FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Next please."

The antelope behind the counter wore a no-nonsense expression on her muzzle, a thin pair of eye-glasses glinting in the harsh neon lights.

"I, uh... I th-think there's been some sort of--" Locano began, shuffling his bare foot-claws nervously as he moved up to stand before her desk, now first in the long line of people.

"Name?" she asked impatiently.

"B-but there's been... mistake..." Locano stammered, holding out his neatly packed personel effects and trying to explain.

"I asked you for your name. Give it to me, or I'll process you as 'Doe', Dear. Come along, I don't have all day."

Locano looked at the antelope's breast, where a name tag was pinned. "Miss Bridget, uh, I really--"

"Bridget, Miss. Good, now, you've been found guilty of--" the antelope began, before being cut off by Locano once more opening his beak.

"L-Locano!" stammered Locano, pink rising to his cheeks, visible beneath his silvery grey feathers. "I-it's... my name's Locano!"

"Miss Bridget Locano," the antelope corrected, huffing, her lips forming a small, displeased moue. "And a trouble maker who likes to interrupt, I see. Well in that case, I'll skip straight to the explanation of what we're to do with you; you've been remanded to the care of Three-R Corp for a span of not less than... oh, five years, in your case, ten with good behaviour. That means for the next five years at least, from this point on, you will be regressed to a manageable age, retrained in the social graces, and then released back into polite society. As of right now," and Bridget typed quickly into her terminal, "your criminal record is considered... wiped. Your previous status as a college graduate is... erased and you, Miss Bridget, have been successfully rendered unto our tender mercies. Here is your welcome packet, please hand over your personal effects. They will be stored for when you graduate, unless they are suitable for your new station, as you no doubt have already been advised."

"N-no, I mean--"

"Oh this is all quite final, Dear." Bridget the antelope stared down at him, not altogether unkindly. He felt her eyes bore into his soul, as it were, subtly disapproving of many things it found there. He shuffled his claws again, still nervous over being stripped naked in the previous holding area and forced to shower -- in dust baths, at least, wet feathers would have been so much more embarassing than mere nakedness -- and then forced to march in lock-step with hundreds of other petty criminals to be informed of his own fate.

"I mean my name!" he blurted. "It's not... it's Locano. Just--"

The antelope pushed a single button on her computer. It beeped. "Sorry, dear, nothing I can do. Move along!"

"B-but--"

"Effects, sign, welcome packet. Move that way, Dearie."

With that, Locano was denuded of his last link with his previous life, handed a small, somewhat furry pack and quite literally shown the door. Still complaining, fruitlessly, Locano was ushered by two very burly buffalo in uniforms out the check-in area and down a corridor. Before he knew it, he'd been bundled into a small, grey, mostly featureless cell and the door -- with no handles or mechanism in sight -- had slid closed. He slumped down onto the bed, head in his feathered hands.

"What did I do?" he moaned to himself. He knew, of course, or at least he knew what they'd said he'd done. 'Disturbing the peace' was the charge. Sure, he'd got a little bit drunk, but doesn't everybody on their 21st? And so he'd been a bit boisterous... not that he'd remembered most of it, but he was sure it hadn't been all that troublesome. But sure enough, next day, he'd been picked up by the coppers and taken... here. With his studies put on hold, his stipend frozen and his future on lockdown, he'd then spent several months fighting the charges. And failing. And now he was here.

"Oh... no!" he moaned, snuffling into his feathers. Despite his best efforts, tears streamed down his beak, followed by snot. He looked around, after wiping most of both away, for something to clean himself up with besides his arm feathers. Eyes fell on the strangely furry pack. Inspecting it -- still sniffling -- he found a zipper. Tipping the contents out, there were several large, white rectangles that had been the cause of most of the filling, along with several small tubes of something, a couple of plastic bottles, and a selection of odds and sods that he rummaged through to select a small packet of what he'd first thought were tissues. As he wiped his beak and feathers clean with one of them, he realized that the 'tissue' was... remarkably cotton-like, and somewhat damp. A wet-wipe.

