I do not know how often I'll be able to update this, but I hope it won't be too long with each post. I don't have to draw something for it, after all. Makes it a lot easier and quicker for me to get it out.

ALSO, please no crits on how I write. This is meant to be a "script" in a way for when I get to doing the comic. It will help me figure out what I want to happen or if there are parts I'll want to take out later on.

Only let me know if something is too confusing. That's something I'll fix.
I'm too lazy to go through it to make the changes so some words are italicized, so, sorry about that. There's not many of them anyways.

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Part 1

“So, Rose… how has work been?”

“It’s been okay…”

“You don’t seem that cheerful… is everything all right? Something happen at work?”

“…”

It was late in the afternoon on a cold, fall day. Rosaline, a redheaded girl in her early twenties, was on a walk with her older brother, Blaise. He was a little taller than her, and had a slightly different shade of red for hair, but they were clearly siblings. Both of them were adorned by many freckles on their face and on various other places on their bodies. Both of the siblings wore large coats to keep out the cold air.

Rose had just finished her shift in the nearby bakery when her brother wanted to take a walk with her, to get to know how she was faring. She had only been in this town for about a month or so, after all. Maybe she’d start cheering up.

They were on a dirt path that headed away from the town of Ely. The trees weren’t that close together, but as they walked they did seem to close in more tightly. The trees were mostly bare; most of the leaves had fallen and were already losing the beautiful colors they had had a week earlier. Clouds were quickly forming in the sky above as well, but it was not threatening them with rain. The clouds had other plans to come.

“Is your new boss kind to you? It was awfully nice of him to let you transfer here.”

“Yeah…”

Blaise stopped his walking abruptly and had an annoyed look on his face and turned to her. “There’s clearly something bothering you. What is it? He’s not here to harm you anymore, so what else is there to be upset about?”

Rose stopped walking as well when he said this, and looked at him with some hurt in her eyes. “Please don’t mention him… You won’t understand… I—“

“But he’s not here! He can’t get you! He has no idea where you are!”

Her face quickly turned to look away as she shivered from the outburst. “Please don’t yell…”

Blaise realized what he had done and also looked away, feeling embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that… I’m just worried about you…”
He thought for a moment, and then looked back at Rose, wanting to change the subject. “That girl in the bakery, did you make friends with her?”

Rose stayed silent, still a little shaken from the yelling. She really did not like sudden, loud noises. He would always do that to her. It scared her so much.

But… her brother was right. He wasn’t here, and was too far away to even know where she was now. Still… her fear that this man would find her again was way too strong in her mind to be able to calm down. She wished he were dead instead… that way he couldn’t get her… for good.

“…Rosie?”

“Y-yeah… we’re friends.”

She began to walk again, in the direction they were heading to begin with. The forest, though mostly bare of leaves, was both a beautiful place, yet a very scary one as well. She made sure to not walk too far ahead of her brother because of this. Blaise kept at the same pace with her, just behind her. He really was worried about his sister, but he did not understand how anxiety to this degree worked, as well as depression. He has never felt these things before.

There was a red, wooden bench at the end of the trail where the rest of the forest began. She made her way over to it, and then sat down at the far end of it. Blaise sat down as well, but kept to the other end of the bench. He had a feeling she didn’t want her brother right next to her.

Rose stared out into the forest; the branches were gently moving in the breeze, so her eyes stayed glued to them.

They were about a third of a mile away from the town.

“…Well? What else has been going on at work? Have you had many customers?”

“A few…”

“Is there anything you want to talk about…?”

“…I don’t know…”

Blaise had his head fall backwards over the back of the bench and sighed. This was really frustrating!

“Rose… you really should try to talk some more. It could really help you. Tell me how you are feeling and what I can do to help you. Being silent and standoff-ish like this won’t help.”

He looked back at her again, trying to force a smile. She still had her eyes on the branches… and stayed silent.

Several seconds went by with no response, and then Blaise sighed again, more loudly.

