Ch.12: Playdates and Pottymancy

"Let us see… first is dragon's cub. Come, Petey, up you get!"

Sesame had taken us below decks once Locano had collected his gear together. Luckily he hadn't dropped anything when the bear had levitated him in an amazing display of magical power. From what I had worked out, the ship itself held what daddy had called mana in it, like daddy did. Flying was hard for daddy, I wondered if it was because he didn't exactly have a fly spell or just hadn't thought to use it, or if flying out there had been hard in a way that levitation from the ship hadn't been for Sesame. I had such a lot to learn about magic.

"Feet up, honey! Good boy."

I closed my eyes, both hands fastened around the warm bottle of formula Sesame had given me as I lifted my legs up obediently. The werebear snapped open my onesie, then pulled down my plastic pants and unpinned my sodden cloth diapers. Squealing as a cold cloth was wiped over my crotch area, I kicked my feet about a bit.

"Hush hush, Sesame must be checking for rash. Knows little cubs used to disposables need extra attention with proper cloth diapers. Hmm, is good, now for protection… and powder… and then snuggly wuggly diaper! Tickle tickle!"

I couldn't help but giggle as Sesame first wiped my diaper-area clean with her wet rag, then dried it with some sweet-smelling powder, patting both cheeks and kissing my now-bare feet. Then she slathered on some sort of oily cream that felt very strange as it coated my sensitive areas before a triple-thick diaper was wedged between my legs. It forced them apart and barely fit beneath the plastic pants which had, until now, been relatively slack except for the leg and waist gathers. Now, though, they bulged obscenely.

"Good boy. Drink all your bottle and Sesame will tuck in for nap."

She lifted me up, gave me a kiss on the side of my forehead and then carried me from the changing table area to one of the cribs. Bending down, she placed me up against one side, wrapped in a warm blanket.

"Will give you your binky when bottle is empty, okay sweetie?"

I nodded up at her sleepily. I wasn't actually tired, but with everything I'd gone through, a quiet period was welcome.

"Good boy. Do not have to sleep, but do have to be quiet as other babies are napping. Now, Master Locano, what is state of your diapers?"

"Th-they're fi-fine Mistress Sesame."

"Uh huh. Is what said last time. What happened last time?"

"Um, I l-leaked Mistress Sesame."

"Yes. Leaked! All over clothes, all over crib. Will be putting in diapers, but… have got favourite pretty plastic panties, yes?"

"F-fank you Mistress Sesame," I heard the owl chirp in a quieter voice. I heard the sounds of an owl getting a diaper change too, and then he was placed in the crib next to mine. I found myself sucking air as my bottle was emptied, so after tucking in Locano with a similar bottle to my own, the bear took my bottle and replaced it with my binky, already on the lanyard.

"Comfy?" she asked. I nodded. "Good. Rest a while, will be time for playings shortly. If really cannot rest, come to Sesame for sittings, but sleepy cubs who just want attention get put down for real nap when all other babies having playtimes, so be sure is cannot sleep!"

"'Kay Sesame," I slurred around my binky, then turned over to get snuggled down a bit. As I turned, I saw that the crib next to mine on the other side was actually empty, and two forms were cuddled together in the next one over. Makari snored gently on his tummy, tail flopped over his head, large diapers in the air, and Trash was curled up in her tail, sides gently rising and falling. They looked quite cute together, like innocent little angels. Little buggers.

***

You know how it is, you close your eyes for a second and it's just later. I opened mine and found myself staring into the rosy pink eyes of the blue bunny creature, Pandora. I rubbed my eyes as she stood there patiently waiting.

"Are you awake? You can come out to play if you're awake!"

I yawned and stretched, absentmindedly squeezing my diapers to see how full they were. I wasn't actually sure, they were so thick and so different to disposables. "Uh huh," I said. "I can…"

Actually I couldn't. I stood up and tried to clamber over the top of the crib but just couldn't get a hold of the top. Pandora watched me for a few moments, then chuckled, her plush paws going to her muzzle with glee.

