This is Chapter 10 to a commissioned novel. It is set in the Two Weeks universe, and is universe canon. The story follows Talikin, a 29 year old fox who's fed up with nearly everything, and is looking to make a serious change in his life, and his boyfriend, Matt, a German Shepard that never outgrew his selfish, childhood habits. Unexpectedly, that change comes in the form of the pair being targeted by a secret society.

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Story Text: (FA formatting is crap. Download to read it the way it was meant to be read.)
The Vacant Years: Chapter 10
Telia's ears were filled with the sound of squawking gulls as Sky pulled the tigress's CRV up to the gated compound that was Sunrise Mass Storage and Import Inc. The rabbit had done what she could to sooth Telia's damaged ego after being stripped of her pants and forced to walk back through the New Haven member’s only resort complex in nothing but her standard issue undergarments. She shouldn't have been as ashamed of it as she was, but that didn't console her any.
The two gruff looking guards at the gate of the warehouse compound stepped out from their post and looked into the rolled down window, "May I see your identification and documentation, Ma'am," the man said, and Sky, who had expected this, handed him the two laminated passes they had been given upon leaving Caretaker Headquarters, the sheet of paper Telia had been given from Caretaker Elaina, and their personal identification cards. He quickly looked over them, then glanced up at Telia, who was looking very self-conscious and uncomfortable considering she was still half naked. "Full powers, eh? I don't envy whoever's on the receiving end. Clear!" he said and waved a paw for his partner, who pulled a lever and opened the corroded steel gate.
"Come on, cheer up," Sky said, parking the car and patting her sulking kitten on the shoulder, "Don't let things go to your head. That's what got you here in the first place." Telia didn't respond, still rather downcast from her encounter with what amounts to their boss, a Senior Caretaker. The two of them got out after the car parked, Telia somewhat reluctantly, but accepted a comforting hand-holding from Sky, and a kiss on the cheek. "Come on, where's that big, tough kitty, hmmm?"
"On the floor, in Elaina's office..." Telia replied under her breath, conscious of some of the looks and chuckles she was getting from the dock workers. They walked through the broad, open channels between the massive, steel warehouse buildings, most of which were filled with nothing more conspicuous than bananas, to their destination: Warehouse 64. They knew they had arrived because the number of guards around it was triple what could be seen around any other, and they were eyed suspiciously as they approached.
"Name, number, documentation, and card please," a very unpleasant looking old lioness behind a window said, looking the two minor caretakers over with a suspicious eye. Once again they displayed their cards, placing them through the slot so the croan could examine them through half inch thick librarian glasses. "Full powers, eh?" the lioness said, raising one eyebrow inquisitively, "you might be the youngest I've ever seen with that sort of privilege. Your Senior must trust you."
"You could say that..." Telia said gingerly, knowing the woman had probably guessed why she was lacking in pants.
"Well, I won't argue with Elaina. Go on in. If you need help carrying anything, don't be afraid to ask. That's what we pay these boys for, isn't it?" The lioness hit a buzzer, and the steel grated door to the warehouse unlocked, Telia and Sky walking in right away.
"Woah..." the rabbit said, ears perking as she saw the insides of Warehouse 64 for the first time. Telia was just as impressed. Rows upon rows upon rows of the various pieces of specialized, often sinister equipment that had been designed and tested for a purpose: to keep frustrated, often violent initiates in check. There were two sections: the vastly larger of the two being the general equipment, clothing and consumables section. Telia wasn't particularly interested in any of that. She had handed her list of requirements to the croan at the front desk, and she would have new clothes in Matt's size, diapers, restraints, and everything else that was immediately necessary gathered and packed into her CRV in record time, considering how impressively fast the wheels of the caretaker organization could turn when time was of the essence. But no, that wasn't why Telia had come here, and brought Sky along to boot. She was interested in the restricted section, the back eighth of the warehouse which was walled off and gated, inside of which was all the devious tools that had been invented over time to grind a dominant cub down to size. When they reached the door there was another woman, a older female blue jay that was maybe in her mid-forties.
The jay demanded documentation, and Telia handed it to her, then stood for five minutes while she examined it down to the size of the font. "Alright, but I'll be with you the whole time. You can go pick out an outfit for your friend, here," the older female said, waving a wing at Sky and chuckling at the pantless tigress in a condescending way that only a senior caretaker could manage, "don't touch anything without permission."
