Though he had lived in the Armada for a long while now, at least two years if not more, Bronze had never fully explored the tunnels beneath the mountain. Being enclosed entirely like this, with hard walls of impenetrable stone, wasn't exactly his idea of comforting. Not like sleeping just feet away from the wide open skies. He couldn't help but feel some trepidation as he wandered the halls now, acutely aware of just how alert he was - a sound from one of the rooms behind him made him nearly flinch, though he managed to keep his reactions in check. He wasn't afraid of the dark, nor the shadows - but he couldn't deny that these caves made him feel vaguely claustrophobic.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he made his way down further toward the armory. Sirius had taken him here long ago, allowing him to pick out something to outfit himself with, but he hadn't come here since. Maybe it was time to poke around there soon. Though something caught his attention, someone rummaging around in a adjacent room that he wasn't familiar with. Clearing his throat to subtly announce his approach, he poked his head into the doorway to see who was inside.

Ignita came that morning with a plan, let's see what she could remember of blacksmithing, a nail, she could make a nail.
She started the fire and picked up the bellows to add more air. Hot, the fire had to be hot, so hot it had to melt metal.

She added some coal to the flames and pulled the string for the bellows to strengthen the fire. Finally, it was blazing. She grabbed an old slab of iron, dropped it, then picked it up again. She went to add it to the furnace when her attention was alerted at the doorway. She perked her ears and looked up to see an unfamiliar face, but a distinctly Armada scent.

"Oh hello! Interested in blacksmithing maybe?" She asked hopefully. They had several projects and Charlie remained missing in action.


"Speech"

There were so many wolves in the Armada he didn't know well, but for a private sort of wolf like himself that wasn't a huge surprise. Lately he'd been trying hard to step out of his comfort zone though and get to know other wolves within the pack, to learn to work with them for the greater good. Sniffing at the air, he tasted the stranger's scent and implanted it to memory as he took a few steps into the room, his pace lazy but deliberate somehow still.

"Hello. I can't say I know much about it, but always happy to learn," he confessed, taking another step. "I'm Bronze. One of the pack's warriors." Moving a bit closer, the large wolf sunk to his haunches, taking in what their surroundings. A fire had been stoked and there was a slab of iron lying in it.

The small woman danced on her tiptoes at the prospect of teaching and solving a problem for the pack as a whole.

"Excellent! I'm Ignita! Basilisk's Songbird, it's nice to meet you Bronze! Did you know that your name is a special metal that we could make? It's made by melting copper and tin together! I can't remember how much copper to tin... or was it iron... Silver? No. Tin, yes. Copper and tin!" She was in her element, someone to talk their ear off to about what she was doing. She pulled the slab of wood tied to the string that pulled the bellows to increase the heat while she talked.

"Anyway, making bronze is a bit more complicated for me at the moment, I'm adding some air to the fire to keep it nice and hot, I've already added coal to it, which it needs to melt the metal. If we just used wood it wouldn't get hot enough and burn through it too quickly." She grabbed some tongs off to the side, a flurry of activity and talking non-stop.

"Mind pulling the string some more? Gotta keep it going. I gotta stretch this thing into a nice long rod." She nodded to Bronze to participate. She slipped her goggles over her eyes then used the tongs to grab the super-heated slab of iron with two paws and swiftly deposited the glowing slab to the anvil. She had her little golden possum hold the tongs while Ignita grabbed the other side of the slab and pulled the slab a little longer.

"Speech"

The greeting was a strange one, and she named herself as a title he hadn't quite heard of. Bronze didn't care for delving into the affairs of others though so he didn't put much thought into it, giving a nod of acknowledgment. "I did know that. For some reason it seems those names run in my family. My siblings all have similar names." Thinking about them always made his stomach turn, knowing fully well that he missed them - especially his twin, Pyrite - but that it wasn't his place to say where they ought to be these days. Having them all here in the Armada would be his biggest wish come true, but he knew their destinies lay elsewhere, and he'd come to terms with that. Didn't stop him from wishing, though.

He listened patiently as she began to explain that she was keeping the fire hot to melt the metal. Bronze gave another nod to signify he was listening, not just staring and zoning off. "Makes sense," he agreed. It was a good resource to have, these materials they'd accumulated here, and already he found himself brainstorming how he might use such contraptions to his own benefit. No doubt they'd come in handy for making weapons, even pieces of armor.

"Sure," he said as he moved closer, pulling on the string just as she had, fanning the fire and making it temporarily roar to life. It simmered down after a moment, and he figured he'd wait until it looked like it needed a bit more stoking before doing it again. "What are you making?" A companion would definitely help with this sort of thing, but Bronze preferred his solitude too much to bother with something like that - maybe he could rope someone else's into helping if he ever decided to work here on his own, though.

"Oh neat!" She exclaimed to him mentioning the naming scheme of his family, he may even be uniquely suited to this line of work!

She pulled the bar into a long uneven rectangle and put it in the fire again, letting him stoke it up, she added some more coal to it and waited for the metal to get white hot again.

"The metal is ready to be worked when it's white hot, any hotter and it melts completely, any colder and.... Well, I can't remember the reason why any colder was a bad idea, other than it just wasn't as easy to work with. I'm making it a long skinny rod! Then I can use these other tools," She gestured to a couple of the tools on the side of the anvil, "To make nails! Once it's all said and done, I've heard making a nail from a rod can take all of thirty seconds!" She pulled the rectangle out again with one of the tongs and then pulled it long again.

"I wonder if Charlie had any molds around here, pulling the roods seems to be inefficient. Maybe it's best melted down entirely and poured into rod molds..." She pondered out loud while trying to stretch the metal out with great effort and very little to show for it.

"Could you pass me, that... uh... bowl thingy? Is it a crucible? It might be a crucible." She gestured to the solid bowl attached to a long stick, it looked like it wouldn't melt easily in the fire.

"Ahah! He does!" She exclaimed triumphantly as her golden gaze landed on a nearby shelf where she saw a few molds for long strips of metal.
"This'll be so much easier." She said as she grabbed the molds and placed them near the fire.

"Speech"

Bronze was hardly the most inventive of wolves - if anything, he liked sticking to doing things the way he knew how to do them, which probably didn't lend well to a craft that needed some element of creativity. But he was happy to learn anyway, dedicated now to proving his worth and skillset to Basilisk. Being versatile and open-minded were positive traits that he hoped he could express, even if he was stepping out of his comfort zone in doing so.

He was careful as he stoked the fire and listened to her as she explained about the temperature required to do this work. Not too hot, not too cold. Bronze nodded, acknowledging what she was teaching him. "Interesting," he commented softly, nodding along with her. She was making nails... their use he was less sure of but he supposed he'd see what she had in store as she went.

It seemed like she wasn't necessarily an expert, but trying to figure some things out as se went too. Ignita gestured to something she called a crucible. He let go of the string for a moment to snatch it with his jaws and move the bowl thing toward her, letting her grab it before returning to his simple task of occasionally stoking the fire. It was easy enough to see when it needed to be fanned, and he gave the string another few pulls and watched the fire roar back to life while Ignita was getting things sorted.

"So what's this thing for?" Bronze asked, gesturing to the crucible as well as the mold. Maybe he was a bit dense but this wasn't at all his area of expertise - he'd rather be certain he knew what was going on instead of just assuming. He didn't like not knowing things.