"So is it easier to do all the edits in one update? Or should we split it into the undo's and additions separately?"

  "Hmmm." Carolyn drummed her fingers on her desk. "Holy it's all so manual that the amount of work doesn't ge. Smaller steps may multiply the time spent cheg but it's also definitely safer.

  "Soooo both? Minor revert edits, and then whatever uff after?"

  "Maybe a couple maintenance cycles iween just to give your body some time to rest. I'm not sure you realize just how much you've gohrough i few months. You've been a real trooper."

  "Aw thanks." I gave her a small squeeze. "It's all thanks to my mom's pathological fear of pain medications."

  Carolyn shook her head. "Sometimes you say the darkest shit as if it's funny. High pain tolerance really isn't the super power you think it is."

  "I don't know about super power, and besides, it's not like I just pletely ighe pain. I've always told you when I've gotten tired from standing or walking."

  Carolyn stopped typing.

  "What? What did I say?"

  She rubbed her temples "Just like that, you made the leap from dark to deeply disturbing."

  "I'm not saying pain and fatigue are the same thing!"

  "Are you sure? You aren't in pain?"

  "Well…" I cursed myself. Foiled by my fixation on teically not lying.

  Carolyn lifted my , seeming to search my expression.

  "What's wrong with ys?"

  "Nothing is wrong with them."

  "Phrase it however the fuck you want, but please tell me why you get 'tired' so easily."

  I scowled as she made air quotes.

  "It's just difficult to get used to. I feel like I 't quite straighten my legs enough so it's like I'm always walking around half crouched… and my hooves… I mean, my feet used to spread out the load a bit for band pressure reasons. So it makes sehat with the surface area reduced it's a bit trated."

  "It shouldn't be a surface area issue." Carolyn muttered to herself and she turned back to her puter. "Point to the problem."

  "What is this?" It looked like a 3D model of one of my hooves, but there was a ghostly sort of quality to some of the lines.

  Carolyn clicked around and more models overpped, ranging from human to where I was now. "These are all the stages of growth I programmed for, and this--" she clicked them away until only one remained. "--is the s of your current hoof."

  "Uh." I struggled to uand the image, I could see bone, keratin, and skin but it was hard to line up what I felt to what I could see. " I just… point in real life?"

  "Sure, of course." She wheeled back from her desk. "You rest y on my p if that helps."

  "Okay." It felt a little precarious trying to be the bridge between rolling chairs but Carolyn helped me stabilize. She rested her hands on my thigh alock-- causing a familiar warmth to bloom in my stomach-- but I pushed it from my mind as I stretched to touch the tips of my hoof.

  I traced the edges, doing the best to expin how each area felt, and all the while the warmth became more persistent.

  I sat up and took a steadying breath.

  "Is stretg hurting you?" Carolyn, bless her, rubbed what robably inteo be soothing circles.

  I gasped and shook my head. "No, I'm just sensitive."

  Her hand slipped to the inside of my thigh and I death gripped the chair to stay still.

  "You're ag like you're in pain."

  I caught Carolyn's eye and reized a familiar devious gleam.

  I shook my head and her grip tightened. Her hand slid up the inside of my thigh, not stopping for anything as I screwed my eyes shut and held my breath.

  "Oh you poor thing." She cooed. She eased my hoof to the floor before immediately tinuitack. "Maybe I o perform another examination."

  Her fingers found their mark and I spread my legs. I fell toward her, grasping her coat where I could and burying my fa her shoulder.

  "We were in the middle of something--" I pleaded but she only pressed harder.

  "Far be it from me to you, love."

  The chair was suddenly incredibly hard to ban. She pulled me closer to the edge of my seat and my hooves slipped for purchase.

  "I 't-- I'm gonna fall."

  "I've got you." She removed her fingers from me and stood, huggio her until I could bance again.

  The moment I could stand her lips were on me, bag me into her desk and pausing only to shove debris out of the way before half liftio sit.

  "When are you going to start wearing undergarments?" her hand was already up my dress again, delving and curling with no preamble.

  "When you and Deyha stop ruining them!"

  "Oh we're the ones ruining them now?"

  "I swear you do it on purpose."

  "Do what?"

  "You torment me!" I ughed. "You follow me everywhere, hanging off my ned ringing in my ear."

  "You're describing a bell." She was ughing too now.

  "So you admit it! It's you, you're the one doing this to me."

  "It is not my fault that the mere thought of me causes you to gush."

  "Agree to disagree?" I offered.

  "No! I don't! I will not take responsibility for your imagination!"

