Stavanger Bay Where do people like us float

ooc: @Charon - Hedda is lurking near the borders

Hedda had been close to this pack before - when she had first caught the familiar scent of her former leader and his kin, her heart had leaped in joy. For her journey - as long and hard as it had been - had not been in vain. She had found, what she had been looking for, what her master had aided to find. Him being a dweller of the great waters it was easier to do so. He had seen the king of the lands here long before Hedda had been ordered to go anywhere.

Of course, you don't come for a visit, if you don't have a gift. Even though she had started out empty handed and remembered about this type of common courtesy only later, she had found a good one too. Because of the weather being warmer and the sun graced the lands more often, many crawlers and critters emerged from the underground to enjoy the beginning of spring. So, it was no coincidence, when the dark she-wolf found a viper, curled up on a stone, sleeping with it's eyes open.

Killing a snake - especially if it was a poisonous one - was a task that required careful planning and certain amount of strategy, where quick action was combined with precise strikes.

thanks for starting ^^

Charon was patrolling the borders when he noticed the black wolf. He did not notice any snake, though saw that she seemed focussed on something. Paying it little mind, the young adolescent curled his tail over his back and lifted his head up high in dominance as he strode over to the black female wolf, making it clear that it was expected to have proper respect returned.

"Who are you and what're you doing here?" the young Naturalist asked her, still completely unaware of the presence of a snake -- now close to his own paws -- his focus fully on the black wolf in front of him.

It was a rule that the most careful planning was interrupted by someone, who had no idea and therefore no respect to what you were doing. Hedda would have ignored the fellow, who she heard approaching her, had not the snake, sensing the tremor of the ground lifted it's head, uncurled and begun to slide away. The dark wolf cursed under her breath and cast an annoyed gaze at the daring young wolf, who - in a manner that suggested that the whole world belonged to him - asked her, who she was and what she was doing here. Of course, it was his right, her being so close to his home. On the other hand... she had not trespassed or done anything bad. Yet.

"Watch out," she told him, beckoning to the small reptile making it's way to safety. And what a coincidence - not far from, where the white fool was standing. "It's poisonous," she added, "in case you don't know that already."

The wolf seemed focussed on something else, paying little attention to Charon. It irritated the boy, who felt important and, moreover, wanted to feel important more than anything. The adolescent opened his mouth to say something when the wolf suddenly said something to warn him. As the stranger beckoned to the ground, Charon followed her gaze and saw the snake on the ground. He nearly jumped into the air, as he'd been completely unaware of the snake being there at all, and it seemed very sudden for it to be at his feet.

Adding that the snake was poisonous did not help at all. Charon hadn't happened upon that many snakes in his life -- that he knew of, anyway, because apparently they were pro at hiding -- and he stared at the snake, petrified. "Well, what are you waiting for?! Get it away from me!" Charon called out to the stranger, snippier than he intended because he was terrified and wanted the snake to leave him alone. He was afraid though that if he would move suddenly, it would only attack him, so he remained petrified in place while his highly carried tail started to droop down as his focus shifted. The snake was slithering away from him, but Charon remained petrified, too afraid to startle it and draw out an attack to feel safe.

People... Hedda shook her head, while feeling amused by the youngster's fear. Compare him to the snake - it was as if the giant was afraid from an ant. Alright, this was a bit of exaggeration, but still. To enjoy the sight of how the over-confidence that had guided the youth's actions mere minutes before left him at the very sight of the small reptile, she didn't do anything right away. Fear and horror of others was, what made her day. And this seemed to be a very good one, because she had actually managed to scare someone.

When it grew boring (a minute or two later), Hedda got to her feet and went over to the snake lazily. After eyeing it in a bored manner, she raised one of her forepaws and then with a swift movement placed it right, where it's neck (if you can call it that) started, pressing the viper firmly to the ground, so that it was unable to move or bite. "You know that snakes never invade our homes - we do that constantly. Therefore, before I let it go, it would be nice, if you apologized to it," she told him, while looking down at the snake with merciless gaze.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" snapped Charon; he would normally not mind trying to grab it, but it was so close to him now that he thought any move might make the snake attack him, so he did not. Finally the other wolf, the stranger, put a paw on the snake's neck, and Charon waited for her to off it... But she did not. Instead, she just stood and looked at him, and said something dumb.

Charon's tail curled back onto his back and he moved away from the snake, making sure that it would be of no threat to him anymore. His heckles raised, he said, "Get out of here, now." Charon felt utterly ridiculed by her suggestion he should apologise to a snake and the fact she waited so long before she had taken the snake's danger away from him, a respected member of Stavanger Bay. The freckled adolescent bared his teeth to empower his statement.

