AGE PLOT SHENANIGANS

[microbrobotics]

WHO: Everyone and anyone!
WHERE: De Chima, various
WHEN: Around 6 PM EST, March 25th
WHAT: Age plot kickoff!
WARNINGS: Cuteness.

[ LET'S GET THIS PARTY OFFICIALLY STARTED! Opening events so we don't do too much comm flooding (although people are welcome to make their own posts for the event). You're welcome to toplevel with your character if you'd like to have them show up somewhere else for this plot.

Current toplevels:
Spring Festival in a De Chima city park
De Chima #1
De Chima #1, later (Minato)

The age plot will run from March 25th through Sunday, March 29th. More deets available at the plotting post. ]

Comments

MEANWHILE, AT DE CHIMA #1

[microbrobotics]

[ You know what kind of sucks? Not being able to figure out how to do something that should be simple on a piece of tech that frankly isn’t that complicated. Nevermind that the tech is, in fact, completely new and “simple” in theory is miles away from remotely practical - Hiro’s used to being a genius who can figure anything out, and running into a brick wall like this is infuriating. It can’t possibly be that he doesn’t know what he’s doing here. It’s just the tech that’s getting in the way.

Six hours later, it’s still the tech getting in the way. Or so he’s telling himself. He’s been at it since noon today, alternately poring over the damn thing with his brother and shooing him out so Hiro can run another test. Still no luck with producing ANY effect, much less the one he’s looking for. When the generator hums but does nothing, yet again, Hiro’s reduced to banging his head against the top of thing. What’s he even missing at this point? Why won’t it go off?

He sits upright again, suddenly consumed by a fit of frustration. The generator won’t do anything at all? Fine, he’ll make it do something, even if it’s terrible, dammit. He keys in the most recent setup he tried, throws in some half-baked gibberish at the end … then eyes the power meter. He’d had it turned down to minimum to keep any effects from going past the garage. But maybe that’s his issue? If he just cranks the thing up, then maybe he can brute force it.

That’s how De Chima #1 suddenly gets rocked by a shockwave that that vibrates through the entire structure, knocking dishes off shelves and cracking windows on the other side of the house. Hiro himself gets knocked flat to the floor by it. The generator hum reaches a fever pitch for few more seconds - then abruptly snaps off as it shorts out. Smoke pours out of the thing and into the garage. He has to gasp and snag the garage door opener with his technokinesis to get it open and prevent himself from, y’know, suffocating. He settles back against the floor with a low, frustrated groan. That generator copy is completely busted now, and he doesn’t even feel any different. At least he didn’t catch anything on fire… ]

[tadeadshi]

[You know what else sucks? When a project of one's own is just going along fairly smoothly while he waited for a signal to check Hiro's tests. Six hours he's been keeping an ear out for his brother to call him down, working on a second copy of the nullifier bracelet - this time for Manabu, poor guy - and still no sign. Maybe the generator for this kind of project is a bust. Or they got the broadcast code wrong.

Tadashi's halfway down the stairs when the shockwave hits and he grabs to the railing to stay upright. Once the shaking's bearable, he makes a bee-line for the garage, tearing the door open as the wave hits along with the smoke. Coughing, trying to cover his face with his shirt (he doesn't remember his shirt being this big, but maybe he grabbed the wrong one out of the wash?), he waves some of it out of his face.]

Hiro? Hiro, talk to me, are you okay?

[microbrobotics]

[ Tadashi gets another groan from somewhere in the direction of the floor. At least it's a frustrated groan and not an "oh god I'm dying" groan - HIro's just so mad the damn thing blew up on him. He coughs a little, reaching out to brace himself against one of the desks he pulled in here. At least the smoke is beginning to dissipate, though it's still awful hard to see anything in here. And Hiro feels weirdly clumsy all of a sudden, like his limbs suddenly got a whole lot heavier. ]

I'm okay, I'm okay! It just - the darn thing blew up!

[ Sort of. Thank goodness it was more of an implosion or Hiro would be much, much worse off than just having to pick himself up off the ground. Though ... something else is weird now too. Does his voice sound lower? He must already be hoarse from all the smoke in the air. He coughs a little more, trying to get his throat clear. ]

[tadeadshi]

[Relief instantly settles into his shoulders, not feeling as heavy as they were a few minutes ago. Okay. That's a start. But now he's realizing he's having to take more steps than he did even just earlier today to get where Hiro is and he definitely grabbed the wrong shirt out of the wash

And then the smoke clears. And everything is eye-level with him - desks, chairs, the blown generator, tools. Everything except his little brother who suddenly isn't so little.]

Dude-- What di- It worked!

