He knew the tools he had created to help him with skinning and breaking down the prey he killed were fairly crude instruments, mostly just consisting of sharpened rocks wrapped in leather on one end, but they were fairly effective so he didn't mind too much whenever they wore down or broke. He'd like an option that was a bit more durable, but until he figured out an option for that he was happy enough crafting a new set every season or so. He started walking along the bank of the currently frozen river so he could find a few good stones that he could use for his project, having to break apart parts of the ice around the shore so he could pick out a few he liked.

Once he had a small collection of them, he brought them over to his den, leaving them in a small pile near the entrance while he went off toward the trees to start collecting some pieces of wood. Not only would a fire help to keep him a bit warmer while he worked, but it would also help to loosen up the pine pitch he kept so that he could adhere the leather around the grip of his makeshift knife more easily. As he walked back and forth between the nearby trees and his den, he thought about how relaxed having a project like this made him feel and knew that he really should be finding things like this to do more often. With all the thoughts about Aranea and the worries he felt over whether he was being a good enough father for his children, it was nice to just have something to keep his mind on for a while.

Walk | "Talk" | think

Integrating herself within Abaven wasn't something coming easily to her, but Thalia was trying. The winter seemed unending though which definitely hindered her progress. There wasn't much time for, well, getting to know the other wolves within Abaven when they were hyper-focused on survival. There were growing children to be fed and plenty of other duties to attend to. Scouting was what Thalia spent most of her time doing when she wasn't with Theory, though she hoped soon when the weather calmed she'd be able to take a short trip back home to report to Eligos how things had been going here. She had surprisingly little important news to note but she knew it'd take time to get used to living here and earning the trust of those around her - or, at the very least, making it so most didn't outright distrust her.

As she trekked slowly across the plains the scent of someone unfamiliar to her touched Thalia's nose. She hesitated at first; socializing was not an easy feat for her, but if she'd already been spotted, she worried it would seem rude if she turned around now. Continuing the way she'd came, eventually she saw Allegro out of the corner of her eye, and she gave him a nod once she attempted to catch his eye. "Good afternoon," she greeted him plainly. She wasn't sure what he was doing with the wood it seemed he was carrying but she had to admit she was curious.

He had just begun to pile the pieces of wood into some sort of organized pile of sorts when he heard a pleasant "good morning" behind him, causing him to pause and cast a curious glance over his shoulder. The brown and gray woman was not someone he recognized, but he was never one to turn away company. It was so few and far between for him these days that meeting a new face was actually a pleasant surprise. "Good morning," he replied with a welcoming grin as he moved to the other side of his fire pit so that he could continue his work and still be facing her as well. The place he was constructing the fire had clearly been used for that purpose more than once since there was a few blackened marks to be seen through the patches of snow and there was a ring of rocks around the area to keep the fire mostly contained within.

"I was just working on building up a fire if you'd like to join me. I know a bit of warmth is a rare thing right now." Perhaps if he hadn't been so focused on his task he might have paid more attention to the fact that he had never seen her before, but he honestly just assumed everyone around here was new to him until proven otherwise. He had been too wrapped up in raising his children to keep up with the going ons of the pack. He finished placing the last piece of wood into the pyramid shaped pile he was collecting them into before standing back for a moment to assess his work. "That ought to do it." Ducking into his den for a moment, he fetched a piece of metal and a bundle of twigs he had been keeping dry in his den for this very purpose. Coming back out into the open and bringing his bright gaze back up to the stranger, he set down his tools and told her, "I'm Allegro, by the way. A pleasure to meet you."

Walk | "Talk" | think

Though Thalia cared too much about how others perceived her, she really wished she didn't. In some ways she was in a constant, dull state of anxiety and paranoia at her core - wondering who was watching her, wondering what they thought, wondering if they thought she could be trusted. She'd learned to live with these feelings, pushing them deep down so no one could notice them easily; around complete strangers it was far more obvious. Like now, as she stood and shifted her weight from one paw to the other as Allegro greeted her, his entire demeanor far friendly than she could ever hope to be even if she tried. She watched as she moved to speak to him properly while continuing to work.

