bigapplesauce | Bewere

Current Music: January 27, 2013 (backdated)

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Bewere

Yuri sighs as he trudges down the corridor. He's been feeling grouchy the last few days, his temper shortening and his hunger growing. In other words, he feels just like he does every month. Even though he's just had dinner, he finds himself thinking longingly of breakfast.

He also finds himself thinking of Daine as he checks each of the doors he passes, making sure for the fourth or fifth time that they've been put back together right. He made her promise not to come visit him -- or at least, he told her she had as good as promised and that he'd hold her to it, even if she said no such thing herself. She should never have come to see him the first time, and he won't have her on his conscience because she came again and got hurt or turned. Caught up in his thoughts, he isn't careful enough with the second door, and burns himself on a spoon. Without making a conscious decision to do it, he lashes out, hitting the door so it swings and rebounds off the wall, rattling the silverware. Sheepishly, he sticks his fingertip in his mouth and hurries on -- he has time yet before the transformation, but it's getting harder to keep his head.

He's several steps into the room with the cage before it registers that he's not alone. Freezing in the middle of the room, he lets out a huff that's halfway between annoyance and despair.

"Get out."

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She can feel his rage and frustration so strongly it's almost a physical push against her back, and she wonders if Yuri will even remember this in the morning. It's like the rabid bear in Snowsdale all over again.

Keep up! she calls, praying that any folk who hear them coming will have the sense to hide.

I'll smash you! Or he'll crunch her, or tear her apart like he tore the blanket -- chew her up and swallow her --

Yuri puts on a burst of speed, panting hard and ignoring the pain in a burned front paw. He can see himself starting to close the gap between them, but it's so hard to keep up this speed.

Daine keeps an eye on him as she wheels through the corridors, letting him close the gap a bit. You'll have to catch me, first, she says. She can tell he's pushing himself, and part of her is glad - maybe it won't be so difficult to wear him out - but she's worried, too, that he might decide to try for easier prey than her. She slows, allowing him to draw even closer, but still keeping herself out of range of his paws.

She'd better mind how close she lets him get, though. As he gets close, he shows absolutely no hesitation -- seeing the bird nearly within reach, he bunches protesting muscles and leaps forward, trying to bat her out of the air.

Daine puts on a burst of speed and veers out of paw's reach. Goddess, that was closer than she meant it to be. Missed me! she sing-songs at him, hoping the goading will make up for the fact that she's pulling further ahead of him.

Yuri stumbles, nearly tripping over his own paws as he lands awkwardly. He bellows at her, angered (but a little encouraged) by the near miss. Get back here!

As if she'd make it that easy for him. If she had more head room, she might risk circling back, but all she can do while they're in the base is stay ahead of him. You're going to have to work for it, she informs him.

They're getting into the more populated parts of the base, now. Perhaps it's due to the late hour, but no one seems to be out in the halls, to her great relief. She checks Yuri's position again, wondering how they're going to get through the door. Is it even manned at this hour?

Yuri could tell her -- assuming he were coherent, of course -- that the door is always manned. He huffs and lets out a groan, wanting to stop, but wanting more badly to get her. Slowing to a trot, he tries to just maintain a pace where he can keep track of her, only speeding up to a gambol if he absolutely must.

Need a breather? she teases, suspecting that he really does and wanting to make sure he doesn't. If he wants to have a collapse, he can wait until he's somewhere a two-legger can't stumble over him as easily as it could happen here. She pulls farther ahead, less because she means to and more because she can't stay in the air if she slows any more than she has already. She stays in his sight line, though, ready to double back if she has to.

Her relief at finally seeing the door is short-lived. It is manned, by a rebel she hasn't met, yet. Putting on a burst of speed, she lets out a warning screech. She doesn't much care if the two-legger opens the door or not, but they'd best get themselves away before Yuri spies them.

How did a bird get in the base? wonders the rebel unlucky enough to have pulled door duty tonight. She gives a start at the screech and turns to look at the little brown bird zipping through the hall toward her. Her indecision lasts for only a moment before she reaches to open the door, reasoning that the bird might fly out of it given the opportunity and make itself no longer their problem.

