but when I took down my defenses

[mirrorbastard]

WHO: 8-year-old zombie MIRROR MASTER and YOU
WHERE: In ur reflections!!
WHEN: Wednesday (morning, at midnight) through Saturday
WARNINGS: Doubtful, but will edit as necessary
SUMMARY: You know how Evan has no tact and bounces around reflections with no respect to privacy or boundaries? Well at least as a child he's more polite about it. And maybe not as obnoxious to talk to.
FORMAT: Whatever!


He barely slept, anymore. He hadn't felt much need to since "the accident" just like he hadn't felt the need to eat much, but sometimes boredom won out over necessity and he settled in for a nap anyway. It did get boring, staying only in the mirror even if he could still look out it the same as always, or send clones out -- the clones had seemed off, sure, but they functioned. Too bad they couldn't drink beer for him.

But then he woke up, and everything was different.

He didn't know where he was. He definitely wasn't in Miss McCulloch's orphanage, or even Scotland, but rather some kind of abstract dark corridor with millions of windows dotting the endless abyss around him. He was cold, his skin slimy and pale like marble. He stood, slowly, and began skulking down the corridor, looking through the windows for someone that might help him. He was breathing hard, but not panicking, not crying. He just shivered, and knocked on the glass now and then, warily, when he thought he saw someone. (Sometimes he didn't even knock. He just looked out, in confusion or envy or curiosity.)

"Hullo?"

Comments

[mirrorbastard]

Evan stared back out, looking at the little girl on the other side of the glass. He wasn't sure if seeing someone close to his age was a relief or more of a burden.

"Ya talkin' to me, hen?" He stared at her curiously through the glass. "Er, hullo, I mean."

[faeless]

Her gaze drifted to Evan and she immediately let out a yell, nearly falling from her perch in the process.

"God dammit! People in my damn mirror is so not cool!" Same old Kenzi, just smaller.

[mirrorbastard]

"I dinnae ken how I got here in the first place," Evan said, pursing his lips and kneading his pale blue fingers together. "So I'm nae t'blame, ya got that? I reckon I'm stuck here."

[faeless]

"Wait? ...Your that mirror dude from before. But you don't...remember." Was this one of those weird things the 'porter did that so many people talked about? Or was it something else? She had no way of knowing and quite honestly she didn't feel too much like thinking about it.

"Erm well...uh..." She wasn't sure what to say. At least he wasn't demanding food this time. But it still wasn't any less weird.

[mirrorbastard]

Evan raised an eyebrow, tipping his head to one side skeptically. "What, ya sayin' ya know me? I've never met ya before in me life. 'Least I cannae remember ya..."

He sat down, pulling his knees close to his chest and considering this for a moment. "Ya was never in Kirkcaldy, was ya?"

[faeless]

She shook her head. "I met an older you. I guess. This is all reeeeeally weird."

Kenzi frowned at him before turning back to her own reflection. "Dude, this better not last. I don't wanna go through my teenage years ago."

[mirrorbastard]

"That's mental," Evan said, looking at her warily. But he was in a mirror and she did act like she knew him, so unless this was some kind of weird prank or horrible nightmare, he wasn't sure what to believe.

"So we both knew each other when we're grown, yer sayin'? I don't remember a lick o' it." He bit his lower lip. "Ya know where we are?"

[faeless]

"Wouldn't say we know each other. Just older you did this not too long ago." She gestured to the mirror to indicate the whole popping up uninvited.

"Er well, if y'don't remember anything..." She sighed, why does she have to do this. She doesn't really like kids and here she is having to talk to one. On top of it all she's a kid again too. "We're on alternate version of Earth in a city that's supposed to be New York only it's just called the City. And believe me or not it's the truth."

[mirrorbastard]

"He did? I mean... I--" This was already getting confusing. Evan's worldview, from what he could remember, was very limited. He only knew what he'd learned in the orphanage, things in books and basic facts of life and education. He smiled, eyes alight with possibility.

"It sounds like a comic strip. Ya really mean it all?"

[faeless]

"Yup."

