A stitch away from making it

Emotion squeezed at her chest when he held her tighter and whispered how glad he was that she was safe, but it was different from the other emotions that had been hanging on her lately. It squeezed her in a good way, as if his hug could reach all the way down through her. She didn't really understand it, but she liked that feeling and it was something that she was feeling more and more whenever she was around him. He just made her happy in a way that was different from anything else. It was confusing, but somehow also welcoming. She smiled a little wider and leaned her head into his neck again, just enjoying knowing that he was that genuinely worried about her.

Briar listened quietly as Artorias described the events that led to her father getting stabbed repeatedly by him. She was extremely doubtful when he said that he managed to get her father's blade, but she also had been doubtful that he could have hurt her father the way he had. She probably wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it for herself. It felt like there was parts that Artorias wasn't telling her and she didn't know why, but she didn't interrupt him to ask. She just kept herself wrapped up in his embrace while she listened, her claws still working lightly across his back. Her ears folded back when he brought up her father saying that he had almost killed her. She didn't want to believe that could have been the case, but when she looked at where his bite had landed she knew that it was true. She had gotten extremely lucky and that thought scared her most. What if she had been laying slightly differently or if his his jaws had gone a little bit wider?

As he went on, she kept hearing the same theme over and over. He had been angry because he thought her father could have taken her away from him. He had been angry at the thought of anyone hurting her. He had nearly killed him because of her. More of that emotion she didn't really understand squeezed at her and made her heart flutter in her chest, her brows pulling together as she tried to sort through it all. She knew how her father could get if anything happened to any of his family and it was something that was similar theme for most of them. They were fiercely, viciously protective of their own. She knew that if it had been someone else that had hurt her instead of her own father, her father would have been the first one to rip apart whoever had done it. The fact that Artorias had been the one to do it and had been so overwhelmed with anger at her father that he had beaten him that badly...

After a few moments she lifted her head away from his neck and leaned back enough to be able to bring her turquoise gaze to his. Her cheeks were still damp from her tears and her eyes were surely red from how hard she had cried, but that was the last thing on her mind. She searched his face for a long moment, trying desperately to put a name to this feeling that made her heart hurt in the best way. She looked at him with a deep appreciation and confusion while she tried to figure out why he would ever go to the lengths he did just for her. Though hadn't she thrown herself onto the back of a huge dire wolf for him when she saw the beast knock him down? They were both way more protective of each other than she ever expected a friend to be and it just made her wonder...

A little smile pulled at her lips and she leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek, her tail brushing against the ground behind her. "Thank you, Artorias..."


"Briar" | "Marigold"