Horizon Ridge In the Eyes of a Young Girl

*snuggles Gavriil* He's sooo cute. Ugh. I can't stand it. :p Also, no need to match the length.

As it was Gavriil was the first wolf Ragnar had told the genders to; not that it was any sort of secret, really, but it was just that Ragnar was a private being and his clamor for privacy tended to make him come off as rude most times. Now if Thistle had spoken of their genders to anyone who had stopped by to offer their congratulations (hopefully not stepping inside the den) Ragnar couldn’t say. In the time they had stolen for themselves the previous night they hadn’t spoken much of the children, and as it was they hadn’t spoken about much, period. A few things here and there but Ragnar had other intentions on his mind and perfectly lucid he had not been about to let Thistle trick him out of it again. As it turned out, his wife was more crafty than the Viking had initially given her credit for. As it was she had seemed very innocent and trusting, naive and sentimental, compassionate at first to him, and in ways she still was but she had also changed since agreeing to becoming his wife, though if there were hidden personality traits or his influence Ragnar couldn’t be sure.

Gavriil’s words were, more or less, what Ragnar had suspected and for a moment the Viking simply stared at the Delta, stoicly. He doubted there was anything he could say that would relieve the other man’s heartbreak — not that Ragnar was the type of man you went too for that, considering he could not say he was experienced in the matters of heartbreak. He had broken several hearts in his lifetime but his had always been safely closed away, and until Thistle, untouchable. While Ragnar had not wanted to see Gavriil get his heart stepped on he had been a pessimest and could not claim that he had not seen it coming. As Ragnar had warned Gavriil that day, he did not see Pump as the wife and mother type. Ragnar let out a chuckle when Gavriil said that Pump wanted someone like Ragnar as a husband. His laughter wasn’t meant to rub salt in the Delta’s wounds — merely it was because the idea of Pump and him was bizarre and entirely unlikely to Ragnar (even though the Viking understood that wasn’t what Gavriil had meant). “I don’t think so,” He shook his head. “We are too similar, and butt heads constantly. Any other man like me would be the same.” Maybe not, Ragnar truthfully couldn’t say; merely he was drawing from his own experiences with Pump. They got along well enough to co-lead, and she seemed to respect him as much as Ragnar respected her but they didn’t always agree and both appeared to be stubborn to boot.

“Men like me aren’t romantic, we don’t feel sentiment or compassion. We are not the things out of stories….well the fairy stories anyway,” He struggled for the word ‘fairy-tale’ before he gave up on it and had to hope that Gavriil understood what he was struggling to get at: Ragnar and men like Ragnar were no woman’s ideal man, they were not capable of ever being ‘Prince Charming’ …but Gavril was. He had the desired traits of a man with compassion and gentleness, while all Ragnar had was ruthlessness and a penchant for death. “We are not tortured souls that need saving. We cannot be saved and made into the hero.” Ragnar didn’t want to be a hero. He was fine being the scary heathen that stole and captured and raided; that was his life, it was who he was and he was happy with it. “I warned you that I did not think Pump was wife or mother material,” Ragnar reminded Gavriil, gently. “You didn’t mention mateship right away did you?” Ragnar could see how that might have been an overload or how it might have even seemed pushy. Just because bluntly asking Thistle to be his wife without even the slightest idea of courting her had (by some small miracle) worked for Ragnar did not mean it was meant to work for anyone else. Mostly, it had been a possessiveness and jealousy that had spurred Ragnar into making such a quick leap of faith. Love had only came recently into their relationship.

Ragnar understood that Thistle and him were a rare and odd case, certainly they were an odd and rare couple; it only made sense the unorthodox would work for them. "Why? What is wrong with you?" Ragnar was curious as to why the Delta was beating himself down.