Machinations of the Mind // Roleplay with Eris

Ryan reached out, this time with his real hand. Typically if he didn't like someone, he would use the metal arm to shake, no matter which hand the other puts out. The real hand was a sign of respect. He gave Thea a firm shake, wondering why the guy barely returned any force.

"I could use some help with the whole disconnection system, as well," he admitted. In reality, he was way out of his league with the biology shit. The wires were an absolute mess, they hurt like a bitch, and would falter from time to time, resulting in painful jabs that ran all the way through his body. And it took him well over an hour to take out an arm, leaving him with a mess of wires just floating around his torso. Only a photographic memory saved his invention from being doomed. "It becomes a bit of a mess, if I'm honest."

"Well–and do not hold me to this as I've never tried it before–but if my idea works I should be able to rewire your entire system and connect it to your spine…" Her voice trailed off as she stood, coming up to Ryan's side. Her cool finger gently touched the base of his neck. "Here. Think of it as a channel for all the information to pass through instead of having wires for every little thing. I trust you could build something like this with a little guidence." That arrogance returned. Thea was relying on it at this point, but only because it was a comfortable persona for her.

But it completely stunned Thea was that he was actually listening to her idea. Nodding along as she spoke further, explaining how the structure she described would require little maintence as well. Breifly laying out a plan that he would understand. Ryan actually looked mildly intrigued when he glanced up at her again. But it's because he thinks I'm a man….no way he would listen if I was….Thea.

She cleared her throat, feeling the frown re-etch itself to her features. Dragging her finger from his neck to his mechanised shoulder she tapped it once. "All connections would come to an end here. It would make disconnecting very simple."

"I never messed with the spine," he admitted, repressing a shiver as the guy's finger gently traced a line from Ryan's neck to his shoulder. His hands are so….soft. How the hell are they that soft? For a moment, the thought of kissing Thea passed through his mind. Which was weird as shit, since he never had a gay thought in his life before now. Without realizing it, Ryan had pushed Thea's hand off of his shoulder. "Too much shit could get fucked if I cut the wrong thing or break something. Plus, it's hard to actually reach when you do all this shit by yourself." Now please go sit down, before I do something I'm gonna regret.

Thea immediately snatched her hand back and moved away. Good god, what had she done? Praying that Ryan wasn't a gossip, she sat back down on her bed, as far away from him as she could get. Last thing she needed was it getting out that Marius Renaud was attracted to men. Her brother would kill her. Thea hadn't even realized–

Her lungs contracted horridly in her chest. She hadn't meant it that way. At all. Thea's lips pressed into a thin line. "Well–perhaps someone with your skill could not accomplish it." Straight shoulders, look down your nose, frown, deepen voice. Goddammit she was exhausted. "But thankfully I am more than capable. The procedure will hurt though. I'll be fusing the mechanics to your bone structure. I have medicines and draughts that will assist, as I mentioned before, but I'm no magician. You'll wake up fixed, but not cured."

"I walk around hurt," he said, rolling his eyes at the insults the guy kept on trying to worm into the conversation. "I suffered severe nerve damage all up my left side. I get ghost limb, shooting pains, all that shit. So you can do what you gotta do" The expression on his face betrayed no hint of a lie. Because there was none. Ryan was as tough as they come and proud as hell about it.

"Attention, all students!" A metallic voice reverberated around the room, making even Ryan jump in surprise. Damn hidden speakers. "Report to the lunch hall for dinner!" Fairfax found the cheerful tone of voice grating.

"Come sit with me," he said as he stood up from the bed and dusted himself off. "I need to do a bit of brainstorming for the new design before I can begin to make a system that could work with your idea." Thea offering to help Ryan was a favor. He didn't like favors going unanswered. If they managed to pull this off, he would be forever in the surprisingly feminine man's debt.

Almost all of the students were in the lunch hall by the time they got into the extravagant room, but there were still plenty of open tables for them to sit at. Being the simple man he was, Ryan chose the closest one and plopped down into the seat, setting his real arm on the table while the fake one seemed to hover in the air.