“What am I going to do with—“

A sudden loud, painful yell came out of the forest drowning out Blaise’s last spoken words. It sounded like a human’s, but an added shriek seemed to ting along with it.

Both Blaise and Rose froze up when they heard this.

Rose broke out of her frozen state much more quickly than Blaise. She jumped up from her seat, showing some energy for once—most likely adrenaline.

“Someone’s hurt out there!”

“Rose, stay here! We can’t go out there!”

“But someone needs our help! You heard that yell, didn’t you?!”

“You’ll get hurt too, though! It’s not safe! I don’t want you getting hurt!”

“What if it was your friend out there! Would you leave them there?!”

“No, but—“

The girl began to run in the direction of the sound. She had to save whoever yelled out in pain! She’d hate herself even more if she just let the person die out there… even if they were already dead. She has to try to help anyways!

“ROSE!!”

---

“Rose! Stop running!” Blaise called out, now running after his sister. This was crazy! He knew his sister hadn’t gone into these woods once yet, and HE sure knew the things that were out there. What was she thinking?!

“Rose! STOP!”

Rose did not listen to him. Someone was hurt out there and she couldn’t just leave him or her behind! She wasn’t a person to ignore something like this!
She did, however, slow down her pace. She was close to a hundred feet into the woods, but she was already lost on where the sound came from. Why wasn’t the person making any other noise? Did they die?! Her adrenaline wasn’t letting her think much about the situation, however. She had to find them!

“Hey! I am here to help you! Where are you? Please tell me!”

Blaise caught up to her and grabbed her by her hand tightly. It caused her to stop, but she turned towards him and pulled her hand free from him, rather forcefully. “Don’t touch me!”

“Rose! Why aren’t you listening to me?! There are creatures out here that can harm you, let alone kill you!”

“I don’t care! I’ll risk my life to save someone else!”

“Damn it all, Rose! Don’t say shit like that!”

Rose raised her voice even louder, her anger building, “so what you’re saying is I shouldn’t try to help others who are obviously in trouble?! You’re a careless bastard!”

Blaise stared at her in shock, his eyes wide, showing pain.

“…What’s gotten into you? I’m trying to keep you safe—”

“And I’m concerned about this other person and want to help them. You heard that yell, too!”

Blaise clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. This was really not something he wanted to do. Yes, he cared about others as all, but these woods… this forest was a very dangerous place, especially when night was closing in. He cared a lot more for his sister than some stranger.
But… it was clear Rose wasn’t going to listen to reason. He’d just have to go along with her. It was a bad thought, but maybe the guy, or whoever, was already dead, and then they could just get out of there and stay away.

“Fine… fine… I’ll help you out. Let’s get this over with…”
Rose gave a small nod and was back to searching, going rather quickly at that.

Several minutes went by. Rose was becoming very anxious… she had to find the person in here!

“Blaise, I don’t remember where the yell came from… I was sure it was in this direction…”

“We should turn around then. It’s—“

“NO! We can’t give up!”

She changed her direction rather abruptly and went through several large bushes. The bushes were closely packed together, so she was getting some small rips in her jacket and pants from some of the twigs. Suddenly, a rather pungent smell made its way to her nostrils. It smelled NASTY, like a rotten carcass. She brought a hand up to her nose to plug it. She had to keep going.

She came into a small clearing, several yards across and she stopped cold.

Blaise followed her through the bushes as well. “Rose, why the sudden change of direction?! And what’s this horrible smell?!”
He soon came into the clearing as well, and followed her gaze to see what she was looking at. He suddenly had a look of horror and quickly grabbed Rose and dragged her back into the bushes, almost on instinct.

“Blaise! What the hell are you doing?!”

“We need to go, NOW!”

What both of them had just seen was a large, furred, humanoid creature, which was sprawled on the ground on its stomach, not moving. It had large wings, which was most of what could be seen, but the rest looked to have a rusty-red for the fur. A long tail was attached as well, same color as the wings, which were black, but with a white tip at the end. There were two bear traps that were clamped around its left ankle and right wrist.