"Silly cub, you have to ask to be let out!"

I turned to look at the other pampered captives; Locano was poring over what looked like a book, plump butt in the air, the side of his crib down, but Makari and Trash were in the middle of an escape attempt… and succeeding.

"Hey! So how come they can get out by themselves!?" I whined.

Pandora turned to look, then visibly rolled her eyes, her body almost twisted around. "Anklebiters, she's been training. Hard to keep an anklebiter rogue in her crib if she wants out. I will have to punish her later, if I can catch her."

"Can you?" I asked, as Pandora turned back and let the bars of my crib down.

Pandora fixed me with a hard stare for a moment, as if she was insulted. Maybe she had been. Then her gaze softened, seeing that I only meant well. "Oh yes, I certainly can, but for now let her think she has gotten away with it." The bunny creature was whispering to me softly, her eyes shining. I swore I saw a smile on her muzzle. "I put the cushions they're landing on there to make sure they wouldn't hurt themselves," she whispered again. "Small victories keep them happy."

I snorted as I pulled the covers from my legs and swung them over the edge.

"Upsadaisy!" Pandora said, using her ears to ease my butt over the lip of the crib. One of the ears gently squeezed my behind as I passed. "Looks like you're not a mushy tushy yet, be sure you tell Pandora if you are! I don't want you getting a rash, okay?"

"Yes Pandora."

"You can call me Nana, sweetie."

"Yes… Nana?"

"Good boy. Off you toddle, go play. You go catch up with Makari and Alex and I'll get young squire Locano to join you." With a gentle pat on my behind, I was sent over to the start of a cushion fort.

At that moment, it was little more than a pile of cushions stacked on one another draped in some sheets, with giggling shapes underneath. I dropped to all fours and crawled through a flap into a close, warm space filled with a 'coon and a 'bold.

"Petey! We's been waiting for you! Can finally get started!" Makari chirped, bouncing up and down in his ample cloth padding.

"Locano's gonna come later?" Trash — Alex, Nana Dora had called her — asked. I nodded.

"I guess, Pandora said she'd try and convince him to play… is it going to cause problems? Umm, what're we playing? Cards or something?"

Makari and Trash shared a glance, then finally Trash turned back to me. "You're new, aren'tcha?"

"Umm, yeah? Is it… board games, then?"

Makari covered his muzzle with his claws and snickered behind them, "We're going to have to show you. Close your eyes! Close 'em! Now pretend!"

"We're going to play pretend?" I asked, screwing up my face in disapproval even as I did as bid.

"Oh boy… I'll start! Me! Me! We're in a tent! In a forest!" Makari began. I swore I could almost hear Trash rolling her eyes.

"Like, it's early mornin', 'kay? Sun's shinin', birds are singin'. Sky's so blue, what you can see of it through the gap in the tent." I felt Makari take hold of one of my hands, and Trash took the other. "Can you smell it? The forest? The pines, and the distant flowers."

"It's bees! An' honey!"

I screwed my eyes up. I swore, as they described things, I could almost… "is that birdsong!?"

I opened my eyes, peering out in surprise at the changed pillow fort. It was still… blanket-like, and the sights, sounds and even smells were somehow… indistinct and overly colourful, but…

"What the f—"

"Eep!" A paw went to my lips. "No potty mouthing! It summons the Ebil Meanies!"

I swallowed the swear-word and eased myself back out of the now-tent, emerging into a clearing in a forest. "Wow! What is all this?"

"It's, like, our world, 'kay? Haven't you ever played—"

"Not like this!" I interrupted. I stood up, hitching my diapers up under my… cloak? And I had a sword at my hips? I strode — toddled — to the fire in the centre of the clearing; it was long turned to ash, but a pot was stood on a tripod above it, full of some sort of stew-like food. I tasted it, it tasted like candy apples. Makari sidled up next to me, and plunged a canteen — for a brief moment, it looked like an empty toy cup, and the stew looked like a similarly empty pan — into it. He slurped it up noisily, making satisfied noises, then passed me the same canteen.

