Well, it's going to be a little bit of a gamble bringing up this topic this early, but you might as well. You need to lay the groundwork for sexytimes after all. There's no point trying to set up a polycule with your loves if one of them isn't into that sort of thing, after all.

"You know," you say, doing your best to pose seductively. Arms pressed against the sides of your bosom to show off the girls, hips cocked ever-so-slightly to show off your ass, eyelashes fluttering ever-so coyly… "Kaina really liked this swimsuit when I modeled it for her~!"

She did, actually. Kaina liked this swimsuit a lot.

Well, not this swimsuit. This swimsuit is a new one. The other one got ruined when Kaina ripped it off of your body during one of your recent bouts of lovemaking.

On balance, Kaina's ruined a shockingly large amount of your outfits. Mostly because she really gets worked up whenever she sees you in lewd outfits. It's not like you mind. You have duplicates of all the seductive outfits in your wardrobe now. It's a little bit of a pain to have to keep replacing your clothes, though. Maybe you can just start walking around naked at home, as bare-assed as your sex-pets?

Hmm. That's charming in its own way. It'd certainly let Kaina have easier access to molest you, to rub her face against your titties; to pin you down to the bed, spread your legs, and fuck you full of babies-

… Wow you got carried away, you almost vocalized those last thoughts out loud. Thank goodness you caught yourself. What you thought would probably make Max's head explode, even more than it already is.

"…" Max lets out a strangled noise as her blush darkens from a light dusting of pink to a decidedly more cherry red color.

Well, that's hardly indicative at all. It's a reaction, but it's not actually telling you anything. Is she just embarrassed? Is she aroused and trying to hide it? Does she… Does she not think of Kaina like that?

Naturally, you need to poke your love to acquire more data to seduce her with.

The easiest way to do that is to keep on provoking her. And so you find yourself taking out your phone to snap a quick few selfies.

"Hey, hey, you should come over here Max!" You cheer. "Come on, I want to get a photo of both of us to send to Kaina-"

Finally Max's mental machinery kicks into gear. You blink as she snatches your phone right out of your hand and tosses it into the pool. Gawp, rather. Hey, that's a really expensive phone, what the heck is Max doing-

A little squeak escapes your lips as Max grabs you by the shoulders and frog-marches you away from the pool, slamming your back against one of the concrete walls surrounding you.

Tiny, minuscule mechanical hisses emanate from Max's prosthetic arms as she plants them against the sides of your head so forcefully they crack the concrete.

K – Kabedon? Kyah~! How forceful! You shiver as your love's hot breath wafts across your face. Gosh, this is sending goosebumps down your spine.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Max asks lowly, so quietly you strain to make out her voice.

"… What do you mean?" You ask as you stare up at your love's eyes. Wow, she has real pretty eyes too. So… Laser-focused, so analytical so… So…

Wait, oh no, now isn't the time to get lost in Max's eyes. Focus, Alice, come on!

"Oh, don't give me that crap, Takanashi," Max bites out. "What's your angle here? A quick lay, is that it? And sending pictures to – To Kaina as well? Do you think I'd seriously go along with that shit? What the fuck."

Uh.

Okay, she's being more aggressive than you thought she'd be. Hey, hey, is she genuinely angry right now?

That's not good.

"… God, you really are just like my – just like Yumeko. I guess Kaina's got the same taste in women I do," Max lets out a bitter laugh. "Isn't that justfucking perfect. Man, you know what? We're done here. I'm out."

Wait, no, that's all wrong! What kind of landmines did you wind up stepping on, this is a really serious overreaction isn't it? What's she so worked up about? You clench your jaw, your brain working furiously to try to decipher the mixed messaging Max is putting out.

Um, what did she just say? She got really angry when you said you wanted to take photos to send to Kaina. It actually broke her out of the bootloop your sexy outfit (and sexier body) put her brain in. So... Kaina. Kaina's the hot-button topic here, why is Kaina the hot-button topic? Maybe Max is annoyed because she thinks that you wanted to… To…

Oh. Ooooh.

