Valentine frowned up at the tree. He eyed it from top to bottom, side to side, and then frowned deeper. After a beat he stalked around the tree's wide base and then stopped once he reached the please he started. He frowned so deeply his face hurt.

The tree didn't belong and he swore it hadn't been there the last time he'd walked by this spot. For starters it was a spruce in a fruit orchard. But what was really weird, perhaps even a little alarming, were the colorful, reflective orbs that hung from its fragrant branches. He could see his distorted reflection in them and it, the strangeness of the whole thing, was a touch unnerving.

Valentine did have to admit one thing, though. The tree was rather pretty.

Peggy was on a rare trip outside pack lands, something she hadn't done much since Shaye had taken over. Partly it was because she was actually busy for once, doing "patrols" along the border though she really had no idea how to be a real member of a pack. She thought she got the idea pretty well though - wander along the border to make sure there was no trespassers. She hadn't quite grasped that she should help renew the scent markers, but then, they didn't really need the help with how often Rhyme was on patrol. Peggy actually actively avoided his patrols, so she could tell.

And partly it was out of a deep-seated concern for Corvus. His mother had all but disappeared, and Peggy knew it was because she was holed up in her den sick, which was a very unhealthy thing to be doing. Cor was worried, Peggy knew, and probably more than a little scared. So she'd been sticking around pack lands for him as well, to give him gentle encouragement and support and love. She wanted to just tucked him under her protectively like a mama hen with her chicks so that nothing could hurt him, but she did understand that he needed to face the world on his own four legs. He was showing a determined effort to learn to fight, and Peggy was so proud of him. But he needed space and independence to be himself, so she needed to not smother him with her mothering.

That was what led her to take a trip this direction. She'd run into the border of a pack a little bit ago, and had tried to scoot around it only to end up walking the no-man's-land between the borders of two packs instead, and had finally scooted down here to this land full of a riot of trees and bushes and vines. She'd never seen anything like it. And rounding a corner of a broken-down fence covered in grape vines, she stopped short at seeing an even stranger sight - a tall, regal wolf staring at a pine tree, of all things, covered in bright reflective... things that were like fake apples.

After her initial surprise, Peggy didn't hesitate. She popped right up beside the male, her own gaze fixed on the tree. "Wow!" she exclaimed, darting one paw forward to poke at a shiny round thing. It wobbled, sending her reflection swinging across it's surface. "Did you do all this? Why? What's it for?" It was a really pretty effect, and it made her grin delightedly, but was that the only reason someone would have to decorate a tree? It seemed like a lot of work to go to.

Valentine was still warily inspecting the tree when an exuberant voice at his elbow nearly made him jump out of his skin. After recovering he side-eyed the perky little thing. She was much too chipper for his taste. And he hated being startled.

He was a touch too slow when she reached out to poke one of the orbs but he swatted at her paw anyway. "Quit it," he growled. "I didn't do anything and I don't know what they do. For all we know that paw's gonna fall off now."

"Pfft." Peggy made a skeptical sound, but she eyed her paw warily. It wasn't really going to fall off, she was sure. But... well...

She dragged her gaze off the paw and wrinkled her nose at the tall man, going so far as to dare stick her tongue out at him teasingly. "Well, you touched my paw so how do you know that your paw won't fall off now too? We can just both hobble around with three legs. Bet I'm faster on three legs than you will be." She chuckled, a soft burbling noise. "You know, 'I didn't do anything' is what a pup says when it's done something wrong and doesn't want to admit it. Now I know this was all your doing."

Teasing aside, she shifted her gaze back to the tree and added softly, "I wonder why anyone would go through all this trouble?"

Valentine listened with growing alarm as the little woman with suspiciously Destruction-esque markings continued to speak as quickly and cheerfully as a child. Wow he did not have the patience for this.

His eyes, which had widened slightly in alarm, narrowed. If he wanted to rebut her statement he was gong to have to get down on her level. "I smacked the back of your paw. Unless those cooties climbed all the way around you're the only one losing anything today." Except maybe patience. He might lose that.

"You know, only pups reach out and touch weird shit like that, so there's that too." Was he being childish for pointing that out? Yeah. Did he care? No.

Valentine's gaze also went back to the tree, but that was where their similarities ended. "Maybe they just like fucking with others."

