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Chapter Twenty-Six: Maybe it was the car ride back to the hotel. Maybe it was the milk that flowed out of Betsy's breast. Maybe it was the way the bassinet - another new piece of furniture in the hotel room - swayed side to side. Whatever it was, I was out like a light before eight o’clock. The whole day: the trip to the mall, the clothing store, the two salespeople at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, eating baby food in public, messing myself in the toy store, and getting changed in the women's restroom. All that crying, all that blushing, all that humiliation and shame, things I never thought I'd do, people I never thought would see me do them. By the time Betsy swaddled me in a blanket and laid me down for the night, I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I couldn't fight... I didn't want to. I just wanted to sleep. To say this week had been unusual would have been to undersell everything we went through together; from taking photos of a model who was in this business to make a few bucks, to waking up in the same room as that same girl who was asleep in a bassinet... it was a strange progression. Stranger still, were my feelings. My feelings for her. The way I'd protected her yesterday at the mall and did my best to keep her safe from Betsy’s machinations. I'd stood guard outside of the bathroom to stop others coming in. I'd planned ways to keep her safe from Betsy when we'd gotten back to the hotel. I'd keep her safe today too, even though it was still early. I'd show Leona that she could depend on me. Jackie's phone rang. It was only six in the morning, and Jackie had woken up only a few minutes before. She checked the caller ID. Abe. "Hey Julie! How's your morning?" "Jackie," she said sourly into the phone, keeping her voice down as not to wake up Leona. "Right, right. But here's the thing. We're planning a huge party for tomorrow, and I need Nurse Betsy on board. So you're going to babysit today. Don't worry - you'll get paid." "You need me to babysit? And Betsy won't be around?" I held the receiver away from my ear as Abe scolded me for 'not listening, Jackie, you never listen, maybe you should try listening, Jackie', which only represented his total inability to pay attention to contextual questions. When I put my phone back to my ear to listen to him, I crept my way over to the bassinet and looked down at Leona. God, this furniture was ridiculous. Who made furniture like this? Gosh she was cute, though... "One other thing. Jackie, you there? Hey!" "Yeah, I'm here." "Good, now listen up. We still need footage for today, so you're on camera duty. Pictures. Videos. The works." "I don't do video." "Your camera has a video setting, doesn't it?" "Yeah, but--" "Doesn't matter. Do it anyway. Amateur shit is all the rage. And you're part of the project now - we've got you on camera, right? Make it into a thing. Make it good. Make me money. Or you're fired." Then he hung up. Or I'm fired? Yeah, he was going to fire me. How petty could that piece of shit be? Ugh. Before waking up sleeping beauty, I went over to my bedside and took my camera; it wouldn't hurt to get some snaps of her in the bassinet, would it? Maybe for me, maybe for Abe. Who cared, though, it was just pictures. Gosh she was cute. Click click. Sunlight filtered through the curtains when I woke up. I wasn't sure where I was at first, and I had to struggle to pull myself out of the tight blanket wrapped around me. But when I struggled, I started to rock side to side. I froze in place until the rocking stopped before I sat up and looked around the hotel. Bassinet... I sighed, remembering last night. This was so fucking stupid. I managed to kick the blankets off me but getting out of the rocking bed was a lot harder than I thought. "Hey Leona, how're you feeling? Want to get some food?" I decided that if I wasn't filming her actively, I damn well wasn't going to baby talk to her. I'd get Abe what he wanted, but I wouldn't go overboard to get it. "Here, let me help you out of that thing; for an adult that's gotta be a death trap." "Thanks," I muttered, as Jackie took me by the hand and helped me step out of the bassinet. The diaper between my legs weighed down the onesie. I was wet? In my sleep? Or did I wake up in the middle of the night and decide it was best to stay in bed? A blush came over my cheeks and I shuffled from side to side. "I, um... should shower before Betsy gets here..." "You should, but she's not getting here until tomorrow so what's the rush?" I tugged down on the bottom hems of her onesie and smiled. "Oh you're so cute in your onesie, look at you." I had the realization when I did that... that she was wet. And that's probably why she wanted to shower. Maybe instead... "How about I draw you a bath? This week has been stressful as heck, and I could put some bubbles in it, wash your hair...?" I pouted a little and shooed Jackie's hands away from my diaper. It wasn't any of her business! The offer for a bath was kind, but I ignored it for a much bigger concern. "What do you mean, she's not getting here until tomorrow? She's not coming today? What about the documentary?" "Well, Abe said something about a big event tomorrow to celebrate the end of the movie, and he needed Betsy to help with the setup. So I'm tasked with babysitting you today and he wants me to do some photos and videos throughout the day so we are still on the clock. But more-or-less, it's up to us how we want to go about things now." Which meant... "Which means, little sweetheart, that Auntie Jackie is giving you a bath." Jackie went into the bathroom and started running the tub. I followed behind her in my frilly ankle socks. Ugh, I hadn't even noticed those... "This is... surprising." "A good surprise?" Jackie asked. "Um. Yeah, I guess so. I just... didn't expect it." A day without Betsy. Hm. How lucky. "But you don't actually have to babysit me. We can just take some photos or something and you can take the day off." "I'm going to take you on a date." I told her, surprising the both of us equally. Why had I said that? I didn't even ask her, I just said it! I said it smoothly and confidently, like there was no chance of her saying no. I said it like I was a parent giving out instructions, that's what I did. "...oh." Well. "Um... I don't... really have any date clothes with me? If you wanted to stop by my apartment or something..." Not a no. Because I didn't want to say no. I wanted to say yes. But she hadn't asked, so I couldn't. Jackie poured bubbles into the tub and I stood awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot in my wet diaper. "If you let me take you on a date,” - still not asking - “I’d like to dress you." I unsnapped her onesie while I was talking, like it didn't matter at all to me that she was wet. “So I'm going to, if that’s okay.” I thought for a second and then continued to undress her. She unsnapped two of the four buttons between my legs before I pushed her hands away and took a step back. "I can do it myself. And I still don't have any clothes here." Then again, I knew what Jackie liked. This baby stuff was right up her alley. Was she going to dress me up like this in public? I crossed my arms. "I'm not going out in baby clothes again." “I’m not going to embarrass you.” She unsnapped the next button on my onesie and I tried to push her hands away again. "I said—“ "I know what you said. Come here." I gave her a pensive look and took a half step forward. She'd see I was wet, if she hadn't already... ugh. "I'm perfectly capable of doing this stuff on my own, you know. It's not a real documentary." "And I'm capable of knowing that the girl I want to date can both be an adult and a little girl, and me treating her one way doesn't diminish her value in the other. So be good." Yup. She sure was wet. Really wet. Had she done this at night, when she was sleeping? She must have, right? She must have lost control? Gosh that was hot. I thought about that. Being an adult and a little girl didn't diminish the other. It seemed like a paradox, actually. You couldn't be both an adult and a little girl, right? One was real, the other was an act. Jackie undressed me, naked as the day I was born, and plopped me in the sea of bubbles. She didn't say anything about the diaper, if she'd noticed. She had to have noticed, right? She was so different to Betsy… "I want to take you somewhere fun today. You know the Faire down at the pier? I think I'm going to take you there, and we can hold hands, and ride rides, and win prizes, and have fun today." And the backdrop would make an excellent framing for any pictures or video, too. It was win/win, really. A date at the pier. Actually, that sounded sort of nice... Jackie rinsed my hair and helped me put shampoo through it, though I didn't need the help. She scrubbed soap on a rag and started wiping down my arms and back. "If you know I can do all this myself, then why are you still treating me like a baby?" "Because I want to, and I think you want me to, too, or else you would have just stuck firm on 'no' and went to have a shower. I'm new at this, Leona, but you're really easy to figure out when you want to be figured out. Stay here." I stood up and dried off my hands; a few pictures in the bath would be good for the documentary. I smiled for the camera, thinking about what Jackie had said. If I didn't want to, I would have said no. So when the photoshoot was done - playing in the bubbles, with the bath toys - I thought to follow up on my thoughts. "So maybe you're right. A few days ago, Abe said that I had a pretty easy job if I let it happen. So I did. And he was right. I mean, except for the diapers and Betsy being a total asshole about everything she does. But the rest of it - being dressed and fed and stuff... that's not so bad. I don't mind you, uh.. bathing me..." I blushed. I was so proud of her! I mean, it was weird to be proud, because she was an adult and I was an adult, and I wasn't her Mom or anything like that. She called Betsy Mommy and it burned me up every damn time. Auntie Jackie was a nice start, but I longed for her to call me Mommy, even if only for a very short time. "I think being you should always be easy. It should always be something you like being." "But the other stuff - the diapers and pacifiers and stupid frilly clothes and being bossed around - that's not me. That's just some character I play so I can get money." I crossed my arms in the tub, sinking into the water. Half the bubbles were gone and it was easy to see the tops of my small boobs. "The only reason I am agreeing to any of this is because of the documentary, and the second it's over, everything goes back to normal." "Yeah? Is that right?" I splashed her with bubbles a bit and laughed. "Here I was thinking you liked it when I sat you on my lap in your diaper, or brushed you hair, or picked out clothes for you to wear, held you hand in public and talked to you like a little girl? Here I thought you liked having me change your diapers in the morning and before bed? The smell of baby powder, the feeling between your legs?" I glared at Jackie, annoyance written all over my face. "If you are only interested in me because you've got a diaper fetish, then you should find someone else. Because I don't. I do this because it's my job. I'm an actress, not a character. Don't fall for some imaginary girl." I splashed her again. "I"m not going to pretend that it's not fun for me, because it is. But if it were anybody else, I wouldn't care either way." She was so cute when she was pouty, trying to posture, trying to make a point. "Listen. I'm into you, you dummy. And whatever makes up you. If it's this stuff or isn't, I'll probably be into that, too. It's like a kiddy pool; it's not that deep. I like you." I gave her a skeptical look, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn't find any hint that she was lying. And I wore diapers for work anyway, so she'd get her rocks off on that, right? Couples had different sexual interests all the time. So did it matter if she had a diaper fetish? I sighed and gave up. Let it be easy, I reminded myself. Stop getting in your way. "I like you too." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like & Comment! Please also consider supporting us on Patreon!

