RACHEL: Countless times she's run this same route without incident, not even a cramping calf has ever really registered on her radar, but now there's an additional layer of unwanted panic as something crashes through the trees and onto the path. Shrieking in surprise, Rachel stumbles again, cursing as she adds more scrapes to already blemished skin. She blinks through the pain and then has to blink a few times more to fully realize that a wolf -- /her/ wolf -- is now standing between herself and the potential danger of a nervous mama bear. Rachel wishes that his appearance brought some sort of relief, but in actuality her fear escalates along with the situation.
She's not afraid of her wolf -- nights under the stars have made that so -- but she's never witnessed this particular posture with hackles high and teeth bared, but rather the situation, one that she's only in due to no fault but her own. She doesn't want anyone hurt, not herself, the bears, and especially not her wolf. But now with the bear's focus fully on the wolf, Rachel's able to slowly and steadily inch backward along the trail all the while hoping that just the mere appearance of her white furred knight won't force a stand-off, but instead will simply send the bear and her cubs away and into the woods.
QUINN: Bears are interesting creatures. Large and powerful, built to kill but capable of a gentility deceptive of their potential destruction. And smart. They are very smart but stubborn. It must be their place high on the food chain. There have been fights between Pack and bear but no one has ever died in them. It's not Pack's mission to kill for sport. For food, yes, but senseless killing is what humans do not her Pack. So she doesn't want it to come to that today, not with those cubs, but their mother doesn't back down. She even rises to her hind legs and rumbles a warning in Quinn's direction.
The challenge makes her snarl, snapping her jaws in the bear's direction. Cubs or no, she won't be the first to budge. Not with Rachel -- and her own dominance -- on the line. If it comes to a choice between those bears and Rachel, she'd be more than happy to get a little blood in her fur.
Thankfully, though, it doesn't look like bloodshed is in the cards. The mama bear finally drops back down -- her weight so great that the earth beneath her giant paws quakes -- and turns to herd her cubs back into the trees. Quinn remains at attention, ears tuned to the sounds of anything else approaching, but when nothing comes she relaxes.
Approaching Rachel is done carefully in the face of the fear still choking the air around her. Her posture relaxes, tail drops, and she dips her head to bump her nose against the girl's knee in silent question. Are you all right?