The change in the seasons always took a little bit of the wind out of her sails. Luckily it was a mild winter so far - she could still see dead brown grass, stubborn striplings stood tall against blustery winds, and none of the snow had really stuck. Still, everything was dead or dying. Finch groaned under her breath, trudging between the old wooden fencing that they hadn't resurrected yet. She could hear the pleasant noises of livestock nearby, safely guarded in less shabby pens, and she couldn't help but smile. At least they were would be well-provided for during the chilly winter, unlike their wild counterparts. Those silly creatures didn't know how good they had it.

She pulled up by the barn where she'd been storing some of her dried herbs in miscellaneous stoneware. Some of it had been bartered for and some of the crocks she'd found half-buried out in the orchard, the pungent dust of some long ago desiccated apples stuck to the bottom. It had taken forever to get them clean. She had been preparing for this little activity ever since the weather started to turn, hoping it would give her something to look forward to once the cold really settled in. And it had worked! Finnie grabbed one of the empty crocs and headed to a nearby rusted metal trough that collected rainwater for them to use for the animals during dry spells, filling the empty vessel with cool water. She returned to her collection of sealed containers and hemmed and hawed over which to unseal first. Deciding where to start on a project was always the most difficult part - maybe in part because she knew once she got going, it was impossible to tear her attention away until she finished.

As the season droned on, turning out to be much milder than she'd expected, Jay found her own interests changing. Before winter had turned she hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to the pack's livestock, besides asking Corbie more about them when she was younger, but something suddenly seemed to have shifted in her brain.

She'd been busying herself lately trying to get together enough materials to build a makeshift chicken coop, something stable enough to help the chickens survive the winter. They needed somewhere safe and warm to lay their eggs. Building anything at all was a tricky feat with the paws she had, but she'd been doing the best she could, unearthing scraps of old rotted plywood from beneath years and years of decomposed vegetation around the barns. More often than not she was seen with dirt caked to her paws and nose, always busy and always digging and dragging that wood from one end of the territory to the other.

Though she decided on a break today - she had plenty of materials gathered, but the building part seemed a whole lot harder than all that - that didn't mean she was going to do nothing at all. Moseying around the Range, she slowed when she caught Finnie's scent near the main barn, not hesitating to redirect her course and poke her head inside, eager to see what her sister was up to. "Finnie! Whatcha got there?" In the shadows of the barn, her eyes not yet adjusted, it was hard for Jay to tell what she was up to with all the containers in front of her.

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She had finally decided to open the container filled to the brim with dried marigold when she heard Jay's familiar voice from the entrance of the barn. "Jay!" she chirped, her tail wagging up a storm. Finch left her work space and bounded over to her sister, nudging her nose into the other girl's slightly taller shoulder. It was a gesture as familiar as breathing. "Ah, well, there isn't much to tend to in the garden..." She lamented, gazing out the barn door at the fallow fields. There was something sad about them, stretching empty towards the horizon, but she knew come spring there would be green buds everywhere again. "So I brought out what I've saved from this past harvest and thought I'd see if I could make some paint!" Finnie gestured to the peeled walls of the barn, exposing the weather-worn wood beneath. "A protective coating might help some of our buildings last longer through the seasons, and with the right colors? It might look really striking!"

Finch turned and bounded back towards her collection of containers. "I was just thinking I'd start mixing the marigold with some of the water, and I've already strained and dried some mud to help suspend the pigment once it's ground up - " She took a deep breath, getting carried away with herself again. "Would you like to help? We don't have to use the marigold! I have lavender, dahlias..."

Jay returned the affectionate gesture readily, leaning into her touch as she felt her smile grow. Her own tail began to sway behind her where she stood, though her attention turned to what Finnie had been working on before she'd showed up. "Spring will be here soon enough, though," she commented, always one to look on the bright side of life. She, too, was eager for spring to return to these lands. She greatly preferred when the lands were teeming with life, the range alive with sounds of birds and insects, the air filled with the scent of wildflowers and grass.

"You saved all this? That's so smart," Jay commented in slight awe, knowing that she wasn't nearly as passionate about anything as Finnie was about her plants. Maybe that was why she'd been pushing so hard lately to pick up a hobby of her own... not that it was going all that well for her. Maybe this whole painting thing would help Jay's project too. A lot of the wood she'd found was in pretty rough shape, and though she wasn't sure if painting would save them entirely, maybe it'd keep them from rotting away completely right away.

