YunicornSparkles

((Thanks for waiting, everyone! I got sick a LOT lately and kept being too tired or unwell to get my rp posts done. This is a very long reply but am hoping from here they get shorter lol)) Lily saw Samuel eying the stroller and hoped he wouldn’t make a fuss about being put in it. He was eating well this morning and had a good appetite. Although that could’ve been because his breakfast had a lot of sugar and was essentially a kind of junk food. She’d have to make sure they had a healthy morning tea and lunch. Lily was taken off guard when Mr Balverk took some smart watches and handed one to her and one to Castile. She thanked him and took it out of the box, fastening it onto Samuel’s left wrist. “Look, Sammy! Mr Balverk gave you a present. A brand new smart watch. Isn’t that nice?” she asked him cheerfully. The watch had a soft, rubbery wristband (likely silicone), so it’d be comfortable on delicate child skin. It was blue and the face of the watch was a smooth rectangle that was durable and wouldn’t break easily during regular play. “This will make sure that you and Aurora don’t get lost. And if you do, it will help us find you,” she explained. “Do not take this off under any circumstances,” she told him. “I’ll let you take it off at the end of the day, when we get back home, if you want to”. Once Samuel was done eating and full up, Lily helped Castile wipe him clean with a soft damp cloth, removing the bib to take to the laundry hamper. She then took the boy out of the highchair and balanced him on her hip, getting ready to talk to Mr Balverk and Mr Goodie before they would leave. Mr Goodie was going to be the one driving them to the aquarium today. “Okay, let’s go over and have a chat with those lovely gentlemen who greeted us this morning,” she cooed. Lily approached their table and sat down across from them, setting Samuel on her lap, her arms loosely holding him as she patted him to keep him calm. “Hi there, sirs. We’re ready when you are,” she said brightly, “Don’t mind Sammy; he’s a little shy”. ===================================== Castile took the watch from Mr Balverk and thanked him, strapping it around Aurora's left wrist. Hers was pink and had the same spongy wristband as Samuel’s. “Like Miss Lily just said; this will help us track you down if we get separated. So no taking it off, okay?” he told Aurora, his voice loving but firm. Once she was done eating, he cleaned her off with wet wipes and tossed them in the bin, removing her bib and letting it join the other used bibs in the laundry hamper. Castile noticed her body language was signalling nervousness and deduced it was probably about Ry joining them. Aurora and Samuel were both pretty shy people. He hoped that Ry would make a good impression on the two and they’d start to feel more comfortable as they spent the day together and got to know each other. His height and species were going to work against him but his speech, actions and personality would hopefully balance that out and prove that he was trustworthy. That he was just a kid, like them. Castile picked Aurora up from her highchair once she was clean, also holding her to his side, making sure her dress was swept under her bottom and not scrunched around her legs. “Alright, everyone ready?” he asked, looking around the table and high chairs, seeing all their breakfast was eaten. “Let’s go and have a talk to Mr Balverk and Mr Goodie and see what presents they have for you”. The cat taur stepped towards the table the two men sat at, noticing how the staff of the kitchen were extremely polite and worked fast around them, giving the owner of the mansion due respect. “Hello again Mr Balverk, Mr Goodie. We’ve finished breakfast with the little ones and we’re ready to talk,” he said calmly, his hind paws sitting while the tail wrapped around his flank. “You say you have something to give to Aurora and Samuel today?” Castile could smell that Aurora’s diaper was wet. But her bladder was only small, and the diapers were high absorbency, so it could probably take two more wettings before it needed a change, likely in a couple of hours. ====================================== Mr Balverk spoke first, smiling politely. “Hello, Miss Green, Mr Lightswirl. Thank you for joining us today. That’s okay. Little ones are often shy. Though, hopefully, they’ll get to know both of us and we’ll seem less scary one day,” he said with a chuckle. Blue eyes shifting to Castile, he nodded. “We do indeed! Something that we give to all of the children who come to live at the manor. I’ll let Mr Goodie present them to you now”. He looked over to his colleague expectantly. ======================================= Mr Goodie, a young looking man in a three piece blue suit with a striped tie, was sitting beside Mr Balverk and seemed eager to give out his gifts. “Right you are, Sir!” He grinned as he took two kids’ smart phones out of his bag, placing one on the table in front of Castile and one in front of Lily. “Yes, yes, I have them right here. One for you, Samuel, and one for you, Aurora. These are brand new phones, as you can see. You both get your very own phones to use while you are with us. Isn’t that exciting? They can be used to call your nannies, or other children that live at the manor. You can also send messages to your friends and caregivers. Those are their two basic functions” He pushed the phones across the table towards the others, watching the nannies pick them up and show them/offer them to the kids sitting on their lap and in their arms. Aurora’s one was a girls’ model, so it was pink. Samuel’s was a boys’ one, and was blue. Each of the phones had a bead necklace made of large, colourful plastic beads in bright colours attached to it. This meant the kids could wear their phones around their necks and never lose them. When the phones were turned on, they had a display screen which showed a ‘quick dial’ feature and contained each child’s name, plus the nurses’ station, nannies’ station and Mr Goodie’s number. Samuel’s phone had his name on it in black letters, and so did Aurora’s but in purple. The phones had a protective case with a panel that you flip open and closed that had a card holder. In the card holder was a pink credit card for Aurora and a blue one for Samuel. They also each had an ID card with a photo that was taken when they first came in. Mr Goodie spoke. A well rehearsed speech that he had said many times. "You can call me Mr Goodie. I am here to get you things you want and take you places, so in short, I am your driver and I will go buy things for you or take you to go buy them. You have $500 on your cards and if we see things that cost more, I call Mr B. There's always new bedding designs and other play stuff you all might want. We have not had many permanent guests but you lot seem to fit the bill to be here for a while. If you ever feel there's a better place, ask and we will help but while you're here, I am here to help get stuff you want. As you might have seen, the adults have picked most of what's here and you may not like some stuff, which is my job to help fix. Any questions?" =========================== Lily raised her hand. “I have a question for Mr Balverk, actually” =========================== Mr Balverk looked at her, amused, “Go ahead” he kindly prompted. ========================== Lily blushed slightly as everyone’s attention fell on her. “Well…I’ve been wanting to know from the start, Sir, but…that blue rose in the bubble that you gave to Samuel; what is it for? It follows him everywhere. And I know blue roses are impossible in nature. So this isn’t an ordinary rose. It must have some meaning, does it?” ============================== Mr Balverk nodded, crossing his arms as he continued right on smiling. “That was part of what I was going to talk to you about today, after Mr Goodie finished handing over the goodies,” he said playfully with a laugh. “In fact, the nurses’ clinic has confirmed my suspicions that Samuel has mild narcolepsy. Based on all the comments from his previous carers about how much he would fall asleep or get sleepy so often during the day. I am sure you’ve noticed by now. Well, that blue rose isn’t just for show, or a pretty bauble. It’s actually a mana rose. I can’t say who made it or where I got it but I can tell you how to use it. Give Samuel a petal from the mana rose to eat every morning and at night, and the sleepy episodes during daytime should happen less often. You can also give him a petal if he gets sleepy and it will give him an energy boost and chase the tiredness away for some time. The petals taste good and dissolve in your mouth like candy. They always grow back, so the rose will never run out. This is an exceptionally rare and expensive rose, so it is in a protective bubble that will not allow anyone to steal it and will always follow its main user”. He then looked at Samuel “And I hear that you had a visit from Mr Wong the other day. He informed me that Samuel has a little cold but it seems like those medicinal candies he gave you are doing their job. The boy is looking well enough to go on the outing today, thanks to that,” he paused, collecting his thoughts. “Now, when you are all ready, Mr Goodie will take you out to the van and get everybody seated in their car seats. There’s plenty of room in the back for you, Mr Lightswirl, and for Ry, so don’t worry about that. I have had the cars enchanted so the insides are bigger than they look on the outside. The double stroller and diaper bags should fit in the back storage just fine. I hope you all have fun today. And please, do use your phones to snap photos of the kids during their trip. We can put them in their photo album and digital scrapbooks as keepsakes and add captions to them. This way, they can look back on them when they’re older and we can share the family memories”. ============================== Kate nodded, writing down everything Ry told her. “Then I’ll let Nanny Lyn know and she will talk to Mr Goodie about celebrating your birthday at Dave & Buster’s and going to watch a movie next week. You might want to invite some of the other kids here to make friends. And I see. Well if it isn’t important to you, then I’m happy to leave the mystery in the past. But if you change your mind, let me know and I will send out a private investigator. You deserve to know what happened to your parents. Oh, is that so? I didn’t know that. Perhaps it’s something common in the Night Fury species? How sad. Ahh, wow, that is fascinating” (No wonder the nurses had been surprised when they listened to his heart earlier!) “Well, even if you are immortal, we’ll still be here to help provide you a good life and help you find purpose in your existence. Immortality can be a curse otherwise. Oh, thanks for telling me that. I’ll pass that on to the nurses as well so we can give you the best care. They should be able to get Nanny Lyn a glucose tester and some emergency candy to monitor your blood sugar. Are you sure you’re not diabetic? Spider Man 2…I’ll take note of that when we are booking the movie tickets. Where is your tablet? You didn’t come in with one? I’ll ask Mr Goodie to give you a new one for your writing and school use” She closed her notebook. “Well, I think we are all done here. Come on now, Dear. You’ll need clothes if you want to go on the outing with Samuel and Aurora today. Let’s see the nannies and they can get you an outfit plus help you design your new room and choose more clothes to be made for you by our tailors”. She stood up, tucking her notebook in her shirt pocket and took Ry’s hand, leading him over to the nannies’ station as though he was a tiny tot that couldn’t get there without help. “Nanny Lyn, Ry is ready for you. He’ll need clothes and a bedroom planner”. ==================================== Nanny Lyn soon appeared and smiled when she saw Ry. “Oh my, that diaper looks so cute on you, Ry. Okay, come with me and I’ll help you get dressed now,” she said, leading him to a walk in closet with lots of babyish clothing in every size.

((Aorry for the long wait again! My health has been on and off recently. I get a lot of upset stomachs and tiredness. BTW, the girls aren’t in the play tent atm. They’re just playing in the main playroom beside the living room.)) “You’re welcome,” the 7 foot tall alien replied. “I’m glad you like your clean diaper”. Hearing what he wanted to eat, she nodded as she began to carry him out of the big changing room and through the hallways back to the kitchen and dining areas. “Yes, that should be no trouble at all,” she said, finally reaching the room and showing him the seating arrangements “Do you want to sit in a highchair or at a toddler table?” Once Ry gave her his answer, she sat him down securely and went to get a baby bottle, filling it with cold cherry Coca Cola. She placed it down in front of him while her tentacles stretched around the kitchen, grabbing all items needed to make the butter noodles. Soon, she was cooking them on the stovetop and the room was smelling like parmesan cheese sauce. When they were done, Lollia put them in a plastic bowl and got a kiddy fork and a spoon, bringing them over to set them down in front of the 8 year old dragon. She took a bib and tied it around his neck, “Here you go. Do you want to feed yourself or would you like me to feed you?” the kind alien lady asked, her tentacles curling neatly into spirals on her back as the dishes from cooking put themselves into the dishwasher and the leftover ingredients put themselves into containers and back in the cupboards or fridge. Her telekinesis was quite useful. She wondered how Miss Angela was doing with Kara at the moment and decided to give her a reminder, talking to her in her mind “Miss Angela, after Kara and her plushie lion are dried off and dressed, she would need to choose a bedroom and pick how she wants it decorated. The empty rooms are upstairs. And then she might want to meet the other kids in the house,” she told her, so Angela would know what to do. ====================================== Frost’s eyes widened and he clicked his fingers. “Oh, snap! A fire wielder,” he chuckled. “I hope they had good control over their powers and didn’t burn down that orphanage,” he said, curious as to how the other place regulated those kinds of dangerous powers. If it was a kid, they’d have to use power limiters or fire retardant mittens or something…otherwise it could be explosive. And not all fire elemental users were redheads. Fire could come in different colours. So there was no way to really tell to begin with. It was a good thing that here, they would try to train kids to get better control of their abilities. “Fire’s my weakness, since it’s my exact opposite. I’m an ice or winter elemental. Kinda like Elsa, from Frozen,” he explained. “That’s why I love this time of year the most. We have this month and February and then Spring will start creeping in during March and all the snow and ice will melt away. I always get a bit bummed out at that,” the fox said with a grin and small laugh. “I do well during the rest of the year but summer bites. What’s your favourite season?” Frost made sure to keep some concentration on the ice globe he had made to win over Drew’s trust and interest. He was glad to see a smile soon appear on the boy’s small face, which made him wag his tail. Hearing him babble cutely, Frost grinned, his ears moving to show he was listening “Is that so? You sure have a lot to say, all of a sudden, Cutie. I’m listening!” he answered playfully, pretending to understand. Seeing him reach for the container of guppy food, he pointed it out to Ms Hoshi “Uhh, Ms Hoshi? I think Andrew is ready to feed the fish now,” he said, making the ice orb float back over to him before it dissipated in a puff of sparkly ice magic, leaving cold mist in the air for a second or two. “Those fishies are getting hungry, Drew. You better feed them soon,” Frost joked, wheeling to the edge of the meshed over pond and leaning down to watch the rainbow fish swimming. ======================================= Sophie blushed when she heard Rei praising her, making the girl emit nervous giggles. “Aw, fank you, Wei. You awe so nice!” she replied, fidgeting. “I like pwaying wiff you a lot. You’we my fiwst weal fwiend. Hey, aftew dis, do you wanna play outside in da snow? It’s bewy cold but bewy pweddy” Sophie tipped her head back to look at Xeto, her bunny ears twitching. “Huh? You didn’t tells me what you like to eat, Missha Xeto!” she called after him as he just simply nodded then walked away. Clutching the MaMa cat doll in her hands, Sophie looked at the teacher playing on his tablet and then looked at Rei. “Dat was wude, wasn’t it? What do you fink he eats? He’s a aliem. So dat means he has weird food, wight? I wondew whad aliems eat?” She decided to resume playing for the meantime, leaning back over the open plan dollhouse and pretending to make MaMa cat cook omelettes and serve them for the two kitties. “Hewe you go, Kitty. Dinnew ish weady. Be caweful, it’s hot. Don’t buwn youw paws. And wemembew to use a fowk” Moving the cat figurine to the table where two plates sat, Sophie made pretend eating sounds. “Yum yum yum, dis is sooo good! Aftew dis, let’s make an aliem food and bwing it to Missha Xeto!”