"Have some! We've got to keep our strength up cos there's always baddies about!"

I shook my head, then dipped the wide canteen bowl into the stew and scooped out a generous helping. Trash passed over a spoon, and I ate — somehow — the tastiest pretend food I'd ever had. I burped, wiping my hand over my mouth. It came back covered in weird, candy-apple tasting meaty juices. I was still staring at that impossibility when Trash drew both her shorter daggers, flicking her tail about.

"I hear something! Let's go!"

"Battle! To arms!" Makari cried, drawing a brightly glowing stick with a floating star at the end out of some sort of bandolier. He had a wand!

"Battle? What? Guys!?" Stumbling, I unsheathed my shortsword as I tried to follow the kobold and the racoon as the pair of them went bounding off into the undergrowth. Clambering over the soft, cushion-like bushes I found a not-very-changed Locano — compared to my cloak and sword, Makari's glowing wand and an outright ninja outfit on Trash, Locano looked exactly the same as before, decked out like a proper ranger — firing arrows at a band of hyena-like creatures. They were snickering at him as they circled, lunging every so often.

"Gnolls! Yeah! I love fighting gnolls!" shouted Makari. He twirled his wand and then shouted, "Firebolt! Pew pew!" and a burst of flame exploded out from the tip, striking one of the grizzly creatures in the chest. It was blown backwards into a tree, the smoking wound still sizzling as it died.

"What the—" I began, but a gnoll leaped at me, claws raised. "Nooo! Ahhh!" I cowered back, screwing up my eyes as the creature suddenly tensed... and went limp, falling onto me. We crashed to the ground in a pile of moss, my world suddenly turned dark with the surprisingly soft warmth of the gnoll body on top of me. I pushed it off with great difficulty to see Trash calmly walk up and pull her thrown dagger from its back.

"What is happening?" I wailed, feeling my crotch grow hot as all around me gnolls were dispatched with gay abandon.

"We're playing adventures! Come on, swing your sword!" Locano shouted as he buzzed past on wings of fury, loosing arrow after arrow at the gnolls. Trash pulled me up, then almost immediately leaped away at another enemy.

"But… but… ah! Get away!" As I babbled in confusion, another of the gnolls — they were large, yellow and mangy, spotted like leopards, and smelled like… laundry? — came at me. I batted my sword at it and sliced it's chest open. It died, howling, as it fell to the… to the… for a moment, my vision shifted again, and we were back in the room on the ship. The sword I held in my hand was revealed instead to be a smallish, cylindrical pillow and the gnoll I'd gutted was revealed to be a teddy bear of some kind, lying face-up on the floor and completely unharmed… er, undamaged, a wide smile on its friendly face. I poked it incase it started moving like Pandora, but it didn't. I was panting, the adrenalin still running through my body, even as what had been abject terror turned back to confusion. I felt a familiar warm mass spread into the seat of my diapers as I mushed myself out of fear, feet curling inwards as I pushed. Then Trash took my hand, and I turned, and found myself in that forest clearing again.

"You okay? It almost got you!"

I looked down at the sword in my hand, peering at it intently. It glittered, intricate designs etched into the blade. "Uhh, yeah, I… I'm fine! I, um, I killed it! I think!"

"Then let's go! Locano says he's got a treasure map! Loot any armor or stuff you want and follow me!"

I took a deep breath, feeling the heat and tight softness spread in my rear even as the cloth bulk between my legs sagged heavier in front, cleaned my sword off on the body — I swore, the 'blood' smelled like cherries, I wasn't sure if that was weirder than what it should have been like — and picked up the helmet it had been wearing. I also snagged a dagger, then shook my head and followed after the crashing sounds of a trio of adventurers forging through the forest.

