If I Rebooted Tin Man

Chapter 14: LS: Ambrose After Rebraining

(1) Friendly And Formal

Ambrose was canonly the kind of man that would kneel by the Queen's chair to give her a message that he really could've delivered while standing. He was the kind of man that called her 'your highness' even while she was calling him 'old friend'.

He was also the kind of man that grinned right at her while telling her that he was clever enough to destroy the blueprints to the machine Azkadellia wanted, and made the Queen's birthday part of the password to that very machine.

So maybe when DG is getting used to being a princess and 'uncomfortable' isn't the right word for what she's feeling but also isn't exactly the wrong one, Ambrose's particular mix of strictly formal and unashamedly familiar helps.

Because now he kneels to her and calls her all sorts of royal titles and seems to think that looking at her when they speak is optional. But he also nudges her and winks when he catches her looking at a boy her age, and grins wide when she goes red from it. Because, as she's learning, that's who he is — formal and friendly, stuffy and absurd, her mother's advisor and her dear dear friend.

(2) Thankful And Embarrassed

The quartet are somewhat worried that Ambrose will be embarrassed or upset about his time as Glitch. What he did, what they let him do, how they responded to him.

And he definitely is, a little. He has a large sense of dignity and he is literally one of the most brilliant men in the realm, the advisor to the queen herself, a man of many skills and an impeccable (if somewhat mad) reputation. 

But also, he was impaired. He was halved. He was glitching. And maybe these people treated him like a problem to be managed, but he was a problem to be managed, and they also treated him like a friend.

So he thanks them for their kindness towards a lost little Zipperhead. Even as he's trying very hard not to scream into the void a little because oh Gods he just remembered ANOTHER ridiculous thing that he did.

(3) Cuddling

Glitch had little sense of boundaries when it came to physical affection. Over the course of their adventure, the quartet learned how to enforce some boundaries, and to let him gleefully cross over others.

When he's Ambrose again, they find themselves mourning the heightened physical affection he'd given them. Because obviously it will stop now that he has his full mind back.

The Queen hears this and she just... laughs.

And laughs.

And laughs.

And none of them understand why until formal, stuffy Ambrose walks into the room, sits next to one of them on the couch with that grace he's apparently known for that Glitch only ever had in spurts... and proceeds to half drape himself over one of them because he's sleepy and they're warm.

Ambrose has better self control and knowledge of social rules than Glitch. So yes, he has a few more boundaries and won't go sitting in someone's lap if there's no chairs (unless he really wants to annoy Cain and knows he'll get away with it because the Tin Man got used to putting up with his nonsense as Glitch). But, as the Queen explains, he's always been a cuddler.

So maybe they have to get used to him not jumping on them at every opportunity. But he still tackle-hugs when he's excited, still wants cuddles when he's tired, still throws a friendly arm around their shoulders without a thought as to who's watching.

He's still the man they knew — just with his full memories, a better intellect, and his self-control back in working condition.

Not that much self-control, though, because Cain's face twists in the funniest way when he hugs him in front of other people, and he's not giving up such a rich source of entertainment easily. XD

(4) Wrath

Glitch was capable of anger, but Ambrose is capable of rage. Cold rage. Directed rage. Cold, directed rage with a terrifying intellect to back it up.

AKA: pissing off Glitch would get you sniped at, and for the most part that remains true once he's Ambrose again. But then someone goes too far and threatens someone he cares for, and everyone gets to see just what separates Ambrose from his Zipperhead self besides the better filter — he has his full intellect and range of emotions back now, and his danger is of a very precise and accurate sort.

(5) Ambrose + Weapons = NOPE

Ambrose agrees to teach Cain his fighting style if Cain will teach him how to shoot a gun. Cain talks him down to a bostaff. Cain immediately has regrets.

AKA: Ambrose is a badass fighter, but give him any weapon and he's immediately useless.

AAKA: Scarecrow go whirr with a stick, wheee! (distant sounds of glass breaking and a familiar headcase muttering oops)

(6) In The Land Of The Brainfogged, The Half-Brained Man Is King

When something-or-other starts affecting everyone's minds, only Ambrose is still able to function — he's had years of practice functioning with half a mind, after all.