"Hmm." The thoughtful sound she made at his childish rebuttal showed only amusement, and despite the somber face she pulled as she inspected her doomed paw, her mismatched eyes twinkled with a mischievous light. "Isn't that a pity? Oh well, I'm sure I'll still get around better on three legs than you do on four," she teased. Her attention was being drawn despite herself from the glittering display on the tree to the crochety, battered old warrior instead. She scootched closer. "You think so?" Her voice was mildly interested in the idea. "I don't know, that seems like a silly reason to do that much work. Hey, is that another one?" Glancing around his chest, she pointed past him with her doomed paw, then, casually unconcerned with whether he'd been fooled by her distraction, wiped the paw on his chest. "Oh well," she said, heaving a dramatic sigh. "I guess we're both doomed."

""

Oh god did her cheerfulness ever plateau? The woman oozed gaiety and frankly, Valentine hated it. If she randomly burst into song Valentine would consider it his civic duty to murder her and bury her under the christmas tree. For the good of the people or whatever.

Had his eyes not already been narrowed, her remarks would have caused them to, but, seeing as they were thanks to her last comment, Valentine simply fixed her with a baleful expression. "Oh yeah? How about on two legs?" he asked irritably.

When she scooted closer he eyed the space between them pointedly and very nearly scooted away. What stopped him was her voice. Whether he liked it or not, she had his full attention and he couldn't help but listen to her. Valentine fell for her ploy hook, line and sinker, and let his gaze trail after the spot she was pointing at. He didn't realize what she was doing until he felt her paw across his chest.

Instantly he was furious. It was a small, trivial thing, but she'd still made a fool of him.

Quick as a viper he snapped at her raised paw in the hopes of seizing it. If successful he intended to drag her in front of him (moving parallel to his chest) and fling her into the snow at his feet. It was about time she lost some joy.

The big male did not take kindly to being teased.

As she was pulling back her paw, he moved so quickly that at first she didn't realize what happened, just suddenly felt the pinch of teeth around her slender wrist and then, just as suddenly, she was flung to the ground in front of the male. With her unable to catch herself the force of slamming into the ground knocked the wind out of her. She lay there for a moment, stunned and wheezing, as it sunk in.

"Too late," she wheezed out, irrepressibly. "We're already doomed."

She flopped back dramatically on her side as though dead, trying to catch her breath, but almost immediately lifted her head again to peek up at him. The round eyes that stared up at the big male were filled not with fear but with a shining avarice. "Teach me to do that!" she gasped out, half plea and half demand. "You moved so fast! That's amazing, I've never seen anyone as big as you move that fast and you're so..." she stopped a beat, rethinking her first impulse to say 'old' given his clearly crotchety attitude. "...Experienced," she finished in a lame attempt at tact. She shook her paw absently, flinging droplets of blood unnoticed from where one of his teeth had broken the skin. She'd managed to catch her breath, but remained sprawled where she was, eyes shining as she stared up at the male in what was obviously the seed of hero-worship.

Maybe his joints were bothering him and that was why he was so grumpy. She could fix that! She'd fix him up and he'd be pleased and grateful and of course he'd consent to teaching her how to be a great warrior. That was absolutely what would happen and not... him eating her or anything.

""

Valentine took in the girl's wheezing with no small amount of satisfaction. If that didn't exorcise whatever chipper spirit possessed her-

Goddamn.

She managed to squeak out another comment which earned an irritable growl from the old king. "Some closer to the grave than others," he threatened casually.

His ears slammed flat when she demanded to be taught the move that had landed her on the ground. Oh, hell no. The very thought horrified him.

And you're so..." He squinted at her, his expression promising he'd be offended if she chose the wrong word. "Experienced." Knowing full well what she'd probably been thinking (because he'd thought it too!) he refused to take that as a compliment and instead huffed irritably, his mouth opening in what looked like the beginnings of a 'no.'

He then seemed to reconsider. Valentine froze and cocked his head slightly. A few seconds passed as his expression grew more thoughtful and open...and then in an instant it was flat and dismissive, and quite clear that had been his reaction all along. "No,"  he sniped before walking around to the other side of the tree. "Now beat it or I'll show you what else I can do."