A New Start - Priv with LilGirlLya

[groveoflove]

Fern was glad Rachel didn’t push the point further, absentmindedly sucking on his pacifier as he sat back. He’d always liked car rides, the very few trips he’d taken with his older brothers had been one of the more enjoyable times in their family. And luckily, he’d grown out of his tendency to be carsick. That would be embarrassing and gross. He felt a bit too shy to sing along to the radio, but it did sound nice, even if it wasn’t the kind of music he’d listen to on his own. 

Once at the park, he let Rachel slip him into the stroller, though he didn’t see the point. He did still know how to walk after all, but it seemed like an argument he wouldn’t win even if he felt like pushing it. Glancing around the park, he didn’t immediately see anything that immediately called his attention, except maybe a stray thought on watching some trees to see if he could spot a squirrel or two. He did eventually spot a jungle gym that admittedly looked much more appealing then the sandbox or playhouse. It wasn’t nearly the same, but he’d been rock climbing a few times, and that had been fun. But most of the people playing on that looked like amazon kids or older littles, so he could guess the answer was going to be a no on that. 

“I don’t really get sunburnt a lot.” Fern glanced back at Rachel as she mentioned the sunscreen, his skin was dark enough that he’d only rarely been sunburnt. “The slide, I guess....” He felt a bit wary of going over to the other littles right away, but he didn’t want to be stuck in a swing either. He flinched a bit in surprise once Rachel took the selfie, ducking his head again.

[LilGirlLya]

"Oh, I should have warned you about the flash, sorry about that. I think we can play on the slide together, I was going to listen to a podcast if you wanted alone time, but I think I like playing with you a lot better." Thankfully, the line for the slide wasn't long. A few littles bigger than Maddie, one accompanied by a male amazon. He was kinda cute come to think of it, and he seemed a natural with his kid. You didn't see as many men really embrace having littles, but things change and changes can be pretty frequent with littles involved Rachel thought to herself, grinning at her own joke. Once they reached their turn Rachel let go of Maddie's hand and picked her up from under the armpits, placing her at the top of the slide before rushing over to the end. "OK Maddie, come on, you can do it honey, slide to Mommy?" Rachel waited at the bottom of the slide, eyes up and expecting toward her daughter with a big smile on her face. After the first time she made sure Maddie was having fun before taking her to the back of the line to go again. On her second trip down, Rachel got her phone again, "OK flash off this time baby," Rachel said snapping a photo of her girl in mid slide, "Yay, good girl. You still having fun? Do you want to play with the other kids or do you need a nap after that exercise?"

[groveoflove]

The other littles made him feel nervous enough, but the male amazon especially so, so for once he didn’t mind Rachel sticking close to him. He kept his head down in case any of them tried to look over at him, but luckily it was their turn pretty quickly. He was a bit annoyed when Rachel picked him up without even asking, but let her do it all the same. “I can climb it myself.” He did huff a bit, but decided to let it go and focus on the slide instead. 

It was clearly more of a baby slide then the other slides at the bigger ‘kids’ side of the playground, but admittedly compared to his size right now it did look big enough. He wanted to dawdle at the top to see if he could see anything interesting from this height, but other people were waiting, and they looked a bit impatient, so he just sat down and slid down. The second time down was more fun because he didn’t feel as nervous about the others waiting, so it did bring out one of his rare smiles. 

“Um.” He lightly chewed on the nub of the pacifier as he thought, glancing back at the sandbox. Because he was definitely not going to playhouse, that was for sure. He didn’t feel tired enough for a nap, but he couldn’t shake how nervous he felt about interacting with someone else his ‘age’. Finishing high school was one of the happiest days of his life, solely because it meant not having to do deal with his classmates any longer. He shifted indecisively, clearly conflicted.