Thea sighed heavily. Seems she had unintentionally made a friend. Damn her curiosity. But it was nice to be invited to sit with someone. The thought immediately made Thea scowl as she sat down. My god was she so weak? She crossed her arms with a huff, copying Ryan's more relaxed lean-sit from the corner of her eye. Not a single man in the room sat with their back straight so seemed like the right thing to do.

It was so comfortable, Thea almost cried. The absence of her corset helped immensely, she could finally relax it seemed. Well–sorta.

The silence between them was odd to say the least. The kind of silence of once forced into a social situation with someone they'd rather dump their tea on. Thea's knee began to shake upside down, obviously putting her nervous energy into something. What to say…what to say….?

"Oi!" A voice shouted as an extremely thin young man with light brown hair approached their table. He had a redfaced, black haired boy in a headlock, but seemed to be paying a little attention to him. "Ev'rthin else is taken. Can we?" He motioned to the empty chairs. Ryan shook his head just as Thea nodded and there was another moment of awkward silence as they all exchanged a glance.

Finally the light haired boy shrugged and sat down, tossing the other boy into the chair next to him. "Tommy. Tommy St. John. That one over there is William Keller." Smiling, the light haired boy introduced himself and his friend. "Nice ta meet cha!"

Thea nodded carefully, refusing to take the Tommy's out stretched hand. "Marius Renaud."

Ryan passed Thea a death glare before shaking their hands with his metal arm. "Ryan Fairfax."

"Fuckin' shit, mate, are you an automaton?" St. John asked, taking a moment to stare at Fairfax's handiwork.

"No. I lost my arm in an accident and made that instead," Ryan responded, pulling the arm back. The effect it had on the two newcomers was the exact opposite of what he wanted. Instead of provoking fear, it only sparked their interest.

"That's bloody amazing," William said. His eyes were only half-open and a sleepy smile graced the young man's lips.

"This fuckin' wanker over here stayed up too late last night at the pub an' can barely keep his eyes open, "St. John said, giving his friend a hard punch on the shoulder. "It's a miracle he even made it into this damn school."

"Hey, asshole, I scored higher than you in the entry exam," the black haired boy shot back, returning the punch before turning to Thea. "What's your story, mate? How'd you get in here?"

"I'm a Chemist." Thea retorted. And that was that. She stared at the three men and they stared at her. Was she supposed to say more? She didn't have a 'story' and it was safe to say that she couldn't rely on Marius' actual life. Her brother had flunked out of every school their parents had ever sent him to. He was more than content to live his life in the thrall of the city underbelly, throwing punches and getting punched.

After a long moment, "I focus on Alchemy and Reanimation studies." The words tumbled out of her lips just so they'd stop looking at her. Thea added a careless, arrogant shrug, looking off to study the rest of the room.

Tommy kept staring at her for another minute or so, before shrugging himself. "We're both Astrology." He told the table, slapping William on the chest withe back of his hand. "Been friends since primary school. Figure it 'bout time to make new friends, eh?" He grinned widely, gaze flickering back from Thea to Ryan and back again.

William rubbed his forehead, sighing. Ryan looked like it was the last thing he wanted ever. And Thea–Thea wanted nothing more than to return to her room and drown in the blankets on her bed. A headache was beginning to pound between her brows. Curses.

"Yeah, sure." Surprisingly, that came from Ryan, who ran a hand through his short hair. "Astrology is nothin' but bloody lights in the sky for me. Maybe you could help."

By then, the waiters began rolling out the trolleys full of food. The waitress for the foursome's table looked absolutely terrified of Ryan and you couldn't really blame her. The guy was huge as hell, with scars littering his body as if they were freckles. His hair was cut messily since he did it by himself, he wore an expression that was harder than stone, and he had a bloody metal arm. It was something straight out of a scary book. Like Frankenstein.

The food was put in front of them with haste, the woman pushing the cart away as fast as she could without getting in trouble when she was done. Beef, mutton, pork, bacon, and the vegetables that were in season littered their plate. The three boys dug in immediately, forks and knives flying across the plates. Unsurprisingly, Ryan finished first. Next was Tommy, and last was sleepy William.

