Date: Mörsugur 11th, 999. (Alt: 24rd Dec, 999 AD.) Location: Götaland (Ancient Sweden.)
From Gorm's perspective, the smile on Heath's face turned even brighter than when they were at the Feast Hall, the golem in front of him treated as a real child, though huge in view.
Heath even got up and hugged the golem, treating and cooing them as if they were a newborn. 'Which technically they were.' Gorm internally mused. Heath's hug around the golem was returned and it looked comical as a scene, but was heartwarming overall.
"Never had a kid before. This will be a new experience." Heath laughed in hand. While the Golem's face was expressionless, it showed extreme happiness through its movements. "Like father like. . . Daughter?" Hervor said while not trying to be insulting. "I want to be a girl, so yes!" The golem said with a happy squeal, hugging Heath tighter, getting up and twirling him around gently, like one would with a tall doll they cared for. "Woah there kid, I have to ask you questions. So put me down to allow others to join in, okay?" Heath asked with a smirk.
Heath was put down and the golem sat on the grass again, plopping down, which created a *THUMP.* Heath unruffled his armour's cloth first. "So, what do you want your name to be?" Heath asks, hoping she would give a good answer. She did not (as you would expected.)
"Unicorn (said in English.)" She says as the first suggestion, causing Heath to shake his head slightly. "Another, please?" Heath went to grab another glass of citrus, expecting it to be a long process. "Unicorn sounds like a good name, how come?" Agnarr asks. "It is a horse with a magical horn on its head that can cast spells. I do not think I want to call my kid a horse. Even if it was mythical." Heath said while rolling his eyes. "Rainbow (said in English.)" The golem's suggestion was turned down again. And this process continued for a while.
Many objects, mythical creatures and even combo words like "pretty princess" were brought through, once rejected, she moved on to Norse examples, which when the others understood her, also turned her down. She was becoming downcast, now silently moping.
"Kid, you have a good imagination, but how about you let us choose names for you?" Heath states, then looks at the group. "I think you mean YOU, not we. You created her, after all. You probably have a good perspective on what name she would want." Hervor says, and the rest nod. Heath closed his eyes and folded his arms, contemplating for a few minutes. "How about 'Valyria?' Which means brave, it was also used as a term for valyrian steel, which was steel forged with flames as hot as dragon fire, like netherite." Heath explained to the golem.
"Valyria. . ." The golem's eyes dimmed slightly, even with the personality of a child, she was intelligent enough to understand its importance. Her downcast mood was slowly released and her eyes shone with a luminescence greater than before. She lifted her head again.
"I like that name, Valyria is pretty!" She said with confidence and exaggeration in her body language, doing her best to play cute. Heath internally chuckled, happy with her. "So, Valyria. Do you want to change your body, or keep it the same as you are now?" Heath asked, understanding that she may not like having such a bulky, masculine body. "I want to change, please, please, pleeeaaassseee?" Valyria put her hands together in faux-pray, which made Heath laugh. "Of course kid, otherwise I would not have asked." Heath began forming magic.
"How would you like it to look?" Heath asks, which stumped Valyria. "Umm. . . Uh. . ." Valyria was trying to figure it out, putting her left hand to her head and scratching the concrete's surface. "Want us to figure it out for you?" Heath understood. "Yes please." Valyria pleaded.
"So, being a lady yourself, what do you think would be best for Valyria?" Heath waited for a response while Hervor was thinking. "I like that name. Valyria Dollen." Agnarr repeated that name with warmth to his tone. "Is valyrian steel weaker than netherite?" Gorm asked Heath, to which he responded with a yes. They talked about random topics until Hervor was ready. "Not to sound arrogant, but I believe she would like a figure like my own. Would that be fine, Valyria?" Hervor directly asks her, who nods enthusiastically, agreeing to appear similar.
"I want black hair to match pappa and to be like Uncle Gorm! (Long and flowing.)" Like watching a cute kitten, Valyria's response was met with waves of awws and oohs. They were easily won over with her innocence. Valyria went and scooped the closest people to her.
Gorm and Hervor were in a 'very soft' hug. But even that was way too strong. Feeling like they're being wrung out, they try to ask through the pain. ""Hug. . . Even. . . Softer. . . Please. . ."" They say in unison, strained under hard concrete. Agnarr comes and pats her leg chidily.
"Sorry. . ." She says while sulking, she was not used to being so gentle, in comparison, it felt as if a human hugged living cotton candy. Her accurate precision in strength control thanks to her design allowed her to fix this. She soon let go again, sounding as if she was in tears.
