Other Fetishes

If I don't crinkle, I feel weird.

So well said Hannah!  Naysayers are so fortunate not to have or even understand BID, that they don't even understand why we need to do this. And it is a need for us.  These forums are a refuge. 

Hi! I gotta by the name RogueDratini but you can call me Joe.  I've been working on getting back into writing for the last year and I could use some help getting my stories to the next level of quality. If anyone has any advice or criticism please don't hold back. A few things I've noticed that I need to work on would be my editing skills and my pacing. Things can get a bit long winded at time. Any advice helping with those would be lovely, and of course anything else as well. The earliest story I've put on dd so far. Tommywaddlers, an abdl riff on Stephen King's Tommywalkers. For this story I was focused on adding themes and exploring several characters POV.     I had just finished Tommywalkers and had been given advice, Melody's story was my attempt in taking the lessons I've learned from that and putting them into application. A focus on character growth and a wide range of different setting. Shorter than the others I've posted on here. Mostly just for fun (wait this is all supposed to for fun lol) but if anyone is strapped for time this is an easy one to jump into and knock out. Almost like a bottle episode in the Diaper Dimension. My current writing project. A blend of fantasy and a modern setting. Putting a big weight on world building on this one. I was stepping out of my comfort zone for kinks with this. In particular, if there's anything that you would suggest to modify with this story I'm all ears.   For anyone that takes time to help me out I wholeheartedly thank you, it means a lot to me for anyone who reads my work and anyone that's willing to put their thoughts out there I appreciate so much.

Happy wet and poopie saturday morning. Laying here on the floor of my baby room, waiting for Niece/Mommy to come and change my very stinky and wet diaper. She has to get my wife ready for the day so she left me with a baba of breastmilk, checked my diaper and said i was good for a little bit. Sooooooo I know that i will poopie again while drinking my baba( I usually do this early in the morning). Have a great Saturday, I know i will

Ballad of the Baker and the Ice Queen (Incomplete) By RogueDratini Chapter 1   Above a city teeming with traffic of flying carpets topped with metal, in a sky where wondrous magical monsters and beasts soared. The likes of griffins swooping through the sky like eagles, wyverns flapping their bat wings screeching for dominance through a flock chimeras with their borrowed body parts, couatl cutting through the blue with radiant rainbow scales with orange colored wings that made the air look as though it were burning with fire. And in the midst of all this, suspended in the air on translucent blue rails, a train with clear walls for its carriage Inside one of these cars, slumped in the seats a half-elf blew a strand of frizzled hair half listening to an argument between a surly gnome and increasingly agitated wizard heating up about a dragoness that had decided right in front of the train’s path to migrate her flock of children that clumsily hovered with tiny wings that had yet to grow to their full potential.   In the center of the ‘cozier’ cabins was ten large seats, comfortable enough for anyone to sit in, the half-elf in a pristine white coat that she had swore to herself wouldn’t get wrinkled today of all days. The young half-elf, a fresh faced 65, tucked the stubborn frazzled brown curl behind a pointed ear waving away a cloud of mana pixies, tiny creatures that looked until it got close enough for the eye to distinguish their ugly, snarling faces with pointed teeth, swarming in pockets like the walls of the force windows of the train car, or the time protected racks that stored the girl’s tireless of hours of pristine pastries, but to her dismay, seemed overjoyed in trying to snack on the costly glamour the half-elf had spent trying to make herself not only presentable but beautiful.   Meredith Stills having spent nearly the entirety of yesterday in one of the most prestigious beauty salon in Gobloid Town after only 3 months of waiting on a reservation list, only for all of their wonderful green hands’ hard work to be foiled by the combination of a delay, humidity, and the hideous mouths of these damnable tiny sprites. It had been easy to keep her mind busy while the train had been on its way, now however, her only distraction from the appointment that was wracking her nerves was swatting away pest and listening to her head chef bicker with a wizard.   At the front of the car, a gnome wearing a coat similar to Merri’s, sporting a white mushroom-esque cap in the loudest, most booming voice she could manage, and in Merri’s experience, that voice can get up there in decibels, reiterated her point. “GET THIS BLASTED THING GOING!” Screamed master Daffodil Pumpernickel.   The untidy frumpled looking man who looked as though he hadn’t seen the good graces of the sun in over a decade, in Merri’s expert opinion the typical case of wizards were that they were shut-ins who haven’t socialized in anything other than the odd tabletop game or over a Manat crystal call. Both Merri and Daffodil looked unimpressed at the man’s continued explanation that he ‘Can’t do anything about the migration habits of dragon’s’ or his worried remarks about the mana pixies keep chewing at the force walls keeping everyone in the pressurized car from getting sucked into the stratosphere.   “FOR THE LAST BLOODY TIME I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PITHING GNATS DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE STUPID DRAGON!” Merri almost felt bad for the man, Daffodil was not the sparring partner to cut your teeth on after years of only talking to books, scrolls and crystal balls, she knew from her own two decades of Culinary Guild’s work how much of a pain Daffodil could be when she wasn’t getting her way.   For the 4th time, the pair went around in a circle over whom can do what or who cares about who’s problem, the half-elf couldn’t help feeling like the tedious argument was more of a way of killing time than anything done. Her boss though, the spit fire of a gnome was decidedly too busy to keep an eye on her subordinate, and did something that she knew would get her yelled at if the gnome had any mind to pay to Merri.   Carefully eyeing her coworker over her shoulder, Gretchen, the orc sous chef that had decided the wait was a good time to catch up on her beauty sleep, slumped in what had to be an uncomfortable way over three of the large seats and the metal rails in between them, Merri pulled her Pear brand mark XIII Wise Crystal Ball out of her pocket.   Before powering it on, Merri frowned at her appearance in the glass ball’s reflection. Her pointy, angular looks that the glamour had borrowed for her already chipping away from the irritating pixie’s, her natural, rounded, chubby after decades of working with sweets, looks she had inherited from her father were screaming out from under the spell. Sighing, the first thing Merri did when the ball lit up was go over to a list of default spells that were preprogrammed on to all crystal balls and pressed a button on the interface. A wave of personal dispel magic swam over her skin, goodbye gorgeous potentially full-elf Meredith Stills, hello to the undoubtedly common half-elf Merri. Cursing herself for spending all that money on a silly one-day glamour, she swiveled the screen over to her destination. Myr’r.   About to click into the app, she gave one more cursory glance at the orc and the wizard and chef fighting, and with a lecherous glance at her crytal ball gave into her indulgences. She was signed in automatically, a habit of staying logged in that could be dangerous if Merri’s friends and family ever had her crystal in their hands, her eyes were met with the sight of deviant pleasures.   The first post she saw was of a wealthy djinn and his current lover, a young, cheetah tabaxi with a strangely enticing barbed penis making love on a manticore. The djinn, very durable, loved to do dangerous erotic activities with races that were considerably less so. Making sure the sound was off, Merri watched the first 15 seconds of the fun video, before the manticore’s scorpion tail went right through the djinn’s mostly gaseous body and into the back of the tabaxi, shooting the laughing djinn a look of betrayal. She swiped away, hating when the Firewalker675 posted his more snuff-y content.   Below that showed was a post with more promise. A drow dressed in what was either her sunday best or dominatrix gear, it was difficult to tell with Under-Elves, whipping a trio of males, one human, one goblin, and finally a half orc, while her magically obtained cock stood tall under her leather corset. Liked. Merri would have to study SpyderGode55’s work later on, when she had more privacy. Maybe she only used the one spell to give her a man’s appendage, but Merri really hoped the ‘spider’ in the drow’s name wasn’t only for show, she could picture the white haired drow riding her subs with the bottom half of a spider. Maybe she would accept the gift of a transformation scroll along with a suggestion paired with a generous donation.   A notification popped on the top of the page. RoilSubs: Commission for LiLMerryMarry.   Merri pursed her lips at the sight of her Myr’r handle. The commission she had waited weeks for. A little sample wouldn’t hurt, no? She of course had already seen the sketches of her four page comic strip with her Little half-elf OC (which was NOT her, no matter how many physical traits they shared) getting babied by a tall, blond elf Mommy. The brunette laying down on a bed, insisting that she was a ‘big girl’ and didn’t need a diaper, the Mommy calmly explaining that compared to her own 1200 years, the little half-elf girl at 55 was definitely a baby compared to her, and that after that last accident, they really couldn’t take any more chances-   “Meredith!” Daffodil snapped at Merri, she reflexively switched off Myr’r adopting a neutral expression. “You’re still on guild time, NO BALL.” Gretchen behind Merri rocketed up with a snort.   With a voice of pure innocence, Merri calmly explained while tapping on the ball without looking, “We’ve just been hear for awhile, I was just conjuring some coffee. You know, to keep some of us awake…” She gave a side eye towards Gretchen while a carrying container of four cardboard cups materialized in her hand at the cost of 12 pieces of virtual silver and 5% of her ball’s life.   Daffodil rolled her eyes, but stomped forward nonetheless and snatched a coffee out of the holder. While the head chef took a sip, Merri mouthed ‘Sorry!’ At the sleepy eyed orc who she had just thrown under the carpet, her sous’ eyes telling Merri that she owed her one, taking the offered beverage. Grabbing her own cup, Merri held out the contained towards the haggard looking wizard. She pitied the man, not used to the gnome’s explosive temper, but not enough to actually walk over to him, holding out her arm as far as she could reach in an attempt to avoid the wizard’s powerful, let’s call it a ‘musk’.   Pulling out her own crystal ball, Daffodil conjured two more full carriers of coffee, passing one to both Gretchen and Merri before waving them off. “Go make sure the minions are staying awake too.”   “Thank you,” Gretchen said in a gruff, sleepy voice, adding, “Don’t call them minions. Treat your subordinates with respect, chef.” Gretchen wasn’t much for words, but no pantheon of Gods could help a person who disparages any of Gretchen’s baby birds, as the orc likes to call who ever she’s trained, no matter how significant her role in the matter was.   No one who didn’t know the gnome wouldn’t be able to tell, but she faltered at the remark, the ever so subtle twitch of the eye, Daffodil let the comment slide. She’s seen the orc rage in the kitchen before, and Gretchen was one of the few people that genuinely terrified her. Daffodil didn’t acknowledge it and went back to her back and forth between the lizard.   “Just how many kids does that stupid lizard have anyways?” The exasperated chef asked rhetorically.   The wizard, in an automatic tone helpfully dispensed his trivia, “A dragoness can have a clutch of between 500 and 3000 eggs.”   “ARRRGH!”   Merri and Gretchen walked past the racks of pastries and desserts out of the train car before either let out their snickering.   Stifling a yawn, Gretchen offhandedly mentioned, “I hear dragons love to do this stuff in front of trains all the time.” Through the clear panes of force windows, the cooks saw the two coming and immediately started looking busy, putting away their balls and pretending to check the platters of food that were suspended in time, steam frozen above the plates and bowls waiting for their chance to get out.   Holding open the door for Gretchen, “Oh? Why would they do that? There’s an entire sky to fly through and they just decide to go through train paths?” They started passing out coffee to their workers and the wizards that were monitoring the spells on board.   “I think they just like to annoy people.” Gretchen said while handing out a coffee to one of her baby birds, thanking her before turning back to pretend to check the temperature of the stasis holder that was no doubt the same as it had been an hour earlier.   Merri snorted, “Relatable. I’d go around being a nuisance to whatever I’d want if I was a five ton fire breathing monster.” She gave one of the cups to a frumpy looking half-elf who looked like the flowery robes she wore were made before the Scroll Revolution. The wizard didn’t say anything to Merri, looking at the cup like the contents were toad stool.   The Culinary Guild had contracted out the spell slingers for the event today, unfortunately it was more of a pain hiring workers who weren’t under a guild. Wizards tended to be highly sought after specialists that were grabbed by large corporations or became guild pets as soon as they learned their higher tier magic, thus, the need to contract people who haven’t felt the need to socialize since before the dark ages.   The pair headed to the last car, Merri took a look at the clouds and the city below them. “Don’t sell yourself short, Merri, you’re still a nuisance at your size, too.” Gretchen smiled, looking down at the glittering city as well, swarms of flying carpets filled the skies looking ants from this height just above the pillars of rocks and metal jutting out of the ground in all shapes, sizes, and colors stabilized by magical means, shimmering patches scattered around making entrances to pocket dimensions where smaller ‘towns’ kept most of the population, some guarded by grated metal orbs and watchmen patrolling on mounts of hippogriffs, wyverns, and griffins, while other rippling tears through reality, like Merri’s that she could spot near an obsidian monolith, was left free for whoever felt like wandering inside.   In the final car, where the least at risk of temporal spells misfiring, was the soups and salads and their three least experienced cook watching over them. Or, they would have been watching over them, only the trio was being held captive by this car’s wizard, a stuffy looking man that reeked of mothballs, who’s gray hair, both from his head and beard, went right past his waist which must’ve been compensating for his shiny bald dome.   “-The flux of chronomical mechanical influence is then kept at equilibrium by the Soldumn principle,” The man waved a bony finger with each utterance of jargon at the three cooks, each wearing a rather concerned look on their face, “Which I’m sure you’ve each learned in school, but your teacher’s were probably wrong. How it really works is-”   “Ahem!” Merri coughed into her closed fist. “Coffee?”   The wizard looked shocked, then perplexed, and finally pleased, “Oh! Yes, yes, please, thank you.” He took a large gulp of the piping hot coffee, his audience looking relieved at the break. “Now that the two of you are here, I’ll have to start my whole lecture on the qualities of stasis fields over, unfortunately.” Merri could barely see the hint of a smirk under the man’s bushy mustache.   ‘That’s quite alright,” Merri tactfully lied. “I’m afraid we’re quite busy.”   “Ahh,” The wizard took another long gulp of the drink that had to burning his esophagus. Looking down at the now half empty cup in his hand, “You know- The kobold initially cultivated the coffee bean in the south by-”   Looking at the fearful faces of her least experienced peers, Gretchen interjected. “Smoke break! It’s been far too long since the kids got a break. Come along, Rupert, Agnis, Merv, right out here, come on, there ya go!” She gave each of the three’s identical white shoulders a little shove towards the backdoor. “   The wizard started pawing through his robes, “Goodness, yes, now where did I leave my pipe. Did you know that the tobacco-”   “Sorry, sir, you have to stay and watch the stasis spell. You know how important it is that it stays supervised,” Gretchen gave the half-elf a pointed look, “Merri, come on.”   Cocking her head, Merri said simply, “Smoking is nasty.”   “Great! You can stay here and keep Mr-” She looked over at the wizard, who had been staring at the steadily empty cardboard in his hand until he sensed attention once again.”   “It’s Rumplestiltsprigganmacdougal, esquire.”   Gretchen studied her feet then the ceiling, rapidly, over and over, “Right. Merri keep Mr. Esquire company.”   The wizard, facial hair dripping with coffee and a renewed energy to express his ego, smiled at her. “You know, there’s actually a really cute new couple on Viewver that have the most adorable recipes, they made a pegasus cake last week with moving, edible wings. I’ve been meaning to show you.”   A serious look mixed with curiosity passed over Gretchen’s face. “Is there really?”   “Yeah…” Damn, now she’d actually have to pull up the video… Merri hated showing her crystal to people.   “Great!” The orc exclaimed in a chipper tone. “Come along, team.” Like a shepherd, or a shepherd’s dog, led the trio and Merri out the back door.   The sight of the city far below was dizzying now. The wind blew strong through the clear sky, sounds of tiny wings in droves from Merri’s left and right. She looked towards the sounds of the mother dragoness hovering in the distance, but even far away the gigantic lizard looked too close. Her scales mostly red with a scattering of blue, lines of black scales racing across her body that colors danced on like oil on water.   Gretchen leaned on the metals rails lining the back of the train, pulling out a metal cigarette case with a rose stenciled into the front and taking out a cigarette, before she was given the chance to get bombarded with questions, she passed them out to the three young cooks. Merri fondly looked at the rose on the case, vaguely remembering the night of drinking where she herself had drawn that rose, and the joy she felt the next day when she found out Gretchen had made it a permanent feature.   Rupert, a tenku who went to great lengths to keep his feathers covered, lit up a smoke before passing his fire over to Agnis the orange and tabi tabaxi, very carefully pushing back her whiskers to keep from burning them, again, then over to the shifter Merv, who’s gender Merri was never entirely certain on.   “You’re a bad influence.” Merri pointed out, not for the first time. Gretchen’s ‘baby birds’ had a bad habit of developing a smoking habit, Gretchen’s favorite way to step out of the kitchen for half a minute or 5.   Shrugging, “Shut up baby, I know it.” Merri made great pains to not react to being called baby. In the past, she had wondered about sharing her love of being an adult baby with her coworker, there was a certain appeal to the thought of the naturally muscular orc cradling Merri in her arms and Gretchen had a special way of mothering those around her that made her seem like an amazing fit.   Gretchen a ‘come out with it’ motion with her hand, “Make with the horse video.”   The crystal ball gleamed in the light of day as the acrid odor of smoke bloomed through the air. Holding the ball close, ready to swipe away any appearing notifications away. Pulling up the app, the Viewver logo showed for a second before a wide array of cooking and baking videos showed up, mixed in with a steady amount of ‘drama’ Viewsters and romantic book discussions and reviews popped up.   A red faced succubus appeared on the screen next to a dwarf with a wide grin and an intricately braided beard that the succubus had done the previous week. “Hello, everyone!” The succubus flashed a pointed smile at the camera. “Scary Kerry back again, joined by scrumptious little honey bun, Garrus,” The dwarf waved a stout hand. “Today we’re going to be making…” She pulled a plate from below, “The devilishly delicious edible white chocolate Pegasus,” the winged horse that was hand sized neighed and whinnied on the plate. Garrus acted like he was about to pick at the horse’s wing only to get playfully slapped away by Kerry. “Now for this recipe you will need to have one scroll of food golem on hand that you can get from our sponsor ScrollShare! With Scrollshare you can…”   “Huh, I didn’t think couples like that really did things like this,” Gretchen commented while taking a drag from her cig. “Don’t succubus usually stay on HornHub?”   Merri’s eyes never left the screen. “I think they started on their, but then Kerry did a cooking video and it got super popular. So now they do like lifestyle and cooking videos. I follow her on Myr’r and she sometimes posts links on Hornhub, they still sound like cooking but with nudity involved.”   Gretchen shook her head. “That can’t be hygienic. Does he get naked too?” She asked, pointing at the dwarf.   A little box dashed on the video. RoilSubs: Commission for LiLMerryMarry got the Comment: LalaBunny says, “Moar???” Followed by pleading emoji, crying emoji, pleading emoji, crying emoji.   In half a second Merri swiped it away. Without missing a beat, “I think they actually eat off each other in the videos, so it probably doesn’t matter too much to them.”   Whether she saw what the notification said and was too polite to say anything, or she just ignored it, Gretchen just said, “Hmm. Do food golems have a stable shelf life? I wouldn’t mind having one around but I’m worried my cat might get to it…”   Agnis the tabaxi turned around, “Owning cats is wrong. Its basically slavery.”   Gretchen rubbed the bridge of her nose, “Agnis, I swear to Gods, I’m not having this conversation again. Why don’t you go ask Mr. Esquire his opinion on the domestication of cats, I’m sure he has plenty to say.”   Undeterred, Agnis started pointing at her claws while listing, “You make them hunt, you make warm you, you decide whether they stay or go.”   “My cat gets fed out of a tin can, Agnis and I clean up her shit. Seriously! If anyone is the slave in that relationship its me-”   Before the conversation went any farther, the train began to putter ahead. They were on their way again. Sighing, Gretchen put out her cigarette, “Finish it up,” She told the youngsters, “Get ready to unload everything, tell the old coot you’re busy if he says anything.”   The ball in Merri’s hand jingled. Looking down, she saw a message from LalaBunny: Roilsubs sed the characters in the new comic were urs. Can I plz draw them?   LittleMerryMarry: Sure smiley emoji.   LalaBunny: thnk u thnk u thnk u!!!   Merri hadn’t really expected anyone else to want to do anything with her Ocs, but she wasn’t about to turn down free content. She’d just have to remember to check out LalaBunny later, see if he was worth a follow. Speaking of following, she hurried off to meet with Gretchen, leaving the three kids out there to finish their ‘breaks’.   “Sorry, can’t talk right now!” She said as she hurried past the old wizard with his mouth open. Past the frumpy wizard who was still eyeing her cup suspiciously, waving a little at the journeymen in the middle, Francois the dwarf, Heckle the goblin, and Nala the half orc, each getting their pallets of the main course ready to move, only giving a courtesy acknowledgment of her presence.   In the middle car, Daffodil was sitting down, doing her best to ignore the wizard still worrying about the pixies. The head chef had ceased all communication with the wizard once her problem had solved itself, no longer in the mood to argue.   Gretchen was already working on loading a levitating pallet with racks, Merri jumped at loading a different one. Glass chalices of mint ooze, a dish that would literally dance on your tongue. Cinnamon fire apple pie, apples coming from the elemental plane of flame, each bite warming the tongue. A tricky milk chocolate coated cake with a the essence of a hydra, a snake like head coming from the delicate wrapping of each bar that its chopped or bit off will have two grow out of the stump, a sure way to please anyone with tough to fill belly, Merri was rather proud of that one, hydra essence was not only costly but difficult to blend in a way to taste right with sweets. And the final dish, Merri’s specialty, elderstar berry cupcakes, an admittedly much more mundane treat, but held sentimental value to the half-elf, she had mastered the recipe, making it thousands of times, plus, she added just a pinch mermaid tears salt to each top to make it a little more spectacular.   Through the force windows, Merri could see their destination fast approaching. The floating fortress Havenport, the country’s greatest military accomplishment. The size of a small mountain, a tower flying through the air with dozens of small keeps the could detach and become their own military base during war time, around each keep was their own platoon of airships, and on the very top of the tower, the castle of Havenport, where each commander of the tower was to have an important meeting today. A wonderful opportunity for the Culinary Guild, if they manage to impress the brass, there was a possibility they may contract them instead of using non affiliates, for officers anyway.   Merri had only seen the legendary fortress once before, when she was very small. Far in the distance, it still seemed to take up the horizon. Now, she was approaching Havenport herself. Looking down, she saw the parts of the city the tower hid from the sunlight. A morbid thought occurring to her, how many enemies of the country had seen that very shadow and lost their lives in the darkness. Merri felt insignificant, a tiny speck compared to the tower’s military might.   Quickly, the pinnacle of Havenport approached. On top of the tower, fields of artificially tended to grass as far as Merri’s eyes could see, occasionally the sea of green parted way for an ugly gray humps, pathways to the lower sections, and in the center, the fortress of the fortress, the castle of Havenport, an impenetrable stone building surrounded by thick walls, it’s said that each brick used to make the castle at the peak was imbued with the strongest wards available 300 years ago to keep any enemies of the state from scrying or teleporting inside.   A legion of finely dressed cadets where waiting for the train at parade ready, lined up in rows and columns. They wore gray uniforms, silver colored tassels on their square shoulders, a lime sash running through the center of each that lay bare except for a single medallion, round metallic buttons clipping the sides together at the bottom, leaving just enough open on top to create a window. Each used this window to display dog tags, though a few had things like spell focus attached to a necklace or religious symbols, a tiny uniqueness in the conformity. A scabbard for their curved sabers was at the intricate belt of each, and beneath every left arm a shoulder holster with a series of identical wands. Each of the cadets wore a similar look, a firm neutral look standing ahead that made everyone of them look like they were cut from the same cloth. From the grayish blue and olive green skins of orcs, to the dark brown and fair tones of the humans and half-elves, with a smattering of the other taller races mixed in, as long as they wore that look and that uniform, they might as well have been brothers and sisters.   One half-orc stood in front of the rest, not looking toward the train or at the cadets, instead staring into the nothing in between. A few medals on his sash signified the rank of sergeant. He raised a single bare hand as the train came to a halt, Merri wouldn’t have thought possible but each of the cadets stood straighter at the hand like trained dogs.   The wizards released the force windows and the sounds of training all came pouring in from the fields around them, even at a distance, the dual forces of echo and multitudes let it ring into the car like Merri was standing right next to a grunt getting screamed at to keep running, practicing, moving, the sounds of wands and staves ringing out at firing practice. The air burned with the scent of sweat, spent scrolls, fire and lightning.   At the wave of a hand, the front row of cadets ran ahead into the train, grabbing the nearest pallet and moving it towards a series of enclosed carpets. Organized chaos. To Merri’s untrained eye, it seemed like the cadets were grabbing the nearest pallet without thought, but there seemed to be a particular set of topless cargo carpets each pallet of racks was deposited on to. After fully loading a carpet, the cadets would stand on the edges of the carpets as they flew away.   Merri was glad she didn’t have to do that work. Suddenly being this high up, where the air was so much thinner without time to adjust, she was beginning to feel light headed. Another row of cadets were waved forward as Merri sat down in the car, trying to be out of everyone’s way.   Gretchen gave a little greeting at one of the half-orcs as he passed by her. A subtle nod the only thing she got in return. “Someone you know?” Merri asked as the orc sat down next to her, it wouldn’t be long until the long hassle of work reared its ugly head again, Gretchen had learned long ago to enjoy the small breaks of peace.   “Ornismar, boy from my clan. Feels like it was just yesterday he was digging up bones in the family woods, and now he’s all grown up. Small world, big place. I wouldn’t have expected seeing him during our little visit.”   “Lucky you have such a large family.”   Gretchen nodded, it was a conversation the two had numerous times in the past. “But its just you and your dad.” She concluded forward.   Merri said Gretchen’s next piece for her. “A big family is just a big headache. I would hate the constant stream of people coming and going, its a nightmare, and no privacy.”   They watched in silence as the last of the cadets took the last of the pallets out, the soldiers began to drive towards the looming structure in the center of the field. The sergeant saluted the chefs as they disembarked the train, the slanted upwards pointed arm crossing the sash over the heart more a sign of courtesy than respect. None of the members their guild reflected the gesture, feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing as they were lead towards the three remaining carpets.   A cadet stood at attention at the back door of the carpet, holding it open for Gretchen, Daffodil, and Merri, who entered it in that order. The interior of the carpet was certainly roomy, not many carpets she had gotten into with Gretchen had this much elbow room, especially with someone else inside of it, even if they were the size of Daffodil. It was strangely pristine, with no new carpet smell, Merri hadn’t been in floor models at dealerships that had been this clean. Reflexively, Merri pulled the seat belt over her shoulder and into the buckle in between her and the gnome as the cadet entered the front and began to drive forward.   Outside the window, Merri watched the troops do their drills, seemingly random sections of grass converted into tracks and obstacle courses. A little ways up, she saw a mounted air division run what was either a team training exercise, or an exceedingly dangerous game of capture the flag.   “Isn’t it a bit cruel to make the animals do training like that?” Merri asked the driver, more out of conversation than genuine outrage.   “Ma’am,” The driver spoke roboticly, “Air mounts require battle training before seeing combat, otherwise they will panic during their first combat. Ma’am.”   Daffodil piped up, “And where are the cooks in the facilities? I wouldn’t mind seeing our,” She snorted, “’Competition’.”   “Ma’am, you will be authorized to use Havenport Castle private kitchens, anywhere else will be considered a breach in security and a breach in contract. Ma’am.”   Clenching her jaw, Daffodil went on, “Alright, I guess, no need to be so stuffy, I’m just an old lady. Not like I could do anything ‘breach in security’ worthy.”   “Ma’am.”   The intimidating structure of Havenport Castle loomed above them, falling into its shadow as they crept towards it, like field mice compared to a farmhouse. The stone bricks in the wall made way to just let the caravan of carpets in, seemingly melting to give them passage.   If not for the cadets unloading racks, the courtyard would be eerily quiet. Here, there was no grass to break the monotony, just stone brick on the ground and on every wall. Above, the blue sky parted only for the clouds so close Merri could feel the heaviness of their vapors, the tallest towers of the castle cutting through the fluffy white puffs. Along the tops, several flags hung, coat of arms of countries and the royal families who ruled it along with a collection of allied nations, waving their colors in loyalty to the fortress.   A concierge waited for the Culinary Guild, a prim and proper elemental made out of blue wisps of wind that seemed more at home this far up than anyone else they had seen so far, wearing a uniform much like the cadets. It seemed to take on a feminine appearance, though Merri knew that such elementals only took on gendered appearances as a formality, it had sex as much as rocks, water, or the very air it was made of.   “Welcome, honored quests.” The elemental ‘spoke’, it sounded like the wind whispering into their ears personally, as intangible as a spirit haunting the night.   