Whitefish River Oh Sugar Snap Peas, I Win This!

@Tobias, for a scouting thread!

Every time he spent at the borders was a little more stored away into his memory as what he should be protecting and keeping an eye on. More and more he was able to pick out which paw prints belonged to who, if it belonged to anyone in the scouting mission or if they belonged to some stranger they needed to kick out - thankfully the later was not so much of an issue as of yet. 

Pausing in his tracks, Hieronymous eyed a broken branch with a little white tuft of fur stuck in the forks of the branch. With a squint he cursed his inability to take a sniff at the tuft of fur in order to easily identify it in a moment like others of his species and instead had to sit here and pick it apart visually to decide if it was prey, a comrad, or a stranger he had to go and start tracking...

The cowboy hardly had a chance to rest as the group he traveled with made it to Kaistleoki. The count was the first to greet them along the borders as she offered shelter if only for a night or two. Despite the short stay he insisted on offering his assistance to make up for his disappearance. It was now that he traveled back to the woods Kaistleoki once called home to assess the living conditions.

the journey to the woods was short taking only a chunk of his day away. He knew of a party that had already been sent so now he checked for signs of his past pack mates to compare notes. It was then that he caught sight of the tall painted man.

a short boof was given in greeting as Tobias neared, Hieronymous, long time no see, buddy. I thought you might have wandered too far like myself.

Ears flickered back at the voice calling out to him, tearing him away from the tuft of fur he was eyeballing so suspiciously a moment ago. With wide bright eyes, he turned to see his story telling companion. Tobias! Too long! He greeted with a wag of his tail.

Wandered off is more voluntary. I got lost. He chuckled to himself sheepishly, rubbing a paw as close to the back of his neck as his anatomy would allow. Lost due to a certain sense of his being ripped away from him along with other senses... wait! Speaking of getting lost, can you do me a favour? It was a wierd segue but that lightbulb dinged quite brilliantly to him.

Whipping around to eye the tuft of fur again, he signaled Tobias to come hither with a tilt of his nose. Could you come take a sniff of this thing? Tell me what it is? Heres hoping it was just some rabbit, a deer, anything that might have some white other than coyotes or a wolf lurking near by to kick out.

The cowboy glanced at the tuff of fur that caught his fellow storyteller's attention. He thought little of it, the scent of rabbit clear to him until he remembered Hieronymous' disability. Ah, just a rabbit. No worries unless you're trying to track down a meal. Tobi raised his head to properly glance around the forest. The destruction was clear, but at least plants seemed to be growing. Surely that meant things were returning to balance.

I take it you're part of the scouting team? It will be good for Kaistleoki to go back to their roots. The plains don't settle well for anyone.

Just a rabbit - well, that was a relief. At least they didn't have someone to hunt down and fight within their borders. Reclining back, he offered the cowboy a sideways grin. Do you know anyone who's hungry? After @Emrik had brought him food recently, Hiero himself didn't think it was wise to gorge himself on food after such a long time of fasting. His tummy just might explode!

I am now! I was at the right place to be found. He joked. The universe did work in a fantastic and mysterious way he had to admit. Who would have thought he'd find himself moping in the same land that Kaistleoki was trying to reclaim! I didn't even know this was their original home.

The cowboy shrugged, who wasn't hungry? At least now food had been returning. I suppose Speedy might be, I swear she runs herself thin. I'm travelin' with a heard right now, one of them might take a meal. Luckily Tobias had snagged a snack before he ventured to the woods.

Ah I see, I suppose you did come along after the rodeo, didn'tcha? It's been a while since their first encounter, but even then that was during one of Tobi's trips away from the territory. There was no reason for him to ever see the river. How's the land look further in? Livable?

Then let us go snag us a rabbit. With a sly grin, he waited for Tobias to take the hunting lead. unfortunately, rabbits didn't leave much of a trail for him to track it visually, they would need Toby's nose if they wanted to find the thing successfully. (should we roll for successful hunt??)

Haha! I don't really know what that means, but I guess so! Tobias sure did have a strange way of talking, but it was charming. Confusing, but not something that he hated. I'd say so. A little bit of a mess, but things are clearly growing again. I'd say in a year you wouldn't be able to tell there was a disaster.

I rolled for evens to catch got a 9 so rip LOL

Tobias took that as his que to follow the scent. He'd step forward sniffing at the clump of fur and soon the ground around it while he moved further into the forest. All I mean is the ruckus. He'd give a grin himself as he started tracking only to find the scent trail die off and grow old.

I'm not sure that meal's gonna happen. Looks like it might have been an old path lingerin' He straightened out raising his hind leg to scratch at the back of his ear. Glad to hear the land's takin' her sweet time. I've seen her grow even through ashes. The Count will be happy t' hear it too.

It was a strange way to put it, but he supposed it all made sense. Yeah I guess so huh? Having no sense of smell makes getting lost a little easy, unfortunately. He admitted. Just means that he would have to be slower next time when scouting, learning the area thoroughly before venturing off further and further, or bringing someone along with him who can smell their way back home. 

Well shit. That world-famous Hiero grin faded, lips pursed at an angle as he eyed of into the distance where the rabbit must have hopped off into. With a shrug, he shuffled it away from his thoughts instead of lingering on the lost prey. Ashes huh? What on earth could have caused this place to be covered in ash he wondered? 

I sure hope so, it's been a while since I've seen her - it would be nice to see her happier than she was before. Would she be happy to see Hiero too he wondered.

The man couldn't help but chuckle, I imagine you find a way to work things out even with the setbacks. He couldn't imagine losing a sense, but the painted man had come this far. For that, he had to be strong.

The Count's an interesting one. Silent, always working. At least she's back on her feet. Maybe she was just happy to work, he never really had in-depth conversations with the leader of Kaistleoki, but it wouldn't be the first time he had met her type. Maybe you should check on her, eh? Everyone needs someone to check on them.

Tobias moved to his feet to start moving again. He noticed a large amount of trees had fallen, but now that they no longer posed as a threat they could provide structure to some new dens.

It takes some extra planning, and luck is always nice. he had to be lucky a lot lately, being good helped to get on other's good sides too, talk his way out of trouble.

Ira was indeed the strong silent type, a workaholic, maybe that was something he found charming in her - but really, he was head over heels, anything she ever did was charming to him regardless of what she does. Once we secure the river I will, I think it would make her happy to focus on this first. At least he hoped. She did want him to prove his worth to the pack after all.

The fallen logs and trees were a curious sight, it didn't seem all too inviting but at least they seemed secured along the ground now that gravity settled them tightly. Should we make sure no foxes are calling those their den?

last post from me

The cowboy gave a simple grunt to that. If there was one thing he knew about Ira was that she liked progress. Hieronymous turned the drive of the conversation to the land around them, it seemed the trees had caught both of their attention. A smart decision if youngins are runnin' 'bout.

This was likely a job left to him as well with Hiero's inability to smell. Tobias broke away from his partner to sniff around the area and poke at any enclosures that might have formed. Luckily it seemed only prey took to dwelling, or at least in this area. Perhaps it was just too soon for foxes to return to the river yet. All clear to me. I'm good to rejoin the party if you see nothin'.

He'd stay close enough to Tobias as he sniffed out the potential hiding places. Should something come out to defend itself, Hiero would bounce into action to defend his packmate - luckily for them, nothing. It was as quiet as ever. The pacifist couldn't have come up with a better situation than this. I think I'm pleased with what we... didn't find.

With both men pleased with the location, Hiero and Tobias walked off back to the group. The lands were secure, everyone should be able to return any day now and re-settle into the lands they had previously lost to the catastrophe.