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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:15:47 GMT -6
Silver absentmindedly fixed up the harness and got Maggie strapped into it. After all these years as a professional mount trainer, they could do such a thing in their sleep. Maggie didn’t love being strapped in, but the amount of special attention she got for it was helping to ease her into it.
“We have to clean up… you know, all of this,” Silver said. They sighed lightly. There was so much still to do, and the afternoon had already ticked away from them. Would they be doing this all night? Could Maggie handle that? For that matter, could they? Well, there was still some light, so they better get to doing it instead of worrying about getting it done.
They started back where they had put down the pile of twigs before. Most of them had fallen over and they were all tangled up, but at least they mostly stayed put. It was the most that they could ask for.
[119.5, 3.6]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:16:19 GMT -6
Silver grabbed the sticks by the armful and dumped them into the cart. The sound startled Maggie and she tried to run off. Silver immediately stopped what they were doing to soothe her. “I’m sorry girl, I didn’t mean to scare you. Will you be alright?” They rubbed her cheeks and slipped her a treat, and she seemed to have calmed down again.
“Okay, I’ll do the next ones quieter,” they said. True to their word, they were more careful about adding more to the pile next time. The more full the cart got, however, the more what was already there dampened the sound. Before long, it was almost overflowing with small branches.
“I wonder what we can do with all of this…” Silver said, looking at their growing pile of tinder. “Oh! I bet we could have a campfire. What do you think, Maggie? Sound like fun?”
[119.6, 3.8]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:16:54 GMT -6
They didn’t think that Maggie would like anything about a fire, so they probably wouldn’t invite her. Large forest-y creatures like her rarely enjoyed being around flames.
“Well, if we stack it up outside the shed, we can always do that later,” they explained. Why did they keep explaining their plans out loud when nobody who understood them could hear them? Mostly they just wanted to get their thoughts in order. It wasn’t easy for them to plan things out, so they could use all the help they could get.
Silver led Maggie back to the shed and emptied the cart one armful of sticks at a time. They were feeling really pleased with their progress. They untied Maggie from her harness, and brushed over where it had been resting on her fur. They could only guess that it was itchy under there and the scratches would help to make it better.
[119.7, 4]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:17:34 GMT -6
“Great job, girl! I think we’ve earned a break, don’t you?” Silver couldn’t help but to stare at the pile of sticks while their brain processed a wild thought. They looked at Maggie’s muzzle, then back at the sticks, then back at Maggie, and had a strange idea.
“Do you wanna play fetch, girl? Who wants to play fetch?” They grinned and picked out a suitable stick for playing fetch. They waved it in front of her face like they would do with a pup, and whipped it off into the grass nearby. Maggie watched the whole thing, but she didn’t move.
“Oh, okay, do you not know what this is? I’ll show you!” Silver ran over to grab the stick themselves, then brought it back.
“See? Easy peasy!” Then they laughed at themselves and held the stick out again for her to look at. Would that make her want to chase it?
[119.8, 4.2]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:18:07 GMT -6
They tapped her on the side with it, then tapped the ground with it, then waved it near her nose to see if she would grab it. She blew out a puff of air from her nose, but made no other attempt to do anything. Silver sighed. Maybe Repointe didn’t play fetch? That would be disappointing.
No, Repointe ate meat and had sharp teeth, they must have some kind of chase instinct! The stick just wasn’t enough on its own. They had to keep encouraging her to chase it. It might be annoying at first, but then it would be fun!
“C’mon, I know you know how to do this, just watch me again,” they said. They tossed the stick and she watched it land, but made no move to go after it. Just as they expected. Then they ran over, grabbed the stick, and snapped a little bit off the end of it. Then they came running back.
[119.9, 4.4]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:18:41 GMT -6
“Think you could do that? I bet you can!” They again tossed the stick and Maggie watched it more intently to see if they would bring it back again. Why weren’t they bringing it back? Well she didn’t care that much, so she didn’t go after it.
They sighed and flopped over into the grass. It had been a long day. Maybe they weren’t doing it right. How could they forget how to play fetch? Well if anyone could, it was them. They closed their eyes for a moment and rested. Perhaps they were more tired than they thought.
Maggie wondered why Silver was laying down. What were they doing? She sniffed the air above their head and determined that they were fine. They did, however, have to get back up. Why? Only she would know. She pressed her nose into their chest and bleated softly, as if asking ‘why don’t you get up’?
[120, 4.6]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:19:47 GMT -6
“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Silver said, opening their eyes to see her face right in theirs. “I’ve never heard you make that noise before. It suits you.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll get up,” they said. They pulled themselves to their feet and brushed the dirt off their pants. “Do you want to try to catch the stick again?” They asked. Maggie didn’t make another noise, but she was watching them more closely than before.
Silver picked up the stick again and drew with it in circles on the ground. Maggie’s eyes watched as the stick moved back and forth. Is this how she liked to play? Silver grinned, thinking they had finally cracked the code. They continued to draw circles on the ground until they eventually lifted the stick high in the air. They bounced the stick up and down so that she could follow it with her nose.
[120.1, 4.8]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 3:20:21 GMT -6
As the stick passed by her face, she snapped at it, trying to grab it, but they were too fast. They pulled it away and laughed. She finally went to grab it! Apparently she was more like a cat than a puppy, which made sense they supposed. They swished the stick back and forth, watching her snap at it with her fangs.
“Woooah!” they said, letting go of the stick. “Almost got me there, maybe we should be careful.” Maggie chomped down on the stick and snapped it in half. Then she looked up expectantly at them as if to ask if they could do it again. She liked this game!