To the last bit she nods with a sober expression on her face. "One hundred percent serious. And it pretty much is like livin' in a comic. I mean, you ain't supposed to look like that. And I'm not supposed to look like this." God, the blonde hair again. She has to wonder if she can get her hands on some dye.

[mirrorbastard]

"What, yer face don't normally look like the back o' a bus?" He smiled to indicate he wasn't serious, feeling his face idly. "I always liked comic strips, meself. Never had much to read, though."

He looked at his hands again.

"If we're nae supposed t'be like this, ya think it'll stop?"

He wasn't sure what that meant for him, but he thought he should ask. He couldn't decide if staying here was better or worse than going home.

[faeless]

Kenzi's natural response was the scrunch up her face and flip him the bird. "Yeah comics are the best!" She switched to a smile quickly enough.

"Dunno that. Really hoping it don't last. I don't wanna have to grow up all over again. It sucks." She can't buy booze like this!

[mirrorbastard]

Evan sat back, a wider grin on his face. "We only ever had a few, and all the others -- well, they're right popular for all of us too old for storybooks. It's always just like this, though, innit?"

His smile faltered after a moment of thought. "Wish I could remember what me future was like. Way I see it if I go back..." But then he considered, for a moment, how much he hated being small. "Might not be so bad. Being big's probably awful brilliant."

[faeless]

"Not always. Usually things are pretty normal. This is so far from normal."

She scrunched up her face again. "Being an adult is okay. I mean it's reeeeally boring at times. But it's got perks. Y'can buy booze!" She grinned and let out a laugh. Sadly that was the only perk she could think of at the moment. Aside from the raunchier stuff but he didn't have his adult memories so that was a subject that wasn't getting touched.

[mirrorbastard]

"Aye. If I didnae know better I'd think I was away in a dwalm. But I've never had dreams like this." Evan bit his lower lip, leaning closer to the glass. He both wished he could find a way out and enjoyed the weird safety of the glass at the same time, and supposed he shouldn't let it get to him. He'd find a way out.

"I don't care about any o'that stuff. Just so long as I can kick arse when I need to."

[faeless]

Kenzi gave him a curious look. "Dwalm? The hell's that?"

"I guess kickin' ass is fun. I think if that's all your doin' it would get pretty boring fast."

[mirrorbastard]

"Erm. Y'know, when yer lost in yer own head. Dreaming-like, kind of." He still needed to get used to the fact he wasn't in Scotland anymore -- judging by all the accents, at the very least.

"I havenae thought about what else I'd do. That's most important."

[faeless]

"Oh! Daydreams." She repeated it in Russian, a habit she had at this age that apparently had returned.

She scrunched up her face again and shook her head. "If that's what ya wanna do."

[mirrorbastard]

"Daydreams. Aye -- that," he said, repeating the word slowly. He supposed he could have thought of that, but he was too far set in his own vocabulary to care.

"What else is there t'do?"

[faeless]

"Well when you're an adult you gotta have a job. And deal with stupid people. And a bunch of other really boring shit. It's all complicated and stupid." The more she thought about it maybe it wouldn't be so bad being a kid again. She could use it to her advantage against adults.

[mirrorbastard]

Evan frowned; he really had no idea what he wanted to do when he was older. He'd never needed to consider it, not yet -- he was only eight. The only major decision he'd had to make so far he'd made in self-defense, in impulse anyway, and the only thing he could think of wanting was the chance to meet his parents.

"Guess that's right. I'm nae good at much. Never even met anyone ooside Kirkcaldy."

[faeless]

"S'ok. I'm not all that great at a lotta stuff either. Even as an adult." She grinned.

"By the way, I'm Kenzi."

[mirrorbastard]

"Evan." He grinned back, a little more sheepishly and closed off than before. "We don't have t'worry about it yet, anyway. Aye?"

[faeless]

She shrugged. "Dunno. Depends on what caused this and if it can be reversed. We're not s'posed to be kids but we suddenly are."

[mirrorbastard]

"Yer nae supposed to be. I don't remember a thing." He frowned again. "Or maybe I am. Ya said ye've met me before and all."