time is a valuable thing

Belle flopped down on the grass next to the lake and groaned. The moon. It was approaching, quite fast by the looks of it. Tomorrow, maybe. She was feeling the usual pain of the first transformation already. It was almost unbearable, the way she could see herself convulsing and twisting her body in ways unnatural to most humans. Her spine bent and she arched her back, whimpering at the pain that was happening all in her head. She froze and curled up in a ball, the cold, night air blowing her soft hair backwards.

It took effort to stand up, but when she did, Belle pulled off her jacket and dove gracefully into the water. It numbed her mind for a moment, as she swam up to the surface. Although it was cold, it was relieving and it felt good to be submerged up to her neck in the icy water.

Looking up at the moon one more time made Belle sigh. She didn't want the full moon to come. Not yet... Not ever.

Blake walked to a place that was completely out of her area of expertease. She saw a girl in pain and decided to continue her normal walking pace. She than saw the girl jump into the water and Blake rolled her eyes. "Predictable" Blake mumbled. She walked closer and stopped when she was close to the edge. She watched the girl come back up.

"Yeah, are you freaking insane, do you know how cold it is, especially at this time of night" Blake shook her head.

Belle really hadn't expected anyone to come over to the water and talk to her. So when she turned around and saw someone else, a girl who looked around her age, she instantly submerged herself again. Who was she? Why was she there? It was dark. It wasn't daytime. It was night, and it could've been dangerous, but why was she even...?!

Trying to regain her composure seemed to be quite the task for the Angélique girl, and surfacing again only made her whimper in fear.

"S-Sorry... I uh, kn-know how cold it is, bu-ut it's... Numbing, and... uh... I-I need the p-pain of the ice," she stuttered, partly from the cold and partly from embarrassment of being caught in a lake at around 11pm.

Blake tried not to grin when she watched as the girl was having a nervous break down. She was glad that someone was worryed about her being there while trying to have their own personal space while swimming. Even if it was late at night and not during a normal time period.

Blake looked at the girl with a little confusion. "Than why not just walk into a full on freezer if you want numbing" Blake asked as it was an obvious thing to do.

Belle, shivering, began to tread the water. Now the numbness was gone, the cold was just painful, and she could feel her lips turning blue. She kicked her way over to the bank and hoisted herself up, sitting on the grass in her now soaking wet clothes. The air was still bitter, and she inwardly grumbled about that. She was likely to catch hypothermia, but she was beyond caring. If the transformation was going to be more painful, then let it. She just wanted it over with.

"W-well, I c-could've. But th... th... that would've been t-too eas-y, now. You woul-dn't understand anyway," Belle sighed, standing up and grabbing her oversized jacket. It provided little warmth, but it was better than nothing. "I'm B-belle. Belle Ballard. You?"

Blake watched the girl come out of the water basically freezing to death. She grabbed a coat and wrapped it around herself. Blake sighed and listened to the girl. "Would have been easier than the water" Blake gestured to the freezing cold water that looked like it was about to freeze.

"The name is Blake Estrella".

Belle shivered again, curling her toes in her wet boots to try and stop them feeling like they were gonna drop off. The Angélique pulled her jacket around herself even tighter and closed her eyes for a second, imagining a warm fireplace. Oh, what she'd give to be able to curl up in front of a fire and fall asleep. Well, if her mind would shut itself up long enough for her to be able to do that...

"The freezer thing may have been easier, but as I say. You wouldn't understand why I did that. It's a different kind of numbing that I needed..." she muttered. "Well, Blake. It's good to meet you," she said shakily, holding out her hand for the other girl to shake.

Blake watched as Belle curled up and tried to get warm. She watched as the other girl's eyes closed and Blake just nodded. Okay, that was weird but like Blake sometimes says, everyone is weird.

"Hm, well I guess so and you too I guess" she wasn't used to being around people she didn't know. The girl held her hand out to Blake and Blake simply looked at it and sighed. She gave it a firm shake before pulling away.

Belle tried to relax, but in the presence of a human that proved difficult. The stress she was under, plus the imaginary pain in her jaw from the feeling she usually had that her teeth were growing a million times too big for her mouth meant that the frenchie involuntarily convulsed slightly. She squeezed her eyes shut and wished the pain away. It just hurt too much.

"Okay, you're being more hostile than I am," Belle said bluntly, narrowing her eyes. Before now she was convinced that it wasn't possible. Hearing the girl sigh nearly made Belle retract her hand, but after she'd given it a firm shake she used it to pull the jacket tighter.

Blake nodded. "Well I just met you, I have trust issues" Blake exclaimed. Well Blake wasn't lying all the way. She never really trusted people, if she got a bad vibe she'd just ignore them. This girl, she couldn't choose whether to trust her or not. Blake watched as the girl grew cold. Blake looked at something and grabbed it. She pulled over some sticks and a broken log. She pulled out her wand.

"Icendio" she said. She watched as fire came and Blake slowly moved the fire closer to the other girl.