--
Alas, all things have to come to an end. And for you, that end comes when the timer on Max's phone goes off, signaling the end to your date. Max's time is limited, after all. She's being pulled in so many directions because of all the responsibilities she's taken on. She's got a seat on the Corporate Council, she runs a company as her day job, in her off time she acts as Terminus City's liason with the MGA, representing all of the pretty Magical Girls living in Terminus City…
Your love does a lot.
So, you're not too fussed about having your happy fun time with her cut off. There'll be more opportunities in the future. More chances for you to talk to Max and get to know her. Intimately. In great detail.
And your love's a considerate girl as well! Despite how busy she is, she's escorting you out of her building herself!
"You should really come over to my place next time!" You chatter happily, letting Max guide you through the main floor of Steele Tower and out into the open lobby where your maids await. "I can get an aquarium set up so we can test the drones out in an aqueous environment, and I meant it when I said I wanted to get to know you better-"
"… Sure. Just… Call my secretary, she does all my scheduling," Max mumbles. She seems like she's in a little bit of a daze.
Hmm. Her reaction's a little subdued, but...
Eh. You'll take it.
"Alright, it's a date!" You cheer, flouncing in front of Max so you can clasp her hands between your own. Her small, cybernetic hands ooh look at how intricate they are -
"… A date."
"Between friends!" You grin widely. Oh, happy day; you get to take another of your loves on a date. Ooh, you're going to have to get a swimsuit ready, you'll have to go into the water. Now how salacious should this new swimsuit be? Maybe you could reuse the one from Kaina's date?
"… You're… You know…" Max begins before giving up and jumping straight to the point. "You really want to be my friend that much?"
Well, no, you want to make sweet love to her alongside Kaina, but you'll settle for friendship for now. To ease Max into things. You don't want her eventual Fall to be painful after all. Max's descent into darkness should be gentle. Loving! Sure some bits of her might break and snap, but all that means is that you'll just have to piece her back together.
"Sure do!" You say. "I really want to be friends with you, Max. And it's not just because you're Kaina's friend. You're pretty wonderful yourself, you know!"
"…" Max eyes you warily, but you grin. Nothing nefarious here; you're just a cute girl who wants to get another cute girl to be her friend! You're being absolutely, 100% sincere here.
Max will be your friend, and then more, come hell or high water.
"… Right. Okay. Sure," Max drawls out.
"One last thing – Can I… Can I hug you?" You ask shyly.
"… What."
"You just really look like you can use a hug right now, you've been acting so tense, and hugs are nice, and I've been told I'm a great hugger, so…" You bite down on your lip, teetering from side to side, letting go of Max's hands so you can clasp your own behind your back.
The best part about this is that you aren't even faking. You do want to hug your poor, overworked love…
"… Y'know what? Sure, why not. Hug away," Max says.
Yay~!
Hugs~!
You lean in now, wrapping your arms around Max's slim shoulders. Your breasts smush up against hers' underneath your stifling clothes, even as you nuzzle your face into the crook of her neck. Much to your delight, Max reciprocates your affections. You feel her patting your back lightly.
Aaaah~! This would be so much better if the two of you were naked. Even still, you can feel all kinds of fluffy endorphins beginning to course through your brain~!
It helps that you can feel a familiar heat beginning to course through your body. Max flinches slightly as you channel spikes of lovely, corruptive essence straight into her body. You wriggle with delight as you feel the corroding substance take root in the firmament of Max's soul…
Because of course, you'd take this opportunity to corrupt your love. To begin her descent into blissful, depraved darkness with you. This isn't just one of your patented fluffy hugs; it's a corruptive hug. One that'll hopefully leave Max wanting more...
It's almost a pity you have to end the hug after a few seconds. Any longer might be construed as inappropriate. You let out the tiniest sigh as you relinquish your hold on your darling Max. Eugh, how disappointing...
"Alright. See ya next week then. Or whenever we get around to having our date! Bye~!"
And with those parting words, you flounce off, entering the lobby where your maids are waiting. Ah, those adorable little kittens-
"Mistress Alice, you're back!" A green-haired cat-girl mewls.
