Fire! (Solo)

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

91st Day of Spring, 512 AV Minerva sat at her workbench on the job site, in a small residential district in central Zeltiva. Her boss had booked them a job doing some more house repairs today, though there was nothing all that special going on. She was back on her feet, finally, and her magic crutches were now sitting in a corner of her home, awaiting the day she thought up a way to modify them into something new. She had her Animated tools with her, however, sitting off to the side behaving themselves. Well, all except for Naily, that was. The little Animated hammer on wheels had a puppy's energetic personality, and never got tired. So she was keeping him occupied with a game of fetch. He loved nails (because she had programmed him that way), so she kept tossing a nail off to the side, and waiting for him to roll over there and eagerly retrieve it with his claw. He would then roll back, the nail hanging in the claw just as if it had just been pulled from the wood, and bob his head up and down eagerly until she threw it again. In between throwing the nail, she was carving window shutters, cutting out little decorative frames around the edges. She hummed softly as she worked, scraping her chisel down the length of each shutter, pausing now and then to retrieve Naily's nail and throw it again. She continued this way until she heard a scream. "Fire!" She looked up. Most times, when someone shouted 'Fire!', it was her fault. She glanced around, realizing that she wasn't working with any open flames. Another voice shouted, "Fire! Someone, please, help!" Tock looked around again and glared angrily. "Oy, I didn't do nothin'!" she shouted. Then she saw the smoke down the street. Ohhhh... "Naily, stay!" she said, pointing to a spot on the ground. Unlike a normal puppy who might disobey, Tock's creation was programmed for absolute obedience. When she gave him an order, he had no choice but to obey. Though as she walked away, he did squeak his wheels in a pathetic, lonely whimper. "Choppy, come!" she called out to her Animated axe. She hurried down the street, and saw the source of the blaze. A small house had caught fire, and there were panicked people everywhere. Everyone was shouting, and people were rushing to find buckets, but the house was a good distance from any source of water. A frantic woman was screaming and crying, trying to get inside the house. The flames were already spreading to the windows, the curtains having caught the blaze quickly. "Jon! My Jon!" she screamed. "Somebody, help! My boy's still in there!" Tock looked at the woman, then at the burning house. Men were trying to get in, but they had no protection from the blaze. Her jaw locked with a determined set, and she strode forward, her axe following her on metal legs. "Outta the way!" she shouted, marching up to the door. No one listened to her. Growling, she screamed at them, "OUTTA THE DAMN WAY YA WORTHLESS BLUDGERS!" That got their attention, and people cleared to make room. She snapped her fingers at Choppy, pointed at the door of the house, and said, "Choppy, chop!" The axe had very limited intelligence. It was more like an animal than a person. It couldn't understand language or think for itself. However, she had programmed it with the ability to obey certain basic commands, 'Chop' being foremost among them. The axe hurried forward on its metal legs, planting itself in front of the door. The handle was mounted on an axle that was affixed with heavy springs. Once the axe had its footing secured, it swung up on the axle, coiling the springs. Then it swung forward, propelled both by the Animation magic that gave it life, and the extra power added by the springs. That was one of the reasons Tock used a combination of Gadgeteering and Animation in her creations; Animation alone could only give a creation so much force of movement, but some good old fashioned science could take it that extra mile. The axe chopped quickly in rapid, hard strokes, until the door soon collapsed under the onslaught. "Choppy, stop!" Tock called out once the door was clear. "Back... stay!" It backed up until she told it to stop, lowering the axe head to the ground. Now it would simply wait there, unmoving, until it received a new command. Several men tried to rush into the now cleared doorway, but the flames were too strong. "Back, back!" Tock shouted to them. The screaming child could be heard from the inside. She stepped up, and peering through the doorway, beyond the ring of flames that blocked her path, was the kid. Yet the flames were too strong to move through the doorway. Someone finally came up with a bucket of water, and Tock snatched it from his hands. "Gimme 'at!" she shouted, stepping back to the door. She pulled Grippy, her extendable arm, from the holster on her belt. She held it up and clamped the metal hand on the edge of the bucket, getting a firm grip. Then, holding it with both hands for good leverage, she extended it inwards. The metal arm extended inside, the criss-crossed strips unfolding into wide X's until the arm reached its maximum length. The bucket was held carefully by one edge, and she moved it over the squealing child. He looked up at it in fear, but nothing was scarier than the flames all around him. Tock slid her thumb across the back of Grippy's handle, rotating the hand on its swivel. The hand turned, and dumped the bucket of water on the kid's head. Then she quickly adjusted and snatched the kid by his belt, clamping the metal hand down firmly. Another touch to a certain point on the handle retracted the metal arm, dragging the screaming kid with it. The water she'd dumped on the kid provided just enough protection from the heat to quickly pull him past the flames without serious injury. She backed away from the door, lying the kid on the ground and releasing him, then folding Grippy back to his collapsed position and re-holstering him. The mother came rushing over and snatched up her son, sobbing with relief. Soon after, a medical student from the University arrived and began using medicated balms to treat his (thankfully minor) burns. A bucket brigade managed to get the fire out before it spread to any other houses. Tock just watched, seeing as there was little else she could do here. Though she did receive some rather frantic 'Thank you's' from the grateful mother. She grinned, blushing slightly, and scratched the back of her head. "Ain't nothin' to it," she said with a shrug. "Just science." OOCA bit short by my normal solo standards, but I didn't have anything specific in mind to do here. Just had the random idea pop in my head and decided it seemed like fun!

[Arcane]

Rewards and Treasure! Experience Points +1 Intimidation +1 Leadership Lores Saving Someone with Science Jon the Rescued Kid Miscellaneous +10 SP Comments Don't worry about length! Remember, it's always the story that takes precedence; no one likes dragging a story long after it should have ended just for the sake of length