Intimism, Chapter 3

 [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.] 

“Oh, would you like to help, Amaya?”

The room was dead silent besides the sounds of rainfall outside. Evie was laying on her back on a towel in the middle of the bedroom, hands over her face, too mortified to talk. Inara was smiling at Amaya. Amaya was glaring at Inara the way one glared at somebody they were about to repeatedly punch in the face. 

At this moment, Evie really, really wanted to ask Amaya to leave the room until this part was over, but she was too paralyzed with humiliation to speak. She was pretty sure that Amaya was all ready to blame that humiliation on the person that had instructed Evie to lay on the floor on her back so she could remove her currently dirtied underwear.

But Amaya didn’t do or say anything, so Inara just chuckled and finished tugging off Evie’s underwear. Evie let out a couple noises as Inara produced warm wipes and cleaned her up with them. She wanted to ask Amaya to look away. She wanted to ask Inara to just take care of this part herself. Both sets of words died in her throat. She peeked out through her fingers and saw it - a puffy white rectangle in Inara’s hands that she unfolded into its full shape. Evie wanted to object one more time, but her legs were lifted up and her bottom was deposited on the back of the garment. Evie grimaced at the feeling of the thick padding, how it shifted and covered every inch of her bottom. Once Inara pulled up the front, she felt the similar bunching thick feeling between her legs, around her thighs and waist and up against her groin and her waist.

She looked at the front of the thick white undergarment as Inara finished taping it up. She groaned as she saw two pre-teen girls in colorful dresses on the front, matching the ones on her sheets. Great, just what she needed.

“Does that feel okay?” Inara asked, giving the…yes, the diaper a couple of pats. Evie just really didn’t want to be on her back anymore, so she just nodded and murmured some vague assent.

“I-it’s fine,” she said, immediately scurrying back up to a sitting position and trying to pull her shirt down over the garment to hide it.

“Good.” Inara leaned forward and kissed Evie on the forehead before she could fully stand up. Evie’s face found a way to heat up a bit more. She was feeling a very potent amount of humiliation at the moment, but she had to admit, all of Inara’s comforting gestures, including that kiss, helped a little bit.

“I’m going to go make you girls some breakfast,” Inara said. “I’ll call you when it’s ready.” She rolled up the towel, discarded all of the stuff she’d used to clean Evie up and her underwear and left the room, leaving Evie and Amaya by themselves again.

Neither one said anything for a moment. Evie absolutely refused to look at Amaya. Amaya was trying not to stare, Evie could tell. But she could also tell her guardian and friend was very unnerved by all of this.

“….you probably want an explanation, huh?” She eventually asked. Amaya let out a huff, like that was the understatement of the year.

“Evie, I’m…” Amaya scratched her head. “I don’t think I understand anything that’s happening right now.”

“I’m…not really sure I understand, either!” Evie said with a single mirthless laugh. “Everything’s gotten really strange and I don’t really know how I got here, but…” She grimaced. Amaya wasn’t gonna accept that. Nobody was gonna accept that. Evie took in a breath. “Okay….” She sighed. “I’m just gonna. Start from the beginning, cause it was the night you left that everything started getting weird….”

“The first day? Right after I left?” Amaya asked, furrowing her brow.

“K…kinda? It was kinda later that night…” Evie said.

—

Three days ago…

“Oh, that’s very good. Very precise.”

Inara placed one hand on Evie’s shoulder as she observed her from behind. She had been painting for a couple of hours now.

“This is quite good, Evie. Your technique is already so refined, I scarcely wonder what I can contribute.” She set a pair of glasses down on a table next to the easel. “I almost think I’d be better off going back to bed.” Evie let out a small giggle. She tried not to let the compliment go to her head — okay, she let it go to her head a little bit.

“Actually, now that you mention it….” She stopped painting for a second. “Would it be alright if I asked you a question?”

“You already have,” Inara said matter-of-factly. It got a bit of a blush from Evie, but Inara laughed. “Please, ask.”

“Well…” Evie set her brush down. “Is it alright if I ask…why you stopped teaching at the university?” Evie could instantly tell Inara’s demeanor changed a bit, as her eyes wandered away from Evie and her tongue rolled around in her mouth a bit.

“That’s a complicated matter, isn’t it, “ she said with a bit of a sigh. She took her own glass and swirled it a bit, probably just to give her something to do with her hands.

