[IC] Stranger Beetles

[Metronome]

Barbara paused at Lydia's description of her life before yesterday. She really, really wanted to ask about, but after the recent panic attack, thought better of it.

"A crystal?" Barbara asked. "Like arts and crafts, maybe?" She loved arts and crafts! She really hoped it was arts and crafts.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Maybe. It was so long ago that I don't remember it clearly." Lydia replied. She did wish she could remember something about her past, her parents, anything before her life changed forever. "For once I just want to be normal." She said softly before turning her head to look at Barbara.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get sorrowful. It's just...after everything that's happened, my pent up emotions are just flowing out."

[Metronome]

Barbara looked at her with a sympathetic expression. "It's okay, hun. If you want to talk about it, I'm here." She was making quick progress on the girl's hair now.

Beetlejuice wandered back into the room, and stopped dead when he saw her. "Wow, Lyds, you look like a whole different kid!" He grinned and floated over to them, peering at her new hair style. "What is this? Like magic or something? You think she could do that to my hair?" He ran a hand through his own green, mossy hair. It was probably in desperate need of a wash, but BJ and soap didn't get along too well.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Thanks, Barbara." Lydia smiled, glad to have at least someone else to talk to. She tried not to reply as Beetlejuice returned but was curious about her new style. "Do you have a mirror? I want to see how I look." She said. Thankfully she was able to roll her eyes without being seen as Beetlejuice mentioned getting his hair braided. What a dork.

[Metronome]

Barbara finished and went to go get the mirror. "What do you think, hun?" She asked, peering around it at Lydia with a hopeful smile.

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia blinked in surprise. Beej was right; she looked totally different. It was quite possible that the facility wouldn't recognize her now. "It's perfect, Barbara. Thank you." She said, turning around to hug her. She couldn't help it, Barb was just too much of a cinnamon roll not to.

"I'm ready to head into town if you are." She said after letting go, much more confident than before.

[Metronome]

Barbara hugged her back and did her best not to cry. They were making memories right now; memories that Barbara had been looking forward to making for a very long time. It didn't matter that Lydia wasn't her daughter, and may not even stay in her life long, she would cherish this moment for the rest of her life.

Finally, Barbara broke away. "Okay Delia, but I think you should probably change clothes first. I bought a couple things at the store this morning." She produced a bag from the kitchen chair next to them. "Why don't you go pick something out?"

"I dug through their drawers earlier, so fair warning, kid. It's probably the lamest shit you've ever seen," Beetlejuice snickered beside her. His lack of boundaries knew no bounds.

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia said a quick thanks before taking the bag to her room. "Why are you such a fucking pervert?" She asked once they were alone, looking through the clothes Barbara had picked. They were nice, but not too much her style...whatever that was anyway. She ended up picking out some jeans and an aquamarine shirt that really complemented her skin color.

"Out." She ordered, making sure Beetlejuice was truly gone before changing. Catching sight of herself in the dresser mirror, she didn't look like a girl who just escaped from a top secret government facility. She smiled before walking back out. "I'm ready."

[Metronome]

"I'm a demon, kid, what do you want from me?" Beetlejuice shrugged. He thought of himself more as a 'lovable rascal', anyways. When shoo'd away, he flew through the door and disappeared. When Lydia emerged, Beetlejuice was floating alone the hall, watching a spider that was crawling along the crown molding. She caught him just before he pounced on it. He turned to look at her, and grinned, spider leg still in his teeth.

"Wow, you look, well, normal, Lyds!" He hadn't seen her look like a normal kids in years; every since they'd been taken. "I'm gonna' be honest, I thought Babs was gonna' dress you up like a milkmaid or something with those god awful dresses she wears." He giggled to himself at his joke as they headed back to the kitchen, where both Maitlands were ready to venture into town.

"You ready, kiddo?" Adam asked with a dorky grin. Adorable.

[Beetlejuice96]

Normal. Such a simple little word but it was so powerful to her. She had never been normal in her life and now it seemed she'd get the chance. She was going to fire something at him when Adam spoke, grinning with that goofy look. "Yeah, let's go." She replied.

Needless to say upon arriving at the mall she was equally baffled and overwhelmed upon seeing it. She'd never been to one before and really didn't know what to expect. She followed the Maitlands inside closely, trying to put on a brave face amongst the strangers surrounding her.