She may not be able to produce them. But all of them felt their heart wrench at the sound of her voice. They barely knew her and they could tell she was much like her father. 'Runs in the family, over the top and way too caring.' Many thought at the same time.
All of them went to comfort her, their hands fitting her entire back. It took a few minutes of coddling, but she calmed down after a bit. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, and even with the faceless expression on Valyria, you could tell she would remember this for as long as she existed. To distract them, Heath talked about a few mundane topics and then focused on the main project. It was about 8 PM at this point from both time frames, so it was low time for Valyria's new body. She lays on a contoured, concrete slab for her operation.
Her exoskeleton is slightly altered to fit Hervor's appearance. The hip joints are placed further apart, and the incredibly wide shoulders are lessened. Some of the concrete ratios per body part are altered to match the necessary proportions for what Valyria asked.
The legs are elongated and thickened near the thigh and pelvis, the calves are decreased and shaped from the semi-cuboidal shape it originally had. The torso is shortened to be around the same height and her arms are decreased in size but match the 'tonality' for an increased visual quality in what you could perceive as 'muscles,' even if it was purely cosmetic. Her nondescript visage goes through the same procedure as Agnarr's to create an intricate tapestry for greater emotional range rather than only advanced body language.
Other cosmetics are added, such as her torso now appearing the same as a female cuirass you would see Hervor wearing for armour. This was more functional than creating a replica of a normal female while still indicating her gender. Lastly, her hair is formed, intriguing Gorm.
Each strand is made with leather 'strings' made incredibly thin, tanned and dyed black, Heath measured Gorm's hair length in ratio to his head and replicated it for Valyria's size. Once placed on the scalp, a runic combination is added as well to simulate hair growth.
'He is making it too complicated again. . .' Gorm sighs, causing Heath to look at him questioningly, even raising an eyebrow. "It is necessary." Heath reasoned, knowing what he was thinking. Agnarr, Gorm, Hervor and Heath soon admired the near-finished operation.
She appeared like an armoured woman with grey skin and a calm look, the features were made to resemble a beardless, female Heath. Which looked surprisingly delicate and beautiful. "I know Valyria will enjoy her new look." Heath appeared tired, but happy.
"This is my greatest joy yet, and there will be many more once the others gain self-awareness. Let us hope it is both genders, though. I always wanted children of equal identities." Heath continued, which made Gorm question. "Identities? Unique word choice." Hervor said in the back, thinking over it. They sat there in silence this time. Sometimes holding their breath, as if waiting for a patient who was in a coma to wake up again. Heath felt two new presences come around and watch with them, he turned around.
It was Egill and Eirikr, who had come back from the camp after their mid-day sandwich. "A giant lady made of concrete, would you look at that." Egill says, "I could not see Bus-2 in the work area. . . It seems one gained full awareness now, that was quick." Egill smiled quickly.
"I do not know if it counts, but congratulations on becoming a father." Egill went and raised his hand towards Heath. Who reciprocated the action and they shook on it, Heath nodded simultaneously, with an innocent smile on his face. Heath soon moved again to pat Eirikr on the shoulder, who was silent as usual but fairly nodded towards him with a large half-smile on his face. "Good work, Heath." It is a simple, yet faultless statement that matches everyone else's satisfaction. They then sat by the concrete bed Valyria had been laid upon.
A few minutes passed by with no movement, until her right hand started curling in on itself to form a fist, Contracting enough to cause a large popping noise in the air due to it compressing by 31Gs, doing this repeatedly before releasing, light steam leaving her fingers.
Then, Valyria's eyes fluttered open, she moved them clunkily as she was getting used to being able to move her new facial features. She tries to get up slowly so as not to lose balance. But she cracked the concrete bed on accident when pushing too hard, as her strength was concentrated on her delicate fingers. Her face was soon etched in hesitance and slight sadness, as she did not want to break her pappa's stuff. Heath soon grabbed her by the arms, helping her get up to her full height. Valyria was still twice as tall as him.
She stood there, looking towards her new arms, torso and legs. Enjoying their craftmanship and feeling more like a human. She looked towards Heath, not knowing what to do, while also glancing at the cracks of the concrete bed. "Do not worry." Said Heath with a wink.
Heath patted her arm to tell Valyria it was truly okay, then looked towards Egill and Eirikr. "So, this is my daughter Valyria, a new consciousness from Bus-2, as you already gathered. She may appear like a fully grown woman, but she has the innocence of a 5-year-old." Heath explained to them, so as not to confuse the group. "Please teach her the fundamentals beside me, she will learn to better handle her strength around mennskr, maybe place her around Asdos, his cautiousness should rub off on her slightly." Heath shook his head slightly.
