[open] dancing queen young and sweet

[dancingmd]

who: Beverly Crusher, as a teenager
what: Flower-swap that leads to a deaged Beverly
when: April 9
where: Riverview Central Park
warnings: n/a


i. blossom picnic

[All of this is... weird, to say the least, waking up on a strange planet with no memory of how she got here, with only the word of a very concerned-looking older woman clutching a bunch of blue flowers (Nana would know what they were, surely, but it doesn't look like anything they grow on Caldos) that she's safe. She can't say why exactly, but she does trust this woman implicitly, as if she's known her all her life. So when Lucretia (the woman's name - she really is very nice) tells her she's actually thirty years older and that a magic flower turned her back into a teenager she accepts it much more readily than she ought to or normally would.

And now she's here, at a picnic, wondering if there's anyone else here that she's forgotten, anyone else who knows her as Dr. Crusher (which is cool as hell, by the way - and she's in Starfleet!!!), not plain old Beverly Howard. It's an uncomfortable thought but ice cream always makes everything better, right?

She stands staring at the menu, taking an impossibly long time to decide.]

I don't know which one I should get...

ii. dances

[Once she starts feeling more comfortable with this whole situation, she can't help but be drawn to all the dancing going on, especially out on the streets. And while adult Beverly is an excellent dancer, teenage Beverly is simply phenomenal (After all, it isn't that long ago that she won several big championships). Pretty soon, she's got a little crowd watching her tap dance on the sidewalk, her feet going at a frantic pace and her grin as big as they come.

Or perhaps later you might see her outside a jazz club arguing with a bouncer.]

Come on, I'm seventeen, that's practically the same thing! [Sorry, kid, but he remains firm. She huffs.] Yeah well... your music probably sucks anyway!

[Great comeback, A+]

iii. wildcard

[Got another prompt in mind? hmu!]

Comments

ii 👏

[scholiast]

(Lucretia isn't sure how much she should hang about Beverly after informing her of her current circumstances. Is it weird? Will Beverly find her presence unsettling some how, since she can't remember anything about her? The latter worry seems entirely unfounded: Beverly appears to trust her implicitly, listening carefully as she explains the situation.

And then she peels off to go and explore. For all intents and purposes she's in a 'new world', now. Lucretia watches her go, resolving to catch up with her in a bit– and finds her outside a jazz club later that evening, arguing in typical Beverly fashion with the bouncer.

Lucretia can't help chuckling.)

You sure showed him.

i

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco doesn't recognize the girl as Beverly - he hasn't yet really become acquainted with the whole flowers-that-deage-people situation. But he's sure about to! Because when the young woman in front of him in line is vacillating, trying to pick between different flavors of ice cream, he leans forward to offer his two cents. ]

I know you weren't askin' me, but I'd say get a scoop of this, and a scoop of that. They work great together.

[ As he's speaking he points to the flavors in question, at least one of which is a local fruit the name of which he always has a fairly difficult time pronouncing. He grins at her, and there is something kind of familiar about her face, enough that his grin flaters slightly. But he can't quite place her - yet. ]

[dancingmd]

[Beverly flushes, embarrassed about getting caught.]

I wasn't going to drink or anything, I promise! I just wanted to listen to the band!

[dancingmd]

Oh! I should have thought about that!

[Duh, Beverly. She frowns a little though as he points out the local fruit.]

Except I've never heard of that fruit before. What's it taste like?

[franciscoramon]

[ Now there was something about her voice that was even more familiar than her face. Cisco's heard that voice before. What had he heard it say? Had she recorded some sort of audio message for the city? The instructions for getting on and off the sky train? After all, it sounds very familiar. Not like something he'd heard only once, but multiple times. Lots of times ]

Okay, have you ever had, like, a really good honeydew melon? It's sort of that, plus a tiiiiny bit of bubblegum, and also spicy. You'll like it, promise, or the ice cream's on me.

[ After all, it's not that expensive, and he wants this girl to know how confident he is that he's not just telling her two random gross flavors in some sort of strange prank. ]

I'm Cisco, by the way. This your first festival?

[scholiast]

Oh, okay.

(She's only teasing. It's kind of impossible not to!)

Want to go anyway? I can teleport us in.

[dancingmd]

[Wait a minute... or the ice cream's on me?]

We have to pay for it?!

[Something that Lucretia apparently forgot to mention. Beverly had been so focused on the ice cream tubs at the counter that she didn't even look at the menu above, which lists the price per scoop. Her face falls.]

But I don't have any money...

[Actually, she does, she just doesn't realize it's on her phone. Welcome to the confusing world of Federation economics, Cisco! Just don't ask too many questions.]

[dancingmd]

Really? You'd do that?

(She squints, confused and, despite the effects of the flower, a little suspicious.)

But you're... old.

(Somewhere, across the multiverse, alarms are going off in Nana's head though she can't say why.)

i.

