This bonus chapter is dedicated to Morgy; with many thanks for supporting me on Patreon again, and my apologies for the delay in posting it. In future I'll try to remember to check that the new chapter is actually available at the scheduled time!
Claudia knocked nervously at the door to her own room before coming in, and then stood in the doorway. She hadn't gotten dressed properly after her bath, and so was still naked. And clearly embarrassed about having to wear a diaper again. But then she looked at what was next to the diaper on the bed, and blushed all over again.
"What's that?" she squeaked, her voice raising half an octave above normal. Adam blinked; he had expected her to be surprised, but not that much. He decided to keep going just as he had planned, and deal with any problems once he knew what they were.
"Well, you're all dry now," he said. "I thought you should get dressed. And I know you're too little to get dressed by yourself, so I thought I should choose something appropriate for you."
"But I can..." she started, and then cut herself off. She seemed off balance, shocked even, and couldn't think properly about what she wanted to say.
"You can dress yourself?" Adam asked. "I think it's been a few hours since breakfast time, and I haven't seen you get any clothes out. So I thought that you might need a little help. Is that wrong? Was there something stopping you?"
"I uhh..." she stammered. "I just thought... You want to see me naked, don't you? Your little slut all helpless and obedient? If you said I should get dressed I would have picked something. Maybe a bit less... I mean, it's fine, I'm not complaining, it's just... I can't imagine you wanting me when I'm dressed like that. And you kind of... There's part of me was kind of hoping if I kept showing myself off, you might want to fuck me again."
"Well..." Adam said, after a long pause. He knew what he had to say, there was no ambiguity in the plan, but a part of him didn't really want to say it right now. He forced himself to ignore the disappointment and follow orders.
"Well, I did decide that if you've been good, I would allow you to have some input into your own outfit," he started. "But I think a good girl shouldn't be using words like that. You know what naughty words are, don't you?"
"I'm not allowed to curse?" she guessed.
"Yes," he said. "You're learning to be good, aren't you? And a good girl doesn't use words like that. So you don't get so much freedom with regards to your outfit today. And if I hear you using those words again, there will be consequences. Understand?"
"Yes," she whispered. "What words aren't allowed?"
"I think you should try not to say anything that you would be shocked to hear any other toddler saying. You can imagine that, can't you? It's not hard to understand. If you can imagine how a toddler would say what you want to say, you have to talk like that. That's rule seven, and you have to obey it, just like all the rules. Okay?"
"Yeah," Claudia stammered. "I mean... you didn't need to..."
"I can't keep on giving you those pastilles forever," Adam said, glancing over at a pack that was almost empty already. He wasn't sure how many more she had, but he knew it was a limited supply. He didn't even know if it was healthy to keep on taking them for so long; and once he thought of that, he had to ask. "How long is it safe to keep taking those for? Do you know? Tell me the truth."
"We don't know," she said with a shrug. "All we know is by word of mouth, it's not well known, and if you tell too many people there's a chance the government would regulate it, so it's kind of a secret that's mostly only known to the indigenous people. But I know some people who've used it extensively. Some people start getting shaky after a while, heart racing, that kind of thing. Usually about a week from what I've heard."
"Well, we won't get that far. But if you start feeling unwell you have to let me know right away. Understand? And don't take any more. Look after your health first, that's one of the rules too."
"Okay."
"And I guess there wasn't really a childish way to say that." As soon as he paused, Claudia nodded in confirmation, so he continued: "So... What I was saying. I can't keep on giving you orders forever. So I'm helping you learn to be a good girl, so you won't always need me telling you what to do. And that means that when you do something naughty, you have to take your punishment, to help you remember not to do it again. Understand?"
"Yes," she nodded, blushing again. He couldn't tell if that was because of the humiliation of the situation, the punishment he had decided on, the way he was talking down to her, or the fact that being treated like this was turning her on. But he knew that a part of her was really enjoying this, as much as she fought against his plan. After all his uncertainty, this really was what she had hoped for.
"Well then," he said, clapping his hands as if to make a definite marker for the change of subject. "Let's get you dressed."
He could have given her a dress. And at first glance, the outfit spread out on the bed might look like one. But in reality, the outfit was like a pair of cut-off dungarees, leaving her legs and arms bare. It had a design on the front that seemed to be some cartoon character, although not one Adam was familiar with, and came with a polkadot tee that was probably the most childish thing in her closet. Coupled with a skirt bearing a similarly bright print, it would really make her look like a child. Well, while Adam was able to ignore her figure anyway, which probably wouldn't last for long.
