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“I feel like I should talk to HR about this.” Peril sighed, resting her head on one of her talons as she laid on the floor of the Prey Center. Jade Mountain was empty this time of year, many students head home for the holidays and the party for those who stayed hadn’t started yet, so at least Peril wasn’t in the middle of a big spectacle right now. “I guess that would be Sunny.”
“I’m finding this quite amusing actually.” Turtle hummed. “I’ve heard that people cook things over your scales, but this seems a little… excessive." Indeed placed upon Peril was a skillet, it was empty and Clay had left to grab the actual thing he was making, but it was indignifying.
“Why are you even here?” She questioned, hiding her blushing face from her friend. “Don’t you have thirty-one brothers to get back to?”
“Nope,” He replied, popping the P. “I’ve already spent enough holidays with them. So I decided, why not stay and hang out with my best friend. I can’t let Clay have all the fun screwing with you.” He poked her on the snout, and she panicked for a second, before remembering his invulnerability.
“He’s not screwing with me!” She half-shouted at him. “But… thanks. I appreciate you being here, it means a lot.” They shared a brief moment of silence before Clay burst back through the door.
“I’m back!” He announced, lugging a pot he was holding. Peril could hear the water splashing around inside it beneath the lid. “I hope I didn’t keep you in suspense too long.”
“You're fine,” She affirmed, shifting uncomfortably underneath the pan. “Please just tell me what’s in the pot.”
“These,” Clay said as he raised the pot. “Are chestnuts soaked in water.”
Oh no. I’ll never hear the end of this.
Turtle was snickering to himself as soon as Clay said it. He was trying to hide his amusement, but was failing pitifully.
“I see…” Peril said, looking up at Clay as he walked past into the kitchen area. “Did you only need me to warm up the skillet, or do you need me for this whole process?”
“I’ll need your help for this whole process.” He confirmed, beginning to pour the water out of the pot into the disposal. “If it doesn’t bother you.” He almost stuttered the last part as he finally laid on Peril as she was, sprawled out on the floor skillet on her thigh.
“It doesn’t bother me.” She replied. She was never going to say no to Clay, not when he was acting this cute. “It’ll never bother me.”
“That’s good to know.” He muttered, almost absentmindedly as a blush overtook his face. He quickly regained his composure. “Are you ready to start? I’m going to be roasting and tossing these so be warned I might accidentally wack you once or twice.” Peril nodded and Clay tossed some of the chestnuts into the skillet. They made an annoying noise as they sizzled against the hot stove that was Peril.
“Chestnuts roasting on an open Peril.” Turtle teased rhythmically, tapping his claw to the beat of his own parody. “Winter nipping at your snout.”
Clay tossed the chestnuts once, before pausing and turning to Turtle. “Just a heads up, Umber and my sibs will be arriving soon. He’s your clawmate and so if there’s anything you want to hide before he gets here, you should do it now.” Turtle blushed heavily before he stood up and bolted out of the room.
“He’s writing a poem for Umber.” Peril commented. The slight sizzling of the chestnuts became less annoying and fading into the background as they spoke. “He read it to me earlier, it’s a good poem. He must’ve left it out.”
“They won’t actually be here for another couple hours.” Clay revealed, tossing the chestnuts once more. “I just… wanted to be alone with you, but I feel bad lying.”
“That’s…”
“Terrible, I know.”
“I was going to say romantic.” She huffed. They shared a connection, it’s something they both acknowledged, but never labeled. “You seem to forget, I was raised in Scarlet’s royal court. Acts of trickery and manipulation were the highest form of flirting with them.”
“Well, I hope I'm as accommodating to your love language as you are to mine.” The Mudwing said, his nose twitching as a sweet earth scent began to fill the air. “Would you like me to… lie more?”
“You’re great the way you are. You’re the boy I fell in love with and you don’t need to change anything.” She replied, resting a talon on him. “How about you explain this whole thing to me?” She gestured to the skillet that laid on her. “How’d you decide you wanted to do this, and why me and not just a normal fire?”
“In the Mud Kingdom hearths are highly regarded.” He explained. “They are centers of warmth for sibs to gather around, and represent platonic love. Another common tradition is to roast chestnuts during Christmas over the hearth, that's where the whole song comes from. I wanted to roast some for my sibs and my friends, and for you as well, but since surrounding the hearth is a sign of platonic love, that doesn’t exactly fit our dynamic. So…”
“I understand.” Peril concluded. “You love me so much you made me into an appliance.”
