Seventeenth Firefly - [Action] - backdated to the 5th

[presumablyalone]

[When little Seto first wakes up, he finds himself staring off into the white covered distance, his purple eyes barely open, nose and cheeks red and small hands reflexively curled up into fists to keep his already stinging finger tips off the snow. He lets out a long exhale, his breath clouding out in front of him before disappearing into the cold air. There's a long minute of silence as he slowly wakes up, watching his breath blearily, before he finally blinks and moves to at least lift his head off the snowy ground, his entire body aching from the cold.

…Outside. Why is he outside? And in the snow?!

Seto can feel his heart beat rapidly as he quickly makes his way to his feet, dusting the snow off his legs and arms as fast as he can before grabbing his arms. There’s only one winter that he can remember in the short time he spent with his grandpa and it wasn't kind.

What plants his grandfather normally fed them died, leaving them with barely anything, it was always freezing cold and drafts would find their way into the observatory through cracks in the walls and doors and he nor his grandfather never had much in terms of ways to keep themselves warm with clothes. When winter came, his grandfather told him to never go outside or bad things would happen, especially in the snow that fell and covered everything.

He didn't understand it... how something like this could be so scary.

As he moves to step back, looking around in a panic to find the observatory, his heel hits something behind him and he trips and falls backwards over whatever it was with a yelp. He quickly tries to scuttle away but looks back to see what it was he tripped on and…

…A person. Another person.

There's a moment as he stares in surprise. But... he thought there were no other people. His grandfather told him so--didn't he? It's always just been him and his grandfather. He’s afraid that if he touches this person, he’ll disappear… but if he tripped over him, he must be real, right? He's hesitant but slowly turns around in the snow and he puts his hands on the other boy’s chest and starts to shake him.]

M-Mm… w-wake up… [His voice is small and shaking as he shivers, but he’s trying]

ACTION

[Today, the people of Luceti may come across a rather curious duo. Normally, seeing Crow and Seto together is not strange at all--in fact, it's practically the norm, but after a week or so of being gone, when they return, they are noticeably different.

Seto has clearly been affected by his "mallynap", as he's now a little boy instead of a young adult. Unlike the Seto we all know and love, this Seto has yet to experience large crowds of people, or even seeing so many people in general, so there's a lot of wide-eyed staring as he looks around as well as looking back to make sure he's not too far away from his odd companion.

Crow, on the other hand, appears almost exactly the same as before he was taken in for experimentation too...except for some odd differences. His bright green eyes are now a dull, lifeless grey, and he's quieter than usual, barely saying a word, and when he does, there's very little emotion put into it. For now, he's sort of aimlessly following along behind Seto, or occasionally stopping to stare at people or things.

Well, hopefully this will wear off soon, but otherwise they're both lost and confused at the moment. Would you like to offer a helping hand?

(ooc: Seto and Crow have been de-aged as their mallynap effect upon their return. Both of them will be replying per thread, unless specified otherwise.)]

Comments

[solesoul]

R-Really? [Seto unwraps his arms if only briefly to take a look at his arms then folds them back because cold. He's never seen any kind of letters or numbers on him before... that he can remember. Unless it's on his back or something where he can't see but even then his grandfather never told him about seeing anything.

He pauses, half tempted to try and look some more but it's too cold and uncurling his fingers is starting to become difficult.] M-Maybe we sh-should f-find home and G-Grandpa and th-then look f-for i-it... I-It's cold and d-dangerous o-out here...

[tomodachi]

[Crow can't feel the cold, nor does he particularly fear danger, but rather than ask why it's apparently dangerous out here, he focuses on a different question instead.]

"Grandpa"? [Who's that?]

[solesoul]

H-He's the o-old m-man who t-takes care o-of me... [He'd give him a name but unfortunately... Seto doesn't know it. There isn't a lot he could tell the other boy about him, really. But despite that and the cold, he does his best to stand up (however slowly because his joints are stiff) and give a weak smile]

H-He's really n-nice though a-and I-I think h-he'd be h-happy to see a-another person! [And know that they aren't alone anymore... maybe he'd be happy, anyway.]

