afire.

[size=x-small]ooc: preferably anyone (or two) Surra hasn't met yet <3 also, I may submit this as a sub-territory, depending on how much the setting is developed :)[/size]

Oh, gods, it was hot. Oppressively hot. The kind of hot that pressed in on you from all sides, heavy with humidity, without even the slightest breeze to give some relief. Surra, of all wolves, felt as though he might as well be dying. He cursed his thick fur, and the dark-colored ruff that traveled up the back of his neck, making him even hotter. He had meant to spend the day searching for a good place to dig out a den, but instead he found himself dragging his paws, tongue lolling desperately out of his panting mouth. Even the shadows under the trees provided little protection from the heat, because the humidity was what was so killer. He had even tried going down to the shore, where normally there was a bit more of a breeze, but the saltiness of the air only made the humidity worse and made him feel sticky and uncomfortable, so he headed back into the heart of the forest.

Suddenly the sound of running water caught the overheating wolf's attention, and his ears pricked up. It was louder than a simple creek - it sounded like a small waterfall. Surra picked up his feet a little more, still only managing a walk. He came upon the source of the sound, a bit upstream of the falls themselves. Surra crouched down to drink, lapping up the cool water until he could feel it sloshing around in his stomach, before standing back up again and padding closer to the waterfall, peering over the edge of the drop in cascaded from. It wasn't overly impressive, maybe one and a half times his height, and it fell not perfectly vertical but with a slight gradation, crashing between a couple large boulders that framed it. At it's base was a surprisingly large and deep pool - it appeared just deep enough for a wolf to have to swim at the center, unless he touched down with his back legs only and stood in a rearing stance to keep his head above water. Surra guessed the pool could easily fit his entire pack, maybe eight or ten wolves, before it started to get cramped. The other side of the pool held another, smaller waterfall shaped similarly to the one at it's top, flowing down and away towards the sea. There was a small area of grasses on either side of the pool. Some areas were fairly well shaded by the large trees that surrounded, but there were others where the sunlight glittered off the water.

Surra's ears rotated and flicked as he contemplated the safety of trying to jump in from his vantage point, more focused on an opportunity to cool himself down than on anyone who might approach.

The heat was unbearable to the young juvenile. So the first thing she looked for as they neared the coast was a water source. They would have headed to the sea, but you can't drink saltwater. Plus, it's sandy and the birds were annoying. Oh, and there was the chance that you could get swept out into sea. That was the worst part.

She and Olor kept in the forest, hoping to get some relief from the heat but to no avail. It was drenchingly humid as well, and the shade does not block humidity. Ollie's ears swiveled left and right, hoping to find water of some kind. Hell, she would have taken a swamp if it meant getting out of this heat. Luckily for them, Olor barked and pointed his head towards the sound of fast rushing water.

Ollie yelped happily and ran towards the sound, knowing that it must be a waterfall of some sorts. As soon as she saw the water spray she gave a quick howl and darted to the water's edge, hopping in. When she resurfaced, she was met with the sight of another wolf on the top of the falls: a thick-furred guy with dark fur. "Oh. 'ello there, guv'nor. Is this place yours or summit?." They were constantly running into someone's territory without knowing.

Heat was harder on the Cockney pre-teen than on him. It was mostly because Olor had seen so many summers in a hot, fetid swamp, while this was Ollie's second summer. He could tolerate the heat, but it didn't mean he wasn't annoyed by it. The both of them made it their main prioriety to find a cool water source, hopefully with some shade to stay the night in.

To his delight, the sound of water caught his attention first. His thick-plumed tail wagged as he barked and gestured towards the direction. Ollie dashed off in front of him and he loped behind her, lacking her speed but not her enthusiasm. As he grew nearer he could hear Ollie's yelp followed by a splash. Naturally, the waif had jumped into something without looking where she was going.

