An Appeal to the People

Unfortunately for Divina, among her many skills of a goddess, being a lightning fast reader wasn't one of them. By the time she'd opened her eyes and noticed her surroundings, she was already restrained by the wrists, as well as being touched by...certain other things. "H-Hey!" She really wasn't digging her current situation...especially once she was pushed back against the table's edge. Kozuke drawing even closer was the final straw for her; she needed some room. "Space...I need...my space...!" She struggled a bit against him as she spoke, but being a goddess didn't automatically give someone super strength, so she managed to accomplish nothing. If anything, it probably just made it hotter for him.

For perhaps the first time since the start of the mission, she was starting to feel something akin to fear. Tiny, enclosed spaces were NOT her thing, and while a Navi was the source of most of the enclosure, it was of small comfort, especially since she knew what was in her near future if she didn't get out. But it was no use. She couldn't get out under her own power...he probably had it set up to where even if she yelled for help, nothing would happen...she didn't seem to have many options other than sit back and take whatever the house head had in store for her.

Both mind and body froze, however, as her personal space was, for lack of a better term, violated by Kozuke. If she wasn't feeling so trapped, she might've found it a little enjoyable, but here, felt absolutely nothing. She looked down at the act, and cringed, knowing that this wasn't some bad dream, that it was really happening. She started instinctively struggling once again, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good. But, if there was one good thing about it, this was going to look really bad for him on that 'big screen' Kabuki had talked about...she just wished there was another way to show his depravity without her being the recipient...

...That said, she absolutely preferred it being herself to Uprising. If she didn't wish it for herself, there was no way she was going to let someone else serve as a glorified sex toy.

If Kabuki knew all of the ramifications of her sending her message, she probably would deeply regret having sent the message in the first place. At the present, however, the only thing she was deeply regretting was not paying more attention to her surroundings; one of her bath-mates took the opportunity to cop a feel of first her thigh, then upward onto her buttocks, starting at the inner thigh of all places. Despite her doll-like appearance, her skin was indeed soft and yielding, like a human's, and her rump was just as meaty as they might have imagined. The grooves lining her body, now glowing red and about a fingertip in width all around, would likely be a point of curiosity for anyone feeling her up, since they did indeed run from her inner thigh and up to her bottom, surrounding the circumference and bisecting the center. The light they gave off provided not only illumination, but also heat; one could be repelled by the unexpectedly hot sensation, or, if enticed by it, might fight the modestly tight space pleasantly warm to whatever digit they inserted. Hopefully, they were at least not so bold as to stick said fingers directly into the lower or back-center grooves of her bottom, as that would be a dirty move, even if they perceived her as a humanoid doll rather than a real person...

Whether they did or didn't explore that spot, Kabuki was already alarmed and quickly spun around, threatening to slap the playboy on one side with her boobs (they missed by a bit) and the older man on the other side with her gleaming red hair (it didn't miss, smacking him with roughly the sensation of a hot towel). "KIII~YAAAA! S-Someone's getting a... a LIIIIT~TELL FRESH!" she laughed in an awkward, high-pitched voice, clasping her hands down onto her lower body with the worry that she'd still find hands there. Thankfully, whoever it was had already withdrawn their touch. She found herself looking at the older guy now with his hand still down near his crotch-region, as if automatically accusing him, although she didn't know who had actually made a grab for her. She noticed now that all of the men had drawn in very close, which was probably making quite a scene... even if the other baths couldn't see her due to the foliage, they'd certainly notice that all of the men had left their spots and now crowded in on the one spot of the bath where a woman's voice could be heard. "Space... I need... my space!" she thought to herself, echoing Divina's concerns.

Conny addressed her question, turning attention away from whatever had just happened to her while providing more useful information, both of which she was about equally grateful for. "They each have a PRO~JEC~TION system?" she repeated, grinning big as her idea all began to come together. She basically had to look back over her shoulder at him now, because she'd backed up almost against him in her attempt to slide away from the other guy. "Oh ho ho! The HON~OUR~A~BELL Master Kozuke has already given me access to wherever I might wish to go within his house tonight! I knew that he'd come to REG~GRET IT!" she cackled, rubbing her hands together and grinning, revealing scary rows of shark-like teeth that tended to stay hidden when she was in her unexcited form. Calming her smile back down to a serious frown, but not dimming her lights, she turned to one of the dissenters, as he continued to levy the valid concern that dooming Kozuke could threaten his house and his loved ones. "I agree that it is UN~FOR~TU~NATE that the house, its workers, and its consumers might suffer the CON~SECK~QUENCE~ES of his actions. That is, however, the E~VIL he has sewn! Failing to take up the charge of correcting said E~VIL will not result in a greater sum of GOOD~NESS, it will only direct that E~VIL to other sources, as it has been all along. We should strive to continue enacting changes until things improve, I believe."

The crowd also offered a few observations on the other houses remaining; they didn't sound all that bad. She knew that white tended towards indifference, which was not a good thing, but at least not offensive in the way Kozuke or the blue house tended to be. She still felt as though she knew very little of the green house, although she liked the sound of them... but, in this place, if something looked too good to be true, one could probably count on a hidden agenda. "TRAN~SCI~ENCE, hm?" she echoed, pressing one finger to her lip contemplatively. "Well, that's a lot for me to think about!" she laughed, smiling... then keeping that awkward face as she glanced around the bath. She needed to set into motion her plan to use the big screen, but now, just getting up without shedding all of her modesty was going to be somewhat problematic, given that everyone was basically within distance that they could not only reach out and touch her, but really, almost wrap an arm around her if they wanted to. "Erm... ARR~I~GA~TOU! You've all been a TRE~MEN~DOUS help! But I should really get going now...! FREE~DOM FIGHT~TING, RE~VO~LU~TION, and all that! Ha ha ha..." She slowly rose from the water, keeping one arm clutched around her tremendous bosom and the other hand, palm-down, covering the intersection of the grooves lining her lower body from the front.

The many lines of her body glowed bright and warm, following from the center of her lips, down to circle her bust, along her surprisingly toned abdomen, and down to the obscene area between her legs, covered only by the back of her hand. Her hair curtained the back of her body, but her excited form caused the tips to waver in a wind-blown look; just a bit of extra wind or touch, and Conny would get a fantastic view of her bottom, since her hips would not be too far from his face at this point. Her pink eyes and big grin were still smiling, though, so although she was in a very awkward situation, she hadn't been made exactly to loath it the way Divina had. Assuming everyone let her leave the bath unimpeded, she'd scoot her butt back onto the rocks, grab her towel with the hand currently occupied with her lower body, and quickly rewrap herself.

The exploring hand didn't get very far; barely a short feel and a bit of a rub, before Kabuki'a startled shriek set it to flight. The others around the pool were giving nothing away, but the most likely suspect, beside her, looked back with utterly unbelievable innocence.

"Just sampling what was offered, lass. No harm done." He shrugged and grinned at her, wiping his face good-naturedly from where her hair had slapped him. As she had turned and scooted away, back almost up against Conny, on the other side, the slightly more gentlemanly (though honestly not by much), man had shifted to accommodate the action; turned to her as he was already, one knee was pressed against the wall of the spring, while the other leg was low and out to the side, meaning that Kabuki's small shuffle away had more or less put her within the 'v' of his lap, though not quite touching anything. His resting hand was still propped up on the edge of the spring, but the one he'd been using to gesture now rested on Kabuki's shoulder instead, soothing.

"Easy there... Chase was rude and out of line, Kabuki." Delivered with complete sincerity and a slight edge of chastisement for the other navi, as though he wasn't enjoying having her in an arguably just as suggestive position. The soothing hand didn't go away, unless Kabuki herself shook it off, but remained to rub slowly on her back and shoulder as he continued the main thrust of their conversation.

"He gave you full passage? Even to staff places and whatnot? Now that's a rare thing. Either he must really like you, or else he's feeling like you've got him over a barrel of some sort, I'd wager."
"And she would repay the gesture by dragging his name and image through the mud of the springs." The response was swift, from the dissenting navi again.

Unfortunately for the would-be players, Kabuki was more than eager to make her exit, now that she'd gathered the intel she needed. There were a few disappointed looks, at the prospect that their unexpected eye-candy was going away, and possibly that it wasn't going to evolve into anything more risky. Though he was still eager as ever to catch whatever eyeful he could, the most lecherous of the men present seemed a bit put out at her decision to up and leave now.

"That's a bit rich, coming here and plopping yourself down, flaunting and teasing like no tomorrow at us, and never intending to deliver." He reached out and slapped the actress on the rump lightly; enough to be a clearly sexual gesture, but not enough to actually sting in any way.

"Ai, leave the lady be, Chase, a look ain't the same as a promise." Ever the white-knight, Conny was just as quick to call his friend down for the gesture, though he was still making sure to enjoy what sight he could while it lasted. If anything, some of those present seemed a little confused by her increased shyness, though as disappointed as some of them were, none of the navis present seemed to be particularly brutish, and no-one was actually going to try to physically stop her from leaving their secluded little suggestive situation.



Elsewhere, the attention wasn't nearly so noble. As she had feared and predicted, Divina's struggling motions only made her unwanted suitor smirk around his activities at her nipples. With all the lust of one who was convinced the resistance was just playing, Kira continued to enjoy himself in the act of lavishing unwanted attention on the goddess. For the moment it did specifically seem to be the nipples he was interested in, and not the whole of her breasts. A more clear or detached mind might not find this surprising, given the interest he'd shown in the rather more under-endowed Uprising, earlier.

As he leaned over her, something else rather more worrying was making itself known as well; the position left something solid and hot alternately prodding at and rubbing across the one piece of fabric Divina had left to her, and if it had looked intimidatingly large before, it would probably feel even more so by comparison now, if the goddess was present of mind enough to consider it. Her renewed struggled brought a deep chuckle to her soon-to-be intimate, and he lifted his head, leaning further over her and closer in, so that his face was close to hers. This also left a solid pressure pushing quite firmly against her lower regions, pushing hard against the fabric of her panties and stopped from beginning some deeper violation only by virtue of that thin barrier.

