Use Your Head, It’s More Than A Hat Rack

It was a bizzare friendship to say the least and while Birna normally would've passed on such festivities she agreed to accompany Jynn to the Stone Steppe where some sort of fall festival was being put on by a number of creatures. One of the activities was making straw wolves. Birna had never done such a thing before but she saw how such an activity would be fun for cubs and she could imagine using such things to train her own cubs one day should she have any but that was a long time in the future and truth be told she didn't much see herself as a mother. Still, maybe one day, it was hard to see what the future held.

Birna paced through the supplies, gathering a good amount of straw as well as a few other items for decorating her straw wolf. She glanced over at Jynn who was struggling a bit to get started and the snow leopard gave a moment of thankfulness to the spirits of fate that she was blessed with dexterous paws making it far easier for her to craft than it would for most of her kind. She started copying Jynn's movements, wrapping straw to make a basic head and then moving on to weaving in some little ears and adding straw for what would become the neck. For the body she started weaving straw together in a simple basketweave to start making the main body form.

Every so often she would glance up from her work to gaze at the others gathered here. There was a surprising number of wolves and she caught many different pack scents. While she knew of a few packs that existed there were far more present than she could have guessed. She still planned to start her band and wondered if there might be potential members amongst those gathered here. Perhaps when she was done with her straw wolf she could mingle more. It was a challenge however. Her nature was quiet and reserved. A social, charismatic creature she was not. She could see the benefit of such skills but considering she did not possess them she'd just have to do the best she could.

Once the body was done Birna started fashioning the legs. Opting to try something a bit different she wrapped straw around stout sticks instead and then stuck those up into the body. She braided a few strands of straw and then used those to attach the legs once she wriggled the sticks out. It took some finagling but the more she worked with the material the more familiar she became with it and the process got easier. After the legs she considered the tail. Did these need to be made entirely of straw? Some of the decorations others were using certainly weren't straw so Birna snatched a squirrel tail and affixed it to her straw wolf to function as its tail.

Deciding she could get a bit more realistic with it she started looking for scrap pieces of hide that she could fashion onto her straw wolf as its own fur. She picked out a various assortment, trying to match the color of the squirrel tail she had already added. Piece by piece she stuck the hide scraps onto the straw wolf, using rabbit skin glue to adhere it. It was a slow process but she was determined and truth be told after that large meal she didn't have much better to do except maybe nap but that was not something she'd consider doing amongst so many strangers.

With her straw wolf covered in its own furry hide she glanced about to see where these were to be displayed. It seemed a number of them were being stacked up for whatever their purpose was. Seeing that Jynn had added eyes to hers Birna decided to follow suit. She’d need something brighter to stand out against the fur so she combed the fields for some small gold flowers which she then glued on in place of eyes. Not bad if she said so herself.

Jynn gently picked up the straw wolf with her teeth and padded over to where the others were gathered. She set it down and stepped back, marveling at the odd little pack that was assembled before her. It was a fun project but not something she could take with her. She was going to live a nomadic lifestyle and anything she would carry with her had to have multiple uses or else be very small to make it worth while traveling with. Maybe if she practiced she could be deft enough to make a small decorative one to carry with her. She looked around to find Jynn and soon joined the other wolf, opting to get a drink while waiting to see what would become of their creations.


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