Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jerry took a long while to hyperventilate his way into calm. Ok. Facts straight: It would seem everyone had been effected... except apparently Gale but... but there was a part of him relieved to see someone who at least looked like a trusty babysitter, he wasn't allowed at home without- he shook his head. The heck was he thinking? He was a full grown man, thank you! Just... swimming in sweat pants and... He spotted what could only be his new friend, looking slightly disjointed as he crept up to him.

"W-wa-wa-wash?" The moment his mouth opened, his face went red, volume dropping considerably before he managed to tug the taller little-boy's shirt frantically, whispering anxiously, "D-do... do you have any-any-any-any," He swallowed, starting afresh, "Extra sh-shoe laces or um. Um. Sh-shorts?" Great. Great. fantastic. He had kicked the stupid stutter by the time he was seven. Unfortunately, it seemed his muscles had forgotten that.

Gale's brain was officially broken.

The little girl standing accusingly in front of him was clearly Madison - and yet it wasn't, because the Madison he knew was not four feet and looking as though she were the right age for playing with Barbies.

"Er," said Gale. He stared blankly at...Madison...with large round eyes, attempting to comprehend just what on earth was going on.

Maybe he was still sleeping. Maybe this was a dream.

"I don't - I mean - ARGGHHHH WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON?!"

This was half wailed as Gale, looked frantically first one way, then another. All around him were...well, there was no other word for it - children. And Gale discovered something Very Important:

He had finally cracked.

Gale reached up a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers.

"Okay," he said slowly. "Okay. Um. Let's sort this out. I..."

"CHIPMUNK!"

That was definitely a voice he recognized. Gale swiveled, catching sight of a small...Candace...wearing too-large pajamas and looking extraordinarily upset.

"I - I don't know - " he said, turning around and around again as more of the tiny hunters came out.

Suddenly Gale felt a very nice sense of empowerment:

He was tall.

And, all things considered, it was amazing that Caelius could sound as sneering as he did even when he was, for once, shorter than Gale was.

Gale stood with his arms folded across his chest and looked down at the little, pouting Death Division Leader, throngs of confused, panicking, crying, and, in a little girl who looked like Eva's case, smiling, hunters crowded around his legs.

And then he smiled.

Widely.



"Impression?" he said innocently as he bent down and patted Candace's head almost automatically as she started wailing, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't worry, guys, I'll figure something out."

Clarice kept sobbing messily onto Robert's shirt, "It was all Julie's fault! And now I'm small and I lost my booobs, oh Robert, it took so long to get them and now they're all gooooone and I keep falling down and I scraped my k-kn--e--eeeeee!"

Then she realized she was clinging onto Robert. Crying in front of Robert. Being carried by Robert.

Who was somehow still taller than her.

Trying her best to regain her composure, she explained with great dignity, "Robert, the hole is not important. It's a hazard. We need to find the doctor."

Cass squeezed Marcus's hand as he explained his battle plan, nodding meekly and actually seeming to be...generally terrified of everything for some reason, leaning closer to the no-longer-much-older boy and sniffling into his shoulder. She sort of shuffled after him, her toes slowly turning in towards each other to give her a pidgeon toed stance.

"Marcus, I.." she sniffled, her face pressed against his shoulder.

She huffed a few times, before she started to just bawl, her concern not her boobs, but this sudden wave of child-like terror that just washed over her. For the first time in years it seemed like she'd suddenly remembered what it felt like to actually be scared of something without a sense of bravery at all. She knew her own courage was still in tact, but....

the body just reminded her of weakness and so many bad memories, it probably wasn't helpful.

She hiccuped a few times, her nose beginning to run as she just squeezed on Marcus's hand.

Gale reached down to pat her head and she sniffed, hiccuping and...sticking her thumb in her mouth. She was upset okay? And she forgot her bear. She wanted her bear. WHERE WAS HER BEAR?! Oh, right. It was safe in her room. "I want my bear." She muttered around her thumb, giving an unhappy look around the room. "Chipmunk I want my bear. I dunno why. I want my bear. Beeeeear. He's blue and Jerry gave him to me." Candace turned wide, tear-filled lavender eyes up toward Gale and stared at him through her long bangs.

"Gale bring me my bear. If you don't I'll cry." Too late but whatever.

Reine woke up to find herself almost smothered by her teddy bear. Her first thought was that somehow in her sleep it must have gotten bigger, and then she stood up and realised..

Her clothes were falling off. At least the shirt stayed on her; and her teddy bear. It was huge. HUGE. Jumping off the bed, Reine took several tries to tiptoe so she could reach the dresser, finally settling on piling up a stack of books like wooden blocks and climbing those. Success!

Quickly and messily, she pulled her hair into pigtails, then ran back to her bed and struggled to pull the teddy bear off.

"Mister Cuddles," she announced happily, "We're going EXPLORING!!" Dragging him behind her, she fiddled with the doorknob for five minutes (again, she simply couldn't reach it) before finally throwing the door open and running out into the hallway.

Marcus heard you Wash. He heard you. "...Julie might have animal crackers."

Then..Cass started to cry. Oh no. No. No. NONONONONO.
"Cass baby it's okay. I'm sure this... we'll get better. Somebody will fix this. I mean, Gale is still big right? It might not be everyone but- yeah. Don't worry okay. I'm here and I won't let anything happen okay? Okay Cass?" Marcus in his tiny form was giving Cass the biggest hug he could muster. Jerry was crying too? Aw Jerry it would be okay! Candace as well? Aw guys don't cry! Don't cry! Dis was basically telling Marcus to shut everybody up, but all Marcus wanted to do was give everyone hugs.
It was Candace who got the first hugs. HUGS FOR EVERYONE! "It's okay Candace! Um- Jerry? Jerry Come heereeeee" Marcus whines at the sobbing boy. "CANDACE NEEDS YOU AND I AM NOT BIG ENOUGH TO HUG HER AND CASS AT ONCE."