Tonight feels a little warmer than usual, as the group rests peacefully in their typical big, furry pile, and this night in particular is important for Umbra, since the shining full moon signals a little ritual has to take place.

For this reason, the bat stayed awake until midnight rolled in, her mind kept busy by her own thoughts and worries. Now, she carefully wakes up Claire and the two crawl out of the tent, taking care to let Ollie and Luke sleep. It may be tricky to see the moon with so many trees in the way, but its subtle glow is unmistakable. Making sure that they haven't woken up their friends, they walk deeper into the forest.

Claire guides her partner, glowing staff in tow, to a spot where the moon is in clear view, and their voices won't be heard. They sit in a patch of grass with the sky barely peeking out from above.

Umbra speaks up. "You sure you wanna do this? I mean, there's a long walk ahead of us, and you'd be too tired for that... look, I can totally wait one more day, and--"

"No, no need to do that." Claire interrupts. "I understand why you're worried about this, but the last thing I want is for you to chicken out; the last time you did that... that was just frightening. If anyone's gonna go through scary stuff, I'd rather have it happen to me. I can handle losing a little blood every now and then."

The bat sighs. "Well, alright, then... did you bring everything?"

"Sure did," Claire says, pulling a small book and some healing herbs out of her pockets. "I never leave home without 'em, you know?"

It goes without saying that this little ritual has become a lot safer since the first time the bat satiated her thirst. As long as Umbra's aware of how much she drinks, the only thing Claire will have to worry about is getting enough sleep to recover overnight.

Claire has already started her preparations, rubbing the herbs on her right arm at the spot where Umbra will bite down. "You've been worrying an awful lot about things lately," she says as Umbra sits behind her. "With the way this trip has gone, you should be relaxing and enjoying the view and everything."

"I know, I know," Umbra answers, caressing her partner's arm. "I just keep thinking something's gonna go wrong. Like, something's gotta go wrong eventually, right? Shouldn't we be ready for anything?"

Claire thinks about that question for a brief moment. "Gosh, should we? It's not like anything happens around here. All I'm worried about right now is that it's starting to get cold. That's it, just a chill in the air. I guess we started going uphill at some point and we didn't notice."

"Pssh, that's nothing to me. I should tell ya about the time I went up north, past all the mountains. Now that's cold." Umbra sizes up the right spot to bite down. "Stay still."

"You went past the-- ow!-- past the mountains?" Claire asks, flinching when Umbra bites into her skin and begins tasting her blood. "You should seriously tell me more about it sometime. I barely know about half the stuff in this forest."

As Claire rambles about wanting to explore vast, unknown lands, Umbra steadily keeps drinking, nodding every now and then. Soon enough, though, she's had her fill, wiping a stray drop from the side of her mouth. While the herbs take effect, and with the help of the bat, Claire takes the staff and casts a spell on herself to refill her blood a little.

"Hey, Umbra?" she mutters, a bit woozy. "When you start drinkin' off my arm... y'look kinda hot."

Umbra can barely keep a straight face, blushing slightly. "Um. Okay, yeah, you definitely need some rest now." The bat lifts Claire off the ground, weary and struggling to stay awake. "You sure you'll be fine?"

Claire smiles, with her eyes half-closed. "Yup. Remind me to kiss you tomorrow when you don't have blood on your mouth."

The bat chuckles, bringing her partner inside the tent to take some much-needed rest. She cuddles up to Claire, and the jaguar sighs in relief, purring softly. 

Strangely, Umbra takes notice of something as she begins to fall asleep. For some reason, Ollie and Luke left the tent, likely having gone off to have late-night escapades of their own. Full moons do bring out a certain mood in Luke...