YunicornSparkles

The sleepy eye rubbing made him look very cute and little. She saw his arm reach for something as his gaze fell to the toy basket near the changing table. Lily decided not to give him one since he was going to have the hippopotamus stuffie to snuggle with right after this and wet changes didn’t take very long. If he was fussing or being squirmy, she might give him a toy to keep him calm and redirect his attention. Oh well, next time. Lily heard Samuel’s whines and wondered what he was whining about, noticing the continued eye rubbing and squinting, along with blinking. “Does the light bother you, Sweetie? Maybe this will help,” she said, moving a hand to shift the light to another direction so it wasn’t directly in his face. “There, there,” she murmured quietly, rubbing his upper calf to comfort him. When he nodded upon seeing the teddy diaper, she smiled. “Okay~” Lily lifted his ankles, raising his bottom off the table slightly as she used her free hand to open and spread out the diaper before sliding it under him. She then applied baby oil and shook on powder, lightly rubbing it in. Lily pulled the cushiony diaper closed and taped it snug, checking the fit and leak guards before buttoning his onesie back up and lifting him off the table, “There, all done” she cooed, stroking a hand through his tousled hair. She walked over to the crib and leaned down to scoop up the hippo stuffie he got after the nurse today. “Here’s your new friend. I think he might like a cuddle to stop him feeling lonely in his new place,” she said, offering the toy to him. Lily also took a piece of Mr Wong's candy from her pocket. “And here’s your candy. We’ll make sure to clean your teeth in the morning so you don’t get cavities,” she said, voice soft and kind. This candy medicine would keep symptoms of his cold down and hopefully he’d feel well enough to go to the aquarium tomorrow. So long as she kept him medicated. ============= Castile noticed that Aurora had become more and more quiet as the bath went on, and that she didn’t react as much to his words or actions. She had a sleepy look on her face and her body language was droopy and sluggish. She was definitely sleepy. So sleepy she was trying not to fall asleep right there in the tub, poor thing. Castile thought with some guilt that maybe he overdid it with her. Probably shouldn’t have chatted so much and entertained her so much when she was trying to wind down. The girl’s energy levels were depleted. “Okay, time to get out,” he said aloud softly, talking more to himself than anything. Castile pressed the button that drained the tub and grabbed a large, soft towel, wrapping it around Aurora and carrying her to her nursery. He laid her down on her changing table like a small infant and began rubbing the towel on her hair and body, drying her off as much as possible. He then took a thick overnight diaper with a pink design, sliding it under her bum and adding baby oil and powder before taping it closed. Castile found one of her new onesies and dressed her in that, the soft pastel colours and cute prints making her all too adorable. The cat taur gently gathered the little girl into his arms and cuddled her, padding across the room to her crib. He folded back the blanket and sheet then slowly laid her down and covered her up, letting her shift to whatever position she was comfortable sleeping in. He pressed a red button and the crib soon closed on its own, counting down 20 seconds. Castile wound the mobile dangling above Aurora’s head and the toys on it began to spin while a tinkling lullaby filled the air. “Goodnight, Aurora. Sleep well. I’ll be here” he whispered with a smile, settling down on his haunches as he curled his front paws neatly in front of him. Once he was sure she was asleep, he took out the paw shaped pastry Mr Balverk gave him earlier that day, the preservation bubble around it dissolving. He took a bite and enjoyed it, purring softly. He didn’t mind drifting off. He was sure Aurora crying or speaking would be enough to wake him if need be. While he ate, he reflected on the first day here. It seemed to have gone pretty well and he was getting familiar with the layout of the mansion in the most common areas. He thought Aurora and Samuel did pretty well too. They were settling in nicely. Hopefully tomorrow would go just as well as today. He had to wonder about the blue rose that Mr Balverk gave to Samuel that morning. Perhaps Lily should ask him what it was for.

Lily checked her iPad screen. “Umm, it’s around 9:15pm. You haven’t been sleeping for long” she informed, taking him over to the padded changing table and gently laying him down. “Let’s get you a dry diaper first, then I’ll give you another medicine candy” she told the boy, gently pulling open the snaps at the crotch of his whale onesie and pushing the garment up his torso to make some space. She peeled open the diaper tabs and grabbed some wipes from the warmer to one side. Lily began cleaning him up, taking her time and humming a sweet lullaby. She pulled the diaper out from under him once the front was clean and lifted his ankles in the air to wipe his bottom, all movements slow and steady. Lily put all the used wipes in the soggy diaper then balled it up and stuffed it in the diaper genie. She reached for a new one from under the table. “What design do you want this time, baby?” she asked Samuel softly, keeping her voice quiet and the lights dim so he wouldn’t fully wake up. “How about teddy bears?”. Lily held up a diaper with a cute teddy bear pattern. She remembered his new hippo (edited) plushie that he earned today from his first visit to the nurses. It was lying in his crib right now. She’d give him that to cuddle with soon. It might help him go back to sleep easier.

((Okay, that works. And thanks for making a new character. I added Kara’s profile to the front page. Now Angela has a child too!!)) He smiled as she shook her head to his comment, seeing her face get pink again beneath the purple fox ear hat when he called her ‘squirt’. He didn’t mean to keep embarrassing her but at least she’d be nice and warm from the blushing, he reasoned. Frost wasn’t going to stop using endearments unless she asked or told him to. He thought using them showed affection and care, which was what orphans needed more than most. But, if it really annoyed someone, he’d try to stop for their sake. So far, he hadn’t encountered a kid that hated the little names. “Sorry the wipes were cold. I’ll use the ones from the warmer next time”. He apologised sincerely upon seeing her shiver while being cleaned. He wasn’t sure why the baby oil made her squeak but had to hold back a small laugh at the cute reaction. Perhaps it was because she could feel his hand in that area and it was new for her. He was nothing but gentle and professional though. “Does that feel funny? Don’t worry, it’s just baby oil to protect your skin” he explained. He must have shaken on a little too much powder because she followed up the squeaks with an adorable, tiny sneeze. “Aw, bless you~” Frost tittered. “You must have a sensitive nose, like a fox”, the fox told her. Once her diaper was all taped up and her clothes readjusted, Rei being back in his lap, he listened to her comments. “You’re welcome. Any time,” he responded to her thanking him for the change. Frost nodded at her question with a smile “Sure, of course you can, Sweetie. I’ll try to remember to let you choose another diaper next time” he promised. “If I forget, just remind me at your next change”. Once the two of them made their way to the playroom, Frost moved Rei from his lap, setting her feet on the ground. He spotted Xeto sitting near the wall and rolled over to stop beside him, casually keeping watch on the kids. “Hey there. Mind if I join?” he said with a smile. “Xeto, right? Whatcha reading?” he asked, looking at the tablet. =============== Sophie had nodded up at Xeto, giving him a tiny wave before waddling over to the play tent she’d spotted, crinkling softly. She crawled inside and hid behind the entrance, peeking out from her safe spot to look for Rei. When she heard Frost’s wheelchair and then him asking Rei if she could find her, followed by Rei speaking, she popped her head and upper body out from the tent flap, waving at Rei, her bunny ears prominent. “Wei…oba hewe!” she called softly. She felt like the tent was a safe space where they could talk and decide what to play, hidden from the other children and adults. Sophie had bunny instincts so she enjoyed hiding and privacy. New children and adults tended to scare her and she still wasn’t used to everyone from today. This allowed her and Rei to have some quiet, one on one time to get to know each other slowly and talk in peace. Once the other tiny girl joined the seemingly three year old Sophie, she moved to the back of the tent wall, making sure the door flap was closed. “Soo…um, what do you wike to pway?” she asked her. “Dewe’s wots of toys hewe. We can pway dollies, ow gawdening, ow umm…bwocks. If you sees a toy dat you wike, we can pway wiff dat” she said with a smile, trying to be helpful and make friends. She wanted a friend so badly. Even more; a best friend. But those were super rare and special. ================ Lollia watched Angela seemingly not hear her and walk out of the staff room’s far door (the one by the bathrooms), her steps going back downstairs. “Oh well, I’ll ask her again later. She didn’t hear a word I said!” she decided with a small laugh, turning back to the others in the hallway. Hearing Ms Hoshi’s request, Lollia smiled and nodded, “Sure, I can do that, Ms Hoshi. No problem at all. I’ll teleport the tank from your house into your room when I am decorating it. That way, you can keep your pet fish close by, in your personal room, where they will be safe” she said. “Nothing is too much to ask, my Dear. Never be afraid. In the meantime, why don’t you bring Andrew downstairs to the conservatory? There’s a fish pond there filled with rainbow guppies that he can feed. I’ll teleport the container of fish food there now” she said, closing her eyes and putting her fingers to her temples, then opening them again. “Okay, it’s on the floor by the pond now. You just go downstairs, turn left and follow the hall to the end, then left again and walk for a bit and the conservatory is on your right” she directed. She saw Drew nod at the mention of feeding the guppies and grinned “Looks like Drew likes the idea. Off you go to feed the fishies, then!” she said, waving bye bye to the toddler with a cheery grin. Lollia then sensed that someone new had entered her domain and felt their presence/energy by the front door, along with Angela’s. She guessed the latias must have greeted the new person already. The alien decided that, rather than going all the way down there, she’d simply message Angela using her telepathy powers. Her eyes glowed as Lollia’s motherly voice filled Angela’s mind, hopefully stopping her in her tracks. “Angela, I see we have a new guest. I can sense that they’re a child. Thank you for answering the front door for me. Would you be able to get her diapered and then bring them upstairs to choose a bedroom and then show them around the place?” she asked. “And can you tell me her name and age? I can sense it’s a little girl. As the only caregiver without a little yet, I’m assigning the new girl to you” she informed her, “I’ll be upstairs decorating your room, if you want to introduce her to me. You can finish your jog later. The child needs you first".

Castile grinned upon her reaction to the toy octopus. He was glad she liked it. His kids used to ask him to make stuff for them too. It was a durable bubble so it wouldn’t pop for about a week. Meaning more bath time fun for Aurora at the end of each day. “You’re very welcome, Sweetheart” he replied, impressed by the little girl’s good manners. She was so polite and sweet. Castile supervised her playtime and was glad she liked the water jets too. They were probably good for circulation and hearing her content sigh made him happy. Hopefully all this would help her feel calm and tranquil after her bath, so she’d be able to drift off to sleep easier. The octopus withstood the soft hug with ease, its eyes and legs wobbling slightly. What a silly thing. “Oh, you like dolphins? I hope there will be some there for you. And if they have a dolphin show, I’ll make sure to book us a front row seat. I’ll ring them tomorrow before we get there so I can check” he explained, letting her know what was going to happen. “I’m pretty sure they will have them since it’s a popular aquarium in a big city and tons of people like dolphins” he told Aurora. “Maybe we can visit the gift shop before we leave tomorrow and see if they have any dolphin stuff you can buy” Aurora and Samuel would receive their own bank cards with their phones from Mr Goodie; each card with $500 on it. “It’s funny; both dolphins and octopi are really smart animals. You picked two of the smartest ones” he chuckled. “But…y’know, I think a lot of fish and sea creatures are smarter than people realise. It’s just that they can’t talk like people do, so we can’t understand them. But I think mermaids can”. He heard her promise to sleep well and sighed softly with a gentle smile “Atta girl. Do your best. But if you have trouble sleeping, that’s okay too. I’ll be there to help” he reassured her. “Kay, time to wash up, Pumpkin” Castile got up and began to look in the cupboard under the sink, finding an all-in-one kids’ soap that was a combined body wash, shampoo and conditioner with a cartoon strawberry on the front. He also found a soft sponge shaped like a smiley starfish and a pink, wavy bath hat that would keep soap out of Aurora’s eyes. “I think you’ve had enough playtime. Let’s wash your hair and body and then hop out n’ get ready for beddy bye” he said with a kind smile, walking back over to the tub. “Hair first. Let’s put the bath hat on to make sure soap and water doesn’t get in your eyes” he said, placing the hat on her head and clipping it at the back to fit her head snugly, making sure her hair was through the hole. He then grabbed a jug from the side of the tub and filled it with warm water from the tap, slowly pouring it over her head to get her locks wet. Once they were soaked, he began to rub the strawberry candy scented wash in, massaging her scalp with his fingers. Castile began to sing a nursery rhyme while he worked, hopefully entertaining her to make this go by more quickly. "The grand old duke of York, he had ten thousand men. He marched them up to the top of the hill and he marched them down again~..." Once her hair was all soapy, he got some more warm, clean tap water and rinsed all the soap out several times, then wet the sponge and began washing her body. “We’re almost done, Honeybun” he told Aurora playfully, intentionally rhyming the words. “Mmm, you smell so sweet, I could just gobble you right up” Castile said teasingly, tickling her sides a little. “Are you sure you’re not a strawberry candy now?”

((Sorry again for the big wait on a reply. I’ve been getting sick a lot lately from health issues flaring up and they suck out all my energy. XP I’m catching up on all my rps while I have a little bit of a battery charge to write with today. I've gotten behind on them all again! T_T BTW, anyone want to make another child pr baby character? Or invite someone to the rp for Angela to take care of? I can if you all don’t want to. I love writing littles. Also, how does Akiza have a fish tank already? Didn’t she just move in? Her room isn’t finished being done yet but I can have Lollia teleport Ms Hoshi’s fish tank from her home to her room at the orphanage if you want. We have a fish pond with rainbow guppies in the conservatory. It’s covered with a metal grid so kids can’t drown. Andrew could feed those if he wants.)) ============= Sophie saw Angela coming down the staircase, hearing her footsteps get closer. She could feel the vibrations of each tread. She looked up at the woman shyly and shook her head. “N-n-no fank you”, she told the woman politely in her whisper soft voice, looking down again quickly, her eyes skidding to the side in a slightly guilty fashion. She had already asked Mr Xeto and she didn’t want to confuse him. Still, she felt a little bad for denying Angela’s offer of help since the Latias had gotten there first. She hoped Miss Angela wasn’t upset with her for that. Sophie always worried about making others unhappy by her actions. That was how she kept getting rehomed. The girl promised herself silently that she would interact with Miss Angela soon too, so she didn’t feel left out. She heard Rei and nodded at her “Otay!” she sang out. Changies were important so as not to get rashies. She would happily wait for her. When Mr Xeto came over and picked her up, Sophie gasped, clinging tightly to her bunny so she wouldn’t drop him as she was bounced. A tiny involuntary giggle escaped her. The bunny girl’s rabbit ears had bounced a little too, making her look slightly silly. She looked up at the alien man and nodded silently with a shy smile, unable to look him in the eyes, “...Mmhm” she hummed. The rabbit girl felt the slight jolting of each step as he carried her downstairs. She saw him look at a map. Sophie already knew her way around so she quietly pointed, showing him the way to go until they reached the play room. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the colourful room filled with toys. “We hewe!” the girl cheeped softly, her smile getting brighter. With her animal enhanced hearing, she could detect the sounds of Rei and Frost in the changing room next door, just out through the living room. She wiggled in Xeto’s arms, wanting to get down “Down, pease?” She wanted to find a place to wait for Rei. Sophie eyed one of the pop up play tents; a pink one with an attached tunnel leading to a mesh sided play area. It faced the door to the living room. That would be a good place to hide while she waited. She wondered what Rei would want to play. There were so many things they could do here. Sophie’s excitement at getting to play with a new friend ramped up again. ============ Frost nodded at Rei’s question. “Uh huh. You’re a very good girl. What would be bad is taking your diapees off and having accidents in your clothes or on the floor. But I’m sure you won’t do that” he said, confident in her, his tone playful at the last sentence. “I’m glad your tummy feels better, Squirt. Let’s go” While they were in the changing room, he smiled and wagged his tail when she pushed the button, knowing kids loved to push buttons, figuratively and literally. When the table lowered, he laid her down and began to remove her winter leggings, sliding them down to her feet and pushing her dress up out of the way. The fox expertly peeled off the diaper tapes and grabbed some wipes, starting to clean her up. Once the front was clean, he slid the dirty diaper from under her, taking as much of the mess with it as he could, then lifted her ankles, raising her bottom in the air to clean her backside. The used diaper was balled up and stuffed in the diaper genie, followed by handfuls of dirty wipes. Once Rei was sparkling clean, he grabbed another Luvs diaper and spread it under her, rubbing in baby oil then shaking on powder, wrapping the diaper around the little girl snugly and sealing the tapes again before fixing her clothes. He picked Rei off the table and pressed the button again to raise it, placing her feet on the floor “All done, Honeybun. Now, I’m going to wash my hands and then we can go play” he said, wheeling over to the sink and cleaning up, before moving over to Rei and holding out his hand. “Let’s go…it’s right next door, through the living room into the play room. Sophie and Mr Xeto should be there” he said, leading Rei along. When she reached the playroom, a lot of colours and toys would clamour for her attention. “Well, here we are. Now, where’s Sophie?” he asked, scratching his head as he began looking around. “That little rabbit is good at hiding. I wonder if you can find her” he told Rei with a smile. ============= Lollia overheard part of their conversation and poked her head out of Rei’s nursery, activity going on behind her. “Oh, Ms Hoshi; Drew’s nursery is ready for whenever he needs it. Just letting you know. I’m almost done with Rei’s and then I’ll do yours, Angela’s and Xeto’s” she said before ducking back in, the room’s activity picking up the pace again. Once Rei’s kitten nursery was complete, Lollia wandered off to find Angela, searching about for her until she found her in the staff room. “Miss Angela, would you like to help me decorate your room? I’ll follow your guidelines for what you want. A mysterious gypsy vibe if I recall correctly. Let’s decorate together while the kids are playing” she invited, leading her to her room as supplies began to follow them in.

((I messaged Baby Frost to reply for Aurora. I’ve been slower than normal lately. Tired due to health issue that keeps flaring up)) She could feel his body trembling and felt sorry for him. He was obviously scared. Lily rocked the boy, patting his back gently. “I’m sorry, Honey. You fell asleep earlier when we were having dessert. So I took you to your new room. You’re at the Balverk mansion; a big house for kids who lost their family or have nowhere to live. You’re in your fire station room, inside the big house. This is where you live now. This is your new home” she said, glad that she had left a night light on in case he woke up. The bubble with the blue rose in it floated just above his head, following him as usual. “Do you remember what we did today? It was your first day here. Mr Balverk gave you a special blue rose. You played with Aurora and we looked around the big house. And Mr Wong came to give you medicine for your cold” she stated, moving her hand to his forehead. He wasn’t coughing or complaining of a sore throat but she thought it might be good to give him another dose of the medicinal candy just to keep symptoms at bay. “Tomorrow, we are going to the aquarium. But it’s night time now. You need to sleep so you have energy to play tomorrow” she explained, checking his diaper quickly to see if he needed a change.

Hi there, welcome to the rp. You can make a caregiver or a child or both.

Lily slowly rocked the rocking chair while she sat in it, reading her tablet guide. She had thought of something else about their string pull and button system. For one, a baby or toddler could pull the string multiple times just playing with it, which would signal an emergency when there wasn’t one. For two, the string itself could be a strangulation risk. She noticed the pull strings were short but still worried about it. She was about to resume reading when she heard a slight shuffling sound from the fire truck shaped crib and stopped rocking, shifting forwards on her chair and leaning to get a look inside the crib. Was he waking up, or just moving in his sleep? “Sammy?” she uttered quietly, not wanting to cause him to wake if he was indeed asleep. Lily got up, putting the tablet on the chair and drifting to the side of the crib. She saw him yawning then opening his eyes and look around his new nursery. When he groaned and sat up, she spoke “Oh, you’re awake. What’s the matter, Samuel? Do you need something? It’s sleepy time now” she reminded him in a calm and gentle manner. She reached for the side of the crib and unlatched it, lowering it and opening her arms, offering Samuel to crawl into her embrace. “What is it, Sweetie? Are you thirsty? Do you need your pacifier?” she asked, stroking his tousled but now clean hair lightly. “It’s still night time. Morning hasn’t come yet” she informed the small boy. "Mister sun is sleeping now. Mister moon is out" ================= Hearing her answer, Castile removed his arm from around her back and began to use both hands to summon and create bubble balloons, making them inflate with air then twisting and shaping them. He was even able to use his abilities to make polka dots and eyeballs on some of the balloons. Once it was done, there was a funny looking pink octopus with googly eyes in his hands. He moved his hands apart and blew a kiss at the balloon octopus, causing it to gently float towards Aurora while slowly spinning, settling on the water in front of her and turning till the googly eyes faced forwards. “There you go; a friendly little octopus to play with you. Do you like the colour? I made it pink since I noticed that you liked that colour” he explained. “I can also…” The taur gained a small grin and placed one hand into the water. After a couple of seconds, Aurora would feel the flow of bubble jets streaming into the tub. When he removed his hand, the little bubbles continued to flow and pop endlessly, making it like a hot tub’s bubble jet feature. “Ahehe, your own personal hot tub with bubble jets!” he announced, watching the girl for her reaction. They were gentle and only stirred the water mildly. Nothing crazy energetic. They were set to be relaxing. Castile leaned back from the tub, stretching his arms and arching his back as he yawned “Ahhh, it’s been a long time since I got to use this much magic” he commented, though he wasn’t complaining and in fact sounded happy despite being a little strained. With that catnip cream paw pastry and this, he should sleep well tonight. He’d let Aurora have a little play, then wash her hair and body. “When I saw you pick that undersea crib toy earlier today, I thought that meant you liked sea creatures. We will probably see some octopi at the aquarium tomorrow. Though, I don’t know if there’ll be any cotton candy pink ones like your friend there,” he chuckled, smiling at the little girl as he leaned an elbow on the side of the tub and casually talked with her. "You gotta get a good sleep tonight so we can go tomorrow"