Claudia pouted when he held onto her wrist and manhandled her into the dungarees, and then put the skirt over the top. She tried to fight, flailing around several times, but when he needed her to stay still she knew that she wasn't allowed to resist. And he could see how much it was exciting her when she found that she really was unable to resist. That one instruction was probably bringing her as much joy as anything else for the weekend so far.
Eventually, she was standing up in front of the mirror, and when Adam told her to do a twirl she only made a perfunctory effort to stop herself. She looked so cute, and even more so when she blushed crimson after seeing herself properly in the mirror. She could see her diaper as well; the short skirt he had put her in flew up as she twirled, and there was no mistaking the bulge under her clothes.
"Don't you look adorable?" he asked. "Now you've got dressed like a good girl, would you like to go play in the park?"
"No!" she squeaked immediately. "Please, don't make me..."
"Don't worry, baby. It's all your choice. You can go out to play, or we can stay here and play on the computer, then go out this afternoon. Which do you think you would like more?"
"But I... It's embarrassing!" she protested. "I'm a baby! I wanna be a big girl, all my friends might see."
"They won't be able to tell," he said. He tried to sound dismissive, but in reality he was a lot more confident about that. Nobody would notice something like that, and even if they did they wouldn't be able to say anything. Who wanted to admit that they were looking under a girl's skirt? And anyone likely to look would give up as soon as they saw that she was wearing shorts rather than underwear; they weren't about to pay attention to exactly what she was wearing. "Now, I hope you're not going to throw a tantrum. I thought you were trying to be good?"
"Yes but..." she started, and then looked down at her hands again. "Okay. No more arguing?"
"You can tell me if you're uncomfortable with something, but when I let you make a decision you need to pick from the options I gave you. Unless you've got something better to suggest. So..."
It seemed to take her a minute to remember that he had actually given her a choice before she started protesting, Maybe the thought of what people would think of her in that cute outfit was getting to her more than he had expected. But after a little pause she looked up again and nodded.
"Okay. Can we play first?"
"Of course," he said, and patted her on the head like she was a real child again. He was glad that she was sitting down again, because when she was standing it was too awkward to make a gesture like that.
And that was just what they did. They picked up the game again, and this time Claudia was happy to share the controls occasionally. She had collected enough characters for her party now that she could let Adam take over half the group, with two pairs of hands on the controls letting them get through the battle menus more quickly. And Adam was surprised to find that the game was quite well optimised for having two to four players in front of the screen. Each could take a couple of characters, and they could manage their own people when it came to upgrading their equipment, affinities, and implants, while working together to explore the different mission locations.
Again, the time seemed to go so fast when they were getting deeply into the plot. And Adam tried not to draw attention to the fact that he seemed to be better than Claudia at working out the best scholarships to craft with a limited supply of advance materials. It was a little surprise to him, but after thinking about it for a while as they progressed he could see that it did make sense.
Sure, Claudia was a pro gamer who had been able to make something of a name for herself in FPS leagues even before becoming a streamer. But those were all games based on quick reactions and tactical use of scenery. But this game was an RPG with a dozen different minigames around different aspects of character customisation, and the Scholarships system seemed to be more like a resource management problem, investing different materials for different lengths of time to complete different sets of requirements. That was more like the kind of game he would play, and it was becoming apparent that it was a kind of puzzle that Claudia didn't particularly excel at.
He didn't say anything. He didn't want to upset her, and he couldn't say whether he'd just lucked into a part of the game where his intuitions were right the first time, or if the instructions he'd given Claudia to talk like a child were inhibiting her thoughts as well. Or even if the continuous use of St Jeremy's Root was impairing her analytical skills. In any case, as long as they had an effective team, he was sure they would be able to complete the game; and for a first attempt, that was all that they needed.
It wasn't long before Claudia started to squirm again. Adam didn't draw attention to it for a little while, but he could tell there was something she wanted. She wasn't willing to interrupt the game when it was getting so exciting, but there was something she wanted. But after a couple of minutes, Adam thought that he was pretty sure what she needed.
"Want something, baby?" he asked. "I don't know until you ask, you know." Claudia turned to him and pouted, but she answered. And he could see that no matter how embarrassed she was by talking like a baby, she was starting to get used to doing everything he wanted.