Dungeons and Dalliances

7.49 – Solo Stakes

"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 next assignment. I want to explore the shops and the rest of the city, anyway. What'd you two get?"

"Arena," Natalie offered.

Elida's eyes turned to Vanetta. The stony mask was back in place. 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 interested that there was even a possibility of a yes, though she didn't voice it aloud.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Natalie looked at Faye next. 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 on the team. 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 act. Not an excuse, but it was something. A small something.

"Palace Basements," Faye said. "I've heard it's the most extreme assignment, 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 assignments than she'd expected, which pleased her.

"Arena," Clementine offered last, when their gazes turned to 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 glanced 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 can bail if you're uncomfortable, soon as the fights get hard. It's no big deal."

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

The conversation continued 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 assignment reset, assuming they got a full night's rest, so there was no time for idle chat.

On the trip through the Palace halls, Natalie briefly considered following Vanetta 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 Vanetta seemed to shut down in public settings. Or maybe just around Elida. Which would be fair; if there was anyone to be guarded around, it would be a Parda-Halt.

She chose not to, only because she thought things had moved fast between them, and Vanetta probably wanted time to herself. She did call out a 'good night!' to the girl, though, and Natalie was inordinately pleased when the stony girl hesitantly returned it before disappearing into her room.

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

Though her thoughts ran on all sorts of topics—her upcoming solo assignment, Vanetta, her team which was tackling the second floor without her right this moment, Elida, the City, and so on—sleep consumed her after only a handful of minutes. That was the upside of pushing herself so hard: easy to knock out for the night.

Her eyes pried open some seven or eight hours later. 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.

Clean 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 assignments had changed 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 Vanetta, if she had indeed decided to hang out and wait for her. How exactly the Bordello functioned eluded her, but assuming it worked like the rest of the City, Vanetta ought to have a choice in her clients or sub-assignments—and might be waiting for Natalie, unwilling to engage with anyone or anything else.

She was acquainted with the Arena already, so she didn't speak with the automaton receptionist, instead striding right in. She was greeted with three stone pillars 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 second was more contentious. Semi Public Nudity, it read. All gear and clothing will appear invisible to anyone you consider acquainted with for the next twenty four hours.

It was a type of stake she hadn't seen before—one that persisted beyond the Arena. Twenty four hours. Two assignment 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 qualifying set of people she considered herself 'acquainted with'. Two of them—Elida and Vanetta—at a very minimum. So they would see her naked for the next 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 conversation? That was a mortifying possibility.

If she accepted this stake, she would have to keep to herself for the next day. And she wondered how strict or loose the idea of 'acquaintance' was. Vanetta and Elida one hundred percent 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 defined it. 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 into her again. Anyone more than a total stranger.

Oral Self-Service, the last stake read—the five-heart one, to match the three and four. A spatial anomaly will be provided to assist in oral self pleasure. Must bring self to 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 alien. Yet that 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 scandalous 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 naked to Elida and Vanetta—and Faye and Clementine, possibly—was much more palatable than pleasuring herself with her own mouth. That was simply taking the perversion too far.

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

Her excitement at the concept was what urged Natalie to hastily step forward and select the four-heart option. Semi-Public Nudity. If she'd stood there too long, considering, she might have made the wrong decision.

Stomach squirming, though, she acknowledged she was only on the second day of her stay at the City of Eros. More stakes of a similar type would be coming. And now that the idea had been introduced, had time to wiggle into her head, would she accept the lewdness of a similar stake when it next 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.