If you were church, I'd get on my knees

Artorias always felt at his most comfortable when he was with Briar. Ever since he was a pup, he'd found peace and solace in the Fatalis princess' presence. Whether it was through his mother's passing or just an ordinary night, Briar had been his stability, his foundation, the raft he clung to when the seas around him grew choppy and unpredictable. Even now, with his heart hammering in his chest from anxiousness of what he planned to do, he found it easy to simply be with her, existing in this moment as if nothing could ever touch them. They sat together with Briar leaning into his side, the warmth and weight of her body against his pulling an easy smile across the young brute's lips. He leaned back into her, snickering when she nudged his shoulder as he teased her about being a queen over a princess.

Briar explained her feelings about her transition to him. It was more work than she'd had in the Armada, but she found value and delight in it. Artorias easily offered her his paw when she reached for it, turning his wrist so she could grasp his paw pads, still mostly soft with traces of rougher calloused parts from his lifetime of training and fighting. Briar finished by saying she was just happy to be with him, how this was everything she ever wanted. The smile on Artorias' face grew, a hint of pearly teeth showing from behind obsidian lips. "It's everything I've ever wanted too," he replied, then paused as if a thought had just crossed his mind proving himself wrong. "Well... almost everything."

Artorias had planned this moment out meticulously. He'd run through it over and over and over again in his imagination, placing everything from where they'd be sitting to where he needed to stash his surprise. Without separating himself from Briar, Art surreptitiously reached around one of the raised parapets and snagged the dark oak box he'd hidden on the tower balustrade, bringing it around to stow it away beneath him so Briar couldn't see it immediately. "I know we already had your birthday party a few months back at the beginning of summer, but I didn't actually give you anything then, and now that it's your actual birthday time, I've been racking my brain, trying to figure out what I could possibly do or give you to show you just how much you mean to me and how much I love you." Artorias gave Briar a bashful smile, face warming while his ears folded to his head. "...I had a really hard time thinking of what I could do to top last year. You love this bangle so much, I couldn't think of anything!"

As he spoke, Artorias slowly slid the box out and into view, passing it over to Briar. He set it on the parapet they were leaning over and lifted the lid to show the fine red velvet interior and the jewelry contained within, revealing a flawless white gold bangle studded across its entire surface with pristinely cut diamonds. "I hope it's not too much. I knew you liked your bangles though, so I thought this one would be befitting of a queen..." He paused for long enough to take Briar's other paw in his, now holding both of her front paws with his own as he gazed so deep into her eyes he felt he might drown in her. "Now I just need to make you my queen for real."

This was it. The biggest moment of his life. Drawing in a deep breath, Artorias steeled his nerves and spoke from his heart. "Briar, for all my life, you've been there for me. You've shown me friendship and compassion, love and admiration, respect and devotion. Your love saw me overcome challenges and struggles. You've seen me at my best, my worst, seen all my faults and flaws, and you still choose me every time. I love you with all my heart and soul, more than I could ever say. You deserve nothing but the best in life, and I want to be the one to provide that for you for the rest of my days." Artorias swallowed hard, forcing back the knot of emotion growing in his throat while he looked into Briar's eyes, trying to read her expressions while he asked the life-altering question. "Briar Fatalis, will you make me the happiest and luckiest wolf alive and marry me? Will you be my mate and my wife?"

"Artorias Carpathius"