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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 19:09:08 GMT -6
Renathan played around with the equillion for a little bit, gently pushing the creature and then moving away backwards, dodging a few face-nudges. They tended to play like this at the farm, but he didn't tend to allow this when they were out training. However, Renathan was beginning to feel a lot less stringent about training Shy Guy, since they were nearly done. Renathan petted the stallion gently, calming him down a little, and then they got serious again. The next hour was spent much the same as the last. The stallion would go out, wait for the command, and then call down a bolt of lightning, and then receive praise. Wash rinse and repeat, as per usual. Training was a dull and repetitive process, but it was tiring for Renathan. Renathan was finally convinced that the stallion would do this reliably, so he began working him through some of his older commands, switching in the lightning thing every once in a while to cement it.
[10] - [END of 'Call Lightning']
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 19:16:28 GMT -6
Renathan was starting to run low on energy, and also quite low on battle behaviors to train the stallion. The two took a break, walking over to the brook in order to decide exactly what to do after this. There were a few smallish tricks that needed to be trained, as well as a couple more battle behaviors. Renathan pulls out a tiny scrap of paper that had been written on; much of these lines were crossed out. Renathan places a question mark beside the lightning idea, and then stares down at the list trying to figure out what to try next. The equillion didn't pay any attention to him as he did this. Instead, Shy Guy took a swim in the brook, obviously happily. Renathan spends a goodly amount of time staring down at this list, trying to come up with plans on how to tackle all of this stuff.
[1]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 19:24:31 GMT -6
Renathan was certainly not paying any attention to the stallion at this point; and he should have been! Shy Guy splashes him with water mischievously, and when Renathan jumps up in shock, immediately, the stallion makes a soft noise and then swims away, his body nearly melting down into the water. Renathan crossed his arms, his fur a bit wet. He figured that he should be thankful that his body wasn't drenched; the stallion was quite in-sync with water. Renathan was surprised that the creature didn't have some kind of a power to pull in a large amount of water or something like that. The mammalian glanced down at the piece of paper, luckily only a little wet on one corner. He had to figure out something, even though his list was beginning to get a little slim here. He stared up after a little bit, watching the stallion as he swam around in the water with a happy expression.
[2]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 19:38:13 GMT -6
Renathan takes in the nice weather for a moment, trying to ground himself again. He was beginning to wonder if he needed some kind of calmer hobby in addition to the ones he worked on now; perhaps he should go back and begin working in his garden? He'd planned it a year ago but hadn't really had the time to go back or anything. It would be a lot of work. Renathan figured that the main issue he was having was that he had not been able to go back to the jewelry workshop in a long time, and that was his main creative outlet. Renathan forces himself to stand up, and move over to the brook to get closer to the equillion. "Now that was mean, Shy Guy," He said, shaking his head. The stallion looked mischievous for a moment, and melded into the water. Renathan shook his head, knowing that this was probably going to mean he was going to get another splash.
[3]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 19:41:34 GMT -6
Renathan backed up due to that, trying to decide whether or not to get into the water himself and have a bit of a swim. However, when he dipped a toe into the water, he realized that it was freezing dang cold. It was not at all late enough in the year for the water to warm up, and it wasn't quite hot enough outside to be okay with the cold water either. Renathan decides not to go for that swim, even though the equillion was obviously enjoying himself, and then backs up. He knew that he wouldn't be able to train the last two trick behaviors yet, because that would mean that he would have to get down into the water, and he didn't really feel like doing that. Both of the remaining tricks had to do with the stallion being ridden in the water, and he did not feel like getting freezing cold just to finish up those two bits and bobs.
[4]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 19:46:37 GMT -6
Renathan had to decide fairly quickly what to work on next though. The stallion attempts to splash him again using his tail, but Renathan rapidly retreats, back up to the sore and sitting away from the brook enough that the stallion would really have to put in some work to splash him again. If the remaining tricks were out, then that meant that Renathan could work on a few of the dry mount tricks? He wanted the stallion to learn to walk a couple of different ways, but he wasn't completely sure how to get the creature to do some of them yet. It had been a while to consider it, he'd worked with creatures in his homeland to get them to do those, but how would an equillion react to them? No, not those training bits yet. He touched his chin as he thought, carefully considering his options. Perhaps he should finish up the actual battle training?
[5]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 19:59:37 GMT -6
Renathan decided quiet abruptly, when the stallion finally emerged from the brook and shook himself off without too many issues. Renathan knew that the equillion had some kind of strange oil in his hair that kept water from drenching his mane and fur too much. It made finding something to wash him with a struggle at best! Then, the stallion promptly seemed to release some kind of mist around him, perhaps out of reflex, and Renathan suddenly remembered that this would make an excellent battle tactic. He'd found out before that apparently this particular ability was not unique to Shy Guy, and was instead a normal pure equillion thing. Renathan stood up, and patted the stallion on the side after Shy Guy moved out of the mist. "I've got it, I know what we're about to train." He said, mostly to himself. The equillion stared at him a little more determinedly now, knowing what that tone and body language meant.
[1] - [START 'Hidden Mist']
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 20:08:33 GMT -6
Renathan had decided on a command for this one also based on what it was going to do; his whistles tended to evoke the idea of the move, which made it easier for him to not only come up with them but also to remember them and keep them very separate from each other. He usually came up with commands on the fly, but some of these that he'd had on the list for a long while already had pre-thought-out commands. Renathan brought the stallion further up on the bank with a gentle guiding hand, and then realized that he had to figure out how to get the stallion to actually do the whole mist thing. Renathan whistled out the command, waiting to see what the equillion would do. Shy Guy seemed confused at first, trying to triangulate what Renathan wanted. Renathan then called out the command again, and then brought him closer to where he had previously done the mist thing.
