Chapter Text
The Dimmadome tower was no stranger to the sounds of arguing. Although Dev and his father did have the occasional tiff- This was ESPECIALLY true now that Dev had been assigned his godparents (though Irep insisted the term was anti-phobic, and he preferred to be called Dev’s “scary godparent”).
Usually, Peri was the spark of arguments in the tower- specifically, Peri insisting that he and his beloathed coworker HAD to abide by “Da Rules”. despite the fact that Irep had TECHNICALLY agreed to follow them, the anti-fairy’s council-assigned magic suppressor was no match for his sheer intellect, and loopholes were a CONSTANT in Dev’s wishes, AND in Peri’s migraines.
Sometimes, it would just be the two godparents disagreeing- usually quietly, at least at first, but more often than not the fairy and his anti would devolve into shouting matches as tensions rose, much like the volume of Devs headphones whenever they’d start bothering him.
Today, however- it was Dev himself arguing with Peri, about what else than Da Rules. Irep sat unhelpfully nearby in a sarcastic floating lawn chair, delighted eyes darting between his godkid and his co-godparent as he shoved the occasional handful of burnt popcorn into his fanged mouth, CLEARLY enjoying the show.
“Dev PLEASE!” Peri sighed, exasperated- “I’m just trying to get to the bottom of why you’re SO OBSESSED with breaking Da rules!”
Dev crossed his arms, sunglasses obscuring his eyes as he sneered-
“Because they’re THERE, A-DOY! If I’m not ALLOWED to do something, that just makes me wanna do it even MORE!”
Peri ran a hand down his face with a groan- by this point, he had a might’ve brewing for SURE.
“But WHY, Dev? Rules are there for a REASON! To keep you SAFE!”
“More like to keep me BORED!” Dev spat back
Peri stuttered over a response, failing to find it, then suddenly turning his head to glare at Irep, who just smiled and waved.
“Are you going to BACK ME UP HERE, or just watch our godkid berate me?!”
“Oh, DEFINITELY the second thing”
“IREP!”
“Alright alright, participation you want, is it?”
Irep summoned a tomato directly into his hand, then CHUCKED it at peri, smacking him directly in the face with a wet ‘SPLAT!’
“I’ll throw tomatoes when one of you makes a bad point! How’s THAT for ‘audience participation’?”
Dev CACKLED maniacally, and Irep couldn’t help but join him for a bonding evil laugh, as Peri angrily wiped the tomato guts off his face
“Wha- BLEGH! I didn’t even SAY anything!” Peri huffed, waving his wand with annoyance to de-summon the tomato on his face, AND Irep’s sarcastic lawn chair/ popcorn combo.
“Can you just do your JOB for ONCE in your life?? I need your HELP here!! Don’t tell me you’re just OKAY with him constantly trying to break da-“
Peri is cut off as ANOTHER tomato hits him in the face, making dev cackle
“Au contrair, Peri peri quite contrary - I wholeheartedly endorse it! Rules exist to be broken, wouldn’t you agree, Dev?” Irep smiled, looking down at dev with an evil wink
“Haha! Yes! Exactly!” Dev laughs
“NO! They DONT!” Peri insisted-
“They Exist in order to prevent CATASTROPHE! If magic isn’t CONTROLLED, then it-“
Irep threw another tomato, but peri snatched it out of the air, crushing it in his hand and glaring daggers at his unhelpful coworker
“ugh, you are SO! LAME!” Dev speaks up, making peri frown- “you just don’t GET me! Were you ALWAYS such a wet blanket?”
Irep frowned when he saw peri make a face of genuine hurt feelings, but his attempted chime in of
“easy, Dev- he’s only trying to-“
was interrupted by Dev shouting-
“Ugh, I wish you could understand what it’s like to be a KID!!”
Consolation attempt INSTALY forgotten, Irep’s entire body perked up when he heard the magic word, seeing the opportunity and taking it with no hesitation- “WISH, YOU SAY?!”
“IREP DONT YOU DARE-“Peri turned to point a warning finger at him, But Irep was already mid-spell, and ZAPPED peri with his mace, causing him to flicker into a cartoony skeleton for a moment with a high-pitched squeal.
The magic dissapeted, and Peri fell from where he was floating, bouncing when he hit the ground with a harmless squeaky toy noise, and tumbling into a seated position on the floor.
The smoke cleared, and Devs eyes went wide as he saw an only VAGUELY familiar fairy sitting on the ground, looking around with confusion.
Peri’s hair had remained much the same, but his physique was much chubbier, with rosy cheeks and wide, sparkling purple eyes, slowly coming into focus as he rapidly fluttered his long eyelashes. Peri’s dapper attire was replaced with a simple purple T-shirt and shorts, with kiddie purple tennis shoes to match.
“poof poof?” The chubby fairy muttered, rubbing at his eyes. Poof was squinting around, and clearly disoriented from having been unexpectedly stirred to consciousness.