The seven foot tall alien had to bend down a little to lower Drew into Akiza’s grasp. She only let go once she was sure the other woman had a proper hold of him. Surprisingly, the child didn’t cry or fuss. Although she noticed his body shaking as he slowly grabbed onto Ms Hoshi and felt sorry for him. She knew he was trying his best and this was all very confronting for him. “My, that was easier than expected.. It’s okay, Drew. Ms Hoshi will find you something fun to do” she said in a comforting tone. She then glanced around the place. “Well, where to begin?” she pondered, tapping her lips with the tip of a tentacle. “I suppose I’ll start with Drew’s nursery, then Rei’s, then do the caregivers’ rooms” she decided. Just in case the kids needed their rooms sooner. Adults were able to wait more easily. She looked in Angela’s direction once she voiced what theme she wanted “That’s perfectly do-able. If you want to start while I work on the kids’ rooms first, I’ll join you in a bit. They won’t take me long” she promised, smiling at Xeto as he accepted his chosen room without complaint. Lollia walked over to the room that would soon be Drew’s and soon after, the door to the attic stairs opened and decorating supplies began floating out, following her into the room. From down below, objects floated up from the basement then up the stairs to the second floor, also following the woman into the 1 year old’s nursery. Wallpaper began to neatly roll itself onto the walls, thick, soft carpet began tacking itself to the floor and furniture floated in the air while being painted by brushes and tins of paint. There was activity all around the woman who was hovering half a foot above the floor, waving her hands and tentacles like a conductor. If anything, Lollia prided herself on how good she was at multitasking. And a little spell would have the paint instantly dry in a matter of seconds once all was done. Toys, diapers and assorted baby stuff were the last to float out of storage and fill shelves, attach to the ceiling, clip onto the crib or stock the changing table. Soon, Andrew’s nursery was complete. Starfish with different expressions stuck to the walls, mermaids, seals, sharks, fish and all manner of brightly coloured sea creatures decorated the walls. The sandy floor was full of rocks, corals, shells and treasures. Even a sunken ship. Any kid’s imagination could run wild looking at the underwater scene. The carpet even had the look of a sea floor. Lollia decided to add a little enchantment. Summoning her magic, she uttered the spell aloud and the walls animated. It was like a screensaver on a computer or like watching a fish tank in a virtual pet game. Very much like the animated walls and floors in Animal Crossing New Horizons. Satisfied with the furniture, toys, equipment and overall look of Drew’s nursery, she glided out of his room and into the one that would become Rei’s, objects whirling to life around her once again. =============== “Cats are good,” the fox agreed with a smile. “Foxes are kind of like them. We can even purr” he told her. “But we’re also kind of like dogs. We love to bury things and have our belly rubbed. And you know, foxes can…” He continued to prattle on about foxes before he was interrupted by her ‘um’- ing. His ears softly flickered at her words. It only took him a second to understand what she was implying and just at that moment, her diaper expanded and got really warm. Frost just eased up on the belly rubs with an understanding look. He waited a moment “Ohh, so that’s why your tummy was sore earlier. It’s okay. Get it all out, little one” he encouraged, not making fun or judging her in the least. After a couple of minutes, he asked “All done?... Good job, Rei. Don’t be embarrassed. That’s what your diapers are for. And I’m sure you feel better. Your tummy will thank you” he gently patted her head. “I think the first stop we’ll be making is for a diaper change. Then you can play downstairs with all the toys” he said with a calm demeanour. “Come on, let’s go to the changing room downstairs. Since your room’s still being set up” he said, raising his hand and using the winter magic spell he’d used before to transport them downstairs in a flurry of sparkles and snowflakes. Once the magic cleared, he rolled the wheelchair to the changing room beside the living room. He wheeled over to the changing table and pointed to the button that would make it lower down so he could reach it. “Wanna push the button, Rei? It’ll make the table lower so I can change you” he explained. “This is the room we used earlier. We can easily get to the play room from here” Rei was a bit smelly but he didn’t mind. If she’d been busy playing or doing something else, he would probably not have insisted on changing straight away. But he figured it was best to get her a clean bum before she got absorbed into a new activity. ================ Sophie flinched when she felt hands on her shoulders but after a second, she relaxed under the rubbing, letting out a soft breath. She was so relieved to hear Xeto ask Rei for her and smiled, looking up from where she had her face buried in her bunny with closed eyes and opening her eyes again shyly to peek over his head. She heard Rei say something and then fall quiet. Sophie’s brow furrowed in confusion as she bent one ear, then heard Frost quietly talk about taking Rei to get changed “Ohh” she whispered to herself. Rei just pottied herself. That was normal here. Sophie was used to it since arriving at this place. Even before she came here and Mama Lolly’s magic made her HAVE to wear diapers, she wasn’t properly potty trained. So it did’t bother her one bit that the other girl made a mess. “I…I…” she took a step closer “I’ll wait fow chu..i-in the pway woom. D-d…downstaiws” she told Rei, waving at her and Frost before the fox teleported them using magic. Sophie turned and wandered to the top of the staircase that led back down and looked down it. She suddenly felt dizzy as it seemed very, very high to the little tiny rabbit. “W-whoa!” she uttered, crouching down to prevent from falling. Sophie turned backwards and began to slowly crawl down the stairs, but it was hard while trying to hold Bunny under one elbow. “Um…” she paused, having made it only three steps lower “Misha Zee-toe? Tan chu hewp me? I…I fink it would be faster if…i-if you cawwied me” she asked, blushing as she forced herself to look up at him but her eyes skittered away from his own gaze. “I…I. I…wanna go to the pway woom” she told him, her voice nearly inaudible.

((That’s okay, Grumvakk. Good luck on your finals! I hope they go well. Also, thank y’all for being so patient with me. I was in 6 rps and now I’m in 10, so I’m still pretty slow. But even though that’s the case, I will ALWAYS come back and post when I can. I get sick a lot so sometimes I can’t write when my mental health tanks but I definitely want to continue this rp with everyone for as long as we can!)) The alien lady listened to the Latias, cuddling Drew in her arms, still showing him catalogue pages. She was glad the other woman wasn’t frozen stiff after going outside in the January winter weather in those clothes. “Ah, so you’re a dragon type. Interesting. I’m impressed you aren’t cold after that sudden flight but dragons are known to be hardy. Do be careful to dress more warmly before heading out again, though. I wouldn’t want you to get a chill, Dear. There’s plenty of airspace around the orphanage so you can fly whenever you need. I will watch and see how things go with convincing Sophie, ahaha” she chuckled lightly, “I trust you won’t do anything the kids aren’t comfortable with. And that sounds like a much safer speed than your top speed. You are right. Their bodies aren’t quite built for jet plane level speeds” she said with a small chuckle. “5-10 mph should be fine. Starting slow and gradually increasing speed would be the best strategy. Okay, well, I’ll have the flying gear made up tonight. They’ll be in the closets tomorrow morning” she promised. “With any luck, flying together will help the kids bond with you,” she said with a smile. She was giving Angela the benefit of the doubt and quite a lot of freedom to do what she thought safe with the children. =========== Unable to help hearing their conversation with her attuned rabbit ears, Sophie ducked her head further behind her bunny and mumbled “U-umm…m-maybe I could twy fwying…i-if Miss Angewa s-stays close to the gwound a-and…and we don’t go vewy fast” she peeped, her sweet and soft little voice like a delicate dandelion puff on the wind. She wanted to make all the adults happy. So, even though the idea of flying scared her a lot, she would try to be brave and let Miss Angela fly with her at least one time, to see how she felt. Bunny rabbits weren’t really made for flying. If she could hold Bunny for comfort, that would help her feel calmer. ============ Lollia moved a candy coloured tentacle over to pet Sophie’s head “Don’t push yourself, Sophie. You don’t have to fly if you don’t want to. But it might be really fun. Sometimes we need to try new things so we can see if we like them and so we don’t miss out. You can watch Miss Angela take other kids for a flight and then decide if you’re feeling up to it. But she will not force you” she comforted her, noticing that Xeto seemed to be drifting off into his own thoughts, zoned out and not paying attention to what was being said. She heard Akiza speak up and looked towards her with a bright smile “That sounds adorable. I’ll show him the example” she said, flipping the pages of the catalogue to show various teddy bear nurseries on the pages. “Look, Andrew, do you like teddy bears? Do you want a teddy bear room?” She cooed to the child, making sure his eyes were on the pictures by wiggling the book in his line of sight. She saw him rub his eyes, showing no reaction to the teddy bears. “No? How about this? Or... this?” She turned the pages slowly, pausing to let him see other designs. When he pointed to the undersea theme, she grinned. “Ahh, the undersea theme. Do you like that? There are lots of coloured fishies and pretty corals!” He was smiling and had been deliberate in his choice, pointing straight at the pages. Lollia returned the sweet hug, “Aww, nice hug. Thank you, Sweetheart” she said tenderly, giving a small squeeze and moving to and fro as she praised his interaction. Noticing his hand rise towards her earring once more, she gently put her hand on his to intervene and the shaker of sprinkles from downstairs floated up to them, shaking itself in his view. “Oh no, you can’t have Mama’s earring, Sweetie. Here, have this nice shaker instead. Look at all the pretty colours in there! So many sprinkles!” she enthused, her tone animated to catch his interest. ============ Frost looked through the book with Rei, liking a lot of the fun designs of the bedrooms for the kids. When she stopped on the pages with cat themes, he listened. “Okay, you want kittens? Aww, they’re so cute. Just like you. I think it’s perfect” he told the little girl, smiling. “I’ll let Lollia know and she will make your room up with her telekinesis. That’s her power that lets her move things around with her mind” he said, tapping Rei’s forehead gently with a finger. He watched her respond to Sophie and his tail wagged softly. He’d kind of been hoping someone would choose foxes for their bedroom but it was no biggie. ============ Sophie heard Rei and looked at her, giving her a smile from behind her bunny, her reddish pink eyes squinting happily, sparkling. “M…me too!” she replied. She felt better about Miss Angela’s flying after what Mama Lolly had said. Having heard that Rei chose a kitten theme, she really approved of it. It would be a cute room just like hers. She loved cute things and was glad that Rei seemed to love them too. She looked forward to showing Rei her room and of Rei hopefully showing Sophie hers once it was done up. She hoped they could play together. Maybe she could even show Rei her little trick with plushies. Hopefully it wouldn’t scare her like it had done to people in her foster families in the past. ============ Lollia looked at Xeto and got his attention “Mr Xeto, since you’re not paying attention, allow me to choose a suitable room for you. I’ll put you in room 8” she decided “That’s close to the current kids we have, with them just across the hall” She then looked at Angela, hearing her reply about the rooms. “You don’t want to choose one? Well, okay then. I’ll pick out a good one for you as well, Miss Angela. You will have…” she paused, looking around the upstairs, eyes glancing from door to door. “Bedroom 3, beside our two little girls. And across the hall from Xeto. This way, everyone’s relatively close to one another and we don’t have to cross the halls to get to each other’s rooms” she said with a smile. “Of course, you can decorate it if you wish. I have all the supplies needed stored in the attic and down in the basement. However, it’d probably be faster if you just tell me what sort of interior decor theme you want and I’ll go in there and use my telekinesis and tentacles to get it done up faster” she said. “Speaking of which! Miss Hoshi!” she walked over to her, gently prying Drew from her chest and holding him towards the other woman “While I’m busy decorating the new rooms, you’ll have to take Drew for me. It’s play time on the daily schedule, so why not go with him and our other little ones and take them downstairs to find something fun to play with?” she suggested. “There’s really nothing but bedrooms up here and most of them are just plain because we don’t have many caregivers and children at this point” Seeing Angela start to walk towards bedroom 3, she called out to her, “Miss Angela, you can go and chill out in the staff break room if you like. Or you can come and help me set up the new rooms. It’s up to you, Darling” she told her. ============= Frost continued to softly rub circles into Rei’s belly over her dress, remembering her tummy was sore earlier “Would you like to go and play downstairs while Mama Lolly makes your room up, Baby Girl?” he asked her. “We can play anything you want until morning tea time” ============= Hearing Frost, Sophie hesitantly toddled over, her steps slow with a few pauses before she got about a metre and a half away from the pair. “Uhhhh….ummm…..” she fidgeted, trying to get up the courage to say the words, looking at Rei hopefully. “W…Wei…” she got out, blushing and looking down, losing her courage. She buried her face in her plushie, bright red, flustered and upset at herself, embarrassed by not being able to ask Rei if she could play with her “Mmmmmh” Maybe Xeto could help.

