You Only Get One First Impression

Briar went on with her cocksure attitude, presenting herself as some sort of warrior princess from some fancy pedigree. It made Artorias wrinkle his nose again and scowl. She was so boastful, so full of herself, it was unreal. How could her father be the best fighter if his mother had been the one to teach him everything? That didn't make sense! He opened his mouth to refute her points—only to be immediately shut up as she kept talking. She bragged about beating two of her sisters in a fight, then challenged him to one. At least, he thought she was challenging him; it certainly sounded like one anyway. He tilted his head to the side, perplexed by her behavior. Who was this girl and who had filled her head with this self-entitled nonsense? He mulled over whether he should retort or not, thinking back on his mother's instructions to mind their manners and be on their best behavior... but she was openly challenging his mothers' abilities as the greatest warriors! Surely that couldn't stand!

"Oh yeah, I met your dad! My mom did say he was an amazing fighter! She would know, since she was the one who trained him and taught him everything after all." Artorias paused for a moment to savor Briar's expression when he said that. Even the greatest of warriors had to learn somewhere, and it just so happened that both he and her Warlord father had learned from the same source. Artorias gave her a wry smirk, then replied, "Oh woooow, which sisters were those? The little sister or the littler sister?" Okay, so he definitely wasn't minding his manners anymore, but Briar was asking for it, and he was just giving it back as good as she was giving it—if not better. You don't win a fight without overpowering your opponent, after all.

There was still the matter of her maybe challenge that she issued. Artorias fixed Briar with fiery amber eyes that did little to hide his irritation or his eagerness to meet her challenge head on. "Why the shocked face? Never had a wolf talk to you the way you talk to them before?" he remarked, flashing his sharp puppy teeth in a grin and also a display of his fighting weapons, testing the waters to see if she'd still want to fight him. "What are you gonna do about it?"