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 Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 7:25 am
 Svana tried to ignore the wobble that threatened to upset her belly. Never before had she been nervous, at least not this nervous. For all he rplanning, all her careful consideration, all her work.. Everything could be discarded in the blink of an eye if the Warlord said no. Refusing to show her nerves she walked along with her head held high, eerily pale eyes fixed ahead. She ahd no idea what the Warlord may ask of her, but she knew Lucivar was near by. He had said he would come forward if Ruszki asked for his opinion or recomendation, since he was essentially backing her on her captaincy attempt. But for now it was just her.
Looking further long the path she wondered if she were too early... better early than late however, and she would not mind waiting. Even if it would make her stomach more unsettled. Still, it was a good excitment that tingled through her. Hopefully this was the day she would realise her ultimate dream.
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 12:06 pm
 These things never came as a surprise to the warlord, thankfully. They were always arranged in advance, so as to be convenient to him. Still, he knew that even if every second had been scripted, he would still be a little bit anxious about what would come next. Every captain appointed was a warrior who would one day be in a position to take his position from him, and might someday choose to exercise their right to do so.
"Svana...Brenningsdottir?" he greeted the pale-eyed lioness as he approached. Goodness her name was a mouthful, although he'd certainly heard worse. "It is a good day to die."
He waited, then, adding nothing further. She could speak next, or not, as she chose. She was, no doubt, aware of why they were meeting, so it wasn't as if he could do too much to make her sweat. The worst thing he could do would be to refuse to confirm her as a captain, and he could see no reason to do that. Anyone he'd asked who actually knew who she was had told him that she and her brother had devoted themselves to becoming the best reavers they could be since cubhood. She deserved this.Tanakako I just re-found this RP. I am so so sorry it's taken me this long to get to it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 1:28 pm
Lifting her head as she heard the Warlord approch, the young female dropped down into a low bow of recognition. Her vividly bright tail tip twitching behind her being the only visible sign of her nervousness as she straightened again, pale silver eyes fixing on the big male before her boldly, yet with respect.
"It is, Sir." She replied, answering both his query over her name and his greeting together, her attention focused on the dark-hued Warlord. Pausing she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say next. For all her preparation, planning and careful manoeuvring to reach this point, she had completely failed to research just how this meeting was supposed to go. Taking a deep breath she met the Warlord's gaze squarely and steeled her resolve, and her nerve.
"I have come to express my wish to be confirmed as a Captain of the Stormborn. I have trained hard and have gathered extensive experience out on Vikings under Captain Lucivar." Biting her tongue to stop herself from rambling, something she had never done before, she forced herself to fall silent, waiting to see his reaction.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 1:47 pm
Ruzski couldn't help but be amused by Svana's show of obeisance. Bowing was...not something he got a lot of. In fact, when he'd first come to the pride, he had bowed to people, as his mother had taught him to do, and he had mostly been laughed at for it. It hadn't taken him long to unlearn that habit, although it still lingered in the form of long nods.
And a "sir!" Oh, she definitely came from outlander blood, the warlord thought to himself, his mirth showing just a little bit around the edges of his green eyes. From what he remembered, both her parents had been born and raised in the pride, but both sets of their parents had been outlanders. He wondered briefly which prides they had come from originally, but wasn't curious enough to ask.
"I see," he said, deciding to be laconic for the time being, just because he didn't have many opportunities to mess with people anymore, and this was one of the ways he enjoyed doing so. Besides, it was traditional to try to rattle newly promoted captains.
"Tell me what a captain should do to ensure a successful viking for their band," Ruzski commanded her.
There was no wrong answer here, since it wasn't actually the warlord's job to instruct captains in how to do their jobs. Honestly, as long as they didn't pose a direct threat to him or his loved ones, Ruzski had no plans to interfere in any captain's activities and cared not at all about their methods in the rogue lands.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 2:20 pm
Svana didn't often show any habits that weren't classically Stormborn, but when her nerves were as strained as they were right then, sometimes a few old habits slipped through. She had the influence not only of her fairly distant outlander blood, but the far more direct influence of both her parents thrall Txuratan, and Lucivar's right-hand reaver Erlendr, an outlander lion who's manner of speaking still confused her at times, mostly when he talked too fast for her to translate it. But he was the Captain's best tracker and Svana had worked closely with him for some time, learning the Outlander's skills and seeking to perfect them. While she had been somewhat successful, Erlendr appeared to possess a sense of the land and air that was almost mystic, reminding her strongly of the Pristess Ember and her otherworldly mannerisims.