"Go on, you'll be fine," Sky said, grinning, and squeezed Telia's hand. The tigress was nervous, knowing that she had escaped being a victim of the 'back room,' as it was colloquially referred to, twice now. Once as an ornery cub who had clawed and bit up her caretaker, and once just this morning, when she had gotten out of an old caretaker mantra only by circumstance: never do anything to your cub if you don't know how it feels.
There was the buzzing of an electronic lock being disengaged, and Telia was led inside by the Senior that had been tasked with guard duty of the most incriminating room in any Caretaker owned storage facility.
Facing the door, right across from Telia as she walked in, was a prison's worth of something she had only ever heard of.
"Sure he's bad enough to need a null-suit?" the jay said, and walked up to the reinforced steel bar, from which was hung a square hundred blue full body garments. Telia walked up and put her hand on the thick, outer fabric, like seat belt, and could feel the led weights stitched in. The suits weighed between ninety and three hundred pounds each, depending on the species for which they had been designed, and were intended above all to prevent the initiate from resisting, or, in some cases, moving at all. The first prototype had been designed years earlier to deal with a particularly powerful and violent initiate, a Corinthian dragon whose name Telia could not recall though she had read his case study during her training, which had very nearly wound himself up in jail for life on accounts of attempted murder. Now the suits, or at least toned down versions of them, were common for any sort of caretaker whose initiate was expected to be violent.
Next to the bolted racks of null suits were a wall of prototype deprivation hoods, intended for punishments where a cub needed a serious, often long-term reprimand.
"I'll need one of those," Telia said, guiltily pointing at the deprivation masks, "and a nullification suit in his size. It doesn't need to be too heavy, just enough so he can't get into trouble." Buckling down to business, Telia pointed out what she wanted from the racks of medical restraints and expensive toys that she would need for her plan. When the tigress had finished her back-room browsing, and accumulated more equipment than would fit in her car, she asked for it to be delivered to her post, and followed her guide to the most heavily fortified part of the warehouse: the pharmaceutical dispensary. Without a word, Telia handed the jay the catalogue of drugs, hormones, stimulants, relaxants, and even hallucinogens that were in her powers as caretaker to ply the Shepard with.
The jay closed the steel door behind her, and spent the better part of ten minutes collecting what she had requested. When she returned, Telia was almost surprised by the plethora of pills and ground powders that she had been brought. Sure she had filled out the correct form in advance, but seeing those words on a page made plastic containers and pills was very different, indeed.
"Is that all?" the jay said, crossing her wings, "your puppy can't be comfortable, sitting down there all alone."
"How did you..." Telia started to say, but dropped the question. Clearly, a Senior caretaker's level of deductive reasoning wasn't to be trifled with.
"Come on, hon. I'm sure Sky has picked out your clothes for the day," the older bird said with an amused chuckle, and elicited a blush on the tigress's cheeks, but there was nothing she could do to deny it. She led Telia back to the door to the back room and opened it, the tigress almost having forgotten that Sky had been tasked with finding an outfit for her, and started to find the bunny standing outside the door, blushing madly, and holding a frilly pink onesie out in front of her.
"I'm sorry, kitten, I couldn't resist," Sky said, chuckling to herself, then held out the onesie for the dumbstruck Telia to take. She just stared at it, not comprehending.
"T-this is some sort of joke, right?" Telia said, face growing hot with embarrassment as the jay grinned and pushed her forwards.
"You heard the lady," the blue jay said, "shirt off. Now."
Telia opened her mouth to protest, and not without good reason, but closed it again shortly afterwards. It would do no good to complain, she knew that from experience. “Alright…” the tigress said, laid low, and allowed herself to be coerced into the frilly pink onesie, which, for all its infantile intent, was as snug and comfortable as she could have asked for, and harkened back to happier memories from long ago, and they brought a smile to her face, despite the snug, button up crotch. “Thank you, Sky,” Telia said, unconsciously waddling to accommodate a diaper that she wasn’t yet wearing, years of habit having taken hold.