Thea had barely gotten two-thirds of the way through her plate of mostly vegetables, when the others dropped their forks with satisfied smiles. The rate in which they had all inhaled their food had alarmed Thea to the point where she thought she'd have to perform an emergency Heimlich on at least one of them. It was enough to make her nauseous with anxiety. She did drink heavily from the pitcher of wine placed in the center of their table. The warmth of the sweetly bitter alcohol easing the tightness in her muscles slightly, except Thea's headache seemed adamant to pound ruthlessly behind her eyes.

"Ahhhh–" Tommy sighed, leaning back in his chair and throwing an arm over the back. "Good grub. Not tha' I'd expect any differen'. Not from this place." He blenched quietly under his breath. Grinning from person to person. His grin was boyish and large, and Thea couldn't help the twitch of her lips in response.

"I don't suppose you saved room for dessert?" She asked around the lip of her cup. It was an honest question because how could any of them still be hungry?

All three of them perked up immediately. "Dessert?" William asked, looking around the room as if it would have just appeared. Thea hid her laugh but taking a deep drink of her wine.

"Never doubt a man's need for dessert." Tommy said seriously. William nodded sagely. And a sly look out of the corner of Thea's eye showed her that Ryan was smirking the tiniest bit.

She couldn't help it. Couldn't have held it in even if she had an iron will–

Thea laughed.

Ryan's smirk didn't grow, but it didn't go away, either. For once, he felt…content. The wine was working his system well, numbing the pain in his waist and the frustrations in his head so much that he was even enjoying the newcomer's presence. Typically rich people annoyed the shit out of him, but thee two seemed to be the rough type. The kind of people he got along with.

"If it don't got chocolate, I don' want it," William said, letting out a loud yawn and rubbing his eyes. "It's the only thing I can eat wit'out a tummy ache."

"What man says 'tummy?'" Ryan asked, suddenly sounding like a normal guy instead of the angry steampunk cyborg that Thea had first met. His face was beginning to soften up ever so slightly. Only someone who'd been paying attention to him the whole dinner would notice it.

"D-dessert…?" the waitress was back, still quivering in her boots over Ryan's appearance.

"I do hope there's chocolate, or you'll have a riot on your hands." Thea retorted out of the side of her mouth. Chocolate actually sounded amazing at the moment, so the chemist sat up from her casual slump to look over at the assortment the waitress had brought over. The poor girl looked like a terrified rabbit, eyes darting from her tray to Ryan and back again. Thea wasn't sure if she wanted to roll her eyes or send the girl back to the safety of the kitchens. The next time the girl met Thea's gaze, the chemist smiled softly, trying to get the damn girl to relax. To her horror, the waitress blushed furiously and turned away to face William entirely.

Thea blinked, surprised. What? What had just happened? But I wanted dessert…..???

William scooped up two pieces of cake that just looked like chocolate covered in more chocolate. Tommy followed suit, and adding a small glass of brandy to his assortment.

The waitress turned sharply once more before darting off. "Wait–!" Thea reached out a sorrowful hand towards the retreating delicacies. For a second she was so upset that she though she might burst into tears. Only Ryan's huff of annoyance brought her back to her senses.

"Stupid fuckin'…" Ryan said, contemplating standing up and shouting, It's jus' a fuckin' arm! after their waitress. His anger was strong enough to sober him up on the spot. "How the hell did she even get a job? I can't be the strangest motherfucker in here."

"No, you are not," Tommy said cheerfully, sliding over his extra slice of cake. William was about to do the same until he realized both of his plates were empty. "There is a Professor here by the name of Mr. Horan who is missing both eyes and most of his teeth. He has to be hand-fed by the workers because he can never get the spoon in his damn mouth."

A chuckle. The faintest hint of one, but the deep rumbling could've only came from one source.

"Here," Ryan said, passing the slice onto Thea, who looked surprisingly emotional about missing out on a dessert. "I've eaten enough tonight, anyways."

