WBDaddy

Well, the setting is psychotic religious fundamentalists taking over the place and implementing religious law. So it's not like his parallel is without merit.

Glad you're enjoying it. This piece has only just begun to get dark, so you'll probably have more fun as we proceed.

Sorry for the delay on this update. I had surgery on my right arm, which put me out of commission for a good while, and it took some effort to get back into the rhythm, but here we go! --------------------------------------- 5 Penny stayed blissfully in the fog all the way through being fingerprinted, uncuffed, and unceremoniously deposited in a room at the police department with a mirror on one wall, two chairs, and a table. And the fog was still with her a while later, when someone in a suit came in. He sat down at the chair opposite Penny, opened a suitcase, and started talking as he pulled file folders out, shuffling through papers in them. “Miss Russo, I’m going to tell you this very simply. We have everything we need to convict you of trafficking and possession. That’s a felony and a misdemeanor, good for 30 years in a labor camp. You want that?” Penny remembered the nurse’s words. “Lawyer.” “Look, kid, I don’t give a fuck what happens to you. I’m here to save me some time, but if you want to play hard, I’ll play hard with you. Now, you want to hear my offer?” She wasn’t so confident in the nurse’s advice anymore, but she tried to hold firm… “Lawyer…” “You want a lawyer, huh? Okay, here’s what happens if you get a lawyer. I walk out of here, and tomorrow at your arraignment, I’m going to ask for bail. Unless you got fifty grand laying around, you’re going to be staying in jail until your trial, probably about three months or so. And you’re going to lose at trial, because I have your confession from the nine-one-one call, and I have the other two sticks you bought, which are currently at our lab being analyzed. So I don’t need to negotiate with your lawyer. I’ll have you shoveling garbage on Fresh Kills until you’re grey-haired and half dead of skin cancer. Now, you still want a lawyer, or you want to play ball?” Panic cut right through Penny’s little fog, and her resolve broke. “Okay, okay, so what happens if I talk?” “Smart, kid. You give me the guy who sold it to you, and you walk out of here on probation.” “But… I never saw him! I don’t even know his name!” “Alright, then you tell me what you do know, and maybe we can still work something out.” “All I have is a phone number! And… I saw him throw his phone out a fourth-floor window!” “Where was the window?” “Fifty-sixth… and Tatus… Down the alley… He put the sticks in the mailboxes right there… he made me shoot the first one before he’d show me the other two… the window was on the opposite side of the street, third one from the corner of the building…” “That all you got?” “Yes… Well… I gave my money to this homeless-looking dude at the corner when I got there, just like the guy told me… He was old, like 50 or 60 or something, with a beard. Smelled like booze, and his clothes were dirty.” “Alright. I’ll tell you what. You plead guilty to the possession charge, I’ll drop the trafficking charge, and I’ll ask the judge for a suspended sentence contingent on you completing rehab.” “Wait, rehab? I’ve never done drugs before in my life!” As scared as Penny was of the labor camps, the idea of going to drug rehab and losing her apartment anyway wasn’t much of an improvement. “Rehab or thirty years. Your choice.” “How long do I have to stay in jail?” “Like I said, your arraignment is tomorrow. I’ll submit the plea deal during that hearing. If he approves it, you’ll be on your way to rehab straight after the hearing. You do the program, you get out of there in three months, and your record gets expunged. Like it never even happened.” “Alright. I’ll take it.” It wasn’t hard for Penny to understand that having a conviction on her record would make it even worse trying to find work. But at this point, even being Dee’s live-in maid was preferable to working a garbage dump. He stood up, gathering his files and stuffing them into his suitcase. “Good. I’ll have the paperwork ready at court tomorrow.” Without another word, he strode over to the door and pounded on it. It opened, and he stepped out, passing a cop coming in. “Alright kid, are you going to behave, or do I need to cuff you?” He was tall and imposing, his frame muscular, not fat like the cop that stood guard at the hospital. Against her petite, barely five-foot frame, this guy was a monster. “I’m okay,” she offered nervously. “On your feet. Let’s go.” She stood, and he grabbed onto her arm, leading her out of the room and down the hall, through a door made entirely of bars, and stopping in front of a female guard at a counter, not much taller than Penny, but very fat, and looking not particularly happy. “All yours, Mildred,” the big man said, handing her a file folder, then leaving and slamming the barred door behind him. “Strip, kid.” Mildred boomed, pulling a pair of latex gloves over her hands, one at a time. Penny was shocked. “What?!” “You stupid or somethin’? I said, ‘Take your clothes off’.” “I… uh… all of them? Why?” “Look, kid. I ain’t askin’ again. Either you take them off, or I’ll take them off, and I promise you will NOT enjoy that.” Mildred dropped a pile of orange fabric on the counter and came out from behind via a locked half-door. She pulled what looked like a riding crop out of it’s holster on her belt and began tapping it on her open palm. That got Penny moving. “I’m… I’m sorry!” she said, the fog from that morning’s shot having worn completely off. Her hands trembled as she pulled the scrubs down her legs, pulled the gown off, and nearly fell over trying to pull her socks off, tossing them aside like they were covered with the plague or something. “Stand straight and do not move!” Penny stiffened while the woman walked around behind her. THWACK! Penny yelped in pain as the crop bit into her tender backside. “That’s for not doing what I tell you the first damn time! Now bend your ass over, spread your legs, and grab your ankles!” The searing pain in her buttocks was plenty enough motivation for Penny to comply with the terrifying request. Trembling with fear, she struggled to maintain her balance in the awkward position as she endured the first and what she prayed would be the only cavity search of her life. Now clothed in an orange pullover dress and feeling very much violated, Penny found herself led to a cell. “Lucky you, kid. You get to be the only resident of Hotel Bitch today, at least for the time being. The door slammed behind her, and Mildred grinned at her from outside the bars. “Dinner’s in three hours. Enjoy your stay.” The woman walked away as Penny scanned her new surroundings. A bed chained to the wall with one pillow on it. A toilet with no lid. A TV in the corner of the ceiling, which was on, some televangelist preaching a sermon squawking away. She sat down on the bed and yelped as the sting from the crop refreshed itself. The mattress was hard as a brick! Stretching out on her side, Penny lay there and tried to go to sleep, tried to forget where she was, why she was there, where she was going. It didn’t work.

