"So," Natalie said. "What'd you three get?"

  Elida answered first. "Bordello. I won't be attending. Thankfully, after we sleep, there shouldn't be much time left before the assig. I want to explore the shops and the rest of the city, anyway. What'd you two get?"

  "Arena," Natalie offered.

  Elida's eyes turo Vaa. The stony mask was ba pce. She really kept her walls up around the Parda-Halt, it seemed.

  "Bordello, like you."

  "Ah? Will you be—engaging?"

  "Mm. I'll sleep on it."

  Elida seemed ied that there was even a possibility of a yes, though she didn't voice it aloud.

  Natalie looked at Faye . The team's mage was as aloof as always, and not in the same manner as Ana, rather, with an unfriendliness about her. Besides Elida, Faye was the person she liked least oeam. Clementine had also been there when Elida's team had beaten and stolen from her own, but at least she seemed remorseful about it. Pulled in by Elida's authority and forced to aot an excuse, but it was something. A small something.

  "Pace Basements," Faye said. "I've heard it's the most extreme assig, so I, also, will not be attending. I'll likely join Elida in her explorations."

  "Fair enough," Natalie said. Her teammates were more willing to turn down assigs than she'd expected, which pleased her.

  "Arena," Clementine offered st, when their gazes turo her. "It's the most tame, and also private, so I guess I'd be crazy not to at least take a look." Her cheeks colored, and she gnced away. "I'm still adjusting to the whole idea, though."

  "If you pick the easiest stake, it really doesn't ask for much," Natalie said. "You get options, too. And you bail if you're unfortable, soon as the fights get hard. It's no big deal."

  Elida pursed her lips like she disagreed with the se—but she wasn't a purely practical actor either, since she inteo skip her Bordello assig. So she didn't say anything.

  The versation tinued briefly, but only for a minute or two before they broke off. Natalie wasn't the only one exhausted from the day, and it was well past time to sleep. Plus they would be cutting it close on the assig reset, assuming they got a full night's rest, so there was no time for idle chat.

  Orip through the Pace halls, Natalie briefly sidered following Vaa back to her room. She missed having her as a duo partner already, half because Elida being gone had been a blessing, but also because Vaa seemed to shut down in public settings. Or maybe just around Elida. Which would be fair; if there was ao be guarded around, it would be a Parda-Halt.

  She chose not to, only because she thought things had moved fast between them, and Vaa probably waime to herself. She did call out a 'good night!' to the girl, though, and Natalie was inordinately pleased wheony girl hesitantly retur before disappearing into her room.

  Natalie took a quick shower—it was truly heavenly that despite being in the duhey had hot running water—and afterward colpsed into the plush spread of her bedsheets.

  Though her thoughts ran on all sorts of topics—her uping solo assig, Vaa, her team which was tag the sed floor without her right this moment, Elida, the City, and so on—sleep ed her after only a handful of mihat was the upside of pushing herself so hard: easy to knock out for the night.

  Her eyes pried open some seven ht hours ter. Groaning, she stretched her limbs, gave a huge yawn, stared at the ceiling for a bit, then rolled from bed and hobbled to the bathroom.

  and geared back up, she departed for the Arena. The bell tower was loud enough it could be heard even half an hour's travel away, so she would've heard it if assigs had ged over while she'd been sleeping; thus, despite not knowing the exact time, they were on the same cycle. But she wasn't sure exactly how long she had, so she ought to hurry.

  She never slept more than nine hours, so in the worst case, she had two-ish to go about her Arena runs and, afterward, head to the Bordello to find Vaa, if she had indeed decided to hang out and wait for her. How exactly the Bordello funed eluded her, but assuming it worked like the rest of the City, Vaa ought to have a choi her ts or sub-assigs—and might be waiting for Natalie, unwilling to eh anyone or anything else.

  She was acquainted with the Arena already, so she didn't speak with the automatoionist, instead striding right in. She was greeted with three stone pilrs with tablets on each that described the stakes she could choose from.

  The leftmost and easiest was rated three hearts. Vibration, the stake was titled. Submit to a device's pleasure until climax is achieved.

  Simple and straightforward. It brought a blush to her cheeks, of course, but done in private? Hardly anything to write home about.

  The sed was more tentious. Semi Publiudity, it read. All gear and clothing will appear invisible to anyone you sider acquainted with for the wenty four hours.

  It e of stake she hadn't seen before—ohat persisted beyond the Arena. Twenty four hours. Two assig cycles. In some ways, it seemed less lewd than the previous. But it wasn't, really. Because public exposure? Even just to her teammates? That beat out private masturbation of any sort. Well. Most sorts, in any case.

  Her teammates were surely included in that qualifyi of people she sidered herself 'acquainted with'. Two of them—Elida and Vaa—at a very minimum. So they would see her naked for the day, no matter what she wore.

  Would the stake be retroactive? If she spoke to someone and 'became acquainted with them', would they also be able to see through her clothes? Perhaps halfway through a versation? That was a mortifying possibility.

  If she accepted this stake, she would have to keep to herself for the day. And she wondered how strict or loose the idea of 'acquaintance' was. Vaa and Elida one hundred pert qualified, and probably Faye and Clementine as well—but depending on how the City perceived it, maybe not, since she didn't know those two girls well. They were more than strangers, but far less than friends. Which was normally where 'acquaintances' sat, but she wasn't sure how the City defi. For the purpose of analyzing whether the stake was worth taking, she assumed they would be included. Probably even Acacia would be, if she bumped intain. Anyone more than a total stranger.

  Oral Self-Service, the st stake read—the five-heart oo match the three and four. A spatial anomaly will be provided to assist in oral self pleasure. Must brio climax using mouth.

  Natalie stared at it.

  Then stared some more.

  Oral … self-pleasure?

  She was expected to—?

  Well.

  Yes, that was worth a five-heart perversion rating, without a doubt. Maybe higher. Were there six-heart ratings?

  Once upon a time, in a previous dungeon run, Natalie had sucked her own cock. Or her own body's. So the idea wasn't totally aliehat had been with Ana piloting her body, so it hadn't really been 'self-intimacy'. The idea of truly doing that—in feeling the sensations from both ends at once—was sdalous enough her face was set on fire.

  No. That was too much. She had her limits. She couldn't—

  Could she?

  No. Definitely not. She shook her head rapidly, clearing the thoughts away. The four heart was a better choice. Showing up o Elida and Vaa—and Faye and Clementine, possibly—was much more patable than pleasuring herself with her own mouth. That was simply taking the perversion too far.

  Secretly, though, a part of her was highly ied in what it would feel like.

  Her excitement at the cept was what urged Natalie to hastily step forward a the four-heart option. Semi-Publiudity. If she'd stood there too long, sidering, she might have made the wrong decision.

  Stomach squirming, though, she aowledged she was only on the sed day of her stay at the City of Eros. More stakes of a simir type would be ing. And now that the idea had been introduced, had time to wiggle into her head, would she accept the lewdness of a simir stake when it appeared?

  For now, at least, she chased the flustering thoughts away. Because the Arena's first monster had appeared, and she had a fight to focus on.