[ Talkative bastard, but Wash had known that, coming in -- and even here, maybe especially here, he always appreciates a challenge. He makes a quiet sound, amused despite himself, but Wash keeps to the limits he sets for himself ( because he has to, because if he doesn't, then ). Again, he pulls back, just enough to give Byerly half a second of actual air. ]

Fifteen.

[ Still probably something that feels within Byerly's capacity. There's only so much to be taken from immediately pushing someone over their limits, after all -- the game is in getting there, testing, teasing, pushing them up to it bit by bit, finding where their lines are drawn and then finding where and for what they'd bend those lines for. This time Wash doesn't just use his strength but shifts forward slightly to push some of his weight against him when he locks off his air again. ]

Natashka told me she hit you, you know. Told me she choked you. [ His voice is lower, now, and he uses that name without quite thinking about it. Tashka, Wash had taken to calling her. He's counting in his head, still, if Byerly can still talk then he might as well give him something to answer to, if he could even hear him. ] First thing I asked her was if you liked it. What'd you think I told her, after?

[ Twelve, thirteen, and release. Mostly, anyway. ]