Dungeons and Dalliances Ch. 110-119

She was obviously trying to embarrass Natalie, but Natalie just smirked at her. "Yeah. Tight and fuckable. A body meant to be played with. I'll be making good use of it."

Sofia held Natalie's eyes for several moments, then blushed and was forced to look away, cheeks burning. It was really way too easy.

"Anyway," Sofia said loudly. "As I was saying. That thing of yours—it came with your class, I assume?"

They'd gotten distracted from the topic. "Didn't find it on a dungeon run, that's for sure," Natalie said. The aforementioned 'thing' was sticking her skirt up a few inches, which Natalie wasn't keeping hidden at all—it was doing a wonderful job to fluster Sofia, especially when she was undressing right in front of her. "How'd you find out about it?"

"I slept right next to you for the first two weeks," Sofia said dryly. "How couldn't I? It was sticking up every morning."

"That's why I woke up early, though. Before everyone else." Including Sofia.

"It wasn't actually the mornings," Sofia corrected. "More like the middle of the night. There was always so many noises I couldn't get a full night sleep. I noticed it more than once by accident." Sofia narrowed her eyes at Natalie. "For that matter, it was sticking up pretty much every time I looked over. I suppose you have an active imagination."

Had it really been? She was pretty sure Sofia was exaggerating. Regardless, Natalie had recognized the risk of someone catching her with a night- or morning-time erection. Her secret might not have stayed as much on the down-low as she'd hoped. Then again, Liz hadn't known, and possibly Ana didn't. So it was hardly something everyone knew about either.

There wasn't much more to say. She was glad Sofia didn't seem put off. In fact, it had seemed like the opposite was true, based on how she hadn't been able to keep her hands away.

"And you said you wanted to talk about my class too?" Natalie asked. "What about it?"

"There's more, isn't there?"

"More?"

"That you haven't told us."

"Why would I? It's private."

Sofia's lips tugged down in a frown. "A paladin of lust. I've been thinking about it. There's only a few paths that would really take, isn't there? Especially when it gave you something like that." She gestured at Natalie's skirt. "You're rewarded for intimacy, or something of the sort. To use that thing. That's why you and Jordan are sleeping together."

Natalie twitched in surprise. She'd really thought that particular tidbit had been kept under wraps. That had been way too hopeful, she guessed. She just hoped it hadn't been her sound barrier illusions being too weak that had given it away. Beyond being mortifying, Natalie didn't want to be a terrible roommate, and she and Jordan weren't all that quiet.

"Ah," Sofia said. "So you two are doing that. It was just a guess."

Natalie internally groaned. Well, that had been an obvious trap. Though she supposed it wasn't a top-secret piece of information. Back when Natalie had talked about experimenting with [Stylish], everyone's eyes had turned to Jordan. Everyone knew something was going on between them.

"Are you leading to something?" Natalie asked, a bit annoyed at having been played. "And turn back around. Let me see your ass."

Sofia's hands had gone to her waistband to pull down her pants, and she paused, glared, but ultimately did as she'd been told. Natalie was given a great view as Sofia stripped off her lower layer. What Sofia lacked up top—and she really didn't lack that much—she made up doubly lower down.

"It doesn't make sense how fat that thing is," Natalie said. "Seriously, what's up with you? Some girls get all the luck."

"Says you?"

"Says me?"

Sofia shook her head, exasperated. She stuffed her uniform into her locker and quickly got to dressing herself. Her shame was reaching its limits, it seemed—she couldn't stand around in her undergarments and take Natalie's teasing. Natalie considered telling her to slow down, but decided against it.

"And yes," Sofia said. "I was leading to something. I want to know if my theory is right. That your class works that way."

"Being 'rewarded for intimacy'?"

"Yes."

Natalie considered refusing to tell her, but she said, "Yeah. It does. It was a good guess."

Sofia seemed satisfied at having figured it out. She hadn't had much to go on, so Natalie was impressed she'd pieced it together.

"How does it work specifically, though?"

"It's kind of a whole system. I gather energy and can spend it to upgrade skills."

Natalie watched with some amusement as Sofia struggled to fit herself inside her pants. Jordan had made a joke a while ago about how Sofia must need pulleys to get herself in, and it was nearly true. It made a pretty amazing show. Half because Sofia was so flustered with having a spectator, and the other half for the obvious reasons.

