Lights, Camera, …What?!? Book 1 Chapters 4 and 5 by Sofia Hammerstein

Connor Slane has grown up to be one of the brightest kids in his dimension and one of the most ambitious computer science majors at his top university. Now, thanks to an exchange program between his university and his mother’s alma mater, Emerson University in another dimension. Connor has the chance to forge his own path in computers and his other love, filmmaking. Having seen still images of their amazing holographic films, he hopes go to Emerson, and then return to build his own empire - and maybe even find his true self, as his mother did.

Beth Sylvester is a Tweener herself and another child of influential parents in the other dimension. Her wealthy Big mom is the daughter of a disgraced former CEO, and her dad is the first and only Tweener to serve on the Supreme Court. Connor’s mom and Beth’s dad were good friends while she was in the dimension, and they’ll quickly discover that they enjoy hanging out with each other. They’ll also discover that if either is going to survive to the end of the semester academically or as mature adults, they’ll need to help each other out. If not, Connor could quickly find himself on the one-way road to being adopted by some Big, and Beth might not be far from that fate either…

---

---

 

---

 

---

 
The Legal Stuff: Lights, Camera, …What?!? By Sofia Hammerstein
 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Copyright © 2023-2026 Sofia Hammerstein.
 

 
 

Chapter 4: Rules
 

AS MY CLASSMATES gasped, I read the text hovering in front of us and compared it to what Mom had told me. A few of them looked to have changed from what she had told me.
 

Possible Demerits

•Consuming Alcohol

•Using Illegal Drugs

•Academic Dishonesty (Not limited to Plagiarism/Cheating)

•Not Turning in Assignments

•Disrespecting Professors

•Violent Behavior

•Endangering Self or Others

•Swearing

•Insubordination/Talking Back to Staff

•Disobeying Nest Mother

•Violating Curfew

•Having Accidents Outside of Protective Undergarments

•Removing Mandated Protective Undergarments

•Causing Other Hazards to Health/Safety of University Members

•Uniform Infractions
 

“Nest Mother?” I heard someone beside me mutter.

“Protective undergarments… They mean diapers…?” Someone else muttered.

‘How dumb can you be not to know that was likely…?’ I thought to myself.

“If you’ll please hold your questions, I will go through each of these points one by one?” Dean Northrup said.

A new slide flashed, zooming into a very realistic pile of alcohol at a college party. The realism of the projection made it look like you could grab a bottle of beer and open it up to take a drink. I heard a bit of squirming from next to me, and an uncomfortable silence began.

“Now, I know that many of you are above the legal age in your dimension, but for your own safety, we forbid alcohol and drug consumption for our Little students. Particularly as Portal Littles, as you’ll be referred to, often find our alcohol effects are significantly stronger than in your dimension. We’ve had some students who have chosen to ignore this rule in the past. I will warn you that it tends to have consequences that build up beyond the alcohol. Very few students manage to stay around after that!”

I looked up at her and noticed she seemed to be staring particularly at the boy, Noah, next to me. She moved on though, “Drugs are likewise forbidden, and for your own sake, I would remind you that it would be like a toddler in your home dimension using drugs. Your likelihood of overdose cannot be overstated!” That was accompanied by her panning about the room with her glare.

Other than pot, I couldn’t see most of the students in the room having done drugs regularly from my first impressions. I guessed that most of us, including myself, probably hadn’t even smoked weed! ‘It makes a lot of sense that things could go wrong there.’

“Academic Dishonesty is a policy that, I’ve been assured by your traveling faculty, looks identical to your own university policies. Should you be accused of plagiarism, cheating on a test, or other academic dishonesty violation, a hearing will be held. If the accusation is verified, you will be automatically expelled from our university, and I’ve been assured you would likely be expelled from your own university. If you’re struggling with coursework, we have plenty of student services to help you succeed – please do not jump off this bridge.”

The slide moved on; Turning in Assignments was now shown.

