Her expression goes a little distant. "That's very sweet."

"So... should we try them on? The dresses?"

"Yes, let's."

They determine that the longer gold dress must be for Hideko and the smaller blue dress is for Sookhee. They turn away from each other to change.

Her dress has all these ribbons in the back and Sookhee has no idea what to do with them. It -- makes sense, that dresses can happen like this, because she's seen laced up dresses in advertisements before, but she didn't realize that those required manual assembly.

Sookhee fumbles blindly at the ribbons and curses under her breath.

Some of these curses she's never heard before. Hideko pockets them away.

"Zip me up?" she asks, still facing away.

"What?"

Hideko was not expecting this to be a foreign concept. "...my dress? You do up mine and then I'll do up yours."

"Oh. Yes -- yeah, of course!" Right. Yes. People help each other with things. She's an idiot. She turns around, blushing, and hurries over to hover behind Miya. 

Gosh that sure is Miya's bare back. And that sure is a very pretty sparkly dress that suits Miya perfectly, and her hair sure is glossy and dark and perfect and -- Fuck. Shit. Focus. 

Sookhee zips up the dress very slowly and reverently, watching the folds in the glittery fabric shift as it slides over Miya's skin.

It fits nicely. She turns around, and the gown swishes about her ankles. "Now you?"

" -- what?"

"...now I'll do up your dress for you?"

Sookhee's an idiot and this mission is going to kill her. "Right! Yes, miss, thank you, I wasn't sure -- yes."

She turns around, blushing furiously, and pulls her braid out of the way. 

Cute. She ties up the back of Tamako's dress with practiced, nimble fingers, and pulls the ribbons tight. When she reaches the top she pauses, and then strokes one finger lightly across the velvet, just like Tamako first did. "Pretty."

!!!

"I -- ahh," she coughs. "Hm. Yes, it's a very pretty dress."

"The dress is fine. You are pretty."

whatthefuck

That's gratifying. Seducing Tamako is gratifying.

She should probably examine her motives, here. Seducing this girl because she wants her and seducing this girl because she wants to manipulate her are very different things, and only one of them is useful. Tamako is earnest and puppy-like; it doesn't seem like Hideko needs to work actively to earn her affection. If the best plan turns out to involve sacrificing Tamako, seduction won't be necessary to make that happen.

But it is fun.

Hideko has plenty of time to contemplate this in the time it takes Sookhee to recover.

"Th -- thank you," she manages, bowing slightly. "You're very kind."

There's also the consideration that it's theoretically possible to develop "feelings" for people, and, should she get too attached, discarding Tamako might be difficult even if it becomes necessary. Hideko hasn't had to worry about feelings in a long time. She also hasn't felt a slight warmth in her chest like this in -- an even longer time. So that merits some concern.

She smiles, her eyes very soft and appreciative. "We should try the jewelry on you as well."

Sookhee knows that the jewelry is cheap, but it's still so... sparkly. It does a better job of looking expensive than any synthstone necklace she's seen before.

"...ah. Maybe we should."

Hideko clasps the necklace around Tamako's neck, grazing skin with her fingertips. Tamako shivers, and Hideko pretends not to notice. Then there are the earrings, and bracelets...

Eeeeee!!! Fingertips!! Jewelry!! Sparkly!!!!!

Maybe instead of infiltrating a sex trafficking ring, they should just stay in this hotel and play dress-up with sparkly jewelry indefinitely and go to parties that are actually nice. And then travel the universe and find a real ocean, somewhere...

Except all those things require money. Which requires doing her job.

Also there's no reason that Miya would want to travel the world with her.

Also sex trafficking is bad.

Hideko wouldn't mind traveling the world, but she has her own list of reasons why this is very, very impossible.

"Now we practice," she says softly, and corrects Tamako's posture.

Sookhee does a pretty good job of keeping her back straight. Sookhee does a pretty bad job of not looking constipated while she does this. Miya's hand sure is right there. Miya sure is out here Existing in close proximity to Sookhee. What the fuck.

(Is this a test. Is this a spy test. Sookhee is definitely failing the spy test if this is a spy test.)