Juvenalas Penitatas
Lesson 1 – The Welcome Home

Halkat Colony – six years ago:

The lizard boy was anxious about this week away. He was ten years old and up until now had never stayed overnight anywhere except his grandparent's house. Now, he was going to be staying with a total stranger in a whole other city! He'd cried. He'd sobbed and stamped his little feet and begged his mother not to make him go, but she wouldn't relent. “Talek, this is just something children your age have to do. It's to help you grow up smart and honest!”
Just two years after uttering those words, mother would be a penitatas. But that was another story altogether, and in the moment the Karrian boy had no idea what fate awaited in the near or distant future.
So it was that a wet-eyed and snotty little lizard boy came into a stranger's house. Mother and father talked with the brown-scaled couple, made the introductions, and all too soon it was time for them to go. He got a long hug from each before they abandoned him. “Don't you worry, little guy,” the strange woman had said to him, offering a handkerchief so he could blow his nose. “This week will fly by! You'll see!”
“I don' wanna be here!” Talek pouted as children so often did, and a child he surely was – a 'kindern' child, specifically. Halkat, like virtually all Karrian worlds had a marvel of technology, a machine that could revert people back to childhood. As a kindern, Talek was on his first childhood.
Once he was calmed and had his snout wiped, Talek met a very different kind of child. He was six years old, with scales so pale they were practically white. Where Talek had silvery 'K's on his claws, this child had a broken 'P'. The little boy was a penitatas; a former adult subject to a forced, and extremely harsh childhood as punishment for his past crimes.
His name had been Dalad, and he had been nice. Dalad didn't act like a six year old at all – he was more like a tiny grown-up. He seemed happy to meet Talek and was eager to play with him, even if the boy's toy collection was small and a bit rubbish. The reason for that was the marks on his claws; Dalad patiently explained that the 'P' meant he was forced to become a child again because he “had done something really bad” years ago. “But I'm a 'soft timer' now, hence the break in the letter. That means my parents and the courts think I'm learning my lessons, and if I keep my snout clean I can be allowed to grow up again soon.”
The weekend was, it turned out, a lot better than Talek had feared. It was scary in places, with Dalad and his parents showing off all the nasty tools of the trade, describing each and how a penitatas could get smacked far, far worse than he ever would be. That happened only once when Talek was present; little Dalad got far too excited about having a live-in playmate and their play got a little too frantic, which resulted in them knocking over a side table and dropping a heavy ornament onto the floor. It didn't break, but the 'thud' of it hitting the carpets drew Dalad's mother to them within seconds. All excuses and protests came to nothing, and Dalad was crying by the end of his scolding. Talek was as well, such was the fierceness of the Penny's mother. She saw his anguish and immediately switched gears, speaking to him softly and kindly, stroking his thin black hair and assuring him he wasn't in any kind of trouble himself. Dalad's father took the Penny upstairs while the mother stayed with Talek.
“We don't want you to see a Penny spanking, especially when you're worked up like this,” she said, switching on the holo and turning up the volume on a music channel. “When Dalad comes back down he's going to be a very sore, very sorry little boy! He's going to have some corner time, and when that's over you two can go right back to playing.”
When Dalad reappeared he was red-faced and mewling, as well as utterly nude. He was led into the corner of the living room where he stood with his claws tucked tightly to his chest. His bottom, the backs of his thighs and the base of his thick tail were all a hot red.
Once the boy had calmed down, the pair were as promised able to return to their play. It was, however, a shadow that lingered over the remainder of Talek's visit. By the time he was picked up for the journey home, the ten-year-old was openly avowing that he never, ever wanted to be a Penny.
Alas, the lessons did not stick.

First Municipal Court, Newfounding, Halkat Colony – Present Day

The judge was an elderly Karrian male with a homeworld accent that was as alien and unwelcome to Talek's ear-slits as the words coming out of his mouth. The sixteen-year-old Karrian male stood in the smartest clothes he owned – a scarlet formal robe that had frayed at the hem from age and lack of care – and listened with a stomach full of knots as the white-robed figure before him laid out the charges. Talek had enjoyed an 'adventurous' youth, one full of minor mischiefs and little deviances. He had never imagined anyone cared beyond his father, but to learn that every single trespass was recorded by the State was a truly nightmarish revelation.
The icing on the proverbial cake was an incident involving a younger boy, who Talek decided to try and recruit into his antics. The boy, through Talek's own carelessness, wound up in hospital with a pair of broken legs. There was no going back from that.
“Master Nodaro,” the judge intoned, over-stretching every syllable as Alqurains were prone to do, “What I have just read out is a long string of poor choices that show a reckless disregard for the feelings, rights, and basic safety of others. I was curious as to why only one parent was accompanying you here, and I cannot say I am surprised to learn of your mother's fate.”
The barb made Talek flinch. His mother was currently a penitatas, and had been since he was twelve. “Don't talk about her,” he growled under his breath.
“Given the nature of your multiple infractions, and you being of an age where you have no excuse for not knowing better, it is my judgement that this cannot be resolved through simple judicial sanctions. You are going to do time, young man, and I think that a twelve-year stretch as a Penitatas would be exactly what you need to straighten out!”
Talek's eyes widened in horror. “Y-you can't make me a Penny!” he blurted out.
