[META PRP] 22:30 (Buffel + Flydra)

[Yamashii]

the doctor will see you now

 

[Yamashii]

After the earlier meeting in her office, Flydra had sent Buffel a message with a listed appointment time for the examination she had mentioned. She wanted to get to the bottom of this prosthetic he was now sporting. It bothered her that he had not come to her for its installation. Was she not his primary care doctor? She frowned in irritation at the fact that that fact bothered her. The tealblood flipped over his records and reviewed them. The last lab work had come back fine but would his blood remain as pure and useful as when he had been a child? He looked like he had changed a lot.

"I wonder if the others are training at the gym." She mumbled to herself, tapping her fingers on the table. It was never fun to be the siren stuck working while the rest were hanging out but sometimes these things happened. She glanced at her fingers and wondered if the prosthetic put people off. Buffel had seemed alarmed earlier. Perhaps he did not understand the usefulness of such an upgrade?

When at last there was sound at the door, she called out to answer.

"Come in. I've been waiting for you."

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

Buffel had been nervous about his appointment ever since his awkward initial meeting with Flydra had the unexpected addition of a certain orangeblood juggalette. He'd left way too early, and as such had been pacing around the hallways waiting until he deemed it a reasonable time to be showing up. While he waited, he stared absent-mindedly into the dim hallway lights and thought about Flydra's new "upgrades." She'd brushed off the initial loss of her arms, but the gunslinger knew better than anyone the kind of effect that can have on a troll. He never considered himself a wordsmith, but he'd have to tread lightly around the topic if he was going to get her to open up about it.

The metal clang of robo-fist against metal door bounded down the halls once again, and Buffel entered upon hearing Flydra's voice. Now that he wasn't being caught off-guard by Punkie, he took a moment to inspect her office a bit. All neat and regimented like the lab back at her hive, just more condensed. The average person might assume she hadn't been able to add any personal affectations to the room yet, but he knew better. She'd made herself more than comfortable in her temporary base of operations.

”Howdy, Fly. 'Preciate you squeezin' me into your actual appointments on such short notice.”

He stood awkwardly in front of her desk. Normally instruction would've already been given before he'd had a chance to manage a 'hello,' so he was at a bit of a loss.

”So uh, what's the procedure now Doc? Anything specific we need to cover?”

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

"You will show me your prosthetic." Flydra's eyes went straight to the metallic hand poking out of his jacket. It obviously bothered her greatly that she had been unaware of this drastic change. She slipped a glove onto her right hand and reached to roll his sleeve up to inspect the limb. Her lips pouted. It was not how she would have done it but not a bad job. It annoyed her that she did not have a good reason to yank it off him and replace it with a creation of her own.

"It is in adequate working condition however whoever installed it was a bit... unorthodox. Please remove your top so I may get a better view." She motioned for him to sit down in one of the chairs. It was uncomfortable how tall he had grown since they had last met. Not bad, just different. The bags under his eyes were still present and familiar at least, even if it was a bad sign that he still wasn't resting properly.

"... how did this happen to you, Buffel?" At last, she asked what had been truly bothering her. She remembered his help on the mission with Scorpa. He was more than capable of fighting and protecting himself. He had to have gotten tangled up in something incredibly dangerous for him to have gotten hurt, much worse lose a limb.

If somebody had bullied him, they would have a whole choir of sirens to answer to.

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

Buffel removed his duster and unbuttoned his sleeve, rolling it neatly above his elbow. He still had trouble looking at it. The part where flesh ended and metal began. A hint of scar tissue peeked from under the metal but it looked surprisingly clean for what had been such a grizzly amputation.

”Sure thing. It's not all as bad as it might look fer others.” He noticed her pout as she traced her own mechanical fingers across his arm. Perhaps the abrupt nature of his surgery had caused his new arm to be a bit rushed in terms of quality? Her response shortly thereafter removed such doubts from the yellowblood's mind.

”Yeah, it was a bit of a slapdash affair, but it's got a surpring amount o' perks up inside it!” He untucked his shirt and began unbuttoning it. It was still strange for him, watching his left arm loose the buttons from his shirt without feeling a thing. The gunslinger was not prepared to lose his shooting arm, and he wasn't anywhere near the trick-shot he was as a kid anymore now that he was readjusting to his "Finger-Guns." He'd begun slipping his arms out of his shirt when Flydra asked him what the cause of his injury was. There was something different about her voice in that question. It wasn't anything that he could nail down specifically, like a quiver or something but it just felt ever so slightly more...expressive than usual.

”It's uh...it's a long story. I was down by the beach. Near Polair's. there was this...beast. Nasty bigg'n, thrashing up and down the coast, it was wreckin' the seadweller's abodes and such, so we-, um I went out to fight it...” The lowblood measured his words. He didn't want to talk about The Spirit. He couldn't.

”It uh, got the better of me and just,” he pantomimed a large mouth chomping down with his arms, ” an' tossed me galley-west onto the shore, and when I woke up Lee'd given me a this here contraption.”