All thought of the bird being a problem vanishes when the sounds of thudding she's been hearing and worrying a bit over for the past few minutes resolve themselves into the sounds of footsteps, accompanied by huffs and growls, and a shaggy brown bulk rounds the corner. Letting out a cry of fear, the rebel instinctively bolts down another branch of the corridor.

It would be difficult for a bear to miss that scream and the sudden movement. Yuri lifts his head and lets out a roar, speeding up and veering after the woman as she runs for the nearest internal door.

The pleasure Daine feels at having the door opened is quickly supplanted by fear when she hears Yuri's roar of excitement and feels his focus shifting to the two-legger. Curse it! She wheels around and heads right toward the oncoming bear, keeping silent and close to the wall as she speeds down the corridor. If he was wholly focused on her, she wouldn't even attempt this, but now that his attention's drifted...

Daine waits until the last moment to veer up and over. Hey! she cries, accompanying the mental shout with a piercing scream as she passes over his head, almost close enough to clip his ear with one of her wings.

Much as he hates the bird, Yuri's not able to divide his focus very well. A human is an appealing target: slow, loud, and largely edible.

He doesn't see the feathered menace until she's literally on top of him. Grunting in surprise, he first ducks his head to protect his eyes from attack, then thinks better of it and tries to turn, leap, and swipe the air at the same time. He's much too late to hit her, reflexes not so spectacular as to allow his attempt to actually work, and he overbalances and tumbles to the floor. Rolling, he's quickly back on his feet, but by now the human is disappearing through a doorway. As Yuri dithers over which to attack, the rebel slams shut the door of the room into which she fled.

Daine's traveling at a high enough speed when she overshoots Yuri that she has little choice but to continue down the corridor for a good ten yards or so before she can turn herself back around. Fortunately, her diversion seems to have worked even better than she'd hoped: Yuri actually takes a tumble in a belated attempt to swipe at her, and by the time he rights himself, the rebel's put a door between herself and the bear.

Letting out another sharp cry, Daine zips back up the corridor, giving Yuri as wide a berth she can as she passes him. Hurry up! she says, making a beeline for the door.

This next part is going to be tricky. She can't count on the subway station being as deserted as the base, which means she's going to have to let Yuri get very close to her; otherwise, he's sure to go for easier prey. She glances back to make sure she's not in immediate danger of being overtaken, then shifts into the shape of a barn owl. She's harder to miss, now, and nowhere near as fast as she was before, but she should still be able to stay ahead of him, and her night vision is vastly improved.

Come get me, slowpoke!

Yuri more or less sees the pointlessness of pursuing the human any further, though were she the only target present, he might still try to claw his way through that door. He turns even before the bird wings her way back up the hallway, though, anticipating her, though he keeps expecting her to go away from him, not buzz back past him.

This time, he's a little more prepared, and his swipe comes dangerously close to hitting her. Again, though, she's too fast, too unpredictable, and he's left slamming his paw down on the empty floor.

Just try that again! he snarls, bounding after her. His ears perk forward in surprise as she suddenly gets bigger -- and, to his delight, slower.

Letting out a scream, Daine flies out the door as Yuri closes the distance between them. There are a few two-leggers on the stairs, all of them staring at her in varying levels of shock, and she screams again, the only real warning she can provide.

Two of the humans are near the top of the staircase, and they hurry out the exit, not particularly wanting to deal with a frantic barn owl. The third heads down to the station, throwing bewildered glances over his shoulder.

Yuri hits the door with his shoulder as he charges through it, slowing for a moment when he clears it to look around in surprise at his changed surroundings. What is -- where? Memories from his human life click into place and he feels a surge of joy as he realizes how close to the surface he suddenly is.

He also feels a surge of excitement as he realizes there are several humans running about. He's distracted for a moment by the one heading deeper into the station, particularly because he starts moving a good deal faster when he sees that the crazed owl isn't alone. The pull of the outdoors is too strong, though -- much as Yuri would delight in chasing the man down and giving him something to scream about, he turns his head instead toward the stairs, claws scraping on the hard floor as he climbs awkwardly upward, feet too big to fit comfortably on each step.

Daine silently thanks any listening gods that Yuri's inclined to go outside as she flaps her way towards the exit and out into the night. There's a two-legger heading towards the station entrance, and she swoops at him with a screech, driving him back. There aren't many other pedestrians around, but there's a fair amount of traffic on the road they'll have to cross to get to the park. At least it's not moving too quickly, and she's not sure Yuri will have the presence of mind to realize the cars contain people.

