Inbox for sticksandbones

[lupusxylem]

I will not make this look pretty later, don't believe me it's all a lie

====

INVENTORY:

-The Punisher: Wolfwood's cross gun, normally covered in wrappings.
INFO from the mods on use so I don't forget: The cross-gun will be able to fire regular bullets (regains of these can be handwaved; silvered bullets can be purchased in the bonus AC store) just fine, without any special nerfs. The laser feature will be usable a max of 3 times a month.

-4 Vials of his Drugs(tm)
Info from the mods on use so I don't forget: Wolfwood can start with up to 5 vials of his Lab Drugs. More of these can be regained for the price of a Small Item (a maximum of 5 at once), but they will not work on other player characters for obvious reasons. Their healing ability will also be slightly nerfed to not heal anything instantaneously, but rather over a few minutes.
3/7: All Vials have been used. Will need to purchase replacements if he wants to use them again.
???: Forgot to put the date here but he's purchased more Vials, one has been used to he has 4 currently.

-A lighter

-A carton of cigarettes, more can be purchased/handwaved

-A winter coat that Heimr bullied him into purchasing

-A matching pair of boots for the coat

-A little knit wolf with sunglasses from Elsword.

-A blanket from Livio.

-A handgun with a wolf engraved on the handle.

-A black husky named Angelina

-A belt pouch to carry his regeneration vials with a cross emblazoned into the leather.

-Authentic rosary beads, with beads made from black glass and a heavy, silver cross pendant

-A black leather choker with a silver cross pendant, similar to the rosary

-A whole church(tm)

-A wool knit cat plushie from Pure Vanilla

-3 tomas chicks that currently live in Kiera's barn

-3 londonites

-Wolf skull shaped cufflinks

-A dagger for his "birthday" from Gnosis

Comments

KNOCK KNOCK IT'S LEG

[succiduous]

[Hi Wolfwood. Your leg is complete. Gnosis is standing on your doorstep holding it and a bunch of other medical equipment he definitely stole from the clinic (RIP Add). There's a pen clenched between his lips, and a second pen tucked behind his ear. Someone is a little frazzled this morning.

Kicks the door with his foot hey open up.]

LEG? FOR ME??

[lupusxylem]

[There's a pause before the door opens, one filled with the sound of dog barking. It's Angelina of course, who is becoming less and less puppy by the day, excitedly spinning in circles as she waits for Wolfwood to come answer the door. He's in his chair today, since why bother with the crutches if he's not planning on going outside?

The door pulls open, revealing him sitting there with his hair mussed, looking a whole lot like he just rolled out of bed. That perpetual scowl is quick to flip on its head when he realizes who it is, and sees what it is that he's brought to him.]

Gnosis? Wasn't expectin' you.

[He's quickly wheeling out of the way so he can come in.]

[succiduous]

Right. I apologise for the last-second visit. I've completed your prosthetic, and preliminary testing says it should work adequately, but my preliminary tests were merely electrical feedback signal testing and the sort. I won't bore you with the details.

Do you have time?

[You know. To have a leg put on?]

[lupusxylem]

I ain't got nothin' but time, these days.

[Which is to say, yes, please come in-

Wolfwood is eyeing that leg that Gnosis is carrying, because hearing him say things like "preliminary testing" and "electrical feedback signal testing" have him on high alert. Like, he knew that he was using Vash's own arm as a reference point, but...

He wheels backwards from the door, waiting for Gnosis to close it for him before saying anything.]

How mobile is this leg gonna be, exactly?

[succiduous]

[It looks a lot like Vash's arm does, but the metal is more of a silvery colour. This is what Gnosis had available; it lacks that blueish hue, but overall, it's definitely technological in design. What they'd call "Lost Technology", Gnosis would simply call "modern Terran sciences".]

My tests said it would be about as mobile as Vash's arms, minus the phalanges — toes tend to lack the range of movement fingers do, but they should still move as they would on a normal foot.

