And through this tough love, it was normal to experience trauma to one's carapace or coverings enough to make a mark; a chunk of face covering falling off, a large crack running through one's back, a few hairline fractures visible on close inspection.
Yet no matter the physical activity and abuse that was put on Little Blue, his carapace never showed any breaks. In time, all the totoma of the crags recognized that his hide was the toughest among his lineage.
-----
Metals were typically accidental finds in the mountains. Sometimes it reveals itself through a natural break in a massive boulder. Sometimes, an upper crust is worn away by water, revealing the incredibly hard substance underneath. Few have ever truly been harvested, for kin lack the ability to do so. But those that appear on flat, stable surfaces found their uses as worktables, crushing platforms, and even mirrors. Their sturdiness and other features last for numerous lifetimes.
One discovered by Little Blue's family is a silver-white shiny metal that came out of a rock that was said to have fallen from the stars long ago. When left out in the rain and sun, it would develop a protective top barrier--a patina that shone blue, much like the color that Little Blue exhibited. This metal became known widely as Iron.
-----
After years and years of proving his strength and durability around the mountains, Little Blue had matured into a full grown kin and the Totoma of the region had taken note of his sturdiness. Among his siblings, who were known for names of bone or rock or crust, Little Blue became associated with his families' metal working table. He had grown to use it to crush stones against it and his own tough carapace. Many who lived close by would know immediately when Little Blue was crushing rocks or other things based on the loud clanging from his hide impacting the iron. The patina mixed flawlessly with his own blue coloration, giving his glow an otherworldly quality after a day of crushing things on the iron.
-----
One day, during a hunt, a massive creature had made it's way up the crags on the mountain. Not knowing how to get out, the animal panicked and raced in different directions, hurting locals that found themselves in the way of such rampage. Little Blue had heard the commotion and realized that it was heading in the direction of his family's den. So he climbed up to a high point above his family's metal table, aiming to jump on the creature when it passed by. With on swift jump, Little Blue crashed onto the creature back-first as it collapsed into the iron underneath. The creature was crushed as it was sandwiched between two hard places.
Little Blue had come out of the scene covered in gore, but his glow matched that of the iron worktable. It was that day that everyone in the crags stopped calling him Little Blue. It was that day that he was known to be IRON.