"You certainly do know how to light a man's fire, goddess. I grow eager to sample more of your pleasures." As if on cue, the large navi shifted his grip on Divina's hands, bringing them together above her head and easily clamping a single tight grip over both wrists. He bent them down to just by her head in the process, effectively robbing her of any proper leverage she might have been able to muster. with one hand free, he traced thick fingers down the middle of her chest, then ,without much dignity or warning, slipped them under the hem of her panties, beginning to rub and explore quite vigorously.

It was a feature that might possibly make it a bit worse, if she really thought about it, but the man's behaviour was a little bit peculiar in some ways; for all his talk about costs and due recompense, he seemed to be acting, at least a little bit, like he was attempting to be an attentive lover as well. It might even be unsettling to contemplate the fact that he appeared to believe that anyone would jump into Divina's position willingly, but by all accounts he certainly seemed to, and any protestation she made otherwise were simply falling on ears that were hearing them as part of the play.

"Something like that," Kabuki responded to Conny's comment about raking Kozuke over the coals. She frowned distastefully when the other man dissented again; she had no qualms with people protecting their livelihood, but it was becoming tremendously tiresome repeating herself. Her hair faded back to black as she wrapped a towel around various curves. "Do you really see it that way? I don't need to 'repay his gesture', because he gave me the right of free passage as a way of belittling me, of saying 'enjoy all that I own and admire my success.' And that's fine! But remember, what he 'owes me,' what he owes all of us, is releasing those he intends to execute and ceasing his gross perversions against innocent women. Am I really wrong to mooch off of him for a moment, to accomplish my goal?" She wanted to point out how petty she felt it was to even dwell upon that subject, but again, a spoonful of honey... she didn't need to make the people hate her right now. Although, it was proving pretty hard for her to establish any meaningful empathy between herself and anyone tonight. Ironically, although she'd been around bathhouses in Yoka her whole life, she felt like a fish out of water- like a foreigner who, in a strange land, found themselves unable to speak the native language.

Of course, there were other things more annoying than having to repeat herself, such as being spanked while explaining one's mission of justice. She momentarily glowed red for a moment, clenched her sharp teeth, then gradually calmed herself back down to black. Internally, she was still outraged: "Why would I flee Kozuke because I didn't want to sell my body just to come sell my body for information?!" she thought angrily and silently. "It's actually even worse if I consider that he probably didn't think I was looking for information, but just for sex. He acts like he hasn't heard a word I've said!" Those lines of thought were causing her to red-up again, though, so she attempted to squelch them. "Well, excuse me! I thought it was a public bath. I can't help it if I tend to float above the water a bit," she chuckled, trying not to lay on her chastisement too hard. "I just happen to enjoy the company of gentlemen. But if you're not going to behave like a gentleman, then I'll have to take my leave! Perhaps I'll return later, though, provided my rights of free travel have not been revoked, which is a serious possibility."

Although Kabuki had joined the folks with the intention of gaining their favor and adding to the numbers supporting Uprising's cause, and maybe she had to some extent, she had ultimately gained something more practical: a means to effectively harm Kozuke. Now she just needed to put her plan into action. Waving goodbye to the others (a warm smile to Conny showed the casa-nova that he'd made a good impression), she headed in the direction of the bathhouse attendants, still garbed in just her bath towel, which cut off scandily high up on the thighs. She would send a message as she walked.

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Hello again, Divina!

This is Kabuki again. I now know how to explain the Big Screen: each of the houses has such a device and it is used to broadcast promotionals and such things to the community. The Purple House should have one and we are going to use it against the house's owner! Using my unrestricted access to the house, I plan to locate it and upload incriminating footage onto it, if I can. The only thing I still need is the location where I may access it, which I will discover myself, and whatever incriminating footage you have. I'm afraid I haven't been recording anything! If you can send me a video file with something I can use, I'll upload it to the Big Screen first chance and broadcast it ASAP!

Wish you well, Sister!

Kabuki had no idea that Divina would probably not be able to read a message right now, let alone respond to one. Thus ignorant, she addressed one of the bath-house workers. She wanted to be tactful, but there wasn't a very tactful way to ask what she wanted to (and furthermore, the two were probably well aware of her agenda now, if they'd been listening in), so she didn't bother much further than basic courtesy. "Excuse me! Master Kozuke was so kind as to offer me to FREE~LY ROAM anywhere in the house tonight and, I must admit, I want to check out the room where you folks manipulate the house's BIG~SCREEN! Do you suppose one of you could point me in that DI~REC~TION?" she inquired, crossing her arms behind her back and grinning widely to show her shark-teeth. It was supposed to be a good-natured smile, but it probably looked a little vicious, if they knew why she was asking. Her body and hair had started glowing again, brightening along with the raised pitch of her voice.

"Aghhh!" Divina could feel...IT. That which she'd handled earlier, was now handling itself against what little clothing she still had on. She didn't looked scared by it, per se, but worry of what may well be inevitable at this point was plastered all over her face, and doubly so in her eyes. As Kozuke spoke to her, this only intensified. His new method of restraining her wasn't helping, either, as what little ability to struggle she had was basically and near instantly sapped. It was an awful position to be in...she couldn't break free, and yet, if the 'big screen' Kabuki spoke of was true, doing so would be a terrible idea. But, not being able to move like this...it was one thing the goddess could not stand. Even though any struggling was pointless and just served to turn him on more, she instinctively tried anyway. Any freedom would be welcome, even the slightest bit. But she was destined to fail once more.

And then, he reached down, to once again feel her...divinity, so to speak. She opened her mouth to let out a scream, but it was caught in her throat, and just wouldn't escape. If the house head knew anything about female exclusive anatomy, it would be clear that she wasn't showing even the slightest hint of interest below the waist. It probably wouldn't stop him, though. And there was nothing she could do about it. All she could do was await whatever he did next...

To top it all off, she could sense she'd gotten another e-mail. But she couldn't concentrate enough to even tell who sent it, much less read it. Not while she was being fondled. For now, it could only sit and rot in her inbox...though she really didn't want to think about anything being inside of anything else.

Once it was clear that Kabuki was, indeed, taking her leave of the situation, the men surrounding her seemed more or less content to allow the actress the last words on the matter, although Chase sunk lower in the water as she exited, giving himself an increasingly better eye angle as he looked up at her for the last few moments that it mattered.

When she paused to speak with one of the attendants by the bath's doors, he inclined his head to her politely, though there was an unmistakable trace of worry on his face. He swallowed, a touch nervously, before answering her.

"I, ha, yes, that is, my Lord has given you those permissions, miss Kabuki, and I can tell you the way. I'm honour bound to do my duty, and I cannot refuse you, but..." He paused, torn between duty and desire for a moment, then winced and leaned a little closer. When he spoke next it was a much softer whisper. "Please, miss, I heard what you were talking about, and I have to beg you to reconsider what you're planning. I... I'm afraid for what it might cause." With his plea made, however, the servant took a long breath and composed himself, then hung his head.

"The control room for the projector is on the upper level. The shortest route from here would be to take the main stairs back up, then head straight through the private quarters, until you reach the door marked 'Administration'. The audio-visual room, where the projector is controlled from, will be on your right just past there." Having said as much, the man couldn't appear to meet Kabuki's eyes properly, keeping his gaze down and to the side, upset by some facet of the all-around regrettable situation. Provided she decided to follow the directions, Kabuki would find them to be accurate, but it might be an idea to change first, before leaving the springs area.

Tyria, at the front entrance of the springs, was none the wiser to what had transpired within, and would wave Kabuki off with another smile, and a vocal hope that she'd enjoyed herself. Few others on the way would seem to pay her any heed, and even the one servant that served to keep guests out of the private sections would only take a second glance and incline his head as she passed.

The trip through the hall that purportedly led to private rooms and quarters had a feeling of quiet to it, compared to elsewhere, at least until she passed by the doorway towards the end of the hall that she had seen the two girls disappear into earlier. It was still open ajar and the sounds of vaguely petulant conversation drifted out, but only loud enough to hear as she was passing.

"Awww... daddy's not going to come play for hours now."
"Hmph. Stupid lady hogging him all."
"Movie night?"
"Movie night!!" The voices became giggles in that short space of whining, and there was a sound that anyone who had heard it before would be able to identify as small bodies bouncing gleefully on a large bed.

If Kabuki pressed on to her main goal and opted not to investigate further, the administrative door would be just a little further down on the other side, and wasn't locked. It would reveal an area that was rather more clinical than the opulence elsewhere; the very essence of behind the scenes, with simple walls and plain carpets, and several office spaces and terminals for all the necessary work that went into running such an establishment day to day. To the right of the door, a second heavier, sound-proofed door was labelled 'sound room', and would allow her entry just as easily, if with a little more effort.



'Allowed entry', and 'a little more effort' were probably phrases that Divina would rather not entertain for the time being, however her short cry out only caused another fierce pulse in the source of heat that pressed against her, and a warm growl from her increasingly unwanted companion. He locked eyes with her, panting more heavily now as he drank in the look of fear in her eyes and the increased vigour of her struggling. As she'd suspected, the new position of her arms gave the goddess even less chance of effecting an escape, but her zeal at trying seemed to drive the large man on ever more.

Up until now, the size of his body might have blocked any proper movement of hers, but the chance to shift her legs, or maybe get a foot against him, had been a vague possibility. Unfortunately for Divina, that, too was about to end. The thick fingers buried in the depths of her undergarment teased and delved, but before long he withdrew the hand and put it to his mouth, coating three fingers liberally in saliva before returning them to their previous task. He grinned at her between panting, but overall it was probably of little comfort. His fingers were thorough in application, but that kind of treatment was only ever a barely passable substitute for true excitement; at the very least anything that came after probably wasn't going to hurt her now, but that would be the most to hope for. The hand withdrew.

"I do love the feeling of you straining so, goddess... it makes me feel alive!" There was a taxed heat in his words, though they were barely above a whisper to her. The real problem, though, was that it sounded like he was more than ready to get to the main event.

What came next was one part strange, two parts worrying, and all rather sudden. The hand that had been invading her last remaining garment now curled in to grip the side of it in a fist that tugged the back out from under her and slid around to begin lifting it up the length of her thighs, pulling both of her legs into an upright position as he did. It might have afforded her a moment to kick him in the face, or at least to try it, but he quickly raised the bunched garment to her knees and pushed her legs against one overbearing shoulder.