((That’s okay. I don’t mind if the text is coloured or not. I just do it so it’s easy to tell which character is speaking. I hope your PC and the power is fixed soon!)) Lollia heard what Angela said, nodding in approval for her to go ahead and explain to the bunny what the things on her back were. =========== Sophie, realising she’d been caught staring at the Latias’ wings, gasped, blinked and meeped softly as her face turned red once more, easily flustering. “S-sowwy!” she chirped out, knowing it was rude to stare, or so she’d been told. She didn’t want to upset the grown ups. But Angela didn’t seem to be mad. That calmed her a bit. Sophie cuddled her plushie up to her nose and peered over the top of it at Miss Angela, listening to her explanation with wide eyes. “Ohhhh. Wings!” she replied meekly, lowering her bunny to get another look at them. They kind of reminded her of aeroplane wings, now that she thought about it. “Wow!” Miss Angela could fly! How amazing! “You’we wike an aiwpwane!” she peeped at her softly in amazement, unable to stop herself from speaking. “Fwying sounds fun. Buh scawy. Buh…I wike youw wings. M-M-Miss Angie” she told her, hunching her shoulders as she withdrew into herself shyly. “D-dey cool an’…an’ pwetty” Sophie told her, blushing like mad as she stared at the floor. Anngela she’d said she could fly really fast. Being so high and going so fast was a terrifying idea to the girl, whose instincts told her to stay on the ground. Still…she would love to watch Angela fly while she stayed on solid earth. Miss Angela was so cool! =============== Lollia chuckled at Sophie’s responses to Angela, looking at the woman when the toddler had finished speaking. “They are a little like aeroplane wings!” she smiled with a soft laugh, “Nice observation, Sophie, Darling” Her gaze met Angela’s. “Thank you for explaining that to her, Angela. I am okay with that, taking them for flights, I mean. I don’t think you’ll be able to convince Sophie to leave the ground anytime soon though” she laughed again, “But if you’d like to work on that with her, perhaps it will happen one day. Oh yes, protective gear will be a must. I trust you with taking the kids for joy flights if they want to. Since you sound like a confident and adept flyer. The kids would probably be thrilled” she grinned. “I can use my telekinesis to float about but it’s not quite the same as true flight. Anyway, I’ll have that protective gear crafted for you as soon as possible” she told her. “Well, okay, if you’re alright with waiting for another little one to show up, then that’s fine. You are right. It’s nice to be chosen and I’m sure you’ll become someone’s special carer in due time. For now, we’d appreciate your help with the ones we do have” she said, waving goodbye to her and wishing her a good flight as the woman left, returning in a little while. Once she was gone, Lollia listened to Akiza’s room choices. “Room 6 for you, Ms Hoshi. And room 7 for Drew. That sounds perfect. Nice and close to the stairs so you can easily bring him down to play” she smiled, making a note of it. “And would you like a theme to decorate the rooms? Maybe a fun theme for Andrew’s nursery?” she asked, waving a hand as a catalogue book floated from somewhere in the building and floated in mid air with its pages open. “What about teddy bears or maybe coloured hot air balloons?” she suggested. She looked at Drew, stepping over to the catalogue, “Look Drew, see the pretty pictures? Which one do you like?” Mama Lolly asked the boy, stroking his hair gently as the book slowly flipped its pages, pausing for a while so he could look. =============== Frost smiled at Rei’s choice. “Great choice, Sweetie. Mama Lolly, we have Rei in room 2 over here” he looked back at Rei “What theme do you want for your room, Honey? You can have anything you want". He took out another catalogue that was folded in his pocket and opened the pages to show her pictures of room themes. “Just point to what you like and Mama Lolly will use her magic to make it look the way you want” he said. ============= Sophie heard what Rei said and smiled, grinning brightly towards Rei, giving a soft “Yay!” into her bunny. It had been so long since she made a friend. She waved at Rei happily, peeking at her from behind her plush bun. “Bunny says he’s happy dat you’we gonna be next to my woom” she told her shyly. “We be fweinds!” ============= Lollia noted down what rooms everyone was in, and saw Angela come back from her flight. “Angela, welcome back. I take it the flight was refreshing in that winter wind, ahaha. Darling, what room would you like to stay in? The rooms are for the staff, not just the kids” she explained to her.

Lily nodded at Castile’s question “Yes, I’m going to take Sammy to bed right now. And I’ll just get comfortable in the rocking chair and read over the staff handbook; might take a nap myself. I’m sure if he wakes up, he’ll wake me up” she said, thinking about what Castile said. “Yeah, we’re supposed to go back to our apartments at night and let the night staff take over but like you said, they need us for their first night here, just till they get comfortable sleeping in their new rooms” she explained, gently swaying her hips to rock the child in her arms and rubbing Samuel’s back to keep him comfy and asleep. “I’ll be in Sammy’s room if you need me. Goodnight, Dears” With that, she walked out of the kitchen and dining room, finding her way through the mansion to Samuel’s room and gently laying him in his fire truck crib, on his back, tucking the sheet and blanket over him. She slid the side of it up and locked it in place. She saw a speaker and a pull string in the crib. If the kids needed a change, they could talk into the speaker and the staff would hear it at their stations. If they weren’t at their station, kids should pull the string and a call light would go on, summoning a staff member right away. The cribs also had a ‘close’ button so kids could hop in and make it close by themselves, which would detect their weight and then close with a 20 countdown.. But after that, they couldn’t open it, which is why the string was there to pull for help. Lily went to the rocking recliner chair and checked the handbook, noticing that it said that if no staff were at their desk/station, then pulling the crib string turns on a light that they could see, which goes red after 5 minutes of no response to let staff know that they need to check on the child right away. If the string is pulled two times, it goes yellow, which means you need a nurse and sets off a nurses’ pager after 5 minutes. If kids needed help for an emergency, they pulled the string three or more times and it set off nurses’ pagers straight away. Lily sat back, making a face at the words on the tablet. “This seems like a complicated system they have set up. What if the child is too young to understand all this? Or gets confused by how it works? I wonder why Mr Balverk made it that way. It’s kind of like the system in a hospital. And while it would work great for older kids, younger ones will just have to be heard through the speaker system” she reasoned quietly to herself. How much crying would those staff have to hear all night long through the speakers? Looking around the room, Lily also saw that there was a panel of buttons on the wall, at a height kids could easily reach. She checked the handbook. If kids pressed the blue button, it meant anyone could help them. If they pressed green, it would bring a nanny. Red was for a nurse. And finally, the red X button was for emergencies. “I suppose they have some way of disabling those buttons for younger kids that can’t understand what they do,” she said to herself. “Or they would be making the staff run everywhere like headless chickens” she grinned in amusement at that. ============== With the dessert all gone, Castile smiled at the sight of the messy child looking up at him, chuckling softly. He went to where the wash cloths were kept and came back, starting to gently wipe Aurora’s face and hands clean, removing her bib for the kitchen staff to take away for cleaning later. When he saw her getting upset over what he said, he opened the highchair and pulled her into his arms, rubbing her back and stroking her hair gently “Aw, it’s okay, Sweetie. Don’t cry. I’ll stay with you tonight, okay? It’ll be fine. I’ll just sleep in your room. And if you wake up, I will be right there to help you” he said, trying to calm her down while Lily wandered off with Samuel. “Okay, let’s get a bath. I’ll show you some more bubble magic” The cat began to walk toward where the bathrooms were, placing Aurora down on the bathroom mat while he ran the water at a warm but not too hot temperature. He added bubble bath as well as lots of toys. Then he knelt down to help Aurora undress, undoing her pink onesie with the white ruffles and placing it aside. He then removed her diaper and placed her gently into the tub, crouching by the side of it to keep watch on her as she played, one arm around her back, supporting her. His tail swayed idly as his beast half was flat to the floor. “Alright, do you wanna see some more magic before we wash you clean? I can make you a bubble balloon animal. Or would you like a balloon hat? Name anything you want” he told her. “This ain’t no ordinary bath. I can do lots of things” he grinned with a small laugh. “Hey, maybe you can even learn some magic, too. This mansion is magical, I’m sure Mr B has magic classes somewhere in the building”

