[--OPEN!] welcome back to childhood~

[thebooksaysso]

Characters: Anathema Device [ thebooksaysso ] & YOU~
Setting/Location: various places in Lere'unfru
Date & Time: Day 22, morningish?
Warnings: Suddenly. Children. Everywhere.
Summary: A very tiny and homesick Anathema decides this trip is taking too long and tries to find her own way home. And is immediately distracted.

Comments

PRETEND I DIDN'T FAIL AND SEND IT TOO EARLY

[whitegamon]

"They're all inside," came a voice nearby

What fail? :>

[thebooksaysso]

Anathema started slightly at the voice, turned to look for the source with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. For a moment she almost thought that Sakura girl had come back again, and she was a little disappointed to find it was just some boy. It probably showed.

But still, she remembered her manners and straightened up as he walked over, a bit of relief crossing her face as well. So there actually were people around. Good. She wasn't sure she could handle another ghost town after the last time.

"Oh. Where are they at? Are there a lot of them?" It seemed like they picked up more people at every stop, so....

:'D

[whitegamon]

"There are a lot of kids, but not a lot of adults," Raikou said, noting the slight disappointment in the girl's features. He wondered why. "Most of them are Matron Grau's. She lives over there." He turns just slightly so he could point in the general direction of the brothel-turned-home-for-lost-children-slash-orphanage. It was still weird that it felt like he was in the "Old West," like what America used to be. There were cowboys and bar wenches, but not a lot of them. The kids and the candy looked out of place, though.

He points at the large building that the giant was pulling. "Do you live there?"

FFF! I just lost my comment after I typed it out so painstakingly! *NINJARAGE*

[justice_by_coma]

Gau tried not to waver in the bright, baking sun, cringing from it a little. He felt oddly naked even then, without his trusted sweatervest, his dress shirt tucked into his pants in a vain attempt to keep neat and tidy. He could already feel the thin sheen of sweat and dust settling on the back of his neck, and tried not to shudder at the thought

D: At least it's up now!

[thebooksaysso]

"Only for a little while. Mr. Cid and Mr. Simmon and everybody are taking us all back to our real homes." Even though she....honestly doubted at this point that either of them were actually getting any nearer to that goal like they said they were. But this boy didn't need to know that.

But she smiled anyway. "'M Anathema. Anathema Device." And after a moment of thought she quickly added, "My mum thought it was pretty, it doesn't mean nothing--"

She cut herself off before she could finish, yet another sudden appearance distracting her from her thoughts. If anything, her grin only widened at the newcomer, and seemingly without a second thought to the pink-haired boy she turned and ran over to him.

"Gau! Gau, this boy said everybody is staying in that place over there! We need to go look."

Indeed!

[whitegamon]

Raikou tilted his head sideways. "So what Matron Grau said was true...?" He said out loud. She (Grau, and not the girl in front of him) had told him, and the other children, that they have arrived through mysterious and magical circumstances in the land called Willy-nap (or whatever it was, really). Half of the information flew over his head and he'd only retained mostly keywords and maybe a few minor details. Like the buckets of candy that they were free to consume if ever they were hungry.

He returned her smile. "It's a nice name," he said. He was about to introduce himself when she'd turned around, distracted, and ran off to meet the second person to come out of the building pulled by the giant.

Raikou blinked and rubbed at his eyes. Was the sun playing tricks on his eyes? And his ears? What was Gau doing in his not-dream? (And now that he thought about it, Matron Grau's name was like his, except with an extra character!)

.....This is me being a sleeping person. SHHHH.

[justice_by_coma]

Gau barely heard Anathema. Aside from the horrible jolt that yes, indeed, that was Anathema...
(She'd shrunk!, He'd been right! What if she kept shrinking?!)

But he could barely focus on even those panicked thoughts, because something was tight in his chest, the knot of scar tissue twisting...

That face...
That hair.

His voice cracked. "Y-Yes...we can...look." he managed to Anathema. His throat twisted, drowning out other words, except the little strangled whisper, daring, against all odds, "Raikou...san?"

....quick, set up a snore tape, too.

[thebooksaysso]

....well. That was....odd. Normally Gau had always given her his full and undivided attention when they talked. And in her currently self-absorbed child's mind, whatever was going on now was very wrong. And possibly a little annoying.

Maybe even a bit worrisome. For some reason, he suddenly looked awful shocked about something....

With some hesitance, after looking between him and the other boy, she reached up and tugged lightly on his sleeve. "Gau....?"

my, what naughty children...! |Da

[whitegamon]

Ah, so it was Gau. He heard the barely-audible whisper (it was his name, he would be able to hear it from a mile away), and he couldn't help but smile. His lips curled up from ear to ear, and, ignoring the concerned look on Anathema, he marched straight up to Gau...

...and kicked him hard in the shins (right now, he was regrettably too short to reach Gau's head). He had to make sure it was the real Gau, after all.

Oh shush. You're the one who's only ten at the moment. That makes me MATURE.

[justice_by_coma]

"OUCH!" Gau shouted, wide-eyed.