“You’re adorable,” the rabbit said with a chuckle as the two of them passed out through the security door and out onto the tarmac, the croan in the booth not even looking up from whatever she was reading as they did so. With the mechanical efficiency that Telia had always admired about the Caretaker organization, a team had gathered the essentials of what Telia had requested, packed it neatly into duffle bags, and stashed everything that could be fit into the back of her CRV. “Back seat, sweetie,” Sky said, teasing Telia by using her caretaker voice, and making the tigress feel just that much more nostalgic, even if it could only be temporary.
Telia didn’t complain, and crawled into the back seat, blushing, “Just because I’m dressed like this, doesn’t mean you have to treat me like a cub…” the tigress said as Sky adjusted the seat belt and buckled her in.
“I know,” Sky said, smiling and patting Telia’s shoulder, “but you’re enjoying this, so I’m going to do it anyway. Take a break, nobody’s judging you.”
The tigress didn’t have much to say past that, and only sat with her hands in her lap as Sky got into the driver’s seat and aimed back for the gated subdivision where both of their posts were, right in the middle of suburbia. Had she gotten carried away dealing with Matt? Apparently not since he totaled the nursery and tried to bludgeon her with a chunk of metal. But maybe if she’d been more even handed and understanding he would have come around, easier. No, that certainly wouldn’t have been the case. Even the tamest of cubs squirmed at first, and it was an exceptional case that wasn’t still fighting, at least to some extent, by the fourth or fifth days in. But what she had in mind for him... this was an extreme, justified only by Matt’s demonstration of unexpected resistance. They had been taught that the first three days were crucial. A cub might still fuss past that point, but if a caretaker couldn’t keep them under control after seventy two hours, they would need to be replaced. That didn’t leave her much time. Could she really afford to be playing around with nostalgic regression right now, with stakes this high?
Telia turned off her frantically hurrying thoughts. It was too much, too much for her to handle. Nothing could have prepared for the level of stress and responsibility that being Matt’s unwanted caregiver would require. Not her own experiences as a charge, not the months of training, and not her self-assured, rock solid ego. What she was doing was for Matt’s own good. And if he didn’t know it yet, that didn’t matter. With that decision finally set in stone, Telia sighed, and waited out the rest of the journey home in lonesome silence.
“Do you want me to carry you, hon?” Sky said, right in Telia’s ear. The tigress perked up out of her daze, realizing that she had missed the drive home, and Sky was coercing her out of the car.
“N-no, I’m fine,” Telia said, unbuckling her seat belt and crawling out of the car, then speed-walked up the steps and into her post house, a heavily modified two story urban dwelling that had been renovated for use by a caretaker and cub.
“Suit yourself, you know you miss it,” Sky said, chuckling, and swung her keychain around in a circle after unlocking the door and leading Telia inside, then up the stairs and into her bedroom. She had taken the liberty of unloading one of the duffle bags from the back of the CRV, and slung it over one side of the bed. “Would you rather I do it in here, or in the nursery?” Sky asked, and at first Telia, who was mentally occupied at the moment, didn’t understand what she meant.
“W-what? What are you talking about?” Telia asked, lamely, but knew as soon as she saw the glint of white plastic inside the duffle bag, and Caretaker Elaina’s words came back to her in full force. “Sky, I can do it myself.”
“My, aren’t you a big girl now,” Sky teased, picking out a diaper with a childish, but not overtly humiliating red blocky print. “Well, I’m sorry. Caretaker Elaina ordered me to keep an eye on you.”
“I don’t need someone to keep an eye on me,” Telia said, sounding as grumpy and huffy as the fussy cub she was expected to take care of.
“Sorry kitty, I don’t make the rules,” Sky said with a shrug, and unfolded the diaper on the bed, getting out the talcum powder and baby wipes from the bag. “Just lay back and try to relax, it’ll make this easier on you.”
“Sky…” Telia said, as exasperated as she was embarrassed, “I’ve been through this thousands of times. So have you. It doesn’t get much easier than that.”
“Hey, don’t you get lippy with me, kitten,” Sky said with fake severity.
“Why don’t you just stop me,” Telia said back with a playful growl.
“Oh stay still, you little striped terror,” the rabbit said, chuckling as she unsnapped Telia’s onesie and expertly taped the diaper up between her legs, kicking the bag off the bed before flopping down on the mattress next to her. “So, how’s it feel to not be able to bring your knees together after all this time.”
“I can too…” Telia said, then made her point by trying and failing to do just that, much to Sky’s playful amusement.
