Briar trotted back into the castle after chatting with Indigo, feeling brighter and more excited than she had in a while. Cold, unbearable weather or not, she had multiple things to look forward to and that helped a lot. Knowing that when the weather turned around she'd get to see Artorias again, see the castle again, and start practicing her skills with Indigo were just adding to the list of things that summer hopefully had in store. It did make her wish that time would move faster, but that wasn't new. At least now she had a reason to want time to go by besides just wishing the weather was better and if nothing else that helped her feel less bratty about it and more just excited for what as to come. She was just about ready to head back to the Armada and face what she was sure would be an upset father at her absence, but there was one last thing she had to do first. The Fatalis girl bounced up the stairs that would lead her to the hall where Blue Boy's room was and she nudged his door open, sticking her antlered head inside. It was still fairly early in the morning, but she was raring to go so she couldn't just wait around for him to come out on his own. "Blue Boy! Come on slow poke!" "Briar" | "Marigold"

All of the early mornings of training with Resin had set Artorias' internal clock to start the day early—although as he aged into adolescence, he found himself enjoying the chances he got to sleep in more and more. This was one of those days as the boy lay in his bed, curled up beneath the blankets of alpaca wool and furs, face tucked away from the morning sunlight. He didn't hear the door to his room open at first, but he did definitely hear the call of a familiar voice shouting out for him. Amber eyes blinked open and a groggy groan came from the pile of wolf beneath the blankets. Why was she always such an early riser anyway? At least he had an excuse when he was training or running patrols. Wolves that liked getting up on their own were not right in the head.

"I'm up, I'm up," he called back out from his comfy fortress, silently weighing the option of lying to her and going back to sleep. In the end, he decided this wasn't where he wanted to begin lying and with a groan of reluctance he poked his head out from the warmth of his blanket burrow and into the cool air. A yawn escaped him while he stood and stretched, shaking out his fluffy coat and stepping off the bed to make his way over to greet his unexpected guest. Secretly, he was happy Briar had come to seek him out. It meant that he didn't have to try and sneak his surprise gift to her with everyone else around. "Good morning, princess," he said with sarcastic jest in his tone, turning a small smile her way. "Getting an early start, huh?"

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Briar chuckled and grinned as she watched Artorias’ head pop out from the cozy pile of blankets and furs that he had around him. Secretly she was pretty jealous of all that warmth he was probably enjoying right now and if given the chance she would probably still be curled up like that as well, but her own excited energy kept her from sleeping in and now that she had done some exploring and chatting with Indigo there was no chance of her going back to sleep now. She waited in the doorway while he got up and made it out of the bed. As soon as he greeted her as “princess” with that sarcastic tone to his voice, she gave him a mostly playful glare and a smirk in response. Sure, she wore her princess title with pride, but that very clearly wasn’t how he meant it and she wasn’t just going to let it slide without at least a glare to show her displeasure. ”Well, I couldn’t just sit around all day and wait for you to get up, could I, sleepy head?” she questioned when he mentioned her having an early start, chuckling softly. ”I did a little walking around outside of the castle while I was waiting and got a look at the greenhouse," she explained, her tail wagging gently. ”And I got to talk to Indigo! I hadn’t actually met him before and I don’t get to talk to my older siblings very much so that was nice.” She smiled and glanced away shyly when she spoke of her brother, her ears flicking uncertainly. She still didn’t really know how to feel about how all of her older siblings had seemed to scatter to the wind, but at least she knew where to find Indigo now and she was looking forward to learning from him later. She shrugged and brought her eyes back up to Art’s amber gaze, adding, ”Anyway, I thought we might have some breakfast before I head out if you wanted to.” "Briar" | "Marigold"

Artorias mostly ignored the displeased scowl the tawny girl had fixed him with while he stepped over to greet her at his door. Briar detailed her day so far, even mentioning how she had met Indigo out around the castle. It surprised Art for a moment to realize that she had never met her own brother before they moved away, but the more he considered it, the less surprising it actually was. They had both been very young pups before the Hallows moved, and Indigo had been reclusive in pack lands that entire time, so there really had been no opportunity for the siblings to meet. It was a strange thing to think about, but the world was funny that way...

