I saw Mommy kissing Samba-Claus (KISS BINGO EDITION) 💋🌿

[beleos]

QIASU (HIGHSTORM)

On December 15th, the marker of the latter half of Takiltu, Kenos comes together to celebrate unity and togetherness, to come together with friends and family, to be kind to others and share in one’s wealth - whether that comes in the form of knowledge, monetary gains, or the exchange of gifts and one’s time. This celebration is an amalgamation of many worlds’ winter festivals, and as such, is known in the two cities as the Year’s End Festival, or Qiasu as Highstorm calls it.

This part of Takiltu is when Highstorm truly starts to hit winter. Snow is a frequent occurrence, but it’s one that the city welcomes, since with the snow comes a few of the most beloved traditions of the city. By far the most popular is heading to Greenwood Yards. The gardens themselves may be either dormant or showing their simpler winter gardens, but you may have noticed an area by the bathhouses left in surprising amount of disrepair… This is because during the winter months, this area fills up with a natural outdoor hot spring! Take a swim under the moonlight, and even explore some of those ruined old manors, now with their first floors warmly flooded. It’s a tradition to bring in your favorite drinks and spend an evening sipping it in a parlor with friends, and to make new ones by sharing your drinks. Of course, do watch out for the ghosts. They’re mischievous more than malicious, but this is their favorite time of the year too!

You can also head to the Great Tree, which is decorated for the season with glittering glass orbs and is the current roost for the pale Moonbugs of Highstorm. Write a wish on a slip of paper and hold out your hands, and one of the Moonbugs will come sit within them. Whisper the wish to the Moonbug and it’ll take the paper and fly away to find someone to fulfill it. Of course, this also means that a Moonbug is likely to come find you! Besides it being good karma to fulfill the wish, you’ll be given a brief vision of the person whose wish you fulfilled and be blessed by the tree for the duration of the month depending upon your Aspect:

• Advocate: People are more likely to buy you meals/rounds and every recipe you make turns out perfectly.
• Exalt: Animals seem to think more kindly of you, and you'll find them much easier to befriend.
• Harbinger: You're given a more silver tongue as your arguments seem to be better at persuading people.
• Iconoclast: You won't be effected by cold weather in any way.
• Savant: You heal much more rapidly from any injury and are generally the very picture of health.
• Stargazer: Your indulgences (whatever they may be) are both easier to find and are of higher quality.

And of course, there’s one more well-known practice in Highstorm, though it’s more of a tradition of Kowloon’s… The Gävle family is a well-known family who has lived in Highstorm for a long time, and they brought a tradition of building a festive Yule goat made straw in the square outside of their businesses. However, it also happens to be outside of Yura Szczepanski’s home. He’ll never do it himself, of course, but if you manage to burn it down? He’ll reward you, obviously. It doesn’t make it any more legal, so those that try generally spend some time in a Highstorm jail, but it’s an enshrined enough practice at this point that not only has it burned down more often than it’s survived, but there’s even a betting pool in Kowloon for whether it survives or not.

Of course, if these traditions aren’t quite your vibe, you’ll also find the city just generally set up for a metropolitan winter. The Antiques & Baubles Market is rearranged to make room for a large ice-skating rink, Tasseography (the coffeeshop by the Tomes) has a seasonal special for a hot chocolate that will fortify you from the cold for a few hours (and make you fire resistant? Weird,), and the city also hosts a full-size gingerbread house that you can indeed take a bite from, to name a few things. Generally speaking, if it’s something you could do in a snowy city at home, you’ll probably find an equivalent somewhere in the city of moonlight.

Be warned, however, if you are visiting from out of town. Highstorm's reception seems just a touch bit chiller than the weather!

YEAR'S END FESTIVAL (SPRINGSTAR)

Springstar will never turn down a chance to celebrate, but eternally Highstorm’s opposite, this is the warmest time of year. With the sun always shining, some days can get near sweltering, but that just means you have a different set of traditions to have fun with it!

The ivy-like vines that decorated the city in the beginning of the month (November) are now in full bloom, and you’re now likely to learn why the Meri consider them sacred. Wherever the flowers bloom, they encourage feelings of warmth and slightly higher inclination for physical contact within those that encounter their magical pollen*. Holding hands with someone by the flowers will give you feelings of liveliness and happiness, and for a few hours, the positive traits of the person you’re holding hands with become more prominent in you and vice versa. These effects do linger a bit longer, since for a month, you’ll also find that being around this person also gives you both a little boost in energy. It’s very sweet! This also comes with a bit of a further game, if you’re at all a frequenter of Psychagogía...

