He was in a Corporis, but it was much smaller than the one he just left. He lifted his head and looked down, seeing his body. He was so small. Everything about him. And he was nude! But he didn’t seem to care. I mean, what was there to be ashamed about? He knew that at one point he was shy about it, or it was taboo (What did that word even mean?), but he couldn’t understand why.
He sat up, shook his head and looked at the skunk he saw just moments before. He did not know why but he was so happy to see her. He let out a squeak of excitement that was not his 28 year olds’ sound. He covered his muzzle with his paws and looked at her curiously.
“Well you didn’t expect to sound like an adult now did you? Your Animi is only three,” She said, laughing at his sudden exclamation. She walked over and lifted him out of the Corporis. He felt exhilarated being carried. It was something he hasn’t had in ages. He clung to the skunk as if for dear life as she carried him over to the monitor.
“See? There ya are, all safe and sound.” She held him in front of the monitor where he saw his adult self. His body, still snuggly fit inside the Corporis, now had a glass casing around it. He was in stasis now.
She carried him away and out of the growing room. He continued to hold onto her, his tail tucked as fear began to set in again. He couldn’t understand why he was scared, he just was. He tucked his head into her neck as she carried him to a changing room.
She set him down on his feet. He began to wobble a bit as he attempted to gain his balance. She held onto his paws as he stumbled a bit until figuring out how to walk. Why was this difficult? He was just doing it …
“Silly cub, three whole years old and still learning to walk,” She teased him, letting go of his paws once he was able to stand still.
“Why is all of this so tough? I don’t understand,” He spoke in that high pitched toddler voice.
“Your adult mind is having trouble acclimating to the brain of a toddler. You see, the Animi is young. Very young. It as a kit cannot fathom the way adulthood works yet. If you continue to think like an adult, you’ll regain your mind back as it is. That is a choice that is entirely up to you. If you think like a cub, you will continue to go on without understanding things you normally would. When you transition back to your adult form, you will regain all of that knowledge, regardless of the mindset you chose on this end for your Animi.” She explained delicately.
His ears perked up. He understood that at least.
“Now, we are in a bit of a predicament here. Seeing as you chose this age in particular, we are unsure if your Animi is trained yet. Until your body processes liquids and solids, we will be unsure if it will be able to hold it in, as it were,” She kneeled down to speak to him.
“What do you mean?” Murreki asked, knowing that his adult form would understand this.
“We need to feed your new body. It has nothing in it and is purely running off of your excitement right now, or adrenaline. It in fact is very tired from just going through its’ first growth. However once you have processed it, we don’t know if your body is, hmm. Potty trained yet.”
Murreki understood this bit.
“So until then, we’ll have you keep you in these.” She picked out a diaper from the table to her right. Murreki’s heart skipped a beat. He was rather excited about this and was surprised at himself he didn’t expect this before. Without hesitation, he lifted his arms up and smiled up at the skunk.
“Aww, eager little kit,” She picked him up and laid him down on the softest material his body ever felt. She unfolded the diaper in front of him, every tug making the thing crinkle loudly. It was odd now. Murreki was feeling a sense of tingling. His adult form would be getting aroused by such a situation. His cub form, however, did not fathom this yet so he instead found himself squirming and giggling like an idiot.
“Silly boy!” She patted his head and slid it underneath him, dusting his front with good-smelling powder and pulled the diaper up between his legs. She pressed a paw on his chest to keep him from moving and he looked beyond it. He saw small colourful stars and circles adorning the tape panel on the front of the diaper. For some reason he was excited by seeing this and wagged his tail. She quickly taped it on him and tugged at it to fit it properly.
“All set! Now we just have to get some clothes for you and we can go get you some food.” She picked him up, which was amazing seeing the floor from this height. He had to be at least fifty feet in the air! Or so his young mind rationalized it thus. She held him in front of a rack of clothing that would fit him.
“Anything you want, sweetie.” She pet a paw through his ears and hair, making him churr involuntarily. He stared at his options. He could have a shirt and overalls, which seemed nice. He also saw a cool looking pair of shorts, and also a onesie. There was a blue sleeper there, but it was rather warm in the building. He also saw tank-tops and skirts, longing for that, but unable to explain why. He too, remembered that being seen as different, going around as a boy in girl clothes. He didn’t know why people cared. Instead he settled on the tan corduroy overalls with a baby blue t-shirt.
The nice skunk lady happily dressed him and set him down on the floor, patting at his bottom which made his diaper rustle underneath his overalls. He squirmed in place and giggled, wondering if he should have liked that as much as he did. He held up his paw for her and she grabbed it, and they walked out of the room together.
It was amazing, this place. Murreki had no clue what any of the silly silver and white contraptions did that were around him, but they were making neat beeping noises which was nifty, he thought!
She walked him into a cafeteria where there were a lot of people. Now that he knew he was supposed to be hungry, he indeed started feeling that way. He felt as if he’d never eaten before. He had forgotten this body has never yet tasted food or drink of any kind.
The skunk chose a booth by the window and sat him in it. He was much too short to see above it and she smiled at his predicament, going to fetch a booster seat for him. He stood up whilst she walked off and looked out the window. He knew he had seen outside before, but seeing it from a cub’s eyes, it was entirely different.
The amazing colours of the trees, there was this white stuff on the ground too! Murreki knew he wanted to play in that. It looked so cold, but oh so fun. His tail was wagging just imagining what it felt like. There was a group out on the grounds and they all sat around this weird thing that was wisping and wafting, waving too. It looked spectacular. Murreki thought so hard for the word. ‘Hot’ was the first thing that came to mind. But who would call something so amazing ‘hot’? The name was on the tip of his tongue when he was jolted back to reality by the skunk lady, she had his booster seat for him.
