& * 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐒

as soon as ivan stepped foot in the door, ash brightened up and stopped working on one of the greataxes. she traded places with a centaur and then went to see all of the things that the son of hestia had brought with him. 

“well sadly, these things i would use on armor.“ she slowly ran her fingers along the scales and the carapaces. “only sadly because i can’t do that just yet.“ at the mention of another item of business, brash looked up at ivan once more.

she placed her hand under her chin and thought a bit. “hmm, i always think of charmes when i think of jewelry! see if nomiki could score some with some new resources. that’s my first bet and if push comes to shove, wait till the general store grows!” 

business was something that was starting to be more and more booming after the demigods settled back in to camp. enzo smiled widely once he heard the bell of the door ring. he had been trying on a new pair of glasses that he had acquired and was working on the map for the next quest. 

his eyes lowered down to look at the book first and foremost. “i swear, you lot would find a get out of jail free card if it was out there in hands’ reach.” the shop keeper nodded slightly once he heard the tools being brought up.

enzo took out the carpenter’s tools and exchanged them for bastion’s coin. “hope you can put them to good use! come to me if you ever need to replace some of the items.” 

the winning smile, while it might have worked on others, hardly incited anything but a subtle lift of the brow from agathys. she continued to concoct her potion, various ingredients in flasks and bottles pouring into the cauldron in front of her in precise, measured amounts. “it sounds mundane enough of a job for you to waste someone else’s time with it, child,” she said. 

there was a sense of familiarity to being in astraea’s presence; she reminded credence of every war-calloused general he’d met, those beings with scar museums writ on their bodies and a thousand dreadful tales. prompted by the situation, he conjured the soldier in him too, crossing his arms and jutting his chin out, blue-eyed gaze stern but not unkind. “well, i need to ask you something now.” a muscle ticked in his jaw. “it’s about eris. she marked one of my friends. what do you know about her?”

the large feline had just finished cooking a rather large meal, so now it was up to the younger workers to plate them and make sure that everyone else was fed. then he heard the knock on the door and heard the voice. “yes, i can understand you, if you haven’t noticed i have ears.” 

caraway reeled himself in, glad to have some company and know that other people liked to cook. “stick around and maybe in the future i’ll be able to teach you some of my tricks!” he grinned as he put together a small bag with the ingredients inside of the utensils. then he handed them to loreto along with his change and took the gold. “thank you for this.” 

"where the hell are these people sending all of you?” this wasn’t the first piece of material that she had gotten like this and she was certain it wasn’t going to be the last either. “while i can’t do anything with this right now, i’ll probably need another upgrade, i can definitely tell you what it can be used for!” 

ash took the fur from hudson and inspected it inside and out. after a almost a full minute of taking down measurements and comparing it with some of the other items in the forge, she handed it back to the demigod. “a couple more of those and i could potentially upgrade some armor for you! in the future of course.” 

hearing that he was going to avenge whatever took gideon away from him made lamia suddenly turn into a protective figure. she had to remind herself that the danger wasn’t at camp, so her much more monstrous forms weren’t needed quite yet. instead, hudson needed the motherly side of her that was somehow still alive. 

she took out two of her dolls of horror and slid it across the table to the man, along with half of the gold that he had given her for it. “you’re going to defend the honor of someone that was important for you, my business doesn’t need to be at the front of that.” she’d offer to go with him, but she didn’t want to leave her daughters alone yet.

lamia instead just crossed on over, placing a hand on hudson’s cheek and smiling up at him. “be safe out there, okay? if anything were to happen to you, i would tear apart a whole city until i got answers and i know you’d do the same. take these and make sure you’re always watching your back. my house had surprises you didn’t see coming, view the world like that too. i care about you hudson, i don’t want anything to happen to you. come back to me and your tree in one piece.” 

groups were meant to have people from every walk of life. the more diverse the group was, the more plans they were going to come with and different solutions. that was why whenever she saw the doctor, she couldn’t help but smile softly. it was almost a familiar feeling any member from voithos gave her, but slightly different.

“it has been too long! what have you been up to, julian? not any trouble i assume.“ although at this rate, she wouldn’t be surprised if the healer did get himself into some form of a mess. the demigods seemed to have a knack for it. thankfully, he seemed to only come with more goods for her.

she ran her hand through the panther pelt and inspected it for a while. “well, for starters i can tell you that it’ll be used for armor. although customizing armor is much tricky than handling a piece of weapon. so depending on the piece, i’m going to need more resources and more of this bad boy!” 

finally, it was time for lady forge to take a break. surprisingly enough she didn’t have nomiki crashing around in the forge today, so it was already much more calm than normal. as keaton walked inside and gave her the coin, she had just finished her meal and was drinking the rest of her ale. 

ash nodded along while she heard the son of kratos speak. “unless you want a regular old upgrade, i’m gonna need something more to add onto it!” she gave him a smile and then lightly punched his shoulder, although it wasn’t meant to harm, just to play around. upgrade was one thing, customization another.

“the only thing i have for sale when it comes to customization are the weapons themselves. otherwise you’re going to need to bring me whatever material it is that you want to infuse into it.“ 

ash had been massaging the back of her shoulders and neck when joshua walked in. even though she loved what she did and the company, the expansion had been something that she was going to need to get used to. plus, she swore that joshua had knocked her shoulder out of place during the wrestling match. 

when he came in with the greataxe and the crocodile teeth, a small grin formed on her face. “preparing yourself for when we go hand to hand and not just fight in an arm wrestle?” she joked around a bit as she grabbed the items and sent them away with one of the centaurs. “with the payment that’s really all! i’ll be right back, big guy.” 

lady forge went to the back of the building to infuse the greataxe with the different sets of teeth. first they were melted and then combined into one sturdy weapon at the end. she weighed it a bit in her hands before swinging it herself. once it was finally ready, ash walked back out to the front and handed it to josh. “try not to swing that too hard in here, but here you go!” 

𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐚. for once she finally decided to give into the whole “beautiful” thing again and try. the mother of monster’s is wearing a beautiful blue gown that flows as easy as water. it’s not as puffed out as the cheerleaders, but it’s comfortable. the flowers are the same color as the dress, a bit darker in some areas. her crown mainly consists of seeds and withering roses. 

𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐚. like the warrior princess that she is, astraea’s entire dress is made out of heavy armor. while it isn’t exactly the easiest thing to walk around in, it’s the most comfortable for her. her accessory is her sword.

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬. finally another excuse to dress up. the cheerleaders decided to go with a rather large ball gown that starts with flowers on the corset and cascade down into the skirt. their heels are golden and have flowers on them as well.

𝐚𝐬𝐡. the forger wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress, that’s just not comfortable for her. instead she wore a beige suit with a brown shirt and brown hiking boots. she can still work in her outfit as long as she takes the blazer off, so it’s not too bad.

𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐨. like any respectful businessman he has to look a certain way when portraying himself to the outside world. he decided to wear a light suit this time, seemingly changing between beige and grey depending on the light, with a black large overcoat and black dress shoes.

he doesn’t even know where to begin. doesn’t know how to phrase it so it comes out properly. he scowls for a moment. he watches her for a split second before he finally starts to speak, not wanting to cause her any unwarranted irritation. 

“i know i’m new to all of this but after the ambrosia, even after the underworld, i can feel my power. it’s like trying to harness chaos, trying to bottle lightning or something.” he rubs his biceps with his hands, as if warming himself. “does it always feel like that? like it wants to just…burst at the seams and lash out at anything and everything? does it…is it rooted in evil if it feels that way?” he doesn’t say that he likes the way it feels, that he enjoys it. 

@godspeednpcs​