At a simple stone slab--not unlike an altar, or a table--stood two humanoid figures. Both were a bit over eight feet tall; both were horned and cloaked, their robes rimmed with fur and their faces hidden. One wore a hood, crimson pinpricks visible as his eyes; the other wore a mask, bone by looks, which hid his face. Both had furred arms, and the red-eyed one's were folded irritably across his chest as he spoke.

"...I don't see the point in this."

"To share my craft," the other answered simply, and the way the mask briefly glanced toward the Collector indicated a fading patience. "Why do you treat them the way you do?" The Blacksmith's voice, though softer, was fearless.

"Hrmph. You know why. It's beneficial," the Collector snapped. He leaned back against the tall stone slab, looking over the empty bottles, the rough wooden bowls, the vase of water all waiting there.

The Blacksmith added a mortar and pestle to the tools waiting there. "It's needlessly cruel."

This earned a derisive snort from the Collector. "Since when has kindness been our focus?"

The Blacksmith looked back to the Collector, but before he could respond, the Collector waved him away with a clawed hand. "Never mind. Waste your time, if you wish, brother. I'm sure your little game will be to dye for," he added. "If they even come." His mocking giggles lingered even after he vanished in his faint flash of scarlet light, leaving the Blacksmith behind.

The Blacksmith sighed softly, and planted his palms upon his table. His masked face scanned the rough bottles and the tools gathered there, and he murmured to thin air. "They'll come. They always do."

The Event Coats of Many Colors has begun! Anyone is welcome to join in at any time. Once enough Gembound has gathered, the Blacksmith will provide further information.

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
The bobcat wasn’t sure what brought her to Fornax that day. She had been lingering in Cetus once more after her adventures in Orion with Zeno had utterly failed. Her heart had been heavy since then, as it had been cycles since she had seen the bat as their agreed upon task was completed, though she did not understand why. Selena had seen gembounds come and go before, so why would it be any different with a small bat? Though it felt similar to realizing that all traces of the Painter had disappeared from Orion many cycles ago for whatever reason. So, in Cetus she had rested on her den with no company but the mist and her ghostly like summoning that was, strangely enough, occasionally taking on the form of a miniature bat. Yet as though beaconed by the mysterious figure’s words, Selena had arisen from the stone slab that formed the roof of her den and found her paws wandering through the expansive tunnel system. The feline had no clear direction, no aim, no destination. She just simply travelled while trying to leave her troublesome thoughts behind. Selena, unfortunately, had a knack for finding herself in the oddest of gatherings. And it appeared that this would occur once again as entered Fornax and, after a bit of travel, saw a strange figure on an island. Green eyes squinted as she tried to make out why it seemed vaguely familiar. Such tall pose, dark and strange…. She had never seen anything like that before. No, wait, she had once …. Just once … long ago … in … Orion …. Then Selena did something most uncharacteristic. The feline bolted forward, traveling the rest of the distance until she was on the moon shaped rock and staring at the figure. The Blacksmith, though she knew him as the Painter, the one who created images that moved with such hypnotic beauty as to completely stun her. And again, as she stood near the figure, she found herself transfixed to the spot, unable to speak. It had been so long she had seen him, the first person and, until recently (although she didn’t fully realize it), only person she would have considered a friend. So instead of talking, she created a tiny ghostly bobcat kitten. The kitten nuzzled Selena before bounding its way towards the Blacksmith. The reverse of his greeting so long ago. Speech Thoughts Tags: Notes: A bit of a long post, but no regrets since in character this would be a bit of a special moment for Selena to re-meet him.

Once again, Pollux found herself drawn to Fornax. It had been a few cycles since she had been there last. It was warm here and the hybrid always seemed to be cold so it was a wonder as to why she did not spend more time here. No bother, she was here now, once again following that strange feeling that brought her here before. This time she found herself traversing the room towards the Moon Island.

There she had found two figures, quite tall, and a bobcat. And a tiny bobcat? There seemed to be no tension between the creatures. Well, they seem friendly enough! Pollux continued to trot forward but stopped a short distance away. She remained standing, observing quietly, once again cursing her inability to greet these other creatures.

Of course, one may learn more from listening than speaking. So, she sat down and curled her long tail around her.

Pollux thinking.

