ORIGIN

a heart of steel starts to grow

The fisher had collected a decent collection of shards from the crystals around the base of the Spire, and they were settled in the leather bag he had harvested from another tunnel. The satchel glowed with the mystical magic of Polaris, even as he traveled out of the energetic room. The mustelid was now on the hunt for something much more important-- a search for the gembound who could make him ready for the upcoming dangers. Something that would turn him into a force to be reckoned with, protecting his fragile hide with metal.

Finding a gembound to do the job was no easy task. He had tried to bring it up with Arkrael a few times, but the timing never seemed right. All he could hope for was tracking her down. After all, if this war between carnivores and herbivores broke out, he was sworn to her aid... Surely she could give him something to make the battles he was in more successful. She had summoned gems for him before-- perhaps she could create armor like he had seen on Cancer and few others.

One might wonder why he didn't just simply go to the feline for this job, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to do it. His mind was muddled with thoughts of the sleek black leopard enough as it was, he didn't need those confusing thoughts tearing him away from his family again. He had a compulsion to love Cancer, and that was why he stayed as far away as he could. Even if it hurt him.

The mustelid sniffed down the damp, wet tunnel, his coat feeling sticky as soon as he stepped into the soft, cold earth. The noodle sneezed immediately, frowning as his senses failed to pick up any gembound at all. He didn't want to get too close to Pisces, but he had to at least check out the area. Timidly, he began to creep down the tunnel, keeping his copper gaze open for any sign of the huntress.

@Arkrael

Days. Weeks. Cycles. It had all been flying by. Far too swiftly for the she-wolf. She had gone through her stages of heartache. Cried more than she could count, cursed and screamed in the solitude of her mind as she kept to herself. She had called meeting some time ago. Warned those who showed up and asked for their aid. It was only a matter of time before she could no longer hide away and deal with her wounded heart. She would have to face him. She had to protect the Caves and all gembounds in it that Vazi would try to cause harm to. In the last few days it seemed like her very heart was frozen, numb to emotions and the ache that kept her up for nights on end. It left nothing for her, nothing but the boiling rage that started to consume her. It had felt odd to her. She had been angry enough in her time within the caves, but this... This rage that pitted in her stomach and just spiraled out of control and consumed every bit of her was new.

She was furious. Enraged with the buck that had broken her so easily. It was overwhelming at times, leading her away from her home and back to this tunnel. The tunnel that could withstand her assaults. There were various cracks here and there, on the walls and a few small ones upon the floor. But casting those spells did not help ease the anger that was threatening to spill over. Her top lip curled, exposing the sharp canines as she called to her magick, urging it to work. Hackles bristled as her gem flashed to life, vibrating and humming in a different way than it would normally do so. Slowly sand began to tumble across the ground, moving its way towards the canine and began to swirl about her paws. It took no matter of time for the sand to begin to pick up speed, beginning to raise higher into the air until it began to spin faster and faster.

Arkrael watched her magic work, turning the small pieces of sand into sharp deadly pieces of glimmering glass that now whipped around her in a whirlwind. She adored her abilities, loved everything she could do with her binding with the Earth, but this was probably the more vicious of her abilities. She could only imagine what would happen should someone step into the swirling glass. The longer she watched the glass spin around, picking up its speed until it found just the right velocity the more Arkrael felt her burning rage ease off.

Arkrael watched it for only a moment longer before she released her hold on it. The glass swung away from her, no longer controlled by the magick her gem had grasped onto it with and clattered loudly against the ground and even went as far as striking the nearest wall to her. A heavy sigh escaped the canine as she slumped to sit back against her haunches and gazed down at her paws. A few stray pieces of glass lingered by her paws. She frowned before knocking it away, causing the opal that held a soft glow to jump with the movement.

Her thoughts were dark and consuming, but when a certain scent carried on through the tunnel her audits jumped into attention right away. Heterochromia eyes lifted and almost instantly her tail whacked against the ground a couple times. As if on queue the mustelid came into view. "fisher!" She yipped happily. He was certainly a site for sore eyes. She rose to her paws and lopped over to him, closing the rest of the gap between the two. "Hey long time! What brings you out here," she grinned as she quickly lowered herself to her stomach, tail beginning to wag with her sudden joy.