Hmmm... good question re/ Pet lifetimes. As I said before, in my mind the changes to a Pet are the minimum needed to justify in the Keeperverse the use of the diapers, restraints, how they are treated, etc. Changing the lifetime of the Pet vs a 'normal' human doesn't seem necessary, so... I would expect that they have the same life span. Yeah, that introduces questions about geriatric pets, etc., but I'll leave that to someone else to explore if they wish! ******* Chapter 9: A Walk Outside A while later I found myself at the breakfast table. Well, not at the breakfast table, really, but under it, on my leash, which was clipped around the leg of the heavy table. Karen and Jenn had showered, and Jenn had taken off my muzzle and washed it. I had also gotten a wash cloth rubbed over my face and body, and I felt much more human… well… I guess that wasn’t the right phrase anymore. I certainly felt much better, though. Jenn had also taken the changing pad, and put me in one of the ‘Ultra Comfort’ diapers, which I found was much thinner and less noticeable between my legs. I really was more comfortable without the bulk, although it sounded much more crinkly to me. My Keeper and Karen had agreed that I didn’t need the muzzle for now, since I needed to eat anyway, and so for the first time in a while the red bars around my face were gone and I could lower my face into the silver bowl of food and eat. As long as I pretended it was just cereal, the taste wasn’t really all that bad. I thought for a second about asking to join them at the table, but I knew how that would go. I decided to accept it, as Angie had insisted that JoJo did, since I had even helped try to convince JoJo that her eating on the floor was the appropriate thing. Karma, I guess. The family talked above me, and I could hear most of the plans that were being adjusted on my account, the things that needed to get done on this Sunday, and general chatter of parents that were surprised, but happy, to have both their daughters, and an unexpected Pet, living with them for a while. I sat beside my Keeper's chair, her hand on my head, petting me. It wasn't so bad. After a leisurely breakfast, the human legs around me got up, and the table was cleared. Well, at least I was excused from cleaning the table and dishes, so I had that going for me. I lay there, my food bowl empty, content to enjoy the morning. Not like i had a choice anyway. ** It had been decided that Jenn and Karen would take me to the park and work on my training, while Joe set up the Pet run and did some other Pet-related preparations around the house. Jenn checked my diaper and declared it ‘barely wet’, while Karen put some things in a bag. I couldn’t see everything that went in, but she at least grabbed a few diapers and a package of wipes. I followed the guidance of my leash back out to the garage, where Jenn opened the rear hatch. The plastic on my diaper crinkled as I shuffled along, still getting used to the idea of having to walk on all fours for any distance. My crate was waiting, the absorbent mat that I had leaked on during the long flight and trip still in there. Jenn pulled it out and threw it away. “We’ll have to clean this better later, but it’s a short ride.” She boosted me up into the back of the SUV, and I climbed into the crate without comment. I hoped to prove my trustworthiness today, so that perhaps I could not have to wear all the restraints all the time. Jenn tossed my leash in without out unclipping it. The cage door closed, the SUV tailgate closed, and Karen and my Keeper climbed into the front. I have no idea who was driving, of course. It was indeed a short ride, and soon the back of the SUV opened. I had to wait until the crate door was opened and I could climb back out that I could see we were at a large park. Jenn helped me climb out of the SUV, and I looked around. There were a number of baseball fields on one side, and soccer fields on the other, with little kids running after a variety of balls in slightly organized chaos. Directly in front, what looked like a series of large fenced in grassy pens had bunch of dogs and Pets running around, playing with balls and frisbees, and generally having a good time. Many of the owners and Keepers were gathered on the sides, chatting, as their dogs and Pets ran around. Karen pulled out the red muzzle and handed it to Jenn. “He should be wearing this, especially around others.” I immediately protested. “Oh come on, I don’t need a muzzle. Please don’t put that on me.” “Do you want the gag too?” Jenn's response shut me up, and I allowed the cage of the muzzle to be held to my lower face as straps of the muzzle were tightened around my head and locked. “It’s not fair. The dogs over there don’t have to wear a muzzle.” It was Karen who replied, the annoyance clear in her voice. “They don't have to wear a diaper, either." Ouch. "You know damn well that the dogs over there are more trustable than you are, and probably better trained than you are, and even after you’re well trained you’ll still do dumb things if you’re allowed to. Now, let’s stop with the protesting and start with the training, so that maybe one day you don’t need the muzzle. Right?" I was cowed. I mean, she was right of course. I felt exposed and embarrassed, out in the open around the public for really the first time. I was naked, wearing only the red muzzle and leather restraints on my arms and legs and the crinkling white plastic diaper between my legs, the yellow stripe of which was turning blue telling everyone who could see me that I couldn't control myself. I tried to hide behind my Keeper. Karen noticed, of course. "He's skittish because he's afraid what the people here will think of him. Right JayJay?" I nodded. "Well, he needs to stop thinking of himself as a human. He's a Pet, and people won't think anything is out of the ordinary. Let's go." I felt my Keeper pull me to be beside here, and then on a very short leash I was guided towards the gate of one of the less crowded pens. Jenn opened one gate and we entered a small area. She closed and latched the outer gate before opening the inner gate. The double-gated entry ensured that none of the animals on the inside could escape as we entered. The thought that I was now one of the animals that this was designed to keep contained gave me the shivers as the clang of the inside gate announced our arrival. Soon we were inside, and I was lead over across the grass to an empty shady area. Jenn clipped my leash to one of the many rings mounted conveniently on the fence posts around the pen, and they proceeded to spread out a blanket. I waited, watching the animals playing. Some were dogs, wearing only a collar, while some were Pets, with a diaper and a collar and a variety of levels of restraints. Most of the Pets wore mitts or paws. Only a few wore muzzles or were on all fours. I lowered my head in shame. I couldn't be trusted. Karen looked at Jenn. “OK, let’s remember the Four C's: Concise, Clear, Calm, and Consistent. Let's start by getting him to sit.” My Keeper looked at me. “Sit.” I mean, I know what I was supposed to do… being told to sit didn’t take even a dog brain… but I knew what Karen was getting at, and knew that having Jenn be a good Keeper was in my best interest. So I looked at her and said with a smile, “No.” Karen grinned. We had been to the same classes after all, and we both remembered when one of the Pets doing a demonstration had done exactly this. Angie had been clear that the fault was with the Keeper, not the Pet. “Your voice must have authority. You must command him, not ask him, and not leave room for doubt. His disobedience is not his fault, and in this case I know he’s making a point. Try again. Command him.” Jenn smiled and looked directly at me. “Sit.” This time there was something in the tone of her voice that hit something under my consciousness and I immediately responded to my Keeper's command. I sat, my bottom on the ground, arms straight looking at her with a smile through the muzzle. "Lay down." She learned fast. I was down on my stomach, arms bent and under me, legs splayed, before I had a conscious though about it. I felt a tingling... her control over me had touched something that gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. I felt a tightening as I filled out the chastity cage. It was definitely a turn on. My Keeper shivered a little, and Karen noticed. "Did you feel something?" "Uh... when he responded like that... it was rather... exciting to have that control." "Yeah, that's an important part of the Pet and Keeper bond... and why he's in a chastity cage, which by the way he's moving is probably causing him some discomfort right now?" She looked at me, eye raised. I nodded. "So good. That why he listens to you, and why you'll want to take care of you. There's something deep inside that makes this work, and physically you both respond when it does." She paused. "OK, those are the easy commands," Karen said. "Since he's been to class, let's ask him what commands he should expect his trainer to know. JayJay?" looked at Karen. "Ummm.... Sit, stay, lie down, heel... ummm... " Karen looked at me. She knew I knew, of course. "Stop, kennel up, diaper time, on fours..." Karen smiled. "Good start. I'd add, "Quiet" to the list. After this morning, you might both want to learn that one." She had a Cheshire-cat sized grin on her face. "The first exercise is for both of you. Jenn, I want to tell him to 'Sit, 'On Fours', and 'Lie Down', in random order. Start slow. You can leave his leash hooked; he doesn't need to go anyplace. JayJay, if you remember, part of this exercise was for you to figure out how to easily move between the positions, and to do so without thinking, right?" I nodded. Jenn looked at me, and I heard my Keeper say, "Sit". I rolled around a little, until I was able to get my arms under me and get into a sitting position. "Lay down." Back down I went. "Sit." Her voice wasn't right. "No." Karen laughed. "Sit." That was her Keeper voice. I sat. "On Fours." I went to all fours. "Lay down." Tone isn't right. "No." "Lay down." I was down. This happened for must what have been 20 minutes... up, down, sit, it went on and on. About halfway through I ran out of opportunities to say “No”, as every command she gave was the right tone, and I responded without thinking. Also, I was learning how to move more smoothly, as I knew I was supposed to, with practice. I was sweating with the effort as I tried to react as I knew I should to make my Keeper proud. Finally, Karen called time. Both Jenn and I sighed in relief, both clearly excited by the control she had shown over me. Karen brought a water bottle over and gave me a long drink through the muzzle. Jenn got a bottle of her own, sitting on the blanket for a few minutes and resting while we watched the other animals play, my leash clipped to the pole. At one point, a frisbee being tossed for a dog drifted over towards me, almost hitting Jenn in the head, and I got another reminder of why I was in restraints and on a leash. My response to seeing my Keeper almost being hit raised a reaction in me so fast that I didn't even realize that I was trying to go after the young woman who had thrown it over the head of her dog until I reached the end of my leash and was jerked backwards. I wasn't until my Keeper had calmed me down and gotten me re-focused that I realized that like a dog chasing a car, I had no idea what I was going to do if I caught the woman. I was just reacting. I hoped that my Keeper could help tame these behaviors that I knew I had, but I saw all too clearly why society had decided that treating those on my end of the Bond as un-trustable animals to be leashed and restrained was not an unreasonable compromise. I could never live on my own again, and I knew it. The warm, squishy mass between my legs showed it. I was a Pet, dependent on my Keeper. Karen's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "OK, break's over. Let's move to the next step. Heel. This is important when you're walking him. The goal of this exercise here is to get him accustomed to how you walk and move, so that he can stay beside you without being a problem, and you both know where he should be, and will be, at any point in time. OK? While it’s his job to stay beside you, it’s your job to give him the subtle hints to let him know what you intend." Jenn nodded. "OK, take his leash. Stand next to him, with him on your left side, and tell him in your Keeper's voice to heel. Since you’re right handed, you will usually want him on on your left side, and the leash in your left hand, so that you can use your right hand for other things." Jenn got up and unclipped my leash from the pole. She stood beside me, holding my leash only a few inches from my collar. "Heel". It was a good command and I responded quickly, moving to her side, ready to walk. "Now smoothly start walking forward. Go a few steps, and stop. Wait, and then start again. Over to the fence." Suddenly my collar was jerked forward, and I stumbled forward, trying to get my hands and legs under me and moving, when just as suddenly I was jerked back again. "Ouch!" I said. "Jenn, be gentle! He's not used to this yet, OK? Start slowly and stop slowly, so that he learns your signals and can work with you. You're working together on this. This really is a ’together’ thing, OK?" Jenn looked down at me, and I could see the concern on her face. "Sorry. Can we try it again?" I nodded. "Heel." This time I felt a gentle nudge on my collar and I started walking forward. I more felt in sync with my keeper. I felt a gentle pull back on my collar, and I stopped. Jenn looked at Karen for guidance. "Much better. Let's keep going, all the way to the fence. Start smoothly, walk for a few paces, and stop." I felt the gently pull on my collar, and started walking. A few steps later, a gently pull back, and I stopped. Start, stop, start, stop. Soon we were walking in sync... well, mostly, I stumbled here and there as she sometimes caught me off guard, and my still-awkward gate on all fours wasn’t helping. Soon we reached the fence. Jenn looked to Karen. "Um, how do I turn?" "Guide him with the leash. He's on your left, so if you want to turn to the left you give gentle guidance back, and to the left, with the leash. If you want to go to the right, pull him ahead, and to the right. Gently. Smoothly." I felt the collar pull me forward, and I was guided to the right, and I walked around my Keeper while she pivoted in place. With my legs bound, I felt awkward trying to both move and turn, but my Keeper kept a gentle and patient pressure on my leash. When we were facing back towards our blanked, the pull straightened out, and we started back the way we had come. Stop. Start. Turn to the left. Stop. Start. Turn to the right. A ball went by, and just as I thought about running after it to throw it back to the person who had thrown it, I felt my Keeper's grasp on my leash tighten. I kept focus. Damn, was I really that easy to distract? I mean the frisbee had almost hit Jenn, so I could see my reacting to that, but I couldn't believe that I was being distracted just by a ball. What was I, a cat? Would I dance to a freaking laser pointer? How could I please my Keeper if every flashy or moving bright color was a distraction? Could I keep focus at all? Was I destined to be just the dog from the movie that kept saying, "Squirrel!", or could I get beyond that? The more insistent tug on my leash answered the question as I realized I had stopped moving. I was being distracted by my own distraction. I moved up to where my Keeper was waiting, where she held my leash a little shorter. Despite that and a few other exceptions, I wasn't really doing that badly keeping focus and moving with her but we definitely needed some practice to keep it smooth, especially in the turns. Finally we made it back to the blanket. Jenn clipped my leash to the pole, and we had more water. "His diaper is pretty wet, Jenn. You might want to change it. Not a big risk if there's a leak out here, but you'll need to get in the habit of checking his diaper and changing it when needed." "He won't tell me?" "It depends. At first, JoJo told Angie immediately when her diaper was even a little wet, so Angie started ignoring her and just checking her when she felt like it. Eventually JoJo stopped asking. Other Pets are more reasonable, I hear." She looked pointed at me. I took the hint. "Could you please change me, Jenn?" Karen pulled a changing mat out of the bag, as well as a diaper and wipes. "The command you should always use is, 'Diaper time', and point at where you want him to go." My Keeper pointed at the mat that was spread out. "Diaper time." I immediately went to the mat and rolled over onto my back, my wet diaper presented for servicing. I looked around. "It's so... public here. Do we have to do this here?" Jenn's response was immediate and firm. "Yes, my Pet, we will change your diaper right here. You're a Pet, and Pets can have their diapers changed anywhere. Right, Karen?" The command tone of her voice quelled any rebellion that may have been growing in my mind. Karen just smiled. "Lift up." My Keeper slipped the dry diaper under me, and quickly popped the tapes. I heard Karen's phone ring, and it distracted me as Jenn removed the wet diaper, gave me a quick wipe, and taped up the dry diaper. I heard Karen on the phone. "Really, right now?” Pause. "We can be there in about 20 minutes, ok?" Karen looked at Jenn, a smile on her face. "OK, Mom, see you there." Karen hung up the phone. "We have a little errand we need to run. Let's go. You get him to the car and I'll grab this." Jenn looked at her quizzically, but Karen just smiled. Jenn unhooked my leash from the ring, and with a "Heel" command started walking while Karen packed up the changing pad, used diaper, blanket, and the rest of our stuff. I practiced walking on the tight leash next to my Keeper as we crossed the grass, exiting the double gate of the pen. The rear gate of the SUV opened with a push of the remote button in Jenn's hand, and she helped me up into the crate in the back, locking the crate door. Karen was just walking up and placed the bags she was carrying next to me in the back of the SUV. Soon we were on our way, and I had no clue where.

