And Wyrd is working in town, also probably oblivious unless informed.
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Wyrd had a most satisfying week. He spent the entire week in Kuros helping the town to rebuild its damaged structures. He found a previously unknown love of fine sculpture, and the new city hall is a remarkable edifice. The guardians he sculpted along the front steps were done with such attention to detail that he inadvertently awakened them. When the stone lions stood up, shook their manes, and roared, the new mayor of Kuros nearly shat himself. (though the mayor now likes the guardian statues very much)
"I hear, and will comply." As he speaks the sound of a heavy door opening, and the roaring of an inferno nearly drowns out Wyrd's voice before the comm goes silent. An alert blinking on Jiminy's comm indicates that the #12 foundry furnace has been opened while it was operating at full power. About an hour later, Jiminy's comm again indicates that the #12 foundry furnace was opened, another display indicates that it is functioning at peak efficiency. Some short few minutes later, Wyrd rises out of the ground beside the town hall in Kuros. He spends a few minutes surveying the wreckage of the town before entering the town hall to inquire after the location of the mayor.
A voice that sounds like boulders and gravel tumbling together comes from Jiminy's wrist comm, "I am here, boss. I am about to do the hot repair on the #12 foundry. How can I assist?""As soon as you're done with that foundry repair I'd like you to head over to Kuros. There was a lot of structural damage to the city during the plague and it could take weeks for them to fix it all, but you can put up new walls or repair broken ones in minutes. And the sooner we get the town fit for habitation the better. These people have already been through enough." "I hear, and will comply." As he speaks the sound of a heavy door opening, and the roaring of an inferno nearly drowns out Wyrd's voice before the comm goes silent. An alert blinking on Jiminy's comm indicates that the #12 foundry furnace has been opened while it was operating at full power.
A voice that sounds like boulders and gravel tumbling together comes from Jiminy's wrist comm, "I am here, boss. I am about to do the hot repair on the #12 foundry. How can I assist?"
Wyrd considers the massive machines for a time, then turns back to Dennis and nods once, "Yes, I think I can help you. I do not have much skill with highly technical things, but I learn quickly. I am also one of the few beings that I know who can Bend metal. I can also do forge and foundry work with no fire, and I can retrieve ores perhaps easier than others can. I am also very large and very strong. I will help as best I can."
Wyrd nods and follows the minotaur. Upon seeing the mechs, he nods again, "How will these save us from this Empire, and what do you want me to do?"
Wyrd nods to Dennis then simply waits.
"Good lad, i find ya when we have a trip sorted all right" Wyrd does not make any response.
"Well there are some rare earths that ya can't on world lad, ya have to get off inta the rocks in space, and they are needed, I'm just saying with some one like you along, we could get them faster for the ship building" Wyrd nods, "Depending on this work that Jiminy has for me, then yes."
Perhaps. But he is pretty socially inept, so he probably will not notice anything amiss. :) For example, he had nothing to say to you, so he said nothing.
"I only retrieve metals and gems when I need them. What need have I for amassing wealth by mining?""Ya would be helping with the work ta build the ships, the need stuff ya can only get out in the belts off world" Wyrd stares at you for a moment, his face blank, "I did not say I would not mine. I said I only retrieve the metals and gems when they are needed. When I need them I get them. If they are needed I get them. Case in point, the diamonds from last night. Is this confusing to you?"
"I only retrieve metals and gems when I need them. What need have I for amassing wealth by mining?"
"Good enough. We can talk while we walk. We're headed over to the launch area by the factory. I wanted to talk to you to find out if you have any interest in shipbuilding...of a sort. I can show you what I mean, but these are special ships. The kind that might even give us a sliver of a fighting chance against what's coming." Wyrd considers as he walks with them, after a few moments he speaks again, "I have never considered the prospect of building ships. I am not opposed to the idea, and it would likely be more interesting than classes are." He nods decisively after another pause, "I would like to see what you are talking about."
