itwillbeokay | (no subject)

Clementine hadn't thought twice about trying out that weird machine. It seemed fun at the time, getting a fortune, even though she hadn't really understood the message that came out of it. Something about being stronger or something like that - she had stuffed it in her pocket and promptly forgot it was there. That night, she got in her long gown pajamas - it had a big sleeping bunny on the front of it, and was her favorite - and went to sleep.

The next morning, everything seemed wrong.

At first, she was so half-asleep she almost thought it was a dream. That lasted all of a few seconds, until she realized she was staring down at herself from where she was laying, still tangled up in sheets, and not recognizing at all what she was looking at. Her same clothes were still on, but much shorter - barely covering her much larger body. She sat up, her heart pounding, and for a moment all she could do was look.

When she realized it wasn't a dream, she practically scrambled, nearly tripping twice, all the way to Andrea's room. It was still early, so she was still asleep. Waking her up wasn't something she liked doing, but she didn't know what else to do.

"Andrea?" she called, her voice quivering with panic.

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Relief flooded over her when she saw Andrea believed her, and it showed on her face. She sniffled, lifting her hand to wipe at her eyes. Crying was one of those things she didn't like doing, and she felt a little silly now, even if she was still scared. Bailey whimpered again, and she looked down at the puppy. He was so much smaller now, small enough for her to reach down and lift up gently. He happily squirmed in her arms, and she actually smiled a little when he licked her face.

Knowing Andrea believed her, she carried the puppy over to her bed, sitting down on the edge of it. She still wasn't looking at Andrea much, though, her chin tilted down. "Did I do something bad?"

"No," Andrea answered, her voice firm. What she'd learned over the past year was that this city liked to play games, as much as everyone said the island did. She hadn't spent long enough there to really see it, but she'd seen plenty from Darrow and she didn't want Clementine to think she'd done anything wrong to deserve this.

"No, you haven't done anything wrong," she said. "This place... you know it likes to toy with people."

Bailey eventually squirmed out of her arms, curling up next to her on the bed. She absently ran a hand through his fur, still looking a little stricken. It was hard not to be worried.

"Am I going to go back to normal?" she asked. "Everything else went away."

Sure, she'd had moments where she wished she was bigger and stronger, but she didn't want to be grown up yet. She didn't even know how to be grown up.

"I'm sure you will," Andrea answered, rubbing her eyes as she tried to think of what could have caused this or why. No matter what, she was coming up blank, and she felt a little guilty about that. She'd been distracted lately, focused on Spike and the chip, so maybe she hadn't been paying enough attention to Clementine. Maybe something had happened that she'd missed.

"We'll either have to let it run its course or figure out what caused it," she said. "Do you remember anything out of the ordinary? Anyone you might have talked to or... I don't know. Anything?"

Clementine went quiet as she thought about it. She didn't think she did anything very strange. Nothing that stuck out in her head, at least.

"I went on the boardwalk because I wanted to see if Bailey liked the sand," she explained. "It was quiet there 'cause it's still cold, I think."

The boardwalk wasn't out of the ordinary. They went there all the time, as she was sure other people did. Andrea frowned a little, remembering the day with the mistletoe, remembering the witch Spike had accused of being responsible. "Did you see anyone out there?" she asked. "Or have you run into a really pretty woman with lots of dark hair?"

Clementine thought really hard. She definitely hadn't seen anyone or spoken to anyone. In fact, the walk was so normal she nearly forgot the one thing she did that was out of the ordinary.

"There was a weird game I tried. It gave me something like the paper in a fortune cookie," she said. That was the only weird thing she saw, but now that she thought about it, the fortune was a little weird, too.

Andrea didn't know if a weird game would have turned Clementine into an adult, but anything seemed to be possible in Darrow. And that didn't help her figure out how to get Clementine back to the way she was. With the witch, at least, she'd have a place to start.

But maybe the woman had enchanted the machine somehow.

"We should talk to Fred, probably," she decided. "She knows more about magic than I ever will."

"You think it was magic? I didn't see any magic tricks," she said, frowning. Maybe there were different kinds of magic. She trusted Andrea to know what to do, though. It was all she could do. "Do you think she can change me back?"

She'd always wanted to be bigger, but not like this. This wasn't what she wanted at all. No one would recognize her!

"Well, it's not natural, whatever it is," Andrea said, considering. "And she might be able to. She's from the same place Spike is, where monsters and magic are real, so she might have a much better idea about what to do."

Any idea would be more than Andrea had right now. She felt completely useless, unable to think of anything that might have caused this to happen.

Clementine nodded. She obviously was going to do whatever Andrea wanted her to do. She was just glad she believed her and didn't think she was a big liar. She hadn't seen herself but she knew she looked really different. Nervously playing with the end of her now too-small pajamas, she frowned.

"None of my clothes will fit now," she said. It was okay in the apartment, but she couldn't go outside like this.

Andrea finally managed a laugh at that, then rubbed both her hands over her face before she grabbed the elastic from her bedside table and pulled her hair back off her face. "We'll find you something," she said, throwing back the covers and swinging her legs off the bed. "You're probably about the same size as me now."

That was strange enough, but it looked to be true, too.

"Okay," she replied. When she was younger, she used to play dress up in her mother's clothes. They were always too big for her, of course, but it was strange how she was suddenly reminded of that at just the thought of wearing some of Andrea's clothes.

Leaving Bailey sleeping on her bed, she stood up too, clasping her hands behind her back. Maybe things would be alright, for now. She just hoped it wouldn't last too long.