If. If! Rose has had enough trouble learning to compensate for her chest, thank you, and if she is struggling right now, it is because she is trying to stop things from falling out, or getting stuck in particularly sweaty places, or just falling over, which is difficult enough when she’s trying to carry picture frames as big as she is! It’s not like she’s some big, strong champion who could carry all this effortlessly, and Cyanis, to boot! She’s just small, helpless, and useless without someone to guide her!

Not that she can talk back, of course. Like a naughty little thing, she [i]is[/i] tempted to use her mouth in ways that would not pleasure her mistress. It’s a good thing she can’t! Wherever would she without her gag? It’s there to help her when she’s too silly to remember her rules! Thank you for gifting it to her, Countess!

Instead, Rose squeaks when Cyanis stuffs another tablecloth down her top, grunts when Cyanis tosses another painting on top of the other three and Rose has to catch it and ends up falling on her little tushie, and makes a worried little murr when Cyanis fills her cloak’s pockets with silverware. She is sworn to carry your burdens, Cyanis, but she’s definitely over encumber... encumber...

The fact that she can’t remember the word makes her face heat up and makes the nameless thing inside her writhe in shared embarrassment. How is a silly little thing like her supposed to remember big hard Countess words? And how is a silly, weak, dainty thing like her supposed to carry all this for Cyanis?

Unless. Unless. Maybe it’s a test. Maybe it’s one of the Countess’s no-win tests. Rose has to adjust her grip on the frames desperately. Why are her palms so sweaty? Why is her heart racing? Being punished is bad! Being put into a position where you can’t win so that you can learn just how much control the Countess has over you is... is just...

([i]It’s safe. It’s being spanked. It’s being called names that make her a squirmy mess. It’s being given extra chores. It’s being given penalties, tied up tighter, watching a timer while she dangles upside-down. And she’s always let out. She’s always let out. She’s never punished without being told how long it will last, she’s never locked in Rose’s Naughty Corner longer than the Countess said she’d be there. That’s why. Because it’s what hurt her, but defanged, made something that makes her squirm and clench her pretty thighs tight.[/i])

Cyanis’s head snaps up. Rose immediately turns all her attention to her fox friend, just in case she’s about to be given new orders— and indeed, she’s right! “Over here!” Cyanis tugs on her leash frantically, darting into a shadowed side passage, and Rose hobble-hops desperately to keep up, trying so very hard not to fall over and not to drop anything and not to think about failing to catch up and—

Cyanis pulls her close around the corner, puts one silly hand over Rose’s face like she needs that to keep Rose quiet, while Rose keeps shifting and trying not to spill paintings everywhere. Why was she hurried over? Why are they hiding? Is this a game? Did Cyanis see an enemy? Why does she like being held like this? (Oh, right! The Countess doesn’t even need to be here for her to remember: it’s because she’s a desperate little slut! Gosh, that was easy! She’s sorry for being so sex-crazed that all she can think about is that hand pressing down harder and harder on the tightly-packed cloth and how much she loves it, Miss Cyanis!)

“You left a trail,” Cyanis moans in her ear, and Rose realizes: oh, no, she did! Gold coins and silver forks and egg-sized gems, all leading up to the two of them! She’s sorry, she’s so sorry, Miss Cyanis, it’s just that you were making her go so fast and she was just trying not to fall over or drop all the paintings and—

“Run!!” Cyanis lets go of her and smacks her rear to set her off like a race horse. And Rose, flustered, useless, flusterpated Rose, gets her heels caught in the cloak and goes down on the paintings in a huge clatter of bangles and treasures and paintings and a fox scrabbling on top of her. At least somebody picks up Cyanis by the scruff of her neck. Up she goes! With a meep and an eep! A squeak, even!

Which means, for a moment, just the blink of an eye, Rose gets to lie on top of a portrait of the Countess, helpless in the knowledge that she’s been a naughty, useless girl, and she deserves to be punished, and a good girl wouldn’t wiggle so eagerly knowing that, and therefore she needs even more training to learn to be a good girl, which is a much, much more complicated and interesting thing than she’d thought back when she was just a priestess.

Then she, too, is picked up by her collar and whisked away with a hmmph! and a mmmph! and a jingle of treasures still, [i]still[/i] tumbling out of her top!

[Rose gains +1 XP for getting a [b]6[/b] on Defying Disaster, netting her the coveted First Advance, which she will spend on [i]Mirror Ball[/i] from the Dream Mirror.]