The harem grows...

I was in this dream landscape again, although it looked noticeably darker. But I didn't see Helen. I saw a woman, a lot taller than me, with a purple hue to her skin. Her hair was rich and a bit longer than shoulder length. She wore a chain, in which large red gemstones in a diamond shape were attached to each other to form two rows of the chain she wore as a necklace. Unlike the crimson red gemstones, her rather light red dress was fairly standard from the waist down. The top part of the dress consisted of two pieces of the same red cloth, draped over her average sized breasts, meeting up at a golden ring around her neck. It was a great dress. Maybe I should write an article on dresses after this.

"James, I don't have a lot of time to explain." That voice. It was Ngrimah's.

"You look different to me, unlike anyone I've seen before. Do you... have purplish skin?"

"Yes but that's not the point here... Mortal, your problem is apathy."

"Hm?"

"You don't care a lot about the women you have."

"Hm? What do you mean? I take care of them, do I not? And I have sex with them."

"Yes, you have a basic sense of empathy and some primal instincts. Have you ever taken a woman on a date after she became fully yours? Have you spent much time with the women who love you outside of sex? No you haven't. You don't appreciate them for who they are, you just feel obligated to help and take your chance to fuck them when you feel like it. You treat them quite well compared to others, but you still don't manage to forge the meaningful and consensual relationships you told me you wanted. They might love you now but if you ignore them for too long they'll become unhappy like how Amber used to be before you got the app."

"You mean they... would get sad? And disappointed in me?"

"At the very least. You mean a lot to them and I'm sure they mean a bit to you as well. But there's more to a relationship than sex and support in tough situations."

"You give very different advice than usual, Ngrimah."

"You told me that's how you wanted to run things, so I'm giving you advice on how to pursue that. You can always make them living sex toys or slide their love slider to max if that's how you want to be treated. I'm merely warning you that you're failing at reaching your own goals."

"Thanks. I... have to figure out the rest myself, right?" Ngrimah nodded.

"I have to go. Frequent contact with mortals is not a good thing for us. Take what I said to heart, I probably won't be able to visit again."

Before I could even say goodbye, the dream ended. I continued sleeping for a while... Waking up, I am still unsure what to do. The call with Bartholomew had gone as expected, he's not interested. But well... what about Ophelia then? She wasn't ever interested in me but she did appear in the app... Also there was an ominous gap for N. Was the app misbehaving? I don't know yet... Suddenly I got a message from Floria.

'Hey, I'm making a round call, we're looking for helpers in the soup kitchen. Tons of people help around the holidays, but after that we often run into trouble. It's volunteer only but you do get to eat a soup.' Hm, that could be an interesting idea. I felt an arm wrap around me. Despite my suggestion not to get too intimate too quickly to avoid quick demands by her father, she slept here again.

"Good morning, Em."

"Morning. Excited about today?"

"Hm, I had an interesting suggestion... A colleague of mine asked me if I wanted to help out in the soup kitchen. If you want we can do that instead of eating lunch somewhere. Just if you want. But I figured we both need to try out new stuff in our lives outside of our jobs so maybe a new experience like this wouldn't be so bad?"

"Hm... Which colleague? Do I know her yet?"

"I don't think you'll ever know her. Her name is Floria."

"Oh, I do know her! She was there at the shelter when I stayed the night there."

"Huh? Did she also need help?"

"No I think she volunteered. She explained how everything worked."

"Oh, that's great. I never knew Floria volunteered that much. So do you want to go?"

"Sure, why not? Never really done something like this before."

"Neither have I, if I'm being honest."

After our breakfast, I rummaged through the rooms of Laura and mom. Laura still had some books from her teenage years as well as some more recent ones that weren't college textbooks. Sure, she seemed to have the stereotypical horse girl books from her childhood alongside teenage romances, but she did expand her horizons a lot. She had a thriller, a detective novel, and a mystery novel. The things mom wanted from the apartment were nothing special, although I did remember one thing. I looked around until, bingo, I found the drawer. Some old board games we used to play as a family. They remind me of better days.

"Em, before we leave for Donna... Since we're trying to expand our own horizons and find new hobbies, I thought I'd make some suggestions. When you're alone while I work next week, you can play my video games, but you can also rummage through Laura's books in her room. She seems to have a variety of books, maybe you'll find something interesting or maybe it'll just help pass the time. When I'm here, we can play some of the board games my family used to play together. We can play them together. When the weather gets warmer, maybe we try some outdoor stuff? Hiking, camping, that sort of stuff."

"Sounds like a great idea, yeah. I'm glad you gave me a little plan."

"Well, these are just suggestions. I'm sure you will be finishing the guest room door situation first."

"Oh absolutely. I love being able to redesign your home a little bit like this. But now, let's go."

It didn't take long to reach Donna's place. She greeted me with a very hungry kiss, that left Em absolutely stunned. A few seconds later, the other moving truck arrived. Donna took care of ensuring every item landed in the correct truck. I squeezed in between the furniture she brought along and took the ride home that way. Em and Donna chatted on their own, I could overhear them.

"So how do you two know each other?"

"We're colleagues. Do you two know each other? Outside of business I mean."

"Yeah we went to high school together."

"And here I thought Amber was tough competition... Tell me, what did you two already do together?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at you. You're very athletic and robust. I bet he can fuck your ass way better than mine."

"Uhm... we don't do these kinds of things."

"Huh? I'm surprised he didn't go after you."

"He... doesn't seem all that interested. And neither am I... I think..."

"You seem sad about that. Do you want to go further with him?"

"Kind of, yeah. We're just old friends right now. Very trusting, but also living our own lives. I have to live with him, with you two, sorry about that. It'll stay that way for the rest of the year due to circumstances and I don't know... I just wish I didn't feel so distant."

"Listen, I know I speak from a position of luxury, but he'll like you if you just undress for him. Don't feel inadequate."

"NOT LIKE THAT. I just mean... I want us to be friends, maybe go on a date or so. I don't want much more than that and given how much he left me alone thus far, I think he doesn't see me that way either."

"Sorry, I'm a very... sexual person... I think... Perhaps this is just my imagination, but I think he has trouble expressing his positive feelings towards people outside of supporting them or having sex. Doesn't mean he doesn't love or like you. The big question is how to get that expression out of him. Is there anything you'd like to do with him?"

"Not really, that's the thing. We're both... I know it sounds rude, but we're both boring workaholics. Except that he also has relationships with you and the others. I got him to agree to spend time together today. A colleague of yours needed help..."

"Wait, did Floria ask him?"

"Yeah, why?"

"She seems to be really cold towards him for no real reason. Don't know how he feels about her. You seem to know about his life, what brings?"

"Well I guess the trust we have from being old friends. That and... well the fact that I'm going to stay at his place is an act of generosity, kindness, and help when I really need it most. He clued me in probably because he didn't want to stop living his life while I was there and because I'd find out anyway. All I really need to do for him is stay silent if anyone is too nosy about his private life. It might sound stupid, but as a businesswoman I appreciate it when I'm not taken advantage of in my time of need, economically or personally. Well, we'll have some time to talk one of these days, we're here now. It would be great if you could help us bring everything to your room."

"Sure, what's your name again?"

"Emily. You're Donna, right?" She nodded.

Then it was time to bring everything to Donna's new room. Slowly, it began to fill with her bed, her house plants, and her closet and drawers. We brought in all the little stuff Donna owned.

Emily: "What do you do with these? I'm not quite sure where they need to be stowed away?"

Donna: "Oh the toys go in the drawer next to my bed of course."

Emily: "Toys? Aren't you a bit old for toys? They seem very strange too..."

James: "Sex toys, Em."

Emily: "Oh, forget what I said."

Donna: "Not much experience?"

Emily: "I just never really cared."

Donna: "But surely you get horny sometimes. What do you do then?"

Emily: "W-Well that happens so rarely... And usually I just keep working until I think of something else. That typically does the trick. And even if it didn't, you can just use your hands, right? Not like you need them."

Donna: "Well the point of them is to make the experience better and more diverse. Just your own hand gets a bit boring quickly. But I think it's funny. I feel like we're polar opposites. I don't think I could go a day without getting off once and you are just not even getting horny that often."

Emily: "I guess so, yeah... Anyway, I'll put them here. How late is it? Do we need to go already?"

James: "Yeah, looks like it. Donna, I'll tell you if we can have sex later. Em will return later alone, I have to meet someone after that."

Donna: "Awww, okay. And here I thought I'd get the welcome party immediately."

James: "Just a bit of patience, I promise."

On the ride to the place Floria told us to appear, Em and I were talking.

"Donna seems like... a piece of work."

"I can handle her, don't worry." There was a thing I wanted to ask her. I know it'll be embarrassing but I wasn't quite sure. "Em, can I ask you something?"

"Always."

"Remember recently when we were talking about my money and you told me what my money could buy?"

"Oh yeah, a blowjob and cumming inside once, right?"

"Something like that. Well, the main question is... do you want to be that way? Be honest."

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you offer these sexual favors to me? You're not a whore are you?"

"W-Well, I am short on cash..." Emily +2SP (+85SP)

"Yeah but would you really want to do this? Be this way? Be honest."

"I think my money need is too great, I don't care. It's only an offer for you anyway, I don't really trust anyone else enough right now. I'm not a complete whore. Or do you know of ways to... ahem expand my markets?"

"Em, I'm shocked you're so casual about this, honestly. Coming from the woman that thought I was the least worst option to pick as a fiance to show her father just because she could say no to sex easily."

"I don't really like sex that much, but I don't hate it. It's just a nuisance to me, so I want to get something in return. And I give you a discount because you've been really nice to me."

"So your opposition to sex is not that you don't like the feel or haven't found the right person, but rather that you think it's not worth enough of your time?"

"Hm... I hadn't thought about this. This doesn't make too much sense, does it? But whatever. Do you think the people in your home can be trusted?"

"You mean those moving in? Yeah, absolutely. Otherwise I wouldn't let them move in."

"Good, that's more potential customers."

The trouble about being able to talk the app is explaining to the person that their traits aren't them. I assume Em's lack of understanding of her state of mind indicates that this is a strong trait that definitely pushes her in a very sexual direction. But do I want Ngrimah to be mad at me again? I think I need to find consistent lines I need to stick to. A hard line I'd never cross is giving my women away. I am territorial in that regard. I guess that's why her trait irks me so much. The implication of Em not just being a whore but being anyone's whore doesn't sit right with me. I am very much dominant, that is true, but not in this way. The hard lines I want to stick to are lines that I'm sure I'd never cross, no matter how horny or ****, no matter my kinks. Not giving my women away was a good first rule. What else? I guess asking them to consent? Although I am already very loose about everything and having my problems with it. We'll see about future rules.