Intimism, Chapter 2

[Standard Content Warning: This is an ABDL story blog, that means stories on this page contain diapers, diaper usage (like, lots of it), infantilism and the like! In addition, mental and physical manipulation, bondage and nonconsensual or dubiously consensual employment of all of the above themes and many others may also apply. Viewer discretion is advised.] 

“How are things going?” On the other end of the phone, Amaya heard faint scratching in the background. Her mother was doing paperwork. She was probably doing paperwork and at least one other thing during this conversation.

“It’s going fine,” Amaya said. “Evie…is enjoying herself.”

“Mmmn, I noticed,” came the response. “I thought that picture of the open ocean got a little repetitive after the fourth time I saw it, but by the seventh time, I was really starting to interpret the meaning behind it on a higher level,” she said with just a touch of sarcasm. Amaya let out a sheepish laugh.

“I, uhm. Yes. That was, well. I was just….” She hemmed and hawed.

“Still getting the hang of the smart lenses?” Her mother asked.

“Y-yes,” Amaya admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” her mother said nonchalantly. It didn’t sound like she really cared that much. “Just bear in mind, they’re security equipment, not designed for leisure. They’re also very expensive, so don’t break them.”

“O-of course,” Amaya said with a nod.

“You said Evie was enjoying herself. So everything’s going alright?” Her mother asked, changing the subject so Amaya wouldn’t be tempted to keep apologizing over it.

“She is, but.” Amaya swallowed, not sure how much of this part she should say. “She’s asked me for. A bit of space,” she said, deciding to hedge herself by not divulging how much space.

“That will happen,” her mother said, sounding unsurprised. “Evie has been guarded her whole life, first by me, now by you. It’s not the first time she’s chafed against such close company, and won’t be the last. You’ll have to figure out a way to keep an eye on her without crowding her too badly. It’s just another part of the job.”

“I will.” Amaya nodded.

“Sometimes she’ll ask you to leave her alone and you’ll just have to pretend you’re doing so while still staying close. If you have to lie to keep her safe, do it.” On the other end of the line, Amaya winced. She could’ve just lied? She kinda wished she’d thought of that two days ago! But….the idea of lying to Evie didn’t sit especially right with her either, the more she thought about it…

“I will,” she said simply. So she wasn’t okay with lying to Evie, but she was okay with lying to her mother? She wasn’t sure that made any sense, but, here she was.

“What about this artist. Tarrab. What’s your impression of her?”

“Mmn….I’m not sure. I don’t feel anything suspicious and I can’t see any evidence she plans to do anything to Evie, either, but.” Amaya stopped, biting her lip.

“But?” Her mother prompted.

“I don’t know. Something feels….off.” Amaya let out a little huff when she said that. Her mother must think that sounded so dumb, that she just had a ‘gut feeling’, but no proof.

“Mmn. I feel similarly.” Amaya blinked. That wasn’t what she expected.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been looking into her.” Now Amaya heard faint clicking in the background and recognized it as the sound of her mother’s keyboard. “You know what she used to be, right? A renowned artist and educator.”

“Yes…” Amaya nodded. “Evie was in one of her classes when she went to university.”

“Yes. Evie’s freshman year of university was Tarrab’s last year there. She didn’t just teach that class, she was head of the university’s art department. But she unceremoniously quit that job and would go on to start several other short-lived endeavors over the years until she left the field entirely and moved onto that island, where she’s lived as a recluse ever since.”

“How did she afford to buy it in the first place? It’s not very big, but…it’s still an entire island?”

“It’s really more of an islet, if you want to be particular. But I wondered the same thing,” her mother said. “It appears she sold all of her art.” Amaya blinked once. She remembered there not being any art in the house. Evie had asked about it, but not gotten an answer… “I hunted down most of the transactions and auctions. An internationally renowned artist and an open secret that she was retiring…it led to some of the pieces having very high price tags.”

“I guess that’s how she could afford and maintain a place like that…” Amaya thought, thinking back to that massively stocked basement.