***

When I caught up, Locano was indeed holding a crude map, drawn on parchment in what looked like colourful crayon. "It's this way! Here's the river, we go downstream until we hit the swamp, then follow the trail at the keyhole rocks."

"Where'd you find that?" I asked him, gesturing to take a closer look at it as I joined the small circle of friends.

"I took it from the gnolls," Locano said, grinning. He handed it to me, chirping happily, his feathers fluffing out proudly. "Come on!"

"Gnolls always have treasure maps, but the big dummies can't read!" Makari piped up. He brandished his wand again and stalked after the aarakocra. "But keep your peepers out for trouble!"

"You havin' fun?" Trash asked, peering in my eyes, then looking down at the map in my hands.

"Uhh… it's not what I expected, but yeah."

"What, playin' adventures? Didn't you ever play pretend before? Like, cops an' robbers an' stuff? I heard about it ya know, you mundies do that, dontcha?"

I chuckled, rolling the map up and stashing it into my belt. "Well yeah, but it's just pretend when we do it, without all the, uh… this."

Trash blinked. "Wow, that's lame. This is much better, innit?" She gestured around at the lush forest, tinkling streams, laughing waterfalls and deep blue sky.

Slowly, I nodded. "I, uh, yeah. Much better."

"Well, keep your eyes open for trouble, like my li'l bro says." Trash grinned at me, waving goodbye with the map as she followed the other two. "You never know when trouble'll show up."

"Hey!" I cried, my hands going to my belt where I'd put it. She'd yoinked it! And I hadn't even noticed! Wait... oh no. I checked the other side… she'd even yoinked—

"And my dagger!" I called at the retreating figure.

"Finders keepers!" Trash laughed, flipping it in the air before catching it and putting it back into her own belt, not even looking around.

"You sneak!" I cried, toddling after her. "But I found that!"

"Losers weepers! Thanks!"

"Heey!" I complained again, speeding up my trotting after her as I tried to catch up.

The trail we were following swiftly changed from forest to more open country, the ground itself becoming boggier and bouncier. Locano soon called a halt.

"Can I see the map again?" he asked, his brow furrowed.

"Here ya go," replied Trash, handing over the parchment.

"We're not lost, are we?" I asked, peering about.

"N-n-noo, it's just… this map says there's a… a thing here."

"A thing?" That didn't sound good. "What sort of thing?"

"Hmm, could be anyfing," whispered Trash. "Well, not a gelat'nous cube, not out here. Prolly not a mimic either. Now if it was giant spiders, we'd know, cos of all the webbin'."

"I-I'll keep a look out back here," I said, drawing my sword.

"I'll stay in the back too, I'm kinda squishy," Makari said.

"You're always kinda squishy," snickered Trash, Locano echoing it. I chuckled too.

"Big meanies," the kobold complained. "See if I save your butts next time a gnolls biting them!"

"Yeah yeah. I'll scout ahead. Locano, keep my li'l bro an' Petey safe, 'kay?"

I watched, bemused, as somehow the raccoon just vanished. She dove behind a bush and in moments was literally gone, less than a shadow. I couldn't even hear her moving through the brush.

"How does she do that?" I whispered to myself.

"Anklebiter," hissed Makari, wand held at the ready as we proceeded with caution through the swamp. "S'a rogue thing. Been teachin' me, too, but Imma be a sorcerer when I'm bigger!"

"Daddy says I'm a sorcerer," I hissed back. "That's why we're heading to… wherever it is we're heading."

Makari stopped so suddenly I almost tripped over his tail. "You can do magic? Why didn't you say?"

"Cos I don't know very much of it! I can do, like, a spark, and I can make things light up and, umm… well I can do this thing with my binky to turn myself into a baby, but—"

"You can do pottymancy!?" Makari spun around, his voice so loud that Locano hissed angrily, feathers poofed out, for us to be quiet.

