It had been a week siering the dungeon, which meant [Divine Invigoration] had expired. Also, she and Vaa were about to head down into the Pace Basements, which was the most dangerous part of the City of Eros—as far as fights went. Not that death was a risk. Defeat, as in the rest of the city, was resolved through lewd activities. Which, in this case, meant a variety of humanoid—and some less humanoid—monsters having their way with the defeated party. Among other, stranger activities. In the Pace Basement, anything could happen.

  Whiatalie was secretly ied in, but only to some extent. She inteo fight her way out of anything that went a little too far for her sensibilities. Thus, [Divine Invigoration] needed a arget so they could e full strength and have the most autonomy in what 'events' assaulted them against their will.

  Specifically, it o be used oeammate who would be tag the Basement with her.

  How to broach that topic, though?

  'By the way, before we go in, do you mind if I cum in you?'

  "What are you smirking about?" Vaa asked.

  "N-Nothing," Natalie said. "Well, actually, something." They had been headed to the Pace Basemerance, Vaa leading them and Natalie following automatically, but now she pulled Vaa aside. " I tell you something, and you keep it a secret?"

  "Oh? Where's this ing from?"

  "I have a skill I want to use, but I don't want it getting back to Elida or anyone else. I trust you if you say you'll keep it a secret."

  "You … would?"

  "Sure."

  A week had passed, and while Vaa had tinued warming to her, her statements in the Bordello held: she wasn't the quickest woman to trust. Her past remained opaque to Natalie, and while Vaa never seemed upset wheried to poke out more informatioher did she open up and share unprompted.

  So, Natalie's cim of 'trusting her' surprised Vaa, sihat trust wasn't fully returned. But Natalie did trust her. At least with this—it wouldn't be the end of the world if details about her css abilities leaked; it would just be unfortunate for various reasons.

  "… Alright," Vaa said. "But there's seriously a skill that you haven't used yet? We've been in some close fights in the Ruins." She sounded reproachful.

  "It was occupied until now," Natalie said. "It's a strong buffing ability. I was keeping it on a teammate. My—real teammates." She wi that phrasing. While temporary, Vaa and the rest were 'real teammates' too. "It sts for a week, so it expired st night."

  "Ah," Vaa said. "And you wao be the arget?" Her brow furrowed. "Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?"

  Natalie coughed. "There's a specific requirement."

  "Oh. Heavens. What is it?"

  "On a scale of oo ten," Natalie asked, "how much have you warmed up to the idea of … being more intimate together?"

  Because, despite the two of them iing frequently this past week, including more Bordello events, Vaa seemed to have settled into a clear level of fort: external only. Natalie's cock had—delightedly—been pleasured by just about every part of Vaa's body, but only the outside. Tits, thighs, hands, and eveeresting foot job, but no holes. Likewise, Natalie herself hadn't gotten a ce to get her mouth between Vaa's legs. Hands only.

  Which erfectly fine; Natalie had had plenty of fun uhose restris, and her partner's attered more to her thaing her dick wet, as fun as that could be. But it posed a real problem, sidering [Divine Invigoration]'s fual requirement.

  "A little more intimate?" Vaa asked.

  "It doesn't matter how, exactly," Natalie said, squirming in pce—her face heating up. Hitting on a girl on her own will was easy enough, but she'd always found, and likely would tio find, the artificial rules of her css much more awkward to expin. "But, I o—" She paused. The only way forward was to just say it. "Cum in you."

  That statement sat in the air for a while, Vaa's face draining of expression, a stony mask f.

  "You o cum in me. For a skill."

  "Yeah."

  "Uh huh. And you totally aren't making that up."

  That, Natalie was slightly offended by, though not overly so, sihe accusation stemmed from incredulity more than mistrust.

  "I'm not. And if you don't want to, like always, that's fine. But—it's a pretty big buff. And it sts for a week, so it'll get you through the rest of the City." She hesitated. "It's also expensive. Non-trivially." Since she po use [Empower] and expend al Energy. "Don't wan into the details, but there's a real personal cost associated, si's s. It'll make you—a lot more powerful. I'm not uating how effective it is."

  Slowly, Vaa's expression morphed away from her bnk incredulity. She seemed curious now, as any delver would be. "And you've just been sitting on a skill like that? Also—a lot stronger how?"

  "Main stat increase. For you, that'd be Prowess?" It was a rhetorical question; the number of non-Prowess rogues had to be less than five pert. Few were Furor or Tenacity-based.

  Vaa nodded slowly. "Okay. I believe you that you're not just trying to—do something." Get your coside me, was the implication. "It's really that vague? Just 'inside'?"

  "Mouth works." Natalie coughed into a fist. "Tested and verified. The other two ways would be fioo, I'm sure."

  "Two?" Vaa had to piece together what she meant, and her face reddened. "That's not happening."

  "Nothing has to, if you don't want," Natalie said. "But. Uh. It is oable, if that's what you'd prefer."

  Vaa shifted in pce, crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes at Natalie. After gng around the hallway, she unfolded them. "I 't believe you're serious. Ugh." She rubbed her forehead. "I mean … if it makes me stronger … we'll want that foing down into the Basement. Means we'll have—more choi what happens, being able to fight out of it. Aer this than that, right? Lesser of two evils."

  "Lesser of two evils? My poor self-esteem."

  Her feelings weren't actually hurt; she found Vaa's stant protesting cute. But only because it was always followed up by the irl climaxing on her fingers, thighs, or cock shortly afterward. That was a great salve to any worries about whether she actually wanted her.

  "Well," Vaa finally said. "Whatever. I guess we're stopping by your room first, then."