Mommies and Daddies

Agree, it's a crazy world at the moment. 

Ch.3      Seeing a new room was already a novel enough experience for me after being confined to the same few rooms since I arrived here. The first thing that commanded my attention when we got to the front desk in the waiting area, was a woman in her fifties sitting on a couch. Or rather, my attention was on her lap, where the head of another Pet rested. He looked like he was maybe a teenager, but could've been early twenties. Short, spikey blond hair and a graphic tee depicting some anime I was unfamiliar with gave him a sort of punkish aesthetic. Even his diaper was solid-black. I didn't even know they made black diapers! I guess there's probably an entire world of diaper fashion here. Maybe Connor will get me orange Spider-Man diapers to match his jacket?    The boy Pet's eyes were closed and he looked... So peaceful. His owner absentmindedly played with his hair while scrolling through her phone. Apparently he somehow sensed me staring at him, because he cracked one eyelid slightly open, gave me a half-hearted, lazy wave with one hand, and went back to his little catnap.    Realizing I'd been staring, I quickly turned away and tried to find literally anything else to focus on. It wasn't as though he was the first other Pet I'd seen, but he was the first I'd seen out "in the wild" so to speak. And moreover, it was my first time seeing a Pet with their owner. He looked so calm and content. Would that be me soon? Curled up with Connor, his fingers entwinning with my hair... Not a care in the world, no responsibilities other than being cute and obedient. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad? Yeah, I just have to be a good girl and everything will work out! I can do that, right?    But what if it's *not* that easy...    I wanted to submit, I really did. I wanted to just let myself believe that Connor would take good care of me and I could just be his happy little Pet forever... But while these Pet-People may be able to condition me to be submissive and obedient, they can't condition away my womanly sense of self-preservation. Connor is a man. A man who desires companionship badly enough to adopt an entire person to be his live-in Pet. What was he expecting to get out of this deal? What was *I* going to be expected to give him? In my experience, men only wanted one thing, and it's-    "Congratulations, Mr. McGwain! You are now the proud owner of your very own Pet!" Nancy declared, handing Connor a piece of paper--presumably my adoption papers I would guess?    "Thank you, Nancy." Connor said, neatly folding the document before putting it in his coat pocket.    "Anything else I can help you with, sir?" Nancy asked. "Diapers? Toys? Pet furniture? We have a variety of options here."    "Already taken care of, thank you." Connor said, "Now, I hate to adopt and run, but there's much to do and so very little time to do it, as always."    "Of course, sir. Have a great day!"    "You too." Connor finally turned to me, gesturing towards the exit, "Shall we?"    So that's it then. I am now owned by this man. My new life as somebody's Pet was about to begin. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to feel. I should be excited to get out of this hell-hole of a prison. Wasn't I just saying to myself not too long ago that I'd do anything to leave this place?    Be careful what you wish for, I guess.    Connor lead me outside and into the parking lot of a strip mall. The cars all looked just like the ones back home. That building across the street clearly was or used to be a Pizza Hut. Billboards and business signs rose up all around declaring...    Wait, huh? Everything is written in weird squiggles. Not quite Chinese-looking, more like some kind of alien script.    "Umm, Connor? We *are* in America, right? Why can't I read any of the signs?"    "Divergence." He answered, "One thing that seems to be consistent across different dimensions is that we all use a completely different alphabet."    "Oh…" Great. So not only am I somebody's Pet, and incontinent, I'm also illiterate! "So I'm gonna have to re-learn how to read?"    "If you want." Connor said, "Really there's no reason a Pet *needs* to read, and some people actually prefer to keep their Pets illiterate. But if you want to learn how to read here, I will gladly help you do so after we get you settled in a bit."    "Yeah… Thanks." So he's willing to teach me how to read, huh? That's at least one green flag in his favor. If he wanted to keep me truly helpless and dependent on him, keeping me illiterate would be a pretty good way of doing that.    