Little Lady Briana (Ch 31 - A Cloudland Coup! 3/01/2025)

[YourFNF]

Briana's got a good heart but she is also pretty naive I really hope she doesn't get Ava outed.

[kerry]

Nice to see Brianna again. I've definitely missed this story.

[SolSombraYSoldados]

On 10/30/2024 at 4:19 AM, Bluebird67 said:

Glad to see you posting here again: you are easily one of my favourite two or three authors here. I really hope you don’t leave the story in this sad place for too long!

Your wish is my command, or something.  I'm still recovering from the election and other business, but I'm trying to get more writing done.

 

Next up, Briana FINALLY gets to see her Mom's witchy stuff in action! There are some traditions out there that think tapping into your childlike self is just fine and dandy!

 

22 Pole Dancing Baby

Wedged between Melody and Gary in her car seat, Briana was far too restrained by her harness for how bouncy she was feeling. They were finally getting to see Mom in action as a witch! Not only that, but they were on a road trip, too. The journey had taken them out of town but away from the highways, onto smaller roads that passed fancy houses with big yards. From there, they took a gravel road up a hill, with trees packed so closely that they went slap, slap, slap against the car’s mirrors.

Briana couldn’t decide what was more exciting, the box of ritual stuff her mom had packed into the trunk, the box of donuts from Klemm’s – which Dad had driven two hours to pick up, or the fact that she’d convinced both Melody and Gary to come to the event. Melody had immediately said no when they were first asked. Like a good girl, Briana hadn’t asked again but hadn’t stopped talking about it either. Her sib’s progression from rolling their eyes to asking questions to grudgingly agreeing to go had been some of the most fun Briana had had with Melody in a while.

In contrast, Gary had been an easy one. Ava was out of town visiting her parents after the disaster at the Green Fairy, so there was no choice to be made between boyfriend and girlfriend. As usual, Briana’s bestest boy was up for anything, though he checked with Veronica to make sure it was okay for him to come along.

“Mom, you said there was going to be dancing, right?” Briana bounced as mightily as her car seat straps would allow. Gary tickled Briana out of her bouncing and into an equally energetic squirm.

“There will be a maypole dance that’s part of the ritual itself, yes.” Veronica looked back from the front passenger’s seat, smiling. “After the ritual, people are free to dance as much as they’d like, and we often do, at Beltane.”

“Mommy, I’m so excited. When do we get there?!”

“Technically, you didn’t say, “Are we there yet?”, but you know that was the same thing,” Veronica smirked. “Gary, Melody, you know what to do.”

“Nooo!” Briana giggled wildly as she was tickled from both sides by her boyfriend and sibling. By the time they relented, she was a contrite Little girl with slightly soggy pants.

Dad rounded a final curve on the road and pulled their car onto a gravel parking strip at the edge of a beautiful meadow. At the center of a circle of clipped grass, brilliant streamers flapped in the wind from the crown of a carved wooden pole. Beyond the cut grass area, the meadow was wild with tall grasses and sprawling patches of wildflowers. The lawn itself didn’t look like it had been mowed with a machine; the grass was ankle-deep, long enough for clover to thrive uncut.

There were people in quirky, colorful outfits on the lawn, setting up what looked like four metal firepits, though only one had wood stacked in it. The tree branches bordering the meadow were decorated with flowers and what looked like packages of baked goods wrapped in colorful cellophane. Someone was singing along to another person’s harp playing. Universally, the people in the meadow were smiling and laughing in obvious good spirits.

It took an eternity for Gary to get out of the car and release Briana from her car seat straps. When her sparkly pink shoes touched gravel, she scampered away to greet a woman in a green dress with yellow leaves printed on it. The woman had long black hair with wavy streaks of gray throughout. Age-wise, Briana placed her somewhere between Mom and Grandma, with mid-forties as a solid guess.

Briana had chosen her most spring-like outfit for the occasion: a creamy yellow blouse under a baby blue overall dress and sparkly white tights. Her red hair was coiled up by a glitter-encrusted wire with plastic flowers Briana had glued on herself. She grinned at the woman, hoping her blush was properly sparkling in the sunlight, and offered her hand.

“Hello! I’m Briana!”

“Welcome, Briana! I’m Madison, but I’m known as Ashen Wolf in the coven. I’ll happily answer to either.” She shook Briana’s hand and pulled the Little girl forward for a kiss on both cheeks. “Thank you for brightening our Beltane with your very sparkly presence. Blessed be.”

“Thank you for inviting me!” Briana performed a quick turn to show off the spinniness of her skirt and crashed into her Mom’s arms.

“Ashen Wolf, Blessed Beltane.” Veronica firmly but warmly contained Briana with a hug. “I see my daughter precedes me.”

“Blessed Beltane, Moonshadow.” Ashen Wolf kissed Veronica on her right cheek. “She’s every bit as darling as you told us she would be.”

“Is that your coven name, Mom? Moonshadow?” Briana squirmed out of her mom’s grasp, only to be lifted into Gary’s arms with a squeal of delight.

“The witch’s name I chose is The Witch of Moonlight Shadows, but that’s a lot to say in casual conversation, so my coven often calls me Moonshadow.” Veronica motioned to a man in a green and white ballet outfit with a skirt like daisy petals. “Dancer in the Autumn Mist is another one who went for a phrase name, but we usually call him Dancer.”

“I want to meet everybody!” Briana threw her arms out expansively.

“So mote it be.” Ashen Wolf winked mischievously. “Do you mind if I introduce our newcomers while you set up, Moonshadow?”

“Not at all. I’ll introduce them to you since they’re a touch more restrained than Briana. This is Gary, Briana’s boyfriend, and this is Melody, my child. Briana’s pronouns are She/Her, Gary’s are He/Him, and Melody’s are They/Them.”

“Wonderful to meet you both. You may have heard, but I’m Ashen Wolf or Madison. She/Her.” Ashen Wolf motioned to the clearing. “Now that you’re here, we have all our participants, so it’s a perfect time to introduce you.”

While they traveled around the circle, Mom and Dad produced the donuts they’d brought to oohs and ahhs from the coven. Regally elevated on Gary’s hip, Briana met the coven members in twos and threes. There was Dancer, Sapphire Sky, and Sage of the Rushing Rivers, who went by Sage. It’d been Sapphire Sky playing the harp and Sage singing. Sapphire Sky’s dress style was non-binary, to go with their They/Them pronouns. Briana was excited to see Melody perk up at Sapphire Sky’s short hair and masculine clothes that nicely complimented their earrings and makeup. Briana and Melody shared a grin when Sapphire excused themselves to check out the donuts.

They met Lapis River and Frost Willow, who were blessing a bowl of water on the West side of the lawn. Briana was excited to see them casting salt into a candle flame during their incantation but noticed that Melody looked uncomfortable. She wished she could give her sib a quick hug, but there was no getting out of Gary’s arms, and anyway, Briana was having a lot of fun being carried.

Birch Bark and Kukui Pueo were lighting a pile of incense in the firepit on the East side of the clearing. By far the youngest of the Coven, Birch Bark was younger than Briana’s Big self, probably in her first year of college, if she was in school. In contrast, Kukui Pueo had an ageless face that could have belonged to a twenty-year-old woman or a fifty-year-old in excellent health.

“Is it okay if I ask what your name means, Kukui Pueo?” Briana was glad she’d managed to get the accent close to the pronunciation she’d heard from the woman.

“It’s Hawaiian. The Kukui is what you’d call a Candlenut tree, and Pueo is our owl. Both the tree and the bird are associated with wisdom and the spiritual realm in Hawaii.” Kukui Pueo pronounced Hawaii as Ha-Vai-Ee, which Briana resolved to work on doing herself, but not without some practice.

“You must be a very wise witch then!” Briana said excitedly.

“She is.” Birch Bark said, looking reverently at Kukui.

“Maybe.” Kukui Pueo shrugged and laughed. “All I can claim is that I’ve asked the Kukui and Pueo to bless me with some of their wisdom.”

“What’s the incense for? Are you going to do a blessing on it like they were doing on the other side for the water?” Melody’s blurted-out question was a mild surprise to the witches but a big one for Briana. They didn’t look more at ease than at the water ritual; if anything, Melody was more agitated.

Be cool, Sib! These people aren’t like the mean religious people your mom used to hang out with.

“We have representations of four classic elements at each cardinal direction.” Birch Bark said. “It’s not as easy to contain air as fire, water, or earth, so we put incense here to mark the East.”

“The incantation is a simple cleansing spell with fire, water, salt, and breath from our bodies,” Kukui Pueo added. “It’s a short and easy chant to learn; you’re welcome to participate.”

“No, that’s okay,” Melody said quickly.

Gary nodded. “I’d like to watch if that’s alright.” Briana nodded along with Gary, not wanting to be the only one joining in.

“Of course,” Kukui Pueo said. “Birch Bark, would you like to speak the incantation?”

Birch Bark was eager, kneeling before the incense brazier with a candle in a small water dish. “Salt and Water, Visible and Invisible, Self and World, be cleansed!”

Kukui Pueo dashed salt across the candle flame, causing a tiny spark before the crystals fell into the water. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and breathing across the candle as Birch Bark continued the incantation.

“By the Living Goddess, the Goddess who is the Merciful Huntress, and the Goddess who is born anew, I cast out everything harmful in this offering. By the Fertile Goddess of the Field, with the Horned God intertwined, let our offering take in the healing essence of life.”

Birch Bark took a deep breath. Joyous concentration was written on her face as she loudly proclaimed, “So mote it be!”

“Beautifully done, Birch Bark.” Kukui Pueo kissed Birch Bark on the cheek. “Is that the new incantation you’ve been working on?”

“Yes.” Birch Bark blew out the candle and stood. “It took me a while to find the words that express cleansing to me.”

“You’ll have to share it in detail at the next esbat; I think it’s a good candidate to update our cleansing incantation,” Kukui Pueo said, to which Birch Bark beamed proudly.

“So you just make up whatever you want?” Melody asked, frowning.

“I suppose that depends on where you think creativity comes from.” Kukui Pueo seemed unbothered by Melody’s abrupt question, but Birch Bark was frowning back at Melody. “If you think it comes from inside us, then yes, we create incantations that match the feelings we experience in our rituals. If inspiration from the outside is something you believe in, then the Goddess gives us those words.”

“But which one is it?” Melody bit their lip, looking as upset as they did during an argument. “Which way is the right way?”

“Both and neither,” Kukui Pueo said gently. “Wicca isn’t about right answers or dogma. It’s about each witch finding her own way to truth and love. The right answer for any witch is the answer that’s right for her. There are wrong ways for witches to treat and interact with others, but no wrong way for us to have a relationship with the Goddess, as long as we’re being honest about that connection.”

Melody did not look satisfied with that explanation, but the petulance had left their tone when they asked, “What’s today’s big ritual about? What are we supposed to be feeling?”

“Beltane is about new beginnings, nature’s renewal, and physical love,” Ashen Wolf said. “Did your mother explain what will happen during the ritual?”

“She said we’ll listen to an incantation, pick a ribbon while saying something about what the color means to us, and then dance.” Melody crossed their arms uncomfortably.

“Knowing Moonshadow, she told you more than once that you don’t have to participate, but I’ll reiterate that now,” Ashen Wolf said. “It’s alright to be uncomfortable if you’re willing to challenge that discomfort. If you’re opposed to participating, please don’t join in, as you’ll sour the energy of the ritual.”

“I want to – but I don’t understand all this moon logic. I – I’m worried I’ll be a fail-witch.” Melody’s face was beet red. Briana sat in Gary’s arms with her mouth hanging open. Of all the things she’d expected from her sibling, an intense desire to ensure they correctly participated wasn’t one of them.

“You’re worried about making a mistake?” Birch Bark asked, her frown cleared by an understanding smile. “No problem, we have a protocol for that. If you make a mistake, laugh and keep going. You’re not responsible for a critical part of the ritual, so any mistakes you make are just an opportunity for humor, which is important today anyway.”

“That’s right.” Kukui Pueo said. “We believe every person has three selves; the most important for Beltane is the Younger Self. That’s the self of intuition, emotion, laughter, and impulsivity.”

“So the younger self is basically my sister?” Melody smirked. “See, Bri? Even Witches think you’re a baby.”

Briana giggled. “Then I am a very special guest today!”

Ashen Wolf laughed along with Briana. “You are indeed. It looks like we’re starting soon. Melody, do you have anything else to ask before the ritual begins?”

“No – I think I’ve got it. Can I stand next to Briana when we do the thing?” Melody took Briana’s hand tightly, giving their sister a relieved squeeze when the witches assured them they could stand next to anyone they wanted.

~~~*~~~

The final preparations consisted mainly of arranging everyone in a circle. Briana had Ashen Wolf on her right side and Melody to her left. Gary had been shuffled a few places away as the circle came together, which was fine because she could see his face that way. Importantly, Melody had Mom on their other side. Despite their earlier joke about Briana being the Younger Self incarnate, Melody looked nervous again.

Dancer lead the group through a simple breathing exercise, encouraging them to breathe with their bellies. Briana took in air deeply through her nose and exhaled hard through her mouth until she was lightheaded. Mom looked perfectly serene and in her element. Kukui Pueo might have said there were three selves, but Mom seemed to have a lot more than that. There was Mom, the most important of her selves as far as Briana was concerned, and the one the Little girl knew best. But there was Veronica, the competent academic woman as well. There was her mom’s political face and the soft younger sister's face she showed to Aunt Kiara and Grandma. At the start of the Beltane ritual, Briana saw a new Veronica in her mom’s intense gaze and calm face. That had to be Moonshadow, the woman that all the interesting people Briana had met today obviously respected and loved.

Suddenly, Kukui Pueo spoke up, her voice carrying across the clearing like a trained orator. “The Wheel of the Year has brought us to the time when the earth bursts with flowers, when the green shoots rise unhindered, and the sun’s warmth reaches to the core of ourselves. Euphoria and Desire will meet in you as the Maiden of Spring meets with the Lord of the Waxing Year. As nature is renewed, we are rejuvenated and reunited with the feckless and earnest youth of our self. Dance with your heart. Sing with your life force. Listen to the world. The Goddess is coming!”

Mom – Moonshadow – drew a shining knife with a silver handle from her dress’s belt and cut it across the air over the incense brazier. “Hail, Heralds of the East, singers upon the wind! We invoke you by name: Arianrhod, Nihil, Anu, Senuna. Come and dance with us! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

A quarter turn across the circle, Sapphire Sky pulled a dull iron knife from their belt and sliced it across the fire pit. “Hail, Artisans of the South, powers of transformation! We invoke you by name: Brigid, Hestia, Nusku, Gibil. Come and dazzle us with your gifts! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

 Birch Bark had a chef’s knife in her hand; she waved it across the water bowl. “Hail, Lifegivers of the West, bearers of the eternal womb! We invoke you by name: Boann, Rán, Amphitrite, Nanshe. Come and renew the world with us! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

Sage gestured with an old pocket knife over the bowl Briana remembered had dirt or sand in it. “Hail, Guardians of the North, welcoming hosts of the natural world! We invoke you by name: Danu, Jord, Ninmah, Ki. Come and feel the rhythm our bodies make upon the earth! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

Kukui Pueo spoke again; the intensity of her incantation raised hairs on Briana’s arms. “The circle is cast. We are between the worlds where clay meets dreams. The Goddess is in us, we are her. In perfect love, and perfect trust, we begin our ritual.” Veronica turned to Sapphire and kissed them on the lips. Sapphire passed the kiss to Jane, who passed it sunward – the witchy word for clockwise – around the circle until Ashen Wolf kissed Briana, and she passed the kiss to her sibling. Melody closed the circle by kissing their mom’s cheek.

“Take a ribbon and say what the color means to you. Dance with us. Let our bodies and the ribbons bring our power together until it is wrapped as a gift for all assembled.” Veronica reached for a pale yellow ribbon and said, “I choose a soft yellow for the new dawn in my life.”

Other people stepped forward from their places in the circle without any apparent order. Some of them were as poetic as Veronica was in her Moonshadow self. Others, like Ashen Wolf, gave invocations as simple as “I choose blood red for my health.”

Briana looked at Melody, who seemed as nervous to step forward as she felt. More than half the circle had chosen ribbons already. With an encouraging smile at her sib, Briana dashed forward and grabbed a bright blue ribbon that matched Melody’s hair. “I choose blue, for the sibling I didn’t know I needed, until they were already part of my heart.”

Melody smiled and blushed, like the cutie Briana knew they always were, no matter how gruff or gamery they pretended to be sometimes. More people took up ribbons until only Dad and Melody were left. Dad gave Melody an encouraging nod, and Melody stumbled forward. Their hand hesitated over the last two red and green ribbons. They took the green one and, in a shaky voice, said, “I choose green for growth.”

Briana could tell there was a lot behind Melody’s simple sentence, which made her want to listen to everyone repeat their choices so she could re-evaluate the simple ones. That wasn’t how the ritual worked, though. Dad already had the red ribbon in her hand, and she spoke as simply as Melody. “I choose red for love.”

Sage began singing, joined by Lapis and Dancer. Participants raised bells, tambourines, and other noisemakers all over the circle. On the heels of the music, the dance began. Despite Mom’s explanation of the dance, Briana had been worried that she wouldn’t know what to do. In practice, it was easy. She spun arm in arm with Melody, laughing, then stomped her way in and out of the people dancing in the other direction. On the next round of spinning, she had Gary as a partner, and it was on to weaving their ribbons once again. In far too short a time, the ribbons were tight against the maypole.

Briana spun away from the pole, not ready to stop dancing yet. To her delight, no one else was either! She grabbed Gary and pranced joyfully with him, squealing when he lifted her and spun her around. The music continued, and the dancing did, too. Even Melody was still dancing, though they looked embarrassed.

“Melody!” Briana grabbed her sib’s hands and danced with them and Gary in a circle until they were both laughing like idiots. Everyone was laughing, spinning, and generally letting themselves be silly. Mom and Dad were switching between traditional folk dancing and twerking their butts at each other, which sent the entire circle into helpless laughter.

Laughter replaced the song they’d danced to, but the bells lasted as long as people’s bellies were quivering. When quiet settled on the group, Veronica put out her hands. One by one, people linked up with smaller groups, joining together until the circle was reformed, with everyone standing in different places.

“We renew ourselves with laughter, with youth, and with play,” Veronica said. “Let us take a quiet moment in this power to feel the roots of our past that have led us to this place. For persons loved by the members of this circle who are not here or who are absent, we bring your memory into our circle. Friends far away and family who have gone on to the worlds invisible, we breathe the world’s new life into your names. In the Goddess and in our hearts, you are present, and you live forever.”

The circle fell silent. Melody closed their eyes. Hastily, Briana did as well. Almost everyone important to her was present, except for Ava. It felt weird to focus on her girlfriend when she was holding Gary’s hand, so she added the friends and temporary siblings she’d known in her chaotic days as a foster kid. Those days had been hard, but there had been good people around who helped her get to the family she had now. With a happy sigh and misty eyes, Briana embraced each of them in her mind. She couldn’t help but steal a kiss from her memory of Ava, but she knew Gary wouldn’t mind.

“Come back to us. Come back to the circle. Wonderful friends and beloved companions, we have raised the Goddess in our midst. We release the circle now, but the Goddess is here, always. Together, we rejoice and live, and most of all, we feast!” Veronica ended her incantation with a laugh.

Briana opened her eyes to see Veronica ritually cutting the air with her dagger – which she’d said was called an athame – at the south point of the circle. Kukui, Frost, and Birch cut the other cardinal directions at the same time. A change rippled through the participants; Briana could feel the built-up energy of the ritual released.

“Grab a donut or anything else you want.” Sapphire shamelessly jogged to a tree to grab the jelly donut they’d been eyeing since Veronica opened the boxes.

The rest of the celebration was a delightfully casual time of eating, dancing, and chatting. Though no one in the coven seemed like a serious or grim person in their regular life, they were obviously having a good time being more silly and playful than usual. Several coven members leapt over the fire pit, shouting things they wanted to leave behind them, like they were making new year’s resolutions. Briana’s begging to jump over the fire herself got her a swat on the butt from Mom, but a playful one. The mood was too good to ruin with a tantrum, so Briana accepted her Little status and let the fire thing go.

The vibe – as Melody would say – was so playful that Briana felt comfortable enough to crawl around in the grass. No one seemed to mind; in fact, Dancer joined Briana in crawling and helped her start an impromptu game of crawling tag. The game ended with the participants and those watching laughing as they lay about in the grass.

Briana was unsurprised to need a diaper change toward the end of the celebration. What was a surprise was that Melody was popped into the car alongside her, getting a change from Mom while Dad changed Briana. In response to Briana’s questioning look, Melody blushed and threaded their fingers through Briana’s.

“It’s like – today’s about the Younger Self, or whatever. You were having fun being Little, so I, um – I wanted to be more Little, too.”

“I’m glad you had such a good time, sib.” Briana kissed Melody on the cheek, making her sib more bashful and their smile bigger.

Despite the bulge it put in their shortalls, Melody didn’t object to having their pullup swapped for a diaper. Hand in hand with Briana, they rejoined the coven for another bout of silly dancing. When the coven began cleaning up, Briana still wanted more, but not too much more. It’d been a fantastic afternoon from start to finish. She watched as their braided ribbons were cut off the pole and discovered that the wrapped ribbons would be hung in the coven’s main ritual space for the coming year.

While Ashen Wolf and Melody put the fire out properly, Briana danced around the maypole, scattering the Earth offering around the grass. As per Mom’s instructions, she left a handful to combine with a like amount of fire ash, incense, and water. The mixture went into a cool pink bottle that Frost Willow sealed with cork and wax. Cool things were happening all over the lawn, and wonderful people were gathered – especially Birch Bark, who snuck Briana the last donut.

Briana generously shared her donut with Melody and Gary on the ride back. The car was buzzing with conversation about the Beltane celebration, which should have amped up Briana’s already intense excitement. Instead, the gentle rocking of the car on gravel and her impending sugar crash had Briana napping before the car reached a paved road.

She woke at home, snuggled up to Gary on the living room couch. With a happy sigh, Briana stretched and kissed her boyfriend. “Hi, sexy boy. Did you have fun today?”

“I did, though I know for sure now that joining a coven won’t be my kind of thing. I’d be up for going to another seasonal festival.”

“I dunno if I want to be a witch or not.” Briana squirmed into a straddling position on Gary’s lap, discovering a substantial squish in her diaper. “Do you think Melody had fun? I think they did.”

“I think they did, but I’m not sure if they’ll go to another one.” Gary patted Briana’s rear. “What do you say we get you changed and ready for dinner?”

“Okay! Are you babysitting me today? Can I sleep over at your place?”

“Yes, and yes, baby girl.” Gary gave Briana a long, slow kiss that left her as blushy as Melody had been during their diaper change. “If you hadn’t asked, I was going to.”

“Then carry me upstairs, babysitter boy!” Briana grinned. “Oh, I want to wear a new outfit at dinner.”

“I’m surprised your Mom and Dad can keep up with your laundry, you little clothes horse.” Gary chuckled as he hefted Briana up.

“I have to do my OWN laundry.” Briana declared proudly.

“I guess you can change outfits as much as you want.”

Clinging to her boyfriend’s warm chest, Briana made a soft, happy noise. She’d wanted to see her Mom’s religion in action since she’d heard that Mom was a witch, and the result had been more fun than Briana could have imagined. To have it followed up by a sleepover at Gary’s sealed the day as a super awesome one. I can’t wait for the next witch thing! I hope Mom lets me go next month, too!

[SolSombraYSoldados]

Ava visits her family... with a surprise bit at the end.

TRY NOT TO GIGGLE CHALLENGE (IMPOSSIBLE)

 

-----

 

23 Change My Diaper (I Don’t Wanna)

The convenience store’s automatic doors slid open, triggering a soft chime behind the counter. Ava looked up from the stack of lab data sheets she’d neatly stacked behind the counter and spotted an elderly woman with a slight blue tint to her curly hair. “Hi, Mrs. Besaw.”

“Ava, I didn’t expect to see you when I walked in here.” Mrs. Besaw walked up to the counter with a slight wobble. “Does Raj have you working back here when you’re home visiting?”

“Mom got called into work, so it’s either this or I sit at home by myself.” Ava smiled. “I don’t mind, and it gives Dad time to stock the store, so he doesn’t have to do it after hours.”

“You’re such a good girl.” Mrs. Besaw peered at the shelves behind Ava. “Could you be a dear and sell me a pack of Menthols?”

“Mrs. Besaw! I thought you quit last year.”

“I know, sweetie. I thought so, too, but it’s been a stressful month. I won’t smoke the whole pack; my cribbage group will go through them for me, you know that.”

“I think you might be the only lady who puts out cigarettes and tea for her guests.” Ava fetched a pack from the shelf and rang it up on the register. “Is there anything else you need?”

“Oh, I shouldn’t, but my grocery store doesn’t stock this brand of lemon drops.” Mrs. Besaw slyly placed a small bag of candy on the counter.

“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.” Ava winked at Mrs. Besaw. “That’ll be nine dollars and twenty-six cents.”

While Mrs. Besaw painstakingly counted out dollar bills and coins, Ava waved to the store’s newest arrival. “Hi, Jeffery!” Jeffery returned the wave as he made his usual beeline for the beer cooler. His fashion uniform of denim on denim on denim was still going strong, but he’d added a pair of cowboy boots and a western hat since Ava had seen him. She hoped that fashion choice hadn’t come with a confederate flag on his truck; Jeffery had always been a chill guy.

“That should be right, dear; count it to make sure, won’t you?” Mrs. Besaw pushed her pile of cash over to Ava, who counted it as she put it in the register and printed out the receipt. The grandmotherly lady squeezed Ava’s hand warmly before collecting her purchases and wobbling out of the store.

Rather than returning to her data review immediately, Ava rested her chin in her hands and let her eyes wander over the convenience store. Growing up, she’d been embarrassed by the name Singh’s Sundries, but as an adult, she could appreciate how much it had helped her dad fit into Littleton’s New England village vibe while still putting his name on the business. The streets around the shop had become a second neighborhood while Ava grew up, with regulars like Mrs. Besaw becoming honorary family members.

The shop’s earth-toned walls were faded in places and the floor worn, but they were always clean and swept. Her Dad was humming to himself as he put bags of chips and hooks in the junk food aisle, which was perpetually in need of restocking. To her surprise, Ava recognized the song.

“Appa, I didn’t know you listened to Brooke Rapid.”

“She’s the only person they play on the radio these days, and Amrita watches her concerts on TV.” Raj shrugged. “I think she likes Brooke’s sparkly outfits better than the music, though.”

“But you’re not a fan, even though you’re on a first-name basis with her?” Ava laughed. “She’s not my first choice for music, but I like her too.”

“Then we can listen to her in the car when Bonnie arrives for her shift.” Raj walked around the counter and hugged Ava. “We’re worried about you, kanda. Your amma said you sounded stressed when you called her about coming up.”

Jeffery came to the counter with a triple stack of cheap beer cases. While she scanned the beer, Ava switched to Kannada to remind her father that Rohan must have told him about her bad medical news.

"Appa, Rohan nanna doctorinda kettavannu nimge helirabahudu."

Rohan frowned and said, "Ninna anna yavude vivaragalannu tiliyade iddane. Idella gambhira na? Shalege break beku na?"

“That’ll be sixty-five eighteen.” Ava punched the button to send the total to the card reader and shook her head at her dad. It was sweet that Rohan hadn’t passed along details without asking her, but her privacy had come at the cost of Raj being worried enough to ask if she needed to take a break from school.

While Jeffery fiddled with the card reader, Ava squeezed her dad’s arm and reassured him that she’d simply needed her parents after some bad news. "Adenu alla. Kashtavada suddi kelalu bekaddu nanna amma mattu appane.”

"Nimma amma mattu naavu yavagalu nimmagagi iruve, kanda." Sweet as ever, Raj let Ava know that he and Mom would always be there for her. He patted her back while he said goodbye to Jeffery. “Thank you for coming in, Jeff; please come again! Tell your father we have the spicy corn nuts he likes. It was just a little ordering error; we won’t run out of them again.”

“I will do, Mr. Singh, but he might buy you out of them anyway after his dry spell.” Jeffery hoisted his beer and nodded to Ava on his way out. “Good to see you, Ava.”

Brooke nearly collided with Jeffery on her way into the store, blurting out a quick apology and scurrying behind the counter. “I’m here! The register clock says I’m not late.” Brooke put her neon-pink purse under the counter and checked her blonde-highlighted hair on the security monitor. She was Ava’s age, with a housekeeper’s stout body and a clothes closet that must have had a portal to Barbieland.

“It’s fine, Brooke,” Raj said, handing Ava her crutches. “It’s an extra shift anyway; thank you for coming in.”

“You know I’ll always take extra hours.” Brooke leaned over to peek at Ava’s lab reports nosily. “That’s a lot of numbers. You still doing the big brain thing in the big city?”

“Ardenthill is hardly a big city.” Ava chuckled as she stuffed her papers in a binder. “It’s bigger than Littleton, but that doesn’t make a city big.”

“Ardenthill’s five times our size last I checked – seems big to me.” Brooke smiled. “Good to see you again. Are you staying long?”

“I wish. I have to be home tomorrow, so no time to visit with anybody but family.”

“I figured that if you were working the counter for extra time with your pops.” Brooke checked the register drawer and logged herself into the computer. “I’m all set here, Mr. Singh. You can get out of here and enjoy your afternoon.”

“Thank you again, Brooke.” Raj helped Ava to his car a bit heavy-handedly for her taste, but as her dad, he got a pass on taking care of her.

To Ava’s amusement, her dad had a Brooke Rapid song queued up that was precisely the length of his two-and-a-half-minute commute home. Mom pulled up behind them in the driveway. Between her mother’s profuse apologies about being called into work on her day off and her parents insisting on getting food into her, Ava was showered with the parental attention she’d been craving.

A less welcome example of mothering was waiting for Ava in her bedroom. Her mom had unpacked her suitcase, including the towel-wrapped bundle of diapers Ava had brought. When she turned to the door to ask her Mom why her stuff was unpacked, she found Amrita in the doorway.

“We should talk about what I found in your suitcase, kanda,” Amrita said.

“Amma, you didn’t have to unpack for me. I mean, you really did not need to unpack for me.”

“I’m a nurse and your amma; I wanted to make sure you had the medical supplies you needed.”

“Then what is there to talk about? You obviously talked to Dr. Adams’ office. I’m not excited about the news, but I’m being realistic about needing to wear protection.” Ava sighed.

“But the ones you have aren’t medical grade. They’re…” Amrita wrung her hands, lowering her voice to say, “Ava, kanda, they’re like children’s diapers. The kind that everyone on the news is upset about.”

Anxious goosebumps prickled across Ava’s arms. Luckily, she’d had a ready excuse for ABDL diapers ever since discovering the scene in Ardenthill. With her muscular issues elevated from “potential” to “intermittent” incontinence, her reason was even more ironclad than before.

“Amma, it’s not whatever weird thing you saw on TV. The medical ones are so ugly; they make me feel like an old lady. At least these have colors.”

Amrita took a seat on Ava’s bed. The worried furrow in her brows suggested that Ava’s excuse wasn’t doing the bang-up job she’d hoped it would. “Ava, you know you can tell me anything, and I’ll love you no matter what, right?”

“Of course, Amma.” Ava sighed and leaned against her mom, closing her eyes so that Mom couldn’t read her expression as easily. “I’m allowed to wear pretty things even if I’m disabled, aren’t I?”

“What a thing to say! Of course, you are.” Amrita pulled Ava close and kissed the top of her head. “I worry about you. Especially after someone has already assaulted you. Who knows what people would do if they thought you were part of that ABDL kink.”

“I’ll be fine. They already arrested the guy. My girlfriend’s family is ridiculously connected in Ardenthill; they’ve been pressuring the cops and making them run around.”

“I’m going to send you home with a basket of kaju katli to thank them for that. But that’s not enough for me to stop worrying.”

Ava smiled; her mom’s cashew fudge would earn her some excellent points with Briana’s family. She was sure she could also get in on Briana’s share of it. “They’ll love that, thanks amma. I’ll be more careful, okay?”

Amrita didn’t look convinced about Ava’s safety – or her diapers – luckily, the need to make an early dinner freed Ava from the uncomfortable conversation. The rest of her home time flew by. Ava had tears in her eyes to match her parents when she hugged them goodbye.

