"Oi, Dem. Demitiri!" the lead harvester called over his shoulder, back to the other men by the trees. The one holding the drill didn't hear him, but one of the men that had been keeping an appraising eye on the situation punched him, and motioned to him to turn the machine off. It was too far away for the group by the hill to hear the brief exchange, but there appeared to be a lot of swearing and the drill remained off. The large man hefted his ax to his other broad shoulder and motioned for Viktor to approach before he stuck out his own wide palm in greeting. "The name's Em - "<br/><br/>His words cut off abruptly as a massive roar cut through the light snowfall, filling the entire clearing.<br/><br/>Within a second every one of the harvesters had dropped their various implements for treebark-removal and had hefted large rifles or shotguns to their sides, flipping their tinted face shields up and immediately breaking into jogs back toward the tortoise. Liliana jerked her arms from the rucksack and spun in the direction of the roar, staring intently. She flipped back her hood quickly so she could hear easier and stood stock still, and for a second the only sound was Legko receeding deep into his massive shell with a throaty growl. Something in the back of her mind recognized that Dziecko was nowhere to be seen or heard, but for now she was more focused on the potential death that had rattled the entire forest with a nightmarish roar.<br/><br/>"Close," the leader murmured, his back to the armed strangers on the hill, one hand on his revolver and the other still firmly on the handle of his ax, "Lili, stay to the - " His words were cut off yet again as another figure crested the hill. A brief spasm of surprised creased his weathered features, but he had no time to question the situation further.<br/><br/>From a distance -not much distance- the figure simply seemed a tall man wearing ratty clothing. He would have loved to analyze the strange figure further, but he was somewhat distracted by the cacophony of snarls and resounding bloodthirsty roars that followed him.<br/><br/>Liliana's lips parted ever so slightly with her sharp inhale, and her eyes widened almost imperceptibly. That... was a lot of bears. She could feel the thick blanket of dread settle across the hearts of the harvesters as the blood drained from their faces almost in sync. They were a sturdy group of men, all of them experienced with the occasional tussle with wildlife or bandits or even the odd demon or two. A few of them even boasted a battle prowess surpassing that. But no one was prepared for this. A beat passed, and Liliana exhaled, her eyes immediately relaxing. No use in getting worked up. If she fell here, then it was here she fell.<br/><br/>She even piped up. "Daniil," she said to one of the men, her voice as deadpan as ever, "shoot already."<br/><br/>Her voice broke the harvesters's thoughts like a baseball bat crashing into a mirror. Immediately blood began rushing again and one of the men holding a leveled rifle fired, the immobilizing shock instantly evaporating from his shoulders. A concurrent roar signaled a hit but not a kill, and as instinct took over none of them seemed to see anything but the mass of muzzle and teeth and fury. Liliana stood behind the line of harvesters, her hands in her pockets and fingers curled around the handles of her knives. Her body posture remained languid and relaxed, and her facial expression would be more appropriate on someone listening to a lecture. Her eyes stayed fixedly ahead, the murky depths as unreadable as ever.