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Chapter 109: Throw “YEAH? I NEEDED to get back here in time?” I said, feeling exposed and embarrassed in front of my former nest mother right then. “Well, you’re here, and I’m in luck that I get to change a much prettier Little than I usually do!” She picked me up before I could warn her about me probably leaking but quickly carried me to a small changing room on the first floor I didn’t know existed. She used one hand to unfold a disposable changing pad. She placed it on the metal changing table and laid me on it. “You soaked through your onesie and skirt,” she said as she flipped it up. “Here, sit up for a second,” she told me. I rolled upward, and a second later, she pulled the jumper over my head and then the onesie to leave me only in the sagging and soaked diaper. “Umm… what am I going to wear?” I asked her nervously. “Don’t worry, we keep a few spare things in here for this type of emergency,” she assured me. “Let’s get you out of that soggy diapee first, though!” I really felt that Lilly did a better job of changing my diapers. However, Mackenzie was still better than several changers I’d had. She was gentle, wiped me thoroughly, and dressed me in a spare diaper from my backpack. “You don’t have a spare outfit in there, do you?” I blushed, “I used it this week already?” “That’s fine, we’ll just use a spare shirt here,” she told me. I watched her dig through a bin for a moment before coming out with what looked like a simple pink sweater at first. Once she pulled it over my head, I realized the arms had several rows of ruffles by the wrist. Even with the top being too large, it barely covered much more than the top of my diaper! “Sorry, no leggings or pants; we’ll just have to get you up to your nest. You’re wearing a diaper anyway,” Mackenzie told me as if that excused my nude legs! “Let’s just get up there quickly?” I asked. She smiled, picked me up, bounced me up and down, and then carried me out of the room. The temperature in the lobby area felt like it dropped thirty degrees from an open door to the outside. Several other Littles were coming from a common area on the first floor then and seemed to all stare for a second before looking away. I blushed and felt like my face was probably as hot as the sun! Fortunately, the elevator trip, plus her long legs, had me to my new nest pretty quickly. “Hi Mackenzie! Did you catch a stray of mine?” “This fish wasn’t in the water, but I thought I’d bring her to you?” “Thanks! Looks like she had a wardrobe issue - what did you do with her wet clothes?” “Here,” she said, handing her a clear bag. “I almost just put them in the laundry chute, but since you kidnapped her from me, I figured we’d make sure they knew the clothes belonged to your nest.” Mackenzie hugged me, “It’s good to see you, Carly! I’ll make sure I get down here to see you some other time. Be good for Miss Lilly!” She placed me on the ground, patted my exposed diaper, and walked out. Lilly giggled at me, and I noticed Ava and Mia looked like they couldn’t decide whether to laugh at me or feel bad. For my part, I just walked to my stuff and found a pair of black leggings. It wasn’t worth changing the top in my mind when I’d be putting on pajamas in a little bit. I had to admit with leggings on to cover my bottom half, I was pretty comfortable since the borrowed top was really soft! I found myself working on homework and trying to get ready for one of my first tests that was coming up on HoloTheory the next day. I had a good, solid grasp of all of the material so far, but I wanted to review all of the new terms and jargon that were used in the class. By the time I’d also done some brief studying for my intelligence class and math, it was nearly three hours after I’d returned. I stood up to walk to find Lilly for a needed diaper change before calling it a night! BETH WAS BLUSHING as she entered the dorm. She quickly sucked her coat off so she didn’t have to worry about anyone wondering about it. She folded the wet spot inside after taking a quick sniff and noting there was a residue of Carly on it. She groaned, and Nikki gave her a little smirk as she traveled up the stairs to the dorm. “Why don’t I take your coat? I’ll wash it at my apartment tonight?” “I can just put it in the laundry here?” Beth started to say. “You know the laundry is analyzed, right?” “Huh?” Nikki shook her head, “You’re so smart on some things, kid…?” “What do you mean?” “Someone about fifteen years ago figured out when they installed the auto laundry features for the dorm that they could also be clever and make sure no one was hiding bedwetting from them?” “You mean…?” “Yes, if you have any clothing in the wash that has a too-high urine concentration, you’ll be closely watched.” With a sigh, Beth handed her the coat, “Thanks for washing it then…” “Do you have another in case it doesn’t dry tonight?” Beth nodded, “It’s supposed to be a bit warmer tomorrow anyway, so I would probably have switched to a different one anyway.” “Good,” she told her. “This date tomorrow?” Beth blushed and smiled at the same time, “Yes?” “Would you mind if I triple-checked Carly’s plans? I don’t want to overstep, but I also want to make sure it’s a safe trip for you.” She did indeed feel a bit smothered by that but nodded anyway. “Sure, it seems like she did a decent amount of work trying to plan it already?” “I’m sure she did, knowing her family. No need to risk her missing something, though!” “Fair enough,” she said. “You’re not going anywhere else for the night?” Beth shook her head, “I have a test tomorrow in calculus I need to finish studying for.” “Okay, I’ll see you in the morning then,” she told her. “See you tomorrow,” Beth said, closing the door behind her and latching the deadbolt shut. She sighed, squeezing herself in a little hug, then changed into a comfy pair of pajama pants and a light purple top with a circuit diagram on it. Lance had given it to her for Christmas, and she appreciated its nerdiness. Dressed more comfortably, she pulled out her tablet and the review guide that her professor had kindly provided their class for the test the next day. She was about to the point of screaming about one problem when her phone suddenly rang. She stood, found it, and when she saw it was her mom, she answered with the holoprojection function, placing it on the desk in front of it. “Hi, Mom,” she said. “How are you doing, Sweetie?” She shrugged, “Ready to throw my tablet of calc work into the wall?” “That sounds normal,” her mom laughed. “The only person I know who didn’t absolutely hate that class was your dad.” Beth shook her head, “Carly is just as bad!” “How is she taking everything?” “Huh?” “The fact she’s stuck as a girl?” Her mom said. “Oh, that…” “That? It was supposed to be a temporary thing for the film? Surely she’s a bit upset, at least, at being stuck as a girl? Your dad would have been devastated?” Beth nodded, “Carly is fine with it, Mom. Actually, she’s better than fine with it, I think.” Her mom gave her the stare that always felt like she was opening her brain up and stripping out the knowledge from it, “She wanted to be a girl?” Beth sighed, “Yeah, I think so?” “Well, what about your relationship now?” Beth shrugged, “Seems fine still?” “You’re okay with going out with a girl?” Her mom asked. “You never seemed like you had a thing for girls before?” Beth shook her head, “I don’t have a thing for girls in general; it’s just Carly?” Her mom cajoled her into more information as their conversation went on about things she would never discuss with her dad. Eventually, she made her excuses and said, “I need to finish studying; give everyone my love?” As the line cut, Beth felt more drained and relieved to have spoken with her mother. Looking at the clock, she decided to hit the restroom and resume her studying. When she was past the point of getting anywhere, she went to the restroom again to clean her face and brush her teeth before climbing into bed and being tucked in by Rachel, who seemed to suddenly appear at bedtime each night. “Good night,” Rachel told her as she turned off the lights. I WOKE UP the following day with a swim with Lilly and Mackenzie before finding my way to breakfast and classes. Computational Intelligence was interesting that morning. I made some notes on some ideas I wasn’t sure Mom knew about yet! Our professor was currently involved in some research that furthered Grandma’s work in the field, and she was making some impressive gains in how the AI chunked new knowledge. Her thinking patterns seemed to be heavily influenced by her own kids’ development, which I found kind of intriguing! I walked to my Holofield Theory class and crammed a few last minutes of studying before the room was packed. Our professor passed out the same style of tablet we’d taken our placement tests on that first week. I appreciated that I was given a smaller one than my neighbors, though! “You have the full class time for this exam. We can work with you if you need additional time, but in my experience, you either know this material or you don’t,” Professor Davis told us. I nodded. To me, this was more of a memory subject than a ‘work it out’ subject like math or programming. “Just one other note, due to some issues I’ve had before, I would ask that you please not leave the room until after you complete the exam. You’re welcome to go before I activate the test and come back if you need to use the restroom, but I’ll collect your tests otherwise if you need to leave.” I squirmed at that, wishing that going to the bathroom was even a realistic possibility for me! “Well, at least I can just go…” I thought to myself even as several girls excused themselves from class, and one boy then. My diaper was a little damp, but I was pretty sure it would hold up until lunch based on how little I’d drank that morning. “Okay, I’m going to activate your tests now; they’ll start when they return. Good luck!” Immediately, my screen lit up, and I began working on answering questions about a subject that would have sounded like gibberish to me a few weeks ago! BETH HAD SPENT the morning when she woke up doing some last-minute cramming. She’d even made Carly quiz her on a couple of formulas before leaving her at her first class and heading to her own. During her Logic class, she discovered there would be a project due in that class in another week as one of her five grades. Fortunately, it seemed straightforward and not too time-consuming! Her professor annoyingly went over time by a few minutes. Since she was sitting inside a row, there wasn’t a good and tactful way to leave until he finished! She was a little worried that Carly wasn’t waiting for her or at her classroom until she checked her message and realized she’d hurried to her next class to cram for her own test. “Everything okay?” Nikki asked her. “Yeah, just was a little nervous for a second that Carly wasn’t here. She has a test in her next class, though, so she hurried there to do some last studying.” “I don’t miss being in school,” Nikki told her as she walked beside her. Beth laughed, “Aren’t you basically back in school now since you’re with me all the time?” She looked up at Nikki, who made a cringing face like she’d smelled something bad. “Well, at least I’m not taking the tests?” “Don’t remind me!” Beth said. She had to appreciate that the chill of winter had taken a break that day. It wasn’t nearly as cold as it had been the past couple of weeks. “I wonder if this warm weather is going to last long?” Nikki asked as if reading her thoughts. Beth shrugged, “Not sure, I was thinking that though? It’s been frigid the past couple of weeks!” They didn’t have much more time to talk before Beth led them into Marconi Hall and down the hallway to the small lecture hall where her class was held. She took a quick moment to detour into the restroom first and thought, ‘I hope Carly’s diaper lasts through this class?’ Once she sat in her class, she took a moment to pull out her notes again for her calculus exam. When her professor began class, she couldn’t help but note that it would be a long day before they wrapped up! “Okay, don’t forget that we have a test next Friday in this class…” he droned on as Beth made a note in her calendar about yet another test in the next couple of weeks! ‘Classes don’t seem so bad at the beginning, but then they just start piling up tests and projects!’ she griped. Her calendar was filling up, and it was still several weeks until midterms! She checked her messages as she left class and was a little concerned that she didn’t see one from Carly. I WAS MAKING quick work of the exam as it went through everything from the absolute basics we’d started with. The first question asked us to describe the particles involved in the projection of just the images. A follow-up question began to ask how you would manipulate the particles, and things continued on in that manner for thirty questions. About question thirty-one, I checked and saw there were a total of sixty, so I was halfway done! I was completing question forty-eight a half-hour later about the proper way to orient the projector lenses when I felt my stomach rumble. ‘Hush, I’ll feed you after this,’ I said, figuring it was just hunger since lunchtime was coming. Question fifty-three was a more theoretical-based question and asked about the proper formula for calculating the intersection of the particles of light with the stasis field you needed to generate. Fortunately, I remembered the formula, so I was writing it with the stylus even as I felt my body give off a little bit of gas in a fart. “Gross!” I heard someone complain a row away. I blushed but continued to work. ‘I hate that I don’t have any control over anything now!’ I thought to myself. The only warning I had before something happened now was when my body would decide to crouch, seemingly on its own. ‘Hopefully, it holds off until after this test!’ I grimaced a moment after finishing the fifty-fourth question as my insides seemed to twist some, but then there was a sense of relief in my body. I finished fifty-six before I heard, “Did someone just poop themselves?” From a girl a couple rows back. “Ladies and gentlemen, you must remain quiet through this exam. I will not warn you again.” “Professor, how can we concentrate when there’s a poopy-pants here?” The girl pushed back. “Breathe through your mouth,” he suggested and glared at her. I pointed my eyes back at my paper, but not before noticing he looked straight at me with a sympathetic glance. “Can I at least change her diaper?” The girl asked. “I’m sure it’s not comfy for her, and it’ll at least move the smell away from us?” “I told you, no one can leave the room?” He said, and I sensed he was trying to make excuses. “She’s just a Little, I’ll change her behind your desk?” “I don’t…” I felt a nervous feeling in my stomach, but I also knew it was kind of rude to force people to smell my poopy diaper for the rest of the test. “Fine,” I said, “I have a spare diaper in my bag. Are you sure you want to?” I looked up at a tall brown-haired girl who smiled, “Sure!” The girl clambered down the steps and had me in her arms almost before I was ready. “By the way, I’m Harper,” she told me. “Carly,” I said quietly. She nearly pushed Professor Davis to move out of the way, and I was at least grateful the room had been set up like a regular lecture hall that day. That meant a large desk in the front of the room blocked the view of anyone seated in the rows. “Do you have a changing pad?” She asked me quietly as she sat me down. I blushed, but I dug through my bag and handed her the changing pad, a diaper, and some wipes. “Well, at least you’re a prepared little girl!” She patted my back, “Let’s get you out of that icky poopy diapee!” “Please keep quiet,” Professor Davis asked. “I’m just changing her diaper?” “Quietly,” he insisted. She shook her head and unfolded my changing pad, then laid me down on it before pushing the skirt up and out of the way. With a few pops, the onesie was opened up, and then she tickled my stomach for no reason. I fought back a few giggles, “Please don’t?” “Fine…” she said. “Don’t get your panties in a twist… oh, you won’t wear those,” she smirked. I couldn’t tell if she was being cruel or just trying to be funny… “Don’t quit your day job,” I groaned. A moment later, she pulled the tapes open and used the used diaper to scrape some of the muck off my butt. “Eew,” she complained a moment later, and I watched her use a baby wipe to wipe her hand up before resuming the cleanup on my bottom. She used quite a few wipes to gently but quickly clean me up. Satisfied, she rolled them up in the old diaper and taped me in the new diaper, buttoned my onesie, then sat me up and handed me the diaper. “Go throw your diapee away in the trash can and get back to your test, sweetie!” I wanted to gag as she handed me the balled-up diaper! I could see brown stains on it, and I did my best not to throw up as I walked it to a trash can by the door. I found my pack of baby wipes in my bag and wiped my hands with one before returning to resume my test. Thirty minutes later, I was grateful to have pressed submit and escaped the room from my classmates! I felt a little guilty as I passed by the trashcan and could clearly still smell the contents! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading!!!! Please press the 'Like' Button and leave me a comment! The real world is hitting hard right now, and I'm hitting a lot of hours at work beyond normal right now. I'm hoping to get to some more writing on this this weekend so I can get back ahead. I'm being beaten up by my stress enough that we'll see what happens. The good thing is at one post a week I do have 16 more weeks written already, but I would prefer to return to two a week. We'll see what happens, though... Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Chapter 22: The Night Before I returned downstairs to find that Hannah had resumed watching the movie without me. Like before, she was sitting on the floor. Emma remained absorbed in her smartphone on the couch. "You were in the bathroom for a really long time," Hannah said as I took a seat behind her on the couch. Emma groaned at her cousin's lack of social etiquette, though she still didn't look up from her phone. I didn't respond at all to Hannah's comment. Anything she might think I had been doing in the bathroom was better than what I had actually been doing. I hoped that I had managed to put everything back into the suitcase exactly like I had found it, and that the pull-up I had tried out wouldn't show any signs of having been worn. I wasn't able to pay attention to the TV. It didn't matter that this was my favorite of the Harry Potter movies. I simply couldn't sit still and focus on it. The diapers I'd discovered in Hannah's suitcase both worried and intrigued me. Why was it that she would need to wear those to bed rather than the pull-ups? There was only one explanation that made sense. The pull-ups must not work well enough for her at night. There was no question from when I was holding the diaper that it had significantly more absorbent padding, but it seemed to follow that it would be more effective at absorbing urine. But I struggled to understand why that was the case. The pull-ups seemed to work perfectly fine for Hannah during the day. Or did they? When Emma had mentioned that her cousin had peed all over the couch the other day, I had simply assumed that she must have not had a pull-up on at the time. But what if that wasn't the case? What if she had been wearing the pull-up, and it hadn't been able to completely absorb the accident? Maybe those pull-ups didn't work one hundred percent of that time? What would that mean for my own fake bedwetting once my parents got the pull-ups for me? I, of course, would be wetting them, but what would happen if they leaked all over the bed? I couldn't see my parents wanting to continue getting pull-ups for me if that were to happen. They wouldn't see them as having any value if there were still wet sheets to deal with, anyway. Would I end up needing to wear diapers as well if I were to continue faking the bedwetting? And did I want to wear diapers rather than pull-ups? That was a question I didn't know the answer to at the moment. I hadn't ever remotely considered the possibility of wearing a diaper rather than a pull-up outside of the makeshift diaper I had attempted to make for myself once a couple of years back to disastrous results. Would a diaper feel as good as wearing a pull-up? Would it feel better than wearing a pull-up? That wasn't a question I could answer without having tried one on, but there hadn't been an opportunity to do so. From the windows looking out over the backyard, I could see that the rain hadn't let up a single bit. I checked my phone. The forecast said the downpour wasn't supposed to stop until sometime overnight. The movie finally came to an end. Hannah wanted to move on to the next one immediately, but not before taking another toilet break, as her watch had just gone off a couple of minutes earlier. "I need to put my foot down," Emma said, though she remained seated on the couch with her legs curled up to the side. "I'm not watching another one of these movies this weekend." Hannah was gone a lot longer than before. It was hard to tell since it was raining, but I thought I could hear the sound of someone going upstairs and walking around. When she finally returned, she didn't take kindly to Emma's decision to move on to any activity other than watching the next Harry Potter movie. Hannah stomped her feet and ran off when Emma refused to hand over the TV remote to her. Hannah returned a few minutes later with her mom, who tried to helpfully suggest that perhaps we could make some TikTok videos with Hannah instead. That seemed to test Emma's limit on wanting to do anything but watch another Harry Potter movie, but she agreed. There was still another hour or so before Mom was going to come and pick me up. We managed to get a couple of someone choreographic dance videos made that Emma promised Hannah that she would post to her account, though when Hannah went off to use the toilet again, Emma whispered to me that she was going to delete it all once Hannah was gone, saying that she didn't want to ruin the vibe on her account. The doorbell rang a few minutes later. It had to be Mom coming to pick me up. Hannah stayed behind in the living room as Emma and I went to the front door. Mom was chatting casually with Emma and Hannah's parents in the entryway when we arrived. "Are you excited about summer break?" Mom asked Emma. "I will be when Angie is back from her road trip," Emma said. "I'm looking forward to the sleepover on Maddy's birthday." Mom nodded in response to Emma's statement and shifted her gaze over to me. And just like that, I was caught. Mom wasn't supposed to have known that I'd already invited Angie and Emma to have a sleepover on my birthday next weekend. "Where's Hannah?" Emma's aunt asked. "I don't know," Emma said. "Maybe in the other room." "Can you go grab her? I'm sure she'd want to say goodbye since we're leaving early tomorrow morning." Emma trudged back off toward the living room. I caught her rolling her eyes once she was at an angle where her parents couldn't see it. A little while later, there was a loud patter of feet running along the wood floor, and Hannah sprinted around the corner. I couldn't help but once again find my eyes drifting down to her waist. As she came to a stop, her shirt lifted up briefly, giving one final half-second glimpse of the pull-up beneath her shorts. "Bye!" Hannah said with a wave at me. And just like that, she was done, having turned back around to sprint off toward the living room. We continued to make small talk about plans for the summer for a few minutes, and then it was time to head home. I closed the door behind me after getting into the passenger seat, bracing myself for an awkward conversation. Mom turned on the ignition without saying a word and watched the rear-view camera as she carefully backed out of the driveway. Once we were out on the road, the questions began. "Why does Emma think there's going to be a sleepover on your birthday?" she asked. She had me there. It was stupid bad luck that Emma had thought to say anything about that to Mom. Mom had shot down the idea of an all-nighter, and she had made it clear that she wasn't going to OK the idea of a sleepover unless the anti-bedwetting pills had worked. I really didn't want to answer Mom's question, even though it wasn't as though she likely knew the answer already. "I told Angie and Emma that a sleepover was the plan for my birthday." "Madelyn, you know that I had said that wasn't an option unless we managed to figure out what was happening with the bedwetting." I nearly did it. Even though I had planned to bring up the topic of pull-ups tomorrow, I nearly went forward with the speech I had rehearsed about how it might be good to try them. But I instead fell back on a more vague excuse. "I just figured that maybe the doctor would have something that would stop the bedwetting so I could still have the sleepover. I didn't want to tell them that I couldn't do it." "That doesn't leave a lot of time," Mom said as we turned onto the road that led back to our house. "I want to make sure any solution actually works before letting you do a sleepover. Maybe it would be best if we just postponed it. Your friends can stay until it is time to go to bed. It's not as though you'd really miss anything while being asleep." That was the last thing I wanted, especially after having already told my friends that a sleepover was going to happen. "Please don't tell them that it is canceled yet. I don't want them to think anything is wrong." Mom was silent for a bit as she pulled into the driveway and waited for the garage door to open. "That's fine for now," Mom said at last. "But if we don't find a way to deal with the bedwetting before then, it isn't going to work to have the sleepover." <><><> Another night. Another set of pills to take before bed. At least this was going to be the last time. Despite my pleas to get out of taking the pills tonight, Mom insisted that I should give it one more try before going to the doctor's appointment in the morning. "I don't want you staying up too late tonight," Mom said. "The appointment is first thing in the morning, so you need to make sure you set your alarm for eight." Great. Pills. No more water for tonight. No chance of peeing the bed this evening. And I had to get up early in the morning. I held out my hand, and she dropped the two pills onto my open palm. I grabbed a glass with a small amount of water in it from her as well. Mom watched as I popped both of the pills into my mouth. I resigned myself to the possibility of dealing with an actual headache tomorrow morning as I began to raise the glass of water to my lips. Some loud yelling in the distance – which sounded like my younger brother, Jackson – suddenly grabbed Mom's attention, as she turned around to look in the other direction. Mom's back was turned as she headed down the hallway in the direction of the tantrum that Jackson seemed to be throwing. That wasn't common behavior for him, but when it happened, it usually took both of my parents to rein my six-year-old brother in. This was my chance. I pulled the two tiny pills out of my mouth and placed them in my pocket before quickly chugging down the small glass of water. With my plans for the evening suddenly looking much more positive, I didn't throw a fuss at going to bed earlier than I normally would have on an evening during summer break. I made sure to use the toilet while my parents were helping my brother get ready for bed, making sure they would know that any bedwetting would be happening in spite of all the precautions that were being taken. I flushed the two pills down the toilet, watching carefully to make sure that they didn't resurface. The best part about having avoided taking the pills tonight was that I wasn't going to have to avoid drinking anything afterward. My mouth had been so parched the past several nights when I had gone to bed without sneaking a drink from the sports bottle I had tucked away in my bedroom. Alone in my bedroom, I raised the bottle to my lips. I couldn't believe that I was somehow actually excited about the idea of drinking lukewarm tap water. The likelihood of being able to wet myself in bed tonight allowed me to manage to set aside my disgust at the bitter taste of the water. The problem of going to bed this early was that I still had plenty of time to kill before midnight. I tapped open the web browser on my phone, trying to recall the name of the website Hannah had mentioned reading those Harry Potter fanfiction stories on. I couldn't recall the exact name, but a quick Google search of the acronym she had mentioned brought up a link to the website. I tapped on the link, and then I groaned as a new pop-up appeared on my phone, one that was unwelcome but familiar, a message that the website was blocked due to the parental restrictions on my phone. Well, that was just great. Defeated, I set my phone down on the bed. It wouldn't be the first time that an otherwise appropriate website had been mistakenly blocked by the software. If it was something Hannah had access to, I couldn't imagine that it was actually anything that bad or inappropriate. I would need to ask Dad about the website tomorrow, and he would be able to update the permissions on the parental controls like he had done for me before, though perhaps I should consider coming up with a reason for wanting to access the website other than wanting to read Harry Potter stories. A sense of melancholy struck me as midnight approached. This might be the last time of wetting myself like this. Going forward, I would be wearing a pull-up to bed every night for the foreseeable future. I had first wet the bed nine nights ago. And tomorrow I would be going to see a doctor. I was amazed at how quickly everything had progressed. I'd tried to put off thinking about what the doctor's appointment might mean for me in the morning. What tests would they end up running? What theories would they have for why the bedwetting might be happening? Was there anything I had done that might cause them to suspect that I was actually wetting the bed on purpose? One thing was clear. Regardless of what happened at that appointment, I was going to need to find a way to broach the topic of pull-ups with Mom tomorrow. With any luck, tomorrow night, I'd be going to bed while wearing a pull-up identical to the one of Hannah's that I had tried out earlier today. Having managed to avoid taking the anti-bedwetting pills, I didn't have to struggle at all to manage to wet the bed, and I took in the sensation of the warmth spreading beneath my waist. Even though everything had gone right so far, even though I was still completely on track for my plan to succeed, another thought began to fill me with a new worry as I lay on top of my thoroughly soaked bedding. What if the pull-ups didn't work for me? --- Links to all my stories can be found at https://abdlwriter.wordpress.com/