The position would have been bad enough, even without the harsh grunt of effort, the broad grin, and the beads of sweat forming on his forehead, but he also wasn't finished yet. The free hand shifted to grip the front of her underwear, bunched up into a fist between her knees, and then he leaned in closer over her, dragging the article up nearer her shins and pushing her legs back at the same time. Hopefully Divina was a flexible goddess, or else she would be beginning to feel some strain at the position her own clothes were being used to push her into. With a last growl of victory, he brought both of his hands together; the one pinning her wrists, and the other holding the strain on her underwear, both pressed to the table just above her head. A quick action left the new hand to take hold of her wrists as well, then drag down further, until the entire hold was propped underneath her head, with the back of his wrist a rather uncomfortable pillow.

Unless Divina herself was as flexible as a noodle, the unfortunate dimensions of her human-like body would be forcing her thighs wide to compensate for the awkward bend, presenting herself to him openly, while equally rendering her unable to get the once protecting, now unwillingly restraining, fabric of her underwear off her ankles in order to loose her legs again. Even though he was now restraining the strength of all four limbs with one hand, with her wrists pinned under like that her leverage was minimal, and holding the pin all the way out at her ankles meant that even a pittance of strength would be enough to counter the leverage of her legs, and the huge navi had already demonstrated physical strength to spare. In short, unless she could tear the side of her own underwear, the goddess was effectively immobilised.

Kira was panting harder once this move was made, leaning close over her and pressing down with his bulk as well. A bead of sweat dripped from his forehead to hit her cheek, before evaporating into data a moment later. The strain of the pose aside, the most worrisome thing Divina would be ale to feel now was the tip of a raging heat, not simply pressed against her underwear now, but poised more more threateningly, resting already directly against the softest parts of her divinity, on the threshold of sheathing his weapon.

"Are you ready for this, oh goddess?" How very thoughtful of him to ask... The man's eyes burned with eagerness as he looked down at her, his face only an inch or two from her own.

Kabuki's grin turned into a small smile as she tried to reassure the poor purple-house worker that she might be putting out of a job. "There are already lives at stake as well as untold others which have been manipulated and affected besides these today. Whether I act or don't act, people will be hurt or killed. I'm at least taking the option that has a chance of making a difference and changing the status quo," she explained once again, although she wasn't sure how much the bath-house stationed employees knew about the whole situation. "Thank you for helping. It's a good deed you've done, today!" she assured the worker, placing one hand comforting upon his shoulder before leaving to retrieve her robe. Could she say with 100% certainty that she was telling the truth: that helping her access the big screen was "a good deed" and that changing the status quo, with the conflict that might accompany it, would be a good thing? No, she couldn't, but she'd nearly driven herself crazy asking that question tonight and had come to a decision: she could either leave things alone and let Kozuke execute people on his own terms, or she could shake things up and at least, if deaths happened, they might happen in the service of a better future.

After slipping the bathrobe back on over her towel, Kabuki ventured back toward the dressing room and changed, back into her white robe, which had better coverage by only a bit. The bath had made her feel better physically, though there was still a lot weighing on her mind. Ultimately, the trip had been helpful, although whether her cause was just or evil would only be proven with time. On the way out, she gave another smile and compliment to Tyria, then returned to the main hall. Heading the way she'd been pointed, she overheard Kozuke's "daughters" again; their voices just set her on edge again, as she didn't know whether to be mystified about their relationship to "daddy," ask for it to be clarified, or try to rectify it. Right now, it was beyond her mission scope and really her cognitive abilities to try to pursue both that and her many other ethical dilemmas, so she decided to table that investigation for a later time. She gulped audibly as she drew closer to her objective, meeting precious little resistance.

Now seeing the equipment used to operate the Big Screen, if not other elements of the house, Kabuki was faced with another problem: she was about as minimally "tech-savvy" as a navi could be while still being a navi. She thought maybe she could figure it out with a little looking... she could hardly ask an attendant to come in and help her operate it, nor would she want to, as Kozuke's directive hadn't exactly said "help the lady with anything she might need to defame me" just because it allowed her to go anywhere. It would be best if she did this herself while no one else was around...

But there was one more hitch: Divina hadn't ever responded to any of her messages, nor had Hikari, nor had Yoshitsune any further than acquiring Hikari's e-mail address. Was Divina just too busy to respond, or was there perhaps some other reason she couldn't, like a technical failure or even a fight she was struggling with? It could even be that Divina wasn't in a position to read the messages. Whatever the case, there was no way to proceed with the plan to use the Big Screen unless Kabuki could first obtain incriminating video (or at least audio) to use against Kozuke. She had a wealth of bad things she could say about him... what she needed was him saying bad things about himself.

Even putting that aside, it was pretty worrisome not to have heard from Divina in so long. Could it be that she and Uprising were currently acting as Kozuke's personal assistants for the night? She'd begged them not to go that route, but maybe they hadn't found another option. Maybe they'd prioritized the safety of the SPs over their personal dignity; she could hardly blame them if they had. While she figured they had assembled the right cards to force Kozuke's hand, the others might not have seen it that way. All of this was causing her to become even more worried than she already was; she looked around the room once more, nervously, then finally conceded that there was nothing to do until she first contacted Divina. If the goddess wasn't going to contact her, she'd have to contact the goddess (and not by praying, something more direct). Luckily, Kozuke had given her free reign to go anywhere, with the unspoken caveat being "as long as it's out of my sight." She figured that extended to walking the hall she'd been ejected out through, and thus began the trek back that way.

Once she arrived, assuming guards were still stationed in front of the door, she'd give a smile to the guards, but it would not be a genuine one; she couldn't exactly harbor good feelings towards the guys who had been so eager to follow Kozuke's orders that they'd ignored anything they'd overheard of his injustices and put their hands on her. "Not to worry, gentlemen. This barbarian isn't here to offend Kozuke with her presence," she joked, trying to set them at ease by assuring the two she wasn't going to barge back in. "I just want to knock and deliver my friend a message. I'll talk through the door. That's fine, right?" Kabuki would step forward and knock against the heavy door, calling out in a loud voice so that wherever Divina was inside, she'd hopefully hear. Her hair glowed red as she exerted her capable vocal chords. "DI~VI~NA! My Sister, I need your assistance! May I interrupt the negotiations for just ONE MO~MENT?" she inquired, hoping the goddess would step to the door and answer her. "I'd like you to check your messages!" She couldn't exactly yell out what she urgently needed, as Kozuke or his guards would surely start making moves against her right away, unless they really, really didn't think her capable of accomplishing anything.

Uh-oh...he was ready. Divina froze for a moment, which unfortunately for her was the same moment she found her panties being yanked down. Before she even knew it, she found herself in a prime position to...well, 'receive'. She wasn't unflexible, but certainly not to the point where she could do anything other than end up in the exact position Kozuke wanted her in. And in it, though she instinctively tried, she was more or less unable to do anything. She was stuck, and there was nothing she could do, despite her best efforts.

Only matters even worse was the fact that even if she was able to move a little, she wouldn't be able to without inviting the house head, so to speak. But that was the worst part, to her. He could ravage her, and she wouldn't complain, but to be unable to even squirm, or make little other motions besides breathing, was making her panic a bit. And by now, her face wasn't even trying to hide it, with her eyes in particular only showing worry and fear. She'd given up on resistance at this point, since even if she tried, there was literally nothing she could do.

"...!" ...Why couldn't she speak? It was like all the words she wanted to get out had gotten caught in her throat, and now they were all preventing each other from escaping. She wanted to refuse, she really did at this point...or at least to let her go. But it just would not come out, even though she was trying her best to get her own desires out.

She wasn't entirely in her own little world, though, as she suddenly heard Kabuki of all people knocking on the door and speaking. She wanted to say something...she truly did. But..."K...K..." All she could get out was the first letter, and even then it wasn't nearly loud enough to go all the way through the room, and through the door, to her partner in missioning. But maybe it was for the best...she didn't really know what she wanted to tell her right now. It wasn't like it'd be a very good idea to go 'oh hey Kabuki, we're about to bone now, so please don't disturb us'. The one thing keeping her from approaching the point of losing it mentally was that everything happening to her was being recorded, and that it would make Kozuke look extremely bad. At least it should, at any rate...

Being a goddess had its glamorous moments...but there was nothing like that about this. She was being reduced to a man's pleasure device, at this point against her will, and with absolutely nothing that could stop him. All she could do was lay there, her heart pounding, and prepare herself mentally and emotionally for giving herself up to who had to be the least desirable person she had ever met.

Without hearing any word from her ally, and lacking in any outstanding tech mastery of her own, Kabuki ended up stuck for the moment, twiddling her metaphorical thumbs. It only took a short few moments of consideration for the actress to decide that she needed to spend her time elsewhere; the controls would be easy enough to figure out quickly if they ended up having to rush, anyway. Probably. Hopefully.

Either way, her worried steps took her out again, and back towards the hall she had been ejected from earlier in the evening. As she passed the girls' room a second time, they had closed the door properly but it was little consolation, since the sounds coming through the wood were positively lewd in nature... and sounded strangely like a mixture of the girls themselves and... Kira, to a trained ear. Worrisome, perhaps, and maybe a little puzzling all things considered... but maybe better not to stick one's nose into that kettle of fish.

As expected, the guards didn't want her getting anywhere close to the door. They both kept their eyes and features impassive, but drew up in front of the door as she got close. Neither tried to interfere with her directly, and they seemed to relax at least a little bit when she reassured them that she wasn't still a raving mad-woman, however they still raised their arms to gently prevent her from coming any closer when she stepped up to the door. Even so, they couldn't stop her from shouting out in her utterly unmissable personal style, though both guards winced on cue as she did, likely wishing they could have prevented it. Her entreaty was met with a silence that only lasted a few seconds, but which probably felt like a long eternity to the worried actress. When she got an answer, however, it was almost certainly not one that she wanted to hear.

"Your goddess is busy, Savage. She cannot answer your prayers now." The voice of the house leader was deep, loud and borderline animalistic with the weight of exertion that threaded through it. "Go and amuse yourself with my generosity... Our deal is sealed." Ominous words if ever there were any, but the two guards remained bluff and stern, and showed no signs of relenting their stance. As her companion had feared, no sound at all from Divina managed to make it through the door, and one could only imagine what might be going on to cause that.