Madame Dee’s hosts a very popular competition simply called Kiss Bingo. Approach the booth set-up outside the brothel and touch your Shard to a special card, and names will appear upon it. From there, the rules are simple. Just give that person a kiss! It can be on their hand, their lips, their [redacted], all of it counts, and once you do, a little kiss mark will mark their name out. Get a bingo, and you can pick from a variety of prizes such as a ticket for a week’s worth of visits at a local buffet, a shopping spree at a nearby store, or a box seat for a day at the Coliseum. Of course, if you’re really an overachiever, fill out the whole card to get multiple prizes. Madame Dee might just give you a job!

With the promise of home that the Meri deeply believe in, they have their own gifting tradition. The Shard-Bearers know best that it’s possible to receive gifts from the Timestream, and for Year’s End, it’s tradition for the Tribune to pull out all the stops. For a week of the Festival, the Tribune works just outside of Heliopolis, and with the help of priests from the Church of Helios, reaches into the Timestream to produce a gift for anyone that comes to ask. This year, however, he's asked Quetzalcoatl and Samba's elves to deliver gifts, but you might not get anything you asked for (or maybe you did!) but they're all gifts the timestream spit out!

On rainy days (or simply the unbearably hot ones), you can also go to Starlight Park, which offers a reprieve from the weather. Inside the dome, you’ll find a idyllic, snowy valley where you can partake in all the natural joys of winter. There’s (highly) competitive snowball fights, sledding, and skiing to partake in, though you might be cautioned away from one slope. Head down that course and about halfway down, you’ll be chased by… a yeti? Luckily it doesn’t seem to be able to harm you, but it’s still shockingly fast and will catch you no matter how quickly you ski. You can also spend a bit of money to rent a yurt along the river for a relaxing and exceptionally cozy glamping experience. Some Yurts are even adorned with the sacred vines. You know, for no reason.

You’ll also find the Meri heading away from the city of Springstar a bit to head down to some of the beaches that surround Springstar. Being an island within an Island (capital ‘I’ meaning the Kenos kind of island), Takiltu is the traditional start of Springstar’s summer season and all the fun that comes with that. The beaches are bustling, but the cool and crystal-clear waters of the ocean surrounding the city make it worthwhile. Surfing, diving, and sailing are popular activities, but just make sure to stay within sight of the shore. It doesn’t take too long to hit the end of the Island and sailing outside the magical barrier that keeps Springstar floating in Kenos’s starscape generally isn’t survivable.

Just be mindful, if you're trying to escape Highstorm's chill for some summer fun, as attitudes are shifting toward bearers in general, and it might not be as easy as it once was.

NOTES

Weather summary for the second 30 days of Takiltu (NOV & DEC):

• Highstorm is out of fall and into winter. While there are some milder days, snow (and heavy snow at that!) is getting more common.
• Springstar is hot and humid, and it's not uncommon for brief thunderstorms to roll through in the afternoon.

Notable city changes:

• Both cities have experienced changing attitudes toward shard-bearers. You will need to be mindful if you want to travel to a city that doesn't house your faction, as things might not be as easy when it comes to getting around.
• Springstar has had an increase in attacks toward it's citizens, and they are often fatal and destructive. Rumors travel among Springstar's seedier types that these are escaping from Ryad, and they aren't being reigned in. That always comes with a flicker of worry.

CODING

Comments

[tattooism]

[Kiritsubo isn't one to usually keep to a schedule or actual prolonged contact, but her tattoo work is the one exception. She assigns Amos to a care routine, even as she jokes that she knows he is a veteran and must simply indulge her, and every few days she slips into Communion to ask a few brief questions about how the healing is going.

She doesn't appear in person again, though, until next week- actually, nearly two, because she is busy with things in Springstar establishing certain routines for his favor, and unlike her usual whimsical transformations and wanderings, those actually require a certain focus that cannot be abandoned so easily. The bell on his shop door eventually chimes for her entrance, though, and instead of her little rented room... she has him retreat back up to his quarters above the shop to sit on the edge of his bed instead of her leather chair.

There were certain things she had held off on for his health, after all, that she planned on not once that condition had been confirmed. No need to pretend.]

I'm eager to see how everything is looking, Amos...

[Setting her bag down on his bedside table, she smiles, tapping her own chest to gesture she was ready for him to strip and show her how her work was healing, beginning to integrate with his skin.]

I trust there have been no problems?

just oh so slightly nsfw

[baltimores]

[ He's been thinking about that kiss, her voice, off and on for as long as it takes her to come back. Once they were done — hours of brutalizing, stinging and blunted pain, skin red and irritated from abuse without reprieve — Amos had figured he would treat himself to a couple of days off, not so much as bothering to go downstairs. Bedrest, and careful bathing, easy-to-prepare meals and stacks of books he's taken out from the Tomes and, of course, jerking off.

But it's no surprise that she's late. Kiritsubo has been busy, after all, doing the work he tasked her with. Every time they commune he's pleased to hear from her, even if the conversation is largely about how he's doing. He's just happy to hear from her. Happy that things are progressing. Happy.

Amos is sure to flip the shop sign to closed and lock the door before they head on upstairs, because he's suspecting his work hours for the day are going to be done — if nothing else, he figures they'll have a lot to talk about. But there'll probably be something else.

He shoots her a little grin as she tells him to strip, and by the time she's asked her question his shirt is already up, over his head and off. He flings it over towards the laundry hamper, fully discarding it before Kiritsubo has his full attention again, broader smile with it. ]

Nope. All good, I think. Flaking stopped about a week ago. [ And the redness is long gone, the shininess his skin had taken on while healing, inks settled in and body no longer rejecting them.

Amos puffs his chest out as he looks up at Kiritsubo, almost preening and ready for her to see her work, fully healed. The lights in his shard flit around as they always do but he ignores that, meeting her eyes. ]

What d'you think?

just sexual tension vibes from here on

[tattooism]

[If Amos hadn't flipped the shop sign to Closed... Kiritsubo would have. As much as she had shamelessly joked about a customer walking in on them mid-fuck sometime... She had an entire week and some to make up for! Not that she hadn't been having fun in Springstar, mind. Still. She had been focused on erasing her presence and blending into the population completely unnoticed, so those had needed to be quick little... scratches of her considerable libido "itch". And stealing the identity of one of Madame Dee's prostitutes for an evening here and there wasn't enough.

Not that it was ever enough for her.

Amos's happiness is palpable, and if he is almost preening... Well, she would see that "almost" disappear, if she has her way. Kiritsubo's reputation as a tattoo artist was not for nothing, and with that came confidence. She had no doubt that her work would look good when she was finished with it, she had centuries of experience, but to see it actually having taken root on someone's body, become a part of them... That is the part she looks forward to. So she approaches with her usual casual, effortless sultriness, her hand sliding up his arm to find a place on his shoulder, pressing just enough to present the perfect angle for her to view her canvas.

Though she usually wore gold eyes with this particular form, she lets that detail slip back to her natural jet black, taking in the tattoo that now decorated Amos Burton's chest. Vibrant and pure atop the gray and black swirls of traditional clouds and water, much like the actual flower arises from the muck pure and unsullied, delicate petals of the pink lotus unfold, almost seeming to gently reach towards and envelop his shard within the bloom. A perfect representation of the karma she had「seen」on his skin, the influence the woman called Yima had left upon his mind reflected now upon his body. And as she looks... her mysterious expression becomes undeniably pleased.]

Perfect.

[With her artistic eye satisfied, she turns her clinical one to his skin. Though she had been checking in with him, she confirms for herself that the healing is going well, that it is where she would expect for the time that has passed... and it has. The colors are established, there is no blurring or infection... and most importantly, perhaps... the spell she had worked into the ink has fully sunk in. Her fingers hover in a tracing line over the lines of the petals just confirming, but...]

Mmm... The defensive magic has settled in well, too.

[Her lips curve up into a tricky little smirk, looking up at him through thick lashes. They had discussed the tattooing, of course, but... This was her gift to him. Part of her dedication to balancing out the uneven balance of power currently standing between Meridian and Zenith.]

Surprise~

[baltimores]

[ He immediately goes pliable at her touch, letting Kiritsubo angle his body any which way she wants, looking up at her expectantly. The charge of her need is obvious thanks to their shared aspect, and he opens himself up to it; lets it seep into him, too. Based on the way she'd come in and what he's picking up off of her right now, Amos figures this is more the prelude to a marathon than anything else.