“There’s another reason!” He said embarrassed. “Food is the fuel of life, so making it is an expansion of life, so I wanted to make something with you.”
“I see.” Peril concluded again, more dramatically this time. “You want to make babies with me so much you made me into an appliance.”
“That is a gross exaggeration of the truth!” He yelped indignantly. “But it’s not exactly wrong…”
“Relax sweetheart, I’m just messing with you.” She comforted, taking one of his talons into hers. “It’s my love language after all.”
“What are we?” He asked, finally removing the chestnuts and placing them back into the pot, turning away from her as he did. He took the skillet off of Peril as well and she stood up.
“What do you think we are?” She asked, placing her talons on his chin and guiding him to look at her.
“I’m not sure,” He said, making eye contact shyly. “Starflight described it as a situationship five years ago when we first met, but I think we’re past that now.”
“Then are we a couple?” She asked, moving a little closer to him and letting the sweet smell of roasted chestnuts that he was infused with invade her snout.
“I think we’ve been that for a while.” He responded, pressing his forehead against hers. “But, if you’re ready and want to… we could be more.”
“You want to get married?!” She asked. She wasn’t startled, but she was surely surprised.
“Why not? I like what we have,” He embraced her fully. His wings wrapped around her. His body was cool compared to her eternal heat. “It’s sweet, it’s simple, it’s domestic. I don’t want change, just definition. I want the world to know that I have you and that I love you.” Peril gulped, Clay had never been particularly possessive before. “You have all of me, Peril, do I have all of you?”
“Clay I’m going to need a minute…” She stared, before being interrupted by the door swinging open as Tsunami jaunted in.
“The party has arrived—” The Seawing shouted, before stopping short and looking directly at Clay and Peril. “I see that I’m early, and you two are about to get busy. Do I need to leave?”
“You’re good.” Clay said, giving Peril a kiss on the forehead before pulling away and whispering in her ear. “I’ll wait for you as long as I need to.”
“Where’s Turtle?” Tsunami asked, placing a bottle of rum on the table as well as a couple dead turkeys. “I thought he was here already.”
“He had to go get something from his room.” Clay answered, beginning to take the chestnuts back out of the pot and crack them against the table. He put the scraps back in the pot and once he was finished, he leaned over and spewed fire, destroying the scraps.
“Clay, can you start a fire?” Tsunami asked, holding up the suddenly defeathered turkeys. “I need to roast these.”
Clay was about to get up, but Peril placed a claw out and stopped him. “I got this.” She said, before going up to Tsunami and laying in front of her. Tsunami just stared. “Well,” Peril complained. “What are you waiting for? Lay it on me.” Tsunami shrugged, before placing the turkeys in a roasting pan from the kitchen and placing that on Peril. She walked off for a moment, before returning with a bucket of water which she poured into the pan, causing it to shake a little on Peril.
“Thanks Peril.” Tsunami said a little awkwardly. “The method is unorthodox, but your help is appreciated.” Tsunami began to assemble different spices that she would occasionally lather the turkeys with. “You’re going to be here for a while, would you like a drink?” She asked, grabbing the bottle of rum and opening it. Peril nodded and Tsunami grinned, before taking a swing straight from the bottle. She grabbed a stone cup and filled it before placing it in front of Peril. She couldn’t grab the cup for too long without warming the drink up, so she pulled the cup closer and took a sip from it. It had a strange spice to it and was surprisingly sweet. The top of it lit on fire as she drank. Peril barked out a laugh as the fire tickled at her chin.
“Alcohol and I don’t exactly mix.” She explained. “It is highly flammable, and I’m well… a fire hazard.” She leaned down and blew out the fire emanating from the cup. “I’m just going to have to wait. I can drink it once this turkey’s off my back because my claws will be free and I can pick the cup up.”
“Sorry to make you wait.” Tsunami apologized profusely. “That must be tantalizing.”
“It’s fine. It’s good rum.” Peril replied, her tail lashing behind her. “Besides, the party hasn’t started yet. Who even drinks before the party anyways.” She looked back over at Clay who looked guilty as he hid something behind his back.
“Give him a break.” Tsunami defended. “It’s called pregaming, I do it all the time.” She then glanced back over at Clay and made a confused face. “You don’t do this usually, what’s up?”
“A lot of people are coming over. It’s nerve wracking.” He said, lying through his fangs. Clay thrived in large crowds. Something else was bothering him. “I’m just washing down my fear.” He quickly glanced at Peril, before glancing away.