The sound of his voice had faded for only a moment when a separate message arrived for the actress. It was unfortunately timed to get her hopes up, but strangely, it came not from Divina, but was a message link from Uprising. If she took the time to answer it, the link would activate a small visual display to show the young rebel standing with her arms folded in something that looked vaguely like a dungeon. Not in a cell certainly, but more in a hallway of some sort. If she had looked tired after the evening's work, she now looked like a large helping of worry had been added to that fatigue, and her green eyes were tight as she offered a polite nod to her ally.

"Kabuki, thank you. I had to ask a friend of mine to retrieve your contact details for me. I'm sorry if that's an intrusion, but it's important. Where are you now? Things aren't going as I'd hoped at all, and we may need to improvise." Each line was delivered in short statements. "Divina sent me away. I'm worried for her. The burden she plans to accept goes far beyond anything I would ever ask of another, and it should be me taking that weight, not her. That man will not be gentle." The young woman visibly shuddered, looking down to her left, then up again. "I've spoken with the support programs. They feel the taking of taking of their lives is correct, and regretted only not being able to see their fifth comrade again before the end... but I've made them an offer and convinced them to accept their release when it comes. It won't be a problem now. Since I've been sent from his hall as well, I would meet you, and perhaps we can do something useful together. There must be something more we can do." Short and blunt as most of what she had to say was, it still took the girl more than a minute to get through her update, but at least it was clear her resolve hadn't wavered at all, and if they met up, Kabuki would find herself with two pairs of hands for enacting their plan.

----

Not very far away at all, but in what must truly seem like a different world, Divina was looking up at the hungry and eager eyes of her captor. He might have honestly believed that the struggles and the look of growing terror and discomfort in her eyes was put on and acted, but he was also far too consumed by his own lust to notice that it was far too genuine. When he heard Kabuki calling out through the door, Divina felt him tense briefly, then a small laugh slip from his lips and he grinned down at her. Then something really unpleasant happened. The man leaned in close, craned his neck and kissed her.

There are some who might accept the trespass on their body, but yet draw the line at something so intimate as a kiss; if Divina fell into this group, then by small mercies, she would find she still had that power at least. She could still move her head freely, and avert her face at the last moment, if she wanted to, but even if she did, and he could not find her lips, that didn't stop the brute of a man from lavishing many more kisses on her cheek, jaw and neck instead. They were heavy, wet kisses, over-zealous and indelicate, but ultimately they were just a distraction from the more pressing object of dread. It might have been better if some great deal was made of it; some big affair of triumph or crow of domination, to give value to it, but instead it was simple, slow and silent. A motion of the hips that came gradually as he kissed at her, claiming ground with a relentless ease that quickly grew to discomfort despite his slowness. Any sound of shock or denial she might have made were quickly smothered by his continued kissing, or attempts to do so.

It didn't stop until his hips pressed tight against her, and he broke away from his kissing to look down at the prize he had claimed. Another drop of sweat fell to strike against her exposed chest while Kira smirked, panting slightly in his excitement. He turned his eyes from her long enough to look towards the door and call out.

"Your goddess is busy, Savage. She cannot answer your prayers now. Go and amuse yourself with my generosity..." He pressed more firmly with his hips suddenly, enough to send a small jostle through Divina's form, and looked back at her, still smiling. "Our deal is sealed..." He followed the pronouncement with a deeper, more luxuriant moan of pleasure, and murmured a comment to the goddess about how wonderful she felt... chances were it was very little consolation.

Though the trespass was made now, and couldn't be taken back, the purple leader seemed to relax. Maybe he wanted to give her more room to 'act' her struggles, or perhaps he was only interested in the reluctance game until the prize was taken... either way, he held her like that for only a moment, before reaching down to shuffle his hold on her wrists so that he could pull her panties from her ankles completely. As much as her wrists were still pinned by her head, this at least freed her legs from the uncomfortable stretch and returned control of them to the goddess. Kira let his eyes wander her body as he began to move his hips, making long, rough actions, and lifting her panties to his nose with his free hand as he did. A valid question might honestly be... did they get any creepier than this?

Kabuki wasn't overly bothered by the guards trying to get in her way (after all, there were a lot of epitomes of evil she had encountered tonight, so standing in front of her was hardly a punishable offense at this point), but was disturbed by the fact that neither Divina, nor Uprising, nor even Kozuke immediately responded. Had they gone off somewhere else? That wouldn't be surprising, since, if they had agreed to entertain him for the night, they could hardly spend all night in the dining room. Optimistically, she supposed maybe they'd already succeeded in forcing his hand and were downstairs in the prison, releasing the captives as Kozuke tried to save face.

While the actress was still trying to come up with possibilities, Kozuke's voice responded coldly with an answer that basically ruled out her theories so far and did nothing to encourage her that any optimism she'd been holding onto regarding the negotiations proceeding without her was misplaced. Her face fell into a dull frown; she again asked herself why couldn't Divina answer her. Had she and Uprising gone to the dungeon after all, but as prisoners rather than rescuers? Was there a possibility that Divina and Uprising had been told not to contact her under penalty of losing the negotiations? She could see the two of them going along with the demand, if it was to save those to be executed, although she'd still feel sort of bad about it. The worst case scenario that popped into her head was that Kozuke had already debilitated the two somehow, either ejected them... or worse. In her experience, the worst case scenario usually wasn't bad enough when you were theorizing about the happenings of this bathhouse district, and thus, she was unable to stop her red hair from raising up again. Just moments ago, she'd been thanking her lucky stars that she hadn't flown off the handle and fired off a WindDragon around those that could be irrevocably deleted by it, but now she was a hair away from trying to force her way back through and giving Kozuke a taste of it.

Rationality won out, though; she wasn't going to be able to contribute in there, and worse, there was a significant chance that she couldn't make it past the guards to begin with. Money was clearly something Kozuke did not lack, so it was inconceivable that he'd have anything less than the best to protect himself (for that matter, he might have quite an arsenal of chips and upgrades himself). Kozuke would likely be surprised to hear nothing else come from the doorway (and Divina might be saddened to hear it), but Kabuki had reached a dead end again and had to turn back around. "You will regret it! When the flames of hell lap at your fat feet and you're roasted like a hog, you'll regret your evils, as all sinners do," she thought to herself, not knowing what Kozuke's exact sin was but feeling certain his bad karma had somehow increased, as it always did. She was shivering with anger as she walked away, her angst visible for the guards to worry about if they cared to.

Heading back down towards the Big Screen's operating room, Kabuki took tally of the options before her. The recording room was a dead end until she acquired video. Kozuke's hall was a dead end without Divina's response. She had no way to reach the dungeon, her only other possible venue from which to assist Uprising's cause and the cause of justice. Kabuki hung her head and shook her long hair, trying to focus her thoughts on something that might help her assist the others; a vague idea had started to occur to her, perhaps one last avenue of attack, before Uprising interrupted with the welcome blessing of information... although, not all of the news was good news. "No, my Sister! It is ECKS~CELL~ENT to hear from you again! You've no idea how I've worried about you and DI~VI~NA," she responded, grinning big into her screen. She saw the dungeon in the background but, thankfully, it didn't look like Uprising was in the cage. Perhaps when Kozuke said "the deal is sealed," he meant that he'd already released the captives? "I'm in the hall near the dining room. I visited the bath for some time and obtained some useful information," she offered, but Uprising had more to say as well, so she tabled the rest of her adventure for now. Uprising was getting to that bad news she'd mentioned before.

Kabuki's grin fell again as she realized the dire straits that Divina must be in; if she hadn't answered, alone in there and supposedly accepting a great burden that she'd been trying to save Uprising from, then there was a strong possibility that Kozuke was taking full advantage of her. The actress was torn between the desire to condemn Kozuke's family and all of his inheritors to hell along with him in a fit of Old-Testament aimless fury, or to blame Divina for doing exactly what she'd pleaded for her not to. The red in Kabuki's hair and her grooves burned even more brightly than usual as she squinted her pink eyes shut, feeling dizzy with rage. "That man... And you know, there are those who know about him here, and STILL DEF~END him! Everyone needs to learn of this evil and confront it or otherwise SUFF~O~CATE on the ashes of this entire foul business when I set it ablaze!" she hissed, unconsciously imagining that if the stubborn bath-goer from earlier, relatively innocent though he might be, appeared before her now, she would either berate him until he saw reason or would reduce him to ashes. Uprising had more news, so she tried to keep her anger to herself and listen. "It sounds like they're relatively FOOL~ISH as well, if they don't understand that any life taken at the behest of Kozuke is a life that can only be repaid with the FAT BAS~TARD's own blood, not their own! Still, good work, getting them to see reason," she yelled, before fading into a deep sigh. She managed to brighten up, finally, as she realized Uprising might be able to help her with the last stage of her plan.

"There is, as a matter of fact, something more that we can do for the cause of JUS~TICE, which is so desperately needed here! Can you come to the hall I MEN~TIONED, just outside of the dining hall? I'll be waiting for you there," she explained. "There is something called the 'BIG~SCREEN,' which you may have heard of already. It's a device that this bath-house uses to broadcast AD~VER~TISE~MENTS to visitors in the region, as well as the occasional event or offer. I have found the control room and have COM~PLETE ACC~ESS to it, as Kozuke removed all of my restrictions of movement for the night and no one is around it. We could use it to broadcast any sort of IN~CRIM~IN~ATE~ING footage you might have! In spite of my earlier theories, it appears not everyone is fully aware of the man's DE~PRA~VI~TY, and we might spark something by making them aware. I'd been hoping to get some footage of him being sleazy from DI~VI~NA, but she hasn't responded... I have not been recording anything, myself. If you've recorded AN~Y~THING, we might be able to put it to use! Even if that's not an option... perhaps you could get some TES~TI~MO~NY from the captives? Their story would be sure to open the eyes of the people, somewhat! Even if they're not remiss about their fate, I'm sure others will see it for the IN~JUS~TICE that it is!"

