She had stayed with Artorias as long as she thought she could without getting in trouble before she finally forced herself to go back to the Armada. It got harder and harder to leave him every single time, but she also needed time to figure some stuff out for herself. Deciding to move away from studying healing had been the easy part - figuring out what to spend her time on instead was more difficult. She wanted something she enjoyed as much as fighting but would be helpful into the future. She had very little doubt that she would be with Artorias well into the future as long as nothing changed how they were with each other and if he was going to be the Aegis of The Hallows one day then she wanted to support him in that. But what was helpful for being a leader?

There was something else that was even more curious to her though and something that only seemed to happen more and more when she and Artorias were alone together and that was what she really wanted answers to. She didn't feel like she could go to her father about it because talking about this new relationship with Artorias didn't really strike her as something that her father would take well, but she did know who might have answers for her. After she got back to the plains, she immediately found her way to the area around Asla's den, curious turquoise eyes seeking her out. "Asla?" she called for her older sister. She was glad that they had gotten closer after her father's nightmare. It made her feel like she had someone to go to that she knew would be honest with her and she didn't have to feel like she was tip toeing around things with her.

When she did find Asla, Briar blinked with surprise. She had been in and out of the Armada so much with her trips to see Artorias that she really hadn't been around to be privy to the state her sister was currently so seeing her very, very pregnant was a bit of a shock. Asla was also the first pregnant wolf she could remember seeing and for a second she was just trying to process the change in the smaller woman's form. After a beat of getting her reeling thoughts together she finally gave Asla a grin along with a questioning look, saying "Um... congratulations?"

Briar Fatalis

Shit sucked and that was pretty much how it was. Asla was always hungry. Her mid-section was enormous. That wasn't even the bad part. There was an a thick, awkward cloud hanging above her. It was rough being around Naiche and it was rough being around Mojito. One of them was the father of the children that grew within her. They wouldn't know which until the time came for her to pop them out. The waiting game was getting boring. Having kicked Naiche out of the den, her only real company was Acantha and she couldn't keep the spotted fae trapped here with her the entire time. Even Ashur had become tired of her grumbling today and had gone off to do other things. That left Asla alone with her thoughts. Yippee... They weren't very happy thoughts. She would be glad to get back to her former, svelte figure. It would be nice to run again instead of waddle. A tentative voice rang out from outside the den. Asla, sprawled on a pile of furs, turned her attention to the doorway just as her younger sister entered. The shock on Briar's face brought a frown to Asla's own maw. It wasn't like she'd blown up overnight. It showed just how absent the antlered girl had been as of late. Finally, Briar grinned and congratulated her. Aslatiel rolled her swirling purple eyes but a smirk spread over her lips. "Thanks," she said drily. With a pull of her skull, she motioned Briar into the spacious den. "So where have you been? Hallows still?" It was no secret that the young girl had been spending a lot of time in The Hallows. Asla chalked it up to having gone there when she was afraid of Sirius. Now perhaps she was going because she enjoyed it more there. Brows lifted as she waited for Briar to tell her why she was visiting. "Aslatiel"

Briar enjoyed the eye roll and the smirk she got from Asla in response. She expected nothing less from her sister. As she was beaconed into the den, the antlered girl moved further into the space and settled near Asla, still genuinely surprised by the state she was in. She started combing her memories, trying to figure out who the father could be. She knew Naiche had lived here so was it him? But he also wasn't here and she hadn't noticed his scent on her way in either. In fact, there was some stranger's scent that she didn't recognize - a woman. Ah well, she certainly wasn't going to go poking around in Asla's personal life without invitation to do so. The last thing she wanted was to get her nose bitten off by an irritated, pregnant Asla. She did realize that was going to make her an aunt though and thought thought made her grin a little wider.

Her ears perked when Asla questioned where she had been, giving a guess of her being in The Hallows. She nodded to confirm the guess as she got more comfortable on her stomach. "Yeah, I stayed for a while after Resin's funeral so I could stay with Artorias and make sure he was okay," she explained. "A while" was probably an understatement since her stay had stretched out into a couple weeks this time and she had been only been a short gap between her last trip and this one. Ever since their mother and brother's bodies were discovered she had ended up in The Hallows more often than not. At first it had been an escape to get away from their father while she worked through her fear, but eventually it had gotten to be more and more just a personal choice just to be with the Blue Boy.

Which kind of led her into why she was here in the first place. "So, Asla..." she began with a shy grin. Jeeze, how did she even begin? "So, I really like Artorias and he said he likes me too... aaaaand we miiiiight have kissed a bunch the last couple of times I visited him." It was so much easier explaining this to Asla than anyone else. Gods, she couldn't even imagine how their father would have reacted. Art already almost killed him once, she didn't need that happening again. She didn't realize just how innocent just kissing was, but that's what she was here for, right? "We've been snuggling and sleeping in the same room too," she admitted guiltily, her innocent turquoise gaze pleading with her to not tell their father or Art's mom. She enjoyed it all too much for that to get taken away.