  "Oh, so I'm imagining your fingers inside me right now."

  Carolyn pulled back, leaviting on the desk as she collected her chair, sat, and crossed her legs.

  "Go on then."

  "What, you wao masturbate in front of you?"

  She shrugged. "If my presence has such a profound effe you… I'm not going to ask why I bother, but… I'm curious."

  "I 't"

  "You 't masturbate?"

  "No, I 't… I 't cum without help anymore."

  "Is it dysmorphia--"

  "No, no, I love my body, I just 't do it without like… I vibrator or something."

  "You're so spoiled." Carolyn rolled her chair toward me. "Would you like me to take care of you?"

  I shrugged. "I'm tent with the teasing. It's all the same sea of bliss to me."

  "Which is it, torment or bliss?"

  "You're so close to getting it." I hopped down and fixed my dress.

  She ran her hands up my thighs under my dress. "So I just have to call you my little slut a your tummy and--" she lifted the front, exaggerating surprise. "Huh, whaddaya know?"

  She caressed me without warning, lingering just long enough to wet her fingers before letting my dress fall bato pce.

  "Maybe I'll start carrying a handkerchief, just for you."

  "Gross." I sched up my nose ao grab my chair.

  "And if I could just talk you into some panties we could set up a vending mae--"

  "Please. Actually stop. I'm so not ready for that kind of attention."

  "Huh. I kinda thought you would go for the whole twitch streaming thing, though I guess the sort of twitg you do probably viotes the terms of service."

  "I said 'stop', not 'haha that's so weird'." I replied ftly.

  "Fuck, you're right. Here, I'll give you a 'sorry' and you bite me-- not in the 'fuck you I don't care what you think' way but-- you know what I mean."

  I took her hand and kissed the back. "I thought the problem was misusing the word, not the mere act of saying it."

  "I have altered the deal-- " she droned. "--pray I do not alter it further."

  "Nerd."

  "Brat."

  "Lizard."

  She gasped in mock horror. "I am a dragon, how dare you!? How would you feel if I called you a goat?"

  "Do I he pri-shirt to spell it out?" I gestured ay chest. "Don't bully me, I'll cum."

  "It's not true though, you obviously respoer to headpats and cuddles."

  I sighed aured at the abandoned puter. "We had a task. Mods."

  "And what a lovely break we had." Carolyn adjusted her keyboard and rescued her mouse from its hanging pce.

  "So your mods--" she grabbed her mouse and then pced her free hand on my thigh. "We'll straighten out ys a bit, but for your hooves I'm thinking of making them more like cat paws, and I'll just design the 'cws' to be wide, ft, and blunt. Your footprints will have toe beans, but from the front It should look… well it will look unlike anything people are used to seeing but the main thing is there will be fluff, and shiny bck surfa the right pces. What do you think?"

  I chewed my lip and nodded. "Sounds great, babe."

  "Did any of that sink in? Or were you thinking of my hands again?"

  "I was listening!" I sat forward and covered her hand with mine, holding it in pce. "I love your toe bean idea and I trust your instincts on the form and fun!"

  "You're not settling? This has to be what you want."

  I could see the echo of the pani days before.

  "Remember when you said you refused to goad me into unig?"

  Her brow furrowed. "Yes?"

  "I'm not holding out on you. I genuinely love the idea of my body being yround in every sense of the word. I'm perfectly ready to tell you where the fences are a you loose to py to your heart's tent."

  "But its your body, I 't--"

  "And you are my choice. Trust me. Please."

  "Please don't turn this into a battle of vis." She pleaded. "Please, please don't."

  "I won't. You would win, every time, but I'm on your side. I've told you exactly what I want."

  "You want what I want…" Carolyn squi me.

  "Yes."

  "That's cheating."

  "All's fair in love and war."

  "That's also cheating. This is rapidly being a systemi."

  I stuy tongue, "Deal with it."

  Carolyn pulled up a notepad and began typing, talking as she did. "Mods… for… brateline." She loudly hit return three times. "No vocal chords… talking privileges revoked."

  "I will learn sign nguage." I threatened.

  "Oops… all… hooves..."

  "Simplifies manicures I suppose."

  Carolyn sighed and closed the dot without saving. "Okay. You win."

  "We win," I corrected.

  "You are successfully evading deaking. You're not fooling me."

  "But it means I'm going to be objectively the cutest creature iire universe."

  "Uh huh. Hey Maddie?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Remember that time I railed you with your own dildo?"