[LilGirlLya]

"Oh Maddie, are you shy? I think it might do you a bit of good playing with the other littles. I'm not bored of you, but you must be wanting someone else to play with." Rachel teased. "It's a bit early for your nap so I'd want to hold off on that. How about this. It looks like there's a little girl over there in the sandpit now too, I can take you over there so you can play with the other littles but I'll stay close the whole time. When you're done you can come over to me and we can relax for a bit, but I want you to try playing with the others, OK baby? It'll be easier here than in a few weeks when I have to go back to work at New Start and you have to play with all the kids there. Come on, hold my hand and we can walk there like a big girl!" Rachel led her little across the grass to the sandpit. The boy and girl looked like they could have been born twins. Both were relatively tall for their age and dark haired with fair skin. The boy still seemed to have a bit more of his old self about him, he sat going through the motions of suckling on a pacifier, a thick diaper poofing out of the waistband of his denim shorts under his bright green tee shirt. The girl on the other hand was dressed in a pink, long sleeve skater dress with heart designs around the cuffs, neck opening, and skirt with a large white motif in the center. Rachel hadn't been investigating but the unladylike way the girl bent down to pick up a shovel and force it back into her brothers hands showed off that while she was wearing protection, she was in training pants rather than a full diaper.

"Excuse me," the amazon interrupted the two littles, "this is my daughter Maddie and she'd like to play with you, is that OK?"

"Yes!" The boy spoke first, his speech was unimpeeded and something in the way he said it gave off the idea that he might just want his sister diverted for the moment. The girl shrugged and pointed to a spot beside the boy. "She's only a baby but if she can help build a sandcastle she can play."

[groveoflove]

“I’m not shy....” Fern trailed off, sighing. Looked like he was going to have to interact with others sooner enough, so he might as well get it over with now. He followed Rachel to the sandbox, hesitatingly keeping a few steps back as she introduced him to the pair. He was a bit interested to see that they were twins, it made him think of his brothers. They even looked rather tall (for a little anyway) and had pretty light skin. 

“Hi.” Fern said quietly, dropping Rachel’s hand, though he made a bit of a face once the girl threw out the baby comment. Wasn’t like she looked much older then him. But objecting to it seemed more immature then just ignoring it, so he just sat down next to the boy, glancing over at him. He was a bit envious of that he at least got to wear shorts and a t-shirt. “...What kind of sandcastle is it?”

[LilGirlLya]

"Its a princess castle!" The girl loudly declared. "Aiden is supposed to be making towers. You can help him do that. Then the walls, I can do the inside." Doing the inside looked suspiciously like Ava was playing princess with her dolls in the middle of the sandpit, but Rachel didn't say anything. She got slightly bratty vibes from the girl, perhaps it was for the best that Maddie was dealing with an aggressive little for the first time with her so close. She'd planned on staying nearby but would now be keeping an eye on the girl in case she turned out to be a bully.

"And what's your name sweetheart?" Rachel asked.

"Ava." The little girl replied, she'd already gone back to playing princesses. Rachel didn't see any big nearby that could claim them.

"Where are your parents, Ava?" Ava shrugged.

"I dunno, mommy and daddy went for a walk."

"Aren't they worried something may happen to you?" Rachel asked with concern. Ava just huffed like she was tired of being interrupted.

"No! We got these leg things so if Aiden goes to far he gets a zap so he doesn't run away any more. Course that means I have to wear it to watch him if mommy and daddy want to go on a walk." Rachel had heard of these before. The shock was light but little skin was so sensitive that even if it didn't risk actually harming them the sensation was so unpleasant littles learned to avoid the trigger. Really the buzz was more helpful to the amazon as a tactile alert that their little might be trying to escape. Still, she thought it was cruel but she wasn't their parent. Rachel sat Maddie down and ruffled her head.

"Be good baby girl, I'll be on that bench just over there if you need me." Rachel turned and took the stroller and the bag with her to the bench to keep an eye on the trio of littles.

"OK baby," Ava lobbed a bucket from her central position in the pit in the direction of Maddie. "You help make towers." Beside her, the boy spoke up for the first time once Ava went back to playing.

"Um..hey, I'm Aiden. I guess we're making towers together so..." he trailed off. Aiden may have been a late teenager, but me maintained much more of his adult mind than Ava did. "I'm Aiden by the way. You, um..I like your dress?"

[groveoflove]

Fern’s eyes were a bit wide at the mention of a leg shocker, shifting a bit uncomfortably. This world didn’t make sense. Supposedly, littles were supposed to be ‘babies’, but he doubted any of this craziness was done to amazon kids. But he tried to put it out of mind for now, as he nervously watched Rachel leave, before turning back to the others with a sigh.