Looks like a pacifier addict. https://pacifieraddict.com/

Hey everyone! Congrats to everyone for making it to about the halfway point in this story. I feel this chapter is very appropriate to mark that point in this story, but things are about to get a lot more interesting. Also, I just want to note that I could have dedicated a lot of time to this next chapter. Originally, it was going to be three separate chapters, but then I realized that it might get a little tiresome plot wise. In that same vein, I know I could have drastically simplified Emma’s thoughts or language, but that makes for a pretty boring or near incomprehensible chapter, so I elected not to in this case. I think the end result works and makes for a much more interesting read. Also, minor spoiler here, but Dash does show up in this chapter as an actual character. Nancy doesn’t know his name, so he’s not named, but I just want to put it out there. Namely, I want to note it first because considering the number of views this story has already garnered, I’m assuming some of you may not have read my previous story. As such, basically just remember that toys come alive when not being watched. I won’t commit to if its magic or whatever, but keep in mind that toys only reveal themselves to Littles in dire circumstances or when they believe they won’t be noticed. It’s not a big part of this story, focusing on Emma and all, but just in case anyone gets confused, that’s the reason for some elements occurring in this chapter. Next, as a reminder, I’m now polling between two stories to figure out what I should write next. The two choices are listed out in chapter 2, so be sure to check them out and let me know. As I will announce my winner in my last chapter, that would be the deadline for you to make your opinion known. As usual, I hope everyone enjoys this next chapter! Chapter 8: Nothingness, a Doggy, and a Bond The trappings of my life soon became just that. I was a prisoner in my own mind. I didn’t want much anymore and everything around me became fuzzy… unclear as to what was going on. At first, I mourned the loss, but soon, I took comfort in the peace and safety my new life afforded me. I knew it was a dangerous path to head down but considering all that had happened and that I now felt practically all alone in this world, it just felt like a good alternative to what could have occurred to me. See, when Littles sometimes ‘break,’ as I did, we tended to go down one of two routes. Most just regressed their own minds and became mentally like babies from then on out. Recovery was possible but challenging and usually a failure. For me, however, I had gone the other way and I had become locked within my own mind. The major problem of this route for Littles was that their already fragile mind often would regress from sheer disuse or the inability to fight off anyone as they approached with something to further harm or regress them. Unfortunately, I was already starting to feel these atrophied effects take hold of me. While I knew that Nurse Bee’s special shot and whatever happened afterward with the pain in my head could be blamed for some of the problems I was now experiencing, I also knew that the more time trapped in my own mind was now severely degrading it. It wasn’t long before my needs became simple. My emotions were always in flux but my communication with them became very limited as well. A gurgle meant I was happy. Crying meant I was uncomfortable. And anything else that occurred outside my mind was just a physical manifestation of my own body. Even my memory seemed to fade with time. Concepts I had known for years all began to vanish. At first, I was so scared. Imagine forgetting your parents’ faces or the home you grew up in. Time seemed to just not matter anymore though, and it didn’t take long for me to not even mind that something was lost anymore. After all, if I couldn’t remember it, I couldn’t mourn it. Holes were left in my memory, but as the holes started to become the majority of what I could remember, one hole was just as sad, or meaningless, as the next. At some point, I just stopped caring. Between that and my near-constant need for sleep and other basic needs, my life soon merged into a routine. By the end of the second day, I had nearly lost all track of time and the only things I could recognize were those things that continued to be mentioned. Daycare, Nancy, Emma, diaper, messy… things like that, but most of those words had little meaning for me anymore. And each time I closed my eyes to sleep once again, I found I was missing more. I knew it wasn’t long before my current life was all I knew. I would live in the moment, not caring about what was next or what had just happened. Every time I had that thought though, my eyes soon closed once more as I fell asleep in my crib. * * * Nancy looked down at me and I cooed over seeing her face again. I wasn’t sure who ‘Nancy’ was exactly, but she was a pretty lady who kept me fed, warm, and clean. To me, that’s what mattered. “Who’s my Little snookums, huh? Is someone ready to go to daycare?” she asked, clearly not expecting a sophisticated answer back. As usual, I cooed back in response. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Her smile was infectious, and she played with my feet for a moment, before picking me up and taking me to the car. I didn’t like the car or my car seat, so I began to fuss. “Oh, honey. I know you don’t like this thing, but I need to get you to daycare and…” Her phone began to ring, and I started to fuss more as she turned her head away from me. “Oh, shoot! That’s work. I’ve got to take this, sweetie. I’m sorry.” She then popped her phone out. “Hello? Yes, Greg. I’ll be there in a little bit… No, I know that you all wanted me there early, but I just can’t with Emma…” Nancy seemed all upset and I got a little upset as well. I had no idea who Greg was, but I just wanted her attention back on me. She tried to play with my feet from a distance, but it just wasn’t the same. Nancy noticed. “Look Greg, I have to go… I didn’t regress her. You think I wanted this? She’s wonderful and all, but…” She looked back at me with a sad face and then quieted her voice. I could still hear her though. “It’s not my fault. The daycare screwed her up and taking care of a near newborn is hard enough. She had a blowout this morning and… yes… yes… I understand. I will be there as soon as I can…” Sighing, Nancy then hung up and turned her attention back to me. “Sorry, baby. I needed to take that but come on. I’ve got to take you to daycare pronto.” Seeing her attention pop back to me, I only cooed again. She smiled and I tried to as well, but I just heard a little farting noise instead. ‘Weird…’ Nancy tickled me a little bit and then left. Just as I was about to cry out though, she popped back in front of me, so everything was good. She even made this big noise with what we were in, and I cooed over the rattling I now felt in my body. Smiling back at me, Nancy turned on some of what she called ‘music.’ I wasn’t really sure what it was, but I just knew I liked it. So, I cooed back at her again. What felt like a thousand years later, Nancy stopped, disappeared for a moment, but then reappeared and picked me up. I cooed at her touch, but before I could really feel her closeness, I was given to someone else. I began to distress a little. “Sorry, Diana for the late drop-off,” Nancy apologized. “She had a blowout and I hate to drop and run, but I’ve really gotta go now.” The woman, Diana I guess, nodded and raised up my hand a little. “That’s okay, Nancy. We’ve got her now. You run off back to your job.” Nancy then waved at us and took off. Diana waved my already raised hand back to her and it felt kind of funny. I felt I had a new ability as my hand flopped about. It was so cool, but Diana stopped and just sighed. “Well, I guess I best get you settled Emma. No need to wait around out here…” I started to distress a bit, but Diana soon started bouncing me a little in her arms. It was actually kind of fun and I cooed a little bit during the process. Before we had even moved much further though, this one tiny person came up to us. “Miss Dee-Dee! Miss Dee-Dee!” she called out. ‘Who’s Miss Dee-Dee?’ Diana looked down at her though. “Yes, Lilly. Is there something I can help you with?” Lilly, I guess, nodded her head and clutched the doll in her hands more tightly. “When’s Emma gonna come back an’ play with us? Is she any better?” Diana started responded back, though I still wasn’t sure what was happening on whether she was really Diana, Miss Dee-Dee, or was just a special person and had two names. ‘Do I have two names?’ Diana shook her head to Lilly’s question. “I’m sorry, Lilly, but Emma here is on a different level than you are now. She might come back, but you need to be prepared that she might not.” Lilly seemed to listen but then quickly looked distressed and tried pulling my foot from her position below me. “Emma! Emma! Please talk to me! Please! You gotta wake up!” Diana moved me away and pulled Lilly away from me before waving over to a new woman. “Easy, Lilly. You need to stop that. There’s nothing any of us can do now, so you just need to accept this. Until then, Miss Mindy here is going to take care of you, okay?” By now though, Lilly was crying, and I started to get a little distressed myself. “Oh dear,” Diana said as she started to bounce me around again. “Guess someone needs their morning nap and a feed.” My cries stopped and I cooed back. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” Diana then waved to Miss Mindy and Lilly as the two hugged each other. Lilly was still crying, and she seemed so familiar, but the prospect of getting fed quickly snapped my mind off the brief thought. That cycle repeated for a long time after. Maybe a year, or a month… a day… actually, I wasn’t really too sure on the who concept of time anymore, but it felt like a long time. Regardless, nothing changed. I would wake in the morning, Nancy would drop me off and would get more upset every day with me, I would come to daycare and go through that cycle, and then I would be taken home where I would go to sleep again. It was all a routine, but a pleasant one at that. My world had shrunk very nicely and despite Nancy and others seeming distressed around me occasionally, I just kind of accepted my life. It felt safe and easy. But I guess life never stays that way though, and soon, I finally felt like I was cracking up. That patchwork-like stuffed dog that seemed somewhat familiar had wandered into my crib in the Burrows room… and yes, I know how it sounds, but I swear they walked right up to me and even spoke to me. I just assumed it was a dream, but he kept doing it with such vigor that it almost frightened me. Stuffy’s are just not supposed to talk. It’s almost a basic law of nature, ‘I think?’ but after a few more times, I kind of just accepted his presence as he snuggled down next to me after trying to get me to talk for the millionth time. I mean, even if I wanted to or could for that matter, what would I even say to a stuffy come to life? ‘Hi, my name is Emma. You are supposed to be an inanimate object and you’re probably possessed or I’m going crazy… more than what’s normal for what I’ve been through that is. Want to be friends?’ Something like that just didn’t happen, and I kinda just accepted the funny-looking but soft stuffy into my life. On top of that though, I began to realize I almost had a superpower of sorts. I couldn’t fly like the birdies outside or be strong like Nancy was, but I heard everything when most people thought I was just a shell of who I was. I was already seeing the stuffy come to life, but I saw so much more as well. I couldn’t really retain anything, but nonetheless, I still heard everything in the moment at least. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Gillies,” Miss Dee-Dee said while the other large scary woman looked down at me in the crib. I had since managed to remember Miss Dee-Dee’s name and I was so proud of myself. It was small, but I felt like such a big girl for remembering that she was called two names. Two was a big number after all. “She hasn’t changed since Tulia brought her in last week.” “Then I want you to do something different with her. Nancy is threatening to sue us or leave, and because it’s disrupting her work, they’re backing her up as well,” Mrs. Gillies, I guess, said harshly to Miss Dee-Dee. For once, I swear that Miss Dee-Dee seemed scared herself. “But it’s not my fault, Mrs. Gillies…” Miss Dee-Dee tried to defend herself. “It wasn’t my medicine that made her this way. It’s Brit…” “It’s Nurse Bee around here, Diana,” Mrs. Gillies rudely interrupted Miss Dee-Dee. I really wanted to defend my kind carer around here, but I could only just coo and let out a little fart instead. ‘It’s so funny when I do that… Miss Dee-Dee always changes me afterward and blows kisses on my tummy. It tickles!’ I paused, realizing I had lost track of what was being said above me. ‘Shoot! She’s saying something again.’ “…I know it’s really hard to work under these conditions, Diana, but we have rules for the staff here as well for a good reason. You know that, or do I have to remind you again?” “N… no, m… ma’am,” Miss Dee-Dee stuttered out. “I don’t n… need a reminder…” Mrs. Gillies smiled and rubbed Miss Dee-Dee’s shoulder. “That’s very good, Diana. It’s for your own good. Trust me. I’ll talk to Nurse Bee tonight and see if we can’t figure out this little glitch of hers. I think I can calm down Nancy and get to accept everything, but I’d prefer not to have to do that for other caregivers. Six Littles ending up like this is too much and you know I don’t like this type of outcome for our Littles.” Miss Dee-Dee nodded. “Yes ma’am. Of course.” Both looked down on me, smiled, and then walked out of my view. I was more than a little confused of what I had just heard, but I felt there was a big problem with someone called ‘Nurse Bee.’ I don’t think that Mrs. Gillies or Miss Dee-Dee wanted me this way, so maybe I had two other people on my sid… ‘Oh! Another toot! Feels so funny! Everything feels so squishy now! Squishy time! Squishy time!’ I cooed a little in my crib. The stuffy dog would be here any moment and Miss Dee-Dee would come back and remove my squishiness and… ‘Wait… wasn’t I just thinking about something that was said? Done to me?’ I really tried to remember, but another little toot came from all my straining to think. ‘Oh well. I guess if it was really important, I would have remembered it…’ So, all that kept happening. I would see something, panic and think about it, but then forget about it just as quickly. I might remember some of it later, which is the only reason that I could retain anything, but the most I could piece together was that Miss Dee-Dee and Mrs. Gillies wanted to help me out and were sorry and Nurse Bee was bad… I guess. Again, all super fuzzy, but like most things, I just had to live with it. It seemed that would be my life forever, but my new stuffed companion apparently just kept coming to me. Oddly, during one of the visits, I swear I heard a voice in my head and life in my limbs for the first time in forever… a week… a day ago? I really didn’t know, but it was there, or at least it was for a moment. I tried after, but only managed to make out another little fart. Now, I had never had a toy before… at least I think so, so I wasn’t sure why I kept getting this strong urge to hug this stuffy that kept dropping by. He certainly wasn’t new, and his stitching almost scared me, but he stuck by me. No matter what; diaper change, bottle feeding, cries… everything. He would always hide when Miss Dee-Dee or Miss Tully came to check on me and calm me down, but he was always back soon after. It wasn’t much, but he was someone I could cling to and rely on to be there for me in this place. So, when he came back to me one day and laid down for a while after I had arrived at the daycare late again, I didn’t really think anything of it, but was just glad he was here again. Almost instantly though, I heard something again buzzing in my head, but unlike the other times, I could almost make out most of the words. “Wake up… wake up… no one is upset with you… you are a good girl… just wake up…” just started playing over and over in my head. At first, I couldn’t make much of it out, but when I concentrated, by the third time it went through my head, I could hear almost as if someone were directly talking to me. Having just woken up from a nap, I could have sworn it was all just part of a dream, but as my eyes began to flutter open more to their still semi-relaxed awakened state, I heard something new this time. “Emma… wake up, Emma. Wake up for me… show me something… please, Emma… I will protect you… I will make it all okay… just please wake up…” I began to get excited. Hallucination or not, the patched stuffy dog seemed to be trying to reach out to me. There was no one else her, so it just had to be him. Being so far set adrift in a world of nothingness, it was something, so when he walked away from me again, I didn’t like it. So, I tried to muster all the strength I had inside and tried to will myself to do… say anything. Finally, I let out an “Uhhh…” The stuffy stopped and looked back over at me. First, I was elated that he had stopped. Even more though, second, I had made a noise. Having basically just been a passenger in my body for so long… ‘Maybe?’ I still wasn’t sure about things like that, but to me, all this now almost seemed like a miracle. I watched as the stuffy moved closer to me. He almost seemed just as relieved as I was, but as quickly as he turned around to see me again, he began walking away again. Not wanting for any of these miraculous new sensations or ability to go away, I let out another “Uhhh…” Again, the stuffy whipped back around to see me. I wanted him to do anything just so I could test more of myself out. Perhaps it was just a fluke, and I had some bad gas, always possible with a Little, but I just hoped it was something more… something longer lasting. ‘Had I finally found my exit from this locked-in state?’ Curiously though, instead of speaking to me, the stuffy only stared back for a while and then began to gather the blanket around me into a large pile halfway between me and the bars of the crib. In an instant, he went from looking at me to disappearing completely. I began to panic. ‘Where had he gone? He was right there! Is he a magic dog? Do I have some special magic dog just floating around and that’s why he can talk, walk, and I can hear him mentally?’ I wasn’t sure at all, but I definitely knew I wanted him back. So, frustrated, I dug deep and let out another “Uhhh…” To my relief, he popped out from behind the bunched pile he had formed. I still wondered if he was a magical stuffy, but I just cared that he was back again. Suddenly, I felt an odd sensation on my face. It was moving, near on its own and felt like it did when I cooed lately, but I still felt confused as to what it was. Seconds later though, my mind clicked into place and a deep memory popped to the surface and I realized I had no reason to panic. I wasn’t in danger. I was just smiling! Everything felt so joyous, and I just wanted to hug my new magical stuffy so badly. Moreover, I just wanted anything to happen to keep this progress going, and as if he could read my thoughts, his mouth slowly opened. “Emma…” My heart leapt for joy, and I felt myself smile even more. My magical stuffy spoke! I hadn’t just imagined it all, and I wanted to see or to hear more, but I was just so happy that a change felt like it was in the air. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, my magical stuffy walked over to me and nuzzled into my chest. Not being able to do much, but still wanting to acknowledge what he had done, I tilted my body a bit right into him. He didn’t say anything this time, but he seemed happy. That happened for a little while longer, but I could see that he almost looked like he wanted more. As if to confirm my theory, he then leaned over near to my face and looked right into my eyes. “Emma… you’re safe with me. I can be your friend if you want, but just please come out of the darkness. Come back to us, Emma…” As if a key had suddenly been turned, I felt new life within me. Sensations I had forgotten long ago came flooding back to me. My eyes, once so lifeless and still except for the keenest of observers, began to open wider as I looked back at my magical stuffy. “Oh Emma…” he said breathlessly. Everything felt so good… so new and exciting. I wanted to embrace it all and to my surprise, I even began to be able to wiggle about as my body started to awaken once more. It still wasn’t much, and I couldn’t win a race against a snail most likely, but even a little bit of something was still more as compared to when I had nothing. It was an absolutely perfect moment and I had never felt such joy in my life, or at least that’s what I assumed right then. But then something clicked within me. Now, just to be clear, as my faint recollections of my past began to flood in, I started to remember the basic stuff first since I had become like this. I remembered names and faces for the first time since all this began. Who they were was still hazy and I maybe could tell you the difference between the days, but the memories were slowly coming back. And while all that felt wonderful, I realized just how boring my life had become. It was a series of feedings, naps, diaper changes, and being hauled from one location to another. In all my memories, I could only remember being in this daycare, Nancy’s house, and her… ‘Car? Yes… car…’ I had the faintest sense there was more to life than that, but it was just beyond my fingertips. Still though, it was there, and it made me want more. Which is when I realized that I used to have more… and lost it. I wasn’t sure, how, why, or when at that moment, but I just knew I did. Seeing myself lying in this crib and being excited to do more than fart or cry was a serious blow to my happiness. My previous wiggles quickly stopped, and though I was getting my memories back, I was still very much the person I had become. So, with my emotions still in flux and triggered so easily, I broke… again. I deeply worried that this new issue would break me as it had before. I felt all the same sensations surrounding me and the loss that each of them meant. Everything felt so distant, but the images were still there of at least who I used to be on a large scale. I couldn’t remember things like street names or where I was a year ago but faces and things that I had done were becoming much clearer, so my loss now felt even worse. And, when all that began to fade again, I panicked even more. Tears flowed from my eyes, and I would have given anything to stop myself. I wanted an out, but I didn’t see anything. I was in the same room and even the same crib with the same sense of loss. I felt myself plummeting toward the abyss once more, but then I opened my eyes, and through the tears, I saw one difference: my magical stuffy. Hoping and wishing beyond and harder than I ever had before, I willed the last of my being into my arms and shot them straight out to what felt like the most recent constant in my life. I could have missed, and everything would have been over… but I didn’t. My hands clasped around his soft fury body, and I brought him right into my chest as tightly as I could. My tears were horrible, and I surely thought someone was going to help me, but no one ever came. Miss Dee-Dee, Miss Tully, or the volunteers here must have been on break or something, but that still left me. My magical stuffy was wonderful, but I just wasn’t sure if even he was enough. Suddenly though, like before, I heard something float through my head. “Easy, Emma… calm down and relax… listen to my messages… feel them… hear them… relax…” Surprised, but so relieved, I could feel my sobs began to fade out of nowhere. I knew it had to be my magical stuffy, and as such, I felt he was truly magical, so I hugged him even tighter. I felt a little fuzzy and sleepy right then, but at least my cries began to simmer. I had no idea what was happening, but as I gazed down to my magical stuffy, I just felt I had finally found the peace I was looking for. Never wanting to part with him again, I hugged him closer with one arm, but curiously, my other snaked up and my thumb planted itself right in my mouth. Never having the strength to do so before or the desire before all this, it was an odd and yet wonderous feeling. I never wanted it to leave my mouth again, but as my eyes drifted closed, I just felt happy that maybe, just maybe, I could find my way back to who I used to be. * * * Later that night, I was feeling much better, especially after I was able to wiggle my fingers after my nap, but back home, I could see that Nancy was in another one of her moods. I had been distressingly ripped away from my magical stuffy when she picked me up and now, amidst all the chaos, I desperately wanted him back. Further, having remembered some of my past now, I sadly knew that today wasn’t the first time that Nancy had come home upset. Remembering other times, I didn’t know much, but I knew I was a burden to her lately with the lack of my current abilities that she now had to deal with. Still, after my bath, I was snuggled into my jammies for the night and brought downstairs by a now calmer Nancy to my relief. I sat on her lap as we watched Squares and Letters, a show dedicated to younger Littles like me. There wasn’t much of a plot, and I drifted in and out from time to time, but tonight at least informed me, when I correctly guessed what a square was, that I was slowly getting better. Unfortunately, in the middle of the show, Nancy got a call, and I was placed into my bouncer carrier seat nearby to still watch the TV. “Yes, hello sir… no sir, I just got home and…” Her face quickly changed to one of concern and worry. “No sir, I didn’t mean to leave before my meeting was over but Emma and… I understand sir but I really need to… yes sir… yes, I understand that Littlecare is important to the company, but I need to find a way to make things work… yes sir… yes sir, I’ll be in early tomorrow morning… goodnight, sir…” Nancy then hung the phone and seemed like she was about ready to cry. I wanted more than anything to comfort Nancy right then, but as things were, I could remember what had just happened and that Nancy was having work troubles, however, that was about it. Right as I thought she was about to burst into tears though, her head snapped towards me. “You…” I had never seen her so angry before, let alone have it directed right toward me. With my newly rediscovered perception of the world though, I was never more scared in this house than right then. “You… you were punished by the daycare. I read the report, and you did this to yourself!” she spat at me. I could see the tears begin to drip down her face and I knew she was just speaking out of anger and frustration over everything, but I was genuinely shocked over what I was seeing now. “Mrs. Gillies said it was an accident and that you really couldn’t be held responsible for your actions, but ever since you came here, you’ve defied everything!” To emphasize her point, Nancy had even thrown her hands up in the air. “I mean, ever since that first day I met you… it’s just all been about you. You never thought any of us Bigs were right, and now, look at you! Probably can’t even tell if you’re wet or messy right now as compared to before. I bet if I checked, not even that long after I just changed you, you would at least be a little wet!” I wiggled just a tiny amount to see if I was wet, but I really couldn’t tell if I was or not anymore. I suspected that would take a long time to come back… if at all. “And now… I’m stuck with practically a newborn! What got into me to take you in? I must have been out of my mind when I did it. I should just return you to the foster home…” She paused and stomped her foot on the ground. “Damn it! They probably wouldn’t even take you anymore. You’re just a lost cause to pretty much everyone now. Ten years ago, newborns were all the rage, but now? I might as well give you freely to the institution up the street!” It was all a lot to process. I could tell this had been building up for some time, but to hear it all in one fell swoop… I felt like right on the cusp of everything turning back to normal between us, now, was crashing down all around me. For all I knew, in a week I would be locked up with the rest of the deformed or mentally damaged Littles in the nearby state institution. I still couldn’t remember much, but Garden Gate Hospital stood out in my mind as a place to avoid at all costs if any of the rumors there were true. So, tired, emotionally drained from my long and trying day, and now verbally assaulted by and scared of Nancy, my seemingly whole world yet who now seemed set on giving me away, my emotions simply gave way. I tried to hold them back but considering the earlier smile I had managed still felt like a miracle, I was useless to keep from bursting into tears. Unfortunately, Nancy was still upset at me and her whole life now. She tried to ignore me at first. She even walked away and plugged her ears at one point, but I could tell it was no use. I could see hatred and desperation in her eyes. “Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up!” she lashed out at me. It was a terrible moment, but even through the blur of my own tears, I could see that Nancy was at her wits end as well and crying herself. For a moment, she even seemed shocked herself over what she had just said out loud to my poor tiny crying form and cupped her hands over her mouth and shook her head. She didn’t mean her words tonight, and I could see it in her eyes. It still didn’t take their sting or the fear they induced away from my heart, but it was something. It was something even more to see though as she leaped out and grabbed me up. “Oh baby! Baby! Please! Shhh, shhh. I didn’t mean it. I’m so sorry!” she lamented as she began to rub my back and bounce me around. I wasn’t sure I was emotionally ready to forgive her, but my infantile Little instincts were in the drivers seat still and began to lull my cries away. “Shhh, shhh, honey. I’m so, so sorry, Emma. I’m just so stressed. Easy there. Easy. I’ve got you.” My cries continued to quiet down. “There, there. You’re safe. No one’s going to hurt you. No one’s going to take you away. I was just upset, and I didn’t mean all that.” She then paused and sat on the couch as she transferred into more of a cradling position with me looking back up at her. “I don’t even know if you can understand me. I wish you could speak, but if you can still think, I’m just so sorry.” I probably could have said something, maybe even a ‘na’ for her name by now, but I decided to keep quiet still. I wanted to hear what she had to say first. “I took you in as a friend, but I didn’t think of the future. I should have and that’s on me. You were just an adult in your old life. All our commercials say otherwise, but I could see your intelligence when you read at least… then all that got taken away. Slowly, you turned into this… and I just wasn’t ready.” She paused for a moment and looked away briefly at some of my babyish equipment and toys that now littered her family room. “I should have talked to my friends more about you and what to expect, but I didn’t. I should have talked to my boss more, but I didn’t. That’s on me, and there’s no excuse. Punished or not, you put your trust in me, and I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I still don’t know if you can understand me, but maybe show me a sign if you can? Please, baby… something… anything…” I debated for a second if I should just let her wallow in her torment longer, as words didn’t always heal other words said before, but I saw the genuine look of apology and regret in her eyes. I saw the longing for forgiveness the most though, so, having a little more control over my body now, I decided to smile back at her. Not even questioning my newly required ability, Nancy lit up. “Oh honey! Thank you! I don’t know if that’s maybe even just gas, but I’ll take what I can get. Come here, baby!” She then held me close and began to rock me back and forth as she hummed a pleasant and familiar tune. I couldn’t place it for the life of me, but I was just happy over our shared tiny moment. Everything remained like that in such peace and quiet… but then my stomach began to growl. I just ate when I came home, but I guessed my stomach needed what it needed. Nancy quickly noticed. “Oh! I think someone’s stomach just growled at me, huh?” She then slightly adjusted me and prodded around with my diapered rear. “Hmmm… not messy, and you’re probably not uncomfortable, but what about being hungry? Do you want some food maybe?” She looked back at me and knowing my own needs and having the ability to communicate a little better, I smiled back at her. She chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” She stood up and walked away from the family room couch, stepping over a few of my leftover items on the floor. “Come on, baby. Let’s get you fed.” I was so happy. We were communicating much better now and Nancy felt like she was finally accepting who I was as a Little now. I wasn’t sure how long the peace would last, and I still had a long way to go myse… ‘Wait… where are we going?’ I watched as Nancy slowly walked me back upstairs instead of the kitchen to fetch me a jar of pureed Littlefood or to warm a bottle up. As we entered my nursery, I at least knew where we were going, but I still wasn’t sure why. Like the rest of my life, as we entered, my eyes were confronted with the notion that my room had changed as well. Unlike other Littles though, whose rooms were changed out of spite or humiliation most of the time, mine was changed out of necessity. The rocking chair was new, but comfortable whenever Nancy read me a story. The books, no longer read by me, or even held by me, had grown simplistic and overly colorful. A changing table, crib, and my wardrobe had all changed as well and everything had now been bathed in pink, purples, or some kind of pastels that blended in nicely. It was a wonderfully comfortable room, but I was still confused why we were up here to feed me. Sitting down in the rocking chair and cradling me back in her arms, Nancy didn’t seem satisfied with my position for far longer than normal. Once she stopped moving me around though, I was too low to be read to, yet too high to be spanked. It was extremely comfortable though, and I felt I could even doze off quite easily, but I still had to question it all in the first place. ‘Had Nancy finally cracked like I did? Couldn’t I have just been fed before she did though?’ As if to punctuate my pressing concern my stomach rumbled again. Nancy smiled down at me. “You know… Mrs. Gillies and I have been talking for a while now. She’s been a big help in making sure you were cared for with your new disabilities, but she’s been slowly suggesting other things that could help us bond better. One, I even bought pills for, but as it turned out, coincidentally, I found out I didn’t even need them a few days ago. I wasn’t sure if to tell you or not, but I think as a kind of recommitment from me to you, I should tonight.” I was still confused, but my eyes bugged out in further confusion as Nancy began to unbutton her shirt. I could feel the heat radiating off her body and I hoped that’s where it would all end. It didn’t though and I froze in shock as she unbuttoned a clasp on her bra and revealed her chest fully to me. “See baby… I’ve been thinking that I should become something more for you. I’ve just been torn between my work and home life lately, but tonight, I realized I really should be focusing on you. You need me right now, and if my job doesn’t understand in this world, I will just find another. After all, it’s not every day I try to start being a mommy to my Little now, is it?” she asked down to me. Her words were full of tenderness and her touch was as soft as ever, but I saw a twinkling of some kind in her eyes. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but I soon realized that it was desire. She had shown it before, but now, her desire was to care for me and to be my new mommy. Yesterday, I might have just cooed at the idea, but today, I felt very different. Unfortunately, once again tonight, my Little babyish instincts began to take over right then. Maybe it was the smell coming off Nancy or the sight of her exposed nipples, but still without much control over my body, my face began to head right for her chest without question or much resistance. Being fully aware of everything and still feeling that something was off, though I couldn’t quite place it, I could only view my actions as an outside observer in silent horror. See, while my memory was still fragmented, I did remember a few things about Bigs and Littles, namely about breastfeeding. Just the situation in general was the stuff of most Littles nightmares, but there were also several facts about it, all interesting to observe but not necessarily witness firsthand. Chiefly though, I remembered something about the hormones in women Bigs specifically. Breastfeeding tended to form a bond they couldn’t break. It was similar for Littles, but the bond formed in half the time for Bigs. Worse, the bond tended to come with a few side effects, namely a change in the personalities of the women feeding their Littles. As my lips wrapped around her nipple, I could do nothing but watch in terror and panic over what was going to happen next. Horrifyingly, as my still regressed instincts took over, I found myself growing attached to the milky substance now trickling down my throat. It was difficult at first, and occasionally Nancy would wince and tell me “No teeth,” but my body just seemed to want more of the wonderous liquid. For her part, Nancy only just cooed at me and stroked my hair in clear contentment. Buried deep, I felt the liquid almost tasted like a milkshake and was the best thing I had ever consumed, but my newly awakened mind burned with the shock of everything that was going on. Before today, everything seemed boring but routine. I could have mapped the next years of my life out with no problem. Once I had awakened though, everything now felt like it was so up in the air. Nancy seemed so much more set on becoming my mommy, but conversely, I felt certain that I wanted more in this life. I wanted to run, play, and jump outside. I knew my path back was difficult, if not impossible, but my goals were still there. As I began to drift off and Nancy just continued to smile in near pure bliss down at me though, I had no idea if her possible new personality would even allow me to. No matter what, I just felt the tremendous weight of the future bearing down on me and all the uncertainties and challenges I was sure to face. For now, though, I just drifted off as I continued to suck down the creamy liquid.

Like thedman, I have a problem with this. As I write, Mike has received only $111 of his monthly $400 request. A contribution on your part would be a thoughtful gesture.

