I realise that many of you don't have access to the 'Club Area', so thought, as I was intending to finish this story in this area, I should post "the story so far" for you to read. Then my new story will make a lot more sense to you!
Enjoy!
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Chapter 1:
Let me start by introducing Dave. Full name David Michael Jones, he's in his mid 20's, and works in an insurance office. Whilst his work isn't particularly exciting, it's sufficiently NOT boring that he puts up with it, and has been there 3 years now.
David has had a few girlfriends over the years, but has been single now for about 6 months, and to be honest, is getting a bit fed up with being single, and would like a girlfriend again.
Sadly, fate has been against him, and whilst there are a couple of unattached girls in his wider social group, and he is friends with them, they don't "do anything" for him.
In terms of the sort of "perfect girl" he would like to meet, she would be a bit shorter than Dave, reasonably slim, boobies not too big, with dark brown or even black hair cut shortish.... something like a bob cut. A fringe ('bangs' for our American readers!) would be a major bonus. Must have a nice smile... and if that smile had a covering of silver, that would be a lot nicer!
Yes, Dave has a thing for girls in braces! Which is just as well, otherwise I wouldn't be able to write this story!
Dave lives in a shared flat, on the second floor of a large house, sharing with 2 other guys.
Whilst Dave often goes out, he's been at home tonight. He had a shared dinner with one of his flatmates, and they watched TV together for a bit, but Dave is now in his bedroom, with the door safely locked, and is sat in front of his PC screen.
Yes, like almost all men of that age who don't have girlfriends, Dave is looking at some porno sites, 'enjoying' himself! Needless to say, many of the pictures he is looking at are of girls with dark hair with fringes, and many of whom have metal smiles.
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Chapter 2
5:30pm, only another hour before they closed for the day!
Whilst Andrea generally enjoyed working at the small Tesburys supermarket in the middle of town, it did sometimes get a bit boring. Like today. For some odd reason it had just been a very quiet afternoon.
Andrea was part of the small team that ran the supermarket. Most of them had worked there for over 5 years, only the boss was newer, but he'd already been there for 3 years! The team got on amazingly well.
Abdul was a little younger than Andrea, tall, and to be honest, quite good looking, although not really Andrea's sort.... besides, he had a girlfriend already. He did a lot of the shelf-stacking, and liked helping on the self-scan.
Ashanti was a tall girl, a couple of years older than Andrea. Very self-conscious, loved clothes and makeup and going out. Got braces last year, clear brackets on the top front 6 teeth, small metal brackets on the rest. She was really good with customers, smiling and having quick chats.... needless to say, she loved being on the till.
Travis was also a couple of years older than Andrea. Slightly overweight, not tall, but quite good looking. And married with a young kid! He was happy to do anything that was needed.
The boss was Matt. Just over 30, he too was married. He was a good manager, kept the place running, but didn't mind if there was a bit of "fun" in the quieter times. The result was that all the staff got on amazingly well, and the shop was a popular place for the local workers to come in and get their lunch and other shopping.
But being in the business area, the place was dead after about 6:00pm! As they needed to open at 7:30am (to catch the workers on their way to work), yet close at 6:30pm (to catch the stragglers on their way home) they ran a split shift system, either 7:30 to 4:00, or 10:00 to 6:30. Andrea preferred coming in early, as she then had time to do any shopping she might need before heading home, or off to have dinner with her aunt, who lived close by.
Andrea is a fairly plain girl, many might perhaps call her a little ugly. She's 5ft 6in tall, with long light-brown hair. When I say long, I mean L-O-N-G... almost down to her waist. She can't wear it like that at work, so she has various ways she puts it up: sometimes she tried a big bun on the top of her head, or a bun at the back (think ponytail, but with the hair in a sort of ball), or maybe just a long ponytail. She likes trying types of braids, but they can be harder to do whilst making it actually look good. Andrea has had long hair all her life - as a kid, she often had the longest hair at school, and was very proud of it.
Andrea is 22 years old, and is quite a slim girl. Not actually skinny, but no excess fat, and all without needing to exercise or watch what she ate.... her body just seemed to naturally want to be slim. And pretty flat-chested too. Facially, she had a longer thinner sort of very plain face.
Ah, yeah, I almost forgot: her mouth. More specifically her teeth - they were a disaster area. The main problem was that she just had too many teeth for the space in her mouth. All her lower teeth were crooked, with the two canines pushed out of line. Her large top front teeth were rotated outwards, and stuck out, with her equally large second teeth tucked in behind. Her canines hadn't properly descended, and goodness knows what her molars were like.. I think you're getting the picture here.... nice body, shame about the mouth.
Today was Tuesday, which meant that Andrea would be going around to her aunt Jenny's after work, and having dinner with her. Jenny has always had a bit of a soft spot for Andrea, and since Andrea's parents had moved away a couple years ago, they spent quite a bit of time together, getting together after work most Tuesdays and Thursdays. Jenny was a bit younger than Andrea's mum, so wasn't quite 40 yet.
