Doctor doctor, gimme the news

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

After the meeting, and after some bickering with the Emergency Medical Hologram, down at the bottom of the Hub, Brainy is arranging the MedBay to his liking and familiarizing himself with the medical equipment and its functions.

Right now, for instance, as anyone walks in the door, he's wearing some sort of scanning goggles and a rather sinister-looking surgical glove with micro-scalpels, little lasers and surgical saws on the fingertips.

This makes him look like a green-faced Freddy Krueger with mad scientist goggles. For anyone that walks in like he instructed him to at the meeting, this is the first thing they see.

"Hmmmm."

Comments

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"'Course you are."

He COULD sound patronizing, but he doesn't. He learned how when his father used to say the same thing, when he came home at age 8 with a dirty face and a black eye multiple times in a year.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"What did you want?"

The tissue regenerator hummed as he repaired his busted lip with it.

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Nothing."

To see who Zuko had just beat up.

"To see how you were doing."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"As I said, I'm fine. Was there anything else?"

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Nah. When you're done with that, let's go to the Sensorium and get some soy cake or whatever that pate stuff is." Allen picks up the remains of the scanner and hoists it onto a table. Carefully, of course. "I'll help you clean up."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"I don't need the help. And I'm very busy at the moment."

Yes, Brainy, when you're lonely, it's a brilliant idea to push away one of the few people that seems to tolerate you.

But part of the problem was that he was somewhat upset at the moment and he preferred to be upset alone, until he'd convinced himself he wasn't upset anymore.

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"So I'll help, it'll get done twice as fast, and we can go."

The supertool is out, and Allen is working on the scanner. "Bam, soycake. I'm gonna get ice cream, but you know, to each his own."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"As I'm not going anywhere this afternoon, there's nowhere to go. I can fix it perfectly fine on my own, and then I have my own projects to work on."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"There's a fully-functional telepathic holographic simulator on board, so that's only technical. C'mon, dude. You gotta eat sometime."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

And now comes the harshness, that'd been so prevalent before his change in the Anomaly and emotional growth after, the cold, cutting, harsh face he'd put foreward as a coping mechanism.

"Cease your inane nattering and inutile attempts at socialization, and leave me be."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

And he does get a glare for it.

"Fuck you back, dude. Not cool."

He doesn't, however, stop working.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

He does because there's suddenly a forcefield in between his hands and the broken scanner.

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

He stops, his hands hovering above the equipment.

For a moment he tenses. A moment passes, and his posture relaxes, though his hands are still poised over the machinery.

"Obstruction of reparation of useful and potentially necessary medical technology can be construed as a violation of the Hippocratic oath. There's no logical reason to allow anger over mistreatment and un-solicited attempts at socialization to obstruct progress."

His voice is suddenly computorial in its lack of emotional tone.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"It's not a vital piece of equipment, and I will repair it as soon as I'm done repairing the damage to my face. You're not injured. You're not a medical doctor. Leave."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"As a medical mechanic, I feel obligated to remind you that you can't claim this part of the ship just because you're the first, or most knowledgeable doctor, to find it."

Allen turns around again to look at him. He considers Brainy impassively before framing his response.

"If you're angry and want some time alone, I can respect that. However, I'm no more amenable to somebody obstructing my directive than you are, and I expect you to respect that."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"I am not angry."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Are you not?"

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"I'm simply...occupied."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Too much so to tolerate another person in your space."

He pauses, before adding, "It's all right to be upset. I would be."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"I am not upset!" he finally yells. "Now get out of my MedLab before I forcibly remove you!"

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Or I could stay, and we could talk about your feelings."

A wry, if thin, grin has crept back onto his face. His voice has begun to go back to sounding human.

"Unmasculine it might be, but a bad idea? Actually no."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"I don't have feelings."

A completely ridiculous assertion, and he knows it, but for the sake of his argument, he pretends he believes that, as he puts the tissue regenerator back on the equipment table, and proceeds to start fixing up some of the damage.

"Not like most humanoids do, at any rate."

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"All the more reason why we should talk about them, so that I can assess your emotional needs based on more accurate data. There's no information in my world regarding Coluans." Allen raises his eyebrows. "You're going to have to teach me."

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"I have no emotional needs," he says as he works on the scanner.

[twelvevoltman.livejournal.com]

"Does your body produce chemical responses to external stimuli, which affect your behavior and mood?"