In The Gray, No One Can Hear You Crinkle
#10 of Diaperfur
The transformation of a gamer into something more devious. Props to anyone who responded to my journal for more story ideas. Right now, this is what I'm rocking. I'm really digging this idea and I want to know if people want me to continue it into more fetish content by commenting.
Four adventurers sat around a table idly, nudging their long empty flagons and plates and looking every bit frustrated.
Every few minutes, a fetching female fox would come to their table and ask in the same inviting tone, "can I get anything for you?" When the party waved her off she would go to each table and do the same thing, only to come back shortly thereafter with this same question. This is to be expected, though, being one of many NPCs designed to help players in the Virtual Reality MMO. At one time, they were more complex, but with growing populations of VR gamers and the increasing need for more functions in-game, less stress was placed on basic NPC interactions.
"You'd think they'd let us adjust the settings so she doesn't keep coming back," the only female sitting at the table sighed, tipping her chair back to an almost impossible backward angle. When her act of dexterity gathered attention, she sat back up in her chair, hiding her skin-tight green leather armor with her cloak as she muttered a few words under her breath.
"I know not what you speak of, <Leglass>. Mayhaps she is simply friendly," spoke a ram in priestly garments. Of all the people at the table, he looked the least threatening - barely old enough to hold the unimposing mace at his side, neatly trimmed facial hair and he'd shaved his horns down to the nubs as if to make himself look even more passive.
"Oh, shut it, <Beverly>" harrumphed a muscled black bear in nothing more than a leotard. "People only roleplay in dungeons. Taverns are for griping." The bear seemed almost too large to be realistic. Even sitting down, he was taller than anyone standing in the bar. And the large axe across his back said that it wasn't just for show.
"Leave him alone, <Ralfgar>. You could at least humor him," warned a mage who was only slightly more manly than his priestly counterpart. Supposedly the priest and he were brothers outside of the game. The notion seemed comical, however, considering that they were a different species in-game. While not physically tall, the goat-mage carried himself very powerfully, amplified by the many glowing lights that would periodically flash from pockets and sleeves. According to him, he wanted a character that looked like a satyr, so he'd chosen a goat just to get the gnarled horns.
The mighty bear stood up, his head nearly tapping the ceiling. "Don't tell me what to do or how to play the game. I'm only in this party because of..." the black bear's eyes briefly looked over to <Leglass> who shot him a scowl, then retreated back to his target. "Because <Seraphim> knows all the events. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't be hanging with you two children."
<Beverly> opened his mouth as if to speak, but when the barbarian gave him a threatening stare, he shut it right back up.
"You're the newest member of this party, whelp," the female ranger snipped, "be nice to the boys or we'll have little trouble replacing you. <Seraphim> is more than capable enough to tank. And he's the only reason you're even in this party.
The black bear looked a little hurt, as if betrayed by the vixen, but he didn't retreat. "Seraphim invited me because he knows you all need me for an event. I am way stronger than these two combined."
<Leglass> laughed haughtily. <Ralfgar> would've pursued that, but just then a majestic lion in golden armor walked by, fingering through what looked like a spellbook. "Freaking took you long enough!" the barbarian exclaimed as <Seraphim> continued walking...right into the wall of the tavern.
"Oof!" the feline cried as the walls of the tavern shook threateningly and a message popped up, "No Vandalism" on the wall he'd just bumped against.
The two siblings went to help him up, not that he needed it. Meanwhile, the patrons in the bar looked on in wonder but quickly turned back to their own tables when they realized it was just some clumsy player.
"So I found the perfect area to go. My sources say-" <Seraphim> started to say.
"Hold on!" <Ralfgar> interrupted, "you're not even going to apologize for being an hour late or for completely ignoring me?"
The lion looked at him strangely as if verifying what the bear had asked him. "Oh...I'm sorry. I recently changed timezones and I never changed my VR clock. Thanks for letting me know. I'll be prompt next time."
<Ralfgar> grumbled a bit, satiated for the time being, but everyone merely waved him off as if to suggest it was alright (since he'd always been a bit of a klutz, so they expected it.)
"So, my sources say that there'll be a new event going on in 'The Gray.' There weren't any specifics, but I've been told that the first few parties to clear it get a unique skillset. Probably a new craft or useful ability." <Seraphim> spoke, never lifting his eyes from the pages of his book as he did.