Now if only he could stop freaking out and focus long enough to actually do anything useful...

(7) Concussion

Ambrose gets a (not-too-bad but not great) concussion and freaks out over his mind not running at full capacity again.

(I just feel like he'd have a bad reaction to anything that affects his mind negatively after being Glitch)

Of course, there's always the option that Glitch gets a concussion instead and panics as his already-scrambled mind gets even worse...

(8) Ambrose Accidentally Heals The Cains While Couch Crashing

Wyatt Cain has his son back, even if he is a lot older and finding a rhythm with him again is proving more difficult than he'd thought it be. But still, he has his son back and life is good.

Unfortunately, he also has an ex-Zipperhead who seems intent on bunking with him.

(AKA: Ambrose needs a place to stay while his room and lab in the castle are being rebuilt or something, and accidentally helps the Cains heal while sleeping on their couch)

(Featuring Cain Sr and Ambrose being best friends whether Cain likes it or not, Jeb bonding with Ambrose whether Cain likes it or not, and Ambrose revealing that he's much more Glitch-like outside of the formality of court than he originally let on — particularly when he knows it will annoy Cain)

(9) Ambrose Works To Undo Damage Done To Zipperheads

Ambrose isn't the only one that was wrongfully made into a Zipperhead during the Witch's reign. He bonds with others that went through the same thing he did as he works to locate their brains and put them back into the right heads.

And/or:

After being a Zipperhead (he'll always have this zipper, always have the occasional glitch, always know that it could be done to him again) for so long, Ambrose decides that it's unjust as a punishment and works to abolish the practice entirely.

(10) Ambrose Still Glitches Sometimes

Ambrose has his brain back, but the zipper's still there and he still glitches sometimes, a little.

Things he has to deal with that he didn't before:

• Newfound clumsiness

• Heightened distractibility

• Still occasionally repeating himself. Still occasionally repeating himself. Still occasionally repeating himself...

• Clumsiness

• Developing a stutter for a week straight

• A weird rivalry with crows

• Cain, Raw, and DG's friendship.

Yeah... Not too bad a deal, if he does say so himself.

(11) Coffee

Ambrose gets a hold of coffee. This becomes everyone else's problem.

The already hyper mad scientist with a still occasionally glitchy brain gets access to caffeine. No-one but him (and maybe the Queen or DG, because someone needs to just be amused while everyone else deals with the menace) has a good day. XD

(Alternatively: he gets coffee before the rebraining?)

(12) Ambrose Seems To Be Nothing Like Glitch (But He's Exactly The Same Guy)

At first, DG, Cain, and Raw fear they've lost their friend when the newly-restored Ambrose seems to be nothing like Glitch. (They don't say this out loud, especially not to him, because they know it's wrong to want him to not have half his brain)

After a while, though, he manages to (unintentionally, as he remains oblivious to their internal struggles about his identity) show them that he's still exactly the same guy — just more put together.

AKA: The formal, arrogant, technobabbling guy that follows the queen around as if he's on a short leash doesn't seem much like the Zipperhead they came to love at all. Then he starts going off on random tangents, getting distracted by literally anything and everything, building inventions that have no sane purpose whatsoever, and pestering everyone about letting him teach them to dance — and they realize he's still exactly the guy they knew.

(13) Names And Nicknames

(Ambrose 'Glitch' Fiyero)

Everyone calls him Ambrose now. And that's fine, because he is Ambrose. He remembers being Ambrose. But... he remembers being Glitch, too.

How a certain ex-headcase ends up learning that he can keep going by Glitch with his saving-Oz friends (Cain, DG, and Raw) and Ambrose with everyone else (including his beloved Queen) without choosing between the two.

(14) Where Did Glitch Learn To Fight Like That?

When he was still missing half his brain, Cain had asked him where he learned to fight after witnessing the Zipperhead take down a troop of Longcoats by himself.

Now that he's (more-or-less) in his right mind again, Ambrose tells him the story of a young genius who got fixated on things quite easily — whether that meant memorizing the OZian periodic table, dancing obsessively until it became muscle memory, or earning as many black belts as was humanly possible (plus a few that were humanly impossible, for good measure).

"Self-taught," he says with a proud grin. Then he frowns and adds, "Well, more-or-less."