Rose broke free from Blaise’s grip and got back into the opening.

“Rose, don’t you go near that thing!”

“It’s in a freaking bear trap! It needs help! I think this is what yelled out! I need to check if it’s still breathing!”

“Rose, it’s not even human! And it’s a bat demon! They can hurt you!”

Again, Rose ignored her brother and went right over to the creature. There was a dart-like thing sticking out of the ground by its head, which was facing towards Rose but had hair over the face, and another dart sticking out of its back. Its back was very lightly rising and falling. It was alive, but unconscious.

“Why are there tranquilizer darts…? No one else is around…”
Rose glanced about, trying to figure out where they came from… until she saw it. Up in a tree that was only a few feet away, on a branch several feet above her head, sat a tiny box and gun. The box had a blinking red light on it, and the gun was positioned in a way so it had been aiming down with where the two traps were. A string connected to the trigger. The blinking light must have triggered a warning signal for the poachers!

“There’s poachers in this area?!”

“Rose, we really should leave!”

“Yes, I agree, but not without taking them with us!” she said, pulling the dart out of the creature’s back and tossing it away.

“Are you fucking nuts?! Leave it for the poachers! It’s better to stay safe than sorry!”

That last sentence really struck a chord with Rose. Her anger came back. Blaise was now by her, so she turned back towards him, balled up her fist, and hit him hard, square on the shoulder.

“OW! What did you hit me for?? Where did this temper come from??”

“I’m sick of you acting like this, Blaise! Care about others besides me and yourself!”

“It’s not even human, though!”

“SO? Are the arctics then not important, either, because they aren’t human?!”

“They at least ACT like humans! These things are wild! I agreed to this because I thought we were going to help out a person!”

Rose punched him again, harder.

“I am NOT going to let them die just because you are against it. Now help me get these things off of them!”

Rose squatted down and began to try to pry the teeth apart from the creature’s wrist. “Help me! This is too strong for me!”

“I refuse. This is up to you since you want to save a deadly creature.”

“Blaise! Those poachers could be coming here right now! HELP ME!”

“FINE! I’ll just be doing it for YOU though. Not for IT!”

With being mentally defeated, Blaise also squatted down and pulled at the trap. It took a good tug with them both, but it finally snapped open. There were deep wounds showing on the wrist, and it seemed to be swollen, as well as still bleeding. They both moved to the injured ankle and were able to get that one free, too. It had the visible wounds shown as well, but it wasn’t that swollen.

“Let’s bring them back to the house to stay safe! Blaise, you’re stronger than me, you carry them on your back.”

“I am NOT carrying that thing to MY HOUSE!”

“DO IT!”

“AUGH!”

Blaise was continually angry, but he went through with it. He aggressively grabbed the creature by its shoulders and sat it up. The wings were limp, as well as its head… but the hair that covered the face moved out of the way, and it made it more apparent that it was male. They didn’t even have to look at his nether region.

“Great, and it’s male…”

Rose didn’t pay much attention to the looks. She was more concerned with getting out of there and keeping this creature safe.

“We need to hurry, Blaise!”

“I KNOW!”

With help from Rose, Blaise was able to get the male onto his back somewhat. The arms were moved over his shoulders so he could have a better hold. This male was taller than Blaise, so the feet and tail would be dragging on the ground. He was very heavy for Blaise, however. This was really going to be a challenge to get the male over to the house… which he still thought was a very stupid idea! With how Rose was acting, however, he felt like he had no choice. She was acting so differently… she’d not really been this rash or harsh before. This wasn’t like her at all!

He dragged the creature as fast as he could through the brush. Rose stayed to the side and looked behind them every few steps they took. She wanted to make sure they weren’t seen.

Several minutes went by until they were out of the forest. A light flurry of snow had begun to fall as well. The first snow of the season.

“Rose, we can’t let anyone see this thing!”

“We’ll go in the house from the back, then!”