Maddie and her older sister Holly sat at the dinner table eating supper with their parents as they did every evening. As seemed usual in their home Holly liked to dominate the conversation, telling their parents about her day at school and how well she was doing in every class. "So Mum today in biology Mr Hartford said I'm on track for one of the best marks he's seen on our individual coursework" "oh that's great sweetie I'm really pleased for you" replied Mum seemingly proud of her daughter "And can you believe it in the child care course they even had these massive baby dolls and they made us show that we knew how to change a nappy, I mean why do they need to teach us how to change nappies for gods sake" "Well you never know love it might come in handy one day, maybe if you have children of your own" As Holly carried on and on Maddie found her boastfulness increasingly annoying, she had finally had enough and just couldn't help but say something.... "Jesus do you ever stop talking about yourself Holly I'm fed up with you going on and on about how amazing you are at everything" "Maddie don't be so disrespectful and rude to your sister, all she's doing is telling us about her day" "Yeah Maddie what the hell is wrong with you are you you're jealous of me or something?" "That's right Mum side with her of course she's too perfect to ever do anything wrong" "Stop being such an immature little brat Maddie, your 15 years old not 5 for god's sake, you're acting like a baby" replied Mum angrily at her daughters immaturity With that Maddie ran off up to her room in floods of tears, feeling utterly worthless and inferior at how her life was compared to her sister. 18 year old Holly had always been seen by everyone as the perfect girl, regularly achieving higher grades than Maddie and having a much larger group of friends thanks to her good looks and outgoing personality. But Maddie didn't see it this way, to her she saw Holly as boastful and full of herself, always going on about how she had done this or done that. Maddie felt fed up with living in her sisters shadow. After Maddie's little outburst, she had gone up to her room on her bed to sulk. Lying there, she felt angry at Holly's arrogant response and how Mum had even defended her. These thoughts stirred in her mind as she laid there on her bed feeling worthless and upset, and soon, despite it only being 6:30pm she drifted off to sleep.. She awoke a few hours later needing to pee, looking at the clock she was shocked to see it was now 2am and that she had slept through the whole evening. Due to it now being so late, everyone else had gone to bed. She got up and quietly made her way to the bathroom. As she walked past her sisters room, she noticed her door was slightly open and she could hear Holly was asleep. She thought about the evenings events and how much she hated her big sister when suddenly an idea popped into her head. Part of her was saying it was a mean, nasty thing to even think about doing......the other part of her remembered what had happened earlier in the evening, and how much hatred she currently felt towards Holly.... She quietly went downstairs to the kitchen and got a large plastic bowl, which she then filled with warm water from the kitchen tap. Maddie then made her way back upstairs and very slowly snuck into her sisters bedroom, observing that Holly appeared to be in quite a deep sleep. She put the bowl down next to her bed and gently lifted Holly's hand, being careful not to wake her, and placed it in the warm water. She stood and waited........ after about 2 minutes she was about to give up, having convinced herself it was a stupid idea that would never work, when all of a sudden she thought she could hear a faint noise......... She listened closely as she began hearing a hissing sound from under the sheets which got increasingly louder.... Gently lifting the duvet, her jaw dropped. She saw that Holly's pyjamas were now soaking wet and her bed was soaked. She couldn't believe it, her trick had actually worked. She had somehow made big mature Holly pee her bed like a baby. “Now who's acting like the baby, not quite so perfect now are you” Maddie thought to herself. She left the room with a massive grin on her face not quite able to believe that she had just somehow made her 18 year old sister have a bedwetting accident. She now couldn't wait for the morning to come around... As Holly woke up the next morning something felt strange, as she shifted in bed she realised something wasn't right.... Around her bum felt cold and uncomfortable, as she put her hand under the covers she realised her pyjamas, underwear and bed were all soaking wet... "what the fuck" she said out loud to herself She pulled back the covers and stood up. Feeling around her butt and across the front of her pyjamas she felt disgusting, as she came to the realisation of what had happened-that she had wet the bed "No, I can't have! how the hell did this happen?" a frustrated and upset Holly asked herself Examining her bed she realised there was no hiding the massive wet patch and that she would have to quickly take her sheets and pyjamas down to the washing machine if she didn't want anyone finding out. As Holly was about to do this Mum walked into her bedroom...... "Is everything alright Holly I heard you shouti....." Mum was cut off as she noticed her daughter's soaking wet pyjamas "Oh my gosh what happened sweetie" "I uuuuu don't know Mum, I woke up like this this morning" said an obviously upset Holly "Oh dear it looks like you had a bit of an accident love don't worry, we'll get this all cleaned up" Holly broke down in tears Maddie woke up and could hear a commotion from her sisters room. She got up and went to her sisters room, hearing her Mum’s voice from inside. She barged the door open finding Holly stood crying wearing soaking wet pyjamas, Mum was trying to console her. “"oh my god Holly you didn't pee the bed did you? I didn't know you were still a baby” “Get the hell out of my room” scowled her angry and upset sister “Please can you go out of the room Maddie and let us sort this” asked Mum “"ok Mum I'll leave you to help the big bedwetter” “That's enough of that Maddie, your sisters certainly not a bedwetter, this is just a one off thing as she's probably just got a virus or something” Maddie felt really pleased that she had managed to humiliate her usually perfect sister as she went off to get ready for school. Holly was rather quiet come breakfast time. Maddie held herself back from sniggering, knowing Holly wasn't in the mood. The day went by without incident, Holly tried to put the accident to the back of her mind, convincing herself that it was just a freak occurrence that would soon be forgotten. Maddie however, had got too much satisfaction from Holly's embarrassment to leave it at that.... That night Maddie stayed up late, yet again sneaking into Holly's room. This time within just 30 seconds of Holly's hand being placed in the warm water, the 18 year old began soaking her bed for the second night in a row. She couldn’t believe how easily it seemed to work on her sister at her age. In the morning, again she heard talking from in her sisters room as Mum had gone in to wake her up her oldest daughter finding her upset yet again over a wet bed.... This time instead of barging into Holly's room she stood outside with her head against the door and listened in. “"honey don't worry we’ll book you a doctors appointment today to find out what's going on” “Ok Mum but can we get this cleaned up quickly I really don't want Maddie to find out I did this again” “"yes ok sweetie, can you just take your wet sheets downstairs and put them in the machine for me before you get ready?" "Uuum yea ok" said a blushing and upset Holly With that Holly quickly made her way downstairs to the utility room and put her wet stuff in the washing machine Maddie stood back around the corner so that she couldn't be seen as she watched her pretty older sister go downstairs carrying her wet sheets, still wearing her pee soaked pyjamas which were clinging to her well toned butt. Maddie went downstairs only a few moments later, timing it perfectly to catch Holly trying to hide the evidence of her second bedwetting accident in a row. Holly looked shocked to see Maddie "Morning Holly, hey, how come you're doing laundry I've never seen you do laundry in the morning" questioned Maddie hoping to embarrass her big sister "Uuuuuuu" caught off guard Holly stuttered not knowing what to say "Oh my god you didn't wet the bed again did you?" Maddie saw her sisters face turn bright red "Uuuuummm no I just spilt a drink" Maddie walked up to Holly and pulled the sheets out of the washing machine "Eeeeewww they stink of pee oh my god you actually wet the bed again. And look at your pyjamas they're soaked that's freaking disgusting" Holly felt totally embarrassed having her little sister catch her trying to hide her the evidence of her bedwetting accident, all whilst still wearing her pee soaked pyjamas. "Maddie just shut up and go away, like I said its only because I've got a virus or something so don't even think of telling anyone about this" "Sorry Holly, I was only joking I didn't really mean it, I hope you get better soon". Maddie lied through her teeth, pretending to show some concern for her big sister. Inside she was loving every second of having something like this over Holly. Mum was shocked that her usually mature daughter had suddenly now done this not just once, but two nights in a row. It was that last thing she had ever expected from Holly, especially now that she was a second year college student . She feared that if it kept on happening any more that Holly's mattress would be ruined and may begin to smell.... Maddie had made her mind up that she would do it for another night as she was enjoying having a feeling of control over Holly for the first time in her life...... It was somehow making her feel much better about herself. That night, Sneaking into Holly's room at 1am, seeing her sister was sound asleep she lifted her hand into the bowl of water. Just a she placed her sister's hand in the water Holly began moving and lifted her hand. Maddie completely froze on the spot praying to god Holly hadn't woken up. She soon realised Holly was just moving in her sleep as she saw her roll onto her side.... As Holly turned thought her bed seemed unusually loud and kind of like it was rustling which intrigued Maddie. Upon feeling the corner of the bed she found that Holly was believe it or not sleeping on a rubber plastic sheet.... She couldn't hold back a smile at this finding. Her 18 year old college aged sister couldn't currently be trusted to have just a normal sheet on her bed like anyone else her age. She now had a crinkly plastic sheet on her bed, something you would normally associate with small children and toddlers that couldn't yet control their bladders and we're still not out of nappies. "Well well, you may get higher grades and be more popular than me but I'm not the one sleeping on a mattress protector at the age of 18" Maddie thought whilst chuckling to herself. After finding out about Holly's new bed sheet, it made her more determined to make her wet her bed again. For the second time that night she placed her older sisters hand in the bowl.... Sure enough after about a minute of Holly's hand being placed in the water, Maddie heard a trickling noise as her sisters bladder began emptying it contents, again leaving her nice and wet for when she woke up..... The next morning Maddie decided to and Holly were sat at breakfast, now both ready for school Maddie broke the silence “So did you manage to stay dry last night or did you have another accident” “"firstly Maddie don't talk to me like I'm some little kid, don't forget I'm 3 years older than you. And secondly no it didn't happen again, it was like Mum said, probably just a virus or something I ate which I'm over ok so don't ever mention it again” “Well I hope it doesn't happen again Holly, let's hope you stay dry tonight again” “"just shut up Maddie and stop being so fucking condescending I'm not a kid, just cos your jealous of me being better looking and more popular than you, my god you better not even dare to mention this to anyone ever” Her sisters words had hurt her deeply, but Maddie tried to think positively. She loved this feeling of having something like this on her sister and could see just how much Holly was struggling to deal with it. She laughed in her head at the thought of the crinkly plastic sheet her big sister now had on her bed, which instantly made her feel better, imagining if only Holly's friends knew what their popular classmate now slept on.... After the nasty way Holly had just spoken to her, Maddie decided it would be fair payment to keep going with the hand in warm water prank. She continued it for the next 3 nights. Each time, the gorgeous college girl had been distraught to wake up finding that she had wet the bed yet again, which she desperately, desperately tried to keep from Maddie. She had got better at hiding her accidents, which in her mind she thought she had managed to keep hidden from her younger sister. At breakfast, Maddie, knowing full well that Holly had now wet the bed 6 nights in a row, played innocent and questioned Holly....... "So Holly have you had anymore nighttime accidents since the other day" "Was I not clear when I told you to never mention that again Maddie, and the answer is no because it was just a one off as I was unwell, which I'm over now so stop being such a condescending little brat have you got that ?" "God you don't need to be such a bitch about it I was just asking" "Well don't ! , stop speaking to me like I'm some kid ok. I get it you've always been jealous of me cos I'm better than you at everything, and a couple of accidents changes nothing wart fingers" Maddie hated when her sister called her that. Ever since she was young she'd had trouble with warts on her hands, mainly on her fingers. Holly had off and on used that name when ever she felt like being mean and belittling to Maddie. Her words showed her sister's true inner spite. Maddie could tell the bedwetting was really getting to Holly for her to have said this as she was never usually this unhappy and bad tempered. Mum was now in total disbelief that her eldest daughter had suddenly now out of nowhere managed to wet her bed 6 nights in a row. The doctor had even said there was no obvious reason for the accidents and that hopefully it would just pass. She spoke to Holly about it before she had left for college, and explained that her bedding and pyjamas were being completely ruined and that her room would soon start smelling of pee, which Maddie would surely eventually notice. Holly tried to avoid the conversation as it was something she couldn't quite believe she was having to discuss with her mother at her age. After a short talk Mum said that she would speak to her further about it later on that night. Whilst at college Holly struggled to focus on her classes, she tried to put the inevitable embarrassing talk she would have with her mother out of her mind, she felt like some little kid that was going to be to told off for wetting the bed, except she was no longer a little kid, but a mature, beautiful and intelligent 18 year old college student, looking to get the grades that would get her a place for next year at one of the top universities in the country. The accidents were really, really starting to bother her the longer they went on. A couple of her friends even asked her what was up as they thought she hadn't been acting herself the last few days. She certainly had no intention of telling them what was up. Holly felt as if she'd literally rather die than any of them find out she had been wetting the bed. That evening... It was 10pm and the family were all sat in the lounge either watching tv or sat using an ipad as they usually did of an evening. Mum disappeared upstairs, and just a couple of minutes after, Holly did as well which Maddie thought was a little strange... Maddie decided to creep upstairs to see why they had both gone up there. Just as she was near the top of the stairs she saw Mum come out of her bedroom and go into Holly's room. She noticed she had a bag with her. Mum hadn't seen her as the area where the stairs were was dark. Maddie then crept up to her big sisters door and listened in.... "Mum please no!" "I'm sorry darling but this is the only solution, I'm not taking no for an answer, if you put up a fight you'll risk Maddie hearing what's going on so I suggest you just lie back and let me get on with it" Knowing that putting up a fight would risk her sister hearing, Holly realised she had no choice and gave in..... “"just lie back on the bed love and let me do it” “Mum please can’t I do it this is really embarrassing” "Surely not" Maddie thought as she excitedly listened in..... She could hear a lot of rustling “No sweetie because it needs to be taped on properly so it doesn't leak onto the bed” "No freaking way" though Maddie This comment had brought a massive, massive grin to Maddie’s face as she knew it could now only mean one thing; nappies, Mum had clearly become fed up with Holly continuing to soak her bed and had obviously decided there was now only one solution, to put Holly back in nappies. Her usually confident, beautiful and popular college aged sister had now been reduced to being changed for bed like a baby. All because of Maddie's cruel trick. She couldn't believe she had managed this in just 6 days! Her older sister wearing nappies would literally be beyond her wildest dreams. She imagined how devastating this would be for Holly at her age. It hadn't even crossed her mind that Mum would do this to her big sister. The plastic sheet was like all her Christmases had come at once, but Holly being back in nappies like a baby would be beyond the most amazing thing she could possibly ask for. To Maddie, this really was absolutely perfect, she couldn't of asked for a better outcome, she knew that all she needed to do now was make sure that Holly's first night in a nappy didn't end dry. “"fine just hurry up in case Maddie comes upstairs. I really don’t want her finding out” After a bit more rustling and taping it sounded like Mum had finished the job of changing her oldest daughter into her first nappy since she was 2. “"ok darling, it's all taped up now, if you want to stand up and see how it feels” Holly slowly got up and began feeling her new underwear... “"Mum it's sooo thick....I can't wear this or Maddie will notice. It's so loud when I walk” “"it isn't as loud as you think love, put your pyjamas on and I bet no one could even tell you're wearing it” Holly put on her pyjama pants, pulling them up she struggled to get them over the bulkiness of the nappy. She had to kind of stick her bum out and wriggle from side to side to get them up fully. “see there we go sweetie it's completely hidden under those” "Can't you get me something thinner to wear Mum?" "Sorry sweetie but judging by how wet your bed has been most mornings, anything thinner would risk it leaking onto the bed and ruining your bedding" “"I can hear it crinkling every time I move though" said a clearly upset Holly “Trust me Holly no one will notice. It's just a temporary thing love I'm sure. If the problem passes which I'm sure it will and you stay dry for a few nights then you can stop wearing them" Maddie couldn’t help but snigger "A few nights hey, we'll see about that Holly" now feeling over the moon She quickly moved off back downstairs before she was seen. There was no going back now. This whole situation was music to her ears hearing how humiliated Holly was feeling Normally Holly's concerns would be whether her make-up looked right or her hair was ok- but not tonight. Her only concern tonight was about whether the thick nappy she had been forced to wear to bed due to her heavy bedwetting, was noticeable under her cute pyjamas. After her humiliation was complete, Holly made her way across the hall and into the bathroom, feeling totally distraught and as if her life was now over. "This really can't be fucking happening" she thought to herself. 18 years old and here she was stood there having just been changed into a nappy for bed by her Mum like some un-potty trained little kid. Holly refused to accept it, she was a mature, beautiful and intelligent girl, but deep down she knew that after the events of the last 6 nights, the truth of it was that she was actually in dire need of the extra absorbent adult sized nappy that was now tightly strapped around her butt. So many thoughts went through her head-what would her friends think? How could she ever keep this hidden from Maddie? She couldn't even contemplate her life if she ever found out about this. As she walked she noticed it almost felt like it made her waddle as it was so unbelievably thick it forced her legs apart. Holly locked the bathroom door, and tried to hold herself back from crying as she came to terms with her current predicament. Staring at herself in the mirror, noticing her cheeks were now glowing a deep shade of red, she started observing her butt from every angle. She could see the nappy definitely made her butt look bigger and kind of made it a weird shape.... She tried hard to convince herself that if she was careful Maddie would probably not notice, and that all she needed was to stay dry for a few nights and this whole thing would soon be a thing of the past. Mustering up the courage, Holly headed out of the bathroom and back downstairs, walking slightly hesitantly as she was so conscious of the rustling nappy. She prayed to god Maddie wouldn't notice anything was up. She sat herself down in her usual spot, thankful that Maddie had continued to stare at her ipad screen and didn't appear to have noticed anything was out of the ordinary. Maddie had opted to pretend she had no idea about Holly's predicament, keeping her head down and ignoring her sisters crinkling backside as she came in and sat down on the settee. On the inside however was a different story, Maddie felt tonight could be a massive turning point in her life. She mentally, at this moment felt as if she was no longer completely inferior to her sister. In her eyes Holly was no longer the pretty, intelligent and popular girl, what she was now was no more than an 18 year old nappy wearing bed wetter Holly felt utterly ashamed having to sit near her far younger sister whilst wearing the same underwear as a baby "why the fuck did this have to happen to me" she thought to herself The thing that worried Holly was that, God forbid this bedwetting thing didn't stop, she would have to go through this every single night, with the constant fear of her secret being found out by her younger sibling That was one thing she really, really couldn't deal with- the thought of Maddie ever finding out about this. She desperately hoped that this whole problem would be no more than a short term thing. Holly just couldn't understand how this was happening, she had never wet the bed in her life, and then out of nowhere she had now woken up to wet sheets 6 nights in a row. She convinced herself that although the doctor had said there was nothing wrong with her, that maybe she had something he hadn't picked up on like a bladder infection which would eventually pass and that the accidents would stop with that. Maddie thought back to the argument the other day. She couldn't believe just 6 days ago Holly was the perfect girl in every way, sleeping with all the best looking guys at her college, now she had been reduced to having the same bedtime routine as a baby, which involved sleeping on a plastic sheet and being changed into a disposable nappy at night by her Mum. She no longer felt in any way jealous of her big sister. Holly now had a secret that would completely ruin her if anyone ever found out and Maddie loved it. That night, lying in bed Holly couldn't sleep, she tossed and turned for what seemed like hours, unable to ignore the bulk of the thick nappy between her legs "God this stupid thing is so uncomfortable" she cursed to herself. Lying there thinking about her current situation Holly started to feel upset and overcome with emotion. She felt tears well up in her eyes, and unable to hold back, she began uncontrollably crying which made her feel even more of a baby than she was feeling already. She tried to stay as still as possible as every movement she made reminded her of her predicament by causing either the plastic sheet to rustle or her nappy to crinkle. Eventually managing to relax, Holly fell asleep, it was midnight.. Keeping herself awake, Maddie had prepared to do her cruel trick again tonight. She had debated whether she had gone too far but then remembered Holly's cruel words.. Looking at her phone, she saw it was now 1am. Quietly making her way to Holly's bedroom, hearing her sister was asleep, she gently slid her big sisters hand from under the covers and placed it in the bowl of warm water. She soon heard a hissing noise which sounded louder than usual. She knew this was because it was not the sound of Holly's pee soaking her cute knickers, but the sound of Holly's pee hitting the thick padding of her new underwear, her nappy.... "Oh dear did the little baby have an accident in her nappy" muttered Maddie unable to hold a big grin from her face as she left Holly's bedroom and went to bed herself. In the morning as Holly came around from her slumber, it took her a few moments to wake up enough to remember the embarrassing events of the past week. These thoughts made the 18 year old quickly slide her hands under the duvet and check her bedsheets for any sign of wetness, which to her surprise seemed to be dry as she felt around under her butt. She thought that maybe this would signal the end of her nighttime troubles. But........ she then became aware of something that had slipped her half-asleep mind. Her hopes where quickly dashed as she though back to the bulky nappy her mum had put on her last night. Putting her hands down the front of her pyjamas, her hopes were soon dashed. The huge bulk between her legs was warm and squishy, meaning yet again she had peed herself in her sleep. Maddie decided that there was no going back now so she continued the hand in hot water prank every night ensuring her sister would wake up to a soaking wet nappy every morning. Over the coming weeks Maddie noticed a pattern, that every night Holly and Mum would disappear upstairs at some point during the evening, on returning Holly always seemed to stay fairly still as if to avoid drawing any attention to herself. Some nights she didn't even bother coming back down, instead opting to stay in her room watching Netflix. Maddie could tell though that her sister had a nappy on as it made her butt look bigger and there was a slightly noticeable crinkling whenever she moved. It made Maddie laugh that her mature sister now had this embarrassing night time routine To Maddie seeing her sister sat there knowing full well what she was wearing under her pyjamas was just perfect. To Holly the events of the past few weeks were literally her worst nightmare, she just couldn't believe she had all of a sudden developed this humiliating problem. Trying to keep it from her friends was proving extremely difficult for her. It was having a huge effect on her normally buoyant social life. After nights out she would now always make an excuse to go home so she could avoid dealing with staying over at anyone's house. One night she actually went back to some guys house that she'd met in a nightclub. She had sex with him before keeping herself awake and waiting for him to fall asleep, at which point she got up and left. She certainly didn't want to deal with the embarrassment of wetting his bed and him telling all his mates about it, and there was no way she was going to carry around a nappy in her handbag in case she stayed at someone's house. One night Maddie went in to Holly's room to do the hot water prank, she was a little later this time. She wanted to see it with her own eyes that she had actually reduced her college aged big sister to wearing a nappy to bed every night, so she decided to gently pull back the covers to ge Holly was on her side and Maddie could see the nappy peeking out of her pyjamas which made her smile. She gently slipped her hand down the back of her pyjamas, feeling the nappy she couldn't believe just how thick it was. Mum had clearly taken no chances when choosing Holly's new bedtime underwear, she obviously had little faith in her 18 year old daughter's ability to keep her bed dry, with good reason. She then noticed something that surprised her, the further she reached towards the bottom it seemed to get more warm, and felt kind of mushy, she realised this meant Holly had already wet her nappy, without her hand being placed in warm water. She suddenly thought, had she over the course of the last few weeks trained Holly into becoming a bedwetter, had she trained her older sisters body to pee in her sleep by making her wet herself so many times? Over the course of the next week she only did the prank once, what she did instead was go in and check Holly's nappy every night at 3am. She found that on 6 out of the 7 nights Holly had already used her nappy, and on the night she was dry at 3am that was the one night that Maddie did the prank. She couldn't believe it, she had somehow managed to turn her perfect older sister into a chronic bedwetter, that was now totally reliant on wearing a thick adult nappy to bed to prevent her soaking her sheets. This realisation brought great pleasure to Maddie, knowing it wasn't now the prank that was making Holly wet the bed each night. She no longer needed that! Her big sister was now an actual bedwetter. Maddie loved the thought that because of her cruel trick Holly was likely no closer to being out of nappies at night than a baby. In fact a baby or toddler would probably have a better chance of keeping it's bed dry. Holly was totally fed up. She had endured the embarrassment of having tests done and seeing countless specialists. All she was told was that there was nothing wrong physically and they don't know what's causing it. All she knew was that she kept having this same weird dream...... A flashback to last night... Holly was sound asleep in bed, It was like she was floating, she felt totally at ease drifting around in endless crystal clear, beautifully calm ocean water. As time passed she slowly started to fall below the surface, the lovely warmth of the water engulfing her as she gently submerged. The heat from the water felt extremely relaxing as she let her body follow the natural current of the water. A gentle voice repeated the word "relax, relax". She could then see what looked like a toilet in the distance but before even attempting to get there she felt any tension in her body disappear as she lied in the comfortable warmth of the ocean. Eventually she began to rise back to the surface of the water where she began feeling a little colder...... Still asleep, Holly hadn't so much as stirred, what the beautiful college girl had done however during her relaxed state was empty her bladder into her now, rather swollen and warm nappy. One evening Mum and Dad had gone out to eat, Maddie had observed that Mum had gone upstairs with Holly just before they left at 7:30, which she could only assume meant one thing- changing time. Meaning Holly would be spending a lot longer than usual in her nappy, and unusually the girls would be left on their own. Holly had protested about being changed at such an early time in the evening but Mum had given her no option stating that they would be back very late and that she would likely be in bed by then. Maddie had decided to invite a friend, Tara over for the evening. Tara arrived shortly after Mum and Dad had left. Holly hadn't seemed all that pleased to have someone else in the house, which to Maddie was understandable when she was 3 years younger than Holly and yet Holly was the one who was hiding a nappy under her pyjamas. Everyone was sat in the lounge, between the 3 of them they tried to pick a film to watch. Maddie and Tara wanted to watch The Hangover and Holly wanted to watch Anchorman 2. Maddie announced that it was 2 against 1, grabbing the remote she put on The Hangover which Holly wasn't very pleased about. "That's not fair" "Yeah it is that's how it works" "Shut up Maddie that's just immature" snapped Holly What Maddie felt like saying in response was " I'll tell you what's immature Holly, being 18 years old and still having to wear nappies cos you can't stop pissing the bed" but she thought better of it. It took all of her might to hold herself back from outing her sister as a bedwetter right there in front of her friend. They settled down and watched the film. Towards the end of the film Maddie noticed Holly holding her stomach on and off. She wondered if she might soon need to use the bathroom..... As soon as the film ended Maddie went upstairs, took her pyjamas and went into the bathroom, knowing if Holly needed the bathroom she would have to wait until she came out.... Taking her time she got undressed and proceeded to have a nice long shower.... Not long after she had gone in the bathroom Holly started banging on the door.... "Maddie will you please hurry up I really, really need to use the toilet" "I'll just be a few minutes I'm taking a quick shower" "For gods sake just hurry up" Maddie could hear the desperation in her sisters voice, but continued to enjoy her nice hot shower.... By now Tara had heard what was going on and she was now stood watching Holly smiling at the older girls struggle.. She discretely got her phone out and recorded Holly's struggle... Maddie took her time. She washed her hair twice and then conditioned it, not in any rush as she wondered if Holly would save herself from embarrassment and hold on.... Holly kept banging on the door whilst jumping about trying not to humiliate herself Eventually Maddie had finished. She got herself into her pyjamas before finally opening the door. As she opened the door it looked as if it might be too late for Holly... She was bent forward with one hand clutching her stomach and the other hand holding her butt. Tara noticed something weird sticking out of her pyjamas as she bent bent forward.... Running up to her she tugged at her pyjama pants, pulling them down around her ankles leaving her stunned "Oh my god she's wearing a fucking nappy" Holly, too preoccupied to stop Tara exposing her then lifted her head as she let out a big gasp as both girls stood watching in complete shock as the 18 year old uncontrollably lost control of her bowels and began messing her exposed nappy right before their eyes..... The girls were both totally stunned at what they had just seen, and the best part of all was that they had the whole thing recorded..... Holly ran off crying into her bedroom with her massive sagging nappy still on full display as she slammed her door behind her..... Tara and Maddie just looked at each other and burst into fits of laughter. Boy were they going to have some fun with this...... A short while later they went up to Holly's door............ "Oh Holly can we come in and have a little chat with you?"......

