It's not breaking the rules if I live here

The wonder that overtook Erik's face as she led him into the armory brought a puff of pride to Ember's chest. Yeeeeah, she liked showing off how cool her family could be sometimes. After all, how many other families just had a whole room filled with weapons and armor like this? She watched him peruse around the room for a moment with a proud smirk on her face, oceanic eyes shimmering with delight as she followed his movements with her gaze. When he stopped to inspect some of the blades on a workbench, Ember left the doorframe to come join him at the table. He asked if she made this and Ember gave a short, airy laugh. "No, that'd be my dad. He's really good when it comes to metalwork. He fixed up everything you see in this room or made it from scratch, but I'm hoping he'll teach me so I can make swords and daggers and things too."

Ember could see the look of lust in Erik's eyes to touch the items on the workbench, but he was trying to be on his best behavior. He was so damn cute when he was trying so hard. With a lopsided smirk on her muzzle, Ember picked up the dagger and slid it across the workbench towards Erik so he could see it and handle it. A silent message to her friend—she trusted him not to do anything dumb. "If you think this stuff is cool, you should see the things my dad keeps in there." Ember gestured to the locked steel door at the back of the armory. "That's where all the really cool weapons are, the things like my dad's sword and my siblings' weapons. They're all beautiful and always razor sharp." Ember wished she could show Erik how awesome the Carpathian steel weapons were, but only her father and Mercury had access to the vault. She'd have to remember to show him the fancy blades some other time.

Looking back to Erik again, she gave the taller boy a sweet smile. "Whenever I learn how to make weapons like my dad does, I could make you something special," she offered, raising a paw to the necklace resting at her collarbone. "You made me this, so I'd like to make you something too." That was only fair, right? Plus her sire had said that giving these weapons to wolves was a deep sign of trust from their family. He had given her something for protection, and someday she would give him something for protection back.

As they sat close to one another, Ember couldn't help but let her gaze drift down to the orange crystals protruding from Erik's neck. She watched the way the dim light from the smoldering forge danced off the crystalline surfaces, beautiful and hypnotic at the same time. Lifting a dainty paw, Ember slowly reached forward towards them, but hesitated just shy from actually touching them. Her eyes lifted back up to meet his orange gaze, silently asking his permission before she would actually touch them. Her curiosity had always been there, but up close to him, she couldn't help herself. "Was this from the Long Night?" she asked, recalling the lessons from her parents and what Laeta had told her about the crystal afflictions. Ember followed up her question with another, one that had lingered in her mind since she'd met the viking boy, "Do they hurt you...?"

"Ember Carpathius"