"The...Gray?" the barbarian asked, as if confused. He knew that name from somewhere, but it must not have been a popular area.
"Yeah, the area with the magical fog," <Robillard> quipped, "You've been there before, haven't you?"
Not wanting to lose face, the bear sneered, as if he was joking all along. It wasn't as if he was lying...he just didn't remember it.
"Good then. So do we need to grab anything before we head out there?" the lion asked.
"Nah, <Beverly>'s got us covered, right bro?" <Robillard> exclaimed, tussling his brother's hair in a playful manner.
The sheepish priest nodded his head, looking to the black bear and then to his brother. The two exchanged a look but the mage simply shrugged.
"Then take us there, if you would, kind mage," <Leglass> smiled, throwing her cloak in a dramatic gesture and grabbing a strange apparatus from it.
"Alright. Everyone get ready." The party, with the exception of <Ralfgar> pulled out some bauble or another from their inventory, worrying the barbarian, but the mage had already begun casting.
The bear thought to ask, but he didn't want to seem inexperienced. By all means, he wasn't. He'd tackled high level monsters solo before, but he'd stuck to the better known zones throughout his game experience. And even if he wanted to, it was too late. He would no longer be able to say anything for the duration of their journey.
The bear's insides seemed jumbled up and his vision clouded. He'd teleported before, but not often, and never for such a long distance. When finally the technicolor magics of the teleportation spell cleared, he found himself unable to breath. He looked around him but saw nothing but fog. He couldn't hear a single thing and his ears popped painfully from some extreme pressure difference. In actual pain, he raised his hand to pull open his inventory for a scroll of recall. He tried to recite the words, but nothing came forth from his voicebox. His oxygen meter was nearing 50% on the screen and he felt as if his real body were feeling the effects of it.
He'd never felt pain in the game before. What was this area? He didn't want to find out anymore. Clicking through his menu, his oxygen bar read 35% as he reached the logout menu. an extreme force struck him from behind, lowering his hp meter by a solid chunk. This blow was something he'd felt before - a monster encounter, however painfully timed. He wouldn't be able to logout. He'd have to finish it quickly.
It didn't help that he couldn't see the monster. He was no cub, however. He'd learned more than a few tricks in his time, including a technique usually reserved to the monk class known as 'blindfighting.' A red marker would alert him half a second before a monster struck him, allowing him time to block and riposte if he were quick enough. It was useful when playing in zero visibility conditions, and he was more glad than ever that he'd managed to snag it.
He closed his eyes, focusing up his rage with a barbarian technique called 'berserk.' Usually, it would cause him to lose some control, but he'd managed to mitigate it over time, enabling him a huge boost in strength with only a slight reduction in his target control.
Beep.
There! He sliced his nearly 5 foot axe across, embedding it in the monster. There was no kill sound. Or any sound at all really. He was sent flying once more, however. For a brief instant, he saw the monstrosity - an ogre that had to have been 4 heads taller than he. Oxygen 10%...and he was in the throes of 'berserk' until he won. No choice. He'd have to swing wildly. Only...where was his axe?
"Shit!" he mouthed but could not say due to the nature of the area. He felt the vibrations in the ground. If only he could breath. This would've been an easy fight. His body burned both from the rage in his blood and the lack of oxygen. He'd only have one chance to do this.
Just as the ogre appeared a mere ten feet ahead of him, he held his arms out in what was supposed to be a mighty roar when the entire area became bathed in electricity. The ogre convulsed, dropping to the ground in its death animation and dropping his axe as well as a satchel. The barbarian winced at the unexpected light, but no additional pain came.
It took a moment for him to realize he needed to log out. He'd have to come back to retrieve his axe or he'd surely die. His breath meter now read 1% and he frantically worked his menu, pushing random buttons and getting nowhere when there was a sudden 'pop' in his mouth.
<Robillard> stood before him with a smug look on his face. A bubble encased the mage's head and the goat gestured a few times before the barbarian recognized that he was using the game's silent language that the classes which required a little more subtlety tended to know. Unfortunately, he'd only invested a few points in it, meaning his HUD only showed every other simple word and none of the elaborate ones.