“Woahhh, he’s a kid!” Dev marveled, as Irep blew a plume of smoke from his mace-
“10 years old, to be exact! How’s THAT for ‘understanding’?” Irep beamed
Suddenly, the small purple fairy whipped his head around to face Irep, and before Irep could react, poof RUSHED at him-
“FOOP!!”
Irep braced himself for his comeuppance, but to his surprise, poof just grabbed him tightly into a hug, humming affectionately as he squeezed the anti-fairy around the middle.
“You’re all big!! What happened to your hair? I like your clothes!” Poof babbled excitedly, leaning back to stare at irep with his big purple eyes, but not releasing his hold.
Irep blinked with surprise, staring into the face of a dear friend he hadn’t seen in a very, very long time. Poof’s eyes radiated affection the likes of which Peri had denied him for YEARS, and Irep couldn’t help but well up at the sight. His heart felt heavy, the bittersweetness of this moment almost too much for him to handle.
“Oh… I… I didn’t think you’d recognize me…” Irep said softly, having not at ALL expected such a warm welcome from his childhood friend
“Of course I do, silly! I’d know my best friend anywhere!!”
Irep choked audibly, finally breaking, and throwing his arms around Poof, squeezing tightly. However, Before Irep could burst into tears like it looks like he’s about to, he suddenly felt Poof’s chubby hands GRIP around his throat, closing his airway with a loud gag-
Irep teleported away instantly, coughing loudly a few times as he caught his breath.
“Woah! Easy now!” Irep shouted with alarm, rubbing at his neck with an offended look on his face.
Poof looked equally puzzled, however, staring down at his hands with confusion
“Ah! I’m sorry, Foop! I- I don’t… know what came over me…”
Suddenly, the hair on the back of Irep’s neck stood up, and a chill ran through his body, as a voice not his own echoed through his mind- a very familiar voice, that made his blood run cold-
“Heeey, it’s me-“ Peri’s telepathic voice HISSED dryly-
“you know, the guy you TRANSFORMED WITHOUT PERMISSION??”
Irep winced at the sudden increase in Peri’s volume, his voice echoing in Irep’s ears like a ghostly wail. Irep looked at Poof’s face with confusion, but Poof only tilted his head curiously, clearly unaware of the message his older self was sending.
“I may not be in control of my body right now-“ Peri’s disembodied voice continued,
“but IREP, IF YOU DONT CHANGE ME BACK RIGHT THIS SECOND?? I WILL FIND A WAY TO PUT YOU IN THE GROUND.”
The tone in Peri’s voice was terrifying- DRIPPING with rage, and clearly meaning every word of his threat.
Ireps face scrunched up, thinking for a moment before responding aloud-
“with THAT tone? Absolutely not- you’re killing me either way, so I’m going to go ahead and leave you in baby jail until you calm down”
“IREP YOU SON OF A-“ Peris voice was cut off by Poof, who grabbed ireps face with both hands, brow furrowed with concen-
“What’s wrong? Don’t be silly, Foop! I would never hurt you! Your head’s so big now, Hehe!” Poof giggled, squishing Ireps cheeks around like a stim toy.
“Hold up- peri LIKES you now?” Dev spoke up abruptly-
“I thought you just turned him into a kid!”
Poof SHREIKED with alarm, releasing Irep’s face upon seeing a human child, and immediately summoned his wand into his hand to disguise himself. Poof let out a yelp, as he was abruptly YANKED to the ground by the unexpected weight of peris cane in his hand.
“owwww! What happened?” Poof whined- he picked up Peri’s cane, examining it carefully while rubbing at his elbow, from where he’d whacked it on the floor.
“Is this… my wand?” Poof asked softly, curiously tapping a fingernail against the glass orb containing the star.
“So what, you’re ten AND you’ve got amnesia?” Dev demanded impatiently, quirking an eyebrow.
Poof blinked up at him, floating back off the ground slightly while holding the cane in both hands. He glanced between Irep and Dev momentarily, deducing that, for whatever reason, being seen by the human wasn’t a problem.
“Well I don’t… remember how I GOT here…” Poof admitted, looking around the gigantic, open room.”
“Or Where “here” is…” he continued, looked around the strange room nervously, then suddenly perking up, pointing at Irep-
“but I remember Foopy!” Poof chirped, looking up at Irep with an adorable grin.
Dev grinned cruelly, turning his gaze upwards as well-
“FOOPY?” He repeated, grinning from ear to ear
“Don’t you EVER call me that, Devin- I forBID you!” Irep growled, HATING to be reminded of his old name by anyone but Poof.
“Sure thing, FOOPY.” Dev shot back without hesitation.
Poof giggled, then fluttered up to Irep’s eye level, pointing at him with his humorously- oversized cane.
“Just what’s goin on in here, Foop?“ he inquired, raising an eyebrow-
“Why aren’t you hiding from the human?”
“It’s okay darling, he’s- uh….” Irep trailed off, how WAS he going to explain this…
Poof gasped gently, realizing he hadn’t introduced himself! The young fairy poofed over to Dev, startling him slightly before offering a hand to shake
“Oh! Right! My name is Poof! It’s nice to meet you!”