As Jiminy and Mel are leaving the school, Wyrd falls into step beside Jiminy from an adjoining corridor. He is smaller today, standing only a bit over six feet. "Good morning. You asked for me to come talk to you. Is this a good time?"
Though he needs no sleep, Wyrd understands the need others have for it, and he waits until the sun is a handspan above the horizon before he goes in search of Jiminy. He spends the early hours on the edge of Avalon's grounds looking out over the forest and watching the sun rise. He feels a vague sense of loss at times like this, and a sadness in the face of such beauty for which he cannot account.
Wyrd looks at the strange-looking man, though his carved iron face shows no change in emotion; it is mobile enough to do so, but Wyrd either doesn't care how you look, or is very good at hiding his feelings. "I take up less room in the room this way. And these must become powder. Apparently the diamonds used to fix the dead must be powdered." His voice is very deep, and with him embedded in the floor, everyone nearby can feel it through the floor as much as hear it through the air.
Wyrd nods to Jiminy then sinks into the stone again. A few moments later, he emerges to about his ribcage, or at least, where his ribcage is sculpted, in an empty portion of the cafeteria floor. "I need a large container." One of the cooks brings him a large mixing bowl and with a grimace of pain, he begins grinding the diamonds to dust between his iron hands. Once he finishes he holds the bowl out in the general direction of the nearest healer, "This is powdered diamonds. Jiminy said it needed to be powder. Use it to fix the dead people."
With a nod, Wyrd picks the diamonds back up, scooping them up in one huge hand, "Yes. Do you have a container for it?"
Wyrd looks at T'Sam blankly for a moment, then his hand rises from the floor again and picks up one of the smaller stones. He holds it between two fingers and flicks it almost gently with his other hand. A chip flakes off to reveal a clear crystalline interior. Anyone with appraise or knowledge nature would be able to identify the stone as a rough diamond. "People died. Others can use these to fix the dead people."
Meanwhile, back at the real, and trashed, infirmary, Wyrd's massive head, nearly three feet tall, emerges from the floor just outside the doorway, "I brought things to help. I am no good with healing, but I am good with the earth." His massive hand emerges from the floor several feet away with a few dozen large rocks in it. When it sinks back into the stone, he looks about for someone to answer, "Do you need more?"
Wyrd slips out of the stone wall into his room. The school adapted to his desire for both solitude and a place to work on weaponsmithing by placing a high quality forge inside his quarters. In one corner stood a furnace for refining the ores he often brought back on his underground forays. Depositing the gems on a workbench, he takes the ores to the furnace and gets to work.
A little confused at the room where no room has ever been, Wyrd gathers up his harvest and stands, steps around the strange vessel in the middle of the room, and melts into the wall on the other side.
Returning to Avalon with a small collection of rare metals and stones, Wyrd is apparently lost in thought when he slips through the wall of the new underground hangar and falls to the floor amidst a clattering of his burden.
Struggling to learn sculpture the hard way, with tools...not doing too well.
"Hmm, are you alright? I can heal that, if you'd like. Focus less on the gesture, and more on visualizing the desired result. The same gestures don't always work for everyone." "I will be fine." Wyrd shows no signs of pain as he pulls his hand off the spike. There is also nothing that could be construed to be blood. Wyrd spends the rest of the hour trying to duplicate the two examples Aandal has demonstrated. By the end of the hour, he has had a spider sized piece of earth wandering about the floor, and a palm sized field of tiny spikes appear where he wanted them.
Wyrd repeats the gesture Aandal made, and rather than a field of spikes, he elicits only a rumble from the ground. He tries again, more forcefully, with the same results. He stands for a moment and closes his eyes. He repeats the gesture again with his eyes still closed, and a single large spike juts up from the ground and impales Wyrd's hand with a tearing screech or rending metal. Wyrd's eyes snap open, "Well, that is not right, is it? Perhaps a bit more practice."
Wyrd watches closely, "The way you do that, the motions you use, they are more like what I use. Hmmm. I find it to be less bending the earth than it is that I am a part of the earth. If I want to raise a wall, I simply find that place where I am the earth, then I raise a part of myself like raising my hand." When the elemental is fully formed, Wyrd attempts to duplicate the task, he manages to raise a small shape that looks like an elemental, but the animating spark is missing and he simply has a statue.