Kate began to write quickly in Ry’s file as he spoke, astonished that the information just poured forth without her needing to ask any questions, or needing to prompt the boy. He was tall for a 12 year old, about the size of an adult human, in fact. Yet he definitely stated that he was 12, so still a child, despite his appearance. She would have to make sure others knew that so he wasn’t mistaken for a caregiver or adult while in public. Nodding along to show she was listening, Kate scribbled down the kinds of diapers and fandoms he was into, so that the manor staff could use those while caring for him. “There’s nothing wrong with a boy liking My Little Pony, or things that are gendered towards girls. You don’t have to explain yourself, Hon. No one is allowed to bully you here. You’re free to like what you like”. She then listened to his backstory, up until he came to the orphanage, writing down the main points. “So, you hatched all alone and then raised yourself? That sounds like it would have been very lonely or hard at times,” Kate frowned, “You don’t need to worry about that any more. You’ve been love starved but now you should get all the TLC you need,” she explained, making notes in his file. It was amazing that he'd grown up so well adjusted and polite, even though he had no one to teach him social skills or manners. “Everyone deserves somebody who cares about them. I am sorry whoever made your egg wasn’t around to raise you. Sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do. I’m glad you found your way here”. Kate was impressed that he had learned all the basic life skills on his own. It was lucky his species was a kind that matured rapidly, in some ways. But in other ways, not so much. He shouldn’t have had to be isolated for so many years. She wondered if she could send a private investigator to find whoever had stolen his egg, way back when. They might be stealing other dragon eggs too. “You had to change your own diapers, all that time? You poor thing!” Kate said sympathetically. “Well, it’s very impressive that you taught yourself all of that, since there was no one to help you. But I am sorry you had to spend 12 years alone. Now that you’re with us, just relax and let the manor take care of you. You don’t have to try to be a grown up any more and we’ll protect you from grown ups. We do have a school on the grounds to further your studies but usually give the new kids a week or so to settle in before starting classes. Your story is very different from most children here. I think it’s a special case. But I’m glad that there is no one from your past that wants to hurt you. I will send an investigation to find out what happened to your parents, if I can” She finished writing and closed his file, putting it aside to scan into the computer system later. “I just have one last question for you. You said it was your birthday next week? We celebrate birthdays here. Is there anything you want to do for it?” Kate asked him. “I’ll take you to Nanny Lyn next”.

“You’re most welcome, Sweetheart,” Ms Darla replied, hearing that he ate not long ago. “Oh, so you won’t be hungry then. Well, it might be a good idea to meet up with the other new children anyway and get something to drink and snack on”. She expertly cleaned the dragon’s smooth scales, dropping the wipes into the used diaper before bundling it up and putting it in a diaper genie beside the medical bed. When she was about to slide the new diaper under him, she paused, listening to his questions. “Oh, you don’t want monsters? Okay, um, let me see here…” She put the unfolded diaper back away and took out a Tykables Little Rawrs with a blue T-Rex on the landing zone. “Will this do, Honey? We have lots of dragon and dinosaur diapees. Thank you for letting me know those are your favourite”. She opened the clean diaper fully and smoothed it out before gently touching his thigh with a command “Bottoms up, legs in the air”. Once he did that, she slipped it under his tail and stuck the tape at the back that went over top of the tail, then began to rub in baby oil onto his diaper area, adding sweetly scented baby powder afterwards that drifted onto him softly. She lightly rubbed it in and cleaned her hands on a wipe before she pulled the diaper closed, taping it all secure and making sure the leak guards around the leg and tail holes were all standing. Ms Darla began removing his dirty and worn clothing, putting them in a hamper to be taken to the laundry later. “Well, I am not going to dress you myself, but the nannies over at the nanny station will certainly find you something cute to wear,” she informed the young dragon boy. “You’ll have to waddle around in just a diaper for a little while until Kate has finished her interview”. Kate was the social worker who would make the reports and collect paperwork about children’s previous caregivers. She would then inform lawyers where they were and have investigators go out and find more information about the former living situation, why the children have come to the mansion and whether criminal charges need to be laid against the caregivers. They’d put notes on the children’s files, for protection and to make sure their abusers never found them or came near them again. “Well, that’s it, all fresh and clean. Now, I’ll take you to Kate’s office. Come on”. So saying, Darla reached out to help Ry sit up, taking his hands like he was a small toddler and pulling them as he righted himself, then assisting him to step down off the side of the table onto the stepping stool, only letting go once she saw his feet were firmly planted on the floor. She took his hand in her warm, soft one and led him out of her office, past the other nurses, who smiled and made comments about how cute he looked. She knocked on Kate’s door. “Kate? I have the new boy for you. And he needs to be taken to the nannies’ station after he sees you”. The brunette woman who had a stern looking face, aka resting bitch face, looked up from her desk work and smiled. “Sure, leave him with me. I’ll escort him there once we are done”. She then looked at Ry and although she seemed scary when talking to other adults, her face softened and she sounded more kind when speaking to him. “Hello there, Ry. Please, come, take a seat. I am just going to talk to you about your previous circumstances that led to you ending up here. That’s all. After that, the nannies will help you get some new clothes and decide how to decorate your bedroom here. Oh, is that a blue T-Rex on your diaper? Very cool! Come on now, I don't bite...”. ======================================== “Oh you think that’s funny, do you?!” the frog girl asked Sammy playfully before he nearly breathed in a chocolate chip, getting up to pat him on the back, seeing him spit it out. “Be careful, don’t choke on your breakfast! Chocolate chips don’t go in your lungs,” she said jokingly, but soothing at the same time, taking a paper napkin and wiping his mouth. “Here, I’ll get you a sip of milk” she said, picking up the warm baby bottle and putting the teat in his mouth “Drink” she commanded gently, “It will help. There you go, you’re alright…that’s my boy~” she cooed. “Now, eat this bite slower. Chew it carefully…” she stated, picking up a new piece of yummy fluffy pancakes on the kiddy fork and gently popping it into his mouth with soft choo choo train noises. While feeding him, she continued to finish her breakfast, at last pushing her empty bowl away and taking sips of the warm jasmine tea to wash it down, happily rubbing her full belly. She was surprised when Mr Balverk and Mr Goodie turned up, listening to them talk while nursing her teacup in her hands. “Good morning,” she returned the greeting, looking at the man standing beside Mr Balverk. He seemed to have an honest and open expression. ‘So, this is Mr Goodie’, she thought, ‘what a funny name. I hope he’s as nice as his name suggests’. She listened to the rest of what the mansion’s owner said, wondering what kind of phones the kids would be given. Hopefully not a new smartphone. Those were bad for kids. $500 was a lot of money for allowance, too. She’d try to make sure that the kids made wise choices when using their cards, not letting them spend it on junk or something they’d get bored of or not use. Maybe she could use it as a teaching opportunity about budgeting and maths. She saw the double stroller and diaper bags and was thankful for them. Little ones in diapers definitely needed changing supplies and a change of clothes in case of accidents. She’d been wondering who to ask about getting those things. “Thanks, I’m sure we’ll have a nice time,” Lily said to Mr Balverk. “As their nannies, we’ll try to make it a rewarding and educational experience”. Lily was again surprised, hearing about Ry. “A dragon; wow! I wouldn’t expect that. Of course I wouldn’t mind, so long as he’s well behaved. Everyone needs friends. I’m sure Sammy and Aurora would be excited to meet someone like him and they’ll all warm up to each other over the course of the day,” Lily said, optimistic. She did kind of worry about how he would be out in public and around human kids but then she remembered Castile, also a magical creature, sitting right next to her. Other species weren’t extremely common in this world so they were bound to get lots of stares but if anyone tried to cause trouble, she was sure Castile and herself could protect the kids and handle the situation. She just hoped Ry was a good, friendly child and not prone to flying indoors, biting, scratching, breathing fire and that kind of thing. When the two men moved to another table, out of earshot, she reminded herself that she wanted to ask Mr Balverk a question about the rose. ========================================= Castile watched Aurora eat, glancing at her every so often to make sure she was fine and not getting too messy, plowing through his plate of food at a quick rate, the plate almost empty after 10 minutes while the little girl took small bites of blueberry muffin and crunched on chewy bacon, washing her meal down with strawberry milk. He looked up when he heard footsteps and the sounds of a stroller wheeling over the floor, spotting Mr Balverk and Mr Goodie before they reached the table, thanks to his feline sight and hearing. He waited till they got closer and showed a polite grin, “Morning!” Castile’s tail swayed happily when Mr Balverk complimented them being up this early, all dressed and ready for their big adventure. “Greetings,” Castile said towards Mr Goodie as he was introduced, bobbing his head in acknowledgement. Hearing about the phones and cards did make the cat curious but he’d wait to find out more once the kids were done with breakfast. He hoped the phones were just so the kids had a lifeline to adults or other orphan friends at the manor, and not smart phones that were addictive and full of social media. Though he was sure that Mr Balverk was way smarter than to give them that. He was definitely a generous man. Castile eyed the full diaper bags, seeing the one for Sammy was fireman themed and the one for Aurora was princess themed. Easy to tell whose was whose. How thoughtful! He also noticed that the double stroller was sized for bigger children, so Sammy and Aurora would feel little when sitting in the seats being pushed around. He figured he’d do the pushing if their legs got tired, since he was strong enough to without getting tired from the weight of two kiddos. It was probably best to have them strapped in the stroller in crowded areas or when moving from one section of the aquarium to the other. That way, they wouldn’t get lost or kidnapped, or run off suddenly in excitement, wanting to look at something. Underneath the stroller were storage space for the two diaper bags, thankfully. So the nannies wouldn’t be lugging those on their shoulders all day. “Sure!” he answered when Mr Balverk pointed to the table across the room where they would be at. He was glad they said to take their time, since he didn’t want to rush the little ones with their meal. Castile’s ears pricked up when Mr Balverk said there was a newcomer to the mansion. “Ohh, a dragon. How unexpected”, he remarked, intrigued. “I haven’t seen one of those for a long time. I wonder which kind he is. Either way, I’m with Miss Lily. We’d be glad to have the new boy along. He’ll be safe with us two and his own nanny. And being a magical creature myself, I’ll protect him and look out for him. I’m sure he’d feel better knowing he’s not the only one who’ll stand out”. He then looked at Aurora and Samuel. “What do you guys think about that? Are you okay with Ry joining our trip to the aquarium? He’s a dragon but he’s only a child, like you two, so I’m sure he won’t be that big. You never know, you all might become good friends. Don’t be scared, Aurora. I won’t let a dragon kidnap my pretty princess,” Castile said, giving Aurora a playful wink to make her laugh. He then said “It’s nice to give new people a chance. I’m sure Ry is going to be lonely, just like you two when you first got here. Remember…all kids who come here have no family. And Ry should be wearing diapers like you both, so you will have that in common”. Castile waited for the kids to finish eating, downing the rest of the scrumptious feast off his plate (managing to prevent himself from licking it), as well as draining the energising cappuccino, licking the froth moustache from his top lip with a small purr. He loved dairy. Once they were all done eating, he would grab the wet wipes from his duffle bag and begin cleaning them up. “Ready to go see Mr Balverk and Mr Goodie, babies? I hear that Mr Goodie has presents for you!”