"Keep...mouth...come...me." <Ralfgar> mouthed as the mage's hand signs translated onto his screen. He'd been so shocked to see the unlikely rescuer that he hadn't noticed his breath meter had steadily rose the entire time. What was it he'd put in his mouth? He knew that he shouldn't remove it, but it felt...weird.
Halfheartedly, the bear signed a "thank you," one of the only phrases he knew without the use of the autosign granted by a higher level in the skill. He paid no mind to the mage as he walked past him to retrieve his axe and the satchel of loot.
<Robillard> was more than annoyed at <Ralfgar> taking his sweet time with the loot, but he didn't care much. It was more than enough to see the strong barbarian with the infantile device in his mouth. It was originally a normal pacifier meant as a gift for NPC's with children, but certain groups in the game had found exploits in the programming for child characters. It wasn't common knowledge that these items could be heavily enchanted, but the mage was one of the few with the ability and knowhow to change the simple item into something useful, like an infinite breath spell. Granted, the breath spell was not the only enchantment placed onto the pacifier. Not that <Ralfgar> needed to know of the cantrips that would make the barbarian look the part of a child. A rather fun practical joke, but easily reversible once the pacifier was removed.
When the bear was finally ready to move on, the magics of the device had begun to work. <Robillard>'s character flashed a toothy grin that made his mage seem very much like the satyr he purported to be. Not that the ursine would see the expression as he followed from behind.
<Ralfgar> kept wary, utilizing his blindfighting skill as they walked, but he never caught sight of a creature. Of course, being so ready for an encounter, he didn't realize that the mage had grown slightly taller in comparison. "The Gray," he thought. Now that he was here, he felt like he remembered something about it. He'd come here once before only. It was fuzzy, but he remembered that he was able to breath back then.
In actuality, this area wasn't an area at all...anymore. It was originally a zone that held many random events. However, these events weren't designed by GMs, or so the rumor claimed. The magical fog that gave the area its name took a lot of processing power to maintain, thus obscuring player actions more than originally calculated. It became a haven for hackers and thrillseekers wanting to experience things beyond the game's capabilities. People would still get caught, but very rarely. Then one day, the zone just disappeared. No one remembers what happened, and few people even remember the zone existing at all. Those that did assumed a GM finally shut it down, yet events still occured there from time to time.
Of course, <Robillard> knew all this. Unfortunately, even he wasn't in complete control of his interactions here. Because of the limited accessibility to the area, there was a hiccup in using an ordinary teleportation spell to reach it. They'd all been separated. The rest of the party would be fine, but he'd specifically made an effort to make it to <Ralfgar>. While he had no love for the barbarian, there were many reports of people gone missing in this area, and while he wasn't superstitious, he didn't want to risk the bear dying in such a strange place.
According to the tracking spell he'd cast, the rest of the party was fine. <Leglass> and <Seraphim> were only shortly behind his brother, who was heading in their direction. He motioned back to the barbarian to halt, then sat down to bring out his spellbook. He tried his best to hide his amusement at the chibified bear standing before him, focusing instead on renewing his spell repertoire. After all, he'd used half a dozen high powered spells to make it to the bear in time. He still had enough to dispatch monsters, but players were a different story altogether. And he'd met more than a few player killers - something which he didn't want to find here, however remote that possibility.
<Ralfgar> felt strange. The mage looked much taller than usual. Granted, he couldn't hear the mage casting spells because of the nature of the zone, but everything felt off here. His ears still ached from the earlier popping and his weapons began feeling heavy on him. It was as if this zone wasn't a zone at all. It was as if he was sitting in a real place. He wanted very much to just log out, but he feared that it would reflect badly in his standing with <Leglass>. He'd had a crush on the female fox for a while, long before he joined the party. In truth, he would never have joined if not for her. He had little love for events or baubles. All he liked was fighting, whether it was monsters or other players. None of his equipment was magical in nature, meaning that he survived on skill alone, without any boost from equipment, as most others had done. Normally, he'd press on alone without the mage, but he felt strangely vulnerable in such an unusual part of the game.
Unbeknownst to the pair, there was something watching them. It had seen them ever since they'd entered the area. It had meant to claim the bear, intentionally sending its minion to prevent him from logging out, but the wicked mage had interfered. It sensed danger from him. Not just magical power, which it had dealt with before, but something else that could undo its existence. It couldn't risk going in itself. Such a strange one. This mage, <Robillard> had weakened his friend with the strange object. Although the pacifier had allowed him to survive, the mage owned other items that would do the same without the detrimental effect. The mage had a weakness. The Watcher would use it.
