Richard -- Toddler -- Workplace

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Richard had no idea what had changed when he woke up, everything seemed the same as always. Exception could be given to the bed and room where he stirred to life, but still, everything else seemed normal, he could see nothing out of the ordinary on his or his neighbor's body and just went ahead with his breakfast as soon as he had confirmed this much.

Neither did Richard discover anything out of the ordinary when going to work, the whole trip was banal to the point of absurdity, considering the circumstances. The worrying man just knew that something must have changed as a consequence of the relic's doing, but he just didn't know what it could be.

As soon as Richard walked into the office where he worked however, he saw what was different. It was almost relieving to finally get to know what it was, but mostly; it was humiliating when he finally understood what was different.

Where the desk used to be, that desk which Richard had typed away at for so many days on end before, was now a colorful mat of soft squishy plastic puzzle pieces. All of it was penned in by an exceedingly low fence that wouldn't keep anyone of adult size confined. This little place held many little colorful objects, many little toys for Richard to grab and throw and smash and play with.

The sight was a humiliating one, putting aside the fact that it was rather incomprehensible what type of work that one was intended to accomplish in that little playpen, Richard simply didn't want to step foot inside the enclosure. Instead he opted to stand next to the water-cooler all day, still in his business friendly outfit. At least he could still look like a normal, functioning, member of society away from that little play-place.

"What happened to the office baby?" Was one set of words that was eventually heard throughout the office, one which Richard became quite intent to eavesdrop on the answers to.

"I don't know, but isn't the office just a whole lot less cute in his absence?" Came one of the answers.

"Yeah, we best hope he returns soon enough or this workplace is going to be in dire lack of adorableness," agreed one of the participants in that conversation.

Richard just couldn't believe his ears, what good was cuteness, or whatever they were talking about, if nothing got done. Throwing caution to the wind, he decided to lock himself inside the bathroom for the rest of the day, intent on not showing himself in as embarrassing a position as his new job demanded.

Richard walked home that day with determined steps, he knew who had leveled the change and who to complain to. However, he barely got a foot through that apartment door his neighbor owned, before he passed out and fell back to sleep. Unable to make himself heard before the next day arrived.