Through great double wooden doors large enough to fit a dragon through the party was led into a series of corridors wide enough to fit the entirety of the dragon’s brood. The 9 members of the guild followed the weightless, bouncy steps of the air elemental without a word, in a line of seniority, with Daffodil heading the pack with steps too quick for someone her size, and Merv at the end, unconsciously shaping their body to be like the elemental.   Many doors stayed closed among the barren, everyone’s footsteps (except for the elemental’s) cried out in a symphony, joined by the clunk clunk of officers’ leather boots somewhere in the distance. A subtle noise begun to grow, like hushed words in a library, growing until it was the sounds of idle chatter. Two large doors leading into a grand hall with three large tables filled with the top brass talking among themselves, the event they were here to cater to. Well dressed young people in red vests and white shirts wearing fez hats shuffled around the table, offering the majors, colonels, admirals, and generals fizzy clear liquid in champagne flutes and hors-d’oeuvres, dishes supplied by the military’s own. Everyone in there well known and respected in their respective circles.   But only one had Merri’s eye.   Sitting alone, a glass untouched in her gloved hand, scribbling something in a leather notebook, was the elf of Merri’s dreams. She had spent countless amounts of gold and silver on commissions to bring a blonde elf to page when here she was sitting their in the 3rd dimension. The creature so many of her (quite possibly self-insert) OC’s had called Mommy. Sure, Merri had imagined her in everything under the sun except a military officer’s uniform, but such trivialities would be remedied as soon as she had five minutes alone with her crystal ball and could contact a friend or two who could draw the elf in such a costume, after all, she looked amazing in it.   Her hair pulled back in a neat bun, her expansive bosom making her jacket work to keep together, the way her arms wanted to rip out of those sleeves. Merri couldn’t see the elf’s legs, but that was fine, in her imagination Mommy either wore lingerie or nothing at all. She could keep the boots that all like wise dressed officers wore, all the better to step on her sub with.   The elf blinked, her pointed ear twitched adorably like a deer sensing it was being watched. Slowly, she looked up, towards the door. Her fist raised, hiding the subtle red of her pretty lips, eyes scanning, towards the door, towards their party.   Those eyes, a piercing icy blue, locked in a frown, fell one after the other of her cooks, until she locked eyes with Merri. It felt as though she were stuck in one of the stasis fields, those seconds filled an eternity. When those pretty blues met her chocolate browns, Merri felt like a bunny locked in the sights of a great bird of prey, mere seconds before that falcon swooped down to tear that bunny off the face of the earth and do what it will to it. Merri was ready to be that bunny. Thoughts so loud she was sure the elf must’ve been able to hear it from this distance.   Come get me, Mommy.   I’ll be your bunny, Mommy.   Step on me, make me whine and beg, come, Mistress, your pet is ready, Mommy.   Time cruelly began again with a nudge on her back. Merri dropped back into her body like a boulder hitting a lake, falling from the height of her fantasies back into the pitiful depths of reality by Francois, and to Merri’s disappointment, her feet trudged forward. When she turned her head again, to get one final glimpse as the elf, Merri found that she was still staring at her.   Alas, Merri had no time for whimsical fantasies about elves who would make her squirm. The feast was about to begin, and her hands needed to do a different job than what Merri wanted to. At least, at first, she wished she could go find a closet somewhere and ‘process’ the new thoughts of her dream girl that wore the military colors, but the familiar feeling of routine was a welcomed distraction. Chapter 2   The bulk of the work had already been done, but now it was time for the final preparations. They were brought to a magnificent large kitchen area, separated into three wings, two lines of ovens, stoves, with a rotating window that hovered in the air above a counter per wing, with a large holding area in between each where their racks where situated, . It was the cleanest kitchen Merri had every stepped into, if not for the scent of food her people hadn’t made clinging to the air, she would have thought this place was untouched, like the shuttle carpet she was ridden on.   Wish she would ride me…   Shooing intrusive thoughts away, Merri fell into line where Daffodil pointed her towards. One side of the line while Gretchen manned the other, Merri took the fresher workers, while Gretchen got the seasoned crew. The bags of personal gear already waiting for them, meticulously inspected by Havenport’s security and MP.   Agnis grabbed a plate with a bowl of salad from a rack, Francois grabbed a bowl from another, the steam from the soup in his hands resuming it journey through time. Rupert garnished the salad coming towards Merri with freshly cut herbs, while Merv with stand on Merri’s right preparing cups of dressing. Merri would get the tedious job. Agnis would be her side’s gopher.   Reaching towards a brown box in front of her, it’s head sealed in a plastic bag, was what looked like a cherub made of roots. Merri ripped the bag off the head of a mandrake, for a half a second it’s deafening scream filled the kitchen before Merri twisted it’s head off. With a microblade, she shaved tiny flakes of the mandrake’s skin on to the salad, alchemists and potion crafters insisted that the skin of a mandrake encouraged healthy breathing and digestion in the people who consumed it, Merri suspected that the nutty, earthy flavors of the mandrake just hid more unpleasant flavors in whatever was in their concoctions. She handed it off to Merv to put it’s sides on the plate and passed it down to Daffodil, after an inspection dropped it on the platter of a red vested servant in a fez.   Gretchen’s team was busy infusing soup with last minute alterations using a salamander then melting a chunk of smelly, expensive cheese of a minotaur on top. Merri had met a few of the minotaurs who had provided milk for such delicacies, fun loving country gals who could get a little rigid during their months of milking.   Merri dropped a used up mandrake into a basket. The skin may be gone, but the bodies would still fine their way into a stockpot. The repetition helped keep Merri’s mind off of distracting ideas on who she would ask to draw what.   One of the servers whispered something to Daffodil, nodding, she called out while still making sure the dishes in front of her looked presentable. “Hors-d’oeuvres finish in five! That stupid dragon has us behind schedule, crank it out!”   Murmurs of ‘Yes, chef,” rang out throughout both sides of the line.   “Soups are all prepared…” Gretchen called out.   Seconds later. “Salads are ready…”   The main event. Gretchen’s specialty, flank of gorgon, a difficult to cook cut, each flank has a bottom of the creature’s tough armor on some part of it, pieces of the meat are rarely uniform. As the meat cooks, the metal becomes extremely hot as well, making it incredibly easy to overcook, and with the different amounts of armor, no two pieces have the same cook time. If prepared correctly, as Gretchen has mastered over the years. Or the officers may have a quasi-vegetarian dish dominated by the fungal Shrieker, blanched before coming to Havenport, it gets seared by Merri with a flaming wand, given a quick douse of red wine reduction, then a drop of dryadberry puree smeared across the plate.   Plate. Sear. Plate. Mommy holding her down. Sear. Plate. Sear. Mommy wiping her down with a wet wipe. Plate. Sear. Plate. Mommy telling Merri she’s not big enough for big girl panties anymore, and wrapping her up in a thick, white diaper. Sear. Plate-   “Stills! Focus!”   “Hmm? Huh?”   Daffodil starred through Merri. Nothing more needed to be said, get your head in the game. Sheepishly, Merri put herself back into the job. No distractions, no thinking about, other stuff.   Merri didn’t know how people comfortably used a wand all the time. It was so awkward to her. Keep the tip pointing towards the brown stalk while keeping a firm grip on the handle, watch the fire spout out while waving her hand. Knives and spatulas just made more sense. To Merri, holding a wand like this was on par with holding a man’s penis clumsily while he’s peeing. Not that there wasn’t a clumsily way to perform that action. After 20 minutes of the repetitive action, Merri had to let go of the wand and give herself a shake to loosen up the wanker’s cramp she had coming on.   “Almost ready for the main course. How we looking?” Daffodil barked at Gretchen and Merri after another of the servants whispered in her ear.   “5 more plates.” Merri informed the chef.   “Nearly there too,” Gretchen said while ladling a gravy made from the gorgon’s juices on to the steak.   Nodding, Daffodil motioned for the servants to begin the rounds once again, sending them out to the great hall.   The final plate on both sides was sent out, and the journeymen let out a sigh of relief. It was true, the most stressful part of the job was over, Merri’s desserts were ready to go right off the racks, ready to be set on a platter and sent out, but that wouldn’t be for awhile. Daffodil would have no idle hands at this juncture however, ordering everyone to make the kitchen as pristine as they had found it.   Agnis and Francois retrieved some buckets of hot soapy water and passed it out to everyone while Gretchen and Merri pushed the racks of sweets to the front of the room.   Grumbling, Rupert looked at his sudsy feathers after reaching into the bucket to retrieve a dropped towel. “I just don’t understand,” He complained, “Animate object is a very easy spell, why can’t we make them clean all this on their own.”   “Can’t,” Gretchen said pushing a rack of chocolate cake hydras. “They’ll start dancing and nothing will get done.”   Merri, pushing her own rack, watched the ooze jelly start to quiver at the word ‘dance, “Actually, the dancing is fine, they pretty much clean as the move, and it’s kind of cute. The real issue is they have a penchant for summoning demons. Once had a dishwasher who animated a sponge, left to grab a glass of water for 2 minutes, when he got back, a balrog was wrecking havoc.”   Daffodil swore under her breath, “It was a good location too. In between quite a few other guilds and had a shopping complex next to it. Can never use it again, the land is completely tainted.”   Nodding, Merri dropped her rack off in front of Daffodil and began to make her way back to grab another. “Some of my friends in those buildings tell me they still can’t use the bathrooms. Go to pop a squat and voices in the pipes start bargaining for their souls.”   “Demons,” Daffodil rolled her eyes, “Always feling up a place. Just wipe down the counters, it builds character.”   By the time the servants were ready, the bulk of the cleaning had already been finished, save for the floors that they were waiting for the racks to leave before they could bring out the mops and the scrubbers. It was tedious waiting while Daffodil finished putting desserts on platters. They were standing in a little designated section by the door, away from the work station, shuffling their feet and getting antsy.   Merri tried to do anything to anything to keep herself from pulling out her crystal, while Gretchen growled under her breath, a tale tell sign that she was ready for a smoke break, the other 6 looking like they were in the same boat.   After Gretchen had started pacing, Daffodil was beginning to get annoyed. The servants had told the head chef the desserts had all been distributed out. “Good, would one of you show these layabouts where they can smoke?” She pointed at antsy cooks being led by Gretchen.   “Very well, ma’am. As well, the Generals would like a word with you. Discussions of future events I believe.”   “Ahh, good, good, Merri!” She pointed a finger at the girl who had been daydreaming about a certain somebody. “Get some mops ready. After we get back we’ll knock the rest of this out and get out of here in 30.”   “Yes ma’am,” Merri said, the servants and her coworkers milling out of the room, leaving her alone. She unbuttoned her chef jacket and hung it up near the door leaving her in a sleeveless white shirt tucked into her loose slacks, it had been a particularly good day on keeping it clean and stain free, no need to temp fate and need anything more than a simple wash. Stain remover wands could get pricey when one had to use them everyday after all.   There was something haunting about an empty kitchen, especially an unfamiliar one. The hum of the equipment, the sounds through the vent, paired with Merri’s own clicking heels of her leather shoes. She found the little mop closet the gophers had retrieved the buckets from and grabbed three mop buckets. On a dingy little shelf was a few cardboard boxes with faded scrolls in them. Merri grabbed one of the scrolls, rolled it up into a loose tube, and ripped the end off. A torrent of warm, soapy water came tumbling out of the ripped end of the scroll.   A moment of peace. Her hand slipped into her pocket and her hand glowed as the ball in her pocket activated. Just a minute to check out her comic. The Myr’r app took an agonizing few seconds to turn on, and after a couple of presses on the glass, there she was, in all of her majesty. Her waifu. She would need some adjustments now, eyes more narrow, the blue in them lighter, the chin just a little more pointed. She was holding down the half-elf (which, might have been Merri), the girl’s tiny wrists in the elf’s fist after she tried to fight back, fruitlessly trying to get away form her. All for naught as her Mommy pulled out her secret weapon, a little scroll with a powerful spell on it that affected the mind, sending them straight back to baby days mentally. The still image showed the scroll inching towards the girl’s forehead and…   “Damn it!” The last sputters from the scroll in Merri’s hand went splashing into her top, and a bit on her pants. She grimaced at the sheer fabric clinging to her belly, the material becoming see through. The outline of a tattoo of heather could now be clearly seen from her left hip. “Always gotta happen…” She whined, tossing the used scroll into a nearby trash and went to fill the other buckets, her crystal tucked away safely in her back pocket.   Her mind began to wander without the focus of someone else’s pictures. A new array of possibilities was opening up to her fantasies. Maybe her Mommy would make her run so much her knees would be jelly and she’d have to carry Merri home. Maybe her Mommy would pull one of the wands out of her holster and an energy whip would come out, punishing Merri for imaginary transgressions. Maybe her Mommy… Was standing right there.   In front of the doors to the kitchen, was the blue eyes elf, staring at one of the racks filled with leftover cupcakes with her intense, falcon like gaze, the rim of her cap casting a shadow over her eyes. One hand gripped the other behind her back, the ornate hilt and handle of her saber glinted in gold and silver on the belt at her hip (Merri hadn’t incorporated the sword into her fantasy, what would she do?? Smack her rear with the flat edge? Put the curved scabbard inside of her and twist it around while Merri was on all fours? Hold it to her throat while she licked between her Mommy’s thighs, threatening to cut her pretty little throat if she dared to stop? The scandalous possibilities were endless!). Her trousers so tight on her it could’ve been a second skin, the elf’s rump was a bit flatter than Merri liked, but that could be fixed…   The elf’s lips twisted adorably, she looked towards the door, then the other way and froze as she saw Merri. Her twisted fantasies came crashing down around her as those chilling blue eyes hers. With a sudden, horrifying realization, Merri became acutely aware of how she looked, holding a dirty mop, drenched shirt that showed off her skin, reeking of sweat and work.   She seemed to be frozen as well, her body going stiff at the sight of Merri. The distance between the two became paradoxically too close and too far, the few yards feeling like a vast canyon and yet close enough that she could see every imperfection of Merri’s skin.   Her eyes looked away first, looking uncertain, she opened a mouth, revealing rows of perfect teeth. Nothing but air came out.   Merri found her courage and spoke up. “H-Hello?”   “Hi,” Her voice came out in a high squeak, before she corrected herself. “Umm, excuse me,” She said in more of a baritone, more to Merri’s liking, a voice that was as rock steady as the walls of this castle, but had undertones of that gentle tenderness beneath.   That awkward silence returned with a vengeance. The elf looked towards the ground. Merri looked up, studying her face, before the panicked, intrusive thoughts finally slipped in. Oh Gods! Am I supposed to be saying something? Am I taking too long? She thinks I’m an idiot, doesn’t she? Damn you Meredith Stills, open your mouth and SAY SOMETHING! What should I say? Should it be sexy? No, you fool! You don’t even know her, you can’t come on too strong! Should it be something professional? Like, ‘did you enjoy your food’? That’s safe! Maybe too safe. Blast it all, Meredith Valerie Stills, SAY SOMETHING!   “Can I help you?” Merri said, lamely to her ears. She frowned at Merri like a teacher being given the wrong answer by a student. A poor choice of words for Merri, suddenly locked in a fantasy about the elf bending her in a school girl uniform over a desk belt her behind with a ruler.   “I liked the cupcakes!” The elf blurted out suddenly, a tad too loudly. Her lips clamped shut immediately afterwards, realizing either what she was stupid or how she said it was stupid. Her eyes looked away, find the tips of her boots fascinating.   Wait is she… Nervous? Why is she nervous?   Bravery filling her chest that she puffed out, Merri took a step forward, leaving the mop to flop in the bucket while she grabbed her hands behind her back, mirroring the elf. “Really?” She asked, her voice going fluttery. “Well… I made those cupcakes…” She shot the increasingly nervous elf a sly smile, reaching, pulling the hair tie that kept her curls trapped behind her head, sending them flying with a shake of her head in what she thought was seductive. Oh Gods, was she TALL! Merri’s head fell short just below the elf’s chest. She’d have to crawl up her just to be at eye level. The prospect thrilled the little half-elf.   Tell me I did good. Take me to that dirty closet and show me I did good. Call me your pretty, good little girl and take me home and let me live under your kitchen sink.   Merri’s thoughts were getting deliriously silly.   “Y-you made them? Of course-” The elf added in a smaller voice. “-You did…”   Pausing her advance, Merri was rapidly trying to untangle the meaning behind those words. It felt like there was a few pieces to this puzzle she was missing. “Beg pardon?”   She straightened her posture, and like she couldn’t stop herself, she did that funny salute Merri had seen done since she got there, “Colonel Svetlana Lark.” The colonel looked just as surprised as Merri did at the strange introduction. Svetlana froze in the middle of her salute, as if her actions were just becoming apparent to her.   Mommy… looked kinda dumb. Kinda really dumb… Half of her wanted to toss her daydreams in the trash. The other half, the half that staring at those bulging muscles in those sleeves thought, I can work with dumb.   Merri shot her a small smile with worried eyes, rubbing the back of her neck as she realized her ‘seductive’ strut might have looked similarly stupid. Was she being stupid? Was she blowing this? Was there anything to even blow?   “I’m Merri.”   “M-Merri?” Svetlana looked away quickly, in a flash, so quick that Merri would’ve missed it if she hadn’t been staring at those bright red, plush lips. The little curl at the corner of her mouth, in a smile.   There WAS something to blow! Merri screamed in her mind. All hands on deck! Do NOT mess this up!   “Everything ok, Merri?” Gretchen asked, returning with her retinue of fowl smelling smokers, ready to finish cleaning and get off this ugly rock.   Merri and Svetlana froze in place. “Everything’s good!” Merri hastily said. “The colonel here just wanted to compliment dinner!”   “Actually, I just wanted to know about the cupcakes…” Svetlana half yelled, losing control of the volume of her voice. Her hand still locked over her chest in a salute Merri wasn’t certain she was aware of any more.   “Oh…” Gretchen and Merri said at the same time, both giving the colonel odd glances. “So then… You didn’t like dinner?” Gretchen folded her arms indignantly.   Merri didn’t say anything, her eyes, and each of her 7 coworker’s were studying the face of the colonel.   “It was… alright. It was fine…”   “My gorgon flank was just ‘fine’?” Gretchen asked, frowning. The orc was typically pretty grounded, a strong head on her shoulders and firm feet on the ground, but two things really set her off her good natures, insulting her steaks, and insulting her baby birds. And to do both at the same time was like asking her to go into a blood rage, pretty please, with a cherry on top.   It was like watching a carpet crash, “Gorgon is always dry and overcooked. I had the shtrieker.”   “My gorgon is not dry OR overcooked!” Gretchen bellowed.   “Wait, so my shrieker was just ‘fine?” Merri piped up, ignoring the fact that the only thing she did to the dish was burn it with a wand. It was still hers.   Svetlana shot Merri a look, processing what was going on.   “Why’s she still got her arm up?” One of the peanut gallery asked.   Merri had been rather curious about that herself. “Yeah, what’s up with that?”   “I- you- We’re not supposed to stop until it’s done back…” Svetlana addressed Merri specifically.   Gretchen cleared her throat. “That’s great, but no one here is going to do that.” The 6 behind her started snickering.   Svetlana blinked. “You have to… I’m a colonel…” She said annoyed, though she was shooting her hand a dirty, as if it had a mind of its own and it was acting like a naughty puppy who was peeing on her rug in front of company. Merri fought with herself to keep from imagining herself getting that look while Merri was naked with her leg raised.   “No one here is going to do that in our kitchen.” Gretchen growled defiantly.   Trying to keep her own humiliating thoughts out of her imagination, Merri spat out, “You look like a Faerie Scout.” Damn you, Meredith Valerie Stills! You cock blocking little twit!   The elf in the gray uniform made a little pop sound with her mouth in surprise, glancing down at her attire. There was some truth to the statement, the color was right, make the jacket a polo shirt and switch the pants out with a green skirt then yeah, straight up a Faerie Scout, out selling cookies and popcorn earning merit badges. Svetlana’s arm dropped.   Gretchen took the thought and ran with it, “Sorry sweetie, we don’t need any cookies today, go back to your Mommy and try next door…”   Meredith Valerie Stills, I swear on Mom’s grave if you open your mouth… “Are you lost honey?” Merri heard herself say, now firmly in the driver’s seat of the other carpet in the crash. “Is this your first sale? You poor thing,” Svetlana looked down at the leering Merri, her face finally showing some color as her cheeks became flushed. Meredith, you bitch, her inner monologue cursed her.”Don’t cry, why don’t you go back home with one of those cupcakes you like so much?” Merri pointed at the sweets on the rack with a saccharine voice.   Looking like she was about to say something, Svetlana was interrupted. “What the Hell is everyone just standing around for?” Daffodil reappeared, flanked by a series of cadets who dutifully began grabbing mostly empty racks and carting them back towards the cargo carpets and back on to the train.   In a series of ‘eeps!’ the cooks jumped to work, half of them started grabbing racks without thinking, the other half speed walking to the mops to finish the floors.   Svetlana, hiding her blush under the rim of her hat, muttered something like, “I gotta go…” Stomping off, though, to Merri’s surprise, stopped by the sweet rack, and her gloved hand did snatch up one of the purple capped mini cakes with the mermaid tear salt. Briefly, her eyes went back to Merri, snapping forward when she saw Merri was still looking at her.   With no time to dwell on that, and with little energy to do so too, Merri went to work packing up her stuff and jumping into a project, grabbing a deck scrub and began going at the floors like the sounds of scrubbing would drown out any internal voices that were screaming at Merri for being so stupid, or voices that were loudly wondering what Svetlana would do to her or her butt if she got Merri alone in a room.   Brushing a bead of sweat off her brow, Merri and her crew looked at their handy work, the floors looked clean enough to eat off of. She threw her coat on without buttoning it, and slung her work gear bag over her shoulder, and her merry band set off to get off Havenport, led by the air elemental that had returned just to see them off.   Into their shuttle, Gretchen, Daffodil, and Merri piled in, and they headed towards the train depot. Tiredly, Merri rested her head on the window, where she spotted a makeshift firing range set up near the castle’s walls.   A long staff of dark oak nestled on her shoulder, the colonel Svetlana Lark shot at a target down range, a spent scroll case ejected out of a slot on the staff, a blast of heat coming from the tip and a small fireball went sailing towards a metal, partially slagged suit of cheap armor. Her dress jacket replaced by a black short sleeved t-shirt, Merri saw that the white gloves she had on went all the way past her elbows. She barely flinched as the recoil bounced the long wooden shaft went flying into her weight.   Turning towards Daffodil, suddenly very invested in the day, “Hey boss, what’d the generals have to say about today?” Merri asked.   “They’re not too sure about having staff on site for an extended period of time, not for the price we demand per head. They’ll keep us in mind for future events though…”   “Hmm…” Merri bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully, looking back towards the elf on the firing range, who seemed to pause her target practice when the shuttle carpets came into view. Merri could just barely see the shrinking dot of her face, but could feel those icy blue eyes on her. Chapter 3   Light in the sky faded slowly on the peak of the world. The horizon turned orange and pink, but the sun still kissed Merri’s skin. A fear bounced inside of her, as they approached the train, it’s walls empty for now, the wizards waiting inside. She worried that she’d never come to this place again. It was silly, she only met the colonel once, besides a few looks and a conversation that was more of a disaster than an ogre in ballet, but she sensed wanting in the elf, the same way she felt inside of herself.   Was she jumping to conclusions? Was she seeing things that weren’t there? Was she imagining things just because a pretty girl coincidentally looked like a picture that was ripped out of her fantasies? Merri didn’t like the heavy reality these questions weighed on her.   Merri moved automatically, barely existing mentally or spiritually in the moment. She sat down in a seat in the middle of the train, this time, with no concerns of keeping an eye on everything, she was surrounded by her peers. Talking was around her, her tired brain tuned it all out, keeping her eyes towards the city that was coming towards her.   “Merri? Hey!” There was a touch on her shoulder and Merri glanced up. “I said, ‘Wanna do drinks tonight?’” Gretchen was looking down at her.   A hand stretched her face out, “Nah, I think I’m going to go home and relax. Have a couple of days of. Maybe tomorrow?”   Folding her arms, Gretchen looked Merri up and down. “You’re looking… Off? You getting sick?”   “Hope not. Would be pretty typical to end up bedridden on my time off… I don’t know, I’m just not feeling it….”   Gretchen nodded, understanding, turning around to talk to the others, though keeping one eye Merri.   The skyscrapers, giants that loomed over Merri all of her life, seemed small today, as they came pulling into the train station. The pillars of stone and metal, and now that she was close to the ground the enormous trees that had been shaped by druids, Merri’s favorite, glinted with the lights in the windows. Voices from everywhere in the distance blanketed over her. A fowl smell of life that lived and grew too close together assaulted her nostrils. Even the air felt thick, coating her skin in a strange way, an abundance of magic stuck to the wind and made it feel unnatural, almost grimy.   Waving goodbye to the others, Merri stayed in the area for a second, watching Daffodil handle the wizards’ payment for the day with Merv and Agnis staying behind the bring the racks back to the guild HQ, a job the apprentices had been volunteered for, while Gretchen led the rest away for a night out.   Other than them, the depot only had a few wizards and conductors hanging around the wooden building, most people typically relied on the teleporters that were stationed around the city to get from place to place. A century ago, a building like this would have been packed with folks from every walk of life, from the wealthy moguls to the beggars trying to pinch coinpurses, now, it was a fading memory, as teleportation circles became more advanced, more widespread, and all around larger, train stations like this would become antiquated, only used for operations like the military who didn’t allow teleporting rings inside their bases or for novelty. Come see what life was 500 years ago.   For a moment, Merri tried to imagine what it must be like to be someone who’s lifespan was measured by millennia. Seeing the brand new became a relic. One day, perhaps very soon, she would have to deal with that, though not to the degree of some. On average, half-elves lived to around 400, some times 600, while it wasn’t unheard of for elves to make it to 3000, an impossible scale for the 65 year old to wrap her head around. It was hard to imagine why someone would choose to make a child you knew you would bury one day, with a creature you knew would barely be a speck in the life of both yourself and the child.   Merri didn’t dwell on the thoughts, and walked into a ring, a metal platform lined with a slanted lip with shining runes carved into it, resembling a crater. Blue light colored the air and the magic around the ring, a map right next to it told passerby which color led to where, a twin ring sat next to the one Merri was in front of, one coming and one going.   Stepping into the blue, in seconds, everything that made Merri her was ripped apart and sent to another location.   Standing in a huge room made out of granite, tall columns of marble holding up the roof, Merri was suddenly surrounded by people. Thousands of people of different races, shapes and sizes going about their business, going from one portal to another. Most were in transit, walking from one ring to another without giving their surroundings a lick of notice, while a few had made this place a hub for business, little carts that sold fast food to business folks with no time, others selling souvenirs to tourist, or florist selling something pretty and smelling nice to a couple on a night out or to a lover who made a mistake. Just one of several of the teleportation circles littered around town.   Merri wondered if there would come a day when this place resembled the train station and if she would be around for it.   In one hand, Merri held her crystal ball, while carrying her bag in her arms. She walked through the crowd, keeping mind every person who bumped into her, the inconsideration of strangers an everyday occurrence especially in crowded locales like this one, but more than that, hidden in plain sight, using the cover of crowds with no thought towards others were the predators. Clever rogues with nimble fingers who could pick a pocket clean without the victim being wiser until much later, using the instantaneous transportation to nick valuables then vanish a great distance away.   It wasn’t unlikely one or two thieves had already rummaged through Merri’s pockets without her noticing during her walk to the next ring, but she had grown far too used to the casual invasion of privacy. If she came home missing something expensive, at this point she would only have herself to blame, and it was far easier to blame her than the faceless pickpocket.   Walking into a ray of yellow light, Merri was in a much less packed locale, a street corner, a little elevator on the corner with a few people on it. She debated with herself whether to wait for the next trip when she could be alone, deciding against that as flames flickered to life on the black street poles, sending out a warm light.   On the stone platform, a young halfling was eyed his crystal ball without a care, his sweatshirt declaring him either a student or graduate of a local university. A dragonborn was holding the hands of her spawn in one hand and an armful of groceries in the other, listening to the hatchling make plans on what they would do when they got home. Some tiefling in an expensive suit was talking to his pinky using his thumb as the receiver, Merri had seen a lot of people get that expensive spell permanently tattooed to themselves, apparently it was a very practical spell but looked ridiculous and gaudy to the half-elf, she watched as the tiefling twirled his barbed tail into a corkscrew like a pig as he talked to the other person on the line.   The platform slowly ascended, rails rising as it did. The mother stepped away from the rails and told her child to stay away from the ledge, its body still small enough to slip through the gaps between the metal. Merri and the other two passengers just leaned on the rails, Safe from thieves at the moment, Merri let herself relax, dropping her ball in her pocket and letting her bag sling naturally on her shoulder while she stared off into the city.   