✅ Potty Genius [NaNoWriMo 2022]

Forty-Four

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Peter, with many thanks again for supporting me!

¿Did you give up on breaking the hypnosis?

No. I thought for a few minutes, and decided that I still wanted to find a way to stop those suggestions having so much power over me. I had some kind of gratitude to the app, for forcing me to confront all those so-difficult childhood memories. But at the same time, I knew that it was only going to cause problems for me going forward.

"I want to be free of this thing," I said eventually. "I need to be a big girl sometimes. Especially once I go to university. Can you imagine what people would think if anyone found out about this?"

"You're going to Moistville U, right?" Britney asked, and I nodded, not quite seeing why that was so important. Was she going to make some joke about the name of the place? Say everyone was wet there or something?

"Moistville is very understanding. They know that a lot of people get into age regression as a kind of therapy, or a coping mechanism to recapture a childhood that didn't last long enough. I had a friend... actually, the room next to mine, when I started there, was set up like a giant nursery. Everything slightly larger than actual size. A crib, changing table, and toddler toys. They've not changed it back, because redecorating would be so expensive. So if you want to explore this stuff further, you could ask. They might let you use that room. Or you could become friends with whoever got allocated the place, and ask if you could go for a play date occasionally."

"Yeah but..."

"No buts. Seriously, they will understand. And some of the students might not, they're a random bunch, but I think they would be in a minority. It's a very understanding place, and I am pretty sure that nobody on that campus would get away with teasing you over something like that. So don't worry about it. Don't be nervous. Just think about what you want to do, not what you feel you have to."

"For real?" I asked, but I couldn't believe it. I would have to check over the Moistville prospectus again when I got home, and see if I could get confirmation of what she was telling me from the admissions staff there. But as weird as it sounded, I was actually considering the possibility of living in a giant nursery. Would a giant crib feel reassuring, or would it seem like a cage? I had no idea.

"No," I said. "I still want those suggestions gone from my mind. I'll try my best to beat the app this week, and if that doesn't work I'll come back here on Wednesday for my last appointment. That's my backup plan, just in case. Okay? So if the app has trouble removing the suggestions, you can help out. And if I can't get the last two daily challenges ticked off, you can break the app's control of me."

"We can do that," Theo said. "Good luck."

We finished our dinner with just small talk. I started talking about the new game I'd been playing on my phone, Shadow Covenant Go, and it turned out that Britney had quite a lot of experience of the other games in the same universe. We ended up talking about the plot, and whether the character Admiral Book was intended to be seen as gay. There was something really interesting about that character, Theo said, with a giggle behind her hand. But she couldn't tell me what it was, so I was left with another mystery in my mind. And then I could head home, to see if I could succeed in potty training myself before the big journey to Moistville.

¿Did you make it?

Not having accidents wasn't actually that hard now. I only had a problem when the potty timer did its 'failed' thing. I could mostly work around that by allowing ten minutes each time I had to use the bathroom. A longer time gave me a higher success chance, and then there was no chance I would wet myself. It was going to make everything easy that way. It was just a little inconvenience. And if it failed, it just meant I would have to wear a diaper at whatever time it said it was going to go off.

I did have a failed timer once. I was pretty desperate to pee, so I put a diaper on and used the app to let myself have an accident. I was still embarrassed about doing that, but I knew by now that there wasn't any other way I would get to pee. It was just easier to let it happen, and then change right away. While I was taking the diaper off, it gave me a reason to think about how little it bothered me now. Not even a month before, wetting myself had caused a total panic. But now, I barely cared about it. It was barely more than an inconvenience, and that was without any hypnotic badges telling me to ignore it. I didn't need to worry anymore.

And when Monday came around, there was an alert from Potty Genius. I had enough days banked without accidents. Now, I just needed to have six dry days in the last week, which I'd also managed, and complete two of the daily challenges, and I would be able to "graduate"; and then it promised I would be ready for the next stage of the app. And now I could smile, because I knew what that meant. No more messing around with potty timers, or not being able to pee without help from the app.

¿So what were the challenges?

I checked the challenge right away. The one for that day was called 'Big Girl Tasks 5'. I wondered what the first four could have been. It was a pretty complex challenge, but I thought I could probably make it. It said I needed to put on a pull-up diaper, and wear it for three hours without potty breaks, including at least two hours away from home. I guessed that it was trying to simulate a little kid testing how long they could hold it away from home. I could do that. So I put on the pull-up, and told the app that I was getting changed. It asked me to tick a box to say if I was doing the daily challenge. I guessed this must mean that I only got one attempt. Still, it wasn't like it would be hard to hold my pee for three hours.

I ticked the box, set a separate alarm to let me know when I would be able to go home, and walked down the stairs. I wasn't sure if it would know where my home was, but I guessed the app must have asked for permission to access my location or something. I'd certainly told it when I was home often enough, when I was reporting accidents and diaper changes. But that didn't tell me how far away I would need to be in order for it to count.

"You off somewhere?" Dad called from his office.

"Just going for a jog," I called. "Maybe go into Ellisberg, see if Shane's working today. I don't know."

"Okay, baby. Call me if you need somebody to pick you up later, we don't want you to be late for dinner. I got something special today. And... It's nearly time for you to move to university. We could help you get more of your stuff packed tonight, if you want."

"Thanks, Dad!" I called. He might not have a clue about current technology, fashion, or just about anything else since the turn of the century, but he really wanted to help me out in any way he could. I had a smile on my face, and was moving towards the door when my phone chirped again.

> 𝙳𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙺 𝚆𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚁 <

This might be harder than I had expected.