Rolling hills and green countryside were what dominated the landscape around the carriage of Prince Erik Lostrem as it rolled along a dirt road. Inside the well-dressed homunculus currently sad cross-legged, reaching deep within his spiritual reserves to summon up an image from his imagination. In his mind's eye he saw it, black fur, sharp teeth, and gleaming green eyes. All he needed was to give it substance, to have it tug at the senses like something that was actually there might.

The air before him shimmered slightly, twisting and changing as his energy poured into it. Soon enough it was before him, the illusion of a black cat. It was scaled to his size and did not just appear to be there it actually smelled like it was there. When it meowed the sound was registered by his ears and when his fingers brushed at its fur it felt soft. The hairs tickled at his bare palm, the sensation traveling up to his brain and telling him this was really a cat. It was as complex as they came; the sign of a true master was the ability to manipulate all senses.

Erik heard Lucius clear her throat loudly and the prince immediately dispelled the cat, the illusion simply vanishing from existence. His retainer was looking out the window of the horseless carriage; no doubt they were close then if he was bothering the prince. It was a pity; the homunculus had been enjoying the rush of magic through his veins. However he turned his full attention to Lucius with a sigh.

"We are nearly at the city. Our next visit is with one Princess Amelia Valendris." He stated.

"Joy. She can't be any worse than my last meet up." The prince remarked morosely.

"She is the second child of the emperor and is... a tad entitled from what I understand. She is eighteen years of age and most suitors apparently find her a tad too demanding, which is why she has yet to wed."

Erik narrowed his eyes at that. Demanding eh? Well as long as she wasn't empty between the ears the prince was willing to put up with it. That didn't sound overly bad really. "Anything else?"

Lucius produced a little leather bound book and flipped through it. He muttered to himself as he traced a finger down one of the weathered pages. "Hmm... very little of note aside from her long list of scared suitors. Twenty seven."

The tiny prince raised a brow at that. Twenty seven. She'd been at this a lot longer than he it seemed. Perhaps she might have some advice for getting through the list quickly and painlessly. Erik didn't mind the fact he might be refused right off the bat, he wasn't actually trying to find someone to marry. He was trying to look for a way out of marrying. Perhaps he could explain the situation to the picky young woman, have a pleasant chat, and then go their separate ways. Lucius likely would disapprove but he could go fuck himself after chuckling at his earlier misfortune.

The grey haired man set his little book aside and crossed his legs, checking through the drapes of the carriage. The rolling countryside had given way to well-tended farmland and cobbled roads, pillars arranged at intervals leading up to the city. Supposedly the center of all civilization and commerce in the region as Erik understood. A very powerful player among human nations and one no doubt eager to ally with a race as advanced as the homunculi. Besides fringe trading there had been only light contact between the two nations.

Within the city itself crowds made way for the strange metal construct, its four wheels slowing to avoid hitting those too slow. Erik could hear the hustle and bustle of the city and it made him homesick. He longed to return to Eteria. Not just his workshop but the city itself. The gleaming city of metal and magic, the squeaking of golem wheels, the chatter of intelligent debate, and the more... to scale company. The feeling weighed heavily upon his heart as the carriage rolled on.

"Have you been here before, Lucius?" Erik inquired.

"Certainly, it was with your father actually in our travelling days. Looks much the same through the window." The older man stated.

The full circle implied in the statement was not lost on Erik. He idly wondered if his father felt as homesick as he currently did. Then again, his father's adventures hadn't involved travelling the land in search of a good suitor. Or rather trying to find a way out of finding a good suitor. The prince shook his head. He needed to focus. Princess Amelia Valendris. That was her name. Hopefully he'd be the twenty eighth to be turned away.

The chatter of the common folk faded away as the carriage clattered along through the well cobbled streets of the city. Eventually it rolled to a halt, signaling their arrival at their destination. Erik took a deep breath. He had already been through a rather horrid start, so it could only start looking up from here. He could work through this. He was a genius after all. Compared to formulating new theoretical alchemic algorithms this was nothing.

He stepped onto Lucius' gloved hand and squinted slightly at the sunlight. He waved off the retainer's attempt at providing shade. No need at the moment. They stood before the great steps of a grand palace, the columned entryway looming over both men. Guard's bearing great tower shields stood about, garbed in purple armor with the symbol of a laurel wreath a constant upon their attire.

A young woman approached the pair, a silver collar around her neck and a dark tunic all she had to cover her form. She bowed deeply to both of them. A slave no doubt. Erik had been informed of the practice though it was rather... jarring to see it still. Golems handled such matters or well-trained servants, the royal constitution of Eteria prevented the sale of others. Still he shook off his surprise and kept his posture as regal as he could make it.

