Ava’s wrists ached from the pressure she was putting on them – she ignored the discomfort and kept up her quick strides. Her irritation at Briana was ridiculous, she knew. Slightly nosy curiosity and an offer to help Ava pack had to be the mildest way someone had pointed out her disability. She could easily recall an endless stream of less polite examples. Briana had the good grace to look embarrassed about calling attention to Ava’s crutches, too – so why am I annoyed? Something about the pixie-esque girl bothered her, probably Briana’s obvious wealth. As she passed through the house’s large kitchen and laundry – both of which were rooms that demanded servants to properly utilize – she sighed at herself.
The other two Rasmussens that Ava had met had been nice enough, and Briana was the perkiest of them all so far.That didn’t mean that Briana’s attitude could dilute the awkwardness Ava felt, as a woman of color showcasing a stunning dining room for the rich white girl who owned it – but had never eaten an meal there. Ava was still having trouble believing Briana had never been to the mansion before – did the Rasmussens have so many houses, that one of them could be in her early twenties and never have visited such an iconic place? Look at me, all focused on privilege and class. Maybe Leah rubbed off on me more than I thought.
“Here we are.” Ava took a deep breath in an effort to keep her breath from sounding labored. Deliberately, she set aside her pique and her ex-girlfriend’s worldview – to let herself enjoy sharing something she loved. “My favorite room in the house.”
The stars in Briana’s eyes were adorable. She looked around the dining room with the same mixture of awe and childish delight that Ava had felt upon first seeing the room. The dining table for ten wasn’t a remarkable piece of furniture on its own, but it was adorned with beautiful green glass vases and globes. Painted the same mint-white color as the walls, the table looked at home in the center of the room, with generous space around it. Both short-walls of the rectangular room bore whimsical oak carvings of cherubs and ships in an art nouveau style. The trim was all in a sea green that was a perfect midpoint between the light walls and dark green glass. Shelves and china cabinets held many more pieces of green glass china, each of them hand-crafted pieces. The floor was simple herringboned brick with jute rugs, but its simplicity was a much needed counterpoint to the rest of the décor.
All that would have been impressive enough, but the stove and windows took the room to a level of fantasy. The ancient cast iron parlor stove was lovingly carved and still had its exhaust piped into the wall – not that Ava had been brave enough to try to light it, despite the engraved brass kettle that sat on it. A whole long wall of the room was made up of diamond-paned windows that looked out on the bay without obstruction. The water came so close to the house that all one saw of the shore were a few bushes peeking up and a bit of the dock – the rest was water. Ava had made a point of taking every breakfast in the Green Dining Room, where the view and the sound of waves let her pretend she was out at sea.
“Oh my gosh, this is spectacular!” Briana hopped on her toes in delight, scurrying around the room with an odd waddling gait. “I had no idea Grandma’s house had a room like this – that her house was so beautiful.”
“I have to ask – how did you not know?” Ava asked, taking a seat on a helpful dining chair that sat against the wall.
“I was just recently adopted. Last month, actually.” Briana smiled shyly at Ava, revealing heart-rending dimples. “All Rasmussens are adopted – except for my dad I guess. She’s the first one to marry in for ages.”
That explains the black aunt and redheaded niece, Ava thought. It was her turn to look guilty, a look which she quickly converted to an apologetic smile. “I want to apologize – I misjudged you.”
“Oh, me too! I mean, I didn’t misjudge you, but I think I made you uncomfortable – and I didn’t mean to.” Briana’s hopeful smile pushed her another level up the pyramid of cute. “I would have offered to help you pack even if you um – even if…”
“If I wasn’t disabled?” Ava shrugged at Briana’s wince. “I didn’t mean to be prickly about it. The thing is – I get tired of people meeting my disability before they meet me.”
“That way of thinking about it – makes a lot of sense. Thanks for taking time to educate me.” Briana looked thoughtful, which was an encouraging sign. Without warning, she switched back to her bubbly mode. “Does that mean you’ll let me help you pack? I’m a good helper, you’ll see!”