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Chapter 3
"Oh, hello Sparkle" says the boss as Sparkle walks into the boss's office
"Hi boss, I'm guessing you have a new 'customer' for me to sort out?" says Sparkle
"Yes, and from the surveillance information, I think you're just one to take it on."
Maybe I should explain that they've been getting some really cool IT and technology upgrades over at Fairy HQ over the last couple of years, which means that they usually now get an indication of when people will make wishes, but before they have ACTUALLY made them, all of which means they can make a much better job of fulfilling the wishes.
"Ok, so what we got then?" asks Sparkle
"Male, mid 20s, un-attached, wants a girlfriend..."
"Oh, normal stuff then. Braces connection I assume?"
"Yup, I think that he would like a girl with them. But remember you'll need to be a bit more subtle than maybe you have in the past."
Ok, explanation needed: last year there had been a BIG blow-up, where a small group of over-enthusiastic, younger, fairies had been a bit TOO enthusiastic in 'helping things along' with what was without doubt a hugely excessive use of spells and magic. To be honest, the use of magic and spells had been growing over the last 5 or 10 years, and many of the older fairies didn't like it... "never used to be like this" sort of thing.
There had been major repercussions from the actual event, needing a top team of fairies to restore some semblence of 'normality', and more importantly, making sure that the humans didn't realise that this was the work of fairies, or for that matter, that fairies actually existed.
After that there were the inevitable investigations, and committees, with the inevitable set of reports and recommendations. Yawn...
The biggest thing to come out of the whole thing was that the fairies had to revert to being a lot more discrete in the way they used their magic.... so rather than just 'magicking' something to happen, they had to more 'nudge things along' so that the same event happened, but rather more naturally.
"Subtle's my second name" joked Sparkle.
"Ok, well I just messaged you the details.... would you like to team up with Lilly, as Magic is still out on her assignment?"
(Magic had been seconded over to Norway, part of a 'culture and ideas exchange'. From what Magic had told them all, things were going really well, but she would still need to stay there for a couple more weeks)
"Yes, would love to work with her again. But I thought she was still away at Fairy University?"
"She is, but she's back for the summer break"
"Oh, great, it will be interesting to hear what's she's been up to...."
Thus it was that Sparkle was about to meet up with Lilly again, and they would be working together on this new case: David Jones.
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Chapter 4
"Hey, Lilly, how are you?" asked Sparkle, as she hugged her favourite work-experience girl. Well, ok, she was a bit more than that now. Next year she would be in her second year at university, and had proven her abilities on many occasions now. In fact, she was part of the "fix-it" team I mentioned previously. But Sparkle still thought of her as "the work experience girl"!
"I am feeling ten times better for seeing you again, auntie Sparkle!" she joked. Lilly would call Sparkle 'auntie Sparkle' partly to pull her leg, but partly as a term of affection. "Mum tells me you've got a new 'customer' that I might like to help you with. Oh, I love it when I get to work with you! But where's Magic?"
"Oh, she's on placement over in Norway. I must admit, I do miss her. But you're here now, so things should be fun" she added with a smile.
"Still got your braces then, I see!"
"Yes, I have. I was supposed to get them off a few months ago, but managed to get to keep them a bit longer"
"You're not looking forward to retainers then?"
"It not so much that, it's just that I really like the way I look and feel with my braces. Makes me different. Makes me happy. Plus, I love it when the other fairies look at my silver smile."
Sparkle and Lilly chatted for a while, catching up on the various bits of gossip.
"What about Emily and Wendy?"
"Saw them a few days ago, they are being kept busy with quite a few 'customers', all pretty run-of-the-mill stuff I think. Tell you what, I'll drop them a message to let them know you're back, I'm sure they'd love to meet up"
"So, tell me about our next job then...."
"Customer is David, he's in his 20's. Not had a girlfriend for a while, and apparently is very likely to make a suitable wish fairly soon"
"I hear mum chose you specifically, so I'm guessing there must be a braces connection?"
"Yeah, it seems that our David has a thing for braces, so we need to be on the lookout for girls with braces.... here, take a look at his file" said Sparkle, passing the folder over to Lilly.
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Chapter 5
Dave looked at his watch: 12:30. Which meant it was time for lunch. Dave knew it would be a littly chilly out, so he put on his coat, and walked the 5 minutes to the shops.
On the way, he decided that today he's get the £3 meal deal at Tesburys... He grabbed a chicken and sweetcorn sandwich, a pack of popcorn, and a can of orange soda, then walked to the queue, which luckily wasn't too long today.
