things are starting to look remARMkable

[frostythehitman]

WHO: James and YOU!
WHERE: all around town
WHEN: throughout March, starting 3/10
WHAT: He's got a slick new robot arm, and now he's figuring out how to use it!
WARNINGS: none yet!

[ a. at school ]
[ James has been trying out the new arm--and trying to be discreet about it. He's been wearing enormous, oversized, baggy jackets to try and cover the bulk of the arm, with limited success. Sure, his arm is totally hidden, but the left shoulder is still visibly higher and his upper arm is significantly thicker. Not to mention his whole left arm is also longer than his right side--the metal fingertips almost go down to the knee--giving him a very lopsided look.

But hey, who knows. Considering the jackets used to be his dad's in the 80s, they might be more attention-grabbing than his arm is. Catch him between classes or at lunch or after school, pioneering the new fashion trend called "highlighter goth." ]

[ b. on the streets ]
[ When it gets to be warm enough, though, James ditches the jackets. In fact, for a day or two, he ditches trying to hide it at all. He goes somewhere in town far away from school and just. Walks around with the arm fully exposed, trying to get used to the sort of reactions he gets. He's gotten more or less used to the awkward glance-and-look-away-politely routine people give him with his normal arm. But this...he doesn't know how people are going to respond to a bulking, obviously robotic limb with wires and vials attached.

He looks visibly uncomfortable, either looking around wildly to gauge public reaction or intently looking down to avoid it. At the very least, he can cross his arms easily for the first time in months, and that is the one thing that feels natural right now. ]

[ c. in the park ]
[ Or maybe you catch him in the park! He's outside alone, doing a bit of self-invented physical therapy with a catcher's mitt and a baseball. He spends some time throwing the ball straight up with the left hand, then catching it in the right. Over and over, he repeats it, sometimes trying out some new fancier way to throw the ball, sometimes failing to catch it.

And sometimes, he takes a break on the park bench, sweating and breathing heavy. A little odd, considering he's not really exerting much energy, just standing in place and throwing the ball to himself. ]

Comments

a

[thebeastwithout]

[Sometime during lunch about halfway through the week, someone plops a tray down next to him and sits without being invited. Gar is sporting some new long, pointy ears and it's now vaguely questionable whether he's transforming into an alien or some kind of orc or something.]

Hey, dude.

I'm here for an intervention.

Every time I look at you, I go blind for like, a good minute.

[frostythehitman]

[ The ears catch him by surprise--how long have they been like that for?--but James doesn't say anything about them. Instead, he shrugs a little. ]

Yeah? Well, that's not what I was going for, but it's not a half bad side effect.

[thebeastwithout]

I'm worried about you, man.

[Gar shakes his head.]

It's Disco Fever, huh? Yeah, I know how this goes. It starts with the clothes - like, pretty subtle at first, yeah? You're just appreciatin' the past, it's no biggie. Next thing you know, you're saying stuff like 'groovy' and 'radical'.

Then you're having disco sock hops in the cafeteria and there's no coming back.

Gonna prescribe you some Megadeth, pronto.

[frostythehitman]

[ James snorts. Yeah right, Gar, as if you listen to more Megadeth than he already does. ]

That's it? You seriously think I'm just on an ugly vintage kick?

Damn, then it must really be working.

C

[blondferret]

[Derek is always running into interesting things while jogging in the park. First Kenta with his big ass sword and now... James? Is that a mechanical arm? Sci Fi nerd ON! Derek jogs over and stops right next to the bench James is sitting on.]

Hey James.

[Derek eyes the arm.]

Did Retrospec give you an upgrade or do you have a really talented friend in mechanical prosthesis?

[frostythehitman]

[ He finally catches his breath and sits up. ]

Little of column A, little of column B. Retrospec gave me the arm, but go figure, it still needed some tweaks before I could actually use it.

[blondferret]

[Derek continues to look at the arm.]

Is that so? Huh, it's looks cool. How does it work?

[frostythehitman]

[ He snorts and forms a fist with his left hand, one finger at a time. Definitely a novelty, after the limited controls on his previous arm. ]

Beats me. I'm no engineer. But this [ he taps on the almost-neon liquid vial attached to roughly where the bicep would be ] looks like it makes the arm move on some kind of liquid power. And it hooks up to read my brain waves or something. [ He grabs one of the two bright orange wires--the one he's holding is one that snakes around his back, up his shirt, and towards the nape of the neck where it's hidden by his hair. ]

C but this would be before the 14th

[nachetanya]

[ The thing is... she's totally been there. She knows how exhausting the process of getting used to a prosthetic can be (though who knows, this one might be worse because it's alien) and while she did see his post earlier the young woman (out walking her little dog, a pug-terrier mix who is loyal enough to be off-leash) she comes over to James on the bench, sort of catching him just as he's sitting. She didn't respond to the post but she's eager to talk to him now she saw him by chance.

She smiles and, ]

Hello! Working hard?

[frostythehitman]

[ He leans back against the bench and exhales, giving her the tiniest, most tentative of smiles. ]

You could say that. Just trying to get used to the feel of this thing. How much it can do, how much it can't.

[ That's when he spots the dog. He immediately leans forward, a huge grin bursting open on his face. ]

Is that your dog? ...Can I pet him?

[ LOOK, HE JUST. LOVES DOGS, OKAY. ]

[nachetanya]

Oh, of course you can! Come on, Porshe, they want to pet you!

