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Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:08:29 GMT -6
This really wasn’t so bad once he got used to it. It was a different kind of motion from the way he had to move to bite at a foe, and he had to sort of draw himself upright to get his wings into a position where they could reach the target, but once he figured that out, the rest was easier than he had anticipated. His wings didn’t hurt at all, and they were moving fast enough that he felt fairly confident that it would be hard for an opponent to grab one and tear it up.
Rabbit had him repeat the maneuver a few more times before she was satisfied with it and asked him to change it up.
“This time I would like you to try doing this from aloft,” said Rabbit. “The added challenge will be in not losing the rhythm of your own flight.”
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Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:09:29 GMT -6
{While flying?} said Rhys. He was about to question whether it was possible, but it had to be, didn’t it? The bird in Rabbit’s example had been flying as it beat at the predator’s head. Granted, that was something Rabbit had shown him, but he didn’t think she would ask it of him if it wasn’t actually feasible. At the very least, she would probably warn him that she was merely asking him to do something based on theory, right?
”If you are prepared, then we will commence,” said Rabbit.
{Wait, let me start flying first,} Rhys said, hurriedly launching himself into the air. At least he had no trouble flying around anymore, even if it had been a bit of work just to learn that, in the beginning. {Okay, I’m ready,} he said, once he had settled into a comfortable pattern of flight.
“Wing buff.”
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Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:10:08 GMT -6
The target was tall enough that he could reach it from aloft fairly easily, so he suspected that Rabbit had planned for him to eventually perform the maneuver from aloft all along. It was fine right up until he drew himself up to it; but then he found himself faced with the conundrum of how to align himself to the target. He had only ever tried it from the ground thus far.
Deciding he would just go for it, he beat at the target as best he could, with only a guess thrown as to where he ought to be attacking from. Maybe it was that he got lucky, or maybe he had just accumulated more transferable experience from his work on the ground than he had thought, but he managed to bring his wings to bear on the target after all.
It was just the rhythm that posed a problem.
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Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:11:28 GMT -6
{Whoa!} said Rhys as he suddenly dipped. In his efforts to perform the buffeting correctly, he had neglected the other vital task of keeping himself in the air. It was with some effort that he recovered his previous height, not to mention a little embarrassment.
“It was a good first attempt,” said Rabbit.
{Was it?} said Rhys.
“You managed to perform the attack, and you did not drop completely to the ground before you caught yourself,” Rabbit pointed out. “This speaks well of your natural reaction time and agility.”
Rhys hadn't actually been expecting any sort of praise from her after his last attempt, and the words caught him off guard. He had been feeling discouraged before, but now he felt a little more willing to try again. No, in fact, he was determined to get it right, even if they had to try a dozen more times.
... Actually, maybe it would be more than a dozen.
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Post by Noa on Oct 20, 2019 20:14:44 GMT -6
Wing Buff: End
Even so, though, he felt that he could probably do it eventually. He just had to keep trying. So he waited for Rabbit's signal, and then gave it another shot... And then another, and then another.
It didn't take a dozen tries, exactly, before he had gotten the hang of it. But it took plenty more repetitions for Rabbit to be satisfied with his level of mastery, for the same reason that she had stretched out their bite training. Now that he knew where she was coming from, the rote practice no longer struck him as anything unusual, and he bore with it with a steady determination, until finally Rabbit deemed him to be ready to stop.
"I have taught you some very basic combat skills," said Rabbit. "I do not know if they will be sufficient to ensure victory, but you will have somewhat better chances of success in your venture now."
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:35:51 GMT -6
(note that this will probably not be 'canon', as this isn't really the method I wanted to use to have Tsuyu being capable of understanding Common, but for the purposes of fulfilling training reqs... here we go lol) It was... a rather strange request that Rabbit had been given, to habituate a Tat-lung to being around people. Specifically she had been tasked with acclimating it -- or rather, him -- to human speech. The language in question was Common, since it was the most widely used, and also the only one Rabbit knew. Everything else had been deemed unnecessary; apparently the person who had made the request was content with letting the Tat determine his own behavior after coming to some sort of understanding regarding what was going on around him. In that sense she felt that she could understand the sentiment. It wasn't important as to whether she did or not, as she had an objective and the only thing of real import was that she respected the wishes of the person making the request as well as she was able, but it invoke thoughts of the half-breed she regularly worked with. 1
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:36:20 GMT -6
Noa had been disgusted enough with the half-breed's lack of cooperation to wash his hands of the creature, and Rabbit in turn had never felt the need to impose rules or commands upon a creature both intelligent and willful.
And the half-breed had had Tat-lung genetics within his own lineage. Perhaps that was why she expected something similar to his countenance when she finally met the Tat-lung for the first time. But the creature that was left in her care, for however little time, was no such thing. He was more slender, more delicately built than the half-breed Rabbit was familiar with; and in its eyes she read something more curious. The half-breed's countenance always suggested something of a challenge, but this Tat-lung merely regarded her as something new, as far as she could determine.
"Hello," she said, and lifted her hand by way of greeting as she spoke the word aloud.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:36:49 GMT -6
The Tat-lung didn't understand Common at this point, but he may have seen simple gestures like this, and perhaps accompanying the word with one such thing would help contextualize it for him, even if he could not speak back.
