Whatcha Dooin'? (TAG)

[Alice]

Alice was very excited. So much so she almost gave herself one of those lag headaches again, but she was learning how to moderate her emotions and keep herself contained so her new body's processor could handle it.

Her new body... She looked down at her hands while she walked to Orion and Honos' house. She'd gotten permission to come visit Honos and surprise him with her new physical form. She flexed her fingers, enjoying the sense of just feeling them move. And they were hers. Real, tangible fingers. Not an avatar projected into an ALISE to pretend to be in physical space. She always felt like she was in third person in there. This, this was her.

Orion gave her a massive hug, picking her up and spinning her around, just as soon as he opened the door to her. Alice could only laugh, reveling in the joy they both felt. She was also pretty impressed that he could lift her bulk, she had some pretty heavy components to her.

Alice did want to just stay and chat, but she had another goal in mind. She wanted to surprise Honos.

And there he was, in his room, working on something with his back to the door. Alice walked in as quietly as she could, leaned on the back of the chair he was sitting on as carefully as she could (she was still getting used to being physical after all), and with all the sass she could muster, offered up a playful "Hey Honos. Whatcha doin'?"

And then waited for him to turn and see her.

Honos Black

[Honos Black]

Honos grumbled under his breath as he worked on his English essay. He hated English with a passion, especially when the teacher is a right meanie. He tilted his head towards the door when he heard footsteps, but paid it no mind, thinking that it must be his papa.

When he felt the weight on the back of his chair, he again, assumed it was his papa. He waited for his papa's deep voice to mention that he wanted to talk or to tell him something but was startled when he heard Alice's higher pitch voice instead. He turned around and blinked when he saw her, very much confused.

He held up a hand and pressed it against her face, expecting it to go through yet shrieking and falling out of his chair when it doesn't. "WhaT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" He yelled out, still on the floor and staring at Alice. "Holy fucking shit dID TIM DRUNK MAKE YOU A BODY ALICE?!"

"Inside voices Octavius!" He heard his papa yell, but he was still focus on the fact that his sister figure has a body and isn't an AI ghost form.

He started to giggle and rolled onto his feet before hugging her tightly, face against her chest and him damn near in tears. "I can hug you now" He spoke, voice watery and him clinging to her, scared to let her go and this ending up being a dream like before. "'M not lettin' go"

[Alice]

Alice scrunched up her nose when Honos put his hand on her face, and then laughed as he fell out of his chair and wrapped his arms around her. "Got it in one little guy."

She wrapped her arms around him in return, pressed a kiss to his head, and ruffled his hair, reveling in the tactile sensations she was finally able to experience. It was honestly enough to make her cry, as best as she could. She didn't really shed tears in her body, but there was the tone to her voice as she spoke, and damnit she could feel the processor starting to overload with emotion again. "I'll hug you just as long as you want-want-want-waaaaaaant-ow."

Alice took one hand off Honos and rubbed her temple, trying to soothe the headache that cropped up when she got too emotional in this body, squeezing one eye shut as she did so. "Are you gonna let go long enough to take a good look at me? Tim and Andi were drunk when they finished me so I need someone to really take in and appreciate my design."

Honos Black

[Honos Black]

Honos looked up at her in both confusion and concern when she started to stutter. "...Are you okay?" He asked, chin on her belly as he looked up, arms still wrapped around her torso.

"...I don' wanna let go. I don' wanna wake up and find out that this is just a dream 'gain." He mumbled, soon hiding his face against her belly again, so he could soak up the affection and touch from Alice.

"It'scoolthatyou're physical and stuff. I can-I can hear the fans in yourchestkeepingyoucool. An'-an'-an' it'scooltohear-to hear everything. Like-like-like..." he stood on his toes and pressed his ear against her chest, listening. "Wonderwhatthey placed fortheheart noise." He mumbled, clinging to her to keep balance. "Can you eat? Like-like-like I know they were drunk but whatdidthey all build? You kinda feel like papa, temperature wise. You run cooler than him, though. It's cool."

[Alice]

Alice could only smile at Honos clinging to her. "I'm not going anywhere, buddy. I'm not a dream, I promise."

She did continue to rub her temple with one hand, continuing to mess with Honos' hair with the other. "I'm fine. This body just doesn't have as much processing power as I'm used to, so big emotions can make me lag a bit. It's not pleasant."

She shuffled over to his bed with him so the two of them could just sit and hug and enjoy being able to be physical and real.

"I can eat and drink. Drinking actually helps keep the liquid cooling system topped off, and eating feeds the reactor Tim came up with somehow. I think there's an empty bottle of Jack Daniels inside me somewhere, just like duck taped to something. I'm pretty strong and sturdy, so I'm not very likely to get hurt, so you don't have to worry about that. OH! Check this out!"

She held out a hand, and the palm retracted into her wrist, exposing a curved lens. It lit up, and a three-dimensional display of Honos appeared above it. Then just to show off, it zoomed out to show first the neighborhood, then Astaria, then the country, continent, planet, solar system, and eventually the entire Milky Way galaxy. "I can display all sorts of stuff on there. Both hands, too. Same kind of thing that's in the ALISE, but smaller."

She closed it up and wrapped both arms around Honos. "But the coolest thing of all? I get to hug you. I finally get to hug my friends."

Honos Black