”Does it have to be a princess castle?” What even made a princess castle different then a regular castle other then some dolls? But reluctantly, he started work on a tower, though admittedly it was a bit boring. He glanced up as Aiden began talking, making a face. “I don’t. I only have to get dressed like this because Rachel likes it.” Fern said quietly, trying to calm his nerves. It was okay, they were just talking. Aiden seemed nice so far. After finishing a tower or two, he sat back, looking around for a shovel. “....Do you want to help me make a moat?” 

[LilGirlLya]

"Yes!" Ava shouted back at Fern, shooting a glare at the little before going back to playing on her own, disinterested in what the babies were doing unless it caused them to stop building her castle.

"Oh thank god," the relief washed over Aiden's face. "So that means you aren't a complete baby yet! It's been so long since I talked to another little who was still all there." Aiden seemed to perk up, "Of course, yeah. Hey sissy?" He shouted getting Ava's attention, "We're building a moat." Ava was confused until Aiden clairified, "it's like a swimming pool, but like, duckies and fishies can live in it." Ava smiled at that in acknowledgement and let them proceed, telling her dolls about how the castle was going to have a pool now too. "Sorry, Ava is, well.." Aiden trailed off. "But she's my sister," he sighed. "So, lets get on that moat. Your mommy called you Maddie right? Is this all new to you? You seem pretty new? Are you doing OK? Your mommy seems pretty trusting of you? Did you do anything before she caught you?" After an untold amount of time with no one to talk to on a grownup level Aiden was bursting with questions for the little beside him.

[groveoflove]

Fern wrinkled his nose back at her, but he wasn’t going to push it. She seemed like kind of a brat, and he didn’t really want to deal with any fits. Even though supposedly, he was supposed to be the younger one here. He started digging the moat, glad it wasn’t another tower at least. “...Or bears. There was a castle that put bears in their moat.” Which was cool. He remembered how disappointed he’d been when he learned all those cartoons that had alligators in moats were making it up.

He was a bit taken back by the onslaught of questions, looking shy again. “Um. It’s new, I guess. I’ve been in this dimension a couple months, maybe. But only with Rachel for a few weeks.” He was keep his gaze down at the sand, trying to look busy with the moat so he wouldn’t have to look up. “I was in a couple other homes before that, but they gave me up.” He didn’t really like talking about himself, this was already more talking then he’d done in a good while. “Um. Where are you from? Uh, how old are you?” He shifted, trying to get the attention of himself, placing the shovel back down, so he could nervously stick a finger in his mouth.

[LilGirlLya]

"Oh wow, I guess I've got some hope then." Aiden answered, "Sorry, I know that's probably confusing, I've been here for just a few weeks. If you're still holding out after months maybe I can too. Ava came over a year or so ago. She told me how much fun she was having, how great the college was, just how wonderful things were here and how they weren't at all like you heard back home so she convinced me to come visit. Little did I know mommy had been writing those letters based on what Ava had been telling her. She found out Ava had a twin and wanted us both. Ava was already a baby when I got here and they tried to make one immediately. I ran a few times so they gave us restraints. The last time Ava came to me, crying about how she wanted us to be together and be a family with mommy and daddy. Our real parents died, I think she just wanted a family and gave in. So, I guess I'm staying. If I can't convince her to come I'm gonna make the best of things here. I'm only 19, I had my life ahead of me but well...I'll pick my twin over a career. Maybe we can go back home eventually but if we do it's together." Aiden was quiet for a bit after that for a while, just building in silence beside Fern.

"Aiden!" Ava had toddled over to the two of them, "Aiden, come on, I have to show you how to go potty. I need you to come to the potty with me." Ava demanded.

"Can it wait, Ava? I was just talking with-"

"NO! I NEED TO SHOW YOU HOW TO USE THE POTTY LIKE A BIG GIRL!" She shouted, holding her hand out to Aiden to help him up while holding herself with her other through her dress and fidgeting uncomfortably. Aiden looked at Fern, seemingly trying to gauge if he should leave to help his sister. Meanwhile, Ava's shouting drew Rachel's attention and she was ready to intervene if need be, especially if Ava started yelling at her little girl.