"Well, she was usually unable to actually teach me how to do something, but once I saw her do something I could usually duplicate it." As Wyrd speaks, the stone of the room ripples under his feet like a sheet snapped over a bed and the ripple carries him into the middle of the room. Wall of Text for Aandal: "I can do a few other things. I can also manipulate metals, and used my abilities to craft my sword." He stomps his foot down and fifteen feet away a human sized chuck of stone juts violently up from the floor; anything that had been atop it would have been sent flying through the air. Wyrd extends a hand and a pillar of stone rises to his hand. Wyrd grips it and a head sized boulder comes loose for him to throw. When the boulder hits the wall it shatters and leaves a spiderweb of cracks. Wyrd makes a lifting, clenching gesture with one hand and a hand of stone rises from the floor and grips Aandal. Wyrd sinks into the stone and rises from it again a moment later standing next to Aandal.
Wyrd steps out of the wall into a basement room of the school. Seeing no one around, he reaches out to the earth and a chair grows from the floor for him to sit upon. Wyrd stands, the chair melts back into the floor, and he bows to the man, "I was taking classes with Professor Sunwake. I was told there was a new professor. You are he, it would seem."
Wyrd steps out of the wall into a basement room of the school. Seeing no one around, he reaches out to the earth and a chair grows from the floor for him to sit upon.
Wyrd smiles at Jaiye's response, Well at least I didn't make anyone mad by interfering this time. When Tyrrin invites him to stay, he sits again against the wall with a small nod to Tyrrin.
Having stood like a statue in a shadowed corner of the room, Wyrd steps out of the shadows and stops next to Tyrrin and Jaiye. "Tyrrin speaks the truth. You have much to offer anyone lucky enough to call you friend. From what I have seen in the last two days, you are a beautiful, kind, considerate, respectful, and thoughtful person. If you have an emotional side that is sometimes hard to control, this simply means that you are a living creature. Anyone not willing to give you a little understanding is not worthy of your friendship." Wyrd glances around as if he is a but embarrassed over having interjected in a private conversation. "I am sorry if I intruded in your privacy. I am not very good at the boundary thing." With a short bow, Wyrd steps back to the corner he had been standing in earlier.
Wyrd was still guarding the door, but upon seeing Tyrrin he would shift to a smaller form and allow them through with no comment.
Wyrd watches the lightning fast exchange, the increased tempers, the painful emotions and before he can react, he is alone in the observatory. He would have interfered, but the last time he tried that when people were letting their emotions run away with them did not turn out so well. Instead he just stands up and walks over to the telescope and admires the obvious craftsmanship for several moments. After a bit he looks around the room at the obviously delicate nature of the equipment here. Nodding to himself, he studies the dome until he can understand the mechanics that operate the opening, then he closes the dome up and steps outside the only door to the observatory and sits down with his back to the door. Again, molten iron flows and Wyrd relaxes into his full size, effectively blocking the door behind him as he leans against the stone wall.
Wyrd looks up to Anahita again, and she gets the impression he had not been paying any attention to what was happening in the room, I am told by those who study such things that what I am is an elemental of sorts. I do not know if it is true, and I do not lose much sleep over not knowing. I am the earth. The earth is me. We are the same and yet different.
Wyrd looks like a nearly seven foot tall iron statue of a barbarian. If he were sculpted, the level of detail would stagger the most skilled of artisans. Wyrd nods to Anahita and smiles, "Greetings, Anahita. Welcome to Avalon."
Wyrd sits quietly while Jaiye and Tyrrin enjoy a meal, simply enjoying the companionable quiet. When Tyrrin creates the shimmering aurora he leans back and watches the sky.
Jaiye, perhaps you can watch and make sure we are properly situated on the mount so we do not mess up the telescope when we set it down. With a nod, Wyrd moves to the larger end and, waiting for Tyrrin to take the lead, he lifts it with her and carefully moves it onto the waiting mount.