As he waited, he looked around. He recognised the staff, they had all been there since he'd started coming in. He knew their names - that was easy, as they all wore name badges. He'd seen Travis opening some boxes near where he'd picked up his sandwiches. Abdul was, as he often was, supervising the self-scan tills, and the two girls, Ashanti and Andrea were working the tills. Although not a girl he actually fancied, Ashanti did have one thing he loved: a beautiful silver smile. She was always willing to exchange a few words with the customers, so he would try and make her smile, so he could see her braces. Shame she wore so much makeup though... the "+2" she got from the braces was matched by the "-2" for the makeup!
And then there was plain Andrea. If only she would do something to improve her looks. I mean, that long hair of hers didn't really help, but Dave doubted that she'd ever get it cut.... girls with such long hair were usually so proud of their hair, never wanting to have it cut. Like Ashanti, she was fairly chatty, and actually had a nice voice. As Dave looked over towards Andrea, he saw her smile, which she did quite often. Nice smile, shame about those teeth. They weren't so much bad as BAD. I mean, why hadn't she had braces as a teen and had them fixed? Her top front teeth stuck out, pushed out of place by the next two teeth, which were in behind them.
As Dave stood in the queue, he was joined by two invisible (to humans) others: Sparkle and Lilly.
"Hey, he's actually not that bad looking" commented Lilly. They sat gently on his shoulder, as he moved a little closer to the front of the queue. Lilly noticed Dave looking at Andrea.
"Hey, I have an idea... can I?"
"Remember to only 'nudge' him along, he's not formally wished yet"
"As if I can forget, they are always on about that at Uni...". Lilly pulled out her wand, and waved it, inserting a tiny thought into Dave's mind.
Dave smiled a tiny smile: an idea had just come into his mind: if only Andrea had braces, she'd gain 2 bonus points, and then she might score as high as 4 out of 10!
"Next please!" called Andrea, and Dave walked forward to the till.
As Dave arrived at the till, Lilly spotted 2 tiny figures sat on the shelf just behind Andrea
"Emily? Wendy?" called Lilly
Emily and Wendy both looked up, and smiled on seeing Lilly. "Lilly! hey, nice to see you!!"
"Great to see you guys too.... what you doing here?"
"Trying to work out what to do to help Andrea here"
"Three pounds please. Card? Do you need a bag?" Andrea asked Dave with a nice smile. Well, as nice as she could do with her terrible teeth.
Dave waved his card over the card machine, which beeped. "no bag, I'm fine thanks" replied Dave with a small smile. He picked up his sandwiches, popcorn and drink, and started to walk towards the exit.
Sparkle and Lilly flew off Dave's shoulder, and went and joined Emily and Wendy.
"So, what you two doing here?" asked Wendy
"Well, our customer, Dave, needs a girlfriend, and by the sound of it, preferably with braces" replied Sparkle
"Well, there's Ashanti over there, but I think she has a boyfriend already"
"Hmm, maybe not: from what I've read, don't think she's likely to be Dave's type. So what you doing for Andrea?"
"Mainly watching and learning for the moment. No wish yet, but she's not over happy with life right now"
"I reckon she needs a complete makeover, and then some" commented Lilly
"Oh, ouch!" said Emily, "but you're probably right, to be honest. She'll be having dinner with her Aunt tonight, maybe we can start sowing a few seeds there... But what about YOU then? It's been ages since we've seen you. "I guess you're done for the year now, are you?"
"Yup.... all done for my first year, but around all summer. Hey, how about us all meeting up tonight? After you've finished with Andrea, of course?"
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Chapter 6
"Hi Jenny" said Andrea as she walked into her aunt Jenny's sitting room. Andrea had a front door key, so had let herself in.
"Hello there, Andrea.... so nice to see you, as always...." said Jenny, standing up and giving Andrea a big hug.
Andrea had spent quite a lot of time with Jenny, and they had become very close - in fact they probably had a better relationship than Andrea had with her own mum... if only because she wasn't her mum, if you know what I mean.
"So, what we having for dinner tonight then?" asked Andrea as they walked together into the kitchen. "And what can I do to help?".
Andrea always felt a bit guilty that her aunt was always making her dinner, and she never really had the chance to reciprocate.
"You can put the kettle on and make us a cuppa.... and we have chicken casserole for dinner. Just needs the rice making, and I'm quite able to cook that in the microwave for 2 minutes!" she said with a smile.
Jenny was pretty much retired now, she worked 3 mornings a week at the local doctor's, plus did a bit of work for a small charity, all of which made her life interesting, but gave her plenty of time to relax, plus be able to make dinner when Andrea came around.
Jenny's husband (and thus Andrea's uncle) had died a bit over 5 years before, so Jenny was very happy for Andrea to visit, and keep her company. On the other side, I think Andrea very much appreciated having her aunt's company, so a nice win-win.
Sitting on a shelf in the kitchen, watching what was going on was Emily. She had volunteered to come an have a look at Andrea's evening with her aunt, while Wendy went off to check on another of their "customers". A little later, the both of them were planning to meet up with Sparkle and Lilly.
