furry The Trinket [Comm]

[Horatio Husky]

The Trinket

By Horatio Husky

Commissioned by Hunter

Chapter One

The Will

 

Hunter sighed as his mother, who he was currently on the phone with, continued to drawl about the contractual obligations he now had to abide by. His great aunt, or now his late great aunt, had left him a few things in her will that came with a few specific rules. 

 

The fennec fox had barely known her, other than seeing her at a Christmas party and once during Thanksgiving when he was very young. She was not really even his aunt, being an in-law and a cheetah to boot. He had heard a few stories about her, some from his mother who had always spoken about her with a degree of awe mixed with disapproval. Whether or not she was even really his aunt in-law was in question sometimes, but her presence in the family was nevertheless appreciated, if not coveted. 

 

She had been an Egyptianologist, but not the kind that mostly stays on the campus of a university. Accused several times of being no better than a bounty hunter with a college degree, she would often beguile whoever cared to listen at the taverns and bars she was often found at about her great adventures in the middle east. There were usually many stories told and drinks bought during such evenings.

 

Her alcoholism aside, she had apparently kept up her taste for adventuring into abandoned tombs and caves right up until the very end. They never recovered her, but enough time had passed where her body had been declared lost and her vast collection of artifacts reclaimed by the museums and universities. Judging from their hasty reclamation of such items, they had been waiting for exactly such an opportunity as her disappearance. 

 

They had claimed most of the artifacts, at least.

 

“So like, dumb it down for me a bit, Mom?”

 

Hunter asked, a slight note of exasperation coloring his tone of voice as one of his large ears flicked to the side in irritation. It was his mother’s turn to sigh, which was followed up by a response. 

 

“You just can’t sell any of the stuff. You’re supposed to keep it as if it were a family heirloom. There’s some evidence to support that this does belong to us give or take a hundred generations.”

 

Hunter replied back. 

 

“Right, don’t sell. Just keep it. Anything else?”

 

“Not until they go through the rest of her possessions and check her records. You might be getting some money too, but that’ll take a while.”

 

Right… After the state takes its hefty cut…

 

Hunter thought to himself, but he did his best to keep his sense of sarcasm out of the conversation. 

 

“Great, thanks Mom.”

 

“Of course honey, was there anything else you wanted to know about Auntie Tare?”

 

Hunter, knowing that this would probably prolong the conversation for another good hour, shook his head before realizing that his mother could not see his reaction. He cleared his throat before he spoke. 

 

“Hrm… No, no. I think I’m good for now, still… Processing and all that. I’ll talk to you later Mom.”

 

“Okay sweetie, let me know what’s in the box. It looks mysterious!”

 

“Yeah, I will. Love you Mom.”

 

“Love you sweetie, bye bye now.”

 

The line went silent, and Hunter put his phone down on the table with a sigh of relief. As silence enveloped the apartment, interrupted only by the soft hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen, the fennec’s gaze drifted over to the box that sat in front of him on the dining room table. 

 

The word that could describe the wooden container could only be described as ornate. Carvings of Egyptian hieroglyphs laced with what he suspected was gold lining on the borders of the miniature crate gave the appearance of a most valuable item being stored inside. The wood had been treated with oil, and with great care as well. Part of him wondered if the box might be empty, as the container itself looked relatively valuable. Whatever it was, he was not surprised that his aunt had mentioned that he was not allowed to sell it. 

 

I’d probably make a pretty penny off of it too…

 

Hunter mused to himself, as he pushed his chair back and stood up, only to crouch in front of the box in order to more closely examine its decor. He was not literate in Egyptian hieroglyphs, nor was he particularly interested in learning more about them. History had always bored the little fox, and despite having a renowned, though estranged, Egyptologist in the family it never sparked the same fascination and excitement as it did in Aunt Tare. 

 

Well, might as well have a look then.

 

Reaching forward, he undid the clasp on the front of the box and pushed the lid open. Its hinges worked silently, and Hunter immediately noted that the entire inside of the box was laced with a vibrant, purple velvet. 

 

Amidst the swathes of cloth, Hunter beheld a palm sized brooch made of a mixture of dulled copper and gold. Marveling at it, the fennec’s eyes widened as he scanned its surface. The fennec picked it up with a paw and noted its significant weight. Equipped with a pin which Hunter presumed was intended to keep a cloak around a traveler’s shoulders, Hunter turned the brooch over and let out a surprised breath. The ornament had been placed upside down in its container, and it was studded with several small jewels with one large piece in its center. Peering closely at them, it took Hunter a moment to realize that they were opals. 

 

In the center of the metal disk, the largest of the opals was oval in shape. It gleamed as if freshly polished when it caught the last of the afternoon sun streaming from Hunter’s half shuttered window. A small scratch in the center of the opal was the only blemish on the piece, revealing the rainbow colored insides of the gem that refracted in ever changing patterns of color as he turned it over. 

 

Strangely, despite the fact that it had been sitting in the box ever since it had been delivered to his doorstep inside of its own, discrete cardboard container, the brooch was warm to the touch. 

 

And it felt like it was getting warmer. 

 

“It’s… pretty…”

 

Hunter said lamely, to no one in particular. His initial curiosity had been sated, and he was now coming to the conclusion that he really had no use for the gem-encrusted display piece other than to perhaps show it off for his friends. 

 

The more he thought about it, being the owner of such a valuable piece now might mean

that he would have to take insurance out on it. 

 

Great… Another responsibility…

 

The fennec thought grimly to himself. 

 

Hunter was about to set the artifact down, when the opal flashed catching his eyes. Blinking, he looked down at the gem and wondered if he had imagined the sudden luminescence that had come from the piece. Gingerly, he brought it back up to his eyes and peered closely at the scratch on the gem’s surface to see if he had missed some refractive angle inside of the opal’s crack. 

 

Seeing that there was nothing he could immediately detect, he placed the brooch back 

down in its comfortable bed, this time right side up with the opal facing the ceiling of his apartment.  He thought about where he should put the box, glancing around his apartment and seeing now apparent free space where he might rest it.  

 

I’ll probably just chuck it into my closet or something…

 

            His stomach rumbled, reminding him that his mother’s phone call had caused him to miss lunch at a reasonable hour. Closing the box, he decided to put his inheritance out of his mind for the time being. Padding over to his closet, he picked out his jacket and fumbled the keys to his apartment out of the bowl they rested in. 

 

I’m kind of hankering for some chicken…

 

He thought to himself, his mind already beginning to drift away from the strange set of rocks that were now his, now and forever. He did, however, check twice that he had locked the door to his apartment before bounding down the staircase leading to the lobby of his apartment complex.

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Two

Class is in Session

 

Hunter’s eyes moved to the bottom right of the computer screen for what must have been the tenth time in the last few minutes. He was in his Calculus 204 class, which despite only being a forty-five minute class felt like it was dragging on forever. The fennec really needed to pee, an urgency that had beset him only a few minutes into the hour and with complete suddenness. 

 

He thought he was going to be able to ignore it at first, as he knew his professor’s attitude towards students who interrupted his ‘teaching flow’. The intensity of the need to relieve himself had grown steadily, until he was beginning to squirm in his seat.

 

The fox’s tail twitched, an outward sign of his increasing discomfort as he typed out a note on his word document and checked the time once more. 

 

Just fourteen more minutes… Only fourteen more minutes… You can wait fourteen more minutes…

 

In the corner of his screen, Hunter saw a chat message pop up the name of which he recognized as the weasel that sat next to him, Jack. Although Hunter had always suspected that the mustelid was only friends with him because of his willingness to share his notes, the wily mammal had more than made up for this fact by having a tolerable sense of humor. 

 

Are there ants in your pants dude?

 

Hunter grimaced, then quickly changed his facial expression to that of a blank one as he made eye contact with the professor. His teacher, a polar bear who took a special enjoyment in utilizing his intimidating visage to keep students in line, held it for a second too long before he diverted his attention back to the blackboard. 

 

Yeesh… You’d think we’re a bunch of high school students the way he treats us…

 

Putting his thoughts on his professor aside, Hunter typed out a quick response before alt-tabbing back to his notes document.

 

Gotta pee. Bad. Dunno what’s up.

 

Hunter checked the clock, noting that there were twelve minutes left until he could gather up his belongings and make a beeline for the bathroom. There were two flights separating him from the nearest gentleman’s room, and he was seriously beginning to feel the ache in his bladder get to him.

 

The fennec was even considering whether to risk the wrath of the Calculus professor and just getting up and leaving. He was barely able to pay attention to the tired voice of the bear to begin with.

 

What’s wrong with me?

 

Hunter was perplexed, as he did not recall drinking enough coffee that morning to constitute such an urgency. Bottom right of his screen, another message popped up.

 

Pee out the window, quick while no one’s looking.

 

Hunter rolled his eyes, and then immediately regretted it. 

 

“Mr. Sully, is there something about today’s lesson that you are finding particularly lugubrious?”

 

The polar bear was now staring at him, and the eyes of everyone in the class had moved over to the little fennec as well. Some of the furs, knowing they were out of eyesight of the surly bear, snickered at the fox’s misfortune. The bear did like to pick on people at random, and it was partially done in good sport but nevertheless the overwhelming presence of the bear was a little intimidating.

 

“Uhh…”

 

Hunter said, intelligently, glancing down to see another message pop up, this time from his other friend in class.

 

Busted.

 

Malissa, an otter, caught his eye at the other end of the room and made a face at him. This relieved the tension somewhat, giving Hunter enough willpower to formulate a proper response. Realizing that this might be his only chance to avoid disaster, Hunter decided to be straight forward. 

 

“No, I’m sorry professor. I know how much you hate interruptions but to be completely frank my bladder is about to explode on me, excuse me.”

 

The bear sighed, bringing his forepaw up to the bridge of his nose and squeezing it. 

 

“Have you absorbed anything I said in the past few minutes?”

 

Hunter froze, in the middle of getting up, and then sheepishly shook his head no. The bear sighed again, but not unkindly.

 

“See me after class and I’ll fill in the holes in your notes. Now go, go!”

 

Hunter bolted, the laughter of the class behind him receding as he made his way towards the stairwell. The last thing he could make out was the bear beginning a speech on the importance of relieving oneself before the start of class which was greeted by even more laughter. 

 

Normally, Hunter would have been embarrassed, but in that moment he was so determined to make it that even being the temporary butt of the joke in his class was not something he cared about. 

 

Come on… Almost there…

 

Hunter was now desperate, panting; he burst through the doors of the men’s room and rushed into the first open stall. His paws fumbled over his belt buckle as he hastily undid the front zipper of his pants. He was already peeing, as a wet mark had grown on the front of his boxers, but he was just able to direct the stream into the bowl before he completely soiled the front of his pants. 

 

The fennec fox sighed in relief, leaning one paw against the side of the stall as he caught his breath. 

 

“What… On earth… Did I drink…”

 

He spoke aloud, the overwhelming sense of relief from the dire situation washing over him. 

 

“Dunno mate but if I’m being totally honest I don’t care man.”
 

A voice from several stalls over jarred him out of his relieved reverie. 

 

“Uh, sorry?”
 

Hunter posed, and there was a grunt of acknowledgement from the other fur that had spoken. Hunter redid the front of his pants, washed his paws, and slinked back down to class. 

 

? ? ?

 

Hunter returned to class as only a couple of minutes remained, the professor had finished up the point he was trying to illustrate early and had excused the class early. 

 

The fennec picked up his laptop, shouldering his book bag and padded over to the side of the polar bear’s desk.

 

“First off, are you okay?”
 

The bear asked, his demeanor somewhat softened as his brown eyes met Hunter’s blue ones. 

 

“Yeah, fine. Sorry, bit stressed I guess.”

 

The polar bear gave him a look that told him that he did not fully believe the fox but he was not going to press further. The bear continued unabashed.

“Look, you’re one of my brighter students and you clearly understand the material. I understand that people make mistakes but please, you’ve got to get this information in your brain as smoothly as possible. Please don’t let this happen again.”

 

Hunter was silent, but he nodded quickly in response. He was surprised to hear this, as he had never seen this side of his professor. Something about him told him that the bear was much nicer than he portrayed himself to be. 

 

“Okay, this is what we covered in a nutshell…”

 

The bear changed the topic back to mathematics, which Hunter was relieved to be able to contemplate without distraction.

 

? ? ?

 

“Dude, what happened? Did he try to eat you?”

 

Hunter snorted as he took a seat next to Jack, who had pieces of tuna fish sandwich stuck in his whiskers and was chewing loudly. Malissa chimed in, appearing more sympathetic to Hunter’s plight than the ruthless weasel.

 

“Please wipe your muzzle, you're an awful sight.”

 

She quipped, handing the weasel a napkin which the mustelid accepted, only to blow his nose into it instead of what it's proffered use was. 

 

“Gross.”

 

Hunter commented, taking a seat and reaching over to take Jack’s bag of chips. 

 

“Oi!”

 

Jack, playing up the drama as much as he could, gaped at Hunter and motioned with his paw at the stolen bag of goods. Hunter, who was feeling uncannily churlish at that moment, stuck his tongue at him before opening the bag and taking a deep sniff of its contents.

 

“You get my math notes, I get your food. It’s only fair.”

 

Malissa widened her eyes at him as well, but was unable to suppress the chortle that came out of his muzzle as she watched Hunter take a pawful of potato crisps and cram them into his muzzle.

 

“Excuse me! This is daylight robbery!”

 

Jack exclaimed, crossing his arms and giving Hunter the stink eye. He continued, sounding a little cross as he did so.

 

“I offer you end

 

Hunter mumbled between a mouthful of salted chips.

 

“I feel sorry for you is the only point of reality in this entire exchange.”

 

“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better after a special time with Daddy mathematics after you almost had your accident.”

 

Hunter gave him a look, looking over to see Malissa’s judgment of the statement. She appeared neutral, too neutral, clearly she was entertained by the exchange but didn’t want to interf

 

The fennec was used to Jack’s antics, he was a little immature after all. Raising his eyebrows at the weasel he pronounced as quietly and nonchalantly as he could after he swallowed his mouthful.