“I-it’s okay if you’re not comfortable answering.” Evie held up a hand. “I just….when I was a freshman, just starting out, I took your class. It was…so huge for me, I fell in love with art in a way I didn’t know I could. But after only a single semester, you were gone. I tried to keep up with your work, but it felt like just a little while after that, you were gone entirely.” A grimace tugged at Evie’s lips as she looked around. “When I got here….I thought I would see a bunch of your art, maybe stuff you were doing since you left the public eye, but.” She gestured. “Even in this drawing room, there’s nothing here.” It probably wouldn’t have been fair to say Evie looked and sounded a bit disappointed, but it was in the same vicinity. She simply asked, “….what happened?”

Inara was quiet for a moment. She looked down at the floor for a moment, then out the bay window. Arms folded into the sleeves of her long robes, she let out a low, wistful sigh.

“What happened, indeed?” She asked. “I ask myself that question a few times a day, it seems. But I’m not sure what I’m asking it of any…more…” She paused, mid-thought and looked at Evie. “You said you were a freshman, during my last year?” Evie blinked. “Which class was that? Beginner?”

“No, intermediate. I had taken a bunch of art electives and extracurriculars before college, so they let me skip the beginner class,” Evie said. “Why?”

“….hm.” Inara held up one finger. “Pardon me.” She walked over to a filing cabinet, opening it up and rifling through it for a moment. She eventually pulled out a piece of paper. Evie’s eyes got real big when she saw it - it was a sketch of a skyscraper with a large clock. “I saved some of the assignments my students handed in. This one was from a student whose window faced a skyscraper with a clock on the top—“

“And the clock faced our penthouse, so when it lit up at night, I always had this big lit-up clock facing my room,” Evie murmured as she took the sketch. “I was always so annoyed by it, but. Then university was my first time living anywhere else and when I got to my dorm, the outside was just….dark. And whenever I looked at the darkness, I got so homesick.” She let out a small laugh. “I never thought I could miss that big dumb clock so much. You told me to make a little piece of home for myself. So I sketched this, and it made me feel better.” She looked up at Inara. “You held onto this all this time?” Inara tipped a finger towards her.

“That was it. That was the story.” She smiled fondly. Then let out a sigh. “I’m so very happy for you, Evie, that I was able to reach you and that you’re still carrying that passion today.” Her eyes pulled away from Evie again. “You’re far more fortunate than most to be able to explore that passion. There are many that can’t afford an expensive university like Kirby. Many that are so much more occupied with a simple struggle for survival.”

Evie was quiet. She looked away, rubbing her arm. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t aware of the privilege that her family’s wealth brought her. She felt acutely ridiculous, mentioning how she had been so annoyed at the view from her family’s penthouse apartment when she knew how much harder the majority of people had it. For just a second, it made her doubt what she was about to say and the entire reason she’d come here. But she gathered her resolve and pushed through anyway.

“…you’re right,” she admitted. “And…the reason you’re right is the reason that I came here. I…I want you to come back! I want to create an art gallery in the city and I want you to come back and be the centerpiece of it!” She put a hand on Inara’s shoulder. “You can share your pieces, give lectures….you can do whatever you want, and I’ll support it!” Inara seemed surprised, but after a moment, her conflicted expression came back.

“That’s very flattering, but I fear that would be the same thing as the university,” she said with a sigh. “Where my work is reserved solely for those that can afford it. I don’t believe I can go back to that, Evie.” By this point…Evie had to admit, she was getting really curious about what had happened to Inara between her leaving the university and her sudden retirement. Whatever it was, it seemed like it had really affected her. But that wasn’t the button to press on, right now.

“You don’t have to!” Evie insisted. “You don’t have to be behind closed doors where only people with money can see you. We’ll make it free to the public, so anybody can come in if they want to!” Inara’s conflicted look turned to a discerning squint. Evie could tell, she was suspicious. But she was suspicious in the way you got when you were pretty sure somebody was telling you what you wanted to hear. She was intrigued.

“Pardon me for my scrutiny, but the tales I’ve heard of your family haven’t exactly painted them as ones to run what I imagine would be such a costly endeavor purely out of the goodness of their hearts. If you’re not charging anything and I’m not selling anything, how is this going to make any money, exactly?” Inara asked. Evie just waved a hand.

“Aheheheheheh. Well, those stories are all about my mom and she can be a real hardass about money, it’s true…but my dad is a soft touch for me,” she said with a bit of a grin. She didn’t have a problem speaking about either of her parents that way, because she knew both of them would probably be happy with being described that way. Her mom certainly didn’t dislike having people think she was hard to move when it came to matters of money and her dad, well. He was, conversely, very proud of what a doting parent he was.

