Hotter and Hotter (Private) (Closed)

December 16th
Noon

Steel struck the the hot metal as sparks flew. Such was the familiar sound of a smithy.  The loud metal resounds bouncing loudly in the confined space.  He soon put the piece of metal in a barrel filled with water.  He'd leave it in there for a few minutes more as the long thin blade cooled.  It wasn't complete but it was getting there.  He went back out front and sat calmly,  waiting for customers and any people looking for requests.

Fiery slowly cantered her way through the tunnels below the vast city with no real goal on her mind. A cloud of warmer than normal air constantly hovered around the unicorn mare as she held a small gold ring in her magic that looked like it had been broken into two; a small vacant hole in her left ear showing where the ring was supposed to be. With a sigh, she placed the broken ring into her bag to continue on her way and find some way to get the money to replace the piece of jewelry.

After a long moment of wandering in the calming quiet, the slender mare stopped in front of what appeared to be a business, eyes locking onto the stallion out front.

"Oi, you work here?" She asked after reading the sign. "If so, I have something to ask you."

Steel looked up as the mare shouted to him. "Yep. Ask away." he said calmly. He didn't notice the mares warm aura due to being so used to such things in his smithy.

Fiery turned her head, activating her magic again to lift the two pieces of her earring out and show to the stallion. "Some idiot I got into a fight with snapped my earring in half. Can you fix it, or at least make a new one?" She asked, bringing the remains of the ring closer. "Bucker's lucky he managed to run off before I got through with 'em."

Steel chuckles at the mares ferocity. He takes a closer look at the broken earing. It was snapped cleanly. Even if the metal had been twisted it wasn't like Gold was hard to repair. It was probably one of the easier of the precious metals to repair. Still requiring a delicate hoof though. "Small l thing like this? I could fix it by the end of the day." he said simply. He examined the mare with all the metal. He wasn't one for piercings but he'd seen plenty worse down here. She was tame by comparison. "Now what was a mare like you doing to get into trouble like that down here?" he asked somewhat jokingly.

"'A mare like me', huh? I'm tougher than I look, boy." Fiery replied, blowing a puff of steam out of her nose after the comment was spoken. Shaking her head slightly, she turned her full attention to the stallion. "How much will in run me to get it fixed? Don't want to be payin' any scam artist."

Steel chuckled. "Whatever you say." he responded to her comment and didn't react as she blew some steam on him. "About 10 bits." he stated looking over the earings again. "Or is that in scam artist range?" he asked with a sly smile.

Fiery gave the stallion a flat stare for just a moment. "Don't get too joky with me, I can just leave." She replied, giving the stallion the ring. "Alright, ten bits." She replied, gesturing to the other plain earring still on her ear. "It's identical to this one, so don't mess it up."

Steel nods. "Exactly as the last and no more funny business. Got it." he smiled.

Fiery nodded her head, glancing to the side. "I'm going to watch you, though. I want to make sure it's the real deal, and not just some metal colored gold." She replied, not seeming to have much trust in the stallion she just met.

Steel laughs at her cautiousness. "Well then you want to step in my smithy?" he invites, opening the part on the side of the counter. He moves into the scorching back room. He set the two pieces on a ceramic dish that seemed very cracked. "First just a minute or two to soften it up. Golds pretty light stuff." he says putting it in with a pair of tongs. He leans on a counter. "Now if I was a scam artist I'd make sure you didn't see it." he explains with a chuckle.

Fiery shrugged and moved into the back room, taking a seat on the floor while able to ignore the heat in the room with out any noticeable problems. "That's true. Fine, I trust you." She replied, bringing her forelegs behind her head to lounge and relax in the shop.

Steel waited the prescribed time and pulled the earings out. He used a piece of metal to see how loose they'd become. He turned and got a very small strip of gold. He placed the two haves on one strip and used another small strip for the other. He turned them over and put them back in. All without using magic, remarkably enough. "There we are. A bit more in the heat and we should be good for the next part." he said and turned to her. "Not hot in here for you at all huh?" he asked, seeing the mare completely relaxed. Most were sweating profusely back her.

Fiery raised a brow at her fellow unicorn while keeping her relaxed position. "It's hot in here?" She asked, not seeming to have noticed an increase in temperature herself. "Well, then I guess it isn't. Comes with the property, I guess."

"Special Talent hear related then?" he asked politely taking a quick glance at her comet. "Must be pretty nice to have on hot summer days or crowded in with a bunch of people." he says with a chuckle.

Fiery moved a forehoof up, horn glowing as a small fireball formed over her limb. "Well, more than just heat, but yeah." She replied simply, smirking at the stallion. "Jealous, much?" She teased, letting the fireball burn out before bringing her foreleg back behind her head.

Steel chuckled. "I am! I wouldn't have to worry about buying last longing coal if I could just light my hoof up at will!" he said and asked "How hot can you handle?" he teases right back.

"Well, I'd get burned if I touched the furnace of course, but I've stepped inside a campfire without any damage done to my leg before. It wasn't got that long, but still." She replied bluntly. "Nothing as hot as a metalworking fire, but still very hot."

Steel continues the banter. "Can you manipulate fire as well? Or is it just ability to withstand and conjur it?" he asks deeply interested. He'd never met someone quite like her. She was a fiery one alright.

Fiery yawned boredly, igniting her magic aura around her horn and drawing some of the flame out of the furnace. "Like this, dude? Easiest thing I can do." She replied, forming the ball of flame into a long string and back, tossing it back into the metal with the rest of the plasma. "Anything else you'd like to know?"

