[center][h2][b][color=138808]Robert "Bob" Malek[/color][/b][/h2][hider=Bob's Shop][img]https://i.imgur.com/05PINWB.jpg?1[/img][/hider][/center]

    *CHINK* *CHINK* *CHINK*

    The soft rhythm of the hammer beating against metal was soothing. He was making.... something, he couldn't remember. He just remembered the tongs in his hand, the heat from the furnace, and the steady rhythm of the swing. 

    *CHINK* *CHINK* *CHINK*

    Working the metal let him forget all of his thoughts, all of his feelings, it was like he was being reborn. But what was he making? His hands seemed to understand the shape, but his mind was blank, like a forgotten dream. The even rhythm of the hammer and the heat of the metal became the only things that existed in the world, and that was fine. 

    He stopped.

    It looked like he was hammering out the rough form of an inch long curved claw. He walked over to the grinder, it needed to be shaped and cleaned up. At the grinder bench he was surprised to see seven other claws, perfectly polished; and there, next to the claws, there were the gauntlets for which they were made. He was fashioning a weapon, why? He didn't let his thoughts interrupt his work and he began to work the thick claw on the grinder. The metal was hard, and getting a good grind was going to take some time. 

   [i]THUMP-THUMP![/I] There was a heavy bang on the door. 

    "Come in!" Bob yelled and turned to the door opposite his bench. A child walked in, a boy, maybe ten years old. Bob smiled, "Hello there little one," he said in a gruff voice, "that's an awful big knock you got there. What can I do for you?"

    The boy walked towards where Bob was standing, his shoulders and legs seemed to twitch and his jaw was slack. Bob noticed that his eyes were solid black with a small green dot for a pupil. [i][b]"WhY DId you leT us Die, PaPa!"[/b][/i] came a growling voice unnatural to the body from which is came, [b][i]"whY, WHy!? DoN't you loVe us PaPA?"[/i][/b] 

    "You need to stop there, friend." Bob said, hardness creeping into his voice, "I don't know you."

    The boy creature vaulted across the room and with a shriek leapt onto Bob! He grappled the creature whose face had now extended and grown sharp teeth and a probing tongue, green spittle spattered over Bob's face as he grunted in effort. The two spun in circles around the room, crashing into tools and half finished projects hanging along the walls. The boy bit and snapped at Bob's face, [i][b]"WHY DON'T YOU LOVE US PAPA!?!?!? WHY DID YOU LET THEM ALL DIE??"[/b][/i] The voice screeched from the boy creature's face even as its maw tried to bite off Bob's face. 
  
    With a grunt of effort Bob lifted the boy-creature into the air, the monster growled and barked and tried to bite into Bob's face, its limbs punching and kicking the older man with no effect. "I. Don't. Know. You. Child!" Bob yelled, and he pitched the monster head first into the hot furnace he used to temper his steel. The monster screamed and flailed as its head melted but soon its kicking stopped and it lay still, the fire popping as its head burned. 

    Bob walked over to the front door and bolted it shut, upset about the idea of killing a child and disturbed about the fact that he just got attacked by a monster. He went back to his workbench and using the little tools he had he put the elements of the gauntlet together and slipped the completed one onto his right hand, it felt good, natural. He took the glove off and began to work the final claw for the other. He didn't remember when he started this project, but he figured he knew what he needed them for. Curse those beasts for taking the face of a child, curse them!