early on in the pizza place mingle

[happyhalloween]

My shoes don't fit anymore! I can't get them on my feet! They were so tight and then I tried to put them on and they don't go on!

And it's the same with my other clothes! They're all tight! Who's been shrinking my clothes? I'm gonna play a trick on you!

[She doesn't bother to filter the baby out of the message, oops.]

Comments

[awitchdidit]

...oh dear.

[happyhalloween]

... who did it, Beato? Do you know?

[awitchdidit]

It wasn't any witch or fairy, I'm sorry to say. Although you're about at the right age for a shrinking or growing potion...

I'm afraid you might actually be growing, dear.

[happyhalloween]

... I can't be. Can I?

Beato, measure me!

[awitchdidit]

I'll be right there with some measuring tape, but, in theory, we are on a journey here. We've moved beyond the state we were preserved in in the Golden Land, after all...

[fridgeninja]

It sounds like you're growing.

[happyhalloween]

Uu. I can't be. Dead people don't get any bigger.

[fridgeninja]

Maybe the Arcana play by different rules, and you're not dead any more.

[happyhalloween]

... do you really think so?

[Maria's been dead for so long--longer than she's been alive--that it's a big surprise she might not be really dead anymore.]

[fridgeninja]

I think we shouldn't rule it out.

[ninjayeehaw]

Yer only little, right? Y'all must be havin' a growth spurt!

[happyhalloween]

Uu. I can't. I haven't grown any bigger in twelve, no, thirteen years.

[ninjayeehaw]

Well, looks like that ain't the case no more!

I can help make 'em a bit less tight, if'n ya like?

[happyhalloween]

Yes. Please. I don't like everything being tight. It makes me feel grouchy.

[ninjayeehaw]

Where's yer wardrobe at? I won't be able t'fix nothin' if'n I can't see it!

[dino_zarf]

[The baby has of course heard this]

Growing!

[THere's a mental giggle that accompanies it. It's almost like she's proud of constantly needing new clothes]

At least there's an easy way to size them up here.

[happyhalloween]

... do you mean the wardrobe thingy Beato can do? But I can't.

[Oh and of course...]

Hi Rosie!

[dino_zarf]

Yeah. We've been getting people to help with it whenever someone outgrows all her clothes at once overnight.

[Rose is well aware that he's talking about her]

Hi!

[happyhalloween]

I guess babies grow really fast! How big are you now, Rosie? Are you super duper big?

[dino_zarf]

They have a lot of growth spurts.

Extra big! Fun!

[Of course she thinks growing is fun]

[tobegood]

Maria, what... what do you mean, you're dead? [Though Imriel doesn't have any skill to enhance his ability to project over the network, his fear and hurt and trepidation come across clearly nonetheless.]

[happyhalloween]

... oh.

Um. I guess you weren't here when I told people I was.

So, um, a long time ago, I guess thirteen years ago for me, some bad stuff happened on Grandfather's island and pretty much everyone there died. That was when I was nine and a half.

And I was dead after for a lot of years in the Golden Land which is the special place my family got to go when we were dead. I think it was for twelve years.

And then me and then Beato came to liminal space and I guess the Trumps made me alive again but I was never quite sure.

Please don't worry. I'm okay. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you.

-> [Action]

[tobegood]

[Imriel doesn't know what he feels about what he just heard, doesn't know how to respond. Even if she says she's okay, dying isn't something he can take lightly. And... thirteen years? Then she's really twenty-two or twenty-three? He'd thought she was actually his age.

Not that that part really matters - it makes everything more confusing, but it's not the most important thing right now.

He doesn't respond over the network, but after a minute or two there's a knock on Beato's door. When she opens it, Imri will step into the room... and pull her into a tight embrace, burying his face in her shoulder - his body trembling, just a little. Several silent tears fall onto her blouse.]

Re: -> [Action]

[happyhalloween]

[Beato's room is really more of a house. She can make a lot of room and she's used the opportunity to make a replica of Maria's grandfather's house on Rokkenjima. But Maria's there near the door when Imri comes and she's the one that gets the door, not the goat butler.

Imri's hug startles her, but she hugs him back and pats his back.]

Ssshh. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here now. And... back all those years ago I wanted to die. I wasn't very happy as an alive person. I'm much happier now. I got friends here. Like you.

[tobegood]

[There's a bigger tremor when she says she'd wanted to die - he remembers what that's like. But eventually he pulls back slowly, still looking uncertain.]

...But now you're alive again, right?