The pool they had found was home to two waterfalls, not just one. The pool was large, benefiting from the water source above. A shaded area, bedded with soft-looking grasses looked particularly inviting. The swan-like mute was about to head over when he heard a soft bark from Ollie. She was looking up towards a wolf at the top of the falls. He didn't make a sound, only looking up at the wolf as well. Were they trespassing again?

Couldn't help myself, plus since Ragnar patrols a lot there is no way wolves would realistically sneak into the territory without him figuring it out. :P

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The day was unbearably hot and the additional humidity the forest and surrounding waters provided did not, it would seem, work to hide that. Still, the platinum Viking kept on his patrols, stopping when he could to keep himself hydrated and cool off in the shade though the respite the forest offered was little in comparison to the baking the sun seemed determined to do to them. It was a smidge cooler in the shade and wading through the lake was better still. The ocean, the scarred Northman had considered, would probably offer the coolest waters. He had made immediate plans to head to the shore and let the sea cool off the heat that had him panting, sides heaving from the action as he swept to the next section of borders only to pause abruptly in his patrol. Black, leathery nostrils lowered to the ground to inhale the scents that littered it. His body tensed as his blood ran cold at the scent of loners …two of them within Stavanger Bay. Within claimed territory.

Any plans of bathing in the sea had been abruptly scorched from Ragnar’s mind as he lunged into the woods, following their scents, hackles bristled and teeth exposed with a low growl of territoriality. How anyone was ignorant to freshly and extremely strong scent borders he didn’t know and, frankly, didn’t care. He would tear their entrails from their bellies and wear their bloodied skulls like a helm for trespassing. When Ragnar bowled onto the scene like a tank, eyes zeroing in on the woman in the waters he charged at her stopping only at the bank of the waterfall, eyes of Caribbean ice bearing into her viciously, his tail held high over his back. It was a stance that transcended language barriers. He was the King, and their lives and punishment was in his paws.

They were trespassers and Ragnar had no patience for such a thing. “Why are you in my territory?” The Viking demanded of them, a low snarl rumbling in his throat. He gave Surra a quick glimpse out of the corner of his eye before his gaze settled back upon the two trespassers. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you right here and now,” It wasn’t a suggestion. It was a command. “Make no mistake though, if I do decide to spare your lives this day there will be consequences for your trespassing, regardless.” To prove that he had no intentions of just letting them go. No, Ragnar was not a lenient man and they would learn a lesson for trespassing into his borders. If he decided not to kill them, and currently that was a fairly sizable if.

[size=x-small]ooc: ooo, this is interesting. haven't had a thread with three others before. let's do this![/size]

Surra was crouched down, slowly having convinced himself that it was okay to dive in, when suddenly a howl came out of nowhere and a young female burst through the trees. Surra straightened up, fur bristled in surprise, muscles tense. She dived in the water, splashing around, and Surra cocked his head in confusion. He didn't recognize her. At all. And suddenly, she saw him as well. She addressed him, in a strange accent. Surra didn't respond right away, instead looking from her to another, older male he saw in the background, who had not yet spoken. He didn't recognize them, or their scents, and they didn't even have a hint of Bay wolf smell on them. Either they were very, very new, or they were not supposed to be here. "I wouldn't say it is mine," Surra said in a low tone. He was calm, but he knew these wolves weren't supposed to be here, and was trying to discern if he really needed to react violently. "But it does belong to the Stavanger Bay pack, of which I am part of. And I don't recognize you."

At that moment Ragnar appeared, barreling through the trees like a freight train. Surra internally gave a sigh of relief. He challenged the two unfamiliar wolves, and then Surra knew for sure that they were, indeed, trespassers. The thick mane of fur on the back of his neck bristled angrily, making the fairly decently large youth look even bigger, but other than that he did not show anything other than calm as Ragnar's eyes briefly locked with his. He leaped down from his perch in the shallows, taking slow, purposeful steps through the water that came up just past his ankles, to the other side of the pool, opposite Ragnar, so that they had the woman within surrounded. Surra was not one to needlessly fight, but he stood ready, with head lowered, ears back, and muscles tensed to move quickly if he needed to. He did not growl, but his normally calm eyes had turned sharp, and flitted back and forth between the woman and her companion. He would let Ragnar take care of the talking, and though inwardly he wasn't thinking as violent of consequences as Ragnar was, he was ready to back up his alpha without question.