Listening to Ry, Lollia addressed his questions and comments. “Yes, of course, Honey”. She stated, turning the hot tap on and adding more hot water to the bath. “Just let me know if it gets too hot. And most dragons do like the heat, that is true,” she agreed, making mental notes of everything he told her. “Mama Lolly just likes to be careful with her new little ones. I didn’t want the water to burn you. Yes, yes, we keep the cartoons and TV shows family friendly here. But older teens can watch whatever they like on their private devices. They’ll still be monitored on our system though. As for what to dress you in after your bath, I’m glad you aren’t picky. We have plenty of clothes though, so we’ll find some suitable playwear for you to wear today. Your other clothes are going to be washed and then you can have them back. Ah, hamburger helper, I will try to remember that. And thank you for telling me about your health conditions, Sweetie, that’s really important for Mama to know. Good boy for telling me those things~ I can take better care of you now that I know”. Lollia watched him play, adding more ducky themed toys to the bath as he splashed around and basked in the heat. “Take your time, Darling, there’s no need to rush your bath. Relax and enjoy,” she purred, “Afterwards, I’ll get a fluffy new diaper on that draggy rump and then you can eat something if you’re hungry. And I’ll give you a tour of the whole house, so you can pick out a room upstairs later. You get your very own bedroom or nursery here and you can have it decorated however you like…within reason”. Once Ry had enough of playing in the tub, Lollia used a tentacle to pull the plug and let the water drain out, getting up as a large, soft, red towel floated towards her and she spread it out, leaning down to wrap it around Ry and rubbing it on his scales to dry him. “Alright, Baby, upsy-daisy! Let’s go and get a Pampers and some playtime clothes in the big changing room now before your little body decides to have another accident,” she smiled, scooping him into her arms and settling him on her hip, still wrapped snuggling in the giant towel. She took him into the changing room and laid him down on a free changing table, pulling a diaper from underneath the table and unfolding it, spreading it out. She lifted his legs and tail, sliding the diaper underneath him and slipping his tail through the hole, taping it up around the back, leak guards around the tail in place. The diaper was a Bambino Classico all over print with pastel blocks that clearly spelled out the letters for B A B Y. While he was lying there, she rubbed on baby oil then shook on white powder, taping the diaper up firmly but not too tight around his waist and giving the front a gentle pat. “There! Diaper sorted. Now let’s pick something for you to wear” she said, as a closet opened and outfits began floating out, parading themselves in the air around her as she used her telekinesis that was oh so helpful. Lolly picked out a white, long sleeved onesie with snaps at the crotch plus some slits and a hole in the back for tails and wings, then added on top a romper/playsuit which was dark gingham blue with coloured cars and trucks on it, also having wing slits and a tail hole. She dressed him in them quickly before picking him back up and playfully booping his nose. “Alright, now you’re ready to play but does my little dragon need some foodies first?” she cooed. “What do you like to eat? I can make you anything” ========================================================= Sophie shook her head “N…no, fank you, Missha Xeto. W-we awe gonna hab ants on a log fow mowning tea. Maybe we can has omelettes fow dinnew” She paused, thinking, clutching her kitty toy tight, “U-umm…what kinda foods do you like, Missha Xeto? D…do you eat alien foods?” ========================================================= The white fox saw Drew’s reactions to the snow globe made of winter magic and hesitated, unsure if that was a good thing. “Wow, your eyes are glowing! Did you know that?” he asked Drew gently and playfully. “It’s okay, it’s okay…look…isn’t it pretty?” he pointed at the ball, showing it to him. “Do you like it? The fishies are made of snow and ice, see?” He made the fish do silly tricks inside the winter ball, hoping to entertain Drew and make him laugh. “Look at the silly fishies playing! They are sooo silly!” he cooed. “Do you want to touch the snow globe? It’s okay. It’s just cold” he said. “It won’t hurt you. Go ahead, grab it if you want. It’s just like a bouncy ball”. Well, a ball with fish inside it, that is. Ry's outfit:

Just waiting for you guys to catch up before I reply. I might post tonight for those who did post though. And then reply to you guys' posts after.

“Messy”, Darla concluded, noticing it was wet, as well. The smell wafted up from the diaper, making her wrinkle her nose slightly. “Yes, you do need a change, Sweetie. Your diaper is quite full. Here, come with me to the bed, over here,” she said, taking his hand and gently leading him over to the padded and flat medical bed that had paper sheeting on it for hygiene reasons, as well as a paper cover on the pillow. The curtain was already pushed back. Darla moved a stepping stool out from under the bed and pressed a button on the bed to lower it down so he could climb onto it. “Lay down and I’ll take care of that for you,” she instructed sweetly, with a smile, reaching under the table and taking out a box of changing supplies and a clean, folded diaper, which was the Rearz Lil’ Monsters design but with a hole designed for the dragon’s tail. Above Ry, on the ceiling, a baby mobile was hanging, which had little dinosaurs slowly spinning around. “Let’s get you cleaned up before I take you over to Kate’s office. Can’t have you smelling up her room,” she giggled, starting to unfasten the diaper tapes as soon as he was laying down. She pulled out some large wet wipes from a warming container and began cleaning him up, humming softly while she did so. “When Kate gives you back to Nanny Lynn, she can take you to the dining hall to get some food. When was the last time you ate, Darling?” Darla asked, concerned, as she continued changing him. If Mrs Lynn heard that Castile and Lily were taking Aurora and Samuel on a trip to the aquarium today, Ry might be able to join them, so long as Mrs Lynn came along and watched over Ry. "By the way, no need to hold back on the amount you eat, as we have enough food to match any dragon's appetite. So eat as much as you want for breakfast, okay Honey". ==================================================== Lily put down her spoon after taking another bite of fruit and smoothie puree, chewing and swallowing before she said; “Here, Sugar Plum, let me help you with that!”. Leaning over, Lily picked up the large bottle of pure maple syrup and held it above the pancakes. “Okay, how much do you want? Say when…” she advised, slowly dripping a little bit of the syrup onto the pancake, little by little, so he could stop her at the right moment. “Is this enough?” She didn’t wanna put too much and drown the pancakes and make them soggy. She helped him put any other toppings on the pancakes and then cut them into bite sized pieces for him, saying “This will be easier to eat, Mr Cool Guy. Little bites for a little mouth. Open wide for the cargo train…” Lily stabbed a piece of the pancake on his fork and brought it to his mouth, making a soft “Choo choo…” noise as she waved the fork around before depositing the bite into his mouth. “Eat up! Is it yummy?” While Sammy was chewing, she fed herself more of her own breakfast, accidentally dripping some purple smoothie on her froggy print smock dress. “Oops! Maybe I need a bib too!” she giggled, grabbing a napkin and wiping the spill. She then tucked a paper napkin into her collar and continued eating, laughing at her mishap, feeding Samuel more bites in between eating her own food. His bottle of warm milk was waiting on the side of the highchair tray when he needed a drink. ===================================================== “You’re welcome, Princess!~ Enjoy!” Castile responded to Aurora’s thanks, watching her dig into her sweet yet healthy breakfast food. “Don’t forget your crispy bacon strips”, he reminded her, so they wouldn’t go cold before she could eat them, munching away at his own plate of nosh. “We got a lot to do and see today at the aquarium, so you’ll need as much energy as you can”. Hearing footsteps coming in behind him, Castile turned to see none other than Mr Balverk in his customary suit, along with a man who must be Mr Goodie, who was carrying some fully packed diaper bags and pushing a twin stroller. He was also carrying a bag that had a picture of a cellphone on it. His ears and tail pricked up "Oh!" ==================================== Mr Balverk smiled at the sight of his new nannies and kids in the dining room, walking over to their table and greeting the group. “Good morning, everyone. It’s nice to see you all here, so bright eyed and bushy tailed. I have brought Mr Goodie to meet and talk with you, once you all finish eating. He has some new phones to give to the kids, and their shopping cards as well, for if they want to buy anything on their outings. Plus, he has prepared a double stroller and packed diaper bags for Aurora and Samuel, for their aquarium visit today. I hope it’ll be a fun little outing for you all,” he said cheerfully. “No need to rush. I am going to get myself something from the kitchen, so please take your time. Mr Goodie and I will be over at another table talking, until you are ready for our presentation”. He then remembered something he was told this morning “Oh, by the way, we have a new boy that just arrived this morning. A little dragon named Ry. He might join you for breakfast, along with Nanny Lynn, soon. Would you mind if he wanted to come to the aquarium with you guys today? He hasn’t made any friends yet and I think it would be a good bonding experience”.

Lollia hummed gently while she washed the rest of him, rinsing him off softly with the water on warm and at a low pressure, the soap bubbles swirling down the drain. “You’re most welcome, Dear. And now your scales are nice and clean~ Oh, is that so? Well, I’ll keep that in mind and let the other caregivers know that you like being washed. Hmm…as for TV shows, anything suitable for children, up to PG 13,” she explained, helping him up from the shower stool and pointing to the bath tub that was ready and waiting for him. She watched him get in and pulled up a waterproof plastic chair, taking a seat. There was bubble bath in the water, making lots of sparkly, white foam. And there were toys in a plastic laundry tub beside the bath. “How’s the water, Dear? Do let me know if you want more heat or more cold. I made it a safe temperature for a human child,” she said, giggling when he splashed around and the water splashed on her. “Oh my, quite lively, I see! If you want some toys, they’re right there”. She pointed to the bucket full of mostly duck themed bath toys. Hearing their Latias friend approaching, she looked up and raised a tentacle to wave it at Miss Angela and Kara. “There you two are. Welcome to the big bathroom. You should help Kara undress and wash at one of the wash stations before helping her into a tub. We do it the Japanese way, since I think it’s cleaner. There’s the big bath in the middle of the room, or else there’s plenty of other regular and smaller sized tubs around the bathroom that you can use,” she said, sweeping an arm around to indicate the many tubs of many sizes that were sunk into the tiled floor. “Please make sure to check the temperature before allowing baby Kara and her lion, Loki, into the tub”. ================================================ “Yes, and dat means dewe will be plenty of leftobas,” Sophie said as MaMa cat. “We tan make a wice and eggy dish fow lunch tomowwow so we don’t waste food. And yes, we need ta add lots and lots of yummy beggies and cheese to make it taste weally good!”. Sophie made the MaMa cat walk to the fridge, moving her about. “I’m getting tomato, capsicum, zucchini, onion, cown and ham pieces,” she listed, pausing between the words as she thought of each one. “And LOTS of tasty cheese, mmm!” Sophie flinched and gasped when she heard Xeto’s voice. She’d been so entranced in the role playing that she hadn’t even noticed him come over. “Eeep!” The bunny girl’s face turned pinker by the second as she stammered, looking down at her lap. “W-w-we awe jus playin’ house. Wiff…wiff H-Hello Kitty a-and M-MaMa cat,” she said, clutching the doll in her hands and looking down continuously, fidgeting shyly, embarrassed that he heard her acting and speaking in a motherly sounding voice. She forgot that Frost and Xeto were in the play room with them. “I…I…I…I like playin’ wiff Wei. M-MaMa cat and Hello Kitty a-are makin’ an omelette, aftew Kitty played outside in the snow,” she explained, feeling under pressure to tell him what was going on, fretting and sweating in place somewhat. However, the girl spoke to him in an effort to make conversation between them so that he could get to know her better. He was a new teacher here and he probably didn’t know anyone well yet. “M-Mr Xeto, do you know how to make an omelette?” she asked, peering timidly up at him through her bangs. “I leawn-ded wiff Miss Lolly. We used fwesh beggies fwom da gawden and put lots of tasty cheese. It tasted sooo good!” ============================================== Frost was surprised to notice Xeto nodding, thinking the guy was ignoring him up to that point. So he WAS paying attention. He was a man of few words, it seemed. Frost snickered as he wheeled away. He hoped he would warm up and communicate more with them as he got more comfortable here in the orphanage. Maybe he just didn’t like Frost all that much… Knowing that Xeto was actually aware of his surroundings, he trusted him more with keeping watch over the two little girls until he got back from checking on Drew and Ms Hoshi. Seeing their reactions, Frost felt bad for scaring Drew, despite having kept his voice low so as to not startle them. He saw the water splash back into the pond and the guppies slipped through the mesh squares back into the water with it. The arctic fox wheeled closer to the pair, speaking softly over his tinkling wheels. “Oh, I’m sorry if I scared you, Drew. That was a very nice water ball. You are a clever boy,” he cooed towards the trembling figure, who was hiding in Ms Hoshi’s arms. “Those are some nice gravity powers, little man”. Pausing while she spoke, he then added; “That’s right… It’s okay… You won’t get into trouble for using your powers here. Ms Hoshi and I aren’t mad at all. And she’s right; Mama Lolly and I will be happy to help you learn how to get better at using your magic. Look, I can also make orbs with my winter powers,” he said, before holding his paws apart, slowly growing a little ball of ice larger and larger until it resembled a snow globe, then adding small guppies made of glittering winter magic that swam around inside at a much more sedate pace than the real guppies in the pond beneath their feet. He lifted the winter ball up in the air and blew on it like a dandelion puff, using his will to make it float up over Akiza’s shoulder, hovering where Drew would be able to see it. “Look…these fishies are in a ball, too. They are made of my ice and snow magic,” he explained with a smile, concentrating on keeping it floating and keeping it all together. It glittered and sparkled in the pale light coming through the windowed room, silent and pretty. A fish filled snow globe. He looked up at Akiza, his thickly furred ears moving softly. “I’m glad you’re doing okay. Drew is the youngest one at the orphanage at the moment, so he needs a lot of care. I wanted to make sure you weren’t overwhelmed. But you seem to be handling it perfectly. Sorry if I butted in. But if you do want any help, just let me know. So, have you cared for a child this young before? And you’re used to seeing kids with powers?” he questioned curiously, “Or maybe you’re not easily shocked. I suppose you did witness Lollia’s abilities earlier. And I think you’re right about Drew. His control and understanding of how to use his gravity magic at 12 months of age is astounding. He’ll definitely get better with practice and encouragement. Though, we’ll have to be careful of him having accidents and making mistakes while using them. Hard to believe that a tiny tyke still in diapers is able to do all of this!” he said, impressed and amazed.

