A Many Layered Affair

Thankfully the system lock started with non-critical functions, and Rhinestone's restorative programs came in handy yet again. Thanks to that, ResQ appeared to have successfully delivered Rhinestone to the impromptu "safe zone" nearby.

ResQ glanced down at Rhinestone as he suggested he was in a safe enough place to briefly leave behind, so she could help out the others. ResQ's amber eyes glanced about to confirm the organization of the battlespace, then shortly agreed with his idea. She brought the ANGEL back to full standing height and faced towards the "front" of the battlefield.

She didn't have many chips left, but she was about to get the last of them loaded, at least until she was interrupted by the sudden upheaval of the floor. The ANGEL's knees bent slightly, but it continued to remain upright. ResQ struggled to remain conscious for the abrupt ride upwards, while Alexander looked bewildered at his Navi's position data; it didn't make any immediate sense to him.

Moments later, the entire scenery changed and ResQ found herself thrown airborne. The reduced upward acceleration brought her back to her senses, and assumed a landing stance out of reflex. As ResQ and the ANGEL fell back to the ground, she only briefly got a look around at the new battlefield before touching back down with the thud and hiss of the ANGEL's legs and back absorbing the shock of the landing.

A look of disdain grew on her face; it appeared their previous fight for Rhinestone's safety had quickly become part of the "game" CrypticMan previously mentioned. Speaking of which, where was Rhinestone? Though the setting had changed, her goal to keep Rhinestone from harm did not.

She swung the ANGEL around to aid her in relocating the Navi, if he wasn't already within eyeshot, then upon locating him (or realizing he was no longer present) she moved to get her bearings and attempt to repel anyone who took the opportunity to attack. She attempted to activate the BUBL over herself to restore some of her energy and provide an extra layer of protection, while she brought her ANGEL's grappling claw up into a ready position.

It was difficult for anyone to really get their bearings at all, once the sense of motion had stopped; telling friend from foe, and serious combatant from mock battler swiftly became an effort in futility, save for the most striking figures in the melee. ResQ cast about, seeking the safe ring, and Rhinestone, but upon arriving on in the public ring, the mass of other innocent combatants had swiftly washed around them. The small distance she'd moved forward seemed to have become a thoroughfare all too quickly, and moving without risking collisions with other fighting navis had become an exercise in itself.

Disregarding the other large mechanical opponent for the moment, she managed to move back enough to spot her charge, still with a couple of the other SPs, having backed to the side of the ring and now looking about cautiously. Like her, they had each acquired the same green bar read-out over their heads, displaying their 'hit points' for the game. Some had already taken some chips, showing varying amounts of red at the end of the green, though they mostly still bore figures in the high two hundreds. It was debatable whether any of that mattered at all, of course, given where they'd just come from and what had been going on. The ring, presumably, was a safe environment, or at least it had been advertised as such. The attacks that navis were throwing around, mostly themed in their choice of fantasy and sci-fi flavour, appeared not to be impacting like they might, instead disappearing on contact and reducing the victim's numbers.

What ResQ did manage to notice, as she took up a defence position near Rhinestone again, was that the strange effect did, indeed, seem to be applying to their own efforts are real attacks as well — halfway across the mass of combat, the bright flares of their would be kidnapper fighting with Kenmoete and the other SPs had suddenly grown ineffectual. Solid strikes did nothing, and blasts of water and steam vanished as they hit. As Kenmoete failed to slice off one of the mech's thick arms with his blade, and instead take about a third of the boss's green bar away, the result did not seem to please him. ResQ could hear his particularly identifiable voice offering articulate, elegantly formed curses of a furious nature before a sudden phoenix bust of flames engulfed that quarter of the fighting arena. The light was blinding briefly. As it cleared, a sudden bolt of electricity arced back from the other direction, and all at once the would-be villain vanished.

Outside the ring, in a separate area, a single navigator dropped in, mid curse, alongside numerous others who had already been eliminated. From where she was, ResQ couldn't see his features clearly, or really hear anything over the raucous sounds, but it looked very much like their terrible serious tussle had, very much in truth, been reduced to the same rules as the game. Notably, As the light faded from the fire burst, and the over-enthusiastic Prog babbled about it in animated fashion. ResQ caught just the briefest glance of Kenmoete still standing, flames mostly died down now, yet still with his sword out, scowling and looking entirely disgruntled with the turn of events. The flames had very much died down, in fact. In fact, they were really not doing the job that had been relegated tot hem since they had first flared up. The swordsman didn't seem to be too concerned about that.

If she still cared about it, there was something about this battle and the points, that CrypticMan had mentioned in their initial briefing... ResQ could keep 'playing' if she felt like the danger had gone out of the situation. Beside her, however, Rhinestone shook his head and rubbed his neck.

"I don't pretend to understand any of this any more. I think I'm just going to step out of this ring and see what happens. Do you think that's safe?" A cursory glance back at him, and around herself again, might lead ResQ to realise that uprising herself was nowhere to be seen; given the mess of things, though, it seemed likely that she had simply gotten lost or involved in the melee of other players without realising.

==

Not far away, Mary was getting a similar view of things, though from a slightly different angle. As a poor blind missionary, of course, she couldn't see the cause of the deafening rabble of combat sounds all around them suddenly, nor the odd game score displays they'd all gained. Of course, in her blind state, she also wouldn't be able to see then culmination of the tussle that she'd been focused on before, or the fantastic burst of flame that mostly put an end to it, and several other nearby competing navis, all of whom were swiftly removed from the ring and dropped neatly into the separate cool off area, where people who looked like they might be Scotsdale liveried attendants were there to congratulate them on competing and generally be of aid if necessary.

Most importantly for Mary, as unfortunately blind as she was, she would not have the privileged of seeing her healing draughts run over Knemoete's suddenly quenched body and steam on his rather more exposed and glistening skin, now that the majority of his flames had died off. He didn't seem pleased that the serious fight had been turned into a game, but he did pause to run one hand through his damp hair and roll his shoulders, looking about briefly for the source of the refresher. The crowd was too busy and mobile for him to see Mary clearly, or be certain it was her; she could only really see him because he had just been a bright beacon of attention, and because she knew who she was looking for.

While she was distracted by this, Mary did, indeed, find herself the focus of several cheap-shots directed at her form somewhere in the on-going battle melee, likely aimed at someone who looked like an easy target. One or two missed, or she managed to avoid by good fortune, but a few more seemed like they connected. Strangely, though, in each case, the laser beam or fireball that streaked towards her stopped and disappeared in the moment that it would have hit, seemingly being dispersed by an intangible shell just s few inches from her body. The green numbers above her head went down by a small amount for each one, but Mary herself didn't even feel them as hitting her; she certainly didn't take any actual damage. Almost all of the agents that had been attacking them were now being ganged up on by other innocent contestants seeking quick points, or else had been already reduced to zero and sent from the ring, to the cool off area, which left Mary with a question of exactly where to go from here.

==

Outside the ring, Exorcist was able to have a proper conversation with her allies, over the loud rumbled of shouting and fighting going on. The conclusion they all reached, however, was that Cryptic, by all accounts was playing many sides at once, and proper answers would be hard to pin down unless hey could talk to him again. Up on the platform, the loud, enthusiastic Prog announced that half of the events competitors had already been eliminated, and that several of the combatants were well on the way to winning the prize, and possibly even making miss Zennocracy pay her forfeit, if they kept performing as strongly as they were. The jockeying of the crowd got a bit more rough as many of the food and drink vendors from the tow sides of the fair now began to weave their way through, offering refreshments and treats to on-lookers, as well as pausing to try to sell things to those who had been eliminated already. A merchant excused his way behind the four watching ladies, loudly hawking energy drinks guaranteed to keep them bright and buzzing for hours. Another worked his way along the rail in front of them, asking if anyone wanted to sample his fruit tarts, sweet sour or citric, a taste for any palate. It was growing hard to keep up the conversation in anything approaching a covert manner.

As this was going on, the bright flash from a certain burning sword navi losing his temper light up each of their visions for a few moment. Fuukouhan put a hand to her mouth for moment, though her expression was hard to read. MadamaSanguine arched an eyebrow in his direction, a wry smile on her lips. As the light faded she looked down to her body guard briefly.
"He is well?" The smaller woman nodded, and what might have been a look of concern was now more clearly one of relief, and mild by-proxy embarrassment.
"He is... Not best pleased by the turn of events."
"If it is that upsetting, he may vent his passion with the game that this has all become." Her eyes turned up and looked into the fighting ring, towards her other bodyguard, and though she didn't raise her voice, it seemed clear she was talking to him. "When you have satisfied yourself, Kenmoete, return to me." With that, she looked back towards Exorcist.

"From what you have told me so far, I don't think our Cryptic friend will be seen until he wants to be. It sounds like the day will draw to its close and he'll show up to 'score' you and your friend. It is a very strange affair... Can you tell me anything more about any of the other tasks he assigned you and your companions? It may give us some other hint to work with. For now, Grace and I are safe, and if my eyes do not deceive, That would be the gentleman from the other organisation just over there, by the rail. We are in the open public, now, and my own protections are more than enough to ensure our safety even so. If we could capture the leader of the one that assaulted us, however, that one may have some answers. Do you suppose any of your allies could identify him?" While she spoke, Grace had been watching the fight going on, and paying closer attention to the numbers on the board, as though working them all out and beginning to follow what was going on. Now that it seemed like the danger was mostly passed, she had calmed down considerably and relaxed again. Despite Exorcit's warning, which she'd given an attentive nod to, the sanctuary rep seemed to have quickly become distracted in working out the intricacies of the battle game, without having heard the instructions.

===
Far removed from these conflicts, Bhikki seemed to be winning her own battle. Or perhaps losing it, or perhaps neither, and it didn't really matter. What was clearest was that she was in a private room with a handsome boy who very much wanted to share some particularly private things with her, and the longer the foreplay went on, the harder it became to resist the urge to simply let go and do all the things her body might be feeling like it wanted to do.

As the kiss broke and she murmured at him, the gentle warmth of his breath brushing across her cheek and neck, along with a faintly hungry, breathy sigh was all the answer he gave at first. the fingers gripping and squeezing firmly at her behind pressed a little more, in rhythm with the slow movements of her body, urging her hips forward and down against him. The pressure only encouraged the actions she was already taking, but the feeling of someone else guiding those same motions made it feel more like a mutual effort, than simply her own grinding. The first time the circling motion pressed her more sensitive places, guarded only by the thin layer of underwear, against him Hoodwink moaned quietly, then pressing in to kiss her neck with a hot passion and nip, just gently, with his teeth.

"Maybe I am a dummy," His lips whispered by her ear, before his teeth nipped again at the top. "To let myself be so beguiled..." He kissed her neck more fiercely a moment later, one hand supportingly on her back while the other squeezed her behind and pulled her hips in a little tighter, pulling her groin against the source of heat below for a moment. Bhikki would feel a pulse from it, as his masculinity responded, through the layers of his trousers and undergarments.

"We shouldn't perch on the edge like it's a stolen tryst though.. This room, in all its grandness, is our room right now, and you should be the mistress of it, at least for a while... here, shift back with me a bit, and get more comfortable..." Still supporting her back and behind with his arms, Hoodwink moved his own body, pushing back onto the bed properly and turning about so that he was sitting right in the middle of it, propped up comfortably by the luxuriant pillows and sinking ever so slightly into the thick blanket. He pulled Bhikki with him as he did, brining her to a similar kneeling position above his hip, dress bunched up and out of the way, but still tantalisingly hiding what was going on beneath it from sight.

He leaned in for another long, highly educational and very pulse-racing kiss of her lips, and she would be able to feel his hands move in slow caresses over her back and behind as he did. As before he met her lips with equal parts passion and care, though occasionally now the tip of his tongue took the initiative over hers, in between small gasps for breath.

During the kiss, Bhikki might notice some other minor details around her; a slight looseness in the upper half of her dress, for one thing... in between long, attentive caresses, several of the buttons at the back had begun to come undone, and she could feel the very subtle motion of air against more of her skin than she could before. It might be hard for the Buddhist to really notice that too much if she was enjoying the kiss though. Something else that she was more likely to notice, even while kissing, was the extra sense of heat as the guiding hand on her behind circled her hips down against him. It was just the thinnest part of her underwear keeping her from direct contact now, and depending on how engaged the lady of the hour was, it might not be altogether dry, but what she could feel through the garment each circle of her hips was a very clear and prominent warmth, in far more... detail... than before. Had his pants come undone during the shift? And his underwear too? had he been wearing any to being with?

These were all questions that it would take a certain amount of will power to even think about asking, and which Bhikki may or may not really care about at this point. It wasn't as though he was doing anything aggressive with it, after all, and she was very definitely the one in control, since she was the on on top. Hoodwink himself seemed caught up in kissing her, stroking her back and rear, and gradually, one at a tie, undoing the buttons on the back of her dress. The fact that there was only the fabric of her own underwear between her and him wasn't too worrisome yet. It was a barrier, after all, even if it got a bit damp and she could feel enough detail to pretend it wasn't there. That it would only take a small motion for her to reach back and shift the fabric away, if she wanted to, was thrilling in its own way, too, and she could imagine doing that without actually pulling them aside, so it was fine, surely. Hoodwink hummed in his throat as he kissed her.

"I do love the taste of your lips..." He murmured, in between snatched breaths, before going back for more.

The mess of activity was difficult to follow, and she felt like she had to watch where she was stepping, otherwise she'd crush a combatant underfoot. However, it appeared the "rules" of the battle had changed from before, where attacks seemed to "lose their teeth" to create a more simulated battle. That said, from the brief amount of time she'd been able to witness the rules in action, defeated Navis seemed to do something rather similar to an EJO, which might prove fatal to an unoperated Navi like Rhinestone.

Speaking of whom, he wasn't too difficult to find, and ResQ was able to move into a good position to cover him and observe. She didn't expect her introduction to go unnoticed, and though graceful, the ANGEL was still a very large target compared to the rest of the brawling programs. Though it looked like she had the perfect opportunity to go hog-wild and start craving through the crowd like a buzz saw, she was already growing tired of the prolonged combat, and feared she'd inadvertently take out someone who either A: should win, per CrypticMan's objectives, or B: wouldn't survive an EJO.

Rhinestone didn't seem too keen on continuing to fight either, and suggested simply walking out. A novel idea, but it was still unknown how the "barrier" round the ring worked. She moved her right hand towards Rhinestone, with her open palm facing towards him, with her fingers pointed up in a "stop" gesture, which her ANGEL mimicked immediately.

"Wait, before you do..." ResQ trailed off as her amber eyes searched for a nearby, unfamiliar opponent. Upon finding one, she swung her three-clawed left hand towards the target, and attempted to scoop them up from the ground. If they were too far away for her to simply lean over and reach, she'd utilize the three small rocket motors in the "wrist" of the claw, and launch the entire assembly towards the target. Its claws would've opened several moments before clamping back down over the target's position, and upon a successful capture, the cable that tethered the claw to the rest of the ANGEL quickly retracted, hopefully dragging the unfortunate test subject along.

Regardless of how she obtained her guinea pig, she simply looked down at him or her coldly, mostly just to gauge how it would react to being tossed. She then turned on one of her ANGEL's sharply pointed blade-like feet and pivoted towards the fence that defined the combat ring. Instead of throwing the likely squirming and/or expletive-spewing program like a fastball, she elected to give it a firm, yet unceremonious toss in an attempt to send the program cleanly out of bounds. She was curious if the program would simply pass through and tumble to the ground, or would somehow be "EJO'd" upon being out-of-bounds.

