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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2021 12:43:43 GMT -6
Even though Oasis was unusually calm and clever however, she was still prone to all the vagaries of youth. Every houluh pup had a bit of a rebellious streak, and sometimes one had to tamp down on it before it got out of hand. Oasis was smart, but she needed to know beyond all doubt that Fiera was the one in charge here. She hadn’t seen too much of any tendencies toward the contrary yet, but Fiera knew it was only a matter of time if she didn’t teach her houluh any obedience tricks now. She’d start Oasis off east though, with the command of “no”. A simple stop, don’t do it, don’t even think about it command. It was bog standard on the list of tricks Fiera normally taught her pets first, and the only thing that was different in this case was that it had taken Fiera this long to teach it to start with.
Fiera 1 Oasis 14.1/30.1 No 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2021 13:41:09 GMT -6
“Okay Oasis… let’s get this started.” She said mostly to herself as she retrieved a treat from her back pocket. She wasn’t going to be giving this to Oasis for any specific trick this time. Instead, she would be giving it to the houluh as a reward for ignoring it completely. A bit of an unusual trick, but it taught creatures to leave things alone when commanded. Without further ado, Fiera placed the meaty treat in her palm and lowered it down to where Oasis could see. She gestured at it with her other pointer finger. “Ready, Oasis? No.” She said, giving the command. Of course, Oasis hardly heard her, and definitely didn’t understand. All she knew was that there was a treat right in front of her face, ready for the taking. Sure enough, the pup leaned forward to take it and Fiera snapped her fingers shut around the treat.
Fiera 2 Oasis 14.2/30.2 No 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2021 14:03:08 GMT -6
Fiera’s grip was like a bear trap. At first, Oasis sniffed at her fingers curiously, wondering if there was something she was missing. Her owner wasn’t about to give up that easily though. Her goal here was to give Oasis the treat only once she gave up, making sure she knew that she couldn’t always get what she wanted. Oasis was a persistent little beastie however, and continued to circle around Fiera’s closed fist. She pawed and sniffed at it like it was simply a puzzle to be solved. “Oasis, no.” Fiera repeated again in a firm tone of voice. She was hoping that would be enough, but unfortunately Oasis circled around for quite a while longer before finally settling down in front of Fiera’s fist, thoroughly baffled. It was one puzzle she just couldn’t figure out, but thankfully she didn’t need to.
Fiera 3 Oasis 14.3/30.3 No 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2021 15:33:51 GMT -6
It was at that point that Fiera considered the trick a success and finally opened her hand, revealing the treat to Oasis. “Good girl, Oasis! Good no!” She praised, switching up her tone of voice to one that she knew Oasis was more familiar with as “being nice”. While Oasis happily snacked on that treat, Fiera retrieved another one from her pocket and placed it in her palm again. When Oasis looked up, Fiera already had another treat ready for her. She pointed at it again as the pup sniffed her way closer. “Oasis, no.” She said again, hoping the houluh would be a bit more cooperative this time. Oasis crept closer, but Fiera repeated the command, making her back off again… for a moment. Eventually she seemed unable to help herself and lunged forward again, trying to get at the treat. Fiera sighed and closed her hand again, causing the pup to bounce off ineffectively.
Fiera 4 Oasis 14.4/30.4 No 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 14, 2021 15:38:29 GMT -6
Oasis seemed to feel guilty (if she was capable of that) immediately and backed off. She laid down and put her head on her paws, looking at Fiera pleadingly. Eventually, Fiera sighed and relented. “Okay then, good no.” She said, opening her hand and revealing the treat. Oasis immediately started wagging her tail and darted forward, claiming the prize. “Let’s try and do a little better this time around though. Eh?” The humanish said, glancing Oasis’s way while retrieving another treat. She held it out like both the times before, and gave the command as Oasis found herself drawn to it. “Oasis, no.” Fiera said again, looking pointedly at the houluh. And… nothing happened. It was clear that Oasis wanted it- she was staring a hole through it, practically- but to her credit, she didn’t budge an inch. Fiera let out a breath and let her have it. “Okay Oasis- good job.” And the pup was off like a shot, claiming her treat and looking awfully cute in the process.