“I’ve spoken to him about it and he’s already been looking into stuff like subsidies and sponsorships and, uh, he. Wiggles his eyebrows and calls it ‘creative accounting’, so I guess tax write-offs and stuff, too?” She scratched her chin. “That seems to be his favorite. Honestly, if it was free to the public, he’d probably just be excited to look for even more of that kinda stuff. So I’m sure it’d all even out!”

“We’re truly blessed to have such a savvy financial mind in our midst,” Inara said a bit dryly. But…she still had that intrigued look in her eye. “….you’re serious. You would let me run this gallery the way I see fit, for the people I want to run it for.”

“I would.” Evie nodded. “Because you’re right. Everybody deserves the chance to enjoy art and connect with it and feel inspired by it the way you inspired me, not just people that are as fortunate as I am. But…more than that, everyone deserves — I don’t know. Something else. They deserve to be able to think about something besides. Fighting for survival and wars and storm surges for at least a little while, don’t they?” She put a hand over her heart. “I promise. If you help me do this, we’ll run it the way you want, so it can reach the people you want to reach. You have my word.”

Inara stared at Evie for a second. Evie focused all of her energy on looking Confident and Determined instead of so nervous she might pee her pants. Eventually, Inara let out a little sigh and nodded.

“I admit, Evie, I knew you had passion, but I think I’ve underestimated your determination to this point.” She folded her arms. “I’m not saying yes just yet. I am, as of this moment, comfortable in my retirement. But.” Her eyes trailed towards the window. Then fell on Evie’s painting. “Well. Since we have plenty of time over the next two weeks to come to a conclusion one way or the other, will you allow me some questions, first?”

“Yes, of course!” Evie nodded. “Anything you want, ask away!”

“I suppose first and foremost, do you have any locations in mind, yet?” Inara asked and Evie’s grin got a bit bigger.

“Yeah! I’ve made a list of a bunch of potential places and I’ve already scouted out a couple! Here, lemme…” She grabbed her phone. “Now, if we want it to be open to the public, it should be close to a city bus stop and I’ve looked up properties along a couple routes already….”

It didn’t take long before she was excitedly showing Inara places she’d saved on her phone. Her passion for the idea was obvious, if it hadn’t been already.

As she and Inara spoke, her painting sat on its easel, half-finished.

—

“…just imagine me repeatedly telling you to do the first thing that comes to your head just like in this conversation telling you to just do the first thing that comes to your head! Got it? And you’re not allowed to call again until you relax and have fun! Bye, Amaya!”

Evie hung up her phone and let out a slightly weary breath. Inara chuckled.

“It sounds like the poor thing is having a hard time. Are you quite sure we shouldn’t reel her back in? It seems like she’s more comfortable when she’s doing her job.”

“Trust me, this is good for her,” Evie huffed as she tossed her phone down in front of her. “Amaya’s great, but her mom’s training was a little too good. Sometimes I worry she forgets she’s an actual person and not just a robot that guards me.”

“So guarding you is a family business, is it?” Inara asked. As she listened, she busied herself grabbing some things from a cupboard.

“Mmn. Her mother is our head of security. She met my mother when they were in….college? I think? Miss Nightingale told me the story once. Anyway, she guarded me until I left for university, then Amaya took over. And she’s great at it! Really! Just—“

“A couple decades, give or take, of being watched like a hawk has worn out your appreciation for the concept,” Inara offered.

“Yyyyeeeah,” Evie said wearily. “I just wanna. Stretch my legs, occasionally, you know?”

“Evie, dear.” Inara was pouring water into a teapot. “If there’s somebody you don’t have to explain the concept of chafing against the borders of society and interaction thereof to, it’s somebody living in seclusion on an island.” She offered Evie a coy smirk, which got a giggle out of her.

“Good point.”

“Now having said that, I want to make clear, young Amaya is just as welcome in my home as you. I’m sure seclusion hasn’t so worn away my talents as a host that I can’t entertain the both of you. She and you do consider each other friends, don’t you?” She asked. Evie found herself nodding, maybe quicker than expected.

“Yeah, of course. I’ve known her since I was born, basically.” A fond smile came to her face. “She’s one of my closest friends.”

“Then perhaps the best way for her to learn to give you some space would be by enjoying a vacation with you as a friend, rather than as your guardian.” She put the teapot on the stove as she spoke. “There’s few friendships that can’t benefit from both parties enjoying a bit of…pampering together.”

