[oom] let's go dancin' in the light

[from_the_outside]

She's late to the lab, having cited an errand she needed to run once they made their way up to the Citadel from the hut by the lake, and her footsteps ring out quick and firm as she makes her way down the walkway from the train platform. Shuri's voice is clear as she makes her way into the lab, and Sharon can't help but smile at the note of gleeful triumph in the princess's voice.

"Good," Shuri's saying, as Sharon walks into the side room where Shuri has been conducting her design fittings and reviews. The princess stands in front of Bucky, who wears a white sleeveless shirt that clearly shows the new vibranium shoulder joint Shuri had constructed... and a new left arm, gleaming beneath the lab lights.

"The dimensions are perfect. How does it feel?"

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

"Pretty good, I think," Bucky says. Cautiously, he stretches the arm to the side, then looks at Shuri.

"I used to - there was a set of exercises and stretches and katas I'd do, to test range of motion. Do you want me to--"

His glance shifts as Sharon walks in, just enough to acknowledge her, before he looks back at Shuri.

[from_the_outside]

She beams at him and settles in a chair near the wall, staying out of the way but with a clear view as Shuri waves her hand.

"Yes," she says. "I will run diagnostics as you do, to test the stress on the shoulder and elbow joints. How is the weight?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"It's lighter than the one I used to have," he says, dryly, as he moves into the center of the open space. "Although heavier than back when I had the original one."

Stretches first, he decides, and begins to go through a slow, fluid series of motions.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon's piercing wolf-whistle rings out, and Shuri laughs, even as she throws up a three-dimensional, real time blueprint of the beta design over her tablet and marks a few glowing spots with her stylus.

"So far so good," she encourages. "Let me know if there's any discomfort with the shoulder socket."

[nerves_of_ice]

He gives Sharon a half-amused, half-wry look and shakes his head at Shuri.

"No discomfort," he reports. "Only when I stretch to full extension, it feels like-- "

He stretches the arm back and up behind his head and then makes a startled grunt as it locks in place, frozen.

"... uh, that?"

[from_the_outside]

Sharon makes a strangled sound that she turns into a cough, and Shuri hurries to Bucky's side, making adjustments to both a stream of code on her tablet and then to the actual shoulder joint, doing something behind Bucky's back Sharon can't quite see.

"Relax your shoulder," she tells Bucky, and reaches up to pull firmly back on his elbow. There's a whirring sound of stressed gears and then a popping sound, and when she pushes forward again, the elbow moves too.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Much better." He looks over at Sharon. "Having fun yet?"

[from_the_outside]

"I've been having a great time since I came in," she tells him, grinning, her tone sweet as sugar.

"Don't worry about me."

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri rolls her eyes at Sharon. "Do not start. I am sure I can think of something for you to do!"

"Oh, she's fine," Bucky puts in. "Don't worry about it. Here, let me do the next set."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon puts up her hands, laughing. "I'm just here for moral support," she tells Shuri, "but if you need me to do something, I'm ready and willing."

Shuri sniffs and lifts her chin. "Not yet," she says, but there's a promise in her tone as she turns back to Bucky. "Yes, White Wolf; continue, please."

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods and does so, first rotating in small motions, then larger ones; then flexing each joint from fingers to shoulder. As he does, he eyes the arm.

"Are the plates supposed to move?"

[from_the_outside]

"Yes," Shuri says.

"I thought it would help with flexibility, although it might cause issues with durability. More moving parts mean more things that could break."

[nerves_of_ice]

"No, that's good," Bucky tells her. "I mean, based on past experience, anyway. Solid all the way down's no better than having a steel pipe - or in this case a vibranium one. Good for bashing things, not much else."

He whirls the arm around in a wide circle, then promptly drops into a handstand ... and then a left-handed handstand, lifting his right hand from the ground.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon and Shuri both laugh and break into applause before Shuri goes back to her study of the rendered model of the arm, circling a few more stress points with her stylus and making a note.

"It seems to handle your body weight well," Shuri observes.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'd hope so," he teases, dryly. "It's vibranium, not aluminum."

It says something, he realizes, that he's comfortable enough to tease when it comes to something like this. The last time he was anywhere close to relaxed when it came to testing and repair of his left arm was... he's not entirely sure. Maybe with Jay. Probably with Jay, all things considered.

"Next up I'd usually run through some fighting stances, then try force - hitting things, the like. Is there anything else you'd like me to try?"

[from_the_outside]

"How about the sand spar?" Sharon suggests. "Shuri, you can change the density of the sand, right?"

Shuri nods, taking the idea and running ahead with it. "Yes," she says, "we can measure impact both with the sand and the arm diagnostics." She looks back at Bucky.

"Would you like to try that?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Sure. Point me at what you want me to try, and I'll give it a whirl."

[from_the_outside]

"Very well," Shuri says, and grins. "This way."

She heads back towards the main room of the lab, and Sharon hangs back to wait until Bucky comes even with her, then reaches with her right hand to take his new left one. "I like it," she says, grinning up at him.

[nerves_of_ice]

He squeezes her fingers - very carefully - and smiles down at her. "It's a really good start," he agrees. "Shuri's making a lot of notes about how to refine little details. And I promised her to actually mention them."

[from_the_outside]

"Good," she says, and smiles back.

"And I want you to try it out for a day or so, White Wolf," Shuri calls back to them. "Once we've worked out any little glitches here. Get a feel for it as you go through your day. The more information I have, the more precise I can make the design."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes, ma'am," he answers, peaceably. "Whatever you say."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon smiles to herself, then lets go of Bucky's hand as they enter the main lab area, where Shuri is already calling up the sand spar.

"Go ahead and warm up using any stances or sequences you prefer," she tells Bucky. "Would you like me to program the sand spar with anyone in particular, or simply set it to a generic target?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"A generic target's fine," Bucky tells her, taking position across from the opponent-to-be. He considers for a moment, then starts going through a standard training pattern, one his previous handlers' technicians had often had him perform to test repairs.

[from_the_outside]

"Impact tests first," Shuri calls, once he's cycled through several routines. She taps her tablet and a monolith approximately Bucky's height lifts from the sand spar, the sand hardening until the surface looks almost like concrete.

"Whenever you're ready," she says, keeping one eye on the dual diagnostics running on her tablet.

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods, and eyes the sand block with interest. Bucky shrugs, then tries a basic punch at half-force.

Sand cracks and radiates around where his fist lands, and he raises his eyebrows in appreciation.

The next strike is much, much harder.