Emily watched and listened as the cups of tea were made, and the rice was cooked, then followed Andrea and Jenny through to the living area.
"You sound like you're a bit down in the dumps" Jenny commented
"No so much 'down in the dumps', it's just that life's been a bit... well, kinda boring"
"You mean at work?"
"Partly that. But also outside work." said Andrea, putting another helping of the rather yummy casserole into her mouth.
Aunt Jenny smiled. She fully realised that Andrea was a bit of a 'plain girl', and that whilst she had dated a few boys, had never actually had a serious boyfriend.
"You have all your friends...."
"Yeah, but I'd like a bit more than that...."
As they ate their dinner, they chatted - well mainly Andrea chatted, and Jenny listened - she was a great listener.
Emily, sitting over to the side, was listening to the conversation, and looking at Andrea. Yes, Lilly had actually been absolutely spot on when she said that Andrea needed a makeover.
Now, with her fairy magic, Emily could have waved her wand, and fixed pretty much all of Andrea's physical issues, but would have got herself into a lot of trouble doing it too! 'Sublety" was the new watchword. Especially as Andrea hadn't ACTUALLY made the all-important wish yet.
Emily had been watching Andrea for a few days now, and had actually come to like her. She was pleasant, gentle, polite, and all the pleasant things that one would hope for. Just let down by a few aspects of her looks. What Andrea needed was someone to help 'nudge' her along. And it had become obvious to Emily that that person was right here.
Emily pulled her tablet out, and double-checked what was allowed, and it appeared that her idea was ok. Waving her magic wand (*) she implated a few simple ideas into Jenny's head.
(* Magic wands: they were indeed magic. They weren't things the fairies actually need to keep on them - heck, they would snap if they just put them in their pockets. No, they just seemed to 'appear' when needed, then disappear again when not!)
"You know" said Jenny, "I think you need to get yourself a new 'look'. Something that better suits a young 22 year-old girl like you"
Andrea looked up at Jenny. They had had a similar conversation a few times before, but the way her aunt Jenny had said it this time sounded a bit different.
"For example, your hair looks lovely, and I know you love your hair being long, but.... well, maybe you'd look a lot 'smarter' if was a bit shorter. Besides, I know it takes you ages to wash it and brush it, and keep it nice"
Andrea DID love her long hair, but yes, it did take a looking after. But..... well, she had only ever HAD long hair. The idea of getting it any shorter was... well, scarey! Emily had already picked up on Andreas feelings, but the new rules didn't allow her to take more direct action... not until she had actually made a wish. Half a moment, an alert had just popped up on her tablet.
"I must admit, I do sometimes wonder about getting it cut, I'm just unsure about how I would look. I wish I could just see how I'd look with shorter hair, but without actually getting it cut..." said Andrea
Emily suddenly became very alert. That had definitely been a wish: she could do something at last! Ok, slow things down a bit (quick wave of the wand....), she needed time to do a bit of research. Surely there must be.... ah, yes, there is.... but it's going to cost a bit.... hmmm, I think we're going to need a bit more help from aunt Jenny here.... Another wave or two of the wand. First one to help make Andrea a bit more open to change. Next one to ask aunt Jenny to help out. Final one to make time normal again
"Well, when I was at the hairdressers the other week I spotted the stylist had a new app on her tablet, that let her show people what different hair styles could look like - you should go and have a word. Tell you what, Andrea, my treat - go and have a chat, and if you like it, I'll pay for a complete restyle for you!"
Emily smiled: things were looking good, she just needed Andrea to like the idea.
"Sounds like a nice idea..."
"Well, it can't hurt to find out, can it?"
Andrea and Jenny continued eating their dinner and chatting. Emily was very happy that she had managed to move things along with Andrea a bit, so decided she could leave, and meet up with Wendy, Sparkle and Lilly....
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Chapter 7
Sparkle and Lilly had had a really great evening together with Wendy and Emily. They also had an online chat with Magic, who was excited to hear that Lilly was back with them for the summer, and was looking forward to being back soon.
The following morning, after a bit of a late start, Sparkle and Lilly met up with David. He was on his way to work, and looked to be half asleep.
Once at work, Dave grabbed a strong cup of coffee, and 30 minutes later, was feeling a bit more normal. David's day was a fairly normal one. A few emails and phone calls, then lunch. Today, Dave decided to go to Franceso's, a very nice sandwich shop in the high street. A bit more expensive than the 'meal deal' at Tesbury's, but a bit nicer too. Of course, Sparkle and Emily went along too, rather hoping that there might be a member of staff at Francesco's with braces, that they could maybe work on. But no such luck.
The afternoon looked like it would be as ordinary as the morning.
"Hey, Lilly, would you be ok for the afternoon by yourself, I need to go check up on another customer. I'll meet you back here just before Dave goes home?"
