I yawned, daylight streaming in through my window. I'd somehow wedged myself up against the bars, rolled into a ball. It shouldn't have been comfortable, but for some reason I felt extremely well-rested, like I didn't have a care in the world.

Well, there was one care. I really had to go again. Sighing, I gave in and concentrated… a short while later I felt myself relax as my crotch grew warm again... until my bed started growing warm.

"Ahh! No! No! Stop! Nooo!" I frantically tried to rearrange myself as the uncomfortably warm flood continued, cooling almost immediately once it hit my sheets, but it was too late. Once your diapers have started leaking, they're going to continue leaking until they've leaked all they can. Which is usually quite a lot, or at least it seemed to be a lot. I was metaphorically swimming in it.

By the time Archax arrived — which to his credit was soon after the problem had started — my cries of anguish had degenerated into wordless moaning and whining. He immediately leaned over the top of the crib and lifted me up, crooning softly as he held me close. "Shh, shh, it's okay little one, it's okay. I am here now, and everything will be fine. Hush, hush… let me clean you up. There we go, that's off, and that… good boy. Everything will be fine."

Efficiently, caringly, Archax stripped my sodden nightclothes off of me, wiping me clean from tip to toe with babywipes. I would've complained, but by the time my brain had rebooted from the shock and horror of wetting my bed, it was all over. I was clean, dry, creamed, powdered and securely diapered, with plastic pants adding extra protection and wearing a new onesie and the same overalls with the snaps in the crotch as the day before.

"Now we will go downstairs, you will eat some breakfast and I will deal with your bed. Do not let it worry you, these things happen."

True to his word, Archax took me bodily downstairs and put me in a chair at the table in the kitchen. "Stay there, little one. I will give you some breakfast, and I expect it to be gone or at least going by the time I return, alright?"

"O-okay," I managed, still not quite recovered from having done something which hadn't happened since I was literally a baby. And I had to say, this experience was a lot nicer than the yelling and disapproval I'd got from my own parents. I loved them of course, yada yada, but I hadn't meant to wet the bed then, and I… I hadn't now but… they had… and he had… I was trying not to sob, hiccuping as I swallowed the memory.

Archax must have noticed my expression for he held me to him again. "Shh, it's okay. It's my fault little one, for not making your apparel secure enough against leaks. It will be fine and your new bed will be fine. I'll air the mattress out and change the sheets and it will be perfectly ready for your beddy-byes tonight, you'll see."

Something warm — porridge and what appeared to be honest-to-goodness coffee in a standard mug — was put in front of me. Hiccuping still as I tried not to cry, I ate and drank. Strangely enough, the warm food and dry clothing and comparative normality of everything made me feel better. Still feeling a need — I'd flooded most of my bladder away in bed, and though I'd clamped down, it had been far too late to stop the damage — I relaxed and my clean diapers became not so clean. For a moment my heartrate spiked as I worried I would leak through these diapers too — and what would Archax do this time!? — but they accepted the offering and merely grew softer, snug around my crotch. This, too, strangely made me feel better. As my spoon scraped the bowl and the last sips of coffee followed the porridge, I found I needed something extra to properly relax. Not quite knowing why, I filched Suzy's dummy out of the front pocket of my overalls and put it in my mouth. Experimentally, I suckled on it. Combined with my full belly, I was actually starting to feel good.

Archax found me there a few minutes later as he came down. "Ahh, I thought I saw you with one of those. A gift from Suzy?"

I nodded mutely, still suckling on the dummy.

"Make sure to thank her next time you see her. It was very thoughtful of her, and you seem to appreciate it. You also look cute with it." Tentatively, almost as if he were unsure what would happen, he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. I felt a strange, warm glow as he did so. I was still floating fifteen minutes later as he finished his breakfast — a surprisingly normal bowl of what appeared to also be porridge, though much larger than my own — and stood up to announce we'd be going out.

"Come, pull on your jacket and shoes, we have places to go today, and I desire you with me."

"Do I… do I have to come?" I asked.