Which, yeah. His own libido will never match hers, but he's game.

She calls it perfect and he tips his head down to look properly into her eyes, smile growing that little bit broader. She brings her fingers to hover over his skin and a little charge of danger and thrill goes through him at the proximity to his shard. He is stirring—

He blinks, expression resetting itself to a blank nothingness at her little revelation now imparted on him. That's... huh.

A moment of nothingness, and then Amos brings his arm around, hand on her back, looking to push her closer to him — or maybe even on top of him, grin back in full force. ]

Yeah? [ He'd been confused; now he's amused. And pleased. ] Tell me what it does.

[ It would seem she is being met with approval, just like that. ]

[tattooism]

[When given the opportunity, there is no way that Kiritsubo is not choosing "on top". As smoothly as if this was still just a professional examination but as sensually as if it were a seduction, she slides a knee onto the edge of his mattress and then straddles him, settling as if she quite content there despite the need to continue their rather business-appropriate conversation.

It is so interesting to her... that adaptability of his. The way he seemed to take in what was happening and decide how to react to it. She has seen youkai like that, but in a human...]

Yeah~

[Lips still curled in that pleased expression, the bit of trickster manifest that her kind was known in her lands to enjoy, she lets her palm flatten gently on his chest over the lotus, fingertips tracing now directly over the lines of the unfurling petals. As she speaks... her other hand is going for the pouch she wears hanging off her sash, pulling out a small knife.]

It's just a small little trick, mind, but... it could serve you very well some day, and surprise your opponent enough to give you a chance to turn things around.

[Except what it does? Why would she describe that in words when she could simply demonstrate? Holding up the knife with a flourish so he knows well and good it is about to be used, not about to risk him reacting poorly to a sudden "attack" from her this close, she pulls her other hand off his skin in order to point with her finger.]

Watch carefully, now.

[As she suddenly stabs him in the chest.

Or. She would have... if the ink of the tattoo she had inscribed on his flesh didn't abandon its shape to race straight to the point of what would be piercing impact, hardening beneath his skin at the precise point where the tip of the blade only just began to cut in to him before the spell was triggered. The knife doesn't get more than a fraction of a millimeter in, even though the muscles in Kiritsubo's arm are flexed and quivering with the force behind the blow and the effort to keep pressing in.]

[baltimores]

[ Amos has no objections to the way this is unfolding, letting her do as she pleases with him. She straddles him and he looks up, waiting for her to come even closer. She rests her hand over his chest and his heart rate ticks up; he's ready to lean in closer, too.

Her other hand produces a weapon and he looks at it curiously, eyes remaining focused on the blade as Kiritsubo speaks. Their shared body heat still demands some of his focus, but his gaze follows that knife. She needn't even tell him to watch — it's all he has eyes for, watching it as intently as though it's some sort of reward for him.

Not a threat. His heart is beating faster from their proximity to one another and earlier excitement, but otherwise his breathing remains steady, level. There's no change in his expression but for a curiosity as she—

plunges the knife into him—

Amos watches as storm clouds swirl around on his skin, rush in to where the knife is, grey with streaks of pink and gold and green along with them. He feels the pinch of a blade, not too unlike from when she'd been tattooing him to begin with; sees that one little bead of blood well up, standing out from the greys that have rushed in to block any more from joining it, and gives a small huff.

Looks past the blade to see the strain in Kiritsubo's arm and the force with which she's trying to penetrate him, and all for naught. Just one negligible drop of blood.

Looks back up at her, and smiles. ]

That's a good trick. [ Looks back at his chest to see the inks she's given him still holding a new shape and not the one he's gotten accustomed to over the past couple of weeks. It is a good trick. He brings his own hand up to rest along her forearm; it's okay, she can stop exerting so much force now. ] It work anywhere, like if someone comes at me from behind? Or... it always automatic like that?

[ So like, is knifeplay now out, or...

Because Amos trusts her. She's helping spy on Meridian's leader for him; he's already let her near his shard on multiple occasions now. This? Wouldn't be any different — so there's no need at present time but to carry on the conversation as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

Why would it be out of the ordinary? Tattoos are permanent. This is him now, and he's enjoying it, what she's given him. ]

[tattooism]

[One small drop of blood.

