The return trip was uful. Tiring and fraught with monsters, naturally, but uful.

  The trek to the ower, clearing it, aurning to the City had taken enough time that when they returhe cycle of assigs had been posted. Natalie had heard the ge-over bell ringing from the city ter even half an hour’s distance away.

  This sed bell was the 'midnight bell', not that there were real day-night cycles iy of Eros. The twilight sky never ged, the colle of stars and glowing moon having hung in the same spot since her arrival. Yet the city folk had colborated to form a schedule fanization's sake. Thus, the streets were near empty when they returned, as expected of a city past midnight.

  Natalie's body was feeling the day's exertions. They'd woken early to start the weekend delve, and it had been close to twenty hours of high effort activities since she'd st slept. She was looking forward to re-acquainting herself with that plush bed in her Pa. And she said ahankful prayer that there would be a bed. Most durips, sleeping ditions were much rougher.

  Before she slept, though, should she check what assig she'd gotten? Or afterward? There was o rush out and plete the task immediately, since she would have a few hours after waking to ha. But if the task ended up being toe, she could see herself staying awake out of—not ay, but anticipation, maybe.

  Or the former. Who knew? Assigs could get crazy in this City. Though there was always the option to skip if what was asked of her was too unfortable. She wasn't like Vaa; this was no new dilemma. She would pfort over progress. Accepting whatever degeneracy the dungeon asked simply to earn experience or loot faster was a slippery slope, and one she'd decided to not go plummeting down. Not head-first and willingly, at least.

  Sihe rest of her team bee-lio the assig boards after returning, Natalie also tagged along, somewhat relutly. She would have preferred to wait until m. Holding her breath, she found the board with her name on it and tracked down the appropriate slip of paper.

  Before ying eyes oask, she had beeain what she was about to find: an assig in the Coliseum with Elida. The tension was there, a part of her aowledged, and the City had a specifiterest in Natalie with her being Lust's champion. Not to mention Elida's own status as god-favored. Put together? Their csh in the Coliseum was iable.

  Yet—

  Report to the Arena for your solo assig.

  She almost didn't parse the words. Not that they were strange. Just, she'd expected more. If not a Coliseum event—and she'd been so sure that she would get ohe moment Elida showed up—then at least something more adventurous. Perhaps a task that bucked all standard trends, even?

  Maybe she wasn't special. Her cheeks colored at the possibility. Did she have an infted sense of importahe City could be treatihe same as anyone else. So even if there was the requisite tension with Elida, it might take time before a slot at the Coliseum opened up for them. Padin of Lust or not.

  Either way, she was grateful. While the looming 'solo stakes' were sure to be iing in their ht, she at least didn't have to fall asleep knowing the moment she woke she'd be heading off to fight against Elida—with sexual favors as the reward for winning.

  No Coliseum also meant her sleep wouldn't be interrupted. She appreciated that. Time slots for Coliseum ran through the night on the same hourly block schedule as the daytime, and she easily could have gotte four in the m. Not that there was a real 'four in the m', since again, time wasn't real iy.

  She supposed that nighttime Coliseum events might be more patable than daytime ones. Fewer spectators. Or maybe the smaller audience would make it more intimate, not less? A crowd was a crowd, faceless and meanio some extent. Two or three people peeping in, though, felt—worse. Sort of? Natalie shook her head and stopped thinking about it.

  Without meaning to, she found herself wandering over to Vaa to see what she'd gotten. Vaa had, siheir team had reunited, reverted to stony silence, so Natalie brightened wheher girl gnced over, hesitated, and actually grimaced at her—the first real emote she'd seen in a while.

  She murmured to Natalie, "Bordello. Not sure if I'm gonna take it."

  "Ah." Natalie thought about how she would feel getting that assig. "Not sure if I would either, to be fair."

  "You wouldn't?"

  "That surprises you?"

  "You just seem, ah, open. To things."

  Natalie shrugged. "Something about doing it with total strangers, I'm not sure I like."

  She gave Natalie a skeptical look. "There's no way you haven't hooked up with 'total strangers' before."

  "Well. Sure." She tried to sort through her thoughts, but found there were some logical insistencies. "Even if I get to pick my ts—and we don't even know if it works like that— something doesn't sit right with me." Random hookups had some basic level of chemistry before things got hot and heavy, however brief. And even if she found that with a t at the Bordello…? She shrugged. "Not sure I make it make sense. I just don't want to, and that's enough for me to skip."

  "You'd be missing out on tokens."

  "Who cares?"

  "I care. For myself, I mean. You do what you want."

  This was no new versation, and Natalie sighed. She'd said her pie it already. Hesitating for a moment, her lips quirked up. "Well. Maybe you stop by to see how it works. And if you do get to pick your ts—I pay a visit? That way you'd get your tokens, and it doesn't have to be with a stranger. But I've got my own Arena assig before that. Would you be ied?"

  Vaa's cheeks colored, and she gnced around to check for eavesdroppers.

  "We'll see," she coughed. "But, um, yes. I might—prefer that. Over strangers. It might make the assigolerable."

  Natalie's grin might've been a little too satisfied, because Vaa narrowed her eyes and poked her in the chest.

  "But only because it's better than strangers. Don't get any weird ideas."

  "I would never."

  Huffing, Vaa spun and stalked toward the other three of their teammates, who had collected in their own sub-group. Following her, Natalie went to see what the rest of her teammates had gotten, assig wise.