Birkin blushed and moved his left arm away from Stein's hand. "I mean if you keep vivisecting people like this, they're going to keep running away from you." He swallowed deeply. This situation had managed to get completely out of his control. "Just like what happened with Spirit. You might think you want to do this but..."

Oh, who was he trying to kid? Of course Stein actually wanted to do this. If the roles were reversed, Birkin would be all over it, though maybe he wouldn't make it as literal as Stein had. Try as he might, he couldn't blame Stein at all. "C-could you at least give me some anesthetic before you start?"