[u](Collaboration between Major Ursa as Night, Huntress as Belle and YoshiSkittlez as Red)[/u]

The darkness of...well, anything, it wasn't going to be a problem for him to see into or through. The boredom of a long lived being such as he, well, it was quite amazing at time...light of the day, peeking in through the spaces between the wood panels of the barn, each beam seemed to try and blind him at any given chance. Far too late. The personification was done, quite a thick pile of wood shavings and chips covered and carpetted the area around his feet, but he paid them no mind. 

Taking a few steps back from the barn doors, Night stared up and down at his handy work. One door was a stylized carving of his new werewolf companion, 'Red', in her wolf form. On the other door was the stylized carving of the 'Beast'. In the spaces of the doors that weren't occupied by these two big carvings, there were instead many small horses carved. It was rather scary, how boredom could drive a man to do such a thing through the night...but this certainly was the most tame of things.

The light brown eyes of the she-wolf slowly fluttered open in a blurry daze. With a quiet groan of pain, Red managed to sit up on her own, reaching her hand back to pull some bits of straw that had decided to make a nest in her long black hair while she had slept. She didn't even remember falling asleep actually, the last thing she remembered was arguing with...'The Wraith' and then something about a woman needing to find a way to end the curse of the other female and then...nothing. She hissed inwardly as she moved to stand up, the combination of pain in her ribs and leg nearly knocking her out cold again. However, it was enough to force her to sit back down in the pile of hay with a less-than-pleased grunt.

Brushing off some shavings from a carved horse, Night plopped himself back into the hay when his wolfish companion started trying to get up, making many a sound before dropping back down, "Why, exactly, are you trying to get up? Your injuries won't allow for it."

Red shot Night a look that immediately told him to keep his mouth shut as she still tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes and pluck off a few more strands of straw from her hair and red cloak.

"Why, exactly, are you still here? Don't you have animal corpses to defile or something?" She sneered, immediately bringing their conversation from last night back to the surface. However, this time, Red ran her fingers through her hair and sighed while looking down. "I'm sorry, I'm just not much of a morning person." When she looked back up, the first thing she noticed was the door of the barn, however it seemed to have transformed if by magic during the time she slept. The detail was incredible and left her mouth hanging open if but for a moment before looking back to him, noticing the wood shavings he was covered in. "Did you-did you do that?"

At the mention of 'defiling corpses'...whatever the girl meant by that...he gave her a funny look, before glancing over at the hay bale nearby. Behind it, a sacked stash of older rabbits the shadow had caught earlier in the night, for when one of the humans would need to eat or something. The woman never returned with anything but his requested water, and the shade himself did not need to eat. Somehow, Red's near accurate guess for the defiling part, that comment just made the situation that much more awkward.

From under his cloak, Night coughed at Red noticing his wood carvings. "I was bored." 

A deep breath escaped the brown haired woman that lay nude on the ground in the barn. Voices were distant in her ears but they slowly grew louder. Shaking her head slightly she grunted. Her head throbbing. Slowly she opened her eyes. At first her vision was blurred, scents began to enter her sensitive nose as she blinked a few times in hopes of clearing her sight. Although unfamiliar to Belle herself the scents did register in her mind. She had recently encountered these smells. Her vision eventually adjusted, her surroundings unfamiliar. Where was she? Pushing herself up slightly she looked around.

The steady thump of a heartbeat and a foreign breathing pattern caught her attention. She swiftly looked over her right shoulder. Amber eyes caught a figure. She looked in fear and worry. It was another woman, a large deep red cloak covering her. 

“Wh—Where am I?” Belle asked, before noticing a second figure standing closer to the doors. A tall, dark man.

Red pulled her attention from the impressive art display on the barn doors to the woman she had nearly died to save from an angry mob just a few hours ago, hearing her soft voice as she woke. Relief washed over Red immediately when she realized that the girl really would be okay and offered the woman a soft, white smile. She attempted to ignore the feeling of her skin pulling at the three red gashes across her left eye and bridge of her nose and shifted her body uncomfortably to pull off her red cloak, immediately realizing that the woman didn't have a stitch of clothing on her.

"It's okay, you're safe here." Red said trying to sound sweet, although a pained grunt came out as she pulled her cloak off. With a great amount of effort on her part, Red tossed the red cloak over to the naked woman (though mostly covered by the hay) and then settled her tired, beaten body back into her own small pile of hay. "Here, put that on. We'll see about getting you some clothes from the village."

The woman was hurt. Belle frowned slightly. Who were these people? Why was she with them? Watching the cloak fly through the air she quickly shifted her gaze to the other two before paying attention to the next set of words that were spoken. Her eyes grew wide as her cheeks burned a bright red, her jaw tightly clenched as she looked down upon her naked body. She quickly scrambled to grab the cloak, swiftly covering herself.

