๐ก๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ช๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ ๐๐ธ๐ฟ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ
claire starts regressing once she actually settles down and accepts that she has a family. she has a mom, she has a sister, and...well...it almost feels normal again. she almost feels like the little girl who still has her mom and dad
its scary, she thinks, that her brain decides sometimes that she can be that little girl, and she can relax enough to let that little girl out. at first, its like she's just a preteen again, and she's listening to hannah montana or selena gomez, she's making bracelets out of pony beads, she's watching old movies that she and her mom watched together, and its nice. but then she starts feeling smaller and smaller the more comfortable she gets
she feels the smallest after a hunt. she went with jody, and she hurt her leg. it scared her more than anything, but it scared her enough that she cuddles her grumpy cat for comfort, and alex sees her in her room, curled up in the middle of her bed with the toy in her arms, and she feels bad for claire
alex comes in to check on her after jody tells her that she might have hurt her leg, and rather than telling her to leave or getting mad, claire sits up and puts her arms out for a hug.
alex hugs her, of course, even though she's confused by claire wanting any sort of comfort from her, and claire cries. alex climbs into bed with her and holds her while she cries, until claire just falls asleep on her
after that, the two of them just find time to hang out. alex bugs her until claire tells her what's going on in her brain, and claire confesses about how she feels smaller, younger, and how she felt like a little girl when she asked for a hug
it doesn't take alex very long to find the words for what claire's going through, and when she tells claire about regression, she decides she wants to actively try to regress. if she can take control of it, then she will be happier, she's sure
they go on drives around town whenever claire wants to be small so that they don't have to worry about jody finding out. it pretty much always ends with them going to the park, and claire immediately gets on the swings and begs for alex to push her
eventually grumpy cat gains some friends. claire has a baby doll first, one with a soft body and plastic head, arms, and feet. she loves to dress it up and carry it around as her baby that she has to protect (but her baby's name changes constantly). then she gets a precious moments cloth doll that she names willow, and she gets so many different plushies. ty beanie babies, especially, since there are little kitties and deer and bunnies that she adores
claire also skips the actual-baby-pacifier-from-the-grocery-store stage and goes right for an adult pacifier. her first one is a plain white paci, then she gets a round shield sage-colored one, and she has a deco paci that is a shimmery gold color completely encrusted with rhinestones, with gold, glittery wings on the sides and gold letter beads that spell out 'precious'
she loves her deco paci so much, but she never uses it, she just uses her other two lol
bunny slippers. claire loves her bunny slippers so much
alex usually calls her 'bambi' while claire just calls her 'al'
claire likes to bake when she's small, so there are several times in the middle of the night that the two of them will be up trying to bake cookies as quietly as possible so they don't wake jody
alex is a very doting cg, but she has a physical need to tease claire at every given opportunity. she can be hugging claire, cooing over her and kiss her forehead one moment, then the next moment tug on her braids and tell her that she's not as badass as she wants to be because badasses don't wear butterfly pajama pants
claire's favorite movie when she's regressed is tinkerbell, and she has weaponized her love for this movie. alex has been forced to watch it so many times. they can both quote it perfectly, and they do constantly
even when claire isn't small, they bring up tinkerbell all the time, and they have assigned a fairy talent to each other and everyone they know (claire is an animal talent fairy, alex is a baking talent, of course)
more often than not, when alex comes home from work claire will get up and come to her room to cuddle. it's alex's favorite part of working nights, seeing a very sleepy little girl shuffle into her room because she wants snuggles
when donna starts teasingly calling claire rainbow brite, they do find a rainbow brite doll in a thrift store, and she does become one of claire's favorite toys lol
after the whole werewolf incident, claire does occasionally have some wolfy tendencies, but nothing violent or bloodthirsty. it's more like...puppy behavior. teething behavior. she has accidentally torn up a few pillows on the full moon, and she scratches when she gets mad. she has insanely effective puppy eyes, and she whimpers like a dog. alex falls for it every single time
when patience moves in, claire ends up staying in alex's room with her all the time. they keep all her regression gear in a little fabric bin in the closet, and claire does her very best to still seem like a tough badass in front of patience
cue like two hours after being a tough girl, claire is curled up beside alex with a laptop balanced on their knees, tinkerbell playing, and claire has one of her pacis, alex braided her hair, and grumpy cat is tucked in her arm. any trace of toughness is completely gone, and she is just content to be alex's little fawn (don't tell anybody)
