Published: March 16th 2022, 12:00:06 pm
Serena's head was still spinning from whatever it was that had happened to her when Alecia had shown her that book, making her blink, feeling her mouth giggle whenever she caught sight of something cute at the corner of her vision, her immediate reaction being to want to toddle off to investigate it. Thankfully, she was able to shake it off enough to find another shape for Alecia, but there was still a fogginess in her mind afterwards, one that definitely hadn't been there before, that she could only pray would go away if they managed to escape this place.
Just like being stuck using baby talk... She wrinkled her nose, reaching up to touch her throat, not wanting to speak too loudly, so that the cheerleader would overhear, but trying to whisper something, hoping that, maybe, she'd be able to squeak out something coherent.
It didn't work, the nonsense syllable that dribbled out of her mouth sending a shiver down her spine. It seemed like Alecia was making some progress, at least, with figuring out the puzzles in this place... Serena felt a pang of jealousy at that. This was supposed to be her thing! She ought to have figured out what the shapes were for first, and where she could find the right ones! But she knew she should be grateful anything was happening at all... Looking down at herself, at her ridiculous outfit, especially the full diaper peeking out from beneath her dress, thinking of how little she'd contributed so far herself...
She shook her head, not wanting to continue down that train of thought, or speculate on what was going to happen to them if they didn't escape before the time was up. She needed to keep going, to find something on her own, something just as good as the shapes Alecia had found, if not better... And she wanted to get away from the books, her eyes constantly being drawn back to them, her hands itching to open one up, despite whatever it was the first one she'd looked at had done to her.... Or perhaps thanks to that.
She opened her mouth to tell Alecia to keep going, that she was going to go back to doing her own thing, blushing as she remembered the curse just in time and stopped herself. Alecia was already looking over the pile of books anyway, not paying any attention to her, so she slunk off silently, waddling away, looking over everything else left in the room that might hold a clue.
They needed to get Julianne free, which meant finding a combination... Unfortunately, that didn't help her much, because numbers could be hidden anywhere! After what had happened with the magnets, she wasn't prepared to go anywhere near the fridge again yet, and she couldn't tell if all the pots and pans scattered around were set dressing or something more, so the sink seemed to be her best bet.
Of course, to look at the sink itself would require her to drag the stool all the way over, and that sounded exhausting... Luckily, the cupboard door underneath it didn't appear too intimidating, and, indeed, she was able to pull it open easily.
As soon as she did, however, she almost wished she hadn't. She nibbled her bottom lip anxiously as she stared inside, seeing only darkness there, a stark contrast to the bright, cheery lighting of the rest of the room. She felt like there should be a couple light beams making their way inside, but, no, there was nothing. It might as well have been midnight under there, on a moonless night, in the middle of the woods, far away from any streetlights...
And yet... Something told her that this was important, that it wasn't just there as set dressing, or something unsettling for anyone who happened to take a peek inside... Who knew? This might be even better than the shapes!
Maybe, if her brain wasn't feeling so foggy, she would have waited for a moment, thought it through, looked around for something to help her see into the void... But she couldn't resist, couldn't help herself, and reached right in, grasping for whatever was there, whatever secrets were awaiting her...
It was... softer... there than she expected, and thicker, as if she had plunged her hands into the innards of a giant teddy bear. She frowned, burrowing in deeper, wondering if the clue was further in, and she had to keep going... And then, she heard a click, felt something clamp around her wrists.
She gasped, yanking her hands back, and falling flat on her bottom yet again, this time somehow even more humiliating because she'd lost her balance completely, rather than just not thinking about what would happen if she sat in her current state. She groaned, wiggling in place, tears filling her eyes, even before she finally remembered what had made her pull back so quickly and looked down at her hands.
Her hands were now securely stuffed inside a pair of pink bondage mittens, the color matching her dress exactly. The fabric was soft, yes, but also stiff, keeping her from being able to close her fingers at all, or do anything with them. They were fastened in place with a band of metal around her wrists, one that she could see a beginning or end to, much less a keyhole, or any other way of removing. She whimpered, rubbing one of her mittens against the band on the opposite wrist, trying in vain to push them off.
This wasn't fair! She was the one who had wanted to come to this place, and now, not only was Alecia solving everything, Serena was the one who had messed her diaper, Serena was the one who had lost the ability to talk like a grown-up, Serena was the one who had gotten her hands trapped in these dumb mittens! Pouting, Serena thumped her hands against the floor, the padding of the mittens keeping her from even making much of a sound, prompting her to keep going, stomping her feet instead, the frustration that had been building up inside of her finally pouring out of her in the only way it could.
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Alecia knelt back down, something telling her that there had to be at least one more shape, which meant, unfortunately, diving back in. As much as she felt like she needed some fresh air, or to take a little time to recover, there wasn't much opportunity for either in this place...
Much as she hated to admit it, Serena had done a good job, finding the second shape that Alecia had missed, and a part of Alecia hoped she'd stick around and help her out. There were an awful lot of books here, after all, and all she had to go on to remember which she'd searched already was the pictures on the covers, many of which were quite similar... The titles looked different, yet that hardly mattered when Alecia couldn't remember how to read any of them.
By the time she glanced up, however, Serena was already gone. That was fine, she told herself sulkily. She didn't want to smell her stinky diaper anymore anyway! She'd do this all on her own!