The moment Amos' hand lands upon her arm, Kiritsubo's practical demonstration comes to an end, and the force of her body weight (and the not at all negligible power possessed by a youkai, belied by her frame) fades away. She pulls the small knife back, and the sudden storm clouds upon his skin roil a moment around the tiny wound... and then drift back across his skin to where they were first placed, the ink returning to its proper linework, the colors separating to once again form a beautiful lotus blossoming beneath his shard. Even to an expert eye... It is like it had not moved at all. It is simply a beautiful tattoo.

So with a satisfied hum, her supervision of that finish complete and no problems in her work detected, Kiritsubo turns her gaze from his chest... back to the knife, her long tongue tracing carefully along the blade tip to lap the small crimson stain off the metal. Mmm. It was a terrible habit to put a weapon back in the sheathe bloody, after all.]

Isn't it... ?

[A good trick. Putting the blade away, she wraps her arms around Amos' neck and presses against him as casually as one pleased, settling onto his lap with a smile that was all too mischievous. All physical cues seemed to indicate she was ready to throw business aside and get to something lewder she'd been wanting for days, unable to indulge herself as much as she preferred when she was actually taking her spywork in Springstar seriously, and yet... No, unfortunately there was still a bit of actual knowledge to impart upon him. For his safety, naturally. One could not put a spell like this on someone without actually making sure they knew how to best rely on it.]

It will work anywhere on your body, because it responds to the trigger of damage on your skin- it is not bound by your awareness or your command to activate it.

[She has done work like that, too, but... That sort of ink was for different things, not necessarily protecting a man while he trying to assassinate an enemy commander. He would potentially be making many enemies from this point onward... Not all who would fight him honorably face to face. The response wouldn't be wasted on accidental inconveniences like a papercut or a knuckle pinched in one of his little machines downstairs, but...]

However... as you can see, it cannot protect you from poison strong enough to fell a man simply by coming into contact with their body. And the ink must rest after it has moved. It will shield you from one blow, physical or magical, but once it has it will not be able to protect you again for... Hmm, about a day or so. Think of it as "recharging".

[Modern humans in her world used that word a lot, she assumes Amos will be familiar. Behind her, there is suddenly a white, fluffy tail, waving slowly back and forth like a predator wriggling its haunches as it considers the pounce.]

So... Keep that in mind, won't you? ♡ It can save you from a surprise attack, or buy you time when your opponent is shocked to find they have not just broken through your defenses and killed you like they thought they did... But the rest you must do yourself.

[She has a certain amount of faith in him. He always struck her as a man who had no problem taking care of business.

(And as for knifeplay, well... Just make sure to trigger the first defense response, and then have fun, kids~)]

[baltimores]

[ His alertness remains focused on that knife — as it withdraws from his chest and his inks swirl back into their more permanent shape; as Kiritsubo brings it to her tongue to clean. He grins up at her as she settles herself into his lap, bringing his own arms up and around the back of her neck to pull her in further, bring them nose to nose.

As he shifts a little underneath her, obviously stirring — and yet his eyes retain their focus, as though he's separated his mind entirely from his body's physical response to her proximity to him, letting it react on its own while he takes in the pertinent information.

Amos nuzzles her slightly; goes in for a little bite of a kiss once she's done talking. ]

Makes sense. I got some healing magic, but nothing preventative like this. Would've thought I'd've picked something up like that already, huh.

[ He brings one hand to thread his fingers through her hair, broad palm resting against the back of her head; his other hand moves up and down her back rhythmically, low enough to skirt the base of her tail on occasion. ]

Yeah, I can do that. Having the advantage is good. Fuck, I've been taken by surprise once or twice in my life, and it ain't pleasant. Nice to know it isn't going to happen again.

[ His hand stops in the small of her back. Amos leans back against his bed proper, using his hand to try to bring her down with him, on top of him. His broadening grin has teeth. ]

Thanks for this, Fluffy.