“We at Emerson feel we are bound to do everything we can to support our students’ successes. Due to this, we have included turning in assignments as a requirement in our Code of Conduct. While in your home dimension, there is only the consequence of failing your class, here, this is considered a Code of Conduct violation, and you will receive demerits and other consequences. We want you to be successful! Do your homework, and this will never become a problem.”

With another gesture, she advanced the slide to Disrespecting Professors, and discussed behavior that would be considered in violation of this. Then, she went into the violent behavior issues on another slide and said that fighting would never be tolerated.

Swearing showed brightly in the text box next to a Little who angrily yelled at another Little. “This one has been an issue more so for our visiting students. While you are present at our university as a student, it is considered against the Code of Conduct for you to use any of the following swear words...” A list of just about every imaginable vulgar word I had ever read or thought of accompanied others like ‘crap,’ ‘sucks,’ and ‘dangit.’

‘Crap!’ I thought to myself. I don’t use the other words, but that one was one my moms’ had always used and been okay with.

“This list is by no means every word that can cause problems for you, but it is the majority. Not all of these infractions get brought to my office and end up with demerits. Being perfectly transparent here, your Nest Mothers have some leeway in determining appropriate punishments for this violation. They may offer you an alternate punitive measure instead of coming to my office. Keep in mind that the violation is one demerit for use for minor words. More serious words that are in red on the screen are considered worth three demerits per use.”

I noted that the ones I used usually were in a lighter color, while the major words were all listed in red. ‘Shit could get many people in trouble,’ I noted, with it being that deep red. ‘Alternative punishments… spanked and mouth washed out?’ I wondered. ‘Could have one of those locking pacifiers stuffed in your mouth, too…?’ I shuddered at that one.

She didn’t give anyone a chance to ask any questions before moving on to Nest Mothers for her next slide.

“First, I know you most likely have no idea about a Nest Mother beyond what I’ve told you so far. They operate much as your own RAs do at your university. They live in an apartment adjoining the Nest Room, and it’s their job to help make sure that you follow the rules with curfew, uniform requirements, do your homework, go to class, and things like that.” She smiled, “We call them ‘mothers’ because they act as surrogate mothers while you’re here at Emerson. Many of our students develop close relationships with their Nest Mothers, often staying in very close contact even after graduation!”

On the face of that, it didn’t sound horrible other than being overbearing. I knew better, though! ‘Close contact while they nurse?’

“Your Nest Mothers will be introduced to you as soon as we finish this presentation. Then, they will get you settled in and over to Westerfield Hall and the ballroom where we’re meeting all of this semester’s exchange students for lunch.”

“Excuse me, professor?” I heard Oliver ask.

“Yes, Mister Sanders?”

“What time is it…?” He paused and held up his wrist and the smartwatch it held, “I only ask because it would be lunch back home already?”

She laughed, “It’s fourteen o'clock right now. Two hours before noon, when we’re having lunch!”

“Huh?” I heard from somewhere.

“I need to keep going with our presentation, but just to answer that burning question, our days in this dimension are longer than yours. We have a thirty-two-hour long day here… so I guess that’s an extra eight hours compared to yours?”

I could feel everyone in the room nod.

“Very well, back to your Nest Mothers… I think I covered most of this, but they are ultimately in charge of your Nest Room. They have full say on bedtimes, meal breaks, etc., within the room. Should there be an issue with you not following their directives, it will be a cause for anywhere between eight demerits and expulsion.”

The number of shrugs and apathy at this statement made me squirm. ‘Mom never had to stay in the dorms… She was able to stay with Grandma and Grandpa as her ‘foster parents.’ All she ever told me about the dorms was the number of friends who checked in but never checked out. These guys should be worried about this rule!’

Violating Curfew popped up on the next slide. A little video of a Little sneaking out of a room and physically running into a Big and falling down ran on a loop as Dean Northrup spoke, “Especially due to concerns of keeping you all safe, there is a curfew strictly enforced for Littles. We will put all of you in with some second-year students, so that curfew will be twenty-four hundred hours each night for you.”

I did the math in my head and converted that to eight in the evening here, or 6 pm back home, but no one else said anything.

