Chapter Text
The touch was careful, tender. Calli's hand cupped the back of Sana's neck, long fingers winding in her hair. Her hugs were firm, hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, supernova creation in the minimal space between their bodies.
"Good?" Calli asked, more of a mumble into the dip of Sana's collarbone.
"Mhm."
- - -
She barely came up to her chin, but Gura would run into the room with a bounce and a yell and would practically topple Sana over with a hug. Like a monkey wrapped around Sana's waist, leaving the other to wobble around trying desperately not to fall over.
"Are you going to let go yet?" Sana asked wryly, poking Gura's side and making her wriggle. The shark growled at her, snapped her teeth at empty air, no threat in the action at all.
"Five more minutes."
- - -
Ame was slower about it, did it sparingly. An arm wrapped around Sana's shoulders, a tap on the arm. The scars that mottled the skin under her blazers, the ones that flickered like shadows under light, not wholly real, were things she didn't like touched.
Sana responded in her own way; pecks to Ame's forehead, a wisp of a star sparking by her palms. It was the little things.
"You know you don't have to do that," Ame tapped on the table once, twice, nudged Sana's foot with her own under the table.
"I know you want me to though," Sana grinned, steepled her fingers, and knew Ame couldn't argue against it.
- - -
Ina was warm, pure heat and baggy sweaters, hair done into lazy ponytails that somehow still looked gorgeous. It was less 'envy' for Sana, and more 'greed', he wanted that girl by her side always. Ina didn't complain when Sana would slide into the seat next to her to wind their fingers together, merely squeezed lightly and fluttered her wings with an embarrassment that barely showed with the flush on her face.
"You need to stop that," Sana complained by the third time, inching away from Ina's tickling wings while also trying to retain her hold on Ina's hand. Ina just smiled and extended them out further.
Sana sighed deeply. "I hate you."
- - -
If Ina was warm, Kiara was an inferno. Molten magma, quickly moving and easily settling, never moving from that place again. The times that Sana had gotten trapped on the couch with a snoring Kiara on her chest was a number that required multiple hands to count.
She couldn't even speak; her face was smushed in between the couch cushions. Kiara was curled up against her back, like an overly affectionate cat, hair flaring up every so often and reminding Sana of solar flares.
"Kiara?" Sana mumbled, inhaling dust and coughing a little from it. Kiara didn't respond. Sana groaned internally and accepted her fate, deciding just to get comfortable.
She was going to be there a while.
- - -
Irys was on the polar opposite of the spectrum. She ran cool, long fingers and delicate wrists, palms that were dwarfed by Sana's own. Sana loved her touch, the goosebumps she got, the little nudges of horns against her temples and jaw whenever they cuddled.
Most of the time.
"You're poking me again." Sana pouted when Irys just grinned and leaned further in, the tip of her horn scraping against Sana's jawline. "Hey!"
"That's for horses," Irys said smugly, and squealed as Sana glomped onto her, fingers teasingly brushing her horns.
- - -
Mumei's wings were huge when they came out, with a wingspan that extended past ten feet. They were fluffy and soft, and when Mumei was sleepy she would let the others preen them for her.
"You're not doing it right," Mumei batted Sana's hands away before showing her how to do it properly.
"That's what I was doing!" Sana threw her arms up in the air, laughing incredulously.
"No it wasn't," Mumei squinted at Sana as she spoke, wings tucking in closer to her sides. There was a staring contest for a few seconds. Sana inevitably lost.
"I'm sorry," Sana grumbled, crossing her arms. Mumei stuck her tongue out teasingly then pulled Sana in with her wings, until her back was to the owl.
"Now I do your hair," Mumei told her, and Sana immediately tried to run.
- - -
Kronii was stubborn. Bullheaded and endlessly charming. Other adjectives that could work incredibly well on a mob boss persona. Kronii liked to wrap her coats around everyone else like they were hangers, the great heavy things simply dropped onto Gura or Bae's shoulders made them stumble. She only put them on others when they were cold though. That was were Kronii's charm came in.
"Weirdo," Sana said, booping Kronii's cheek. Kronii gave her a blank stare and continued buttoning up the coat she had just bundled around Sana's shoulders. "I'm already wearing a jacket."
"Well, you look cold." Kronii continued working.
When Sana squinted, she could see Kronii's blush. For her warden's sake, she blamed it on the cold.
- - -
Fauna smelled like summer, grass, sunlight and fresh air. Sana would find herself burying her face in Fauna's mane just to smell it, the distilled scent of their garden, the outside.
"Are there any planets like this one?" Fauna asked one time, when Sana was helping her polish her horns.
"Nope," Sana said, popping the p.
"I mean like, with plants," Fauna clarified.
"Maybe." Space shrugged, pressed a soft kiss to Fauna's forehead. "I don't think about them like I do your planet."
- - -
Sana never got over Bae's endless energy, her bounce and full tilt run into everything. There was nowhere else to find someone like her, just like there was nobody else like all the rest of her girls. Chaos' teeth were sharp and so was her wit, her tail liked wrapping around people's wrists and tickling the inside of forearms.
"Do you ever get tired?" Sana asked.
"If I ever do," Bae said solemnly, "you are to feed me coffee."
"Fauna would kill me."
"That's a price we have to pay."
They stared at each other for a moment. The laughter lasted much longer.
- - -
Everyone was waiting for her, on the hill, where she first landed all those years ago. Her footsteps made no sound. Her hair floated behind her, gravity was an old friend and had no grip on her.
They jumped on her immediately, until they were just a rolling mass of people going down the hill, ending at the base in a bruised and dusty heap. Sana's ribs ached from smacking into the ground, ached from the sheer amount of laughter bubbling out of her, tears in the corners of her eyes. She wondered why she left. There was a kiss pressed against her cheek, another for her elbow, her forearm, her wrist, her neck. Sana closed her eyes.
Her girls' voices were a chorus.
"Welcome home, Sana."