Second Skin, Second Life - Part One

Slipping down the street I stagger and stumble under the heavy downpour around me. Even the light of the street lamps are dimmed in the thick haze of water, the sheets of icy cold droplets obscuring practically everything not directly in front of me.

I clutch at my navy blue sweater, tugging the collar up and over my head as I try to protect myself from the piercing impacts of the stinging rain. Glancing down I almost tumble over, the sight of the seemingly shifting sidewalk sending my off balance as the running water overflows the nearby gutter.

With a loud crack I slam into a strange sign, the siding of the bus stop glowing faintly with a flickering florescent light. With the hopeful reprieve I dive under the thin metal roof, the sound of the rain almost deafening me as I shiver and shudder in the thankfully mostly dry shelter.

Wiping the water from my face, my whole body quivering as I feel the cold creep through to my bones, I glance at the signage I had run into as I fee la warm trickle of blood begin to drip from my nose.

The image of a middle-aged woman stands side on, her tan Mediterranean complexion baring more than it's fair share of wrinkles and blemishes. She appears to be naked, though not much of anything is shown as much of her body below the next appears coated in an embrace of flowing pale skin. A younger woman's face, also in profile along with the older woman's, appears smiling and content as her body appears to break apart and flow around the woman behind her.

Give a Second Skin, a Second Life

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Second Skins originally had little to do with people, the strange product instead largely being relegated to usage with working animals and pets. While the source of just how the procedure was performed, early purveyors of the service offered to take some old or injured animal and to return it in a young and healthy form.

While many were skeptical, especially considering how different the new animal could look as compared to the original, the results largely spoke for themselves. Everything from responding to the correct name to knowing the schedule for sheering or herding animals on a farm, the animal the customer's received appeared to be nothing short of mentally identical to the one they had given up.

The process itself was far more gruesome than any customer was really interested in knowing, with one pet being essentially sacrificed for another. Through a proprietary chemical formula a living creature could be reduced to little more than a living and writhing skin, the terrifying sight appearing to have all the same mental faculties of the poor thing that had gone into its creation. With a small amount of cajoling for fresher skins, and little urging at all for those that had been stuck this way for longer, it could be convinced to wrap around a host often times known as the 'Heart' of the pair.

As the two merged, the skin slowly eroding away at the 'Heart's own flesh and reshaping the two, the 'Heart' seemingly would begin to take control with only the odd bout of sleep walking really causing any concerns.

It had taken a bit longer for the first usage of the product with humans, the noted benefit of restoring the old and infirm largely being rebutted at the notable sacrifice that would need to be made. However, once the discussion of human trails begin to spread the first volunteers quickly started to raise their hands.

It was these first few that gave researchers far more insight into just how these Second Skins truly functioned. The speed of which the 'Heart' would be fused, and even if it happened at all, was soon found to be a choice of the Skin and not some natural process. The sleep walking soon being revealed as the Skin simply exercising control over the shared body, the act also confirming that the Second Skin remained awake and aware despite all that had happened to them.

For a time, the sharing of a body was largely a last resort for those otherwise beyond saving with both sides cooperating to allow for the Second Skin to engage with the world around them. However, as the procedure spread to more and more hospitals the compounds required to make these suits began to slip out into the public at large.

From being used as misunderstood party drugs to weapons for revenge or even as an escape from one's own life, more and more people soon found themselves in desperate need for a 'Heart' to wear them.

These days the most common form in which the public saw Second Skins was through adverts for the Second Skin Center, a blending of an animal shelter and adoption agency for errant Second Skins. Everything from cats, dogs, horses, cows, and even humans could be found in these centers with the last group taking up the lion share of the catalog and the staff's time. Knowing just how desperate and hungry the Second Skins could get when left empty for too long, the centers would work tirelessly to find volunteers to pair up with their 'Stock'.

Of course, the Second Skins would not merely be given over to some stranger without any vetting. Rather, volunteers would produce an application along the lines of a dating profile. The Second Skins, after being partially and unfortunately temporarily reformed, would then assess potential pairings in the hopes of finding someone to wear them as their forever body.

After a set amount of time, the volunteer would be presented with their options. This typically would take the form of a light interview, with each of the skins having a short time to plead their case in a partially reformed state. Many would up-sell the benefits of their form, be it assets they once held that the volunteer would receive or some enticing aspect of their body. Once selected the process was rather simple, the Second Skin being let loose to take its newly appointed place around the volunteer.

In exchange, beyond receiving an all new appearance, the volunteer would be able to blend their life with their new Second Skin as much as they saw fit. However, more often then not this would have been decided before even leaving the center.

The sound of the rain hammering against the sheet metal roof is soon replaced with the loud screech of straining metal. I'm barely able to through myself back out into the freezing deluge as the thin flimsy metal roof buckles and breaks inwards, rusted fragments soon spraying downwards along with a flooding tide of filthy water.

Scrambling against the stream of water racing down the street I stumble to my feet, my footfalls sloshing through the ankle deep waters as I stagger into the pelting storm around me. I try to whip my head around, desperate to find some sort of shelter from the rain as I practically wonder why I was even out and about in this damned weather.

Suddenly I spot it, a flapping awning stretching out over the street even so slightly with a door right beneath it. With the rain pouring down I...