It had been some number of cycles since the Incident.

Those cycles had been spent in a stupor, drifting aimlessly between choking down dry old bones and sleeping high up in the chambers, as if the Collector did not have the ability to easily just... manifest up there. The altitude was comforting, at least, however low it actually was. Truth was, Canis was fairly small and pathetic.

So, that was why Elyon had forced herself to her feet and set off at an uneven gallop through the mist-filled Tunnel N. Upon reaching the starry vault, she simply skirted the edge into a tunnel filled with remnants of wars long fought. Bright eyes danced over the beaten, rusted, worn scraps of metal and old weapons. No blood remained on them and nary a bone was in sight. Her talons clicked further down the tunnel, in pursuit of the source of the hot winds seeming to push her back. A persistent whirlwind snagged at her ruff, twisting it and gnarling it this way and that. Were it not for her bulk and wide, balanced stance, the blasting air might've just bowled her over, then and there.

She pushed further, though her limbs were quickly beginning to grow sore.

The centaur subconsciously drifted toward a slice in the rock, seemingly a hidey-hole to simply rest in; in reality, it was a boiling-hot cavern. Elyon did not complain. The heat felt delightful on her joints and exoskeleton, no matter how much it clung to her ruff and tail. She squeezed warily into the hole, nearly getting her broad chest wedged between the stones due to her astounding Butch Lesbian Form. Bright eyes glinted in the light of the vat of burbling, incandescent liquid. Or, what looked like liquid. It seemed like fire given consistent shape. Unheeding of the piles of scrap material lying around in a cluttered mess, Elyon approached with curious eyes and touchy-feely hands. She immediately drew one back to her chest, rubbing at the scalded joints. Not even the stones lining the edge of the forge were cool enough to touch.

Fucking radical.

@Glory

Glory was out at the time that the strange hybrid had entered his cavern, down in the mining cave he had discovered below. Despite having chipped away at the deposits for multiple cycles, they didn't seem to be wearing out any time soon. Good news for Glory - he would hate to have to search too far and haul back loads of minerals over a large distance or, worse, relocate and build his forge from scratch. He had spent cycles upon cycles remodeling, renovating, adding onto and changing things until he had come to a forge that he deemed perfect.

Back to the current time, he had just finished his latest gathering. A large sack was strapped over his shoulders, filled to the brim with iron ore. He couldn't fly properly when carrying so much weight, but at least his mines were not far from his cave. Struggling, he followed the narrow path that led along the wall to his cave, staggering into the crevice and enjoying the heat that blasted into his face but he stopped dead in his tracks. Someone was here.

Frowning he opened his wings slightly and shrugged off his bag, the metal banging to the ground quite loudly to announce his presence. "Hey, don't touch that!" He fluttered forward, not minding the absolute massive size of the creature in front of him, and perched himself on his anvil. "It's dangerous hot! And I don't want anyone messing with it!"

@Elyon

Much like a cat does when spooked by a cucumber, Elyon started. First, she reared up onto her hind legs. Then, with a clicking slam! she thrust her forelimbs down and jerked her back legs outward. Tail feather-fur and ruff bristling, the centaur nearly sent herself reeling forward onto her upper half. She clumsily stumbled backwards --- much like a spooked horse --- and swept her tails high above her back. Every single bit of her posture, however inexpressive her face actually was, suggested pure submissiveness and wariness.

"A-ah, sorry, sorry dude. I was just lookin', promise," she chirped, voice wavering as she lifted her hands and revealed that they were empty, "it's nice 'n warm in here and I was just tryin' to find a place to chill out, y'know?"

@Glory

Glory himself got quite startled when the hybrid reared and he flinched, his wings flapping with agitation. "Woah, woah! Calm down! You might knock something over!" And there certainly were plenty of things for her to knock over, from the anvil he was sitting on, the trough, the oil bath, his equipment, the display racks, or even the forge itself. He looked around nervously to make sure that her kicking hadn't upset anything. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be wrecked.

He sighed and pulled his wings back in, shaking his head. "Yes, well, I would think it quite obvious that this cave is occupied. And not exactly a good place to, ahem, chill out." There weren't exactly a lot of places in Monoceros that were very chilly, although he was certainly aware that it was not the hybrid's intention to cool herself down.

He turned and hopped off of his anvil back towards where he had dropped his sack of ore and began to gather up the chunks of iron back into the bag, using his talons to scrape them in. "Anyways, I'm Glory the Blacksmith. I'm sure you've heard of me, right?" He puffed out his chest feathers, sure that she'd at least heard mention of a blacksmith in Monoceros.

