war machine

Petra had looked high and low for @Hieronymous, hoping to find him to try and corral him into a hunting trip outside of the territory. She'd been working hard at honing her craft and becoming more successful. The victories inspired her to think bigger in her prey choice, and she decided she wanted to hunt a deer or elk and figured she could achieve this with her father's help. 

She followed the High King's scent trail through the territory and towards the borders. She wasn't surprised that his trail led there, but she hoped he wouldn't try and get her to patrol with him. When she saw him in the distance, she barked to catch his attention and picked up her pace to try and catch up. 

“Dad! Hey! Wait for me!” she called, puffing out a breath as her paws quickened.
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Routine as ever he wandered the borders. Mimicking the others to mark their borders in ways that were invisible to him by eye and nose. He could only have faith in their ways that it worked, and alone, that was good enough for him. It seemed to work. There weren't many who wandered beyond their borders and when they were found, they were usually dropped off by the ether into their lands against the stranger's will.

Oh but it seemed his bland routine was being changed today! Turning to greet Petra who came running down to meet him, his tail swayed in a greeting to the excited daughter's approach. “As you wish!” He called back playfully, only wanting her to move faster so he could spend time with Petra sooner rather than any impatience in regards to getting his duties done.

“And what do I owe the pleasure my darling Petra?”

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”As you wish!” Hieronymous replied.

Petra beamed. “It is!” she replied eagerly, falling into step next to him. “Well,” she began, with emphasis, “I've been doing a lot of hunting practice, and I've been doing really well,” if she said so herself. “So ... I want to hunt something bigger—something that'll take two wolves to take down.” She looked up at him, her olive eyes alight with excitement and unbound enthusiasm. “So I was hoping ... could you help me hunt something big today? Like an old deer, or something?”
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He could listen to them ramble any day, for as long as they had breath in their lungs to use. Petra was long winded, but all he did was smile and nod. Giving his daughter plenty of time to put her thoughts into words.

“A hunt huh?” Seafoam eyes turned toward the skies as though the clouds could spell out the answer he already had. Hieronymous was teasing Petra of course, letting her think he was pondering over the answer instead of him knowing exactly what he was going to say by now.

“Tell y'a what, if you can sniff out something appropriate, we will take it down together.”

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Hieronymous's good-natured teasing and agreement contributed to her excitement, and Petra was raring to go by the time he decided to help. “Okay!” she answered enthusiastically. “I can do that!” Then, without hesitation, she jumped into action, her paws scuttled quicker than her rabbit-heart beat.

Unfortunately, despite her eagerness, there was no recent trace of any deer. She frowned when she realized this, but the expression was short-lived; she could use this to her advantage. “D'ya think we could try somewhere outside the territory?” she asked, hoping he'd allow it. “We don't have to go far, either! Maybe the foothills?”
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While Petra would use her nose to track down some prey, Hieronymous would use the tools he had at his disposal. Looking for tracks, broken branches, flattened grasses, tufts of fur - anything that would indicate something was roaming near by. He would never be as good of a tracker than the ones with noses that wolves should have - but he made due.

“D'ya think we could try somewhere outside the territory?” Without answering he gave the young adult a coy grin. In a way letting her know that he knew what she was trying to do. His silence wouldn't last longer than a few heart beats, just long enough for Petra to clue in he was aware she wanted to wander away from their borders.

“We have to find prey, yeah?” Dramatically he let his eyes roll to the path ahead, almost exasperated in a comedic way. “Follow the trail wherever it goes.” With a toss of his chin he gave her the go ahead to wander forward. Were it with anyone else he wouldn't allow it, but she was with him, her dad, and he'd keep a close eye on Petra throughout this lesson of theirs.

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