The air thrummed, vibrating. The platform met a larger floor hanging in the air, at the center of which was a rip in space. A gate to a pocket dimension, a bright white hole in the fabric of the plane, rippling with shades of black and gray that pulsed, it wanted to grow, consume the space around its competition until it was the plane and not a little pocket, the spells that brought it to life saw that it would never have the chance.   Strangers stepped towards the bright light, Merri took a second to glance towards the dark tower in the sky, before walking into the hole.   The sky went from dusk to midday, pocket dimensions rarely conformed to any one time. Hills of endless houses stretched from the hole to the outside world off to the distant horizon. Each plot of land looked nearly identical, a two story house with four windows to a side, a small storage shed just off it, a lawn, a one tree in the front lawn, two in the back. There were a few options to customize, of course, house colors were easy, and some people kept gardens as a hobby regardless, but other more complicated alterations where made. The trees would go from the default oak to a pine or maple. Some people had a preference for the weather, going to great lengths to pay someone to set up a personal cloud to always have a rainy day or keep their houses in perpetual darkness. Many had their eccentricities, no matter what, the bones of the plot were the same.   Yawning, Merri pressed a button on her crystal, standing on the street waiting. A yellow bodied carpet came out of the distance and landed next to her. A name printed before the door said, ‘Stills Taxi Service’, a little business her father had set up decades ago. Merri zoned out, the homes zoomed by in the windows, until the carpet landed in front of a white house with a willow tree in the front, a little pond with dragonflies zipping on top.   Merri took a second at the door. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Opening up the door, she called out, dropping her bag on a long table, her work jacket on a coat rack next to a tweed jacket, old photos hanging above it, pictures of an elf woman with curly blonde hair holding the shoulders of a shorter human, the elf beaming down at the little wrinkled pink thing wrapped in a blanket, and pictures of that pink thing growing up, somewhere in the middle of that process, the elf was no longer in the pictures, “Dad, I’m home!”   The first floor was a mess, it always devolved into a mess between her off time. Little golems were scurrying among the ground. An old, musty recliner sat in the living room next to stack of old newspapers stacked from the floor up to the chair’s arm, it wasn’t alone, many stacks just like it were strategically placed around the living room, covering up the couch, knocked over by the golems, completely covering the couch.   The old man with a cane and wispy strands of hair covering his head was looking out the side window, towards an empty doghouse then scanning the backyard. “Merri?” He gasped out, a twinge of panic seeping into his voice. She went over to the old man and bent down just slightly to give his wrinkled cheek a peck, it used to be that he stood just a little bit taller than him, interlocking her arm around his to coaxing him towards his chair. “I- I can’t find Tarry, I-I been looking everywhere all day but can’t find him…”   Merri knew it was futile to try and explain that Tarry had been two dogs and 20 years ago. She quickly changed the subject. “Did you eat today?” She asked him gently, helping him into his recliner. Merri forced a smile as she knelt down and patted his liver spotted hand.   “I had- Pancakes for dinner?” He said, looking towards Merri like he was making sure that was the correct answer.   “Mhmm,” She nodded, “That’s what I made for breakfast before I left…”   Simon Stills got a lost expression on his face. “Merri? I was looking for Tarry b-but I think he ran off… I tried to use a scrying spell but it wouldn’t work.”   “I’ll… Do something about that soon, Dad,” Merri lied. “Golem, bring Dad his evening medicine.” She commanded three of the stumbling clay figures   Stepping away, the golems went to her Dad’s side with a tray of elixirs and pills. “Merri…” The man croaked, “I don’t like this stuff. It burns…”   “You have to take it, Dad…” She said while reaching into the ice box and pulling out a disposable bowl, setting it down on a cluttered counter top while filling up a kettle and setting it on the stove.   “Ugh!” He painful groaned as he took it.   Sitting down at the kitchen table, Merri pulled out a large scroll from a basket on the middle of the table, unrolling it using her forearm to keep it in place, the brush that sat next to the basket and begun to do her evening ‘chore’.   Dad called out, “How was school today?”   30 something years had past since the last time Merri had stepped into a school, but she choked out a lie, “It was good, Dad. I had a… test and did really well...”   Next to the spot where she drew on similar scrolls every night, there was a picture of the runes, by now, she had the glyph memorized, but didn’t see the harm of keeping it around for reference. The kettle started hissing by the time she was done.   Merri whispered an incantation, mustering every ounce of magical energy she had and imbuing it into the scroll. She had to use all of her day’s reserves of power on this task, some days were better than others, slight inconveniences during the day warranted using a low tier spell that made the scroll just a tad weaker, but the physicians told Merri it would be fine as long as she still continued to do it everyday.   The runes glowed brightly as it greedily sucked up all of Merri’s offered essence. Sitting back in the chair, she heaved a sigh, feeling exhausted. There was only a few seconds to let weariness get the better of her before she forced herself up, going over the kettle, pouring its hot contents into the disposable bowl.   Snatching the scroll, she went over to her Dad’s side, “Alright Dad, time to roll over…” Not waiting for him to move on his own, she pushed him on his side and lifted his shirt up, he groaned and whined. On the small of his back was yesterdays scroll, she peeled it away, grabbing a wet rag one of the golems routinely gave her, and cleaned up the spot. Flattening the replacement, Merri’s pressed it against her father’s bony spine, the runes burning through the back of it.   Rightening the shirt, Merri turned him back around, squeezing his hand slightly. “Hey Dad.” She greeted him again with a sad smile.   Merri saw lucidity flood back into him. He breathed a sigh of relief, magic forcing his mind to untangle. “Hey honey…” He weakly returned the smile.   “I made some dinner for you. We have to go to the doctors tomorrow so-”   Simon nodded, “I’ll go pick out something for the golems to put me in for the morning.”   “’Kay…”   Standing up, Merri went to go grab the bowl, her hand stayed where it was, her Dad having grabbed it, “Love you.” He said affectionately.   “Love you too, Dad.” Merri replied warmly, kissing his forehead and holding his hand for a second, feeling its cold, papery texture, trying not to remember back when it was warm and full of life.   “Do you think you liked that book I had on for you, today?” Merri called out from the kitchen, returning with a steaming bowl with a platter that she sat on the lap of the old man.   He stopped her from pushing a napkin into the front of his shirt like a bib, “Please, honey, don’t coddle me, now, when I can really think.” She took a step back, nearly tripping on something, whether it was a stack of papers or one of the golems she wasn’t sure. “Do you think I could have a few short stories instead of a book?” He asked, blowing into a spoon, his hand shaking sending little droplets of broth back into the bowl. “The one book today got boring, it was tedious to listen to.”   Merri went and made herself a cup of tea with the leftover water, “Got it, I’ll make you a playlist. Anything in particular you’d like?” She asked, returning to the living room and brushing away a spot on the couch.   “No, I trust you. Just a little more variety, you know?”   “I know.”   The full force of the scroll only lasted two hours at best, the rest of the day it only served to keep the man’s condition from deteriorating any further. Two hours, some times more, some times less. The time Merri had to spend with her father with his full mental faculties.   They would chat, talk about how the managers of the taxi service was faring, listen to any new music Merri had found or listened to something Dad had remembered, chat about her day while Dad read a paper she had just conjured up. For just a little while, she would take off the silencing spell the old man had to have on during the day, a senior fighting with senility could be dangerous if he could cast fireball after all.   “Havenport? Huh…” Dad murmured thoughtfully. “Did you see anyone cute there? I heard its not bad being a military wife.” He playfully grinned.   Merri sipped at her nearly empty cup. “Dating isn’t really in the cards right now.” A familiar topic. Merri sensed that her Dad felt some guilt in her not finding anyone, though there was some truth that caring for him to keep her from pursuing someone, it was more complicated than that. “Some day, maybe.” She spoke with uncertainty.   Dad made a face as he set today’s paper on top of the stack next to him. Merri had tried to get rid of them, free the place of clutter, but the old man would get wild and outraged at the thought of throwing things away. It worried her greatly, but Merri didn’t have the heart to force the issue. “Do you think we could get a new dog? It gets lonely here, when it’s just me and them,” He cocked a thumb at the voiceless golems lumbering about.   Wincing at the thought of what a puppy would do in the midst of all this chaos, Merri let out a diplomatic, “I’ll think about it.” It brought her no joy to utter the words her father had said to her in her long forgone youth, only a bit of appreciation in why her Dad had said it to her.   “It would be nice, I’m just saying, if instead of spending the day looking for Chomper or Tarry, there was a little thing around to keep me company, give me a companion.”   “I’ve heard this one before,” Merri cracked a smile, “You’ll feed it and walk it everyday? Make sure you do all your chores?”   Dad sighed, reclining back in his chair. “I guess it does sound a little childish. Animals really do have a way of helping people like me, though.”   Sighing, Merri stood up. “Like I said, I’ll think about it…” She took a few steps towards her father.   “Please, Merri, can’t I keep my magic on for just a little while longer.” The man pleaded with her, knowing what she was about to do.   She rubbed her face. This was the toughest part of the night. When the specter came through the cracks of the spell, his feebleness asserting itself through the sound voice. In his right mind, Dad would know why he had to stay silenced, its now, when the transition between his stability became tainted by his illness, when he asked her irrational things in a rational voice.   Adopting a condescending smile and a gentle tone, Merri took his hand, “It’ll be ok, Dad. I promise.” While rubbing his hand, looking into his eyes that were beginning to muddle with concern and confusion again, she triggered the silence spell.   His breathing took on an erratic rhythm, he tried to cast a light spell, muttering words under his breath. He attempted to cast something else, but Merri was already walking away, towards his room on the first floor.   “Merri?”   Looking back with tired eyes, “Yes?”   “Y-you’ll think about the puppy, right?”   “Yes, Dad, I’ll think about the puppy…”   Going into his bedroom, Merri forced herself not to tear up. 1 hour and a half. 90 minutes. 5400 seconds. All the time she got to actually spend with the man who raised her today. Tomorrow would be different, she promised herself. She would make sure to save every spell she had in the day, make sure she’d get extra time. As she pulled clothes out of the drawer for him, she debated pulling a little out of the savings to get an amulet, use that up, get an extra couple of hours, she usually only did that for rare occasions, do something special for a birthday, or holiday, or that anniversary, but any day could be made special, right?   Arranging the clothes on a nightstand short enough for the golems to reach them, Merri turned out of the room, making great effort not to look at the man staring out the window. Up the staircase, keeping a hand on the bannister as she crept up. There was a door separating the staircase and the second floor, Merri turned the knob and shoved it closed, twisting the lock as she entered her own personal sanctuary.   Some nights, it was a necessity, as Dad wanted to drop into his old bedroom that Merri had taken over long ago. Others, the golems wanted to wander into her quarters. More than once before she installed the lock Merri had woken up to beady yellow eyes staring at her in the dark. Beyond anything else, it was just nice to have a modicum of privacy.   Stepping into her bedroom, she was met with its comfortable familiarity. Trappings she gathered up in her 6 and a half decades. An old metal shelf next to her door with pictures of old friends and estranged and lost family members, mementos of days long past, odds and ends reminding her of trips abroad, a shelf dedicated to her collection of books. A dresser that was cluttered with make up, boxes, and use beautifying scrolls. Her bed with the overly plush white comforter, an assortment of pillows, and a couple of favored stuffed animals that had made it through with her over the years. Her desk in the corner with a display mirror and her old beast of a warmachine, mouse, keyboard, headphones, and gaming controller connected to it, through either wires or cordless. Posters on the walls, flight of fancy or of franchises she gave allegiance to, like flags on a castle’s ramparts.   She reached up habitually to pull her hair tie off, only to pause mid motion, realizing why her hair was down. Cringing internally, she nearly jumped on to her bed and screamed into her pillow like a school girl, dying of embarrassment at the idea of ‘sexily’ strutting up to that poor elf. In Merri’s imagination, the looks Svetlana had given her turned into pity.   “You made them? Of course, you did-” Merri could picture a look of disgust on Svetlana’s when she realized the chef she came to praise turned out to be this simpering simpleton that was trying to flirt with her.   Audibly, Merri muttered to herself, “Nope, nope, nope!” She grabbed her crystal ball out of her pocket and made it play some boppy music, jumping into the master bathroom and stripping out of her day old work clothes, firing up the hot water.   Oh Gods, she had made fun of the sexy elf in the uniform. “Nope, nope, nope!” She hopped into the shower before it had warmed up.   The thought of Svetlana sighing with relief as the shuttle took the weird half-elf out of her life forever.   “And you can dance! Bard-ic inspiration!” Merri madly sung along to the music, trying her damnest to keep out of her own head, the water temperature rising not the cause of her face warming up.”Go on! Let’s slaa-ay!”   Try as she might, she couldn’t get Svetlana out of her head. Though, thankfully, she stopped dwelling on how badly she messed up the meeting, instead, she started imagining in great detail just what the elf would do to the silly little half-elf who thought she could mock her.   Svetlana wore a far more revealing version of her uniform in her daydream, sleeves rolled up, her cleaves pouring out of the gap on top, long stockings holding together a garter belt with a flimsy excuse for panties only just hiding what she had between her thighs. Slapping one of her hands with a riding crop. A malicious smile on her face, silently ordering Merri forward to receive her punishment.   Merri was on her knees, in her fantasy and in the shower, working out her pent up feeling with two fingers rubbing herself.   “Mmmm…” Merri let out a sigh of satisfaction, and filed that image of dominatrix Svetlana in the ‘For Later Use’ category.   Feeling much better about herself, humming as she wrapped a towel over her wet form, Merri stepped away from the tub, wiggling her toes on a fuzzy bath rug as her feet, letting the bulk of the water drip off of herself. Clean, feeling and smelling like a new elf, Merri went into the master bedroom with her crystal ball in her hand, shutting off the music, and tossed the towel on the bed and went to get the preparations for getting ‘cozy’.   Out of a mini fridge, she took out a bottle of wine, filling up a baby bottle with it. She nursed the red liquid lightly as she retrieved a small box from under her bed. Placing a bottle of powder, box of wipes, lotion, and rash cream out of it and on the edge of the blanket. Next, she turned to the box on a desk and flicked it on, the mirror attached to the box booting up and the computer roared to life. With a few seconds to spare, she merrily skipped over to her dresser, retrieving a onesie with a white body and pink sleeves and lining, cupcakes and cookies and sweet treats covering the body. The final and most important touch, a plastic packaging, ruffled and nearly empty.   “Tsk- Just two left… Guess I’ll go so Olga tomorrow and get some more…” Merri murmured to herself, retrieving her second to last “Lil-Corn’s Adult Baby Diaper”. An adorable pink unicorn pranced on the front of it, a rainbow of the back, the pictures stylized like a child’s crayon drawing. Merri tossed her evening wear, giving her baba a tiny sip as she grabbed the computer mouse.   The bright desktop on display, she clicked a program, Spellbook, loading up the appropriate files, and Merri’s personal spells she had downloaded popped up in a stylized window resembeling yellowed pages. She went to the ‘M’s’, in the middle of it, ‘Mommy’s Mage Hands’ in big bold letters, in the tagged description in all caps, the word [ALTERED] in brackets.   The Mage Hands spell has been a classic since the dawn of spellcraft, invisible hands that could lift and move up to 5 lbs. In the modern era, little has changed from its initial imagining, some iterations fiddle with the weight limit, others change the visibility of the hands, but the most common changes involve programming the hands to automatically act on a set command. Tired mothers, and fathers, over the years saw this spell and decided to make one chore they had to deal with several times a day easier. The ‘altered’ version came from the abdl community.   Two pinks hands appeared in the air in front of the mirror monitor, Merri slid on to her bed, parting her legs apart, tucking a pillow under her head. bottle in her mouth, grabbing her stuffed octopus with one hand and snuggling her between an arm and body (if she was in the mood she might later use a different spell on her computer to make the toy more lively and squirmy).   One hand grabbed the folded diaper, shaking it, fluffing it up, the other, lifting her legs up while the diaper got tucked under her, the edge scratching and tickling her lower back. She didn’t need to use the wipes after a shower, but it was a big part of the experience, the magical hand grabbing a wipe, probing her undercarriage, deeper than the spell would allow with a real child. Merri let out a moan as she was manhandled.   Of course, it would be better with a caregiver, preferably one of the tall, muscular elven variety, but the Mage Hands worked marvelously in a pinch. It was even nice to have it make the lotion vanish right after apply it to. Every. Inch. Of. Her. Same with the cream, which in of itself was more of a precaution, she didn’t plan on having any messy accidents tonight, but then, who plans on having accidents? Merri was covered in a cloud of lovely smelling powder, the hands programmed to use an over abundance of the stuff to Merri’s preference, lightly smacking it firm on her slick skin. Finally, the front of her diaper was brought up and between her thighs, tightly and perfectly taped on her body.   Crinkling adorably, the Mage Hands pushed her up, silently and gently taking the stuffie and baba out of her hands. She whined dramatically, all just part of her own personal show. Raising up her arms, her onesie was threaded through one arms at a time, then her head, laying her back down and lifting the other end up so the hands could grab the back snap and fasten it to the front.   The last touch, a tender pat on her head, and the one sound the spell was programmed to make.   “Good girl…” A ghostly voice whispered in her ear, and the hands vanished, transforming Merri from a neurotic, overworked jobber, into the carefree innocent girl she was deep inside.   There was a strange habit the body tended to create for people who enjoyed wearing diapers. It was like sitting on a toilet without needing, or knowing that one needed, to go. Within seconds, the muscles and organs inside Merri made an agreement, and appropriately a dribble warmed the inside of Merri’s fresh diaper in the matter of seconds of her putting it on.   Pleased with herself, Merri sat up, grabbing her bottle and octopus she had named Kranky, and waddled over to her computer. She flipped on Myr’r, noticing a message from the user earlier.   Lalabunny wrote: Hope it ok: Picture included.   Merri had to laugh. The picture was a backgroundless sketch of her Mommy elf OC on her hands and knees wearing a Faerie Scout unifrom, looking bashful and close to tears.   LilMerryMarry: LMAO you have NO idea how appropriate that is!   To Merri’s surprise, three little dots instantly appeared on the bottom of the chat page.   LalaBunny: u liek??   LilMerryMarry: omg yes, only way it’d be more appropriate is if she was in an army uniform.   The three dots appeared again, then stopped.   Merri saved the picture and put it in her collection of ‘Mommy’ pictures. She had a few like that already, some people just liked seeing the shoe on the other foot, and a free picture of her OC was still a free picture. She went through her feed on Myr’r, scrutinizing some videos and drawing in much finer detail than she would in a public setting.   One session of scrolling through Myr’r and a baby bottle and half of wine, and Merri was feeling handsy. Button snaps undone, feeling the squishy padding on the underside of her diaper, Merri found a story that would help her feel inspired. Scrolling down the page, she spread her legs, slipping her fingers past the leak guards on her leg holes to find her hole, teasing herself with light brushes and pulling at her lips, finding just the right spot to probe.   Her eyes closed, images of Svetlana looking over her, whispering nothings in her ear.   It wasn’t enough. She groped blindly with her unused hand while playing with herself, not willing to pull away in fear of losing her momentum, multitasking was truly a girl’s best friend, she found a handle for a drawer, inside a velvety box. Twisting the hinge, she withdrew a hand from herself and ripped the carefully placed tape away freeing one leg. In the other hand, a sleek wand made of rubber gripped in fist.   A low buzzing hummed in her hand. She lifted a hand towards her mouth, licking it, imaging the taste on her tongue was someone else. Her thumb found its way between her lips while another set was penetrated by her toy.   The blonde elf was in front of her again. Smacking her. Squeezing her diaper in just the right spots. Making her beg. Making her thank. Groping her chest, and in real time her thumb left her mouth and pushed her onesie up to thrust a hand up it, pretending it was her.   The phantom leaned down and asked Merri, “Who’s my good girl?”   “Mmm, I am, Mmommy,” Merri whispered to the empty room. She opened her eyes, the white screen in front of her the only company she had, her climax fading away as quickly as it came and leaving her with the mess in that instant.   Pulling out the toy and holding it in her offhand, she retaped her diaper back on, figuring she would give it one last good wetting before tossing it in the trash, it wouldn’t have to wait long.   Switching the screen back over to her Spellbook, she looked under the ‘S’s, clicking on one that said ‘Sanitize’. A red light radiated from the mirror. It slowly drifted and grew from its starting point, moving its way outward towards the entirety of Merri’s room. She held out her toy in front of the light, the light would eventually touch everything into the room, but it was better to be safe than sorry when it came to things that went inside of you. After the wave basked over the rubber wand, she slipped it back into its case and safely back into its drawer.   After the red light had parsed every inch of the room, it was left smelling faintly of disinfectant and alcohol. Raising the nipple to her lips, her bottle now had that taste of disinfectant, leaving a fowl flavor on Merri’s tongue. She tried to wash it away with the flavor of the wine, it helped, a little.   The rest of her evening was spent with little distractions. A few rounds of a game that’s been hyped up. Chatting with some friends, making requests with some new ideas for her characters. Watching Viewver videos while enjoying the squish of her now fully used diaper.   Bottle empty, head buzzing, Merri debated herself, switch into a fresh pair for the night, or go to bed a big girl. It was a very long debate. She switched on Mommy’s Mage Hands, and went to bed with her legs raised up in the air, cuddling her Kranky. Chapter 4   Late afternoon, down a shaded alleyway, Merri strolled past the miscreants and bums without giving them a second look. Dressed in baggy cargo pants and a brownish t-shirt that said, “I Roc You” with a picture of a huge bird swooping down with its talons out on her chest, wings on the back of it, a black thermal shirt under it. A tattered bag of holding was strapped over her shoulders and behind her, magically locked that could only be undone by her, or someone who would be expecting some share of the loot. Hair done up in a ponytail and striding down the alley like she owned the place.   The shady fellows hanging out like wise didn’t give her much thought. They had seen her here before, many times in fact. Merri had spent more time than most of the people on this street with shoddy scroll dealers, ‘totally legit’ magical arms traders, and a few scantily dressed people who would gladly show you the way to the cheap hotel on the street for an hour or two, even the whole night if your pockets were deep enough. She had the advantage of being here not for potentially life threatening or incriminating ill gains or items, consumable and otherwise.   Ju-Ju street, the safe haven for everyone who’s business didn’t need to be public knowledge. Merri had spoken to a few of the folks who wandered this road, from time to time. Passing a copper the way to the homeless on a path you tread regularly was a good way to make friends who walked your back. One of the girls on the corners gave her a wink, her fingers dancing in a wave, Merri may have spent some time with her after a trip to her destination.   Near the end of the street, in between an open air bar who’s forward facing wall was little more than a tarp and a ‘used’ treasures store that was just a fancy way of saying a Thieves’ Guild unofficial fence, was Olga’s.   Olga was a lovely old cyclopes that back in her day was quite the star, in certain circles. A dancer during the day, a porn star by evening, many a man and lady and everything neither and in-between had seen the goods Olga had, either in person on stage or on their lap, or on screen. She did it all, topped, bottomed, played the playful babysitter and the stern headmistress, but her more personal videos shared a side of her that resonated with Merri personally. Anyone looking Olga’s videos would find that more than a few of them had her padded and playing a babyish role, enough that it couldn’t just be a coincidence. During her younger years, she had made hundreds of videos of her wetting, squirting, messing, and fucking in diapers, as she grew older, the videos slowed down but never really stopped, as age showed in her face, she switched to a Mommy act in quite a few, infantilizing the younger generations, until even those had to come to a pause.   Twilight years in full bloom, Olga had retired to Ju-Ju street, setting up a less than moderately successful business selling all things kink, but specializing in adult baby gear. More than half of her store was dedicated to baby clothes that mostly wouldn’t fit real children (more than once, Merri had imagined Daffodil in a few of the smaller options), diapers for those with and without tails in all shapes, sizes, and designs, furniture on display that Olga would happily let you try so long as you could get yourself out. There was a particular baby swing Merri had her eyes on, but couldn’t find anyone who could help her out. A selection of scrolls and wands were displayed on the counter that Olga was usually leaning on, from making a person incontinent for a day, to making them smaller temporarily, to the more extreme ones that would really make a person think and behave like a baby, next to more mundane things, scrolls that would make someone last far longer than they should (consult a physician or cleric if it lasts over 6 hours), full body glamour spells to make someone look from a particular star, and magic that would make the end of a fun time multitudes more extreme.   Other than that, it had the typical kink store fare, vibrators, bondage gear, dildos that may come with a strap at the buyer’s please, chains, whips, riding crops, and Merri’s personal favorite, paddles. Hanging up from the ceiling were mannequins in all kinds of precarious situations in leather gear and costumes. If you wanted your lover to screw you or get screwed by you as a doctor, school girl, pet, guard, or anything that was a tag on a porn site, you go to Olga’s.   Of course, Merri could always order a discrete box to her home, or even just magic up some of her wants or needs, though magically obtained items had a bad habit of failing or just poofing out of existence, Merri had learned that lesson the hard way. But there was something more personal and fun going to her favorite store in person.   For one, Merri had been a fan of Olga since her early days, when she first found out Olga had set up a store she had been one of her first customers, going on about how big of a fan she was of the cyclopes. It was a wonder how the two were technically the same age, or just about, Olga was 2 years older than Merri, just goes to show time was a cruel mistress. Merri would look the same as the day she had met Olga when she eventually pass. Since the grand opening, Merri would make semi regularly weekly trips to the store, to at least say hello to Olga, have a cup of coffee and chat with her, bring her some treats, ask how the grand kids were.   Another nice benefit to going to in person was getting to try things on and feel things before she bought them. Never know when that cute print of diaper actually felt rough or cheap, or if the company that sold that new adorable bodysuit had funny ideas on what a medium should be. And one just didn’t know if a toy was too big until it was in their hands.   Merri needed the trip, after her morning. Dad had been a mess waking up, and peeling off her evening wear was a struggle in more ways than one to get him out to his appointment in time. After a trip to the doctor’s, which was unfortunately more of the same kind of news Merri always heard from the doctor’s regarding her father’s health, they had gone out to grab a light lunch. Merri had turned around for two seconds and the blasted old coot had wandered off. For twenty minutes had raced around the block they had been at, pushing people out of the way, getting nearly driven to tears, when she found him, lost in a hardware store he ‘thought’ he recognized the owner in.. Then on the way home he got sick all over her She didn’t have the heart to be angry at him, its too much energy.   Dropping him off with the golems and putting him to bed for a nap, Merri was ready for a bit of ‘me-time’. One quick shower and change of clothes she was on her way. Do a little shopping, catch up with Olga, maybe she’d try out that bouncer, get that one girl to help her…   Merri’s train of thought was completely derailed.   Coming out of Olga’s shop was her.   She was incognito, doing her utmost best to be as inconspicuous with a large, wide brimmed black hat and oversized sunglasses that shamefully hid those pretty eyes, despite only seeing her once, Svetlana Lark was coming out of the door of the fetish store. To her credit, just taking off the uniform did drastically alter her appearance, her grey slacks replaced by black shorts and black and white striped stockings that ended at the thighs, the formal jacket gone and in its place a blue shirt with poofy sleeves that showed off her midriff, the definition of her abs apparent below it. The white gloves going past her elbows gripping the strap of spaghetti string handbag and the handle of one of the larger bags Olga sold.   Merri blinked. Surely she wasn’t seeing what she thought she was. Her eyes opened, and Svetlana was still there. Worst of all, even behind those thick, shaded lenses, her eyes were burning a hole through Merri. There was definite recognition.   The colonel was standing as though she had just met a medusa. Merri couldn’t help but stare right back at her, the little bits of exposed skin her outfit showed, her red lips parted partially making a small o in surprise, her silky blonde hair draped over her shoulder that was so cute it was unfair. Body, acting on its own accord, took a few steps forward. That got Svetlana to move, her head pointed down then back at Merri, in a somewhat futile gesture, hid the bulky black shopping bag behind small frame and gave an awkward smile.   “Hi,” The word tumbled out of Merri’s mouth before she had the chance to grab the stupid sound and shove it back down her throat where it belonged.   