Chapter 5: How do you treat a wart that has gained sentience?

    Star’s stomach jumped to her throat as they approached the first bit of civilization she had seen since bumping her head on that oak.  Giant rabbits, foxes, cats, dogs, and even a reptile and a giraffe giant, who dwarfed (pun-intended) everyone else, milled around the little village, smiling warmly at Star and speaking kind words to the beaver, who responded in kind.  Star flushed a hot red, but none of the giant seemed to notice. She felt a sense of humility as she realized that the giants around her were truly acting kindly towards her, with no ill intention. A strange thought bubbled up in Star’s mind, that perhaps her inner fantasies and pleasures could live out a reality in this place.  The way she was being treated was something that she had always day-dreamed about, although the way it had come about was a bit too chaotic for her liking. The beaver stopped pushing the stroller and the two stopped as the giant peered closer at something in a shop window, and, with a bit of a grin, turned the stroller into the store and entered it.  Star looked around awestruck, surrounding them were shelves upon shelves of glass containers holding liquids of every color and hue. “Is this this world’s version of a pharmacy?” Star thought to herself, as the grandmotherly beaver went over to a small stand with empty bottles of various sizes and began to examine them.

    Star looked over to the counter where a concerned looking beaver giantess was pointing at her face and speaking with what Star guessed to be a store clerk, a rather disheveled looking shrew,.  The beaver turned to show the clerk what was on it, and to Star’s horror a large boil with two angry eyes stared furiously back at her. The shrew nodded understandingly at the worried otter, and retreated to the back of the store, assumably to find something to treat the poor giantess’s condition.  Star wanted to laugh almost as much as she wanted to scream, the sight of the miserable otteress along with the comically angry pimple made Star almost giddy with disgust. The otter’s misery seemed to be drawing to an end, however, as the shrew quickly returned with a small vial of green liquid. Leaning down, she allowed the stout giant to drip a few drops of the liquid onto the peeved wart, and with a whoosh of purple smoke, where previously had sat an irritated skin irritation only smooth facial fur remained.  The otter let out a sigh of relief, and spoke words of relief to the shrew, who smiled at her pleasantly, and accepted the gold coins which she then gave him.

    Star had been watching this scene quite fascinatedly, and hadn’t noticed that the beaver seemed to have found jars that fitted her fancy.  The stroller moved forward once again as the beaver took them to the counter and placed her jars on the counter. The shrew smiled at both of them, his grey whiskers quivering and asked,”Shilt fisk?” “Ten!” replied the beaver, before placing several coins of various sizes on the counter.  The shrew nodded, and carefully wrapped all the jars in brown paper before placing them in a larger paper bag. Star began to feel uncomfortable, realizing that she hadn’t gone number one in quite a while, and the large mess still present in her diaper was beginning to irritate her nostrils instead of just her bottom. Whimpering she strained against the restraints of the stroller, wanting to gain back the slightest bit of autonomy.  The beaver noticed her protests, and knelt down in front of Star. “Rely fenist, tenit!” she said to her, gently bumping her with a finger under her chin and smiling at her warmly. Star looked back at her, imploring her with her eyes that she wasn’t an infant but a very small but capable adult in need of a toilet. Star realized however, that her toilet was going was going to have be the one around her waist, as the beaver grabbed the bag of jars, and they exited the store.

    Star would have clenched her legs together had it not been for the ankle restraints, and soon found herself in a bit of pain and frustration.  She sighed, it was futile fighting in this state. She had to wait for the right opportunity and not exhaust herself by pointlessly pulling against her bondage now.  She let go with some difficulty, and soon a warmth was beginning to fill the front of her diaper and filter into her backseat, furthering the infantile effect she’d been experiencing for almost a day now.  As they walked back from where they came, stopping only once to pick up a few shockingly normal looking plants, Star once again began to wonder about her situation, and what were her true feelings about it.  As a passing black fox giant flicked his finger, sending a spark of light into his companion’s noise followed by some annoyed complaints, Star’s thoughts began to drift towards a more pleasurable direction. It was true that Star had almost no say in what was happening to her, but at the same time all of the things that were happening to her were as a fantasy come true.  She was in a world of wonder to be discovered, and she was being treated like the baby she’d always wanted to be in her daydreams. She was experiencing what it was like to be a little kid again, something she never thought was possible.

