Kayla: Two Years Strong
In the 28th century, the technology of rejuvenation allows for immortality. This device is also used for sentencing as well. A penitatas; a criminal that is sent back to childhood to live a highly strict and disciplined life to start anew. (Story Fourty-Nine)
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Concept by Lurking Dragon
Kayla and story by Professor Bob
More Kayla Stuff!: www.Professor-Bob.net



Hidden away in the confines of her bedroom, Kayla sat at her desk, leaning on her arms with her head drooping in silent thought. She had awoken only moments before, moving without too much of a rustle. On this day, the fox was not in a hurry to let Emily know she was awake. Her face spoke of a serious, yet somber concern; ears erect, but lazily loose, not bothering to move them while she stared off into space.

Outside her window, it was cloudy, littering the sky with the glow of mid-morning rays of light that attempted to break through tiny splits in the sky. It was not bright, leaving the room lit, but not shining harshly off her eyes. A common occurrence during the wet days of late May, the time of year she had been captured by Starfleet paramilitary forces and sentenced to be a Penitatas, under the punishment of Earth law. It was May twenty-first, Kayla's newfound birthday. This year the fox was not at all excited as her heart filled with bitter adolescent disdain for her situation. Kayla huffed lightly to herself, lowering her head down; muzzle across her forearms, lightly shifting her orange fur.

This was a day she had dreaded. While it was not the times of old for a Penitatas, where she would have been severely punished this day if it was a hundred years earlier, it still held a certain fear. Kayla was not eight years of age, removing the age-related severity limits that had protected her backside for so long. It had been two years since the day she stepped into a rejuvenation chamber as an adult criminal, escorted by law enforcement officers, to step out a child, into the waiting arms of a rejuvenation technician and her new parents. Two years was a long time, and so much had happened. Young Kayla had changed a great deal, aside from growing older, and bigger.

Looking off to her left with just her mildly sullen eyes, Kayla reached over and tapped a few of the small keys on her tiny portable music player. It was one of the only privileges she had gained in two years of what was considered to be good behavior, and good deeds. In the end, she lost more than she gained. After her encouraged hacking expedition into the systems of Dembler Associates, trying to feel Emily out, asked for permission to use the computer console again on her old, time-restricted basis. Her hopes did not yield the results she wanted, as her mother upheld the stipulation that was added to her criminal sentence. With some understanding, Emily did not punish Kayla for asking, but the fox's keen ears picked up a tone in her guardian's voice that suggested asking ever again would result in a harsh spanking. As Kayla did when she was feeling uneasy, she selected a low volume, and music from Earth's nineteen-eighties the fox grew fond of during her first months as a Penitatas.

Sliding from her place of moping, still in only the pink pair of cotton panties she slept in, Kayla carefully crept back towards her bed. Never would Kayla normally wear pink underwear, but when it was given to you after a bath, you did not protest. Lost in her memories, thoughts, and nostalgia, the eight year old fox lifted her old toy plush into her paws. Beside her pillow at all times, Melissa the teddy-fox. It had been some time since Kayla held her old companion in her arms. Melissa was there when she lamented discipline alone in her room, coped with painful memories, and was a quiet friend before the once shut-in hacker learned to be social. Melissa was always nearby, but so easily forgotten at times. Holding the plush fox to her chest, Kayla wandered slowly back to her desk, humming along with 'Head Over Heels' by Tears for Fears. Back in her seat, Melissa was sat in front of her beside the tiny, basic function music player. Her muzzle ended up right back on her forearms, tail hanging limp from the back of the chair.

Once upon a time, she was a shy, almost timid sort of child. Wearing this silver letter on the back of her paws, the little optimist she was, called it a "second chance" from the get go. However, it was more than just that. She had to actually learn what it meant to be a good person, and how to deal with having an ability that others feared. To reform and deal with what was meant to be a long, ongoing punishment as a hard time Penitatas, was much different than simply riding along a calm river and waiting for it's end. Kayla got to experience friendships; how they begin, and how they sadly end. She got to experience what it meant to be truly sorry, and what it meant to be physically made to be sorry. The orange plush she received when six, absorbed many tears of sorrow and ache over the time she was in Kayla's possession. Clean or not, Melissa did not look brand new any longer. Even Kayla's blue paddle that had her name and tail inscribed with gold paint was dulling with use and age. The paint was starting to chip, and the old synthetic wood beginning to splinter.

With that in mind, Emily had decided a "wonderful" idea for Kayla's birthday. Though it was not remotely intended to be a punishment, Kayla did not agree with the assessment. With Kayla's typically positive behavior, Emily wanted her Penitatas to play a role in her own discipline and be a part of the creation of her new paddle as an eight year old. It was to be her first blistering-capable paddle, able to swing fast enough to cause the pooling of fluid beneath the surface of her skin, and inflamed welts above bruises. She had witnessed such spankings enough to know she did not want one, or deserve one, but Emily was adamant on this being something she should do to further herself. It was supposed to be an enlightening reward, allowed to add her say and creativity to something a Penitatas would not. Being so reluctant made Kayla feel like a coward.

At her desk, Kayla sat and thought about her sentence and the things she had done. The songs from her player rolled on and passed from one to the other, while she thought of how far she had come in two years, and how much farther she had to go. Her criminal sentence still had years to go, and her rehabilitation, potentially more. Trapped in this life of harsh correction and imprisoned in the body of a child, her wish was to overcome what made her an infamous hacker in the first place. There was no longer a need to lash out at the world. She was not a lonely, forgotten little girl from a blood stained planet anymore. Even then, six months into her ban from computer consoles, Kayla deeply missed her ability, and the things that made her happy. It's not that she wanted to harm people, but programming and her hobby was something she could not easily let go. It was her's.

Eventually, Kayla's black-tipped ears turned to listen behind her head, without lifting it. Her door opened, and she caught a small, human sigh right off from her doorway.

"Are you sulking sweetie? It's your birthday.", Emily asked with a note of worry. She knew Kayla was not entirely keen on her idea, but it was for Kayla's own good. The poor little Aspatrian didn't need to feel bad about it though. Turning her ears back to herself, Kayla reached over to her music player and stopped it before leaning back in her chair to stretch her arms, back, and tail.

"I shouldn't be. Just things on my mind.", Kayla eventually answered with a big yawn from her canine maw at the end, reaching up to rub her eyes. Emily nodded her head approvingly, understanding at least where her daughter was coming from. As a parent, she didn't see Kayla as a coward, even if the fox wanted to paint herself as one.

"It's always been nice to have a paddle specific to you, if it's going to be used on you anyway. There is not a lot you're able to call your own during this phase of your sentence.", the mother spoke gently while she stepped forward to Kayla's side. Kneeling down, she reached out and took Melissa into her hand to playfully rub it's muzzle to her daughter's right cheek, which turned her drooping sort of expression right into a young girl's smile. With a snicker and a light giggle, she turned her eyes over to her parent, pushing away at the plush with her paw.

"You know I wouldn't be this playful if I didn't want you to have a good time. Eight is a milestone for a penitatas, and an entire third of your first cycle. That's a thing to be proud of, little miss Ackart.", Emily found it prudent to remind, adding her encouragement and subtle congratulations for a sentence well served. If there was any that understood Kayla's accomplishment, it was her own guardian. Often enough, discipline came from her, quite exclusively. It was her hand that slapped beneath Kayla's tail, clothed or not. Her hand wrapped around switches at Christmas time. Kayla's sorrowful tears, and the canid howls that brought the girl shame, were caused by her own scorn. With Melissa's nose tapping against Kayla's own, the young Penitatas relented, finding her inner acceptance through her mother's parenting and guidance.

"If I didn't go and make this paddle, you would still get one. Right?", she asked, tone suggesting she already knew the answer as she sat with a subdued, tired-like smile. Using Melissa as a puppet, Emily placed the plush into both her hands to nod the inanimate fox's teddy-bear-like head. Chuckling, Kayla closed her eyes a little, nodding along with Melissa's own muzzle.

"Of course. I'll do it then. You're right.", the fox spoke past her amused sounds, receiving a kiss at the end to the side of her muzzle. Emily was good for such affections, when warranted. It was necessary learning, for someone whom two years ago did not entirely grasp such open emotions.

"Let's get a move on then. Wash up and I'll take you out to the shop I called the other day.", Emily instructed, lowering Melissa to give Kayla a quick ruffle upon her head, to which the young fox lowered her ears for while she smiled a great deal. Leave it to her penitatas parent of all people to brighten a day. Sliding from the surface of her seat on the smooth fabric of her underwear, Kayla slid from the chair on her left, while Emily stood back up on the chair's right, placing the small fox plush down on Kayla's desk chair where she once sat. Kayla moved across the room to the closet , along the same wall as her door. Placing her paw on the plastic-like bins her clothing was stored, neatly folded, the fox hummed with a tilt of her head. Emily peered over on her way out, making a small sound of remembrance.

"Oh, right. It's your birthday, so you can pick any clothes you'd like for our outing. My treat.", the older human woman went on to say with her happy, casual voice. On days such as this, she had much less reason to be strict outside of her normal duties. With that, the parent walked out the open doorway, sliding her hand along the faux-dark wood that lined it's frame on the way out. Out of relief, Kayla tilted her head back.

"Sweet.", the fox whispered to the calm air of her bedroom, swinging her tail idly from side to side enough to shift the fabric of her panties along with it. Lowering her head back down, the fur atop her head bounced slightly as she began rummaging through drawers to choose what she'd wear. The usual classics would do, and Emily figured that was what she'd wear anyway. A comfortable t-shirt and jeans. Dark blue for the shirt, black denim for her jeans, and a modest blue-gray for her underwear. Those black jeans had not seen much wear, not generally allowed out of the house, and more-so to school. Thankfully they still fit! Kayla had grown out of so much during those two years. Her bottom clothing drawer still held the clothing she came to this house in, complete with the artificially cut holes for her tail.

Sitting down on the side of her bed, Kayla willfully ditched the pink underwear she hated looking at, giving it a toss into the hamper in her closet. With a few moments of work, her clothing had been carefully slid over bare fur along with her specially made shoes and socks, leaving her free to head to the bathroom and finish getting ready. Taking care of her more personal business first, she got to spend time in front of the mirror preening her fur without worry of haste.

