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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:00:51 GMT -6
Nevertheless, she doubted he would have appreciated the usurpation of this step of even implicitly asking for his consent, especially given his uncertain history with humans.
Rabbit went to one of his legs, and once she had gotten close enough, he lifted it to give her greater ease of access as she fastened the weight to it. When she was done, he tested the fit, then placed his foot down when he was satisfied. Only then did Rabbit move on to the next leg. When he tested the second one, he found it a little too tight, expressing his discomfort by picking at it with a claw, just enough to indicate what was wrong, and not hard enough to do any real damage. Rabbit undid the fastening and reapplied it, this time running a finger beneath it to make sure the fit was a good one, and the creature subsided, satisfied.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:01:12 GMT -6
Once she had fastened weights to all four legs, she stepped back and allowed him to test them one more time, moving about here and there to make sure nothing was wrong.
The creature walked back and forth and shook each limb in turn a few times, likely to check that nothing was too loose either. If it was, even if he didn't run the risk of it falling off during training, the loose weight would still be annoying to deal with while he was putting effort into other things.
On this occasion, however, he seemed satisfied with the results. When he was finished, Rabbit gave him a nod. "Please begin the circuit," she said. The creature blew a long sigh, but all the same, despite his reluctance, he went to the track to begin. It was much the same as he had done before, only this time with the addition of the weights.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:01:34 GMT -6
And at first, it was entirely possible that he did not feel much difference. After all, he was going quite slowly, which did not require him to expend as much effort. But the name of the game, so to speak, was endurance, and by nature this necessitated a slow and steady approach rather than rushing for any particular result.
And over time, the weights and the exercise would begin to tell. Weariness would begin to accumulate like sand washed up on a beach, And if this did not prove to be sufficiently challenging for the creature, then other methods could be taken to increase the load on him.
As they had not done this particular brand of training in some time, however, Rabbit wanted to start with something relatively easier. It was always best to be cautious, especially with a creature whose physical condition had suffered in the way that this creature's had done before.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:02:02 GMT -6
It was clear that he was recovered now, and that he felt confident in the strength he had, but that strength had been the work of many days.
Still, watching him like this, it really did seem as though the days when he could barely walk any distance without exhaustion were worlds away. The creature moved from his walk into a steady jog now, limbs moving smoothly and rhythmically his breathing even, as though nothing about this bothered him in the least except possibly for how boring it was. He went one circuit like this, and then again before finally slowing down to a walk once more.
The creature then walked the distance of another lap, to give himself some time to recover, before launching right back into a jog. This time, after he had made two rounds of the circuit, he continued a third lap before slowing to a walk again.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:02:24 GMT -6
He must have been feeling confident today. Rabbit had not demanded it of him, and normally she would have asked him to follow the same intervals until he exhausted himself naturally over time, but he was increasing the load on himself on his own. She wondered if he was urged by an intrinsic instinct to push himself, or whether he was doing this to prove some sort of point to her about how little he needed in the way of coddling. Perhaps he thought her methods were too soft for him now, and wanted her to find something more challenging for him.
It was a little too early in the session to tell. Perhaps this was simply his own way or exorcising the boredom. But she remembered what had happened with him and the cart last time, and couldn't be sure of anything. If it was boredom, however, she didn't exactly disagree with that assessment.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:02:34 GMT -6
She was not capable of such feelings, being the robot that she was, but it was true that endurance training in particular was especially repetitive, even among gym training regimens. There was only so much one could do when the purpose was to push one's body, arid as the minutes ticked by and the exercise began to feel uncomfortable, there was nothing to take one's mind off the discomfort either. Not dwelling on that, so she had read, was one of the challenges of exercise.
Humans played music to alleviate it, and now, watching him run yet another lap around the track Rabbit began to wonder whether the creature would have appreciated a similar amenity. She did not want to call out to him, however, for it was not yet time to stop, and she was not sure whether she would be clearly heard over the sound of his own breathing-- for the creature was panting now, after nearly an hour of running.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:02:56 GMT -6
It was an impressive feat in and of itself. He was not a creature made to be a long distance runner, the way that creatures made for life on the plains or long treks were, though he had learned something of the power needed to push past that when they had been practicing his dodging too. Perhaps that contributed to the dramatic improvement he showed now over their last time doing this, that he was only breathing somewhat hard, rather than wheezing and exhausted. The creature's head was still held aloft, by sheer stubbornness if nothing else, even though it must have been a tiring position to keep.
He looked as though he might have kept going another hour, if she had let him. Maybe he would have, again through sheer force of will. However, Rabbit allowed him only to run a few laps more before calling him back. "It is time for a break," she said.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:03:20 GMT -6
Indeed, the creature looked as though he might have argued with her pronouncement. But before he could raise any sort of real protest, Rabbit shook her head. "You need to rehydrate yourself at the very least. Excessive expenditure of your body's resources may cause it to go into shock, in which case any progress you may have made today will be lost as you recover from it." This was perhaps an exaggeration of the truth, but not, Rabbit thought, very much of one. The risk of shock was, at least, a real threat, and the creature was not one made to withstand prolonged periods of strain without water, just as he was no natural runner of the plains. That he didn't put up any further resistance suggested that he felt the need for a break as well.
