An Appeal to the People

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kabuki's outburst got her kicked out. Though, the irony of what Kozuke said about it wasn't lost on the goddess. Chastising someone because the world doesn't conform to the way they want? Hi pot, there's this kettle you've gotta meet. She half-expected herself to be next, but...nope. She was still in. Huh.

The actress Navi had some parting words, but while she did turn to look at her, Divina didn't seem outwardly affected by them. She did, however, have a response. ...But she didn't actually say it. She was going to tell her something along the lines of keeping your emotions in check every now and then...but somehow that seemed like a waste of words. Besides, that was part of Kabuki's charm. Why try and change it? Nah, she'd just let her be, and see what she did. If nothing else, she doubted she'd do anything violent.

Soon, the dinner party was officially down to three. Just her, Uprising, and...him. But, he didn't seem interested in her anymore, calling her 'deluded'. One might think that would get her dander up, but really, it was hardly the first time she'd been called something along those lines, so aside from a slight frown, it didn't particularly wound her. What did hurt her was that he didn't even address her proposition. Was he truly so far gone that there was no redeeming him? Even she was starting to wonder if he was completely and utterly damned at this point...

...Hmm. He wanted Uprising more than her? Along with the girls from earlier, she seriously had to wonder about his 'tastes'. He did seem to see Uprising as the leader, since she was the one who spoke earlier, but...in terms of pure appearance, it seemed odd to think he wouldn't want her. Maybe a test was in order?

"If I may say something...I think I can offer a better proposal. Uprising here might have been the most vocal earlier, but, truthfully, this was all my doing. I felt that people might respond better to her cries of righteousness than mine, so I made her a figurehead. So, if anyone should bear the brunt of anything, it should be me." Divina floated up from her chair, and had a seat on her staff's handle above the table, her hands resting on her lap. "But, general servitude doesn't suit me, I'm afraid. It's too...common. But I have a better idea. Forget the children from earlier. And she's not much better." She motioned towards Uprising; she probably wouldn't like that, but right now she was more concerned with making herself seem to be unquestionably the most desirable one of the lot. "Tonight. Just you...and me. Why do you thin I claim to be a goddess of happiness, after all? You don't need those kids. Tonight, why not have some fun with a REAL woman?" As she spoke, she slowly was moving from a normal sitting position into a more seductive one. By the time she was done, it was a miracle she wasn't giving him a panty shot, intentionally or otherwise.

Her only worry at this point was if her hunch was wrong, and he accepted. But...well, she WAS the goddess of happiness, and if he did accept, pretty much everyone would be happy with the results. She hoped she was right, though, since...ick.

Once she was put outside the doors, Kabuki was, perhaps surprisingly, left entirely to her own devices. There was no greeter or guide now to dog her steps, and most of the servants that were posted variously seemed to pay her no particular mind, at least for the moment. Having dismissed her, Kira himself had feigned to not even being aware of her further outbursts to her friends, but now that she was away from him, it could probably be said that the company was infinitely improved.

While she smouldered over her warring desires; the somewhat magnanimous, and the more darkly vicious, refocused herself and generally took stock, Kabuki's steps carried her away from her place of exile and towards potentially more fertile seed beds. In seeking a greater audience to further stir dissent and potentially spread her own version of truth, she made her way up the gaudy main stairs towards the higher floors of the bath-house. Servants and minders were still positioned at moderately regular intervals, but either word had passed quickly, or else it wasn't their job to interfere, because none stopped her.

The stairway split but apparently both branches simply led to the same upper landing, since the signage was no different in either direction. At the top, however, the overly-extravagant decoration and architecture continued; thick carpet, rich, plush drapes, aesthetically pleasing plant features at measured places. As before, the themes were purple, and gold. The landing was more of a broad hall, with neatly displayed signs indicating where a guest might go to find different services.

In one direction, the signs indicated that Kabuki might find a gym and a massage parlour (no bookings needed for paying guests... though Kabuki was probably now included in this), while in the other direction, were signs leading towards the Crescent Moon cocktail bar, and also 'The Golden Junk', which showed the icon of a traditional small ship, and was probably a fancy restaurant. A third sign indicated that, if Kabuki wanted to find the Saunas, Springs, or the pool, she would need to return downstairs.

Signed choices aside, there was another branch of the hall that was narrower, and bore no signs at all. It looked like it probably led to the more private quarters of the house; it was quite possible that Kira, and several other navis lived here full time. At the end of the hall, which had several doors leading off it, as well as an additional set of stairs, Kabuki might be in time to catch sight of a brief black and white flash of clothing as the two girls from before disappeared into one of the open rooms towards the end. If they had rooms here, then Kira probably had one, no doubt grossly over-opulent, of his own too; snooping was always an option, too, if Kabuki thought about it.

If she was simply listening for the greatest volume of sound, however, there were two main contenders for her attention: a decent murmur of voices and activity could be heard coming from the direction that would take her ultimately to the Crescent Moon, but also, just a little way down the unmarked hallway, a set of double doors that would lead her to the servants and staff areas, also sounded like there was a fair level of attendance. She could probably find a break room, or off-duty quarters... or if she was feeling more daring, the guard barracks, in that direction.

----

Back in the far more tense private feast hall of Kōzuke Kira, the lord of the manor had turned his attention back to both his guests a little more evenly. With Uprising yet to muster a clear answer to his demand on her body, he let her stew while Divina made a play of her own.

One eyebrow rose up, contemplating as the goddess went from haughty scoffing at the very idea of servicing a single man, to seductively proposing exactly that. The smallest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of the large man's lips as he listened, though the glint in his eyes made it difficult to judge his thoughts; they weren't purely lecherous, unfortunately. When Uprising heard what Divina was saying, her eyes shot to the other woman, first shocked, then slightly angry. After another moment though, they widened in surprise and the woman started to shake her head.

"Divina, you can't..." She bit her words off after that, grinding her teeth. There was little point in directly contradicting her, and it was her own failing for stumbling over her own answer long enough to give the other woman such an opening. Kira, meanwhile, was watching her proposal with a weighing interest, taking every inch of eye-candy he could, but giving no sign of letching for more. When she was done, he sat back and folded his arm, tilting his head slightly.

"And what am I to make of such a turn around, then? Goddess of happiness... goddess of deception. Perhaps it is you who should be wearing the mask? Maybe if I bind your eyes, to keep them from sight, your face will be less treacherous?" He drew a breath and sighed, then leaned forward again. "Your offer is a pleasing one, lady who would have herself called god... but I hope you will forgive my suspicion when it comes at such opposition to your previous words. Am I to believe in your sudden change of heart, or to suspect some ulterior motive to an offer like that? I most surely do not attribute it to divine benevolence."

He paused to look at his fingernails, then plucked another thin strip of meat from his plate and ate it. When his gaze returned to Divina, the look was still considering.

"How do you feel, lady who would have others call her a god... to be in the presence of one who does not revere you? Are you angry? Sad? Humiliated?" So, he had been listening after all, it seemed. "By the numbers that flocked to our quiet area tonight, I imagine it must also be an unfamiliar sensation for you as well. You have followers enough, it seems. More than I, certainly. You have no need of the lives which the rebel would free." That said, however, he leaned his great size forward to plant both palms firmly on the edge of the table, watching her.

"Nevertheless... I am intrigued by your offer. Is it genuine, I wonder? I would see what you are offering before I decide. If your words are more than lies, then you will show me without fear." Fancy words or not, it was clear he was wanting to see the goods that were purportedly on offer, but in an action that, frankly, must come as a surprise to Divina and Uprising both, the man seemed to have at least a fleeting care for her modesty. Or perhaps he was simply covetous, and wanted no others to see what he was asking to be granted. Either way, he raised one hand and clicked his fingers, then made a small hand motion. This led to all of the other servants and guards in the room swiftly filing out, or disappearing through hidden slide doors at various points around the room; in moments they three were actually the only ones remaining in the room. Something in the man's eyes suggested that he didn't believe the goddess meant her proposition, but that he was quite eager to be wrong, if that was the case.

Still in her place, uprising looked like she was about to break her jaw, given how tight her teeth were clenched. Making sacrifices of herself for a cause was one thing, but apparently having to sit by and watch others do the same was extremely difficult for her. When she looked like she was about to jump up and put a stop to it, Kira's eyes darted her way.

"Let the lady show what she offers. I will have your answer after I have given the would-be goddess mine, if it is still needful. Perhaps it will not be." His voice was smooth and assured, but one thing was becoming clear; the more in control this man felt, the fewer precautions he seemed to take.

Kabuki had been determined to do whatever it took in order to exploit Kozuke's assurance that she could have the run of the house to herself, but she wasn't prepared for just how easily they let her go and even head upstairs, out of sight. "Right! Well. All the more reason for them to look back and rue the day they underestimated me and my drive to carry out justice!" she thought to herself, trying to convince herself once again that she'd be able to put some significant chink in the purple house owner's armor. Kabuki would probably be concerned that Divina was doing exactly what she'd been begging that Uprising and Divina avoid doing, if she knew that the offer was on the table, but for now, she was blissfully unaware. As such, she surveyed the lay of the land upstairs and pondered her best avenue of attack.

The actress craned her long neck around here and there, looking between her options with naked curiosity, coming off as a tourist to anyone watching. First off, she had to dismiss the Golden Junk, partially because she never wanted to have it said that she'd been anywhere near Kozuke's junk, but more because she didn't think she was dressed for the part. Really, even if she had her best clothes on, Kabuki realized that she tended to come off as a bit of a wild hick, at least when she was excited, and knew that she wouldn't fit in with high society. She didn't particularly feel like a cocktail bar currently either, although that would always be a decent place to meet people. Still, just being told she could go anywhere she liked and use all of the house's services, didn't necessarily mean she'd get a bottomless drink tab. Kabuki also knew that it took a lot of the sauce to get her buzzed, but that was hardly important. Finally, she'd stay away from the staff rooms, because, while she wanted to be a nuisance, she wanted to do it in a way that made the average person respect her message, not in a way that looked like "I'm going to hassle the guy at the register because I don't like the management policies."