He moved his arm about, letting the fingers curl in and out in succession. He watched them move, wishing he could trust them to move. Wishing he could feel them move when they did. If he couldn't do that, how could he expect himself to get any better at shooting again?

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

He had escaped without much scarring which was surprising considering the story he told her. Flydra was relieved at this, reaching to take his hand with both of hers, moving his fingers and palm to see the smoothness of the motion and test its quality. The arm was heavier than she expected which meant there had to be extra components to it. Probably weaponized in some fashion.

"Polair and Lee are friends of yours?" She did not recognize the names but it was good bedside manner to take an interest in a patient's routine life. What kind of people were they? What were their relationships to Buffel? She realized she didn't know much about him at all, other than what she had listed in his file. Was he bothered by the new arm or did he embrace it as a new way of life? Did he think himself damaged or improved?

"That sounds like a difficult battle. You must have been in the hospital a long time afterwards. Were the others injured as well?" Without asking, she began to unscrew something on the arm to get a look at the pieces inside. She laced her fingers through his and held onto his hand to keep him from jerking the prosthetic away.

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

”Oh yeah, Pol she's uh...”

The gunslinger rubbed the back of his head with his off-hand, blushing slightly from the question and Flydra's proximity while he was sitting there shirtless. Definitely one or both were causin' his pumpbiscuit to rev up like a jackhammer.

”We go back aways. And uh, Leeroi helped with the space tower back when we were buildin' it, we've been thick as thieves ever since!” He wondered if Leeroi also joined up for this as well. The yellowblood hadn't really been in contact with anyone since he went off the grid right after the surgery, aside from a few letters.

As Flydra continued the conversation, Buffel's mind was transfixed on his metal hand. He couldn't feel it, but he watched as her metal palm slowly brought his up to face height and slowly laced it's fingers into his. He shook his head as he became aware he was being asked a question.

”Uh, yeah, I was there a few nights I think before I woke up or somethin'. They got some scrapes an' cuts but nothin' grizzly like thi-...say, uh, what are you doin' here?”

He pointed at his now open metal arm quizzically.

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

"Ah, I see, you like her. Have you told her yet, Buffel?" She noticed the flush that spread across his face at her question. Flydra supposed Buffel was older now, they all were. Forming quad crushes were a healthy and normal activity from this point on. Her main concern was that he had implied this Polair was a seadweller of some kind. Most seadwellers she knew would stick to pairing up with midbloods or highbloods. But she supposed sometimes rare exceptions to that expectation happened.

"As for what I am doing, I am examining the wiring inside your prosthetic. Whoever created this went about it differently than I would have. As such, I must familiarize myself with it in case you encounter malfunctions or need repairs." Interesting, the fingers had been converted into projectile firing mechanisms, much like her own darts. Only his would fire actual bullets. It looked like the engineer had done some work to prevent Buffel from feeling too much recoil. Impressive.

"Are you alright? You keep staring at your hand as if something is wrong." Perhaps there was something more to this missing limb than his gruesome story of danger and adventure. Not all trolls considered prosthetics to be a miraculous improvement. It was possible that the yellowblood was the kind of troll to be uncomfortable becoming part machine.

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

”WHAT?! Like her, no I- Uh....it's...complicated.”

The gunslinger sighed. He was trying his best to avoid Polar ever since they parted, but he was having trouble with the space program. There was no telling if he'd be paired up with her on a ship at any moment, and the concept had him on high alert.

”I have told her, though. It's just...it's nothin' that's gonna come of anything. At least for a long while.”

His eyes stayed fixed to his hand as she worked. He still wasn't used to it. Seeing the wiring all open. Watching her probe away at the internal fixin's of his new forearm. It was almost like a case of phantom limb. He felt like their should be pain, but only saw her careful hands hook and unhook wires, or trace them up the forearm to assess what they did without damaging the system. Upon hearing her question, he shook his head, not prepared for questioning.

”Huh? Oh, naw, nothin's wrong, it's just...I'm not...quite used to the arm yet. Feels like I'm watchin' my real arm get operated on, but I know it isn't. And also I er...I like to...watch you work. Yer real methodical about it, and I dunno, it's...comforting.” He laid back in the chair, relaxing his shoulders a bit. The back of the chair was cool to the touch, and he froze up for just a moment as he leaned backwards.

”So you can take yer time is all I'm sayin'.”

Yamashii

BACK TO THIS BLUSHFEST

 

[Yamashii]

He looked similar to a machine short circuiting. She watched with curious amusement, trying to understand what the problem between Buffel and his partner could be. He was charming, sweet and easily obedient. Why would this Polair person refuse him?

"Why did she refuse you? I cannot see any flaws to reject you over." The doctor frowned, unsure of why this fact bothered her. "I suppose a seadweller might prefer someone of a higher caste. Would it help to have testimony of your character from a highblood?" Flydra was not a highblood herself, being only of teal blood, but she knew Lorata would vouch for Buffel to this Polair person if asked. Perhaps she could track the troll down without his permission anyways.

