6.28 – New Target

6.28 – New Target

The next morning, after Natalie and Jordan had gotten showered and dressed into normal clothes—Jordan had joined her in bed after Natalie and Malice were finished—Ana knocked on their bedroom door.

"Natalie. Jordan," the mage greeted, her brown eyes impassive and her tone as monotone as always. "Good morning."

"Hey," Jordan said, having been the one to open the door. She looked curiously at the mage, obviously not knowing why she'd chosen to visit. "What's up?"

"I need to speak with Natalie."

"You do?"

"You can stay, but the topic might be ... personal."

Jordan's eyebrows went up. She laughed. "Don't wanna intrude. I'll leave you two to it. Let me guess. [Divine Invigoration]?"

"Indeed," Ana said.

"Don't wring her out too much. We need her for the fights today."

"Mm," Ana said noncommittally.

Natalie, having been in the bathroom brushing her teeth, gave the two of them a confused look. She'd only half heard what they'd said. "Hm?" she asked Jordan past a mouthful of toothpaste.

Jordan just laughed again. She left, closing the door, leaving Ana alone in the room with her.

Spitting out toothpaste and setting aside her toothbrush, Natalie said, "What's going on?"

"I need to speak to you."

"About?"

"A practical matter."

"Okay ... ?"

Ana sat on the bed. She was in regular clothes, not adventuring gear—so not her revealing mage robes. Just a knee-length skirt and a blouse.

"Initially, we decided Elizabeth was the best target for [Divine Invigoration]," Ana started.

So Natalie hadn't misheard that. But [Divine Invigoration] and Ana? What was this about? Jordan apparently knew, or had guessed.

And, honestly, Natalie was getting a sneaking suspicion as well.FiNd updates on n(o)/velbin(.)com

"Yeah?" Natalie asked tentatively.

"But seeing how we're fighting a swarm of lower-level monsters, applying the buff to me is smarter," she finished, with neither overt bluntness nor subtlety. Passively stating a fact. "I am, after all, the person most capable of clearing large amounts of weaker enemies. And that will be especially important today, with us heading out to find their nest. I didn't mention it yesterday because the skill can only be applied once per day."

"How we're supposed to act?"

"I quite enjoyed taking control," Ana said. "But for the record, I'm not averse to some other standard of engagement, either. If that's what you prefer."

"Some other standard of engagement," Natalie repeated.

Brown eyes searched her face. Something approaching a remote sense of amusement appeared, a faint hint of her lips being tugged at. "Now that the roles are un-swapped, so to say, you can take the lead, if that's what you desire. But, admittedly, there is one problem."

"There is?"

"All of those things you were saying. How you were acting, that day. I might be unable to imitate it. The ... enthusiasm."

Heat rose rapidly on Natalie's face. 'How she had acted.' Natalie remembered that very well. All of the insanely demeaning things Ana had been saying, then how eagerly Natalie had accepted it.

"That's because I was on the receiving end," Natalie defended herself, flustered. "I could have you acting like that too, if I wanted."

"I doubt it," Ana said. "But I would like to see you try."

From any other girl, the words would have been a bratty challenge. But Natalie was pretty sure Ana meant it earnestly. She would like to see Natalie try. She was curious if Natalie could pull it off, Ana knowing that she herself wasn't all that enthusiastic—and rather, a stoic person by nature.

It was a very strange sort of confidence, seeing the shorter girl on the bed next to her, looking up at her with impassive, unworried brown eyes. And Natalie didn't have an excuse to rely on, this time. Ana was flustering her despite how she was in her own body, with no strange circumstances surrounding them.

Natalie found herself oddly annoyed by that fact. She growled and pushed Ana over, climbing overtop her. The mage didn't react in the slightest. No widening of her eyes at her sudden advance or faster breathing, as she would have gotten out of anyone else.

"You're awfully confident for a girl about to be fucked stupid," Natalie murmured.

"Am I?" Ana replied, unperturbed by the crude words.

"I could have you crying out just as easily as you did me. You really think I can't?"

"I'm undecided on the matter," Ana said calmly. "The initial impression I got from our first encounter was that you're quite ... submissive. Easy to dominate. So you must understand my doubts."

Natalie narrowed her eyes. Was that a smirk on Ana's lips? Or at least, an Ana-smirk. Just barely there, possibly even imagined.

She was playing this up, wasn't she? As part of a game?

She leaned her face closer to Ana's, straddling the girl's lap. Her cock was already swelling up, and Ana could undoubtedly feel it starting to press against her.

"The idea of a challenge excites you," Ana commented, eyes flicking down their bodies, seeing the growing bulge. "Well, I promise I won't fake it for you. Try your hardest. But I don't think you'll do half to me what I did to you, on that delve."

Oh?

She wouldn't?

Natalie would see about that.