As she circles back towards the entrance, she sends her magic out into the park, looking for help. It's a task best suited for birds, and most of them are roosting. There are a few owls about, though, and Quickbeak's flock is nearby and eager to help. Daine's a little concerned at the thought of the crows getting involved, as their night vision isn't very good, but there's a full moon in the sky and the city is never very dark. Daine urges the owls to wait in the park, and calls over the crows. If Yuri has a whole flock to chase, he'll be more likely to ignore any humans, and there's plenty of light for the crows, here.

Yuri tries to run up the last five or ten feet of stairs, stumbling and tripping and finally climbing out into the light of the city. The rush of sights and scents and sounds is overwhelming; as he stands blinking at the world, he completely loses track of his winged tormentor. He lumbers toward the road because he sees light and movement there -- surely he can take on anything and everything, including cars.

As Daine waits for the crows to arrive, she watches Yuri from above, ready to swoop down if he starts to go for anyone. Within moments, Quickbeak is in the air beside her, the rest of the flock wheeling around them.

What is that doing out here? Quickbeak asks, staring down at the bear in astonishment.

Long story, Daine replies. He's - ill, so he won't listen to reason, and I'm worried he'll hurt folk. Can you help me keep him distracted? If we can get him to the park, there won't be so many two-leggers about.

Sounds fun! Quickbeak says, and a few of the other crows chortle their agreement.

Just be careful, Daine orders. He'll swat you right out of the sky if you give him half a chance.

Quickbeak caws her understanding, then dives for Yuri, who's almost reached the street. She buzzes past his head before climbing back out of reach. From a different direction, one of her flockmates does the same, giving one of his shoulders a peck in passing.

Yuri growls at the cars in the street. One or two have stopped as their drivers spotted him -- but others (possibly piloted by brighter humans) speed away, tires screeching. Huffing in annoyance, he moves like he's thinking of chasing one, when suddenly something flaps by his head. Stopping and rearing back in surprise, he's still unprepared for the second black shape, and gives an incensed bellow when it pecks him. Hackles literally raised, he turns on the spot, trying to see where the birds have gone.

The crows take turns harrying Yuri, always approaching him from whatever direction he isn't facing and quickly climbing out of reach. Daine, meanwhile, watches for a break in traffic. When she spots one, she folds her wings and drops.

Come on! she says with a screech as she buzzes past the bear and into the street, towards the park. The crows follow from above, ready to resume buzzing Yuri if he gets too close to Daine.

Get away! I'll kill you! Yuri's complaints can probably be heard blocks away. He grows more and more frustrated as the birds continue to harass him, denying his efforts to swipe them out of the air or catch them between his teeth. He whirls and rears, snarling and roaring to tell the birds exactly what he thinks of them.

Then one, a light-colored bird -- the bird from before! -- swoops low and stays low. Yuri huffs in disbelief, expecting another attack from behind -- but since she obliges him by staying near the ground, he lumbers after her, casting glances up toward the sky before he decides they're done hitting him and concentrates on his target instead.

You'll have to go faster than that! Daine calls back to him. She hopes the taunt will keep him interested; more than that, she hopes he picks up the pace and gets out of the street and away from where most of the two-leggers are concentrated.

Not that the park is necessarily empty. She calls out to her nocturnal friends: Are there two-leggers in the park? Where are they? If she knows where they are, she can steer Yuri away from them.

Not once I tear your feathers out! he retorts, imagining it with only momentary satisfaction. Huffing and puffing, he breaks into a proper run again, trying to close the gap. He's back out of the street before he realizes it, following where she leads.

Unfortunately, Central Park is never entirely empty of people. Fortunately, it's not exactly a nighttime mecca, either.

Within moments, the People are getting back to her, letting her know where the humans in the park are. Daine thinks she should be able to keep Yuri away from them, but any that end up in the bear's path might find themselves suddenly harried by birds until they move.

Keeping Yuri off the paths seems like a safe bet, so once they're in the park, she glides into the trees, slowing a little to encourage him to follow her. If you want them, come get them!

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