"Umm, i-is it that?"

"Babbification! B-but you're way too puny to do magic like that!"

"Well I dunno what it's called! I didn't even know it had a name!"

"Betcha ya can't!"

"Can to!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Will you two shut up!" Locano hissed angrily, a wing-like hand clamping shut over my mouth and another around Makari's muzzle. "I think I've worked out what lives here… and it's always listening! We should be fine though, if we all just stay quiet!"

"What is it?" I whispered, once Locano's grip had loosened, heartbeat thudding in my ears. The aarakocra gestured a 'come here' motion, then pointed towards where the swamp deepened into a sizeable pond. A few bubbles popped ominously. They would have gone unnoticed, if the ranger hadn't pointed them out.

"It's there, in the middle. Let's go, quietly! If we don't make any noise, the potty monster won't hear us and we'll be safe."

"The potty monster?" I giggled, earning myself another wing-hand silencing.

"Shh! If it hears us, it'll eat us! Now, like I said, follow me." The owl-like ranger dragged me around the edge of the pond, and Makari brought up the rear. I hardly breathed as we moved, one step at a time. For a few moments, everything was fine, but then at a sudden release of bubbles in the middle of the dark green waters, we all froze. And that was when Makari spoke.

"Uh, guys? There's one thing that's even more certain to wake it up than noise..."

"What?" Locano asked.

Makari pointed his wand down at my mushybutt. "That. RUN!"

The bubbles, which had been fairly infrequent, rapidly grew to a torrent, and out of the slimy green stank rose a one-eyed, multiple-tentacled horror that gave out a terrifying, screaming roar as it forged for the shore.

"Cheese it or it'll eat us!"

"Ahhh!"

"Noooo!"

The three of us ran as fast as we can, no longer caring about stealth. Locano went right, Makari went left, and me? Well, I ran straight away from the pond towards the forest, with the tentacled horror right behind me.

Whatever its true form, it was a gargantuan beast, with claws for feet and hands, gigantic slathering teeth and a beak that looked razor sharp. Its eyes, though… they glittered with hunger as it bore down on me. Breathing heavily, arms and legs pumping, poofy butt waddling, I tried to run, but I was too slow!

"Nooo! The potty monster! Ahhh! It's got me! Noo! Don't let it eat me! Nooooo!"

In moments, slimy black tentacles with their vicious, razor-sharp suckers wrapped around my waist and hoisted me in to the air, and dragged me backwards towards that hungry, drooling maw, where—

"Aaahhh…. Ah?"

I opened my eyes again, and Pandora was carrying me through the air in her ears.

"What's that, little one? The potty monster? Ohh, such a scary story! Which of those three was it that's been telling you such tales?"

I was still panting heavily as the real world reasserted itself, revealing that I wasn't in imminent danger of being devoured by a slathering hell-beast from beneath dark, treacherous waters, but instead merely in imminent danger of having my overly full plastic panties leak all over the playroom floor.

On the other side of the room from the changing tables, I saw both Locano and Makari, dressed in pajamas with pots and pans on their heads, crashing into each other and the walls, giggling as they did so. Trash was sneaking around them with a laundry basket on her head, peeking through the holes.

"Don't worry, honey, Nana Dora can tell when her little charges need a clean diapy-wipey. She should really punish you for being naughty and not telling her when you need a change, but she knows how much fun it can be playing pretend."

"Uhh… uh huh. Fun." I stuck my thumb in my mouth, sucking it as I calmed down. When Pandora saw — right after she'd placed me gently on my back on a changing mat — she waggled her paw in a 'no-no' admonishment, and once again popped my binky in my mouth from where it still hung on the ever-present lanyard. I sucked on it gratefully, eyes closing as I felt my caretaker pop open my onesie and ease my plastic panties down around my ankles and release my tushy from its mushy prison.