 

“No Calc notes today then I’m afraid, we’re all out of stock.”

 

“Oh come on!”

 

Jack exclaimed, and this time it was both Malissa and Hunter that burst out laughing at the weasel’s incredulous expression.

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Three

Blue’s Clues

 

Hunter stared at the page of figures in front of him, one of many in the two inch thick textbook laid open at the study table. The fennec had been attempting to read the same paragraph for the past several minutes, but for some reason was unable to process the meaning of the words. 

 

At least, he consoled himself, he was actually trying. To his left, Jack was smirking at the screen of his laptop as he browsed through YouTube, the sound of the videos just barely audible in the earbuds lodged in his ears over the noise of the buzzing overhead light. Malissa was on her phone, the text document on her own laptop untended as she browsed through whatever media app she had opened. 

 

Hard at work, or hardly working?

 

This mantra repeated itself a few times in Hunter’s head, further stymying his attempts at regaining concentration. Their exam was in two days, and only Hunter appeared worried about it. Malissa had already expressed her desire to get a B in the class and nothing more, while Jack, Hunter was sure, was banking on his elevated homework score to keep him adrift. An elevated homework score, that was the result of copious copying of Hunter’s own work.

 

The fennec was sure that the professor was well aware of this not-so-ethical exchange, but did not care enough to address it. After all, cheating on the exams was by near impossible and was the proper demonstration of who really grasped the content. 

 

But that was not what was keeping Hunter’s mind off task. 

 

The previous evening, during his own meanderings on internet video entertainment, he had stumbled upon a review of children’s shows that struck his interest. Most notably, his favorite show as a child had been Blue’s Clues, and seeing the friendly face of the blue canine had tickled something in his brain that caused him to click on the video.

 

One video was all that it took, and before he knew it he had spent several hours watching clips and even a few full episodes of the show and feeling downright giddy. Although he was not aware of it until he had finally decided to go to bed, his eyelids drooping telling him that it was very much time to call it, he had been completely worry free in those hours. No thoughts of assignments, classes, social obligations, club meetings, nothing. The sense of freedom and elation that came with such a leaving of his own life had been blissful, and had caused him to feel a little strange. 

 

He had not been able to fully parse what that experience had been, although it certainly helped him sleep better without having intrusive thoughts to badger him before his dreams. Even though, as he stared at the textbook page with his friends around him apparently unstressed by the looming exam date he found his thoughts returning to the plots of the cartoon episodes from the previous evening. 

 

“Hmmm hmmm… Hmmm hmm… Hmmm hmm…”

 

“Found a blue paw print now, did we?”

 

“Huh?”

 

Hunter looked up, his eyes wide and innocent as he looked from Jack to Malissa. It was Jack that had spoken, his tone wry and lips curled in amusement as he stared quizzically at Hunter. A slew of emotions ran through the fennec fox’s brain, first and foremost embarrassment. 

 

“Uhh…”

 

He responded intelligently, scrambling for an explanation before realizing that saying the truth would probably be easiest.

 

After all… He told himself. I’m certainly not the only college student who watches cartoons for nostalgic purposes…

 

“I might have stayed up last night watching Blues Clues on Youtube…”

He admitted sheepishly, glancing from Malissa to Jack with a growing smile on his muzzle. 

 

“Hey, I used to watch that as a kid too.”

 

Malissa responded, her eyes sparkling even as her whiskers twitched. Jack’s response was less enthusiastic. 

 

“I’m hangin’ out with a bunch of babies.”

 

In perfect synchrony, Hunter and Malissa rounded on Jack indignantly and both began to speak at the same time. 

 

“Really? You’ve never revisited a kid’s show you used to watch as a kid?”

 

“How can you disrespect Blue like that man?”

 

The weasel held up his paws in defeat, smiling nervously as he saw the ferocity with which both of his friends were speaking to him. 

 

“Whoa, whoa guys take it easy. I’m just kidding, I watched my fair share of Blues Clues back in the day. I guess I’d just find it kind of boring now is all.”

 

Malissa turned to Hunter, reaching her paw over to place it on top of his own as she spoke in a condescending tone. 

 

“I don’t think Jack found any of Blue’s Clues when he was a pup, Hunter.”

 

It was the weasel’s turn to be indignant, much to the shared amusement of Malissa and Hunter as he responded. 

 

“Oh come on, they were bright blue and obvious.”

 

“Which makes it only more embarrassing for you for not being able to spot them.”

 

Malissa replied dryly, clearly enjoying the edge Hunter and she had over Jack in this situation Hunter held back his own reply, contenting himself to stand by as witness to Jack and Malissa’s friendly bantering. As he pretended to resume reading through the text in front of him, his mind wandered back his feelings the previous evening. 

 

He had not quite remembered the show being as good as it was, though he barely remembered any of it at all from when he had been a kit. It had been uncanny, the blank state his mind had been in and even the occasional childish giggle that had escaped his muzzle at one of Steve’s quips. 

 

A frown formed itself on his brow as he thought further on it, hoping that he appeared as though he were concentrating on the education material as opposed to why he was enjoying kit media so much. A second later, he had made his decision, without looking up from his textbook he spoke in a flat, clear tone.

 

“My apartment, Blues Clues marathon, now.”

 

He looked up, meeting Jack’s and Malissa’s steady gaze. Malissa nodded slowly, after which Jack’s eyes widened and he nodded as well. The three of them were getting absolutely nothing productive done in the library, so why not actually do something mindless for a bit was what Hunter was suggesting. The sound of chairs scraping against hardwood was heard amongst a chorus of backpack zippers being opened and closed. A minute later, Hunter’s tail was the last thing out the door of the library study room as the group made their way toward his flat. 

 

? ? ?

 

After stopping by a convenience store along the way to load up on snacks, the gang had made their way up the three flights of stairs up to Hunter’s place. Having had guests before, he enjoyed the excited expressions on his friend’s muzzle as they saw his large collection of beanbag chairs.

 

“Yo you’ve got the set up.”

 

Jack whistled, turning around and allowing his light body to flop down onto one of the large cushions.

“I’ll say.”

 

Malissa added, settling herself down and reaching for the remote sitting on the coffee table. Hunter was about to follow suit, when he noticed Jack’s eyes wandering over to the ornate box his aunt had left him. He met the weasel’s inquisitive look, shrugging as he answered his friend’s question before he could voice it.

 

“Inheritance, heirloom, from Egypt, and I’m forbidden to sell it.”
 

Jack motioned expectantly with a paw.
 

“Well, open it.”

 

“Thanks for asking so nicely.”

 

Hunter replied sarcastically, but he moved over to retrieve the container. After all, this was about as much use as this trinket was going to get. Heaving it off of the floor with a grunt, he set it on the coffee table as both Jack and Malissa sidled over next to him. Reaching for the lid, he tried to open it but found that it refused to budge.

 

“What…”

 

He tried again, but found that the lid remained stubbornly closed. 

 

“Nice dude.”

 

Jack said, snorting to himself as Hunter gave him a look.

 

“It did open, you know, there’s like a brooch or something inside. Opals and gold and stuff. I might need to get insurance on it…”

 

Hunter said, after which Malissa added.

 

“And find someone with a crowbar, pity to break the box though.”

 

Hunter rolled his eyes and heaved the box down underneath the coffee table once more.

 

“Probably needs oil for the hinges or something. The ice cream’s gonna melt, get the show going.”

 

Their interest having dissipated, the three college students eagerly turned their attention to the entertainment and sweet snacks at hand as they looked forward to a wholly unproductive weekday afternoon.

[Panther Cub]

Just stumbled on this story, and now I'm anxiously awaiting the next part!

[Horatio Husky]

On 3/25/2023 at 10:10 PM, Panther Cub said:

Just stumbled on this story, and now I'm anxiously awaiting the next part!

In that case, I have some good news for you.~

Chapter Four

Exam Day

 

Hunter bolted straight upright in his bed, his chest heaving as he panted to catch his breath. He could feel the back of his pajama shirt was slick from his sweat, not unusual for him after having a stressful night’s dream. 

 

Even as the vestiges of the dream seeped out of his paws like so much running water, several stark details remained in his mind’s eye that caused him a sense of simple confusion. 

 

He remembered colors, primary and in abundance in the rooms and items around him that had appeared stark in contrast and dazzlingly present. It was as if he were seeing them for the first time, bright and almost overwhelming in their brilliance that had been predominantly present in the environment around him.

 

That, and the incredible sensation of being much smaller than he normally was. Fennec foxes were normally a bit diminutive when compared to the majority of other anthropomorphic species, even other fox species. He was not, however, his normal XS t-shirt size in this dream. He recalled seeing a teddy bear plushie, almost as big as him sitting in the corner of his…

 

He thought for a moment, trying but not too hard to recall where exactly he had been in the dream. 

 

A crib… I was… In a crib…?

 

Another detail came back to him, the one that caused his stomach to churn and a strange, almost pleasant sensation of self-consciousness coming over him as he thought about it. 

 

He had been wearing a diaper. 

 

Hunter remembered pulling back the soft, velvet blanket that had been covering him and looking down at the brightly colored, plastic undergarment he was snuggly garbed in. The fennec recalled how comfortable it had felt, swaddling his midsection and giving him a sense of security that he had found oddly comforting. Not only that, but he recalled an almost euphoric sense of relief when he had inadvertently found himself piddling inside of it. 

 

Having no other place to go, as the confines of the crib were as equally confusing to navigate as they were to escape, he had ultimately arrived at the conclusion that he had no choice other than to use the article of clothing for its intended purpose. 

 

Hunter felt a cold prick of sweat at the back of his neck as a sudden panic came over him. Even as he had in the dream, the fennec ripped off the blanket covering him and looked down between his legs dreading the worse. 

 

The back of the little fox’s shirt was not the only thing that was wet. To his horror, he saw a distinct wet mark darkening the front of his pajama pants, some of which had dribbled down to discolor his mattress cover as well. 

 

What!?

 

Hunter stared, his muzzle agape at the sight as his mind raced to figure out an explanation. The most obvious of which had been that while he was peeing himself in his dream, his real self must have mirrored that action causing him to wet the bed. 

 

Hoping to get a grip, Hunter glanced over at the alarm clock on his bedside to see what time it was. 

 

6:32 A.M.

 

Hunter took in a long breath, and then released it just as slowly. Normally, he was not much of an early riser. Given the flexibility in his college class schedule he was able to sleep in much later than he had had the opportunity to back in high school. Still, this was early even by that standard. Blearily, he glanced around his room to find his phone intending to check his calendar. Before he even unlocked its screen, it dawned on him what day it was. 

 

Right… The test is today… 

 

Hunter returned his attention to his sodden bed sheets, his mind turning to the fact that he would likely have to make a visit to the laundry room of his apartment complex that morning before both his clothes and bed started to smell like fox pee. 

 

As if I did not have enough to worry about today…

 

He thought glumly to himself, deciding that it would be for the best to put this worry aside for the time being and focus his schedule on giving himself a sense of preparation for the upcoming exam, which would surmise a whopping 25% of his final grade in the class. 

As the wet contents of his pajama pants were just starting to feel clammy on the fur between his legs, Hunter got out of bed and promptly stripped himself naked until he was just standing in his fur. Gathering up the bedsheet and blanket off of his bed, he stuffed them unceremoniously into his laundry basket before heading towards his kitchen to prepare himself breakfast. 

 

As he cracked eggs into a pan, he tried his best to shift his thoughts of the strange dream and unwelcome awakening to the facts and figures he would be manipulating for the upcoming exam. It took him a moment to realize that he wanted to pass the exam as much for his own GPA as to please his professors' confidence in him as a student of mathematics. 

 

Hunter allowed himself a small smile of bemusement as he thought to himself while adding pepper to his scrambled eggs.

 

Huh… I guess that polar bear’s heart isn’t as icey as his external disposition…

 

? ? ?

 

The classroom was as quiet as it had ever been, with only the sound of pencils scratching against paper and the occasional heavy breath that followed the turning of a page to reveal a new Calculus conundrum. Hunter could sense the tangible atmosphere of stress in the air, which felt doubly as pungent around Jack next to him who Hunter could sense was not having a very good time.

 

The exam only consisted of eight problems, distributed one on each page of the exam. Hunter knew the professor had carefully chosen to be as fair and as challenging as the amount of content they had learned that semester so far would allow. The first half of the exam had felt trivial to him, and with that came a confidence that caused him to feel a little less stressed about the ordeal than his fellow peers around him. 

 

As he worked, doing his best to keep his penmanship as neat and orderly as possible knowing that that would earn the meticulous professor’s brownie points, his mind could not help but wander back to that morning’s events. It troubled him, but not in the way that he would have expected it to trouble him. Something about the helpless, vulnerable nature of being comfortably positioned in a crib, surrounded by friendly, plush stuffed animals, and wearing little else than a t-shirt and a diaper made him feel a little strange. 

 

There was an allure to it, he realized, boxing in his answer to the problem as he moved on to the next puzzle. Something in the back of his mind told him that such a comfort, though clearly unattainable due to his age, was a reality that part of him wanted to be in. Lost in his thoughts, Hunter could not help but dwell on the strange sensation of having a diaper swaddled around his waist. He recalled the tail tape, well positioned and snuggly attached above his tail holding the diaper up so that it hugged his bottom properly. 

 

Hunter stared at the page in front of him, coming to a sudden realization that he had been daydreaming in the middle of an exam. Momentarily panicked, he glanced up at the clock and felt his stomach twist. Five minutes had elapsed during which he had done nothing except stare uncomprehending at the figures in front of him. 

 

He caught the eye of his professor, who raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him telling him he had noticed the fox’s lapse in concentration. 

 

Hunter turned his attention back to the paper in front of him, trying his best to shrug off the fantasies that he had been entertaining as he returned himself to the task at hand. 

