"People might see?" Adi whimpered, looking up to meet Toni's eyes. Surely Toni could see how much that idea scared her.
"She's got a point, you know." Mom answered first. "If you don't really understand, this looks a lot like some fetish game. Probably not the best idea to show off in front of the general public, not when she's meeting up with her father."
Toni nodded slowly, like there was a new idea forming in her mind. And Adi knew that smile well enough to be sure it was going to make her feel helpless and humiliated, whatever new game this turned out to be. And just a little bit, that was making her excited. It was like waiting for a rollercoaster to drop, teetering on the edge of something that made all the excitement even more intense. And she could be sure that once Toni had thought about it, she'd find the right answer. She could make it fun without putting Adi in any real danger. Adi was dreading what was going to come next, but somehow it might just be the fun kind of terror.
"Would you like to try a new game, baby?" she asked with a grin. "Do you think you could pretend to be a big girl when we go to meet your daddy?"
Adi didn't say anything to that. She wanted to know what this game was goiing to be, and about the only thing that really bothered her was the word 'daddy'. She just listened, and tried to see if there was anything she needed to be worried about. Or more importantly, anything she could use to stop herself thinking like a baby. If she could see it coming, it would only take a couple of seconds to say the safeword once she could remember big words again, so she had to be on the lookout for when that moment would come.
"You like playing dress up, don't you? Well, we're going to let you dress up in big girl clothes today. And you'll be able to pretend to be a big girl when you get to the restaurant, so nobody will know how little you feel inside. You'll have to constantly think about how to act like a big girl, and you'll feel so proud if you can manage it. Just a wonderful game, pretending you're still so grown-up. I know you wanted to be forced to stay a baby all day, but do you think you could enjoy playing at being grown up?"
Adi nodded vigorously. That would be perfect. Even better than she'd thought, because if she had to act like a big girl, that would surely mean she could say big words. All she needed was a break from the suggestion that had cut back her speech, and she could go back to being a big girl.
"Okay then. We're going to help you dress up as a big girl now. And if you were a baby, you'd get super excited at the thought of playing dress-up, and pretending to be a big girl. You'd love the feeling of being a tiny baby on the inside, but nobody knowing how little you are, and you'd not get tired of that game. You'd be able to use some big words, and feel super proud whenever you remembered one, but unless you really need them to keep up the 'big girl' act you won't remember any words you don't need to know. You might even find yourself making little mistakes, like not holding a knife right, and you'd feel extra embarrassed and try harder every time, but you won't do anything that a casual observer would notice. You'll enjoy pretending to be a big girl, and keep on playing as long as you could, but when I tell you it's time to stop pretending you'll be excited about getting to be a proper baby again, and you won't feel disappointed at all."
She stopped for breath, and Adi tried to think of all the ways this could play out. She could already imagine how it would feel, acting just enough like a big girl to fool passers by, but still being aware that she was really a toddler. It was almost the opposite of what she'd been feeling when her grown-up thoughts started coming back for a moment at the party, or what she was feeling now. And she was already excited to find out how it felt to do that. She also wondered how well the suggestions would stick in her mind, given that Toni had only said "If you were a baby" once at the start of a large bunch of suggestions, and the ones that someone else had given her were supposed to fade away when she got changed in any case.
It would be nice to try pretending to be a big girl someday, but today Adi decided she was more interested in actually being grown up. Would it be easier if she didn't tell Toni that the suggestions might not work? As much as she wanted to give those ones a try, she thought that it would be easier not to. So that when they faded, she'd be able to remember and say the safeword right away.