Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

[hasaknightjob]

Steven was a little late that morning. He'd made a new friend at Llewellyn's! That was bound to lead to staying longer than a brief visit. Which led to...

... look just never mind when Steven managed to make it to work. The important thing is that he was there and currently trying to draft something for the downstairs display on weekends when people turned into children. This was not helped by how currently there wasn't anything to display. Steven wasn't entirely sure what might work. Toys? Tiny mannequins?

No, not mannequins. No telling what the island would do to them.

Regardless, Steven was at his desk and actually doing something work related. This didn't mean he couldn't be interrupted. Luckily visitors were work related as well.

[open!]

Comments

[dishesonthetoprack]

It was cold, yes, but it wasn't so cold that Scott wasn't able to take his mocha and puffy coat for a little walk before opening the shop. And when he spotted the museum, he remembered vaguely that someone awhile ago had recommended it but for the life of him, he couldn't remember who.

And then he stepped inside. "Steven! With a V!" he recalled, pointing enthusiastically. "How's it going?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Scott!" Steven said, waving hello to him. He would have done so cheerfully regardless, but Scott remembering his proper name upped the cheer considerably. "Doing well, thank you. Yourself?"

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Re-familiarizing myself with the east coast," Scott noted with a slightly-sheepish raise of his coffee. "I figure by the time the new year hits -- maybe Valentine's Day -- I'll probably be used to the idea of snow, at least."

[hasaknightjob]

"I've been curious about that as well," Steven said. "We do get snow in England but I'm told it's nothing like in America."

Often by Marc, who pointed out that what British people considered a heavy snowstorm was quaint compared to the kind which happened in Chicago.

"Not much snow where you're from, I take it?"

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Bay Area," Scott offered with a shake of his head. "But I went to grad school in Massachusetts, so I'm aware of how bad it can get."

And he'd probably be gratified to learn that Maryland didn't usually see snow nearly as bad as Cambridge (or, for that matter, on the same level as Chicago, either.)

"You know, I totally didn't ask last time -- have you been in the country long?" he wondered.

[hasaknightjob]

"Since this past Spring," Steven said. "When we moved here from London. I will say summers are a sight easier when you've air conditioning, so that's a bonus. You?"

[dishesonthetoprack]

"I ended up here in May," Scott replied. "Just in time for the humidity I also wasn't really ready for."

Honestly, that was worse than the impending snow, for him.

"I'm supposed to be on house arrest," he added, since that always ended up coming out, "but my handler was able to negotiate, uh, hanging out in Fandom instead."

And fortunately, Fandom was a lot less comparable to house arrest than he'd figured it would be.

[hasaknightjob]

"House arrest... because you did something illegal?" Steven asked. He tried to imagine what sort of crime Scott could have committed. Jaywalking perhaps?

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Yeah, I kind of got roped into this giant fight at a German airport," Scott replied, striving for casual. (Even as his brain, unprompted, offered up a rimshot at giant.) "And I've got priors so honestly, it's kind of a miracle they let me off as easy as they did. This place is super not prison."

[hasaknightjob]

If it was Marc he'd have pegged which fight Scott had meant pretty quickly. Since it was Steven he instead looked curious. "Did you react poorly to them losing you luggage?"

[dishesonthetoprack]

"Uh, no, it was kind of an -- international incident...thing," Scott replied, rubbing the back of his neck and scrunching his nose a little. "Though man, it does suck when your luggage gets lost. Maybe not, like, 'pick a fight with Iron Man,' levels of sucking? But I did once have to spend a whole trip to Pensacola in ugly Jimmy Buffet shirts 'cause they lost my suitcase."

[hasaknightjob]

"Pick a fight with - " Now Steven's memory was starting to be jogged. "Do you mean actual Iron Man? That fight in Germany?"

[dishesonthetoprack]

That was a new reaction, since generally when Scott brought up his fight in Germany around here, the only people who knew what he was talking about tended to have been there. (Until recently, Steve Rogers would have been well within his rights to have also assumed a case of lost-luggage rage.)

"Not, like, Tony here -- that guy's fine," Scott hastened to explain. "But I have an Iron Man back home. I mean, I don't have him. He seems like kind of a dick, honestly."

And cue Scott looking over his shoulder, just in case someone who wouldn't love hearing that sauntered in coincidentally behind him.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was running errands today and her first stop was to see Steven at the museum.

"It's cold today, so I broughtyou some hot tea and some freshly baked scones," Nell said, giving him a small package. The scones were still warm. "I know you run late sometimes so I didn't want you to miss breakfast on such a chilly morning."

[hasaknightjob]

"Nell! Cheers, that's thoughtful of you." Steven took the scones and tea gratefully. For all that he scolded others for not eating he had, in fact, not had much for breakfast that morning besides a quickly eaten granola bar while he'd gotten dressed.

"How are you? How was your weekend?"

[mylandmyrules]

"I'm well," Nell said. "I'd hope to experiment with that beautiful sewing machine that you and Marc gave me, but I ended up being four for the weekend."

She smiled at him. "It's actually one of the Fadom weirdnesses that I rather like."

[hasaknightjob]

"Ended up being for what?" Steven asked.

[mylandmyrules]

"Just being four. Four years old," Nell explained. "Most of the island turned into children."

[hasaknightjob]

"Oh!" Steven said. "Right. Summer told me. Were you all right? Not too upsetting, was it?"

[mylandmyrules]

"Not at all," Nell said. "Four is, it was such a good age. I was a happy loved little child. It's actually very nice to be that age again with no worries."

[hasaknightjob]

"That's good then," Steven said. "Seems those who did it weren't so bad off. Stark said he didn't mind looking after all the little ones."

[mylandmyrules]

"The island is very accommodating. It somehow makes everything safe for the children," Nell said. "And I know for me that I always wake up happy with no worries about how I got here or where my family is. It just seems normal."

[hasaknightjob]

"I hadn't even thought about safety," Steven said. "That's good of it. The island I mean. Oh, since you were here for the weekend maybe you could help. What do you think might work for a display about it? Children's toys, maybe?"

Steven really didn't want to go with tiny mannequins. It just seemed like asking for trouble.

[mylandmyrules]

"I wonder if there might be pictures," Nell mused. "You know of people they way they are and then as there younger selves doing younger things. Like sitting at the bar in Caritas except they're all drinking milkshakes. I don't remember any toys appearing, but a lot of things got littler."

[hasaknightjob]

"That's a good idea," Steven said. He took out his glasses and wrote that down in his notes so he wouldn't forget. "I could ask around with the adults. See if anyone took any."

A thought occurred to Steven. "Did your plants go young as well? Turn back into seedlings?"