She brought her knees up to her chest. The soft, cloak practically covering her whole body. Too embarrassed to look at the other two Belle’s gaze focused on some random pieces of hay that were strewn across the barn floor. She blinked a few times and swallowed hard, a dry, metallic taste lingering in her mouth. She went to speak but sighed instead. 

Gathering herself for a moment she slowly raised her gaze. Turning her head to the right she studied the tall, intimidating man before looking over at the injured woman. “Wh—Uh…Why am I here?” She asked her eyes looking back at the floor before before stealing a couple quick glances at the two.

Night crossed his arms, hearing the reassurances, then the questions. The shade opened his mouth to give his answer, but with the memory of what the woman did as a beast...he shook his head and turned away. The cloak he wore dispersed into black mist, before reforming into his usual gnarly armour. Sure, Night couldn't blame the woman for what happened the other day, but he didn't feel like he could just reassure her and leave it at that.

"...you almost killed the woman over there whil-"

The man spoke and caught Belle’s attention.

Red hissed inwardly, her head jerking to Night's position with her eyes narrowed at him. Didn't he listen to [i]anything[/i] she told him last night? About how delicate a situation like this could be? She gave Night a quick look, indicating for him to be quiet while she dealt with this in her own way before turning to look back to the woman now wearing her cloak.

"There was an accident in the village." Red started. For all Red knew, this woman had no idea she had been cursed; it was a very real thing to not remember the events that had taken place last night, and the last thing Red wanted to do was bring it to her attention in a hostile manner like the Wraith was about to do. Slowly, Red pushed herself upwards and staggered on her legs for a moment before slowly walking over to the woman and then took a seat next to her in the hay, holding her ribs on her right side to keep the broken ones from poking through her skin. "What's the last thing you can remember?" She asked softly, letting her eyes meet the other woman's.

Belle couldn’t help but look over at the woman. [i]An accident?[/i] Belle was being forced to go into the village, by that small woman Lily. Her memories were beginning to betray her, flashes of images passed behind her eyes as she eventually watched the dark haired woman stagger towards her. It didn’t take long for Belle to realize how severely injured she was.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Night glared over at Red through the visor of his helm, before turning away, "Tell her the truth, nothing good can come from blissful ignorance, not for her. She needs to know, or she might end up harming more people in her cluelessness!" Saying all this in a harsh tone...he eventually just fell silent.

His voice caught Belle again, he seemed to grow irritated. Who were these two? She listened to his words as she looked from him to the woman. Belle’s jaw was tightly clenched as her eyes grew wide. She began to realize what had happened. Looking at the man once again Belle’s gaze soon shifted to the woman. Sadness taking over her features as she looked at the three scratches going down her face. Belle went to speak but held her words as she blinked a few times and looked away.

"IT'S NOT HER FAULT!" Red couldn't hold it in any longer. His words, though directed at the other woman's situation, couldn't have stung more; like pouring salt into a open wound.

The other woman spoke out in anger, the loudness of her voice caused Belle to jump slightly. Her gaze returned to the other woman but only for a brief second. It was as if the scars stood out even more within that moment. She swallowed hard and blinked, her gaze once again returning to the floor.

[B]"SHE NEEDS TO KNOW SO SHE CAN LEARN TO CONTROL HERSELF...!"[/b] Pausing for a moment to calm himself, surprised at his own outburst. With a more measured voice, in both volume and tone, Night continued, "Unless you know of the remedy, or the source of this curse you can destroy...she needs to know how to control herself, to find out what triggered...'that'..."

“I [i]do[/i] know…” Belle’s voice seemed rather quiet compared to theirs. “I know where it came from and how it happens…It cannot be controlled and to destroy it means to destroy…me.” Belle looked up briefly, meeting the gazes of both for some time before wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them closer. She raised her head slightly, still looking at the floorboards she opened her mouth to speak but took a moment. “I—” A small pause. “All I can do is apologize…” Her amber eyes met the other woman’s light brown ones. “I’m sorry…” Her words were barely above a whisper.

Red turned her head from Night and looked back to the woman next to her, letting her eyes soften out of their narrowed, angry look she held for the 'Wraith' and frowned. She put her hand gently on the woman's shoulder, hoping to convey...somehow...that she understood what she was going through.

Belle looked at the hand on her shoulder then up at the light brown eyes of the woman, she smirked in sadness and quickly looked away with a sigh. Clenching her jaw she shook her head. Looking back up at the woman Belle couldn’t help but look at the scratches. The poor woman was permanently marked, a sight that would only hurt Belle every time she would lay eyes upon it.