If the former occurred, she'd give a nod and cover his retreat from the competition ring, before sending out a message to Exorcist.

Quote (ResQ)

Looks like the ring should be safe to exit from, even for any unoperated Navis. Are there any others still in the fray?

If it was the latter; however, she'd not only voice her disagreement, she'd also physically stop the Navi from reaching the edge of the ring, with the help of her ANGEL's "standard" right arm if necessary. Upon stopping him, she'd move in front of him, ready to deflect an errant shot with the downward blast of her rotor blades, then start to work out a game plan.

There was a lot Mary could choose to turn her head in the general direction of and obviously not see through the narrow slit of her eyes under their heavy lashes, but of all those things, the most noteworthy for her personally would be KenmoeteMan's steaming hot bod. She wished for a moment that she could spend some time running her own hands through his wet hair, but she doubted she'd get the chance. Of course, if she knew what Exorcist knew about where he'd come from, she may have realized he was more used to ladies running their hands over him than she'd imagine, but all Mary knew for now was that he was a fierce fighter.

Of course, it wasn't easy for Mary to see a lot through her limited vision, nor feel given the odd barrier added by their game, but she slowly caught on that she was being attacked and was probably going to be headed towards the cool off area pretty soon. On one hand, if she was there, she might be able to get some information from the goons that had been thrown there already (and get a better look at a certain handsome gentleman sans-clothing). On the other hand, if she stayed in the game, she might be able to give it a nudge or two towards the victory of certain high scoring competitors, as CrypticMan had instructed them at the outset, which now felt like ages ago. In the absence of more important things to do, she supposed she owed him that for giving them the tips that had led them to thwart most of the criminals.

First off, she turned her head absently in the direction of the scoreboard. She'd take the time to see who was the highest scorer... of course, she'd been given certain names, but that didn't matter much without a face to put them to... The only one she knew was Mordenite. First, she'd see if he'd somehow ended up playing the game, then, she could assist him if he was in the process of scoring high. If not... well, it would still be good to know who else was scoring high. Maybe there'd be someone with a really obvious name she could help out.

Of course, that'd all be for nothing if she got eliminated. She could go to the out-of-play area whenever she wanted, but once she got knocked out of here, there was probably no coming back. She figured she ought to stay in it as long as she could, so she'd focus on dodging attacks; others might well wonder why her otherwise pretty dress was torn at the legs to allow her such movement, or otherwise, why she'd been wearing a narrow waisted skirt in this competition in the first place.

Additionally, she figured this would be a decent time to figure out if, by some silly chance, her curative holy water had any effect on the game's assigned "hit point" values. To that end, she readied another of the smaller vials and poured some onto her upper arm.

Mary
1) Dodge
2) Dodge
3) Dodge
*)Recovery subtype IV @ Self [5 HP heal per action until broken]

------------------

Exorcist was doing her best to keep mission focused, tensing her dark eyebrows seriously, though it was a little hard to do with the sounds of festivity all around her and the danger of the battle seemingly having passed, though ResQ had her valid suspicions to the contrary. "Well, besides protecting the various organizations that support unoperated navis around the premises, the rest of them were seemingly silly goals related to the day's festivities. My other SP, Bhikkhuni, was sent off to steal something from Zennocracy's mansion, though she hasn't reported in for quite a while. She was also supposed to swap out Zennocracy's costume for something embarrassing. That all sounds pretty juvenile in hindsight..."

She brushed the curtain of her hair away from her shoulders a bit, then continued. "The other part of it was trying to have someone succeed here with enough points so that they would get a dominant victory that forces Zennocracy to make good on her promise to dress up. He asked that we make three specific people play the game as well, although at this point, I've forgotten all of the names... I wasn't really involved with that part much and it was up to my SPs..." To refresh her memory, she took a look at the scoreboard, to see if any of those names jumped out to her as participants. If she could find one she recognized, she might be able to request the help of the matron's SPs to help fix the game how CrypticMan had requested, but she wasn't sure if they'd have the time to devote to that. That said, she wasn't sure it even mattered if one of the three names was in the lead... theoretically, wouldn't it be the same even if someone scored high who wasn't among those three? Or was there something special about those three navis? "If only my employer was ObviousMan," she thought to herself, before remembering that as a disciple of Counterinfectualism, jokes were discouraged.

She also received a message from ResQ. She thought about her response, then sent a terse reply.

Quote (Exorcist)

Well, it seems that the madame's SPs have exited just fine, but they are assigned to an operator. The only unoperated I know of are Rhinestone and Grace. Grace is safe with me, so just do your best to keep Rhinestone safe.

------------------------------------------

Bhikkhuni continued doing what she could to satisfy both herself and Hoodwink, whose needs were now far removed from 'information.' Hoodwink wasn't the only one excited in ways that had onset suddenly; Bhikkhuni could feel a physiological reaction coming on that he'd probably be noticing too, one which she'd only really experienced in private before and never quite so embarrassingly. She'd somehow found herself in the kind of romance she often chastised Mary for pursuing. "But is it so bad? I mean, Mary just wants somebody to plow her, I'm getting a better kind of treatment," she reminded herself. "And I'm not gonna do it with just everybody, it's only gonna be-"

But even as she felt her dress being unbuttoned, now about tot he point where the chain at her waist was going to block it, she reminded herself that it wasn't only going to be him... well, it could be, but only on her side, and he'd probably advise her against such mutual exclusivity anyways. Thinking about it made her head pound, which didn't go well with her heart pounding, so she tried to limit any such thoughts if she could. She noted that he seemed real antsy to continue and, being mostly of the same mind, she undid the clasp on her chain belt to allow him to keep going if he wanted. He'd already gotten plenty comfy in terms of letting himself out of his own clothes, but she decided she'd help as well, attempting to work through the buttons of his own shirt.

Bhikkhuni found it terribly exciting to be doted on in this way, and also dizzying; after so long being jealous of Exorcist and Mary's sexy bodies, it was nice to find someone so enthusiastic about hers. Well, someone who wasn't a creep like Stunt had been. Between smooches, she managed to verbalize what was now her chief worry: "I know... it can't just be me, but... can I at least see you again some time... if it's okay?" she spoke quietly, now realizing that she wasn't lifting up and off of him any more in her movements, but instead sliding back and forth on him. If this went on too much longer, she was probably going to, speaking politely, end a little prematurely and not with the greatest timing. "I think I want to... g-gently... you put it in..." she murmured, scared to even look down or back at the "it" she was referring to for fear she'd lose her nerve.

Playing life guard near the edge of the ring, ResQ took the sensible approach to quitting the match, and selected a guinea pig first, just to test. Several of the other party-goers seemed to be picking her ANGEL out as a good target for crack shots, and while they weren't all accurate, and she was able to deflect a couple more, various magical and technological visual effects were flung her way and succeeded in... well, in dissipating off the unusual field protecting everyone and reducing her green bar by a fair amount. The numbers of combatants was thinning rapidly now and the more skilled entrants were gradually squaring off and conflicting with more precision and the free for all began to settle down.

Eventually, she managed to grab one of the combatants that ran by her — a female navi in purples and greens that was dressed in faux plate mail decorated with dragons — and toss her out of the ring. The would-be knight tried to catch herself on the rail, but the moment her hand let go on the far side a bolt of light removed her from sight. An identical one dropped the same navi a moment later, into the cool off area by the ring, and by this point ResQ had seen enough such ejections to feel fairly confident that it was simply an in-house teleport that wouldn't be dangerous to Rhinestone or other unoperated navis... but that if Rhinestone or herself hopped the fence, regardless of where they did so, they'd end up teleported to the cool out area, where, looking across, most of the thugs that had been attacking them, including the leader, were currently attempting to act natural, with various levels of success.

Rhinestone followed her caution, at least, and waited behind her to see if she determined it was safe. While he did, the somewhat combat timid character assisted both ResQ and himself with a few more protections and seemed to have calmed considerably now that the danger seemed passed. She'd spent more time around the man than anyone else now, and despite his protested fear of danger, he did seem to manage to keep his head on his shoulders somewhat in the conflict, and made efforts to be useful without over-reaching his capabilities. It might be more than could be said for other at-risk navis in danger moments, but it was still obvious that he was much more comfortable flirting and pushing his cause in safe situations, than on a battlefield.

"I... think it should be safe to step out, ResQ... but if you don't mind, I think I'll follow your lead until we're completely safe..." His eyes flicked around and found some of their other allies, already on the outside, and it seemed clear he wanted to head over to them and regroup so that he could get some more information, but the removal to the far side o fthe ring regardless of where they exited, was still a hassle.

==

Nearby, Mary continued to look a great deal like easy pickings, especially as the crowd thinned down. She wasn't really fighting back at all, or doing much of note, but she was able to avoid most of the attacks being flung her way for a while, but her attempts to get a good read of the scoreboard was rudely interrupted by one navi in particular who closed with her rapidly, focused on on trying to score an easy knock out. He looked fairly plain underneath his outfit, which was a full leather body suit with an excess of zips and buckles, most of which looked like they were purely cosmetic. He was also wielding a two-handed pulse rifle of some kind, with a laser light on the end that formed a bright blue blade.

He tired to shoot Mary as he closed, and she twisted away, only to be shoulder-checked heavily against the fence by him. The scent of leather filled her senses as she was thrush up hard against the barrier, though it didn't hurt in the way one might have expected such a rough impact to. The navi drew back, attempting to spin into a quick cut with the blade of his weapon, which Mary moved away from, and a pulse shot at point blank, which she didn't. She was getting fairly low, by the scale of things, but before the aggressor could deplete the rest of her hits, a fierce, female growl of combat rose behind him and the navi was belted from behind by some force the threw him up and over Mary and out of the ring. Where he had been, She could see Uprising just coming down from an extended kick, her banner planted in the ground at brace, before she winked at Mary with a grin. A moment later she seemed to remember that the woman was 'blind', and darted in close enough to press her body against her.

"It's all become a game and you're safe now. Have some fun. We'll pick up the pieces and squeeze our answers from them afterwards" Uprising's voice was a mix of wrath and exertion, and it sounded like she was in the process both of venting some frustration, and also enjoying doing so. Pressed close for the brief moment, Mary would be treated to the very strange feeling of her otherwise rock hard, muscled form, compact and fit, juxtaposed with the ever so slight give around her chest area where her reservedly small bust was still a small bastion of soft flesh, under restraint.

A more daring line of thinking might have been expecting the other girl to chance a quick kiss to go with her vaguely flirtations contact, but it never came and the rebel was gone again a moment later, pulling away and dashing back into the thick of the combat, low and quick. In contrast to Uprising, Mary would also be able to still catch glimpse of Kenmeote. He had calmed, but still smouldered with an obvious fury. The man wasn't exactly fighting, not entirely, but he was moving through the arena with a sure step, sword out, ruthlessly dispatching anyone who attempted to attack him or raise a weapon against him... he was coming closer to Mary as well, though it may have been that he was moving towards the Matron, at the edge of the ring, to whom she was also fairly close. It was hard to say. The closer he came the better her view, though. She knew he had taken injuries during the fight, but they didn't appear to show on his form; lines of fire had burned where he was cut, and then sealed up again afterwards, and though the damp of her healing draught had long since steamed away his skin glistened, muscles firm and steady with no sign of weariness. the other thing she might gather was that while he might be attempting to look all business, now that the danger was passed, he wasn't exactly rushing to the edge of the ring. His pace was slow and deliberate, and giving other would-be fighters plenty of chance to earn themselves a taste of his ire.

In other news, Mary was able to tell that her restoration attempts seemed to first work on restoring actual injuries, and only after that would they begin to restore the green portion of the target's game meter.

==

On the other side of the combat ring, Exorcist had a cleaner view of the fight while she discussed plans with Madama Sanguine and her allies. Unlike Mary, she was able to get a clean view of the scoreboard, but would be disappointed, perhaps, to see that none of the special names that she was supposed to be getting to fight seemed to be winning, or even on the list; There was no sign of Mordenite's name, or Dueys — though, in a slightly ironic twist, SaijaTsun was listed on the chart still, having been brought into the fight with the rest of them. Her score ranking wasn't very high; as was her apparent wont, when forced to combat, she was mostly staying out of things, and had gone back to using her invisibility as soon as it had started functioning again.

Something else that Exorcist would be able to gather, though, was that each participant in the event appeared to be automatically traced and added to the board, whether they'd signed up or not, since many of those who were now on the boards had, quite obviously, not intended to be there at all. Further, when she found Rhinestone's name on the chart, she would notice that it bore an identifying mark that was shared by a section of others. Not a large majority, but at least a slice of those fighting bore the sign, and a quick search for details taught her that it was a mark that was standing in place of their registered operator, and signified an unoperated entrant. It was a charity event supporting them after all, so she might suppose it made sense that a number of such navis bight be present, as well as sanctuary representatives. This would confirm beyond doubt, however, that simply leaving the ring and being transported to the cooldown area was, itself, safe.

Beside her, Madama sanguine stopped the pastry merchant and selected a tart that was, apparently, mint and wildberry. She was also reading the names on the chart, and seemed amused to see that most of the names climbing to the top of the ranking now were ones that they knew — Uprising and each of her SPs were building score rapidly, as was KenmoeteMan. ResQ appeared to have gotten more credits than she might have expected, too, though nowhere near as many as the more overtly violent gate crashers. The announcer Prog sounded like it was going to blow a fuse as it excitedly called the unfolding fight, shouting that they were down to less than one quarter of their total entrants, and that any of the leading five competitors might soon pass the forfeit total, if they didn't defeat each other before then. The matron looked to Exorcist as she bit into her tart.

"Well, it seems as though the lady of the manor will be dressing up regardless, so perhaps you have won that part. The only names I see winning, though, are ones we already know, so, I think that if any particular names were given to you, that you may need to discount that part of your challenge. Still... you are right..." She bit again and chewed thoughtfully then pursed her lips. "These matters do see... childish, compared to the seriousness of the main task you were given." She shook her head, then shrugged, her chest heaving with a heavy, eye-drawing bounce as she did. "I do not think that your employer will be too put out if these little childish games are not complete, so long as you do what matters most, and that, it sounds, benefits us all here, regardless of what Zennocracy's actual plots might have been. Perhaps we should walk around to that area over there, and... speak... with the leader who wanted so badly to capture us. What do you think, Exorcist?" she wasn't going to press the issue, though, so it seemed; if Exorcist wanted to walk right away, they would go, with grace trailing behind in uncertain silence. If, however, she wanted to wait until the match was done with and things had calmed down more, the woman in red was happy to wait.

"It is concerning to me, though, that you say you have not heard from your support program in a long time. If you would normally expect her to communicate with you, then it is curious and concerning that she has not while sneaking around inside the parts of the mansion that are off limits, don't you think? Can you not contact her, and at least make a communication to her?"

==

Of course, Bhikki probably didn't want to have to answer a phone call around about now, no matter how well intended...

