bakerstreet | warm up

warm up

The Body Heat Meme

Post with your character! They're now stuck in a very cold place of your choice. It can be anything, such as a freezing chamber, a cavern or a small cabin in the midst of a blizzard. The choice is up to you.
Comment around! Now your character has some company in this bone-chilling environment. The two of them share two things in common: clothes completely unfitting for this weather (be they summer clothes or even lingerie) and a blanket.
A blanket? Yes, just one warm blanket and no other ways to escape the cold. The two of them will have to share it in order to stay alive in this weather. Don't worry, you're sure to find a common language in this terrible situation!
So, uh, have fun, I suppose. Try to not freeze to death!
Protip: friction and body heat are both excellent ways to fend off cold.

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...How in the world can they sleep like this? Wish that were me, but my hands feel like ice.

[ Ignis and Gladio in the tent, he means, mumbled in a groggy voice and too deadpan for the covetous envy he seems to imply, as Noctis paces around the campsite with all the enthusiasm of a man who wants anything but to be moving right now, but he doesn't have a choice. Which is to say, exactly none, his boots scraping lazily on the ground with each step. Granted, he's done almost nothing all evening (after sort of drying his clothes) except lie still in a chair; meanwhile, the "guilty" parties in question had busied themselves, one with making dinner for all of them and one with pitching their tent. If they're tired, it's not that surprising; well, they should all be exhausted to begin with after the battle that afternoon, but that part's beside the point.

Some remnant of the fire still lingers in the center, and it's there beside the surrounding circle of rocks that he grinds to a halt, crouching to stretch his arms to the embers. They don't give off too much heat anymore, but it's better than nothing, and coupled with rubbing his hands against each other, it feels like a bit of sensation starts to return to his fingertips. He glances over at Prompto, with a slight tilt of his head as if to question (without actually asking) how he's holding up. ]

Don't care what Gladio says. That waterfall's gonna haunt my nightmares.

You and me both

[It's an agreement with both statements, just as mumbled but with far more pathetic misery injected. He is exhausted, but he's too cold to sleep. Struggling, as well, to ignore the lingering throbbing ache in his side that he's been hoping would go away for hours now.

He's elected to forego pacing in favour of cocooning himself in a blanket as close to the fire as he can get. It isn't really working, but it's still more appealing than moving right now.]

There's gotta be some way to get warm, right? Do they have blankets we don't or something?

[ He casts a brief glance at the tent, more for the sake of joking around than for anything else. He already knows the answer, though: ]

If only. Could just take Gladio's if they did.

[ Seeing as even his normal blanket, the one that looks just like what Prompto seems to be using too at the moment, has already long since slipped off and he doesn't seem to be noticing in his sleep. Is that the strength of a guy who goes shirtless all day? Good for him, though it doesn't do much to soothe Noctis right now, or to better his mood. Speaking of which, Prompto's seemed awfully quiet (for him) for a while...

Shuffling closer a bit, in whatever clumsy and sideways way he can manage while crouched like he is, Noctis racks his brains for whatever he can bring up. ]

Reminds me of when the heater broke down at my place the one time. You remember that?

[ Because he doesn't... they were studying for a test, he remembers that much. Or well, playing video games as a "break" for two hours, but anyway. He has vague recollections of them grabbing a blanket to share on the couch after that, and then he probably fell asleep right away on like, Prompto's shoulder or something. It made for a pretty good nap. ]

Oh, yea...

[His tone is casual. Perhaps overly so. He does remember that time. Remembers Noct falling asleep on his shoulder as they both huddled under the blanket, remembers how he'd been so tired he thought maybe he should just take a nap himself... remembers waking up, curled around the Prince like a limpet, warmer and more comfortable than he'd been since...maybe ever, actually.

He'd untangled himself from Noctis before the other boy woke up, but those first few moments after waking had stayed burned into his brain for a long time afterwards]

I ended up really warm under that blanket we had. You're kinda like a heater, you know?

