Victoria is Dealt the Daycare Special

Victoria let herself relax in the cool mist of the pod. Maybe this wasn’t too weird after all. She was always a bit weary about tinkertech, the many idiosyncrasies and mishaps involved giving her plenty of headaches over the years. But this was nice. Nice enough that she didn’t mind the tight confines of the pod. This was probably what being in a womb was like, she idly thought. The machines beeped and shook a couple times at that, but she ignored it, letting out a contented sigh.

Today would be a good day if it went anything like this process did. She’d spent a majority of her off hours this week getting Kenzie and her posse’s ducks in a row. While Victoria really didn’t mind helping them out, the idea of spending a day without children sounded pretty good to her.

The mist was hardening now, if it could even be called that. The best comparison she could come up with was if water froze without being cold, or if someone had been lightly painting her in that liquid latex. Victoria squirmed a bit, trying to get comfortable. Should it be taking this long? The beeping hadn’t actually stopped now that she thought about it and the allure of the mist had worn off. There wasn’t enough room for her to really tell what was happening, and the mist was still thick enough that she couldn’t even see the screens beyond a light red flashing. Not good. It might have just been her panic and paranoia playing tricks on her, but she swore the mist was getting heavier, thicker. It clung to her torso like a second skin. No, not her torso, her chest. Chest and collarbone and shoulders until all she could feel was how tight it all was, like someone had stuffed her into spandex and taken a vacuum seal to it. Some deep breaths kept her from spiraling. There was no reason to panic, it would end soon and she’d get this all sorted out with Sveta if something was actually amiss. Everything would be okay, she just had to ride this out.

Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the tightening was taking place as well on her body. Although her hips and rear felt…soft? The hard seat of the pod was no longer digging into her tailbone, that was for sure, but it was almost as if she was sitting on a pillow or a blanket now. Well, at least one part of this was comfortable. Something was materializing at her elbows, which was weird considering she’d brought a sleeveless rash guard. More deep breaths. She really needed this to be over. But the machine wasn’t done with her just yet, more of that tightening tinker mist squeezing her feet and ankles and getting between each toe. Victoria wiggles her toes only to be met with some sort of numbed resistance between them. Breathe in. Breathe out. She closed her eyes, letting the machine finish adding something to her midsection and then showering her scalp in a jet stream of high pressured vapor.

Finally, the machine dinged like she was a Thanksgiving Turkey.

“GUPPY PROTOCOL COMPLETE!” a robotic and cheery voice chimed. Wait, what? “GUPPY ATTENDANTS ARE ON THEIR WAY TO ASSIST! HAVE A WET AND WONDERFUL DAY!”

Before Victoria could ask what the hell that meant, the pod opened, the heat and humidity meeting her in a hurry. There was an abundance of steam and when she attempted to climb out of the machine her arms wouldn’t cooperate. Her top was way too tight, the material more stressed than a violin string. The steam prevented her from making out much but the first thing she noticed were the water wings on her arms. She blinked a few times as if they’d disappear, but no, they there were. The water wings were big and bright teal, and she could make out mermaids with what looked like sequin tails designed all over them. The steam was starting to clear and Sveta was already standing over her in the machine.

“Victoria!” she shouted. “They said there was a malfunction with your pod and OH MY GOD!”

Sveta’s face went from concern to outright shock before settling into a subtle twitch at the corners of her mouth. She turned around immediately, arms spread wide. At first, Victoria thought she was just concealing a laugh at her predicament, but then Victoria saw the queue of people waiting to use the pods. There were a dozen or so people, no doubt drawn to the loud beeping and release of steam as if she were an alien released from its deep slumber. Water wings were embarrassing, sure, but there were worse things. Besides, it wasn’t like Sveta had the curves to really stop anyone from seeing Victoria, although she did appreciate the effort. Her suit was just as cute as expected too, although Victoria would prefer to see a better angle of it than Sveta’s ass in her face. Victoria nudged the back of Sveta’s thigh.

“Sveta, I love you to ****, but if you could stop being such a lovable hero for five seconds and help me out of here then that’d be great.”

“Not until we get you a towel to cover up with.”

“I can handle a little embarrassment. Lift me up and get these things off of me.”

Sveta looked back at her, purposefully making eye contact with Victoria in the same way guys hitting on her had to make a conscious effort not to stare at her chest. Maybe she swing that way after all? Finally Sveta relented, turning back around and grabbing Victoria’s hands. With a heave and a ho, Victoria was lifted out of the machine and straight into a nightmare. Everyone’s eyes, including the park worker brought over to try and quell the crowd were staring at her crotch. When she followed their gaze, she went pale as a ghost.

“Sveta! Why am I wearing a diaper?!” Victoria shouted. If anyone hadn’t been paying attention to he, they were now. Hell, she couldn’t even blame them really. Because there she stood, a grown woman with nothing but a diaper covering her crotch and ass. It was just as colorful as her water wings, with those same damn sequin mermaids all over it. Victoria tried to cover up with her hands only to realize her arms were having such a hard time not because of the floaties, but because her rashguard had been painted on so tight that she couldn’t bring her arms down to her sides. She must’ve looked ridiculous, flailing her arms around uselessly to try and fail to cover her diaper-clad bottom. Thankfully, Sveta was there as always. Her best friend quickly made sure they were back-to-back, with Victoria facing the pod. Or at least as back-to-back as they could be considering an inflatable inner tube was squeezed tight around Victoria’s midsection. She didn’t need to look down to know it matched the rest of this humiliating ensemble.