~~~*~~~

At home in her apartment, Ava went through her physical therapy routine restlessly. A two-hour drive each way hadn’t left room for as much of a family weekend as she’d wanted. That was especially true since she’d returned to Ardenthill early enough that she wouldn’t be anxious about getting ready for the week. Well, she was prepared for the week as soon as she finished her leg lifts, and there was still an entire evening to account for. As she stretched her legs, the yoga mat under her butt seemed especially squishy. Another accident. Ava sighed.

She had a lot of reservations about living the way Briana did, but at that moment, Ava would have given anything to have a half-dozen caregivers to pick from. At least one of Briana’s roommates had to be strong enough to scoop Ava off the floor and carry her to a proper changing table instead of the sad little blanket Ava had laid out in a corner of her bedroom.

Ava’s phone beeped to let her know that physical therapy was done. Without thinking, she shut off the alarm and dialed Briana.

“Hi, Ava!” Despite the way they'd last parted, Briana was as bubbly as ever.

“Hey, girlfriend.” Ava laid back on her mat, surrendering her clothes to the sweat she’d worked up. “I wish you were here.”

“Me too!” Briana sounded as wistful as Ava was. “I’d invite you over, but Mom and Dad don’t usually let me bring friends over on a school night.”

“Is that a hard rule?” Ava knew she should be embarrassed at the whine in her voice, but the way she was feeling, she couldn’t be bothered with such niceties. “Maybe the rules are different if you come over here.”

“I could ask Mom.” Briana sounded eager but not hopeful. “I don’t think she’ll say yes, though.”

“Please, Briana? Tell her I really need to see you. It’s the truth!”

“I’ll do my best, but I have to bring out the big guns. Arnold the Pangolin is going to help me convince them. Also, stay on the phone in case they need extra convincing from you.”

Ava giggled. “Please tell Arnold the Pangolin that I appreciate Arnold the Pangolin’s assistance in this matter.”

The only reply from Briana was a big giggle and the sound of feet loudly marching on a hardwood floor. Faintly, Ava heard Veronica admonishing Briana for stomping in the hall. That was followed by a surprisingly amusing back and forth between Veronica, Jane, Briana, and Briana’s over-the-top orator voice for Arnold the Pangolin. Despite how pompous Arnold the Pangolin sounded, Arnold the Pangolin was making some excellent points. By the end, Ava wasn’t sure if Briana’s parents had been convinced or worn down by how many times they’d had to say Arnold the Pangolin’s full name.

“Ava, they said yes! We can have a sleepover! A big girl sleepover with no adults, even!”

Ava squealed in delight. “Yeah! Well, a mostly big-girl sleepover; we’ll both be in diapers.”

“Dad is going to bring me. She’ll stay long enough to get both of us ready for bed.”

“That’s perfect. She can bring back the fudge my mom made for her and the rest of your family.”

“But not all of it, right? I’m in the family, too; I get some of my own, don’t I?”

“Of course you do, dummy.” Ava rolled over and kicked her feet idly on the yoga mat. “It’s separated into pretty bags for each person. More importantly, will you share yours with your pretty girlfriend?”

“Share? I um – I can share, but didn’t you get some at home?” Briana was whining to match Ava earlier. It was a sure sign of love that Ava found her whines cute.

“No way, Amma never lets us have some of the stuff she makes for thank you baskets.”

“Oh, she’s strict, huh? I can’t wait to meet her!”

“Yeah – you can do that sometime, sure. Anyway, when are you going to be here?”

“Soon! I’m packing stuffies now.”

Ava giggled. “Don’t you need more than stuffies for a sleepover on a school night?”

“Yeah, Dad is packing the rest. She doesn’t trust me to bring all my stuff or something. I’ll be there soon; I love you, Ava!”

“I love you, Bri.” Ava sighed happily and closed the call.

After her physical therapy, Ava didn’t have the energy to clean herself up. She could have forced herself, but there was always the chance that Jane would be willing to help when she brought Briana over. It wasn’t clear what getting ready for bed entailed, but it had to involve some caregiving and, therefore, sounded lovely.

~~~*~~~

As Jane set Ava down on her changing blanket and handed her a baby bottle, Ava reflected that she had not been prepared for the Briana Bedtime Experience. She was so busy being embarrassed about the bottle that she paid no attention to Jane changing her. Ava’s inattention robbed her of her chance to protest the massive amount of padding that was apparently normal for Briana at night. Her legs wouldn’t close around the bulky nighttime diaper with what felt like at least one booster pad inside it.

Whatever was in the bottle was not straight milk, thankfully. It was creamy and tasted like an oat milk drink or a protein shake. Either way, there was more than Ava planned on drinking before bed. Though she hated making Jane undo her work on the huge diaper, Ava felt she couldn’t let the absurd padding go without saying something.

“Uh, Briana’s dad?” Ava’s actual protest died on her lips when she realized how much her Littleness had taken over her speech. Before she could gather her wits, Jane fetched a pillow and propped Ava up on her changing blanket.

“It’s hard to drink a bottle lying down, isn’t it?” Jane patted Ava on the head. “You should be able to finish now without needing me to burp you.”

Burp me?! Embarrassed to her core, Ava hid behind her bottle. Worse, she felt obligated by her silence to start working on the bottle again. It was a good thing the stuff inside was tasty. Jane left Ava’s bedroom and gave Briana a very giggly change into her nighttime diaper out of Ava’s sight. Sucking away at her bottle on autopilot, Ava decided that she had one more out from the situation she’d let herself slide into passively. If Briana’s diaper was one centimeter smaller than Ava’s, she could protest on the grounds of fairness.

Ava’s last hope – other than actually asserting herself – was dashed when Briana crawled into the bedroom with her legs splayed by a ridiculously puffy diaper. “Ava! You look ready for snuggles!”

“How many diapers did your dad put on you, Looney Tunes?” Before Ava could grumble about Jane’s overzealous diapering directly, Briana’s dad returned from the living room. Ava had never known Jane to be anything but mild-mannered, but she couldn’t bring herself to do or say anything that might get her even slightly in trouble.

“She’s going all out tonight because of our special sleepover. Right, Daddy?” Briana grinned at the kiss Jane planted on her head by way of affirmation.

“Did you finish your bottle, Ava?” Jane asked.

“Uh – almost.” Ava held out the bottle to show the little bit left in the bottom. Surely, Jane would agree that she’d drunk enough.

Instead, Jane sat beside Ava and held the bottle to her lips. Briana scooted in to snuggle against Ava, and the Little girl found herself leaning against Jane’s chest, dutifully finishing her drink. No sooner was the bottle done than Jane brought a toothbrush to Ava’s lips. She wasn’t surprised that the toothbrush went in when she opened her mouth. What surprised Ava was that she had run out of annoyance. Begging Briana to come over with a caregiver had come from a place of emotional and physical exhaustion. It was easy to accept Jane’s help passively – more importantly, surrendering to Jane felt safe. When it was Briana’s turn to have her teeth brushed, Ava cuddled quietly against Jane’s side.

The next step was being put to bed at a frighteningly early hour. Jane sat on the edge of the bed with an honest-to-goodness storybook, and Ava had to blink away tears. She spooned close to her wiggly girlfriend, listening to the exploits of a brave little girl who journeyed to a land of monsters and taught them to bake cakes together instead of fighting.

At the story’s end, Briana trained an adorable puppy dog look on Jane. “Daddy, it’s still early. You could read us another story or sing us a song or something.”

“I’m putting you two to bed early because I expect you won’t sleep until some time after I leave.” Jane smiled indulgently and kissed both girls on the head. “Future sleepovers like this will hinge on how I find you tomorrow morning. Happy, well-rested girls will get to do this again. Tired, grumpy girls will have their next sleepover supervised.”

“We’ll be good.” Ava nodded sincerely. Being a good girl for Jane seemed important for more than just another sleepover. “I had a long day; I won’t be able to stay up all night.”

“Do you hear that, Briana? Ava needs sleep tonight.”

“Yes, Daddy!” Briana sounded as sincere as Ava, but she was wiggling far too much for a Little girl who was planning to sleep.

“You’ve both had a bottle and a change. Mango is already in his bed.” Jane tucked the covers up to the Little girls’ chins. “Do you need anything else before I go?”

“You said you’re coming back early tomorrow?” Ava asked.

“That’s right. More than early enough to get you both changed, fed, dressed, and off to school.” Jane stroked Ava’s hair gently.

“Then I’m good – thank you for taking care of me.”

“You’re a wonderful Little girl. It was my pleasure.” Jane planted a kiss on Ava’s cheek.

“I’m good too, Daddy! See you in the morning, and thanks for letting me sleep over!” Briana sighed happily when Jane kissed her cheek.

“Remember that you can call Veronica or myself any time tonight if necessary.” Jane packed the diaper supplies in their bag and set it on Ava’s changing blanket.

“I’m surprised you didn’t get some kind of long-distance baby monitor,” Briana teased.

“Hmm, that’s not a bad idea, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to rig up with a hobby computer…”

“Daddy, no!” Briana laughed. “We’re having a big girl sleepover.”

Ava giggled. After everything Jane had done for her that evening, she’d never felt less like a big girl. Jane seemed just as amused, though, in her typical reserved manner, that meant a simple smile. When Jane departed, it seemed to happen as suddenly as every other phase of the evening. Ava couldn’t figure out what had her so off-guard about Jane. It could have been the German efficiency everyone teased Briana’s dad about. More likely, she was feeling too Little to anticipate the next thing coming.

The theory that Ava was overly distracted gained a lot of weight when she realized she was kissing Briana. It wasn’t like the exploratory kisses she and Briana had shared. Ava gasped and clung close to her girlfriend in response to the passion behind that kiss. The padding around their hips crinkled loudly as their legs entwined. Ava shivered with delight. Though everything felt good, there was something odd about the situation. Ava couldn’t identify a worry or complication, but she couldn’t bring herself to do more than passively kiss either.

“I want to touch you.” Briana squirmed restlessly against Ava. Her voice was still Little despite the activity they were heading toward.

“In naughty ways?” Ava's brain buzzed with the realization that Briana had no intention of dropping out of Littlespace and might not be able to. That meant that Ava didn’t need to get Big, either. She’d played with people at the Green Fairy but never done more than flirted there. Leah had been accepting of Ava wearing diapers and even mommied her a couple of times, but she hadn’t wanted to have sex with a Little Ava.

“Is it okay? I don’t wanna upset you.” Briana was trembling with desire. Obviously, she was aching to put her hands all over Ava, but she was managing to be a very good girl about it.

“What kind of naughty touching do you want to do?” Ava nuzzled Briana’s neck. “Under my PJ top? Under my diaper?”

“Yes, and I want to kiss you all over.” Briana’s restless hand hesitated just under Ava’s breast. The Little girl moaned when Ava shifted to put Briana’s hand on the object of her desire.

“We promised we wouldn’t stay up too late, but we’re kinda small, especially you. I bet there’s time for kissing all over. And touching.” An electric thrill ran through Ava’s fingertips when she slipped a hand under Briana’s PJ top. She’d touched that much on Briana before, especially at the sleepover, but there was no audience or chaperone anymore.

“We can be good girls. We can be very good girls.” Briana panted, kissing Ava’s collarbone. “How much is too much for you?”

“Your dad did such a nice job with our diapers; we shouldn’t take them off.” Ava teased her fingers along the waistband of Briana’s diaper. “But they’re sturdy enough for us to reach inside if we’re careful.”

“That sounds good. For me, other than taking diapers off, you can do whatever you want.”

“Me too.” Ava kiss-bit Briana’s lip before squirming out of her PJ top. Briana caught on fast, flailing her way out of her top by the time Ava was out of hers. Skin to skin, everything was warm and tingly. Ava tangled tongues with Briana, groaning softly into the kiss. It wouldn’t be easy to go to sleep at a reasonable hour like good girls – unless they wore each other out. Pleased at her brilliant idea, Ava pulled her girlfriend tightly against her

[RukaP]

On 11/9/2024 at 12:22 PM, SolSombraYSoldados said:

Your wish is my command, or something.  I'm still recovering from the election and other business, but I'm trying to get more writing done.

 

Next up, Briana FINALLY gets to see her Mom's witchy stuff in action! There are some traditions out there that think tapping into your childlike self is just fine and dandy!

 

22 Pole Dancing Baby

Wedged between Melody and Gary in her car seat, Briana was far too restrained by her harness for how bouncy she was feeling. They were finally getting to see Mom in action as a witch! Not only that, but they were on a road trip, too. The journey had taken them out of town but away from the highways, onto smaller roads that passed fancy houses with big yards. From there, they took a gravel road up a hill, with trees packed so closely that they went slap, slap, slap against the car’s mirrors.

Briana couldn’t decide what was more exciting, the box of ritual stuff her mom had packed into the trunk, the box of donuts from Klemm’s – which Dad had driven two hours to pick up, or the fact that she’d convinced both Melody and Gary to come to the event. Melody had immediately said no when they were first asked. Like a good girl, Briana hadn’t asked again but hadn’t stopped talking about it either. Her sib’s progression from rolling their eyes to asking questions to grudgingly agreeing to go had been some of the most fun Briana had had with Melody in a while.

In contrast, Gary had been an easy one. Ava was out of town visiting her parents after the disaster at the Green Fairy, so there was no choice to be made between boyfriend and girlfriend. As usual, Briana’s bestest boy was up for anything, though he checked with Veronica to make sure it was okay for him to come along.

“Mom, you said there was going to be dancing, right?” Briana bounced as mightily as her car seat straps would allow. Gary tickled Briana out of her bouncing and into an equally energetic squirm.

“There will be a maypole dance that’s part of the ritual itself, yes.” Veronica looked back from the front passenger’s seat, smiling. “After the ritual, people are free to dance as much as they’d like, and we often do, at Beltane.”

“Mommy, I’m so excited. When do we get there?!”

“Technically, you didn’t say, “Are we there yet?”, but you know that was the same thing,” Veronica smirked. “Gary, Melody, you know what to do.”

“Nooo!” Briana giggled wildly as she was tickled from both sides by her boyfriend and sibling. By the time they relented, she was a contrite Little girl with slightly soggy pants.

Dad rounded a final curve on the road and pulled their car onto a gravel parking strip at the edge of a beautiful meadow. At the center of a circle of clipped grass, brilliant streamers flapped in the wind from the crown of a carved wooden pole. Beyond the cut grass area, the meadow was wild with tall grasses and sprawling patches of wildflowers. The lawn itself didn’t look like it had been mowed with a machine; the grass was ankle-deep, long enough for clover to thrive uncut.

There were people in quirky, colorful outfits on the lawn, setting up what looked like four metal firepits, though only one had wood stacked in it. The tree branches bordering the meadow were decorated with flowers and what looked like packages of baked goods wrapped in colorful cellophane. Someone was singing along to another person’s harp playing. Universally, the people in the meadow were smiling and laughing in obvious good spirits.

It took an eternity for Gary to get out of the car and release Briana from her car seat straps. When her sparkly pink shoes touched gravel, she scampered away to greet a woman in a green dress with yellow leaves printed on it. The woman had long black hair with wavy streaks of gray throughout. Age-wise, Briana placed her somewhere between Mom and Grandma, with mid-forties as a solid guess.

Briana had chosen her most spring-like outfit for the occasion: a creamy yellow blouse under a baby blue overall dress and sparkly white tights. Her red hair was coiled up by a glitter-encrusted wire with plastic flowers Briana had glued on herself. She grinned at the woman, hoping her blush was properly sparkling in the sunlight, and offered her hand.

“Hello! I’m Briana!”

“Welcome, Briana! I’m Madison, but I’m known as Ashen Wolf in the coven. I’ll happily answer to either.” She shook Briana’s hand and pulled the Little girl forward for a kiss on both cheeks. “Thank you for brightening our Beltane with your very sparkly presence. Blessed be.”

“Thank you for inviting me!” Briana performed a quick turn to show off the spinniness of her skirt and crashed into her Mom’s arms.

“Ashen Wolf, Blessed Beltane.” Veronica firmly but warmly contained Briana with a hug. “I see my daughter precedes me.”

“Blessed Beltane, Moonshadow.” Ashen Wolf kissed Veronica on her right cheek. “She’s every bit as darling as you told us she would be.”

“Is that your coven name, Mom? Moonshadow?” Briana squirmed out of her mom’s grasp, only to be lifted into Gary’s arms with a squeal of delight.

“The witch’s name I chose is The Witch of Moonlight Shadows, but that’s a lot to say in casual conversation, so my coven often calls me Moonshadow.” Veronica motioned to a man in a green and white ballet outfit with a skirt like daisy petals. “Dancer in the Autumn Mist is another one who went for a phrase name, but we usually call him Dancer.”

“I want to meet everybody!” Briana threw her arms out expansively.

“So mote it be.” Ashen Wolf winked mischievously. “Do you mind if I introduce our newcomers while you set up, Moonshadow?”

“Not at all. I’ll introduce them to you since they’re a touch more restrained than Briana. This is Gary, Briana’s boyfriend, and this is Melody, my child. Briana’s pronouns are She/Her, Gary’s are He/Him, and Melody’s are They/Them.”

“Wonderful to meet you both. You may have heard, but I’m Ashen Wolf or Madison. She/Her.” Ashen Wolf motioned to the clearing. “Now that you’re here, we have all our participants, so it’s a perfect time to introduce you.”

While they traveled around the circle, Mom and Dad produced the donuts they’d brought to oohs and ahhs from the coven. Regally elevated on Gary’s hip, Briana met the coven members in twos and threes. There was Dancer, Sapphire Sky, and Sage of the Rushing Rivers, who went by Sage. It’d been Sapphire Sky playing the harp and Sage singing. Sapphire Sky’s dress style was non-binary, to go with their They/Them pronouns. Briana was excited to see Melody perk up at Sapphire Sky’s short hair and masculine clothes that nicely complimented their earrings and makeup. Briana and Melody shared a grin when Sapphire excused themselves to check out the donuts.

They met Lapis River and Frost Willow, who were blessing a bowl of water on the West side of the lawn. Briana was excited to see them casting salt into a candle flame during their incantation but noticed that Melody looked uncomfortable. She wished she could give her sib a quick hug, but there was no getting out of Gary’s arms, and anyway, Briana was having a lot of fun being carried.

Birch Bark and Kukui Pueo were lighting a pile of incense in the firepit on the East side of the clearing. By far the youngest of the Coven, Birch Bark was younger than Briana’s Big self, probably in her first year of college, if she was in school. In contrast, Kukui Pueo had an ageless face that could have belonged to a twenty-year-old woman or a fifty-year-old in excellent health.

“Is it okay if I ask what your name means, Kukui Pueo?” Briana was glad she’d managed to get the accent close to the pronunciation she’d heard from the woman.

“It’s Hawaiian. The Kukui is what you’d call a Candlenut tree, and Pueo is our owl. Both the tree and the bird are associated with wisdom and the spiritual realm in Hawaii.” Kukui Pueo pronounced Hawaii as Ha-Vai-Ee, which Briana resolved to work on doing herself, but not without some practice.

“You must be a very wise witch then!” Briana said excitedly.

“She is.” Birch Bark said, looking reverently at Kukui.

“Maybe.” Kukui Pueo shrugged and laughed. “All I can claim is that I’ve asked the Kukui and Pueo to bless me with some of their wisdom.”

“What’s the incense for? Are you going to do a blessing on it like they were doing on the other side for the water?” Melody’s blurted-out question was a mild surprise to the witches but a big one for Briana. They didn’t look more at ease than at the water ritual; if anything, Melody was more agitated.

Be cool, Sib! These people aren’t like the mean religious people your mom used to hang out with.

“We have representations of four classic elements at each cardinal direction.” Birch Bark said. “It’s not as easy to contain air as fire, water, or earth, so we put incense here to mark the East.”

“The incantation is a simple cleansing spell with fire, water, salt, and breath from our bodies,” Kukui Pueo added. “It’s a short and easy chant to learn; you’re welcome to participate.”

“No, that’s okay,” Melody said quickly.

Gary nodded. “I’d like to watch if that’s alright.” Briana nodded along with Gary, not wanting to be the only one joining in.

“Of course,” Kukui Pueo said. “Birch Bark, would you like to speak the incantation?”

Birch Bark was eager, kneeling before the incense brazier with a candle in a small water dish. “Salt and Water, Visible and Invisible, Self and World, be cleansed!”

Kukui Pueo dashed salt across the candle flame, causing a tiny spark before the crystals fell into the water. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and breathing across the candle as Birch Bark continued the incantation.

“By the Living Goddess, the Goddess who is the Merciful Huntress, and the Goddess who is born anew, I cast out everything harmful in this offering. By the Fertile Goddess of the Field, with the Horned God intertwined, let our offering take in the healing essence of life.”

Birch Bark took a deep breath. Joyous concentration was written on her face as she loudly proclaimed, “So mote it be!”

“Beautifully done, Birch Bark.” Kukui Pueo kissed Birch Bark on the cheek. “Is that the new incantation you’ve been working on?”

“Yes.” Birch Bark blew out the candle and stood. “It took me a while to find the words that express cleansing to me.”

“You’ll have to share it in detail at the next esbat; I think it’s a good candidate to update our cleansing incantation,” Kukui Pueo said, to which Birch Bark beamed proudly.

“So you just make up whatever you want?” Melody asked, frowning.

“I suppose that depends on where you think creativity comes from.” Kukui Pueo seemed unbothered by Melody’s abrupt question, but Birch Bark was frowning back at Melody. “If you think it comes from inside us, then yes, we create incantations that match the feelings we experience in our rituals. If inspiration from the outside is something you believe in, then the Goddess gives us those words.”

“But which one is it?” Melody bit their lip, looking as upset as they did during an argument. “Which way is the right way?”

“Both and neither,” Kukui Pueo said gently. “Wicca isn’t about right answers or dogma. It’s about each witch finding her own way to truth and love. The right answer for any witch is the answer that’s right for her. There are wrong ways for witches to treat and interact with others, but no wrong way for us to have a relationship with the Goddess, as long as we’re being honest about that connection.”

Melody did not look satisfied with that explanation, but the petulance had left their tone when they asked, “What’s today’s big ritual about? What are we supposed to be feeling?”

“Beltane is about new beginnings, nature’s renewal, and physical love,” Ashen Wolf said. “Did your mother explain what will happen during the ritual?”

“She said we’ll listen to an incantation, pick a ribbon while saying something about what the color means to us, and then dance.” Melody crossed their arms uncomfortably.

“Knowing Moonshadow, she told you more than once that you don’t have to participate, but I’ll reiterate that now,” Ashen Wolf said. “It’s alright to be uncomfortable if you’re willing to challenge that discomfort. If you’re opposed to participating, please don’t join in, as you’ll sour the energy of the ritual.”

“I want to – but I don’t understand all this moon logic. I – I’m worried I’ll be a fail-witch.” Melody’s face was beet red. Briana sat in Gary’s arms with her mouth hanging open. Of all the things she’d expected from her sibling, an intense desire to ensure they correctly participated wasn’t one of them.

“You’re worried about making a mistake?” Birch Bark asked, her frown cleared by an understanding smile. “No problem, we have a protocol for that. If you make a mistake, laugh and keep going. You’re not responsible for a critical part of the ritual, so any mistakes you make are just an opportunity for humor, which is important today anyway.”

“That’s right.” Kukui Pueo said. “We believe every person has three selves; the most important for Beltane is the Younger Self. That’s the self of intuition, emotion, laughter, and impulsivity.”

“So the younger self is basically my sister?” Melody smirked. “See, Bri? Even Witches think you’re a baby.”

Briana giggled. “Then I am a very special guest today!”

Ashen Wolf laughed along with Briana. “You are indeed. It looks like we’re starting soon. Melody, do you have anything else to ask before the ritual begins?”

“No – I think I’ve got it. Can I stand next to Briana when we do the thing?” Melody took Briana’s hand tightly, giving their sister a relieved squeeze when the witches assured them they could stand next to anyone they wanted.