  I chewed my lip. Utterly failing to hold still as my entire body reacted to the memory.

  "It does work!" Carolyn cpped with glee. "Oh, I have so many ideas."

  "Evil." I grumbled.

  I was ba my wheelchair for a bit while I waited on my toes to separate again, but I decided t Deyha to the trayway. She was a good sport about it, pushing me for the turns while I got my workout oraights.

  "Sooooooo what kinda mods are you gonna do?"

  "Haven't you figured out that it's deeply personal?"

  I made my best pleading pouty face, but aside from a slight smile, she remained unmoved.

  "I suppose if I told you it's a surprise then that would only make the anticipatiohal, wouldn't it?"

  "Critically so, this is lifesaving gossip" I sat back as we reached the turn and she took the handles again.

  "Well. As you noticed, the hooves design Carolyn adapted from me to you had some minor issues."

  "Oh!... oh" I frowned. "You've been in pain too?"

  "Eh." Deyha gave my shoulder a small squeeze befoing back to pushing. "Don't worry about me, I'm only sorry that my silence led to your disfort."

  "That's not fair! You couldn't have known!"

  "I'm gd you don't hold it against me, but the fact remains that I caused--"

  "No you didn't! Stop it!" I twisted in my seat to look at her. "Stop feeling bad about it!"

  Deyha chuckled. "Okay babe, okay. I'll let it go. Besides, oher side that was the detail that really catalyzed Carolyn into taking a. She realized that you had so much to say about how you felt and what you liked, but I had been brushing off the versation for years."

  "Is that going to be a problem going forward?"

  She sighed. "I don't know. I think she's always known I py things pretty close to the vest, but this hurt her pretty bad. It justifiably casts doubt on many things I've said in the past so it's oo work on that."

  "I trust you."

  "In this text, I'm afraid that does more to paint you as the fool, than me as a saint."

  "I just think I'm lucky, getting to know you after you start unpag. This makes me being gullible less of a problem."

  "Who says yullible?"

  "What do you mean? It's literally tattooed on the bay neck."

  "ry. Not bad as far as adaptations of the joke go."

  "I should get it printed on the ceiling of my stall. I think Carolyn would get a kick out of that."

  "But Maddie, it's already up there in bold is."

  "Funny as that would be, even I know that in the text of this versation that's absolutely a lie."

  "Scouts honor." she held up her hand.

  "Wrong salute, I officially trust you less."

  I took back over pushing as we exited the curve and Deyha repositioo walk beside me.

  "I'll endeavor to be deserving of your trust, regardless."

  "If it helps, you tell a few more lies now to get it out of your system."

  "Okay," Deyha mused. "Well, my social security number is all sixes, I'm thirty four years old, and I'm keeping my scorpion tail because I like it."

  "Deyhaaaaa. You're supposed to say lies that tell me the opposite is true!"

  "You could say I'm getting rid of the tail because I dislike it. Besides, you never specified the type of lies I should be getting off my chest, much less if they should be useful information to you."

  "Pleaaaase?"

  "Oh dear…" She took a moment to think. "Okay, I've got a few. My least favorite color is red, I don't know how to juggle, and as requested I am not giving up my tail just so I rail you."

  I fixated o lie, trying to be sure that I uood correctly.

  "I holy expected a bit more or a rea from that." she smirked down at me.

  "Okay, but the reason you have to give up your tail has nothing to do with my request so it could mean--"

  Deyha ughed, "Do I o spell it out for you?"

  "No-- I mean maybe… Yes?"

  She shook her head and squinted down at me. "Okay, then I'll put it this way. Despite your request I am giving up my tail, and though that was not a prerequisite I will be railing you at some iermiime iure. Better?"

  I coasted to a stop. "I think I should-- I ought to do ara session, or I should shower… maybe the other way around. Uhmm."

  Deyha put her hands on her hips. "Okay Maddie, would you like some pany?"

  "Yes?" I made the pleading eyes again.

  "Gods, you even do the ears." She stepped behind my chair and took the handles again. "That's ons-grade cute right there, you should have to carry a lise or something."

  "onized ess never hurt anyone!"

  "Mhmm, my poor heart would beg to differ. Are there at least any medial bes?"

  "I cure touch starvation!"

  "No," Deyha sighed, "I'm pretty sure that's not what happens."

  I tapped the door button to the id she eased my wheels over the threshold.

  "I guara works. See, whenever I feel touch starved, onized ess invariably results in me receiving essential skin tact."

  "That's on me." Deyha grumbled. "I didn't specify that the be had to be for someone else."