lend a (robotic) hand?

[smugreport]

Passengers: Rhys and YOU
Location: Dorms, Infirmary
Date: April 7th
Summary: Rhys wakes from the sim with low robo-part batteries
Warnings: none (yet)



Dorms (OTA)

[ Rhys wakes with a start like it was all a bad (really bad) dream, breathing hard and drenched in sweat. It's all pure panic for those first few moments as he comes back to himself, back from his "death", organic hand patting over his face and robotic arm to assure that they're intact and normal.

Finally he sits up, moves the scrub both his hands over his face....but the robotic one doesn't follow the organics lead. He pauses mid motion, one hand in his hair, the other unmoving beside him. ]

Oh...oh shit.

[ He scrambles up from his bed in an attempt to quickly get to his trunk of belongings and get at the tools he needs for a recharge (please please let it only need a recharge) but the dead weight of the arm messes with his balance, making him unsteady in his haste, barely catching himself on the mattress when he falls. ]


Infirmary (OTA)
[ He doesn't want to leave the infirmary if he can help it. It's safe in here, warden protection gur-an-tee, no chance of some asshole looking for the opportunity to get him while he's down an arm or take the arm himself. He can't help but feel pretty vulnerable while he's in a state like this, even as he sits securely in the infirmary on one of the beds, scrolling through his commlink balanced on his lap and occasionally glancing at his arm to check the charging status.

The one issue with wanting to seek shelter while doing this is that he is BORED, and he'll welcome (almost) any company at the moment, especially if it prevents him from having to think hard on what happened in the Simulation. ]

Comments

[smugreport]

Well, yeah. I meant besides the existential body horror and dying in the woods.

[ Which was extremely bad! But there's a specific part that's really stuck with him compared to how dream like the rest of it all feels now. ]

I've been down an arm and an eye before. It sucked having to go through it all again.

[ After than final confrontation with Jack where he tore his augmentations apart as a last ditch measure to escape, he'd woken up amongst the rubble of Helios, broken down and completely alone.

They'd taken his arm before they took Vaughn in the SIM, and it was something in area X that exploded his eye, but the end result had been the same.

After everything he'd built up, he had nothing left. ]

[nineteenfortyfive]

[It's some sincerity and vulnerability Claire didn't expect, and it makes her take pause. She glances over at his charging arm, then back to the spot where it should be on his body.]

Do you want to talk to me about it? Tell me what happened?

[Rhys talks a lot, but it does make a difference when someone actually offers to listen.]

[smugreport]

[ No ones really asked him about the Helios crash, about Jack or Pandora. Not that he's really given anyone the opportunity. Vulnerability is like blood in the water on places like Helios, and he's treated this place with the same mindset even as part of him yearns to get it all out there. ]

A malignant virus got into my original hardware. It was going to kill me, so I didn't have the luxury of getting my augments removed properly by a professional.

[nineteenfortyfive]

[She frowns.]

Don't tell me you took matters into your own hands.

[smugreport]

I didn't have much of a choice at that point. H- it was getting into all of my sub systems, if I didn't get rid of the infected parts I was going to die.

[ Speaking of infection still not sure how much of his personal luck supply he used up avoiding getting a major one, especially in his temple port where he'd used shrapnel to tear out the metal fittings. ]

[nineteenfortyfive]

Christ.

[It's done and over with, but Claire still doesn't like imagining the horror of ripping out parts of himself.]

It must have taken a lot of strength and courage to make such a decision.

cw some body horror stuff?

[smugreport]

....yeah.

[ Then, with more conviction ]

Yeah.

[ It's not like he hasn't thought about how everything that happened once he and Jack hit the ground made him brave, made him the winner. He'd said as much before he dislodged the four feet of wire hanging from his eye socket. But to have it affirmed like that means more to him then he realized it would.

He wonders momentarily if she'd feel the same if she had the whole story, before deciding that she should. Regardless of what brought him and Jack to that moment, it would have always have ended the same, he knows that now. Taking Jack down for good was a personal service to the 6 galaxies, right? He's basically a hero.

If Rhys had the self awareness to catch it, he'd realize just how close his thought patterns remain to the man he now despises.]

[nineteenfortyfive]

And I think someone with those traits can accomplish a lot of good in the world. Not just for their own merit.

[She gives him a pointed look. But it softens as she continues,]

But let's not make that a trend here, Rhys.

[smugreport]

[ That first part isn't going to hit him the way it should just yet, but it gets filed away all the same. ]

The bravery part or the having to hack my own limbs off part? Because believe me, if it's the latter I'm right there with you.

[nineteenfortyfive]

The latter. I don't mind the company, but I'd rather you not be in any infirmary bed, missing parts.

[So.]

Don't confuse bravery and foolishness.

[smugreport]

I will endeavor to keep all my limbs intact from now on.

[ Speaking of ]

It's probably done charging by now.

[nineteenfortyfive]

I'll keep you to that.

[She's really hoping to not deal with missing arms or eyes.]

Do you need my help to get it back on?

[smugreport]

Nnnno, but if you're offering...

[ Then yes! he can manage but she'd sure make it easier and he trusts he enough not to drop it. ]

[nineteenfortyfive]

I am, only so that someone else knows how to do it in case of an emergency.

[Always thinking of worst case scenarios, this one.

And maybe she has her own little file on him. Somewhere. Ahem.]

[smugreport]

C'mon, you've been eyeing this thing since I got on this ship! I know you wanna hold it.

[ Said with a bit of a sing song lilt and a stupid eyebrow wiggle. ]

Just uh- just be really careful.

[nineteenfortyfive]

[Claire rolls her eyes, but doesn't argue that because



he's not wrong. Oops. She's very, very careful when she takes that metal arm, holding it on her lap so she doesn't drop it and can inspect it closely.]

I've never been very mechanically-minded. But I can still find this very neat.

[smugreport]

[ He makes a mental note of how she's true to her word and careful with it, it's appreciated even if he doesn't say as much. Instead he looks stupidly smug, nodding along to her compliment. ]

That it is! Coming by the right supplies when I had to rebuild on Pandora was a real hassle, so that baby is getting an upgrade as soon as I can source the parts. The wetware is probably something I'm stuck with which sucks, but I'm going to give it all that special Rhys touch as far as I can take it.