OOC: Assuming I can use this for a group prompt, using the half word count prompt pass for this group prompt

Torrent was poking around gathering herbs, listening to Pidge's complaints about the quality of the berries with half her attention. Asriel was asleep in one of the denuded apple trees, his ringed tail hanging down to twitch once in a while. She was mostly letting her mind drift as she mechanically harvested the raspberry leaves - leaving the canes alone, though it would usually be easier to take the stems, since the spines felt awful when you tried to bite through the canes. She wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just drifting, until Pidge's plaints suddenly cut off with a squeal and she jerked upright, her dual-toned eyes zeroing in where the fat raccoon had last been. Pidge was still there, cowering and hissing fiercely as a huge bear reared up out of the berry bushes. Tall, taller, it was far larger than Torrent even, and it looked furious that Pidge had been stealing its berries. Her berries - the bear was a female, and from the scent pregnant and filling up on all the tasty calories for the cub or cubs she'd birth in the middle of winter.

Undeterred by neither the size of the female nor made to feel squeamish or particularly merciful by the fact that she was pregnant, Torrent leaped forward with a snarl, slapping Asriel's tail out of her way as she landed in between Pidge and the furious bear. She drew herself up to her full height, hackles raised as high as they could go, tail high and ears stiffly forward as she attempted to intimidate the bear into turning tail and running. Unfortunately, the bear knew how much she needed those berries... and she didn't particularly mind adding raccoon and wolf to the menu either. Rather than backing away, she waddled a couple steps closer and bellowed furiously in Torrent's face. Torrent roared back, her claws digging into the earth in preparation for the bear's inevitable charge.

Word Count: 324
Total Word Count: 324

He'd been hanging around Fireside doing his own thing, though he occasionally dropped in to say hi and see how things were going. He often kept to the surrounding lands though, and today he was hanging around the orchard in search of some nice fruit to add to his experiments. He'd been learning how to make a variety of flavored alcohol, and on today's grocery list, were berries. A wildberry blend sounded good, so his goal was to collect as much as he could. He wasn't aware that his sister was in the area, however, and it wasn't until he heard the angry roar of a bear followed by the familiar, angry sounds of his sister that his head shot up. Well, his shopping trip just got interesting, now didn't it?

With a mischievous grin, Ares wasted no time in seeking out his sister and within a few short minutes came face to rump with the bear. Peeking past the fat bear, he spotted Torrent facing off with the bear. Continuing his dead sprint, Ares raced forward and promptly opened his jaws, and like a heat-seeking missile, he launched himself at the bear's right hind leg and chomped down on its ankle. The bear roared with pain and even more anger as it was taken by surprise. Ares tugged back with the effort of distracting it and forcing it to focus its attention on him so that Torrent could take her own chunk from it.

"Speech"