Don't laugh. Don't laugh. Laughing would be a bad idea. Even if it would be half hysterical.

This is objectively terrible why is she so turned on has her body not gotten the memo that this is not Tanaikon and not some kind of harmless fantasy.

He pounces, pinning her to the bed with a hand around her neck. She's going to have bruises there. Blood-red flames spill out from under his fingers and pour down her body; they don't burn, but they hurt, pure unalloyed pain blooming wherever they touch. In their wake, they leave no marks, but her nerves are so oversensitive that the faintest breath of air on her skin feels like needles or sandpaper.

--Oh.

The problem she has had with fire has always been the burns; they feel gross and wrong. This--does not. Very does not. She barely notices the choking.

"What is wrong with you?" he snarls - and oh look, the translation is back.

"I am a delight," she informs him, giggling, too high on endorphins to filter.

He chokes her harder, mostly to stop her from saying anything like that again.

Oh yeah this guy means her harm. She's not--quite--able to keep from physically struggling, but she does refrain from setting him on fire in a panic, so there's that.

That's more like it -

But there are still things he needs from her.

He lets her breathe.

"What the fuck did you do with Kazaryne Taliar?"

"I didn't do anything," she says, gasping for air. "When I went to bed last night I was in my own bed snuggling my boyfriend and when I woke up I was in a room full of clothes way too short for me. I suspect that whatever did for me did for him too but I don't actually know what the fuck that is."

He frowns.

"It's true. I don't know anything else. What kind of idiot would I have to be to spirit him off and then stay?"

Ask impertinent questions, get choked until you nearly pass out! An important rule to be aware of when talking to Seofar.

Ulk. Stupid survival instincts.

"...so," he says, his hand still resting lightly on her throat, "you're no use to me at all, and I can do whatever the fuck I like to you without it affecting anything important like my ability to find my daughter's future husband."

She is kind of too busy attempting to oxygenate her blood to respond.

He laughs.

He has very nearly Serik's laugh. Seofar's is just a little less... sweet.

...Body. Body, that blood needs to be near her lungs, collecting oxygen, not farther down.

The aftereffects of the red flames are starting to fade.

So he does it to her again.

Maybe her lungs don't need so much blood after all. If he's trying to make her unhappy the red flames are really counterproductive.

Yes, he's starting to notice that.

"What are you?" he murmurs, staring down at her. "What..."

The fire left her with her eyes closed, breathing heavily with a smile on her face.

When he speaks she opens her eyes and looks at him with what can only be described as a mixture of fear and anticipation. "What do you want me to be?"

He really doesn't know.

It stops him cold, for a moment. He's accustomed to knowing exactly what he wants - exactly what he should want - but this girl is a mystery and he has no idea what to want from her.

When he fails to immediately produce an answer she flops back into boneless contentment.

Why does pleasure look so good on her, why can't he hurt her properly, why does she react all wrong to everything and why does he like it...

He runs his hand down her arm. That's enough to make most people scream, so soon after the fire, but this one didn't scream for the fire itself, so who knows?

He can have anything he wants. He can have her if he wants her. He just - shouldn't want her like this.

She bites her lip and arches slightly when his hand goes down her arm.