"Sure, that's fine with me! See you later" replied Lilly. Through the afternoon, Lilly alleviated the boredom by taking a look through the stuff on Dave's desk, and in his drawers. To be honest, it was all pretty normal and boring - the most exciting thing she found was Dave's old watch, which he obviously no longer used.
"Lilly? You here?" asked Emily's voice. Lilly appeared out of the waste basket, where she had been reading a magazine that Dave had thrown out.
"Sorry, there was an interesting article in the trade magazine, and I kinda got into reading it..."
"Ah, so nothing exciting going on then?"
"No, nothing. But your timing is great, I think Dave's about to go home."
They followed Dave home on the bus. Lilly quite enjoyed busses: so many people in a small place, with nothing to do. Some played games on their phones. Some listened to music, others read a book or a magazine. Dave was just sitting quietly, eyes closed, relaxing. He had been up late the previous night, watching far too many YouTube videos from "The LockPickingLawyer".
After having dinner, Dave watched a bit of TV, starting to fall asleep while watching. Dave decided that maybe he needed an early night for a change.
Sparkle and Lilly watched as Dave brushed his teeth: Dave had fairly good teeth. Orthodontically, there were a few minor issues, but overall he had a pretty good bite and pretty straight teeth.
Dave then got into bed, and within a few minutes, he was asleep.
"It's a shame we can't do much while he's asleep" commented Sparkle
"Actually, we can...." replied Lilly
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we've been doing a bit of research at Uni, and we've worked out a way that we can sometimes interact with people in their dreams"
"Interact? As in watch their dreams?"
"Actually a bit more than that...". A big smile appeared on Lilly's lips. "Maybe we should have a try with Dave?"
"We allowed to? I mean, 'gentle touch' and all that stuff?"
"Hey, people aren't actually THAT stupid, they know that things they see in their dreams aren't always real"
"Things...?"
"Yeah, like fairies...."
"You mean Dave will see us, and...."
"... and we can chat to him"
"As normal people?"
"Well, THAT seems to depend on the person. Sometime we appear like people, sometimes like fairies. That's what we're actually working on at the moment, why some see us as fairies, whilst others don't"
"I'm not sure we should" said Sparkle, after thinking a bit
"Oh, come on Sparkle, what's the WORST that could happen? Let's at least try"
Sparkle shook her head, with thoughts like "these young kids today..." running though it, when she remembered that she wasn't actually much older than Lilly!
"Oh, ok, then, but first hint of something going wrong, and we're out"
"Ok...."
"So what do we need?"
"Well, my Uni notes would be very useful....". Lilly waved the wand that had just appeared in her hand, and a tablet appeared in her hand. She knew exactly where to look.
"Ok, hold my hand.... and ....." Lilly said a few magic words that Sparkle didn't recognise, and waved her wand. The room blurred.....
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Chapter 8
..... and moments later they found themselves sitting on the settee in someone's living room. The room was quite large (unlike Dave's rather small place) and nicely furnished. Lilly turned and looked at Sparkle.
"Ok, looks like we have our wings today....." said Lilly
"But where are we?"
"Well, I'm rather hoping that we're in Dave's dream. If we are, then Dave should be around somewhere.... come on, let's go take a look."
They searched the downstairs: in the nice separate dining room, the large kitchen, and the conservatory, but found no one.
"Nice house!" said Sparkle, "I wonder whose it is?"
"I'm guessing his parent's house, the last place before he moved out. No one down here, let's try upstairs" suggested Lilly.
Upstairs, they heard some noise coming from one of the rooms. The door was open, so Lilly popped her head in, and saw Dave, sitting on the bed, reading a magazine.
"Hello Dave" she said walking in to the room.
"Erm.... hello, who are you?"
"Well, I'm Lilly, and this is my friend Sparkle..." she said, beckoning Sparkle into the room.
Dave looked at them for a moment, then finally realised that something was 'different' about them.
"Hey, ladies, is there something wrong with my eyes? I mean, it looks like you both have wings!"
"Oh, THOSE" said Lilly. "Yeah, they're definitely wings.... That's because we're...". At that point Sparkle tried to 'shush' Lilly.
"You can't tell him about us" whispered Sparkle
"Why not, it's a dream, anything can happen in a dream, even fairies..."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely! Now, where was I?" She added, turning back to Dave. "Oh yeah, the wings.... we're fairies, and fairies have wings"
"Oh, yeah, like fairies really exist!" says Dave
"Well, we're definitely fairies, and we're here in front of you" said Lilly, fluttering her wings sexily. "Come on Dave, humour us a bit, this IS your dream.....". Dave looked around him.
"Yeah, I guess it must be, I mean, this is my parent's place, I've not lived here for a few years. It's nice being back here though, brings back some nice memories. I can still remember bringing young Suzie back here.... nice girl, great kisser, something to do with the....". And he stopped.