Kabuki had said quite a lot, so she decided to wrap it up; there was one more idea she'd had, although it might be a little risky. "Anyway, I'm sure you've got your own idea of how you want to proceed now. But please, do RE~JOIN ME upstairs! Er, assuming you're downstairs?" she requested. "I'll be waiting there!" With that, she closed out the communication... and snuck back towards the door where she'd heard the Kozuke's young girls' voices coming from (not to mention Kozuke's) earlier. "Movie night, huh? With Kozuke? Perhaps incriminating video is available to me in its most literal form," she thought to herself, still not quite understanding what it was she was hoping to find. Could the girls be in possession of a video, or perhaps even live video, that would give her something to use against Kozuke? It would be quite a coincidence, but well worth the risk to obtain, if they were. As fishy as the kettle might be, and as unpleasant the thought of what lay in wait, Kabuki began her sneaking mission and calmed herself, causing her attention-grabbing red to fade back to black. She'd edge towards the door hiding the two girls (and Kozuke?) and edge it open... peeking just one pink eye through. If the girls looked to be in a good mood and were enjoying some innocent fun time, she'd close it and leave. If they looked to be in a good mood and were enjoying some heinous video that proved Kozuke's evil, then she would either record it herself (if possible from her angle) or otherwise start devising a plan to obtain said video.

Even though she was involved in something she didn't want to be within a million miles of, Divina was, at her core, a bringer of happiness. So, upon his official trespassing, Kozuke would undoubtedly notice that she was, in fact, accommodating to him; his earlier application of saliva was totally unnecessary. Her heart and body were on two different wavelengths, as while she was still panicking on the inside over her near total inability to move, physically she seemed much more...receptive, albeit mostly in areas she couldn't actually see from that angle.

...Wait a sec. Why was he moving i-no, no no no. That was one violation she wasn't going to allow. She instinctively turned her head to the right, though it did nothing to stop the other Navi from...well, that was the one thought that made her almost want to focus on what else was going on. Almost. Hmm, maybe she could try focusing on something else? Like, just relaxing in Beach Area, catching some sun...

But a sudden jolt through her body quickly ended that idea, as Kozuke brought her back to reality. Restrictive, claustrophobic reality. But, most unexpectedly, she got a reprieve on that front, as he entirely removed her underwear, giving her more freedom with her legs. Even that little bit relaxed her considerably, knowing she wasn't completely bound anymore. But, wait, what was he doing with them? He wasn't...oh, eww. If he tried kissing her on the mouth now, there was not an inconsiderable chance she wouldn't hurl right into his. And if it wasn't for that fear of something other than words coming out of her, she'd probably try to speak again; being able to move her legs made it feel as though her throat was ready to let all sounds through.

Speaking of speaking, Kabuki had failed to make any sort of her response to the house head's shout. Divina was a little nervous over that, but not for the obvious reason...she was mostly worried that she was going to try something reckless. But nothing happened, much to her relief. The actress could probably still work to undermine him somehow, but this was definitely not the place to do so. Go, Kabuki. Go, and find a way to remove this tyranny.

Now that she could move, Divina planned to do the same for herself. With all the strength she could muster, she placed her feet upon Kozuke, and pushed away from him, to try and escape her immediate predicament. She wasn't entirely sure how to proceed afterward, though...perhaps she was actually the reckless one right now. But she didn't care about that at the moment. Her concern was freeing her body from one who believed that the entire world existed only to bring pleasure to himself, and that was good enough for her right now.

Despite her weariness, Uprising kept her features serious and mission-focused as Kabuki updated her on her own ideas. Slowly she began to nod as first a considering, then a dangerously vicious gleam entered her eye. She began to walk as she spoke, seeming to climb a flight of stairs even as she answered.

"I like it. The people have already been stirred, true, but with Kōzuke promising release, and the evening over, most have relaxed their fervour. I have no doubt that he will keep his promise, for the cost he is exacting from Divina, but while it is a price I would have paid myself, I cannot abide it falling on another. I have been getting the program's stories while I spoke with them, and Jane recorded it for me. I will come to you. If we cannot rescue Divina from her sacrifice, we must do something more to repay its price and shear these chains forever."

Kabuki herself had worked into such a fury at the injustice of their situation that the occasional passers-by were left to wonder if the actress was quite alright, and not, in fact, about to burst into flames. Fortunately, none of them were nosy enough to interrupt her or interfere however, and by the time she had closed out her communications with Uprising, the actress was more or less unremarked once more.

As she made her way back towards the private quarters again, the guard watching the passageway that was normally off limits to guests cast her a slightly confused look; he'd seen her go by a number of times now, but he wasn't about to question orders that came from the top, so he ultimately shrugged and said nothing as she passed. By the time she arrived outside the private room she was looking for, Kabuki would be able to hear sounds that were a little bit conflicting, through the closed door.

The door wasn't nearly thick enough to disguise everything, but the clearest sounds to be heard, if she leaned in close to listen, were sounds of both effort, and ecstasy, in the voices of the two girls, but also short grunts and moans that sounded unmistakably like the head of the house, whom Kabuki knew perfectly well was downstairs in his feasting hall, with Divina. The voice also offered occasional instruction, which was sometimes answered by an eager agreement from one girl's voice or another. Further confusing the sounds, was the fact that there also seemed to be a second pair of voices, more or less identical to the slightly louder set of girls' voices; these ones were quieter, and were mostly an assortment of giggles, breathless gasps, and hushed whispers. That was about all Kabuki would be able to hear simply listening at the door; they had closed it properly before beginning their 'Movie night'.

The actress didn't have overly long to listen before a presence moved up the hall behind her. Fortunately it was Uprising, moving with that same quick, purposeful stride that looked like it could easily become a run. She stopped by the other woman and, if Kabuki looked to be listening in, kept her own voice low.

"You weren't by the hall, but I asked which way you had gone, and they pointed me this way. There's a door just up ahead that says it's for admin; I'm guessing that's where the control room you mentioned is? I have the testimonies ready to hand, what else were you planning on running with them?" She scowled softly, then shook her head. "If you've got something that will really and truly destroy him, then we should probably wait until he's actually given the release order to air it... or else we might have to turn our rescue a little bit violent. I'm fine with that." Indeed, the girl sounded like she would welcome the opportunity to crack Kira's skull, perhaps dangerously so.


Unknowing that his doom was being secretly plotted from within his own house, Kira was rather enjoying his sport with Divina. The woman made a believable show of resistance, which pleased him greatly; how she'd known that he liked that, he had no idea, but was content to attribute it to her claims of being a divine pleasure-bringer. The smoothness of his passage within her told him how she really felt, of course, which was something of a reassurance. She denied him a proper kiss, but he'd had many whores who were particular about that, and it didn't bother him. Instead, he was content to lavish his many and zealous kisses across her cheek, jaw and neck while his hips worked.

With the bunched undergarment in one fist, he found the scent of her femininity quite pleasant; all the more so, considering that it was still quite rare to find a lover possessed of that level of detail and complexity, especially here in this secluded bath district, full of the lost or abandoned. He hadn't been sure what to expect when the woman raised her legs; at first he wondered if she was perhaps enjoying the feel of him too much to keep acting, but a moment later her struggling returned and he chuckled as she pressed and shoved against him, trying to push him away. With a laugh he released his pinning grip on her wrists, not minding for the moment as he pulled free of her body. After all, in play like this, the release and recapture was the most tantalising way of changing positions.

As a result of this sudden release, Divina's two-footed push didn't shove Kira away from her; indeed, the man felt like pushing against an anchored mountain. Instead, Divina succeeded in pushing herself back a little further up the length of the table, but as she drifted back the brute laughed and lunged forward with one hand, stepping up onto the table, which creaked ominously beneath him. His hand caught one foot as she tried to float away, and he pulled her back towards him with a broad, tooth-filled grin and victory in his eyes. However much she might be free to kick and struggle now, Kōzuke was clearly ready for it, and amidst fending her off, his hand grabbed roughly onto her forearm. With one foot, he swept aside what remained of the food spread on the table top, sending it crashing to the ground in a cacophony, then struggled to wrangle her body into a new position.

If she fought hard, Divina might even manage to get in a solid kick or two, though being a goddess of her disposition, any such would probably be accidental, even now. Regardless, even something like that didn't set him back at all now, and as much as she could float and levitate with ease, it was unlikely she could mange to do so with Kira twisting one arm behind her back and bearing her down to the table surface roughly, on her front this time. With a thump that made the table groan in protest, his knees hit the wood either side of her exposed behind and he released her arm to instead slap her rump quickly, then apply the hand heavily to the gap between her shoulder-blades. Small mercies saw that the wooden surface was smooth and polished, with a sealed finish, so she was safe from any incidental hurts, but that was the only mercy she was getting, apparently. With a growl of triumph, her tormentor lined himself up with his free hand and hilted her again, more roughly this time.

"Your movement says 'no', but your body screams for more, goddess. I can feel it..." And lo, more she did receive. He was harder than before, in both senses, but there was little about the room to distract Divina from her predicament; the ruined dinner spread, Uprising's banner near the door, the wall tapestries that depicted the glory of the purple house... All in all it might be easier to just zone out entirely from the situation until it was over, if she could. Apparently it wasn't going to be that long, actually; after a short while his massive bulk leaned down over her, and his voice rasped by her head, laboured and breathless.

"I draw close, goddess... do you desire my happiness? You shall have it soon..." The hammer of his hips quickened, and there was very little room to mistake his meaning on that score.

"I wouldn't have wanted you to pay it any more than I wanted Divina to pay it," Kabuki responded with a low frown, echoing her earlier sentiment wherein she'd wanted to come up with a way to circumvent any one or more of the three girls having to offer up themselves to Kozuke. "I'm glad I have your support, though. Kozuke will know regret and anguish, even if it is but a small taste of what he deserves. Only hell can dish him out that punishment!" Further good news came to Kabuki, as Uprising explained that she did indeed have the testimony from those scheduled to be executed, perhaps having had the foresight to record, knowing it could come in handy, or perhaps just wanting to preserve a true record of Kozuke's evils. "I'm very happy that your operator thought to do that! It will be invaluable in our mission!" Of course, she had to keep herself from getting too happy, or she'd start yelling and flashing red again, which would probably tell fatso's girls they ought to come check outside their door before proceeding with any further participation in "movie night," whatever that entailed.