At the mention of Stavanger Bay pack, Ollie promptly splashed her way to the water's edge. "Wait, Stavanger Bay? We didn-" She was cut off by a large and angry wolf's sudden arrival. Her ears plastered themselves onto her head and she lowered herself to the ground. Her ash-colored pelt clung tightly to her frame, making her look even smaller than she was already. The runt juvenile looked more like a pup now.

Her yellow-green eyes widen in fear when he threatened death to her. "Please, m'lord, we didn't mean ter come into your territory, we're sorry!" The waif stammered, feeling tears rushing down her cheeks. She was too young to die; she never saw her first year! They didn't mean to cross onto his territory, if they knew that it was. She and Olor didn't even smell the borders from where they entered. "We was just tryin' ter get in the bloody shade and take a rest before we moved. It's too 'ot fer us. We weren't garn ter 'unt anyfing. 'onest!"

Olor growled in surprise when the wolf said they were trespassing. He was going to go clamp his jaws into Ollie's scruff when another wolf barrelled into the area. He growled at the approaching wolf, placing himself in front of Ollie. If it would come to a fight, he would defend Olivia with his dying breath.

He mentally berated himself when he realized they must have crossed on their way towards this pool. They were both distracted with the task of finding shade and solace for a brief time that they could have crossed it without realizing. Cursing silently, he flattened his ears to the threatening wolf and lowered his head, but did not take his gaze off of the platinum wolf. Olor could not give them a good reason to let them go without punishment, but if he wanted to kill them, then he would try his best to communicate to them to let little Ollie go.

Alisha I went ahead and sent you a PM. :-)

The show of submission, the lowering of the girl’s body was satisfactory but it did not serve to pacify the scarred Northman. The fact of it was that they had trespassed and showing him respect and submission wasn’t going to excuse it. It smothered his anger in some small forms but it did not ebb the territoriality that he felt with every pulse he felt as his blood surged hotly through his veins. The male’s growl as he placed himself in front of the growl earned him a seething and sharp glare from the Alpha. As far as Ragnar was concerned he held no right to growl when they had been ignorant enough to trespass in the first place. Ragnar was within his rights to do what he saw fit to them. There was a consequence for trespassing and he was not a soft man to let it go with a slap on the wrist. If that was what they were hoping for they had trespassed on the wrong territory. His look was intended to silence as he contemplated the options he was willing to give.

The girl began to babble in what Ragnar assumed was fear, and he listened in stoic silence. Sorry didn’t cut it. Not by a long shot. “I do not understand how you didn’t smell our urine all over our borders. We just claimed this land and I know, for a fact that the scent is very strong.” Their borders were well marked and equally as well guarded. They had managed to slip in past the putrid urine marks that lined the entirety of their borders. To have it be considered that some part of the borders was unmarked was ludicrous and insulting to the Viking who was surprised he even still retained the ability to relieve himself after the constant strain of forcing himself to urinate to mark them thoroughly in the first place.

The more the girl spoke the less Ragnar was able to understand her. With English as his second language her accent and slurring and cutting off of words made it hard for him to understand what she was saying. His gaze flickered to Surra for a split second before it rested back upon the two intruders, as he wondered if Surra could make out her words. Considering he could barely understand her reason, though he was guessing it had something to do with the heat, nevertheless, it wasn’t one he would consider good. Stavanger Bay wasn’t free territory anymore. They had made a mistake, yes, but all mistakes held consequences. If he didn’t force them to learn from this one then they would never learn. In that way he saw them almost like children.