Unfortunately, that had eliminated a lot of the best options as far as audience density went. Undeterred, Kabuki thought harder on what would give her the biggest advantage. Truth be told, as a fire navi, she wasn't one much for swimming; she like a hot bath, but a cold pool was not her thing. A massage would be heavenly given her state of nervousness and agitation, especially from a high class place like this, but she didn't think there'd be much of an opportunity to reach other people. After all, most people didn't talk to the rest of the room while getting massages; it was usually a time for quiet or even a one-on-one session situation.

This left just the springs. Kabuki figured that would work splendidly, as there, she could get a more or less captive audience, not seem weird wanting to talk to other people, and furthermore, she could really use a bath. Also, she was already nearly dressed the part, so no one could complain about her wardrobe once she was in. All in all, it seemed perfect... with the small annoyance that she'd have to pass back by the guards who saw her get thrown out earlier when she went back downstairs. That would probably make her look pretty foolish, since she'd be second-guessing her original decision to go upstairs and all. "Oh well. I believe half the district already believes me a fool, so I can hardly damage my reputation," she reminded herself.

With that, Kabuki headed back downstairs, sought out the springs, and entered into the area.

Divina took the newfound silence to check both Kozuke's and Uprising's reactions. The head of the purple house...seemed interested? Well, moreso than she expected. Not 100% interested, by the looks of it, but it almost looked like he might accept. In which case...she might have a problem. The revolutionary Navi, on the other hand, didn't seem to care for it at all. But alas, only one of them was a goddess charged with bringing happiness to all, and it appeared that, if anyone had to do the particular deed, it would be best if she did it.

And so he started to speak. She...couldn't really blame him for being wary of her apparent change of heart. But she knew it wasn't so much that, as...well, she should be saying it out loud instead of just thinking it. "Oh, I think you're smart enough to see exactly what's going on. When swimming in a river, which way is easier to move? Against the flow? No, it's much less taxing to swim with the current. I lost my temper just then, but now I see things as they are. You won't concede without 'reparations', and it's quite clear what you mean by that. And while I cannot accept general servitude, taking an evening to bring happiness to someone hardly falls outside my duties."

And now he was speaking again...and she knew it was coming. The way he was taking a minute to form his thoughts...he was going to turn what she'd said earlier back on her, wasn't he? ...Yep. Divina was unable to resist giving him a look of annoyance, though her irritation was solely because of how utterly predictable of him that was. "You're hardly the first to deny my divine claims, and you'll hardly be the last. Why, I'd dare say you're not even the only person at this table to doubt me." She gave Uprising a quick, amused look, to show she didn't hold it against her. "Incidentally, not that many in the crowd were my followers. I don't remember exactly how many right now, but it was, at most, two dozen or so. Most in that crowd were either locals, or Navis from various houses. Even this very one, as a matter of fact."

"Besides, I think you misunderstand. I have no intentions of converting them, should they end up in my care. For lack of a better term, it would be more of an imprisonment. They're not without their own sins to answer for, after all. And who better to watch over them than someone who has a burning desire to ensure their well-being, as well as no desire to see them escape the punishment they brought onto themselves?"

...And now came the moment of truth. He wanted to see what she was offering, so to speak. Fortunately, she had a plan to show off without fully exposing any parts of herself. Less fortunately, she didn't have a plan to completely reject doing it. She waited for everyone else to leave "Fair enough. Of course, if I show everything here, you'll have less to look forward to. But that doesn't mean I can't give you a nice taste, now does it?" She lowered herself very slightly, to where she could move freely without hitting anything on the table, but still give Kozuke a better view. "Now, tell me. What parts do you enjoy seeing?" She turned a bit, so he saw her in profile, and raised her leg, giving him a good view of her upper leg. "As you can see, if you're into thighs, I don't even have to take anything off to show you them. And my boots ensure there's nothing else to distract you from enjoying them. Unless, of course, you want to be distracted..." Slowly, and without her actually touching them, both boots began to slip off, until they were floating next to her. "If you like your girls leggy, well...you can see that that's a term you can apply to me."

"Or am I going in the wrong direction? Perhaps what you like is...higher?" Turning away from him, she bent over a bit, and the back part of her dress was raised, covering her back instead of what it was normally supposed to, revealing the back of her panties, as well as preventing her hair from blocking any part of the view. "I doubt this is the largest butt you've ever seen, but it has a nice curve to it, wouldn't you agree? Once, I was caught in a gust of wind from below, with several Navis behind me...they all converted on the spot." ...The converts had actually been in front of her, and there were 'other circumstances'. But technically, nothing she had said was a lie, per se.

"And if your interests are higher still...well, I can provide there too, as you've surely noticed." Now for the extra saucy part of her tease...she return to a side view, and used her telekinetic ability to slowly loosen the part of her dress around her neck, revealing more and more of her upper body...until where, from that angle, the only thing he couldn't see were the tips of her breasts. Other than that, the entirely of her side could be seen, with her arm being used to rest her head on for the sake of showing her body off. As an advantage, from that angle, with the exception of a tiny piece of fabric covering the top of her hip, it made it look like she was fully nude under it. Which, of course, was untrue, but sometimes the suggestion could be hotter than the truth. "They're not exactly watermelons, but my chest is more than capable of bringing joy to those that desire it...and not just aesthetically." She gave him a moment to drink it all up...and then returned her dress to its normal upright position. He'd have to live with the wonderful mental images he now had. "So, what did you think? Did you find it...pleasing?"

...At this point, Divina wasn't quite sure if she wanted him to like it or not. But she didn't have much choice at the moment to do anything besides await the response...and wonder what Kabuki was doing. She was probably all right, but it'd be nice to know what she was up to...

Fortunately for Kabuki's pride, none of the guards or servants of the house looked her way more than briefly as she returned the way she had come. Chances were, guests looking around to check their options wasn't too uncommon, especially amongst first time visitors, though maybe it was a bit odd that they didn't look at least a little bit; there were surprisingly few other bodies moving around on the open spaces between the areas of the bath-house, and despite the sounds of activity coming from various locations, it was easy to feel somewhat alone in the halls and foyers.

This sensation would promptly flee, however, upon reaching the springs area that made for the hub of the lower floor. Following the signs revealed that the hot springs themselves took up the most central section, and it was probably that the original house had been built around them, to begin with. They still held pride of place, beyond the main foyer, even though the house had grown to a much grander, more all-encompassing relaxation and entertainment centre. The entry way into the springs which Kabuki arrived at was broad enough to allow three lanes of people to pass through, though the central aisle was roped of, and at the moment it seemed to be operating at a one lane in, one lane out set-up.

There was a greeter counter to the side of the way in, and it was manned by a surprisingly modest-dressed woman who offered a pleasant smile for Kabuki as she approached. Her clothes were clearly a uniform, and understandably purple, but in terms of cut she actually looked vaguely like a flight attendant, or maybe a waitress. Her name tag identified the woman as 'Tyria', and she added a small wave to her smile, as a means of covering the quick presentation check she did for her hair, black and neatly braided, but with two forward curls deliberately styled to frame her face.

"Good evening! Welcome to Kōzuke house's majestic springs! Is there anything I might help you with this night? Entry to the springs is two hundred zenny for the hour, or five hundred for a day pass, with unlimited pass-outs and returns. All facilities available inside the springs are included in the entry cost, of course." About to continue with some more information, the woman paused with her mouth part way open, and blinked, then inclined her head.

"Ah, my apologies. You are Lord Kōzuke's personal guest this evening, yes? All of our facilities and services are at your disposal, and the pleasure of the house for your stay. There is no charge for you tonight. Would you like to enter the springs?" The offer was joined by the lady gesturing with one hand, as though to allow Kabuki through the entry aisle.

There'd be no harm in stopping to talk, most likely; after all, if she was to be made comfortable or content, then obliging her questions was probably covered. Either way, however, if the actress did decide to pass through, she would find the entry way leading to a curved junction, left and right, around a very large circular central area — likely the springs themselves. The partition seemed to be made of aesthetically pleasing bamboo, draped regularly with purple tassels or else artistic spreads.

The interior path circled all the way around the springs, and Kabuki would find three entrances inward; circling left, the entrance she found first would be marked as the women's springs. Opposite, on the outer wall was a similarly marked female change room with racks of house robes rolled up neatly for use, towels, and storage lockers for keeping anything a guest wasn't taking in with them. Circling right, as one might expect, were the entrance to the male springs, and on the outer wall, as with the women's side, the male change rooms. Progressing all the way around to the back of the large circle, a third inward entrance indicated that it was a mixed spring. Probably unsurprising was the lack of a mixed change-room to go with it; it would be fairly superfluous, after all.



While the actress was dealing with the terrible trials of visiting a hot spring, and wondering what her comrade was up to, Divina herself was doing something slightly more risky. Her quick answers were simply waved aside while their host grew impatient for her to either deliver, or not. It was clear he wasn't going to trust her sudden change of heart no matter how she tried to explain it, without something he counted as acceptable proof, and so it was with a quite intense interest that he leaned forward to watch her performance. If his past retorts were any indication, it wasn't that he wasn't listening to what she had to say, so much as he had no interest in dealing with it yet; it would be a mistake to assume the words had gone past him unmarked.

He leaned forward to watch the beginnings of Divina's tease show, one elbow on the table to prop his chin while her rubbed it slowly, contemplating. There was a small smile on his lips, but his eyes were notably more vivacious, rolling over the goddess' ever shift and twist and enjoying every inch of candy they could get from her.

As it went on, he seemed to enjoy each sight more or less equally, without really giving himself to be overly fond of any on particular area, although his head did tilt slightly while the focus was around her waist. Unfortunately, all the incessant talking and selling seemed to bring a small flicker of agitation to his otherwise appreciative grin, and a twitch of his brows. When it became clear that the 'show' was over for now, however, he sat back again with a smirk that twisted into something more unimpressed.

