In her natural human form, Affinity crept silently into the sound-buffered cave. There was a dead person in here. Or maybe not dead. She wasn't quite sure. The raven-haired woman had been mysterious, as she always was. Affinity wasn't quite sure why she was entering this cave; she'd intended to leave it completely undisturbed. But here she was anyway. Taking one silent step, then another, once the crawl space gave way to enough headroom to stand. Another thing she wasn't sure of, why she wasn't doing this in the smaller rat-shape. But that was probably because it was starting to get slightly uncomfortable, full feeling in that form. Although from the hormones she felt that way even in human form sometimes, too.

She squinched up her eyes, trying to see in the near total darkness. There were shelves in here. Stuff on the shelves. She couldn't tell what. A lot of dust, too; she reached for a shelf to see if she could feel what was on it, and got a snootful of the dust. She sneezed. It sounded strange, somehow flattened. Not echoey the way the rest of the cave was. The things on the shelves were books. Huh, too dark to read in here, that was for certain. Enough sightseeing and putting off the inevitable; Affinity peered down in the darkness at the shadowy human form. She had to squat down before she could making out anything beyond the shape. Once close enough to see, she saw a female, maybe a little older than herself, lying perfectly still, more composed than a sleeper would normally be, but breathing, chest rising and falling rhythmically. Not dead, then. Affinity held her hand in front of the mouth and nostrils. She felt a slightly warm breath against her skin.

Now Affinity had to wonder, why had the dark-haired woman said this person was dead? If she breathed... was there a pulse? She rested her fingers against the throat, and felt a rhythmic movement, faint but clear. Definitely alive. Then an even stronger sign of life, as the sleeping girl shifted, pulling Affinity into her arms, as though the Ratkin girl were a teddy bear. Affinity yelped in shock, the sound going nowhere, oddly stifled, echoless. She heard a wordless murmur and tried to squirm, but the arms that held her only tightened around her. She found herself face to face, her wide hazel eyes looking into closed, long-lashed lids, nose to nose. The mouth opened and she saw... fangs! Affinity let out another frightened sound. She tried hard to escape, but her strength was completely inadequate. She was caught.

She tried to still herself, panic was not the answer. As she grew calmer, she started to wonder about the fangs. Fake, or real? She managed to loose one arm, and tapped her fingernail lightly against it. The contact made a faint sound. Now that one arm was free, Affinity did not feel so trapped. With a mild chagrin she realized she was of course, not trapped at all. Taking a slow breath, then another, she concentrated, shifted to her small rat form, and scampered away. The sleeping figure shifted again, curled up in a fetal position, hands over her face. Affinity ran out of the small dark room and into the larger cave. When she'd reached the spot where Mouse slept, she changed back to human form and curled up again next to Mouse. Soon she was asleep again, though nightmares troubled her mind, and she woke several times during the night before waking fully the next morning.