Fiera 5 Oasis 15.0/32.0 No 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 8:53:03 GMT -6
Fiera had taught pets to speak before, but never like this. Her sign language was good, but she rarely had reason to use it… until now. She knew that she had plenty of intelligent pets that couldn’t necessarily vocalize spoken common, but still had fingers nimble enough to produce the signs needed to communicate. In this way, even creatures that couldn’t speak could still make a place for themselves in the world, and that was ultimately Fiera’s goal with all of this- to empower her pets in such a way that they could communicate and prove themselves as people in this world. Though some had… admittedly a bit more trouble with this than others. Fiera knew Decima was smart. Not just from reading up about Red Devils and what they were capable of, but just by watching how carefully she planned and carried out her rude pranks. Fiera 6 Decima 7.1/9.1 Foreign Language 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 8:57:35 GMT -6
Fiera didn’t exactly like having buckets of water dropped on her head (or occasionally… worse things), but she couldn’t blame Decima for lashing out. It must be frustrating, being locked in your own head like that. Granted, Decima was talented in the powers of telepathy, and she and Fiera could easily communicate by trading feelings and images, but with no words to communicate with it was impossible to make any meaningful headway on what she really wanted out of life. And if teaching Decima to speak just made her even MORE hectic instead of calming her down… well… that would be a bridge that Fiera could cross later. It didn’t matter if the person learning to speak was a jerk- they still deserved the right to learn how to do so. And today, Fiera would give that to her… hopefully. She still had to get the devil to sit still long enough to listen to her.
Fiera 7 Decima 7.2/9.2 Foreign Language 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 9:03:53 GMT -6
As it stood, Decima was cantankerous and barely trainable on a good day. Fiera had only ever been able to teach her the basics of obedience. Even now, as Fiera set up a “picnic” of sorts at a picnic table at the public park, the devil was furtively glancing off at the nearby woods, ready to make an escape attempt. Still, Fiera had a delicious spread in the cooler (which had a child lock on it so Decima couldn’t simply steal whatever she wanted), a mix of foods that Fiera knew she liked and ones she hated as well. The humanish figured it would be a good way to teach her the difference between “yes” and “no”, plus the basic names of some foods. She started them off simple. “Decima.” She said, spelling the name briefly with one hand while pointing at her with the other. The devil tilted her head.
Fiera 8 Decima 7.3/9.3 Foreign Language 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 9:39:19 GMT -6
“Yes… or no.” Fiera said, sending the concepts of assertion and dissention through their telepathic link while making the hand-nod for “yes” and the snapping of fingers for “no” with her hand. Decima stared at her, confused. But then, before things could get too bad, Fiera pulled out a baggie of apple slices from the cooler. Decima immediately perked up, and the concept of “want” immediately flooded through the link between them. “Apples… yes?” Fiera ‘said’, making the signs for both. Decima merely flailed her hands in the direction of the baggie however, resulting in Fiera briefly setting it down and reaching out to grab Decima’s hands. She forced her fingers into the correct positions, trying to emphasize their importance. “Apple… yes.” She said, signing them out slowly and deliberately. When she pulled away, Decima looked at her hands and slowly drew them back into the correct shapes, making the signs back at Fiera slowly and painfully.
Fiera 9 Decima 7.4/9.4 Foreign Language 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 9:48:06 GMT -6
Decima may not have understood the true significance of what she had just done, but Fiera did. Language was a tool that one could use to get what they wanted, and Decima had, however unwittingly, just made her first request. “Oh!” Fiera said as she watched Decima sign, as if she had only just understood what she was trying to say. “Yes, you want apples!” She said, and handed her a slice. It was like a light flicked on, and Decima quickly requested the rest of them too. Then, Fiera got out something that she knew she hated eating- carrots- and something else that she knew Decima liked- galabex jerky. She pointed to the jerky and showed Decima the sign for it, and the same with the carrots. Decima immediately began signing “Yes apples” at the jerky. Fiera tilted her head and pretended to be confused. She made a great show of looking around dramatically.