Archax blinked, thoughtfully. "You do not strictly need to come, I suppose, but seeing as we are buying you some more things it would be a good idea for you to be there. Or I might buy the wrong thing, like getting you pink and frilly dresses."

"You wouldn't!"

"I might."

"Hmph. Well I want to come, so ner."

***

Taking the bus was a new experience these days. The buses were bigger and articulated, with most seats in the back and a wider open area towards the front for those who either could not sit or just plain didn't want to in the front. Archax lounged curled up, his head looking out the window, in the freestanding area. I took pride of place within his coils, quite possibly the most comfortable person in the entire vehicle. My hand on the front pocket of my overalls, I almost took out the dummy so I could relax properly, but didn't. I kind of regretted it, even though nobody would have seen it. Nobody who mattered, anyway.

Soon enough, the bus came to a halt and we shuffled off it into the commercial district. I found myself following Archax through the shopping centre. It seemed like he had a destination in mind, but it didn't seem like he minded not going straight there. It was a nice day, so neither did I. We went past cafes and lamp shops and charity shops and all sorts before we found ourselves at a relatively normal-looking clothes shop.

Archax strode straight in, and I followed. Once inside, I realized that this shop catered to Newcomers, at least primarily. They had scale ointment, silver and gold polish, hide soap, leather harnesses and all sorts of gear that seemed almost entirely out of place, weirdly ancient or just plain weird, at least to my eyes. I also couldn't read all of the text, it seemed to be in a large mix of languages, not all of them Terran.

I was still bent over peering at an honest to goodness vial of glowing blue liquid that seemed straight out of a fantasy novel when I heard a familiar voice from behind me. "Hey there, Champ! You know, I almost smacked yer backside but I don't know if we're at that level of familiarity yet. At least not when I'm not in charge of it."

I straightened up and spun. "Suzy? What are you doing here?"

"Another client sent me on an errand," she held up a bottle of… something, which she shook, as she grinned at me. "You didn't think I lived at home waiting by the phone until your daddy gave me a call, did you?"

I snorted. "Of course not, just surprised to run into you."

"Yeah, I guess it is a bit of a coincidence. Still, I had wyrmgelt burning a hole in my pocket and this part of town gets you the best exchange rate, so it's not that unexpected. I was just about to knock off for a cuppa, do y'think you can get ol' DD to come with?"

"DD?" I snorted, again.

"Yer Daddy Dragon, sillybutt."

"Archax isn't my daddy," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Yes I am," Archax said. "And you're my little hatchling," he said teasingly as he stomped up behind me.

"See?" Suzy smirked.

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes, eliciting another, wider smirk.

"So big guy, would you mind a stop at a cafe with your daddy?" Suzy asked. I gave up trying to correct her. I looked at Archax questioningly. He nodded, slowly.

"Actually, Miss Suzy, that would be lovely. I have a few questions to ask seeing as we had a little accident this morning." I winced as the dragon bared my shame, but Suzy was understanding.

"Aww, poor little guy. I meant to ask you about that the first night, but it slipped my mind. Do you have a destination in mind? It would be a lot easier to chat if we can all sit down in relative peace."

"I do know a Newcomer friendly place," Archax said. "Your time in exchange for pastries?"

"And coffee?"

"Ah, you drive a hard bargain, Miss Suzy."

I rolled my eyes more at the pair of them, but with my arm linked with Suzy's, we headed towards Archax' mysterious cafe.

***

The cafe wasn't really all that mysterious once we were in it, 'Newcomer Friendly' pretty much meant 'Newcomer Run', or at least quite a few of the waitresses were kobolds and goblins and the cook appeared to be a dwarf. I had myself a large soda with ice, along with a toasted sandwich. Archax had a bowl of meatballs and what may or may not have been mead. Suzy had, true to her word, a pastry and a coffee. The chatting started with smalltalk about how each's day had been, and quickly diverged to another topic. Me.

"Ahh, I see where I went wrong. I did not think that the direction his penis—"

"Hey!" I complained, ears burning.