The judge's chuckle was outright cruel. “It will never cease to amaze me how many criminals presume to know the law better than I do! 2x6-12, with the first two years of your term to be served as 'Juvenalas Penitatas'. Upon turning eighteen, you will be immediately rejuvenated to age eight and serve the rest of your cycle as a full hard-timer – punished as an adult!”
Despite being sixteen, Talek was on the verge of tears. “Wait! Please don't do this to me! I... I promise I'll do better from now on!”
“Your word and a sack is worth the sack,” the judge shot back. “But it pleases me that you have at least some understanding, albeit far too late, that your actions have landed you up to your neck in some very foul muck! We have a belief within the justice system; we like to give Pennys a little rope, just to see whether they use it to pull themselves up, or hang themselves with it. I'm willing to offer you that rope, Master Nodaro. I am willing to suspend your sentence in exchange for... a placement program. If you agree, and I will expect your full and knowledgeable consent on this matter, you will be taken from my court and rejuvenated to age nine. You will then be placed into a penitatas household not as a penitatas, but as a 'special juvenalas'. Your conduct will be reviewed twice; at age fifteen, and age twenty-one. Should you show proper progress and reform by age fifteen, we will revoke your juvenalas status and reassign you back to 'kindern' once again. If, however, it is deemed you have not fully repented your ways and reformed your character by age twenty-one, you will immediately begin your full hard-time penitatas sentence! There will also be a stipulation on your record that you will not, under any circumstances be eligible for parole; both cycles will be served hard time! Consider the offer carefully before answering.”
Talek was glad of permission to pause, in part because his throat had seized up in mortal terror. “W-what... what will being a 'special juvenalas' be like for me?”
“You will in many ways be treated like a 'soft timer'. You will not have special punishment days or mandatory spankings, outside of a few exceptions, but you can expect to be disciplined harshly for any missteps. Your movements will be extremely limited, access to social media or unsupervised communications utterly forbidden, access to even basic technology will likewise be severely reduced. You will attend a Corrective Elementary school, and while the staff will make slight allowances for you it will be a far harsher educational facility than you are used to. Namely, your teachers will not hesitate to bare-bottom spank you in front of your entire class. To be clear, this is also what you will endure as a full-fledged penitatas, the difference being that as a hard-timer the spankings will be longer, harsher and more frequent! Either way, you can say goodbye to any notion of privacy. Your choice is simple, really; twelve years of crying yourself to sleep every night, or twelve years of crying yourself to sleep sometimes, with another twelve years of tearful bedtimes if you don't take the hint!”
Talek's tearful eyes flicked to the small audience gathered to witness his fate. Unthinking, he wiped his snout on his robe's sleeve. “C-can't I stay with me dad? Y-you can give us a Nanny, right? I don't want to lose my dad! I w-want to g-go home!”
It came out then, in front of everyone. A long blub and a flood of crying to remind everyone that, yes, teenagers were still very much children. By Halkat reckoning, Talek was five years away from legal maturity, and likely much longer from true mental development.
With a sigh the judge continued, softer and more kindly. “I am sorry, young man, but 'home' is going to be a very different place for you now. I have discussed this matter in private with your father and he consented to me making the offer. That, to me, suggests he wants you to take the offer. I think he must believe in your ability to make right. For what it's worth, lad, I do truly hope you take this offer.”
Talek nodded slowly, wiping his eyes with the other sleeve. “O-okay.”
“Then please repeat after me,” the judge said, and line by line Talek bound himself in legal chains.
“I... Talek Nodano... having been informed... of the nature of the Juvenalas placement... with the consent of my legal guardian... and knowing full-well the consequences... of failing to reform... do hereby... consent to a sentence of 1x9-21... juvenalas.”

It was said that Karrians evolved next to the sea. Salt water was in their blood, and the roar of waves brought a kind of peace and calmness nothing else could. Perhaps that was why so many Karrian settlements were placed upon the coastline, especially where it was warm and sunny.
Northrock was anything but 'sunny'. It was as far from Newfounding as Talek could have imagined; a world of miserable greys, sodden greens and muddy browns. There was a beach as the hovercar flew over, but he wouldn't have called it such; to him, beaches were long stretches of warm, golden sand. This looked more like mud, smashed by grey waves and covered in rotting vegetation.
The hovercar sighed down to a halt in a cleared patch of cold sand, roped off from the rest of the near-deserted shoreline. Three Karrians were waiting as the doors opened and a nine-year-old Talek stepped out, shivering in his summer clothes.
“Welcome!” the male called. He was older than the others, and like Talek he had dark green scales and a shock of jet-black hair, though now that Talek was made young his own scale colour had lightened a shade. “Welcome to your new home, Talek! I am Shon, this is Liki-” he gestured to the blue-green female to his left, “-and this little lady is Rilka. Say hello to your new brother.”
Rilka raised a cream coloured paw. In the dull morning light, Talek spied a 'P' upon the back of her paw. She looked about eight. “Pleased to meet you, Talek.”
The boy gave a timid wave in return. On the back of each paw was a new, unfamiliar symbol – a pair of letters smushed together. 'JP'. A juvenalas would normally wear a simple 'J', but the double-letter was added to signify his special status as someone living within the world of penitatas.