I used to be ashamed of my love of wearing cloth diapers. I am not anymore. I talk with a therapist she said this is normal. People do this for pleasure and comfort. I now embrace my being Diaper Man. I want to wear my cloth diaper and plastic pants more often because they became a comfort for me in childhood. I was in pain . They were and are a comfort. My advice for anyone having a hard time with being a diaper lover is embrace it and enjoy it, as long as you don’t hurt anyone.

If you do "one click purchase" you should get it for your kindle.

Trying to figure out how to get this for the Kindle without signing up for KindleUnlimited

Thanks for doing this

My best friend since the 6th grade, Franky, wet the bed as a kid. To my knowledge he did it well into adulthood(well, we're in our mid 20s now, so the word adulthood is relative I suppose). For some reason I've never been able to bring myself to tell him I'm a bedwetter too, though I've known about his nighttime issues for many years.

thank you everyone for the comments, part 12 is done, so there is much more to come.

Thank you everyone for your response. At the time I was so shocked and embarrassed by the whole thing I just didn’t know what to do. My Wife/Mommy and I have since had several conversations about this. Most of our play is centered around my mommy and this whole thing got started because of her. I have begun to enjoy it in the last few months and enjoy playing the part of her toddler girl but we are very much exploring our dynamics. As for our friend, the three of us have talked as well. She apologized but explained she would like to be a more active part in our play. Maybe baby sitting or something. We will see where that goes but for now we are going to move slowly.

Don’t begin to understand the how or why. But my entire life, even as a child, I’ve liked bed-wetting. And a part of the like is the shame, the shame of sleeping atop a crinkly plastic sheet, the shame of wetting in my sleep like a baby.

Just a reminder that it's not just wearing diapers for bed. It's also wearing diapers on a plane. Or in a car on a long trip. Or when you sit down on a Sunday morning on the couch to watch a game. Or when you go to that RomCom to make your wife happy, but you might fall asleep in the middle. Or you're at your buddies house and have a beer or three and decide you shouldn't drive home, and he offers to let you crash on his couch. I wanted and accepted a life of wearing diapers to bed. I would have been just fine with that. I am not as happy about wearing diapers on planes and hoping that the thinner diaper I chose for public discretion doesn't leak, or having my wife insist on me wearing protection any time I'm watching TV on the couch because I wet all over it twice, or having to wear a diaper on a long car trip where we're splitting the driving because my wife's car's leather seats have a stain from me, or having to have discussions with the medical staff before a surgery. I find I have to wear a diaper much more often than just when I go to bed at night, and that wasn't something I thought of when I started my bedwetting journey. As long as you think about that... best of luck.

In 5 days I will be in New York!! I'm so looking forward to it! It has been a long time since I've experienced true cold weather

I have no bladder control. Long ago I found it pointless to hate diapers or to be ashamed of wearing diapers. I was told about AB who had bladder control but had fun using diapers. Since 1990 I have used AB to cope with my incontinence. I can have fun in diapers when I want. I am not ashamed about this.

This is exactly why I do not shave my diaper area which unfortunately does cause an emotional conflict since I desire to be a babygirl. When I used to shave my wee wee the razor burn did get better the more times I shaved over time. Your skin will adapt to irritation so it turns into a mind versus matter thing. Anything that contains Menthol can burn your baby bits so be mindful of that. Baby powder is your friend as your hair starts to grow back and I also recommend if you plan to stay hairless to shave regularly. There are places that do Brazilian waxing on men, I am not sure how that would work of you went there wearing a diaper. I would imagine most salon specialists would not be comfortable with that situation. If it is something you truly want then save up and go with permanent hair removal.

Mummy and Teddy. If I'm not cuddling one I'm cuddling the other. Occasionally both at once ?

Thanks you guys! I really do appreciate all the advice and stories. Helps me gain a little more perspective in my situation. Got lots to say, but it’ll have to wait for another day... it’s way past my bed time .-. Lol I just wanted to post this real quick to say how much it means to me to get someone else’s point of view. Not much of a hugger, but I’d gladly give you three a hug for taking time out of your day for the response that you gave.

Chapter Twenty-Five: I thought it was over, this whole stupid shopping trip and this whole stupid day. But it was only the afternoon and Betsy was just getting started. I reached down to pick up the huge box of wooden trains and felt my body tense and strain to lift it off the shelf as a cramp overwhelmed me. My muscles gave out and I dropped to my hands and knees on the tile floor, just as I started pushing the stinky mess into the seat of my diaper. At first... relief. No more cramps. No more pain. But as I recognized my position, bent over with my ass in the air, diaper exposed for the camera, in the middle of a toy store... I felt tears fill my eyes as I filled my diaper. I should have been disgusted. I mean, it was disgusting. She was an adult woman, on her hands and knees, shitting herself loudly in a public place. I didn't see it that way, though; when I looked at her, what I saw was a lovely precious cinnamon bun of a baby girl who was having an accident and sobbing about it. And I got to my knees immediately after it was finished with and cuddled her face against my chest, playing with her hair and soothing her. “Oh no, did Baby Luvs have an accident? Here in public, in the toy store?" The camera had captured everything - if the perverts were into this, then Abe was going to make so much damn money. “It’s okay, for girls your age, it’s natural. It’s normal. No reason to be upset.” I curled up in Jackie's arms and pushed my face into her chest as tears dripped down my cheeks. Just as I finished messing myself, I felt the uncontrollable warmth in the front of my diaper as I started to wet. I wasn't even thinking about it. I didn't even care. I was just so embarrassed... I just wanted to be changed... "Oh no," Betsy said with mock concern. "Is Jackie right? Did you have an acci-- oh! Oh you surely did." Betsy waved her hand in front of her nose. "It's okay, Little Luvs, it's perfectly normal and natural and healthy, you don't have to worry about a thing. Do you want me to help get your toy in the cart? Betsy did promise it to you, didn't she?" When I looked up at Betsy, she was frowning; there was no fucking way that Abe was going to be happy about such an expense, and it was my little revenge on that cunt. Oh my gosh Leona smelled horrific. "Come on, let's stand up, don't worry, accidents happen." "Especially for smelly little infants like you, Baby Luvs." Betsy felt the need to interject, sourly, waving her hand still. "Maybe I should let one of the staff members know..." "No!" I looked up at Betsy and blushed fiercely as the camera panned over me. "I... I'm otay..." I wiped my tears away and stood up on my feet, feeling the unnatural shift in my diaper as my mess was pulled down between my legs. I peeked through the aisles at the woman at the register, who seemed to be investigating our side of the store. I bit my bottom lip. "C-can we go now, pwease?" "Of course, just get in your stroller." I stared up at the woman with wide eyes. She... she had to be kidding... "Come on, Baby Luvs." There was something humiliating about the stroller, too; a little cut out in the back where a camera was fixed up, a tiny little Go Pro, that was going to capture the moment her messy padded ass sat down and made contact, the way it moved and smooshed, up until she was in position. I didn't care about the toys. I didn't care about anything right now. I just wanted to get out of this stupid mall and out of this stupid diaper! We went up the counter and the checkout clerk made a double take at me. I pushed the dress down between my legs and looked shyly at my feet. "That'll be $245.58," she told Betsy, who pulled a card out of her purse with a deep sigh. I watched as the cashier sniffed the air, looking around curiously. My cheeks burned red. “I’m sorry about that," The clerk offered, trying to ignore the very obvious sight of an adult girl in a stroller, "I think there must have been a skunk outside." Oh bless her. Betsy, though, she was the opposite of a blessing. "Oh goodness me, no, Im afraid my oversized baby girl here has just had an accident in her pampers. I do apologize, but you know how girls her age can be." She pulled back the sun guard on the stroller to make sure Leona couldn't hide. "Thank the nice lady before we go, Baby Luvs, and apologize to her for making her store all stinky.” I sunk as far back in the stroller as I could and felt fresh tears in my eyes. I wanted to leave... I wanted to change... "S-sorry," I muttered quietly. But the clerk was completely taken-aback. "Um... here's your receipt..." She gave Betsy the slip of paper and went to finish some stocking. I rubbed the water from my eyes as Betsy took me back into the main mall. It was over, I reminded myself. It was all over... except it wasn't. Just before the exit, Betsy turned the stroller into the restroom area. I looked up at her with awe. What was she... "Let's get you changed, my little baby." I was hanging back a little bit, not because I was embarrassed or anything, but because I felt like I couldn't do anything to help her. But when I heard Betsy say that, I did pipe in. "Well, the car is the other way, Betsy." "That's Miss Betsy to you, Jackie, and I'm certainly not taking a little stinker like Baby Luvs in the car without being changed. We're going to make a quick stop by the Baby Change Room and get her cleaned up." What. WHAT. Betsy picked me up out of the stroller and plopped my messy behind down on her forearm, holding me against her hip. She carried me into the women's changing room, where the cameraman couldn't follow. Jackie hesitated and stayed behind. Finally, we were alone. "Th-there's no cameras... p-please let me change myself..." "Oh no no no, see my lovely, Abe Scott has wasted too much potential on you already. There're sites you know, places to cater to Little Fetishism, but they always draw the line somewhere. And my research shows how much money there is in messing - that thin line between Little and the more extreme side of things. By the time this week is finished, this is going to be your specialty. Messing. Messing in private, in public, on accident, on purpose... well... on purpose only until you lose control. Abe's next video series is going to be on Training Incontinence, and you're going to be the star of the tutorials. So you should get used to this experience, being a baby, being smelly, being changed... because this is your future, Leona. And you're going to be so rich." She plopped her down on the fold down changing table, which miraculously held her. "No!" I kicked and hit Betsy until she set me on my messy tush on top of the baby's changing table. I shuddered at the sensation and blushed furiously. "I... I'm an actress... n-not a baby... a-and you're just some h-hired work... y-you don't know anything..." Incontinent? Messing? I would never! This was just a job! "Oh, and how many other actresses are sitting in public changing rooms in their own mess, darling?" Betsy smirked and put her hand on the girl’s cheek. "You're not just an actress, Leona, you love this. There are parts of it you don't love yet, but you will, and anything you don't love by the end... well, money talks in a big way to our passions. Now, are you going to keep up this fuss, or are you ready to be changed? If you'd like to sit in your mess all the way home... you know... get used to it, come to appreciate it, love it, need it... well, I suppose that's okay too." I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. My lip quivered and I gave very little resistance as Betsy laid me down on the little changing table. I was too big for it and my legs hung off the end, making it that much worse. I closed my eyes tight and tried to shake off her words. I... I wasn't a baby... I was an actress. Right...? Right...? "Oh, you decided not to? Not to worry, there'll be plenty of time for you to appreciate this." She untaped the diaper while she talked. “Your little crush out there already seems to be quite into it; the way she dived on you when you made your mess, held you close? Such a sweetheart, and ever so transparent." The wipes were cold, and the coldness peeled away the warmth of her mess, cleaned her skin and her sensations, left only the heavy scent in the air. "I dun have a crush on Jackie," I muttered, but I hardly believed myself when I said it. So what if I liked Jackie? So what if Jackie liked... this? That didn't mean I liked this! I felt the diaper slip out under my bottom and the smell started to disappear. Betsy unfolded a fresh diaper from the diaper bag - a white one with baby blocks from one of our suppliers - and slid it under my butt. I thought the worst was over, until I heard a toilet flush. Betsy and I both froze. The girl that came out of the stall was young - maybe in her twenties. A cute goth look to her hairstyle, too much eyeliner, and a cheeky smile. She didn't pretend not to notice the pair, in-fact, she did quite the opposite. "So you do ABDL video stuff? That's cool, what's your site? Do I get free access for meeting you in person?" Then. "Wait, are you filming right now, in here? Where's the camera?" She got on her tiptoes and looked around the corners of the bathroom, pouting with a little frump. "Well, whatever. You're really cute, huh? You're the baby and you're the Mommy? My ex-girlfriend was into this stuff, got me into it." The fact neither Leona or Betsy had said anything in return to the girl who'd clearly heard their entire conversation didn't seem to deter her one bit from talking though. "Alright well, I gotta go. Oh, what did you say your site was? You're so fucking real man, so genuine, not like those fake posers on all the sites I've been to." Wow… Betsy snapped out of it first. She gave a business card and the website address to the young woman, who basically skipped out of the bathroom with excitement. The whole thing... it was so surreal. So... unexpected. When Betsy returned to finish taping on my diaper, I'd built up an ounce of confidence. I stuck out my tongue at her and said: "I told you I was a good actress." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like & Comment! Please also consider supporting us on Patreon!

