Ruby was nervous, Victor had asked her on a date and she had accepted, so she was very nervous. Not because she didn't want to go on the date with him, she really, really wanted to, but she didn't know if she deserved to. She was a monster who had killed people, among which were her boyfriend and her mother. Victor was such a great guy and she wanted to be with him, but she didn't get what he saw in her. He had even seen her in her wolf form the night she saved him from the harpy attack, and he still seemed like he liked her, but she couldn't understand why. She had hoped that he would never have to see that side of her, but she'd had to save him and wolfing out was the only way she could have done that.

It was the middle of the night during wolves time, and that meant that Ruby was in the forest. But this time she wasn't running, she still couldn't because of the wounds in her side from the fight with the harpies. She was sitting next to a rain puddle looking at her reflection in the water, wondering how Victor couldn't see the monster she could see. Her cloak was lying next to her, because she had waited with changing until she found a rain puddle that was far enough into the forest so no one would see her. This was the only reason she was there, trying to find a reason for Victor still liking her.

She could have tried to talk to Granny about it, but right now she really just wanted to be alone. She never wanted people to see her wolf form, because they mostly saw her as a monster. She had tried having the whole town turned against her once, and that wasn't something she wanted to go through again. But she always loved running when she was in her wolf form, she just did it far away from the town and it's residents. She didn't know that Victor thought she was beautiful in her wolf form, it would take a lot of convincing for her to believe it if he ever told her. In her own mind she was just a monster, that was all she could see when she looked at her reflection in the puddle.

Milo Thatch

Milo had no idea what it was like to be a monster. He was just an average nerdy human. The crystal around his neck fed into the Heart of Atlantis and gave him longevity, yes, but otherwise he was not that special. But Kida loved him and that was enough to make him feel special, even if he couldn't find her. That was why he was out so late, trying to track the currents and the landscape to see where she might have ended up and try to track her down. He just wanted to find her, one way or another.

What he knew of wolves were from books and the Central Park zoo. That wolf, though, was a lot smaller than this one and was behind glass windows.

"Oh, my!"

He froze in his tracks, holding up his hands as if the animal knew about things like surrender. His mind shuffled quickly through what he knew of wolves and how possibly in danger he might be.

"Canus Lupus, grey wolf. Kinda large. A bit too far north for their usual territory. Travel in packs."

He looked quickly around for more of this particularly large breed, making a note to himself that if it came to it, climbing a tree was his best bet. Even in this strange city he didn't think wolves were able to climb trees, but he'd been wrong before. In his world magic didn't exist and in this one it did. So there was a certain learning curve expected.

"Nice doggy. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm hoping you're not going to hurt me."

Why was it that everyone always thought Ruby would hurt them when they saw her in her wolf form? Even if she was just sitting peacefully in the woods, it was always the first thing that people thought about her. She knew very well that she was a very huge wolf and that intimidated a lot of people, but she never did anything to threaten anyone. Unless they were a danger to a person she cared about, like the harpies had been to Victor. But other than that, she was a friendly and peaceful wolf. If only people took the time to notice that, before they began talking about her hurting them.

She heard the man approaching her before he ever said anything, and she speculated if she should get up and walk away. But she was still in pain from the harpy attack, so she couldn't really move that much in her wolf form. So she kept sitting there, listening to his footsteps and what he said when he finally saw her. She pressed her eyes shut when he talked about her kind usually traveling in packs, she didn't have a pack and she would never have one.

When he began talking directly to her, she turned her head to look at him. She blinked and bowed her head at him, nothing about her was aggressive or threatening in any way. So she just hoped he would get the message that she wasn't going to hurt him. She couldn't exactly turn back into her human form on her own and show him that she wasn't dangerous, she needed his help to do that. It was hard enough for a wolf to put on a cloak on a good night, but when she was healing from an injury it was even harder. So slowly, she got up and picked up her cloak in her mouth, before walking over to him cautiously, dropped the cloak on the ground by his feet, and nudged it a little with her nose, before she looked up at him. Just hoping he would understand her way of communicating with him.