    The beaver giant and the infantilized lynx once again entered the forest, Star’s messy diaper reminding her of its existence whenever the stroller hit a bump or root.  The trees’ shadows became longer, and Star found herself beginning to get tired from the struggles against her restraints. Soon enough Star saw the roof of the house of the large pink fox, and saw her waving at the duo from her porch as they further approached.  The beaver and fox exchanged a few words as Star was released from her stroller, and deposited once again the arms of the fox. Cringing as the movement rubbed her soiled padding against her, Star clung to the giantess, quite tired from the day’s excursion. The fox said her goodbyes to the beaver, and took Star upstairs to the nursery and deposited her on the changing table, performing the all too familiar ceremony of restraining Star on it.  Star was more relieved than embarrassed as the giantess took her out of messy diaper and thoroughly cleaned her with wipes from beneath the changing table. Strapping her into a thicker diaper, the fox took off Star’s mittens much to her surprise, and placed her in a booted baby blue sleeper with a zipper in the back, with an oversized hood that she affectionately placed over Star’s face, laughing as Star puffed in annoyance.

    Undoing the bonds and picking her up, the giantess took her over to her crib, and, depositing her in it, placed a rather large bottle of white liquid next to her, and covered her with a blanket.  Star blinked, confused, “No restraints?” she thought to herself. The giantess then raised the bars of the crib, softly spoke the word, “Jink!” and exited the room, closing the door behind her with a click.  Star waited, she heard the fox’s footsteps descending the stairs, and then, nothing.  “Now’s my chance!” Star thought, as she reached back with her newly freed paws and undid the pacifier gag buckle from behind her head, spitting it out, she counted to three and jumped up to the railing of the crib, just barely grazing it with her fingers.  She jumped again, and this time she grasped the top. Using her military skills Star hauled herself up and dropped down the floor, rolling once to lessen the impact of the fall. The oversized sleeper was restraining her mobility slightly, but she couldn’t reach the zipper so she decided to take care of that problem later.  Star saw that in the corner of the room was a large toy chest with a few large stuffed animals in it. Looking at the door handle, which stood a good few feet above her head, a plan formed in her head.

    Quietly padding over the stuffed animals she began hauling them out of the chest and over to the door, first an elephant, then a giraffe, and finally an animal which had all sorts of animal parts, from a goat’s leg to a lion’s head, to a tail which was a snake.  Putting them together in a pile Star just managed to reach the giant door knob with her two arms and turned it with all her might. Had she had mittens on, they would have slid off the metal finish but her paws managed to put forth enough traction to turn it, and the door opened with a click.  Star clambered down from the stuffed animal mountain and peeked into the hallway, looking left and right. “Not a soul in sight!” she thought to herself gleefully, as she snuck over to the stairs. Carefully lowering herself onto each step, Star’s descent became slow but steady, and within a few minutes she had reached the bottom. Star checked the kitchen to her left, nobody there.  Turning to her right Star saw to her dismay that the doorknob for this door was even higher. Then to her horror, the front door opened, and in strode the purple lion before stopping in his tracks when he noticed Star.

    Star looked at the purple lion.  The purple lion looked at Star. Then, completely unexpectedly, the Lion nudged the door with his nose, holding it open wide, and looked expectantly at Star, as if offering her the exit.  Star took a tentative step forward, the lion did nothing. Gathering her nerve Star sprinted for the exit, the hood of her sleeper bouncing on her upper back as she sped past the lion, leaped over the steps on the porch and tumbled down on the ground, rolling several times before jumping back into a run, heading towards the forest.  Star ran out of the garden, and up the path towards the tree where she had woken up what felt like forever ago. Star slowed as after a good half hour of sprinting when the clearing came into sight. Star stopped running as she entered the clearing where the tree stood, proud and gigantic as she had previously seen it. Star reached its roots, and recognized the place where she had woken up.  To her astonishment, a hole had appeared in the root where she remembered regaining consciousness the previous day, her head pounding. Something told Star that if she went through that hole, she’d be back to her old life. Star knew that after such a successful escape, she should be plowing through that hole, she was at the finish line. But something held her back.

