Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 30, 2019 22:31:31 GMT -6
It seemed all the pieces had finally managed to fall together, and after a few more thoughtful moments, she dug around in her bag to bring out a small metallic tin. “Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.” The ungulate perked up, as she continued, “The good news is, Poppy will be just fine. It’s possible he hurt his tail before your neighbour found him. Rakai don’t have very big litters when they have pups, so he may have been a stray born on the street or he may have been born nearby from someone’s own rakai. My guess is, he may have run into something dangerous that hurt his tail and caused him to run off to hide. The neighbour’s porch would have been a perfect place for it. It could be he simply hurt himself in the same place again sometime yesterday, which is why he was feeling so sore in the morning.”
She glanced over and watched as the rakai was presently trying to assail the back leg of the gallor, failing quite miserably as he tumbled head-over-heels to the ground, before being gently nudged back onto his feet by the gallor’s beak. Glancing back to the ungulate, she tapped the metal tin, “Since it’s not an open wound and only seems to come up when he hurts the same place again, this salve should do the trick in healing the tail.”
It seemed impossible to see a face brighten up and beam as much as it did when the ungulate sprang to his feet, hooves clattering excitedly, “Oh thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!”
(16) Maronith: 4 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 30, 2019 22:32:19 GMT -6
Darky smiled, gently waving a hand, “No problem, it’s okay,” though the effect to settled the excited nature of the ungulate seemed to fail right up until she said, “I did also say there’s a bit of bad news.” The hoof clattering stopped.
“Is it about Poppy? Is he going to be alright? What’s the bad news?” the voice was wrought with concern once more, unimpetede by the emotional seesaw performed.
Darky nodded, “He’ll be quite fine.. provided he is cared for properly. And yes, it is also about him.” Darky knelt down again, to eye-level with the little kid and smiled warmly, “You said you wanted to be a beast trainer, and you can do that with Poppy.. But in order to become a beast trainer, you also need to train Poppy. For now Poppy is very young and very small. But, much like all creatures, he will grow and he will get bigger. Eventually he wont fit into the castle anymore.”
There was a thoughtful pause as the ungulate looked between castle and pupper, then back to the sphinx, “Will he.. will he get as big as your gallor?”
“If he is like Ceninfeni, my own rakai, he might even get a tiny bit bigger.”
The kid’s eyes became big saucers of amazement, “Whoa..”
(17) Maronith: 4 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 30, 2019 22:32:48 GMT -6
“It’s pretty amazing to think about, isn’t it?” Darky smiled, but grew a shade more serious afterwards, “But it also means Poppy will be your responsibility. A good beast trainer will need to teach their pets how to be good pets, and to do that they need to teach pets how to behave.”
The kid listened wide-eyed and slightly mouth-ajar-ed, interjecting with, “But how do I teach Poppy to behave? He is very nice! He is the sweetest, most kindest, most adorable Poppy ever!” As if to prove that point a happy little yelp sounded from beside them as the gallor and rakai had since escaped the cardboard ‘courtyard’ and were running around outside the castle ‘walls’ now in a game of chase. The gallor was in front, but decidedly slower than she could have been, in order to let the rakai catch up.
“For now, yes,” Darky nodded, “And he’ll always be the sweetest and the best Poppy ever. But if you want to show your mama what a good beast trainer you can be, you’ll need to teach Poppy a few tricks. That way, you can show her you’re capable of training pets.”
“Do I have to, though?” his ears drooped, “She won’t like me having kept Poppy a secret..”
(18) Maronith: 4 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 30, 2019 22:33:25 GMT -6
Darky smiled sadly, “I’m afraid so.. See, Poppy may have come from the strays or he may have come from another home, but to keep him here, outside, by himself at night, especially when he is still so small, he could get hurt again.. There are other strays in the City, and some of them are not at all nice. If Poppy is alone, he may end up wandering away from the castle and run into some not-nice strays. He might get lost and not know how to come back. If you want to really keep Poppy, you’ll need to keep him by your side.” It wasn’t technically a good idea to inject a small child with some worries like those, but they weren’t exactly unfounded concerns either. A rakai pup so small could be easy prey for something as small as a very determined izer, much less other, much worse things.
And that’s a kind of trauma this kid definitely could do to never experience.
The words seemed to have some effect, as the ungulate thought and mulled it over. There was a definitely conflict between ‘Mama will be mad that I had a secret’ versus ‘Keeping Poppy safe the best way possible’. Eventually one side won out as he looked up to the mammalian, eyes bright and utterly determined, “How do I train Poppy?”
(19) Maronith: 4 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 30, 2019 22:33:55 GMT -6
Darky smiled brightly, “Well, first things first, before we start any training, we need to make sure he is all healed up.”
It took a little fussing given the rakai was decidedly not at all happy about his tail being touched, even if to have some salve rubbed onto it, but between the mammalian holding the rakai in place with one hand and trying to apply the salve with the other, while the ungulate shushes and cooed at him to keep him calm (or calmer), the job was done. For added effect, the gallor, too, let her aura radiate for a while while the struggle was at its most heated. The effects took a little while to work, but given the salve itself had some good ol’ arcane spunk to it, the pup seemed back to full ability, tail and all, within half an hour.
In the meantime the mammalian tried to summarize some basic training guidelines best she could, translating her own experience into a format that an eight-year-old could understand and remember.
(20) Maronith: 4 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 30, 2019 22:34:56 GMT -6
For a few simple things, such as name and “no”, she worked through the steps with the ungulate and Poppy, to a point at which the little rakai seemed to be able to respond to them well enough. Those two, she explained, were the basis of all the rest, for if nothing else, he could at least call the rakai and stop him from doing anything dangerous. As for what other things to do, well.. that would have really depended on what the ungulate’s mother would say, though given the already strong bond between the kid and the rakai, the mammalian suspected they would do just fine.
With the pupper healed and the situation handled, the sphinx and gallor finally set off to head back home. “Oh! One more thing,” the sphinx remembered halfway through, digging in her bag. “I figured you would need this more than I do, especially if you’re going to be our future best beast trainer..” She pulled out one of the toys packed along just in case and handed it to the ungulate.
“For you. Keep it, and have it a reminder to always be responsible about Poppy and to work hard,” she smiled.
“Oh! Thank you!” he squealed in response, hugging the rubbery yarn ball between hooved fingers.
Finally, the two settled back home, the mammalian waving their goodbye as they passed back through the forest towards the houses. A part of her felt a twinge of pride at the successful day, initial worries and concerns having been proven quite unfounded. And who knew, perhaps in five or more years or so, there might be a much taller ungulate and his rakai that would make headlines.
(21) - (added) Maronith: 5 (0/5)
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Post by Renathan on Nov 30, 2019 22:58:57 GMT -6
Excellent job! Your QP will be added to the bank, and your prize will be sent to you shortly!
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