A stitch away from making it

As he told the story of her father's maiming to her, Artorias had been deathly afraid of Briar's reaction. Would she hate him, want to kill him, never speak to him again? All the outcomes seemed too horrible for him to imagine, but he couldn't bear to lie to her. She had asked and he had answered honestly. He had been truthful and noble. Whatever fallout came from that he would take as his punishment. Briar shifted then, and Artorias slowly withdrew from their embrace just enough to meet those turquoise eyes that had a habit of making him forget everything else in the world. She looked so surprised and sad, it twisted up his insides in the worst way. He wanted to make her feel better, make everything right, to reach into her chest and pick up each piece of her broken heart and put it back together. He held her gaze with soft, warm amber eyes that looked like a gently burning fire, seeing in her eyes the confusion and—was that gratitude?

He didn't have long to dwell on his pondering though, for as soon as Briar smiled at him, he was returning the faint smile back to her, as if it had manifested only for her in that moment. Then she leaned forward and Artorias felt her soft lips press to his cheek for an all-too-brief moment. Art's eyes went wide with surprise and a quiet gasp escaped him from the unexpected affection, literally feeling the gears in his head stop turning while she short-circuited his brain in one fell swoop. He didn't know how to react at first, his mind scrambling to reset itself even while his body reacted on reflex, his traitorous tail swishing happily against the slushy ground behind him just like hers was. "Uh, d-don't mention it..." he managed to stammer out, a crooked grin appearing on his face while he tried to sort out these foreign emotions. Briar had kissed his cheek! Was that the same thing as a regular kiss? Were there various degrees of kisses? Did that mean Briar had a crush on him? Oh gods, did Briar Fatalis have a crush on him?! What did he do about that?!

Pushing his whirlwind of thoughts to the side, he blinked a couple of times to stop his grin from growing any wider while he just stared at her, bringing himself back under control. "Um, you must be tired," he said, gesturing with his head back towards the castle. "C'mon, I've made sure we had your room prepared for you. We've got plenty of fresh meat too, if you're hungry." He thought to their larders, now overflowing with mammoth meat. The beasts may not have smelled great, but they sure were tasty and made for a feast! Rising to his paws, he paused long enough to boop his nose against Briar's, fixing her with another gentle look and caring smile. "You're safe here, Briar. I won't let anything hurt you here." Turning back towards the castle, Artorias began the short trek inside, keeping pace with Briar every step of the way so they could continue to talk.

"I'm sorry... about your mother and brother..." he said after a moment, not really feeling the words were adequate to explain his empathy for her, but feeling the need to say it to her anyway instead of ignoring it or pretending it wasn't why she was so heartbroken. "Is there anything you or your family need right now...? Food, supplies, anything to help...?" Whatever she needed, he would move heaven and earth to make it happen for her.


"Artorias" | Thoughts | "Corbin"