"No, I--"

Bella's body tenses. Her claws tear into Ember's pants and only just avoid breaking the skin underneath. Her legs tense like iron and her spine snaps full straight so fast it causes pain. Her ears strain until they can detect the sound of bursting fireworks, dulled but not muted entirely. 

She takes a deep breath and feels it press her chest into Ember's back. Heat flushes through her body when she realizes how much it soothes her. She lifts the Ceronian up to touch her chin against the top of her head, and crosses her legs underneath before the weight settles back down so that her lap now mirrors her meditation pose.

Her arms wrap around her... around Mosaic's... fuck it, around [i]her[/i] girlfriend, and she breathes. In, heartbeat against heartbeat, out. In, feel her jacket slipping open, out. In, the fur on Ember's neck dripping sweat into the fur on her own arm, out. In, excitement and heat and sweet smelling arousal that stirs something in the base of her tail, out. In...

"That isn't... what I meant. Maybe it doesn't matter to you and it doesn't change where I'm going but I just. Is it that weird to want to know where I came from? What the fuck's wrong with that? Maybe I want... I don't know, if they're out there somewhere maybe I want to save them. Who cares? 

"I just want to know what I [i]am[/i], Ember. If I'm going to be a leader now then it's all different. I need to understand myself, I want to... When my mother put me together I just. I don't know which parts she changed. It feels important, all of a sudden. That's all."

Bella works Ember's shirt halfway up her body. Enough to expose her but not enough to free her. In fact it pins her arms in place and leaves her free to put her own hands wherever she wants them. She slides her fingers along the subtle curves of Ember's body, feeling the spine, the ribs, the protrusions of her hips, and all the gentle shivers when her fingers find a spot that makes the wolf girl's heart start to quicken.

Up and down, the front of one hand and the back of another. Tracing her stomach. Up her breasts. Under her half-stuck shirt and across her collarbone. Her teeth nip at Ember's ear. And she breathes.

In, flustered giggling and the feeling of desperate squirming into her legs, out. In, waiting for an answer through all of the teasing, out. In, eyes on the brilliant motes of light still bursting all around them, out. 

In. Because that is how she'll keep living. And out. In. Just like before. And out. In. Because she owes them all that much. And out. Until it's normal. Until Bella is...