AN: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I honestly spaced, and thought only a week had passed. :(

This chapter is shortish, but it finishes up the 'let's meet up arc' nicely, and prepares everyone for more sexy violence to come.

I'll try to put two out next week to make up for it, but it will be later in the week.

Chapter 30: Let's Foursome!

Some people liked to claim that time healed all wounds. In the case of the scratch marks up and down Saelil's back, it would take quite some time to heal them all.

"Honestly, what were you two doing? These don't look like fight marks..." said Scott, noting the locations of the scratches. If he didn't know better they were working out a different sort of tension instead of fighting.

"The feline fights dirty," remarked Saelil in annoyance.

Kitty licked the back of her hand while staring into Saelil's eyes. She then puckered her lips, and without so much as blinking, she made a kissing noise at the girl. Her tail lashed dangerously from one side to the other for added emphasis.

Saelil's knuckles grew white as her fingers tightened around her staff. The nerve of this she-cat!

"Look calm your happy little asses down. Fighting with each other isn't going to work for me," said Scott.

"Scott..." said Kitty with a frown.

"No, save it. You girls can go home any time," he said before looking each of them in the eye. "In less than a week I have yet another life or death situation to deal with. It never changes for me. I'm not going to demand that you become best friends or something, but learn to get along."

"Beloved, this she-cat—" began Saelil.

Scott stared at her, his expression hard. "I don't have a problem with you girls being in conflict over one thing or another, but don't you dare use me as an excuse to bait each other."

She flinched at him as though she'd been struck. Scott ignored her surprised and slightly frightened expression. Instead, he looked at all of the girls. "Look, if you want to be with me, any of you, then just tell me that you're interested. I refuse to play favorites, though. If more than one of you says it, then you'll either need to give up on it, or learn to fucking share."

"Share?" asked Saelil, her eyes wide with surprise.

Kitty shrugged and said, "As long as you aren't leaving me out... again."

Everyone stared at Kitty for a moment. Wasn't she the one who caused the most trouble when a new girl popped up? Sure, it'd only happened twice now, but that was the precedent.

She made a soft mewling noise then shrugged. "What? I'm fine with sharing, I just don't want to be the other woman."

"That makes no sense," said Saelil.

"No, I think I get it," said Scott before he walked over and rubbed the top of Kitty's head.

"Do you?" she asked him, her ears perking slightly.

"Yeah. You're always going to want to be top cat, but I noticed how you were with Samantha... You... You're more than a little into girls too, aren't you?" asked Scott.

The cat girl laughed softly then lashed her tail. "Honestly?"

"Yes, be honest," said Scott.

She smiled mischievously and said, "I tend to like girls a lot more than boys..." She leaned forward and sniffed at Scott's chin, but then turned to Samantha and said, "A lot more."

All eyes turned to Samantha. She sighed loudly then turned away so no one could see her face when she answered, "I just work here."

"Oh, don't be like that!" said Kitty with a pout before bounding over to Samantha. "We're gonna be really close friends, right?"

"Must we be?" asked Samantha with a tired sigh. Her eyes widened briefly, when Kitty gave her an overly affectionate hug. Slowly, she shook her head from side to side.

Scott chose that moment to interject. "Look, before you three get the idea that I'm just trying to score some sort of four-way or something, hear me out."

The girls looked at him then, each of their faces holding a different expression. Kitty was curious, and playful. Samantha's expression was flat, but with a hint of an amused smirk. Saelil looked quite disappointed in him.

"I'm literally the only one who has to go through any of this business. Each of you can go home at any time, if you want," began Scott. He saw that he had their attention and continued. "I'm not saying that you must hook up with me. I'm saying that too many arguments and fights over who gets the trophy aren't going to work for me."

He waved Kitty off when she started to say something. "Let me finish."

"What I am saying is that if you feel like hanging around, and don't mind sharing, I don't mind it either," he said. His words were met by a round of amused feminine snorts.

"If you just don't want to share, you can still hang out, but I won't be able to make exceptions. There's too much at stake to allow either my dick, or someone else's annoyance and anger to cause problems."

Scott took a breath and continued, "Each of my people that dies, puts my entire planet one step closer to becoming nothing more than a farm for alien night lights. I won't allow that."

"I like you girls. Each of you is tough, and honestly each of you is beautiful enough to make most of the women I've met look like someone slapped makeup on a hog," he said in a sincere tone. "That being said, I can't play favorites. Either we're just going to be friends, or you're sharing me as lovers. Either way, we need to get along."

"Pretty full of yourself, aren't you?" asked Samantha, after a moment.

Scott looked at her, but did not back down or retract his statement. "I'm offering a life of danger, adventure, and incredible wealth making opportunity."

His tail lashed from side to side while he looked into Samantha's eyes. "The only downside is that if you catch feelings for me, you have to share me. I don't have the time, energy, or desire to live through that sort of drama when every single time I leave the house I could die in a gloriously ridiculous manner."

"What if we find another love interest along the way?" asked Saelil.

"I'll wish you both well, and drop you off on one of the worlds we visit," he said. Though he amended it a moment later by saying, "Depending on how things evolve between us, I might be quite hurt by that as I grow attached to people, but being a sobbing he-bitch for a few days is the price I'm forced to pay."

Saelil looked down at the ground for a moment, before sighing softly. It was obvious that she needed time to think about the situation.

"That's it? You'd just let one of us go with someone else?" asked Kitty.

