Sunrise

There were no windows in his cellar-made-cage. It was perpetually dim, as a cellar should be (and maybe, as a cage should, too). Remus never bothered putting any lights in. The room had one purpose, once a month, and was otherwise unused. When he was down there...well, wolves didn't exactly need any candlelight to see in the dark. Especially not for what Remus was doing down there - which was, the large majority of the time, curling up in the corner and sleeping.

Not tonight though. He reminded himself every so often, nights like tonight, that he should at least stick a bloody lamp down here. Because, nights like tonight, he didn't have his wolfish eyes or body to protect him, just his wolfish brain in his squishy human body. It was so surreal, being an animal trapped in what the overwhelming consensus of animals would probably deem such a useless body. And, honestly, it was terrifying. Remus spent the night scratching nervously at the walls and the floor, his fingers brittle as glass compared to the usual claws. At least he was lucky in regards to his teeth, blunt compared to the sharpness of a fang. The nip marks all up his forearms would thank him for that. With every primal urge and four close walls, Remus took that terror and that frustration out on himself. There wasn't a chance in the world he would get any sleep.

The cellar didn't make it out unscathed either. It never did. A chink of light did eventually appear in the darkness, a line of sunlight from upstairs slipping under the door. With it, Remus' human mind returned and there was just enough light for him to survey first himself and then the room. He wasn't too bad off, bruising but not a lot of blood, and somehow he'd managed to rip the collar of his shirt. The room, though...Merlin. Torn apart, and not just physically. Remus knew very well the dangers of his own hands, and the magic he performed with them, under the control of an animal's brain. He made damn well sure, through charms and barriers and on and on, none of that damage would leave this room. As for the room itself...well. He'd clean it up later.

Remus stumped over to the cellar door, pulling it open just in time to hear a knock on the door at the front of the house. He could never quite manage a smile until a couple hours post-transformation, but the promise behind the knock did put more of a pep in his tired, achy step than usual. Coffee, gods, coffee.

Remus reached the front door and pulled it open, staying in the shadows of his home as even the weak early morning light was too much to adjust to just yet. Even things like hugs, which Remus enjoyed very much, were daunting - but Mali made sure to be gentle, bless her. "Hi." His throat was sore, too, not used to the strange noises his brain deemed he make in the night. But he would manage - this idea of Mali and Eoin's was emboldening. He could be both grateful and grumpy. "I doubt I'm that great to see right now," he grunted what could have been the primal beginnings of a laugh, rubbing a hand over the tired face he was sure looked gaunt and, frankly, terrible at the moment. "But I'm very glad to see you two. Come in. Do I smell coffee?" Once they were in, Remus shut the door, leaving the morning light where in belonged. He made his way into the living room.