Ah
Peril was what was bothering him. He said he’d wait for her response, but that wouldn’t make him any less nervous. She didn’t know why she was hesitating. It was everything she wanted… So what was stopping her.
“If you say so.” Tsunami sighed, shrugging before grabbing her own cup and taking a sip. “But be careful. When you drink nervously, you drink irresponsibly. I don’t need you passing out while all your sibs are here.” She turned towards the door. “Speaking of siblings…” Turtle soon walked back in through the door. “Where were you, young man?” She asked jokingly.
“I was just cleaning my room.” He answered. “Umber’s going to be here, and while I don’t know if he’ll sleep in our room, I’d rather not have it be utter chaos in case he does.”
“Ah, young love.” Tsunami teased. “When’s the wedding?” Clay winced when she said it and Turtle blushed profusely.
“We’re not even dating.” He said, tapping his talons together in embarrassment. “We only kissed once and then we haven’t talked about it since. I don’t even know if he swings that way…” his head drooped sadly and Peril laughed
“You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.” Peril corrected as Clay began to laugh as well. “Umber is like the most openly queer dragon in this school.”
“Really?” The Seawing replied hopefully, looking up at Peril before making an amused face as he laid his eyes on the roasting pan with the turkeys. “I see Peril has become the resident cooking fire.” He took a deep breath and teasingly sang a little more. “Every dragon knows that Peril and some turkeys helps to make the season bright.
“I do indeed.” She said proudly. Tsunami walked up beside Peril and stabbed her talon into one of the turkeys, before quickly pulling it out in pain.
“That’s finished.” She said, reaching to take the pan off of Peril before flinching away. “I won’t be able to take that off, it got really hot, really fast.” Clay walked over and took the pan himself, placing it on the stone counter.
“We’re going to have to let that cool, but that was finished much earlier than if we used a fire.” Clay explained. “It must be because of Peril.”
“I can melt metal within seconds if I focus hard enough.” She shrugged before standing up and stretching. “It’s a miracle your kitchenware is still intact.”
“It’s a little more complicated than a miracle.” Starflight said as he walked into the prey center, Fatespeaker beside him. “They’re Nightwing made. They had a lot of weapons leftover from the volcano that they no longer needed. They used to have a need for lava resistant weapons and armor, since they don’t anymore they’ve been re-purposing them.”
“I was wondering why we changed all the equipment.” Clay said, giving the pots and pans a strange look.
“Well it was supposed to be a Christmas gift.” The Blind Nightwing explained. “But someone decided to replace the old ones early without telling me.” He elbowed his wife who giggled as he jabbed at her.
“I just knew we were all going to do a lot of cooking for the potluck, why would we only give it afterwards.” She defended herself. Guarding against the pokes of her partner. “It’s better to give an effective gift when it’s effective, not afterwards.”
“Oi vei.” Starflight exclaimed exasperated. “Well, Merry Christmas Eve Clay, sorry your gift came a day early, but at least you’re putting it to good use.” He walked past everyone else into the kitchen, Fatespeaker following not far behind. He had a bag which he dumped out onto the counter, revealing too many potatoes to count. He then took a small paper that he handed to Fatespeaker. “This’ll be the first time anyone’s made this recipe in possibly centuries, so wish us luck.”
“Fierceteeth sends us copies of scrolls that they’ve restored from the old Nightwing library in Renewal.” Fatespeaker explained, taking a grater out of a drawer. “This time we got a recipe scroll. We’re making something called Latkes. They’re kind of like hashbrowns, but oilier.” She began to shred the potatoes with the grater. “These aren’t going to be ready anytime soon.” She commented, clearing her pile of potato shreds into a bowl produced by Starflight and beginning to shred another. He went back to his own station where he was chopping onions.
“How long did the turkeys take?” Starflight asked, pouring some oil into the bowl with the potato shreds along with some flour and mixing them together.
“Like fifteen minutes.” Tsunami answered, moving a little closer to watch the Nightwings work. “Why’d you want to know?”
“Just doing some math.” He replied. “How long does it usually take?
“Two hours.”
“Were you going to have that pot on my back for two hours?” Peril yelped in surprise.
“I was going to warn you, but you seemed so adamant…” Tsunami explained awkwardly. “Sorry. But at least it wasn’t actually two hours.”
Peril sighed, before shrugging. “It’s fine, I still would’ve done it. I’ve already done weirder things for Scarlet. Just warn a gal first, okay?” They shared a glance and Tsunami grinned at Peril.
“Will do.” She said, raising her cup to Peril before sipping from it. Peril felt a strange feeling, one she had felt before, but had not had a name yet.
“What math problem are you trying to solve?” She asked, pocketing the feeling while turning to Starflight.
“How much hotter you must be than a fire to cook a turkey that fast.” He explained, beginning to pack the potato mix together into patties. “I’m not going to work on that equation tonight, but you did cook the turkeys in an eighth of the time, which means that if we fry the latkes on you, we’ll be done with each one in forty-five seconds instead of six minutes.” Starflight then paused. “With your permission of course.”
“I’ve already had two turkeys on my back for fifteen minutes,” The Firescales sighed. “Everything’s fair game at this point.”
“Wonderful.” He said smiling. The creases of his grin hidden partially by his blindfold. “Thank you Peril. You’ve made our job a lot more efficient.” The feeling returned once more. She tried to remember when she felt it first. She glanced around the room at the dragons that shared the space with her. Clay was staring at the Nightwing cookware, as if he was contemplating something. Tsunami had joined in assembling the latkes alongside Starflight while Fatespeaker instructed. Turtle made eye contact with Peril, a look of consideration coming to his face.
“Is something wrong?” She asked.
“I’m trying to parody another verse of the Christmas song to be about you and latkes.” He explained, a frown coming to his face. “I’m drawing a blank right now. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
“I’d prefer if you could figure it out soon,” Peril sighed. “the less here when you sing embarrassing things the better.”
“Ignore her Turtle, I think it’s great.” Tsunami said in encouragement before a snowball appeared out of nowhere and hit her in the face and someone giggled that Peril couldn’t see. “Dammit Glory, I knew you were here somewhere.”
“That’s a point for me!” She cheered, flicking snow off of her talons. “I’ve brought cranberries for cranberry sauce.” The Queen of the Rainwings said, her scales shifting to a wine red as she shifted her scales out of camouflage. She snapped and Deathbringer scurried into the room holding what looked like a whole cranberry bush that he pulled out of the ground. Glory looked at him and pinched her brow. “How did this happen? I gave you a basket!”
“I panicked.” The assassin explained, placing the bush down. “You gave me the basket right before we were about to leave and I didn’t have time, then you didn’t look at me the whole trip because you were manically planning your sneak attack.”
“Ah. Yeah this is my fault.” She said, tapping her claws together. “I forgot it was a potluck until the last second.”
“It’s a potluck every year.” Fatespeaker giggled, ducking as a snowball from Glory flew over her head. “How’d you forget?”
“I’ve uh…” She awkwardly grabbed her sash and rotated it around her body revealing an egg wrapped inside it. “been busy.”
“Three Moons!” Tsunami yelled. “When were you going to tell us?”
“Eventually!” She defended. “I know how you would all get, so I didn’t let you know when it was still… inside me.” She half-whispered. “You’re all incredibly doting and I know you’d all drop everything you’d do to come help, but I have midwives. Both me, and the egg are taken care of. Please don’t be too angry.”
“I..” The Seawing princess started. “Eh, whatever, it’s the holidays. Sunny’s going to be really mad though, are you prepared?”
“As much as I can be.”
“Congratulations Glory!” Clay cheered. Raising his cup to her in cheers. “Would you like a drink?”
“Please. Someone has told my Rainwing’s that I’m not allowed alcohol while I’m recovering from laying the egg.” She said, giving Deathbringer a death stare and then passing the egg to him. “But, I’m recovered. Apparently I’m going to have to reinforce the chain of command, because my Prince Consort has been going behind my back, or I’ll execute him to prove my authority.”
“You won’t.” He claimed, nudging her. “You love me too much. Besides, who’ll be your househusband if not me?”
“I’m sure the servants can…” She paused, looking at him and then looking away. “You’re lucky you’re cute.” She stepped away from him, moving beside Tsunami and taking a freshly poured glass of rum from her. She quickly down the drink and handed her cup back to Tsunami. “Another!”
“Yeah, absolutely not.” The Seawing replied, taking the glass back. “I don’t care how long you’ve been sober, you can’t drink recklessly. That’s how we end up with an incredibly hung over queen staying over at an academy and causing an international incident somehow.”
“You’re probably right.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I’m just being playful, but I do need to get started on the cranberry sauce. How long until you two are finished in the kitchen Starflight?”
“Well we’re just about finished preparing the latkes for frying,” He explained. “and because we’re frying them on Peril we’ll be out of the kitchen as soon as we’re done prepping.”