"Hmph... So, it is as I suspected. As with any who claim divinity; they talk much, and put on great shows to suggest the things they claim, and then ultimately, they deliver nothing at all, and expect their audience to be pleased. I am glad I did not truly expect anything more from you." Here, he glanced across to Uprising, who looked as though she was very close to jumping up and beating the man with her bare fists, tiny though she was in comparison to his great size.

"I offered to bind her eyes, but perhaps I erred: it seems as though it is her lips I should cover first." He chuckled softly, then turned his eyes back to Divina. "Perhaps you would care to make me wrong a second time, oh Goddess. You asked what would please me? I would be pleased to hear less, and to see more. That alone would make you more genuine in your words than any who have come before you claiming their divine power to me. You have yet to show me that the offer you speak of is more than empty words." He gestured broadly with his hands, as though drawing her attention to the empty room in general. "There are no others in this room; if your offer is not false, then why do you hesitate, and make show of showing nothing, instead?" He looked back at her again, and despite her posing and flaunting so far, this time his eyes were locked very directly on hers, and nothing else. "Convince me, Goddess."

Beside her, still standing before her place at the table, the grinding of Uprising's teeth was almost audible, and she looked over to Divina. Surprisingly, Kira didn't cut her off as she tried to plead with Divina this time.

"Divina, please! You don't have to go through with this!" It was a quiet hiss, but no less fervent for her controlled volume. "I can do what he wants, for the sake of the goal. I'm one voice; alone, almost nothing. It's a small price for me, really... there has been worse..." which could have a few possible meanings for the girl, but she didn't explain the phrase further. "But you, you've got people, people who follow, and who worship you."

More practically speaking, the girl was probably also concerned for Divina's constitution; it did not seem likely that Kira was a gentle man, and while Uprising had demonstrated herself to be surprisingly hardy so far, the lady who eschewed violence was almost certainly less so, in the rebel's mind. She didn't voice these concerns aloud though, not where Kira himself could hear. Hopefully Divina would get that part of the plea as well, either from logic, or a wise reading of her ally's expression. Kira simply waited, both hands flat on the surface of the table, watching to see what the next move in this dangerous game of bartering would be.

Looking at the classical uniform of the springs' greeting girl, Kabuki found herself wondering if the regular employees were aware of how corrupt the behind-the-scenes activities of the house were, as Kenmoete-Man had been, or if they were in the dark, assuming they were working in a pleasant atmosphere for a nice paycheck. She managed to return a nice smile regardless, although not the big grin and red hair that one might associate with her being especially excited. Considering that the worker was neither hostile, suspicious, seemingly curious, or even frightened, Kabuki had to assume that Kozuke had just told the staff she was important, not the specifics of why she'd been ejected from the hall. "How thoughtful of him," she thought to herself with a bit of scorn, thinking that the much more likely case was that he didn't want his staff walking on pins and needles, perhaps thinking there's no way she'd have taken him up on his offer to begin with. "Thank you, Tyria! I am eager to enjoy the springs," she responded simply. Already she was feeling a burning urge to ask, "by the way, did your boss happen to mention how he's looking to be paid sexual favors for sparing the lives of inmates he plans to execute when he called?" but she managed to suppress it. She had to keep her cool and find the right platform to speak from...

Kabuki accepted the offer and proceeded through the entry aisle, only making a few comments such as "I love your hair!" and "I've heard good things about the service here," before reaching the split where she'd have to decide which direction would give her the greatest advantage. Of course, there was no reason to intrude on the men's dressing room, nor was Kabuki feeling particularly saucy enough to engage in such a plan right now. She decided that she'd go through the women's dressing room, grab a towel and a robe, leave behind her old under-robe, then proceed on to the mixed bathing area. After all, tourists tended to enjoy mixed bathing because it was an out-of-the-ordinary experience, so she might find a large clientele there. It wouldn't hurt having some men around when she spoke either, seeing as she might be able to catch the attention of a couple of random guys, the kind who tended to be interested in her inherent trait of having giant boobs. Not that she was planning another strip show. One was enough for one night.

The actress made her way into the changing room and, finding a spot in the room that was modest enough, i.e., not right next to possibly uncomfortable or antsy tourists, Kabuki stripped off her one garment, exposing her cuvry, brown and black-serrated body, although the giant curtain of her hair would hide anything from the back. As she wrapped a towel around her body and then draped the house robe over it, she reflected that this would actually make her no less modestly dressed than she had been with her under-robe. She also wasn't entirely certain whether it was proper ettiquite to wear a robe into the bathing area, but she figured she'd err on the side of caution and would just take it off and roll it whenever such an action proved appropriate.

Thus garbed, Kabuki made her way to the mixed bathing area. Once there, she'd scope out the scene, looking for two things. First, she'd check to see where most people were disrobing and attempt to do the same; assuming they were also taking off their towels, she'd follow suit there as well. Then, she'd look for a mixmatched group of talkative people, which would likely indicate that they'd arrived from different places but were willing to engage in conversation all the same, and would attempt to mingle in, probably with, "Hello! This is my first time here in the purple house. I'm Kabuki! It's nice to meet you," once someone seemed interested in greeting her.

Divina had a variety of thoughts of Kozuke's response. First, was she not the first to claim godhood to them? That seemed odd, since in her entire existence as a Navi she had never heard of another doing that. Second, if he didn't want her to talk so much, why didn't he just say so? She was a goddess, not a psychic. And third...did he really not enjoy himself as much as he claimed? Given how he looked, she wasn't entirely buying that.

Before she could make a response of her own, Uprising spoke up, expressing her concerns over what was going on. But at this point, she was having none of that. "Yes, I do. But they understand my sacred duty, even when it involves...less than savory things." And now they both had statements that could probably use clarification, but neither had any present desire to actually elaborate.

Now, for the large man whose heart disgusted her...and at this rate, she'd be fortunate if the list ended there. She smiled, and wagged a finger at him. "Then you should have said so at the start." And that was all she was saying for now. Now to REALLY show him what she brought to the table. She undid the top of her dress, and let it drop...but there were two differences this time. First, she allowed it fall as it would naturally, causing her entire upper body to become exposed down to the belly button. Second, as it did so, two bright lights formed over her breasts, to prevent anyone from seeing them...for the moment. As she sat there, she slowly, but surely, dimmed the lights, revealing more and more of her chest...until there was nothing left to reveal. She gave Kozuke a moment to drink it in before continuing.

She then stood up on her staff, and, possibly through gravity, possibly through goddess power, allowed the remainder of her dress to slip off, revealing nothing, save for her golden panties. She turned her back to the house head, then twisted a bit to re-reveal her breasts, and thrust her buttocks forward to give him a full view of what she was offering. She then turned to her audience, and gave a smile. "Shall I go on...?" ...She hoped not. She was the goddess of happiness, not the goddess of trampiness. But, since sometimes the latter provided the former, there was some overlap...and above all else, she needed to be the bigger Navi and provide happiness to all, not just those she liked. ...Well, bigger metaphorically. She wasn't sure it was possible to be bigger than him literally. She just hoped Uprising wasn't having a stroke from her stepping her game up a bit.

One her way into the springs, Tyria seemed quite happy to receive the occasional compliment, and thanked Kabuki in turn, but she returned to her desk once she'd shown the actress the way. Once she was changed and ready, the walk to the spring entrance was short. As she passed through the mixed spring partition, Kabuki might notice, almost comically, a small warning sign that showed two black silhouetted stick figures engaging in some good old fashioned missionary, in a red circle with a line through it. Perhaps the notice might be something of a relief for her, after the night she'd been having so far.

Inside, kabuki discovered that her guess had been the correct one. The internal third of the main springs was a broad, open area, that had four pools, and a smooth stone path between them. The ceiling appeared to be open-air, with the night sky above. In the real world, that would have been an impossibility, since there was clearly a floor above where they were, but the net gave certain freedoms. Another one was that, despite the open air appearance, the warmth and heat didn't seem to be escaping into the night, either. Between the rock-lined relaxation springs, a fair amount of effort had gone into making the area seem natural, and there was a decent covering of green life in the spaces between.

There were two racks either side of the entry way for hanging towels or robes, as well as a hang rack for small pails and sluices that could be used by anyone. For the most part, visitors and regulars alike had used the racks for their remaining garments and then slipped into whatever spring took their fancy, though there were a couple of towels left lying much closer to the edge of the water, where a shy guest had not wanted to relinquish it until the last moment.

In terms of patronage, the mixed spring was moderately well occupied. Aside from two attendants wearing purple swim-wear, which was honestly more to denote them as attendants, than for modesty, sitting calmly by the racks, each of the four pools had a decent handful of visitors arrayed about the edges, in varying stages of relaxation. The nearest one, on Kabuki's right, held two moderately average-looking males, sitting back and chatting quietly, and a third woman who had a steamy hand towel over her face, and was probably dozing. Two other females were sitting on their own at other points around the side of the spring, comfortable, but not visible with or engaged with anyone else. To the left, the spring was something of a dog-leg shape, with the toe end partially obscured by the tall rocks and plants. This spring had only males in it, sitting more or less evenly spaced at the edge, not together, and not apart, all the way around about two thirds of the pool.

The third pool had more women than men, but it was a fair mix. There were a few pairs that seemed like couples sitting together in the hot waters, and one group that looked like a family; an older male, a mature female, a late teenage girl and a male child that didn't look older than ten. The older woman seemed to be resting and snuggling against the man, who had his arm casually about the shoulder of the daughter on the other side, who in turn looked like she star-gazing, up through at the sky, with her head back; the position for the teen left her chest well above the waterline, but no-one seemed to care. The youth was roving about the pool, taking up much of the centre with his meandering.

The last pool was mostly empty, save for a sing female occupant, who was seated on the edge, ladling some of the steaming water over her body, with a towel across her lap. She didn't seem to mind having her top half out in the air for others to see, but then it appeared that the majority here in these springs weren't concerned by physical modesty. It would be kabuki's choice where to slip herself in, if that was her goal; there was room in any spring, if she wanted it.