~~~*~~~

The final preparations consisted mainly of arranging everyone in a circle. Briana had Ashen Wolf on her right side and Melody to her left. Gary had been shuffled a few places away as the circle came together, which was fine because she could see his face that way. Importantly, Melody had Mom on their other side. Despite their earlier joke about Briana being the Younger Self incarnate, Melody looked nervous again.

Dancer lead the group through a simple breathing exercise, encouraging them to breathe with their bellies. Briana took in air deeply through her nose and exhaled hard through her mouth until she was lightheaded. Mom looked perfectly serene and in her element. Kukui Pueo might have said there were three selves, but Mom seemed to have a lot more than that. There was Mom, the most important of her selves as far as Briana was concerned, and the one the Little girl knew best. But there was Veronica, the competent academic woman as well. There was her mom’s political face and the soft younger sister's face she showed to Aunt Kiara and Grandma. At the start of the Beltane ritual, Briana saw a new Veronica in her mom’s intense gaze and calm face. That had to be Moonshadow, the woman that all the interesting people Briana had met today obviously respected and loved.

Suddenly, Kukui Pueo spoke up, her voice carrying across the clearing like a trained orator. “The Wheel of the Year has brought us to the time when the earth bursts with flowers, when the green shoots rise unhindered, and the sun’s warmth reaches to the core of ourselves. Euphoria and Desire will meet in you as the Maiden of Spring meets with the Lord of the Waxing Year. As nature is renewed, we are rejuvenated and reunited with the feckless and earnest youth of our self. Dance with your heart. Sing with your life force. Listen to the world. The Goddess is coming!”

Mom – Moonshadow – drew a shining knife with a silver handle from her dress’s belt and cut it across the air over the incense brazier. “Hail, Heralds of the East, singers upon the wind! We invoke you by name: Arianrhod, Nihil, Anu, Senuna. Come and dance with us! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

A quarter turn across the circle, Sapphire Sky pulled a dull iron knife from their belt and sliced it across the fire pit. “Hail, Artisans of the South, powers of transformation! We invoke you by name: Brigid, Hestia, Nusku, Gibil. Come and dazzle us with your gifts! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

 Birch Bark had a chef’s knife in her hand; she waved it across the water bowl. “Hail, Lifegivers of the West, bearers of the eternal womb! We invoke you by name: Boann, Rán, Amphitrite, Nanshe. Come and renew the world with us! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

Sage gestured with an old pocket knife over the bowl Briana remembered had dirt or sand in it. “Hail, Guardians of the North, welcoming hosts of the natural world! We invoke you by name: Danu, Jord, Ninmah, Ki. Come and feel the rhythm our bodies make upon the earth! By fire and air, salt and water, your place is prepared.”

Kukui Pueo spoke again; the intensity of her incantation raised hairs on Briana’s arms. “The circle is cast. We are between the worlds where clay meets dreams. The Goddess is in us, we are her. In perfect love, and perfect trust, we begin our ritual.” Veronica turned to Sapphire and kissed them on the lips. Sapphire passed the kiss to Jane, who passed it sunward – the witchy word for clockwise – around the circle until Ashen Wolf kissed Briana, and she passed the kiss to her sibling. Melody closed the circle by kissing their mom’s cheek.

“Take a ribbon and say what the color means to you. Dance with us. Let our bodies and the ribbons bring our power together until it is wrapped as a gift for all assembled.” Veronica reached for a pale yellow ribbon and said, “I choose a soft yellow for the new dawn in my life.”

Other people stepped forward from their places in the circle without any apparent order. Some of them were as poetic as Veronica was in her Moonshadow self. Others, like Ashen Wolf, gave invocations as simple as “I choose blood red for my health.”

Briana looked at Melody, who seemed as nervous to step forward as she felt. More than half the circle had chosen ribbons already. With an encouraging smile at her sib, Briana dashed forward and grabbed a bright blue ribbon that matched Melody’s hair. “I choose blue, for the sibling I didn’t know I needed, until they were already part of my heart.”

Melody smiled and blushed, like the cutie Briana knew they always were, no matter how gruff or gamery they pretended to be sometimes. More people took up ribbons until only Dad and Melody were left. Dad gave Melody an encouraging nod, and Melody stumbled forward. Their hand hesitated over the last two red and green ribbons. They took the green one and, in a shaky voice, said, “I choose green for growth.”

Briana could tell there was a lot behind Melody’s simple sentence, which made her want to listen to everyone repeat their choices so she could re-evaluate the simple ones. That wasn’t how the ritual worked, though. Dad already had the red ribbon in her hand, and she spoke as simply as Melody. “I choose red for love.”

Sage began singing, joined by Lapis and Dancer. Participants raised bells, tambourines, and other noisemakers all over the circle. On the heels of the music, the dance began. Despite Mom’s explanation of the dance, Briana had been worried that she wouldn’t know what to do. In practice, it was easy. She spun arm in arm with Melody, laughing, then stomped her way in and out of the people dancing in the other direction. On the next round of spinning, she had Gary as a partner, and it was on to weaving their ribbons once again. In far too short a time, the ribbons were tight against the maypole.

Briana spun away from the pole, not ready to stop dancing yet. To her delight, no one else was either! She grabbed Gary and pranced joyfully with him, squealing when he lifted her and spun her around. The music continued, and the dancing did, too. Even Melody was still dancing, though they looked embarrassed.

“Melody!” Briana grabbed her sib’s hands and danced with them and Gary in a circle until they were both laughing like idiots. Everyone was laughing, spinning, and generally letting themselves be silly. Mom and Dad were switching between traditional folk dancing and twerking their butts at each other, which sent the entire circle into helpless laughter.

Laughter replaced the song they’d danced to, but the bells lasted as long as people’s bellies were quivering. When quiet settled on the group, Veronica put out her hands. One by one, people linked up with smaller groups, joining together until the circle was reformed, with everyone standing in different places.

“We renew ourselves with laughter, with youth, and with play,” Veronica said. “Let us take a quiet moment in this power to feel the roots of our past that have led us to this place. For persons loved by the members of this circle who are not here or who are absent, we bring your memory into our circle. Friends far away and family who have gone on to the worlds invisible, we breathe the world’s new life into your names. In the Goddess and in our hearts, you are present, and you live forever.”

The circle fell silent. Melody closed their eyes. Hastily, Briana did as well. Almost everyone important to her was present, except for Ava. It felt weird to focus on her girlfriend when she was holding Gary’s hand, so she added the friends and temporary siblings she’d known in her chaotic days as a foster kid. Those days had been hard, but there had been good people around who helped her get to the family she had now. With a happy sigh and misty eyes, Briana embraced each of them in her mind. She couldn’t help but steal a kiss from her memory of Ava, but she knew Gary wouldn’t mind.

“Come back to us. Come back to the circle. Wonderful friends and beloved companions, we have raised the Goddess in our midst. We release the circle now, but the Goddess is here, always. Together, we rejoice and live, and most of all, we feast!” Veronica ended her incantation with a laugh.

Briana opened her eyes to see Veronica ritually cutting the air with her dagger – which she’d said was called an athame – at the south point of the circle. Kukui, Frost, and Birch cut the other cardinal directions at the same time. A change rippled through the participants; Briana could feel the built-up energy of the ritual released.

“Grab a donut or anything else you want.” Sapphire shamelessly jogged to a tree to grab the jelly donut they’d been eyeing since Veronica opened the boxes.

The rest of the celebration was a delightfully casual time of eating, dancing, and chatting. Though no one in the coven seemed like a serious or grim person in their regular life, they were obviously having a good time being more silly and playful than usual. Several coven members leapt over the fire pit, shouting things they wanted to leave behind them, like they were making new year’s resolutions. Briana’s begging to jump over the fire herself got her a swat on the butt from Mom, but a playful one. The mood was too good to ruin with a tantrum, so Briana accepted her Little status and let the fire thing go.

The vibe – as Melody would say – was so playful that Briana felt comfortable enough to crawl around in the grass. No one seemed to mind; in fact, Dancer joined Briana in crawling and helped her start an impromptu game of crawling tag. The game ended with the participants and those watching laughing as they lay about in the grass.

Briana was unsurprised to need a diaper change toward the end of the celebration. What was a surprise was that Melody was popped into the car alongside her, getting a change from Mom while Dad changed Briana. In response to Briana’s questioning look, Melody blushed and threaded their fingers through Briana’s.

“It’s like – today’s about the Younger Self, or whatever. You were having fun being Little, so I, um – I wanted to be more Little, too.”

“I’m glad you had such a good time, sib.” Briana kissed Melody on the cheek, making her sib more bashful and their smile bigger.

Despite the bulge it put in their shortalls, Melody didn’t object to having their pullup swapped for a diaper. Hand in hand with Briana, they rejoined the coven for another bout of silly dancing. When the coven began cleaning up, Briana still wanted more, but not too much more. It’d been a fantastic afternoon from start to finish. She watched as their braided ribbons were cut off the pole and discovered that the wrapped ribbons would be hung in the coven’s main ritual space for the coming year.

While Ashen Wolf and Melody put the fire out properly, Briana danced around the maypole, scattering the Earth offering around the grass. As per Mom’s instructions, she left a handful to combine with a like amount of fire ash, incense, and water. The mixture went into a cool pink bottle that Frost Willow sealed with cork and wax. Cool things were happening all over the lawn, and wonderful people were gathered – especially Birch Bark, who snuck Briana the last donut.

Briana generously shared her donut with Melody and Gary on the ride back. The car was buzzing with conversation about the Beltane celebration, which should have amped up Briana’s already intense excitement. Instead, the gentle rocking of the car on gravel and her impending sugar crash had Briana napping before the car reached a paved road.

She woke at home, snuggled up to Gary on the living room couch. With a happy sigh, Briana stretched and kissed her boyfriend. “Hi, sexy boy. Did you have fun today?”

“I did, though I know for sure now that joining a coven won’t be my kind of thing. I’d be up for going to another seasonal festival.”

“I dunno if I want to be a witch or not.” Briana squirmed into a straddling position on Gary’s lap, discovering a substantial squish in her diaper. “Do you think Melody had fun? I think they did.”

“I think they did, but I’m not sure if they’ll go to another one.” Gary patted Briana’s rear. “What do you say we get you changed and ready for dinner?”

“Okay! Are you babysitting me today? Can I sleep over at your place?”

“Yes, and yes, baby girl.” Gary gave Briana a long, slow kiss that left her as blushy as Melody had been during their diaper change. “If you hadn’t asked, I was going to.”

“Then carry me upstairs, babysitter boy!” Briana grinned. “Oh, I want to wear a new outfit at dinner.”

“I’m surprised your Mom and Dad can keep up with your laundry, you little clothes horse.” Gary chuckled as he hefted Briana up.

“I have to do my OWN laundry.” Briana declared proudly.

“I guess you can change outfits as much as you want.”

Clinging to her boyfriend’s warm chest, Briana made a soft, happy noise. She’d wanted to see her Mom’s religion in action since she’d heard that Mom was a witch, and the result had been more fun than Briana could have imagined. To have it followed up by a sleepover at Gary’s sealed the day as a super awesome one. I can’t wait for the next witch thing! I hope Mom lets me go next month, too!

Gosh if this didn't make my little heathen heart swell with happiness. This is the kind of chapter I've been so hype for ever since we learned about Veronica being a witch and you did it such justice!!!!!

[SolSombraYSoldados]

On 11/17/2024 at 11:45 PM, RukaP said:

Gosh if this didn't make my little heathen heart swell with happiness. This is the kind of chapter I've been so hype for ever since we learned about Veronica being a witch and you did it such justice!!!!!

Yay! I'm glad it came off well. I actually bought a copy of The Spiral Dance and read it cover to cover for research...

 

Which I'm aware is a bit insane for one chapter, but the next book in this series is going to be titled, "Little Witch Melody" so....

[SolSombraYSoldados]

I think I'll let the name of this chapter stand on its own...

 

24 Very Good Girls

Briana gasped as Ava’s lips pursed around her nipple. They’d shed their pajama tops to get at each other’s skin, but disrobing had also made the room’s sudden heat tolerable. She’d had girlfriends before, but clearly not experienced ones. Whatever Ava was doing to Briana’s nipples with her lips and tongue had the Little girl’s full attention. Ava didn’t seem to mind that Briana was too distracted to reciprocate. In the dim amber glow of the nightlight, Briana could see a Cheshire grin on Ava’s face.

Ava was petite but not slim, with lovely soft curves and a perky bosom Briana couldn’t keep her hands away from. Against Briana’s pale, freckled skin, Ava’s Desi complexion was lively. Briana was a little sad about the “No removing diapers” rule; she was hungry to see every inch of her beautiful girlfriend. At least she could hope Ava would be less shy during diaper changes, letting Briana catch a cheeky glimpse.

“Ava – oh! That’s amazing.” Briana shivered and arched her back toward her girlfriend’s marvelous tongue.

“I had no idea you were so dangerously horny,” Ava said as she nuzzled Briana’s neck. “I should pin you down just to be safe.”

“That’s hot, but…” Briana moaned as Ava’s teeth brushed feather-light across her nipple. “I don’t think you could do that and get under my diaper.”

“It’d be fun to see how far I could go on these sensitive breasts of yours.” Ava curled her tongue around Briana’s nipple. “Plus, we could always rub our diapers together and see if that’s magical.”

A moan warbled out of Briana as Ava made good on her “threat” Her mouth was all over Briana’s breasts and her padded crotch pressed down onto Briana’s diaper. The slick plastic between their legs rubbed together in lovely vibrations that Briana wished she could enhance – but she didn’t need to go potty yet!

“Oh, Ava, oh…” Briana thrashed under her girlfriend and found the hold on her arms trivially easy to break out of. “I’m going to go crazy if you keep that up.”

“Well, what are you going to do about it?” Ava nuzzled and licked her way along the underside of Briana’s breasts.

