"You are bizarre," he informs her quietly.

She giggles.

He checks on her hand. The fingers have mostly been burned away. He draws a spiral of fire on her palm.

For the most part she still thinks the safest way to present herself to the demons is as a brainless slut who can't think about anything but how much she loves to be tortured - but this one, this one she thinks she can charm.

"Always nice to meet a fellow artist."

"...Oh?"

"I had a very promising career as a scribe and illuminator before I started spending all my time being raped by demons," she says, her smile half-hidden against his chest.

"...Oh," he says, in a different, less scrutable tone of voice. The pattern of the lines he carves on her back changes. It's not any alphabet she recognizes, but...

- she laughs and hugs him with her good arm.

"Why are you so..." he trails off, unable to think of a good word.

"Why am I so what?"

"Okay with this."

"Turns out being raped by demons is really hot. I'm sure you're going to kill me eventually in some horrible way but in the meantime I might as well enjoy myself."

"That was originally the plan but actually now everyone thinks you're cute the way an animal is cute and wants to keep you as a pet. Like a really clever pig you can't bring yourself to slaughter. ...I'm aware that's not a particularly flattering comparison, sorry."

She laughs and kisses him again.

He kisses back this time.

Mmmm.

"This is incredibly fucked up," he sighs after the kiss is broken.

"Just a little, yeah."

"...Demons don't as a general rule think of humans as people."

"Well that goes a ways toward explaining why you're such assholes to us all the time." Kiss.

Kiss. "Yeah. You're shaped enough like us that it's not gross to fuck you, but you're not so much like us that it's unethical not to take no for an answer, is...what pretty much everyone thinks. ...Including me, like, yesterday."

"And all the torture...?"

"Is fun?"

"Well, true enough."

He continues fucking her for a long moment in thoughtful silence.

Finally: "There's something I should probably tell you but I can't think of a way to do it that isn't incredibly awkward."