Milo Thatch

Milo had no idea werewolves actually existed so his reactions were based purely on the science of encountering a large wolf in the woods in the middle of the night and not some personal reaction against the person that wolf turned into when the moon set. Certainly no one had warned him that the woods might be occupied during the full moon. The gut instinct when seeing an animal was always going to be caution and healthy fear, especially since Milo valued his life and the only languages he couldn't manage to speak were animal.

After a minute, though, it became apparent that something was different about this particular wolf.

It didn't look threatening but he couldn't help but freeze as it came toward him, red cloak in it's mouth. The red appeared to be a dye, not blood, and he bent down slowly to pick it up off the ground when it was delivered to him. He gave her a nervous smile, trying to show that he understood that she wasn't a threat.

Maybe this was a trained wolf and it had lost its owner?

"Are you lost?"

The cloak seemed to have some significance. Since encountering Storybrooke he'd gained a new appreciation for fairy tales. They all seemed to have a play into who are what they were. Regina meant Queen, the Evil Queen, and so forth. He seemed to remember a red cloak. Hood...Red Riding Hood. Red...Ruby? Was the wolf Ruby from Granny's Diner?

"Ruby?"

More from instinct than any scientific or educated conclusion Milo spread the cloak over the wolf, covering it with the red fabric and hoping that he wasn't an idiot for doing that. It happened occasionally, when his own conclusions backfired.

"I really hope that's you or I'm going to feel stupid."

Red Riding Hood

Since Milo seemed so scared of her in her wolf form, she moved slowly and tried her best not to seem frightening at all. She knew what she had done to people in her wolf form, so she knew very well how dangerous she was in that form. But she also knew that she was in control of her actions now, so she wasn't too dangerous anymore. Milo wasn't to know any of that, so of course he was afraid and his reactions were completely normal. But being seen as dangerous every time someone saw her like this was very demoralizing. It just made her want to run, but she stayed there with him, hoping to assure him that she wasn't going to hurt him.

She was a little relieved when he smiled at her as he picked up the cloak she had brought to him. When he asked her if she was lost, she shook her head slowly as she looked up at him, just hoping he would freak out at the thought of a wolf understanding what he said. But he seemed to see the cloak as the clue she had hoped he would, and soon asked her if she was Ruby. That made her eyes widen in happiness and surprise as she nodded her head enthusiastically.

When she was finally covered in her cloak, she sighed in relief that she could finally show him that she wasn't really dangerous at all. She quickly transformed into her human form again, and smiled up at him softly. "It's me, Milo, don't worry." She told him happily as she slowly stood up in front of him, fastening the cloak around her neck so it wouldn't fall off and turn her back into the wolf again.

Milo Thatch

Milo was only afraid of the wolf form because he had no idea it was Ruby and most people in their right mind would be terrified of being face to face with what they supposed was a wild wolf. Known predators, one of the wild canine ancestors could easily tear him apart before he had a chance to scream. Not being wary would be naive, and stupid. Still, it was nice to not have to be afraid anymore as he came to understand that it was Ruby.

The transformation only confirmed that for him and he watched with rapt fascination as she changed form before his eyes. It was incredible; he'd never seen anything like it before. Hell, he didn't even know this kind of magic existed before. The only magic he knew, and he wasn't strictly sure it was magic, was the power of the Heart of Atlantis. It glowed in the crystal he wore around his neck, similar to the ones every resident of Atlantis wore. The crystals gave Atlanteans longevity and access to their own technology as well as magical properties like healing.

Still, he'd never known anyone that could do what she did.

"You can...the wolf...wow!"

Truly impressed, he couldn't help but ramble a bit as Ruby appeared beneath the cloak. He was speechless beyond that for a few moments, just taking in what real magic could do. Storybrooke was nothing like Atlantis and it was nothing like the New York he remembered. We was helplessly behind on the times but enjoyed learning what he could of the day and of this new place he came to.

"How long have you been able to do that. It's incredible!"

Red Riding Hood