"How is he, by the way?" Heath had not seen him for a while, so he asked Gorm directly. "He has been sleeping for longer periods, I believe he may have too much stress from the continuous changes in our lifestyle." Gorm noticed Heath had a look of guilt on his face.
Gorm turned dead-eyed towards him and gave him a stern look. "Do not blame yourself as usual. You need to learn that these changes you are giving us are for the better. A little bit of stress before having such a great home will be more than worth it." Gorm soon went and strongly smacked him on the shoulder, setting his point across. "And as well, please give us the recipe of your 'longer,' it may become one of our traditional dishes soon enough." Gorm soon lightened up and even gave a hearty chortle. They are laughing more nowadays.
"Valyria, could you stay with Gorm for a little while? I'd like to check on Asdos for a bit." Heath trusted them enough that Valyria would not do anything outlandish while away. She agreed, and Heath soon moved through the portal to check on Asdos. They are now alone.
"Well this is new, I now have a golem for a niece." Gorm looked up towards her, with both of them having expressions of curiosity, Valyria crouched down as to be closer in height, and they stared at each other for a bit, scanning each other's faces. "What do we do, uncle?" Valyria's question was met with Gorm looking towards the others in the group. They gather each other and think of some ideas. Soon focusing towards board games. "How about hnefatafl (fist table)? Should be a nice strategy game." Egill suggested in the end.
"There can only be 5 players at most and there is 6 people here, how about one of you becomes our game manager while we play and after a game, we swap by the next youngest age?" Gorm suggests as to be fair. """Of course, clan head.""" "Sure, uncle!" They all agreed.
They soon went through the portal to collect one of their remaining tables and game board with matching pieces. The central pieces were made of marble and the 'raiding' ones were made of oiled birch. They were designed artistically with faces and etched armour or clothes on their surfaces. It was designed for the nobles of the clan but it was still freely shared with others, showing the openness of the clan. They grabbed a mat to place their feet upon it and put the table in the middle, soon sitting on the soft grass as before.
They placed the objects on the table and they gathered around it, before that. Eirikr stops them by raising a hand, while also giving an apologizing look to Gorm. "Before grabbing the pieces, we should get an egg or similar fragile objects to train Valyria." Eirikr suggested.
"Good idea, HEY SONS!" Agnarr screamed suddenly, which startled the group. Hervor slapped his arm, causing a ringing noise to occur from his copper shell. "Warn us before you do that." Hervor said, disgruntled. Agnarr was about to apologize before 2 of the 3 sons, Hlérin and Sten came around. ""Yes, father?"" Both said at the same time, Hlérin with confidence and Sten with confusion. "Could you grab some eggs or objects that are like it? We want to train Valyria in controlling her strength." Agnarr pointed towards her.
They looked towards her, wondering where this woman came from that was already taller than them while sitting down. They looked back in questioning. "Heath's daughter." Agnarr said as an answer, which caused them to look at each other in understanding.
Sten continued staring at her, his expression growing more emotional. "Do not think about anything like that, treat her like she is five years old." Hervor said loudly, embarrassing her son. "I was not thinking of that, I was wondering if Heath may have new children soon." Sten tried to cover himself and to give him the benefit of the doubt, Hervor simply nodded in agreement that Heath would have more children like her. Both Hlérin and Sten moved into the crowd for the items. Taking a few minutes before walking back to them with a basket.
Agnarr got up and grabbed an egg from the basket they brought around. "Open your palm, Valyria. Once you are ready, use your fingers to hold it up." The egg was placed into her open palm. She just stood there, gathering herself up to be ready for her little test.
A few model seconds pass before she tries the first egg. Her fingers soon touch the shell, and she straightens them out, letting it be supported. Her face morphs to one of concentration so it does not crack. It felt like holding air, rather than 'cotton candy' for regular mennskr when she hugged them before. In the mean time, a game was playing in the background between Agnarr, Egill, Eirikr, Gorm and Hervor. With Hlérin and Sten watching them intently. The first game passes by quickly, taking a few minutes before finishing.
Hervor, who was playing as the defender, lost. She played admirably but the combined strategy by Egill and Gorm worked against her. They soon looked to see if Valyria succeeded, but she was staring blankly at the floor, where a broken egg was, a circular crack around it.
"Do not worry, kid. We have more eggs for you to try." Agnarr pats her arm, then passes another egg. Where she holds it with focused determination.