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It kinda looked like a skeleton, although he remembered just enough of a human body to know that it wasn’t quite right. He followed along with her thinking, and then had an empty pause as the other shoe dropped on what she was suggesting. Everything she had said made perfect sense.

“I can….will try.” He brought himself closer, settling himself into the mechanical limb. Feeling it out, noticing the way the parts were made to move with and against each other even if he wouldn’t be able to describe the how.

Alizarin pictured what it would be like if this were his actual hand. He tried to move the hand….only to be met with some resistance at first. It wasn’t working why wasn’t it working he’d be letting her down if it didn’t work was it making a sound that wasn’t right–wait.

Aria was the one who had helped him learn how to be calm and relax. He was overthinking it too much, like he had been when he was first drifting. That had to be it. Just think of a gesture and try it.

Wave at her.

The index and middle finger straightened while the middle finger and pinky curled inwards, and a gentle wrist motion tried to send a little salute at Aria.

Aria watched patiently, pulling up another holopad to take notes on. A noise from the limb signaled he was attempting to move it–she wrote that down. She watched carefully, eyes widening as the fingers began to move. The limb was working perfectly, joints smoothly rolling with intent, as the wrist pivoted and gave Aria a greeting.

“It…it works.” Aria beamed, excitedly bouncing in place.

Was that a ….nickname? She not only remembered his name but decided to put a spin on it? He was touched!

“You. I mean if you….” He moved into the lab and collected himself before trying again. “If you think I can help I’ll do what I can to try! I might…don’t recognize what anything is in this lab but if you give me instructions I’ll do my best.” His voice was still a little hard to read, but there was definitely some eager excitement leaking into his words.

She’d helped teach him so much and he was glad to have a chance to try and return the favor somehow.

“Perfect!”

Aria walked back into the lab, and over to a table with some parts and wires on it. Among them was a robotic limb–an arm–without the synth skin on it. Around the table on suspended holoscreens were blueprints and notes on building a reploid.

“After your last visit, I kinda got to thinking,” Aria began, taking a tool and making some last minute adjustments. “You can possess things and kind of make them move around, right? And to a certain extent, you can ‘feel’ in your own way. So that gave me an idea–if you can possess a pillow, why not a limb?”

She stepped back, satisfied with her work.

“I can....will try.” He brought himself closer, settling himself into the mechanical limb. Feeling it out, noticing the way the parts were made to move with and against each other even if he wouldn’t be able to describe the how.

Alizarin pictured what it would be like if this were his actual hand. He tried to move the hand....only to be met with some resistance at first. It wasn’t working why wasn’t it working he’d be letting her down if it didn’t work was it making a sound that wasn’t right--wait.

Aria was the one who had helped him learn how to be calm and relax. He was overthinking it too much, like he had been when he was first drifting. That had to be it. Just think of a gesture and try it.

Wave at her.

“I….I think I can just…hang on a second.” He was inside the door wasn’t he? And he’d been in and out of things like this before, so all he had to do was just leave it on the correct side. In theory it should work.

In practice it did work, and he was now inside her home. He recognized the place. “I’ll make my way up!”

Stairs. He was looking for stairs. There’s gotta be st–there they are. He didn’t make a sound as he drifted up the stairway to the second floor, but once he arrived he spoke up, both announcing his arrival and trying to get a little extra guidance in case he managed to get lost looking for her. “I just got here and I’ve already learned a new talent.”

Aria beamed, opening the lab door and stepping out in her labcoat. She looked around, quickly remembering she wouldn’t see anything and flushing with embarrassment.

“You. I mean if you....” He moved into the lab and collected himself before trying again. “If you think I can help I’ll do what I can to try! I might...don’t recognize what anything is in this lab but if you give me instructions I’ll do my best.” His voice was still a little hard to read, but there was definitely some eager excitement leaking into his words.

Cera had not at all noticed the tools being simply handed to her- but when a hammer appeared instead of a very, very precision attachment tool- “What the-?!” Now she took notice.Her tools had been slightly scattered, a few here and there moved, but only the 3 she’d touched were in her area- the bag was still a ways away.