@Elyon

Despite her panicked state, Elyon was actually quite good at being spatiall-aware. As previously mentioned, not a single part of the eagle's enormous hoard of paraphernalia was disturbed by her frantic movements. Her hoof-claws simply tapped across the near-unbearably hot stone and ruff flared up. Bright eyes flickered from the forge to all of the bent, twisted pieces of metal and scraps of leathery material; she supposed the bird was right --- this cave did look very well lived-in. Maybe she had just assumed the forge was abandoned. Dumb assumption, she knew.

"Well, I meant--- the wind's pretty rough 'n I was wantin' to rest for a minute, I guess," she chirped, raising her hands and hanging her head in defeat. Oddly enough, the bird seemed to be alright with a nine-foot-tall crab-centaur-hybrid just hanging out in his workshop, even going so far as to introduce himself so casually. He just set right to putting some weird rocks into his bag and chatted.

Manners popping into her single brain cell, Elyon shook her head gently, "I haven't heard of ya, Mr. Blacksmith, sir." But, in her defense: "I've lived in the bone room all my life, really. I haven't gotten out much since I was l'il." Hard to imagine such a large creature ever being little, but... y'know. "What's a blacksmith?" Even glancing around at all of the tools and items in the cave, the centaur couldn't piece it together.

@Glory

Glory deflated a little bit when she claimed to have never heard of him. That was...disappointing. After all these cycles he was still not a very well known creator. For a moment he had hoped that she had come to buy something from him or have something made but...that was too bad.

He sighed and finished collecting his ore before stepping over to a contraption in the wall which was also fueled by a vat of lava. He dumped the ore into a stone basin and pushed it onto a rack in the hollow, closing shut a metal door around the front before turning back to Elyon. "The bone room, eh? I thought that Eythan might say where he'd gotten his claws from. Have you met him before?" It didn't actually strike him that she was, in fact, Eythan's daughter. She was just so different from him, the only connecting thing he could see right away would have been the beard but there could be a lot of different reasons for that.

At her question tho, a glimmer came into his eye and one of his claws tapped on the ground. "Ah, well, a blacksmith creates! With a forge of fire, some good metal and a hammer! Of course, I've made other tools over the cycles," he gestured to a relatively neat pile of everything from tongs and hammers to strange gripping tool, pokers, and blades. "I can create anything I want!" He walked over to the display racks where held a number of Glory's finest pieces including a helmet made of a strong steel inlaid with a number of engraved designs and stained a pale gold, a sword sharpened to perfection bearing a hilt decorated with rubies and sapphires, and a bow made from cherry wood, strengthened with plates of metal and showing off detailed carvings. He puffed out his feathers proudly. He always liked to show off his work. "Take a look! I made all of this myself!"

@Elyon

Elyon felt a little bad that she hadn't heard of the rather noble-seeming bird, but quickly reassured herself with the fact that she had, indeed, not been out much since her first two cycles. Following the incident, she had felt she had no reason to, lest that darkness take her by the hand once more and thrust her into blackness and blood and gore— "Eythan? That's— that's my father, er… my live-giver, I'm guessin'. Did he not have any claws before you made 'em for 'im?" Dumb lesbian, of course the gryphon had claws and talons. Maybe that transaction had happened before she was even a neonate…

Bright eyes scanned curiously at the smeltery for just a moment before turning her gaze to the variety of creations Glory had to offer. Hoof-claws scampered across the floor with all the dignity in the world, childlike wonder lighting up her demeanor tenfold. The bird's explanation of what a blacksmith actually was was lost on Elyon as she gleefully looked at each piece. The sword, in particular, caught her eye, and she desperately wanted to feel its weight and give it a good swing. However, she felt like she was in some sort of museum — it'd be rude to just pick it up and start hacking away, wouldn't it? These things seemed ornamental, anyways. Why else would they be sitting here, unused?

"These are awesome, Mr. Blacksmith, but—" her beaky grin faltered slightly, though, as her ruff smoothed down, "they're not cursed or anythin' are they?" That wild, panicked look in her eyes was back, and she scooted away from the priceless weaponry and armor; mindful, of course, of any obstacles in her way and stepping over them.

@Glory

Glory chuckled. "Ah, no, I mean the metal claws he has! He has claws underneath I don't doubt. But what a coincidence that Eythan's offspring finds her way to my cave! You're most welcome here." He hadn't talked much with Eythan, but he had grown to like the hybrid and any customer was a friend to Glory. He looked closer at Elyon and noticed some of the similarities he hadn't picked out before. The beak and the beard, certainly, and the colors were similar to Eythan's as well, although she didn't have the same pattern.

