Ed & Winry's Valentines WIP (Patreon)

When you say the phrase “thinking outside the box”, and you know Winry Rockbell, the face of the pretty blonde mechanic would probably come to mind as a picture definition. No matter what task she was given or what obstacle she faced Winry always thought of how to do something differently. This can especially be said when it comes to her passion for building things. Now of course Winry's approach at innovation has had it's fair share of hits and misses, though Ed and Alphonse would often say they were mostly misses, like how anyone's endeavor would go. But with her hits she really does get it right.

And today, she was introducing Ed to her recent hit innovation…

“Huh!? A detachable moving automail arm?” Ed asked his girlfriend in surprise.

“Yep! It's been something I've worked on ever since you became a state Alchemist.” Winry replied proudly with a bright smile.

“That long? It must be a real passion project of yours.” Ed said.

“It sure is! Though I gotta say I didn't think it was possible, I guess even great inventions from a genius can get some improvement.” Winry boasted with a confident chuckle and flip of her hair to match.

“I think your humility could use the improvement more, pretty piston.” Ed said with a cheeky grin to which the other blonde stuck her tongue out at him.

“Whatever! Since you want to add in your two cents that makes you the perfect test subject.” Winry stated.

“Wait, what!? But why do I have to test it?! Why not Al?” Ed asked in shock.

“Because he's away on a trip, and I need to test this today. Plus you're the only one with an automail arm in front of me.” Winry explained.

“So that means if I put another sucker – I mean willing subject with an automail arm in front of you I'm off the hook?” Ed asked hopefully.

“Nice try, Elric.” Winry said with a grin as she shook her head in amusement.

“Damn it...” Ed groaned as he knew now there was no escaping his fate.

So the fullmetal alchemist allowed Winry to set him up for the testing of her new version of automail. He didn't dare add “improved” to it because the thing may end up gaining sentience and try to slaughter them all. Not like things like that haven't happened after all. Still even though he was on the wary side Ed couldn't deny that a modification like this would be very convenient if it worked. Here's hoping!

“Alrighty, just a circuit rewiring here, a bit of welding to secure the add-on there...” Winry trailed off as she tinkered with the new automail.

“So how exactly will I be able to move this thing while it's detached, Winry? You never did tell me when we started this.” Ed pointed out.

“Oh yeah! That's actually the easy part. But I want to finish this automail first before I move on to you, Ed.” Winry said, then after a final screw she stepped back a bit to look at her invention and smiled. “And done! Now onto phase two.”

Winry grabbed an off-white colored tarp and put it over the automail to cover it before Ed could see, then grabbed an oddly shaped object as a screwdriver from the table before walking over to her boyfriend.

“What, hey! Lemme see what it looks like. It's going to be attached to my body after all.” Ed protested, moving his head to try and get an angle to see through the tarp.

“Oh hush! You'll see it in a minute. First I have to fit this onto you and configure it, which will answer your question about how you can move the automail while it's detached.” Winry stated and showed the object to Ed.

It looked like one of the support plates Winry attaches before the joint part for his automail. Only this one had a gunmetal black finish and looked more...modern. Almost digitized in a way with the pattern and how sophisticated it looked. But there was a piece in the middle of the support plate, it looked like a plug in for a cable.

“Looks like a plug-in fancier version of my support plates.” Ed said as he looked at the device with great interest and curiosity.

“Exactly! And it's great that you pointed out the cable plug-in, because it plays a major role. Now we attach it in the same way as the regular support plate like so.” Winry said and placed the support plate on the mechanical stub, screwed it on securely and then walked back to the table with the covered automail. “And now for the grand unveiling!”

With a dramatic flare Winry removed the tarp, revealing a very gorgeous new automail arm. The finish was gunmetal black to match the new support plate and had light blue wiring that could be seen through the joint and muscle crevices. The arm sat flat on the palm of it's hand and showed a long type MC armored cable coming out from the center of the automail. It was so long that it was in a looped four inch thick pile next to the arm. And the plug at the end matched the plug-in for his newly attached support plate.

“Hot damn.” Ed said with wide eyes full of amazement.

“I knew you'd be impressed! Now for the first test.” Winry said and grabbed the cable, pulling it towards Ed and plugging it into the plug-in on the support plate. When she did Ed felt a slight surge go to his brain. Like his connection to the arm had been established. “Okay, now summon the automail to you.”

“Huh!? And how do I do that? Say 'automail, return'?” Ed asked with a joking expression.

As if on cue, the cable flexed like a whip and recoiled towards him and reeled the automail in as well. The mechanical arm then snapped onto the support plate with a loud, sort of satisfying click. And once again Ed felt another surge to his brain as the final connection to the automail was made. The sense of touch immediately came through also, like his arm fell asleep for a bit then got the feeling back.

“Whoa...” Ed spoke softly in awe which made Winry puff her chest out in pride and a smug smirk stretch across her face.

“And thus, Winry Rockbell makes yet another amazing piece of innovative automail! When I held the support plate up to you it was registering your voice as a sort of vocal print – so you can command it by saying 'automail' then give whatever order you have. And the cable compresses and coils inside it like veins when it's attached to you. It also has your weapon add-ons like the old one.” Winry explained.

“Damn, Winry...this is beyond amazing. This is a meta level badass!” Ed exclaimed happily as he jumped to his feet in excitement.

“Glad it meets your standards, babe.” Winry said with a smile.

“I can't wait to test this out. Oh! Maybe I'll use it for a match with Mustang. This will throw him for a real loop.” Ed said with a wicked chuckle as he flexed the fingers of his new arm.

“Actually, I have a different idea for you to test it.” Winry said with a certain tone in her voice. Like barely suppressed eagerness.

“Really? What is it?” Ed asked curiously.

Winry didn't answer, at least not vocally. She just took his arm and gave a grin that said 'come with me and you'll find out' then dragged him to their bedroom. The mechanic moved her boyfriend to sit on the bed and closed the door. When she turned back to face him Ed saw a very seductive look on Winry's face.