Now a young girl growing up again with parental guidance this time, it was becoming normal for her to spend more time in front of her reflection with her fingers correcting the fur atop her head. Most of the time she wasn't permitted such quiet time to herself in the bathroom, or such privacy. Dawdling was one of those many things that earned spankings in her house, but being her birthday, Kayla knew well enough that she could take the extra time she wished. Brushing her canid teeth took some care however. The fox could not exactly brush her tongue any longer, finding the bristles had absorbed the flavor of the liquid soap they had often basted in. She had to avoid getting too personal with her toothbrush, else she'd have to stop and spit prematurely; an awkward birthday surprise.

Soon enough Kayla's wood-backed fur brush clattered onto the counter beside the sink, done with her grooming. Giving her reflection a smile, finding some confidence and comfort in her casually handsome feminine looks, the Aspatrian tapped the button beside the door and made her way for the first floor. It seemed she was a calmer, more patient Penitatas these days as well. Long ago, she would have bounded down the stairs only to get in trouble for it. Now, it didn't take a lick of thought; Kayla stepping down the stairs with a paw on the rail, being big enough to use it right. Shoes leaving the final step onto the living room carpet, the fox placed her paws in the pockets of her jeans.

"Hey ma', I'm ready!", Kayla called out to the kitchen and dinning area while she walked. After being cheered up, and allowed to prepare at her own pace, her voice was light and cozy. Emily rounded the corner of the kitchen, throwing her purse over her shoulder to meet her daughter in the center of the living room. The human couldn't help but smirk in a way, seeing Kayla looking like a Voluntarus. Kayla's Penitatas designation letters hidden by having her paws in her pockets, coupled with her casual clothing and happily shifting bushy orange and white-tipped tail, she looked like a whole different sort of girl. With some of her tethers loosened, Kayla was a typical, raw little spirit. You'd have to know her name or have deductive reasoning skills, if you were to know the sort of trouble she was capable of, and the crimes she had already long since committed.

"I had a feeling you were going to pick out your black jeans.", the mother chuckled loosely, sighing with a bit of a sheepish smile at the sight. At least Kayla looked pretty good. She just didn't look like a Penitatas!

"Got to take advantage of the day.", Kayla shrugged for the purposes of humoring her parent. She would have normally used her paws to make such a gesture, but with them stuffed in the pockets of her jeans, her shoulders would have to do. Being that the pockets of her pants were rarely if ever used, they were pretty tight. Emily stepped by her daughter-in-discipline, giving the fox a pat on her back as she passed by.

"So, are you excited about being eight?", Emily continued in her happy way, looking over her shoulder while opening the front door. With her hand, the human flicked her hair back on her way out the door, while Kayla followed with an "are you kidding me?" sort of look pasted clear as day across her face.

"I thought we clarified that?", the young Aspatrian pondered curiously, swinging her tail out of the way to close the door behind her mom. It was becoming one of her responsibilities as a growing rejuvenated adult. As casual as Kayla's voice ways, Emily couldn't quite figure out if that was supposed to be some kind of back talk. As she popped the driver's side door to the hover-car open, she waited a few moments to gauge her girl's expression and behavior as she climbed into the car. Kayla very quickly would catch that she said something wrong - just much too late. With the fox remaining in her happy way, Emily had to figure it was an actual question with a humorous twist. The least the penitatas parent could do though, was give Kayla a look of warning. Message received, loud and clear, as Kayla flicked her left ear and looked bashful a second while strapping herself in.

"I was talking about the privilege you were earning today. We've only been talking about it the past two years.", the human woman replied with her own brand of motherly sass, countering Kayla's own causality. It was nice to be on the same level as your disciplinarian and guardian every once in a while. A very rare once in a while, at that. Having made trips in the family hover-car so many times, Kayla wasn't at all distracted by the normal winding of the vehicles engine, and whine of it's landing struts as it lifted into the air as it would. The way the inertia pressed on your body lightly, depressed by a hover-car's dampening field, felt comfortable and reassuring once you got used to it.

"Oh, you mean my baths!", Kayla exclaimed with a light pat of her paw to her forehead. It caught a small chuckle from her parent, since it took a moment for the fox to sit and ponder what she meant. Her daughter was distracted by either some degree of inner worry, or just that much more comfortable. The smile on her muzzle and perfectly erect ears hid the answer as to which, as the car begun it's automatic trip to the shop Emily had selected for Kayla's birthday.

"You got it, it's your time now. You're allowed to take showers on your own. Your footing should be perfect at your age and you've earned the privacy. All I ask, is that you take them when told right away. That's if I need to keep you on a schedule that day, otherwise you can take them at your leisure.", Emily spoke in her parental manner, though a bit more lightly than she typically would since she was granting a privilege rather than taking one away. They were very important words, for both parent and child.

"Sure.", Kayla replied eagerly, giving a quick single nod of her head. Ever since she arrived in Emily and Alex's home two years ago, nightly baths were a firm fact of life. Not long ago, Kayla was even punished through means of her bath, enduring cold water in the wake of fighting with Ninne. Most often though, it was a calm or playful time. This would change things a good bit, never being required to strip down to be washed again. Showers would be her time, and private, just like that in the blink of an eye. In a way, Kayla would miss the comfort and care, but it was nice to see yourself grow up. It would be nice to have time alone to care for her own body and mull over quiet thoughts from the day.

"But, it does come with a catch Kayla. You're growing up, so you trade your baths with responsibility. The upstairs bathroom is going to be like your own bathroom, so I'm giving you the chore of cleaning it. I expect it to be well kept, and that does mean scrubbing the toilet-unit, cleaning the tub, and doing the tiles from time to time.", the mother rolled into as a Penitatas parent, changing her expression to show she was very serious even if she was in a good mood. Okay, that part was not as good of news. Chores? It was bound to happen sometime. If Kayla was going to use a space exclusively, there was no reason she couldn't keep up with her own mess. It was fair, Kayla agreed.

"I'll take care of it's upkeep. I won't make you sweep up my fur mom.", Kayla chuckled more lightheartedly, speaking quieter due to the subject matter. She would have to be attentive to put things back when she was done. When Emily "expected" something, breaking that rule meant prompt spanking. Kayla imagined being forced to scrub the bathroom from top to bottom after leaving her counter in a disarray, holding several large globs of liquid soap in her muzzle the whole time. The fox cringed in her hover-car seat.

In the end though, Emily was a fair woman like that. Aside from the rough period in the pair's relationship prior to Kayla's kidnapping, they shared a common understanding of what they wanted from each other. There were only a few times that Kayla thought a spanking was not fair. Whether she was in the wrong or not fell upon her mother or father's judgment, leaving her own to be irrelevant in the back seat of her discipline. The couple of rare times it befell the Aspatrian Penitatas, it always boiled down to misunderstanding an instruction. Making a foolish mistake was something Kayla would beat herself up over, but it was a bit harder when you did not see the foolish mistake coming. Those were the times you'd hope for leniency and understanding, but such would be a thing for normal rejuves. As a Penitatas, she had to suck it up and take her spanking and eventual punishment. Wasn't so much Emily or Alex's fault.

Looking out the window and windshield of the hover-car at the other vehicles whizzing by, their green craft began descending much sooner than Kayla would have thought. Looking down over the edge of her window, the fox caught a glimpse of small businesses down below. Quite different from the Calleet Mall and the other places Emily liked to frequent. This was going to be a personalized experience. Working in the reverse order in which the hover-car took to the skies, it landed gently in the lot in front of a small building. It was very normal looking, adjacent to another; you would not have known it's disciplinary purpose unless you looked at the sign shaped like a paddle that hung over it's old fashioned glass pull-door. Could have only seen it at this distance too, but it's not like places such as this needed to advertise blatantly. A parent that needed a punishment tool for their child would seek a place like this on their own, no matter the child's classification. Kindern to Penitatas, there was a paddle to suit everyone.

"The man who runs this workshop is expecting us this morning. He'll have time to work with you one-on-one.", Emily returned to her happier tone as she disembarked the hover-car, letting the serious notions roll out of the air now that they had been said and acknowledged. Kayla followed suit as she always did, closing her own door to follow her mother with her tail streaming behind. She had to admit she wasn't as dreading of this as she was after waking, but the fox found some fluttering feelings as she stared up at the paddle-shaped sign. For a Penitatas in hard time, this shop was like an armory of implements.

Quickly though were young Kayla's eyes averted back to where she was walking; some bells jingling against the glass of the door as she stepped inside along with her mother. The inside was not what she expected, having imagined rows of spanking implements hung like weapons on a gun rack. Instead, behind the counter at the front of his shop, was essentially an old-style workshop. Upon benches, paddles sat unfinished and incomplete, while others awaited their new owners to come fetch them for their first use, all aside tools and machines. Her active little blue eyes even spotted a bundle of freshly made canes leaning against the wall beside one of the machining tools, still having a layer of dust upon them from the synthetic wood's carving. There was nothing fancy about the place, which seemed to stem back ages to how spanking implements had always been made. It even smelled different than most places, to go with the sentiment of having bells upon an old fashioned door. Kayla did not know what to make of it really, slipping her paws back into her pockets as something of a nervous reaction.

"Well you must be Miss Targate and the young'un Kayla!", the fox's ears pivoted curiously upon hearing, finding quite a degree of inner cheer to what seemed to be an older man's voice. The man stepped from his small office on the side of the shop, wiping his hands with a rag while he moved to greet his guests at his counter. Kayla turned her right ear away as an Aspatrian expression of confusion, examining the man who's beard shifted ever so slightly with each step. He was a big man, and older than she expected as well with a dark blonde mustache and beard that went down to his mid-neck. Within the imagination of a Penitatas, or at least that of her eight year old mind, the fox pictured a thin, scraggly woman with sticks for limbs in a long dark dress; devoid of the ability to smile. Smiles appeared to be all this man had, yet he made instruments of pain?

"That would be us. Good morning sir.", Emily had replied to the man's cheer, while Kayla was distracted by her assessment and imagination. Keeping close to Emily's side, Kayla's lack of complete attention was best shown outwardly by the idle, back and forth wag of her tail in slow fluid motions.

"When I heard Kayla was a well behaved type, I set aside some special synthetic wood for use in making her paddle.", he spoke for the pair's benefit, bringing Kayla's attention back upon hearing her name. It nearly made the fox fold her ears back, curling her fingers in her pockets. Special synthetic wood did not sound like a good thing.