"Upgrade skills," Sofia said, finally stuffing herself in. "What do you mean? Temporary boosts?"

"No. Permanent ones. And they're pretty large."

Unsurprisingly, Sofia was stunned at the reveal—and interested enough she seemed to halfway forget her circumstances. She shrugged on her shirt, unfortunately ending the show, and faced Natalie. "You're posed for an impressive future, if that's true."

"Hopefully."

"I'm interested in the details, but I assume you don't want to get into them. Not the exacts."

Natalie shrugged. She'd rather not. It simply didn't involve Sofia.

"But thank you for telling me the basics," Sofia said. "I was curious." She sat on the bench and started pulling her shoes on. "I can't believe nobody walked in on us. We really got lucky."

They had, but it also wouldn't have been a big deal. "Like I said, I had illusions if someone did."

"I've seen you use those," Sofia said dubiously. "They wouldn't be nearly potent enough to fool someone."

"They're stronger when used for certain purposes," Natalie said, her lips quirking. "So, yes, we would've been fine. I've gotten away with more." Namely, pounding into Jordan hard enough to nearly break a bedframe—and it might have been Jordan that was louder than the creaking wood, there.

Sofia stared at her, then shook her head. "Of course they work that way. Your class is really unbelievable."

4.12 - Confide

Sofia wasn't sure how she'd ended up in such a disastrous situation, but she knew there were several things she needed to sort out—and fast. Not only for her own comfort, but everyone else involved.

"So," a confused Jordan said. "You wanted to talk. What's up?"

Sofia chewed her lip. This was a rather mortifying conversation to be having, but it needed to be done. She wasn't sure what Natalie and Jordan's relationship was, but she also wanted to clear up this 'bet' that she'd made with Natalie—and whether it would be a problem with Jordan. She doubted it, since Jordan seemed lackadaisical about Sammy and others, but that was definitely the sort of thing best talked about beforehand. Not only for the sake of her friendship with Jordan, but team cohesion. The party splitting up because of complicated interpersonal dynamics could easily happen, considering Natalie's class. Not that it seemed likely to—just that it could.

"It's about Natalie," Sofia said.

Jordan kept a neutrally polite expression. "It is?" There wasn't a hint of sarcasm, but Sofia could read it anyways. Jordan had always had a dry sort of humor.

She huffed. "Look, I know I was being kind of obvious back there. I'm sure you think I was jealous or something."

Jordan's eyebrows raised, as if she hadn't thought Sofia would address what had happened so directly. "It wasn't, then?" she asked carefully.

"Certainly not," Sofia said. "Or ... not exactly." She rubbed her face with both hands. "Look, I'm still working it out myself. I can confidently assure you that I'm not in love with her or something absurd like that, or even pursuing a relationship. I might have been slightly jealous, though."

"Uh-huh," Jordan said. "And that makes sense to you?"

Sofia glared, but it was a reasonable contradiction. Why would she be jealous if she wasn't interested in Natalie? "It's childish," Sofia said, "but this was supposed to be my event. I know how egocentric that sounds. And she was being—I don't know, friendlier than usual. So when I saw her with Sammy, barely paying attention to me anymore, I got irritated. And it dragged up a few other annoyances."

Namely, how easily Natalie had always handled women. Sofia herself had always been rather terrible at it. Half because of disinterest—of the practical sort, wanting to focus on her career—and half because she simply wasn't good at 'wooing'. It seemed Natalie had always managed it effortlessly, which bugged Sofia for reasons she couldn't entirely put her finger on. If she was completely honest with herself, Natalie's appraisal that Sofia was 'just mad that Natalie was better than her at something' might have a hint of truth, even if it was decidedly not the whole, or even the majority of the explanation. Certainly, though, her decades-long competitive streak with Natalie complicated things.

"But that's besides the point," Sofia said. "I promise I'm not trying to pursue Nat—and I certainly don't care she's hooking up with Sammy. Or you, or anyone else."

Jordan's brow furrowed. "Me and Natalie? Sorry?" There was even a hint of amusement, as if she were whimsically perplexed by Sofia's words. She was a far, far better liar than Natalie. If Sofia hadn't received confirmation from Natalie herself, and hadn't had her own major suspicions, then she might actually have thought Jordan and Natalie weren't together in any way besides friends—because Jordan's reaction was exceedingly convincing.