Ava had to laugh. If she didn’t know better, she’d have said Briana was in Littlespace. The girl’s clothes were on the young side, but as tiny as she was – she might not have a lot of options in the women’s section. Just because she’s bubbly and wearing overalls doesn’t mean she’s into ABDL. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll pack up on my own. You can meet Mango, though.”
“Mango?” Briana focused on Ava with startling intensity. “Who’s Mango?”
“My parrot.”
“Oh my gosh YES! Puppies and a bird?” Briana was back to bouncing on her toes. “Coming along with aunt Kiara was the best decision ever.”
Sense of duty made Ava route them through the Asai room and the Study – she’d been asked to give a tour by her boss, after all. Walking through the octagonal Asai room didn’t do it justice – it took time to appreciate the half-dozen paintings, all of them Asai Chu originals. Time wasn’t something they had, not with Briana on a mission to see a parrot. Ava briefly pointed out the cabinet of hand-painted porcelain teapots in the study before completing the loop and guiding Briana back to her room.
It was tiny, even by the old house’s more closely-built standards, and full of odd touches – like a platform in front of the window two feet deep and built too high to be a window seat. From what Ava had heard, the room had been part of the old house where the first Rasmussen owner had stayed while the rest of the house had been built around it. Along with the kitchen and great room turned-kennel, the whole section had been left in an odd half-finished or perhaps half-rustic state.
Mango chirped happily as soon as she entered the room, singing his name to her as he hopped from foot to foot on his perch. “Mango, Mango!”
“Hello, pretty bird.” Ava grinned as Mango started preening. He was a vain little thing, but with his vibrant green and yellow plumage, he deserved to be. Shuffling to the bed to make room for Briana, Ava motioned to her bird. “Briana, this is Mango. Mango, this is Briana.”
“Briana, Briana!” Mango chirped, hopping to the perch on the edge of his cage to peer at the newcomer.
“Oh he’s gorgeous!” Briana clapped her hands softly. “You’re beautiful, Mango.”
“Pretty bird, pretty bird!” Mango agreed.
“Do you want to pet him?” Ava pried the cage door open, giving Mango a moment to adjust to the situation before extending her hand. He fluttered out and landed on her wrist, immediately nuzzling her arm with his beak.
“Gosh, yes! I’ll be careful.” Briana reached out with ridiculous caution – which was certainly better than erring in the other direction. Mango bobbed his head away for a moment before extending his neck toward Briana. She took the hint, petting his raised neck feathers while Mango trilled happily.
“Here, I’ll make him your friend forever.” Ava fished a date chunk out of Mango’s treat bag and put it in Briana’s hand. “Dates are his favorite.”
“Treat, treat, treat!” Mango whistled at Ava.
“Briana has the treat.” Ava motioned at the petite girl. It took a few tries – what with Mango smelling the date on Ava’s fingers – but once he got the idea he turned to Briana with just as much intensity.
“Treat! Pretty bird! Treat, treat! Pretty bird! Treat! Mango!” He chirped, hopping on Ava’s wrist.
Briana giggled gleefully, reaching out carefully with the chunk of date. Mango snatched it out of her fingers so fast she didn’t startle until he’d already caught his balance and was scoffing the treat down.
“That’s how I am with ice cream,” Briana said with a grin.
“I wish I could eat ice cream.” Ava coaxed Mango back into his cage and nudged the door closed. At Briana’s curious head tilt, she added, “Lactose intolerant.”
“Oh, that’s sad. At least you still have chocolate.” Briana took a good look around the room. Either being a little nosy was part of her personality, or she was still in tour mode. Either way, Ava was glad she had stowed away anything overly private in anticipation of Kiara’s visit. Her gaze lighted on Ava’s stack of printed out journals – she picked one up to read the abstract.
Nosey for sure then. I’m not sure how much she’s going to get out of that if she’s still an undergrad. “That’s for my graduate class.” Ava offered.
“Yeah, Grandma told me you were in Biomechanical.” Briana flipped to the paper’s introduction, reading with apparent comprehension. “Ooh! You get to play with nanobots. We don’t use them much as an end-product in Microbio, just as something to construct a batch of bacteria.”
“You’re in the ABDU Microbiology grad program?”