Not least because her lips were busy learning all of the many arts of erotic kissing from her partner in crime. As the exchanges grew more heated, Hoodwink's initiative with the kissing grew, and between tasting her lips and stroking the contours of her tongue with his own, he moved quickly for heated extra kisses and small bites around her neck. The dress was undone as much as it could be, though it still pooled around their tightly pressed mid sections and as Bhikki fought to bring him to a similar state of undress, she found the buttons of his shirt slipping open easily under her hungry, eager fingers. His chest, once she exposed it, was much a she'd seen before, only closer now, and more intimate. the scars looked old and long healed, but serious, and in the world they lived in, a navi usually only kept scars when they meant something. Hoodwink had a fair few, and he didn't seem bashful or ashamed of them now that he was holding her in his arms. Indeed, if ever her fingertips traced over any of them in full while she worked his shirt open, it elicited a low, hummed groan of passion from the man.

His fingers dragged at her back while she worked, not applying his nails at all, but still coursing the soft tips of his fingers down her exposed skin in time with the rock of her hips and the complimenting upward push back from his. At the end of one motion Hoodwink pressed his upper body closer towards her, enough to push her back upright to her knees again and give him access to her now exposed chest, where his neck bent to trail kisses down over one collar bone, and then to the small swells of her breasts. She may have been self-conscious about having light assets in the past, but in this moment Bhikkhuni was able to learn that size did not affect their ability to be worshipped gently with kisses, licks and the occasional well appointed suck of pressure. If anything, the smaller area that he was working with helped make his attentions more precise and sensitive as he held her close, teasing each delicate point and pinching them lightly between his lips. His humming sent small vibrations through her nipples as he worked, and the short gasps for breath in between the moments when his lips broke away were clear sounds of desire to her ears.

Even as he lavished this attention on her, however, one of his hands remained below her hip, holding her behind and squeezing it rhythmically as he kept on guiding the roll of her hips against him, and pressing his own head back up against her hidden folds, sliding the now sodden barrier of fabric between them back and forth along he length with increasingly firm strokes.

"Of course we can meet again, my beautiful thief..." His words were hot, hungry and breathy as they slipped out between his attention to her chest. "If it is what you will..." His hand squeezing her behind slipped under the fabric to grip the flesh directly, pulling her undergarments up in the process... and then, a few moments later, through another roll of her hips, the strip of fabric keeping her heat from his had mysteriously worked its way off to one side and she could feel him, very, very directly, hot, hard length rubbing its full strokes against her. His head rose to bite her neck a little more fiercely as he brought them together for a longer, firmer stroke that teased every part of her sex, and drew back far enough to make the Buddhist aware of just how near they were to coupling fully.

Each motion then brought the head of his length near enough to rub at the most sensitive part of her nethers, and then back far enough to crest, achingly, at the threshold of her entrance... but teasingly patient, he waited, keeping the angles of his strokes just safe enough to prevent taking her properly, until Bhikki herself spoke up. When she did, however, she felt a solid, heated throb from the length pressed beneath her, an obvious tell of how thrilling he found her request, even if he tried to remain gently on the outside. If anything, it was just the kind of proof that Bhikki needed from him, to demonstrate how much he wanted her, without making it crude.

"I would say, If you will it..." His voice sighed in her hear as his arms wrapped up and around her frame, "But I need you too... I Will it..." This time when their rocked motions drew her back, she felt a very subtle shift in the angle of his hips, and the guiding strength of his hands, moved her own body slightly as well, and after the briefest of tantalising pauses at the brink, she began to feel what had been promised; just a little at first, gradually, gently, but in slowly increasing motions that sought deeper and deeper each time. Somehow, unspoken, he seemed to understand that this was probably an unexplored garden and took as much care as he needed to. For Bhikki, it wasn't painful, as she might have been worrying... It wasn't exactly easy, to begin with, and the feeling of such a girth making its way inside her pushed against edges of discomfort, at first, but as ready as her body was, and with the care her partner was taking, the excited pleasure and stimulation she was feeling more than won over the odd stretching feeling. It wasn't very long before he was holding her tight to his chest and kissing her neck, his breath panting and the thrum of his heartbeat clear to feel, while she was pressed close enough to feel the pressure of his hips against the delicate nub at the peak of her sex, and below, the incredibly full sensation of him pushed all the way to her limit.

He held her like that for a few extra moments, tilting his head to kiss her lips properly and share the connection in stillness for just a while, but even held like that Bhikki could feel the regular throb of him inside her, a pounding of his pulse as he longed to begin moving once more. At last, he broke for breath, and leaned back on the pillows with a lidded, affectionate grin on his lips. His hands stroked at one cheek first, then slipped down the length of her body, caressing every inch of her to the waist and around to her behind as well, before returning to her front, one set of fingers rising to trace teasing, erotic circles about her left breast, while the other dared in up the inside of her thigh to begin to thumb slowly at the parts of her womanhood he could stimulate. Something still slightly cautious in his eyes let her know that the man was making sure that she was comfortable and ready to continue, and wanted to let her set the pace, at least to begin with.

She was initially skeptical with the result of her throw, but Alex chimed in at a rather opportune time. ["Should be safe, looks like he's not the only unoperated one in the arena, according to that scoreboard. That said, looks like the other two Navis CrypticMan mentioned are MIA."] She glanced in the direction where she thought she remembered the scoreboard to be. [[i]Right, and looks like my more boistrous "allies" are out way ahead than Saija.[/i]] ResQ thought to herself.

By that time, Exorcist responded in kind regarding the other unoperated Navis.

Quote (ResQ)

I'm keeping him on a tight leash.

She replied quickly.

After sending the message she focused on her own name and associated score, which showed her trailing far behind the others, which was understandable. Though she wondered just how long she had to continue babysitting Rhinestone, winning the most points wasn't a goal, even if she had the capability to sweep the field; it sounded like the "extra" prize would only be revealed to a winner in her own entourage or group of associates.

That only added to the need to keep Rhinestone out of harm's way, which ironically he was relatively safe in the "declawed" battlefield compared to the rest of the net. That said, Rhinestone wanted to follow ResQ's lead, which only sealed the deal. She imagined others would be watching, and at least if she was in someone else's shoes with access to the arena's systems, she'd use that chance to warp Rhinestone away to some hidden holding area, away from any help. She mentally debated who should go first; but each time came up with a scenario where she would somehow lose sight of Rhinestone. Going simultaneously offered up that same risk, but she questioned if anyone who could tamper with the system would be able to be so precise as to separate two programs in very close proximity. It was their best bet, in her mind.

With the decision made, she moved the ANGEL closer to the fence, and extended her right manipulator arm towards Rhinestone. "Grab on, it'll be harder to separate us if we leave at the same time." If he hesitated, she'd only give him a moment or two; she had already taken quite a bit of "damage," so additional delays wouldn't sit well with her. If he continued to protest/hesitate, she'd simply pluck him up from t he ground with her ANGEL's five-fingered right hand and pull him close to the ANGEL's torso (and somewhat close to her own lower torso/legs) before making a slight hop up and over the arena fence.

This wasn't the first time Mary had been approached enthusiastically by a man in black full body leather and she didn't intend for it to be the last, but she had to admit, the circumstances weren't ideal this time around. "I must not be keeping up my routine very well if the prospect of attacking a blind, pretty nun is so appealing to people," she thought to herself, her bare leg shuffling uncomfortably out of the side slit of her skirt as she stood in pinned position. Facing off against the sci-fi navi was making her increasingly aware that, besides just not having the battle acumen of most navis, she didn't have the raw speed either; her reactions seemed significantly sluggish, even as she focused solely on her own preservation.

At any rate, when Uprising swooped in to help her, she smiled (in recognition of no longer being pelted with laser blasts) but otherwise made a show of not recognizing her till she spoke. She wondered, as she heard Uprising encourage her to have fun, if Uprising either knew what she considered 'fun' or just how incapable she was of participating effectively in a melee like this that Uprising would consider 'fun.' She didn't mind sharing the banner-girl's body heat for a moment. Tough girls like her weren't really Mary's usual targets, but she appreciated skinship of all kinds. "I'll try," she chuckled half-heartedly.

She hadn't learned much from the scoreboard, other than that things really hadn't worked out the way she'd wanted. For now, maybe she should follow her ally's request and just have fun; that had always been her motto anyways, after all. To that end, she came up with a two part plan: one, get closer to KenmoeteMan so she could stop squinting at him through the crowd, and two, use his ferocity to hopefully create a field of protection around her while she pondered what to do next... unless he eliminated her too, which would be some pretty bitterly comedic irony. Unfortunately, the empty bottle at her belt reminded her that there was still a little while to go before she could use the excuse that she wanted to heal him again. For now, she'd try to reach him while trying to evade enemies... If her other bottle was gone, she'd lost any way to heal herself, even.

Mary
1)Movement to KenmoeteMan
2) Dodge

--------------------------------

Exorcist had picked up on a few extra pieces of info, which she transmitted over to ResQ in message form as soon as she could:

Quote (Exorcist)

Actually, there are several navis who seem to have markers identifying them as unoperated. On one hand, that confirms that being thrown out isn't dangerous to them, since they wouldn't have come up with a special indicator for the navis in this contest who are unoperated if it was lethal for them just to be ejected from the field. On the other hand... having their identities all pointed out like that feels a little foreboding too.

With everything that was going on, Exorcist figured that someone ought to keep an eye on that scary blue monster-robot that had attacked them earlier underground. He ought to be hard to lose, but she mentally took inventory of his location as she continued speaking with the matron. She found it a little hard to keep her eyes off of pastries, too. Among Counterinfectualism's disciples, she was the weakest when it came to resisting the sweets. The matron's reminder of their chief concern, who Exorcist had looked for and then promptly forgotten in favor of cute foodstuffs, caused her to shake her voluminous white hair nervously and blush. "O-Of course! Let's go see what we can learn," she agreed. "For what it's worth, it looks like Mary is trying to join KenmoeteMan. She must-" she started, then realized, from here, she could see the obvious reason Mary was headed that way. "Oh geez," she murmured, pulling her hat lower on her head and averting her eyes with embarrassment. Hopefully Mary would keep her clothes on.

At least there wasn't really any worry of Bhikkhuni getting up to anything like that. There was, however, the concern that she might be in some sort of threat by Zennocracy's security or other unseen factors around the fair. "Y-You're right. She seemed like she was showing off earlier then suddenly went quiet. I wonder what's happened..." she murmured, then began to send a message... before realizing she had a more direct source of information. "Wait just a second... Burt!" she asked. For some reason, she couldn't pull up a view-screen with his face at the moment; he'd disabled the feature. Pouting, she opened up an audio link, which was not disabled. "Burt?" she asked again.

"I-I-I wasn't watching!" Burt answered hastily from the other side, accompanied by the sound of what sounded like toilet paper being pulled clumsily off of a toilet paper holder.

"... Watching?" Exorcist asked, her eyes and upturned brows looking more worried than usual, which meant she looked pretty darn troubled. "Watching what? The tournament?" Burt sounded like he'd been caught doing something... but the only one that was naked was KenmoeteMan. Would he be watching KenmoeteMan?

"Y-Yes! Right! Wooow, that tournament's really something? Also I'm still wiping my ass so that's why I didn't turn on a video feed. Gosh, Exxy, you perv! Trying to watch me wipe my ass!" he laughed, utterly without charm.

Exorcist cringed a bit, wishing she hadn't opened up the audio for everyone to hear. "B-Burt... Um... Oh, yes, I was going to ask: what do you know about Bhikkhuni's current situation?" she asked. Again, another noisy jerk of toilet paper.

"Nothing! Bhikkhuni is doing nothing at all! Like always, right? She never accomplishes anything, really! She's not giving me a boner, that's for sure. N-Not like you! You always give me a-!" Burt babbled, before Exorcist suddenly terminated the sound.

Clenching her fists, with her eyes closed and her eyebrows tensed, tears tugging at the corners of her eyes, Exorcist tried to face the Red House Matron again. "P-Please forget you heard any of that. But it sounds like Bhikkhuni is okay," she spoke quietly, trying to collect her senses. She had some very strange new information she needed to process. "Let's get to that interrogation..."

-----------------------------------

Burt had deflected what could have been an embarrassing discussion for Bhikkhuni, but he continued to enjoy the show, privately, as Bhikkhuni herself continued to provide. Hoodwink's major touching points were her breasts and bottom, but positioned as she was, Bhikkhuni mostly found herself clinging to her partner's shoulders, occasionally with a palm going to his chest. She knew that she really ought to be doing more with her fingers, because he was, after all... but she had no idea what to do, and all she could do for now was hold on for dear life. The feeling of having her breasts played with was driving her crazy and there was very little she could think to do to pay him back for it. Her mouth was a quicker learner, and she tried to match his pace with lips and tongue.

"Oh my Buddha," she whispered quietly, feeling first his hand beneath her panties, then a short moment later, the panties stripped from her, now allowing her to directly feel what she'd been sliding against for a while now. She worried seriously that he was going to, in her inexperience, exhaust her from just the teasing, without her ever experiencing the actual penetration, which would be equal parts frustrating and embarrassing. As soon as he actually entered her, though, she realized she'd evoked Buddha's name way too soon. A noisy cry escaped her, just barely held back from begging him to stop, as she was smart enough to realize that it probably wasn't going to feel so uncomfortable as it had to start. Sure enough, even though she was still crying embarrassingly, both in the audible and the tear-producing sense, she found herself moving her hips along with his in clumsy, rocking thrusts. She found ridiculously watching her own lower body, as if worried she'd see some sign of how completely she was being filled.

She ended up with her cheek nestled beneath his chin, the large, loops of her hair brushing up against his face as she cradled her chin up against his collarbone. "Cr-Crazy!" she managed, not managing an actual complete thought. She was starting to understand how Mary had ended up the way she had. She felt a new sensation inside of herself and tried to push up and meet his lips again, hanging awkwardly for a moment while her lower body twitched, before collapsing back down. She felt completely, one-hundred percent spent already, like she needed another navi to come and tag her out, but also not one-hundred percent sure she'd let them do so without a fight. For all his talk of exclusivity, she found her usual characteristic greediness welling up... was it possible she could become so good at this he wouldn't want to do it with other people? She'd have to keep pondering that one.

"Wait, wait... I'm going crazy," she gasped breathlessly, feeling that her partner was already touching her sensitive areas again, going to something new she hadn't felt before below using his fingers. "You pervert..." she complained again, hiding her face by burying it in his flesh again.

For as much as Burt was enjoying the peep-show, he was wracking his brain for three reasons. For one, he'd often enjoyed toying with Bhikkhuni as being the one non-erotic member of his group, and here she was, giving him new fap material. For two, she didn't even seem to realize he was watching. For three, she was also pondering now if it was okay to rescind his policy of not letting guys get close to Exorcist... What if his infatuation with the idea of her being mutually exclusive to him was actually killing off what could be the sexiest porn known to mankind, featuring the sexiest lady known to the net? He had a lot to think about.

While Mary wasn't really much up to serious fighting, it still had to feel a little disappointing that her alluring helpless damsel look wasn't really doing much for her than attracting players looking for cheap points. Most, it seemed, were too occupied in the competition to really make any approximations of the more enjoyably type of ravishment she might invite. Fortunately, the more the field thinned out, the more that the remaining competitors had to focus on not getting eliminated by each other, and the amount of blindsides being directed at her steadily decreased while she worked her way along the border fence towards her goal.

