[ageswitch]

[alanshore]

A walk to the beach and back hasn't improved matters much. Obvious predicament aside, he's become aware that he's no long accustomed to moving in this body. His posture's entirely wrong, the tilt of the chin absurd. His limbs feel not only ready but eager to move in several directions at once

Comments

[stacked_sookie]

Sookie slept long and hard. When she woke up, her clothes didn't fit right anymore.

After the first bout of confusion and fear, she headed into the kitchen to get something to eat. The way the seat of her shorts sags bothers her a lot more than it probably should, but it's esier to worry about that than anything else. There are kids everywhere, only it turns out they aren't really kids, they only look like kids. Oh ho ho ho, the island with a sense of humor.

Sookie at fourteen is nowhere near as full-figured as Sookie at twenty-six. She has to find another pair of shorts that won't be a constant reminder of how big her ass apparently is these days. Maybe the clothes box will be merciful.

"Uh. Hello?"

She doesn't recognize him at first.

[alanshore]

Even in those few syllables, her accent is recognizable. Hoping against hope that his ears mistake him, Alan looks up from the pair of beige corduroys the box has seen fit to provide.

He flushes and immediately looks away.

[stacked_sookie]

"Mr. Shore?!"

There's something so very wrong about him looking so... so young.

[alanshore]

"As charged." He can't meet her eyes.

[dale_cooper_fbi]

Dale hadn't noticed right away, dismissing the few unexpected occurences upon waking to a renewed vigor for life. It was only when he got a few stares upon leaving the caves, and spotted a number of unknown children running around, that he paused to take a look at himself in a pool of water and saw a face looking back that he hadn't seen in well over a decade.

The island was up to its tricks again, and this time Dale had been caught in its web, too. His first thought, when it was clear that there was no actual crisis in the works, was to find Sookie. And his first thought of where to find Sookie was at the beach.

Strangely, it was Alan who he recognized first, under that shock of very blond hair.

"My God," he said, staring from one to the other, and suddenly realised the magnitude of what was going on.

[alanshore]

Upon encountering someone he knew, Alan felt a surge of embarrassment. The staring did not improve matters.

"Dale." He passed about fifteen seconds frantically trying to avoid looking at the other man, eyes flitting from Sookie to the beach to the trees in the distance. It was futile, of course. "Afternoon."

[stacked_sookie]

"Dale!" Sookie beams at him, relieved to see him. He isn't five, thank the Lord for small favors, but he looks a lot younger than he used to. Not a lot lot, the way Mr. Shore does, but still... a lot.

"If this keeps goin' on, you're gonna have t' show me how t' find you in your cave. Next time, I'm comin' t' check on you whether you like it or not."

[dale_cooper_fbi]

"I have two things to say to that," said Dale, grinning back. "One: I truly hope there will not be a next time; and two: I expect to be moved out of the caves very soon. Sookie! I almost didn't recognize you. And Alan... well I'm certainly glad I'm not the only one in this boat."

[stacked_sookie]

Sookie is still ticked off at Jay when she gets back down to the beach, but at least she's not livid anymore. She heads out to the spot where they'd spent the afternoon and looks around for Alan.

"Hey!"

[alanshore]

"Sookie!" He'd moved nearer to the children in the course of the day. Now he picks up his book and heads toward her, smiling in relief. It's been an emotionally fraught afternoon.

"You seem relatively unscathed."

[stacked_sookie]

She beams at him. "Relatively. I don't wanna go back up there again anytime soon, though. The place is a wreck!"

And she might run into Jay again.

[alanshore]

Alan doesn't ask if she'd tripped over anything on the way there. As he'd said, she seems relatively unscathed.

He takes the picnic basket off her hands and sets it down. "I have the sneaking suspicion I need another coat of sunscreen."