[ she offers a small, shy squeeze back, her tail wagging a little behind her . ]

W-well ... o-okay then ...

[ her gaze flickers up to the little green sprig above them again, and then back to his face . ]

I-if you waited—does that … um— mean you want a kiss .. ?

// slow but happening .

[ pathetic dog whimper ] Yeah …

You lost me at the diagram

// reminder that youll have to hurt this little lady, eli.

[ she doesn't throw the door open. she cracks it, just an inch, peering out into the hallway . she looks down at the box, then at the other woman's face . ]

... T-treats .. ?

[ her voice is a tiny whisper. ]

... F-for ... m-me .. ?

[ at that, she uncurls from the corner of the bed, her movement stiff and uncoordinated, like a marionette with half its strings cut . she shuffles to the door, her good hand fumbling with the lock—fingers shaking so badly it takes her three tries to actually get it . ]

[ ... she starts sobbing once more . ]

Ghh .. I-I—I'm so ... 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 ...

I t-traded you ... for q-quiet . I let him .. I let him 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 me... and I l-let him 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 me ... just because I w-was too w-weak t-to ...

[ she looks up at him then, screen covered in tears . ]

How ... h-how can you l-look at me? I .. I 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗱 myself ... just to make it s-stop hurting ...

[ she shudders, a violent, sickening jolt that rattles her entire casing . ]

B-but if I .. if I just ... stopped tr-trying ... if I was g00d ... the p-pain would ... stop .

[ she buries her face in his shirt, her voice cracking into a high, keening sound of absolute self-hatred . ]

[ the words slides out of her throat like sludge, heavy and suffocating . ]

I-it ... it h-hurt s-so bad to ... to f-fight . Every t-time I even just ... th-thought ... gh ... every time I .. I tried to k-keep 𝘶𝘴 ... it f-felt like being ... being 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 alive ...

N-no ... n-no ....

[ her voice is a wet, jagged whisper, fading into static . the memory of the ring's conditioning is flooding back—the binary lesson of agony and relief . the Pavlovian training that had rewired her soul . ]

I .. I q-q#it ... Sp@mmy . I .. I just ... st-stopped .

[ the kiss on her head burns . it burns like holy water on a demon it burns because he is treating her like a victim, like a martyr, when in her own shattered mind, she is an accomplice.

she shakes her head against his chest, the movement weak and feverish . ]

I would really hope I was Spammy

and for ... for b-b3ing the reason S-Sp4mmy had to ... to ...

[ she trails off, unable to say the words, unable to describe the act of being carved open by the person she loved most . ]

I ... I d-don't ..
I d0n't want to be ... a b-burd#n .