In this instance, her goal was, by happy coincidence, moving steadily towards her as well, or at least, steadily towards his mistress which also happened to be towards her. Close enough. It wasn't long before any of the tiny scuffs she'd taken had been fully restored and her healing process began to top up her game bar, gradually. The same seemed to be the case for Kenmeote as she watched him. He might have had a healing process of his own at work, judging form the damage he'd taken earlier and how much more restored he now seemed. He was still moving at a relaxed pace, and often had to stop and manoeuvre here and there to deal with another opponent who chanced between him and his destination, but at this point he seemed to have largely calmed down from his previous fury. The sudden ridiculous turn of the fight had offended him at first, but Mary would be able to gather that, with a few extra moments to vent, he'd gotten himself under control.

Physically speaking, his injuries were gone, leaving just an exceptionally well toned and well proportioned body at the peak of conventionally ideal fitness flames still licked about him, but by the time he as approaching Mary herself, close to the rail, the swordsman seemed to have collected himself considerably, though he wasn't fazed by his lack of decency, now that most of his covering fire had died down. It was, once more, so desperately unfortunate that Mary was blind, because she would not be able to see this very up close and personal experience of his well appointed form, firm, tight musculature, slightly glistening skin, and general underwear-spoiling handsomeness, if, of course, that was her kind of thing. His eyes looked her over quickly when he drew near, and he turned side on slightly to keep an eye on the combat field while talking to her.

"You are Mary, I take it. Others have told me that you are blind, so I think it is quite brave of you to stay the line here as long as you have." There was quick shuffle of feet as he moved suddenly, first deflecting a thrown weapon of some kind, then fending another navi that rushed them and delivering two quick counter-strokes with his sword that removed the attacker as swiftly as she had arrived. Mary barely had a chance to catch the attacker's details, beyond that she'd looked female and has been wielding what had, in all honesty, looked like a lance in each hand. Kenmoete turned back to her.

"Apologies. This... farce of a battle, that the conflict we were embroiled in has become seems to have added a large number of... very enthusiastic, if inexperienced competitors. If you cannot see, perhaps you would allow me to accompany you back to my mistress, and we can leave this spectacle?" He moved for a moment as though to step closer to her, then paused. He glanced at her, then down at himself, and with a slight hiss of quenching fire a simple red fabric fundoshi wrapped itself about his hips and covered his, admittedly quite pleasing endowment. It seemed he believed her blindness and hadn't been concerned about what she might see, before, but covered up now so tat when he stepped close to offer her a guiding hand, he wasn't brushing her with anything uninvited.

The guiding hand he offered actually slipped around her waist, offering support and guidance as he began to walk back along the outer rail in the same direction that Exorcist and the others were heading. they were moving as well now, of course, so he wasn't going to catch up unless they moved faster, or until they reached wherever they were going. As Mary might have expected, the touch of his skin against her was very, very warm. It wasn't burning hot or uncomfortable, but it was pronounced — a bit like a heat pack pressed to the skin. he kept his sword in his mian hand, and walked with Mary onthe inside, close tothe rail, so that he wold be free to deal with any other assaults as they went, but inthe process of escorting her to safety, he seemed to relax further inot a much more congenial and personable demeanour.

"You are a healer, are you not, Mary? I guess it's you I should thank for the attention I got earlier. It was an unexpectedly nasty situation, and the assistance was much appreciated." She'd heard his wrathful shouting before, a firm, confident voice that challenged and demanded answer unwavering; now when he spoke it was still the same voice, but it had settled into a smooth, flowing tone that invited conversation and, if sonorous male voices were a thing she liked, seemed to be perfectly tuned to send tingles down one's spine. It wasn't entirely clear how checking on this polite individual was exactly related to their mission, but Mary would probably be able to think of some justification if she wanted to.

==

A little further off, others were pursuing more mission-relevant work. well, that and mooning lightly over the temptations of sweet pastries. and tarts. Oh well. Inbetween her glances at what was on offer, and back tothe combat field, Exorcist would manage to confirm that the only large mech-looking thing in the arena now was ResQ's ANGEL; the kidnapping boss and his machine had been 'defeated' once they'd been brought up to the battle ring, and the powered suit had disappeared in the process of the navi piloting it being transitioned to the cool down area. In fact, it looked as thoughthe fight would be over fairly soon; the enthusiastic caller Prog had jsut announced that onyl ahandful of fighters yet remained, and that it was neck and neck with a few of them. In fact, it seemed as thogh, by this point, Uprising, Kenmoete and two other names she dind't recognise were the only ones with a shot at victory, as those four far outstripped the point tallies of any of the remainder.

Her reaction to Mary's predicament drew another brief chuckle of laughter from the matron, at the same time that in seeing it apparently made Grace giggle behind her hand. Madama Sanguine only glanced briefly and shook her head, then turned back to Exorcist, though Mary lagged behind a little, continually turning back to watch with a small smirk and a faint blush.

There is no need to be embarassed on either of their parts, miss Exorcist... you forget what sort of a house I run. It may surprise you to know, but both Kenmoete and Fuukouhan here work many duties beyond being my retainers and body guards when I travel." There was a small ripple of amusement in her voice as she said this, but Exorcist might catch a brief moment of pouting from Fuukouhan, just behind them.

"Matron..." She pleaded softly, sounding just a little put upon. The other woman laughed louder now.

"You are not ashamed of it, my dear. I know that you aren't. You now care for two young girls who were damaged and in need of a proper parent as well, and I do not think you would pout at me mentioning that either..." This seemed to draw Grace's attention back to the group for a moment with raised eyebrows, but the formally-dressed retainer held her ground in the face of her matron's chiding.

"I know... It's just, well. You know I am proud to wear the red, mistress, but I am still the Boundless Sky of Taiyōtamashī, and I try to keep that... separate. Image matters, and I can't very well intimidate if everyone can think of me as 'Eve' and the times when I wear less than..." she glanced back to where Kenmoete was beginning to accompany Mary along the rail behind them. "Than 'Joel' back there..." he mistress nodded and put an arm about her bodyguard's shoulders briefly then released it again.

"I am sorry." She turned her eyes back to Exorcist and Grace, ducking her head in a brief apology for having what seemed like at least a partially private conversation in front of them. the majority of it might have gone over Exorcist's head, or at least the fine details would have, but given what she'd learned about the organisation that the matron ran, the general content seemed pretty clear. Given the suggestion, of course, it grew subtly harder to avoid noticing that Fuukouhan's simple formal kimono didn't really hide the fact that she had a body and figure that would be well suited to more enjoyably pursuits.

Before any other awkward questions could come up, Exorcist had to deal with her Operator and his peculiar behaviour, and while it was clear that something was going on, the brief, if equally embarrassing interlude was enough to diffuse any remaining tension; the others seemed amused, but in a way that was obviously sympathetic to Exorcist's plight. The mistress pressed her hands together with a quiet clap. "Operators... truly they are peculiar creatures, are they not? It sounds at least as though your other companion is safe, so now, shall we all?"

They had just about reached the edge of the area where ejected navis milled about, had drinks and generally calmed down and cooled off after being removed from the battle. It was ringed off in a similar way just next to the edge of the actual arena, and several navis bearing the Scotsdale regalia moved about tending to the needs and requests of the outed competitors. Amongst them, Exorcist would be able to pick out a collection of navis that were, very obviously, the ones that had assaulted them, attempted their kidnapping, and then attacked them down below. It seemed as though the entire gang, more or less, had now ended up here, with the exception of those lucky ones that they had EJO'd earlier. They were sitting in a largish group, looking deeply put out by the turn of events, and several were grumbling to each other. They seemed to be waving off the Scotsdale attendees, though a few had resigned themselves to the situation and accepted refreshments. It wasn't quite clear whether they were letting other navis into the cooldown area, but they didn't seem to be letting anyone leave until the battle itself was concluded. It was at about the point where Exorcist would be looking over the situation, that a couple of more former entrants were zapped into the area together, and she would recognise Rhinestone and ResQ, having just left the ring.

It looked as though they could simply try to enter through the gate way that was the only exit to the area, and see if they were allowed in, or it seemed that they could just hop the fence where they were, though it might draw attention...

==

For their part, ResQ and Rhinestone were able to conclude that just jumping out, as a quick exist, should be perfectly safe for the sanctuary rep, and he didn't hesitate in grabbing tightly to her ANGLE when prompted. There was a momentary distortion, a fuzz of her senses, before ResQ felt herself landing, as though she'd just finished her jump, with a major difference: She'd come down still holding Rhinestone by one arm, and with him gripping her back, but she was at the same head height as him, and it was her physical arm gripping him. The ANGEL, it seemed, had been counted as a weapon and returned to her PET as part of the transition, so she was on her own two feet again for now.

They'd arrived, as expected, in the middle of the cooldown ring that was attached to one side of the main fighting arena, and within moments of landing, two navis wearing Scotsdale livery glided up to them with helpful smiles. A woman carrying a couple of packs that looked a bit like drink bottles offered one to each of them with a grin. They were, indeed, drink packs designed to refresh, and if ResQ took a slug from one, would find that it had a fresh, vaguely crisp flavour, with a small hint of sweetness. The other was a male who offered a couple of towels in case either of them wanted to clean up by hand instead of simply refreshing their appearances.

"Easy there, well played both of you! This is the cool off area, so just relax and refresh yourselves for now! We're asking all the competitors to stay here until the battle is finished, but if there's anything either of you need just stop anyone wearing the crest and we'll sort you out!" He gave them each an extra grin for reassurance and then moved off to help others.

ResQ would be able o see the area much the same as Exorcist, only a short distance away, was, however, she was close enough to see that the cluster of beaten heel navis and other would-be kidnappers were suddenly very close to Rhinestone, and the leader, as well as several others had jolted up and locked eyes on him briefly as they'd appeared. Now, many of them had begun talking quietly and rapidly with each other.

She had a few seconds to assess everything around her, but it seemed like it was hard to tell hat way anything was going to go. Out in the ring, the final conflicts were taking place, with only a few competitors left, according to the loud commentating. Exorcist was just outside the cool off ring, but both Madama Sanguine and CascadingGrace were right with her. The matron's female retainer was with them, and was skilled and powerful, from what she knew, and the swordsman was only a short distance behind them, along with one of Exorcist's SPs... though if either of them jumped the ring to rush over, it would warp the directly here. Uprising and her SPs were still fighting, unaware of the situation, but they had beaten all of these goons once, and now they were in a much more obviously public setting, with many, many more eyes on them. Perhaps hey wouldn't try anything here? But if they did, one of their instructions had been a strong request to not let any of the other faire-goers know that anything was a miss. The kidnappers were still talking to each other, and Rhinestone was still clutching her arm.

==

The other erstwhile member of their team was not specifically contributing to the mission either, though it could be argued was was totalling up a great deal of experience points. Bhikki was processing a number of new sensations and struggling to do much beyond hang on for the ride, but Hoodwink, warm and strong beneath her, seemed to be taking great delight in every gasp and cry that she made, and every twitch and sudden tense squeeze of her body. The initial moments of stillness, while they pressed tight together for the first time had soon given way to Bhikki's own eager hip motions, and as she adjusted to the stretched, full sensation and the initial discomfort faded away, she could indeed sense the way her body was giving internally to accommodate him. There was certainly a hard limit on how deep he could go, and every time her hips pressed back to his hilt she would feel that sense, inside, that she could take absolutely no more, but then she pulled up and forward again, for another kiss, and felt the dragging, sliding feel of his length withdrawing and instinct craved the urge to feel it pushing in again right away.

Each time their lips met, it was for a fleetingly brief moment of tasting and the play of tongues before she pushed back down for the next long stroke. Bhikki herself wasn't the only one governing the movement now. As soon as she'd shown she was ready to move herself, Hoodwink's hand on her behind had slipped up and around to one of her hips, helping to move her in a rhythm that worked. Slight hints of pressure from the hand at different points gently guided her into rolling her hips a certain way, and in turn, the twist and tilt of the action made the well slicked and screamingly sensitive nub of her sex rub back across the waiting fingertips of his other hand. That hand wasn't moving on its own, so each pulse of sensation came in rhythm with the strokes of her hips and the arch of her back, the press and flex of her thighs, all at once, and it came together in a way that played her body's instincts like an instrument of pleasure. On one hand, her partner obviously knew what he was doing with her.. on the other it seemed almost unfair how easily he seemed to always have another burst of sensation to deliver to her, when her barely seemed to be doing any of the work.

As she lay against him, settling to the point where her breasts were pressed to his chest, Hoodwink still kept one hand in place, rubbing and circling, even though it must surely be pinned between them at an awkward angle, if she thought about it too much. His other slid, stroking, up from her hip and over her back to become an encompassing hug that held her to him with a tense, intimate affection. She could hear the rapid hammer of his heart beat, with her head down; their motions weren't as rapid as they might have been yet, and she could feel the thud of it beating three times to each cycle of their bodies. There were the beginnings of fresh perspiration forming across his chest as well, and she could hear him panting hard, just by her head. The upward press of his hips met each push of her hips, and his pace began to pick up, growing quicker and firmer now. Each stroke was still long and full, but every now and then his harsh breathing was filled with a low, ecstasy-fuelled moan. He did pause, holding her tight to him and burying as much of himself in her depths as he could, when she told him to wait, but in the same moments she felt his head and neck crane slightly so he could bite at the top of her ear and whisper to her.

"Not sure how long I can... you're just too much, my beautiful little thief..." It came out almost as a throaty growl, and there was a definite deep rumble in the whisper. The arm hugging her to him squeezed tight and she could feel him making tiny, almost imperceptible circles with his hips, still deep inside her to the limit, but stirring her depths rhythmically. The shaft inside her was a stiff, firm sensation the throbbed with his heart beat, just a fraction of a moment behind when she felt it in his chest.

Alex flinched slightly as the ANGEL made a sudden reappearance in the PET's 'hangar,' but he was attentive enough to shift his attention back to ResQ herself. She re-appeared in the "cooldown ring," without her ANGEL but with Rhinestone in tow. She wasn't quite as surprised to have lost her ANGEL in transit, in her mind it suggested the area had most/all combat programs temporarily disabled. Rhinestone wrapped around her back; however, was a bit more of a surprise. If he didn't move quickly to unhand her, she'd give him one warning by softly clearing her throat before she adjusted her garrison cap, and shot him a less-than-amused glance.

Her expression softened only when approached by the two attendants, and accepted the drink pack with a slight smile and a simple "Thanks,". She also accepted one of the towels, but instead of wiping off her brow or something similar, she elected to brush off her uniform, which had reverted back to its "dress blues." As she brushed down near the bottom of her jacket, her amber eyes looked to the Navi who handed her the towel.

"Thank you. Oh, by the way," she punctuated with an indirect request to have the Navi pause at least for a moment to hear her out. "I think some of the others might need to cool off a bit more, since they seem to be making eyes towards me and my... partner here," she said with a tinge of haughtiness as she glanced and gestured towards the cluster of busily whispering HeelNavis. She didn't expect much from the attendant, but if it bought her a few more moments, she could use them to avoid another brawl. Regardless, she shot a message to Rhinestone.

Quote (ResQ)

It looks like we've only jumped out of the frying pan. Keep cool, but we'll need to make a quick exit, or things will get ugly yet again.

After that, she tried her best to look non-chalant in keeping tabs on the conversing heelnavis and the construction of the cooldown ring's barrier, trying to "show" more attention to the scoreboard in a feigned interest in who'd ultimately come out on top... so to speak.