Sometime a little over a week ago, I think it was a Saturday, the odometer on my permanently nappy-clad life clocked over 5 years. Any chronologists reading may already have realised that my blog on this is already well more than 5 years old and so my life in nappies must also be more than 5 years. This is true. I went into nappies full time in late 2018 but this only lasted a little more than 2 months before I went back into grown up pants in order to spend a few weeks working integrated with a short holiday in the USA. It proved to be my last ever annual month-long pilgrimage there for work as the world, and my world in particular was going to implode in 2020 but I didn’t know that then. Furthermore, if I’d known then what I know now about how to wear nappies as a grown up, I wouldn’t have come out of them for that trip. It was the first week of April 2019 that I put on a BetterDry in the Qantas Club lounge bathrooms at Los Angeles airport to stay in them ever since and that was a little over 5 years ago. Five years would have seemed like an impossibly long time back then but here we are. I think I was downstairs painting a garage at the time our planet completed its fifth orbit of our star whilst I peed in my pants. I forgot to celebrate, or even to remember. I think that’s emblematic for how things look like to me right now. There isn’t much “nappy news” to see on a daily basis and frankly, it’s sometimes tough to think about what there might be left to write about them. Frankly, I’ve found it to be a curiously flat milestone although this may well just be my general mood. There’s a bit going on right now in the “rest of life” department. So many other things have changed in my life over this 5 years that it’s hard to work out what, if any, changes are nappy-related. I still think I’m happier in my nappy. It’s hard to be sure because I’ve largely forgotten what it’s like NOT to be in them. For sure the thought of taking them of does induce some low-level anxiety but who’s to say that this isn’t a natural anxiety in the face how accustomed I’ve become, both physiologically and mentally, to semi-automatically peeing myself. There’s also some legitimate anxiety about keeping the marital bed dry. Speaking of marital, I’m still married. It’s not been without collateral cost and I think at 5 years, I need to accept that I have all the tolerance and support that I’m ever going to get (ie: not much). She still hates my nappies which means she hates an aspect of me and that eats away at me like battery acid. I thought I’d be more resilient to that but rust never sleeps. Back on day zero I’d just assumed that if I ever lasted as impossibly long as 5 years in nappies, I’d be totally incontinent and the burden of choice would have been alleviated from me. I would no longer have to CHOOSE nappies, I would simply NEED them. That’s proved to be not quite true. What I have is nappy dependence. It means that I need nappies for simple practicality. I need to pee far too frequently and with far too much urgency to stray too far from a toilet. This is now to the point where it’s too burdensome to remain dry whilst conducting something resembling a normal day. My nappies let me operate like a normal person, or even on some levels a bit better. It’s ME who can sit through the whole “Dune” movie but at the end of the day, I’m in nappies because I have made a weird choice. I could retrain. I have still not escaped the responsibilities of my strange choices. Having said that, there’s been, quite recently, one or two glimmers of something that looks like incredibly mild incontinence. There have been damp sneezes. There’s the bedwetting thing but some part of me knows that paradoxically, this is some kind of deliberate behaviour, albeit “deliberate” at a subconscious level where logic and strategy don’t get much airtime. The occasional decision to pee without waking up is coming from my brain, not my bladder though. There’s probably some volition-worthy choice points I could make that would avoid my occasional bouts of night swimming. I’m just not sure what they are. So where to next? Five years isn’t really that long, only half as long as Ivan Denisovich’s Gulag sentence in Solzhenitsyn’s novel and generally speaking, in my Gulag the catering is better. Year 6 I suppose. Perhaps something interesting will happen then. “Interesting’ of course, may well be more in the context of the apocryphal Chinese curse than “engaging” but we’ll see.

How many of you grew up wetting the bed? I certainly did. I wasn't reliably dry at night until my early 20s.

For me, I can never give up my diaper that's cause being an adult baby and incontinent, I am stuck in diapers forever and permanently. Not being potty trained and having incontinence is the reason why I can never, ever be allowed out of diapers. It's a part of my life and part of me that I am diapered no matter where I am. I'm perfectly accepting that I will always be diapered and babied. I feel completely comfortable being an adult baby and knowing my mom accepts me as an adult baby. She even allows me to have baby bottles and other baby things around me. I love being an adult baby because I can be an adult in my own way, and I don't have to be potty trained to be an adult, grown-up, and big kid. Diapers also prevent me and deny me the ability to be potty trained. It even shields me from the stressful adult world. They keep me young, diapered, and babied in an adult world. I just like diapers so much cause I am a diaper girl who can't be potty trained and trusted to stay dry.

I'm back! Thanks y'all for being patient during my hiatus. 💜 It's a Briana chapter, and she's got a sleepover planned with all her Little friends. Exciting! 18 Sleepover It was a gorgeous spring Saturday in the Rasmussen house. The windows were open to let in fresh air and birdsong. The wood floor of the house’s great room glowed in the late morning light, freshly polished. From top to bottom, the house was immaculate, far more so than during a regular Saturday cleaning. This was mainly due to Briana’s and her Round Table's efforts. Briana paced in front of the stuffies lined up on the living room couch. One by one, she inspected the chore each stuffie had been assigned. · Knight Captain Alanna: Responsible for beating the dust out of the rug – done. · Squire Beartholomew: Asked to put out a bowl of chips and a bowl of cut strawberries – done. · Sir Chuck the Giraffe: Charged with dusting the furniture – done. · Sir Mimsey the Bat: Tasked with putting away toys and arranging throw pillows and blankets – done. · Sir Arnold the Pangolin: Trusted to put plastic glasses and a juice pitcher on the coffee table – not done! “Sir Arnold the Pangolin, I’m very disappointed you’re not finished with your job.” Briana shook her head at Arnold the Pangolin. “Luckily for Sir Arnold the Pangolin, your Princess is in a good mood. Plus, there’s still time before our guests arrive.” Briana snatched Arnold the Pangolin up and sprinted to the kitchen. Mindful of her pretty pouf dress with its lace overlay, she and Arnold the Pangolin took the glasses on the first trip and the pitcher on the second. The dress and lace were black, so the grape juice probably wouldn’t stain her if spilled, but it wasn’t worth the risk. She hadn’t spent her morning getting dolled up like a Little version of her gothy mom only to ruin it at the last minute. All chores were finished, and the snacks were ready. There was only one problem – no guests! Frustrated, Briana trotted across the hardwood floors in her brand new black and white Mary Jane’s. The clicky-clack noise her shoes made was enough fun that she didn’t feel like throwing a tantrum when she found Veronica – Briana was merely impatient. “Momma!” Briana hopped on the drawing room’s plush rug, which didn’t make a fun noise but had a delightful squish. Veronica was sitting primly in a black leather armchair with her laptop on her lap. She took an interminably long moment to finish whatever she typed before looking up. “Yes, Baby Bee?” “When’s Grandma going to get back? She’s been gone for ages.” “Michelle had three Littles to pick up, all living in different parts of town. I’m sure she’ll be back any minute.” Veronica smiled. “I’m glad you’re so excited, though. Did you finish all your chores?” “Barely! Arnold the Pangolin was sandbagging again.” Briana did a twirl for the joy of seeing her skirt flare out. Twirling was almost as fun as being at eye level with her mom. It only happened when Veronica was sitting or crouching down, which made it easy for Briana to stay in Littlespace around her mother. Two friends on their way were petite as well, though not as tiny as Briana. Nobody in the whole Graduate school was as tiny as her. Arthur was the opposite of Tiny, which made the ease with which he slipped into Littlespace impressive. Briana wondered if she should have Alanna commend him for it or if he’d be upset to have his size brought up. “Briana, are you listening to me?” Veronica had set her laptop aside and took Briana’s hands, pulling the Little girl into her lap. “Sorry, Mom, I was thinking about my friends. I can’t wait until they get here.” With a happy sigh, Briana leaned against her mom and tucked her head under Veronica’s chin. “I asked if you needed a change before they get here, but I can see you’re too distracted to notice.” Veronica flipped Briana’s skirt up and squeezed the Little girl’s diaper. “You’re dry, good girl.” It was funny how something that had used to bring Briana to tears – being diaper checked – had become such a comfort and reminder of Mom’s love. “Melody is going to play with us, too, right?” Briana squirmed until she had her arms around her mom and gave her a tight squeeze. “They said they would, so it’s a promise, and they have to play with us.” “I’m sure your sibling will happily play with you.” Veronica kissed Briana atop her head. “They said they were looking forward to it. But they won’t be here immediately, so don’t be disappointed. You’ll have plenty to do when Michelle returns with your friends anyway.” “Oh my gosh – I mean Goddess – it’s going to be so fun! Thanks for letting me have a sleepover, Mom.” Veronica got a funny look on her face when Briana invoked the Goddess. She always had a weird look when Briana brought up the one thing in her life that Briana hadn’t yet gotten to experience. This time, it was just a look instead of a swat or a frown. Mom even gave Briana a little squeeze. There could be no better time to ask Mom, especially after Briana had been such a good girl with her chores. “Momma, can I go with you to the next esbat?” “Not the next one.” Veronica put a finger on Briana’s lips to silence her whine. “April’s esbat is scheduled for the end of the month, during the dark of the moon. It’ll be one of our more serious ceremonies, and it won’t be a good introduction to the coven for anyone, especially a Little girl.” “But Momma!” “Let me finish. Beltane will be at the beginning of next month and the perfect time to introduce my bouncy, sparkly daughter.” “Really?!” Briana’s enthusiastic hug squeezed a grunt out of Veronica. “Mom, that’s super exciting! Can Melody come if I convince them?” “Only if they really want to come, and not if they agreed because you were badgering them.” “Melody loves me and you too; they’ll come.” Briana hopped off Veronica’s lap and did three spins in a row, giggling. “Thanks, Mom! I’m going back to the living room, so I’ll be ready when Grandma gets here.” “Don’t forget that your grandmother is in charge of your sleepover. Jane and I will be here, but you’d better not come to ask us for something she’s already said no to.” “Mom!” Briana’s exclamation of shock had little effect on Veronica’s knowing look. Reluctantly, Briana nodded. “That was only one time. But I promise I won’t. Okay, love you, momma. I’m going to watch the door now!” ~~~*~~~ Twenty eons later, or twenty minutes later – who’s to say – Briana heard a car pull up outside the house. An excited squeal burst out of her when the door opened, revealing Grandma and a train of bashful Littles. Grandma Michelle was dressed in a sturdy blue shift dress and looked downright vigorous; her health scare from Christmas seemed well behind her. Briana hugged Grandma, Arthur, Fabi, and Ava, adding a quick kiss to her girlfriend’s hug. They were all dressed Little, too. Arthur was in shortalls that looked like regular overalls that had been cut off and hemmed. He had a backpack over one shoulder and a stuffed tyrannosaurus under his arm. Fabi was in a purple, short-sleeved dress with a crazy amount of lace under her skirt. Her bag was an adorable teddy bear backpack – she had an elephant stuffie clutched in one hand. Ava wore a rainbow tie-dye t-shirt and lime green shorts that didn’t do much to hide her diaper. Her bag was a laundry bag – she looked like she was having trouble managing it, her crutches and her teddy bear Brownie all simultaneously. Briana took Ava’s bag, then Fabi’s and Arthur’s, to not to single her girlfriend out. With an oof from the weight, Briana set the bags by the stairs. “Hi everybody, thanks for coming to my sleepover! We have snacks and juice and anything you want; just ask.” “You’re all welcome to have some snacks, but don’t fill up.” Grandma guided the Littles into sitting positions on the living room rug. “I’ll have lunch for you in a few minutes.” “What’s for lunch?” Fabi asked. “Lefse! You’re going to love it. It’s potato flatbread with butter and sugar.” Briana bounced happily on her padded rear at the chorus of aahs from her friends. “I know you all kinda met at my birthday, but did you get re-introduced in the car if you needed to?” Briana asked. “I can do introductions! Or we can introduce our stuffies.” “We had a chance to talk in the car.” Arthur chuckled. “Your grandma squished us all into the back seat of her car,” Ava said with a giggle. “Also, Brownie has already met your stuffies, but he’d love to meet Athur’s and Fabi’s.” “This is Elle!” Fabi scooted up to Ava, shoving her elephant urgently toward Brownie. “Hi, Ellie,” Ava said for Brownie, waving his paw. “I’m Tommy,” Arthur said in the squeaky falsetto he used for his stuffed tyrannosaurus. Briana giggled and grabbed her stuffed Lioness. “Alanna knows Tommy and Brownie but is very pleased to meet Elle.” “Brownie is a kshatriya, which is kind of like a knight.” Ava declared. “Are Tommy and Elle knights like Alanna is?” “Of course, I’m a knight!” Arthur squeaked for Tommy before switching to his usual bass rumble. “Sorry, Tommy, but you know you can’t pass the qualifications.” With Athur’s help, Tommy had a stomping fit on the Little boy’s leg. “I think Elle can’t pass the tests or whatever either.” Fabi cuddled her elephant close. “She’s not into scary stuff like fighting.” “Then Brownie and Alanna will protect Tommy and Elle if needed.” Briana declared. In response, Ava grinned, scooting over to Briana to bump her hip against Bri’s. The sweet smell of potato pancakes followed Grandma out of the kitchen. Though she had food on the stove, Michelle managed to pour each Little a glass of juice and check their diapers. There were lots of blushy giggles in Grandma’s wake, especially from Ava. When the pancakes arrived, they were as delicious as they’d been the first time Grandma had made them. Savory, sweet, and buttery tastes filled Briana’s mouth with delight and her tummy with warmth. Besides the clinking of plates, the room was quiet as the Littles devoured their lunch. Briana cleared the lunch plates without being asked – because she was the best Little girl ever. While she was doing that, Grandma whisked Ava away for a diaper change, redoubling Ava’s blush. Briana plopped down on the floor between Arthur and Fabi, pulling them both into a hug. “I have to tell you two about something a bit scary that happened to Ava.” Briana was glad to see her friends responding with curiosity rather than nervousness. She had the mellowing power of Lefse to thank for that. “Ava and I were out together the other day and ran into some anti-ABDL protestors. One of them pushed Ava over and hurt her pretty badly.” “What?” Arthur’s jaw dropped, his expression struggling between Big rage and Little Concern. “Is she okay? I mean, she looks okay, but…” Fabi trailed off nervously. “She’s okay now, but it was terrifying; we had to call an ambulance.” Briana sighed. “Don’t make a big deal when she comes out, because she doesn’t like talking about it, but I wanted you to know that mean people are getting aggressive with Littles.” Arthur sighed. “Great, one more thing to deal with in town.” Fabi nodded. “So much for ever going out, now that I’m full-time Little.” “No! We can’t let them win. I have a plan to fix it; we’ll talk about it when Ava gets back.” “Talk about what?” Ava asked, maneuvering deftly on her crutches ahead of Grandma. Briana squirmed out from between her friends in time to pull Ava into a snuggle as she sat. “Fixing what happened to you the other day.” “That reminds me,” Michelle said. “Have you ever heard back from the police, Ava? I know Briana hasn’t.” Ava shook her head. “Not yet, but it’s only been a few days.” “Oh, that won’t do at all.” Michelle pulled her phone out of her purse. “You kids, go ahead with what you were doing. I’m going to give the police chief a call.” Arthur and Fabi looked at Briana in surprise. Before Briana could answer, Ava shrugged at them. “Her family just does stuff like this.” “My family and I have a lot of privilege in this town – and I’m going to put it to good use.” Briana squeezed Ava. “What happened to Ava is not okay. I don’t like seeing protestors or people talking badly about Littles. We’re not hurting anyone. They’re the ones harassing and hurting people.” “What are we supposed to do about it?” Arthur frowned. “It’s not like you can take away people’s right to protest. Even if they’re protesting for something mean.” “Of course not, but we can keep them from hurting people when they do it.” Briana thumped a fist on the rug. “And if we convince people that it’s okay to be Little, they’ll stop protesting alone.” “You’re talking about an activism campaign?” Ava scooted away from Briana, frowning. “Briana, I can’t even see my old friends; I can’t go on TV or whatever!” Fabi whimpered. Arthur kept quiet, but he looked as uncomfortable as Fabi did. “I’m not asking anybody in this room to do public stuff.” Briana looked up at Grandma with a smile. “Well, maybe Grandma. But mostly, it’ll be me and my aunt Kiara – she already said she’d help.” “Then you’re just – warning us that you’re going public about this?” The look on Ava’s face said that they would have to have a big conversation about Briana’s plan. That was okay. Briana knew that she could trust her girlfriend to understand once she explained things properly. “That’s part of it, but I could also really use your help! There’s tons of stuff to do that doesn’t involve showing your names or faces. I’ll need help writing letters, calling people, making lists of people to call, making flyers, keeping track of donations, and all kinda stuff.” “You’ve really thought about this.” Ava looked more thoughtful than uncomfortable – a good sign! “Wow, Bri, that’s a lot. You seem kind of like that day you, um – ran into me downtown and bought me cocoa.” Arthur smiled bashfully. “You mean when I was Big and you were Little? Well, I’m still Little, but I can do this! We don’t forget stuff when we’re Little, right? If anything, I think we understand stuff better.” “I just sit around most of the day when I don’t have a babysitter.” Fabi squirmed, her diaper crinkling. “It’d be fun to have something to do, but I’m not a good organizer.” “You could put letters in envelopes!” Briana grinned to see an eager smile on Fabi’s face. “Yeah, I could! Um, could I put cute stickers on them, or would that mess up the plan?” “That would be perfect!” Briana grinned, reaching out to grab Ava and Arthur’s hands. To her delight, Fabi took Arthur and Ava’s other hands. “We can do this Little-style! So, will you help me, please?” “Of course, we’re friends, right?” Arthur squeezed Briana’s hand. “I’m in for decorating and mailing stuff!” Fabi grinned. “It’s scary that you’re going to be publicly ABDL,” Ava sighed. “If you could be careful when you’re out with me, I’d really appreciate that. Even if it is scary – I’m in.” “Yay! Thank you, everybody! Especially you, Ava, for being super brave. I’ll be as careful as I can, I promise.” Ava rolled her eyes, though she was smiling from ear to ear. “You’re lucky I love you, Looney Tunes.” Briana’s giggle at what she hoped was a new nickname was short-circuited by the phrase immediately preceding the name. “You love me?” Ava ducked her head bashfully. “That just slipped out, but – I guess I do.” “I love you so much!” Briana tackled her girlfriend, giggling madly and kissing her all over her face. Ava laughed back, clinging to Briana until they settled into a loving hug. “I hope I’m not interrupting.” Michelle peeked into the back of Arthur and Fabi’s diapers, getting a squeak out of them. “Ava, I told the police chief that his inaction was disappointing. He knows at least some of the names of people that were protesting, but he didn’t want to bother them.” Grandma tutted disapprovingly at the police chief as she untangled Briana and Ava, checking their diapers in the process. “He’s motivated to bother them now. We should have a name and some charges for the person who pushed you soon, as well as a restraining order.” Ava sighed gratefully, leaning against Michelle’s leg. “Thank you, uh… Ms. Rasmussen?” “You can call me Grandma if you want, dear. All you darling kids can if you want. You’re Briana’s friends, after all.” She clapped her hands dramatically. “Now! You’ve got full bellies and dry diapers. Briana gave me a list of activities for the day, including a movie, a blanket fort, and playing Cloudland. Which would you like to do first?” “We can’t play Cloudland until Melody gets back.” Briana protested. “Then it’ll be one of the other two. We’ll let your friends pick. Ava, Arthur, Fabi, what’ll it be, couch fort or a movie?” “Blanket fort?” Arthur asked excitedly. “Yeah!” Ava and Fabi said together. “Then we need to get the coffee table moved to the side. Some rolled-up mattresses can go in its place. You kids get busy doing that while I get the sheets to drape between the couches.” “Got it, Grandma!” Briana grinned, tugging mightily – and uselessly – on the coffee table. With Arthur’s help, they got it moving smoothly enough that they didn’t spill any snacks. Fabi pulled mattresses into place while Ava rolled them out. The Littles were in a snuggle-pile on those mattresses with their stuffies only a few minutes later. Grandma stretched sheets from couch to couch, pinning them in place. She even put a pillowcase across the entrance between Mom’s armchair and a sofa, making a cute door flap. The inside of the fort took on a dreamy blue and green hue from the sun filtering through the sheets. “Fabi, get the snacks!” Briana fished an arm through the sheet-walls to pull the rest of her round-table into the fort. “This is so fun.” Arthur giggled. “I wish we could sleep under here tonight.” Ava nodded eagerly. “That is the best idea!” Briana kissed her girlfriend soundly on the cheek before looking up to shout at the sheet-ceiling. “Grandma, can we sleep in the fort instead of Melody’s room like we planned?” “You don’t need to shout, Little Rose. I heard you and Ava both just fine.” Grandma chuckled. “Ava’s idea is a great one. We’ll get your sleeping bags in there when it’s bedtime.” Resuming their cuddle pile, the Littles munched on chips and gave their stuffies a dance party. Briana was feeling extra snuggly regarding Ava after her girlfriend’s declaration of love. Happily, Ava was the same. They stayed spooned together every minute that they played in the fort. The sleepover was already the bestest fun since Briana’s birthday and promised to get even better when Melody arrived. Through all the snuggles and laughs they were sharing, Briana’s heart overflowed with love for all three of her friends. Protecting them and their magical time together was more important than ever. Briana couldn’t imagine the kind of person who could object to the fun they were having as Littles – but she knew they were out there. That’s okay! I’ll change their minds as quickly as Grandma changes my diapers!

Just to clairify one thing.. The one strike policy applies to stories involving minors. You won't get nuked for other rules.

mommy changed me out of a poopy tykables unicorns diaper 20 minutes ago. she changed me into a clean tykables overnights with a booster ready for bed. what she doesn't realise is that I did a nice long pee it 5 minutes ago. my diaper is nice and wet ready for night night. see you in the morning

No offense, but I think if you want to do something like this, you should be consulting with the forum mods and getting an advertising type forum added. This forum has always been about stories written for the general members to be able to see. Yes some authors have subscription platforms where chaprmtes are posted before they become free, but people are not trying to post teasers to sell their e books

Marry fought against the unending tide of pleasure that the vibrator forced on her. She would not cum in public. She gritted her teeth and kicked her legs. Yet, she was loosing the battle and she knew it. Her struggling turned frantic as she felt her body loose it battle to pleasure. "MMMMMM" she cried out as waves of pleasure forced itsway out of her right into her waiting panties. It took a few moments for marry to somewhat pull her senses back. Only their was a new promblem. The vibrator was still going. "Mmmph Heprh" Mary tried to beg for someone to come turn off the vibrator. Yet all that came out were unintelligible grunts quickly turning into the moans of a whore. Orgasm after Orgasm hit her as the vibrator kept forcing her senstive loins with unwanted pleasure. "Hi there! Its your turn sweetie." A condescendingly sweet voice broke through the pleasure. As she vaguely felt the stroller begin to move. Hope blossomed in Marry's now muddled mind. Maybe the vibrator would finally. That hope died as the vibrator kept going forcing her to cum again. They eventually made it to what seemed like a children's clinic sized up for adults. They passed by a waiting room and Marry noticed that their were no children's toy or chairs. Instead sybians replaced the colored chairs that would normally be in such a place, with restrains added on, instead of toys their were expensive looking plastic pony rides with a metal bar set in its centor. A young blong women dressed like an old fashion mom was reading a book in the only chairs, One plain white chair for each sybian, that were in the waiting room. On the sybian close to the womens chair was a girl dressed up in cutsy princess pajama accented by her diaper bulge. She had a red stuffy nose and was crying. Eventually Marry was wheeled into a doctors room. She expected to be allowed to at least move around, instead 2 caretakers carried her over to the examination table all the while a third caretaker kept the vibrator angled on her now ruined pink panties. "Hello. Little marry, I see your in good health. We just need to give you a few shots and you can be on your way to "messy" training." The man pulled out 3 syringes and begun to explain one each shot would do to the barely paying attention marry. "This first shot is going to regulate your weight. Once this has run through your system you will no longer be able to gain weight. Unfortunately, you will have to eat 2 to 3 times more then normal. It will also mean you will need more frequent diapers changes." Without warning she felt the doctor inject the needle into her. "This one is something of an aphrodisiac. It will enhance your sense of pleasure while reducing your sens of pain." Once again it was immediately injected into her. "Finally we have this third bit of medicine. It will reduce your emotional control and will hopefully make you have a few public tantrums." The final needle was injected in.

Just dropped in to state the obvious, for anyone who's reading this: I don't know how I would get through my day without wearing a diaper. My job has become so busy lately, I have no time to get and do anything, let alone go to the bathroom. My wife has been bringing me my lunch at my desk when she's home. It's nice that I can simply forget about the plumbing department until I stand up to stretch, and realize that my diaper has bulked up a bit. It's also been a crutch for me psychologically - when I have to focus on a task that's not at the top of my list of things to do, I think to myself, "At least I can wear a diaper while I do this..." I think she had gotten used to seeing me up here in my office in a diaper and a golf shirt, dressed for Zoom & Teams meetings where the horizon line is conveniently mid-chest, although with the cooler weather, I have been tending to wear trousers. But it's getting nice out again and we are drifting towards the "pants optional" months, so I shall once again be testing her tolerance. I'm still kind of self-conscious about pacifiers during the day, or really anytime outside of when I'm actually in bed, under the covers. I've accepted that when I'm sleeping and she's watching something on her tablet or phone, that she can see I have a pacifier going, although putting it in is the second last thing I do, followed only by turning out my bedside lamp. As I've explained before, it's at least partially for her benefit - she used to elbow me away some nights because I was clicking my teeth There was a stretch a while ago - a couple of years, actually - where I was working on a big, detailed project, and I started using one while I was concentrating, almost like chewing gum, but once I got back to doing frequent online meetings, I stopped using one during the day. Forgetting your paci is clipped to your shirt could be a career-ending move. I may implement it again - I did find it relaxing, although I don't know if I could "get over myself" enough to actually use it in front of anyone, when I'm not sleeping. I have wondered if a pacifier could be a weight loss crutch, again, like chewing gum - if I used one while watching TV, would I be less compelled to snack? But then I feel like I'd look absurd. But then again, I'm also generally sitting there in a big diaper, so... The ultimate invention would be a pacifier into which you could pour Scotch. Sort of the baby bottle equivalent of a shot glass, with a really tiny orifice... I shall begin assembling the blueprints for the patent office.

Looking at what you were intiatied into ABDL in, vs what you are getting rid of. They are not even related. If those were all I could get, I would quit too

Long time listener, first time caller! (I just realized how old that reference is. Ouch.) I hope that it's okay if I share this story with Y'all. It's been in my head for a while and I hope you enjoy it! Chapter one: John Smith was a thoroughly unremarkable young man. At five foot eight he was certainly not tall, and he was neither muscular nor scrawny. His tuft of unruly brown hair blended into the woods around him. He was never really an athletic person, and he could not even spend enough time sitting still to be called a gamer. He tried his hand at fishing because he enjoyed being outdoors and found that he was okay at it, but only rarely caught anything worth cooking. He tried cycling but never felt comfortable on a bike. John had only found one thing he ever truly enjoyed. Being outside and walking through the woods. Once his girlfriend of three years moved away for college, they promised to stay in touch. They were still friends, but left with little else to do with himself, John took to his only hobby with some enthusiasm. None of his clothes were expensive, and his vehicle was a thirty year old small truck that was only remarkable in that it still works fine. John had, in fact, only made one glaring error in his twenty four years of life. He got a job at a store that sells his hobby. He was certain that it was a good idea at the time. After all, he could get hiking supplies at an employee discount! His boss was a very nice woman that would offer damaged inventory to the employees after writing it off. With his workplace being closed for an upcoming Monday, and having won the lottery of having a Friday off, John found himself with a very rare opportunity. And with no one to answer to for the next four days, he was determined to try something new. John was going hiking and camping for three days. After he explained his plan to his boss, she cautioned him very sternly about bringing plenty of water, a compass, a map, and all the camping supplies he would need to sleep out on the trail. “If you are going to be out there for three days, you bring food and water for five. Stick to known trails, and never once put your camp knife down. If you see wildlife, you go the other way.” And so he left work with a dented wagon that was written off with large wheels to be pulled on a beach, camping supplies for several days, a small tent, and a cheap but sturdy ice chest with three gallons of water in it. Parking at a nearby nature trail and getting his supplies out of the back of his small truck Friday morning he tied a lead to the handle of his wagon and started walking down a trail that he had been down a dozen times. But this time was different. This time he didn't have to turn around after three hours and come back before it got dark. This time he was out for the weekend. So happily humming to himself as he patiently walked along the trail, he cheerfully picked up acorns as he went and tossed them to any squirrels he passed by. The squirrels wouldn't really care that he threw them acorns, but they were cute and it was fun to see them grab the acorns and scurry away with them. As the trail led our intrepid adventurer along a wide creek come mid afternoon he couldn't help but stop and sit down on his ice chest and take a break to eat a couple of granola bars and drink a bottle of water. He was so happy in that moment that he emptied his right cargo pocket of acorns next to a nearby tree and sat to just enjoy the view for an hour. Stopping to take a couple of pictures on his cell phone, he noticed that the trail curved off to the right away from the stream, but that the land by the stream was flat and wide open. So why not just walk along the stream, and the next day simply follow the stream back? So with a wave to a squirrel that was watching the intruder from a pile of acorns, he set off at a leisurely pace along side the stream. Two hours of walking later, the stream was very shallow. Barely even ankle deep and no more than ten feet across. And it was here in dimming evening light that John noticed something strange on the other side of the stream. The air over there looked … different. Almost … Shimmery? So, pausing to take another deep drink of water, he slowly walked across the stream, wagon still pulled by his belt, and had very little trouble of it. And there, several miles from any known trail, he found himself staring at … nothing. Or something. Everything looked the same, but that shimmer was still there. And what was more is that if he squinted as he looked through the shimmering spot it was strangely like a magnifying glass. “How does the air do that?” he asked out loud. And then he made another mistake. He walked up to the spot where the air looked distorted and shimmery. For a brief moment nothing seemed different … and then he felt dizzy. His insides felt like they twisted, folded, and compressed. It all came on suddenly, violently, and in that instant everything in his stomach seemed to take up too much space. And just as suddenly he was on hands and knees as everything in his stomach decided that it had other places to be. None of which were where he had put them. After several very unhappy moments, John stood back up, wiping his mouth on his forearm and looking around himself. Something was not quite right. The stream behind him seemed much larger than he had remembered moments before. The trees looked … larger. Why would the oak trees look larger? And more importantly … wasn't it just getting dark? The sun was now high in the sky. Taking a few steps he found himself slipping and noticed that his boots seemed quite loose. He had to pull all of the laces in as tight as he could and retie them to make them a bit snug again. So much for his good quality boots, the darned things got loose for some reason. It took several minutes for John to get his bearings and walk back to the stream he had just crossed. It didn't make any sense, he had just come across that very stream, and now as he looked back in the now bright daylight … it was easily thirty feet across and moving much faster than when he crossed it. Suddenly feeling very concerned, he decided that he had enough adventure for the moment and started walking back along the stream the way he had come. Back toward civilization, shivering a bit in the suddenly cold air. Walking back along the stream the way he came, but now stuck on the opposite side of the stream, John Smith was growing more confused and concerned as he went. He picked up an acorn out of habit, but this acorn was abnormally large. The size of a lemon. Why would an acorn be so large? Figuring this was some sort of fluke, he tossed it into the wagon behind him and kept going. After a couple more hours and several more freakishly large acorns, John felt just far too tired to keep going. He could see smoke off in the distance but he just couldn't walk any more. Despite the sun being still up in the sky he felt like he's been walking for twenty or thirty hours straight. So he found a small clear spot between some trees about ten feet from the stream and popped out his little tent, easily stepping on the stakes to anchor his little tent into the ground. He set about clearing a patch of dirt and using his camp knife to chop some of the large twigs into manageable chunks. A few minutes with his zippo and a pile of leaves and he had a tiny fire surrounded safely by a wall of dirt. Sitting next to his wagon drinking water and eating another granola bar, John started to doze off. After what seemed like moments to him, he opened his eyes to see that his fire had gone out and on the other side of the ashes was something looking at him. Something bigger than it ought to be. With a yelp of surprise John scrambled to his feet and fumbled to get his camp knife out of its holster and hold it up between him and the wild animal. Gray, and easily the as big as a medium sized dog, there stood before him the largest squirrel he had ever seen. And with its low body and nose working fervently, the squirrel was staring straight at him. After several moments of being stared down by a squirrel almost half his size, John calmed down enough to reach into the wagon behind him and pull out an acorn. The squirrel stared at the acorn now instead of him. Very slowly he leaned, holding the acorn out and preparing to roll it, the squirrel instead reached out for it, grabbed it and in a flash was gone up the tree next to him. It took a minute to breathe normally again. Now shaking and very confused, he pulled the wagon up in front of the entrance to the tent and did the only thing he could think to do. John freaked out as quietly as he could manage until he fell asleep hours later.