“Just like old times, right?” Sky said, her eyes glinting with reflected light from the window. Telia had always loved the rabbit’s eyes, the light in them as perky and energetic as the hyper bunny to whom they belonged. They leaned in and kissed each other for a long moment, and the affection hung in the air like a warm cloud.
“Just like old times,” Telia replied, mind harkening back to warm nights curled up with the rabbit, both of them as much toddler as adult in mind, and purred deeply and loudly. It hadn’t been by chance that they, a couple, had been paired with Matt and Talikin. The Seniors were good like that, skilled at seeing the often invisible silver line between an initiate’s current emotional state, and where they ought to have been.
Telia leaned in for another kiss, but Sky nosed her instead, “You know Matt’s still down there, kitten,” she said, responsibility overcoming her own desires, “he needs you. Remember that. I’ll always be here when you need me, Telia. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” the tigress replied, feeling some of the heart put back into her by the rabbit’s confidence in her. “It’s going to be a rough day, but I’ll get through.” A few more minutes of affection passed, Telia and Sky simply laying there in one-another's arms, but eventually the tigress's inner caretaker told her that it was time to get back to work, undesirable as it was. However uncomfortable the day would be for her was nothing in comparison to how Matt was going to feel, so she couldn't in real honesty pretend she had it worse. "Here, help me get this onesie off," Telia said, fighting with the snaps at their crotch, which had been intentionally designed to be hard for the wearer to remove. What would have taken Telia five minutes of fiddling with the snaps was done in two seconds by the rabbit, who was trained to make taking care of a toddler seem effortless. It made the tyke in question feel smaller, less mature and capable, which was, of course, the whole point.
Once the crotch was unsnapped Telia ditched the onesie in her hamper and grabbed up a fresh pair of track pants and grey shirt, the former of which was intentionally baggy so as not to show a diaper bulge, and the latter long enough so that it wouldn't ride up and reveal a plastic fringe. Forethought was a caretaker strong-suit, certainly.
"I'm going to have a little talk with him," Telia said, doing a once over of her wardrobe to make sure she hadn't made any silly mistakes, "mind waiting outside for me in case I need backup?"
"Don't I always?" Sky said, grinning and patting the tigress's crinkling behind playfully, then followed her as she went downstairs, still readjusting to her new, extra thick underwear. Telia, like all caretakers, had once been an initiate, and had spent a good number of years walking despite the bulk between her legs. She'd gotten so good at hiding her waddle that one didn't even notice unless they knew what to look for.
Telia and Sky descended the stairs to the basement, then took the immediate left turn into the laundry room, at the back of which was the temporary holding chamber that Telia had locked Matt into before delivering her report. "Well, tally-ho," Telia said, walking up to the reinforced fire door and looking through the peep hole. The lens was crafted in such a way as to allow anyone looking through it unrestricted viewing of the entire small, closet like room. Not that Matt was looking to hide. Telia guessed that the pup had given up hope by this point, a bit over two and a half hours after being locked in there, but seemed to perk up a bit as Telia unbolted the locks which held the door closed, then swung it open just enough for the tigress to worm her way in and shut it behind her, the shepard giving her a glare that was equal parts relief and contempt.
"We need to chat," the tigress said, taking in as much of the room as she could at a glance. Matt was sitting on the floor in something akin to the fetal position, clearly deep in self-inflicted psychological misery. The whole room smelled of stale urine, Matt having clearly given up trying to hold his bladder and peed himself, then discarded the wet shorts in the corner and sat now fully naked, covering himself with his tail and legs. The Shepard didn't respond, not verbally, but turned away to avoid meeting her eye. That morning had been a humbling experience for the pup, and the two and a half hours locked away in a box smaller than the average bathroom with nothing better to do than reflect on his failure to escape had taken a large toll on his already strained psyche.
Telia sat down on the bench that was built into the wall, the cell's only piece of furniture, and at last the shepard spoke, cold and resigned, "What do you want from me?"
"At the moment?" Telia replied, reclining a bit and closing her nostrils to the dank smell of dog urine, "just that you listen, and hear me out." Matt didn't look at her, and didn't talk again. Telia prompted him, "can you do that for me?"
"Do I have a choice?" Matt replied, more straight and emotionless than his usual condescending attitude, "either I listen, or you leave me in here to rot for another few hours. Is that it?"