“That’s a boy,” Darla replied in a comforting tone, pleased with his manners and good behaviour, leading him gently into her office and helping him find the bench seat. She then sat across from him at her desk and began asking questions about his health, whether he had any allergies or health conditions he knew of, and patient information, filling out the forms she brought with her, the scratching of her pen rather nice sounding. Once that was done, she ushered him onto the digital scale, recording his weight and then his height. She measured his wings with a measuring tape and asked about his flying ability and any other powers or skills he might have. Then, she also took his blood pressure, deftly writing everything down. Ms Darla then used some instruments, looking into his ears, eyes and mouth, checking his vision, hearing and head circumference, using a stethoscope to listen to his heart and lungs, plus a few other things. Once all of that was done, she smiled at Ry and said “Well done. That’s everything I needed from you. Thanks for your cooperation. Let me just check one more thing before I bring you over to Kate”. Darla stood up from her chair and stepped around her desk, getting Ry to lean forwards as she pulled out the back of his diaper and gently squeezed the bottom of the padding to test for fullness or wetness. “Hmm…diaper status is…” ======================================================= He chuckled at her cute display, realising how much she liked strawberries. “That’s one of your favourite flavours, isn’t it? Well it’s a good one. Okay, strawberry milk…” he repeated, making a mental note, giggling to himself at the adorable way Aurora pronounced it. He then paid attention to Lily and Samuel, saying the order back to confirm that too. “Pancakes with offered toppings and a heated plain milk in a baby bottle. Got it. Tropical smoothie bowl. Jasmine tea. Okay” he said, making the hand sign for ‘okay’ while grinning. Castile carefully put in everyone’s orders, tapping the screen and double checking the whole order before pressing submit. He then went over to grab two of the bibs that were kept there for messy littles and brought them back to the kids, handing one to Lily. “Here you go; the server should bring breakfast out in five to ten minutes”. Turning back to Aurora, he showed her the bib. “Look, I found you one with Strawberry Shortcake on it. I looked through all the bibs to find her,” he said, gently fastening it around Aurora’s neck. “Food will be out very soon”. He noticed that she and Samuel were holding hands and smiled at the cute sight. It was nice of her to be there for Sammy and comfort him like that. ========================================================= Lily looked down at the bib Castile got and grinned at the design on the fabric. It showed two soft pastel hippos together. She showed the little boy before putting it on him “Sammy, look, Castile found one with hippos! Let’s put it on now so you’ll be ready to eat”. And true to Castile’s word, five minutes later, a server brought out trays with all their food and beverages, placing them on the table and asking if there was anything else needed. Lily helped Castile put the right breakfast items and drinks on each highchair tray, before sitting a the table beside Sammy’s highchair, while the cat sat beside Aurora’s. Lily clasped her hands together and prayed “Dear God, thank you for this food”. With that, she picked up her spoon. “Alright - let’s eat!” the frog lady said cheerfully, scooping up some of the fruit and smoothie bowl and putting it in her mouth, chewing happily. ========================================================== Castile meanwhile, started in on his big breakfast platter, eating neatly but taking large bites. He looked at the kids. “Do you need any help eating, Aurora? Sammy?” he said, “Or do you want to try to feed yourselves today? Miss Lily and I will feed you if you want”. He said with a friendly smile. He noticed that both Aurora, Samuel and himself had bacon on their plates, Samuel’s being part of the different toppings he could choose to put on the pancakes along with maple syrup, butter, whipped cream and other small bowls of stuff.

Lollia listened intently while the dragon told her his name, nodding gently. “Ry; that’s a nice name. Yes, you heard right, little one; this is a home for kids who don’t have anywhere else to go. You’ll be safe here. Ah, I see. So, no potty training. Well, that’s perfectly fine, because none of the kids here have any potty training either. And if they did, they lose it when they come to live here, because of my magic. So everyone is in diapers of some sort,” she explained as she led him inside, neatly closing the door with telekinesis but not before some snow blew itself back outside from the entryway. She chuckled softly “I meant that you wet yourself and you then had to walk through snow to make it here. So of course, your pants are probably cold, aren’t they?” Miss Lolly questioned gently yet with a hint of amusement at his misunderstanding. “8 years old, huh? Well I think you’ll get along well with the other ages here. We have Sophie, who’s around 3, Rei, who’s also around 3, and Kara, who’s around 6 at the most”. They had made a left after entering and continued heading that way, past the waiting area, school rooms and chapel, on by the big bathroom and into a large changing room. Lollia could smell his other accident along the way, so instead of simply rinsing him and getting him into a bubble bath, she decided to change his messy pants and underwear on a changing table. “Alright, this is our first stop, Ry. Mama can tell that you went number 2 in your pants on the way here, so how about we get you up on a changing table and I can clean your messy bottom, hmm?” she asked, bending over with a kind smile while she addressed him. “And then you can have a bubble bath in the big bathroom next door. Kara will be in there too, so you might make a new friend. Now, now…up you come~”. With that being said, Lollia reached out and gently picked the little dragon up, laying him down on the padded changing table, where he could gaze at a slowly turning mobile above, or at the soft aqua ceiling, with lights shaped like a bee, aeroplane, butterfly and a smiley cloud with a rainbow. Around the matching aqua walls, there were plenty of large stickers of umbrellas, raindrops, rainbows and clouds, a smiley sun, gumboots, frogs, rubber ducks, then, lower down were little trees, flowers, mushrooms etc. The wall decals were bright and pastel colours - plenty to distract littles who might not be thrilled about being changed or cleaned. Lollia lifted Ry’s legs in the air with her left hand around his ankles, raising his bottom off the table. She removed his shoes, socks and wet jeans, tossing them in a nearby hamper before she carefully peeled off his underwear, throwing that in a diaper bin. One of her pretty, pastel coloured tentacles had already grabbed a pack of baby wipes from underneath the table and it held them up beside her within easy reach, while she used her right hand to pull out a couple and set about cleaning him, using smooth, soft motions and making sure to do the front, inner thighs, bottom and tail. She soon had him all clean, the used wipes throwing themselves in the bin seemingly on their own. “Don’t be scared, Honey. Mama has special powers that let me move things using my mind. There are no ghosts. I am the one throwing the dirty wipes away”, she told the boy with an amused but kind smile. “Now, upsy daisy and let’s get your jacket, shirt and gloves off. I’ll put them in the hamper to go in the wash later,” she said, reaching out and taking both of his hands, one of her tentacles going behind his back to help pull him up into a sitting position, swiftly undressing him the rest of the way. “There, that wasn’t so bad now, was it? We will come back in here after your bath and get you a nice, comfy diaper and some fresh clothes to wear,” She said, gently scooping him off the table into her arms as a bath towel floated off a shelf and began to follow by her shoulder. “Don’t worry; we have diapers and clothes for those with wings and tails, too. And I will let you choose what you want to wear”. Lollia carried Ry out of the changing room, which started to smell better as the air fresheners sprayed automatically, and down the hall into the big bathroom. Which was called that because it was more like a bath house than a simple bathroom. The walls were decorated like a fantasy forest in springtime, with relaxing scenery of waterfalls and gardens. Cloud shaped lights floated on the ceiling. There was a big tub in the middle of the room, split into four by a plus shaped wall. And there were smaller, sunken bathtubs in the floor with side rails, non-slip mats in the bottom and absorbent mats on the floor beside. Lollia took Ry over to the wall of wash stations and sat the 8 year old down on a little stool. “Okay, we will wash you here with soap and water. Then you can rinse off and hop into the bubble bath I am running for you,” she explained, pointing to a regular sized tub behind them that was sunken into the floor and already had its tap running with warm water, one of her tentacles extending to dabble the end in the water, carefully monitoring the temperature; warm but not hot. Reaching out her hands, Lollia took a detachable shower which had a ducky head cover and began to gently rinse his tail, starting at the tip, “How is that? The water should be a little warm on your tail tip, there~” she said, “Oh, look in the mirror; who is that handsome dragon boy looking back at us?” she cooed as she pointed out the mirror in front, continuing to rinse his tail, toes and feet, before slowly moving up his legs and further up the tail. “We rinse…and then we get a sponge and put some soap on…and scrub it all over our body,” the woman instructed, soft and kind. “I am showing you so you will know what to do next time, if you want to wash yourself”. She didn’t know if he wanted to wash himself, since he was a ‘big boy’ at 8 years old. But Lollia was giving him extra care and attention because it was his first time here and he was on his own. This place could be pretty big and intimidating to newcomers. Listening out, Mama Lolly heard Angela and Kara heading towards the big changing room beside the big bathroom, and was sure that Kara would soon be getting washed at a wash station as well. ====================================== Sophie giggled when Rei clapped her hands, glad that she was having fun. She waited for Kitty to wash her paws and then smiled at her response to making omelette. “Yay! Den let’s make it togethew, akay? We will make da yummiest, scwummiest omelette eba!” she made Mama cat say. Sophie then made the Mama cat walk over to Kitty, pretending to tie an apron on her as well. “Tie, tie. Now youw clothes will stay clean, Kitty. So let’s stawt. Hmm…we need dis mixing bowl,” the little bunny girl said, picking up a yellow plastic pot with her other hand and removing the small plastic lid. “Fiwst, we cwack da eggies, ahehe! Tan you get dem fwom the fwidge, my lovely deawie?” Mama cat asked. “We needs…uhh…10 eggs”. Sophie wasn’t really good at counting yet but putting lots of eggs in the mixture sounded good. Her tiny body worked away on digesting her breakfast from earlier and she’d probably make a mess in her diaper after morning tea. Sophie didn’t like being stinky and messy for long, so usually cried or begged for a change. Unlike some other toddlers, who were used to letting it sit and ignoring it in favour of continuing to play. She loved to be clean, instead of mucky. ======================================== Since Xeto didn’t reply, Frost just huffed a sigh. That guy must have a lot on his mind or something, to be ignoring him so often. “Well, I’ll go and check on them. Do you mind staying here and keeping an eye on Sophie and Rei? Thanks”. Frost tacked on a thank-you after waiting a moment, then wheeled his way out of the play room and followed the halls until he reached the conservatory. He wheeled the chair in through the door, the gems on its spokes tinkling softly. Frost listened for them and rolled his way down one of the paved paths in the indoor garden, soon spotting Ms Hoshi and Drew standing by the fish pond, with what appeared to be a globe of floating water with rainbow fish swimming inside. This orb of water was hovering in front of Drew, who was in a baby carrier strapped to Ms Hoshi’s front. Frost cleared his throat quietly and called out to the pair. “Uh…hello…Ms Hoshi? Hi. It’s just Frost. I came to see how you two were doing,” he informed Akiza, “Wow…is that Drew doing that? With the fish and the water? Impressive control of his powers for one so small!” he said with a grin. “Amazing. The fish seem to be enjoying themselves,” he chortled, watching the guppies swim in the water ball like crazy, their tails shimmying.

