“You haven’t had a waffle party before, have you?” Ms Cobel asks.

Helly shakes her head.

“Has anyone told you what they entail?”

“I kind of assumed it was waffles,” Helly says.

Aw, Helly!

Well, it’s kind of overwhelming. Kind of creepy, with all the masks. It’s easier if he just keeps his eyes closed and lets the Tempers take the lead.

Which he’s probably not supposed to do, come to think of it. The ritual is supposed to reflect Kier taming the Four Tempers, and he’s not going to tame anyone like that. But he hasn’t been disciplined for it yet.

I love how you captured the sheer insanity of the job and how they encourage the innies to think about everything in their lives.

He doesn’t know what the right thing to do is, here, for either of them. All he can do is close his eyes again and try to forget what he knows.

It’s the first time he’s really grasped it, why someone might choose to be severed.

Really good writing here!

“Wait,” Dylan says. “Are you saying you were at the waffle party or at the waffle party?”

“Those – those are both the same question,” Mark says, trying to keep his thoughts straight. “Uh, could we meet on this in private?”

They're really not the same question, Mark.

“You didn’t use the flogger at all,” she says. “Honestly, I’d been bracing myself so hard for it that I was kind of disappointed.”

I love this! This is very her! And it makes sense, having it be this looming thing that she's willing to do, but nervous about, and it doesn't happen at all.

“Asked me, actually. I could have said no.” Another pause. “I mean, I think I could have said no. I didn’t say no, so I guess I don’t know what would have happened if I’d tried.”

She didn’t say no. It helps to calm Mark down, a little, and on another level it just unsettles him more.

I like his reaction!

He has pretty complicated feelings about the fact that he was halfway through sex with Helly before he realised that was what was happening. But flirting, that’s okay, that’s less intimidating. That makes him feel more like they’re taking the right steps; they’re just a little out of order.

Aw!