Hi diaper babies! I hope you don't mind me sharing a section from my newest book release! I thought you might enjoy it, and if so, the rest of the novella is now available to buy via the links at the bottom if you're interested! Thank you! Falling Diapered Into Her Arms: My Story of Regression, Humiliation, and Messy Diaper Punishment (An ABDL Novella) PREVIEW EXCERPT: It was on the way to the grocery store that I noticed the first signs I might be having an upset tummy. Sitting in the back of my Mommy’s van, I felt gurgling, twisting and rumbling as we drove, causing me to wince with every bump. It seemed more and more like something in my breakfast wasn’t agreeing with me. I took deep breaths and tried to put the growing discomfort out of my mind, hoping my tummy would settle down on its own, shortly. But in the back of my mind, I had a growing fear that the rumblies I was wrestling with might mean I would need to take a dump sooner rather than later—far earlier than my usual after-dinner BM schedule. The issue was there was no way I was going to be able to go number two while we were out of the house, and I knew we wouldn’t be back home from running my Mommy’s errands for at least several more hours at this point. That’s because there was no way I could bear using a public toilet to poop. This week, especially. In the first place, I’d always been terrified of pooping in a public toilet outside my house, even before I met my Mommy. It was one of my greatest fears. But then, add on to that my Mommy still currently required that she supervise me while I was using the toilet, even in a public bathroom. It was already nearly impossible trying to brave the humiliation of pooping in front of my Mommy while she watched me at home. The idea of having to poop in a public bathroom while she stood in the stall with me, narrating it for anyone else in the restroom to hear, was unimaginable. But finally, there was the fact I was still only three days into my so-called ‘potty-probation’. And that meant I was still wearing a diaper 24/7, including right now. I was forbidden from using my daytime diapers, of course. (Pottying in my diapers was the last thing on earth I wanted to do, anyway.) But the terms of my potty-probation were that every morning, my Mommy changed me out of my soggy bedwetting diaper, and into a fresh daytime diaper—one I was not to use. Then, similar to my previous potty-training rules, whenever I needed to use the potty, I needed to ask my Mommy to take me, so she could bring me into the bathroom and carefully un-tape my diaper. Before she even allowed me to sit on the potty for my supervised toileting, she carefully inspected the bright white interior diaper padding for any signs of, “visible continence failure.” Or, as she translated for me to understand, “Any oopsie peepees or whoopsie poopies in your diadees!” Only when she deemed that my diaper was still, “appropriately unsoiled”—that is, “no yucky doodie or peepee stains”—did she let me sit on the potty to do my business. Then, when I was finished using the toilet, I would then be made to lay on a vinyl baby’s diaper changing pad on the bathroom floor so she could properly diaper me back up, often with a fresh application of baby powder or extra tapes, if necessary. With all the other difficulties involved with using a public toilet to go number two at this point, I just couldn’t imagine also being forced to do it all with an extremely humiliating, noisy, noticeably crinkly diaper that needed to be taken off by my Mommy… let alone put back on while I laid on the floor for all to see! So, even though by time we arrived at the grocery store, my tummy rumbles had already begun to transform into painful urges and cramps in my bowels like I feared… I was still more determined than ever to just hold it till we got back home. After all, it wasn’t like I actually needed the stupid diaper I was being forced to wear under my pants. I wasn’t actually a stupid baby. I’d be able to just hold it like a big boy until we got home, no problem. … right? *** “Do you need to go potty before we start shopping, hon?” my Mommy loudly asked me as we walked through the front doors of the grocery store. “Does my little guy need to potty?” I blushed and stared down in embarrassment as several nearby patrons glanced in our direction, all of them cringing with pity and / or discomfort at seeing someone my age still needing to be talked to in such an infantile way. “Well? Answer Mommy when she asks you a question,” my Mommy repeated even louder. “Do you need Mommy to take you to the potty before we start shopping, or not? Do you need to go weewee? Because I don’t want to take a potty break once we get started, hon.” I bit my lip, suddenly shyly hesitating. The thing was, the second she asked if I had to pee, I realized, in fact… I did. It was humiliating how well she seemed to know when and how often I needed to go to the potty lately. Seemingly even better than I did. Just like a Mommy potty-training her little boy… But the problem was, my tummy was now in such distress, and I was so focused on holding back my urgent need to go number two, I suddenly felt terrified that if I tried to pee… I might lose control of my bowels. And if she decided to stand me at a urinal to pee (which she often did if we were out and about and she was in a hurry), I might shit my pants. It was too risky. I just needed to wait until my stomach settled a little bit, first, I told myself. I would pee when my tummy cramps finally weren’t so bad. “No, I don’t have to go potty,” I answered, my cheeks turning a bit red, perhaps betraying my fib. “Are you suuuuuure?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. I gave a shy nod. It occurred to me how silly it was that I was once again lying to my Mommy about not needing to potty. But what else was I to do? “Hmmm, I don’t know,” my Mommy said, as if reading my mind. She grabbed me by the wrist. “I think we learned last time that I’d better take you anyway—“ “Excuse me, ma’am?” A stranger suddenly interrupted my Mommy, stopping her in her tracks. “Would you like to sign up for our store’s free savings program? You can save up to 30% off on every visit with just your email address.” To my surprise, my Mommy stopped and suddenly seemed to get swept up in some sort of boring adult conversation with what looked like someone who worked for the store. I slowly drifted behind her while she held my wrist, taking the opportunity to catch my breath and ease the cramping in my bowels. I really, really didn’t want to be taken to the potty at the moment. Especially now that I could tell from the way my guts were rumbling, it was going to be a sloppy, loud, potentially even painful bowel evacuation I was in for, which made me all the more desperate to avoid doing it in a public bathroom. I just needed to focus on holding everything for now… Suddenly, I realized my Mommy was finished with the conversation. But funny enough, by time she was finished, she seemingly had forgotten she was about to drag me to the bathroom to pee against my will. Instead, it seemed she got distracted by a sale at the end of the aisle, and was now quickly pulling me along as she grabbed a cart and started her grocery shopping. I was incredibly relieved. I had no idea what would have happened if she had dragged me to the bathroom. Whether I would have horrifically messed myself while trying to maintain my composure enough to ‘just’ urinate at the urinal… or been forced to confess my real most pressing potty need, where I would then have been dragged to a filthy public stall and forced to suffer the most humiliating and intense BM of my life… But as immensely relieved as I was in the moment… unfortunately, that sense of relief didn’t last long. In fact, it didn’t take long for me to realize that, while I obediently shuffled behind my Mommy as she traversed up and down the endless supermarket aisles, the pressure and cramps in my bowels weren’t getting any better, like I had hoped. In fact, they were only getting much, much worse… *** I clutched my tummy and wheezed with pain as I felt another seismic cramp reverberate through my bowels. I had been patiently, obediently following my Mommy around the crowded supermarket for quite a while now, aisle after aisle, department after department. She seemed to be doing her shopping even slower than usual, adding to my immense distress. But I knew by now raising any fuss about how long it was taking Mommy to do her errands was a surefire way to suddenly make my situation much worse, with a swift and severe punishment. At first, I had been carried by the hope that my Mommy would be done shopping soon, which meant we might go home soon, which meant I would finally get to relieve my agonizing bowels on our toilet at home soon... But then, it began to feel like not only was my Mommy slowing down… but so was time itself. Every step I took with the thick, humiliating, crinkly padding between my legs felt like days of agony as I tried to suppress the cramps in my tummy. And as my Mommy stopped in the cereal aisle to carry on a long and protracted conversation with a friend from the neighborhood she had recognized, while I gritted my teeth and suppressed the worst groans my tummy had ever made… I finally realized I had made a huge mistake. As mortified and dead-set against I was at first about using the public toilet to relieve my agonizing bowels, I was now at a breaking point. I realized I truly couldn’t hold on much longer. And with a chill of terror, the true stakes finally dawned on me of what I was risking if I didn’t summon the strength to subject myself to the humiliation of using the store bathroom with my Mommy… I realized I was now suddenly risking potentially having an accident in my diaper… while on potty-probation. And if that happened… it meant I might never get to use any toilet at all ever again. Sweating bullets and wheezing with intestinal distress, I finally faced the fact that I was out of options. I realized my Mommy wasn’t leaving this store anytime soon. My only choice now was to try to get her attention, before I risked the unthinkable happening… “Ummm… Mommy?” I suddenly squeaked, trying to get her attention while she carried on her conversation with the neighbor she happened to run into. While I had been obediently standing right next to my Mommy the whole time they talked, I hadn’t paid attention to a word of their conversation, and I couldn’t have, even if I wanted to. I was far too distracted by the seismic gurgling and gasp-inducing cramps that had now fully seised my bowels. “Mommy? Mommy?” I whined again, desperate to get her attention without earning myself a scolding, or worse, for rudely interrupting. Finally, my Mommy turned around. “What is it, hon?” she asked, clearly irritated. “I… uh… umm… well… you see… I just… ummm….” I murmured, still struggling to say it, after resisting it for so long. But now, I was practically doubled over in pain. My face was red and covered with sweat. My bowels were making noises I’d never heard anyone’s stomach make before. I suddenly needed to poop worse than I’d ever needed to poop in my life, and my primal desperation for physical relief finally took over… “I gotta go potty, Mommy!” I finally managed to belt out, clutching my tummy and grimacing in pain. My Mommy gave a brief expression of surprise, then let out a long sigh of disappointment. Then she turned back to her friend. “Alright, I’d better get back to shopping with the little rugrat, here. It was great catching up! Let’s stay in touch about playdates and babysitting, like you said! I’m sure they’d both love that,” my Mommy said to her friend. If I wasn’t in such agony, I might have paid more attention to what she mentioned about playdates and babysitting, but as it stood, I only had one concern. Getting. To. The. Potty. My Mommy finally hugged her friend goodbye, then slowly turned around and started pushing the cart down the aisle again while I shuffled alongside her. I felt a sudden and tremendous wave of relief. It looked like she was taking me to the bathroom! I was so happy I could have cried. Or at least, that’s how it seemed at first… Until a moment later, my Mommy stopped at a shelf and started looking through cans of soup again, to my utter bafflement. “Umm, Mommy!” I squeaked. “I said I really need you to take me to the potty!” “Oh, I know, sweetie,” she replied calmly. “Don’t worry, I’m almost done with my shopping, then we’ll go right there.” I was flummoxed. “But… but… Mommyyy… I really have to go….” I softly whimpered. But she seemed to ignore me as she continued calmly looking through items on the shelf. “Mommyyyy… Mommyyyy… Mommy…” I continued whining, clutching my stomach in pain as I followed her. But she still didn’t respond. Finally, I cried out, “Mommy, I said I really have to go potty, right now!” “Well, too bad!” my Mommy suddenly shouted back, spinning on her heels to stare me down. “You should have thought of that the first time I offered to take you, shouldn’t you have? You know, right when we entered the store?” I instantly wilted, feeling scared. She only scolded me in that tone of voice when I was on the verge of being in big, big trouble. “But… but… I really have to go, really bad…” I whimpered softly. “Can’t you please just take me now?” “No,” my Mommy said sternly. “Absolutely not. When I offered to take you to the potty before, I made it very clear to you it was because I didn’t want to take any potty breaks while I was in the middle of shopping. I even tried to insist you go potty, even if you didn’t feel like it, so this wouldn’t happen. And guess what? You refused. Why did you refuse? Probably because you thought you were too much of a big boy to go potty when your Mommy said you should. “Well, guess what, little buddy? If you want to choose to try to act like a big boy, that’s fine. But that also means actually being treated like a big boy. And in this case, that means you quit whining and you hold it like a big boy until I’m done shopping and can take you to the potty again. Is that clear?” my Mommy scolded. “I… I…” I stammered, the cramps in my tummy too painful for me to think straight. “I said… IS. THAT. CLEAR?” my Mommy repeated, causing the hair to go up on the back of my neck in fear. “Yes, Mommy,” I murmured. “Good,” my Mommy said, finally letting out a small sigh and returning to her task of comparing soup cans. “Now, I’ll only be a little bit longer. And like I said before, I’ll take you to the potty right away when I’m finished.” I nodded and stared at the floor. My face burned red with embarrassment, shame, pain, and frustration as I resumed silently and obediently standing behind my Mommy, like she ordered, my bowels cramping and my tummy grumbling in non-stop, humiliating pain. The worst part of all was knowing, deep down, she was right… This whole situation really was my fault. *** As I stood beside my Mommy while she leisurely shopped, gritting my teeth and silently wrestling a new wave of excruciating cramps in my stomach and bowels, my attention happened to turn back to what I was wearing beneath my pants… The diaper. The stupid, humiliating, crinkly diaper. It suddenly felt more embarrassing and stifling than ever between my legs and around my waist. It was sweaty, and tight, and puffy, and a reminder I just couldn’t ignore of just what a stupid baby I was. And I really was a pathetic, stupid baby, wasn’t I? My Mommy was right. I should have just gone to the potty when she first offered when we first walked in. Why didn’t I? What reason was there, besides my own pathetic, babyish stubbornness and stupidity… As I twisted my feet and screwed my face in pain from another urgent cramp, and stared at my Mommy’s back while she continued calmly perusing the shelves, I couldn’t help but wonder… What if I just made a run for it? What If I just took off running for the bathroom, right now. And went to the bathroom all by myself, without permission, and just sat on the toilet before it was too late… Every fiber of my physical biology was begging me to do it. To just go get to the potty so I could finally relieve the excruciating pressure and agony in my guts… But my feet wouldn’t dare budge. And I really wasn’t even certain why. Perhaps it was because the idea of so flagrantly disobeying even just one of my Mommy’s direct rules at this point gave me the heebie-jeebies. Let alone several direct rules, such as not leaving her side when in public, not using the potty without permission or supervision, and not removing one’s own diaper… Especially now that I had a pretty good sample of all the flavors of corporal punishment my Mommy had to offer when it came to seriously disciplining me. I could only imagine what punishment such over the top defiance would yield. There would likely be permanent marks on my behind by time she was done with me in the big boy punishment room. Or maybe, the reason I couldn’t bear to move my feet in defiance, was just picturing the moment after I sat down on the toilet, if I did… I would almost certainly hear my Mommy charging into the bathroom hot on my heels, bellowing to the crowded bathroom of strangers about how she was looking for her naughty, naughty boy. Then she would find me in the stall, pull me off the toilet, and no doubt publicly spank and scold me in front of the crowd of adult men, with my diaper dangling around my ankles. Would I ever be able to look another adult stranger in the eyes again after suffering such an unforgettable public humiliation? Or maybe, besides the potential spanking of a lifetime, or humiliation of a lifetime, the real reason why I couldn’t do it, why I couldn’t turn and run to the bathroom in that moment without my Mommy’s permission, was because deep down… I knew she was right. I didn’t deserve it. I knew I didn’t deserve to go to the potty until my Mommy was done shopping. Not at this point, anyway. On some level, I knew the crippling pains in my bowels were the price of acting like a baby, and not going potty when I was told to. Now, they were the price of wanting to be a big boy, and holding it like a big boy should. And even though I knew I had acted like such a baby earlier, I still so badly wanted to be a big boy. A big boy who made his Mommy proud more than anything. And I knew if I took off running without permission like a naughty baby, I would never be a big boy in her eyes again… But even despite my resolve to prove to my Mommy I was a big boy, with every step I continued following her as she meandered down the grocery aisle, the pain in my guts was becoming unbearable, and I sensed my willpower reaching yet another breaking point. “Mommyyyy…” I began softly whimpering again in barely audible pleas, tears coming to my eyes. “Mommyyyy… please hurry…” And even though she didn’t hear most of my pleas, or she chose to ignore them, she would still occasionally turn back to calmly reassure me, “Almost done, hon. Just a few more things. Almost done.” My whole body was trembling. Sweat was pouring down my face. I was rocking back and forth on my feet, squeezing my eyes shut, and focusing everything I had on keeping my bottom from exploding. My exhaustion and agony began to propel me into a near tantric-state. I didn’t know how much more I could take! I felt on the verge of totally collapsing or passing out. Suddenly, something my Mommy had said began to abruptly echo as a thought within my head… You wanted to be a big boy. You wanted to be a big boy. You wanted to be a big boy. I was dumbstruck by a sudden, dazed, agonizing epiphany. I abruptly stumbled forward, wrapped my arms around my Mommy, and broke down into hysterical, heaving sobs. “I’m sorry, Mommy! I was wrong! I can’t do it! I don’t want to be a big boy! I don’t know how to be a big boy, after all!” I wailed, burying my face in her chest and suddenly clinging to her like a lone life raft in an endless freezing sea. And in the blackness of my closed eyes against her chest, I heard her voice whisper so softly, it was just barely detectible… Just let it go, my baby boy. Just let it all go. I pulled my head away from my Mommy’s chest. She looked down at me, her expression confused. I suddenly felt a wave of indescribable calm. My tears totally dried, my physical pain evaporated. As if I was suddenly struck with enlightenment. “Is everything okay, bud?” my Mommy asked, her arms still wrapped around me. A slow, goofy smile grew across my face. And with one last big, deep inhale… FRRRRTT— I erupted with one of the most massive, stinky messes of my life, right into the seat of my diaper. All while my Mommy held me close, seemingly with no idea what was happening right before her eyes. ___________ Buy now to read the rest of this full-length (130+ pages) Novella! Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D23XGNKF Buy on Lulu: https://www.lulu.com/shop/nanny-chloe/falling-diapered-into-her-arms-my-story-of-regression-humiliation-and-messy-diaper-punishment-an-abdl-novella/ebook/product-65q7zmr.html Buy on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=wAsDEQAAQBAJ Don't forget to also view my full collection of naughty ABDL books at: www.nannychloetales.com and https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nannychloetales Thank you!

I want to let you know that there is a new ABDL Podcast. "The Crinkle Club", hosted by my friend Comfortably Crinkly and myself. We talks about many aspects of ABDL and bring guests to the Club. Comfortably Crinkly is the owner of Crinkly Creations, a company that sells handmade custom diapers, and I am a professional ABDL carer. Together we explore, exchange ideas, conversations and information that we hope you find find interesting and fun. You can listen to it on Spotify at Let me know if you enjoy it and if you would like to send me any questions for either Crinkly or myself (or both), we will probably dedicate one episode to Q&A! We have already been receiving many messages from littles, carers and families who said they enjoed it and also found it useful, or found an episode that speaks to them. We are still a new podcast, have just published 4 episodes, and looking forward to more. The Crinkle Club is out every other Tuesday, until we take a summer break.

Welcome

Assume this is just a configuration error. Tell them that there seems to be a cert installed that doesn't match your domain name. When that is fixed, check your content and see if you can see any of the thumbnail stuff and delete it.

Scolding, spanking, diapers - bedwetting was a big deal in my early years. Hard to imagine growing up without it.

Bob, the pacifier's name is Bob.

I agree - pacifier addict, which is Rearz. That's their size 6 adult pacifier, with a print on it - but you can customize them, so it may be something someone ordered, rather than something they list. I was going to get one with a Pampers logo on it when I was there in person a couple of years ago, but whereas the pacifier costs like $5, adding the print brought it up to $20 or something... not worth it to me. I have like 25 of them already. But if you find that image and go to them with it, they can make that for you.

Not much different this morning except for a few things, As usual my morning diaper, Crinklz Aquanaut diaper is very wet and messy. What is different is my wife is out of town just for a day, will be back later today. I'm going to stay wet and poopy for as long as I can, probably when I begin to feel a little itchy irritation, or a small leak, whichever comes first. I have a complex report to begin writing and will start while I feel the warm, squishy potty in my diapee.

@Little BabyDoll Christine It could indeed be a DNS issue: Sometimes it can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to a full 24 hours to go through the DNS servers on the internet when you change your IP address. or you add a website. They Call That TTL (Time To Live). I would still recommend that you have your ISP and your web hosting company check it out, because your website should come up whether it is https:// or http://. The fact that sandralyn.net resolves to the same address as that porn site is something I would check out, as @DailyDisays because you certainly do NOT want to have someone visit you, and be "surprised" as He was or I was. We know that you would not have that type of content, so when I saw that, I was like "WOAH!! Christine would NEVER serve that content, that is NOT like her at all: I better check this out". The Clue I got was when you did not have a match on your certificate, and when @tuffydid the 'host sandralyn.net' command and it came back as the same IP address as sandralyn.net, I checked it myself, and it came back the same as his output I would give it til morning to see if there is a change: when I did the "test" you did, I got the page that you gave, in BOTH http:// and https:// so at least that worked for me now. When I do the other.sandralyn.net address, NOW I get:

Wow! that's really cool Ashy. I really wish I grew up a bedwetter. But I didn't unfortunately.😔 Although, I do remember that when I was 8 years old I wet the bed one night and it was a lot of pee-pees. So much so that my mom put the fear of God in me and I never wanted to do it again after that, even though it was just an accident. Did you wear diapers for bed wetting during that time or no?

Yup "Outgrew it" when I was 12 though

Chapter 11 “Has Simon been a good Daddy, Baby?” I was still nursing on her full breast. I unlatched and replied: “Yes Mama” “That’s good to hear. Do you think he deserves a treat? Intrigued, I happily replied again “Yes Mama”. “Good girl, that’s very sweet of you. Now, being a grown up is very responsible and often comes with great pressure. Wouldn’t it be nice if Simon could spend a little bit of time as a baby boy, being looked after by his mama and loved by his baby sister?” “That would be lovely Mama!” She kissed me on my forehead and lay me down on the bed as she got up from the bed and went over to Simon, who was waiting expectantly. This was an interesting twist in the proceedings! Paula quickly undressed Simon and then had him lay on the bed next to me. Intrigued and excited as to how all of this was going to play out, and feeling genuine warmth for Simon, I reach out to him and held his hand. He turned his head towards me and smiled happily. “Time for your nappy, Baby Simon.” Paul went off to gather supplies before returning with a rather large nappy decorated with dinosaurs. It looked properly babyish. As she placed the nappy under Simon’s bum she asked: “Has baby Simon been to the potty for a poo-poo today?” “No Mummy.” “Oh dear. We don’t want baby to be constipated, do we? I’ll pop a couple of suppositories up your little bum-hole to sort that out, sweetie.” Simon had been very adept at nappy changing, but Paula was even better. A dummy was pushed into his mouth and Daddy was Baby in no time at all. “Come on you two, on the floor. You can play with your toys.” The toys weren’t massively interesting, to be honest, but it was fun playing with Simon. He encouraged me to sit on a big plushie bear and bounce up and down. My poop was going everywhere and I really stank, but neither Simon nor Paula seemed to care. Paula sat and watched us play before starting to dictate its direction and pace. “Baby Louise, I want you to reach into Simon’s nappy and take out his little baby willy.” I did as I was told. I could feel it stiffen as soon as I held it. “Good girl. That’s your special dummy. I want you to suck on it nicely for Mummy.” I did exactly what I was told. Good girl. Now lie on Simon with your stinky nappy in his face. Keep sucking on your special dummy sweetheart” I moved myself into position. Simon pushed his face into my filthy nappy, pushing onto my sex with some vigour. This was certainly having an effect on me - and Simon was soon ready to come, his back arching with the tension and pleasure of having what was clearly one of his sexual fantasies come true. As he came he also filled his nappy. I’m not entirely sure it was a deliberate act - it seemed as though the suppositories removed what little control he had at the point of orgasm. He ejaculated in my mouth - something I never allow normally and, a wild decision of the moment, I swallowed. “Well. You two babies play very nicely together. So sweet.” We sat on the floor, surrounded by toys, in our dirty nappies. As you’ve been such good babies, mummy’s going to feed you both together. Come up on the bed” She soon had us in position, sucking on our Mama’s breasts. Her hand first fondled the back of my nappy and then moved to the front, massaging my sex through the nappy before moving inside. The touch of her fingers on my sex was electric. She touched me in all the right places, in all the right ways. My vagina was covered in poop but she clearly didn’t care, using my own excrement as if some exotic massage oil. I suckled her milky breasts as she expertly took me to orgasm. I don’t think I’d ever experienced an orgasm like it. And what I had never realised up until that moment is that feeding upon a mother’s breast is the most beautiful way to ‘come down’ from an orgasm. It was so calming, so nurturing; I felt so loved and secure when I knew in reality that I didn't know these people and it was only a job Still, in that moment I was in heaven. “Okay babies, time to change those stinky nappies and then I have booked a private room for lunch. This has all been perfect - but it’s time to get down to business. I have a proposal for you, Baby Louise.