"But, anyway, what I was wondering about was... like..." She grinned again and chuckled, her face flushing with embarrassment. "So when we're kissing I just get all... hot and tingly and stuff. One time I accidentally got my claws in his scruff cause I just... lost control I guess. Is that normal? What does that mean?"

Briar Fatalis

Asla's ears tipped backwards at the mention of her grandmother's death. She had missed the funeral because their father was a mess. She couldn't be spared to leave. Thoughts of Indigo dealing with the loss on his own flashed in her mind and she had to steel her thoughts against it. Now wasn't the time to lose herself in thoughts of her brother; her lover. Briar obviously wanted something, so Asla waited to hear what it would be. The girl started hesitantly and Asla's brows raised as she continued to wait for her sister to get to the point. 'So I really like Artorias...' Ah... Noooow the hesitancy made sense. Briar had herself a little boyfriend. Asla's maw instantly turned upwards in a cattish grin and she tilted her head. "A boyfriend, eh? That's pretty cute." Aslatiel obviously saw nothing wrong with reaching a degree of intimacy at Briar's age. She'd been kissing others for as long as she could remember. The true question came when Briar brought up her feelings. "Ah, I see. So..." she began, a soft chuckle sounding. "We have these things called hormones. The older you get, the stronger they get. Sometimes, when you feel really good, like when you and Art are kissing, they start to take control." Hormones were the reason that she was currently so giantly, disgustingly pregnant. "Hormones lead up to having sex, Briar." She wouldn't lie to the girl. Being open and honest was the best policy. With their mother gone, Asla supposed that she was the next best thing, though she wasn't even close to being the best role model. "Hormones are what ended up making me sleep with someone and get pregnant. You don't want this. Not for a long time yet." Asla gave her full belly a gentle pat. The striped woman gave her little sister an honest look. "Kiss Artorias all you want. Heavy petting is fine, but no sex, okay?" Asla patted her sister's paw affectionately. "So tell me all about Art." The woman's galactic gaze glittered as she waited to hear a bit of gossip about her little sister's budding romance. "Aslatiel"

Boyfriend. Was that what Artorias was for her now? They hadn't really talked about what they were and she hadn't really thought to ask. She just knew that they liked each other and they made each other happy and she wanted to be with him all the time so she guessed boyfriend would fit that pretty well. She grinned shyly when Asla declared that her having a boyfriend was cute, her ears flicking back with a chuckle. As they moved into the feelings she had been experiencing she listened like a studious pupil as her sister began to explain hormones and how they got stronger as they got older and could take control when she felt really good.

She had a look on her face that was like she was silently saying oh! with the realization, though when Asla added that hormones would lead to having sex her turquoise eyes went wide with surprise and embarrassment before another grin pulled across her lips and a deep heat flushed across her face. Right. Somehow even though she knew that sex was a thing from knowing how there was baby animals and puppies and things like that, somehow that never actually clicked in her mind. It's like she had completely separated that as a thing that happened in the world from herself. She glanced at Asla's heavily pregnant belly when she insisted that she didn't want this for a long time still. Briar nodded in agreement. One day, of course... but definitely not right now.

Briar looked back up to Asla's purple gaze with surprise when her sister encouraged her to kiss Artorias all she wanted and even do some 'heavy petting' - whatever that meant - as long as they didn't have sex. "Got it," she agreed with a chuckle, still a little embarrassed about talking about all this stuff, but it was way easier to talk to Asla instead of their father. Even just thinking about trying to have this kind of conversation with their dad was mortifying, especially now that she knew what it all meant. She supposed this was something she should have been able to talk to their mother about, but... that wasn't really an option now. She very quickly nudged that thought away as Asla patted her paw and asked about Artorias, bringing another blush to her cheeks as she grinned happily.

"He's really, really sweet," she started, beaming from ear to ear as she talked about her Blue Boy. She gave the silver, topaz studded bracelet around her wrist a shake as she added, "He gave me this bracelet for my birthday and he was just really supportive and comforting after the thing that happened with me and dad. But he's also really strong too and an amazing fighter! He's the heir for The Hallows and he's working really hard training and learning how to lead and stuff like that too." Her chest swelled as she spoke, clearly very proud of the boy that she had picked as her boyfriend... assuming that's what they were. She liked the sound of that anyway. He didn't need any fancy titles or anything like that for her to like him, but she didn't mind bragging about him a little bit either.

Briar Fatalis