[tomodachi]

[As far as he's concerned, "Grandpa" is this person's name. After a moment, Crow now stands properly too, looking down at the young boy. There's a long moment where he's not saying anything and just blinking, as if trying to sort things out mentally for a second before he responds.]

So our objective is...to find "Grandpa"? [Is that why he was put out here, to make sure this boy found this human of his? His memory is a mess at the moment, has been for a long time as far as he's aware of, so in a way he's sort of grasping straws here to try to figure out why he's here and what it was that he was supposed to be doing right now.]

[solesoul]

Y-Yeah! ...I-I think. [Seto honestly has no idea what "objective" means but he's pretty sure it means they're going to go find his Grandpa. So he then turns and starts to look around at the trees and gives a frown]

I-'m n-not sure w-which way h-home is though... [Though that's no surprise since he has absolutely no idea where he is. And even if he did he hasn't quite learned how to navigate yet... he'd be as equally lost and turned around]

[tomodachi]

...I don't know anything about this location, or where "home" is.

[Crow closes his eyes for a moment, listening for any telltale signs of noise in their surroundings. He thinks he can hear wind blowing through the trees, maybe water from the river flowing downward, so after a moment he opens his eyes again and looks around in the direction he thinks he hears the most noise from. Maybe they should head that way?]

[solesoul]

W-We live in a-an o-observatory... th-that's what Grandpa t-told me a-at l-least. [Very helpful, Seto. But really that's the best he can give him. He doesn't even know the name of the city it was once located in. He knows there are ruins near by since he can see them by looking outside but that's not really any defining characteristic of where.

He doesn't hear the sound of water though, only the sound of his teeth chattering as he keeps looking around to find some kind of clue. Might want to point him in the direction, Crow]

[tomodachi]

[After a moment of thought, Crow points in some direction.]

That way...has the most noise...

[It's nature sounds mostly, but maybe there are people that way too?]

[solesoul]

I-It does?? [He looks in the direction he pointed and tries to listen as best he can. There is a very faint sound but he can't tell what it is...]

L-Let's go s-see what i-it i-is. [He hesitates but slowly grabs the other boy's fingers and without realizing it, let's out a small breath. He's still there, this boy. Deep down Seto was afraid that he wasn't there, that this was a dream. And even though he can't feel his warmth (it must be because they've been outside in the snow for so long), this is enough to ground the fact that he's still here, that Seto truly isn't alone, that he's with another living human.]

[tomodachi]

[Crow looks down when the boy grabs his fingers--for a brief second, he actually looks a little surprised, before he resumes his blank expression from before. He can't really feel the other boy's hand, but he can't help but be a little curious as he stares at it.

It's entirely possible that he's never held hands with anyone before until now.]

[solesoul]

[Seto doesn't catch the surprised look on the other's face since he's too busy looking around and walking to try and find the source of the sound. As they get closer and he's actually able to hear something, he tightens his grip on his fingers a little]

...W-Water? [It's a little further ahead and Crow might be able to see it with his better eyes but he definitely thinks it sounds like running water]

[tomodachi]

[For some reason, as strange as it is, he finds he doesn't really mind letting this kid hang onto his hand. Besides, it'll help him keep better track of Seto so that he doesn't end up losing the boy and failing the objective to return him to wherever the kid was supposed to go.

In response to Seto's question, he nods in reply. That is indeed water you're hearing up ahead, and it'll likely get louder the closer they get to it.]

[solesoul]

[Goodness new friend, you have really good hearing. But at his nod, Seto perks up as best he can in the cold. Water... water is definitely good! Especially now that he can see it as they get closer. There was a river close to the observatory where he and his grandfather would always go to get water and sometimes fish.

So this means...!]

I-I think we're getting cl-closer! [He speeds up a little, pulling his new companion along with the little strength he has. He doesn't know how far along down they are but maybe if they follow it in one direction they might find their way back!] Th-the place where G-Grandpa and I l-live i-is near a r-river. W-We go there a-a lot to get w-water. [Saying as he looks down both ways to think of which way they should go. He still doesn't recognize anything though so he isn't sure]

[tomodachi]

[Good question. Should they go towards the direction the river is flowing in, or in the direction the water is coming from?

Crow doesn't really mind which direction they try to go in first, provided that they don't end up falling into the river--it wouldn't be very good if his circuits were damaged by the water, so he tilts his head a little, as if trying to hear if there's any noise coming from either direction.]

