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

stares at that cut text...

[tomodachi]

[Despite the cold, this person you've found doesn't appear to be affected by it. In fact, he might have continued to lie there motionless, sleeping forever. That is, until Seto starts trying to shake him. It's a slow process, but finally, after what might feel like a minute or two, the boy's eyes finally start to open.

At first, he does nothing. Dull, grey eyes simply blink once or twice as he looks up towards the sky from where he's lying down...before slowly turning his head a little to look at Seto. He's not really saying anything yet, mostly just staring. Maybe he's even a little surprised to actually see someone hanging over him, and struck speechless for a second.]

Action

[foundafamily]

[Like the worried mother he'll vehemently deny he is, Firo's been watching the journals for any news of Seto and Crow's return. He knows the Malnosso have to bring them back eventually. (Actually, they don't have to do anything, but Firo can't bear to think of losing those two forever). But the journals haven't brought any good news for days since the kidnapping and he's starting to feel antsy.

So, of course, when he's out walking and spots a very familiar face he wastes no time in calling out to them. The words are hardly out of his mouth when he starts rushing over to the pair, carelessly elbowing anyone who might get in his way.]

Hey, Crow!

[And... Seto? Thanks to the age, Seto's a bit harder to recognize, but Firo's sure that must be him. No one can be as cute as his little brother.]

[soheartless]

[Help? Well, that may be a bit of a tall order.

But if you want to see a prancing ballerina boy, there's one dancing near the fountain in the plaza right now.]

[disastergirl]

[Her anxiety about losing more friends was not aided by Crow's disappearance. After hearing nothing from him for a lot longer than she liked she had finally started thinking that he really was gone, but this was one of the very few times she was actually glad to be wrong about something.]

Crow!

[She ran up to the duo, which probably didn't help things much in Seto's case.]

You're... You took way too long to get back!

[Oh boy. However, it was then that she noticed Seto, and that irritated front quickly melted away. Apparently she wasn't convinced that Seto was warm enough, because she was shrugging off her coat and offering it to the little boy without a second thought.]