“Afford it, maybe. Maintaining it...hrm. Even if she sold her art for an extraordinary amount of money, it’s still finite. She would need to keep some form of income to keep living there. Which leads to the other thing that bothers me.” And now, Amaya didn’t hear the faint scratching or clicking anymore. “She didn’t ask Evie or her family for any money for this arrangement. Evie contacted her and she just agreed.”

“She mentioned that she couldn’t turn down Evie because they went to the same school. Maybe it’s just…a kinship between students and artists? That…is something that those types of people have, isn’t it?” Not having gone to college or ever considering herself an artist, Amaya didn’t really know for herself.

“She didn’t have any particular attachment to that school when she left it and she didn’t have any particular amount of attachment to the title of artist when she sold all of her art and moved into the middle of the ocean. She had completely left that life behind and was clearly content to be so far away from the rest of civilization, she could only be reached by boat. It takes a very high amount of money and effort to get somebody to come out of a retirement that definitive. But she’s not asking Evie for any money, and she’s not selling any new art or engaging in any kind of business that I’ve been able to find.”

“So where’s her money coming from….?” Amaya asked.

“Indeed,” her mother agreed. “I’m going to keep looking. You keep an eye on it. If your instincts tell you to, remove Evie from the island and come home. Her safety is more important than getting to indulge in her art.” Amaya grimaced.

“This project is very important to her. She’s been talking about it for a long time…”

“I know.” Her mother sounded unmoved, but nonetheless relented a bit. “I’m not telling you to rip her out and run home right now, just to be vigilant. Bear in mind, there are plenty of other artists that can be a part of this project. But there’s only one Evie. And if she needs to be upset at you for a while for you to keep her safe, let her be.”

“…you’re right.” Amaya nodded. “I’ll be vigilant.”

“Good.” The sound of the scratching came back. Amaya didn’t say anything else. Eventually, her mother picked up on it. “Is that the end of the status report, Amaya?”

“…um. Well.” Amaya started tapping her fingers on her leg.

“Is there something else, Amaya? What is it?”

“Uhm. Is there. Uhm. Well, mother, is there. Do you. Have any hobbies?” Amaya eventually forced out.

“I don’t understand the question,” her mother said, still writing, seemingly half-paying attention now.

“Well…do you have anything you care about. As much as Evie cares about her art?”

“Just my job. Guarding the Callahan family is my top priority, same as yours.”

“I…I mean besides that. Not something you do as a priority. Something you do…just because you enjoy it?” Amaya said, almost sounding like she was asking a question by the end of the sentence.

“I don’t have time for anything like that,” her mother said dismissively. “I’m too busy handling the family’s security.”

“Well…is there anything you did before you were head of security?”

“That’s not — hrm.” Amaya had the feeling her mother was about to give enough brisk, dismissive answer, when she stopped mid-sentence. Amaya heard a creak that she recognized as coming from her mother’s old desk chair. She was probably turning and looking out the window at the back of her office. “I used to do crossword puzzles. I did the morning paper. I also remember having a book of them.”

“Oh — you liked puzzles?” Amaya said, sitting up in her chair.

“I also…played the drums for a few years, before I met Evie’s mother.”

“You played an instrument?!” Amaya exclaimed. She was standing up now. “Wait, wait. Does that mean - were you in a band!”

“Amaya, Amaya,” her mother cut her off, quickly trying to reverse the course of this conversation. “I haven’t done any of that for years, I barely remember any of it. I’m much too busy with my work and your training now.” Amaya was quiet for a moment.

“….do you enjoy training me?”

“That’s not why we.” Amaya could sense another quick answer was coming, but for the second time, her mother stopped herself and let out a considering noise. Now it was her turn to be quiet for a few seconds. “…the time I spend with you. Seeing the way you’ve grown and taken my place guarding Evie. I have enjoyed that.” She let out a small breath and said in a conclusive tone, “I enjoy spending time with you a great deal, I think.”

Amaya didn’t say anything for a moment. Her heart was beating very fast and she had a big smile on her face. Eventually, she nodded a few times.

“Y…yes! I agree!” She said. “I’ve enjoyed everything we’ve done together a lot, too!”