“Tell me child,” The scarred man addressed her mainly, if because her older companion offered no words. “What do you think I should do with you, hmm? What do you think your punishment should be?” Ragnar inquired, hoping that he could make sense of her answer. He had softened his tone to address her having realized that she was, essentially, just a child. A juvenile. He had a softness for kids even if he wasn’t sure how to handle little ones such as his own; luckily death would not be in the Seer’s runes for her. He did not kill children, and he was reminded of how easily this could be one of his own children someday facing up to a mistake they made. The platinum Viking had a few ideas of what punishment he could give them but if she had an idea he was willing to listen.

As the female began to make excuses and try to explain herself, Surra noticed how small she really was. He hadn't really looked at her closely, and now realized how young she must be - a juvenile at best. The so far silent male moved in front of her, and Surra began to think. They were trespassers, and there were consequences to that - he knew from his time as a loner, after a close call being too close to a pack's borders, to be extra careful to avoid that conflict. But... he wasn't sure about punishing such a young girl. Especially not with death. The older male who seemed to be protecting her, maybe he deserved that fate, but then she would be without a caretaker, it would seem. He looked at Ragnar as he spoke of the fresh borders, sounding insulted that his recent hard work had been challenged by the prospect of their being an unmarked section. He nodded once in curt agreement, and his hackles did not lower, nor did his stance visibly change - but the young male was chewing his tongue.

“Tell me child, what do you think I should do with you, hmm? What do you think your punishment should be?” Surra inwardly sighed with relief, as he heard Ragnar's tone soften just a touch. It seemed like the death threat was off the table. Surra made a low chuff in agreement and partly as a reminder of his presence should the unfamiliar male think for a moment that Ragnar was without back up, but otherwise continued to stay quiet, standing in the shallows with his body ready for a quick movement. He realized should a fight start, he would first have to dash around the edge of the pool or dive in to get to the side with Ragnar and the quiet male, but he decided to remain where he was so that he could stop any attempt that the unfamiliar pair might make to run.

Ollie wanted to smack Olor for stepping in front of her and growling at the wolf. Olor, ya bloody idiot! Wot 're ya doin'?! she wanted to hiss. But the platinum wolf made her lapse into silence when he spoke to her, asking her what she thought their punishment should be.

The ash-furred youngling thought for a moment. What could they do so they wouldn't be harmed? There was always servitude for a while. She remembered that certain crimes back in Bethnal Green would have to serve a gang for a while, depending on what they did. It wouldn't be so bad, right. Right? "I fink...I fink we should serve ya for a bit ter make it up..."

Olor kept his eyes trained on the angered wolf. For the moment he was ignored, the wolf keeping his gaze on Ollie. He took this time to scan the area for more of these "Stavanger Bay" wolves. The one on the top of the waterfall chuffed, reminding him of his presence.

Ollie made the decision to serve as servants to the pack for an indefinite period of time. He wasn't used to the idea. His pack never kept prisoners; they either punished or killed those who broke their laws. The mute supposed that they did something like that at Bethnal Green, for there would be no other reason for Ollie to know of such a thing.

So since I titled them up today that means on July 15th they'll be free to go. :-)

Ragnar received no answer in regards to how they had not scented the rank urine markings of a brand new, freshly minted claimed pack lands and though it served to annoy the Jarl he let it go for the simple fact that he had too. He could not make them give him a response when, in reality, they already had. It would have been redundant but nevertheless he still didn’t understand. He sincerely doubted there was an area of their borders they left unmarked so he summed it up to the fact to what was the only apparent reason to him: their noses must have either been broken or not working correctly. Or, he added as an after thought, they just hadn’t cared. Perhaps Stavanger Bay, Ragnar considered, was not the first they had trespassed on. Perhaps they were simply so used to trespassing and getting away with it that they thought the Bay would bestow them the same courtesy. They wouldn’t. Or, at the very least Ragnar wouldn’t and since he was the Jarl his word was the law. In a way this thought was strange because he was used to having to restrain himself for Pump's sake, but her death had bestowed him the freedom he had desired from his ball and chain that had kept him compliant to her word despite that most of the time he had disagreed with her leniency. Death was not how Ragnar had wanted to break free of the ball and chain, and certainly not with hers at that but nothing could be done about it.