Mary was ironically much hotter under the collar than the fire-coated man approaching her, though perhaps not so ironic when one considered she was the only one of the two with anything close to a collar to be hot under. It took every ounce of her acting skills not to let her face heat up in accordance with her accelerated heart rate... it was always a little red, of course, but if she allowed herself to look as horny as she felt, he'd realize pretty instantly that she wasn't blind at all, which would ruin all kinds of fun she hoped to have. "Oh my word... This is very fine indeed," she thought to herself, her mind desperately working on some kind of way to get him away from the melee. She wasn't doing much better with getting her lust under control than Bhikkhuni was keeping her self-serving desires at bay.

As enthralled as Mary was by KenmoeteMan, the attacks clashing around her were also attention-grabbing as she tried to return the introduction. "Yes, my name is Mary. It's good to meet you," she responded, ducking her head a little without proper timing. It was hard to say if that was her blindness or her lack of battle aptitude. Either way, by the time she got her head back up and refocused her attention, she found his manhood newly wrapped. It was still a very pleasing sight, but a little sad, given what she'd had access to moments ago. She'd be lying if she said that she hadn't been interested in some accidental brushing, just to give the man a taste for it. At any rate, she wanted to help influence the battle further, but she had no ideas at all. With that in mind, it couldn't hurt to accept his offer. "Thank you, that's very kind. I appreciate your praise, but I'm really not cut out for this sort of activity."

She allowed him, nay, silently thanked him for placing his hand around her waist, then in a further show of acceptance, rested her own body close in to his own, as much as she could without impeding his movement more than he was already going for. He needed his legs and sword arm free, so the most she could do was allow him to brush her hips and the softness of her rather considerable breasts. Her damp hair touched his shoulder; hopefully, he, as a fire navi, wasn't averse to that little bit of moisture, but he could be. "I am a healer, yes. Formerly a Christian woman as well, now a Counterinfectualist. I'll explain that some other time," she chuckled. "My, is it your tendency to fight wearing only your underwear? I don't feel much on you," she joked, though she'd give anything to actually feel him up and confirm her supposed blind guess. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. Only curious. This isn't what I typically wear into combat either." She stepped a bit awkwardly, so as to allow the hand on her waist to slip down to the torn slit in her skirt, where her bare upper thigh was. His thoughts at the moment were probably not as naughty as her own, but she'd love to make them that way.

She seemed plenty content at this point to leave the mission and all related tasks to the others. She'd saved lives today, after all! It wouldn't hurt anyone for her to indulge a little.

-------------------------------

Exorcist and ResQ were not quite so certain that the navis at risk were out of the woods yet, and thus, the star Counterinfectualist continued towards the cooloff area to try and conduct an interrogation of some kind, or at least keep an eye on the large, dangerous navi that had appeared to be the ringleader. Still, the conversation made her a bit red. "Oh gosh... I-I'm not judging, but please, don't tell Mary that he has that kind of... erm... proficiency. You see, she's on a sort of quest for self-improvement where she tries to live a more Christian lifestyle, which her nunnery tells her means she should, er... try to limit her inappropriate actions of that kind. I hope I'm not going into more detail than she's comfortable with but... she is in... a very dangerous situation," she remarked, gulping as she looked over to KenmoeteMan and trying not to stare. She'd never actually seen such a handsome, naked navi before. The mental image of 'Eve' wearing, or not wearing, just as much, was pretty embarrassing too. "... And yes. I'm glad Bhikkhuni's okay," she murmured, but her face now looked more worried than ever. She had a lot to think about...

... Including how to best reach the enemy and interrogate him. It hadn't occurred to her that the crowd would be so thick that it was hard to edge around and speak to them, nor that she might end up having to find a way through the gate to do so. Part of her thought she should try to leave it to ResQ, but her ally already had Rhinestone to focus on. Carrying him into that dangerous group for an interrogation would be a terrible idea. To that end, if anyone was going to learn something from that mob boss, she'd have to lead the charge, figuratively speaking.

Jumping the fence would be a bad idea; she'd been told not to make a scene and a girl in a party dress suddenly jumping into a landscape dotted with heelnavis would probably draw unwanted attention for the oddity of it all. Instead, she'd need to approach from the gate. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too hard to get through... "Excuse me," she asked on her way in, then pointed past towards ResQ. "I'd like to come in and speak to my friend, if that's okay?" It'd be embarrassing if someone blocked her entering, but they said part of getting what you wanted was to make it look like it was the natural course, so she needed to keep walking without stopping if possible.

She also figured she should let ResQ know what she was doing...

Quote (Exorcist)

Thanks for keeping an eye on Rhinestone. Please continue to keep him away from the dangerous navis if you can. I'm going to see if there's any way to get information from them. I may need you to vouch for me as a friend to enter, so just be wary if someone asks you to do so.

For that matter, she needed to figure out how she'd convince those navis to talk to her... Hopefully one of the navis had loose lips, but she'd be in trouble if some way to get the info easily didn't produce itself.

-----------------------------------------

For her part, Bhikkhuni's interrogation had long since ended and her goals were now more in line with Mary's. Her small body was honestly probably unable to pin much of anything, with her position on the top really only providing an illusion of control; his hand wasn't really stuck under her chest any more than he was stuck beneath her. "Auuuwah! That's not waiting at all!" she cried indignantly, still unable to believe just how fully she felt filled. It was difficult to comprehend, going from her previous experience, having only played around with that area using small fingers to now having someone else enter her with something easily longer than her from the palm out. "You dummy!"
she complained again, though her body wasn't matching her complaints, as she desperately attempted to match the pace, whacking her admittedly somewhat narrow hips up and down repeatedly against the man's groin.

"You have to finish! I can't keep doing this, I'm going insane! I-I'm-!" she warned him. What that translated to was her voice beginning to lose its words and turn into a long cry, which he probably recognized from any number of other young ladies, even if Bhikkhuni herself didn't know what it meant. He could feel her losing control of what may perhaps be an embarrassing bodily function for her untrained self, especially given that she hadn't formally announced it incoming at all. It probably wasn't the longest sex he'd ever had, by any means, but it was definitely hers.

As the various pieces converged on the cooldown ring, the enthusiastic prog that was calling the match announced, with great gusto, that the final stages of the battle were drawing to a close and only five competitors remains on the field. As it continued to announce the blow by blow, ResQ's distracted glances at the scoreboard while she focused elsewhere would be enough to reveal that the names now were mostly ones she recognised. Down the bottom, Mary and SaijaTsun were both still in play, but had virtually no score. Above that, KenmoeteMan trailed close behind a name she didn't recognise, who in turn was only a small distance behind Uprising. It seemed that the rebel's idle conversation about who would win if the battle was pitched had been well informed, as it didn't seem like the one rival she'd picked herself losing to was here.

As she watched, the second name on the list blinked out, Uprising's score jumped by another large notch, and a woman dropped into the cooldown ring near ResQ and Rhinestone breathing hard. She was wearing a form fit red and black jumpsuit with glowing light lines traced across it, connecting to a variety of small electronic devices scattered about her body. A few of them seemed obviously combat focused, in particular a set of tech-looking gauntlets, matching boots, and an ocular piece of some description over one eyes. She punched the ground once as she beamed in, then stood, wincing and rolling her shoulder and massaging one arm.

"Made of bloody titanium or something..." she mumbled to herself as attendants came over to give her a drink and a towel. The other detail that ResQ might note in her side glances was that uprising's SPs weren't, apparently, in play any more either. They weren't in the cooldown ring however, and an extra look would reveal all five of them strung out on the fence as spectators, apparently waving and cheering with various levels of enthusiasm.

Her actual focus, of course, at least after Rhinestone had released her and resumed a more respectable standing-along-side position, was on the more pressing situation with the conspiratorial kidnappers, and perhaps to the credit of the family attendants, the woman that ResQ spoke to about her concerns paused, and fiddled with the other drinks and towels in her hands while she looked to where ResQ was indicating with at least a modicum of subtlety. After a moment, she nodded, then cast around with her eyes for another of the liveried assistant, beckoning him back. ResQ was rewarded with seeing the woman hurriedly whisper something to the other, with a flick her her yes, then turn back to her and her 'partner' with a smile.

"Don't worry miss, We'll keep an eye on them, and if you'd like, I can stay with you and your partner until we're ready to let everyone out. We know that sometimes tempers can flare in the ring, and we want to ensure that no-one is going to pose any risk to any other guests. My friend is going to talk with them now, and we may keep that group of guests back a few extra minutes to make sure they're calm enough to leave, alright?" Settling into the role of safety buddy, the lady grinned as she looked between the two. "So, have you both been enjoying the faire? It's turned into a very successful charity event, I think."

Behind them, the male attendant she'd spoken to had walked over with a bright smile and was beginning to engage the muttering heelnavis in conversation two other assistants were conspicuously close to him as he chatted and they begrudgingly answered, though from where she was ResQ wouldn't be able to hear what was being said.

==

It was around this time that Exorcist and her companions were arriving at the pass-out gate for the area, and along with hearing the loud proclamations of the Prog commentator, she would quickly spot ResQ and Rhinestone, apparently safe and sound, talking to the Scotsdale-wearing attendants. The conversation as they approached had been mostly mirthful from Madama Sanguine, with equal parts quiet chagrin from her body guard, and a slight blush from Grace. the matron chuckled and put an arm on Exorcist's own as she chatted.

"Oh don't worry, dear, my retainers are very professional, and Kenmoete and Fuukouhan superlative above most others. He will not forget that he is here as a protector first, and for relaxation second, never fear... though I wonder... If miss Mary's view on what is good to do in the world is so out of sorts with the path she is on, why does she not simply walk a different path? I fully support self-improvement, of course... but there are many areas in which one can improve, are there not? After all, what is appropriate and what is not is always a matter of perspective. If one were to shift one's perspective slightly, then the things we enjoy that some deem inappropriate are no longer so for us."

And so her idle conversation continued, probing at both Exorcist's and her SP's various religious choices in an amused way, until they reached the gate and Exorcist took it upon herself to find a way in. She was met at the pass-out by two liveried attendants, one male, one female, who greeted her with smiles. At her question, they each seemed briefly surprised but nodded after a moment. the male attendant glanced back at the crowd beyond, since the ring was fairly full of former competitors by this point. Not cramped by nay means, but busy.

"Certainly, we can let you in, who was your friend, if you please?" He spoke as he turned back to her, but mostly seemed to be asking just to confirm, rather than making nay official notes. The woman beside him glanced between the four women seeking to enter.

"So you know, we are asking that everyone remain here until the competition is concluded. Once we let you in, you'll have to wait here with the other entrants until it's over. Will that be alright?"

Provided none of them baulked at this — none of Exorcist's companions seemed to at least, it wouldn't take long to get let inside. ResQ and Rhinestone were very close, as it turned out, and it would only take an extra moment to find them, provided that the duo didn't rush over to them first. Either way, they'd have a brief while to share details and swap facts, but not too long; the competition was surely almost over now. while they were catching up and discussing their options, another transfer announced the arrival of Saija in the cool-off ring, where she shrugged and straightened her dress, then brushed aside the offered water bottle in favour of asking is she could get a cocktail instead. She didn't appear to notice any of the other familiar faces near her in the crowd.

==

Just a short way behind, near the railing, Mary was moving in the same direction with her companion and protector. for his part, he remained fairly quiet as he walked her along; it sounded like the battle had mostly calmed down, and if Mary was listening to the announcer, she'd know that it must surely be almost over now. Despite this, he seemed in no hurry to seek out the remaining opposition and stayed close to Mary, keeping one hand about her for safety and guidance and holding her as close as she gave any sign of wanting. In Mary's case that probably meant a certain amount of very deliberate snuggling close as they walked, which he allowed, but, to her disappointment, wasn't unprofessional about. Still, any amount of daring touches or strokes she got in with her free hand would be every bit as rewarding as she was hoping for. When she not-entirely tactfully asked about his state of dress,there was a moment's pause before the fire navi laughed. It sounded oddly refreshing, considering how grim and furious he'd been earlier.

"No, I apologise, no it is not. I admit, I came to this gathering in costume, and I was not expecting the amount of trouble that it has see. The costume, alas, was not made to the same standard as my usual attire, and I might have lost my temper at some point a little while ago. Never fear, I am recovered." There were a few moments more before he spoke again, and no more interruptions from errant fighters, but at last his careful steps stopp and he pulled away from her slightly, though still held her hand to let her know he was there.

"It seems we can't simply walk out without their system taking over. We are near my mistress, though, and others of your friends seem to be close by. If you wished to step out of the ring now, I believe it will carry you straight to them. I may join you, I think I am—"

"Hey, Swordsman!!" A shout from out in the field drew his attention. Mary would likely recognise it as uprising's voice by this point... she sounded excited and exultant, likely enjoying the chance to fight without concern... but given Mary's own experience with certain emotions in one's voice, she might get the strange feeling that there was something else in Uprising's voice too... A certain heat and hunger that sounded, to be honest, not entirely dissimilar to the way she was feeling. "Come on... it's just you and me, sun-soul! You want to throw down!?" It was playful, as far as challenges went, but the undertones were becoming more obvious to someone of Mary's recreational inclinations... the rebel's tone was playful in more ways than one. Kenmoete paused, and she felt a slight jolt of... something... pass through his body at the slightly more unusual name that Uprising had used to call him out.

"On second thoughts, I may just see this through to the end after all. Perhaps. Miss Mary, would you like me to step out and accompany you back tot he ring where your friends are, or will you be alright? From what I've seen, the transport should put you almost exactly where they are... in truth they're only a handful of feet away I could call for their attention if you wish... but I suspect the young revolutionary who visited our sanctuary some time ago will not be content until she has tested herself against every house..." His voice was harder to read on this; Mary couldn't really tell what emotion exactly her protector held towards the challenge being offered.

==

Back in the mansion, other energetic pursuits were also drawing close to a conclusion. Whether she noticed it or not, Hoodwink seemed to feel the growing tension in her body and his own breathing had become a husky almost growl. She wouldn't be able to help feeling at least a little like her body was being controlled by his larger, stronger motions, and to her it would feel as though the length moving inside her swelled and grew. It was as much her own body clamping down on him and squeezing it tightly as she drew close to her edge, but either way, his hand about her gripped much tighter in a sudden passion as she hit her own crest and shot past it. It might have barely registered for her, but underneath, Hoodwink groaned loudly as the climax embrace of her already small body gripped his shaft so hard that it seemed she might force him out of her body and not let it back in. Her partner pulled his second hand free and held her hips down instead, staying inside through the fierce contractions only by driving her hips down hard to his and keeping her there through her climax.

He growled again, and his body trembled and spasmed beneath her, while his head arched back; deep inside, Bhikki would feel the heart-beat pulses of his length suddenly pick up to a rapid series of fierce, throbbing pulses, while the shaft itself went from merely hard, to a rigid bar of iron. If she hadn't been in the throes of her own climax at the time, it may have been too much and too deep form her inexperience, but as it was, her body was ready for it, just for the moment while her bliss flooded out everything else. Oddly, if she'd been expecting it, there wasn't any particular feeling of heat that came along with what she could feel; her body was more than hot enough already, as was the slightly sweating form of her lover, beneath her, now hugging her tight to his chest while he held himself as deep as he could. Not heat, but rather, a sense of all the tiniest spaces being filled in, along with the fierce rigidity still pulsing inside her, that together made for a certain understanding of what was happening, even if Hoodink himself hadn't announced it. Her own climax, and the sheer squeezing grip it had provided, had clearly been enough to bring her partner past his limit as well, and if she experimented more in the future, Bhikki would probably learn that this was often the way of things. For now, she would know that her efforts had brought her lover to a climax every bit as surely as she'd reached her own, which would probably be reassuring and satisfying for her. Hoodwink's arms just gripped her tight, rubbing her back and her behind as he held her against him, holding her still against his hilt for as long as she'd let him remain inside her.