The blonde nanny smiled at Ry’s good manners and happy face, hearing some crinkles as the dragon’s tail waved from side to side. She half suspected that he already liked her, since most kids bonded with whoever first helped them. It was called imprinting and was similar to what happened with baby animals with their initial rescuer. Listening to the first of what she predicted would be many questions, Mrs Lyn nodded to show she was listening. “Of course. You can tell me anything, Love,” she replied kindly then chuckled at what he told her. “So I can hear! That’s very good. At least you can skip one step,” she said cheerfully. After a minute, the nurses station appeared before them at an intersection of corridors. “Well, here we are; the nurses’ station. I’ll hand you over to Ms Darla, the head nurse. You see that shortstack there with the half circle glasses and bright pink hair? That’s her,” she said as she pointed her out. “You’ll come back to me at the nannies station once they’re done with you,” she stated calmly, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a small press by way of reassurance. The nurses’ office was fronted by a large desk in a U shape that had computers, telephones, printers, a light up pager/nurse call system and other office and medical paraphernalia.There were various rooms behind the large desk and to the sides, where nurses could do check ups, blood draws and other treatments. The social workers’ office was along the left side, towards the back, making it easy to get everything done in one go. As Darla walked towards them, her shoes clicked neatly upon the floor. “Good morning, Mrs Lyn. I see you have someone new for us today. How lovely. Who is this young gentleman?”, she asked with a smile, emerald eyes peering at Ry curiously over her glasses. She seemed excited to see another magical species join the household. Most of the kids tended to be humans. Lyn answered readily, her hand still resting upon Ry’s shoulder. “This sweet boy is Ry. Can I leave him with you and Ms Kate for the intake procedures and paperwork? Oh, by the way, he’s already wearing a diaper. You might just want to check it. I’ll leave him in your capable hands, then…”. She said, looking at Ry before she left. “Now, don’t be nervous, Dear; Darla and her team are all very kind. They mostly just need to check your stats and ask you questions today. So nothing to be fearful of,” she comforted him. She didn’t mention the blood test that would have to happen a bit later on. Something that the two other new orphans, Aurora and Samuel, had also had to do. But the nurses made it so painless that kids barely even felt it. Darla looked at Ry, grabbing a new client file and a clipboard with paperwork for them to fill out. Stepping out from behind the desk, she approached the pair at a calm pace and smiled down at Ry, leaning down and putting out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Ry. Would you like to come with me? I’ll show you to my office so we can get this part done and out of the way,” she said with a warm and gentle voice. “Then we’ll give you to Ms Kate for a chat and she’ll pass you back to nanny Lyn; a little bit of pass-the-parcel,” she joked lightly. She imagined he would feel a bit like a present at a childrens’ party game of such. ============================================= Castile nodded, “Sure, you can have a blueberry muffin. Do you want it warmed up? With butter?”. Seeing her point to something else, he added, “And bacon. Yes, you can have bacon too, Sweetheart”. Castile then watched her choose a drink, smiling when she got excited over having milk. “Some milky? Okay. Plain, or flavoured? Chocolate, strawberry? And do you want it warmed up?”, Castile asked, making sure to get every detail right so that the child would actually want to eat and not cause a fuss. He turned his head toward Lily to tell her something “Miss Lily; I’ll grab some bibs for the littles, as well. When I go up to put in our orders”. After all, he didn’t want their nice clothes for today’s outing to get messy. Once Aurora told him everything, he passed the menu over to Sammy’s highchair. ================================================ Lily waited patiently while Castile helped Aurora make her choices. She smiled and nodded at the fellow nanny’s comment. “Sure. Thanks, Castile. I almost forgot about bibs”. Now that the menu was on Sammy’s high chair tray, Lily paid attention to what he was pointing at. “Pancakes... and milky for this one, as well!”, Lily announced, “Good thing the pancakes come with different toppings in plastic bowls, so the kids can choose what they wanna put on them. They think of everything here,” she exclaimed, pleased with how well planned the menus were. “And I’ll haaaave…” she paused, quickly scanning the items on offer. “The tropical smoothie bowl; reminds me of home~ Oh and a cup of jasmine tea” Turning her gaze back to Samuel, Lily asked “Do you want your milky heated up? And what flavour? Or just plain?”. ================================================ Castile leaned over to stare at the menu for a moment and picked himself out a big English breakfast with eggs, bacon, baked beans, sausages, fried buttered toast, fried tomatoes and mushies plus some bubble and squeak. And a cappuccino for the drink. As a big creature with lots of energy storage needs, he could eat a LOT. Once he got everyone’s orders, he sashayed over to the virtual kiosks and began putting everything in, keeping a perfect memory.

((Sorry everyone! I got behind again! XP January has been rough for me, health wise. I'm catching up on my rps now and hope to get back in the game with getting posts made sooner.)) Lollia heard the Latias’ footfall getting closer until she walked into the kitchen, going to get a well-needed soda from the fridge. Miss Lolly smiled and waved. “Welcome back, Miss Angela,” she said, watching her wave to Kara and apologising to the girl. “It’s okay. You weren’t gone as long as I thought you’d be. Kara here just finished eating and drinking and I was going to give her a bath when - oh!” Lollia stopped talking as she sensed another new Little enter her realm, their presence by the front door of the home. She stood up from the toddler sized chair, brushing her dress and apron down neatly. “Please excuse me for a minute, you two. It seems that there’s another new child at the front door. Would you mind taking Kara and her lion, Loki, for a bubble bath in the big bathroom, Miss Angela? She will need a diaper and some new clothes after her bath, in the big changing room at the back of the house. And Loki will need a collar or ribbon too,” she added with a smile, not going to leave him out. “I’ll be back soon!” she called out over her shoulder, already leaving the kitchen and going to the front door. … The 7 foot tall, motherly alien opened the door politely and looked down, something she was accustomed to doing when it involved new children. Seeing the small dragon boy clutching his blue dog plushie, she automatically crouched down to better be on his level, giving a kind and gentle smile. “Well hello there, little one. What is your name?” she asked him, then noticed the wet stain on his black jeans, along with the scent of urine and saw that he was shivering. “Oh my, looks like somebody had a little accident. Did you walk through all this cold snow in those wet pants? That’s no good. You poor dear, you must be frozen! Come on in out of the cold and we’ll get you cleaned up and changed into something warm and dry,” she said warmly, holding out her hand. “Please, don’t be afraid. I am Mama Lolly, the owner of this place. I sense you need a place to stay. You’re welcome to call this place home for however long you need to,” she offered sweetly, not wanting to leave any child without. As it was, this little dragon would probably need a bath before she could get him into diapers and warm clothing. What great timing. Kara was also going to get a bubble bath with Miss Angela. Lollia hoped that the new boy and Kara would make friends while they enjoyed the nice tubs and bath toys. ================================== “Yup,” Sophie agreed, since ants on a log did sound yummy, despite the funny name. She nodded agreement at what Rei said to the two dolls being missing. “Yeah, you wight!” They didn’t need the full set of dolls to play now. As they started playing, Sophie felt happy. A happiness that filled her heart, since she had longed for other kids to play and make friends with for a long time. Or what seemed long to her, at least. Playing with friends was better than playing alone. The loneliness faded to the background for once and she didn’t need to rely on the toys talking to her in fake conversations. She had a real person to talk to! With a pleasant smile, she voiced MaMa again. “Good giwl, Kitty. You awe a vewy good giwl. Now, let’s wash ouw paws and put on apwons befowe we stawt,” she said in MaMa’s tone, walking the plastic cat over to the sink and making ‘shhh-ing’ sounds for the sound of water, then walking her to the wall and pretending to tie an apron at the toy’s back. MaMa kitty then moved to find an invisible recipe book. “Look, I gots dis wecipe book to help us choose. Do you want to make omelette wiff me, Kitty? Dat will wawm us up fwom all dat cold, coldy snow”. As she played, her diaper crinkled softly under her thick white tights, the sounds muffled somewhat by her clothing.

Balverk Manor or ‘House of the Lost’, as it was also known, welcomed the new, young dragon. Lyn, one of the nannies here alongside Tori, Tanya, Castile and Lily, opened the door to greet him on the doorstep, since Mr Balverk’s schedule was busy today. “Good morning, Ry. My name is Lyn. We’ve been expecting you. Now, no need to be nervous. Please, follow me and I will show you to the nurses’ station for intake,” she explained in a calm, friendly manner, standing to one side as she held the door open for Ry. “You don’t look like you’re from around these parts. Must be one of those from one of the many portals around this place, hm? We don’t see many dragons!” she exclaimed, rather thrilled to have a dragon join the household. As she led him inside and began walking through the mansion, she began speaking. “I’ll explain what happens with all newcomers,” she said, hoping that if he knew what was happening, it would put him more at ease. “First, you go to the nurses’ station and the social worker, (Kate). They will handle the paperwork then give you a small check up, plus either Pull-Ups or diapers for underwear. As you may know, all children in this manor must wear one or the other. The bathrooms in this place, due to its size, are almost impossible to get to with weak bladders and most kids here right now are in diapers for one reason or another,” she said kindly. “Not to mention, the kids’ bathrooms don’t have toilets. There is one on this floor with 8 cubicles that each have a bathtub and a changing table, though, in case kids need changes”. She continued on while they made their way along the corridors of the massive place that had 200 rooms, 10 play rooms, a huge dining hall and a small school on the property. “Once you've changed, the nurses will hand you over to the nannies’ station. That’s what I am; a nanny. We are the ones who take care of all the kids here. While you’re with us, one of us will help you pick a room from the floor map and give you a folder with pictures and check boxes, so you can choose what you want your new room to look like, what furniture to put in it and what new clothes you want made. It will usually all be done before the end of the day, except for the clothes, which might take a week or so. After that’s done, we can get you some food or let you play and explore. You get to pick which nanny you want, as well,” she smiled. “Oh, and don't worry; I won’t be upset if you don’t pick me,” she said with a soft laugh. “By the way, let me tell you the rules for this place”. Lyn took out her staff iPad and began to read the rules of the manor out to him from it. (These can be found on the first post by Doorset, on the rp’s front page. Please have a quick read! Thank you ^^).

((Welcome back, Dlatwood! You can write Miss Angela coming back into the orphanage now. She could come in the front door and hear Kara and Lollia talking in the kitchen and walk in there to let them know she’s back. And that’s okay, Grumvakk. I hope you can relax now. As you guys know, I’m a pretty slow poster, too.)) Lollia brought over a warm, damp washcloth and gently cleaned Kara’s face as the dirty plate and bottle floated off to the sink to wash themselves up. “My my, someone was very hungry and thirsty. You ate and drank it all up! What a good girl~” she cooed softly, smiling, letting the used cloth seemingly float out of her hand and into the laundry hamper once she was done using it. “You deserve some pampering and care after going through such a hard time, little one,” Lollia replied. “Yes indeed, you do get new clothes. I’ll let you choose what you want to wear from our ample supply stock in the changing rooms. But if you need help picking some out, that’s okay, I can help with that as well”. Lollia then sensed Angela’s presence as the Latias returned from whatever errands she’d been on. “Oh, I think Miss Angela might be back. That’s great. We can wash you and Loki together”. She waited, listening out for Angela's entry to the house. ============================ Sophie listened to Rei as she helped unbox the new playset, setting up the cardboard house before putting the furniture in, frequently checking the front of the box to make sure everything was perfectly in its place. She giggled at what the celery-peanut butter-raisin combo was called. “Ew, yucky! Ants! We will gobble dem up!” Sophie tittered, finding it funny. She didn’t ask what Rei’s old caretakers were like. She knew Rei wouldn’t be here if they had been nice ones. Every orphan came with a dark backstory, usually. “Otay, dat’s faiw. Well…umm…I’ll take MaMa, den,” she decided, reaching out to pick up the mother figurine, which easily fit her small hand. Checking through all the plastic pieces, she realised something. “Looks like PaPa and MiMi don’t comes wiff dis set. You hab to buy dem sep…sepewately. Well, dat makes it easiew to choose, ahehe”. Getting into her role as the MaMa cat, she tried to think of something nice to begin playing, walking the MaMa cat into the entrance of the house, through the little cardboard door/gate. “Kitty, would you like to come inside and help me cook somefing in da kitchen? Cooking ish mowe fun when we do it togethew”, she said, putting on a soft, motherly voice as best she could. "Should we make a yummy lunch? Tum in out of all dat cold snow, afowe chu tuwn into a snowman!" =============================== Frost just watched the girls play, smiling when he saw that they found the new Hello Kitty playset, his tail wagging. “Aw, how sweet, they seem to be playing house. A lot of the toys are brand new here and haven’t even been touched”. He looked at Xeto “I guess your first class will start on Monday. For Sophie, Rei and Kara. Drew’s still too little to learn by anything other than playing. Wonder how Ms Hoshi’s doing with him right now? Perhaps one of us should go and check on them” He wasn't sure if Drew had any kind of powers but looking after a baby that young could be tough all on its own, regardless.

