The reaction only fueled the desire, really. Ashley was gripped in a primal form and she was loving every second of it. She loved the cute noises Isabel was making (I mean, really?! Since when do cop killers even know HOW to make such noises?!), she loved the slight stuttering, and most of all she loved how Isabel was almost like complete putty in her hands. She was fighting to be sure but at this point Ashley was fairly certain that she had the upper hand. Various items fell to the floor and Ashley didn't even bother to check on what they might be. Isabel stumbled out a bit, her hands on the waistband of her pants, trying to distract Ashley from her current course of action.

As if.

Ashley shot up and grabbed Isabel behind her thighs, lifting her up into the air. Instinctively (perhaps) Isabel's legs seemed to automatically wrap around Ashley's as the redhead went back to the wall, the impact jarring them both as Ashley pressed her lips against Isabel's with bruising force. They fought for dominance for awhile before that battle ended in a draw, both pulling back for air as Ashley went into the neck again, nibbling and biting along the surprisingly smooth skin Isabel had. Ashley couldn't even begin to fathom why the state of Isabel's skin set her spin on fire, why that delicious smell of cherry blossoms made her mind go blank...

Why the eyes she was now staring into made her heart hammer in her chest with such resounding force she wondered if the brunette could hear it.

Still carrying the bonemancer, Ashley shuffled off to the left and hoped the door handle she gripped was one to a bedroom of some kind. She opened it an thanked whatever gods were looking down upon her as she kicked the door behind her, hearing the gratifying sound of it slamming shut. The beeline to the bed was a short one and Ashley flopped both f their bodied down on the soft mattress, Ashley taking only a moment to grab the back of Isabel's hair, her teeth bared and eyes bright as she growled again, her whiskey on the rocks voice coming out hoarser then she'd ever heard herself before.

“Mine.”

Ohsweetjesusupintheair!

Isabel was not at all used to being picked up. Especially by a young woman who, although impressively toned from the earlier look of her stomach, she wouldn't have thought could so easily lift and balance such weight, particularly without her headphones on. Instinctively her legs had to go somewhere to keep herself from toppling over forward or backward, though there was a moment when she thought Rhythm might lose her balance, only to have the pair jostled into another wall.

And then lips. Lips everywhere. What the hell? And in that confused vodka haze all she could think to do was to fight fire with fire, so to speak. She couldn't very well stab the girl now that she'd gotten her into the Sanctuary and hoped to eventually bring her into the Order as well. Murder in the hallways probably wasn't the best course of action to take. And so she fought back the way her gut told her to at the moment, struggling to get the upper hand somewhere.

At least they had finally found a room, but there seemed to be no distracting the other girl. However, she could just barely register such developments as her neck was assaulted again, earning a few startled and confused sorts of grunts and squeaks from her.

"Oof!" Well, there was the bed. Which was definitely not where she wanted to be at that particular moment. Even if all that nibbling and such had made her skin tingle and her temperature had seemed to double in the past few minutes. She was almost glad that the impact of her body hitting the mattress had only helped to further dishevel her outfit and expose a little more skin.

The pressure on her scalp from the fistful of her hair Rhythm had grabbed effectively turned her into a bit of a ragdoll for the time being. She could only blink for a moment. Control was her thing. She was almost always in control of a situation where there was some kind of struggle. But right now she seemed to be at the mercy of the other young woman who was lavishing attention onto her that she wasn't used to. She was in uncharted waters here.

"Uh.. I.. uh." she tried, having issues reforming her thoughts with so many sensations demanding her attention and such a fierce expression on the face of the young woman looking down at her. But she had to do something before she totally panicked. "Uhm, I.." she tried again, trying to think of something that could put a wrench in things long enough for her to get some control. "Boyfriend!" she blurted.

Her own body was going to consume her.

