Of Bravery and Bodies

"Are you okay?"

Ralsei didn't immediately hear her, too entranced to detect anything other than the rush of blood in his ears accompanying the sight before him. On paper, it was so simple. Just a loop of cloth around her torso, with two other loops reaching over her shoulders. The most complex thing was probably the tasteful red frills bordering the cloth, small and worn without being too distracting on their own. Even the clasp was simple in design. It was the violet scales underneath that made Ralsei's heart pump like a machine gun.

Thoughts swam like frenzied piranhas in his head; he wanted to rip the cloth entirely, but would that be too much? She was pretty. And strong. The color was nice. His hands were shaking a lot. Was he being too sweaty? How did the clasp work, exactly? Was she impatient too? Why was she blushing? He was probably blushing too much. His tail was wagging too much, too. He shouldn't be so nervous. He was very nervous. Her hair was so pretty, too. Did she hate him for those few scratches etched into her back? He didn't mean to. Did he?

"Rals?" Susie repeated. Her husky voice was out of breath, though didn't sound as impatient as Ralsei would've assumed. She stayed facing away from him, light from the nightstand's lamp making the hair she swept over her shoulder seem to glow in the night. "Hey, you alright man? ...is this too much? W-we can, uh..."

An indefinable knot in Ralsei's throat kept him from speaking. It was hard enough to swallow without how jittery and excited every part of him was, like it was jiggling the rock around too much to pass. Eventually, Ralsei gulped what anxiety he could, opening his mouth. A tense hesitation passed. A few distant crickets chirped outside as they each attempted to catch their breath. The rest of the house was vacant; only now was Ralsei realizing why Susie had stressed that fact so much earlier.

"Y-yes," Ralsei eventually answered. His nasally voice was nearly a whisper. Clearing his throat didn't award as much volume as he had hoped for. "I-I mean, no- not exactly- but I don't want to, um- t-this isn't too much, I..."

Susie's body relaxed a tad, as if slouching in disappointment. The subtlety of the motion forced Ralsei's vocal cords into motion once again.

"I want to do this," he assured her. The authenticity of his statement of his voice was palpable, drawing Susie's yellow eye back to his determined features. If he wasn't so busy looking over the girl's stature, he would've noticed the excited anxiousness of her own face. Ralsei spoke automatically, words firing out of his mouth one after another in some speed-focused attempt at straining an explanation from himself. "I really, really want this, Susie, I promise. I'm just nervous- because, um, y-you're very... very, very strong, and pretty, too, and it's..."

Another lump manifested itself in his throat, but he managed to push it down with pure momentum. "It's distracting, a-and intimidating."

Susie didn't seem to expect Ralsei's explanation. From his peripheral vision, he could see her eyebrow shoot up an inch. Then Ralsei realized he was still staring at the musculature of Susie's back, scales tracing the stout bulges and contours of the fibers underneath that kept telling Ralsei to rip into the cloth of her bra strap. Still, he had more common sense than that. Barely. Not enough common sense to look anywhere else, apparently.

"Distracting?" Susie repeated, as if in disbelief. Ralsei nodded on instinct, unconsciously letting his hands glide closer to the warmth of Susie's scales. She could evidently feel his approach, not quite tensing up, but visibly anticipating the touch of Ralsei's hands. The sensation wasn't completely alien to them, as the sparse scratches adorning Susie's back would attest, but the exact angle and intent and even intensity... it was as new as it was exciting. And, as an additional byproduct, it was scary as hell.

Ralsei hummed an affirmation, trying to feign ignorance of his hands' trajectory. Claws inched closer and closer to the contact he'd earlier been indulging in only minutes ago. If the scratches didn't show as much, then his lingering gasps of air definitely did. "It's true," he returned, voice still a squeak. "It makes me a little, um... self-conscious, I suppose. M-more than usual, I mean."

At that, Susie laughed, albeit quietly. More a snort than a chuckle. Her hair swayed slightly with the subtle nod of her head. "Hey, don't worry about it, Rals," she returned. Despite the deep nature of her voice, she always managed to sound so soft and assuring at times; a fact Ralsei never took for granted. "I... I'm pretty damn self-conscious too, y'know. Think this is a first for both of us, eh?"

Again, Ralsei hummed, nodding. Susie didn't often strike him as being so self-conscious, though earlier experiences were evidence enough to the fact. Right now was a fairly convincing piece of evidence.

"And..." Susie started again. There was a shake in her voice that Ralsei assumed he was imagining. "It's okay. I want this too, believe me, but take however long you gotta."

Her statement hung in the air like a snowflake. Seconds passed as Ralsei forced himself to focus on his hands, trying to calm their shaking as the tips of his claws made contact with Susie's scales. She didn't recoil, exactly, but the gentle nature of Ralsei's pointed hands was so unexpected that she tensed again. Even more time passed as Ralsei allowed himself to press the rest of his hands into Susie's back, soft as he felt the heated fibers of muscle under her scales.

"...w-wow," Ralsei breathed out. For once, Susie didn't roll her eyes or make any comment on the implicit compliment of Ralsei's awe. She simply looked to the ground, feeling Ralsei's palm move over her back, relaxing with the careful waves caressing her. To say it felt nice would be an understatement. Ralsei spent his time taking in the well-defined anatomy of his partner's stature, silent save for the plush shuffling of his tail. Excitement and anticipation mixed with awe, replacing his anxious shaking with a good-natured greed. He wanted to see more. Feel more.

Carefully, Ralsei forced himself to steady, and moved his palms back up to the cloth band wrapped around her torso. Susie waited, unconsciously leaning back a fraction of a degree. Her hand adjusted itself on her hair, making sure she had a good grip on the locks. A few more seconds passed. Then, Ralsei allowed himself to move his fingers underneath the cloth, thumbing over the bra's clasp.