"Wha-?" Locano mumbled, his beak opening in a soft 'caw' that made him sound more like a common crow than the proud owl he knew he really was. He shook himself. This needed closer inspection. The packet contained wet-wipes, the tubes were presumably toothpaste (though it would work on his beak too), some form of zinc cream and antiseptic, and the bottle was powder. The other two bottles were empty, with oddly large silicon tops.

"What sort of 'welcome pack' is this?" he asked himself, mumbling under hius breath. He inspected the odd cloth bag, and realized that the zip could go almost the whole way around. He unzipped it, and the bag turned out to be a shaped terry towel, complete with a hood that had both eyes and ears, looking somewhat like a panda. There were even little legs on the 'inside' that, now he had reversed it, made it look like... "A teddy bear?"

Indeed, as he zipped up the hooded towel, it turned it into a little, flat panda-shaped bear. He pulled it close to him, idly stroking it as he thought about his fate. He knew what they were going to do to him, now... or he kind of did. It wasn't something he'd paid any real attention to before because it was just a rumour, everyone knew-- but no, the truth was there in front of him. The last items from his 'welcome pack' -- the soft, white rectangles -- unfolded into an oddly I-shaped padded garment with a neat little adjustable hole in one end for his tail. A diaper, white and unmarked -- yet not entirely unlike the colourful baby diapers you could usually buy in stores -- with stark blue tapes, no-nonsense leg-guards and a softly crinkling outside to complement the thickly padded, cotton-like inside.

Locano was startled from his reverie when the door hummed as it slid upwards. He looked around, half-standing, as an older female donkey -- or a jenny, he wasn't sure -- flanked by two of more burly buffalo guards stepped in.

"Ah, that's good, Sweetie, getting yourself ready. I like that. I was told you'd be a little troublemaker, Miss Bridget, but I see you're getting into it. Come on luv, get yourself a bit of a lie down here and I'll get you dressed. You've been adopted already, been on the waiting list just for you, your new parents have! Wee cute lil babby like you, no wonder, too."

"L-Locano," Locano mumbled, holding out the bear as if the flat stuffy could explain his predicament for him.

"Yes, yes, Miss Bridget Locano, all necessary preparations have been made." She sounded so matronly that Locano found himself moving already. "So just lie down and we'll get you properly sorted, okay? I don't want to have to ask Stewie or Griff to make you, it'd look very bad on your report card. Thunderstorms instead of smiley suns..." The donkey tutted sadly, shaking her head.

"N-no, Miss, I uh... wouldn't want that, uh..."

"Oh just call me Nanny, Dearie," replied the donkey, smiling. She flicked her ears happily as the owl laid down on the bed. "Would you mind if I got a little help from my big brothers?"

"Umm?"

"Lifting and such. You're a big little wee babby birdie, and I have a lot of little 'uns to look after so it goes a lot easier t'get the boys to lift you. That's mostly why they're here."

Locano looked up at the two buffalo. They were hulking males, without a hint of expression on their muzzles. Though they had a twinkle in their eyes that told him they were enjoying this, seeing a fully grown owl like himself treated like... well, like an owlet.

"Well? What do you say?" 'Nanny' asked politely, crossing her hoof-like hands across her knees as she sat on the bed.

"Y-yes?"

"Yes what?"

"Umm. Er... yes Nanny?"

Nanny smiled, flicking her ears and tail this time. "That's better. Now lie yourself down."

Worriedly, Locano ever so slowly reclined on the bed, pushing the previous contents of his teddy-bag to one side. Nanny tutted, picking them up.

"Such a messy little tyke, aintcha? Well, let Nanny deal with that."

Locano squirmed at the word 'messy'; after all, his feathered butt was being bodily lifted by Stewie (the bufallo's badge said 'Hello, My Name Is Stewart') so Nanny could slide a diaper under his butt, as Griff ('Hello, My Name Is Grifford') gently but firmly took Locano's teddy and put everything back into it before giving it back to him.