When the hovercar lifted away again, Talek was left shivering in front of his new family, and not just from the cold. Liki stepped up to offer him a claw. “You poor thing, you must be freezing cold! Come on, inside is all warm and cozy! You can sit by the fire while your father and I unpack your things and then we'll look to get you settled, okay?”
Talek followed along, mute and timid, as he was walked into one of the houses just a short way up the beach. A low hill provided a much-welcomed windbreak as they turned off the beach road, and while they were no farther from the shore in terms of distance the wind was now all but gone. The new house was a three-story affair, though it seemed unnecessarily tall and narrow given how much space there was in general. Downstairs was all open plan, the main entrance leading directly into a living room dominated by curving couches and a crackling, real-wood fireplace. A kitchen and dining area lay towards the back. “You go park yourself right there on the rug,” Liki said with a little pat between his shoulders. “You too, Rilka.”
The rejuves settled down together on the thick white rug. Talek stared at the flames, paws outstretched towards the protective grille that kept him safe from burning. The moment he heard both parents head upstairs, his new 'sister' tapped him on the knee. “They're going to bait you,” she said.
“What?”
“They're going to try and get a rise out of you, do things to push you so you'll snap at them. They'll embarrass you, baby you, rob you of every last bit of agency and dignity you have left. Don't take the bait. Just... let it happen.” It was clear from Rilka's tone she spoke from experience.
Talek bit his lip. “I... I was told I wouldn't get punished like a hard-timer.”
The girl gave him a quizzical look. “You wouldn't be here if you weren't going to be punished. Trust me, if you don't want heat under your tail, just keep your tongue still and suffer whatever they give you.”
The warnings came just in time, for the parents returned to fetch their children. “Talek! Rilka! Come along now!” The boy obeyed with a lump in his throat and a faint chatter coming from his teeth. He was not liking being nine again!
The middle floor of the house was, again, open plan. The stairs led up to a reasonably wide corridor with another set  leading up again. “Upstairs is our space,” Shon told his new son, “you won't need to be going up there, so stay here or downstairs unless we invite you up. Understand? Talek!”
The barked name was due to the boy's attention being drawn to the rest of the floor. “Y-yes! I understand!”
“Good. I know you're a little overwhelmed, but I won't have you ignoring me when I'm speaking to you. If it happens again, I'll get your attention with a belt! Come on then, let's finish the tour.”
There was no need – Talek had already seen everything. The wall dividing the second floor proper from the corridor was made of clear plastic windows set into a dark wooden frame, meaning that there was no privacy from anyone walking past. None whatsoever. The 'bedroom' was just a large, circular bed on a slightly-raised section of floor, the toilet and wash facilities likewise set down one step and cordoned off a little more with a half-height plastic wall. The shower had no privacy curtain, the bath was translucent, the toilet was in direct line of sight of anyone coming down from the floor above.
Liki took all of the latter in with a sweep of her arm, “This is where you'll stay most of the time, Talek. What do you think?”
“Why is everything... out in the open?”
His new mother chuckled, “Pennys have a habit of being naughty when they're out of sight. This way we can check on you whenever we need to.”
“This is what we called a 'panopticon'. Let me show you,” Shon stepped back into the corridor and pressed a button on the wall. The windows turned reflective, mirroring the room back to the trio inside.
“When the mirrors are on we can see in, but you can't see out. We only do that as part of a punishment,” Liki explained.
Shon nodded in agreement. “We also have a 'songbird' floor system. It lets us monitor movement, so when it's on we'll know when you get out of bed, where you go, and for how long. Again, that's only going to be on as part of a punishment.”
“We're not going to split you up either,” Liki added. “If Rilka does something to warrant the songbird floor being turned on, you will be expected to abide by it as well. Shared house, shared room, shared punishments. Understand?”
“Y-es...”
The boy's timid response drew a frown. “Try again, please.”
“Yes ma'am. I understand.”
Liki shook her head slowly. “I am your mother now, Talek. Please refer to me as such.”
The scold, softly given, nevertheless drew a sniffle. “Yes... momma.”
“Much better!” to Talek's surprise and mild horror, Liki knelt down and planted a kiss upon his snout. “This is all going to be new, strange, and more than a little difficult. You're going to slip up, and that's okay. Slipping up is what got you here, and we'll correct your mistakes as they come.”
“We don't want to overwhelm you, son,” Shon added. “There's a lot you have to learn, so we'll try and deliver the lessons one at a time, okay?”
“Dad?” Rilka piped up from her seat on the edge of the bed. “Can I use the potty?”
Shon gave his daughter a nod. To Talek's mild horror, his new sister totted over to their open-plan bathroom in full view of everyone. “This a good example. You don't need permission to use the potty when we're not present, but if you're in our company or you're downstairs you absolutely need to ask permission. Do you understand?”
Talek's focus flicked back briefly to his father, who had raised his voice a fraction at seeing the boy's attention drift. “Yessir!” he squeaked before his attention was drawn back to the drawn-out splashing sound from the corner.
When Rilka was finished, Liki called out to her, “No sense pulling your pants up, dear. Take everything off and come over to me.”
“You too, little man,” Shon cut in, grabbing Talek's shirt and pulling it over his head.
“H-hey!” the boy squeaked, staggering a little at the sudden undressing. He tried to swat Shon's claws away as they went for his waistband.
