kerry

I've become confused, Will. I was under the impression (from Ch 1) that Sue is incontinent and wears diapers whenever out of the office, where she wears some sort of pullup. The last two chapters—and especially this one—seem to have left that characteristic behind, making her diaper wearing a choice.

I sincerely hope I am completely overthinking this, but all through this adorable chapter I was having horrible flashes of Stacy coming to the door and crying out, "They took Ella!" You wouldn't do that to us (and to Jamie and Ella), would you? (Please?)

I'd like to echo Maly's sentiment: thank you for writing such an enjoyable piece and sharing it with us.

Another lovely chapter exploring this highly charged, complex situation. I had never even considered before just how much outside of Jamie's plans when he decided to come to Itali all of this has grown. He certainly isn't getting the kind of drama-free existence he signed up for. I realized another thing while reading this. Maybe you said it when Kazoo was introduced but I don't remember: is Kazoo a dog as humans see dogs or a dog as Amazons see them (that is, a bear)?

Mostly because I am taking a break from writing at the moment. However, at the end of any of my posts there are links to all of my stories.

This enigmatic opening is very enticing. I find myself really wanting to know more.

This is an interesting beginning to a story, Kasarberang; it sets up an unusual circumstance and leaves the reader with many questions that can/will be explored as you keep going. Not knowing what is coming, though, I think there are a few things that are fully contained in this chapter and could use a bit more explication. This is the first. The narrator receives a piece of junk mail offering an all-expense-paid month-long vacation with no details and just goes for it? Doesn't call or email to find out more information or, I don't know, to make a reservation? And who goes on month-long vacations anyway? (Yes, I know that wealthy people can, or perhaps school teachers in summer, but there is no suggestion that this narrator is wealthy.) Whose office would encourage them to take such a long time away? These details don't seem very realistic or consistent with a narrator who actually seems pretty thoughtful overall. Since the narrator was the only person on the bus from the start, why would the driver say this? Nice line, but if there was only a single passenger who was going to the last stop, why wold they have made any other tops? (BTW: huh? Unless this is a service bus for Everland Farm, which it clearly isn't if there are other stops on the route, Monday morning is not really a reasonable explanation for a totally empty bus.) This part confuses me. If the narrator did call to make a reservation (which must have happened), they'd be expected. Someone would pick them up. Also, if this is actually a regular stop on the line, why would it be so far away? Um...here the narrator crosses the line to illegal entry, especially if they are not expected. Again, though, I'd say that they must be, and since the bus comes on a schedule, there is no real reason why there would be no one around. BTW: going into someone's private bedroom and especially into her computer is very clearly and ethical and legal violation. Why would the narrator do this? As I said, this is a very interesting beginning. The only thing I can think of is that the narrator must have stumbled into an Earth outpost of the Diaper Dimension whose inhabitants would rather trick humans into coming to them than go to all the effort to kidnap them. But I really have no idea. ?

That's funny: I had a very similar feeling when reading this chapter, like she's a closet AB who wouldn't mind this lifestyle at all.

I totally understand that feeling. There was an outrageously emotional chapter in a novel I wrote that was the hardest thing I've ever had to write. I outlined it years before I finally wrote it. You're putting all of your heart and soul into this piece, Alex. Please know that it means so much to all of us who have been with you from the beginning and those who have only recently discovered Jamie's story. Thank you.

More! More! This is killing me!

This is so completely cute! Thanks for writing it and sharing it.

I'm really enjoying this piece. As it was playing out, I thought maybe the military flashback was too long, and maybe it is, but I now understand why you felt it was needed. As to the little quote here: I generally ignore errors as long as I can figure out what your intention is, but "animosity" threw me. ?

Yeah, that was easy to predict. Carol is a bitch.

A truly standout chapter, Alex. It surprised me when you came in with the focus on Ella's Earth family; I did not expect it at all. However, it proved to be just the puzzle piece that was missing in her story. As I said in an earlier post, I think it would be best for her to remain in Itali for all sorts of reasons. But learning about how her parents and siblings dealt with (or didn't, as the case may be) such a stunning and grievous loss both personalizes them and helps the reader to find some balance and not to see them as the enemy. I can't imagine the horror of this situation for all concerned. I hope that she decides to remain in Itali and to remain in touch with her birth family, but that is still to be seen.

You seem to have reversed the "regressed" and "unregressed" here. Pretty sure this was supposed to be "high chair." As always, I really loved this chapter!