Dev stared blankly for a second, then slowly reached out to shake his amnesiac godparent’s small hand
“Uh, yeaaahhh, we’ve-“ he started, before Poof elected to forgo the handshake entirely, instead lunging forward to grab Dev into a hug
“MET! Hey, woah!” Dev protested, as first trying to push him off, before he looked down and noticed he was no longer on the ground.
Irep giggled with endearment watching to two of them interact
“Hehe- watch out! He’s a hugger!” Irep warned too late, earning a glare from Dev
“Gh! Put me DOWN, PERI!!” Dev demanded.
”Ah, sorry!” Poof apologized, releasing his grip and waving his wand to form a pillow for dev to plop down onto.
“Who’s Peri?” Poof asked, tilting his head. Dev and Irep share a nervous glance
“Um, YOU’RE Peri?” Dev stated questioningly as he got back to his feet.
Poof frowned, staring at his cane wand for a long moment, before transmuting it back into his rattle, and tapping it thoughtfully against his rosy cheek.
“Hmmm, something STRANGE is going on…” he mused aloud-
Irep opened his mouth to speak, but Poof shushed him, holding up hand-
“Wait wait wait- don’t tell me! Let’s see…”
Poof abruptly LAUNCHED himself off the platform, all the way to the top of the giant room, making Dev jump slightly with alarm.
“Woaaahh, what IS this place?”poof marveled, looking around with interest
Dev cocked an eyebrow at Irep, but he offered only a shrug-
“umm.. my HOUSE?” Dev replied slowly
“Who’s THIS? He looks like you!” Poof chirped, now floating in front of the gigantic Dale statue’s face
“Wha- no I don’t! That’s- ugh, that’s My DAD, Peri!” Dev grumbled, always HATING being told he looks like his father.
“Hmm… that doesn’t make sense…” Poof hummed thoughtfully-
“it’s YOUR room! YOU should be holding it!” Poof giggled
With a shake of his rattle, the entire statue shook, abruptly Transforming from Dale into Dev with a massive POOF of purple smoke. The massive height difference between the two statues caused the platform Dev was on to abruptly drop several feet. Dev shouted with alarm as the floor got yanked out from under him, falling out of the sunglasses he was wearing, but Irep quickly swooped in, catching his godchild under the arms.
“AH! Carful now, Poofy!” Irep reminded him gently, carefully setting dev down on one of the au-pairs.
Dev blinked with surprise, taking a long look at the altered statue, before grinning from ear to ear-
“Hey-ey- alright! I’ve always wondered what that would look like!!” Dev chuckled
Suddenly, ANOTHER poof appeared next to Dev, squinting at him with a thoughtful “hmmmm….” Dev and Irep both glance between the two, but before they can question it, Poof shakes his rattle, and In an instant, several more poofs appear. The identical faires quickly spread out in every direction, all excitedly fluttering to different parts of the room to study their surroundings, and quietly muttering “poof poof” to themselves as they investigate.
Irep’s eyes darted helplessly after the numerous Poofs, immediately overwhelmed by the sudden number of children to keep track of.
Dev looked around with awe at the impressive display of magic, chuckling as he internally mused to himself that they looked like little bugs zipping around.
Every time a poof flew past Irep, they would pause to wave or giggle at him, one of them even pausing their search to boop him on the nose. Irep chuckled with delight, but kept trying to have his eyes on all the poofs at once, whipping his head in every direction, and unable to get a proper estimate of thier number, due to the sheer speed at which they were all moving.
“HERE!” One of the Poofs shouted suddenly, catching all the other Poof’s attention. The clones unceremoniously vanish, with the only remaining poof excitedly examining peris fishbowl on Dev’s bedside table.
“Ooh, a fishbowl! It looks just like the one I used to have with my parents!!” He giggled, shaking his wand to teleport himself inside.
Poof quickly vanished in a puff of purple smoke, and the fishbowl began to shake around, indicating that poof had continued his search for answers within peris room.
Dev turned to look at Irep, jaw hanging open with disbelief as he gestures to the fishbowl-
“THIS is what Peri was like as a kid? What HAPPENED? When did he get so LAME?” Dev inquired, clearly taken aback by Poof’s nonchalant, chaotic energy.
Irep scratched his chin, genuinely thinking about it for a moment- when HAD Peri gotten so upright?
“I’d say, erm… late college?” He guessed
“Maybe godparenting school scared him straight, ha…. Ha…” Irep’s laugh trailed off, as the realization hit him.
Poof DIDN’T go to godparenting school.
Irep began to sweat as he put it together- If he doesn’t remember Dev, he definitely doesn’t remember whatever he learned in his time at the academy, and Baby or not, he WAS still in the body of the most powerful fairy alive…
Before Irep could spiral properly, Poof reappeared in a puff of smoke, and Irep pushed the thoughts aside- surely whatever he learned in godparenting school wasn’t THAT important… right?
