Thalia had been far more impressed with the fishing competition than she was with this one. What was the point of catching fireflies, anyway? Catching bugs didn't seem like something to brag about if you were any good at, let alone something that should earn any kind of prize... catching bugs was a pup's game, and though she wasn't quite fully grown yet, she certainly didn't feel like a child. She frowned slightly as she grabbed a satchel from the pile and searched the group of gathered wolves for someone familiar. She didn't want to play this stupid game alone. No - she'd make Saren play along with her! Though he didn't often want to go along with things like this, surely he could figure it out.. right? Padded over toward him, she gestured her muzzle toward a cluster of foliage nearby, spotting a flash of light in the air and quickly aiming her paw upward to snatch it from the air and scoop it into her bag. "Saren!" She called out, serious despite the faint grin she flashed him. "Come help me. If everyone's playing this stupid game, we might as well make sure an Abraxas is the one who wins."

As Saren looked at the pile of bags he heard the voice of his sister call out to him. While Saren would much rather be back home learning things he obliged with his sister’s demands. It wasn’t phrased like a demand but he could tell that it was. He didn’t quite understand why it mattered that they won though. He had heard all about how they were part god and stuff, but he wasn’t quite sure as to why that meant that they were higher than everyone else.

Grabbing a bag and following behind his sister he slowly followed her example. Trying to paw the bugs into the bags opening. “I don’t think this is a game meant to be won.”

Whether or not the game was a good one was irrelevant to the fact that she'd decided to participate. Their father had brought them here to experience new things and to meet new wolves - and she fully intended to take advantage of their new-found freedom, even if it was temporary. She wasn't just planning on enjoying herself, but on making certain someone here remembered her and remembered she was an Abraxas. She tilted her head to the side, watching Saren as he obliged and followed her to start catching fireflies now that the sun had begun to dip below the horizon. She'd been worried it'd be hard to see them without light, but she'd underestimated just how bright they really were. She moved quickly to follow another flash of light, trying to scoop another cluster of bugs into her bag. "Saren," she started, with all the confidence of someone who knew far more than she did, "Even if all games aren't really meant to be won.. you should still try to be the best. The winner," she explained, her voice teetering off a bit at the end, trying to find the words to explain exactly what she meant.

Thalia insisted that being the best was what you should be doing. After his meeting with Rain Saren didn’t think that was all true. Sometimes having fun was better than stressing out over winning. “Doesn’t that idea get stressful? If you want to be the best all the time what happens when you’re not?” Saren couldn’t imagine living like Thalia did, so competitive. He was much more satisfied with his low key life, even though he wasn’t the best socially it meant he came off as nicer than his sibling. He valued kindness over pride, pride was a hard thing to play with.

Turning his attention to another group of fireflies he tried a different tactic this time. He tried capturing the insects in his mouth, it might be easier to keep them that way.

Thalia instantly shook her head at Saren's opinion - she was already prepared to argue with him if he was trying to counter her. One thing about him that she both loved and was also agitated by was how much he liked to think. He was smart - she was well aware of that - and she couldn't shake the slight feeling that his smarts might be a threat to her, somehow. Not in any real substantial way - she wasn't quite capable of thinking like that, not yet at least - but that he might somehow be seen as the better child, despite the fact that she was certainly stronger and much braver, at least in her opinion. She huffed softly at his words, shaking her head. She loved him, even if he was wrong - she couldn't not love one of her own siblings even if she tried. Blood meant everything, after all. "But it's not a bad kind of stress," she tried to explain, shaking her head as she aimed to scoop another few bugs into her bag, not sure if she was succeeding or not yet. A flicker of light glimmered in the darkness of her tattered bag, but she was slightly worried it was just wishful thinking making her see things that might not be there at all. "I just want to get better. At everything. And I want everyone to know it," she giggled, the sudden sound childish and carefree, despite how serious her words were. "Do you not feel like that?"

Saren could understand wanting to get better at things. That’s why he spent so much time by himself, he wanted to get better. If socializing wasn’t his strong suit at least he could learn things, like healing and crafting. He couldn’t wait to start learning healing with Rain, then he could at least prove his usefulness. He didn’t want to disappoint his family, but sometimes it felt like there was no other choice. He couldn’t bring himself to fight or be bold like Thalia was, in fact he envied that. She could do things that he couldn’t, like properly introduce herself. He still hadn’t gotten ahold of that quite yet.

Saren’s movements slowed as he processed the words Thalia had said “I want to be better too. But I want to be better at the things I’m good at and the things I like.” Saren chuckled a bit to himself, look at him he was having a conversation where he said more than a couple words at a time. Sure it was to his sister, but at least it was a step. “If I forced myself to do the things I didn’t like I don’t think I would be as happy.” Saren had been continuing to catch fireflies with his paws this time, the fireflies had tasted rather disgusting.