"Don't worry about him," Suzy said to Archax. "He's just bashful. Should've seen how bashful when I had to change him. He's a cutie, though. He was very well behaved for me even so."

"Oh come on!" I complained, again.

"But it is true, point Junior downwards when you diaper him, or he'll leak. What did you use for night-time?"

"A standard diaper and plastic pants?" Archax offered, hesitantly.

"Ah, if he's a little soggy-butt at night, that'll explain it. Some babies need thicker diapers for night-time use. You could try adding either boosters or cloth, it may not make leaks go away completely, but it'll probably help. It'll at least bring your laundry bill down, other than needing to wash his cloth diapers."

"Do you have to talk about my diapers in front of everyone?" I grumbled. I'd given up also reminding Suzy I wasn't a baby.

"They wouldn't know they were your diapers if you didn't tell everyone, silly… and how're you holding up? Come here, let me check."

"Eep!"

Somehow, she managed to pull me upright. A hand touched my butt as she gently pushed me to bend over forwards. "Yep, you're fine for now. You didn't really need to put him in plastic pants, Archax, it's mostly a problem when lying down. Mostly."

I sat down hard, and slurped on my drink, frowning. "Well now everyone knows about that too," I grumbled.

“You'll be fine, soggybutt, slurp your drink."

I did so, angrily and loudly. Then I went for a refill rather than listen to them talk about me or my diapers anymore. When I returned, I got stuck into my sandwich, only half-listening as they discussed powders, creams, the need for plastic sheets on my bed, the whole nine yards.

I half sighed, half groaned. “Do you… does none of this phase you?" I asked Suzy.

“What?" she asked, shaking her head as she switched topics. “The diapers? Changing an overgrown hatchling or cub? It's… kind of what I do, recently at least. I'm guessing that's why your daddy actually gave me a call back, am I right? It's not all I do, but I am getting a lot more calls for it recently."

Archax did actually have the decency to look bashful. “I, ah, do have friends who I consult about such things. They speak very highly of Miss Suzy's ability with their young."

“The same contacts that suggested all of this?" I grumped, pointing at my clothes. He nodded. “I see. I blame the both of you for all this then."

“Aww, don't pout, your face'll stay like that." She leaned in and gently butted my forehead. Then she turned to Archax. “Anyway, thank you for the meal, sir, but I think I have to get going. I wasn't lying about those wyrmgelt, I do need to get them changed and the best exchange I know is on the other side of the mall."

“Hmm." Archax leaned back a bit, stretching, extending his wings slowly and thoughtfully as he popped his spine. “You know, if you are willing to come with us and assist me, I can introduce you to a better place to change your coin for the local currency of this realm. Or, should you find it unnecessary, spend it directly?"

Suzy blinked. “You know a good place for that? I really am kind of tired of getting stiffed by the exchange rate, and a lot of you guys do carry your own money. It's also kind of pretty. Heavy, but pretty. I'd prefer to keep it around."

“Ahh, are you sure you don't have a little dragon in you, collecting a hoard like that?" Archax said, eyes twinkling. I snorted into my drink.

Goblinmarts. They were popping up everywhere. It sounded like they'd be dark, dingy dungeons of dodgy dealings, but they were actually not. They were surprisingly mundane-looking, light and airy affairs with an entirely normal set of special offers, strip lighting, mostly inoffensive background muzak, and shopping carts with squeaky wheels. To Suzy's surprise at least the one that Archax took her to also accepted wyrmgelt, along with several other Newcomer coins, if you just asked. They also exchanged them for local currency.

“Oh my gosh! This is going to save me so much trouble! But, ah, how do I know I'm getting a good exchange rate? I can do it in my head I guess..."

“Are you up for a little cultural exchange?" asked Archax, amusement written large on his scaly features. His tongue flicked out playfully.

“I… I guess."

“Then come with me."

I followed, bemused, as the two approached what appeared to be a pretty standard helpdesk. Archax spoke in what appeared to be draconic, although the goblin manning the desk appeared to be answering in her own native tongue.

“Okay, I have opened negotiations for you," the dragon said to Suzy.

