Courting is a pleasure

Dakota clapped her hands together as she practically danced across the stage. The five judges were seated at the judging table, staring warily at her as she made a big show of herself, looking quite pleased with the whole situation. Because Dakota had just ushered all the women out of the ballroom and into the hall outside.

She seemed fine with it.

“Now, don’t worry all of you. Yes, our beloved guests will be taking a brief pause from the evening, but that’s to be expected. Courtship is a private, personal thing, after all. We wouldn’t want any of the young ladies to try and steal any moves from the others, right? That would give far too much of an advantage to the people going last,” Dakota explained.

“So you’re going to make each girl wait outside and come in one at a time to try and court him?” Holly clarified.

Dakota nodded. “Exactly correct!”

The small girl’s eyes started to shine. “Wow, that’s… so hot! Imagine if you were going last… just sitting out there, waiting and waiting, not knowing what the other girls were saying as they put the moves on the man you like… hah… hah… knowing that they have all the time in the world to make him fall for them, and you’re just stuck, waiting for it to be your turn… if you even get a turn… oh my gosh, this is so hoooott…!”

Mary grimaced and looked over at her best friend. Holly was panting and her eyes were glazed over as she imagined all the debaucherous things that could be transpiring.

Dakota cleared her throat, amused. “…Yes, that,” she said with a smirk as Holly snapped out of her haze. The embarrassed girl blushed cheekily but she didn’t look that upset.

“Now then, are there any questions from you, the judges, before we start inviting the girls in one by one?” Dakota asked, looking at Nick in particular. He could feel her eyes on him and he held his ground, and nodded.

“I do have some,” he replied. “Knowing how you do things, I mean. This isn’t going to be some raunchy, erotic display, right? You said courtship, so I hope you’re encouraging them to be mature? Like, an actual casual encounter?”

He trusted Dakota that much, at least. But it always paid to make sure.

Dakota seemed surprised for a moment, but she nodded. “That’s what Gina asked for,” she replied. “Now, the actual intentions of the girls, well… that’s up to them. I’m not going to control them, after all!” She giggled. “But yes, they’ll be handling things… their own ways.”

“What about Carly and Marley?” Mary asked. “They can’t exactly court Nick- or whoever- one at a time, right?” The twins had even come to the party together, thanks to the transformation restrictions put in place.

Dakota waved her hand. “I’ve given a brief reprieve to their transformations for this event,” she assured them. “Carly will go first, then her sister.”

“…So if you can just do that, why haven’t you been doing that all night?” Nick asked, frowning. Serenity narrowed her eyes at Dakota and crossed her arms over her chest.

Dakota smirked. “Where would the fun be in that?” She bluntly replied.

Dealing with the host was like accepting that for every spit of progress you made forward, you had to deal with being dragged back. It was frankly exhausting.

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes. “In that case, let’s get this over with, then.”

Dakota puffed up her cheeks. “You could look a little more excited about this, you know!” She told him. “After all, this is Gina’s party! Don’t you think it’s a little rude to be so hostile towards her ideas, huh? No no no, that won’t do!”

Nick grimaced while Dakota shook her head. She had a point there. This was Gina’s event that she had planned, he should be giving her the benefit of the doubt on it.

But there was one point that she failed to acknowledge.

“It’s not that I’m opposed to this in a vacuum,” he replied. “The reason I’m a little apprehensive about this whole thing? Well, gee, maybe it’s because if we’re going by party attendance order, the first person who’s going to be courting me is my stepmother.”

Dakota stared blankly at him. “…Fair enough,” she acknowledged with a nod. “And with that in mind, here comes our first guest! The lovely Amelia Campbell!”

She stepped aside with a flourish and Amelia entered once more with her head held high, looking just as elegant as she did when she first arrived.

Nick swallowed as he was once again confronted by the beauty of his stepmother. It was a hard thing to deal with. He thought he’d gotten used to it since this party felt like it had been going on forever, but seeing her with fresh eyes-

Wait, what am I doing? He quickly shook his head, trying to snap himself out of his fugue. Stop thinking about her like that! This isn’t helping anyone!