Samuel didn’t answer his questions but Castile didn’t mind, blowing it off. Small children often remained silent when asked things or spoken to. It didn’t really matter. He was just trying to distract him from missing Lily. She came back sooner than he’d have thought. He was relieved to see her, since Samuel did have a level of separation anxiety. It was understandable, given that she was the only person he really knew here and had bonded with. She was probably like a new mother to him, in some ways. When the boy apologised, Castile responded with a sympathetic and knowing look. “It’s okay, Sweetie. It’s nice that you missed Miss Lily that much. I can tell that she means a lot to you. She came back, just like she promised. So there’s no need to be sad anymore. But it’s okay to cry when you feel sad, too. Just know that Miss Lily and I will always be here. We live at Balverk Manor now, along with you kids. This is my home and I promise not to leave you. I know Miss Lily feels the same way,” he said. ======================== Lily wiped Samuel’s eyes and face with some pocket tissues and helped him blow his nose, tossing the used tissues in the small bin in his room. She smiled when he agreed to eat breakfast, glad that he had an appetite. The cold medicine must be helping. The frog lady placed a small kiss on his temple as he lay on her shoulder, clinging to his hippo stuffie. She twisted to and fro gently, cuddling him close. She was slightly surprised when he apologised to Castile but nodded at what the cat taur said. “That’s right. Castile and I might not be with you every moment of every day. But we will always come back and always be around here somewhere. We’re never far away. Sometimes we have to take rest days, though. But we will ALWAYS come back,” she promised with heart. “I’m glad that you missed me, though. I missed you too, Buddy”. Her brown eyes skimmed over to Castile then. “Alright, let’s get us all something good to eat before our adventure to the aquarium begins”. She began to walk out of the room and Castile fell into step behind her, walking up alongside once the hallway widened out. They soon found the dining hall and put the kids in highchairs beside each other. Lily sat at the table to look at the menu while Castile waited to take their orders so he could go type it into those touch screen things like you saw at McDonald’s. ====================================== “What do you want for breakfast, Aurora? See the pictures on the menu?”. He put one of the laminated kids’ menus on her highchair tray, where Samuel could see it as well. “Point to whichever looks good. There’s cereal, fruit, oatmeal, muffins, toast, eggs and bacon…” he slowly read each option out, gently gliding a sparkly fingertip over each image as he pointed to each one. “And what would you like to drink? Milk, juice, water…” ====================================== Lily watched the bubble with the blue rose in it floating above Samuel’s shoulder. She idly patted it, watching it bounce gently back to its place after dipping down in the air. “If we see Mr Balverk this morning, I have to ask him about this blue rose. There must be some reason he gifted it to you, Sammy,” she mused, waiting for him to pick from the menu after Aurora had chosen hers. Once the kids had chosen their meals and drinks, she’d pick something for herself and let Castile know, sitting at the table beside the highchair that was closest to her, where Samuel was sitting. “Can you see the menu on Aurora’s highchair? Once she is finished telling Castile, it’s your turn to choose. Just point to the picture you want to order,” she instructed slowly and clearly. Lily herself was having a craving for insects right now, but wasn’t sure they’d have that on the menu, like back home. She could always catch some later or on her day off, not wanting to make other residents and kids uncomfortable. Some people found it rather gross seeing her eat insects but they were an untapped source of nutrition that was sustainable. A nice, crunchy dragonfly or a few crickets wouldn’t go amiss, Lily thought as she licked her lips.

“Hmm, if that’s what you think best. Unless you want a wearable baby carrier so you can keep your hands free. I’ll bring both”, she elected, both items soon drifting silently into the room and gently setting down upon the ground by Akiza’s feet. Now she had more options. Carry Andrew on her front or back, or push him around in a stroller. She could always put the baby carrier in the basket underneath the stroller when not wearing it. She too, sensed Andrew’s gravity magic, but was fine with it, internally snickering in amusement as she wondered how Ms Hoshi was going to deal with that. ========================================= Lollia was pleasantly astonished at Kara’s reaction to her suggestion of a bath. She wasn’t arguing or running away or making excuses. That was good. It made it easier and more fun for both of them. The pastel alien mother smiled serenely, resting her chin on her folded hands while propping her elbows on the toddler sized table. “Wonderful~ Then we will do that after you finish your meal”, she said. “And I’ll let you pick some new clothes from our supply”. Listening to her tell more about the lion soft toy, she nodded. “So he’s very special to you, then. I understand. I have things that are special to me, too. I’ll try to make sure he doesn’t get lost and that other kids don’t play with him without asking you first”, she promised quietly, emitting a soft laugh as Kara agreed that she and her friend both needed washing. “You sure do~ The warm water and soap will feel so nice. We can get rid of all the dirt and germs trying to make their home on your body and clothing”, Lollia explained kindly, “And once that’s done, we can put your new clothes on, give Loki a nice collar or ribbon to wear and find the other kids to play with”, she said. “How about that?” She didn’t notice Kara wetting her diaper but would be sure to check the little ones every two hours to make sure there were no leaks or chance rashes. It could definitely hold more than one wetting, anyway. Which was good, since Kara was drinking more liquids now. ======================================== Rei seemed to pick up on Sophie’s mannerisms and change of tone, realising her words upset her to some extent. Why didn’t anybody love veggies? They were tasty and yummy, plus they were good for you. And there were so many that even if you didn’t like some of them, you were bound to find a couple you did like. She thought most kids didn’t give the poor veggies a proper chance. Then again, she refused to eat meat of any kind, so it’s not like she could complain about them refusing vegetables. Even the ones she had carefully looked after and watched grow day by day and then helped harvest and cook with. Sometimes Mama Lolly or other caregivers hid the veggies in meals so that kids would get the goodness of vitamins, minerals and nutrients without knowing. Sophie’s eyes widened and her ears stood straighter when Rei mentioned liking celery; her mood doing a 180. “R-really?! Dat sounds yummy~” she replied, her eyes shining as she released the hem of her dress and clasped her hands under her chin instead. “I-I’m so happy. Cel…celewy ish nice an’ cwunchy. It makes fun sounds while eating”, she said with a tiny giggle. “I habn’t twied it wiff pea-nut buttew AND waisins. Maybe we tan hab dat fow mowning tea”, she suggested. “Only AFTER play time. Play time ish vewy ‘powtant”. Watching Rei’s reaction to the dolls and their playsets, she wore a warm smile. “Weah, we has soooo many! It’s otay, I’ll waits fow chu to pick one…”, she said, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking back and forth on her heels. “Bunnies awe my fabouwite”, the rabbit chimed in. Once Rei’s eyes fell upon the brand new HK Home Furnish play set, she walked over to join her. “Ohh, dis is a weally good one. Let’s play in Hello Kitty’s house! What chawa do you want; Kitty, MaMa, PaPa or MiMi?”

Castile was relieved that Aurora stopped crying, her emotions finally settling. He didn’t know what set her off but with the paci in her mouth, it was gonna be hard for her to tell him, so instead of making her recall what just made her cry, he chose to say; “All better now? Thaaat’s a girl”. He used the hem of his uniform to wipe away her tear stains, then carried her over to talk to Samuel, since he couldn’t be in two places at once. The small storm in Aurora’s mood was over and now he just had to distract Sammy so he wouldn’t fret over Lily being gone the whole time. He waited for the boy to respond to his comments and questions. =============================================== Meanwhile, Lily was back at her apartment, the ones for humans instead of magical creatures, using her keys to get in. The place looked pretty standard. Just a small, one bedroom apartment with an open kitchen and living area and a bathroom, equipped with the bare basics. She didn’t pay it much mind, rushing to the toilet and getting relief before washing her hands and going to look around a bit. She found her newly tailored uniforms in the walk-in closet of her bedroom and got excited over the patterns and designs she selected for them, not to mention the fact she didn’t expect to have a walk-in closet in the first place. Looking through them all, Lily picked out a shift style nanny dress with a tasteful v neck plus two large front pockets that had a cute pattern of frogs on lilypads for the fabric, pairing it with some stretchy leggings that had a butterfly print with pink, purple and hints of orange. This should keep her cool and be easy to move around in. She headed to the bathroom, where she found it fully stocked with towels and amenities, such as grooming tools and deodorant. Lily wasted no time in stripping off her dirty uniform and underwear, tossing them in the hamper, before hopping in the shower, letting her hair tumble down her shoulders as she tilted her head back with her eyes closed and sighed, enjoying the feel of cool water on her amphibious skin. Unable to resist, she let out some small croaks and ribbits, careful not to be too loud lest the neighbours hear. After all, though she looked mostly human, it was clear that she wasn’t. She had no clue why Mr Balverk had decided to house her in the human apartments instead of the ones for magical creatures where Castile lived. Oh well. She didn’t care. Hopefully no one would complain. She’d do her best to make sure to keep a low profile and not stir up any trouble. Lily reached for the soap and shampoo, finding tropical scents for the hair products and a rainforest blend for the body wash. She shaved, scrubbed clean and washed her hair before stepping out and wrapping herself in a verdant green bath sheet; those big, luxury towels. Lily dried off a bit before going to pick up the set of new lingerie the manor provided for her, discarding the towel while leaving her skin still damp and dewy, which, being a frog person, felt good to her. She applied deo, got dressed, donning a pair of white crocs for the shoes, brushed her teeth, dried and styled her hair, applied a little lip gloss and makeup, then checked herself out in the mirror, doing a slow spin to look from every angle. Lily was happy with her appearance and clapped her hands together with a grin. “Perfect! I feel so much better in this. That other spare shift was so plain”, she said to herself. Exiting the bathroom, Lily packed a few things into her rainforest print tote bag (sunscreen and a hat, water bottle, wallet), making sure she still had all the stuff she started with. A 2 dot keycard (access areas for humans), a tablet, x2 apartment keys, ID card. That seemed to be all of it. She looked through her small collection of jewellery and accessories that had been brought to her room and fitted a waterproof watch around her left wrist, plus some raindrop shaped earrings and necklace. Checking the time on her watch, Lily saw she’d been 20 minutes already and decided to hurry back, feeling like a proper person now. She grabbed her tote, slung it over her arm and jogged out of the apartment, pondering what things she wanted to order for it and pay off using her nanny salary here. All the free stuff was very bland and colourless. Not her taste at all. Still, it was decent of them to provide starter furniture. Lily approached Samuel’s nursery and gently opened the door, peeking in to see what the kids and Castile were up to. She then slipped into the room with a smile and announced “I’m back! Sorry for keeping you waiting. Did you miss me?”, she asked, noticing that Sammy seemed to be upset and had been crying. “Oh my, I can see that Sammy missed me a lot. I’m sorry, Sweetheart, I just had to shower and get ready for the day. I’m here now. I hope you behaved for Castile while I was away”, she cooed, going over to pick him up and plant a kiss on his cheek. “What do we want for breakfast, hmm? Shall we go see what they have in the dining room?” Lily thought over how she could talk to Samuel about the fact that while she had to go away sometimes, and couldn't be with him every hour of every day, she'd always come back and would never leave permanently. What Lily is wearing: the shift style dress but with the frog pattern.