“What? So it's not a straight—"

“I did say cultural exchange, did I not?" The dragon grinned again.

“O-kay, so… what do I need to do?"

“Well, I have informed her that her putrid stench offends me, but that if I can prevent myself from vomiting, I may have a business proposition for her." The goblin sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. She spat something in Goblin at Archax. “She says your ugly face is causing her to feel sick, and you should remove yourself from her presence immediately, you disgusting… I'm not sure I know how to translate that, but it involves sexual relations with a creature you do not have on this world."

Suzy blinked. “No wonder nobody knows about this. Uh, I think I see, um… tell her I doubt she has the mental capacity to count high enough to be of any use to me, and an inbred mongrel such as herself probably has far too many fingers and toes to fall back on."

The goblin grinned, and haggling on the actual exchange rate began in earnest. I found myself wandering away to a nearby games shop. They had a game in I'd had my eye on recently, plus some interesting merch.

“Can I help you?" asked a goblin, in reasonably clear English.

“Oh, no, I'm just browsing."

“Wait for owner?" he asked. I winced, then nodded. It was the collar, I hoped.

“Is okay. Stay as long as need. We have… refreshment? Is cheap, owner can pay if you not?"

“Thank you," I said, looking at the small stand the goblin pointed out. “He has my money… umm." I was going to have to ask Daddy for pocket money. Embarrassing.

I was spared death by having the earth split open and swallow me up because apparently Suzy was done exchanging some of her wyrmgelt and was now in for a bout of shopping, as was Archax. I dutifully followed them into the rest of the goblinmart, making excuses as I left. I vowed I would be back, however. Oh yes, I would be back.

Suzy and I enjoyed ourselves as we explored, with Archax meandering amiably along behind us pushing an otherwise normal shopping cart. Goblinmarts hold all sorts of interesting items in them. They're as likely to have apples and bread as they are shields and battleaxes, and their normal Terran horse tack sat happily alongside both elven longbows and dwarven fishing rods. They were fantastic for perishables as well as cured and frozen meats, all of which were often found in Newcomer-friendly cafe's and fast food stalls. They also had the diapers I was wearing, and Archax had also found some thick diaper stuffers, presumably for night use, by the time we made it to the till.

Suzy had her purchases through first and was waiting for Archax and I to finish loading, packing and paying, when disaster struck. As I helped Archax with his purchases, I suddenly realized that there was... a pressure in my tummy. I'd been ignoring it, although with the refills I'd been drinking, my comfortably soggy diapers — which I'd been wetting periodically — were getting a real workout. I wasn't really paying that any heed though as I relaxed and let another warm stream make me feel even more comfortable. I don't think anybody who doesn't wear diapers knows quite how comfortably poofy a wet diaper is, but they are. The pee wasn't the problem, even though they were near bursting. The problem was that I hadn't learned my lesson. When you're peeing, unless you've trained for it, it can be really difficult not to poop too, and thanks to my morning accident, I hadn't got to go before we went.

The pressure in my stomach turned into a muted angry grumble and… well, I was wearing diapers, wasn't I? That little voice in the back of my mind turned traitor just for a moment as I bent my knees slightly and the pressure relieved itself. There was sudden motion in the back of my pants and a feeling of mushy warmth.

I hadn't meant to, but I found myself almost instinctively pushing, toes curling like I half-remembered doing back when I'd worn diapers for the first time. I groaned in relief as the mass made itself felt in the back of my diaper before even realizing what I had done. I stood, half-crouching, feeling my face burn. I'd messed my diapers like the littlest of toddlers, right in front of everyone! Maybe... nobody would notice? No such luck.

There was a sniffing noise. “Honey, did you poop your diapers?" asked the lady in line behind me.

“Nuh uh," piped up her kid.

“I think you did, you little stinker, come here, let me check…"

I couldn't do anything. Shaking, I continued loading the belt even as I felt the last loading of my oversized pampers with what had to be an audible frt.

“Huh, but... “ she sniffed again. “Must be some other diaperbutt then, or are you just being a lil stinker? If you need a diapie change, tell mommy, okay honey? I don't want your little butt all raw from being in mushy pampers."