The words stung, and Telia had to fight down her instinctive urge to assert her dominance over the pup. There was a time for high-handedness, but this situation required delicacy. "No," Telia said, taking a neutral, casual posture, "I'm going to talk, and then I'm going to take you out. Listen or don't, it doesn't matter to me."
The tigress's reply seemed to take Matt by surprise, and he lost his sulky composure for a bit and looked up at her, blinking. Then sighed, and mumbled, "What have I got to lose?"
"Nothing you wouldn't benefit from being rid of," Telia said, and leaned over to stroke the shepard's head. He didn't try to stop her, and even leaned into the comforting, parental touch, probably as much out of instinct as intent. Whatever the cause, Telia sensed that Matt was ripe for a change of heart, and all she had to do was point him in the right direction. She changed her plan somewhat. After all, she had always been told to trust her maternal instincts, "Come on," Telia said with a smile, "lets get you cleaned up. You can't be comfortable right now."
"I thought you said you wanted to talk?" Matt said, raising an eyebrow, but didn't seem too opposed to being released from the cement box.
"Somehow I think you'll be more inclined to listen and learn once I've shown you a bit of sympathy," Telia said, giving him a warm smile.
"Couldn't hurt," the shepard replied with a sigh, and stood up, looking very stressed and uncomfortable after his long confinement in the holding cell.
Telia knocked on the door for Sky to open, and heard a satisfying click a few moments later, but the rabbit was gone, quick and quiet as a ghost, by the time the tigress had swung the door open. "I hope you've learned your lesson, Matt," Telia said, letting him follow her down the hall and into the basement bathing area. That morning Matt had scraped the upstairs changing table to splinters, so his changings would have to take place down there until the nursery had been repaired.
"You're going to put another diaper on me, aren't you?" Matt asked, still sulky, but seemed a bit more resigned to his fate now.
"I have as little choice as you in the matter," Telia said, shrugging, and patted the laminated plastic countertop for Matt to lay down. The scolded canine looked at her, then at the table, then hung his head in shame and climbed up onto it, the will to resist temporarily broken. Telia took one of the restraint cuffs and buckled it around the shepard's ankles, but left the other three alone. "Sorry, buddy, but I can't just let what you did this morning slide. There has to be consequences."
"I know," Matt said, keeping his hands over his naked crotch, "can you at least tell me what you're going to do?"
"It depends," Telia said, crossing her arms and getting the changing supplies out of the cabinets beneath the countertop, "Can I trust you to honor a promise?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Matt shot back, getting frustrated.
"It has everything to do with everything," Telia replied, keeping her breathing steady by force of will alone, "If you can follow through on a promise to behave today, and I mean impeccably, I'll go easy on you. I've already protected you once, but one more spectacle like you made this morning and there'll be nothing I can do. That's a promise."
Matt seemed to perk up at that, and Telia thought she heard a wisp of fear in his voice, "W-what do you mean? Protect me from who?"
"Use your brain, Matt," Telia said, unfolding the diaper and setting it under the shepard's behind, "I'm a foot soldier. And if the foot soldier can't get the job done, the captain finds someone who can. A specialist."
"So... If I keep fighting, you'd loose your job?" Matt said, looking almost insidious with the new information, but Telia just laughed, and squeezed his shoulder.
"Don't even think about it, puppy. What I've done to you would be a pleasant vacation compared to what would happen to you if the specialists got ahold of you. And then you'd wind up back here with me when they were done."
Matt looked abashed and ashamed, and went limp on the table, seeing for the first time that resistance truly was futile. "So I guess I'm never getting out of here, then," Matt said, more of a statement than a question, "there's no hope."
"No," Telia replied, seeing her golden opening, "there's pleny of hope. You're just looking in the wrong places." That seemed to get the pup's attention, and Telia pressed her advantage, "I'm not a jailer, I'm a rehabilitator. Open your mind, let me help you, and we'll work towards a brighter tomorrow. What do you say?" Matt had never been so confused, and every morsel of his tangled emotions showed on his face as Telia stretched out her hand to him. "I just need you to trust me."
"I- I'm..." Matt stuttered, blushing and squirming, "I- I'll try..." he said, and took the tigress's paw.