Briar invited him to go get some breakfast before she left for home and of course he was going to jump at that opportunity. He would've kicked himself in the ass all season long if he'd slept through her departure. "Yeah, of course!" he replied, a smile stretching across his face while his tail picked up a happy wag behind him. He went to step towards the door—and paused when the thought hit him. "Oh! Uh, hang on a second, Briar," he said, backpedaling into the room. "I got something for you before you leave." He turned and strode across the room to a small chest at the foot of his bed he used for miscellaneous storage. Nosing the lid open, the boy leaned in and pulled out a small, unassuming leather pouch that he carried in careful jaws back to his guest. He sat the pouch down in front of her and pushed it closer with a paw.

"I know you didn't really get much chance to go out looking for herbs while you were here, so I, uh... borrowed some from our storage." Artorias gave her a little smile while he waited for her to inspect the contents of the bag. He'd managed to snag some alfalfa, valerian root, yarrow, and a little bit of juniper from the bushes in the castle courtyard. "I don't really know much about plants or what they do, so I just grabbed a few of the most common things I saw down there or what I've seen my sister use. I don't think any of them are really rare or anything special, but I wanted you to have something to take back home. If your family is having a hard time this winter, I want to help." Sure it might not have been anything special, but Artorias wanted to be helpful and give Briar a small parting gift she could make good use of. Plus maybe then it could tempt her to visit again once the weather was better and some of these plants and more were growing in abundance.

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

She appreciated the eagerness he had to go eat with her, his smile making her own grow to match it. It still kind of caught her off guard how they had gone from teasing and fighting each other the first time they met - which, to be fair, the teasing was still very much there - to now being actually happy to hang out together. She supposed that was just part of being a young pup, but it was nice to have a friend. She was about to turn to go back down the hall the way she came, but his request for her to wait made her look back toward him curiously. She took a couple steps into the room as he went over to a chest that sat at the foot of his bed, her head tipping to the side as she tried to guess what he could possibly want to give her. Briar looked down at the pouch he placed in front of her, glancing back up at him as he began to explain what it was. As soon as she heard that it was herbs for her, her eyes lit up with excitement and she grinned as she went to open the pouch to inspect them. Alfalfa, valerian root, yarrow, juniper... All things that would come in handy and things that she either didn't have or only had a small bit of back home. Even as he talked about how he had tried to get some common ones and kept emphasizing how not special they were, she wanted to deny all of it because it all felt so special. A little bit of emotion crept up on her and she continued to sort through the herbs for another moment to cover up that fact. "Well... Don't go getting in trouble for stealing on my account," she joked as she closed up the pouch again, unable to keep the genuine smile off of her face no matter how much she tried. "Um... thank you, Artorias. This was really nice," she admitted after a moment, shyly looking down toward the pouch between her feet. "I guess I have to come back in the summer now so I can bring some herbs back to you to replace what you borrowed, right?" Briar chuckled and grinned as she glanced up at him, knowing full well she'd be back to visit again as soon as she could - herbs or not. She loved her siblings and family, but it wasn't really the same sort of thing as seeing her friend. "Briar" | "Marigold"

It was difficult for him to get a good read on Briar's reaction to his surprise gift. She seemed... flustered, maybe? No, that wasn't the right word... She was beaming, so she liked the gift, but the way she turned away with abashed shyness was very unusual for her. Did he short-circuit the poor girl? Had she never gotten surprise presents before? All the while, Artorias just smiled and let her take inventory of her new herbs. He was glad he could do a little something to make her happy. After all, she had come down here trying to find herbs and medicines that hadn't been smothered by the winter snow, the least he could do was help her out before sending her off home. Plus it would help out his friends in the Armada too, and maybe then Briar wouldn't get in as much trouble if she had something to show for her efforts.

Artorias gave a bashful chuckle and gave her a crooked smile. "Oh, it was nothing. You're welcome though. I hope they're useful for you." He gave a snort and rolled his eyes when she mentioned coming back to replenish the plants he stole. "Hey, 'borrowed'. I said I 'borrowed' them. There's a big difference." Of course he was just teasing, but she never missed a chance to razz him, so it only seemed right to give her back as good as she dished out. Artorias' smile faltered a little bit as he just stared back at Briar's smiling face, watching the way her turquoise eyes seemed to shine with glee. "Just... promise me you will actually come back," he said after a beat of silence. "I mean it, be careful and safe, okay? I want you to get home safe. Deal?"

He knew Briar would more than likely throw some snarky comment back at him, but Artorias was deathly serious behind his soft expression. Already in his short life, two pack members had been killed, Rudy had been badly hurt by coyotes, he'd been badly hurt by a dire wolf, and nothing seemed to be safe anymore in this accursed ice age. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt as well, especially not if she was alone. Unbeknownst to her, he had already planned on asking Corbin to surreptitiously escort her back to Boreas, just far enough to make sure she got to Armada territory without incident. He just wanted to hear it from Briar's mouth as well.