@fisher

a heart of steel starts to grow

It had been a while, hadn't it? The fluffy brown noodle froze as he stepped into view of the mighty spell caster, watching the dust settled around her sleek grey fur. Her eyes, bright and piercing, met his own firelit gaze and he nearly woofed out a hello but found himself lost for words for just a moment.

How was she doing? Was his bark friend and hunting partner okay? She filled the dead air up naturally with a greeting, bounding up to him as if it had been only days and like they were the best of friends. Part of him wanted to tell her about his family, about how she could have a place among his pseudo-pack, but a nagging feeling told him there were other places she had to be. Just like Fang.

A nervous smile flitted across his face, his tail swishing as he considered his reply. "My friends and I have been staying in Polaris, it's not really that far." He began, words coming to him awkwardly, "But yeah, I was looking for you, actually." He kept wagging his tail in the most doggish fashion, lifting his muzzle towards her towering form. She had gotten so big, though he supposed last time he had seen her she was still just as tall.

"I was wondering if you knew how to craft armor," he cut to the chase, but then bowed his head and tried to be a bit more friendly. "First things first though, how have you been?" He smiled shyly up to her, wondering how the days had been treating her since she gathered the carnivores against that monster, Vazi.

@Arkrael

a heart of steel starts to grow

Arkrael almost immediately agreed to help with his armor, and like a warm bubble bath, the fisher cat felt like all of the pain was being rinsed off of his body. Instantly, the noodle felt safer, secure, and ready to face the world again... Once he had his armor, of course. He knew she would do a great job.

"Of course," Fisher barked, his tail wagging as the wolf commented on his friends. "You can stop by Polaris any time, you know. It's a bit of a mess since the battle, but I bet you could sniff my stink out any time," he teased himself, puffing out his chest. The conversation moved back to ask about what armor Fisher wanted, and the mustelid quickly wiggled out of his little satchel bag of leather.

Quickly, the noodle fetched out the shards of blue, glowing crystal. "I want some kind of metal armor that covers my back, all along my body. Like a shell that covers my spine, and protects my gem. It needs to be flexible, somehow... and if you could put these shards somewhere, that would be great." Fisher's tail swished, hoping it wouldn't be too hard to do. He had a vague idea of what he wanted, but he wasn't too sure how to put it into words... He was more of a practical, do-stuff guy than a wordy-speech dude.

@Arkrael

Soft laughter escaped the she-wolf as Fisher made the comment of his stench. She gave a playful roll of her eyes as she held onto a grin, "You don't smell that bad," she teased him herself, thumping her tail a few times against the ground. As he began to speak of what he was wanting Arkrael pushed her ears forward and completely focused on the details he was giving her.

She looked him over closely, quickly getting an idea of the size and length of an armor piece he would need. She didn't work with metal often, but she didn't suppose it would be too much of a challenge. She would indeed have to go looking for some scraps to play around with before she started on the actual piece. She didn't want to mess up in the middle of it. She would also need to see what she could do to make sure the metal armor was flexible enough for the mustelid. That part would be a mild challenge, but she was growing more and more excited about it the more she thought about it.

With a smile she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "Of course. I will get started on it right away, perhaps you could let me borrow that bag of yours to carry you gems around? I'd hate to get slobber all over them," she grinned again, teasing the fisher about getting his gems covered in wolf slobber. "I'll try to get it done as soon as I can," she nodded to him, confirming her words to make sure he believed her. Not that she thought he would assume otherwise. She just wanted him to know his armor would be her main focus during the next day or so depending on how long it took her to complete it. Either way, she would put all her effort into the piece of armor for Fisher and make damned sure it came out more amazing than the little mustelid had figured it would turn out to be

Words: 341
@Fisher

a heart of steel starts to grow

Fisher's tail wagged as Arkrael sat up, offering to start right away. Things were looking up for the mustelid-- it seemed like everywhere he turned he had good friends to count on. He nudged the bag over to Arkrael, a warm grumble in his throat. "Of course, that's why I brought it," he replied, electricity sparking through his veins. He was so excited!

But who else wouldn't be? He was finally going to get armor that could protect him. A way to stop the cycle of almost dying and losing everything, again and again and again. "...Is there anything I can do to help?" He woofed, tilting his head. He wasn't sure how armor was made, but if she needed help finding more pieces or anything, he was ready to do whatever it took.

@Arkrael ; im sorry this post is so short ugh