It had taken the dragon the better part of a day to work his way up Tunnel M. It was narrow, it was icy and it was unpleasant, and far too precipitous to tackle on the wing. He'd had to haul himself up ledge by ledge, only using his wings to clamber along when it got too steep to climb with two hind legs. A few times he'd used flames to melt the way, and several times he'd stopped to rest, sides heaving. He was pretty sure a few Gembound had scurried past, probably mistaking him for the large, dark boulders that lined the snow-sheathed tunnel.

He'd come to visit the cave of his birth--to see if it still felt as large now as it had then, to see if it was still as deliciously hot and steaming, as full of tender fish. Monoceros housed his den--so of course he didn't want to be away from it for too long--but Fornax still held a special place in his heart.

The dragon lifted up the moment he was in Fornax, a stumbling run speeding into a slow and heavy takeoff, until he was soaring once more on the updrafts upon which he'd once learned to fly. He let out a delighted bellow, one that echoed through the cave, his tail lashing behind him as he spiralled higher and higher.

Eventually, on the main island far below, the one that sat across a channel from the tunnel entrance, he spotted a group. And at the head of this tiny gathering was a stranger in black--and a table full of shinies. That he could pick out, even from a distance, of course: despite being teensy and very far below, the distant glitter of glass drew him like a moth to a flame.

Down he swept after only a few moments' flight, his hind legs skidding in, claws sending pebbles flying. His body rocked forward, landing again on his winged forelimbs, and he wing-walked rapidly over to stare closely at the glass. He ignored the smaller Gembound, for now, bar a distant sense of urgent jealousy--he had to get whatever this was before they laid claim.

"What is this?" he demanded, covetous and curious both.

To make a long story short, Elspet still smelled like burning fur and had soreness up and down her entire body from the Olympics. It had been long enough for that to go away, right?

Wrong, the gorilla supposed, as she set her jaw in a scowl and shuffled off toward Fornax. It was a cave full of what was basically bath water, which was great because she wouldn't have to make it warm herself. Any opportunity to be lazy was a good one. Except—

Except for when the cave in question was full of Gembound crowding. Any time there was a crowd, there was suspicion. Among the group was a straight-up dragon, for Caves's sake. Elspet slogged through the shallow water, already feeling an immense sigh of relief forcing its way out of her chest. Ugh, hell yes. Yellow diamond glinted in the air as she rounded the moon-shaped isle, getting a better view of the odd two-legged beast leaning against a stone pedestal. Not wanting to get out of the perfectly warm water, she simply laid down and asked what had probably already been asked many times before: "the heck's going on here?"

Wilder's exploration into Fornax did not bring her at all with the thought that she might see the Collector. In her mind, he lived in Canis and didn't ever leave Canis. So she wouldn't meet him in here, Fornax, so far from the cave of bones. But, apparently, she was quite wrong for there he was! At some kind of table with another creature that she didn't know.

She hesitated for a moment from her shock at seeing him here, but then her tail went up in greeting and she raced forward. "Collector! It's me, Wilder!" But before he could hear her and before she could get close, he was gone, just like that.

She slowed to a stop, her tail slowly falling as disappointment replaced her excitement. She deflated as she stared at where the Collector had gone. Did he not want to say hello to his friend?

She shook herself. No, it was just bad timing! He didn't hear her and was just about to leave! The thought allowed her to easily move past her sadness at missing a friend and she turned to the other, happily bouncing forward to greet them. "Hello! I'm Wilder! Who are you? What is all this stuff?"

Usingizi's aimless wanderings had brought her to Fornax. The waters were a far cry from what she'd call home, but oddly comforting in a way. Where the waters and swamps of Cetus had been foggy, muddy, and cold, Fornax had warm, humid oceans littered with islands. She swam through the waters in a lazy sort of way, the heat sapped away any tension. She flickered her tongue out, and paused, when she became aware of the scents of a menagerie of gembound.

Her curiosity was piqued. She changed her route, heading towards the main island, from which she'd caught scent of them. She pressed the gemstone in her mouth, before landing upon the island. When the gathering finally came into view, it just gave her more questions. And her curiosity just grew from there. She flicked out her tongue, trying to memorize each creature's individual scents, before she wormed her way into the loud crowd silently, taking care to stray from any that could step on the juvenile snake accidentally.

