un: romano | text

[badlydisarmed]

I have one question and one important announcement.

The question:

Do you pull the lever?

As for the announcement, the hospital now has a wing to treat magical maladies. Witch doctors and the like are welcome to come check it out. People with magical maladies also welcome to come get treated, I don't know how any of this shit works.

Comments

[badlydisarmed]

Can you build arms?

[fieldtrip]

... Like a working, metal arm? Huh. I dunno, I've never tried.

[ But she does love expanding her skill set, especially when it's something previously thought impossible. ]

Do you have an example?

[badlydisarmed]

Yes, actually. I have an old arm you're welcome to disassemble and reassemble as many times as you want.

[fieldtrip]

Let's get to it, then. I could use a new project.

Where d'you want to meet?

[badlydisarmed]

The hospital? I live here.

[fieldtrip]

Okay, on my way!

[ Thank god, honestly. Having something to do is infinitely preferable to sitting around listening to computer voice read her things at high speed. Toph is immediately shutting down the connection and hopping out the door. It takes her a little bit to get there since she's coming from Ramsey farm, but true to their conversation, she makes the train go at her speed. It's only a couple stops, anyway.

Toph is a tiny girl with bare feet dressed in vaguely fantasy Asian green clothes, and she comes striding into the hospital with an unfaltering confidence. ]

Hey, [ she calls out to the nearest bot. ] Where's the sassy guy with the arm? Uh... Romano?

[badlydisarmed]

[ A small child with fantasy clothes is more or less what Robert was expecting. She looks older than he expected.

Robert's a shorter than average white man who sounds exactly as bitchy in person as he did over the network. ]

I'll take sassy over bitchy, but I'd go with dickish over both.

[fieldtrip]

[ That stops her short momentarily. ]

Is that how you use dick? I don't want to sound like an idiot when I'm insulting someone.

[ It's also obvious that she's not speaking English -- they have rely on the earpieces to translate. The language Toph is speaking out loud is vaguely Chinese, with just the English word dick in the middle. ]

[badlydisarmed]

[ Robert starts speaking Mandarin, which will not be obvious given the translator, but the syntax will sound more natural to Toph. ]

Dick and asshole are for someone needlessly rude. Me, often. If anyone uses the literal meaning in your direction, you should drop them into a volcano.

Is that a thing you can make? Volcanoes?

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph has been depending on automatic translations for so long that she actually stops short, eyes widening in blatant surprise as she hears the difference. ]

Hey, you're speaking one of the languages they were in Chinatown! [ She had spent quite a bit of time there for obvious reasons. Toph bounces a little on the balls of her bare feet in excitement.

Oh right, actual question. ] Um-- no. I can't make a volcano. I've seen somebody lava-bend before, though, so I should try to figure that out.

[ Add that to her list of cool boundary-pushing bending adaptations to teach herself. ]

[badlydisarmed]

It's not the same language you're speaking, but it sounds close enough I thought it'd sound less awkward.

[ And given she cant's use body language or facial expressions to guide herself, he figured he might as well make things a little easier. Not that he cares or anything. ]

Is it like an extra sense? You can feel earth and manipulate it?

[fieldtrip]

[ Yeah, not that he cares or anything, and Toph isn't going to make a big mushy deal out of it. But. She still reaches out and up and gives him a healthy punch on the good arm. ]

Thanks.

[ And then she's moving right along-- ]

Yeah, more or less. That's actually closer than what most people guess. [ They think it's magic or something, which annoys her, because it is a part of her and more like another sense for Toph. ] You gonna show me your arm or what?

[badlydisarmed]

You're navigating the room better than most sighted people, I didn't get the impression you were doing this just by ear.

[ His prosthetic arm is laid out on a table in one of the exam rooms, he leads her to it. It is a very good arm for his time and level of technology, but very shitty in terms of what it can do. ]

[fieldtrip]

I met a guy once who does that, actually, [ she says, thinking of Matt as she trots after him. ] I'm feeling the vibrations in the ground caused by movement. Even if you're staying still, there's usually something nearby causing something to move, and it makes ripples like when you throw something in water.

[ Toph goes right up to the exam table and reaches, well, up to take the arm and examine it. Her head clears the table, but it's not exactly work station height for her. The prosthetic is way past anything they'd be capable of at home, but there is someone she knew really well who had prosthetics in Aldrip... ]

Too bad it's not a leg, [ she muses. ] I could probably make Miller's prosthetics in my sleep by now. I felt him walking around on them enough.

[ She is resolutely not thinking about how more than likely she's never going to see him again. ]

[badlydisarmed]

If I'd had a choice I'd have given up a leg rather than an arm.

[ Maybe he wouldn't have died if he'd lost a leg. He doesn't need a leg for surgery, recovery would've been much less frustrating. ]

I need finger movement. This thing can grip, but the fingers can't be moved independently, can't do anything other than grab a cup.

[fieldtrip]

I'd so rather lose an arm than a leg, [ Toph shoots back fervently, taking a moment to be shiveringly appreciative of having both bare feet on solid ground.

But she gets why other people might feel differently. ]

Hmmm. I can probably do whatever you want mechanically, but I'm no good with the flesh and blood parts. How are we supposed to get this thing to be controlled by your brain?

[badlydisarmed]

If you can make the mechanics work I can ask one of the magitech geniuses to help with the rest. Or maybe I'll see if Aurora can make it work in exchange of points, I imagine it'll be cheaper to make the arm work than to pay for a new one.

[fieldtrip]

Whoa, really? So I don't have to worry about it at all?

[ That was her whole reluctance for this project. Toph stretches up to place the prosthetic back down on the table, then rocks back on her heels and rubs her hands together, thinking. ]

Okay. Do you want it to mimic a human hand exactly, or do you want it to be, like, better at certain things?

[badlydisarmed]

Define the word better. I'm not interested in it shooting fire, but making it better at fine motion control might make-up for the lack of sensitivity.

[ This does seem like it might get him somewhere faster than Jayce, who seems unable to stop taking on projects. ]

[fieldtrip]

[ That makes her smirk. Good thing she loves a challenge. ] Just ask for the hardest thing possible, why don't you?

But it should be possible, because I'm me. Control is kind of my specialty.

[badlydisarmed]

I'm not doubting your skill, but you're twenty years too young to have a specialty.

[ He's playing, or as close to it as he gets. It's obvious this kid is some kind of super-powered genius, but she's still too young to have a specialty.

She can have a specialty once she's lived long enough for it. ]

[fieldtrip]

For most people, sure. Not for me.

[ Toph is confident enough in this that she isn't even defensive about this, she's just smugly explaining. ]

I can map this whole building in my head from one step. I just have to figure out how to translate that into something you can use.

[badlydisarmed]

Maybe you can use your fingers to walk over the arm.

[ It's a half serious suggestion. If it's about vibration, that should be informative. ]

[fieldtrip]

That just tells me what it currently does, not what you want it to do. Don't be dense.

What is it you want to do with it?