[groveoflove]

Fern was quiet as Aiden spoke, keeping his gaze down. “....I’m sorry. Least you have each other.” He doubted the pair would ever get home, seemed like no one ever got to leave here, but he kept it to himself. “I got two older brothers...half brothers, anyway. They’re a lot older then me thou-“

Then Ava was yelling, and he shrank back uncomfortably. People yelling always made him feel anxious, even if it was some girl who acted like a little kid. He’d probably feel better if he just stayed quiet and completely out of this, but Aiden looked over to him, and now he felt even more uneasy. He did like talking to Aiden, and admittedly, it would probably be nicer if Ava wandered off so they didn’t have to focus on the dumb castle any further. “If you’re a big girl, couldn’t you go by yourself?” He decided to point out quietly after a moment, looking up.  

[LilGirlLya]

Ava looked at Fern incredulously, "Because of my ankle thingy! The potties too far. Besides. If my *baby* brother wants to a big kid like me he needs to see me use the potty."

"OK, what seems to be the trouble here" Rachel was across the playground in record time and standing over the littles. She hadn't really heard most of what Ava had been yelling at Maddie about, but she heard that it seemed potty related and from the way Ava was holding herself it seemed urgent. "It's OK, don't worry, where are your mommy and daddy" Rachel scanned and didn't see them, she didn't want to interfere in the toilet training of another families little, but they didn't seem anywhere to be found. As Rachel looked around, concern washed over Ava's face and she bolted in the direction of the bathrooms. 100 feet from Aiden she let out a yelp and then began to cry as she slowly crouched into a squat and stood that way, crying gently the whole time. Poor thing, Rachel thought. Her parents probably should have taken her potty before they left and now from the looks of it Ava was wearing a poopy pullup beneath her dress. Eva sniffed and sobbed in place a bit as she regained her full standing height before rushing away back to the play house to hide.

"Well, I'll let you two have fun. I think someone got a little stinky and is upset about it. I'm sure she'll be OK until her parents come back though. Maddie, I think you can play a bit longer but then I want you to try and get some rest. First though," she checked Maddie, "I think you're still mostly dry. It's hard to tell. It could be sweat or a bit of peepee." She checked Aiden too while she was crouching down for Maddie. "It feels you're a bit squishy though. I'll tell your mommy when I see here, OK?"

"Yes ma'am!" Aiden said, seemingly actually happy, "Can I play with Maddie though still?"

"Of course, you baby's have fun." Rachel left and went back to where she was sitting. Ava was less than 100 feet away so she could still be heard softly crying in the playhouse.

"I'm wet Maddie! That's great, I didn't even feel it too! If I tell mommy and daddy I'm losing my potty training they might let me try again soon. It'll get darker before dawn but I might be out of diapers soon. Serves Ava right for being such a brat too. Mommy is probably gonna put her back in diapers after a #2 accident for at least a few days. I brought some trucks and action figures with me, I know you're a girl but would you like to play with them with me?"

[groveoflove]

As relieved as he was that Ava ran off, he did feel a bit bad that she was crying now. Even if she was a brat. He squirmed embarrassedly as Rachel checked his diaper, especially because she had to do it right in front of Aiden. “It’s sweat, I didn’t go.” Though he did have to go a tiny bit, he was still going to hold it. 

He wasn’t sure how to respond to Aiden’s delight over his own accident, mostly because he couldn’t see ever being happy about losing your potty training. “Oh. That’s nice?” He said, sounding unsure. “Trucks are better than dolls anyway.” Though he still felt kinda embarrassed about playing with even the trucks, at least it wasn’t a girly one, and seemed a bit less babyish then most of the toys pushed his way. He took one of the dump trucks, glancing at Aiden to see how he wanted to play. 

[LilGirlLya]

"Oh Cool! Yeah, it's better than princesses. I'm trying to learn how to play again, since I think I'll probably be doing it for a while it seems. So um...what if, we're guys and we were hired to knock down the princess castle and take it somewhere else to build with there?" Aiden explained this in a fairly adult way before grabbing a bulldozer and ramming it through the wall "Smash!" He vocalized the sounds of the destruction, going back and forther with the bulldozer. "You've got to take the sand in your dumptruck somewhere else so it doesn't all pile up here and we can tear down the castle" A shrieking sob came from the playhouse but Ava didn't. She stayed put, though her tantrum intensified.

