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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:52:45 GMT -6
Haix crouched back down next to Tin, muttering with a calm tone until the houluh slowly stood back up, head still drooping as she regarded Haix with a whine. Slowly, ever so slowly, Haix reached out a hand, patting the houluh on the head gently as she could as she continued with the calming tones. Just as slowly, the houluh seemed to become less frightened, tail shifting to be held somewhat upright. Then, with an excited word from Haix, the houluh seemed to forget all about the screech, and began to prance.
The command was said this time, and though the houluh hesitated for a breath, she lunged after the skin and caught it a minute later. The command was repeated a few more times, the actions rewarded for, and then Haix dropped a new skin treat without the command word. Still excited by the game, Tin once again failed to notice and lunged for the toy. ((Tin-4.0 Haix-185))
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:52:57 GMT -6
Haix did not screech this time, instead whipping the treat back into her hands and barking out a considerably less intimidating warning. The houluh still flinched, coming to stop a few feet away, and then she dropped it again without the word, and again she whipped it up and chided the houluh. A few more times of this saw Tin not take so much as a step towards the toy, though her head tilted to one side then the other as she watched Haix silently drag it across the ground.
Then the command was given, and the houluh took a step forward at the tone, then froze, looking back up at Haix. She repeated the command in a tone as excited as she could manage, and the houluh gingerly made her way over and grabbed the motionless toy. The head pats and scratches were enough to rekindle her mood, and she wagged happily.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:53:12 GMT -6
Again and again they did this, until there was no longer any need for Haix to screech or angrily bark at the houluh, Tin only going after the toy when the command was called. And seeing as Tin had figured it out relatively quickly, Haix decided to move onto the next step a little early.
Tin was tied and tethered to the fence, and Haix ignored her whining as she pulled out several hide-wrapped meats. Each was carried until Haix found a spot she liked, one placed in a small hole by the fence and pushed into it so that it did not poke out above the grass, another hidden in a patch of taller grass. The others were likewise hidden as best as she could manage, until only one remained in her hands. She held it even as she freed Tin, and waved it in the air as Tin’s head turned to follow it.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:53:25 GMT -6
Then the command was given, the hide thrown, and Tin took off after it. When she reached it a few seconds later, she awkwardly pawed at it, and it took Haix coming closer and repeating the command to get her to bite through the hide and reach the treat beneath.
Haix picked up the chewed hide, rolling it up as she told Tin, once again, to hunt. The houluh looked at her, rand in a small circle, and barked when she repeated the command with growing intensity. Repeating one last time sent the houluh off, nose pressed to the ground as she tried to catch a scent of the toy. She did not know why it was no longer near Haix as it had been every time previously, but the need to find the toy was strong when the command was repeated once more. And then her nose caught something, and it led her straight into a patch of grass that enveloped her head.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:53:38 GMT -6
When the head reappeared, the ball of hide and meat was held firmly in her jaws, and Haix praised and gave her a pat, then another after she ripped it open and gobbled up the meat inside. Haix then stood back up, letting the houluh consume the hairless hide that this treat had been wrapped in, and called out the command again.
She found the others fairly quickly, sneezing once when some of the grass tickled her sensitive nose, and only needing to be reminded of the hunt once when a leaf had fluttered by. Each treat was found, eaten, and praised for, then the command repeated as Haix waited for the houluh to find the rest of the treats.
The last treat was the hairy one protruding from the dirt hole, the ball sinking deeper when Tin tried to bite it. She tried to grab it a few more times, shoving it deeper each time. Then she began to dig.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:54:12 GMT -6
She dug and dug, sometimes shoving her head back down after the hide only to return to digging a moment later. Eventually her teeth snagged it, the ball pressed against some unseen bend, and she pulled it free. Rather than tear it open and eat it, the houluh picked up the ball and carried it back to Haix, dropping it on the ground in front of her.
That marked the end of training that day, and they returned back to the kennel in high spirits, though those of Tin dropped when Haix locked her in the cage and returned to oversee her other responsibilities. The hide ball was thrown in there too, and after a few hours of playing with it, Tin ripped it apart and ate the meat. She then curled up into a tiny ball near the cage’s door rather than the bed of fabric, where Haix found her the next morning and woke her with a scratch behind her ears. ((Tin-5.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:54:27 GMT -6
When they returned the final day to the park, the sack Haix carried squeaked and writhed, earning a few curious looks from Tin, though never so distracting that she tripped over her own ears. The plot was reached, Tin freed, and Haix started off by dropping a hide ball next to her, not saying anything.
When the houluh did nothing, she praised it and gave it a pat that sent Tin’s tail thumping, then kicked the ball away. Reaching inside of the sack, she pulled out grubbles, one and two at a time, and dropped them on the grass. The majority ambled away, one or two moving with such haste that Haix suspected they knew what was coming.
She had been looking forward to this since she had gotten the houluh, and so there was more than the fake excitement in her voice as she told Tin to hunt. And hunt Tin did.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:55:39 GMT -6
Passing over the grubble nearest to them, fat specimens that likely would have been worth a meal to the houluh, Tin sniffed and moved carefully past them all. And, just as Haix trained her, Tin found the hide ball, chewed it open, and ate the treat inside.
Tempted to screech at the houluh, not wanting to rise ruining Tin, god-touched or not, Haix gave Tin some half-hearted praise and a single pat. Then, as the first of the grubble she collected snuck underneath the fence, she told Tin to hunt.
