Eager to clean - at least here

Artorias gave a proud smile and nod when Thorn promised he would always care for his weapons and cut cleanly. "'Atta boy, Thorn," he praised his son. A giant azure paw lifted to ruffle his boy's fluffy blue head once they had finished cleaning the armory. When he offered Thorn the special treat of helping to tend to some of their weapons, the excitement that lit up his boy's face and widened his eyes brought a raucous laughter from the dire wolf and a huge, beaming smile. "Sure! I think you've earned a bit of a reward for being so helpful, and I trust you to be careful." With a nod of his head, Artorias led Thorn over to one of the workbenches that had a couple of daggers and swords laid out on its surface waiting to be tended to. The Aegis grabbed a couple of the rags they had cleaned up and a small pot of oil, setting them down on the workbench before reaching down to scoop up Thorn and set him down on top of the table so he could reach the supplies.

"Now, first things first, we're going to do this together so you can learn and I can watch you," Artorias explained to his son. He passed a rag over to Thorn, then showed him how he dipped one end into the pot of oil so a portion of the rag was dampened and the rest was kept dry. Once Thorn had done the same, Art slid one of the daggers over to him. He would keep the larger of the swords for himself; tiny puppy paws would make better work of the shorter blades. "We want to keep all the parts of our weapons that touch our enemies or ourselves clean. Think about where you'd hold it and where you'd strike an enemy." Artorias picked up one of the swords with a free paw, holding it balanced upright with the end pressed into the workbench for stability. Then with his other paw, he picked up the oil-soaked rag and placed it carefully to the flat side of the blade and began to wipe up and down the shiny steel surface, removing any residue or grime from it.

"Use slow, careful paws when you clean a blade. It's very sharp, and not being careful can get you cut, or worse." Artorias demonstrated the wya he rubbed slow, smooth strokes up and down the blade, leaving behind a shiny trail of oil on the steel. "Don't go too close to the edges, and when you do, wipe with the flow of the metal and not against it, going from the inside out, like this." Artorias showed how he polished the sharp edges of the sword by slowly rubbing the cloth from the center of the blade out across the edges to make sure he didn't cut himself. Under his watchful gaze, the sire nodded to his child and said, "Go on, you give it a try."

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"