Story #184: The Adventurer Has No Clothes:

Story #184: The Adventurer Has No Clothes: (Part 3 to 'The Baby of the Bunch') (Content Tags: Public humiliation, diapers, messy diapers, fantasy setting, ongoing story) The long waddle back to the tavern had been pressing, in more ways than one, and Basil had been overjoyed to see the lit windows of the building in the distance. He didn't have any particular hatred for the feeling of being messy, but it still didn't feel quite right, especially when his pantload was still firm and fully formed. The sizable log, nestled snugly in his rubber-coated nappy, made it a chore to walk without looking like a dopey penguin. As foul as it sounded, it would actually be preferable if he'd sat down and mashed the mess around a little; it might not make things more comfortable, but it'd help stabilize his bowlegged gait. With how chilly the night air was, a warm pile to smother his rump didn't sound too bad! The men of the party were still drinking their body weight in ale and getting into increasingly juvenile squabbles over how the game of darts was supposed to be played. Fortunately for Basil, it was his bedtime, so he got ushered right off to the rooms, before his messy state could be seen by the rowdy drunks. Their cleric, being one of the intoxicated morons below, couldn't be called upon to deal with Basil's fuming backside, so the undesirable task fell to his older sister. Natura still changed Basil if she had to, but she sure hadn't been happy about it, and tonight was no exception: "I already changed your diapers as a baby, and now we're right back at square one." She bemoaned, her girlfriend quietly giggling and Basil's face turning red. Getting to bed wasn't too much trouble; after getting a warm bath, a fresh diaper and getting into bed, he was out within minutes. It'd been over a week since the last time he slept in a real bed, or in a real building, and the struggles of the adventure had been wearing him down. The physical rigors had been one thing, but the emotional toiling had been honestly worse. He might have been out in the world like a man, but he was still an anxious little boy, and he struggled to remain confident in the face of strife or fright. The rescinding of his pottytraining hadn't helped either, since that had meant a reason to feel even smaller than before. This new life that he'd made for himself, with his older sister, had done just as much to shrink his ego, as it had to inflate it; in his old town, amongst the other youngsters, he'd been a big minnow in a tiny puddle, and now he was still a minnow, but in the vast expanse of the unending seas. He was as tough as they came, compared to other eight year old boys, but that still measured quite pitifully in the world outside his cozy village. What would the other boys say if they could see him how? Perhaps they'd be impressed by his tales of danger, or the improvements he'd made to his skills! Or perhaps they'd smell his dirty nappy and mock him relentlessly; relegating him from the rough and tumble crowd to the nursery. Natura had made mention of returning back to their town in the coming months, since they would be heading back around that area. The Profideon Capital was out that direction, and they'd made arrangements to go for the Tournament of Grails. She had actually used that as a way to help keep Basil in line, with threats that she'd drop him back at home. Such threats had been taken fairly seriously before the berry incident, and even more-so now that he was in the state he was. Embarrassing enough to be kicked off the team, but significantly worse to return home as pantsfiller, especially if that meant his access to a skiller cleric would utterly cease. Basil would wake briefly, a couple of hours later, whenever Natura and Rin made their way into the bed. In his groggy state, he was stubborn to roll himself into the middle, leading to his sister forcibly moving him aside. She commented on him already being wet, but Rin convinced her that it could wait until morning. When morning came, Basil would come to find himself alone in the room, with a fresh diaper and nothing else. He must have slept through his morning change, which he could still smell the remnants of, and both of the girls were nowhere to be seen. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he rolled off the bed and onto the floor. He went to grab his bag, but discovered that all of his clothing had gone missing! All that remained were the cloth nappies that he'd become so accustomed to wearing; no tights, no tunics, no articles of clothing that could be used to cover his shame! What he did find was a note from his sister, which plainly stated that she'd taken his clothes to be mended and washed, and that she'd be back later in the day; as a post scriptum, it also had a request that he take on a few tasks. "...Go to the apothecary? And the baker? *And* the arcanum? I can't go anywhere like this!" He huffed out loud to himself. He really wasn't sure what Natura was thinking, or if she even realized that she'd left him with nothing to wear. He decided it must be an oversight, and that she couldn't possibly expect him to traipse around in public like a half-naked babe. Digging around the pockets of his bag, he retrieved a crystal that the party used for communion with one another. "...Natura." He whispered into the crystal, and the shard glowed with an otherworldly radiance. After a few moments, Natura 'picked up' on her end, and he could suddenly see her face in the crystal. "What's the matter, Basil? I'm very busy." Basil bit his lip, sensing already that she was annoyed by his call. "You...Umm...You took all my clothes..." He meekly explained. "Yes, didn't you read my note? They're filthy and tattered, and I don't want to ask any more of Trish, at least until I can pay her back for last