“S'not me, momma! I swear! Is him, he's tha widdle stinker!"

“Don't be silly, that…" the woman sniffed. I couldn't look around. I kept on slowly loading the belt, trying not to move, to become invisible. It wasn't working, and even if it had, I wasn't unsmellable. I winced as she said, “Well, some people just need diapers, honey."

“Doesn't he have a mommy to change him?"

“N-not everyone does, dear," the woman replied, in that 'please stop talking' tone. It wasn't really working, as the kid kept talking about how he'd seen Archax buying my diapers — kill me, please — and how large they were and yet how just like his. By now, I really was wishing the earth would open up and devour me, so I was extremely happy when Suzy came to the rescue.

“Come on, champ, let's get you seen to. Remember what I told you, okay?" she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

“N-nobody really cares?" I whispered, following.

“That's right. So come on, let's find the changing rooms… gotcha."

She led me into the baby changing room, where she found a large and semi-padded flat surface to see to my diaper disaster on. She'd got me up and into position, my clothes off, my plastic pants down and the diaper itself untaped before she realized she didn't have any babywipes.

“Put your binky in, honey, I need to go talk to your daddy, okay? You'll be okay here." She turned to leave the room.

“B-but, you can't leave me!" I complained, eyes wide. I clutched the dummy in one hand, unwilling to take it out, yet. "Anybody could come in!"

“Well, you can hardly come looking like that!" Suzy retorted, pointing.

“Umm, umm… can't you… use something else?"

“Hmm, I guess… oh no, but I don't have a clean diaper for you, either! I'll… do you think your daddy would buy more diapers for you?" She was halfway to the door, when a shape cleared its throat.

“Excuse me, miss, but I can't help overhearing you're in a spot of bother. Maybe I can help?"

“Not unless you can magic up a clean diaper," Suzy joked. The creature was silent just a moment longer than she expected. “No, you can't, surely?" She stepped back as a pink-haired wizened gnome lady eased her way into the changing room before closing the door. With an audible click, the door somehow locked.

“Well, dearie, I can't quite do that, no. Prestidigitation works on clothes, but I've never got it to work on disposable diapers. They end up clean, but not quite back the way they were. I can, however, maybe do something else. With the permission of your little one, here? But first of all, if I may demonstrate my bonafides, please take the diaper away and step back a mite…"

“But, my little stinky buddy here is quite, uh, messy, and…"

“Oh that's no matter, dearie. I told you! Prestidigitation! Trust me!" The figure wriggled her fingers, smiling, as she leant on a staff taller than she was.

“O-kay… sorry about this, bud, I've cleaned you as best I can, but you're in her hands now."

“Suuuzzyyy!" I complained, as she eased my mushy butt up off my destroyed diaper and then — ick! — back down. The gnome gestured, and true to her word, my discomfort was a thing of the past. “What? What did you…?" The sudden absence of mush was startling, but welcome.

“Magic," said the gnome, wriggling her fingers once more before leaning on her staff with both hands, “and I thank you for letting me practice it, even a little. You'll have to put that diaper somewhere yourself, though. I'm afraid I've never managed to get them clean. Cloth diapers are no problem, but disposables always flummox me. I've changed a lot of botties in my time, oh yes indeed, but never managed that trick! But now, my dears, would you humour an old lady? I've got another spell I can cast that may get you out of your little predicament, but only if you'll let me. I promise you, it's harmless."

“Umm, I'm not seeing things, you can do actual magic?" Suzy asked, blinking in surprise.

“If I were in my home realm, my dears, I could do a lot more, but here things are a bit difficult. Still, it's good to keep yer hand in. How about it?"

“Umm, okay," I said nervously. She had delivered on her first promise, after all, and dying of shame would be the least of my worries. “I-if you can help, please do?"

“Oh I'm so pleased. Hold still, this'll feel a little weird. Do you have a focus I can use?"

"A focus?" Suzy asked.

"Something he cares about I can use as a conduit. It helps to have an 'in' you know."