"Special? Like, more or less painful kind of special?", Kayla spoke up timidly, looking up more with her eyes than her head. Emily shifted her look down to Kayla for a moment, really hoping her daughter knew how to watch her tongue while she was gone. The man though only got a laugh, sounding gruff and airy. Reaching beneath his counter where he had some shelving, he lifted a very incomplete paddle. Rough, with only the semblance of a handle, it looked like a wooden board with a place to hold it. Unexpectedly, the older man leaned over his counter, holding the board out for the young Penitatas' curiosity. A few wrinkles on his face curled with his smile, Kayla could see at such close range.

"Go on, you can touch it. Give it a sniff, too.", he encouraged, his coarse beard moving a little as he spoke. Such energy this guy had, Kayla snickered to herself in her head. Following his offer, Kayla placed her right paw upon the board and ran her furred fingers along it's surface while she leaned in to give the wood a smell. The fox stood back up straight with a hum; her tail slowly coming to a stop.

"It's grainy. Smells like...", Kayla began speaking while she thought about it, only to trail off and not quite have an answer. It would have been easier if she was a native resident of Earth, and hadn't spent her life tucked away in the house she once called home. Placing the unfinished product upon his counter, it clacked with a wooden sort of hollowness.

"It's like real wood. Very refined synthetic wood; it smells like trees. Aside from being similar to natural, it lasts much longer. This paddle should last eighty years! That is, if you don't earn it too frequently. It'll be a keeper.", he explained with pride to his work, giving the high grade of material some time in the spotlight being so new. A long lasting paddle seemed nice, since Kayla would not have to endure getting a new one every few years. Though, she didn't know what such durability could do to the strength of the wood. It made Kayla bite her lip on the right side of her muzzle.

"It'll also be on the justice department's tab today.", chuckled the mother at Kayla's side, holding out a red looking card between two fingers to complete their transaction. Kayla released her lip to stroke her muzzle with a hum. Penitatas Justice Department? So they were who funded all of her punishment supplies? It made sense at least. The happy implement crafter took the card and waved it past a scanner attached to the side of his small computer console, handing it back while his other hand tapped a few keys.

"It is indeed! Kayla's first paddle of this classification. You've got plenty of credit with the department.", he read from his screen, closing it out to be done with it. In such a business, working directly with the Penitatas Justice Department and the parents beneath their wing was how he got along. They needed trustable, skilled individuals to operate the backbone of the justice system's disciplinary policies. Sliding her paw from her muzzle, Kayla found it fascinating, as well as intimidating. Emily returned her red Penitatas parenting identification card to her purse, figuring that was the first time her daughter had actually seen it. It was part of the inner workings that Penitatas often never bared witness to.

"Excellent. I'll leave Kayla in your hands. It's her birthday and all, so I'm sure she'll be good for you.", Emily followed the man's cheerful voice with her own, staying loose and comfortable today. Still yet, once she said what she did, her gaze turned right down towards Kayla.

"And you will, right Kayla?", she asked with her parental authority, and a note of warning to her tone. A Penitatas can only have their tethers loosened so much.

"Absolutely mom.", Kayla responded with a lift of her right paw and light smile of sorts, while her left paw remained in it's appropriate pocket. The fox had no intention of doing anything stupid around dangerous equipment and a sea of spanking materials.

"I'm licensed with the Penitatas Justice Department. You'll be fine here young'un.", the bushy sort of man behind the counter interjected for Kayla's benefit, to show he was average fool being granted the ability to watch over her while they worked on her paddle. Kayla nodded her head up at him acknowledging, while Emily stepped from her orange furred daughter's side to take her leave.

"See you in a while!", the human woman called as the bells upon the door jingled and rattled again, all while the implement crafter got ready. Lifting the incomplete paddle into a hand, he waved goodbye with his other before using it to gesture his new guest around his counter.

"Come on around my little 'penny'. Let's get this paddle made up for you.", he welcomed and instructed, using the old coined affectionate term for a Penitatas. Being a larger, older man, his strong and rough appearance made Kayla a bit nervous considering he was a licensed disciplinarian, but he was so soft and kind. It was a rare personality for her to see, and following his lead wasn't too difficult, even when faced with bringing her brand new blistering-grade paddle into fruition.

"So you have a Penitatas of your own?", Kayla opened into casual conversation with her paws at her sides, walking behind the man as they traversed into the middle section of his shop. Their footsteps clopped against the glossy smooth floor, both big and small.

"No, not quite. I decided to get licensed a long time ago when I started my shop. Should know how to use what I make. Maybe on my next time around, I'll think of taking care of one of you fellas.", the happy older man answered with a note of hesitation on his last sentence, as if he wasn't sure if he could take care of a Penitatas. Kayla knew she was a lot of responsibility. It could have always been that he didn't want to cause so much pain. Many factors went into choosing whether to be a Penitatas parent.

The curiously on looking young Aspatrian stood at the man's side, crossing her arms as he placed the incomplete paddle on a table with a saw sticking up. It's teeth were shiny from the metal they were made of, using new technology on old concepts. The blade spooled up to speed in an instant with only as much as a hum from an electrical conduction motor, designed not to make any dangerous shards and operate consistently. The older human's fingers maneuvered the board about, to finish the paddle's basic shape - the portion that would be used for paddling. With such a close vantage point, Kayla could see the bit of synthetic wood dust come off the blade, as it was slowly pushed.

"You are one of my lucky few. Most of the time when a Penitatas guardian comes into my shop with their Penitatas accompanying them, it's to punish them.", the man was able to speak with his usual voice, even while keeping his eyes focused on his work and the sheering, droning sound of the wood being cut. Kayla had to turn her ears more towards the man, to ensure the cutting of the synthetic wood would not drown him out with her sensitive hearing. There was likely a few portions of the higher pitch only she could hear, even if the sound was not all too loud.

"I wasn't sure if this was going to be a punishment or not.", Kayla spoke with a light sigh, giving a single shake of her head in light of the worries she had earlier that morning in the quiet confines of her bedroom. A bit of synthetic saw dust caught her nose, bringing the fox's paws to her muzzle in a fairly canine sneeze. Both her words and her sneeze made the bearded man chuckle, starting to turn the board to give the top of the paddle it's curved shape.

"You would have known. Most of the time it's a really cross guardian coming in for a new paddle to use right on the spot. It's what the chair on the side wall there is for. You actually get to have a say in how this paddle is made, and call it your own.", the man continued in happy conversation; a drastic contrast to the fact he was cutting a paddle to be used on the young Penitatas he was developing a rapport with. During his talking, he made a tilt with his head to the chair he mentioned. Kayla made a face at the simple, armless synthetic wood chair. It looked like the man made it himself. Very nice looking, only to be used as a staging area for spanking.

With a tiny whine from the motor as it lost conduction, the blade came to a nearly immediate halt due to how the saw table worked. The man lifted the board into the air, now much more resembling a paddle. A blank slate for Kayla's customization, and how she'd like her paddle to appear. To offer such a thing and make a paddle in a Penitatas' own vision was a nearly unique sort of thing for him.

"I should have trusted her word.", Kayla spoke more lightly than she had been, looking down at the clothing Emily was kind enough to let her pick out and wear without any of the normal parental safeguards. She was not taken here to be disciplined, so her earlier worries suddenly felt a lot more misplaced. Perhaps even selfish. Emily could have easily chosen a paddle on her own, after all. But, the fox, distracted by her thoughts and feelings, turned her head back up to see the kind discipline-smith of sorts offering her the paddle to hold.

"It's now a paddle, but not a very good one, or comfortable one for either of the two parties involved in it's use. What do you think it should look like?", he asked of the smaller fox, describing the wooden paddle's currently lacking potential. Taken into Kayla's paws, she could feel it's weight and rough surface. Not comfortable at all, and it's sharp edges and corners dug into the bases of her fingers.

"Well...", Kayla mumbled as she began to think, looking over the rectangular paddle. Turning her head back up, the fur on top of her head gave a light bounce.

"It needs more shaping I think. The edges are sharp.", she added as her assessment, running a finger along the outer edge of one of the paddle's sides. The older man raised a hand in question, seeking clarification. A Penitatas working to make their own paddle; this was such a treat! Different from times past, most certain.

"If it's curved too much, it'll look and feel like a bat. Looking for a smoothing of the edges so they flow into each other, or ridge to add a flat space on the edge?", he wondered if the fox could decide upon. The creature Kayla was turning out to be kept his smile strong, watching her examine the paddle in her paws.

"That flat edge sounds the best. A small one, to divide the spanking sides from the paddle's edge and make the handle more wieldy.", Kayla decided upon as she gave the heavy sort of synthetic wood paddle a swing through the air. It would lose a bit of that weight, so it didn't worry her too much. She just hoped it would lose enough. Working with Kayla's call she had made, he moved towards a different nearby machine, closer to the rear of his workshop.

"This one I can let you use. It'll grind the wood along the edge to make a flat cut. Just watch your fingers, and do both faces of the paddle along the outside. That'll give you what you're looking for.", the bearded happy man provided as advice and direction, turning the smaller table on. It hummed just like the previous tool, mostly quiet. A notch sat in a ninety degree angle with a spinning device, set for doing paddle edges the way Kayla sought. Placing the paddle down upon the table, the Aspatrian wiped some synthetic saw dust from her nose and found some worry in regards to the table's spinning cutting device.

"Don't worry, these are very safe machines, and you can hold the paddle on the opposite side than you're cutting on. Just hold it tight, and move slow, like you saw me!", the man chuckled, placing a hand upon his beard to brush it while speaking to the little Penitatas as if she was his apprentice. Looking to make a good impression, Kayla pushed her fingers firmly against the wooden paddle and pushed it against the cutter. With a similar shearing sound and puff of powdery dust, Kayla began working it's first edge, moving straight down the line. Kayla was no dope, she just needed a bit of courage.

Unable to speak and focus on a sensitive project the same way her teacher could, Kayla took her time working the paddle's sharp edges. Widdled away in an instant by the passing cutter, the sharp angle of the paddle's sides turned into a simple flat surface. Soon enough, Kayla was smiling calmly, almost moving her tail in conjunction with her fingers; slowly, towards that one side. It took her a short while to do both sides, carefully doing the handle each time since more contorting and moving was necessary. Once the table turned off, Kayla lifted the paddle up to see it in the light. Where she had cut and it had smoothed out, that tiny ridge surrounding the paddle, the realistic synthetic wood looked fairly nice. A very bright color, with gentle marbling of the wood.

