Let's Play a Drinking Game

The days had crept by slowly at first as spring progressed into summer, but as the days grew longer, they also seemed to fly by. With the birthday surprise for the Fatalises in the Armada, Briar and Lia moving to the Hallows, his long-lost sister's return home, and the training of his newest apprentice, Artorias' days had been packed full of events and excitement. But as the world turned past the first quarter of summer, Artorias continued to become more and more aware of an upsetting fact: the pirate was still in his dungeons. Days had turned to weeks after the raid, and as they approached the month mark, Artorias began to grow worried that perhaps Sparrow really had abandoned her wolf to his fate. The pirate leader had made no attempts to contact him after the raid, never called for a parlay to discuss terms of release or offer a trade. It was as if she simply left Auster and didn't look back.

The thought that perhaps the pirate in the penitentiary was theirs permanently now tweaked Artorias' heart in all the wrong ways. He hadn't captured him with the intentions of holding him forever, just to show Sparrow that the Hallows didn't take kindly to sneak attacks and that they would meet force with greater force. Now he was stuck with this mess. At least Artisan had been drinking, that much he knew. Sure, he would only accept wine and mead and liquors for the most part, but hell, as long as it kept him from dying of dehydration! He was still resisting eating—much to Artorias' growing concern—and he hadn't spoken a word to anyone since their row the last time Art had seen him. The Aegis remembered the last words he'd said to the prisoner. "I can't imagine being so alone and lost in this world." At the time, he'd said it mostly to hurt Artisan's pride and confidence, but now that several weeks had passed and the pirate remained alone, Artorias began to feel worse for what he'd said. Did the pirates really not care? Perhaps he'd been wrong judging Sparrow through the lens he saw his pack with. To him, his wolves were family. Were they disposable to Sparrow?

Artorias wanted to make things better. Most of his anger over the boldness of the pirate raid had simmered away and now when he thought of Artisan he just felt pity. He didn't know if things would ever be smoothed out between the Hallows and Pirates Plunder again, but he couldn't rightly leave someone in solitude for weeks on end. Any wolf incarcerated in the Hallows also fell under the protection of the Aegis, and Artorias would not be doing his duty nor treating Artisan justly by ignoring him. So the Aegis made some preparations. He'd set up a spread of food and some vintage wines from the Hallows cellars—the good, strong stuff—in the Great Hall. A metal stake had been driven between some of the cobblestones in the floor to set up a game of horseshoes from leftover supplies they'd found in the castle armory, a small pile of the metal U-shaped objects on the table beside the food and wine. The pouring rain outside had forced his plans to be moved indoors, but it wouldn't change a thing. Artisan had said he'd only wanted a good time when he'd been captured. Well, if he was willing to take a shot at smoothing out the ruffles between them, Artorias was ready to show him what the Hallows called a "good time".

With everything set up, Artorias headed down to the penitentiary with Romulus in tow, ushering his Knight to stay back beside the stairs while he approached the cells. "Hello again," he called to Artisan, offering the wolf a ghost of a smile and praying it didn't result in a stream of piss coming his way now that the pirate had refueled his tanks. "I was thinking, and I realized it's been some time since you've gotten to stretch your legs or do anything for fun. So, if you're interested, I'd like to play a game together." Artorias sat back to raise both paws to the metal tie holding the cell latch shut, using a bit of force to unbind the latch and slide it to unlock the cell, pulling the door open for the pirate. Behind him, Romulus tensed, watching Artisan closely in case the pirate tried anything funny. "It's a drinking game," he offered with a smirk, hoping that would tempt the pirate to at least be amicable and not make him regret trying to do something nice. He'd have no problem roughing him up with Romulus and throwing him back in the cell if he tried anything stupid, but Art really preferred if he didn't have to.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Argent"