Cassandra keeps the pace of a long museum day in mind when she arrives: nothing rushed, the lights low, the first minutes spent letting a guest sit down properly. Her base is Oud-Zuid, among the wide avenues south of the park. Nuru is the format she enjoys most, and she books it for ninety minutes or longer since the preparation takes its own time. Greek and English are the languages she brings to a booking. At twenty-six she is quiet company, direct about what she will and will not do, and in no hurry to fill a silence.

Cassandra decides which bookings she takes and may decline any of them; she sets the limits for what a session includes, says what they are, and may end a visit at any point, as the terms set out.