Stick 'em with the pointy end

As she took up her training weapon, Artorias watched Briar with rose attention so he could observe how she did, identifying what came naturally to her and what would need some special attention. It took Briar a few moments of adjusting where she was holding the dagger until she seemed to find a position that was comfortable for her. Artorias did not rush her; he remembered how much time it had taken him to get used to the feelings too. Nobody was a protege over night, after all. When he gave Briar her first set of exercises, the Aegis watched his Queen from the side of his vision, alternating between facing the training dummies so he could go through the motions with her and focusing all his attention on her as her teacher. Those awkward, clumsy motions of a first-timer feeling things out gradually became smoother as Briar became familiar with what holding a blade felt like.

Watching her as she moved about the target like he told her to do while keeping the blade pointed at her enemy, Art smiled from around the dagger in his own jaws, his tail giving a slow wag of approval. "Bun. You're doing great, Briar! But I know you're a natural handling things with your mouth." Artorias gave his wife a sly smirk, fiery eyes gleaming with a playful naughtiness. He couldn't help it, his wife was just so damn hot, especially when she was in her element in a fight! Just as the dire brute was busy admiring his mate's beauty, he watched as Briar tried to imitate one of his knife flips, only to lose control of the dagger and dropping it to the sand. "Well, maybe mostly a natural at handling things with your mouth," he remarked with a husky chuckle.

Briar resumed her practice, picking right back up where she left off while Artorias supervised and directed her, marveling at her beauty, grace, and strength. She had always been the most incredible wolf in the world to him, but getting to see her doing what fulfilled her in life was a simple and yet perfect joy to the sappy brute. After a few more repetitions, Artorias stepped up beside Briar so he was parallel to her side, smiling at her. "Now that you've got the gist of movement with your weapon, we're going to practice some basic attacks, starting with the horizontal slash and stab." Taking the lead again, Artorias began a slow turn and twist of his head, cutting the blade of his dagger horizontally through the air in a wide arc, moving as if in slow motion so Briar could see his every movement. He repeated this a couple of times back and forth, then finished with a thrust of his body forward, pointing the tip of the dagger through the air as if thrusting the blade at an invisible enemy. He glanced to Briar again, "Try it with me. Take your time feeling out the motions. It's more important to make your strikes accurate than fast at this stage."

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian"