As the hours pass by and the afternoon moves on, you and all the other children start to settle down and play less. The sun is definitely on its way to setting for the night when you start yawning and stop playing around. You then also commence asking questions to yourself. What now? What will the employees do? Because... All this must have happened before, right? You're obviously not the only ones to have sipped from the Fountain Of Youth or even over-indulged in it. There must be a protocol or rules to follow or something. You remember seeing a Fountain Of Age. They'll probably give you enough from that fountain to reach your original age back and then be on your way.They won’t just leave you in the park forever without food or bedding or help, right? That would just make no sense. Other children, people who drank just enough to still be able to talk, start discussing between each others in worried and hushed tones, darting glances at the employees. You're not the only one wondering what is going to happen next. Eventually, one of them will gather his or her courage to ask an employee, adult and foreboding as they might be. The fact that only some of you have working vocal chords also does not help any. You're not out of the woods yet, it seems.
Finally, before one of the older children comes to ask help in earnest from one of the employees, a few arrive into the park. One of them calms down all the questions attacking him. He explains that all of you are in a situation that has happened countless times before and that there is no reason to worry. There's a set of simple rules that you will all follow to age back to adulthood once again. It happens for each drinking from the Fountain Of Youth, so it's part of the employees' routine. So they all gather the children at the park, holding the youngest amongst you in their arms and asking the others that can actually walk to follow diligently. You're all going to a building a bit far off that has all the equipment to make you return to normal. And as a baby, you get picked up. You do wonder how you will communicate with them your original age but you aren't that scared. After all, as they said, it’s all happened before, right? They'll probably age you back until you can talk fluently and tell your age of this morning. A solution must be there.
The building is in a little island in the middle of a lake. You all go across a bridge top reach the large house and the many clean rooms. The employees tell you the cure will be given to you in food, administered through bottles for the youngest amongst you. Everyone feels happy at that because you are all famished. For practical purposes, you'll all be separated according to your age. So you are put with the other babies, in a room with several playpens, apart from the toddlers and older children. You do notice there are already babies in the room. Strange. But it must be other victims of the Fountain that have been gathered around the park. Some act a little too much like babies, though. Have some dignity, please! Playtime is over! A little later, someone arrives with an entire tray of bottles. Your heart swells in relief. At last! Soon you'll talk, walk upright, and regain all the perks of being a grown-up. So when someone holds the bottle to you and the teat to your face, you suckle eagerly. This is the last indignity, you think. Soon, this bad experience will be over. So after you've finished the bottle, you listen to the employees who say the effects will start shortly. With a bellyful of milk, you lie down and before you know it, after five minutes, you are already sleeping.
When you wake up, you feel weak, still tired and slightly uncomfortable. You are surrounded by bars. Like inn a cage. But your surroundings are warm. And you can't turn around, let alone rise up. You can just move your legs and arms in jerky movements and turn your head. That is how you see in your field of vision a little teddy bear next to you in the cage. And seeing your hand, you realize how tiny and pudgy your fingers are. They are closed into a fist and you can't unfurl them, as much as you try. And you want to... chew these fingers. That would feel... nice. Comforting. Normal. But as you open your mouth to taste your yummy little hand, you see that you are wearing a pink pyjama. A pyjama engulfing your entire body. Your mind sluggishly connects all the pieces and you understand the wet spot between your legs. You aren't inside a cage, you're inside a crib! Someone diapered you and changed you and put you into a crib! You're not an adult at all! Did the employees lie to you? But for what purpose? You grumble and try to shout out your anger when a female worker bends over, smiling.
"No need to fuss, little sweetie," she says sweetly.
She expertly thrust two fingers into your diaper and frowns.
"Just as I thought. You're wet. No wonder you're grumpy."
She picks you up before you can protest at her words.You're not grumpy! You have every right to be angry! You aren't an adult! Even worse, you aren't treated as one! But heedless to your anger, the employee settles you onto a changing table and does that. Before you fully realize it, a fresh clean diaper ids slid under your butt, tapped and you are placed back into you crib.
"There! Fresh like a daisy!" sing-songs the woman. "Don't be sad. I'm sure you'll find new parents very soon. A cutie bug like you!"
Without warning, she kisses your nose and walks away. Well, that settles it. There is no sign you'll turn into an adult anymore. If that was even their intention at the beginning. And... Did she mention 'new parents'? Is someone coming to adopt you? Is this an orphanage? You want to cry in anger but the return to a warm space, along with a clean and dry diaper, make you sleepy again and you doze off without meaning to.
Over the next few days, you succeed in. gathering more clues about whee you are. And it doesn't look good. First, most of the time you feel... young. Sluggish. Tired. Prompt to be more interested in toys. Your headspace really starts to obey to the typical injunctions of a baby. You wake up from your infant mind like from a dream. Less and less often, it seems. You drink from a baby bottle, get changed, sleep and babble among toys. Secondly, you see the workers shooting pictures of all of you, to post on their adoption site, from what they say. So it really is an orphanage! From the few moments you are back into an adult mindset, you can hear the workers and at times older children crying and screaming from another side of the building. Apparently, an older kid attempted escaping and could not as the access to the bridge to the park was pulled in. The workers talk about all the people wishing to adopt and happy to see so many beautiful babies and children. One said that the beautifying potion in the food really works wonders and that their deals with the realm of mythology really works in their favor. They get animals and creatures for their exhibits and they offer children and babies to further transform depending upon the species of the family of adoption. They mentioned centaurs wanting strong boys or nymphs desiring slender girls. You're sure you heard them talk about dragons, yetis, fauns, mermaids and even creatures resembling angels or demons. It's not just an orphanage, it's a fantasy orphanage! And you're all being transformed into more beautiful versions of yourselves so you can be adopted for more gold coins! And you are too helpless to do anything, even when you can think like an adult still! But more and more, you indulge in simple pleasures like napping, being warm, drinking a milky, creamy beverage that is pink with blue bubbles. The beauty elixir potion but your mind is now for all intents and purposes that of a baby. Your last thoughts as you see more regressed people arriving are when the new parents will show up and which one will adopt you? The most important being: what creature shall you end up as? The only consolation is that when it happens, even if you might not like what you shall become, you won't be in any way able to realize it.