“I was supposed to get the girl, not – oh! – be the girl who got gotten!” Briana heaved Ava over with a mighty effort, landing atop her girlfriend with their legs intertwined.

“Your round table did help save my kingdom.” Ava licked her lips. “I should be grateful.”

“How grateful?” Briana gently bit Ava’s earlobe and generated a very satisfying moan in her girlfriend. “I am a princess, after all. I won’t take any old reward.”

“Oh? Princess, what do you want?”

“You. All of you.” Briana ran her hands down Ava’s body, giving equal treatment to her girlfriend’s diaper as she caressed.

“Even – my diaper?”

“Especially your diaper.” Briana pressed her bare chest to Ava and gave her a long, slow kiss. When their lips parted with a gasp, Briana kissed her girlfriend’s cheek. “I wear diapers. I’ve been looking for a noble lady who’s as fashionable as I am. Now I’ve found one, and you’re even more pretty than I hoped.”

“When I went to Cloudland for help, I didn’t expect the princess to be so sexy.” Ava giggled, but there was nervousness to it. Briana knew that fear; she’d felt it when she’d first slipped into being Little. For a while, the world had felt like it would smack her down for indulging her Little side any second.

“Well, that’s silly because I’m the winner of the sexiest princess contest three  years running.” Briana grinned shamelessly, opening her heart to Ava.

Ava must have read the acceptance on Briana’s face because she pulled Briana’s head down for a hard, passionate kiss. Delighted, Briana clung to her girlfriend. Ava wasn’t only allowed to be silly, dumb, and Little with her girlfriend – Littleness was encouraged. The kiss’ urgency and the way their sweaty chests pressed together drove moans out of the Little girls.

When the kiss broke, Ava was panting. Briana twined their legs and rubbed her diaper against Ava’s with an unabashedly loud crinkle. She watched Ava flinch and blush at the noise and doubled down, grinding their diapered crotches together until she could feel heat and friction in the padding. Distress fled from Ava’s expression to be replaced by relief and excitement.

Rubbing against her diapered girlfriend was unbelievably sexy. Briana couldn’t believe she’d never fantasized about what she was doing with Ava, especially after the naughty websites Melody had shown her. There was more squish in her padding than her passion could account for – the naughtiness of that feeling made tingles from Briana’s kitty into her belly.

“I’m wet in a couple of ways.” Briana panted, beaming at Ava. “This feels so good. I love it! I love you!”

“I love you, Briana.” Ava was staring up in what seemed like awe as well as love.

“There’s no caregivers here, so I get to check your diaper.” Briana declared as she squirmed into a side hug and placed her hand on Ava’s soft belly. “What am I gonna find in there?”

Ava sucked in her stomach, trembling. “It’s not my fault; your dad gave me a ton to drink before bed.”

“Of course it’s not your fault. I’m not at fault for my sogginess either.” Briana nuzzled Ava’s ear. “We’re Little, and we need diapers; that’s how it is.”

A tear rolled out of the corner of Ava’s eye. She nodded and, in a hushed voice, said, “Ch-check me.”

As she slid her hand into Ava’s voluminous diaper, Briana realized she’d never had her hand in someone else’s diaper before. Her skin prickled with the same excitement she’d felt the first time she’d slipped a hand into someone’s underwear. There was pillowy softness on the back of her hand and forearm, radiantly hot skin under her palm. Ava’s kitty was hottest of all and slick to the slightest touch. The padding over Ava’s crotch was soggier than Briana’s.

“Wet for sure.” Briana marveled at how her words made Ava gasp and arch her back. “It’s a good thing Dad put us both in diapers. Are you a bedwetter, too? I am.”

“I th-think so.” Ava whimpered. “Ever since – it’s recent.”

“It was like that for me, too, before I was Little and Veronica was my mom. It just started happening, and it was scary. But people took care of me.” Briana kissed Ava’s throat, feeling her girlfriend’s pulse pound under her lips. “Can I take care of you?”

“Do you mean in l-life or with your fingers?” Ava groaned and rubbed her kitty against Briana’s hand. “Because one of those I need – right – now.”

“Both.” Briana slipped a finger inside Ava, followed by a second. For unnumbered magical minutes, they rubbed their bodies together to the beat dictated by Briana’s fingers and Ava’s moans. Ava cried out and dug her fingers into Briana’s arm.

“That was amazing.” Ava gasped as she fumbled to kiss Briana. They managed to get their lips partly aligned once, then settled for kissing any sweaty skin they could reach.

“It was so fun.” Briana wiggled happily. She was glowing all over. While her kitty could undoubtedly use some attention, she wasn’t feeling urgent about it.

“Does this make me your consort or secret lover?” Ava smirked. “Is there going to be a scandal in Cloudland?”

“Probably, Alanna watched the whole thing.” Briana giggled.

“Oh no!” Ava hastily shoved Alanna and Brownie under the pillows.

“What will you do to me that you don’t want them to see?” Briana nuzzled Ava’s beautifully pert breast.

“Same thing you did to me, but my fingers are bigger than yours, and you’ll get more of them.” Ava’s eyes twinkled as she slid her hand into Briana’s diaper.

The Little girl barely had time to gasp before Ava made good on her promise with three fingers that filled Briana to the paper-thin edge between discomfort and bliss. She wanted to ask how her girlfriend had guessed that she liked taking so much inside her – even had a tease about Ava noticing her Knight’s sword on her tongue – but all that came out was a moan drenched in passion.

The world narrowed to the feeling of being wrapped around Ava’s fingers, their rough panting, and their pounding hearts. Sparks popped behind Briana’s tightly clenched eyelids, building tension that thundered like fireworks when it burst.

They lay panting with the blankets thrown to the side. Briana cherished the cold on her dripping back as much as the warmth Ava provided to her front. Ava fumbled for Briana’s hand and interlaced their fingers. Briana found Ava’s deep brown eyes in the dusky bedroom and stared adoringly into them.

“My crib is going to feel lonely without you,” Briana said when she had her breath back.

“I can’t believe you sleep in a crib; you’re such a baby.” Ava grinned.

“You’re soggier than I am, baby-Ava.”

“Not after what we just did, I’m not.”

“Cheater.” Briana giggled along with her girlfriend, nuzzling Ava’s nose.

“Are we going to get in trouble with your daddy tomorrow?” Ava tugged at her diaper, which the evening’s excitement had considerably loosened.

“I think she knew what we were going to do.” Briana yawned. “That’s why she put the ones with the extra thick tapes on us.”

“You have so many kinds of diapers and stuff. Your mom and dad – your whole family takes good care of you.”

“They’ll take care of you any time, you know.” Briana nuzzled Ava’s neck. “Dad wasn’t just being nice when she said she liked taking care of you tonight. She doesn’t butter people up like that.”

“I wish we didn’t have to go to school tomorrow. I’d butter YOU up like a pancake.” Ava smirked.

Briana knew a dodge when she heard one but let it pass in favor of pressing closer to Ava. Her back had gone from wet to sticky, and the bedroom was growing chilly.

“I would be a delicious strawberry pancake.”

“Is that what redheads taste like?”

The shiver that ran down Briana’s back had nothing to do with the cold. “I can go again if you’re trying to start something.”

“I wanna, but I’m tired.” Ava yawned. “I was being honest with your dad.”

Briana yawned contagiously and pulled the blanket over them both. “Okay, but you have to cuddle me all night.”

“As you wish, princess.” Ava kissed Briana’s cheek.

“Is that my new nickname? You have two for me, and I don’t have one for you yet.”

“Princess isn’t a nickname – it’s your title.”

“Only in Cloudland.”

“The prince of England doesn’t stop being a prince when he visits Germany.” Ava snuggled into Briana with a sleepy sigh. “Cloudland is as real as England to me. At least I’ve been to Cloudland.”

Briana had to hold Ava tightly to keep from bursting into tears. “I know you worry about – our status sometimes. But Gary’s never been to Cloudland. That’s something for just me and you. Would you like to have a formal introduction to the Court as my consort?”

“I would,” Ava said. Her voice was slipping further into the softness of sleep, but Briana could feel her girlfriend's genuine gratitude and relief.

“I’ll have Sir Chuck set it up.” Briana nodded seriously.

“Not Arnold the Pangolin?”

“Of course not. Arnold the Pangolin is the Court reporter, among other things. Sir Chuck the Giraffe is the court’s chief arbiter.”

“I’m going to need to make a chart.” Ava snuggled up to Briana and stretched in an oddly familiar way. When she saw Ava’s potty-face, Briana realized she had nearly the same pose when using her diaper in bed.

“Let’s go to sleep so Daddy will let us do this again.”

“You’re the one that was talking.” Ava yawned.

“You were talking too!”

“Goodnight, Briana.”

“No princess this time?”

Ava pinched Briana’s side. “Goodnight, Princess Looney Tunes.”

“Goodnight, love.” If there was any more banter after that, Briana lost the memory of it to her dreams.

[SolSombraYSoldados]

Briana does grownup stuff, but Little-style!

 

25 Alex

Briana’s day after her sleepover with Ava was packed with Little time, and it was a good thing, too. The day after that had started early, with Briana dressing in her full Big regalia and being driven to a meeting with a project manager for the new community center. The meeting was in Kiara’s new office, an as-yet under decorated space overlooking the center of Ardenthill. The room was furnished with a stately desk, a conference table surrounded by generic chairs, and a multi-framed Kara Walker work on one wall.

As Kiara’s top pick for the woman who would take the Old Factory from a wreck to an Ardenthill cultural institution, Briana expected Alex to be good at her job. Alex’s impressive resume was no surprise, but her queer presentation of unapologetically masculine clothing, juxtaposed with dramatic makeup was a welcome revelation.

Alex’s eye shadow was magenta and crisply outlined in white. Her cornflower blue lips completed a look with the aesthetic of drag but the precision of a professional. She wore suit pants and a vest in charcoal gray. The button-up shirt underneath was pristine white. Though Alex’s skin was on the pale end of the spectrum, her features showed enough diversity of heritage that Briana doubted Alex belonged to any country clubs.

Briana was grateful for Emeline’s help with her makeup and outfit that day. Her dress was rainbow sparkly to match her makeup, but the while and gold shawl over her shoulders transformed the otherwise Little outfit into an eccentrically rich fit.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Miss Rasmussen.” Alex shook Briana’s hand firmly, before reaching for Emeline. “Good to see you again, Ms. Blanchet.”

“Thanks for flying up from Boston today. It was Aunt Kiara chose you for the position.” Briana took a seat at the conference table. Emeline joined her at her right hand, while Alex sat across the table. “I have faith in her judgement your abilities, but I wanted to make sure you’re the right personality for the job.”

“This is who I am.” Alex spread her hands. “I believe that Visual impressions are crucial, and this is the presentation I choose daily.”

“I love your look, especially for what it represents.” Briana grinned. “The community center I’m planning will be a place for everyone, no matter who they are. When we make a list of organization values – Kiara says I have to have one – Inclusivity will be at the top.”

“I love hearing that.” Alex leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “What do you need to know to convince you that I’m the right person to build an inclusive space?”

“What I’m looking for is someone who thinks that everyone has a right to live in society without shame, even if they’re being attacked in the media.”

“That’s something I believe, but it’s easy to say. You have my resume and the list of organizations I’ve worked with. I’ve been excluded from plenty of spaces myself.”

“Miss Rasmussen is looking for a personal connection to a marginalized community outside of your professional life and personal identity,” Emeline said. “Would that be correct, Miss Rasmussen? That you’re looking for allyship with persecuted people as well as being one of them?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly it.” Briana nodded at Alex. “How do you mingle with people that aren’t like you when you’re not working with them?”

“Boston’s scene is pretty diverse, and I like to think I fit in across the spectrum.” Alex shrugged. “If you want an example, I’m a cis woman despite my gender-queer presentation. But some of my dearest friends are trans, and I don’t tolerate transphobes or TERFs in my social circle.”

“That’s the kind of thing I was looking for!” Briana bounced in her chair. As she did, she caught Emeline giving her a cautionary look. Taking a deep breath to tone down her Littleness, Briana said, “One goal of the community center, which we’re not publicizing right away, is to be a haven for people in the ABDL community.”

Alex raised her brows. “You’re going right to the top of the current conservative hit-list I see. The fact that there are deep pockets negatively targeting that community isn’t a worry for you?”

“That negative press is exactly why I want to create a safe space.”

Alex nodded. Her eyes darted to Emeline. “Ms. Kiara Rasmussen is on board with this?”

“Miss Rasmussen has her aunt’s full support.” Emeline’s face had lost its friendliness, which worried Briana. On a second look, she didn’t see any hostility on Emeline’s composed features. It was probably just what Melody called a RBF when their caregivers weren’t listening.

The practical thing would be to address the possible issue directly, which Briana did by saying, “You don’t have a problem with ABDL people, do you?”

“Honestly, not at all. I need to ask questions like that because when this is publicized, the project manager on this site will have to deal with protests, vandalism, and probably interference at the legal level as well.”

“Ms. Rasmussen Senior will be handling all legal matters pertaining to the community center,” Emeline said.

“That’s one less worry for the project manager – which I’m still hoping is me.” Alex smiled.

“It is you! Welcome to the team.” Briana held out her hand for another firm shake.

“Thank you. I’m excited to get started. I hope you don’t mind if I flex my time with a mix of long and short days. The commute from Boston to Ardenthill is long enough even if I can avoid rush hour traffic.” Alex rose from her seat.

“I was going to ask about that, I’m sure we could get you a hotel or an apartment up here.” Briana glanced at Emeline and received a nod of confirmation.

“I’m picky about my living situation, let’s leave that as a possibility for now. There’s some work I can do remotely at the beginning, and we won’t be busy until we have a construction company chosen and crews on the ground.”

“You’re the expert.” Briana nodded, walking with Alex to the door. “I know that my aunt is handling all the pay and benefits, but it’s my project. You know how to get in touch with me if you have questions.”

 “Just one question for the moment. What’s your interest in helping ABDL people? Is it as an ally?”

“Nope!” Briana beamed proudly. “I’m ABDL myself. I’m not out yet, but I’d like to be soon.”

“That explains the adoptive parents so close in age.” Alex smiled bemusedly. “What’s your allyship, then, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Physical disability.” Briana nodded. “It’s something I hadn’t thought about much until I met someone, and now I have a chance to do something to improve access in town.”

“Oh, that’s the reason for the extra emphasis on access in the building plans. Those plans are a draft, correct? If we really want to be responsive to the disabled community, we should form a community panel to see what kinds of accommodations people really want.”

“Yeah! That’s a great idea. I’ll get working on it.” Briana bounced on her toes. “I’m super glad to be working with you!”

“I can’t wait to get started, but I do have to catch my flight back. I’ll be in touch by phone and email.” Alex shook their hands again before departing with quick steps.

“That might have been a bit early out of the gate to tell her  your secret,” Emeline said softly.

“It was a risk, but look how well it went!” Briana put her hands on her hips proudly. “I like her idea about talking to the community.”

“Hmm,” Emeline said.

Briana frowned up at Emeline. “You sassed Kiara at the breakfast table, if you’re disagreeing with me, you can tell me.”

“I do not sass my employers,” Emeline said, with a sassy smile. “I was participating in the banter that morning.”

Briana rolled her eyes and laughed as Emeline’s smile broadened.

“I’m also not necessarily disagreeing with you. A community panel can be a good thing.” Emeline shrugged. “However, the plans for the renovation were drawn up with the input of diverse people who are also experts in construction and community planning. That includes people with physical disabilities.”

“But, how would Alex know that?”

“Because it was noted in the planning report she obviously read.”

Briana frowned. “Maybe she thinks that direct community involvement is more important because it’s a community center.”

Emeline nodded. “That is one explanation, and a good one if it happens to be true.”

Briana sighed from the depths of her tummy and her soul at the same time. “Emeline, I’m exhausted. Is it okay if I be Little with you?”

Emeline pressed her thumb to her chin. “Hmm, how Little?”

“All the way Little!” Briana stamped. “Please? I don’t think I can handle being Big any more today.”

“That would make me ta gardienne – your babysitter.” Emeline leaned down to put her face on level with Briana’s. “Would you be well behaved for me?”

“I’m always the bestest girl for my babysitters!”

“This information is different from what I have heard before.” Emeline smirked.

“Okay, maybe there have been incidents, but in general I’m a good girl.” Briana eyed Emeline, who didn’t seem convinced. Hastily, the Little girl added, “And no matter what’s happened before, I’ll be a super good girl for you today!”

“Hmm, this is acceptable. Tu peux continuer à être petite.” Emeline patted Briana on the head. “You may proceed with being Little.”

Briana giggled. “Are you trying to teach me French, Ms. Blanchet?”

“All guardiennes are teachers also.” With surprising casualness, Emeline reached under Briana’s skirt and squeezed her diaper.

“Ms. Blanchet!” Briana squirmed. “You don’t hafta take care of stuff like that. Anyway, I don’t think my aunt would like it if you changed me on her nice conference table.”

“Please call me Emmie when I am your guardienne.” Emeline took Briana’s hand and lead her over to what looked like fancy doors for a storage or filing closet. “She would not. That’s why she had the closet installed.”

Briana gasped to see the closet open on a compact adult-size changing table. Her jaw dropped when Emeline rolled the table out of the closet on subtle tracks and folded out the ends to make it big enough to accommodate even Arthur.

“Kiara had this installed? When? She doesn’t even have bookshelves yet?” Briana stared saucer-eyed at Emeline.

“Ms. Rasmussen was very clear that this was a priority. It went in before her desk did.” Emeline patted Briana’s cheek. “Tu es aimée."

Emeline didn’t translate her French that time, but Briana knew that “aimée” meant something about love. The meaning was as clear as Emeline was blurred by Briana’s tears. What hope the Little girl had of keeping her tears off her cheeks and makeup vanished when Emeline crouched down to give her a hug. Briana hugged back with all her might, pleased to get an “Oof” out of her new babysitter.

Since she was not the sort of babysitter who could hoist a whole ABDL girl, even one as pixie-like as Briana, Emeline helped Briana up the brightly colored ladder built into the changing table side. As she rolled down Briana’s sparkly white tights, Emeline sang something in French. Briana couldn’t understand a word, but it was obviously a lullaby.

Au clair de la lune,

Mon ami Pierrot,

Prête-moi ta plume

Pour écrire un mot.

Briana sighed happily as her diaper tapes popped. Her diaper was heavier than she’d realized – she must have wet a lot during her meeting with Alex. What could have been an embarrassing moment with a new caregiver was soothing instead. Of course, it was a bit blushy when Emeline – Emmie – pulled Briana’s diaper open, but her obvious care for Briana normalized the experience. It was hard to believe how placidly Emmie was, in fact. Briana couldn’t imagine that changing ABDL diapers had been anywhere on the job description when Emmie had first come to work for Kiara.

“Getting changed is one of my favorite things.” Briana grabbed the soles of her feet while Emmie opened a package of wipes.

“Oh? It isn’t bothersome for you?” Emeline asked.

“Back in the beginning it was. I was scared and embarrassed.” Briana closed her eyes as the clean wipes caressed her skin. “Now I have so many people that take care of me, and everyone does it differently, but good. It’s a special thing I have with all the people in my life.”

“I will admit that Ms. Rasmussen surprised me when she explained how you live.” Emmie finished wiping Briana without sparing a spot and moved on to lotion. “Any reservations I had vanished when I saw what a sweet girl you are.”

“What about Ava? If she was okay with it, I mean. Would you be okay babysitting for Ava? She needs diapers almost as much as I do.”

“If your girlfriend was not simply amenable, but comfortable with the idea, I would be happy to take care of her.” Emeline patted powder onto Briana’s lotioned bottom. She’d clearly had the deluxe course in changes from Kiara or one of the other caregivers. “I think that Ava and I would need to know each other better for her to have that level of comfort.”

“Probably, though sometimes she surprises me.” Briana giggled. “I didn’t think I’d ever meet somebody as quick to jump in as I am.”

Emeline laughed along with Briana’s giggles. “I am also surprised that there are two such girls.”

Getting Briana’s diaper tapes properly set was the only stumbling block Emmeline hit, since muscle-memory was key to part of that process. She managed it the same way she seemed to manage everything, by patiently taking the time to make sure she was being correct. Emeline didn’t even have to be told to give Briana a hug when the change was finished.

“Emmie, that was great! Please babysit me some more another time, okay?”

“We are not finished yet today.” Emeline helped Briana down from the changing table. “You have some time before classes and there is a park between here and school that has ducks, if my information is correct.”

“OHMYGOSH there totally is!” Briana bounced excitedly. “Do you think they still have baby ducks?”

“It is still Spring, I think our chances are good.” Emeline took Briana’s hand and lead the Little girl out of Kiara’s office.

[SolSombraYSoldados]

Baby Briana is a going concern about the town!

-----

 

26 Sunshine Girl

A super sparkly girl looked back at Briana through her mirror. She wore a floofy rainbow skirt to cover her puffy diaper. Every lacy layer of the skirt was a different color of the rainbow; the eight layers combined to make Briana look like an overturned flower. The flower imagery inspired Briana for the rest of the outfit: a pale green blouse, a pastel yellow silk scarf, and leggings to match the scarf. Her shoes were gold colored, and her makeup was full of gold sparkles. The final touch was a smattering of gold star stickers across her cheeks.

When Mom had seen Briana’s outfit, she’d laughed and patted the Little girl’s head. Dad had picked Briana up to spin her around. Even Melody approved, bestowing a fist bump on Briana and saying, “Sparkle baby powers – activate!”

Briana’s powers were activated for sure. Things were going great with her boyfriend and girlfriend. She had an official Rasmussen community project to be excited about, and she was dressed like the avatar of Spring on a beautiful sunny day.

“We should make today an official Cloudland holiday!” Briana tossed Alanna happily in the air. “Or at least, you should come to school with me. How about it?”

Alanna rarely replied in words – plush lions were known to be subtle communicators – but Briana could tell that her stuffie was excited to have a day out. She tucked Alanna under her arm, making sure to keep her upright. It would have been undignified for the Knight Captain of Cloudland to be carried like a mere toy.

“Mommy, Alanna’s coming to school with me today.” Briana presented her friend for Veronica’s approval. Mom was drinking her coffee in the kitchen, dressed to the nines in gothic lace and black makeup despite her plans to work from home.

“I have your backpack ready to go with your laptop, lunch, and notebooks. If you can find a spot for Alanna and the bag still zips up, I think that’s a great idea,” Veronica said.

Getting Alanna situated took some wrangling, but rearranging things so the lioness sat under Briana’s lunch bag solved the issue. She beamed proudly at Veronica, showing off her properly zipped pack. “All set! Gary is picking me up this morning, and I’m coming home with Melody.”

“You’re such a good girl.” Veronica pulled Briana into a gentle hug. “That sounds like Gary’s truck in the driveway. Have a good day, Baby Bee.”

“You too! Bye, Mom!” Briana skipped out the front door and into another hug that had her off the ground and pressed against Gary’s manly chest. She held her boyfriend tightly around the neck and squealed in delight.

“Good morning.” Gary grinned. “You’re almost too sparkly to look at; what’s the occasion?”

“Today’s a good day!” Briana declared. “Especially because I get some Gary-time on the way to school.”

“God, you’re adorable.” Gary kissed Briana tenderly, letting the kiss linger before he set her on the ground.