<Ralfgar> groaned, crossing his arms and pouting very uncharacteristically. He hated waiting. Especially for people he didn't like. He wished that he knew what they were doing, but he didn't know enough of the silent language to ask. Given his impatience, it was only natural that when the tower appeared from the fog, he began sprinting for it. He would win the prize himself and show <Leglass> his strength.
<Robillard> had not noticed the appearance of the tower. He saw the bear get up and walk off, but he wasn't entirely worried, knowing that the Barbarian could handle himself now that he had enough breath to do so. Besides, the rest of the party was close enough that they could rescue him in a pinch. Only once the Barbarian's icon disappeared from his HUD did he bolt from his seat to notice the appearance of the dungeon. Muttering unheard curses, he began to cast his one and only psychic spell that would allow a brief message to his brother, "The idiot went in by himself. Going in after him. Coordinates are-" Shit! The message cut off before it was supposed to. He knew he should've practiced that spell more, but there was such little need for it. He debated waiting for a moment, but knowing that the rest would be fine without him, he burst through the doors of the tower.
Meanwhile, the trio of adventurers nearby entered a similar tower. The actual event. Just in time to cut off <Robillard>'s message.
When <Ralfgar> entered the tower, he had to do a doubletake. It wasn't a dungeon at all. It was his house...He was standing in the entrance to his apartment. Well, kind of. It was scaled up 2 or 3 times so it was quite a bit larger. His ears popped once more, eliciting an "ouch" from the bear and prompting him to drop the pacifier onto the ground. He nearly panicked, until he realized that he'd heard his own voice. He could breath in here without the...pacifier? He growled, attempting to crush the object in his hand, and failing that, threw it across the room. In his anger, he hadn't noticed that the enchantment from the pacifier was slowly wearing off.
A strange thing happened then. Instead of hitting the wall, the object slid through it...leaving a small ripple like a pebble thrown into a pond. He momentarily regretted that decision, knowing that he'd eventually have to leave the tower without a way to breath. It did cue him to the fact that this was very obviously a trap. Instead of walking blindly, he began to tap the surfaces of 'his house' with his axe, each one causing a ripple that distorted his surroundings. On pure instinct, he found himself walking towards his game room - the one that his real body was in if this were really his house.
Every few feet, there was a ripple that sounded different than the rest. He avoided those spots. How strange this situation was. How had the game known not only what his house looked like but all of the objects within, from his weightlifting set in the living room to the exact model of the tv, right down to the scratch that was on the very right corner from where he'd dropped it. Did the VR helmet scan his house at some point during his play?
"How freaky," he thought, seeing the doorway to his room. It wasn't locked, but it was larger than when he was in his real body, so he had to hack the door down since he couldn't reach the handle.
Sitting in the chair was him...only not him. He was in fact a bear in real life. However, he was in his 20s. The bear in the chair looked like he was probably eight years old. And what was he wearing? Was that...a diaper?
"The fuck!?" he yelled, smacking his axe across the ground hard enough for the entire room to ripple before it slowly dissipated. "Did you do this, you faggy little mage?" he cried, swinging his axe around wildly. "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to- to-" Then he noticed. The image in the chair had changed back to himself. He was his normal muscular 24 year old self...only he was still wearing a diaper. Somehow, it wasn't better. He didn't like this dungeon.
"This isn't freaking worth it," the barbarian grunted, grinding his teeth as he attempted to bring up his menu. Nothing. "What the hell?" He kept waving his hand through the air to bring it up, but nothing would pop up. He put his axe away and tried again. He tried with his other hand. Nothing.
Fine. He'd just leave the dungeon. There wasn't nearly enough fighting in here for him, anyway. Of course, he'd made the fatal mistake of not checking his steps. So when the pitfall swallowed him up, he only had himself to blame.
At the bottom of the hole, <Ralfgar> landed on something soft. A large white mattress surrounded by bars. He'd quickly recovered and began to climb the bars until the ceiling closed. Not one to be trapped easily, he slid back down and swung as heartily as he could at the cage.