Unfortunately for both of them, they likely couldn't' laze around the mansion's master bedroom all day, and in time; only really a few minutes of catching breath and resting, and the eventual inability of hoodwink to remain coupled with her; the dream like afterglow needed to be roused from. Hoodwink was still holding her, but he reached up one hand to stroke her hair and looked down to see of he could meet her eyes.

"Well... did you have fun, my beautiful little thief? How are you feeling?" There was a warmth of honest care in his voice; as much as he had made no bones about being a flirt and a man of easy company, he did seem to care quite genuinely that this particular event at least, being her first time, had been a worthwhile one for her.

Though her expression remained calm and unchanged, she was honestly surprised by the attendants' prompt and professional response. It seemed they weren't just some random volunteers; they appeared to have some experience with these kinds of situations. ResQ's amber eyes focused on the two attendants as the woman whispered to her male counterpart, before he set off to "confront" the group of heelnavis she'd previously alluded to. This efficiency also roused some suspicion; she didn't give any specifics as to what the group wanted of ResQ and Rhinestone, nor why, but she also couldn't shake the theory that the attendants themselves might be in cahoots. It didn't seem like anyone was questioning the sudden arrival of ResQ, her allies, and the myriad of goons they were previously fighting "for real," so the idea of a greater conspiracy didn't seem to farfetched in her mind.

ResQ then received Exorcists's message, but didn't respond due to the attendant addressing the pair. "I appreciate it, thank you!" she responded, mostly agreeing to keeping the goons at bay for a bit to allow them a head start, not so much for having the attendant stick around. She'd just have to deal with it for a bit, it seemed. "It's been quite the experience, I'm impressed with the setup," she commented, and looked around as if still in awe of the spectacle around her, but also low-key looking for her allegedly inbound ally. Thankfully it wasn't too difficult to pick her out, partially thanks to her apparent entourage. A slight grin formed on ResQ's face, she found an "out," then she turned back to the liveried woman. "I think we should be able to handle ourselves, I don't want to hold you up from tending to the rest of the guests," she explained before looking more overtly over towards Exorcist, who was approaching the gate, and gestured towards her. "Good timing, looks like one of my friends is here! Is it okay for her to come in, or for us to leave?" Her tone wasn't as haughty, making her question sound much more innocent; admittedly, she didn't really know all of the rules.

Regardless of the answer, she shot a message over to Excorcist in lieu of shouting, waving her arms, or some other less subtle way of getting her attention.

Quote (ResQ)

I see you over by the gate, we'll make our way over towards the edge.

She turned back to Rhinestone in an attempt to get his attention, and made eye contact before she glanced towards Exorcist's direction, in an attempt to tell him to focus that way and follow. If she successfully convinced the attendant to go about her business, ResQ would simply move towards Exorcist's direction. If not, she'd try to explain her actions and say "Excuse us for a moment."

Exorcist jumped up slightly at the touch from the matron, making it obvious that no matter how much she claimed she was impartial to the lifestyle, her own shyness made her highly incompatible with it. "I understand, yes. It's not for me to say what she should or shouldn't do... I don't have any problems with you or anyone else doing it, or even her, of course, but, well... from what I understand, she hasn't exactly given up her religion, despite seemingly joining Counterinfectualism. If that's the case then they, er, really frown on... that sort of thing. I suppose it's just her call to make. But she did stake out with the intention of calming her, er, libido... so if that's still what she wants to do, I think that, um... Being around a man like him while he's wearing only his fundoshi is probably not a good situation for her," she explained at length, growing redder as she spoke. She realized it wouldn't be a good situation for her, either, but for different reasons. She noted Burt glaring at her from behind the PET. "But of course, I hope she comes around to Counterinfectualism, in time!" That didn't seem to entirely improve his mood, probably because the part he was dwelling on was the part where she'd implied that KenmoeteMan was distractingly sexy.

Next up, she needed to get into the back area if she wanted to do any interrogating. Thankfully, that seemed to be an easy enough task. "I'm with ResQ, the one in the dress uniform over," Exorcist explained, pointing to the small-ish girl further in, who was still nearby the glittery Rhinestone. "Yes, I think it will be fine," she responded to the female attendant. She didn't think there'd be much to investigate on the outside. It was also pretty nice to see that there were rules against leaving now, as hopefully, that would encourage the unoperated navis to stay in this safe spot. If they left, there was a danger they might be vulnerable again. In hindsight, it was definitely worth pondering how the stage of the battle had all come up under the arena this way... she'd assumed all points converged there because it was a trap, but it seemed more now like the assailants had been set up to take the fall. Assembling there had been fortuitous, in the end. It definitely begged the question of whether the same forces that had prepared her and Uprising heading that way had also tricked the hunters into using it as a base of operations.

She had to make at least a cursory show of going over to meet ResQ, in case either attendant was still watching and had any reason to be suspicious. "Hey ResQ, thanks for keeping an eye on things here. I'm going to go see if I can't get an answer or two out of those guys while we've got them holed in here. Not that I have a lot of leverage against them right now... but maybe after that dust up, they'd be apathetic enough about their chances in a second encounter to persuade them," she greeted her partner briefly. "You can feel free to come as well if you'd like, you might be more of a hand at this sort of thing than I am." Ordinarily, she'd be wary of the criminals, but the double reassurance of the contest's safeguards and having several powerful navis backing her up relieved some of that tension. "Excuse me," she addressed one of the HeelNavis, although her eyes were on the larger navi who'd posed the greatest threat in the fight. He probably had the best answers, but was also probably the least likely to be forthcoming with them. "The night's wrapping up... I think it's about time you bunch spelled out what you hoped to accomplish tonight," she began, sternly crossing her arms and setting her dark eyebrows to an agitated tilt. Even her intimidation face was just cute, though, at least in Burt's estimation.

------------------------------------

Smiling along with KenmoeteMan's laughter, Mary listened intently to his words. "Oh, I'd be quite pleased if you-" she started to answer, not ready to give him up just yet, before realizing his attentions were now elsewhere. She had mixed feelings about the challenge that was issued. On one hand, she loved this sort of thing, even just watching it; her naughty mind wandered to how fun it would be to watch the two have it out, in her favorite sense, in front of a crowd like this. On the other hand, the fun that these two wanted to have appeared to include battle, the one type of fun she was most incompatible with... not just because she was a Christian, but also because she was very, very comparatively weak with no combat abilities. "I'll just leave it to you, then. Don't worry; God works through good samaritans, but he also guides me when I'm in need," she explained, reaching blindly for a moment until she found the rail, then scaling it. Anyone watching would get a pretty good peek at her long legs before she made it to the other side.

With that, she could return to her group, but she was far more interested in watching what antics KenmoeteMan and Uprising got to. She stood with one hand on the rail and her head turned to the side, making her usual charade of craning her head upward blindly and listening, while actually staring through the narrow slits of her eyes into the ring.

------------------

Bhikkhuni's struggle was coming to a close as well, though unlike Mary, she was a participant rather than a spectator. It was probably for the best for both involved that Hoodwink had taken on a guiding role and more or less prevented Bhikkhuni from jumping off prematurely. She was at a weird point where, while still enjoying herself, she would probably try to withdraw and figure out what she should do to control herself... that overthinking would cost her and Hoodwink both the joy of a shared climax. Instead, they finished about on-time together, both getting everything they needed out of the experience.

The formerly nervous girl was now a great deal more pleased, as, even if her suspicious nature didn't entirely trust Hoodwink not to be over-selling the experience for her sake, there was a lot of physical evidence to imply that she'd done her job well... even if most all of it had been literally reflexive. Her face wasn't cooling down much as he continued to stroke her back and buttocks, making her feel cozy and, for the first time in a while, a little bit guilty for fooling around while everyone else was busy. When he looked down, she'd already be looking up at him with a nervous expression, seeming to anticipate that it was about time for her to get packing. She looked away, then pushed her cheek back against his neck. She pouted and didn't exactly return his courtesy. "I-It felt pretty good, I guess. You were pretty rough at the end, though... Y-You're too big! It's weird for it to get that big!" she complained, though she knew that he wasn't overly large and also couldn't really do anything about it even if he was. "But... thanks," she added, with her eyes fixed on the inconsequential dresser at one side of the room.

"So... I guess... Um... What do I do," she murmured, unable to ignore what she felt must be a stain on the bedsheets and moisture coating her thighs.
"Can I use your shower? O-Or is it okay if I just jack out?" Bhikkhuni asked. She could also send Mary a message about what would be the best protocol,
but she would much rather trust Hoodwink's advice.

As more of ResQ's friends and allies arrived in the near proximity of the cool off ring, the cluster of reverse-kidnapped heelnavis took note, through furtive glances, and swiftly grew more and more foot-shuffling and cowed. The leader seemed to be busy accepting some kind of standard-issue chat from the attendants, likely about keeping a positive attitude and not holding any grudges, but even if the talk didn't rely apply to the situation, he seemed to be taking it with a downcast face and occasional apologetic mumbles. The reality of their situation seemed to have mostly taken what fight they had left, if any, right out of them.

As it was, the attendant with ResQ gave her a last smile and a nod once it became clear that some of her actual friends were close by and moved on to continue doing her job elsewhere, while Exorcist and her band of safety in numbers were swiftly let into the area to meet up with ResQ and Rhinestone. A few moments later, Mary joined them as well, the very short range transport picking her up and dropping her down again in what was practically the same position, more or less. Between the attendant that ResQ had been speaking to, and the ones at the gate outwards to the rest of the fair, it was made clear that they could come in to join friends, but they still had to follow their rules and not let anyone out until the contest was completed.

For her own part, ResQ would notice that Exorcist was blushing mildly from whatever she'd been discussing with the matron in red, who in turn had a broad, amused smile on her lips and a soft, low chuckle for a response. Alongside them, the woman they'd identified as CascadingGrace, and the matron's personal bodyguard, both of whom seemed much quieter in general. They had a chance to talk now, and there was a vague sense of calming and slowing over the area; in the past few minutes, that atmosphere and lighting had gone from a bright midday with a light breeze and warm sun, to a pleasantly warm evening, with a stillness in the air and the first hints of stars beginning to peek out through the darkening sky. Lights were coming on all over — traditional flaming torches off to one side, and cool neons off to the other, in fitting with the themes of the areas.

The sounds of impacts and crashes came from the ring, amidst scatterings of cheers and other sounds of audience appreciation, though as Mary would be able to tell from her surreptitious peeking, her two friends were, indeed, the only ones left going at it. It wasn't always easy to get a good look at either of them, amidst the way they moved about the rather shattered and damaged arena space, but it was still a good show all the same. She'd watched the pair exchange some words before they'd started again, though it had been somewhere towards the middle of the ring and she hadn't been able to hear them. After that, the swordsman had shrugged and given the obvious over-emote of a put-upon sigh, then stepped back to ready his weapon. Uprising has seemed pleased at the prospect. The fight was an interesting one to watch, mainly because of how strikingly different their two styles of engaging were. Kenmoete was fast, nimble and precise, moving in a focused defence from his target, feinting often and only making cuts when he was certain to land them. Uprising, by contrast moved with sharp deliberation in her actions. She wasn't faster than him, but every part of her body moved with aggression, striking with knees, heels and elbows just as often as with a fist, or with her banner, with was a near constant spinning motion that fended off and also seemed to disguise exactly what her strikes would be or where from. She also didn't appear to so much as flinch when his burning weapon cut at her, even when the blade cut in ways that burned through parts of her outfit, and she was showing skin in some places — and a series of firm chest bindings in others. The things she hit that weren't Kenmoete himself, mostly rocks and a few chunks of metal structure that had once been cover opportunities, generally shattered or crumpled. His face was calm and serious, hers was alight with excitement, eagerness and a certain pinking of her cheeks that Mary could guess wasn't entirely from exertion.

While Mary was distracted by some of these sights — particularly Kenmoete's well defined features flexing and exerting as he fought, no doubt — the others moved across to the clustered former kidnappers and began to try their luck at questioning the would-be criminals. The most leaderly amongst them looked up as Exorcist asked her innocent question; it was actually an expression that bore all the signs of someone fed up with everything and wishing he'd stayed asleep that morning.

"Accomplish? Getting paid. How's that? Fat chance of that now, I guess." He shook his head and kicked at the dirt idly from where he was sitting. "We were told it'd be a quick easy job, no-one getting hurt, and we'd never be identified, right? Wasn't supposed to be any fighters, just grab, deliver, get paid, take the drop as some scary evil heels," his voice took on a self-mocking tone for a moment, and he made small 'spooky' gestures with his fingers. "That no-one bothered to ask the names of, and then be on our way. Feels like we're taking the fall for real here now. Right set up if you ask me." His grumbling trailed into something self-pitying for a moment before he looked up at her again.

"And what's your deal then? Someone paying you lot too then? Not like that..." he glanced up at MadamaSanguine and Fuukouhan just behind, and then bit back something that sounded like it would have been very insulting. "Eh, not like she needed any looking after anyway, from what I can see. This stinks." Around him, the other navis that had been responsible for the attempted abductions murmured in agreement. He looked about the assembled group, now numbering, from his perspective, half a dozen strong and capable, then shrugged. "I ain't getting paid tonight anyway, so... what do you want to know?" He seemed willing to give some more direct information, if any of them asked now, but the chances were that time was short before events would move on to the end of the evening and whatever speeches and presentations were due. One way or another the fight in the arena wasn't going to last long.

By this point it seemed as though all the disparate parts of their entourage had come together again, and indeed, the only one actually missing from the group now was Bhikki... but there didn't seem to have been any special alarms of riots from the direction of the Scotsdale mansion, so, she surely couldn't be in too much trouble.

==

Indeed, Bhikkhuni had claimed the prize she had decided to seek, and would probably be able to rejoin the others fairly soon. for now though, she'd notice that Hoodwink actually relaxed a little more once she answered his playful question and revealed that, pouting or not, she'd had a positive experience overall. She'd only notice by virtue of being pressed against his bare skin as she was and his outward demeanour remained as pleasantly friendly as ever.

"I am sorry if my enthusiasm for you got the best of me towards the end. If you are sore, I would be quite happy to kiss your hurts better..." He chuckled softly, then began to sit up again, helping her to rise as well, though he let her stay more or less on his lap if she wished to. Returning sensibilities, of course, had to make themselves known and Bhikki was quite aware that if she was not making a mess right already, she likely would be very soon... probably at least... he had been holding himself quite deep at the end. Regardless, a chance to wash up was the main question on her lips and Hoodwink nodded again.

"Well, you don't need to go right away... but I'm sure your friends will probably be wondering why you haven't returned to them yet. It's getting late, after all." sure enough, out the window, the sky was darkening and the stars were beginning to come out... but if Bhikki had a reliable clock handy, she'd know that it hadn't really been that long, and was likely just a programmed environment shift.

"As for what to do," Hoodwink rubbed her back again and kissed her softly, letting it break into a smile against her lips before he pulled away. "Well, we navigators are blessed with not having to worry about any of the physical risks or downsides to such activities, so if you feel like a shower, that's probably your only real concern right now. There's and en suite of course... wouldn't be much of a mansion master room without one. How are your legs... feel up to walking a few steps?" It was said mostly with amusement and a light contentment in his voice; they'd rested long enough that even if Bhikki's experience had left her with watery limbs and shaking muscles unwilling to support weight, she'd probably be at least passable recovered by now.