 

Still though, as he went from focused to reflexively writing down his steps for problem solving, he never really truly abandoned the fantasy he had been entertaining. Several times, he had to redo parts of his problem solving, wearing the eraser down on his pencil as he did so. To his dismay, he had erased so hard at one point that he tore a bit of the exam paper. 

 

Sloppy.

 

He chastised himself, this time redoubling his efforts as he turned the packet to its last page. The fennec stared at the problem in front of him, his lapses in concentration compounding as he realized that he was at a loss for how to solve it. Something told him that the material covered that would have allowed him to solve it had been covered recently, and with the latest distractions that had been coming more prevalent in his daily schedule he was unsure of how to proceed. 

 

Hunter bit his lip, hoping to rely on his problem-solving skills to suss out how exactly to approach it. He glanced up at the clock, noting that less than ten minutes were left. Several of the other students were getting up to hand in their paper, some appearing more confident than others as they delivered straight into the polar bears large, black soled paws. 

 

The fennec felt himself beginning to panic a little bit, distracted by the sound of shuffling paws across the linoleum floor and the rising chatter happening outside of the constantly opening and closing classroom doors. 

 

Come on… You can do this…

 

Hunter glanced at the nib of his pencil, and stopped what he was doing. He blinked, unable to at first comprehend what he was seeing. 

 

Instead of his mechanical pencil, Hunter was holding a blue crayon. 

 

The fennec’s mind raced, trying to figure out how on earth he had come from holding a mechanical pencil to a child’s artistic instrument. Forgetting about the time constraint, he flipped a page back to see his previous work and stopped breathing for a second. 

 

It was all written in the vague scrawl of a blue crayon. 

 

Unwilling to glance around him, as such movements would appear suspicious given his visible struggle with the last problem, he wondered if anybody else had noticed. It was too late to rifle through his pencil case for a different writing utensil, and as the professor announced that five minutes remained he realized that he had to turn his attention to the last problem.

 

Dang it… I don’t even have time to check my work…

 

With one minute remaining, Hunter arrived at a conclusion that he hoped would be approximate enough to the actual answer. He knew he would lose points on that problem, doing the math quickly in his head and realizing that he could potentially lose up to 12% on that problem alone.

 

That, and the fact that the exam had been answered in blue crayon was something he had no idea how the professor would react to. 

 

Sighing, he got up to turn his exam in. As he handed it over, the polar bear stared at the test uncomprehending as he noticed the penmanship. 

 

“Creative, but we don’t give extra points for that unless you’ve pioneered a new mathematical proof.”

 

He quipped, glancing up to gaze at the fennec with a bemused expression on his muzzle. 

 

“Lost my pencil.”

 

Was all that Hunter could think of to answer with. As he returned to his seat to grab his book bag and coat, he thought to himself. 

 

Well, at least he didn’t say he’d dock me for it…

 

? ? ?

 

Malissa and Jack were waiting for him outside of the classroom, with varying degrees of happiness plastered on their faces. Malissa looked a little anxious, but Jack looked as if he had swallowed a bee. 

 

“How’d it go?”

 

Malissa asked, a note of forced optimism in her voice as she looked kindly to Hunter. 

 

“I wrote my exam in blue crayon by accident.”

 

Hunter said flatly, which caused an immediate surge of change in emotion in Jack’s expression.

 

“You what!?”

 

He exclaimed, amusement mixed with what Hunter noted looked like a degree of awe in his expression and voice.

 

“Yeah… I, uhhh, lost my pencil.”

 

Hunter repeated his lame excuse once more, deciding that attempting to explain the apparent shift in reality would be too difficult to attempt. 

 

“Bull.”

 

Jack responded immediately, his initial feelings of dismay appearing to disappear as he focused on the potential amusing consequences of Hunter’s actions.

 

“Dude, the professor is going to eat you alive. Are you trying to mess with him?”

 

Clearly entertained, which Hunter presumed was the weasel’s method of coping, the fennec decided to play it cool. After all, that day had started out in the least cool way he could have imagined. 

 

“Figured I’d play the exam on hard mode, I guess. I needed a challenge.”

 

Malissa interjected, her voice filled with a mixture of disapproval and amusement. 

 

“Don’t tell me that last question didn’t tear you a new one too.”

 

“Oh, it did.”

 

Hunter responded, sighing and shaking his head as the three made their way over to the pizza place they had agreed on nursing their grade point’s wounds at.

[Panther Cub]

Wait, now I'm wondering something... is there a difference in size based on species? Like, is our cute little fennec much smaller than his weasel friend?

Also, I feel for the poor guy, it stinks when a curse starts to take effect during important times!

Excellent installment! Can't wait for the next one!

[Horatio Husky]

12 hours ago, Panther Cub said:

Wait, now I'm wondering something... is there a difference in size based on species? Like, is our cute little fennec much smaller than his weasel friend?

Also, I feel for the poor guy, it stinks when a curse starts to take effect during important times!

Excellent installment! Can't wait for the next one!

He's about a head shorter than Jack, and Malissa is the tallest of the three.

Thank you! There will be many more chapters to come.

[Panther Cub]

9 minutes ago, Horatio Husky said:

He's about a head shorter than Jack, and Malissa is the tallest of the three.

Thank you! There will be many more chapters to come.

YAY! Can't wait to see the cuteness!

OH! And where did he get that crayon? Did whatever is happening to him turn one of his pencils into one? And if so, what will it change next? Perhaps he will soon find an odd waddle to his walk to his desk in class, his ears picking up a faint crinkle, with Hunter being clueless as to how that happened? :3

[Horatio Husky]

On 3/31/2023 at 10:51 PM, Panther Cub said:

YAY! Can't wait to see the cuteness!

OH! And where did he get that crayon? Did whatever is happening to him turn one of his pencils into one? And if so, what will it change next? Perhaps he will soon find an odd waddle to his walk to his desk in class, his ears picking up a faint crinkle, with Hunter being clueless as to how that happened? :3

Who knows how that crayon got into his paw, but he definitely does not remember even owning one in his pencil case. As for the rest, you'll just have to wait and see!

Chapter Five

Fall Break

 

Hunter stared at the paper in front of him, the corner of his lip turned downwards in an expression of abject chagrin as he perused through the various corrections and comments on the exam in front of him.

 

On either side of him, his friends were behaving similarly as they poured through the mistakes they had made on the calculus test. Jack appeared utterly stricken, the paper held loosely in his paws as he gingerly turned over page after page. Out of the corner of the fennec’s eye, the fox could see that there appeared to be more red pen marks than actual penciled in answers at which he had to suppress a wry smile. 

 

Malissa appeared less disappointed, nodding slowly as she read through the final page in the packet before sighing and sliding it into her bookbag with a shake of her head. 

 

“Nothing I didn’t expect really.”

 

She stated, glancing sideways at Hunter before her eyes wandered to his own exam paper with curiosity. 

 

Hunter shrugged his shoulders, handing the paper over to her to examine as he added. 

 

“Well, he didn’t dock for the unorthodox writing utensil at least. Still I totally butchered the last page.”

 

Malissa raised her eyebrows at him, pointing with her chin at the number scrawled on the top of the page. Her voice had a note of disbelief in it.

 

“An eighty-eight percent? And you’re disappointed? I got a seventy-two. I just barely passed.”

 

“Don’t talk to me about passing…”

 

Jack chimed in, his voice sounding so dejected that the two other furs could not help but chuckle in response. Hunter turned, his eyes searching Jack’s face before he dared posed the question he knew both he and Malissa were thinking about.

 

“Okay, how bad?”

 

Jack took a moment to ceremoniously fold his exam in half before he crammed it into a pocket of his bookbag.

 

“Thirty…”

 

Malissa prompted.

 

“Thirty what?”

 

“Just… Thirty…”

 

The otter took in a breath, sucking in her cheeks as she did so before she shook her head. Fumbling around in her bag, she brought out her purse and stood up.

 

“I think you need some ice cream, champ.”

 

Hunter stood up as well, clasping a paw on one of Jack’s slumped shoulders as he got up to follow Malissa over to the concessions table that was being hosted by one of the campus sororities. When she glanced at him, Hunter nodded back and spoke. 

 

“I’ll cover half of it, I also think Jack needs to eat his feelings right about now.”

 

Malissa laughed, his shoulders shaking as the tension of the post-exam review seemed to ease out of her. 

 

“I’ll say. To be honest I fully expected to do much worse myself, he really didn’t pull any punches on that one. And it’s the first exam of the semester!”

 

Hunter nodded, sidling into the queue that was forming behind the cheerful face of a pink labradoodle that was handling the exchange. As they waited, Hunter spoke up once more. 

 

“Right? I did some math and I’m going to have to pull a ninety-eight on every consecutive exam if I still want to be in the A range.”

 

Malissa rolled her eyes at him, the corner of her lip twitching in accompaniment to her swishing tale. Something told Hunter that she was planning on eating some of her own post-exam depression feelings as well. 

 

“Nerd.”

 

“Uh-huh, miss history buff. I got a C on my first History of Rome 102 paper last week you know.”

 

“Oh please, like Roman history makes any money in the real world.”

 

Hunter shrugged, and they lapsed into silence as they waited for their turn. The concession stands were pulling some serious attention, as they saw a burly looking ox buy three entire buckets of Neopolitan. Hunter could sense that something was on Malissa’s mind, and he turned to face her the moment her eyes met his.

 

“Okay, spill it.”

 

She said, her eyes squinting at him in mock suspicion. 

 

“Crayon?”

 

Hunter sighed, running a paw over the back of his right shoulder as he stretched his left arm, attempting to diffuse some of the anxiety welling up inside of him. 

 

“Uhhh…”

 

He said intelligently, mulling over whether or not he should make a joke out of it or tell her the truth. The fennec decided on something somewhere between the two options. 

 

“I’ve been distracted lately, I legit did not notice it. I swear.”

 

Well, that’s honestly completely true.

 

He thought to himself, looking to see whether Malissa believed him. She looked at him for a moment longer, her gaze slightly unnerving as she scrutinized him. He had never been good at lying, and keeping the entire truth out of his statement was difficult enough. 

 

She appeared to take him at his word, however, as they were finally the next to be served. 

 

Malissa insisted on treating the lot of them, buying three pints of rocky road. 

 

Hunter was not the least surprised when both Malissa and Jack finished their pint in one sitting. It seemed to do the trick, however, as walking out of the student hall Jack appeared to be in much higher spirits as the sugar coursed through his bloodstream. 

 

𓁪 𓁶 𓁢

 

Hunter was standing idly an aisle over from Malissa where she was checking out at the cash register. Having decided that the three needed a little break, as tomorrow would be the first day of their Fall Break. None of the three were going home that weekend, so they decided that the best use of their time procrastinating on assignments due the very next week would be to pig out and binge on their favorite movies. 

 

They had already been to the drug store a half hour earlier, but Malissa had insisted that coming back to movie popcorn was worth it as it was the only item they had miraculously forgotten to pick up. 

 

Hunter was zoning out. Free of worrying about his classes for a few days, his mind wandered once more to the crayon incident. He had pushed it to the side of his mind afterwards, having more pressing academic obligations to attend to but now it was the only thing he could think about. 

 

Something had happened, something unnatural because he would have sworn on anything given to him that he had been using a mechanical pencil the entire time. The fact that he remembered scribbling on previous pages of the exam in the dull graphite and then having witnessed them suddenly become the smudged texture of a child’s drawing utensil was something he could not set aside. 

 

For some reason, he felt like it had something to do with the recent fascination with Blue’s Clues. He had no idea how the two could be linked, but the sudden shift in his mind’s wanderings were beginning to become strange indeed. 

 

“Think of a new choice of wardrobe there, foxxo?”

 

Hunter blinked, his mind suddenly turning blank as he looked uncomprehending over at Jack next to him. The weasel wore an amused expression, upon seeing that Hunter was not getting it he nodded towards the range of products that the fennec had been staring at. 

 

Hunter followed his gaze, and then felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment. In front of him were several packages filled with diapers intended for toddlers. Patterns of contemporary kid’s cartoons covered both the boxes and as the display advertised the diapers themselves. He did not even know what show the characters were from, but several of them appeared to be wearing diapers themselves.

 

“Dah… Uhh…”

 

The fennec was suddenly at a loss for words, as the possibility of wearing such an undergarment entered his mind. His internal reaction to it was not something he expected. 

 

He felt exposed, a degree of self-consciousness washing over him that he had never experienced before. Hunter felt suddenly as if he were standing stark naked in front of his friend. 

 

As if that was not enough, Hunter realized that the mixed feelings he was experiencing were due to some part of him wanting to wear the diapers, as suggested by Jack. Of course he knew the weasel’s humor, he did not actually mean what he was saying and had simply been looking for a cheap joke to pass the time by. 

 

But still, Hunter had actually blushed. Normally Jack’s comments hardly phased him nowadays as the fennec had grown used to his humor. 

 

Hunter realized that he had been silent for too long, and Jack was beginning to smirk even more. His eyebrows furrowed however, telling Hunter that the weasel was not sure what to make of the fox's reaction. Malissa finished up just in time for Hunter to not have an excuse to formulate a response. 

 

“Okay let’s bounce, I’ve been on my feet since six today. We’re starting with that ‘chick flick’ by the way.”

 

She gave Jack a pointed look. This prompted the weasel to make a sound of disgust so guttural, that Hunter was still wiping tears from his eyes as they walked up the stairway to the first floor of his apartment building. 

 

𓐤 𓃇 𓅶 

 

Hunter was laying on his back, the lights in his room were turned off as he had already snuggled himself up into bed for the night. His internet browser was open, and with some degree of thrilled embarrassment, he was browsing through a selection of toddler incontinence products in an attempt to find the brand he had been staring at earlier that day. 

 

It was not difficult to find them, despite him not recalling their name. 

 

“Put a little waddle in their step!”

 

Hunter read the brand catch phrase over and over, his fixation on the design of the diaper adamentp as he zoomed in on an infographic. 

