(no subject)

[run_barry]

Barry is in a great mood today, bopping along to an earworm he picked up listening to the radio. It's a Bruno Mars jam, and it has his head nodding and put a groove into his step as he hums and sings the words under his breath.

He's after some lunch and heads straight for the counter. Keeping time to the song in his head, he gives Bar a friendly greeting and tries to take his seat with a little style; instead of simply sitting on the stool he makes a nimble side hop up in an attempt to slide onto it.

The only thing is, in between the hop that should've easily landed him onto the stool and him actually landing on said stool, Barry looses a whole lot of height, and even more grace.

That sideways hip-slide he does turns into a hip-check and he hits the stool full on, knocking it over and coming crashing down with it with a yelp.

"Oh, come on, for real?" he exclaims when he's back on his feet, looking down at his hands and himself which is noticeably different. As is the octave of his voice, his surprise coming out much higher than it's been in quite a while.

"What the H is this?!"

Comments

[balancingminds]

Charles feels oddly happy, watching old movies and eating candy is unhealthy but fun. Raven would approve and Erik would probably laugh at him.

He's heading to the counter to get perhaps a burger or a proper deli sandwich when he sees the young man change, "Careful, its a Milliways' spell."

[run_barry]

The mention of 'spell' draws a bit of a scowl from Barry, and in his thoughts there's a clear disliking of magic.

"Don't tell me it's got to do with fish again," Barry bemoans, looking up.

Seeing the other boy, Barry smooths his hands down the front of the hoodie he's wearing, and asks awkwardly, "Are you uh-- are you usually older, too?"

[balancingminds]

"Fish, no, I don't think so," Now that he's closer, he realizes that he did recognize this boy before he shifted, "Yes, I am. Charles Xavier."

[run_barry]

Barry thinks about that a moment, and then his eyes widen.

"Charles?"

The telepath guy. Right.

"Hey, how uh-- how's it going?" Barry asks, fiddling with the cuffs on his sleeves, a habit he had when he was actually a kid.

[balancingminds]

"Strange, but not too bad. How are you?" He's experienced worse magical mistakes in Milliways.

[run_barry]

"I'm alright," he says. "wasn't expecting this, though."

He's not exactly happy with it, either.

"How long has it been going on?"

[balancingminds]

"Almost a week. I hope its running its course," There are too many complications if it goes on longer.

[run_barry]

"Seriously, a whole week?" he replies, and the words sound annoyingly whiny thanks to the sound of his voice right now.

"I was just stepping in for something to eat. Now I gotta hang out here until it wears off?"

[balancingminds]

"Yes, that's the way of these awful Milliways' spells. Do you want something to eat?"

It won't help exactly but its something to do.

[run_barry]

"Yeah, I guess. I-- " Barry stops and puts a hand on his tummy, suddenly struck with realization.

A minute ago he was ready to put away a buffet's worth of food, now...

"I'm not starving anymore."

[balancingminds]

"Oh, that's odd. Are you feeling any other side effects?" He knows that Barry's body has gone through other changes, this might be doing more to him.

[run_barry]

Barry glances around, making sure no one is watching, then looks down at his hand. He focuses on it, hard, clearly expecting something to happen.

When nothing does he frowns, then throws out a sigh, his shoulders slumping inside the sweatshirt he's wearing.

"I'm back to being a kid again. Like, for real." Which means no superpowers.

[balancingminds]

"I'm sorry," That would be horribly disconcerting.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Hey, Barry. You okay?"

Yamato's pretty good at recognising Barry's speech patterns, even when his voice is suddenly a lot higher.

He's also good at giving zero hint that he's noticed Barry's predicament.

(He has. He has noticed.)

[run_barry]

Barry is looking down at his feet, stubbing one sneaker tone into the hardwood floor when he hears the question.

"Yeah... I'm fine."

Looking up, he blinks, then frowns at Yamato.

"How come you're not little?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Probably a perk of the Crest."

Or not! Yamato's not looking too deeply into it.

"I was thinking there was something different about you. Thought it might be your hair. Or different shoes."

[run_barry]

"Are you crazy? Dude, I'm like four feet tall!" Barry exclaims, holding his hand up near the top of his head in illustration.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Innocently: "Haven't you always been?"

[run_barry]

Barry's eyes narrow on Yamato, an expression that probably looks ridiculous on his young features.

"I'm pretty sure I'm usually taller than you." Or it's at least close.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I thought that was just platform shoes."

Yamato is serene.

[run_barry]

Barry opens his mouth, ready to make vehement denials, then pouts and shakes his head at Yamato.

"I hate you sometimes."

Looking himself over again, he asks, "How did this even happen?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I'm going to guess magic. Someone casting some kind of spell on the bar, or some spell going awry."

Beat.

"Maybe whatever magic rewinds time outside is on the fritz."

[run_barry]

Barry scowls when he hears 'magic', then tilts his head; brows furrowing.

"What do you mean?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato catches that scowl, and shrugs in response. "Just saying, maybe it was a wizard."

He nods over to the window.

"But the stuff outside resets every so often, right? Stands to reason if whatever magic that is got inside, it could reset the people here, too. Or something. I'm really not an expert on de-aging stuff."

[run_barry]

"It's just such a throwaway answer," Barry explains with a childish pout. "I'm a scientist, I don't like magic."

There is at least logic in Yamato's reasoning, though, and Barry gives it some thought.

"I guess that makes some sense. I just hope it resets back soon."