night." "Yeah, but, umm...You took *all* of my clothes. I can't run those errands, I just wanted to let you know..." Natura apparently had a different perspective on the matter and she furrowed his brow at him, "Excuse me? If I'm taking care of your stinky clothes, then you can go out and do the few things I asked you to. It's much warmer out today than yesterday, and it isn't like you're completely naked." True or not, a nappy was hardly what Basil considered to be enough coverage, especially whenever he was wanting to cover the garment itself. "B-but Natura! I-I..." "--You will get those errands done before this evening, or else we'll be having a short talk about how quickly we can send you back to mother and father. Do I make myself clear?" Basil frowned and glumly nodded his head, "...Yes, Natura..." "Good. Stay out of trouble and I'll be back later, okay?" The crystal faded back to its inert state and Basil dropped it back in his bag. He felt as though he was caught between a roving gang of bugbears and a ravenous dragon; what was he to do? Looking over at the blanket on the bed, he frowned and grabbed a hold of it. He tied it around his neck like a cape and slung his bag over his shoulder; the only thing he could think to do was to go beg Trish to transform the blanket into something he could wear, since he didn't share the same sense of debt to her that his sister did. As it would turn out, Trish nor Leonard were in their room. He knocked and waited a few minutes, but no such luck. With this being the first town they'd visited in some time, it wasn't surprising that everyone had gone out to fill their bags with supplies. That meant that nobody was around to help him with his little problem, and it also meant nobody would be around to change him if he made a dung-pie in his nappy. With little other choice, Basil had to toddle down to the entrance of the tavern, hoping that people saw him as a young barbarian and mistook his babypants for a loincloth of some sort. He first had to stop at the main counter, where he'd had to ask about disposing of his dirty diaper from last night; the woman was again there, and she luckily didn't seem to realize that he had the tavern's blanket around him like a cloak. "E-excuse me, miss...I needed some help with directions..." After some meek questioning, he was able to ascertain the general direction of the three shops he was tasked with visiting. Unfortunately for him, they all seemed to be on opposite corners of the town, which meant he'd be spending a lot of time walking around. The first place he trotted off too was the apothecary, which was the closest to the tavern. Outside, the town looked a lot more lively during the day, and it'd warmed up to be quite pleasant; if not for the nappy, then he might have actually enjoyed feeling the sun all over his body. It didn't take long for him to start getting weird looks from people who were out and about; he heard a few chuckles and whispers, but he didn't stop to explain himself. The quicker he finished his errands, the quicker the humiliation would come to a close. The apothecary was mostly empty of customers, with an alchemist and their assistant running the storefront; the shelves were stuffed to the gills with bottles and sachets of various ingredients or components. Basil wasn't very savvy with such things, and he didn't want to get the wrong things, so he went straight to the front to inquire about the specific ingredients he'd been sent to pick up. "Yeah, umm, hi...I got a list...Uhh...Rubber root, ground talcum, cactus milk, aloa vera, esper cream, zinc, petroleum jelly, and mineral oil. Here are the amounts I need..." The alchemist gave him a pitying look, but nodded and went to get the order together, while the young apprentice tallied up the cost. "That'll be twenty silver...You have money, right? And please don't tell me you keep it in your *nappy*." Basil got red in the face and fumbled his fingers around in his bag to find his coin purse. "N-no! I have it right here..." The assistant started to count the money, "Aren't you a little big to be wearing those?" It wasn't worthwhile to explain his circumstances, least of all to someone who probably wouldn't believe him anyway. "It's a long story. I-I don't *usually* wear one..." The alchemist returned with the ingredients, all neatly bound in a sack to put away. Basil quickly put the purchase away and meekly thanked the man, before turning to leave the establishment as quickly as he'd arrived. As he left, he could hear the assistant laughing and mentioning the nappy to his boss, which just made Basil's blood boil. The next location on the list was the town bakery, which his sister's note had also mentioned would be a good place for getting himself some breakfast. As much as he didn't want to dawdle anywhere, he had to admit that he was starting to get pretty hungry, and a sweet roll would hit the spot. Unlike the apothecary, the bakery was full of customers who were ahead of him in line. He tried to shield himself from scrutiny by wrapping himself in the blanket, but it wasn't large enough to quite get the job done. Fortunately, most of the customers were adults who seemed mature enough to not openly mock a young child, though he did hear some kids in line who were gesturing to one another about him. It reminded him of what it would be like if he got sent home like this; the consequences of what things would be like if he returned home in smelly nappies. Except in that case, he wouldn't be able to just leave after a day or two, and it wouldn't be strangers who were mocking him. When it came to be his turn, he meekly recited his order and added a couple of sweet rolls to it, along with asking for a jar of milk. Once he'd gotten his order, he slunk his way out of the shop and toddled off to a nearby tree to sit under the shade and eat his breakfast. The