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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 1, 2020 11:28:59 GMT -6
The next trick was another relatively easy one. Kaito was a young kitten- he loved running around, so this one should have been a cinch for him. Not to mention him coming when called was just a good thing to have in general if she were to enter him in a contest. Yes, the next trick was “come”, and Fiera already had some ideas in mind for it. First things first though, she checked the leash keeping him tied to the side of the pavilion to make sure it was both secure… and long enough for him to run around with, not having gotten caught on any surrounding surfaces. After all, she didn’t need him to run toward her, only to get clotheslined by his own leash. It looked like he hadn’t managed to wrap it around anything however and Fiera didn’t intend to leave the bodega, so she decided it was fine.
Fiera 1 Kaito 6.1/6.1 Come 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 1, 2020 11:29:17 GMT -6
With that out of the way, Fiera knew it would be perfectly easy to get Kaito to come to her. First, she stood up and wandered around, waiting for the malii to lose interest in her and start messing with something else. Sure enough, he quickly got distracted by a pebble as Fiera went through her bag, batting across the wooden floor of the pavilion. She pulled out the can of wet food (chicken flavored), and just gently… snapped the pull tab against the top of the can, even though it was already opened. Knowing exactly what that sound meant, Kaito was scrambling toward her in an instant. “Kaito, come!” Fiera said, matching the word up with his actions in the hopes that he would learn something from it. In a blink, Kaito was soon rubbing up against her legs, making that odd meow-bleat that malii were known for in an attempt to beg some food out of her.
Fiera 2 Kaito 6.2/6.3 Come 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 1, 2020 11:29:32 GMT -6
Fiera chuckled. “Oh, good boy, Kaito! Good come! Here you go.” She said, lowering a spoonful of treat down to hit so he could lick it off excitedly. In a split second it was gone, and the young malii was licking his lips. Fiera put the can away while he cleaned himself off fastidiously and walked to the other side of the pavilion. This time, she didn’t get the can out before giving the command again. “Kaito, come!” She called, hoping that he would remember the command. He looked up at the humanism from where he was cleaning off his paw, took a couple hesitant steps toward her… and then sat down again, returning to his bathing. Hm. Well. It was a start, wasn’t it. Fiera sighed and got the can out again. “Kaito, come!” She ordered again, but she hardly needed to. The scent of the chicken was enough to send him running.
Fiera 3 Kaito 6.3/6.3 Come 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 1, 2020 11:29:51 GMT -6
The malii skidded to her feet, mewing loudly. “Yes, yes, good come.” Fiera said tiredly, offering him another spoonful of food. Hopefully now that they were repeating the trick some more, he would perform it more often… or at least BETTER when she tried calling him again. She didn’t want to have to always have a treat on standby when giving him the command after all. When Kaito finished licking his lips, Fiera put the can away, even though he immediately started begging for more. Fiera only sighed, rolled her eyes, and leaned back against the railing, waiting for her pet to get tired. When he finally gave up and walked away again, that was when Fiera took the opportunity to repeat the command. “Kaito, come here, dear!” She called, and the malii looked over his shoulder at her. She waited patiently, giving him an awkward smile… as he slowly turned around toward her.
Fiera 4 Kaito 6.4/6.4 Come 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 1, 2020 11:30:06 GMT -6
To Fiera’s delight, he begrudgingly trudged over to her, sitting down at her feet. It took him forever, but he did indeed come, even if she didn’t have a treat on her! “Good boy, Kaito!” She said, practically squealing, and just about shoved the spoonful of treat down his throat. That certainly raised his mood, to the point where when she backed away again, he didn’t even seem upset at the prospect of having to repeat the trick again. “Kaito, come!” She called again, looking over at him. This time he skittered eagerly across the wooden floor of the pavilion, just barely coming to a stop before running into her. Fiera chuckled and reached down to pet him. It wasn’t the most graceful result, but she was glad that he was performing well now. With any luck, this would help them out a lot in their upcoming contest together.
Fiera 5 Kaito 7.0/7.0 Come 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:26:27 GMT -6
Fiera brought Sundown to the public park, hopefully for the last time. The houluh puppy was looking less and less like a pup by the day, growing long, limber, and leggy. With any luck he would grow out of his teenage awkwardness soon, but Fiera wanted to get him through his debutante contest before that. With that in mind, she came to have him go over all of his tricks before signing him up, to make sure that he knew everything and how to carry it out to its ideal before going on. With that in mind she had him zipping around the field, practicing ‘come’, ‘follow’, ‘sit’, ‘lay down’, and any other complicated string of commands she could think to give him. To his credit he was performing admirably, even if he seemed to be getting a little worn out, panting as Fiera paused for a moment to give him another reassuring treat.
Fiera 6 Sundown 16.1/32.1 At Ease 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:26:46 GMT -6
With that out of the way though, it was back to training, sending him into another cascade of commands with no apparent stopping point. He performed well, but after a certain point Fiera decided that she was getting quite tired as well, and stopped to stretch. The silky houluh looked up at her expectantly, waiting for the next command… but Fiera didn’t feel like giving it. They had been doing this for at least half an hour by this point after all, and she felt like it was about time for a break. She had worked up a sweat AND an appetite doinng this, and was about ready to chow down on the sandwiches she had brought with her… and maybe feed a couple scraps of them to Sundown if he begged hard enough for them. She walked back over to her back and began rummaging through it for her lunch.
Fiera 7 Sundown 16.2/32.2 At Ease 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:27:02 GMT -6
As she cast a glance back over her shoulder toward Sundown though, she realized that the blessed houluh hadn’t budged an inch from his original spot. “You uh… you good there, buddy? I didn’t tell you to stay.” She said gently, but the houluh only froze up harder at the mention of the word “stay”. Ah. Fiera had seen this a couple times before- mostly with houluh. They were a species that was very, VERY eager to please, what with being aligned with the goddess of order and whatnot. She had seen it in soldiers too, but obviously that was quite a different situation. They would get all wound up, waiting for the next order to come to the point where they would just forget to relax when the training session was over, waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Well, Fiera would have to get him to stop that- it was clearly stressing him out.
