Of gyros and servos (Cecil)

Normally, having a prosthetic as advanced as Eryka's was a great thing. It was faster, stronger and more durable than her own arm had been making it a far greater tool than her own organic one had been. She honestly would not have had an issue with replacing her other arm with one but dismembering your own arm was generally considered a stupid thing to do. The only issue with Eryka's mechanical limb was the fact it needed an understandable amount of maintenance.

Maintenance was exactly what brought Eryka to this empty room. Having placed a cloth down, for the sake of making cleaning easier in the future, the Amputee removed her arm and rested it carefully upon the table. She reached towards a tool kit, grabbed a Phillips screw driver and got to work unscrewing the casing. It was a difficult task to do with only one arm but one Eryka was used to. Screw after screw was removed, carefully placed head down upon the cloth before finally she removed the case revealing the inner workings of her prosthesis.

The problem was easy for Eryka to see: a lose wire connecting the gyros in her fingers to the electrical motor. This was going to be a real pain to fix. Replace wires was easy, especially given how she had plenty of experience with such things, even with a missing limb. She was honestly rather disappointed the school lacked a engineering or mechanic sorority but oh well, she could handle it by herself. Slipping on a rubber glove, she carefully uncoiled the damaged wire removing it from her limb chucking it into a nearby waste paper bin. Hopefully the janitorial staff had no issue disposing of damaged wiring.

Unable to find the few friends he'd managed to make so far, the little voice inside his head decided his break didn't actually get to be a break any more.
That meant settling into his next classroom ahead of time, and going partaking of an activity he was engaging in far too much recently...studying.
Or it would have been if someone didn't calmly place themselves down in his seat, and remove their arm.

He would have felt awkward asking someone to move normally - that got infinitely worse when that someone was taking pieces out of their disassembled arm.
And so, Cecil skirts around the room, looking on in silence not knowing quite what to do but wait.

So preoccupied on her repair work that Eryka did not notice the entrance, nor presence, of a fellow student. He would have remained unnoticed had he not began to walk around the room. In the midst of Eryka's silent concentration she picked up every single footstep, her irritation growing with each interruption. Putting down her screwdriver she looked up, her eyes boring holes through Cecil. The cold fury simmered away as for a few moments she remained silent as can be until...

"I understand this may be your class room but if you must walk around constantly can you do it elsewhere? I need to concentrate. My prosthesis can be delicate." Hopefully that would be enough to get Cecil to either sit down or go have his walk elsewhere. She reached for a small reel of copper wiring, pinning it down with her elbow and then....ah right. With one arm it was immensely difficult for her to unravel even the smallest amount of wiring let only clip it off with her pliers. Begrudgingly, Eryka knew she needed assistance....luckily....

"You. I require your assistance. Pull a section of this copper wiring out from the spool so I can cut it off with my pliers." It may have sounded as if Eryka was merely barking orders at Cecil but honestly? Asking for help was difficult for Eryka. Very very difficult.

Under the weight of the glare being sent his way, Cecil ceased his path to the opposite side of the room and froze in place. Despite himself, he couldn't help but notice a familiar golden colour to her eyes, and think back to the last two entities he met to bear such a colour to their eyes...both of this world only debateably.
He hoped beyond hopes that the pattern wasn't about to repeat with yet another golden-eyed girl. It was only a matter of time til things went sour.
As she finally spoke, he briefly tensed, before nodding silently with an uncomfortable expression and starting to move to one of the tables by the wall. It would have been convenient not to have to move later, but her arm was just a little more important than his seat.

He couldn't even get that far, though, flinching as the harsh tone came his way. With a soft, pained sigh, he set his belongings at the closest seat and went back towards Eryka. "Alright..." He carefully unravels the wiring from the spool, paying attention for any sign of when to stop and hold in place. Not that he didn't want to do this...he would have been happy to help. But all the same...he felt all too uncomfortable right now, wary around the girl he was helping.

