Bec chuckles. "I didn't know you felt that way. Fooling around with the help, eh?" She rolls her eyes, before nodding for Eanne to start. Spoiler: Telepathy Roll D100:21 (Fail) "Hah!" Bec chuckles, as her boss fails to penetrate her mind.
Vizelle cuddles against her, stroking Jaya's cheek as she puts the finishing touches on the scout master's indoctrination. Attempting to turn her into the sorceress loyal mechanic.
“Figures...” Eanne rolled her eyes. “But this is why I am practicing. Better to fail now, when it makes no difference, than later, when it actually matters.” She commented and made a second attempt.
Yannika felt completely overwhelmed and fanned her eyes to keep from crying. "Oh Carius..." she said breathlessly. She loved the dress, it was perfect, and she couldn't wait to be wearing it when she said 'I do'. The priestess took several minutes to admire herself, and calm down before she took the gown off and carefully stored it away. With a love-struck grin on her face she determined she had to thank her son for his beautiful gift and inform him of her resounding success with Cardinal De Rosa. She flicked the switch that revealed the tunnel under her bed and made her way, naked save for her ankle-height high-heeled boots, towards her son's chambers.
Spoiler: Telepathy Roll D100:46+20 (Telepathy Bonus)+10 (seduced) Jaya, numbed by pleasure, is ill-equipped to stop herself from falling under Vizelle's sway even further.
"Heh..." Bec chuckles. "You're welcome to try again, not that it'll help." Spoiler: Telepathy Roll D100: 86 (Pass) Eanne feels herself slip into Bec's consciousness, gracefully outmaneuvering the bodyguard's mental defences.
The door to Carius' chamber opens not long afterwards, but instead of the emperor on the other side, it's his mother in law. "I hear Carius wants to marry you." Hersillia looks at Yannika's nakedness without expression. "I've rarely seen him as happy as when he told me."
Although startled by the presence of the Dowager Empress, Yannika was completely comfortable standing before the younger woman completely nude. "Your Highness," the priestess greeted with a bowed head, "please forgive my lack of attire, I wasn't expecting to find you here." Her head rose back up and she met her son's step-mother's eyes. "As to the matter you speak of, the Emperor and I have discussed it previously. But to hear you speak of how he feels is the most fulfilling news I have ever heard. It is my devout belief that to make your step-son happy and fulfill his every desire is the purpose The Gods have set for my life. To be his wife is a nothing sort of a dream."
Hersillia stares at her for a few moments. "I want you to refuse his offer. Funds will be made available for you, or your order, when you do so, significant amounts of money. You may remain here as his mistress, so long as you don't publicise your relationship, and never again entertain the idea of marriage."
White hot rage coursed through Yannika's veins for several moments and she breathed in deeply to get it under control. Agammenon's last wife was trying to buy her off!? She was trying to deny her, her son!? 'How dare she!' Yannika thought in anger but kept it to herself. Instead she fixed the Dowager Empress with a stern look and replied. "Respectfully Your Highness. No. I want to be his wife, and if he wants the same of me then then quite frankly, the matter is settled."
"Ah, rest now. For we have a long journey ahead of us." Vizelle whispered, idly playing with Jaya's breasts.
Hersillia narrows her eyes. "I don't know how the hell you managed to wrap Carius around your fingers like this, but I won't allow this to happen." She frowns. "I was married off when I was barely more than a girl, to someone I barely knew. I won't let that happen to Carius." She sighs. "Maybe your feelings are genuine, I don't know, but the fact remains that Carius has known you for a few weeks. There's no universe in which this marriage isn't a mistake."
Once Jaya was asleep, Vizelle gently moves away to avoid intruding on the scout master's slumber. She then cleans herself up, and checks on how her disciples are doing.
Spoiler: Disciple Barrier Strength D100+15=88 Checking on the disciples, she sees that they're well on the way to create a powerful barrier.
"Wonderful." Vizelle cooed, she then decides to make productive use of their long journey. Practising her newly acquired ability to hide her psionic energy, she attempts to hone it even more to elude stronger detecting techniques.
'You will not separate me from MY son.' Yannika thought harshly. But at the end, Yannika recognized a vulnerability and perhaps regret in the other woman. "Your Highness, I know something of being forced into a life you didn't choose." She spoke with as much empathy she could, "But our experiences need not be his. He wants this, he has chosen this. Although young, he is also intelligent, intuitive and cunning in ways I could not expect. I can appreciate your concern for your step-son, and I thank you for it. I see that you have been a boon to him in the years he has known you. And I do want you to keep being a pillar he can lean on for support. But I LOVE your step-son. Our union is not a mistake. It is fate, it is the gods will. I know this in my soul. I will look after and protect him for all my life. The time we have known each other before now is inconsequential. Whatever he needs me to be I will be, because he is everything to me." She sighed too then, "I implore you, don't oppose us. It would only serve to hurt Carius."
Spoiler: Psionic Lore Roll D100: 67+15=82 She manages to make herself more capable at hiding her psionic signature, over the weeks.
Spoiler: Persuasion Roll D100: 72+15=87 "I just...I just want him to be happy." Hersillia sighs. "I still think this is insane, but I believe that you really do love him. In that case, I won't get in your way." She gives Yannika a fierce look. "But don't think anything's changed. He's like a brother to me, so if you hurt him, being empress won't save you." The dowager walks away. An hour later, Carius stumbles into the room, looking exhausted, but grinning widely as he sees her. "Enjoy your gift?"
Yannika simply nodded in understanding to the Dowager Empress when she left. The priestess knew the other woman would eventually come to see her relationship with Carius as a positive one. It would only take time. Yannika positively beamed as she leapt into Carius' arms. "It so incredibly beautiful and perfect, I love it!" she gave him a long and passionate kiss then and when she broke it she rested her head against his chest. "I found Hersillia here when I came to see you. She had... concerns about our relationship, to put it lightly." She looked up to meet his eyes then. "I think I convinced her that I'll be good for you. She won't try to stop us. And in time we'll show her she has nothing to be concerned about."