The night became increasingly confusing as Kabuki realized she was definitely hearing Kozuke's sex-grunts coming from inside the room. That made no sense, unless there were two Kozukes... or, more likely, the girls somehow had footage into the room with Kozuke and Divina. If so, they were about as gross as their "father," and just as equally deserving of punishment, in her mind... although, his influence could probably be blamed for any perversion of theirs as well. Whatever the case, there was clearly a mystery to be solved, and Kabuki had come to peek through the door, not just listen past it.

Before she had the chance, Uprising showed up, causing her to flush with embarrassment, either at having been caught listening or at realizing she wasn't in the right spot. "Sorry! I thought it would take you longer to get up here. I suppose I overestimated the size of the dungeon," the actress laughed quietly. "You are correct, that's where the equipment for projecting upon the big screen appears to be located. I don't have material of my own yet, but I have a theory that just behind this door, something we can use might be taking place. I don't wish to incriminate innocent girls, of course, nor to project Divina's unfortunate situation... but I'm not sure they're innocent and there may be something to use, regardless. So, I'd like to finish pursuing this lead before we move on," she finished. "I'm going to peek through the door, so we must both stay very quiet... I'll record anything of interest that I see. You raise a good point, though; regardless of what else, we had better not project anything before the SPs are safely released." With that said, Kabuki held one finger to her lips, then creaked the door open ever-so-carefully, peeking one of her almond-shaped, pink eyes through carefully. The rest of her was darkened, so as not to attract too much attention. Her shapely caboose, its otherwise naked curves showing through the thin fabric of her robe, stuck out towards Uprising, but hopefully, the young girl was both mission-focused enough and perhaps not interested besides, to avoid getting distracted.

Unfortunately, the SPs were not the only thing nearing release. It was likely that pleasant release and another inversely unpleasant release would occur at roughly the same time at different parts of the purple house...

The good part of her body's 'receptiveness' to Kozuke was that it was easy for her to escape that particular clutch as she tried to get away. The less good part was that after getting grabbed, it was equally easy for him to reclutch her. She tried to pull away the entire time, but it just wasn't doing anything beyond turning him on even more. And now she was stuck against the table, though unlike before, she seemed able to move her legs. She didn't, but just knowing that she could eased her heart a bit. At the least, she was pretty sure she could talk normally now.

At this point, she wanted to make it really clear she wasn't just playing along. She still kept struggling, refusing to let the situation defeat her, even though she knew quite well how little it was accomplishing. But now she could back it up with speech. "My body is screaming...screaming for you to let me go!" He wouldn't, of course, so really all she could do was lie there like a lump and wait. Fortunately, the table was nice and smooth, so she at least didn't have to fear splinters. Just getting crushed by the giant man, though he was actually being quite good in that regard. Small comforts and all that.

Speaking of which, it sounded (and felt) like he was almost done. Thank the heavens. If she had a free hand, she'd probably just rest her head on it while she waited for him to finish up. She certainly wasn't about to, herself. "If you're going to do it, then just...get it over with!" She had exactly zero desire for him to actually do that, but if it meant ending things so she could send over first hand video of Kozuke's depravity, it was something she'd have to deal with.

Kabuki's zeal for dishing out well deserved retribution seemed to resonate will with the smaller woman, who clearly wasn't averse to things 'accidentally' turning violent enough to warrant her going to town personally on the head of the house. While she had been mission focused earlier, tot he point of bearing any burden for the sake of the rescue, the fact that one of her followers and friends for the evening was taking that weight instead and her unable to stop it, seemed to be getting under the girl's skin the more she was forced to think about it. She nodded grimly to Kabuki's explanations and her plans. At this stage the concept of anything being remotely erotic or sexual, and also being pleasant, were completely alienated ideas to uprising, at least for tonight, and her focus remained quite completely on her ally's face, and then her own surrounds when Kabuki turned away.

"Right. I'll work out how to operate the system then. Come meet me in the other room when you've got what you need, I should have it figured out by then." She squared her shoulders and took a step back, then swiftly headed through the admin door, leaving Kabuki to her snooping.

Upon sneaking the door open a crack, the muffled sound grew sharp and clearer. The overtly carnal sounds were coming from somewhere to the left of the doorway, and obviously contained both Kira, and the tow young girls' vocalisation. With the door open enough to peek in, though, it was clear that the actual screen for this apparently pre-recorded footage was on the same wall as the door, and getting a clean shot of it from here would be a tall order.

What her stealthy insight did reveal of the room was expectedly lavish, plush and purple, though it was also full of gold trimming and dark polished wood. There was a thick carpet, with smaller throw rugs and various cushions dotted about it as well. Directly to the left of the door, against most of that wall, was the expected entertainment system, with a screen large enough to actively cover most of the wall itself, though the angle made it impossible to get a clear view. Moving shakes and bare skin was about the extent of what could be discerned from here.

Opposite, and taking pride of place in the room was an especially broad luxury four-poster with a solid base and an excessively thick, cushioned bed flat, with much quilting and an impressive number of pillows. There were rich satin privacy drapes on all four sides, but they were currently pulled all the way up and out of the way. A gold tasselled rope for controlling them was pulled and wound once around a lower hook on the bedpost, keeping them raised. The far wall also seemed to have a dress stand, and a mirror, to the left of the bed, but from her peeking position there wasn't much more she could see of the room at the moment.

Furniture aside, there was something far more important for Kabuki to take note of, and that was the two girls themselves. At a glance it was hard to tell if their condition was innocent or not, but the closer one looked, the more suspect this first idea would become: the two were lying on the bed, with their toes towards the bed head, more or less chest to chest. The pair were both giggling and cooing softly at one another, in between looking towards the movie screen; on her back, beneath the other one, the girl with the black themed outfit was apparently quite happy to watch things upside down, though it was beginning to seem as though watching the movie was secondary, by this point.

Most of the black-themed outfit in question was actually in a severe state of disarray, with the breast band bunched into a thing roll of fabric well above the area it was meant to cover, and the lower half of the undergarments barely hanging onto one ankle. Their hands were clearly all over one another, including delving suspiciously into the garments that actually remained in place, and the small gasps and delicate moans that came in between the amused giggling probably removed any further doubt about what was going on.

Unfortunately for Kabuki, it was at about this moment that the girls rolled over, changing positions, and the now-topping girl in black glanced towards the movie screen again, only to noticed the crack in the door. She let out a startled squeak, sitting bolt upright with her knees either side of her friend, and fumbled between pointing at the doorway and trying to cover herself.

"Hey! Hey!! No peeking!! Stop!" With another short squeal, she scrambled rapidly off the side of the bed to crouch beside it, then reached back out to reclaim the shed parts of her poor excuse for clothing. The girl still mostly dressed in white turned her face towards the door, looking at Kabuki upside down with a puzzled expression, then rolled over and sat up.

"It's the lady. Curran, it's the lady, from the staff order. It's ok. Daddy said she can go anywhere."
"Huh?" The other girl popped her head up again, apparently paused now in the process of trying to pull her clothes back on. "Oh. Alright then." she clambered back onto the bed again to sit beside her sister. She had pulled her breast band back into place, but hadn't actually managed to right her lower half's underwear. Having been informed that everything was ok, though, she no longer seemed to care.
"You can come in, lady. You shouldn't lurk in doorways. You'll scare people. you can watch if you want. Daddy said so." the white sister glanced across at her, pouting at her for stealing the chance to invite, then looked back and waved to Kabuki.
"I'm Pikeru, and this is Curran. And you're the Savage Lady, right? Daddy's spending all his time with the other lady, so we have to stay out of his way, and watch movies instead. You can come and watch with us if you want!" To add to the slightly awkward surrealism of the situation, the movie in question, heavy erotic sounds, sexual instructions and all, continued unabated throughout this conversation. It was fairly safe to guess that they were 'home movies' at this point, as if the situation needed another layer of creepiness.

----

Elsewhere, some rather similar sounds were occurring, with some rather more dire meaning. The sound of inevitability was, apparently, heavy panting and a deep, rumbling growl in the overlord's throat. He was far too gone to detect that Divina's first truly intelligible cries in a while were genuine demands that he stop. By coincidence, the man did let her go, or at least, he lifted the hand from between her shoulder blades, to instead reach down and around slightly, pressing his gargantuan mitts firmly on either side of her chest. All things considered, his grip might have been much fiercer than it was; it was probably a good thing Kira believed this was all acting, and he was aware of his own size and strength.

If she'd been thinking charitably of him, Divina might have concluded that he was accustomed to being intimate with women much smaller and lighter than he was, and was in fact quite cautious of actually harming them... The chances of her actually having such charitable thoughts, though, were probably quite slim. In particular, any charity she might have considered probably came to a halt as as his pace grew faster and harsher, and then at once pressed in hard and held still. There was no mistaking what Divina felt next, as the house leader threw his head back, voicing a deep groan that reverberated through his body, only to be followed by several more, a thrumming cry with each long, deeply drawn breath.

More troublesome was the manner in which the sensation didn't abate, renewing itself deep, heavy pulse after pulse. If the size and girth of the invading organ itself had left Divina feeling uncomfortable, that would only be growing more pronounced with each shudder of release, unless that was a sensation she liked, of course... though even then, it was probably safe to say the situation robbed any potential for enjoyment from every part of this ordeal. At least it was almost over, and taking one for the team in such a literal sense had almost certainly provided Divina and her allies with some truly damning footage.

Eventually, after along minute that must surely have felt like an hour, her 'host' subsided, panting roughly on his knees above her. He didn't remove himself right away, but rather held his place while he caught his breath, and took a moment to wipe his brow. Fortunately, even his frightfully impressive stiffness didn't last much longer, and he moved his hands to press the table either side of her, then climbed to his feet. By the time he had stepped down from the table, he had also cleaned and refreshed his robes, covering himself and looking for all the world as if he had not done just as he had, save for a flush of his skin.

He hadn't offered Divina anything to clean herself up with, and given how productive the man had been, she probably really needed it; instead he did one of the politest things he had done all evening, and didn't make a point of looking at her directly while she was in that state. Instead, he stepped back to his throne and dropped down with a content sigh, stretching and relaxing.

"Goddess of pleasure indeed!" He murmured, loud enough for her to hear, though still without looking directly towards her. "Perhaps there is something divine in those nethers of yours after all. I must say I've not felt so fulfilled in a very long time. All politics aside, it was an honour." He chuckled to himself, then stifled a yawn. "I am satisfied, goddess... Though you promised your service for the whole night, I'm not sure any more would live up to that, as I myself tire. Unless you wish to prove me wrong, of course?"

