War Forge (Ares)

[John]

John was bellowing his Forge at the base of mount olympus. Having spent the time durring the war replenishing the weapons and armor numbers of those in the field. And prepairing a supply of weapons and armor for Crow and Dragon alike.

Still this kind of work bored him. Mass production made things weak and without heart. Not to mention made them brittle on the battlefield and not even John's skill, nor the hammers power was able to help in the time constraint.

So John got pissed as usual flare up the temperature and blasted the forge with a small flamethrower to cool himself down.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Oh Mathew would show up. His coat was going to need some repairs after the attack that Barker had thrown at him. A strong enough attack to rip off his arm was certainly enough to damage his prized possession. The one arm coat was still worn as best as it could be, only barely staying on his shoulder that connected to a stone arm hanging lifelessly at his side. The stone hooked into his flesh in what would appear to be a very painful fashion for anyone who got a chance to look at it.

"Yo, MC Hammer. Got a repair job for you."

Clearly top priority. Anything with Mathew was pretty top priority the way he saw it. He was kind of a big deal for both the God's and the Dragons. Plus it was his job to fix this shit right.

[John]

Summers would look over to Mathew as he came in. Raising an eye brow.

"Damn..."

He felt like he had been saying that a lot lately.

"Need modifications?"

He said gesturing with his red eyes at the stone arm.

[Mathew Amtrum]

"Depends on what you have in mind. If I can't get it back to normal then I do the next best thing, ya hear?"

He wasn't really clear on if he was talking about the coat or the arm. But he did shrug off the coat awkwardly clutching it with the stone arm which moved in a jerky and very unnatural way. The way Mathew's face scrunched up revealing that doing this took a fair amount of concentration. Not all of his concentration, but he was definitely using muscles in ways he never had before.

In a manner of speaking.

The stone arm clumsily tossed the coat to Summers who would find it perhaps not surprisingly to be extremely heavy and weighted. He looked at Summers expectantly, he was waiting for a quote on time for this repair job. And what payment, if any was going to be required.

[John]

John would catch the coat. Small grunt from the weight he was prepaired for it, but it still stung.

He'd lay it across his anvil which would begin to glow.

"I may not be an expert at this yet, but I might be able to speed along your learning curve. And possible an attachment for your arm."

He'd reach directly into the flaming coals of his force as the coat began mending itself on his anvil. A metal shoulder guard was pulled from the fire, red hot and slapped onto the anvil.

John would raise the hammer his eyes glowing red as he began to see the hydrogen and pure oxygen particles in the air. The head of the hammer would glow orange, and with the combination John would swing the hammer striking the shoulder piece in a hail of fire and sparks. He'd repeat this and the shoulder piece would slowly change. John would grab leather straps attaching them to it and continueing his work. Tossing that to the side he would move to hitting the coat, its highly durable underlay needed work. Once that was done he'd pull the coat from the anvil and lay it on a table near by. Picking up the new shoulder strap he'd bring it over to Mathew.

"Remove the arm."

[Mathew Amtrum]

He shrugged with both arms. Far more clumsily with his right arm than his natural one. Taking a few steps forward toward John and his forge his biological arm would grip the arm made of stone. Gritting his teeth he grunted as the hooks popped out of his flesh painfully. Blood coating the hooks and the holes in his shoulder and stump where the arm had been attached let out tiny trickles of blood.

Setting the arm on the coat he took another step back, wishing that he could cross his arms as he waited that wasn't really an option for him right now. So he stood there waiting, feeling awkward and vulnerable with only one arm. He didn't like the reminder of his weakness. A weakness that would be remedied. Never again.

[John]

John move to Mathew and helped him use the leather straps to attach the metal cover over his missing limb section. The leather straps going around his torso under and over his other shoulder.

"The Forge gave this cover the ability to hold the arm as if it was attached to your skin. So even when your not focusing Qi into the arm it wont just fall off."

[Mathew Amtrum]

He let John do his thing. Curious as to how he could make it so that he didn't need to touch the stone of his arm to move it and keep it attached. It was one less thing for him to worry about. Providing that John knew what the fuck he was talking about. He said himself this was something new to him.

"Well if it fails me in the middle of a fight I'm marching back here and I'm gonna shove that arm right up your ass."