“AHA!” Poof shouted triumphantly, holding aloft a laminated card of some kind
“Look!’ Peri‘! Is this ME?” Poof asked, presenting the ID to Irep proudly
“wha- you have a CARD?” Irep scoffed with offense-
”MY godparenting license is a sheet of paper!” he growled with jealousy.
“Awful picture, by the way- here’s a better one for you, darling” Irep noted, casually pulling a Polaroid selfie of he, dev and Peri out of his interior jacket pocket.
Poof GASPED, gingerly plucking the photo from ireps hands and looking over it excitedly. Dev squinted from where he stood on his au pair, noticing that Irep didn’t use his wand to summon said photo- “hang on, do you just HAVE that on you?”
Irep ignored the question.
“Ah! that’s ME!!” Poof giggled, flapping his free hand with excitement
“Hee hee! Woow, I’m so handsome! I can’t believe we’re godparents together! We really do stay best friends forever!“
Poofs last sentence hit Irep like a train.
Before he could start beating himself up, though, Irep heard the voice of Peri mutter
“ohhh yeah- besties forever” in the back of his head, voice DRIPPING with venom.
“Well, um- the thing is-“ Irep began,
”- WAIT.” Poof said suddenly, making Irep breathe a sigh of relief at not having to break the bad news.
Poof WHIPPED around midair to look at Dev, who startles mildly, as and a wide, dorky grin bloomed across the fairy’s chubby cheeks.
“Then! then you must be-“
before dev could say anything, poof had teleported into his personal space, scooping him off the au pair by his armpits with an impressive amount of strength, considering poof was SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than him. Dev yelped at being so suddenly hoisted, and began nervously glancing around at how high up poof had flown them in his excitement.
“ARE YOU MY GODKID?!” Poof shouted directly into devs face, blinding him with a gigantic, goofy grin.
“Uh- y-yeah, that’s me! You can put me DOWN now!” Dev pleaded, clearly being made uncomfortable by how close Poof’s face was to his
“Oop, so-rry!” Poof giggled, teleporting them both above devs bed to DROP HIM unceremoniously
Irep SHRIEKED with alarm at the height from which Poof had dropped their godchild, quickly transmuting his wand into a net to catch Dev midair.
“Ah ah ah! Be CAREFUL, Poof! That’s too high to drop a human! They’re very fragile!” Irep scolded, gently dumping dev out of the net onto the bed
“Come on, We’re not THAT fragile…” Dev protested with a mumble
Poof cocked his head curiously “what for? I can just heal him? Look!”
Irep blinked with confusion, unsure what he meant, until Poof produced a notecard from thin air, grabbing devs wrist- he wasn’t really going to-
“POOF!!” Irep shouted with alarm as he watched Poof slice the notecard across Dev’s fingertip, purposefully giving Dev a paper cut.
“OW! What the HELL, Peri!” Dev shouted with offense, trying to pull his hand away, but not strong enough to fight the fairy’s magically-strong grip
Poof de-summoned the notecard, holding up a finger to Dev
“Wait wait, watch!” Poof said, smiling apologetically-
Dev once again tried to pull his hand away, but poof was able to gently peck the fingertip, his soft kiss mending the paper-cut instantly, as if it had never been there.
“oh… heheh, that’s cute!” Dev cooed, before catching himself
“But! But don’t ever do that again!” He added with a glare
“Sorry! Pretty neat though, huh?” Poof grinned proudly
Dev just shrugged noncommittally, beginning to look a bit uneasy as he looked up at Irep for reassurance. The anti fairy smiled awkwardly, mouthing “sorry” at him. IN all honestly, he was ALSO starting to get a bit unnerved by Poof’s reckless and unpredictable behavior.
“Ohh my gosh I have a million questions! Am I good godparent?” Poof asked excitedly
“You’re… okay, I guess?” Dev answered hesitantly, suddenly finding himself worried what might happen if he offended the purple ball of energy interrogating him
“Is Foop a good godparent?” Poof asked as well
“Um, ya mean Irep?” Dev asked, only VAUGELY remembering that Irep had referred to himself with that name when they first met.
“yeah, he’s cool” dev answers, much less hesitantly
“Do you wanna play?!” Poof asked far too loudly, bouncing with excitement and flapping his hands up and down
“PLAY?” Dev repeated incredulously
“Uh, yeah, no- I’m a big kid, not a toddler!” He continued, retrieving his glasses from where they had fallen on the bed and turning to his other godparent with crossed arms-
“Irep, are you SURE you made him TEN? He’s acting like a baby!” He asked accusingly, raised eyebrow visible over his glasses.
Poofs face fell into a frown-
“I’m not a baby! don’t be mean!” He whined
“You have a RATTLE” dev said flatly, pointing to said rattle
Poof huffed with offense, face turning slightly red-
“That’s just what my wand looks like! I HAVE to put my star in here!” He protested, pointing the rattle at Dev, but quickly lowering it when he saw Dev flinch. Irep suddenly cleared his throat, floating down to kneel next to the two children on the blankets.