Of all the other things to have passed tonight, his congenial nature now might possibly have been one of the cruellest, and it wasn't even intentional. The obvious statement now, that made it so clear that the brute had been utterly unaware that he was raping an unwilling woman, probably ought not be a part of their testimonial, but hearing it so casually was just the sort of thing to leave a cold, sick feeling in one's gut, if Divina was the sort to have such thoughts. He seemed willing to make small-talk, if she wanted to, but was just as happy to release her from his service now. When she had spoken about bearing this weight herself, voluntarily, Uprising had called it a small price to pay, for saving lives, but now that she had ultimately been the one to pay it, the question left to Divina was... was it? She had also seemed sure that Kira would be rough to the point of damaging her, but despite everything else, he hadn't been. Whatever her thoughts, though, it was up to Divina alone to decide how she intended to act.

"Thank you, Uprising. I'll rejoin you as soon as possible," Kabuki responded, giving a short nod to her employer where she would have preferred some more dramatic expression of gratitude. Unfortunately, she couldn't afford to get excited right now, so that curt gesture would have to do.

Once Kabuki began investigating, it became clear to her that she wasn't hearing the hated Kozuke himself behind the door; rather, she was just hearing his sex-grunts, presumably from either recording or, more upsetting to think, a live feed. Her intention had been to record whatever was on-screen in the room, constituting "movie night," but she realized now that wouldn't have been particularly advisable in the first place. If the girls were watching Kozuke's home-made porn, nothing there would be permissible to broadcast over the big screen regardless. The subjects would either be willing participants, in which case Kozuke would be mostly blameless, or they'd be unwilling participants, and then she'd need to somehow doctor the films to make the girls unrecognizable so as to protect their identities. She wasn't willing to expose those unfortunate girls for the sake of her mission, important though it may be.

Aside from the movie, the two girls were also hard at play in the room; if their relationship with Kozuke was scandalous, their relationship with one another was about as much so, seeing as incest appeared to be par for the course. As a matter of fact, Kabuki herself was beginning to feel like she was watching a porn... she wasn't excited by it, nor turned on, certainly, but still... she was basically watching sexual activities from secret, and that was enough to make her start glowing again. Just as she was beginning to think there was nothing useful to be gained here and furthermore that it was embarrassing just to watch, the girls noticed her; even without the new light-source from her hair and body, they might have caught her bright pink eyes regardless. "N-No, I wasn't... that is, I'm IN~NO~CENT! Kozuke gave me permission to go where ever I want tonight, so... so I just sort of snuck in without thinking!" she defended, although that was an obvious lie. It wasn't as much an intended lie as trying to preserve her dignity after being caught peeking. She was just thankful Yoshitsune wasn't watching right now, or things would get significantly more awkward.

The one in white surprisingly cooled down the situation, for which Kabuki was thankful. She accepted the offer to enter inside, thinking she'd be better off with the two girls who, for whatever reason, trusted her, than she would be if she was seen peeking from just outside the room by someone else. "AAR~I~GA~TOU!" she cried, although she wasn't exactly that happy; it had come out by habit. She really didn't want to look at the home movie the girls had mentioned; she probably wouldn't be able to control the anger on her face if she did. Even now, she was clearly struggling to avoid saying what was on her mind, her glowing lower lip trembling at her withheld thoughts. "It's good to meet you, Pikeru, Curran. I'm KA~BU~KIII, although you can call me SA~VAGE~LA~DY if you like. It does sound sort of sexy," she admitted jokingly, although she immediately regretted bringing up sex again. That would be fun talk with most people, but around this place, it was dangerous.

Looking between the two girls, Kabuki tried to hold their attention so that they wouldn't get back to fooling around again, or at least not so much that it would be exceedingly uncomfortable to sit near them and watch. "Girls, I am very CU~RI~OUS: what is your relationship to Kozuke? You call him Daddy, but what is he to you? Is he your BE~NE~FACT~OR, your CRE~A~TOR, or literally your SI~YUR?" she asked, tilting her head thoughtfully while her vibrant red hair bounced and flicked around aimlessly. At this point, she also turned on her own recorder, hoping to get something she could use against Kozuke. If things were like they seemed, and Kozuke was really a dad, allowing his biological (or as close as it got on the net, anyway) children to watch him demonstrate his sexual techniques on unwanting victims, that would definitely be something she could use against him, while also hopefully necessitating some sort of relief action from the community towards the two girls. They might be ostracized, but hopefully, there would be those who wanted to help them... After all, the alternative would be to allow the community to find out themselves with no explanation, which would garner less sympathy. "Can you tell me more about your Daddy, too? For EX~AM~PLE... how do you two feel about him? Have you ever seen him hurt someone?" she asked, squinting her eyes unconsciously. There was no easy way to talk to kids about a bad parent, but then again... well, she might not get a straight answer regardless. If the girls were watching his movies in a recreational capacity, they probably weren't going to recognize his rape as hurting people. On the other hand, even they might recognize executions as murder, so she might be able to get (and record) testimony regarding past evils.

Whether anyone thought Kozuke deserved happiness was now irrelevant. He had experienced it, and Divina had plenty of 'evidence' that he'd enjoyed it. She, on the other hand, hadn't gotten much out of it other than that, and noted that if nothing else, she was free to stand up now. Doing so caused, aside from the immense relief of total freedom, some of the house head's...leftover happiness to ooze out, and dropped down to the floor. This didn't escape the goddess's notice, but fixing that was easy; she simply reached out, let her staff float back to her hand, and let it shine a light on herself. In one fell swoop, all evidence of what had just happened to her was gone, as her clothing reappeared, and certain areas had certain substances removed.

A few thoughts were going through her head at this point. For as much as Uprising had feared how rough he'd be, he was surprisingly gentle through the whole thing, and generally seemed to be trying to make it enjoyable for her as well. It made her wonder...aside from being drunk on power, was he truly as evil as some, even herself, were making him out to be? Perhaps he wasn't beyond redemption. He just needed to lose the source of his corruption...his power and wealth. Without that, he may well turn out to be a pleasant Navi. At least, she felt it was possible. Her resolve to bring him down hadn't wavered, but what fueled it was shifting a bit, from just 'for the betterment of the locals' to 'for the betterment of the locals, and the betterment of himself'.

At any rate, she was done here. So, so, SO done. She wordlessly waved at the pleased master of the house, then floated over to the door and left him to his own devices. Once she was outside, she moved over away from the nearby guards, and brought up a screen. She didn't have Uprising's contact info, but she did have Kabuki's, so at least they could have a little chat. Just dial it up, and...

"Hello, Kabuki? I think we...uh...where in the world ARE you?" She was definitely in the purple house, thanks to the decor, but what was that moaning and stuff? As far as she could tell, the actress was the only one in the room, but...well, there were more important matters at hand. "...Never mind, it doesn't matter right now. Do you know where that big screen you mentioned broadcasts from? Because I believe that I can put an end to all of this now." For someone who had, for all intents and purposes, just been raped, Divina was holding up remarkably well. Perhaps it was because, if things went as she hoped, the perpetrator wouldn't be doing it again any time soon. That the reason she thought he had performed such deeds would soon be gone.

Speaking of perpetrators...what about the one responsible for bringing them here? "By the way, have you run into Uprising? I think it'd be wonderful if we all got together again."

While Kabuki joined the two girls, they made room for her to sit on the bed with them, and finished pulling the rest of their clothes back on. If she was looking for it, Kabuki might catch one of them attempting to surreptitiously wipe one hand clean on the sheets behind her without being noticed. For all that they'd just been caught doing things that individuals of their design really shouldn't, it was also probably a bit difficult to feel any ill will towards them directly, if that was how they were made.

"Ka-bu-ki..." Pikeru followed Kabuki's own rhythm pattern, at least passably, as she repeated the name, though she said it in her own quiet, simple volume. "That's an interesting-sounding name." She clapped her hands together, grinning, then Curran leaned over with one hand cupped up to whisper something in the other girl's ear.

"Daddy loves us a lot! And we love him too, lots and lots." The girl in white continued talking, but her sister piped up afterwards.
"Like, like, four or five times a day, normally, hehe! It's so much fun! He makes us feel all warm and tingly!!" She bounced on the bed a little at this, before her sister leaned back, cupping her hand to the black-clad girl's ear just as the other had done first, and whispered something back. "But he's busy with the other lady tonight, so we just have to play on our own."
"Unless you want to play with us, too!?" Pikeru interrupted with her own exclamation, though the other girl didn't seem to mind. Kabuki would probably have to get used to them taking turns to talk over one another. "Daddy says we shouldn't with anyone else, unless we really have to, but he's not played with us since lunch time today, so...." Here she poked her tongue out, making a face as to what she thought about Kira's apparent inattention, then leaned over to her sister and whispered to her again. Curran picked up where he sister left off.

"Daddy is... well..." Both girls' over-bubbly expressions faded somewhat as they found themselves up against a more serious question. "We don't know anything about the one who made us, really. All our memories are here." More whispers passed, but Curran continued this time. "But he looks after us, keeps us safe, and loves us all the time, like a daddy should, so, we call him Daddy, because it makes him happy when we do." She leaned over to whisper back to her sister, who picked up the conversation.

"We don't leave the house, but I don't think Daddy has ever hurt anyone deliberately. He's a really big, strong man, though. He tries to be gentle, but sometimes it hurts." She shook her head rapidly. "But it's not his fault. I know he'd never actually want to hurt us." Another whisper from Curran, and she nodded. "I think the most he ever hurt Curran and I was the first time he loved us. He said it would though, and there was nothing he could do, but that it wouldn't after that." She nodded again to reaffirm the fact. "It wasn't that bad, really."
"It was pretty bad..." Curran cut over the other girl, looking more to her than to Kabuki. Pikeru shifted to face her sister, clutching her hands together in front of her chest.
"But it wasn't his fault. He said he was as gentle as he could be!"
"You didn't stop bleeding for an hour, and neither did I."
"That's not the point! It was just the one time!"
"Yeah I know. It's wonderful now, but the lady asked." They both looked back to Kabuki, though Pikeru was pouting slightly. Their discussion painted a fairly clear picture of the situation, and it was a rather uncouth one, but it was also looking like the man of the house kept his little girls' eyes away from the darker dealings of the house. They'd probably recognise a rape as being hurtful and wrong, if they saw it, but unfortunately all that the movie on the screen they had been watching was showing was activity between Kira and the girls themselves. There was little getting around the idea that, whatever potential they might have been originally created with, these two were mentally and emotionally little more than eager bed-warmers now.