[Metronome]

The mall made BJ extremely nervous. Every breather in here had the potential to be one of the breathers. The breathers that could happily re-capture them and probably punish Lydia by starving her half to death. His head swiveled constantly, looking for any sort of wayward glances.

The Maitlands led them to a craft supplies store. Barbara was convinced that her and Lydia were going to make macaroni art or some shit. BJ stopped listening. "Look at these jugs!" That got his attention, but he was sorely disappointed to see that Babs was referring to a ceramics kit.

After buying a few things, some colored pencils, an advanced coloring book, and other project supplies, they headed back out into the main mall. This place sure was crowded. BJ tried his best to keep up with the others, but with people walking through him every five seconds, it was getting difficult. An entire herd of high schoolers made him lose sight of Lydia, and he panicked a bit.

"Lyds?" He called, "Lydia!" He found her shortly after, but the Maitlands were nowhere to be found. "Hey, where'd the labradoodles go?"

[Beetlejuice96]

Lydia didn't want to hurt their feelings as they took her into the arts and crafts part of the mall. They were just too adorable to tell them that it wasn't what she was looking for. She had to hold back a laugh as, like Beetlejuice, her mind went straight to the gutter at Barbara's words.

After they had left, it took her a moment to realize she was missing her demon. "Beej?!" She called out, looking around for him in the crowd mall. "Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice, where are you?!" She cried, starting to panic now. Had they found and captured him? She sighed softly in relief as he found her, thankfully before she said his name another time. Upon hearing his question, she looked around. "Shit."

[Metronome]

"Hey, careful with the name, Lyds," Beetlejuice scolded her lightly. Honestly, he was just glad to have found her. "They probably went into the other most boring store in this mall, we just have to find where that is."

"What's a beetle juice? Is that like a new energy drink or something?" BJ whipped around, and saw a young boy, no older than Lydia, standing there with a paper fast food cup in his hand. The boy was lanky, medium toned skin, big, curly hair, and had an almost bored looking expression. And he had a friend, too.

[Beetlejuice96]

The other boy was around the same age, tanned skin, a little taller than his friend by an inch or two, a mop of hair that was the definition of not caring, and an equally bored expression. Lydia glared daggers at them, already getting off on the wrong foot with them.

"Why the fuck do you want to know? It's none of your fucking business." She snapped, causing the friend's eyes to widen as he laughed.

"Wow, she's full of sass." He cackled. Lydia then whipped her icey gaze to him.

"Shut up, you dumbass hyena." She hissed.

[Metronome]

Nate grinned broadly at the verbal abuse this girl was spewing at them. He clearly found it funny. "Geeze, who put a wasp up your ass?" He laughed.

Beetlejuice bristled. He loved Lydia like the little sister she was to him, but he was quickly being reminded how much he hated kids. Especially teenagers.

[Beetlejuice96]

"Piss off." Lydia growled, her fists clenching into fists as her temper started to boil. She wasn't going to hesitate to smackdown these two punks. "I have better things to do than be taunted by little mama's boys who hasn't hit puberty yet."

"Hey, that's uncalled for!" Zach exclaimed, feeling a little offended. The two of them had definitely started to enter the age of puberty. Who did this girl think she was?

[Metronome]

"Mama's boys?" Nate echoed. "What about your mom? With the pottery kit and the yarn?" He laughed, clearly talking about Barbara. Beetlejuice put a hand on Lydia's shoulder and tried to direct her away from them.

"Come on, kid, don't lose your cool in public like this."

[Beetlejuice96]

"My mother's dead, you dipshit. Think before you fucking talk." Lydia snapped at him. It caught Zach off guard, immediately backing up a bit with his hands raised.

"Whoa, chill. We didn't know." He said defensively.

[Metronome]

Nate was also clearly taken aback, not knowing what to say. Finally, he just settled with a muttered, "Whatever." He took Zach by the shoulder and tried to direct him away. "Let's get out of here..."

"Jesus kid, put away the thorns and let's go find those two dorks. We don't have time to screw around with the peanut gallery over here." Beetlejuice had no interest in defusing teenage drama bullshit.

[Beetlejuice96]

Zach looked at Lydia one last time before turning away to follow his friend. "Freak." He muttered, thinking Lydia didn't hear him. Oh boy, was he wrong. Lydia stopped upon hearing him before quickly running and tackling him.

"Take it back!" She snarled, raising a fist to punch his smug little face. So much for not making a scene as everyone surrounding them gasped as the fight broke out.