After the highly embarrassing episode in the escape room Sam is in desperate need for a change. Thankfully there is someone on hand to help her out. --- My writing is my passion and my income. I'm only able to write as much as I do because of the wonderful support from my subscribers. With the ABDL purge on Patreon hurting my income dramatically I have set up a couple of alternatives. If you enjoy my work and want to support me there has never been a time where I need it more. For $5 you can see every update to my stories one week before anyone else and for $10 you get early access PLUS access to 50+ stories EXCLUSIVE to subscribers. There are other rewards and tiers available including discounted commissions. To find out more please consider visiting one of my subscription sites. Prices, rewards and everything else are the same across both https://reamstories.com/elfy https://subscribestar.adult/elfy Thank you for reading and supporting me and my work ❤️ --- “What’s that smell?” One of the children with one of the other groups asked loudly. The room fell quiet as people sniffed the air. Sam was going red and she wished they could just leave. It seemed like Nina was about to steer her towards the exit when a woman in a Midforest uniform appeared in front of them. “I know that smell.” It was Karen. Sam looked up and saw the older woman looking down at her, “Come on, we can get you cleaned up before you go.” “N-No!” Sam stuttered. Sam already knew that Karen didn’t particularly think much of Sam’s opinion. Before anyone could react Sam had been hoisted into the air and held against Karen’s chest, she didn’t need to be able to see behind her to know her skirt had lifted up and was showing the sorry state of her diaper to anyone who looked her way. Sam struggled. She didn’t want to be changed by Karen again. They were finished with the activity and could just go home where she could clean up in peace and, most importantly, alone. She grunted and whined as she tried, without success, to pull herself free of Karen’s hands. “Wait!” Nina shouted. Sam was pressed against Karen’s chest and therefore couldn’t see what was happening. She did hear footsteps quickly run around to Karen’s front stopping the woman in her tracks. Sam was still squirming and trying to get put down. “I’ll take her.” Nina said firmly. Sam stopped wriggling and her eyes went wide. She never in a million years would have thought she would think this way but she really wanted Nina to change her diaper. If the alternative was Karen doing it then Nina it was clearly the better option. For once the idea of changing herself vanished. Sam seemed to just take it for granted that someone was going to do it for her. She couldn’t say she was wholly against the idea if it was someone she trusted. “I couldn’t make you do that.” Karen said, “From the smell of it this is going to be a tricky change. Not something a young woman like you should have to do. If you want to wait I’ll have her changed in just a few minutes.” “It’s not your choice to make.” Nina replied stubbornly. Sam didn’t know whether Nina was arguing for Sam’s body autonomy of if she was saying that she, Nina, was the one making that choice. Sam bit her lip and found that she liked the idea of her friend taking control of the situation like that. It felt like everyone else in the room had disappeared as a battle of wills developed. In truth, everyone was looking at Sam who was giving off the perfect picture of a little baby having her custody fought over by two women. “I’m happy to-…” Karen started. “Hand her over.” Nina said. Her voice brooked no argument. “If you insist.” Karen’s voice was slightly cold. Sam had never been so happy to be picked up by someone. Karen held her out and Nina took her with Sam reaching out her hands like a small child asking to be picked up. Instead of Nina’s chest Sam was sat on her hip. She could feel the poopy contents of her diaper shifting again but she could hardly get dirtier than she already was. Sam could see there were a lot of very confused people. None more so than her friends, Chrissy and Amy, who seemed to hardly believe the bizarre series of events they had witnessed. Despite the embarrassing situation Sam could hardly hide her smile as Nina adjusted her slightly. Sam noticed she was primarily looking at Karen though. “Come on, Sam.” Nina said as if Sam had any input in where she was carried. Nina turned away and carried Sam towards the bathrooms. Like each of the other places with toilets there was a dedicated changing room next to them and Nina was making a beeline towards that door. Sam looked back behind them and was faintly amused to see Chrissy haranguing Karen. “How dare you pick my friend up without asking!?” Chrissy was saying as Amy held her back, “If she wants your help she’ll ask! I’m going to report you to…” Sam didn’t hear any more as Nina carried her into the baby changing room and closed the door. It locked with a click and both Nina and Sam seemed to let out simultaneous deep breaths which then made them both laugh. Sam was expecting Nina to put her down as soon as they were in private but she was carried across to the changing table instead. Sam looked up at Nina with questioning eyes but Nina was smiling, she seemed to know what she was doing even if Sam didn’t. She reached down to the bottom of Sam’s rainbow shirt and after a small pause lifted it over her head. Sam raised her arms to make it easier for her. “You don’t mind me helping you?” Nina asked quietly. Sam shook her head. Far from minding it Sam was excited. With her shirt removed Sam slowly lowered herself down on to her back as Nina grabbed the waistband of her skirt and started pulling it down. Soon Sam was laying on the table in nothing but her heavily soiled padding. She was red in the face and found it hard to look at Nina. It seemed that by “helping” Nina meant she was going to do it all. Sam was surprised to feel very alright with that. Sam heard the tapes of the diaper pull away from the landing zone. The smell instantly intensified to near unbearable levels. The front of the disposable slumped down between Sam’s legs as Nina closed her eyes and looked away, it seemed to be less to do with what the inside of the diaper looked like and more to do with the stink. “Sorry.” Nina said in a strained voice, “I don’t want to make you feel bad, it’s just… wow.” “No, I’m sorry.” Sam replied in a rather dejected voice, “I should be able to do these things without embarrassing myself and you guys.” Sam was feeling rather sorry for herself again. Even if she was a bit more accepting that she was different than she had been at the start of the vacation she still felt that she was a horrible burden. Fortunately it didn’t take long for Nina to recover and start cleaning. Sam felt that mix of embarrassment and excitement that she always seemed to feel around Nina these days. The soft touch of her fingers as she used the wipes to clean her left a trail of tingles. “You’re allowed to breath you know.” Nina said with a smirk. It was only after Nina had mentioned it that Sam realised she had been holding her breath. She let out a deep exhale and laughed nervously. She didn’t think she could be blamed for not knowing how to handle such an odd situation. “I can’t believe I’m letting you do this…” Sam said with a shake of the head. Nina simply smiled as she continued her work. There was a lot to clean up and Sam spent the whole time playing with her fingers and feeling like she should be doing something to help. She wondered what her other friends thought about all of this. She must seem like the biggest baby to them. “It’s actually not as bad as it seems.” Nina said as she gave Sam a last few swipes with a clean wipe and then pulled the soiled diaper away. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.” Sam replied. “No, I’m serious.” Nina shrugged as she taped the used diaper into a ball, “Once the initial surprise passed it was pretty easy. Something I could get used to.” Sam felt herself blushing. Was Nina talking about when she had her own kids or… “Right, I’ll just tape you into a fresh one and we’ll be ready to go home.” Nina said as she pulled a diaper out from under the table. It turned out the changing rooms at Midforest were all well-stocked for diaper changes. As Sam’s butt was lifted into the air she realised she could probably have told Nina this wasn’t necessary and that since they were going back to the lodge she probably didn’t need a fresh diaper. She also realised that she wasn’t saying anything and as she was lowered on to the fresh padding she felt content. A feeling that only grew as the diaper was pulled up between her legs and taped closed. It was a feeling of safety, a feeling that she didn’t have to worry about making it to the bathroom. With the new diaper in place Nina picked up Sm’s shirt and pulled it over her head. It seemed that Nina had taken everything into her own hands. She even helped Sam back into her skirt once she was off the table. “All set?” Nina asked once Sam was dressed. “I think so.” Sam replied. She looked at the door and grimaced, “What will the others think about… everything?” “I think they’ll just be happy that you’re OK.” Nina replied, “And you shouldn’t worry about anything. If they were going to be asses about any of this they would’ve done it by now.” “I guess so.” Sam shrugged, “It’s just not… normal.” “Normal is overrated.” Nina replied, “I’ll show you.” Sam was about to ask what Nina meant but she was already walking over and lifting her up. Sam yelped as she left the ground and clutched on to Nina’s wrists with her small hands. She gasped as Nina spun around and then held Sam on her hip like a child. Sam’s cheeks went pink as she tried to work out how she should react to any of this. “Most people would say it isn’t “normal” to pick up another woman and carry her around like this.” Nina said, “But you just watch me.” Sam was given every opportunity to tell Nina to stop but the increasingly confident woman’s control was intoxicating to Sam. She bit her lip as Nina unlocked the door then she stepped out into the lobby area. Sam saw that Karen and the other employees were still there, in fact, they were welcoming the next few groups who were going into the rooms. On the far side Amy and Chrissy were leaning against the wall. They definitely looked confused about what they were seeing as Sam was carried across the large room. “Ready to go?” Nina asked cheerily. It seemed that Amy and Chrissy were not as prepared to act like everything was normal as Sam and Nina were. To be fair to them, they had just seen their two friends, one of whom had massively pooped herself, disappear into the baby changing room and then come back out with one of them sitting on the other’s hip. It was even more unusual when compared with Sam’s usual disdain for anything even vaguely childlike. “Sure.” Chrissy said. She almost sounded defeated, like she had been trying to work out what had been going on and utterly failed to do so. --- If you want to find out what happens next you can do so RIGHT NOW at either of the following links: https://reamstories.com/page/lpjgftb4y2/story/lplyymi677/chapter/8fd4aa8f-6392-477b-a352-81d409b477a9 https://subscribestar.adult/posts/1262441

They entered another room Jerry recognized. Nominally it was a bedroom, though he didn't know how much actual sleep occured in it. A massive, corner posted bed sat in the middle, made out of elegant carved oak wood, and a dresser sat beside it. From there, anything "normal" changed. The blankets of the bed were lifted just enough to show a wooden dog cage underneath it, and the headboard and foot board both had slots for a head and two hands or feet. Handcuffs dangled from another corner, where he saw more then one submissve locked as they were given enemas or suppositories, and then often left until they lost control and filled their diapers. He knew behind another door was a full adult sized nursery with a 'crib' that included a locking top. If he was lucky, he may end up there for the night. If not, the dog cage waited. He cringed. Even with all the play he had done at home, it was embaressing to think that his "lucky" option was sleeping locked in an oversized baby crib on camera for strangers to comment on. She pulled Jerry toward the bed and lifted lifted his hand up into the air. He heard a snap, and felt his hand being pulled toward the top corner. She grabbed his other wrist and did the same. Jerry groaned as he was stretched out, spread eagle into the air. She bent down behind him, and he felt her pull his legs to the side. "Good sissy, give me your foot," she said. He groaned again but obeyed, and he felt her space his feet apart with a bar and attatch them to the foot of the bed. He tried to wiggle pull at the chains, but found them unbreakable. She stood up and rested a hand on his bottom. "Good sissy, though a bit whiny with those groans. Nice to see you just give up and let me tie you to my bed. What a good, spineless little sub." "Hmph," he said. "You don't have to say it out loud like that, ma'am." She chuckled. "Don't pout, we all know you are enjoying this. You look like you're about to burst the tapes on your diaper." "HEY!" he shouted. "Are they comfy? And inescapable?' He pulled at them and wiggled again. "Yes ma'am." She laughed again. "Good. Normally we'd tie you into the stocks for this, but I'm afriad if I left you bent over it be too hard NOT to spank this adorable little bottom," she squeezed him through his diaper "So I guess you'll stay standing and stretched out. Just wait here while we clean you out and pick an outfit for you." "Clean me out? What do you mean, ma'am?" "Aww silly baby. What do you think that means?" From behind the bed she held up a large, red rubber bottle with a long tube stretching from it. "An enema?! No please ma'am!" Jerry had remembered the discussion earlier, but thought complaining about it again might add to any vidoes they may make. As much as he hated having his punishments streamed to a wide audience, he also loved having his punishments streamed to a wide audience. As he had no way to avoid it, he decided to let the second part take over for now. She smiled. "Yep, you're going to have a nice, big, warm soapy enema, and you are going to hold it until you are begging me to fill your diapers. You think you'll do that? Beg me to fill your diapers?" "No..." he said. "Oh you will. And you're going to behave like a perfect little angel until I decide you can release, or you'll just be cramping all day. Then you'll get to spend the rest of the day in your dirty diapers, sound fun?" "No please! No no no!" Jerry started wiggling again, making a show of fighting against his bounds. Mistress Joana ignored him, and pulled down his diaper. "No no no," he said as the tube penetrated inside him. "Errrr," he groaned, and looked back at her as she lifted the bottle high into the air. Immedietly the warm water hit him. He groaned as he felt his insides turn to make up for the new weight, and cramps hit him like a wave. Within seconds, he was yelping and panting out loud as his stomach grew. He gave another wiggle, knowing that the cameras were recording his bottom and each pathetic whine and shake. "Ma'am please! It's so much!" He begged, with tears in his eyes. "Good! Then you'll have all the more reason to obey and to fill your pampers for our fans." "No..." he whined, and shook again. He had seen dozens of subs experaince the same in these videos. The most popular ones were always the loudest, whining and complaing as they took the painful cramps. Part of him told him that then, in order to ensure as few people saw his humiliation as possible, he should try to remain calm. However, within seconds it was impossible, and he was whining. Then, and entire new part of him spoke up. He remembered all the humiliating messages, the teasing, everything comments said about the misbehaved subs being punished for their ammusment. He had watched those vidoes and read the comments with excitment, daydreaming about being in the same situation. So, his excitment again overwehlmed him, and he instead exagerated the punishment, moaning and struggling as much as possible. If he had no way to avoid giving them a show, he'd give them the best one. The idea of that, and even the knowledge that he was enjoying, made the humiliation increase, but that only made it even more exciting. He pulled at the chains again, knowing they wouldn't break.

Discuss with me anytime you like

Positivity and negativity towards a particular topic are objective terms. They become subjective when prefixed by “toxic”. Toxicity is pretty easy to test for in the science space but social toxicity is a value judgement projected by one group onto another that may or may not share those values via moral relativism. There’s no doubt that ABDL behaviours can be confronting to the social norm and that some degree of negative social sanction can be expected from the general population. In this particular self-selected demographic, the normative values are greatly skewed one way and it is unsurprising that the degree of sanction is high. The corollary of that is that a place like DD is another self-selected demographic and is skewed the other way. Is there an objective “correct”? I don’t know. I didn’t much like the neo-religious preoccupation with the negative: guilt, repression, fear etc. It doesn’t seem very psychologically helpful to me. It was an interesting perspective though.

I'm with you SWet. I'm 75 too. Anyday now, I'm going to stop loving being diapered. Too funny!!

I would imagine so. But there are other ABDL things that can be used for discipline, such as pacifiers, onesies/bodysuits, one piece pajamas, baby reins, and simply language.

I will try to help as soon as I can. My computer is dying, and I'm getting a new one built later this week. Hopefully it will work a little better.

Even if you don't, that's okay too. It's nice to be in diapees every once in awhile even if you're not in them all the time. But I will say however that the bench and Purge cycle is very difficult to break. But even if you do break it and don't end up in diapers anymore, the community is still very awesome and cool, so there's that.

Thanks to @AbabeBillfor donating $50 and to @Tai Kfor donating $20!

And that's how it is now for me. Whilst not incontinent, if you ask me not to pee for anything more than an hour or so, that's liable to provoke catastrophic failure. I can be "continent" but I need a clear path to a toilet and zero delays. I truly wonder if we would EVER become incontinent by doing what we do (although dripping-on-sneeze the other day was something new). Having said that, if we were assessed by how able we were to stay dry under daily life challenges, would a practitioner consider us functionally incontinent (or heading towards such a state)? Be happy it wasn't a catastrophic blow-out. I've worn THAT t-shirt. All things being equal, I have full control. Throw variables such a too much of the wrong food into the mix and accidents may well happen now.

😇 I don't know what you're talking about... [attempts to run and write more torture...]

Because I have been passionately reading your stories for 4 years now and I know that you are mean and love to torture your readers.

Chapter 108: General Gao’s BETH TEXTED ME the following morning and said she was skipping breakfast to take care of an errand with Reila, so I sat down with Amy, Mia, and Willow. “Not with your girlfriend today?” Mia asked curiously. I didn’t even bother correcting her, “She had something to do.” I munched on one of the giant pieces of bacon right then, swallowing and asking, “Did you three want to go shopping on Saturday?” “I thought you said it was a bad idea?” Amy said. I nodded, “It would have been by yourselves. We’ll have Beth, Reila, probably Livy, and also Beth’s bodyguard with us?” “That’s a large group?” Willow asked. “That’s kind of hard to move around with?” I shrugged, “If you want to get adopted, go with a smaller group. If you just want to shop and get a chance to see more than the university grounds, that’ll be the safest way?” “How do you get to go off-campus so much?” Zoey, another member of our new nest, asked. “My grandmother?” I told her. “Who is she?” “Amanda Westerfield?” I answered. “That is?” She asked, “I’m not from Ames?” she added with the gasps from a couple of her friends added to the sounds around us. I smiled, “You know the new student union building? Westerfield Hall?” She nodded, “Your grandparents gave the money for it?” “I don’t know if they contributed, but it was named in honor of my grandmother. She’s a big deal in AI and nanite technology advances here. She won the Bremer Prize recently?” Her eyes finally signaled some recognition, “So she’s like really smart?” I giggled, “You could say that.” By the end of breakfast, I planned to meet my friends and get picked up by my grandmother and Nikki. I walked with some friends toward the Matisse Center. I soon sat in Screenwriting class, where all our animated scripts were due. We also went over our next assignment, which would be the next Narratives project. “Okay, for this next assignment, I’m going to not just give you the medium of the film, but we’re also going to have everyone focus on the same thematic idea. This film is to be between fifteen and twenty minutes long and should focus on the theme of betrayal.” “That’s all?” Mason, one of our studio members, asked. “Nothing more specific?” Professor Gibney shook his head, “I don’t want to dictate the project for you. I will say it could be a betrayal of love, country, pet, or any other kind of betrayal you can think of?” As we left class, I was already thinking of some ideas. Right then, I also realized that my diaper was undoubtedly getting close to needing a change. I had zero plans to go to one of the HoloNannies, though! I decided to hang out near Beth’s class again and work on my script ideas. By the time her class ended an hour later, I already had three good ideas and ten pages written for each! “Hey,” she said when she saw me. “Hi, Beth,” I told her with a smile, then went up to her and embraced her. She picked me up and discreetly felt my bottom, “Didn’t feel like using the HoloNannies to change?” I made a face that she and Nikki both laughed at. “Would you mind?” I asked sheepishly. She laughed, “If I have to! It’s just wet, right?” I blushed deeper but nodded. Soon, changed out of the diaper and into a fresh one; we headed for the student union and hit one of the pizza places. She ordered two ‘big’ slices and gave me half of one to eat. “You know, this half of a slice is still like half a pizza back home!” She shook her head, “I really would love to see what your proportions look like to me?” “I wonder what would even happen if you went over?” She shrugged, “I know there are Mids and Bigs who have gone over to work with companies in the past?” “Wait, really?” She nodded, “There is a company called Diamond Tours that has become kind of notorious for luring new Littles here?” She took a bite, chewed, and swallowed, “Supposedly, their entire office on the other side is made up of Bigs?” “Actually, I think that’s the company my mom and grandparents used to come here. How do we not know this about their staff, though?” She shrugged, “I’ve only heard bits and pieces through Mom and Dad, but I guess the portal either automatically shrinks them to being just in the tall category there, or they manipulate people themselves?” “So what’s the racket? Convince people to come over, immediately adopt them?” She shrugged, “Obviously, they don’t claim everyone if your mom and her parents made it back?” I nodded, “Then there are idiots like my exchange group?” She nodded, “You’ve already had several adopted.” “Including one of our professors,” I shook my head and took a few more bites. “It was all worth it, though, to meet you,” I said with a smile. She smiled back, “I’m glad you came too!” “Say…” I said nervously, “I had a thought about tomorrow. Before Grandma takes us home, would you be open to going out to dinner and a movie?” She smiled, “Carly Slane, are you asking me out on a date?” I smiled back, “Uh-huh?” “Where are we eating…?” The two of us discussed the ideas Shelby had helped me with, and she agreed to the plan before we went to sneak in some editing time before our class. We got three more scenes edited before our Narratives class began. BETH SAT IN their Narratives class beside Carly and Charlotte, watching as the professor talked about some different depth-of-field effects you could accomplish either during filming or in your post-production edits. The images projected did look really cool, but she felt most of the techniques were above her. A look at Carly showed her intense concentration and a smile, though. ‘She’s such a nerd sometimes!’ she giggled to herself. Professor Wyler lectured and demonstrated the technology for the first thirty minutes of class before saying, “I want to give you all some time to work on your projects as a group since I know many of you are having trouble scheduling time you can meet. This’ll give you at least an extra couple of hours, which I hope will help those struggling groups.” Beth smiled. With the rhythm Carly and she had been getting into, they could make much more progress that afternoon than they had planned! “Before we go, I want to offer everyone one more challenge you must complete by class on Tuesday.” Beth noticed most of the groups stop from the moving they’d just begun; several seemed almost desperate then. “So, the project is to create a studio logo splash clip for the beginning of your films. I will have a few faculty members select their preference and award the top group two million credits, second place, one million, third, seven-fifty, and fourth; as long as you complete it, you will get four hundred thousand. The splash screens should last between five and twenty seconds long. The cooler and more relevant, the better!” There was some excited chatter around the room and some questions before he dismissed everyone. “How is the editing coming?” Charlotte asked her and Carly. “Pretty good?” Carly said. We’re starting to wrap up Act One in our first edit. Beth and I have a pretty good rhythm going and were flying earlier. I think we can get another eight hours in right now and hopefully finish by tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise, we might come in on Saturday.” “Sounds like a plan,” Charlotte said. “Don’t feel like you have to kill yourselves though. We could get some work done on Monday and Tuesday. I’ve already reserved the student who will compose the music for the film.” “Cool,” Beth said. “What about this project?” “We’ll work on it with Ethan, Sophie, and Will,” Charlotte said. “While Carly would be good at this, I want you guys just to focus on the edit?” Beth nodded, “Okay.” “Let me know when you get done. If it’s by Monday, we might schedule a viewing of the rough with everyone.” “Okay,” Carly said. “Come on, Beth, let’s get to work…” She jumped off the chair and pulled her backpack over her shoulders. “Such a taskmaster!” Beth kidded Carly. Carly giggled in response, and they made their way to the editing studio. Nikki checked the room first and then stationed herself to watch over them. “Why don’t I order some food to be delivered?” Beth suggested. “That way, we won’t have to worry about you skipping dinner.” “Sounds great!” Carly told her. “What do you want?” Carly shrugged, “Not pizza? I could maybe go for something like General Tso’s chicken?” “Huh?” Carly looked thoughtful, “Wait, Mom said it’s called General Gao’s here?” Beth nervously nodded. Nikki spoke up, though, “Are you sure you want that? That’s really spicy?” Beth and Carly both laughed, “She probably does,” Beth said. “This one has a crazy spice tolerance. She actually won a back-to-school contest a few weeks ago. You want something, too?” She asked the bodyguard, who had been practically blending into the wall until then. “Sure…” One thing Beth had always appreciated about the local Chinese food place she ordered from was that they would come to find you in a building you were working on. So it was that Carly continued working on editing, even as they took delivery of their food. They’d just made it to the scene in the playroom the day of ‘Bree’s adoption.’ “Why don’t we stop and eat, then we’ll keep going?” Beth suggested. Carly shrugged, and they all gathered around a table on the back side of the room to split up the order. She shook her head at Nikki, watching Carly eat the first bite. She was pretty good about not being a mommy type herself, but you could see she was already planning how to rescue the crazy Little! Carly seemed to have sensed it as she smiled and enjoyed the first bite. “You really can eat that?” Nikki asked. “It’s delicious!” Carly told her. “You want a piece?” Nikki clearly couldn’t believe it was the regular dish, so she used her own chopsticks to take a piece of the meat and placed it in her mouth. She chewed before rapidly chugging some of her drink! “That’s not spicy?” She asked in disbelief! As if to prove a point, Carly grabbed one of the peppers and bit about half of it off into her mouth. “These are great! But really, I’d rate them maybe a mild poblano or jalapeno back home?” She shrugged and kept eating. “She really is an alien…” Nikki muttered, and the three of them laughed! After watching Carly scarf down food that should have been impossible to eat, she watched her switch back to editing and gradually move faster and faster. They did have to stop and enjoy the improv footage from the tea party, though! They were just getting ready to splice some clips together when a knock came on the door, and it opened. I TURNED AND found Charlotte and Sebastian at the door. “Hey guys,” I said, “What’s up?” “Just wanted to see how you two are getting on?” Charlotte asked. “Pretty good,” I told her. “Just about to finish the tea party scene?” They both chuckled, “I wish we could include the original,” Sebastian said. “Be careful with that one, though. I don’t think you violated any of your stupid Little’s rules, but it’s close to the line?” I nodded, “I actually scrubbed the audio from the original files on the system already.” I didn’t tell them I kept a copy in a strongly encrypted file on a personal storage device, though! ‘I know that no one will ever access it who I don’t to, though!’ “So, when do you think you’ll be able to finish this rough cut?” Charlotte asked. I shrugged and looked at the time, “We’ve got about ten more scenes to go; I’m hoping by the time I have to leave to go to the nest, we can be down to two or three left?” “That’s fast; you’re being careful with the cuts?” Sebastian asked. “She is,” Beth said for me. “The parts already look like a finished product to me. She keeps saying there are more things to do, but I sure can’t tell?” I shrugged, “I want to play with the transition effects some more for timing. Some of that, though, doesn’t make sense to get too nit-picky until we have the soundtrack. We also need to add sound effects to some scenes. I’ll work on that early next week, though.” “It sounds like you two have it in hand. Can you let us know when it’s done?” Charlotte asked. “Sure! Why don’t we plan to meet with anyone who wants to see the rough cut around 20 o’clock on Monday?” I said. “Bring your own pizza?” “Sure, we should be able to access one of the small viewing theaters, too,” Sebastian said. “Have a good weekend,” he said, pulling Charlotte from the room and letting us return to the editing. “Think they don’t trust us?” I asked once the door was closed. “No, they definitely do!” Beth said, “I think it’s more the helpless feeling of this part being out of their hands?” “Well, you can’t exactly have a full group working on this part?” I responded. “No, and I think that letting go is tough sometimes,” she smiled beside me. “I can kind of understand? You’re pretty much doing the whole thing right now.” I blushed, “Sorry?” “It’s your major; you should be the one doing it!” I continued working as quickly but carefully as possible. I hated seeing my original self in the early cuts, but I couldn’t help but smile anytime there was a close-up of my new face. I loved the hairstyles they’d used, and the outfits were cute—if only they weren’t as infantile! I couldn’t help but love my new self a lot more, though! The editing passed with a series of steps for each set of shots. Step one was using Beth’s notes to determine which take was the best. She had done a great job, and I couldn’t disagree with her choices on the Edit Decision List she drew up. With the editing software, it was a quick press of options to have all of the camera shots from that take available to quickly glance through the script and see what looked good for a selection. I would alternate close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots depending on what made sense to tell the story. Each time I did a close-up of Beth, I also felt butterflies in my stomach. Charlotte was a professionally fun actress in all of her shots. She was so talented! Little things like a raise of her eyebrow, a slight turn up of her lips, or tensing of her body told the story so well in anything she did! You could take the audio out of the clip and still be able to read what she was saying and doing! That really applied to most of the cast, though! Ava was the one exception. She really struggled to act the part of the daycare owner believably. I could see why Beth had so much footage of the time in the daycare playing because it took multiple takes to get a scene good enough for her. Even then, I found myself using some creative shots and cuts to use her voice and avoid her facial expressions, which tended to be rather dull or unrealistic. I hated the subject matter of the film, but there was a sense of pride in my being as I completed each part of it. It probably helped that even though I enjoyed my appearance, it still took me a moment to recognize myself as the actress in the scenes! To my surprise, it was soon twenty minutes from when I was supposed to be in the dorm, and I had just one last scene to finish! “I want to stay!” I complained, even as I followed Beth’s directions and saved, backed up, and logged out of everything. “I know, but the last thing we want to do is have a curfew violation for you?” I nodded, “Yeah…” As I stood up, I realized we’d never changed my diaper again, and it was practically all hanging below the level of my skirt! Beth had just put her backpack on and smirked, “That’s a little wet…?” “I noticed,” I said, looking at the clock. “Do you think you can deal with it until you get back to your nest?” Beth asked. “Time is running out?” “If you carry me?” I said with a sigh. “Just don’t leak on me,” she said half-seriously. “They’re usually pretty good about not doing that. But no promises?” She risked it, gathering me up and walking beside Nikki quickly to the dorms. When we reached Sanders Hall, she sat me down at the door, and I grimaced. “Sorry, Beth. I did leak on you, it looks like.” Thankfully, her jacket was waterproof, but there was a definite spot on her side where my diaper contacted her. “It’s okay, Carly, that’ll teach me to make sure we check your diaper more often! Get inside and get Miss Lilly to change you quickly before you leak on anything else!” she advised as she knelt down and risked getting wet again with a hug. “See you in the morning,” I told her, “Love you,” I added softly. “Love you too,” she smiled at me. I was just crossing the lobby to the elevator when I saw Mackenzie. “Well, hello there,” she said, “I haven’t seen you all week except in the pool!” I blushed, “Sorry, it’s been a busy week, and I’ve been working on that film project.” “Is that where you’re coming from now?” I nodded, “Yeah, we were trying to get as much done today as we could.” “Too busy to change that diapee?” I squirmed under her gaze as she knelt in front of me, clearly able to see the soaked diaper hanging below my skirt! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for reading! Please press the Like button and leave a comment! My writing drought has continued through this week, but I'm hoping this weekend that I may have a shot at writing more again. We'll see what my mindset is like. Unless I have a massively productive weekend, we'll definitely be back on once per week again for a while. Thanks for your patience here!

