As he and his siblings had continued to grow and get accustomed to being outside the den, their mothers had gotten more lenient on allowing them to explore the pack lands. So long as they didn't stray beyond the borders and didn't go near the water without an adult, they were free to roam. Artorias took advantage of their newfound liberty, poking his nose in every nook and cranny of the Hallows lands that he could find. With his parents and the other members of the pack only a call away, the back and blue-furred boy felt no fear as he dipped his head in and out of alcoves and burrows around the falls. The symphony of tumbling water filled the area with a peaceful soundtrack of white noise, and although he promised to not go in the water, Artorias had always felt drawn to water. The pup meandered along the banks of the pools of cool, clear water, gazing off into it while he wandered around the forest. He loved to swim, and as tempting as it was to go diving right in, he knew the rules and was loathe to disobey his parents. Rudyard he was not.

Padding quietly along past a larger pool, the boy's amber eyes fell upon another opening right along the edge of the water, tucked into the side of the cliffs the falls ran down. He trotted up to the crevice and poked his head inside, peering about the dimly lit chamber. This one was more sizable than the others, but it appeared empty other than a large rock right in the center of the cave. The area had been strewn about with grasses though, and it looked like an animal's den on some kind. But where was the animal? Curious yet cautious, Artorias stepped further into the cave and looked to and fro, trying to find an occupant. He walked around the rock, hoping to find something hiding, but the place was empty. Huh, weird... he thought with a pout and slumped back on his haunches to recline against the rock. He'd hoped to find a small critter of some kind to maybe try to fight. How was he ever going to become a powerful warrior like his mothers if he couldn't find any enemies to fight?

As if the universe heard his wishes, the rock Artorias was leaning against suddenly began to shift and move. Artorias yelped in surprise and leapt away, spinning on his heels to watch as the rock grew legs, then rose up. Eyes wide and mouth agape, Artorias began to back away toward the exit just as a strange, scaly head emerged from the rock and glowered at the young pup. The creature lifted its legs, plodding after the boy as he backed his way out of the cramped cave and out into the bright daylight. As his eyes adjusted to the light, Artorias was able to see the creature for what it was. The larger tortoise came slowly out of the den, angered to have been disturbed, slowly lumbering after him to chase the pup away.

Shaking off the shock, Artorias bared his teeth with a low puppy growl and assumed a combat stance, body lowered and ready to pounce, tail flagged and wagging with excitement. This was it; his first real fight! Artorias charged forward, veering right around the slow-moving tortoise and leaping to snap his teeth down at the tortoise's side. Crunch! Owww! Artorias yelped and jumped back, a pain spiking in his jaws and teeth where he'd bit down on nothing but shell. So the creature was completely covered in armor? That changed things, but Artorias would not be outdone! Stretching his jaws with a few yawns, Artorias circled around the sluggish reptile and ran at it again, sneaking his way underneath the tortoise's legs and leaned up to snap at the tortoise's belly—only to find his muzzle pressing into more hard shell. What?! More armor here too?! How was he supposed to fight this thing?!

The shell got closer as the tortoise tried to crush the pup beneath it by dropping down, but Artorias reacted faster, pulling back just in time and kicking off the ground in a flying leap, landing on top of the thick shell. There was just more armor on top! It was like a big living rock! The tortoise stood up and shifted its weight side to side to shake the dark-furred wolf off of itself. "Whoooa! Heeeey!" Artorias tried to match the movements of the tortoise, but was unable to do so, slipping off and landing in front of the tortoise. The larger reptile leaned down and snapped at the pup's swishing tail, making the boy yelp and scramble to his paws in retreat as a second snap nearly clamped down on his rump. Artorias didn't stop until he had put a few feet of distance between himself and the irritated reptile, growling back at his opponent.

