Poem: "If They Could Just Stay Little ..."
Jan. 6th, 2015 03:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem was inspired by the "de-aged" square in my 1-3-15 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trope_bingo fest and the Day 6 challenge for snowflake_challenge. It belongs to the series Love Is For Children. The mind jars were suggested by Ducky.
In your own space, create a fanwork. A drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. A picspam. Something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
"If They Could Just Stay Little ..."
Tony Carter is precious,
and Uncle Phil treasures
every minute with him.
On game night, all the Avengers
switch down to their younger selves,
making up for lost time and
missed opportunities.
In some ways, Tony Stark
carries the most weight, even with
Pepper running Stark Industries now --
everyone wants a piece of him
and there's not enough to go around.
The ageplay lets him relax, unwind,
let out a part of himself he rarely shows.
There is honesty and insight
along with the mischief.
Tony instigates a duel with Clint
that involves guns which fire
marshmallows and potatoes.
Phil makes them clean up the ammunition
and reminds them to play nicely.
Tony climbs on Steve and Bucky
as if they are playground equipment,
and when Phil tries to shoo him off,
they just laugh and say they're used to it.
Phil imagines a tiny Steve
doing the same to Bucky, and
does not try to intervene again.
Tony and Betty team up to build
a catapult from Legos that launches
Astronaut Barbie toward the ceiling.
They are still trying to make a parachute
that will land her on her feet.
Tony eyes Natasha with wary respect
and does not pester her while
she is curled on the couch
reading a children's book.
Phil watches, but Tony is good,
and that's a relief.
Tony gets Bruce all excited
running in circles and
bouncing on the furniture,
until Bruce flops onto the floor
with his sides heaving and
his heartbeat maybe a bit higher
than is strictly advisable.
"Let's do a craft next," Uncle Phil says
as he brings up the instructions on his StarkPad.
knowing how much Bruce loves meditation.
"We're each going to make a mind jar."
Phil sends Bucky to fetch
an assortment of small containers
made from Tony's unbreakable crystal.
Meanwhile Uncle Phil lays out food coloring
plus a wide assortment of glitter and sequins.
"If I may suggest glycerine as well as glitter glue,"
JARVIS says, "that may yield more stable results."
Bucky comes back with a whole box of supplies,
including jars of different sizes and the glycerine.
"Choose your colors," Phil says
as the littles sort through various jars.
"Red and gold," Tony says at once.
"Red isn't very soothing,"
Phil points out.
"Just make the solution yellow,
with gold and red glitter," Bruce says,
and Tony likes that idea.
Bruce himself wants purple, and so does Clint.
Natasha wants red, but allows Clint
to soften it to a red-violet.
Betty chooses pure pink.
"Can I have three colors?" Steve asks.
"Of course," Phil says. "If you choose
different sizes of glitter for each,
they should settle at different rates."
So Steve winds up with big red flakes,
smaller holographic silver, and superfine blue
all suspended in clear fluid.
Bucky mixes a deep blue liquid
with midnight glitter that has
just a bit of the silver mixed in.
The littles lie on the floor watching
their bottles and jars slowly clear.
When they are satisfied with the timing
of the glitter settling, Phil helps them
to seal the containers closed
so that nothing can spill.
Then Bruce discovers that somehow
a green sequin has gotten into his purple glitter
so he wants to reopen the jar and take it out.
"Hey, no, don't do that," Tony says.
"Watch what it does." He shakes the jar,
sets it down, and then points to the bottom.
"See? That one is always the first thing to settle."
From that point on, Bruce is mesmerized by it.
"Tony Carter, you are a genius,"
Uncle Phil murmurs, hugging him.
* * *
Notes:
"If they could just stay little 'til their Carter's wear out" is a slogan from a maker of children's clothing.
Toy paratroopers are popular, but you can put a parachute on almost anything.
Mind jars are useful for meditation or science experiments.
Glitter comes in many styles, including holographic. For making mind jars, get a good kind of craft glitter glue, which works better than cheaper varieties.
Color symbolism suggests that cool colors are more soothing than warm ones. However, it's more important to have a meditation jar that looks pretty to the person using it.
trope_bingo fest and the Day 6 challenge for snowflake_challenge. It belongs to the series Love Is For Children. The mind jars were suggested by Ducky.In your own space, create a fanwork. A drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. A picspam. Something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
"If They Could Just Stay Little ..."
Tony Carter is precious,
and Uncle Phil treasures
every minute with him.
On game night, all the Avengers
switch down to their younger selves,
making up for lost time and
missed opportunities.
In some ways, Tony Stark
carries the most weight, even with
Pepper running Stark Industries now --
everyone wants a piece of him
and there's not enough to go around.
The ageplay lets him relax, unwind,
let out a part of himself he rarely shows.
There is honesty and insight
along with the mischief.
Tony instigates a duel with Clint
that involves guns which fire
marshmallows and potatoes.
Phil makes them clean up the ammunition
and reminds them to play nicely.
Tony climbs on Steve and Bucky
as if they are playground equipment,
and when Phil tries to shoo him off,
they just laugh and say they're used to it.
Phil imagines a tiny Steve
doing the same to Bucky, and
does not try to intervene again.
Tony and Betty team up to build
a catapult from Legos that launches
Astronaut Barbie toward the ceiling.
They are still trying to make a parachute
that will land her on her feet.
Tony eyes Natasha with wary respect
and does not pester her while
she is curled on the couch
reading a children's book.
Phil watches, but Tony is good,
and that's a relief.
Tony gets Bruce all excited
running in circles and
bouncing on the furniture,
until Bruce flops onto the floor
with his sides heaving and
his heartbeat maybe a bit higher
than is strictly advisable.
"Let's do a craft next," Uncle Phil says
as he brings up the instructions on his StarkPad.
knowing how much Bruce loves meditation.
"We're each going to make a mind jar."
Phil sends Bucky to fetch
an assortment of small containers
made from Tony's unbreakable crystal.
Meanwhile Uncle Phil lays out food coloring
plus a wide assortment of glitter and sequins.
"If I may suggest glycerine as well as glitter glue,"
JARVIS says, "that may yield more stable results."
Bucky comes back with a whole box of supplies,
including jars of different sizes and the glycerine.
"Choose your colors," Phil says
as the littles sort through various jars.
"Red and gold," Tony says at once.
"Red isn't very soothing,"
Phil points out.
"Just make the solution yellow,
with gold and red glitter," Bruce says,
and Tony likes that idea.
Bruce himself wants purple, and so does Clint.
Natasha wants red, but allows Clint
to soften it to a red-violet.
Betty chooses pure pink.
"Can I have three colors?" Steve asks.
"Of course," Phil says. "If you choose
different sizes of glitter for each,
they should settle at different rates."
So Steve winds up with big red flakes,
smaller holographic silver, and superfine blue
all suspended in clear fluid.
Bucky mixes a deep blue liquid
with midnight glitter that has
just a bit of the silver mixed in.
The littles lie on the floor watching
their bottles and jars slowly clear.
When they are satisfied with the timing
of the glitter settling, Phil helps them
to seal the containers closed
so that nothing can spill.
Then Bruce discovers that somehow
a green sequin has gotten into his purple glitter
so he wants to reopen the jar and take it out.
"Hey, no, don't do that," Tony says.
"Watch what it does." He shakes the jar,
sets it down, and then points to the bottom.
"See? That one is always the first thing to settle."
From that point on, Bruce is mesmerized by it.
"Tony Carter, you are a genius,"
Uncle Phil murmurs, hugging him.
* * *
Notes:
"If they could just stay little 'til their Carter's wear out" is a slogan from a maker of children's clothing.
Toy paratroopers are popular, but you can put a parachute on almost anything.
Mind jars are useful for meditation or science experiments.
Glitter comes in many styles, including holographic. For making mind jars, get a good kind of craft glitter glue, which works better than cheaper varieties.
Color symbolism suggests that cool colors are more soothing than warm ones. However, it's more important to have a meditation jar that looks pretty to the person using it.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-06 06:40 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-01-06 06:46 pm (UTC)YAY
Date: 2015-01-06 09:40 pm (UTC)Sincerely,
firstar28
Re: YAY
Date: 2015-01-20 08:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-06 10:56 pm (UTC)Maybe I'll make myself one. Or two.
Do you mix the glycerine in with the glue?
Yes...
Date: 2015-01-06 11:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-07 03:33 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-01-07 03:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-08 12:58 am (UTC)~A
Thank you!
Date: 2015-01-20 11:42 pm (UTC)I'm happy to hear that.
>> Little Tony is absolutely adorable, and I love the nod to the Hulk in the Mind jars! <<
:D Hulk pops up in many places where Bruce doesn't expect him.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-09 01:25 am (UTC)Glitter jars are really hard to get right. We have several in the house that *mostly* work. Rubynye made them using plastic peanut butter jars and plastic vitamin bottles (the Disney ones are a pretty shape) and glued the lids down really thoroughly.
Thank you!
Date: 2015-01-09 01:27 am (UTC)I've seen a variety of similar items. There are sand panes with different weights of sand, sometimes with glitter. I've got a glitter wand somewhere, and an hourglass on a bookshelf.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-10 04:25 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-01-10 04:30 am (UTC)Yay!
>> I love the family bonding and all the emotions. <<
I'm glad it worked for you.
>> Mind jars I've never heard them called that in the infant toddler workshop they called them sensory bottles and we used dish soap or baby oil depending on what effect we wanted. <<
Oh, baby oil is a great idea. It's already thin enough to flow well but thick enough to suspend things, and cheap to buy in volume.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-11 11:54 am (UTC)Evangel (from ao3)
Yay!
Date: 2015-01-21 06:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-11 11:12 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2015-01-12 02:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-22 03:14 am (UTC)-RockafellaSaint
Thank you!
Date: 2015-01-22 03:16 am (UTC)thank you thank you thank you!
Date: 2015-01-28 12:49 am (UTC)Also, I think you write JARVIS and Hulk perfectly!
Yay
Sarah
How did I miss this one?
Date: 2015-05-24 06:28 pm (UTC)(Scarpers off, scans poem three more times.)
Yep, it's perfect.
THANKS!
Re: How did I miss this one?
Date: 2015-05-24 08:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-05-26 03:47 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2015-05-26 03:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-06-01 04:50 pm (UTC)This was lovely. I particularly liked Bruce's jar and the green sequin. ^_^
~Anony-mouse
Yes...
Date: 2015-06-01 11:11 pm (UTC)Thank you! Look on the landing page, I try to keep that current as well as linking piece-to-piece.
>> This was lovely. I particularly liked Bruce's jar and the green sequin. ^_^ <<
Yay! I aim to find ways of including Hulk, even though he is shy about joining the group outside of combat. He's always there, even when he can't be seen.
Re reading with excitement
Date: 2021-05-04 07:41 pm (UTC)Re: Re reading with excitement
Date: 2021-05-04 07:50 pm (UTC)