“I thought you knew and didn’t care!” Sveta hissed.

“Didn’t care?! Who in the world wouldn’t care about being a goddamn diaper in public?” Or a top this tiny, she nearly added. That damn tinker pod would be the only way to ever get this monstrosity on her, and not just because of the ugly teal color and mermaids. Victoria doubted she’d ever be able to get something this tight over her head. Oh god, how was she ever going to get this thing off of her?! Being pressed right up against the pod gave her an up close view of how ridiculous this top made her chest look. Not only did the top hit right underneath her boobs like tube top, but the material was so tight her nips were like highbeams. The only thing worse than the pokies was how she was now sporting an awful case of uni-boob.

Still, none of it was as mortifying as the diaper. Every twist and turn of her legs to try and stop people from seeing only rubbed her thighs together and made the diaper crinkle loudly. All the twisting and turning kept making her hair slap her in the face as well, and it was only after the third time that she realizes her blonde hair had been done up in pigtails with big teal ribbons.

Victoria really contemplated just using her flight and escaping into the bright blue sky. But that would leave Sveta here all alone to deal with the fallout and it didn’t take a brainiac in the crowd to figure out who the familiar looking blonde woman that just flew away was. Besides, the ticket attendant had been pretty clear about how powers can muck up the tinkertech keeping this place together. Although this was about as close to a worst case scenario that Victoria could’ve ever conjured up, at least stuff wasn’t exploding.

“Relax,” Sveta said, no doubt sensing my stress. “We’ll get out of this, we just need to-”

“GUPPY DETECTED!”

It was that same tinny and way too happy voice the pod made, except this time it was coming from a pair of robots gliding their way through the crowd and towards us. They were identical and moving with purpose, sizable frames covered in what looked like a constant flow of water, with fins and scales diverting the liquid. It reminded Victoria of a fountain, if fountains were the size of gorillas, wore roller skates, and came from Atlantis. Victoria tensed with apprehension while Sveta breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, good,” Sveta started, “you must have been sent due to the malfunction.”

“ARE YOU THE GUPPY’S GUARDIAN?” the robots asked in tandem

“What? No, I’m her friend and-“

“UNATTENDED GUPPY DETECTED! INITIATING DAYCARE PROTOCOL!”

“What the hell does that mean?” Victoria asked, panic in her voice.

“There’s been a misunderstanding,” Sveta tried. But it was too late. One of the robots had already moved between Sveta and Victoria, instructing Sveta to maintain distance. The other wasted no time grabbing Victoria’s wrist. There was another spray of mist where it made contact, a rubberized seal handcuffing her to the android.

“DO NOT WORRY, GUPPY! WE WILL TAKE YOU TO A SAFE PLACE UNTIL YOUR MOMMY, DADDY, OR GUARDIAN CAN PICK YOU UP!”

“Let go of me! I’m not a guppy or whatever you think I am. I’m a grown adult woman, I have ID I can show you in my bag.”

“DO NOT WORRY, THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF TIME TO PLAY MAKE BELIEVE AT THE PLAY POND!”

With that, the robot pulled, skating along the ground with ease and forcing her to keep up. Her feet were covered in some sort of rubber gloves or swim shoes, making each step equal parts comfortable on her soles and difficult to maneuver in due to the numbness. As a result, she was dragged out into the open, the crowd able to see her toddle after the attendant. Thankfully no one she saw had their phones out, although she did catch a group of teenagers snickering, a mom shaking her head in disapproval, and a little kid pointing at her and laughing while his mom covered his eyes.

“Victoria!” Sveta cried out. But there wasn’t much her friend could do without getting into a brawl, the other robot keeping her occupied.

Victoria’s face went beet red in embarrassment, everyone staring at her taking its toll. She needed to make a decision on what to do before this all become too much to bare.

-Resist the robots. She couldn’t use her powers without causing an even bigger scene, but getting away from these robots was the top priority. (Overpowering them with subtle use of powers could result in worse malfunctions, but losing to them means Victoria must be disciplined as any child would)

-Go with the robots. It was best not to draw any more attention to herself and just suffer the humiliating trip to wherever they were taking her and dealing with it while Sveta sorted this out. (Victoria has as graceful of an exit as possible at this point and is doted on by the attendants at the Play Pond)

-Have Sveta lie to help/betray Sveta for company. If Sveta pretends to be her guardian or another “Guppy” then the two of them can stick together and come up with a plan to escape this nightmare. (Sveta poses as Victoria’s guardian to try and keep her from going to the Play Pond, but ends up enjoying being maternal to her. OR Victoria tells the robots Sveta is a Guppy too, making her friend undergo a similar struggle, but with the benefit that they can come up with a better plan together)