Friend-Shaped

Artorias was halfway toward the capybara when Solaire snapped into action and jumped in between them, dramatic and heroic, to stop him from killing the invasive prey animal. Although Artorias easily outweighed his young son and wasn’t stopped by the pup’s paws pressing on his chest, that contact immediately stopped the dire wolf dead in his tracks. He looked at Solaire with confusion, sword in mouth, as if silently asking what he was doing. Solaire tried to defend the capybara, claiming it wasn’t hurting anyone and was just eating pumpkins and was his new friend. Art looked at his son like he had two heads for a second, then looked up to make eye contact with the apathetic capy as it continued to devour their crops. Was Solaire being serious right now? He knew his boy had a soft spot and a good heart, but this was ludicrous!

"Is this a joke, Solaire? It’s a giant rat. It’s a vermin. It’s not a pet or a friend. It needs to be exterminated," Artorias remarked, rebuking his son’s claims. He leered up at the ravenous rodent again as the capybara cracked into another one of his late mother’s pumpkins. But when the Aegis gave a low warning growl at the intruder and looked down at his child again, he was stricken by the intensity of Solaire’s disapproving frown. Sol was shockingly passionate about protecting this creature. Why, Artorias couldn’t understand. But he knew just from the look in his son’s eyes that if he struck down the capybara, he would damage his relationship with his son.

That moment of pause softened Artorias just enough to make his resolve waver, giving pause as he looked back and forth between the capybara and the wolf pup standing between him and it. After some moments, Art’s shoulders slumped and he breathed a resigned sigh. "…Do you really want to keep it that badly, Sol?"

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"