"Don't you think this is... weird?" She frowns. "I've been keeping this a secret from the others. Is that the right thing to do?"

"It is the right thing." He laughs, dry. "And it is weird. Of course it's weird. But let me ask you this, pup: Is it wrong? Is it bad?"

She's taken aback by the turn. Something in her is clawing but she already knows her answer, already bridges the tentative connection. "No way." She shakes her head. "We're having fun, and no one is getting hurt." There's an echo of a question, a criticism, a vice. She quells it. "I feel good."

"So it is good." He pats her knee. "We're keeping it to ourselves because telling the others is risky. When you are confronted with something you don't understand, you want to get rid of it. You want it to stop." He shakes his head. "Lots of beautiful things get cut off early just because they were different."

She grumbles. This is making sense to her. "Yeah. I think it's okay to tap out if you aren't ready, but they aren't even involved. I don't want them to choose to stop this for me. That's my choice! Not theirs!"

"Yes." He nods. "Well, it is your choice. Do you want to stop?"

A gleam in her eyes and a devilish smirk. The discontent roils over, she is conflicted and incongruous; and over all that she is winning.

That's right. It is her choice. "No way."