7301/=Panic the Morning After

=Panic the Morning After
Date of Scene:	10 August 2021
Location:	3rd Floor -- Palm Tree Apartments
Synopsis:	TBD see scene #7325 for follow up.
Cast of Characters:	Billy Batson, Beatriz da Costa

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Billy Batson has posed:
A deep sigh, yet unheard. A hairy chest heaves and hooves traipse gently across Bea daCosta's bedroom floor. Good thing it is carpeted. The god Pan regards the sleeping woman. Dusky yet fair. the blush of youth replaced with the fire of passion and experience.

Nice behind too.

"Forgive me little one. I cannot have that dolt Solomon impart the truth of this situation juuuuuust yet." Bea's form" shrinks again under the sheets.

Pan describes a glowing sigil. "I am not heartless. I leave my mark upon you, very little one. You are protected in your juvenile guise. Pan will not let anything harm you. Pan seeks chaos, not weal or strife. I'm sort of like Uncle Arthur on that show about the blonde witch wed to that dullard?" The sigil glows on a young Bea daCosta's forehead, then fades.

In the living room a worried Shazam looks around. Was there something? He goes back to playing Super Mario Brothers on his Game Cube. He's already missing a day of school. He also spent money he did not have to waste on a bag of emergency supplies. He floats, sitting in a cross legged position.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
You know what's always attractive? The snore of a dead drunk. There's something about that flaccid uvula making sounds more like they should be coming out of the other end of the body--from someone suffering of dysentery--that just makes a person ...

OK, not even this narrator can keep that up with a straight face. It's an ugly sound, drunken snoring, and that's why, if Shazam has Solomon's wisdom indeed--which currently he perhaps does not--the change in Bea's snoring from light snoring of a mildly-intoxicated adult to full-on buzz saw mode might give him pause.

It certainly gives Bea pause. It wakes her up. And when she wakes up she notices that, once again, she is small.

"Oh my God it happened again!" she wails, bursting into, of all things, tears. "I'm little again!"

Beat.

"AND I CAN'T FLAME!"

Wait, did she just try to flame ... in her bed!?

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam summons the speed of Mercury and tosses the game on the sofa. The speed of Mercury does not work well when you need to go through a door you do not wish wrecked. He opens it and... well... carp. He floats up to her over the bed and says, "You're small. I thought it might have been the lightning. I guess not. Uhm... there there? It'll be all right." Well it works on Darla. That and tea parties. "Awww don't cry... Billy will fix this." Just how?! Any ideas Solomon? No? You keep working on it.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
Bea throws her arms around Shazam's neck and holds on tight, sobbing into his shoulder. "I hate this! I hate this! I don't wanna be little again! I don't wanna go back to the beach getting pictures taken for money!" She quiets down the talking, just sobbing into his shoulder. Until ...

... it stops ...

... she sniffs ...

... and everything gets awkward. "You smell super-nice!" She pulls herself back far enough to look Shazam in the face. "Thank you for being here."

She's not letting go.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam sighs. Apparently Shazams smelled super nice. He noticed this in his sibs but... the Shazamily did not talk about such things. He had no idea what he smelled like.

Not letting go. This is like a fantasy turned nightmare. He remembers Achilles' words to him in a similar situation. Act calm, no matter what you feel, then she will be calm also. He looks Bea in the eyes, "Bea, I'm going to speak the way... kids like me don't usually. Sorry if I get this wrong. You're still an adult in there." He pats her once on the head. "The adult was just knocked around and is curled up in a ball. I lived on the streets like you. No beach for me. Stealing, lying and running cons and I would have given an arm and a leg to hear someone tell me this: you are loved. I will help you. I will protect you. I will keep you safe and Superman with a Green Lantern ring won't move me from your side. If I have to give up being Shazam to make you right, I will." He presses his cheek against hers and returns the hug.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
Young-Bea's eyes shimmer as she regards Shazam, drinking in his speech.

There is a long, long, long pause as she stares at him, wide-eyed.

And she's still clinging to him.

"You're such a nice guy!" she finally says, gushing with enthusiasm. The enthusiasm of ...