Many here seemed to be as confused as she was, and she watched the strange upright creature that the kitten had approached with a sense of apprehension. Strange structures littered the stone slab nearby, and she found it odd and frightening, but also intriguing. Slowly, tensly, she lifted her head, and scented the air, trying to discern the use of all the strange structures upon the altar.

"What is all this?" She wondered openly, voice low and nearly indistinguishable from the din of the crowd.

Don't bother, they hate you.

Skeena flattened her ears, steadfastly refusing to listen to the vocie that murmured in the back of her head. She had learned to push it away, to focus on anything else, Cycles ago, but sometimes it was worse than others.

And oh, it had gotten bad recently. Ever since she had joined the Bonebound, a true family that wasn't just Mother-Giggle and Brother-Eythan and Brother-Aure and Brother-Vinea and Brother-Serek, but one made of loyal others who shared their morals and dreams, it had been truly horrible. Whispering thoughts against all of them, telling her to harm them before she could harm her.

They'll hurt you.

And so she had left Canis for the first time in Cycles, trying to get away from the others while she found herself again. Her precious little bone was held in her mouth, and she held it carefully, making certain not to mark it with her teeth. It was grounding, helped her to focus on what was real and what wasn't.

They'll kill you.

The hybrid couldn't help but to notice the crowd, and for a moment she hesitated, thought about leaving. But curiosity drew her, and so she approached, mentally shoving down the Other until it was just a small pressure in the back of her mind. She scampered forward, ears perking to try and catch the other voices, raising her own to be heard, "What's going on?"

The Blacksmith turned, surveying the Gembound before him. At the sight of so many, he relaxed, his head tilting and his hands coming together gently beneath his sleeves.

Selena he recognized at once, and he knelt, a glimmering, ethereal blue cat briefly racing out to meet her before vanishing, bathing the bobcat in a shroud of glowing light. This faded slowly as he spoke, voice soft. "Hello; it's good to see you again." He was pleased to see her well, to see an old friend, and to be recognized.

He stood, then, and for a moment seemed a little overwhelmed with the numbers and their questions. "Oh-..." he began. Not a strong start. "I came to share my craft. Spells--ahh--an improvement; painting patterns, only--"

The Blacksmith paused, and then began again. "Ahh--I have an offer for you all. I have been working on a new magic. You can paint your own stories--your own patterns--in your own colors, on your own bodies. And this magic will keep it there, a story of your own told with your own form. To demonstrate, though, I'll need--" and here the Blacksmith turned, holding up the bottles. "Colors! Dye--feathers, shells, minerals--ahh, anything special you can find. I will show you how to mix the dye, and how to dye your fur--or feathers, or--scales," he added, looking over the wide variety of Gembound present. "Bring me whatever you can find, and I'll teach you--and teach you the magic, too," he added, clasping his hands happily together. "Some need magic, too--but I'll teach you everything I know."

_________

Gembound are now free to exit the thread, and form other threads solo or in groups to search for Dye Materials. A list of materials can be found in this thread: Dye & Ingredients List. Gembound can find any feathers, minerals, rare items and more from this list, and bring them back to this thread to have their recipes (and other new recipes) unlocked. One participating Gembound will also be rewarded with a new spell to permanently affix the dyes to their bodies. Characters may still join at any time.

@Selena @Pollux @Elspet @Wilder @Usingizi @Skeena @Dread

Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Electric Storm, Don't Cry Baby
A tiny, gentle purr escaped from Selena as her heart felt light for the first time in many cycles. She was a little startled by the blue ghostly feline that bopped her nose and caused her fur to glimmer for a moment, resulting in a small sneeze from her. But she had full trust in her friend and did not have her fear response that was typical. That, however, couldn’t be said for the gathering of gembounds that had slowly appeared. Instinctively she wanted to run away, but she had wanted this chance for so long. She couldn’t just leave now that she got to see her old friend again after so many cycles! And so, claws digging into the dirt, she stayed and listened to his words, his wish. Colors and dyes were not a particular interest for her. But it was a wish of her friend. She had to go out and assist him if that was possible. She purred again at the thought of being able to help him. “Yes, of course! I’d be glad to help you with your new magic. I’m … I’m so glad to see you again.” She added softly. Then off the bobcat turned and dashed off to begin looking for supplies for him. Speech Thoughts Tags: Notes: