Sure enough, five minutes later Rhys will knock on Elijah's door. He's strapped his arm against his body with a makeshift sling to try and distribute the weight of it a bit better, but there's no visible damage to either it or him.
"Same thing that happened to anyone in the last week." Rhys replies, smoothly, leaning in to give Elijah a peck on the cheek before heading for the lab, "Jedao nailed me in the shoulder while he was having his tantrum, and it didn't come back on when I death tolled. Harry's looking into whether it's me or the arm that's still broken but I can not lug this thing around until I get scheduled for surgery."
To all intents and purposes, the arm seems to be working fine. It just won't move.
"I can look at the nervous connections," Elijah says, as he reaches for
some wires to start an interface. "I have some experience of that now, and
I can even promise not to do anything unjustifiably cruel with it."
Rhys hops backwards onto Elijah's workbench, and maneuvers his arm into a position where it can be accessed.
"Speaking of bad memories with cybernetics, Hux is thinking about getting an ECHO-eye installed. And I don't actually have access to the Lab anymore without supervision, so I definitely can't build him one on my own..."
He swings his feet, prods Elijah's leg with his toes.
"He's thinking about it." Rhys admits, his tone softening as he waits for Jedao to connect his arm to the program, "I kinda-- I hope he doesn't? I know it's irrational, but I can't get over how much I hate the idea of that being our most reliable means of treatment."
Diagnostics on the arm will come back in remarkable health. It's working perfectly fine, and registering as perfectly connected.
It just isn't receiving any instruction from the nervous system.
There's a brief moment, when prodding the augmented shoulder, that Rhys flinches pretty visibly, but he doesn't stop the investigation. When Elijah states his conclusion, he pulls a face.
"How do you-- Why do I need an X-Ray? What did you feel?"
"Your shoulders are asymmetrical and I can't tell the cause from the
outside. To put it bluntly, if you were an android I'd be recounting my
screwdrivers."
Rhys has already opened his mouth to reply, when slowly, and visibly, realisation breaks across his face.
"Okay. Right."
He brings his hand up to drag it down over his eyes, chest suddenly, stupidly tight.
"Would you help me-- I know I'm basically asking you to break a bunch of connective tendons that I'll need to fix later, but I need to get this thing off for a bit."
He's mentally charting how mand surgeries, how much longer he'll need to wait before his arm actually works again, and whether he can deal with the weight just dragging down unsupported for that long.
Rhys's breath hitches, and he draws back a little, planting his hand in the middle of Elijah's chest. He drops his head, not wanting the other man to see his eyes right now,
"Sorry. I'm not-- if we do that right now I'm pretty sure I'm gonna cry."
And you won't know how to deal with him and it'll just be awkward all over.
"...I don't mind," Elijah says, with a pause that suggests he's weighed the words but not simply invented them. "I know you're different to me, expressively speaking. But let's get this done, first."
"Right. Right. Probably easiest to do this right under the joint--"
He reaches across to dig his fingernails underneath part of his prosthetic's outer casing, just below the armpit. This part is easy. He's done it a million times before, for maintainance. A little pressure and it snaps off easily, revealing wires and cables. Rhys's hand lingers near them, tempted to just rip them out, but last time he did that it stang a little.
This time he doubts he'll feel a thing, but all the same...
He accepts them. Works the jaws of the wire cutters around the cables, and squeezes hard.
Some cut easy, others resist until he's squeezing white knuckled on the cutters. Once they're gone, he shifts his grasp to feel up under the remaining carapace.
"Ugh-- the are a couple of bolts and way more microfibre tendons in there, that'd be easier to cut off this top piece was off, but-- I am a genius who decided to point solder this in place."
His voice steadies as he talks through the problem. It's fine. Standard maintainance. Hardware issues.
"If you have an iron I could probably scrape the solder out from under the front myself, but I might need you to do the back for me?"
Although he does adjust the angle of the lighting, slightly, so he has the
best possible view of what he's doing before he gets to work. He's got
'painstaking but efficient' down to a fine art, with more delicate work
than this, and he's going to make it as painless as possible.
Getting the solder out isn't a fine detail job, just an annoyingly fiddly one, and right now nothing on the arm hurts at all. The way he described feeling with the prosthetic? Identifying pressure and heat and pain without experiencing them like he would on flesh? Right now they're just nothing. Total numbness. Like it's not even him.