Amelia approached the judging table, and for a moment, he thought he felt her eyes focused upon him. He gulped and tried to sit up straight, feeling like she was judging him the way she always seemed to back when he was a kid.

“Welcome!” Dakota chirped. “Please, proceed to whomever it is you would like to speak to this evening!”

That was her own subtle way of indicating to Amelia to pick her target for “courtship”.

As the older woman approached, Nick felt his breath catch in his throat. There was no reason he should be nervous right now. Amelia wouldn’t choose him, right? Even though he highly doubted his stepmother had any Sapphic leanings, she was still his stepmother. There was no way that she would choose him, even if it meant having to court a woman.

But when she stopped in front of his seat, his blood went cold.

Nick stiffened and looked up into Amelia’s eyes as she stared down at him, still as a statue. Then, with a practiced hand, she reached up and undid her intricately-woven braid, allowing her hair to come tumbling loose down her shoulders with a flick of her swanlike neck.

“Good evening,” she greeted him in a tone of voice that sounded throatier than he’d ever heard her before. “I’ve been meaning to speak with you all night.”

Whenever Amelia said something like that, it usually came out like a stern teacher saying “We need to talk” whenever Nick did something wrong.

That was not the case here.

“Uh…” Nick’s voice cracked, confusion and frustration and fear keeping him from coming up with a reply. Was he even supposed to reply? Dakota hadn’t made that clear. All he could feel right now wass the intimidating gaze of his stepmother bearing down on him, even though he couldn’t feel a single spark of anger or disapproval in her eyes.

Then something delicate fluttered down onto the table. Seizing upon the excuse to tear his eyes away from hers, he looked down and saw a silk handkerchief resting in front of him. His head shot up to see Amelia had already turned away from him. Her slender frame looked incredibly broad in that moment, and she walked off the stage without looking back once.

“…Whoa,” Mary stammered, and Holly whistled.

“Oh, my, that really was something!” Dakota fanned her face exaggeratedly and smirked. “And how nice, she even left something for you to masturbate with as a parting gift!”

Amelia stumbled and nearly fell down the stairs as she disembarked the stage. She grabbed the railing and shot her head up to glare at Dakota, her face red.

“That was not-!”

“Those who have completed their courtship, please remove yourselves from the stage and go stand over there in the prospects box, thank you!” Dakota didn’t even look at the older woman as she waved “bye-bye” to her, gesturing to a box that Nola had hastily painted on the floor.

Still seething, Amelia stepped into the box as Dakota beckoned the next person in.

Vivian didn’t hesitate to head right for Nick, her eyes shining with excitement. But just as he thought she was going to start with him… she passed him by.

“Huh?” Mary and Holly were also surprised, but no one was more surprised than Serenity, who looked up at the heiress as she stopped in front of her.

“Hello there,” Vivian purred, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “You’re Serenity, is that right?”

Serenity stiffened and nodded. She scooted her chair back slightly, because Vivian was getting way too close. But it wasn’t like she could **** herself five feet away from the girl, who seemed to be making a point to get right up there in front of her.

Vivian’s cheeks flushed slightly as she felt the effects of Serenity’s pheromones. But she didn’t let them get to her.

“You know, one thing I like about parties like these,” Vivian mused, stroking her chin, “is that I know just about everyone here. But I believe I’ve never seen you before tonight. Tell me, who invited you?”

Serenity raised a crooked eyebrow and then glanced at Dakota.

“Oh! Dakota? Well… I really must extend my thanks to her, then,” Vivian said, scanning her eyes over the siren. “If not for her, I’d never have met such a lovely young lady like yourself.”

Serenity made a face like she was eating gravel.

“That’s such a lovely dress you’ve got on,” Vivian continued. “Do you like it? If so, maybe I could interest you something from my custom line sometime? Here, take my business card…”

She reached into her handbag, which Nick was only now realizing she had, and slipped a card down in front of the siren. Serenity took it, confused, and looked up at Vivian. The heiress winked back at her.