"It's just a piece of cake." Thea muttered, thinking strongly about turning her nose up at it. But it did look really good…and the happy noises emulating from Tommy was evidence enough of it's taste. The need for chocolate was real, and Thea was weak as hell in this moment it seemed.

She sighed heavily, pushing the plate back towards Ryan. He glared at her and pushed it back. Thea's own glare responded in kind, and was almost as impressive. She went to push it back again, but Ryan's real hand came down on the other side of the plate. They were both pushing and the cake was not moving an inch between them.

William and Tommy's gazes bounced between the two, looking highly amused. "The rivalry is strong with these two." William stated as if he had just solved all the questions of the universe, while Tommy chuckled hoarsely.

"How long have you two been friends–or well– at each other's throats?" Tommy asked, knocking back his brandy with a soft hiss. He was slouching in his chair again, but the sharpness in his gaze could not be denied.

Thea huffed, releasing her side of the plate. She took a fork and sliced the cake in half, dumping the larger portion onto Ryan's plate. "We're not." She hissed, taking a massive bite of her own half.

"We're bunked together," Ryan grumbled, taking an equally massive bite of his own. Round for round, he was gonna match this pompous asshole. While…..also allowing him to rewire his entire body. This is gonna be a very strange year.

"Look at you two, actin' like a married couple already," Tommy said with a large grin. "Bickerin' and shit. It's cute."

"Unless you want my metal arm up your ass, I'd suggest you shut up," Ryan growled back, his face twitching with anger.

William leaned over and whispered into his friend's ear, "I'd suggest you shut up."

After all of the food was cleared from the tables and everyone finished their drinks, the tables were cleared out to the perimeter of the lunch hall. Music began playing over the same hidden speakers that had scared Ryan only 45 minutes before and the spacious room was instantly filled with the sound of 58 voices talking all at once.

And that was Thea's queue. She had proven several times over that socializing as a man was not her forte. Besides, she really wanted to bathe without worrying that Ryan may accidentally barge in on her. As her classmates milled about, introducing themselves and chatting amicably, Thea moved to slip out of the room.

"Oi! Marius! Where you runnin' off to?" Christ–first Ryan, now these two.

Thea turned to the curious looks of William and Tommy–and Ryan glaring over their shoulders. As she'd seen her brother do a thousand times, she smirked and raised her hand in a casual salute. "Sorry, gentlemen. I prefer books to people." With that she strode out the door quick enough that their response was lost in the noise in the room.

Headache pounding, Thea practically ran to her dorm, her lower back and abdomen beginning to cramp up in the most awful way. "Fuck–!" She cursed, bursting through the dorm door. Dread pooled in her stomach. Why hadn't she thought of this before? Of all the careful planning that she had done with her brother and Uncle, this was the one thing that she forgot?

Tears threatened and her lips wobbled in frustration as she stepped into the bathroom, locking the door firmly behind her. Curses. Damn it all to hell. All she wanted was to learn and be respected as a woman in her field, but the red streak on the inside of her thighs and pants threatened all of that. Thea paused in her undressing to lay her forehead against the cool mirror. Thankfully, the stain had been small enough for no one to see it before. Her secret was still safe. For now.

The fact did nothing to quell her frustration. Opening the bathroom door she chucked her pants out onto her bed as hard as she could. The fwump as it landed not as satisfying as she thought it might be. The door slamming behind it was though. Thea sighed, finishing her undressing by unbinding her breasts. It was wildly uncomfortable, but not as much so as a corset. She didn't bother to look at her full reflection as she turned the water to scalding, and stepped under.

Pretty soon, Ryan's cheerful mood (for his standards) turned sour. Not surprisingly, a room full of drunk or almost drunk 18 to 19 year old guys did nothing but grind against his nerves like sandpaper. Even Tommy and William, who were at least bearable, because the slurring, giggling party monsters that most boys become when they go over their limit. Fuck this.