[Gnosis will kick the door shut behind him by the way, and then they can proceed to... probably Wolfwood's bedroom? Let's be real, Wolfwood will need to be sitting and/or laying down.]

I'm going to have to attach a metal base to your leg so that this can be taken off and put back on appropriately. Vash's arm was a reference point. That said, it will become a permanent part of your body, so I've brought some painkillers, morphine, [MORPHINE?????] and anaesthesia to put you under temporarily while I'm essentially adding bits to you. It's all Add's concoctions that he left behind. [THAT MAKES IT WORSE GNOSIS]

Oh, and you won't need to worry about your furniture getting ruined by this. I have sterile sheets as well, not that I imagine you'll lose too much blood, but you will have temporary wounds while I do this. They'll be closed up quickly.

[Gnosis robbed Add when the man died clearly—]

[lupusxylem]

[Oh good! More surgery!

Wolfwood wheels back towards the bedroom, leading the way as Gnosis explains the procedure.]

Wouldn't be anythin' I haven't been through already. Just as long as you promise not to inject me with anythin' experimental.

[Like Add did, even though he WAS trying to save his life.]

...and make sure you lock the door. Don't want Liv or Vash walkin' in on me cut open on the bed.

[succiduous]

[To be clear, Gnosis is absolutely Not Authorized to do surgery. Absolutely not. He took life sciences and has worked with Shining, an actual honest to god Medic, on things. But beyond some surface knowledge, he cannot do surgery. He should not be doing surgery.

So anyway, he's doing surgery.]

I have no interest in using you as a lab project.

[But yes, let him put all of this stuff down and close the door.]

By the way, I brought this. [Stuffing a hospital gown into Wolfwood's hands.] Go somewhere and change into that, you can leave your underwear on, while I prepare the bed.

[lupusxylem]

Right...

[He'll shuffle off to the bathroom to do that, which will give Gnosis plenty of time to get his things set up since Wolfwood is going so slowly about everything.

Should Wolfwood be a bit more worried about someone who is clearly not a doctor doing surgery on him? Sure, probably. But he's also sure that the people who experimented on him often weren't qualified either, or at least...even when they were, they still didn't care about his wellbeing. If he died, he was considered a failure. Simple as that.

He comes back in just the gown after a moment, wheeling himself up to the bed so he can pull himself onto it and lay down. He'll pull off his shades and set them aside as well, looking a bit tense to say the least.]

Any idea how long this'll take?

[succiduous]

[Noncommittal shrug.]

An hour or two.

[Thanks Gnosis you're a peach.]

With the accelerated healing from the medicine Add left behind, you should be good as new shortly after. You'll likely need physical therapy and extra help to readjust, but... let's worry about that afterwards.

[we're going to skip the whole DIY surgery part, Gnosis is going to put Wolfwood under and have him count backwards from ten until he hits the deck. And then several hours will pass and there will be a leg attached. I am not a doctor and I do not want to write this out leave me alone.

...

Anyway wakey wakey (2 hours later)—]

[lupusxylem]

[Hearing about "accelerated healing" makes Wolfwood a little anxious, considering how he fucking died, but he knows well that it couldn't be anything as potent as what he brought in with him...and the vials are long gone by now. He's not sure he'll ever be able to get anything like that again anyway, so this should probably be tame in comparison.

He has to hope, anyway. He's already going under, so no time to really ponder it now.

He's groggy when he wakes hours later, groaning as he struggles to force his eyes open. God, it feels like they've been cemented shut...]

Mmhh...

[He's not feeling any pain right now, for a blessing. He has to imagine whatever anesthetic Gnosis was working with hasn't worn off. His eyes roll around the room until they settle on the Liberi, wherever he ended up.]

S....all done, Doc?

[He knows Gnosis isn't a doctor he's being sarcastic-]

[succiduous]

[Do not look at the amount of blood on the hospital sheets Gnosis put over the bed, don't worry about it. The blood is still in you Wolfwood, some of it just came out while Gnosis was screwing a base into your leg.

