"I admit my motives are not entirely selfless." Snuggle.

"I'm shocked. Shocked." Snuggle.

Giggle. Hug.

Nuzzle.

"You're so good at this," she murmurs.

"Which of the things I'm good at are you referring to, specifically?"

Snort.

"Well, you're good at the sex, of course, but mostly I mean the, the. You're being very sweet and not pressuring me, and gently introducing me to things, in such a nice pleasant environment. And you're very good at doing that."

"I'm glad!" Kiss.

Kiss! Snuggle.

Yes. Snuggle. Snuggle is correct.

At this rate he might just end up holding her until she falls asleep.

It's looking pretty likely, yep. He's very comfortable, she's very tired, and it's so easy to just stay here and snuggle him and drift right off to sleep.

Soon enough, that's just what she does.

He has things to do. He gently covers her in blankets and then goes off to do them.

So she wakes up alone.

This on its own would - probably be fine, she thinks, she hasn't really had much experience with waking up alone after having had sex, but as a concept she doesn't find it objectionable. He's got things to do, it'd be insane to demand he sleep next to her and wake up with her every single time, and she wouldn't want to be that kind of person anyway. Wouldn't even necessarily want to always wake up next to someone, even. People need their space. There's nothing wrong with that.

It's just that little trouble of what things he has to do that gives her pause. Serik Tanaikon; a complete sweetheart, a kind and patient lover, reasonable and sensible and funny and comfortable to be around and also he tortures people.

And suddenly she has the urge to cry.

What was she expecting? That if she just forgot about the part where he kidnaps, rapes, and tortures people that it would just go away? That a solution for this untenable situation would drop out of nowhere and into her lap?

(That her slow and tentative explorations into masochism could grow into being enough for him?)

Ridiculous, all of it. Stupid, even.

A sob catches in her throat, and she decides to indulge in acting like a child (hasn't she already been doing that, anyway?) and pulls the covers over her head so she can sob into her pillow and pretend she doesn't exist.

Elsewhere, someone has decided to move her explorations to the library.

Tysathra's never really been a voracious reader, but then, she's never really had this much choice of literature. She can take the time to see if maybe she was wrong about books.

There's nothing wrong with them, of course, they just sort of - miss something extra, for her. They rely so much on what the reader brings to the table. Their imagination and their visualizations and most of all their belief in the world that the author has created. The agreement they make to be swept up in a story, taken off to a land of adventure, to leave their lives behind for a little while. Live in this new one.

She's always preferred theater, personally. But books aren't bad. Maybe she'll find a good one.

If she likes, she can ask this person who is sitting in one of the comfy chairs on the top floor.

Perhaps she could. But she thinks she has other questions she'd like to ask. Daughter, or the other guest, she wonders?

... Daughter, she decides, soon enough. From the similarity of her features to Tanaikon's.

Well. She might as well say hello.

"If I'd known the library often received visitors I might have come here sooner," she says, smiling a little. "Hello."

"Hello," she says. "I assume you're another guest?"

"I am indeed. There seems to be a collection of us forming." She motions to a nearby chair. "May I join you?"

"Yes," she says. "I am Irikaino, Tanaikon's daughter."

"Tysathra. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"The same, I suppose."

"You only suppose?" she wonders, teasing. "I see I must work hard indeed to earn your favor, if even meeting me is only perhaps a pleasure."

"I am not a very happy person," she says.

"That's a pity," says Tysathra, sincerely, studying her. "You'd have the loveliest smile. I'm sorry the world was so cruel as to cause it to hide."

She blinks. She - doesn't seem to know quite what to do with that.