| open | You can't wake up, this is not a dream

[readytocomply]

Who: Bucky and You
Where: All over the mansion
When: After the event
Rating: PG; will update if needed
Summary: An arm and a cat
The Story:

ɞ Closed to Alphys: stark's not an option

[They've discussed Alphys helping him replace the arm he'd lost for the second time, and today's finally the day they attach it. It meant Bucky had to open up and tell her about some of the concerns he had; being put under, triggers, restraints, and other things, but he was ready to do it. He'd already had it worked out with Steve so that if something goes wrong, he doesn't hurt her.

He meets her at her room, knocking.]

It's Bucky.

[Yeah, this is fine.]

ɞ Open to all: i don't know what to call her

[Wonderland's doing its best to mess with his head, but Bucky's found himself in the middle of a group of people that seem to know how to help even when he doesn't know exactly what's wrong. But when they aren't around, and his head's doing all the work on its own, Bucky realizes he could use some company. He borrows Steve's dog, Dodger, sometimes and pets him or catches an hour or two of sleep with Dodger's head in his lap.

It's what bring him to the conclusion that he should ask the closet for a pet of his own. Something strong, he asks. Something fast. Something that can take care of itself. He opens the door and this comes out. It looks sad and lonely and Bucky loves her immediately.]

I didn't do anything to her. She always looks that way.

[He tells the first person who greets him as he makes his way down the hall with the cat in his arms. She's curled up, wary of everyone that passes.]

I wanted to find someone that could tell me if she's healthy.

ɞ Open to all: there's two now

[Now that Alphys has helped him out in the arm department, Bucky heads out into Wonderland in search of something to do. He'll look for someone to spar with, or talk to, though he takes a bit of time to warm up to strangers still. Mainly, he'll want to test out the arm in small ways.]

[ooc: If you want to plot or hash out any details, just hit me up at what_he_needs. Feel free to come across Bucky with the cat or his new arm anywhere in the mansion.]

Comments

SAUNTERS ON IN HERE

[sciencelizard]

[She's been working on this piece for months, and after the first lab explosion, she (probably wisely) moved it into her private workspace on the second floor. She's never made something this human-accurate before- obviously, her project for the better part of the last long-ass time was Mettaton, who, while wanting a body that was humanoid, still allowed for her to build from the ground up. Matching something, and especially to someone else's already made body, is much, much harder, especially because monsters don't have a lot of advanced prosthesis, since most go to dust after taking too much damage. But he's been cooperative, and after casting his flesh-and-blood arm the build was much easier. After that all the work went into getting the mechanics fine-tuned and making it not work on magic, which was... a little more complicated.

She's in her room, making sure all the top bits fit together. Her only real regret is that she can't really make it look like flesh, but from what she's been told, this isn't too different a plating to his old arm, so... hopefully it'll work out. She jumps a bit on instinct when he knocks, but slides herself out of her desk chair and answers the door.]

Hey! G-Good to see you. Come on in, it's p-pretty much done, I'm just, uh, g-getting fussy with it.

[She always gets fussy with her work. It's why she's so hard on Mettaton when he cracks himself doing something stupid.]

[readytocomply]

[Bucky trusted Alphys to take care of him, something that surprised him and relieved all at the same time. He didn’t trust people easily and Steve helped him with that. They both liked her, thought she was sweet. He’d hated having to tell her about himself, kept waiting for her expression to change to disgust, hatred or fear, and he still waits for that now.]

I’m sure it’s perfect.

[He steps into her private workspace, closing the door behind him. Bucky doesn’t know where or how she wants him, so he stays there, his arm hanging loosely at his side.]

Should I remove my shirt?

[Guide him Alphys, he’ll try to not disappoint.]

[sciencelizard]

[She jumps a bit at his question, because. Oh. Right. He has to be shirtless. How is this somehow harder to deal with than the actual robotics part??? Why is she likes this. She blushes, looking away from him a bit and pretending she's getting supplies.]

Y-Yeah, uhm, that'd be helpful, I mean, uh, f-for everything. Yeah. You can, uhm, f-feel free to sit down over there, uhm, get comfortable!

[WHY IS SHE LIKE THIS. She shakes her head a bit, tries to get her blush down, gathering screwdrivers and tools in her arms and bringing them over to the table near where she gestured him to sit.]

How're you f-feeling?

[readytocomply]

[Bucky’s always thought blushing was sweet, endearing too. He tilts his head down, a ghost of a smile haunting his lips as he tugs his shirt off and over his head. He folds and sets it aside, crossing the room to sit where she’s told him to.

There’s a moment where self-consciousness rolls over him in unfamiliar waves, causing his jaw to tense, shoulders to go tight, and he clenches his hands in his lap, eyes on them. There are scars spattered across his chest, torso, and back. His shoulder where metal meets flesh is a mess of white lines.]

I feel alright.

[He lowers his voice.]

Is this going to hurt?

[sciencelizard]

[Alphys isn't the judgmental type, especially towards scars, considering her girlfriend has a wicked one over one eye. Plus, monsters don't scar much- most trauma that would cause such a deep gash would kill someone. Having a scar means you were determined enough to go on. It's not a normal occurrence, in the Underground.

It makes her reach up for a second, touch at the top of her right arm to the gash there from months past, but she gets back to work.]

Uhm, I don't t-think so. There may be a shock when, uhm, the systems connect, but the magical processors s-should absorb most of the damage.

[As long as she's done everything right, she thinks, but she bets it'll be fine. It doesn't hurt Mettaton when she needs to replace or reconnect his arms, so it shouldn't hurt Bucky. Hopefully. Still, she walks over to her workbench and brings the new arm over- it's modeled to match his other one, though still metal, and absolutely missing the star- just your standard articulation, made to look as identical to his other arm as possible.]

So, uh... here it is!

[readytocomply]

[Bucky notes the way she touches her arm, briefly, and he flicks his eyes away to give her space. He’s told her a lot about himself, and it helped, but he’d never ask her questions or demand any answers.]

Alright. [A beat.] Remember what I told you? If I start actin’ funny, you get outta here. Tell Steve, okay?

[It’s only a precaution and she said it wouldn’t hurt, but better safe than sorry.]

Oh.

[He runs his fingers along the arm, stopping near the top where the star is missing. Bucky’s glad it’s gone. What it symbolizes isn’t a part of who he is anymore, it’s not who he wants to be.]

It’s perfect.

[sciencelizard]

Of c-course.

[She wants to help, but... she also wants to live. Not that she thinks Bucky is actually going to attack her, but she's pretty easy to trust, at least on a surface level. Maybe that's what growing up in the Underground does- nobody hurts each other on purpose.

But she blushes at his compliment of her work, clutching it a bit to her chest.]

I'm, uh, I'm g-glad you like it! I tried to match it to you as m-much as possible while working within, uhm, the c-constraints of how I could connect it. I'm sure it's a little, uh, different than your old one, but it'll be b-better than the, uh, other thing you had.

[She sets it down between them on the bed before taking a look at his shoulder and the attachment nodes. It should all match up, at least.]

So, uh, what's gonna happen, basically is, uhm, I'm gonna c-connect all the processors internally, and then turn on the power, which is where the s-surge might come through, and we'll make sure everything works through the sensors. So it'll be connected primarily through wire. And then if it's all working properly, I'll close it all up! Does that, uhm, s-sound good to you?