He slipped off the bed, quite casually comfortable in his own post-coital nudity now, and Bhikki would be able to have another full-body look at his scars if she didn't follow him right away. He led her to one side of the room and opened the adjoining door to show a well-appointed bathroom, mostly in white tile with silver fixtures. The bath looked like it was also a spa if it wanted to be, and the shower had multiple directable and hand-holdable water sources, as well as a small circular dial that related to the jets in the ceiling; it had tags such as 'Natural Waterfall' 'Amazon Rainfall' 'Netopian Mist' ... and 'Vehicle Wash', oddly enough. Hoodwink busied himself selecting a few towels from an airing cupboard and spreading them out on the warming rack, after gesturing the smaller woman towards the shower if she wanted it. It wasn't completely clear whether he was intending to join her for the rinse off or not. He had promised to kiss her sore places better, and pleasurable or not, there was probably at least one place she was at least a little bit sore in... but there probably wasn't time for any more fooling around, even if her loins felt up to it.

"As for after, dear Bhikki..." He was still neatening the towels on the warming rack. "I can certainly see you safely out of the mansion and let you rejoin your companions, if that's what you wish me to do. I believe they'll be moving onto the charity speeches and the charity forfeits soon, and I don't think either of us want to miss that, do we?" He cast her a quick glance with one eyebrow raised, and a mischievous grin on the corner of his lips.

"No problem, we'll see what they have to say," ResQ replied to her comrade, then turned to follow her weaving path through the crowd. She looked over her shoulder, and gestured towards Rhinestone to follow as well, she didn't want to lose him in the crowd. Once the goons were back in sight, ResQ's sharp amber eyes glanced amongst the group, and occasionally looked about to see if any other recognizable baddies had splintered off from the group. When Exorcist stopped in front of the group and questioned them, ResQ held back a pace behind her and to her right. To avoid accidentally mimicking her questioning ally, she just put her right hand on her hip, occasionally looking around as the former attackers spilled the beans.

She honestly didn't expect them to fold that easily, which seemed to play into their own story. Small-time, possibly amateur, "criminals" looking for a quick paycheck and a clean getaway. Now they appear to have been hung out to dry. [[i]"I know that feeling..."[/i]] she mentally commented, then caught herself; she unintentionally let sympathy weasel its way in. The story and their mannerisms seemed convincing, but in her previous life she had plenty of "sob stories" in her back pocket, in case things went sideways. In fact, one possibly greased the wheels for a trip to the NERF facility, instead of a one-way ticket to a Sharo Military/NP 'slammer.'

The offer for information was put out there, and if Exorcist didn't start off with her next line of questioning, ResQ would've chimed in herself. "Who paid you then?" She asked, not expecting anything more than some token "they never told me their name" or "I didn't contact them, they contacted me" excuse. She would then follow up with another, if they didn't provide a satisfactory answer. "Then who were you told to expect at the dropoff? Or did you expect him to just mail himself to your "customer" with a nice little bow?" she pressed with a not-so-slight tone of sarcasm. Regardless of their answer, she sent a silent message to Exorcist.

Quote (ResQ)

Call me paranoid, but I have a feeling 'Creep'ticMan had a hand in this.

Normally this would be chalked up to her natural distrust of basically everyone, but the clues seemed align with her theory. He knew the unoperated Navis would be targeted, hinted that he knew something about ResQ (possibly her past), and obviously pulled some strings when she was in the bar.

Meanwhile, Alex looked back to his notes, mainly the objectives of the mission. It looked like the "Defend unoperated Navis" objective looked to be successful for now, but so far the "Have 3 target Navis compete" objective looked to be a bust; he didn't see DueAccountabilityMan or Mordenite at all since ResQ moved to the future zone, and SaijaTsun got nowhere near the high score in the battle royale. He drew a big question mark next to the "Steal the Centerpiece" objective, he'd get back to that later.

Mary wasn't much one for violence nor anything that required being a spectator, given that the most she could do was catch glimpses through the sneaky slits of her eyelids, but she managed to see enough to know that this match between Uprising and KenmoeteMan involved both torn clothes and plenty of thrills from competitors who were perhaps fond of each other as more than competitors. Those factors made this a more exciting battle for her than anything directly involved with Counterinfectualism would be. So distracted was she that she ended up left behind, while Exorcist, ResQ, and the gang went on to interrogate the bad guys.

She probably wouldn't have been much help in that interrogation, but she wasn't needed regardless. Exorcist's distinctly shaped eyebrows raised as she was forced to admit that the criminals were actually much more forthcoming with the information than she expected. Indeed, their answers lined up so directly with what had happened and what she already suspected to be the case that she had no reason to doubt them. The group had come in with fake weapons because they wanted to keep the merchandise in good shape and didn't expect any armed resistance, then, they'd switched to real weapons once they'd been threatened by the unexpected intervention of herself, ResQ, and the madam's gang. The next question on the tip of her tongue, and ResQ's too, came easily: "So who hired you to do it?" she asked, giving a quick glance over to the nearest servant of Zennocracy. It seemed like she might get honest answers, but if the one who'd hired these men was who she thought it was, it would be interesting to see if the help all around the grounds would let him come out and say it. Depending on their answer, they'd get some follow-up questions from ResQ, while Exorcist contemplated the rest. She sent back a response to ResQ:

Quote (Exorcist)

He was privy to what was happening, at least. If he just wanted us to stop them, he would have made it easier for us to find our way there... I'm betting he just likes to mess with people, but it could also be that our confusion played into this too. I think he wanted to make a spectacle of it. Keeping us in the dark while we went after these guys made sure that we had a 'fight' here in this ring, rather than being able to apprehend them right away. I think bringing them up to this public stage and confining them here in the rest area was his end game.

She still didn't trust CrypticMan (and if she knew what Bhikkhuni knew, she'd have less reason to, indeed), but he'd helped them wrap up this kidnapper threat pretty handily. Even if it wasn't supposed to be violent, navi trafficking was still navi trafficking, and she was happy they'd put a stop to this particular incident. By the tenants of Counterinfectualism, she knew she ought to execute the navis as well in order to send the evil spirits out of them, but for one thing, that'd be impossible given their current location, and for two, she knew that none of the men and women in servant's livery would take very well to it. For that matter, she didn't even really want to regardless and Burt wasn't bugging her about it, oddly... He seemed distracted, for whatever reason. For now, she was thankful, given that she wasn't eager to start any additional fights.

-------------------------------

Elsewhere, the Buddhist was busy preparing to rejoin the others, with all that entailed.Bhikkhuni really did feel like she was being teased now and puffed her cheeks up slightly with an angry glare of protest. "O-Of course I can walk! Geez, what'd you think you did to me, huh? You're not that big!" she grumbled, still moody, still contradicting herself. Though, truth be told, that was something she'd definitely been worried about. As a lady who knew her way around a shakujo (and not as a euphanism), however, she'd had a lot of practice walking slowly and carefully, so she did so, allowing Hoodwink to guide her to the bathroom.

Truth be told, even the bathroom here was pretty sexy and suggestive; if the bedroom hadn't already had her in the mood earlier and had popped into the bathroom to collect herself, the spa and tub here certainly would have done it for her. Right now, though, she was about spent, and all she wanted was the bath. She set it on to 'natural waterfall' and sighed deeply, washing up quickly and efficiently; she really hoped Hoodwink wasn't up for more fooling around, because in this case, if he had some tricks to get her back into mood for more, he really would be surprising her. "Yeah, I better get back over there fast. But uh... if it's all the same to you, I think I'll jump out and just jack back in next to them. I mean... honestly, I'm probably gonna tell em most of what happened here, but I'll be lying about some parts of it, and if they see you with me, there'll be a lot more questions. Not that I'm, uh, embarrassed about what we did or anything! It's just, you know... I want them to think I was helping with the mission the whole time."

Bhikkhuni wondered what she was doing, laying out her less than wholesome game-plan of lying to her teammates to Hoodwink, but considering he seemed to know a pretty good amount about her already, and given they'd met with her sneaking in to steal valuables from Zennocracy, he probably already suspected that lying was a big part of her character anyways. "Okay, well... With that said, this is just about goodbye. I guess I should thank you... f-for helping me not fall into that blue bastard's trap, or Zennocracy's, or whoever's. And uh... we did all this, so now we're even for that," she added, as though the experience had been a gift given for his benefit. "Yep. So, I'll just towel off and then get going," she ended, stepping out the shower, brown and glistening with moisture. Her green eyes looked up expectantly, as if Bhikkhuni was waiting for one more grant of permission to leave.

Whether she got it or not, she'd soon be off, to rejoin the others. If she'd thought about it harder, she might realize there was one more additional factor that was going to make it hard to lie to the others regardless once she met back up...

--------------------------------------

In a green flash, Bhikkhuni reappeared alongside Exorcist, clad again in her party dress (fastened back up as it had been before). "What'd I miss?" she asked, holding her hands together and rocking back and forth on her heels, all feigned innocence.

Exorcist gasped, momentarily surprised, but quickly recomposed herself. "Oh, we were just finishing up here, learning a thing or two about the mystery surrounding all this. What about you? Did your... mission... go okay?" she asked, trying to be vague, given there were still servants fairly close by.

Bhikkhuni shrugged, then held her hand about mid-level, indicating "so-so" and glancing over at ResQ to see how she'd take the news. "Well, I uh, pulled the ol' switcheroo like I was asked to... but I didn't come away with anything extra, if you get my drift. I'll explain it all later, but suffice to say, it was a set-up," she spoke quietly. Unlike Exorcist, she didn't eye Zennocracy's servants so specifically, but that was only because she didn't know where they were in the crowd. "Say, who are all these guys?"

"That, too, is something I'll explain later," Exorcist laughed awkwardly. For now, she had more to ponder: Bhikkhuni had ended up in a set-up too? It seemed like someone was very invested in making it look like Zennocracy's function was under attack, in multiple ways, and also invested in having her security measures prove up to snuff to stop those intrusions. Could it have been a handshake agreement on Zennocracy and CrypticMan's part to make her look as good as possible during her event, only to surprise her with the silly costume later on, a small wrinkle in the partnership? Or had CrypticMan meant to tamper with more than that and pieces simply hadn't fallen back into place? She wanted to think she'd get answers when they met back up to get their payment later... assuming they were still going to get paid... but she assumed they might leave with only more questions.

Far away in the Scotsdale mansion, Bhikkhuni found her ever-charming friend did, in fact, intend to join her for a quick cool off under the shower. Fortunately, his contact now was of a much more soothing and playful variety and nothing to get worked up over, unless he managed to get a giggle out of her at any point. Once they were both out and drying off, the smaller woman covered her plans for making a smooth exit, and Hoodwink just grinned at her and inclined his head.

"As you wish, my little thief. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon enough. Before you go, one last gift..." Still smiling, he leaned down just enough to cup her cheek and turn he face up to his, and deliver a single, mostly chaste kiss to her lips. This one came with a faint, more tangible tingle of data flow, though it was hard to work out exactly what it was. Hoodwink explained as he drew away. "That, was so you can get back to where your friends are without being re-directed by the host to the main arrival site... and this, is just from me to you, because I want to." His other hand slipped in between them and presented her a small greed diamond prism, no larger than Bhikki's own palm, though it glittered with distorted light.

"Open it somewhere... private. They pack quite a kick." He winked at her as he drew back, leaving the crystal in her hand. After that, he simply draped his own towel about his shoulders and let her depart.

((Bhikki gets 100 BugFrags as a bonus present))

==

In the cool down ring, ResQ and the others continued to interrogate their cornered lackeys, while rhinestone quietly began talking a little more to Grace in quiet tones about the happenings of the evening from his perspective; they swapped accounts in murmurs while the others sought more answers. The leader of the would-be criminals glanced to ResQ in particular when she asked her main question, then scoffed and snorted with as much derision directed inwardly as at anything else.

"Paid? No-one's bloody well paid us yet. Beginning to think he never intended to now. Bastard. He paused for a moment to glance at his companions for confirmation, and seeing a selection of equally tired and fed up faces, turned back to Exorcist and the others with one hand rubbing his neck.

"Look, plan was supposed to be simple. Boys and I were looking for quick work just to get by and cover some debts, and maybe stay a step ahead of some law goon who want a word with one or two of us. We stick together, you know? And it seemed like this guy could promise us clear and free from this caper, so we thought, it might help us duck some spotlights on other things too, just by the by. Guy spoke to us, but I don't think he was really there, told us about this party, gave me enough passes to get us all in on the quiet." Here, he looked across at some of the liveried servants and attendants who were still looking their way every so often. If anything, he seemed a bit unsure about saying that their right to attend wasn't exactly legitimate, which was strange concern all things considered. The heelnavi seemed to be thinking hard about something now, but it was an effort of concentration.

"The guy was kind of creepy. I can't really describe him. I think I could um..." He pressed some fingers to his forehead for a moment, then opened a small data screen that showed a dimly lit chamber containing the navi and two others in the group standing across a table from a bright-eyed Mr. Prog. they looked to be conversing with him, before the image faded out again. "Think that'll help you find him, maybe.... damn creep." The leader seemed unaware that his projection was not, in fact, showing a useful image.

"Anyway... He told us about the three people we were meant to grab... run sanctuaries for bloody useless unoperated wastes of data. Job was just grab them, knock them out and don't hurt them, and keep them quiet until the party was all done and over with, then let them go. He set up all the hacks and the holding space for us, and when we were done, we were meant to send message to the address he gave, and he'd arrange payment. That was it. Here, this one, if it helps... Maybe you can pick a bone with him for us as well, if you feel like a bit of justice." The would-be criminal extended one hand, slowly to show he wasn't trying anything, and presented a small data transfer that linked what looked like fairly standard incognito email address. If ResQ examined it, or anyone else with enough familiarity, however, she might realise that the address itself was non-functional and terminating. Even if the bandits had sent a message to this, nothing would have gotten through, and there was no end point to even be checked by anyone. A smart person might conclude that the employer had never intended to have any further contact with his patsies... and a perceptive person might guess that the kidnappers weren't aware that the contact was fake.

Overall it looked very much like they'd been employed to fail, as ResQ and Exorcist were suspecting. They might recall that they'd heard others of the gang using the same kind of derogatory language towards unoperated navis earlier as well, so the amount of sympathy they may have might vary — it was even possible that their employer thought their attitudes deserved the scapegoat treatment.

It was about at this moment that the last member of their team reappeared not far from Exorcist herself. Fortunately, given where they were, no-one actually seemed too surprised to see another person beaming in to the area, though one or two of the attendants bore puzzled looks briefly, since the match had already been reduced to just two competitors. It wasn't enough to raise eyebrows for long, however, then they soon returned to their duties while Bhikkhuni tried to get herself up to speed. It was slightly hard to do, over the increasing sounds of cheering from the crowd. Part way through the explanation, hearing swiftly got much easier as the roar became a tense hush ,and Mary, if she were still watching the battle, would know why.