((A little bit faster than I have been with posts :3 Go, me!)) Akiza finally made it into the conservatory, easily finding the fish food Lollia left out for them. Keeping tabs on her new workers and littles, Lollia sensed Ms Hoshi was looking for something. The wondering, searching feeling prompted the woman to eavesdrop a little bit and hear Akiza’s thoughts. “The storage closet by my office is the closest for finding that kind of stuff”, she supplied helpfully. “Which one would you like me to bring you? I’ll float it over to you using my telekinesis so you don’t have to leave the room”, she offered. Back with Kara, in the kitchen, she watched Kara’s face turn as bright red as the apples decorating the bottle she’d given her and chuckled softly. “No need to be embarrassed, Sweetie. Due to my regression aura, you’d have had trouble using even a regular sippy cup. This is easier and less messy for you”, she explained in her jubilant, loving tones, smiling at the thanks the child gave despite being embarrassed. “Besides, don’t you think it’s cuter? I do~”. She listened to her talk about her plushie, looking it over, retracting her hand and wiping it on a wet wipe from her apron once she realised how dirty it was. The wipe discreetly floated itself to the bin afterwards. “Loki; that’s a powerful name. Suitable for a mighty beast like a lion”, she said approvingly, “I see... Then you two must be the best of friends. I’m sure you share lots of memories together”, Lollia stated. “Although, I think Loki could probably use a bath. It seems that it’s been a long time since his last cleaning and he’s gotten all stained and mucky”, she observed before glancing over Kara’s form. “In fact, it looks like both of you could do with a wash. You’ll feel a lot nicer and fresher after a bath. We have lots of toys and bubble soap here to make bath time fun, so there’s nothing to be scared of,” she explained, hoping Kara didn’t have anything against bathing. Hearing her last comment, she nodded “Indeed. You might like to think of them as…your new siblings”, she suggested. “We’re a family”. =========================== Sophie tried to hide her disappointment at what Rei said about vegetables. She’d been hoping that her new friend wasn’t like the other kids when it came to them but it seemed she was wrong. Her face falling, the vegetarian bunny swallowed back her dismay as she looked away, trying not to show Rei how sad it made her. She wanted to respond but her words seemed to get stuck painfully in her chest and she stayed silent apart from a small, whisper soft “...oh”. Busying herself, she opened the lid of the garden toy and began putting all the wooden toys back into the box before closing it again, scooping it into her lap. When Rei asked what kind of dollies they had, she forced a smile, thinking over the large variety of dolls the building stored. “Oh, um…well…we has wots of dollies. Let me show you”, she said, getting to her feet and checking to make sure the coast was clear before leaving the safety of the tent hideout and going to replace the garden toy neatly on the shelf. She always put her toys away and tidied up after playing. Something she would have been punished for if she didn’t do it in her previous foster families. Sophie began to walk around the play room, slowly showing Rei all the different dolls. There were a LOT, and she couldn’t remember all of their names. A large variety, some with their own doll houses, yet everything being suitable for babies and toddlers, with nothing small that they could potentially choke on. Dollies for older, bigger girls, such as Barbie, American Girl or LOL Surprise, were only allowed in their personal bedrooms, where they were safe from other kids who might choke or otherwise get injured by them. Sophie showed Rei some Baby Alive, Baby Born, other brands of baby dolls, Na Na Na Surprise, Poopsie Unicorns, Fantasy Friends, Cabbage Patch dolls, Cutie Tooties, cloth dollies with soft bodies, wooden and plastic dolls with their own doll houses, Kindy Kids, Fisher Price Little People play sets, Hello Kitty for toddlers, and many more. The dolls all had their own accessories and play equipment too (cribs, changing tables, high chairs, strollers, closets, rocking seats, play gyms, carriers and so on), plus lots of clothes, diapers and hair decorations as well. So, even though all the dolls available were safe for babies and toddlers, there were plenty that were still very lovable and offered a wide range of choices. Surely Rei would enjoy playing with one or two. Sophie didn’t really want to play with dollies right now, but she pushed her feelings down and tried hard to be chipper after having her feelings hurt and her enthusiasm crushed. “M…my fabouwite dolly ish…” she mumbled, unable to raise her voice much louder than a murmur. “...I…I wike Baby Alibe and Baby Bown. A-cause chu tan gib dem food an’ watew, and change theiw wittle diapees”, she said, twisting the hem of her skirt in her hands, having left Bunny in the tent. ============================ “Hmm, since you want to excel at whatever you do, you’ll probably end up among the best of us at SOME things”, he replied optimistically. “I’d like to sit in on one of your classes and watch you teach some time, if that’s okay. I take it you’re knowledgeable about lots of different subjects. Mind you, I don’t think you’ll be teaching our kids rocket science, ahehe! It’s more the role of a kindergarten teacher with our current ones. Shapes, colours, numbers, the alphabet, social skills, teaching about the world, stuff like that”. With Lollia’s regression aura reducing all the kids here to big babies, the curriculum wasn’t going to be extremely complicated for most of the younger ones like Sophie, Rei or Drew. However, for older kids, like perhaps Kara, the studies would match their age and competency level before they were regressed. Since they could still memorise and understand stuff. They just wouldn’t be able to stop themselves acting babyish, have any control over their continence, or win against babyish urges all the time. The regression tended to affect different people differently.

Samuel had ignored Castile’s questions about Lily reading him a book and whether he was hungry for breakfast. But that was okay, since Aurora needed attention, distracting him momentarily. While he comforted the crying girl, he didn’t notice Samuel’s fussing and whining at first, since Aurora’s crying drowned it out. But as she began to calm down and he gently placed the pacifier in her mouth, rubbing her back, the cat registered the sounds of another upset child. Getting to his feet, he shifted Aurora onto his hip and padded across the room to the boy, who was reaching up to the closed bedroom door, obviously wanting Lily to come back. “Heya Sammy, it’s okay. Miss Lily will be back soon. She just had to go and get ready for the day. I’m sure she’ll come back in 10 to 15 minutes. She won’t be gone long,” he said, leaning down to place a hand atop the boy’s head in a comforting gesture. “Come on, you’ll be okay. Just remember how brave you were yesterday at the nurses’ office. I’m sure you can tough it out till Miss Lily gets back!” he said, trying to instil some confidence in the boy. “Hey, what say we play a game until she returns? That way, time will go by faster and you won’t miss her so much”. Castile looked around the room, “Sammy, since this is your room, do you think you could find something for us to play with? Aurora had a nice ball over there. Do you kids wanna play ball with me? I’ll throw and you catch. Or, we can roll it to each other”, he said. “When Miss Lily gets back, we’ll all go have breakfast”.

Castile’s heart ached for the poor girl as his questions only seemed to make her cry harder. “Aurora…what’s wrong? Hey, hey…come here, baby,” he cooed, pulling her into his lap and cuddling her close, gently rocking the girl while petting her head. “Shhhh, shhh…it’s okay. Let it all out. It’s okay to cry and feel sad. You can let all your sadness out,” he soothed her, the scent of tutti frutti washing over her from his clean self. He listened to her continued cries as he lightly swayed her back and forth, giving her some time. “...Maybe, once you’ve calmed down a little bit, you can tell me what’s making you sad”, he gently suggested. “I might be able to help”. He looked at the pacifier clipped to her dress, dangling against her chest. Castile reached out and picked it up tentatively with two fingers gripping the shield, raising it to hover before her lips. “You want your paci? Sucking it might help you feel calmer”.

((My health has been terrible for some months, guys. I've been struggling with IBS and intrusive thoughts; that's why I've been so horribly slow, I have had zero energy. Daily diarrhea will do that to you... Anyway, I hope we can continue this. I was able to manage my diet rn to prevent daily stomach upsets at last, so I can finally write again! So, please, have a new post from me~)) The conservatory with its pond full of rainbow guppies awaited Drew and Ms Hoshi, the colourful fish flakes sitting in a cylindrical container with images of vibrant fish on the label, placed neatly to one side of the mesh covered pond. Ms Hoshi would have to teach Drew how to pinch some and sprinkle them on the water. After feeding the fish, there were other things the pair could do. Akiza could walk around the paths carrying Drew, showing him the animal shaped topiaries, the different flowers, perhaps naming their types and colours and letting him smell them, pointing out the painted ornaments of gnomes, fairies, frogs, cats and other things. She could even put him down and ask him to find them. Such as…’can you find a frog?’. He could also try sitting at one of the miniature toadstool chairs and tables, or wandering around the paths with Akiza playfully pretending to chase him. They could spot the flower arrangements in the garden beds; one being a smiley face but there was also a heart, teddy bear, lollipop and birthday cake. If Akiza wanted to, she could pop Andrew in one of the hanging, egg shaped chairs that had cushions and use it like a swing, gently pushing it to make it sway. For more quiet activities, watching the snow flurries out the windows or putting Drew’s hand in the trickling fairy fountain water might be nice. Lollia, sensing Drew and Ms Hoshi still standing in the hallway, telepathically spoke to Akiza. “If you need any help figuring out what to do with him, Dear, just let me know~”. Her tone was kind and comforting. =================================== “Yes you can. Coming right up”, she replied, filling a baby bottle with juice. The bottle had a pattern of cartoon apples on it and she brought it over to place on the table, beside Kara’s lion plate. “You have beautiful manners, Kara. Here you go”. Lollia used a tentacle to gracefully pull out a tiny toddler chair and perched herself on it, sitting at the table with Kara and smiling. The 7 foot tall woman looked ridiculous seated on the toddler chair, her knees bent up to her chest. She looked at Loki and reached out to stroke him once, as though he were alive, her hand pausing on his back. “What a nice lion plushie. Does he have a name?”, she inquired softly. After a beat, she added. “Are lions your favourite animal?” She continued to sit with Kara while she ate, just making casual conversation to get to know her and so she didn’t feel lonely eating by herself. “You know, we have another little girl here who likes kitties. Her name is Rei. She looks like a three year old girl with white hair and purple eyes. You will meet her eventually”, she told her. “We also have Sophie, who is a dwarf rabbit girl. She has white hair and pinkish red eyes plus a pair of rabbit ears and a cotton tail. Then there is Drew, a one year old baby boy with brown hair and green eyes, who has tan skin. Those are all the kids we have for now”. ========================================= Sophie watched her grab the carrot and ‘plant’ it. She gently clapped her hands. “Yay! You eawned a cawwot fact. Cawwot ish colow owange. Dis beggie is gud fow youw eyesight an’ skin! I bet chu didn’ knows dat”, she told her new friend proudly, pointing to her eyes with her index fingers, then pointing to her cheek, poking it softly. “Some peoples say dat cawwots can eben hewp you see in da dawk”. She didn’t know if that was true, though. Seeing Rei wiggle and crinkle, Sophie decided to do it too, wiggling in place to make her diaper rustle. “Ahehe, we awe cwinklies! ...otay, my tuwn”. She stopped after a minute, looking through the wooden shapes, reaching out to move her hand among them, the shapes knocking together softly, picking some up then dropping them as she tried to decide. “Ummm”. Sophie settled on one, picking up the pomegranate and holding it up. “Dis one is pom-gwa-nate. Buh dat’s hawd to say, so’s I calls it a pompom”, the dwarf rabbit said. “Dey awe juicy and cwunchy. Tastes kinda wike souw chewwies when ish wipe. Chu tan only eat da seeds buh dey’s vewy nummy an’ sweet. Gotta be caweful not to choke, though”. She hoped Rei was enjoying herself, and that she liked learning gardening facts. Sophie turned the garden toy around until she found the slot for the pomegranate, fitting it in after turning it the right way up. “Kay, Wei’s tuwn. Do you wike dis game?” she asked, looking over at her shyly, hoping Rei wasn’t bored to death or hating this game. “If you want, we tan pway bwocks ow dollies”. =========================================== Frost cocked his head as he listened to Xeto, folding one ear back, wondering what he meant by his comments. “Hey, you don’t have to be the BEST; you just have to care. Nobody’s perfect and everyone makes mistakes. So don’t worry if you don’t become caregiver of the year straight away or something. Lollia’s giving you a chance to prove yourself. And we’re here to help you. Me, Ms Hoshi, Ms Angela, and Mama Lolly”. He said with an encouraging tone. “So don’t be too hard on yourself. We’ll collaborate as a team to make this odd family work. I’m sure the kids’ll grow on you after a while. You just need time to get to know each other, is all. It’s only your first day. You all are practically strangers!”. He paused for a moment before switching topics. “By the way, your main role is a teacher, right? Giving our children a good education is really important. I think Lolly only made you a caregiver as well because we’re currently short on kids and staff. But maybe she did it so you can build a bond with the kids, too”. Oh and this is the cute apple print on Kara's baby bottle of apple juice.