Telia pulled her charge into a hug, or as much of one as he could manage since one ankle was still strapped to the table, and Matt returned it. Telia finished the pup's diaper change, a few moments later, taping the thick padding up around his waist, and then gave him a gentle kiss on the nose. "How do you feel, sweetie?" Telia asked, watching the pup wiggle and blush, but he was smiling a bit.
"I... Better," the shepard replied, and visibly relaxed, "Can you let me up, now? I'm kind of crampy..."
"Sure, buddy," Telia said, chuckling a bit and scratching him on the belly, and unbuckled the solitary ankle strap that kept him stuck to the table. Mat swung his legs over the side of the counter and hopped down, having to readjust to the bulk between his legs once more. The diaper Telia had chosen for the pup was thick enough to be a constant reminder, but thin enough to be little more than a minor inconvenience. Telia, able to sympathize with the waddling pup, gave him a court swat on the behind and giggled, "You look cute."
"Hey, stop it," Matt said, waddling away as he smiled and blushed, apparently in better humor. "Erm... Telia?" he asked, looking a bit more downcast, "could I get something to eat, please?"
"Oh, I'm awful. You haven't had anything to eat since last night, have you?" Telia asked, and took him by the paw.
"Please no baby food," Matt said, just wanting to get that out there, but Telia gave him a knowing look.
"Hmm, I'll see what I can do. But don't get your hopes up, I've been generous enough already." Matt looked abashed, but didn't argue further as the tigress led him up the stairs and into the dining room, where his high-chair was still standing tall in the corner.
"I- can I please have a normal chair?" Matt asked, blushing, and looking reluctant, but Telia didn't give him an inch.
"Show me that you can be a good puppy and I'll consider it. Now scoot!" Matt yelped as Telia gave him a firm swat on the behind. It didn't hurt, at least not physically, but it daunted any thoughts of resistance Matt still might have harbored. Meek as a pup, Matt crawled up into his high-chair and let Telia strap him in, and lock the table in place in front of him. "See? That's a good boy," she leant in and kissed the pup on his nose, which was possible thanks to the ingenious design of the chair. It had been built low enough to the ground to give the illusion that their caretaker had significant height on them, even though they were usually about the same size, while at the same time high enough that the cub couldn't touch the ground with their toes, reinforcing the feeling of helplessness and dependence that the caretakers strove so far to achieve.
Telia gave the shepard the benefit of the doubt, and decided not to restrain his hands and legs unless it became necessary, but didn't think it would. He was still nice and soft and pliable, now that Telia had finally gotten inside of his defenses. Now she had to reinforce her position, and that's where the drugs came in. Anticipating her needs, Sky had taken the hospital's worth of drugs, many of them experimental, and left the tray of powders and pills on the counter. To any onlooker, the curiously shaped bottles just looked like spices, and even were labeled as such. Beneath the labels of 'nutmeg,' 'black pepper,' and 'sea salt,' however, were nigh unpronounceable terms for the drug itself, and, on the back, a quick summary of its effects written in code for convenience.
The tigress silently thanked Sky for saving her the trip out to the car, which might have made Matt suspicious, and selected her weapons of choice. A few moments of searching later and she had chosen about a dozen different powders and two different liquids. She quickly and adeptly began preparing pasta, the caretaker's favorite dish. It was easy to make, easy to feed a cub, the cub wasn't likely to outright refuse it, and the sauce made an absolutely perfect place to administer drugs.
The kitchen had been designed with a caretaker and cub in mind. From the dining room it was impossible for a cub to see what their caretaker was doing so long as the high-chair was positioned correctly, but the caretaker could easily keep track of their little tyke thanks to the baby monitor that had been built into the lighting fixture. Matt was squirming, but it was probably more out of hunger and discomfort at being diapered again than out of a desire to resist or escape, so Telia let him be.
A short fifteen minutes later and the shell shaped pasta was done cooking, and the meaty sauce had been mixed and served in a dish. With a sigh, Telia began administering the drugs to his food. There was a delayed laxative and diuretic to make sure that his diaper was filled to capacity during naptime, a delayed sleeping aid so he wouldn't wake up, a very powerful emotional stimulant, muscle relaxants, estrogen and other hormone supplements and inhibitors, and a handful of other drugs that, when taken together, would reduce critical thinking capacity, make him more sensitive to touch, reduce dexterity, and many, many other things. Some of the drugs worked over time, others were more immediate. When handled correctly, they had the capacity to reduce an independent adult to the psychological state of a needy toddler. Many of the seemingly incongruous powders and pills were essential parts to the caretaker's reform program, but others were considered extremes. The tigress found she was trembling slightly as she poured the intensely drugged sauce onto the pasta and carried it into the dining room, and felt her conscience weigh her down like lead in her stomach as Matt brightened up at the sight of the dish.