"Your aid is appreciated." Eryka stepped to the side, allowing Cecil to stand next to her and pull a length of wire from the spool. She waited patiently for him to walk over, wondering why on Earth he seemed so afraid. The way he had flinched, that uncomfortable look in his face and the shuffling nature to his movements. Eryka hated people like that. The weak, the easily intimidated and the cowardly. Those were EXACTLY the kind of people the amputee would hate having to protect.

"Stop. Hold the wire steady." She command Cecil to stop, reached forth with the pliers and cut the length of copper wiring free from the spoil. With a rather forceful hand movement she pulled it free from her temporary assistant's grasp.

"You can return to what you're doing. Is this room the location of your class?" Calmly she asked the next logical question, never once taking her gaze away from the inner workings of her arm while carefully coiling the wire around the connectors. It was a good thing Eryka wore a rubber glove or she would have given herself an electric shock. Pulling a voltage tester from her tool kit she tested the connector closest to her prosthetic's hand and was glad to see that yes, the wire was working.

The thanks was appreciated, and helped alleviate some of the tension in Cecil's form as a little of the coldness he felt seemed to recede. He gives a little shake of his head, expression starting to blank out more as the wariness starts to counterbalance the fidgeting discomfort. "It's nothing. Really."
He rubs his fingers together as the wiring is forcefully ripped from them, his reasonably tight grip making the motion unkind on the digits. He steps away after to give Eryka some room, figuring perhaps it was better not to be too close when they were working on something so important and sensitive.

He scratches at the back of his head as the question is asked, gaze drifting away as he faces Eryka. "Uhh...yeah. You're actually in my seat for the class."

"This is your desk? I was unaware. I will vacate it once I have replaced this wire. Where I sit is ultimately of no consequence to me." Eryka had no idea this was anybody's seat. When she showed up and set her equipment up this entire desk seemed to be completely vacant hence why she had claimed it. This room was also the location of Eryka's next class, according to her timetable anyway, hence why she strove to arrive early in order to carry out this maintenance.

Packing away the spool of wire and the voltage testing device the amputee carefully replace the covering and got to work screwing it back in place. She lifted it up, flipped it over and gave the arm a few gentle shakes to make sure nothing would come loose. Much to her relief it seemed everything was holding in place so she carefully attached it to the dock where her missing arm would have began. There was a faint whir of motors as she flexed the limb, opening and closing her fist to make sure everything was working.

Satisfied everything was order Eryka packed up the remainder of her tools, folded the kit up and moved to the desk to the right of Cecil's. She sat down and calmly stared at the front of the room waiting patiently for the teacher. She had no desire, nor need, to do anything except wait and so that's what she would do.

"Ah...thanks." Well...he'd have his seat back before long, at least. That'd be good.
He can't help but watch curiously as the arm is reassembled, pondering how the whole thing fits together. Hell, how the whole thing works. Not that he was unused to the idea of prosthetics like this, but that was what it was - an idea. This was an entire, functioning arm. And to equal capacity as a flesh and blood limb, no less, from the way it moved.
He tears away his attention as she starts packing up, going back to grab his belongings from where he left them and bringing them over to his seat as he sat himself down in the now vacated chair. He probably shouldn't have been staring like that. It was almost certainly rude.

...would it be so to ask how it worked...?
For all he should have been able to get his work done without fear of interruption now, the question lingered on his mind. And even as he tried to get his mind back on track, his inner voice was pushing at him to ask. Working was one thing, but it would happily put that on the backburner when there was a chance available to push him to interaction.
"...if, you don't ah, mind me asking..." He looks over to Eryka. "How does it work...? To uh, work like that...move like that...I can only wonder how you can control it like that, when it's essentially replacing an entire arm and not just part of it.

Ankou tended to win out in the end when it came to deciding what he was doing.

"You wish to know about the inner workings of my prosthesis? As you wish." Once upon a time that question had always bothered Eryka. It was a reminder of the Divide, the death of her parents and the very incident in which she had lost her own arm but that was then. This is now and for better or worse the amputee was numb to it with apathy replacing whatever embarrassment there had once been. The Amputee took a deep breath before turning her head to focus on Cecil.