"There is...no hope?" The shade stood away from them and thought long and hard on what this would mean. If she couldn't be saved, if she couldn't control this...[i]would she be better off dead?[/i] Immediately, Night dismissed the idea...dashed it into the dark waters of his mind...only for it to bob back into his surface thoughts. This was no different from purging a corrupt creature, setting it free from torment, preventing disaster. But, right now, this woman was entirely human and could tell them what she thought and felt. And...she lasted up to this point. If she were meant to die, she would have been dead already...right?

"You don't need to apologize for anything." Red said softly, rubbing her shoulder slightly in a gesture of comfort. "You probably won't believe me, but I mean it when I say that I [i]know[/i] what you are going through. All that matters now is that you are safe and we-" Red glanced quickly over at Night. "-I'm here to help you." She waited for a moment for those words to sink in, the same, kind words that she wished she heard from someone during her own problematic time. "I'm Red...and I'm a werewolf."

Shaking his head, Night opened up the door with the beast carved on it and left the barn to lean on the wall of it's exterior. Wasn't this no different from what some would do once a horse broke it's leg? Comfort it before putting it out of it's misery? This was one of those moments that reminded him of why he rarely involved himself with humans.

She shook her head in response to the man’s question, whether it was rhetorical or not. Her jaw was tightly clenched, her ears picking up the words of the woman but her gaze not leaving from the edge of the red cloak, her eyes tracing the intricate patterns. She was ready to tell the woman that there’s no way that she could understand or help but she stopped herself. Looking up at her in confusion she heard the man leave, her eyes quickly flicking towards the door before returning to…Red. “A werewolf? You are cursed too then?” She asked, a small, subtle smirk spreading across her lips. “I’m Belle, a…umm…Beast?” Her sentence ended in a question as she was unsure of how to classify her curse.

Red split her frowned lips into a white smile and let out a gentle, airy laugh. It wasn't at all directed towards Belle's expense, but because she knew how it felt to meet someone that was truly like you for the first time, and could imagine the relief Belle must have been feeling at that moment to be the same way she felt when she found others like her.

"Yes." Red nodded her head once and took Belle's small hands in her own and stared deep into Belle's eyes, as if there were some sort of unspoken language of understanding being transferred just by looking at one another. "I was born into the curse, hell I didn't even know I had it until just a month ago actually. My family was...pretty adamant about keeping it a secret from me." 

She let Belle's hands go and thumbed at the fabric of her red cloak that Belle was wearing. "I got this when I was twelve years old. I always thought Granny was crazy when she forced me to wear it whenever 'the wolf came to town', especially when I was older and no longer a child. She told me that red repelled the wolf." She shook her head and laughed lightly once more at the memory; it had been quite some time since she had thought of home. "It's enchanted. It kept me from turning into the wolf during Wolfstime; the nights before, during, and after a full moon."

Belle listened. She was intrigued by this woman’s, Red’s story. It was unfortunate that her family hadn’t told her, unfair even. Looking down at the cloak Belle grew worried, she didn’t want to ruin it. It was obviously very important to Red.

"But I can control it now." Red said, as if reading Belle's mind. She looked upon Belle thoughtfully for a moment before making a move to stand back up. She had to use her arms to brace herself against a wooden vertical beam to keep from falling, but she eventually managed to stand up tall on her own, supporting most of her weight on her good leg.

"C'mon, let's get to the village and get you some decent clothes." Red offered with a warm smile. Belle's story would come on her own time; she wasn't about to push that.

Watching Red stand up Belle frowned. Slowly she got up as well. If Red could control her curse would Belle be able to control her own? Keeping the cloak tightly around her body Belle looked at Red once again. “I’m not sure I want to go into the village…” She knew that her village was practically the home of roses, they grew everywhere and everyone cared for their own rose bushes. Her favourite flower was now something she had feared. She clenched her jaw. “It’s the roses…” She started her sentence. “They are what causes the change. That village…my village, is known for it’s roses. All shades and colours, every type of rose imaginable can be found there.” Her gaze returned to Red. “It wouldn’t be safe. Can I stay here?” Belle asked, not that she needed permission. She would stay regardless of what Red said.

Red simply nodded, taking in the new bit of information and letting it settle over her mind. Belle's curse was triggered just like hers was, but at least Red could prepare for her transformation by watching the moon. Belle, on the other hand...it was all up in the air.

"I'll be back then." Red assured her and limped heavily to the barn door and stepped outside, immediately covered in the shadows that 'the Wraith' cast from his person. "I'm headed to the village to get Belle some clothes." She explained flatly to him and looked down at her own apparel. Maybe she would get something for herself as well, something [i]not[/i] covered in blood. She looked back at the shadow man and simply nodded, unsure if he would take it upon himself to go with her, stay here, or hell, even leave. 

"Thank you...for your help last night. I-I never got a chance to say that." She ran her fingers through her hair in a last attempt to brush out the hay and began to walk at a painfully slow pace to the village.