Backdated to early July, before the 8th

Faceless heaved a sigh for the umpteenth time as it paced back and forth along the Cliffs and stared down at the ruined cityscape below. Right now, that ruined cityscape felt like its ruined prospects at fulfilling its deal with the Collector.

It had been a terrible idea to accept any deal that involved having to make friends. Especially when it could not even find any of the groups it was supposed to befriend! There were supposed to be two of them in Orion; surely it could not be that hard?

It was that hard. And now it would lose all hope at its gossip-o-matic 9000--oh! Who's that! A creature it hadn't seen before! And big, too. It had been told (by the veterans it had begged for help behind the arena) that those who belonged to the Task Force tended to be big. Its heart beat faster as it always did when it had to make any kind of introduction or social interaction. But it wanted its gossip-o-matic 9000! Faceless skittered forward, eternally-smiling mask looking especially hopeful today.

"Hello!" it chattered. "Are you from the Task Force, buh- by any chance?"

@V-Agate-One

Orion was a pretty neat cave. Also just straight up pretty. It tended to be decently populated- easy to repurpose the ruined buildings into a den, it supposed- and if you looked hard enough you could usually find something interesting. Part of it secretly hoped for another wrestling tournament to be held in The Forum. That had been kind of fun, aside from the hecklers. And the fact it'd gotten itself disqualified.

And then, suddenly, a creepy white mask was being shoved in its face.

Ratatosk scrunched up like a defensive cat as Faceless skittered up, teeth flashing briefly. "Uhm??? No????" Did they have ANY idea what personal space was? "I'm R- I'm V-Agate-One. From the Chaos Forge." It eye'd Faceless hesitantly. "Are you from the Task Force?" Wouldn't they all recognize each other? The Task Force was way smaller and closer knit than the forge was. Or so it heard- It tended to avoid The Task Force with the same determination it tried to avoid The Forge.

@Faceless

Oh, the creature didn't like its introduction. Oops. Faceless wondered where it had gone wrong. Its entire body drooped, crestfallen, at the dreaded answer it had been hearing a lot lately: no. But then it brightened up again at the mention of the Chaos Forge. That was a group the Collector had mentioned! It could still do its task!

Sure, the Chaos Forge hadn't been its first choice since the Collector's disclosure about its members' tempers had kind of scared it off. But it was looking more and more like it would be Faceless's only choice. "Hi V-Agate-One!" Kind of a mouthful, huh. Whatever. "I'm Faceless! I'm not from the Task Force either, but- but I've heard of you! Both the Task Force and you guys. You seem like such cool groups and I... I've always wanted to meet one of you!" It crouched down in order to make itself shorter than Agate and then tilted its face up at it in an attempt to look endearing. "I mean... you just... I mean, we should totally be friends!"

Was that how you made friends? Hell if Faceless knew. It was trying its best.

@V-Agate-One

Its ears sort of flicked back quizzically at Faceless's obviously appeasing behavior. Ratatosk's own body language was far more relaxed than it was when Faceless first appeared, although the slightest bit of annoyance flicked across its muzzle.

Ratatosk had to wonder WHY exactly someone would be so enthusiastic about The Forge of all things. Most people born into the group- Ratatosk included- only tolerated it because of the consequences of leaving. Although it WAS particularly unusual looking. Maybe this was some other master's stray valkhound.

It would've told Faceless its true thoughts about the forge, but they already know that it's a member, and it doesn't really want to get in trouble. If Faceless is such a Chaos Forge Fanboy, it probably WOULD snitch if given the chance. "Yeah, The Chaos Forge is pretty cool, I guess." It replies unconvincingly. "Lotsa training and fighting and stuff, if you're into that kinda thing." All apparently for 'the good of the nest,' whatever that was supposed to mean.

"Uhm..." It didn't really want to be 'friends' with this teeth-filled masked creature. Ratatosk didn't really HAVE any friends, but if it did it'd probably want them to be less annoying than this.

...But there WAS a reward for recruiting someone 'useful' to the forge, though, wasn't there? And this seemed like another really easy way to be 'productive' without actually doing anything.

"Ssssure?"

