Home Again
Claire calmly stocked the shelves in the kitchen. ‘What a day.’ She put everything away in all the right places - the ones she herself had decided were appropriate. Nessa sat on a chair nearby, at the table. Her soft face now dry, and her mind at ease.
Claire handed the girl one of the treats they had picked up from the store, which she silently accepted, nodding with a smile. As the girl sipped from the glass Claire had left her, the plush watched as her little girl wiped her maw with her bib, as Claire had already done a few times herself since getting home.
Eventually done with all the food, Claire hung the clothes she got Nessa over a chair, and let the girl watch as she put her glowing hands on them. Poofing out, becoming softer, more plush, and all the more padded, Claire went one by one.
“Oh, umm…” Nessa stammered, setting down her drink. “D’ya think maybe, umm, I can still have a pocket on those?” Nessa pointed her paw towards a hooded jumper with a little Red Panda on the front, standing up on it’s hindpaws with its forepaws above it’s head, which read “This is a threat!” underneath. Nodding, Claire put her paws back over to it, and sure enough the seam at the sides of the pockets came undone. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem, dear. Nanny thinks a bigger pocket like that should be fine for her girl to have, anyway.” At that, Claire actually walked over to Nessa. With a soft arm around the girl, she put a glowing paw on her chest. The chest pocket on her shortalls, too, opened up. “This one also makes sense, love. Remind Nanny when she’s dressing Nessa in stuff Nessa wants pockets back in, okay?”
“Mhm.” Nessa said, returning to sipping her drink.
Eventually, Claire was done, and folded all the clothes into a neat pile, before turning to the large bag on the counter and unpacking the large packs of diapers.
“So.” Nessa said, speaking a little louder now. “This really is all real?”
“Seems to be!”
“And you really do care about me?”
“Oh, more than anything in the world!”
“And I really feel… great…”
“I sure hope so!”
“Then why do I still feel… well, it’s not quite fear. But it is? It’s like… sort of like the shadow of it. Or an echo. Like the impression left behind when you sit on a chair for a long. Like part of me can’t quite accept this… this fantastical and mystical thing that’s happened to me. To us.”
“Hmm, that’s a thinker.” Claire said, setting down the pack of diapers she had in her paw. “Well, all of those things do fade with time. If you’re feeling this way now, maybe it will fade in time, too?”
“Yah. I don’t… I thought before meeting you that I was fine. Not really happy, but not really sad. But…” She shuffled closer to Claire, before eventually just standing up and holding her arms out to her, immediately being lifted into her lap. “Compared to now, I feel like I was dreadful. I was so depressed, I think, but. I just. I still feel like myself, but, a happier version. I don’t want to ruin this. I don’t want to risk this… but I was wondering.”
Hugging the girl close while she thought of how to word it, Claire cuddled the girl, rubbing her tummy and nuzzling her.
“I was wondering what would change if you maybe made me a little more… like you?”
“Nanny can’t make Nessa exactly like her…” Claire stuck out her large, soft plush tongue, and “licked” Nessa’s face with it. “But she could make her a little more plush. Gotta be careful though, there’s a balance to be kept.”
“What happens if you do too much?”
“Nanny isn’t really sure, she’d need to think on that.” Claire put a paw to the side of Nessa’s face, with a single large digit under her chin, making the girl look up at her. “This all happened quite fast. It’s more surprising you didn’t break down sooner, if Nanny is honest.” Sensing the oncoming disappointment, she added more. “Nanny isn’t against making more changes, but she doesn’t want to do something to hurt you.”
Claire sat, stroking the girl’s face for a little longer, then continued. “Not only that, but Nanny would probably need to do it gradually. Swap a bit at a time, over a longer period. Nessa’s body needs to get used to being plush, and get used to the magic. If Nessa has too much then she might get sick, or lose herself, and Nanny doesn’t want that.”
“That seems reasonable…” Nessa said, trailing off. “Well, until then, umm, could we maybe come back to it later? Maybe in a week?”
“Let’s make it two. You’ve barely known Nanny more than a day. Nanny knows she’ll do everything she can to make Nessa comfortable, but she doesn’t know how much of what she wants to do would actually suit Nessa…” Pulling the girl back into a hug, Claire licked the top of her head. “But Nanny is pretty confident things will work out, and we’ll be together for a long time.”
“So it’s a yes?”
“Two weeks. If Nanny thinks you’re ready and still okay with it, then Nanny will make sure it’s finished by the time Nessa is ready, and not a second after!”
“Promise?”
“Promise!” Claire said, letting the girl down and sitting her back in her seat, and wiping Nessa’s chin, momentarily pulsing with light again.
Nessa smiled to herself, gradually losing herself in her thoughts. “Love you…”
“Love you too!” Claire replied immediately, hopping back over towards the counter, and gathering up the packs from the counter. “Is Nessa okay to sit here while Nanny puts these upstairs? She’ll be back down after to make dinner.” Nessa nodded, and with that Claire went upstairs, leaving her to her thoughts.