shoutfire | someone left a cake in the rain

[Rainbow blinks in surprise, then frowns.]

...the fact that you believe that says so much about you, Ed.

[For a minute, there's no further sound out of him except the rustle of folding clothes.

When he does respond, his tone is markedly matter-of-fact, almost clipped.] It hurt. [Another pause, heavy with the unspoken snippets of less concise descriptions he's pushing aside.] But you could've guessed that.

Yeah, it's funny -- healing always seems to hurt more than actually getting hurt to begin with.

[She has experience in this, after all.]

You'd call that healing? That implies anything like it would've happened naturally.

[He hasn't stopped shuffling around, putting his clothes away.]

I didn't even know if it was another mistake or not. I could've told them to stop. Wanted to, a few times. But each time I started thinking that, all I had to do was remind myself how little any of it meant. And that made it okay.

I'm trying to imagine how bad it must have been for stubborn you to have wanted to stop. I'm not sure my imagination is good enough.

[And having zinged him...] How little it meant? What do you mean?

I'm alive, aren't I? So when you look at it objectively, it wasn't that bad. That's something worth remembering in general.

[She opens her mouth, stops, thinks, closes it again, and thinks some more.]

...Yeah, that is a good point.

Just don't ask how it felt subjectively.

[He looks down.]

It was worth it, though. I could've sat through the whole operation twice over if I'd had to. It still would've been nothing.

Yeah, it must have been really worth it in the end, right? Being able to walk and use your arm again.

...You are thinking about what it'd be like for you to lose a leg, aren't you?

[He rubs the back of his neck and adds, in a less mock accusatory tone of voice:] It's not for everyone, automail. It's got nothing on a real limb, and... I didn't really do it for my sake. But having two feet to stand on after all of that sure was something, I gotta say.

[Then he eyes her.] Definitely not for you, if you had any crazy ideas. You'd never get off the ground again. [As if basic physics is doing such a great job with her right now.]

You're wrong there. Didn't I just prove I could lift two metal limbs?

[And the person they're attached to. But her cocky grin fades as she looks back over herself.]

They wouldn't work for wings, though. If I was gonna lose anything, that's what I'd hate. Not that I want to lose anything. And that wasn't what I was thinking about anyway!

So what were you thinking about? [More specifically, was it another jab at him?]

Just that -- you say it's not like a normal limb at all, but you really do move like they are.

Don't go getting a swelled head over this, but it's kinda impressive.

[She's seriously asking him not to get a swelled head over something?]

'Course I do. If I couldn't, there wouldn't be any point to them, right? That's what other prosthetics are for. And besides - [He claps, raises his right fist again (partly so it's pointing neither at her nor at the clothes draped over his other arm, but mostly to try and look cool) and, with no regard for weapon safety whatsoever, breaks out a short version of his armblade.] it's not all bad.

[...Actually, by his standards, that's nearly modest.]

Whoa!

[Congratulation, Ed, you have successfully impressed the rainbow-maned pony whose opinion you obviously don't care about, obviously.]

That was awesome!

[Obviously! Whatever he's beaming about right now must be entirely unrelated.

His eyes stray upward for a moment - apparently he's thinking - before he claps and grabs his wrist again. Amid the blue sparks that fountain away from it, the blade folds in on itself and curls into the shape of... a pretty angry-looking cartoonish horse head, flanked by a couple of tiny metal wings. He points it at her and waggles his fingers under the transmuted automail cover, which makes the wings flap jerkily up and down, squeaking and clattering. It could be a kid's toy, if the toy was designed by someone with a really weird sense of aesthetics.

This is not modest by anyone's standards, for the record. But it might be some form of revenge for that impression of him she did.]

[If it's revenge, it's not very effective -- Rainbow slaps a hoof to her mouth, then bursts into such furious laughter she collapses on the ground, rolling around on her back for a bit as she howls.]

[Speaking of moving artificial limbs like it's nothing, the metal horse is now hovering inches above her face, its wings still creaking up and down. Hey, if she chokes to death laughing...]

[She's not going to die, Ed! She's just going to laugh till her throat is raw, her lungs are aching, and she's curled up in a ball with her forelegs over her head to blot out the sight. Even then, she's still quivering helplessly, tears streaming from her eyes.]

[Incapacitated counts. And it's contagious, honestly - he does his best to stifle it, but before long he's leaning over her not to cut a faux-imposing figure but because he's physically having trouble straightening up.

Eventually he surrenders and, still snickering conspicuously, drops to the floor next to her to sit and catch his breath.]

Look at you. You're such a kid.

[She blindly swats at him with a hoof, still giggling.] Says the guy who turned his arm into a pegasus puppet!

[He shields himself with the puppet.] Okay, how many kids do you know who could do that? [And he pointedly flaps its wings at her again.]

I'unno. [She cracks an eye open, still smiling, to look at him.] Could YOU do it when you were a kid?

[He reaches over to tap her on the head with the angry pegasus' nose.] Don't lump me in with kids. I'm on a whole other level.

[She probably shouldn't have tried to compliment him in the first place, really.]

You can't do the same to me, then! I did my first Sonic Rainboom when I was just a filly!

[Maybe not, but this isn't exactly something they don't have in common...]

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