Sunday, July 28, 2013

Page 155

Hector snorted a laugh. He considered coating the inside of the helmet as well, but he figured it fit his head snugly enough already. He did add smoother corners to the jaw, however.

Hmm. What else can you do with your iron?

Uh... I’m not sure, actually...

Try creating something from scratch. Like a replica of your helm.

His brow receded at the idea, but he nodded and returned the helm to its satchel. He rubbed his hands together a moment, then slowly pulled them apart until it was as if he were holding an invisible ball between them.

Gradually, he could see the dust appear on his skin, gathering into powdery chunks, then into one larger mass, like grains of sand forming a tiny hill and climbing it.

But it didn’t take shape properly. Hector squinted as the iron amassed into an amorphous lump, far too small and nothing like the image in his head. He frowned at his work.

Wow,’ said Garovel. ‘You really did start shitting out metal turds.

It doesn’t look like...’ His frown deepened. ‘Actually, it kinda does...’ He let the lump drop from his hand and made it disintegrate before it touched the pavement. ‘Specific shapes are too difficult,’ he said. ‘Just giving things a thin coating is way easier.

I suppose that’s to be expected,’ said Garovel. ‘It’s like the difference between tracing a picture and drawing something completely new. But your skill is definitely growing. And iron coating could prove immensely useful. How much coating can you create?

Let’s see.’ Hector stuck his arms out as if hugging the air in front of him. He concentrated, and the metal began to swirl around his fingertips. Iron powder collected together, covering his hands completely in lustrous metal, running up his wrists, reaching for his elbows. It stopped before touching his shoulders, however, and he shut his eyes, shaking his head. ‘I think that’s all I can get...

20 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. First Ghost Rider, now Iron Man?

      I'm surprised no one's made a Knight Rider joke yet, actually.

      Delete
  2. Phone isn't letting me copy paste. Tense issue nearby " appeared on his skin".

    Is he just doing magic in full view of the refueling people?!

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  3. "covering his hands completely with [sheen] metal"

    Sheer? Sheet? A sheen of?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm. I was using it in the adjective form, but I guess you have a point, still. It's a little too weird and uncommon. I'll change it to "lustrous."

      Thanks for the check.

      Delete
    2. I see what you meant, now; but yeah, that was an unusual phrasing for that particular adjective, since the noun form is so much more common.

      I've been enjoying your story for several weeks now. I have also tried to comment before, but something about this site does not play nice with my iPad, so that was I think the first timeI have managed it.

      Delete
    3. Glad to have you. And if you have any idea why the site doesn't work well with your iPad, then please let me know, and I'll see if I can tweak things.

      Delete
  4. Huh you too? I have issues with backspace; when I try and put the cursor elsewhere in the text it refuses to let me type or copy paste into the comment box. I have to hit Done, usually that frees up the typing again. I'm on an iPhone iOS 5.1.1, not sure if's the same symptoms.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eesh. Is this a recent development? Or has it been doing that ever since you found the site?

      Delete
    2. It has done that since I found the ite, at any rate. I cannot move the cursor (which is why I am letting "ite" instead of "site" in my previous sentence stand) without having to start my comment over. Worse, I cannot copy-paste at all, so if I wish to cite a particular section of text, I have to retype it from scratch. If I touch the site anywhere outside the comment box, I may or may not be able to type again. And unlike the previous commenter, who uses an iPhone, I do not have a Done button.

      Delete
    3. Well, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it. I did switch the mobile template to Default instead of Custom, however, so we'll see if that makes any difference.

      Delete
  5. Well, I still cannot copy-paste, and I still had to refresh the page to type anything after I tried it. Still cannot move the cursor within my text, either, even to correct a typo. Too bad. Thank you for trying. Perhaps your updated mobile template will help Kanama.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Http://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/blogger/Ae5liGUOGuc

      I had a go with a separate browser (Chrome) but the symptoms were the same.
      I also tried Opera but it refused to even show the comment box, maybe I had something misconfigured.

      Anyway whatever. It's aggravating but it could be worse.

      Delete
    2. Sorry for the trouble. I like Blogger, but it can be kind of a dick, sometimes.

      Delete
  6. Full Metal Alchemist?

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  7. Nice that Hector has leveled up his materialization and imagination. He's gonna need it

    ReplyDelete
  8. I should really stop reading and go to bed... sometime... :/

    ReplyDelete
  9. *Insert colossus joke*

    ReplyDelete