Resting Room Location: The lobby of a brothel in Kowloon. Because she never kept a home anywhere or spent more than a night or so in various lovers’ bedrooms, Kiritsubo was not found immediately when The Repose began. Those sparing few who wondered where she might be figured that perhaps she had been shapeshifted at the time and, unrecognized, perhaps buried or disposed of. It was not until some 50 years later that demolition in Kowloon exposed the “corpse” of a dirty white tanuki. She might have remained forgotten, or been thrown out with the trash, except that the elderly owner of a local brothel remembered a certain shard-bearer’s reputation and actions during the broadcast Harbinger Oracle trial. The madame bought the tanuki from the unsuspecting young laborer who found it to enshrine her and drum up business.

Description: Kiritsubo in tanuki form rests curled on an embroidered pillow in the brothel lobby, her fluffy tail half-obscuring her face. The pillow is in the lap of a large statue carved of black stone that depicts a naked woman with three faces and six arms, each hand holding something useful in a house of pleasure: coins, a riding crop, silk ties, a glass vial of lubricant, assorted pills, and an artificial phallus. But for smiling (smirking?) lips, all three faces are blank and featureless. Lines carved into the black stone on the statue’s arms, breast, back, and womb lower stomach have been filled with glittering colored lacquers. They are not entirely accurate, but they vaguely correspond to the shape of Kiritsubo's tattoos. Much speculation and joke has been made of what might be under the pillow.

Purpose: Thanks to the shrewd business sense of the brothel owner, Kiritsubo’s name and reputation have been spread in certain unsavory circles. Those visiting the brothel pray before tanuki and statue for pleasure and stamina, as well as safety during sex... because hey, this is Kowloon, and you can catch a knife in the back when vulnerable! Prostitutes pray for protection from pregnancies, protection from STDs, and occasionally… for love. The stamina prayers are particularly popular, and customer belief seems to be at an all-time high… but that might be because the owner is magically spiking drinks to fuel the rumors. Shhh.

Believers buy small amulets from the brothel that look like lucky rabbit’s foot tanuki foot charms. They're fake, of course, but they’ve been rubbed on Kiritsubo! Supposedly! Other goods sold within those walls, such as lube, recreational drugs, etc, are marked with a tanuki logo. They say that if you pay enough, you can even be granted the privilege to stroke the sleeping tanuki with your hand and receive her power directly. Those who pay even more have been allowed to pluck a finger’s pinch worth of hair from the tanuki’s tail- hence the artfully curled placement to hide the growing bald patch.

Each month, the brothel closes to general customers and special paying members of the brothel are invited to a debauched night "overseen" by the shapeshifting tanuki. What goes on there... Well, it's titillatingly pseudo-ritualistic sex club stuff.

Caretaker(s): The owner of the brothel known as Nothing, (officially named Her Ladyship's Nothing), is Lady Tsui. She bought Kiritsubo's body for her business and has been profiting from it ever since. Though she appears mostly human, the blood of a malevolent fox spirit flows through her veins, and she uses the sexual energy generated at the brothel to prolong her own life and boost her powers. She has a really good thing going for herself with this whole Shard-bearer worship thing, and she won't be very pleased that her little cash tanuki has woken up... Until they strike a little deal, of course ♡