Birthday Games

7-9. Once Upon a Playtime

When I looked at the voting chapter, there were comments asking for chapters 7, 58, and 65 with 1 vote for each. So I rolled dice to pick one. So this chapter is here for regressionlover16, and for anyone else who wanted to follow this link from chapter 6. Hope you enjoy it!

Karin nodded, and mumbled something about hoping neither of them would make any mistakes today. She already knew that choosing a wish could be a game in itself. She'd heard from loads of her cousins that they were upset, and felt that they'd wasted their wishes. They picked something they thought was really important, but then changed their minds a few years later, and had years to wait before they got another one. Thirteen and fourteen were supposed to be the years you thought of most important things to wish for, when you'd just had one coming-of-age and the next one was so far away that you'd have to work on getting what you wanted the hard way instead. And straight away, she thought of what might be a perfect use of the fairy magic.

"Could you make me a bit more grown up? With the fairy magic, I mean, make me a bit older. Like I'd still know I'm thirteen really," and she completely failed to understand the fairy's sudden blush at that, "but so that I know the stuff like I'm going to learn in the next couple of years so I don't wish for something silly I'm going to grow out of?"

"I might be able to do that," Birthday seemed lost in thought, first flying around Karin's head and then scratching an itch on her chin with the tip of her wand, "But I wouldn't be able to change you back again, you know, the no-take-backs rule."

"How about..." Karin paused just a second, but she was sure she could think her way around the various restrictions and loopholes of fairy magic, "How about I want to be two years older, but remember that I'm really thirteen, until I go to bed tonight or if something bad happens and I need to think like me again."

"Yeah, I think I can do that," Birthday waved her wand, and there was a brief flash, and a shower of sparkles rained down around Karin. It would have been a lot more dramatic if she hadn't seen the fairy throw a glitter bomb into the air with her other hand, and she giggled at the realisation as she felt her body begin to change just a little.

Her clothes began to feel loose, just slightly until they adjusted to fit the new shape of her body. The skirts became a simpler design, and her hair wasn't quite so long now. It was only the mumbled "Ooopsie!" from a furiously blushing fairy that made Karin realise she was getting younger rather than older.

"Hey!" she protested, "I don't want to be eleven, that's not what I said!"

"I'm sorry, so sorry," Birthday babbled, "I already made you younger because I didn't want to be late with your wish! I didn't think, I thought I could just undo it and you'd be fifteen!" She was clearly panicking, and despite the shock of finding herself aging in reverse Karin's first impulse was to try and solve the situation so the other girl would feel better.

"Don't worry," she said, trying to hide the tide of conflicting feelings the change was prompting in her, "Everyone makes mistakes, we can still fix it. I'll just wish I was fourteen and you can do it right this time!"

"No, don't! It's –" Birthday squeaked a warning, but it was too late. Her hand shot out like a puppet, and her wand traced a wobbly circle in the air. "Your wish is my command!"

"Oh no!" the fairy flew nervous circles around Karin as the princess's body and clothes resumed their metamorphosis, "I didn't mean to, I promise, but you said 'I wish' and I couldn't help myself! It's part of the wishing contract, the no-take-back rule, if I try to change your age today it'll make you younger every time, I tried to warn you, please don't report me!"