“We’ve found that time is the optimal time to let you get a full night’s sleep and be awake at seven in the morning for showers and breakfast.”

I saw more than a few people grumble about the waking up part. ‘Fifteen hours in bed every night…?’ That’s got to be part of why bedwetting is a thing for Littles?

“If you earn special permission, you might be able to join an exercise group in the morning before that if that interests you. Most of your classes will start between nine and ten in the morning.”

She fielded a couple of inane questions before Accidents showed on the screen.

I felt embarrassed for the boy shown clearly with wet pants. Others in the room shuffled around in their seats, and I knew that while they may have known of some of the Amazonian tendencies to baby Littles, they probably didn’t really believe everything.

“Okay, this next part will be an uncomfortable conversation for you all since you are from a dimension where you are supposedly fully potty trained. We are not quite sure why this is a problem when you come here, but it is very common to find that you will begin to have issues with making it to the Potty. Some of this may be an issue due to our toilets being too tall and difficult to reach, maybe the distances are longer for your shorter body to reach a bathroom, the length of our days, something environmental…? We really aren’t completely sure. Our own Littles regularly have issues with controlling their bladders and bowels reliably, so we have a set of rules in the Code of Conduct that address this.”

“First, if you have an accident in any public space on campus like this boy with no protection, it is an automatic two demerits. Should you be determined to have an accident of the other nature, a case of messy pants, then in every place other than a dining space, classroom, or lab, that is worth six demerits.”

“That won’t happen, right…?” I heard someone breathe quietly.

Dean Northrup had to have heard it but ignored the comment. “Inside a classroom or lecture hall, this constitutes a more serious breach. For that reason, those spaces cause the infraction to double to twelve demerits if you defecate yourself. Also, due to significant contamination concerns, anyone who has an unprotected accident in a lab has the initial amount tripled for a messy accident, meaning it’ll be eighteen demerits.” She paused, “As I said before, we have concerns that this may be an issue, especially since you all only have sixteen demerits possible. That means you cannot afford a single one of these!”

I took a quick look around at all of the stunned faces in the room. ‘They haven’t even had their first accidents yet!’ I thought to myself. ‘Wonder who’ll be first?’
 

BETH LOOKED AROUND her dorm room as her mom, Laura, and dad helped her put things up and reclaimed empty suitcases to take home.

“Mom, those don’t go there,” she said as she was about to hang up shirts in the wrong order.

“Really, Mom?!? You’re the one who always insisted our colors be together in our closets?” Laura laughed. “ROY-G-BIV!”

Beth giggled at that while her Mom glared at both of them. “I raised a pair of monsters!” She groaned but got back to fixing her mistake. Laura was helping with her underwear drawer while her dad was helping put together a new lamp for her desk that she’d gotten for Christmas. Jason, of course, had his headset over his head and was sitting in the common room.

Laura finished her job and placed Beth’s stuffed red panda, ‘Rings,’ on her bed.

Beth could remember Laura giving her a hard time about the stuffed red panda as she packed to start her first year in college.

“I can’t believe you still have her?” Laura had said.

“Why? What’s wrong with having a stuffie?” she replied defensively.

“I don’t know… it’s just weird! You’ve had her since you were a baby?”

Beth laughed, “She was dad’s first, you know?”

“Huh?”

“Dad gave her to me after… well… you know… after I was reborn. I guess Mom gave Rings to him when he was her adopted baby?”

Laura shook her head, “I can’t believe Daddy didn’t just burn her!”

“I think he felt like it was a special gift for some reason…? I don’t know? I do know that anytime I feel like I need a hug from Mom or Daddy, Rings is always right there for me.”

Dad had just finished turning the lamp on when she heard his phone ring. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, glancing at it for a second, “Hi, Amanda,” he said.

Beth looked up to see what might be changing in their plans. “Oh,” her dad said, looking at Beth, “I guess she would be up for it. Is that a good idea, though…? She’s not a Little, but she’s still not…?”

