Out of all of her and Artorias' children, her more unique traits had ended up being incredibly rare with only Dusk inheriting her antlers. Dusk wasn't the only one to end up with her long, flowing tail, however, and while her wild child of an elder daughter wasn't really one to enjoy carefully tending to the silky fur it seemed that Ember might be. Now that their youngest litter was a whole year old Ember's tail was really coming in so it seemed like a good time to sit her daughter down and show her how to keep the unusually long fur neat and tidy. It was a trait that did come with some upkeep, but it was something she was incredibly proud of and she hoped that her daughters felt the same.

With the pattering of rain outside as the background noise, she settled down in front of the fire in her and Artorias' room with Ember, a pair of brushes between them and a few bottles of various conditioners and such at the ready. Of course, this didn't mean she wouldn't always be more than happy to help her daughter with her tail if she wanted, but it was still good for her to at least be able to untangle knots and do a basic braid on her own. "Okay, first things first, we have to make sure there's no tangles or knots. Smooth hairs are much easier to braid than tangled ones!" It felt like an obvious thought, but she certainly didn't want her daughter to be in a rush and throw her tail into a braid only to end up with it matted because of it. "If you hit any really tough tangles while you're brushing you can use a little dab of this oil to help loosen them up so you don't risk breaking the hairs with all the tugging."

"Briar Carpathius"

As she had entered her yearling stage, Ember's young body had begun to transform out of that cute chubby puppy phase and into her awkward teen stage of life. Most of her puppy fat had started to melt away as she became more physically active, the Carpathian girl now at just about her adult height that had her standing just shy of her mother's height and a far cry from her sire's dire stature. She was becoming more lithe, with lean muscle and long, lanky legs that she was still growing into. But most notably of all was her tail. Ember's tail had developed out like her mother's and older sister's, growing the long strands of silky fur that cascaded from her rump like a veritable waterfall of inky black fur. Though it was far from its full plumage yet and would continue to grow fuller as she became an adult, it was a stark contrast to all of her littermates' tails, leaving her with this lesson to learn alone. Thankfully, her wonderful mother had taken the initiative to help her prepare for this lifelong trait she'd have to learn how to manage.

Briar had summoned Ember to her chambers for their first lesson on a calm, rainy day, and the girl was quick to respond. She trotted down the hall and into the bedroom she and her siblings had all shared with their parents for the first year of their lives. It still felt strange having her own room now, but it was also cool in a way, like she was beginning to get her own independence and was growing up. Briar had already laid out some brushes, conditioners and oils in front of the fireplace for their lesson, so Ember hurried over, gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, then settled in to begin their lesson, bright eyed and unfortunately quite a bit bushy tailed. Her long fur had clearly been dragging on the castle floor, and there were even a few errant leaves leftover from the gardens stuck in there too. They were going to have their work cut out for them today.

The lesson began with learning how to brush and smooth out her tail fur. That made sense, since everything else that followed would need her fur as malleable and manageable as possible. "Okay! Is there a special kind of brush I should use for this, or are any of them good?" Ember asked, looking down at the assortment of brushes her mother owned. Would she need to start her own collection of hairbrushes now too? After selecting the one her mother suggested, Ember began to go through the motions of brushing out her tail fur, removing the leaves and debris from her fur and getting it all smooth and straight. Every so often she would encounter a tangle in the new fur, but it was easily removed under her mother's directions to brush and apply oil as needed. By the end of it, her tail fur was a smooth, straight wave of midnight black fur from base to end. Setting the brush aside, Ember grinned proudly and turned back to her mother. "I think that's pretty good! What's the next step, Mom?"

WC: 539
Total: 854 / 1500

"Ember Carpathius"

Briar had to stifle a sigh as she turned her attention to Ember's tail and saw the state that it was in. She had tried her best with all of her children as they grew up to instill a good hygiene routine and a sense of pride in their appearance with mixed results. She wouldn't be too hard on Ember though. After all, that's why she had arranged this lesson in the first place. Ever the clever and observant student, Ember questioned whether or not there was a particular kind of brush that she should be using or if any of them would work. Briar gave her a grin and replied, "Very good question! While you can get to the same end result with any of these, there are some that are better for some things than others." She lifted a paw to tap one brush in particular that had bristles that were more sparse than some of the other options and the bristles themselves were a bit more flexible than some of the stiffer, more densely packed brushes. "This one is actually one of the best for getting out tangles. You want to be gentle with tangles and knots or you'll run the risk of breaking the hairs in the process. This one makes it a lot easier to do that and won't hurt as much as you pull it through the fur."