[tattooism]

And healing magic can’t help you if you’re dead~

[His reactions are almost separate, the stirring of loins and the focus of the mind, but Kiritsubo’s are just so blended that they cannot be distinguished from the other, that she cannot decouple her lusts from her movements, even if she could choose not to act on them if she had to. Her little comment is a husky, teasing whisper despite the very serious idea of being killed by an attack one didn’t see coming or could not defend against. She tosses her head into the slide of his fingers through her current shape’s heavy golden hair, her spine arches and presses breasts fuller than the last time he’d held them against his chest so that she might wriggle her hips invitingly each time his touch brushed near the base of her tail-

And when he pulls her atop him when he falls back onto the mattress, she smiles back, with a muzzle full of sharp teeth from the half-beast form that he had expressed a budding new interest in when they’d spoken of her abilities beyond their uses in assassination. The change had been seamless. Near instant. The hands that now move to brace and pin on his shoulders are coated in soft white fur, paw-like but still a bit more humanoid and opposable, with claws and plush pads, and her suddenly digitigrade rear legs slip along his sheets until they find the purchase to lever up slightly, her tail still betraying her intent. A slightly cold nose trails along the edge of his jaw, then whiskers, then muzzle, marking him, before her long tongue lolls and then laps a line up his throat.]

Mmm… You’re welcome, lover~

[She wouldn’t do the favors she is for just anyone, though there is still plenty she wouldn’t do for him. (If it conflicted with her own goals, her own stance.). Still… he’s proven himself a very reliable man, in more ways than one. And right now...]

If you wanted to show me your appreciation, though... I’ve been in Springstar so long, all alone, working so hard…

[Very intentionally, yet very naturally, she grinds lazily against his stiffening erection, the black “lips” of this form peeling back to reveal even more smirking, glistening teeth. The dark eyes, though, blacker than black… those are Kiritsubo at the core, no matter what form she takes. Now… laughing eyes, when she teasingly confides,]

And the serious little clerks in the Heliopolis and the uptight Legionary lieutenants are just such disappointing fucks, Amos…

[baltimores]

[ And healing magic can't help him if he's dead. She says it almost teasingly; combined with the way she moves her body against his he can't help but laugh. Is it a laughing matter? Of course not, but it's so far away from the here and now, where he is thoroughly enjoying himself — and which she no doubt can feel, both empathically and physically.

Her form changes and his body responds even more, curiosity and its accompanying desire making itself known. Amos bares his throat as she licks him, an anticipatory shudder going through his body, his fingers clenching to seek purchase within her fur. This is—

He isn't sure how to try to kiss her with her muzzle like that, so he simply keeps his head lolled back, expanse of his skin exposed. Lower he shimmies to start removing his pants, free himself without having to let go of her soft, enticing fur. This is new, and exciting, and he is almost starting to ache with readiness. ]

Well, you know me. [ His breath hitches slightly, and he huffs a laugh again. ] I got all day for you.

[ Even without her help — but with it, maybe he's willing to go the extra couple of miles to see every single one of her needs fulfilled, and then some, too. ]

[tattooism]

[Oh, there was no need to fret about that muzzle. Before their reunion ended, Kiritsubo had plans to teach him just how to "kiss" her, to use those sharp teeth and long, lolling tongue to leave her mark, her scent, and the memory of her mouth on him. After all... She did so hate the idea of being forgettable, or his lovely curiosity not being properly and thoroughly sated. His fingers disappear into the thick white fur of this form, and feeling him squirm beneath her to get out of his pants, get closer to the soft hide that had replaced the soft skin of her more human forms... it makes her laugh in turn, the sound throatier and closer to a rumble to account for a different maw, different vocal chords.]

I hope you have all night, too~

[The fluffy tail whose rounder, shorter shape distinguished her "clearly" from spirits often mistaken for her kind, the trickster foxes and twin-tailed cats, flicks and brushes against his thighs (and dick) as she straddles higher up his body to give him room to undress just enough to fuck, her hand, somewhere between woman and beast, sliding over his chest to brush over the freshly healed lotus flower tattoo with smooth pads and hints of claws instead of fingertips and perfectly manicured nails.

Inviting him to meet her gaze, the dark, dark eyes that seem almost pupiless, she "smiles" again.]

And then... I will go back to being "Shara". Who is a very good girl eager to serve the Tribune. ♡

[- Perhaps, for a brief moment, he might think she was a thing of evil, or at least of overwhelmingly hedonistic selfishness, to speak so casually of the fact that the plan Amos had asked Kiritsubo for required the elimination of an "innocent" to come to fruition, a citizen of Springstar with a high enough position in the Heliopolis to be privy to the Tribune's movements and schedule. ... If he bothered to judge such things, anyway?

She does not leave much time to let him consider it clear-headed. She's ready to sate the urges he had proven so adroit with before she had to go back to her "duties", and if he couldn't keep up...

Well, she had spells to help with that.]