✅ Softlocked

Part 6

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Alex. Thank you for your support!

I'm sorry that this may feel a little abrupt; but the contest this story was written for has a rule that stories should be between 2000 and 12000 words in total; and this one is 11959. So I was doing my best to fit the ending into a very small space here. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Bocce's eyes opened and she glanced at the room around her. She was inside a playpen that seemed as big as a mountain; she must have dozed off for a moment. That was happening a lot more lately, and she still hadn't gotten used to waking up to find that she'd lost half an hour. Still, she assumed it was just one more downside of a young form. Not something she had to worry about. She'd been a little kid for a couple of weeks now; as weak as a nooborn and barely able to take two steps on her own. And she was slowly coming to realise that it wasn't that bad. She wanted to be an adult again, even if it meant she had to switch to a cheaper form, but if the worst happened and she was stuck like this, she knew that she could live with it.

Then she looked at the stack of pastel-coloured blocks in front of her, decorated with letters of the alphabet. She'd managed to stack them all into a pile without any of them falling down, and they were almost in the right order. She knew that it was irrational to be proud of that; her mind was intact even if her coordination wasn't. But it seemed that her new form had come bundled with a set of infantile instincts as well. Of course, it made sense to include instincts that would encourage experimentation and help a child to get used to their form; but when she caught herself feeling those things, Bocce could only laugh at how surreal the whole experience was.

Finally, she noticed what had woken her. A text message! She hadn't seen one since her renewal, and it was a little surprising, but she read it as quickly as she could. Finally, after exploring every route they could think of, Noelle and Jix must have found some way to get in touch with her parents. This one was a message from her dad, asking what she couldn't cope with now, and belittling her for her poor financial planning. It was yet another reminder of why she hadn't spoken to her parents since leaving college. But this time, it could make a big difference. Her parents could potentially raise an appeal on her behalf, say that the terms of buying this form hadn't been properly explained, and get her out of the eight-year lock in. It might take a court case, but she was sure it would work. Nobody could out-argue her dad.

Then she looked up, surveying the room outside the playpen while she wondered how to phrase her response. There was still a part of her that dreaded speaking to her parents, and she'd hoped that Noelle could do that part for her. But... she saw Noelle reclining on the couch, and Jix too. The babysitter had come over almost every day this week. Now she was watching Bocce with a satisfied smile on her face; and Noelle was apparently half asleep with her head in the lavender ferret's lap. Both of them looked so happy, and it was then that Bocce realised she wasn't the only one dealing with unexpected emotions. Her renewal, which could have been a disaster, had allowed Noelle to spend time with the girl of her dreams. To be honest, Bocce envied both of them. But when they were so happy she didn't want to disrupt this new life.

As she thought about her feelings, and her situation, Bocce felt a tingling pressure in her tummy demanding attention. She needed to use the bathroom, but she was sure that there wouldn't be time to get anyone's attention and escape from the playpen. There was no point fighting against the inevitability of a diaper change in the near future, but it had happened enough times now, and she knew that it wasn't the end of the world. She decided that rather than getting upset, she would just try to hold it for as long as her body could manage; which turned out to be about five seconds. Better than last time, at any rate, and it might not be long until she was ready to start potty training again. Until then, she knew that Jix would be there to change her diaper whenever she needed it, and that was all that mattered.

"𝙰 𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖," she imagined the words, and watched them appear in a message back to her parents. "𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚏𝚕𝚊𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝙲𝚊𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝙽𝚘𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙹𝚒𝚡 𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖? 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜."

Sure, she could have told them the whole truth. She could have asked them to make a big fuss, bring this to court, and let her grow up again. But she was enjoying herself now, with so much less pressure than before. Her friends were happy, and there was always someone to change her diaper. Even being fed like a baby wasn't the embarrassment she would have expected, but a tender bonding experience.

Bocce had never even dreamed of a life like this, but now it was here, she realised, she couldn't have imagined anything better.