“Give me a call sometime,” she murmured. “Maybe we can find something else you’d look this great in.”

And with that odd courtship that seemed part seduction and part client solicitation, Vivian left the stage.

Even Dakota seemed a little confused, but she rolled with it. “After several nice seduction attempts, let’s come to our next guest of the evening, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin!”

Here it came. The next two girls would probably be a little difficult. Nick couldn’t predict what Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin would do, and as for her buddy…

Ella might have had problems courting Nick, but he expected Cinder would be a complete disaster.

One problem at a time though, he could worry about the hothead later.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin took the stage with a gleam of gleeful mischief in her eyes. The minute her gaze locked onto Nick, he felt a sinking feeling in his chest that told him this was not going to go well.

Before he knew it, she was in front of him, looking down at him with a face flushed with desire.

Dakota had made it clear several times now that the purpose of this event was to engage in subtle courtship, the way a dignified noble lady would do so as to not ruin her reputation or spread spurious rumors around the other rich folk.

But even though Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had gotten the memo, the fact that she was illiterate meant she couldn’t read it. So with a gleeful smirk on her face, she reached behind her back and unzipped her dress, letting her bodice drop and showing Nick her nanomachine-enhanced chest in all its glory.

Showed Master Her Boobs! +2 VP

Nick was at a loss for words. He certainly hadn’t expected to get flashed out of nowhere like this! But as his brain struggled to make sense of what he was seeing, he found himself admiring the soft, milky suppleness of the assassin’s boobs. Every cell in her body was custom-designed for perfection, so in theory, these should be the most mathematically flawless breasts he had ever seen. Her brilliant skin suggested a tender texture softer than marshmallows, and they were capped with lovely pink nipples that stood out in stark contrast to the rest of her complexion.

Before he could fully process what he was seeing, she’d already redone her complicated outfit, hiding her breasts from his eyes once more. That was what it finally took to bring his attention back to reality, that and a shocked squeak from Mary.

“Ah…” Nick didn’t know what to say. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin obviously had nothing to say herself, she just winked at him and gave him a knowing smirk as she stepped off the stage.

Even Dakota seemed to be in a daze.

“Well, uh… yes, that… um…”

When the host was taken aback, that was really something.

Dakota loudly cleared her throat, trying to get the attention back onto her.

“Alright then, that was certainly a surprising display! I can’t say I ever would have expected an elegant courtship to go like that, but we’ll see what the judges have to say about that,” she decided. “Maybe the boldness will win you some points!”

Somehow, Nick doubted that everybody would react as positively to that little display as the erection tenting his pants clearly had. And given the situation…

How am I even supposed to score that!? Dakota had told them to grade on effectiveness, and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s seduction attempt had definitely been effective. But given the blatant disregard for the premise of being a subtle seduction, he couldn’t exactly give her that much credit.

That was a problem for later, though. The real issue he was facing now was that Cinder was approaching, looking like she was ready to kill.

And if she saw him with an erection, the only way “court” would play a factor would be when they got to the **** trial.

She stopped in front of him, looking like she absolutely wanted to be anywhere else than here. And he couldn’t really blame her. From her outburst earlier tonight, it was pretty obvious that courting women was out of the question for her, unlike with Vivian.

Apparently, the fiery latina had decided that Nick was the least worst option, even as she looked down at him like she wanted to **** the life out of him.

Then he saw her eyes drop, and she stiffened. Her mouth fell open slightly as her pupils dilated, and Nick immediately realized just what she had seen.

Blushing, he shifted in his seat, trying to hide his erection as best he could without getting too obvious about it. But it was a pretty futile gesture given she’d already seen him giving a full salute.

Just when he thought she was about to say “fuck it” to this whole contest, she surprised him by finally speaking.

“B-buenas noches,” she greeted him, and Nick’s eyes widened in surprise. From the two years of beginner Spanish he’d taken over a decade ago in school, he could just barely recognize that this was the politest Cinder had ever been to him.

