Bella extracts only the minimum.

The braineater continued to roll her tongue around her friend's brain thoughtfully, unable to make the tough decision. Finally, she made up her mind. "Shoot. I'm such a coward. I can't possibly leave her behind, but... I can't face what I did, either... What if she couldn't forgive me? Whether it's my decision to leave or hers, for me, living my life without ever seeing Ralli again... or, worse, having her hate me... I don't think there's any magic of mine that could help me bear it."

Once she'd made her decision (or, she reminded herself, really copped out in making one), the process was very quick and painless. Removing only the most recent memories of Ralli's invitation to shower and confession of her feelings was as simple as licking the frosting from the top of a cupcake. "About as scrumptious and morally deviant, too," Bella chastised herself. As her tongue writhed, she felt that part of the mind lose its flavor... That was the tell-tale sign the memory had been consumed. Bella certainly hadn't sworn off eating memories entirely, but it had been quite a while since she'd tasted Ralli's specifically. Back when they'd worked in the Demon Lord's service, cleaning her deathspeaker's mind of unnecessary memories had been maintenance, like cleaning a blade before sheathing it, but it had also been a pleasure, like a favorite meal. The nostalgic flavor begged her to try even more... "The least you can do is show some willpower here, woman." Bella obstained.

Consuming the memory was only the first part. The next part was equally important: Bella had to plant in a convincing alternate memory. That had been a night of **** for her when she first rewrote Ralli's life experience, but here it was as simple as... "Well, frosting a cupcake, to continue the metaphor." Bella's tongue touched those parts of Ralli's mind she'd touched before, and as she paused at each node, she allowed her saliva to first coat and then penetrate into the surface. This process only took a couple of minutes. After all, the alternate memory was terribly simple here. After she'd finished demonstrating the magic clothing, Bella had simply left in a hurry before Ralli could extend the offer to shower. She didn't know if she needed to embellish more than that, but she supposed she should leave as few blanks as possible, so she added that Ralli had enjoyed the shower more than usual on account of her hard workout, so she'd taken longer than she ordinarily would.

Quickly, feeling guilty, Bella slipped her tongue back into her mouth and pulled her lips from Ralli's head. One might think that putting her mouth around all that hair would be a disgusting experience, but a braineater had a much larger mouth and much more control over it than a simple human. Stray hairs were little more than an annoyance to her, and she was able to skillfully seek them out with her probing tongue, collect them, and clean them. Many deathspeakers shaved their heads to avoid this issue, but Bella thought Ralli looked so cute with long hair, she'd never encouraged that... "Honestly, if only I could convince her to style it!"

The braineater chuckled to herself before immediately feeling ashamed. "Ha... it really is that easy for me to slip back into this familiar routine. What a well-practiced liar I've become." Sighing, Bella glanced back at Ralli's muscular body resting on its knees, now showering alone. Soon, the sergeant would return to full awareness, but with no idea what had transpired. By that time, Bella needed to be gone, so she hurriedly toweled herself off. "It's not like me to be so mopey or moralistic. So what if I lied? And what's wrong with what we have now? I haven't broken my important promise, and the two of us are such excellent friends. I'm perfectly happy, and so is she. As long as I can keep us out of dicey situations like this, nothing will have to change. This is the way things should be: Ralli, searching her feelings and coming to her own decisions; me, watching over her as a friend, confidant, and protector... That's good enough for everyone. It's good enough for me-"

"Bella..." Ralli's growling voice came from the shower behind her.

The woman in question jumped, wrapping the towel around herself reflexively and expecting Ralli to have been listening to her entire externalized internal conflict. Instead, it seemed the deathspeaker had just been talking in her dazed sleep. "Talking about me... Oh, Ralli..." With a renewed reminder of her need to hurry, Bella finished up and dressed herself again, from her all-important pendant to her flirty red underwear and robes. Then, just like Ralli's memories of her shower with Bella, Bella herself disappeared from the room.