 

He told himself that he was only interested because he was bored and did not want to fall asleep just yet, but he knew that was not the real reason. 

 

Something about the idea of wearing them tickled his fancy, stirred something inside of him he had no idea had previously been there. As excited as he was at the prospect of wearing underwear designed for a kit an eighth of his age, he could not set aside the uneasiness that accompanied such desires. 

 

Is this what burnout feels like?

 

He wandered, thinking back to how tired and stressed he had been at the end of second semester of college. No matter how he justified it, Hunter was beginning to wonder at his mental health. 

 

Rewatching an old kid’s show was one thing, but now fantasizing about wearing diapers? Pants intended for the smallest of puppies and kittens? 

 

Hunter locked his phone, casting his previously illuminated muzzle into darkness as his eyes slowly adjusted to the drastic shift in luminance. 

 

Maybe I just need to sleep on it…

 

Even as he tried to clear his mind of thoughts in preparation of the night’s sleep to come, his mind continued to wander. He imagined how it would feel to have the soft, absorbent material straddling the space between his legs, comfortably hugging his jewels and comfortably cupping his backside. 

 

Hunter’s eyelids grew heavy, his mind awash with fantasies on how freeing it would feel to not have to worry about a thing; not even the need to relieve himself in the comfort of his own bed.

[Panther Cub]

Well that last sentence smacked us all in the head with the Foreshadowing Hammer. Methinks the cuddly little kit in college is gunna wake up needing to do some laundry!

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Six

Stowaway

 

Fall break came and went, all too quickly as such respites from the demands of academia tended to do. Hunter noted that it had been well spent, as his two friends had ended up sleeping over two of the weekend nights when the three decided that it would be the best use of their time off. 

 

Pancakes in the mornings, their choice of chicken broth ramen noodles in the afternoons, and too many sugary and salty snacks for them to count in the late nights binge watching cheesy scary movie films. Malissa had argued, at least, that the lengthy movie marathon would come in handy for her cinema class. 

 

“I get to actually say that I’ve seen Alfred Hitchcock at this point.”

 

She had commented, after the three had finished watching, “The Birds” at around two in the morning that Sunday. 

 

Hunter had felt satisfied, given the fact that Jack seemed to brighten up considerably at the chance to slack off even more than he usually did. Still, with Monday being their last day of the three had begrudgingly opened up their laptops to begin preparation for the week ahead as well as finishing up any assignments their less than generous professors had assigned them to complete during their break. 

 

The fennec had managed to even take his mind off the distracting lure of infantile interests that seemed to be bubbling up inside him. He felt a little relieved that nothing out of the ordinary beyond wondering what it would feel like to wear a diaper again last Friday had happened over break. 

 

They had even tried to crack open the crate containing the brooch once more, but to their chagrin it had remained stubbornly shut and unyielding. Jack had offered to work his magic with a screwdriver on the hinges, but both Malissa and Hunter had hastily told him that that would probably be a bad idea. 

 

Today, it was another Thursday. As was wanton of the many prestigious professors they were swamped with scholarly obligations up until the very end of Friday. Jack had insisted they have a wine night that evening, and knowing how poorly the weasel could hold his drink Hunter was working furtively to get his notes in order by the end of the week. 

 

His history professor was droning on, a portly hedgehog who wore glasses so thick the lenses bulged out on either side of their frames. As always, Malissa appeared entranced by every word he stated while Hunter did his best to jote down whatever sense he could make of his meandering historical anecdotes. 

 

Jack was already waiting in the library, sending entertaining messages to Hunter on his laptop at which he had to subdue a smile creeping onto his lips. Given the fact they were discussing a massacre that had occurred in the middle east at the moment, such an expression would have been grossly inappropriate. Still, the juxtaposition of the graveness of the matter compared to Jack’s immaturity was more than enough to serve as a challenge to keep his face straight. 

 

Hunter glanced at the clock for the fifth time in that lecture. Fifteen minutes remain, and he let out a quiet sigh of relief. 

 

“At this point, our friends the Egyptians greatly waned in their power and thus had little influence on the politics in the fertile crescent…”

 

The hedgehog continued on, giving Malissa an appreciative nod whose eyes sparkled with fascination as she hung onto every word he said. Hunter appreciated the otter’s love of world history, despite not being able to relate to it. Her knowledge of the rise and fall of civilizations and respective fursons gave her a sense of balance and groundedness he did not possess. 

 

Not to mention the fact that whenever she talked about history, it was always much more interesting than when he heard it from anyone else; let alone a musty old textbook. 

 

As the professor concluded his statement, his magnified eyes wandered over to the clock that hung above the doorframe of the lecture hall. He pursed his lips, stopping his speech as he was visibly considering what to do next. He spoke, his voice quavering as it tended to do while Hunter’s ears perked up. 

 

“Alright, I think we should call it at that. The progression of the next lineage of rulers would take up another half hour anyway. Class dismissed.”

 

A whole ten minutes early, wow.

 

Malissa, who looked just a little disappointed, joined Hunter in gathering up her possessions and waited for him as he put on his coat. 

 

“We should totally prank Jack.”

 

She said wryly, addressing the fact that he would not be expecting them for another fifteen minutes at least. 

 

“Sure, haha. Shutting a textbook loudly behind his head maybe?”

 

Hunter suggested, feeling a bit more mischievous than usual as Jack had been pestering him on messenger for the entire lecture. 

 

“Oh, you’re devious.”

 

Malissa responded, barking out a sharp laugh as the two made their way towards the library. Within a few minutes, they had spotted Jack who was completely entranced by whatever was displayed on his laptop screen. Malissa grabbed a hefty book off of a bookshelf a few aisle over, leaning back studiously and peering at its cover with a mock expression of poshness. Whispering, she read aloud. 

 

“A Complete Guide to Raising Litters, Kittens, and Lone Kits.”

 

Hunter blushed. It had come completely out of the blue, sure it had just been a coincidence that Malissa happened to grab a book on the topic of raising littluns but still, it had caught him off guard. 

 

“Uhh, you alright? You’re bright red.”

 

“Yeah, fine. Let me do the honors?”

 

Recovering quickly, Hunter nodded towards the book and was rewarded with a smile and the hefty volume. On the tips of his paw pads, Hunter snuck up behind Jack and opened the book. One of the pages rustled as he did so, and he pursed his lip. Jack, whose earbuds were in, did not seem to notice. 

 

With a rush of hair that collided with the back of the weasel’s headfur, Hunter slammed the book shut inches from the back of his head. 

 

“EE-YAH!”

 

Jack exclaimed, louder than Hunter had expected and elicited several dirty looks from students around him. Hunter grinned sheepishly, Malissa hiding in an adjacent aisle stuck her tongue out at him making it clear that she was intentionally hiding from the blame. 

 

“Do you mind?”

 

Jack said, turning around to look incredulously back at Hunter who was currently glancing around to see if any librarians or prefects had heard the disturbance. 

 

“Oh, not at all.”

 

Hunter responded, not looking at Jack before making sure the coast was clear. A few disgruntled students aside, the prank had been executed flawlessly. Jack massaged the back of his neck, appearing more shaken than he should have. 

 

“What, we get you that badly?”

 

Malissa chortled as she took a seat at the table, Hunter shortly following her example. 

 

“I’m looking at my grades man, not fun. I was already on edge when you pulled that trick on me.”

 

Jack shook his head, rolling his eyes before giving in and smiling ruefully at Hunter before saying.

 

“Who gave you that idea anyway? That was brilliant.”

 

“Oh, it’s all Malissa’s fault.”

 

Hunter stuck his tongue out at the otter, who put on an innocent expression and

raised a paw to her chest in mock offense. 

 

“Me? I’d never!”

 

She grinned, opening up her bookbag and taking her laptop out. As Hunter moved to do the same, Jack’s attention had already returned to the screen in front of him. Sounding distracted, he turned his head slightly towards Hunter without taking his eyes off of the monitor and asked.

 

“Hey, can I see your Calc notes for today? I really need to get cracking.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.”

 

Hunter replied, reaching into his bookbag once more. His paw pads felt something furry. He stopped, tensing for a moment as he rifled around the insides of the bag once more. Something furry and squishy. 

 

Perplexed, he hoisted his book bag onto the table and fully unzipped it revealing the mysterious object inside. Immediately, he wished he had not. 

 

Sitting nestled between his notes and textbooks, was a beige teddy bear. Not only did this stuffie look like something out of a little kit’s crib, but in its muzzle was a miniature pacifier and a name embroidered on its left breast.

 

“Buddy-kins.”

 

“What. Is that?”

 

Jack said flatly, his paws hovering in mid air over his keyboard as he stared at the plushie now on full display on the table. 

 

“I don… I don’t know.”

 

Hunter stuttered out, genuinely dumbfounded as to how the toy had managed to get its way into his bag. 

 

“Buddy-kins?”

 

Jack read, his voice rising in pitch as an expression of hearty amusement began to build up on his muzzle. Malissa looked as confused as Hunter felt. 

 

“Is he your comfort stuffie or something?”
 

Malissa asked, not appearing as entertained as Jack as her brown eyes looked into Hunter’s blue ones. Hunter shook his head, his muzzle half open as he picked the stuffed animal out of his bag and set it on the table. 

 

This was another mistake, as with the entire plush in view he now saw that around its waist appeared to be a plastic diaper. He felt his heart sink as he realized it was the same brand as the ones he had been caught staring at in the drug store last week. 

 

“Dude, do you have baby fever or something?”

 

Jack was now staring at the stuffie in wonder, his eyebrows furrowed as he attempted to comprehend what he was looking at. Hunter felt a sense of panic welling up, his chest tightening as he scrambled for an explanation. One came to him, and he quickly calmed himself down.

 

“I think I should take it to the lost and found.”

 

“Whaddya mean? He’s yours isn’t he?”

 

Jack now appeared completely flabbergasted. Hunter shook his head, his muzzle half open as he leaned into the genuine feeling of surprise he had felt upon discovering the infantilized teddy bear. 

 

“No man, it’s not mine. I… How did this end up in my bookbag?”

 

“You put it there dude.”

 

Jack remarked flatly. Hunter shook his head again, standing up his tail swishing in agitation as he picked up the stuffie. 

 

“Nah man, this is somebody else’s and they might be looking for him.”

 

Jack threw his paws up into the air in exasperation. 

 

“Dude I don’t care that much that you have an emotional support stuffie but you don’t have to lie to us. It’s okay!”

 

Hunter stopped, a pained grin spreading across his muzzle as he shook his head once more. 

“Uhhh, really. Not mine.”

 

Grasping the stuffie in one paw, he moved towards the staircase and descended down before heading to the front desk. The library, a giraffe who always appeared to be looking at whoever she was speaking to a little suspiciously, looked over the rims of her spectacles as she accepted the stuffie between two fingers. 

 

“I’ll see to it then.”
 

She said shortly, standing up before striding over to a bin where she gently deposited it. 

 

Now to face the music upstairs…

 

Hunter thought to himself, stopping by the water fountain for a drink as he did his best to compose himself for the barrage of questions he was sure his two friends would undoubtedly have in store for him.

[Panther Cub]

Ooooh, poor little fennec. Methinks that it's just going to reappear!

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Seven

Discovery

 

The semester wore on, and with the progression of time came the increasing difficulty of the subject matter that Hunter’s classes were covering. None of them even compared to the mounting complexity that his Calculus class was delving into, and the fox was beginning to wonder if he would be able to keep his head above water. 

 

After the teddy bear incident, Hunter had gone home to his apartment that night wondering whether he was having a stress break. 

 

It just… Doesn’t make sense…

 

He had sat down in front of his laptop to write a report, but had simply stared blankly at the word document for how long he was unsure. The crayon was one thing, that could be written off as a genuine if not comedic accident. But the growing affinity to watch little kid cartoons, the sudden curiosity towards diapers of all things, and now a stuffed animal dressed as a baby?

 

Hunter had taken in a shaky breath, his sense of panic bubbling up inside of him as his mind raced to figure out what was going on.

 

There’s a pattern… There has to be a pattern.

 

Hunter stood up and began to pace the length of his bedroom, his head lowered as he studied the floor with each pass. He knew he would have looked crazy if anyone was there to witness what he was doing. At this point, he was beyond caring. 

 

His first suspect was Jack messing with him, the infantilized stuffed animal being planted in his backpack reeked of the weasel’s sense of humor. 

 

But that’s just not possible…

 

He had not seen Jack all day, and he had snuck up behind him to boot. There was simply no possibility where he would have been distracted long enough for his friend to have snuck an item in. That, and Jack would have ended up telling him that he was the culprit behind the prank only to see Hunter’s face of disbelief. No, it was not him. 

 

Then who… What… How!?

 

Hunter began to mumble to himself, the stress of the ordeals mounting as his fatigue from the week’s classes vanished with the clarity and intensity of switching to problem-solving mode.

 

“What’s different… What’s different… What’s…”

 

Hunter stopped. 

 

Slowly, he turned around to face the door to his bedroom.

 

With deliberate steps, he strode the length of his bedroom in two strides and opened the door with shaking paws. 

 

Through the hallway, into the living, and there it was where he and his friends had left it. The box. 

 

Hunter’s nostrils flared as he breathed deeply, sensing his heartbeat in his chest as he shuffled awkwardly towards the box. A test, he had a test in mind. He would know something was sorely amiss if he could do what he could otherwise not do when others were around. 

 

Hunter hooked a claw under the lid of the box, and with a deft motion opened with relative ease. The lid opened on silent hinges, revealing its contents to him just as he had left it. 

 

The brooch sat, nestled in its lush blanket of purple staring up at him. Hunter reached forward, sensing the mysterious warmth radiating off of it even before his paw pads connected with the opal encrusted jewel. The crack in its central most opal was still there, as he had expected, but its colors appeared to have shifted. Illuminated only by the overhead light in the center of the room, with no sunlight bringing out the dazzling array of colors its hues appeared to be more subdued. 