Her determination did nothing to lessen the number of books in the room, though. She stumbled back to her feet, sighing as she looked around at all of the scattered piles. She'd found one of the shapes in this one already... Was there really going to be another one so close? Should she try another part of the room?
Or was she supposed to think that way, to make her waste time? With so many picture books around, it might be more clever to put two of them close to each other... Or did she only think that because of what the ones she'd already looked at had done to her brain? What was this place doing to her?!
It was almost on a whim that she picked up the next book, barely even paying attention as she thumbed through it, until, out of nowhere, she saw it. "Purple diamond!" she gasped, going back a couple pages, her mind not processing it until she was already past it. "Purple diamond!" she repeated, jumping in place proudly when she confirmed that she had, indeed, seen it there.
She set the book down next to the other two they'd found shapes in, grinning. That hadn't been so hard, now had it? Now, if they were right about the shapes being connected to the gate, all they had to do was get Julianne free, and they could all get out... Or maybe they could try the stool again? If they put it on something other than the star, and maybe piled some books on there with it....
No! She couldn't just abandon Julianne like that! She already felt bad for her friend, still up there in the high chair, being force fed... Alecia had gotten only a momentary taste of that, and it had been bad enough, her bladder aching for relief thanks to it. She couldn't leave Julianne stuck that way! Unless... If they were really running out of time, and they couldn't work out how to free her, well...
But, no, that wasn't going to happen. She was going to find out the combination to Julianne's lock, and that would be that!
Or would it? There were still an awful lot of books, and they'd gotten very lucky to find those three shapes so quickly... Was it luck, or was she not done after all? Could there be more to this puzzle? What if there were more shapes, and she had to determine which ones were the right ones? It was possible... She hoped it wasn't, especially if it turned out that she'd have to read the books they were in to find the correct shapes, since she knew she couldn't do that, and would have to turn to Serena, or Julianne, for help...
She should look a little more, just to be safe. If she found any more shapes, then she could decide what to do. She'd done so well at finding the third shape, it couldn't be that bad to find a couple more, if they were there!
She squatted down, snatching up another book at random, trusting her luck to help her out yet again, opening it up, and immediately having second thoughts... And then none whatsoever as she got lost in the pretty pictures one more time, drooling and giggling... And doing something else, too.
That was what snapped her out of it, feeling the padding of her diaper grow warm and heavy, though it took another few moments for her to process that she was the cause for it, that she was releasing her bladder, wetting her pants... She frowned, pawing at the diaper, knowing that she should stop, that there was a way to put an end to the waterfall of urine cascading out of her...
But she couldn't remember how to do that anymore, either. She recalled that she used to know that, and nothing more... Not how to stop herself from peeing her Pampers, not how to hold it to keep it from happening in the first place, not even the sensations she'd felt to tell her that she needed to go... It was like every bit of her potty training had been erased from her brain, along with her ability to read, and God only knew what else.
She dropped the book, pushing it away from her with her sneaker-clad foot, suddenly feeling much more sympathetic towards Serena and her stinky plight... After all, she now had no idea when, or if, that might happen to her, too... Her stomach churned, thinking of how much trouble her parents had potty training Rebecca, hoping that she wasn't going to have to go through all of that again now herself...
"No more books," she declared with a shudder. They had three shapes... If they were wrong, well, they could cross that bridge when they came to it. For now, she needed to do something else to help them get out of here, not wanting to find out what happened if they failed.
"Fifteen minutes," the woman's voice boomed out again, "and already, two of my babies have used their diapies. If you'd rather just stay, feel free to lie down and take a nap whenever you like," she cackled. "Or, if either of you want a change, just let me know, dears."
Fifteen minutes... That meant they only had... Alecia scrunched up her face, trying desperately to work out the math on her own, and failing miserably. They didn't have as much time as they had before, she knew that much. And, as much as she would hate to use one of their hints for a change before Serena did, she also knew she wouldn't mind getting out of this soaked, saggy diaper that was on full display beneath her crop top, and that the woman had now alerted everyone to. She didn't dare glance over and see if Serena was looking at her, or if the girl had assumed it was Julianne who had used her diaper, but all it would take was one peek to make it obvious how far she'd fallen in those fifteen minutes...
What should Alecia do?
Ask for a change?
Try to convince Serena to stand on the shapes with the stool?
Check the sink itself?
Try to open the fridge?
Look at the pots and pans?
Or ask for a hint?
And when Serena is done with her tantrum, what should she do?
Ask for a change?
Try standing on the shapes?
Check the sink itself?
Try to open the fridge?
Look at the pots and pans?
Or ask for a hint?
The Roll Report:
Serena rolled just shy of breaking her baby talk curse, then didn't roll well enough to be able to see anything on her own under the sink (which would have been very difficult, to be fair). Her next roll determined that she thought there was probably something she should look for under the sink, though I don't want to reveal whether that roll was good or bad. She then rolled too low to resist checking it out, with no source of light or anything to help her out, and thus triggered the mitten trap.
Alecia immediately rolled a nat. 20 to find the final book, which I decided meant that she didn't even need to roll to be able to successfully find the shape in it as well. When rolling to see if she would decide to check to see if there were any more, however, she rolled poorly, and, thanks to being cursed by the books in the last chapter, she kept going, then rolled even worse to resist the curse in the next book she picked up, making the curse deepen. I let her roll once more to determine if she would keep going even after that, or at least whether it would be an option on her poll, but that time, she rolled pretty well, so she finally knew to stop.