Snuffling loudly, still avoiding the grubble in the same way that made Haix wonder if the previous owner had introduced Tin to grubble in a nonfood way, Tin searched for the thing she had to hunt. At first she was excited as she had been during the other games, certain she would find the food soon. Then, as time when on and she had not found anything, the order was repeated with less of the bright tone the first one had been. Then it was said again, almost harsh as she booped one of the small fat things with her nose, hoping to find what she was meant to under it.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:55:53 GMT -6
And that earned her praise and pats.
She was happy for the praise and pats, but she did not understand what she was being praised for. She had not found the treat. But master was happy? Then she was happy!
Haix stopped petting the wagging houluh, and told her again to hunt, pointing at the booped grubble waddled away. Tin hopped over to the grubble, trying to find the furry hide ball, but could not, only finding the grubble. She almost barked in frustration as Haix called out the command and pointed again, the excitement in her voice transfering to Tin. But she could not find the ball, only the moving thing-
That was kind of like a ball?
She snapped up the grubble, nearly dropping it as it squealed and flailed, actually doing so when it sank it’s sharp teeth into her muzzle. She yelps and let go, but Haix was already there, praising her and patting her so much that she forgot all about the nip.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:56:04 GMT -6
Then the command was given again, but nearly all of the grubble had fled or hid at the squeal of the one she had caught. That one was limping away, rolling gait exaggerated as it favored one leg. That allowed her to easily catch up to it.
This time, she bit it down on it as hard as she could, the sounds of bones cracking adding texture to the grubble’s screams. She shook her head violently as it fought to free itself, and with one final snap of some bone, it fell still. Tin shook her head for a few more seconds, the dropped the bleeding corpse, looking up at Haix for approval.
And approval she received,plenty of pats and praise so that she forgot about the cooling body until Haix had picked it up and held it out to her as Haix had held out so many treats. The hide was a little harder to break through than the hide balls were, but she happily tore into it, staining the rest of her muzzle red.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:56:54 GMT -6
Tin was told to hunt a few more times, and she managed to catch something each time. One was a grubble that had sought shelter in the very same hole she had dug the ball out of, and she dug up where its bulk had trapped it. It died without a single squeal as her jaws closed over its head, and she flung it up into the air, then caught it and shook it further.
The most surprising catch was not a grubble at all, but a feral, at least she hoped it was feral, jibiji. It fluttered down to peck at some seed that had been uncovered in the digging, and did not so much as glance at Haix or the houluh as she gave the command. It screeched and flapped, but Tin caught one of its legs and dragged it back down, ripping it apart.
She slung the sack back over her shoulder and reattached the leash to Tin, the houluh yawning widely as she did so. She only hoped that the lessons would stick with the houluh.
((Hunt-End? Tin-6.0 Haix-186))
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 23:20:15 GMT -6
A new day had dawned, and the ssashirk and the houluh were already on their way back to the park. Tin bore no leash or collar, remaining close to Haix’s side as they entered the park, and turned down a path they had yet to travel. The reason why was a mystery to the houluh, but she pranced alongside Haix, glancing at the new sights as she did so, careful to keep her head raised and her ears away from the ground.
They had been walking the paths for several minutes before Haix found what she was searching for, an open lot that, at first, looked as flat and uninteresting as any number of the plots that they had quickly passed. Then the light of the sun caught and flashed on a rounded area sunken into the ground, the surface of the pool as smooth as glass. This one would do.
Swim-Start
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 23:20:30 GMT -6
Haix dropped the bag of supplies in the dirt, briefly stretching her arms upwards as her legs straightened to give her an extra few inches of height. Then her arms dropped back down to her sides, legs relaxing and returning her to her usual height. Tin did not bother to watch beyond the first few seconds, instead pressing her nose to the dirt ground as she sniffed the scents of all of the creatures that had come here before her. Finding a particularly interesting scent, she dipped one shoulder and rolled, coating her back fur in dust.
The ssashirk glanced at her, then returned to the sack, dragging it with her to the edge of the pool. Sitting by the edge, she looked in the pool for any sign that it was already occupied, but only could see the rock walls and the small holes that she assumed the water moved through.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 23:20:52 GMT -6
Believing the pool to be empty, she slid one leg into it, just barely able to scrape the bottom with a claw. The other leg joined the first and, doing her best to ignore the chill the water held as it leeched the heat from her legs, she stood in the pool. She walked around it, finding that the side farthest from her entry point had a few stairs carved into it, each wide enough that she could have stretched out and rested upon them if she had wanted.
Haix walked out of the pool, her legs feeling as though the slight breeze generated by walking was turning them to ice, and grabbed the sack once more. Calling to the houluh, she walked back to the stairs, dropping the sack at the edge nearest to where the pool reached its full depth.
Tin had stopped rolling at the call, springing up to trot after her.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 23:21:09 GMT -6
The houluh reached the edge of the pool roughly at the same time Haix did, and sniffed at the edge of the water as Haix dug into the sack. Lowering her head closer to the water, she flicked her tongue out at it, then began drinking in earnest. Hearing the small splashes in the water behind her, Haix twisted her neck to look at the pool, slightly disappointed to see the drinking houluh as the source.
She turned her attention back to the sack, now free of squirming grubbles and the many hide balls it had carried before, and removed a small, shiny pouch of a material she did not know the name of. Had the seller said it was from some kind of tick? She did not recall, but it was supposed to be able to keep its contents free of water. It would be time to test that supposed ability soon.
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