((Once again I am slooooowwwww! Lol. Sorry about that. Posting for multiple characters does slow me down but it's still fun. It just takes me longer)) The pastel rainbow alien mother heard the latias lady walking on the wooden floor downstairs and then the thudding sounds of her coming up the carpeted staircase, smiling as she made it to the top to join the rest of them. Lollia waved and beamed at her “Ah, you have made it. Wonderful, wonderful!” she said, pleased as punch to have so many good workers. They might have to find more babies to adopt here! Usually it was the other way around; too many babies and not enough to care for them. But Lolly had gotten lucky. The gods were smiling down on her for sure. “I’m happy you were able to make it, too, Angela. Once again, I am Mama Lolly and this little one in my arms is Drew, who will be the charge of Ms Hoshi there. Over there you have Xeto and little Sophie, our bunny bun, and over there is Frost with little Rei chan” she explained, gesturing to each person with a gracious open palm, not rudely jabbing her finger. “We’ll all get to know each other soon enough” she said hopefully, wishing that everyone would get along. Not just the kids but the adults too. Seeing Angela’s dangly earrings, she remembered what Drew had done earlier to her own. “Oh, you may want to remove your earrings, Ms Angela. Drew here has a habit of grabbing and pulling anything dangling. He got mine this morning” she said with a good-natured chuckle, beginning to rock and rub Drew’s back as he awoke and started shaking in fear at the new person. “Shhhh, there there, little one. It is okay. Miss Angela is very nice. She is only here to play with you and help you” she reassured him in cooing tones, “Did that door bell wake you up? What good hearing you have” she smiled, petting his hair. She had hoped Xeto would approve of the two classrooms they had. There were changing tables attached to each one so students could be easily changed between lessons and he wouldn’t have to leave the classroom or go far. She noticed how he helped Sophie and gave looks of appreciation in his direction, smiling. ================================================== Sophie had been slowly crawling on all fours, making her way up the staircase behind the adults, when she was picked up by the chuckling Xeto, making her eep softly and let out a nervous giggle. She blushed again in his arms but didn’t struggle, hiding her red face in her bunny plushie. They were moving so much faster and in no time at all, they were at the top. Once she felt him stop, she slowly raised her head and looked around. So many new people. “Eep!” she whispered again softly, chewing her bottom lip. “B-bunny” she called her toy’s name, calling on him to offer comfort and support ‘Hewp me be bwave’ she thought silently, ‘Awound all dese new peoples’. Then she remembered her manners and told Xeto “Fank oo misha Xeeto” in an embarrassed but grateful mumble, happy that he was so nice and had helped her. She saw him greet Angela and looked at the latias as well, raising one hand to give her a tiny wave. “H-h…hewwo” she squeaked softly. She tried really hard not to stare but she had never seen someone like Angela before. She didn’t even know what a latias was. But the lady looked nice and pretty. Sophie was a little scared of the pointy things on her back though. The yellow blades that ended in points. What were they, anyway? What did they do? What were they for? =================================================== Lollia heard what Akiza had said to her “Thank you. Yes, we try to make them as fun as possible. But caregivers definitely can help children with guided play and sharing ideas or light prompting” she said. “If the kids ever get bored or don’t know what to do. Oh and every child can pick a theme for their chosen bedroom. We have a catalogue with pictures of what each can look like as examples. They just have to point to what they like” she said. She then looked at Angela and informed her, “We’re just doing the upstairs tour and letting the kids pick their rooms. Just to make you aware though, Angela, rooms 1, 10 and 11 are already taken. They belong to Sophie, Frost and me, respectively” she said with a smile. ===================================================== Frost listened carefully to Rei’s replies, nodding to show he was listening. “Ah, yeah, the playroom can be lots of fun, with so much stuff to climb on and so many toys. And making arts and crafts is good too. I like getting creative and making a mess but I always wear an apron to protect my clothes” he said, biting the tip of his tongue as he smiled at her, glad to hear about what she liked and getting to know her better. “Maybe we can make something in the art room soon. After you pick a room up here to be your very own” he said, tail wagging softly. “Let’s go around all the rooms with Mama Lolly so you can see which you want most” he explained, beginning to gently rub her little tummy in circle motions. ====================================================== Now that Angela joined them, Lollia did a visual check that all were present and began to walk again, leading the group down the hallway, pausing to let them look into the empty bedrooms 7 and 6 which were near the stairs, then going up to bedroom 1, which was Sophie’s room, pausing to let them look inside. It was decorated with a bunny theme with lots of soft pinks and whites and a LOT of plushies and toys. There were also a lot of things that bunnies like, such as carrots, bananas and strawberries, hay bundles, a rabbit shaped night light, white wooden clouds on the walls, flowers and butterflies decals, colourful eggs, cute pictures of adorable rabbits and so on. It was like a spring themed, rabbit themed kind of pastel, cute and pretty nursery. There was a fully stocked changing table with a pink padded mat and a decorated crib with frilly bedding and hanging curtains that had fairy lights, as well as a plush rocking recliner chair. “This is Sophie’s room. As you might be able to guess. Room 1” Lollia announced to the group. She went along and showed them all the bedrooms, taking their time and letting people look around. In her room, it was decorated with a pastel rainbow theme of butterflies, space and stars, as well as other things that the woman liked. Frost’s room looked more like a winter wonderland with all whites and cold colours on display and some colourful snowboards hung on the walls. “Frost got a big room because he’s in a wheelchair and needs it to be accessible, hence the extra space” the alien explained to the adults. “And I’m right here in room 11 next door” She turned to Akiza “Ms Hoshi, I’ll entrust you with picking a good room for Andrew. It might be a good idea to have him in one across from whichever one you choose, or beside it. Seeing how little he is” she said. “But everyone else, feel free to pick whichever room speaks to you” She looked at Rei, smiling at the cute scene of her having her belly rubbed by the fox. “Rei, Sweetie, you might like to pick a room next to Sophie’s room. If you want to do that, then room 6 or room 2 would both be good. But you can only choose one so think carefully” she told her with a warm and kind tone. “I think it will be nice for you girls to be near each other, seeing as you both are around the same age and size” she told them. “Miss Angela, please do not fret, we will find a child for you as well” she told the latias, making sure everyone was included. “In the meantime, I’m sure you’d be a brilliant help for the kids we do already have. A second pair of hands and eyes always comes in useful. Now, where is that room catalogue with all the themes?”

The whole day, along with his cold, seemed to catch up with Samuel at once. Combined with his comfortably full belly, it all was a recipe to send him straight to sleep. Lily gave a soft smile when she noticed Samuel had nodded off, the bubble with the blue rose lightly hovering near his shoulder. “Uh oh. There goes your plan for giving him a bath, Castile. And his hair is still dirty too” she said, looking at the cat taur as she made him aware of what happened, “You don’t think you can…” she nodded at the sleeping boy in his whale onesie, a half eaten handful of chocolate cake with all the fixings sitting before his slumped figure. His chin was resting on his chest and he was tipped to one side, limp and breathing deeply, nose whistling softly because he was a little congested. Lily gently wiped the crumbs, fudge sauce, whipped cream and ice cream off his face and hands after removing the chunk of half eaten cake, being delicate so she wouldn’t wake him. ============== Castile understood what Lily was asking straight away and nodded “Sure. Let me” he replied, raising his hands and summoning a cloud of soapy bubbles and water, sending it towards Samuel’s head. The mixture swirled and bubbled all through his hair, collecting all the grease, dirt and other assorted things before pulling away, floating across the room to the sink and diving down the drain. Samuel’s hair was now soft, dry and perfectly clean. But it now looked even messier after the ruffling and massaging bath of the bubble spell. “There. Much better. He’ll have some knots and a wild hairdo tonight but we can easily brush it in the morning with the help of some detangling spray” he said as Lily agreed and thanked him for his help. He looked back at Aurora, covering a small yawn from the extra magic use, checking to see whether she was done eating. “How is your cake, Sweetheart? Is it good? It sure looks yummy with all those toppings on it” he smiled, “And you said thank you to the kitchen staff too. Nice manners” he praised, “Good on you for remembering, Jellybean. By the way, Sammy fell asleep so he won’t be having a bubble bath after this but we’ll make sure he gets one in the morning. He’s still sick with a cold so he might be more tired from that. But don’t worry, the bath will still be fun. I’ll add lots of toys and even do some more bubble magic for you. I’ll make sure not to get too tired” he said, taking the cartoon printed toddler spoon and beginning to feed Aurora bites of chocolate cake with small scoops of each of the toppings. “Here, I’ll help you eat the rest of your cake so we can get a bath sooner and then you can pick a picture book for story time” he explained. Turning his head towards Lily, he saw she had unlocked the highchair tray and was gently scooping up the sleeping boy into her arms, laying him over her shoulder as she rubbed his back lightly and settled him comfortably against her, cuddling him close and putting his pacifier in his mouth with gentle shushing sounds. Castile lowered his voice to a murmur, almost a stage whisper “Lily, are you gonna take Sammy to bed? I was gonna ask you to grab Aurora a onesie and diaper for after her bath but I’ll just wrap her in a bath towel and get her changed into her jammies back at her room. I don’t know if we’re supposed to work overnight but I think the handbook says something about there being night shift workers. So we’re probably supposed to go back to our apartments” he fed Aurora lovingly, scooping up some more spoonfuls of soft, chocolatey cake. “But I don’t know if I want to leave Missy Moo here alone on her first night with a new carer. I might have to stay tonight. What do you think, Aurora?” he asked the little girl, wanting to know how upset she might be or if she was okay for someone else to watch over her while she was sleeping, or in case she needed something during the night.

((Once again, I’m sorry for being so slow!!!! I’m finally catching up on my last 2 rps out of 7. I hope you guys don’t mind the slower pace.......)) There was silence in reply to Mama Lolly asking if there were any questions so she was content to keep going with the tour. “Don’t worry, you can’t really get lost here. The hallways are all connected in a square shape on both floors” she told everyone. “Though sometimes the children do get lost” she said. Lollia began to lead them to the stairs going up to the second story, which held all the bedrooms. She saw the look of amazement on Ms Hoshi’s face. “You like it? I put a lot of thought into this place to make it as fun as possible. But I am no architect” she chuckled, beginning to step up the staircase with Drew safely tucked in her embrace. =============== Frost lightly wrapped one arm around Rei’s chest, sort of cuddling her and making sure she wouldn’t slide off his lap as he used his other hand to push the wheel of his chair, keeping up easily with Akiza, Lollia and Xeto’s paces. He smiled at the sounds of cute diaper crinkles and tummy gurgles “Sounds like your tummy is eating the breakfast you just ate. It’s doing a good job turning your food into energy” he told Rei playfully. “So, do you like the rooms on this floor, little Rei? Which one is your favourite?” he asked her out of curiosity. “I guess that depends on what you like to do” he figured aloud. When the tour of the first floor ended, he excitedly wheeled towards the bottom of the staircase. “Oh, here is the staircase that goes to the second floor. That’s where all the bedrooms are. Are you excited to have your own room?” he asked her, watching the three other adults go up the stairs. “I can’t walk so we are going to use a little magic to get upstairs” he explained, as snowflakes began to swirl all around them till they formed a cloud, then when it cleared, the wheelchair was at the top landing. “Hee hee, I love my magic. I’m lucky I have magic or Miss Lolly would have to install a special electric chair to carry me up and down the stairs” he explained. His soft, fluffy fox ears slowly moved about, detecting more tummy gurgles. “Would you like tummy rubs to help it feel better?” he asked Rei gently. =============== Sophie blushed darker again, nodding at what Xeto told her. “O…otay” she mumbled nervously, barely a whisper. She wasn’t sure if she could eat without making messes. Some of her foster carers used to get angry at her when she messed up the high chair, or the toddler table and would make her clean it up, scold her for getting her clothes dirty as well and give her punishments. She hoped Mr Xeto wouldn’t be mad at her if she couldn’t master the art of tidy and neat eating. Her little hands and arms didn’t always obey her brain and move the way she wanted them to. Sometimes her grip was weak or clumsy and she dropped things. She would try her best to do what he wanted when they worked on it later though. The little dwarf rabbit cuddled her bunny plush tightly as she was picked up and placed on the ground. She rested her cheek against his soft head. Sophie was very shy about being picked up and held by someone she barely knew. But as a dwarf rabbit, she was tiny for her age and her short little legs had to walk faster to keep up with the adults while they did the house tour. Her steps quickened to a jog, making her trot after them and sometimes run a little. A couple of times she almost tripped over her own feet. When they reached the bottom of the stairs going up, Sophie reached out to grab Xeto’s pants leg as she panted and puffed, catching her breath. The adults started going upstairs, Mr Frost using his sparkly magic to cheat and teleport. But Sophie could do no such thing. The bunny girl was too short to reach the hand rail but too shy to speak up and ask for help. So she began to crawl up the stairs behind the three adults, which was hard with her bunny plushie tucked under her right arm. It was gonna take FOREVER to get to the top! ================ Lollia reached the landing at the top of the stairs and waited for the others. She heard a knock at the front door of the orphanage as she sensed a new person enter her magical area of effect around the home and its grounds. “Oh! We have another new caregiver who has just arrived. I’d better tell her to meet us upstairs” she explained to the other adults “How lucky. I was not sure she would be able to come but it looks like things have worked in our favour” she said. Her yellow eyes began to glow as she used telepathy to speak to Angela, the lovely new Latias caregiver. “Hello there and welcome, my Dear. Angela, wasn’t it? The other new carers have already arrived. We are just giving everyone a tour of the house. We are upstairs on the second floor. Please meet us there. Just follow the hallway around until you find the staircase, Dear. We will wait for you” she told Angela, the lady’s motherly voice sounding clearly in Angela’s mind. To everyone else she said "Angela is a type of anthropomorphic monster called a Latias. But don't worry, she's very nice"