"Mistress Alice, please give us pats; we were waiting here for ages-"
"Did you have fun, mistress? Ooh, please tell us you had fun-"
"One at a time, one at a time!" You laugh as a group of needy, greedy cat-girls positively swarms you. "I'll tell you all about how things went later, okay?"
"Okay~!" Your maids chime out in chorus.
Good pets. Hmm, you really should do something special for all of them sometime. Call it a group reward for good behavior. What should that be, though…
"Mistress Alice, does this mean we can tell Kisha to stop monitoring the tower now? She's been working nonstop, and we're kind of worried about her, you know?" The same green-haired cat-girl asks.
Hold up. What?
"I'm sorry, Kisha's been doing what?"
--
Back in Steele Tower, Maxine Steele sighs quietly as she watches Alice Takanashi exit her building, happily chatting with her little coterie of maids. Cat-girl maids, with adorable ears and cute tails, feline appendages that blend seamlessly into their skulls, their butts...
Max can respect the craftsmanship that made cat-girls look that cute. That must've taken some pretty mad bio-engineering skills to get augmentations like that. Max can also respect Alice Takanashi's tastes, she supposes. The whole cat-girl maid thing is kinda weird, but hey, Max is probably the last person who gets to judge on that front.
Old Max really did her best to show off her freak flag, Old Max would've called cat-girl maids tame. Old Max was into a lot of freaky shit that New Max looks back on now and cringes at. Old Max got drunk and engaged in orgies with her toxic ex almost daily.
New Max is currently ducking into her private lobby restroom and locking the door behind her like the useless bitch she is and doing her best not to have another minor panic attack because, oh god, hugging Kaina's girlfriend felt way better than it had any right to feel and that is so not good-
"Miss Steele, I'm detecting that your heart rate's elevated. Is everything-"
"Shut up SILEA, I'm having a moment here," Max manages to snap into her wrist-mounted communicator, even as she feels another involuntary shudder wrack her form. God, that residual phantom warmth, why was that girl so soft and warm…
… Did hugs always feel that way? Has it been that long since Max was… Was hugged by anyone? It must've been. It's not like Max talks to any of her old friends who're the hugging type these days; she's just got too much shit to do. And it's not like any of her coworkers are the hugging sorts too, both magical and non-magical.
The idea of Mia hugging Max is absurd. And the idea of Kaina hugging Max is… Is…
… Is an image Max is trying to put out of her mind now because holy crap, she really doesn't want to go there now that Kaina's in an established relationship. With Alice. Who wasn't lying when she said she gave great hugs? With Max's cybernetics, she can check on her cortisol levels, and they dropped pretty significantly…
And now Max is back to thinking about the hug. Of all the things in that mind-bending conversation Max had with Alice, that was the thing that stood out the most. That's what she's fixating on - physical contact.
"Does this have anything to do with Miss Takanashi's recent departure?" SILEA asks.
"She hugged me, SILEA," Max groans.
"Is that a bad thing?"
"… I don't even know," Max moans, reaching up to massage her temples. "I don't even know why I'm fixating on the hug of all things so much when that entire conversation towards the end was just surreal."
"I see. Is this starting from the conversation you had where Miss Takanashi started talking about how much she'd like to be Miss Shikinami's wife?"
"Basically," Max says in the driest, deadest tone of voice she can manage, transitioning from a simple temple massage to a full-blown face-palm. A huge part of Max, the part that's currently nursing her throbbing headache, wants some ibuprofin right now because that entire tangent kind of hurt Max's brain in a way she didn't even know was possible.
Alice Takanashi, as far as Max can tell, is a ridiculously hot lady who's bubbly, whip-smart, and sincere to an almost painfully earnest degree about how in love she is with her girlfriend.
Alice Takanashi is the kind of girl Max would've probably bankrupted herself over when she was in her hedonistic phase, just to hear 'I love you, Max' come out of her stupidly perfect lips, because Max had a lot of insecurities then, and she still has a few of them now.