"Braces?" suggested Sparkle, starting to get the idea of what they could do in a dream.
"Erm........" said Dave, sounding very embarrassed
"Don't be shy, we know that you have a thing about girls in braces" she said, smiling.
"How do you know about THAT?"
"As Lilly said, it's YOUR dream, so anything you know, we must know too....".
Dave thought for a short moment. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
Sparkle smiled again, this time a bit wider, so Dave could definitely see the metal in her mouth.Finally, Dave realised that Sparkle actually had a nice shiny mouth.
"Hey, that's a nice set of braces you got there! I never realised that fairies have orthodontists"
"We do, sort of. But Santa gave me these"
"Santa? You kidding me? Everyone knows that Santa doesn't really exist!"
"Yeah, same as everyone knows that fairies don't exist either.... yet here we are.....". Dave laughed out loud.
"Ok, yeah, I guess I set myself up for that, didn't I?"
"So..." said Lilly. "Back to your love of braces... do you just like them on others, or have you ever fancied having them yourself?"
"Both... not that I'll ever GET braces"
"Maybe not for real, but this is just a dream... anything could happen in a dream"
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course, all you have to do is have a good imagination....."
Dave's mind was racing..... "well, how about some big shiny brackets, for a start?"
"Oh, far too easy.... Sparkle, want to give it a try?"
"Ok.... here goes". Sparkle waved her wand, possibly a bit TOO energetically.... and Dave had a mouth full of stupidly MASSIVE brackets.... "Ooops, let me try again.....". This time they looked just like normal 'large' brackets.
"What happened there?" Sparkle whispered to Lilly
"Sorry, I should have warned you.... you don't seem to need anywhere near the same wish power to achieve stuff in a dream."
Dave ran his tongue over the brackets, then put his hand up to his mouth, to feel the braces. Lilly waved her wand gently, and a mirror suddenly appeared in Dave's hand.
"Oh, that's useful" said Dave looking at himself in the mirror. "Um, don't want to appear ungrateful, but I've always fancied having removables... you know, the plastic in the mouth... it kinda appeals!"
"Oh, ok" says Lilly, who waves her wand gently.
"Oh my gawd...." says Dave with a huge lisp, smiling, and looking again in the mirror.
"What did you give him?" whispered Sparkle
"A nice pair of twin block expanders"
"Instead of the brackets?"
"No, as well as...". Sparkle giggled.
"What do you think, Dave? Too much?" continued Lilly
"No, not too much at all...." replied Dave (with quite a lisp, of course), seeming to quite enjoy the experience.
"A bit more maybe?". Dave said nothing, so Lilly waved her wand again. Dave now had a facebow, and an interlandi headgear. Oh, and an even BIGGER smile when he realised what had happened.
Sparkle and Lilly had a quick whispering session.
"We think you ought to show off your new orthodontia to the world ...."
"You're kidding me? With THIS lot?"
"Why not? - I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience!" said Sparkle, who was already waving her wand. The scenery changed, and Dave found himself sitting at a table in a busy café, with two attractive young... erm.... fairies sat opposite him.
And a waitress stood next to him, looking right at him. "Tea or coffee sir?" she asked.
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Chapter 9
Things had happened rather quickly for Dave, so it was quite a shock to find himself in a café, sat at a table fairly close to the door. With braces. A lot of braces. And a headgear. And a waitress asking him what he wanted to drink.
"Bwack hoffee pweath" said Dave, having quite a problem with his speech. The waitress looked puzzled, she had clearly not understood a word!
"I think he said he'd like a black coffee" said Lilly. "Can we just have some water, please?"
"No problem" replied the waitress.
"I get the feeling you are a little surprised and shocked, but something also tells me that you're also quite enjoying this" commented Sparkle.
Dave took a deep breath, and nodded. "Yeah, things kinda happened rather quickly...". To any casual observer, Dave had a bad lisp, but the fairies could understand him just fine.
"I guess it was.... you ok? Are you enjoying the experience of being braced, and out in public?"
"Sort of yes and sort of no. We *are* still in my dream, aren't we?"
"Yes, we are."
"Oh, thank goodness for that". Dave spotted that Lilly had her wand in her hand again, and was giving it a slight twitch. "Erm, what you doing now?"
"Well, I get the feeling that you're thinking you'll be ok, as long as no one you know sees you in your braces, because I doubt it's something you've ever told anyone else about"
"Hell no, of course I've not told anyone else!". If you were to measure Dave's vitals right now, you would find his heartbeat was now quite high, and he was taking deep breaths to try to keep calm.
"So it would be a bit embarrassing if someone you knew well were to.... well... kinda turn up here, and see you in your braces?"
"You wouldn't?"
"Why not?.... hey, Dave, someone has just come in that seems to be looking at us, and it's no one that *we* know..."
Dave turned around, to see his best friend John had just walked in, and was looking straight at him.