 

That was how it appeared, until Hunter peered closely at the blemish on the large opal. He thought he had seen something moving, and its shape vaguely resembled that of a face. Hunter would have sworn that he saw an eye blinking up at him lost in the folds of rainbow colored crystal. 

 

“Shit.”

 

Hunter swore, his mind bringing him back to the origin of the brooch. It had likely belonged to ancient nobility, an artifact as priceless as it was ancient and it was messing with him. 

 

The fox knew it was crazy, knew how outlandish it would sound if he tried to explain it to anybody, but he also knew that it was true. Something told him that these strange occurrences in the past few weeks had been due to the influence of the brooch he held in his paw right now. 

 

With that knowledge, however, there came no relief of understanding as another, even bigger conundrum presented itself. He was somehow cursed, sure, but with what? What was the brooch doing to him and why? How? 

 

Questions swam in the fox’s mind even as his gut clenched. Suddenly feeling sick, he dropped the brooch back into its box and rushed into the bathroom. He felt ill, the realization that there were mystical forces outside of the realm of modern society’s understanding and the fact that he was at the center of one such force was too much. 

 

He felt helpless, angry even that he was stuck with this wretched affliction with nothing and no one to help him. 

 

If he tried to do anything about it that involved other people he would end up in front of a mental health specialist. Not an institution, not at his age or intelligence anyway he would not allow for that, but he would certainly become a dossier for the school counselor to add to her already mounting pile of overworked students. 

 

The only furson that might have believed him, let alone help him, had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. 

 

Leaving me this joy of a museum display piece…

 

Hunter thought grimly, his grip on the situation returning somewhat with the advent of his sense of sarcasm. He wiped his muzzle with a paw, letting out a disgusted groan as the stench of his late dinner wafted up from the toilet bowl. He promptly flushed, rinsing his paws and then lathering them in soap for good measure before gargling mouthwash. Twice. 

 

“Alright…”

 

He said aloud, letting out a breathy sigh as he stared at himself in the mirror. He had a plan, or at least the beginnings of one. If he was going to be on his own for this he was going to address it in the most logical way possible. 

 

Research was essential, and given the fact that he had access to a university’s worth of archives containing historical data he would have a good start. 

 

Hunter glanced down at the sink where his right paw leaned on it. He laughed once, ruefully, still talking to himself even though he knew it was the beginning of crazy. Whatever, it was calming him down.

 

“Heh… Guess I’m going to learn about your trade after all, Auntie Tare.”

 

Hunter clenched his jaw, looking up at the mirror resolutely before narrowing his eyes. 

 

He had a plan. He would find out what exactly he was dealing with and how to stop it. Hunter hoped, at least. 

 

Deciding that mulling it over would not do him any good, Hunter returned to his room and shut down his laptop. 

 

Then he thought better of it, realizing that if he spent the night mulling over the fact that magic, actual magic, existed in the universe he would actually end up coo-coo for cocoa puffs. 

 

Opening up a new tab, he decided that leaning into his unproductivity would probably be best accomplished with internet humor. An ad caught his attention displaying a stuffed animal, a feral red panda that appeared just the right size for him to hug. 

 

Well, makes sense given all the stuffed animal talk my phone picked up today… At least that's normal.

 

Hunter did not feel confident in his conviction, as thoughts of the brooch’s spell continued to creep through the back of his mind even as he fell into a fitful sleep that night. 

 

𓁁 𓆭 𓉠

 

Hunter’s thoughts were still brimming with questions as he got up early the next day and went straight for the library. He had sat down at a table, taken out his notebook, and written out every event that had happened that had felt out of the ordinary. 

Hesitating for a moment as he looked down at the blank page, he decided to go the simplest route and simply make a bullet list of the instances. 

Timeline Anomalies: 

- Acquire strange brooch

- Mysterious disappearance of aunt

- Sudden fixation with kid’s cartoons

- Odd dream about sleeping in a crib like a baby

- Pencil suddenly becoming a crayon along with test changing to being answered in crayon

- Weird feelings about diapers

- Baby stuffed animal appearing in backpack

 

Hunter stared at his list, noting one overarching similarity between all of them. 

 

They’re all… Just things that kits do-... Wait a minute…

 

He scratched at his paper, his eyes lighting up as he realized that he had forgotten one instance that he had actually written off as a fluke. 

 

- Unexpected bathroom emergency during class

 

He had almost wet himself, he had wet himself a little bit in his boxers but not enough for anyone other than him to have noticed. He began to write dates of all the occurrences, or at least his relative estimation of them. All of the occurrences appeared to be roughly one week apart, but they had also gotten gradually weirder and more noticeable not only to him but other people. 

 

He had even shared one of them, the kid’s cartoons, although that was not that strange to begin with. Nostalgia ran amok on a college campus, but nevertheless he knew which one of the occurrences was causing him the most confusion. 

 

Diapers…

 

It was embarrassing, but it was the only thing that he could not fully deny that he wanted to resist. On paper, by definition, due to public appearances he did not want to have something like that known. 

But still…

 

The more he thought about it, the more hugging a stuffed animal almost as big as him while wearing a diaper seemed to appeal to him. There seemed to be an ethereal bliss to it, something other-worldly that drew him into a state of euphoria he could not fully articulate to himself. 

 

The helplessness, the dependence, the safety that came with such a disposition. Not being able to get out of his crib, stuck only to idly hug his plushies and chew on whatever was available to entertain his muzzle. 

 

The prospect of not being able to do anything about needing to go, letting go into his diaper and feeling the warmth spread. Then the aftermath of having to stay in a soiled diaper until somebody decided to change him. 

 

Hunter realized he was staring blankly at his notebook. It had happened to him again, without realizing it he had sunken into daydreams that had been plaguing him for weeks now. A word bubbled up to the surface of his brain. 

 

Safe space.

 

It was. Whenever he was stressed out because of school or unsure of a problem, the allure of blissful ignorance and dependency lulled him into a stupor that his friends had begun to notice as well. It was not hard to get himself out of, but it was tricky to avoid. The waft of babyish fantasies caught him when he least expected it, and with incredible effectiveness. 

 

It’s a good thing I don’t have my car in the city if I’m this spacey.

 

Hunter sighed, closing his notebook and getting up from the table. Now the real 

work began, scouring the rows of computer terminals for an empty station that he could call his for the morning. 

 

It’s time to do some Egyptology research.

[Panther Cub]

Uh-oh... I'm thinking that when the next weekly anomaly happens... Hunter will find his underwear thicker than he remembered it being!

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Eight

DaringTare.com

 

Hunter leaned back in his chair, his fuzzy arms stretched high over his head as he let out a groan of exhaustion. He felt something crack pleasantly in his upper back, and he sighed as he relaxed once more. 

 

He had been at it for almost four hours, and was beginning to feel his stomach get squirmy from the lack of breakfast. 

 

And he had little to show for it, after having familiarized himself with the basics of Egypt mythology he had moved on to the modern study of Egyptology. After understanding Isis’s role in the resurrection of Osirus, he soon grew bored as he usually did during historical studies and turned his attention to recent archaeological discoveries. 

 

After scrolling through endless articles recounting the historical significance of the dead sea scrolls, he could find little else available online discussing anything other than the uncovered tomb of Tutankhamun. No brooches, no weird opal-encrusted ornaments, and certainly nothing related to suddenly having and vividly experiencing infantilizing fantasies. 

 

He had scoured the surface level of information available which had yielded the information he had expected: little. 

 

I need to look closer to home…

 

Ignoring his rumbling stomach, the fennec fox’s tail swept from side to side methodically, keeping a pace that kept him feeling steady as he looked up his aunt’s web page. 

 

Clearly she needed to hire somebody who knows a thing or two about web design…

 

Awkward, and colored a ghastly purple and orange that was an assault on the eyes, Hunter was barely able to figure out how to navigate his way around until something caught his eye. 

 

Amidst the menagerie of articles discussing the many activities and run-ins with the local authorities his aunt had had to contend with, one tab had stood out. One could send a message directly to his aunt if they made an account on her website. 

 

This might actually be it!

 

The website had been utilized by his aunt’s associates as well, meaning that there was a distinct chance that one of the site moderators would see his message and perhaps share some insight on the origin of his inheritance. 

 

After quickly scratching down his log-in information in his notebook, Hunter logged in and clicked on the direct message button.

 

A blank template with a subject appeared before him, causing him to hesitate for a moment. 

 

How do I ask this? That is, how much of the truth can I say?

 

Deciding that adopting the personality of an inquisitive historical buff, as that would be the easiest lie to follow knowing Malissa’s mannerisms, he started to draft the message.

 

To whom it may concern,

 

Hi there, I’m writing to you today to inquire about a piece of Egyptian history that I received as part of my inheritance from Auntie Tare. I am her nephew, and from what research I have been able to look into regarding it I have been able to find almost nothing. Would you happen to have any information on a copper and gold brooch, encrusted with opals with a singular, large, and slightly cracked opal in its center? If you reach out to me with further contact details, I would be able to pass along an attachment of a photo of it at a later date. Please, any insight into knowing more about this artifact would greatly help me achieve a sense of closure. 

 

Best,

 

Hunter

 

Hunter felt a pang of guilt twist around in his gut as he wrote the last sentence, thinking about how he really did not miss Auntie Tare at all having only met her a pawful of times as a kit. Still, desperate times require desperate measures, and he hoped that by adding a line mentioning that he was distraught over the situation might spur whoever was on the other end into hastier action. 

 

If he was going to get to the bottom of whatever was happening to him, he would have to find a way to connect with the people that knew his aunt. As he gathered his personal items and logged off the computer, he mulled over other ways of reaching out to them. He’d have to check Furbook, and sending out a few emails from his .edu email address to the university she worked for would not be a bad idea either. 

 

Hunter was just considering whether he should ask Malissa about how to go about talking to history professors when his phone buzzed. 

 

Lunch?

 

Speak of the devil.

 

It was Malissa, his thoughts racing; he recalled that they had planned on grabbing a bite around 1 P.M. that day. Glancing at his phone, his eyes widened as he saw that it was 2 minutes to one.

 

Shoot.

 

I’m 5 min away

 

With a kick in his step, Hunter pushed his way past the heavy library doors and half walked half ran to the local student pub. 

 

𓐤 𓃇 𓅶 

 

Hunter sipped at his beer, the foam frothing his upper lip as he listened intently on Jack’s latest anecdote. Having spent his Saturday morning intently watching the latest Esports match, Malissa was patiently waiting for an opportunity to change the subject while she tolerated the boys’ fascination with virtual sports. 

 

“So he’s barreling down mid, and he’s been getting progressively fatter and fatter the whole game.”

 

Hunter nodded, pleased at having a little bit of social lubricant inside of him accompanied by a conversation he was enjoying listening to. A minute later, Jack noticed too late that Malissa was appearing visibly bored. 

 

“Hey sorry, you’re not getting much out of this are you?”

 

Malissa coyly picked up a fry from their basket, deposited it into her muzzle, and after chewing for a moment she shook her head and responded. 

 

“No no, I am. I’m learning a lot.”

 

“Really?”

 

Looking perplexed, Jack tilted his head at her inquisitively. Malissa continued.

 

“Yes. I’m learning why you don’t have a girlfriend.”

 

Hunter snickered, but did not laugh too loudly at his friend. After all, he was single as well. 

 

“Aaanyway.”

 

Malissa said, drawing out the word while smiling at her own joke.

 

“What were you doing in the library this morning?”

 

Hunter swallowed, a prickle of sweat beginning to form at the back of his neck as he did his best not to choke in surprise. Raising an eyebrow, he did his best attempt at reciprocating her coyness.

 

“Oh? How’d you know I was at the library this morning?”

 

“I had a study group for Poly-Sci, I saw you pretty engrossed in whatever it was you were researching.”

 

So she doesn’t know what I was looking for.

 

Hunter sighed, deciding that a half truth would probably be the best course of action. He did not want to lie, but at the moment the little fennec did not know how to explain his dilemma to them; let alone whether he was ready to even tell them he was pretty sure that he was under an ancient Egyptian curse. 

 

“Calc. I’m still gunning for that A. I was doing practice problems all morning, which is why this beer and a conversation about digital heroes duking it out is a welcome respite.”

 

“Fair enough, fair enough.”

 

Malissa nodded, and Hunter thought he saw a begrudging respect in her eyes at the fact that he spent a day off of classes hitting the books. 

 

The reminder of what he had been doing that morning brought back a sense of anxious excitement when he thought about the message he had sent. He still wanted to do some googling to see if he could reach out to any of Auntie Tare’s colleagues, but the website would likely be his best bet. Deciding that now would be a better time than ever, he decided to breach the question he had to Malissa. 

 

“Speaking of classes…”

 

Jack groaned, placing his forehead on the surface of their table as he appeared to be visibly in pain. He grumbled under his breath as his two friends looked at him. 

 

“Can we please not talk about college classes during our lunchtime merry-making? I'm trying to get day-drunk here…”

 

Ignoring him, Malissa turned her attention back to Hunter. 

 

“What’s up?”

 

Hunter hesitated, then decided that his cards were in order.

 

“So, I kind of want to do Egypt for my final history project. I know it’s easy but it’s not exactly a class I’m trying to excel in. Would you be willing to pull a string and send a few emails to some professors if I send you a memo?”

 

Malissa looked at him for a moment, and for a second Hunter thought his ruse was up. But then she nodded and turned her attention back to Jack. 

 

“So did you ever play any real sports when you were a pup or were you perpetually glued to the screen like my little brothers?”

 

Hunter allowed the two to quip, silently celebrating the progress that that day had accomplished towards figuring out what he was up against. He relaxed, continuing to sip at his beverage and smiling as he listened to the increasingly petulant banter Malissa and Jack so enjoyed. 

 

The fennec took another drink, and then almost choked. He stared at the mug in front of them, the liquid having adopted a stark difference. His two friends did not notice him at first, and Hunter’s thoughts whirled as he felt himself sober up within an instant. 