Evie blinked. Then she winced, briefly. She turned away from Inara, taking a couple idle steps around the kitchen.

“Uh….hm, that’s…a pretty good point,” she said after a second. “…maybe I made a mistake sending her away in the first place.”

“Well, if you did, we can at least take solace that it’s an easily remedied one,” Inara unsubtly glanced at the table. Evie followed her eyes and stared at her phone. She picked it up. “The tea will be ready in a few moments, we can discuss it, if you like.” Evie looked at her phone for a minute.

“Ah….that sounds really nice, but. Hnnnm.” Evie looked like she was considering punching herself in the stomach for what she was about to say. “I’m pretty tired, I think I should get to bed, so I can get an early start tomorrow.”

“Of course.” Inara nodded. “It should be a beautiful day tomorrow. The tea, the subject and Amaya will all keep until then, at least.”

…

“Hrrmmngh….”

Evie grumbled to herself as she unzipped her suitcase. With a particularly surly demeanor, she grabbed her pajamas and tossed them onto the bed. Then, she grabbed a pair of underwear. She walked into the bathroom and got undressed. As she kicked off her pants, she stared at herself in the mirror and let out another groan.

She couldn’t stop staring at the dark discolored spot on the front of her panties.

“Unbelievable, dude…” She murmured. “Who pees their pants when they’re on vacation?! Who pees their pants at all?! Honestly!” She grumbled, making sure to keep her voice low. She stripped off her underwear and angrily tossed them. She’d put her laundry together more properly when she wasn’t so annoyed.

“Can’t believe it cost me a chance to have tea with Inara…” She said ruefully as she pulled a new pair into place around her waist. “God, I better not have messed up these pants, these cost 300 bucks…!” She was turning over the pants, intently, trying to find any evidence of a stain, when she suddenly felt a twitch, then a painful pang.

“Ehhck!” She squeaked, twitching around on her feet for a couple seconds, before she felt warmth and moisture building between her legs. “H-hey, no, cut it oooout!” She whined at herself as she tried to tug her panties down and sit down on the toilet simultaneously, with limited success.

—

“Oh man….that water is so beautiful.”

Evie smiled as she looked up from her sketchbook. She had a small row of differently colored pencils neatly sat on a table next to her. It was mostly shades of blue being used so far, she was sketching a picture of ocean waves crashing on a beach.

“It’s quite the sight, isn’t it?” Inara asked, sat at the other end of the table. “I could do nothing but watch and listen to those waves for hours.”

“It’s so clear and blue….” Evie sighed. She let out a little laugh. “It doesn’t look anything like the shores back home. In the city at least, the water looks so….” She slowly shook her head. “There aren’t even any beaches that are safe to swim in off of the city anymore.”

“Mmn…” Inara ducked her head a slightly. “A phenomenon I’ve heard is sadly becoming all too common across the country, and the world.” She looked back at Evie. “Have you ever gone swimming in the ocean a single time, dear?” Evie just shook her head.

“Worse than that, I’ve only ever gone swimming in pools,” she admitted, a grimace on her face.

“Well. The water out here is entirely safe, I can assure you. As long as it’s not in the hours immediately following a storm surge.” She looked to Evie, then to the water. “Would you like to…?” Evie looked at her picture, then let out a sheepish laugh and rubbed her neck.

“I….would,” she admitted. “The more I look at it, the more I’m thinking I really, really would.”

“Well, I see no reason why you shouldn’t.” Inara gave a little shake of her head. “All girls should experience swimming in the ocean at least once. When you’re ready, please, by all means,” she gestured to the water. Evie didn’t need to be told twice.

“I’ll go get my swimsuit!” She said.

So instead of drawing the water, Evie went swimming in it. To say she enjoyed it would’ve been an understatement.

“Bwuuh! Oh my gosh!” She exclaimed as she popped her head out of the water. “It’s so clear down there!” She slapped her hands on her head. “Auuugh! I should’ve asked Amaya to borrow her contacts, I coulda taken pictures and sent them right to my phone!”

Inara just chuckled into her hand as she watched the girl enjoy herself. Day wore into afternoon, into evening, but both of them seemed to have little interest in going back inside.

“Have you ever made a fire yourself, my dear?”

“Uh, does pre-heating the stove count?” Evie asked. Inara chuckled into her hand again.

“Well, it’s not that complicated. Come here, watch what I do. First, lay down the tinder….”