That was the only thought that seemed to ring through her mind the more she explored the woman under her. How could Isabel be so soft? It just HAD to be against the law to be this soft. The sounds, they were a weapon that assaulted the redhead's senses, the smell a siege against her normally tight, rigid defenses. It was warfare that Ashley never thought she'd be engaged in but was fighting all the same and for god's sake she was losing ground every minute she spent in this woman's embrace. And for all her talk, Ashley never wanted to lose a battle so badly in her entire life.

>>"Uhm, I...Boyfriend!"

The sudden words made Ashley’s actions come to a screeching halt. It was as if water had been splashed on her and her blood was now freezing. She slowly lifted her face up from the cleavage it was buried in before the proclamation was made, her eyes burning with anger. The hand gripped around the back of Isabel's head tightened for a moment before she let go, her head collapsing next to Isabel's as she breathed hard for a moment. She wanted to screw in frustration but refrained, only standing up before she looked at the disarrayed form of the woman who almost became her first lover.

“You...don't mention this? Till now?” Ashley literally growled out the words. She blinked her eyes rapidly for a moment, the irrational tears coming but she fought them off like a pro. Right now, this was a fight, and Isabel was just another opponent. And god damn it, Ashley didn't cry. Ever. “I...see.”

She choked the words out, letting a tear slip out and fall to the floor completely by accident in view of the brunette as she stalked to the door. Well, this was a bust. The effects of whatever she had been drinking seemed to suddenly wear off, the emotional shift in her demeanor sobering her up more then she would have liked. Still, she stumbled a bit and made it back to the kitchen to retrieve her stuff. Almost like an afterthought she looked into the fridge and grabbed some fruit and a jar of mayo, figuring that would last her a bit before she had to throw it away.

Ashley knew, honest to god KNEW she wasn't the smartest person on the planet. But all the priced were right there, right freakin' THERE!! All she had to do was put them together but no...she didn't even bother doing that. Ashley was a freak of nature, physically deformed in the eyes of other because of her chosen martial art. And Isabel? Isabel was just someone she had met THAT DAY and had gotten so attached to. Because, yeah, maybe Ashley felt like she could be like her someday; strong, confident, smart.

Because being with her for those brief few moments felt So. Damn. Good.

She's been around Lydia and Circe...she'd seen other woman that were strong as well, confident and able. But none of them lit a fire in Ashley's soul like Isabel did.

She doubted she's find anyone that ever would again.

Isabel couldn't quite help the sigh of relief that escaped her as the other girl finally paused. Apparently she'd picked the right word to use. Who'd have though Bane would have actually come in handy in such a situation? She would have to remind herself she was still angry at him the next time she ran into him.

The tightening of the grip on her hair and the look Rhythm gave her worried her for a moment. She didn't really want to fight this girl again, especially over something like this. If she were to use all the abilities she had at her disposal, she'd probably be able to overpower the young woman in some way and beat a hasty retreat. However, turning her mutation on her seemed wrong somehow, particularly at that moment.

And then she relaxed, and so did Isabel. She ragdolled all over again, though this time it was in relief, breathing nearly as hard as Rhythm was, partially from the panic that had been building and in part due to the effects all the attention was having on her. Not all of them were unpleasant, she'd admit to herself. She wouldn't admit it to anyone else, though.

Once the weight of the other body had lifted off of her, she propped herself up on her elbows for a moment before scooting back and getting her legs under her, keeping an eye on the other girl all the while.

She probably should have been angry or something. After all, she'd been jumped and assaulted and all that. And yet, all she really felt at the moment was guilty. And that totally sucked. She hated feeling guilty about anything. But she just couldn't hep it if she didn't reciprocate whatever feelings Rhythm seemed to be having at the time, even with the booze involved.

"It didn't seem all that important before," she offered, not really expecting it to pacify her. "It's not like we were swapping personal info before or something. Uh.. better late than never?"