@Faceless

If Faceless noticed Agate's unexpected unenthusiasm about the group it was part of, it didn't show it. Well, what could it say. It wasn't really into training and fighting either. It was more into eating, then lying around on the floor until it'd digested whatever it just ate, and then stuffing itself again. And also cozy nap in soft moss bed. And also--well, let's get back to the point.

"Oh yeahhhh." it dragged out the end of its words. "I'm suuuuper into that. But..." it scooted in even a little closer. It in fact did NOT have any sense of personal space. "You know what else I'm really into?" It resisted the sudden impulse to say "you" for some reason. It wasn't. But it somehow had the sixth sense that it would've been really funny except it wasn't trying to go for funny right now it was trying to go for BEFRIEND AND GAIN TRUST. "Fooood. And naps. A healthy work-life balance, righttt? BUT!" it added hastily in case this would make Agate think it was useless as a friend and group member. "I'm REALLY good at fighting and training too! I have TWO hobbies!"

Ohohohohoh! Agate just agreed to be its friend! "Bestie!" it exclaimed happily and resisted the urge to slink around its legs like a cat, mostly because Agate was too short and Faceless was too big for that. "I can't wait to do bestie things with you and your totally awesome group!"

@V-Agate-One

It was bristling a little bit at Faceless's clear disrespect of it's personal space. The fact that it was so much taller than Ratatosk didn't help things. It didn't like being loomed over. At all. Which was unfortunate since it was by far one of the shorter creatures in the forge.

Ratatosk didn't have much social experience- those within the forge weren't known for being social butterflies, and it tended to not go out of its way to talk to others unless they looked particularly interesting. But. It DID have a hunch that Faceless was full of shit. It sounded like it barely knew what The Chaos Forge was about, despite it's obvious, inexplicable interest. And it was already kind of regretting agreeing to be friends with it- it was really chipper and excitable and that was REALLY offputting. It couldn't even tell if Faceless was genuine or not.

It found it didn't ACTUALLY care enough to fully reject Faceless- not in the face of quick and easy promotion- but it figured it should at least test it, a little bit. Make sure its actually serious and not all some trick. "Well, UH, if you like fighting so much, then why don't we spar? No serious injuries or anything- just a nice, fun fight." Faceless, for as much as it was annoying to actually talk to, seemed like an interesting opponent to fight. And it'd been while since Ratatosk had a nice brawl, anyways. "I'll let you make the first move." It skittered back a bit and hunkered down into a defensive, anticipatory posture, eyeing Faceless with excitement.

@Faceless

Spar? "Oh- uh, okay!" Faceless was already regretting its lie. But... maybe it would be fun? Since this fight was meant to be friendly rather than a deathmatch like last time? Agate stepped back, giving it the first move. This was both good since it probably gave Faceless an advantage and not good because Faceless SUCKED at decision-making.

It hesitated, than sprang forward with mantis-arms reaching out toward Agate's head. It wanted to grab hold and put it in a head-lock, but really grabbing any part of it was fine--then it could start biting. Gently, it supposed, though it didn't have much experience with that.

@V-Agate-One Round 1
Attempt: grab Agate's head/neck with its arms
Defense: natural ones
Injuries: none

Faceless seemed hesitant, and it wondered why. It was bigger than Ratatosk, or at the very least taller. But after a moment it DID rush at the agate, wrapping it's freaky bug arms around it's head. It's first instinct was to bite at one of those limbs but it had just said no serious injuries, and it could very easily crunch bones with those jaws.

So instead it would thrash about and kick out with it's stubby little weasel limbs, trying to shove Faceless away.

ROUND 1

ATTEMPT: Kick Faceless away
DEFENSE: Quills
INJURIES: None

@Faceless

Now that it was attached to Agate's face, Faceless was not really sure what to do. Bite? No... it was pretty sure its teeth would do more damage than agreed upon. Thankfully Agate made the decision a lot easier by flailing and thrashing so that instead of thinking about what next? all it had to think about was hold on!

Their limbs scrabbled for purchase on Agate's shoulders, but the super long creature was just too wiggly. And surprisingly muscular. The next particularly enthusiastic buck threw Faceless completely off of Agate, and it tumbled to the ground. A little "oof!" escaped its mouths as the dusty hard ground made unwelcoming contact with its body.

@V-Agate-One

ROUND 2

ATTEMPT: keep holding on
DEFENSE: natural ones
INJURIES: a bit bruised up from its fall