Oh no.

Max doesn't know you've already talked about polygamous relationships with Kaina, does she? Or that Kaina would be totally alright if you sent her lewd selfies with another girl. Goodness knows you've already started doing as much with the other maids and pets you've got.

So from Max's perspective, you've been coming onto her ever since you arrived. And then you talked about sending photographs to Kaina and she would have assumed that you wanted to rub it into your girlfriend's face like one of those cheap NTR pornos?

Oh no, nonono – What kind of horrible monster does she think you are now?! Oh, oh no it's not like that at all, NTR is such a horrible thing when it's done to the undeserving, as if you'd ever break Kaina's heart like that -

You have to clear up this misconception now!

"Wait, wait, hold on, it's not like that," you babble, waving your hands in placating, disarming gestures. "Just let me explain-"

"What the hell is there to explain-"

"Kaina and I have already had a four-way!" You blurt out at the top of your lungs.

"…" Max backs off, her eyebrows twitching as the expression on her face wars between outraged disgust and abject confusion. "… What?"

Oh. Oh thank goodness, maybe you can salvage this. Golly gosh, this was a pretty massive screw-up.

"Kaina and I, uh, we've talked about… Doing things with other girls already," you say. "She didn't want to at first but then I got her some, er, pets of her own and she got seriously into the idea of putting other cute girls on leashes to take them on walks and -"

"Just - Just stop," Max says, holding up her palm, looking incredibly uncomfortable. "I don't need to hear about your sex life, like… No. Just… Just no. TMI, dial it back, please."

Dial down the sexiness?

Ick. Every instinct in your body screams against the idea, the notion, the thought of having to downplay how lewd you are. Those words actually make you shudder violently. But if it's what your love wants…

"I just want to be perfectly clear, I'm not doing any of this to cheat on Kaina like what you think is going on here. Like, no, gosh no, it's not like that at all, I'd never break her heart like what you're imagining-"

"Just – Stop already. Stop talking," Max groans, reaching up to massage her temples. "Shut up and let me think."

You go quiet, letting Max think. She takes a long, long while to think.

A really long time.

"… You're telling me Kaina would seriously be alright if you tried to hook up with me?" Max says, finally breaking the silence.

"… Yes?" It'd take some explaining, but your relationship isn't strictly monogamous anyway, even if there is a certain appeal to the idea of being monopolized by one person. And Kaina does have obsessive tendencies, just like you do. It wouldn't be too hard to break her even further, to egg her on and -

No, bad Alice. That would create conflict in your planned polycule! Conflict is very bad for a genuinely loving relationship! Harem shenanigans are only fun to read about! Goodness gracious you don't want to go back to the bad old days when you were slumming it in New Vegas and having to manage your first harem. You had to braincore so many cute girls because they wouldn't stop fighting each other over your attention. So many wasted pets and toys...

"… Alright, well, if that's all you're here for then you should still just get out," Max sighs, palming her face. "I'm flattered. I really am. But I'm not interested in having sex with you, Alice. Or with Kaina. Or with both of you, at the same time. That's just… Nope, sorry. Not doing it."

You blink once, twice.

… Eh?

Eh?

What the heck?! Outright rejection? Seriously? That's…

That's actually kind of shocking. This has got to be one of the first times one of your loves has ever – Ever said no to you!

… All those times you went through denial play with Mia in your alter-ego don't count, naturally.

"May I ask why?" You ask.

Max smiles sadly, shrugging her shoulders, and you find yourself frowning. Because that is a truly wretched, uncute expression marring her otherwise cute face. So uncute, so unhappy… "Eh. I don't think it would work, that's all."

What a nonsensical, cockamamie answer. What a load of hooey. The blatant lies your love's telling herself – What does she mean a glorious threesome wouldn't work?! It's certainly not for a lack of interest on Max's part, you saw her ogling your butt when you were in the pool. And Kaina likes Max, at least as a platonic friend, and you know you can talk Kaina around to making that friendship decidedly less platonic…