Belive me dear i KNOW how you feel and i also know that this is the depression beast within youre head that have comed out of its dark cave and we need to get that thing back in its cave were it belong Reg being used and so on yeah story of my life they happily use me when they need me then al of a sudden thank but you're no longer needed we get back to you if we do .So yeah i know this and im VERY used to it as well . Only YOU can decide if this site is for you or not hon BUT take it from another HOWLING Lone wolf having friends on the Webb only is WAY better then not having any at al dear so if you whant to talk you know im just a Pm a way dear

Chapter Twenty-Four: I didn't feel well. The bottle made me queasy and I had nothing but baby food all day. My stomach grumbled and I felt a familiar need on my bladder. But wetting myself in public was different than the studio, or the hotel, or at Jessie's house. I looked around nervously as Betsy pushed the stroller into a toy store. It was well after noon, but all the kids were still in school. Thankfully, I thought. My poor Leona, she looked so distressed. So when we got to the toy store, I kicked into gear. Without concern for being seen on camera, I leaned down and unbuckled her from the stroller and spoke in an excited tone. "Okay, you can walk, and we can go look at the dollies and the legos. But you gotta promise to hold my hand, okay? You're too little to be on your own." I knew the cameraman would follow me and her, but I would do anything to cut out Betsy. Bitch. I pouted up at Jackie as she helped me out of the stroller and took my hand. But... well, I guess it was better than being pushed around like a baby. I tugged down the dress as far as I could, but no matter what I did, the padding poked out underneath the hem. The camera followed me and swooped in low to get a shot. I curled up to Jackie's arm shyly. "This is so dumb," I muttered. “Luvs,” I hated using that name, “you're one of the cleverest girls I know, especially at your age." Which was a kind of code for 'be clever, realize I'm giving you an out' or something like that. "Which toys do you want to look at first?" Truth be told, most of the audio here would probably be edited out, overlaid with babyish music and lots of up-skirt shots of her diaper. But it was fun to play a little too, especially knowing how I could make her feel. "This dolly is cute," I said in my baby voice and smiled for the camera, playing up the shy attitude perfectly. I was an amazing actress. Honestly, I should be in movies. "Ohh, but dis one too!" I hurried to another shelf and picked up a box. But each harsh step in my Mary Jane shoes made my stomach turn. Oh, I had to pee... "How about this one down here?" Honestly, I didn't know much about the human body. I was a photographer, not a doctor, and that meant that I didn't know the stresses all the ups and downs would put on her. I didn't know all the strain it might cause for her to have to kneel down. That, I was afraid, was Betsy’s forte and not mine. I looked around first, careful to scope out the aisle. No sales associates. No one had even approached me yet. Probably because it was a bigger store, I told myself. So I climbed down on my hands and knees, which flashed the seat of my diaper perfectly for the camera. I got up on my feet, on my tippy toes, and reached for high shelves. On one hand, this was super embarrassing. But on the other, well... I was going to be very popular online. "Show me which ones you like, okay?" For my part, I tried to stay out of view. She was the star of the show, and I think I had faith that most shots with me in them would be edited out anyway - I wasn't a part of this. But I liked interacting with her, too. "Oh hold still, peach." I took her by the cheek, licked my finger, and rubbed away a spot of food from her cheek. "There we go, much better." "This one is my favorite," I told Jackie in my babyish lisp, holding up a dolly. "She gots diapers, juss like me!" "Okay, well put the other one back then." I took the second baby doll and put her back on the lower shelf, but when I stood back up, I felt a little sick. I leaned against the racks of toys to hold myself up. Ow... when I got back to Jackie, I tugged on her sleeve. "Dun feel good," I muttered. "I bet it's just because you had a big lunch, honey." Or Betsy had something to do with it. But there was no point getting her upset about that, especially when she was already struggling to stay in character, while out in public. “Did you want to look at legos now? Remember, you have to hold my hand." "Uh huh..." I held Jackie's hand as she walked me to the other side of the store. I saw a woman at the counter, but she was on her phone, texting or something. Thankfully. "What do you think about that one?" Jackie asked, pointing to a big lego set on the bottom. I tried to crawl down there to take a better look, to give the camera a better shot, but my tummy grumbled and I was hit by a wave of cramps. Oh... oh no. "I wanna go," I told Jackie as seriously as I could. "I wanna go home now please." "Well," I looked at Betsy, who had a knowing smile on her face. "That's not up to me, sweetie, not today - so let's just focus on looking at toys, okay? Do you like Brio Trains? I loved those when I was a kid, did you want me to show you? And I bet they have Calico Critters. You can buy whole families of animals.” "Jackie, I really want to leave. I really-" She gave me a look, then looked behind me. I turned around and saw Betsy by the stroller, watching with a smile on her face. My cheeks turned crimson. She... she did this?! I puffed out my cheeks and stormed over to her and spoke as quietly and sternly as I could. "I wanna go home!" "Oh didn't you hear, my little lovely girl? You should listen to your little playmate over there and focus on toys and worries your own age. Don't you worry, girls your age are always ignorant and clueless when it comes to what happens in their diapers.” Her smile deepened. “Maybe you can't find the toy you'd like? I could call for an assistant? Would you like that?" My hands were balled at my sides. I kept eye contact with Betsy and her stupid smile. But if she called someone over... I felt another cramp in my tummy and dropped my gaze to the floor. Damnit... I walked back over to Jackie and bit my lip. I really didn't feel good now... but what was I supposed to do? Find a toy I wanted... then we could leave, right? Right... I just had to hold it until then... "Come on, let's go look at the Calicos okay?" I took her by the hand and lead her through the aisle, to the end of one, turned right, went through another, and found the little section for the wooden and boutique toys that only rich parents brought for their kids that probably wanted Xbox anyway. "Ta-da!" "I like this one," I said immediately, pointing to the first thing I saw. "Less go now." I picked it up off the shelf and felt another cramp. My tummy was aching and bubbling. I was already out of breath... "C-come on..." "Oh, this one is your favorite, huh?" Betsy took the little Puppy Family from her charge and held it up. "And who are these lovely people? I'm sure if they're your favorite, you must know all their names? Tell me about them, tell me about their family, Baby Luvs. Which one of these little puppies is the baby?" Gosh I hated that woman. I whimpered and shifted from foot to foot, wincing whenever the cramps would hit me, which was more and more often. "I... I dunno. Um, that one... um..." I tried to look up at the box and make up names on the spot. "That's Bingo, and that's Rally, and she's Megan, and... and can we go now? Please...?" I hadn't meant to, but I sounded no different to a child asking their mommy for permission. "Oh come now, you've been such a good girl recently, you know, with your playdates, and sleeping in your crib, wearing your diapers, making big stinky messies in them…” Her words were all picked out so perfectly. "You deserve a lot more than just one toy, let's keep looking. Go on, ask your little friend Jackie to help." I couldn't believe she said my name!! I was so furious! Ugh! "I..." "Go on now, little one." I looked up at her with pleading eyes, but Betsy didn't budge. I looked nervously at the camera and went back to the shelves. The ache in my stomach was constant and I saw stars in the corners of my eyes. "Th-this one," I muttered, pointing to another family of animals, but Betsy knew better. "How about that house on the bottom shelf?" I looked up at Jackie. She... she'd save me, right? I did all I could do to push Betsy's hand and force her action: I hit her where it would hurt Abe. "This one, and this one, and how about this one? You can have them all, Luvs, as many as you want - Uncle Abe is paying for all this, after all, and Miss Betsy has to explain to him how much you spend, so you pick out as many as you like!" Betsy would have to say no. Abe would throttle her if she didn't. And with no reason left to be here, she'd have to let us leave. I'd be Leona's savior, and she'd kiss me. And the light in her eyes, despite the sweat on her forehead, gave me hope that she knew what I was doing. "Uh huh," I said with a faint smile, picking up two different sets and putting them in the stroller. Betsy crossed her arms and looked at me sternly, and then her scowl turned into a smile. "If you're going to get so many things, you might as well get the biggest one." I looked at her with bewilderment and she pointed to the wooden train set on the bottom shelf. "Grab that and let's get going." Going? Oh, thank god... I was so sure that we'd won. I was so sure that we'd beaten her. What I didn't count on was Betsy’s wording, her cunning, her talent at this. That she asked a girl who was fighting back shitting her diaper by sheer willpower, to pick up something heavy. Heavy enough for her to struggle and strain to lift it, heavy enough that when she dropped it into the cart, she'd lose her battle and the cameras would be watching. I didn't know it, but we were about to be outplayed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like & Comment! Please also consider supporting us on Patreon!

Teddy of course and mommy. He keeps the monsters away at night.

The staff at Build A Bear locations literally do not care about your age whatsoever. My Daddy took me recently and we had a great chat with the store manager and he told us they do adult parties on a not infrequent basis. It's a stuffed animal, nobody is saying anything. Kaiya