[ The little dog yips in a distinctly terrier way and then hops up towards the heels of the boy, excited for it! She's all over being petted! After all, she's cute...? ]

That's really an a amazing looking arm... I'm jealous, actually. Well, I guess it's a little silly looking. Hoe does it function? Is it myoelectric?

[frostythehitman]

[ He goes in to pet her with his left arm at first, but then hesitates--he has no idea if the dog will react well to being petted by a chunk of weird-looking cold metal. Nor would he be able to feel it. So he switches to his right hand for a vigorous set of head scritches and chin scritches. This is possibly the happiest he has ever looked. She's a good dog, Brent.

He gives Natalia sidelong glances here and there, and talks to her, but sorry. His full physical attention is centered on this dog now. ]

No, I think it mostly reads brainwaves from my head, not my muscles. And I'm not limited like I am with myo--I can do just about anything with this one.

[ In demonstration, he holds up the left hand and flexes each finger individually in an organic wave--nothing like the unnaturally smooth and uniform motions of his myoelectric arm and the limited gestures it allowed. ]

It's like some ugly sci-fi arm.

B

[digthefuzz]

[Kurt had been meaning to catch up with James once he heard that the groups were returning to town. And soon an opportunity presented itself! There James was, just a-walking down the street!]

Yo, James! [Except something seems... different. Kurt blinks as he realizes it.] Wait, what?

[frostythehitman]

Oh, Kurt. Uh, hey.

[ Boy it HAS been a while, hasn't it? Was Kurt even on any of the excursion teams? He can't remember off-hand.

Speaking of off hand, James waves a small greeting at him--with the metal arm. He raises it from its position crossed against his chest and holds up the hand in greeting. ]

What's up?

[digthefuzz]

[That is a very off hand indeed! Kurt spares a glance towards it, wondering if it's okay to bring it up. Ultimately he plays it safe and chuckles.]

Oh, you know. The sky... and plenty of other things! [Kurt has been meaning to tell James about the changes he went through last month...] Things have been pretty eventful, you know? Um... How've you been hanging, man?

[frostythehitman]

[ ??? Who even answers that question like that ]

Uh...fine? Just been, you know...taking it easy after spending a month in Bosuma. Not much exciting going on.

[ But let's not think about things like where he's been and what he's been doing and who he may or may not have tried to murder haha!!!! Let's focus instead on: why are you being so weird, Kurt? ]

...it's the arm, isn't it. The arm's making this weird.

c is for throw it at me

[usurpers]

[ hello james, it’s been a mighty long time. while you’re playing some ball with the new arm, eren’s been going on a solitary jog, finally without the need to slip on a jacket. during one of said throws, a catch is missed and the ball tumbles, gaining momentum down a half slope of grass and walking trail. already catching james from afar, he pulls his headphones off and dips down to cup the ball in his fingers, turning his jog into a walk and, without a glove, still imitating movemnts as if he had one. tossing the ball up once, eren takes aim and tosses it forward toward james.

he’s got some technique to it, if not just really rusty. he only played a bit as a kid, before soccer took over his life. ]

[frostythehitman]

[ Well, James WAS about to go get the ball himself, but he stops walking when he sees Eren approach and pick up the ball. He manages to catch the throw in his mitt, but just barely--he has to take a few steps to the side and lean into it enough that he nearly loses his balance and falls over. He manages to recover at the last second though.

He transfers the ball to his left hand. ]

Have you always sucked this bad at pitching, or are you just trying to test me?

[usurpers]

[ with a small grin, he picks honesty, keeping his distance and even taking an extra few steps back to accommodate another toss his way. ]

Look— It’s been years since I’ve touched one of these. And I always hated pitching.

b;

[foeyay]

[Kamui has the upperhand of not caring whether other people are uncomfortable or not. When he catches sight of James walking casually through the streets with a freaking robot arm, James' state of mind doesn't even occur to him. He dives for the arm without a second thought, not unlike a needy girlfriend desperate for an arm lock.]

Holy shit! When did you go full Terminator on me?!

[frostythehitman]

[ He doesn't have sensation in the arm, but it's hard not to notice when it's suddenly getting tugged at. He yanks it out of grasp immediately. ]

Hey, what the hell, man! Do you always go around grabbing random people's arms in the street?

[foeyay]

[Oh, boo. His cool, new toy that isn't actually his or a toy is tugged from his grasp. Kamui pouts.]

Not always. But this is definitely not the first time. [Shameless as ever.] So? What happened?

a

[livingdeadgirl]

[Ami definitely notices the jacket before the arm. She comes up behind him at his locker, confused but grinning.]

Oh my god, what are you wearing.

[frostythehitman]

[ ...Ah. Hello, Ami. It takes him a few moments to figure out how to react to her there. The last time they saw each other was, well. A less than ideal encounter. And even though they'd talked about it since, he still feels pretty unsettled by that whole experience, and some of his more recent memories.

But, you know. He'll still paste a small, awkward grin on his face for her. ]

Oh, this? You know. Just a little something I found in my dad's closet.

[livingdeadgirl]

[I mean they also would have seen each other at the high school infodump thing, but yeah. It's a little awkward. They both know things about each other (and themselves) that they didn't before, not least of which being the whole "we are both probably capable of cold-blooded murder" thing, which, y'know.

But Ami figures it's not going to make things less awkward if they try and avoid each other, and besides... she really wants things to go back to normal between them. At least a little bit. That's not too much, right?]

Uh-huh. Dare I ask why? And by "why," I mean "why does this exist," "why does your dad have one," and "why would you be caught dead wearing it in public," in any order you'd like.