"My, you ARE getting good at this, aren't you?" whispered Lilly to Sparkle, and giggling
"It's been a while since I had such fun..... I just hope we don't get into trouble!"
"Who's going to know? Besides, I think Dave is actually very happy with what's happening!"
John was standing in front of Dave, staring, and saying nothing. It took Dave a few moments to remember that he was still in a dream - ok, a very realistic dream, but that's how some dreams are.
"Oh, hi John!" said Dave with a really bad lisp.
"What's with all the....?" asked John, motioning with his hands around his face.
"Just some bwatheth"
"It's a bit extreme, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but apparently I have thome major issues with my teeth..."
"Oh, ok... well, I need to get on....I'll see you at the quiz tomorrow, I guess?"
"Yeth pwobably".... and with that Dave closed his eyes for a moment.
The café dissolved around Sparkle and Lilly, and they suddenly found themselves being thrown backwards. They landed on the small table next to Dave's bed, and saw Dave sitting up. Now that they were no longer in his dream, Dave couldn't see them any longer.
"Holy crap" said Dave to himself, "that was scary... but rather nice!". Needless to say, Dave had a huge grin on his face.
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Chapter 10
Sparkle sat there for a moment just laughing. "That was FUN!" she said "and the spells were so easy to do. It's shame that Magic wasn't here to join in"
"Mmm, she would have enjoyed it. But you can see why we've been researching this at Uni..... We can provide wish fulfilment so easily in someone's dreams"
"But that mean's it's just short term, surely?"
"True, but maybe it can also help us understand better what our 'customers' really want"
"Yeah, ok, that makes some sense. So, what now?"
"Well, I don't think we'll be able to do much more with Dave tonight, I think he just 'maxed out', if you know what I mean!", and with that Lilly started giggling, which meant that Sparkle also started giggling.
"Hey, why don't we go & see what Emily and Wendy have been up to...." suggested Sparkle after they stopped giggling
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Chapter 11
Andrea took an early lunch, and went off to visit the hairdresser suggested by her Aunt Jenny. She spoke briefly with the receptionist.
"You need to have a chat with Shirley, she's the one who would style your hair. Let me go and get her, she's not due to have another customer for about 15 minutes..."
"Thank you...."
It was about this point that Emily and Wendy caught up with Andrea.
"Ah, good, she's made it...." said Emily
"Yes, but I think we may need to 'nudge' her along a bit..." replied Wendy
A few moments later, Shirley came out.
"Hello, I'm Shirly. Anna tells me you're looking to have your hair restyled. Come over here and take a seat, and let me take a good look at you."
Andrea sat down, and Shirley took a look at her hair. "So, what are you thinking of doing?"
"I'm not really sure.... I've had long hair like this for.... well, as long as I can remember"
"Well, I can see that your hair is in really great condition, so we could do pretty well anything. Here, let me clip your hair back a moment.... and I can take a picture on my tablet..... Right, so let's just set this up.... ok, so let's try a few ideas. Here's a very extreme one....", and she showed Andrea what she might look like with really short hair.
"A bit TOO extreme I think..." commented Andrea.
"Ok, how about THIS?" said Shirly, showing Andrea an image of her face with a bob cut and fringe. Andrea looked at it for a moment. "So, you don't hate that then.. let's try a couple of other ideas". Shirley spent a few minutes showing Andrea a few more ideas.
"So" said Shirley, "you can be very conservative, and just get it cut so that it's maybe shoulder length. Or do you REALLY want to make a big change, and go shorter?"
("I think she needs a bit of courage, so she can be bold.... I think that bob would REALLY suit her" said Emily, waving her wand.)
Andrea took a big breath. "I'd like to be bold, that bob cut does look good, but...."
".. but you're not really sure. Tell you what, without really cutting your hair, I can probably clip your hair up to sort of show you what it could look like. I'll need to do a tiny bit of trimming though, that ok?"
Andrea nodded, and Shirly spent a couple of minutes clipping most of Andreas hair out of the way, behind her head and out of view. The 'fake' bob cut started to appear....
("You know, it really DOES suit her, doesn't it" said Wendy. "I think she still needs a little more help" and she waved her wand.)
Shirley clipped the last bit of hair into place, then quickly trimmed off a couple of bits of hair that weren't quite the right length. A big smile came onto Andrea's face.
"You like it?"
"I didn't think I would, but yeah, I do. It's a bit extreme, but I think I need to do something a bit extreme...."
"Yes, it does seem to work well with the shape of your face.... and when I do it properly, I think you'll be very happy!"
So it was that, a couple of days later, with Wendy and Emily watching with admiration, a very happy Andrea walked out of the hairdresser's looking VERY different. Sufficiently so, that most people would have trouble recognising here - as long as she didn't open her mouth :-). She then did a bit of shopping, then went home. At tea-time, she went to see her aunt Jenny.