"Now it has potential.", the older man complimented, seeing some pride in the girl's blue eyes. That was definitely an honest effort, though she was nervous. For a human, he could read body language as well as Kayla.

"I'm thinking about skipping the paint.", Kayla commented as she looked at her handiwork, taking a more active role in the paddle's construction now that her own paws were upon it.

"The wood is kind of pretty. It can be, I think.", the fox continued to think out loud for the older man's benefit, whom nodded his head approvingly of her idea.

"A good, naturalist thought. That can be done, most definitely! Though, being that you're eight Kayla, this special paddle needs a bit more woodworking before we can get to those touches.", the man spoke pleasantly, with a note of excitement of some kind in getting to do his job this way. Kayla's head had a slow, yet visible droop, alongside her ears. Holding the paddle in her paws, she rested it against her chest and averted her eyes at the sudden reminder. That was the part she had actually feared.

"Right. The holes.", Kayla groaned a little. The man thought of Kayla as being too brave to be down for long, allowing himself to laugh just a little bit.

"You want your paddle to be the best it can be.", he joked in his older masculine tone, walking for yet another machine with Kayla now in a more reluctant tow behind him. Gripping her soon-to-be paddle, the edges at least no longer dug into her skin. The machine the implement maker stopped in front of was higher than the others, making it a bit more inaccessible for Kayla's childlike stature. At the request of his hands, Kayla relinquished the paddle back to his control, where he set it down on the tall device beneath a long, drill looking extension.

"That stepping stool right over there. Bring that over for yourself.", he invited while thumbing through bits stored beside the machine. Kayla looked a few meters to where the man quickly pointed, making quick work of the task by sliding it across the well-kept floor with her right foot. Standing up upon it, Kayla placed her paws back into her pockets; head right beside a wheel of levers attached to the machine.

"This one should do for an eight year old Penitatas.", the crafter spoke to himself, as well as for Kayla's ears to hear, explaining his actions to the open air. His nimble though aged hands worked to attach the bit, having a sharp center and two pointed blades coming off of it. It's width suggested it was going to drill down to make a decently sized hole, which dulled away Kayla's smile. Going as far as lowering her ears, the fox made a tiny nervous laugh, not wanting him to go through with it.

"That size seems a bit off.", Kayla tried to make as an excuse, just as the paddle crafter finished placing it's securing pin into place. He took a glance off to his young guest, before placing his hand upon his mustache and beard for a pondering-looking gesture.

"You may be right. This one over here might be better.", the gruff, chipper old man spoke casually, or even matter-of-factly. Releasing the first bit's securing pin, he pulled it from the drilling device and lifted a different one from his side. This one was much larger, likely exceeding one inch in diameter. Kayla gulped, raising her paws from her pockets to wave them in a declining motion.

"No no, sorry! Please go back to the last one!", Kayla reduced to begging, and doing so quickly before such a hole could be added to her paddle. Between his mustache and beard, the man grinned. That taught her a lesson.

"I thought as much.", he took as humor from the little situation, settling the larger bit back into the pile to put the smaller bit back into place. It looked to be just under an inch. Sticking her muzzle closer taught the fox it was roughly seven eights of an inch; a humble and modest sized hole for a growing Penitatas such as herself. The paddle's holes would remove the cushion of air that formed right before a hard swat, while also reducing drag to provide a stricter paddling. It could pool fluid between layers of skin, and rupture delicate capillaries aside from making harsh welts. Once the machine turned on with a dull hum, Kayla hung her head.

"The paddle is in place for the first hole. I'll have you work the crank there, by your left ear. These holes will be as much your's as the spankings you've gotten.", the older human instructed, laying his intentions down with his same encouraging voice. He was too gentle to sound malicious, leaving Kayla to lift her head and take it for face value. Moving her eyes, she looked at the lever-looking wheel, placing her paw upon it. Beginning to turn, the drill lowered at her paw's own effort.

"Take it slow once the drill meets the wood.", the craftsman advised for Kayla's safety, holding the paddle in place on his own. Doing this for so long, he could make even holes without making specific drawings and markings upon the paddle. He wouldn't touch it any more than he had to. As Emily wished, he also wanted Kayla to get in on this process. The bit whined, drilling into the paddle as it kicked small mounds of synthetic wood scrap up around the mouth of the hole. Feeling the drill escape back the resistance of the wood, Kayla cranked the drill back up.

The pair repeated the process five more times, which left an uneasy lump in Kayla's chest. By the time she was done, her busy tail was hugged over the seat of her black jeans defensively. Her paddle had become a disciplinary monster, having had it's fangs sharpened. Top to bottom, she drilled three holes into both the left and right side of the longer, rectangular shaped spanking surface. Six, evenly spaced holes. Not even the smallest pocket of air would protect a single follicle of fur, having so much room to dissipate and escape. Lifting it from the machine's small table, the bearded man blew the scraps and dust from the paddle.

"He's all your's.", he spoke in welcoming gesture as he handed the paddle off to Kayla backwards, so she could take it by the handle. Taking a deep breath, Kayla worked up a grin as she took her paddle back into her possession with the unwanted necessities drilled into place.

"My paddle is male?", Kayla added in retort, tapping it's new, unfinished spanking face against her left paw. This little Aspatrian was a hoot, the man went right to thinking with a mild chortle.

"With a rough face like that, it's most definitely a man who doesn't shave. My kind of guy.", the craftsman found humor in describing it's unrefined surfaces, stroking down the lower part of his beard. That was more than enough to milk a bit of a laugh from Kayla, and get her tail moving again.

"She won't be stubbly for long.", Kayla replied with a toothy grin, using emphasis on the word 'she'. Her blistering-grade paddle would be as refined, polished, and gentle looking as a nasty spanking device could possibly appear. Walking the young Penitatas to a desk he had placed lengthwise in the center of his shop, he pulled out a chair for her to sit in. Once again, it was a chair of his own creation, yet different from the other. It had been made to suit the workbench, which had many tools of the trade along it's back in front of where Kayla sat down. Paddle against the bench, she watched the older human pull a few articles for her ease of use.

"This is where the last of the magic happens on your clean slate of a paddle. Sanding, painting, finishing; this is where I do it. The amount of work you put in will equal how much work it looked like you put in, so give it your best. If you're going for unpainted, sand the edges of the holes down with the coarse sandpaper, the whole paddle with the medium, and finish with the fine grit before varnishing to protect it and made it shine.", he leaned over the desk to explain, pointing to each different sandpapers he mentioned to teach how to proceed. This was not computer science or hacking, but Kayla gasped it fairly easily. Brushing the synthetic wood paddle with her furred paw, she freed it of any remaining bits and pieces and took the coarse sandpaper to start on the mouths of the holes. Ensuring the holes would not pinch her skin was important if the paddle was going to be safe.

"You know, my little 'penny', I wish I was like you when I was growing up.", the craftsman began to speak reminiscently, with a fraction of his chipper personality escaping into the more tense air of his voice. Kayla took her eyes from her work, giving the bearded paddle-maker a light, yet somber grin as he sat down in a different chair at the end of the workbench to her left.

"How could you say that? I'm a criminal. It's taken two years for me to act this well.", the young fox was forced to speak candidly for the sake of conversational honesty. Despite what others thought, Kayla was often quick to criticize herself as being a bitch. And just as often, she passed self-judgment too harshly. The scratching sound of coarse sandpaper against synthetic wood resumed, as the little fox worked to complete her own punishment device in the kind man's company.

"People make mistakes. Even the best of us. I can't recall atoning for them as gracefully as you seem capable.", he responded to that very readily, with words and tone that made Kayla's ears stand straight and erect, while her head remained down. Placing her paws upon her work, stopping her sanding, the fox turned up her head with an expression of disbelief in the moment of silence.

"You weren't.", the young Aspatrian Penitatas expressed. The sentiment was met with a small nod from the man watching over her.

"I was. It's been fifty-two years since I became a Completatas. I was a bitter young'un, back during my sentence.", the man whom reinforced the backbone of the Penitatas Justice Department with his daily work admitted, describing a much different man. The one before the mustache, beard, and humorous pleasantries that loved life. Kayla's fingers lightly gripped at the surface of her new paddle, lowering her head at this bewildering notion. The fox had never met a fellow Penitatas that had served a sentence so far in the past. A Completatas, like all other rejuves, has their letter classification removed at age twenty-one. No longer marked, they live like all others, again within the embrace of a welcoming society. They were success stories, hidden by blank pages. Lifting her head higher, Kayla's eyes lit up with a calm, prying intrigue.

"What were you a Penitatas for?", she asked in her smaller, feminine voice as if all ears. Though, she was met with a curl of his brow. It was the first time she had seen the older human take any sort of stern look with her, or acted that seriously at all. The beard, mustache, and gruff appearance enhanced his cheerful behaviors as well as his others, promptly lowering Kayla's foxy ears against the fur of her head.

"Something to respect, little 'penny', is that once the 'C' is gone from a hand, so is the crime.", the man moderately scolded, bringing Kayla's head back to a droop. Seeing the girl sorry, and having not meant anything, quickly relented his stone wall back into his open nature. Watching that small fox, still deep inside her own time of punishment and repent, was a reminder of how he felt those many decades ago.

"Extortion.", he announced with his strong, willing voice. It brought Kayla's eyes back up, easing her worries of having offended or gotten into trouble. But, extortion? Her ears up righted with a flick of each.

"I was arrogant and greedy. Use force and blackmail on important people. I wanted money in return for their safety and my silence. Back then, I did not realize many people would rather air their dirty laundry, young'un, and take their dues rather than deal with me. They had a sense of right and wrong I didn't.", came the story of his past, both solemn and subdued, dulling the chipper attitude he held all that morning since Kayla's arrival. The fox thought she was a perfect judge of human body language and behavior. She could not see what he described. It left her muzzle silent, and still.

"I wished I was this happy and mannered back then. 'Penny' me would have never put up with 'Paddle' me.", the bearded woodworker went right back to laughing, allowing a hint of Kayla's loose smile to reappear on her muzzle.

"You would have fooled me. Sorry for prying.", Kayla snickered openly in wake of his words, turning her focus back down to her paddle. Scraping filled the air again, rasping against synthetic wood..

"Why the shop though?", the fox decided to ask more loosely, still at a loss of how you could go from a bitter spankee to making instruments of discipline for the justice department. Waving his hand dismissively, the older human relaxed in his chair with his old smile back in full force. There was a certain liberation in speaking of the past, darker or not.

