north sea storm

It's ok! I totally understand! :D This round is welcome to any WGI member but for the sake of posting order please let Julooke, and Verrine post first!

Ragnar was a perceptive man and had noticed the jovial atmosphere that seemed to radiate off of Julooke and Verrine when they were within proximity of one another. In a way, the Viking understood it and brushed it off as simply being in love. It was not similar to the love that Ragnar felt for Thistle, if only because Ragnar was not playful and the love he might have pinned upon Verrine and Julooke was young (despite that they’re about Ragnar’s own age). It was too easy to get swept in the moment, even for Ragnar who would have described the love he felt for his wife as carnal; a savage love for a savage man. He spoke nothing about it to them, assuming that if the time came to approach this maybe pack — Ragnar knew it was a pack deep in the marrow of his bones but he knew assumptions could only lead to problems; and he didn’t fancy making an ass out of himself on the slim chance that he was dead wrong — that they would put the playful, lovey-dovey feelings aside to handle the seriousness in which the situation demanded. It was what Ragnar expected of them; and if they couldn’t he would send them away with the scolding of a father and the tenseness of a leader and handle it himself. However; he did not foresee that being necessary, he trusted them enough to believe they would perform to his expectations.

Icy, Caribbean eyes flashed to Julooke, giving her his rapt attention when she admitted that she, too, had met Majesty, that he had spoken very similar things to them both: that the intention to leave his pack at the time was clear. It might have been, should Ragnar not have been overly territorial and annoyed about the man’s presence in Ravensblood Forest that Ragnar might have found out about Majesty’s intentions of claiming the Isle. However, Ragnar had no patience and zero tolerance for his prayers being interrupted nor for the ‘everyone is friends’ approach that Majesty, if Julooke’s pip that he seemed nice was of any indication, seemed to take. Black, leathery nostrils flared slightly if only because the man’s nicety did not give Ragnar any comfort. The Viking turned his head to glimpse at the Isle coolly, his stare hard and vicious. “I think he is a fool,” It was a harsh opinion, Ragnar realized, yet it did not demean the truth of how the Viking’s felt any. “Regardless of his disposition everything in me wants to chase him from these lands.” As it was, Ragnar was not confident he could approach this as any real diplomat would, though as far he was concerned the time for diplomacy was well over before he it had even begun. Diplomacy should have been before the outright claiming of the Ridge’s doorstep.

Verrine, the Viking’s attention moved, respectively, towards his male subordinate, giving his rapt attention in turn, confirmed Ragnar’s suspicions and assured him (likely without realizing it) that Ragnar was well within rights to feel hostile. There had been moments of doubt, spurred by the consideration that how he handled things in Odinn’s Cove was starkly different to how things seemed to be handled here and Pump and him did not always agree on the severity of things; tagged along had been the consideration that he was more territorial than usual because of his infant children and laid up wife who could not deter from them for very long. He had a family and his protective instincts had skyrocketed to the Heavens, understandably. Verrine also suggested something that Ragnar had not thought about, too busy obsessing over the fact that they could be using Horizon Ridge’s shore as a path to the mainland (even on accident), food. Obviously, the Isle, as Verrine pointed out, would not hold prey big enough to sustain an average sized pack, and that the wolves of the Isle would be moving in on their hunting grounds to feed themselves. That meant less food for them and the children, especially considering it would be a while before the children would be able to hunt for themselves. Their reliance upon the adults of the Ridge was great. The fur of his shoulders bristled at the thought, nostrils flaring with the Viking’s ire.

A low growl rumbled in his chest as he considered everything, mind wheeling at a rapid pace feeling the urge to pace though he stayed stock still, his tail twitching in aggravation behind him. “I will warn them about coming to the mainland on our shores. If we catch them, apprehend them. Horizon Ridge is not a passage way and neither should it go unpunished. It is not our problem their leader claimed an Isle otherwise cut off from the mainland,” His instinctive answer was death, but because Pump had to give the final say he could not tell Verrine to handle it such. The Wardens would have to wait until she made a decision once they presented the evidence and proof to her. It was within the Head Warden’s right to demand any wolves that were not of the Ridge that found their way onto the shore should be apprehended until a decision was made. There would be no escorts. There was no alliance between the wolves of the Ridge and the Isle and Ragnar thought that Majesty had shoved his own paw in the fires by ensuring that even if Pump would have been open to the idea it would not be an option now. Of course, Pump had a tendency to surprise Ragnar so he was not sure how she would react to this news.

“Their hunting grounds should be restricted to the Gyrfalcon’s Keep and these Sea Lion Shores. I cannot tell them they cannot hunt on the Totoka River or Ravensblood Forest and we cannot extend our patrols to them for they are free territories,” Yet, he would issue a warning all the same. “but they were our hunting grounds first and it is within our rights to be territorial over them, is it not?” It was a rhetorical question but his eyes searched each of his subordinate’s faces in turn, nevertheless. “We have children to provide for, families. Maybe we will have more children soon. I do not concern myself with other packs, other wolves. My people come first to me; my power as Second in Command limits me. Pump makes the final decisions on matters.” As was her right as sole Alpha. He was aware approaching them without her consent would probably bite him in the ass, had accepted it even, and if, and when the time came he would take the fall and the blame without involving Julooke or Verrine who were only here because he had asked them to be as their Beta. “I know,” Was all the Viking offered Verrine’s assertion that it would be a big problem, Ragnar’s tone grim as death.

Tail twitched one last time before it stilled against his hind legs, throwing his head back and calling for one of the Isle’s high ranking, or even, their leader himself. Hostility bristled in his fur like razors along his spine but he attempted to dampen it if only because today was not the day to spark a war and even so it was not his place to initiate. Only to warn (and even then he had taken that duty into his own paws).