Synth

As good as any synth may be in flight, none of them started out with any kind of natural skill. Yes, they 'knew' how to fly, thanks to what they went through in the tank, and yes, their muscles were all fit thanks to the constant pulsing electrostimulation of their muscles, but it took more than that to fly properly. There was still a disconnect between their brain and body, which needed real world training. In the beginning. TO's was just as clumsy as anyone else when they started flight training. It wasn't until the first time they felt steady on their wings, the first time they could effortlessly fly across the room and landed gracefully, that they decided they loved flying, and it was that love which spurred their future excellence. What would later become a simple maneuver was at that time a glorious moment of freedom and joy that they feared they'd never experience again.

Under the careful tutelage of their new friends, it only took another two weeks of daily practice before they felt that again, before they found themselves able to take a few broad, powerful flaps of their wings and bring themselves up higher into the flight room before easily gliding back down to the ledge around the room and landing with a grace that they feared was lost to them forever. As they stood there, realizing that they had done it, that they had been able to fly with a least a little of grace, they spun around to beam at their new friends; Runala, Pulsar, and Mirian.

Their amused expressions at TO's joy were the only thing that kept them from excitedly saying, "Did you see!" like an excited civilian child.

"Told you that you could do it." Pulsar said, as they flapped over from one side of the room to the other, landing easily next to TO, "You've been working so hard, and I could see the strength in your wings." They stepped forward and gently placed their hands on TO's wing blades - something they had gotten used to by now. "Yeah, see, these little muscles here! I can feel them. They're so much better than they were!"

"That just felt right!" TO turned around to face Pulsar, "It felt easy! for a second there, it felt like before!"

"And guess what?" Runala approached TO with their hands on their hips and an amused flicker to their ears. "You didn't even notice how you're walking on your right leg. You looked natural there!"

With a blink, TO was suddenly aware that they had a prosthetic leg again. It hadn't been as though they felt like they had their old leg again, but for the moment they forgot about it and their movements with it felt natural. Of course, now that they were focused on their leg, they once more felt the strange weight of the prosthetic, and the disconnect between their knee and the foot of the prosthetic itself. As they walked around on it a little more, it was clear from Runala's expression that whatever grace they had established with that leg was now gone.

"Don't worry." Pulsar said, "That'll come back. You got there once, you'll get there again." Their ears fluttered down. "Now having said that-"

"I know." TO said, their ears dipping back, "That's it for today, right?"

"Right." Pulsar's ears twitched with amusement. "Go take a long hot bath and relax. That's my prescription for you."

"You can't give prescriptions," Mirian said in the deadpan voice that TO had quickly gotten accustomed to. Today, their hair was shorter, light green and styled in dramatic spiles. They came come to realize that the hair wasn't implanted on, but was stuck to their scalp with a specific kind of glue. It still impressed them that the wigs hardly moved even when they flew or hung from one of the many bars that criss-crossed the area, a thing they did far more than standing or sitting normally.

"You know what I mean," Pulsar said, their ears flattening out. "Do you always have to be so damn pedantic?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Of course!" Mirian stuck their tongue out, "Messing with you is one of my few joys!"

TO chuckled and shook their head. At first, this kind of banter made them worry, but now it was just how they worked. It was odd as far as TO was concerned, but it worked for them. "Anyway, legitimate or not, I'm going to take Pulsar's prescription." They headed towards the door, "DH found a musical for us to watch, and -"

"Oh, speaking of, I guess you'll need a few days off soon." Pulsar said. "When will that be?"

"... Days off?" TO turned and looked at them, their ears flicked out and their brows knit in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"What, you think you're going to practice while you're going through *that*?" Mirian shook their head, "You're crazy. I mean, it's impressive, but you're still crazy."

"Well, Runala and I are going to need a few days soon." Pulsar said, a slight flush on her ears, "And I realized that you haven't mentioned anything, so..."

"... So?"

Mirian huffed, "She means, are you and DH gonna cycle soon?"

"Cycle?"

"We don't really bother with the Chilacian words for stuff. It gets complicated." Runala said, their own ears tinged with the slightest hint of blue, "The whole Evkavma thing?"

TO's ears suddenly flushed, and they stumbled as they hastened to the door, "Er, no, that's not an issue." The words rushed from their mouth, and for the first time in their life they wanted nothing more than to leave the flight room as fast as possible.

"Wait." Mirian said, "But you and DH-"

"Hey, leave it." Runala's ears pinned as they looked at Mirian, "Don't-"

"But they've been together for how long? Shouldn't that have happened?"

Before more questions could be asked, either in general or to them, TO pulled the door open and rushed off, running down the hallway and back towards their room. It wasn't until they stopped for breath that they realized they had once more forgotten about their leg.

======

TO did not go back to their room. It was still early in the day and there would be nobody in their room for several hours yet. Instead, they went to the workshop where DH and Vik were working on Flit's new leg.

"I hope I'm not going to be a distraction." They said as they entered, "but I just wanted to-" They yelped as DH grabbed their arm and pull them inside.

"Perfect timing!" They said as they pulled TO towards the computer on the other side of the room. "We were just saying that we needed to look at the programming of your leg. Something isn't working here, and we have to backtrack and see if it's an issue with our records, or with this leg!"

Vik, who was in the middle of sending off a message, suddenly looked up and smiled, "Well, that's convenient!" They said. "Wanna take your leg off, or keep it on while we do this?"

"I'll keep it on." TO said. They weren't entirely certain what they were doing or if it would hurt, but they just didn't like having their prosthetic off. At DH's instruction, they rolled up their pant leg to expose their leg up to the knee. A moment later, DH had a wire going into a hidden port near the top, and began their work.

"What got you to come here, anyway?" DH asked, their eyes scanning the scrolling text before them. "Did you just sense that I needed you?" They grinned, their ears flicking with amusement and fondness.

"Not exactly." TO's ears flushed, "I just wanted to see how you were."

"Hmm." DH watched TO's ears carefully, "Really." They said, "That's not what your ears are saying."

TO glanced at Vik, then back to DH, "I wanted to talk to you." They said in synth-speak, "But it can wait."

"I doubt that." DH said, also slipping into synth-speak. "You worry too much for me to let you just sit in whatever's bothering you."

TO's ears deepened in their flush as they looked at Vik. "It's personal."

"Hey, Vik?" DH said, slipping back into common for a minute, "Do you mind if we have a conversation in synth-speak? I promise it's not about you."

Vik's only response was to pull a pair of larger headphones over their ears and then gave a brief nod. DH grinned and looked back to TO. "See? Easy."

TO shook their head, "It's... really personal."

"Vik's won't hear a thing now, and we're speaking in synth-speak." They looked at TO, "And I'm not letting you just simmer in whatever's wrong!"

TO sighed and looked down, now intently focused on the way the wires connected to their leg. "Do you think it's weird that we haven't... experienced Enkavma?"

DH's ears suddenly flushed blue, and they looked over towards Vik as though making sure he hadn't suddenly developed the ability to understand synth speech.

"You know what?" They said as they turned their focus back to the screen, "Maybe you're right. Maybe we should talk about this later."