((Sorry again for the wait. I'm only in 6 rps these days but I get tired a lot so it can take me a bit to reply sometimes)) Lily didn’t say anything about him filling up on his drink. She was just glad to see him get some hydration and nutrition into his system. She wouldn’t push things on the first day. Though she did usually like to ensure that food wasn’t wasted. She smiled at the sight of the kids’ linked hands, finding it endearing. They would no doubt come to see each other as siblings or at least friends over their time here. Aurora was a nice girl, thankfully, which made it easier on the shy boy. Lily looked at the remaining third of the noodles and two pieces of meatball and decided he had tried his best and it was good enough. He was only a child after all, his stomach was small. “Nice work on eating your dinner, Buddy. You did pretty well showing that spaghetti who's boss!” she told him. “I think you can have some dessert for trying your best tonight” she told him gently. After all, it would be a little mean to not let him have any when Aurora was going to eat something sweet right beside him. She giggled at seeing him perk up at the mention of dessert. “You liked the sound of that, hey? Well, what would you like? Chocolate cake like Aurora, or something else?” ============= The cluster of bubbles had soon sent themselves down the drain and Aurora was nice and clean once more, even her bib. Castile could probably use bubble magic instead of bathing them but a relaxing bath was part of most children’s bedtime routine and it would probably be more fun for them, the warm water soothing them and helping them wind down for bed. He planned to add bubble bath and toys, help the kids wash themselves and their hair as well. That way they’d be squeaky clean ready to get dressed for tomorrow’s outing. Castile relished the sounds of Aurora’s giggles; a happy, uplifting sound. “I’m happy you like my magic” he told her. “That was nothing. I can do even more bubble magic but you will have to wait and see till tomorrow” he promised. “If I use it too much in one day, I will fall asleep. And we can’t have that!” He watched her think her options over as she considered what to order and then grinned. “Ooh, good choice. I’ll go put in an order to the kitchen. Do you want a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some whipped cream and hot fudge sauce with it?” he asked, getting her answers. He waited for Samuel to tell Lily what he wanted before keeping their orders in his mind and hurrying over to one of the kiosks, typing their orders in. He ordered himself a cup of Jasmine tea. That should wake him up a bit. Not that he was really full after that meal. His bigger body usually required more. But he could snack later once the kids went to bed. He still had that cat paw pastry Mr B gave him stuffed in his uniform pocket. It didn’t take long before someone came from the kitchen carrying a tray with two plates of dessert upon it, putting one each down on the highchair trays “Here you go; enjoy, little ones” the waiter said, smiling at the cute kids. “Don’t eat it all at once, now. You might turn into a vacuum cleaner” he warned with a small wink and sauntered off after collecting their empty dinner dishes and other tableware. ============ Lily looked at Samuel, pointing to his dessert "Do you think you can eat this one all on your own or would you like a little bit of help to devour that sweet treat, Honey?" she asked him playfully. "After that, we will take you and Aurora for a splishy, splashy bubble bath and then a story time book before bed" she explained. "It's getting a bit late for wee boys and girls to still be awake and you have lots to do tomorrow"

“That’s good. So now we know one food Aurora likes!” Castile said. He saw that the hungry girl had devoured her entire serving of dinner. Considering how underfed she was at her previous foster carer’s and the fact that so much had happened on her first day at her new home, no wonder she worked up an appetite. Castile was happy with her efforts, deeming she had eaten enough ‘healthy’ nutrients to earn a sweet reward. He saw her take Samuel’s hand and smiled, proud of her for being a good friend to the lonely and timid boy. Noticing the smears of sauce all over Aurora, the cat taur chuckled and decided to use a little magic to quickly clean her up. “Looks like sauce and crumbs got everywhere, though. We better clean you up before you have dessert. I’ll use some of my bubble magic. Ready?” he told her, bringing his hands up and making a series of gestures while muttering some magic words. His nail polish glittered as he cast the spell before a rush of foamy bubbles mixed with water poured out of his palms and moved through the air towards Aurora, surrounding the four year old and her high chair, tickling and making little popping sounds while they moved around. The spell gathered all the particles of sauce, meatball and noodle before pulling away from Aurora and her chair, leaving them spotless. Castile directed the mass of reddish coloured suds over to one of the sinks, where it washed itself down the drain, disappearing with a gurgle and some pops. “Ta da! You’re all done. That was so easy!” Castile exclaimed, gratified by the convenience of his magic. Aurora would have felt soapy wetness around her before but now she was clean and completely dry. “And because you ate all your dinner, you earned a sweet dessert. Now, what do you want, my sweet little cupcake? You are so nice and clean, we should let you make another mess” he laughed softly. “Do you want…ice cream, cake, custard, jelly, pastries, doughnuts? You can have anything they make” he said, waving an arm at the menu boards.

((I'm so sorry for how long it took me to post here. I had writers block AGAIN. I am trying to keep on top of my 7 rps but sometimes it can take a while to get something out. Thanks so much for your patience!)) Lollia felt her lap grow warmer when Drew was wetting his diaper but hardly paid any attention to it. She quietly checked the padding to assess the state of the diaper though, giving the crotch a light squeeze or two. The one year old boy was nodding off in her lap, probably helped by the warm bottle and comforting touches. Oh well, he’d have to get to know the rest of the house slowly, in his own time. She couldn’t expect a baby that young to memorise its layout during the tour anyway. Lollia would cradle him in her arms once he slept, since they hadn’t picked a room for him yet. The pastel alien’s yellow eyes shifted towards Akiza, the woman smiling at the words she addressed to the bundle on her lap. “I’m sure Andrew would love a nice story book together, when he isn’t so sleepy. That sounds like a great idea, Ms Hoshi!” she replied, approving of Akiza’s ideas. “I’ll let you take over once he wakes up from his N. A. P. …Right now it’s looking like he’s going to visit the land of Nod for a spell” she told the other woman with a grin, indicating how Drew was falling asleep in her arms. Having finished the last bite and sip of her breakfast, Lollia stood and used telekinesis to clear all the tables and high chairs, rinsing things in the sink and loading them into the dishwasher before a wet cloth began wiping the tables. She cradled Drew comfortably in her grasp, letting him easily drift off against her pillowy chest as needed. She smiled gladly when she saw Xeto head over to take care of Sophie, pleased he was taking steps to interact with the bunny girl. “Alright, when everyone’s ready, we’ll begin the tour of the house” she announced. ================= Sophie had finished her meal. She grabbed her white rabbit plushie under one arm and jolted in place when she noticed Mr Xeto stepping towards her, both excited and a little startled. Her ears stood straight on end, quivering as her pinkish red eyes watched him get close to her. When he started cleaning her of the crumbs on her face and hands, she blushed pink and giggled nervously, the damp cloth feeling strange and ticklish. “Ehehe, f…fank oo, Misha Zee” she meeped out, her soft, sweet voice tickling his ears. Sophie blinked up at him, one of her ears bending in half as she tilted her head curiously to what he said. “I twied my bestest, Misha Xeto. I’m sowwy. I didn’ mean to make a mess” she apologised timidly, “The cwumbs just falled all by demselves. I couldn’t catch dem in time. Ah…fank oo fow helping me. Hee hee, dat feels funny!” Once he was done, she looked up at his silvery eyes, cuddling her bunny close. “Do you wanna see my woom? When Miss Lolly shows us the house? I fink she’s gonna stawt now. It’s pwetty big!” she told him with wide eyes. “Weally, WEALLY big! You can get losted easy” she said as she waited for him to unlock the highchair tray and take her out, remembering how many times she got lost when she first got here. ================== Frost grinned happily as she accepted the bite of savoury waffle, getting some butter and stretchy, melty cheese on her face. He continued to feed her bite after bite, until she was full up. “Don’t be embarrassed, Sweetie. I enjoy feeding you. This is my job” he comforted her, not minding in the least about having to help. “That’s why I’m here. I love taking care of people and helping people. So don’t be afraid to ask” he said brightly. “Anyway, look at that; you finished all your waffles and all your hot chocolate. Good job, kiddo!” he told Rei, chuckling at the mess of crumbs, butter, cheese, vegetables and assorted other bits and pieces on her and the highchair. Frost summoned a damp cloth from the kitchen area and used it to gently wipe her clean, sending it to the laundry hamper once he was done. The arctic fox unlatched the highchair tray and picked Rei back up into his arms, setting her down on his lap, facing forwards, so she could see when he was wheeling them around. “It doesn’t matter if you make a mess while eating. So long as you like the food and can get it into your mouth, that’s all that matters” he told her with another chuckle, “So, are you ready to be shown your new home? It’s big but it has lots of really cool rooms that I’m sure you will like” he explained, wheeling the chair over beside Mama Lolly and waiting for Akiza and Xeto to join them with Sophie. “Right! Let’s get going. Time waits for nobody! On we march” he cheered, in a peppy mood. =================== Waiting till everyone was ready, Lollia began to lead the party around the first floor of the home, showing them all the rooms and where everything was. She started at the most fun side of the house, going down the hallway and showing them the laundry just beside the kitchen and dining. “This is where all the bedding and clothes get washed and dried. We have washing lines across the ceiling for rainy and snowy days” she told the group. “Next up, we have the door to the back yard. I will show you that later. And along a bit, we come to the music room. Here the kids can play and dance to music, with dress up costumes and flags and streamers to wave, maracas to shake and so on. There are also instruments they can learn how to play” She continued the tour, showing them the games room, gym and arts and crafts room before she continued on to the play room, change room and bathroom, followed by the waiting area, then straight down the long hall to the big change room, the big bathroom and the chapel, following along to the twin classrooms with their attached changing rooms. She then pointed out the closets and basement stairs, her office, then the conservatory and living room, the attached home cinema and finally, leading everyone to look inside the library and infirmary. “That was it for the ground floor. This is where all the fun entertainment rooms are. Any questions before we go upstairs to see the bedrooms and nurseries?” she asked, looking around the kids and adults, Andrew snugly in her soft arms. "Isn't this place just fabulous? There's so much to see and do here! We'll make sure the kids never get bored"

((Do you guys want me to make Tanya the night shift carer, so Lily and Castile go back to their apartments overnight? Or prefer them to stay on night watch as well? Also, feel free to brainstorm ideas for plots and experiences with me. My Discord is RainbowPixieCat#7705 if you wanna talk OOC chat with me there. So we don't clog the rp)) Castile continued to feed Aurora, making noisy trains to take the food from her plate to her mouth. He took bites of his own meal in between feeding her, seeing the meals on the plates get smaller and smaller until his portion was gone. His stomach happily digested the meal, warm and full, making him feel content and happy. Castile politely covered a small burp. "Excuse me" Once they were done, he assessed the damage, looking to see how much Aurora managed to eat and how much sauce had gotten on her. “Was that good, Honey?” he asked her cheerfully. “Tomorrow night, we’ll pick something new to try,” he promised with a smile. “There are so many yummy foods to discover. And I think that tomorrow, we will also meet Mr Goodie and go to the aquarium. And I don't know what else yet. But the aquarium will take most of the day. There will be lots of fishies. Just like in your new toy!” ========== Lily felt bad for the boy. Choking was not a fun experience. She continued to rub his back as he drank from his bottle to calm his airway down and soothe the coughing. She worried that he wasn’t going to eat from now on but was glad when he accepted the new bite with the much tinier meatball pieces. “There, see? Isn’t that better? No more choking. You’ll be okay” she told him with a consoling manner. “I will make sure to always check your food so that doesn’t happen again. The kitchen was a bit generous with the meatball sizes. Maybe they forgot to put the kids ones and added the adult ones instead. Silly kitchen! Even adults make mistakes sometimes. Anyway, good job. Eat it up, Sweetie!” she said with an encouraging grin, taking bites of her own meal between feeding Sammy. “Ready? Here comes a bite. Chugga chugga chugga chugga…choo choo…MMmmm!” she cooed, moving the fork around like a train and making sounds to make it sound yummier. Once he was full, she inspected his plate to see if it was empty or if there was any left, watching him reach a hand out to Aurora. How cute. Looks like he was trying to be friends. It made her smile. “Hmm…how did you do? Let’s see if you qualify for dessert” she told Samuel, weighing up the info to try to make a decision. If he had eaten plenty of the healthy meal, she’d consider letting him have the sugary sweet stuff. But she wasn’t going to let him just fill up on junk if he hadn’t had enough nutrition first. She heard Castile mention tomorrow’s plans and perked up. “Wow, the aquarium! That sounds cool! And I think Mr Goodie sounds like…a GOOD guy!” she joked. “I hear he has special presents for new kids”