"She told me," Sofia said. "Or, rather, I tricked her into telling me. It was a bit manipulative. I shouldn't have."

Jordan's faked confusion disappeared, and she pursed her lips. "Well, I'm glad you recognize that. But I didn't expect it to stay a secret forever. Especially not to our roommate. I get the feeling I'm missing a lot of context. Go ahead?"

Sofia breathed in. The full explanation, then; they'd gotten sidetracked.

She hesitated, despite having just braced herself. She forced herself to barrel forward.

"Natalie and I hooked up. In the locker room, just now."

The absurd statement broke through Jordan's collected demeanor. Her eyes widened. "Wait. What?"

"She kind of goaded me into it," Sofia said. "Or maybe I did her. I'm not really sure. It was a mess. But that's not the part that matters."

"It's not?" Jordan asked. "Then what is?"

"That we made a bet if she could—" getting the next words out was difficult. "If she could ... pleasure me fast enough, she would, um, 'own me for the week'. And she did. So. There you go."

Maybe the exact details hadn't been necessary.

Jordan gaped at her. Sofia's face burned red-hot. This was even more embarrassing than she had feared.

"I'm telling you this," Sofia said, "because first, you and her are involved, and so I wanted to make me and her immediately clear. I don't know the details of your relationship, but communication is obviously something that needs to happen, or else our team could go up in a fireball."

Jordan collected herself. "Yes. That is something that could happen. It's a mature perspective, and I agree."

"But seeing how we have a confused, hopeless moron for our third—" Sofia breathed in, then steadied herself. "I'm sorry. That was rude. I'm still kind of mad at her." And there were a lot of other emotions swirling around inside her—both confusing and inciting—other than simply anger. "But I don't think Natalie's going to handle it properly, so I wanted to talk to you."

"And what are you two? What is 'us'?"

"I don't know," Sofia said flatly. "But she made it abundantly clear that she plans to use her reward, me, to the fullest."

"So tell her that you changed your mind," Jordan said flatly. "That's a ridiculous bet you made. I'm guessing neither of you were thinking clearly. I have zero doubts Natalie would refuse to, or even be upset."

"Well. Still. I'm a woman of my word."

Jordan gave her an incredulous look. "So you want to serve your sentence."

Sofia sputtered. "Absolutely not."

"Sofia."

She knew she was being hypocritical. She'd come to Jordan under the guise of clear communication and understanding everyone's relationships as to avoid problems. Yet here she was being obviously delusional.

"Look," Sofia groaned. "I'm not sure what I think about it all either, okay? But I made a bet, and I'm seeing it through."

Jordan studied her for a long moment, then her expression softened. "Okay. That's more than fair, if you don't know how you feel yourself. You've said what you need to. And thank you for bringing me into the loop."

"Natalie would have done so too," Sofia said. "But I wanted to get to you first. She'll misconstrue things."

"On accident," Jordan said wryly, "and she actually puts a lot of value in discretion, so she wouldn't have given too many details. But yes, I think she would mix some things up." Jordan turned serious. "But this brings up an important point. There's something I have to ask, now. Or let you know."

"Okay?"

"If you're Natalie's for the week, and me and her are together for a sense of the phrase," Jordan said. "Well, then, aren't you our pet, not just hers?"

Sofia stared.

"Just a thought," Jordan said. "I'll have to talk with Natalie first, of course." She patted Sofia on the arm. "We'll get back to you on that. Is that everything, Sofia?"

Sofia continued to stare. Was Jordan being serious? She'd always had a deadpan sort of humor, and Sofia did think it was halfway a joke, but more than that, she thought Jordan was testing the water in the guise of a joke.

"Great," Jordan said. "Good talk. But we should head back now. We've been gone too long."

She gave a mischievous smile before turning away, and Sofia couldn't help but feel she'd somehow made her situation worse, not better, by being so honest with Jordan.

Then again ... maybe only worse in some ways.

In others, maybe she'd made things much, much better.

"Oh, heavens," Sofia murmured, watching Jordan's hips sway as she headed back to the group. "What have I gotten myself into?"

4.13 - Johanna

After the dueling competition, with Natalie's head still spinning over the whole Sofia debacle, Liz pulled her to the side. She asked Natalie to head back with her to her dorm room, and since Natalie didn't have anything else to do that night—besides Jordan—she accepted. The group split apart, with Sofia and Jordan heading for their shared dorm, and Natalie and Liz to Liz's.