Once the fire was made, Inara cooked dinner for them out there on the beach.

“Gosh, that view is so beautiful….” Evie was laying on her back in her swimsuit, her plate on the ground next to her. She was staring up at the sky. Night had come, so it was nothing but black sky and twinkling stars. “There’s always so many lights in the city, even at night, you never get to see the stars this clearly. How do you ever stop looking at it.”

“I’ve certainly found myself just staring up at them until I fall asleep a few times,” Inara said. “The line between solitude and loneliness grows a bit blurry out here sometimes, but, I must admit. Looking up there always gives me a bit of perspective.” Evie sat up and looked at Inara.

“Do you get lonely out here?” She asked.

“Oh, I’ve always been a solitary creature at heart. But I don’t think any human is meant to go utterly without other humans.” She leaned in and gave Evie a wry smirk. “And the internet is often a poor substitute for human interaction.” Evie let out a snort into her hand.

“You’re tellin’ me,” she said. Her life had gotten real strange for a little while after that video of Amaya and her had gone viral. “…have you ever thought about having a family out here?” Inara swished her glass of wine for a few seconds and took a sip.

“Thought, maybe. Not much more than that. Prior experiences with the joy of matrimony have left me lacking enthusiasm for another attempt. But…”

“But?” Evie got a little closer. “What? Kids?” She asked. A melancholic smile tugged at Inara’s features.

“Like I said, I’ve….thought,” she admitted. “It’s a hard thing, to want to know what something could be. But to also know a very hard truth.” Evie furrowed her brow.

“What’s that?” Evie asked. Inara took her glass in both hands and stared into it.

“A child inherits the world you give them. And our world…” She slowly shook her head. “Is not on a course to anything that I am excited about passing on.”

Evie swallowed. She looked down at the ground. After a few seconds of silence, Inara realized she’d made things heavy and waved a hand.

“But that’s just me making excuses, I’m sure,” she said with a light laugh. “Like I said, I’m a solitary creature.”

“No, you’ve…got a point,” Evie rubbed the back of her neck. “Sometimes I wonder what’s gonna get us all first, the storms or us just blowing each other up.” She let out an annoyed sigh. “I guess they’re kinda the same thing when you think about it.”

“Oh, Evie.” Inara shook her head. “Someone your age shouldn’t be worrying about things like that. Especially not during her vacation.” She waved a hand. “Honestly, I’m being a bad host, I shouldn’t inflict my ridiculous worries on you.” Evie wanted to assure her she wasn’t doing that, but Inara was already moving on. “You know what a night on the beach needs to be complete? Key Lime Pie. And I’ve had some defrosting for a bit, now.”

“Thaaaaat sounds really good,” Evie said. Part of her worried they were just breezing by the heavy subject matter right to dessert. But if Inara wanted to move on, she didn’t want to press it.

As they went to go get their dessert and finish their day under the stars, Evie’s sketchbook sat on the table, her drawing of the waves half-finished.

—

“Lesse….this one goes here….”

Evie was sat at the desk in her room, her tablet in front of her and her phone next to her. The latter had a picture of a constellation of stars in the night sky. She was trying to draw the same stars on her tablet. She leaned over her phone, then went back to her tablet.

“Why am I using a picture on my phone as a reference instead of just going back outside and looking up at the sky?” She asked herself as she drew. “Is that irony or is it just stupid?”

Evie suddenly stopped drawing. Her stylus fell out of her hand. Her brows raised up but tightened into a frown at the same time. She slowly started to stand up.

“—Ah!”

She felt a pang and instantly darted away from her desk.

“Nonononoooo…..!” She whined, going bow-legged as she stood on the border of the bedroom and the bathroom. A soft hissing noise came from her as she felt more warmth and wetness spreading between her legs, unabated by her pleading with her body, “C’mon, stoooop!” As she tried to inch towards the toilet for a few more seconds, before giving up entirely. She’d managed to get close enough to stare at herself in the mirror and wished she hadn’t.

This wasn’t a little bit of a leak like she’d had before, this was just….full-blown. This time, there was very clearly a wide, dark, discolored spot on her 300 dollar designer shorts. Evie just sighed and walked back into her room. She grabbed a change of clothes and threw them on her bed. It was one thing to do what she’d done yesterday, but this was just. Fully. Doing that! In her underwear! And her pants! Her really expensive underwear and pants!

And. Well.

She grimaced as she looked over at her swimsuit, currently hanging over the shower.

