fossilised | Snowblind Body Shenanigans

This is an open post for anyone set in Norfinbury. It's a random scenario where @Admin has (for mysterious meme reasons) decided to give Al his body back. This isn't game canon, obviously, I just wanted to play about with Al in his body as it will never happen in game. Action and network responses are welcome, as well as fudging the locations of characters.

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[Al has become used to his periods of unconsciousness during the night now. He still can't think of them as sleep, not without dreams or his real body to rest in, but they're at least predictable. Usually he wakes quickly and without any grogginess that would come from real sleep, but today everything has changed.

He wakes up slowly that morning.

As soon as he wakes up, he knows everything is different. He can feel the wooden flooring under his back, rough and splintered, and hear the thud of his heart beating in his ears. He lifts one stick thin arm in amazement to stare at it, almost uncomprehending as he looks at his fingers splayed out in front of his eyes. This must be a dream. It has to be a dream, his first one in years, but... God, it feels so real.

He's in a state of shock as he pulls up to unsteady feet and scoops up his tablet automatically. He can barely keep hold of it, his fingers have none of his usual dexterity and his hands are trembling violently. It's this trembling that causes his fingers to slip and activate the video feed. The camera is at a strange angle, but it shows the upper half of a teenage boy in an extreme state of emaciation. His ribs are protruding and his stomach is concave. He has long blond hair that hangs down over one eye, the other one is wide and staring in surprise.

His legs seem ready to fold almost at once, but he forces himself to walk to the door and open it. The sunlight on the snow almost blinds him, and the wind causes goosebumps to raise on his skin immediately. He sets one bare foot in the snow and gasps, a delighted and amazed sound.]

Wow, it's so cold...

[He laughs softly, unable to stop the sheer wonder bubbling out of him. Is this real? Can it truly be so?]

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[He does his absolute best to support as much of his weight as possible, though he's honestly touched at how well Tim is coping with this. His legs tremble so violently that the shudders travel all the way up his spine and nearly make him fall back down again.]

Mm, I'm okay. I think I can walk if you don't let go.

[That might be a gross overestimation of his own abilities. He slumps suddenly sideways into Tim, only keeping his feet by the grace of having a solid and helpful Tim-shaped leaning post next to him.]

Ha-- whoops--! I don't remember it being this hard before.

You're doing fine. Come on.

[ He carefully starts walking, taking it slowly and offering as much support as Al needs. Even if that means essentially dragging him. HE'S HELPING.

As they reach the doorway to the nearest building, Tim freezes with his free hand on the door handle. ]

Are - are there people here? Right now, I mean? 'Cause I can just - I can just drop you off here, so...

[ He hunches his shoulders slightly, further burying his face in that ridiculous scarf. HISSSSSSS PEOPLE HISSSSSSSSS ]

Yeah.

[For the first time in the whole morning, Al's expression falters from that awe-struck smile, turning into a slightly worried frown at the closed door.]

My brother is in there.

[Can Tim possibly understand what a massive thing this will be?]

I don't know how he's going to handle this...

Well, he - he'll be happy, right? I mean, you seem pretty happy about it, so.

[ He still doesn't open the door. It feels like he's carrying the plague or something. ]

And I'm guessing less people will think he's the, uh, the little brother now.

[ Because you're a FUCKING TWIG ]

I don't know.

[Now there are two of them nervous to go in the front door, this will clearly end well. He's frowning more completely at the door now, a sliver of fear in his eyes.]

We've wanted this for so long, but... I don't know how they did it, and Brother is sure to worry.

Does it matter how they did it?

[ Knowing Al, it probably does. Tim's pretty sure that he's already trying to calculate the cost of a new body in souls or something. Jesus.

He's also pretty sure that this means Al isn't going to go in on his own. Fuck this fuck everything fuck snowhell fuck. ]

If - if we're quiet, we can probably avoid disturbing him until you're ready. Right?

Yeah.

[Whether that's in answer to the question about it mattering, or if they could avoid waking up Ed, is unsure. Perhaps it works for both, because Al isn't offering up another answer.

Instead, with a soft 'oh' of surprise, his legs finally give out properly and he sags next to Tim. Whoops, sorry about that, man.]

[ Welp. That decides it. With a huff of annoyance aimed more at himself than anyone or anything else, Tim oh-so-quietly presses down the handle and opens the door before helping to bundle Al inside. This is so many different kinds of terrible.

With the door safely closed behind them, he offers Al a questioning look. He isn't sure where Shorty McBigbrother is likely to be, so he doesn't know where he should be heading in order to best avoid him. PLS ADVISE?? ]

[Al is equally eager not to wake Ed for now, not until he's had the chance to sort through this and try to figure out what it means. He's only just now starting to realise that his real body will be more of a hindrance here than he could have imagined. He doesn't want to be a burden on anyone, but how can he help to be when his legs won't even carry him for five damn minutes?]

Um, that one, there was nobody using it but me.

[He answers the unspoken question in an undertone, nodding towards one of the closed doors off to the side.]

[ He nods silently, then holds up a finger for quiet. Tim is a grizzled veteran when it comes to sneaking through abandoned buildings, and unlike certain idiot friends of his he's actually good at it. NOBODY'S GOING TO WAKE ANY SNOOZING BROTHERS ON HIS WATCH.

Meaning yeah he's scooping up Al and carrying him into the other room because now is not the time for stumbly bumblefuck footsteps. Sorry about the brief indignity, kiddo. He puts Al down again once the door is shut and immediately begins rummaging around for anything even vaguely resembling clothing. ]

We have to - you know, we have to get you warm. You got any sheets around here? ...Pants?

[Except for the softest murmur of surprise when he's initially scooped up, Al doesn't make any further protest against it. His body is stupidly light and trembling with the combination of exertion and the cold.]

No.

[He has the grace to at least look a little embarrassed, hand coming up to rub the back of his head.]

I didn't haven't needed to wear pants or use sheets for five years, I don't really have that sort of thing.

Crap.

[ He has a spare sports jersey back at his own shelter, but hadn't thought to pick it up in his rush to come to the rescue. Which he's going to proceed to kick himself over, since Tim wouldn't be Tim without a great big stack of self-loathing.

After some hesitation, he takes off his stupid scarf and hands that overIt should help a little, at least. ]

Not gonna offer you my pants. That's where I draw the line.

[ Making shite jokes while standing around awkwardly and wondering if he should leave yet: ~the Tim Wright experience~ ]

[The infection...

The rather ungrateful thought flashes through Al's mind as Tim starts to unwind the scarf, but he squashes it almost immediately. If he is going to catch it, then he'll have caught it already, adding in the man's scarf which he's breathed all over isn't going to make a difference.

So he smiles and takes it, wrapping it around his neck rather incongruously to the rest of his state of undress.]

Mm, it's so warm.

[Duh. But he looks enamoured.]

Are you sure you don't mind?

Snowblind Body Shenanigans

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