Rachel watched the two play from where she sat. She wasn't surprised Maddie was getting on so well with Aiden since Ava seemed to be a bit of a brat, but she really did appear a bit more at ease. She wondered when she saw them playing trucks, maybe Maddie could have been butch in her past? She certainly liked to keep her hair short and bristle at dresses? Maybe she just hadn't seen it before since she hadn't really seen Maddie around other littles. Maybe she could give Maddie a bit more leeway in choosing her outfit tomorrow or her toy tonight? If Maddie was a bit more of a tomboy that would be OK. Just so long as she was happy.

Her phone buzzed beside her with a response from her sister. She smiled, "any time you like! We're having a nap here at the park and I promised her I'd get her a treat today on the way home but other than that, just let us know when you want to drop in." Rachel sent the response before starting on a new message of her own. "How is your day going? You were supposed to be picking up Renee's friend today? You two hanging out now?"

[groveoflove]

“The castle was under poor management, so OSHA told them they had to be shut down.” Fern had a small smile on his face, moving the dump truck to dump the sand some distance from the castle. He wasn’t going to be making sound effects any time soon, but it was kind of fun to just mess around, and ‘accidentally’ knock over one of the castle walls with the truck. He continued moving the sand after Aiden destroyed the parts of the castle till it was all down. “What should we build now then? Fern asked, carefully moving Ava’s dolls to the side so they wouldn’t be in the way. “What about just a tall building? Destroying it is kinda more fun then building.” He added, yawning a bit. 

[LilGirlLya]

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Aiden joined in making trying to build the tallest tower he possibly could and found himself laughing every time it collapsed and honestly enjoying playing with Maddie. "I'm so glad you came today Maddie, I never imagined I'd meet a little girl who liked playing like this and can still talk like an adult." It wasn't long before a man and woman rounded the park path, both were older than Rachel and looked fairly well to do. "Oh hey, its Mommy and Daddy, Aiden waved and when they came over introduced them to Maddie. His mother checked and Aiden proudly informed her that he was wet and had no idea when he did it, garnering some praise in the process. He then pointed his mother to were Ava was and she picked him up. After peaking inside the playhouse she loudly screamed,

"Ava! What on earth did you do!?" Followed by more crying. Aiden and Ava's mommy pulled Ava out by the arm and led the two of them to the toilets. It took a bit of time but Aiden came back relatively amused but Ava was sobbing in just a diaper. Their Mommy sat them both back in the sandpit beside Fern. "Honestly Ava, after that stunt I think we need to hold off on pullups for a bit until you learn to appreciate them more. Honey," she said to her husband, "please find an employee and let them know a little made a mess in the playhouse." Ava continued to cry and only once their parents went to find a park staff member did Aiden whisper to Maddie.

"Ava didn't like sitting her poopy pull up so she took it off. She got the playhouse and her dress all messy so she's going to be in diapers for a bit. Looks like we'll be potty training together huh, sis?" Ava bawled at that. They played for a bit longer before Rachel came over.

"OK Maddie, I think it's time to take a nap for a bit, if Ava and Aiden are still here when you wake up you can play more then." She picked Maddie up out of the bit and dusted her off.

"Um..Maddie's mommy, do you think Maddie would want to play with us again?"

"Well Maddie? Should I talk to their mommy and daddy?"

[groveoflove]

“I-“ Fern started, before ducking his head, immediately backing out. Aiden seemed nice, and Fern didn’t want to ruin it. He didn’t think Aiden was one of the people who’d be mean about it, but he might laugh, and that was always awful too. “It was nice to meet you too, Aiden.” He felt nervous about the two amazons coming over, especially after he remembered that they’d been the ones to get that weird shocking thing in Aiden and Ava’s legs, but after keeping quiet, it seemed neither of them were going to talk to him. Playing again was fun, but he couldn’t get over his wariness enough to start talking as much, and at the end, he was a bit relieved when Rachel came to pick him up.