He was making a fire, he said. Truthfully fire made her a bit uneasy - it seemed unnatural to be controlled by wolves rather than the will of God - but she would oblige, nodding. "Sure," she agreed, twisting around slightly to watch him. After a moment he slipped away briefly to retrieve something, setting it down and speaking to her again before working at the fire. "Nice to meet you. I'm Thalia - Thalia Abraxas. I'm just visiting Abaven temporarily, to see.." She trailed off for a moment. The explanation was easier in her head than it was to spit out verbally. "To see what sort of relationship could be formed between Abaven and Aerie, my family's pack." So far she'd made almost little progress besides getting used to living here and even more used to curling up with Theory at night, but that was a topic best left unshared.

He continued to glance up toward her as he worked, dividing his attention evenly between his task and the brown hued woman in front of him. His brows lifted in surprise when she explained that she was visiting from Aerie to see what relationship could be built between them and Abaven. "Ah! Well, welcome to Abaven then, I suppose," he replied with a grin. "I'm afraid I'm just a hunter so I won't be much help on that front, but it's still nice to meet a new face." He had to pause his speaking long enough to place the dry bundle of twigs toward the middle of the fire and arrange the steel portion of his flint and steel beside it. With a few swift strikes he got a few sparks going on the kindling and pulled the tool away, putting it off to the side before he started gently blowing on the sparks, building up a small fire with wisps of smoke coming off of it. He knew from all the times he had built a fire before that it would steadily continue to grow on its own as long as he kept an eye on it.

Satisfied, he glanced back up at Thalia again, giving their guest a warm smile. "I hope everyone's made you feel welcome so far. I feel like us Destructions are usually pretty friendly, but I honestly haven't gotten to spend too much time with a majority of the younger members around here. I have four children of my own that are a few seasons old now so they've taken a lot of my time." He looked back toward the fire and blew on it gently a few times, watching as it began to catch onto some of the larger pieces of wood. "Say, could you do me a favor? Just keep blowing on the base of the fire here every once in a while till all the bigger pieces start burning so I can get started on shaping these tools." With that task delegated, he shifted away a bit so that he could start chipping away at the longer pieces of rock with a slender piece of metal that he had scavenged a while back. "What's Aerie like?" he asked to keep the conversation going before he really got to work, keeping an ear turned toward her to show he was still listening.

Walk | "Talk" | think

"Thanks," she replied a bit stiffly to his words, nodding lightly. Truthfully she didn't really feel she belonged here and wasn't sure she ever would, but the thought of leaving anytime soon didn't settle well with her either. She hadn't spent enough time with Theory yet, and she didn't have enough to report back to Eligos with. Allegro admitted he was just a hunter so he couldn't help, but.. well, he still could even if he didn't recognize that. Proving herself as dependable and capable was just about the most useful thing she could be doing here; earning the trust of her temporary packmates was exactly what she wanted to do, to prove that the Abraxas of new were not the ones Abaven had known once. They were skilled, capable, and always kept their word; they were not maddened, power-hungry wolves like the Abraxas of old may have been. They were different.

She watched with growing interest as he struck the flint and steel and sparked a small fire with the twigs. As he blew on it, it quickly grew larger - she could imagine it could easily grow out of control if he hadn't planned properly, and she was fascinated by the prospect of what fire might be capable of. Her eyes widened slightly, but she came to her senses and glanced back toward him as he spoke again. "They... have been welcoming, yes. I've known Theory since we were children, so..." she added, realizing abruptly that her thoughts were disjointed and that was evident in how inept she was in simple small-talk. Conversation had never been her strong suit and it only seemed more difficult the harder she tried. She fought back a sigh, moving to following his instructions as he moved to continue his work. Occasionally she'd let loose a breath of air on the fire as he'd instructed.

What was Aerie like? She was fairly certain Theory had asked her some version of that same question before. "It's all I've ever known," she started, pausing between sentences to blow on the fire. "I mean, not exactly. The current ruler, Eligos, has only been our leader for a few years." Not that she was much older than that, she'd been a yearling when he'd taken over from Pyrrhic's rule, but still. "Most of us are family though. We're trying to rebuild what became of us after the volcano's eruption." Another exhale seemed to make the fire surge higher suddenly, and she flinched slightly as it crackled and reached toward the sky. That wasn't much of an explanation, but she was trying.