Which makes Alice Max's worst enemy. Especially because she's Kaina's girlfriend. Max really, really doesn't want to backslide into some of her scummier girlfriend-stealing habits, especially when it comes to Kaina's first romantic relationship.
Not for the first time, Max laments that she really did used to be a really, really shitty person. And she still feels kind of shitty now.
She has no right to be thinking about Kaina's girlfriend like this. Just what kind of a jealous harridan is Max anyways?
"… Miss Steele, I'm still detecting that your heartrate is elevated," SILEA chimes in, distracting Max from her current thoughts.
"Yeah, well…" Max finds herself huffing now. "… I've just got a lot going on right now."
"You are currently hyperventilating in a bathroom, Miss Steele. Please explain how that's 'a lot' so I can take that into account in the future-"
"Are you snarking at me right now?" Max squints into her wrist-mounted communicator, where she can just barely make out the lines of SILEA's avatar. "Did I program you to snark at me?"
"You did, indeed, program me with a propensity towards dry humor, Miss Steele," SILEA replies.
"God, this day. Kaina's girlfriend turns out to be an absolute bombshell, damn Kaina's got good taste; Kaina's girlfriend breaks my brain by talking about how much she loves Kaina which should be a good thing but why do I still feel like it's not; and now I'm locked in the lobby's bathroom to try to manage my own hormonal feelings while my VI snarks at me. This is what I've been reduced to," Max says. Her voice is more vicious than she was expecting.
Alright, Max is being a little melodramatic and exaggerating a whole fuckton right now, but she likes to think her points still stand.
"I'm still not sure why you're agitated, Miss Steele. If you would explain yourself, perhaps I could suggest a way to-"
"The problem is that I spent the last three hours with Alice Takanashi, and she spent all three talking shop with me, which is impressive by itself, but then she also managed to give me the run-around and generally distracted me by acting all… No, by just being herself. And she's the kind of warm, bubbly, ridiculously earnest girl I used to fantasize about. And have I mentioned how ridiculously pretty she is?" Max continues to rant. "She's up there with Kaina. And Kaina's, like, actually inhuman in how beautiful she is. I have no idea where Kaina found this girl, and that's-"
That's an issue, Max wants to say. The worried part of Max who wants to mother Kaina, and all the rest of her team. The responsible part of Max that's currently moaning over about how much time Max wasted with her self-indulgent information-gathering meeting.
… The irrational, ridiculous part of Max that sees how perfect Kaina's managed to get the perfect girlfriend who's her perfect match, and feels…
Max doesn't even know what kind of calamity's brewing in her mammaries right now. Jealousy? Depressed acceptance? There's definitely a depressed something going on here. Max's self-aware enough to recognize when she's feeling sad.
And she's… Actually feeling sad right now for some reason.
Damn it. Max sniffles, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. What kind of a shitty friend gets this worked up that her friend's managed to snag a girlfriend who's an objective 10/10? God, just how vapid is Max, really? She can't seriously be feeling jealous of Kaina now. Or is she jealous because Alice's dating Kaina?
"It sounds like you're agitated because you weren't able to find out as much about Miss Takanashi as you would have liked," SILEA summarizes. "Is this analysis correct, Miss Steele?"
"… It's part of why I'm getting myself so worked up, yeah," Max clutches her head again as a fresh stabbing pain throbs through her temples. "Ugh, all of that time and I still don't really know anything about this girl's background, where she came from, who she worked for before becoming a CEO… We spent hours talking about my mechanical fish project, and then she derailed the entire meeting by gushing about Kaina…"
"Did you want me to run a background check on Miss Takanashi, then?" SILEA asks, and for a moment Max seriously considers that idea.
It'd solve one of Max's problems right now. She'd need some samples of Alice's DNA, since most checks involve some form of DNA identification, but that should be easy to acquire, the building's filters would've picked up some of Alice's residual skin cells…
"… Table that for now," Max says instead.
"Are you sure about this, Miss Steele?"
"… Yeah," Max sighs.