I was clean again in next to no time, with an equally soft, equally bulky set of cloth diapers fastened around my waist — in a new pair of panties, the first had fallen in the line of doody — and my onesie once more secured. The plush bunny creature had done it all with her ears, too, only using her paws to place the used diapers in the pail and to hand up and down the cleaning rags.

"There we go, hon, all snug! You can go back to playing now!"

With a pat on my bottom, she sent me toddling towards the three other pampered pets, who were stalking around the pillow fort we'd started at with every sign of being on the lookout for traps or enemies. I waddled over to them, unsure of how to rejoin the game, but I needn't have worried. As I drew close, Trash waved, grabbed me, and in one whirling moment, I found myself ducking to enter a cave.

"You didn't get eaten by da potty monster! Da… rn. I mean, uh, yay!" Makari's pout of disappointment turned into a meek cheer as the raccoon glared at him.

"He just doesn't want to share the treasure," Trash chuckled, giving her little brother a noogie. He hissed and batted at her paws.

"Treasure?"

"Yeah! We beats the baddies, and ran away from the potty monster, and now we gets the treasure! It's in here!" Makari pointed, jumping up and down in excitement as we emerged into another smallish cave. In the centre was an honest-to-goodness altar with an equally honest-to-goodness chest. Not even hesitating, which made both Locano and Trash hiss with displeasure, Makari flipped open the chest to reveal…

"Cookies?" I exclaimed, raising one eyebrow.

"And chocolate milk!" Makari crowed. The kobold handed out four large cookies and four large bottles, the latter full of what looked exactly like chocolate milk. It tasted like it, too.

Makari shovelled his entire cookie into his maw in one go, noisily devouring it, then more or less fell back onto his padded rump, sticking his legs in the air as he started to drink, equally noisily. I chuckled, then decided to join him. The rocks at the edges of the cave seemed strangely comfortable as I leaned back on them, only to discover that they were, in fact, cushions on the edge of our pillow fort.

The chest was gone in a blink, and in its place was a plate — now empty, except for crumbs — and a small basket-like object which had obviously held our bottles. Burping contentedly, I had to admit that Makari's words about letting 'the bigs' give out changes whilst we stayed comfy held a deep and profound truth to it.

"That was fun!" I said, stretching as I felt my diaper grow hotter again; Pandora's bottles were keeping both me and my pampers well hydrated. "I've never played pretend like that before! I almost got ate by the potty monster!"

"Well yeah! Duh! You'se not supposed to be stinky when you're near 'em! They eats you!" Makari stretched too, then wrinkled his nose and sniffed. "Good thing we're passed it!"

I rolled my eyes and called for a caretaker. "Nana! Makari's stinky!"

The kobold scowled at me as Pandora paff-paff-paff'd over on her little felt bunny legs, then lifted the flap of our pillow fort. "Ooh, I smell somebody else is a potty pampers today too, huh? Come on, Makari-mushbold, let's get you changed, then you can come play again." She put out a paw for Makari to take hold of, and for once he did as he was asked. Just as she was leaving the tent, however, the bunny turned to me. "Oh, Petey, hon?"

"Umm?" I looked up from my reverie at the plush bunny, blinking in confusion.

"Your mommy is here to get you, do you wanna go with her, or should I tell her you're sleeping?"

"Mommy? You mean Suzy?"

"That's right! Clever boy! Daddy's on deck, he wants you to see something special! These little stinkers are far too busy to join you, but I think it's worth it!"

"Umm, okay?"

I scrambled to my feet, waddling out of the makeshift fort and crossing the playroom, passing through the storeroom. As I turned to look back one last time, I saw Makari squawking and struggling to get out of Pandora's grip now she had him on his back on the changing mat, whilst Locano was once more beak-deep in a book of some sort and Trash was sneaking about with the laundry basket on her head again. I chuckled, and headed out to Sesame.