Now free of the pestering wolf, the tortoise began a slow turn back towards its den. Artorias took the opportunity to leap back into the fight, sprinting around behind the tortoise until he found his opening. There, the creature's tail! It wasn't covered in armor like the rest of it! A threatening (as threatening as a pup could be) growl rumbled in the boy's throat as he leapt at the tail, jaws open, small fangs bared, and clamped down with all his might. The tortoise's flesh was tough and scaly, but he found purchase this time. The tortoise released a strange sound Artorias had never heard before and took off towards the forest in a panic with the small wolf hanging from his tail. Artorias continued to growl and gnaw at the tail in his mouth, doing virtually no harm to the reptile, but in his mind, he was exploiting his opponent's weak spot. The tortoise dragged Artorias off by its tail for a few minutes before the pup finally let go of the tail, collapsing to the ground with an "oof" and watched as the tortoise continued to plod off through the trees.

"Coward! Come back and fight me!" Artorias shouted after the fleeing tortoise, chest heaving as he caught his breath and came back down from the thrill of battle. He just stood and watched the slow creature gradually put more distance between them, although it was taking an excruciatingly long time. Artorias just stood there awkwardly, watching the tortoise try to run away. "Y-Yeah, you better run! I'll... uh..." Artorias glanced back and forth around the forest, not exactly sure what to do now. "I guess I'll just go then."

Artorias was about to turn and head back to the falls when an idea popped in his head. If the creature was wearing armor at all times, it would be a great mount to ride into battle! Eyes brightening at the visualization of himself riding the tortoise into combat, clad in shining armor, ready to face all his foes, Artorias grinned and charged at the tortoise again, leaping off a nearby rock and getting just enough clearance to land on top of the retreating reptile. He grunted when he landed and quickly shifted his paws to a more stable position, practically surfing on the shell of the tortoise as it carried him off ever so slowly through the forest back towards the falls. A gleeful, young laugh left the pup as he rode on the tortoise's shell back around the pools of water, looking around for someone—anyone—to see what he had accomplished! Somebody had to see this!

Rounding one pool of water. Artorias spotted the dark form of his mother Tamsyn walking by, probably off doing whatever boring grown up things she had to do. Both of his parents were very important wolves in the pack, and he was very proud of them, but darn did they lead boring lives! "Hi Mama!" shouted Artorias from the back of his new steed, waving a paw excitedly to her as if this was the most normal thing to be occurring right now.

"Speech" — Thoughts

Now that the pups were big enough to be on their own for bits of time as long as they stayed in the area around the den, she was trying to get back into some of her old routines. It was hard for her to not be with them every minute of the day, but knowing that Blue and Resin's jackals acted as an extra set of eyes to make sure they didn't hurt themselves somehow helped ease some of her worries. Besides, she also knew that anyone and everyone in the pack would be looking out for them as well. They had just brought out a protectiveness she didn't realize she had in her and she would never forgive herself if something happened to one of them while she was doing something mundane like a patrol. As if fate was reading her mind, she heard her son's voice calling to her as she was walking though the Falls on her way to do just that. It made her head pop up with interest and her mint eyes quickly found her blueberry boy... on the back of a tortoise?! Her protective, mothering instincts immediately began to fret and worry, but an exasperated, amused part of her made her sigh and chuckle with a shake of her head. It wasn't like a tortoise was really dangerous per say, it was just the fact that her boys always seemed to find something to mess with. She trotted over to where Artorias was riding off on his not so speedy steed, silently glad that he wasn't riding something that could actually run off with him. "Artoriaaaas, leave the poor thing alone," she gently scolded, though she couldn't quite keep the smile off her face. She caught the pup by the scruff and gently picked him up, taking him a few steps away and placing him down on the ground again. A glance back over her shoulder confirmed that the tortoise was continuing on its way, clearly trying to get away from her mischievous boy. "Why were you riding a tortoise?" she asked as she looked back down at Artorias, interested to see what kind of puppy logic he could come up with for this one. "Speech"

The look of shock on Tamsyn's face when she saw him riding by had been better than he'd hoped for! Artorias just flashed her a wide grin as he rode by on the back of his tortoise friend, lightly swaying back and forth with the motion of the reptile. This was the best day ever! And then he heard his mother's voice call out in that tone she used whenever he did something she wasn't happy with and the boy winced. Before he could look back at her or give some sort of reply, he felt the firm yet careful jaws of his mother grasp him by his scruff, and then he was airborne. Best day over now... Artorias pouted as he was lifted from the back of the tortoise and carried off, watching the reptile slowly plod away. You haven't seen the last of me...! he thought, vowing vengeance on his new nemesis. He might have lost this battle, but he'd win the war! Well, okay, maybe this was a draw and not a real loss. Once he was set back down on the ground, he turned his pouting scowl up at the much larger form of Tamsyn, fiery amber eyes finding her cool mint ones with obvious feigned anger. His ears flicked up when the black wolf said the name of the creature. A tortoise. Now he had a name to go along with his nemesis. I will defeat all tortoises... He smirked at his own mind.