[solesoul]

[Seto stares in both directions for a good few minutes, trying to think as best he can. He's gone to and from the river many times before so he knows what's along the way but there's nothing he can recognize in sight. Doesn't help that the snow is covering everything.

So after a minute, he hesitantly points in one direction, half sure]

M-Maybe we sh-should try going th-this way...? [He points in the direction the river is flowing in]

[tomodachi]

[Crow seems to think about it for a moment, before he turns towards the direction that Seto pointed in, and slowly begins walking that way.

No questions asked, he's willing to just go along with it for now. Maybe if they're lucky, even if they don't find any people, the humans might have built their old houses down that way that they could look around in.]

[solesoul]

[And Seto is nearly pulled once he starts walking since he hadn't expected him to just suddenly start walking and he'd been holding his hand still. But he catches up quick enough and walks beside him.

He's quiet for a minute, looking around before looking back at his friend] W-Were you e-ever with a-anyone before? [He almost sounds a little hopeful as he asks. Certainly this boy wasn't always alone... right? To grow up in this world, it's hard for even Seto with just his grandfather sometimes with all of the dangers out there. So there... must be more people, right? People that took care of him too.]

[tomodachi]

[He almost looks like he's about to say something--maybe yes, maybe no, but then he stops. There's a long, long moment of silence from Crow before he answers.]

...I don't know. [He doesn't really remember having met anyone else before until now, though photographic evidence he's found says otherwise. But he doesn't really remember that person or whether or not he actually been with them before he forgot about everything.]

[solesoul]

Y-You don't k-know...? [He frowns at that and gives his friend a worried look] Y-You can't remember?

[tomodachi]

[Crow nods. Sorry kid, he can't really remember having met many other people before now, so he's not gonna be of much help to you in telling you about whether or not there really is anyone else other than you and your grandpa nearby...well, other than himself, obviously.]

[solesoul]

O-Oh... [His gaze moves down to the snowy ground for a moment. Inwardly, he is a little disappointed, he had hoped that he'd be able to tell him that there were more living people like them but... really, he can understand since he lost his memories too. Anyone he was with, anything that happened before Shin found him has long been wiped from his memories.

So he gives him a small smile]

D-Don't worry, i-it's okay if you d-don't remember. I-I don't remember w-who I was w-with before G-Grandpa found me e-either... [To him, his life started when Shin found him.]

[tomodachi]

[So they were similar, in a way. Except that Seto now had this "Grandpa" person with them, while us on the other hand...didn't really have anyone to go back to yet, save for perhaps the person in that photograph. For now though, the boy seems to accept Seto's reply since he nods in response. No use in worrying about it right now, right?]

[solesoul]

[He smiles a little brighter at his nod and looks down again, giving Crow's fingers a small squeeze] B-Besides, w-we'll stay together n-now... s-so you w-won't be alone a-again.

[tomodachi]

[Wow, he...really doesn't know what to say to that, even more so than before. No one's ever said anything like that to him, not that he can remember. He doesn't know how you're supposed to respond to something like that.

So he doesn't say anything for now, but Seto may or may not notice that Crow's fingers might have curled around his too, intentionally or otherwise.]

[solesoul]

[Seto does indeed notice and looks up at Crow, a little surprised at first, but then he smiles brightly. Though he can't feel the warmth of the hand that's holding his and even though Seto himself is cold from spending so much time out here... he feels surprisingly warm, his especially chest does.

There are few times when Seto has felt like this around his grandpa. Maybe it was because they were so distant, maybe it was because most times he felt more alone than he did anything else. But the few times his grandpa would let him hold his hand (even though his grandpa wouldn't hold his back), the few times he'd carry him to bed and he could feel the warmth and closeness of this other living human, this is the very same feeling he'd have.

Happiness.

But it's different this time. Because this person is causing this happiness through his actions, through the little words he gives him, by interacting and being with him. It feels as though he's truly there, living with him, and Seto doesn't feel so lonely.

He stops walking and weakly tries to act almost tough though he's too cold for the image to go through and puts a trembling hand on his chest] W-we're friends n-now. [And gave a smile]