Well, at least it's better

Artorias · (This post was last modified: 03-09-2021, 12:44 AM by Artorias.)

Artorias probably should have expected some of the scathing sarcasm Briar had introduced him to the last time they'd interacted in her response, but it still baffled him how she ever ended up this far from her pack lands. Surely Sirius wasn't allowing his children to go roaming willy-nilly already, was he? Did that mean Briar was sneaking out behind his back and to an entirely different continent? Finally, she gave him the answer his puzzled brain had been trying to piece together. The Bifrost was frozen over, so she had navigated the small archipelago of islands that ran from Boreas' southern coast to Auster's northern shores. He had to admit, that was a clever path to take, but it did make him wonder if she'd actually subjected herself to the frigid and deadly arctic waters just to get out of her home. That seemed reckless and idiotic at best, but he didn't press the issue. She was here now and that was the important part. How she got to be here was just a detail in the footnotes.

He was still trying to decide whether seeing Briar again was a positive or negative thing when he saw her gaze shift to something on him that drew her interest. Before he could react or realize what she was up to, Briar was in his space, coming within a few inches of him. The young wolf instinctively drew back as she approached him, not stepping back and instead reclining back on his haunches to try and put some more space between them, almost causing poor Corbin to topple off his back as the bird's perch abruptly became vertical. Corbin fluttered and took to one of the nearby trees, landing on a low branch and watching the two wolves curiously. Artorias swallowed hard as Briar's sudden invasion of his personal space made him shift uneasily, unsure whether he should keep looking at her or try to ignore her or what the hell he was supposed to do. He wasn't used to others just coming up on him like this, although she seemed to have no qualms about their instantaneous closeness.

Her words caught his attention and pricked dark-furred ears atop his skull. It was the cuts on his face that had caught her eye? "Oh, this?" He gingerly brought a paw up to the tender wounds on his cheek. "Yeah, I... uh... I..." Artorias' words began to stumble while Briar leaned in even closer to inspect them, speech quickly becoming a chore for the young brute. "I... don't think you'd believe me if I told you, heh..." A weak chuckle punctuated his statement, feeling trapped by her and frozen in place all at once. When it became clear she wasn't going to pull back, he decided to tell her anyway just to keep him from focusing on the awkwardness of his position. "It was a wolf... a really, really big wolf," said Artorias, a crooked grin flashing pearly teeth to her. "Got him back as good as he got me though, so I guess I won in the end."

Artorias realized that it was probably the healer in her that caused Briar to take interest in his injury, and it was for that reason that he didn't immediately push her away—but he couldn't say he was too happy with being fronted on by her either. He especially wasn't going to tell her about the bite he'd taken to his hind leg. If there was one place he didn't want her poking around it was his hindquarters. "Your antlers have been coming in, I see," he remarked, just trying to keep the small talk going to keep him from sitting in silence while she got uncomfortably close to him, studying the cervid-eque bones growing on her head. Up close now, he was able to make out all of the details that made up Briar Fatalis. Every individual strand of fur in waving colors and hues, the turquoise highlights around matching eyes and down her body, the stripes of lighter brown fur along her back, her scent which had evaded him before now all his nose could detect. How long they stayed like that he couldn't tell, but every second felt like it dragged on for an age.

"Speech" | Thoughts | "Corbin"

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