She had heard stories of Valentine. He was her grandfather, the alpha of Imperium, and a formiddable opponent in battle. He sieged multiple packs, leading his wolves into victory again and again. And, apparently, he was a very grumpy old man. Lyra felt it was beyond time to meet him, as she had left to explore before she had the chance. A smile played at the edge's of Lyra's lips as she approached an old human thing, which she had been told was her grandfather's den. She'd been warned that her grandfather was a little snippy, but that warning would in no way persuade her not to come... the only question was, to play a trick, or to actually just politely call out?

With the midday sun rising she decided to take the safe route: respect. It was a rare occurrence for her, but one she made willingly. She was too curious to want to piss of Valentine right now... that could come later. But for now, she called out quietly, "Grandfather?"

Valentine's ears flicked as a young voice reached his ears. Grandfather, huh? Just how many grandchildren did he have running around now? He certainly didn't mind the numbers, but it would be nice to meet them all at once so he wasn't constantly having the break in the latest one to show up.

The old king shimmied partway out of the way out of the den so that his head and forelegs were out but the rest of him was still underground. He took in the young wolf's mottled, unnaturally colored coat. A few years ago he'd have sneered at such a gaudy creature, but since two of his children had to go off and knock up brightly colored wolves and half of his grandkids now sported those coats...eh, what could he do besides adapt?

"Yeah, kid? Let me guess." He squinted at her. "Chaos?" If she was expecting him to run out and fawn over her she was going to be disappointed. He had oodles of grandkids. The arrival of another (grown) one wasn't cause for celebration. It was just another everyday occurrence for him. As was having them prank him. Valentine had decided to make an example out of the next kid that tried to fuck with him.

Huh, he actually answered her call. Color her surprised, for she wasn't really actually expecting that. She stared at the man whom she'd heard so much about - and despite his age, he still looked formidable. Unlike a lot of the elder wolves she had seen in her travels, he was not shrunken, weak, and skeletal. Which was... good, because that was something her mind refused to picture of the man. His mannerisms, though - that she expected, and his guess at her father made her grin. "That easy to tell, eh?" Whether it was her looks, or maybe he noticed how weird her paws looked - not like a normal wolf's at all - or maybe something else gave it away, it was amusing nevertheless.

"You were somewhat of a legend growing up, once I started living with my father. I grew up hearing stories, so I figured I'd like to meet the man in my family who centered in most of them." She said this matter-of-factly; there was no extra worshipping, or grovelling when this was said. It was just how it was. "I will say though, I'm REALLY glad you don't look like a bag of bones like so many others do, you look like you could still kick ass." She paused here, eyeing the old man, and hoping that her bluntness there didn't get her ass kicked. An idea bloomed in her head - one that didn't hit her until just now; would he be willing to teach her? She wasn't sure if she should ask yet, so she held her tongue... for now.

Ha, knew it. Not that it had been hard to guess. Valentine was fairly certain he'd met all of Angelus' kids which left only Chaos, unless one of the others had knocked up or gotten knocked up by someone with an unnatural coat. "How many brightly colored wolves could there possibly be out there?" he asked dryly. How they managed to survive was beyond him. How Jupiter had made it to the Orchard as a yearling without starving to death was a mystery to him.

Valentine seated himself at the entrance of his den and wrapped his tail around his paws. The winter was unkind to him and he struggled to keep warm. Which of course didn't help his naturally cantankerous mood.

Secretly he was flattered she'd heard stories about him but he wasn't about to say that out loud. Instead he harrumphed and studied her. As for him not being a bag of bones... "You and me both," he said dryly. "And don't you be getting any ideas, deary. I don't just look like I can; I can and I will."

She snorted at his words. "Honestly, probably way too many. I'm sparkly and pretty, but it gets damned annoying sometimes." At least, when trying to sneak around unnoticed. It's kinda hard to miss the black, blue and green aurora-colored wolf. Being able to be in the trees made hunting easy, however; many animals didn't look up, until it was way too late and they were moments from death. Made it simple for her, however.

Her head cocked to the side at his response, and she grinned. "But what if my idea is for you to do just that?" she prompted. As in, to kick her ass... and teach her in the meantime. Sure, she could fight tooth and claw, blindly and energetically - but that wasn't strategic, and that wasn't going to stand up to any wolf who had experience, and she knew that.

Valentine harrumphed again. She was taking all the fun out of picking on her before he even had a chance to. Kids these days. Fun suckers, all of them.

He scowled at her when she insinuated that he should fight her and presumably teach her. Ain't nobody got time for that. She needed to find some young, patient teacher who didn't mind uppity kids because he sure as hell did. Her father, for example, had been, ahem, taught by the best. He'd make a fine teacher.

The old king quirked a brow at her, his expression both playful and pithy. "Then you're shit outta luck because I like being contrary."