Maybe he had become more cynical than he had initially thought;
he was surprised when the woman had answered back, taken aback perhaps that somebody might actually stop to help another. It caught him off guard enough that the words he had sought to say had been caught in his throat. When he had been able to finally call out, he stammered - "I...I'll dig from, uh, from my end too" - before he poured himself into his work, scratching away at the snow opposite to Anatola. It might have taken some time, and his chest heaved with effort, but eventually, light had broken through and spurred him forward.

In fact, he had been eager enough to escape that he had witnessed Anatola fall; he had moved to assist her but his own legs had been driven to weariness from the effort of digging and he had almost followed her suit. His remaining back leg buckled slightly and he had only been able to catch himself before Anatola had righted herself; only then had he noticed why she had fallen in the first place. He could not hide his surprise as his eyes met the stump of her leg, a neat thing compared to the twisted scar that was left over from the teeth and flames that had taken his own leg; he might have blushed if he could have but instead, he quickly turned away as if to observe the snow behind him, desperate to save face.

"Uh, thank you," he filled the silence as fast as possible before he turned back towards her, sure to only look to her face this time, "I don't know how long it might've taken me if you hadn't stopped to help..." His grin was a strange combination of apologetic and self concious. Having never met another wolf like himself...well, he wasn't sure what to do. His instincts drove him to try to cover up his own stump and yet...it felt dishonest to do so. "You...shouldn't have troubled yourself..." ah, when in doubt, rely upon putting one's guard up. He frowned slightly, his voice harder then. He felt sorry for her, frustrated at himself, a confusing combination.