If there is enough room for all of Wyrd:
With a small smile, heat starts pouring off of Wyrd as the iron that he is composed of melts and begins to flow. He grows dramatically, more than doubling his height in a few seconds. When he is finished and the metal cools again, he stands just over 18 feet tall. Like this I may be able to simply pick it up. Can you show me where I can grip it without damaging it? If there is not enough room: Wyrd walks over to the telescope and looks at it for a moment, then turns back to Tyrrin, Lady Ananda says that what I do is earthbending. She says that it is not magic. What I know is that I ask the earth to move, and it does so. I do not have to do the froofy spinning and waving of arms that all the other "earthbenders" have to do. But if it is acceptable, I can ask the stone to move it much closer to the mounts and I am sure with a little help I can get it seated. In this form I will probably be unable to manage it alone, based on its size if nothing else.
Tyrrin sighed. She really should speak with the Headmaster. But she already knew what the nightmares were warning her about. It was the Empire. She knew about them already though. "You're right Jaiye. I probably should speak with him. Not right now though. I can tell by that thrum that I've already missed opening the concert." she looks at the telescope, determined. "It's... Wyrd, right?" Tyrrin finally included the elemental in the conversation. She was thankful that he had been polite thus far. She didn't like showing weakness as she had. Wyrd had been watching quietly, but now he stepped forward and bowed, Yes. I am Wyrd. I hope you do not think it inappropriate - Miss Jones tell me I must work on not being inappropriate - I overheard that you needed to move something very heavy. I am strong, and I can ease the task by asking the earth to assist. Wyrd gestures at the contoured space where Tyrrin had been sleeping, and as he does so, the Tyrrin-shaped depression seems to be pressed out of the floor from below as the stone returns to its previous shape.
Glancing at Tyrrin's apparent difficulty sleeping, Wyrd extends one hand toward her and with a subtle gesture, the floor upon which Tyrrin is laying molds itself to her.
"Yeah," she whispered. "It's some kinda big device to look at stars I think, but Tyrrin is the only one who knows how to set it up," she said with a nod towards the sleeping girl. Wyrd nods, I would lend my aid if she will allow. I am strong. Also, Wyrd makes a horizontal gesture with his hand and a portion of the stone floor upon which Jaiye is sitting rises six inches and travels a foot across the room in a wave-like ripple. It is not magic. The earth often chooses to do as I ask it.
** spoiler omitted ** A heavy tread outside the door is followed by Wyrd opening the door and quietly (for an iron elemental) entering the observatory. After a moment he approaches the girl sitting near Tyrrin and speaks in a low bass rumble (obviously trying not to wake Tyrrin), I had heard that there was a heavy thing that needed to be moved, and magic could not be used. Do you know anything about that?
With a sigh that sounds like a forge bellows, Wyrd relaxes his concentration and the scale model of Avalon sinks back into the stone. Leaving his room, he joins the stream of people headed to the auditorium.
Wyrd rises out of the garden and bows to the sentient plants he knows. He still feels some inexplicable connection to them. He then walks over to where Enre has just finished his own transformation. As he walks, Wyrd's skin cracks open showing molten metal beneath and he shrinks to a normal size. With a nod to the very large sword, he asks, It served you well? It was untested before today.
Winding up to attack yet again, snarling defiance at the machine facing him, Wyrd blinks as Vai's attacks end it. As it begins to topple towards him, Wyrd simply sinks into the ground, the fire fading from him as his rage fades away.
Sensing its weakness, Wyrd roars his defiance at the monstrosity and swings recklessly at the IE trying to end the thing before it has a chance to hurt anyone else.
Winding up to attack yet again, snarling defiance at the machine facing him, Wyrd blinks as Vai's attacks end it. As it begins to topple towards him, Wyrd simply sinks into the ground, the fire fading from him as his rage fades away.
Roaring in pain, Wyrd continues to swing recklessly at the creature pounding on its armored shell with massive molten fists.
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