“Talek!” his father barked. “You will get undressed when we tell you to get undressed! Your sister was being bared for a spanking so you can see what that's like for her, and we've decided this is something you will both share in. If she's got her pants at her ankles, so do you! The difference is you weren't going to be smacked, but now I think a good, hard welcome spanking is just what you need to learn not to fight your parents!”
“NO!” the boy yelped as his pants were pulled down and his paws were pulled up and away, exposing the boy's crotch to the world. In full view of his new parents and sister, Talek's 'little man' was pointing firmly skyward.
The sob came slowly. It bubbled up first as a trembling in the hips, then in his arms, and then at last it burst out in a long, shameful bawl. Shon let his wrists go and he instantly covered himself, but a firm grip on his shoulders prevented him from turning away. “Talek, it's okay. You may have a younger body, but were sixteen just a few hours ago and some of that... bleeds over. I remember having to hiding the 'stiffness', and how awkward it could be. Now you listen close. Normally, our word is ironclad – if we say you're getting punished then you are, and that's the end of it. I'm willing to break that rule just this once, okay?”
Talek nodded, blinking away the water from his eyes.
Shon turned him slightly to the side. “When did this happen? Just now?”
The boy nodded, and gave a shameful whisper, “When I saw Rilka all nude on the... the potty...”
“Okay. Here's what you're going to do... and let me make this clear: if you don't do this, you're going over my lap and, stiffy or not, I'm smacking your backside red raw. Do you understand? You're going to turn and face Rilka, you're going to stand up straight, and you're going to keep your claws behind your back.”
“B-but they'll see!”
“Yes they will. And if you don't like everyone seeing your stiffy, you'll just have to learn not to get stiff! Turn around, paws behind your back.”
Talek obeyed, though he dared to wipe his face before putting the claws above the base of his tail. Rilka, despite her imminent spanking, seemed to be enjoying the show. The sight of her bare, cream scales, especially the extra-thin ones between her legs, made Talek's boyhood bounce.
“I see that smirk, young lady!” Liki announced. “You're enjoying the show so much, let's put one on for your brother! Over my knee, right now!”

The girl's smile faded instantly. Rilka settled over her mother's lap, letting the pillow placed there take her weight. “Turn to face your brother, please. I want him to see how sorry you are. This is one your 'unearned' spankings, dear. We've brought it forward, so the good news is it'll be longer than usual before the next one... assuming you behave! Now, show Talek how a good Penny takes their punishment.”
“Y-yes momma!” Rilka whimpered.
The tool of choice was a hairbrush. It was a wooden one, with strong bristles on one face for the girl's thick, night-blue hair one one face and a flat surface on the other. The words 'bottom warmer' were printed on slightly faded letters on that side, and they delivered. The crack of wood on tush made Talek jump in shock, but Shon's firm hands held his shoulders and kept him in place. He couldn't believe how loud it was!
A second smack, delivered with speed and precision found the seat of Rilka's tush, right where the girl's weight would go when she sat town. Her little footclaws jumped at the smack, her tail quivering as she struggled to hold it up and away. A third crack came, and with it the waterworks; Rilka struggled to keep her eyes fixed on Talek's, but with every stroke her eyes scrunched more and more until she gave up and turned away, sobbing openly onto the bed.
The boy, now freed from Rilka's stare, turned his gaze to her cream-coloured bottom. It was cream no-longer; the back of the brush had left a nice, warm red patch on her right cheek, and clearly pleased with her work a matching mark was being added to the other. Every smack made Rilka's little cheeks jiggle, her little legs kick, and her little maw let out another heartfelt howl.
With both cheeks reddened, Talek felt sure the punishment had to be over... but no! To his horror, Liki looked him straight in the eye and said, “Talek, dear? Would you go over there and fetch the tail strap? It's the little brown belt with the bright red handle.”
“Nooo!” the girl wailed. “N-not t'strap!”
“Rilka, hush! Stop acting up for your new brother!” The mother accepted the strap and gave a nod to Shon, who parked Talek in place with hands behind his back once more. “You stay right there, young man! If those paws stray from above your tail, this strap goes under it! Now, watch your sister so you can learn why you don't want that!”
With her father holding her tail straight up, Liki swung the strap right at the base. Rilka's howl was deafening, the full-force of the strike having bitten deep into the most sensitive scales at the base. “NOOowowow!” she cried out, throat growing horse as the strapping came swift and fierce. It moved very little, drifting up and down more by accident than design, ensuring that all the pain and heat was focused on a thin patch of scale.
“There we are, a dozen swats courtesy of the Corrections Counsel. Now I'm going to give you another dozen for acting up.”
“MOMMA NO!” Rilka shrieked as the strap smacked down.
“Let's make it two dozen then! Tail and cheeks!”
Talek stood transfixed by it all, watching with a quivering jaw at just how swift and brutal a Penny spanking could be. Two dozen extra? He'd only ever gotten a tail belting once in his whole life, and those six swats were the worst pain he'd ever known! Rilka was getting four times that and her cheeks were being smacked to boot!
When Liki was finally finished, Rilka was a broken, bawling mess. Her tail was released, but the girl kept it held upright all the same, at least until she was lifted upright and she dropped it for balance, prompting a fresh yelp and more tears. Rilka was held against her mother's chest, kneeling with legs wide apart and her bottom pushed out in a most unladylike fashion simply to ensure nothing touched her punished rear. Neither parent seemed to mind. “There now, it's all over. That's my good little cream-cake. You cry as much as you need to.”