It took another two days before they finally reached the church of the Good Priest. There had been little conversation among the two groups. Miles and Surra watched the religious group closely, with thinly veiled suspicion. Rain had to admit, they were an odd bunch. The townsfolk moved like zombies, and refused to speak to the mercenaries. At night, they gathered around the Good Priest and his two disciples and prayed under the stars. The disciples were a bit more chatty, but only to talk about how wonderful the Good Priest was, and how thankful they were that he was showing them the “way”. Miles held back with Mr. Happy. “I want you to stay here, out of the camp. If you see anything going on, any fighting, then swoop in and put down any resistance.” “I've always wanted to burn a church, preferably with people inside it. I hope something happens so I can show my skills to Miss Surra.” Their home was a large camp of short, rusted shacks, surrounded by ugly wooden barricades encircling every side for about a mile in each direction. At the center sat a large, old broken down church, and though she couldn’t say why, the structure gave her the creeps. There was something ominous that hung in the air above the church. On the right side of the church, there was a large bed of red flowers. Seeing anything grow was a shock, and the flowers themselves were a unique shade of red, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Behind the church was a large field, brimming with crops. Carrots, tomatoes, corn, and more. They clearly weren’t in any danger of starving. “It's beautiful isn't it?” Rain jumped a bit, her diaper growing warmer as she noticed the Good Priest standing beside her. He had managed to sneak up on her somehow. In his right hand he held a small leather bound book that had the same sense of malevolence the church did. She cleared her throat. “It looks…..cozy, I guess.” The priest smiled at her. “I sense you're uncomfortable. Not the religious type?” She was uncomfortable for a few different reasons, but it was true that the church was part of it. In truth, she had never been introduced to any religion before, or at least not that she could remember. “I don’t really know. It's never really been something I thought about before.” He nodded grimly. “It's these times we live in. When life is so difficult, men and women don’t ask questions. They don’t think to question their role in the world. They focus only on surviving, without wondering what the point of surviving is.” He paused, scratching his chin idly. “ We are small creatures, young lady. Small things of a much larger design. It's so blindingly obvious to me, and so I have made it my mission to enlighten my wasteland brethren. Yet so many are either uninterested or even insulted by the idea of a higher power, something greater than themselves.” “Something greater than ourselves.” Rain repeated. It was a fascinating concept. “And that book tells you that?” “Oh yes. I came into possession of this book when I was a small child. It took my entire life to decipher it's…..arcane language, but I did. And then I found him. Our Lord, slumbering deep in the earth, awaiting his moment to return and cleanse this wasteland of the filth that inhabits it. But it also lead me to ask a question.” His eyes had taken a fearful light as he spoke, and Rain found herself unconsciously to where the others walked. The Good Priest was smiling as he looked down at her, through her. “Do those who can't or won’t see the truth…..do they deserve to be saved?” “What are you saying?” Rain trembled. “I'm wondering if the best that these unbelievers deserve is to be part of our glorious Lord, not to stand at his side, but to be shown his glory first-hand, and then bemoan the consequences. I have seen such wonders…..such beauty as well, disguised in horror.” He seemed to trail off, his gaze looking upwards, so she moved away, closer to Rocco and Gabriel. The party moved forward until the Priest's followers began to appear. They seemed to come from every crack and crevice in the place, from around every corner, and from the church, until a small mob was before them. The Priest smiled and seemed to greet each one by name. Despite how unnerving he had been moments ago, he radiated charisma now, as his followers fell to their knees before him. Most wore dirty white robes, although a few wore the same purple robes as the Priest. One was a middle aged woman with short brown hair, who knelt briefly, but seemed less enthused. “Ah, this is my lovely assistant, Joyce. She tends to things here when I’m away. If I'm the Good Priest, I suppose she should be called the Great Priestess.” Joyce gave a forced smile. “And who are our guests? They don’t look like they're interested in…..spiritual matters.” “What makes you say that?” The blue haired Surra asked with a steely gaze. Joyce met her eyes unflinchingly. “Most of our recruits don’t come armed…..or with the stink of violence.” The Good Priest cleared his throat. “Your instincts are right, as usual. We are honored to have Miss Surra and her brothers from our generous overlords, the Oro Tribe, and their….associates. They're looking for Sister Bethany. Would you happen to know where the dear is?” Joyce looked at the group suspiciously, then to the Priest. “No, I’m afraid not. I’m sure we can find her though.” The Good Priest nodded happily. “Excellent. Before we start our search, would anyone care for some refreshment. We have a well, right over there if you're thirsty. One of our members built a purifier for us, so the water is crystal clear.” Surra spat on the ground, rejecting the offer. Rain was tempted, but she was trying to manage her fluid intake. Her diaper was a bit damp, and she didn’t like changing on the job. Gabriel was the only one to take a drink, and he seemed to like it well enough. “Hmmm…..we might be more effective if we split up. This is a rather big place. I can take a group, Joyce can take another, and well…..how about Lucia and Penny for the last group, they’re lovely dears.” The Priest sent one of the nearby acolytes to fetch them. “You want us to split up?” Miles asked, eyes narrowing. Joyce gave a haughty look. “In the interest of getting you on your way as soon as possible, yes, I believe it's a grand idea.” Miles reluctantly agreed. “Fine. Gabe, Tali and myself will go with you, Priest.” Surra smiled wickedly. “Me, Miyuki and……the baby will go with Joyce, because she seems to just love us so much.” Rain clenched her fist at the nickname, but Miyuki put a calming hand on her shoulder. Joyce just scowled, not bothering to hide it. Rocco lit a cigarette a gave a glum look. “Yay. I'm with the twins. Fantastic.” “Fuck you too, tumor-face.” Arax replied. “So we're going with Penny and Lucia? Where are they?” “Right here, handsome” Two voices said simultaneously. The girls wore purple robes, meaning they apparently ranked higher in…whatever this place was. Both girls were very pretty, almost ridiculously so for the wastland, one with brown hair, the other with red. They smiled brightly as they approached. Rocco and Arax gave appreciative glances. “I'm Penny.” The girl with red hair said. “This here is Lucia. I hear we get to show y'all around?” Rocco dropped his cigarette as Lucia wrapped her arm around his. Maybe he wasn’t used to contact from anyone outside the team. With his looks, many tended to keep their distance. “Still unhappy, zombie?” Arax asked, courting Penny on his arm. “I'm good. Always liked you best out of the Oro anyhow.” Penny reached with her other arm for Hanno, but he recoiled as soon as she touched him. Hanno shook his head and made a sign with his hand. If Arax noticed, he didn’t show it. “Don't worry about him. He'll stay close. Come along, bro.” * Miles followed behind the Good Priest. Tali was by his side, Gabe took the rear. The other groups had gone either right or left, but the Priest led them straight ahead into the church. Despite it's shabby exterior, the inside was pretty impressive. Everything from the floors to the pews and altar were immaculate. The altar itself was draped with a cloth a dark red. They were lead to the back of the church, around a corner which lead to a long hallway. At the end of the of the hallway was a single door, painted dark red. “Where does this lead to?” Tali asked quietly. “Downstairs, where we store our food and such. If Sister Bethany is on kitchen duty tonight, I bet that's where she'll be.” “I guess you have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Miles said softly. “You don't seem to trust me, and while that saddens me, I'm not surprised. People like you stay alive by being distrustful and suspicious.” “People like me?” “Fighters, hired guns, killers. No offense.” The priest said as he took an ornate key from his pocket and unlocked the door. “Right this way.” They followed him through the door. It led to a stairwell that descended down in a spiral, for how long they couldn't tell. With every step Miles felt more and more uneasy. The Priest had grown quiet as they continued further down. The walls were no longer stone, but earth. Yet still they descended, deeper and deeper. Tali tugged at his arm. “Where are we going, Miles? We must be underground by now.” “We are. Stay on guard. Something is off, here.” “How far do these stairs go? And it's getting so cold too.” “Oh yes.” The Good Priest muttered. “Colder than you'd expect as we go down into the earth. It's funny isn't it? The things you find in…….unexpected places.” * Rain grumbled behind the others. Surra had once again managed to make a bad day worse. Joyce reluctantly led the way, Surra and Miyuki followed. Rain however, was a good thirty feet back. They had barely even begun moving, Surra had bent down to demean her yet again. “Yeah……we're gonna need you to walk a bit further behind us. I got a lot on my mind, and your……incessant crinkling will drive me insane. So scoot, shoo.” Rain had looked at her blankly, hardly trusting herself to say anything. She had finally managed whisper a response. “Are you….fucking serious right now? You want me to walk further away so my…..diaper doesn't annoy you?!” Surra smiled and poked her on the nose. “Exactly, you get it. Plus there's your talking, oh that's awful too. Look, just pretend your helping, watching our back. It can be your big girl job, how's that?” “Pretend to help?! You-“ Surra had silenced her with a single glare. Too angry for words, she had stormed off further back, then stood with her arms folded. Joyce tapped her foot impatiently. “If you're quite done, let’s get moving. You'll meet with Sister Bethany, see all is well, and then take yourselves away from this place.” Rain followed from a distance, seething. They were talking up there, but she couldn’t hear a word. As they began to traverse the maze of tin houses, she saw that there were metal bridges that seemed to connect them all together. It also meant that an attack could come from above. She thought about saying something, but at this point she decided against it. Stupid Surra could figure it out on her own. They kept moving and Rain felt eyes on her the whole way. Something was off. She tried to stay calm and focus on what the people around her were feeling. The only feeling that came from the members of the church was a strange feeling of righteousness. Whatever was going through their heads, they believed with all their hearts that they were right and the world around them was wrong. Something was off. It was in the air, it lingered in the stares that followed them. It was as though they were waiting for something, a sign maybe. She couldn’t help but feel like she wouldn’t know until it was too late. * Miyuki looked back at Rain. She felt bad for her, but her position was intentional. From there, she could make sure no one snuck up on them, and if someone went after her, they would instantly know it. “Your pet is fine. Stop worrying about her and keep your wits about you.” Surra said dismissively. “You could stand to be a bit nicer, you know. You don’t need to demean her every chance you get. Why make her hate you?” Surra rolled her eyes. “If she's too dumb to see the sense in us not all being packed together, I'm not gonna explain it to her. And that sounds suspiciously like back talk, Miyuki.” “Sorry! I-I didn’t mean….” “Quiet. Stay focused. These people aren't what they seem.” On and on they walked, until all the homes seemed to blur. Surra seemed to get more tense as they went. She sensed something, but what, Miyuki couldn't say. These people seemed harmless enough, if not a bit simple, but then she had never been particularly religious herself. She found the idea strange, so maybe she was being a bit judgmental. Miyuki looked back again. Rain didn’t look mad anymore, she looked nervous and tense as well. What were her two companions sensing that she wasn't? “I don’t know what you hope to find here.” Joyce said as she walked. “Why come here now? Normally you just have someone pick up our tribute. When did that stop being enough?” Surra raised an eyebrow. “It stopped being enough when you took two of our people and sent one back half insane.” “We had nothing to do with that. He wanted to leave and we allowed it. And you sent them to us. To spy on us I believe?” “We did. Strange then that one came back babbling like a madman and one didn’t return at all.” Joyce sighed. “Bethany will sort all this out.” Miyuki couldn’t help but shudder at Surra’s smile. This Joyce bitch didn’t know who she was dealing with. “Oh she had better clear all this up, Joyce. Cause ya see, I don't like you very much. If I find out you're lying…..it won’t be pretty.” * “You want to know why I don't trust you?” Miles said as they continued down the seemingly endless stairway. “By all means, sir.” “It's because parents don’t just up and leave their children to follow a travelling priest. Brothers and family members and survivors don’t just pack up and leave the one place of safety they ever knew. It's because those villagers we met when we found you……had glassy eyes…..like they had been drugged. I don't trust the fact that you've separated us. I don't trust you or this place.” The Good Priest stopped in his tracks. “Oh very well. I suppose the truth had to come out eventually. It's the flowers you see. Those red flowers you saw when you were coming in? We discovered early on that they had certain…..properties. They tend to make people docile. Over time, people seem to forget their old lives. They know and understand only the faith. We discovered that these flowers could be used if say….they were crushed and ingested, like in water for example.” “The water?” Tali asked startled. There was only one of their group who had drank any water, and he had been suspiciously silent. Before Miles could respond he saw them. Three men in robes, but they were red, a dark red. They pushed past Tali and before he could reach for his pistol, he felt stabbing pain course over his body. * Tali watched in horror as the robed men pierced Miles over and over again with long knives. She raised her rifle and tried to fire, but they were too close to Miles. She didn’t want to do anymore damage if she missed. “Gabriel. Please take hold of our guest firmly. She seems liable to hurt someone with that gun.” Tali felt her arms being pinned to her body as Gabriel took her into a bear hug from behind. Miles was barely upright. They kept stabbing him over and over. “”Gabriel, let me go!” “Ignore her, Gabriel. You're doing very well.” The priest said as he took a roll of duct tape from one of the men in red and used a strip to gag her. “You must bring her, Gabriel. She needs rest.” Gabriel held her firm in his arms, but sounded confused. “Yes…..she's probably…..tired.” The priest smiled gently. “That's right, Gabriel. She is very tired. You must bring her downstairs.” Tali kicked and squirmed, trying to protest, but Gabriel held her tight. The Good Priest snapped his fingers and spoke softly again. “Gabriel, can you here me? You need to bring your friend with me.” Gabe nodded numbly and followed behind the priest. The men in the red robes withdrew their daggers and followed as Miles slumped to the ground on the stairs, watching them go and bleeding from a dozen wounds. * “It's so nice to have outsiders here.” Penny said, her head resting on Arax’s shoulder as they walked. “It seems to me you get new people all the time.” Rocco pointed out. Lucia smiled at him from his arm. “Oh yes, but they always get so wrapped up in worship. It's hard not too, I admit. Once you see true greatness, how could you not want to praise it all the time?” “But you don't?” Rocco asked smiling. Penny laughed, her hands running over “Arax’s body. “We're bad nuns. We tend to favor more……corporeal pastimes.” “Oh, I bet you do.” Arax said with a leer. “It was sweet of you to come all this way to check on Bethany. You must have been very worried about her.” Arax shrugged. “Not really. But my gram, you know, she's a paranoid old bird. One of ours doesn’t come back, and she's ready to burn and massacre to find out why.” The girls grew silent at that. They continued to lead them in a maze of houses. There didn’t seem to be any real destination, and seeing as how Rocco didn’t know what this scout looked like, he had to rely on Arax. In the meantime, Rocco was content to clutch at the brown haired beauty nuzzling into his chest. He was still a man, ugly or not, and he had his own needs. Tali was boning Miles and Miyuki swung the other way. Even thankful villagers weren’t normally that grateful. Hanno walked a bit back from them, just as unfocused as ever. Arax had to continuously snap his fingers to keep him moving along. Hanno seemed to have an obsession with touching everything he saw, and that included some of the people they passed, most of whom didn’t seem to approve. They came at last to an open space that ended at a fence. No one else occupied the space, they were alone. Rocco sighed quietly. He had a feeling of what came next. Sure enough he saw Lucia and Penny reaching into their robes. He caught Lucia’s hand as she went for his chest, a sharp dagger in her hand. Hanno had snuck up behind Penny and seized her before she made her move, throwing her to the ground. Arax chuckled as he drew his machete from the sling on his back. “Ladies, ladies. That wasn’t very smart.” Penny scrambled back until she was against the fence. Rocco held Lucia in his grasp and slowly twisted her arm until she dropped the knife. “How did you know?” Penny asked. “My brother. You underestimated him cause he seems simple. That was a mistake. He told me before we started that you two were bad news. I always trust my brother's instincts. I don't know how the ghoul knew though.” Rocco sighed. “Nobody just cuddles up to someone who looks like me. That left two options. She was either gonna try and kill me, or she had a ghoul fetish.” Arax didn't waste anymore time. He walked briskly to Penny and took her head off with one swing. Lucia looked on in horror as he turned to her. Rocco raised a hand to intervene, but too late. Arax swung again and the brown haired beauty fell to the ground, minus a head. “Aw man, you didn’t have to chop off her head.” Rocco complained as he knelt down beside Lucia’s body. “You damn Oro barbarian, you killed my lady. She was such a babe too.” “She was gonna kill you, zombie.” “I don't know……maybe she had a ghoul fetish after all.” Arax snorted back a laugh. “Yeah, I don’t have time to cater to your delusions. Anyway we kept it quiet so that means the others are in danger and nobody else thinks we're alive. Let’s go do some killing before my sister gets to have all the fun.” Rocco reluctantly stood and began to follow the brothers. What a shame, he thought as he glanced back at their would be assassins. Hanno made another series of hand gestures, which Arax responded to with his own. “What's he saying?” Arax grinned. “He wanted to know if anyone really has ghoul fetishes.” Rocco grumbled. “I haven’t met any, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.” * They heard Rain cry out, and instantly pulled their weapons out. In between them were a number of men and women from the camp. Some wore purple robes, while many wore white. When they turned back they had men in front of them as well. Many were armed with long daggers, but Miyuki saw guns and rifles among them too. Joyce smiled maliciously. “I didn’t lie. I told you Bethany would sort this out and she would have. But I'm afraid you're not worthy to know the truth. You will die here, then we'll bring the truth of our faith to the Oro by force.” Miyuki heard Rain begin firing as the cultists advanced, killing two blocking her way to the alley in between two houses. She looked at them briefly before running through and disappearing. Surra smiled and pulled a knife from her boot. “Finally, you've made your move. I'd run very fast if I were you, Joyce. When I find you again, I'm going to rip out your heart and eat it in front of you. That’s a promise.”