"Normally, prosthetic arms are just replacement arms with little functionality however I had to loose my entire arm which meant I needed something more potent. When I went through the amputation procedure I under went a process called Targeted Reinnervation. The process basically adjusts my shoulder's nerve endings rerouting them into muscle allowing nerve signals to move those muscles." It was a complicated thing to wrap your head around but one Eryka believed she understood sufficiently to explain it.

"The movements of these muscles are then read by my arm and, with some calibration, allow it to intuit them in a way that grants me a much greater degree of control than I normally would. Prosthetics like mine are common place for those that can afford them." With that she cleared her throat and returned to patiently waiting for the arrival of the teacher. Eryka was here to study and, ideally, become a cadet not to socialise or make friends. That was something she would do AFTER her classes were finished.

Cecil nodded along, listening attentively. Honestly, the whole thing sounded rather complex...and painful. Not just the whole thing of having an arm removed, but to have your nerves relocated and have the connections changed? Manipulating nerves like that sounded like it'd be excruciating.
Given, there'd be anaesthetic and stuff probably...but still.

There was another detail that stuck in mind though. That specific detail that they're common...for those that can afford them.
For some reason, the statement bugged him.
"You said they were commonplace for those that can afford them, but..." He pauses. "That kind of suggests that they aren't affordable for most people. Or, well...things along similar lines." He couldn't help the worry that crept in. "So...how did...?" He pauses, opting to rephrase to something more accurate to his worries. "...you don't have debts or anything because it, do you...? Be...rough to have to have that just to be able to live normally."

"These arms are not the cheapest thing to create but no. I am not in debt as a result of this arm. The government gave it to me as an upgrade over my old one when I signed up to the Cadet program. I suppose that is a form of debt but it is something I want to do so I have no issue with it." Eryka honestly had no issue with the current state of her life. She had a good career ahead of her, most of her faculties and lived a pretty alright life. She was also on track to being a cadet which was all Eryka wanted currently so yeah, she was perfectly content with her life currently.

Cecil nodded slowly, a small smile on his face, but not entirely a happy or relieved one. "Well...that, ah...good." He took his gaze from Eryka to start fishing out things from his bag, and as he rummaged through, a more troubled expression developed as his thoughts progressed.
He wanted to be able to say that the whole thing with the government wasn't potentially a red flag, but knowing some of the stuff he did, he really couldn't. Oh, sure - she'd already signed up with the Cadets, and hell, she'd probably be perfectly fine as long as she stuck with them...but still - only probably. It was still leverage, in the end, and something that they can and potentially would hold over her whether she signed up or not.

Given Cecil's lack of further questions Eryka returned to her silent vigil. It was fortunate that the rest of the class began to arrive, slowly milling in and taking their seats. The general volume of the room began to rise, filled with the sounds of chairs being moved and people chattering. Eventually the teacher arrived, silence their gathered students and the lesson began in earnest.

Eryka remained silent for the entirety of the lesson, taking down notes and carrying out whatever practical work she was assigned with mechanical efficiency. Once the lesson was over Eryka was gone. She hadn't magically vanished but where a lot of the other students hung around to chat she had left. However, before leaving the amputee would lock eyes with Cecil's, nodding in silent appreciation of his assistance. Perhaps she would ask him for assistance in the future...

Mathematics wasn't a terrible class. He'd been doing a little better since his obscene study habits picked up...though he'd have been able to get results just as good in far less time in he'd just done it in a healthy manner.
Details, details. It was working, and that's all he could see.
As ever, he remained focused on his work and went by well enough, save for a few moments where he was forced into interaction. Working in class had never really been the hard part.

The small gesture from Eryka caught his attention while he was packing up, and he couldn't help the little smile that came to his face. But it was a fleeting sensation. They'd gone, and it was back to business for him.
He felt exhausted already as he headed off to the library.