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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 12, 2022 11:11:18 GMT -6
With that out of the way, Fiera felt pretty secure in Orpheus's position in the competition. She couldn't think of anything else she wanted to teach him- not right now, at least- and was sure that even if he wasn't the flashiest creature out there, with the ability to breathe fire or shoot lightning from his eyes, he would still be one of the most skilled fliers. If she was lucky, that would be what the judges were really looking for anyway- not flash, but skill. Fiera did enjoy her flash, but at the end of the day Orpheus wasn't a creature well oriented to it. He was... well, a giant bird. Still, she knew that with what she had managed to teach him today, he had a real chance at winning... provided that she could perform well in directing him during the competition. She flipped a bit of hair over her shoulder.
Fiera 6
Orpheus 26.1/26.1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 12, 2022 11:24:15 GMT -6
Of course she would perform perfectly. This was her she was talking about, of course. For now though, it was time for things to wind down. She let Orpheus settle a bit, getting out all that nervous energy he had wound up in learning that battle move. She watched as his feathers settled down and his breathing slowed as he relaxed, and in the mean time she began packing her things and restoring her own energy as well, drinking some water and brushing her hair out to get rid of some of those flyaway hairs before putting it back up again. The training dummy was a little awkward to put away, what with it looking like Fiera was trying to hide a corpse, but thankfully her history meant that she was awfully good at that by now and the process went quickly and easily once she got the limbs disassembled.
Fiera 7
Orpheus 26.2/26.2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 12, 2022 11:42:45 GMT -6
From there the rest of the equipment was packed up relatively easily, until all she had left was Orpheus's riding tack. He seemed a little grumpy as she approached him, but that was normal for him... she was pretty sure she had never seen her alurook in what could be counted as "a good mood". He did seem to relax as she began undoing the buckle on his saddle however as he realized he was finally getting it off. Fiera was sure that these saddles were designed for comfort for both mount and rider, but after a while it must start to get uncomfortable. Once she undid the last strap Orpheus shrugged the saddle off himself, practically throwing it into Fiera's face with the force of his full body shake. She scoffed for a moment, pulling it off of her shoulders before putting it away... but not without shooting him a sufficiently disgruntled glare first.
Fiera 8
Orpheus 26.3/26.3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 12, 2022 12:11:18 GMT -6
Once the saddle was packed up, Fiera considered taking off the bridle as well... but ultimately decided against it, as the reins could make a decent lead on their way home. Part of her even wondered if she should try flying Orpheus back to the kennel, but her sense of self preservation wasn't allowing her to do something so stupid QUITE yet. Flying around in circles in the sky to look fancy was one thing, but trying to navigate her way home from a perspective she had never seen the city in before on a creature that had learned how to fly literally just a couple hours ago was probably the worst idea could have had that day, if not the worst idea she had ever had. Instead, she'd give Orpheus a couple weeks to practice properly before the contest started, and if she was going to learn to ride him properly, she'd do it safely.
Fiera 9
Orpheus 26.4/26.4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Mar 12, 2022 12:17:29 GMT -6
Specifically, she'd likely start him off from a spot that she knew would be easily spotted from the sky, make her way around the city to try and spot other locations and landmarks, and then turn back before trying to actually land at any of them. Thankfully though, none of those would be skills she'd need in the contest. For now though, it was time to wrap things up properly and go home. Orpheus didn't protest as she took the lead in hand, gently tugging on it to bring him along. Not knowing how to fly for so long meant that he was quite comfortable walking, taking careful steps as they made their way back down the path they came here from. Now though, he could walk a bit more confidently knowing that he had more skills... or at least the knowledge to know how to use his inherent ones better.
Fiera 10
Orpheus 27.0/27.0
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 8:36:45 GMT -6
Marley was growing fast. It seems like just yesterday that Fiera had found her in the gardens, but sure enough she was growing up, strong and fast. She had already learned to walk, but her wings hadn't grown in yet, and speaking still seemed... beyond her. Fiera hoped to rectify that soon enough, but such a complicated concept required a simple start. Today, she was going to teach Marley her name. Harachiu normally took to this pretty quickly, but it wasn't difficult for Fiera to see how distracted she was. They had been to the park several times before, but usually when she was quite younger. Now that her little legs were strong enough for the young yang harachiu to run around on her own, she was making the most of it, sprinting through the grass... which from Fiera's perspective, wasn't very fast at all, with one of her own strides easily capable of clearing her. Fiera 1 Marley 4.1/6.1 Name 1 |
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 8:40:27 GMT -6
Still, she was starting to get a little too far away for Fiera's tastes. "Marley! Come back here!" She called out. The harachiu glanced over her shoulder, her ears flicking curiously, but it didn't accomplish much. She understood that Fiera made noises when she wanted things sometimes, but she still as of yet had no way of knowing what any of those noises meant. So she turned back to what she was doing and kept running. Fiera frowned and got a little bit sharper this time. "Marley!" She said, and she halted in her tracks. That tone she knew was bad, at least. Fiera sighed with relief, and reached into her bag, pulling out a small baggie of blueberries- one of Marley's favorite treats. "Good job, Marley! Come over here." She said, trying to use the harachiu's name in reference to her as much as possible. Hopefully at some point she'd get the picture.