While the girls were occupied, Shon returned the focus to his new son. “How are you feeling there?” he asked.
Talek let his gaze drop. Thankfully, his erection had faded. “I... I am really glad I didn't get a spanking.”
A fatherly claw ruffled his messy black hair. “That's a good attitude to have! But you know, cuddles aren't just for after a spanking. Do you need one?”
Talek glanced up at his new father. The prospect of being held by a strange man didn't sit right with him. The boy glanced briefly to Liki, and in his gut he knew right away which parent he wanted. He looked to Shon again and gently shook his head.
“I get it, you want to be the big, tough man,” Shon delivered a playful, gentle punch to Talek's forearm. “That's the next rule you need to learn: you can always has for a cuddle. No questions asked. It's only natural to want your mother more than me, so I won't take offence. Let's you and me just come over to the corner so we can have a quick chat without distracting your sister.”
Talek felt a shiver of fear run through him at the order, despite the kindly way it was given. The corner in question was completely bare save for a pair of uncomfortable looking stools. Shon picked the least threatening one – a seat of bare wood, and sat down on it before taking Talek's paws in his own, holding the boy gently, but firmly so his focus would remain where it should be. “Let's you and I have a quick talk about what happened before,” he said.
“I d-din't meanto-” Talek began, his rushed nonsense words tumbling from his maw in a childish panic to evade whatever punishment was coming.
Shon cut him off. “I know, I know. I have been your age – in both senses – a few times now. I know things below the waist can get a little awkward. You're going to get 'the talk'. Every Penny gets it. Your little man there can land you in a lot of trouble if you don't behave! Listen, getting a stiffy is okay. It's not encouraged, but it's going to happen. Everyone knows it's going to happen. It's what you do afterwards that could land you in trouble.”
“W-what do you mean?” Talek asked, trembling a little. Having to talk about his privates while they were swinging between his legs, even if said privates were smaller than he was used to, was making him extremely uncomfortable.
“Every world has its own rules about what penitatas can and can't do, but one thing we're all agreed on is that you are not supposed to have sex. Ever. I'm not asking this to make you uncomfortable, Talek, I'm asking because I genuinely want to try and keep you out of trouble. I want you to tell me how often you masturbate.”
The question made the Karrian boy's jaw drop in horror, but Shon pressed the matter. “You aren't going to have urges as strong as before, but you're going to get them. You got hard pretty quick when you saw your new sister, and all three of us saw where your eyes wandered to. How often, Talek? Be honest with me.”
“Umm... twice... three times... a week?” Talek offered.
“Are you sure about that?”
Talek clenched his eyes shut tight. This was the worst conversation of his life! “...five. Maybe six, sometimes.”
“Six times a week. How do you think you'll cope with that becoming never?”
The shudder said it all. Never? The idea of it refused to stick in his mind! Surely not! Okay, he was in full view all the time, but there were... ways. He could wait until he was safely under the covers, and there was always an old sock or something handy, right? They couldn't mean never never, right? 
As if reading the boy's mind, Shon pressed the issue. “Your new body will assert itself more over time, but every Penny gets an itch they need to scratch, as it were. Like everything else, this is something you are going to have to learn to accept. You are not to engage in any kind of sexual activity with anyone, and you don't masturbate either. Is this understood?”
The look of mortal horror said it all. Tarek was more frightened of that rule than the prospect of a belting! Shon gave the lad a humourless smile. “Do yourself a favour and come speak to me when you're struggling, okay? We're not monsters. That applies to everything, not just your urges. Pennys lay on laps for punishment, but they sit on them to feel better. Okay?”
Talek nodded, mostly in the hope it would get him out of the whole conversation. He noted Rilka padding over, shameless as ever, and despite his father's words and presence he couldn't help but sneak a quick glance. Just a quick one, though.
“Okay, we're going to leave you two alone now. Rilka? You have ten minutes in the corner. Songbird is listening. Do you understand what that means, Talek?”
The Juvenalas nodded cautiously. “It means... you know if Rilka doesn't stay in the corner.”
“That's right. Although in this case 'corner' doesn't always mean corner. See? Just as long as she faces this wall and stands with her little snout against it, that's good enough for us. This is a punishment, Talek. What happens to little boys who interfere with their sister's punishment?”
“T-they get punished!” he squeaked.
His reward was a proud grin. “You know what? You have been much better behaved than I expected! You are doing really well for your first day. Don't let me down now, okay? Can you find something quiet to do in here, on your own? The toys are yours now as much as hers.”
“Remember what we said about you two sharing punishments,” Liki added sternly. “You are in bare scale for a reason, and it's not just to make your sister giggle!”

The panopticon activated almost as soon as the door to the Penny room was closed. Talek stared at his own reflection, and behind it the tiny, but still very sore backside of his new 'sister'. Ten minutes? He tip-toed slowly around the room, taking it all in properly for the first time. The bed was to his left – one bed, though large enough to accommodate two children easily. The wardrobe lay beyond it, with chest of drawers between him and the bed. The 'bathroom' was directly ahead, with all its promised lack of privacy. The remaining corner had bean-bags, a set of rubber matting meant for a child much younger, and a collection of simple toys, books and games all neatly arrayed on a shelf. He headed over, looking at what he might entertain himself with. The first book was one of puzzles, most of them filled in with pencil. He put it back and tried another, finding a very dry novel on early colonial history that reminded him of school reading assignments. That went back as well. The third book was not on the shelf, but perched comfortably on one of the beanbags. It was a diary – Rilka's diary. It said so on the cover, in bright pink letters and framed by glitter. Talek gave a glance towards the girl in the corner, smiling softly. “Good chance to get to know her,” he told himself.