"Wow, I love pasta! Thank you!" Matt said, almost cheery, and harkening back to the old saying about how to win a man's, or, in this case, boy's heart.
"Foul medicine, it's for his own good," Telia said under her breath, and forced a fake smile as she set down the plate on the shepard's high-chair table, along with a fork. She almost considered letting Matt feed himself while she went upstairs and got her head together, never having expected so much emotional turmoil from having to do this to him. It felt like a betrayal, like she had stooped to the lowest sort of back-room negotiations to get what she wanted. Sure, it was her job to bully the pup when necessary, but, even as hard as Matt was being, did he really deserve what she was doing to him? "Has nothing to do with deserving it, it's for his own good and he'll thank you for it later," Telia said to herself after a hasty retreat to the kitchen on the pretense of getting him a bottle of milk.
Telia took an empty two liter nursing bottle from the cupboard and filled it with formula from a jug in the fridge labeled as standard mix. She put it in the microwave, set it for low power, and let it warm for ten minutes while she went back into the dining room to feed her slowly acclimating pup. The tigress started a bit at the sight of the shepard, who was blushing and licking his nose clean of the tomato sauce.
"Sorry, couldn't resist," Matt said, having stuck his muzzle into the dish rather than wait for her to come back and feed him. Somehow that reassured Telia, and she smiled as she picked up a cartoon printed dishcloth and wiped his face down.
"Little bugger, you got sauce all over your face," the tigress said in amusement as Matt squirmed under the rag, surprisingly cubby for someone who had, only hours before, chosen to fight his way out rather than remain a toddler under her care.
"Hey, if you want to treat me like a baby, you're going to have to deal with this kind of thing," Matt said smugly, and got a forkful of pasta stuck into his mouth.
"Eat up, pup," Telia teased, and watched the shepard swallow reluctantly. He lost his reluctance after the first few bites, and, if a little squirmy, ate the whole bowl of pasta without any fuss. "There's my good boy," Telia said, trying to remain affectionate despite the guilt she was feeling, and scratched the pup behind the ears. Matt enjoyed the scratching more than might have been expected, but only Telia knew why. Even as she watched Matt seemed more wiggly and energetic than usual as the drugs worked their way into his system, taking effect one by one. In an hour he'd be ready, she just needed to keep him occupied and out of trouble until then. "Play time, sweetie," Telia said with a grin, disposing of Matt's dishes for washing and hoisting him out of the high-chair with a groan. He didn't resist as his caretaker slung him over her shoulder and carried him into the large, well-furnished living room, right behind the dining room. The living room had two couches, a coffee table, a large flat screen television, and a penned in play area in the corner for Matt. The play-pen had a waist-high fence and gate, more a barrier of the mind than the substance since the shepard could probably hop over it easily enough, but knew he would likely be punished if he did so.
Telia dropped the shepard into his play pen without another thought, Matt showing signs that he was losing motor control as he waddled, stumbled, and fell down onto his hands and knees now that he was no longer able to walk on his own two feet. That didn't seem to bother him too much, though, as, covered as his ego was by a blanket of drugs, he simply crawled over into the corner, sat onto his padded posterior, and started playing with some of the trucks and blocks that were scattered about.
The tigress gave a playful chuckle, sitting down to watch him play for a while. It put heart into her, seeing him so playful and carefree like that. It was only temporary, of course, and he would be back to his normal, grudging self by this afternoon, but by then she would have set her plans in motion, and sown the seeds for need of support and affection in the pup's subconscious.
