Boop the snoot

Ember didn't want to intervene in Manon's display of fortitude and might, so she simply let her baby sister continue to try her hardest to lift the wooden dagger in her tiny muzzle. What was the worst that could happen? Well, turns out that would be popping a tooth from her mouth. Em blinked in surprise and stared down at the milk tooth as it bounced across the padded floor of the dojo a couple times before coming to rest like a piece of puppy shrapnel in between them. Oh shoot. Fortunately, Manon didn't seem hurt by the sudden loss of a puppy tooth, just slightly perturbed and uncomfortable. She recovered quickly and mentioned this being the smallest training weapon she could find. And yeah, she wasn't wrong per se, but it was still much too big for her to handle as a one season old puppy.

A soft, slightly amused exhale escaped Ember as she looked at her much smaller sister with endearment. Oh yeah, she was a Carpathius all right! Indomitable spirit, refusal to back down from a challenge, small but mighty. She reminded Em a lot of how headstrong she had been as a wee pup. When asked if she'd heard the stories of how their father had learned how to wield his legendary sword, Manon simply said she couldn't remember. With a chuckle and a nod of her head for Manon to follow her, Ember began to lead the pup back out of the dojo. "Come on, belea. Let your big sis show you."

Leading Manon down the corridor and out the front doors to the sunny spring garden, she began to recount their father's history with her. "Tati didn't actually touch a sword until he was a yearling, y'know. Before he and our aunts, uncles, and Granny Tam moved here from Boreas, there were no swords, no weapons. So how did Tati learn how to fight with them?" Stepping down the terrace to the rows of blossoming wisteria trees, Em led Manon over to the closest one and snapped a thin stick off the end of one front, showing it off to her sister. "He used other things instead to learn. He started off with sticks he could pick up, getting used to how they felt to hold and swing. Then he moved up to the training swords. Then real swords." Ember set the stick down at Manon's paws, gifting her sister the first "stick sword" to use. Then she snapped off another for herself to use. "And voila! Now you have your own 'weapon' you can start practicing with!"

Ember shot Manon a playful grin, eyes flashing with lighthearted challenge as she lowered her body down to her smaller sister's level, rump in the air and braided tail wagging wildly to and fro. "Wanna practice fighting with me, Manon? I promise I'll go easy on you if you ask nicely." Yeah, Em was trying to push Manon's buttons. She wanted to rile up her feisty sibling and let her have fun learning together.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"