"Hiya, I'm here!" she called as she walked through the front door.
"In the sitting room" replied Jenny. As Andrea walked in, Jenny looked at her, but seemed unable to say anything.
"Well, what do you think?" Andrea asked her
"You look so different! Give me a moment... turn around, let me see the back....". Andrea turned around, to let Jenny take a look.
"It feels really strange, and sort-of cold around the back of my neck.. but my head feels so light now, with so much hair gone"
"I'm not surprised... you've had long hair ever since you were a tiny girl. But yes, I think it looks good: it really suits you"
The two of them chatted while they both went out, and finished making their tea, then sat down to eat it, which is when Wendy and Emily rejoined Andrea. They were sat up on one of the bookshelves when Andrea looked at them (not that she could actually see them) and smiled.
"You know, her hair looks really great, but we're going to have to do something about those teeth of hers"
"Well, we can't just 'wish them straight', can we? .... well, ok, technically we could, but we'd be in a huge amount of trouble if we did"
"Yeah, nudges.... I think we need to do a few nudges...."
Emily and Wendy chatted about what they could do. It was Emily who noticed that Jenny's teeth were actually very nice and straight.
"I wonder if Jenny ever had braces as a kid?"
"I bet she did... how can we find out?"
"Well, we COULD just get Andrea to ask her"
"Nice one.... would you like to, or shall I?" asked Wendy
"Oh, be my guest.....". Wendy waved her wand very carefully, placing a couple of very subtle thoughts into Andrea's mind.
It started with Andrea absent mindedly running her tongue over her crooked teeth. Then aunt Jenny happened to smile, showing off her lovely straight teeth. Suddenly, a few ideas all came together in one place.
"Aunt Jenny... you have lovely teeth.... did you ever have to have braces when you were young? I mean, I know mum never had braces, coz she has crooked teeth almost as bad as mine, but yours are....."
"Nice and straight? They didn't used to be, but you're right I did have braces, and looking back, I'm actually glad I did"
"So why didn't mum have braces. Or me?"
"Well, my teeth were almost as bad as yours, and back then, I had to have some quite extensive treatment. Very visible treatment. I started off with big removable plastic braces with wires all over my teeth: I had a lot of trouble speaking with them in my mouth, so I sometimes took them out.... actually, a bit more than sometimes. So they gave me big metal train-track braces instead... much bigger than what you see nowadays. With some springs and elastics."
"Doesn't sound too nice"
"It wasn't. The other kids were rather nasty to me, and I got really badly bullied: back then, not so many people had braces, and if they did, they were nowhere near as bad as what I had to have. Luckily no one ever saw the 'headgear' that I had to wear at home every night"
"Headgear? What's that?" asked Andrea
"Hmm... imagine a thick wire that's connected to the braces on your back teeth, and another bit of wire connected to it, that pulls your teeth backwards?"
"Uh?"
"Yeah, I had an elastic strap around my neck, and the idea was to pull my teeth backwards, so it could make space from my other teeth. It must have done it's job, because I ended up with nice teeth. Just a lot of name calling and bullying along the way. Anyway, your mum saw how the braces affected my life, and she refused to have them. And refused to let you have them either"
Andrea sat quietly for a bit, thinking. Helped along by another gentle wave of Emily's wand.
"Was it really worth it, do you think?" asked Andrea
"No, and yes. At the time my life was hell. But now I'm older, and can look back on it, I think it was just about worth it...". Another small wave of Wendy's wand, to help Andrea's thoughts along....
"You know, I don't really like my teeth.... I mean, they don't look very good, do they?"
"Unfortunately, no, they don't. I guess you could get braces - I think they are probably a lot better these days. Not so obvious. And I hear that lots of adults wear braces now."
"Yeah, but I think only kids get braces for free.... I bet they're expensive"
Emily waved her wand again, this time directing it at aunt Jenny.
Jenny leaned over, and put her arm around Andrea. "Would you LIKE to have your teeth straightened?"
"Yes, I wish I could... But....". (Emily looked at Wendy: "She just wished, we can officially help her!!!")
"But?"
"Well, there's no way I'll be able to afford them".
Jenny thought for a quick moment, then smiled. "Do you believe in fairy godmothers?". Wendy looked at Emily, slightly worried.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, fairy godmothers have magic wands they can wave to make things happen..."
("Was that YOU, Emily?"... "No, not me, must be her own idea")
"... and as your fairy godmother, I think I need to wave my wand....". Jenny waved her hand, as if she had a wand in it. "... and help your wish come true..."
Andrea looked at her aunt, quizzically.
"Let ME pay for them! I have no one else better to spend my money on... I'd love to be able to help you"
"You kidding?"
"Not at all!"
Andrea put her arms around her aunt, and they hugged.
"Result!!" said Emily to Wendy. "Our job is done for the moment, and without a lot of effort...."
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