--Monday donation bonus (Page 1/3)--
“That’s way too skinny,” said Ramira. “The abdomen has to be fatter.”
“Abdomen?” said Hector.
“You don’t know what an abdomen is? It’s the butt!”
“Ah, okay...” He annihilated his work and tried again. “Is this closer?”
“Better. But the legs are too long. And there aren’t enough eyes. And can you add some hair?”
He gave it another shot. “How about now?”
“Agh, here, just give me your phone. I’ll find you a picture on the internet.”
Hector did as he was told.
The group continued on together, and Hector just kind of followed mindlessly along as he and Ramira became absorbed with creating the perfect spider for her. She found multiple pictures for him to work from, but they were all different species and so bore variations that kept tripping him up. At length, though, he came up with something quite realistic-looking, even down to the fine hairs on its back like Ramira had asked for.
“Wow, there you go!” she said. “You’re really good at this! It’s perfect!”
He handed it to her. “You sure? It’s not too heavy? I can make it smaller, if you want.”
“No, no, it’s cooler this way! I can beat people with it!”
“Ah...”
“Just kidding.” She prodded him in the stomach, pretending the spider was biting him. “Bragh! I like it a lot! Thank you!”
“Ha... you’re welcome.”
She turned it over in her hands. “You know, it’s kind of like a Melchor action figure.”
Hector blinked at that. “You’ve seen him fight?”
“Yep. It was really scary.”
“Oh. I’m sorry...”
“It was really cool, too.” She frowned, though. “But I don’t think I want to see it again...” She made the spider bite him on the arm this time.
Hector wondered how many terrible things she’d seen already. She didn’t look traumatized, but who could say what effect everything actually had upon her?
What an unfair world it was. He’d known that all along, of course, but it seemed different now, maybe because he felt so powerless again. For a long time now, he’d felt strong, like he at least stood a chance against the problems he saw before him. If someone was in danger, he could just save them. Simple enough. But this little girl here was caught up in a conflict so far out of his reach that he couldn’t even imagine how he might genuinely help her. She and Marcos and Emiliana--they needed more than some stupid lump of iron.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Aww. Well I suppose it's good that Hector at least realizes he's way out of his depth.
ReplyDeleteQuick Hector, use your social skills to make friends.
ReplyDeleteHector: Social skills? Is that another form of power? Like transfiguration?
ReplyDeleteAnother set of hyper states, maybe? Social-skills, social-ize, social-network, that sort of thing?
ReplyDeleteYour right hector they don't need a lump of iron they need a lump of iron In the shape of a spider
ReplyDeleteNot that it will stop him from rushing in if he sees even the slightest chance of being useful.... even if it only means taking one hit to the face as a meat shield cause he totally would do something like that lol
ReplyDeleteDid Melchor look like a spider in one of his battles? I don't remember that...
ReplyDeleteAnd yay, Hector. You know the way to not feel useless to the kids? Train. Train yo ass off! Conviction!
... And here I am, 16 hours after telling myself to wait a month... Couldn't even wait a full day...
ReplyDeleteWelcome. I know waiting is difficult. I'm not surprised you failed. We all did lol
ReplyDelete"You don’t [you] know what an abdomen is?"
ReplyDelete“Wow, there you go!” she said. “You’re really good at this! It’s perfect” (missing period at the end)
Does "social skills" include "applied crafting"? ;)
ReplyDeleteBig Brother Instict Activate!
ReplyDeleteWe're supposed to wait? Wut?
ReplyDeleteI think she means the scary part, not the actual appearance.
ReplyDeleteGot 'em, thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt cute how he still tries to be good even when he's so far out of his depth.
ReplyDeleteRamira reminds me a bit of Bonesaw from Worm. Same creepy cheer while talking about things that terrify normal people.
ReplyDeleteBonesaw likes vivisection and more flavours of body horror than there are Ben and Jerry ice cream flavours. Ramira likes spiders. THERE IS A RATHER LARGE DIFFERENCE.
ReplyDeleteGiven the way hyper-states work, merging with Garovel might actually do that. Which is hilarious. I can honestly see Hector going pan-forma just so he can be better at talking to people.
ReplyDeleteNo one is supposed to wait, he didn't even say that. It's just easier to wait a few days/weeks and read it in chunks instead of having to wait page by page. That's what Tonyorobsky said he was gonna do...and failed lol
ReplyDeleteI think they meant they wanted to wait a month to read more so they'd have lots to read when they came back. And they failed, big time.
ReplyDeleteShe said "Melchor action figure"...
ReplyDelete"At
ReplyDeletelength, though, he came up with something quite realistic-looking, even
down to the fine hairs on its back like Ramira had asked for."
Hector: Makes a small statue with a level of detail that would be almost impossible for a non-servant to even attempt, probably worth hundreds to the right collector, later dismisses it as a "stupid lump of iron."
I find it very interesting how little Hector seems to think of his own skill sometimes. Poor kid really needs someone to be properly amazed at what he can do at some point... And a hug... And some self-esteem...
,,, And a family that loves him. Though apparently he's close to achieving that with the Elroys and uh.... Lynn's family.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's right. he did get to meet the Edith family just after Gina sort of kidnapped them. Can't remember what they thought of him. I thought it was just kind of neutral considering that he was an unkillable superhero, but I guess they didn't realize at the time he had a crush on a member of the family, so they might not have thought about it as much.
ReplyDeleteOf course. He done that for his friggin bike, dude.
ReplyDeleteI generally prefer to wait for a few months, read to the current page, then keep reading day by day until I get to a spot where the current arcs are mostly closed, and stop to wait again. It usually saves me time on regular checking, but this time I got back in near the start of what seems to be one of the longer story arcs.
ReplyDeleteTwas a joke guys. I'm not very good at them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying she's comperable to Bonesaw, just that she reminds me of her.
ReplyDelete