To arms!

He wasn't kept waiting for long, and soon after his call Mercury made his way through the dojo doors. Artorias greeted his friend with a welcoming smile and gave a chuckle at the keen-eyed wolf's assessment of his morning activities. "Nah, just getting some toys out for fun," he quipped back with a roguish grin while he led the way over to the assortment of weapons laid out on the padded dojo arena. "You told me when we met that you liked to learn about shiny new concepts, and I promised you I'd show you all about weapons one day." An azure paw gestured out across the sparring weapons laid out before them. "Welcome to your first day of armed combat training, Vanguard Mercury."

Artorias approached the weapons and sat down beside the two sparring short swords, lifting one up to balance on his paws while he inspected it. The blades weren't edged so they wouldn't be dangerous to handle, but should be treated with respect all the same. "Go ahead, touch them, study them. Pick them up and feel their weight," he invited Mercury forward to learn in the paws-on way both men appreciated. "The Hallows houses several different types of weapons, but these are the most common. Swords, daggers, polearms, and axes. Each has different benefits and considerations, each one deadly and ready for battle." Artorias took his sparring sword into his jaws, holding it securely but not so tightly at to be rigid or painful to hold. "Grasp the handles of each weapon in your jaws, like so. Try to hold them so they're secure and won't fall out or be knocked away, but not so tight that they can't be twisted and turned." He let Mercury take his time getting used to the feel of them, and to ask any questions he may have right off the bat before they got into the nitty-gritty of each one.

"Artorias Carpathius"