The Calm Before

Briar couldn't help but grin and laugh at Artorias' lamenting about the chaos they were about to unleash onto the world, enjoying his affections as he nuzzled the back of her neck. She for one couldn't wait to go chasing these pups down the halls, to play with them in the gardens, to show them all kinds of different sights and smells... Yes, it would be absolute chaos to which she was sure their parents were going to have a moment of "I told you so" for them over, but she was so eager and ready for it to happen. Still, as she leaned back into her mate and enjoyed the comfort his embrace brought her, she knew that deep down she was going to miss this too. This was a moment she would never experience again—laying here with Artorias and their first ever litter of unborn children, the two of them looking into a future full of unknowns and excitement... She knew they would have more children in the future, but it would never be this exact feeling again and she felt wistful about it as she enjoyed the warmth and relaxation of this moment with her one true love.

Briar grinned as she looked back over her shoulder at Artorias while he felt their pups move and squirm against his paw, watching his excitement and awe with pure love in her turquoise gaze. She had always known that he would make an amazing father, but actually getting to see and experience just how happy and eager he was to be a parent with her just validated every choice she had made that brought them to this point. She had loved him for most of their lives at this point and had been dreaming of a day just like this one and now to actually live it was even sweeter than she could have ever imagined. It made her want to make him a father again and again just so she could see this kind of pride and joy in his face for the rest of their lives. "I guess they do," she agreed with a chuckle, already foreseeing the idea of getting alone time with him once the pups arrived to be a difficult thing to accomplish. She grinned and chuckled as one pup in particular seemed to really be giving their all into kicking their father's paw and Artorias joked about them challenging him for Aegis. That reality felt so far flung in the future that it was hard to imagine, but she knew that in reality that was something that could happen in just a few short years. Time really was a wild concept these days with how fast it was flying by.

Eventually the pups seemed to settle back down again which allowed her to settle as well, reclining back into Artorias with a content sigh. She turned her head a bit to look back at him with an adoring smile, tipping her muzzle up to catch his lips in a tender kiss. "I'm so excited for them to finally get here," she said with a little chuckle, her paw trailing along his foreleg as she added, "Although I am going to miss getting to be alone with you whenever I want." Her smile shifted into a bit more of a sly grin as she shifted her hips a bit to press back into him with a knowing glance. With how the symptoms of her pregnancy had been keeping her in various forms of aching, queasy, restless, and tired the times when she had felt well enough to really enjoy her husband had been more few and far between than she would have liked. Today was certainly one of her better days and as they crept closer and closer to her due date she knew their chances to savor these moments alone were numbered. Her tail teasingly slipped from over his hip to slip between them and brush over some much more sensitive parts of him as her grin widened. "You know, there is something else you could do for me besides just cuddle," she purred with a soft chuckle.

"Artorias & Briar Carpathius"