Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ari leaned back into the hug, burrowing into the warmth and security it promised. She still hadn't been looking at Tom, but that changed with his last question.

"What? No!" came the immediate response. Ari's mouth was dropped open disbelief. "I would never do that to civilians."

But, she realised herself, that her brain-direct-to-mouth connection hadn't mentioned anything about Negaverse officers not connection to Rota's death. Or to other senshi, even, should Ares pronounce them traitors. Ari shivered.

"I don't want to be the kind of person who can do that at all," she said in a tiny voice. "Let alone do it easily. Or well."

Or to be the sort of person who was disappointed when torture worked and she couldn't hurt Wolframite any further...

Will you have to?

That was... Ari straightened. That was a good question. She considered it. "I... don't know." The words were soft, but tinged with an edge of thoughtfulness. No doubt Ares would want to plan another big strike against the Negaverse at some stage, to make up for whatever failures she saw Operation Rota as having. But Rota had gone through the ISS first. Maybe this time, Birhan could speak up and prevent the worst of the torture and nightmare-fodder from reaching the cadets. Maybe this time, Birhan could actually protect her fellow senshi from things they shouldn't have to witness, let alone take part in.

It was something to think on. Maybe she could make a difference after all.

Tom's offer had Ari whipping her head around to face him. "That's... wow, surprising," she said, stalling while her mind tried to wrap itself around the idea. Tom - Vulpeculae - in the BMC? She tried to consider it from an ISS point of view, as well as that of Tom's girlfriend-lover-whatevertheywere. "They'd probably like you," she said, thinking of Vulp's useful semi-healing power. "Whether you'd like what they were doing... Dunno. I guess I'd rather if you joined because you wanted to, not because I said so..."

The idea of it being her fault for anyone having to go through something like Operation Rota... Ari didn't think she could handle that. Still, if it were something Tom was actually interested in, she didn't want to deny him, either. "You could always come along for a meeting, see if you could stand being a part of it or not," she suggested. "There's no brands or no-leaving clause while you're a cadet, or being considered for one."

"It's permanent," Ari huffed a quiet laugh. "Not even your powers could remove it permanently. Wait til you know you wanna be stuck there forever, not just because you think it's a cool addition to the piercings."

She shook her head, but she was smiling again. Ari leaned into Tom's shoulder. She couldn't quite believe how much better she felt already - mentally, that was, the hangover was certainly still in place.

"You're an awesome boyfriend, you know that?" she mumbled, eyes fluttering closed. It was the first time she'd put an actual name to what they were. Even if her head it was normally boyfriend-lover-whatever, as they'd never discussed anything, and nothing they did fell into normal social conventions. She thought that might changing, though. Between last night and this morning, it was becoming very obvious that they both felt ties that weren't simply 'extended one night stand' or 'friend with benefits'.

... At least, Ari hoped she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

Tom's acceptance of them being boyfriend-girlfriend had Ari relaxing completely. Her head still ached and she was sure something had died in her throat during the night after scratching it to pieces, but it seemed she'd found a small piece of serenity all the same.

She didn't have to wipe out the memory of the BMC and her own actions here. This was her refuge, her safe harbour from even herself. And it was all thanks to Tom.

Ari was going to be alright. Maybe even the BMC and Ares would be okay. But for now...

Turning to face Tom, Ari arched an eyebrow. " 'Snugglebottom'? ... You're just asking to get hit, aren't you?