"Feeling... better?  Not really," Santi replied honestly.  "Warmer... cleaner.  But not really much better."  She was sitting down on the sofa, a towel loosely draped around her body and threatening to slip off, when Sam came in with the new clothes.  She looked them over vaguely.  It wasn't like she'd worn the things before... but they were still just clothes, so even she would probably be able to figure them out.  At the moment though she almost preferred to go naked while in private here; after all, bot Tim and Sam had seen everything there was to see.  The only thing really keeping her from removing the towel was the worry that Tim might decide she looked too yummy for her own good... even knowing that Sam had left to find those clothes, leaving her alone with Tim, was rather disturbing.  "Good thing you had some money on you..."<br/><br/>She looked over at Tim.  The boy was pouting... he'd turned on what passed as a TV on this side of the wall, and was sulkily watching some kind of wrestling match.  Interestingly enough, one of the two contenders seemed to have done just what was freaking Santi out right now... his belly was stretched and full, and whatever --- or more likely, whoever --- was inside it was still wriggling about.<br/><br/>"Tim, I..." she trailed off, swallowing, staring at the struggling devoured form.  "Look... I, well, I wasn't expecting it, for one thing, so of course I'm freaked, you know?  I mean, you look human, so it never crossed my mind, see... and, well..." she trailed off again.  She couldn't find her words since they'd left the helicopter, damn it.  "Look, say what you want, Tim.  But you, and Shari, you weren't giving me a choice in the matter.  You're right, I don't... I<span style="font-style: italic">don't</span>believe you when you say they're alive inside you."  She hoped the hesitation didn't betray her confused doubts.  "I mean... you can say what you want, but you were going to...<span style="font-style: italic">absorb</span>me.  And that... that's murder, Tim.<span style="font-style: italic">Murder</span>.  Even if... if you get their memories, or something," she said with a sudden flash of inspiration, "they're still gone, right?  They die.  Even if you feel their memories, they'll never walk around again.  Never see their friends.  Never..." she trailed off.  "I wonder if<span style="font-style: italic">my</span>friends will be all right... of course if you'd had your way I wouldn't be around to worry about it anymore, would I?"  It was her turn to give Tim a sulky look.<br/><br/>Her gaze slipped back to the wrestling match, and a thought struck her... almost, if not quite, irrelevant to the conversation.  "I never paid attention to this stuff... I know swallowing is part of the show, and legal, and... something about the wrestlers signing papers... but..." she stared at the screen.  "Will the person inside him be let out, or... or will they die in there?"  She swallowed.  "And... then again... those aren't humans.  So it almost makes sense.  And they<span style="font-style: italic">know</span>it could happen, so... it's not as bad.  Not even murder.  Almost just... natural."  She looked at Tim again.  "But they know it could happen, and they're ready for it, right?  And you, Tim, you're<span style="font-style: italic">human</span>too.  So..." she took a deep breath.  She had no idea what she was even trying to say.  She didn't like that he was angry, but how could he expect her to trust him after what he'd been about to do to her?<br/><br/>"Look, Tim," she said, standing up, "You're right, I don't want you to swallow anyone.  But if someone<span style="font-style: italic">wants</span>it, that's a different story, right?  I don't want you to<span style="font-style: italic">murder</span>anyone else, that's all.  I mean..." she scowled.  "Those bastards that are after us... you can, I don't care... they're bad people.  But you murdered<span style="font-style: italic">innocents</span>, and that I really can't forgive."  She shook her head.  "I've robbed people, picked pockets... I'm not a good girl, sure.  But I've never killed anyone.  Before tonight, anyway..." she licked her lips.  "And that was different.  Self... self-defense."<br/><br/>She sighed.  She didn't really know what she was getting at... she just wanted him to understand why she couldn't trust him.  And maybe she wanted to understand him, too.  But he'd said they were like brother and sister... and that scared her.  A lot.<br/><br/>"Bah," she managed, and dropped her towel, heedless of Sam and Tim's eyes.  She turned to the Velle robes Sam had tossed her, which lay ignored on the edge of the couch until now.  She turned her back to Tim in doing so, but she wasn't worried with Sam in the room.  "How do these things go on?"  It didn't look, at first glance, like there was any underwear... not that she really minded.  She was more comfortable without.