“Alright….” And Amaya might’ve just been imagining things, but she thought she sensed a hint of a smile in her mother’s voice. “We’ve been on the phone too long. You should get back to watching Evie.”

“Y…yes. I will.” She started to say goodbye, then stopped. “…m-mother?”

“What, Amaya?” Her mother’s tone applied a bit of urgency. “Whatever it is, say it quickly. We both have work to do.”

“Uhm. When I get back. Could we. Maybe do a crossword puzzle together?”

“Hmmmmph,” her mother huffed. “You’ve really seized on that, haven’t you?” She asked. She didn’t give Amaya a chance to answer. “Alright. We’ll do it when you get back. Now hang up and get back to work. Be safe.”

“Goodbye! Be safe!” Amaya immediately obeyed and hung up the phone. She fell back onto her chair and clasped her phone to her chest, the big smile still plastered to her face. That had gone…really, really well.

—

Later that night (no chocolate in hand this time), Amaya glanced at her phone. She flipped over to her texts with Evie. Nothing recently, not that that surprised Amaya. She must’ve been really busy with Inara and her art. Part of her felt bad about lying to her mother and another part still wasn’t sure how she felt about being sent away in the first place, but despite both of those things, she was feeling like Evie might have been onto something with all of this. To that effect, Amaya opened up the text chain and began typing.

[Hi, Evie.

Things have been going well here.

I wasn’t sure at first, but I’m glad I listened to you.

Thank you for making me take some space for myself. I think I’ve been using it well.

How are things with you and Inara?]

Amaya busied herself getting ready for bed. But by the time she was sitting in bed with the covers up to her waist, still staring at the text with no response, she was starting to get an odd feeling.

“She’s probably just getting ready for bed or has her phone on silent or something,” Floating Evie helpfully chimed in as she pulled a nightcap on. “She’ll text you back soon.”

“…mmmn. Probably.”

Only slightly against her better judgment, Amaya set her phone down and turned the lights out.

—

The next morning, Amaya grabbed her phone when she woke up.

Then she stared at her phone as she made breakfast.

Then she kept staring at it as she brushed her teeth.

She held it outside the shower curtain, but kept staring at it as she took a shower.

It didn’t matter how long she stared at it, she wasn’t receiving any tex—

!!!BEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEP!!!

Amaya squealed, practically dropping her phone. Normally, that alert didn’t get much of a reaction out of her (she’d seen Evie scream and actually drop her phone a few times over the years), but she was feeling pretty high-strung at the moment. She rested a hand over her chest and looked.

[[[EMERGENCY ALERT

This is an automatically generated warning from the National Weather Service

Conditions consistent with a STORM SURGE have been detected in your area.]]]

Amaya’s eyes widened. She immediately left the room and went above deck. What she saw made her bite down on her lip. It was 7 in the morning, but the sky was getting dark. Really dark.

[[[Be on the look-out for dark gray-black clouds with blue ionization and sudden intense rainfall. If you see these or other signs of a Storm Surge, SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE WITHOUT NWS-CERTIFIED LEVEL 3 OR HIGHER PROTECTIVE GEAR. For more information and real-time tracking, visit…]]]

Amaya closed the alert and went back to her text with Evie.

[Evie.

Are you there?

I think a storm surge is coming.]

She looked over her shoulder.

“Wh…what do you think I should do?” She asked. Floating Evie (who was currently pulling on a raincoat and tying up a pair of rainboots) just stared at her.

“….Amaya, I’m just a figment of your imagination that you used as an abstraction to give you the necessary push to act for your own enjoyment. I can’t give you any new information.”

Amaya blinked a couple times. She looked away. Then she looked back over her shoulder and nothing was there.

“….”

Amaya cleared her throat. She then began preparing to take the boat back to the island.

—

Rain was falling by the time she got the boat back to the island. She pulled a heavy black raincoat out of the closet, grunting a bit at the weight as she slipped it on, pulling on goggles and a black facemask before she pulled the hood up, then slipping gloves over her hands. The sound of the rain hitting her coat filled her with anxiety as she secured the boat to the dock. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to be outside doing something in the time before a storm surge and it likely wouldn’t be the last, but experience never made it any less stressful.