It might well have been that same pride of his that stopped him from admitting such a thing himself.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:03:45 GMT -6
Rabbit's presence was in part to facilitate the excuse for him to move past it, for if she was the one who insisted, then he could go along with it without an admission of weakness himself. She couldn't verify this suspicion, of course, because she doubted he would admit such a thing, though she was perfectly capable of communicating her suspicions to him; but it was one of those things she had come to understand about working with him, from long hours of observation and trying various things.
As the creature came to a rest off the track, Rabbit went to fill a bucket with water, adding the supplements she had purchased from the gym's gift shop on his behalf. She waited until it had been mixed in sufficiently before bringing it to him. She was not concerned about him refusing to drink it, or attempting to drink only the parts that did not have the supplements in them, as he did not seem to dislike the taste during their previous sessions.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:04:02 GMT -6
However, there was a chance that they might otherwise all have sunk to the bottom of the bucket, and she felt it better to avoid that, given that it took only a few minutes worth of effort anyway.
The creature eyed the bucket, and knowing him as she did now, Rabbit suspected he was not happy with the plainness of the vessel. But he was in truth too thirsty to quarrel with her over cosmetic issues, and dipped his muzzle into the water to drink. She considered cautioning him against drinking too quickly, but she found that there was no need for her to do so after all. As thirsty as he must have been, she saw from the movements of his throat that he was pacing himself. She had warned him of it before when she had been less sure as to whether he knew not to but now he knew better.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:04:14 GMT -6
She thought of the idea that she had had earlier, and decided that now was as good a time to propose it as any.
"Would you like something to listen to while you run? Humans often use music to alleviate boredom when doing similar repetitive exercises," she said. Stating the first sentence without the second might have made the suggestion sound absurd. She wasn't sure, aside from the time that she had desensitized him to noise, that the creature had ever heard music himself… And that experience had not been a particularly pleasant one, given what her goal had been at the time.
The creature, for his part, inclined his head. He did not lock affronted by the suggestion, though he did look baffled by it, as if unsure as to where it had come from and why it was being presented to him now. Despite her attempt to contextualize it, Rabbit saw that her efforts had been insufficient in that regard.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:04:40 GMT -6
Rabbit was considering what else she could possibly say on the subject, but no further words of explanation came to her. She was about to dismiss her own request and inform him that there was no need to do so if he did not wish to, but by then the creature's expression had taken on a more considering mien. It appeared as though he was now thinking it over, and weighing the potential benefits that she had posited, or possibly some other considerations that she had neglected to think of but that had occurred to him.
Rabbit waited for his verdict.
After a moment, the creature gave a shrug of his wings, though there was something else to the look in his eyes that belied a greater complexity to the motion. While he did not exactly look frustrated, there was a sense that there was something he wished to communicate, but could not quite manage given the current state of their understanding of each other--- or rather, of Rabbit’s specific understanding of him.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:04:52 GMT -6
As far as her own words were concerned, he seemed by this point to understand Common perfectly well, and so she spoke to him much as she would have a fellow humanoid with whom she shared a language. It was only he who was mute in return, and who had to rely on a series of signals with his own body language, the occasional pantomime, and faith, she supposed, that she would come to the right conclusion.
But that was an issue to be addressed somewhere besides the gym, for if there was to be a solution, then it would certainly not be found here, of all places. And for the moment, he had not refused her suggestion, and so Rabbit was inclined to go ahead with it. After all, it was worth the attempt, at least, even if they did not ultimately decide to incorporate it as a regular part of the endurance exercise routine.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:05:09 GMT -6
The worst that could happen was some momentary annoyance, but on the other hand, if it went well, then the creature would have something to alleviate the tedium of their current phase of training.
“I do not have the equipment for it at present, but I will bring it to our next session,” said Rabbit. Unfortunately, the gym was made for creatures rather than their handlers, and the number of creatures who could conceivably even formulate the desire for such a service, much less enjoy it, was relatively low. Sentient creatures were becoming more common than they had once been, but the norm was still for beasts to be of bestial intelligence--- and while some had an appreciation for music even without that certain level of intelligence, appreciating it while working was a separate matter.
The creature sighed a little, though whether in disappointment or in exasperation at her for even broaching the subject was difficult to determine.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 21:05:38 GMT -6
But the topic had been opened and closed, and now his breathing had evened out. There was no reason to delay any further. He made his way back to the track by himself, without any prompting from Rabbit. Indeed, Rabbit felt now that her presence was… superfluous would not have been the word for it, for he still needed her to attend to him, but she was just that--- an attendant, who sometimes offered a useful suggestion. He did not really need her to conduct his training, and his time here was mostly to engage with the facilities themselves.
It was truly a boon that she could not suffer from boredom as an organic trainer might have done. When he was in the midst of his exercise, there was little enough for her to do but to watch. Still, it was not a task that she took lightly. Monitoring him for signs of exhaustion was an important task, and one that she was well suited for given her robotic nature.
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