Ragnar was silent as the girl spoke, taking a long moment to dissect her words even though her speech was incredibly hard for the Nord to understand. It was cut off English, or perhaps it was just her accent but, again, he struggled with it despite his fluency in the common tongue. He was fairly confident, however, he got the gist of her suggestion, if only because it was similar to his own thoughts. He had considered taking them as his slaves, a practice that was common to his culture and to the Cove, however, keeping them as the Bay’s Captives was a more temporary solution that slavery. Besides, the girl was still just a child. If she had been an adult he would have insisted the slave route given that it was his pack and his judgment to make, however, her obvious youth spared her of being tied to the Viking for the rest of her life, or, until he decided to free her. “My culture has only ever taken slaves,” Ragnar broke his silence with a thoughtful look spared to Surra before his gaze settled back upon them. “However, you, girl, are still a child. I will not take a life of freedom and choices away from you,” Ragnar knew he had a tendency to not want to let his slaves go, forming attachments to them and essentially treating them like family over the months they served him. “Your companion is spared from slavery to the Bay only because he watches over you,” Though the girl looked to be of a capable age to take care of herself. “You will be apart of Stavanger Bay as our captives for punishment of your crime. You will do whatever the Bay wolves ask of you and if you do as you are asked and do not retaliate in two weeks time you will be free to go, or stay as respectable members if you choose,” Ragnar decided, speaking to them. “It is a lesson of humility. Hopefully it will encourage you two to be more vigilant at not just our borders but at the borders of other packs as well.” There were other packs, Ragnar imagined, that wouldn’t care that the girl was a child and would resort to death no questions asked. The girl Ragnar could make an exception for given her age, the male though, surely he was old enough to know better.

With that the Viking fell silent.

[size=x-small]ooc: Alisha, if you would like, Ollie and Olor can either help Surra hunt or help him find and dig his den, your choice. We can either have a thread for that after this one if you're up for it, or say it happens in the background. :) [/size]

Surra watched the scene unfold attentively, showing nothing but calm focus, though internally he was a mix of emotions. The deep, instinctual part of him was angry at the invasion of his pack's territory, while at the same time the part of him that remembered what it was like to be a lone wolf was almost nervous for the two unfamiliar wolves. But his dominant personality of steady calm mediated the two. However, the suggestion the juvenile female made somehow surprised him - he had not thought of that as a possible answer. His ears perked slightly and his eyes turned to his Alpha in the moments of silence between the girl's suggestion and his response.

Ragnar returned his look with a thoughtful gaze after speaking of his culture taking slaves. “However, you, girl, are still a child. I will not take a life of freedom and choices away from you,” Surra did not expect that kind of response from the platinum alpha. Or, maybe he did - Ragnar was a father, and maybe saw his daughter in the position this other girl was in. Surra's head raised slightly as Ragnar further described the terms, his muscles finally relaxing as he walked around the edge of the pool, crossing over near the lower waterfall to the side the other three wolves were on. He doubted the pair would run at this point - the juvenile seemed too afraid of the Head Warden's wrath at this point, at least as far as the young male could guess. If he was in her position, he sure would be afraid, but no one had to know that. He waited for her response, stopping and standing a few feet away from Ragnar. If the two accepted the terms, Surra would turn his gaze to his packmate. "I could use their help, Ragnar." He would say, with a quick sideways glance at the pair.

@Surra Digging a den since Ollie's not a good hunter and Olor is wont to leave her alone.

The waif sighed with relief when the angered wolf relaxed their sentence. His kind only took slaves apparently, but because she was a child and only because of that, they were spared from such a fate. As long as they were under rule of this "Stavanger Bay", they had to listen to everyone. Though Ollie thought this would be a piece of cake, she would most likely backtalk to some of the members of the pack unconciously. She was just raised that way sadly.

