Orson McKendrick

• Orson is a bear.
• He may have some bear-like tendencies, so bless him.
• The woman he calls his mother was an old witch who transferred her powers to Orson when she transformed him into a boy. These powers for Orson include shapeshifting, healing, and potion-making.
• She never told him he's a witch :'D
• Orson knows about magic. His mom's told him plenty of stories and he's now met a witch.
• His mom kept him 100000000000% sheltered. Once he was transformed and brought home, Orson was never allowed to go outside (~the world is too dangerous~).
• Orson transforms into a bear when he's upset, angry, stressed, or just at the worst time possible.
• He has memories of being a cub with his birthmother and remembers losing her. A week ago, his human mother passed away from old age. In a state of panic, he shifted, busted out of his home, and ran away. He was caught by hunters, shot in the leg, and injured and confused, found his way to an old barn where a nice blind girl named Kitty healed him.
• Orson will now live with Kitty and her aunt Malaya. He'll help them at their animal rescue/ranch more so the two can keep an eye on him, but also because Orson wants to repay them for their kindness in any way.
• He's EXCITED BY EVERYTHING NEW.

Anyway, friendships? Plots? Run-ins? Maybe his mother, Marissa, is known to the witches with older ties in Siren Cove? Let me know!

 After finding his mother asleep in her bed, Orson tried desperately to wake her. She was different, cold, and very still. He tried for what felt like forever, but she just wouldn't budge. Finally denial gave way to realization and he knew this was goodbye. The woman who cared for him, who kept him safe and raised him from a cub, had finally left him. She warned him this day would eventually come, but Orson stayed blissfully ignorant. And here he was alone. And suddenly the tower they called home felt extremely large and painfully empty.

The thing about Orson is that he has trouble accepting bad things. He never learned how to process grief. All he knew when he found his mother was that he needed to run, to escape. He felt his body begin to change as his heart ached. His muscles grew, claws replaced his nails, and fur grew over his skin. Within five minutes, he became his true self - a grizzly bear. Normally his mother would lock him in the basement until she turned back into her boy, but now there was no one to contain him. He thrashed about, immediately forgetting himself as he took in the new surroundings, his senses heightened. Something felt wrong in that room and the bear needed to escape. He rushed down the stairs, huffing as he searched for an exit. Finding a door, he broke through it easily and ran. He ran and ran, the sun's heat beating down on his fur. After hours of running, he slowed down, starting to remember himself and come to his senses. Unfortunately, Orson found himself stuck in his bear form and lost. What could he even go back to? His mother had passed...and he was completely and utterly lost in the wilderness.

So he roamed for days, eating and sleeping when he could, relying on instincts to help him survive on his own. He began to think just maybe he could accept being a bear forever. Catching fish at the river wasn't that hard and he had found a nice tree to use as a scratching post. Tired and alone, Orson started to accept his new life. A new life that included hunters.

~~~~

Orson wakes up when he hears a rustle outside his thicket of trees. He sits up, peering around, but finding nothing, he slowly emerges, his tummy rumbling. He sniffs the air and realizes it's well past his breakfast, so he heads off to the river nearby to catch a fish, something he's really rather good at. It's when he gets close to the edge of the water to grab a drink that Orson's right ear flickers with the sound of a click. He turns his head just in time to hear a loud bang and something hit his back leg with a force he's never felt before. Orson cries out, letting out a loud roar as he falls to the ground. Two men run over, shaking their heads. 

"You missed!"

"No, I got him!" 

"You were supposed to kill him, he's suffering. Just put him out of his misery." 

Orson's shooter sighs and lifts his gun, leveling the crosshairs with the bear's head. Orson looks at the men wildly and his instinct to survive goes into overdrive. Despite the pain, he rises up to his hind legs, roaring at the men. They back away, but not before the man tries to line up his shot again. Orson takes a swing, desperate to get away and lick his wounds, and smacks the gun out of the hunter's arms. The man cries out, probably from a broken arm, which Orson thinks is pretty ridiculous considering he's just been shot in the leg. But the distraction works. The other hunter grabs his friend and forces him to run away from the attacking bear. Orson doesn't follow them. Instead he runs in the opposite direction, afraid and in an insane amount of pain.

He runs for miles before he thinks he's safe from the hunters. He doesn't really think they'll follow him, but he can't be too sure. He needs a safe place to lie down and rest his leg. His leg...God, it hurts. Orson sits on his butt, leaning over to inspect the wound on his leg. Oh god, it looks so bad, and he closes his eyes, refusing to look at it anymore. It's then a bird flutters by, stopping to perch on an above branch. It tilts its head at Orson, asking if he's alright. He shakes his own head at the bird and wonders if bears can cry, because he sure feels like crying right now. The bird flutters down to Orson, landing on his shoulder. It whispers into the bear's ear that there's a human family nearby. A family that will help him. It sounds crazy to trust a human right now, especially after getting shot and the fact that his mother always told Orson the world was a dangerous place but...he's desperate. He needs to sleep and he needs to heal. He follows the bird into the woods until they reach a large clearing with buildings and fences. Orson's not sure where he is, but the bird assures him he'll be safe here.

He makes it to a wooden building at the wildlife preserve and it's all he can muster. Orson nudges a creaky wooden door open and finds what looks like a barn of some sort. Or so he assumes from the books he's read. The pain from the gunshot finally overwhelming him, Orson collapses on the floor of the barn, on top of a small pile of hay and lets out a soft whine. He just wants help.