Ragnar wiped the snow from his face and howled in fury, now he knew why this man was the bane of all the other Wolf Lords, he'd heard rumours of the grinning idiot's skills but it still raised his hackles to be turned aside so flippantly, not to mention embarrassingly. Ragnar charged forwards and feinted a swing with his bolt pistol, his opponent reached out an arm to block, apparently falling for the move, then swung it down and neatly intercepted Frost Fang with his own blades, foiled but not finished by far Ragnar lunged forwards and collected his opponent with a shoulder, while slightly smaller than his opponent Ragnar possessed the powers of a Space Marine and the augmenting power of his armour and by pushing upwards during the charge easily lifted his opponent from his feet and shoved him backwards, following quickly with Frost Fang, looking more like dumb luck than the skill Ragnar had been warned of his opponent fell back just out of reach of his blade then stumbled and avoided another strike, he dodged the third strike as well but tripped on is own cloak and went down, Ragnar lunged to make good on the opening but was once again blinded by a face-full of snow and hit nothing. Ragnar swung his blade in a low circle both to force space and relocate his opponent, not a wasted movement because he found him but well out of range and drawing back a handfull of snow ready to fling, Ragnar swayed off to the side and charged, the man whipped his cloak around and sending yet another blinding spray at Ragnar's face, Ragnar both covered his eyes and formed a protective barrier by swinging Frost Fury in front of himself, his sword stopped short and Ragnar dimly heard the ring of metal on metal, just before the grinning face popped into view and collided with his own.
Red Mist descended before Ragnar's eyes and he roared his rage, whipping his training pistol up Ragnar emptied the magazine then threw the weapon for good measure, the result of these attacks was irrelevant, Ragnar was going to cut this fool down then tear his throat out with his own teeth. Frost Fury howled as Ragnar activated it for the first time he lunged with a almighty thrust and even in the depths of his rage Ragnar felt it connect with something, he slashed side to side then swore as the weapon was hauled from his grip. Ragnar swung his fist, following the direction the weapon had been pulled infuriatingly connecting with nothing but air, an arm grabbed him across the chest and Ragnar instinctively fired backwards with an elbow, nothing, then dimly he felt blades press against his throat, Ragnar slammed his fist into the gap between his chest and his opponent's arm, trapping his own arm but preventing the blades from pressing further, Ragnar bucked forwards, hauling his opponent off his feet, only to feel those same feet lock together as his opponent wrapped his legs around Ragnar's torso, preventing him from finishing the throw, Ragnar threw himself over and landed on his back, on top of his opponent but it was pointless, his opponent had held tight, the red mist of rage started to disperse as a black fog of unconsciousness started to creep in.

"That's enough Strifeson, you may let him go" Ranek looked down at the pair "You certainly are the best man for this job...in spite of what your references claim" Ranek grinned as he recalled the scowls that had crossed each Wolf Lord's face at the mention of Lucas 'the jackalwolf' 'the trickster' and 'insolent cur' Strifeson's name and the tirade of curses and anecdotes that followed which had only confirmed Ranek's suspicion that Lukas might be the only Space Wolf with the skills to both consistently enrage Ragnar and survive the encounter.

Ranar hauled himself back to his feet and glared at Lukas, then took a deep breath and grudgingly held out his hand, Lukas raised an eyebrow then spat on Ragnar's outstretched palm. Ragnar surged forwards but Ranek managed to catch him in spite of his own howling laughter. When Ranek's laughter subsided and Ragnar finally cooled down Lukas held out his ow hand.

Lukas wasn't at all used to walking in the shadow of a Wolf Lord, actually he was more used to having them roaring abuse and spitting in his face, he probably knew the Wolf Lord's teeth as well as the Fang's dentists, so he didn't feel truly at ease as he followed Ragnar through the grey halls towards one of the Fang's ale rooms - As he walked he sized up the 'Young King' probably a bit younger than Lukas was when he was inducted into the Wolves the Blackmane had long black hair that made is name almost a pun, was taller than Lukas but probably weighed a bit less, not really important features considering they were the same ones Lukas had observed before their first sparring session, Lukas wanted information on Ragnar as a person and potentially my new ex boss Lukas thought wryly "has anger issues" was the way the Wolf Priest Ranek had described Ragnar, Lukas snorted in disgust, among the Space Wolves who lived with a savage force gnawing at their minds anger issues was about as vague an answer as one could give. The silence dragged as they walked and just as Lukas was about to speak Ragnar beat him to it.

"When Ranek told the Jackalwolf was going to be helping me train I asked him what you were like...he told me to ask the other Wolf Lords"

Lukas frowned, the Wolf Priest bastard was just as vague with a Wolf Lord as he was with a Blood Claw.

Ragnar continued "I went to Krom fir-"

Lucas cut him off "Krom ha-"

Ragnar cut him off right back "Krom hates you? Funny you should mention that, Dragongaze hates everyone. So I asked every other available Wolf Lord you've served under and they all gave such wonderful rants not one bothered to mention just how skilled a fighter you were" Ragnar let the sentence hang between them to make sure Lukas was still paying attention he continued when he saw Lukas' brow furrow "I've faced Wolf Guard who wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance against you...even if I had kept my temper in check I probably would have struggled, if not lost anyway. My question is this - is it so hard to keep your pride in check that you can't go a week without causing trouble? You'd have been promoted to Grey Hunter several times over by now"

Lukas was silent for a moment and just as Ragnar was thinking Lukas was done with the conversation he spoke "Pride? Ranek tells me you struggle to keep your anger in check, you know how I set you off so quick? I didn't poke your anger I poked the pride that keeps your anger in check. You were never a Grey Hunter either so who are you to tell me that I should want to join their ranks? Have you met them, met them as equals or better yet met them as a Blood Claw? Faceless rank and file who act like they're already Wolf Lords. At least as long as there aren't any real Wolf Lords or even Wolf Guard around to put them in their place. Who'd want to be part of that?"

Ragnar grinned as they entered the ale room "I'll buy shout a drink if you'll keep listening?" Lukas raised an eyebrow and Ragnar kept talking "Since you're not spitting on me or leaving I'll take that as a 'yes'"Ragnar Blackmane then turned on is heel and walked away toward the bar.

Lukas flopped down on a bench and looked over at a group of Blood Claws clebrating something or other and generally enjoying each other's company, Lukas wished he could join them but as soon as Ragnar got the drinks he'd join them as well and the festivities would die as everyone endeavored to stay on the Wolf Lord's good side "All of them want to be Grey Hunters" Ragnar said, breaking Lukas' thoughts "Well, mostly they just want to survive but in the back of every decent person's mind is a voice wanting to be better so they can do more" he put a tankard down in front of Lukas "Just think how much more you could do if you were to advance and become a member of the Wolf Scouts, if the other Lord's rants are anything to go by your knack for sabotage is unparalleled." He took a swig of the ale and looked expectantly at Lukas.
"Are you trying to make some kind of deal? I stay out of trouble and you give me a better posting?"
Ragnar leaned in close "Actually my terms are a bit different, I want you to cause trouble, I just want you to do it as an order or a discussed plan rather than off your own back...if I don't agree to it, you don't do it"
Lukas scoffed "Aren't you clever. I agree to these terms and you become the Wolf Lord who tamed 'The 'Laughing one'. You're going to have to do better than that."
With that Lukas drained his tankard and left.
Ragnar seethed and considered following the Blood Claw to beat some sense into him but his com belled a summons to the Great Chamber and Ragnar was forced to momentarily put Lukas out of his mind.