Her mind began to spin as she scampered after Finch, her eyes roving over the dried flowers. Jay admittedly didn't pay a whole lot of attention to her sister's explanation, knowing she wouldn't retain the information until she started doing it herself. "Oh! This lavender is pretty," she squinted and leaned closer to the jar. "And these!" She pointed out some of the dahlia varieties she liked, some petals flecked with pink and others a deeper violet. "You know I've been collecting wood from all over the range. I've been trying to brainstorm how to build a chicken coop. Maybe painting some of the boards could help?" Jay asked, looking hopeful like Finch might have some knowledge she didn't. "Some of them are pretty rotted. I started dragging them around to the back of the barn," she explained.

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Finch was eager to follow her sister back to the containers of dried flowers. There was nothing she liked better than stepping into a new project! Luckily, Jay seemed to match her enthusiasm. "Oh, well, thank you!" She sputtered when Jay called her smart. Finnie found it difficult to take the compliment, but she tried to sound appropriately flattered. When she began to peruse the flowers and the focus was back on the task and not so much on herself, she felt the tension she was holding in her shoulders relax. Yes, back to what really mattered! "Yeah, I've seen you collection the wood! A chicken coop would be fantastic, imagine how much cozier they'd be during the winter? And it would free up space in the barn," she said, brimming her excitement. "You're so smart!" Finch shot back, triumphantly flagging her tail as she did.

She busied herself by taking out a large mixing bowl of burnished metal and added the strained mud to it. A cloud of dust hit the air when she emptied it into the larger bowl and she sneezed, dropping the cask. "Oof!" Finch laughed. "I think if we used the mud for the wood, it would help shore up some of cracks, maybe? We could also do a final clearer coat of beeswax!" Her voice grew a little in volume as her thought completed. "That would definitely help keep any more moisture from the wood and make it last a lot longer. Why don't you grab what you've found and I'll get started mixing? By the time you get back I'll be ready for your help!" Finnie spread out, uncorking things here and unsealing wax from other containers over there until all of the materials she'd collected were sitting in different bowls and dishes. Slowly, she began to add water to the dish of dried mud until it reached a desired consistency.

Jay was just as content to mull over the assortment of flowers. She wasn't a terribly decisive wolf, at least not when it came to things like this, and she knew she could go back and forth on which color to settle on. Instead of doing that thought she'd just pick one, or even leave the final decision to her sister. "Maybe like... a darker purple or blue, actually. I think it'd look nicer on the wood than something lighter," she mused after another moment of thought. That'd probably help cover more of the imperfections too.

She cracked a grin at Finch shooting the compliment back her way. Smart? Maybe. Above all else she just wanted to help Avalon and her family, whatever she had to do - that was what led her to brainstorming how to help keep some livestock of her own too. Surely someone even smarter than her could find creative uses for their eggs but if anything, they were a good snack. Her own tail shot up, giving a slow wag behind her as she watched her sister get to work.

Whatever she was doing was a little beyond her, but she'd do her best to observe and listen. "That sounds good!" Jay agreed eagerly. So maybe they wouldn't quite get to paint today but at least they could start mixing it and prepping the wood to be painted later on. "You got it," she agreed easily. Without any hesitation she'd set off to the back side of the barn, beginning to drag them toward the front and inside. The process was slightly arduous, but eventually she finished, panting softly as she laid down the final board. There were a few longer ones, though most of them were short and splintered, definitely in need of repair.

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"Okay, blue or dark purple... got it," she murmured, selecting some of the larger and crispier dried dahlias. It had been a good growing season last year and she had quite the haul of dried, purple dahlias. Most of the blooms were huge, even reduced to this smaller size from the gentle drying process. She set them to steep in a clean basin of water she had collected. Once the blooms hit the water, their vibrant color began to leech out. Finch uncorked a small bottle of some distilled witch hazel. The astringent liquid bit at her nose as she added just a few drops. Color began to seep out from the petals steadily now, encouraged by the touch of witch hazel. It resulted in a deep, moody purple, the edges of the water turning indigo while the center remained darker.