The boy settled down into the beanbags and flicked the book open, opening to the page that was bookmarked. “Dear Diary,” he read below his breath. “Today I'm getting a new brother! I don't know if he's going to be older or younger than me, but I know he's a weird one – not a proper Penny, but a Juvenalas! It's going to be weird having an actual 'kid' kid in the house. I guess what little privacy I had is gone forever...”
The boy's blood ran cold as his eyes reached the next line. “But I bet the little sneak is going to read this, because that's what I'd do in his place. So if you ARE reading this, bro... you're in BIG TROUBLE, and I'm going to enjoy watching mom and dad smack your little tush red!”
Tarek leaped from the beanbag like it had stung him and hastily shoved the book back in place. His heart was hammering so loud he felt sure his parents would hear it! He stayed frozen in place, scanning what little there was to see; Rilka was still where she'd been left, and the mirror gave no sign of judgement.
Ten minutes passed. A soft, pleasant chime sounded as the reflection vanished, revealing the eggshell blue walls of the corridor beyond... and no parents.
“You can put your clothes back on now, if you want to that is,” Rilka called out as she went to make herself decent. “You okay over there? You look scared to death!”
“I... I....”
“Read my diary?” the girl smirked. “I figured you would, Talcum!”
Talek's brow furrowed. “Why'd you call me that?”
“Your belly. You have those cute white speckles, like someone poured talcum powder over your tummy. You getting dressed or not? You don't have to – nobody's going to call you out for letting your junk swing free, but seeing how you burst into tears when we saw you all hard I'd figure you'd like to hide your shame.”
Rilka's chastisement made Talek move for the bed, though he tried not to look as she hid her cream nether regions beneath black cotton once more. “When did you read it? My diary, I mean. Was it as soon as our parents left?”
“Umm... yeah.”
The girl sighed. “Well, Talcum, you've got to make the gamble. If you confess to them what you did as soon as possible, they'll tan your backside for breaking my trust. My diary is the only thing I have that's truly mine. They might go easy on you if you confess, but if you hide it and they were watching... then you are going to spend your first night hear with your little tush on fire!”
“I'm s-sorry! I'm so sorry! I promise I won't do it again!”
Rilka turned and gave the boy an apologetic smile. “I'm not the one you have to convince, Talcum. Dad's going to be disappointed in you, seeing as he just praised how good you were, but... he will respect you a lot more for coming clean straight away.”
The boy's little green face scrunched up in anguish. “But... I don't... I don't wanna be spanked like you were!”
“You... really are still a child, huh?”
“I'm sixteen!” he blurted back, much to Rilka's amusement.
“Big deal! I was twenty-nine!” Her grin, briefly smug, faded into something pained. “But I'm not twenty-nine anymore, and I won't be again for a while. Talc... Talek... did you learn anything about me from my diary? Anything at all?”
“No. Well, you knew I'd read your diary, but that's it.”
She smiled at that. “Good, then I forgive you. This is yet another thing you don't know yet, but the one thing – the only thing we Pennys truly have... is our past. That's between us, our parents, and the court. In that diary I have written things that I don't want to share, just so I don't have to carry them in my chest. That includes some of the things I did. Nobody told me what you did to end up here, and nobody ever will. The courts decided Pennys shouldn't have to share their pasts because it helps us all get along. You... are a Penny now. An honorary one, at least. The least I can do for you now... is try to make your first spanking a little easier. Let's go downstairs and you can confess what you did. I will try to run a little interference to soften the blow. Think of it as my 'welcome home' gift to you.” 

The door to their room wasn't locked, which honestly surprised Talek. With Rilka leading the way, the two rejuves headed back to the living room to find their mother absent and their father stoking the fire. He glanced around at their arrival, snout twitching in concern. “What are you two doing down here?”
Rilka turned to her brother and said, “It's okay. I know it's scary. Just... get it over with. Sooner you do it, sooner you'll mend.”
Talek crept forward, claws bunched into nervous fists at his gut. “I... while Rilka was in the corner... I... read her diary. Just a page!”
“I'd left it out on purpose,” Rilka added to the boy's surprise. “I thought it'd be funny to... catch him out.”
Shon nodded. “I am well aware you left it out, young lady. But we've never complained about it before, and we didn't tell you any different. Talek, why did you think it was okay to read someone else's diary?”
“I... it was there... and wasn't locked...”
The father Karrian rose up, his claws unlatching his thick leather belt, slowly and deliberately. “So you think it's okay to help yourself to anything that isn't nailed down, do you?”
“N-no!” Talek blurted out, stumbling back a pace as his father approached.
“Over here, on the sofa. You can lean over the arm. Bare scale!”
“D-dad!” the boy tried to protest, earning an even more stern scowl.
“You should have learned from upstairs that Pennys who protest their punishments get it regardless, with extra to follow! Clothes off, and over the arm.”