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro almost doesn't recognize his brother standing in front of him, he's so used to having to look up at Tadashi. For a moment he thinks that maybe he just somehow ended up that tall - but no, even a cursory glance at Tadashi's face and his clothes tells Hiro that his brother got smaller too. So now, for the first time in Hiro's life, he's absolutely towering over his brother. That's worrying - he hadn't meant to affect anyone except himself here - but it also worked. A grin finally lights up his face. ]

It worked! Finally, I got it! Oh man, I wish I could show Fred. He loves this kind of bonkers stuff.

[hieroinfant]

[And you know what's totally non-discreet and noticeable? A damned earthquake coming from the garage, suddenly jolting the building and knocking down shelves and belongings and ending with the crashing and tinkling of glass from the tiles of the kitchen, skittering and ringing and finally dying out. He'd tumbled to the floor at the shock, managing to catch himself on his arms and roll out of the way of some objects falling from a bookshelf downstairs, holding out until it's over just seconds later--

And immediately pushes himself up on his hands, shouting out at the direction of the garage:]

Hiro what the hell did yo--

[And in trying to get up, Shinjiro fumbles over his own too-long, tangling jeans, hits the floor again, and sits up. In bewilderment, he pulls a hand in front of himself, staring at the shorter, smaller fingers than he's used to.


Hiro. Hiro. What the hell did you do?!]

[microbrobotics]

[ WHAT THE HELL INDEED. HIro's probably getting fussed at by his brother first thing, so by the time he makes it out of the garage he at least knows what's happened to the two of them. It doesn't take much to put two and two together once he sees that Shinjiro's in the same situation as his brother. If this weren't kind of terrifying, Hiro would have been kind of proud of himself. This is some mad scientist crap up in here.

As it is, though, he just kind of stares at Shinjiro from the door to the garage for a moment, disbelieving. So it's not just him and Tadashi affected. Who else? How far did this shockwave go? It's probably not a good thing that he doesn't know the answer to either of those questions.

He's ditched his most awkward piece of clothing (his hoodie, which was basically unwearable), but he's still awful tall now. It's so strange towering over someone who literally met him while carrying an axe. ]

Hooooly crap.

[hieroinfant]

[In the time it takes Hiro and Tadashi to settle down, Shinjiro had at least started to try and pick up about the place-- if only to stave off the impending frustration of 'Oh god what the hell has happened to me if I have to go through puberty a second time i swear to god i'm going to punch you in the kidney' that will inevitably hit him.

Slightly-tangled in ill-fitting clothes, he's at least been kneeling on the floor and trying to get up some of the broken glass and ceramic-- though does turn to glare at the Hamada brother who enters.]

Hey, Tadashi, tell that dipshit to--

[wait.]

....

[Oh mother of fuck.]

[microbrobotics]

[ This dipshit is taller than you, okay. Waaaay taller. And it can't just be the scale talking, because he's built differently too - clearly not a scrawny kid any more. He heads for the kitchen proper now, eying the broken dishes guiltily. Yep. Definitely his fault. At least he can bend down to carefully pick some of this up. ]

Yeah, yeah, I might have screwed up ...

[hypnotherapy]

[ He's napping on the couch when the shockwave goes through, and he automatically summons his sword out of reflex thinking something is attacking the house.

When nothing automatically crashes in to be horrible, he just...quietly desummons it and stares at the ceiling for a minute, trying to gather his thoughts, still disoriented from his dreams. He hears footsteps entering the room he's in, and finally sits up. ]

What did you-

[ He actually looks around at Hiro and then does a double-take.

Well, at least there's one person who isn't affected so far. Magicman, at least, looks absolutely normal. ]

What did you do?

[microbrobotics]

[ Why do people keep asking that? It's - okay, it's an extremely relevant question, but Hiro doesn't like this idea that somehow this thing is automatically his fault. Even though it is, in fact, completely his fault. When he sees Magicman normal, his shoulders slump in relief. So far he's only seen his brother, so if Magicman isn't affected, then maybe it's just the two of them... ]

So I might have been running some experiments in the garage.

[hypnotherapy]

[ You use the garage as your workshop and you look taller and also older, Hiro, and this is why you are getting asked that question repeatedly.

He skips past 'what for' because the results are obvious here, and gets up off the couch. ]

What got damaged? [ He's already quickly checked Hiro for any signs of injury, so he can cross that off the list. The house is a little shaken up, but otherwise he can't see anything that immediately needs repairing. ]

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro is completely unharmed, at least. Not even his clothes are blackened, because he's currently wearing Tadashi's. The window in this room is cracked a bit, and there's dishes on the floor in the kitchen, but otherwise nothing is immediately and visibly damaged .. ]

Uh. Well, I blew up the generator.

[orangehoodie]

[Ken's run-in with Hiro comes after he's gotten the tiny Minato over to the house. He's dressed in clothes he "borrowed" from Minato's closet and he's managed to make up something to feed to the poor... child, as well as his de-aged dog, and he's just trying to childproof around the house (putting things away, moving some of Hiro and Tadashi's stuff onto higher shelves) and he's just about to start looking for the other residents of the house when Hiro appears out of wherever he is.

