[ adamantium. no wonder she couldn't recognize it, she's never even heard of it. the pitfalls of multiple universes, she doesn't think she could even google it to find the right combo of chelation agents to pull the adamantium from his body, which is... annoying. she hates failing. her mouth slants into a frown, thoughtful rather than sad. ]
How was it put on your bones without your body fighting to expel it already?
[ there is no way he was born with metal bones and willa's power doesn't confer x-ray vision so she doesn't know about the claws.
she reacts to his death, and his impending death with equanimity — yolo has never been a part of her own vocabulary for reasons, but everyone dies at least once, the very unlucky get to make it a familiar thing. maybe one day she will live past 30 and die of old age but lark is still around and while he is, the youngest knight is probably going to die young again. ]
[It's not a good memory any time it comes to mind, remembering the pain of the adhesion of metal to his bones. The conflicting canonically and otherwise memories of what followed, or the lack there of for a while - he was a machine, a monster, and now he's just a man trying to drag his weight through the world a little bit longer while still burdened with the weight of his past. He lifts a hand, fingers curling inward to his palm to flex and slowly split open his knuckles to reveal several inches of glinting metal claws.
He doesn't over elaborate, because she's a smart one:]
[ willa doesn't say anything, no platitudes, only an unhappy hum. tragedy doesn't need comment. ]
You can heal, [ she deduces. his knuckles were bruised when she healed him but there weren't any open wounds and he's just shown her that the blades slice open his knuckles, bloodless. it must be what kept his body from fighting off the metal, what allowed him to survive the "upgrade"
her mouth pinches, even as she reaches out to carefully trace her first finger up the top of one of the blades, brushing her fingers against his knuckles, tracing the path across the back of his hand and down his arm where the claws must rest when they're not extended. ]
Does it hurt? [ curious, she's not asking as a healer, but because she thinks it would be cruel to ask him to extend them again so she can feel it if it brings him pain. ]
[He says with what could be a touch of wryness that fades away as he watches her fingers run over his hand, tips sliding along the grooves of his knuckles not unlike Jean's did the first time they met. It's a bittersweet memory, a conflicting feeling, and it makes him ever so much more aware of the contact they have between the two of them. He wants to pull away from it like a wounded animal, but braces himself not to.]
[ her eyebrows knit together, eyes unfocused like she's looking at something beyond them both. her hand flattens against his arm again, long fingers unable to fully circle the banded muscles of his forearm.
she's expecting him to pull away but he doesn't in the span of the slow breaths she takes and so her eyes flicker up, blinking as he swims back into focus. ]
If you put them away now, it won't hurt.
[ the least she can do, choking the blood flow to his nerves for a moment. ]
[It's always hurt - even before it took a moment to heal over, there was always pain. For it not to be there as the claws retract, it feels off. He feels numb in some way - foreign and weird, something he wants to pull away from. Yet he looks at her and he knows it's her doing, and for that he fights the feral urges in his chest and exhales softly. His fingers twitch and the wounds start to close, bloody divots of his knuckles knitting together slowly lest they get a quickened boost by her hand.]
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How was it put on your bones without your body fighting to expel it already?
[ there is no way he was born with metal bones and willa's power doesn't confer x-ray vision so she doesn't know about the claws.
she reacts to his death, and his impending death with equanimity — yolo has never been a part of her own vocabulary for reasons, but everyone dies at least once, the very unlucky get to make it a familiar thing. maybe one day she will live past 30 and die of old age but lark is still around and while he is, the youngest knight is probably going to die young again. ]
no subject
He doesn't over elaborate, because she's a smart one:]
I was considered an asset worth upgrading.
no subject
You can heal, [ she deduces. his knuckles were bruised when she healed him but there weren't any open wounds and he's just shown her that the blades slice open his knuckles, bloodless. it must be what kept his body from fighting off the metal, what allowed him to survive the "upgrade"
her mouth pinches, even as she reaches out to carefully trace her first finger up the top of one of the blades, brushing her fingers against his knuckles, tracing the path across the back of his hand and down his arm where the claws must rest when they're not extended. ]
Does it hurt? [ curious, she's not asking as a healer, but because she thinks it would be cruel to ask him to extend them again so she can feel it if it brings him pain. ]
no subject
[He says with what could be a touch of wryness that fades away as he watches her fingers run over his hand, tips sliding along the grooves of his knuckles not unlike Jean's did the first time they met. It's a bittersweet memory, a conflicting feeling, and it makes him ever so much more aware of the contact they have between the two of them. He wants to pull away from it like a wounded animal, but braces himself not to.]
Nothing new.
no subject
she's expecting him to pull away but he doesn't in the span of the slow breaths she takes and so her eyes flicker up, blinking as he swims back into focus. ]
If you put them away now, it won't hurt.
[ the least she can do, choking the blood flow to his nerves for a moment. ]
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no subject
Well, I should get going. Let me know when it starts to hurt again and we can do this again sometime.
[ makes it sound like a date but willa doesn't take it back. sylvie knows she is a flirt. she sets her empty glass on the counter. ]
Enjoy!