She continued to unscrew and dismantle more and more pieces of him, eager to get at the core of what had been installed. Once it was all laid out in front of her, she would be able to understand it completely and offer advice on upgrades and replacements. When he commented on the highly organized and systematic way she worked, the tealblood smiled.

"Thank you. Prosthetics are just as serious as a flesh limb and so I treat them as such." She glided her hand across the cool metal, admiring it. "To disrespect an operation by being flippant or careless would be dangerous and the same goes for mechanical operations." She looked back up to his eyes.

"You know... everything complicated can be unpacked into smaller manageable pieces if you try. Go on, explain it to me. All of it. Why it would not work between you two." She did not explain why she wanted to know. Her eyes did not look away from his. His prosthetic lay in neatly divided piles on the table as if to prove her point.

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

Buffel was blushing furiously at this entire conversation. He would've moved away in shock at the question had she not been operating on his arm.

”Sh-she didn't exactly ref- wait, any flaws at all? Really?”

But the tealblood was already considering possibilities why he might be rejected by her. He held his organic hand up at her offer, partially out of politeness and partially because of how flushed his face was. She'd think he was running a fever at this point.

”N-NO that won't be uh, necessary, please don't uh, tell Lorata to do anything....like that. It's not like a fixable thing, Fly, it's just...complicated.”

As she finished her dismantling of his arm, his trance over the process briefly dispelled and he saw she was staring into his eyes. He held her gaze as she spoke to him.

"You know... everything complicated can be unpacked into smaller manageable pieces if you try. Go on, explain it to me. All of it. Why it would not work between you two."

He couldn't rip himself from her gaze, despite how much he wanted to. He began to speak, only for his words to fail him. His mouth closed once again and he managed to take his eyes away. He looked at the neat little pieces of his arm, lined up all together and divided into groups. Small, manageable little groups.

The yellowblood sighed.He let out a small chuckle as his eyes came back up to meet her gaze again.

”You really are somethin' else, Fly. You know that?” He tilted his head back, unable to shake the smile that formed. This girl was a genius at getting him to think about things in a way he hadn't before.

”It's honestly not even about her, y'know. Not really. I uh...I lost someone...someone really important to me, and it wasn't her. And so it's just safer to keep everyone at an arm's length. At least for me, for a little while.”

His head still back, he glanced out of the corner of his eyes back to her again and added, ”Well...almost everyone.”

Yamashii

 

[Yamashii]

He said that Polair hadn't refused. Then what had happened...? Flydra watched him stammer and flush in awkward embarrassment. Reaching forward, she placed her cool metal hand to his forehead to feel his temperature. While she could not feel it herself, the sensors in her prosthetic would be able to tell if he was running hot or normal. Hmm, it seemed he was physically fine.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Buffel. I wish I could help but only time can heal that." Her hand pulled back from his forehead.

"When you lose something important, some people push everything else away but-" She raised an eyebrow as she surveyed his body language. "Some find it better to keep the rest of their things even closer." The tealblood glanced to the pile of metal on the table next to them, considering it. The idea of Buffel losing another limb or possibly suffering something worse was upsetting. She needed him and his blood for Scorpa's reserves.

Or perhaps she ought to admit that Buffel's companionship was important to her. Even if she didn't have a clear idea of what that feeling was quite yet.

"Additionally, don't think that everyone will be willing to stay at the distance you keep them at." While he sat with his head back looking up to the ceiling, she reached forward to awkwardly put her hands on his shoulders at first before moving them around his torso in a loose hug. Somehow, physical affection came so easily with Scorpa but with Buffel, she was nervous.

tenaciousgadabout

 

[tenaciousgadabout]

Buffel flinched slightly at her touch, the cool metal chilling his forehead. He hoped her bionic arms didn’t come with any sort of sweat sensor. As she pulled back, he nodded his head at her condolences, still facing away.

”That’s what they say, right? Hopefully this time away from everyone makes it go by quicker.”

At her response, he chuckled. ”I’m sure not everyone will, b-”

Her hands were on his shoulders. He looked towards her now, unsure what was happening. She slid in closer for what he gathered was a hug. He froze up for a moment from the cold metal of her arms, and because he hadn’t had all that much physical contact of any kind in a fairly long time. He brought his right arm around her, and what was left of his left arm up around as well. He squeezed tightly, hoping he wouldn’t hold on for too long. Part of him didn’t care if he seemed weird in the moment though, only that he could sit in that moment for as long as time or Flydra would allow. He wasn’t sure what to make of the good doctor most of the time, but he couldn’t deny there was a reason beyond prosthetic upkeep that caused him to come to her office earlier that night. He cared about her, whatever that really meant, and he couldn’t keep everyone he cared about at an arm’s length. So she would be an exception.

Reaching around her back as he swiped a stray tear from his face before she could notice it he couldn’t help but admit to her,”...but I think you might be right. I think in some cases it might be good to get a bit...closer to some people.”

He loosened his grip to bring his full arm to her back, rubbing it softly.

”Thanks Fly.”

Yamashii