She ran - not walked, ran, up the dock and the path to Inara’s house, letting herself in through the unlocked front door, discarding her heavy coat and other protective gear once she’d closed the door behind her.

“Evie?” She asked in a tentative voice as she walked through the foyer. The house was quiet. She had a hard time believing both Evie and Inara had just slept through an emergency alert like that, but she remembered where Inara had showed them the guest bedroom was, so she went there. The door was ajar, so she went inside.

And she furrowed her brow as she saw something quite different from what she’d been expecting.

It had just looked like a normal guest bedroom with a bed, a dresser and a vanity before. Now it looked like….not that. The walls were painted a soft pink, there was a low table with crayons and coloring books on it, a chalkboard with colored chalk…her eyes hung on a board on the wall labeled “Evie’s Rules” at the top, but were quickly pulled to the bed. It was the same size, but now had pink covers with….Amaya squinted. They looked like cartoon characters? They were girls in multicolored dresses, Amaya almost thought they looked familiar, but shook her head, instead focusing on what was important, the person sleeping in the bed, her thumb currently in her mouth.

“Evie?” Amaya reached down and jostled her. Evie blinked a couple times as she awakened. She stared up at Amaya, thumb still in her mouth.

“Mm…Maya?” She murmured around her own digit. Her eyes widened and she suddenly pulled her thumb out. She sat up and sprung out of bed, shoving her hands behind her back as if that would make Amaya forget what she just saw. “Y…you’re here!”

“I am,” Amaya said. “I know you asked me to give you space, but I—“

“No, it’s - it’s fine, I was gonna.” Evie rubbed her cheek. “I’m just a little surprised you’re back now. I had thought the watch had broken or something.” That immediately caught Amaya’s attention.

“What do you mean?” She asked. If Evie meant what she thought she meant, she was growing increasingly concerned. Evie reacted to her confusion with…more confusion. She blinked once.

“Wait, why did you come back?” She asked, since Amaya didn’t seem to know what she was talking about. In response, Amaya pointed at the window, which was currently being pummeled by heavy rain drops. The rainfall had already intensified since Amaya had crossed it just a moment ago.

“I received a warning of a storm,” Amaya said. Evie grimaced as she looked out the window.

“Yeah, that…doesn’t look like a good one,” Evie said.

“And you weren’t responding to any of my texts since last night, so I came back to make sure you were okay.” Evie blinked at Amaya - that was pretty clearly the first she’d heard of any texts, and she clearly hadn’t received the storm warning either. Evie was rarely capable of sleeping through those warnings, loud as they were. Amaya wanted to ask where her phone was, but she had a more pressing thought. “Evie, did you use the watch?”

“…mmmmmph,” Evie suddenly broke eye contact and sheepishly twisted her bare foot into the carpet below a bit. She couldn’t say no, because she’d already mentioned it, but she clearly didn’t want to say yes either.

“Evie?” Amaya asked, then put a hand on Evie’s shoulder and repeated herself. “Did you try to call me with the watch?” Evie swallowed.

“It’s…complicated!” She said, but Amaya clearly wasn’t accepting any non-answers, so she just groaned. “Uuuugh, okay, yes, I did, I used it last night! But you didn’t show up, so I thought maybe it had malfunctioned or I had missed the button or something, and I changed my mind like two minutes after I hit it, so I was kinda glad it seemed like it hadn’t worked…!”

Amaya…wasn’t sure what to make of that answer. Evie’s watch sent an emergency signal to Amaya along with her location. It was something she used to signal to Amaya that there was a serious emergency.

“What do you mean, you changed your mind?” She asked. “What happened?” Evie had never used the watch and then changed her mind about it after. The fact that she’d apparently used it and Amaya hadn’t known all night was kind of freaking her out, it was taking a lot of her mental focus to not imagine all of the worst-case scenarios that could’ve come from a malfunction like that. Right now, she had to force herself to focus on this.