Her dad laughed, “Yes, I know she’s taller than me! She never lets me forget it!” He listened for a second, “You’re right, it would be fine, and this way they meet each other… Let me just ask her real quick.”

Her dad looked at her, “Apparently, they’re having a welcome luncheon for all of the exchange students that arrived today. Amanda wants to know if you would like to go with her as her plus one? You can meet Connor that way? We’ll all go shopping this afternoon together for anything he needs then, and after dinner, drop you both off on our way to the airport?”

“Do we know how tall he is now?”

Her dad asked Amanda over the phone and shook his head, “Not yet…?”

“Might want to hold off on the dinner idea then? If he’s a Little now, they won’t let him be out that late,” she reminded her dad.

“Right… Well, we’ll play it by ear. Maybe we should just go earlier for dinner.”

Before agreeing, Beth thought for a second, “Sure, I’ll join Amanda. Where is it at?”

Her dad got the details for a few minutes before hanging up. “You like the light…?” He asked her.
 

I COULD FEEL the temperature in the room drop as the word Protection now showed on the screen. Four students were shown modeling their ‘big-kid’ Pull-Ups, and a couple more sported full on diapers that had Emerson graphics on them. I couldn’t help but note that all but one of the Pull-Ups, and one of the diapers, were yellowed with urine. It looked like one of each also had a bit of brown color at the back!

‘At least I knew this would come up,’ I thought to myself, thinking back to a conversation with Mom.
 

“Connor, are you really sure you want to do this?” Mom asked me.

“Mom, you went to learn about more advanced programming; I want to learn how they do their holographic films!”

She sighed, “If you’re going, you need to know some facts.”

“Mom, I’m a Betweener in size. I’ll be fine! Who knows? Maybe I’ll grow with the trip and be a full Amazonian in size? Be taller than you for once?”

Mom laughed at that, “That would be a sight!” She seemed to fight with something but said, “Look, I know you think both of those are more likely, but I also thought I would be taller on my second trip. They may have some sort of control on the portal that shrinks us. Really, I think a couple people grow or stay the same just so they don’t give anything away. If they do, in fact, have control over it, I’m worried they’ll shrink you to get back at me…?”

I looked at her, “You don’t believe they still hold a grudge?”

“Venture never was fully taken down. I know for a fact that Amanda has dealt with them a couple times since then. Cameron and Addy had some dealings since they were in cahoots with Addy’s mom, but it’s definitely not dead as an organization. You won’t have much protection over there if they decide to target you.”

I nodded, “You really think I shouldn’t go?”

She shook her head but shrugged, “Your great-grandfather once told me that every Slane had an adventurous spirit. Even hundreds of years ago, we can trace our family as explorers who were some of the first people to come to the New World. I don’t think I could talk you out of this, and I won’t. I do want to arm you with knowledge, though.”

“Like what?”

“I’ve told you about being baby-sized and being babied, right?”

I blushed, “Yes…? I’m going to be housed at the university, though, since they won’t let me stay with Grandma and Grandpa. So I shouldn’t have to worry about that?”

“The thing is, Connor, if you’re a Mid or a Big, it’ll be just like your university. If you shrink, though, and it doesn’t even take much to get you below six feet, you’ll be in a Littles dorm, I guarantee it!”

“What are they like…?” I had asked.

Mom had told me about the games that had been played at her friends’ expense. Mom told me that as embarrassing as the baby treatment with Grandma and Grandpa had been, at least she’d been safe. However, she ensured that I understood that protection wasn’t really optional if I wanted to avoid demerits.
 

Around me, I heard, “We don’t have to wear those, do we?” from one female voice. A male voice said, “No way!”

A quieter girl’s voice said, “He’s kind of hot!”

“Please, I know this may be a bit disturbing for you, but you’ll remember I said non-protected accidents are worth demerits. If you wear training pants or diapers, you don’t have to worry about demerits for accidents. In the past eight years, we’ve even exempted poopy accidents in classes and labs from them as long as you’re wearing protection.”

“You expect us to wear diapers?!?” Luca exclaimed.