”Um.” Fern frowned, looking down as he thought. Ava was kind of a brat, but he’d like to hang out with Aiden later. But he most definitely did not want to be around their parents while Rachel talked to them. “I guess.....”

[LilGirlLya]

Rachel exchanged information with the mother but instantly didn't like her. It was parents like her that gave amazon's a bad name. She would be OK with Maddie playing with the kids again, but her girl was not going to be around them unsupervised. "Come on Maddie, lets take a nap. We might have some company later so we want you to be in a good mood to meet Aunt May and her friend. She's a little too, but she's a bit bigger than you it seems. Maybe she'll still want to play with you? Won't that be nice?" Rachel sat Maddie in her stroller and pulled the sunshade over her. "OK baby, close your eyes or a bit. Mommy will be right here." Rachel turned on some kids music for Maddie to fall asleep to, the music was more subtle than the outright subliminal hypnotism of the videos from earlier. These would just help Maddie relax, the poor girl still had some trouble taking naps. Hopefully it would cause her to need a change too, Rachel thought. She wanted Maddie to lose control on her own without needing to resort to the hypnotism some amazon's did, but she also didn't want her girl developing an infection from trying to hold on for too long.

After a few minutes of reading on her phone Rachel saw the text come back in and quickly sent off a response. "If you want to come over tonight that's fine. I like putting Maddie to bed about two or three hours before I go to sleep. I don't know what your plans are with your little but maybe she'd like to play with Maddie? When are you putting her to bed?"

[groveoflove]

“Bye, Aiden.” Fern gave him a shy wave, feeling relieved they were moving away from the other amazons. Even if it meant he had to take a nap. It felt weird in the stroller, and he’d likely have done his usual move of just closing his eyes and feigning sleep, but once Rachel put the music on, it made him feel drowsy. He didn’t really like the idea of sleeping where anyone could just walk right by him, though he guessed Rachel was right there. And at least Rachel didn’t do weird things like Aiden’s and Ava’s parents.

He didn’t remember falling asleep, only that he woke up after a bit feeling groggy, and having that gross post nap taste in his mouth. But more importantly, shifting to sit up, he realized he’d wet his diaper at some point while he was asleep, which was very much not something that made him feel good. 

[LilGirlLya]

Rachel saw the message come through on her phone and responded. "Oh, sorry. Even if she isn't your little though you need to watch her like she is. All it takes is losing track of her and she's going to run into an Amazon that doesn't respect free littles. So, see you tonight?" She heard Maddie stir as soon as she sent the message.

"Well hello there, good afternoon Maddie. Did you get a good nap?" Rachel checked her girls diaper and was relieved to find it wet. "I think somebody had an accident! I'm proud of you Maddie, don't hold that potty in, we don't want you to get sick. Just keep going when you need to like a good girl!" Sure she had cheated a little bit, but Maddie didn't need to know that. Besides, helping her relax was different than brainwashing her. Just keep up the positive reinforcement and she'd have a happy baby in no time. If only all Amazon's were so enlightened. She thought back to Aiden and Ava's parents. She hadn't even got their names come to think of it. Oh well, they were now just saved in her contacts as Aiden and Ava's Mommy and Daddy. "Come on baby, mommy has to use the potty so you need to come with me. I'll take care of your diaper in there and then we can either play some more or go home. We might have company tonight and they are coming just for you!"

Rachel took her baby with her to the toilets and true to her word as soon as she was done cleaned and changed Maddie's wet diaper. It looked like Maddie had been holding it because she'd made a flood but also the urine was dark. If she'd been soaked but the urine was relatively clear that would be OK but the dark urine suggested Maddie might be getting some mild dehydration. "Why don't I feed you first, then we can decide, OK? You just think about what you want to do while you're having your afternoon bottle." Rachel returned to the bench and cradled Maddie in her lap, getting the bottle from the diaper bag and beginning to nurse her little.

[groveoflove]

Fern, on the other hand, was pretty upset about having an accident during his sleep, so he didn’t feel like responding to how happy Rachel seemed about it. He hadn’t gone in his sleep since he was very young, and that had just been a period of bedwetting when he was about five, and no one had exactly been praising him about that. Being changed was back to feeling embarrassing, especially because it was right in the bathroom, where complete strangers could see him. It made him feel gross. 