    Star looked back at the forest she had left behind her, the gorgeous, giant oaks waving their branches in the evening breeze, the colors of the sun turning richer as late afternoon slowly turned into early evening.  The songs of the birds pierced the air, pouring melodies into the sky that she had never heard the likes of before. Complicated and wide pitch ranges of sound escaped the creatures, painting the scene with a melancholy brush.  “I don’t want to leave this place.” Star realized, as she slid down the root to sit on it. Folding her arms on her knees and placing her head on them, still panting from the sprint she had completed. “I want to see more.” Star looked back up at the hole in the root, she could smell rain on a city street coming from it, and just barely pick out the noises of cars driving on wet asphalt.  “I want to stay.” Star said aloud, and after a few seconds hesitation, she stood up and resumed her running once again, this time towards the purple lion, the kindly beaver, and the motherly pink fox.

    Star ran, a new energy in her step as she threw herself into a sprint.  It had been a bit since she had been able to stretch her legs and she reveled in the opportunity to run free in this fantastical realm.  Flowers from shrubs bounced in the wind as if to cheer her on as she flew past them, her padding had hindered her in the previous run but she had now chaffed the material enough that it barely held her back as she flew through between the trees.  She had been running for a while longer than she had to reach the oak previously, and suddenly stopped as she realized she had no idea where she was going. The linx looked around in all directions, straining to see a sign of the blue house with the porch that wrapped around it, and the garden filled with botanical mysteries.  A pang of fear shot through her heart, and she called out,”Giant fox lady! Are you there? Purple lion! Can you hear me?” she began walking forward, cupping her paws around her mouth to amplify the sound. Star heard nothing in return except the wind picking up, almost sweeping her off her feet.

    For what seemed like hours Star wandered, yelling out into the forest. Soon it was approaching nightfall, and Star was growing more and more frightened.  The forest trees no longer looked so friendly, and even the white, sparkling flowers were closing up, as if to protect themselves from the expanse of darkness closing in on the scene.  Star realized that she was lost, and knew nothing of the potential dangers in this place. She wandered further, the forest growing darker and darker as her worry turned into an anxiety causing her to breathe hard,, almost hyperventilating.  She stopped by a log, and picking up a stone she hurled it into the darkness out of frustration. A twig snapped a few dozen feet away from her, and she whirled around in the direction from where the sound came from. She crouched next to the log, resting a paw on it as she readied herself to run.  Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest and run away from her, leaving her behind with nothing to keep her blood flowing. More snapping noises as something began running at her at a speed she could barely react to. She only had time to let out a horrified scream and turned, falling on her face as she tripped over one of the log’s upturned roots.  Thudding to the ground she scrambled onto her backside, ready to fight whatever was going to eat her. And to her surprise, the surprised face of the pink fox appeared to greet her.

Epilogue

    The pink fox wasn’t happy to find Star out of her crib and alone in the forest, and Star was once again given a strict regime of bondage and restraint, keeping her from doing anything other than using her diapers.  It wasn’t so bad though, the purple lion made sure to keep her amused while the giantess kept her on a short leash by tickling her feet with his tongue and sneaking into her crib to cuddle with her in the evenings. The fox turned out to be an excellent cook with a wonderful sense of outdoor adventure, and Star experienced fantastical things by observing the various hobbies that the beaver and fox enjoyed.  As they had previously, they included her in most of their activities, and Star enjoyed their company as much as they enjoyed hers. She found that she had opportunities to escape as she did previously a few times a week, and would sometimes return to her world, finding conveniently that no time passed there when she returned to it from her adventure, and the hole in the tree remained present and visible only to her.  There was only one thing that Star utterly refused to do in the world of the giants: whenever the pink fox offer her the blue mush, Star would throw a panicked fit and refuse to go anywhere near it, which the purple lion always found rather amusing, judging from the loud purring and gleam in his eye whenever Star was thrown into such a spat.

~The End