A Diplomatic Proposal

A fun little exploration of an encounter between Amazons and furries came to mind, as I’m on a bit of a Diaper Dimension kick lately (if you couldn’t tell from organisational development). So please enjoy this little conceptual piece!

A Diplomatic Proposal

“Hey everyone! Welcome to the first meeting of the Anthromorphs and Amazons Liaison! I’m Dr. Jerry Wulff, and I think my name rather suits this little meetup!”

The hall was full of anthropomorphic animals, their chatter coming to a close as Jerry walked out onto the stage. The Albiene embassy was the closest place he could get to at short notice, having opened one of his new schools the day before and having only a week to prepare for a hugely important diplomatic step.

He’d been advising on dimensional interactions for some time now. He was by no means an expert in the field, but he’d had enough experience to be selected for ambassadorial positions. This was his first time talking to a brand new world of creatures, however, and he knew a good first impression was going to be vital.

As he began his speech on stage, Jerry walked towards the small laptop positioned next to the screen behind him.

“First of all, I want to make it clear that this is just a little introductory meeting so you can get to know the various ins and outs of our little dimension you’ve happened upon! We’ve been aware of travel of this kind for a long time, but it’s the first time we’ve met others quite as cute as yourselves”

Murmurs began in the crowd. Jerry simply turned on the screen, the first slide of the presentation appearing behind him. A little strong to start perhaps but first impressions were everything. Establish a confident presence, get them enraptured, show off the best of what Amazons could offer.

“Our first slide here shows off the various cities of our world. There’s some debate as to how and why there’s such divergent architecture but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s advanced and very aesthetically pleasing. You’ve clearly reached a similar level of advancement and we’re hoping to show how we can help you make the most of what you’ve learned”

The murmurs stopped as the eyes looked upon the various images being displayed. Jerry wasn’t an anthropologist, he was a diplomat, but the similarities in the necessary skills to succeed at this job were not vastly different. Besides, from what he’d gathered so far, these creatures were not smarter than Amazons. They were closer to Littles or Tweeners… well at least the ones not affected by Maturosis. They wouldn’t care about the difference between the architecture of Albiene or Yamatoa. Both were way beyond what they could achieve.

“Our top scientists discovered interdimensional travel many, many years ago. We had a few… incidents… involving dimensions we discovered but we soon adapted and now we have diplomatic processes to follow when we encounter new ones! Thus what you’re seeing here!”

The slides showed various pictures of Amazon scientists shaking hands with a couple of different beings coming through the portals. Notably none featured a Little anywhere.

“You’ll be treated to the best support we can provide during your stay here. The only thing we ask is that you understand a few things about our society first, which are common across all our various cultures”

The presentation changed over to a different format, showing a slide with an Amazon family. The first obvious thing to Jerry, but perhaps not to his audience, was the presence of a Little suffering with Maturosis alongside an Amazon child, their peer. Both were dressed in very formal outfits, but the Little’s pants were noticeably puffier.

“This is a typical Amazon household, probably not too different to your own family from what we gather. Parents can be either sex, and adoption is extremely common in our world. You’ll notice that the two children are similar in some ways but the male child is not an Amazon. He is what we call a “Little””

Murmurs once again began in the crowd of furry onlookers. It would not have avoided their notice that some were the same height as said Littles, so the simplistic term clearly got a few riled up.

“Don’t worry, Littles are an important and valuable part of Amazon culture, often contributing to the advancement of our world in important ways. But over time, as we’ve come to understand their psychology and predispositions, it’s become clear the majority fall foul of a particular condition called “Maturosis” later in life. While there is no defined age at which it occurs, different cultures manage this in different ways. They essentially revert back to childhood, requiring round the clock care just as a toddler or infant would”

Again, further murmurs. Some were happy with this explanation, others were clearly holding back questions until the end. That was fine, Jerry thought to himself, no need to go into more detail on that point for now. Littles were often the most difficult part to explain to others, but once they met a few, most had accepted that they were in need of the support of Amazons to be happy and safe.

“There are also “Tweeners” which, as the name implies, fall between Amazons and Littles. This is due to interbreeding between the two, something that occurs on occasion. There are safe ways for this to occur, though it is generally discouraged.”

A few nods, nothing really perturbing about that to his audience. He guessed interspecies intercourse on a world filled with anthropomorphic animals was probably in a similar position on such things. Allowed, given support even, but not really encouraged without serious considerations for the implications.

Jerry switched to the next slide. The images switched to a typical Amazon home, everything sized accordingly. His audience's jaws dropped at some of the technology on display as it went through the various rooms, each one having its own particularly interesting set of furniture and items that would immediately catch the eye. He left the slide on the nursery, looking back to the hall.

