"Half an hour," he says, "which is better than anybody else got. And now I think I'm going to take that attitude of yours as a challenge."

"Better men have tried," says Kaseo.

"I doubt it."

"Where exactly is it you're claiming to have found better men in this cesspit?"

"Fair point."

"If we had met under better circumstances," says Sairu, "I think I would like you very much."

And then he spends several hours doing his best to shatter Kaseo's composure.

She's very cooperative. One might almost suspect her of orchestrating all this just to get him to do exactly what he's doing right now, except that who in their right mind would do that, and also - she does feel fear, she does feel pain, he can make her scream and beg and cry -

- and then five minutes later she's laughing again, every time.

Anaseverina goes to bed partway through this.

Sairu politely tries to keep the noise levels down after that.

Aww, that's hardly any fun.

The objective here is kind of to get her to stop having so much fun.

Although the fun is kind of compelling, in its own way...

Isn't it just?

Well.

He's very persistent. He wants her broken, if not forever, at least for longer than five minutes, and he's willing to take all night trying if that's what it takes. All night, every trick he knows, a few new applications of a more precisely-targeted version of the pain spell, and one of his birthday knives.

And eventually, with all that, he can have her sobbing helplessly and flinching from his touch and not immediately recovering.

"That was fun," he murmurs into her hair. "What do you think, do I win this one?"

She nods shakily.

"Thought so."

He heals her. He lets her go.

She pauses in the doorway, not quite looking back -

But whatever she was going to say, she leaves instead.

And he still has time for a couple hours of sleep before breakfast.

Anaseverina snuggles up in her sleep when he comes to bed.

Awww. Cozy sleepy snuggles. Perfect.

And in the morning breakfast. Fortunately stimulants are available.

Yeah he's a little tired. But very very satisfied.

Good. It doesn't fully solve everything, but--good.

And most of them are avoiding him assiduously now. Even Kaseo is noticeably staying out of his way.