"I made a paddle in a Penitatas camp one summer. Got attached to working with synthetic wood, and that included making things aside from chairs and tables.", he patted the workbench with his heavy hands for emphasis, as a note that even the bench was something he had created. Kayla found that strange enough to be amusing, but who was to say what sort of lesson or direction you would find under the guiding correction of Penitatas parents, teachers, and all those that would punish you. It was like the big man realized over time during his sentence that he wanted to create things rather than take them. Kayla pondered intently if maybe that was what reforming was about.

The Aspatrian was not prepared to forgive herself for the sins of Packet-Storm, nor did she know how her future would turn. Not yet. Such epiphany and peace had not yet come to cleanse away the crimes she had committed, sitting over a paddle she worked on to have used beneath her own tail. Swallowing this realization was a sobering moment her paws worked to forget, scratching and scraping away at the wood to shed scraps of particulate.

"Maybe I should say, I wish I was like you.", Kayla did not avert her eyes from her work to say after a silent moment passed. There was a comfort in her voice behind the sobering reality that flowed in. An envy, maybe, for the peace he found. This one time Penitatas turned Completatas, further turned contributing member to society in his age, provided the younger girl food for thought. Getting a firm pat on the shoulder, at least that man believed in her ability to change.

"You don't need close babysitting. I'm going to work around the shop, and leave you to your finishing. You should have a while to enjoy yourself and break a sweat.", the older man figured, pressing upon the table to stand back up and leave his chair behind. He sounded himself again, giving the Penitatas under his watchful care some earned space after she had demonstrated she could be trusted. Kayla responded to his light, though deep masculine tone with a friendly smile before becoming slowly lost in her work.

Able to see her crafting turn the ugly duckling into a swan, proverbially, the technologically attached fox grew more pleased and interested in her handiwork as time passed. Kayla's shoes tapped together with tiny thumps under the workbench as her paws vigorously sanded down her paddle for use. It's coarse, gritty faces grew smooth with effort to reveal that finely marbled bright color the second cutting table had eluded to. The paddle's harsh holes were sanded around their sharp outside, leaving an inward slope that would protect her skin from injury as the spanking tool delivered it's maximum power. Every spot upon the paddle received buffing and sanding, while Kayla attempted to keep it as uniform and presentable as possible; just as she told the craftsmen she would. Not one to give a mere half of effort to an artifact that would "have her name on it" figuratively, as well as literally, the Aspatrian Penitatas sanded the faces of the paddle to an immaculate shine even before the varnish hit the synthetic wood.

Sun raising in the sky outside the shop, Kayla's ears would pivot around though it looked as if she did not remove any focus from the tabletop in front of her. Other machines and the man's work caught her attention, but not enough to slow down her paws through sheer awareness. Working on her own with what was available, she soon pulled over a small canister of synthetic wood varnish, giving the paddle a light brushing. As she watched it dry, the tail hanging off the back of the chair swayed and her paw cradled her muzzle in thought. The paddle was done, created by her own paws with some help. However, to the reforming adolescent criminal, it could not be her own without a unique touch. Not wanting to blemish the surface of such a clean and professional appearing paddle, something that attested to Kayla's taste and personality, thinking of how to add a personal touch was difficult.

By the time the varnish had dried and she had cleaned the synthetic saw-dust away from the bench as a kind gesture to the shop's owner, she had figured out what she wanted to do. From some shelving beside the desk, Kayla stroked her muzzle and worked alone without speaking. In the back of the shop, the older bearded human leaned his arms down against one of his other benches, watching the small Aspatrian with a notion of entertainment. Acting at her own accord, without the help of instruction, the man wondered what she would make; leaving her to the quiet her mind appeared to thrive in. His guest selected a small can of light blue paint and one of his fine detailing brushes, sitting down with a fling of her tail off to the side. Dipping the soft bristles into the thick paint, she gently wiped the excess on the inside of the can. Holding the paddle up with her left paw, the handle end of the paddle pointed straight up at her nose.

There, on the bottom of the paddle's handle, on the paddle's edge side, her skilled paws applied themselves in a new way. Keeping her fingers steady, they slowly sprawled three letters going downward, putting those grueling disciplinary assignments from her school's writing class to use. A 'K', then below an 'S', and below that, an 'A'. Kayla, Sophia, Ackart. The paddle was her own, and coupled with her Aspatrian mother's name, it gave the long lost parent a chance to have her name on an instrument that disciplined her daughter into something she would be better proud of. No longer sprawling her name with a playful, golden fox tail, this paddle was a tribute to her age and growth. Her initials having been added cleanly and tastefully on the bottom edge of the paddle, adorning it's handle, her nimble, busy paws found some wrappings upon the shelving at her side. The observing human found her to be a smart girl, knowing what the strips were for. Kayla finished her paddle's handle by covering it, making it comfortable for use, ensuring every soft wrap was straight and even, right down to the crest of the handle's curve at the end.

By then, Emily had already returned. Three hours had passed since she had left her Penitatas in the care of the shop's owner, and she stood leaning against the front window to his workshop. The pair of adults had shared a wave to greet one another, both of them watching Kayla's focused, content efforts. Emily found a sort of warmth in watching, just as the man did. Kayla was a unique Penitatas, if not a unique person all together. Once Kayla slumped back in her chair with an exhausted sigh, wiping the fur above her eyes, the bells attached to the front door of the building jingled and tapped against the glass. Kayla barely lifted her head from it's reclined state, looking over to her mom with just her eyes.

"It's done!", Kayla panted with a laugh, and a strong note of accomplishment. Shining in the overhead light of the workshop, it looked fresh and brand new. Emily could not have purchased better from the mall. Not in the least. The 'penny', as the old ex-con spoke of lightly and affectionately, had placed a bit of herself into her own discipline. Kayla may not have felt it to be so yet, but it was integral in taking a step further in forgiving herself, or at least finding further repent to her crimes.

"I can see that! Looks like you did a good job Kayla!", Emily complimented with loose cheer, like the wood worker, as she stepped around the counter to join her daughter behind it. As was his personality, the older man chuckled, knowing the Penitatas' guardian to be true.

"She didn't need a lick of extra attention. You're quite the honest madam about her, miss Targate.", the man struck up, shutting off his machine to join the pair. It stopped harder than the others did earlier, making a clunk sound as if the conduction motor jammed suddenly with the loss of amperage.

"My daughter knows I would punish her on her birthday. I've done it before.", Kayla covered her face embarrassedly upon hearing her mother tout, lowering her head back down to a normal position. Damn mom, I made a good impression, don't remind the guy I swear my head off. Only one year ago today, something Kayla almost forgot, she had her muzzle soaped and her backside spanked in the middle of her friends coming over to get together.

"It wasn't anything that bad sir.", Kayla uncovered her right eye to speak up to the woodworker, in attempt to save face. Nothing could break that man's smile when he wasn't on a serious subject.

"Mistakes happen. Remember that talk we had.", he countered, as if to put the young Penitatas at ease. They were fellows, separated by decades. Empathy never went away. Kayla's orange furred paw slid from her face, letting the light of the day touch it once more. Her expression was sheepish, but understood the man's sentiment.

"Thank you for having me.", she decided to just up and say, taking her new blistering-grade paddle into her paws. Sliding from the chair by the seat of her casual black jeans, she tucked the weighty synthetic wooden board of discipline under her left arm and raised her right paw. To which, the older human shook. Emily had to be pleased with her polite gestures, Kayla thought, giggling on the inside as she said goodbye to the man she was pleased to meet.

"Take care of that paddle, and your tail, Kayla.", the big man laughed aloud, calling Kayla by her name for the first time since they met. More than just a 'penny' or a young'un, the fox got to leave the shop accomplished and in good spirits. Paddle cradled in both her arms, the sum of her work, Kayla smiled clear across both sides of her muzzle as she and her mother left the dangling bells of the workshop door to climb back into their green hover-car. The early morning clouds had broken above, allowing more light to shine down and reflect off the paint and reinforced clear aluminum windows of the vehicle in the noon sun. Air warm, and perhaps a little moist from the time of year, Kayla had made haste to her door to climb in. Settling the paddle she helped create into her lap, Kayla turned her body and reached up for the seatbelt strap above while Emily joined her in the hover-car's driver's seat. Against the seat, laid towards her parent, the white tip of Kayla's fox tail tapped with a nearly silent sound.

"You were right.", Kayla spoke more energetically with her head turned towards her mother, whom was strapping in and setting the hover-car's automated controls for their default "home" setting. Emily glanced over with just her eyes, turning them right back to the screen beside the manual controls to spool the hover engines up.

"About what, honey?", her guardian asked, hair hanging against her shoulder in her current position. It was nice to hear Kayla was not as apprehensive as earlier, sounding so happy and laid back. The hover engines started while Kayla looked down at the device she put such time into.

"Making this thing. I had fun.", the fox declared openly, speaking with thankful appreciation for what was essentially a strange birthday gift. As their hover-car took off for the open air on that partly cloudy afternoon, Kayla stroked her fingers down the face of the paddle sitting in her lap. It felt so much more different than it did the first she had touched it, having transformed it into something new. Despite it's purpose, it had a rustic sense of beauty. Lifting it into her paws with a sort of delicate care, she had to admire what took knowledge to create, and her own efforts to turn it into something aside from a scrap of synthetic wood.

"It's such a pretty shade of light wood. When I got into working on it, I must have spaced out for over an hour sanding down the flat spots and making the edges look fine. I have no idea how strong this thing is, but I love it all the same.", Kayla spoke positively, snickering a little at the end when thinking about the paddle's more painful side. She did not fear it so much, having made it and gotten close to it. Such comfort of a blistering-grade paddle made Emily raise a brow, sitting back in her seat with her arms crossed as her hover-car traveled the controlled airway back home. Lifting the paddle of her design, Kayla sighed cheerfully, and relaxed, placing her furred forehead against the cool varnished synthetic wood. Her eyes remained downward, smiling all the same in her eight year old's joyous attitude.

"I have always made things. Programs, hacker tools. You can't touch digital things like you can this, and I haven't been able to make anything at all in so long now. I missed it badly. It was easy to get lost in making this paddle. Might even put it on display in my room. Doesn't it look awesome?", the Penitatas delivered with pride, turning her head with an excitable voice. Emily felt a sense of tension come over her body, taking a breath before answering.