Fiera 10 Decima 8.0/10.9 Foreign Language 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 10:12:28 GMT -6
“Hmm… I see no apples around here!” She said, making the signs for “no” and “apples” again. She turned back to the food items that WERE available. “But we do have carrots and jerky…” she said, signing for them again. “You want carrots?” She said, offering one to the devil. Decima growled and roughly signed “No carrots.” Fiera smirked. Now they were getting somewhere. “Okay then!” She said with her hands, now leaving spoken language behind. It was antithetical to the point to use it anyway. “You want jerky then?” She said. Decima nodded quickly, signing “Yes, jerky.” The humanish happily handed it to her. They went back and forth like that throughout the day, and Decima quickly learned the difference between different food items, finally getting to express herself in terms of likes and dislikes. Fiera was even able to teach her a bit about adjectives, throwing in the difference between red, yellow, and green apples.
Fiera 1 Decima 8.1/10.1 Foreign Language 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 12:10:07 GMT -6
By the end of the day, Decima had the general idea of “spoken” language down. She was aware a couple of basic nouns, verbs, and adjectives that she could use to describe the world around her, and now knew that she could use that to express her feelings… or at the very least, her snack preferences. Still, some basic words did not constitute knowledge of an entire language. She would have to put a lot more work in for Decima to learn how to speak properly. It certainly required a lot of studying on Fiera’s part as well, to make sure hey we’re both using it correctly. From there, Fiera took Decima out and about as much as possible. Despite the devil being a grumpy creature, it was hard for her not to be curious about the world, and Fiera felt dozens of tugs on her pant legs as Decima asked her what another thing was.
Fiera 2 Decima 8.2/10.2 Foreign Language 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 13:07:52 GMT -6
The humanish answered her as graciously as possible, though some concepts were more difficult to explain than others. The telepathy helped though- it was a lot easier to explain the difference between “happy” and “love” and “stabbing” versus “burning” through the telepathic link by communicating with feelings and concepts rather than attempting to introduce an abstract concept with a limited vocabulary. Despite Decima’s antisocial nature she picked up on it quickly, and frequently surprised Fiera with how quickly she remembered words. It was a bit harder to get her to stick with proper grammar however. The devil didn’t seem to particularly care about speaking correctly, using language as a club to beat the world to get what she wanted instead of a needle to deftly thread her ideas. There was a LOT of repetition there, and Fiera didn’t have an explanation for Decima’s questions of “But WHY do I have to do it like that?” except for “Because that’s how it worked and I said so.”
Fiera 3 Decima 8.3/10.3 Foreign Language 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 14:37:55 GMT -6
She had to admit though, constantly arguing with Decima made for wonderful language practice for both of them. Decima was forced to, instead of giving simple commands, actually articulate what she was feeling and why Fiera was wrong. And boy, was Fiera wrong a LOT. As the weeks passed, the humanish found herself growing increasingly exhausted as Decima could now protest her bringing her places not just by hissing and screaming, but by insulting Fiera with some very dramatic signs. She figured it was in for a penny in for a pound however, and Decima was actually quite thrilled when Fiera taught her swear words for the first time- though she had to stop Decima from using the more recognizable ones in public. Despite her best efforts however, Decima’s grammar was only improving and her vocabulary growing more vast. Now that she had the ability to ask question words as well, she was relentless in learning more.
Fiera 4 Decima 8.4/10.4 Foreign Language 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Sept 24, 2021 16:04:35 GMT -6
Within a couple months however, it was hard to believe how new Decima was to speaking sign language. Her rabid curiosity (emphasis on the rabid) was only assisted by her telepathy and fearless ability to ask questions. In fact, her requests for new words was starting to outpace Fiera’s own knowledge of the language, as fluid as she was. In fact, much of Decima’s use of it had changed from learning more and asking more questions to TELLING Fiera things instead. Ordering her around yes, but also telling stories (and lies) about things she had done that day or situations she had thought of. Language was now no longer something for her to learn, but something to use to communicate with others, and for fun. Frankly, that was precisely what Fiera was hoping she would get out of this. Now that she could speak with sign language she wouldn’t HAVE to rely on her telepathy so much. She could communicate that much better… even if most of her words were swears. You win some, you lose some.
Fiera 5 Decima 9.0/11.0 Foreign Language 10
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