 

“Guys.”

 

Jack and Malissa turned towards him, Hunter continued. 

 

“Try this.”

 

his mug forward, and both Jack and Malissa glanced between him and the offered mug.

 

“Not your brand?”

 

Jack asked, but Hunter was adamant.

 

“Try. This.”

 

Silently they obeyed, Jack taking a hesitant sip and then frowning profusely. He handed it over to Malissa, who also tried it and appeared as dumbfounded as the weasel next to her. 

 

“It’s… Apple juice?”

 

Malissa asked, looking at Hunter and tilted her head to the side. Hunter noted that her ears were splayed back against her head. 

 

“It is. But a second ago, it was beer. You saw its froth right? The bubbles? It looked like beer, it was beer.”

 

Hunter’s jaw was set, even as Jack and Malissa glanced at each in confusion. Jack spoke up, hesitantly.

 

“Are you… Are you sure you didn’t-”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

For a few seconds, the three sat there at an utter loss for words. Hunter, however, found that he felt a sense of relief mixed in with his trepidation. At last, somebody else was seeing events happening that had absolutely no logical reason to be.

 

He would have felt fully justified, were it not for one internal realization that prevented him from feeling fully gratified. 

 

The apple juice had tasted much more agreeably to his palette than the beer had, and he wanted to finish it.

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Nine

Radio Silence

 

Hunter hit the refresh key on his keyboard for what must have been the hundredth time that day. Two days had passed since he sent out his message and the tab open to the website had remained pinned in his browser throughout that entire time. Each time, he grew a little bit more anxious as he saw that his inbox remained empty. 

 

They’ll probably get around to answering this week… If they still check the website that is…

 

His mood feeling a little grim, Hunter typed out a new bullet point in his notes. 

 

- Romans did Roman things in Gaul currently known as France, Caesar took credit while writing two letters at the same time. 

 

He sighed, using his paw pad to mouse over on his track pad and open up a messenger program. Hunter already had a direct message from Jack waiting to be read. 

 

Bored in history class again?

 

Hunter smirked, responding in a few keystrokes. 

 

How’d you guess?

 

The fennec watched as a small text box popped up indicating that Jack was typing up a response. A second later, the message came. 

 

For the past six weeks you have always sent me a message at around 10:30 A.M. on Mondays. 

 

It made sense, after all History was his least favorite subject in school. It was not that he was not interested in what happened in the past, it was that he always found its presentation to be rather dry. What kind of entertaining personality Malissa saw in their professor was beyond him. Hunter typed out another text.

 

Figures. What are you currently procrastinating on?

 

Today’s class felt even more lugubrious after his voluntary Egyptology research that weekend. He felt like he had already paid his dues for the week to the history gods, whoever they may be. Hunter felt something nudge him in his side, glancing down he noted that Malissa had just lightly elbowed him. 

 

That’s odd… She normally doesn’t care when I’m clearly not paying attention.

 

His sour mood caused him to simply ignore her, as he returned his attention to what Jack had responded with. 

 

I’m on a 3 game win streak right now in Dota2, I’m on fire baby!

 

Hunter opened a new tab in his browser, staring blankly at a moment before deciding to click on the online shopping bookmark. As he waited for the page to load, he glanced up at the professor to maintain some semblance of looking like he was paying attention. 

 

After reading the blackboard’s notes for a minute, he glanced back on his computer monitor and felt his heart skip a beat. 

 

The product recommendations were flooded with various brands of diapers. Diapers for kits, puppies, kittens, and just about every species of fur-specific diaper available on the market. Hunter panicked, his mind racing as he realized that the people behind him and next to him might have already seen what was displayed. 

 

It took him only a few seconds to close the tab, tab back over to his notes, and actually start to pay attention to what he was doing. He even closed his messenger app, leaving Jack on read which knew he would later get asked about. 

 

Hunter could feel his face burning, as he pointedly kept his gaze straight forward trying his best to maintain his composure. 

 

Of course, not a single word that came out of the professor’s muzzle actually processed in the fennec’s mind. He was too busy trying to parse whether the brand advertisements were based on his recent search history or whether it was the curse’s doing. 

 

Shit… I think that was totally my fault for looking up pictures of diapers of all things… 

 

He typed out another bullet point, slyly peeking over at Malissa’s own notes to see whether they were relevant. She let him of course, rolling her eyes at him as she slid her monitor at an angle that would be easier for him to glean off of.

 

Okay, that at least confirms that she did not see what was on my monitor. 

 

Hunter’s mind went into overdrive as he thought up possible excuses: he had been previously shopping for a non-existence infant nephew, feigning ignorance and mild puzzlement, or even just saying that he had been doing research for a health class in the middle of an infant nursing section. 

 

He would be fine, he would figure out a way to wriggle out of any scrutiny if any came. The fennec bit his lower lip, realizing just how much energy he had been dedicating lately to pure and simple fabrication to keep the curse hidden from view. He already had had a few strange episodes, and Jack and Malissa had both been clueless as to why his beer had miraculously transformed into apple juice. Jack had even called him the non-alcholic-cider-Jesus which he had actually found amusing. 

 

The week had only just started, and Hunter had a needling suspicion that somehow with his discovery and steps taken to undo the curse, it was only going to get worse from there. 

 

𓁥 𓁢 𓐭

 

Hunter was staring off into space. They were at their usual haunt in the library, and the three had actually managed to keep themselves from reclining into casual conversation as they worked on assignments. 

 

The fennec’s mind, however, was far from focus on his schoolwork.

 

The memory of the brands of diapers seemed seared into the front of his mind, and with the late hours of the afternoon trickling in on the clock his resolve and focus had waned. 

 

It was the little characters on them, what’s what he found so endearing. The fact that they too were wearing little diapers of their own and seemed so happy and care-free. That was one of the big factors that he imagined that he would like about wearing, the fact that even a thing such as needing to go to the bathroom was something he would not have to worry about. 

 

Truly a state of being completely carefree and taken care of, even in the most intimate of needs.

 

And what would it feel like to nurse from a bottle in a diaper? Nothing to worry about except the sweet taste of warm milk. 

 

The yellow fox smiled to himself, his eyelids half closed staring aimlessly at the monitor in front of him. It sounded nice, honestly. Complete comfort lost in his own world and in time the warmth of a release he was barely even aware of-.

Hunter snapped out of his reverie. He knew where that would lead him, even now he could feel his bladder burning and needing to be released. As Hunter excused himself from the study table and made his way over to the bathroom, he cursed himself for letting his guard down. 

 

Another minute of that and I would have probably peed all over a chair in the library… Now how would that look?

 

Really feeling the need to go now, he quickly darted into a stall and undid his belt buckle, sliding down his jeans before he froze. 

 

He had expected his boxer shorts, fresh from the laundry he had picked up that morning. But even as his heart began to beat faster, he knew almost immediately what he was looking at. 

 

Instead of regular underwear, he was looking at what appeared to be an adult-sized pull-up. And not just any kind, pastel yellows, pinks, and blues decorated it with almost exactly the same diapered babyfurs he had been reminiscing about mere seconds earlier. He even recognized the little baby kangaroo he thought had been the most adorable of the bunch balancing on his tail. 

 

His bladder’s needs momentarily forgotten, Hunter poked at the undergarment as if it were a coiled snake. How had he not noticed that he was wearing it? When had he started to wear it? Did it just magically appear instead of his boxers while he was day-dreaming? 

 

The comfort factor was the second item he noticed, and it caused his stomach to flip upside down. He had to admit it, even as the sense of helplessness and anger at the bothersome nature of the curse, he liked wearing it. It comforted him somewhat, knowing that if he had started to wet himself back at the table it would have likely been not too much trouble at all. 

 

Deciding that now would be the best time for inspection of any, he pulled his pants down until they were around his ankles and examined the pullup from behind. There was a tape just above his tail, allowing the absorbent article of clothing to hug his midsection quite comfortably. Unlike a diaper, this was the only tape present. Hunter wondered whether it would be visible while he was wearing pants, and hoped that nothing had seemed particularly strange about his buttocks. 

 

Not that Malissa or Jack would have any reason to be looking there anyway…

 

Hunter thought to himself, probing with a paw at his padded front and giving it a light squeeze. It was thicker than he had anticipated, nothing like the cloth of his normal underwear. The fox realized that this should be obvious enough, given how it was designed to hold an accident but still it mystified him just how much cushioning there was between him and the outside world. 

 

It’s like I’m wearing a pillow.

 

Hunter realized that he should best dispose of the pullup once he was sure nobody else was in the bathroom and go commando for the rest of the day. He would make sure that his belt buckle and zipper were properly done up until he got home for the evening. 

 

As the fox added this point to the growing list of annoyances that came with his curse, Hunter slipped his thumbs underneath the elastic waistband around his hips and tugged downwards. 

 

The pullup did not move. 

 

Hunter frowned, and he tried against this time with greater force. After a third try, it dawned on him why it was not moving. 

 

I can’t take it off! It’s actually making me use it before I take it off! 

 

Sighing, Hunter grimaced to himself as he turned around and sat down on the toilet bowl’s lid. He concentrated, grumbling to himself at whatever forces were present causing him to wet his underwear like nothing more than a 2-year-old fox kit.

It took longer than he would have wished, but finally he was able to coax his unwilling bladder to release despite his mind knowing that he was still wearing clothes. 

 

Hunter sighed, the relief finally came as he felt the front of the pullup grow and expand to accommodate the urine it received. Glibly, he glanced down and watched the process unfold as the front began mildly discolored, filling out until it adopted a present round shape. It was visually apparent that the pullup had been used, but to his surprise he could tell just by feeling it on the outside that it had not reached its saturation point.

 

What kind of adult pullup even is this? Do they even sell these commercially?

 

Hunter wondered, as he stood up and tried once more to slip the pullup off. 

 

It continued to stubbornly remain where it was, hugging his hips and now with an additional weight around the front. Just as Hunter was beginning to consider his options, he heard the door to the bathroom open. 

 

“Hunter? Dude are you alright?”

 

Shit!

 

It was Jack, Hunter had completely forgotten about his friends and realized with a jolt that he had spent way too long for something as mundane as a quick pee break. Freezing, he thought for a moment before responding. He groaned, mentally preparing himself to fabricate yet another lie.

 

“Yeah… I think lunch didn’t agree with me… I’ll be out in a few…”

 

He tried sounding as bedraggled yet casual as he could, hoping that Jack would simply accept the answer and leave him alone. To his relief, the weasel’s short attention span came in handy as he replied back.

 

“Kay, figured something like that happened. Malissa just worries too much.”

Hunter heard the door shut, and he let out a sigh of relief. He realized that he had been hunching his shoulders, and with a release of breath he slumped backwards against the toilet sink. 

 

“How on earth am I going to get this over and done with…”

 

He spoke aloud to himself, and then almost leaped out of his stall in shock as he heard a voice from his left respond. 

 

“You and me both, kid. You and me both.”

 

Hunter yelped, and he heard someone chuckling between his words. 

 

“Tacos for me, I’m still waiting for the ball to drop.”

 

Deciding that in that moment idle small talk about unresponsive internal plumbing was by far worse than anything he was dealing with now, Hunter hastily pulled up his pants and buckled them on again. After a quick check in the mirror to ensure nothing was peaking, he made his way outside. 

 

Despite his best efforts, Hunter could not dismiss the odd, pleasant sense of self-consciousness he felt knowing that he was now walking around the library in a soggy pull-up. 

 

And to add to it, he was finding the sensation remarkably pleasant.

[Panther Cub]

Aww, the poor little piddle-pup had an accident! Hopefully he'll be changed soon, maybe into something a liiiiiiitle more absorbent.

:3

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Ten

The Letter

 

Hunter spent the rest of the day walking around with little else on his mind other than the fact that he was in public with a wet pullup underneath his jeans. He only had one more class that day, a 6:00 P.M. coding course where he would be expected to keep his eyes glued on the monitor in front of him along with everyone else.

 

Still, keeping the thoughts at bay at just how much he was enjoying feeling the soft, absorbent material rubbing against him was a  herculean challenge. With every slight shift of his body weight, he could feel the soaked material gently rubbing against the most sensitive part of his body. 

 

Although he was not exactly fully aroused by the sensation, as a part of him continued to remind him that he was walking around with a sample of his own urine he was currently unable to dispose of, it did give him an odd sense of comfort. 

 

It’s like, a feeling of safety? Is that what I’m feeling?

 

His ruminations on the topic made it so that class period carried on to be wholly unproductive, and he left the classroom after shouldering his backpack cursing himself that he did not bring a bottle of water with him.

 

I think I need to soak this thing to capacity if I want to take it off, what other explanation could there be as to why it won’t budge? Unless this thing starts to magically clean itself I’ll hopefully be able to slip it off by this evening…

 

The thought of the item of clothing staying on him perpetually as a result of magical self-cleaning weighed down on him, and Hunter cursed himself for even thinking of such a thing. He hoped that his own inner thoughts had no tangible effect on the curse, but he was in no position to put that reality as out of the question. 

 

After all, I can’t seem to shake these diaper fantasies out of my head to begin with. How much of this is actually me and how much of this is the curse? I’m losing my mind here…

 

Deciding that further deliberation would yield nothing good other than edging closer to the brink of insanity, Hunter decided to act in as rational a manner as he could muster at the moment. 

 

Striding over to a drinking fountain a flow beneath the classroom he departed, he leaned forward and drank for almost a minute on end. When at last he felt that he could not stomach another mouthful of water, he gasped for air and wiped his muzzle on a sleeve. Droplets of water lingered on his whiskers, but he ignored them for the moment as he made his way over to the nearest restroom. 

 

Spotting a gender neutral bathroom around the corner, Hunter hurriedly walked into a stall and shut the door behind him. The fennec slowed his breathing, his tail, which had previously been swishing in a rather agitated manner to and fro, still at last as he did his best to calm himself down. 

