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 Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2024 10:59 pm
[backdated to late november/early december 2023]
It had taken Daedalus longer than he was proud of, but finally, he had managed to fulfill his promise to Procyon. Mechanical matters, unfortunately, took time, and it had been difficult just to work up the courage to visit his graveyard of a world again, and...well.
Plenty of excuses, none of them necessary any longer.
He sat on a park bench, with the arm in his lap, arms folded over it to keep it somewhat hidden from view as he tapped out a quick text to Procyon.
Quote: Hello! It's Daedalus, and I have some news for you! Please meet me here at your earliest convenience!
Attached was a screenshot of his location on his phone's GPS, which he hoped would be enough to guide Procyon to find him. And if he had to wait a little while, that was all well and good. Frankly, he would wait as long as it took to get ot deliver this particular good news.
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2024 11:23 pm
Procyon had been sitting and enjoying a snack he'd gotten from a cafe nearby. The warm tea really helped against the cold as did the poncho he'd managed to make while working his way back up to make something for Daedalus for all the work they were doing to help fix him. In the end, he's made them a scarf out of this pretty oil-slick fabric he'd managed to get while wandering some sort of flea market thing it was called. It was tucked safely in his subspace for whenever he saw them next. Feeling a buzz against his thigh, he looked over and saw the screen light up with a message from Daedalus. Hopping up he looked at the little map and found it wasn't terribly far away. Running with his drink, it barely stayed in the cup as he made his way the few blocks to where they were. "Ah Daedalus! Hi! Hi! How are you?!" Screeching to a halt as he made it the last bit of the way, he was breathing pretty heavily from running the whole way. The poor paper cup in his hand had seen better days and he found most of it had spilled out while he was running. He probably should have thrown it out but he'd been too excited to get here to think about that much.
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2024 11:46 pm
Ah, and there his friend was. It was clear that Procyon was quite excited, which already felt good, even if it looked like he really had rushed over as quickly as possible, possibly to the detriment of whatever had formerly been in the cup in his hand.
"Ah, there you are. Good to see you. I'm well, and I hope that you'll be pleased with what I have," he said, and then he sat back, and revealed what was in his lap.
"I finished it. I'm sorry it took so long, I had to source an arm, fix it, and get the casing finished, but...I hope it's to your tastes?" This was the hard part--would Procyon even like what he'd made? Would it fit properly? Would it work? "The core of the arm...is from my planet. I think it's one of the last things my friend made, before..." He exhaled. "Well. Before he passed."
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2024 12:15 am
Cup forgotten, it fell out of Procyon's hand as he looked at the arm in Daedalus's lap. It looked amazing, more than he'd imagined it would look. Reaching out, carefully, he touched it. Part of him was afraid he might break it since he really didn't know much about how it would work. "It's.... amazing Daedalus," he said as he ran his fingers over it. It felt so smooth and clean compared to what he'd seen of some of the other 3-D printing things with their lines and ridges. "It doesn't feel like it's been that long but I've been busy running around and making things. Oh! That reminds me, I made something for you too. It's got some things from my planet too..." Trailing off, he thought about all the sea glass beads and things that had come from his home before it had turned sour. Pulling out the scarf, the thing was a bit much for him to manage but he handed it over carefully. Something to maybe cheer them up a bit because he knew that if they'd gone back it probably had made them sad. That was something he still hadn't worked the courage to get up since he'd arrived here. "Thank you, at least maybe your friend would be happy that you made such a brilliant thing from their work." Sitting down on the bench next to them, he tried to think of the articles on how those things might work. Even if the core was from another planet it should probably work the same way, right?
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2024 12:21 am
There was nothing like knowing that something he'd made would help someone. Certainly, Daedalus never could have built an entire prosthetic arm from scratch, but repairing one? Making it useable? That he could do. And it seemed that he had done exactly what Procyon needed.
"I'm glad you like it," he said. "And if it ever stops working, or has any problems, come find me. I should be able to fix it." He wiggled his fingers. "Smaller machines tend to....like me, let's say. I've got a good sense for how to fix something if it breaks."
It was something new for him, since coming to Earth--but he liked it.
And then, Procyon produced the beautiful scarf, and Daedalus took it gently, almost reverently. It felt...right, somehow, to be exchanging these things they'd made with pieces of their own worlds.
"It's....beautiful," Daedalus said. "Thank you, so much. I'll treasure it." He smiled, warmly, wrapping the scarf around his neck. "And I promise: my friend would be thrilled to know that he'd helped someone. He was always doing that, it was the whole reason he started making prosthetics. I can't think of a better use for his legacy."
He gave a brief nod. "Give it a try, see if it fits."
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:50 am
Giving gifts and making things out of fabric was something he could do even now so it felt nice to hear them call it beautiful. It had been fun to make as well, even if a bit frustrating at times as things rolled away from him "I'm glad you like it, I wasn't sure if you were too warm or cold on this planet so I figured I would make something that worked in both types of temperatures. There were so many pretty textiles back home, everything glittered like dew in the light there. Fabric here isn't the same but it's still very pretty and comes in so many colors." He'd make more things now, especially if he could get back into embroidery and sewing again. Pulling the arm up, he moved around until he got it fitted on. He treated it very carefully as he went, even if they could fix it. It was cold at first, sending a shiver through him as he went over how things worked in his mind. Moving his shoulder, the arm moved along and didn't seem to be slipping off. It felt weird at first but then after a moment as things warmed up a bit, he got the hand to open and close. And like that, his eyes went wide with excitement as he started to figure out at least the basics. "Oh oh oh! It works it works!" Waving awkwardly with the hand, it was a bit clunky but he was so very excited at the possibilities now. "I hope I don't break it but I am glad that if something does happen you can fix it. I'll try to be careful though."
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