Chapter 8: Showing Cracks Bridget found herself in agreement, and she sped as fast as she could away from the airborne predator. After a few well timed leaps from building to building, she heard again the deafening thud of Mi’cha landing behind her, shattering shingles and cracking the rooves beneath. Seeing that Bridget’s bunny hopping had outmaneuvered her, Mi’cha adopted a more feline tack. She ran and pounced, so quickly that Bridget didn’t dare glance back even for a moment. The speed that kept her away from Mi’cha’s claws was, unfortunately, insufficient to outrun her guilt. As fast as she ran and jumped along rooftops, her thoughts raced more swiftly back to Tenkai. Bridget thought about the clever, kinda cute trickster who she’d nearly reduced to a shriveled husk. She felt a lump like a cannonball form in her throat. What if she got captured by Vector security, because she was too weakened to fight them off? What if she really was poisoned? What if Mi’cha went back to ki- to hunt the girl down later? All these thoughts raced each other round and round in her head, and very soon she had no sense of where she was going. She’d closed her eyes to shut out their stampede. <<Slow down, sweetie.>> And of course she’d disappointed Val so terribly. It was no wonder she wanted her to slow down and be mauled by the monster whose hot breath came in gales behind her. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! she wailed silently, I’ll let it catch me instead! I know I deserve it, and you’re right to be angry, I-I- <<Bridget.>> The softness where she’d expected the hard edge of an executioner’s axe startled Bridget into silence, cutting off her frantic torrent of self-excoriation. She almost missed the next rooftop in surprise. <<I don’t want you to do any of that.>> <<Tenkai has demonstrated a prodigious skill at stealth,>> Val explained, with that familiar air of authority that turned everything she said into ironclad axiom. <<Sonata’s pawns will spend much more time dealing with a gargantuan escaped war-thrall than they will devote to hunting down someone who is barely older than you, and who poses no imminent threat.>> The lump in Bridget’s throat diminished ever so slightly. She juked right, made another leap and was rewarded by Mi’cha's hiss of frustration. <<And if you really want to make sure Mi’cha keeps focusing on you, well, I’m sure you can figure out which buttons to push.>> Bridget landed on a metal roof with a clatter. But I-, Bridget began <<That is, if the amount of sass I get is a representative indicator.>> Yeah! I can do that. “Hey Mi’cha,” Bridget shouted over her shoulder, “Forzare is so stupid,I bet he can’t even figure out which end of a beaker to pour from!” Bridget’s taunt was immediately and catastrophically successful. The next claw swipe sliced the back of Bridget’s sweater, and missed her spine by millimeters. The autumn afternoon chilled the small of her back, and an icy thrill of fear ran up her spine. [[You will not insult Master Forzare! He is brilliant and kind, and gives good pets and delicious snacks! And when I bring him your corpses, he will once again inform me how good I am, even though we both know!]] Mi’cha leapt after Bridget, but this time, she floated in the air just enough to extend the distance of her jump. She slammed down directly in front of Bridget, the roof of the maroon van she landed on screaming and buckled under her weight. Bridget panted from the exertion of the chase. Her warm sweater was cold with sweat. Her opponent’s body glistened with perspiration too, but all that did in her case was highlight the immense bulging magnitude of her muscles. [[You’re tired, aren’t you, assassin? Good.]] The next strike that came was as quick and sudden as a snakebite. Bridget just barely managed to dodge a blur of a claw strike, only to be sideswept by two of Mi’cha’s armored legs. The sharp edges of the organic armor tore a pair of rents in Bridget’s sweater. Bridget barely had time to register the blunt impact on herchest as she was knocked over the side of the building by the sheer force of the blow. Bridget clenched her teeth to stop the scream that welled up in her throat from escaping. She kept her composure enough to reach for the reservoir of power within her, and slowed her descent skillfully. A proud smile flashed across her face. <<Good work, sweetie.>> But when Bridget was about halfway between the roof and the parking lot pavement below, she saw a familiar shadow fall on her. Her pursuer had expected this very maneuver, and had jumped from the building as well. The leap perfectly timed to slam and crush her as she floated down. <<Drop!>> Val barked. Bridget obeyed at the speed of thought, and that alone saved her from a splattering demise. She managed to blunt the impact enough not to suffer any drastic injuries. Still, the fall rattled every single bone in her body, and knocked her to her knees, slightly stunned, flesh stinging as the jagged asphalt dug in. Mi’cha landed a few feet ahead of her, nearly shearing off the top of a tall light that bent over the parking lot. Her torso dipped as her six legs absorbed the impact. A small group of uniformed Vector security officers stood waiting where Tenkai had collapsed. They wore light, silvery body armor over their legs and chests, and even from a distance Bridget could see the prism pistols slung at their sides. At the sound of the pair of impacts, they ran toward the combatants. Seeing them advance, Bridget felt a sense of impending doom pierce the haze of her all-over soreness. Mi’cha straightened, her feline eyes bulging, still rimmed with the red dust from Tenkai’s spray attack. Bridget looked up at the horrifying chimera bearing down on her, desperately searching for even the remotest hint of a weakness. [[My venom burns, you know.]] Mi’cha growled, psychic voice seething. [[A fitting punishment for your attempts to hurt my Forzare]] She reared her tail back to strike, aimed directly at Bridget’s heart. But focused as she was on her prey, Mi’cha did not see the jade blur behind her. Her tail began to descend for the killing blow, but stopped short with a resounding metallic clink. Clink clink clink clink clink. Mi’cha growled in confusion, and Bridget saw the reason. Her tail was at its thinnest point right at the base of her bulbous stinger, and Tenkai had used a pair of bright blue handcuffs to attach her tail to the thin parking lot lamp. The chimera wriggled and writhed, but couldn’t bring any of her claws to bear to free herself. “Smile, Bluebell, you’re on video! Let’s see Vector try to cover this up!” Tenkai stood behind Bridget, a cell phone in her hand, hat restored to its jaunty position atop her head, and a grin of triumph on her face. Mi’cha roared in impotent protest. Bridget rose to her feet as quickly as she could and ducked out of camera view. <<Our energy sheath should protect us, there’s no need to worry. At best, the device will record a slight disturbance in the air.>> Okay. Just want to be sure. Bridget focused her dwindling energy, reinforcing her gravitic veil, which had begun to slip during the struggle. “Stop right there!” A chorus of male voices commanded. The Vector security goons had finally come into range of Tenkai and Bridget, and menaced both with their prism pistols. Tenkai froze for a moment, and lowered her camera. “Hey, Ghost Girl? Any chance you can make laser shields or anything?” Tenkai whispered out of the corner of her mouth. Bridget shook her head, before belatedly realizing that it was very unlikely Tenkai could see the gsture. “Guess that’s a no. Well, original plan it is then.” <<I suspect we can still help regardless, little one.>> Tenkai dropped a small black sphere from inside her sleeve. As she did, the Vector security forces opened fire. They were unprepared, however, for the gravitic pulse Bridget unloaded at the same time. The oozy grip sheaths kept the guns in their hands, and they were too many for a tired Bridget to incapacitate them all quickly. But she was at least able to disrupt their aim; Tenkai’s agility and her smoke bomb did the rest. Bridget knew it was time to go; she wouldn’t get another chance, and there were so many bright lines of energy lancing through the air. She leapt away, hopping from one rooftop to another back the way she came. There was no froggy-jumping this time, just the wind on her face, and time for Val to strategize. <<That young human is clearly interested in harming Vector, and does not appear to have any institutional backing. She could make an excellent ally.>> Yeah, except I almost ate her! << She had no way of knowing that was you.>> But I know! And she must too, or she wouldn’t have left! What if it happens again? <<It won’t, sweetie.>> How can you be sure? <<Because I’ll train you.>> That’s your answer to everything, isn’t it? She whined. <<Yes.>> Well, points for honesty. But why is it always that? <<Because that’s all we can do. We were very fortunate today, but there is every chance that we will simply fail and die. <<I had hoped my knowledge would be enough. But, I did not know about Forzare’s beast, or his laboratory. Likewise, we won’t know what other deadly weapons Sonata can bring to bear.>> She paused for a long moment. <<Sweetie, I...I may not be able to protect you. I nearly wasted both of our lives on a brash reconnaissance mission that yielded nothing. This is precisely like the situation with Sonata herself. I’m sorry.>> Bridget was stunned. An apology. But more than that, Val’s abrupt vulnerability diminished the burning flame of her anxiety. It took her a few more blocks to figure out what to say. Val, there’s nothing to apologize for. I agreed to everything. We did at least get that that ID card and the space gun. Maybe we could use it. And we did manage to get good intel too, so mission accomplished there. It’s just the intel said that Sonata has a new chief scientist with a giant scorpion-tiger-centaur for a pet. It’s not like he’s anywhere near as good as the old one though. Bridget might have been mistaken, but she could have sworn she felt the Voidwalker blush. <<Indeed,>> Val said. <<Thank you, little one.>> Anytime. They finally landed, outside the familiar light blue split-level Winston house. I love you, space-mommy. <<I love you too, princess.>> The two of them channeled their power, rose up to Bridget’s bedroom window, opened it, and slipped inside. -- Well, dear readers, we've done it, we've finally reached the end of the battle with Mi'cha! Thanks, everyone for reading, and as always, likes and comments are greatly appreciated. I'll also keep the fourth-wall mailbox open, just in case anyone has questions they want to direct that way.

Not been here for a while but decided to come back and share some of my latest artwork ..!

@Elfy This is the chapter in question. To everyone else, depending on what the powers that be feel, this may be my last post here. If it is, I want you all to know that I am eternally grateful for having the opportunity to share my work and grow as a writer while interacting with so many wonderful people. I will still continue this story but will post it on my DA page going forward if it's found that this story breaks any sort of rules and must be removed or altered. I didn't set out to write this story to have it be an issue or cause a problem for this board, but I will absolutely not make changes to my work if I feel that what it says is important to the narrative. Am I being stubborn? Sure. Am I wrong to believe that the voice of my work should be heard as is and not tinkered with or watered down because it happens to have underage characters? Maybe, but here we are. Again, I respect the judgement of the Admins but I will take my ball and go home if what I feel is an unjust ruling comes down. Part Two: The Kids Aren't Alright Chapter Three: 3 The Hard Way "Don't hold me up now I can stand my own ground I don't need your help now You will let me down, down, down!" Rise Against - "Prayer of the Refugee" "My name is Dawn Lassiter and this is my first day at this school." I said quietly as I stood in front of the class looking at the small group of faces staring blankly at me. Being a public school, I saw boys in my class for the first time ever, and I was very nervous to say the least, my hands were sucked into the sleeves of my hoodie and I fiddled with the ribbed material in secret with my hidden fingers. "We know that, Dawn, tell us about where you came from or what you like to do for fun." Mr. Graham, my new teacher coaxed. I came from a way better school than this and I had two best friends, well, one best friend and one really good friend and now I have no friends. On the last day at my old school my friends told me that they were both coming up to my grade because they'd been doing so well that they were too smart for second grade, but they weren't telling me because they were happy, they were telling me because they were sad. Why would they tell me something they knew was sad when I was already sad because I was going away and would never see them again? Why wouldn't they just say goodbye and tell me they loved me and let me go? My best friend hugged me and told me she would miss me, but her hug wasn't the same, she was hugging me with fake arms, like a doll that can only hug wrong because plastic isn't the same as skin. She said something to me, whispered it in my ear so only we would know about it, and I tried not to cry but I couldn't stop and then my other friend hugged me and they both thought I was crying because I would miss them but I was really crying because I missed myself. I missed the girl I used to be. For fun I like to wear diapers and act like a baby and my parents are divorced and neither one of them really cares about me. My dad lives in a junk apartment downtown with his whore and when I stay with him she tells me how gross it is that I wet the bed and calls me a baby but not in a nice way, she says it with a mean face on and I cry myself to sleep on a bed that's too little because my dad says my bitch mom took him to the cleaners. I don't know where that is but it's not a very nice place because he always complains about going there. My mom likes to have grownup juice all the time now, and she sometimes forgets to make dinner or pick me up from school so I have to walk home and it's kinda close but when I get home I usually have to make dinner and I'm not allowed to use the stove so I usually just have a sandwich or something. When my mom is asleep, which is a lot, I go into my room and put on a diaper and curl up in a little ball on my bed and suck my pacifier and hug the stuffed otter that my used to be best friend gave me and cry. I used to cry because I was sad that I didn't have my friend anymore and because I didn't have a family anymore, but now I cry because I have a hurt in my heart that's so bad I feel like I can't move or talk or do anything but lay there and cry. I saw a movie one time where a lady hurt herself with a knife on her arms because she was sad and I think maybe she had the same sad I do but I'm not allowed to play with knives and I'm scared of how bad it would hurt to cut myself but maybe it wouldn't hurt as bad as my heart hurt or maybe it would make it so the heart hurt didn't hurt as bad. All I really know is that I'm standing here in front of all these new faces and I don't want to be friends with any of them and I'm wondering if anyone would care if I just walked away and never came back. The end. "I came from St. Abigail's Academy for Young Girls before this and I've never had boys in my class before." I said, causing giggles and whispers among the class. "For fun I like to listen to music and read." I added, ignoring my peers. Mr. Graham stood up and thanked me, putting his hand on my back to usher me to take a seat off to the side of the rows of desks. The boy behind me looked like a jerk, his face like a bulldog eating a sour candy as he stared at me vacantly, looking through me as I took my seat. In front of me was a girl with little afro puffs on either side of the top of her head, she looked adorable and I wished I had fun hair like hers. Finally, to my right was a girl that looked like she had walked in off the street, her clothes were too big for her and were kind of dingy, like they'd been worn by several kids before they'd found their way to her. Her hair was full of snarls and little knots and I distinctly smelled stale sweat and urine coming from her, but I said nothing because no one else seemed to care so why should I? ****************************************************************************** My name is Celeste Johnson and I am the middle child of my family. My youngest sister is one, followed by my youngest brother who is four, I'm six and my older brother is ten and my oldest sister is twelve. I share a room with my younger sister, which means that I live in a nursery and that's pretty appropriate since neither my sister or I can keep our beds or pants dry all the time, at least she has an excuse though. Up until I was around four I shared the crib with my brother, but when my sister was born they got me a toddler bed and had the two little ones sleep together. My little brother now has his own bed in the same room as my older brother and I still have a toddler bed in a nursery, this is all very damaging to my self esteem. I think that my parents believe I'm a baby like my sister or my brother was before her. Aside from going to school, my routine is much the same as my sister's and it's become so common that I don't try to argue when I'm put into the bathtub with her or put to bed at the same time as her or made to take a nap when she does. Some of it is done because of convenience, if you have two kids in diapers why wouldn't you take care of them at the same time? I'm not a baby though, and my parents seem to forget that a lot of the time. On more than a handful of occasions I've been given a bottle of breast milk before bed and I don't know what to say to my parents when stuff like that happens. My siblings aren't any better. When my older sister babysits she puts me in the playpen with my sister. I'm talked to in the same "I don't expect you to answer because you're just a baby" tone by everyone in my house more than I'm talked to like a six year old. I found out that I'd done so good in first grade that the school was moving me to Third Grade and when I came home to give my parents the note that explained everything they took it and signed it without really looking at it because the baby had a cold, my little brother needed new shoes, my older brother wanted to ride his bike to his friend's house and my older sister was begging for a cell phone. Routine took hold and I was taken to the pediatrician with my sister, both of us in a carseat with nearly matching outfits comprised of little sundresses and plastic shoes adorned with a little white flower, pacifiers clipped to each of our dresses, mine purple with a little cartoon bumblebee on the front of the shield and my sister's pink with a little cartoon squirrel it. Going from being told you were so smart and good at school that you're skipping over an entire grade to being weighed in just a diaper right next to your younger but somehow your equal sister at the pediatrician's office messes you up pretty bad. I don't try and complain about any of this anymore though, I've learned that no one will listen anyway, I just let whatever is going to happen happen and do my best to remember that I'm a big girl despite all evidence to the contrary at home. When I met Alina and Dawn felt an instant connection to them. At first I just knew that Dawn wore training pants to school like I did, but over time I learned that Dawn like to play baby and I was really confused by that because I was treated like a baby at home and wished it wasn't the case, I was sure that after my sister grew up I'd be moved back into the crib and as all my siblings got older and left the house I'd still be in that nursery just a big baby for the rest of my life. If Dawn hadn't been so sweet I don't think I would have liked her as much as I did Alina because she liked being what I hated being treated as, and when I looked at her I saw myself side by side with my sister, a bigger version of an actual baby, and I kind of hated that. I favored Alina over Dawn and didn't try to hide it at all, Alina and I kept secrets from Dawn and when she told us she was leaving our school I was so happy that I'd have Alina all to myself from then on but then the day came when she wasn't going to be around anymore and I was sad because I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fill the space she left in Alina's heart because I was just a timid little Mouse to everyone around me and a mouse was so tiny and the dawn filled the whole sky. ****************************************************************************** Third grade was when everything changed. It started with being there when I was supposed to be in second grade, and the swell of pride I felt at having come from that time I lost my mind a little bit to being in the same grade as my best friend. My happiness was dampened by my best friend going to a different school, the feeling of how unfair it was that I had finally made it to the same grade as her again and now we were further apart than before. Mouse made things easier, but she wasn't Dawn. That sounds like a mean thing to say, but as much as I like Mouse, I don't love her, at least I don't love her the same way I love Dawn. When I think of Dawn I think of how happy she makes me, how special she is to me and how good she is at being my friend. When I think of Mouse I think of a little kitten that walks right next to your leg all the time so it can be close to you and then you trip over it and the kitten gets scared and you feel bad that you were mad at something so innocent and harmless. Third grade is also when I learned I was gay even though I didn't really know what that meant. I'll give you a second to process that. Good? Okay, moving on. Dawn and Mouse came over to my house for a sleepover the weekend after school got out for the Summer. Mommy had gotten us all into our diapers for bed and Mouse basically passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow and Dawn climbed into the bed with me and cuddled up to me and I felt the butterflies start to flutter in my stomach like when I'm nervous but I was with Dawn and I was never nervous around her. I rolled over to face her and cuddled her back and she looked up at me and her blue eyes shimmered wetly in the dimness of the nightlight and I don't know why, but she was so beautiful and vulnerable in that moment and I moved my head down a few inches and kissed her on the lips. I know, it's wildly inappropriate for six and seven year olds to kiss, but something in my head and heart told me that that's what I was supposed to do and it felt right! We didn't make out, it wasn't sexual in any way, I just kissed my best friend on the lips and it was different than anything else I'd ever experienced. In the moment before our lips parted and she hurried out of the bed and back to her sleeping bag where she tried to keep her crying a secret from me and I fell asleep feeling like I'd ruined everything between us for a reason I didn't understand I felt like everything was perfect and made sense. Kissing Dawn felt so right that I never wanted to stop doing it, but her hands pushed into my chest and then she was gone as fast as she could get away. The thing that hurt the most about the whole thing was that that's how things were left between me and Dawn for almost a whole year after that night. With all the things going on in her life and the new distance between us geographically, I was left thinking she hated me and that I was a freak for not only kissing her but for feeling so happy that I had, it's a terrible feeling to be happy about doing something you feel hurts someone you love so much, but we all have our crosses to bear. ****************************************************************************** I had managed to mostly forget about my old life, my old school, and my old friends by the time Alina's birthday invitation came in the mail. I sat on my bed staring at the pink, glitter encrusted invitation with a cartoon princess on it for the better part of an hour, thinking about the last time I'd seen her and all my feelings of loneliness and regret came rushing back to the surface and even though the invitation lay crumpled up in the trash can next to my dresser I still knew it had come and knew that she would be sad I didn't respond and even sadder when I didn't show up, but how are you supposed to go to a birthday party for someone you're scared to be around because they kissed you and it was so nice and sweet and meant so much to you but they're not who you're supposed to have your first kiss with? Had my mother been sober and conscious she would have called Alina's house to accept for me, but she was taking one of her naps and I was free to wallow in my own self pity and cry because I hadn't felt like doing that for a while and we can't have that now can we? ****************************************************************************** When Dawn didn't show up to the party I knew it was time for me to step in and take her place as Alina's best friend. For whatever reason Alina still had it in her head that she and Dawn were best friends forever and ever, and nothing I did or said changed that. Could I tell Alina that Dawn was a jerk and she should forget about her and lean on me? No, that would just make her hate me for saying something negative about her beloved Dawn. Could I be there to pick up the pieces when the almighty Dawn let her down so completely that she wanted to cancel the party entirely and pout all the rest of the day? Absolutely! I made sure I was there by her side the whole day, hugging her when she got sad and being silly to cheer her up, and little by little her mood brightened and by the time we were going to bed she was talking and giggling with me like only a best friend would. A mouse can be greater than just a timid little thing that's quiet and scurries around to keep from getting stepped on, look at Mickey, he's known the whole world over and is more popular than a lot of other not mouse characters! ****************************************************************************** Dawn had made her decision to not be a part of my life, and I had to live with that because I had no way to change her mind. Mouse became my best friend because she was there for me when Dawn wasn't, and even though I didn't feel the same way about Mouse as I did about Dawn, I knew that I couldn't spend my whole life being sad about a lost friendship or feeling regretful that I'd driven her away in the first place, all I could do was live my life and be happy and that's what I did. When I did see Dawn again it was more awkward than I'd imagined it would be, not because of our kiss or the amount of time we'd gone without speaking, it was awkward because it was like the setup to a bad joke, 'a princess, a mouse, and a wannabe baby all walk into a pediatrician's office...', stop me if you've heard this one.