Briana scampered into the passenger seat of Gary’s truck. Since he didn’t have a back seat or an ABDL car seat, riding with her boyfriend was an opportunity to sit up front like a big girl. Littleness was amazing because it made room for enjoying the Big world. Warmth blossomed in Briana’s heart when Gary buckled her in.

“Let’s make sure you have everything.” Gary carefully inspected Briana’s backpack. “Wallet, notebooks, pencil case, laptop, lunch – oh, and it looks like we have a stowaway.”

Briana giggled. “No way! Alanna has a ticket and it was stamped by Mom and everything.”

“I see. Is she stopping by the registrar’s office to enroll?” Gary zipped Briana’s backpack up.

“Gary, don’t be silly! She’s way too busy being a Knight Captain to go to school. Besides, this is one of my long days at school; I don’t have time to go to admin.”

“That reminds me, you can stop by my office for a change if needed.” Gary set his truck rumbling toward school.

“I might not need to; this skirt hides a pretty big diaper.” Briana tipped herself over to lean on Gary’s arm. “Maybe I will, even if I don’t need to, though.”

“I love you, Bri.” Gary kissed Briana’s head, spreading the warmth out of the Little girl’s heart down to her toes.

~~~*~~~

Briana’s morning lab was the most successful she’d had in ages. Progress on her plastic-eating bacteria had been slow of late, to the point of outright discouraging the Little girl. Her latest culture of bacteria blew away previous records on microplastic consumption with waste products that were the least toxic yet. Dr. Vaughn was genuinely impressed and spent a half hour after the lab discussing Briana’s results. The discussion was great for Briana’s dissertation but had her scrambling to make her lunch date with Melody.

Out of breath, Briana skidded to a stop in the dining hall’s outdoor seating area. Melody had their laptop open at the table they’d saved. Briana shook her head. There wouldn’t be any nonsense about working through a rare sibling-lunch. Melody was already working too many hours of the day. Even their moms said so.

“Sib!” Briana squirmed into Melody’s lap, obscuring the laptop screen. “Stop working; it’s lunchtime!”

“I was just working until you got here.” Melody rolled their eyes good-naturedly, reaching around Briana to close the laptop. They finished the motion with a surprise hug, which Briana happily leaned into.

“You must be in a good mood.” Briana squirmed off Melody’s lap. She extracted her lunch bag and Alanna from her backpack.

“Yeah, I’m almost done with that stupid project.” Melody’s lunch came in a bento box, packed like it’d come directly from an anime.

“I still don’t know why you’re working on a project you don’t like.” Briana rolled her eyes while setting out her banana, peanut and honey sandwich, cheesy crackers, and juice box.

“I told you it wouldn’t get done right if I didn’t help.” Melody shrugged. “Anyway, it’s almost done, and I’ll actually have time again.”

“What is it?” Briana sipped her juice. “Are you going to make a ton of money off it?”

“I probably could if I hadn’t open-sourced it. I don’t want to be a filthy capitalist anyway.”

“Hey! Mom’s a capitalist, and so’s Grandma and our Aunt. They aren’t filthy!”

“I know, I know.” Melody sighed. “Look, it’s a thing for ABDL people, okay? It feels bad to make money off people who already have things rough.”

“Oh, cool! What does it do?”

“It’s…” Melody shook their head and blushed. “It’s a stupid dating app.”

Briana giggled, spraying cracker bits across the lunch table. “No wonder you didn’t want to tell me what it is. That’s uh – not a very Melody-like thing.”

“I know!” Melody used their chopsticks to carefully dip a fried thing into soy sauce and wasabi and popped it into their mouth. “Buh thu whole inng arted wih uh ett.”

“It started as a bet? No wonder you can’t back down.” Briana swatted Melody’s shoulder. “Also, you’re lucky your moms weren’t here to see you eat with your mouth full.”

“How am I supposed to eat if I can’t fill my mouth?” Melody smirked.

“You know what I meant! Talking with your mouth full.” Briana blew a raspberry at her sibling and laughed.

“A baby like you can’t help but make mistakes. That’s why you don’t have big kid stuff in your lunch, like wasabi.”

“What would I even put the wasabi on, my sandwich?” Briana rolled her eyes. “Now you’re the dumb one.”

“No, you.” Melody laughed, but their mirth was cut short by an anxious look across the table.

Briana followed her sibling’s gaze to see a man walking purposefully toward them. He was wearing a suit and carrying a microphone. Behind him were three people, one with a camera rig on his shoulder. She blinked in surprise.

“Bri, we might want to get out of here.” Melody snapped their bento box shut.

“Why would a reporter want to talk to us?” Briana had no sooner finished speaking than the reporter was looming over their table.

“Briana Rasmussen?” The man glared intently at the Little girl.

“You don’t have to answer him,” Melody said.

Later, Briana wondered how things would have gone if she’d taken her sibling’s advice. As it was, she was halfway through responding before she processed what Melody had said. “Yes, I’m Briana. Who are you?”

“I’m Carl Tuckerson from HYENA News. I’d like to ask you a few questions about the planned Michelle Rasmussen community center.”

“No comment!” Melody stood up with an angry frown. “We’re eating lunch here; you can schedule an interview if you want one.”

“It’s okay, Melody.” Briana stood up and straightened her dress. “Kiara told me that stuff like this would start happening. What would you like to know about the community center?”

Carl motioned to the cameraman, who squared the camera at Briana and pressed some buttons. He pointed his microphone at her and asked, “Let me identify you again for the camera. This is Carl Tuckerson with HYENA news, here at the Ardenthill campus of ABDU speaking to Briana Rasmussen. Thank you for answering our questions today, Briana.”

“You’re welcome, Carl.” Briana beamed at the camera, glad she’d chosen to go all-out on her appearance. Maybe that was why Mom, Grandma, and Kiara were always dressed up. If so, she was excited about being a sparkly girl every day!

“We’ve received a press release from the Ardenthill city council regarding an abandoned building in the middle of town. The press release said it will be renovated into a community center, sponsored by the Rasmussen family.”

“That’s true!” Briana drew herself up to her entire five-foot height. “My family and I are excited to update and preserve the Old Factory by giving it new life as a centerpiece of Ardenthill’s downtown.”

“The press release said there would be quite a variety of services in the new community center, including a health clinic and a daycare,” Carl said.

“That’s correct! Healthcare is always in short supply, and we’re especially excited to provide child-care relief for people who work downtown.” Briana had to suppress a desire to go up on her tiptoes. Her first interview was going so well. She wasn’t even nervous!

“Is that really what the daycare center is for?” A nasty sneer replaced Carl’s professionally neutral expression. “Or are you planning to build another fetish space for freaks, like the Green Fairy nightclub has? Are you planning to put ABDL degenerates out in plain sight, where the decent people of Ardenthill will be forced to see them?”

“This interview is over!” Melody shoved their laptop and bento box into their backpack. “Come on, Bri, let’s get out of here.”

“How do you even know about an ABDL space in the community center?” Briana wobbled on her feet – the world had gone sideways and spinny.

“So you admit that you’re going to force a dangerous fetish on regular people who are trying to live their lives by centering it in town? During the day?!” Carl’s voice was rising; he hadn’t paid the slightest attention to Melody’s attempt to cut the interview short.

“ABDL isn’t dangerous, and it’s not a fetish for everyone who does it! It’s a way people live, and there’s nothing wrong with it!”

“You’re getting upset. Is that because you’re one of those degenerates?” Carl snatched Alanna off the lunch table. “Is this your stuffed animal? Aren’t you too OLD to be playing with stuffed toys!?”

“Give her back! That’s Alanna, and she’s my friend!” Briana grabbed for Alanna when Carl waved the stuffie in her face. To her horror, he didn’t let go. She tugged harder and burst into tears.

“The Rasmussens used to be a respected family in town, but what do YOU think, viewers? This is what the Rasmussen family is up to now. Playing at being babies and crying over a kid’s toy. Is this how an adult should act? Should Briana even be out in public if she can’t be an adult? Did our Ardenthill viewers know this kind of perversion was happening in your town?”

“Let go of the Lion if you don’t want to get tased,” Melody growled. They had something small and black pressed up against Carl’s ribs. He looked down in horror, flinching away and releasing his grasp on Alanna.

“You can’t pull a Taser on me; that’s assault!” Carl shouted.

“It’s not a taser, idiot.” Melody flashed the object in their hand for the camera. “It’s my phone.”

Briana sobbed and crushed Alanna to her chest. Melody slung Briana’s backpack over their shoulder before grabbing their sister’s hand. “Bri, we’re going. Now.”

They abandoned Briana’s lunch and ran, with Carl still shouting horrible things behind them. Luckily, he didn’t seem inclined to chase, probably because the camera shots would have been bumpy. Her phone buzzed in her skirt pocket like an angry bee.

Though her lungs were burning, and Melody had to be just as tired, Briana’s sibling didn’t stop running. At first, the campus was a confusing blur around them; nothing stuck out in the haze of panic that seemed like a safe place. When Melody huffed their way up the stairs to one of the administration buildings, Briana realized where her sibling had led her. They were on their way to Mom’s office.

Melody had a key to Veronica’s office, which was news to Briana. They burst through the door and collapsed on the plush carpet. Briana patted Alanna down and was horrified to see one of her lioness’ paws nearly torn off. Stuffing had sprayed from a long rip where Alanna’s front leg met her body. A fresh wave of tears overcame Briana; she curled around her wounded friend.

Warm arms wrapped around Briana. She leaned into Melody’s embrace and shamelessly cried. Her sibling didn’t say a word, even when Briana’s phone buzzed three more times. When the sob subsided, Briana nuzzled her sibling’s hoodie to mop away her tears.

“Thanks for rescuing me.”

“Rescuing you again.” Melody bonked their head against Briana. “And I’ll do it as many times as you need.”

Briana huddled against Melody and pulled out her phone. There were multiple messages from Mom, which was not a good sign. There was no way that Carl had been livestreaming his interview, was there? Deciding to cut to the chase, Briana called her mom without bothering to read the text messages.

“Briana, you got my messages?” Veronica’s voice sounded strained.

“I haven’t read them yet. Something bad happened at school.” Briana sniffled mightily. “Melody and I are okay, but it was scary. I saw you had a lot of messages, and I needed to hear you, so I called.”

“That’s fine, Baby Bee. What happened at school?”

“A reporter from HYENA news wanted to interview me about the community center, but then he started asking all kinds of questions about ABDL, and I don’t even know how he knew that there was going to be an ABDL place there, and then he ripped Alanna’s leg!” Briana ended her ramble with a whimper and took a deep breath.

“Oh, sweetie! That must have been terrifying. I’m going to send Gary to pick you up; where are you now?”

“We’re in your office. How come Melody has a key, and I don’t?”

“That’s not relevant right now,” Mom said firmly. “I’d come to get you myself, but we have a bit of a situation at the house.”

“What’s going on?” Melody asked, with sudden worry in their tone.

“We seem to have collected some protestors; they look like they’re settling in for the long haul.” Veronica sighed. “Michelle and Kiara are already working on it. School may need to be remote for a while; I don’t want you two running the gauntlet twice daily.”

“Why’s this happening, Mommy?” Briana whimpered. “I haven’t told hardly anybody about the ABDL space in the community center.”

“I don’t know, Baby Bee. We can figure it out when you’re safe. Gary is on his way, and I’ll meet you when you get home.”

“We’ll be home soon, Mom,” Melody said bravely.

“You will, and everything will be okay, even if it takes a few days. I love you both.”

“I love you too, Mommy, Briana said.

“Love you, Mom,” Melody said, without their usual reluctance to show affection.

Briana sniffled. “Melody, I’m scared and hungry.”

“You can have some of my bento.”

“But that’s your lunch.”

“Our lunch, Comrade.” Melody snickered.

“Why’s that funny? Are you meming me again?” Briana looked up at her sibling and hit them with the full power of her pouty lip.

“Yup. You’ll have to put up with it if you want tempura.”

“Well… okay.” Briana snuggled up to Melody and tried to concentrate on the food. It was difficult; there were too many scary things buzzing around her brain. Even Alanna was a source of distress. Briana couldn’t look at her friend without flinching at the terrible wound her Knight Captain had suffered.

Mom had promised that things would be okay, but the sick feeling in Briana’s stomach didn’t agree. Protestors at the house and hostile news reporters sounded like a problem that wouldn’t disappear quickly. Things weren’t likely to get better for a while. They had to get better eventually, though. Briana clung to the hope while she munched on tasty, breaded veggies.

[kerry]

Oh no! Why do asshats like this need to stir up trouble where none exists? (I know that there is huge overlap with contemporary politics, but I have the same question for many people there as well. Why can't they mind their own fucking business?) After seeing how excited the plans for the Center made Briana, it hurts to see the Sunshine Girl all clouded over. And Alanna got torn in the process! (Maybe they could sue that HYENA for assault on a stuffed bear!) In any case, she needs to steady herself for what looks like a forced outing. 

(BTW: my suspicion is that the out-of-town "project manager" is the source of the leak.)

[YourFNF]

On 12/15/2024 at 9:54 AM, kerry said:

(BTW: my suspicion is that the out-of-town "project manager" is the source of the leak.)

Seconding

 

[SolSombraYSoldados]

What's Ava supposed to do when her girlfriend is under literal siege? I mean, she has to do something, she has diplomatic ties to Briana's kingdom in Cloudland!

-----

27 Ambassador Ava

There wasn’t a ball small enough for Ava to curl up in after Briana told her the news. The same scary protestors that had pushed her over were camping out in front of her girlfriend’s house! Ava couldn’t imagine how scared Briana was, though her girlfriend at least had caregivers with her. All Ava had was Ollie on the way. Her best friend didn’t want to be a caregiver, which was fine.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t talk to her parents or brother about the issue without revealing that she was dating an ABDL girl – at which point she might as well come out to her family. Ava buried her face in Brownie’s worn cotton fur while her thoughts spun in useless circles. Ollie’s arrival snapped her out of her paralysis, but not her distress.

“Girl, you look terrible.” Ollie hugged Ava tightly.

“Thanks, ass.” Ava pouted.

“I’m being sympathetic. It sucks that your girl is under siege. At least you didn’t both get outed.”

“I feel like a bad girlfriend. She has to be so scared, and I can’t help her.”

“Don’t work yourself into a panic, hon. I’ll make you some tea, okay?”

Ava nodded and sat grumpily on the couch. “Okay, thanks.”

“Just so we’re clear, I’m not babysitting you.” Ollie filled Ava’s electric kettle and set it heating.

“I know already!”

“I’m only saying because you’re acting like a baby.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Ava, seriously.” Ollie put a hand on his hip in his best mean-gay pose.

“I don’t mean to. I keep thinking about how Briana’s feeling, and I’m usually Little with her.” Ava sighed. “I can’t seem to get my emotions under control.”

“Why don’t you call your brother?”

“So you can drool over him?”

“Ava!”

“Sorry! Sorry.” Ava sighed. “I’ll try harder. There’s no way I could talk to Rohan about this without outing myself.”

“Especially if you’re acting like this.” Ollie poured a pot of tea and brought it out to steep. “I guess that means your parents are out too.”

“Thanks for putting up with my Little drama and being a good friend. There’s no one else I can talk to.”

“You’re welcome, dummy. The good news is that the campus seems clear. Maybe you can run errands for Briana on campus and help her that way.”

Ava pulled Brownie close to her chest. “I’m scared. What if the HYENA reporter comes back and finds out about me?”

“How would he possibly know?” Ollie poured two cups of tea and handed one to Ava.

Ava put six sugars in her tea. She shot Ollie a look, daring him to tease her over the syrup she’d made of her drink. Luckily for him, he confined his reaction to rolling his eyes in amusement.

“I wear diapers all the time now. And they’re – you know – the ABDL kind.”

“It’s not like you go through a diaper detector on your way to the lab.” Ollie shrugged. “If you’re that worried about it, wear the medical ones.”

“No!” Ava took a deliciously sludgy drink of tea. “Medical diapers are ugly and dumb.”

“You’re seriously baby-headed right now. Either you take a mental health day or get a caregiver, but you can’t stay like this.”

“The whole problem is that Veronica and Briana’s other caregivers are stuck in that house with the protestors.”

“What about that guy you and Briana are in a throuple with? Greg?”

“Gary?” Ava stuck out her tongue and wrinkled her nose. “I’m NOT in a throuple with him. He’s Briana’s boyfriend, and I’m Briana’s girlfriend. I’m not poly with Gary.”

“Okay, but he’s a caregiver, and Briana trusts him.”

“I don’t care, he’s stinky, and I don’t like him.”

“Ava, dial it back again, please. Or call Gary. I bet he doesn’t mind dealing with bratty baby girls.”

“I don’t want him. I want to be with Briana.”

“So do that!”

“What? With the protestors? You’re crazy.”

“Ava, you can only do the “No take, only throw” thing for so long. You want to baby up with your girlfriend, so get Gary or someone to sneak you into that house. Then you’ll be up to your ass in caregivers.”

“What if the protestors identify me and my parents find out? Or they hurt me again? Or something else bad happens?” Finding her teacup empty, Ava curled up around her bear. “Going to Briana’s house is scary and Gary is scary too. It’s too much.”

“At least you’re admitting you want to go to Briana’s house – barely. How else are you going to get in there safely?”

Ava sighed. “I don’t know. I’m not asking you to take me.”

“Good, because even though I would, I’m a twinky-twig. No protestors are getting out of my way, especially once they smell the gay on me.” Ollie patted Ava on the head. “Now, is the baby girl ready to call her big, strong babysitter?”

“Meanie.” Ava chewed on Brownie’s ear while she gathered her courage. “Could you at least – call Gary for me?”

“Girl, you’re being ridiculous.”

“He’s really hot – if you like boys. Big and muscly, and he has the light brown hair on his forearms.”

“You’re the absolute worst.” Despite his protests, Ollie’s interest was clearly piqued.

“If he’s into ABDL and polyamory, he might be bisexual. I’m texting you his number.”

“Do you really not want to talk to him, or are you trying to have me lure him away from Briana?”

“Can’t it be both?” Ava peeked over her phone at Ollie. “Please, Ollie? I’m mostly kidding about you dating him, but he is a super cute boy.”

“Ugh. Bitch, you owe me.” Ollie fiddled with his phone and held it to his ear. After a few moments, his eyes widened in surprise. “Holy shit, you answered a number you didn’t know! Oh, sorry, I’m Ollie –a friend of Ava’s.”

Ava made a heart-frame with her fingers and exploded it into imaginary confetti at Ollie. He rolled his eyes at her, but he was smiling.

“Ava wants to camp out at Briana’s house, but she’s being a dumb baby about it. Yeah, like ABDL baby. She couldn’t even call you. No, I’m not, but I’m a sucker for the dummy across the couch from me.”

Ava stuck her tongue out at Ollie and got karate-chopped on the head for her insolence.

Ollie nodded. “She wants you to smuggle her into Briana’s house. I don’t know if she asked Veronica, but probably not with how Little she’s acting.”

It was awful of her best friend to throw her under the bus like that. Blushing at Ollie’s unfortunately true accusation, Ava grabbed her phone and quickly shot off a group text to Briana and Veronica.

“Bingo, she started frantically texting. Yeah, I’m sure they’ll let her stay too. I’ll stay here and do a handoff to you. She’s pretty freaked out, yeah. Okay, see you in a bit. Thanks, Gary.”

Ollie tossed his phone on the coffee table. “He’s on his way. How’s it going getting permission for your sleepover?”

“It’s not a sleepover!” Ava declared. “It’s a show of support for a friend in need.”

“Uh-huh. How many diapers do you want me to pack for this show of support?”

Ava blushed. “The whole sealed package I have in my bedroom. And uh, the blanket that’s at the foot of my bed. I can try to figure out clothes.”

Ollie walked to Ava’s bedroom with a chuckle. “What, you don’t wander around in nothing but a diaper like a toddler?”

“Ollie! Gross! There are other people there, it’s not just me and Briana and her parents.”

“But if it were just them, that’d be okay?”

“Shut up.”

Ollie laughed. Ava had to join him. Gary was scary, and the protestors were terrifying – but her chest felt light compared to the time she’d spent curling around Brownie. She laid a mix of big girl clothes and Little clothes on the bed. With her suitcase dominated by her diapers, there wasn’t room to pack a week’s worth of both. Despite Ollie’s quips, Ava packed only one Big outfit. The rest was onesies, shortalls, and Indian children’s dresses. At least most people in Ardenthill wouldn’t have the cultural context to know that her dresses were Little gear.

There was a knock at the door far too soon. Stupid Gary just had to dump whatever he was doing and hurry over like some kind of good guy. Would it kill him to do her the courtesy of giving her a reason to dislike him? Worse, Ollie insisted on Ava answering the door. Between the argument and Ava’s need to build up her courage, Gary had to knock a second time. With awkwardness piled upon discomfort, Ava shuffled to the door on her crutches. The only bright spot was that her usual method of opening the door on crutches let her partially hide behind it.

Gary must have grown since the last time Ava had seen him. He looked taller and more muscular. The kind smile on his face wasn’t fooling Ava – but it captured Ollie’s heart immediately. Her horrible goblin of a best friend dropped his annoyance for a sunny smile the moment he spotted Gary.

“You must be Gary! Thanks for being so nice about the nutty call I had to make.” Ollie solicitously ushered Gary inside.

“Ollie, right?” Gary shook Ollie’s hand and waved at Ava. “Hi, Ava. How are you holding up?”

“Everything is terrible.” Ava whimpered.

“I’m worried about Briana too.” Gary bit his lip pensively. “You and I haven’t talked since Briana ambushed us with that babysitting date.”

“That’s my cue to finish up the packing.” Ollie took a lingering glance over Gary before slipping into the bedroom.

Having been part of the queer community since high school, Ava was no stranger to discussions of polyamory. She’d never wanted to be poly herself, but she could recite the standard openers to a polyamory discussion from memory. In a Big queer relationship, that’s exactly what Ava would have done while leaning hard on the non-participant part of the script. Two factors made doing that unthinkable. For the first, Ava was asking Gary to do something ABDL for her, even if it wasn’t in a romantic context. For the second, she was far too Little to calmly talk about sharing her girlfriend.

“I can start if you prefer.” Gary spread his hands in a gesture of peace. “I love Briana. I don’t think I’m jealous of what you have with her. At least, I haven’t been so far.”

Faced with the discussion starting with or without her, Ava wanted to scream. An indulgent tantrum would feel amazing. The problem was, she didn’t trust Gary to take care of her at all, let alone in as tricky a situation as a tantrum. Still, the idea of surrendering to her Little impulses left her with one out.

“I’m scared of you!” Ava blurted before Gary could get any further into his overly-adult speech.

Gary blinked. “I uh – okay. I’m sorry – I don’t mean to scare you.”

“You’re big, and you’re a boy, and I’m scared you’ll take Briana away from me.” Ava hobbled to the couch to snatch up her teddy.

“That’s surprisingly on-topic for a Little way of talking. I’m willing to try to have this discussion with you Little, if you are.”

“I can’t do the big version right now. Brownie says you have to be nice to me.” Ava winced, hoping she wasn’t pushing Gary too far. “But – but I know you’re doing me a favor. I’m grateful, really.”

Gary took a careful seat on the other end of the couch. “Thank you for being polite. The way I see it, we can be friends to Briana in different ways. I’m never going to be Little. You don’t want to be her caregiver, do you?”

“No. But she wants me and you to – she wants you to babysit me. I don’t want to do sexy stuff with you.”

“That makes two of us. I don’t want to be more than a friend – and maybe a caregiver – to you. I’m not looking for that kind of intimacy with you.”

Ava squeezed Brownie until he was a ball of brown fluff. “Briana wouldn’t – wouldn’t be with somebody who’d lie about something like that. I can try to trust you, but it’s still scary.”

“I had to trust that Briana wouldn’t be with someone who would try to push me out. I’m glad to see that I was right about that.” Gary smiled softly. Unlike the other smiles Ava had seen on him, it didn’t seem smarmy. He looked like an honest, nice boy. Too big, still, but nice.

“You don’t have to do babysitting stuff for me, really. Just get me inside Briana’s house.”

“I think you need to be taken care of, but all I’m planning to do is to be kind and help you be Little. I don’t think we’re at the point where either of us would want me to change that wet diaper of yours.”

“I’m not…” Ava blushed as she registered a squish under her rear. “No fair, I can’t help it!”

“I’m sure Veronica will change you when you get to her place.” Gary chuckled. “Are we okay, or do you have more to say? Poor Ollie’s been stuck in the bedroom for a while.”

“We’re okay for now.” Ava relaxed her death grip on Brownie. “Thank you for being nice.”

“My pleasure. Now, what else do we need to do to get you ready?”

“I can’t leave Mango – he’ll get lonely without me. You don’t have to pack much besides his cage. Oh! And I have to tell Briana that I’m coming as an Ambassador. So she can prep all the Cloudland stuff.”

Gary nodded, taking Ava as seriously as he had with their relationship discussion. “She’s trying to be brave, but it’s been hard. Princess business is exactly what she needs.”

~~~*~~~

Gary’s car was a big, rumbly truck, because of course it was. He couldn’t not be a boy for even ten seconds. As she rode in the passenger seat with Mango’s cage on her lap, Ava squirmed impatiently. She wasn’t looking forward to whatever chaos they’d find at their destination, but her soggy diaper was becoming more of a concern all the time. Plus, it was awkward to sit in silence with Gary. They were keeping quiet so that Mango could sleep under his cage cover. The last thing she needed was Mango screaming back at the protestors.

When they rounded the corner onto Briana’s street, things were far worse than Ava had imagined them. Protestors and police were lined up on the sidewalk in front of Briana’s old, faux-Victorian house. Vans bracketed the protestors on either side. On the nearer side they appeared to be carrying supplies for the protestors – on the further side were press vans.

Ava squeaked in fear. She clutched Mango’s cage -  Brownie had been packed away to keep any appearance of ABDL stuff hidden. Gary put a meaty hand on Ava’s arm. She leaned into the comfort.

“It’s going to be okay. I can carry you if you need me to. We could also try going around the block and cutting through the neighbor’s lawn.”

“Do you think that side is clear?” Ava bit her lip.

“I glanced down that street as we passed it. There’s some press camping out, but no protestors. The chaos on this side might be better for keeping the press off us. You tell me if you’d rather get hassled by protestors or the press.”

“Neither,” Ava whined.

“Me too. It’s okay, we’ve got this. We have to help Briana out, remember?”

“Right. I’m an Ambassador.” Ava lifted her chin bravely. “Okay, Gary, I deputize you to be my Knight for the duration of this mission.”

“Sweet!” Gary chuckled. “Briana’s never deputized me before.”

“Really?” Ava blinked in surprise. “You know what? It’s not just for this mission. You’re an official Knight of my kingdom now.

“What, I don’t need a ceremony? Are you an important person in your kingdom?”

“I’m a Princess and I’m half-naga, but don’t tell Briana that second part.”

“I won’t. Serves her right for never knighting me.” Gary grinned. “Alright, Princess. Which is it, frontal assault or covert rear action?”

“Front.” Ava nodded decisively. “I can be brave about people yelling at me, but I don’t want my parents to see me on the news.”

“You got it. And how are your legs feeling?”

“If you can carry my suitcase and Mango, I think I can make it. Once we’re inside, it should be okay if I collapse.”

“Got it.” Gary parked his truck as if they were visiting a house down the street. “One of the advantages of being big is that people don’t try to block my way. I’ll move at a fast walk and you stick close behind me.”

“Okay.” Ava’s gut was trembling. She refused to let her legs follow suit. Half-Naga princesses didn’t show fear in front of their enemies. Plus, she was going to need everything her legs had.

As they’d both feared, the approach to Briana’s house was a nightmare. As soon as the protestors realized their destination, they converged on Gary and Ava. She’d never heard such unhinged screams outside of news stories about nazi demonstrations. Flecks of spittle sprayed her as the protestors crowded close. She couldn’t make out faces in the mob – they were all one ugly, raging animal.

True to his word, Gary bulldozed his way through the protestors. They reached the police line where, to Ava’s surprise, the cops were entirely on their side. In their zeal to keep the protestors off the Rasmussen property, the cops had batons and tasers at the ready. Ava and Gary burst past the line of police and hurried down the walkway. The door opened with Jane and Casey standing solidly on the porch. They ushered their guests inside and shut the door firmly behind them.

Warm arms embraced Ava from two sides. Veronica folded her arms gently around Ava’s shoulders while Briana clung to her waist for dear life. As she held them both, Ava realized she had tears streaming down her cheeks. When she’d started crying, she couldn’t remember.

“You’re safe now, Ava-bean,” Veronica said. “This is a horrible circumstance, but it won’t last forever, I promise you.”

“I’m sorry you had to do that, but I’m so glad you came!” Briana whimpered.

“I need a minute – my legs…” Ava’s knees buckled. Veronica and Briana’s hugs converted from emotional to physical support just in time.

“You need a change, too,” Veronica said. “Jane, can you help me…”

“No.” Ava wriggled an arm out of the hug to tug on Gary’s sleeve. “Gary can carry me wherever. He’s my knight.”

“What?!” Briana let go of Ava in shock.

“I had to deputize him for getting me in here. He told me you’d never made him a knight, so he’s part of my court now.” Ava smirked at Briana.

“No fair!”

“Briana, this is not the time for a tantrum.” Jane’s severe tone caught both Little girls off guard. While they stared sheepishly at Jane, Gary scooped Ava up and bundled her off to the downstairs changing table.

Alone in the drawing room with Veronica, Ava felt her heart finally slow. “Thanks for letting me stay here. I’m sorry if it’s a lot of trouble.”

“You’re a darling girl, and you’re no trouble at all. In fact, you’re a big help for Briana.” Veronica slipped Ava’s skirt off and set it aside. “Jane and I are happy to take care of you as long as you’re staying here.”

Ava shuddered in relief, ignoring the fresh wetness she felt in her diaper. “Thank you, Veronica. Um, should I call you something else or…?”

“Veronica is fine, but we do need to discuss your house rules while you’re here.” Veronica popped Ava’s diaper open. Her eyes flicked down to Ava’s crotch. She left the soggy padding where it was to catch the rest of Ava’s accident.

Blushing, Ava squirmed on the changing table. “What do you mean?”

“You wanted to be here to be Little with Briana. Sharing a bedtime with her is non-negotiable since you’ll also be sharing a bed.” Veronica patted Ava’s crotch dry and balled her diaper up. “There are some other aspects of your living here as Little that we can discuss – or you can default to getting the same treatment as Briana.”

“I uh…” Ava swallowed nervously. “I’m still scared from the protestors. Can we talk about details later?”

Veronica nodded as she wiped Ava’s crotch and rear. “Of course, but we do need a discipline method for you.”

Ava had never wished for Brownie so much in her life. She desperately needed something to cover her face. “H-how does Briana get disciplined?”

“She hasn’t told you? Briana gets time-outs and other appropriate forms of punishment for misbehavior, but we find that spanking is the most effective thing for her. Most of the time, a few swats will set her straight. I hardly ever have to give her big spankings anymore.”

“I don’t know – I…” Ava turned her face away. It wasn’t as if she was planning to be a bad girl. Plus, the whole point of coming was to stay in solidarity with Briana. “I guess s-spanking is okay, but if I say stop…”

“I will stop immediately, and we can talk about what we’ll do instead.” Veronica slid a fresh diaper under Ava’s rear and sprinkled baby powder across the Little girl’s crotch. “To be clear, you’re saying you want the Briana treatment unless we decide differently later?”

“Y-yeah. Yes, Veronica.” Ava sighed. For some reason, her fear was melting away. Entering into a hardcore ABDL relationship with a caregiver – even one she knew as well as Veronica – should have been a fraught decision. Instead, she felt contained and safe.

“Good girl. Don’t worry, we’ll help you adjust to your role in the house, and check in with you before we let any caregivers besides myself and Jane take care of you.” Veronica taped Ava’s diaper up snugly. The blissful sensation of being swaddled in padding sank Ava fully into her Little self.

“Okay. Um – I don’t know the others yet, but it’s okay if Gary babysits me.”

“Oh? I’m glad to hear you two are getting along better. Now, where’s your stuffie? It’s nap time for Briana, which means you too.”

“In my suitcase.” Ava sat up and reached for Veronica instinctively. The hug she got was every bit as motherly as the ones she got from her own mom

[kerry]

You know, if it were not for the current anti-trans insanity, I might find these protesters' actions unbelievable. Now, though—and this is so sad to say—nothing at all could surprise me.

[SolSombraYSoldados]

6 hours ago, kerry said:

You know, if it were not for the current anti-trans insanity, I might find these protesters' actions unbelievable. Now, though—and this is so sad to say—nothing at all could surprise me.

Yeah... the metaphor is paper thin and imma leave it that way. Way too many people are bloodthirsty animals, but at least in MY stories I can make sure they don't win. 😁

[SolSombraYSoldados]

You don't tug on Superman's cape,

You don't step on a banana.

You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger,

And you don't mess with Briana!

 

 

28 A Princess Scorned

The scary people were outside the window again. No matter when Briana looked out her bedroom window, the scary people were there. Unlike a monster from a story, they wouldn’t go away with a drink of warm milk and being snuggled by Mom. Aunt Kiara and Grandma were working on it, of course. Once again they were fixing a situation that Briana had created. She stared at the mass of angry people, muttering hatefully to themselves as they gathered in the morning fog, and whimpered. There was nothing a baby girl could do but cry.

A much more normal part of Briana’s morning was a soggy, droopy diaper. Mom, Dad, Rosa, or any of her other caregivers would fix that for her the moment she asked. Getting changed meant the morning was really starting, and Briana wasn’t ready for that. She waddled her way back to the playpen-crib her parents had set up and burrowed under the covers. Sharing a proper crib with Ava would have been the best, but Briana’s crib didn’t have room for two baby girls. Therefore, Dad had taken her crib downstairs and set up a playpen in its place. There was a nice futon mattress making up the crib floor, set up the same way that Mom and Dad did for sleepovers with Melody.

The sleepy, diapered girl snoozing under the blankets healed Briana’s heart. She wrapped her arms around Ava, loving the softness of her girlfriend’s skin. Even better was the diaper that crinkled on Ava’s hips. Ava’s diaper was less crinkly than it had been the night before, now almost as soggy as Briana’s. Though taller than Briana, Ava was a spindly thing, her arms and legs as thin as a faerie’s. Like Briana, Ava got cold easily, which made her the perfect sleeping snuggle buddy. Briana’s last action before falling back asleep was to burrito them up into a nice warm bundle.

Mom and Dad woke the girls what seemed like an unfairly short amount of time later. Ava was so sleepy she didn’t protest when Mom rolled her over and popped her diaper tapes. The Little girls laced their fingers together and sucked their thumbs in pure baby-indulgence. Once they were freshly diapered, Mom and Dad moved on to dressing the Littles. Ava made sleepy protest noises at being dressed, though she subsided with a blush when Briana kissed her cheek. To match her girlfriend’s colorful Indian dress, Briana requested her yellow sundress and rainbow tutu.

Going down the narrow stairs to the living room had been scary for Ava at first, until she and Briana had figured out that they fit perfectly side by side. With an arm around each other’s waists, and the other on the stair rails, the Little girls could traipse down the stairs without help from any Bigs! Breakfast smelled like pancakes or waffles, either of which would be heaven. Briana had almost forgotten the protestors as she waited for Ava to get her crutches situated – when a horrible crash of glass made her jump!

The air rang with Ava’s screech of terror and Dad’s shouted curse. Briana was on Jane’s heels to the window, deftly dodging Mom’s restraining grasp. The windows were unbroken, thankfully. A pile of green glass shards on the porch suggested that someone had thrown a bottle. The cops had bent a man over the picket fence and were handcuffing him – but the rest of the protestors were cheering the criminal on.

“You don’t have to look, Schätzchen.” Jane put her strong, dadly arm around Briana’s shoulders. “They are awful, but they won’t get past the police.”

“I have to do something, Daddy.” Briana looked up at Jane resolutely. “We can’t keep living like this.”

“Your Grandmother and Kiara are working on it, Baby Bee.” Briana half-expected a soothing stroke of her hair to accompany the words, but Mom was still across the living room. She was soothing Ava, of course. Briana’s heart burst with love to see Mom treating Ava like a member of the family so easily.

“I caused this, I should do at least something to fix it.” Briana bit her lip in vexation. Those were fine words to say, but she had no ideas on what she could do. She looked up at Dad earnestly, “I can clean the glass up.”

“We are not sending you out there to face the protestors, especially if they’ve discovered they can throw bottles that far.” Jane patted Briana’s head sternly. “No one here is ashamed of you, but we are also not so unwise as to enrage the violent people outside our door.”

“Come to breakfast, Briana.” Mom managed to make the statement a loving invitation and a stern command at the same time. “You and Ava both need time away from that side of the house – and perhaps some sugar.”

For Ava’s sake, if nothing else, Briana followed obediently. Rosa and Melody were already in the kitchen, with the former directing the latter to cut fruit with child-friendly knives. Melody blushed to be caught using the kiddie implements that Rosa had bought for them and tried to step away from the counter. Rosa swatted Melody’s rear, which put them back to work and made a very interesting crinkling noise.

Briana giggled as she ran up to her sibling, whispering, “Oh-Em-Gee, sib, are you wearing a diaper? Is it to make Ava feel more welcome?”

“Yes, no, and shut up.” Melody’s face was all red now. They pretended to concentrate on precisely cutting the cantaloupe in an effort to ignore Briana, but she was wise to her sib’s tricks.

“Melody had a potty accident yesterday,” Rosa said, casually.

“Momma!” Melody whined.

“I wouldn’t be making a big deal of it if you hadn’t tried to hide it from me, Niñe.”

“I was gremlin-maxing at the end of my open source project. It’s not fair to hold that against me.”

“You’re in trouble for hiding your accident, not having one. Don’t try to change the subject, and get that fruit done, people are sitting down to the table.” Rosa had one of her slippers in her hand so suddenly that Briana hadn’t seen her crouch down.

Melody grumbled, but hurried with their fruit prep. They waited until Rosa opened the fridge to whisper, “Way to get me in trouble, sis.”  

“Don’t be pouty, sib, it just means we can all three have a Little day together.”

“Briana, don’t antagonize your sibling when they’re in trouble. You don’t like it when they do the same to you.” Veronica caught Briana’s hand and walked her down the counter. “Please put the bacon on the table and take a seat next to Ava.”

“Yes, Mommy.” Briana delivered the precious bacon to the table with exquisite care. Freed of her burden, she hopped into the seat next to Ava. “Ava, what do you want to play today?”

“We have school and stuff, don’t we?” Ava squirmed in her chair, with a nervous wince when her diaper crinkled.

“Our caregivers will make sure we don’t forget that stuff. But when we get free time, what do you wanna play?”

“C-cloudland I guess.” Ava squirmed while Dad applied a bib around her neck, not that her fussing so much as slowed Jane down. “I’m supposed to be an ambassador and all.”

“Great! Melody has to play with us today, too!” Briana declared.

“Do not.” Melody stuck their tongue out at Briana.

“I think that’s the perfect thing for my potty-pants to do with their afternoon. Playing nicely with others might even convince me that you only need one day in diapers – unless you have an accident toady.” Rosa’s firm mommy-expression had Melody nodding energetically, if not enthusiastically.

“Gary said he’d be back in the afternoon as well, he can supervise you if you’re all comfortable with that,” Veroncia said, looking directly at Ava.

“That’d be good ‘cause he’s um – my knight.” Ava hastily stuffed pancakes in her mouth.

Briana grinned. She had a plate of pancakes, bacon, and fruit an inch deep in syrup. Her sibling, girlfriend, and boyfriend were all going to play together in the afternoon. It was a dream come true, even with the nasties outside. Surely, with all the positive energy they’d have together, they’d think of something to fix the situation!

~~~*~~~

Remote school was a bunch of boring data work that – while necessary – oppressed Briana’s carefree soul. The only bright side was that Ava was in the same boat, giving them the chance to snuggle in solidarity. Through expert wheedling, the Little girls had convinced Mom to let them work on a couch in the drawing room. With the two of them ensconced in blankets and fortified with tea, the spreadsheets on their laptops didn’t seem so dreary.

“This puts us ahead on data cleanup and analysis anyway. Next time we get into lab we’ll be able to concentrate on the actual experiments more.” Ava kissed Briana on the cheek, sending a tingle down the Little girl’s spine.

“You’re right.” Briana tried reciprocating Ava’s kiss, and got her girlfriend on the ear instead. “I think we’re close to done for the day anyway. It’s been two diaper changes already.”

“You measure time in diaper changes?” Ava giggled.

“Like you won’t be doing the same.” Briana smirked. “Mom’s been changing you as often as she changes me.”

“Is that why she didn’t tell us what time we’d be done with school?”

“She never gives me exact times anymore.” Briana shrugged. “It makes me feel more like a kid, so I don’t mind.”

Ava chewed on her lip. “I thought I knew what it’d be like to live with you for a few days but – it’s a lot.”

“Are you okay?” Briana pushed her laptop aside, the better to hug Ava.

“I’m enjoying myself – a lot.” Ava blushed. “I’m surprised your Mom is willing to do all this work for you, never mind me.”

“She likes taking care of us as much as we like being taken care of. The craziness outside has made her more snuggly than usual too. Honestly, I’m surprised that she’s letting Gary babysit us today.”

A massive thump and a muffled curse cut off whatever Ava was going to say in reply. Briana looked to the hallway in sudden horror. The protestors hadn’t gotten inside the house, had they? She was up on her feet and running for the hall before another thought entered her head. There was only one important thing in the world, and that was making sure that Ava was safe.

Instead of protestors, the hallway was filled with Briana’s roommate-family. Casey and Suzie were carrying Suzie’s bed-frame toward the back door, while Erin stood behind them with boxes in her arms.

“What’s going on?” Briana’s mouth hung open in shock.

“Hey kiddo.” Casey set the bedframe down and ruffled Briana’s hair. “We’re moving out for a bit. Things have gotten tight in the house after we added Rosa and Ava – plus there’s all that nonsense outside.”

“We’ll still come to visit though!” Suzie said, in a bright tone that to Briana seemed to be merely wallpapering over some sadness.

“Your Grandma set us up with a nice property that your family owns. We’ll only be a couple of blocks away,” Erin said.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me you were moving out?!” Briana wailed.

“Aww, baby-girl.” Casey scooped Briana into her arms and hugged the Little girl mightily. “Because of these exact water-works. It might not be a permanent move anyway, and we won’t forget you, I promise.”

“This is why Mom and Dad are having Gary babysit, so they can help you move.” Briana accused through soft sobs.

“That’s right.” Suzie said. “But don’t think for a minute that I’m giving up my babysitting privileges."

Briana clung to Casey’s strong shoulders and sobbed into her roommate’s shirt. It took Suzie and Erin encasing Briana in a hug from behind for her sorrow to abate. More than anything, she wanted to tell them they couldn’t leave. Her heart was desperate to throw a tantrum, make a scene, to get down on her knees and beg them to stay. But that wouldn’t be fair.

Nobody in the house deserved to be under siege by protestors. Briana loved a crowded house, but she knew that not everyone did. Casey, Suzie, and Erin deserved to live their lives and finish school without being hounded for Briana’s mistake. Everyone deserved a hate-free life, especially all the Littles that were being hounded by the awful politicians and people on the news. None of them were safe, especially with how freakily-fast the HYENA news team had found out about Briana’s ABDL community center.

A sudden revelation turned Briana’s tummy into a cold pit. She squirmed out of Casey’s grasp and wiped her face. “I’m okay now. I’ll miss you all – so much! – but I understand. I know you probably have everything set up, but if you need extra help, I’m here.”

“I’ll miss you too.” Erin patted Briana’s back.

“I love you, dummy, I’ll be around.” Suzie grinned.

“We could always use a cheerleader,” Casey said.

“Normally I would but – I think Mom wants me to stay out of the way, and I have to finish my school stuff.” Briana’s heart sank a bit to fib to her friends, but really, she was protecting them. The point of them moving out was to get them away from the drama.

Back in the drawing room, Briana took a moment to squeeze Ava’s hand reassuringly before picking up her phone. As she expected, the number she dialed was answered almost instantly.

“Ms. Rasmussen’s phone, this is Emeline speaking.”

“Emeline, this is Briana. I need access to the employee email that we set up for Alex.”

“It will take me a few minutes to create an administrator account for you on the email, I am beginning now. Is there anything else you need?”

“Yeah.” Briana swallowed nervously. “Tell Kiara that I need to set up a press conference.”

“Oh? What will be the subject of this conference?”

“The HEYNA people already outed me. I want to tell my side of the story – and encourage the other ABDL Littles out in the world.”

“Bold.” Emeline said, unflappably understated as always. “I will pass the message to your Aunt. You should have the login details of your administration account in a few minutes.”

Briana sighed. Relief that she’d taken action warred with nervousness at what Kiara would say. “Okay, thanks Emeline. I’ll let you go now.”

“That is appreciated, Miss Rasmussen. I think I shall be quite busy, shortly.”

“You’re going to do what?” Ava was staring at Briana in horror.

“Don’t worry, I won’t mention you.” Briana’s attempt at a reassuring smile had no effect on Ava.

“I’m your girlfriend. People know we’re together.”

“I’ll be as careful as I can, I promise.” Briana took Ava’s hands, projecting all her love through the gesture. “But what’s happening isn’t right. I need to fix it.”

“Fixing it would be good but…” Ava shook her head. “Who’s Alex? What was that email thing about?”

“I didn’t want to believe that someone that Kiara vetted would have alerted the HYNEA news people but…” Briana opened Emeline’s email and logged into her new account. “I can’t think of who else would have done it. Hopefully there’s proof.”

“Do you really think she’d be dumb enough to…” Ava trailed off as the blood drained from Briana’s face.

“She didn’t even try to hide it.” Briana’s eyes were sore in a way that usually meant she was crying, but she had no tears for the betrayal sitting in front of her. Alex had blithely emailed people at HYNEA news, disclosing the Community Center’s ABDL haven and going as far as suggesting a course of action.

“Bri, I’m so sorry.” Ava flopped over to hug Briana around the waist.

“I don’t think I’m sad about it, I hardly knew her.” Briana was surprised at the calm in her voice, but the sound of it did seem to be coming from a long way away. “I’m not angry either, I’m – determined.”

“Oh, shit.” Ava squeezed Briana. “Be careful, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m not going to get hurt, Kiara will know how to do what I need to do.”

“And that is…?”

“Telling my side of the story isn’t enough. I need to be a voice for Littles everywhere. I’ll make the whole world see that it’s not only not a bad thing to be ABDL, but that it’s a really good thing!”

“Um, hon…”

“No, I can do this.” Briana put a firm hand on Ava’s side. “I won’t mention your name or anything. But I’m not going to hide from these awful people anymore.”

“And here I thought you were going to do some terrible lawsuit financial thing to Alex with your family connections.”

“Oh, we’re going to do that too.” Briana drew herself up and spoke as Princess Briana. “Alex will not profit from her betrayal if I have ought to say about it.”

“Princess Briana – you’re a dumbass.”

“Ava, language!” Veronica’s call from the living room cut Ava’s giggle short.

“I can’t believe you managed to get in trouble before me. You’re a natural!” Briana said, grinning.

“You’re winding up to get in way more trouble than I’ll ever be in.” Ava draped herself on Briana’s shoulders. Taking the hint that schoolwork was over – or at least on a break – Briana squirmed around and drew her Princess-girlfriend in for a long kiss.

[kerry]

I'm so looking fwd to seeing how all of this plays out. 🙂

[SolSombraYSoldados]

8 hours ago, kerry said:

I'm so looking fwd to seeing how all of this plays out. 🙂

It'll be about 2 weeks to the next one. This thread is caught up to what was originally posted on Reddit and my archive. 

Chapter 29 just posted to Ream and will be available here in 2 weeks!

[SolSombraYSoldados]

New chapter! What's this, a Princess Lost? That can't be good! Somebody help Ava, quick!

29 A Princess Lost?

Press Conference Day

Ava sighed restlessly in the hidey-hole she’d found between Casey and Suzie’s rooms. Their former rooms, rather. It was one of the few places in the house Briana wouldn’t look for Ava – Bri was still heartbroken about her roommates moving out. As to why Ava was avoiding her girlfriend…

After Briana’s surprise announcement of a press conference the preparations had proceeded inexorably. Inexorable wasn’t a Little word, but it was a good word to describe the way the world worked around Briana. If the Little Princess wanted something, it was liable to happen. Bri must have been impressive enough before she became Little, but with her determination backed by Rasmussen money, she was unstoppable.

Picking Brownie up, Ava contemplated her stuffed bear’s face. She didn’t have Briana’s effortless facility with talking to stuffies, but living Little for three days had made conversing with her bear a lot easier. She was a little dubious about Brownie’s ability to give advice, but supposed that there was no harm in trying. After all, she was really just talking things through out loud with herself – it wasn’t like Brownie could provide commentary independently – could he?

“Brownie.” Ava addressed the bear in a serious tone. “I need some help. If you can come up with some good advice, the Pradhāna Mantri job – Prime Minster – is yours. Got it?”

There was no verbal reply from Brownie, but Ava nevertheless felt her bear understood the gravity of the situation. She sat him on her legs and considered her question.

“Briana is about to do something disastrous for me – but even more for herself. You know what it is, with the press conference. Her mom, dad, grandma, and aunt won’t stop her. I need to stop her, but I don’t want to break up with her. What do I do? Is there anything you can do – maybe with Alanna?”

Brownie seemed to be deep in thought.

Or maybe he was an inert lump of cotton, and Ava was actually losing her mind.

Panic set in as she realized she’d been talking to her teddy bear as if he could actually converse. She had to get out of the Rasmussen house. To go away from Briana – emotionally as well as physically. Showing up to support her girlfriend had sounded great until it potentially involved being disowned by her entire family!

Decision made, Ava struggled to her feet. Step one was getting out of her baby diaper and into a boring medical one. There was one set of big clothing – adult clothing – in her suitcase and that would get Ava back to her apartment. From there, well, ABDU was certain to grant a girl with Ava’s physical problems a disability deferment for the semester. She could hole up at her parent’s house and decide her future as an adult.