"He does! Doesn't he look cute?" Suzy, as she stepped over, took my binky out from the front pocket of my overalls and put it in my mouth.

“oh, yes, that will do nicely."

I hadn't had time to complain. There was a feeling of… motion, but I hadn't moved. I'd expected a flash of light and other pyrotechnics, but it was more pedestrian than that… and at the same time incredible, as the universe around me went bloop.

"You're so big!" I said. Or tried to say. What came out was more like, "Aba ga boogoo goo!" I'm not sure if the noise Suzy made was properly within human hearing, or whether it was just my stature that let me hear it.

“Oh. My. God. That is the cutest thing I've ever seen! What did you do!?" Suzy exclaimed, rushing over and bending down to push her hands against my sides and the top of my head. The gnome lady was puffing a bit, leaning on her staff again.

“Phew, that took a lot out of me. Felt good though, I don't often get a chance to do something… something like that."

“But what was it?"

“Uh, it doesn't actually have a name, it's a minor variation on a polymorph and seeming spell. I'm a teacher of applied thaumaturgy, and this kind of thing used to be a staple of the kind of tricks adventurers would use. He's been transformed into a cuter version of himself, it works on pups, babies, whelps, all sorts if you will, but I've added my own little spin on it. It should last a good while, long enough to get home, at least."

Turning my head to the mirror, I was shocked. Where before I'd been, well, man-sized, I was now tiny. I looked like an honest-to-goodness baby, a toddler perhaps tops. I'd been shrunk, along with my clothes, back to babyhood.

“Any idea how long?"

The gnome lady breathed for a moment before walking over to the changing table. She could barely see over the edge. “Give me a tick… hmm, that's odd. There's a residual charge in the binky. He might be able to reapply it a few times. I blasted it as hard as I could, usually this sort of thing is a bit of a crapshoot, but it seems to have taken remarkably well. Is… are either of you two aware of anything… magical in your lives?"

“Um, he lives with a dragon?" proffered Suzy.

“Ahh, that'll do it. Should've guessed, I could tell something was pulling me here. Dragons are a bit special, lass, they're kind of magical sinks. It kind of resonates with anything they own, dweomic transference we call it, it… ah but listen to me, Agatha! You're rambling again!" she half-sang to herself. "Well, you'd better see to your charge, and I'd better come explain what I did. I don't need an angry dragon on my case."

“I doubt he would be," murmured Suzy. She bent down to my now-bare tummy and went, “a-boo-boo-boo!" and blew a raspberry. I couldn't help but giggle, suckling on my suddenly massive dummy. She then pulled out an actual baby diaper from the stack in the changing room, and lifted my butt to pull it on. "This is much easier now, kiddo!" she said to me, grinning.

“It's only polite," Agatha continued, smiling at Suzy's antics. “We may be in a more civilized age, but it pays to be courteous to dragons."

“That was the major thing I took away from those Newcomer classes. Did you have anything like that?"

“Plenty, mostly about not using lethal force with your criminals. Our realm is still a bit more lawless than yours, in some ways, but the solutions are much simpler and more decisive. The rest was about dweomic starvation and how to recognize the signs. For some of us, that's more of a problem than others."

“Well they told us about this sort of thing, but I never really thought I'd see it. Did we? No we didn't! No we didn't!" Suzy tickled my feet as she did up the diaper. It was snugger than the diapers I usually wore, softer — pinker too, sigh — and much thicker. My legs bowed far apart, and my clothes did even less to hide the fact I was diapered than before. Not that it mattered now, people expected little babies to be thickly diapered. I hadn't expected it to feel this soft.

“Well, Agatha — that was your name, right? — let's go meet this little guy's daddy! Yesh we will! Yesh we will! Ugh, I can't help it, he's just so cute like this!"

Agatha chuckled. “That's part of the spell, I can't really pull it out just like that. He's supposed to be the cutest little cuddlebug on the planet right now, and it works, even when you know that's what it is."

Suzy chuckled. “Well, he was a cutiebutt before, but this is even cuter. Lets go see his daddy."