"It sure does.", Emily could not help but speak more lightly. In a way, the words were concerning. Her daughter ended up not sounding very weary of the paddle she held in her own paws. Kayla had found such peace and relaxation in getting to create something, having been robbed of her creativity by the Corrections Council's ruling on her computer usage. To see Kayla so happy, deservingly, made her parent pleased. The lack of respect for that "beautiful" item's pain delivery, not so much. Yet still, as Kayla's parent, Emily could see the effort that went into sanding and finishing such a fine quality of synthetic wood. The light coming in the windshield shimmered off the surface of the paddle, highlighting the curves of it's holes.

Emily had already been thinking about the blistering-grade paddle's use within her home, since she had dropped Kayla off to have it made earlier that morning. What Kayla would have to do to merit it's use, and just how many swats would be appropriate for the young Aspatrian criminal's pain tolerance. As far as she knew, as Kayla's spanker, the fox had never experienced a blister atop the canid cheeks of her backside. Severity guidelines did not let a hard timer, under normal circumstance, experience it before the age of eight due to the fact they can rupture if not treated with care. As the morning had told the human, her daughter was deathly afraid of being spanked by something of her paddle's severity. But did she really understand? Could she, never having experienced it? It's first time use could end up being a nightmare.

"It also looks like it would hurt pretty badly, Kayla. You still know that, right?", Emily un-tucked her right hand from her opposite arm to speak with a mild gesture. The mother, in caring for her child, did not want to be placed in the position of using that paddle punitively. Emily needed Kayla's pride and comfort with her creation to join and intermingle with her fear of ever having it used on her. It needed to stand up as a shining example and reminder to not commit an offense so severe that it becomes more than a décor. Kayla was capable of being that well behaved, but Emily knew from first experience her wayward side was capable of many things.

"I still don't want any part of being spanked by this thing.", Kayla was very quick to reply, sounding sheepish as she did so with her eyes open a bit larger.

"Hope I never have to see it in that light. I'll have to try hard.", the Penitatas chuckled more softly, making a sigh while thinking of how to save her hide from doing anything too foolish. It was the sort of answer Emily was looking for, but in the driver's seat of the hover-car, already so close to home at the speed it traveled, her cheerful demeanor did not return. Turning her head towards the window at her side, Emily placed a hand beneath her chin to think intently. Worries and parental responsibility weighed on her.

Her daughter's words were fine, and as she wanted. But again, they weren't realistic. It was as if Kayla was shutting her mind out to the paddle's possible use. Chances were, Emily would hold it in her hand a few times during the next four years. Not many, but most certainly more than once. What if it happened at school? How would Kayla be prepared at the hands of someone stronger, or even more stern than she was? Try as you might, my furry blessing - mistakes happen.

The minute it took to arrive at the implement crafting shop worked the same in reverse, arriving home in mere brief moments. Touching down upon the ground, the pair was quiet; Kayla mellow and gently cheerful in her young age and carefree day, and Emily lost in pondering. They left their vehicle as they always would, Kayla swinging her tail out of the way before pushing the door shut. The fox learned from experiencing the cause and effect of her errors, just as many children and rejuvenated adults did. One day, Kayla did not mind her orange, bushy tail, and gave it a harsh whack on the edge of the door when she attempted to close it. Thankfully she did not break any bones or get it caught in the door, but it still resulted in a degree of growling and tearful whimpering. Her daughter made a mistake, with the resulting pain teaching her to be more careful. Never since had the Aspatrian hurt herself through the same carelessness.

It was a difficult but honest conclusion. Pain was a motivator. Kayla experienced the result of her error and never again made it. If she experienced the scorn of the paddle she held proudly in her arms, then perhaps she truly would know how to avoid it being used. Such a thing, would be for her daughter's own good. Lost in dismal thought, Emily at least hoped that would be the case. It felt to be the right thing to do, though a bad day to do it.

Leading the way into the front door, Kayla followed behind, unaware of her ideas. Emily set her purse down on the desk by the front door. The mother looked down, hands on the end of the desk. If she was going to do this, now was the only time. Walking casually for the stairs, Kayla had stepped past her mother, holding her paddle in both arms to store it in her room. A nice prominent place, like her desk! The pair's thoughts of what was about to happen that day were entirely different, and it would bring one of them sadness. Emily hoped for forgiveness, even before speaking.

"Wait up Kayla.", Emily asked with a variance in her voice. It made Kayla's Aspatrian ears twitch just before her right shoe touched the first step of stairs. Stopping, the fox turned around, holding her paddle as she had. Kayla looked placid, standing with an easy smile and not a tense muscle in her body.

"What's up mom?", Kayla began to ask with a curious notion, almost amused. There another part of this gift that wasn't a paddle? Heck, was she going to have candy or some sort of sweet, for once? Her ears stood tall, telling Emily she was entirely clueless. Maybe that was for the best.

"Hand me your paddle sweetie.", the sight made Emily hesitate, reaching out with her right hand. Kayla had done nothing wrong. Why this felt so certain, the poor Penitatas parent did not understand. Her daughter would have to accept that not everything that was right, was fair. Kayla's expression changed a little, but not much. Taking a couple of steps from the stairs, making the only sound in the silent house, she lifted the paddle from her arms to offer it's wrapped, comfortable handle to her mother in justice. Emily's light skinned hand reached out to grasp the paddle and take it under her control, but before the tips of her fingers touched the white wrap, Kayla pulled the paddle back under her arm.

Kayla's face suddenly looked shocked, with her legs taking too nervous steps backwards. Folding her ears part of the way, the Penitatas' keen senses had gotten wise; striking her like a blow to the chest. She had known her mother for too long, to not see what the look on her face meant. It was a firm, steadfast expression, just as if Kayla had been sent to fetch a switch or any other spanking implement for it's immediate use. In the middle of cheer and lulling relaxation, Kayla's little eyes stared up in disbelief. The room fell quiet, Kayla's heart thumping in her chest. The older human did not know exactly what to tell her Penitatas charge.

"Why mom? I was perfect today. Please, why?", Kayla hugged her paddle with both arms, protectively, while speaking slowly, and dismally. It was like a sad plea, from someone who just didn't know what was going on. Emily sighed aloud, long and tired. The parent knelt down, knees to the floor, to be at her daughter's height.

"My furry blessing...", Emily begin with air in her voice, as if she was going to sigh again from how she felt. Reaching up with her right hand, she cupped Kayla's orange furred cheek and the side of her muzzle. Her face, spoke apologies. Her words, something else. Kayla had never heard Emily call her that affectionate term anywhere near a session of discipline.

"I don't ever want to use this paddle on you. But, it's going to happen, someday. You know it's true.", the mother attempted to prepare her daughter for the inevitable, as a Penitatas in hard time. Kayla's fingers curled, trying to hold the paddle tighter in her grip. Her face looked so pleading. So shocked.

"I can be good! I know I can!", the small fox tried to beg and assure. The idea of being spanked by her new paddle, the tool she put her heart and labor into, scared her to the core. Enough to make her eyes water, as experienced and brave as she was. Doing her duty as she knew, Emily gently shushed her girl. In this instance, the best she could do was stare back at Kayla with light eyes of her own. The silence and stare worked to make Kayla's lower jaw quiver, and milk a whimper out of her.

"You promised. You said I went there for fun.", the poor girl could have cried. This blindsided her out of left field, and she hadn't even done anything wrong. Her face, ears, tail, and posture all drooped from her sullen emotion.

"I did not lie. This is something I decided, here and now, because I've known you long enough, Kayla Ackart, to know what is the best for you. If you taste what your paddle has to offer, you will be sure not to earn it.", the mother moved right into explaining, sliding her right hand from Kayla's cheek to rest reassuratively upon her shoulder. Her Aspatrian Penitatas had to know she was not messing with her. This was not a joke, nor was it a punishment. Kayla had the ability to make her proud; good deeds melding with the bad to make her a respectable person. In the quiet after her mother's voice, as Emily's hand stroked the fur at the collar of her shirt, the fox hung her head. After a few moments, the Penitatas child sobbed, just once. Soft, and subdued.

"It's my birthday...", Kayla said so sadly and slow, with a raspy, teary voice; a cross between a whine and a sheer plea. Emily had taken a light hearted, optimistic, and proud rejuve and turned her around to tearful regret. It was not something she took joy upon. In fact, it cut into her heart. Her daughter only wanted her to be fair. Using her hand, she moved it beneath Kayla's muzzle to cup it.

"Kayla. Look - at - me.", Emily initially started off sternly by using her Penitatas' name, but as she separated those three words, her voice lightened despite how firm the words were said. With it, she got Kayla's head up a little. Enough to see the pair of sparkling adolescent tears Kayla's tiny sob had made from those watery, depressed blue eyes.

"I know this is for the best. You're getting this spanking, and I'm sorry. It will be brief, it will be hard, and it will be gone as quick as it started. I'll hold you till the nano-lotion has done it's work, and it's right back to your birthday; doing as you please.", Emily stressed, trying to be as motherly as she could while still laying down a degree of parental law. Nano-lotion was the least she could promise. Face to face, she knelt with the galaxy's most infamous hacker. She knew her charming side. And, with faith, her right hand left Kayla's muzzle to place itself down upon the clean, perfected paddle the fox clenched in the strength of her young arms. Eyes never leaving her mothers, she relented. The weighty synthetic wood paddle was taken into Emily's hand, removing the object that had brightened her day, only to set the sun on it.

Holding the paddle at her side, it's top end against the carpet of the living room by their computer console desk, Emily gave Kayla a smile. Light, and to thank. Using her left hand, trained through doing it so many times, her non-primary limb reached around her furred girl to pop the button of her black jeans, just above the base of her tail. She had gotten to wear them so infrequently, the fabric was stiff, and did not want to let the button go. Just to make things easier, Emily pulled her daughter's jeans and blue-gray cotton panties down to her mid-calves. It did not seem right to make Kayla do it if she was not in trouble.

"Meet me at the sofa. I'm going to get a canister of nano-lotion for you first, then we'll do this over my lap, with a pillow.", Emily instructed with the lack of parental scorn, even if she was talking about giving her daughter a fairly intense swatting. As dull as Kayla's shine had become, over the lap was the only way she could spank the poor fox. Covering her lap with a pillow would give Kayla comfort and support not typically provided, a helping hand to hold her, and the closeness of her parent to calm her. Kayla would not have to feel alone in her pain like she would have if she simply bent down and touched her toes, tail up, for a quick paddling.