Griff leaned closer. "You can hug him if you'd like. Or her. Have you named it yet?" Locano blinked. The buffalo's voice had been surprisingly soft, if deep and rumbly. "I've still got mine, called him Lolly."

"I--" Locano was about to answer when Nanny decided that this was a good time to put something cold on his privates. "Yeek!"

"Now, now, little one, we have to make sure you don't get a rash!"

"Rash?" the owl exclaimed, looking up at Nanny fearfully. He gulped.

"Mmm-hmm," Nanny replied, slathering more cream on, causing quite a few little peeps from Locano. "Little tushies like yours tend to get quite ouchie if they're not looked after properly... and now some powder aaannndd... there we go!"

Locano looked down to see his nethers swaddled in a large, pink diaper that was so thick it forced his legs apart, held on by four large tapes covered in pretty flowers and swirls. Hearts adorned its surface, and the waist was suitably frilly -- fit for a baby princess.

"B-buh... pink?" Locano's heart fell.

"Oh, yes," Nanny said, nickering lightly, makes you look so pretty, Sweetie. Now, time for a bottle whilst Griff and Stewie get you ready for the viewing room with the rest of the new arrivals."

"New arriva--umph!" Locano found himself expertly twisted around to be sitting on Nanny's lap, with a bottle in his beak. The surprise made him almost bite it, which got him a tutting remonstration from Nanny, before he almost reflexively started drinking from it using his tongue, softly massaging the nipple with his beak.

"That's a good birb... drink it all up! Stewie, Griff, get our little princess ready, will you?"

"Yes Nanny," replied one of them. Locano was having trouble pinpointing which one because his attention was focused almost entirely on his impromptu liquid lunch... at first he fought it, but the more he drunk the better he started to feel. The truth was it had been a long and stressful day and he hadn't had anything to either eat or drink for hours. Slowly, almost so slowly he didn't realise it, his eyes closed as he filled the hole in his tummy. He barely noticed as his hands and feet were moved around and... covered? As his second foot -- and last limb -- was engulfed in some form of soft yet all-encompasing glove/bootie, he startled awake, stretching to look down at it.

"Shh, shh, it's nothing to worry about, little one, it's just standard procedure. Say 'ahhh'!"

Locano opened his beak to ask what he saying 'ahh' to, but as he did, he suddenly found it stuffed with a soft, rubber-like bulb of some sort, and an accompanying strap of what felt like silk tied around the back of his head. He moved his beak experimentally, and felt a similar nipple-type arrangement to what had been on his bottle.

He blushed, despite himself, his bottle...

His reverie was once again broken as he was lifted bodily into some sort of pram-like device and his legs -- even though they were tied up in booties that surely made it next to impossible for him to walk -- were shackled. Before he knew it, he was being wheeled out of his former cell, still clutching his diaper-bag teddy, down the brightly lit corridors towards who knew where.

"We'll be there soon, Bridget, then maybe you'll be able to see your new mommy and daddy, would you like that?"

Locano peeped, just about the only noise he could make with his beak full of oversized binky, and squirmed. He may not have had much to eat and drink, but his system hadn't stopped working. Nanny apparently caught on to his discomfort, because just as he was wheeled into a large, padded room with windows all down both sides, she leaned down and spoke to him.

"Now, now, little Miss Bridget, don't you worry about needing a change, that's what nursie's here for, okay? You just let her know and she'll see to all your needs. Play nice, get plenty of rest, and mommy and daddy will be here to pick you up in no time. You'll see."

With that, he was helped out of the pushchair and more or less set free. Wobbling on unsteady legs, he fell forwards onto all fours, forced to crawl like a baby.

"Such a cutie. I'll be seeing you soon for your regular checkups, okay Sweetie? So I want to hear you've been good."

With that, Nanny disappeared out of the door, her helpers taking his pushchair with them.

Locano was alone... other than being in the midst of dozens of other 'babies' more or less each as big as he was, of course.

There wasn't much for it. Locano started to cry.