 

This time it was a little easier, but not by much, it took Hunter a few minutes to properly calm himself down whilst imagining the sounds of trickling water until he was able to release into the pullup once more. 

 

Sighing as he felt the stream begin to pool in his already soggy underpants, Hunter felt himself marveling once more at the rather pleasant sensation of having the warmth of his accident radiate back against his fur. It was now a snug fit, and Hunter could feel the bulk of the pullup pressing up against him as well as the pressure exerted on it through his jeans. 

 

As he finished up, allowing the last few dribbles to seep their way into the absorbent material, he undid his belt buckle and assessed the damage. The front of the pullup was now visibly discolored, as well as somewhat deformed into a significantly more plump shape. Twisting around, Hunter saw to his satisfaction that the accident had made its way up the back, making it so that the pullup appeared to be more or less fully saturated. 

Now for the big reveal…

 

Hunter thought to himself, as he once more curled his thumbs underneath the waistband of his diaper and gave it a sharp tug. 

 

To the fennec fox’s immense relief, the pullup slid right off without any resistance. Hunter leaned back until his back collided with the stall door behind him, and let out a big sigh of relief. 

 

“Thank… Goodness…”

 

He had been waiting for the pullup to remain stubbornly in place, forcing him to have to waddle out to his apartment to figure out an alternative solution. At least this way, he would be able to go commando as planned. It was only a few blocks to his apartment, and he would be back in his underwear within fifteen minutes. 

 

And just in time too, that coding assignment is due tomorrow at noon…

 

He thought to himself, stepping out of the pullup and redoing the front of his pants. Feeling lighter than he had before, he stepped out of the stall with the pullup in his paws and headed over to the wet paper towel big. 

 

Hunter was just about to toss the sodden item in when the door opened. Hunter froze, panicking for a second and then cursing himself for not simply finishing what he was doing. He looked up, and saw a petit brown mouse looking at him curiously. Her eyes drifted over to the pullup, and she tilted her head curiously at it. 

 

Hunter regained his senses and dropped the pullup into the bin, his face turning red with a furious blush as he turned to wash his paws in the sink. 

 

He was done. Done with everything. He had had it with the fact that he could not catch a single break no matter how on guard he remained to keep this ridiculous curse at bay. 

 

The mouse appeared to pick up on Hunter’s upset emotions, as she squeaked out an apology.

 

“My bad! I guess I should have knocked first… You know, my cousin is incontinent it’s nothing to be asha-”

 

Hunter was already outside of the bathroom, his paws still wet from the faucet water which he hamboned hastily on his thighs as he stormed off in the direction of the exit. He probably should have at least acknowledged the mouse’s words, and he knew he would feel guilty about it later but at the moment he was too overcome with the unfairness of it all. 

 

It was only after a block of walking and exposure to the fresh air did he realize just how childish he was acting. Was it the curse? Or was it genuine frustration? Hunter brought a paw up to the bridge of his nose and squeezed it, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts.

 

No.

 

He decided.

 

This is very much as anyone in my current helpless situation would react with frustration. That’s normal. You’re normal. You’re fine.

 

As he did his best to calm himself down, he rounded the corner and leapt up the stairs leading to the apartment lobby. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a brown box by the mailbox. Walking over, he read the address line and to his surprise saw his name on it. 

 

Might be cookies from Mom or something…

 

He thought to himself, hoisting the box underneath his arm and grunting with effort as it was significantly heavier than he had expected. With some effort, he managed to hoist it up a few flights of stairs before fumbling for his keys and letting himself into his apartment. 

 

His underwear situation currently on the back burner, the fennec let out a grunt of effort as he deposited the cardboard box on his coffee table. It took him less than a minute to find an exacto-knife, and before long he opened the lid of the box to reveal a mountain of paperwork.

 

Great… The law office got back to us…

 

Deciding that he’d skim the highlights that evening, Hunter started to unload stack after stack of binders and folders until only one final piece remained at the moment. 

 

The fox glanced at it, noting that it was addressed directly to him in cursive writing. A manilla envelope, likely containing little more than a single piece of paper. Untying the string that kept it closed, he reached inside and took out a folded letter.

 

Hunter’s heart skipped a beat as he noticed the signature at the bottom when he unfolded it. 

 

It’s from Aunt Tare!

 

His breath catching in his throat, his eyes slid upwards as he started to read. 

 

Dear nephew,

 

If you are reading this letter, I have likely suffered an incident that has forced me to leave this life for the second or go into hiding for such a long period that the corrupt forces that rule what we call ‘countries’ have become convinced that I am dead. As it was written in my will that no one read this letter other than you, I assure you it is far more likely that I have been forced to go into hiding. Regardless of the circumstances, it is at a time such as this I give you the one artifact that may be the most valuable Egyptian remnant left to the mortals that stride this Earth today. 

 

This is the brooch that the Goddess Isis bestowed upon Osirus himself upon his resurrection, which enabled him to continue living as an immortal even after his death. It is an item that gives eternal youth, though its effects may have somewhat diminished since it sustained the damage to the central opal that you might have noticed. I shall be frank with you, Hunter, in that since I have no children of my own you are the only continuation of my legacy. I am far too old to have my age preserved by this precious gem, but you are at an age where to live in the peak of your prime perpetually or even for a very long time may benefit you significantly. 

 

I shall also admit that you are somewhat of an experiment. Until now no mortal hand has touched this brooch since the age of the pharaohs, so what effects it may have on you are somewhat unknown. Fear not, however, as if you are receiving this letter in the event of me going into hiding I will eventually make my way back to you to see what miraculous powers this item has bestowed on you. 

 

As you may have noticed as well, the box will remain stubbornly shut to all who attempt to open it other than you. This is for their protection, as the magical abilities of this artifact are to be reserved for one person only. You are a fur of the desert like myself, which is why it is only appropriate that the newest pharoah be one of our kind. Use this gift wisely, Hunter, and tell no one. There are many on this Earth who would not think twice about taking your life if it meant that theirs would span into centuries forward. 

 

I am looking forward to meeting you, my dear child, as I recall you were quite the charming little kit when I first met you. I hope you have retained some of that charm into your young adult years. 

 

With love,

 

Auntie Tare

 

Hunter reread the letter three times in a row before placing the letter down on his coffee table. His legs felt shaky, shuffling over to his couch he collapsed down on it and allowed his head to loll backwards against a cushion. 

 

It made sense. It finally made sense to him why what was happening was happening. Hunter had already accepted the existence of magic in his universe, however science and reason aligned with it he could not make heads or tails of but at least he knew that there must be some kind of logic that this supernatural force abided by.

 

Still, the most important piece of information he had been wondering about had been presented to him in written form. It was a talisman of youth, of course it was. Except now because of whatever damage had happened to the brooch instead of preserving his youth it was causing him to return to it. Just why it was trying to make him believe, and for some reason even enjoy, the speculations of behaving just like a little kit was still beyond him. 

 

But at least now he had a better idea of what was happening. 

 

Hunter thought that he might have felt relieved at such an enlightenment, but as he thought about it further he realized that it only increased his sense of doom. His only hope would now be if Auntie Tare was actually alive and trying to make her way to him, and knowing her incredible knack at being hard to find let alone contact he would not know until she found him. 

 

From his research the previous Saturday, Hunter knew that according to Egyptian mythology the god Osirus had been slain by Set and his body parts scattered across the red desert. It was only through the effort of his wife Isis and her son Horus that they were able to bring him back together again. 

 

But, if what was said about this brooch was true, did it really belong to an actual Egyptian god? Did they really exist?

 

Hunter tried not to think about it too much, as the fact that he had written evidence from another fur who knew about the existence of supernatural forces was already enough of a revelation to him. 

 

She knew. She gave that thing to me knowing it was likely faulty… I guess it’s not her fault but still it kind of is… What am I going to do?

 

The fennec was at a complete loss, stuck now waiting for the return of an individual that very well might already be dead. Either way, it was his only hope at reversing the curse, and even then it was not guaranteed that his aunt would know how. 

 

He sighed, reaching for his report and turning on his television. At that moment he wanted nothing more than to throw on an episode of Blue’s Clues, and let his mind clear of his adult worries. Hunter wanted nothing more at that moment than to return to a simpler state of mind.

[Panther Cub]

Uh-oh. I think him wanting to return to a simpler state of mind is what's going to trigger him finding himself in more padding...

[MrSiltStrider]

I've been enjoying this story quite a bit Although was it meant to be moved to the Complete Stories section? It doesn't seem like it's finished.

[Panther Cub]

On 5/24/2023 at 12:48 AM, MrSiltStrider said:

I've been enjoying this story quite a bit Although was it meant to be moved to the Complete Stories section? It doesn't seem like it's finished.

Agreed, this seems a bit odd.

[Horatio Husky]

14 hours ago, Panther Cub said:

Agreed, this seems a bit odd.

Were I able to move it, I would.

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Eleven

Study Room

 

Hunter woke up the next morning feeling as if he had never gone to sleep in the first place. After he had turned off his television and slunk his way into his bedroom, his thoughts had been obsessively revising the letter that he had read from his late aunt. The fennec realized now that his aunt being alive and somehow making her way towards him might be the only hope of getting any answers to his current predicament. 

 

But would she? Seeing how she had been an almost non-existent presence in his life, would he be a priority of hers at all? Sure, he had an artifact that she would very likely want to reacquire if she got out of whatever situation she was currently in, but that was still assuming that she was alive and able to escape. 

 

Hunter’s rumination drifted to what his life might be in the future if he was unable to find any kind of solution. His feelings were still mixed about the clear diaper obsession he was starting to develop. Given his experience with the locked pullup he was rather surprised just how comfortable it had felt. That sense of comfort, however, was very much offset by his sense of anxiety at being discovered. 

 

That seemed to be his chief concern, despite his inner feelings on the subject matter being somewhat mixed he was very much sure that discovery of his problem was not something he would want. 

 

Strangers were one thing, he had no idea who that furson in the bathroom had been. Even though they were on the same campus, finding her again was pretty unlikely. He had never seen her in any of his classes, and assumed that she was an upperclassman. 

 

But Jack? Malissa? He could already imagine their reactions. Malissa would of course be somewhat understanding, kind as she was. Jack would probably have a field day with the comedic material he could come up with, and be constantly shushed by Malissa. 

 

Forced sympathy and pity would be the only products he would receive from his friends, if even they were capable of figuring out how to support him in such a strange predicament. They would think he was crazy if he just tried to explain it, even with the strange episode with the magical beer into apple juice episode. 

 

Malissa had brought that up only once after it had happened, and they simply chalked it up to being drunker than they had originally thought. 

 

I need to keep this down low… As much as I can until I can get an answer…

 

Hunter forced himself out of bed, and stumbled over to his desk where his laptop had been left charging for the night. After logging in to wrap up an assignment, he reflexively opened up the Egyptology website to see if he had any messages. 

 

He had expected the same empty inbox that he had seen all the other dozen times that he had checked, but he blinked in astonishment as he saw that he had a message pending. 

 

Clicking on it, his heart pounding in his chest he saw a single line of text in response to his original message. 

 

3:00 P.M. in study room 402.

 

That’s in the library… and during my Calc class to boot…

 

Hunter bit his lip, his mind racing as he tried to figure this out. Somehow, whoever was on the other end was near enough to have access to his university. Perhaps they had waited to respond to his message until they had managed to arrive nearby. 

 

Why on earth do they want to meet with me?

 

The fennec’s sense of suspicion rose as he considered whether he should ditch his class for this strange meeting. It would undoubtedly bite him in the tail in the long run, seeing how his math grade hung in the balance after his last test score. 

 

Continuously getting random magical episodes of baby stuff is probably going to make things equally if not more impossible anyway.

 

It was decided, he would come up with some excuse that he hoped Malissa’s keen sense of intuition would not see through. Jack would buy it, ditching class was something he would happily relate to after all, especially math. 

 

Pity nobody else in the class was doing as well as Hunter, he was sure that between Malissa’s and Jack’s notes that day he would get only about 80% of what was covered that day. Hunter sighed, running a paw through his headfur as he felt his sense of stress increase the more he thought about it. 

 

Meeting someone completely anonymous in a university library study room to deal with a curse that nobody except one other person would believe. 

 

What could possibly go wrong…

 

𓁥 𓁢 𓐭

 

Hunter was sitting in the study room and checking the time on his phone every thirty seconds. He had arrived in study room 402 a whole half hour early, as he was keen to gain some clarity if any on the brooch’s curse. 

 

The room was completely quiet save for the soft hum of the central air unit running through a vent in the ceiling. He could practically hear his own heartbeat in the stillness, a fact he was not too thrilled about given the rate it was pumping away at. 

 

He had almost abandoned the idea all together, and was wondering whether he should cut his losses and arrive at his class late. Better than nothing at all, after all. 

 

The fennec fox checked his phone once more, biting his lip as his tail swished agitatedly from side to side, brushing against the wooden seat of his chair. He could have spent the time working on an assignment on his laptop, but his nerves were far too active for him to be able to concentrate on school. 

 

The oddity of the situation was not lost upon him, seeing how he imagined such anonymous meetings only happened with criminals online. Was he going to get in trouble? Was this brooch Aunt Tare left him even hers to give?

 

Maybe that would be a good thing…

 

If he had the brooch taken away from him, it could be possible that it would take the curse with it. Not that he wanted anybody else to have to deal with his current problems, but whatever Egyptian artifacts collectors did was their business. He knew his aunt had made more than a few enemies in the past, and getting associated with them because of his relation to her was not something he needed right now. 

 

I’d chuck it in the gutter at this point…

 

Hunter heard the doorknob turn, and his heart skipped a beat. As the door opened, he was greeted by the sight of an relatively unassuming honey badger wearing a hoodie and jeans. 

 

“Your library security’s pretty scuffed, mate. All I had to do was run to the photocopy store and my student ID worked just fine.”