“Now now, Devin- while I usually support needless cruelty, is this not what you wanted? To be better understood? He wants to play with you!” Irep tried, earning a warm smile from Poof
“Dev Dimmadome. Does NOT. “PLAY”.” Dev hissed through his teeth, making Irep roll his eyes
“Ugh, very well, if it’s the nomenclature that bothers you, why don’t you “hang out” with him instead?” He attempted again, smiling encouragingly at them both
“PASS. I don’t think I have ANYTHING in common with ’Peri jr.”
“Then why did you WISH for him?”
“I didn’t know this would happen! And YOU don’t seem like you knew it would happen either!”
Poof silently watched them debate, but his face slowly contorted into an expression of deep thought, as Dev and Irep’s back and fourth slowly provided bits and pieces of information that slowly made all the pieces fit together in poofs head.
“Waittt… if YOU'RE a grown up… “ Poof spoke up suddenly, interrupting the other two-
“and I’m a grown up in the picture…” he continued
Suddenly, Poof’s eyes go WIDE as he recalled a faint whisper of the events that unfolded just before he was summoned.
“WAIT! I remember! YOU made me little! You CHANGED me without asking, DIDN’T YOU, FOOP?” Poof huffed, planting his feet on the blanket and crossing his arms in an unintentionally adorable pout.
“Ah- yes, well- Dev DID make a wish…” Irep defnded, but he coundnt help but giggle at Poof’s pouting. The laugh prompted an angry huff from the small fairy, face turning redder by the minute.
“im Sorry! I’m sorry! Ohhh, you’re just so CUTE when you’re angry!” Irep cooed, floating closer to comfort the offended kid Peri
“You kinda are, actually-“ Dev agreed with a quiet chuckle. Then he looked down, as he felt a strange sensation beneath him- almost like… an earthquake?
“THAT'S- NOT- NICE!” Poof SHOUTED with a stamp of his foot, launching Irep backwards in the air, and making the whole platform SHAKE in the dev-statues hand.
Dev himself quickly lost his balance, falling onto his backside with a “woah!”
As Irep corrected himself in the air, a mischievous grin began to spread across Poof’s face, and Irep recognized it immediately-
“NO NO NO, whatever’s going on in that purple little head of yours, you will do NO SUCH THING, young man!” Irep stated sternly, WELL aware of the specific way his childhood friend's face would contort whenever Foop successfully convinced him to use his powers for evil. But Poof only grinned wider, raising his wand in Irep’s direction
“If I’M little, then YOU should be TOO.” He said lowly
The color drained from ireps face as Poof’s wand began to crackle with magical electricity- in an instant, a purple BOLT of magic SHOT past him, striking Dev’s down pillow, and instantly de-aging it into a goose. Dev squaked with alarm, quickly shooing the bird away and off of his bed.
“Aww, I missed” poof giggled nonchalantly, winding up to fire again
“HOLD ON! LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS!” Irep begged, but poof paid him no mind, firing and narrowly missing him again, this time striking devs bookcase-
Dev watched with mild terror as every single book VIOLENTLY sprouted roots and leaves- the wooden shelf AND its books de-ageing into a massive, intertwined grove of trees.
“POOF, PLEASE! If you change ME, then NEITHER of us will be able to turn back!”
“Hehe! Hold still!! Play with meee!” Poof giggled with delight, paying no mind to Ireps pleas and firing another terrifying bolt of magic in his anti-fairies direction
Suddenly, Peri’s voice BOOMED in the back of Ireps skull-
“THAT’S ENOUGH.”
For a brief moment, Irep could just barely make out the faint outline of Peri’s adult form, standing behind Poof- who Didn’t even notice him- eyes full of RAGE.
“CHANGE. ME. BACK. NOW, IREP.” He spoke slowly, as the delighted child version in front of him shot at Irep again
“IM A LITTLE PREOCCUPIED!!” Irep shouted, grabbing an AU pair from the air to block the bolt of magic. the au pair lets out a monotone scream of faux terror as it is struck, then reverts into a flip-phone, and clatters to the ground, leaving Irep completely exposed again
“Wah! DEV! DO SOMETHING! Aah! I CANT DODGE FOREVER!! Oh that one almost got me-YIKE!” Irep plead, dodging between bright, noisy beams of energy all the while. Poof seemed unsettlingly capable of firing indefinitely, not looking the least bit tired, OR concerned about the chaos he was causing around him.
Not sure what else to do, Dev RAN up to his mini godparent, who was still firing wildly, and grabbed his shoulders from behind to get his attention-
“W-WAIT! I'LL PLAY WITH YOU!!” Dev shouted. Silence, as Poof stops firing,
Poof turned to Dev with a questioning expression, looking skeptical
“But you said-“
“I KNOW, I know what I said, buuuut I… Um- changed my mind! When I saw your cool magic! Yup!” He lied, trying to give his most convincing smile.
There is a long moment of silence, as poof suspiciously stares Dev down. Dev swallows a lump in his throat.