Tearfully, Talek noticed Rilka's shirt hit the floor from the corner of his eye. His father noticed also. “Well remembered, young lady. Go and stand facing the wall there by the stairs, please. We'll be nice to your brother and not give him an audience for his first time.”
Once Talek was yet again nude, and perched in place for the coming spanking, Shon stepped up to grip his tail and brace it. “Before I start, I want you to know that I'm proud of you for coming forward so promptly. As a reward, I'm going to go easy on you and leave your tail alone. Just a quick warming of your tush, and then you can have a nice, long sit-down a punishment stool. Did you notice the one with the pointy seat? All those little diamond teeth? You'll be putting all your weight on those after I've got your scales good and stinging!”
“No!” Talek wailed, the much-loved, yet always futile cry of a true penitatas. The belt cracked down, landing right on his seat, the shockwave jiggling his scaled cheek and making the thigh below kick involuntarily. The boy's eyes went wide in shock at just how hard his new father had smacked him – it was a full-force smack of a kind he'd have gotten at sixteen, let alone nine!
Another came, finding the other cheek, and a pained yelp came forth as he tried to brace against the strikes. It was so beyond anything he'd known before that he couldn't settle, let alone keep his composure. Shon found his pace, the slow and steady THWAP! THWAP! THWAP! of the belt becoming akin to a metronome, keeping time and providing a rhythm to which Talek could kick, squirm and bawl.
“You need – THWAP – to keep still – THWAP – young man!” his father commanded. “Good boys – THWAP – take their punishment – THWAP – without kicking and wriggling!”
There was no chance Talek was obeying that command! As he writhed and howled, his mother came in to witness the event. Without a word she settled down next to him, her larger claws closing around his own. “Let me hold you, dear,” she cooed. “Don't hold back, either. You cry all you like. Nobody's going to judge you for crying, ever! This is how a Penny shows they're sorry.”
Her soft encouragement drew ever more forceful sobs out of the boy. He may have been nine, but he took his spankings like a Penny boy three years younger – not that this was a surprise to either parent. He was, after all, a child; one that had never reached adulthood, and one that had no experience of the kind of harsh discipline that came with Penny life. As much as they might scold his reactions to the belt's stinging bite, delivered over and over far beyond anything a kindern would ever get, they at least understood it was a natural reaction.
“M'kit'stoop!” the boy shrieked, snot and tears soiling his face as he coughed and hiccuped through the agony.
Mother's paw provided a handkerchief as Shon chastised. “A Penny's first spanking has to set the tone, Talek,” he said between harsh, loud cracks of belt on scale. “Reading your sister's diary was completely unacceptable!”
“Your father wants the lesson to stick,” Liki added. “Once learned, never repeated. That's the best kind of Penny lesson.”

After what seemed like a thousand years of Hell, the belting ended. Talek was hoisted up onto his footclaws once more, caring absolutely nothing that his soft little snake and sac were on full show, and accepted without protest the motherly cuddle that followed. He did exactly as his sister had, sticking his backside out for all the world to see. “Okay, son, you can stay down here and cuddle with your mother as long as you need. The stool will be waiting when you're ready.”
“N'stool!” he blubbed into his mother's shirt, earning him a soft little hushing and gentle stroke of the back.
“I'm sorry, dear, but you need to have some stool time to think about what you did. I promise I won't make you sit on it for long,” Liki assured.
She didn't wait for him to decide how long enough was enough. After fifteen minutes in her arms, Talek was put down and gently pulled by the hand back upstairs, where the stool was waiting. As soon as he entered the Penny room he saw that Rilka's eyes were wet again, and there was a raggedness to her breathing that suggested she'd been given a warm-up of the earlier spanking.
The pointed stool loomed ahead. Both parents stepped up to force him into place, his mouth opening in a feral howl of anguish as the blunt points bit into his punished scale. To his horror, Rilka helped secure him in place, binding his ankles to a restraining bar fitted to the stool, one designed to prevent him taking any weight of his much-punished seat. He had to sit exactly where the belt had struck... for ten whole minutes.
His parents stayed with him the entire time. Rilka stood next to him, nose to the wall and otherwise silent. The older Karrians each held one paw of their new son, quietly telling him what a brave lad he was for taking his punishment so well. They let him off after what they assured him was ten minutes, though a little snicker from Rilka suggested it might not have been.
“Alright, punishment's over. Let's not have any more tears before bedtime, understand?” Shon warned both of them. “Seeing as you've been bare pretty much since arrival, you might as well stay that way. It might help with your 'shyness',” he added to Talek.
There was one last treat, however. Shon took a little pot of cream from out of his jacket pocket and held it up for both Penny's to see. “This is nano-lotion. I'm sure you've seen it before, Talek, but you'll soon learn that there is no sweeter sight for a Penny than this. I went hard on your backside to teach a lesson. This is also a lesson – we are not your enemies. I'm going to smear your little scaly but with some of this, and your sister will get some as well. That way you will both be all fixed and pain free in no time and can have the rest of the evening to play together, soreness and sniffle-free!”
Rilka's face lit up with joy at the news “You're the best, dad!” she exclaimed.

In no time at all, the two rejuves were alone again. As promised, his backside felt much better thanks to the cream, with only the memory of fire and fury lingering now that physical pain was ebbing fast away. He turned back to Rilka, mindful to keep his eyes up, and gave a pained little smile. “I guess we don't get this cream a lot, huh?”
