Caelia wasn't quite sure what she was doing. Crafting wasn't something she'd spent a lot of time doing - okay, she hadn't done any at all - but she'd been watching some of the others in Valhalla craft various pieces of armor when she could, and watching how they assembled them. She knew Aurielle had plans for Valhalla to raid soon, and Caelia wanted to be prepared, truly prepared, both physically and mentally. She'd gotten more than enough training lately, between her lessons with Aurielle and the few practice fights she'd managed to find, but she wanted to figure out another way to ready herself.

Maybe a set of bracers to wrap around her forelegs? It felt like a straightforward option, practical and not too cumbersome. Something heavy like a mask felt like it'd weigh her town and possibly make focusing on an actual fight harder. Imagining something protecting her throat was just as strange; useful, perhaps, but it was hard to imagine moving quickly or with any kind of certainty with something pressing on her throat, or on the back of her neck. Forcing opponents to ignore her forelimbs would give her a better idea of where they might attack, and might help her maintain her balance in the process. Sounded like a good enough thought, at least.

A few days back she'd managed to take down a young pig, an easy enough feat on her own. Usually she didn't bother with skinning her prey but she'd made an effort to tear a large portion of its hide free. Scraping the fat and guts from it had been a messy task, not something she'd was particularly fond of doing herself, but she wasn't sure this would be a repeat activity or not - but she wanted to figure out how to do it herself. Scraping some of the hair off the opposite side was equally as tricky, but after a long, arduous process she was content she'd gotten rid of as much of the animal as she could from the hide. Unsure of just how much she'd need of different sizes, she worked at tearing the hide into smaller portions - some large, some quite small. She knew she'd need to find a way to fasten them together, but she wasn't quite sure how she'd do it yet.

The part she was least looking forward to was curing the hide. It sounded completely disgusting... but somehow, doing this on her own made her feel a bit less squeamish about it. Caelia had a plan, and she wanted to see it through to the end. Smashing the pig's skull to extract its brain hadn't been super hard on the rocks... all she'd had to do was find an outcrop to drop it off, and then it was just a matter of prying pieces of its skull apart. After retrieving it she went to work it against the hide, smashing it with her front paws and squishing it down. This was infinitely grosser than just extracting it but she'd heard this was this best way to do it. Once she was finished she left it to dry, deciding leaving it here on the rocks was the best bet.

When she returned, she was pleased to find that her hide was not only where she'd left it, but it was also dry, hard but still pliable with some working, it seemed. The day was sunny, which pleased her too; it was the ideal kind of weather to sit and focus on crafting these bracers. Warm, but not so hot that it was sweltering, either. After examining it, she lowered herself to her belly and began to work it, trying to bend and shape the hide as she imagined just how she'd do this.

Words: 627
Fall, Year 14 Bonus prompt (Intellect/Fighting)

Toxicity had no desire to be around her pack or family at the moment, but she had work to do so she took that work outside of the pack. The two curled, nearly spiral horns had been harvested by Obi. She wasn't sure where he had found them, but she was thankful anyway. She had this idea for a while now of a helm, or more of a crown that contained thorns and horns over her mother's flowery, dainty crown. She had seen the many adornments her pack members wore for battle and decided a headpiece with similar function would be good. She needed to look more imposing. Her scar sleeve had healed nicely and looked good, but she needed more. She needed to look godly. To do that, she needed to craft the objects and patterns that came to her mind.

Without hands, though, it had been a hard task to even get started. Luckily Obi had been more than willing to help her vision come to life. He took the time to carve out some notches and to make sure they would wrap on the sides of her head well enough to stay steady while she fought. They were, however, still missing the straps and the actual fastening. Obi had some other work to attend to, so Toxicity headed out from the pack, away from family and any who may deter her in her pursuits. She tended to work a lot better on her own and many of her revelations came with the absence of others. She hoped this level of crafting could also be done alone. Obi could finish it in like an hour, so how hard could it really be? Not that Obi wasn't skilled- he was- it was just that Toxicity didn't like to feel worthless in terms of crafting. She apparently wasn't all that good at keeping her family's spirituality anyway so she might as well try mortal crafts for a while.