Jerry shook as he entered the mansion. He had heard stories of it, and worse, seen the dozens of videos that proved those stories true. It was a place where any subs worse nightmares, or sweetest dreams, could come true- normally both at the same time. He immedietly recognized the lobby where dozens of subs were scolded, told of how misbehaved and naughty they were, and had their days full of humliation and punishment laid out before them so the cameras could show them blush and whine at just the thought of what they were about to experiance. In the front and sides of it the stone was left bare and grey with wooden beams at regular intervals. In front of him was a magnificent wooden stair case leading to a hallway painted a deep red, and with a solid bannister where many submissves had found themselves tied up, helpless, humiliated and visible to anyone entering. Steal rings hung from the walls between painted portraits of the domiants, showing off the power and money they got from their trade. The effect was something between a castle, a palace, and a old jail, and it made Jerry shake more. He knew from those videos that he was being filmed, and look into the corners of the roof to confirm. If his "Mommy" gave permission, his actions would be edited down to the most embaressing moments for their channel, and there was a decent chance people were watching him be live streamed as it was. The thought made him blush even more, and put his hands over his face. "Put your hands down, Diaper Boy. Let everyone see your pretty face." Jerry lowered his hands and forced himself to meet her eyes, though he was still blushing deep red. The idea that all these strange, powerful woman, not to mention anyone who might see the films later, were seeing him wearing just a diaper and t shirt made him want to hide, though he also couldn't deny his excitment. Mistress Joana looked down, then back up to his face. "Already having fun, are we?" Jerry gasped. He looked down, then back up at her, and blushed even deeper. "Uhhh uhh uhh," he said, stuttering for an answer. The women around him laughed, and he stopped talking. He looked down again, and back up when it came back into his view, making them laugh again. The laughter only added to his embaressment, which added more to his excitment, and he felt the tapes of his diaper stretch and crinkle. Mistress Joana shook her head. "Tsk tsk tsk, what a dirty little boy. Don't worry sweetie, we are going to fix all those problems with you." He looked back up at her. He knew this part. This was where the dominent woman for a particular sub told them all the horrible things they allegedly done, scolded them, often into tears, then ran through the long list of punishments they would experiance while there. Each humiliating or painful detail would be laid out in front of them to think about and anticpate until they were wringing in fear. Some would beg, or whine, or fight, others couldn't hold back their excitment. Jerry, instead, just looked at her, knowing he looked terrified. He dropped his hand from where he was nervously holding his own arm. "Now, I've heard a lot about you little Jerry." He gulped. "It seems you're a naughty baby, isn't that right?" "Ummm... yes." "Yes ma'am." "Yes ma'am." "First off, you are dishonest, you lie to your mommy and to the entire world. "What?!" She raised an eyebrow. "You are a little diaper baby, aren't you?' "Yes ma'am." "Then every time you claim to be a big boy, dress in big boy clothes, or pretend to be a big boy at work or in public, you are lying. Every time you wear any underwear other then diapers, you are lying. Every time you try to use the potty, you are lying. The only time you are telling the truth is when you are soaking your diapers, little baby clothes, and sitting in your playpen while silently sucking your pacifier. Understood?" "I..." He had no reponse. "Well?" "Yes ma'am." "Furthermore, you are an ungratiful little brat, letting your Mommy change you and feed you, putting up with your stinky diapers, and barely even thank her, as if you are entitled to it. You act up all the time, throwing childish tantrums when you don't get your way, and no matter how much she punishes you you still act up." "But..." She held a finger up. "In fact, she told me all about your brattiness this morning when you found out you were coming here, refusing to eat your breakfast and complaining about coming here. Imagine that?" He swallowed again. "Yes ma'am. I did ma'am." "And... it seems you are also a dirty little boy who gets easily excited," she pointed down at his diaper. He blushed, and she smiled. "Don't worry though, we'll get you nice and clean." He looked down again. "Yes ma'am," he squeaked. "So first thing, we're going to be cleaning out your insides with a nice big enema. We'll give you a plug so it stays in as long as it needs. Normally we'd spank you, but since you removed that, we'll just have to make your enema extra big." He gaped at her. "Then since that mouth is also dirty and full of lies, I'll put a big bar of soap in it, and leave it in while you stand in the corner and think about all you've done. Should be easy with you gaping like that." "Soap!? NO PLEASE!" Jerry had sampled multiple flavours of soap in his time as a submissive, and considered himself something of a connoisseur. Old spice had a tangy taste that went well with chilli or other spicy food, ivory was more subtle and reminded him of the simple but elegant recipes his grandmother used to make. His overall verdict was that all of them were absolutly disgusting. "Yes. Soap. And once again, since we normally use spankings to ensure obedience but we can't do that with you, we'll just keep the bar in longer." "You...!" Jerry began, glaring. "Yes?" He hung his head. "Nothing ma'am.' "That's what I thought. From there, we'll see how long you can hold your enema, until you beg me enough to fill your pampers. Then, we'll see how long we can keep you bouncing in your own mess." He groaned. That was a near guaranteed win on their video page, making it a near guaranteed punishment for subs. "From there, we'll have you try on some outfits for us, and we'll see after that, but you can expect to be sleeping in a dirty diaper tonight, and going home with a great big diaper rash." "What? But..." She shushed him with a finger. "But first thing first, this" she pointed at his clothes. "Will not do. You're pampers are cute, but have FAR too many people paying to see our videos to have a twink like you walking around in boy clothes. Come with me, we're going to get you into something a little more appropriate." She grabbed him by the wrist and began to drag him. "WHAT!? No boy clothes?" he let himself be lead, bulling just enough to show his desperation. He knew where that was probably going, and it was something he DEFINITLY did not want on camera. "Is there an echo in here, or is some little brat about to earn extra time with the soap?" "Ummm... "We are going to put you in some nice, cute little baby girl clothes so you can feel like a pretty princess when we rinse your mouth out, and everone can see what an adorable sissy you are." "But... No! I'm not a baby girl, I'm a baby boy! I mean, I'm just a boy! I mean man! NO!" He rambled on as she dragged him up the stairs and down a hallway. "Tut tut little baby girl, remember the soap? We can have you sucking on bar after bar until you can't speak anymore. How would that look, you think? You in a dress sucking on something, frothy white foam pouring down your cheeks..." "Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am," Jerry said.

The light changed, they drove off, and he put the pacifier back in his mouth. He turned forward and hunched over in the car seat. "I'm sorry sweetie," Mommy said. "It really depends on the lighting outside, and they didn't have windows at all, so... "It's ok," he said, but kept leaning back to hide in his car seat. They drove out further into the country, and turned into a massive, wooded lot. Jerry saw some things he recognized. Black iron gates that were presented as keeping the submissves trapped inside, but actually served to keep creeping eyes out. Multiple play structures of the kind you find in parks but sized for adults, well hidden by the trees, that he'd seen submissives get "public" exposure or punishments on. A large, rectangular, grey stone building, with a slight resemblance to a castle or a prison that appeared before each video and added to the feel. And, standing outside, a line of women he recognized. There was Mistress Joanna in black leather and high healed boots. There was Nurse Joy, a name he was sure was stolen from some show or another, in her uniform. There was Mommy Caroline in her cozy sweater and long skirts. Others tood around them. A few things they all had in common, however. They were all gorgeous. They were all strong looking and statuesque in how they stood, made to handle and intimidate wayward subs. They were all, as he noticed when he got out, taller then he was. He swallowed his nervousness down as Mommy took him by the hand out of his car seat and led him up. It occured to him that, based on the videos he had seen, he was being filmed. In fact, he was playing a part in all the videos he had seen where the nerovus sub is brought up, sometimes whining and complaining, sometimes ignorant of where they are, but never excited, toward their fate. Jerry, in just his shirt and diaper, and with his pacifier in his mouth, knew he'd make quite an introduction if this ever got inline. They paused by the front of the building, his Mommy held him back at a hand signal. Another couple was coming out. A red haired woman was out a blond male submissive, visibly thickly diapered beneath a pink skirt. "Miss Kacey, your litte sissy baby is the brattiest sub we've ever seen. We did what we can with the morning, but think he could use a LOT more time." "Yes, that figures," she said, rolling her eyes. The blond submissive caught Jerry's eyes. "Sorry new guy. I'm the old guy, and I think I left them REALLY angry. Hope they don't take that out on you!" The red-haired woman spanked him hard. "Stop being a brat! You're in for MORE spankings when we get home, and you better behave if you want out of that dirty diaper!" "Since we're stuck in the same car that seems as much an issue for you as it is to me." "Ugh," she sighed. They passed Jerry, and he coughed and covered his nose at the smell as they did. "Yeah that's what you'll smell like after this too. Have fun new guy! Hope they aren't any meaner because they are mad at me and taking it out on you!" He said at jerry over his shoulder. Mommy watched them drive off. "WOW he stunk," she said. "Yes, they often do when they leave, so you should expect it for your little, Jerry, was it?" the woman Jerry recognized as Mistress Joana said. Jerry gulped at the implied threat. "Who were they?" "Oh, just a brat. Don't pay attention to his complaining, they are some of our regulars, he's always like that. You can see details online." "Anyway, this is Jerry? Cute outfit Jerry, though I think we can find something more... hmmm..." she considered her next word. "Disciplinairy." "Uhhh..." Jerry said. "Ahem," she replied. "I don't know how it is back home for you, but here if you are in a diaper you speak when you are spoken too, understood? Same with any other subs, but particulairly little brats who are to helpless to even figure out how to use a toilet." "Yes Ma'am," he replied. "I didn't say speak." "Uhh so..." "Ahem." "Uhh.." "Zippit." Jerry squeezed his mouth shut. "Good sub. Now, we have some paperwork for you, Miss Jessica, just general stuff." She held out a clip board to Mommy, who took it and began signing. "Oh, and please indicate what kind of punishments you want for him. We have him booked overnight, so there is plenty of time for whatever you want or think he needs." "Of course, of course," Mommy flipped through the forms, checking or crossing things off. Jerry looked over her shoulder and gulped at what he saw. Forced crossressing, being locked in messy diapers, knee bounces, enemas... anything he could think of was on the list, and getting circled. Mommy finished, then returned it to Mistress Joanna. Mistress Joanna raised her eyebrows. "No spankings? Or thigh switchings?" Mommy nodded. "Yes, we agree no physical punishments and nothing painful. Everything else- humiliation, dirty diapers, outifts, chores, time outs, teasing, enemas, forcefeeding, mean names, locks, are all fine." Jerry immedietly regretted his earlier demand. Mistress Joanna smiled and nodded. "Ok, we can work with that. Absolutly no physical punishments, but absolutly anything else." Mistress Joana walked up to him and grabbed his hand. "Now, we are going to take your little pet. Please have fun on your trip, I promise he'll be well taken care of. Say goodbye now Jerry!" Jerry was terrified, but obeyed. "Bye Mommy," he said. She replied with the same, then bent down and kissed him. He waved and she waved back, then left as he was lead into the giant stone house.

The ride to Crystal’s was both exhilarating and terrifying for Danny. While they hadn’t ended things on bad terms by any means, he still couldn’t shake the nervous feeling that this was all moving too fast. It was bound to fall apart eventually…right? He twiddled his fingers about in the back seat of Crystal’s car as he tried to remind himself that it was largely Crystal’s idea originally, but that didn’t change that it had been over 5 months. He just wasn’t quite sure how it was all going to mend back together. “Are you excited?” Crystal asked, breaking the silence of the last bit of the drive before putting the car into park as she pulled into her driveway. Danny nervously nodded his head, staring out at the familiar home as he got out of the car, following Crystal into her house. To Danny, almost nothing had changed. Everything seemed to be exactly as he left it. Pictures and decor lined the hallway, while the same fake plants covered the entryway table as the same yellowish light flooded the hallway. Crystal wasted no time as she slipped her shoes off, making her way down the hall as Danny quickly did the same. Danny hurried after her down the hall as she stopped at the door to his old nursery before Crystal stepped inside. Danny hesitantly followed after, feeling his nervous stomach twist about as he took a deep breath before stepping inside, ultimately finding it nearly identical to how he had left it. “I feel it's only fair to tell you that I also saw someone else,” Crystal said suddenly, breaking the silence. “It was pretty brief, but it happened,” “Oh,” Danny said, unsure of what to say as he tried not to let himself feel bad about it. Afterall, he had left. “Was he, uh-” “Yes, sweetie. He was a little guy just like you,” She chuckled. “Things were going nicely online, but once we met in person it only lasted a weekend,” Danny nodded, not sure what else to say, if anything. It wasn’t like he was allowed to be mad or anything and truthfully he wasn’t. If anything, he was just curious about who this other person was, but knowing Crystal that was about as much information as he was going to get. “Right, well,” Crystal started, walking towards the door as if she had concluded everything she had to say. “I have to admit I wasn’t expecting guests, so I’m going to leave you to it as I have some other things I wanted to accomplish tonight. In the morning we are going to your old apartment to grab your things, and once we return we can get you settled in. It's…7:23pm,” She said, glancing at a clock on the wall. “Which means this is your 24 hour notice to comply with the rules,” Danny nodded as he felt his cheeks blush as he tried to remember what they all were as it had been a long time since he thought about any of them. “I trust you remember where most things are? I’ll grab you a towel and toothbrush and set them out in the bathroom so you can get cleaned up,” Crystal said, turning the corner through the doorway as she took off down the hall. Danny stood in place as he slowly spun about, examining his old room. It felt weird to be back in his old nursery. A place he had told himself he wouldn’t miss when he moved out, but now felt the full effects of its warm, inviting sense of solitude. ~~ Crystal had abruptly awoken Danny rather early in the morning, unsurprised to have found him coddling an old favorite stuffed animal of his with his phone laid out beside him, obviously having fallen asleep watching a video of some type. Crystal had moved quickly, shoving a piece of peanut butter toast in his face as he pulled his clothes on before being rushed out the door and into the car as she took off down the street towards his old apartment. Crystal forcefully knocked on the door as she waited for a response. “Do you still have your keys?” “Uh-” Danny said, slowly pulling them out of his pocket. “I don’t think-” Crystal snatched them out of his hand, unlocking the door as she barged her way inside, dropping the small pile of reusable grocery bags she brought on the floor before taking a quick look around. “Mo-” Danny started, not knowing if Kelsey was home before she came running around the corner. “What the hell!” She shouted. “Get the fuck out of my apartment!” Crystal stayed calm, brushing past her and making her way into the living room. “We’re just here to get Danny’s things, and then were gone,” “Danny doesn’t fucking live here!” Kelsey screamed, watching Crystal start to pull some of the games out of the TV stand and stuff them in a bag. “His name is on the lease, isn’t it?” Crystal said calmly, unphased by her yelling. Kelsey scoffed as she turned to Danny who was still awkwardly standing by the door. “Get your freaky aunt or whatever the fuck out of my apartment!” Danny stood quietly before reaching for a bag on the floor. “I just want to get my stuff…” He said sheepishly, not having expected Crystal to barge her way inside, but knew there was no turning back. “Ugh! You’re the fucking worst!” She shouted, turning around to see Crystal pulling the PS5 off the TV stand. “Hey! That's mine!” She shouted. “Right…” Crystal started, turning it over to reveal a sticker on one side of a small blue dog peeking over the edge. “I suppose this sticker is too then?” “What? Yea, the PS5 is mine,” Kelsey said stupidly, unsure what Crystal could possibly be implying. “Okay, dear. If you really believe that, I think you’ll need to call the police to help us work out what is your’s and what is Danny’s,” Crystal said, carefully placing the PS5 in a bag before tossing the controllers in as well. “Ye- Yea! Maybe I will call the police!” Kelsey yelled. Crystal continued on, grabbing anything she knew was Danny’s as she made her way through the living room. “I encourage it,” She said calmly without acknowledging Kelsey with a look. “Ugh!” Kelsey yelled before storming off into the bedroom where Danny was quietly stuffing his clothes into bags. “You’ve got thirty minutes and then I’m calling the police!” Danny felt himself becoming overwhelmed, not wanting to deal with Kelsey’s anger as he tried to shove the last of his clothes into the already overflowing bags. “You- could help?” He said quietly, lifting the bags as he carried them to the living room. “I’m not going to help you steal from me!” Kelsey shouted, pulling out her phone as she started to desperately text her friends. “Is that everything from the room?” Crystal asked, taking a quick peek through the kitchen. “I think so…” Danny said, trying to remember what all he actually needed. “Why don’t you go through the bathroom, I’ll take another peek at the bedroom,” Crystal said, grabbing one of the last empty bags as she made her way down the hall, finding Kelsey criss-cross on the bed as her fingers rapidly typed away. “This is completely unacceptable,” Kelsey yelled as Crystal slowly meandered throughout the room looking for familiar items. “You know you can’t just storm into someone's house and steal their shit!?” “It's actually the normal thing to do after a breakup. At least leave the man with his things? You already took his dignity,” Crystal said, grabbing a few items out of the night stand. Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Who even are you?” “Someone who loves and cares about him. Which obviously isn’t you anymore,” Crystal said bluntly, heading out of the room, bumping into Danny as he came out of the bathroom. “Is that everything?” Danny took a minute to look around, quickly sifting through bags before giving one more quick walk through the apartment. “That's all of it,” He said softly, grabbing a couple of bags as he headed out towards the car. “Thank you for your hospitality,” Crystal called out sarcastically to Kelsey who was still hiding in the bedroom, carrying the last of the bags out the door before shutting it behind her. Crystal could tell that the whole experience had let Danny a little off kilter. He’d never handled crowds or loud noises well, and an ex-girlfriend screaming at you was definitely something that could be added to that list, but it was nothing that a quick stop at Elmer’s couldn’t fix. Danny’s anxiety eased up as he plowed down his massive portion of food, filling his stomach to the point of bloating before continuing their return trip home. “Do you think you’ll need the full 24 hours to comply?” Crystal asked as she merged onto the freeway, breaking the silence as she sent butterflies through Danny’s stomach as he tried not to let his stomach suddenly explode. “I’m planning on dropping you off before running a few errands, but I was hoping that maybe when I returned…” She said, turning towards Danny who was happily nodding. “Perfect,” She said. “Do you need a refresher?” Danny blushed as he tried to remember everything, ultimately nodding his head just to make sure. “Oh, come on. I bet you know some of them. How about I help you?” Crystal said playfully. “What's the first one?” “Diapers,” Danny said softly as he blushed. “Speak up, sweety,” She said with a grin. “Diapers!” He shouted with more energy than she expected. They both let out a laugh as they looked at each other for a brief second before continuing. “When do you wear them?” Crystal asked. “Always,” Danny said confidently. “And you call me?” “Mommy!” Danny shouted again. “And who decides when your diapers need a change?” “Mommy does!” Danny said excitedly. “And you are?” Crystal asked. “Mommy’s baby,” “Which means….” Crystal said, waiting for Danny to fill in. “I should talk, act and eat like one,” Danny said sheepishly with a bright red face. “And what do you do when Mommy isn’t home?” “Clean!” Danny said, feeling proud of himself that he remembered all of it. “Does Mommy tolerate trouble makers?” Crystal asked. Danny shook his head. “Good job!” Crystal cooed. Did you enjoy the story? 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"What's that?" "Nothing," he said. Mommy walked around to the front and got into the driver seat, turned on the car and began to drive. "So... Deliquent Daycare," he said. "Yep! That's where you're going. And I'll make sure they know ALL about your behaviour this morning." "Right. And I think we've both seen the sort of things they do in different videos." "Yep! Seems perfect for you!" "Hmmm..." he thought. "Well you know, I have the right to refuse any spankings or physical punishments if it gets too painful, right?" She paused for a moment. "Yeeees," she said slowly and thoughtfully. "Well, I just think I'm really not feeling that today. Just already ready feel my butt is aching from the beans in my diaper this morning, plus those EXTRA HARD butt pats you gave me on the way into the car, so I can't take a spanking." "Hmmm," she said. "Well, there are always thighs, and wrists..." "No, no, honestly I just ache all over. Must be a sign of aging. I'm going to have to say no physical or painful punishment whatsoever. You know, since I just can't take pain this weekend, and I have the right to decide that." "Hmmm," she said, thinking carefuly. "OK!" "Yes I know you're going to argue, but I really think... wait what?" he said. "I said OK. I'll make sure there are no physical punishments this weekend." "I... see..." He did not expect her to agree easily to that, and had prepared for an argument. "No, I don't think they'll need any kind of physical punishment at all. You did say physical punishment, or anything causing pain like spankings?" "Yes..." he said. "Ok, none of that. Not neccessairy." "Huh." Somehow that was more terrfying, and he sat back silently in his carseat, nervous to say anything else. He sucked his pacifier and stared out the window and the passing buildings, thankful for the tinted windows. They stopped at a light, and a red, top less convertable pulled up beside them. The driver, a young blond haired woman, looked at him. She made a face, and he panicked, then remembered the windows were tinted. She poked the man sitting beside her and pointed directly at him. They both stared. "The windows are tinted but not black sweetie. That would be illegal." "Oh," he said. "Oh god." He looked at the couple, who were still staring. He took out his pacifier, closed one eye and stuck his toung out with his mouth open, and shouted "BlAAAAHHH!" They both laughed, and replied with the same look. The light changed, they drove off, and he put the pacifier back in his mouth. He turned forward and hunched over in the car seat.

"Let us never speak of that particualr diaper change again," he said. "The colors. I've never seen colors like that in a diaper, and I never want to again," she replied, and shuddered. Her and Jerry was standing outside the bathroom, he still in a t shirt and his now fresh diaper, and her holding her bags. "Oh right!" he said, suddenly remembering that he was suppsoed to be bratting. He sat flat down heavily on the floor. "Babykins, we need to go." He reached his arms up toward her, making grabbing motions. "I can't Mommy! I'm too much of a baby! You have to carry me!" "What!? No, crawl if you want." He made a show of trying to get to all fours, the collapsing on the ground. "I can't Mommy! it's too hard for a bratty little baby who needs to be put in mean daycares like me!" She roled her eyes. "Ohhh you are such a brat!" "I know Mommy! That's why I'm going to the Deliquent Daycare!" He remained lying on the ground with his hands in the air toward her. Mommy dropped her bags, then reached down and grabbed his wrist, then began to drag him accross the floor toward the door. He slumped down as much as he could, turning himself into complete dead weight to her efforts. "You... spoiled... pampered... brat," she strained. "Look mommy! It's like I'm dead! BLLAARRR!" he tilted his head back and stuck his toungue out. "Alright, here," she panted. "Mhmm. Say where are our bags?" "FUCK!" she said, and headed back to get them. "I don't think you are supposed to swear in front of babies! I'm impressionable, what if I say it now and its your fault!" "Then I'll rinse your mouth out with soap!" "That's not fair! It be your fault!" "Life isn't fair! And neither is soap!" As she walked to get the bags, Jerry slowly got back up on all fours. He began to crawl into the next room as quietly as he could. "WHAT?! You can move now! Come back here!" she shouted. "EEEP!" Jerry shouted, and got up and ran back into the kitchen. "NO! HEY! COME BACK!" Mommy shouted as she blocked him off around the table. He tried to dart to the right around it, then switched to the left. "Gotcha!" She shouted as she finally grabbed him by the wrist, and he stopped. "BLARG dead again!" he said, and slumped back down with his toung out. "Oh you. You are going to that daycare whether you like it or not," She began to drag him. "I think technically you are supposed to CARRY babies, not drag them. This feels wrong somehow." "Technically I'm also not supposed to change babies back into their old diapers, but you're verging on that too." "Eeep," he said, and went back to playing dead. They arrived back at the door, and she sat him down, then put his pants and shoes in front of him. She looked at him expetently. "Well?" "Well what?" "We are going out. You need your clothes." He shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Oh no Mommy! I'm such a dumb, bratty little adult baby I totally forgot how to get dressed! I think someone needs to do it FOR me!" She looked at him with her hands akimbo. "Alright, I can do that for my baby." She bent over down to his legs. "Huh." He said. That argument was far too easy to win, and he sensed she had something else planned. "First foot!" She said, and he lifted one. She put a sock on it. "Second foot!" She said again, and repeated the processed. "First foot again!" She said. He lifted it, and she attatched a shoe to it. "What?" He said, suprised. "And final foot," She picked up his last foot. "What about pants?" he asked. She tied his shoe laces. "And done!" "OH MY GOD WHAT ABOUT PANTS!?!" he shouted. "What about them? Babies don't need pants, they are fine in just their shirts, shoes, and diapers."

