Yes. Lie down and take your clothes off. 

:...All of them?: 

- well, you can do whatever you want, but proper massages are naked, yes! Working through cloth just isn't as effective?

:- All right: It’s not as though Leareth feels much self-consciousness about his body. This wasn’t even his original body to begin with. 

He takes off his clothes and folds them neatly and then stretches out on Carissa’s bed.

Then Carissa will give him a very nice massage and contemplate whether she wants to try to fuck him afterwards. On the one hand, he seems already attached, why risk complicating that? On the other hand, he could certainly be more attached. On the third hand when the paladins freak out at him it'll be useful for him to be able to tell them they're not sleeping together. On the fourth hand, maybe once he says that he'll feel obliged to stick to it. On the fifth hand, he's hot - what is that doing here, that's got nothing to do with anything.

It’s a very good massage! Leareth spends a while being appropriately limp and relaxed and not really having thoughts. 

He’s very tired, but - not exactly sleepy, it seems. 

After a while, he tries to read Carissa’s thoughts, mostly just because that will interrupt the massage less than asking her what’s on her mind. 

She could give him a handjob and insist that this is just how you are supposed to conclude massages, since they make people horny - she thinks that's basically true - but maybe that makes her seem like a slut? Certainly it plays into the narrative that the paladins are going to be trying to convince him of, and it's - not intimate, the thing that she's actually angling for here isn't 'he keeps her around for sex', it's 'he keeps her around for magic/Golarion orientation', though she should be realistic about the degree to which the thing that makes her uniquely appealing for magic and Golarion orientation compared to a very large population of people qualified on those fronts is that he feels relaxed around her, and the reasons for that might be a complete mystery to him but are not, to her. 

What.

….All right, this is - not exactly graceful - but it’s not going to be better if Leareth attempts to put off dealing with the confusion for later. 

:- Carissa? I was reading your mind just now and I am - very confused: 

She's not particularly distressed by this, though she's slightly nervous. She doesn't stop the massage. Hmmm?

Apparently he is very tired and it’s hard to keep his thoughts even slightly organized.

:You are thinking about - propositioning me, sexually? I am really not sure why?:

You're....not really sure why? Like, you can't think of reasons why being in bed with you giving you a massage would make someone contemplate whether they want to fuck you, or like you want all of the obvious reasons but ranked by how compelling I find them?

:- I am not sure why that is related to our working rapport when it comes to studying magic and you helping me orient to Golarion?:

....almost everyone likes people better when they're fucking? Like, just subconsciously, you wanna impress them, you feel relaxed around them, you look forward to seeing them.

:It does not obviously feel related to me, actually? I feel comfortable around you because you are clever and competent and impressive:

I appreciate that! Among...basically all humans I have ever met, it also helps that I'm twenty five, and hot, and cuddly - I mean, most people would not historically describe me as cuddly but the thing I'm doing now sure is - lots of people in your organization are clever and competent and impressive, right? But you wanted to lie down and get a massage from me. Probably that's explained by something about me that's not also true of them. 

:Well, you did offer? And you picked a time when it was not particularly trading off against a different useful thing I could be doing instead?:

Sure, fine. So maybe the same goes for sex, that I can offer at a time when it's not particularly trading off against a different useful thing you could be doing instead.

(She's not exactly consciously thinking about it but she's parsing that claim of his as a - move in a dance, of sorts. She asserted that she was special and he asserted that she was, actually, merely convenient and that's a very well executed move in the game where they both try to get everything they want while admitting as little attachment as possible. She's impressed with it, honestly.)

- that was not at ALL the thing Leareth meant, but trying to explain what he actually meant sounds exhausting right now.

(And he has a feeling that asking her what’s supposed to be appealing about sex is something that would end up either being offensive or - also parsing as a move in a game that he would rather not be playing.)

:I have a significant backlog of tasks that are very important and that I feel capable of doing! But you - seemed to be attempting to convince me that this was not a good idea because I am…impaired from having spoken to Iomedae?:

Leareth is fairly sure that Carissa will somehow also interpret that as a move in some mysterious opaque game with illegible rules. He’s a little curious to see exactly how, though.

Well, you spoke to Iomedae, and talking to gods is supposed to be impairing, and you seem pretty out of sorts. Obviously some things are worth doing badly while you're out of it instead of well once you're not, but talking to paladins or Aroden's daughter seem like things where you want to be at the top of your game. She's actually mostly uncertain where he's going with this. Is he trying to accuse her of not looking out for his interests? That seems bad for hers, considering he's the only person who prefers she exist.

Leareth also isn’t sure where he’s going with this! He’s mostly just - off balance. In a totally different way from how he’s felt off-balance all day.

He takes a deep breath. :…I suspect I would not find it relaxing. I have not - done sexual things - in my last several lifetimes:

Well, then we won't. He has tensed up and she massages him more forcefully about it. You having a bad time is not my goal here.

Leareth makes an apologetic sound and tries to relax. 

:- I know. I am glad. ...What is your goal, right now? I think I am still confused about that and I would feel less off balance if I understood it: 

- to not die, but that's not a flirtatious thing to say at all. And it's - admitting a vulnerability. Telling someone exactly how to hurt you is stupid even if it's a pretty obvious way to hurt a person. For you to relax and rest if you need it so we can handle the paladins in the morning.

Leareth has a vague sense that admitting vulnerabilities is - well, not flirtatious exactly, it's a different thing, but - something people do in both directions, when they're trying to feel closer to one another? 

:- Would it help if I admitted to some vulnerabilities too? ...You could read my mind if you wanted. For symmetry: