What a strange land. Sure, they'd held events and sort of festivals in his Homeland but nothing like this. Thoren was a wolf used to close proximity and closed spaces but he was also used to barely being able to see. Tonight however he could see that he was in an open place ..but with so many bodies he felt closed in, offering a peculiar feeling for the wolf that he'd not felt since he was a pup. The childish feeling of being around too many was almost too much for him to handle, causing him to pant quite heavily as he zigged and zagged through the gathering of wolves with his bag to a not so packed field. For a moment he paused on the edge, sighing with relief at having a more open area to be in before he began to watch others try different techniques for catching these blinking bugs. Some used their paws, others their teeth and some used their jars and bags in a most unorthodox way of catching the insects alive. Thoren wanted no part in that, he'd kill the blinking critters. He wandered until he found a small cluster, jaw's parted as he came to a stop before he quickly but gently snapped at the cluster, hoping to gently squish a couple of the bugs in his jae's so that he could add them to the bag. "Thoren is attempting to catch lightening bugs" Please excuse weird typos, phone post

This wasn’t Shaye’s first time catching fireflies, and she had struggled not to laugh when she had been told about this event. She hoped to receive a lot more luck than last time, but of course then she had had a jar, and some honey. She had given that contraption to Mallus in an attempt to make peace with the harsh Alpha. As she walked, she got Winer to attempt to snag some out of the air, as she tried to scoop some off a rock.

She had Winter with her, and the companion was by far a more useful tool. She hadn’t befriended the raven the last time she had done this, and was keen to see how it would go. With a bag in her maw, and raven on her shoulder, she would make her way to a relatively empty place. “Oh hello” the Alpha said with an easy smile as she caught sight of the brown tinged wolf who had bet her here. “Do you mind if I catch around here too?” she asked.

Squish! It was a feeling, not so much a sound, in his mouth that made the gentle snap pause. Then…the taste hit him and the earthen wolf nearly gagged, hastily shaking his head as nose wrinkled and he opened his bag, spitting the bug corpses into quickly. Tongue rolled over his muzzle repeatedly, unknowingly smearing the guts on his lighter cream toned muzzle. He was about to start hunting again when he noticed another moving towards the area he had chosen to hunt. Perhaps…Thoren wasn’t competitive enough, any determined wolf would have surely chased the woman off, but Thoren merely watched as she approached with a raven and settled in to hunt. After a moments pause she seemed to notice him and he abruptly averted his gaze somewhat. Embarrassed he had been caught gawking at her. Ears came forward as she greeted him and asked if she could hunt there too. Thoren would regard her quietly for a moment, confused, he didn’t own the field… hesitantly he nodded. “Of course…the more the merrier…” He offered, as more of the blinking insects fluttered by. Hastily he would snap at them, putting much more force than needed behind it in his eagerness. "Thoren is attempting to catch lightening bugs with Shaye!"

Shaye Destruction She got the impression the wolf before her was a little shy, he looked to her for a moment, and then glanced away again, as through embarrassed. When she spoke, his eyes returned to her, and he seemed a little lost and confused. She instantly wanted to scoop him up and keep him, and almost laughed at that protective streak inside of her. It often went a little haywire, and sometimes she had to learn to ignore it. He attempted to snap at the bugs in the air, and she eyed his very.. Brutal way of catching them. Her Raven lifted up from her back and took to the air, circling around them as he attempted to catch the bugs in his claws, diving and reaching out with them as he entered a cluster of flying bugs. As for the ones on the ground, Shaye would attempt to scoop them into her bag as she moved across. “Thank you!” she said brightly to the man, “I’m Shaye, by the way” "Speech"

Maybe…that wasn’t the best way to catch fireflies? The realization came when the darker coated wolf simply….stared at him with an expression he took as mild horror but could have very well been mistaken…cave dwellers couldn’t see expression well in the pitch dark of the tunnels so he was far from the best at reading others. Awkwardly he tried to offer a faint smile. He watched curiously, leaning forward slightly, as she attempted to scoop bugs into her pouch…without killing them. Curiously he cocked his head as he watched, listening as she spoke. “Vemu!” He would reply, eyes widening slightly before he laughed softly…awkwardly really. “I mean…hi…” Smooth, real smooth…idiot.. He grumbled quietly at his slip of the dwarven tongue for hello. “Thoren..” He would offer in return, keeping out the rest of the pleasantries…simply because he wasn’t sure how to say them in this language. He was good at some words but…Dutch was much better than he was. Hesitantly, he would try her way of hunting the blinky bugs. Less than carefully he would attempt to shove his muzzle into the blades of grass and push the disgusting bugs into his own bag. Maybe…he’d get lucky…how he’d keep them there was another story. "Thoren is attempting to catch lightening bugs with Shaye!"

He spoke a word she didn’t recognise, and she eyed him curiously for a moment. It had been a long time since she had heard a foreign language spoken, and well she had picked up some of Bass’s mates native tongue, she hadn’t been much of a linguistic. “What language was that?” she asked, getting an inkling that common wasn’t his main tongue.

She watched him fumble about for a moment, before grinning and stepping closer. “here, see, i’ve folded the bag at the bottom, when I catch some in, I close the opening give it a shake to get them to the bottom and twist it again, so what I catch stays in the bag” she demonstrated what she had done, before also showing him how she scooped them into the bag. Her Raven grabbed another bunch in her talons and she knew she would swoop by shortly to deposit what she had so far into her bag.