They were back onto the trail, and already passed the bench they had sat on earlier. Blaise tried to pick up his pace, but it was hard with a 200+ pound creature on his back. He was even slouched over because of it.

“Augh, the stench from this thing is disgusting… and bringing it into my house? It will stink everything up!”

“It will be safest there for him.”

“But not for US!”

“It will be fine, Blaise…”

Several more minutes went by until they were at the back of Blaise’s house. It was just off of the path, so it was easy to avoid other eyes. Plus, not many people were out at this hour, even if it wasn’t that late.

Rose took out keys from her pants pocket and unlocked the back door and opened it up wide.

“Put him on the bed in the guest room. I’ll get some bandages.”

Blaise grumbled. He walked past the mudroom, the stairs, the kitchen and bathroom and walked into the guest bedroom, whose door had been open. The room was rather barren. All it sported was a dresser by the door and then a twin-sized bed on the right wall from the entrance. The bed was neatly made and hadn’t been slept in once while Rose has been living in this house. Blaise hardly ever had guests over. All of the walls were stark white with nothing on them. The ceiling was textured with a ceiling lamp and fan, but nothing else.
He made his way over to the bed and just dropped the limp body onto the soft bed. The creature had landed somewhat on his side and back, but with how the wings were on the body, it made the body move completely onto the back. With the wings, the creature took up the whole bed. Not once did he move, either. It was good for Rose and Blaise that the tranquilizers hadn’t worn off… yet.

“Damn it, my back hurts now…” Blaise stretched out his limbs and back, trying to get the soreness to go away. “I’ll need to shower, too… I now smell nasty like that thing…”

Rose soon came into the guest room as well, carrying some ointment, medical dressing and a few towels.

“Blaise, I am going to put this on the poor guy and you call the police.”

“Call the police? What for?”

Rose had already walked over to the creature’s side. She’d work on the ankle first. “Because of those poachers! It’s against the law to poach things.”

“They could just be hunters! These things aren’t endangered anyways.”

Rose did not look at Blaise at all. She was busy putting the ointment over all of the wounds on the ankle. She had made sure to wipe off any of the extra blood, first, however.

“Is hunting really allowed this close to the town? That’s the problem. A person could walk into that trap!”

“…Fine. I’ll call outside of the room. I don’t want to be around that thing…
…
wait… WAIT, NO! What if it wakes up?” This thought just NOW came to him. They were in a small room with a creature larger than both of them that was apparently rather dangerous.

“I’ll finish putting the wrappings on and then I’ll get out and lock the door, okay? But this really needs to be done.”
With saying that, she finished putting the piece of cloth around the ankle. She got up and moved to the other side of the bed to work on the wrist. This one looked much worse.

“I hope you’re right, Rose. You better follow what you say! And then we must let it go as soon as possible! I will just be outside of the room… I’m keeping an eye on you. This is all your choice…”
He walked out of the room to get one of the wireless phones in the house to call for the police.

Now that Blaise was out of the room, Rose felt like she could calm down some. She hated getting in verbal fights with him. She gently touched the injured wrist. It had swollen even more during the time. There was definitely something wrong. Most likely his wrist was sprained. She dabbed at the wounds with a clean rag to get blood off and then applied the ointment. While doing so, she surveyed the 6 inch scar that went across the forearm, There were also 3 rather large, deep scars on the chest that ran down almost to the opposite hip. This creature must have gotten into many fights. At least this one looked oldish.

She couldn’t help but use her free hand to gently pet the fur on the arm. It was soft, but not silky-soft. It still felt nice. It reminded her of her cat, Cesar. In fact, where was he? He must be hiding because of there being a stranger in the house. That cat was terrified of strangers.

Now… she needed to figure out what to do with the wrist. Wrapping cloth around it tightly wouldn’t help much.

While she pondered this, suddenly the creature began to breathe more deeply, and then a low and quiet sounding moan came from him. The tranquilizer was wearing off.

He was beginning to wake up.