... a teenaged girl ...

... with her first crush.

The shimmering eyes. The slight reddening of the cheeks. The elevated breathing. Yep.

She's.

In.

Love.

Like, half a second away from bursting out into a show tune levels of in love. (We can only hope and pray it's not from Cats!)

Billy, of course, knows exactly what's happening to her. He's at that mixed-up stage of hormonal imbalance and insanity known by the quaint name "teens". And Bea SHOULD know. She's been there before. But that's the thing. You don't know what's happening when it's happening to you. You instead bask in the glow of those blue eyes as he looks at you. You feel his arms around you. You feel your arms around him. And ...

... you have no idea what to do about it.

Well, there's one thing you can do. You can sigh deeply with a smile as wide as the sky.

Oh, and you can ratchet up the awkwardness.

"I think I love you."

Yeah, that oughtta do it. Maximum awkwardness achieved. The dials are showing over nine thousand awks.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam sighs and returns the hug. There is really nothing quite like an angel-faced girl giving you a hug and making you feel like a ten foot tall father figure. Bea had hugged him all the time and it wasn't like /that/! She was Latina and sweet and trying to convince him how special he was. So he hugs her the same way the adult Bea hugged him. Here was a kid who needed approval. Like he said the adult Bea was out of commission for a bit. Possibly hugging her knees and crying in a dark recess of her mind.

The smile reminds him of Angelica. He'd move a continent to see that smile again. It is a heady thing to move a world, even headier to realize that you just turned someone's world bright and shiny. So the awkward has not quite penetrated,

Shazam's eyes snap open with an actual click. They broke mach one.

He disentangles himself from 90 odd pounds of hormones and smiles and says, "Uhhhh I'll get breakfast... you go take a shower and get cleaned up... and wait'll I leave the room!" Saying this he zips out. There that adulted the little minx but good. He starts making coffee and setting out the donuts he bough on a midnight store run. He makes some hot chocolate in case Bea doesn't like coffee. And some tea. And why is he suddenly feeling doom hanging over his head?

In his invisible, inaudible fold in space Pan guffaws, Then he grabs a donut while Shazam gets the tea bags.

Beatriz da Costa has posed:
TeenBea stares after him as he leaves. Looking at the shoulders. The arms. The waist. The ... uh ... never mind. A confusing welter of feelings mixed with the brain that still has memories of being an adult causes her to frown and look away.

"Bea, this is messed up. Don't even pretend it isn't. Snap out of it!"

She took a critical look at herself, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the state of herself. Clothing: straight into the hamper, along with the sheets. Shower. The best floral-scented body wash and shampoo because you want to smell your best for ...

"STOP IT!"

Bea controls that line of thought. "He's a kid. You know it. Just because you're an even younger kid now doesn't make it better. IT MAKES IT WORSE!"

Still, doesn't hurt to smell nice.

Thankfully all the clothing she's got is loose on her now, so less to catch the eye. Now all she has to do is stop herself from ... posing. God this is messed up!

"OK, I've showered," she says as she steps out of her bedroom. "And I'm feeling mu..." She stops in her tracks, staring at the 'breakfast' of donuts and three different caffeinated drinks.

"Uh... How are you paying for all this?" she wonders aloud.

Billy Batson has posed:
Shazam turns around holding up a pot of hot chocolate and shrugs. "I had money I'd taken out for the dinner last night before you... " He raises the cup up to a bit under his height and drops it to shoulder height. "... no biggie." It wasn't. He ate Ramen before. He had a tab at Planet Krypton. He brings the chocolate over to her, about to ask whether she wants it or what. He's about to ask her. He catches the scent of freshly showered Bea and se doesn't look twelve like he guessed before. She is quite beautiful.

It's a bitch being sixteen and trapped as an adult.

As is the reverse.

He sets the pot down on a trivet and says, "I juuust remembered I have to patrol... upstate for a friend! You... stay here till I get back! Understand!" He hesitates a moment, then gives her a peck on the forehead. "I'll be right back! Okay sweetie?" He doesn't wait for a farewell or assent. He's gone.