“You’re kidding, right? This is some sort of ‘prank the new kids’ stunt, right?” Noah added. “Some initiation…?”

“I haven’t worn diapers or had an accident since before I was two!” I heard one girl say.

Dean Northrup gave a piercing glare to Noah and Luca, followed by a steady gaze around the room.

Every person took in Dean Northrup’s gigantic size and consequently shut up!

“Now, like I was saying, I know this may be a bit… disturbing for you. But, it is by no means required to begin with during the day for you all.”

There was silence there, which surprised me because I expected more arguing. ‘Maybe it hasn’t registered that Northrup didn’t exclude night…?’

“I highly recommend you consider wearing at least a pull-up garment. I will have no mercy on potty infractions if you are not wearing protection.”

“The Pull-Ups are enough…?” I heard a girl, possibly Avery, ask.

“Pull-Up garments do meet the requirements for protection. However, your Nest Mothers will be keeping an eye on if they are used enough that it makes more sense for a tape-on garment instead. Similarly, if your professors note a pattern of behavior and see too many leaks happening, they may also insist on a more absorbent undergarment for sanitary reasons.”

Some back-and-forth questions came flying toward her about where to get Pull-Ups that can fit them, who pays for them, etc. I don’t really think it made everyone feel better that the university provided all we would need! I sat there quietly, listening and keeping silent about my knowledge of what was coming to us. As I looked at the used diaper of one of the models, I thought to myself, ‘It would really have been easier if I’d been a Mid…’
 
 

Chapter 5: Eyrie
 

I SAT THROUGH the discussion of uniforms without saying a word. I noted that the Littles’ uniforms were unchanged from when Mom was in school! There were some complaints from my fellow students for several moments before Dean Northrup finished her presentation, still clearly in control.

“Now, while I’ve been meeting with you, our residence life staff has been working hard to place you in Nests for your semester. The rest of the student body won’t be here until at least this weekend, so you’ll have a couple nights to acclimate to your new living spaces before they get here. That means I was able to get your Nest Mothers to come help you find the way to your dorm.”

As if waiting for her signal, the enormous door opened at the end of the room. and four giant women in their twenties walked through. “Good afternoon, ladies. Before I tell our new students which Nests they’re in, how about you introduce yourselves?”

“Sure!” One of the tall girls said, “Hi guys, I’m Madelyn Lewis! I’m working on my doctorate in Early Childhood studies when I’m not helping out around the dorm!” The girl reminded me of a camp counselor I remembered. Always peppy, happy, and more than a little bit irritating! She was exceptionally tall, even for an Amazon, and based on the door frame she walked through, I guessed that she was over twelve feet tall! Her blonde hair hung loosely about her face, which seemed to somehow emphasize how she was exceptionally skinny for her height, with a much smaller chest than the girls around her. She did a weird pointing show with her arms to the next slightly shorter giant next to her, cementing my first impression of her.

“Hi, I’m Mackenzie Brown, and I’m working on my master’s degree in Early Childhood studies. I can’t wait to meet all of you too!” I guessed she was probably near perfect for Amazonian body dimensions, if not a little skinny still. She had a more developed chest than Madelyn, and dark brown hair that matched her last name. I also noticed that she had very distinct amber-colored eyes.

The next girl was a little taller than Mackenzie but still shorter than Madelyn. “Hi, I’m Kaylee Miller. I’m in my last year of working on my doctorate in Psychology!” Kaylee was definitely overweight, but she didn’t seem overly so. Her brown hair was a few shades lighter than Mackenzie’s.

Kaylee motioned to the short bleach-blonde-haired girl to finish off the round of intros. I noted that if Kaylee was overweight, this girl looked nearly dangerously obese. “And I’m Lucy Anderson; I’m also in my last year of study, but in Child Psychology.”

“Thank you, ladies,” Dean Northrup said. “Please go stand with your Nest Mother when I call your name. They’ll take you to where you can pick up your other luggage, get your uniforms, settle in and change, get your IDs, and finally, to a special welcome luncheon!”