"So, what's up?" Natalie asked as they plodded down the Tenet pathway. The sun was setting, though night hadn't quite arrived.

"A few things," Liz said. "And if there wasn't, what, we can't just hang out? I know we've got tight schedules, but that doesn't mean we can't relax. Good for team bonding. It's actually bad to focus too hard on progress. Even my uncle says that—and he would know."

"Uncle?"

"The King of Valhaur," Liz said amusedly.

Natalie paused, having almost forgotten just who Liz was. The girl was so normal that her status as literal royalty, not even just 'nobility', slipped her mind sometimes. "Then yeah," Natalie said. "He would know. But that wasn't what I meant. Hanging out sounds fun—it just seemed like you had something you were worrying about."

"Worrying? That's not exactly the right word." Liz rubbed her elbow, seeming hesitant, then shook her head, setting her short black hair—and its single lock of blue—bouncing. "Don't rush me. We'll get to that later."

"Sure." Though Natalie would admit some curiosity. What did Liz have to talk to her about? She could imagine several things, obviously—whether related to the team, Elida, the dungeon, or Natalie and her class.

"Oh, and just a warning," Liz said. "I'm rooming with Johanna. She'll probably be there."

Johanna Valeria? The top fighter in their year? That was Liz's roommate?

"Right," Natalie said, slowly remembering. "You mentioned something about that, I think. Being friends with her." House Beaumon, the royal family, and House Valeria, a house absolutely stuffing the upper ranks of the military, were famously interconnected. So it made sense Liz and Johanna were close.

"She can be a little intense," Liz said. "I've got the feeling she's gonna pull you aside to have a talk."

"About?"

"Feel you out. She wasn't super happy that I didn't group with her." Liz wrinkled her nose. "I feel kind of bad about that, still."

Liz had originally joined up with them because she wanted to distance herself from the name Beaumon, in some part—to make her own legacy. Natalie hadn't known Johanna, one of the top names of the year, had been one of her original planned teammates, though. Natalie and the rest of the team seriously had their work cut out for them if they wanted to surpass what Liz's team could have been.

"But that's not the point," Liz said. "She's protective. Like, a bit annoyingly so. She thinks she's my older sister or something. And she is, in a way. Anyway, that's why she'll probably try to get a feel for you."

"Sounds fun." Honestly, she was a bit amused by the situation. Being scrutinized by the 'older sister figure' of Liz's—as if the two of them were dating.

Though, after recent developments, Natalie wasn't sure whether just friends was a perfectly accurate description. Especially with how things were shaping up in the future. Natalie had a suspicion that topic was one of the things Liz had pulled her aside for to talk about in the first place.

Arriving to Liz's dorm complex—a different one than Natalie's, more expensive looking—they climbed up to the second story then trekked down the hallways. Liz unlocked her dorm room, then ushered Natalie in.

"We've got a guest!" Liz called out.

The warning meant Johanna didn't know in advance she had been coming, Natalie noted. And also that Liz hadn't originally planned to bring her back to her dorm; it had been at least a somewhat spur of the moment invitation.

Walking into the dorm, she discovered that Liz and Johanna had chosen a much fancier room than her. The living room nearly doubled theirs in size, and was better decorated—and made of finer materials, with polished granite countertops and a nearly full-sized attached kitchen. Natalie wondered how many more credits Liz would be spending on the place each month. Natalie, Sofia, and Jordan had gone for one of the cheapest options, and had also split it three ways.

Her choice of room was another indicators of Liz's status. She'd grown up as a member of the royal family, so her standards for 'preferred living area' was certainly far loftier than Natalie's. Natalie wondered whether Liz even thought this extravagant two-bedroom was 'enough', so to say. Maybe even this didn't meet her standards.

Natalie didn't comment on it. She would admit that the amount of nobility crawling around Tenet did bother her at times, but Liz was obviously an exception.

Sitting on the long, L-shaped couch in the middle of the living room was a somewhat familiar face. Johanna Valeria had one arm draped over the edge, and blue eyes surveyed Natalie as she came in. Johanna had her hair up in her usual long blonde ponytail, and while being at home, relaxing in her casual clothes, softened her serious demeanor somewhat, her hard edges were still plain as day. This woman came from a prestigious line of military leaders, the most prominent in the country, and the way she carried herself made that clear.