“…mmmph,” Evie grunted. She bit on her thumb. “I’ve had…a weird couple of nights, okay?” Amaya gave a half-grimace and looked around at the room and all the childish affects that had popped up. Her eyes eventually landed back on Evie, who had her thumb halfway in her mouth. Evie suddenly became very aware of Amaya’s eyes and pulled her thumb down. “I know. That’s an understatement, right?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Amaya murmured, her own face getting a little bit of a blush. She was caught between trying to get to the bottom of this as Evie’s bodyguard and not wanting to embarrass her as Evie’s friend.

“Sure ya didn’t, ya goofball,” Evie grumbled. Amaya looked away, her eyes eventually falling to the board on the wall that said ‘EVIE’S RULES’ on the top in several soft pastel colors. Evie grimaced as she saw where Amaya’s eyes went, saw them going up and down and reading the rules, saw her brows starting to furrow. “Okay. Can y’just. Look at me?” She asked.

“I…alright…” Amaya said, slowly taking her eyes off of the board.

“Look. This…hasn’t been going how I thought it would, okay? Over the past couple days, I’ve started to think I might actually…” Evie rubbed the back of her head. “Have some real problems. And I’ve been trying to work through them.”

“Is…” Amaya looked around at the childish bedroom. “Is this helping?” She asked.

“I’m not sure,” Evie admitted. Amaya grimaced. She really didn’t like the feeling she was getting about all of this. It felt strange, it felt off and it felt like there was a lot about this that Evie wasn’t telling her. If things had gotten bad enough that she had used the watch, change of heart or not, all of Amaya’s instincts told her to just grab Evie and get her out of here. But if Evie was in an emotionally vulnerable place, she didn’t want to force her to do something she didn’t want to do, and the more she thought about it, her eyes trailed off towards the window and that rainfall.

‘The storm surge will be here, soon. If it hits when we’re at sea and we can’t maneuver away from it…’ That gave her a lot more hesitation that any complicated friendship-and-emotion-based reasons. The idea of dealing with a storm surge at sea was a total nonstarter. Amaya let out a sigh.

“….are you sure you want to stay here?” She asked, the resignation already seeping into her voice.

“I…” Evie hesitated. “Look, it’s complicated…!” Amaya sighed again and opened her mouth to say something when they were both interrupted.

“Evie, I just received a warning, you didn’t leave anything outside did you? Also, you need to - oh!”

Inara was already in the room, wearing a nightgown with a long robe over it (different from the one she’d been wearing before, Amaya noted), entering and talking to Evie with no small part of urgency before she even noticed Amaya’s presence. When she did, she brought up both hands and placed them on Amaya’s shoulders.

“Oh, Amaya, you’re already back. Did you get the storm warning?” She asked.

“Y…yes,” Amaya nodded.

“Good, good!” Inara said with no small amount of relief. “The lightning will start in a matter of hours. It’s very good you came back before that. It would’ve been terribly unsafe out there on the water.”

“….mmn,” Amaya less-said-more-grunted. She looked dubious about Inara’s concern.

“Alright, well, with that taken care of - Evie, you didn’t leave anything on the beach, did you?” Inara asked.

“No, I brought everything in,” Evie said. Inara smiled.

“Good, good. There’s not much else for us to do but batten down the hatches then, I suppose,” she said. She tapped one finger on her chin. “I’ll go check everything and then make you girls some breakfast,” she said. “But first…” Her eyes went back to Evie. “Evie, dear. How was your night?”

“U-um!”

Amaya looked at Evie. Her shoulders had suddenly gone straight, her eyes had gotten big and there was a pink tint on her face. Evie looked at Amaya and then realized that Amaya saw the change in her expression.

“Uh. Uh, Amaya. Could you. Give us a little bit of a privacy?” Evie asked. Amaya’s brow furrowed. That dubious feeling was growing.

“Evie, dear, I don’t think that’s necessary,” Inara said. “Amaya is your friend, it’s alright if she knows, isn’t it?” She asked. Evie grimaced.

“I….I don’t know,” Evie said, rubbing the back of her neck. Amaya didn’t really understand what was going on, but it was only making that ‘off’ feeling in her gut grow. She really didn’t want to walk away from Evie right now, even as little as leaving this room and standing outside for…..what?

“What’s going on?” She asked, looking between Evie and Inara.