Ryan walked into his dorm room and immediately noticed three things. 1: His spare arm had fallen onto the floor and the thumb fell off. Not a problem. Shit like that happened all the time. 2: There was a pair of bloodstained shorts on top of his roommates bed. It almost soaked the crotch completely. The fuck? And finally, the third. A woman who looked an awful amount like Marius was walking out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her bare body. For a brain like Ryan's, it didn't take long to put two and two together.

"I knew it!" he said, immediately adverting his eyes away from her. He was raised to respect women, no matter how much he didn't like people. "Only a woman could come up with such a brilliant design….And you're here dressed as a man because Illyria doesn't allow women to enroll. Hm. I'm guessing Marius is your brother's name?"

Thea was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn't heard the door to the dorm open, or Ryan stepping in, or most of his statements. She caught the last sentence just before her mind registered that he was, in fact, standing in the middle of the room and she was just in a towel. A strangled yelp burst from her throat and a fire red blush seared her entire body. Even her shoulders looked like they were blushing.

"What are you doing here?!" The words flying from her mouth in a rush. It was a ridiculous question, but it was all she could think of in the moment. Her hold on the towel tightened as Ryan turned to give her a dubious look–or would have if Thea hadn't whisper-shouted "Don't look!!", to which he immediately turned away again.

Thea scooped up her night clothing–and her stained pants–and disappeared into the bathroom again, bursting out only a few moments later fully dressed in men's pajamas. Her blonde hair was still in disarray, the damp curls certainly making her look more feminine. Honestly, it was impossible to not notice she was a woman now. Although, the red fury of her expression did nothing for her features but tighten them.

"How dare you–!" She started, striding right up to Ryan and gripping the front of his shirt in a tight fist. "Do not– Wait– you think my design is brilliant?" Thea's entire expression cleared for a moment, the shock of the compliment completely derailing her though process for a moment. She had only ever received compliments from her Uncle before, and that was always doublehanded simply because he was jealous of Thea's intelligence. Ryan's words were….genuine.

"Yes," he said, pulling her hand from his shirt with his metal appendage. He didn't like people touching him. "I would've never thought of running the wires through my spine as if they were actual nerves. It's a smart idea. Also, don't get mad at me for walking into my dorm room. You were the one who left the clothes out in the open. And walked out in a towel. Not me."

Ryan walked over to his bed and sat down, picking up hi spare arm and frowning down at the missing thumb. A quick inspection showed no actual damage. One of the one of the bots had gotten loose and when the arm fell, it completely dislodged it. Shame. He pulled out the exact same nut and bolt and began to reattach it completely unconcerned with the woman giving him a death glare from near the door.

"Did you see this fall?" he asked when he finished, setting the arm back on his bed and rummaging into his bag for something. His hand pulled out a moment later with a book on human autonomy.

Well now Thea was blushing for an entirely different reason. And it wasn't anger. Only a woman could come up with such a brilliant design. That's what he had said. Not doctor, not chemist, woman. It was enough to make her heart practically explode with…she couldn't name the emotion but it was certainly confusing. He also wasn't running out to tell the Duke–or anyone–that a girl had been excepted into the school under the pretense of being male. It was enough to get her arrested, destroy any career that she may have in the future, but he was just…sitting there…fixing his spare arm.

What the hell was going on?

"No." She said curtly, moving over to his side again. Thea was glaring at him again. Unfortunately, Ryan was as tall as she was sitting down so when he looked up at her from his work, he looked very much annoyed. Before he could say anything, Thea spoke. "You will not tell anyone about me. I will not beg on my hands and knees for you to keep my secret, nor do I see you as the kind of man that would accept that kind of behavior. I just want to be taken seriously–I want to show everyone what I can do given the chance…" Why was she speaking so honestly? Shaking her head, Thea cleared her throat awkwardly.

"If I hear anything regarding my gender from anyone's mouth but your own, I will flay the skin from your body as you sleep. Trust me when I say I know how to do it so you'll wake up and see what I've done before you die. Understood?" Now why the hell was she smiling slightly? Her heart was going a mile a minute and Thea wanted nothing more to pretend that nothing had happened and go to sleep. She was probably the least intimidating person as she threatened Ryan in men's pajamas that dwarfed her tiny frame, but Thea's words held such a ruthlessly serious tone, that Ryan actually looked impressed for a moment. Like he believed her.