The cage responded in aggression. If his axe were magical it might've withstood the shockwave that disintegrated the weapon and threw the bear across the cage.
Meanwhile, the Watcher looked on in amusement. It was bound by rules and limitations just like anything else in the game. It had created such a room only from existing templates, after all. It needed more players to continue feeding its database and a more carnal need it had garnered after absorbing information from so many. This barbarian - now that it was in his domain, it realized the limit of this one. It had little to offer. The bear had given it everything of value when it had thrown the pacifier into the wall. It would keep him, however; run experiments that had already begun the moment he'd entered the tower. And most of all, it would be perfect bait for that one...the mage. The Watcher wanted that one in his service most of all. Not yet, though. It was still too dangerous. Patience.
<Ralfgar> hadn't given up when his axe was destroyed. Stubbornly, he'd struck the bars with his claws and fists, threatening the mighty enchantments. Still, all he managed to do was shred his clothing. And so there he stood, naked, pounding away at the bars of the cage.
The magics were fading slowly from the cage, as was the bear's hp gauge. In an effort to keep his subject alive, the room began to mist. <Ralfgar> only noticed when his lungs began to burn with need. All the more reason to pound away at the bars, right? He would suffocate otherwise.
Then there was a click as a familiar object fell in front of him, within reach from between the bars of the cage. He growled, as if in denial of his fate, but tears welled up in his eyes from the need for oxygen. In a moment of weakness, he put the pacifier back in his maw. And a moment of weakness was all it took for the Watcher, for it knew well the special properties of The Gray.
"Where are you, you stupid bear?" <Robillard> asked as he parsed through the doors of the dungeon haphazardly. He was well aware of traps and monsters, as he'd prepared contingencies for both, but none of his magics would tell him where the barbarian was. A pang of guilt stabbed him. Perhaps it was dangerous to teleport them here, after all.
This was the strangest dungeon he'd ever been in. Every hallway was drab, marked only by the occasional torch or door, all of which were empty. It was like an unfinished labyrinth.
He too knew the dangers of The Gray - of the mind altering properties. He took special care every time he came here to mark his psychological awareness and note any discrepancies. He'd noticed long ago that changes in personal appearance would alter personal behavior. His brother had been afflicted by this after all. Before, his little brother was a terror. <Beverly> played the priestly race as a sort of joke. He was a punk atheist. Now, the ram was very much the quiet studious type, always calm and pious. He even shaved his horns down like his avatar in-game. <Robillard> too, had been affected, though not as heavily. He noticed a satyr-like tendency to meddle in the occult and a sexual deviancy brought with trickery, but they were manageable.
Remembering this, he thought of his prank to chibify the black bear. In truth, he'd intended to simply pacify (pun intended) the barbarian since it seemed as if they were going to be grouping together for a while, but he'd intended on making it a mild change by removing it before any psychological permanency was enacted. Or had he? Was the satyr inside him secretly reveling in this turn of events? Had it expected this very outcome when the barbarian had walked off and delayed him for this very reason.
Why had they even come in the first place? For an event, right? The others had been in The Gray before. Any damage that would've been done already had been. He should've let the barbarian know the dangers before he took him...It would be his fault if anything happened.
A dead end. He'd checked every door. He made sure of it...He even entered the empty rooms to find hidden rooms. There was no away around it...he'd have to cheat.
As the mage pulled out the branch, the Watcher retreated to a safe distance, sensing the power of that misleading twig.
<Robillard> made a gesture with his wand and a hidden menu came up. Too many options to count, but he already knew where to look.
Like a composer, his twig flew through the air in his paws, and the Watcher sat by in awe as if seeing art for the first time. Rooms were deleted. Floors reshaped themselves. Staircases were formed. A blinding light, followed by a path of flames. Now more than ever, it hungered. It would have him, and it would never let him go.
The mage knew where the flames would lead - straight to the barbarian. If he'd done everything correctly, the bear should be able to see it and they could meet halfway. He knew that this would not be the case. Something was off. He wanted to keep his Cheat Wand out, but just having the item would earn him more trouble than he cared to admit. He stored it safely away from view but easily within reach.
Strange whispers filled his ears. Things he couldn't hear that made him shudder with a dreadful excitement. Things that filed him with a carnal need he'd never known. On an almost subconscious level, he waged a war against himself as he descended the staircase. He knew spells of silence. In fact, he could will away the whispers with a simple flick of his wand. But he didn't, because somewhere inside him, the satyr was awakening and it knew the promises hidden in the Watcher's whispers.
