[party post] she climbed backwards out her window into outside over there.

[beyondriftmods]

Once upon a time, there was an alternate city of Chicago, the lovely people residing in it, and many Rifts placing these people into various different predicaments, spanning from the humorous to the perplexing to the utterly heartbreaking. Wondrous different people, of all shapes and sizes. So it has been, and so it will be, for years and lifetimes

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[tinystarryeyes]

Cassie is twenty three years old. She has asked the narration to remind themselves with that fact.

But she woke up this morning and found herself no longer a twenty three year old in an adult's body. Instead she found herself back as she once used to be many, many years ago. Needless to say, she wasn't very happy about that. She spent the first half an hour of her morning crying. She didn't realise it, but the more time she seemed to be awake - the more she seemed to react more childlike to the world around her - as if she was reversing into her younger self'f attitude.

She's probably almost unrecognizable to most people. Her hair's much darker now from the light blonde that everyone knows her by. But she still has the same eyes and the same bright smile.

Going for a walk was probably a bad idea, but she started to notice other people seemed to be getting affected by whatever's going on and there were so many pretty things that she just had to go outside.

And then a policeman came across her. And he tried to take her away, presuming she was a lost child. But she's not! She's just stuck as a little girl!

So she's now fighting against him, screaming her head off, and praying a friend comes along to make the awful policeman go away.

[sitherequietly]

Castiel isn't very familiar with the concept of Disney, but he does know that the Rift causes strange things to happen. You can't live here for as long as he has without coming to realize things like this.

This, however, is more odd than he's accustomed to.

One moment, he is perfectly find, standing on the street in his normal clothes, and the next, he finds himself in a very uncomfortable plastic suit. It even has wings. He doesn't know how the Rift managed to get him into this thing, but he has a strong urge to say "To infinity and beyond."

He has no idea what this means.

What he does know is that there's a very tiny Cassie dealing with a very frustrated police officer, that she seems very unhappy with. He sighs, before appearing next to the officer and probably scaring the crap out of him. "Hello. Is there a problem?"

/DYING

[tinystarryeyes]

The police officer is not going to give up, even if she's making his job very difficult. He's determined to take the lost child to the station and hope to find her parents. "Look, hun, I just want to help you find your Mom and Dad. It's alright, you're safe,"

Cassie cries harder, tears running down her face. They're not here and that hurts - more than ever. She's not going with him and there's going to be an almighty tantrum in three, two...

Oh.

The policeman jumps because Oh, dear God some guy's just appeared out of nowhere in a Buzz Lightyear costume. What the hell. However, his fright makes him lose grip of Cassie's hand.

She makes a run for it, diving between Castiel's legs, curling up on the floor and clinging onto one of them for dear life. "Caaaaas!" she wails, "Make him go awaaaay!"

"... the little girl's lost," The policeman answers almost nervously. And then with a frown, he can't quite believe he's asking because this is far from ridiculous. "...You ...know her?"

[sitherequietly]

Castiel considers all the information before deciding that the easiest thing to do. He knows that it's probably best if Cassie doesn't go with the nice police officer, so he decides that it's best if he intervenes.

"Yes. I am her guardian."

[tinystarryeyes]

The police officer just stares for a moment. You've got to be kidding. "You come from some sorta fancy dress party?" he asks, rubbing the back of his neck. Part of him doesn't want to the leave the poor kid with this guy, he looks ridiculous.

He kneels down to Cassie, "You know this guy, hun?" She nods, still hiding behind his legs. She's still crying, but the ferocity has quietened since Castiel arrived, "He's Cas," she says, "My friend, looks after me,"

He sighs and gets up again. He is too old for this job.

"Look, sir. You've gotta keep her in your sight at all times," he says sternly, "Chicago's a big city for a little kid like her, she could of easily gotten hurt or much worse..."

He shakes his head, he's quite enough of this crazy today. "Do remember that. Have a good day," he says and leaves.

Cassie is just still crying and clinging.

[sitherequietly]

Castiel isn't entirely sure how to explain what had happened with his clothes without outing himself as a Wanderer, so he lets the police officer draw his own conclusions and says nothing. He let's Cassie tell the officer that he's a friend, which is the truth, and when he agrees to leave Cassie in his custody, he nods.

"I will do that. Thank you."

Once the officer leaves, he tries to crouch down so that he's eye level with Cassie, but the suit that he's wearing makes it very awkward to do so. In the end, he settles for taking her hand and pulling her to a nearby bench so they can sit.

