The silence of the night was broken the sound of someone approaching, my ears flicking back to the hoofsteps of an intruder behind me, pinning firmly with my own frustration at being unable to smell the air for clues as to who it was. My neck snapped back as I sought out the figure of whoever dared to sneak up without warning, dark eyes sending a burning glare as they landed on a striped mare with an impressive rack. (Ha.) My crown rose skeptically as she stared at my face, my nose scrunching and a lip pulling back in a sneer as a strange language escaped her lips. Had I lost my ability to hear as well? Had this sickness infected my ability to comprehend basic speech? No, I realized it hadn't as she spoke again in a tongue more familiar to me.

I was silent for a moment, pondering over whether or not she would be worth it to bother answering. Many a mare around here and proven to be more hassle than they were worth, what would make this stranger any different? My eyes scanned over her relatively short frame, hovering over her stocky curves as my improved eyesight took in every dip and slope of muscle underneath her coat before rising up her neck to settle on the vivid emerald of her eyes. "This-" I barely managed to hack out before it triggered a coughing fit, finally able to spit out another glob of the slime. "This is the thanks I get for helping out a Goddess, a disease that's started spreading around like wildfire. Hell, it's probably already too late for you."

I snorted at my last statement, as though already deciding that she was too weak to resist the disease and whipping my tail along my flank. I would not apologize to her if she caught it, it was her own fault for sneaking up on the devil at night. But, I did decide to give her a little warning, my tone becoming just a bit more solemn and quiet. "Nothing has helped as of yet." My gaze drifted away from her as I wondered if finding a healer would be able to help, but ultimately decided to drop that idea and brought my focus back to the vixen that had so foolishly chosen to join me in the night.

"Who are you?" The question slipped out with great curiosity as I stepped forward, orbs narrowing slightly as I gauged her reaction. Was she truly foolish as I had first made her out to be? Or was she more than she let on to believe, a rarity among women these days? "Are you the lost little deer, falling victim to what draws you in during the night?" I pressed on, beginning to circle around her as I studied her body language and testing her capabilities to handle herself in the sudden change of focus and tone. "Or..." Rounding around to her other side, I stretched my neck out to whisper to her, glancing up to be ever mindful of the antlers on the top of her head before further playing my words on her appearance. "Are you the tigress, braving the shadows and the demons without fear?"