“You’re frying them on Peril?” Glory said in surprise. She then turned to Peril “Can I make my cranberry sauce on you?”
“I haven’t said no yet.” She hummed, laying back down as Starflight and Fatespeaker brought out a plate of assembled, yet unfried latkes alongside a pan prepared with oil. “Once they're finished.” Fatespeaker placed the frying pan on Peril, asking where it was comfortable until they found an acceptable spot. Starflight quickly placed the latkes into the bubbling oil with no reaction to the searing liquid.
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Peril asked, concerned as the scar covered Nightwing easily kept placing his claws in and out of the sizzling hot pan. “I’m immune to fire, but even I still don’t like hot liquids.”
“Eh.” He shrugged, flipping one of the latkes and splashing the oil around a little. “I’ve been burned by much worse before.” A strange silence enveloped the room, everyone having a similar reaction to the statement. “No? Still too early to be making jokes about it?”
“It was terrifying, Starflight.” Glory scolded, Clay and Tsunami nodded in agreement. “We thought we were going to lose you.”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” He replied snarkily. Fatespeaker placed a talon on his shoulder and he reached out and touched hers. “I’m sorry. I won’t joke about it again. I’m just glad to be here.” He stuck his talons into the pan and began to pull the latkes out. “We’re going to have to let these cool, but they’ll be ready soon.” Glory had begun her process in the kitchen, picking the cranberries out of the bush that Deathbringer had brought and crushing them into a bowl.
“I’ve been operating under the assumption that you have sugar that I can borrow.” She said as she squished cranberries beneath her talons. “Where is it located? I couldn’t find it.”
“It should be in the second pantry.” Clay answered. Glory checked it and shook her head. “Then we are probably out of sugar.”
“Well, this cranberry sauce might be as bitter as I am then.” She joked returning to her crushed fruit bowl. She took a saucepan from the rack and began squeezing oranges into it. “I’ll compensate by adding more orange juice, but it won’t help much. Deathbringer come here, I need you to place this pan on Peril and let me know when it’s boiling.” Deathbringer took the orange juice filled saucepan and placed it on Peril once Starflight cleared his own dirty pan. It only took moments before the citrus liquid was boiling.
“It’s boiling.” He called. Glory rushed over and poured the berries into the juice and a sharp bitter scent quickly filled the air. Peril cringed as the scent drifted down to her and Glory quickly took a towel and snatched the saucepan off of Peril.
“The cranberries split immediately.” She whistled, placing the cranberry sauce on the stone counter and began to shake her talons to cool them off. “It’s ready, and possibly a little burnt.” She took a wooden spoon and stirred it around before bringing the spoon up to her lips and licking it. Her eyes squished together as her face crunched in anguish. “It’s absolutely terrible.”
“Let me try.” Starflight took the spoon and licked it himself. Even his blindfold couldn’t hide the painful expression he made. He passed the spoon to Fatespeaker who licked it and started crying immediately. Clay took the spoon next and his eyes opened the widest they’ve ever been. Tsunami snatched it from Clay and she licked it, her face stayed completely neutral, but she gripped the spoon so hard a crack appeared. She shoved it in Turtle’s face, he flinched away before reluctantly licking it and collapsing from the shocking taste. Deathbringer then took it from Tsunami, once he licked it he placed his egg down on a table, making sure it was safely nested within the sash it was carried in, before going and curling up in the corner.
“Hey guys!” Sunny greeted gleefully, jaunting into the room. “Sorry I’m late, I got caught up in some paperwork, but I did bake cookies!” She held up a tray of beautiful pastries, then looked around at the sullen room in confusion. “Is something wrong, are you guys okay?” A devious grin suddenly came to Tsunami’s face.
“Sunny, you should try Glory’s cranberry sauce.” She said, desperately trying to keep a straight face. Sunny took a spoon from a silverware drawer and took a scoop of the red dish and put it in her mouth. The room was ripped in anticipation as it touched her tongue. She swallowed it, everyone was staring at her for an eternal moment.
“It’s delightful!” She clapped, no deception in her reaction and they all looked at each other with confusion. She then turned to the table beside her, in which rested an egg nested in blankets. Her face didn’t change as she turned back towards the group, frozen in a wide grin. “Who’s egg is this?” Glory slowly raised her talon and Sunny pounced on her, knocking her to the ground and shaking her violently. “YOU HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE WHEN THEY ARE AUNTS! ALSO CONGRATULATIONS! Okay I’m calm now.” She hopped off of Glory and placed her tray of cookies down next to the rest of the food. “How did these all get done so fast? I thought we wouldn’t be ready for another hour or two.”