"Well..." Artorias began, taking a deep breath before launching into his explanation, "I was just exploring around and I found this small cave back over that way." He pointed with a small paw back towards one of the falls. "Anyway, the tortoise came out of there and attacked me so I had to fight it!" Artorias leapt to his paws, assuming what was quite possibly the most adorable fighting stance in the history of all wolfdom, complete with bared teeth and a puppy growl. "It was epic, Mama! I didn't know it was covered in armor though! So I went for its tail, but guess what, that's really tough too! So I decided if I can't fight it, I'll dominate it! So I did! It was so awesome!" Artorias paused for a moment to catch his breath again before gazing up at Tamsyn with a wide, satisfied grin. "Oh! I also thought maybe I could ride it into battle! Has any other wolf rode a tortoise into battle? Anyway, I think I beat it, Mama! It ran away, so that means I won, right?" Tiny tail wagged excitedly behind him, strong enough for his butt to wiggle with each exaggerated motion. In his mind, he had won, and that was what mattered, right? His mother was an experienced warrior, surely she'd know.

"Speech" — Thoughts

Walk | "Talk" | think

The way he took a deep breath before he began to speak told her that she was really going to be in for one hell of a tale. She chuckled softly to herself and settled onto her haunches to listen. When he declared that the tortoise had been the one to attack him instead of the other way around, she gave him a skeptical look, but didn't interrupt as he continued on. She had to bite back the urge to gush over how cute he was when he hopped up into the most adorable version of a fight ready stance she had ever seen. The determination he had was precious even as he talked about how and why he had gone after that poor reptile's tail to get around it's "armor". It was the absolute definition of a ridiculous story that she would never have believed if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

She chuckled at the idea of him riding it into battle, giving a little shake of her head at the absurdity of it all. He was adorable and she absolutely loved his spirit and tenacity. She couldn't help but think that if she had grown up in a more nurturing and loving environment she would have been much the same way. It almost made her envious of her children and the life that they were now getting to live, but she pushed that thought aside. She was just happy to be able to do this for them and make sure that none of them had to feel the hurt that she had been put through. "Yes yes, I think you won, sweetheart," she replied with another laugh as she leaned down to leave a kiss on his forehead. "Also, I don't think a tortoise would be a very good animal to ride into a fight on... They're not very fast so your enemies would catch up to you very quickly."

It was a bit disheartening to the little warrior to see his mother failing to conceal all of her expressions as he told his story, the humor he was stirring breaking through the serious facade she was putting on. Why did she look like she was trying not to laugh? He had just been involved in a climactic battle with a huge enemy! So what was so amusing to her? Confused, the boy started to pout a bit, ears folding and brow narrowing. He was not funny or cute; he was a warrior, just like her and Mom! Nobody laughed at either of them! Artorias made a show of groaning when Tamsyn leaned down to plant a motherly kiss on his forehead, rubbing a paw over the patch of fur she'd mussed up on his crown in the process. Mooooom, don't embarrass meeee...! he thought inwardly as she confirmed his victory over his new reptilian nemesis.

Artorias pursed his lips into a tight line when his mother explained why a tortoise wouldn't make for a great battle companion or steed. She did have a point. Even as a puppy, he'd been able to outmaneuver and outrun the irate reptile with ease, so an older wolf would have no problems doing that and then some. He would have to re-evaluate his choice of companions. "Hmmm, you're right, Mama... I'll have to find a faster companion!" the miniature wolf declared, stamping a small foot on the ground to punctuate his decree. "No wolf or animal will be able to beat me, not once I become a knight just like you!" Determined amber eyes looked up into Tamsyn's cool minty-green gaze, his tail wagging like a propeller off the end of his rump.

"Speech" | Thoughts

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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