"It's sort of weird now nice you are for how torturey you are. But good weird. I mean. Given that the torture's happening at all."

"Yeah, I used to think those things weren't compatible. Now... well, here I am, sometimes wanting to torture people, sometimes wanting to be nice to them."

"I'm glad you're nice. I wouldn't have liked to meet you when you were younger, I think."

He laughs. "I was a disaster."

"I'm sure the Ansati Empire agrees with you."

"Well. They would."

"...When I'm with you--when I'm just talking to you, I feel like I'm falling. Like I'm in freefall, and I probably am not going to hit the ground with an unpleasant thud--I trust you not to, but you could, and that--makes it scary, a little, but also--exciting? And being in freefall, by itself, is a rush.

And when I'm dancing with you, or kissing you, I feel like I'm flying."

He smiles, slowly, thoughtfully.

"I like that."

"I thought you might. And that's--one of the other things, sort of. I like you because you do delightful things for me, and because you could hurt me very badly in ways I wouldn't like and aren't and won't, and--you're straightforward. I mean, I'm not saying you're not complicated, because you are, but you admit things like when you're not sure if you're going to torture me or not. You don't make me guess. And I--when I tell you things like 'pain is intimate' or 'nudity isn't' I can expect you to take that seriously and not just--" she waves a hand. "Follow some kind of societal script."

"Those are all things I'm glad to be liked for," he says.

"Yeah. Um--another thing about me is that I move faster than a lot of people even on things that I consider genuinely intimate, so--a lot of people don't take me seriously when I say that something really means something to me, and then proceed to not go much slower at it than if it were casual. You I don't think are liable to fall into that trap."

"I think you're right about that," he agrees.

"One of the things I consider intimate is my name. I'm not--ready to tell you what my real full name is, yet, but I'm ready to tell you it's not Sivari."

He nods thoughtfully. "I'll do you the courtesy of not trying to guess."

"Thanks. I mean, guessing isn't the same as knowing, any more than guessing what I look like naked is the same as seeing me naked, but if you decided to speculate out loud in order to narrow it down by my reactions that would be--not the kind of thing I'd expect from you, for one thing.

I do sort of care about nudity, incidentally, in that if someone doesn't know that I don't care about it and endeavors to see me nude anyway I will be pissed off that they disregarded their model of my preferences like that, but. Bit of a tangent."

"You're an interesting person."

"That's pretty subjective! I don't disagree, mind."

"Well, you interest me. I... like getting to see how you think."

"I like it that you care how I think."

"That works out pretty nicely!"

"It does!

Explaining how I think isn't exactly an intimate thing in and of itself, but--it's the kind of thing I'd only bother to do for someone who I expected to take it seriously, and that causes--a strong overlap, I think."

He nods.

"Well. I'm glad I come across as someone who'll take you seriously."

"You've been good at that!"

"I like you. I appreciate you. I am very glad I met you."

"Yeah. It's nice."