"Her Highness Princess Valendris awaits your presence in her study. If you would follow me, masters." She said, her tone pleasant though rather demure.

They followed after the woman, ascending the stairs. Erik was impressed by the inside just as much as the outside. The building looked to be carved of marble and was rather a far cry from the castle he had been a guest at two weeks prior. Great statues of men and women were arrayed through the great entry hall, the great gods of their people no doubt. Above was a mural of a great battle, the same gods themselves descending from the very heavens to stand around one man. Interesting.

Their path took them through the maze of halls, through a garden or two and then past a large pair of double doors. Within was a rather large room with a desk in the middle, stocked bookcases set around the room. There was a couch of some sort set in the corner for lounging and a small round table with some chairs arrayed near one of the bookcases. It was a rather impressive study, one even Erik was envious of.

Lounging upon the strange couch was a young dark haired woman dressed in a white toga trimmed with purple. She wore a white tunic under the toga itself and a rather fine pair of belted sandals. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun and her brown eyes shifted from the book in her hands to her new visitors. Unlike Marie her beauty was less soft and classic and more... pouty. Seductive he supposed. Her form was certainly more... well rounded. So this was Amelia.

Lucius clicked his heels and stood ramrod straight. "I present Prince Erik Lostrem, son of Mage-King Fredrick Lostrem of Eteria. Master of Illusionism, Vice-Director of Golem Design and Manufacture, Holder of thirteen separate patents on various inventions, and second in line for the throne of Eteria." The man stated crisply.

Erik swore that he had memorized the introduction. The prince puffed up his chest and stood as tall as he could manage. Amelia merely turned her gaze back to her book for a good few moments. That most certainly infuriated the prince. How dare she just ignore him like that!? He hated decorum as much as the next person but even still she could at least acknowledge him! He ground his teeth in irritation.

Finally the woman snapped her book shut and rose, smoothing out her close. "Great, father can't get me to marry a full man or a half man so he sends in the quarter men." She remarked.

Lucius looked fit to say something; however Erik beat him to it. "If my father had told me I'd be set up with a giant insulting cunt I would have skipped this place and moved on." He shot right back.

The temperature in the room dropped drastically at that and both Lucius and the slave girl looked rather nervous as both their respective master's glared at each other. After a time the young woman set her book down and walked forward, standing an arm's length away from him. Erik felt some slight intimidation being this close up to a potentially hostile woman, however with Lucius so close at hand he knew he was relatively safe.

Finally she chuckled. "Well, you have more balls than the twenty seven other fools that came through here. They just sputtered and looked disbelieving when I insulted them."

She nodded to the table and Erik gave a subtle nod to Lucius, who set him down there as Amelia sat down herself. She leaned in on her elbow, her expression one of perpetual boredom. Her eyes flicked to Lucius and back to Erik, a silent message the prince got quite clearly. At the moment the homunculus felt safe enough so he offered a wave of his hand to dismiss the older servant. Amelia likewise banished her slave, leaving them both sitting alone in the study.

"So. Let's cut to the chase. Why should I marry some squirt that doesn't even come up to my ankles?" She inquired.

Erik raised a brow. "Here I was about to ask you why I should marry a giant bitch that might roll over on me in my sleep?"

Amelia snorted. "I get the feeling you don't want to be here either."

"Was it really that obvious?"

"Well, you haven't dropped any long or pathetic soliloquies about my boundless beauty while staring at my tits, so it's a fair assumption."

At that Erik actually smirked. So far this was MUCH better than his first meeting. This one actually had a good brain between her ears from the looks of it AND apparently had little interest in him to begin with. Hopefully he could run into more like her as this journey went on. Amelia returned his smirk with one of her own, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms under her ample breasts.

"That said... never gotten a homunculus suitor before. Father already tried humans, elves, and dwarves and I sent them away right quick. Homunculi are really rather rare though. You also are pretty easy on the eyes, tiny." She commented.

"It's Erik."

"Whatever. Marriage really isn't my thing. I don't like the idea of being tied down to anyone, despite what father might want. I just want to read, drink, and party. So no offense but I'm not interested in actually courting you." She said.

The little prince nearly broke into dance at that. It was over and done with, no need for formalities or anything. He could just move on to whoever number three was now. Quick and painless, like pulling out a splinter. Since it was obvious Amelia didn't want to actually pursue a courtship with him that was the perfect excuse to just leave. After all it wasn't his fault if she wasn't interested.

"You've no idea how much of a relief that is. My father said I needed to spend the day with each woman on the list, but I guess I can just move on. So, if you will excuse me..." He said.

"Woah, woah, hold on. A day huh? Why waste a day? You've still got quite a few hours with me. No servants around, no pressing business." She said, leaning in with interest upon her face for the first time since Erik had met her.