Stepping away from Kayla with a look over her shoulder as she left, Emily began a short trip up her stairs, to fetch the nano-lotion she would require. Kayla quickly stepped out of her field of view, bringing an uneasy, frowning sort of appearance as she looked ahead to grab what she needed. The clops of shoes against the stairs softened as they moved higher in Kayla's directional-sensitive ears, standing with her arms crossed as if to hug herself. Kayla felt, and looked, distraught and forlorn. By her lonesome, bare below the waist with the sound of shuffling fabric slowly drawing her jeans and underwear down to her lower calves, Kayla waddled small steps with her tail curled to her left leg. Standing for a moment in front of the sofa, the Aspatrian hiccupped out another sob; failing to repress it, to place a paw to her face. With a growl of a huff, the fox turned and swung her tail up to sit down on the sofa in a grumpy fall.

"How could she?", Kayla griped under her breath, feeling hurt as she buried her muzzle in her paws in a frustrated moment. Right away though she flung her paws from her face, lifting her feet to grab her shoes. If she was damned, she would be comfortable, leaving her shoes and socks in a pile beside the family's sofa. Looking around with her weary, watering eyes, Kayla was reminded of how many times she had been spanked here. Emily's favorite staging area. With a mere shift of her eyes, she looked at the corner she stood in so many times. Emily knew her best. She also knew how to hurt her best. A fact of life for a Penitatas, here for more reasons than simply needing a family to teach her right from wrong.

The remains of her clothing below the waist around her ankles, Kayla pulled her knees to her dark blue, cotton covered chest to have her feet on the sofa with her. She did not want to let go of the clothing she was permitted to wear, being that it was a nice treat. Other girls got to dress up to some degree. The fox was something of a tom-boy in those respects, leaving her street casual attire her version of "dressing up". Even with it, she felt naked from being so vulnerable. Emotions were a cruel thing on the mind of an eight year old, muzzle down between her knees to huddle up alone, quietly.

Thumping began, slowly growing louder as it drew near. Kayla's ears twitched in anticipation, opting to fold them knowingly down upon her head to cease it as Emily stepped off the stairs and back into the living room. In her arms she held her own pillow, fetched from her bed, and a canister of nano-lotion from the locked cabinet in her bathroom, to go with the paddle she had confiscated for use. Making the turn for the sofa once her feet found solid ground, Emily made a loose hum at the sight of her girl hugging her knees, frightened and dreary.

"You didn't have to do all that.", Emily added in a softer, almost guilty sounding voice upon seeing Kayla had removed her shoes and socks, and brought her clothing down to her knees in a thick bunch. All the parent wanted was a bare furred backside; such cooperation and extras were more than she sought. Muffled by her body and legs, where she had shoved her muzzle, a sniff from the small Aspatrian fox did not go unnoticed.

"I don't want to get into more trouble.", Kayla quivered, lifting her head from her knees to speak, as softly and quietly as she had been. Emily took a seat at her daughter's side, placing the pillow over her lap for use while the other two articles got tucked up against her hip. Placing her right hand on Kayla's bare thigh, she rubbed it and it's soft orange fur; sitting on the proper side of the fox, for her to climb over and begin.

"You're not in trouble in the first place. I'm only going as far as necessary, so this is only a taste. This is difficult for me to do to you, Kayla. Believe me. If it saves you from making a bad decision in the future, it was all worth it though. I care enough to help, even if it's going to hurt.", the Penitatas mother hoped to soothe, massaging Kayla's thigh with her open hand. Her daughter responded well to parental touch, likely seeing she never had any until two years ago. Kayla swallowed uneasily, lifting her right paw to wipe the moisture from her eyes. Things may have felt unfair, but in the end, her parents just did their duty, and did what was best. Despite not earning it, Emily was not about to steer her wrong. Kayla had to learn to trust.

It was a calm, silent few moments. Gentle skinned fingers massaging into the muscle of her leg, Kayla closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. So, she learned best this way? If anyone knew that, it was Emily. As her parent, Penitatas licensed or not, that fairly caring human likely knew her better than anymore. Perhaps more than Jacob, even as far as their relationship has gone. She may have shared her innermost thoughts with Jacob verbally, but Emily learned her ins and outs through parenting, love, and simply being there - always. Lifting her head up a little, Kayla opened her eyes to look up at Emily's light, reassuring smile. Not one of happiness, but one to say, "it is all going to be okay".

"You're right. I'm ready.", Kayla relented openly, submitting herself to the wisdom and will of the woman that has held her, and disciplined her quite faithfully as her sentence rolled on. With her words, spoken in truth and an absence of anger, Emily patted her furry girl's leg as an end to her rubbing and consoling.

"Climb on up then honey. Get comfortable.", the mother offered, making sure her tone did not roll into the order giving and scolding her parental responsibilities usually had her using out of habit. Turning on the feet she had upon the sofa, Kayla did as asked. With some assistance from her hands at Kayla's waist, Emily made sure her fur would not get pulled or bunched up while she wiggled and shifted over her lap and the pillow that made it a cozier place, laying on her stomach. No bones pushing into her belly, it allowed Kayla to breathe easier, bottom pushed upward for clearer spanking. To make this as simple as she could for her obedient daughter, Emily took hold of Kayla's tail and pinned it to her back; not even humoring the idea of making Kayla hold her tail out of the way on her own.

"This won't take more than a minute or two. Nano-lotion, maybe ten, but you're not leaving this couch until you are healed.", Emily added for Kayla's benefit, in order to know just what was going to happen. As her hand wrapped back around the handle of Kayla's paddle, raising the light colored glossy wood, Kayla's paws gripped at the pillow and prepared her mind. It raced, but not her heart. Emily had done a good job of calming her nerves. Being acceptant was her specialty, and it was all the better she learned this introductory lesson from a person she trusted. The fox, however, was quick to wince with a sharp intake of air from her black nose. Her mother had pat the face of her new paddle against her bottom twice, but harder than normal. It was like someone lightly smacked the sofa cushion, in sound. Smooth to the touch, but with weight, and a strange feel from having empty spots where the holes occupied. Kayla had to accept that was her own creation and construction, about to inflict serious harm.

Crossing her arms upon the sofa, tucked up against the white pillow, Kayla laid her head down with merely watery eyes. Above the crest of her backside, the weighted, blistering-grade paddle took to the air while she sought to rest. It was her birthday. The paddle, her own, bearing her more personal initials. She laid there without a care over that pillow, defeated over the matter, with nothing left to do but cry once the pain struck.

The brand new paddle's ability was found first in Emily's hand, as it split the air with ease due to the holes. With experience, she controlled her swing to Kayla's age; yet still nice and hard, as the paddle was designed. It made a small whistle, easily caught by Kayla's active little ears, allowing her to tighten up and flinch before it struck her backside. It made a shockwave across her skin, wrapping around in the tiniest fraction of a second to her hips; layers of skin crushed and compacted against another. It was an explosion of sting, and pounding pain from the heavy swat. It's strength caught Kayla off guard, being harder than she expected - as Emily presumed to be the case. Kayla's head came out of her arms, snapping up into the air with a sharp yelp. Her footpaws rubbed against one another, squirming already looking to begin.

Holding Kayla down, Emily worked to complete her task in the timeframe assured. The paddle being well made by the person it was being used against, keeping the punishing, hole laden face of the paddle swinging was not a difficult task. It's impacts struck flesh and fur with a popping crack that rang through the empty house, muffled in the fully folded back ears of the Aspatrian under it. The pain was intense, burning and throbbing, like being punched by something that could whip deep at the same time. Each crisp application of the paddle to her bare backside brought a heavy wince, quickly moving Kayla to trembling and a shrill cry. A swat jutted her body forward, grinding her pelvis into the pillow as her legs and arms struggled to squirm. She could not help herself.

The paddle made a different sound suddenly upon striking her, sounding a higher pitch without so much of a thud. It hit lower, directing much of it's crisp force into the base of her rear and upper thighs. It felt like the crack of a belt, four times in the same spot over the period of merely one second. Skin beneath her fur turning crimson quickly, Kayla reared up her head, teeth bared and eyes clenched, with a tearful howl. Half growl, and half Aspatrian cry, her claws scraped at the tough fabric of the sofa cushion; tail fighting against Emily's arm. So well secured, it had no place to go. Cries and squirms or not, the paddle whistled through the air, cracking against her bare fur once, than twice more. The agony of each harsh swat stacked one on top of the other, as a Penitatas was spanked much harder than a normal child would. Skin so thin, and nerves so sensitive, the effects of the paddle blasted through muscle and tissue straight to bone. Not even the pink hued ring of delicate muscle beneath the fur at the base of her tail was spared, with the paddle deflecting her backside deeply enough to whap it directly. It was like a hot needle being driven back into herself, only serving to make the ordeal deeply uncomfortable aside from the physical pain her paddle could deliver with force.

Kayla whined and whimpered desperately, and loudly. Cries rang out with each swat as the spanking went on, clock ticking by, second by second. Canid howls, coupled with baby-like bawling; paddle falling to swat every two long seconds. Enduring so much pain, Kayla could not possibly keep count of how many times her mother was spanking her with such a severe paddle. It was not like her old one. Thicker, heavier, and designed to not give her a single edge, the sound it could make against her body was enough to scare. Kayla's will broken, tears streaming down the space where her muzzle met cheek, her paw gripped her muzzle, while her other reached back to protectively, and desperately cover and rub her bottom. The fox's fingers barely touched the massive, crimson swelling welt that was her left cheek, before her arm was pinned with her tail. Again, against her wails of lament, poor Kayla was spanked again, striking a bottom that had already seen a lot of very quickly placed hurt. Her legs kicked, pounding her footpaws into the sofa while she screamed out a long, sobbing, infant-like cry.

"St-...!", the young Penitatas tried to beg; something she did not do. It broke right away, with the last part of "stop" rolling into a teary, crying sound, as it extended through her voice into further sobbing. Her maw remained open, with spittle at the sides of her muzzle. If this was only a taste, a true, long paddling would leave her backside littered with blisters and malformed welts, black and blue deep beneath right down to joint and bone. Above, within her solemn duty, Emily barely changed her expression, forced to ignore her daughter's desperate pleas, and begging she wanted to get out but could not. Smack, smack, smack - the paddle droned in their ears, sharp, and deep sounding at the same time.