"Mommy!" I cried as I spotted my babysitter, then blushed, clearing my throat. "Ahem, I mean, uh, Suzy!"

Suzy was waiting for me with a grin on her face. "Hey champ! You've had a good time down here. Been good for Sesame, after your naughtiness earlier?"

I blushed, then nodded. "Uhuh! Pandora came to get me, said you and Daddy wanted to show me something?"

"Pandora said? The… plush.. Golem?"

I grinned. "Uh huh, she speaks, but only to cubs!"

"You're really having fun with this, aren't you? Okay, you little stinker, what else have you been up to? Sesame, is it okay if I take him up to his Daddy?"

"Yes! Of course! But be bringing back after, will be cub's beddy time! Tired cubs are cranky cubs, will need changing maybe, bottles… are not being too late, or too loud! Will wake up other cubs, then Sesame is spending half the night putting back to bed, okay?"

"I promise. Come on, Petey, you can tell me about it on the way."

I followed Suzy as she led the way out through the door, held open by the werebear Sesame as she waved goodbye, back into the more normal areas of the ship. Finding the way out was a lot easier, as you only really had to head up. I was somewhat worried about getting back, but that was a problem for later.

"Okay, spill the beans, kiddo. Sesame wouldn't let me into the cubs' only area. What's it like?"

"Well I have a crib to myself, and Sesame's really nice and taught me magic! And there's Locano who's the owl-guy and Makari the kobold and Trash his big sister but she's a racoon or something, only she's a ninja rogue thingy and Makari can do magic too and I don't know if Locano can do magic but he's got a bow and is a ranger and—"

"Woah, woah, slow down honey!" Suzy laughed. "That's a lot to take in! So there's four of you, ah, cubs onboard?"

"Uh huh, and Nana Dora takes care of changes and things whilst Sesame looks after everything else, and—"

"Nana… you mean Pandora?"

"Yep, she's the bunny! Got ears taller than me! And she can pick you up with them and do everything. She's nice."

"And she talks?" Suzy blinked, confused.

I suddenly felt shy about mentioning that. "Uh huh." I nodded. "She d-does, b-but only to cubs."

"This place gets weirder by the moment. So, what were you doing?"

"We played adventures!"

"Make-believe? You?"

"Umm, yeah, but… it was kinda not and we fought gnolls and I almost got eaten by the potty monster and then it was just Pandora and she changed my diapers and then we had cookies and a bottle."

Suzy blinked as we emerged into starlight. "That… sounds… make-believe? Gnolls?"

"Uh huh. But I guess only cubs get to play it." I stuck my tongue out. Suzy gave me a friendly punch on the arm, smiling.

"Well, Champ, whatever you really got up to down there, it sounds like you had fun. And you've got a better room than I do! An entire bed to yourself, huh?"

"Yep, that's what I said!"

"Glad you're not put out by travelling. I've been feeling seasick for the last few hours. Archax is disgustingly healthy. So unfair." She chuckled, not sounding all that put out at all. "Come on, Daddy's waiting for you, he wants to show you something. The both of us, to be fair."

"What is it?" I peered about in wonder at the odd colours in the sky. It had been total day when we'd left the house, it shouldn't have been this dark yet, but… there it was, the night sky, complete with bright stars. I was still trying to figure out what was wrong with them, when Suzy gently turned my head to look ahead of the ship.

There on the horizon was a huge, glowing, spectral cloudbank, rumbling and roiling with multi-coloured lightning and thunder. It hurt my eyes to look at, but I couldn't look away. Water and even air seemed to fall into it, then flow out of it, almost as if it were breathing. As we neared, it seemed to split open, like a flower, or… or a mouth. It blossomed into a yawning, glowing portal that seemed to roar, just on the edge of hearing. I could feel it, the deck vibrated with the energy pouring forth from that tear in reality, as we neared, energy crackling around our prow.

"It's the rift!" Suzy said, breathlessly.