Steel chuckled. "Weeeelllll... I never got your name." he said and added "Mines Steel Strike." he said warmly extending a hoof in her direction.

Fiery blew a puff of steam from her nose, reaching out to shake the stallion's hoof. "Fiery Essence, good to meet you." She replied, bringing her foreleg back behind her head again. "So, how'd a unicorn become a smith anyway? And why don't you use your magic? Slow?"

Steel gives her a look. "Well for one my entire family is tradesponies. And I tried some stuff out and I liked smithing. Next thing I know I'm looking for a master to study under. Found one. After that it was all smithy." he said and added. "And no I'm not slow." he said lifting up a horseshoe in his levitation easily. "But besides being taboo with smithing in general it's been said early attempts at smithing with Magic turned out bad. Something about heating the core of the metal losing its strength. Regardless it also takes a boat load of energy to heat something up like that. Something most don't have. So I just stick to what's worked the best for all smith's. " he explained. He pulled the Rings out. He flipped the golden strip around very carefully bringing the two pieces together. He set it aside. " Though guessing by those rings you have quite a bit more than a boat load. " he grinned.

Fiery nodded her head to show she was listening and understanding, raising a brow at the finishing statement that came from him. "Rings? That does my metal have to do with anything?" She asked, flicking her ear to jingle the chained ring on it.

Steel clarifies. "Meant the bangles on your hooves. I recognize them. Magical locks. But what I've never seen before is a unicorn with 4 of em on, still doing some pretty powerful magic. So I'm guessing you got some crazy big power. Because they were designed to detain magical unicorn criminals. Hell even one of those suckers could magically exhaust a unicorn. Much less 4."

Fiery brought a forehoof forward to take a look at the lock on it, giving a nod. "Well, that's a complicated thing." She replied, bringing it back behind her head again. "The magic inside me is naturally way too high for any old unicorn. About three or four times the normal amount actually. I have to wear these to keep my magic from going out of control. If all four of them come off me...it'll get real ugly...real fast."

Steel nods. "Naturally. Must be scary lugging that power around all the time huh?" he asks knowing he'd be frightened if he blew up on a whim. "Of course you've obviously learned to control it to some degree."

Fiery gave a single nod. "I guess it is pretty freaky to know you can die at any unlucky moment, but I just live my life how I want because of it." She gave a shrug of her shoulders before continuing on. "Anyway, I can hold control of my magic with two of the locks off, but I'll lose control if I push myself too hard. One isn't a problem at all. Three off...I can control it for just a few minutes, but then I'll go nuts and eventually blow anyway."

Steel whistles. "So your a spur of the moment kinda mare than." he stated. "Live your life when you can. A good philosophy sometimes." he said solemnly. He quickly examined the ring and saw it was done cooling off. He scraped the rough bits off the earing to make it smoother and put the shavings into a small tin. He gave it a dip in the water and thrust it into the flames once more, for just a second, to sanitize it. He blew on it, gave it another dip in the water. He took it off the tongs and hands it to her. "There you are. Right as rain." he chuckled.

Fiery took the earring in her magic, looking it over with a grin before placing it back into her ear just above the identical one. "Thanks, dude." She replied while standing up from her seat on the floor. Flaring up her magic once more, she levitated ten bits out of her bag to give to the stallion. "Well, I guess you probably don't want me sticking around. See ya later."

"What do you mean by that? I enjoy your company. " he said and chuckled. "Your certainly the most interesting mare to come into my shop in quite some time." he added warmly.

Fiery laughed at the offered complement, waving a hoof at Steel. "Then you must not know me very well." She replied, shaking her head lightly. "Just don't like being called a mooch or something. Ponies tend to do that when you don't have a real job."

Steel quirked a brow.. "No job huh? You know if you wouldn't mind I could use an extra pair of hooves in the smith. Plus you could relight the furnace for me, and a bunch of other tasks you could help out with. Could even teach you how to smith if you wanted to learn." he said to the mare quickly and somewhat excitedly.

Fiery took a step away from the door and turned to face the smith again. "A job? You'd give me a job?" She asked, taking a step forward with an interested expression on her face. "I'll take it if it pays well."

Steel grins. "It'll pay decent. But you'll also have a place to stay if you need one." he said knowing that she probably didn't have a place to stay. "Because after all room and board would cost some."

Fiery took another step closer, blowing another puff of steam towards the other unicorn. "You're inviting me to stay here, huh? Are you coming on to me?" She asked with a smirk coming to her face. "Well, either way, I'd like to have a place to stay. I'll take it."

"I'll never tell.~" he teases and shows her up the stairs. "The first door on the right is the guess bedroom. It's not much but it's a place to sleep and relax." he said with a smile.

Fiery followed the stallion up the stairs, taking a glance around before opening the door to scan the room. "Seems good enough, thanks dude." She replied, slipping inside to set her things down and settle in.

Steel nodded. "No problem. If you need anything just ask." he said. He gave the mare one more look over before Trotting downstairs and attending to other smithy duties.

Fiery closed the door with her magic once things didn't seem to progress in the conversation, climbing onto the bed to lay down and rest. "I'll have to actually work for some punk... But at least I won't have to sleep on the streets anymore." She said to herself.

Whoever Fiery is, seems to enjoy not putting up summaries.

Characters: Steel Strike, Fiery Essence

Summary: Fiery visits Steel's Smith to get her earring fixed. This leads to a conversation that ends with Steel giving Fiery a job and place to stay.