Castile first went to get his pink duffle bag that had his keys in it. He hurried to the Woodland apartments and opened the door of no. 101, noticing all the temporary furniture he’d ordered had been put in sometime yesterday. There was a large, broad sofa and two big, flat, soft chairs for the living room, along with a standing mirror in the bedroom and a simple low table for the kitchen, as well as some large floor cushions to sit around it. Castile couldn’t use ordinary chairs. He didn’t have much time to admire the new furniture though. He hurried to the bathroom first and relieved himself, before washing his hands and grabbing himself a fresh uniform that had been delivered to his apartment after his fitting session with the tailor on his first day. Castile chose a nice light blue uniform today that had a fresh white trim on the folded cuffs of the sleeves and the collar. He also picked out some white paw booties (those darn robot floor cleaners!), and a pair of underwear with fishies printed on them. Shh, no one would ever know! The cat taur grabbed several large towels to put on a stool near the shower then disrobed and stepped into the large, spacious cubicle, noticing all the soap and other supplies had been stocked up. He turned on the shower, which had a head with a large surface area, and a rain of water drops fell onto him as though he were standing under a cloud. Castile began to scrub his fur and body clean with tutti frutti scented liquid soap. That was one of his favourite scents. It was similar to the Jelly Belly bean flavour. The soap was coloured pink with little rainbow flecks in it. It was a combination full of tropical fruit flavours like banana, pineapple, orange, lemon, and cherry. He thoroughly washed his entire body, including his more human torso. Castile washed and conditioned his hair as well. He liked to be clean shaven so he also saw to that. Once he turned the water off, he grabbed the towels and rubbed dry, his fur going fluffy and fuzzy, sticking up all over. Castile brushed his sharp teeth to minty perfection and blow dried his hair and fur, brushing them both out so they were all soft and silky. He then put his hair up in a ponytail, leaving some bangs to drift cutely around his face and eyes. Castile clipped in some white, star shaped hair clips on one side, keeping some of the longer bangs tied back. He clipped his claws and fingernails, rubbed lotion on his skin, applied some deo, then got dressed afterwards. The stylish bishie then applied some clear glitter polish over the top of his pastel nails on his human hands, using a little spell to quickly dry them. Gathering everything up, he checked he had all he needed in his duffle bag, making sure to put the wipes from yesterday’s uniform into his pocket, along with his phone. Castile wandered to the big standing mirror and turned around slowly, checking his appearance over. Once he was sure everything was done, he hurried back to the mansion, heading for Samuel’s nursery. He’d been as quick as he could, but it probably took him 15 minutes all up. He lightly knocked on the door with the back of his knuckles, not wanting to startle those inside. “I’m back!” ================ Lily, distracted by her full bladder, wasn’t paying as much attention to Aurora as she normally would, seeing the girl wander around before finding a ball to play with. She didn’t notice the girl had started to cry silently, since Aurora’s back was facing her and her head was down. She was still playing with the ball, so it looked like she was fine. Lily had noticed that Aurora’s greeting when they came in was quieter than Castile’s. Less cheerful. But she put it down to the girl’s shy and gentle nature, as well as the fact she probably was still waking up. She looked down to see what Samuel was doing while he hugged his new stuffy, noticing the bubble with the blue rose was floating above his right shoulder. The woman wondered again why Mr Balverk gave it to him. She decided to ask when the man introduced Mr Goodie later this morning. There had to be some use rather than it just looking pretty. Lily wedged a hand in between her thighs and continued to gently jiggle one leg, keeping them tightly crossed as the minutes ticked by. “Come on, Castle; hurry up!” she muttered under her breath, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed. She saw Samuel find a book and come over to her, holding it up. “Aww, hello Sammy. Do you want me to read you a story? Okay. By the time it’s finished, Castile should be back,” she said, taking the book and turning it so the pages faced him, keeping it held open. “You can sit or stand to look at the pictures,” she instructed before she began to read, saying the title of the story on the first page. It was a kids book about some children visiting the fire station and meeting some firefighters, getting to try out the bell and the sliding pole, the fire truck and the clothes, before assisting the firefighters on a small emergency blaze. Lily found it hard to read the parts about them using the fire hose and spraying lots of water on the fire, wincing as she read it. As she finished the story, she heard a knock on the door. “Castile!” The woman practically flung the book aside as she leapt to her feet, doing a hurried shuffle to the door and yanking it open “Finally! I need you to take over! I really have to go potty!” she informed him, not even caring as the words tumbled out of her mouth. They were childish because she always liked to use language appropriate for the kids, that they’d understand. Her face turned bright pink. ================== Castile chuckled at her kiddy language and cute blushing face and bounded into the room. “Oh, sorry to keep you waiting. Go on then! I’ll watch the kids,” he said, shooing her off. “Bye!” he called out to the already retreating figure, waving as she ran away. He felt bad for making her wait and would have let her go first if he knew it was a potty emergency. But it was kind of funny the way she burst out. Looking around, he noticed the book spread out on the crib. “What have you kids been up to? Did Lily read you a book, Samuel? Are you two hungry for your breakfast?” he asked, seeing Samuel clinging to his hippo and Aurora playing with a ball. He wandered over to the little girl. “Auroraaaa, you found a ball! Oh…are you okay, Sweetie? What’s the matter?” he asked, voice switching from cheerful to gently concerned as his front paws lowered him to a crouch beside her and reached out to place a hand on her back. “Why are you crying?” he asked softly, keeping his tone sweet. "Today is meant to be a happy day".

Kara's plate:

((Apologies for the ultra long wait on this one. I didn’t mean for a whole month to fly by. XP I’ve had some writer's block and a lot of health issues flaring up this month. Anyway, enough excuses, I’m replying today - finally)) There was no need for Akiza to fix the pictures, since before her very eyes, they rose up from the ground and perfectly rehung themselves, straightening out on their hooks. Lollia had heard them fall and fixed them using telekinesis. There wasn’t much that went on in the building that escaped her notice. Lollia smiled gently at Kara, glad she accepted the diapers with such ease. “Good girl. That’s the spirit!” She praised her. Once Kara and Lollia were in the kitchen, the alien mama was all ready to feed up the new little one in her domain. The diaper crinkles rustling from her thickly padded rear were all too adorable, along with the way she waddled. Hearing her question, Lollia nodded, pointing to where the toddler tables and chairs were. “Of course. Please, take a seat. Any seat”, The tall woman said as she glided into the kitchen and tied a white apron over her lavender dress, waiting to hear what Kara would like. “Yes indeed. We DO have grilled ham and cheese. I’ll make them for you right away”, she chimed, her tentacles gathering ingredients while her more human hands set up the flat grill and the utensils. Soon the sizzling of a cooking sandwich filled the air, along with the smell of melting cheese. Once it was toasted to perfection, she served it onto a smiling lion face paper plate, cutting the sandwich into four little squares. “There you are, mademoiselle. And would you like anything to drink?” she asked, “If you want to eat more, I can make more for you”. She had given her one sandwich to start her off small, since if you hadn’t eaten for a while, it could make you sick eating too much at once. “You can put your lion plushie on the table so he doesn’t get cheese and crumbs on him”, Lollia mentioned, seeing the plush Kara was carrying under one arm. ============================ Sophie’s smile widened at what Rei said about diapers. “Weah. Dey good. I lub my diapees a lot”, she said, slightly shuffling in the fluffy padding and feeling how they hugged her. She loved her Merries. Of course, it’d be impossible for Rei to know if Sophie had peed, because her diaper was hidden under her white tights and pink winter dress. And the fact that it wasn’t very wet yet, so it hadn’t expanded much. As Rei watched and listened, Sophie finally found the right hole for the wooden bananas, fitting it into the slot. “Yay! I found it!” she cheered softly. “Okay, now youw tuwn, Wei”. Sophie pointed to the wooden fruit, worms and carrots laying around the floor of the tent “Chu can pick a wowm, ow a fwuit ow a cawwot. Den you find whewe it goes. If you picks a fwuit ow cawwot, I can tell you about it!” she said, proud that she knew facts about all the fruits and veg. She only knew a little about worms, though. ============================== Frost saw Xeto turn off his tablet and put his book down and felt a little worried that he had annoyed him somehow. He wanted to talk though, so he could learn more about his coworker and they could get along. His ears moved softly while taking in the alien’s explanation. He listened curiously, not sure what to make of the new information. “Wow, that’s…pardon the pun but it’s an alien concept to me”, he said with a small chuckle, “Children being raised by their teachers. Well, if I think about it, I suppose that’s not too different from what we do here. We’re kind of like their teachers and their caregivers. So, not that alien after all! But I do feel kind of sad that the kids on your planet don’t get to form a bond with their parents growing up,” he said, “I feel the same way for the kids here. They missed out on having parents too. That means, we have to be their parents, in a sense. We’re their family now. I’m sorry you didn’t get to see your parents for so many years. No wonder Lollia hired you. She must have realised that you could sympathise with the kids here due to your personal experiences. You can understand how they feel to some extent. It gives you a way to connect with them. Anyway, I’m positive you can do better than the norm at your homeworld. If you need any help, don’t be afraid to ask”. He paused, then added “Or if you just want someone to talk to or need a friend, I’m here for you”.

Castile laughed at Aurora’s antics, her pose with her head between her legs looking very goofy and silly but totally adorable. Since the kids were still getting settled in, they hadn’t looked at school studies yet but it’s likely they both would be home schooled, with Lily and Castile helping. Extracurricular activities would be good as well. There was a huge range of things to do since the mansion had all the equipment and was big enough. Gymnastics and dance and so much more. Seeing which dress she picked, he sent all the other clothes back to their places. Castile pulled it on over her head and then thought for a second. He reached under the table and brought out some clear plastic pants. “I think we better put these on today as well, in case you get splashed at the dolphin show” he said, sliding them up her legs and making sure the fit was good. “This’ll stop water getting in your diaper and swelling it up” he giggled, imagining her sloshing around in water filled Pampers, “And just in case you fall in one of the tanks”, the man teased her with a laugh. “No, don’t worry, I’d never let that happen!” Reaching under the table, he found a tray with pacifiers and lanyard clips. Castile chose a light pink lanyard with hot pink hearts on it and then added a pink pacifier that had a bunny and some flowers on the front panel, clipping the lanyard to the collar of her dress. “There ya go. Now your paci is handy for whenever you want it and it won’t get lost”. Using bubbles, he floated over a hairbrush and some detangling spray, along with a hairband and a pink ribbon. “Last thing; let’s do your hair. I’ll put it up in a cute hairdo for you”. The cat sprayed strawberry scented conditioning spray over her hair then gently began brushing it out till it was soft, shiny and tangle free. He put it in twin tails high up on either side of her head, then added two pink ribbons, tying them in neat bows, leaving a small fringe and two longer bangs to frame her face. “Beautiful~ Purrrfect!” the cat declared with a playful rolling purr sound. He slipped two Disney princess flip flops on either of her feet, at last scooping her up off the changing table and carrying her out of the room. “Let’s find Sammy and Lily so we can all finish getting ready and eat brekky” he said, going down the hall of many doors towards Samuel’s nursery as his stomach growled. ======================== “Okay, Honey. Now, now, no fussing. You can have your hippo after we get you dressed”. Lily stated, carrying Samuel with her to pick out a pair of shortalls that had light blue vertical pinstripes with a jumping blue dolphin at the top front pocket and two smaller leaping dolphins lower down on each side pocket. She grabbed a plain white tee with the words Cool Guy on the front in pool water font, a pair of plastic pants, a light blue lanyard and pacifier, some toddler sunglasses and then a pair of aqua crocs. She took him back to the changing table and quickly dressed him all up, making sure all the snaps in the crotch and legs of the shortalls snapped closed over the added plastic pants and that the sunglasses fitted comfortably. Lily grinned upon seeing him in the outfit “My, you look so handsome! Who’s this dashing little gentleman?” she cooed, scooping him up again and kissing his cheek. “This outfit is perfect for our little field trip to the aquarium today, Mr Cool Guy. We better grab a hat too, since it’ll be sunny”. She said, going over and picking up a blue hat with a friendly sharky face on it and a fin at the top. Lily then thought about what else Sammy needed before he could go get breakfast. She clicked her fingers “Oh! Your medicine”. The woman took a medicinal candy from the pack in her pocket, handing it to Samuel. “Eat this while I brush and style your hair, Buddy”. The woman walked over to his dresser and grabbed a hair brush and some detangling spray, sitting down. Spritzing it onto his hair with a lovely blueberry scent she then set about gently brushing it all, styling it with a little bit of baby hair gel. “NOW you’re ready to face the day; looking smart”, she declared, grabbing him and standing up with him snuggled against her hip. Just as she stood, she heard a rap at the door and Castile stepped in, grinning brightly. ===================== “Good MORNINNNNG!” The feline greeted loudly and happily “Are you ready, guys? Oh wow, Sammy looks great” he said, noticing his outfit and hair. “Nice job, Miss Lily” he said, giving her a thumbs up and a grin. “Hey, umm, before we take the kids to breakfast, I’ll bubble wash him. And then, well, do you mind watching the kids while I dash back to my place and get ready? Then I’ll watch them while you go do the same” he said. ===================== Lily laughed, “Morning Castile, morning Aurora; gosh, don’t you look pretty?! My, someone’s in a good mood this morning. Sammy and I are still waking up,” she chuckled, yawning and wincing at how loud he was. “Thanks, I did my best. I love how it turned out too,” she replied on hearing him compliment Sam’s look. She looked surprised when he mentioned what he planned. “Ahehe, sure, I was just about to say the same thing. I’m waiting for the bathroom and I wanna shower and style up before we eat. You do your magic bubble wash thingy and then go ahead. I’ll keep an eye on Aurora till you get back,” she said. “This is the first time she’s seen Sammy’s nursery so I’m sure she’ll want to look around. Oh, which reminds me…” Lily paused, going over to the crib and picking up the hippo stuffie before putting it in Samuel’s hands. “Here you go, Sweetie; your hippo plushie” ==================== “Alrighty then!”. Castile nodded, putting Aurora down on the carpet and patting her head “Okay, Princess, this is Samuel’s nursery. You play nice in here with Lily and Samuel while I go to get ready” he told her. “I’ll be back soon”. The cat then turned towards Lily and drew symbols with his hands and fingers, summoning a cloud of magical bubbly water. It leaped towards the small toddler boy like a frothy wave, gurgling and completely surrounding him (except for his hair and breathing holes), moving around all over with watery and bubbly sounds before it pulled back off of him and floated across the room, diving out the nearest window to the garden far below along with all dirt, sweat, dead skin cells and every bit of grime. “And…done!” Castile announced. “Gotta go. See you soon” he said, giving a friendly salute before hurrying out of the room and off to his apartment. ======================= Now it was just Lily, Aurora and Samuel in the fire truck nursery. Lily gasped and crossed her legs at a sudden pang of urgency, placing the now very clean and blueberry scented Samuel onto the carpeted floor, his aqua rubber crocs touching down. She was trying not to do a pee pee dance. “Maybe I should have asked to go first. You kids play till Castile comes back and I’ll watch here,” she said, sitting on Samuel’s cot that still had the side lowered and squeezing her legs together, bouncing her foot. "Oof, be quick, Castile! I've been holding it since last night" Aurora's outfit accessories are pink. Samuel's are aqua/blue.