I felt my stomach growl at the extra time before my next meal.

“If these girls will please go with Miss Madelyn: Amelia, Mia, and Willow.” I noted the term ‘Miss’ being used and was sure we would be getting told in the dorms that their first names were well out of bounds for us. “Miss Kaylee will be taking Ava and Avery.”

I watched as the five members of our groups went to stand next to their tall caretakers. The closer they stood to them, the more I could see just how much they towered over them! Amy, in particular, looked like she was probably a newborn compared to how tall Madelyn was!

‘And she’s the same height as me!’ I thought worriedly.

“Miss Mackenzie will be taking Noah, Liam, and Connor,” I heard. I looked up at the tall giant as I approached. She was not quite three times my height, I guessed, and it was way more intimidating than standing next to my mom! “Hi, Guys!” She said quietly. “I can’t wait to get to know you all!”

Noah rolled his eyes then.

“Nice to meet you; I’m Connor,” I said quietly.

I barely registered that Luca and Tatum ended up with ‘Miss Lucy.’

“That’s it for here. I’ll see you at the luncheon.”

“Come along then,” my new Nest Mother insisted. She led us ahead of the other groups that were moving slower and talking to each other. I had to take four steps for every step she took, but the pace meant we reached a room where our luggage had been stored before everyone else.

I noted that the security seal covering the TSA-standard lock I had on the suitcase had been broken open, but wasn’t surprised. ‘Hopefully, Mom’s hidden compartment held up like she thought it would?’

We followed her down the hallway to another room with a series of stacked boxes. She looked around and said, “Here, Connor, these should all work for you,” handing me a box with my name on it that I couldn’t easily juggle with my suitcase at that moment. I set everything down while she found the others and found a bungee cord I’d placed in my backpack. I discovered that my suitcase hadn’t shrunk quite as much as I had, so there was plenty of room at the top for me to secure the box.

“Well, aren’t you the resourceful little guy?” Mackenzie said, just as the other groups caught up.

I blushed, “I try,” I told her. Liam and Noah seemed to be struggling more, even though Noah was half a foot taller than me, and Liam seemed to have a few more inches above that.

We were walking down the hallway when I saw a bathroom sign. “Umm… Miss Brown?”

“Yes, Connor?”

“Do you mind if I stop here real quick?”

“That’s a great idea to do a potty break right now!” she said in a babyish tone that took me back to preschool. “I’ll watch your stuff! Does anyone else need to go?”

To my surprise, the other two shook their heads, but I didn’t want to risk the next stop being a bridge too far! She kindly pushed the gigantic door open for me. I left my suitcase and the box there but kept my backpack. The room presented me with my first problem here – gigantic toilets!

‘Shit!’ I thought inside my head as I looked at the toilet seats through the open doors. With my new shorter size, my armpits just barely cleared the height of their huge toilets! Climbing onto one was going to be like scaling a boulder!

I looked around to see if there were any smaller toilets, but the shortest thing was a ‘short’ urinal – also really too tall for me. I hadn’t intended on needing it, but I dug in my backpack for a collapsible step stashed inside that I sat on the floor in front of the urinal. ‘Have to remember to sanitize this later!’ I thought to myself as I was pleased that it got me to just have a long aim, rather than an impossible one! Not wanting to get accused of wetting my pants, I made sure that I used some toilet paper to wipe to be safe before pulling my pants on as the door opened.

“Need any help?” I heard Mackenzie ask, poking her head through the door.

“No thanks, I’ve got it, I just need to wash my hands!”

“Really?” She asked, surprised. “Is there anyone else in there with you?”

“No?” I told her. I moved my step over to the sink while I waited. There was a shorter sink present that I could just reach with the step stool. Soap was out of reach, but Mom had suggested a small bottle of it that I pulled from my bag. Squirting some on my hands, I quickly washed them with hit-or-miss water from the automated jets. I was just collapsing my step stool and placing it into my bag when I noticed she had fully opened the door and was staring at me with a shocked look.

“You brought a step stool with you?”