A sort of high pitched wheeze came out of Svetlana’s mouth when she opened it. After clearing her throat,”H-hello…” Then, a quick stream of words poured out of the tall, gorgeous elf mama’s face that made Merri so distracted she could barely process them. “I wasn’t in there,” She nudged her head towards the door she was standing in front of, “I don’t even know what’s in there, it’s probably- I’m lost! I don’t know the city very well! I- urk- I don’t know if you remember but we met before I’m S-”   “Svetlana, yeah I remember…”   “You do!” The trill of excitement was hard to mistake in her voice, “I mean, you do? I just thought, it was a busy day, and you’re probably a busy lady, it’d- it’d be easy to forget… Forget- you know. A lot going on-”   There was a lot going on, this moment seemed to have sped right past Merri and she was sprinting to keep up with it. “I was going to go in there.” She dumbly admitted, pointing to the door behind Svetlana.   She glanced to the door behind her, looking stumped, turning her head back towards Merri, her sunglasses creeping down the bridge of her nose. “You were?” Quietly, she took a step away. “You were going to go- in there?”   Merri nodded, looking down like a child caught in a lie, “Mhmm!” Her face shot up, “I’m Merri by the way!”   Svetlana looked down at the little half-elf, “I- remember.”   Flashes of their previous conversation flashed before Merri. “Right,” She heaved, “Of course you do. Listen, I’m really sorry for making fun of you. It’s pretty uh um insensitive to make fun of your uniform.” When you look so hot in it, she silently added.   She looked taken aback by the statement, then, cracking a forced smile started bellowing out a loud laugh, “That? That’s just trolls under the bridge! What’s a joke or two among friends?”   Merri could not find the breaks on her mouth, “We’re friends?” She awkwardly rubbed her arm.   A hand crept from behind Svetlana’s back and started playing with her hair, “I mean, yeah, we. Could. Be?”   Studying the hand that was twirling a lock of golden strands between gloved fingers, the nervous excitement in her voice, pieces of a puzzle Merri didn’t know she was putting together were falling into place. “We could be?” She repeated, starting to smile, a person who knew Merri might worry about the crazy look her eyes were starting to get, but the elf had no such advantage and meekly looked into them.   “Y-yes?”   Merri’s small smile blossomed into a coy grin. Side eyeing the door, she asked knowing the answer, “And you bought something from Olga’s?”   The answer was a too quick, “Maybe.”   The piece de resistance, like the checkmate of a grand master, Merri grabbed an elbow with one hand and started curling her hair, mirroring Svetlana. As if suddenly realizing what she was doing, Svetlana’s dropped to her side like it was made of lead. “Maybe.” She repeated. She fluttered her eye lashes a bit, “You could show me what you bought, later?”   It took a second, but Svetlana’s head bobbed up and down. It looked like she wanted to say something but words were failing her.   Not only were the breaks missing, but Merri’s mouth was going down hill at full speed and she lost all desire to slow down. “Maybe you can show me tonight?”   “T-Tonight?” Squeaked Svetlana. “I can do tonight. Your place?”   “Yeah, for sure, my place.”   Reaching into that little handbag, Svetlana pulled out a crystal ball that only barely fit the opening, much too big for the bag without some kind of enchantment on it. Merri maneuvered her satchel around her body, squeezing the magical clip that only reacted to her fingers, grabbing her own ball. Both of them reached out and tapped them together with a little klink and a tiny bolt of electricity passed between the two.   A formal picture showed up on Merri’s ball next to a box of public information about her, usually the description would be a tad more robust but in Svetlana’s case it only showed a rank, name, and number, showing a partial image of Svetlana in her uniform, not a hair out of place, staring off into the distance with a frown, face too neutral to be a scowl. Now, Merri felt insecure about what she knew was on Svetlana’s ball, a 20 year old picture of her on the beach with some friends in a one piece blue swimsuit with a beer in her hand, along with a novel of information compared to the colonel’s, all her associated guilds and businesses, personal, business, and private numbers (the last one appearing as a blank box until Merri contacted that person through it), and a small introduction Merri had wrote.   A message appeared on Merri’s ball. Svetlana: Hiiiiii!   Merri sent her back a location.   “Girl number,” Merri muttered.   “It’s happening!” Svetlana muttered.   They both looked up from their balls, well, Merri did, in Svetlana’s case she just moved the ball out of the way, both of them asking, “What?”   When neither made a sound to explain themselves, Merri stammered out, “9?”   “9? 9 is good. 9 is fine with me. 9 it is.”   “Good! Good, when you get to my pocket, this service will take you to my house.” She sent over the contact info for the Stills Taxi service.   Svetlana was only half paying attention. Soundlessly, her lips were mouthing ‘Mer-e-dith,” a few times while looking at the screen, testing how it felt on her mouth. Again, an internal thought popped out of Merri’s head, Mommy was stupid, so was that grin on her face, and so was the grin on Merri’s face.   Merri looked at Svetlana expectantly, the elf was lost in her own little world before suddenly being called back, realizing she was in the middle of a conversation. “Right! So 9?”   “9.”   “Heheh, yeah, great!” Her hand rose to play with her hair again.   There was a sense that this could go around for awhile. “So, I’ll see you then?”   “Yes!”   Putting the ball back into her sack, Svetlana realized she still had hers in her hand and quickly shoved it back into her purse. Merri’s eyes, seemingly with a mind of her own, drunk in the tall, muscular, pretty elf in front of her. It seemed to dawn on Svetlana then what Merri was doing, her cheeks becoming bright under the sunglasses, she shrunk into herself, arms folding together, legs going rigid and tight against their neighbor.   “I’ll uh dress more appropriately when I come over.” She promised..   “You look incredible.”   “I do?” She excitedly rubbed the side of her thighs, Merri could help but notice the elf’s chest bounce a little with the movement. “Yeah well, so do you.”   Merri’s eyes shot down to her own attire, the holey shirt that showed the undershirt in small patches, the thread worn cargo pants that looked like they had one wash left before they became undone, the scuffed, dirty shoes on her feet. Compared to the perfectly put together elf in front of her, Merri would call her out for lying if not for the sincerity in her voice.   “T-thanks… But, when you come over, I can wear whatever you’d like.” Merri smiled, imagining showing off her collection of babyish outfits to Svetlana. Maybe she would make fun of her, maybe she would insist she wore them all of the next days, maybe she would make her silly little sub get down on all fours and model them for her while cooing at her. She was making herself giddy and tingly.   Svetlana seemed to dwell on this thought as well, silent for a moment. “Yes.” She mumbled quietly under her breath.   The elf was staring off into space, lost in her thoughts. Merri could only imagine what was going through that head, but they would just end up standing there until 9 if they did that. “Well,” She said, hating herself for needing to say anything, “I was gonna go, in there.” Merri pointed at the door.   “Oh! Right, yeah, you probably have stuff. You. Want. To. Grab.”   “Right, for tonight.”   “Tonight!” Svetlana chirped in agreement.   When the elf didn’t make a move to walk away, Merri offered, “If you, need help getting back I could show you the way to the station?”   “Huh?” The question seemed to puzzle Svetlana, “I know my way back.”   “Oh, I thought you were lost?” Merri teased.   Catching on to the joke, “Ahh, I may have come here a time or two.” She admitted.   Before Merri could point in the direction of the cheap hotel, she forced herself to say, “Well, ok, see you tonight.”   “Tonight!” Then she came to the appropriate conclusion, “Right! Then uh, I’ll see you later. Bye…” It seemed like the elf couldn’t stop herself from saluting, jutting her arm over her chest. Chuckling, Merri returned the favor and wished her goodbye.   She watched the elf walk away, half skipping, her rear wiggling with each step. Merri saw Svetlana’s head turn, and seeing the half-elf still watching her, spun it back around quickly.   A cloaked figure came out of the shadows, approaching Svetlana. They were pulling something from underneath their robe. Without hesitation, Merri watched as a wand twirled out of seemingly thin air from her wrist and into her grip. Her arm was a blur, the tip barely touching the person and a spark of lightning shot through them, dropping the figure to the ground.   “Hey!” A buddy of the downed cretin ran forward. Merri didn't see when the wand appeared in Svetlana's left hand, only that she whipped it around to point at the other approaching figure, a bolt of lightning bursting from its tip flying towards the miscreant's chest. Then Merri watched as the wands appeared to vanish from the elf’s hand and resumed skipping down Ju-Ju Street.   Merri was conflicted. Those two people Svetlana had just zapped were actually rather friendly beggars, probably seeing a nice, clean lady as someone who probably had a copper she could spare. She could see old Miller’s cup dangling in his hand under his cloak, wincing as another beggar ran over and grabbed the contents of it. Moral quandaries aside, that was the hottest thing Merri had ever seen, and she thought about diplomatic ways of asking the scary elf lady of hitting her with the wand later.   With a flourish of her own, Merri twirled on a heel and walked into the fetish store glowing like a tazed beggar. The sight of Olga’s impressive stock of merchandise catered to her own likes caused Merri’s mind to dither. The possibilities were endless. Would it be too much to ask Svetlana to put on a strap-on for their (hopefully not last) meeting? Surely it wouldn’t be an outlandish request to bind Merri in a set up locking mittens and booties? Something like a whip? What if she wasn’t sadistic? Maybe a few jars of baby food?   “I haven’t seen you so worked up in awhile!”   Merri was knocked back into the moment by the voice of Olga at the counter, wearing a knitted shawl, a set of bifocal reading glances under her one large eye wrapped around her head with a chain, resting her elbows next to her cash register and videos on a rack displaying her in her younger years doing some rather suggestive poses on the boxes.   Looking as gay as a fool, Merri approached her friend with a wide grin, grabbing a mannequin in a onesie and spinning around with it to Olga’s half bemused, half disapproving look. Giddy as a goat, Merri dropped on her arms and head on the counter top, unable to hide her excitement.   “I got a date!”   Olga nodded. “Is that what that was? I saw you talking with that nice young lady outside. Did you set up a little playdate?”   “Olga, I think I’m in love...”   “She’s a very pretty girl, I’m sure you two will have a lovely time! Maybe, don’t get too far ahead of yourself-”   “She’s gonna be my Mommy and she’s going to plow me every night till I’m dust,” If this were anyone else, Merri would never dream of letting her stream of conscious thoughts out like that, but this was Olga’s, if there was anywhere she could say such a thing, it was here.   When one has a mono-brow and singular eye, its hard to tell when its raised incredulously, unfortunately for Merri, she missed the gesture. “Oh? You’re talking about that elf that just walked out of here, right?”   “Her name is Svetlana,” Merri said dreamily, drunk on her own fantasies and lust.   The wizened cyclopes just gave her a funny look. “Right, I’ve actually met her and…”   “Yeah!” Merri’s head popped up. “What do you think she’ll like?” She ran over to a shelf on the wall, “Do you think she’s more into girly girls?” She showed Olga a print of diapers Merri’s size with princesses and castles on it. “Or do you think I should go tomboy?” She grabbed a blue print with colorful caricatures of animals. “Maybe something neutral? Do you think white would work best?”   Olga rubbed her chin in thought. “Sweetie…”   “You’re right! Hedge my bets!” She stomped over with three packs of diapers in her arms awkwardly, dropping them on the counter. “And umm… Toys! Clothes! I have to be ready! I need options! Only get one shot, it has to be perfect!” Rushing over to more shelves, grabbing clothes, barely giving sizes a cursory look, and by the handful dropping them in a crumpled ball in front of Olga, who’s annoyance was beginning to show.   Merri ran through the store like a kid in a candy store, or toy store, considering she was now grabbing more playful items. Over sized rattles, teethers, a tube of soft blocks, and more started getting added to the pile. “Merri, dear-” Olga said to deaf ears, before Merri started going for more adult items. Anal beads, a remote vibrator, gloves with special fingers that were ribbed with special textures and features. “Merri!”   “Huh?” Merri stared into Olga’s one eye, jittery, one foot thumping on the soft carpet over hard wood, mind racing with possibilies.   “I’m not selling you any of this.” Olga said bluntly.   “What?! Why not?!”   “Sweetie, I know you aren’t made of gold, I’m not going to let you go bankrupt buying all this for a date that-”   “Arrgh!” Merri clutched at her strands of her hair that weren’t tied back. Her face darted back and forth over all the items in between her and Olga. “Damn it, you’re right! I should get… This… Maybe that… I already have something for…” Hurriedly, she arranged toys and clothes into piles of what she couldn’t afford, what she could, and what she might be able to get in theory, if she went a week or two without eating or silly unnecessary things like that. A wrinkled hand stopped her.   In a stern voice, Olga declared, “Go put everything back, NOW.”   “But…”   “You can have, these,” She said, putting aside the plain white medical briefs aside. “On the house. Trust me.”   “But!”   Holding a single finger up, Olga pointed at the items then the shelves. She seemed amused by her friend’s enthusiasm, but not enough to go restocking everything Merri’s impulsive nervousness had driven her to haphazardly declare to be a necessity. “Go, put it back. Everything. Calm down while you’re at it.”   Merri looked like she wanted to argue her point so more, but heaving a sigh, gathered handfuls of her hastily chosen selections, walking around the shelves and racks and returning them. “I get it,” She said as she worked, “I must look crazy right now- But you? You got to experience it all, got to have people baby you, play with you, love you…”   “If you’re talking about the videos, it really wasn’t like that…”   Merri shook her head, “No, I mean, you had caregivers, Mommies, Daddies, real relationships!”   Olga sighed, “I suppose, not like they were all like that, but sure, sweetie.”   “Ok, yeah, but for me, this is all just been in my head-”   “That’s kind of the problem-”   Smoothing out the wrinkles of a onesie before she turned back to Olga, “No, yeah, I get it, it’s not really going to be what I imagine… But that elf? She’s what I’ve been dreaming of for years. She’s exactly what I think of when I thought Mommy and… Then I see her again coming out of your store!”   “Sweetie…”   “No, I get it-”   “I don’t think you do.”   “Olga, please, I saw her yesterday, at her work, and the second I saw her it was like bam! Instant connection, we couldn’t take our eyes off of each other! And then, running into her today…” She rambled off. “I can’t get her out of my head, she’s my dream girl…”   Olga tried again, “You don’t really know this girl-”   Again, Merri cut her off, “I know she’s like this badass soldier lady, how hot is that?” Her voice started getting quicker, she paced in front of the counter, the last of the objects in her hands, ready to be dropped off but Merri was going off, “Did you see her arms? Those muscles! And those legs! Legs for days! And those eyes that look right through you…”   The cyclopes let out an irritated huff, “You’re literally just describing physical traits. Merri, you’re attracted to this girl but you know literally nothing about her. Honestly, I think you’re being really shallow right now.”   “I-!” Merri frowned, looking down, her racing thoughts slowing down long enough for everything to sink in.   “I won’t say that I haven’t been there,” Olga continued, Merrif groaned to herself, resuming her trips around the store, “Just… Tamper your expectations. This Svetlana? She’s not your fantasy, she’s not that drawing you post on Myr’r, she’s a real person, and… Well, she probably has her own idea of how your next ‘date’ will go, okay?”   Merri paused, standing in front of an adult sized crib, a mannequin wearing a set of pink fluffy feetie pajamas inside. For a second, she was in the crib and Svetlana was standing in her place. She shook the thought of her head. “Yeah, you’re probably right…” She found her foot still tapping in anticipation. “I’ll try to be more, realistic, thanks Olga, I should probably get going.”   Turning to walk out of the store, Merri was stopped before she could take a step. “Merri?” She turned to look at Olga tapping on the plastic case. “On the house, remember?” Giving the friendly shopkeep a weak smile Merri walked back up to the counter, grabbing the pack of diapers of shoving it into her sack, the opening of the bag growing just large enough for her to get the case into the impossible space.   “Thanks,” She said again, her face starting to furrow with uncertainty and doubt.   “You’re welcome, next time you come in, you can tell me all about it.”   “Yeah, I will. See ya later!” Merri stepped out of the store, seeing the unconscious beggars still on the ground. Her frown deepened as she thought about what Olga said, a seed of worry digging into her brain. Still excited about the prospect, lingering doubt was lodged into her, she really didn’t know this Svetlana, maybe it would turn out she wouldn’t want to know her at all.   The next few hours dragged by. Her evening rituals with her Dad were a nice distraction, but her heart wasn’t quite in it. Her fingers never strayed too far away from her crystal ball, tapping on the smooth glass surface.   There was a debate in her head. Call it off or take the chance? She could always post pone, Merri could easily admit to herself that deciding to meet that night was overly hasty. A rash impulse, totally understandable heat of the moment mistake, right? They could just reschedule, give it more time…   But the time had gone past the point of no return, Merri’s indecisiveness became inaction when her ball chirped. A message flashed across.   Svetlana: On my way!!   Merri: Can’t wait!   She resigned herself, thoughts of what could be and what could happen warring in her mind. The imagination ran rampant, Merri kept it at bay long enough to find a cute outfit, a short red cocktail dress, ruffles coming out of the skirt, a row increasingly larger decorative bows going down the back, a single strap on the right shoulder, something somewhere between adorable and sexy, easy to slip on and off, a pair of black flats to complete the look. Holding up a scroll, Merri ripped the end and let the smoke pouring out morph her face into something more appealing to the eye.   And then, Merri sat on the bottom steps of the staircase, the bottom level only lit up by a light over the door to the second level, letting her nervousness get the better of her. Tapping on her crystal ball, looking at her new reflection, it was more elven like, not the round look of her natural appearance, she wondered if it was overkill.   Shaking, she listened to her Dad’s snores coming from the room close by, in the peripheral, she saw the scattered mess of the living room, of the kitchen. Her anxiety shot through the roof.   What if she doesn’t like me? What if this goes horribly? What if she’s crazy? What if I’m crazy?   Knock-knock-knock.   Taking in a deep breath, Merri got off the step, and opened the door.   Svetlana was just as ravishingly gorgeous as Merri had seen and imagined her. Her golden hair let down except her bangs braided framing her face. A long black overcoat covering most of her body, legs of her dark brown pants sticking out just below, her hands hidden in her pockets. First seeing Merri, her face burst into a smile, only for it to falter when she noticed the altered face.   “H-hi! You look cute!” Svetlana said, her eyes darting around, starting to look uncertain when she saw the outlines of the living room, her nose flaring as it was hit by the musk of old person. She glanced to the other side, where her gaze fell upon family photos.   Merri was quick to get her attention off of, well everything. “Is something the matter?”   Svetlana studied Merri’s face, looking uncertain, only to then blurt it out, “Sorry, I was just- I really like your real face.”   The comment put Merri off, she was prepared to offend the beautiful elf in so many other ways the thought never occurred to her that glamour magic might be one. “O-oh, I can take it off- If you want.”   “Is that ok?” She looked embarrassed suddenly.   “That’s ok!” Merri insisted, feeling foolish. Of course, she wanted Merri’s real face, the elfish look the glamour gave her probably looks too ‘grown-up’ for a little. Babies don’t wear make up or spells after all, it was all natural adorableness. “Let me just…” She fumbled for her crystal ball.   Reaching a hand out of her pocket Svetlana bent down in the light that shadowed the half-elf’s body, Merri noticed it was gloved like the last two times she had seen her, Svetlana lightly touched Merri’s face, the cold leather of her gloved palm caressing the side of her face, a thumb pressing her cheek, “Let me.” A wave of disenchantment ran across her face, the layer of illusion fell off. Svetlana warmly smiled, one so wide it crinkled her eyes. “Perfect,” She purred.   “Thank you,” Merri looked down, seeing Svetlana’s feet in sandals, toenails painted a light blue that reflected off the light slightly as her toes curled, “My Dad is asleep right now, we can talk upstairs.” She felt childish admitting she still lived with her Dad, though through circumstances she couldn’t really help, its not like Svetlana knew that. The elf, either through good grace or simply uncaring, didn’t mention it or make a face in any sort of way. She simply raised a hand out.   When Merri took the offered hand, Svetlana made a tiny giggle, letting herself get led up the stairs. The steps creaked and groaned with their weight, and Merri felt awkward leading the taller elf, but when she looked back, Svetlana looked quite pleased.   The door firmly closed behind them, Merri explained, “I’m going to lock the door, I- I don’t want to be creepy or anything,” A dark thought dawned on her feeling like just saying the word ‘creepy’ was incredibly creepy, especially the first time meeting like this. “I-its just,” She stumbled over her words, “My Dad, he’s sick, we have golems, and well, sometimes either Dad or the golems will try to get up here…” She trailed off.   “Just, if you need to get out, give the lock a little wiggle, it gets stuck sometimes.” She demonstrated.   “Trust me, if I need to go, I will.” Svetlana said with nonchalant confidence.   That reminded Merri, “Yeah, I kinda saw that earlier with those guys on Ju-Ju street.”   Svetlana got shy, “Oh? You saw that, huh?”   “Yeah, those guys, they weren’t actually trying to hurt you or anything. I know them, they were just asking for change…” Merri hated herself then, everything that was coming out of her mouth was the worst possible thing to say at that moment. But then, to Merri’s surprise:   “Was I a bad girl? I’m sowwy?”   Merri looked up, seeing the blushing cheeks of Svetlana as she twirled a braid.   She wasn’t quite certain how to take the comment. Merri was putting her foot in her mouth and in spite of her worst efforts, Svetlana seemed to take it well, only the feeling was growing that Merri wasn’t getting the full picture.   Svetlana watched Merri side step towards her bedroom door like a majestic bird of prey. The elf followed her inside. Merri wished she had more of better location to take Svetlana, it felt much less grandiose then she deserved. Svetlana didn’t feel the same way, apparently.   With a squeal, and to Merri’s bafflement, Svetlana lunged towards the bed, next to the pillows where the octopus stuffed animal lay next to his brethren. “He’s soooo cuuute!” Across the lap of the overcoat, she started to ‘walk’ or maybe ‘dance’ the octopus over herself, going, “Do-do-do-doo!” With every step, then she squeezed the toy in a hug.   Still blushing, Svetlana grinned up at Merri from her position on the sat up on the side of the bed. One hand still holding Kranky, the other going towards her cheek, “I’ve never done anything like this before,” She told Merri, “Just, when I saw you in the hall at Havenport… It was insane, I’ve always dreamed of meeting, well, you! Or, umm, pretty much like you.” In a look that said Svetlana knew she had too much, she inflated her cheeks in an effort not to say anything else.   Merri didn’t know what to say. How could she? Svetlana had taken the words out of her mouth. “And the way you looked at me… No one’s ever looked at me like that before,” Svetlana went on, “When you belittled me… Oh Gods, I was ready to cry right there in that kitchen! I never felt so little before!”   Wait…   “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I know I’m rambling.” She squeezed her knees through the overcoat and pants, Kranky still on her lap. “I- Probably jumped the gun, you probably wanted to put it in me, but I couldn’t resist, especially after seeing you at Olga’s, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head!”   Svetlana Lark, decorated colonel, the most attractive person Merri had ever seen, a girl who radiated sex appeal and danger, unbuttoned her overcoat revealing a dark blue onesie with bright pink butterflies all over it, tucked into dark brown khakis with a very telling bulge at the waist, looking up at Merri with pleading eyes.   “Mommy, can you change me, pwease?” Chapter 5       There was a delicious irony to the moment. Well, not to Merri, to her, the past few minutes left a bitter taste on her tongue, the taste of her own medicine. But to someone else, maybe they could’ve seen the humor in it.       Merri always had the image of a strong, confident elf, wrapping Merri up in her arms, treating her tenderly, with care, some times. Other times, the elf would be stern, some might say harsh, but anyone with that idea Merri would call prudish. Merri had long ago considered such a person that could love Merri the way she wanted them to a figment of her imagination, as real as the monster under her bed as a child, as nonfictional as Santa Claus or the Tarrasque.       She thought she had finally lucked out, found the one in a million, found the elf to love her the way she oh so dearly desired. And yet, here she was, at long last, only it wasn’t Merri sprawled out on her bedspread asking her Mommy to change her, it was Svetlana, quivering in anticipation, open and vulnerable, trying to look cute and charming only eyes shone with an eagerness that could only be seen by a person who had waited too long for this moment.       Seconds past, and Svetlana’s face faltered. Merri could practically hear the overthinking that was happening behind those vibrant blue eyes, sensing something was amiss, cluing into the strange sense of humor the universe had, guessing that she had made a misstep, done something wrong to ruin the moment. Assuming she was wrong but hoping against all hope that it was this, this tangled of thoughts screaming at her to flee, to run out of here before the trap was sprung.       Its how Merri would’ve felt. Though, Olga’s thoughts ran through her head, she didn’t know this person. How could Merri know exactly what the elf was thinking right now. The nagging feeling of guilt in the back of Merri’s thoughts as she sheepishly realized even now, after Svetlana had opened up to her and revealed that the half-elf truly did not understand the situation she had put herself in, she was still making assumptions with a certainty.       “Svetlana…”       The girl’s smile bad been fading in the seconds of silence, renewed in an instant with her own name. “P-please, will you call me Lala?” She asked in a pleading voice, ready for this long awaited moment to finally get back on track.       Gears in Merri’s head that were slowed down, covered in a molasses that left the thinking process slow, cumbersome, and a little bit dirty, sprang to life. “Lala?” Merri could see Svetlana melt at the utterance, she eased her body back, her overcoat draping her arms, giving the illusion that she was small and delicate. Or maybe she was small and delicate, and it was only Merri’s warped perception of her that was the illusion.       “Are you LalaBunny?” Merri was jumping to conclusions, but hey, that seemed to be a theme of her and Lala’s interactions.       It wasn’t hard to see the surprise in Svetlana’s face. “On Myr’r? Y-yeah, that’s me… Why?”       “I’m LilMerryMarry.”       “Oh! That’s so funny! We were just talking and never even knew,” Svetlana said in a halfhearted ‘I’m so interested in what you’re saying now hurry up and take my clothes off’ kind of way.       “Did you happen to see a lot of what I post? The commissions I get?”       “Of the elf and the half-elf?” She said confused, then sitting up suddenly, “Actually, I did a lot of drawings of the two. I know I’m not the best, but, I wouldn’t mind showing you…” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a little leather bound notebook with magically bound lock.       “Yeah, yeah, with the elf and half-elf!” Merri said quickly, before things could derail further. Svetlana stopped flipping through pages and looked up with a trusting smile. Horrible was an understatement, Merri didn’t feel horrible in the way one might feel if they step on their cat’s tail, for instance, it was more like taking the calf they born and raised to the slaughterhouse. That smile made Merri feel vile. “Did you notice that- in my pictures, it’s always the elf babying the half-elf?”       Svetlana’s ears twitched, the deer in the woods not only knew she was being watched but now she knew she was in danger. “I…” Svetlana tried to begin, only to trail off in thought as this new consideration let her in on the implications.       The initiative was ripe for the taking, only Merri didn’t want to grab it, but knew she should. “Yeah, I kinda thought that you- you would be- that I would be-”       Both her and Svetlana shattered in that instant. Both now aware this evening, this chance meeting, were all for not. Merri watched as Svetlana’s face fell, her despair and self doubt poisoning the air around her.       The kenku have a method of repairing pottery. When a priceless vase breaks, they delicately take the pieces and mold it back together with gold.       “I- I should go…” Svetlana said, voice heavy with the tears of foolishness, of sadness, pulling her coat back together and jumping off the bed, toppling Kranky over to his side.       The kenku mix the gold together with a lacquer and carefully put the pottery pieces together, filling any destroyed pieces spaces with wood or other ceramic.       Merri’s heart was breaking, her mind racing. She couldn’t just leave it like this, she had waited so long for Svetlana, and Svetlana had waited so much longer for her. Merri had waited what, 30, 40 years? How long had Svetlana been waiting?       The vase, now repaired, shines with its cracks, not hiding that it was broken but emphasizing them.       Svetlana’s arm was grabbed. She looked around, showing Merri the hurt in her eyes, sniffling. “I…” Merri began, thinking. “Y-you said you needed a change right? I can’t just let you walk out of here wet like that.”       There is a beauty in the imperfections, the kenku say, there is little point in pretending the object in question was never broken, the naked eye can see the cracks and seems were put together, so then why not celebrate its history?       “I don’t want to… You don’t want to…”       Merri raised her arm, putting a single finger up to Svetlana’s lips. “Shhh…” She took the taller elf by the hips, shaking under Merri’s touch, turning her away from the door. Merri didn’t realize she was shaking too, until she reached up and touched the exposed arm just under the sleeve of the overcoat, pulling her free of its confines one arm at a time.       “B-but…” Svetlana’s voice trailed off, her objections mute and moot.       The overcoat fell to the floor in a clump by the door. Svetlana didn’t notice, her attention squarely on the hand that brushed her shoulder, down her arm, her wrist, until it finally found its destination. Led by the hand, Svetlana was placed back in her spot on the bed, her lower back just barely on it. Merri pulled apart the sides of the khaki’s she wore, the bulk of what the elf wore underneath flaring forward without its resistance. The pants were shimmied down, as an after thought Merri took off the sandals and gave the soles of Svetlana’s feet a tickle as she did, she didn’t know what to do with the trousers so dropped them to the floor.       Onesie held together by the snaps at Svetlana’s crotch, it was obvious she really did need a change, but that wasn’t on Merri’s mind at this second. She drunk in Svetlana’s form like a tribal that had just trekked a grand desert and Svetlana was a pitcher of water. Her eyes glossed over every inch of her, from the curves of her hips, to the way her nipples poked out of the thin fabric of the onesie, to the border of flesh and leather where the gloves met.       “M-m-mm…” Svetlana was on the verge of saying something.       