Allegro noticed the slight awkwardness to her interactions and the disjointedness of her words, but he made a conscious effort to not draw attention to it. She was a curious wolf, here all the way from Aerie to live among them and while the ideas of democracy and diplomacy were a little beyond the scope of his interests he could appreciate what she was doing. As he tended to do he did his best to make her feel comfortable and involved with what he was doing, though he didn't do anything that would restrict her to staying here any longer than she wished. It was nice to have company though, he had to admit. "At least you had someone here you knew then, I'm sure that was a relief," he told her when she mentioned that she knew Theory from when they were children.

While she spoke about Aerie, their current leader, and their family he continued to chip away at the slim piece of rock he held still carefully between his paws, striking the piece of metal he had used to make the fire along the edge to narrow it and sharpen it, creating a crude knife. His ears perked a bit when she mentioned how they were rebuilding from the volcano eruption, but before he could comment the fire flared up for a moment, making her flinch and sending a flurry of embers into the air. He chuckled softly as he said, "Easy there, it's alright." He had made countless fires at this point so he was far more comfortable with them than some others were he supposed. "It's built up pretty well now, you don't have to worry about feeding it. Thank you for your help though." It had allowed him enough time to finishing an edge of his would be knife and he nudged the bowl of pine pitch closer to the fire so it could start softening in the heat.

Returning his attention to what she had been saying, he told her, "I've heard stories about the volcano and the eruption. I happened to be away at the time - broke my leg while I was on a hunting trip and happened to find one of my mother's former pack mates just outside of Boreas. Stayed with them for quite a while for my leg to heal up." Somehow he wanted to say that he "unfortunately wasn't there" but he supposed that wasn't quite right. He was fortunate to have not had to experience the horrors of it, but he did feel a disconnect from those around him that did live though that. It was one of the many things with some of hid family that made him feel like it was hard to connect with them.

"It must have hit you and your family badly," he commented, leaving the floor open if she wished to elaborate, though he wouldn't pry. Meanwhile, he carefully drew the bowl of slightly warmed adhesive and began to carefully coat one end of the knife in it, his blue gaze occasionally lifting to look at her to keep his attention evenly torn between her and his task.

Walk | "Talk" | think

Thalia was terrible at this small-talk business, but she was trying - stepping far outside her comfort zone - and she thought that was at least marginally impressive. Trying something new, learning about how to start a fire, was even further outside of her comfort zone but it seemed like useful knowledge nonetheless. Still, despite the practicality she wasn't sure how she felt about putting this lesson to use herself. It seemed sacrilegious somehow - an act meant for gods, not for mortals, and though she believed she was destined to rise above this mortal plane she knew she still had quite a journey to go before she arrived.

She stopped blowing on the fire at his instruction, though she'd been enjoying watching how it rose further with each gust. Thalia complied though, letting out an awkward chuckle. "Yeah, sure, no problem," she responded after a moment. Without the tools Allegro was using she wasn't sure how she'd begin such a project but she supposed it might not hurt to collect the materials and give it a try. The reflection of the flames danced in her orange stare as the flames simmered down, her attention shifting back to the older wolf across from her.

He admitted he'd been away during the eruption. "You're lucky. It was... unpleasant, though we lived quite far away. I had a family member perish in the explosion." An act of God, one she mourned though she knew his fate had been out of all of their controls. It was destined to happen, a sign of change as much as it was a tragedy. Not everyone felt the same way about Malleus's death though. "It… yeah. Hit us badly." No words could really explain it and she wouldn't bother trying. "Since then we've been trying to… start over a bit, I guess. Some Abraxas before my time, I've heard, left a pretty terrible impression of my family. So you know, we do not recognize those wolves as family." By we she meant she, and Eligos, and anyone who followed him. They were not free to terrorize the lands and take what they wanted by force - even if that was what they deserved - as their ancestors had done. This was a new generation of Abraxas and they would be calculated and patient, and no doubt reap the rewards in the future. Thalia believed in that with all her heart.