“Well, at least nobody can tell if you’re wetting yourself when you’re in the ocean, right? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” As she continued mirthlessly laughing, Evie grabbed a pillow off of her bed and shoved it into her face.

“MMMRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHH! MMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!”

—

“Yes! I’m fine! Nothing’s wrong, what’s wrong - nothing’s wrong!”

Inara stared at Evie for a second. Evie stared back, her eyes big and wide.

“Evie, dear, I asked if you wanted one sugar or two.”

“Ahahaha! Yes! Yes you did!” Evie said with a disconcerting level of enthusiasm. “Because sugar goes in coffee! And we are talking about coffee!” Inara looked down at the pot in her own hands and started to pull it back.

“Well, we were, but I’m starting to worry you’ve already had several cups before I even made this, somehow.”

Evie cleared her throat.

“O-one sugar and cream, please.” She held out her cup. Inara filled it up and then added the requested cream and sugar. Before Evie could take a sip, Inara lightly put two fingers on the rim of the cup, pushing it down.

“I hope I’m not stating the obvious. You seem nervous, dear. Is something the matter?” She asked. Evie sucked in a breath and forced herself to sit still and calm down a bit.

“I’m just. Feeling a little skittish this morning, I guess. It’s not a big deal. I’ll just. Take a walk or something after breakfast,” she said. That was good enough for Inara, who took her fingers off of Evie’s cup.

“I may know something about how you’re feeling. The island is very nice at first, but after a bit of time getting used to it, the small size of it starts to feel not unlike the walls are closing in around you. I’ve found a morning constitutional is an excellent way to dispense the nervous energy.”

“Constitutional…?” Evie put a hand over her mouth and let out a little giggle.

“What?” Inara asked coyly. “It’s just another word for walk.”

“From like a hundred years ago!” Evie said. Inara scoffed.

“As an artist, you must learn something, Evie — the truly good words never go out of style.” Evie giggled again, which made Inara smile. That had seemed to help calm her down. A good mood permeated the room as the two continued breakfast.

“Oh, that reminds me. Today’s exercise. I was thinking of trying something a bit different, today — Evie?” Inara stopped midsentence. Evie had suddenly sat up straight in her chair and her eyes had gotten big. “Is everything alright?”

“Uh - excuse me!” Evie squeaked and shot up from her chair. Before she could so much as turn around, she winced. Her legs bowed and she put her hands over her waist. It didn’t help. Inara put a hand over her mouth as she saw a dark spot growing over the front of Evie’s pajama pants. “Nnnn….!” Evie winced and whined, trying as hard as she could to stop it, but her body refused to obey her and the dark spot just continued to grow, punctuated by the sound of liquid hitting and spreading across fabric.

When it was done, Inara looked up at her. Evie instantly avoided eye contact. That got Inara up out of her chair.

“That’s alright,” she said, walking around the table and putting a hand on Evie’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry…!” Evie whimpered, her face bright red. A hand came on her other shoulder and she was surprised to find herself pulled into Inara’s body.

“Evie, another thing you must learn - only apologize once you’ve done something wrong.” She gave the girl a pat on the back of her head, then started guiding her out of the kitchen. “Come along. Inara will taken care of everything.” Evie swallowed. Inara not only wasn’t upset, she seemed to be more concerned with actively comforting Evie? That was so unexpected that she didn’t know what to make of it, but she was just grateful she wasn’t being yelled at.

“O…okay.” Still mostly just staring at the floor, she let herself be guided by Inara until she looked up and saw they were back at her room. She swallowed, suddenly feeling that anxious energy flare up in her chest again. “Wh. Why’re we here?”

“Well, you need to get cleaned up and I need to put those clothes in the laundry,” Inara said matter-of-factly. “We might as well do a full load while we’re at it,” she said and opened the door.

“W…wait….” Evie said weakly as Inara stepped inside. Inara quirked an eyebrow when she saw the sheets not on the bed, but bundled up in the corner. She looked at the bed and saw another dark spot. Evie opened her mouth to try to say something, but nothing came out.

Inara looked in the bundle of sheets in the corner and unsurprisingly, found more of the same. Without looking back at Evie, she went into the bathroom next and found a pile of clothes. She looked through them and let out a sigh. She found more of the same. Evie’s room was filled with clothes and sheets with the same discolored stain and the same stale odor coming from them.

Evie couldn’t bear to lift her eyes up from the ground. She knew there was no way to pass this off as an isolated incident anymore. She’d been caught red-handed.