Thoren was moderately surprised when Shaye asked what language it was that he had spoken, not many bothered to ask with the level of sincerity that she had. She seemed genuinely interested and intrigued by his native tongue. There was a moment of distrust in his eyes, but what was the harm in telling her the language that he spoke? He knew of only one other wolf that spoke Dwarven and that was Dutch…he could trust his sisters judgement. “Dwarvish…” He replied, “I’m from underground.” He could get by with the basics…right? Thoren could speak the common tongue with little accent on words he was used to saying, but the accent was much heavier over words he was still getting the hang of. At his fumbling, Shaye came forward to demonstrate how she was catching the bugs and keeping them. Amber eyes watched with interest as she attempted to scoop some in and then shook and twisted the bag to keep them in. Grinning, he nodded eagerly and attempted to replicate her actions…albeit…far more awkwardly. He settled the bag and once more attempting to overzealously shove the bugs in before lightly jostling the bag. He was having trouble twisting it, however, and settled for plopping it on the ground and walking in a tight circle to twist it, trying to be mindful of the proximity to Shaye so he didn’t run into her. "Thoren is attempting to catch lightening bugs with Shaye!"

He seemed cautious, and she wouldn’t push him, he would answer or not as he saw fit. In the meantime, she offered him a warm smile, more than willing to consider this stranger a friend in a heartbeat. “Dwarvish? I’ve never heard of your language before, nor the idea of living underground. What brought you so far from home?” she asked then. Grief, everything must be strange for him up here, no wonder he seemed so shy.

He tried to mimic what she had shown him, and she gave him an encouraging nod and another warm smile. “Yeah, like that’ she agreed. He still looked a little awkward with it, but he was getting the hang of it.

She liked his idea of twisting his entire body to turn the bag instead of just his head, and she had to laugh. He seemed like such a sweetly, silly goof in that moment. Winter swooped down then, and Shaye opened her bag so he could deposit his catch in there, before shuffling and twisting it again. She grabbed some more of her own, ushering them into the bag. It still wasn’t the easiest method, but it was the best she could come up with on short notice.

While she was willing to accept him as a friend, Thoren was a bit more reserved in his friendships. The dwarf skepticism was a strong part of his personality. He was friendly enough but he held everyone but those closest to him at arms length. Her warm, reassuring smile was welcome- despite how wary he was. Thoren listened intently as she spoke about his native tongue and home, following the question that everyone wanted to know…what was he doing here? For a moment he was silent, trying to find the right words. “My sister…I was told to bring her home. Gone too long.” He answered, certain words carrying a thicker accent than others. “Complicated because she is with pups. I can’t drag her back, so stuck here.” He didn’t mean for it to sound…brutish…or like he was an asshole, he was just following orders but even they were put on hold when he found out Dutch was with pups. Her encouragement was a welcome relief; he fully expected laughter, as he attempted her method. It was a bit trickier than just killing them…but at least he didn’t have such a bad taste left in his mouth. “How do you order bird?” He asked as he watched the raven bring in what bugs it had caught before fluttering off again. That would be handy right now…although he much preferred something with thumbs to help with herbs. As they went along, Thoren would give Shaye the space to catch her own bugs, but was close enough that they could carry an easy conversation while he attempted to catch his own. Once more he tried to roughly nudge bugs into the bag before circling around to ‘tie’ it to prevent their escape. "Thoren is attempting to catch lightening bugs with Shaye!"

His thick accent was actually rather nice to listen to, and she found herself pausing and giving him her full attention as he spoke. He was clearly struggling to find the right words, with the language barrier between them. “Ahh, Okay’ Shaye said, getting the edges of the picture. “So you're sticking by until she gives birth and trying to decide what to do next” she figured. Did he resent being stuck in the open world in the meanwhile? He didn’t look as though he did, but who knew.

He watched Winter come in and asked her about the Raven. “A family of Ravens settled in near my pack, they gifted us some of their young like Winter here, and others came even before that like my seconds birds. We don’t command them, we work with them, and they help us how they can.” Shaye explained. Her bird shook her feathers and glared beady eyes at the dwarf, as through judging him for thinking her a mere beast of burden.

She grabbed at another bunch of the bugs herself, watching as Winter took to the air again above them, before turning back to her own bag.

Thoren shrugged slightly, he wasn’t exactly sure what the plan would be… “She doesn’t want to go…even after…I’d have to take her from her pups…I’d be outcast if I did that. I’d be outcast if I don’t bring her back.” Perhaps it was a bit of an exaggeration on if he disobeyed and failed to bring Dutch back but he doubted it was far from the truth. They certainly wouldn’t trust him for important jobs any more, even as one of the bigger wolves in the tunnels. He was supposed to be trusted to defend or bring others back when needed…if he couldn’t bring his own sister back, why trust him with someone else? Thoren certainly didn’t mind the surface world…at night. During the day, however, was a completely different story. As she explained the relationship she had with the bird (the one that stared at him in such a way that he wanted to snap at it but refrained from doing so) he would regard them with wonder and interest. “Bird is smart?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. Thoren clearly thought they were dumb creatures meant for lesser purposes…like dinner…or a snack... He was not aware that they had such thought processes and will power. The dwarf was also quite curious about the mention of a pack. He was versed on them enough to know that they were family and non-familial wolves that came together and lived together and trusted one another. He was not sure what a ‘second’ was… “Tell me about your pack?” He asked, innocent as it was, he did understand if she chose not to tell him anything- who wanted to spill the secrets of their family? "Thoren is attempting to catch lightening bugs with Shaye!"