Wolfwood will find that the leg isn't attached because Gnosis is going to show him how to do that, but the base sure is! Nice and tight. Anyway, there's no other blood or surgical items around; Gnosis got rid of them and washed up long before Wolfwood awoke. Those hospital sheets are next.]

All done. Are you lucid enough to learn how to put the prosthetic on? Or do you need a moment? I got water for you, as an aside. It's right there on the bedside table.

[lupusxylem]

Mmhh...I'll be fine. I've done more while less coherent.

[You know, like how he has to drag himself to his feet every time he brings himself back from the bring with his vials. It's the little things.

He will sit forward a bit so he can look at his leg, which- sans the metal base- is the same stump he remembers when he fell asleep. It's completely numb still though, and he wonders if the skin and muscle around the base will stay that way due to deadened nerves.

The water gets picked up after a second, though his hands are visibly shaking a bit as he does so.]

[succiduous]

...I'll wait until the tremors stop, at least.

[Gnosis is too observant to Not notice that. Give Wolfwood some time to drink something. It's not like they have IV technology here, at least not currently, so there was no way to keep him hydrated throughout. Not like Gnosis wouldn't have said "drink water" anyway, though.]

You are fine, if that's any consolation. I didn't dose you with anything that might cause a... reaction.

[Hard not to know about the drugs that melted his organs when, uh. Well. The drugs melted his organs—]

cw: human experimentation

[lupusxylem]

...yeah. I know.

[He brings his free hand close to his chest, flexing it a few times as if that will make the shaking stop. He knows it isn't weakness, or a reaction to the anesthetic or anything else.]

I just ain't had a procedure done in a long time. And the last one wasn't pretty.

[You know, when they strapped him to a cross and used him as a guinea pig for all kinds of trial drugs and shit.]

[succiduous]

You don't have to share if you don't want to, [Gnosis says, Very Aware this is a PTSD symptom because... well, yeah, hard not to know.] There's a grounding exersize you can do, if you'd like to.

["If you'd like to" because he knows Wolfwood can be... uncooperative.]

It's simple. Focus on the clock on the wall, and take a deep breath. Hold it for ten seconds, exhale slowly over ten more seconds. Do that for one minute.

["It'll lower your heartrate", he wants to say, but this is one of the rare times he bites his tongue and doesn't bother with the deeper explanation. This is anxiety control 101, Whisperain has people do this all the time, but maybe to Wolfwood it's something new. What's the mental healthcare like in NML anyway—]

[lupusxylem]

[Yeah no, Gnosis is exactly right on that. It’s…not something he’s talked about to anyone but Vash (Livio knows, he doesn’t need to be told more), and possibly Mizuki depending on how their therapy sessions go, but the PTSD runs strong in this man. He doesn’t mean to be vague, it’s just…you know. He really does appreciate Gnosis not asking questions, more than he really knows.

Wolfwood tilts his head a little- he’ll try anything once- and looks over at the wall as suggested. Take a deep breath…

He follows his instructions. Slowly, carefully. After a moment he finds his eyes drifting closed, no longer looking at the clock but still following the breathing exercises. It isn’t until a moment or more has passed that Wolfwood opens his eyes again, no longer trembling. His heartrate, though previously spiked, has returned to something mostly normal.]

…thank you. That helps.

[succiduous]

[You don't question a man on his past and his traumas man, you let that shit come out when you're ready. Unless you're a therapist, which Gnosis is not.]

Just remember it for when you're in that mindset and somewhere without any actual danger. [Don't do it in combat etc.] Re-hydrate. Then we can talk on how to actually utilize the prosthetic correctly.

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood nods, taking a moment to have another sip of that water in the silence that follows. He’ll drain half the glass before he seems fit to speak again, leaning his head back against the pillows.]

…okay. I’m good now.