Ember then went to work under her watchful gaze, brushing through the tangles–and leaves–till her tail was brushed out once more. It took a bit of patience and some strategic drops of oil to get there, but hopefully this would encourage Ember to maintain her coat rather than having to do all of this work to get it back to this state. When Ember was content with her work, Briar returned her grin and nudged forward another type of brush, this one with stiffer bristles made out of boar's hair that were densely packed together within the wooden handle. She also picked up another of the oils and placed it beside the brush, telling her daughter, "Good job! Now, put a bit of this oil on the brush and start brushing it through your fur starting toward the end and working your way further up. It's a lighter weight oil than the one we used to detangle with, but you still want the highest concentration of it toward the ends where it can get frizzy and gets the most beating being drug across the floor and such. This kind of brush is very smoothing and good at distributing oil evenly though the hair." She knew it was a lot of steps for a young woman to remember and keep up with, but she knew that this bit of self care had become a bit of a ritual for herself that she quite enjoyed so hopefully Ember would feel the same once she got used to it.

WC: 1344 / 1500

"Briar Carpathius"

Ember could see the barely contained disapproval in her mother's expression when she saw the state of her tail, not that it was any surprise to the young Carpathian. She knew her mother's aversion to getting dirty and how she had hounded the importance of personal hygiene and grooming habits into their skulls since they were old enough to listen, but hey, it wasn't like Ember had chosen to let her tail get like this! She shot her mother a sardonic sassy look that asked "What?" before going back to brushing out her tail fur, removing the leaves and untangling the knots she found along the way. When the first phase of work was finally done, she drank in her mother's praise and listened for the next steps of their lesson. She was having fun so far, and her tail was already beginning to feel worlds better; she could see why her mom enjoyed her daily grooming rituals so much!

Briar instructed her on which brush to use next, a specific one with firmer, more tightly packed bristles and a specific kind of oil. While Briar explained each step, Ember watched while her mother demonstrated the proper technique to brushing out her tail to smooth out the fur. After a few repetitions, Ember nodded her head, feeling confident enough to try and emulate her mother. "Okay, I think I got it," she said, picking up the brush and applying a light coating of the oil to the bristles like Briar had shown her. Then she did as her mother had done, beginning at the fine ends of her tail fur and brushing through the long flowing strands of hair up towards the base of her tail. It was a little tricky to get down at first, but after a few practice brushes Ember found her rhythm, and before long the adolescent girl was going to town grooming her tail. Already it was a sight different from when she had walked into the room!

Ember spent a good bit of time liberally reapplying oil to the brush to make sure she had plenty distributed throughout her tail until the fur was smooth and sleek and even gleamed a little in the light. With this newfound luster in her fur, Ember could really see all the intricate blending of black and midnight blue hues in her fur. She'd never seen her coat so defined before! "Wow! Is my tail always gonna look like this when I brush it?" she asked Briar, looking up at her mother while resisting the urge to wag her tail, lest she disrupt all their work with her excitement. "Does this mean all the boys are gonna be staring at how pretty I am now?" Ember shot Briar a cheeky, roguish grin. She was now at the age where the interest in romance was beginning to form in her mind, and although she was still fairly uninterested in the notion, she knew it at least made her dad uncomfy to think about his daughters dating. Would her mom be the same way? On that note, another thought came to her as she was setting the brush aside and waiting for her next lesson. "Does Dad ever help you do your tail? Or is this kind of thing too girly for him?"

WC: 553
Total: 1897 / 1500

"Ember Carpathius"

Briar watched Ember practice and eventually get the hang of brushing and smoothing her tail with a proud smile. She knew that as a young wolf stuff like this could get tedious fast, but she was glad to see that it was easy enough for Ember to do so hopefully her daughter would keep up with it on a regular basis. In the grand scheme of things, was it really that important that her coat look pristine all of the time? No, it wasn't, and Briar knew that her own preferences didn't define how they should all behave all of the time, but she also knew the importance of a first impression and the fact that you never really knew who you might end up meeting. They never put their kids above anyone else in the pack, but it was also just a part of their lives that they would be slightly more high profile than others and could end up in positions of power one day. It was good to set a good foundation early in her eyes.

