Cara was not having a good day. Yesterday had been...unpleasant, the incident at the Onsen being followed by fleeting, yet vivid apparitions of things she'd done, things done to her, and more appearances of that other version of herself, ready with a cutting comment, a quick fist, or a quicker agiel, the embodiment of an ideal Mord'Sith. Of course, that wasn't the worst of it, it wasn't like she hadn't learnt to endure either physical or verbal blows long before. The other other her, the nine year old who who didn't say a word but just stood there looking at her, that she'd had little defence against.

Then she'd woken up, and, well, given she'd spent years beating down and repressing every single scrap of her natural inclinations towards empathy and compassion as a survival tactic, it wasn't entirely a surprise that she'd ended up pressed defensively in a corner, back to the wall, hands against her temples in a futile attempt to keep some, any of it out.

After her class had finished, Cara stayed at the Onsen, hoping a good long soak would do something, anything for the tension that'd been making her twitchy her up since she'd woken sweaty and panting for breath (and not in a fun way) that morning. Gradually she relaxed enough to let her eyes drift shut.

Some time later, she heard the faint splash of another person lowering themselves into the water, then a hand gently stroked along her cheek. "That better be who I think it is," she drawled, not bothering to open her eyes, because first, she missed her girlfriend, and second, almost anyone else doing that uninvited was going to lose the hand.

( Nope. )