Ears twitching she listened to the Warlord attentively. She had expected to be quizzed so she wasn't overly perturbed by his question. Answering after a brief pause to order her thoughts. "A Captain should have prior knowledge of a suitable location, preferably from having sent out a scouting party a few days before the planned Viking, or at the very least have reliable reports of a possible target. They should also make sure their band is balanced. Two or three strong fighters, a tracker and a scout. Some form of air support is useful but not nessassary. The fighters should work well together, and each member needs to know their role in the raid from start to end. It is also useful if one of them has some healing skills, enough that a badly wounded lion can make it back to the pride where a true healer can be summoned." Pausing she considered what she had said, satisfied that she had answered truthful and to the best of her knowledge. Whether or not it was the answer he was looking for, she had no idea. But it was the only answer she had for him.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2016 5:24 pm
Ru listened to the young reaver as she spoke, giving an answer that sounded very careful, but at least didn't seem rehearsed. Not that he would have had a problem with a prepared answer, per se, but he preferred to have the new captains feel a little caught out. Just to amuse himself.
"Hm," was all he said in response to her answer, giving little sign what, if anything, he thought of it.
He remained silent a few moments longer and then his curiosity got the better of him, although he did his best to make it seem like his next question wasn't anything out of the ordinary: "Describe how you would make use of air support."
Honestly, it wasn't something he'd ever had on a viking, and it had never occurred to him as a possibility. But then he recalled vaguely that Lucivar had a son who had come to the Stormborn from a pride that kept pet birds or something strange like that. Maybe that's where the practice had come from. He wondered how hard it would be to train a bird to be useful. Probably not as hard as it would be to train the rest of the pride not to eat it.
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 4:29 am
She watched him, unable to judge what he thought of her from his lack of response to her answer. It was a little disturbing, actually it was nerve wracking, but she kept her expression carefully schooled and forced the snakes in her belly to quit squirming. No way was she failing at this last hurdle. She would be a Captain.
His next question surprised her, and yet she knew it shouldn't. The stormborn were not known for their use of familiars, and she hated to give Ragnvard any credit for the idea, but it had been his bird she had first spotted during one of the few unfortunate times she had run into the nasty male.
"Birds can be trained to fly along with a Viking, they can see a lot further than a lion on the ground and can warn of ambush, obsticles or a target." As yet she hadn't been able to coax a bird into talking to her, let alone work with her. But it was something she hoped to achieve in the future. After all Ragnvard had managed to tie a bird to him, she would be able to do it too, and better than him. Haki didn't seem to like the rust red Captain. Any bird Svana worked with would do it because they wanted to, not because they had to.
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Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:17 am
"As you say."
Ru had already considered some of the points Svana offered for how a bird's aerial perspective might be useful, but he was still unclear on how one convinced a bird to be of use anyway. Any bird sensible enough to be useful would probably also possess the sense to avoid lions, even lions promising not to eat them, because they'd have to be pretty dumb to believe that.
"I think you'll do well for the pride," he said after another stretch of silence. "Congratulations, Captain Svana. I look forward to the sending off for your first viking."
He grinned now, having done his bit as the stern warlord. At this point he was delivering good news, and that always improved his mood.
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Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:33 am
Having been fairly sure her answers had been good ones, the simple reply still gave her no hint as to how the meeting was going. Her stomach churned over at the thought of her request being denied, though she couldn't think of a viable reason for him to refuse her, he didn’t really need one, he was after all, the Warlord.
So when he suddenly smiled, expression changing from the implacable sternness of a leader into something somewhat more approachable, she took a moment to actually digest what he had said.
I did it? She blinked at him, pale eyes wide, her hope, so carefully controlled in case there was disappointment, took a moment to rise in her breast and bubble free, lighting up her pale gaze with joy, and she shot the Warlord a vibrant, triumphant grin.
I did it! Schooling herself with effort she couldn’t stop beaming, pride filling her even as she struggled to retain her serious manner. And not really caring that she was failing.
"Thank you, Warlord. You wont regret it." Her grin had broadened, barely able to contain her glee and the not so small amount of relief that swirled in her stomach. Bobbing her head in a polite bow she turned and hurry-walked back down the path, swiftly giving into her excitement and breaking into a run. She had to tell Kekäle!
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Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 8:29 am
Ru watched the lioness's expression shift and realized how carefully she had been holding herself before. So he had gotten to her a little. That tickled him. Putting new captains through the ringer a little bit also meant that they would experience a real rush of elation when he let them off the hook, and so associate the memory with a strong positive feeling. At least, that was his hope, and a part of why he made an effort to put would-be captains on edge until he revealed that he'd approved their promotion.
"I don't expect to," he replied. After all, she'd been trained by Lucivar, and Ru knew well that the captain was good at what he did, and far better at training up reavers than many in the pride.
He watched her depart and smiled before making his own way back to his den and his healer wife.
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