“Not in the least! You've made my day, Talcum!” she giggled as she bounded for the book corner, tail held high out of happiness. Talek followed sheepishly behind. She looked up from her beanbag as he approached, then moved her gaze a little lower while grinning like an imp. “Wow, look at that! Thirty seconds in my company and still soft!”
“Shut up!” the boy protested, covering himself to her raucous laughter.
“Sorry! I'm just messing! Really, I get how embarrassing that was for you. Lucky me, this little box doesn't signal what's going on in hormone land.”
Talek slumped into the opposite beanbag, eyes fixed firmly on the bookshelf and a sour look on his snout. “Stop taking the piss, okay?”
The girl's grin faded instantly. She leaned forward, claws together and fingers webbed between her thighs. “Dad gave you 'the talk', didn't he?” Talek nodded glumly. “Yeah. I get that too. I... I don't mean to give you a hard time. It's just how I am, I guess. You kinda... bully the ones below you as a way to cope with those above. Get me?”
The lizard boy's mind strayed back to some of the stupid decisions he'd made to get here. Bullying smaller kindern had certainly played a part. “Yeah. It get you.”
“You can look if you really want to,” the comment made Talek glance round in surprise, though Rilka's posture preserved her modestly. “I'm not going to risk my hide letting you do more than look, but if you really want to see it then I'll let you.”
Blushing hard, and growing firm around the crotch, Talek tried to focus on their meagre library. Rilka, however, had other ideas. She spread her legs apart, leaned back, and used her fingers to gently spread herself open. Then, from the corner of his eye, the boy saw her 'mouthing' her lower lips while speaking in a high pitched voice, “Taaaaalcuuuum! Look at meeeee!”
The boy exploded into a fit of childish laughter, relief pouring out as freely as sobbing bawls had not too long before. Rilka, clearly pleased with what she'd accomplished, closed her legs and hopped to her feet. “There we go! See? Your little sis will see you right!”
The pair settled in for the evening, enjoying one another's company with less adult forms of play until summoned for dinner. The meal had a wide selection of mostly veg, and the boy was told to clean his plate regardless of his personal tastes towards the veg. He was going to learn to like his greens, or he was going to learn to like the paddle. He at least got away with making disgusted faces while chewing.
Once fed, it was bath-time and bed-time, complete with the ordeal of having to 'go potty' with his mother and sister present. Not only did he have to relieve himself in full view of others, his parents even told him how to do it; “you sit to go, little man. Boys have a habit of 'splashing' when stood up, so you can sit and tinkle like a lady!”
It was no surprise to Talek that he had to share the bath with Rilka, though in reality 'sharing' meant he stood and waited his turn, as the bath was too small to fit them both comfortably. In short order, both Pennys were clean and into their pyjamas, ready for bedtime. Liki tucked them both in, helping the pair snuggle under the sheets together in their circular bed, and even tucking the longer pillows in around the pair so they were nestled from all sides, snug and warm. The last touch was a kiss on the forehead and a soft “Goodnight” before Liki left the pair to rest, turning the lights out as she went. The curtains kept out most of the daylight, but a soft amber glow still snuck in through the cracks.
“It's still early,” Talek whispered, wide awake and staring unhappily at the ceiling.
“I know. Go to sleep,” Rilka replied, her eyes dutifully closed.
“I can't!”
As if summoned by his protests, Liki reappeared at the door to their room, a glass of water in one hand and something unseen in the other. Talek immediately clenched his eyes shut and tried to pretend at sleep, but she was clearly not convinced. “I brought you something to help you drift off. Sit up, little man.”
The 'something' was a pair of tiny white tablets. “They're a natural sedative, perfectly safe. Swallow them and settle back down. It might take a little while for them to work, but they will help.”
“Thank you,” he answered, taking the gift and letting his mother re-settle him.
“One last thing. We don't mind you too cuddling. Just no 'cuddling', am I clear? Rilka?”
“Yes mom,” the girl answered obediently, though to Talek's pleasant surprise she shuffled much closer to him, putting a cream coloured arm over his green-scaled chest.
“That's my girl. Sleep tight, both of you.”
Alone at last, and waiting for the pills to kick in, Talek tried to calm his mind and slow his breathing to match the soft, seemingly restful pace of Rilka's. The shadows grew longer, but his mind remained infuriatingly alert, as did another part of his body. He was under the sheets, and it was dark... a paw dared to slip beneath the waistband of his pyjama bottoms, finding a small, stiff piece of Karrian meat attentive and waiting. Yet he barely got beyond a precursory tickle to coax a little more firmness out when he felt Rilka's claw softly grasp his forearm. “Don't,” she whispered. “I've tried it. They always know when I've been touching myself.”
“I... I really need it,” Talek whined softly in reply.
“I know,” the girl answered, and there was a heartfelt sorrow in her tone. “Tough it out, Talcum. If you don't calm down in a few days, then tell mom and dad. You might not like it but... they'll help you out.”
The reply made his stomach knot. “Why? Why wouldn't I like it?”
Rilka was quiet for far too long. “We're not supposed to be talking,” she said, and that was that. No more answers were forthcoming, and what little he'd been given did nothing to quiet his mind, nor calm his nerves. It certainly didn't soothe the boner, but that only kept him awake for half an hour more before even that couldn't rob him of rest.