---


Back in the feasting hall, Kira was not at all put off by Divina's brief chastisement; rather he seemed pleased that she was going to be quiet for the rest of her performance, and that there was, indeed, going to be more of it. The exchange between her and Uprising went unchallenged; the man seemed content to let the two decide amongst themselves what was best, and he leaned forward again, one elbow on the table as he got a very thorough eyeful of Divina's newly revealed enticements. His gaze drank it in quite hungrily, and if Divina was the sort to dislike the feel of lecherous eyes, she's certainly be feeling them now.

This only worsened as she let more of her covering fall, though his smile was as much conceited as appreciative. When she paused, he took it in stride, sitting up a little more as he looked her over. His eyes focus in particular at the lowest point of her panties, looking to see if he could detect any signs of definition of what lay beneath. At her question he smiled back more broadly.

"I begin to believe." He raised a hand, crooking one finger to her. "Come closer then..." He put on foot up on the edge of the table and pushed; the act itself was impressive because both his 'throne' and the large feasting table were substantially bulky items, but it seemed to be no effort for him to clear a comfortable space between himself and the table with one press. "No need to stay up on the table. Come, show me what else you can do to bring pleasure and happiness." His voice was sounding comfortable and assured now, with a hinter of anticipation as well. If anything, he sounded more cordial than he had all night, but that might just be his libido talking. It looked as though he was inviting her to come and sit on his knee, though... which might be an intimidating proposition.

Uprising hadn't said any more in response to Divina's answer, but her grip on the edge of the table, and her desperate, pained expression suggestion that she probably wasn't going to be able to just stand there and let this go much further.

The path to the springs was about how Kabuki had envisioned it and, furthermore, the occupants of said springs were about how she envisioned them. They all looked like pretty normal people, especially in comparison to herself. The real question was whether they'd play ball, so to speak, when called to action, or at least to outrage, by what she had to say. Of course, she wasn't planning to go fire-and-brimstone right away. Key to her strategy would be making sure that people related to her before she went off on a diatribe, otherwise, she'd just look like a disenfranchised customer. Then again, there was also the strong possibility that the customers were already aware of the executions scheduled to take place and either didn't care or thought that Kozuke was in the right of it, but she had to hope they simply hadn't heard.

The next big question was where she ought to start. There were a number of good options: the first pool had a good mix of customers and she wouldn't seem out of place going in. The second pool had a lot of clients and she'd definitely get people's attention, being the only woman in a pool full of men, but she had to wonder if it would seem too indecent for her to plop down amidst so many of the opposite gender when other pools were available. The third pool wasn't a bad option either, with a lot of folks to speak to, but she also wondered if the family would be offended if she talked about executions around their kids. Finally, the last spring had one woman, who would either be happy to have some company or irritated since perhaps she'd isolated herself for a reason. Whatever the case, plenty of options were open to her and she wasn't sure she could really go wrong.

Given that she wanted people to notice her and that this was, after all, a mixed spring, she figured that she might as well plop down amidst the men, which would hopefully get their attention right away, especially since, unlike the families or couples, they hadn't come here with anybody. She went ahead and shed her robe, leaving it on one of the racks near the entrance, and grabbed one of the miniature buckets to use for cleaning her hair. Seeing as she was going to sit with a bunch of guys, she decided that prancing up completely in the nude would probably seem a little overly provocative and instead loosened her towel on the way over so that it would hang over just her front. That would give her enough modesty and allow her to respectfully fold it up before she got in the spring.

After making her way over and doing as she'd planned, Kabuki folded her towel at the water's edge and submerged in to the cozy slot of the pool that wasn't overly occupied already, grinning wide and glowing white and red as her body disappeared under the water, up to about abdomen height. She was rather tall, so there were few baths that would take her much past that unless she really slouched. The fire-navi felt a few unnatural shivers run up and down her body as the water surrounded her lower body; after all, fire navis weren't really made for bathing, but she still enjoyed it regardless, as long as the water was warm. The giant curtain of her hair would provide just enough coverage for her upper body not to appear indecent, despite being completely above water, but not enough to hide the size of her bosom by any means. The grooves along her body shined red as a toothy, satisfied grin settled across her face. "Ahhh... HEA~VEN~LY!" she cooed, feeling somewhat guilty almost immediately after. She hadn't come here to enjoy Kozuke's nice hot springs, certainly not while Uprising and Divina were currently doing their best to resolve things with the fat bastard. She'd come here to get a statement across.

Still smiling, she looked around the spring, trying to see if any guys were currently looking at her and hoping the answer was yes. She blushed a bit, which was only natural, she figured; she was being a bit of an exhibitionist at the moment. "Evening, GEN~TEL~MEN!" she called to them, waving one hand enthusiastically. "I am but a simple actress, visiting the district. Would anyone like to chat with me? I've always been one for gossip and I'm a bit LONE~UL~LY, visiting by myself!" Her grin settled into a smile and she gulped self-consciously, realizing that had come off as a bit skanky there, telling a pool full of naked guys that she was alone. "I've visited some of the other houses in the area and learned a bit of the HIS~TO~RY surrounding the area! I was surprised by how much there is to learn! Are you all tourists here?" she inquired, her featureless pink eyes shifting around in the blackness of their sockets as she attempted to naturally catch the eyes of one of the other bath-dwellers. "I must confess, though, I've got a lot on my mind right now. I'm not even sure if I should be relaxing here right now... With what's going on, here in the district," she murmured, throwing out a metaphorical fishing lure and hoping someone would bite.

While she wasn't an overly large fan of the kind of leering she was getting from Kozuke, Divina was willing to tolerate it, especially if it meant ensuring the safety of the prisoners. Unfortunately for him, her panties didn't offer much of a view of what was underneath them...the one thing they could provide was the cleft of her buttocks, and she was both facing towards him, and her hair naturally covered that area, anyway. If he wanted to see what a goddess looked like down there, he'd have to wait for her to take them off.

That said, now that she was both in a state of silence and toplessness, he seemed more...friendly wasn't the word, but he was certainly losing some of his edge. If she continued, maybe he'd slip up, in a manner of speaking. For the sake of that, and not much else, the goddess Navi lowered herself both literally and figuratively, letting him feel her, firm, tight buttocks with his leg. She also activated a light, positioning it so that Uprising could see nothing of him below the waist. Exactly what she was doing, the revolutionary Navi couldn't know for sure, but suffice it to say that Divina was in the process of finding out exactly how much Kozuke was into this...or would have been, but it occurred to her that this would work better if she still wasn't wearing her gloves. A more...personal touch was needed here. And off they came, leaving her a small amount of golden fabric away from being completely clothing free. There, NOW she could begin. Just reach down, and...yep, up and down, like that...

One or two had glanced at Kabuki as she entered, but nothing more. Not until, that was, she opted to head right for the spring that was mostly full of single males and, however tactfully, strip off and slip in. Despite being at least a bit cautious, there were nevertheless a number of eyes case in her direction as she climbed into the spring, catching an eyeful of anything they could while still trying to be subtle.

If Kabuki was choosing to slip into the pool at the part least occupied by others, she'd find herself settling in at the end that was mostly obscured from the doorway, the curve of the dog-leg that was partially hidden by the rocks and foliage. It was still quite visible to the rest of the pool occupants though, but she wouldn't be able to see any of the other three springs from here. Even so, she certainly had the attention of most, if not all of the men in her own spring. In most cases it was curiosity, fascination, and some even seemed just plain interested in the unusual appearance of her body, without lust at all. Ok, maybe a little lust.

A few nodded polite return greetings as she said hello, and the three nearest to her sidled up a little closer to the actress' end of the spring when she wanted to know they wanted to chat. Not every eye was on her face, at this point, and it might be a prudent thought to wonder which ones were interested in chatting with her, and which ones were interested in... 'chatting'. She had to be expecting the reaction, though, announcing that she was alone and lonely, while swimming naked with a spring full of men.

The one nearest her smiled as he resettled, using the excuse to situate himself quite close to her in the nook, leaning back on the edge with both elbows out. He grinned at her, though there was no missing the fact that his eyes roved.

"Not many tourists come here. Mostly locals, like us. You're a new face though, and quite exotic to the eyes if you don't mind me saying." He grinned and winked at her, but it wasn't particularly creepy, so much as an honest guy just casting a line of his own to see if the possibility was what it looked like. On the other side, another of the males moved closer, as well.

"What sort of hist'ry ye meaning, ma'am? Not much goes on here, save the hot springs, and working out which house is offerin' the best deals month to month..." He shrugged, unconcerned, but was more or less shameless about catching as much side-on view of Kabuki's assets as she was going to let his eager eyes get. A third man spoke up, though he only came a little bit closer.

"How'd you mean, 'what's going on'? Is that something to do with all the commotion we were hearing from outside earlier? Most of us were chatting about that a bit ago, wondering what it was all about, but it seems to have quieted down now, whatever it was. Were you out there?" this guy didn't seem overly interested in Kabuki's body, so much as the possibility that she might bring more to their earlier debate. Many of the other males in the pool murmured a similar curiosity, in support of him.


In terms of what was going on, the bit that Kabuki didn't know about was continuing to play out in an ever more lewd spiral, over in Kōzuke Kira's private dining hall. Divina approached and took up the mountain of a man's offer to take his knee, and Kira seemed most pleased by this action, humming appreciatively at the goddess's actions.

Putting herself this close to him did end up acting, as far as the lord of the manor was concerned, as at least something of an invitation. Straddling his leg, she would be able to feel that, despite his size, his limbs were solid muscle; his knee lifted ever so slightly once she pressed down, rubbing up against her groin in a very deliberate way. He sat a little straighter, too, letting him lift one large hand to stroke against her exposed back; the hand was very large, and, perhaps unexpected for a soft overlord, slightly rough from work of some sort. In more pleasing circumstances, it wouldn't have been an unpleasant sort of roughness, and his first touch was soft, but it was still hard to forget that the goddess was more or less under duress here.