Or Cas can attempt to sit.

"It's alright, Cassie. You're safe."

[tinystarryeyes]

"I just wanted to see the pretty things," she moans tearfully, her lower lip wobbling. "And.. and and..."

Cassie sniffs and takes his hand. She does not like being young again at all. Slowly but surely, she's losing her adult reasoning and suddenly everything is all emotions bubbling very close to the surface. She can't even spell correctly any more.

Looking up at him, she frowns for a moment. She finally realizes that there's no trench coat or suit anymore. And then her eyes go wide with excitement and awe. Buzz Lightyear.

This is frankly the best thing ever.

"Caaaas?" she rubs at her eyes and sniffs loudly, "Why are you Buzz Lightyear?"

[sitherequietly]

Castiel doesn't know who Buzz Lightyear is, and if he did, he might be a tad bit insulted. Previously, he had just thought he was being supremely inconvenienced. Now he knows that this attire has a name.

"I ... do not know. Who is Buzz Lightyear?"

[tinystarryeyes]

Cassie stares up at him, eyes still wide. Had she'd been her usual self, she would have known why he wouldn't have know. But as a child, she is just in shock. Toy Story is her favorite films ever. "Whaaaat?!"

She flails and then races over to a nearby bench, clambers onto it and holds her arms out. "Buzz Lighter, defender of the galaxy! Here to stop the evil Emperor Zurg! To infinity and beyond!" she declares loudly and jumps down, pretending she can fly.

She will neglect to tell him he's a toy.

"Do the buttons work?" she asks, reaching up to try and press them. Fortunately, she's way too small to reach.

[sitherequietly]

"I have never heard of this ... Buzz Lightyear." He wouldn't, he doesn't watch too many movies. "Is he important?" He assumes that something that's the defender of the galaxy is obviously important, but he doesn't know how or why.

And no, he doesn't know if the buttons work.

[tinystarryeyes]

"Oh, nooo. Cas! But. But you need to! Because, because you're him!" she says with a pout, flailing again.

"He's very important, yes," she tells him. "Because he saves.. stuff. And he's good and has a laser and flies and everything! And there's Woody! Can I be Woody, please? I want a cowboy hat and a sheriff's badge,"

She's still trying to reach the buttons,"I can't reeeeach!" she says with a slight wail, it's very frustrating being small.

[sitherequietly]

When Castiel realizes she's trying to reach for the buttons on his chest, he makes an attempt at crouching down again. It doesn't go well. It takes him a while to shift and find a comfortable position, but in the end he just winds up kneeling in front of her, so that he was more at eye level with her.

"Is this better?"

[tinystarryeyes]

Cassie pauses, not quite sure what he's doing at first. It does look very awkward for him to move. She never remember Buzz having the same problem. "Yes, yes, much better!" she says brightly.

And then she pushes one of his buttons which loudly sounds: 'Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!'

Cassie squeals in utter delight, jumping up and down on the spot and clapping her eyes. "They work! They work! You hear? They work!" This is seriously the best thing ever!

And now she's just going to go button-pushing mad. Sorry, Cas.

[sitherequietly]

He's in a suit made of plastic, Cassie. And he's not animated, so that doesn't help either.

Castiel isn't going to mind much when it comes to the button pushing where all it does is make noises. None of it seems to hinder his ability to move any more than it already has been. At least, not until her hand lands on the giant red button to his right, and he feels something shoot out with a loud snap! on his back. Concerned, he tries to turn and see what it is, but ... the suit doesn't make that easy to do.

"Cassie, what was that?"

They're wings. Just for the record.

[tinystarryeyes]

Oh, now that was a very loud noise. Very loud indeed. Cassie jumps back a little and then just stares for a long time. It takes her a while to answer, she just stands there, hands across her mouth.

And then she's going to squeal some more, dancing around on the spot. Because this is so exciting. Her friend's turned into a life-size Buzz Lightyear, part of her is sure it's Christmas already.

"Cas, you got wings!" she says in delight, pointing, "Like. Different wings! And they have lights and does this mean you can fly like Buzz now, too?"

[sitherequietly]

"I do not believe this suit is equipped for flight."

It isn't an illogical conclusion to make. These wings did not seem to be enough to support his weight, never mind the fact that he is fairly certain that humans can't fly. They aren't biologically equipped to.