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Carmilla always encouraged her childrens’ regression, it was nice for them to take a break from their usually incredibly violent ways and indulge in their– quite frankly, adorable headscapes. Even if she did regret telling them that they were going to be breaking into a planet’s largest shop after hours for food and they were welcome to regress during it as there would be no one there to shame or be disgusted by them.
Apparently all six of them took that as an invitation as Carmilla was now wheeling around the store with Ivy and The Toy Soldier sleeping peacefully in the cart, music playing from Ivy’s headphones that were around her neck, Nastya was holding onto the back of her wheelchair shyly– as her younger headspace always made her a shy and anxious child, whilst Ashes and Brian with intertwined hands due to Carmilla’s insistence of the buddy system and Jonny was walking grumpily next to her on a kiddy leash due to his tendency to run off.
Usually, only one or two of her children regressed at a time, but when Carmilla told them that they would be breaking into the store after hours and disabling all the camera, the rest who weren’t regressed already– Ashes, Brian and Jonny decided that they might as well regress with the rest of their partners so as Aurora landed on the planet late into that planet’s night cycle which apparently lasted almost 17 hours, Carmilla disabled all the alarms whilst her children fought over what shopping trolley to use. Eventually they came to agreement that the trolley that allowed Carmilla to attach it to her wheelchair would be for the “adult” food whilst one that Brian would push– as he won the game of rock-paper-gun, would be for all their little food.
The moment they got into the store Carmilla had grabbed Jonny’s hand and made him promise to not run off or else she’ll be putting the leash on him, the rascal of course promised he would obey Carmilla’s buddy system.
Within two minutes he was by Carmilla’s side, pouting as she put the harness on him and attached the leash to her wheelchair, that’s what he got for disobeying the buddy system.
They barely made it down one aisle when Ivy mumbled she wanted a nap, so they stopped and Ashes helped Ivy into the ‘Little’s’ cart so she could nap which prompted TS to sign that it wanted to be in the cart alongside Ivy also, but it was in a big enough headspace that it would get itself into the cart. Within moments the two littles were curled together like a pair of octokittens, TS also sleeping even if it didn’t need to.
“What if we stack our food aroun’ them?” Ashes suggested with a giggle to everyone as they placed some applesauce pouches onto Ivy’s head.
Carmilla was going to discourage them all from doing that, but at the pure look of joy on everyone’s faces– even Jonny dropped his pouting to agree excitedly, she held her tongue to see how far that could go on for.
So whilst Carmilla made sure to pick out the food that her children would need when they were big, getting Nastya’s and Jonny’s help for some of the taller shelves as she didn’t feel like overworking her muscles and causing a flareup later, the others basically piled in sweets and other such “childish” foods, Ashes and Brian taking much care to stack the food on top of Ivy and TS without waking them up. Somehow, they had succeeded thus far, Carmilla was very amused by it all.
“Mama.” Nastya tugged at Carmilla’s sleeve with an anxious face, “Can…can I get this?” Nastya questioned as she held up a family pack of gummy moonbeasts.
Carmilla nodded with a kind smile, “Of course you can, princess.” Nastya smiled shyly before putting them into the Little’s cart, carefully stacking them atop the large bottle of splemonade that was somehow balancing perfectly on Toy’s knee that was resting on Ivy’s shoulder. Carmilla was relieved that Nastya had chosen something to eat, even if it was sweets, the poor girl had such a picky appetite when big and it was even worse when she was little so Nastya wanting something that she could and would eat whilst little was a huge problem taken off Carmilla’s shoulders.
Jonny on the other hand would eat everything and anything. She had to say no to so many things he wanted to put into the Little’s cart.
“But muuum.” Jonny groaned in annoyance when Carmilla made him put another inedible thing back onto the shelf– a pack of coal for God’s sake.
“Jonathan d’Ville.” Carmilla glared at her son, “You cannot, and will not, eat coal. No matter how many times you say you’re “built different”, now, please choose something actually edible.” Carmilla for possibly the 100th time since entering the store, which of course earned more giggles from the other three littles from the “eldest” of them getting in trouble again. Carmilla simply gave them all The Look and they all stopped.
Thankfully Jonny eventually put in several punnets of fruit into the cart alongside a whole head of lettuce which Carmilla had no doubt wouldn’t make it onto the Aurora after they left the store. Those items were all placed atop Ivy’s back, humming the music box song that was playing out of Ivy’s headphones before making his way back to Carmilla’s side.
Some of the last aisles didn’t have food suitable for Carmilla’s children when they were in their younger headspaces, but Carmilla knew that they needed persevered food in case of any problems. What Carmilla didn’t expect was for Brian to become latched onto a random jar of pickles. He saw the jar that had some cartoon mascot on it and immediately grabbed it, declaring it his but refused to put it into the cart.