Of course, if Kabuki felt that the girls' testimonial wasn't as damning as she needed, there was every probability that they'd let her borrow one of the recordings, to at least show the world what a disgusting, perverted man he was. It was at about this time, though, that Divina's incoming message would be reaching the actress, so she had a number of choices for what needed her attention first.

--

Finally free of lecherous attention, Divina was quick in cleaning herself up and getting herself back to a semblance of decency. the evidence was gone, certainly, but the impression was likely to remain for a while, especially given how finished with the entire situation she seemed to be. Kira nonchalantly waved her out as she made to leave. He was in the becalmed, relaxed state of post-coital spaceyness that meant he didn't even really mind that she was removing herself from his presence without so much as a word. As the goddess left the room, though ,she would hear him murmur something, though it clearly wasn't directed at her; something about seeing that the captives were released and went with them when his other guests left the grounds.

If she had been a normal mortal, her clam after the ordeal might be attributed to that state of detached disconnection from the event that often followed traumas of that particular nature... but Divina was no mere mortal; that she was a navi, as well, probably helped, and if she was lucky she probably wouldn't suffer as severe a reaction as that, or have to deal with the expected crash-down that would normally follow in a hour or two, after it wore off. such were probably another hidden blessing of being a goddess, after all.

Once she was out of the main hall, the guards nodded politely to her, but otherwise gave no particular reaction; it seemed probable that, for the remainder of her stay here, Divina was being accorded the same rights as her allies, now that she was no longer in Kira's presence.

Kabuki joined the girls on the bed with just a bit of hesitance; she didn't exactly want to get involved in what they were doing on said bed, but she didn't want to refuse or make an awkward (well, more awkward) situation. The cheeriness of the girls was somewhat infectious, however, and she almost found herself forgetting about the gruesome nature of the night's events. Of course, the answers to the questions she'd asked were hugely problematic and quickly sucked any enthusiasm she was building up out of her. Again, she found it hard to avoid shouting out in outrage, let alone to smile, while the girls discussed their relationship with Kozuke. "That's not the way a daddy should love you... That's not right at all..." she thought to herself, tears beginning to well in the corners of her eyes out of a combination of pity for the girls and hatred towards their Daddy.

Were they happy with their lot in life? Sure, but she didn't see this as an issue of imposing societal norms and values upon an unwilling culture. Here was a man who had barred the girls from outside contact, keeping them inside and to himself, educating them in how to carry on as his perfect sex slaves and seemingly little else. Most navis these days tended to live multifaceted lives, carrying out the duties for which they were designed while also making friends, learning about the world, learning skills, developing their own opinions, and so forth. He'd denied them all of that. Perhaps in some sick way, he really did love them; they sure loved him, it seemed, but what other conclusion could they have come to? They'd been trained to question nothing, to appreciate only the carnal stimulation of sex and the petting of their father. When sex was the only stimulation offered to them, of course they'd see it as love.

But still, she couldn't confront them with that thought, as much as it hurt. She knew her boundaries. It was possible the two wouldn't comprehend the harsh reality, or otherwise wouldn't want to hear it. Either way, she knew she wasn't qualified to handle the situation. Even if the girls saw the wisdom of what she said, she couldn't escape with them in the current situation. She saw only one solution: if there really was going to be a revolution, she would make sure that the girls got out of this life and into the care of someone who could treat them like human beings (or the digital equivalent, at least). Somewhere on her travels, Kabuki might meet meet someone in the right position... a good mother, or an authority figure, or even a professional, who could help them out. Until then, she'd have to be patient. Her bosom heaved as she now sobbed in spite of herself, sniffling and patting both girls on the tops of their heads, overstepping her position as a stranger, probably. "You girls... I'm SO SO~RRY..." she sniffled, her sharp teeth biting down into the red, glowing stripe upon her lower lip. "Thank you both," she finished, having gotten enough of the testimonial and a bit of footage she could use as well. She didn't like the idea of revealing that horrible interview to anyone, but the girls wouldn't know and certainly couldn't be worse off for having some sympathetic ears from the people, if it could help them be freed from Kozuke's captivity some day. "You're both GOOD~GIRLS, Curran, Pikeru..." she finished, pushing her butt up from the bed and moving quickly toward the door. "I'm sorry I interrupted you. To make up for it, here... Another MO~VIE for you," she finished, leaving a data packet by the door. Inside it, she placed a video file of one of her old performances; nothing special, but one she always kept it on hand as a study piece in case she needed to observe her own acting. In the video, she'd play the heroine of a story, a light-hearted, goofy one. Perhaps it might be more educational if there was a villain or a death, but there wasn't... that was for the best, as the last thing she needed to do was instill violence in them. "I imagine you don't get a lot of choice in the movies you watch. This is a bit DIF~FER~RENT from what you're used to, I'm sure but it's IM~POR~TANT to experience new things. There are other types of love too..."

A viewscreen containing Divina popped up as she was resting her arm against the door, clenching her teeth to stop from bawling. Realizing that she didn't want to introduce Divina at the moment, nor really to expose Divina to the girls' home video, Kabuki gave a small bow and exited the room. Unforunately, the site of Divina only made her start weeping harder. "G-GOD~DESS... I didn't... I'm sorry you had to..." she babbled, clutching her hands to her face. How had she let Kozuke do what he did to Divina? There were so many opportunities for her to do better... She could have insisted they confront Kozuke out in the open, forcing the others to reconsider... She could have insisted that she stay by Divina's side... She could have brought the people outside, possibly even Divina's followers, who wouldn't want to see her defiled by a man like Kozuke, in to storm the room and rescue Divina. There had been so many opportunities to save her friend and she'd let them all slip out of her grasp. "I'm a FAIL~URE as a friend!" she exclaimed, wrapping her face up in her long robe sleeves.

Divina's calmness surprised and almost frightened Kabuki, once she stopped wailing and listened to her partner. She slowly raised her face from her sleeves, with a look of disbelief. "GOD~DESS... I-I'm near the broadcasting room now and UP~RI~SING is already there. You need only take the hallway near the door where Kozuke and you were, leading away from the bath-house areas where people are gathered. I must say, you look SUR~PRI~SING~LY no worse for the wear! Did you, perhaps...?" she asked, covering her mouth with her sleeves again. She wanted to come up with some answer as to how Divina had gotten out of the situation: made a fool of Kozuke, beat him somehow, possibly made him see reason? None of those seemed likely. So why did Divina not seem affected by her experience? "What is your EV~I~DENCE? You must... Think of your people," she spoke with some difficulty, unsure of how the goddess would take advice on how to manage her own religion. "There are some things that they cannot be shown... or should not be shown... you UN~DER~STAND? Their faith in you may be great, and if so, that makes this situation all the more VO~LA~TILE. Unless you're really, ONE~HUN~DRED percent sure that everyone in your religion feels just as strongly about nonviolence as you do, then.... depending upon the contents of the EV~I~DENCE you mentioned... We may want to withhold that evidence. Uprising has testimonial from the prisoners and I have words from his two girls... Those will be enough to damn him without showing them..." she murmured, her words getting stuck in her throat as she again hesitated to guess what Kozuke had done to her.

Kabuki had started to make her way back to Uprising now, so she could stand near the door and signal Divina over when she laid eyes upon the goddess. "But in some ways, that's also a terrible thing to say... If she really did suffer through that, then telling her that we can't use it as evidence is all the more cruel," the actress thought to herself nervously, keeping her eyes on the viewscreen. "Damn him... Damn that devil..."

Divina frowned as the mere sight of her sent Kabuki bursting into tears. Was there some horrific sign of what she'd just done that she missed? She gave herself a quick lookover, but nope, nothing but normal goddess. "...I'm sorry? Is something wrong?" The next shout made things much clearer. "Oh, that. Please, put it out of your mind. You've done nothing wrong. But, I am sorry for worrying you. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine, though, so you needn't concern yourself any longer." Hopefully that'd set her mind at ease, at least a little...based on what she knew of Kabuki, once her emotions burst to the surface, they weren't easily subsided.

The next part made sense...and the actress Navi seemed to have her suspicions about what happened. She was right, on both counts. She didn't think her followers would become violent, though, considering that flew right in the face of everything she taught. Still, it was potential avoidable anguish, so she should do what she could to minimize it. "I think you underestimate my followers a little...but, point taken. I'll handle it shortly." She wasn't upset at all about the advice, since she knew Kabuki was just trying to help. "I'll be there in a few minutes, all right? We'll compare notes then."

Click!

It was almost weird to the goddess Navi that she was alone. No Kabuki, no Uprising...even Hikari seemed to be preoccupied at the moment. But she'd fix that. She brought up the screen again, and called someone once more...the scarfed NormalNavi was the one who appeared a moment later. "Hi, I have some words for everyone there. Can you gather them all before the screen?"

"But of course, ma déesse!" A moment passed, and every follower of Divina that had shown was now entirely focused on the screen containing their deity. "That's tout le monde! Now, please, speak."

"Everyone, I wish to thank you all for coming to aid in this noble endeavor. I'm pleased to announce that the hostages will be released!" She waited for a moment, while everyone cheered, before continuing. "With their safety assured, I can say that we're done here for today. Please, jack out and rest, and know in your hearts that your deeds have borne fruit!" One by one, each Navi left the Net, usually with something like 'Praise the goddess!' or 'Bye, everyone!'

Eventually, only the recipient of the call remained, his arms folded across his chest. A moment of silence passed, then he spoke. "You are not fini yet, are you?"

"You read me too well...yes, I still have more to do. I sent everyone home to spare them from seeing something that...well, that they can't unsee."

"I see. Of course, you know that I shall remain, peu importe ce que, non?"

"I know. And I thank you for that...anyway, I should go now. Take care!"

"Be well!"

Click!

All right, now she could reunite with the others. Divina hovered up the stairs, soon noticing Kabuki. She waved and floated over, but it was the others that would have the next move.