(Untitled)

[ooh_lily]

Lily's almost used to this. It had been weird last time when she woke up fourteen, the same age as she'd been when she met Eddie, and Emmy had been so little that she'd just been scared by an unfamiliar face. Being nine was easier. Emmy was older now, and she played easily with strangers, so at least Lily could play with Emmy, even if she couldn

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[moraldyslexic]

"Hey, Em," Lennox said as he crossed the Hamlet with Hal, taking the dog for a little walk so she could get away from her puppies for a bit. They were moving around easier now, although they were still in their little box. He just thought Hal had needed a break.

"Who's your new... oh." That wasn't a new friend. That was a nine-year-old Lily. "So what happened here?" he asked, grinning.

[ooh_lily]

"I woke up like this," said Lily, still contentedly making her daisy-chain. It's not as weird as when I was fourteen. At least now I'm really a kid, you know?"

She tossed her head to get fair curls out of her eyes.

"Suppose it was too much to ask that you'd be a kid too. What about Cutter?"

[moraldyslexic]

"He's the same, too," Lennox said, sitting down in the dirt beside Lily as Hal went over to investigate whatever Emmy was doing. "But, hey, we could take you guys out trick-or-treating if Eddie is little, too. Is Eddie little?"

[ooh_lily]

"Eddie's not small."

By nine, Lily had already perfected the skill of arching one eyebrow. She put it to good use.

"We can still take Emmy trick or treating though..." She thought about it for a moment. "Can I have some sweets too?"

[emilyiris]

Emmy though nothing, in the morning when the sun was just starting to make her bed hot, of getting out of bed and sneaking across the hut to climb into bed with her mum and dad like she always did. That is, until she discovered the bed had a dad and not a mum.

She also didn't think anything of giving the stranger a little shove as she climbed in anyway.

[ooh_lily]

Lily half woke up when Emmy got into bed with them, well used to catching a little elbow in the ribs. She reached out and tousled Emmy's hair as she settled down between her and Eddie.

"Too early, Em."

[emilyiris]

Emmy looked at her suspiciously and tried to shake her daddy awake. "Stranger," she said, though it was a little girl stranger and that made it more interesting. "Stranger inna bed."

[ooh_lily]

"I'm not a stranger, Emmy," said Lily, sitting up in bed and blinking blearily. "If this is some new game, kidlet, I don't get it."

[hollermehome]

[ooh_lily]

There was only a few people on the island who'd recognise Lil like this, and they were all male. She lifted her head and looked at the little girl running towards her. She squinted her eyes. Long blond hair, and there's only one woman on the island that Lily knows who looks like that.

"Lisey!" Lily scrambled to her feet, grinning. "You're a kid too!"

[hollermehome]

[ooh_lily]

"Eddie's right sized," said Lily with a little huff of breath that blew her curls out of her eyes. "He's around here somewhere. I'm just playing with Emmy until we go out trick or treating with Cutter and Lennox, later."

[chris_cutter]

For a moment or two, Chris just stood there. Blinking. Because, yeah, it'd been about twenty years, but Chris would recognize that face anyway.

"... Did Eddie shrink, too?" he asked because that was the first thing to come to mind.

[ooh_lily]

"No, Eddie didn't shrink, Cutter. Just me."

There was a sort of comfort in the fact that Chris had recognised her, just the way that she'd known him and Lennox would. She'd known them her whole life, practically.

"How old would you say I am?"

[chris_cutter]

Chris wasn't sure whether or not he was relieved by that. It really didn't make a difference either way and he'd seen this sort of thing happen often enough now that he knew it would only be a matter of time before she was normal again.

"I don't know," Chris admitted, tilting his head to study her more closely. "About eight or nine, maybe. How old do you feel?"

[ooh_lily]

"About that," she said, grinning a little. "I figured you'd know. You've known me forever, Cutter. Eddie didn't meet me until I fourteen and I'm definitely not fourteen, am I?"

She arched one eyebrow.