She steps into range to see through the Holy Pole's illusion

"Nah, Mom. I listen and talk for a living, but that doesn't mean I've ever given anyone instructions about this sort of thing before. I'm going to have to get in there and see how you're starting off," Broomi warned Bonnie, rolling up the sleeves of her habit as though she was about to do some yard-work, then lifting the skirt and tucking it into her belt. Beneath, she wore a knee-length, white short-robe, nothing too provocative.

"Broomi, the neighbors may see your underclothes..." Bonnie warned, now looking up towards the high windows on either side of the backyard to see if anyone was peeking.

"Mooom, you're being silly," Broomi complained, entering into the garden barefoot. "Besides, maybe that'll be a head-start on increasing their faith, huh? My calves are pretty sexy," the daughter joked, as she stepped through rows of tomatoes carefully to reach her mother.

Once she was about four meters away, she noticed a shift in the air; it was jarring, like seeing the shimmer of a heatwave emanating off the marble steps of the church on an especially hot day. What had looked to be a suspiciously straight-held hoe from a distance extended into the air, as though to the top of that four meter dome. The texture was no longer wooden and simple... it was a bit like a white-and-gold pillar one might see inside the church, but narrow in circumference, tipped at the end with the bust of some male angel with curled hair and an expression that was way too pure and thoughtful for this sort of activity. She thought his face looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't say where from. It looked like the thing was embedded deeply within the dirt to keep it steady, almost as if there was some drill mechanism on the bottom that couldn't be seen... Now she wanted to know where Clara had gotten this weird, angelic relic.

The change of the pole would have been surprising by itself, but far more alarming was the change coming over her mother. Every piece of clothing she wore shimmered, then warped, until Broomi could see her mom's form more clearly. Indeed, she did see her mother's form, because the outfit Bonnie was wearing hid very little of it. In the place of that modest apron, peasant's dress, and the gardening gear, she now wore a scandalously short, white nightie with tiny frills around the hem and the sweeping bust-line. The cut up top was so low, she could see her mom's cleavage... the cut down low was so high, she was sure she'd see the bottom of the panties as soon as her mom moved her hands from her lap. Strangest of all, her mom's bushy brown hair was done into two pigtails, instead of her usual single tail. To the average guy, it might decrease her perceived age by up to 8 or 10 years. To Broomi, it just looked ridiculous! And yet...

"Why is my mom so hot?!" Broomi thought to herself, clutching her fists at her side angrily and cursing Geod for distributing proportions so unfairly. She'd always known her mother was pretty attractive... But seeing her wearing this, instead of her usual homely gardening gear, really drove home the point. Gritting her teeth, she asked a different question out loud. "Where did you get that nightie, anyway?" She knew all of her mother's clothes, since she did the laundry, and that wasn't in her repertoire... her mom's sleep-wear consisted of a few modest sets of cloth pajamas.

Her mother and the high priestess answered at the same time: "from Clara," Bonnie spoke slowly.

"From one of the junior nuns," Clara answered much more quickly. She closed her eyes and gave a small frown, seeming as though she was waiting for someone to second guess her answer.

"Yeeeah... Okay," Broomi chuckled. "You're going with the pigtails, though? Why pigtails?"

"That was in Ursula's book," Bonnie responded quickly, perhaps wanting to protect Clara from being attributed any further embarrassing ideas related to this Holy Pole dance. "It was under a section called 'Ways to Make Myself Look Twenty Years Younger'."

Now Broomi really was laughing, imagining the uptight counselor of the church, wearing her hair in pigtails like a little girl. "Twenty?! That's pretty rich!" she giggled, then slowed down a bit. She had to admit, it didn't look that bad on her mother... would it actually work for Ursula too? She imagined the hardass counselor pushing up her glasses with a no-nonsense frown on her lips and her purple hair in pigtails... "No, no! Bah hahaha!" she laughed from her gut, while nearly backing up into some tall plant stalks.

"Broomi... It's not nice to tease women of Counselor Ursula's age," Bonnie scolded her daughter in a solemn tone.

"Yes. Please be kind to Counselor Ursula. She's trying her hardest too," Clara added, sounding more stern.

Broomi could hear a certain pity for the counselor in both of their voices that just made her want to laugh harder, but she managed to calm herself down after a few seconds longer. "Okay... Okay," she sighed deeply, composing herself before starting over. "Let's begin Broomi's Holy Pole Dance Class."