“Mu’, can Is have now?” Brian asked, holding out the jar to her.
“Of course you can, sweetheart. We’re not paying for them afterall.” Even if Brian grumbled about that being ‘wrong’ he still opened– with struggle, the pickle jar and started to eat them.
“Can I have some?” Jonny asked, holding out his hand expectantly.
Brian clutched the pickle jar close, glaring at Jonny, “No! Mine!” He shoved another pickle in his mouth as he spoke.
“Brian don’t eat with your mouth full.” Carmilla reprimanded as she stood up to look between different soup cans.
If she had been watching her children properly, she would have seen Jonny somehow slip out of his harness and run towards Brian.
“MUM!” Brian cried out, running away from Jonny who laughed like the minx he was.
“I just want some!” Jonny attempted to justify as he ran after Brian.
Carmilla groaned in annoyance, she wasn’t going to be able to run after Jonny and Brian, even on a good pain day. “Ashes, Nastya, if you two would be dears and get Jonny and Brian back here.” A screech then the sound of metal hitting flesh echoed in the store, “Now please.”
“Yes mum.”
“Okay mama.” Ashes and Nastya said as they ran in the direction of Jonny’s and Brian’s screeching.
Grabbing the cans of soup, placing them into her cart, Carmilla sat back into their chair with a sigh. Yes, they loved that Jonny felt safe enough to act out like this, but at the same time having to deal with and discipline the rowdy little was certainly not enjoyable.
Thankfully it wasn’t long before the four littles returned. Nastya was dragging Jonny who had a bruise forming on his cheek whilst Brian was hand in hand with Ashes, oil streaming down his face like tears, his pickle jar was now half empty with brine dripping from the sides.
“Thank you Nastya, thank you Ashes. Would you two be able to go into the next aisle so I can talk to these two?” Even if they would still be able to hear them, it still gave Jonny and Brian a sense of privacy.
Carmilla took a breath and made sure to keep her voice as calm and anger free as possible, “Who would like to start?” She asked, trying her hardest to not feel heartbroken at the fear that was present in Jonny’s eyes.
“Jonny chase me.” Brian started, “I split a lot of pickles when he tackle me, so I hits him.” Brian almost whispered, obviously ashamed by his actions, his eyes flickered to the bruise on Jonny’s cheek.
“Thank you for telling me Brian.” Carmilla smiled at the metal little, rubbing his arm in a calming motion, “Jonny,” Carmilla turned to the other little who was wringing his oversized jumper in his hands with anxiety. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Jonny whined for a few short moments before he spoke, “I chase Bri-bri. Then jumped on his back which- which made the pick-pickles fall on ground.”
“Then Is hit yous.” Brian added on, confused as to why Jonny didn’t add what he did wrong.
Jonny only shrugged, looking to the floor, his tail swishing wildly behind him giving away his anxious emotions.
Carmilla held out both her hands, Brian put his in hers, and she gently held the brine covered hand. And Jonny hesitated before he put his shaking hand into her hand, and she squeezed it in comfort. “I want you both to remember that I’m not mad at either of you. Yes, disappointed at you for running away and tackling Brian,” Carmilla looked at Jonny, who had tears swimming in his eyes, “And for hitting,” They looked at Brian who looked away in shame.
“I am proud that you both willingly told me what happened so I won’t put you two into timeout when we get back onto the Aurora.” And because she couldn’t guarantee they would still be little when they got back to the ship, “So I’m going to give you two your penalties now, okay?” Carmilla never used the word ‘punishment’ around the littles, especially around littles like Jonny who had horrific connotations to that word.
“Jonny, I want you to stay next to me for the rest of the trip. You can choose to be clipped back to the leash or just hold the handle of my chair, but you have to be holding it for the rest of the trip or I’ll definitely be putting you into time out.”
“Hold.” Jonny mumbled, his hand still shaking violently in Carmilla’s gentle hold.
“Thank you for making your choice, Jonny.” Carmilla smiled at him with care. “Brian, you can pick out a new pickle jar but you are to put it into the cart and don’t take it out until we get back to the Aurora. Alright?”
Brian pouted before nodding, putting the almost empty pickle jar onto the floor.
“Thank you.” Carmilla smiled, taking her hands out of the littles’ grasp, “Are both of you happy to hug me?” Brian nodded and immediately lowered himself down so he could hug Carmilla, “Thank you for being very mature about your spilled pickles, sweetheart.” Carmilla patted Brian on the back as he hugged her tightly. “I love you very much.”
“Love you too mum.” Brian giggled.
