How You Like Me Now

It didn't take long from the issuance of his call for their excited pups to begin showing up to the sword fighting demonstration, Caladia and Bramble arriving first, with Avantika coming to watch and Elowen arriving just as Fern began to introduce what they were doing today. Callie went tumbling straight into his leg, the massive dire wolf completely unmoved by the sudden weight of puppy on his leg as he turned a grinning smile down to his niece. "Hello Callie, hello Trouble," he teased his daughter playfully, then nudged her off to the side of the arena to sit with Callie while they prepared their demonstration. Black auds perked when he heard Bramble's eager whisper, and the Aegis turned a little wink to his pup. Perhaps one day when she was older and bigger, she would be wielding a blade and teaching these lessons to her own children. Hopefully that day was still far away in the future, and Art could enjoy his time with his pups for a little while longer.

Fern's heartfelt words of how much she valued her life in the Hallows warmed Artorias' heart and spirit from within, an overjoyed smile spreading across his lips as he met his sister-in-law's shining love-filled gaze. "I'm glad for you, Fern. That means everything my mother did, everything she worked for and died for, was worth it." All his life, Artorias' driving motivation had been to live up to the expectations of his late mother and to uphold her values with the Hallows. Hearing from Fern's lips just how much he was accomplishing that... it was impossible to keep from getting a little emotional and proud. Fern began their lesson then, directing the pups' attention to him, but the Aegis staunchly shook his head and gestured with a paw back to the monochrome woman. "Oh no, this is all your lesson today, Fern. I think the pups might be a bit young to be learning the intricacies of basic swordplay just yet, but I'm happy to show off for them with you." If Fern wanted to show off things to their children, he was happy to help her lessons, but today was all for her to show off what she'd learned and prove her skills to her mentor.

Stepping back over to the swords, Artorias drew one of the blunted blades from the ground and flipped it into the air with a flourish, the steel shining in the light as it spun. Artorias positioned himself beneath the sword, timing its movements so when he lunged up, he caught the sword by the hilt in his jaws. A little spin of the sword in his jaws created a flurry of silver, only stopping once Art grasped the hilt again, his showboating finished and now armed and ready to fight.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Eira" | "Argent"