“That’s because of me.” Peril answered. “I let them all make their dishes on me instead of over a fire or in an oven and it all was much faster.”
“I could’ve baked cookies with Peril.” Sunny yelped, devastated. “Curse you, desire to be done early.” She shook her claw, gripped in mock-anger. The feeling returned, or rather, it hadn’t left. The foreign emotion made itself home in the prey center. Everyone else had begun talking to each other in smaller separate conversations. Peril moved towards the flight exit of the cave. She sat down and stared into the snow covered landscape that existed outside of the cave. Out there the feeling was absent. Out there she could ignore it.
“Are you okay?” Turtle asked, nudging Peril out of her stupor. “You seem disturbed.”
“I’m not disturbed, I’m confused.” She explained, tapping her talons in frustration. “I feel funny.”
“Funny like ill?” He asked, concerned. “Or funny like you drank rum and now you feel buzzed.”
“Neither, well I’m probably a little buzzed.” She admitted. Turtle sat down next to her and put a wing around her. “Whatever I feel in the Prey Center, is absent out here and I’m trying to figure out what it is, and what it is.” and why I like it so much. “I’ve felt it before, but I don’t have a name for it, and I’ve never felt it so… abundant.”
“Perhaps it’s holiday spirit.” Turtle joked. She overlapped his wing with hers, returning the hug. “How does it make you feel?”
“I don’t know…” She sighed, she placed her face into her talons. “Safe?”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It should be, I’ve felt safe before, but this is different.” A gust of wind blew, knocking snow onto Peril that quickly sizzled and evaporated. Turtle shivered as snow landed on him and she pulled him in closer to keep him warm. “Clay asked me to marry him.”
“Did you say yes?” The Prince asked, head turning towards Peril from the bundle of her wings.
“I want to but…” A low chuckle escaped her lips. “I’m afraid, I guess. Is that strange? I am one of the most dangerous dragons in the world, and I’m afraid.”
“Well what’s scaring you?”
“I know that his friends all hate me and I’m afraid that he'll lose them by choosing me.”
“Did we just experience the same party?” Turtle questioned. “Peril, they like you a lot.”
“I’m sure they’re just being—”
“Shut up.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, shut up.” He commanded, pulling away from her embrace. “I understand that you have poor social skills, I do as well. But this whole breakdown isn’t the result of any real proof, only your own self-doubt. Whether they liked you at first or not, they all came to like you. You’ve been assimilated into their incredibly tropey found-family. That feeling you had wasn’t safety, it was love. Not the romantic kind, the platonic kind. The one we both know you’ve lacked most of your life. A feeling that would be foreign despite previous smaller exposures.” His scolding, while harsh, struck true with something inside of Peril. She HAD felt the feeling before, she felt it from Osprey first, then Turtle, and most recently the Dragonets of Destiny. It is what she felt in the prey center, and her lack of knowledge of the true nature of the feeling was preventing her from accepting Clay’s proposal.
“Thanks, I needed that.” She said, pulling Turtle back in once more.
“I figured out the rest of the lyrics by the way.” He said, head pressed against her chest. “Yuletide carols sung by Turtle. Families gather around Peril.”
“That’s very sweet of you. Turning something teasing into something comforting.” She said, letting go of him. She heard a loud cheer behind her and saw a group of familiar Mudwings had entered the prey center. “Looks like Clay’s sibs are here.” Turtle grinned at Peril awkwardly.
“Wish me luck.” He whispered before pulling away from Peril and walking into the prey center and striking up a conversation with Umber. Peril stood up from her perch as well, returning to the prey center and sitting down next to Clay. She rested her head on his shoulder.
“You do have all of me,” She whispered to Clay. “and I would like to marry you.” He turned back over to her and grinned.
“You know how I said we probably couldn’t have rings.” He said, placing his snout in the crook of her neck. “Well I talked to Starflight…” The fiance's conversation continued on throughout the night. As well as the party and the games. Food was served and they all made a game of trying to fling food at Peril trying to land food in her mouth. All the dishes were excellent, but that was a low bar for Peril who had only eaten charred corpses before. Songs were sung, gifts were given, and perhaps a couple kisses were shared between a certain Seawing Mudwing couple. At the end of the night people were turning into bed and Clay and Peril snuggled close together as they shared the Christmas night together.