Elijah is hardly a chatterbox at the most informal of times, but when he's
working, it becomes clear how much his focus narrows in on the task. His
hands barely tremble, his gaze doesn't dart; he's practically a machine
himself in these moments.
He only speaks to Rhys to be passed something, or to check in on sensation
in the new components he's installing.
Ordinarily, Rhys is the opposite. A constant rolling ball of nervous, chattering tension, but right now-- this is nice.
Having that total, perfect, surgical focus entirely trained on him gives Rhys a warm little flutter in his chest, and getting to watch Elijah's face this close up as he works...
Yeah. Nice. It almost feels a little meditative, just staying still and quiet and letting himself be worked on.
"Reliable testing minimises variables," Elijah tells him, like he doesn't
know, as he inspects the output. "Looks good. As hard as you can, first,
and then we'll go through fine pressure."
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"I will."
Elijah is hardly a chatterbox at the most informal of times, but when he's working, it becomes clear how much his focus narrows in on the task. His hands barely tremble, his gaze doesn't dart; he's practically a machine himself in these moments.
He only speaks to Rhys to be passed something, or to check in on sensation in the new components he's installing.
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Having that total, perfect, surgical focus entirely trained on him gives Rhys a warm little flutter in his chest, and getting to watch Elijah's face this close up as he works...
Yeah. Nice. It almost feels a little meditative, just staying still and quiet and letting himself be worked on.
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Elijah barely even seems to breathe until he sees fit to take a step back, lightly running a hand over the newly installed forearm.
"...I believe we're ready for testing. Can you feel this?" he asks, tapping his fingers.
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The tapping sends a shudder straight down Rhys's back and he scrunches up his neck,
"Yeah, ah-- wow, okay, I'm gonna need to get used to that again..."
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Elijah smiles a little.
"Then maybe a break? A period of - general reacclimation, before we move on to diagnostic testing."
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And he really doesn't want to accidentally destroy anything or hurt anyone.
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"I - really only meant ten minutes or so. But if you want to press on, we will."
A brief pause while he consults his tablet, bringing up the array of tests necessary to establish good working order.
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Elijah has to look at his face for a moment, checking for signs of sarcasm.
"Usually, my...patients would be powered down while I was working on them," he points out. "This, I've had to learn with you."
TELL ME TO EDIT THE EMBARRASSING IMPLICATION OUT OF THIS TAG AND I WILL
There's nothing backhanded in it. Rhys is honestly low key pretty sure that his bedside manner wasn't always this good.
"I mean, not that I mind getting the same treatment as your robots. You still have that CyberLife uniform tucked away somewhere?"
He asks this, the picture of innocence.
NEVER
There's a pause.
He clears his throat.
"...Yes, probably. Take this and start squeezing when I say."
Tools for measuring grip strength aren't difficult to put together.
Re: NEVER
Rhys suggests, taking the tool in his hand, but now more focused on being as distracting from the task at hand as possible.
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"Rhys, you're the one who didn't want to take a break," Elijah says patiently, and taps his tablet. "Start squeezing, slowly increasing pressure."
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"Reliable testing minimises variables," Elijah tells him, like he doesn't know, as he inspects the output. "Looks good. As hard as you can, first, and then we'll go through fine pressure."
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Says Rhys, reaching out to drape his free arm lightly over Elijah's shoulder, as he squeezes as hard as he can.