We approached a dark green hatchback and he opened up the passenger-side door. I took my seat and he, thankfully, unclipped my leash before walking around to the driver's seat and sitting down.    "You probably have some questions, and we have about a ten minute drive before we get back to my place. So go ahead and ask away." Connor said, turning the car on and navigating his way out of the parking lot.    "Wait, really!?" My eyes widened with surprise. In the facility they made it a point to deny me any answers to the many burning questions I had. Now Connor was offering me whatever answers I wanted. Green flag number two, I guess. "I guess my first question would be… How did I get here? How do 'Pets' come to find themselves in this world?"    "Good question." Connor said, "Unfortunately, nobody knows. Or if they do know, it's the most well-kept secret in the history of humanity. What we *do* know is that Pets didn't start showing up here until a few decades ago. The prevailing theory is that it has something to do with scientific advancements accidentally creating a rift in spacetime. Nobody really knows for sure, though."    "Huh. Interesting… Next question: Is there any way for me to get back home?"    Connor shook his head, flashing me a sympathetic smile, "Sorry to disappoint you, but no. It's a strictly one-way trip. And it's not for lack of trying, mind you! When it was discovered that parallel dimensions definitively existed, well, you can just imagine how many billions of dollars have been spent trying to open a portal to those worlds."    "Yeah, I can imagine…" Damn. It was a longshot, but his explanation made sense. I'm not gonna say I had a *lot* of hope that I could return home, but having that tiny sliver of hope snuffed out definitely stung. For better or worse, I was stuck here. "Am I allowed to wear pants? Or really anything to cover my diaper?"    "Allowed? Sure, there's no law against it. As your owner I'm allowed to dress you however I see fit, and I do have a modest wardrobe prepared for you at the house. Honestly I probably should've brought you a change of clothes when I came to get you. That's my bad."    "It's okay, they pretty much trained the modesty out of me at this point anyway…" It was mostly true. I wasn't all that embarrassed to be sitting here in front of Connor with my diaper on full display. Walking across the parking lot, on the other hand? That made me feel more than a little self-conscious.    "Why do I have to eat dog food? I mean, I know it's not *actually* dog food, but the stuff they've been feeding me have been these crunchy, bland, nutritionally-dense pellets. So basically dog food."    "Well, your body has gone through a few changes, as you know. One of those changes is that your stomach is gonna be a bit more... Picky, than it used to be. You *can* eat some human foods in small quantities, but if you tried to eat, say, an entire steak dinner, you'd probably end up throwing it all back up. Plus the Pet Diet also helps your diaper changes remain... Shall we say, less unpleasant than they could be."    "Oh. I hadn't thought about that..." I supposed it made sense. If I was diaper-dependent back home and responsible for changing myself, I would probably avoid going to Taco Bell!    Speaking of which...    "Why am I not allowed to change my own diapers? Like, they were VERY insistent about that during my training, but to me that seems like the LAST task an owner like yourself would want to be in charge of."    "A very good question! You see, your body's changes go further than just incontinence and food sensitivity. You're going to experience reduced hand-eye coordination, clumsiness, enhanced sensitivity to certain physical sensations, reduced cognitive function, and several other factors that all amount to the fact that you need somebody to take care of most of your physical needs."    "Wait, what do you mean 'reduced cognitive function'? Like I'm going to get dementia or something!?" I felt like I'd just been given a terminal diagnosis.    "Not exactly, but... Not quite wrong either? I'm no expert in this field, but the long and short of it is that Pets tend to decline in mental function year after year. Nothing you need to worry about in the short term! A well-cared-for Pet can live a happy, fulfilled life for decades."    "Good to know..." Well, if we're already on a heavy subject, might as well rip the band-aid off, "Serious question--and don't try to sugar-coat it, because the facility already kinda let this slip--how common is it for Pets to be made into sex slaves?"    