diff --git a/src/courtroom.cpp b/src/courtroom.cpp
index 7646794da..24164f2d4 100644
--- a/src/courtroom.cpp
+++ b/src/courtroom.cpp
@@ -3506,6 +3506,32 @@ void Courtroom::handle_ic_speaking()
   start_chat_ticking();
 }
 
+struct PauseInfo
+{
+  int ms;
+  int digit_count;
+  bool valid;
+};
+
+static PauseInfo parse_pause_duration(const QString &text, int start_pos)
+{
+  static const int max_digits = QString::number(10000).length();
+  static const QRegularExpression pause_regex(QString("^([1-9]\\d{0,%1})").arg(max_digits - 1));
+  QRegularExpressionMatch match = pause_regex.match(text.mid(start_pos));
+  if (!match.hasMatch())
+  {
+    return {0, 0, false};
+  }
+  bool ok = false;
+  int value = match.captured(1).toInt(&ok);
+  int length = match.capturedLength(0);
+  if (!ok || value < 1 || value > 10000)
+  {
+    return {0, 0, false};
+  }
+  return {value, length, true};
+}
+
 QString Courtroom::filter_ic_text(QString p_text, bool html, int target_pos, int default_color)
 {
   QString p_text_escaped;
@@ -3723,6 +3749,14 @@ QString Courtroom::filter_ic_text(QString p_text, bool html, int target_pos, int
       if (f_character == "s" || f_character == "f" || f_character == "p") // screenshake/flash/pause
       {
         skip = true;
+        if (f_character == "p") // also skip any following digits
+        {
+          PauseInfo info = parse_pause_duration(p_text, check_pos + f_char_bytes);
+          if (info.valid)
+          {
+            check_pos += info.digit_count;
+          }
+        }
       }
 
       parse_escape_seq = false;
@@ -4420,6 +4454,14 @@ void Courtroom::chat_tick()
     if (f_character == "p")
     {
       formatting_char = true;
+      PauseInfo info = parse_pause_duration(f_message, tick_pos);
+      if (info.valid)
+      {
+        tick_pos += info.digit_count;
+        real_tick_pos += f_char_length;
+        chat_tick_timer->start(info.ms);
+        return;
+      }
     }
     next_character_is_not_special = false;
   }
@@ -4441,15 +4483,8 @@ void Courtroom::chat_tick()
 
   if ((msg_delay <= 0 && tick_pos < f_message.size() - 1) || formatting_char)
   {
-    if (f_character == "p")
-    {
-      chat_tick_timer->start(100); // wait the pause lol
-    }
-    else
-    {
-      chat_tick_timer->start(0); // Don't bother rendering anything out as we're
-                                 // doing the SPEED. (there's latency otherwise)
-    }
+    chat_tick_timer->start(0); // Don't bother rendering anything out as we're
+                               // doing the SPEED. (there's latency otherwise)
     if (!formatting_char || f_character == "n" || f_character == "f" || f_character == "s" || f_character == "p")
     {
       real_tick_pos += f_char_length; // Adjust the tick position for the
diff --git a/src/courtroom.h b/src/courtroom.h
index dc8cdf3ae..2a732b9f2 100644
--- a/src/courtroom.h
+++ b/src/courtroom.h
@@ -450,6 +450,8 @@ class Courtroom : public QMainWindow
   // amount by which we multiply the delay when we parse punctuation chars
   const int punctuation_modifier = 3;
 
+  const int max_pause_duration = 10000;
+
   // amount of ghost blocks
   int ghost_blocks = 0;