Eventually, once she was sure the drugs had taken full effect, Telia made a few quick trips to her car and carried in the five duffle bags of clothing, diapers and equipment that she had acquired from the warehouse earlier, and laid them out in the ruined nursery for sorting. The place was a disaster, an unacceptable failure to properly assess Matt's will to resist. She had used up her margin for error. Fail again, and it would mean a dismissal for her, and more than likely a trip to to summary shattering for Matt. Telia cringed at the thought. She wouldn't... couldn't let it come to that, for Matt's sake if not her own, and started to unpack her equipment into her bedroom. Matt couldn't know about it until later on, so it had to be kept out of sight for the time being. She dubbed the spare third bedroom at the end of the hall as the temporary nursery, and started to set up shop. It had been intended as a guest bedroom in the original design for the house, somewhere for another caretaker to sleep if the caretaker on duty had guests or circumstance required it. It had a breakdown crib in the corner with six foot bars, pretty standard issue for their organization, so not much setup was required. The tigress rolled out a changing mat along one wall, disassembled the guest bed in case Matt had any ideas about trying to nap like a big-boy while her back was turned, and filled the closet with his new clothing. "Oh, are you going to hate me for that, puppy," Telia said to herself, selecting an outfit for Matt. She didn't choose anything complicated, a simple blue onesie with duckies and locking mittens to keep him out of trouble. She brought these down stairs, and Matt, who was absolutely ecstatic to see her, allowed himself to be dressed without a second thought.
"Diff comfy!" Matt babbled, enjoying the snugness of his childish garments. The pup was high as a kite, but Telia wasn't about to waste such a golden opportunity as this, and picked him up out of the play pen under his arms and back up over her shoulder.
"Come on, hon, let's get you cleaned up and changed," Telia said, bouncing him slightly and hearing his behind squish. She played along, a bit dismayed at how the drugs had affected him. Telia had wanted Matt to feel helpless, lonely and pliable, a state which she could have taken advantage of to finally get through to him on some level deeper than force. As he was right now, the tigress might just as well play patty-cake with him for all the good it would do. She sighed, and carried him upstairs to his improvised nursery, silently taking account of which drugs where most likely responsible for the regression. They were mostly experimental, so Matt amounted to an unrespecting field tester. She would make a list of their effects in combination and post it to the Caretaker database. Even if it wasn't useful to her ends, the recipe might be gold to another caretaker, now or in the future.
The guest bedroom had an armchair in it, much like the one Matt had torn apart that previous night, but Telia guessed he wasn't about to destroy anything at the moment, considering he could barely walk and talk, so muddled was his head with pharmaceuticals.
"Stay right here, sweetie. I'm going to get you a baba," Telia cooed giving the temporarily regressed pup a kiss on the cheek. No sooner had she left the room, than she heard Matt wailing for her to come back, and gently rubbed the sides of her head. This was not the kind of baby she was used to dealing with. A moment later she hurried back upstairs with the full nursing bottle in hand, and found the pup crying into his hands on the floor. Telia's eyebrows went up and she rushed over to him, maternal instincts taking over as she threw her hands around him and pulled his face into her breast, "It's okay, puppy. Everything's okay now... I'm here.... I'm here..."
Matt babbled something incoherent into the tigress's shirt, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her close as he wept and wept and wept. He looked up into Telia's eyes, a picture of pain and sorrow, and gave the most heartfelt apology Telia had ever seen. "I- I'm so sorry I tried to hurt you..." Matt said, his childish lisp gone. Either whatever regressive effects the drugs had had worn off suddenly and in less than an hour, or Matt had been faking the infantile behavior from earlier. Either way, as much as she knew that this was as much the drugs speaking as Matt's actual thoughts, Telia couldn't help but feel herself glow with warmth and happiness.
"I forgive you, Matt," Telia whispered into his ear, then gently nuzzled the side of his head, "I'll always be here for you, no matter what."
Matt dug his head into Telia's shirt again, and continued crying as she gently rocked him back and forth, his tears slowly seeping through her hoody as she cooed sweet nothings into his ears. Whatever inhibitions Matt had had about using his diaper had been totally cleared away by the barrage of drugs that she had used on him, and, as Telia perked her ears, heard a light hissing come from the front of Matt's diaper as he wet himself without even seeming to notice or care. Eventually, after a half hour of weeping like a child, the fit burnt itself out, and the Shepard lay sniffling in Telia's lap. The bottle of milk had cooled to room temperature by this point, but Matt didn't seem to mind. Clearly desperate for any comfort that might be offered, Matt happily took the nipple of the nursing bottle into his maw as it was offered, and suckled on it for the better part of another ten minutes until he had finished every last drop. His belly was swollen, filled with the fatty milk and his earlier meal, and, shortly after finishing the bottle, Matt drifted away into a silent slumber.