Steven
The black beast frowned, heaving a strained breath through his nostrils. 
"Beauty stays the hands of many vain folk, but not mine," He refuted bluntly, 
"Unblemished, elegant and comely; a Silnari façade to hide the ugliness within. Some of your kind are even worse monsters than I am, once they show their true colours. You are not a defenceless or innocent fawn yourself after all, are you?" Ashnard acknowledged with a grim look.
"Hiding your scars won't conceal the memory of your past, nor will it undo what has come to pass."

He furrowed his brows upon glancing at the girl's dagger, and even more so when she started forming a magical pattern. His instinct screamed for fight or flight, the memory of those fell sorceries inflicted upon him still fresh and seared into his mind. He sensed no harmful intent from the girl, but his fur stood on end all the same, far from comfortable. 
"Pain is a merciful teacher, and a formidable weapon if one has the courage to wield it."
He let the pale aura of Imogen's healing ritual wash over him, then slide off like oil against water. The fresh, bleeding cut on his wrists was mended easily enough, but there was no fixing the long-dead flesh of every scar. A sizzling *Hiss* Echoed from his twisted breastplate as healing magic touched it, as though the very spell was anathema to it. The sinister blood-red glyphs folded within its surface gleamed as if leering at the caster, then faded into an oily blackness, rejecting the spell. 
_
_

"I've sought healing before, girl. Rare concoctions and sacred blessings alike were all for nought; what has been done to me cannot be so easily undone. But I've accepted that. The ordeal may have changed me— twisted me beyond repair, but it has not killed me. Instead, it gave me power; *True* Power to change things, and a purpose."
He glanced over the healed tree, flashing a dark smile.
"My power, too, will continue to grow. It will spread pain and death to all those deserving. I alone will be their judge, jury and executioner, because I have the power to be. But I've also learned that I need to control that power, lest it overwhelms me as well. Nightshade helps with that." 

At Imogen's affirmation, the beast turned over to head further into the forest for his original task of gathering the herb. Before doing so, however, he gave the girl a flat look over his shoulder. I have a mount just outside the woods. Once I finish gathering supplies, I can give you a ride to the nearest settlement. Beyond that, you are on your own."
Juanita
*Imogen grabbed the cloth with her free hand and began wrapping it around the gash resting in the palm of her left hand. The cut had reached the bone and the rune prevented her natural regeneration from taking place. Just the act of bandaging it caused her to stifle her own gasps of pain. She couldn't do anything about the trembling in her voice however.* 

"I don't really have a choice about being scarless, the majority of my wounds heal within seconds." *She lifted her left hand for the Canifor to see, a faint pink aura radiated from the injured hand. As soon as I remove the rot protecting the wound, there won't be a trace of injury. The cloth was already saturated with blood from the couple of seconds it guarded the wound.*

"I think it's foolish to talk about these sorts of things. I have the advantage as long as you continue to size up my strength." *She didn't expect the scars to be healed from the ritual she had performed. The druid had been covered with burns that stretched across her entire body once before. It was one of the most excruciating things she had ever felt in her life. Even tears touching the affected areas sent alarms in her head. She could only imagine The Revenant felt something similar when displaying his own affinity for flames.* "I've never seen scars like these ones before." *The statement was more to herself, it was the first time she had come across a wound that seemed to almost taunt her.* "I think you're going to be needing someone to keep your powers in check, Revenant."

*The Druid dipped her head forward, enough so that her face was hidden from the Beastkin. It was drawing near that time for her, the unspoken limit of time a Vampire could go without feeding. She had hoped to reach the nearest town sooner rather than later. The craving to obtain fresh blood was fighting rational thought. The taste of the delicious crimson liquid taunting her taste buds even now. For now she just kept her head down and followed the backs of the Beast's paws as he walked further into the forest. It wasn't long before beads of sweat began to form underneath her bangs.*
Steven
The familiar scent of Lathian blood burned in his nostrils. Too many times had he spilt it by the end of his claws, but never before had one spilt some *For* Him. Ironically, that one time was done with healing intent... And by tainted blood that even Lathians would spurn. The beast would chuckle, had he any whimsy left in him.
"It is all one grand performance for a lathian, isn't it? You mask the pain behind unblemished skin, you mask intent behind honeyed words, and you mask fear behind sweet perfumes, whether they are procured by your own volition or not. How can you expect someone to trust you, if you may never show your true face?"

He'd avoided the girl's gaze the rest of the way, his back turned while focused on the task of gathering the herbs he needed. "You say that as if *You* Would be able to keel me in check," The beast finally snorted. "The only real advantage you had over me back there was the high ground, and you forfeited that without a second thought. That alone may have been more foolhardy than I could have expected. Perhaps you have a spine after all..."
He glanced back at the girl, a sly smile curved on the corners of his muzzle for the briefest of moments before nipping another budding flower. 

Then, he caught scent of her sweat. The beast would have assumed it came from fear, from the fact her façade of bravado had finally failed her, but he remembered himself in a similar situation. 
"Been a while since you last fed, hasn't it? Alas, I've only got a few dry rations to spare," He sighed, placing the last few nightshades on his pouch before standing back up. "Come, the nearest settlement won't be too far on horseback... And the night still is young enough to savour a hunt."