No no, Janet's not **that** kind of Amazon. One of the most beautiful aspects of this piece is how it speaks to the "sympathetic" (aka virtue signaling) racism/ableism/classism/gender-ism in our current society. Like, to me, Clark's life has just been taken over by a swarm of Karens who think they're doing the world a favor by not doing far more horrible things to Littles than what happens in other, much worse places.

Yeah, this is fucking spectacular, really. Blurring the lines between poetry and prose, this is a tightrope act that leaves us all watching as the author wobbles, probably more for dramatic effect than any actual loss of balance, in the middle of the big top.

Yep. The #1 mistake I see ABDL writers make - they don't develop enough backstory to make us care about the MC before they throw them into diapers and all sorts of other demeaning things.

If you do it right, you can suspend disbelief no matter the situation.

Yeah, for certain. But make an effort to convince me that this person has motivations or a personality type that meshes with this being okay. Or build the world for me, that people would find this acceptable and not call the cops or something.

Well, winding up with a nice one would satiate the jealousy that she harbored.

Or cover it up as fast as possible. The idea that there existed a Little that had supernatural powers would not be one they'd want leaking to the public.

Really brilliant. However, I can't help but think breaking paragraph by paragraph as "cut scenes" between the two scenarios would have made this narrative much more compelling, increase the urgency and the suspense between [[Witch]] and Lenna as the others attempted to intervene.

Aw, and here I thought you were posting an update for me on my birthday.

I'm a beer guy - well-versed in the various and sundry varieties, but not a beer snob. I'll crack a Miller Lite at home as fast as I'll crack a Celebrator Dopplebock in the occasional restaurant where I find it. But, as evidenced by tonight in my post-dinner birthday (Yep, turned 39 again, fuck right off if you want to take umbrage with it! ) celebration, I'll also knock back a shot of Don Julio, or Glenfiddich, or Elijah Craig, when the moment is appropriate...

Rearz is Chinese too. I know because they bought a palette of the PetiteAB diapers I had made by a manufacturer over there. I refused shipment on them because they didn't cut them to my spec, but they refused to fix the problem, so I ended up losing the deposit and shuttered the company for lack of funding.

Fifth amendment of the US constitution - protection from self-incrimination.

Kind of self-inflicted, though, because she didn't really understand what she was taking and what it would do to her, so she panicked...

