[open] tonight we are young;

[adaptiveimmunities]

Who: Shaun Mason, Georgia Mason, and YOU.
Where: Lab, et cetera
When: Throughout the event
Rating: PG-PG13
Summary: Shaun and George are small, but they're not going to let that stop them.
The Story:

A - Puzzle Time

George is sitting on the floor, the pieces of the puzzle spread in front of her. "Shaun, I need the edge pieces. Come on. Can you focus for five minutes?" Here she'd thought his attention span was bad when they were grown-ups.

“Huh? Oh.” He looks at the piece in his hand which is… nothing like an edge piece. “Sorry, George. This thing is… really kind of violently colorful isn’t it?”

"It's Wonderland, I'm pretty sure that's on purpose." She takes the piece from his hand, rolling her eyes. The murky light of the lab is dark enough that she's mostly not bothering with her sunglasses, keeping them in her pocket and taking advantage of her weird black zombie eyes and the perfect night vision they give her. "Come on, the sooner we finish this, the sooner we can move on to something hopefully more interesting."

“Something where I get a gun?” Shaun mutters irritably. He hunts down a few edge pieces and offers them to her. They’d been told the creatures aren’t hostile, but Shaun hates being unarmed in unfamiliar surroundings.

"Here's hoping." She takes the pieces and puts them together, frowning down at the puzzle.

B - Vending Machine

They (well, George mostly. Shaun was more of a distraction) had managed to solve one of the puzzles without either of their eyes starting to bleed, and that had led them to a vending machine. The problem with being kids though, is that their reach is significantly diminished. It’s easy to look behind or around or underneath the machine, and of course they can see inside it pretty clearly, but the top is another matter.

“Hey, George. Climb on my shoulders.”

George looks up at the top of the vending machine. Even as an adult, she's not that tall, but she'd be able to get closer. As it is, this seems like the best shot they have. "Okay," she says, turning towards him. "Can you hold me? You're smaller than usual."

He raises an eyebrow at her. “I did when we were this size the first time, didn’t I?”

She rolls her eyes. "That was a long time ago." But she slings her legs over his shoulder anyway, holding onto his head.

He straightens slowly, holding onto her legs to stabilize her. “Do you see anything?”

"Hmm, I'm not high enough. Don't drop me." Carefully, she shifts one foot up to his shoulder, leaning one hand on his head and another on the vending machine as she very carefully stands up so she can peer over the top.

C - Blanket Fort

It's been a few days, and while they've made progress towards getting the keys they need to get their bodies back, they're not there yet. And sleeping in one big room with everyone is… uncomfortable. They've made do pushing two of the beds to the side and sleeping curled around each other, but it's still hard to sleep surrounded by other people.

But now, a few days in, feeling more childlike by the minute, there's a perfect solution to that. George tugs the mattresses off their beds and shoves them underneath the frames, then drapes the blankets off the side. A perfect fort.

“This might be one of the best ideas you’ve ever had, George.” Shaun crawls underneath the blankets and stretches out the mattresses underneath. He hadn’t been comfortable sleeping in the same room as everyone else, and this makes it a lot easier to relax.

"You might not have noticed, but I'm pretty smart." She takes another blanket and drapes it over them, curling up against Shaun's side. "I didn't like being a kid that much the first time. I wanna be big again."

“Same,” Shaun agrees, leaning against her. “But at least Mom and Dad aren’t here to stick cameras in our faces this time around. Silver linings.”

Comments

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun pulls one of his hands away from George's ankle to wave up at Rocket.]

Hey, man! We should have found you way before now! I bet you're great at reaching the stuff on the high shelves!

[beatupgrass]

[Oh... those aren't just normal kids. They're George-and-Shaun kids. He steps a little bit closer, still looking miffed, but that's probably because his fur is coated in dust and he's had his nice, safe hiding space disturbed.]

I dunno. I'm hiding on top of a frickin' vending machine instead of shooting the place up. Where's that fall on the okay scale?

[chooseyouth]

As someone who likes not getting shot, I'll put it at reasonable. [She scowls down at Shaun.] I also don't like getting dropped. Shaun.

[She'd never have gotten up here at all if she thought there was any chance he'd drop her. But the banter helps her feel better.]

Do you need help getting down? Cause as much fun as it is standing on Shaun's head, this'll probably be easier on the ground.

[adaptiveimmunities]

So you're saying I shouldn't start bouncing up and down right now? [He puts his hand back on George's ankle to stabilize her again.] Spoilsport.

[beatupgrass]

[Rocket's already climbing up on George's shoulder and starting to scale his way down her back.] Don't mind if I do. Watch your head, kid. If I fall from this height, it's gonna hurt like hell, 'cause my skeleton ain't reinforced no more.

[chooseyouth]

Shaun!