Eyes alone weren’t enough. Merri reached out, starting at the top. Brushing aside a wayward braided strand, the texture feeling like fine silk, Svetlana’s lips pouted, her eyes urging Merri on. A shiver ran through Svetlana as she brushed the delicate skin of her neck and down to the shoulders, tense muscles rippled underneath, bubbling below the skin at Merri’s touch. Her other hand found its way to Svetlana with very little input from Merri, as she descended down, below the armpits to discover the wonders of the elf’s torso.       Merri felt too vice grips clamp on to her thighs, working their way up. Smiling, Merri moved closer, until she was hovering over Svetlana. Leading her mare to water, Merri took one of Svetlana’s hands and brought it up, towards the sole strap of her dress, pushing the hand’s fingers under and giving a suggestive tug. It was strange, Merri had expected some strong resistance from Svetlana’s well toned body, but taking her left hand was different, there was no give to it the way flesh would. Svetlana took the suggestion and ran with it, pulling the dress away with the eagerness of a child pulling the wrapping off a gift on Candlemas.       For a second, Merri’s insecurities weaseled their way into her heart, above the elf in just her underwear, a matching set of pink bra and panties, her blobish bits flopping out, but she took her personal criticisms and shoved them. The look Svetlana gave her, like a dog frothing at the muzzle for a juicy steak was all the self-assurance the half-elf needed. Her hands became wild, finding every soft morsel to squeeze and feel. At the hands urging, Merri bent her arms backwards and undid the clasp of her bra and letting her modest girls loose. Svetlana let out a grunt of approval and appreciation as the gloves came to Merri’s breasts.       The groping had Merri feeling just a tad left out. The snaps of the onesie came undone with a pop! The weight of the sagging padding hefting out, finally freed from its confines. Merri went to work relieving Svetlana from the outfit immediately, pulling it away. Discovering with delight, Merri the diaper exactly matched the print of the onesie, lovely pink butterflies fluttering on a navy blue background. Putting that thought away for the moment, Merri inspected Svetlana’s bare torso.       She could’ve been sculpted out of marble and Merri would be none the wiser. The abdominal muscles well defined, powerful, Merri ran a hand down them and brushing over the belly button. The large orbs on her chest sagged whichever way they and gravity pleased, no longer bound by confinement. Scars and old wounds littered all over her, the largest an ugly, jagged red line that went under her sternum. Svetlana winced and withdrew her hands from her own explorations when Merri’s cold finger felt the line.       “Sorry!” She apoligized.       Svetlana’s face eased back into relaxation, “It’s alright.”       When the gloves reached back towards her body, Merri asked, “Do you want to take these off?” She asked, motioning towards the white leather. A tiny shake of her head was her only answer. “That’s okay, baby girl,” Svetlana’s face beamed with pleasure at the phrase while Merri traced the elf’s side, down the ribs, to the tummy, over the bony hips, and finally landing on Lala’s diaper. Merri rapped her fingernails on the plastic, the music it made serenading both of their ears. “Let’s get my baby cleaned up, shall we?”       “Mmm-hmm!”       Merri pulled away from, Svetlana’s fingers writhing towards her still wanting the feel her, Stepping over to a drawer, Merri retrieved one of the plain white diapers she had been given, feeling a little bad replacing a pretty print with something so mundane. The size would be fine, Merri thought, she probably wore a medium.       “Sorry, whites all I have.”       “Let me see,” Svetlana held out a hand, when Merri was close, Svetlana placed a hand over Merri’s hand covering the folded plastic. “Now,” Svetlana said in a lithe voice, “Close your eyes, imagine what you’d like to be on it…”       Merri did as she was told, closing her eyes, “Huh, well let’s see it-”       “Don’t tell me!” Svetlana pleaded, “I’d like it to be a surprise.”       “Heheh, alright…”       “Tell me when you’re ready…”       Merri nodded, “Ok… I’m ready.” A mad giggle came from the elf, warmth flooded over Merri’s hand, a tingling, almost sizzling sensation pulsing from Svetlana’s hand, there was an aroma of ozone and melting wax, the room filled with popping bubbles.       “Ok, ok, let me see! Let me see!” Svetlana demanded excitedly.       When Merri opened her eyes, she saw the diaper colored the way she imagined it would. Unfolding it, the top edge white with a lighthouse shining a yellow light, below, a light blue (that may be the color of someone’s eyes that Merri can’t get out of her mind) with a cartoonish depiction of Kranky on the bottom, fishes swimming around him, the back all blue with fishes, a sandy yellow with a treasure chest and a sunken vessel in the background. Merri dutifully held it out for Svetlana who peered at it in both hands.       “You like it?”       “It’s my new favorite!” Svetlana assured her, holding it to her chest, rustling it, giving Merri a huge grin.       “Good… Now you be my big helper and hold that for me…”       “Yes Mommy…” She cooed.       Merri wasn’t sure how she felt about being ‘Mommy’, but the way Lala’s musical tongue said the words did give it a delightful ring. Retrieving the box from under her bed, Lala looked down, curiously asking:       “What’s that?”       Shrugging, “Just my box of changing supplies, oh that reminds me, I should probably grab a towel or something…”       “Oh! I got you…” Lala jumped up, waddling over to her coat, Merri admiring her bent over frame wishing she had removed the diaper before such a show muttered a few arcane, she noticed Merri staring and gave her a coy smile. “Tada!” Proudly she reveals an ornate handle, much like one you would find on a dresser.       “Yup, that sure is something…”       Lala rolls her eyes playfully, “Just wait, silly,” She shuts her eyes and mutters a few arcane words, holding the handle out and pulling it away, with it, a trunk with a platinum and gold sheen rolls out of nothing. “Let’s see…” She tosses out clothes of varying maturity, books of the normal and chewable cardboard varieties, plushies and… “Aha!” She presents Merri with a roll of cloth while making a smug face.    “Thanks…?”       “It’s my first changing mat!”       “Your first?” Merri eyed it closely, unrolling it and noting the size. It let a fowl smell into the air, like eldritch mothballs. “Oh Gods, it reeks! How old is this?”       “Ok, it’s my first ‘adult’ changing mat!” She pointed her face out, wincing at the odor. “Sorry! Haven’t used it in awhile… That’s why they make presta- prestige- presto…”       “Prestidigitation?”       “Yeah! That’s the bitch!” Lala cast her difficult to pronounce spell on the fabric, clearing the air of the offending aroma.       A harsh slap met Lala’s thigh. “Youch!” Lala stood at attention, frowning, rubbing her thigh.       “Listen, little Lala…” Merri snatched away the changing mat, shaking it out on to the bed, giving Lala a shove on to it. “If I’m going to be playing ‘Mommy’ tonight, there’s going to be a few rules, got it?” A nervous smile plastered on her face, Lala nodded. “First rule, you gotta listen to Mommy… Second, no swearing… Third…”       Merri searched the vast, vacant recesses of her thoughts. What rules do I give her? Shit! I’ve never done this before! She’s looking at you idiot, say something!       “Third you always wear a diaper around Mommy… Fourth ahh umm…”       Lala let out a laugh. “It’s alright! You don’t have to try so hard, Mommy, you were doing just fine without spontaneously coming up with rules.”       “It was spontaneous!” Shit! “Wasn’t! I meant wasn’t spontaneous.”       The elf splayed her legs on the bed, crinkling the diaper as she grabbed it off the bed. “Can we talk about ‘rules’ later, Mommy? I’m starting to get itchy.” She laid on her cutesy voice thick, and though Merri would rather hear a low sultry tone come out of those sweet, kissable lips, that high whine did set something off in her. Something that Merri would’ve never guessed she had, the maternal feeling to tend to this elf’s needs.       “Well, then, baby girl, let’s fix that.”       With a ripping sskrtch the tapes came undone, the smell of lavender and ammonia soaked plush wafted in front of Merri as she pulled the front away, and in spite of the smell, basked in the treasure in front of her. There wasn’t a trace of hair to be found underneath the diaper just was, the delicate slit in the center of Lala’s pubic mound barely unfolded even with her legs splayed wide. She could’ve stared at it for hours, the small bubbles of fat that made Lala’s cheeks, the untanned stretches of skin that wrinkled in places and lay taut at others, even as it sat on top of the yellowed lining of her diaper, but…       “Mommy, its cold…” Lala whined.       But, that. This wasn’t a picture or video to be paused on the Manat. Lala was here, in front of her, comfort failing and becoming more bashful as she becomes more aware of the half-elf staring.       The box opens, a wet wipe pulled from its case. The elf shivers as the sanitizing cloth cleans her. Perhaps, Merri spent too much time giving Lala’s lips the attention they oh so deserved, but unless those moans coming out of her were complaints, she didn’t think she objected. The half-elf holds a hand out, Lala gives the unfolded diaper to her, only to hold on to it when Merri tried to pull it away. Lala got a devilish look as they played a game of tug of war.       “I thought you were cold?” Merri teased. She was met with a giggle before she gave up the battle and let Merri best her. “Good girl.” Another trill, music to Merri.       Merri pushed the legs together and lifted them up, with more than a little help from Lala, and made the switch. One soiled diaper in the trash, and one fresh with a custom coat of paint under the bum. “Oooh, the baby getting a little rashy, better take care of that!” A hand full of thick cream rubbed into Lala’s folds, wiggling and squirming with the touch and gentle application of her caregiver.       Making a face, Merri noted the sticky cream clinging to her fingers, not even wearing any clothes to rub them off on. She wasted a wet wipe on cleaning off her hands. Freed from the cream, Merri picked up the canister of baby powder and coated Lala with it, patting it down on to her.       Lala bit her lip, waiting, The front was pulled up, using a forearm to hold it in place, Merri fastened the bottom tape on one side, and then the other, then the top, and then the other, adjusting the tapes until they hugged the elf’s skin perfectly. Merri stepped back, admiring her work, not knowing if she did a good job or if Lala just wore the diaper exceptionally well, either way a feast for her eyes.       “All done!”       “All done…” Lala parroted. She made a sound of contentment, feeling the edges of the padding as she sat up, “Better than I’ve had in years..” Looking up, happy eyes glittering like star light, Lala opened up her arms.       It wasn’t quite the way Merri had imagined it, but still, she fell into Svetlana’s arms. Pulled into the embrace, a warmer welcome than Merri had ever dreamed. Merri would’ve jumped back if she was put into this precarious place any other way, but Lala pushed her Mommy’s face into the space between her breasts, leather moving on the small of her back. Face coming to rest and nestle into Merri’s hair, breathing in deep the scent of Merri’s hair, vanilla apricot, and Merri felt the ghost of a perfume clinging to Lala, nothing she could name but it faintly reminded her of spices.       “Thank you.”       Time lost meaning, for awhile, they clung to each other like buoys in a stormy sea. Eventually, even sharing each other’s warmth, Merri noticed the shivers of chill on the elf’s skin.       She suggested, “We get some clothes on you, Lala.”       “Just another moment.” She begged, as though someone were trying to wrest her back into the waking world, and maybe Merri was, trying to wake the two of them up from this dream they shared. And so, Merri gave her that moment, deciding responsibly to pull away even as Lala greedily tried to keep the embrace going.       “Hmmph!” Lala crossed her legs up on to the bed, ears twitching behind the frame of braids, grabbing Kranky and clutching him to her chest, a meager replacement for Merri, The air felt frigid compared to the furnace that was Lala’s arms. Taking the onesie off the floor, Merri moved to dress the elf, “Wait!”       Holding out a hand, Lala made a gesture out to Merri, fingers curling and uncurling in rapid succession, an unspoken ‘gimme’. A devious expression glued on her face, Lala turned her body away, performing some transformation magic on the garment. Ye Gods, even her scarred back was a sight for sore eyes, how could this beautiful wonder been in so many battles? Burns, deep gashes, and the twin of the jagged red line covered the elf’s back, each telling a story but keeping their secrets from Merri.       Proudly turning around, Lala presented the onesie to Merri. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?” Merri asked wryly.       Lala shrugged, though her proud smile smugly said she did. “You’re the one who said I looked like one…” Said innocently.       In her hands, Merri held the onesie version of a Faerie Scout uniform, though the badges probably weren’t anything a real Faerie Scout would earn, plastic medals of teddy bears, baby bottles, and blocks on the green sash matching the peter pan collar around the neck, the rest gray with a few decorative black buttons that pretended to hold it all together.       “Arms up,” Merri said with a sigh. “Do you ever buy your clothes as is or do you just make everything whatever you want?”       Smirking, Lala held her arms up as high as she could. After a second of a tight lipped look, she lowered them. “Its just my baby stuff mostly, plain onesies, white diapers, its cheap and I can make them as pretty as I want. Would you like me to change something of yours? I can do it a few more times today.” Lala offered as arms and then head were pushed through holes.       “Aww,” Merri cooed, snapping the buttons on the crotch over the thick diaper, “My cute Faerie Scout, off to her first club meeting! You make lots of friends and sell more cookies!”       Lala posed, hands on her hips and swinging back and forth to show off her sides, “Heehee! I never been to a Scout meeting before, do you really think I’ll make friends?”       “I dunno, I never made any friends in it. Hmm…” Merri went through drawers, looking for something for Lala to change for her, curious what she’d put on Merri.       “Wait did you really?”       “Did I really what? Say, is the change permanent or is it just like a day thing? And is it actually changing it or is it an illusion?”       Lala puffed out her chest, “Go on, try pulling on the sash.” Merri turned away from the open drawer, once neatly folded clothes ruffled in place. She gave the sash a tug, finding it gave way a little but the center sewn into the onesie.       Merri nodded impressed, concluding, “It’s real.”       “Lasts for 30 days, my diapies don’t usually last that long, obviously, and by the time I get relief from work I want something different anyway.” Without asking or waiting for permission, Lala stood and looked into the open drawer. Merri would feel an invasion of her privacy, but then, she did just have a finger nearly inside the elf not that long ago, rifling through her unmentionables was rather mild comparatively. She simply stepped over, pulling open another drawer and began looking again.       Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Lala’s hands pause, when Merri looked up, she found the elf looking at her, eyes tracing the half-elf’s curves, a little smile on her face. They both blushed as they realized they were looking at the other. Lala cleared her throat, “Did you really go to the Faerie Scouts?”       “Huh? Oh, yeah. My Mom signed me up. Not much to say.”       “Your Mom? I was wondering-”       Curtly, Merri replied quickly, “I’d rather not talk about her.”       Sensing a need to change the subject, Lala held out a long sleeve shirt that Merri could easily wear as a dress, one she used as a nightie, black with gray sleeves on the front in large red letters ‘Finger of Death’ below that in a smaller font, ‘The Speak With The Dead tour’, on the back, a list of venues and dates. “Can I change this one?”       “It’ll for sure change back?” Lala nodded solemnly. “Go ahead. That was a good show. Do you like necro-metal?”       “Not my thing, I was always into azures.”       Merri burst out laughing, “Azures? That’s old people music!”       Sticking out a tongue at Merri while she cast her spell. “’Back in my day…’” Lala began in her in a mocking old man voice, “It was the rebellious music back in the day. Probably like it more for nostalgic reasons now, but it was an easy way to set myself apart. From the family. Ta-da!”       Holding out the the shirt, it was now closer to a dress, lolita style with lots of lacey black ruffles and bows, the red letters of the band and tour still displayed, only in a fanciful flowing font.       An appreciative whistle blew from Merri’s mouth. “That’s really well done!” She took the dress, shoving it over her head. Pulling on the hem, Merri found the dress quite sturdy. “This would’ve sold pretty well at that concert too.”       “I think I’ve seen some pictures of the singer in something like that. What’s her name, Esmeralda Vicna?”       “Esmeralda Vex is her stage name, Victorious is her real name.” She pirouetted on a toe, arm raised pointing up, ruffles flapping as the spin came to a completion. To her surprise, her hand in the air was taken, another taking her hip. “Oh!” Merri was spun again, this time not on her own accord, Lala leading her in an impromptu dance neither knew the steps to. What a sight the pair must be, the lolita doll led by the oversized baby. “Shouldn’t I be leading?”       “I don’t mind, do you?” Merri shook her head. “’Victorious’? Why does that name sound familiar?”       “They’re a famous metallurgy family. Up and coming goblin clan, supply ingots to most of the guilds if they use it.” Merri was bent over backwards, Lala leaning forward.       “Hmm…” Lala seemed much more interested in their dance than the conversation. Picking Merri up, the tinier girl yelping in surprise, Lala brought her body to her middle, Merri wrapping her legs around her, whipping her in a circle. Merri closed her eyes, enjoying the moment, raising her hands out to feel the wind and-       “Oww!” A sharp pain in her wrist, banging on the side of the dresser.       “M-Merri!” Lala yelped in surprise. Gently, Merri was dropped on to the bed, holding her swelling wrist. Pursing her lips, Merri fought the urge to cry out.       Lala’s hands snaked up towards Merri, “Do you need healing? Is it broken?” She asked in a serious, businesslike tone.       “Mmm- Do you have healing magic?” Merri asked hopefully.       “No, I have some potions, I’d have to summon them but….”       Merri winced at the idea of drinking that foul tasting medicine. “It’ll be fine, just give me a moment.”       The elf stared at the wrist, willing the pain to subside. Slowly, methodically, whispering to the half-elf, “I do have one healing magics,” She admitted, leaning in towards red wrist, planting a light kiss with soft lips, ruffles on the sleeves of Merri’s new dress tickling Lala’s chin. An initial pain on contact, then pain faded, if only slightly.       “Was that actual magic?” Merri asked dryly, but not unamused.       “Not traditionally,” Lala said, laying down on the bed, resting one of her gloved hands under a cheek.       Merri mirrored the action, resting on her good hand, staring into those beautiful eyes. “Hmm, it might be the oldest of them all though…” She mused in a hushed voice.       “Maybe… It works though. If I wouldn’t get court martial, I’d go around doing it to me soldiers.” Merri snickered at the image.       A tiny strand of braided hair succumbed to gravity, falling on Lala’s nose, it twitched at the contact. Merri’s hurt hand moved towards the immaculate face of the elf, her eyes locked on to it as it moved towards her. Tenderly, she tucked the errant hair behind one of those long ears, flicking at the half-elf’s tickling touch. Lala watched as the hand moved away, back to its owner’s side, then her eyes fall back on Merri’s face.       It felt as though there were a maelstrom of thoughts and feelings in Merri’s head, what to do with and to this gorgeous specimen laying beside her, watching her. Possibilities were endless, but hesitation crept its ugly head in the matter, not wanting to startle and scare off Lala, while another voice told Merri to settle down, enjoy the serenity of this silent, still moment.       “Would you like a bottle?”       “Would you hold it for me?”       “Sure, baby.” Merri got up, popping open the minifridge she used as a nightstand. “Wine? She asked, pulling out a bottle of red.       Lala stuck her tongue out, “Icky grown up juice! I don’t drink.”       “I thought I saw you drinking champagne yesterday…”       “Sparkling water.”       Merri eyed the other options. “I have… rangerade and water.”       Perking up, Lala asked, “What color?”       “Blue.”       “That one, please.”       Lala kicked her legs up and down as Merri poured the sports drink into her clean bottle, the blue liquid nearly emptying the bottle, Merri draining the last drops. Crawling back on to the blankets, she sat with her back against the wall, Lala positioning herself with her head on her lap, toy octopus finding his way back into her arms.       Eyes half shut, Lala opened her mouth with a, “Ahh. Clamping down when the nipple brushed the inside of her lip. Adult elf sucking a bottle she held, running her fingers through that pretty hair, Merri didn’t know what compelled her, but a half remembered song come from her mouth.       Her grasp on her mother’s tongue was never strong, but Merri remembered the words from over 6 decades ago, Lala’s eyes lit up at the song, even when the bottle was done and dropped, forgotten, and tiny burps erupted from her mouth, her head stayed still on that lap.       “That was a beautiful rendition.” Lala commented after the final note. “The best I’ve heard someone sing it.”       “Y-you’ve heard it before?” Merri rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “I just remember my Mom singing that to me. I don’t even know what the words mean.” She admitted.       The elf laughed, long and hard, sitting up and bringing Merri into a tight hug. “It’s an old tale,” She explained. “In common, a queen on a sleigh of white horses travels the lands, spreading sleet and snowstorms. Any who feel the frostbite of her ice fall to her charms, following her to the ends of the earth and beyond, no joy will warm their hearts, no song will sway them, doomed to tread the Ice Queen’s trail. Many perish following their dreams of being with her.”       “My mother sang that to me as a baby!?”       “It’s a good song, an important lesson, guard your heart, don’t follow the love of someone who would leave you behind. In our tongue, it’s much more beautiful, don’t you think?” Lala entwined their fingers together, and pushed them to head of the bed, resting themselves on pillows.       Like their fingers, both soon found themselves tangled in each other, legs wrapping around the other, torsos interlocking, noses barely grazing. Somewhere, a plastic bottle clattered to the carpet, it could’ve been on a different planet to how much it meant to Merri now.       A knuckle reached out to rub Merri’s face, studying her with touch and sight. “I really enjoyed your cupcakes…”       Merri took the elf’s hand touching her face and led it down to her chest. ‘I meant your other cupcakes!” Though Merri noticed Lala didn’t remove her hand. “You’ll have to show me how to make them, some time.”       “I will…” She promised, and the two drifted off to dreams with the other in it. Chapter 6   Merri’s arm found nothing beside her the next morning, clasping for anything with her eyes shut tightly. In surprise she opened them, finding no trace of the elf. Half asleep, the question of whether it was all a dream was asked, her eyes fluttering back asleep. The lace tickling the skin of her arm as she set it back down on her sheets telling her the truth.   With a sigh, she twisted herself under the covers, the quiet stillness of her lonely room oppressive after an evening spent with someone else breathing next to her. Staring at the ceiling, alone with her thoughts.   Did she like what happened last night? Merri hadn’t imagined herself on the other end of the dynamic before. It wasn’t bad, it didn’t feel wrong, like wearing a dress that isn’t your style but was surprisingly comfortable and looked good. Ideas of her getting babied by Svetlana and babying Lala swirled together in her mind in confusing turmoil. She came to a conclusion that surprised her, she’d rather be with the elf regardless of how they spent their time. It was ridiculous in a way, Merri only knew the bare basics of the elf, barely more than physical attraction, though something deep inside Merri could feel there was more to their connection than that, her mind just couldn’t put it in rational words, an enticing urge to just fall into pool that was her feelings and ignore all reason boiled inside of her.   It was dangerous, she knew that, Merri knew that going into this could lead her hurt, or she could hurt Svetlana. The most likely place this leads, Merri morosely thought, was that Svetlana would end burying Merri, or worse, that once again fate would decide that she would have to bury an elf that by all rights should outlive her…   Merri hopped out of bed and stomped away as fast as she could. She kicked the bottle on the floor. The drawers still open. The imprints in the carpet from where Svetlana’s trunk had stood. The crumpled up changing mat on the bed, kicked off by someone’s long legs in the middle of the night. Reminders of reality. Knocking away Merri’s distressingly dark thoughts on the ‘what-ifs’ away, but thrusting the immediate overwhelming of the ‘now’ on her in its place.   The door in the hallway leading to the stairs was closed but unlocked. Stepping onto the first step, the first thing she noticed was her Dad talking, the next, the strong aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting into the air. She crept down the flight of steps, cautiously peering into the living room. With a gulp, her fears affirmed.   Among the scattered stacks of old, musty newspapers, there was her father, a withered husk in a worn bathrobe and nightgown, excitedly showing a somehow immaculately put together Svetlana in sweatpants and a hoodie, hair tied back in a ponytail, flipping through a familiar looking thick book on her lap.   With a bony finger, the man pointed at a picture on the elf’s lap, “And that’s little Merri on her first unicorn ride. She was so cranky that day.” Svetlana made an ‘aww’ sound before her attention was drawn towards another. “That was her on the first day of school. 10 years old.” Again, Svetlana made a cute sound. “Still boggles my mind how slow she grew up.”   “At that age, I would’ve been taking my first steps,” Svetlana pointed out helpfully. “Humanity really does like to rush the rearing part of childhood.”   “I suppose its a matter of perspective. When I was 10, I was helping out in the family’s butcher shop, Merri still needed her hand held to cross the street, and you had to be watched every hour of the day.” Dad reached over to point at another picture, “Agh! My back!” His hand whipped around to hold the aching part of his body.   Merri, ignoring the surreal, embarrassing situation, chose now to rush down the stairs. “Dad!” Rushing past the stacks of papers, she went over to her father’s side. “Dad,” She spoke in a mixture of hurry and patience, “Did you take your morning medicine?” She looked over at one of the golems shambling in the living room. “Go get Dad’s AM meds.” She ordered the little figure made of clay while helping the old groaning man back into his recliner.   Shooting a glance back towards Svetlana, sitting in Merri’s usual spot, the only seat on the couch that wasn’t cluttered, her lap still covered with the open photo album. Her face was unreadable.   “I made some coffee.” Svetlana offered awkwardly. “I… Didn’t know how you like it but I was gonna wake you up with some…” Merri helped the groaning man take the platter of elixirs and pills while the elf looked on sympathetically yet helplessly.   With a hand on her father’s back, Merri’s focus was entirely on taking care of her Dad, only giving, “I’ll get some in a sec, do you wanna talk about- stuff up stairs?”As an answer.   With a sputter, Dad weakly grabbed Merri’s arm, “W-well hold on, Merri. Don’t be rude. Your friend was enjoying our talk.”   Her face lighting up with a smirk, without a word Svetlana held up the photo album with an adolescent Merri flipping off the camera, hair dyed black, face painted a stark and messy white with black make up over her mouth and eyes wearing the same ‘Finger of Death’ concert shirt she currently wore, albeit transformed. Merri pursed her lips, not at that photo, but of the one next to it, where a small Merri gave the camera a joyful smile in a pink smock that did nothing to cover her padded underwear, a long hand of the elf who’s lap she on played with her pigtails.   Merri cleared her throat, Svetlana taking the hint rather well, “Oh, well Mr. Stills, we can talk more later, ok?” She coolly told the man, getting up and walking by, squeezing Merri’s arm briefly before walking past the stacks of newspapers littered on the floor.   After making sure Dad was alright, and ordering the golems to get him something to eat, Merri stepped past Svetlana, who was about to walk up the steps with her cup of coffee until Merri took her hand and led her into the kitchen. “We’ll step up in just a second. Let me make a plate for Dad, are you hungry?”   “I suppose. I usually go for a run when I wake up, I was gonna see if you wanted to come with?” Svetlana offered while Merri poured three bowls of cereal with dried fruit into mismatching bowls.   “Oh, sure, sure,” Merri agreed, barely registering what she was saying, just an idea forming in her head, adding the milk to each before passing one bowl to a golem and the other two into Svetlana’s hand. Quickly she poured herself a cup of coffee, with a smirk, she smacked the elf’s ass to hurry her along, and confirm a suspicion Merri had. Svetlana let out an, “Ooh!” At the smack, hurrying out of the room and up the stairs.   Back in the bedroom, Svetlana began looking unsure of what to do with the two bowls in her hand, “S-sorry, I shouldn’t have, um, gone through your home like that. Your Dad seems… nice.”   Gracefully, Merri took the two bowls away from Svetlana and set them aside for the moment. “That’s not important right now, sweetheart.” Merri pointedly looked down at Svetlana, who mirrored the gesture with a look of confusion. “I couldn’t help but notice you changed this morning.”   “Yeah? I told you, I go for a jog first thing…”   “I mean, baby, you’re not wearing your diaper any more.”   Svetlana blushed. “O-oh, yeah, it was a little, uh, wet, when I woke up…”   Merri, with a devilish grin pushed Svetlana down on the bed. “Tell me, Lala honey, do good girls get to touch their diapies without their Mommy’s permission?”   Now, fully on board, Svetlana had her ponytail in a hand and was nervously playing with it, “I guess not? I mean, it’s not like we really decided on rules or anyth-” Svetlana’s sweatpants were dropped to her ankles, leaving her crotch covered by a pair of white cotton panties.   “Just what I thought. Lala, do these look like the undies of little girls who wake up with wet undies?”   A tinge of excitement entered Lala’s voice, “No, Mommy, they don’t…” She added, theatrically, “I was just trying to be a good girl and make Mommy coffee before she woke up.”   Acting like an elf possessed,“That’s very sweet of you, baby girl, but Mommy would rather you wake up,” Merri pulled the underwear away from the taller elf’s hips with two thumbs stretching the elastic sides out, “With her little one being safe and protected.” She finished by yanking the panties down.   “I sowwy, Mommy…” Lala slipped a finger in her mouth, sucking on it until a harder palm reached the slim fat of her butt. “Ouch!”   “Let that be a reminder, Lala. If Mommy puts you in a diapie, she expects to take you out of it, understand?” Lala nodded solemnly, another spank met her rear, “Do you understand?’   “Y-yes ma’am!”   Merri turned around and grabbed a diaper from a drawer, smooshing it between her hands making it crinkle loudly. “Good girl. Baby won’t be doing that again, will she?”   “No-oh, Mommy…” Lala wiggled in anticipation for her change.   “You just lay back and let Mommy do everything, legs up, little girl.”   Lala made lots of cooing sounds during her second ‘official’ diaper change with her Mommy, and Merri in turn spoke gently and decidedly to her baby girl, making sure to give Lala lots of kisses and tickles in between every step. Firmly taped up, Lala eyed the white diaper, before tapping it with touch of magic and making it multicolored with what looked like a children’s crayon drawing of a Mommy and little girl on the cover.   “Very cute, but…” Merri said, with pulling Lala’s pants and panties up over her diaper, “There’s something else getting soggy…” Turning around and grabbing the bowls.   “Should we go back downstairs, Mommy?”   Smiling, Merri lowered Lala down to the floor, “No, I think…” She said, taking a spoonful of cereal and bringing it towards Lala’s mouth. “I should feed my baby in peace.   “Oh-” Lala let out her surprise before the cereal and fruit was brought into her mouth.   Merri nodded, “What a good eater!” She complimented, though she added when a dribble of milk came from the corner of Lala’s mouth, “A bit messy… Sorry, baby girl, I don’t have a bib on hand for you…” When Lala made a face, looking like she was about to say what she had, Merri put out, “I’m sure you have lots and lots of special accessories and clothes for just this kind of occasion, dear, but we’re in the middle of breakfast. You can show off later.”   