“Can’t you tell?” Briana laughed, tossing the paper onto the stack. “I know I look young – especially lately. I’m pretty far into my PHD program actually. I’ll even be done with it soon, someday, eventually.”
“That’s a mood.” Ava grinned and took a seat on the bed. “What’s your thesis?”
“Plastic eating bacteria – with waste products that are easy to capture so that all the carbon doesn’t get cycled back into the atmosphere. Yours?”
“Microfluidic drug delivery. Basically, sending cancer drugs directly into cancer cells instead of soaking the patient’s whole body in toxic stuff.”
“Cool! That means you probably deal with a lot of the same cell permeability issues that I do, what’s your take on…”
“Briana!” Kiara’s voice was accompanied by one of the big dogs – Cupid – poking his muzzle through the doorway. “Come upstairs please!”
“She set the dogs on you – scary!” Ava laughed.
“I better go!” Briana nodded, already backing toward the doorway. “Let’s talk later though, okay?”
“Sure.” Ava waited until Briana was away down the hall before closing the door and throwing the lock. It was a relief to not be responsible for the enormous pups anymore, as much as they’d all been sweethearts. Assured that she wouldn’t have to open her bedroom door for any canine emergencies, she let Mango out for a bit of flying around. He fluttered around the room twice – briefly touching down on the grandfather clock – before landing in front of the window to preen himself in the sun.
Following her bird’s example, Ava stretched out on the bed in a sunbeam. The warmth was nice on her aching legs. Despite being sore, her legs weren’t trembling – that was something to be proud of. Michelle’s job offer had sounded like a good chance to keep herself from backsliding on fitness over winter break, what with chasing the dogs around. Still, staying off her legs before she packed her bags was still a good idea. Nothing was more annoying than having to pull over because her legs gave out while she was driving.
While Mango chirped at the bobbing flowers outside the window, Ava pulled out her tablet and loaded her “home” chatroom. Sending an animated wave emoji was returned with tons of excited replies from her Little friends. Littles are the friendliest people on earth. Grinning happily, Ava put away her responsibilities in favor of indulging in a serious discussion of Adult Baby matters – like who was the biggest potty-pants. By the time her legs stopped hurting, chat consensus was that Ava was the potty champion. She posted a picture of herself sucking her thumb in good natured “defeat” and logged off to start packing.
Her tablet and homework went on the bottom of the suitcase – to force her to unpack the whole thing when she got home. A pack of diapers stood out in its bright pink behind the pile of sweaters she pulled out of the antique wardrobe. Smiling, Ava ran her fingers over the package. All her ABDL stuff was supposed to be put away until she got home – but Kiara clearly didn’t need her for anything and had a helper besides. Why not? Ava slipped her jeans off her hips – wishing they didn’t fall off quite so easily – and shook one of the diapers out to fluff it up.
Having a huge house to herself, had made for prime padded time. Ava was in practice enough to tape up her diaper without having to lie down and still get a good fit. To her delight, the skinny jeans didn’t fit over the white and pink bulk. Going bottomless was too risky with people in the house, so Ava threw a flowing skirt on and busied herself with the rest of her packing. As she worked, the little crinkles from her behind kept a bubby smile on her face to rival the pixie girl she’d met.
Hours later, sucking on a juice box and watching cartoons on her phone, Ava had forgotten Kiara’s offer of dinner until Briana knocked on her door. “Hi Ava! Dinner’s ready in about fifteen minutes if you want to join us!”
Unfortunately, Ava had just achieved peak coziness, curled up in a blanket with Mango on her shoulder. Her teddy bear, Brownie, was wedged at the perfect angle under her arm to help prop her up – and she’d been giving serious consideration to using her diaper. As antisocial as turning down the offer of dinner would be, it felt weird to have a sit down dinner with her employer, too.
A twinge in Ava’s overworked left leg gave her the final justification to bow out. “I’m not feeling great, I think I’ll pass on dinner, but thank you.” Belatedly, she added, “Sorry for yelling at you through the door, Mango’s out of his cage right now.”
“No problem!” Briana’s voice didn’t sound like there was no problem – she sounded profoundly bummed for someone who’d barely met Ava. For a moment Ava considered changing her mind, but she was simply too snuggly. Briana’s footsteps – and that of another of the wolfhounds – faded away. With a shrug, Ava turned back to her cartoons. We went this long at ABDU without meeting, it’s not like I’ll ever see her again, she thought. Too bad – she is cute.