[He's an asshole at every age. She waits until Rocket makes his way down before lightly nudging Shaun's cheek with her foot.]

Okay, help me down.

[She starts lowering herself along the edge of the vending machine, shifting her foot carefully.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

How about I hold very still, and you both can use me as a human ladder?

[And he proceeds to do just that. He may not be his adult self, but he can still hold still long enough for George and Rocket to use him to climb down.]

[beatupgrass]

[enjoy the feeling of sharp nails on your back as Rocket descends the Shaun Ladder and leaps safely to the floor, shaking dust from the top of the vending machine off his fur as he does so. ugh to be less cute again.]

This event sucks.

[chooseyouth]

[George carefully lowers herself back down until she's sitting on Shaun's shoulders, then awkwardly, clambers off.

....wow Rocket's cute. But so's she. So she'll never say it.]

No shit. But when do we ever have an event that doesn't suck?

[adaptiveimmunities]

The mummy one. [Shaun's answer is prompt.] The food sucked and it was too bright, but we got to shoot zombies, and that's pretty much always awesome, even if the guns were totally subpar.

[beatupgrass]

I can't name a single one, and I've been here longer. [Well, maybe if he tried hard enough. Some of the zombie events haven't been terrible.] Okay... Maybe Ellie's... I got to snipe zombies from the roof. That was frickin' sweet.

[yeah, he's so cute. all one foot long and fuzzy talking about sniping people.]

[chooseyouth]

[George rolls her eyes, smirking slightly. He's the furriest Irwin. Like Shaun as a woodland creature.

She glances at Shaun expectedly. This is his thing.]

[adaptiveimmunities]

[And Shaun is totally into it. Kid all about shooting zombies. nbd. He grins.]

Okay, that sounds pretty great, actually. I don't want to hope for another zombie thing, but sniping zombies sounds like way more fun than, say, drowning in the hallways.

[beatupgrass]

This one's gonna rank in the worst for me, and I didn't think anything was worse than that frickin' event where everyone's identities got overwritten.

[years later, he still hates Storybrooke. he shudders again, almost toppling over this time. stupid balance issues.] I need to get outta here.

[chooseyouth]

It's okay, Shaun. I know how much you miss playing with dead things.

[She gives him a fond smile before refocusing on Rocket.]

Where everyone's identities got overwritten? You mean differently than in wizard school and Neverland and events like that?

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun makes a face. He hadn't been much of a fan of those either, but it wasn't too terrible. It's easy to remind himself that whoever that was, it wasn't him.]

[beatupgrass]

Way different. Those ones you were still you. It was just things about your past that got changed up. This one... It made you a whole other person who'd do things the real you would never do.

[LIKE SEDUCE A HEIRESS IN THE MIDDLE OF A JEWELRY STORE HEIST.

Don't mind Rocket running his little paws over his ears to show his OBVIOUS DISMAY at the memory of this event. aw.]

[chooseyouth]

[Were they still themselves? Arguably. But this sounds different. She frowns.]

Yeah, that sounds fucked up.

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Rocket's distress is kind of adorable, but Shaun's smart enough to keep that little thought to himself. He makes his face at the words instead.]

I think I'm pretty glad we haven't had one of those yet, then.

[beatupgrass]

Yet. [not wanting to wander where he might get stepped on, he climbs up Shaun's pantleg to get to his shoulder. Shaun gets no say in this.] But we gotta get out of this one first. Do you two feel anything weird?

[so far he's been alone in that feeling and he's starting to wonder if its just latent anxiety, brought on by being frightened of places like this.]

[chooseyouth]

I feel lots of weird things. This is a weird age to be. I think I have growing pains.

[Her lip might twitch at Rocket just perching on Shaun's shoulder like that, but she manages to keep her expression pretty stoic still. She's had lots of practice.]

Can you be more specific?

[adaptiveimmunities]

[Shaun gives Rocket a sidelong look, then shrugs the other shoulder. It will be easier to converse with him face to face if he's on their level.]

I think he's referring to that feeling like something is really wrong, and nothing is real. [Shaun's tone is cheerful, but he's definitely a little uneasy about it all.]

[beatupgrass]

Yeah, that part. It feels like something real bad is gonna happen.

[which for someone who has suffered in a place like this is a real bad feeling to have.] It reminds me of...

[he bites the end of the sentence off. he knows what it reminds him of and on some level they do too. being back on half-world, escaping to the databanks to read everything he could, and knowing what would happen if he were ever caught.

it's like that, only worse, because instead of being worried they're coming, he just knows they are.]

[chooseyouth]

[Yeah. She can guess what it reminds him of. She gives him a sympathetic look.]

It'll be over in a few days. We're still in Wonderland.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Just like. Especially fucked up Wonderland. With puzzles and pudding monsters and shit.