"R-Raikou-san! That hurt! What are you thinking?!" He exclaimed, rubbing his shin and hopping up and down, Anathema momentarily forgotten. He'd rather thought he would be the one to get to do that, or at least...he'd toyed with the idea in the little simluations in his mind...going up to Raikou after all the searching he'd been doing, punching him in the face and saying something suitably cool and scathing, like You're late. And then Raikou would be so surprised he'd hug him, and all would be well.

Or something.

This was far off his plans.
This was Raikou, only...Raikou was shorter than him (SHORTER! Definitely shorter!) with the pink fading out of his hair leaving coral that seemed to shine blonder and blonder in the sun by the minute. This was Raikou afflicted with that same dreadful magic or something. The thing afflicting the members of the caravan, making them childrenRaikou, his idol and the first person ever to actually really notice he existed and step in unhesitating to help him, even if it

I got permission to tag ahead :|b

[whitegamon]

Raikou brightened when Gau staggered back and exclaimed in pain. He clapped his hands once. "So this isn't a dream after all! Gau is in pain, and therefore this is all real," he said, watching Gau hop on one foot. That, of course, wasn't really an answer to Gau's question, but that could wait for later. Much later. Or eventually be forgotten, whichever came first.

And it seemed he and Anathema were acquainted. He was curious as to how it happened. And how Gau was not, or has not, de-aged like he has. Judging from the question, Anathema wasn't always this size (and age) usually. Things made a little more sense now. Just a little. There were still questions that remained to be answered.

Soooo...thsi means I can tag back? *nervous a bit, waiting for Thema's breadknife*

[justice_by_coma]

"OF COURSE I'M IN PAIN!" Gau shouted back, indignant. He was...privately amazed at the difference ten years made on the inherent attractiveness of having the crap beat out of him by Raikou. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I've been looking for you for two weeks, Raikou-san! And now that I find you, you look like this?!" He yanked the tie out of Raikou's hair, rummaging in his bag for the ribbons left behind there... (Having Raikou shorter than him made this feel so much easier, actually.)

"Certainly it's occurred to Raikou-san in his estimable cleverness that if he continues to age backwards, he might never get home?! Or that if he's stuck like this forever-!" His voice broke there, and his face twisted. he bit his lip, grateful Raikou couldn't see his face while he was fixing the boy's hair

Yeah, I said it was fine to go on without me for a bit XD;;; Dad's b-day, I was busy, sorry!

[thebooksaysso]

What was-- Oh. Her hair. Well, that was okay then, and she stood as still as she could as it was carefully pulled back. At least he didn't tug her head all around like her grandmother.

And all the while she listened intently as the older boy complained, still glancing up in concern ever so often when his voice started to shake and stumble over his words. This was apparently the friend he had been so worried about, wasn't it? Wasn't he happy to see him? Why did he sound so....

"So you're that Raikou person, then," she finally said, studying the boy while Gau tied up her hair. "Gau really has been looking for you, you know. He's talked about you a lot."

Oh! I hope he had a good birthday :D

[whitegamon]

"It can't be helped," Raikou said as Gau fixed his hair. He frowned a little. There was a stubbornness in his tone, and it showed as he crossed his arms across his chest. "It's not like I chose to wake up like this."

One hand instinctively reached up to touch the protective charm neatly tied in his hair. Satisfied with how secure it was, he pushed his bangs away from his eyes and his forehead (they'd been sticking to his forehead; he was sweaty now). "I can't be stuck like this forever," he said, the urge to kick Gau in the shins rising again. The younger--no, older now--boy moved to Anathema and started fixing her hair as well. Raikou smiled at her. "Shimizu Raikou," he introduced, bowing just slightly. "What sort of stories did Gau make up, this time?" His smile was teasing and he looked up at Gau...

...who wasn't even looking at him! And in his current youthful state, that was highly unacceptable! His hands were at his hips now, and he stood as tall as he could. "I'm not going to answer Gau's questions unless you look at me," he

Yesss. i hope your aging parent had a lovely time doing so with his family as well.

[justice_by_coma]

"I didn't make up anything!" Gau shot back hotly, sulking a little. He turned his head back obediently, though.out of force of habit.

"Anathema-san has been helping me on the caravan-and he's not 'that Raikou person,' Anathema-san!" He directed heatedly at Anathema as an afterthought. He straightened, trying to look dignified. (Which largely failed, because Gau's intended expression of dignity bordered somewhere between black scowling and pouting.)

"I just told people I was looking for you! And it doesn't help that there were girls on the caravan with pink hair to start with! It made it really confusing. There's even a not-robot guy like a sentei warrior who has pink armor. And...well...I'm not sure if it's actually Wondaru Womanu or not, but I think she's here too. And I woke up in a forest where there was a girl who did a shoujo transformation sequence of some kind

[thebooksaysso]

She started to smile at Raikou, start to reply again, but Gau's sudden sharp tone made her flinch and forget all about it. What was she getting yelled for, she didn't do anything.

But she refrained from pointing that out, too. Right, so her friend was stressed out. That was probably understandable, even though she still couldn't put her finger on just why he was. But she was going to find out, and then she was going to fix it. Because that was what she did.

"Okay....um, can we go to the kitchen? I can make something for you both, if you want. While you talk."

One more glance in Raikou's direction and she tilted her head curiously. "....d'you like tea?"