Briana's not going to take all this anti ABDL stuff lying down! 16 A Big Plan is Planned Monserrat came to the rescue, just like Briana knew she would. She was brave, strong, and super kind to Ava. Their utter disaster of an afternoon became a chance to see Ava’s apartment and snuggle with her. Plus, there were cookies! It wasn’t the date Briana and Ava had planned, but it felt good. When Mom and Dad arrived, they had hugs for Ava as well as Briana. It was good to see her girlfriend getting comfortable with her parents. It’d also be nice if she could get comfortable faster. The tiny peck Briana got for a goodbye kiss showed Ava had a long way to go to be really comfortable. On the ride home from Ava’s house, Briana was struck by how horrible the encounter at the bus stop had been and how wonderful her afternoon with Ava was. There was no reason for those people to be mean about ABDL. It was super wrong for that man to push Ava over. Even if she hadn’t been disabled, it would have been wrong. The unfair feeling of having to feel afraid of people – because of something harmless about herself – grew until Briana was gripping her car-seat in righteous anger. If she was scared in public, how much worse was it for Arthur, who was black too? Or Ava, who Briana had thoughtlessly pushed to be Little in public at her birthday party. There was Fabi, who had been so excited to go to that birthday party – because she never left her house after becoming a full-time Little. “Briana, is something wrong?” Dad looked back at Briana from the passenger seat. Jane was as calm as ever, but Briana knew her well enough to see the concern in her dad’s eyes. “Yes, Daddy! There’s a big injustice, and I have to fix it!” “The police are working on it, Baby Bee,” Mom said from the driver’s seat. “I’m quite impressed with how well you handled that police officer. It will take them time to find the man who hurt Ava, even if they take the case seriously.” “No, not that part. I mean, yes, that part, but that’s not enough! I have to do something about all the ABDL hate that’s happening.” Mom and Dad looked at each other with that look they shared when they wanted to be supportive – but were going to say no. Veronica took a deep breath and began with, “Baby Bee…” “No. Mom.” “Excuse me, young lady?” There was danger in Veronica’s tone. Briana forged stubbornly ahead into the danger. “You said Aunt Kiara could give me lessons. She said I had to pick something to work on. I’m texting her right now to tell her I found my thing.” “Ah, then that should be fine.” Jane sat back in her seat as if the matter was settled. To Briana’s surprise, Veronica nodded in agreement. “You’re not going to try and talk me out of it?” “First off, Briana, you’re incapable of steamrolling my sister. I don’t think anyone could do that to her. If she agrees to help you, it’ll be because she believes it’s a good thing to do and is prepared to support you.” Veronica caught Briana’s eye in the rear-view mirror and smiled at her. “I think I can speak for your mother when I say we weren’t trying to stop you from helping people.” Jane reached back and patted Briana’s leg. “Though I have some worries about you taking on a cause that so many people are angry about, I’m glad to see you asking for help – this time.” “Daddy, you said you’d stop bringing up the time I got frostbite!” “Indeed.” Jane chuckled. “It was you that brought it up.” “Nuh-uh! Daddy! You’re not being fair.” “Briana, don’t get yourself into a fussy state. You’ll have much more success asking for Kiara’s help if you ask her like a big girl,” Veronica said. “I’ll check her diaper when we get home,” Dad said. “Daddy! That’s not why I’m upset.” ~~~*~~~ Despite her protests, Briana got a diaper change and put in her crib for some “quiet time” before dinner. Quiet time was code for Mom wanting Briana to take a nap but not wanting to argue about it. That meant no phone, books, or toys other than her stuffies. It was the perfect example of why Big thinking was flawed sometimes. Mom didn’t appreciate what Briana could do as a Princess of Cloudland, especially with her most loyal knights in attendance. While Alanna assembled and inspected the knights – the Lioness was always much bigger on inspections than Briana was – Briana squeezed a shoulder through her crib bars to grab her tiara. It was sitting on top of her toybox within reach – unlike the rest of her princess costume, which was hanging in her closet. Technically, Briana had not left her crib. Also, though the tiara had been in her toybox, it was part of a dress-up costume, not a toy. Satisfied that she was well within the letter of Quiet Time law, Briana put on her Tiara. Now, with a fancy accessory for her basic cream-colored onesie, the Princess addressed her knights. “Loyal Knights of the Round Table, I speak to you now as your Princess, not as a fellow knight.” Briana was proud of that speech – she’d practiced it on the car ride. Unfortunately, her wet diaper had been a distraction, meaning she was at the end of her prepared statements. Luckily, Knight Captain Alanna stepped in to assure Princess Briana that she and the other stuffie knights were awaiting her orders. Quietly thanking her bosom stuffie, Briana felt her thoughts fall into place. “I do not come to give orders but with a higher purpose. You should all know that the visiting princess – and my new girlfriend – Ava, was attacked today in town!” The stuffies gasped! Sir Mimsey, the bat, squeaked so loudly that she went into ultrasonic. Arnold the Pangolin was scribbling something about Briana having a new girlfriend for his gossip column – but at least Arnold the Pangolin was shocked, if not precisely for the right reason. “Yes, it’s true. And no, Sir Arnold the Pangolin, I will not do a tell-all interview. Sir Arnold the Pangolin is supposed to be a knight right now, not a reporter.” Briana took a deep breath. “Anyway, this wasn’t an isolated incident, and it wasn’t a creature from the Cloudland world like a rakshasi. The attack was part of a movement of people being mean to Littles.” Briana got up on her knees, wishing she had her sword for the dramatic moment – but the sword was clearly a toy and therefore not allowed during Quiet Time. Besides, she had told her stuffies she wasn’t acting as a knight. “I call the Round Table to a quest! This quest is the most important one since rescuing Melody at Thanksgiving. We cannot fail.” Alanna looked uncomfortable, though she was too disciplined to say anything in front of the other knights. Briana figured she would get an earful from her lioness about that Thanksgiving quest – but things were different this time. No one was going to get frostbite in the spring, for one thing. Briana’s bedroom door opened, revealing the crucial reason the Quest to Save All Littles differed from the Quest to Save Melody. “This is an interesting nap technique.” Kiara stepped up to the crib and kissed Briana’s forehead. “Am I interrupting a meeting?” “Not at all! You came at a perfect time, Auntie.” Briana hopped up, leaning over her crib bars to give Kiara a big hug. Her aunt was wearing a dress of rumpled blue silk, subtly printed with pale purple flowers. It was a great look for an opera or something high-society-ish, though, to Briana’s knowledge, that kind of thing was usually in the evenings. “I’m glad to see you too, sweetie.” Kiara hugged Briana tightly. “Are you going to introduce me to your meeting, or is it adjourned?” “As Princess of Cloudland, I’d be happy to introduce you. This is most of my Round Table. You already know Knight Captain Alanna, but this is Sir Arnold the Pangolin, Sir Chuck, Sir Mimsey, and Sir Alanna’s squire, Beartholomew.” Briana touched each stuffie in turn, taking advantage of the introduction to end with another hug for Kiara. “And this is Kiara, my aunt, and the Rasmussen Matriarch.” “Very regal.” Kiara scooped Briana out of her crib by her padded rear, setting her down with only a small grunt of effort. “What’s on the meeting agenda?” “The Quest to Save All the Littles in Ardenthill.” Briana looked proudly up at her aunt, undaunted by the foot of difference in their heights. “I thought that’s what you were talking about in your text message.” Kiara took a seat in the story-reading chair next to Briana’s crib. “I think you might be too Little to have that discussion now, though." “No, that’s Big thinking. I can be Little and save all my friends.” “I wish you could, sweetie, but clothes and attitudes are important when changing people’s minds.” Kiara pulled Briana into her lap. “Vonnie told me about another quest you went on. You had the wrong clothes on, and you got frostbite.” “Everyone’s bringing that one up today. I apologized and learned from it already; it’s not fair.” “Then you still need to apply the lesson to your new goal.” Kiara stroked Briana’s hair. “Confronting people who aren’t ready to see a grown woman in diapers is going to make them angrier than they already are. They’ll say awful things to you. Things that will get frostbite on your heart.” “I wear diapers all the time. If I can’t do this in diapers, I can’t do it at all.” Briana hit Kiara with her biggest pouty-lip. “Your diapers aren’t always obvious, and your behavior isn’t always Little. I’m happy to help you with this, sweetie, but it will be hard enough with you tackling it as a Big girl. I don’t see a chance for success if you’re trying to convince people when you’re Little.” “Aunt Kiara, that doesn’t feel right. I’m not ashamed of who I am.” “I’m not either – but there was a time when I didn’t get to wear my hair naturally like I do now. Even with our family connections, this country was a different place ten years ago. I had to straighten my hair to be taken seriously.” Kiara sighed grimly. “I didn’t like it and still don’t like that I had to do it. But I did what I had to do to get in a position where I could make a change.” “Grandma couldn’t fix it for you?” “She might have been able to if she’d come to every one of my events. Even then, I’m not sure. It doesn’t matter because I had things I wanted to accomplish as my own woman, as Kiara Rasmussen, not as Michelle Rasmussen’s daughter.” Briana sighed. “I still don’t like it. I’m not saying that this is like the way you were treated, or the way black people were treated in general – but it still feels wrong.” “You don’t have to like it, baby girl.” Kiara bounced one leg gently under Briana. “But what’s more important to you – showing the world you’re not ashamed of being Little or making Ardenthill safe for all the Littles that live here?” “The second one.” Briana rolled her eyes. “Okay, so how do I do it?” “Do you think you can be Big right now to discuss it?” “Um – I’ll try.” Briana flopped against Kiara, tucking her head under her aunt’s chin. “I was Big all day at school and had to be super big to help Ava.” “This isn’t something we can fix in a day, or even a month, probably. Let’s work on it tomorrow afternoon when you have more energy.” “What are we going to do until dinner if we can’t plan?” Kiara grinned. “Well, Rosa’s at her derby practice, but before she left, she asked Vonnie and me to make sure Melody takes a break. Can you get Little enough to help your sibling relax?” “Ohmygoshyesfinally!” Briana bounced excitedly on Kiara’s lap. “That’s my darling niece.” Kiara smiled. “Go find your sibling, but be careful on the stairs. You won't get to play if you fall down the stairs.” Briana was out of her bedroom like a shot! She slid to the top of the stairs on the hardwood balcony, took the stairs excruciatingly carefully, and barreled into Melody’s bedroom. “Sib! Sib! It’s time to play!” Melody looked up from their computer with tired annoyance. There were bags under their eyes, like an exhausted Big! No wonder Tia Rosa had mandated a break. As far as Briana was concerned, it should have come much earlier. “Bri, come on, Mom and Mamá both said you can’t bust in here when I’m working and interrupt me.” “Well, your Mamá said you have to take a break today.” Briana folded her arms smugly. “Nuh-uh.” Melody’s protest lacked confidence. The guilty look they gave when Kiara came into the room meant they knew their doom was sealed. “She said I should probably take one.” “Well, she told me to make sure you take a break.” Kiara stepped over to Melody and pulled open the back of their sweatpants waistband. “And to check your pullup.” “Hey!” Melody blushed, cringing away from Kiara. Melody’s scarlet face could mean only one thing – not only would they play, but Briana’s sib was a potty-pants! It was such a welcome return to the blissful days before Christmas that Briana almost cried. Her diaper got damp instead of her cheeks, which was fine. It was more than acceptable because it gave Briana something in common with her sib. “That’s a soaked pullup. You know the rules, Little One. If you’re that wet, you get a diaper until bedtime.” Kiara took Melody’s hand. Wisely, Melody didn’t resist being led to the drawing room changing table. Briana crawled along, speedrunning – as Melody would say – a trip into Littlespace. “I was hyper-focusing. I’m almost done with the reporting system for my app.” Melody sighed, confining their protests to the verbal sphere as they climbed onto the changing table. “I didn’t have time for the potty.” “Well, now you have to make time for a diaper change and play with your sister.” Kiara wasted no time stripping off Melody’s sweats and sopping pullup. It was good that Tia Rosa hadn’t seen the way Melody was leaking onto their sweats – her sib might have gotten spanked! “Okay, but then I have to…” “After that is dinner; when that’s done, your mamá will be home from practice. She’s going to be in charge of your evening from there.” “Well – okay.” Melody’s sagging into defeated obedience made total sense to Briana. It was tough to argue with someone with authority while they were wiping pee off your butt. The diaper that came on after didn’t instill authoritative feelings either. What the diaper did do was rekindle a gleam in Melody’s eye that Briana had sorely missed. The sibling that came down from the changing table was much sillier than the one that’d gone up. Briana got tackled – and tickled – and didn’t breathe a word of protest through her helpless giggles. They didn’t play anything elaborate like Cloudland. Despite that, it was the most fun Briana had had since her birthday. As Kiara sat on the drawing room couch with an amused look on her face, Briana and Melody chased each other around, playing silly games like Doggie (Melody was the doggie, as always), Super Space Dolls (Briana’s new Barbies had been transported to an alien planet the first time Melody played with them), and Chase the Bouncy Ball. Their last game left them both sweat-soaked and laughing, lying across each other on the floor. “What’s this project you’re always working on, Sib?” Briana nuzzled Melody’s sweaty cheek. “Ugh, it’s some dumb thing that I stupidly made open source, and now it has a whole community and whatever I can’t let down.” “Why don’t you let them take it over if you don’t like it?” “Because they’d make it wrong.” “That doesn’t make any sense. If you don’t like working on it, then…” “Hey, Auntie, Briana’s diaper is more than just sweaty.” “That sounded like tattling, Melody,” Kiara smirked. “I’m just taking care of my little sister.” Melody’s faux-innocent expression made Briana roll her eyes. “Don’t think I didn’t see what you did there!” Briana’s fine, strident statement ended in a squeak as Kiara heaved her onto the changing table. “What, you mean make it so you don’t have to sit in a wet diaper for all of dinner? You know Grandma’s coming over; it’s going to be a long one.” “Fine, don’t tell me about your dumb project.” Briana crossed her arms as Kiara tore the tapes on her diaper. “I don’t care.” “Good.” “Good!” “Good!” “GOOD!” “Okay, kids, that’s enough.” Kiara popped a pacifier in Briana’s mouth. She didn’t have one handy for Melody, but the look she gave Mel was enough to shut them down just as effectively. Tuckered out from chasing a bouncy ball and with bigger issues to worry about than Melody’s coding project, Briana closed her eyes and relaxed into Kiara’s gentle diaper change. She’d have to ration her big-ness tomorrow to keep enough to have a proper strategy session with her aunt. Then Ava, Arthur, Fabi, and the rest of the Littles would never have to be scared again!

And now we take a brief side trip to the AB: Sitter series to follow our distressed baby girls. ---- 9 Ava – Monserrat Emergency Services The ABDU undergraduate library was a haven of warm wooden panels, natural light, and book smell. Monserrat was enjoying a rare moment of studying within the bounds of her hectic life. It wasn’t enough to be an engineering student; she also had to play sports. On top of both, she had a highly demanding job for her ABDL clients and an equally demanding ABDL wife named Jenna – or Jenny, depending on how Little she was feeling. Of all of those, Monserrat’s wife was the priority. Picking a second priority was tricky, however. It wasn’t always clear if excelling in school or her job supported Monserrat’s priorities the best. At the moment, she was dealing with the unwelcome feeling of struggling in her Basic Architectural Principles class. So much so that when an urgent request came through her work app – for a prior client at that – Monserrat hit decline without even looking at the name. No sooner had she turned back to studying the formula for the strength of an arch than her phone buzzed again. The same client had upgraded their request to an emergency. Rolling her eyes, Monserrat deigned to read the client’s name. Brianna Rasmussen. Damn. Her mom is why I can flex my class times to whatever I need. Can’t exactly turn down a red alert from her. “This is Monserrat.” Monserrat tried to pitch her voice low and got a few annoyed looks from her fellow students for answering a call in the study center. With a sigh, Monserrat threw her book in her backpack and headed for the nearest exit. “Monserrat? It’s Briana Rasmussen. Thank you so much for picking up.” Briana sounded seriously distressed. “You have a babysitting emergency?” Monserrat shouldered out the exit door into a beautiful spring day. Part of her wished she could have finished studying – another part was glad to be out of the library and into the sun. Saving some baby girls would be a bonus on top of that. “Yes, it’s an emergency. My girlfriend got hurt and had an accident. The EMTs just left, but we need a babysitter for the second part.” “EMTs? Briana, are you sure you need me? Should you be at the hospital?” “Ava won’t go to the hospital; she says they can’t help, and she looks much better. But she had a potty accident, and she’s really sad.” Briana had started out sounding Big, but she was getting more Little in tone by the second. “Please, Monchi, Mom and Dad are in a big meeting. We need the best babysitter ever.” Monserrat chuckled. “Well, you called the best babysitter ever. I'll be there in five minutes if you’re at the map pin you sent with your request.” Excited Little girl noises followed. Monserrat indulged Briana until she reached her car. Verbally prying the Little girl off the phone was accomplished by the simple method of promising that they could, in fact, have cookies. After an ambulance-worthy injury, providing cookies was the least Monserrat was prepared to spoil the girls. ~~~*~~~ There was no ambulance with the Little girls when Monserrat arrived, but a police car was parked next to the little bus stop they’d taken shelter in. Monserrat parked behind the officer, stepping out of her white SUV to survey the scene. They were in the downtown center, surrounded by picturesque buildings alternating between red brick and colonial white. Happily, there wasn’t too much of an audience – just a few onlookers peering over from a few buildings down. An Indian girl that Monserrat presumed was Ava was sitting on the ground in a gray sweatsuit with a wet patch on her crotch. A pair of brace crutches sat neatly next to her. She looked miserable. Briana was surprisingly all in black, including some dramatic gothic makeup that had made tear trails down her cheeks. She was addressing the police officer, who was listening with a surprisingly deferential expression. “He pushed her right over, even though he could see that she was on crutches. He wanted to hurt her, Officer.” Briana drew herself up to her full five-foot-nothing. “And I did not like that! My mom and dad aren’t going to like it either when I tell them. Neither is my aunt or my grandma. The whole Rasmussen family will be upset about this and want that man found.” Despite Briana's childish, almost petulant tone, the police officer tipped his hat to her. “I hear you loud and clear, Miss. I will radio this report straight to the Captain; he asked to be notified.” “Thank you, Officer…” Briana went up on tiptoe to get a better look at the policeman’s name badge. “Jameson. You’ve been a big help. I won’t forget, and I’ll make sure to tell my family how good a policeman you are.” “I appreciate that, Miss Rasmussen.” The policeman looked over Briana at Monserrat as she approached. “Ma’am, can I help you?” Briana turned and grinned at Monserrat, throwing herself into a hug around Monchi’s waist. “This is Monserrat, Officer, she’s a friend. She’s going to take Ava and me home.” “That’s good to hear. I'm pleased to meet you, ma’am.” The officer’s manner was polite to the point of obsequiousness. As a woman of color, Monserrat didn’t know how to handle it. She’d had interactions with the police before, but never as remotely polite as her current situation. The most Monserrat could manage was a polite nod back. “Let’s get you taken care of,” Monserrat said to Briana. “Can you introduce me to Ava?” Monserrat put him and his manner out of her mind, with the policeman heading back to his car. She knelt by Ava and held out her hand. “Ava, this is Monserrat. Monserrat, this is Ava. She’s my girlfriend, and she’s feeling Little and had the worst, scariest day ever.” Briana plopped down next to Ava and put an arm around the anxious-looking girl. “Hi, Monserrat.” Ava had more than Littlespace nervousness on her face. She’d had a genuine scare and looked defeated on top of the rest of it all. Simply shaking Monserrat’s hand looked like it took a lot of bravery. “Hi, Ava.” Monserrat took Ava’s hand in both hers, making it as warm a handshake as possible. “The first thing to do is to get you girls somewhere more comfortable than this.” “We can go to my house!” Briana nodded excitedly, but Monserrat caught Ava wincing. “Ava is the one who had the extra bad day, so I think she should decide.” Monserrat put a finger to Briana’s lips when she tried to protest. “Ava, would you like to go to Briana’s house? I can also take you back to your house or my house. I know Briana’s house has some supplies for babysitting, and mine does, too. I’m not sure how yours is set up.” “Is your house – do you live alone?” Ava asked, her lip trembling. “No, sweetie. My wife and my roommates live with me.” “What’s wrong with my house?” Briana whined, sounding hurt. “Briana, you’re not helping your friend right now. Please let her decide.” Monserrat fixed Briana with a stern look, much to the Little girl’s surprise. “I don’t want people to – see me like this,” Ava said softly. “Is it okay if we go to my apartment? Briana can come too.” “Of course it is.” Monserrat stroked both Little girls’ hair. “I can see you two don’t want to be separated. Ava, is it alright if I pick you up and put you in my car?” Ava looked at her crutches, sighed bitterly, and nodded. “Yeah.” “I asked because I don’t touch people without asking if it’s okay,” Monserrat said, scooping Ava up. Though she had half a foot on Briana at least, Ava was as light in Monserrat’s arms as Briana had been. “I like carrying around the girls I babysit. It makes them feel more Little, I think.” Ava blushed, clinging to Monserrat until she was set down in the back of the SUV. Briana hopped in on her own, carrying Ava’s crutches. Monserrat stowed both girl’s backpacks in the cargo area before climbing into the backseat with them. “Um, Monchi, how will you drive from back here?” Briana asked. “Ava needs to be cleaned up first.” Monserrat reached over Briana to pull an opaque privacy screen over the window, going around the back of the car window by window until they were all blacked out. She clicked the dome light on and finished sealing off the back of the SUV with a small fold-out screen inset into the driver’s seat. “Y-y-you’re going to change me right here?” Ava whimpered. “If you let me. It’s private enough with the screens down.” “But when we get out, I’ll be in a diaper.” Ava’s shy whisper and the fact that she assumed she’d be put in a diaper lowered Monserrat’s assessment of the girl’s mental age. “I have some emergency skirts I keep on hand in case I have to rescue a Little girl. There won’t be anything for people to see.” Monserrat stroked Ava’s cheek, lowering the girl’s seat back until it was almost flat. “Be a good girl and lie back, okay?” “Monserrat’s a good babysitter; she was extra nice to me when I had a bad nightmare about Melody.” Briana took Ava’s hand. Ava looked comforted but was throwing nervous glances at Briana, too. “Would you rather that Briana not watch you get changed?” An immediate nod from Ava answered Monserrat’s question. Monchi reached into her rescue bag, pulling out a beanie. It was far too big for Briana’s tiny head at regular size. That made it perfect for pulling over the Little girl’s eyes. “Monchi!” Briana giggled. “Be a good girl, Briana. Leave that hat where it is, but keep holding Ava’s hand.” Finally comfortable, Ava smiled weakly and lay flat. Monserrat popped the Little girl’s shoes off, followed by her sweats. They were wetter than they looked, and poor Ava’s panties were soaked up to the waistband. She was visibly happy to get them off and didn’t seem to mind having a changing blanket scooted under her butt. Ava closed her eyes and relaxed as Monserrat wiped her clean. She was so relaxed that she dribbled a bit on the changing blanket. Monserrat didn’t say a word. The extra liquid was as easy to clean up as Ava’s spindly legs were to lift. Cleaning Ava’s rear segued perfectly into slipping a diaper under her rear. A bit of lotion and powder didn’t generate any protests. Monserrat kept the products light in case Ava wasn’t a fan of one or the other. With the Little girl snugly diapered, Monserrat lifted the seat and Ava together, ending with the girl in her arms for a hug. Ava was trembling again, but it seemed to be from intense emotion rather than anxiety. Monserrat kissed the darling girl atop her head. “You’re such a good girl, Ava. I’m going to put a skirt on you, then buckle you and Briana up. While I’m getting the window screens up, your only job will be to tell me your address and snuggle with Briana, alright?” “Okay, Monchi.” Fully Littled-out, Ava was as pliable as any girl Monserrat had babysat. She had them all on the road in minutes. Shortly after, they arrived at a charming brick apartment building whose courtyard boasted dogwood trees with lovely white flowers. “Do you want me to carry you to your apartment, Ava?” Monserrat hadn’t expected a yes but was surprised by the intensity of the Little girl’s head shake. “It was an anti-ABDL protestor that knocked me over.” Ava bit her lip. “I don’t want people to see any baby stuff outside my apartment.” “Oh, sweetie, that’s terrible.” Monserrat kept her face calmly sympathetic – despite the turmoil in her heart. She’d heard that ABDL was negatively in the news, but she hadn’t expected protests in Ardenthill. That someone had even gotten violent at a protest was terrifying for her wife, Jenna. I can warn her as soon as I get these Little girls inside. The last thing they need is for me to freak out and get them both scared again. Ava had to take three breaks on the way into her ground-floor apartment. It was a charming place, small even for a one-bedroom, but tidy and full of homey decorations from her childhood and family connections to India. Once inside, Ava grateful to be picked up by Monserrat and deposited on the couch. “Can you let my bird out?” Ava pointed to a big cage that took up a corner of the living room. “His name is Mango.” “Mango! Mango!” The bird hopped excitedly next to one of his cage doors. It took a finger-flick to open the cage – Mango was out and flying around the room, making happy trilling sounds. He landed on Ava’s shoulder right away, nuzzling her cheek. “I love you too, Mango.” Ava’s face lit up with the first genuine smile Monserrat had seen on the girl. “You remember Briana?” “Briana, Briana, treat!” Mango fluttered his wings at Briana, who sat beside Ava and giggled delightfully at the bird. “Treat later. This is Monchi. She’s a friend.” Ava pointed at Monserrat. “Monchi! Monchi! Treat! Treat!” Monserrat chuckled. “I think everyone should get a treat after what happened today. What do you think?” “Yeah!” The Little girls said in unison. “Treat! Treat!” Mango bobbed his head in an excited nod. Much to Mango’s distress, the Little girls got cookies before he got his date chunks. Monserrat’s go-to cookies for rescues were soft sugar cookies, liberally frosted and as big across as her hand. Once he finally got his bits of date, Mango snuggled into the crook of Ava’s neck. The Little girls were wholly focused on their cookies, giving Monserrat some time to take the lay of the land. While she explored, Monserrat shot off a text to Jenna – and a separate one to the rest of her polycule. She kept it as light as possible with the text to Jenna while ensuring the warning about ABDL protestors came through. For her polycule – Jenna’s other caregivers – Monserrat felt she could be a bit more explicit about the violence. Hoping that she hadn’t worried the women she loved too much, Monserrat concentrated on assessing the apartment. Ava’s space had no obvious ABDL touches besides an abundance of stuffies on her bed. If she had diaper supplies, they were well hidden. Monserat didn’t poke around for them. “That cop was weird with you,” Ava said while Monserrat filled sippy cups with water. Briana shrugged. “The police treat my family differently than other people – I know it’s not right, but what happened to you was way worse. I’m glad I could get them to pay attention to you, and Mom could do the same when Melody was in trouble.” Ava’s thoughtful look turned into a smirk when Mango hopped on Briana’s shoulder and declared, “Stinky! Stinky, stinky!” “What?!” Briana’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t – it’s just potty – Mango, you tattletale!” Ava giggled. “He loves tattling when somebody wets their diaper.” “How’d he even know?” Briana grumped as Monserrat laid out a changing blanket. “He hears the crinkles.” Ava nudged Briana. “Now we both had an accident.” “Yeah, but I’m only wearing a pull-up,” Briana squeaked when Monserrat picked her up. “Oh, thanks, Monchi.” “You’re welcome, Briana.” Monserrat set Briana down on the blanket. “Ava, turn away.” “I don’t mind.” Briana laid back and attended to her cookie like a true diaper-change veteran. “It doesn’t matter if you do; Ava doesn’t want you to see her, so she doesn’t get to peek either.” Monserrat gave Ava a pointed look and made a turning motion. “You turn toward that wall right now, young lady.” Briana was just as much fun to change as she had been the first time Monserrat babysat her, wanting to be played with the whole time and properly squirmy when Monserrat tickled her. While she had the girl and wipes to hand, Monserrat cleaned the Little girl’s makeup streaks up. Putting her back on the couch with Ava and tucking a blanket around the girls resulted in some blissful-looking Littles. “I think you two are properly rescued at this point. I need to get back to my Little girl and the rest of my day.” Monserrat kissed each girl on the forehead and petted Mango’s neck. “Can I do anything for you before I go?” “Do you really have to go?” Briana trained her devastating puppy-dog eyes on Monserrat. Thoughts of Jenna scared at the text she’d received, kept Monserrat strong. “I do, but I’d happily babysit either of you cuties – or both of you – another time.” “Briana was right; you’re a good babysitter.” Ava reached out to squeeze Monserrat’s arm and got a whole hug instead. “Thanks for being so gentle with me.” “It’s what you needed, sweetie.” Monserrat gathered her bag and ensured Ava had her crutches close to hand. “Briana, are you going to be able to get home on your own?” “I’m going to have Mom and Dad pick me up,” Briana said. “Thanks, Monchi.” “And Ava, you’re going to be okay with just Briana here?” “Yeah, I’ll be okay.” Ava snuggled up close to Briana. “I’ll have to go to the doctor and stuff, but I’ll be fine the rest of today.” “Good. If you have another emergency on campus, and I’m at school, I’ll rescue you at no charge, okay, Ava? Make sure you get my phone number from Briana.” “Okay, Monchi.” The sad gratitude on Ava’s face was hard to see. “Hey Monchi, when do I get to meet Jenna?” Briana settled in alongside her girlfriend, holding Ava tenderly in her arms. “It could be soon. If you want, I can give her your phone number and see if she wants to contact you.” “Yeah, do it!” Briana grinned. “It’s a plan. Bye girls. Be good while I’m gone.” “We will, Monchi!” Grinning at the adorable chorus, Monserrat stepped out of the apartment – and hurried to her car. Someone would have texted me by now if something terrible had happened – but I need my Little girl in my arms.