[John]

"Oh it won't fail, as long as your not going to be a little bitch in a fight."

John would pick up the stone arm and hold it up to press against the metal. It'd snap on like a super magnet.

"Hows that?"

[Mathew Amtrum]

"Pfft, you clearly don't know me."

He said wincing as the arm snapped into place. Less from pain and more from surprise. Though there was a certain amount of pressure that he felt internally with it. And it felt different. Not much different, but different all the same. Instead of energy flowing into the arm from his core it seemed to stabilize at the connection point. Like a seal.

It was one less thing that he needed to focus on, but moving the arm like his biological one was still a very different process. Raising the arm up in a jerky and unnatural fashion he turned it, examining the arm and how it moved. Carefully flexing the fingers on it.

He felt nothing of course. It was not his flesh and blood, there were no nerves to it. It was a very different experience to watch his hand move knowing it was not really a part of him. No more than the ground that he stood on.

"I wonder if I will ever get used to this."

He mused to himself, allowing the hand to drop back to his side. Slowly, almost too slowly. With no actual part of his arm there to help guide the process he had to be aware of every movement of the stone. Where once muscles could do the work and could only move in certain ways now it was pure stone and Qi. He would find a way to turn this weakness into a strength somehow.

[John]

"Just because you hold the name Ares, doesn't mean your not held to the same feelings as most everyone else."

John would move to his Forge and check the coals. He had some free time however.

"But that aside. Lets test out that arm and its connection. Lets say in a small melee?"

[Mathew Amtrum]

His good hand rubbed the connection between metal and stone. Feeling the connection between the two. Not just the physical melding of them, but the energy that held it all in place. It felt stable, for now at least.

"Please, I was Ares long before I was actually Ares."

War was his home. Conflict was what sustained him. He strove for a world without it, a world of peace with full knowledge that he would have no place in that world. The world he would build was a world without Mathew Amtrum.

"Sure, I'd say no Qi but..."

He looked to his stone arm.

"I'll try and limit it." He said with a chuckle as he moved away from the forge and work station. No point in trashing something that he might need. He even left his coat on the anvil. He wouldn't need it for this fight. This was about testing the arm and seeing what was wrong with it and how he could function with this new handicap.

"Bring it." He said once they were a fair distance away from the forge, enough to not trash it. Mathew's body staying loose and ready to move. His eyes flickering to his stone arm. This was going to be interesting.

STR 110
DEX 94
CON 115 (No Coat)
INT 81
WIS 83
CHA 80 (Right arm speed based on CHA - 1/2 while it is foreign to him.)

[John]

John would put his hammer on the rack in the forge, and follow Mathew. Placing the mask upon his face as they got to their location.

"Alright then."

John would reach his right arm behind his back and grip the back of his pants, while his eyes began to glow as he began to see the hydrogen and pure oxygen in the air. Rubbing his Qi energy against it he would create an arm of fire. Created as if invisible rain was hitting John.

"This is all I'll do as well."

He'd rush at Mathew lean back and very poorly swing the fire arm at Mathew's face.

Str: 50
Dex: 47
Con: 53
Int: 47
Wis: 52
Cha: 40

[Mathew Amtrum]

The attack itself was easy to handle. Obviously deliberately so, part of Mathew was grateful for that while he learned how to use the new arm. Only part of him was though, most of him did not want any kid gloves to be put on. One did not learn through coddling. His enemies would not be understanding and allow him to pace himself. The stone arm moved up awkwardly as Mathew twisted his body.

Using more of the force of him twisting than the actual arm to try and slam the stone arm into John's head. Hopefully knocking some sense into the boy.

"Don't coddle me boy. Give me everything you got."

He nearly spit out the words. He wanted to be pushed. He needed to be pushed in order to adapt as quickly as possible to his situation. What could not be changed could be overcome. And with Bastille captured he didn't have time to play it safe and take his time. He needed perfection now!

[John]

John would barely be able to plant his feet and lean way back to avoid the direct hit of stone, so he'd extend his flame arm to continue its path to strike Mathew in the face like it was trying to before.

Using the slide to also get close to Mathew hoping the flame fist would at least surprise him enough that John could get a real punch with his left fist into Mathew's gut.

John knew his Qi would be no where near the strength of Mathews, but he knew he could at least throw a surprise here and there.