“OKAY! Let’s play!” Poof chirped, demeanor reverting back to friendly and nonchalant in the blink of an eye
Irep didn’t have time to breathe a sigh of relief, as peri rattled his skull by SHOUTING telepathically - “DO IT, YOU MORON!! WHILE HE'S DISTRACTED!“
“ACK! Okay! I’m GOING!” Irep whimpered, fumbling his wand for a moment, before pointing it at poof, but he hesitates.
“…sorry, Poofy…” Irep whispered to himself. He wished so badly that it didn’t have to end so soon, but Peri was right. his child form was dangerous, and It was time to set things back to normal.
Dev cant help but light up with relief when he sees Irep lining up his shot, but Poof was able to follow his eyes, only catching a GLIMPSE of Irep before the magical beam hit him, reverting him instantly back into Peri.
“Oh thank god.” Peri sighs with relief, slumping forward with exhaustion, no doubt from his child self’s reckless use of magic.
Perry WHIPPED around to point at Irep, about to give him the chewing out of a lifetime, but Dev interrupted him-
“um- P-Peri? What‘s… wrong with your hand?” Dev asked nervously, pointing at the hand that held Peri’s… rattle?
Peri raised an eyebrow, having sworn he had felt his cane in his hand just seconds before. Ireps eyes also went wide, staring at the rattle, and Peri’s trembling hand.
Then, to Peris horror, his hand moved on its own, shaking the rattle, and reverting him back into Poof.
Irep’s jaw fell open, and Devs face paled, having both been CERTAIN they were out of the woods
“What… just happened?” Dev asked cautiously
“I have no idea” Irep deadpanned, face white with horror
“YOU CHANGED ME! YOU CHANGED ME AGAIN, YOU BIG BLUE MEANIE!!” Poof shouted, stamping his foot with offense and huffing, face red with indignation.
Irep, panicking, attempted to cast the reversal spell again, only to have Poof deflect it, with a narrowing of his eyes.
They did this a few more times, but even when the reversal spells managed to make contact, peri only appeared for a moment, before his wand shook itself and reverted him again
Dev JUMPED, as Peri’s voice echoed through HIS head for the first time-
“Heyyy, Dev- so um- don’t panic, buuuut little me seems to somehow be fighting me for control” Peri admits sheepishly- Dev whips his head around, but doesnt see peri anywhere
“POOF! That's enough! Give peri back his body immediately!” Irep shouts
“STOP IT! STOP CHANGING ME!! Why did you even wake me up if you were just going to get RID of me! That’s mean!!” Poof retorts, big tears starting to gather in his eyes
Irep gasped as he noticed Poof starting to cry, quickly floating down to comfort him- “Ah, nonono- I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I DID get permission this time, Darling- Peri told me to, okay?” Irep’s entire demeanor shifted, his eyes sparkling in a way that poof recognized
“…Foop 2?” Poof asked, cautiously floating closer
‘Irep’ sighed softly, happy to be recognized-
“Hello, you little angel. It’s been a long time.” ‘Irep’ cooed affectionately, gently petting poof’s swirly hair
“Hang on- peri can use TELEPATHY?! Have you been talking to him this whole time?” Dev spoke up abruptly
Irep’s demeanor reverted to normal, eyes no longer sparkling- “ugh, TRUST me, you do NOT want to hear what he’s been saying to me…” Irep groans, then kneels down to Poof, face reverting to smiling gently with sparkling eyes-
“I’ll ask you too this time, okay sweetheart? May I please revert you to your proper age, my little-“
“NO.” Poof stated flatly, eyes narrowed
“NO?!” Irep, Dev, and Peris disembodied voice repeated in disbelief
“NO! I don’t WANT to go back yet, I want to play with my Godkid!!” Poof insisted, pointing at Dev
Dev and Irep shared an uncomfortable glance, as they mutually realized… the situation they had put Poof into WAS unfair to him.
“Poof? Can you hear me?” Peris voice reached out hesitantly- poofs eyes went wide, as he looked around with confusion
“Hello? Who’s there?” He asked to nothing in particular, starting to look a bit frightened
“It’s okay, it’s just your older self- it’s Peri, okay?”
“You’re the one who told Foop to get rid of me!“ poof accuses
“I know, I’m sorry- but I NEED to get back to normal so that I can care for my godkid- OUR godkid.” Peri plead- poof looked over at Dev, who awkwardly put his sunglasses back on
“But! But I just GOT here! Can’t we play a LITTLE?” poof's face fell into his signature big-eyed pout, though he seemed unsure where to direct it. Peri couldn’t help but chuckle- man, no WONDER nobody ever argued with his “puppy dog eyes”…
Peri sighs, knowing this is a terrible idea, but feeling tired from the magical strain of transforming so many times in short succession, not to mention generally uncomfortable at being forced to confront his inner child so directly. maybe it WOULD be nice to have a day where he wasn’t in control…
Peri manifests as a ghostly outline, making Dev jump, so that he can kneel and speak to his younger self
“Sigh. Okay, Poof. You can drive our body for a while, but I NEED to come back by the end of the day, okay?”
“Wooow, so YOU’RE peri! You’re so pretty!!”