 

The badger had an Australian accent, clearly hailing from a continent other than the one that his species was indigenous to. His eyes were a deep brown, and he appeared the image of friendly as he dropped his backpack next to the table and pulled out a chair. 

 

It took a second for Hunter to find his voice, after which he managed to stutter out a question. 

 

“Who- Who are you?”

 

“Now that is an interesting question.”

 

The badger responded, turning the chair around a hundred and eighty degrees before sitting himself down with a sigh and leaning his fuzzy forearms on the chair back. 

 

He lowered his head, resting them on his arms as he studied Hunter for a few seconds. The two stared at each other, Hunter wondering whether he was about to get interrogated or whether the meeting was some sort of trapped. He was half right, as the badger leaned back and glanced up at the ceiling as he queried. 

 

“So, tell me Hunter. When was the last time you talked with your dear old Auntie Tare?”

 

Hunter looked down at the table in front of him, spreading his paws out palms facing him as he thought for a moment. Seeing how he might have wanted answers as badly as the badger he decided to push aside his concerns for the moment and cooperate. 

 

“Christmas party a long time ago, I was still a kid. I pretty much know nothing about her other than the fact that she would occasionally send some money to my college fund.”

 

The badger nodded morosely, his ear flicking as the only indication of impatience as he prompted once more. 

 

“But recently my sources tell me she has reached out to you through a law firm following her recent disappearance. Can you tell me-”

 

“Wait, you don’t know if she’s alive? What happened to her, I thought you’d have some answers for me.”

 

The badger raised a single finger up to stymie Hunter’s barrage of questions. Hunter fell silent, realizing that he had interrupted the honey badger. The badger spoke, his accent coming out as more distinct as he responded. 

 

“Our sources have not identified what happened to Auntie Tare, no. But if there’s one thing we know it's that that old cat wouldn’t have gone out without a fight. There’s been no fight, no evidence of it anyway. I’m just here to see if there might be anything you know that could help us find her whereabouts?”

 

Hunter stared at him, realizing that he did not know whether this badger’s intentions with his aunt were good or bad. 

 

“Who are you?”

 

The fennec asked, setting his jaw stubbornly as he maintained eye contact with the badger. Rolling his eyes, the badger said nothing but reached into his pocket. Pulling out a wallet, he unsheathed his claws before rustling through a mixture of bank notes and receipts. 

 

“Ere.” 

 

He said, placing a photograph flat on the table and pushing it towards the little fox. 

 

“I’m her strongman.”

 

Hunter looked down, and saw in the image a collection of furs including his Aunt and the badger sitting in front of him. The badger was holding what appeared to be a shotgun, a wicked grin on his face while his Aunt was looking away from the photographer as she was busy scrutinizing a hieroglyph covered wall. 

 

“So…”

 

Hunter started, his eyes still fixed on the photograph.
 

“You worked with the archaeologists as hired protection?”
 

“So to speak…”

 

Replied the badger, his response dismissive as he reached forward to retrieve the photograph. 

 

“Let’s try this again.”

 

The badger continued, as he saw that Hunter’s nerves had been somewhat assuaged.

 

“Tell me what you know about your Aunt.”

 

Hunter hesitated, and then decided to bite the bullet. He started with when he first acquired the artifact, and then admitted to the strange happenings. As the badger’s eyebrows became raised at the absurdity of his claims, he hastily followed up by recounting the letter his Aunt had left him confirming the nature of the ancient brooch. 

 

The badger listened intently throughout the entire explanation. As Hunter ran out of steam, the mammal stood up and paced once from one end of the room the other.

 

“Not what I was expecting…”

 

He muttered to himself, before turning back to the fox and clearing his throat. 

 

“Thank you, Hunter. I’ll get back to you if we need any more information.”

 

The badger turned to leave, but Hunter bolted upright from his chair as he exclaimed.

 

“Wait! Please, I need some kind of solution here. I’ve been cursed for crying out loud, you can’t just leave me like this!”

 

The badger sighed once more, rolling his eyes and muttering something under his breath. His back still turned, he looked up at the ceiling once more as he spoke.

 

“Look mate, whatever it is that’s got your knickers in a twist is not going to get resolved until we can locate your dear Aunt Tare, capish? Sit tight for now.”

 

Aghast, Hunter watched in disbelief as the badger exited the room after hoisting up the backpack he had come in with. 

 

Slowly, as if not to disturb something in the room, Hunter sat himself back down onto his chair and stared dumbly at the table in front of him. 

 

That’s it? I just told him I got a letter from my Aunt and a brooch and he leaves?

 

Hunter realized that it might not have been in the badger’s interest to help him to begin with. After all, he had only asked about Aunt Tare and nothing else. Even the brooch did not appear to interest him. Whether the badger was missing his paycheck or actually more concerned about his aunt Hunter was not sure of. 

 

One thing remained clear, however. Whatever happened to him and the continual influence of the curse, it all depended on whether that badger and whatever other members of her team were working on finding her managed to locate her. 

 

Hunter grimaced, quickly pushing himself back from the table and making his way over to the door.

 

He needed to pee, and he already knew what was likely to happen if he tried to hold it for much longer.

[Horatio Husky]

Chapter Twelve

Sleepless Nights

 

After Hunter had somewhat recovered from the shock of his conversation with the strange badger, he realized that they had not even exchanged names. 

 

So that was a real mercenary… Straight to the point, no pleasantries, and immediately taking charge of the conversation. 

 

The fennec let out a breath, steadying himself as he thought about what to do next. He decided that even though he was in the compromising position he was in, he would not allow himself to get pushed around. After washing his paws in the bathroom sink, Hunter made his way back to his laptop and opened it up to begin to compose a message. Logging into the website, he replied to the message stating that he was going to need a little bit more information if the badger wanted to work together. 

 

He also mentioned allowing the badger to examine the brooch and read his aunt’s letter, hoping that maybe if the badger tried to pull a fast one he might be rid of the brooch altogether. 

 

After he sent the message, he was surprised to find that only a minute later he had gotten a response. This came as a bit of a shock, seeing how he had gotten nothing but dead air since his first attempt at establishing contact. 

 

Call me Ishmael. 

 

Hunter snorted, rolling his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. The badger had answered his question, but with a quote from Moby Dick. Regardless, he would humor the badger if he wished to remain anonymous. Wanting to take advantage of ‘Ishamel’s’ apparent availability, he responded quickly. 

 

Why so cryptic? You realize I don’t care beyond getting rid of this brooch’s curse, right?

 

Again he waited, and found that another response was readily forthcoming. 

 

We’ll talk again. Check this site for when and where. I’m confident your dear old Auntie Tare will show up. Regards.

 

Hunter knew that whatever other message he might send would not get a response, given how determined the badger seemed to keep him blind on what the badger was planning. He sent a simple confirmation, and then pushed himself back from the study table and began to gather his things. 

 

How he wished at that moment to be in a play with nothing else on his mind than childish cartoons and perhaps something warm in his stomach. Managing his infantile desires, academia, friends, and whatever game he was now playing with this odd honey badger was getting to be a bit too much. 

 

Alcohol. I need alcohol. 

 

Opening his phone, he checked the time and found that class was over for both Malissa and Jack. He sent a message, starting with a beer emoji and a quote from Fenrir’s Day Off. 

 

He was not surprised when his two college friends leaped at the chance to do some weeknight drinking. 

 

𓁥 𓁢 𓐭

 

Hunter murmured softly in his sleep, his right around curled around the large stuffed panda plushie that had miraculously appeared on his bed a few days ago. It had been two weeks since his last meeting with the badger, and the curse had taken an interesting turn since then. 

 

Throughout his apartment, as if left behind by some kind of diaper-toting fairy, he was finding items that seemed to only further reflect his growing infantile desires. At first it was a pacifier, which he had begrudgingly put in his muzzle as his curiosity got the better of him. 

 

It had been comforting, more so than Hunter would have imagined and he found that he could not bring himself to dispose of the item. Next came the stuffed animals, which started to accumulate in such volume that the poor fennec was running out of closet space to hide them all in when his friends arrived for board games and movie nights. 

 

Lastly, however, after a lull in the magical appearances of kit paraphernalia, came the guard rails on his bed. They were wooden, and of surprisingly high quality painted with a white sheen of paint. These, of all the mysterious occurrences, had surprised Hunter the most. He had never imagined having such an installation on his bed, as he had not noticed something like this existed.

 

It made sense to him, kids tended to fall out of bed sometimes and something like this would offer quite a valid solution to it. As he was rather determined in stymying the spell’s effects for as long as he could, Hunter attempted to dismantle the rails but found to his even greater surprise that it was locked in place. 

 

Two padlocks, one on either side of the rail glistened as if polished new. They were heart-shaped, which stirred something inside of Hunter he now recognized as the increasing attraction he was forming to such infantile accommodations. 

 

Well… Looks like nobody’s allowed in my bedroom until I get some bolt cutters or something… 

 

He had thought to himself, resigning to the fact that he would be sleeping with a little extra security around his pile of blankets, pillows, and ever growing collection of plushies. 

 

The stuffed animals he was allowed to some degree, as the pacifier in his bedside drawer remained untouched after he had chastised himself for giving into the spell’s wants. 

 

Now, in the middle of the night however, he found himself waking up to a dampness that too was growing a bit too familiar. 

 

“Oh shit…”

 

Muttering to himself, his right paw fumbled for the switch to turn on his bedside lamp. Squinting as the light assaulted his irises, Hunter looked down in dismay to see the distinctive damp spot on the top of his covers. 

 

This had been the fifth night in the row he had had to do laundry first thing in the morning, and he was beginning to get tired of it. He knew what the curse was trying to coax him into doing, yet the hassle of waking up in the night or morning with this point of stress was beginning to get to him. 

 

So what if I start wearing diapers to bed… Beats having to constantly do my washing before getting a night’s sleep… I need a temporary solution…

 

Deciding that he would grab his spare blanket to get through the rest of the night, Hunter groggily pushed himself over the railing on his bedside and made his way to his wardrobe. 

 

He opened the top drawer, expecting to see his underwear but froze with his paw still on the handle. 

 

His underwear was nowhere to be found. There were not even pull ups waiting for him this time. They were, as bluntly as he could put it, stacks of diapers depicting the cutesy designs he had liked most during his internet browsing. 

 

The brooch had truly outdone itself this time, as he found that the cartoon baby animals sporting their own voluptuous diapers were precisely those that stirred those strange, nostalgic feelings of desire he had experienced. 

 

Despite his shock, accustomed as he was to finding the unexpected at this point, he could not help but feel a sense of dry humor bubbling up in the back of his mind. 

 

Saving my bank account at least from having to buy diapers at the incontinence store… These will have to be done I guess…

 

Now aware, Hunter hoisted his sodden bed clothes into a pile along with his blanket and mattress cover and threw them into the wash. He’d turn it on in the morning, but for now he was going to have to get as much sleep as he could for the next day. It was a review day for another upcoming Calc exam, and he would only have this last chance to catch up on what he needed to know for it if he wanted to score a high mark. 

 

Tonight my grades are more important…

 

Hesitantly, and feeling his cheeks redden despite being the only fur in his apartment, Hunter turned around to face his wardrobe once more. 

 

It’s just for leaks… It’ll help me concentrate if I can get a full night’s sleep…

 

Hunter knew he was making up excuses. Part of him desperately wanted to wear one of the diapers not just for the night, but during the day as well. The knowledge that no matter where he was if he had to go, he would be taken care of was a security that he had been imagining for months. His fantasies had apparently caught up to him, and the curse was offering him an easy way to experience it.

 

He held one of the diapers in his paws, sleep forgotten as he examined it in fascination. He noted the leak guards, soft material that appeared semi-elastic in composition which he figured would aid in the apparel’s intended purpose: keeping him dry.

 

Hunter bit his lower lip, unfolding the diaper and listening to its crinkle. It had a plastic outer cover, something he figured would not easily be concealed underneath his day clothes. These would have to remain for night-time wear, temporarily, as he continuously reminded himself. He hoped to get more pull-ups from the curse if he started to have issues during the day.

 

The fennec hung his head, his feelings of excitement abating somewhat as he realized that this was a tipping point in his current predicament. Sure, he wanted to wear the diapers as they brought forth a sense of nostalgia that did not even shine a light to something like watching kid’s shows. But still, he felt as if an essential part of his adulthood had just been taken away from him.

 

Hopefully he would retain his daytime continence long enough for him to figure out a way to break the spell. He silently cursed at the brooch, vowing that he would sell it on Craig’s List the moment he confirmed that getting rid of it would break the enchantment. Mentally prepared, he turned back to his bed and laid the diaper out flat on its surface. 

 

He would be sleeping on his mattress with no cover with just his blanket over himself, as well as his stuffed animals.

 

At least now I can sleep without worrying about waking up with a disaster between my legs…

 

Awkwardly, Hunter lay himself on top of the unfolded diaper and positioned himself as best as he could in the middle of it. Bringing up the front over himself, he pulled the tabs towards the middle and taped himself up. The tape job was nothing to scoff at, but at least it held relatively snuggly. 

 

At that point, he could care less as he checked the clock on his bedside. He only had a few more hours of shuteye before his next class, and he was determined to get as much as he could. Having suffered many sleepless nights in high school, the ability to sleep relatively normally in college was one that he tried his best to take advantage of. 

 

Eyelids heavy, the fox turned off his bedside light and reached for one of his stuffed animals to hug. A plush fennec, that appeared shockingly similar to him. The curse must have been developing a sense of humor at that point, though whether or not there was any sentience to the brooch was completely beyond him.

 

So much I don’t know… So much… I want to…

 

Hunter’s might slowly calmed, and he fell sound asleep in his brand new pair of underwear. Whether he would wake up with a little bit more weight between his legs, was the last of his worries as his bedroom soon became filled with the soft sound of his snores.

[Panther Cub]

This is the cutest curse ever! I can't wait to see what happens next!

OH! Will a highchair appear in his kitchen? A baby bottle in his fridge? Jars of pureed kit food?