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Even though she'd never admit it, she liked that he met her sass with more of his own. It made teasing him more fun and never felt like she was being mean, just like they were ribbing each other back and forth. "Uh huh, sure. Whatever you say, thief," she replied with a toothy grin when he reminded her that he had borrowed the herbs. She chuckled and went to pick up the pouch so that they could go on their way to get breakfast, but paused when he spoke again, this time sounding much more serious. She looked back up at him and saw how his smile had faded and she blinked with surprise at how genuine he sounded when he double checked that she would actually come back and emphasized how much he wanted her to get home safe.

"Yeah, of course I will," she replied after a moment, giving him a soft smile. He caught her off guard with how concerned he was. It was touching, but she didn't really understand it. She hadn't really made a habit of making friends outside of her siblings so it wasn't like she had a lot of experience to go off of. Was this how friends always were? Would she have been the same way if she knew that he was going to make a trip back home on his own? Between the sweet gift he gave her and now this... She didn't know what to make of it, but... She liked it. She leaned forward to tap her nose against Blue Boy's cheek, smiling a little wider to reassure him. "I'll be safe. I promise. And I'll come back as soon as the cold finally leaves."

"Briar" | "Marigold"

Artorias didn't smile again until Briar promised she would be careful on her way home. Good, that was a relief to the young wolf. He knew she was more than capable of handling herself, but just the thought of something bad happening to his friend made his blood run cold. No, he'd seen enough darkness and damage for one season, he refused to accept any more. He opened his mouth to thank her for humoring him—but instead was silenced when he felt Briar's wet nose booped against his cheek, catching him off guard and making the startled boy's eyes go wide. His ears pinned back against his head on reflexive reaction to the embarrassment and a warm flush burned across his skin where she'd tapped him with her nose. He gave her a sheepish smile and cleared his throat.

"Thanks, Briar. I just needed to be sure." He didn't dare mention the deaths in his pack; Resin had done nothing to shield them from the truths and realities of the world. He didn't know if Briar had experienced death yet in her pack, but if not, he didn't need to be that gateway for her. "I, uh... Sorry for bringing down the mood. I just had to hear you say it so I knew not to worry about the reckless Deer Girl getting herself into trouble," he said with a teasing snicker and smirk directed at her. Right back into the poking fun at each other, as if nothing had changed.

"Soooo I think there was a mention of breakfast? Because I'm always starving right after I wake up!" Right on cue, the boy's stomach growled in protest of still being empty. Artorias stepped past Briar and into the hall, gesturing down the corridor with his paw and a mock bow of his head. "Would you like a knight to escort you down the hall, Princess?"

"Speech" | Thoughts | ”Corbin"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
____________________

Briar hadn't really considered that it might catch him off guard or make him uncomfortable when she leaned forward to tap her nose against his cheek. Perhaps it was just because of how affectionate her father had been with them that she was simply comfortable with that sort of thing or maybe it was because she was so comfortable with Artorias that she did it without really giving it a second thought. Either way, his reaction just layered on to her confusion over the very kind gift she was given and him being so overly concerned about her safety on her way home. It was very sweet and she appreciated what he was doing, she just didn't quite understand the reason. She made a little note to herself to ask her father about it when she got back to the Armada, but for now put the thought aside.

They easily fell back into the teasing and ribbing that they constantly passed back and forth. Somehow it had started to feel less like a rivalry or trying to one up each other like it once had and now she felt like she was just having fun. She grinned in return, giving him a little glare when he referred to her as 'Deer Girl' and called her reckless. "Oh please, you're just jealous that you're not the one that went out on an adventure, Blue Boy. May I also remind you that you're the one that got yourself in a fight with a giant dire wolf. I don't think I'm the most reckless one here."

As soon as the mention of breakfast came up, she was reminded of how hungry she was and his stomach chimed in to prove how hungry he was as well. She chuckled and grinned, standing so they could both walk about into the hallway, picking up the bundle she had been given on the way. Giving him another glare as he called her 'princess'. She gave a toss of her head and waved her paw for him to lead the way with a muffled laugh around the pouch she was carrying. She followed him down the hall to go find some breakfast, her tail wagging gently behind her.

"Briar" | "Marigold"