Silver went back to the pile of branches and selected a larger one. Perhaps she wouldn’t be able to snap that one in half so easily. They brought it back, waving it around in the air and watching as her eyes followed it. They wanted to laugh.
[120.2, 5]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 4:58:01 GMT -6
She was so cute when she was playing! Even with those ferocious teeth. They waved the stick around in the air by her face and watched as she snapped at it here and there. They tapped her on the side with the tip of it and watched her try to grab it. The two of them kept playing that game for a while until Silver’s arms got tired. Then they decided it was time to shake it up.
“Do you think you can go catch it now?” Silver asked. They waved the stick back and forth in a ‘throwing’ motion to see if she kept watching it. To their delight, she did. Maybe this time she would chase after it? Well, there was only one way to find out!
Silver tossed the stick as far as their tiny arms could manage. They really wanted her to run for it. However, she didn’t do that.
[120.3, 5.2] [Verdant Growth - 1]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 4:58:32 GMT -6
To their surprise, she took a few steps forward, then dug their hooves into the ground. What happened next, they couldn’t possibly have predicted.
Little vines erupted from the ground beneath her feet, making a small trail all the way to the stick. From the end, they grew out and wrapped around the stick. Then the vines snapped the stick in half by growing around it and squeezing tight. Maggie looked very proud of herself.
“That was so cool!” Silver cheered. Maggie jumped back at the sound of their voice, and the vines disappeared from the ground. “Wait wait, no, can you do that again?” Silver asked.
Silver bent down and pushed on one of Maggie’s hooves so it pressed into the ground. Annoyed, she yanked her hoof back. She didn’t want them doing that! She used her nose to push them away. She liked them, but not that much. She definitely did not want anyone touching her feet, even Silver.
[120.4, 5.4] [Verdant Growth - 2]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 4:58:57 GMT -6
“Hmm,” they pondered aloud. “I wonder…”
If her feet touching the ground wasn’t enough to create the magic effect, maybe something else would trigger it. Would they need to play hunt some more? Silver hoped that would be enough to do it. They really didn’t want to have to ‘hunt’ for real.
Obviously the vines were part of a hunting instinct. She could use it to choke out her prey so… actually they didn’t want to think about that. It was, however, a very impressive and possibly useful ability. If they could control it together, could they use it to help them garden? Or something else? They really wanted to know.
“Alright Maggie, can we try that again? Can you grow?” Of course she had no idea what that meant. She was more concerned about the part where she was being annoyed by Silver’s antics. She didn’t want to play their silly games if it wasn’t fun! Could they do the fun thing again?
[120.5, 5.6] [Verdant Growth - 3]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 4:59:21 GMT -6
“Sorry, sorry,” they said. They gave her a treat from their bag and hoped she would forgive them. Luckily for them, she did. She was pleased to have a treat, but still unsure about what they were doing.
The thing that worked before was trying to wave the stick around and having her try to ‘kill’ it with the vines. They would just have to do that again to get her to do it. When she did it, they could praise her and teach her a command word. The same way they did it with tricking a puppy into putting their paws up. Easy peasy!
Silver grabbed a sturdier stick than before from the pile. They couldn’t throw it as far, but perhaps it would hold up to multiple beatings. They smiled. This was going to be so easy! All they had to do was throw the stick, and she would try to crush it again. For once, they were glad that Repointe were so naturally aggressive.
[120.6, 5.8] [Verdant Growth - 4]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 4:59:52 GMT -6
They weren’t used to training things like this. It seemed like the kind of thing that the fighters would do. To teach a pet to ‘attack’ something on command. It felt weird to be doing, but also exciting. They could use this kind of training to do… something. They hadn’t figured that out yet, but they wanted to. Trying something new didn’t have to be terrifying if they didn’t let it.
Silver tapped the stick on the ground and drew figure eights in the air with it. They continued to keep it just out of reach until Maggie clearly wanted it. They pulled it away from her again and again so that she was really keen on snapping at it. That was perfect!
“Alright girl, you get it, grow grow!” They said the command word very clearly and loudly, then tossed the stick as far as they could into the field.
[120.7, 6] [Verdant Growth - 5]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:00:31 GMT -6
Maggie again took a step forward, then decided to use her powers instead. She stepped both of her paws into the ground and shot out a trail of vines to grab the stick and snap it. She didn’t care about retrieving it so much as she wanted to destroy it.
“Grow grow!” Silver cheered. They made it seem like the most exciting thing that had ever happened. They cheered, rubbed her shoulder, and finally passed her some treats.
Maggie didn’t really know what was going on, but she liked all of this new praise and treat giving. She snapped up the treat cheerfully and let go of her hold on the vines. They slowly disappeared back into the grass. Silver sighed. Well that was progress at least! They were getting somewhere.
“Okay Maggie, do you think you can do it again? Look you didn’t even totally smash this one…”
[120.8, 6.2] [Verdant Growth - 6]
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Post by Silver on Apr 26, 2021 5:00:57 GMT -6
Silver went out to retrieve the stick and realized that she had successfully taught them how to fetch! How ironic. There was no use dwelling on that, though.
Silver waved the stick around so that Maggie could see it. “Check it out, you didn’t even smash it, I bet you can, if you try harder,” Silver said. They smirked at their own cleverness. Surely she would fall for such a taunt! Or at least they were making themselves laugh, which was the best that could be expected.
Maggie noticed that she hadn’t totally broken the stick this time. It was a tougher stick than last time. She would have to try harder! She quickly snatched the stick from their hands, threw it on the ground, and crushed it under her hoof. Since she had been using her vines so much lately, they also came out a little bit around her hooves and helped her finish the job.
[120.9, 6.4] [Verdant Growth - 7]
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