Fight Me

In the days and weeks that followed after the news of her mother's death she had purposefully kept her own emotions about the whole situation at bay. Her children, her father, and her younger siblings took her attention and she was more than grateful to loose herself in her work and her family. It was easier that way than thinking about the fact that she had lost her mother for a second time, the mother that she had worked hard to get to know with her second chance at doing so, only for her to be snatched away far too soon right after bringing another litter of siblings into the world that Briar now felt compelled to care for along side her own children. It was much easier to just ignore those thoughts and instead focus on helping her family through their grief and enjoying the early days of her children's lives.

However, that willful distraction was beginning to wear thin. As most of her family began to make their way back to Armada's lands and their pups quickly began to find their own kind of independence she was running low on things to occupy her time and as she was going about her daily tasks she found herself alone with her own thoughts, the emotions she had been suppressing creeping up on her before she realized they were there. There was confusion and regret, but also grief which she hadn't fully felt the first time she thought she had lost her mother. The first "funeral" that had been held for her hadn't felt real and she hadn't felt like she really knew the wolf she was being told that she had lost and that she should have been hurt over. This time was different. This time they knew for sure she was truly gone and this time she truly knew her mother and felt the void she left behind.

Briar found herself holding a wine bottle in the cellar, alone in the dim room and paused in the middle of filling a batch of new wines as the distanced emotions started to creep in on her, blinking away tears that she hadn't realized were forming. She cursed quietly under her breath, her ears pinning back against her head as she put the bottle down with a huff, shaking her head as she turned away from her work and stalked across the cellar. It felt ridiculous to be angry about something that was entirely out of her control, the sways of fate and misfortune simply playing their part in their lives and showing them that there was nothing any of them could do if it was simply their time to go. But her mother had only just now really become a part of her life and for her to be pulled away so suddenly after years of doubt and mistrust... It wasn't fair and there was nothing and no one she could take it out on.

Coming back up to the main level after wiping the tears from her eyes, she went looking for some place to escape. Her family had been her distraction, but now she wanted to be away from them, afraid to let them see her break. She hurried down the castle corridors before any of their pups could find her, trotting quickly past the infirmary before Gwyn could spot her and try to ask her what was wrong. She ended up at the door to Artorias' dojo and without a second thought she pushed open the door and slipped inside, quickly shutting it behind her with a shuddering sigh. It was quiet when she slipped in so she didn't notice Artorias in the space. She leaned her forehead into the wood of the door and closed her eyes, trying to reign in her emotions before someone could come looking for her.

"Briar Carpathius"