Because objectively, it really isn't that important to know where Alice came from, or even who she was before she started dating Kaina. What really matters is that Kaina's happy with Alice. And from what Max just experienced?
Yeah, she's absolutely going to be happy with Alice, because Alice… Alice really is hopelessly in love with Kaina too. And it shows. Dear god, does it show.
And that thought really shouldn't be sending this many jealous pangs down into the pits of Max's stomach. Ugh.
"Are you certain, Miss Steele?"
"… I don't think she's putting on a facade. If she was, Kaina would've picked up on that instantly. Kaina's actually got pretty good instincts when it comes to people being assholes and lying to her. I don't even mind it if she's hiding something, we've all got something to hide," Max explains, because explaining things out loud really does help her think better. "And I don't even think she's all that dangerous because, again, Kaina's got some pretty good instincts…"
Better than Max's, at least. There's still a niggling part of Max's brain that's uneasy around Alice…
But that's probably Max's hormones talking again.
"… Also, someone who gives hugs that feel that nice? They probably aren't a complete monster," Max finishes sheepishly.
… It all comes down to that hug, huh? Damn it. Even now, Max can still feel Alice's touch ghost across her body. Another involuntary tremor wracks her shoulders.
That's one of the perks to getting along with Kaina's girlfriend, Max supposes. The prospect of being able to receive more hugs, exactly like that one...
"I see. I will not perform a background check on Miss Takanashi, then," SILEA says.
Max gets up now, brushing a few crumbs of stuff off of her thighs. She eyes herself in the mirror, and winces. Eugh, Max looks like a disheveled mess. Terminus City's genius inventor quickly opens the taps on the sink so she can wash her face and look less like a mess. "Cool. Also… Ugh, I'm late to my board meeting, aren't I?"
"By fifteen minutes, Miss Steele."
Max lets out a final, weary groan. "Ugh.
And that encapsulates how she's feeling, doesn't it?
--
You are Alice Takanashi. The very model of a sexy, seductive succubus. The devilish CEO who's just returned from her meeting with Maxine Steele.
And right now you're currently marching into your cyberjockey's office so you can yell at her for overworking herself of all the stupid things!
"Kisha? Kisha, please open the door. It's Alice," you say, even as you rap your knuckles against the door to Kisha's office. The dumb wooden door you have half a mind to kick down. How dare one of your adorable kitties treat herself so horribly by… By working overtime?! The horror. As if you'd subject any of your belongings to a fate so… So…
Eugh. You have to choke back a bit of bile at the thought of forcing your pets to work too hard. They're your pets! They're the cherished possessions you treat well and pamper so that they can pamper you in return! These aren't the disposable toys you're talking about here; these are your adorable pets! You've hand-tailored and brainwashed them yourself! And they're no good to you if they're all… All used up and burnt out in the bad sort of way!
Like through working overtime! Doing non-sexy things!
"…" You hear Kisha let out a breathy squeak from behind the door, then a few rattling noises as she undoes the locks on her door. You wait patiently, even if you want to just… Kick down Kisha's door already.
Sheesh, this kitty you've acquired is turning out to need a lot of care and feeding. First you had to reconstruct her entire spinal column, and now you're having to prevent her from – from ruining her cuteness and appeal by burning herself out. Well, not that you particularly mind; high-maintenance pets are always super fun to play with, and you like the idea of feeding Kisha some delicious kitty treats while you rub her tummy…
Naturally, her sister'd be there too, getting her tummy rubbed by Kaina. Or maybe Max or Mia. Hmm, the idea of pampering those two cute sisters with your loves…
"M – Mistress?" Kisha calls out, snapping you back to reality.
You eye your cute white-haired pet now. Kisha… Looks like a mess. Her eyes are red-rimmed and swollen, the fluffy cat ears perched on top of her head droop along with her tail, and fresh tear tracks stain her cheeks. She's… Pretty obviously been crying.
"Mistress Alice? What is it… What do you need…?" Kisha asks, her voice sounding a bit hoarse. It cracks at several points.
You eye your pet, feeling a bit of… Of pity well up within you even as you watch her scrub some tears out of her eyes.