Or, he thinks it's Hiro. He looks like him, but it doesn't strike him to think that it's Tadashi when he sees him appear.

Still, he stares, before asking hesitantly,] Hiro?

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro's ... okay, he's been more concerned about the wreckage of his generator and watching the comm to try and figure out how far the effect spread - but he looks up from what he's working on when he sees Ken come in. Huh. It takes him a moment to realize who he's looking at. ]

Yeah! Uh - oh man, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who aged up.

[ He was beginning to wonder there. ]

[orangehoodie]

Yeah, it's... It's only you and me, so far. Even Koromaru's smaller.

[He says, as the tiny dog comes shuffling across the floor towards them. He's younger but his memories are apparently still intact so there's a small yip up at Hiro before he flops down on his stomach on the floor again. And Ken sighs.]

... Do you know what's going on?

[microbrobotics]

[ Oh my god. It's a puppy. Hiro brightens considerably and leans down to pet the puppy right on his soft, fuzzy belly. Who's a good dog? Koromaru's a good dog. It's almost enough of a distraction for him not to wince at Ken's question. But no, there's the flash of guilt and inability to met Ken's gaze that says way more about the situation than his words can. ]

Uh, that ... might ... kind of be my fault? Ish?

[bombshelled]

[ If there's one thing Lana Baumgartner knows, it's the sound of an explosion. She barely has time to look up from her cotton candy when the shockwave hits, and something feels... off. All of a sudden, her miniskirt is just a skirt, and her off-the-shoulder shirt is now off both shoulders. ]

Ugh—! What the fuck?!

[ Oh good, her mouth is unaffected. She tries to find a mirror to see what's happened— did she shrink? Did a shrink ray explode? Does anybody even use a shrink ray? Do those exist?— but the only mirrors at the festival are those wavy funhouse mirrors. So that's no help at all. But you know who does have a mirror and only lives like two blocks away? That's right, Hiro and Tadashi!

If the residents of De Chima #1 thought the sound of explosions were over, they were wrong as, about fifteen minutes after the shock wave hit, a series of loud BOOM!s can be heard getting closer and closer.

Then the doorbell rings.

Like eight times. ]

[tadeadshi]

Coming! I promise, I'm coming!

[It's definitely Tadashi talking but he doesn't sound quite exactly right. He can't think of anyone they told this experiment to that would be fast enough to ring the doorbell this angrily, but then again who knows around here anymore.

When he gets to the door, it's a scrawny, 4'5" Tadashi standing behind it.]

Sorry, hi, I-- [Staaaare. And squint, cause that...]

Lana?

[bombshelled]

Tadashi? [ She pulls her shirt back over her shoulder again, staring in disbelief. ] What the fuck, was there some sort of weird shrink ray explosion or something?

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro's kind of been distracted by everything else, having discovered through the comms that the effect has obviously spread way, way past their house. So even the booms don't get his attention until they're close, and then he's going to the door to figure out what the heck is going on out there - so he's right there when Lana arrives, albeit slightly deafened by all the doorbell ringing. He ends up behind his brother opening the door. ]

Jeez, knock it --

[ And then he looks down. Weird, this kid almost looks like Lana. ]

[bombshelled]

[ And she looks up. And they stare at each other for a moment. ]

...Is there a third Hamada brother nobody told me about?

Evening of HOPE THIS IS OK

[khajidont]

[Hey there, Hiro! As it turns out, De Chima 1 has a habit of getting very crowded, very quickly, but at least Jaime's not here to yell at him (though he hasn't any clue how all of this happened). He came for Shinji, initially, but seeing as Ken and Minato are here too, he's wound up sticking around, just to help out. Hiro may be able to put two and two together, but otherwise, Jaime's just this weird thirty year old hanging around their place helping clean up the mess and delivering some food and making himself at home.

He thinks he sees someone out of the corner of his eye, and though he doesn't know who it is quite yet, he's quick to call out,] Be careful if you're coming in here! I don't think I've got all the glass picked up yet.

TOTALLY YES <3

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro's been splitting his time before watching after the kids and trying to get the generator patched up. To be honest, he's moooostly focused on the generator, because wow he's not good with any kids except maybe his brother, who doesn't count. So when Jaime shows up, Hiro's just coming out from the garage, wiping a grease stain off his face with one hand.

And then he pauses. Squints. Jaime looks vaguely familiar, but Hiro really can't be sure. Age-ups seem more rare than age-downs in general. ]

... Who are you?

WONDERFUL

[khajidont]

[Like Hiro, Jaime can't recognize him right away. He would, given enough time, but as it is, everyone's so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time that he might be seeing things, here and there. In any case, the proper course of action here is to introduce himself, so that's precisely what he does.]

I'm Jaime -- one of Shinji's friends. I just swung by to help out a little.

[Don't mind him, Hiro!]