“Miss, whats dat – er, that?” Murreki pointed at the odd wispy something that was ‘hot’.
“Silly, that’s fire. You know that,” She answered.
“Fire! I knew that.” He nodded with certainty.
He sat down in his booster seat and she strapped him into it so he wouldn’t fall out.
“T-thank you, Miss.” He spoke while looking up at her. She seemed so tall from down here.
“You’re welcome sweetie. And you can call me Aleira.” The skunk lady told him.
“Areera?” Murreki made an attempt.
“Ah-leer-ah” She corrected him.
“Ah-leer-ah” He mimic’d
“Good boy!” She grinned, ruffling his headfur. This felt fantastic as well. He couldn’t grasp why, but his mind told him this was praise. And praise was good!
“Stay right here, I’ll be back” And she walked off. Murreki looked around, now less mobile, being strapped into a seat. He instead decided to enjoy the feeling of being in diapers again. Again? This was his first time … well, in a while. Right?
It was so soft and puffy. It pushed his legs apart and everything. It cradled his private area, which was a silly thing to call that, he thought. He moved around in place, making his diapers rustle and crinkle noisily. Without knowing why, he giggled at this. He kept it up, entertaining himself, until Aleira came back holding a tray of bite-size food, three glasses of water, and an empty sippy cup.
She opened the sippy cup and poured the entire glass of water into it, sealed the cup and handed this to him first. “Drink all of this first, your new body needs hydration.”
“Dat—That, um. Is a silly word.” Murreki informed her.
“Drink up, sweetie.” Aleira told him.
He started drinking. As the water washed over his mouth, it was like nothing he ever felt in his life. It was as if he had never had anything like this before. The feeling was so refreshing, so wonderful. He guzzled it down needily, wondering how he wasn’t feeling so parched before. He drank and drank until the cup was empty.
“M-more, please.” Murreki desperately requested.
Aleira filled up another sippy cup full for him, and within seconds, it too was gone. He panted, in need of a breath now.
“Take it easy, your new body just needed hydration. This feeling should pass now,” Aleira explained.
“Is it gonna be the same way when I eat?” Murreki asked, unsure of where he found the word ‘eat’
“At first, yes. Just go slow and try not to choke yourself,” She reached over and pet through his hair.
He looked down and saw what looked like amazing … eats? Bright colourful objects that looked great to, well. Eat!
He picked up a red one. He put it into his muzzle and began chewing. It burst with flavour and liquid. He barely needed to chew it before swallowing. The urge to rapidly put as many ‘eats’ as he could into his mouth was back again, same as it had been for the water. Doing as he was told, he resisted this urge.
“That’s watermelon!” She told him.
“I like wa’ermelon!” He slurred and continued eating with gusto.
He next went to a yellow circular disk and started chewing on that. It, too, was delicious. He chowed down on all of them and looked up, waiting for explanation.
“That’s banana,” She smiled at him, enjoying watching him learn.
“Ba’a’a!” he repeated with a silly smile.
He went to the last thing on his plate. It was weird looking. A tan glop of something with weird shaped somethings floating in it. He knew he’d had this before, but when?
“Whats this stuff?” Murreki poked at it with a claw.
“That’s macaroni and cheese; Go on, try it, it’s really good!” She encouraged him.
He put two fingers in and grabbed onto a macaroni and put it in his muzzle. The taste was amazing, it had to have been his first time eating macaroni and cheese. He sucked on his fingers and licked his maw.
“Here, this will make it easier, silly.” She held up a spoon and instructed him on its use by digging it into the mac and cheese, catching some in the spoon and lifted it up to his maw.
“Open up!” She bumped his maw with the tip of the spoon. He giggled and opened wide; she sat the spoon in and he slurped the macaroni off of it.
Murreki bounced in his booster seat and chewed, “Its sooo good!” he exclaimed, lifting his paws forward eagerly for the object known as ‘spoon’.
She handed it to him and he attempted to do what she just did. It was very tough. With his left paw, he dug the spoon in all the way to the bottom of the bowl and picked up far too much mac and cheese. It dripped down on the tray as he tried to guide it to his muzzle.
“Not too much sweetie.” Aleira used a finger to push some macaroni off to make the spoon lighter. He again guided it towards his maw, but it simply fell down.
“Try your other paw,” She took the spoon from the left, and offered it to the right. He did the same thing, but this time it was much easier. He began to feed himself the macaroni and cheese, continuing to resist the urge to eat rapidly. Meanwhile Aleira was refilling his sippycup with the last of the water. Once Murreki finished eating, he drank the remainder in the cup and sat back in the booster seat, panting softly.
“Now relax a bit, your body needs to get used to its first time digesting,” She said as she stood up and unbuckled him. She picked him up and laid his head on her shoulder, her paw holding him just under his diaper. For some reason this position made him feel entirely and completely like his current body suggested. He never felt more like a toddler than now, when he was being held and protected by the skunk carrying him.
He felt something he innately knew as ‘trust’, as he wrapped an arm around her neck and clung, knowing he need not to. He closed his eyes, feeling her walk, every step she took. He could hear her comforting breath, and with his ear pressed on her neck, he could hear her pulse. This was the most comforting of all. He noticed the rhythm of it, the chatter of the people in the background were beginning to die away. He was lost in the moment, and soon began to fall asleep.