Okay, this won't stand. And you find yourself reconsidering the harsher approach you were about to take just now. This calls for a gentler touch…
"Oh, Kisha," you say, injecting just the right amount of comfort and pity into your voice. "Kisha, my dear Kisha… What have you been doing to yourself?"
"…" Kisha stares up at you, tears beginning to well in the corners of her eyes. "… Working."
You gaze past Kisha briefly to scan the inside of her office. It's… About as much of a mess as Kisha is. The paperwork's been piled up on the desk, a myriad of electronic tablets for Kisha to peruse and sign off on. The cyberjockey's chair has seen obvious use; there's practically an indentation in the exact shape of Kisha's body embedded in the cushioning foam.
Also, sweat stains. You sniff experimentally and wince as the unwashed scent of a poor, overworked girl who's obviously been putting off bathing wafts over you. Not a pleasant smell. You prefer your cute pets to be freshly bathed and nice-smelling. Or smelling of sex and their own juices, with their eyes glazed over from arousal.
One or the other. Not like this, though, all sweaty and bitter and sour-smelling. That's evocative of a lot of bad memories for you.
"… It's not like I've got anything else to do. Sveta's still… I'm locked out of our apartment, so…" Kisha bites back whatever else she wanted to say.
Right. You remember hearing that Sveta's locked herself in her apartment and refused to come out after she deflowered her sister that one evening.
… It suddenly dawns on you that it was Kisha's apartment too.
… Whoops.
"Sveta's still not taking visitors?" You probe gently.
"She doesn't even say anything when I try to talk to her. Did I – Did I push her too far? I must've. I didn't… I just wanted her to love me like I love her, I didn't mean to… To…" Kisha swallows her sobs, or tries to. She does a poor job at it. Tears begin to well up in the corners of her eyes, and you find yourself reaching forward now so you can wipe them off of her face. Kisha leans into your touch almost desperately.
"Oh, Kisha, you've done nothing wrong," you say, sadly. Because you can sympathize with this poor girl. Goodness knows you've stayed up some nights wondering if you've pushed just a bit too far with one of your loves… "Your sister just needs some time to accept what's happened to her. That's all. You don't have anything to worry about, and you certainly don't need to bury yourself in work the way you're doing-"
"…" Kisha sniffles, and you find yourself wrapping her into a brief hug, snuggling her against your chest. Kisha nuzzles into your cleavage, staining your blouse with her tears.
"There, there," you soothe. "There, there. Let it all out, hmm?"
"I'm sorry," Kisha wails. Blubbers, really. Rather inelegant, but you'll forgive her just this once. It's clear she's been trying to bottle up her angst and uncertainty for far, far too long. The silly girl. There's a reason you've got a whole horde of maids. Pets are more energetic when they're with other pets, and there are times when pets need to be supported by other pets.
There are a lot of reasons why you encourage skinship among your maids. That's one of them. Hmm, you'll have to properly introduce Kisha and Sveta to some of the other cute sisters you've been collecting once they've been fully trained up… It'll probably make the transition a lot easier if they have other examples of sisterly love being corrupted to draw from…
That, and you want to see if you can get one pair of sisters to molest another pair. Or maybe you can sandwich yourself between all four pets for extra fluff and pats…
"There, there. There, there…" You hum, wrapping your arms just a bit more tightly around your poor pet. Hugs are nice. Hugs make the world go round. And really, even this is alright. It's perfectly understandable to you why Kisha's upset, after all. You can relate.
And besides, providing her with a comforting shoulder to lean on? Why that'll make her that much more loyal to you once she's passed this little crisis. Once she's pieced herself together after being broken yet again. Ooh, you can't wait to see how she shines once she's with her sister in truth…
… You're going to have to do something about that though. Gosh, that Sveta's being so silly. Look at what she's done! She's made her adorable sister cry! She's given the poor thing anxiety by being so self-absorbed!
And you do hate it when your cute pets cry like this…
… Hmm. What to do, what to do…
--
Maxine Steele: 10 corruption (15/100, stage 1)