fe-bruary, post tíu: ranulf blather

so I haven't figured out how to turn it into a fic yet

but I do have a vague headcanon about Ranulf having spent a substantial amount of time in one of the beorc nations (probably Crimea or Begnion) as some sort of undercover agent/spy

because like, Ranulf always seems far more perceptive of differences between beorc and laguz cultures than literally anyone else, and is always explaining those differences to everyone

and I also sort of think this may be where he gets a lot of his temperance/rationality/strategic thought—most of the other beast laguz we meet have either a shallow understanding of beorc culture or are just super-aggressive toward them—and there's that weird-ass thing we're given that laguz have a very hard time just abandoning a fight, even if that fight is strategically dumb, something which Ranulf tells us about but which he, himself, doesn't seem to be very affected by.

I mean part of this could obviously be just that he is a Naturally Cunning and Cautious Dude, but I like to imagine that the depth of his knowledge/experience/expertise comes from experience with beorc

and yeah something something interesting tensions between his obvious political savvy placed against Skrimir's bullheadedness and such.