There was a pause. "It's not the *only* reason people get Pets, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of the more-common ones. Between the Domestication process training them to serve ALL of their owner's needs, to the fact that Pets and Humans can't get each other pregnant due to genetic incompatibility, it's becoming more and more acceptable for people to enter into, shall we say, questionably-consensual relationships with their Pets."    I considered asking him if that's what he had planned for me... But I held my tongue. Partly because I was afraid of the answer, but also I wasn't sure if I wanted to *believe* he would do that to me. Connor had been nothing but kind and gracious to me so far. Even after such a short time, I just couldn't imagine him doing something quite that harmful to me. He just... Didn't strike me as being capable of it.    It occurred to me that I didn't really know a whole lot about my new owner, "Tell me a bit about yourself."    He pursed his lips, contemplating his answer, "I'm twenty-six, I like long walks on the beach and dinners by moonlight. I'm a huge nerd for video games, comic books, and the like." He gestured towards his jacket, "I work from home as a customer service rep for an insurance company. But my wife is the executive of sales at-"    "You're married!?!?" I blurted out.    He held up a hand, indicating the silver band on his ring finger, "This October will mark our third year anniversary."    "Wow... Uh, congratulations! That's great!" Strangely enough, I felt relieved that he had a wife--that I wasn't being brought into the home of some lonely incel who couldn't get a woman so he just decided to adopt one instead.    "I wanted her to come with me to the shelter to meet you, but it just didn't work out. I was willing to wait, but she said it was fine and that there wasn't really a need and she'd have plenty of time to get to know you after I brought you home... She's always had a very practical mind, you see."    It sounded like he was trying to make excuses for her. As if one was even necessary, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense..."    "How about you? I know memories of your past life are fuzzy, but I'd to hear about what you *do* remember?"    "Oh? Umm..." I had to think really hard to recall anything about my former life. "My name was Kaitlyn... Buyers? Yeah, that was my name. I was twenty-five years old, and... I think I was going to law school?"    "Really? Sounds like I snatched up a smart girl then!" He smiled at me.    "Correction: I *was* a smart girl before I came here. Now I'm just a dumb Pet, isn't that right?" Whoa, where did THAT come from!?    "Kaity..."    "No no, it's fine! That's life, right? One minute you're an up-and-coming law student, the next you're in diapers and being taken to some stranger's house to be his goddamned dog!"    I put my hands over my eyes, trying to stifle back tears and quell the roiling sea of emotions churning inside of me, "Sorry, I... I didn't mean to yell..."    I felt a hand gently pat my thigh. "It's okay," Connor said, "Those are all very valid emotions to be feeling right now, and you probably weren't allowed to express them in the facility, right?"    I sniffed and shook my head.    He popped open the center console and pulled out a tissue, "Here."    "Th-thanks." I said, wiping my eyes before blowing my nose. "I... I'm not trying to be difficult. I really do want to... Want to be a good girl..." I turned the tissue over and blew my nose again, "It's just all so..."    "Unfair?" he offered.    "I was gonna say 'fucked up', but that works." I knew I wasn't supposed to swear--they drilled that into my head pretty thoroughly in the facility--but I had a feeling Connor wouldn't hold it against me.    I felt him squeeze my thigh reassuringly, "Do you know why I chose to adopt a 'green' Pet?"    I looked up at him.    "I believe that the Domestication of Pets is inhumane and cruel. You may not be considered Human by legal standards here, but you *were* Human once, and that deserves to be taken seriously. I don't want someone whose humanity has been stripped away to turn them into the perfect obedient Pet. I want someone who cries and gets mad and has preferences and desires that exist outside of my own. In short, I don't want a slave, I want a companion."    I was speechless. Nothing could have prepared me for that answer. It was clear to me now that I really did hit the lottery when it came to adoption. I could've gotten stuck with anyone who would do whatever they wanted with me. Instead, I had been rescued by possibly the one guy in this entire insane universe who genuinely saw me as a person instead of just an object or a slave or an animal.    