30 - It's just Soda “Emmy, hun-bun, come on!” Joyce called by the front door. She was already dressed in her heels, slacks, blouse and donned a black overcoat. With a handbag slung over her shoulder and a hand actively supporting the strap, she was clearly ready to go at a moment’s notice. “Coooming~!” A loud and earnest kind of voice replied from the other side of the apartment, sounding much more direct than a typical person might. It didn’t carry the baggage of stress or overcomplicated thought, seemingly unfiltered in its unbridled nature. Joyce tried to purse her lips, though the day’s events were a bit too exciting to keep up a front. Her stern attitude sputtered into a grin as she failed to hide a smile. Though, trying to take her little girl’s word for what it was, her heels clicked across the hardwood floor as she made her way to the kitchen. The sound of a fridge opening and closing, followed by the slunking and shifting of aluminum as it swung little by little from the plastic handle secured in Joyce’s hand. Just then a blur of black hair, plaid and plastic crinkles raced by Joyce like sound itself. “I gotta go get my lunch!” The girl shouted on her way by, nearly slipping and sliding with each step from her socks. Though, if Emily moved like sound, then that’d put Joyce at the speed of light, who with her other free hand caught Emily by the scruff of her collared shirt. “Not so fast, speedy pants. Already got it.” Joyce handed her the lunch box with a smile. Rather than taking it by the handle, Emily happily received it with both hands. “Thank youu~!” Emily smiled a toothy grin as she looked down at the painted design. Rainbow kitties, stylized in the cartoon sense, exploding in all directions from the corner like a nuclear weapon of cuteness; so cute that if the Geneva Convention were a matter of emotional warfare, you might find this lunch box on it. Though, potential war crimes aside, Emily’s grin as she looked down at it turned into a puzzled, or complicated expression. Now Joyce wasn’t finding it so hard to suppress a smile. “You said you liked that one, didn’t you?” “I do...” Emily muttered, maintaining her judgmental look at the lunch box. Joyce raised a brow. They’d spent nearly twenty agonizing minutes at the store trying to pick out the “perfect” lunch box. Even if it was feasible, out of principle and values, Joyce was steadfast in limiting Emily to one lunch box only. Ultimately, it had come down to the rainbow kitties or super hero monkeys, and they made doubly sure to confirm it was the one Emily wanted… “We spent nearly half an hour,” spare Emily the facts; embellishment seemed appropriate, “picking out the right lunch box, didn’t we?” Joyce put a hand on her hip, lightly scolding her. Emily kept her gaze toward the floor, puffing her cheeks the ever slightest. She dragged out her words as it fell on the cusp of a whine, akin to a toddler’s pout. “Uh-huh...” “Besides, didn’t you say you liked the kitties?” Joyce’s words gave her something simple to grasp onto, a talking point she could easily spring her simple desires from. “Yah, but the monkeys were--!” A finger was pressed to her lips. “Honey, we’re gonna use this lunch box for now, okay? If you really don’t like it a week from now, we can talk about getting a different one, alright?” But truthfully, Joyce figured a matter as serious as the design on Emily’s lunch box to be as minor as whether she needed Crayola or MotzArt brand crayons, given the same amount of time to take its course… “...Fine...” She continued to pout as her arms fell by her sides like weights tied to rope, the lunch box hanging from her hand. “Ah-ah?” Joyce tutted, clearly wise to the beginnings of a tantrum. “What was that?” Emily looked at her sheepishly, already with a change in expression, closer to fear, incited by the tone Joyce took with her. “N-nothing!” Joyce had been through this many times with her. Particularly it was never about the words Emily used, but rather the tone she chose to use them in. “Come on,” Joyce smiled, deciding to table the reminder for good behavior, believing she’d drilled enough of that already. “We still need to get your sneakers on!” Emily was the first to scurry to the shoe area, already lighting up at the sound of another new accessory of hers. Swish swish swish. Joyce couldn’t help but have an elated feeling well within her. It was always her running that sounded the cutest… She trailed behind, thinking fondly of how their current lives were, fantasizing about-- “--Emmy!” Joyce half-shouted, though a bit more urgent and surprised than anything else. Emily, on all fours as she scours the slate floor, shoes strewn all about, turned her head back to Joyce, completely oblivious to what the matter might be. “Huh?” “Don’t you ‘huh’ me, missy!” Joyce tried to sound direct, though it was no secret she had a low tolerance to Emily’s cuteness. “You can crawl on the wooden floors inside the apartment, but not the shoe area! Your pretty outfit is going to get dirty!” A pretty outfit and being dirty were two concepts fundamentally at odds, hence why a ghastly expression overtook Emily’s face, as she practically sprung off the floor like it was lava, bending and leaning over to inspect herself like a spider was crawling underneath her skirt. “Am I dirty! I didn’t mean to! I wanna look nice for the first day!” And all subsequent ones to follow, ideally. And in her panicked motions, she managed to flash her skirt as she tried to do the impossible in looking at the back of it by turning 180 degrees, expecting it to be waiting for her. “Nope, clean as a whistle.” Joyce determined from the side, able to see her from every angle in her rapid motions. Though, in being able to observe from afar, she could feel her own suspicions about something else on the rise… “I was just tryna look for my shoes...” Emily explained in a mumble, interlocking her fingers bashfully. True to her word, unfortunately, Emily had been looking for her shoes. What was once a land of peace and order, happily married pairs of shoes had been cruelly separated and torn apart by the manic hands of the toddler tyrant known as Emily. With every shoe either acquainted with themself or another random mingler now, flung all over the shoe area, Joyce could only sigh, having no one to blame but herself for expecting such a high strung girl to be anything but that on her first day. “We put them in one of the shoe bins, honey. Remember?” Joyce spoke with a kind and gentle tone. But before Emily could give anything else the “Midas effect,” Joyce slid one of the cloth bins out from the 3x3 shelf of cubbies, revealing a pair of bright pink and white sneakers. A squeal of joy erupted from the younger-seeming girl as she eagerly bounced on her heels as Joyce took them out. “I wanna put them on! Let me do it!” Emily eagerly begged, though already sitting herself down on the edge of the wooden floor as she kept kicking her feet. “Let me show you how to do the first one, okay?” Joyce said, rather than asked. Tearing velcro filled the immediate area as Joyce pulled off the strap, grabbing the tongue of the shoe and stretching and flexing it some, just to begin that broken-in kind of feel that’d help her foot fit in easier. And as a pair Joyce fed Emily’s foot into the sneaker, whilst Emily pushed forward with hers. Though, what was its own form of cuteness was her overcompensated form of coordination, because even though it had no reason to, Emily’s other leg stuck out nice and straight too, as if she couldn’t operate her legs separately. But either way, there was that satisfying push beyond the horizon once the foot slipped in nice and snuggly. Still being new shoes, Joyce patted the bottom of her clean sole, indicating to put her foot back down. “Now make sure you pull the strap out to tighten the shoe, okay?” Joyce instructed while she performed, keeping the explanation simple and clear. “Then when you feel like it’s snug enough, fold it back over and on top of the other strip.” She finished the first shoe for Emily, as promised. “Not too tight?” Joyce asked. Emily shook her head. “Good. Now show me what a big girl you are and do the second one.” Joyce initiated the little test by setting the second shoe by her foot. Earnest and eager, Emily took the other shoe and tried to imitate Joyce’s actions, albeit a much more abbreviated approach. She didn’t take the care of undoing the velcro strap, nor trying to make the shoe any roomier beforehand. That, and she held the shoe in such a way that she wasn’t doing her foot any favors in trying to push it in. After a couple seconds of grunting frustration, Joyce stepped in. “Do you want a little help?” “Y-...yes please...” Emily muttered, dropping the shoe back down with a blush. She crossed her arms annoyingly so. “Come on, now, you’ll get it...” Joyce gently encouraged. “Let’s do this one together. How about I get the shoe on you first?” Undo the velcro strap, flex the tongue, slide it onto Emily’s foot. “Now it’s your turn.” Joyce had her take over. “Pull the strap out and up, right until you think it feels snug enough. Got it? Good. Then, bring it back over and put it right on the fuzzy strip. And...there! Good job!” Joyce gushed with overenthusiasm, showering her with praise. Emily sat there as she shuffled her hands between her legs, too silly to contain all that influx of praise and pride into such a tiny body. “Such a good girl,” Joyce said once more. “And before we go, I just need to check one last thing...” Emily watched innocently as Joyce leaned in closer to her, but her look changed into a frown and a blush once Joyce flipped her skirt. “Mommy!” Emily complained in a strained voice. She looked to jump a little in place as Joyce did something between her legs. “I’m sure you don’t want to leak on your first day of daycare, honey?” Joyce spoke as she slipped her finger between Emily’s inner thigh and crotch of her slightly yellowed diaper. “Only a little...” She commented to herself, pulling it back out then fixing Emily’s skirt. She stood Emily up, slipping a pink backpack over her shoulders. Damn, she looked cute. Joyce would be hard-pressed to have any more compliments for the other kids combined compared to the endless ones she had for Emily. “Let’s review...” Joyce muttered some more to herself. “Dressed, lunch box, shoes, change of clothes, checked her diaper...” At the end of her list, Joyce’s arms fell at her sides. She leaned down to kiss Emily on the forehead. “My gosh! You’re going to have so much fun!” “...Can I bring Pip with me?” Emily suddenly asked. She sounded worried, and nearing tears. Her excited expression seemed to have faded almost instantly, now face to face with reality, that being her inevitable journey to daycare. “Emmy…” Joyce started, taking a knee to look up to her with both hands on her shoulders. “We talked about this: you are going to be absolutely fine today, okay? I know the first day is always scary, but you’re going to make so many new friends and meet all the nice workers!” Having something less than a ‘yes’ was bringing on the sniffles and whimpers. “Besides,” Joyce changed her tone from encouraging to deductive. “If I’m not here, and you’re not here, who is gonna watch the house? I dunno about you, but I’d feel a lot better knowing Pip was protecting all our stuff while we’re gone. Wouldn’t you?” “Y-yeah...” Emily nodded sadly, swinging her leg aimlessly. “If you ever need to talk to me today, all you need to do is ask one of the nice ladies, okay?” Hell, it pained Joyce to think that it wasn’t a double standard. The kids got to call the parents as they pleased, but Joyce couldn’t reach out to Emily if she wanted. The parents get nervous, too… Emily nodded again, seeming slightly better, but only by a modicum. “Come on, sweetpea, let’s go have a fun day!” Joyce encouraged once more, leading Emily by the hand to the door. And as she touched the knob, she heard a faint beeping. Turning her head, Emily was gone, and the beeping grew louder. She turned back forward, and the door was gone too. So was the entire wall. All she saw was an empty void, followed by more beeping. Beep. Beep. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP! BEEP! “Nngyaa!” Joyce groaned in her bed as she finally came to. She reserved herself to lightly slapping the snooze button on her phone rather than punching it, likely the difference between a few minutes more or less of sleep, and a broken phone. She sighed, staring up at the ceiling from her bed. What a nice dream...she thought to herself longingly. So real, yet so...imaginary. Exhaling, she rolled over to find her sleeping beauty still fast asleep. “Sho cute...” Joyce spoke in a syrupy voice as she puckered her lips, kissing Emily on the forehead. “Just a few more minutes for you...” Joyce decided in a lowly whisper, carefully slipping herself out of bed. Maybe more than a few minutes, as the steamy hiss of the shower started from the bathroom. During work days, she didn’t use the main bathroom very often. As luxurious as the spacious bath was, and how fun the ceiling panel could be, it just felt like too much of a process for such a minute detail in the weekday. That, and she knew her showers needed to be quick and to the point; how could you not want to just soak in a shower like that? She sighed as she lathered her hair, still troubled by the night’s closing events, and nervous about the future… Everything is going to be fine. That’s what Joyce wanted to say, yet from her past discussions with Emily, it seemed to have wavered her certainty… Looking at things objectively, Emily losing her job wasn’t a financial loss; it wouldn’t affect their way of life or access to entertainment and pleasures. But rationally, Joyce knew it was more than that, though only to such a degree. She hated to admit it, but it felt like the first time she’d reached a point where she couldn’t fully empathize, namely because she’d never experienced this sort of thing, hence the trouble of fully grasping her loss. Joyce was trying earnestly, though her selfish part just wanted Emily to...to just shut up so she could make it all better! Under the guise of a steamy shower, Joyce let a groan escape her. Obviously it didn’t work that way, and obviously Joyce was being ridiculous. Whatever Emily was going through, it was expected and perfectly justified. That, and it was a clear reminder as to why Joyce couldn’t take the simple approach in drowning her in love and affection. It made for a great lubricant, but it made no direct effort to digest reality… What kind of recourse was there for this? She’d be lying if she said having more free time with Emily wasn’t a treat, but even Joyce knew with her limited views that Emily’s concerns vastly overshadowed a mere silver, and highly debatable, lining. A thought had crossed her mind. What if she got Emily a job at her own company? Obviously it could be done without issue. Yet, how did real estate work translate to a medical product manufacturing company? But even before that, how did she know if Emily would even accept the job? She furrowed her brow thinking about that. What was good for Emily, but not for Joyce, was her pride. Time and time again Emily had tried to refuse Joyce’s generosity, but did always concede in the end. Taking a job given to you on a silver platter, which truthfully you may not even be fully qualified for, is a much harder deal to sell… And given the way even Joyce hesitated over it, maybe it wasn’t a good idea at all. The worst case scenario would be that not only does Emily refuse it, but she’d feel insulted as well. She came back into the room with a towel wrapped around her torso and another around her hair. She watched the sleeping girl, feeling her heart ache just to watch. “How am I supposed to help you, sweetheart…?” Joyce quietly whispered, tracing her finger behind Emily’s exposed ear. Every option she had either felt like further disaster or simply prolonging an issue that shouldn’t be ignored. From Joyce’s perspective, Emily being out of a job made little difference to anything. Emily’s feelings about being out of a job was what mattered. If they could solve that, everything would be fine, even if it didn’t include getting a new one. Surprisingly, Emily began to stir on her own as she stretched in bed. She opened her eyes to see Joyce looking down on her with a sad expression. “Morning...” Emily yawned, wiping a sleepy tear from her eye. “What’s wrong?” She asked. “I’m just thinking, that’s all...” Joyce said, unwrapping the towel from her hair. “Are you sure you don’t want me coming with you today? All you need to do is give the word and I can make time fo--” “I’m fine, but thank you.” Emily started speaking and it hushed Joyce almost immediately. Joyce nodded, but didn’t look happy with her answer. You say you’re alright, but why do you have to look that way when you say it…? Emily yawned once more before speaking again, still peacefully resting her head on the pillow. “Do I have time to shower before Charles gets here?” “Of course you do,” Joyce answered without a second thought, kissing her on the temple. She stood back up from the bed to start getting dressed. “...So if we begin to consider our options on how to proceed, shareholders in mind, it’d be best that we have our teams refine the material cost for the frames...” A representative of some sort rambled from the front of the room, most executives in attendance, lined around the table. All were at least remotely attentive, however give anyone the mundaneness of back-to-back meetings for hours on end and you’d be bound to catch their attention slipping a little if not a lot. And among those heads dressed in suits, blouses or blazers, right at the very center end was a familiar brown head of hair, sitting mostly upright. Having nearly a perfect profile view of her boss, her head supported by the finger guns angled beneath her chin as she looked forward, that sense of preoccupied thought was written all over her eyes. It probably wasn’t obvious to most, but, for the money that she made, it had to be clear as day to someone like Sheila. “Ahm...Ms. Summers?” A voice politely asked, causing Joyce to take a longer blink than normal, including Sheila’s own hyper focused thought being broken. How silly of her; getting so lost in thought about her boss getting so lost in thought… “Yes?” Joyce replied in a neutral tone. Her voice hadn’t made her sense of disinterest totally obvious, yet you could tell she wasn’t fully invested. Still, her face, form and stature commanded authority. Somehow despite looking so boredly idle, there was some kind of aura or atmosphere she created. Being only a representative from one of the company’s research teams, he wasn’t quite up to snuff with experience on conversing with the higher-ups. That very atmosphere was starting to eat away at him. “I...uhm, about the material cost and efficiency for our...for the beds...” “Do it.” Was all Joyce said. The way she spoke, you’d have almost expected it to be accompanied by a hand wave just to send the poor employee off. The man nearly stuttered. “Are you sure, ma’am? It’d set prototyping back by at least--” “Then if prototyping delay is of concern, why would you propose something that would cause that exact issue?” Joyce curtly cut him off. Sheila quietly pursed her lips from the sidelines, silently typing her notes. She’s rarely seen her boss like this, but has seen enough to understand the gist. Disinterest, agitation; even from day one she would know something is obviously going on, only nowadays she’d know what to guess as possible stressors. “Well...that’s because...” Clearly she’d fried him with a simple, however curt, contradiction, seeing as it was backed by the weight of an entire company packed into every verbal punch Joyce could throw. Everyone’s gazes fully turned once the executive’s chair pushed itself back from the table, Joyce standing on her feet. She adjusted her blouse, letting out a small sigh. “Unfortunately, I have other engagements I need to attend to. Thank you for the informative presentation. You have my input, and I’ll leave it to the rest of the board to make the final decision.” Her parting words sang like the classroom equivalent of an unexcused student walking out on a teacher’s class. There were a few goodbyes exchanged in small amounts, but really no other words than that were mentioned. Joyce was the first out of the board room, quickly followed by Sheila with a laptop held to her chest while she tried to unzip the case slung over her shoulder. While working under Joyce has never been a day-to-day repeat of the last, at least within the scope of a week, a month or two, there was enough of a trend to be called predictable. Not so much a pattern to perfectly map the future, but a circle of odds she’d know she could find her boss in. But of course, just like probability suggests, if an expected outcome is not certain, there creates the possibility for an unexpected one. It happens, every once and awhile, but it’s a rare chance for a reason. But reason hasn’t meant much at all, as of late. What happened outside of her boss’ working life was generally a nonfactor. A change in mood, slight shift in her tone during her meetings; amount of overtime spent at the office. Everything was a tell for how she was feeling and doing. Most importantly, it was all by some cause within the office, within the work and business. Sheila didn’t watch in the creepy, stalker sense. Put simply, you start to notice a person more the more you spend time with them. “Sheila,” Joyce talked as they walked, “what else do I have planned for today?” The human part of Sheila rathered she herself didn’t share. Her boss didn’t seem to be in a pleasant mood right now, yet she understood the need to detach herself from the implications of her job. “An hour from now you have one last meeting with one of our partners, and until then you requested that I remind you to finish the last of next month's reports.” And out came a heavy exhale from her nose. They were headed back to her office, where she could at least destress a little. Once they reached her office, Sheila followed inside for regular debriefing which would follow after every meeting. However, what Sheila understood best about doing her job for Joyce was that sometimes, doing her best was by not doing her job at all, or at least in the way she was supposed to. So rather than a typical debriefing… “...Ms. Summers, is there anything you’d like to talk about?” Joyce sat in her desk, slumped, massaging her temples. If it wasn’t clear in the meeting, now was as evident as ever to signal her stress and how much it was plaguing her. “Sheila...” Joyce started to speak, though continued to stare off into space. “Sheila, have you ever lost a job before?” Sheila’s eyes widened. She was calm and collected, but on the inside a little panicked. “Ms. Summers, if there are any issues regarding my work ethic or ability, I can assure you that I…--” “N-no.” Joyce stammered, cutting her off. “I’m sorry; that came out poorly. You do just fine, Sheila. This isn’t about you. I...someone I know is having some trouble at the moment.” So not to make a scene, Sheila shared her sigh of relief with only herself, securely in her own head. “I see...” Sheila nodded. “Unfortunately,” yet fortunately to herself, “I can’t say that I have faced a situation like that...” A few questions pegged Sheila’s mind though. Was this friend a poor worker? Did they deserve to lose their job? Causation for firing affected levels of sympathy, for Sheila, at least. Joyce tapped her finger on the desk with a steady beat. “Though...I’d still be willing to hear you out?” Sheila offered. “...This person I know recently lost their job. It wasn’t her fault, just...unfortunate luck…” Sheila didn’t show much sign of it, though she was feeling a difficult expression. She offered to listen, though she did not promise her capability to offer much advice. “I guess I just don’t know how to help them, and it’s frustrating...” Joyce sighed once more. “Anything that I think of just doesn’t seem like a good solution.” “Well, with all due respect, Ms. Summers, in your position, I suppose I would remind myself that I can only do so much for another person at my own expense… What I mean to say is that if someone else’s grief is affecting you just as much, you may need to distance yourself.” “I can’t just do that...” Joyce shook her head slightly. Distance wasn’t an option; she didn’t want it to be. Given the full picture one might call Sheila inconsiderate, but of course Joyce wasn’t being fully forthcoming about who this person was. “She means a lot to me.” Sheila nodded her head, though remained silent. “...Would getting a new job help her feel better?” “That’s what I think...” Neither seemed fit in a position to give advice nor receive it. While Sheila held good intentions, it was unfortunately a start she couldn’t see to the end. “But that’s unrelated,” Joyce broke the oddness in the air by interrupting the note she had left it on. She exhaled again, yet her focused thought diffused into a kind smile. “Thank you for always putting up with me.” “O...of course.” Sheila answered back, reaffirming herself. “Would you like a debriefing of the meeting?” “That would probably be for the best...” Joyce said as she started to gaze out the window to her side. Though, she furrowed her brow and turned back to Sheila. “Earlier, I...think I may have came off as a tad bit grumpy...” “Another one...” she woefully demanded, brushing the other empty glasses to the side. The silent man raised a brow as he polished a glass in hand with a white rag. “Sure you wanna roll that fast?” “Another one.” Emily repeated, staring off into an endless abyss. With a sigh, he shrugged, walking over to a tap, filling the glass three quarters to the way, the difference made by frothy bubbles. And the world then through the eyes of the sorrowed, sullen girl was tinted brown as she stared through a lens of unhealthy coping and self-harm. She was so slumped over, not even her eyes stood above the glass. Her walk of shame out of the office was dreadful. Despite the deal being sealed well-before she even set foot in the building that was her former workplace, every step with her belongings in hand left behind a sense of lingering attachment; hope, that this might all be one big misunderstanding, or some kind of mistake. But, seeing as it was the middle of a working day and Emily was nowhere to be found in that building, rather a quiet bar, it said enough in the way that her incessant demand for refills spoke to her despair. There was a small bubble in her chest, and seemingly all the turmoil was causing it to swell. So much that it felt like her chest was going to burst. Soon she’d have a crater inside herself that’d leave her looking just as ruined as she felt. It was getting bigger pressing outward from every direction, soon she’d-- A loud belch came from the small woman as she flung back from her lazed slouch along the counter. No more bubble. Well, maybe she wasn’t physically being affected, but certainly emotionally so. The door to the bar opened, but Emily hardly paid it any mind. Frankly, she fit the stereotype exactly for an adult lost in midday drinking. At this point she considered herself no better than any other person equally as down in the dumps, yet that didn’t mean she wanted to wallow in her own filth. A few more drinks, then she’d go back home… Home. Emily grimaced a slight bit at that. What a freeloader she really was starting to be. “Damn, two people in the middle of the day?” Emily could hear the bartender chuckle. “Seems like today is a weird day.” “What she’s having, please.” A female voice answered back, above Emily’s head and out of her sight. She didn’t give much of a glance the stranger’s way. “Sure thing,” he replied, turning his back to them for a moment, but returning with a glass. From the corner of her eye, Emily could see one of the empty glasses she championed beside her slide a smidgen closer to her immediate vicinity. Diffracted through the glass was the sight of the woman’s hand resting on the countertop. “Thank you,” she said to the act of having a drink be placed in front of her. She lifted the cup to her lips and gave it a sip, yet quickly scrunched her face as she sat it back down. “Wait, uhm, I think there’s something wrong with this drink...” The bartender gave her a look of confusion. “Wrong with it? I poured yours from the same tap as hers.” He nodded to the dejected Emily. “What brand is it?” She asked. “It tastes like soda, or something.” He cracked a grin at her confusion. “That’s because it is.” “What?” She said back in minor disbelief. She paused to look over the carbonated beverage, then sighed as she pulled it back in for another sip. “I guess that’s my fault for trying to drink in the middle of the day...” “...Sorry...” Emily murmured from her seat, turning the woman’s gaze. “Huh? What do you mean? Not your fault I felt like teasing my sobriety a little. If anything you steered me onto the right path, so...well, thanks for that.” “Mhm...” Emily nodded, quiet apart from sipping her drink. “You’re welcome to stay quiet on the matter, but what might have you looking so glum?” “Everything.” Emily blankly replied. Half the reason she barely thought of a worthwhile answer was attributed to this person being a complete stranger. She likely wanted some tunes to pass the time while she drank. “Mm...I see.” She nodded, pausing to take a sip. “Well, what’s been the most recent thing? My husband always likes to say talking things out can help; especially for our daughter, and me. It’s crazy how those little balls of energy can manage to light their own fuse...” And Emily sat there for a moment, feeling still just as glum, but not feeling any further driven into her shell. It’s not like reliving the past could make her present day any worse in the literal sense. “I lost my job as of yesterday. I had to pack up all my things today.” Emily finally spoke, also somehow convincing herself to sit up relatively straight. She turned to look at her inquiring stranger. Ginger was the closest you could call it, albeit less fire in her hair, and her skin not so pale. Though, she radiated an odd kind of ‘Joyce’ vibe, but not the way you might expect. Rather than the matronly lover, Emily saw the business, analytical part to her. It carried that same tinge of lightheartedness, but it was safely tucked away. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she paused to sip, “what did you do?” “Nothing, I don’t think, at least...They just let me go. My whole department went…” “So they let you go? They didn’t fire you?” Emily nodded. Even if it couldn’t get any worse, this discussion still felt like she was grinding her face against the status quo. “What are you doing here?” Emily asked, suddenly flipping the script. It may seem rude, but she was willing to do anything to keep herself off the spotlight. The woman raised a curious brow. “Me?” She took a sip of her drink while keeping her eyes on Emily. “I’m on a business trip right now.” Given the odd answer which didn’t seem to agree with the facts, Emily only gave a brief nod. “Uh...huh...” “Officially, at least,” she finished her sentence, even though the time she left between her words qualified it as two separate statements. “But, from one stranger to another, if you ever hear from someone that their business trip ended early, and it’s nothing malicious, that probably means something went south...” Emily tried to look invested, yet felt still behind the eight ball. Rather, she thought more of how Joyce might be able to relate a bit more to this person. Judging by the blazer she wore, it certainly felt that way. “Sorry, I’m being vague, aren’t I?” She suddenly called herself out. “I was on a business trip meant to last a week, but one of the people I needed to meet had a family emergency. It was either spend four more days in Texas, or come home. Frankly, I can’t stand being away from my husband and daughter for too long...” She spoke while briefly reminiscing. With something finally relatable to play herself off of, Emily responded. “Sorry to hear that. Was it important business?” “Sort of; meaning, I had to see where it went before deciding how important it was. I’ll have to get back to you on that two months from now,” she chuckled. Emily made a small noise of agreement as she half-missed the humor in her leveled tone. Did Joyce ever have business arrangement issues like that? None that Emily knew of in the present day. Granted, not that Emily was much of a judge, but she wagered Joyce’s level of stature set a high standard for the working world around her. Dealings with her were probably so important, they may even trump family… “It’s likely far too early to ask, but have you considered what new job you might be searching for?” She asked Emily. “Not in the slightest,” Emily shrugged. “I worked in real estate, but it was all computer work; nothing as complicated as it was tedious...” She may have been selling herself short a little, but her kind of work certainly didn’t take a degree. After a month of training slash supervision, she was just about fully housebroken. Finally, Emily went back to her mug of soda. “Well, have you considered modelling?” Emily suddenly sputtered as she choked on her drink. Did she hear this woman correctly? “M-mo--what?” The woman hadn’t shown much of a reaction other than neutral and inquisitive. “Modelling? Posing in outfits and having pictures be taken of you? Why not?” “W-well...” Emily started, at an odd loss. The concept was so at odds with her mundane self, taking the suggestion seriously enough just to find legitimate fault with it was hard enough. “I don’t exactly think I’m model material, and...yeah, I dunno, I’m just not pretty, or whatever.” She silently mulled, now thinking to herself. Not a natural born goddess like somebody I know… The woman appeared to have listened, yet responded with a shrug. “The business isn’t exactly gated in the way you might think. Sure, looks are important to a fair degree, which you could clear, but it’s more so the financial backing you have to get yourself in the door...” “No thanks,” Emily curtly replied, finally seeing her angle. “I don’t feel like playing pretend model, and I’m not paying for any phony photoshoot...” She blinked, then chuckled. “Hm? No, no, I’m not trying to sell you anything. I was just making a suggestion, that’s all.” Emily was already flagging the bartender to pay. However, right before he stopped in front of her, the other patron called his attention. “Her’s is on me. All of it.” Emily looked over to her, confused. “What? You don’t have to pay for it; I’m not interested in your ‘business’ or whatever.” “I told you I’m not a con artist,” she laughed, “and it’s the least I could do for someone out of a job.” “Well, it’s fine. I can pay for it myself.” Emily fired back, indirectly demanding for the bartender again. Just because she was out of a job, that didn’t mean she couldn’t safely pay for some sodas. And truthfully, she’d had an excess of savings lately, seeing as she rarely found herself needing to pay for anything...Joyce. “Come on, now, there’s no need to be so prideful. You kept me from a buzz, after all?” The woman continued to insist. “Well I don’t need some haughty stranger trying to sell me a scam and buy me drinks!” Emily snapped, leaving a few bills on the counter, then marching for the exit. Everything about today sucked, and the last thing she needed to add to that were mental shakedowns and profiteers. There wasn’t room for a response as Emily was gone. When Emily walked back into the apartment she could already hear the sound of kitchen ongoings. Surprisingly, but also not so surprisingly, considering her personal outing, Joyce was home before her. “Heyo~!” Joyce called from the kitchen. “I couldn’t find you all over the apartment except for your office stuff! Didja do anything fun?” “You didn’t call me?” Emily asked, poking her head in, half of herself getting closer to communicate with Joyce, and the other trying to smell whatever was in the pot above the stove. She shook her head. “I figured you might want some alone time to yourself.” Joyce said. She kept it at that. Frankly, when she couldn’t find Emily in the apartment she grew a bit worried, but then came the reminder that she couldn’t be a complete mommy 24/7. That, and she had to learn the unfortunate truth in supporting others. Until they’re the one to call you, the best action is no action at all. Emily nodded, staying pensive, but then returned to her first question. “I went to a bar ‘cuz I felt like drinking some soda...then some weird lady tried to pay for my drinks… I’m gonna go shower.” And at that, she excused herself. Though, simultaneously, Joyce’s rosy smile was stunned as she nearwell sliced off her own finger along the cutting board. “Wh-what?!” She spun her head around. “Someone tried to buy you drinks? Who?!” Her mind was racing as she chased her into the hall. Distance? Inaction?! Who the hell thought of advice as stupid as that? She let her girlfriend drop off the grid for half a day and she’s already being fished by other predators?! Grabbing her by the shoulders, Joyce turned Emily around, looking both clueless and surprised at Joyce's worried and urgent expression. She looked starved for answers. “H...huh?” Emily cracked a confused and nervous grin. “Don’t you ‘huh’ me!” Joyce frowned. “You said someone was hitting on you at the bar! What was that all about?” Hit on? Emily furrowed her brow. “Nobody hit on me, I just said someone tried to pay for my--” “S...same thing!” Joyce cut her off. “You didn’t accept their offer, did you?” “N-no...” Emily fumbled with her response. She kept her look aimed towards the floor, trying to cover her face. And Joyce, who watched from above, seeing her mask her expression, used her acute reasoning and the will of her heart to judge the girl. “You did!” Joyce exclaimed. “N-nuh-uh…!” “Then why do you sound like you’re ready to cry? Be honest with me! I’m not mad...but I don’t want you flirting with other--!” Emily couldn’t take it anymore, and she did burst with tears, though not in the way Joyce expected. Rather than a look of remorse or guilt, instead it was gut-wrenching laughter. “E...--” Joyce was now in the dark, but affirmed herself. “Emily! It’s not funny! How could you? I thought we had…--” “Oh...oh my gosh!” Emily giggled, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’ve never seen you like this before!” “Like what before?” Joyce sounded agitated, unsure of what was going on, other than her girlfriend was laughing at her for figuring out she’d been fooling around with another woman! “So...so jealous!” Emily continued to giggle, nearly falling over, but instead falling into Joyce. “And you think cheating is funny?” Joyce bitterly retorted, not seeing the humor. “No!” Emily said with a joyous expression. “But I never cheated! They were just drinks, and I paid for them myself! You gotta let me explain!” Emily continued to laugh at Joyce’s expense, who was quickly starting to feel like an embarrassed fool. Joyce puffed her cheeks, casting her gaze to the wall. “W-well...say that sooner then!” She pouted, marching back to the kitchen whilst she dragged Emily who kept her arms around her waist. “Hahaha!” Emily couldn’t stop, “Th...thank you! This made my night!” She giggled. “And what do you mean? Buying drinks isn’t the same as cheating!” “Well I’m glad at least one of us found it amusing...” Joyce stayed playfully, though somewhat genuinely distant… Meanwhile, Emily composed herself enough to make a mental note: Joyce gets extremely jealous… And in Joyce’s head, she was very well thinking to herself, to hell with keeping the playing field mutual. She had half a mind to spank her bare bottom red, or stick that cheeky little nose in a corner for at least an hour...Though, she resolved herself to exhale through the nose. Maybe she got a little excited for just a moment… “I may have overreacted a little...” Joyce muttered. “Only a little?” Emily repeated, finding just a few more laughs in herself. Before Joyce could respond, her phone started to buzz. “You’re lucky. It was just about to be fifteen minutes in the...” Joyce started to chastise, then trailed as she looked at the ID. “Hello?” She spoke as she answered. “Oh! Michael, is that you?” While still on the phone, she shared a surprised look with Emily. “Of course I remember you! From the zoo! How could I forget?” She chuckled, as if there were never a bother in her head to begin with. “Come over? When?”