A Third Wheel Turns a Bike into a Trike Which is Much More Fun

Briar didn't really know what to expect when it came to Artorias' reaction to seeing the two women together like this, but his shock and appreciation made her grin with amusement. His quip about this being an assassination made her laugh, her braided tail brushing against the furs as it swayed back and forth behind her. Bowen's humorous story of how that was indeed why they had brought him here to poison him with wine so they could get him out of the picture and be together themselves was the icing on top and made her giggle with a bright grin across her features. She settled into the furs with her paws crossed gracefully in front of her, smiling gently while Bowen got up and moved across to where the spread she had prepared was waiting. It was the first time she had been around both Bowen and Artorias since they were pups and it was interesting to see how different the caramel and white woman acted around Artorias than she had when it was just the two of them. She seemed much more relaxed now, joking around and being pretty flirtatious as well. Briar made a point with herself to not let Bowen's affections toward Art rub her the wrong way. The whole reason they were doing this was to see how they could all get along together and if they were going to do that she couldn't let her own possessive nature stand in the way right off the bat.

She grinned and gave Bowen a grateful nod to Bowen as she presented her with a bottle of wine. She hadn't been expecting a whole bottle of wine for each of them, but was almost a little glad that was the case. She needed a little something to help her loosen up a bit and she knew wine could help with that. She pulled the cork out of her own bottle as well, following Bowen's lead as she lead them in a toast to new friendships. "To new friendships," she echoed before lifting the bottle to her lips as well, taking a few long swallows of the sweet, bitter wine. The warmth spread down her throat and into her stomach and she welcomed it happily as she sat the bottle back down in front of her. She leaned into Artorias' side as well, her ear flicking as she heard Bowen say something to Artorias in the language she had heard him say little phrases in to Gwynevere occasionally as they were doing their rounds through the infirmary while they were taking stock of things that might need to be collected or cultivated to keep the pharmacy well stocked. She had never really considered the fact that his other siblings would likely know the Carpathian language as well, though it did make sense.

She swallowed back the inkling of jealousy with a smile—and another swig of wine—before she tried to slip in and pull a bit of attention as well. Her tail brushed his hip while her soft paw brushed up his foreleg that was closest to her. "Hopefully I wasn't too obvious with trying to keep you busy this morning," she said with a chuckle. "There's only so many things to patrol and examine so I'm glad that managed to last long enough for Bowen to get this all set up." She did feel a little bad that her only part in this was just keeping him occupied and out of the path from the castle to the shore for a period of time when Bowen had put so much effort into this set up she had made for them, but at least she had successfully executed her part of their plans.

"Briar Fatalis"