He watched her as she looked over his display rack, internally thankful that she didn't start grabbing things. He didn't mind if she picked things up and held them but he would have liked a warning first. It was better then Dread, at least, who snapped up whatever treasure he gave him with a thank you and nothing else. But he didn't hold it against the dragon. After all, where would most of his stuff go if not to him?

At her praise, his feathers puffed but he hesitated in his thanks. Her inquiry confused him and he felt a wound to his pride, as if she were questioning the quality of his work or the honor of his intentions. His brows furrowed and he hopped forward. "Well of course they're not! Why would I have any reason to curse my creations?"

He whipped around and lifted his wings, grabbing the helmet between them. He lifted it over his head and jammed it over, his gem fitting snugly in a hollow on the top of the metal. It was a perfect fit, obviously he had made it for himself. He opened his wings and gestured towards himself. "See? No curse! You can try them out if you like! Or, if you'd be interested, I could make you something from scratch! I haven't had a customer in quite a long time."

@Elyon

Elyon had never even seen the metal claws Glory was talking about, but was she going to persist on that topic? Absolutely not. There were bigger fish to fry, like the absolute coincidence that the blacksmith's two visitors were of the same proverbial cut of stone purely by chance. She just laughed, hand over her chest as if it could contain the raucous sound. "That's prett' dumb lucky," she stifled, nodding, "thank ya, Mr. Blacksmith!"

Oh, well, it seemed the items weren't cursed. The bird had simply plonked one atop his head to no ill effect. There wasn't a sudden axe murder happening or anything, and Elyon just clicked her beak in response. Her hand drifted from her chest to her elbow, rubbing at it as her hoof-claws clicked against the floor. "Oh, well, I, uh---" Should she spill it? Yeah, why not? "I got into a deal with the tall robed guy in Canis and--- I did somethin' I shouldn't've with some... cursed thing. I'm a l'il wary, nothin' against ye Mr. Blacksmith, promise."

The centaur drifted back over to the sword, bright eyes reflecting the light of its gem-encrusted hilt. It was most certainly made for a smaller Gembound to use, but in the interest of curiosity, she wanted to try it anyways. "Can I take a swing with this one?" Elyon perked up at the prospect of having something made from scratch, though, possibly just for her. No curses, no bullshit, no deals with the devil...

It seemed like a good idea.

"Well, I was wantin' to be a protector, y'know? Guardin' people and bein' strong. I want to have an arm wrestlin' match with someone someday, but ain't nobody got arms or hands in these caves but me, it seems," she rambled, then cursed under her breath, "fuckin' bummers." Anyhoo... "have ya got any ideas for that?"

@Glory

Glory lifted his wings to pull the helmet off of his head but at the mention of a robed figure in Canis he paused. The Collector? Glory had thankfully few dealings with him in the past, only to revive him and bring him the topaz that had created Aether. He had only done it out of a moral obligation to keep his word, but he had to admit and agree with Giggle - there was something strange and wrong about him.

He wasn't going to pry, though, she didn't exactly seem too happy about it. "Ah, the Collector. Tread carefully around him. And if you have need of weapons, er, I would recommend not returning to him." It wasn't just his want to have her as a customer that he said this, if she was so worried about curses, then why trifle with someone that had nothing but curses to give?

He shrugged and pulled the helmet the rest of the way off, placing it back where it had been before. He eyed the sword that she'd picked out and chuckled again. "Feel free, although I think a weapon like that would be a little too small for you. More like a dagger to someone of your stature. Feel free to test any of the weapons you find, as long as you're careful not to knock things over."

He moved over and began pulling out other things from the other display areas as well as from a pile of what seemed to be lesser quality projects, or more like Glory's pile of "I might give these to Dread or I might just hoard them myself" things. A much bigger sword, bigger then the bird himself, he had to drag with his beak and drop at the centaur's feet. It was much more plain then the sword, with a basic hilt and grip but still of good quality craftmanship. He also pulled out a large spear, mostly made of sanded wood with a fairly intricate blade at the end. There were also daggers, throwing knives, a few different types of bows, some shields, a couple of hammers, a mace, and even a strange circular blade that was ringed with spikes. "Well, I'm not sure if I could go around crafting literal arms for people, for if you want to be a protector, you need the right equipment! Feel free to try any of them out! I don't often get customers that can wield them as they were meant to be used!"

He puffed her chest feathers again, his head raised high. "And, of course, if you want something more personal I would be happy to craft anything for you!"

@Elyon