The male they met before spoke up, stated he needed their help in something. She perked up then, hoping that these two weeks would go by quickly and without much stress. "Aoight. Wot do ya want us ter do?"

Again he was grateful to have the annoying girl with him. Without Ollie, he might have been a slave in Stavanger Bay or worse: dead. The wolf, who he assumed was alpha of said pack, had had some affection for young wolves. And for that, they would be stuck for two weeks at the shore. He couldn't complain anyway, like he knew Ollie could, so he would obey without question. The male up above by the waterfall said he had something for him, their first task.

Last post for me. :-)

With judgment passed, in a small little form of what resembled the trials the Cove had held against their ‘criminals’ or accused, except the bulk of the pack was missing from it, Ragnar was content with the sentence he had given them. Eyes of Caribbean ice moved from the Bay’s two Captives to Surra when he spoke that he had work to start them on. “Do with them what you will Surra,” The Jarl granted with a nod to his subordinate, before his gaze went back to linger on the two for a few prolonged moments as he spoke, “If they give you any trouble don’t hesitate to call for me.” though this was mainly to Surra it was spoken aloud for their benefit as well. The two weeks would be a painless sentence for them as long as they obeyed and did as they were asked. “I will come find you when the sun begins to set,” The Jarl spoke to the pair, now. “And we will decide where you will sleep.” Ragnar would not have the Captives any where close to his children and they would be under his watchful eye during the night so they would less likely to escape just to prove that he was definitely serious about the punishment and that if would go to any measure to make sure they did not escape. Even maiming if he needed too. Ragnar did not abide by any sort of moral code and would do whatever it took.

With a last glimpse at Surra the Jarl turned and departed, and headed back to his patrols.

[size=x-small]ooc: Last post for me as well, Alisha I'm going to shoot you a PM in a couple minutes. Thanks for the thread, all, I enjoyed this one :)[/size]

Ragnar seemed contented, the wild anger which he had appeared with having mellowed significantly after the passing of his sentence, Surra noted. Still, he was not about to try the Alpha, and that was the reason he had asked his permission to use the captives' help. Ragnar granted that to him with a nod, and as his eyes turned back to the captives, so did Surra's. “If they give you any trouble don’t hesitate to call for me.” the Head Warden said, and Surra briefly turned his eyes back to him and nodded his head in understanding. He only had the slightest concern about the big, quiet male - he looked like a seasoned warrior, but at the same time, none of his movements had been anything other than protective over the juvenile girl. So Surra's instinct told him that these two would not be a problem as long as he didn't threaten the girl - which he had no intention of doing.

Ragnar addressed the two captives one last time, and shot a last glance at Surra before heading off, back to his patrols, Surra supposed. Surra watched him go, hearing the girl's question but letting silence hang in the air for a moment before he turned his calm blue eyes back to the two captives. "Nothing too difficult," Surra said, letting a slight smile flash across his lips as he turned his eyes from the big white male to his charge. "I could use some help digging my den." He nodded to the south, where he intended to find a place at the heart of the territory. The heat of the day had cooled, some, as the confrontation had taken place. It was still hot, but this was almost too perfect - the young, thick-furred male wouldn't have to work himself to the point of heat exhaustion if he had two others to help.

Their temporary alpha departed, his judgement and orders delt. Now he left them with the other wolf, who had something in mind for them. She hoped that it wouldn't be demeaning, what ever they were doing. The male's blue eyes locked on Olor and he smiled. I could use some help digging my den. Ollie hid an exasperation. Oh great. So it begins.

@Surra finished!

The large, nearly his size alpha left them with the male who had something in mind for them both. The blue-eyed wolf held his gaze on him in particular. He needed to have his den dug. Ollie sighed angrily, but he did nothing. There would be no point in complaining in anyway. What was done was done now: they were captives. They had to listen to their superiors. He rose and began walking south where the wolf had nodded.