mayfield_logs | With a slice, or a snip, eenie-meenie-miney-mo...

With a slice, or a snip, eenie-meenie-miney-mo...

Who: Knock Out and Barricade
What: It's just about time for a check-up, officer...
Where: Mayfield Hospital
When: Sometime before Day 7 of Portalfield (backdated)
Warnings: It may get bloody. And/or oily.

Knock Out had learned a lot about the human body since his arrival, and had proven himself to be a surprisingly adept doctor for his short learning period. Which was good, since his closest ally in this world was, like him, transposed into a fleshy body.

But one of the 'gifts' of Mayfield had given Barricade his clawed hands back, making him a cyborg of sorts and making him... a little more difficult to treat as far as injuries went.

Giving Knock Out an advantage over either doctor or mechanic. And providing him a rare opportunity to examine the melding of man and machine.

So, when Barricade needed some assistance... some 'repairs' as it were, Knock Out was all to eager to assist, reserving a private room at the hospital for the procedure. He also brought a large bag of tools from home. After all, one couldn't work on a mechanical arm with a stethoscope, now could he?

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There were things about him that were somewhat of a bother. Such as his sensitivity to the light... and he was hoping that Knock Out could prove to be of some help. At least, that's what he thought he was going in for.

His clawed hands hardly proved to be a bother to him... but the other had almost insisted on looking them over. Barricade found this almost suspicious, but at the same time he didn't think that any harm could come of it.

Having stopped just outside of the room that Knock Out had told him to go to, he gave a couple of well placed knocks before letting himself in.

Knock Out looked up, a professional smile on his face.

"Come in, my friend! You took me by surprise, being a little early and all. But, punctuality is a forgotten grace among our kind." He gestured towards the bed. "Please, sit down. I will do my best to make this a very quick trip for you. After all, I know that time is precious, especially right now, what with all that's been happening."

He crossed the room to the door, locking it and closing the blinds.

"So, tell me what's currently troubling you, and how I may be able to help, hmm?"

Now that it was a little less bright within the room, his constant squinting had stopped. Of course he was going to be early, it was something in his nature. Going over to sit upon the small bed that the clinic provided, he cast a glance toward the other.

"I'm sure you've had proper time by now to study the human form. What I'm not sure of is if you're at all familiar with how the optics work. For some reason, since I received... these..." A finger reached up to tap at a jagged scar along his eyebrow. "... I've been having problems with the light. The late evening and early morning hours of the day do not bother me."

"Ahh, yes. The human 'eye.' I don't have a great deal of hand's-on experience, no, but I've been doing my reading. Let's see here..." He fished around in one of the pockets of his white coat, until he retrieved a small, black device with a pin light on the tip.

"If you would be so kind as to remove your sunglasses." He came close, pulling up a stool in front of Barricade and sitting on it. Once he had access, he touched the Decepticon's face, his fingers gently holding the eyelid open as he shined the light in. "You're saying this has been a problem since you arrived, then? And you're only now getting it looked into? Either you trust me a lot, or you don't trust the local skinjobs."

He did as he was told, folding the sunglasses and set them aside. At first, with the small beam of light, he squinted, and begrudgingly forced his eye to stay open. There was almost a small pull at the other's simple touch. The idea of skin touching skin was, to this day, something he despised.

"I have no reason to trust them."

None.

"Easy there," he said as he noticed the twitch below his touch. "Well, you can trust me to see to your well-being."

He watched Barricade's pupil constrict in the light, then pulled it away and released, letting his fellow Decepticon blink as necessary. After a moment, he did the same to the other eye.

"Hmm... unfortunately, there's not a whole lot I can do for the eyes themselves. Photophobia isn't known to be an affliction in and of itself, so much as a side effect of another problem. I can help some, though. Unfortunately, it won't require surgery." He gave a bit of a smirk. "Just a prescription of vitamins and eye-drops."

He slipped the device into his pocket. "Have there been any other problems lately? Are your hands doing well enough?"

He blinked once, and then twice... and seemed annoyed at the procedure being continued with the other eye. While Knock Out suggested what little 'help' he could, Barricade sat there and closed his eyes with a sigh. The sunglasses were immediately put back upon his face before he finally looked to the other.

He looked down at his hands in curiosity. Surely they were still operating properly. It couldn't help to get them checked out. After all, he didn't feel like opening up that much to the others.

"Perhaps it would be best for you to look them over. Just because something seems to be working well enough, doesn't mean there is an underlying problem." He thought for a moment. "... and I cannot tell off hand if there are any issues."

It's not as if he had the proper sensors...

"True, very true. Besides, it's best to let a professional take a look at these things. Better to be safe than sorry, right?"

He stepped away and rifled through his bag, producing a pair of forceps and a small container of lubricant. He then went to a cabinet and retrieved a headband with both a light and a magnifying glass on it.

"Now, I'll need you to take off your jacket for this. Mind telling me what it's like, to have them? Can you feel things like a human with them, or is it like what we're used to?"

He shifted to take the jacket off, and the gloves soon followed. He stared down at those claws, so similar to his own in his normal form and yet... he found he could not transform them in any way. As for the question...

"So far, the human sense of touch is no longer there." He flexed his fingers once they were free from the cloth. The appearance was almost like a metal skeletal frame ending in sharp claws.

"Hn."

Knock Out leaned in close, flicking the light on as he watched the metal shift within Barricade's limbs, hearing every scrape of the alien substance against itself. It was probably imperceptible to the average ear, but for someone like Knock Out, who had so missed hearing the sound of his own transformation, it stood out like a fond memory.

"Hmmm... yes, yes, interesting. But you still have a measure of sensation? Being completely devoid of feeling here... well, it would make these useless." He ran his finger along the edge of one claw, pleasantly surprised at the sharpness. "And these are anything but useless."

He turned Barricade's hand in his own, examining all the exposed joints for signs of wear and tear, looseness, anything. And it all seemed to check out. He took the small tin of lubricant and applied a few drops to each joint, just to keep them fresh. "Keep moving your talons to get it in the cracks. You want a full coverage to avoid any scraping, don't you?"

He then moved his gaze up Barricade's arm, examining where the metal met flesh. "What about here?" He tapped lightly on the border, waiting for a reaction. "Any pain here? Any strange sensations?"

Barricade watched him carefully, taking note of how interested the other seemed with those metal digits. It seemed almost a little obsessive. Just a little.

"I have enough sense to know when they have come into contact with a solid object." That was a good enough answer, wasn't it? He thought it was. Claws flexed at the command and he somehow... seemed a bit more relaxed. The only reply he could give at the question was somewhat of a grumble.

He never bothered letting anyone else touch where the metal combined into the flesh. To brush against it himself, he was well aware of where the discomfort began. Leave it to Knock Out to find just the spot, and he jerked his arm away.

"Please don't do that." Wait. Did he just say please?

At that, Knock Out's eyebrows raised. Now this, this was something fascinating. And necessitating further study.

"Iiiiiinteresting~" He pulled his hands back and stepped to the cabinet, where he appeared to scratch some notes on a clipboard. He then dug around in the cabinet. "So it is painful, then? As your physician, I must insist on further examination. If there's pain, then perhaps something can be done about it. After all, no pain, no gain, as the humans say, eh?"

He turned back around, snapping a latex glove onto his hand, a small jar and some cotton swabs clutched in his fingers. "I promise to be as gentle as can be. If you'd like, we can converse to keep your mind off the pain, hm? Perhaps about some of the denizens..."

He seemed to growl at this suggestion, but he didn't seem that opposed to it. After all, it could be helpful in the long run. As long as he was stuck in this body, he would need any advantage he could get.

"Hn. Gentle you say. I have to wonder what it is you think you're going to accomplish." There was a small snort. "What about them?"

There was a hint of worry in his voice. Though his glare shot out in the direction of the other hopefully would have covered it up.

"Well, now, my dear officer, we won't know until we find out... will we?" He gave a smirk, returning to his seat and swirling the contents of the jar, a dark golden fluid. He leaned in, touching the skin gingerly with his gloved hands, feeling for any irregularities in the muscle underneath.

"Besides, if there's pain, and I can do something for it, it should at least lighten your mood." Another smirk. He was getting catty.

"Well, now, I've noticed... you've been keeping in contact with that little human child... Henry, I believe is his name? Something like that? I'd love to hear what you have planned that requires you to keep him in play."

He watched him like a hawk, keeping track of where he decided to poke and prod at. There was nothing wrong with his mood. He was perfectly fine. Right up until that small child's name was brought up.

Freezing, he glanced at the floor.

"What do you..." Glaring, his gaze met Knock Out's once again. "Henry is a useful tool for information." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

And the good doctor noticed.

"Simply an informant? I doubt that." He leaned in, still appearing to make regular conversation, as he dabbed some of the fluid to Barricade's raw flesh. "...oh, yes. This might sting." Or burn, more like it. "It's simply a disinfectant to help things along with healing." He continued to apply the iodine.

"As much as I hate to admit it, children are more useful than just information. You have more going on with this boy... than meets the eye, don't you?" He smirked. "Please, do tell. As the only Decepticons here, we've only got each other to rely on. I'd hate to be left out of the loop here."

There was an obvious sound of extreme discomfort that erupted from his chest and rolled in his throat. He was clearly not happy with this but he wouldn't pull away. As he listened, his eyes fell to the floor. There was a curling of his lip as he wanted to throw a retort bit he paused and the sneer vanished as quick as it had appeared.

"He is only a tool to gather further information when I cannot trick others." This was of course a lie, but he was certain to make it sound as close to the truth as possible. He didn't have to explain himself further.

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With a slice, or a snip, eenie-meenie-miney-mo...

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