When Brian pulled back to go find a new pickle jar, Carmilla looked towards Jonny who stood like he was about to bolt, “Do you want a hug, little prince?” Carmilla rarely used that petname on Jonny nowadays, ever since Ashes joined all those decades ago he declared that he didn’t want to be called that petaname anymore, but Carmilla knew he was a liar.
Jonny didn’t nod and just bent down to hug Carmilla, sniffling, “I’m not mad at you. I am very proud of how you’re handling everything. I love you very much, little prince.” Jonny didn’t say anything as he pulled away, using his sleeve to wipe away any tears before digging onto the bag that hung on the back of Carmilla’s wheelchair. From it, he pulled out a small clear case that held his pacifier and a small clicky fidget toy. Carmilla was thankful that he wasn’t distressed enough to feel like he had to ask for them as Jonny shoved the pacifier into his mouth and started to click the fidget. Carmilla smiled at him proudly for self-regulating his emotions so well.
“Jonny okay?” Nastya asked as she peeked around the corner of the aisle.
“Jonny is fine, Nastya, there were just a lot of big emotions.” Carmilla put a gentle hand on Jonny’s that was holding onto her chair, rubbing a thumb over his knuckles.
Nastya moved her lips side to side as she walked over to Jonny, “Can I hug?” She asked. When she received a nod from Jonny she tightly hugged him, swaying the two of them side to side.
Carmilla almost sighed in relief at the tension lessening, it seemed they could continue this shopping trip without much issue. But of course they just had to think too soon as Brian attempted to balance the pickle jar on top of the chocolate spreads that were stacked on top of The Toy Soldier’s head, but due to it’s weight, it fell onto the floor.
The smashing glass caused Ivy to jolt awake in a cry, and TS to quickly sit up which caused two lots of food to either fall back into or out of the cart, smashing up the glass even further.
“Everyone please step back.” Carmilla ignored her protesting legs as she stood up out of her chair, pulled the cart away from the pile of brine, pickles and glass. Thankfully Ashes leapt away with a yelp but Brian stayed in his spot, staring at his destroyed jar of pickles.
“That was the last one!” He cried out, oil-tears streaking down his face.
“Brian-” Carmilla tried to comfort but was cut off by a screeching cry from the metal little, who fell to his knees and curled in on himself, obviously the heightened emotions from earlier hadn’t quite settled down yet which amplified the emotions Brian was feeling now.
At Brian’s screeching cry, the majority of the littles slammed their hands over their ears in distress, Ashes and TS being the only ones that didn’t have heightened hearing due to animalistic genetics and/or sensory issues.
At Brian’s cry, Ashes immediately stepped towards and pulled Brian into a tight hug– they always did regress to an older age compared to everyone else, typically over the age of 5, so they had just that bit more emotional maturity. Carmilla winced as Ashes stepped over the glass in order to hug Brian.
“‘T’is okay!” They attempted to comfort the crying little, “We can get more!” Wrapping their arms tightly around Brian.
“No no no no!” Brian screamed out, “No more! There no more!” He cried more, leaning so heavily into Ashes’ hug that he almost toppled the two of them.
“Why special?” Ashes asked him, looking towards Carmilla for help as they weren’t the best at emotional comforting, but they were great at hugs which proved to be helping Brian calm down as his loud sobbing had calmed just that bit.
“Label silly. Like silly pickle guy.” Brian sniffled as he hugged Ashes back.
Carmilla looked towards the disregarded pickle jar on the floor, “Jonny, can you give me that jar please?” Carmilla was thankful that it was within arm's distance for Jonny, so the little grabbed the jar off the floor and handed it to Carmilla.
Thankfully, due to the brine that had soaked into part of the label that was glued to itself which made it easy to peel it off the jar.
“Bria’ look!” Ashes pointed to Carmilla who now had the label completely off the jar.
“I know it isn’t the jar itself, baby, but it’s as close as you’re going to get.” Carmilla half-heartedly laughed.
Brian, with a sniffle, stood up still hugging Ashes– which was a very awkward way to get up but it seemed he refused to stop hugging Ashes, which Ashes was fine with thankfully, and walked over to Carmilla, thankfully avoiding the glass.
Brian hesitantly took the label from Carmilla, studying the cartoon pickle mascot carefully before holding it close to his chest. Carmilla didn’t push for a ‘thank you’ from the little as it was obvious he was now non-speaking because of his meltdown.
Thankfully it didn’t take that long to push on as TS– with Ivy holding it’s legs, stretched over the side of the shopping trolley and picked up the dropped food and they continued shopping.
Carmilla was grateful the rest of their shopping trip went off without a hitch ignoring Ivy purposefully annoying Ashes, and Nastya insulting Jonny in cyberian when she thought Carmilla wasn’t listening, and Toy singing in a high pitch every 3 minutes.
But apart from that Carmilla would call that a successful shopping trip!