Castile snickered at the look on Aurora’s face when he mentioned dessert. That idea seemed to go over well. It would just depend if she had any room left in her tummy. Though people did say that you had a savoury stomach and a sweet stomach. You could always make room for sugar after savoury stuff. At least, HE always could! Castile had quite the sweet tooth and was looking forward to eating that cat paw pastry he was given earlier in the day. He planned to consume it tonight while the kids were sleeping. He wasn’t sure if they were supposed to keep caring for them overnight. Or to go back to his apartment. He knew there were night nurses and that Tanya usually did the night shifts. So maybe that was the case. Oh well, he was sure they’d find out. Castile saw Aurora stop eating and turn her head to watch Lily feeding Samuel. “Aurora. Do you want choo choos too? Here, Sweetie…” the cat picked up her tiny fork and swirled a mouthful of food onto it, the right size for her gob. He began to make it chug like a train, with soft jerking movements through the air, “Here comes the spaghetti bolognese train. Chugga chugga chugga chugga…choo choo!” he grinned, plopping the food into her mouth at the end. “Cargo delivered! Ahehe!” Castile then fed himself a mouthful off his own plate. Double duty, he could do this! ================ Lily smiled as Samuel obediently accepted the forkful of spag bol she was feeding him “Good boyyyy~” she praised with deep affection, glad that he was eating something nourishing. She grinned brightly when he surprised her by clapping at the train noises “Oh, you like that, do you? Well get ready, here comes another freight train. Chugga chugga…chugga chugga…whoo whooo!” she said, having fun feeding him in such a silly and playful manner. However, when he took the second bite, she noticed him cough after a second, quickly putting the fork down and moving to pat his back, helping clear his airway. “Oop, down the wrong hole. It’s okay, it’s okay…cough it back up” she said, sharply patting between his shoulder blades to force the bite back out into his mouth. “There, there…it’s okay. It must have been the meatball. I’ll cut them up into quarters” she told him soothingly, sitting back down and picking up the fork and knife, deftly finding and cutting all the meatballs in the heap of spaghetti strands. “Here Honey, have a drink” she said, giving him the drink to sip at. After a while she spoke again, putting the fork and knife down. “Okay. These are small now. It’s safe to eat. Here we go” she said softly, twirling another forkful of food onto his fork, this time with a tiny bit of the cut meatball. “Let’s do a whale this time. Ooooo…whooooo….ooooooo….puff! Here comes the whale, swimming through the sea. He has a bite of spaghetti for delivery~” she sang, making soft whale noises, receiving stares and snickers from the staff working in the kitchen nearby. Oh well, let them stare. She didn’t mind. She was entertaining them and Sammy. It was a one woman show.

((I’m so sorry for the long wait on a reply, everyone! I had some writer's block and was struggling to keep on top of all my rps for a while. Sometimes I can be a bit slow, but I always post eventually. Thank you for your patience!)) --- Lollia continued to eat her breakfast, finding the atmosphere in the kitchen quite cosy among their small group. She looked pleased as punch hearing that Akiza was alright with caring for Drew. “That’s splendid, Dear. If you ever need any help, do let me know. I’m here not just for the children but also my carers. Their happiness is just as important to me” she said, taking more polite bites of her waffle and sipping her drink. “There is something I need to mention to you all. During our tour upstairs, you and the new children will be able to pick your own rooms. Me, Frost and Sophie already have ours. Sophie has room 1, Frost is in room 10 and I’m in room 11,” she explained. “Every other room is empty, so there’s lots to choose from” Lollia had noticed how jumpy and sensitive Drew was. She had cried out in the softest and gentlest manner when he pulled her star earring, yet it still seemed to set him off badly, making the poor baby tremble. Thankfully, the colourful jar of sprinkles did the trick, taking his mind off what happened. The sounds of the sprinkles tinkling in the jar was somewhat musical as the boy sat on her lap and shook it. Lollia blinked and looked down at the boy, catching his reaction to Ms Hoshi being mentioned as his new caregiver. ‘Oho! Did he understand that? My, my, this little one comprehends far more than he can say’ she thought silently. Lollia saw him turn away from the bite she offered, so she calmly put it down and resumed rubbing the boy’s tummy in soothing motions, rocking him slightly. “Now, now, it will be okay, Darling. Ms Hoshi is very nice. She will take good care of you” she sang to the baby. “I will be around to make sure you two become good friends” She smiled as she continued to feed herself and care for the baby simultaneously, using her telekinesis to bring food and drink to her mouth while her human hands rocked and patted the child in her lap. She looked over at Xeto, responding to what he said. “That’s fine. Everyone starts somewhere. It’s okay to make mistakes. We don’t have school all the time and could really use your help in caretaking when you are not teaching. But Sophie is a breeze to care for. She’s very easy, apart from being shy in the beginning” she assured him. “In fact, I think she has taken a liking to you already” she chuckled, glancing over at the girl who was staring at him while she ate, getting crumbs around her mouth. “Anyway, we can discuss it more as we walk around the house” ================== Frost thought Rei looked incredibly cute in her new outfit with purple as well as white patches with rainbow polka dots. The fox ears on the hat made her especially so. He patiently waited while she got comfy in her seat. He was very happy about her reaction to wearing and using diapers, glad that she didn’t put up a fuss and simply accepted them. That should make her life much easier here. Frost’s tail wagged gently when she asked for help “Okay, Princess” He smiled and picked up the kiddy fork and knife with plastic handles that had cute cartoons on them. Frost reached over her highchair tray and began to neatly and quickly cut up her waffles into bite sized pieces, then stabbed a square on the fork and brought it to her mouth “Ahhh!” he said, opening his mouth as he made the noise to let her know to open up “Here comes the yummies” he cooed, smiling happily as he put the food in her mouth and let her crunch on the freshly made waffle. …“Good?” he asked her after a moment of chewing. “After breakfast, me, Ms Hoshi, Mr Xeto and Mama Lolly will show you kids around your new house. It’s pretty big. And it has lots of cool stuff. Your rooms will be upstairs. That’s where all the bedrooms are. And you can look at all of them and pick one just for you. Then you can ask us to decorate it however you want” he told Rei cheerfully. “But you can’t pick room 1, 10 or 11 because those are already taken” ================== Sophie was outright staring at Xeto while the adults chatted to each other, since they weren’t paying attention to her or looking in her direction. She crunched through the last half of her second waffle, crumbs sprinkled around her mouth and on her bib, as well as the highchair tray and her hands. When her rabbit ears caught Mama Lolly saying her name, she blushed and meeped softly again, ducking her head down quickly. She knew it was rude to stare but she couldn’t help it. Mr Xeto was fascinating. Sophie felt a bit proud about what Lollia said. She was easy to care for? That meant she was a good girl. That made her happy. Well, it’s not like she ever purposely tried to be bad. She was really careful to be a very good girl so that people living with her wouldn’t get scared or upset and send her away, like the other foster families did. She made sure to use her magic everyday too, so the wild magic didn’t build up and spill out in random ways. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she squirmed in place, trying to make herself look invisible and go unnoticed. She hoped Mr Xeto didn’t notice her gawping at him. She wasn’t trying to be rude. He wasn’t a circus freak or zoo animal. Mama Lolly was right though, she almost liked him already. She had a good feeling about the teacher, and expectations based on how Lollia acted and treated her. She had been staring at him with questions going through her mind, wondering what he was like. She had so many things she wanted to ask but was too shy to speak up. Sophie grabbed for her bottle and began drinking the last of the warm cocoa, calming her nerves with the familiar comfort object. She made cute little noises as she nursed, both hands holding the bottle up at an angle to get the liquid in the bottom half. She could feel the warmth in her tummy and knew that she would have a wet, warm diaper later as well. It was always such a good feeling in winter.

Once everyone had their food, Castile sat at the long table beside Aurora and Samuel’s highchairs. He was to Aurora’s right, while Samuel was to her left and Miss Lily to his left. He waved back to Aurora before handing over her bottle, seeing her eagerly take it in both hands. She nodded in approval of her meal and he hoped dinner would go smoothly with no fights. He wanted the kids to have something nourishing in their little tummies. Who knows how they were fed before coming here? He waited for her to decide what to do, seeing her look at the food with a thoughtful expression and waiting patiently. He chuckled when she decided to eat with her hands and completely ignore her knife and fork, finding the sight of her messy self feeding amusing and adorable. Castile tucked a white napkin into his uniform collar then picked up his own fork and neatly twirled some noodles and a meatball onto it, chomping it in one big bite, quietly slurping up a stray noodle. He chewed appreciatively and then swallowed and licked his lips like a cat, seeing Aurora’s reaction to her own meal. “Ahehe, good, good! I’m glad you like it, Princess~” he told her, smiling fondly at the messy toddler. “Good job, honey. It doesn’t matter how you eat it, just that you enjoy it. So long as it’s getting into your tummy, don’t worry about making a mess. Have as much as you want!” he told her happily. “And if you’re still hungry afterwards, there might be dessert” he promised with a wink and a flick of his tail. He looked over to see how Lily and Samuel were going. ================= Lily relaxed once Samuel stopped fussing, calmed by Aurora and her own kind gestures. She was thankful for the little girl’s input, glad to see that she not only cared about the other child but wanted to help him too. She hoped Samuel and Aurora would become closer friends over the coming weeks. The aquarium trip tomorrow would hopefully provide bonding opportunities and the chance to make some fun and meaningful memories together. But for now - it was dinner time. Lily watched the little boy look down at his plate of food, trying to decide how to go about eating. She wasn’t too surprised that he decided to copy Aurora. Kids often copied other children and it was cute the way he looked to her for guidance. Lily giggled softly, not minding him making a mess but noticing that he wasn’t as good as getting enough into his mouth like Aurora was. She picked up his cartoon fork and did a fancy scoop and twirl manouvre, winding a cheesy, tomato sauce drenched clump of noodles and a meatball onto the utensil. “Oh, Sammy, good try feeding yourself but you’re not getting much in your mouth. Here, Sweetie, Miss Lilly will help you so we aren't here all night. Say Ahhhh” she cooed, bringing the wad of food towards his mouth and gently placing it inside once he opened up. She let him take it off the fork, slowly moving the fork back out from closed lips as sauce blossomed from them. “There, isn’t that better? You get a proper bite. Chew it properly, Honey. We don’t want you choking. Yummy, yummy! Isn’t that so tasty?” she said, her voice warm and encouraging. While he was chewing, she picked up her own fork and knife, scooping and twirling a larger amount onto hers before neatly eating it off her fork and licking sauce off her lips. “Mm, mm!” she made happy noises while she ate, making it clear she was enjoying the food. Lily swallowed and checked Sammy, picking his fork up again and getting another portion ready for him, just the right size for his small mouth. “Here comes the choo choo train…whoo, whoo!” she said softly, moving the fork like a chugging train towards his mouth.