“Hah, Thank you, sweetie- but listen, this is important, okay? Wherever you go, whatever you do- keep. Dev. Safe.”
“Okay!” Poor chirped “And Foopy?” He asked, pointing to his friend excitedly, but peri just scowled
“Foopy can choke” peri hissed, going out of his way to flip the anti-fairy off out of poofs line of sight, and making irep visibly deflate
“Heyy, that’s no way to talk to- ow!”
Poof grabs at the back of his head, face scrunching with pain- peri gasps lightly as he realizes it’s probably from the mental strain of him manifesting
“Ah! Sorry! My fault!” Peri de-manifested, but irep quickly teleported over to check on poof
Dev heard Peri’s voice in his head again-
“I’m- I’m so sorry for roping you into this, Dev- if you wanna call my parents, they’d probably be able to help….” Peris voice sheepishly offered in the back of Dev’s mind, but dev just looked around
”Seriously, was no one gonna tell me Peri has SUPERPOWERS??”
“i mean- that’s not exactly-“ Peri stuttered with confusion “not important! Listen Dev, i need to save my energy, so -just um, call for me if you need anything and I’ll wake right back up! Probably…”
before dev could ask what he meant by ‘probably’, Peri’s much younger, much less disembodied voice caught his attention-
”Yup! I've got loads of superpowers!” He beamed proudly- “Uncle Jorgen says i'm the most powerful fairy ever!” Poof added, grinning at Dev proudly
”bull.” Dev responded flatly.
Poof’s face scrunched with indignance, but Irep teleported over to back him up- “it’s true, actually- just as yours Truly is ‘the most powerful ANTI-fairy of all time- as the first fairy born in ten thousand years or so, Peri IS technically ‘the most powerful fairy of all time”- which im ONLY admitting because i cant see the stupid, smug-“
Irep JUMPED when he caught sight of a ghostly peri, smiling smugly-
“seriously? You’re giving your child self a migraine just to make that stupid smug face i hate?” Irep growled
”whaaat stupid smug face you hate?” Peri sing-songs, vanishing with a quiet cackle
”wo-ho-hoah, no WAY! MY fairies are the most powerful in the whole universe?” Dev’s face began contorting into the signature ‘dimmadome look’, but irep quickly nipped it in the bud-
“nonono, not out of EVERYTHING in the universe- just among anti fairies and faires respectively.” Irep clarified, seemingly able to distract dev from his scheming.
“Watch!” Poof spoke up again- “I’ll prove it!” He boasted, fluttering up to the top of the room-
“Um, Poof! There’s really no need for that!” Irep tried to dissuade him
“Guess that’s settled, then” Peri’s voice spoke to Irep again, then lowered into a taunting whisper- “Let’s see how YOU like playing double babysitter, big shot.” Peri taunted in the back of his mind
“Oh, and Irep?”
The anti fairy JUMPED as he felt a HAND clasp around his shoulder, hard enough to bruise, but when he looked down, there was nothing touching him- just the indentation of peris fingers in his jacket
Peri spoke again, low and serious, sounding as if he was leaning directly into ireps ear- “I don’t think I need to remind you what I’ll do to you if Dev gets hurt.”
Irep was too scared to speak, deciding to just nod rapidly to indicate he understood Peris thinly-veiled threat on his life.
The pressure on his shoulder released as quickly as it had started- allowing Irep to release the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding
“OW!” Poof rubbed the back of his head again, growling with annoyance at the twinge of a migraine starting to form. He brushed it aside however, turning his attention to the tall rooms’ ceiling, near the place where the elevator connected it to the floors above. Poof excitedly waved his wand in a circle, before grabbing the base like a baseball bat and WHACKING it against the ceiling, immediately forming a gigantic crack, that quickly split the entire top of the room in half-
Irep SHRIEKS with alarm, lifting his wand to undo the spell, but just as he does, a large chunk of the ceiling falls, heading in devs direction- Irep thinks quickly, changing his form to a larger, more humanoid shape, and swooping like a bat to scoop Dev into his arms and out of the way.
With Irep distracted, Poof continued to cast- rubbing his hands together to create sparks of magic until lightning began to crackle in his palms and eyes. Dev and Irep looked around with fear as the entire building began to SHAKE, as if in an earthquake. Poof slowly, with intense focus, spread his hands apart, and the top of the towering skyscraper of Dev’s house began to slowly pull away in two equal halves, around the circlet tower of the elevator shaft.
The faint, alarmed screams from the workers within the upper floors of the Dimmadome Tower got louder and louder as the floor around the elevator pulled away in two equally sized half-circles- leaving the elevator pillar standing alone in the center. The cacophony of screaming continued as coffee cups were rattled off of desks, water coolers sloshed about violently, and Irep even had to quickly teleport an employee who FELL after not watching where they were going and stepping directly into the enormous crevice. The distracted employee suddenly went from free-falling to landing face-first in the grass outside the house, much to thier confusion.
The building's violent shaking left Irep having to frequently dodge falling pieces of ceiling, or even the occasional falling object from the floors of the office building above.