OK, I'm popping this one a bit ahead of schedule, mostly because I'm going to be busy all weekend at a dog show. Enjoy! 4 Exhausted and sore, Penny turned the hot water on, then stripped her shirt, bra, and jeans off. But just as she squirmed her way out of the damp and sticky panties, she was wracked with the most violent cramps she’d ever felt in her life! Buckling to her knees, she moaned in agony. What the hell had this guy given her?! It felt like a meat grinder in her guts, grating away at her insides, even into her back! She doubled over on the floor, writhing in pain, hugging her stomach. And then she felt it. She was pissing herself again! God, what was even happening?! She dragged herself over to the toilet, writhing in pain, and when she hoisted herself up, she panicked. It wasn’t urine on the floor behind her, but blood! Huge gobs of it, in and amongst the trails. Listening to it drip away into the toilet convinced her; she’d been poisoned or something! She needed a doctor, or she’d surely bleed to death! Tears filled her eyes as she threw herself at the door; her phone was still in her purse, all the way in the living room. Cramps wracked her body; the mess was no longer a thought, just finding a way to get help. Fighting through the pain, Penny crawled out of the bathroom, not even looking at the trail she could feel she was leaving behind. Piss, blood, shit, it didn’t matter anymore. Survival instinct overrode the pain and any sense of dignity. She needed a doctor, and she needed him now. Her purse was in reach, and she threw herself at it, her shaking hands fumbling as she dialed 9-1-1. “Hello, what is your emergency?” “I’m bleeding! Everywhere! I need a doctor! I’m gonna die!” “Okay, try to stay calm. Tell me what happened before you started bleeding?” Fear of being caught went out the window against fear of dying. “I took something. And it made me bleed so bad. Oh, god, it hurts! Please help!” “Okay, I’m here, and I’m gonna try to help you. Did you take a birth control pill?” “No! It was a needle! Fuck! I’m bleeding everywhere!” “Alright, I need your address, can you tell me your address?” “I’m in… FUCK!” A fresh round of cramps hit her, and she gasped for air. “Three-oh-four-see… West… FU-huh-huh-huck!” “It’s alright honey, I’ve got your location triangulated. You gave me your apartment number, so the emergency team will know where to find you. Hang in with me, tell me where you got this injection.” “Some guy… I called him and he… FUCK! He… I never saw him… and… FUCK! He threw his phone out the window…” “I know you’re in pain, sweetie, but I need you to try to calm down a little bit and tell me your name.” “Penelope… Russo… It hurts, so bad… and I’m bleeding everywhere… I’m gonna pass out…” “Stay with me, Penelope. People are on their way to help you, it’ll be okay.” In the distance, Penny could hear sirens. But they weren’t ambulance sirens; they were police car sirens. In the midst of her agony, a new panic rose up inside her. “I need a DOCTOR, not a COP, goddamn you! FUCK!” The cramps just kept coming, in wave after wave. “Penelope, please, I need you to stay calm. There’s an ambulance on the way! The police were just closer, that’s all. It’ll be okay, we’re going to get you the help you need.” Penny closed her eyes as the world around her began to spin. When she opened them again, she squinted against a bright light overhead. She instinctively tried to cover her eyes with her right arm, but it was held fast by something… metal... She sat up, fresh panic surging through her. She found herself in a hospital bed, an IV attached to her left arm, her right wrist handcuffed to the bed rail. “What the fuck?!” Her eyes darted around the room as she struggled to get her bearings. No one was here but her, though a second bed was directly across from hers, and there was a track for a curtain. The “call” button was on her right side, so she couldn’t even reach it! “Hey! Anyone out there?!” Someone walked in, but it wasn’t a nurse. It was a cop. “Cool your jets, missy. Nurse will be back through in probably…” he looked at his watch, “...5, 10 minutes.” “Why am I handcuffed?! What is this?” “It’s a hospital, and you’re cuffed because you’re under arrest, and as soon as the doctor releases you, I’m taking you in for booking.” “But I didn’t do anything!” The lie was pathetically transparent, but she had to try. Or at least know how much they knew. Panic was rising within her rapidly. “Cute, kid. We found your sticks in the apartment, and we got your confession on the 911 call. You’re going away for a very long time, little girl.” Her heart began to race as she struggled to form words and fight back tears. This couldn’t be happening! She couldn’t go to prison! Beside her, the heart monitor machine sounded an alarm. Within seconds, the door burst open, and a nurse walked in. She looked at the cop disdainfully. “I told you when you got here, she’s my patient until we release her. Get out.” “Hey, she woke up, I have every right to interrogate her.” “As long as she’s setting off alarms, she’s staying here! Now out!” “Fine, fine, whatever.” The cop walked through the open door and disappeared from view. “I… he can’t! What do I do?! I need to get out of here!” The nurse took her cuffed hand and held it with both of her own. “Honey, first of all you need to calm down. Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen whether you freak out about it or not.” “But he said…” “What he said is what he said, and it doesn’t mean anything. Right now, you need to get well, and you’re shooting your heart rate through the roof panicking like this. If I have to, I’ll give you a sedative, but I’d rather not do that.” Tears came freely as something snapped inside Penny. “I’m gonna go to prison. I’m gonna be in a labor camp! My life is ruined! All because some asshole gave me bad drugs! Dammit!” “He definitely didn’t give you bad drugs, Penny. That stuff is supposed to do exactly what it did to you - trigger an immediate, violent period that flushes the eggs out of your system. All the bleeding you normally do over three or four days happens all at once. Which is one of the reasons it’s illegal! People have died taking that stuff!” “But… this isn’t fair! Why do they want to ruin my life over it?!” “Honey, calm down. No matter what that cop said, there’s a lot that’s going to happen before anyone sends you to prison, if that even happens. But you gotta hold it together, or you won’t stand a chance, you understand?” It wasn’t what Penny wanted to hear, but somehow she felt like she needed to hear it. She nodded, wordlessly, as the nurse continued. “Now look, your vitals, other than that little heart rate spike you just had, look good. But I’m gonna talk to your doctor about the heart rate, and see if maybe he wants to keep an eye on you for a few more hours because of it, okay?” “Th… thank you…” She didn’t want to be lying here, naked but for a flimsy gown, cuffed to her bed, but the next step in this journey was much, much worse. Delaying it would definitely be better than not. The nurse left without a word. An hour or so later, the door opened and the nurse reappeared. The look on her face told Penny that the news wasn’t good. “So, I talked to the doctor, and he said that the best thing to do was give you some medicine to help keep you calm, and turn you over to the police.” Penny’s eyes got wide, and she could hear her heart rate rising on the monitor. “And it’s okay, Penny. It had to happen, okay? It’s just another step, that’s all. I’m going to give you this shot, and I’m going to talk to the officer outside about the prescription the doc wrote, and I’m going to check back in on you in a few minutes to make sure you’re okay, alright?” Penny flinched, trying to keep her emotions together, as the nurse withdrew a syringe from her pocket. “Turn over on your side for me?” “Oh… okay....” Penny turned her back to the nurse, trembling not from the shot, but from the ramifications of what was to happen after it. She felt a sting in the fleshy part of her buttocks. “There we go, all set. Now, I’m going to take your IV out and get you bandaged up, and I’ll be back in a few minutes, alright?” Then she leaned in and whispered, “No matter what the cops say to you, just say, ‘Lawyer’ until you get one. Remember that.” The nurse removed the IV, bandaged Penny up, and then left the room. When she returned, she had a pile of fabric in her hand. And Penny, while still lucid, was definitely not nervous anymore. She was in a fog, one where nothing outside of the fog mattered, even when she tried to focus on it. “How are we doing, Penny?” “I’m… good....” “Good. I’m going to help you get these scrubs and socks on, okay?” “Okay. Why?” “Because you don’t want to be walking out of here in just your gown and in bare feet on the street, do you?” “No…” There was no emotion about it, just that she was aware that it wouldn’t be a good thing. “Thank you... for being kind to me.” The nurse shook her head, and Penny could swear she saw pity in the woman’s eyes. “I figured someone needed to show you some kindness, because there won’t be much of it for you from here out.” After the nurse helped her get dressed, she poked her head out the door and said, “She’s ready.” The cop came back into the room, joined by another one. He unlocked her handcuff from the bed. “Need you to get up now, Penny. Time to go.” The cops helped her off the bed, cuffed her hands behind her back, and marched her through the ward. Everyone seemed to stop to look at them as they walked, pity in their eyes. And then she was out into the sunshine, and then into the back of a police car. Somewhere through the fog it occurred to her that she had no idea how long she’d been in the hospital...