I zipped my bag shut and shouldered it. I shrugged, “I thought it might be a useful item?”

She stared at me as I walked back out the door, where the other two looked bored. “Done going potty?” Noah taunted me.

I nodded, “You sure you guys don’t want to go while we’re here?”

Liam shook his head, “I’m good for a while yet. Let’s just get to the dorm.”

“Not all of us are on the road to being a diaper baby here…” Noah said softly enough to avoid Makenzie hearing.

I shrugged, “Good luck with that thinking,” I told him. “I guess we’re ready, Miss Brown?”

She smiled, “Great, Connor! Let’s get going!”

Makenzie led us outside, and I saw the other groups were now well ahead of us. I didn’t care, though, knowing that the two of them may have made a huge mistake just now!

The building we came out of was labeled Bremer Hall, and I wracked my brain trying to remember if Mom had mentioned it. ‘Must be new?’ I wondered to myself. Mom had drawn maps for me of the campus as it was when she was in school. I soon recognized Zentner Hall and noted another new building called Westerfield Hall. ‘Named after Grandma…?’ I wondered.

I remembered from Mom’s map that we were pretty close to Wenig Hall, but we walked past it to a much newer-looking building labeled Sanders Eyrie for Littles. A large fountain sculpture of a Griffin with a nest of newborn chicks and one coming out of its shell stood in front of the building wearing a stylized cloth diaper. ‘Not too subtle, or realistic, that,’ I thought to myself.

“Come on, almost there,” Makenzie told us as we approached the building. I watched her wave her wrist over the scanner and realized her watch must have a chip to open the door. It automatically swung an outer door and an airlock door open for us. “We’re on the eighth floor,” she told us with a smile, “Best view of the campus!”

As she happily led us inside the building, I couldn’t help but note the decorations were already leaning towards those of an elementary school or daycare. The initial wall featured a giant sea mural with fish and other anthropomorphized creatures smiling at us when we walked in. On the other side, a mural depicted diapered baby griffins, and seemed to try and tell a story about smart Littles wearing their diapers. Both walls reminded me of the classic boy wizard tales where paintings moved, because they were very smoothly animated. Their smiles in that context were especially creepy!

Inside, the elevator was easily large enough to triple our group size and still have room. The elevator continued the primary-colored theme with wall colors, ceiling and floor colors, and artwork. I noted a double panel set of controls, one at her height and one at our height. The one at ours had square buttons styled like baby blocks. Meanwhile, hers were the standard circles I had grown up with. ‘I’m surprised they still have physical buttons,’ I thought. When I looked back down, I noticed that there were ten numbered circles marked out with stickers on the floor with the implication they were telling us where to stand. She didn’t mention them, but I had a feeling that command would be coming on future trips.

The ride up to the eighth floor was swift, and we were soon led into a hallway filled with colorful paintings of baby griffins who reminded you to do your homework while listing the ABCs around it in big baby blocks.

We soon came to a door surrounded by baby fox kits with their artwork showing their diapers. Above the door, it said The Kits and Miss Mackenzie’s Nest. I knew without a doubt that meant we were at our new home!

I watched as she opened the door and showed us the room we would be sleeping in for the semester. The fox kit theme carried all the way through the room design. A playful mural of a forest allowed them to have room to move around in the design. ‘If this was in a daycare, it would be cute,’ I admitted. ‘I think I might need to vomit waking up to this every day, though!’

 
 

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment if you did so and press the Kudos button! I should be posting a couple times a week until this is fully posted here on BC. This first full novel is complete (73 chapters plus Epilogue) and published on Amazon if you wish to be impatient though! I hope to have Book 2 published there in the next few months as well.

All of my published works have AI read audiobooks available for them. I’ve spent some time tweaking pronunciations, and they’re pretty good when you can’t afford thousands to pay for audiobook creation! They’re a $1.99 addon to the $6.95 price on Kindle. If you’ve already purchase the book it should come up as only $1.99. They’re also available on Audible directly, but that’s $10.95 versus the cheaper price! https://www.amazon.com/author/babysofia