[11calls]

[The tiny bespecttled girl next to her looks up to her with very serious brown eyes below her glasses as she considers the question that is posed to her. Everyone knows that ice cream is very. serious. business. Especially when it's serving on a weird moon where she's supposed to be much older. But Alex isn't really worried about it, because weird things happen, don't they? Well, kind of but not really, so she's taking it as a adventure. There's a notebook in one hand, well used already and a pencil behind her ear that she touches before she responds.]

What kind of things do you like back home?

[scholiast]

(She bursts out laughing, too tickled to be taken aback by her honesty.)

That's certainly true. How old do you think I am?

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco, being a decent person, does the right thing. He raises his eyebrows at the girl in surprise, but pulls out his wallet without objection, handing over enough currency to cover a double-scoop of ice cream. While he's at it, he orders one of his own - the same thing - and while their ice cream is being fixed up, he asks: ]

You must be really new here, huh? You come from a world without money or somethin'?

[ She did at least understand the concept of money, but just assuming there's free ice cream... that's indicative of a mindset that is just really really foreign to Cisco. Sure, there are some free treats available here, but not anything and everything! ]

Well, you're in luck. Today's the one year anniversary of when I showed up here, and I definitely didn't have any money or a clue then, either, and I did just fine. Don't worry, this is a good place. People here are... kinda freakishly nice, actually.

[dancingmd]

[Even as a teenager, Beverly loved kids, so she beams when the little girl, looking every bit the role of a tiny reporter, comes up to talk to her.]

That's the problem! I like too many things!

What's your favorite ice cream?

[11calls]

Maple Walnut!

[It was a weird flavor, but Alex is a tiny Canadian, so it works. But she grins as she considers.]

The best one is at this place by my Grandpa's house, so I don't know what this one is like.

[dancingmd]

(Beverly colors again. Oh, she said the wrong thing again, didn't she? But... Lucretia's laughing... so it must be okay? Right?)

Like... 50?

[scholiast]

Close. You're only off by one hundred, (she supplies, lips twitching, threatening another smile,) but it was a bit of a trick question.

[dancingmd]

Yeah, I see that. [Her brow furrows as she watches the server scoop up their ice cream before she turns her attention back to Cisco.] Thanks. I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you sometime later. I just... didn't think... I mean, I've never even seen money before, besides in textbooks, I guess. Like freshman year when we were doing Earth history we had to learn about all these ancient economies and stuff so they had pictures of money but it all just seemed incredibly stupid, you know? People fighting whole wars over it.

[The server hands her her ice cream and she takes that moment to pause take an uncertain lick. But then oh! Her eyes light up!]

Hey that's really good!

[dancingmd]

Oh, I don't think I've ever tried that before!

Would you like to try some with me?

[dancingmd]

(Her mouth drops open.)

No way! That's like... Vulcan old, not Human old!

[scholiast]

I'm mostly certainly human, though I am also a wizard.

(This is the explanation she uses whenever she doesn't want to go into her history with the IPRE. She's found that quiet a lot of people seem to connect being magical with living a lot longer than usual for some reason.)

[dancingmd]

(Now it's time for Beverly to laugh.)

Okay now you're just screwing with me!

[scholiast]

(Lucretia simply raises an eyebrow, and casts prestidigitation to make a small illusion of Beverly appear on her outstretched palm. The illusion echoes Beverly's laugh, and repeats 'Okay, now you're just screwing with me!' in a garbled little voice before it dissolves away on the wind.)

And now?

[11calls]

Sure! I love trying things with people! We can get a sundae and have them add other flavors if you want to try more things.

[Alex pointed to the menuboard sign, and then she leaned in and whispered a bit.]

Just in case you don't like it.

[dancingmd]

I'll admit it's a pretty advanced hologram but that doesn't make it magic.

(Sorry about Miss Skeptical over here.)

[scholiast]

(Okay but for real Lucretia doesn't have to prove herself to a– how old is Beverly? Twelve?– year old. She can't wait to tease her for this when she's reverted back to normal.)

It does where I'm from.

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco laughs at her little story, but there's a hint of discomfort audible in it. It's not this girl's fault, of course, and in a way he's glad that at least a few versions of Earth get to a place where they no longer need "stupid" things like money. But there's a prickle of defensiveness at the back of his neck that he can't ignore.

He knows that he's more sensitive than most, to accusations about the era he lives in. Eobard Thawne was to thank for that, of course - calling 2016 (and by extension, everyone who lived in it) barbaric, seeing them as disposable and less-than-human because of it.

And even though his family hadn't been poor - at least, not compared to some people - things hadn't exactly been easy, either. ]

Don't sweat it, kid. It's just an ice cream.

[ He's not going to insist she pay him back... but he doesn't imagine that's going to be a quick transition for her. Learning how to live in a world that runs on money, figuring out how to manage it herself, if she's that completely ignorant of it. She'd learn one way or another, though. And at least in this place, that would probably be easier than it would've been, back on the Earth that Cisco knew. ]

Told you you'd like it.