"Didn't plan on it, but I'll keep that in mind," he said, returning his gaze to the book in his lap. He flipped to a dog-eared page and began reading. For someone with as exceptional of a mind as Ryan, his reading was severely underdeveloped. He knew every word in the damn dictionary, why couldn't he read any faster? "Anyways, I'm lookin' for the right vertebrae for the wires to go into. Hit the wrong one and you can paralyze me, so I'm makin' sure that doesn't happen." He didn't linger on her gender for a moment. And why would he? His mother was light years smarter than his father and his father would admit that. His sister was just as smart as he was, although she devoted herself to literature instead of science. The ingenuity it took to dress as a man and convince professors that she was impressed him, even if he wouldn't admit it for the world. "I'll have to build a new arm, as well. This one's beginning to rust in the interior and it would take longer to replace the necessary parts than it would to just replace the thing as a whole."

And that was that.

Thea back on her bed, staring at Ryan for a long, long moment expression unreadable. He had accepted her without question. Just like that, as if it was the most common thing in the world. Why couldn't anyone else do that? Why couldn't anyone else believe–

"Thea." She said suddenly, voice quiet and uncertain. "I'm Thea Renaud… Marius is my oaf of a brother." A slight smile. But before Ryan could say anything more, she reached over and brought down a leather journal from her collection, quickly looking through the pages before stopping at one.

"You're going to need a better diagram first off." Plopping her book over his own, Thea tapped the page with a slim finger. The writing within was neat and meticulous, the drawings even more so. Thea's own research journal, well loved and a bit ratty, but everything within was as perfect as she could make it. Leaning over so she could see, the chemist pointed to the spinal diagram. "We would have to incorporate a few vertebrae actually. C6 to T1 should do it. Connecting the wires to the nervous system will be tricky–I'll need to do more research–but I'd prefer it to actually sticking something in your brain. Safer and easier to repair should something go wrong."

Flipping the page showed another diagram, this time of a human male from the back, waist up and with both arms extended. Thea pointed to several different spots on the shoulder area. "Putting the wires closer to the bone would be ideal…and have the connection to the artificial arm at the joint. I'm just not sure– Ah–would you tell me how bad the damage is to your arm? Or even better would you mind if I had a look at your injury?"

Ryan snorted at the word "Arm." "I don't got an arm there, but sure."

It was a painstaking 45 minutes of disconnecting wires and unscrewing bolt. Every once and a while, Ryan would let out a loud grunt, particularly when the wires inserted into his waist had to be pulled. But, he got everything disconnected and gently lowered his arm onto his bed. He wasn't joking about there not being an arm. Not even a stump. It stopped right at his shoulder, covered in horrible scars that were stained purple and red. It was a miricle he even survived the explosion.

Thea's rapid blink was the only outward sign of her shock. She'd seen horrific injuries since she was a child, but it was incredible that he not only survived the explosion that did this, but the fact that there were wires sticking out of his skin. How was he not constantly fighting off infection? Or bleeding? Ryan must have a kind of salve that prevented that.

She stepped closer, eyes sharp and intrigued as her fingers gently probed the scars. "Good news." The mutter coming from behind Ryan as she moved around him. "Despite all the scar tissue, most of your joint is still intact, from what I can tell and feel…" A series of fluttering pokes around his scars and a soft 'hmmm.' His skin was warm to the touch–

Thea stepped back around, bunching up his shirt in her hand to get a closer look at the wires around his torso, tutting quietly at them and the areas where they entered his body. Propriety was nothing when Thea was in the zone. "Just to be safe, we can put a stabilizer around the bone. My idea will work!" Hopefully.

"You said brain?" he asked, fully processing what she said when explaining where the wires would be placed.. "Like, the thing that makes the rest of my body move? What the hell happens if you fuck up and poke a wire in the wrong place? And how the hell will you make it so that I can actually use this arm like a normal one?"