And she looked like she was having her teeth pulled doing it.

I guess if she speaks entirely in Spanish, then I won’t know what she’s saying and then she won’t lose her cool, he reasoned. Although that might be a little too “subtle” to meet the criteria here.

Dakota’s face was glazed over in confusion. She didn’t know Spanish either.

Fortunately for both of them, Cinder wasn’t actually going to do that. She just needed to work out a polite greeting that she could actually stomach saying.

“You are… very, um… muy guapo,” she continued, lapsing back into Spanish again for another compliment. “…Ah, sorry, I’ve never… I don’t usually do stuff like this, okay?”

Nick could see the veins on her forehead throbbing. It looked like she was liable to burst a blood vessel just talking to him.

“It’s okay,” he said gently, not sure if he should be encouraging her or not. This was the first time anyone had actually managed to directly engage with the person courting them. “You’re doing fine.”

Cinder bristled, and for an instant a flash of rage surged through her eyes. Of course she wouldn’t want to hear that coming from him!

But she pushed that rage down, demonstrating remarkable self-control as she did so.

Her body was starting to shake, and for a moment, everyone stared at her in a tense cloud of silence, not sure if she was going to snap or not.

“…I don’t go to parties like this,” she said bluntly, relaxing slightly. It looked like whatever she’d been attempting at the start, she’d given up on that, and had decided to go in a different direction. “Parties, I mean. It wouldn’t have been my first choice,” she sniffed.

Nick blinked, surprised. That was… an approach. Was she even courting him.

“Well… I’m not much one for fancy parties like this, either,” he admitted. “But my friend is hosting, so I kind of had to come support her, you know?”

Cinder rolled her eyes and smirked. “You too, huh?”

Uh… what? Nick blinked, suddenly feeling a strange pressure on him from the other girl’s stare.

“Ella wanted me to come here, even though she knows I hate stuff like this,” Cinder muttered, shaking her head. “I can’t believe her sometimes… she gets all worked up, pushing herself to go to a party so she can talk to the guy she likes, then runs away at the eleventh hour… I swear, that girl…”

She shook her head, and turned her attention back to Nick.

“What about you, then?” She smirked. “I’m sure you must be loving the attention. Being the only man at a party full of women?” She made a clicking sound with her tongue and rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that friend of yours really had to twist your arm to get you to come.”

Holly giggled off to the side and Nick blushed. “That… well, okay, it hasn’t been so bad I guess,” he admitted, before realizing who exactly he was admitting that to.

Cinder wore a look of triumph on her face, like she’d just proven to everyone that Nick was the degenerate she’d always claimed he was.

Right now, it was hard for Nick to argue with her.

“…Listen, it’s not like… I mean…” He couldn’t really defend himself. And Cinder looked more vindicated with each passing second.

“Hah! Whatever,” she scoffed, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. “Tell you what, prove me wrong then.”

“Prove you wrong how?” Nick shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Ella ran off because she thought I could handle you better,” Cinder replied. “In spite of my warnings, she obviously likes you.” A shadow crossed over her face, and for a moment Nick could see the real feelings of disgust she’d been hiding under this strange performance of hers. “…But I’m not sure if you two would be a good match. No… I think I’m much more your speed,” she said. “Give it some thought, and come talk to me when you’re ready for a real woman, who isn’t going to fawn over you like some little perrita.”

And with that, she walked off the stage, leaving Nick and the others very, very confused.

“Well, what was that?” Vivian inquired when Cinder reached the box with the other girls. “I didn’t expect something like that from you!”

Cinder glared at the heiress, her face flushed. “That was acting,” she spat through gritted teeth. “Like I’m going to fawn over a fucking jerk like him?!”

After four very confusing and unorthodox seduction attempts, Nick wasn’t quite sure what to make of this. But there were nine more girls to go, and it looked like this party was going to drag on late into the evening at this point.

Hopefully we’ve gotten the hardest parts out of the way, he prayed. Then again, Kim and Dani are next.

Kim was one thing, but Dani? That could lead to some difficulties.