Jay returned with her haul of wood and Finch chuffed a soft greeting as she laid the last board down. Certainly, some were worse for wear than others. "How about we start at the shabbiest and work our way up?" she suggested. There was a dull knife laying nearby, more of a stone with a sharp edge, really. Finch picked it up and began to smooth out the roughest splinters by carefully scraping with the edge of the stone blade. She had to pull her lips back all the way while she held it to avoid splinters. When she finished the first one, she admired her handiwork. It could have been better, but... it would do! "And now I think we spread the beeswax thinly on them once they're prepared, and that should seal them at least a little bit from the elements."

The physical part of the task done, Jay was content to plop down on her haunches and catch her breath. Already she was brainstorming how the heck she'd get the boards to stay together... if she knew someone with more dexterous paws she could maybe use their help to assemble her coop, but she'd have to be a little more inventive. She knew she could easily acquire some old vines, and maybe with some patient work she could use them to tie the boards together... at least sections of them. Oh, that was a good idea! Surely Finch could help her with that?

Her eyes widened as she thought of the possibilities, nodding along with her sister's suggestion. "Let's do that," Jay agreed, sounding quite eager to get started. Instead of joining in too soon, she let Finch smooth out some of the splintered edges, letting out a little bark of approval at her work. Maybe there was a better way of handling that part, too? Her mind was spinning again, trying to figure it out.

"Now we can paint? Before sealing it all in? Or is it the other way around? I want to try the painting part," Jay asked, a little overwhelmed by all the materials and tools spread around them. Her gaze was a little erratic as she searched for anything they could use to paint, or spread the beeswax, or maybe she ought to get both things ready...

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Both girls were getting a little grimy and dusty from the work, but they were eagerly focused on the task at hand. Finch hadn't realized what a mess they'd made of the area until she had stepped back to examine the first board. Wood shavings covered the floor of the barn, pots and bowls were scattered about, some brimming with paint and others beginning to dry too quickly. Oh, shoot. Perhaps they'd bitten off more than they could chew. Finch groaned and pushed aside one of the bowls where the paint had dried to the bottom. "Ummm, let's ignore that one!" She laughed. It was a tester color, anyway. The pretty color Jay wanted was still good to go. "I think we should do the the paint first! Then the beeswax will protect the paint after it dries... I'm pretty sure. I took a painting class at Armada, so I'm pretty much a total expert now," she bragged, dramatically puffing out her chest. Finch scampered to another recess of the barn and dragged out a worn basket where she'd stowed the painting supplies that same class had provided her. There were a few boar's hair paintbrushes in there, one of which hadn't been cleaned properly before storing. The bristles were stuck so tightly together it resembled a weapon more than a tool for art. Finch giggled and grabbed one of the fluffy ones, dipping it in Jay's color of choice. "Leeet's paint!" she said, her voice muffled by the handle of the brush. She started at one end of the board, swiping on wide swaths of color. This was a lot easier than the small, controlled strokes from the painting class.

If Jay even noted the mess they were making, she made no real sign of it. She was far more focused on the task at hand, her mind spinning from all the things Finch had explained to her and her own projects on top of it. How she would even begin to fasten the boards together was a mystery to her, but maybe with some brainstorming... seeing the wood helped her visualize it all. Some vine wrapped around the board could help fasten it to another, though she worried plant fibers might not be quite strong enough. Maybe some old rope she'd seen laying around the barn? There were so many options..

But painting was really what she needed to focus on right now. Not that meant her mind would stop running all over the place in the meantime, but at least she could try. She let out a little laugh at the dried paint, glad that her sister had taken a lesson on this stuff and she didn't have to fumble as much trying to figure it out. That made it all a lot easier.

"Allllllright!" She chimed in, following her sister's lead and grabbing one of the paint brushes in her jaws. It wasn't exactly a comfortable feeling, but it'd get the job done, even if her mouth was a little bit tired afterwards. She carefully dipped it into one of the bowls of paint, moving over to a smaller board. Some of the paint dripped off the brush onto the ground - she made a mental note so she didn't step in it - and she started working at her board, making the same wide strokes. The whole process was a little awkward and clumsy, but it was getting the job done just fine.

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