“Evie, my heart,” Inara said in a soft, encouraging voice. “After everything we discussed, I really think you should be honest with Amaya.” Amaya watched Evie stare into Inara’s eyes for a second. Evie bit her lip. She looked at Amaya. She started to open her mouth, but then she stopped, she hesitated and she stood up straight again.

“Oh - oh no,” Evie whimpered. Amaya blinked. Evie spun around and walked in the opposite direction, opening the bathroom door and getting halfway through it before she stopped. “Oh no - no, no, no, no….!” She whimpered repeatedly. Amaya watched Evie from behind, thoroughly confused as her friend stood still for a few seconds, before her knees buckled and she started to bend down, her whimpering only growing more intense.

“Evie?” Amaya asked.

“Oh, my…” Inara sighed, walking over to Evie. She pulled up the back of Evie’s short and pulled her pajama pants down until they were around her knees, revealing a pair of pink panties around Evie’s waist. Amaya wasn’t sure, but something about them looked - bigger? Was that the word? They looked thicker than they should’ve around Evie’s waist. But more than that, exposing the panties revealing that the back of them were slowly, but surely bulging outwards, a mass gradually growing and expanding the seat of the panties, distending the fabric and slowly discoloring and straining the pink with a darker color. Amaya’s eyes got a little wide as she watched…what was she watching? Because it really seemed like it was — but there was no way Evie had…

Amaya’s eyes went back up to look at Evie and Inara. Inara let go of Evie’s shirt and rubbed the girl’s back.

“It’s okay,” the woman cooed. “It’s okay, dear, nothing is wrong. Just finish up, okay? Just take your time, don’t worry about anything else.”

“Nnnn…” Evie hadn’t said anything and was just sniffling now. She gave a little shake of her head, which just got Inara to stroke the top of her head. Amaya didn’t say anything, she just stared, her mouth hanging open a bit. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but it really did look like Evie had just…?

Evie turned her head back and the two made eye contact. Evie saw Amaya’s stunned expression and immediately looked away, shame covering her as she put a hand over her face. Inara brought her arm around Evie’s shoulder and gave her a hug, pulling her close. Part of Amaya immediately wanted to ask Inara to take her hands off of Evie - she wasn’t even sure why. She wasn’t sure why instinct told her to blame Inara - just that she had left the island and Evie was fine, then when she had returned, well, all of this was happening. She quelled her desire to pull the woman off of Evie because Evie seemed to actually want the gestures of comfort at the moment.

“Are you finished, my heart?” Inara asked in a quiet voice. Evie just let out another pathetic noise as her body tensed up and Amaya was a little disturbed that she could tell and she refused to look down again, but from the way Evie’s knees buckled again, she was pretty sure that Evie was…. …doing a bit more. Eventually, she let out a shiver and pressed her head into Inara’s shoulder.

“I - I think so,” she whispered in a weak, quiet voice. The uncertainty in her voice seemed to really bother her, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Inara gave her a kiss on the top of the head.

“That’s good, dear,” she said. As she kept stroking Evie’s head, she continued. “Now, you know you didn’t do anything wrong, right? I told you that before, there’s nothing wrong with having an accident,” she said. Evie’s eyes immediately shut tight while Amaya’s got bigger. She didn’t know what to be more shocked by, Inara saying what had happened that openly or the knowledge that this had apparently happened before! Before she could make heads or tails of that, Inara continued.

“But…” She added. “You remember what this means, right?” She asked. Evie gasped and looked up. Evie and Inara’s eyes briefly met and Inara gave her a small smile and spoke with a tone that had maybe a touch of regret, but was nonetheless firm. “You remember, right, my heart?” She repeated and Evie slowly tilted her head down and nodded.

“Y…yeah, I remember,” Evie admitted. Inara slowly released the hug and Evie’s hands fell to her sides. She was absolutely refusing to look at Amaya right now. Amaya’s confusion at what the two of them were talking about didn’t last long, but the answer wasn’t going to leave her any less confused.

“Good.” Inara briefly placed a hand on her head. “Then, lay down on your back and I’ll get you changed into a diaper.”