She's referring to Jackie as "barely twenty". My apologies for not making that clearer.

Good advice. Let Google docs suggestions get you in the ballpark for readability. Tell the story.

I was just reminded of something that can kill a story for me the moment I start reading. Telling me in the intro how average and unremarkable your protagonist is. Chapter 1 is your chance to show me why I should care about the people in your story - why would you start by telling me I SHOULDN'T care?!

My goal was to present a future that wasn't quite dystopian, but society definitely hadn't changed for the better... Glad you're enjoying it!

You'd think, given how diaper stories go, that peeing her pants would get her into lots of trouble. Yet here we are...

Here's hoping your curiosity is at least partially sated. But not totally... 3 Penny was beyond nervous as she stood there, waiting. Nearly all of her savings was in an envelope, in the hands of some bum down the street in the middle of the worst part of town. The phone call that led her here was so creepy, she almost backed out, but this was her last chance of keeping her independence, after another week and a half of fruitless searching for work. She shuddered as her mind replayed that call. Who is this? “I… uh… ‘T’ told me you…“ Shit. Okay, so you want to make an omelet? Six hundred. “Wait, what?! Omelet?! I…” It’s six hundred. You want them or not? “I don’t even know what you…” Idiot. How do you make a fuckin’ omelet?! “You… oh… okay… but is that?” All three. You keep talking, I hang up the phone. Yes or no? “I mean… Yes! But…” Good. Tonight at 9, you go down to 56th and Tatus. You give it to the bum in the doorway, in an envelope. I’ll text you after. “But I can’t…” You can’t what? You ain’t got the money? Fuck off, I’m hanging up. “No wait! I can… 56th and where?” 56th and Tatus. Six hundred. You late, you get nothing. Capiche? “I… yeah… thank you?” Wear a skirt. I promise, you’ll wish you did. She spent a good hour staring at her phone after that, second-guessing herself, remembering what Dee told her. But she couldn’t just sponge off her friend the rest of her life, and besides, as much as she was loyal to Dee for all she’d done for Penny, moving in with her would mean being submissive to her, for sure, and Penny wasn’t sure she wanted that life. Dee was a beautiful person, but Dee liked sharing her toys too much, and Penny didn’t want to be part of that sharing thing. So, she stood there, her eyes darting in every direction, waiting. The raggedy old guy on the corner took her envelope and walked away, and the longer she stood there, the more sure she was that she’d been ripped off. Until her phone vibrated. She read the text. Row of mailboxes further down the alley. She looked - there they were, half a dozen old tin mailboxes bolted to the brick. She walked toward them, and her phone buzzed again. Middle one She looked around, then lifted the lid. There was a crumpled envelope. She reached in, her hands trembling, and took it, doing her best to try and hide it from anyone’s view. Of course, there was no one. She opened it, and there was a single syringe inside. Furious, she pulled her phone out, but before she could text her anger at being shorted, another text came back. Stick yourself, and you’ll get the other two. You’re probably an idiot, so you probably don’t know to put it under your belly button. Why the hell do you want me to do it here?! She texted back furiously. Cop ain’t shooting shit. Neither is a snitch. You want the other two, you shoot right here, right now, while I’m watching. And I’m watching, don’t worry. Her hand shook, holding the syringe. The alley may be deserted, but that didn’t stop her from being terrified of someone seeing her, especially since this nameless weirdo said he could see her. But she was in now, there was no choice. If she didn’t do this, she’d have to go to clinic on Monday anyway, but she’d be nearly broke and still no closer to the freedom she so desperately craved. Penny steeled her nerves; she could do this! She pulled the cap off the syringe and stared at the fierce point for a moment before lifting her shirt. She looked at her flat tummy, looking again at the syringe. There wouldn’t be poison in this thing, would there? Her phone vibrated again. She knew it was him, bugging her to do it. No need to look. She closed her eyes and stuck it in, just below her navel, as he instructed. With her other, trembling hand, she pushed the plunger. It hurt like hell, but the more shocking part was her bladder voiding into her jeans. Her phone vibrated again as the shock of pissing all over herself sank in. Idiot. Told you to wear a skirt. The other two are in the box at the end. Take them 4 weeks apart. Good luck. Wait, what do I… she started to type back, but she stopped when she saw a phone hit the pavement maybe twenty feet away and smash to pieces. She looked up, but all she saw was a fourth-floor window closing. Nothing left to do now but go forward. She looked in the other box; another envelope greeted her. She pulled it out and peeked inside; two more syringes. Nothing left to do now but walk home, wet crotch or not. She surveyed the damage on her jeans; the wet spot was huge, covering the inner half of her thighs. The alley was still deserted, thankfully. She stuffed the envelope into her purse and did her best to act natural, as natural as she could with soaking wet pants anyway, as she walked back out toward the street. She stared at the ground ahead the whole way, feeling the eyes of passers-by on her and struggling not to blush. It was a long, humiliating, and miserable walk home. And her shower was never before such a welcome sight when she got there.

A friendly note of advice - don't feel the need to answer speculative questions like the ones we asked. You can reveal those answers in future installments. The fact that we're speculating instead of criticizing should be an encouragement, that we're fully plugged into the plot and wondering out loud about what happens next.

That does feel like the endgame here...