Irep had begun firing panicked memory-wiping beams, directly into the faces of the multiple Dimmadome employees who were brave enough to peek over the broken floors and lock eyes with the strange blue creature. He also had to teleport a few MORE who managed to fall off the platforms outside to safety- the confused humans slowly piling up on top of each other on the front lawn.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!” Dev screamed with alarm from Irep’s arms- nearly unable to process what he was seeing unfold.
Not seeming to hear him, Poof decided he was Satisfied with the strange Vertical cross-section he had inflicted upon the Dimmadome building, once beams of sunlight finally managed to reach the ground floor where he was floating. Poof stopped to catch his breath- huffing and puffing from the effort of literally cracking a skyscraper in half lengthwise.
“PERI!!” Dev screamed to get his attention- with the building’s halves no longer ACTIVELY moving away from one another, the small Fairy perked up, giving Irep and dev and nonchalant ‘one second’ hand gesture as he huffed and puffed, before stretching a bit, and ‘standing’ back upright where he was floating
“WHAT THE HELL, PERI?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” Dev demanded, more than a little bit clinging to Irep with fear, as Irep continued to perform his best attempt at ‘crowd control’ with the frightened employees.
“You didn’t believe me!” Poof huffed defensively
“Okay, okay, I believe you! Just put it back! Put it back right now!” Dev demanded, but Poof just giggled
“noooo, silly! THAT wasn’t the trick! I was just getting the building out of the way!” He laughed casually, heedless of the cacophony of terror going on above him
“what- out of the way? For WHAT?!” Dev asked fearfully, as Irep nearly MISSED an employee that plummeted past them, but was able to teleport them just before they landed on the Dev statue’s head, placing them atop all the other employees who were trying to untangle themselves from the pile.
“I’m gonna blow up the moon!” Poof chirped proudly, pointing upward to the very, very distant shape of the moon, barely visible in the bright daytime sky
“WHAT?! You will do NO SUCH THING, young man!!” Irep shouted suddenly, putting dev down on his bed, but pausing to summon a steel cage around him, which dev opened his mouth to protest, but was immediately on-board with when another chunk of the ceiling broke loose and shattered against the bars, coating his blankets with drywall dust, and making him cough loudly.
“I’ll put it baa-aack!” Poof whines nonchalantly, still powering up his rattle
“NO, poof! I’m putting my foot down! Do NOT Blow up the moon!” Irep huffed, teleporting to block the moon from poofs view with his body. despite knowing darn well that poof could easily move him, he put on his best “responsible adult” face, and stared him down intensely, refusing to break eye contact
Poof held his glare a moment, before finally sighing dramatically, whole body going limp where he was floating in the air- “fiiiine-“ he whined immaturely
“Why didn’t you just TELEPORT to the ROOF?!” Dev shouted from inside his safety cage, pausing to cough again as his movement disturbed the dust
Poof blinked, then burst into a fit of giggling, cheeks turning slightly rosier with embarrassment, as he slapped a chubby palm against his forehead-
“Ohhh, DUH! Whoopsie!” He giggled adorably
“Don’t worry! I’ll fix it!” Poof assured him- poof held his hands out in front of him once more- they crackled with magical electricity, but before dev OR Irep could stop him, the fairy child CLAPPED, closing the building MUCH more quickly then he had opened it, with a DEAFENING sound of concrete hitting concrete, and several more pieces being dislodged from the ceiling to crash down into devs house and bedroom. Muffled by the roof “repairing” itself, but still CLEARLY audible were the sounds of UTTER CHAOS from the floors above as the two halves of Dimmadome tower were abruptly SLAMMED back together, sending everything and everyone flying in one direction or the other.
“There! All better!” Poof chirped, giving dev a thumbs up
“What do you MEAN ‘all better’?! There‘s still a giant crack in the ceiling!!” Dev retorted, pointing an arm from his cage for emphasis
“Nuh-uhhh!” Poof whined, waving his wand to summon a giant band-aid over the chasm in the ceiling
Irep could only stare with disbelief at the state of Devs home. Poof had only been present for all of twenty minutes, but between the grove of trees, the dev statue, and the generous mess of building debris, the Dimmadome residence was nearly unrecognizable.
Suddenly seeming to remember something, ireps face scrunched with anger “Um, HELLO!?” Irep demanded to thin air, accusingly looking all around-
“PERI?! WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING??”he shouted, turning his head to suddenly find himself nose-to-nose with Peri’s spectral form, resting his chin in his hands and appearing to casually lay on his stomach, lips pressed into a cruel, smug smile-
“Mm, so sorry, guess I couldn’t hear you over how FIRED you are” Peri hissed through his teeth, eyes narrowing
Ireps face went pale as Peri continued- “with a violation THIS bad, I’m sure my uncle will be here aaaany second to free me from this living nightmare! Aaaand probably beat you within an inch of your life while he’s at it. But hey, hope you had FUN violating my bodily autonomy while you could!” Peri growls hatefully, sadistic glee dripping from every word
Peri was RIGHT…This was BAD.