The idea that the human brain used electrical waves was a well-known fact for almost thirty years at that point, but ways to actually harness the energy roaming around someone's head had never been figured out. So. What she was suggesting was for them to make history. The thought made Ryan grin wildly. Imagine one of the most important scientific experiments being done by a woman and the son of a blacksmith.

"We need to do a shit load more research, but…." Ryan's expression shifted from that of shock to careless excitement. "Let's do it."

"We're really–We are really going to do this. Poke around in your brain and give you a fully automatonic arm." The words slid out from between her lips in a breathy laugh, as she leaned back and brushed a hand through her hair. She had purposely glossed over the whole 'let-me-cut-open-your-brain' part of her game plan, but Ryan obviously was smart enough to pick up what she was throwing out.

Thea couldn't help the excitement that coarsed through her. A project like this would take months and all the knowledge that she had in her repertoire, but she was practically itching to get started. Ideas zoomed through her mind and although she was confident in her abilities, Thea knew she couldn't do it alone. Begrudgingly, she had to admit that Ryan may be just as smart as her.

God what a smile– "If it is alright with you, this would be a fantastic project to submit to the faire at the end of the year. I wouldn't mind submitting it as a joint effort." Thea could swallow her pride…at least for the time being.

"Makes life a whole lot easier for me," he said with a shrug, taking his shirt from her hands and pulling it down again. Ryan didn't like people looking at his torso, especially if it was just to look at the wires. Even guys like him cared somewhat about the way they looked. Coming up from a rough past, he struggled with hubris. Always being the biggest, strongest, and smartest guy in the room had a way of getting into a guy's head. The explosion was the first time he ever felt….dumb. Just making an explosion for the hell of it? It costed him his arm. In a way, the metal arm was a reminder that he wasn't too big, or strong, or smart for death. "All I gotta do is build a new arm and get cut open." He was selling himself short. Why? This idea wouldn't even be happening without him, right?

Because he wanted Thea to take the credit for it. Give her the proper recognition that she deserved. He felt like he was in the way of it. So, on top of building the arm, he would have to figure out a way for her to take most of the acclaim. Tricky tricky.

"Because that is so little to do." Thea said with an eyeroll, sarcasm dripping from each word. She was smiling though, that teeny tiny smile that lit up her eyes like fireworks instead of her features. The chemist took back her journal, placing it on her nightstand just in case Ryan wanted to look at the diagrams again. Or–or was curious about her other research projects.

There was an awkward silence as the two of them stood there. It was easy to talk about their passion for the sciences, but everything else…. Thea shifted her feet and coughed, just to make a noise. "It is getting pretty late. We should–I should get some rest. Been a long day…" She looked up and over her shoulder at Ryan, shrugging as he met her glance. Thea opened her mouth to say more, but a shadow passed through her expression and she thought better of it.

"Goodnight, Fairfax." A quiet mumble as she tucked herself into bed.

It was dead quiet for about 20 minutes before…. "Do you think you could teach me how to be a man?"

It took the question a few moments to push through the veil of exhaustion that hid his brain away from the outside world. He sat up from the pillow and ran a hand through his hair. Teach her? Am I the right guy for this? It's not like I'm the best example for a man.

But he was the exact type of guy she'd been trying to be. Constantly annoyed, intimidating to be around, and the type of guy people would avoid walking on the same side of the street with. Could he teach that, though? It just came natural for him.

"I guess I could," he said, scratching the side of his neck. "What do ya need to learn?"

Thank god they had turned out the light because Thea's mortified blush was enough to make her face bright red. She really did not like admitting that there was something that she wasn't good at, something that she just couldn't wrap her head around… This was killing her.

"Just how to act–what to say and how to say it. How to make sure that the rest of the world doesn't look too closely at me." Thea's voice was uncommonly soft in the darkness. She didn't want–couldn't–admit that she wanted to be intimidating. To be not only the smartest in the room, but the strongest…at least mentally. Thea didn't want to be second guessed ever again. "When and how to punch someone's lights out." The light tinkling of her natural girlish laugh surprised even her.