The fight had reached a crescendo but it had gradually become clear that Kenmeote, for all his skill and speed, was outclassed by Uprising, especially in terms of the anarchist's raw vigour and apparent sturdiness. The combat reached its final peak fairly close to Mary, in fact, rather near to her side of the ring. The two fighters came to stillness with the compact woman straddled across the swordsman's hips with her banner in a brace position, pinning his arms down above his head in the dirt, and her other hand spread wide in a spider grip at the centre of his chest, pushing him down hard. Uprising's costume, nowhere near designed for the combat rigours that her usual outfit was, had felt the lick of Kenmoete's flames multiple times, and she was looking borderline indecent in some places. Her chest bindings had been burned enough to singe through, and from Mary's angle, she could see at least one pink-skinned breast. The other was still partially covered by trailing fabric, but even lacking proper restraint it was clear they wouldn't have caused too much discomfort or problem for he in fighting, only a little. She was showing almost as much skin elsewhere as Kenmoete himself, wearing just his formal fundoshi still, and Mary could see that, perhaps embarrassingly, perhaps not, the rebel was wearing dark green camo-print underwear with an anarchy emblem on the front panel.

Both were panting heavily, and both glistened with fresh perspiration, but while Kenmoete's state seemed almost entirely from the exertions of combat, Uprising bore a pink flush that passed down her face, past her neck and covered the top of her chest and breasts as well. Close as she was to them, Mary might detect a very slight grinding motion in the woman's hips while she pinned her opponent, disguised amongst the general heaving motions of both of them panting for breath. the crowd had hushed from its cheering, awaiting the final stroke, and Kenmoete opened the hand holding his sword; it disappeared with a small hiss. Immediately, Uprising moved the hand pinning his chest down to where their groins met; it was hard to see if she was fumbling for his garment, her underwear, or both, but before she could manage anything improper, the swordsman spoke words that Mary would just barely be able to hear.

"I forfeit this battle." In an instant, a light beam claimed the fighter and dropped him into the cool off ring with the others, leaving Uprising to curse and punch the ground beside her, before realising that, perhaps, she had gotten a little carried away. She sat back on her heels and scrubbed a hand through her hair, looking up at the night sky while she caught her breath and the every enthusiastic announcer Prog began to declare the battle over, to a renewed roar from the watching crowd. For his part, Kenmoete took a moment to towel his face and neck, then moved his hands to recall a simple, more covering robe-like garment that was light and breezy, and still, for Mary's enjoyment, revealed the majority of his chest. He moved to his matron and bowed his head to her, exchanging a few quiet words, then made his way over to Mary's position.

"I ma glad to see you rejoined with your companions easily enough, Mary. The battle is over now, as I'm sure you may have heard. Will you and your companions be staying for the ceremonies? I expect they'll begin the address in just a minute or two now." He still sounded a little bit out of breath, but the clam smoothness of his delivery remained as he chatted to her.

She shifted her weight from her right leg to her left, causing her hips to smoothly rock. If it weren't for the unamused, and mildly threatening expression on her face, the action could've been misinterpreted as something else entirely. To little surprise, the Navis weren't able to provide any meaningful information regarding their employer's identity, and every bit of possible info they had looked to have been faked or made unusable. [[i]Hm, whoever he is, he's burned every possible data trail between him and these goons. He's good.[/i]] she thought to herself.

It was still too soon to tell if the HeelNavi "leader's" lack of a detailed description of his employer was due to simple difficulty of describing the Navi, or subtle memory tampering. The latter was more alarming if true; she'd known a few 'slippery' Navis and learned a few tricks of her own in her past life, but full-up altering others' memories was a whole other level. She decided to test that theory a bit. "The image was a bit blurry, couldn't make out the details. What did he look like?"

After hearing the Navi's answer, or lack thereof, she heard Alex's voice come in through their private comm line. ["Just going through our objectives here, with DueAccountabilityMan and Mordenite being AWOL and SaijaTsun not playing ball, we might have a lot more ground to cover to get one of the hostesses's colleagues to win the overall competition. Mind pinging Exorcist to see if she has any info?"]

ResQ blinked slowly, and did her best to not roll her eyes and give away their clandestine communication. Regardless, she aimed to respond to Exxy's reply.

Quote (ResQ)

Agreed, it's too convenient to be coincidence that their job was just to briefly confine Rhinestone for a bit then release unharmed, along with the rest. They probably got lured in because they don't look to be fans of Un-ops. Off subject, but have you heard anything we could do to have one of Zenny's posse win the overall point total? Saija didn't do much, and I haven't seen the other two.

Her colleague's SP returned, with news of the job she took on. It seemed she did was was needed, but didn't get anything extra. ResQ simply glanced to the SP, but didn't do much else to respond to her report. Meanwhile, Alex wrote a check mark over the question mark that previously flanked the "Steal the Centerpiece" objective.

The more the criminal navis spoke, the more Exorcist realized that she and they, most likely, shared the same employer... and remembered that some of the things she'd been asked to do could be considered a little criminal themselves, between, on a lesser note, the collusion to sabotage the contest and, on a more serious note, the instructions to commit a theft. At any rate, even if the image showed a Mr. Prog, it seemed more likely that it had been altered or perhaps an illusion had been active at the time that didn't stay present in pictures. Exorcist knew that the bad guys were helping her now, but the Counterinfectualist in her still felt like they deserved some applied exorcism for attempting to make off with unoperated navis for the obvious implied purpose of slave trade.

The shorter of her two SP's showed up just in time to pitch out her own half-formed opinion on the matter. "Yeah, well, it's not just you jerks that he tried to hang out to dry," Bhikkhuni grumbled, thinking back to the trap she'd very nearly stumbled into, but for the good graces of her not-so-change acquaintance. "Innocent people almost got caught up in it too!"

Exorcist wondered if she ought to point out that Bhikkhuni wouldn't have risked being entrapped if she hadn't volunteered to participate in a theft, but thought the better of it, to avoid complicating the situation. She did have a point, to an extent, though... nothing had really been done for the unoperated navis. It was too naive to say he'd helped snuff out potential slave traders when he himself had given them the impetus of employment and nearly gotten them damaged in crossfire through his love of secrecy and it seemed, schadenfreude. In the end, their employer might have been trying to make a fool of bad people, but he sure came close to hurting good ones in the process. She wasn't sure he deserved the benefit of anyone's doubt.

Burt broke from watching ResQ rock her hips rhythmically, long enough to offer his own input. "This guy's making my head hurt, big time! It'll be much better when we can just have a world with no secrets, once we all reach paradise. I won't have to hide my porn any more!" he fantasized out loud.

"You live with your kids, sicko! Of course you still have to hide it!" Bhikkhuni reprimanded him.

"They're not my kids, dummy!" Burt retorted childishly.

Meanwhile, Exorcist refocused her attention on ResQ's message. Her eyebrows tensed... She realized that, actually, Mary was the only one who was paying much or any attention to the tourney any more. She blushed slightly, feeling like one of Burt's students who'd forgotten her homework, as she sent her response.

Quote (Exorcist)

There's no way we can fulfill that mission objective any more... There's only two navis left based on the scoreboard and neither of them are part of Zennocracy's group. I know because they were down in the hideout with us...

Being the only one in a good position to watch the action, Mary continued to do so, though still under the guise of looking in seemingly random locations all around the arena. This was starting to look like the kind of public activity she very much enjoyed and she fought off the urge to cheer along with the crowd. Her unabashed smile turned to an excited bite of her lip as she saw Uprising fumbling for their last remaining garments... a surprising development, but not at all unwelcome. "Oh dear... If they keep this up, I'm going to have to slip back off and find someone to abduct me again," she whispered quietly to herself, her own face now flushed nearly as red as Uprising's.

"Me too!" Burt added in, causing her to jump slightly. "Wow, that's crazy! You can sense sex without your eyes, huh? Or maybe you can smell it from there, huuuh? Nya ha ha! That's pretty sick!" he guffawed noisily, upsetting someone in the bathroom stall next to him. "Ooo, lean in closer! I want a look at those cute panties!"

"Closer in which direction? I've lost track of them, I'm afraid," Mary teased, feigning her blindness again. Soon enough, her fun came to an abrupt end, likely a good thing for the modesty of all decent folks watching, but to the disappointment of all similarly mind deviants such as herself. She tried to hide her crestfallen disposition as the very handsome man approached her again; he was now wearing a little more than the loincloth he'd had on earlier. "Yes, I believe we'll stay a bit longer," she answered KenmoeteMan pleasantly, only being courteous and, of course, conscious of the fact that they hadn't been rewarded yet. If she knew that there might be further hijinks to come, she'd likely be more excited. "I couldn't watch, of course, but I could tell that you had a spectacular duel with your ally just now! Do you and she end up rolling around together like that a lot?" she asked, beaming with enthusiasm at the idea. It seemed a little out of character for a nun, regardless of whether she meant in the fighting sense or the sexual one.

Under some more scrutiny, the former leader turned fall-guy grimaced for a moment, then looked at the recording himself. He seemed uncertain for a moment, expression shifting, then looked back to ResQ and the others.

"Um, right.... he was real creepy. all, everywhere and stuff. Um... He had this um..." The navi was thinking hard, clearly trying to hammer down details in his mind and struggling. "He had a big, green head, and, um... like, a small body, and white, empty eyes... Er... um, and he had these things, on his head, like yellow paddle things..." The navi shook his head. "He was creepy as fuck... I've never seen anything like him before. It was weird..." Once again, the leader of the group didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the description he'd given, and by his expression believed he'd conveyed a unique and telling profile of something unusual. Some of the others along with him nodded in vaguely uncertain ways. One of them perked up slightly at Bhikki's comment and the leader glanced across, then back again, taking notice.

"Hey... you mean to say that creep's been playing other sides too? Bloody hell, this was a set up form the start, wasn't it? There was never going to be any pay here at all, was there?" He said something else, with a great deal of vehemence, but it was conveniently censored over by a well-timed microphone static ring of the Prog on the central stage getting ready to make announcements. the bandit calmed himself from his expletives.

"Look, lady... er, all of you, please." His eyes were still mostly focused on ResQ but scanned the others as well. "We were just trying to do a job and get paid. We didn't end up hurting anyone, and we aren't going to get jack for this now... so maybe you could just not tell anyone? We're not going to cause trouble. We just want to go, soon as they let us out of this damn play pen, an' if we ever see anything of this again it'll be too soon... so please, just cut us a break and we'll go back to being broke and scrounging for scraps somewhere else." The more firmly convinced he as that they'd all been hung out to dry, the less resistant the leader seemed to be about helping them out and sharing what he knew; it just didn't seem like he had much to offer beyond what they'd already gathered or guessed at, now. It would be up to ResQ and the others to decide if they wanted to do anything further with the failed kidnappers, or accept their co-operation and allow them to slink away from the failed endeavour.

In amongst them, Rhinestone and Grace were still talking quietly while the matron was watching the group with her usual keen gaze. It was hard to make out what the other two sanctuary reps were discussing exactly, but it sounded vaguely like they had trusted their protection and dealing with the danger to their allies and were now talking about their respective sanctuaries in low but friendly tones. REsQ might gather that Rhinestone still hadn't regained his full relaxed flirting confidence, as he'd been flexing when they first met, but was clearly settling enough to turn his disarming grin on Grace while they chatted, who in turned seemed to welcome it as something to distract from the unpleasantness.

Ring-side, Mary carried a polite conversation with the runner up of the battle for a few moments longer, but in response to her question, the swordsman just chuckled and shook his head,then answered when he recalled her limitation.

"Ally is... a very strong word to be using, I'm afraid, Mary. The situation in Yoka is a very complex one, and one that uprising herself intervened in and upset fairly recently. Things have changed. For the better in many ways, but it has been difficult for some. She and her friends brought something of a battering ram to the web of intricacies that make up the politics of my home. We have had only passing interaction since then, and I had not fought her before, and I was unaware that combat had... quite that effect on her... Ah..." He hesitated. "I probably should not go into more detail on that, out of decency, I'm afraid." Aware that Mary couldn't possibly have seen the inappropriate point that the fight reached, a sense of chivalry held him back from discussing Uprising's behaviour behind her back. It was at that point, however, that Uprising herself had wandered over, still inside the ring and still pink in the face, but looking a bit more collected. She hadn't yet rectified her outfit, and when she leaned on the partition, Mary would be able to catch the scents of fresh, clean perspiration, and an undercurrent of very obvious arousal.

"You're a bastard, you know that?" Her breath was still a little thick, even though she'd caught her breath, but there was a smirk on her lips regardless. She didn't seem angry, just... frustrated. Kenmoete only smiled.

"If you wish to pursue other forms of play, the doors of house Koushoku are always open to you, Uprising. Our rates are very competitive." Being blind, Mary would, of course, not see the way that Uprising's hands clenched slightly and her features creased before smoothing again. The aroused flush was still pinking the skin that was visible down across her chest.

"Tease..." she muttered at him, with all the tangible tension of a woman soundly blue-balled, so to speak. She turned her attention to Mary instead, taking along breath and attempting to set the matter aside. "I see you're all here, and all of them as well. Is everyone safe? I got a bit carried away in the brawl." Mary would have some time to answer, but not too much, as the announcements from the Prog on stage reached a point where they were now calling for everyone's attention. A green ring of light encircled Uprising and she glanced at it, then appeared to notice that she was showing at least one breast and her underwear, and swore. With a finger snap, her banner appeared in one hand and she spun it across her body with a flourish, smoothly replacing her damaged sci-fi outfit with what Mary might guess was the anarchist's more 'default' clothing choice, given its iconography.

Her exposed skin and damp underwear were hidden away by the refreshed clothing just a moment in time, before a light beam whisked the girl away, to place her up on the raised platform where announcements were being made.

The crowd was cheering loudly again, though it seemed that no small number had been hoping that the winner would show up without having refreshed her clothes. The fighting arena itself folded inwards and the ground began to reformat itself neatly into a fresh expanse of even grass for other people to move in and view the platform more comfortably while attendants began allowing other former competitors out of the cool down ring, ensuring that each was calm and collected before passing them through. While Exorcist and the others would have to decide one their course of action regarding the would-be criminals fairly quickly now, the Prog announcer began recapping highlights of the battle and praising everyone's participation in over-bright, enthusiastic tones. The winner as last one standing, as well as the winner in points by a fair margin, was declared to be Uprising.Exe, a late entrant who nevertheless displayed exceptional combat acumen, so the Prog extolled.

As it listed other details and statistics of the battle royale, a look around the crowd would show anyone looking closely that most of the individuals they'd been asked to interact with were still about, now watching the proceedings with everyone else; Saija had apparently met back up with the dark-skinned man she'd been flirting with earlier, and seemed to be patiently dismissing his worries, over the far side of the green. Mordenite, hard to miss at the best of times, had taken up a position near the back, watching contentedly now and casting his gradual gaze about the crowd an the stage area. It was harder to spot Duey, given his much less notable appearance, and of course, since Mary had been the only one to interact with the peculiar navi, she might not notice him sitting with his legs crossed on a table, eating some kind of yellow tart and chatting with the old story-teller. Talking at, mostly, since the old man didn't seem to be answering very often. On the whole, it seemed as though the general crowd had no idea of any of the dangers that had occurred during the festivities, so that was probably another bullet point they could check off, if they were still keeping track. The biggest disturbance seemed to be some kind of muscled body-builder, on the far side of the gathered crowd, who was actively attempting to push his product on anyone who would listen, in between flexing. No-one seemed interested.

The cool down ring was emptying out now, and it seemed like Exorcist, ResQ and the others would need to make the call about the former kidnappers now; once they were out of the ring there'd be little practical way to keep a hold of them, if they meant to.