Fiera 8 Sundown 16.3/32.3 At Ease 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:27:16 GMT -6
But how? It felt odd to ORDER him to relax, but she supposed that that might be the only way to do it when he got like this. Thank goodness she still had plenty of treats shoved in her back pocket. She decided to start off easy instead of trying to “shock” him into acting normally. “Hey there, Sundown!” She said gently as she knelt in front of him. “At ease, buddy!” She said, ruffling his cheeks and head, gently shaking it back and forth playfully in an attempt to get him to unwind. He just yawned loudly and looked at her guiltily, as if he wasn’t sure what she wanted him to do. At least he didn’t seem… QUITE as wound up though? She would take it. “Good at ease, Sundown.” She said softly, and handed him another treat. He glanced at her with confusion, but still leaned down to take it.
Fiera 9 Sundown 16.4/32.4 At Ease 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:27:35 GMT -6
As he ate it, Fiera stood back up again, getting ready to try the trick again. When he looked up at her, she gave him a simple order. “Okay Sundown- sit!” She said happily. He obeyed in an instant, plopping himself down on the ground. Alright, good start. “Okay now, at ease!” She followed up, relaxing her own posture in turn. He just tilted his head and looked at her. “Come on, at ease!” She said, leaning down to ruffle his head again. He woofed at that, a little surprised and maybe irritated, but when he looked up again, Fiera had spread her legs and put her hands on her knees in clear imitation of a play bow. Already riled up, Sundown couldn’t help but match her enthusiasm, wagging his tail and getting ready to play as well. Fiera took a step forward and he scampered away, barking as loudly as he could. (
Fiera 10 Sundown 17.0/33.0 At Ease 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:28:04 GMT -6
They tore around like that for a while, getting out all of that pent up energy that was no doubt stuffed into Sundown’s limbs by this point. At the end they were both panting with exhaustion, but relaxed. Fiera practically shoved a treat into his mouth, giving up on the traditional method of throwing it to him or letting him politely eat it out of his hand. Formality was out the window by this point. “Good at ease, Sundown!” She said chipperly while laughing breathily. She rubbed his head and stood up again, catching her breath and going to get some water from her bag. The houluh followed her, yawning quietly. She took a deep chug and let the houluh have some as well, pouring it from the bottle so he could drink the stream of fresh liquid without getting his dog slobber all over the rim of the bottle.
Fiera 1 Sundown 17.1/33.1 At Ease 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:30:31 GMT -6
After that, she got back into repeating his tricks again, but kept a closer eye on his levels of stress after that. It wouldn’t do good for him to be all pent up during his debutante show after all. She was sure that the judges would notice that kind of skittishness and they would get points knocked off. The last thing she wanted was for Sundown to be rejected as good breeding stock due to “behavioral issues” that Fiera could have easily trained out. This ability to relax would be just as important for him as any other trick he could perform. Not to mention it would probably do wonders for his mental health as well, as far as a creature as intelligent as a houluh could HAVE mental health. It was good to let him know when the trick was over, and it was time to chill out and go home.
Fiera 2 Sundown 17.2/33.2 At Ease 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:30:51 GMT -6
When it looked like Sundown was getting pretty pent up, Fiera paused, letting him wrap up that last repetition of “come” and come to a stop at her feet. “Okay Sundown, at ease!” She said cheerily. He looked at her warily, but wagged his tail weakly and sat down, seeming to relax some but not all the way. Fiera chuckled and leaned down to rub him all over again, forcing him to playfully nip at her hands to get her to stop, yapping in perceived embarrassment. “What, is this not ‘cool’ enough for you?” Fiera said, mussing up the fur on his head. Sundown whined loudly and rolled over, letting Fiera pet him, all sense of seriousness forgotten now that the humanish had humiliated him. She laughed and gave him one last pat on the belly before standing up again, letting her pet get up in his own sweet time.
Fiera 3 Sundown 17.3/33.3 At Ease 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:31:05 GMT -6
When he did, she let him wander around for a bit, letting him go for a period of time without any commands in order to cool off some and not immediately assume that her standing there watching him meant she was going to give him commands. After a while though, she decided to get back down to brass tacks. “Okay Sundown.. Follow!” She called, walking him around the clearing again. He followed happily, and then easily fell through the series of commands she gave him afterward, and Fiera watched as he carried them out effortlessly. When he was done however he paused, as if waiting for her to give another command. Well, Fiera figured that they were done there were no more commands for her to give for now, so she might as well let him off the hook. “Okay Sundown… at ease!” She said, clapping her hands for emphasis.
Fiera 4 Sundown 17.4/33.4 At Ease 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 10, 2020 11:31:23 GMT -6
To her relief, he immediately seemed to calm down again, returning to sniffing the grass around him as if searching for anything else interesting in the area, now that they had stopped their “playtime”. Fiera found her own shoulders relaxing as well. She never thought that “calm down” would be a trick she would have to teach one of her pets but life never ceased to surprise her. At least Sundown hadn’t taken long to learn it, though it didn’t take much motivation to get him to do it… considering that it was just doing “nothing”. Now that she was done with that though… perhaps she could take some time to just go ahead and have some real fun. With trick practice done, Fiera took the opportunity to start chasing after Sundown again, letting him just enjoy being a puppy before his big show. And wouldn’t you know it, Fiera found herself enjoying it as well.
Fiera 5 Sundown 18.0/36.0 At Ease 10
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