~~~*~~~

4 Days before Briana’s Press Conference

For the first time in her remembered-life, Ava woke up in the middle of a diaper change. It was her second morning at the Rasmussen house, and her second early morning diaper change. Looking awkwardly down her body, Ava saw that Jane was changing her. Not that it mattered which of Briana’s parents did the changing. Jane had only changed one of Ava’s diapers before, but she’d been there for the previous morning’s change.

“Um, good morning.” Ava ventured bashfully.

“Guten morgen.”

Jane barely looked up from her businesslike wiping job. One thing to be said for Briana’s Dad – her diaper changes were fast. Ava was snuggly wrapped in a new diaper while Briana was finishing being wiped. Veronica’s diaper change involved a lot more tickles and playing hide and seek. As cute as it was – Ava didn’t think she was close enough to the Rasmussens for that sort of play.

As she was gathering her strength to get up and get dressed, Ava was surprised to see Jane return with a tub of warm water and a washcloth. Her face must have betrayed her trepidation, because Jane sat back on her heels with a warm smile instead of getting right to business.

“You need to wash, but you do very little physical activity during the day. This should be sufficient, unless you would prefer a proper shower or bath.”

“Uh, actually what you set up is fine.” Ava squirmed. It was somehow more awkward for Jane to be treating the situation so matter-of-factly. “A bath in the morning sounds weird, and not having to stand for a shower is appreciated.”

She reached for the washcloth but found Jane pulling on her nightgown sleeve instead. Before Ava could do more than squeak, she was stripped down to her diaper.

“I’m sure you can do it, but it is hard to wash your own back.” Jane ran the warm washcloth along Ava’s arm in a gesture that should have been invasive but felt lovely instead.

It was easier to go along with things. Ava wondered if there was ever a time when it wouldn’t be easier to go along with things in the Rasmussen house. Not that she wasn’t grateful for the care – honestly it was a dream come true. She’d eyed the prices of mommies-for-hire at the Green Fairy for years. The experiences Ava had dreamed about then – and sometimes saved for – were paltry compared to the full service treatment Briana’s parents were giving her.

Though she kept her decorum for most of the sponge-bath, having her ears cleaned broke through the squirm-barrier. Jane’s fond chuckles as she finished her work solidified Ava’s Little feeling. She hoped they weren’t going to do school stuff right away, because a tedious task like parsing microbiology data felt completely out of reach.

“How about a bottle this morning, Baby Bee?” Veronica asked as she worked a pair of tights up Briana’s legs.

“No! That’s for babies. I’m sure Ava wants a regular breakfast, and I do too.”

The bottle actually sounded fun – sure, it’d been embarrassing the first time Jane had fed Ava that way. By this point she was so deep in Little play that nothing seemed out of bounds. On the other hand, the Rasmussens seemed to favor big American breakfasts with eggs, some kind of fried meat, fruit, and pancakes or waffles. That was it’s own kind of treat.

“Breakfast sounds lovely – uh, can I help?”

“You’re such a good girl for offering.” Veronica said, with a pointed glance at Briana.

“Yeah, we can both help!” Briana looked up with a guilty expression.

“I’m good at making pancakes.” Ava offered.

“We usually only give Little girls jobs like cutting fruit and setting the table, but I’d love to try your pancakes.” Veronica got Briana up and sent her out of the bedroom with a tap on her padded butt. Without skipping a beat, she helped Ava onto her crutches and into the hall.

“I don’t want to be a burden. I can’t carry my clothes down the stairs, but if someone can help me with that, I’ll stay on top of my laundry.” Ava grinned up at Veronica, desperate to be praised again. “Plus, with Suzie and Casey moved out, you have a big hole in the chore board, right? I can take Suzie’s chores, there wasn’t any lifting on her line.”

“You’re darling. I wasn’t going to make you do chores – but I suppose that was me thinking of you as a guest instead of a longer-term resident. Actually, if your lease is up soon, you could move right into Suzie’s room.”

Ava fell quiet as she navigated the stairs arm in arm with Briana. Her girlfriend was so excited about the idea she was vibrating. Memes about lesbians and U-Hauls notwithstanding, Ava decided to trust her instinctive worry about moving in so quickly.

“My lease is month to month – but I’m not sure about moving in here. Thank you for the offer, I’ll think about it.”

“Aww!” Briana’s disappointed whine was as immediate as it was predictable. Luckily, Veronica hustled them off to prepare breakfast before Princess Rasmussen could cause a fuss.

As she mixed batter and cooked her pancakes, Ava couldn’t help but imagine herself as a real resident of the household. It’d be wonderful to live in a family atmosphere, to be with her girlfriend, and to be Little whenever she wanted, without judgement. Renting from her girlfriend’s mom seemed like it would turn her relationship into a situationship – and it’d be a decision that’d be tough to reverse. Cancelling her lease and renting from Veronica would be easy.

If she wanted to leave, it was a whole different matter. She had so many criteria for an apartment – it had to be on the ground floor, on a bus line, affordable, and of course she wanted to live someplace nice too. Finding her current apartment had taken more than a year.

Ava’s worries were important, but they were Big worries. When the breakfast was ready and she was laughing as she smeared whipped cream on her girlfriend’s cheek – it was hard to remember why staying independent was so important. Why did she need to be afraid of the girl who had literally saved her life?

~~~*~~~

Three Days before Briana’s Press Conference

Ava beamed, “Oooh, this room gets some nice afternoon light, and it looks right out on the garden.”

“It’s Suzie’s room.” Briana asserted, petulantly.

“You’re the one that suggested I look at the open rooms.” Ava booped Briana’s nose.

“Okay, her former room.” Briana’s sour expression switched effortlessly to an excited grin. “So, you like it? You’re going to move in?”

“Calm down there, Looney Tunes. I’m just looking. There’s plenty of room for furniture – my desk could go by that window.”

“Oh! And you could get a queen-sized crib and put it over there!” Briana bounced excitedly on her toes. “It’d have to be made custom, but that’s actually a good thing because we’d get to pick the color. You could totally choose the color, even if we’re both sleeping in it.”

“Woah, what?” Ava felt the need to lean on her crutches for support. “Number one, I don’t sleep in a crib, I sleep in a bed.”

“Right now you sleep in a playpen.” Briana smirked.

“Number two…” Ava shook her head at her ridiculous girlfriend. “I thought we were looking at the room for me, not for both of us.”

“You – you don’t want to sleep with me every night? Do I snore? Are you not having a good time?”

Ava sighed. “Bri, focus. Our current sleeping arrangements are temporary. I’m loving it, okay? But I’d already be moving into your mom’s house and renting from her. It’s just – a lot.”

“It’s only a lot if you let it be!” Briana danced a circle around Ava. “Mom and Dad will take care of any scary stuff. They’ll help us, we’re a family!”

“This is a level beyond U-Haul, Bri. I’m just – it’s scary, okay?”

“Littles don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff. Mom wouldn’t even let you move in if she thought it would be a disaster. And she’s a Psych PHD! Dad wouldn’t either – she’s not in psych but she’s really level-headed. If they both think it’s a good idea – and they do – then we know it’s okay!”

“I…” Ava wobbled in indecision. Was it really that easy? It couldn’t be – right? Sure, Briana’s parents were doing a lot for her – bathing, toileting, feeding, comforting – Veronica was even tracking Ava’s school responsibilities. Ava’s own mother hadn’t done so much for her since she was six.

“I hate to give in to one of your patented Briana fast-talk persuasions but – you’re right. They wouldn’t even offer to let me move in if they thought it would end up with you hurt, or me either.”

“Yay!” Briana grinned. “So, we’re totally rooming together, right?”

Ava giggled. As soon as she’d put the decision on Veronica, the tension in her shoulders had vanished. In fact, she was so relaxed that her pants were warm. From that perspective, Briana’s question was utterly ridiculous. It wasn’t Ava’s decision to make!

“We’d have to go ask your mom.”

“Ooh, you’re right! I love how you catch on fast.” Briana wrapped her arms around Ava and looked up at her with dreamy eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Looney Tunes.” Ava relaxed into a sweet kiss.

“Now, let’s go ask your mom if we can room together – and get my diaper changed.”

Briana nodded. “Oooh, I’ll go too, so we can both change at the same time. Wow, Ava, you’re almost beating me in changes!”

~~~*~~~

Press Conference Day

Every step Ava took was a squishy one. She was wet – again. Ava also had no idea when her diaper had gotten wet – again. Veronica had her in thick diapers that could hold a wetting or two before they got noticeable. Ava had missed needing to pee at least three times for her diaper to be as soggy as it was. Even more concerning was the thought that she might not be holding it at all anymore. She could just be trickling, all through the day, like a true baby.

Ava gritted her teeth. She wasn’t blaming Veronica and Briana, not exactly, but her surrender to twenty-four-seven Little life was the opposite of encouraging to her control her bladder. Not just because no one expected her to be able to hold it, but because she never had to change her own diapers. With how clumsy Ava found her crutches on the potty, wetting a diaper was actually easier than using the potty.

Using the TOILET. Ava sighed. She couldn’t believe how baby-brained she’d become in less than a week. The thought of it was terrifying – or it should be. Most of Ava’s unease came from the fact that she was sure she should be upset about her Little transformation – but she wasn’t.

“Hey Ava, everything okay?” Rosa was in the living room, more buff than ever in her workout shorts and a tube top. Ava wouldn’t trade her girlfriend for the world – but she did sometimes envy Melody for getting to lay their head on that bosom every night.

“I’m fine. Thanks, Tia Rosa.” Ava hadn’t believed her statement for a moment, so it was no surprise that Rosa didn’t either. Luckily, Rosa was the least nosy of the caregivers.

“Well, if you do need something, I’m happy to help.”

“Just a tough day on the crutches, but I need to keep active.” Ava was adverse to lying as a general rule, but the WORST lies were ones that used her disability as an excuse. She had a sour taste in the back of her throat just from the one sentence.

“Good for you, sweetie.” Rosa’s proud concern was the icing on the Ava-feels-terrible cake. Luckily, she didn’t pursue it any further.

The next hurdle was the steep stairs up to Briana’s room. Even on a good day, they were a challenge for which Ava preferred to seek help. Today was not a good day. No, it was a crisis day. Ignoring the pain, the trembling – everything about her stupid legs, Ava forced herself up step by step.

~~~*~~~

Two Days before Briana’s Press Conference

“If we’re going to be living together, we have to deal with the Cloudland merger with my Naga kingdom.”

Ava was lying on the floor of the drawing room in nothing but a diaper and the new crimson onesie that Veronia had bought for her. With her legs splayed toward the door, she would have been horrified to be so exposed in her ABDL gear just two weeks ago. Now it hardly seemed to matter who saw her. Everyone in the house had changed her diaper at least once – even Melody!

“What’s this?! Your kingdom is a Naga kingdom?” Briana was equally onesie-clad, though hers was a typical Briana choice of Rainbow Brite by the way of Jackson Polluck.

“Yeah, I got tired of dropping hints. You were NEVER going to figure it out.”

“Does that mean you’re a naga?”

“Half.”

“You’re half-snake.” Briana sat up and folded her arms incredulously.

“More like half-dragon!” Ava rolled onto her belly and did her best hissing-roar. It had the desired effect of plunging both Little girls into giggles.

“Well – uh – Princess Briana has a secret too.”

“You mean that you’re actually Cloudland’s missing Queen?”

Briana gasped. “Who told you that?!”

“Oh – my – god, Banana. Everyone knows. Arthur the Pangolin knows. You drop hints about it constantly. And unlike you, your round table and I actually pay attention.”

“You – you’ve been talking to my round table? Like, when I’m not around?” Briana’s voice was suddenly hesitant, almost afraid.

Ava scootched over and nuzzled Briana’s leg. “I’m not trying to steal them, dummy. But you were doing another – thing – with your aunt and I was bored so I got the round table together and we had a chat.”

“You can hear them?” Briana’s eyes were as wide as Ava had ever seen them – which was impressive considering the girl’s wild range of facial expressions.

“I mean uh…” Ava blushed. “Not like, in words or whatever but – uh – you know, I got the idea.”

“You CAN hear them.” Briana’s eyes were shining, her lips trembling. “Not even Melody ever – ever…”

“What’s the big deal? We’ve been playing Cloudland together for a while, it’s our favorite game.” Ava heaved herself into a side-sit. “I’ve gotten to know them really well.”

“Princess Ava, of the Naga kingdom…” Briana took Ava’s hand and carefully kissed the back of it. “Will you marry me?”

“Looney – Banana – Bri – Briana… Do you really mean it?” Ava’s heart was pounding out of her chest. She longed to rear up into her beautiful and terrible Naga form just so she’d be enough to contain everything she was feeling.

Then, a terrible thought splashed icy water on the blazing warmth Briana’s proposal had ignited in Ava’s heart. With an exasperated snarl, she shoved Briana over.

“You. Are. Polyamorous.”

“Poly people can get married!” Briana said indignantly, as she rolled to her knees.

“Not without talking to their partners!”

“I don’t have to talk to Gary because I was trying to get Cloudland-married!” Briana’s shout sounded as hurt as Ava had felt when she’d remembered Briana’s other relationship.

Ava stared with her jaw open. “Oh… you mean like, our uh, characters would get married.”

“Not our characters. Our Cloudland-selves.” Briana said insistently. “Characters aren’t real. But Cloudland is real – and so are the people we are there.”

The veneer of imagination that Ava had built up wavered and threatened to crash. Staring into Briana’s loving, adamant eyes, Ava felt the world stabilize around her. She WAS a half-naga princess of an underground kingdom. Briana WAS the princess of a kingdom in the clouds. A princess who had just asked for Ava’s hand in marriage. Ava lunged for Briana and knocked them both to the ground for a passionate kiss.

“Of course I’ll marry you!” Ava sighed happily. “After a suitable betrothal period, of course.”

“Oh – uh, of course.”

“And your proposal is still SUPER problematic.”

“I thought you understood…”

“No, not because of Gary. He’s my Knight, he’ll get on board.” Ava chuckled. “You have to either admit to everyone that you’re the Queen, or you can’t get permission to marry!”

It was Briana’s turn to drop her jaw. “I uh – um – crap. Okay, wait, we can make this work…”

~~~*~~~

Press Conference Day

“She baby-proposed to me. And I baby-accepted.” Ava leaned on her suitcase, sweat dripping onto her Little clothes. It was just as full as when she’d arrived. Veronica had been changing Ava into the house’s diapers, leaving Ava’s stash untouched.

“Living here is going to end with me developing schizophrenia.” Ava grunted as she forced the suitcase closed, and again as she rose to her feet. Her legs were an absolute wreck, trembling like a palsy.

“Nah, it’s not schitzo stuff.” For a moment, Ava was terrified that she was actually hearing voices. But the voice was Melody’s, and they were shutting the bedroom door behind them. They looked oddly resolute in a pair of shortalls and a dinosaur t-shirt. Their blue hair was well combed and though they stood away from Ava’s path out of the room, their posture was taking up a lot of space around the door area.

“Hey, Ava.” Melody folded their arms across their chest. “Running away from home?”

[YourFNF]

Time for Melody to talk her down I see. Although I can absolutely understand why she's so overwhelmed with everything.

[SolSombraYSoldados]

A wild Melody POV appears!

 

It's a Melody POV chapter!

 

30 Melody

Melody planted their feet and crossed their arms – the perfect posture for channeling Top Energy. Normally, a bottom couldn’t summon such energy. But while others had been partying, Melody had mastered reverse blursed vibes. Ava stared back at Melody sullenly, like a toddler caught doing something she’d been told not to do. The vibes were working!

“Mango got your tongue?” Melody asked.

Mango chimed in from his cage, “Mango! Mango! Treat!”

“Don’t get him riled up!” Ava said, in a frantic tone. “I’m trying to – to...”

“Sneak out?”

“Shut up! I’m not running away from home because this isn’t my home!”

“Isn’t it? I saw you checking out Suzie’s old room. You even asked Mom for a lease, and she told you it was free real estate.”

“This house is turning me into a baby! Like – like...”

“Your girlfriend?”

Ava plopped back on her diapered butt with an obvious squish. Melody sighed. Their one-line zingers were working great for shutting down Ava’s rants, but they weren’t taking the conversation anywhere productive. If Melody wanted to fix the situation, they’d need to – ugh – dispense wisdom.

“Look, kiddo...”

“I’M NOT A KID!”

“So you’re Shrodinger’s Little? You’re a baby when you want love and attention, but as soon as someone corrects your brattiness, you’re an adult?”

“That’s not fair. I didn’t ask you to come do anything for me.”

“Not this morning. But you’ve been family to everyone here for the last few days.” Melody relinquished their Top posture – their point had been well made by now – and sat on the floor. “Is it fair to bail on the people who’ve been taking care of you without an explanation?”

“No.” Ava shuddered and sobbed into her hands. “I don’t want to go – I have to go. If I don’t, I’ll lose my fu-fu-family.”

The heartbreak in Ava’s voice was far too real. Melody knew it like they knew their own skin. For a gut-wrenching moment, they were caught between their sister’s heartbreak and Ava’s. Unfortunately, there was no contest. Briana would be hurt, but she’d heal. There could easily be an opportunity for Bri and Ava to reconcile. The wound that Melody’s mother had inflicted on them hadn’t healed and it probably never would. They would not allow Ava to feel that pain.

“Okay. I’ll get you past the protestors.” Melody stood up and looked around the room. “What else needs to go in your suitcase?”

Ava stared blankly at Melody. “What? Why are you suddenly helping me?”

“Why did Itadori Yuji swallow the cursed finger?”

“What?!”

“Jujitsu Kaisen. We watched three episodes together.” Melody shook their head at Ava’s blank expression. Dear daddy Satoru Gojo, I’m never going to get these people into Anime Heaven.

“I’m helping you because you need help, and I’m the one here. You can’t lose your family. I won’t let that happen.”

“You can’t get me past the protestors, they’ll hurt you!”

“So what was your plan? To let them hurt you? One of them almost killed you last month.”

“I was going to call my brother Rohan, he’s big. And – and maybe Gary. He’s my knight, he’d have to not tell Briana right away if I made him swear. I think Rohan wou-wouldn’t tell my mom and dad.” Ava whimpered her way through the last sentence, her eyes brimming with tears.

“In order to stop being Little – you were going to call on one of your caregivers, who you deputized as a Cloudland knight?”

“He’s not from Cloudland, he’s a knight of my Naga kingdom!” Ava wailed. “You don’t deputize knights, you knight them!”

“That’s - not something that would be super important to an adult woman.” Melody kneeled gingerly next to Ava. Whether Ava chose to accept or reject Melody’s closeness, the vibes were going to get awkward. Thankfully, Ava threw herself against Melody in a desperate hug.

Trade Offer:

Ava Received: Sibling Comfort.

Melody Received: A snot stain on their dinosaur shirt.

“Ava, you were puppy-dog happy two days ago. Last night you barely talked at dinner. Now you’re trying to run away. What happened yesterday?”

 “I’m not a puppy.” Ava grumped.

“Yeah, a puppy would be housebroken. You’re so wet you’re leaking.” Melody bumped her leg against Ava’s swollen diaper. “How about I change your diaper and you tell me what happened?”

“Okay, but give me one of the boring medical ones.”

"My sister’s deck has no pathetic cards – and her room has no boring diapers.” Melody forestalled Ava’s next protest with a finger on the Little girl’s lips. “And if I go hunting for a type of diaper nobody uses, Mom will notice and get involved. Do you want Veronica involved?”