sweet rolls were delicious, and they went down easy with the cool milk that he'd bought; he sat there, leaning against the trunk of the tree, and began to mentally prepare for the last stop on his list. The Arcanum was across town and would require a little more mental presence from him; unlike the bakery or the apothecary, there was a real chance that he could purchase the wrong things, and then Natura would be furious with him. She'd really only left just enough coin for him to get everything on her list, so if he bought the wrong thing, then he wouldn't have enough left to rectify his mistake. The Arcanum, if it was like other similar shops, would also require that he prove himself worthy of even being a customer. Most magic based shops were strict about only selling to those who studied magic, as to not endanger the uninitiated or those around them, which meant he'd need to demonstrate his prowess. His thoughts returned to the flower he'd sprouted out of his own 'manure' last night and he blushed; doing even something as simple as that had been a grand effort for someone as inexperienced as him, and that'd been *with* partial components! He was regretting not taking his mystical training more seriously. With a heavy sigh, and the knowledge that he was just stalling now, he got up and started to head across the town square. The walk toward the shop wasn't terribly long, only lasting about fifteen minutes, but every moment was spent having to be gawked at by the onlookers who lived here. It wasn't every day that they saw a 'baby' as large as him! Basil tried to walk with confidence, as if the nappy around his waist was simply a part of his outfit, instead of being a symbol of his helplessness, but it was doubtful that anyone was buying it. It was far more likely that they saw him as a rural simpleton, or more favorably, as an adventurer who had been cursed horribly. As he stepped up to the Arcanum, he took a deep breath and reminded himself of the stakes. He mentally prepared himself for the magical demonstration that he would have to give, and he hoped that whoever inside would be patient... On the other side of those doors was a vast collection of magical scrolls, artifacts, curios, relics and various miscellania; even inactive, Basil could feel their power radiating off of the shelves. At the back was an older woman with spectacles, and at her side was a young boy that was likely around the same age as Basil himself. The bell rang above him as he stepped inside and the woman looked his way from across the store, "Child, did you not read the sign? Only practitioners of the magic arts are welcome in my store." "Mama Circe, I think that boy is wearing a *diaper*!" The boy squawked, clearly not one for decorum. Basil frowned and walked toward the back, "I-I saw the sign...I just need to pick up some stuff for my sister." "You'll have to tell her to come pick those things up herself, so long as she's a magician. I'm not about to hand anything on these shelves to an overgrown infant; objects like these are dangerous in the hands of those who don't understand them." The lady said plainly in return. Basil balled up his hands and scowled, "I'm a magician too! Maybe not as good as my sister, but still a magician!" The little boy started to laugh, "Did you hear him, Mama Circe? He said he's a magician!" "I heard him, Calcifer. Young man, while you may look like you were born yesterday, I was not. If you want me to believe you, then I'll need some proof; cast any spell at all and I'll let you make your purchase." Mama Circe stated, seeming unconvinced of Basil's claim. Basil nodded and tried to focus himself. He just needed to sprout one flower, just like last night; the only difference was that the pressure was on, and in more ways than one. The small gurgle in his gut was an increasingly familiar feeling that meant he would soon be evacuating, whether he wanted to or not, so he would need to wrap this up quickly. He steadied his footing and closed his eyes. Remembering how the flow of magic is supposed to feel, he tried to access the pool of mana that he knew was waiting inside. Embarrassingly, the magic was being stubborn, and he had to start physically straining himself to focus that energy into a trickle. He exerted more and more, until finally...! **BLLLLAAAAARRRRT!** There was a terrible backfire! All that strain had an obvious impact on him, and in an instant, his attempt at spellcraft became a filthy load of dung in his nappy. The back of the garment bulged, the steamer crackling and piling up quickly under his buns, while the pair in front of him got an unexpected show. Mercifully, and perhaps ironically, the steaming mound in his cloth garment was more than enough 'magic material' to make his spell spring to life! From the back of his diaper, a large flower crept out the waistband and bloomed, having been nurtured by the 'manure' he'd provided. Calcifer was in a fit of giggles, and his master looked fairly amused herself. Only one of them was aware that Basil had technically passed her test though. "...Well, I think toilet training would have been a more prudent choice to focus on, rather than magical training, but that'll do. Go ahead and tell me what you're looking for." Calcifer blinked, "But he didn't cast any spells! He just POOPED in his pants!" The woman chuckled, "Young man, why don't you show my apprentice what you made?" Basil blushed, already thoroughly humiliated, but he obeyed and turned around. He lifted the blanket cape up, to show not only the fresh mound sagging his seat, but the large flower now seemingly planted inside. Calcifer stuck out his tongue in mild disgust, "Yuck...I've heard of a green thumb before, but not a brown butt!" Basil pulled the list from his bag, just wanting to finish this up and get back to the tavern. The morning had been far too long.