doing that he found some peculiarities.

Among the trees was a pile of scat but he couldn't figure out what creature had made it. It wasn't filled with seeds and grass like he'd expect from a deer, but there was a lot of it. A few feet away, as Screech investigated along a nearby raise in the plateau, he found one of the trees had been scored, as if by claws. The sight of it made the fur of his spine stand on-end, and he looked wildly about, wondering if the beast was still in the area.
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Ooc — Kim
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#2
Since the move to Heron Lake Plateau and all the insanity that had happened afterward, Orca had been laying low. She spent time with her family, of course, and did some hunting and patrolling of the borders, but she had worked hard to avoid any sort of confrontation. Flying under the radar seemed to be her status quo as of late, and she had nothing to complain about.

She traipsed along the southern edge of the territory, simply familiarizing herself with the land. She hadn't run into anything interesting -- that is, until she spotted Titmouse (Screech, she corrected herself mentally) looking alarmed. His hackles were rigid and his body language was stiff and defensive. Slowly, she crept towards him, eyeing the droppings and the claw-marks on the tree warily.

"That's not good," she murmured to her brother, ears falling back with worry.
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The beast that came upon him wasn't all that frightening — but he startled a little, thinking he had been hunting alone. Orca's voice rang out and his head turned sharply and strained a little, but upon seeing his other sister, he relaxed a little. The boy's attention returned to the marks on the tree, and he tried to inspect them a little bit better by rearing up and leaning on it, sniffing for clues.

What is it? He wondered out loud, and dropped to the ground again. Maybe a cat? He offered first, but the marks were a little too wide for a cougar's paws. Screech found himself checking the shadows with glances every few seconds, growing hyper-vigilant as he realized there might be a bear out there.
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Ooc — Kim
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#4
She watched as Screech examined the scratches and mused aloud as to what could have caused them. "Or a -- a bear?" Orca suggested breathlessly. She unknowingly imitated her brother, glancing around nervously and lowering herself slightly, muscles tensed in case they needed to make a quick escape.

"Maybe we should get away from here," she said. Whatever kind of animal it was, she didn't really want to find herself face-to-face with it.
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As soon as she uttered the word bear, a chill descended across Screech. He didn't want to look weak or stupid before his sibling though, so he swallowed the well intended fear and brushed off her suggestion with a snort and a shake of his head, No, no way, they're way smaller cuts than a bear. Believe me, I've fought bears — er, one bear. A long time ago. And by fight, he meant pissed at.

Still, she didn't know that.

It's probably a cat. Or... A coyote, maybe. A badger? Are there badgers in swamps? He talked to fill the void of his apprehension and wandered a little ways away from the tree, as well as from Orca, but not away from the danger. About a wolf-length beyond the grove there was a dynamic shift in the air and a strange scent was being driven straight in to their path — and this was unmistakably bad.
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Ooc — Kim
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#6
Orca had heard stories of Finley's history as a bear-fighter, but had never set eyes on a bear herself. So she trusted Screech completely when he insisted that the scratches on the tree couldn't belong to such a large animal. She wasn't sure whether to believe that he had tangled with a bear himself, and she wanted to ask him to tell her about it, but he was moving away from the trunk while talking about coyotes and badgers.

"There could be badgers around here, so you're probably right," she said, giving the damaged tree one last sidelong glance before skittering after her brother. She wanted to get out of there and away from danger, but she froze when an unfamiliar scent entered her nostrils. Whatever it belonged to -- whether it was a bear or a badger -- she didn't really want to find out. "Maybe we should go this way..." she said, sidling in the opposite direction.
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He was so concerned with proving it wasn't a bear that Screech didn't notice the scent that filled the air. He heard Orca speaking (and most of it didn't parse in his stupid brain) but he insisted, No come on, we should go this way. If we bring back a badger pelt or something then we'll have a really — cool — story. The boy stumbled as he investigated, causing a small hiccup in his speech.

Then he went silent, and as still as a rock. With a small tilt of his head Screech turned his face so that he could survey the ground with his one good eye, and out of the darkness of his bad side there seemed to spread a black shadow. It was a big dark lump in the grass, partially hidden by brambles and reeds, but it was there. He'd just kicked it.

What happened next was something out of a monster movie (or reminiscent of the Rex from Jurassic Park). Screech wanted to warn Orca about what he'd found — but as soon as he put his carefully raised paw down and the dry grass crackled, an eye popped open in the dark. It was followed by another, and when the black bear groggily woke from its nap, the two of them locked eyes.

Screech bellowed, Orca — Orca run, run, rUN RUN GO! as he pirouetted on the spot and tried to bolt after his sister. The bear was half-asleep but didn't appreciate being screamed at (how rude) and pushed off the ground with a bellow of his own.
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Ooc — Kim
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I know a lot has happened with Screech since this thread, lol, so if you want to fade or continue with them escaping/whatever, it's up to you!

"But Screech..." Orca insisted faintly as her brother continued to try to convince her to go in the other direction. She hesitated, then stepped towards him, her tail pressed against her backside and her ears splayed fearfully. Before she could make more than two strides, however, Screech froze.

As if in slow motion, he started to scream and whirled to flee past Orca, who stood stunned for a moment until she realized just what was happening. There was a bear, and it was right there, and ohmygod it was awake! Her shriek mirrored Screech's as she raced after him, the bear's growl echoing in her ears. Hopefully it would be too lazy to chase them -- they had woken it up from a nap, after all -- but Orca was too scared to look back as she thundered after her sibling.
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Ooc — Talamasca
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#9
Methinks that's best (fading)! <3

Nope nope nope nope nope, he wasn't going to stick around and face-off against a grumpy bear even if it was one of the smaller ones. Sure, he'd introduced the idea that he was a bear fighter to Orca; he'd even prided himself on it once. But the only idiots who should be facing-off against any bears are those with big black marks down their spines.

Fuck fuck fuck! He could be heard half-shouting as he ran, trying to keep himself between the bear and Orca — and soon enough both Redhawks were putting good distance between themselves and the threat. Wheew, crises averted!