[He's probably not warmer than anybody else, really, but he felt it when they were pressed up close together. Even the thought of it is making him warm... but that might just be the rising heat of the flush the memory brings to his face. It's dark enough, he thinks, that the pink in his cheeks is probably not too noticeable]

[ Right... Sounds fake to be honest, considering how frozen he can feel his hands right now, each finger like another distinct icicle in a collection. Pretty sure he wasn't any different back then... How in the world would that constitute a heater? He'd have believed that kind of comment about Gladio, but him? Noctis quirks an eyebrow in unspoken doubt, but doesn't question further. Whatever works for Prompto.

And it's true that they did get warm like that, even if it wasn't any thanks to him. ]

Yeah? Well, move over then. Make some room for me.

[ In the blanket, he means, tilting close enough to bump his elbow against Prompto's through the fabric, from the side. The motion also brings him down, dislodging a few pebbles from the ground with the momentum of his landing, but he folds his legs beneath him and settles rather comfortably. They're side by side now and it's all in playful notes -- he doesn't push it further; there aren't that many people he'd even do this with... or well, he'd share a blanket with Ignis or Gladio too, but maybe not so casually. If Prompto doesn't want to for some reason, he can just joke it off and they'll move on. ]

[It feels unbelievably awkward, especially with that memory fresh in his mind, but he also doesn't have any way to refuse that wouldn't, in his view, come across as painfully obvious.

Besides, it's not actually a bad idea, for all it would be slightly torturous and uncomfortable, because they are both freezing their butts off the way things are currently and he thinks, right now, that he'd rather be a little awkward than stay this cold.

So he just rolls his eyes and shifts to make room, lifting the blanket so that Noctis can wrap the other side around himself]

Fine, fine, just hurry up okay? Don't let the cold in!

[He's cultivated a precious sliver of warmth beneath the blanket, he doesn't want to lose it.]

Yeah yeah, I won't.

[ He says it with the tone of someone who's not even trying because... he's not, to be honest. How exactly does one even keep the cold out of a blanket while moving? He's quick about it though, grabbing the corner that Prompto offered and drawing closer still as he wraps it around his shoulders. He brings it back up at the front, connecting it with the other half from that side.

There we go. ]

How's that?

[ Asked rather proudly as he settles, though the first thing he notices is that Prompto feels... colder than he expected, somehow. I mean yeah, they've both been freezing their asses off so maybe it's that, but still... is he alright? Noctis leans testily in, and for a second he thinks about trying to wrap an arm around him to get them closer but... that's a little too much out of nowhere. So he settles for bumping their shoulders together and sticking by. ]

[The sudden presence of Noct beside him is surprisingly warm - he hadn't realised he was so much colder. He hopes Noct doesn't notice how clammy he is, but he's pretty sure there's enough fabric between them to cover that up. He knows he should be worrying more about it himself, if there's some kind of venom or toxin or poison (wait, those are all pretty much the same thing aren't they...), or even an infection - but there's nothing he can do about it now. He patched up the injury as best he could while the others weren't paying attention, and he'll continue to deal with it himself, it'll be fine.]

Yea, better. You okay?

[In the meantime, he'll keep acting normal, and not think about the seven different things he's trying not to think about being this close to Noct. Okay, two different things, but it feels like seven.

At least he really does feel warmer already]

Should be the one asking you that. You feel more like an ice sculpture than my fingers, and I didn't even think that was possible.

[ Because he'd thought he was freezing his ass off, but that was before getting in here. The blanket feels like it's helping a little, or at least it does on his shoulders, but then why does it seem to have done almost nothing for Prompto before Noctis got to it? It makes no sense... maybe he didn't dry his clothes properly or something. Granted, Noctis did mostly just his boots and jacket too, but that seemed to be enough for him. Not like they actually walked under the waterfall. ]

C'mon. Scoot over a bit, we can get closer to the fire.

[ Again, not that there's a whole lot left of it past some embers, but they'd still felt warm when he'd hovered around them a minute ago. And anything's better than nothing by this point, with how Prompto feels. ]

Guess you were onto something with the pacing.