The Tat-lung lifted a hand -- or perhaps a claw would have been the more appropriate term -- after a moment, in response. It seemed that he understood this much, at least. Rabbit had a plan for how to advance from there, but that would require the use of some tools.
"I will be in charge of your language instruction," she said. The Tat-lung inclined his head, not understanding, which was to be expected given the nature of her task. However, he seemed willing enough to cooperate, which was just as well. The half-breed often needed to be talked into things, and right now she didn't have the means to do so with the Tat-lung.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:37:03 GMT -6
If they arrived at some sort of impasse, she would be forced to reconsider much of her planning, and that would cost them more valuable time.
After some pantomime, she managed to convey a request for the Tat to stay where he was. She wasn't sure if she similarly managed to convey the idea that she would return shortly, but her actions would prove that soon enough. When she did return, it was with a series of picture cards. She had chosen ones that used realistic looking images, rather than more cartoonish depictions, in an effort to respect the Tat's intelligence as much as she could. He was of a higher intelligence level than herself, and moreover, an adult. First impressions were also important, as they had not been long enough acquainted, and Rabbit did not want to hurt their ability to make progress together by offering insult so early in their acquaintance.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:37:38 GMT -6
The Tat-lung seemed curious about the cards too, once Rabbit set them down. He looked over a couple of them before presumably guessing her intent, and rather than waiting for her to start, immediately pointed at one.
"Apple," said Rabbit. She didn't speak in full sentences yet, to help isolate the word. Once the Tat-lung had built up a better vocabulary, then she could introduce other words and concepts, but for now it was best to start with things that were the easiest to demonstrate and learn, which were nouns.
The Tat's eyes lit up, and he pointed to another card. "Chair," Rabbit supplied, after observing which card he had indicated. In this fashion they went through all the cards, with the Tat taking his time to select them after the initial excitement had worn off. After they had gone through it once, Rabbit had them go through it again.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:37:54 GMT -6
After the second round of this, she laid the cards out in front of the Tat, and spoke words aloud, with him indicating which card the word corresponded to. His recall was remarkable. Evidently he had been paying attention, but Rabbit wondered if a superior intelligence was also responsible for the ease he had with the exercise.
Whatever the cause, this was a good thing. She made a mental note to consider increasing the pace at which she had planned to introduce concepts. For now they stopped there. "We will do more tomorrow," she said. He inclined his head again. There was no easy way to explain at the moment, but Rabbit knew from experience that the more she spoke to him, the more he would be able to hear patterns and begin to puzzle out meanings and relations on his own. The half-breed she worked with had acquired an understanding of Common in that manner exclusively.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:38:08 GMT -6
She had not made a dedicated effort to teaching him, but through continued exposure, he began to understand the things that she said to him, which made it easier for the two of them to communicate as time went on.
However, in this case they had less time, and Rabbit was working upon request, so a more concentrated effort was needed.
The first lesson went easily enough, and the next day Rabbit returned with more cards, which she added to the ones from the previous day. They went through those, and after a few rounds of recall, the Tat-lung led her to a patch of dirt where he drew a crude image of a person.
"That..." Here Rabbit hesitated. The image wasn't really specific enough to tell whether it was a human, a humanish, or even a Mammalian or otherwise. She drew a more detailed picture of a human face, and next to it she drew another.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:38:27 GMT -6
"Human," she said, pointing to the plain face. Then, on the other face, she drew a series of features, adding horns, scales, and the like. "Humanish."
The Tat-lung studied this a moment, then pointed to the horns, and looked at her again with a searching expression. "Horns," she said. She drew an individual horn, and said, "Horn." Then she drew a second one beside it. "Horns."
The Tat-lung took a moment to consider this too, then drew an apple. "Apple," said Rabbit. The Tat-lung added a second. "Apples," Rabbit replied. And then he drew several more, and looked at her a third time. "Apples." Still the same word, just for more than one. The Tat-lung brightened as if in understanding, then drew a series of scratch marks in the ground. It didn't take long for Rabbit to see that these were numbers, and she walked him through simple ones, ones that he could draw enough claw marks to convey.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:38:54 GMT -6
It took them up to thirty, at which point he seemed to grow tired. Thirty was a good start, as far as basic understanding of Common went. If he ran into more words he didn't understand, they could address it then.
The third session saw her incorporating verbs into her word cards, with an accompanying illustration of what the verb entailed. They were all of them simple verbs, to help introduce the concept. Rabbit had also brought with her three cards, one with a picture of midday, one early in the morning, and one of the evening. She had specifically timed the session so that it was midday when they began, and so she used these to indicate past, present and future as she walked him through the way the verbs changed to reflect that. It was something of an advanced concept to be teaching so early on, but the Tat-lung had proven to be an apt pupil so far.
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Post by Noa on Jul 22, 2021 17:39:12 GMT -6
She believed he would be able to absorb it, so long as she kept it to three different tenses for now.
He seemed, if anything, excited by the prospect. She had also begun talking to him at the end of sessions, with something less structured, though having introduced him to basic verbs, she tried to use words and concepts that he had already been exposed to, so that he could recognize some of what was being said. And sometimes he would pose silent questions to her in the way of crudely scrawled drawings in the dirt or sand, or demonstrate something for her by way of pantomime if he was able.
They passed the better part of two weeks like this. Somewhere along the way, Rabbit began to incorporate picture books. The Tat-lung wasn't learning to read just yet, but he could follow along with the pictures as she narrated.
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