News had spread down the grapevine fairly quickly: the Bloodberries had been defeated. That was one gore-caked and disgusting-smelling cave free to travel in, which was an absolute blessing considering how much of a nice shortcut it was between the Core and the starry vault Orion. The gryphon had wings and that was nice and all, but giving his legs a chance to work and move was great too.

Especially after a long-ass day of sitting at the Olympics. Sure, there were plenty of breaks to do the bare necessities of Gembound activities (i.e. pissing, shitting, taking a sip) and plenty of other wrestling matches to watch; but, he was absolutely exhausted. That had been a lot of socialization. A lot more than Aure could've ever informed him of or prepared him for.

Eythan sighed, halfway down Tunnel N already, currently engaging in a tight squeeze between two particular rocks. One of these rocks was a labradorite, glowing softly in the light. He had literally just squeezed past it when it began to stretch open. Fully on instinct, the hybrid skittered halfway up the wall and spun so that he faced downward. Tail hiking high into the air, he bristled as a whole-ass bear just plowed out of the shell and bellowed.

"Fuck, dude!" he shouted, because he just can't learn a damn lesson about yelling that around strangers, "way to make a guy piss himself."

Eythan spared a moment to look down at the rocks beneath himself. Oh, thank Caves, no actual piss. Bright eyes glanced down at the immense bear --- he was actually pretty sure this bear was bigger than even Sergei, and that dude had been a tank. Here's to hoping that extra height was all fluff, since the dude was growling at him. So, there went the plan to get off of this rock and bid the bear farewell. The gryphon tensed on the spot, burying his talons deeper in the rock.

"I'm just going for a stroll, and I've never seen you before in my life," he tried carefully, hunkering down with his ears and tail flicking. "So, no, probably not family." Oh, shit, critical thinking. "You're not one of those Bloodberries, are you?"

Oh, fuck, of course there were others of those bastards aside from the ones caught up in that war in Eridanus. Eythan's ears flickered back, and he regretted turning upside down in order to look at this bear. All he could do to move was shuffle sideways or try and ease backwards. "I'd be fuckin' strolling here because I heard word that your whole family got killed or captured in that one war --- I wasn't involved, by the way."

An enormous paw wheeled toward him, hitting him silly before he could even begin to think about escape opportunities --- this tunnel was so damn narrow he couldn't even stretch his wings out halfway. They tucked to his sides abruptly right before Snowberry won against gravity and sent the gryphon careening to the ground. Using the best tool in a feline's arsenal (the tail) Eythan whirled in the air and onto his stomach. A risky decision, but hopefully one that'd end well in the long run: he arched his back and wound up his hind legs, before launching them at the polar bear's throat. His claws weren't out yet.

This move was just to stun the bear and give him some room to, y'know maneuver.

Throughout the motion, the gryphon chirped, "but, hey, since the bloodberries apparently aren't all gone and my source is full of shit, I'll just fuck off to another tunnel. You can even escort me out." His ears flickered back, bright eyes fixated firmly on Snowberry. Eythan was not in the mood to get mauled over his stupidity today.

The bear had paused for just long enough to allow a pretty clear opening for Eythan's incoming throat-kick. As Snowberry hacked up a lung, the gryphon quickly spun onto his stomach and pushed up. He squared off, ears back and head lowered. His tail swayed side to side, testing out the lay of the rocks behind him before he began to shuffle backward. If I can just get to some fucking open ground--- oh shit, is that a fucking SPLEEN?! His paw had squelched in some sort of organ, slicking it over with blood and scattering half-rotten juices across the wall. That's fucking disgusting.

Anyways, so trying to surrender seemed like a mistake on the surface. Eythan would remain on the defensive, though. Bright eyes scanned around for some sort of stairway to climb on before the wrecking ball of a bear got to him and flung him around like a ragdoll. Before he knew it, he was clambering up some moss-covered stones. This cave's so fuckin' narrow--- wait! Critical thinking! he can't turn around easily, and I...

Well, here's to hoping--- the gryphon paused for a moment, if only to spring into the air and, hopefully, land on the enormous bear's back with talons holding on for dear life.

"C'mon, dude, I don't want to hurt you if I don't have t---WOAGH!" The massive lump beneath him began to shift, and the world seemed to spin on its axis; that was a tell-tale sign of an imminent squashing. If his match with Sergei was any indication, Eythan did not cope well with bears pinning him down. Despite the warm, wet feeling where his talons had unintentionally gone into Snowberry's back, the gryphon steeled himself. At the last possible moment, he sprung off of the bear.

Ears back, Eythan didn't even bother to check back and see if the bloodberry was on his back or not. He was absolutely hell-bent on escape. Tail high over his back (hopefully not dragging behind him like a dangerous flag) the gryphon bolted down the narrow tunnel, taking any and all higher paths available to him.