She chuckled as Ember finished up with her tail and questioned whether or not it would always look like this when she brushed it. "There's always good and bad days for how your fur can look, but for the most part! A good grooming routine and regular brushing makes all the difference." Ever the sassy, cheeky girl she was, Ember asked about boys looking at how pretty she was now and Briar sighed with a little roll of her eyes, but she couldn't keep the little smirk of amusement from her lips. "Well, they better not stare for too long... or at all around your father if they value their lives," she joked, chuckling to herself. It was hard for her to believe that their second litter was now old enough to start talking about boys, but time was still running on whether she wanted it to or not. Ember and her siblings were growing very quickly into adults so she had no doubt that she and Art would be chasing off suitors soon enough. Her train of thought was disrupted as Ember asked about whether or not Art would help with her with her tail. "He does sometimes, yes. Especially when it's more difficult for me to do it myself like when I was pregnant with you lot," she replied with a chuckle, lifting a paw to playfully boop Ember lightly on the nose. Of course Artorias often had difficulty keeping his paws to himself when he was grooming her tail, but... she wasn't about to tell her young daughter that.

"Now then!" she began, swiftly moving past that thought to the next part of their lesson. "Your tail is beautiful like this and it's perfect for special occasions or just being around the castle, but for the times when you need your tail to be more practical braiding it is a great option. It keeps the longer hairs out of the way and keeps things from getting stuck in it," she explained with a pointed look, glancing briefly over at the small pile of leaves that were sitting on the floor off to the side. Chuckling a bit, she got to her paws so that she could come around to lay behind Ember so that her paws would be facing the same direction as Ember's for demonstration purposes. "So you want to split it into three parts and each of those you're going to layer over one another. Just remember that the sections on the outer edges are always going to come back toward the middle each time. Just remember left, right, left, right... And as you work your way down you keep adding more of the fur further down your tail to your sections. It'll get easier as you get older and your fur grows out more, but for now it's not too hard to do." As she demonstrated each step as she explained it, slowly going through the motions a few times so Ember could watch. She made it about a quarter of the way down Ember's tail before she stopped and undid her work to turn it over to her daughter to try. "Give it a try! I'll help if you get stuck."

"Briar Carpathius"

One of the things Ember loved about her mother the most was how real and down to earth she was. It let the young girl feel comfortable joking and having conversations like the attention of boys without nervousness or embarrassment. So when Briar sighed and rolled her eyes, Ember just flashed her mother a cheeky grin, acting like the picture perfect definition of innocent. Briar mentioned that the boys had better not stare at her too long with her father around and the adolescent wolf just snickered and waved that thought off. "C'mon Mom, Dad's not that scary! He's just really big, but he's not dangerous or anything," A pause, and then Ember added, "...right?" For all her life, Artorias had been protective, sure, but never threatening or scary. Her dad was basically like a big teddy bear with her all the time. She'd never even seen him get mad before. Trying to think about him being dangerous just seemed so farfetched, especially once her mother confirmed that he did indeed help her care for her tail. Picturing her alpha sire brushing and braiding her mother's luxurious tail was just too funny and it made Ember burst into giggles when Briar booped her nose with a paw.

Next came the final part of their grooming lesson: braiding and decorating. Ember listened with rapt attention and watched with wide eyes as Briar demonstrated how to go about doing a basic braid to keep her long tail off of the ground. It didn't seem to complex in practice, just overlapping each side of her fur back and forth down the middle. "Left... right... left... right..." Ember repeated like a mantra as she focused on repeating her mother's motions. It was a slower process than Briar's practiced paws, but gradually Ember's tail began to take on a braid, pulling the flowing fur up and out of the way. A smile grew on the girl's muzzle the more she did; she was doing it! "Like this?" she asked as she reached about halfway down her tail. Her fur wasn't nearly as long as Briar's was, so it didn't take much time or handling to make it halfway, but it was already starting to feel a million times better!

"Ember Carpathius"