Looking a little dejected, Lala carried on opening her mouth for her Mommy in between chewing. The bowl left mostly empty, Merri scarfed down her own food, letting Lala cuddle at her side while she made her own breakfast and coffee disappear.   Lala brought her head away from Mommy’s side as she set down her coffee for the last time. “You ready to go for a run now?”   “Oh!” The bubble of control Merri felt while mommying Lala burst. “I…” Merri tried to recount just when the last time she ‘ran’ anywhere was, paling at the fact the last time she didn’t any strenuous exercise was back in high school. “I’m not sure, baby, d-do you really wanna go out in a diaper? Aren’t you worried people will see?”   Standing up, Lala taps on her waistline, the papery edge of her diaper sticking out of her pants, and whispers and few magic words. The diaper didn’t poof out of existence, it was as if a layer of blur effects stacked on top of each of over and over again until her crotch looked flat, as though there weren’t a thick absorbent pad underneath her gray sweats. “There! Can’t even tell, can you?” She turned around and wiggled her butt in front of Merri. “Feels like I’m wearing nothing at all.” An image that would forever be burned into Merri’s psyche.   Merri lifted her hand up, feeling the illusory space that hid the padding. “Oh!” Lala blushed.   Pulling her hand away, Merri peeped out a tiny, “Sorry!”   “It’s alright…” Lala pulled her hair, “You just… Kinda rubbed me the right way.”   “You rub me the right way,” Merri blurted out.   Turning away, but not before Merri caught the beginning of a self satisfied smile, Lala got on to bed, looking at Merri with her head and body side ways. “This isn’t quite how I thought this would all go down.” Lala told her.   “Same. For one, I thought I’d be the one diapered up and getting fed. Count yourself lucky I didn’t ask you for a surprise change.”   She cringed at that. “Yeah sorry, I can imagine that being shocking.”   Merri shrugged, “Could’ve all went down completely differently if I had only thrown on one instead of you… A girl can dream. But, kinda seems like it played out well for you, so how did you imagine it?”   “Hmm… I thought you’d be more, dominating?”   “Really? Do go on.”   “Well, you do a good job of it, mostly.”   “I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”   Lala gave her a look, “So there will be a next time?”   “Of course! If you want there to be…”   “I do…” Lala purred the words out, letting them draw out in long syllables.   “Then I guess… I can think up some fun things to do. Do you have any limits?”   Sitting up, Lala declared, “Mommy can do whatever she wants to me.”   Puffing her chest out, Merri stood up, “Oh, I’m sure I can come up with a few fun things.”   “I can’t wait, but…” Lala gestures at the lolita style dress Merri wore, “Are you going to go out to this jog in that?”   Merri groans, “I’m not getting out of this, am I?” Lala shakes her head. “Listen, I haven’t ran since I was in my 20’s so, just be gentle, okay?”   With a face made out of granite, “I’ll think about it…”   With a sigh, Merri turned around, going through her drawers, taking out a pair of shorts, t-shirt, underwear, sports bra, and socks, all black except the last one. Stepping into the bathroom, Merri did her morning business before getting dressed,   “Are all of your clothes black?” Lala asked when Merri stepped out, setting aside her crystal ball she had been fiddling with.   “You went through my drawers,” Merri reminded her. “Some of my clothes are pastel, thank you.”   Picking up her discarded sandals from the previous night, Lala transformed them into sneakers, “Momma, will you tie my shoes, pwease?” She asked in an overly cutesy voice.   “Does my widdle girl not know how to tie her shoesies?”   “It hard Momma,” Lala playfully whined.   Merri took the shoes and placed them over the plain white socks Lala had on. “Thank you, Mommy,” She said after they were on.   Leading Lala out of the room, Merri called out, “Dad, I’m stepping out, be back in a bit!” The man, standing in front of the window, didn’t seem to hear her, simply staring at nothing but an empty doghouse. Regarding the man sadly for a moment, she sighed and let her and Lala out.   Lala shielded the artificial light away from her eyes with a palm. Looking left then right, peering at the nearly identical plots of land and houses, she asked, “Does it matter which way we go?”   “There’s a park to the east,” Merri pointed to the right.   “That sounds nice.”   Within minutes, Merri was already having a bad time. Lala’s idea of a ‘jog’ was more of a light sprint, even with the slight waddle her unseen underwear was making her gait, Merri was having a hard time keeping up at what Lala saw as a leisurely pace, visibly holding back. Her eyes kept on the people and places they passed rather than the already huffing half-elf a few steps behind her.   A person made of vines passed them, taking a three headed hound with white fur and black spots, one of her heads turned to give the pair a sniff that the plant man had to gently tug her away. Looking for an excuse to stop, Merri let out an, “Aww, are they friendly? Mind if I say hello?”   “Oh sure,” The vine person paused, “Just give rightie a wide berth, she’s still ‘nibbly.” He explained, whenever he opened his mouth, it smelled like flower pollen, Merri sneezed.   “Who’s a cute puppy? You is! And you is! And you is from afar!” Merri gave two of the heads pats and scratches. The cerberus, wagging their two tails that occasionally whipped into each other with a whup-whupp-whup, the beast that came up to Merri’s chest gave her a wet lick. “Who’s a good girl? How old are they?”   “Still a pup, me and the missus are working on getting her off of chewing the furniture, she can’t seem to keep her mouths away from the couch. It’s a pain, but she’ll be a good guard dog one day.” He explained. “Glad you stopped us, I’m trying to get her accustomed to people. Eventually, want the wife to be able to take her into the city but she’s too protective of her right now, getting her used to the idea of other people.”   Lala stepped over, letting the dogs sniff her hand before rubbing the center’s head. “What’s her name?”   “Kibeleous, but we’ve just been calling her Kibbles.”   “Such a sweetie! It was nice chatting with you,” Merri told the plant person, “If I see you guys around, I’ll come say hello.”   “You ladies have a good day. Come along Kibbles.” The puppy dogs made a whining noise as they were tugged away from their new friends.   Having caught her breath, Merri went on her way, a little ahead of Lala who quickly overtook her in stride. Not that Merri was complaining, she really didn’t mind watching Lala’s rear jiggle about.   It had been a long time since Merri had stepped this far into the dimension pocket, and saw some new houses. One house had burning coals instead of grass, a flame elemental wearing khaki shorts and a yellow polo sprayed an exotic plant with a blackish liquid from a hose. In each window of another home, several raptors lounged about on soft surfaces, staring at everything that passed their home like cats that basked in the sun. An entire property was surrounded by a cube of water, kelp and seaweed for grass, a merfolk pushed a strange aquatic lawnmower over the bed of sea grass.   The ground shook, small tremors reverberating through Merri’s body, a giant woman with skin of a stony texture pushing a stroller large enough for Merri or Lala came into view. Merri felt a pang of jealousy at the sight, and from Lala’s head snapping towards their direction, she assumed she did too. The stone giant pulled into a normal looking plot, like an optical illusion, she and the stroller seemed to shrink as they approached the home until she appeared to be a medium size creature.   Merri imagined Lala pushing her down the street in an oversized stroller in nothing but a diaper and a shirt, then the image shifted until she was pushing Lala in the buggy.   They stood outside a gate, fields and trees laying beyond this point. This park was the furthest one could go in the pocket dimension, after passing it, there was only streets leading back towards the portal to the ‘real’ world.   A perverse thought occurred to Merri then. She looked around, making sure no one was looking. Lala was taking a look past the gate, over by a playground where some kids frolicked around a gym set, not paying attention to Merri, without warning or provocation, stuck her hand down Lala’s pants.   “H-hey!” The elf turned beat red, hands flying towards her waistline.   “I was just checking to make sure my girl was dry, that’s all,” Merri informed her.   “I-I’m dry…” She said, looking around making sure no one was looking their way.   Merri patted her back reassuringly, “It’s not that I don’t trust you, honey, you’re just too small to notice things like that.” Merri watched as the elf turned into jelly, her relaxed posture melting at Merri’s words.   “Ohh… Do I need a change, Mommy? I can’t tell, ‘m too li’l.”   “You’re not too wet.” The half-elf sounded so sure, Lala did a quick squeeze on her front to see if she really was wet.   Merri started jogging once more, now with a smug smirk on her face at the little mind game she played on the elf. Lala fell a few steps behind, lost in thought that seemed to make her giddy. Looking around to make sure no one was in ear shot, the closest people around were a few kids, a pair of goblin twins burying their orc friend in a sand box while a tiny gnome girl cheered them on, Lala leaned into ask, “What if… I did need a change? Would you do it here?”   “Oh Lala… Are you really such a baby you can’t hold it like a big girl?”   “Maybe… Would you though?”   “Maybe… Why don’t you try it and see?”   Lala’s pace slowed to a crawl, looking anxiously around. Merri, happy that they weren’t running any more, fell back, a strange look came on to Lala’s, concentration and relaxing, her face scrunching as she tried to ignore the sounds that surrounded her, nearly stopping completely until Merri took her hand and started walking her forward.   “Eheheh,” Lala let out a giggle. “Momma, can you change me please?”   “When we get home baby.”   “What?!” Lala lowered her voice when a few park goers looked in her direction. “I thought you said-”   “Ah bup bup!” Merri raised a finger in objection, “I said ‘maybe’. I didn’t even bring any changing supplies with me. You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve only been a mother for less than a day.”   Urgency grew in her voice, “I can summon whatever you need!” She pleaded.   “Sweetie,” Merri spoke with an air of command and superiority, “You’re going to have to get used to your wet diaper, you’re going to be spending a lot of time dirty.”   Lala stuck her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, as mortified as she was thrilled to be placed in this position, before the wet mass cooling in her pants started making some unwanted friction. “Mommy, I can’t run like this. I’ll get all rashy.” She whined.   “Shush baby,” Merri wrapped an arm around one of Lala’s arms. “Unless you want me to hush you with a pacifier.   “I don’t think you brought a pacifier with you.” Lala accused.   Confidently, Merri explained, nuzzling the taller elf’s arm with her head, “I didn’t need to. You’ll summon one for me, if I tell you to.” Merri could feel Lala quiver at that, completely overjoyed and complacently by the control the half-elf had over her, it made her feel drunk with the power, warping her view, but also, a tender fondness for the girl who’s vulnerability she was entrusted with, a staggering mix. She suspected, Merri could easily convince the elf to go get undressed in the grass and get her diaper changed for any and all to see, more than that, Lala would happily comply. Add humbling to the list of feelings.   A couple rode past them, a drow on his bicycle, a long visor on his bike helmet with thick sunglasses over his eyes, bright green, reflective spandex covering his body, side by side with a purple toned tiefling on her broom, her long blue dress flying in the wind revealing riding shorts beneath, a witch’s hat bent and folding between her goat like horns. When the pair were safely out of ear shot, Lala leaned down and whispered, “Merri?”   “Yes?”   “Umm, the illusion is working right? You can’t see or hear my diapie?” She inquired in a hush voice.   “No, you’re perfectly ok… Do you wanna go home?”   “Yes please.”   They turned around, Lala flush in her walk of shame, avoiding eye contact with anyone who crossed their path, a stark contrast to her indifferent disposition before. Their strides were slower, Merri enjoyed the pace this time, though her sweat had already started pouring and like a leaky faucet it was hard to twist shut. Also like a leaky faucet, at least one more time Lala stopped in her tracks and whimpered, her hand reaching towards her crotch and looking worried. Merri gave her quiet words of comfort and trotted her along.   Entering her home, Merri called out, “Dad, we’re back!” She barely gave her Dad a passing glance until he said something that stopped her in her tracks.   “G- Gladice?”   Merri stopped pulling Lala up the stairs. Not looking towards the confused old man, her voice came out a harsh croak, “No-” She took a deep breath and corrected herself, “No Dad, this is Svetlana. You met her earlier.”   “Oh. Is is she a friend from a school?”   Grimacing, Merri said, “Yeah Dad. A friend from school.” Merri couldn’t look back at Lala’s face. The look of pity she knew she would see, it wasn’t something she could bear right now. With a desperation, she marched up the stairs with the elf in tow, suddenly needing that feeling of control to be reasserted. She needed to feel like she had a handle on things.   Safely behind closed doors, Lala softly touched Merri’s arm as they stood before the door in the hall, among closed doors and dusty picture frames with old family photos that Lala did her best to ignore, her leather fingers gliding off the sweaty skin. Sensing, a need for a moment of reprise, the elf left the silence still the air around them.   Licking her lips, wetting her throat, Merri said, “Do you want to take a shower together?” She was feeling icky, and the warm steam had a way of clearing the mind, and perhaps, a little bit of closeness could throw some kindling on to the fire of this romance.   A hand crept over to her left wrist, holding it tightly, “I’m sorry, I’m not comfortable with that.” Merri eyed the gloves, curious, but the elf honored Merri’s privacy, she could give her the same respect.   “You ready for a change then?”   “Yes, Mommy.”   Taking a step towards the bedroom, Merri forced a jovial tone, “What do you want on your diapie this time?”   “What do you think would be cute on me, Mommy?”   Merri took the crumpled up pile that was the changing mat, with a hand on two corners flung it out on to the floor. She took a fresh diaper out and set it down on the floor, pulling the box of supplies out from underneath the bed.   As Lala sat down, ready to lay back, she was surprised by Merri crawling on to her lap and pulling her into a tight hug. For a second, she did nothing, not making the smallest movement, even breathing came to a pause, then, her arms rose and wrapped around the half-elf. No words, either they would only get in the way, or the understanding would make them even closer than being in the other’s arms, either way, they were exactly where the other needed them to be.   “The cerberus.” Merri said quietly.   “Huh?”   “You know, the three headed doggie we past on the way to the park. I think she would be cute on your diapie.”   “Oh!” Lala touched the diaper, the picture forming in her mind’s eye and let it flow through her finger tips. She held up the underworld themed diaper with cerberus guarding the gates of ‘Heck’ as a gray, flaming sign on the top of the diaper said.   “I like it,” Merri said readjusting herself on Lala’s lap, her knee rubbing into the squishy illusory part of her attire.   “Ooh!”   “Sorry!”   Moving to get off in a more tactful way, Lala’s hand grabbed Merri’s arm. “Wait- Don’t stop.”   “Yeah?” A welcomed distraction. “Does my baby like it when I do this?” She lowered a hand down to the seat of the sweatpants. Feeling the bulging part of Lala’s diaper and pressing into it, massaging it with two fingers, she watched Lala’s face crumble into unadulterated pleasure. Merri began rocking back and forth applying pressure with her weight as Lala leaned away from the bed and on to the changing mat down below.   “Mmm… Mommy, that feels so good…”   A finger slipped through Merri’s shirt, Lala pulling it off, leaving just the sports bra on that she started working on until Merri took her hand away ripped it off for her. Lala felt up Merri, her rising until reaching her chest. Merri was pulled down, Lala greedily licking and sucking on Merri’s tit. The tip of Lala’s tongue dancing around the nipple, the light pressure causing just the right amount of pain in the delicate balance of excitement and hurt shutting Merri’s brain off.   “Ahh!”   “Mmmph!”   Merri shimmied the sweatpants down to the middle of Lala’s thighs, her hands working behind her. Lala moaned when Merri pulled away, turning around to untape the sodden diaper to give access to what she wanted. Lala’s sex mixing in with the aroma of pee, Merri delved deep into the elf with her middle and ring finger, thumb outside of her teasing her clit. For a moment, Merri was relentless, not caring how fast or rough she was with Lala’s most sensitive part, wanting, no, needing to hear the sounds of her lover’s climax for the first time. Leaning down to give the slit a lick before letting her fingers to the brunt of the work. Each thrust of her digits making the work faster as Lala’s cavity grew wetter, the sounds of insertion becoming more rapid.   A final lick and, “Ahh! Uhh! Oh…” Merri tumbled off of Lala, side by side with her the opposite way, feet to head, head to feet, or as close as Merri could get with her head reaching Lala’s ankles and her feet reaching the elf’s shoulders.   “Alright…” Merri said raising herself with her elbows. “Now that that’s out of our systems, let’s get my girl properly dressed.” She grabbed the ‘Heck’ themed diaper, lowering the sweatpants some more.   Lala made a whining noise. “But Mommy, you didn’t finish.”   Already working on wiping Lala clean, Merri told her, “That’s fine baby. My Lala girl was taken care of, that makes me a happy Mommy.”   “But- mmm!” Her words were cut short by a particularly deep brush with the wet wipe. “Ok… Next time, though?”   Pushing aside the ‘Mommy and Me’ diaper in its place the ‘Heck’ padding, Merri promised, “Next time.” The little took this in stride, resting her head over her folded arms while her Mommy finished her job.   “And there!” Merri said patting the red and black diaper, sending a cloud of excess powder into the air. “Clean as a whistle.”   “Clean as a whistle.” Lala agreed in a small voice.   Merri surprised Lala as she raised herself off the floor. Pressing her lips against the elf’s, initially shocked, she eased into the gesture, closing her eyes, letting her tongue do that talking. Disentangling from each other, Merri pressed her brow against Lala’s, their noses touching tips.   “Mommy’s gonna take a shower, little one, you get dressed for the day and keep yourself preoccupied, ‘kay?” She told her as she gave the elf a kiss on the forehead, winking her eye as she dropped her shorts and underwear on the floor and strutted into the bathroom. Chapter 7    Draping a towel over her dripping form, Merri stepped out of the steamy bathroom. Waiting for her, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed was a much more put together Lala. A brown vest over a long sleeve black blouse, the cuffs folded over showing off her white gloves, her long legs covered by a dark blue jeans, riding boots crossed over one another, fitting her legs so well they looked poured into the footwear. In the short time apart she had cast a glamour on her face, her lips had a dark red sheen to them, eyelids smokey, lashes fluttering with a bold color on them, a rosy blush on her cheeks. Merri felt under dressed and she wasn’t even wearing anything.       Stepping over, just to make sure, Merri reached over to prod at Lala’s crotch. “Mooommy! Stoop! I was trying to look sexy for you!” She whined in a voice that didn’t match her look.       “Had to make sure you were still wearing your diapie, baby girl.”       Pouting, “Hmmph! I am! You told me I can’t take it off without you.”       Holding up her towel with one hand and scratching Lala’s chin with the other, Merri asked, “Are we being bratty? Don’t you know what we do to bratty little girls around here?”       Eyes lighting up, Lala informs Merri, “No? I don’t know what we do to… bratty little girls. Why don’t you show me, Mommy?”       Dropping the towel, Merri reached out and grabbed the elf’s wrists and pushed her down on to the bed, kissing the nape of her neck. “Well… One thing we like to do to misbehaving girls…” She kisses further up the neck, then the cheek, up to the ear, sticking the tip of it in her mouth and running her tongue over it.       “Hmm!”       Taking the tip out, Merri leans down and whispers sweetly, “We get them all hot and bothered, and leave them wanting.”       “Hmph!” Lala sticks her lip out, “That’s no fair!”       Merri turned away with a triumphant giggle. It was all a game, just a little bit of teasing, but leaving Lala in a state of nervous smiles and hair twirling was an incredible confidence boost. No one ever called Merri ugly, not in good faith in any case, not once, though, had she ever considered herself attractive enough to leave someone like Lala in a tizzy like that.       She hummed as she got dressed, making much more exaggerated movements than she would have without an audience. Her hips wiggling as her blue lacey panties went up her legs, as they did when pulling on a similarly colored long sleeve shirt, perhaps taking a tad longer than she usually would have as she methodically rolled the sleeves up.       Pulling on a pair of socks, Lala caught sight of Merri’s tattoo on the side of her waistline as her shirt rode up slightly. Maybe her mind was on other things the last few times it had been completely revealed, maybe some things grow more interesting when they’re trying to hide, like a the difference between a jungle cat lounging in the sun compared to when they’re stalking through the leaves. In either case, now was the moment she brought it up.       “I like your tattoo, heather, right?” Lala commented.       In the middle of pulling up some olive slacks, Merri replied, “Yup. They were Mom’s favorite. The backyard is covered with them.” She quickly moved the topic off of herself. “Why don’t you have any tattoos?”       “I do.”       Merri thought back from when she was exploring every fold of Lala’s body. “I don’t remember s- Oh.” Her eyes on to the gloved hands.       “Yeah…”       Trying to cut away the uncomfortable silence the moment had turned into. “Well… I usually wait until later, but if you want I can introduce you to my real Dad.” Merri suggested.       Looking puzzled, Lala repeated, “’Real Dad’?”       “Yeah, come on, pillow butt,” Merri offered a hand to Lala, after an uncertain second, she gave the half-elf her right hand,       At the kitchen table, Merri grabbed a scroll from the basket, pulling an ink well with a brush towards her. Lala stood over her shoulder, studying her work and the picture of the glyphs she was using as a reference. In spite of herself, Merri felt like she was back in school, working on a test with a teacher standing over her. She found herself spending much more time making sure her swooping gestures with the brush were precise and neat.       “May I have one of these?”       Merri was taken aback by the question. “I… Kind of need them. They’re expensive.”       “I’ll replace it, promise. Trust me, you’ll appreciate what I make.”       With a sigh, Merri nodded. Lala took a spot next to her, like the wand that had appeared in her hand the other day, a personalized brush appeared in her hand. Up close, Merri saw it look like came straight from her wrist, pulling the handle straight from the space between her hand and arm with her middle and ring fingers.       “How do you do that?” Lala looked at the appendage and her tool in her hand. It looked like she was considering something carefully. Setting the brush on the inkwell, ensuring that no excess ink wouldn’t drip off of it, assuming that if scrolls were considered a pricey purchase, then magical ink would be as well. Using her left hand, she pulled off a finger on her right glove, one after the other freeing herself until she slipped out of the glove completely.       Her arm was covered with runes and magic circles, in many different shades of colors with seemingly no rhyme or reason, the little patches of skin considerably paler than the rest of her complexion. Turning her arm around, she showed Merri the underside of her forearm, equally patterned with colorful runes and circles that Merri didn’t have the knowledge to make heads or tails except a few that she was familiar with, like three identical circles on the outside of the arm with runes inside that said ‘fire’. Lala drew Merri’s attention towards a larger circle on her wrist.       With her left middle finger, Lala ran the tip over the outer rim of of the circle, the lines making it up lighting up with her touch. She squeezed the empty space above it with a finger and thumb, the air growing blurry where she pinched, and pulled out a wand, different than the other two she had seen the other day.       Proudly, Lala explained, “Inter dimensional sheath. That’s what I call it anyway, not that anyone else has a name for it, I designed the spell myself.” The look of pride Lala wore reminded Merri of how she felt when a pastry she learned came out perfectly. “It’s basically a little wormhole to my inner sanctum, my armory, but there is a neat twist I gave it to set it apart from similar spells, here.” She offered the wand to Merri. She held the wand, looking at Lala confused, until her hand’s grip clenched on nothing.       Gaze darting towards the empty hand, Merri asked dumbfounded, “Where’d it go?”       Eyes squinting, smile smug, Lala held out her wrist, out of the circle she pulled out the same wand. “I can loan out anything that comes out of this spell, or if I get disarmed, even if its just lost like-” She let the wand slip out of her hand, rolling under the table unseen, then pulled the same wand out of the circle. “If I will it to return to my sanctum, it returns.”       “And you made that spell?”       “Sure did!”       Merri snickered. “You’re a nerd!”       Lala’s proud disposition dropped like a weight, with a panicked, “N-no! I’m not a nerd!”       “You’re just like those other wizards, aren’t you? Spend long nights up in a tower or dungeon never seeing anyone or socializing.”       “It wasn’t a tower!”       The elf’s bug eyed insistence brought on a fresh bout of laughter from Merri. “Stop! Please stop…” Merri looking up, quieted down when she saw real tears starting to form, misting Lala’s piercing blue eyes.       With a cough, Merri changed the subject. “So uh, what kind of wand is that?”       The question seem to give Lala pause, very carefully she asked, “Do you really want to know?”       Thinking that it was a case of nursing hurt feelings, Merri gave her answer with enthusiasm, “Yeah! Really do.”       Taking a deep breath, the look of hurt vanished from the elf’s face, “This is a Walnut XJ-9, developed by the Obsidian co. circa 3826 for the Under army during the 2nd Lich Wars. It’s sturdy grip was composed for both the rugged hands of druegar and the nimble drow, making it very versatile. It can hold up to 7 tier 6 scrolls, a rather awkward number to me, but given the high caliber of spells you can shoot out of it with such a low failure rate and the decreased chance to splinter, its well worth it, but the Under army had such a large number of infantry, having someone cover you while you reload probably wasn’t an issue. In spite of the general public disposition of the drow and druegar, the comradery was incredible, a real brotherhood down in the Hive’s front lines, which honestly you needed that kind of trust when your soldiers were tossing out cloudkills, walls of ice, chain lightnings… I’m not boring you am I?”       Sensing she had made a mistake of some kind, caught between sparing a new lover’s feelings and boredom, Merri busied herself with the scroll, “No, babe! I’m listening.”       “Right, anyway, the XJ-9 was particularly innovative in it’s disposable cylinder clip. Semi-disposable. You see, because the XJ-9 was manufactured in such large numbers, a soldier could reliably get replacement clips of the same model. Before that, if you needed to reload a wand or a staff you would remove the bottom and manually insert each scroll, a nightmare in a firefight, a few older models even tried to use revolving chambers to combat this, but even then-”       “Weren’t you gonna write something on that?”       “Oh!” Suddenly reminded of the unfurled scroll in front of her, Lala quickly went to work filling it up with runes. Merri thought this would get her out of her impromptu Wand History 101, only underestimating Lala’s ability to multitask. “I know what you’re thinking, ‘revolving chamber’?! Why bother? Might as well stick with single spell wands at that point. Many agreed, but the versatility could not be discounted so easily. Although, the single spells have come quite a long way too.” She pulled out the white wand she had used the other day in one fluid movement with her left hand in the middle of a brush stroke.       “The T-1000, sleek, modern, and if I may say, sexy. Primarily used by law enforcement, specifically riot control. Back in the dark ages, a wizard, sorcerer, or artificer would load up a similar wand with somewhere between 6 and 20 charges, possibly quite a bit more compared to 10 charges this wand in my hand carries. The difference is the Manat. Before the web of magic and information became widely used, after a wand’s charges were used up it basically amounted to fancy kindling. Now? I can connect to the Manat several times a day and reload. Not that there’s not drawbacks. Like firmware updates. Tell me this,” Lala swung the brush around dramatically, “Why do I need to update a wand? It still holds the same amount of charges, it does the same thing it did yesterday! During combat too! And it’s not like there’s a display on a wand! Or a voice tells you what’s going on, though I suppose thank the Gods for that. Can you imagine? ‘5 minutes until fully updated’! Might as well say come and get!”       The explanation was swiftly turning into a rant. “You done with that?” Merri pointed at the scroll in front of Lala.       “Hmm? Oh yeah…” Lala put a finger on the scroll, imbuing it with power lighting up the glyphs.       “What is it?”       Smiling, Lala told her, “It’s a surprise! The next time we meet, go ahead and use this. Some where private.” She rolled it up and passed it to Merri. “What about you? What are you working on?”       Merri looked down at the nearly finished scroll before her. How was Lala so fast? And going off on a rant at that! “It’s for Dad. It helps clear his head, I guess.”       Lala looked over at it, studying the circle carefully. “Arcane medicinal magic? Interesting. Looks rather advanced. Probably, what? Tier 7?”       “I don’t know, I just pour everything I have into I can, let’s Dad think clearly for a couple of hours.”       “Just a couple of hours? And you have to use everything you have? What tier are you?”       “2, why? What are you?”       “I’m 8. If I took a year off of studying I’d be 9, at the rate I’m going I’d say I’ll hit it in about, hmm… 5-10 years?”       Merri looked aghast, “Tier 8?! You really are a nerd!” Lala furrowed her brows. “Wait, wait, it’s not like its a bad thing or anything. You’re just like one tier away from being one of the strongest casters in the world.”       “Not really. That would still only get me one tier 9 spell a day, the top casters can perform around three, I think. May I try?” She gestured at the scroll.       Shrugging, Merri nudged it towards her. “Be my guest.” Though her magic might be insignificant compared to Lala’s, still, she couldn’t remember the last time she had each of her casts for a day.       Concentrating, Lala lightly caressed the scroll in front of Merri, letting her powers flow into the scroll. It shined as the runes on the paper became more than ink, they became orders to change the nature of reality. The time it took was longer than it took Lala to do her own scroll, whether it was because of familiarity, complexity, or difficulty Merri couldn’t say. When she finally pulled away, Lala wiped a bead of sweat away from her face.       “I think, and I’m not entirely sure I don’t mess with arcane healing often, but that should make it last for a few days now.”       “A few days?!” Merri leapt from the chair excitedly, grabbing the rolled up scroll greedily. “That’s incredible!” She pulled the elf in for a kiss, Lala blushed and her eyes twinkled.       Playing with her hair, Lala admitted, “That may have been a little strenuous. I may have had an accident in the middle of that...”       “Do you think you can come back when it wears off and do it again?”       Lala looked down after hearing the request. “Uhh, actually, no I can’t. I have orders and, well, my men and I are getting shipped out towards contested territory. Don’t know when I’ll be back in the city.” Merri’s face darkened at the news. “But, I can do it on my own time, send you a scroll. I still owe you one, I suppose.”       Merri’s mind was on another matter, sighing, she dejectedly returned to her seat, looking troubled and thoughtful. “So, how long are you going to be away? When’s the next time we can meet?”       “It’ll be a few months at best but…” She tapped on the scroll she had made in front of Merri. “Give me just a few days and I think we can arrange something.”       