But after that felt like a mortifying eternity, it was over, and Rachel was slipping a bottle into his mouth. Which was still embarrassing, but not the disgusting ‘everyone was looking at him’ kind of embarrassing as a couple minutes ago. And he did feel pretty thirsty, though he’d have preferred to feed himself. 

“I don’t want to play anymore.” Fern answered after finishing the bottle, and Rachel had done the usual burping. “Can we just go?” His good mood from before had seemed to faded, the usual sullen expression creeping back on.

[LilGirlLya]

"Of course sweetie. I still need to do some shopping though so we can go ahead and pick up your new paci clip and a toy if you want one. Do you have any idea what kind of toy you might like?" Rachel put Maddie back in the stroller long enough to push her back to the entrance. There, she started the car and placed Maddie in her carseat while disassembling the chair. "Have you been thinking about what kind of toy you might want? I think we should be able to find a Target or something on the way home so we can get groceries and some things for you too."

[groveoflove]

Fern shrugged, biting his finger as he thought, temporarily forgetting about the pacifier hanging from its clip. He hadn’t really put much thought into toys yet, other then that dolls were out. He tried to think about what kind of things he played with when he was really young, but he’d been pretty content then running around and climbing trees. And dinosaurs, he’d had a bit of a dinosaur craze in elementary school. Wasn’t like he remembered being the age he was apparently considered to be here. “...I don’t know. Do I have to decide now?” Maybe one of those plastic animals sets, the ones with the farm or zoo animals, though he’d might look for one with more wild animals. He was just interested in seeing if they looked any different then back home. 

[LilGirlLya]

"Of course not sweetie, you have the whole ride over there to think it over." Once they arrived at the store Rachel carried Maddie inside and sat her in the seat of a shopping cart and began her search. It was a nice enough day so the store was maybe busy than a normal early afternoon on a weekday, but not crazy. She got food for herself before making her way to the back of the store, through the baby section and into the little one. 'Amazon baby stuff just isn't as nice' she thought as she walked through. 'Guess if they're supposed to grow out of it why invest in quality?' She got a box of diaper and formula for Maddie, the little girl was still good on baby food and little snacks, before getting a thought and pulling out her phone as they passed the little furniture aisle.

"Hey May, quick question. Will your guest need a high chair or booster? We're at the store now and I just thought about that. Love you." With that done, she returned her full attention Maddie, "OK, lets get you a new paci clip." The clips they found in the next aisle over were mostly covered in geometric patterns in multiple, muted colors. They had more brights ones like a white one with cupcakes, a light pink one with blue butterflies, and a bright green one with dinosaurs. Rachel wasn't going to hold out for the hot pink 'mommy's girl' if her theories about Maddie being a tomboy were correct. It would be cute though..

Once she was sure Maddie was satisfied with her choice, put it in the cart promising to change it out once they paid and brought Maddie to the toy aisle. "OK Baby, we'll walk up and down the aisles, if you see anything you like, just let me know and we'll see if we can get it."

[groveoflove]

Sitting in the seat of the cart wasn’t so bad, it let him get a good view on things as Rachel went around the store. Though it was a bit boring. He’d always been a picky eater, so it wasn’t like he was super interested in trying to urge Rachel to get any certain snacks or sweets, like some of the other littles in the aisles were. But finally, they were at the clips, and it was easy for Fern to make his selection. “...The green one, I like dinosaurs.” He was quiet for a moment or two, before admitting, “Greens my favorite color. Like forests.” He felt shy after that, blue and red was more of the boy colors after all so he was happy Rachel went on to move to the next aisles.

Fern took a bit longer to pick out a toy, tipping his head to squint at some of the labels. He knew enough to cross out any of the toys that were apparently out of his ‘age range’, even if they looked a bit more interesting. There were some of those ‘brain’ toys, puzzles and stuff, but he’d never been really good at any of that, so he skipped over that as well. After awhile, he eventually settled on what he’d thought about earlier, one of those animal sets things. He’d spent most of the time on those actually, trying to decide between one with jungle animals or aquatic animals. He had a tendency to be indecisive. “Um. That one, I think.” Fern decided finally, pointing at the aquatic one. “...Please.” He added after a few moments thought.