I take back my critiques from before. This story has now dived head-first into the deep end of fetish fantasy and if it wants to make no logical sense, well, fine. Though I still maintain that it would and could be a better story if it adhered to some sort of actual parameters within its goals, you've clearly determined that you don't wish to do that, so I guess just have fun playing within a structure where only dream-logic applies. ?

I love the second rule. ?

I understand that. I am merely pointing out that there are a lot of ways to make certain that it remains within the parameters of consistency in the unreal world in which it is located. ?

OK. I wish to start by saying that I do enjoy this story, as I tend to like scenarios such as this one. That being said, even for a piece that asks for two serious stretches of the imagination from the outset (that a teacher could pass as a small child—which you keep referring to as an "infant" when NO ONE could ever pass as an infant even if it were possible for them to be mistaken for a child—and that parents would accept her doing this), you are venturing now into territory that defies any sense of logical coherence. I am not going to discuss the issues with grammar, etc., though you could do with better proofreading, but when I start getting pulled out of the story thinking things are impossible even within its admittedly unrealistic world then my ability to immerse into that world becomes more difficult. So... Um, if the school saw the video it would enroll her as a student as punishment? In what way is that even appropriate? And in what way is it any different from her enrolling herself as a student? She must be the most suggestible person in the universe if this is true. This again reflects the idea that there is no difference between what she fears and what she is doing, but it also begs the question of what difference there is between the current status of "Eva Peters"—at the same address, no less—being enrolled twice in two different categories and Eva Peters being double enrolled in those two categories. What is the practical difference? Why bother doing this at all? What school actually does this? To what end? I know, I know: before everyone starts lambasting me, I am completely cognizant of the fact that this is a fantasy, and here I am wondering why a diaper fetish story doesn't make sense...a thought that by itself doesn't make a great deal of sense. But fantasies too have to play by rules that make logical sense within their constructs. Nothing I have said here will stop me (or I suppose anyone else) from continuing to read and even enjoy the story, but it would be so much better if it did not have such inconsistencies within it but rather stayed firmly within the framework in which it began, which we as readers accept not because of logic but because, well, that's what readers do: they grant the author his or her premise and expect that the story will remain true to that premise, no matter its absurdity. Here, though, Eva and her universe keep acting in ways that seem on their face to be basically chaotic: things happen because they happen and we keep having to accept them even when they are very hard to swallow or comprehend. (Honestly: why in the world would she have started masturbating at that party? No one would do that.) There are a million and one things that happen in these stories that make no sense, and we just roll with them. But authors need to establish the rules of their universes from the start and then build from there, and this story keeps adding things to the plot that make its rules less and less intuitively possible. Again, I know you are all going to yell at me here, but I want to state again that despite my issues with it I like this story and continue to look forward to new installments. I just wish it would not keep asking me to accept things that are stark reminders of its lack of "realism," whatever that word even means in these tales.

As complicated as it does seem, it appears that the best solution is to let her stay. As she says, she doesn't really know these people anymore. If she returns, she will do so as a broken 30-something under-educated woman who has no real support network in what will be a strange new world except for a mother and father she hardly remembers. If she stays, she has the relationship she has built for years with Stacy, her newer relationship with Jamie, and the security of a life in which that lack of experience and education won't mean a lifetime of cashiering at Walmart...

Whatever happens here, I hope that it is absolutely what ELLA wants.

Um...I know that this story exists in a Bizarro universe, but even then it stretches the imagination to think that one can get all of this at a Toys R Us for $8.80. ?

Wow. Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Are S&P perfect grammatically (or for that matter with color coding)? No. But hey: drafts of novels always require a good editor to catch such issues and to tighten areas that might need tightening. That's why you always see authors thanking their editors. In this community, publishing on a fetish BB for similarly-inclined folks to read, I think it is not reasonable to attack for minor errors. Point them out, sure, but that's a different matter. Besides, I can't even tell you the number of stories I start reading only to abandon immediately because their authors either have no clue how to build a plot or character or write so badly that it is physically painful to read their paragraphs. And none of those stories are S&P's. There is a reason that their work is so beloved, and Settling In is the current Exhibit A. BTW: Where do you get the notion that Ando is "punching" Natalie? He is spanking her, a very different thing. And what do you mean by writing that Cora and Ando "make Sam a wasp ... sure to turn her into a pet"? Huh?

Here is the interesting thing about characters: they have minds of their own. I have often discovered that my characters have desired to move in other directions than the ones I had originally planned for them. Here's what I do: I ask them what should happen next and I accept their answers. My stories are pretty much always richer because I didn't force something that had become unnatural.

I really like this story. (Big surprise.) I'm trying to read it as you post it here, but I'm having a hard time not going to Patreon and indulging myself on the whole thing. ?