"You'd have to return any equipment granted, and repay EXP I spent toward your growth, but otherwise it's not my place to stand in the way of your happiness," said Scott, "If you legitimately prefer being with someone else, I'd be nothing but a douchey asshole to try and force the situation to be otherwise."

"What you're saying is, that the only guy we can be with is you?" asked Samantha.

Scott nodded to her. "I've never really dealt with it in legitimate life and death situations, but I've seen it happen in other ways."

He took a breath then began to speak once more, "Everything starts out great. You get a few people together, one's leading the raids. After a while though, people start to partner up and couple. The healer starts focusing more on healing her boyfriend, than on the rest of the team. People die."

"It's normal to want to protect someone you love, at least a little more than someone who is just a friend," said Scott.

"That's being simplistic," said Saelil, after a moment of silence passed.

"Oh?" asked Scott. He looked at her with a serious expression. "You telling me that if you were to find another lover, and you fell completely for that man, so completely that you would die for him... That when faced with a decision where you had to choose between saving him and saving me, you'd pick me?"

She flinched slightly then shook her head. "I see your point."

"Eight billion people," said Scott. His eyes narrowed. "There are about eight billion people on the world that I'm from. A few million were brought into this game, and each one of us that is taken out of play for good, is a loss that brings those billions of people one step closer to destruction."

"If you girls just want to work together and nothing more? Great. Let's do that," said Scott. He took a breath the continued, "However, as far as relationships go, I'm it for you while we do work together."

His expression hardened and he spoke in a cold, but sincere, manner, "I won't jeopardize the lives of billions of people based on one person's feelings. Whether those feelings are mine, or any of yours. Hell, more people might join us. It's the same situation."

The girls were quiet, so Scott kept talking. In some ways it was like he intended to convince himself as well. "We can be partners. We can be friends. We can be lovers. God knows I could use a little of all three, and I bet you girls can too."

"Either way, the mission is what is important. We'll have fun and danger along the way, but at the end of the day it will be about the people we help and the planet we are trying to protect," he said resolutely.

The world remained locked in silence for a time. Each of the girls needed time to think about the situation. Scott needed time to reflect on what he'd said. Did he really feel the entire planet was his personal responsibility? Deep down, did he think he had to keep going just for their sakes?

Kitty walked over to Scott after a moment of reflection then slipped her arms around him. "I would still be in a glass cage getting my soul sucked dry if not for you. I don't even like boys that much, but I like you."

She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. Her tail lashed from side to side and she began to purr.

Not long after, Saelil spoke up, "I too was trapped, and you freed me. Honestly, I don't like the idea of sharing you."

Scott looked to Saelil. What she said next would make or break her position on the team.

"My preference, is of course, to be the wife while the lesser females serve as official mistresses or personal courtesans at best," said Saelil. "Equality of this type is not quite part of my culture..."

Samantha stared at Saelil for a moment. "Lesser females?"

"Oh my? Did I say something inappropriate?" asked Saelil, a mischievous smile upon her lips. "I am already the official bride-to-be after all..."

Scott sighed at the dark elf. This entire time, her reluctance was nothing more than an elaborate way to try to claim a higher status with him. Her cleverness was dangerous. Though, given the slightly annoyed scowl on Samantha's lips, the danger might be more than Saelil expected.

"Nyao," said Kitty. "I don't care who the bride is right now, I just want to be petted a little."

The girls looked to kitty, the shameless hussy that she was, and noticed that she had her face buried in the crook of Scott's neck. The cat girl made happy little mewling noises and commented on his amazing scent.

He lightly stroked her hair and offered her a smile. Saelil's cheeks immediately reddened. "Really... So brazen."

She marched over to where they were and placed her hands on her hips. "Are I not your fiancé? Clearly you should pet me first."

Scott blinked at her then shrugged. "Alright," he said before reaching out and stroking her hair as well.

She smiled slightly and closed her eyes. It was the first truly intimate thing that he'd ever done with her, despite being naked together for a good bit of time.

While petting the two overly affectionate members of the team, he looked over to Samantha. She chose to look away at that moment. She obviously did not feel the need to be petted.

"I guess that means that you two are alright with the situation?" asked Scott to Saelil and Kitty.

"As long as I get petted, and can play with other girls..." said Kitty.

"I would prefer my own harem, but given our circumstances, I can accept the position of first wife in yours," said Saelil.

Kitty snorted loudly upon hearing the first wife bit, but said nothing. She was too busy sniffing at Scott's neck. He smelled so interesting, right now.

After the petting session went on for about a minute, Samantha sighed loudly. "I just work here."

Scott was saddened a little to hear her say that, but it was expected. They were together for business, nothing else.

"You don't have to worry about me looking for a boyfriend, though. That's not why I'm here," she said after a moment.

Kitty laughed softly, and said, "You keep telling yourself that..."

Samantha snorted at the cat girl, but said nothing. She was a business woman, not some hormonally challenged cat with a shoe fetish.

Scott smiled at the blond mercenary. "I'm glad you're here, either way."

"Of course," she said, before turning away once more. "Someone's got to actually pay attention on a mission."

Scott's smile grew wider. He could not see her face at the moment, but despite her cool demeanor, he did not doubt for a moment that she was smiling just a little.

The situation properly attended to for now, Scott gathered his companions together, and finished their business. It was time to hit the road. Adventure awaited, and soon, their first team mission would be underway.