[2]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 20:12:48 GMT -6
This helped to do the trick; when around water and trees, the stallion had a natural inclination to manipulate the mist in order to help hide. Renathan grinned beneath his mask as the stallion stamped a little, producing a few small clouds of mist experimentally, looking at Renathan in his eyes as if to ask about it. Renathan gave him lots of praise for the action, and a smaller piece of pink apple. The stallion seemed to mull over this as he chewed the apple, and then Renathan stepped back. This was going to work so well! Renathan whistled the command again, and Shy Guy put two and two together again in an uncanny manner, producing much more mist this time. Renathan could almost have jumped for joy; this was very good and going along quite well! He gave the stallion lots of praise, yet again, and a larger piece of the pink apple this time. Renathan had been quite prepared for today, bringing lots of little apple pieces.
[3]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 20:25:08 GMT -6
Renathan of course waited for the equillion to be finished with the apple treats before he continued. This seemed like it was going to be a bit easier for him than he had expected! He thought this one would take a long while. Perhaps because of the bond? Renathan felt some of the emotional links more strongly and harshly than others, and the one with Shy Guy was easily the most mild one that was still quite strong. It was like floating in a lake on a nice day, in the link, whereas his jibiji felt like a bright ray of sunshine, and Lisle felt like an intrusion almost. Renathan considered this, and then was broke from his thoughts by the stallion nosing his shoulder. Ah, yeah, training. Renathan backs up, and whistles the command yet again. Shy Guy immediately released quite a bit of mist, as if he were finding it much easier to do now.
[4]
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Post by Renathan on Mar 30, 2019 20:29:10 GMT -6
Renathan gave the stallion more praise, and then lots of petting on the nose, and then a piece of pink apple. This was very good. Renathan waited until the stallion proceeded to finish the piece of pink apple treat he had been given before they continued. Renathan decided to use the next hour to run the stallion through the command again, over and over and over. Repetition was very important for training, Renathan knew from experience. Creatures remembered things better if they were ran through it again and again. Renathan then ran the stallion through some of his older commands again, and then back through the mist behavior again. Renathan figured that the mist could be used to help the stallion dodge a hit or two in a fight, and perhaps sneak up on the opponent? The ideas were endless! After a long while, the stallion seemed to have gotten the idea of it quite well, and Renathan was pleased with it.
[5] - [END of 'Hidden Mist'] - Renathan and Shy Guy Leave for the Day
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Post by Renathan on May 7, 2019 14:32:20 GMT -6
Renathan knew that they just had to train one more thing before the pit battles. Renathan knew that the stallion was not really going to do well in this tournament at all unless he worked hard to train this last trick, but Renathan still wasn't very happy about this at all because of the subject matter at hand. The thing was; that this was going to be both physically and emotionally exhausting for both Renathan AND the bay equillion stallion, and he was super anxious about it. The stallion was actually quite anxious today too, if only because Renathan was also very anxious. Renathan's arms hurt from all of the training they had done previously, and now today was especially going to suck. Renathan knew that of course. His original idea for training this was going to be actually beating the stallion with a riding crop or stick because that was how he had been told it would have to go. Today, he had a different plan in mind.
[1] - [START 'Stone Skin'] (Renathan is using Sever Bond)
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Post by Renathan on May 7, 2019 15:51:20 GMT -6
Renathan brought the stallion around to where he knew there was a water hose that was often used to get creatures cleaned. He knew that it had several different settings, some very soft for smaller creatures, more like a trickle, and some of them were more like a pressure hose; for those super huge creatures that Renathan knew could take such a thing and feel it more like a tickle; like thundergugs. Renathan was super worried about the stallion, and honestly had no idea what was possessing him to really want to go through with this training even though he knew that they were going to lose... Renathan wanted to think that luck would be on their side regardless! He chose to think about that for a moment. He was planning on using the settings on the hose from softest to heaviest in order to cause the creature's skin to naturally become more acclimated to the hard spray, and also to get the creature to toughen up it's skin a little bit.
[2]
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Post by Renathan on May 7, 2019 16:45:22 GMT -6
Renathan walked over to the watering hose and picked it up, holding it in his hands. The stallion was not really afraid of it despite the antsy attitude that Renathan had accidentally caused; Renathan had given him plenty of baths before with something similar. Renathan just hoped that he wouldn't frighten the creature any worse than what it already was. He steeled himself with the breathing exercises again, and then he turned the water hose on, and cycles it through the pressures a bit away from the stallion, which stood there, looking at him trustingly. He hated this already, but knew that it had to be done, and that it might save his life in the pit! Renathan smiled softly, and then put it on the lowest setting at first, trickling it over the stallion's back. The equillion of course enjoyed this, as he liked water a lot and it was a hot day, and Renathan felt a bit of a pang. He knew that this would hurt eventually.
[3]
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Post by Renathan on May 7, 2019 17:02:26 GMT -6
Renathan hated the idea of it, of course. However, it had to be done. He decided that he was going to wait for a minute to move it up from one to two. Then, he would wait for an extra minute before moving it up from two to three. This idea should help them work up to the highest, ten, at the end. Renathan waited two minutes like he thought he would, keeping the time in his head, and then moved up to the next one. Then three minutes and the next. Then four minutes and the next. Then five minutes and then the next. He kept on with this, six minutes and the next, seven minutes and the next, eight minutes and the next. The stallion was making an obviously pained expression, but dealing with it. Then after ten minutes, he pulled it up to the highest setting and swallowed, feeling quite a bit bad. After a minute, he turned it all the way off. The stallion was stamping a foot, and Renathan frowned. This really wasn't cool at all.
[4]
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