“… Gaaate? If this is you, it isn’t funny. Whatever thing you must have made to help me malfunctioned…” Her eyes darted around the lab, looking for any shimmeriness from nanites or movement from some tiny bot, “Gate, seriously! What have I said about sneaking down here?! Or your own projects!”

Well this isn’t quite working the way he had expected. And now it sounded like someone else was going to pay for his attempts at being helpful. He had to do something about that and make things better.

“I don’t know who Gate is but they had nothing to do with this, it was my fault.”

{Starter for @alizarinclupea}

A somewhat sleepy Cera trudged down from her apartment into her lab, activating computers, machines, and pulling up schematics for the day’s projects. There was one or two for the Hunters, of course, but the big one was the one she’d been given a huge and important greenlight on.

He came across a woman, working at something. She seemed pretty content with what she was doing, and he didn’t want to interrupt her work. Maybe if he helped, she’d finish faster and he’d be able to talk. Doing someone a favor before asking them anything seemed like a good idea too.

He could feel the tears falling from above, he knew those were real. Could feel her face pressing against him warmly, also real.

He could hear a heartbeat, and he knew that was remembered instead.

Alizarin didn’t say anything for a while, not that he could figure out what else to say.

When he found his words again he still stammered some, but it was more out of being overwhelmed than the hunted ‘fighting for the strength to talk’ that his voice had been the first time they’d spoken. “Aria you-you… I feel a lot better now. A very warm and friendly hug and and I’ve got a lot to think about now and thank you you’re helping me so much.”

“Ahh–”

Aria loosened her grip on the pillow, sniffling and wiping her eyes with gloved hands.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cry all over you.” Aria softly giggled through sniffles. “You keep saying how much i’m helping you…but I still wish I could do more.”

The reploid sighed, gently setting the pillow in her lap and wiping the last of the teary residue away. She lightly laughed again, brushing her fingers over the textures of the pillowcase.

As he left the chicken, he launched it as hard as he could away from both of the pair he was talking to. It flew across the room, making a strangled SQUOARNRK noise on impact that rather spoiled the dramatic mood.

“Enough.”

Jayden let him digest her explanation, but for a second she swore the voice actually left the room. He hadn’t responded as quickly as before, but she’d give it another moment while delightfully sipping her sweet, liquid concoction. Dark chocolate mixed with her favorite espresso brand equaled a warm, pleasing hum. 

Just right. 

His voice roared back to life rambling his own musings aloud while Jayden leaned against the counter popping more grapes. Although they were some rather silly scenarios, Alizarin appeared on the right state of mind distinguishing the two. She’d throw a hand to help him.

“You’ve got the right idea about fear and surprise. Everyone interprets those two in different ways because it all depends on their experiences with the emotion, the memories they have surrounding them, or how they were taught about such concepts.” One vine of grapes plucked, but Jayden snatched another bunch from the fridge for more snacking. 

“Let me help you understand it a little more. You have the friend you’ve known for a while, then they tell you they feel like they see you as more than just friends. You didn’t expect it, you didn’t see this coming, so the natural response would be surprise. Take that same friend and you find out they were involved in some horrible accident, then you’ve become aware of a certain danger. The more your brain takes in the details, the more upset and concerned you grow. That would be fear.” 

Alizarin didn’t realize that he was basically just describing the same thing a different way, the third time if you counted Jayden’s attempt at making the scenario more generally applicable. “So going on a date would be a surprise, as would bringing them home, and then finding out they wanted to surprise you with breakfast would...even have surprise in the word, doesn’t it.

It was as if there were some memories written so deeply that even after the original page had been torn away, the impression could still be traced. Each time the conversation passed over the topic, a little more ink stayed behind, pooling in the empty memories like coffee would in the countertop if she hadn’t cleaned it up.

“But then that would. would turn to fear if they got sick? If they’d eaten something bad while cooking and it was hurting them and you were worried it was your fault for having whatever it was in there in the first place and not throwing it out because you couldn’t even remember how long ago it you’d bought it so it was probably bad and they run off the the bathroom and sound so sick and just won’t stop and--”