To be true, even though Hedda admired snakes and her master occasionally took a form of one, she did not like them much personally. She thought that even with their ability to kill or considerably harm a creature that was many times their size, they were despicable and low beings. Not capable of rational thought. Unless, of course, someone posessed them. Had it not been for the sheer wicked wish to annoy the haughty young wolf, she would have killed it already. Or... simply let it go and ignore it entirely.

"You are not very polite," Hedda stated and then looked down at the snake that was lying unmoving beneath her paw, but not dead yet. "What is that you say, darling?" she crooned, appearing to listen to something the reptile was telling her. "Are you sure? Very well..." she sighed and lifted the paw, letting the snake slide away. "It was your lucky day, young one - it didn't take offence, but you should be careful about the way you treat the inferiors," she smiled, though this expression looked odd on her features and made her appear even more hideous than she already was. "You never know, when they will strike back."

"So, this pack you are from, does a name Ragnar sounds familiar to you?" she changed the subject of the conversation, for she had other reasons to be here too.


ooc: I know that this thread is outdated, but I would like to stay it in the same timeline, which means that at this point Ragnar is still alive.

no problem :)

Charon quickly drew the conclusion that this wolf was batshit crazy. At first she responded by his command and threat by casually telling him he wasn't polite, making Charon feel more ridiculed, and then she like, talked to the snake, or something. Conclusion: She was crazy. When she told Charon to respect his inferiors more, he let out a sneer and said, "Whatever, it's just a dumb ole' snake." He rolled his eyes, not intending to become a weirdo and talk to snakes instead of chasing them off, like her. "Or did you mean yourself when you mentioned my inferior?" Charon said, deciding to continue the fight with words rather than dominance since she didn't seem too phased by the latter. Maybe this would work.

When she asked about Ragnar, though, Charon was distracted from his original task of chasing off the stranger. "Ragnar? Why, who's asking? What do you want with him?" She had never answered his question about her name and reason to come here.

The fellow was so full of himself that Hedda rightfully (according to her) wished that this young buck got his ass kicked and his pride stamped in the ground. Preferably... soon. Too bad Hedda was not the fighter-type and her means of bringing punishment to those, who dared to insult her, included them never finding out, who was to blame for the harm. In other words - this guy would either suffer horrible pain or die still believing he was great and awesome and not feeling the slightest amount of "I am not that cool as I imagined". Life was unfair like that, but well...

She let his snarky comment about her being his inferior pass, showing indifference to his verbal insult, however, her eyes lit up, when the fellow unknowingly let it slip that he - in fact - knew Ragnar. Well, there had been some use of him at least. "An old acquaintance, that's all," she shrugged. "So, how is his fourth wife doing?" knowing the Jarl's way with women Hedda had no doubt that he would have found a replacement very soon. That's, what he had done the three previous times.

The stranger didn't say much about how she knew Ragnar, other than that he was an acquaintance. Why was she here looking for him if she only knew him a little bit? It didn't make sense; she was probably lying. She still hadn't told him her name, so it made sense she would lie yet again on this matter. Charon decided not to believe a word she told him.

The ugly stranger asked about Ragnar's 'fourth wife', though Charon told himself she must be lying again. All she'd said thus far was pretty much lies or evasions of questions, so why not this? "His mate is fine," Charon answered with narrowed eyes. "Now tell me your name, or I'm gonna run you out of here." He decided to make no mistake this time; last times he had asked the question surrounded by other words and questions; now he demanded to know who stood before him.

Hedda's smile turned into a vicious sneer, when she sensed that the boy was absolutely clueless of his leader's life prior coming here. Sure - past didn't matter, when you started somewhere entirely new, from base zero, on the other hand - did the jarl was really so naive to think that the past would catch up with him sooner or later? That there were taints in his history that were impossible to wash away? She wavered between spilling some juicy details to this fellow now and remaining silent, letting these words seep in and let the doubt grow.

"No need to run me out, I am on my way now, I have got all the information I need," she retreated few steps, in case the young wolf decided to lunge forward. "Give greetings to Ragnar from an old acquaintance, will you?" she asked, without expecting the youth to oblige her request. With that she let out a ghostly laugh and was on her way.

ooc: thank you for the thread! :)

Instead of giving her name, the female chose the option of leaving. Charon snorted when she said that she wouldn't need to be run out because she got the information she needed anyway. When she said to give Ragnar greetings, Charon rolled his eyes. He watched her turn to leave and as she laughed, Charon shouted after her: "How am I gonna pass on greetings if you never gave me your name, you dumb shit!" Charon narrowed his eyes broodily, still angry at the stupid wolf and her stupid snake. The adolescent stood and watched for a short while, before he turned away from the wolf and the borders.

Charon wouldn't tell Ragnar anything, of course, because he didn't even know the wolf's name. Even though he knew she would probably not care too much either way, Charon felt as though he could punish her at least a little bit for not giving her name this way. He continued to patrol along the borders for a little longer, angling back to the borders after a short moment of moping, though Charon found nothing remarkable the rest of the day.