Out of long habit, Ava waited until the hallway outside her room was completely silent – despite knowing that neither Briana nor Kiara were the kind of people that would barge in on her. It took a bit of concentration with her lower lip caught between her teeth before Ava was rewarded with a delightful squishy warmth between her legs.
“Stinky, stinky!” Mango chirped.
“You can’t smell it yet, dum-dum, you just heard it.” Ava rolled over to better distribute the spreading wet in her diaper, sending Mango flapping upward with an indignant squawk. He landed just as quickly, eager to see the flashing colors on her phone again. He gave Ava a love-nip on the ear – she giggled and clutched Brownie close to her chest. With a protein bar and a bag of chips tucked next to her on the bed, there was nothing between Ava and watching cartoons until bedtime.
~~~*~~~
Ava’s guess about seeing Briana was prophetic in the short term. Kiara was up early enough to see Ava off, but Briana was still in bed, when she hauled her suitcase into her Impreza and said her goodbyes to the wonderful house. To her surprise, Donner, Cupid, and Dasher all insisted on saying goodbye to her as well, their floor-mop-like tails wagging away a storm. All three of the dogs got a big hug in turn – as did Ava, unexpectedly – when Kiara gave her the final sendoff.
It was too early in the morning for Mango to be good company, he had a wing over his head – occasionally peeking out to glare at Ava for moving his cage before his usual eight am breakfast. With a lot of highway between her and Ardenthill, Ava put a favorite podcaster on her phone.
“What does a conservative think tank have in common with a first timer at a furry convention?” Hannah Skye asked her audience. “They both just found out that wearing diapers is something adults actually do.”
Frowning, Ava turned the podcast up. Her heart sank as Hannah went on to describe sudden media outrage about ABDL – not that the media ever portrayed her subculture fairly. Hannah’s podcast made it sound like it was more than a single hit piece though. Not only had the story been picked up by multiple news channels, but journalists were actually interviewing politicians about the matter. It was no surprise when the politicians categorically denounced ABDL as sick and wrong – but that didn’t make Ava’s hurt or annoyance any less.
By the third ranting representative who’s interview Hannah played for context, Ava had to switch to music. She was padded for her road trip – those were almost as good an opportunity for wearing as house sitting was – and she found herself regretting the decision. Though none of the politicians on the podcast had been from New Hampshire or Massachusetts – Ava flinched a little when a state patrol car passed her. House sitting for the Rasmussens had started out as so much fun – the dogs were great, she could wear diapers any time she wanted – but on the way out, emotional downbeats were piling up fast enough that Ava felt like she was experiencing a post convention mood drop. Now her secret, silly joy of being padded under her pants in the privacy of her own car was gone.
“Leah would tell me to get involved, fight back against people pulling out a prejudice to distract their voters.” Ava said to Mango with a sigh.
“Pretty Leah, pretty Leah!” Mango replied.
“Yeah, she is.” Ava smiled sadly. “Leah’s gone Mango, sorry.”
“Miss her, miss her.”
“Me too, buddy.”
“See Leah, see Leah, treat!”
“Sorry, she’s moved away.” Ava wiped her eyes. “You can get a treat though.”
“Treat! Pretty bird, treat!” Mango hopped up to the edge of his cage eagerly.
To her bird’s annoyance, Ava waited for a long straight section to fish around in the treat bag and give him a dried date chunk. He rewarded her by singing along with the car stereo, accompanying Lizzo with melodic chirps a perfect octave above the melody.
Laughing, Ava joined in, albeit with queer-bent lyrics. “If she don’t love you anymore – then walk your fine ass out the door…” The sun had reluctantly burned away the cold winter fog, and though Ava was driving away from the coast, miles of glittering ocean behind her lit the sky ahead of her for a beautiful winter day.
“Don’t worry, Mango, they’ll forget all about us ABDL folks in a week, they always do.” In Mango’s opinion, that kind of good news justified another treat. To his consternation, Ava made him wait for it until the next big straight section.