Tim sat up in their computer chair and stretched their arms upwards, awkwardly, trying to relieve that feeling like their ribcage was ... bending? squishing? somethinging uncomfortably and wrong, inside their skin. They had their forearms crossed over their head, trying to actively pull their skeleton back into shape, when something ... split.

Tim yelped, caught the table to keep from falling over, and then brought their right hand up to their left side, trying to feel what broke. It didn't hurt - it didn't even hurt when it happened - but...

...there was a bone, there, that wasn't before. Between their ribcage and their shoulder, there was a new knob of bone.

Tim's eyes widened. They reached for the other side with the other, found a matching bone there, and then ran their hands through their hair. There weren't new bones there, at least. Also, they were kind of feeling a bit like nothing was real, except for the part where everything felt more real than it ever had.

"...okay", they said to themself. "Either this is happening, and I won't help myself panicking, or it isn't, and I might as well just ... stay here. Not go anywhere in case I'm hallucinating, but ... see what happens."

They leaned on the table for a moment, and then reached under their left arm again.

There was a nub there now.

Tim bent and looked, and there was a ... limb, there, below the one on their shoulder (top shoulder?). Short - maybe a handspan? - but growing longer, quickly, the skin stretching out as the bone lengthened and wrapped itself in muscle, tendons, fat. Tim reached with their right hand to lift it up and watched it lift on its own accord - no, lift because Tim wanted it to. It was Tim's. They were moving it.

Tim glanced across, and it was matched by a limb on the other side. And then both limbs were growing again. Forearms, Tim realized - arms with elbows and forearms. Tim placed their original hands on the table and rested these new arms on their chair's armrests, watched them develop.

Lifted the new arms off again to stretch them, arching their back a little and bracing on their upper arms. (Their original arms were upper arms, now. Tim didn't even notice when their brain recategorized them.) Then moved their upper arms around to the side to hold onto the armrests, moved so they could bring the lower arms in front of them and watch the wrists form.

Watch palms, thumb, fingers form.

Turn them over and look at their new nails.

---

Their first attempt at painting nails with these new arms was a bit messy. They kept at it, though. They could have twenty different colors on their fingers, now.