Wow....just wow. Please, do not listen to this! It's very simple: If you're not comfortable with something, you have every right NOT to want it to happen. I don't care if she is your mommy. a Mommy/little relationship is all about respect and trust. It is NOT about complete control regardless if you're comfortable with it or not. If you want them to ask permission (or don't even want them to touch you at all) you say so.

Chapter 9 I'd never seen one of them die before, I didn't even know they could die. But I remember the Battle of Mira Station. I remember Skippers in their machines, blinking in and out like fireflies, and I remember seeing the Burning Sky dying for the very first time. It was the first day since we lost our home that I got to remember what hope felt like. -Ashlynn Jones, Personal Accounts of the Burning Sky. *** I could feel it, and I think that was why it was so easy for me to accept the truth of the words Lilt had fed me, even despite all of her lies and her misdeeds in such a short amount of time. If I were thinking, then I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could have thrown her. But I was a Skipper, so I was feeling, and something was resonating with my feelings. With delicate steps that left no sign of evidence, I paced around the Faering, every fiber of my skin tingling, reminding me of the way I felt when I was walking past the transformer coils on the lower decks of the Station. The air just felt… charged. The form of the construct didn’t differ greatly from my Faering, similar to any of those my Skipper Sisters might have taken into cold deep vacuum - three rings of wedges, each smaller than the one preceding it, and the Truss suspended and hovering in the center. The material construction was what set things apart, though, and I could only have described it as otherworldly, because it was like nothing else I’d ever seen. Except for every single day when I looked in the mirror. “Is this Skipper technology?” I asked with equal parts curiosity and awe, my words soft and hesitant as though it was a question I really wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to. When my words hung in the air and Lilt didn’t answer me, though, I looked over my shoulder and saw her talking to a middle-aged woman with black hair and almond-shaped eyes that clouded with a milky white pallor in the same shade as the cane she held in her hand. Without any acknowledgment of my question, and outside of the supervision of my escort, I gave into compulsion and stepped up the adjacent stepladder to bring me closer to the Truss in the center of the Faering. I came chest to chest with the suspended figure in between the three rings, floating as if by magic. My eyes shined with compulsion, my feelings flared, and I reached out one hand to touch the strange, almost alien figure before me. And where my fingers were softly cream colored, pale and milky, child-like and precious, the Truss was dark bluish grey, designed to look metallic at a distance, intended to evoke feelings of artificiality. We contrasted, not flesh and steel like we usually would, but in every other way. “Are you curious?” Despite the soft excitement in Lilt’s voice, I almost jumped out of my too-perfect skin, and felt myself falling back into her arms on the way down from the startled leap. “Oh hey, it’s alright, you’re good. I didn’t mean to scare you.” “I’m a Skipper,” I spat, then faded, “I don’t get scared,” I moped in embarrassment, and Lilt smiled the way my Mom used to. “Well now that’s not true at all. You don’t have to posture here, Cadence, you don’t have to live up to an image of some ever-perfect hero. It’s alright to be afraid. It’s alright to be excited, to be trepidatious, it’s okay to feel things.” She smiled at me, and her arms were still around me, wrapping me up in physicality the way her reassurances wrapped up my insecurities. “Are you alright? We don’t have to do this right now, you know.” I looked up, craning my neck to see her gaze as she stood behind me, arms wrapped around me, and her upside-down smile was just as pretty as it had been right side up. “I felt something, Lilt. Like it was giving me something.” My brow was furrowed as my inflection dropped, my gaze moved back to the Truss in the center of the Faering. “I think I’m just feeling ghosts, though, probably something to do with your ship?” My tone was inquisitive, doubtful, maybe hoping to be told otherwise. Lilt didn’t give me that, though. “Maybe.” Her voice had melody, “Maybe not. This is all new technology, this is something that can save the world. We don’t know how your Skipper body is going to respond to it, and that’s why you’re here.” Something about her candor put me at ease, despite the fact I was literally terrified of the prospect, and that let my child-like wonder and excitement shine through. “Put me inside, let me link.” I asserted in earnest, and stepped forward away from her, pressing my hand to the uncanny carapace in front of me, as though I was proving something to myself. Nothing happened. Lilt was looking at me curiously when I turned around, a little smirk on her too-pretty face, and I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly, trying to act so much cooler than I felt. “What? We’re not saving any lives just standing around here.” I felt something that wasn’t mine. Pride. Something gave me pride. *** “Just try to think of this like any other Delinking, Cadence,” Lilt’s tone was detached, she didn’t make eye contact, and she was going down a checklist on her tablet, trying to force the kind of confidence in her process that came naturally to Laurent. He’d been a handler for decades, though, he’d fought the Burning Sky and he’d paid his prices. Lilt was a spook, a ghost from the inner machinations of some unified governance that nobody even believed we had anymore, and she might have been good at wearing masks but that didn’t answer for her lack of experience. “Have you seen a Delinking before, Lilt?” She looked up from her little computer, like I’d asked a dumb question, and I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t mean it personally, I know you’re one of the creators of the Faering, but I don’t know what you actually do.” She didn’t seem any more impressed with what I was saying. “I just mean…you might be a systems analyst for all I know, and the theory is pretty different from the reality.” “The reality is fine, Skipper Cadence,” She answered back, almost defensively, and I puffed my cheeks at her response. I was only trying to be considerate! And maybe a little bit I was trying to shake the vapid feelings being broadcast through the ether of nothingness. Had I upset her? I hadn’t meant to. “Alright let’s do this! Genna, you’re clear to start Delinking our Skipper.” I watched the blind woman - Genna, I supposed - up above me and to the left. I saw the smile spread across her lips as she used the positioning of her fingertips on one hand to center her other on the controls. She was confident, she was excited, I didn’t even know her name until Lilt had said it, and I still felt safe in her care. With a mechanical sound, heavy and clunking, old-world and oily, a familiar looking gantry slid along crane rails inset into the ceiling. Some things were the same no matter where you were - if it wasn’t broken, there was no need to fix it. The arrangement moved left and forward, left and down, the blind woman guiding the movement with more precision than any of my myriad linking technicians on the station could have mustered. The steel rig dropped slowly down around me, clunked heavily, and then little peaks pushed into my joints to release unseen indents. I was felt my arms and my legs pulling gracefully away from my body, leaving along with the two side sections of the gantry as they split away from one another. And then, I was flying. “You know, you really sold the whole being freaked out by my arm being Delinked in my quarters, Lilt,” I called down to her, nothing more than a torso and a head right now, and she laughed and rolled her eyes in return, but she didn’t sass me back. Maybe I’d made her uncomfortable, or maybe right now I was just another variable in a long-form formula. The rings of the Faering began to hum and resonate, and one-by-one they rotated noiselessly from vertical to horizonal, inner to outer, like a gyroscope, revealing access to the top of the Truss as the jig positioned me above the opening from above. “What’s this going to be like, Lilt? Anything I should know?” “Nothing I can tell you without invalidating the usefulness of our data, Cadence. Just relax, think of it like any other Linkage.” Was that earnest focus in the tone of her voice, or was it worry? Concern? Was there something she wasn’t telling me? The crane descended and in harmony with the motion the top half of the metallic torso began to bloom open like the petals on a flower, a grotesquely alien display applied to what had looked remotely human - if headless - a few moments before. My alabaster skin disappeared inside of the dark form and the parted artificial flesh closed up around me, linking to every aspect of my nervous system all at once. It was intense. I was used to intense. But this was so much more intense than usual; if the sensations of linking washed over me like waves on the shore, right now I felt like I was drowning, like every wave was a tsunami, like they came closer and closer together. I focused. I felt. I didn’t think. This was normal, this was expected, I just had to… calibrate, to synchronize, and this was why I had a whole team of technicians on hand - I had to trust them to be my thoughts so I could be my feelings. And what did I feel? I felt cold. I felt warm. I felt scared. I felt brave. I felt anxious. I felt confident. I felt dizzy. I felt grounded. I felt alone. … and then I wasn’t. I opened my eyes. I hadn’t realized they were closed. There was a blue sky above me and grass beneath my bare feet, there was the smell of salt from the ocean and the smell of berries and childhood. I looked at my hand and found soft pinky flesh, chubby little fingers with chipped purple polish and cuts from playing among the blackcurrants. My head spun, and I spun with it, I saw the crops behind me. I’d charted a maze, and I had to find the way back! I could hear my own giggling as I ran, the soil shifted between my toes and the blackcurrant bushes felt familiar and comfortable against my fingers as I ran and laughed, turning left and turning right, following the path that had led me here. I could remember it vividly; I’d spent all morning here, I’d made the most impressive maze ever! And I’d hidden a coloring book and crayons at the end of the maze, I’d left myself a reward, coloring and a picnic basket, and a happy afternoon, even if Mommy and Daddy couldn’t play with me today. Left. Right. Right. Left. I couldn’t imagine feeling any happier than this, this summer would last forever, the dances and the games, the sunshine and the happiness, me and the berries and my family. Right. Right. Left. Straight! Left. I emerged into a clearing, laughing, my gingham dress stained with berries and torn from when I’d ran too close to the bushes, my feet smeared with dirt and a little bit of sweat beading on my brow as one of my pigtails fell in front of my shoulders and the other behind. I saw my picnic basket, and I saw my coloring book, and I saw my crayons, and I saw another girl here, another girl my age, a ten-year-old in a very pretty dress, sitting on my checked picnic blanket. Confusion twisted my youthful form and I wondered who she was. Then I knew who she was. Obviously. “Hi, Carmen!” This was going to be the best summer ever, and it never had to end.