Another aspect of his slightly straighter posture was that Divina had to bend a little more and reach down further to get a hold of what she sought; at least it wasn't hard to free from his robes. In what even might have been a moment of self-conscience, Divina would have felt the man's core muscles tighten up a bit, pulling some of his gut back from being quite so obvious. There was clearly a strong build of strength beneath, but there was still no missing that a good deal of his belly was still of the squishy variety.

What she found with her searching hand was... well it matched the rest of the man's build, which meant that it was a challenge to get her fingers all the way around its girth completely. If she needed any confirmation that her show had had the effect she was aiming for, she found it now in how commendably solid the artefact in question was. It didn't so much twitch in her hand, as give a pronounced, pulsing throb. Kira hummed louder.

"Mmm, Good..." As Divina moved her own hand, Kira's knee made very, very slight motions in the same rhythm, rubbing up against her groin in time. His hand slipped up and down the length of her back, then crept around to slide large, thick fingers across one breast. He didn't grip or squeeze just yet, though, only rubbed. "Very good..."

Across the table, Uprising couldn't see clearly what Divina was actually doing with her lower half, and for all she knew, it was straying far further than it actually was. She reached the limit for which she was able to stand and watch others be walked on. With a short shout of rage the girl punched the table hard enough to crack the veneer.

"Damnit stop! Take me, you bastard! I'll do it, just don't put her through this!" She was visibly seething at Kira, teeth clenched tight and knuckles white. Where her skin was exposed, it was clear that her muscles were straining with tension, showing clearly the definition she possessed, despite her slight frame, and her breath came shorter that if she'd been calm. Kira turned an eye to her, though he didn't stop his casual fondling of the goddess.

"If you offer yourself willingly, rebel, then it would be impolite of me to refuse, but the goddess offers herself as well. If happiness is her sacred duty, then who am I to deny her? How then shall I decide? I would gladly accept you both... do you take issue with the goddess here?" If Divina had been paying attention, she would have felt Kira's erection swell and stiffen mightily as Uprising made her demand. She might have sold herself to the man, but he wasn't any less interested in the anarchist either.

...Okay, time to recap. After stripping for him, she was now sitting on the giant mass that was Kozuke's leg with her own legs wrapped around it, in nothing but her panties, and...well, bringing him one of the less family friendly forms of happiness by her own hand. Oh, and while he hadn't quite done it yet, he was probably about to give her a good groping. Yeah, that sounded like a correct summary. Being a goddess of happiness wasn't always sunshine and roses...good thing she already knew that going into this.

Though she didn't actually stop...well, providing pleasure to the purple house head, she did turn over to Uprising. ...This was getting really awkward. Though, she didn't really care for what she was saying. "You act like I'm being forced to do this. I do this, of my own free will, and my own duties! If you can't understand that, then go away!" Without even realizing it, her irritation was making her pick up the pace of her current 'handling duties'. Though, as she did so, she could feel him stiffen while the other girl talked...was he getting turned on by the idea of a three way? Or just the idea of being fought over? Or maybe he was just getting really into it. Not every day a goddess did this sort of thing to someone, after all. And honestly, if he wasn't such a sleazeball, it wouldn't be so bad. Even now, the worst that was going to happen at this rate was that her hand would end up covered in...um, 'happiness'. Which was gross, but hardly unbearable.

...That was probably going to be how she remembered the majority of this mission, really.

The absolute last thing Kabuki wanted was for Kozuke to be happy. Later on, if she and Divina had a talk about what went down after she left, she'd probably have some fairly loud words to deliver concerning her opinion of how the Goddess of Happiness ought to consider how there were some people who just didn't deserve to be happy... or, at least, didn't deserve handjobs from any incarnations of divine beings. Unfortunately for Kabuki, Divina wasn't the Goddess of Judging Good from Evil and Rewarding or Punishing Accordingly.

For now, though, Kabuki was fairly pleased with herself, seeing that the guys were paying attention to her greeting and weren't being particularly creepy about interacting with her. It was god-sent to finally meet some people who ostensibly weren't neck deep in the going-ons here in the bath-house district... although, ironically, she was going to be attempting to educate them on that very subject. Still, as good as she felt about her entrance, she realized now that plopping down amidst the shady, hidden alcove had probably made her seem a little flirtier still, given that it was one of the few portions of the bathhouse where one could sit without being visible by the other baths. "Locals, not tourists? That was a misconception on my part, then!" she gasped, which was actually her genuine reaction. She hadn't really imagined that local folks, furthermore, local folks without knowledge of the dubious activities going on behind the scenes, would be congregating here. Part of her thought it almost worth of condemnation that they would remain ignorant of the evil lurking deeper within the community, given that she'd seen it at every house she'd been to tonight, in some form of another... but part of her also knew that said evil hadn't exactly been out in the open for all to see. She'd only been set onto discovering it once Uprising gave a mission associated with it, and furthermore, a lot more than that would have stayed hidden if she hadn't snuck into a VIP sex party at the red house. The secrets hadn't exactly poured out, rather, she and Divina had been poking at everything a lot harder than she realized while she was doing it.

Anyways, the guy wasn't just talking about how he'd lived her a while; he also paid her a nice compliment. She had to admit that she appreciated it, after a night of being met with either scrutiny, ambivalence, or open contempt for most of the night. Or perhaps she just appreciated a guy going through the motions to legitimately try to pick up a girl, rather than tricking her into it through fine print on a hidden sign or blackmailing her into it through a hostage negotiation. He might have been expecting her either to smile flirtatiously or to shy away, but what he probably wasn't expecting was the way she pursed her lips as though she was trying not to betray her emotion; in this case, said emotion was weepiness at just meeting other decent human beings. She grabbed the edge of her towel from nearby and used it to wipe at her face, trying to disguise drying her eyes through ordinary bath behavior. "AAR~I~GA~TOU! I mean it!" she thanked him, probably in the most gracious response to an off-handed compliment that he'd ever received.

There were other fellows to address too, however, perhaps even ones more directly related to her mission. Thus, she gave them her attention as well. "I was indeed out there! You see, the history of the district and the event occurring outside are all tied together, from what I gather. Admittedly, I was actually one of the DEM~ON~STRAY~TORS in that particular gathering!" she continued, pressing one hand to her chest to indicate 'me' but unintentionally drawing everyone's attention back there as well. "Like I said, I'm a bit guilty to even be here, but I feel I've got a duty to let all of you here know the TRUTH about what's going on... Or at least, as I understand it. Though it pains me to say it, the purple house's leader, Kozuke, is engaged in some highly UN~SCRU~PEW~LOUS behavior and it's everyone's responsibility to be aware of it!" Preaching about that probably wasn't going to make her very popular with the bath-attendants (perhaps not with anyone), but the time had come. Her eyes glowed as she lifted one finger and shook it from side to side. "I'm not talking about what you might imagine... This isn't a matter of business practices, like DE~CEI~VING customers or OH~VER~CHAR~GING! The toll of his crimes comes down to no less than lives! The DEM~ON~STRAY~TION I was part of earlier was an attempt to stave off an EX~ECK~U~TION, by raising public awareness against Kozuke!"

Hopefully, everyone understood the gravity of what she was talking about now. She'd continue quickly in order to clarify all that she could, gesturing with her hands in a way that persistently threatened to jostle either the length of her hair or the swell of her breasts in such a way that would reveal the hidden bits. "Kozuke has taken the lives of SPs into his hands. They were involved in violent activities against him; make no mistake, their hands are bloodied as well. But does Kozuke, a BUS~I~NESS~MAN, have some right to decide life or death?! He's a BATH~HOUSE~OWN~ER, not an APP~POINT~TED JUDGE! It sets my soul ablaze to think of the IN~JUST~ICE he commits behind the doors and walls of this very house!" she raved, her hair glowing red and skin gleaming pale white. "As if that was not enough, now that he has been EM~BAR~RASSED by our demonstration, he intends to charge the leader of our demonstration with the responsibility of... of playing to twisted, sexual FET~ISH~ES of his own! I will say no more in polite company, but it cannot stand!" Kabuki cried, suddenly standing up in the bath with a big splash, so that the water-line straddled her lower body dangerously and her thin abdomen was revealed, shining with its own series of lines and grooves. She posed with one hand up and the other hand out, palms facing outwards on both. Her neck was craned outward and she frowned fiercely... her hair barely maintained its curtain of modesty, although it now hung away from her body. "I confess! The DEM~ON~STRAY~TION I mentioned is not over! I want all able bodies and hearts united against this injustice, for Kozuke to understand that he can't always have his way!" she announced.

Of all the things That uprising had expected from her resistance, Kira's reaction didn't surprise her, but Divina's curt response seemed to thoroughly knock the wind from her sails, and she stared at the other woman, vaguely stunned.

"I..." She shook her head, still tense. "You know he expects—" As she watched, Kira's fondling hand grew a little firmer, flattening out and sliding down over Divina's middle to slip large fingers over the front of her divine panties, still outside, but very definitely stroking at her in a not dissimilar way to her own ministrations. Uprising bit her tongue, teeth clenching again as she struggled with the situation. Unable to watch, but equally unwilling to stand down, the girl turned away, staring at the wall instead.

As much as the man might have been pleased of the two women fighting over the right to his manhood, or both trying to offer themselves at once, it seemed clear that Uprising wasn't going to buy in to the offer, and their fighting for the sake of argument was less fun. The hand on Divina's groin lifted up again to rest flat and broad across her middle, rough fingers spread wide to simply hold onto her as he shifted. At the side of his massive throne, a series of small gongs were set into the framework, and he struck the smallest one with a nail of one finger.

A chime rang out and the door behind the throne opened again to admit a servant. Fortunately for Divina, if she minded, the doorway itself was such that the servant would only be able to see the back and side of the throne, and nothing at all of whoever was sitting on it, or what was going on.

"The Rebel has successfully negotiated the release of the ones held prisoner at the moment. She will want to assure that they are well and healthy and have not been mistreated, of course. Take her to inspect their condition now, so that she might see that ours is a house of honour." This proclamation seemed to upset uprising even more, and she spun about. She clearly didn't want to leave Divina alone with the man, but the goddesses own dismissal burned at her, and eventually let herself be taken by the arm and led from the room by the silent servant. Kira hummed to himself then leaned forward to brush his face against Divina's hair. This automatically made his chest rub firmly against her back, though most of his robes were still on at the moment.

