“Well, I still don’t want to die...and they didn’t exactly teach us whether you were any good at torture...”

Snort. "A connoisseur, are you? I doubt you'd be disappointed."

“All I’m a connoisseur of now is broken bones from falling down hills. Torture’s hard to find!”

"Well, I've only just met you, I'm hardly going to waste you on torture immediately."

“I’d better practice, then.”

"Practice what, falling down hills? Are you that eager to leave?"

She snorts.

”Practice getting better. I’ll be more entertaining if I’m reusable, right?”

(She’s definitely scared.)

"I hadn't actually intended to hurt you at all, except you seem to have other plans."

–oops. That’s incredibly embarrassing.

(The torture emperor doesn’t want to torture her. She’s so disgusting that she’s not even worth killing.)

“Well–no. That’s good.”

—he gives her a considering look. "Most people would have found that reassuring, if they believed me."

"I don't actually want to die."

She looks like she's trying to meld with a tree as a means of escape. Unfortunately, that's not actually a thing she can do, so it is predictably not working.

"It's just...you know, when you meet Tarakova Imerin and he says 'nah, I'll pass', after two thousand years alone..."

"Two thousand years alone have successfully taught me the value of not immediately murdering the first person I see, no matter how pretty she is."

She relaxes, but she doesn't seem to recognize the implicit compliment there.

"...that makes sense."

What the hell happened to this girl...?

He studies her for a moment, but then instead of asking that question he asks, "What exactly did you mean by 'practice getting better'?"

"–Oh. Like this."

She puts her hands out in front of her and bends her pinky backward until it

snaps.

—well that's. Something. That's a thing that just happened.

He is maybe looking at her broken finger in... a way.

She's trying very hard not to make too revealing a face.

As she watches the break and concentrates, her finger shifts slowly back into place, flesh shuddering and twisting a little before taking its normal shape.

"So...like that."

Her voice wavers a little.

"That's interesting."

Ooh. She likes being interesting.

"It's how my magic came in. My body does what I tell it to."

"How much can you fix?"

"...I have no idea. I've put some broken bones back together, um, lots of cuts and burns...I crushed my foot once, with a stone, not on purpose, but I could do that..."

She considers.

"And I can change some other things. Which gives me hints."

"I'm having all sorts of unwise thoughts right now," he murmurs.

"Yeah?"

She moves a little closer.

"Tell me about them."

"Part of me wants to find out just how much damage you can take, and part of me wants to just skip straight to fucking you even though I'd break you in half."