He's quiet as Elijah works, just watching the other man, appreciatively.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 04:21 pm (UTC)Sure enough, five minutes later Rhys will knock on Elijah's door. He's strapped his arm against his body with a makeshift sling to try and distribute the weight of it a bit better, but there's no visible damage to either it or him.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 04:22 pm (UTC)"Come in." He steps back, ushering Rhys through to his restored cybernetics lab space. "What happened?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 04:34 pm (UTC)To all intents and purposes, the arm seems to be working fine. It just won't move.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 04:40 pm (UTC)"I can look at the nervous connections," Elijah says, as he reaches for some wires to start an interface. "I have some experience of that now, and I can even promise not to do anything unjustifiably cruel with it."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 05:02 pm (UTC)Rhys hops backwards onto Elijah's workbench, and maneuvers his arm into a position where it can be accessed.
"Speaking of bad memories with cybernetics, Hux is thinking about getting an ECHO-eye installed. And I don't actually have access to the Lab anymore without supervision, so I definitely can't build him one on my own..."
He swings his feet, prods Elijah's leg with his toes.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 05:06 pm (UTC)"I would be happy to facilitate. I assume this is in response to trauma - he's not planning to simply...reset?"
Elijah plugs in a cable, calls up the interface program he's designed for Rhys' tech.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 05:12 pm (UTC)Diagnostics on the arm will come back in remarkable health. It's working perfectly fine, and registering as perfectly connected.
It just isn't receiving any instruction from the nervous system.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 05:16 pm (UTC)"...Your prosthetic is in full working order," Elijah says, brows lifting. "How thoroughly were you checked out at the Infirmary?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 05:38 pm (UTC)Rhys scratches his shoulder, frowning,
"Harry offered me an X-Ray, but I said I'd check the hardware with you first, since the nervous connectors wouldn't show up on that kind of scan."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 05:49 pm (UTC)Elijah waves that off.
"Take off your shirt. I'm going to palpate your shoulder."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 05:57 pm (UTC)Rhys frowns a little, but does as instructed, carefully unbuttoning his shirt, and dropping it on the table behind him.
"Palpate away."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 06:04 pm (UTC)Elijah digs his fingertips in, fairly ungently scoping out the shape and structure of his augmented shoulder.
Then the other. Then he hums.
"You need an X-ray."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 06:14 pm (UTC)"How do you-- Why do I need an X-Ray? What did you feel?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 06:21 pm (UTC)"Your shoulders are asymmetrical and I can't tell the cause from the outside. To put it bluntly, if you were an android I'd be recounting my screwdrivers."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 10:13 pm (UTC)"Okay. Right."
He brings his hand up to drag it down over his eyes, chest suddenly, stupidly tight.
"Would you help me-- I know I'm basically asking you to break a bunch of connective tendons that I'll need to fix later, but I need to get this thing off for a bit."
He's mentally charting how mand surgeries, how much longer he'll need to wait before his arm actually works again, and whether he can deal with the weight just dragging down unsupported for that long.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 10:15 pm (UTC)Elijah draws in a deep breath.
"Yes. I can help you with that."
Apparently apropos of nothing, he leans in and carefully brushes a kiss across his mouth.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 10:26 pm (UTC)"Sorry. I'm not-- if we do that right now I'm pretty sure I'm gonna cry."
And you won't know how to deal with him and it'll just be awkward all over.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 11:31 pm (UTC)He reaches across to dig his fingernails underneath part of his prosthetic's outer casing, just below the armpit. This part is easy. He's done it a million times before, for maintainance. A little pressure and it snaps off easily, revealing wires and cables. Rhys's hand lingers near them, tempted to just rip them out, but last time he did that it stang a little.
This time he doubts he'll feel a thing, but all the same...
"Um. You have wire cutters within reach?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-11 11:45 pm (UTC)"Yes."
He reaches out, opens a case.
"They're sterile."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-12 12:07 am (UTC)He accepts them. Works the jaws of the wire cutters around the cables, and squeezes hard.
Some cut easy, others resist until he's squeezing white knuckled on the cutters. Once they're gone, he shifts his grasp to feel up under the remaining carapace.
"Ugh-- the are a couple of bolts and way more microfibre tendons in there, that'd be easier to cut off this top piece was off, but-- I am a genius who decided to point solder this in place."
His voice steadies as he talks through the problem. It's fine. Standard maintainance. Hardware issues.
"If you have an iron I could probably scrape the solder out from under the front myself, but I might need you to do the back for me?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-12 07:40 am (UTC)"Let me do the whole thing," Elijah suggests, voice....surprisingly gentle. "I can see what I'm doing."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-12 12:31 pm (UTC)He drops his hand from under the carapace, setting it on the workbench beside him.
"Sure. Thank you." He shifts a little, "Is this an okay angle for you, or should I move?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-12 12:32 pm (UTC)"This is fine."
Although he does adjust the angle of the lighting, slightly, so he has the best possible view of what he's doing before he gets to work. He's got 'painstaking but efficient' down to a fine art, with more delicate work than this, and he's going to make it as painless as possible.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-12 12:54 pm (UTC)He's quiet as Elijah works, just watching the other man, appreciatively.
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