It was hard for Thalia to view Saren's introspective, studious nature as.. well, productive. Having her presence known was how she wanted to be productive - by the elders in the pack knowing she was participating, surely she was perpetually getting better, right? She hoped accompanying her father to this festival would be helpful in its own right; getting to know more wolves and spreading the Abraxas name was always worthwhile, wasn't it? Thalia considered Saren's words for a long minute, wondering what exactly he was talking about. "So what is it that you like, then?" Thalia asked curiously, tilting her head to glance at her brother, abandoning her quest for fireflies - just for a moment. "If it's not... stuff like this?" She cast a slightly disgusted look at a passing firefly, though she cracked a grin. Maybe he wasn't wrong about not being interested in competitions like this, but trying to come out on top - no matter the activity - still seemed like an important goal for her. But perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing for him to do things he enjoyed... imagining her brother being unhappy wasn't a pleasant thought. But serving their family and their God was important, too. Hm. She hummed thoughtfully as she spun around, pawing at the air in an attempt to usher a few more fireflies into her bag.

Saren could see how Thalia’s active and feisty ways would be seen as positive to the other wolves in the pack. She was out there and actually doing things that people saw, but he preferred the sidelines way more than the spotlight. There was too much pressure there to be good at things, Saren wanted the room to fail. Maybe as he got older he would seek out a slightly more prominent place in life. For now though, he was young and didn’t have nearly as much experience as the older wolves had. It would benefit him more now to learn things and develop mentally than it would to try and make sudden possibly bad decisions.

When it came to stuff he liked Saren wasn’t afraid to admit he didn’t know. He couldn’t for certain say that he liked healing and crafting, he hadn’t done them enough. “I don’t know what I like. I like healing and making things more than I like fighting or hunting, but I haven’t done enough of anything to know if I really like it.” Patiently pawing more fireflies into his bag Saren asked “Do you know why you like any of the things that you like?”

The two of them were just... different. So was Dion, really, though Thalia definitely related more heavily to her larger brother. Either way, she was aware that Saren was vastly different from her - it wouldn't make her think any differently of him though, even if she had a hard time relating to her all the time, like right now. It was hard to imagine not wanting to try her best to catch as many fireflies as possible. Apparently they could turn them in for special prizes! Imagine dragging a bunch of cool things back home for the Empire? It sounded like a great plan to her. But.. again, they were different. She hummed softly at his answer. He hadn't gone to fight training, though she hadn't really been surprised about that. Healing didn't sound like a bad thing though - with the number of fighters in the Empire, surely it made sense to have wolves who knew how to fix their injuries when they got hurt. "You should learn to heal," Thalia offered confident after a moment, swiping at another large firefly as it buzzed by her nose. "So that when I fight you can help me get better if I get hurt." His question caught her by surprise though, and she pondered it for a moment.  "Because I've been taught to, I guess. And doing what I'm supposed to for our family.. feels good," she added finally. Maybe they were just supposed to contribute in different ways.. that made sense to her, since all wolves were different.

It brought a smile to Saren’s face to hear his sister’s encouragement. He was going to learn how to heal, he just needed to get back to the empire with Rain so he could learn. He didn’t mind the idea of being his sister’s healer, seeing how she had been like so far it seemed like she would need it. Saren wanted to protect his family, he really did. He just lacked the physical power to do so, he couldn’t bear the thought of losing any of them even his brother, which admittedly he wasn’t that close to yet. He would have to put in a lot more effort than his other siblings if he wanted to be on the same level as them.

“It’s nice to hear you say that, healing you probably wouldn’t be so bad.” He wasn’t so certain on how to react to her answer to his previous question. She liked doing things because she was taught to like them? Doing what she was supposed to do? Don’t get him wrong Saren was all for following the rules, but liking something because you were told to just didn’t sit right with him. He wanted to like things because he liked them, not because anyone else wanted him to. “I think that if you like something you should like it because you like it, not anyone else. I want to help our family too, but I want to know that I did it because I love our family. Not because somebody else told me to.” Herding the last of his fireflies into his bag Saren could feel that the conversation was about to stop. It had been a nice one, it certainly solidified his opinion of his sister in a positive direction. The festival overall had been a good thing for him. Maybe socializing wasn’t so bad.

Whatever distance existed between them seemed to be shrinking as they spoke - it was easy to dismiss Saren as a bit of an outsider, but now she felt she understood why he seemed to be that way. It wasn't because he didn't love them, or didn't respect them.. he was just different. Perhaps he wasn't mean to be a foot soldier for the Abraxas army, but he was meant to support them in some other way.. by healing, perhaps. It made sense, at least in her head.. and his comment earned a faint grin from her. "You don't think so? I'm not sure how good of a patient I'll be, but.. I suppose we'll have to wait and see," she giggled, trying to imagine what it might be like, but it was hard. She hadn't really experienced any real injuries so far, but she knew it was a possibility in the future... and if she wanted to learn to fight, she found it hard to imagine avoiding injury altogether. She shrugged at his words, not sure either of them really knew what they were talking about. They were still kids, and they still had so much to learn. "Don't worry, everything I do is because I love you and Dion and mom and dad," she admitted with a small smile. She did what she was told to because she loved her family... and what was right for the Abraxas as a whole was also right for her immediate family, she truly believed that. "That's why I'm even doing all of this. Should we turn in what we have, you think?" She nudged her bag, trying to push the opening over so nothing could escape, deciding they were probably done catching them for now.