[It's presented in a joking tone, light and easy and hopefully enough to explain away the chill to his skin before Noctis starts getting genuinely concerned about it, before he asks too many more questions.

The suggestion has him nodding, shuffling over towards the fire as best he can while still trying to keep the blanket around both of them, it's awkward and a bit ungainly but he manages to get a little closer - at least until he stops moving at the wrong moment and Noctis bumps into him at just the wrong angle and he's letting out a hiss of pain before he can stop himself.]

[ Fuck. ]

...!?

[ There's a strangled breath lodged in his throat as he hits the brakes, immediate reactionary panic freezing up his body. Did he hurt him somehow? Noctis didn't think Prompto was going to stop just yet, so he'd pressed on forward without care; but the jolt has him digging a palm onto the ground to break momentum, despite the pebbles that sting through his skin. He gathers his bearings as best he can, drawing back despite the blanket that slips easily from his shoulders and slides down to mid-back. It leaves them awkwardly hovering, part-uncovered, with Noctis almost looming over Prompto where they've stopped. ]

Sorry, I—

[ The light from the embers paints both their startled expressions, outlining their features in detail -- but not just that. It also sheds light on Prompto's side, with the sizeable patch on his shirt where the fabric looks darker than the rest. The pattern too, like it's dirty with-- ]

What the hell? You just weren't going to mention that?

[The sudden loss of the blanket brings a fresh chill but Prompto hardly even notices - he's almost stopped breathing at Noctis' reaction, silently praying that he isn't going to make a big deal of it, that he'll be able to brush it off and divert attention and it'll be fine. He doesn't need to make a fuss, doesn't need to feel like a burden yet again and-

And there it is. He curses himself for not brushing it off quicker, for bringing attention to it, for getting injured in the first place. He hides that, though, bites down on it in the face of a casually sheepish smile, hoping he can still salvage this]

It's really not as bad as it looks! I dealt with it earlier, so it's fine. You just nudged it a little is all, but it's really okay.

[Maybe he should stop saying it's fine, has he said it too many times? He's probably said it too many times]

Don't worry about it, let's just get warm.

[He moves to tug the blanket back over them both, stubbornly ignoring the way the movement pulls at his side painfully]

[ Yeah, he's said it too many times, even for Noctis. Sure, he might not be as perpetually alert or perceptive to subtleties as Ignis, nor as sharp as Gladio with his honed instincts, by far. That's why he's got them to watch out for him, and that's why he needs them. But still, he can at least tell as much as when his friend is in pain. He's not that bad at noticing things. ]

You dealt with it, how? You didn't even say anything when we were dividing the potions...

[ The last of them, that is. They'd only had two left between them after the battle, so they'd gone to the people who were actually injured. One had been Gladio, since he'd gotten scratched up pretty badly while covering for the rest of them, but then since nobody seemed to have any other pressing issue, Ignis had insisted Noctis take the second for the bruises he'd incurred while getting tossed around from mid-air. Which weren't even that bad. And it's this part specifically that makes him angry, reducing his voice to a moody grumble.

He's not even mad at Prompto, it's... difficult to explain. It's all directed at himself. But still.

He takes a breath, not moving. ]

Let me at least take a look.

[Prompto cringes a little at that tone in Noctis' voice, wishing he could have just hidden it better, not been so weak. The last thing he wants is to be the one that drags everybody else down, holds them back, doesn't pull his weight, but it feels like it just keeps happening.

He debates claiming he had his own potions, but having his own secret potion stash is probably worse than taking his share of the group's, and at this point lying is just going to make everything worse. So instead, he doesn't answer, but he does sigh softly and nod at the request to take a look, carefully rolling up his shirt so Noctis can see and trying not to shiver at the cool air against his skin]

It'll be okay once I've had some sleep, you don't need to worry about me....

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warm up

Prompto Argentum | FFXV | OTA

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feel free to ignore this since it's so late

Late's no problem!