ੈ✩‧₊˚ Jackie, Misty, and Laura-lee have an afternoon of dress-up!!
{ notes- was possessed by a sudden urge to write big sister Jackie so now you get this two nights later! Also posting to celebrate a year of my tumblr account how exciting !! Thank you to all my friends on here and anyone who lurks through likes and reblogs too, you all mean the world to me, hopefully you'll see more of me soon <3 }
word count - 1.4k
It wasn't very often that Jackie Taylor got to play the big sister, regressing when she was upset always left her smaller than most of the other girls, and falling into her 'Mama' headspace only really happened when Shauna needed her.
So when a four-year-old Misty wanders her way into Jackie's room, wringing out her hands nervously as she looks at the floor, just waiting until she's noticed to murmur, "Do you maybe wanna play dress up with me and Lee-Lee?" She's in a steady seven-year-old headspace by the time the two make it back into Misty's loft bedroom.
Laura-Lee is sitting on her bed, Leonard perched on her knees as she swings her legs forward and back, clearly the youngest mentally of the three. Misty quickly goes to pull the trunk full of dress-up supplies out from the bottom of her closet whilst Jackie empties her arms onto the middle of her rug, a mix of colourful hair ties and clips, bright pink plastic consisting of kids' makeup, and a hairbrush.
"Can Leonard have a clip?" Laura-Lee sits on a pillow next to where Jackie's decided is the home base for her supplies, grabbing at the painted tupperware container and shaking it a few times, enjoying the rattle-like sound that comes from it.
"Yes, but make sure he doesn't lose it." Jackie organises her supplies in the order she thinks they'll be used, making sure nothing rolls underneath the rug or Misty's bed. Dressing up is fun, but sometimes the thought of things getting misplaced is scary.
"Van got me some new Tutu's we can share!" Misty's glowing with excitement, much less reserved and shy now that they're in her safe space, and not being the youngest one helps soothe the thought of being judged. The dress-up 'chest' is really just a large white tote bin, stickers covering the entirety of the base, and Misty's name painted across the lid in yellow paint, but it looks like a magical treasure chest to the regressed girls.
Misty pops off the lid and places it down gently before sticking her arm in and rummaging around for nothing in particular, and when her hand emerges clutching a slightly bent pair of fairy wings, all three girls quickly become engrossed in their game.
The tote ends up sideways, spilling its contents across the floor in a mix of sequins and tule. Misty and Jackie search for pieces of their own outfits, with Laura-Lee humming happily in approval when something is presented to her.
By the time the fashion frenzy is over, Misty has her dark blue sweater tucked into a light pink tutu, a star wand that she decided made her both a fairy and a princess, and a pair of heart socks to go with her recently cleaned bright yellow rainboots. Jackie is wearing a matching light blue tutu, her strawberry shortcake pyjama t-shirt, a tall pink princess cone hat, and layers of beaded necklaces and bracelets to complete the look. Laura-Lee didn't like the feeling of the tutu's, so instead decided to wear a long purple dress that had been forgotten by someone, the now straightened pair of fairy wings, a Misty-bedazzled tiara, and some soft ballet slippers.
"This is how I would dress going to Cinderella's ball!" Misty does enough twirls in front of her mirror to make her need to sit down, landing on the rug with a thump loud enough to cause the three girls to erupt in giggles, all of them following her to the floor as Jackie remembers the make-up she bought with her.
"We can't go to a ball with no make-up, not if we're real ladies! Who wants to go first?" Flipping the latches on her case always makes a grin appear on her face, revealing rows of both colorful and shimmery eyeshadows, and a handful of tubes filled with sticky and shiny lip glosses.
Misty raises her arm in the air like their in school, shuffling closer on her knees pleadingly, "Can I? Please, I wanna be beautiful."
"You're already beautiful, Misty, and I can go second, thats okay, Leonard and I can start making us matching bracelets!" Laura-Lee was designated bracelet maker most of the time, the most patient of them all, even if she was the youngest. Fishing another rattly box from the pocket of her cardigan, as the door to Misty's bedroom swings open with a gentle knock.
"Everything okay in here? Tai heard a bang." Van's head pokes into the room, smiling at the clearly regressed girls, making a mental note to remind them to clean up the mess later. "Getting ready for fashion week, huh?"
"Van! Jax and I are matching tutus, and now we're gonna do make-up, and we're all having fun!" Misty bounces on her knees, practically vibrating with excitement at the fact that she's chosen a game they can all enjoy together. Laura-Lee gives a wave using Leonard's paw, his ear having found its way into her mouth, but Van doesn't have the heart to correct her, so they give a playful wave back.
"I see that. I'm glad you're all having fun. Can I take a picture of all of you so Nat can see when she's back?" Another reason why she had wanted to come check up on Misty, the girl always regressed when Nat was away, and usually she hid in her room until she came back, so it was nice to see her so happy, let alone playing with people.
"Not yet, Van! We need to do make-up, and Lee's gonna make us all bracelets." Jackie looks at Van like they've said something absurd, crossing her arms momentarily before going back to rooting through lip-gloss colours.
"Oh yeah, sorry, Van, can't have pictures taken till our outfits are all complete!" Misty says, parroting Jackie's explanation with a sure nod and shy smile.
"Of course, I'll come back later when the princesses are all ready." They nod very seriously, like they had missed an obvious point, calling out a reminder as they make their way out of the room again, leaving the door ajar. "But remember, whatever mess you make is yours to clean!"
The last point is clearly ignored as Jackie gets Misty to choose an eyeshadow colour, giving her one hot pink eyelid, and one pale blue one, to represent their matching tutu's, according to Misty. Jackie decides that she too will have pink and blue eyeshadow, along with her pink lip gloss, whilst Misty chooses a sparkly clear one. Laura-Lee's dragged away from the last half of her bracelet to have some yellow and green eyeshadow dusted onto her eyes, and slightly beneath them to, as Jackie regresses further. A round of matching pink blush and face glitter later, the girls decide their looks are complete, so they wait somewhat patiently as Laura-Lee finishes Leonard's bracelet, before slipping on the matching array of blue, pink, yellow, and green beads, and another round of twirling commences in front of Misty's mirror.
By the time they stop, their heads are dizzy, and they stumble over to Misty's bed, collapsing side by side on her patchwork quilt. As she rolls onto her stomach, Laura-Lee places her fairy wings on the ottoman sitting at the end of the bed, eyeing the bookshelf across the room eagerly as an idea pops into her head. "Jackie, can you read Cinderella to us?"
"Okay, I can, cos I'm the oldest." She manages to walk gracefully over to the bookshelf to retrieve the storybook, wriggling herself between Misty and Laura-Lee so all three can see the pictures, even if they've all seen them a hundred times before. "Once upon a time, there was a pretty young girl named Cinderella…"
Half an hour later, Van makes their way back up the stairs, Nat's camera held carefully in one hand as they use the other to push the door open, very quickly stopping it from hitting the wall once she spots the three girls all curled up on Misty's double bed, Cinderella opened halfway on Jackie's chest.
They smile as they take a picture, grateful the flash doesn't cause any of them to stir. The picture comes out, and after a shake, it reveals slightly smudged makeup and creased clothes, but it perfectly sums up the mess of makeup and tiaras lying just out of frame.
Van switches off the main light as they leave, making sure the nightlight in the corner shines bright, pleased that they had managed to fall asleep right before naptime. Scrubbing their faces later in the bath won't be an easy task, but she knows the girls desperately needed this afternoon of carefree play.