“Fine. Change me.” Ava flopped onto the carpet, limp as a noodle. “But you won’t get it unless I tell you about my ex, Leah...”

~~~*~~~

Three Years before Briana’s Press Conference

“Leah, wait up!” Ava scurried down the sidewalk with the aid of her cane. At the time, she’d hated the thing, but oh, how she missed its simplicity compared to her crutches. The Georgia heat was a godsend for Ava’s muscles, and a major reason why she’d picked Georgia Tech from the list of colleges offering her undergraduate scholarships.

“You’re keeping up fine.” Leah skipped as she turned to face Ava with a radiant smile. She was unfairly gorgeous, with immaculate dark skin and a crown of tight curls on her head. Her skimpy shorts and tank top left little to the imagination – not that Ava needed imagination to picture her girlfriend’s curves. She’d exhaustively mapped Leah’s shape with eyes and hands for years.

“What’s this, a Chappell Roan album? This flashback is way hornier than I expected.”

“Shut up, Melody. It’s cinematic. ANYWAY....”

It was Pride month, which meant protestors in the center of campus. Normally, Ava would go the long way around, but today she was late for a meeting with a professor from ABDU’s Microbiology program. It was the final stage for her acceptance into their top-rated PHD program. With Leah pushing Ava to sustain a light jog, they’d just make it.

The protestors were gathered into a nasty huddle , with huge signs held aloft like flags. The signs were so big that even the men needed a harness to hold them properly and they explained in bold, fiery text exactly how everyone who wasn’t a bible-thumper was going to go to hell – naming each group of people by the slur of the day.

Leah fixed a fiery glare on the mob as they passed. Thankfully, the protestors were too distracted by the students in rainbow clothing to notice. Ava made her appointment time and was welcomed into the microbiology program by Dr. Khumari. That she not only got the position, but that her adviser would be another Indian woman had Ava flying high.

“Then the fire nation attacked, right?”

“Melody, you suck. Stop interrupting!”

“I just wiped your b-hole, so maybe put some respect on my name.”

“Hush1 Leah confronted the protestors on our way out, but...”

One of the protestors had put down his huge sign. Leah saw her opening, asking him if all that hate had gotten too heavy to hold up. The church mob turned on Leah, but she was gloriously unbothered. She laughed in their faces, had a zippy answer for every one of their accusations, and rallied the rainbow crowd behind her.

When one of church women told Leah that Jesus loved her, Leah pulled Ava close. “You think your god is love, after all the hate you’ve spewed? Jesus isn’t love. THIS is love.”

It was the most public kiss Ava had ever experienced. A roar went up from both sides of the crowd, anger on one side and cheers on the other. The cheers were much louder. Ava felt like she could fly into the sky. The day ended in complete triumph.

But then life happened. A sudden “problem” cropped up with Ava’s scholarship. It never got fully resolved – her dad had to take out a loan to cover the expense. A distressingly high percentage of her professors started treating Ava coldly. A school journalist had taken a photo of the kiss and the local paper picked it up. In a day, Ava went from being an unknown to being out to half of Atlanta. Her favorite Indian restaurant banned her from the premises.

Press Conference Day

“I had to flee Atlanta. I finished what classes I could remotely, and transferred to ABDU for my final Semester.” Ava swallowed nervously.

“Then you and Leah broke up, because you blamed her for what happened?”

Mango chirped, “Leah! Pretty Leah! See Leah! Treat!”

“I blamed her for it because it was her fault.” Ava sat up and glared at Melody. “That’s how blame works.”

“You’re saying nothing happened to Leah?”

“She made the choice to put herself on center stage, I didn’t!”

“I’m not saying what Leah did was smart, or even right.” Melody sighed. “But she didn’t screw up your scholarship or ban you from a restaurant. Bigots did. Yeah, she should have asked you first. But she didn't set out to hurt you.”

“Well she put me in hurt’s way! And now Briana is doing the same thing. Do you know what I found out yesterday? Her press conference isn’t going to be some tiny Ardenthill thing. She invited HYENA news! It’s going to be national – she'd make it global if she could.”

Ava shuddered. “There won’t be an Ardenthill to escape to. I’ll be out as ABDL to the entire world with nowhere to hide.”

“You’re not just leaving the house. You’re going to break up with Briana. Ghost her.”

“What choice do I have! The media will do a deep dive on Briana. They will find out about me. It might already be too late. My only chance is to get out of here, stop all ABDL stuff forever, and never talk to – to...” Ava grabbed her legs and banged her forehead against her knees.

Melody put a hand on Ava’s shoulder, as gentle as a cat when they toucha-da-fishy. “Ava, I’ve seen how much you love being Little. You can’t shut that off forever. That kills the baby girl.”

“You said you wouldn’t let me lose my family.”

“I meant it. Do you think they’ll actually disown you? I don’t know them. But most – most moms wouldn’t throw a kid away l-like tra-trash.” Melody turned away when Ava looked up at them, too late to hide the agony on their face.

“I knew you don’t talk to your mom, but I didn’t know – Melody, are you okay?”

“This is about you living your best life. It ain’t about me.” Melody shoved their spikey feelings down into the dark hole where they belonged.

“The person it ‘ain’t about’ in that meme is drowning.” Ava shuffled over to lean against Melody.

“Oh, now you’re meme-literate?” Melody slapped their leg. “This bad boy can hold so much trauma. Your issue needs to be dealt with today.”

“What am I going to do?”

“It’s a tough decision. Let’s get Mango’s opinion.” Melody chuckled at Ava’s incredulous expression. “Trust me. Hey Mango, who’s Leah?”

“Leah! Leah! Pretty Leah! Treat!”

Melody nodded. “Mango, who’s Briana?”

“Banana! Banana! Love Briana! Looney Tunes! Love! Love!”

Ava’s lips were trembling as she stared at her bird. Melody put her arms around the Little girl and squeezed her gently.

“I think Mango knows how you feel about my sister.”

“Help me, please. I can’t go through it again. I can’t have the whole country turn into Atlanta.”

“I got you, sis.”

“Sis?”

“You’re family, dummy.”

“Why am I your family? Why are you doing this?” Ava smacked Melody with her petite fist. “And don’t tell me about an anime. Tell me like a normie.”

“Briana loves you. You know how much. She considers you family.” Melody gently patted the stupid, dumb baby in their arms. “I’m ride or die for Bri. She saved my life. Literally. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

“That just transfers to me?”

“It transfers. I’d do almost anything for you, Ava.”

“Even get me out of the house, if I asked again?”

“Even that.”

“Thanks – um – sib.”

That was the problem with pain-in-the-butt babies. They were great at making you cry. Melody held on to Ava and managed to hold onto their tears as well. Rocking back and forth with Ava seemed to help them both recover their composure.

“Now, I agree that Bri will be hard to derail, but it won’t be impossible. We have to watch out for her crazy high Charisma score. She’s been min-maxing it with the leadership stuff that Aunt Kiara is teaching her.” Melody said.

“You make it sound like she’s a dictator or something.” Ava said.

“I mean – you said it, not me...”

“Wait, that’s it! You can help me stage a coup.”

“Come again?”

“The Roundtable! We have to convince them to stand against Briana. But I need your help. I can’t carry them all.”

“Okay...” Melody bit their lip. “You’re talking to the Roundtable now, huh?”

“Duh, or this would never work! Come on, I’ll gather them up here, but you have to go get Alanna. They won’t make a decision without her.” Ava struggled to her feet and failed. She sighed in exasperation and crawled over to the stuffie shelf. “Once we have a quorum, you have to help me carry them to Briana. She’ll be in the drawing room, prepping her speech.”

“You have my sword.” Melody said.

“Oh, good idea. Bring that too. No coup is won without at least a threat of force.”

“Um... Ava I’m not going to threaten my little sister with a sword.”

“Of course not! You’ll just like... have it. Look, I’ll knight you if it’s that much of a problem.”

“I’ve already been knighted by Brianna, thank you very much!”

Ava smirked at Melody and in a singsong tone, said, “That’s not something an adult would care about.”

Melody rolled their eyes. “You’re so lucky I don’t spank.”

“No, I’m so lucky that I have a big sib that loves me and is going to help me. Like, is going to help me right now. Go!”

“Frickin’ demanding babies.”

Melody found Briana downstairs, deep in press-conference prep with Kiara. The two of them were in full business mode, with Kiara in a stunning black pantsuit and Briana in a formal children’s dress. Sitting at Briana’s left was Alanna, with a notepad in front of her.

If Melody had to run errands for Ava, they might as well play the part. Walking in with their best secret-agent walk, Melody leaned down behind Briana to whisper in her ear.

“Your Majesty, Knight Captain Alanna has a meeting she has to take.”

Though she was reviewing a list of questions and responses, Briana didn’t miss a beat. She whispered back, “That’s fine, I can take my own notes.”

Briana slid her notepad back from Alanna and Melody absconded with the stuffie before their aunt could ask them to do any work. As they passed the downstairs bathroom, Melody was reminded that they’d been on their way to said bathroom when they’d spied Ava acting weird. They hesitated at the door and appraised the stuffie in their hands. Melody wasn’t usually the speak to stuffies directly type, but Ava was about to talk to Alanna and – which made it weird to bring the stuffie along. Leaving her in the hallway wasn’t an option either, Mom or Dad would surely snatch up any out of place toys.

There was nothing to do but grit their teeth and hurry up the stairs. They’d have a chance to pee while Ava was doing her meeting thing anyway.

Narrator: They did not get that chance.

[SolSombraYSoldados]

The problem with being a political leader on the Big side and a princess of the Little side is that sometimes the peasants stage a revolt!

Chapter 32 is up on Ream if you can't wait, but it'll be here as well in a few weeks. ❤️ 

 

-----

31 A Cloudland Coup!

Briana stared at the forces arrayed against her. They were considerable! Melody was the most physically imposing in their full Inuyasha cosplay, sword included. Ava had dressed up in her sparkliest Indian dress, and had done her makeup like a snake. Those two Briana could have handled, but to have her entire round table arrayed against her – with Knight Captain Alanna boldy in front – that was beyond the pale.

“Alanna had to take a call, my butt.” Briana grumbled to herself. She’d just been excused from her meeting with Aunt Kiara thanks to her mom’s timely arrival. Ava’s look was so stern, and the stuffies looked so judge-y that Briana almost begged Veronica for help!

But she wouldn’t beg Mom for help. Not only would that be conduct unbecoming of a princess, but Naga-Princess Ava had to have some something really important to say, for her to go all out. Nervously, Briana cleared her throat and rose to her full five feet.

“Is there aught the throne of Cloudland can do for you, gentlelady, gentleperson, and gentlestuffies?”

“This is a coup.” Ava said pugnaciously. “We’re shutting down the press conference.”

“That’s right.” Melody nodded. “We’re in ur Bastille, freeing ur mans.”

Briana’s memelore was not advanced enough to get the reference. Melody would know that, meaning the meme was just one more avenue of attack! She shook her head to clear it and stamped her foot. “A princess shouldn’t have to put up with this sort of thing!”

“You can’t coup me! And you’re not supposed to mix Cloudland business with stuff like the press conference.”

Ava took a trembling breath. Briana realized her girlfriend’s eyes were puffy under the green-scale makeup. Before she could ask why Ava had been crying, Ava found her voice.

“You give us no choice. This press conference threatens the very fabric of Cloudland. If you go through with it, the alliance between our kingdoms and our betrothal will both be over. Because – b-because...” Ava sniffled. “Because I’ll have to leave. Forever.”

Fireworks popped in Briana’s belly, her nose felt as if it’d been punched. Everyone in the room was against her, she couldn’t even cling to Alanna for support! Briana’s princessly demeanor crumbled.

“No! No, you can’t go!” Briana felt she was being torn in half. On one hand Ava was pulling like an anchor. On the other was all the hopes and dreams of the Littles she’d planned to save. Violent hiccups wracked the Little girl’s chest.

“I can’t get outed to the whole world! I’ll lose my mom, and my dad, and my brother!” Ava was crying silently, her cheeks shining with tears.

Briana’s knees hit the hardwood. She tipped back and landed on her soggy padding with a mighty squish. She wailed! “Mommy! Mommy!” Ava added her own sobs to the mix.

Melody groaned, “You dumb babies, if you don’t stop our moms will...”

It was too late. The coup was surrounded by mommies. Veronica appeared next to Briana as if by magic. Rosa was a mere second behind her. As Jane came down the stairs, Grandma appeared out of the kitchen and knelt by Ava. Briana hadn’t even known that Michelle was in the house. Maybe being a grandma had granted her supernatural foresight for mommy emergencies.

Rosa put her hands on her hips. “Melody, since you’re the only one not crying – and the only one armed – can you please tell us what’s going on?”

“I’m just facilitating!” Melody protested. “Ava had a beef with Briana and needed help, so I’m helping.”

“Helping?” Veronica sighed as she put her arms around Briana. “Melody, you know when someone is too Little to have proper judgement. I wish you would have guided Ava toward better choices.”

“If I’d done that, everyone would be mad at me later. This is a big deal to Ava and...”

Melody waved their sword for emphasis as they spoke. Briana realized her sib’s mistake as soon as Veronica’s hands tightened on her. She tried to stop crying in time to warn Melody, but Rosa was too fast.

“Melody! No sword swinging when you’re agitated. Don’t make me use your Inuyasha necklace.”

“You wouldn’t!” Melody gasped.

“Sit Boy!” Rosa snapped her fingers.

Melody dropped into a sit instantly. For a moment, they stared defiantly at Rosa, arms crossed over their chest. Their eyes widened in realization and a sob broke from their lips.

Rosa sighed. “Little One, we’ve been over that rule before...”

“It’s not that!” Melody sniffled. “I leaked on my Inuyasha costume.”

With a kind smile, Rosa got down on the floor and put her arms around Melody. “Something has all you babies wound tight. Why doesn't some brave Little speak up and tell your caregivers what’s wrong?”

“Briana’s gonna out me to the whole world!” Ava shouted, fresh tears streaking her cheeks. “It’ll be like when I got outed as gay in Atlanta but way worse. I’ll lose my family and never see Briana again and I’ll never get to be Little again, ever!”

“Oh, sweetheart. No one here is going to let those awful things happen to you.” Michelle cradled Ava against her chest.

Kiara arrived from the drawing room. As always, all eyes went to the forceful Rasmusen matriarch – until Jane cleared her throat.

“I think it is best to have a separation of elements in this situation. Rosa, if you wouldn’t mind taking Melody with you. I will take charge of the parliament.” Without waiting for anyone’s agreement, Jane efficiently gathered the stuffies up, though Briana was glad to see that her dad was holding them respectfully. None of the stuffies were upside down or stuffed into an armpit.

“But I’m helping!” Melody sniffled.

“You did your part.” Rosa stood, pulling Melody to their feet like a reluctant cat. “Now it’s time for you to be a good Little One, and come with your Mommy.”

“Briana needs a change, and maybe a bottle.” Veronica declared. “Mom, can you get Ava to on the couch?”

“I can with Kiki’s help.” Michelle might have passed on her title, but Briana noted that Kiara hurried to help without having to be directly asked.

There was no stopping the caregiver energy. Briana let herself move with the flow of it and congratulated herself on how Taoist she was being. Being Little was actually a very Taoist experience, Briana reflected, as Mom popped her diaper tapes right there in the living room. You had to stay in the moment and not try to escape to something else if you wanted to be a happy baby.

But what was it that Ava needed from her? What moment did Briana need to flow with to keep from hurting her girlfriend? Her current course was obviously causing friction and pain. She needed a way to provide relief – much like Mom was doing with the wipes. The cool aniseptic felt wonderful on her damp skin. Maybe it was time to be even more in the moment and let the world tell her what she needed to do.

The next two things the world brought Briana were barrier cream on her butt and the front door opening. Everyone looked up at the latter in alarm. Instead of something awful, like a policeperson telling them about something terrible the protestors had done, it was Gary!

“Gary!” Briana said cheerfully. His name came out louder than she’d intended. It also harmonized. She looked at Ava in surprise – her girlfriend had squealed Gary’s name in unison from her seat on Grandma’s lap.

“Hi baby girls.” Gary closed the door and stood awkwardly on the inside mat. “Um, I’m here to get Ava out of the house – but it looks like that’s not going to be a popular course of action.”

“Ava called you?” Jane asked in her usual calm tone.

“Texted, but yeah.” Gary stuffed his hands in his pockets and squared his shoulders. “So Ava, do you still want to go? Even if it makes your caregivers mad – I’m your knight.”

“You value that promise you made to Ava so highly?” Jane asked.

“I value all my promises highly. I’m in good company here in that regard.” Gary smiled. “That’s why I hope we’re all on the same page about getting Ava what she wants.”

“You’re a good young man.” Grandma said. “Take a seat.”

“First I need to know that…”

Kiara, from her throne-like seat in the armchair, cut Gary off with a sharp hmm. “Gary, you’re not going to drag Ava out of our arms any more than we are going to hold her against her will. Sit.”

Gary sat. The room was quiet as Mom finished Briana’s diaper change. Mom and Dad lifted Briana onto the couch, on Mom’s lap. She was across from Ava on the couch, across the coffee table from Gary. The coffee table held her Round Table. Aunt Kiara was sitting like a judge in her chair, while Dad was the only one standing – like a bailiff. It was almost as dramatic as the scene that Melody and Ava had sprung on Briana, but no one was crying. Briana silently thanked her caregivers for giving Ava the big moment she’d wanted along with a much needed emotional reset.

“Ava, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was hurting you.”

“Then, you’ll stop the press conference?” Ava’s hopeful expression twisted Briana’s gut.

It wasn’t as simple as stopping the press conference to make Ava feel better. There were Littles being attacked every day for just being who they were. Horrible, angry people screaming at them on TV. Someone needed to stand up on that same platform and tell the world that those Littles were just fine. That there was nothing wrong with them. If no one else was going to do it, then it needed to be Briana.

“I – I can’t. Ava-bean, I’m so sorry. This is an important thing. I have to do it, or people that I have a chance to help will keep getting hurt.”

“I can’t give up my family.” Ava whimpered. A timely hug from Grandma saved the Little girl from descending into tears. Ava snuggled into Michelle’s grip and sighed. “Thanks, Grandma.”

Grandma?! How long had that been going on? Briana caught surprise on Michelle’s face, so it was new to her. Come to think of it, Melody had been awfully insistent on protecting and helping Ava. It was sibling-level concern that Briana hadn’t been able to recognize when her emotions were overwhelmed.

Ava is family now? That’s amazing – I’m sorry I missed it – but… oh my goddess, that changes everything!

“You won’t have to give up your family. I’ll postpone the press conference a few days. You can do that, right Auntie?”

“Of course.” Kiara nodded.

“A couple of days isn’t going to do anything!”

“Not by itself.” Briana took a deep breath. “I love you, Ava. I love my Little friends too, and the Littles that are scared out there in the world. I knew I had to use that love to help them, but I didn’t realize I had to use it to help you first.”

“Banana, I love you too! So much! But love isn’t going to solve this problem.”

“Sure it will. Because I’m going to meet your parents, tell them that I love you, and help them understand that there’s nothing wrong with their wonderful daughter.”

“You – WHAT?” Ava stared at Briana in horror. Briana thought she could see a bit of hopeful surprise in there too. “That’s exactly what I don’t want you to do.”

“It won’t be a press conference. It won’t be with Mom or Grandma or Aunt Kiara at my side. I won’t even tell them my last name unless they ask.”

Briana hopped off Mom’s lap and straightened her skirt. “It’ll just be me. Briana. I was going to meet them someday, right?”

“Y-yes… I wanted you to meet them, but things are so messed up right now.”

“Ava.” Briana got down on one knee. “I promise you, on my love for you, that your parents will accept us together - even as Littles.”

“You can’t promise that! That’s dependent on what other people think.”

“I can promise it. If you’ll let me meet them, I promise they’ll be okay with who you are. I know they love you. I love you. We have to be able to work it out.”

“You’re insane. Are all Rasmussens completely insane?” Ava buried her face in her hands, but there was such nervous hope in her voice that Briana’s heart soared.

“We only choose the best.” Kiara said. “Ava, look at your girlfriend and tell me she’s not amazing.”

Ava pulled her trembling hands from her face. With her voice quavering, she asked, “Can you really do it, Banana?”

“I can. I’m Briana. You’re Ava. We’re Little, we’re amazing, and I promise your parents will see that.” It was the most regal moment of Briana’s life, and all the better for having occurred in front of her entire round table and her caregivers.

It was also an incredibly short lived moment, because no more than a heartbeat later, Ava had tackled Briana and was kissing every bit of her face. Briana giggled and kissed back at any Ava bits her lips could reach. When the kisses slowed down – their caregivers pulled them gently apart.

“You’re okay with me talking to your parents?” Briana asked. The confirmation felt important, even if the question was all but rhetorical.

“Yes. Please Briana, I believe in you.” Ava smiled wryly. “I know you said you didn’t want to bring everyone – but maybe they could be nearby. A-at least a couple of people?”

“How about it, Sir Gary?” Briana asked. “Are you in for a trip upstate?”

“Well I wasn’t going to let baby girls drive – and I wouldn’t miss this.”

“We agree on that.” Jane chuckled. “I will come also. Ronnie, my love, shall we escort our daughter to meet her girlfriend’s parents?”

“Try and stop me from coming along.” Veronica chuckled.

“Then Mom and I will hold down the fort here.” Kiara said. “I’ll make the arrangements to change the press conference date. Rescheduling happens all the time, if anything, it’ll generate more attention.”

“Is this crazy?” Ava asked. “It feels right but – none of the Bigs are going to sanity check us? I can’t tell anymore what’s a good idea and what’s a Little idea.”

Grandma reached down to pat Ava’s head. “In this case, they’re the same thing, Ava dear. There’s something magical about all Littles – you two simply happen to have more of it than most. Trust in your parents. They’re good people surely. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t be such a delight yourself.”

Briana beamed at her caregivers. Once again, Grandma came in with the perfect wise saying that also filled her with warm fuzzies. “How soon can we leave?”

“Uh – I should call them and warn them first.”

“We should give them at least until tomorrow afternoon.” Veronica said. “I know I’d be annoyed to meet Ava’s parents in my home on no warning. I keep a clean house, but I’d put out flowers or something for an important first meeting like that.”

“Well said, Vonnie.” Kiara rose from her chair. Immediately, the meeting felt dissolved. “Ava, please contact your parents right away. Vonnie, you can use my SUV, it should be big enough for all of you. Mom, would you like to help me bully a few news organizations?”

“Oh, they’re my favorite to bully. Thank you Ki.” Michelle chuckled as she rose. “But since I’m not coming along, I’m claiming babysitting privileges on the girls tonight.”

A love declaration tomorrow and Grandma babysitting? The afternoon had gone from horrible to one of the best in a long time. All that remained was to make sure that things went well with Ava’s parents. And they would go well, Briana was certain of it. Mostly certain of it. She had some regret about her promise not to use the Rasmussen name. Surely she didn’t need a fancy last name to win Ava’s parents over. Her love would be enough… right?

Alanna had no reassuring words, only the suggestion that Briana not let her nervousness show to Ava. That was smart, but it was a lot of pressure too. Briana suspected she was going to need every bit of Grandma-care she could get to make it through tomorrow.

If I can’t save one Little from their family, how can I save them all from the world? I have no business doing my press conference if I can’t convince Ava’s parents. This is it – do or die – tomorrow I find out if I can save the Littles.

[YourFNF]

These three have the most amazing caregivers like seriously! 💜

[SolSombraYSoldados]

10 hours ago, YourFNF said:

These three have the most amazing caregivers like seriously! 💜

Mommies coming out of the woodwork!

[kerry]

So happy to see this story continue!