OPEN | ikea instructions anatomy

[aurable]

CHARACTERS: Drift and YOU
LOCATION: lab and tech storage room + various
DATE: A week after the mission
CONTENT: Drift performing self-repairs and modifications + closed starters
WARNINGS: potential robot body horror? missing limbs and cables sticking out of things*
*no, not like that

THE LABS

[ Bomb disposal and self-repair had one major similarity for Cybertronians — to be entirely zen about either and keep a steady hand was to think of both like this: Cut the wrong wire, and suddenly it's not your problem anymore. Drift didn't believe he was being too reckless and stubborn, but his left arm was on the table behind him. These repairs weren't even out of his wheelhouse, either. Even before the clinic on New Rodion, there were plenty of occasions where he had to hole up somewhere and patch himself up or risk leaking out. Necessity was the mother of invention, and a cataclysmic war was the best crash course in first aid. Drift knew what he was doing.

These weren't even life-threatening repairs, anyway. Drift had meticulously and painlessly removed his left arm and right leg to modify and repair the outer plating. Cables were plugged into his flank where access panels had been opened, with the largest cable running from the base of what approximated the back of his skull to a monitor in front of him. The display was in his language and rapidly scrolling at speeds difficult for a human to read.

Drift swore when a torque rolled out of his reach just enough that he'd had to re-attached his leg to retrieve it. As fortune would have it, the familiar hiss of the sliding open door caught his attention. He looked up and pointed to the tool. ] Could you lend me hand?

Comments

→ CLOSED TLs

[aurable]

[deaddrop]

[Natasha follows the line of Drift's finger to the tool on the floor, then looks back at Drfit, taking a second to fully appreciate the sight before leaning over to pick it up.

She would like this to be weird, but her tolerance for weird is pretty high at this point.]

A part of me thinks I should keep this, just for the pun.

[She does, in fact, offer it back.]

Everything okay?

[aurable]

I mean, don't dangle it in front of me. [
Drift takes the torque — his hand gently overtaking her own. He sighs and looks back at the screen, his shoulders slump, ] I'm working on it.

[deaddrop]

Clearly.

[That part is a little weird, but she can deal with it.

Natasha crosses her arms, looking at his missing leg, which even at his current size seems about as big as she is.]

I feel like there's a one arm behind your back joke here.

[One which she's above making, but not above mentioning.]

[aurable]

Ever have your arm tied behind your back? [ He smiled at her before turning back to his work, cursing when his left leg strarts to spark ]

[deaddrop]

For business or pleasure?

[Dryly, returning the same.

If she was planning to leave him at that, the sparks keep her attention though.]

Do you need help with that, though?

[She'd offer to get someone, but he'd be able to do that himself. It seems a little irresponsible to just ditch him when his leg is sparking. And detached.]

[homeostatic]

( Leonard stops just in the doorway, and tucks the case of samples under his arm before he stoops to grab the tool. )

Seems you could use a leg, too.

( Nailed it. He comes closer to pass the torque back to Drift. )

Doing a little maintenance?

[aurable]

More than a little.

[ Drift is sheepish to admit ]

[homeostatic]

Anything I can help with?

( Not that he'd be able to do much, but he adds, )

Moral support?