“As you can see, we provide excellent environments for our inhabitants to flourish. It’s by no means a utopia, we are not so arrogant as to assume we’re perfect, but we have certainly reached a level of technological understanding that allows for most to live their lives in content. We would always welcome you as visitors, provided you took some precautions of course.”

He was clearly setting off a few alarm bells in some members of the audience at this point. Some of the front row had crossed their arms and legs and were keeping their muzzles firmly shut despite the show.

“We’re aware of the many challenges your world must be facing, with a variety of different sized species and ways of adjusting for this. As such, we’d be very happy to discuss how best to address this within our world as well. But obviously Amazon’s on the street would be a little concerned at the idea of having to adjust for an adult mouse that was smaller even than one of their Littles!”

That brought on a definitive wave of groans. Ok, maybe don’t joke about the species differences, that was perhaps a sore spot.

“Heh, sorry folks, guess I read the room wrong there!” Jerry rubbed the back of his head and gave the group a smile, trying to defuse the situation a little “But anyway!” he pressed the button again allowing the slide to move on. Hitting the mid-way point, the questions slide presented itself as he turned to face the audience.

“So! Now is the point where I take questions from yours truly! Does anyone have anything they’d like to ask?”

A few hands immediately went up, followed by a few more nervous ones that had clearly been waiting to gauge the audience reaction

“Yes, the wonderful looking puma in the front row!”

The black furred woman stood up, eying around the room a little nervously as she spoke.

“Mr Wulff, thank you for coming to talk to us” a few nods followed “Having recently discovered how to travel to other dimensions we’re glad to find there are some cordial beings out there willing to interact with us”

Jerry smiled “Thank you miss…?”

“Miss Fox, thank you.”

“Miss Fox?”

“Yes” she audibly sighed “I know. Even though we’ve barely met I can see that look a mile off. Some of us have names like that sir, we’re aware of how it can seem confusing.”

Jerry chuckled, “Well, my apologies. I mean no offence”

“None taken” she cleared her throat “My question is what sort of rules does your society have about travelling? Obviously we’ll be setting our own…”

Jerry smiled “Of course. Well, that’s a little complicated. Dimensional travel is generally quite highly restricted, but once you have the tech, it’s easy to do… sometimes even from home”

A few murmurs came from around the room.

“Similarly some governments are more liberal than others about its use. Go to one place and they want to travel to as many places as possible. Go to another, they're desperate to keep others out.”

Miss Wolf nodded “How likely would it be for an Amazon to just pop into this world then?”

Jerry frowned “Likely. Now that we know about your dimension, explorers and scholars will want to document and record as much about it as they can. But I can assure you that any aggressive behaviour will be punished if reported. We take dimensional travel very seriously and…”

“Sir” another voice piped up from directly below him in the front row. A rabbit, around five foot tall, was staring up at him.

“Yes, my good fellow”

“Your Littles. They’re adults right?”

Jerry sighed inwardly. Great, this was going to come up wasn’t it.

“Littles are a complicated subject. Yes, they can be mature adults, but Maturosis often manifests itself in such a way as to reduce their mental acuity and motor control…”

“But you said there are different ways it was managed? What does that mean?”

“Well…” Jerry wanted to be diplomatic about this. Some of the room members were clearly perturbed “In Albiene, where I’m staying at the moment, Littles are given the opportunity to do everything Amazons do, and have to prove their academic capabilities. Most don’t manage to achieve the same level of success as Amazons and so they end up in our care for their safety.”

“And elsewhere?”

This rabbit was a curious one “Well, I have some papers I can share from a few places? Yamatoa is a country pretty dedicated to taking care of Littles from day one, a couple of teachers from my hometown emailed me their experience… and of course all research I’ve done on the subject”

The rabbit's eyes narrowed “From day one? What some places just don’t let them grow up?”

Jerry nodded “Yes, for some cultures, Littles are considered to be in a permanent state of babyhood. It’s not clear whether Maturosis is historically more preva….”

“And if someone from Yamawhatever arrived here? Saw most of us being about the height of a Little?”

There were some seriously loud murmurs coming from the crowd at this point. Jerry could feel the tension rising quickly among the audience.

“Look, I’m sure no Amazon is going to just treat you like a baby because you’re half their height. That’s not the reason why Littles are treated that way.”

“You’ve already said there’s no defined age” another voice from a mouse, even smaller than the rabbit, came from the next row back. “And yet you’re just assuming they’re always gonna end up regressing back to childhood?”

Jerry scowled. He had never assumed this at all. He had written several books on the subject and supportive guides for various teachers and parents of both Littles and Amazons. This was getting on his nerves.