The two horns were tied with several strands of braided horse tail hair and slung around Tox's shoulders, clinking every now and then as she walked. Coils of still-lively thorn vines swung loosely from her neck to keep them out of the way. The long thorns brushed at the skin under her fur, threatening to stab her if she were to fall. She knew she must had looked odd with her vines and horns draped over her form. She didn't particularly care about seeing any other wolves and had honestly not really considered it a possibility until she found herself walking towards the distant form of another. The sun glimmered off of her ivory coat. At first, Toxicity thought she may have been eating, but as she came closer, she saw the woman was pulling a piece of dried hide. Toxicity stopped to observe for a moment. Was she trying to craft? If she was a crafter, then she could possibly help with the horns and maybe Toxicity wouldn't come back looking like an incompetent pup when she returned to Obi.

She allowed herself to pad a little closer, the soft clinking of the horns easily giving her away, as she was not trying to be sneaky in any form. She was wary of this lone wolf, but she was ready in case she needed to engage. She wasn't totally used to talking to outsiders, but she gave it her best shot, "Are... you crafting, miss?" Toxicity had oh-so-graciously decided not to call her Miss Mortal. In the past, it wasn't really a good thing to be called a mortal and many may take offence to it. She didn't want to blow her chances of help. This crafting was, after all, a mortal task and so the best ones to consult about it would be mortals.

Words: 635
TWC: 1262
Fall, Year 14 Bonus prompt (Intellect/Fighting)

Caelia was acutely focused on what she was doing. Idly she stretched a foreleg out in front of her, examining it and trying to figure out how much smaller she'd have to tear the cured hide to fit comfortably. If she tore it too small, she'd have to find another section and hope she still had enough to piece together two bracers still. She had more than enough scraps to work with for pieces she'd use to fasten it. Her surroundings were quiet enough to lend to good concentration - though this land was relatively desolate, Redwater Rocks never seemed totally silent. She supposed it was something about how vast parts of the canyon were, but sound seemed to travel for pretty far distances, including that of the wind. That was why she hardly heard another wolf's approach.

Gingerly holding down a piece of the leather with a paw, she used her teeth to worth an incision into the edge, carefully pulling back to tear a long strip away from it. There, that looked like a much better size for what she needed. But something drew her attention, as Toxicity drew closer, and she slowly twisted around to see who the wolf approaching was. She was young, not quite a pup so young that she shouldn't be wandering away from home, but young enough. Caelia offered her a faint, barely noticeable smile, examining what she had brought with her... there were horns and vines that she wasn't quite sure what she was doing with. Not that it was her business anyway.

Her question caught her off-guard, though it really shouldn't have; it was obvious that she was working at something. "I am," she admitted, with more certainty than she really felt. Hopefully it didn't look like she had no idea what she was doing. It felt like it was working well enough so far, at least... "I was trying to, uh, make some bracers out of this leather." Did it matter if a stranger knew she was crafting armor? Not really, she supposed. Their first raid was just for practice anyway, so giving anything away didn't seem to matter, not that she'd ever even come across the stranger again. "I'm Caelia Adravendi, by the way." It was rare that Caelia really encountered wolves outside of Valhalla, save for the few fights she'd engaged in lightly for practice, but she wanted to be polite nonetheless.

WC: 403
Total: 1,665

Toxicity watched the wolf with a focused interest as she worked at the piece of leather, measuring it and making sure it was just the right size before gnawing at the edge and pulling back a strip. As she noticed Tox, she offered a light smile, something that wasn't really common as far as Tox and her family went. It seemed like they always greeted each other cautiously, stepping over feelings that had never really been processed. Toxicity tried to offer a smile of her own, but it didn't quite come to fruition. The other wolf answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Yeah, it was obvious, but Toxicity didn't really know how else she should have initiated conversation. What conversations had she had that didn't revolve around her father or her religion? She was entirely new to these strictly-mortal conversations.

Still, the woman's answer wasn't rude really, so Toxicity swallowed and focused on listening. Bracers, huh? Tox could see the use of that, but... her eyes trailed to her scarred arm. she wouldn't want to cover that up. Even if the scars were added to it would be better than covering them, wouldn't it? Now Tox was doubting her own choice. She hummed lightly.

"I was... going to make a headpiece with these horns and thorns... like a crown? Maybe that's a bad idea?" She looked at the crafter, hoping to get some input. She assumed wrongly that the woman before her had more knowledge in her field. She seemed confident and already had an idea for what she was making. She seemed to have even tanned the hide herself, which was way more than Tox knew how to do.

Tox hauled the vines and horns off of her neck onto the ground. She rolled one horn over to show the holes Obi had bore in it. "My friend already made some holes to secure it, I'm just... trying to figure out the rest." She looked again to the woman and back down. "How do you secure bracers? Especially when the leg moves so much?"

The woman introduced herself as Caelia Adravendi. Toxicity repeated the name and gave her own, "I'm Toxicity Klein Abraxas... uh part of the New Age Abraxas, though... in case you met any other Abraxas." Toxicity wasn't sure how far the other Abraxas had spread out or told their story. She needed to be careful to make the distinction on the future.

WC: 409
Total: 2074

Caelia was used to being polite on the surface, even when she didn't particularly feel like it. Currently, she was in a decent enough mood that it didn't take much forcing, even if she was slightly distracted. Her smile wilted not long after it arrived, and though her gaze was wary as she occasionally glanced up at Toxicity it was far from unfriendly. Conversing with strangers, when she wasn't trying to get something specific out of them, suddenly felt a bit trickier than she'd expected. Almost as tricky as this whole crafting business. Biting her tongue for as moment as she pulled her head back and examined the scrap of leather she'd trimmed, she briefly tilted her head back toward the younger female.

What an interesting coincidence that she was working on something of her own too. "I don't think that's a bad idea. It sounds interesting." She'd seen some unique creations in Valhalla, among her packmates. "It'd certainly stop me from going for your face," Caelia commented, more conversationally than anything else. Those thorns looked sharp. Perhaps not sharp enough to really do serious damage, but enough to deter her from going toward them - the thought of a mouthful of thorns made her nearly cringe. Regardless of its efficiency it was an interesting project, and she was curious abut what she had planned with it.

She wasn't opposed to the company, though she shifted a bit to angle herself toward Toxicity, just to be safe. She watched her as she showed off the holes, nodding a bit. "I'm not sure. I tore some smaller strips of hide off..." Caelia gestured toward the small, short strips. Would they do? She wasn't totally sure. A companion likely would help with this sort of thing, she knew, but she hadn't been lucky enough to find one quite yet - at least not one she could tolerate very well. "I was hoping I could manage to bite some holes into the hide. It's pretty tough now but..." Her voice trailed off as she examined it, using a paw to hold it to the ground and using her teeth to try to work through the hide to make a small hole near the edge. "Maybe I can push some of these straps of hide through, and again through a hole on the other side. Not sure how I'll secure it though." Focused on her work more than Toxicity now, she kept working at it, gnawing a hole just below the first.

"Never heard of them." Caelia didn't particularly care about families beside her own, and the name Abraxas didn't ring any bells. "You're welcome to some of this hide if you think you can use it. I have more than enough," she offered tentatively, pushing some of the smaller scraps her way. She wasn't a selfless wolf by any means, but it didn't seem to matter if she spared some scraps for a stranger. At least it'd give Valhalla a good name if Toxicity ever encountered the pack in a more official manner, something that felt important to her.

WC: 503
Total: 2577

Caelia said that she didn't think the horns were a bad idea, which was relieving to say the least. If a stranger didn't think it was stupid, then it probably wasn't. Wait... unless the stranger was just being polite. That was a possibility too. Ok but she said it sounded interesting. And that it would stop her from going for the face. That probably wasn't some made up compliment. Unless she was trying to get Toxicity's guard down. Or just lying. But why would a stranger... never mind. Tox flicked her ears to rid herself of her racing thoughts. She wasn't sure she was cut out for casual conversation after all.

Caelia spoke of how she planned on puncturing holed in the leather and stringing more leather through. Toxicity nodded, her eyes grazing over all of the materials before them. "If you want... one of these thorns is probably sharp enough to poke though. I have more vines than I really need." Tox took the bundle and tore off a segment with several long thorns on it, placing it onto a space of neutral ground between them as the woman turned more to face Toxicity.

The woman went on to say she hadn't met any Abraxas. It was a relief, in a way, knowing this woman had no preconceived notions of how her family worked. She went on to offer Tox some of her leather. Tox nodded and fought to bring a more genuine smile to her face this time, "Thank you."

With that, Toxicity settled into working on her own craft, pulling the leather and horsehair through the holes Obi had made in the base of the horns. She wasn't a pro at tying knots, but she figured he could probably adjust it later. She just wanted to prove that she could actually do something on her own.  There were supposed to be some that went on top of her head and some that went under... and somehow it was supposed to be secured so it wouldn't just spin around. It sounded pretty easy when Obi was explaining it...

After a while of struggling with the horse hair and leather straps, Toxicity had... something like Obi had explained. She slipped it over her head and found it terribly lopsided. It did go over her head with some difficulty, but it wasn't nearly positioned in the correct way. Sliding it off, Toxicity worked on trying to get the straps and horns more even and more suited to herself. "So who taught you to make leather?" Toxicity asked as she struggled with the straps. She wasn't sure how she ever thought she would make sturdy enough straps with just the horse tails. She wasn't sure how leather worked entirely, but she did have some furs in her den. She had fond memories of her mother's den being lined too. The same den those filthy whelps now lived in... Toxicity flicked her ears again. She needed to focus on the task at hand.

WC: 504
TWC: 3081

"Thanks," Caelia replied to her offer simply, sitting up partially to snag one of the offered thorns. She wondered if everyone outside of Valhalla was so cordial, but it was hard to know for sure. Toxicity was just a kid after all, all things considered, so being nice would only work in her favor as she figured the world out... right? Most of time time being polite, to an extent, felt like a solid choice. Caelia was still trying to figure out her place in the world and her interactions with strangers had only been pleasant so far, always working in her favor - this meeting included.

Carefully she pulled the thorn toward her, working the hide onto it. It did puncture the pelt and allowed her to tug slightly and widen the third hole. "Works pretty well, actually." Maybe this crafting thing wasn't so bad? It was tricky, but she was catching on. Toxicity seemed to appreciate the offer as well, and she watched her for a moment as she worked the hair and the leather strap through the holes in the base of the horns. "Did you make the holes yourself?" It was hard to imagine a wolf being dexterous enough to do that, but there were things Caelia didn't know, and she wouldn't assume she wasn't capable of it in some manner.

Caelia continued working at the holes, eventually flipping the hide over to its opposite side to use the leather to make the initial holes, and her teeth to widen them. Pleased with what she'd done so far, she grabbed some of the smaller, thin scraps and tried to work it through the hole, but it proved tricky. Pausing to consider for a moment, she decided to use the thorn to aid her, angling it with her paws to help push the leather through the hole with some pressure. Finally she pulled the end of the leather strip through. Now, how would she secure the ends? Maybe if she somehow found some sap she could find a way to harden the back end.... she wasn't totally sure.

"No one, really. I just watched some of the crafters in my pack. It's not too hard, just takes a lot of time. You need to scrape all the guts and stuff from it, and the hair. I think washing it would've helped some first. Anyway, after I used the brains and mashed it into the hide. Not that pleasant, but I guess it helps cure it. I left it out here to dry for a few days - I think the sun really helped." Maybe it wouldn't hold up over time, but surely she could get better at it with time. Hopefully it would at least hold up for their first practice raid. Wrinkling her nose as she concentrated, she wished suddenly she had more dexterous paws... being able to tie the ends of the leather that was fastening one side of the bracer to the other- the strip of leather was connecting the two holes but she wasn't quite sure how to keep them stuck like that. "Any idea what might help keep these ends tight? I was thinking sap but I'm not sure that would really hold up...." Maybe some brainstorming would help Toxicity with her headdress, too.

WC: 550
Total: 3,681