This was such a disaster. She'd broken up with at least one person before, but she hadn't felt guilty over it. Just murderous. And she'd actually been in a relationship with him. And he hadn't cried or made her feel guilty or anything. Rhythm had started the whole thing, and yet Isabel didn't feel quite right saying it for some reason.

When the other young woman left, she just kind of sat there on the bed for a minute, trying to calm her nerves and compose herself. She wanted to slip off to her room and curl up in bed and maybe freak out a bit in private to get it out of her system. But it didn't seem right leaving Rhythm wandering around the Sanctuary without at least trying to apologize or something.

She waited another moment before sliding off the bed and slinking her way back to the kitchen, where she figured the girl would have gone to retrieve her stuff. She readjusted her outfit along the way, covering herself back up, both for modesty's sake as well as because she was starting to feel slightly chilly now that her temperature had gotten a moment to lower again.

She poked her head into the kitchen and then quietly slid the rest of the way in. She cleared her throat quietly, wanting to give the other young woman a heads up that she'd entered before saying anything. "I'm sorry. About any confusion or whatever. I didn't really think things would head in that direction," she offered, hoping the other mutant wouldn't be too upset with her. "Please don't cry."

It was odd. Her whole situation felt so odd and Ashley didn't know why. She felt strangely detached, like all of this was happening to someone else. And, in a way perhaps it was. For some reason she felt like a completely different person then the last time she was in this very kitchen. It seemed like a lifetime ago, really. She stood there, holding a bottle of alcohol (vodka, she saw now) that had unleashed this torrent of emotion Ashley had inside of her. Now it was gone, and all that was left was this cold numbness that the redhead would have given anything in the world to make go away. She gripped the bottle harder in her right hand, harder and harder until it cracked, gashing her hands as it blew to pieces, sending glass all over the kitchen floor.

She felt, rather then heard, Isabel coming a minute later. The bloody hand that had turned the bottle of vodka into pieces pressed against her heart and she felt her eyes burn yet again. She closed her eyes, letting that feeling wash over her for just a moment until she head the door to the kitchen open. She heard Isabel slide in, clearing her throat to...what? Get her attention? Ashley didn't bother to turn around, not wanting the person who nearly claimed her body (but had already claimed her soul) see her in such a state. Isabel was strong, and strength is what she was wanted to see in her friends, or her enemies. Not knowing what she was at the moment, Ashley just stood still.

>>"I'm sorry. About any confusion or whatever. I didn't really think things would head in that direction. Please don't cry."

The last part seemed a plea, like Isabel wanted to get off scot-free for this. And Ashley wanted nothing more then to have the woman pay for her actions...or lack there of, if you really wanted to get down to the brass tacks. Ashley closed her eyes, the scent of cherry blossoms already reaching her, wrenching her heart to turn around and beg. Beg for forgiveness, beg for anything. But she wasn't pathetic...right now. She'd be pathetic later, when no one was looking and she was sure she could clean herself up before anyone ever saw her in public again.

Ashley always knew that, somehow, her speech was always directly linked to her mutation and how it manifested. It also had o do with how she relearned HOW to speak, because she always THOUGHT in complete sentences, they just always came out...broken. It was her job to figure out how to say what, and in the end her speech came broken and, in some cases, cute. She always rolled her eyes at this one, because how could someone who sounded like a blithering idiot ever sound cute? She pushed that train of thought aside as she turned slightly, only half her face actually visible, her tears leaking without permission.

And finally, maybe just this once, the words came out right.

"I can't pledge to always be good but to be good to you. I can't promise to do what's right but do right by you. I can't offer you my heart because it already beats inside of you. Deny me now if you must because the path much taken is the path most clear. But don't betray your own heart because your soul will never forgive you. Tell me today, just once, what we both know to be true so that the sound of those words from your voice can resonate in my ears and echo through my soul forever."

A second. Two. A minute, two...three.

Silence.

And with that, Ashley had her answer.

She didn't look back as she walked out of The Sanctuary.