“Now look. I appreciate the concern, but we’ve lived with Littles throughout our history and developed alongside them. As we’ve grown, we’ve understood their needs better and better. We want them to succeed where they can, but forcing them to live adult lives when they clearly can’t would not be fair, to them or to us.” he gave a bit of time for that to settle, the noise dying down just a little as some accepted the answer.

“We highly recommend you come visit some of our cities to see our dimension and how things work. Littles can often live highly fulfilling adult lives, but we have to be prepared for Maturosis at any time. It often puts a deep strain on relationships between our two peoples but we would never want to hurt…”

“Wait, so Littles don’t want to be treated this way?”

Jerry glared down at the rabbit. He was starting to remind him of some of the more petulant Littles he’d seen enrolled in his classes back home. Always questioning, never accepting answers from authority....

“No, often they struggle to accept the treatment, insisting that they are not under the effects of Maturosis despite clear evidence to the contrary. They’ll show incontinence or clumsiness or even lack of verbal control and claim it was accidental, but we have enough data to…”

“To what? Make them your little baby pets?” the mouse interrupted, the entire two front rows now scowling at Jerry like wild animals.

Maybe that’s all these things were, he thought to himself. Clearly they weren’t as advanced as Amazons were, they weren’t even listening to him explain himself without jumping to conclusions. Dogs back home could learn tricks if you were smart about it, maybe that’s all that had happened here.

“I’m going to try to explain this differently. '' he started, waving away the protests “You take care of your elderly when they get sick? Even if they’re struggling with their mental faculties you’ll make sure they’re taken care of by the right people even if they want to try to keep living the same life as before?”

A few nods were scattered amongst some continued skeptical looks. A start at least.

“This is similar. Littles are always prone to the effects of Maturosis. We haven’t yet identified the specific genetic or biological components involved but it’s clear the emotional responses indicate a hormonal imbalance of some kind occurs. We can treat this when they’re under the care of an Amazon, give them a happy and enjoyable life with few worries except a bit of diaper rash” he smiled at the end of the sentence, but that joke wasn’t landing as he expected it to.

Jerry noticed the back row of large animals hadn’t spoken up at all. Elephants and Rhinos made up the vast majority of the dozen or so attendees. Maybe they’d be more receptive…

“My good Elephant friend at the back there, in the brown suit, do you often find it hard to walk around with so many little colleagues?”

The gentleman seemed surprised to be called out, his eyes widening as he mumbled “I.. I suppose! But it’s not…”

“And if a smaller animal seemed to be in trouble would you not want to help out as much as you could? After all, you're stronger, better equipped to deal with so many parts of life from the day of your birth.” Jerry began to feel a bit more confidence flowing through him, even if he could feel the frustration coming from even up to the middle row at this line of questioning.

“I… I would certainly want to help but…”

“Now imagine, you see one of your colleagues having trouble talking. Having trouble walking around on two feet. Having trouble making it to the potty…” Jerry looked down at the animals in the front row and saw some of them clenching fists. Maybe they really were just the Littles of this dimension. Maybe they needed to be cared for in just the same way...

“Wouldn’t it be best to give them support? Love? Rather than forcing them aside and telling them it’s no longer possible for them to live in the world?”

The elephant nodded “I… It would be yes…”

Jerry smiled. It seemed as though size mattered here as much as it did back home. A shared understanding of the difficulties of living with smaller people prone to little accidents and struggles. Perhaps it was because they were clearly the minority here that had no power to exert over their smaller colleagues. That was certainly an interesting area of study to explore later.

“So you see, Littles are taken care of not out of a desire for us to have “pets” as you called them. We recognise that they require assistance at times and do our best to ensure they live comfortably. For some cultures, that involves teaching them from an early age that they are toddlers, and always will be. For others, it’s important to give them an equal shot, in the name of fairness, to show them how difficult it can be for them later on. We find the latter works substantially better in the long term than the former in studies.”

He sighed “But enough about Littles. You can come and visit and see them for yourself. Ask them what you’d like to for your own studies of our world.” he looked at he watched. Crap, that little aside had made the whole session overrun.

“Ah, sorry folks, looks like I’ve lost track of time. Thank you for attending the first liaison of Amazons and Anthromorphs!”

A lot of grumbling came from the crowd as he left the stage to head down to his colleagues. Finally out of the heat he pulled off his suit jacket and grimaced.

“If any of the little ones arrive they need constant surveillance. I don’t know how they got this far, but it’s clear a lot of them are just as petulant as Littles.”

His aides nodded as he grabbed a dimensional portal device and opened one back to his home. He’d have plenty to write about, that was for sure.

And maybe he'd finally get a rabbit as a "pet"