((The waffles are savoury ones with egg, vegetables, grated cheese etc. There are a couple of different savoury flavours. Since Sophie is a vegetarian, she chose those for breakfast as a healthy alternative to the usual sugar laden kind)) “Ouch! Oh no, Honey, that hurts! No, no. We don’t pull Mama’s earrings” Lollia yipped softly and spoke calmly and gently when Drew managed to grab her earring. She used her telekinesis to gently pry his fingers off and then brought over a half full plastic container of large, rainbow sprinkles, shaking it in front of him to get his attention, then placing the colourful makeshift rattle in his hand to shake like a rattle. “Here we go, that’s much better!” she cooed. “You play with this one” Once Andrew was occupied, Lollia prepared a cup of tea for Akiza, adding one sugar and a dollop of fresh cream then stirring it delicately with a teaspoon held in the tip of a tentacle. She smiled and placed it down in front of the woman gently. “Here you go, Dear. Oh, thank you. I’ll gladly have your assistance once we have eaten and after I have shown you and Xeto the house. I am thinking I’ll assign baby Andrew to you, Ms Hoshi. And baby Sophie to Xeto. And for baby Rei, she will go with Frosty” she said sweetly. “Three adults and three children works out quite nicely. Oh, not counting myself, ho ho!” she chuckled. “I suppose I matter as well!” The alien woman said jokingly. This place wouldn't even exist without her. She had also been making a nice cappuccino for Xeto, even making a fern pattern with the fluff and chocolate powder on top. She placed the big mug of high quality coffee in front of him. “You are most welcome, Dear. Here you go. Enjoy~” she smiled. "Now, I'm going to give you a double role here but we will talk about that after breakfast" she told him. Andrew was full of formula at the moment but she used telekinesis to cut up some of the waffles into tiny, toddler sized bites and put them on a plastic cartoon plate, knowing children 6 months and older could eat solid foods. She came to sit next to Akiza, her tentacle pulling a chair out for her while she sat down and cradled the baby in her lap. Lollia cuddled Drew, rubbing his belly with one hand in little circles to keep him from fussing. She used telekinesis to bring a bite of savoury waffle to her mouth and chewed happily. The toddler plate floated over to them and set itself down. Lollia speared a tiny bite on a toddler fork and brought it in front of Andrew with her hand, “Want some waffle, Drew Drew?” she asked him softly. ==================== Seeing everyone else begin eating their breakfast and not paying attention to her, Sophie tucked her bunny plush beside her in the highchair and used her little hands to pick up the warm waffle on her cartoon plate, taking some big bites and chewing happily. She hummed while she ate, swinging her legs to and fro at the delicious taste. “So yummy!” she whispered, nibbling at the waffle contentedly. “Evweybody wikes waffles, tee hee!” She looked at the other alien in the room, who chose to sit at the counter and not at one of the long tables. Sophie liked his antennas. She wondered if his could light up like Mama Lolly’s did. The rabbit twitched her nose cutely as she watched him from her high seat, peeking over her waffle. She felt like she would be the most comfortable with the teacher and caregiver, because he was the most like Mama Lolly and she already felt comfortable with her. In her tiny bit of experience, she had learned that aliens were nice people. Because she hadn’t met any mean ones. “Xeto” she mumbled, eating some more waffle as she tried out his name “Mishta Xeto has shiny eyes” she said, not knowing the colour was silver. She wondered what the funny markings on his blue-green skin were. Did he take a marker and draw on himself? Maybe she could draw on herself too! Mama Lolly had a butterfly on her face. Xeto had squiggly patterns. What could she draw on herself? ==================== Frost smiled at the sneeze, finding it cute. He also found it sweet when she said thank you. She had lovely manners. “No problem, you’re welcome” he told Rei. They reached the kitchen and he let her look around and make a choice of where she wanted to sit. “Okie dokie. High chair it is. Here’s a nice one near Mama Lolly and Ms Hoshi. It has butterflies on it” he said, wheeling over to it and gently lifting Rei with his winter magic, placing her in the padded seat and buckling her in then snapping the highchair tray into place, all using glittering magic to do so. The magic trickled back into him and he gave a signal to Lollia, who used telekinesis to float over a toddler plate of savoury waffles and a baby bottle full of warm cocoa. They gently set themselves down on Rei’s highchair tray as a bib tied itself around Rei’s neck. It had a picture of a smiley flower on it. Frost parked his wheelchair at the table next to her, making himself a cushion with ice magic so he could reach the table and the highchair tray. He saw there was already a plate and a mug of cocoa waiting for him. When Rei asked about the potty, he nodded “That’s right, Rei. No more big girl potty for you and no more accidents. While you live here, you only need diapers. Sophie and Drew are wearing diapers too. All the kids here wear them! It’s easier than trying to go potty, don’t you think?” he asked with a grin, his tail wagging. “Because of Mama Lolly’s magic, your body will go potty in your diapers from now on. So you don’t have to worry. Now…we are all having breakfast. Do you want some help to eat your waffles, or would you like to eat with your hands like Sophie over there?” he asked Rei, pointing at the bunny girl who was sitting on the other side of the adults and happily chowing down on her second waffle already.

“Okay. I’ll be right back with your moo moo then” he told her, patting her hair gently. Castle walked up to the counter to ask for the milk in a baby bottle. He came back over and placed it on Aurora’s tray. Not long after, one of the kitchen workers came over and placed a plastic kiddy plate with spaghetti bolognese on the highchair tray. It had melty cheese, meatballs, red sauce and lots of squiggly noodles. There was a plastic fork and knife with cartoons on the handles. “Wow, Aurora, doesn’t that look yummy? Do you want to feed yourself or would you like a bit of help?” Castile asked her with a smile. The server went to place another plate on Samuel’s tray, then placed down two bigger plates for the two adults, along with some table water. ================= She watched him shuffle in the chair and fight with the bib. “No no, Sammy, keep the bib on. You don’t want your new whale onesie to get dirty, do you? The bib will protect your clothes” she explained kindly. “Now, no whining, little one. Dinner is here. Let’s eat up all the yummy noodles and sauce!” she enthused. Hearing his stomach growl, she giggled. “Your tummy is saying it’s hungry. It wants to eat. Look, your cutlery has cartoons on them. Isn’t that fun?” she asked, pointing out the plastic knife and fork. “Do you want to try to feed yourself? Do you want to give it a go? If not, I’ll be happy to feed you, or just lend some help” she offered him, “Look, Castile and I ordered the same as you. We are all having spaghetti bolognese” she grinned. “Yummy yummy!”

She smiled at Akiza’s response. “You might be right about that. We’ll have to wait and see how it goes. But I certainly encourage everyone to get to know each other. After all, we are family now” she stated with glee. “Sophie will open up in her own time, for sure. We will help all the kids adjust. Just like anyone, they need time to learn how to trust and get to know people. She’s a sweet girl though, so it’s highly likely they’d become friends, as you say. Especially since our little bunny rabbit hasn’t had any other kids to play with till now. I imagine all the new people are just a bit much for her right now” she explained. Lollia used her tentacles to pull out a chair for Akiza to sit in, another taking the serving tongs and placing two waffles on her plate, moving the sauces and toppings within reach. “Do you prefer tea, coffee, juice or hot chocolate for a drink, M’Dear?” the alien asked, her tentacle hovering over the tray of drinks options. The way she handled everything, it would feel like they were having breakfast at a fancy hotel. While she was multitasking, she noticed Andrew had stopped drinking and put the half empty bottle in the fridge. She draped a cloth over her shoulder and laid his chin on top of it, gently patting his back to help him burp any swallowed air. She then wiped his mouth with the cloth and tossed it in the laundry hamper. Seeing that he was scared, she used her arms to cuddle him as he hid his face, while she began to sway gently, rubbing his back. “Shhhhhh, shhhhhhh, you’re okay, Sweetheart” she cooed. “Mama’s got you” Lollia then saw Xeto sit at the bar counter. Her stretchable tentacles set the counter in front of him with a plate and utensils then plated up two waffles of different flavours and brought over some of the toppings. “Here you go, Dear. Make yourself comfortable. And what would you like to drink? Tea, coffee, juice, hot chocolate? We have it all” ========================= Frost was glad that Rei was so cooperative. With her assistance, he had her undressed and cleaned up in minutes. He noticed her blushing and felt bad that she was embarrassed, even though she looked extremely adorable with a bright red face. Hopefully that would fade over time as she became more used to being cared for and got familiar with her new family members. “It’s okay, Sweetie. No need to be shy. I am like a big brother, or your uncle, or daddy. I am here to help and will never laugh at you” he said sincerely, in a calming tone. He smiled when she agreed that the room was pretty. “I’m glad you like it, Darling. It’s a nice, colourful place and I hope it’s gonna be a happy place to live” he replied. His furry ears fluttered softly as he listened to her while she tried to make a choice. Frost gave a gentle smile and nod. “Okay. I will pick for you. How about this Luvs diaper with the cute pandas? And…hmm…let’s see…” he looked around at the clothes, spotting a purple velour dress with polka dot pockets and matching leggings. “This should do nicely. The purple will match your lovely eyes” he told her. All the other clothes marched back into the closet and the diapers put themselves away, leaving just what he had chosen. He slipped the Luvs diaper under the girl and applied baby oil then shook on plenty of powder, lightly rubbing it in. He then pulled the garment closed and secured it nice and snug with the tapes, giving it a friendly pat. “There, now that’s done. And here comes the new, clean clothes” he said, helping to pull the soft dress over her head and thread her arms through the sleeves, then pulling the tights up her legs. He found a knitted purple beanie with a pair of fox ears on it and tugged it onto her head, making sure her hair was sitting comfy. Then he slipped some white socks with frilly edges on her feet and lastly pulled on some soft purple boots with bows on the top. Seeing her sucking her thumb, Frost summoned a matching pacifier on a lanyard and clipped it to her dress, removing her thumb with a small tug and placing the soft teat in her mouth instead. “Here here, your thumb might be dirty. Have this paci to suck on instead. And…Ta-da! You’re all dressed and ready to go!” he cheered, picking her up off the table and placing her on his lap. “Let’s roll!” he said with a grin as he literally rolled them back out of the change room and all the way back to the kitchen & dining area, wheel beads jingling all the way. “We’re ba-aack!~” he sung out, smiling at everyone with the little girl on his lap. “Where do you want to sit, Rei? You can sit in a highchair, a toddler chair, or in a booster at the big table” he offered. “Breakfast is waffles and hot cocoa” He realised he forgot something important and gasped, ears standing up. "Oh, Rei, I am so sorry. I forgot to explain why I put you in a diaper. It's beacause all the kids wear them here. That's just how it is. Mama Lolly has special magic that makes it that way. So everyone wears diapers here. Sophie is the same and Andrew has to as well. Everyone here is Mama Lolly's babies. So you always have to wear diapers"