It's all she can do to laugh. In spite of the danger. [i]Because[/i] of the danger. Bella tilts her head back and guffaws in full sight of the goddess of the hunt. Her messy hair rolls and tumbles in dark waves across her neck, over her shoulders, and down her back as she rocks back and forth amid the barking of her own amusement. She laughs so hard it starts to burn her lungs and somehow that manages to make her laugh even harder, tail curling in pleasure up against the wall.

No, it was good to be alive. In that sense, even the exhaustion felt a strange kind of nice.

"My whole--" she says, but then stops herself.

The air is hot where it enters her nose. It stings inside her lungs when she holds it there. It leaks between her fangs as steam. She pulls a breath in again, carries it into the next moment, and then pushes it away with the next shape of the thought inside her head. On the third cycle she lets her eyes flutter shut, if only for a moment. Just a slow blink, and nothing more.

"...Fair enough."

She does not rise to her feet and try to bow. She does not drop to her knees and sink her forehead to the ground in prayer. Her body is still but for the now steadied rise and fall of her chest as she takes in more of that wonderful air. No sudden movements that could be taken as aggression. No fawning that could be construed as begging for any favors she is not owed and cannot earn. No showing of her claws or tensing of her muscles that might imply an attempt at defense. Under the direct gaze of the greatest hunter in the universe Bella could not be predator or prey, or even subject or priestess. Right now she had someone who could watch her back and did not need to be watched in turn. Or she was a single incorrect remark away from traveling back through the Lethe to meet Hades again. Either way it was out of her hands. 

There's simply nothing to do besides relax. The tranquility of that thought bleeds into her shoulders and the knot at the base of her neck finally slips free. While her muscles fall slack her skin hisses in protest at the sudden change in shape and position of her wounds. Once again she blinks. 

"I've been, mmn. Watching you for a very long time. I could never find you, but I knew where to look. You talked to Mynx all the time. Belja-- for fuck's sake Bella -- Gemini always went on and on about how she was your special girl. After she and I started talking to each other anyway. But even when Mother stuffed me inside of that suit and woke up the name that's hiding underneath this one I couldn't see you at all. Even while I was asleep! My, Mosaic's prayers never blessed her, uh... me? With your voice. You've been there, always, but I have never once been good enough to spot you."

That quiet little smile steals across her lips again. While it sits there she is beautiful, and worthy of her name. But the shadow passes over her face like an eclipse and steals it all back. She watches Artemis with hungry eyes that long to take that punch with almost as much zeal as they yearn for the touch of affection. She sighs. 

"Well that's not true, is it? You were the one who woke me up from my dream. But why me? I'm more confused than ever. I can't possibly be your best piece on whatever game board the galaxy's supposed to look like. I'm even shittier as a priestess. I thought for a bit there maybe you were punishing me, but if I'm not a disappointment then, why? What am I here for? Why am I... me?"