The prince turned back to her. "If you aren't interested in courting, I don't see much reason- ah!"

Erik suddenly felt a tugging at the back of his shirt as the ground vanished beneath his feet. His legs kicked slightly at open air as Amelia held him by the collar with her thumb and forefinger. Her full lips turned up into an amused smirk. A smirk that the prince found he rather didn't like the look of. He swallowed hard as he dangled in the woman's tenuis grip, trying very hard not to lose his composure.

"There are plenty of other things we can do that don't involve courting, little man. Plenty." She purred.

"It's Erik!" He asserted.

"You really need to loosen up. Here, maybe this will help."

The prince squirmed and writhed, protesting the whole while as he was handled so disrespectfully. Soon enough open air was replaced by soft flesh and fabric as he was pushed down between her breasts. All of his thought processes immediately shut right down as he became very painfully aware of just where he was. His struggles ceased and his eyes shot comically wide as he looked around at his new surroundings. She... she hadn't really just put him there had she?

He actually felt her next chuckle in his very bones, the laughter vibrating through him from his current position squished between her tits. Of all the ways he had imagined this going... this scenario was not even on the list. His mouth was completely dry as he became very aware of her scent all around him, giving rise to an almost painful arousal. There it was again, rather irritating how it scrambled his ability to think about things logically.

"There, much better." She remarked, playfully pressing her massive mounds against him briefly.

"But- ah!- you said you weren't-!" Erik tried to get out, cut off by another pressing from all around compressing him completely between her flesh.

"Yeah, I'm not interested in courting, but that doesn't mean we can't screw around. I've lain with pretty much every civilized race out there except for a homunculus. Might be interesting. I like trying new things." Amelia said, releasing the pressure on Erik.

Sex might not be something Erik was schooled in but he knew exactly what it was she was implying. He didn't even know how he could respond to that! How did one respond to an offer like that normally? He'd literally just met her and had thought she hadn't possessed the slightest interest in him, clearly he'd misread the message all wrong. He tried to open his mouth to say something, anything, but for once the prince found himself at a complete loss for words. He didn't even properly grasp his own arousal at the situation!

"I-I-I don't... I mean, I can't..." He stuttered incoherently.

The young woman pressed a finger on top of his head and pressed down slightly, pushing him further down between her breasts. He couldn't escape; he was trapped in a prison of faintly floral smell skin. Erik could hear her heartbeat thrumming in her chest, unlike his own it was rather steady. Did he even want to escape? What a foolish question, of course he did! He wasn't some princess' glorified sex toy!

"Come on, it will be fun! What else are you doing today, prince? We could just go to my private chambers and fuck each other's brains out. Then you leave tomorrow, no harm no foul. No marriage promises or anything like that, just a lot of mutual pleasure." She enticed, squeezing him between her breasts once more.

Fear. That was what this was. He was afraid of what he was feeling. In his workshop everything was simple, it had a place and he could control the environment. In this situation it felt like he had no control. Homunculi society in general was one that didn't exactly breed passionate romance. Still... what he was feeling now stirred at her simple offer. Cool logic was fighting with curiosity and arousal and losing rather quickly.

Apparently to Amelia though his lack of ability to speak was taken as acceptance. "Right, let's go. Enjoy the ride, little prince. I know half of my other suitors would have."

Erik felt when his captor started moving, the mounds holding him in place bouncing ever so. Her ever step jostled him, rubbing him against her constantly. This was utterly ridiculous! His first prospect had been an airhead and now his second one was apparently a bored nymphomaniac! At the moment he wasn't exactly sure which one was worse. He tried to mumble out a protest or cry out to anyone nearby, but with his face being pressed into one of Amelia's breasts it wasn't exactly an easy task.

His mind was starting to work in a normal fashion and he found himself of a mind to resist Amelia taking him along to her bedchambers. She was treating him rather like a toy in this instance as a number of cautionary homunculi tales spoke of. Erik had higher ambitions that being Amelia's taste of what fucking a homunculus was like. He tried to focus on his magic, on an illusion that might get him out of this mess. With all the jostling movement outside and the rather embarrassingly intense arousal however he couldn't focus.

Finally he felt a pair of fingers dip into her bosom and pull him out, his hair all out of place and his clothes wrinkled. He was dangling before Amelia's smirking face as she leaned against the shut door to her bedchamber. Erik looked around desperately for someone else, anyone else that could get him out of this woman's grasp. They were alone. The dark haired beauty licked at her lips as she looked at him, her boredom having fled in favor of naked lust.

"Alright, little prince, I already informed your retainer you'll be staying the night. Some bullshit about us hitting it off or something. So we have plenty of time to see just what you can do. I hope you don't disappoint."