They left the subject at that for the moment. Merri showed Lala how she applied to the magic to her father and gave the two a proper introduction. The look on the man’s face was sheepish when he realized fully that they had a guest in the house. For once the home was filled with music and conversation, laughter lighting up the air, as well as the smell of food Merri made for lunch. They spent most of their time talking with the old man, until Lala needed a few moments to refresh herself and the two absconded away to Merri’s bedroom for a quick change and cuddles.       The time came for Lala to leave sooner than Merri had hoped, in trying to savor the moments she had with her new companion, she went with the elf to the teleportation station. A chill was growing on the wind, Lala had summoned her long black jacket, her padded secret safely hidden behind a layer of illusory magic, while Merri had found a tan coat lined with faux fur around the cuffs and collar.       Merri imagined the two of them looked quite a pair, the elegant Svetlana in her long black evening coat with a face reminiscent of nobility hand in hand with the graceless girl who looked like she was about to go out shoveling snow.       She had to admit, though, no one paid them any attention. In the hustle and bustle of the big city, they were just faces in the crowd. So many more interesting things to look at and listen to. The armored dragonborn officer getting into a yelling match with a trio of warlocks riding brooms on the streets over speeding tickets and at what speed a broom gets classified as a road and street vehicle. Hags in rags dropping items into a steaming cauldron in a dark alley way lethargically, whispering and cackling as the potion brewed. As the final office hour came to an end, a row of modrons came pouring out of buildings, a race of mechanical shapes, robots made of cogs and spindly metal limbs their bodies taking the shape of orbs, cubes, pyramids, each wearing a suit and tie ill fitting on their bodies, marching in neat single file lines.       Feeling her arm pulled back, Merri looked at Lala, who stopped dead in her tracks, her ears twitching and body going stone still. Following the trail of sight, Merri found that Lala was staring at a dark figure in a smooth black mask, their blond hair pulling away showing a pair of pointy ears, beneath the black cloth of trench jacket, the figure wore gleaming, pristine silver armor, they held a pointy spear of copper with it ending in a pointy crescent. An air of menace hung around the figure, though all the intimidation the person needed lie on the insignia of their back.       The royal insignia of the elfish clan of Glaedrehal, one of the four groups that made the backbone of the government that ruled the country. The person wearing it was one of the royal bodyguards. There was no chance the person the guard was making a perimeter for was King Glaedrehal, the elf was almost never seen off the property of his estate, always in the company of his dozens of wives, concubine, and children. Merri wondered then why Lala had such a dramatic reaction to the sight of the bodyguard.       A female elf came into view, followed by two servants that carried arms full of paper, expensive looking shopping bags. In her hand, Merri felt Lala relax at the sight of the elf, only to stiffen, tighten to the point it hurt Merri when another elf went and stood next to her.       Merri would be hard pressed to admit to ever seeing anyone as beautiful as Svetlana, though the elf that they now saw would be more than a contender. The trademark fine angles of the elves that seemed chiseled into their perfect jawlines and cheek bones were there, fine golden hair that seemed to emit a glow as the strands reflected all but the dimmest of light, her icy blue eyes and smile seemed locked into a sneer. Wearing a glittering emerald green dress that couldn’t have been warm to wear, Merri thought might actually be made up of emerald scales. On her left arm was an intricate tattoo that emitted a glow in the shape of the royal insignia, burning a golden color reminscent of the elf’s radiant hair.0 The pair almost walked into another building, but the fair creature stopped, looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw Svetlana, and began to approach her like a tiger quietly pursuing its prey.       Lala bowed her head, motioning for Merri to do the same with just the tug of a hand. “Princess Elin.” She coolly greeted the elf. Merri watched as a dozen of the guards created a circle around her, Lala, the Princess and her companion, as well as the handful of servants that walked with them. It was a claustrophobic feeling, surrounded by the blank faces of a ring of armed elves, in front of them two nobles and their posse of flunkies.       Elin’s lips curled unpleasantly, “Lala, I thought that was you! I had no idea the army let their dogs out of the trenches! And here I thought you’d be bleeding out in the dirt somewhere.” She turned her head and gave a pointed look to the elf she had been shopping with who let out a forced laugh.       Eyes lowering to the ground, Merri watched as Lala took a deep breath, doing her best to ignore the harsh jabs. “Mother told me you had gotten engaged. Congratulations.” Her tone came out mechanically, but Merri heard the underlying plea of the courteous words. Please just leave.       “Mother still talks to you? Hmph.” Her face was still curled into a smile, but the icy blue eyes so similar to Lala’s own glared into the elf.”But yes.” Elin revealed a large gemstone encrusted ring. “Harold Ichor and I will be arranged to be wed in just three months.” The name Ichor rung a bell in Merri. Marshal Ichor was the current chairman of Des L’Bow, originally starting out creating children’s cartoons before turning into a juggernaut of a multimedia empire.       Elin smugly examines her own ring as she says, “I would invite you but, you know,” Her eyes point up, glaring daggers at Lala. “Family only.”       “Excuse you? Just who do you think you are?” Merri found herself saying stepping between Lala and Elin. The princess at first regarded her like a particularly large roach, grimacing in disgust, until, a look of recognition of her emasculate face.       “No.” Lala whimpered quietly trying to pull Merri back with a hang on her shoulder.       Merri merely gave the hand on her shoulder a squeeze before stomping closer to Elin, grinning madly at Lala. “How dare you come over here sneering like a playground bully with that insulting tone, I have half a-”       “Lala, do you know who she reminds me of?” Elin interrupted Merri as though she weren’t there, add insult to injury as she was clearly the subject of conversation.       “Noo…” The sound out of her mouth came out like a mournful echo.       “Hey! I’m talking to you!” Merri was just about to jab a finger into the princess’ chest, until she heard a schwing as 12 spears cut through the air and she acutely became aware that that a dozen pairs of sharp metal point were pointing at herself.       Elin clapped her hands, “She even sounds like her!” Leaning down until she was at eye level with Merri, “Do you know what happens to little commoner half breeds who make threats to royalty? Why don’t you finish what you were saying and find out?”       Lala pulled Merri back, she was about to turn around and tell the elf to let her handle it, but the stalwart look on her face made Merri keep the comment to herself.       Voice heavy with a resolution Merri had yet to hear from Lala’s mouth, she asked the princess, “Are you certain you want to be make threats yourself?” Her gloved fists were clenched into tight bricks.       Noticing the gloves for the first time, Elin guffawed, “And you still wear those? You truly are pathetic!” Her expression noticeably shifting when she saw the jeer had no effect on Lala. “You know… Maybe I do want to start making threats.” She said as intimidatingly as a show dog barring her fangs, making the same motion as Merri did with her left arm, the gold light cast from the princess’ tattoo lighting up Lala’s still face, sternly neutral, looking unimpressed by the motion.       “Did you know, Princess Elin of House Glaedrehal, that law becomes rather gray when it comes to the nobility inciting violence on military rank? It first came up in courts when a dwarven lord, I believe his name was Ironpick, stood in the was of an operation led by Brigadier General Vastoof. The lord took personal offense at Vastoof trying to tread on his land in pursuit of a target and threatened to bombard him. Vastoof took Ironpick’s entire hold before he took his life. In Vastoof vs. Ironpick, the court sided with the military, axiomatic courts tend to side with whomever seems more reasonable. So, I’ll ask you again, are you certain, dear sister, would you still care to threaten me and my party?”       Elin’s face remained passive, uninterested, through Lala’s explanation, until the word ‘sister’ came out of her mouth, then rage burned in her eyes, going from mocking to hateful. “You’re no sister of mine, Svetlana of no House, you’ve seen to that yourself. You’ve lowered yourself to the smallest ranks of people, a dog, and House Glaedrehal recognizes no dog as any kind of authority. Cower before me or feel my wrath.”       Nonplussed, Lala sighed, “Very well, I refuse to debase myself, but I wouldn’t harm you unless you truly force my hand. It would make Mom sad.” Elin rolled her eyes at this. “Name a champion among your guards and we’ll settle this.”       Seemingly randomly, Elin pointed at one of the blank faced guards, who stomped in between her and Lala.       Lala looked at the elf pityingly, “Remove your helmet, please.” The elf stood ready with his spear. Sighing again, “Tell me, faceless minion of Elin of Glaedrehal, how many battles have you fought, have you won? Have you ever had to fight in contests other than sparring or pushing away would be suitors?” Again, no answer. “Very well, do you at least have any opinion on how your remains shall be sent to your family?”       By now, a crowd had formed around the circle of guards, passerby straining to see what the commotion was about, and now sensing the hostility in the air, desperately trying to see what was going on.       The guard, not as mute as he seemed a second ago, finally spoke up, “I have no family, I gave it up to serve a higher power.”       “As have I, yet your mistress would look down on me for that decision. A pity, that you protect one who would look at you the same.”       Words no longer came from the guard’s mouth, and Lala shrugged, stepping forward. Readying his spear, the masked elf sprung forward to attack Lala, only for her to grab the head of the spear and shatter it in her left hand, grabbing the elf’s head with her other hand.       Locking eyes with Elin, Lala glowered at her, whispering a chant under her breath. The head in her hand, briefly struggling, stopped suddenly, as a thin sheet of frost covered his body starting at the point of Lala’s hand. Slowly, he became encased in a shell of blue ice, when he was fully entombed in his makeshift frozen coffin, she dropped him.       The ice and the elf inside shattered on the side walk, red and white chunks flying everywhere like glass breaking on the ground. Lala’s eyes never turned away from her sister, who’s expression never shifted away from venomous.       “Merri, let’s go.” Svetlana Lark held her left hand out to Merri, taking it thankful that it wasn’t the one just holding the former guard.       Merri paused for a second, pointing at Elin’s dress. “You uh, you have some of… him on you.” She pointed at a red glob of… something Merri didn’t want to put into words on the emerald scales of Elin’s gown.       Elin turned her attention towards the half-elf. Pulling her head back, snorting, she spat at Merri.       “Ugh!” She cried out in disgust, wiping off her coat with a sleeve with her hand withdrawn inside. “Pig!”       “Dog fucker.” The princess swore at Merri. Lala tugged Merri away while Merri pointed a rude gesture at the princess.       It was hard for Merri to collect her thoughts on everything that just happened as the pair pushed their way through the crowds of pedestrians on the way to the waystation. Lala walked forward with a confident stride, looking forward with a steely gaze as Merri observed her out of the corner of her eyes with a look of dumbfound.       A few blocks away from the waystation, Lala turned into a deserted alleyway between a building of salt and one made of a large tree. The air glittered with loose salt that shook free from the building on the right, leaving its odor in the air, it stung the eye. Patches of white littered the ground and trash as the salt fell into piles, giving the alley an almost snowy look. The tree building, bright and lively on the front side, appeared dryer in such close proximity to the salt building, it was a wonder how the mineral monolith allowed such a towering tree to remain alive, but as evidenced by the leaves that still coated the ground, it still clung to this mortal coil.       Lala’s grip slipping away from Merri as she walked deeper into the shadows of the two buildings, away from the waves of people on the streets. Merri let out a sound of relief. “Yeah, I need a moment too…” She said as Lala crouched down, leaning on a wall of salt, pushing her head into her knees and letting out a muffled sob.       “Why is she so meeean!?”       “Huh?”       “Just because she’s a hundred years older than me she’s always acted like she was soooo much better than me! When we were kids she would come into my room and break my things, call me a baby when I cried and went to Mom. But then, she had broke her stuff too and told her I was the one doing it! She was always so cruel! Elin,” She said the name like one would speak a curse, “She just can’t bear to see me happy, or content, or just walking the streets. It’s like she gets off on seeing me miserable!”       “And you just killed that guy.” Merri replied, still trying to wrap her head around that, the image of chunks of body flying everywhere.       Lala stopped sobbing and studied Merri’s face for a moment before saying, “Uh yes. Merri, you do know what I do, right?”       A growing concern started gnawing in the back of Merri’s heart. “N-no? You’re like a colonel or something, you’re like in some kind of administrative role, right? Like you give orders?”       Lala took a second to speak. “Riight. I… Give orders.” She pursed her lips. “We can leave it at that…” She pursed her lips. “I guess its immature to let childish spats from a thousand years ago mess with me so much.”       Sitting down next to Lala, Merri wrapped an arm around her back, “But you justta widdle baby, you can’t help it if you’re upset by a bully-wully!” She said in a cutesy voice, “A thousand years ago? How old are you?”       “Justa widdle baby, Mommy.”       She was about to put her right thumb into her mouth while make pleading eyes at Merri before she was stopped. “No. Not that hand. I never want to see you use that hand again for anything with your mouth. Or my mouth. Or really anything.”       “Yes Mommy. I sowwy.” She snuggled into Merri’s shoulder.       Merri cried out as a realization fully hit her, “You’re a freaking princess?!”       Coughing to return to her normal voice, “Not technically. I gave up my claim to the throne when I started pursuing my career in the military.”       “Oh.” Merri looked at Lala’s left glove, now knowing what really lay underneath. She had heard what royals who give up their spots in line had to go through. There was a glint of green in the shredded leather in the palm of the glove.”Buuut, you’re still a princess!”       “No, I can’t legally claim that title. Can we get back to my sister?”       “That smelly pig? I don’t care about her at all, and neither should you. My baby girl is a princess!” Merri’s eyes went sparkly with excitement.       Lala laughed at the idea of Elin as a pig. “Yeah but… She’s still my sister, you know?”       “Why? She doesn’t seem to think so, neither does ‘the law’ either. Why does it matter?”       Letting out an annoyed huff, “You just don’t understand.”       Merri opened her mouth to reply, but quickly shut it. “Sorry.” She pulled in Lala’s head into a hug, humming and brushing her hair between her fingers. Though still irritated, Lala let Merri do it for awhile, settling into it, sniffling a little while fresh tears streaked down her face. “Come on, princess.” Merri said standing up, helping Lala stand as well.       “Please, don’t call me that,” She said, though the hint of a smile was on her mouth.       “What, Princess? Princess, what shouldn’t I call you? Does my widdle bitty pwincess not like when I call her Princess?” She brushed a white streak of salt off of the back of Lala’s coat.       “Mooommy! It’s embawwassing!”       Righting the front of Lala’s jacket, “Can’t help it, now I know you’re my Princess, officially. You can’t just say,” She said in a mock low voice, “’I’m not technically a Princess I’m gwumpy gwump and I can’t be a Princess.’”       “I am noooot a gwumpy gwump!”       “Ok, you’re a fuddy-duddy. Lala, Mommy says you’re a Princess, and Mommy is always right. Right?”       “I suppose… In private, ok?”       “I’mma need to hear you say it.”       “What? I’m a Princess, happy?”       “No, no, no, what is Mommy?”       Teasingly, she replied, “Mommy is Mommy?”       “Nope, try again.”       “Fiiiine. Mommy is always right.”       “That’s right! Though… I’m not sure I like that tone…” She smacked Lala’s rear, feeling the padded resistance beneath the coat and her pants, a rustling sound on impact. “Can’t believe you fought like that in a diaper. Isn’t it hard to move?”       “Oh, I… Kinda got used to it awhile ago, you’d be surprised how often I wear in combat.”       “Wouldn’t be that surprised fluffy pants. Come on baby.” Merri held her baby’s hand and led her out of the alleyway.       “Sorry Mommy. I’m going to have to take this off without you.” She said motioning towards her groin as they walked towards the end of the alley, towards light and people.       Raising a brow, Merri asked, “Why?”       “Well, you know, I can’t just stay in one diaper for days until I see you again.” Her voice became hushed as they entered the crowd.       “Sure you can!’       “No, really, I can’t. I’m gonna have to change eventually.”       “Hmm. But if I’m not there to do it for you then… I guess you’re breaking the rules and will need to be punished.”       “Come now, seriously? Isn’t that a tad unrealistic?”       “Ahh, ahh, ahh! What is Mommy?”       Whispering, “Mommy is always right.”       “What? I can’t hear you, speak up Princess.”       As they walked towards the waystation, hand in hand, just a little bit louder, Lala said, “Mommy is always right.” (Explicit warning, this chapter includes futanari, pregnancy, cucking, of course abdl, and copious use of unfunny references, readers discretion is advised)       Chapter 8               Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock.               A counter full of timers, each ticking down different sets of time. Flour, sugar, eggs, butter, varieties of fruits in bowls, spices, tools, scattered everywhere. The sweet smell of syrupy sauces filling the air, chocolate bubbling in a double boiler as it finished melting down, bread ready to be pulled from the oven. Many projects all come to a head all at once. And only one half-elf to handle them all.               Merri stirred her sauces splattering her apron with little dots of red, created her pastry dough sending clouds of flour and sugar into the air, piped a frosting on a layered cake from on top a ladder with the precision of a sculptor, was pulling sheet trays of bread out of the oven. All at once.               A second Merri tended to the chocolate, a fourth was wrapping the pastry dough and putting them through a stasis spell to seal them till she was ready to make use of them, a sixth, seventh and eighth Merri decorated all the layers below the fifth on the ladder, while her final three clones were pulling the sheets of buns and rolls out of the oven, covering them, loading them on to racks and getting them ready for whatever the Culinary Guild needed them for.               Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!               The timers went off in synchronization, one after the other with only seconds in between.               The original Merri poured her red sauce into a pan to cool, frowning at the splatters on her apron. Messy, random splotches of red seemed to be reminding her over the last few days of chunks of elf on the pavement, her mind recalling that very moment when she watched that elf split apart and scatter everywhere. She saw it happening in the shower, in the silent still moments to herself, when she closed her eyes right before slipping off to sleep, and in her dreams after that.               “Ahem.” Gretchen stood in the doorway to the bakery, the clattering of pots and pans and yelling coming from the main kitchen behind her In her large hand she carried a brown paper bag. She squinted across the room where a dozen identical half-elves were busy manning various stations in front of mixing bowls, stoves, ovens.               “Hey! Which of you is the real Merri?” Gretchen called out.               Without looking up from their tasks, each one said in unison, “I am!”               Gretchen rolled her eyes.”Which one of you is the original?”               In front of the pan of cooling red sauce, Merri pointed a finger straight up into the air. “Yo!” Quickly, she gathered up an identical paper bag to the one in Gretchen’s hand. Gretchen dropped the bag in front of Merri and was passed over the other one like a shady under the table deal.               “As agreed, two garlic roasted shambling mound, a clover salad, owlbear gravy, and half-foot mashed potatoes.”               “It’s crazy. Like its just a potato, it shouldn’t taste any different, but boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew, no matter what half-foot potatoes are better.” Merri passed the bag to one of her dopplegangers who started loading her bag up with bread and cupcakes.               “Yeah, we all know how it goes.” Gretchen peeked into her bag.               “It’s all there!” Merri said, defensively. “Two dozen enchanted golden apples. Like I promised.”               “And?”               “I made sure that they weren’t treant apples. Triple checked.”               “Good.” Gretchen closed the bag. “Some of the family still uses outhouses and you have no idea what a shock it is to start hearing treespeak when you’re trying to go.”               The bag was passed back to the original Merri. “I take it that bag means you have plans, so no going out for drinks tonight?” Gretchen inquired, tucking her bag of apples under an arm and looking over the organized chaos that was Merri’s work.               A big smile plastered on her face, Merri grabbed a Clone spell scroll out of a drawer triumphantly, pulling her sack from a pocket and letting it grow to its full size, tucking the scroll into one of its smaller pockets and the food into the main one. “’Fraid not, I have a hot date tonight!”                Gretchen snorted, “You’re swiping a Clone?” She hid a hand over her face, which Merri thought was a sweet thought only her friend’s laughter was not something that could really be hidden. Gretchen’s chortling came out in a loud room shaking bellows. “Where I come from, we don’t call the things you do with one of those a ‘hot date’.”               “No, no!” Merri started, flustered, “I’m gonna do things with the Clone of someone else!”               This just made Gretchen laugh louder, a possibility that never crossed Merri’s mind. “Identity theft is not a joke, Mer-bear.” She started walking out of Merri’s ‘dungeon’.               Hurrying to keep up with Gretchen, Merri desperately tried to explain herself as they dodged the obstacles of a busy kitchen, two journeymen carrying a 20 gallon pot with writhing tentacles trying to escape the lid, carts of platters getting pushed by unseen servants, small goblinoid porters carrying stacks of dirty dishes that towered over their heads towards the dish washing area.               “But I really do have a hot date!”               “You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” Gretchen said as she pushed a heavy metal door outside. “I don’t care if you’re summoning an incubus, making a copy of Henrietta Cavil, or if you’re ‘skinning the boar’ with your carving knife you hide under the bed-”               “I keep it in a drawer actually.”               Gretchen looked at Merri wryly as she lit up a cigarette and was about to join a group of her baby birds. “Right, babe. In any case, if the battery dies or your spell runs out or whatever and you’re still up, you know where I’ll be.”               “Wait!” Merri grabbed on to Gretchen’s jacket before she got too far away. “Listen, there’s one more thing I have to grab, but the shop is gonna close soon, so, can you cover me? Just make sure my copies are still working?”               Shrugging while taking a drag of a burning cigarette, Gretchen said, “Sure, I got you. Seriously though, if you’re summoning an incubus wear protection. Something with protection from evil, And plan b.”               Merri waved her off, “I already have pills of blessing but thanks.” Pulling out her crystal ball, Merri ordered an Icarus, and after a few minutes a blue carpet pulled up and Merri crawled into the back.               A large troll sat in the front, with his seat set very far back, the dirty tank top he wore doing little to hide the patches of hair that had migrated over the years from his head down, revolting pimples that threatened to pop at any given moment, his monstrous odor fighting with some kind of perfumed spray for territory in the air only made worse when he opened his tusked mouth to grunt out a greeting. Merri saw his face in the rearview mirror, and was fairly certain she wasn’t getting kidnapped.               Taking off at speeds Merri and the breakfast churning in her stomach weren’t quite comfortable with, the carpet fled into the sky, heading deeper into the inner city. The traffic above the skyscrapers was always congested like a nose when spring’s flowers started pollinating. Dashing and weaving in front of other carpets, Merri’s driver soon was at her first destination.               The troll stuck his bulbous face out of the window to leer at some of the streetwalkers of Ju-Ju street. They waved friendly hands at him with welcoming smiles as Merri crawled out of the carpet to run into Olga’s.               “Hey Olga!” Merri said running up to counter, uncharacteristically ignoring the littered adult baby supplies, furniture, and paraphernalia, the warm cyclopes. “You got my stuff? Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to talk!”               Olga gave Merri a knowing smile as she conspiratorially passed over one of her small black bags. “Are you sure, dear? I think your friend out there might be willing to wait a minute or 10.” Merri looked back to see two scantily clad cuties trying, and succeeding, to get their hustle on, the driver’s face several inches out of the window grunting at them.               Checking the contents of the bag, two small bottles with some rather suggestive decorative stoppers, one long, one stubby, a roll of paper with a lacey pink bow tie binding it tightly, and a discrete, unassuming box.“Yeah, no, I better get out of here.” Merri said, hastily pulling out her crystal ball and waving it in front of the till to transfer the owed funds, while watching one of the streetwalkers jiggle seductively in what could only under very generous terms be called a shirt while pointing in the direction of the hotel.               With a knowing smile and squinting eye, Olga said, “Not your usual fair. I take it your little playdate went well?”               “Umm, didn’t go quite as planned-”               “I could’ve told you that. A lesser person may even have said ‘I told you so’, but then I don’t think I was really given the chance to tell you anything.”               Blushing and looking down on the floor, “Yea, sorry about that! But it all worked out in the end.” Her crystal ball buzzed in her pocket, “But I really gotta go, I’ll catch up soon!” Olga waved at her as she ran off while tucking the bag into her handy haversack.               As fast as she entered, Merri made her exit, jumping into the carpet and telling the driver to move, pulling out her ball to check her message. The troll groaned and grunted, not quite ready to leave, only for Merri to snap impatiently, “Come on! They’ll be here all day!”               LittleLala: Ready?           LittleLala: 14 hours, I’m allllll yours!               Merri messaged back, ‘Heading home now!’               Resting her head against the window on the door of the carpet, Merri wistfully stared outside, spotting some pegasus riders in the distance flitting in and out of the traffic of the carpets. Her mind started to delve towards the encounter her and Lala had the other day. Flecks of red in the cityscape, creatures and carpets alike moving quickly in the air reminding her of…               She shook her head out of it.               Getting dropped off at the rift to her pocket dimension, running into it and ordering her family’s cab to take her the rest of the way, tapping her foot during her short waiting time. Its not the Icarus drivers wouldn’t drive into a pocket dimension, though there was a known issue with frequent trips to a different plane wrecking havoc on the navigation devices that were in use during a portal trip. Not to mention it was significantly cheaper to just use Icarus for city trips. Merri also may have wanted to get out of the troll’s impressive aura of stench, but he had kept the conversation to a minimum and hadn’t leered too much at her, so that was a 5 stars in her book.               During her wait, she did see a timid looking half giantess getting pulled along by a familiar looking three headed dog. Merri waved and yelled a greeting at Kibbles and her owner, who returned the gesture with a mixture of confusion and bashfulness while the great beast wagged her twin tails and let out a chorus of ‘woofs’ in her own way of saying ‘hi’.               A yellow carpet bearing her own surname pulled up in front of Merri, and she headed home.               She let out a sigh of relief hearing the soft snores of an afternoon nap coming from her father’s room. The last few days have been difficult. For two solid days, he had been up and fully cognitive of everything, with full access to his magic. Going back to the normal routine of being silenced for all but two hours of the day was hard for him to wrap his head around, in his fugue state he didn’t know why he wasn’t allowed to use his spells, and Merri had a hard time explaining it to him.               One nice thing about her and Lala’s meeting today, she’d get another scroll to get him through a couple of days, though she wondered if it was a good idea to give it to him again. If he couldn’t have every day of full control, was it cruel to give him a taste of that life just to pull it away?               Questions for another time. She quietly slipped up to the upper level of her home and locked herself inside. She sent a message to Lala. ‘Ready’.               LittleLala: EEEEEEEEE               LittleLala: I’m so READY!!!!           LittleLala: k the scroll I made you, use it, need at least a 4x4 square free.               Easy enough, Merri just had to move her computer chair to give her room enough space. Unrolling the scroll Lala had given her the other day she began to funnel her powers through it. The scroll burned in her hands, the mana sealed inside flickering the air as it spun around the space in front of her, glinting as it whirled. The magic had a woodsy smell, like fresh rain on trees and earth, the space in front of her made a creaking sound as an outline of a plain door appeared in front Merri with a round arch. The door handle was curved and ornate, groves etched into the brass that felt warm under Merri’s grip as she pulled it open.               The door was only opened by a crack before it swung open and muscular hands grabbed Merri and pulled her in. Merri was pulled into a world of black velvet curtains and red satin rope hanging from the middle of the curtains, flowing up and down like waves seemingly clinging to the curtains by their own will. And in the center of it all, in a sleeveless red dress, black tights that seamlessly blended in with the curtains, was Lala, her hands clasped together, a manic expression on her face, bending her knees up and down in jittery, infectious excitement.               “Hey.” Merri awkwardly smiled, swearing at herself for not changing out of her work clothes before coming here.               Lala didn’t seem to mind, bouncing towards Merri and grasping a hand in both of hers, “Eeeee! I’ve been waiting so, so, so, SO long to show someone this- show you this.” She quickly corrected herself. Leaning to pull the curtain behind her, Merri’s hand still tightly in one of hers.               “So where are we?” Merri asked, wincing a bit at the vice-like grip Lala had.               “Oh!” Lala seemed to catch herself. “Right, this is my sanctum. My own pocket dimension where I keep my things and study and umm… play. I should probably give you the grand tour before showing off the- well you’ll see, you’ll see.”               Lala had never been so peppy as she marched Merri through the corridor of halls that seemed to be all black curtains, practically skipping along on her red heels that matched her dress bounding on the hard wood floors that made a satisfying click-clack that echoed in the hallway, her braided hair jumping from its place on her shoulder.               Merri looked down at her stained red coat, could feel the dried flour in her hair and hardened on little patches on her face. The dirty shoes she wouldn’t have even thought of wearing in her home if she wasn’t in such a rush to get to the meeting sticking to the floor in here, each step she took a painful reminder of how unclean she was. “Lala? Do you think you could cast a spell, you know? Get me changed?” It was an odd request, she felt, Mommy’s didn’t usually ask their Littles to change their clothes, did they? In all the stories she’s read, the videos she’s watched, the pictures and comics she’s seen, no caregiver ever asks their charge to give them a makeover.               