The staircase finally leveled out and laying on the floor was a familiar black bear with the player tag <Ralfgar> over his head. He was his normal size! Thank goodness! The mage ran over to him and <Ralfgar> looked up with an almost blank expression, tilting his head as if not knowing what the hurry was.
There was a pacifier in his mouth, but it wasn't his! And what was he wearing...it was a diaper...and from the yellow stain in the front, he could tell that the bear had used it. "What is this?" he asked to no one in particular.
The barbarian stood up to his full daunting height and toddled over before enveloping the mage in a hug. At first, <Robillard> thought he meant to immobilize him, as if the entire thing had been a trap. Then, he realized that the bear meant to be carried. "No!" he declared sternly, to which the bear simply sat back down and looked expectedly back up at him.
Silent choirs were singing. Promises. Temptations. The sight of the humbled barbarian...was enticing. It spoke of a deep-seated desire he wished to fulfill right here and now. The internal battle reached its climax...and he pulled out his wand. Once more, lights surrounded his avatar...only this time, when they cleared, everything was the same. Only the bear had disappeared.
Ralf shook his head from his slumber, removing the VR helmet as he stretched. How long had he been in game to have fallen asleep while playing? What was he doing? He was with <Leglass>, right? No...someone else.
No matter. He'd log back in later and remember, surely. In the meantime, he needed to go buy some diapers. He'd had an accident in his sleep. In fact, he didn't remember why he hadn't worn them in the first place. After all, cubs belong in diapers, right?
A roar shook the building and a disembodied form moved to strike him, stopping short of its mark. "What did you do?" It asked in a tone that spoke of withheld rage.
<Robillard>'s avatar smirked devilishly, "I logged him out. What's it to you?"
"He was MINE!" the building roared once more.
"And you offered him to me. So he is mine. Am I wrong?"
The Watcher would have them both! It would not settle for one or the other. But perhaps it still would. All he'd done was log him out. All his collection would log out...but they would always log back into the same place, unaware of their predicament even in their daily lives. "You are correct."
"And who, may I ask, are you, to offer up people's lives so freely?"
The Watcher knew better than to speak of his limited capacity, lest it be destroyed by that devilish wand. It had already revealed itself in its anger. "I am the game itself. You've stumbled across the section I've eeked out for my own personal...exploration. And what...are you?"
That impish grin unnerved the Watcher. "Surely you know, if you are the game. I am a player. Nothing more."
"NO! Do not lie to me. You manipulate the game too freely to be a player." he carried through with his bluff, rumbling the very foundation beneath his feet.
"You mean I manipulate 'you' too freely?" he asked.
"Do not toy with me. You are in my domain! I can trap you here for all eternity in any form I wish, even if it be like your barbarian friend."
"I see that worked out well with him," <Robillard> snickered. The real Robert behind the avatar at this point was wondering why he didn't just destroy this unholy thing right now, but he dreaded the answer. He wasn't fully in control anymore, and his devilish side wanted to play now that he'd taken away his toy.
"What do you want?" the Watcher asked, knowing it had not fooled him and that it would be hard-pressed to hold this devil.
"You." he said plainly, as if it were the most logical answer of all.
"How dare you..." the Watcher proclaimed in anger, "you are mine, not the other way around, fool!"
"Perhaps I should rephrase, then?" <Robillard> pulled out the wand and pointed it, causing the Watcher to flinch and hiss, retreating to a far corner of the room with its shadowy form. "Oh, excuse me. I don't mean to kill you. It would be mutually beneficial...if we used each other. This wand...it's problematic, you see. Every time I use it, it lights up a warning to any GM that might be watching. But you...you can hide your territory from the game, can't you?"
The shade of the Watcher drew in closer, almost purring as it wrapped around the mage, examining him. It wanted him, wholly, but it knew the danger in attempting to force that type of relationship at this juncture. It would need to know more before it could manipulate him. "And you will give me back the barbarian?"
"We will share the barbarian," the mage said with a smile that looked far sharper than it had in the tavern earlier that day, "and more..."
"Deal." The Watcher said simply before dissipating into mist and flying off into a crack in the wall.