Pip was small, a sparkling, dark jewel amongst ivory bones. She was too small to register them as anything other than strange rocks. It was a miracle the small insect had managed her way over here. She was lost, now. The cave was massive compared to her.

She climbed to the top of a bone pile, the closest she could see. Her head darted about. Even larger piles surrounded her. She'd no way of knowing how she'd come in, or how she would leave. Even lost, she knew she had a goal. She knew who could help her. She wanted to see the being other gembound spoke of.

"Collector...?" She called. Pip was in Canis for a particularly nefarious reason. She craved something her travels could not give her. Something even Morpho had not, in the few cycles she had met her friend. If the collector had everything, as she had heard, then he had this.

"Collector! I need something from you!"

The voice that came was singing.

Distant--but rich, sonorous, a smooth warm oil over polished wood. Its melody was lilting, and after a moment--as it drew closer--the quiet staccato of hoofbeats began to punctuate its beat.

Cloaked, hooded, horned--two pinprick red eyes shifting down to regard the tiny mantis--the Collector strode into sight. His humming song didn't falter, but he came forward, dropping to a crouch, and the flash of white fangs was visible in a brief grin. "I am the Collector; and who might you be, you charming little thing..?"

@Pip

Pip heard the song first. The tiny mantis listened, eventually swaying to the sound. She buzzed, and her song came. It was a small, tinkling sound, trying to match the melody she'd heard. But when she saw the Collector, she was taken aback. Her brief melody spluttered and died out. She was having trouble registering the giant mass as anything living.

Or, hell, even processing him at all. Morpho was large. But this thing was even larger. Even when he crouched, he was still large. Her feet shifted. She fought down the urge to hop on top of his head. Imagine the things she could see up there! Pip summoned her courage, chest puffed. "I am Pippin! Call me Pip!"

"Collector! I want, um..." She trailed off. felt even smaller, staring into his red eyes, and ducked herself low to the bone, trying to blend in. "Collector, I want a friend!" Her voice was smaller as well. "Um, I have Morpho but I always lose him. Oh! You don't know him. Morpho is really big! Looks kind of like...me? I think. But hes green and brown. But, I want someone bigger than me. Someone that helps me be seen. Someone that could help me find Morpho more often. Do you make friends, Collector?"

Pip wasn't sure what the collector would want in return. She pricked the golden scarf round her thorax with a claw. "I have this! You take stuff in return, right? I have this!"

@Game Master Dark

Oh, well, wasn't this precious.

One clawed finger reached forward, oh-so-delicately, toward the golden scarf--and stopped just short of touching it. He might damage it, after all; he couldn't have that. "How very nice to meet you, Pip," crooned the Collector. "What a delightful little song you have."

"I cannot make friends... but perhaps I can help you to learn to make your own. But I couldn't possibly take something like this from you," he added, and then hummed in thought. The finger nudged for Pip's forelimbs, an offer to lift her, to pick her up as he stood, so that she was high in the air; if she accepted he would continue to regard her thoughtfully. "I think I might even know where to find such a thing. But for that, it will take time. I wonder, would you be willing to do me a little... favor, in the meantime? Just a little fun thing..? It won't take long, I can assure you," he went on, a smile creeping across his face.

@Pip

Pip was sure she'd lose the scarf. But to her surprise, the Collector did not take it. "Thanks! I like making songs; I have made many!" She'd have to share her collection of songs with the Collector one day! Her good mood was abruptly shattered.

The collector did not make friends. Her abdomen drooped. If the collector did not have the means to make friends, she would have to find another way. But...the collector could help? She leaned forward, abdomen flicking in excitement. A twinkle of hope in her eyes. There was a chance!

Pip, of course, leapt onto the Collector's finger soon as it was offered. She was always one for height, and she'd already bee itching to climb the Collector. But as she rose, the height became dizzying. It was like riding on Morpho. Her forelimbs gripped the Collector's finger, and she crawl-scuttled to the center of his hand.

"A...favor?" Pip said. Her head tilted. The Collector said it was a fun favor. And after all, the Collector seemed nice! She groomed a limb in thought.

"Mmmmm Yes! For friend-helping thing I'll do it! I want to do a fun favor! I like you Collector, you're nice! You remind me of someone I met--he was tall too! Gave me a tube with pretty shapes! Didn't talk though." She pouted. Then her gaze flicked back up to the Collector. "What do I gotta do?"

"I would like to give you a little something to leave somewhere else," the Collector explained, his voice oh-so-kindly and friendly. And it would have to be a 'little' something indeed, he reflected, for the tiny mantis to even carry it.

"You're very small, and it's a surprise gift, so you can do it without being seen, yes? Where these friends would only see me. All you have to do is go somewhere, leave the gift where I tell you to, and return to me. What do you say?" he asked, his voice a gentle rumble.

Who her 'friend' was he could not guess. Ahh, and--"Then perhaps I can give you what you seek, and you can return to your wonderful music, hmm?"

@Pip

Pip nodded. She could do that. She listened closely, and her excitement grew. Pip gasped. A surprise gift! How exciting! "Yes! Yes yes yes, I can do that! They'll be so excited to find it! I can be very sneaky!" She was very good at blending in to crystals and rocks, yes! "I can do Collector and ooh, when I come back, I will share my music! Oh, but first, show me the gift! Ooh, and what is the gift? Is it crystals? I like crystals! And pretty things!"

A smile, though she couldn't see it--but perhaps she would hear it in his words. "I must create for you this gift. In fact, how would you like it to look, little one-? It will lose its magic after it is used to... create a friend, as you say, but you can always keep it, if you like the looks. So perhaps something to wear--" And here another finger crooked up, the claw lightly touching the scarf this time, ever-so-delicately--"though nothing, I'm sure, could compare to this."

@Pip

The Collector was multitalented, and kind! "Woah! I didn't know you could make gifts! I've never tried. But I like purple! And green!" Pip became quiet. A rare moment of thinking.

"Ooh, make it green! I'd like something sparky and bright. I want to wear it on my claws!" She said, waving her claws in the air. She'd evidently forgetten she was supposed to be stealthy.

She grasped the scarf around her thorax, raising it for the Collector to see. "I got this from the silent friend too! I think? I found it around the time I found him! That was a weird day. Ohh, How long will it take to make the friend-thing, Collector? Can I call you friend, too?"

"Ahh, yes, either purple or green are excellent choices to pair with gold," he crooned--ever, it seemed, the fashionista. "And I would adore it if you would call me friend, Pippin. I do so love making new friends..."

Either it was sinister, or habit, or he was a very friendly guy.

"Green it shall be. Now! I've had this waiting for some time." Clawed hand delved into robe. "There is a group in this cave--I wouldn't ask you to go too far, at your size!--called the Bonebound. There are two members that might adore this gift. The first is called Aure; he is a bird-like creature, with only two legs. He is orange and brown, with a white face. The second is Damask, and is quite similar, with a long, feathered tail, but she is pure black and white. I want you to find one of their resting places--a nest, perhaps--if you can, and put this into it." Out came a handful of white fluff: soft, moldly-looking, and nice and light to carry. It was fungus--not Mother, but it certainly resembled the stuff. "A rare material. Leave it in their nests or, if you cannot find them, somewhere you might find their feathers." Perhaps they'd find them, perhaps not, but Pip's reward would be hilarity enough on its own, even with no payment rendered. "What do you say, Pip..? Do we have a deal?"

@Pip