Turning a corner, Merri saw a passage leading off the path, and Lala stopped. Turning to Merri, Lala got a bit red in the face, “Well, I kinda thought that since you liked to be babied maybe I’ll be the Mommy today, give you the chance to have some fun. So like,” She twisted her heels in consideration, teasing her braid with the hand that didn’t hold Merri’s, “If you wanted to, I could get you dressed ‘properly’.” She offered.               The suggestion was tantalizing. Merri wasn’t certain in her role in this dynamic yet, and here was her ideal partner offering to make her dream of a strong, beautiful elf pamper and care for her. She was surprised to find her answer came automatically, needing no thought. “Some other time, Lala. You’re my baby, tonight, the next night, and every day after that. And, I have plans for you, little one.”               The beam on her face was well worth whatever disappointment sat in the back of Merri’s head. Lala’s face brightened up the room like a beacon from a lighthouse, and its rays of illumination were focused entirely on Merri. “Alright, Mommy.” It seemed like it shouldn’t be possible but her smile was wider than ever after uttering that word. “Right, then.” She laid her hands on Merri’s jacket.               Nothing happened. Merri realized Lala was waiting on her for her transformation spell. “Sweetie, you pick. Whatever you want Mommy to wear is fine.” The elf grew thoughtful and quiet, eyes going up towards the ceiling as though staring into the dark tent like top of the corridor towards the unseen source of magical light would prod some ideas.               The hand against Merri’s top started tingling through the fabric, and in an instant her work clothes turned into a rather conservative outfit, a lime green blouse, jeans, and sneakers. The shirt wasn’t even low cut, not the sexiest thing Merri could imagine, but Lala seemed pleased with her work. It did feel a bit costly to go without a whole uniform for 30 days, but it was the price she paid for her oversight and eagerness. It was nice to feel the caked on flour on her skin seemed to have gone away, and her hair felt clean as well, done up in a ponytail instead of a bun. There was a real weight to those changes, it didn’t feel like a glamour.               Lala started walking again, leading Merri down the passage where among the curtains a small set of steps led up to an enclosure of shelves and books. A single desk made of fine wood lay in the center, floating among a series of blue lights that glowed almost like fireflies were books suspended in the air, a few hanging open for quick and easy reference. The shelves towered towards the top of the ceiling, there had to be well over a thousand tomes in the space. Quills in ink lay on the desk, scrolls ready to be crafted laid in wait to be filled.           “And this is my study. Nearly every book I’ve ever read is here.” Lala said proudly walking up the steps.               Looking up with a smirk, Merri asked, “Every book? Baby these books look a little too ‘big’ for you. Where are your picture books? I can’t very well read you the-” She looked at one of the books in the air, “’The Army of Darkness: 100 Necromancy Tricks to Bolster Your Undead’? Yikes! What kind of bedtime story would that be? If I read that to you, you’ll have nightmares for sure!” And so will I, Merri added silently.             Poorly suppressing a giggle, “Eheheh, would you really read for me? I have some more ‘age-appropriate literature elsewhere. Oooh! I can’t wait!”               In a flash, Lala was hurrying back through the corridor, the path forking off once more before a corner. This time, a set of steps descended down towards a platform of suits of armor, weapons of all kinds, wands, and staves.               “I take it this is where your quiver takes your gear from?” Merri asked as she was taken down, eyeing a suit of armor that held a fanciful scimitar that was permanently lit on fire.               Lala nodded, taking Merri to a jewelry case. “Yes, that’s right.” She said while peering at rings, amulets, brooches, and crowns, each on a large purple pillow, the golds, silvers, and gemstones popping out of it. “Aaaand… There we go.” She picked up a silver chain with a small sapphire hanging in a bead. Without warning, she started putting it on Merri.               “Oh! That’s really sweet, Lala, but don’t you think it’s a bit early to start giving away jewelry? It is pretty though…” Despite her objection, Merri pushed away her hair and straightened her neck to allow Lala to wrap the pendant around her neck.               “Silly Mommy!” She said in a light voice, before becoming serious, “It’s an amulet of anti-psionic power,” A matter of fact tone entered her voice, “Prevents anyone from reading your mind, while also giving soome protection from mind altering effects, though that’s more of a side effect. I’m a little paranoid about people peering into my head and I’ll be sharing a lot of secrets with you, I’d rather they didn’t incidentally learn any of them by getting to you.”               “Ahh, I see. You’ve never been accused of being a romantic, have you?” Merri teased.               The elf blinked, “Umm, heh, it’s still very pretty on you.”               Merri let it slide and took the compliment. “Thanks,” Walking over to a display of wands, “You aren’t going to offer me one of your wands? What if the big bad people that wanna know your secrets come after me?”               “Do you really want one?” Lala asked, interested.               “I’m still kidding, sweetie.”               “Are you sure? Because I’d be happy to take you to the firing range and help you shoot, find one that’s just right for you.”               Merri imagined Lala’s arms around her, helping her aim the wand. “Let’s put a pin in that.”               Back down the hall they went turning the corner Merri found herself staring directly into a doorway. It led into a room completely different than the endless feeling space of black curtains. The pair stepped into a room of eggshell white walls with three doors, the one they came in from that looked like what Merri had entered with, another one identical that they were facing, and one to the left, made up of a dozen colored panes of glass that depicted a sunrise making the bottom orange, red, and yellow, a crescent moon on top, making the glass blue and purple, with white dots to represent stars. A chandelier hung from the ceiling that looked like it was made of the same floors. Pictures hung up, showing battles, some on the ground with infantry fighting, another with pegasus cavalry swooping down with their weapons outright, soldiers on the deck of a boat with a looming creature just below the surface of the water.               Merri was about to comment how nice this area was before a knock on the door came out before she had the chance. Lala shot the door a dirty, muttering darkly under her breath as she walked across the entrance way, looking cross. Lala swung open the door revealing a lizardman and kobold in the gray military uniforms, who both gave the customary salute that the elf returned. They both looked uncomfortable at the sight of Lala, Merri couldn’t say whether it was her informal attire, or whether it was because as soon as she saw the men, the jittery excitable elf she knew had vanished, replaced by a stern elf with a menacing aura.               Seeing nothing but the back of her head, Merri couldn’t see the expression on Svetlana’s face, but by the sound of her voice she could only guess that it was glaring as the soldiers in front of her shrank into the stone floor that encompassed the room outside the door, an impressive feat given they didn’t dare move an inch. “I’m not to be disturbed during my rest time.” Svetlana growled at the pair.               The kobold, the braver of the two, stepped forward, looking like someone was trying to melt him into a puddle with their gaze, “Message for you ma’am.”               Svetlana snatched it out of his hand, ripping away the red wax seal, leaning against a wall, tapping the toe of her shoe against the floor. As she read, the two gave Merri a glance, she offered the two a little wave. The lizardman was raising his hand but it shot to side when Svetlana shot him a look.               Huffing out her annoyance that her soldiers flinched at, Svetlana folded the letter. “Tell him I’ll be back in 10 hours. Wait,” She said as the two turned around taking this as dismissal, “You two, latrine duty, immediately after the message is returned, you will make every single speck of dirt vanish and you won’t stop until I personally come to relieve you of your duty.”               “Ahem,” Svetlana shot Merri a glowering look that she happily returned until Lala remembered who she was looking at, “Isn’t there a saying like, ‘Don’t shoot the messenger’?”               “Hmmm… Scrub the floors of the mess hall after you return the message.” Merri was satisfied with the grateful look the two soldiers shot her as the door was shut in their faces as they were dismissed.               “So… I don’t get my 14 hours of Lala time?”               Grimacing at that, Lala apologized, “Ah, sorry! I didn’t… They need me out there…” She gestured towards the door.               “No, it’s ok, I know how you can make it up to me…” Merri pointed towards a painting of the winged cavalry. “I’d like to ride one of the pegasus. I think that’ll make up for 4 lost hours.”               In spite of the teasing Merri’s words were laced with, Lala winced, “I’m sorry, I can’t let you ride a pegasus,” Before Merri could get the chance to tell her she was joking, Lala continued, “But you’re more than welcomed to ride my unicorn if you’d like.”               Any thoughts about whether Merri was kidding or not were swept under the rug, “You have a unicorn?”             “Yeah, it’s at a ranch in the countryside. I visit him whenever I get the chance.”               “And I can ride him for however long I want?!” It was Merri’s turn to get excited, her face lighting up like a girl’s on Candlemas.               Her enthusiasm returning, Lala pulled out her crystal ball and gleefully showed Merri an image of a cow spotted bronco with a black mane and a golden horn with herself on a saddle. “That’s my boy. Julius Czar Rex. He looks like a beast, but you’ll have to trust me, he’s an absolute doll once he knows you.” Merri had to agree he did look like a beast, riding on top of Julius, Lala looked like Merri did the last time she rode a unicorn when she was a small child.               “But yeah… I suppose you could call this my waiting room, or my front door, I always come in through this one.” Lala continued on with her tour as Merri half listened only offering a blush when Merri asked if that meant Lala made her come through her back door, swiping through images of the unicorn, occasionally seeing some more promiscuous images of half-elves that bore a striking resemblance to herself, some drawings, others not, a few differences, like the color of the eyes, hair darker or lighter than her brunette, different faces, some wearing more mundane underwear or bikinis and others wearing leather get ups that certainly weren’t wearing them for their comfort or how well they protected them in combat.               “You certainly have a type, don’t you?” Merri commented, swiping through a few more pictures. Lala let out a shocked little noise and snatched the crystal ball out of Merri’s hand. Laughing, Merri reminded her, “Hey, it’s okay, I have a type too, remember?” She said, putting a comforting hand around Lala’s arm.               “Yeah…” Lala said with a look of embarrassment.               “Come on,” Merri entwined her arm around Lala’s and rested her head against it, “Show me the rest.”               The next space Merri was brought into was a kitchen and dining area. Her eyes immediately fell on the round table, with three regular chairs and a high chair, that was certainly going to be big enough for Lala; three magnetic hooks on the side hung a collection of colorful bibs.               “Ohhh, that is perfect,” Merri murmured to herself, pulling out her sack and grabbing her bag of food out of it. She started taking out the takeout containers, clear plastic tops on a plastic black bottom and laying them out on the table.               Lala lit up seeing the shambling mound entree. “That’s my favorite!” She said seeing the spaghetti like strands of green vines, glistening with a buttery sheen, chunks of fresh white clinging to the strands like thorns on a rose.               “Not yet, Princess, Mommy has to get you dressed up before she starts feeding you.”               “You’re going to feed me too?”               “We can try letting you feed yourself, but hands only…”               “Right…” Lala looked down at her gloves, thinking. “So… You know how I told you I gave up my claim to the throne?”               Merri’s eye fell to Lala’s left arm as she said that. “I do, baby.”               It took her a second to go on, gathering her courage. “D-do you know what they do to us when we give it up?”               “I’ve heard about it. Svetlana,” Merri pulled her into a hug, “If its tough for you to talk about, its ok, you can bring it up in your own time, baby.”               Shaking her head, “No, I want to talk about it…” She started pulling off her left glove, showing Merri what she already knew was underneath.           Dividing her arm, just below the elbow was a prosthetic made of jade glass, opaque and marked with similar tattoos that the right head, but also a reversed royal insignia. The jade arm moved the same way an arm made of flesh and bone would, the long, slender fingers just as dexterous as the ones Lala was born with. Lala frowned at the arm, like it was a great shame to her.               “When we’re born, each prince and princess is given a tattoo of the royal insignia. Its some form of divination magic, it lets us track each other, tells us when another is around. Supposedly it tells us when one of us harms another, its like a deterrent for trying to take out others for a shorter line to the king. “ Lala took a deep breath. “Personally I think its more to keep us from going after Father, but that’s neither here nor there. When one of us gives up their claim, they remove the tattoo… and the whole arm its on. They give us these false one with a similar spell like the original divination, only it goes one way. The inheritors can sense us, but we can’t sense them. We’re ostracized from our family.”               “I’m sorry baby.”               “It’s fine.” She lied, pulling off her other glove, showing the litheness of her green fingers, bending in a way the material had no right to move without breaking. Merri studied the arm for a moment, all one unnatural color down to the false nails at the tips of the fingers, the ‘tattoos’ seemed to be burned on to the skin, unlike the right each one was just black, an actual imprint instead of ink. Merri ran a hand over the arm, feeling the groves of each mark, the mineral skin twitched, it wasn’t body temperature but wasn’t cold either. “That tickles,” Lala said numbly.               Merri planted a kiss on Lala’s upper arm, letting her actions speak for her, running a hand down her back as she hugged the elf.               They stood like that for some time before Merri suggested, “Come on, baby girl, let’s finish this tour so we can get you ready and eat, ok?” Still hugging each other, Merri was brought back into the main corridor. It was strange, seeing Lala without her trademark gloves, almost like she was more naked than when she was actually nude. She looked sad, Merri decided, without them. Like the visible green sheen was a constant reminder of her family. Merri was suddenly glad of her decision to refuse the Mommy offer from Lala, noting that she needed the affection more than Merri did at this moment, and nuzzled her, the elf appreciatively rubbing Merri’s shoulder.               “And this is the bedroom.” Lala announced as they stepped into a fairly open space. A large bed frame stood in the center of the room, downy purple blankets with matching pillows, a hard oak frame that led up into a canopy of mauve privacy sheets that were see through. It looked like a nice place to sleep, except… Three mannequins wearing one of Lala’s uniforms, another with her long black coat and similarly subdued ensemble beneath, the final wearing a simple white sundress with yellow dots speckled across it ending in a yellow wide brimmed hat on top. Merri couldn’t help but feel they were creepy, staring directly at the bed.               “Hmm, I like it. Looks comfy, but, I don’t know, I kind of imagined you using a crib.” Merri admitted, stepping away from Lala and testing the firmness of the bed. This would do nicely, she thought to herself.               “You do, do you?” Lala said, in a dramatic tone as she stepped near the curtain. “Then allow me to show you the best part of Casa de Lark.” She brushed pulled away the curtain with a flourish, and Merri’s eyes went wide.               The central enclosure of Lala’s sanctum was an enormous playroom. Closest to them was a large crib with white bars, bigger than any of the ones at Olga’s, bigger than even the bed Merri was next to. It was filled with stuffed animals, some bigger than Merri herself, with just enough free real-estate for three of Merri or two of Lala. She stepped closer to get a better look.               Carnival-esque was the closest way Merri could describe it. Instead of the black curtains, the walls were striped red and white, the top was covered with a rainbow’s worth of colors in balloons, each emitting their own source of light through the thin rubber, a soft lullaby played from an unseen source. There was a train going around in a circle, with a plush elephant as the conductor wearing blue and white pinstriped overalls and a matching cap. A pink bouncy castle lay nearby to that, doubling as a ball bit with large balls lazily hopping inside. A corner with a shelf much shorter than the one Merri had seen earlier covered in soft picture books with comfy looking beanbags around the padded floor. What looked like a jungle gym with slides, swings that were more like the baby bouncers that Olga had on display, a sandbox that already had what appeared to be an intricate castle permanently affixed in it, the main jungle gym made up of long tubes that Merri could see herself getting lost in. An area dedicated to toys of all shapes and sizes, with an activity gym for tummy time in the center, in the back of it a dollhouse mansion pulled apart with a town's worth of little people. Instruments soundlessly played by phantom hands dominated a section of the area.               Nearby to Merri and Lala was a rotating rail of outfits, onesies, short and skirtalls, dresses that were closer to shirts in length, each in simple or pastel colors. Merri had to wonder why an elf who made whatever she imagined as her outfit needed so many options, though she couldn’t say it wasn’t charming next to the trio of mirrors that stood by.               A changing table with an ethereal servant in a pink smock waited for a command, holding a white diaper and behind it, an outrageous amount of diaper designs laying flat in glass displays with white frames. It seemed to be a giant book of frames standing behind the servant, a page having two dozen designs.               It looked like the collection of a Little’s lifetime, or maybe two or three lifetimes. Merri was struck with a feeling of envy, the little girl in her screamed at her to run and play in this giant toy box. She restrained that side of her for the moment. For now.               “Welcome to Lala’s Little Land!” The elf said, hands on her hips staring at Merri expectantly, basking in a prideful glow.               “W-wow!” Merri was at a loss for words, everything in the vicinity demanding her attention. “It’s incredible…”               “I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited to show someo- hey!” Merri grabbed Lala by the arm and pulled her towards the changing table. “W-what are you doing?” Lala asked excitedly.               “First things first, my petite Princess. Strip.” Merri commanded, keeping her delight out of her voice and adopting a more authoritative attitude. Lala didn’t need more than that to start pulling her shoes off, followed by her tights that she tossed to the side. Merri helped her out of her scarlet dress, neatly folding it and setting it to the side. Lala was left in a smart pair of white and black underwear, matching bra and panties, both with a bow, one in the center of her ribs and the other just below the elastic on her waistline, she was just about to tear those off of her as well before Merri stopped her. “Wait just a second…”               Going into her handy haversack, Merri retrieved the bag she got from Olga’s before starting to disrobe herself.               Lala put her right hand over her mouth as she watched Merri undress. “Oh, Mommy! Why are you undressing? Were you maybe thinking we both could have some baby time?”               Merri flashed her a devilish smile, “You’ll see…” She told her as she folded her clothes and tucked them away in a pile, leaving herself completely nude. “Next, please use them on yourself.” She said, handing a scroll over to Lala.               “What is it?”               Coyly, Merri asked, “Do little girls ask questions or do they do what Mommy says?”               “No.” Svetlana said in a serious tone. “I’m going to need full disclosure. I’ll be perfectly willing to obey you but there are limits.” Wagging the scroll at Merri. “I need to know if this will impair me if I need to be called for duty.”               “Oh! Yeah, understandable…” Merri said, partially in shock from the 180 in attitude. “That’s a clone scroll, and after you take that…” She pulled out a little vial with the small member stopper. “This is going to give you a penis for a short time. About an hour. Full disclosure then, you’ll be really, really sensitive, and it’s going to make you pretty horny.”               Lala pursed her lips as she accepted the elixir. Studying it, she nodded. “Thank you for telling me. Sorry I had to get all serious for a second.”               “No need to apologize, should’ve brought it up first thing. So you ok with that?”               “Hmm…” Lala mused to herself, “I always… I wondered what it would be like to… have one. Have you tried it?”               “No,” Merri admitted, “But I went with Olga’s recommendation and I trust her.”               Nodding, Lala looked at the scroll, it started to burn in her hand, the smoke from it billowing next to her taking on her form until a second nearly nude Lala was by her side. “Is this-” The original spoke.               Then the duplicate carried on the sentence, “This what you-”               “Have in mind-”               “Mommy?” They both spoke the last word in unison, starting to feel each other in a seductive way while staring at Merri.               “Double the fun?” One asked, twirling around with the other.               “Was I not enough for you?” Another playfully pouted.               “Trust me, Princess, one is plenty enough for me. Now the potion, dear.”               They looked at each other. “But which one is the real me?”               “You’ll have to shoot us both, it’s the only way to be sure!” One suggested.               Merri folded her arms. “Someone lost us 4 hours of play time with her ‘responsibilities’ otherwise I would happily play the whole 'which twin is which’ game, you two know which is the original. Take your potion, now, miss.”               The true Lala picked up the potion, wriggling her nose at the little dick member and quaffing it as the other one stuck her tongue at Merri, she gave a pointed look at the clone. It didn’t take long for Lala’s hands to shoot down to her groin. “Ahh, ahh, ahh, panties down, young lady. Mommy wants to see.” With a flush, Lala stripped down, just as the growth above her hole started standing up.               “Oooh.” Lala moaned as the hormones started pulsing through her, squirming. “I didn’t… Mmm…” She licked her lips. “That kicks in fast…” Lala was lost in the throes of her horniness as her freshly grown member stood erect. “I- Kinda thought it was going to be bigger…” She pouted as it reached its full height of 3 inches.               “Babies get a baby dick, sweetie.”               “No matter…” Lala shrugged. “So how should we do this? Am I going to fuck-”               “Language!” Merri said harshly.               “Sorry! Are we gonna… Or me and her?” She gestured towards her clone, the real Lala blushed as she realized her copy was giggling at her size. “Or all of us together?”               Merri pointed towards the changing table. “Next step, Lala. Butt up on that table.” She turned towards the copy as the original did as she was told, the gassy servant hovering nearby, “Be a dear for Mommy and pick out something for your ‘little’ sister to wear.”               The clone smiled and said, “Yes, Mommy.” She looked over at the frame, settling on a baby blue one with a yellow duck on the cover. “This one Mommy. Its blue cause she’s a boy.”               “’M not a-”               “Hush sweetie, the adults are talking.” Merri rubbed a comforting hand on Lala’s thigh. “Now, can you change it or…” She asked the clone Lala.               “Madam Margaret, if you would, please.” The clone pointed at the blue diaper in the frame. In the ethereal servant’s hand, the white diaper transformed into the one she was pointing at.               It moved to started changing the Lala on the table, “Thank you, but I’ll change her.” Merri told the servant, holding her hand out for the disposable underwear, readying something else in her hand. “Now sweetie, I’ve been told that new penises are very, very, very sensitive. You’re not allowed to make any stickies unless I tell you to, understand?”               Lala nodded on the table, looking confused, “Alright… I’ll try.”               “Do or do not, Princess, there is no try.” Merri told the prone elf as she took a bottle of lotion and started lathering her hands with it, rubbing it all over Lala’s crotch.               The order immediately seemed impossible to follow as Merri ran a hand over the small wick of a dick. After only a few strokes, Lala was moaning. “Ohh, M-m-mommy… I’m g-gonna…” A cold clasp of metal covered her newest part of her body. It was like a cold shower focused entirely on her new cock. “Huh?” She looked down as Merri strapped a brand new stainless steel chastity cage. “What’s that Mommy?” She asked dumbly.               Applying powder to Lala’s underside as she spoke with a neutral tone, “I told you the other day, Princess, you’re going to get a punishment for taking off your diaper without Mommy. This is it.” Merri looked over at the clone. “Sweetheart, pick out an appropriate set of pj’s for the baby.”               Walking towards the rack of clothes with a devious grin, the clone affirmed, “Right away Mommy.”               Merri taped Lala up as tight as she could, giving her a thorough look. “Not quite right… Babies don’t need these.” She took off the girl’s bra. “Better but… Madame Margaret, will you please pass me another diaper? I think my baby is going to be quite leaky, and handsy tonight.” The servant dutifully passed over another layer of diaper, and then another when Merri decided that still wasn’t thick enough.              Lala squirmed on the changing mat as her libido stole all of her attention, squirming, trying to press her legs together but the thickness of her layers offered her no clearance. Her hands might as well be pawing the changing table for all the good it did to her little caged penis. Merri giggled at Lala’s desperate attempts. It was like trying to feel a pea through 10 mattresses, an impossible task, even for a Princess.              "Ma-ma puh-puh-puh-please! I gotta... Please!" Her pleads got no answer, all Merri did was wipe away the line of drool that was dripping down the corner of the elf's mouth.              The clone returned with a set of fuzzy blue feetie jammies that Merri nodded approvingly of. The two helped Lala off the table, though she fell on her jellied legs, still squirming to get to the source of her frustration.              Pulling the last two items from her bag from Olga’s, a potion similar to Lala’s only with a stopper considerably longer, Merri drank it and a scroll that she gave to the clone, after Merri whispered into the copy's ear she used it on herself, then they started helping Lala into her new wardrobe.               "Mmm!" Lala whined as she felt something hard pressing into the small of her back as Merri stood behind her, helping her stand with her hands on her hips while the copy threaded her legs into the jammies. Thinking was coming easy. Her mind was on a single track now. "M-Merri, please, I don’t care, you d-don't have to p-play with i-it, j-just put yours inside of me!"              "Thank you baby, that's a very, very tempting offer." Merri told the elf as she helped her arms into the onesie. "Honestly, its hard to resist, I can feel myself going a bit crazy already." Merri spun her around where Lala could see her new penis already growing larger than her own by three times the size, Lala leered at it both jealously and with desperate need. "But..." She zipped the front up of the fuzzy blue jammies. "Mommy already has a dance partner for the evening." Lala looked over at her clone who wiggled her fingers and the babied elf. "Don't fret, Princess! I'm giving you front row seats!"              Lala could only let out a whimper as Merri and her clone pushed the crib closer to the bedroom. Merri could only keep control of herself just long enough to get Lala inside before she was all over Lala’s twin.              Merri’s urges could not longer be contained as she grabbed the copy of Lala and brought her down to her level. Sense left her as her tongue and lips felt the soft touch of the elf's kiss, wandering not long after. Lala could only whine as she watched her lover's face drift down to her counterfeit's chest, making the fake moan as Merri’s hand clench the bars of her crib. Hands started reaching down, breathy whispers exchanged.               As far as Merri was concerned, there was no time for foreplay. Just as her Mommy had promised, Lala had the best spot in the house to watch Merri pushed her reflection face down into the mattress and start thrusting into her from behind. Sense seemed to abandon the half-elf, hands manhandling the body Lala had worked so hard to maintain, Merri’s nails digging into the other Lala.               "Ah ah ah! Merri! You're so rough! You're hurting me! Harder! Harder!"              "You're the, ha, toughest, ha, person I know, Svetlana my sexy queen. No little, ha, cry baby could compare, ha, to you my sweet." Merri groaned as she pounded into the Cody's supple insides.               "Ahh!"              Lala knew they were putting on a show for her, but the knowledge did nothing to soothe a bruised ego or quell the burning in her loins. In desperation she grabbed one of the larger stuffed animals, a fluffy pink unicorn with a plastic saddle that dhe could almost, if she pretended really, really, really hard she could almost think she felt it through the diapers, and started humping it, trying to get some kind pleasure through the metal and thick diapers. She felt the ghost of a tingle, and she could almost tune out what her lover and doppleganger were up to not that far away...              Lala heard her own voice say, "Oh Gods, is she doing what I think she's doing?"               "It's kind of sweet." She heard Merri say between fits of laughter. "She's trying to be like her Mommy."              Trying to ignore them, Lala tried to go on in spite of the laughter. Only for it to stop suddenly and be replaced by more grunting. Lala tried not to look up, tried to not give into the temptation, but...              Lala saw herself riding on top of Merri, thrusting and bouncing her hips while Merri had her hands filled with Lala’s cups. Lala didnt know who she was more jealous of, only knowing one thing for certain: she wanted out of this damn crib. An image of herself that she had had for a long time but never truly got to live out became a reality for her.              Gripping the bars if her crib, Lala, tears pouring out of the side of her eyes waited, "Mooommy! Wan' my Moooommmy! Get off her you cow! Give me back my Mooommmy you skank!!" Lala didn't care that she was essentially insulting herself, she wanted Merri here right this second. More laughter filled Lala’s ears and that only made her scream louder.              "One more minute baby, then I'll come get you..." The other Lala said. The real Lala glared at her. She didn't want the fake she wanted her Mommy!              Then, before Lala’s eyes, she watched Merri make a final grunt, the clone sighing in satisfaction as she was filled with the real Lala’s Mommy’s cum... and the clone's belly to start ballooning out, her breasts growing fatter than Lala’s ever had, starting to drip with milk that dribbled on to Merri’s chest.              Objectively, Lala knew that it was just some spell, a little trick, only... This was the cusp of betrayal. That should be her. She should be over there right now and it wasn't...              "Not fair! Not fair! Not fair!" Lala screamed as she shook the bars of the crib she had made herself with utmost care, never dreaming she would ever treat one of her prized pieces of furniture with such disrespect.               The tears had made the world around Lala blurry, when she heard footsteps approaching her, all she could do was make pathetic, "Eh! Eh!" Sounds as she demanded attention and affection. She jumped at who ever opened the door to the crib.              With shock, Lala fell into familiar well toned arms and a fat belly. "I know what baby Lala needs..." Her own voice said, as Lala's mouth was pressed into a wet nipple and she was fed milk from her counterfeit, between the precum that was coming out of the tip of the cage, Lala could feel herself uncontrollably wet herself as the reality of the situation dropped on her.