"Where were we... A night of pleasure for four lives." His voice was low, and along with the depth that came from his stature, was a deep rumble. The hand returned to its earlier position on the outside of her pants, two fingers either side with the middle running up and down. If she didn't put a stop to this advance, then his over-large fingers would prove unfortunately adept at teasing the parts a woman, or a goddess, might associate with pleasure, if any such was indeed there to be found. The fingers didn't press, per se, but they were large, and slightly rough, and they stroked the fabric of her underwear with no less vigour than she was applying to his own pleasure centres.

In particular, Divina would feel the chunky object occupying her hand to be throbbing steadily, and very solid as she worked at it, but the man himself wasn't showing any particular strain yet. He was clearly enjoying the touch, but the question of whether she was actually getting somewhere progressive with it was another mystery.




Elsewhere, in more enjoyable, and only slightly less erotic circumstances, Kabuki was eager to take her audience's interest and run with it. Or stand with it, as the case might be. At first, her off-balance reaction to the first man's flirtation brought a puzzled look from him, though the sudden turn-about and her vocal appreciation did more to set him at caution than to invite any further advance.

Even so he stayed close, casting an eye over her where he could while till trying to seem like he was being at least a little bit of a gentleman about it. He watched her, eyes travelling, as she spoke, but to be fir he wasn't the only one. The man on her other side was, conversely, trying to seem at least a little bit interested in her response to the question of the area's history, while eagerly enjoying as much of the sights as he could, close up. He was sitting close enough that his thigh brushed against hers, while Kabuki was still seated. It might have been incidental, of course, but there was no hiding his interest in being physically close to the naked actress.

Even so, most of the men-folk in the spring were paying attention as she began her tale, and a few others form the other springs in the bath were looking in her direction too; though they couldn't see anything, her voice was more than loud enough for others to pick up on, if they were listening. Vaguely interested eyes became looks varying from surprise to incredulity as she spoke of executions, though at least a couple didn't seem as surprised as one would expect.

As she might have expected, the two bath attendants got progressively nervous looks on their faces as she went on, but from where she was sitting, now standing, Kabuki herself wouldn't be able to see them, and they didn't intervene just yet.

There was some various mumbling when she was done extolling the crimes of the house, and a few uncertain looks. Beside her, the slightly more tactful man (though clearly no less eager to try his luck), reached a hand out to brush Kabuki's waist with the back of one finger, trying to get her attention.

"You're from outside, miss, so I can see how that looks, but you should probably know... the ruling houses here, they don't just run the springs. The houses are just that, they represent family houses, and they do govern the rest of us who live here, somewhat anyway. The baths are just how they prosper, and it represents their relative influence, and all that political junk, but... They protect us, keep us safe, and well, around here they do more or less make the laws." His words were accompanied by an apologetic shrug, but he was cut over by another voice from further along the spring.

"Yeah, but she said executions, man. That's heavy. People get deleted now and then in the struggles, or in crimes and stuff, but... executions? That's a bit high handed, isn't it? I mean, we're talking permanent here; not like any of us have operators to run crying to, or neat little programs to rescue us before we die." A few others nodded along; death was not news, but apparently execution deaths were more upsetting.

More interesting was the titbit mentioned in passing, as though everyone ought to simply know it common knowledge; the implication that the local navis in this whole region, overseen by these houses, and secluded away to their corner of the net... were all unoperated, and unprotected. That would have been nice to know about earlier than this, surely...

Any thoughts she might have had on the matter were interrupted by another line of questions, and a less mission-helpful one at that.

"So wait, folks came out to protest, and he said he'd not do it, but only if the one leading it all came and gave herself to him? That's.... pretty sick." A reassuring comment. The one that joined it was less so.
"What kind of things did he want her to do?"
"What do you think man? You've seen the way he dresses his daughters, haven't you?"
"Oh that's gross! Come off it...."

All this was well and good, of course, but none of them seemed particularly eager to actually get up from their baths and do anything about it so far. The two staff members were talking with each other quietly, by the door where Kabuki couldn't see them.

Ugh...couldn't he just finish already? She didn't do this a lot, but by her experiences, a decent number of men would already be done by now. She simply nodded at Uprising, knowing what she was trying to say...and she was fully aware of what he wanted. If that's what it took for everyone to be (relatively) happy, she was willing to provide it.

The gong surprised Divina a bit, though she didn't stop doing what she was doing. She did note that the throne blocked the view from that doorway, so anyone coming in wouldn't realize...well, anything of what was going on. On the plus side, she didn't have to deal with the awkwardness of dealing with the revolutionary Navi, and so she let the light that had been blocking her view fade. It was just the two of them, after all. He was starting to rub further down, but that was fine. So long as he didn't-

...And then it happened. Kozuke's fingers went right down to her own pleasure area, which caught the goddess Navi off guard...just enough for her hand to slip mid-stroke, and subsequently giving him a good half foot long cut on his...well, THAT, with nothing more than her fingernails. She knew almost immediately what she'd just done, and was immediately and obviously mortified. "Eep! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean...you just...I didn't think you were going to go that low like that..." And of the three outsiders that had marched into the house, she was almost certainly the only one that would honestly mean that.

"Please, allow me..." She focused for a moment, and pointed at the house head's manhood. A light formed around it, which would immediately set out to fix the problem she'd just caused, by healing his wound. No matter how little she thought of him, Divina would never, ever, intentionally seek to bring harm to Kozuke, nor would she prolong his suffering if it was within her power to end it. "How's that? Better?"

Kabuki started upon feeling physical contact on her lower back, then promptly splashed backed down into the water, realizing that she was making a (naked) scene. She faded back from red-and-white to black-and-brown as she cooled her enthusiasm; she'd just barely missed slapping the horny-ish man next to her in the lap with her broad hips, although he might have enjoyed it if she had ended up sitting there. "Sorry, I let my emotions get out of hand for a moment there," she apologized, giving everyone a few small bows. Her hair had finally flapped out of the way of where it was being a nuisance... but now, she'd placed both of her hands onto her lap, which in turn allowed her arms to cover her breasts.

As was the theme for the night, the locals had additional information to share with Kabuki that was critical to understanding the motivations of everyone here in the bathhouse district. As it turned out, the 'bathhouse district,' as it was called, was only partially about tourism; the much more important factor here was a community of unoperated navis, who visited, worked, or even lived here because they had no PETs to return home to and needed the protection, as all unoperated navis did, to ensure they were not deleted. Knowing this now, she was pretty happy she hadn't released a WindDragon earlier or attacked any guards... she would have felt even worse about the mission so far if she'd known she'd deleted navis with no safe jack-out mechanisms. Large populations of unoperated navis were nothing new, but communities this large were not common. Usually, either the NetPolice or the NetMafia would reach them before they had too long to develop or grow... the NetPolice to put them into unoperated navi shelters or the NetMafia to recruit them. Instead, the families here had apparently set up their own system of protection, which had likely garnered popular opinion because it didn't require siding with either faction to take advantage of it. Furthermore, one got relatively stable work and presumably shelter. Finally, she understood why so many were willing to be exploited under this system.

A good bit of debate had engaged without her, while she contemplated what this new information meant for her mission of the night. "Thank you all for discussing this with me. It's a big help," she encouraged them all, then crossed her arms at her chest and watched the water pensively. "I, nor my friend, the Goddess Divina, understood coming in here that so many unoperated navis were working here. I don't think either of us had caught on to the system of 'protection' that the big families were providing. That really explains a lot of what I've seen tonight," she murmured. "But it's just like I've heard a few of you say. Protection is owed to unoperated navis; it's not a service to them that should be repaid at the sacrifice of their dignity, excessive payments, or certainly not their bodies. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Kozuke did intend to hold an execution tonight, and that furthermore, he's been blackmailing our resistance movement into sexual favors as a way of negotiating the release of those to be killed."

The knowledge that the two sex-drunk girls she'd seen earlier were Kozuke's daughters made Kabuki cringe as well; it didn't really change the situation, other than making it even more repulsive.

"My friend, Divina, holds a policy of non-violence; I see now how right she was. We can't resort to violence, not when so many real lives are at stake. That said, Kozuke has no right to get the free reign that he's thus far been allowed. The only thing I can think of that might be effective would be to embarrass him or otherwise take away his popularity with the public, such that all would recognize the evils they were enduring under his rule. Maybe the punishment I had in mind earlier tonight would not be... the best way to handle the situation," she admitted, knowing now that the chain effects of violence would be even greater than she'd originally thought when she spoke to KenmoeteMan. "But I need a platform to let people know of Kozuke's wrongdoings and to ensure that he's forced to make changes, to give back to the community that he's exploiting. Honestly, even to get him to hold off the execution tonight would be a significant victory, but I don't want it to come at the cost he's demanding," she sighed.

Now at a mental roadblock, Kabuki leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling, keeping her arms down in front and squishing her breasts together. "There must be something... Er, do any of you gentlemen have any ideas? Perhaps some way that a message can be spread throughout the district on a broad platform? Or... someone who would have reason to care about Kozuke's treachery, but might not be aware of it or the full extent of it yet?" she asked, raising her head back up to look between the various men assembled. When she looked to the thigh-touching man, she realized that she wasn't quite comfortable with how close he was sitting, and thus slid her butt a bit, discretely, to the other side, which in turn put her closer to the other man who'd been pursuing her.

There was no hiding the eager shifts of male eyes and twitches of heads as Kabuki moved; their gazes trying to catch as much as possible in between the sharp shifts of her surprised reactions. The man on her right noticed her shift away from him again, and as eager to get some action as he might have been, it was a fairly obvious cue not to push it. He stayed where he was, though he did twist to face her properly, turning to rest one arm out of the pool, while the other was on his lap, hidden beneath the water. In fact, a less charitable individual might guess that his hand was somewhere in particular as he ogled the actress, nodding along to her dilemma without really listening over-much.

Across from her, the other male that was most interested in making a play was heartened by her shift nearer to him, and he also turned in a little bit more to face her clearly. The prominence of Kabuki's nicely squeezed chest assets was making hard for anyone to really keep their gaze on her face, and few were trying, though at least her other flirt had both hands out of the water and not in a suspect location. He kept one elbow on the edge of the spring, and gestured with the other as he answered her.

"Well, I don't know really, ma'am... I'm sorry I've not asked your name yet!" He seemed embarrassed by this, and put his non-supporting hand out to offer a shake. "I'm just ConnectionAssistMan... not much of a name, but it's what I got. Folk mostly call me Conny." Conny, in this case, was a pretty average-looking guy, though clearly custom enough to have a passably detailed fully human-like appearance, more or less. It was hard to comment on his fashion sense, since they were all naked, but his hair was short and black, his eyes brown, and his skin a vaguely electopian tan. Unfortunately, these were features that seemed to be shared by the majority of males in the pool.

Whatever minor discussion followed on the topic of names, Conny turned his thoughts to the actual issue, tilting his head to think, though the action let his eyes slide to appreciate her curves some more anyway.

"I stay out of politics, really. Most of us do. You just support one house, use their services before others, and they'll work to protect you, and give you a job if you need it, that sort of stuff. I know there's something of a struggle between the houses, and some sometimes have more clout than others, and all that... but mostly it doesn't concern the rest of us. I guess..." He scrubbed at his face briefly then used some of the water to rinse, "If you wanted to hurt the leader of any house, your best bet would be propaganda. It's the same everywhere, isn't it? I mean, show folks something that makes him look really bad, and people will want to be seen supporting someone else, right?" On her other side, the slightly more lecherous navi spoke up. As he did, he shifted a touch closer again, apparently under the guise of enthusiasm for her cause. Not quite enough to regain physical contact, but as he edged closer the hand below the opaque water did stay quite firmly in his lap, rather than assisting his shuffle.

"Probably a lot of damage has been done already I bet. I mean, he said he was gong to do something and it was unpopular, once people knew, right? And they all came and shouted at him about it, and he backed down... Lot of folk wouldn't want to follow a guy like that. Makes me wonder about switching house, you know? Baths here are great, and all, but it's not like the springs aren't good everywhere here. You seem to like red... maybe I should start going to Koushoku instead?" This last was delivered with a knowing grin that may or may not have been welcome in light of what it suggested.

"Perhaps the lady comes from them to poach more clients, Chase. Did you consider that?" The third voice came from further along the edge of the spring, one of the more contemplative bathers who was only enjoying the eye candy in passing, without being hooked on it. "I know I have no desire to see the downfall of Kōzuke house, who shelters my loved ones and gives work to them. Even if what the young lady says is true, will I find the same care and safety with another, defecting from here like a rat from a ship? I think not." There were, unfortunately, a few more cautious nods around the spring. As much as it was noble to risk one's self in the name of justice, it was hard to fault another for putting the safety of their loved ones first. Beside her, Conny spoke again.

"Well, I don't blame the others, but I'm more a 'chips as they fall' sort of guy. If you want to do more than whatever's gone down already, try find some footage that makes him look like a rotter, and see if you can get it on the big screen." It sounded as though he was referring to something specific, and not tyring to be elusive, so chances were he had simply forgotten that Kabuki wasn't local, and probably didn't know what he was on about.


----

While Kabuki worked out how to further ruin the image of the man of the house, Divina was busily, if accidentally, more intent on ruining him in a much more visceral way. The first reaction was about what anyone would rationally expect: as the goddess started, and her fingernails dragged a impressive slice against Kira's sensitive places, the man let out a sharp bellow of pain and surged suddenly to his feet, throwing Divina, by proxy, onto the floor in between himself and the feasting table. From her position, it would have been hard for Divina to feel like anything more than a paper doll, compared to the strength of his movement, though a part of it may have been shock. He glared down at her but for once his carefully worded eloquence was at a loss, replaced with a snarl somewhere between simple pain, and fury at being derailed. Aside from the pain itself, the wound didn't actually seem to bother him as much as being denied.

Strangely, though, he remained silent, teeth bared while she made her own protestations of accident, and offered to patch the cut. One might have expected a veritable geyser of blood to spray from the deep gash on the thoroughly engorged member, but strangely it wasn't that bad; it bled, certainly, but no more or less than a simple cut anywhere else on his body. Perhaps it was a limitation of his design, but if so it was probably a welcome one.

Rather than spout blood everywhere, the house leader watched Divina with an odd expression. He was masking his annoyance, anger, and of course his pain, behind a single tooth-bare snarl, but he didn't react any further as she offered to heal what she had done, and swiftly did so. It was a strange situation, and it was enough to make him think; She had acted unwilling to even contemplate his advance, but then made a prominent show of selling herself to it, practically begging to take the place of the other girl. She had begun by going straight to work on him without any warm up at all, but acted surprised when he made a similar move.

More intriguing still, her 'surprise' had effectively stopped his advance, but done so in a way which she immediately turned around to plead that she didn't want him to actually stop. Kira decided that he could detect a carefully played game of pacing and hard-to-get when he saw one, and his snarl turned into an amused grunt of satisfaction.

"I will accept your favours, and your fury in equal parts, goddess." The words were accompanied by a hungry growl, deep in his throat, and he reached one massive hand down to help her to her feet, though with the intent of pulling her quite close to him again if she rose. In what might have possibly been a disappointment for Divina, or... maybe not? His newly repaired manhood had only faltered from attention briefly after the injury, and by the time he was finished speaking, the intimidating piece was raging to attention again already as he looked down at her. Either way, he seemed as eager as ever to continue, and possibly worse, if she tried to call it off now, he might not believe she was serious.

Kabuki tried to keep her pink eyes from straying to look at the water around the groin of the man who was resting his hand there, as he was either brazenly pleasuring himself or otherwise trying to hide something, neither which would be proper for her to look at as a civilized bath-dweller. Still, she could hardly blame him if he was focusing on something else besides the important matter at hand. He really ought to be giving it his full attention, but she'd take indifference (or overt horniness) over open opposition or diminutive "you're out of your depth" talk any day.

The actress turned her head around and grinned awkwardly as her new acquaintance introduced himself; she realized now that she'd put herself between a rock and a hard place (ha) by moving closer to either side, as the other one only closed the distance further to re-establish his position, basically eliminating a bit of the free space she'd had for modesty. "My name is KA~BUUU~KI!" she pronounced, placing one fist over her chest and shouting excitedly, her hair regaining its red glow. "It's not a very inventive name given my profession, but, well, my creator was quite an EN~THU~SI~AST!" Kabuki found herself glancing around the pool a bit to get a look at the other guys (some of who'd closed in a bit more themselves); from a flirter's standpoint, she didn't find herself bothered that the pool group wasn't terribly diverse, as she was pretty used to interacting with generic Electopian guys, given that was the way many of her fellow actors (and, for that matter, audience) tended to look. She would have preferred to see more young studs around, though... although, she'd never use that terminology out loud.

Despite Conny beginning to wash his head in clear view of her, she made no motion to do the same, either out of focus on the subject or the knowledge that some portion of the gesture would give them all a look at her sensitive areas for sure. "Though it's NAS~TY BUS~I~NESS, I'm afraid I do very much want to hurt this particular leader, for reasons I've explained... although, yes, on the public opinion level. "I guess I'd just gotten the idea that everyone must know what Kozuke was up to, seeing as a lot of the crimes committed were so BLA~TANT~LY THRUST in my and Divina's faces throughout the course of our mission here," she mused. She turned her head to the other guy she was trying to avoid looking at too much and gave a big, shark-toothed grin. "You are COOO~RRECT! Er, that is, you're right that we seem to have had an effect already and that I like the color red! But I'm not actually affiliated with Koushoku, if you were wondering about that-!" she defended, thinking that he might be trying to imply along those lines, especially since she did sort of have a Koushoku coloration to her and an 'exotic showgirl' appeal that she herself wasn't quite aware of the full extent of.

She was cut off as another man offered the very logical suggestion that she might have come here from another bathhouse to try to stir up the purple house's clientele against them. "Of course, the wellbeing of the ones you love comes first, but the problem here is not the occupants of the ship, nor the ship itself. The problem is the CAP~I~TAIN of the ship, who steers it upon a foul course! However, it should be wholly possible to PUN~ISH THE CAP~I~TAIN without harming the crew," she explained, gesturing with her hands so that her hair was again on curtain duty. She was pretty careful to get away from the rat metaphor, as that hadn't been very flattering to anyone. "I believe there are ways to survive in this community without necessarily indebting oneself to an EEE~VIL~DO~ER! The trouble is that those in the position to exploit those resources are exploiting them. We need to send a clear message that such EX~PLOI~TA~TION will lead to one's RU~IN~A~TION, in a way that will force him into accountability without allowing him to diffuse the blame onto others who might be hurt. Or perhaps that's being idealistic? But I do believe it's important to consider this: the man who was killed, whose SPs are slated to be executed, was BE~TRAY~ED by Kozuke, or perhaps someone close to him, to begin with, from what I was told! If you think that your family is safe siding with Kozuke's regime, keep that thought well in mind. The safety you feel with Kozuke may be naught more than the bastard's ILL~U~SION!"

Conny calmed the tension back down and offered a valid suggestion, but one that seemed hampered by a hole in Kabuki's own knowledge: "BIG~SCREEN?" she repeated, tilting her head and staring back at Conny. "What BIG~SCREEN are you referring to?" Regardless, all of this sounded like something Divina ought to know... she figured it was about time to pen a letter. "Excuse me for just a minute, GEN~TEL~MEN! I've got an important message to pass along to one of my fellow freedom fighters!" She turned her back to the others and leaned at the side of the bath... while their view of her front was now blocked (at least for most of them), the curtain of her hair was mostly parted so that they could see her lower back and nearly down to her hips, which were almost thrust out by unfortunate positioning, with her knees kneeling somewhere on the stones below the water. It seemed pretty inviting, though it was a gesture born of distraction more than anything.

Quote ()

Greetings, Divina!

I hope your negotiations go well! This is your friend, Kabuki. I'm sorry for getting myself ejected earlier! Gomen'nasai! Fortunately, I have acquired some information that I believe will be useful for the both of us, through some new friends I've made here in the baths of the purple house. I will present the points below in an easy to read bulleted list!

1) The navis in this area are mostly locals rather than tourists and consist largely of unoperated navis. Many of them are 'allied' to a house only in that their patronage or service to the house grants them protection and resources from the house leaders.

2) One of my friends suggests that propaganda will work effectively against the house leaders and, indeed, has already begun to work.

3) To that end, one of them has mentioned 'the big screen' as an effective medium of broadcast. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where that is yet. I'm inquiring further now and will let you know. If it turns out to be a promising medium of transferring our message, however, we may be able to use any footage you can get of Kozuke committing or confessing to dastardly deeds. Just be certain not to incriminate Uprising or yourself in any way if you're taking footage... For instance, if you decided to renounce your oath of pacifism for some reason, try not to focus too much on his bloody face! I'm only joking!

Be well, my Sister!

Having finished a nice and hopefully helpful message, she sent it off to Divina, then rested her heavy bosom upon the rocks and crossed her arms at her chin. She continued speaking with her back to the crowd, in a more leisurely way now. "Sorry about that! Anyway, could you let me know more about the 'big screen?'" she asked, having faded back to a calm brown and black shade. "Another thought I've had... I'd like to learn some more of the history of the area, if anyone's willing to assist. Can you tell me anything about the leaders of the green and white houses? I never had a chance to meet them and, being totally up front, I'm trying to evaluate which, if any of the leaders, are amiable sorts. Not that I plan to upheave everything and throw all leaders down, of course, but just so that I have some context as to whether other leaders filling the power gap Kozuke leaves behind will actually make things worse or whether it could potentially make things better! Sorry if that was a bit long-winded." It was entirely possible that they'd have zoned out by now.

Not unexpectedly, Kozuke wasn't very happy about being wounded in a sensitive area, knocking the goddess Navi to the floor, who was unable to restart hovering in time. She herself wasn't harmed by it, at least. Some might've considered the fact she'd actually managed to stop him from his usual fancy speech a victory, but given the circumstances, she herself was not among them. She healed him up, and...a moment of silence. It would've actually been a bit eerie if there was an outside observer, considering how much the two seemed to love to hear themselves talk.

But this naturally couldn't last, and the house head spoke up. It...did not go over especially well to Divina's ears, given the implications. "I'm afraid I have no fury here. Only surprise." She would've kept going on the matter, but he'd just get annoyed from her talking, and she did NOT want to go through that again. But, what now? It seemed like there wasn't much else besides continuing...

Beep beep! Beep beep!

She looked around, immediately noting that Kozuke wasn't doing the same. ...Oh, she knew what it was. "Oh, I just got an e-mail! I'm sorry, but I need to read it...it could be important. I'll only be a minute!" To keep him from being able to read it, she closed her eyes, and read it directly through her mind. She'd just have to hope he didn't take advantage of her in this state.

Now, let's see what Kabuki had to say...information, good. ...The general public was mostly unoperated, and in most cases their loyalty wasn't very strong. That wasn't particularly surprising, to be honest, since otherwise this whole thing was doomed from the start. ...Propaganda being effective? She didn't like that term, as it implied that what they were saying wasn't true. She kinda wished some of it was a lie, but she'd seen enough that she knew better. ...A 'big screen'? Now that was handy to know. Anything she was recording could be displayed, and everyone could see the depravity behind the scenes. Now she knew that doing that from the start wasn't a waste.

She opened her eyes back up, and looked at the man before her. She probably needed a good reason to interrupt things like that. "It was just the woman you expelled earlier. Now that she has a clearer head, she wanted to apologize for that." Nope, not a lie. It just wasn't an apology to him, so much as to her. "Now, where were we...?" She decided to not take any action here, and let Kozuke make the next move. She probably had some stuff for that screen already recorded, but who knew? Maybe if she was enough of a tease, he'd slip up somehow trying to keep things going.

Though the several men-folk surrounding Kabuki listened to her plea with varying levels of hungry-eyed lechery, intrigued interest and attentiveness to the actual cause, it would be more or less impossible for any man present not to view the woman's sudden shift in position, to something so unmistakably 'presenting', as anything other than a tease or an outright invitation. Perhaps she was merely distracted, or not thinking about her circumstance, but it made for an unfortunately clear signal.

Those that might have been about to answer her earlier questions were temporarily hushed by her apparent distraction and mysteriously burning need to turn and pose her rump to them in order to write a message, right in the middle of her questioning. Those more interested in the more physical features of her presence were suddenly even more so. As a result, it was while she was busily writing her message that Kabuki would feel, beneath the hot water, unexpected fingertips brush and caress at her inner thigh, then trail up towards her rear. If she didn't act surprised, or flinch away, or in any other unwelcoming manner, the fingers would probably continue to explore. Unfortunately, if, as seemed the more likely, Kabuki reacted in surprise or affront to the sudden contact, the questing hand would quickly disappear, and by the time she looked around, telling exactly who it had been would be all but impossible. The only real thing to note would be that most of her audience had moved ever so slightly closer again.

Beside her, Conny continued the task of answering her actual concerns as though nothing at all was going on.

"Well, miss Kabuki, the screen's a big projection display above the house. You've seen how most of the bath houses are all set about a big clearing? Well, each house sometimes likes to put on larger public performances or advertisements and that like, so they've each got a projection system that folks can see from anywhere in the area, more or less. I'm guessing there's a control room for it somewhere about here, but it'll be private and house staff only, so, good luck getting in." He shrugged and grinned, stretching the fold his hands behind his head while he relaxed next to her. The shift brought him a little closer, but not enough to bring him into contact with her.

Nearby, the man that had dissented before had a comeback ready as well. If anything he seemed to be growing a little bit disdainful of the way, in his view, Kabuki was flaunting her body to get attention. Not that he was looking away as he spoke.

"If the head of a house falls, a new leader may step up, but that is not what has happened in times past. The sun-souled house, and the moon-silvered house were simply overtaken, their assets bought out by others. If you doom him, you doom the house as well." It was probably a sign of the fact that he was simply a local customer, and not involved in the underlying cut-throat mire of the game of houses, that he spoke of buying out assets, and seemed unaware of the far starker truth of just how much blood had been shed into the springs in times past. Thankfully Conny waved one hand at the man, brushing his nay-saying away.

"Eh, so you'll have to spend your afternoons steaming at the blue house instead, and spending an extra twenty minutes reading the reverse side of every fake palm-leaf and curtain before you do anything. You make it sound like the other houses wouldn't accept your business just because you came from another." Clearly he thought the supposition a bit silly. "I can't tell you much about the leaders of the houses, miss Kabuki; they don't really mingle much, least not with the common clients. You can pay for an audience with the old coots at Musabo, but why would anyone do that? I can say most of the houses are pretty much fashioned after the ideals of their leaders, though, to some extend anyhow. So, I imagine the couple that run Seishin, uh, that's the green house, they're probably big on spiritual health and well being, and a lot of that kinda of mystical stuff... that's the angle their house advertising takes." He paused and then shrugged, resettling himself in the water so he could looked at Kabuki more clearly again.

"As for Toranjento... I know they weren't always named that, but they're the oldest house here, the first to start the community, really. Their prices are fair and their services are good, but they don't set themselves out in any particular way, though they make a point of not getting into politics with any of the other houses. Hey, DW, you've been over to cherry-blossoms a few times, haven't you? They got any themes or anything?" This last he directed towards another man in the circle, one who had watched on with enthusiasm so far, but been simply content to enjoy the close up female eye candy and say nothing. He blinked, then nodded slowly.

"Ah, yeah, I guess, umm... Transience? That life comes and goes, and enjoying the moment for what it is? That kinda of thing, you know?" One or two others nodded, though it was a bit absent. Most seemed more interested in seeing just how much more Kabuki was willing to put out, now that she'd flirted and flaunted so.


Speaking of putting out, things were getting notably more serious back in the feasting hall. The large man took Divina's sudden protestation of accident as a switch back to her coy game, and he grinned, advancing the final step between them until he brushed against her in two places: his tightly restrained middle, drawn in tight to something that more resembled a healthy stature, and, lower down, something that twitched fiercely as it prodded her.

Of course, this meant that when she stood passively for him and closed her eyes, 'taking an email', it was most obviously a signal of invitation. One which he delighted in accepting. While her eyes were shut, Kira growled softly in his throat and reached down to take both of Divina's wrists in his own. His grip was firm, and in his large hands it might have felt overwhelming, and he moved with enough enthusiasm to make counter on any sudden resistance the goddess happened to offer. He wasn't much for listening to 'no' for the time being, as he stepped forward, pressing her back until he could push her bare back down to the surface of the hard table behind them, holding her wrists to the wood high above her head.

"You promised a night of pleasures, oh Goddess. Now I would taste something of them..." His words came close to her ear she he leaned over her. This close their size difference was more than apparent, and despite the strength and solidity of the heavy table, there was a dull creak of protest from it as the man raised one knee to the edge to give his upper body more freedom to move. He had pressed her to the table only far enough to bring her hip in line with the edge, supported, but letting her legs hang free. With his knee right by her hip, though, and the sheer size of his form above her, it would be easy to begin to feel quite trapped.

Curiously, he left the lower destinations of his earlier touches alone for now, and instead took a moment to appreciate her exposed body, before bending his head to her chest. His pin on her wrists didn't loosen at all, but what she began to feel of his broad lips and hot tongue was very eager indeed. He was also quite thorough, starting left and moving right, though the occasional sucking tugs or brief moments of teeth nipping at the peak of her breasts were accompanied by deep groans of satisfaction.

No matter how attentive the man was being, though, the real question must surely be how far Divina was going to let this go, promise or not... The Kōzuke house leader likely didn't intend to stop at her chest.