At about a minute and a half of sound, calm paddling, Emily was finally able to stop - objective accomplished. With a quick check of her hand, stroking her fingers through Kayla's orange fur beneath her tail, she found two blisters forming; one on each side of her rear. That was all Emily needed. A real spanking could have been harder, exceeding two minutes easy. Or, even slower, to paddle a message over agonizing time. Radiating through Kayla's fur was an immense heat, and skin that felt firm - like cooked meat. Laid limp over her belly, the only thing of Kayla's that continued to squirm at that point were her paws and fingers. She wanted to rub. No, needed to! Please, for the love of anything, please Emily! The bawling, choking adolescent Aspatrian screamed in plea within her mind, while her chest and throat were too tired to do it for real.

When the paddle fell against the sofa with a dull thump, Emily placed her hands on Kayla's side, trying to pull her up. Not sharing any initial words, the room filled with only Kayla's lament, sobbing and sputtering like a young scalded kindern. She received quite a few swats, and so briskly. If there was a lesson to be learned, that was the most Emily was willing to do to spread that lesson. Not another lick, for such a sweet little fox. With help from Kayla's own paws pushing against the sofa, the mother was able to bring her daughter into her arms. Pillow pulled from her lap in a quick toss, the girl got a knee between Emily's own, burying her face into her chest. Emily cradled Kayla to her as the small fox cried into her shirt, taking a moment to at least comfort her young one before giving the nano-lotion; which she promptly started working on with one hand, despite it's difficulty. Gently shushing Kayla, her left hand's fingers stroked up and down the shirt over the young Aspatrian's back, doing little to stop the girl's grasp of her bottom with her right paw. Shaking, Kayla's paw used it's back to brush over her burning, seething skin, to soothe away any pain she could.

"Please try not to rub Kayla. You don't want to. Breaking a blister would have you screaming and rolling on the floor.", Emily warned, speaking just loud enough to get it over Kayla's muffled crying against her. Kayla's fingers slowly stopped their travel, touching softly through her fur to feel the welt on her right cheek. Not quite like a welt, but a bump, the realization it was a blister made her shiver. This was nothing like what Ninne dealt with, having her own Drakonian version of this paddle. No, Ninne's armor still worked. For Kayla, this was akin to taking an axe to a stick of butter. She was soft, and it was hard. Reluctantly, the fox's fingers left her rear to slump against her side, taking Emily's warning seriously.

At the same time, Emily's hand had awkwardly removed the lid to the nano-lotion canister, dipping her fingers in for a liberal helping of the white, goopy lotion and all the microscopic nanites it contained. To relieve the ache and pain that left her daughter limp and sullen, well spanked against her chest to soak her shirt with tears and childish spittle, she slathered it under Kayla's tail. From tailhole to thigh, top to bottom, and straight across; Emily worked the lotion through her fur. It made it goopy and clumpy, but it met and soaked into skin with a gentle, stroking massage. The intimate touch of fingers did not bother Kayla in the least, too desperate to remove that residual, painful memory of the spanking she just incurred for no other reason than to experience it. While rubbing, the fox's paws held Emily's shirt tighter, whining tiny tearful sounds between her sobs.

"I'm being gentle. Don't worry.", Emily softly reassured, considering the rubbing was painful to a degree, and there were the two small blisters to contend with as well. A minute's worth of rubbing, and all the mother had to do was hold her girl. Cheeks soaked with salty moisture, Kayla calmed down over time, as the minutes passed. Nano-lotion itched and made strange sensations, but it was dulling away her pain as it healed and blood rushed back out of her fluid-filled injuries. Hands against her back, larger, and older, all the fox had to do was cry the rest of it out - tail hanging down off the front of the sofa.

"More than you expected, wasn't it? If someone wanted to blister you, it would be a very un-calm punishment.", Emily decided to note after a while, as Kayla's sobs and tears subsided with the repair of her skin and ruptured capillaries. The parent shook her head at the thought. Kayla's pain tolerance was great, and her acceptance and repentance for her own actions was outstanding. However, just as Kayla hated switches and canes, there were other things that could blaze past what she could stoically endure. A real spanking that required actual use of her blistering paddle might just require restraints. It had been a while since the girl's tail restraint had been necessary. Kayla, hugged up against her parent, growled beneath her softer sobs and higher pitched teary hiccups and sniffs.

"I wish you'd trust me back.", Kayla whimpered down against Emily's chest at almost a whisper. Keeping Kayla held in her arms, her mother made a curious look. She didn't quite know what her girl meant.

"What Kayla?", the human asked for clarification, giving the fox's back a brief brisk rub to keep her comfortable.

"I trust you cause I've known you for so long. But you didn't trust me to keep my behavior in check.", the young Penitatas answered to her words in further detail, taking a piece of Emily's spirits with her. This is how Kayla viewed this? For that, Emily hugged the Aspatrian tighter in the dim light of their quiet home.

"It's not like that. You're well behaved for a Penitatas, by far, and you've earned a lot of respect from those you know. It's just, sweetie, you're still a Penitatas, and I have to look out for you. Now you know what it is you're trying to avoid in this paddle, and to never give me reason to use it to it's higher potential.", she wanted to explain and reply to with her more casual honesty as Kayla's parent, and not only her disciplinarian. In fact, the thoughts in her mind lighted her spirit back to where it was, closing her eyes a bit to take in the furry Aspatrian in her lap's warmth. That growing Penitatas was a unique person, important to her family.

"This wasn't a brash decision. If I didn't trust you, I would not have told you to break the law and save your friend, Jacob.", Emily further delved into with something of a smile, looking down to try and get a glimpse of her daughter's bloodshot, tired little eyes. Kayla sighed into her mother's shirt, letting off another sniff before trying to look up, and meeting her eyes inadvertently.

"I wish you expressed your trust in less painful ways.", Kayla griped, both for humor and for the sake of complaining for real. Nano-lotion having nearly finished fixing her injuries and the remnants of her first blistering, the young fox shifted her tail to find no pain from doing so. It was at least nice, getting so much time to rest and be consoled by her parent. Even rejuves massively appreciated the sentiment, else they felt panicked, trapped, and alone, as children felt instinctively.

"How does less restrictions on what you wear sound?", Emily offered rather cheerfully sounding, after a moment of quiet and Kayla's wiping of her eyes. It stopped Kayla, making her look up with lacking certainty.

"Seriously? No dresses in public?", the fox asked with an idle wag of her tail, despite looking tired and droopy. Emily shook her head.

"Unless I need you to, and I still pick out what you wear to school.", Emily took a paw from Kayla's back to use in gesture, to lay down a new law. The privilege to pick out her own clothes when going out places was as brand new to her as taking showers and having privacy will be. It got a little smile out of the well swatted fox, who's backside no longer looked the way it did minutes prior. Aside from deeper bruising that would need just a touch more time, the paddle's scorn had been released from her. Nothing left to endure, her eyes were dry, while her cheeks remained moist. Kayla made a few sheepish sounds while catching her breath, trying to think of a nice way to reply.

"Why... thanks, mom.", was all the young hacker could think of, surprised to have been given three new privileges in one day. Perhaps she did earn more than she lost? Losing her hobby and creativity was crushing, but her overcoming such a blow placed her in a strong position with her mother. Emily replaced the loss, with gains as Kayla got older and wiser - closer to the Aspatrian she would be when this was all said and done. The memory of this paddling would stay with her though as a fierce and tear jerking reminder of what it meant to make a mistake that was bigger than she was. Was it worth it? Kayla had no idea. She was just happy it was gone and done with.

"If you're feeling better, you could grab a shower to get the lotion out of your fur. Then the rest of the day is your's.", Emily suggested, happy to see a bit of Kayla's light return after her "demonstration". As harsh as it was, even the older human hoped she had not made a mistake. She felt bad, wishing the ends justified the means. At her offer, Kayla slipped from her mother's lap until her toes touched the carpet below. Grasping her underwear and jeans, she stepped out of them, one foot, than the other, to throw the garments over her shoulder. Before she could hurry off upstairs to shower, bare below the waist, she was again stopped by her mother's voice.

"Don't forget your paddle honey. You made it, it's your's to keep.", Emily said with the paddle held in both her open palms, holding it out handle first to her daughter. Kayla took it to again feel it's weight. Looking it over again with both paws upon it, something she noticed made her chuckle awkwardly.

"It's still warm", the fox, a hard timer, was able to find humor in as she ran her fingers down the face of the paddle that spanked her to bawling. It radiated a small bit of ambient warmth from the harsh slaps and pounding strikes it delivered.

"No need to think about it. It's your birthday.", Emily waved off with her right hand, encouraging the young fox to head upstairs and make the best of her day. She wanted fairly badly for her girl to not stumble over the day's intermission. Kayla hummed, giving a nod of her head before simply holding the paddle by it's handle; heading upstairs with her tail swaying behind like a loose streamer.

Back up in her bedroom, her black jeans and underwear now wrapped around the back of her neck, Kayla placed the paddle standing on it's side atop her desk. It looked lovely in the light of her room; modest and clean, showing the world her willingness to reform. After what she just experienced at the hands of her mother though, the relationship between her and the paddle of her creation was a bit more complex. Kayla loved it and hated it at the same time. It was an interesting thing to own, knowing it would not chip and dull like it's blue and gold painted predecessor. Now Kayla would have to ensure the paddle remained here upon her desk and not in the hands of Emily; reaching beneath the base of her canid tail with her right paw, to rub reminiscently at the spot she found her first blister. How much it hurt was not going to be easily forgotten. Over time it could dull, but just as she learned by nearly slamming her tail in the hover-car door, the lesson she learned would stay with her.

Unlike every day before, Kayla stepped into the bathroom alone. Without the sound of running bath water and her mother's instructions, it was calm and soothingly private. Heart coming down from the quick pace it held during her spanking and recovery, it brought peace to her body to strip her shirt off in her lonesome and step into the tub to shower. Setting the temperature controls by a few taps of her fingers, just as she had watched for two years straight now, the shower started by her willing command.

Smile across her muzzle, tired and light, Kayla closed her eyes as her muzzle and body was pelted by the massaging rain of comfortingly warm water. Slowly her fur began to wet and moisten, her's to wash and be responsible for as water dripped from the tip of her Aspatrian tail to pool in the tub below. Here in the soft light behind the shower curtain, it was a sanctuary where she didn't have to be a Penitatas for a while. Relaxation washed over her once more, rinsing her insecurities away. Not every part of growing older was such a bad thing. She had come a long way.