I didn't know what to say. So I did the first thing that came to my mind: I took his hand off of my thigh, lifted it to my lips, and kissed his knuckles before pulling the hand to my chest, clinging to it like a life preserver. I... I couldn't explain it, but I *needed* him close to me in that moment or else I was gonna absolutely fall apart.    I sat there silently, eyes closed, his hand clutched to my chest until I felt the car stop.    "Welcome to your new home, Kaity."    I looked up to see a simple suburban house. Freshly-cut grass extended to either side of the property, interrupted only by the driveway we were now parked in and the stepping-stone path that lead up to the front door.    "May I please have my hand back?"    "What? Oh, right, sorry…" I released my grip on his hand so that he could turn the car off and step out of the vehicle. On instinct I reached for the seat belt to unbuckle myself, before stopping when I realized I'm probably supposed to wait for Connor to do that. Sure enough, he came around to my door, opened it, unbuckled me from my seat and helped me out of the car.    This was my home now. My first real home in this new world. Ever since waking up in that awful facility, I hadn't really had a chance to imagine feeling *at home* anywhere. I guess a part of me was so worried about my inevitable adoption that I kinda figured anywhere I ended up would just feel like another prison.    But not here. This was a home. I hadn't even seen the inside yet, but I just knew I was going to be... Happy here.    We didn't even make it up to the porch steps before the front door opened. A woman in a smart business suit stepped out. Long, silky black hair tucked back behind her ears framed a flawless face--not an eyelash out of place and not a single blemish to be seen. Icy blue eyes seemed to freeze my soul in place, only to be warmed back to life by the sight of her cherry-red lips. She was gorgeous and more than a little intimidating.    "Oh!" Connor exclaimed, "Kaity, I'd like you to meet my lovely wife Heather."    Oh. Of course this was his wife, who else would be in his house? "H-hi." I managed to verbalize barely above a whisper.    "So you're our newest addition to the family?" Heather said, stepping up to me and, quite unexpected, placing her palms gently on each side of my face, "You look even prettier in person than you did in your photos."    She... Thinks I'm pretty? SHE thinks I'M pretty!? I'm standing here in a plain grey shirt and a diaper like an overgrown toddler while she practically radiated elegance and beauty, and she's complimenting my appearance. "I... Uh..." I couldn't form words. It was like I was transfixed by her stunning blue eyes.    "You're a bit overdressed for the occasion, aren't you?" Connor said.    Heather retracted her hands from my face and shot him a look. Immediately I felt the air between them thicken with unspoken tension.    "Don't tell me..." Connor said, a subtle plea in his voice.    "I've been called in. Veronica's still on maternity leave and Johnson came down with the flu. We have an important presentation that can't be postponed and I'm the only one who can give it. I have no choice."    "That sounds like a THEM problem. We've been planning this for weeks! You promised we'd-"    "Connor, can we not do this in front of the Pet?" she interjected.    They both looked at me, and I doubt I've ever felt more-awkward in my life…    "you're right, sorry." Connor conceded, fishing the keys out of his pocket and tossing them to his wife. "Do you at least have an idea of when you'll be back?"    "I'm afraid not, so don't bother waiting up for me." She turned her attention to me again, "We'll have to get acquainted some other time, Kaity. Maybe tomorrow we can have a more-proper introduction?" Without waiting for a response, she brushed passed me, headed towards the car.    "Uhh, g-good luck on your presentation!" I finally managed to blurt out.    She paused right before getting into the car to flash me a brilliant smile, "Thanks! Enjoy your party!"    … My what?    "Oh! Did I forget to tell you?" Connor said, forcing me to pivot towards him, "I invited a few friends over to meet you. We're having a Pet-warming party!"

Lasagna and bacon Cesar salad

Well, that's crazy. I've been looking for so long. I never thought to check YouTube of all places. I just scanned through it and the low quality makes it hard to see the scene I remember. It was during the auction and now I wonder if it was just supposed to be futuristic shorts and I just thought it was a diaper as a kid. lol

Takeout