Fiera 2
Marley 4.2/6.2
Name 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 8:49:16 GMT -6
Marley dug into the blueberries happily, once Fiera was able to herd her over to the spot she was sitting at. With the toddler placated, Fiera decided to try a little bit harder to teach her. After all, she had heard her own name enough times now that she should be able to figure it out... right? She decided to start with HER name- teaching Marley that words could reference things (or people) was certainly easier than pointing at her and saying her name a bunch of times in the hopes she'd figure it out (which to be fair, frequently worked... on simpler creatures). Fiera pointed at herself. "Fiera." She said. Marley looked at her blankly. She said it a bit slower, sounding out the syllables. Marley tilted her head... and repeated it, drawing it out. "Feeeeeera." Fiera smiled. "Close enough! Good job!" She said, and handed Marley a blueberry.
Fiera 3
Marley 4.3/6.3
Name 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 8:59:24 GMT -6
Then, she pointed to Marley, and carefully sounded her name out as well. "Marrr-ee!" Marley said, breaking into a fit of giggles at the end. "Getting there!" Fiera said happily, and handed her another blueberry to keep her placated. Then she pointed at herself again. "What's this? What am I?" She said. Marley stared at her for a moment, so Fiera started sounding out the first syllable. "Feee...?" Marley smiled, and piped up. "Feera!" Fiera smiled. "Very good! And what's this?" She said, pointing at Marley. She held up another blueberry, promising a reward if the young girl could remember. "Uhh..." Marley said, her squeaky voice hesitant. "...Feera?" She said, peering up at Fiera. The humanish didn't scold her, but she did close her hand around the blueberry again. "No... you're Marley." She said gently, and pointed between the two of them again. "Fiera. Marley. Marley. Fiera. You see?" She said.
Fiera 4
Marley 4.4/6.4
Name 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 9:04:28 GMT -6
Marley gave a weak smile, but Fiera still wasn't entirely sure she got it. Still, practice made perfect so she decided to give it one more go. "Who's this?" Fiera repeated, pointing at herself. "Feera!" Marley said enthusiastically, and Fiera gave her a berry. She knew that one, at least. She waited until the young harachiu was done eating before she moved on, not wanting her to spit chunks of berry everywhere. "And who's this?" Fiera said, pointing at Marley. Marley looked down at herself briefly before slapping a hand that was covered in berry juice to her chest. "Marley!" She cried, smiling widely. Fiera clapped. "Oh, good job Marley! You did it!" Fiera said. Marley smiled back, happy to see Fiera happy. She didn't understand what it was she just did quite yet... but she would soon enough. For now though, Fiera decided to bring them home. She was... quite coated in berry juices by now.
Fiera 5
Marley 5.0/7.0
Name 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 9:14:57 GMT -6
  "Alright you two, let's try something new today." Fiera said, dropping a large bag on the picnic bench they had gathered at. It was a bright spring day, and they had found a nice little spot under a tree in the public park. It was the perfect spot for Amber and Alice to learn things. "Are you finally teaching us to read?" Amber offered, looking a little bit bored. Fiera had been mum the whole way here, as if building up to some huge surprise. "Today, I'll be teaching you to- oh, you already guessed it." Fiera said, the wind taken out of her sails a bit. Alice shrugged. "I mean, we've only been asking for months, and I can't imagine what else would be in that sack. The corners of the books have been shoving against the sides this whole time, so it's not difficult to guess." Fiera huffed, crossing her arms. "Fine, fine then. You're right, I have been a bit too busy lately. But that changes today!" Fiera said, holding up a finger. She opened the bag, pulling out a ton of books, notebooks, and a few pencils- ground down practically to nubs. Too small for Fiera, but manageable for harachiu. Fiera 6 Amber 26.1/13.1 Alice 23.1/10.1 Literacy 1 |
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 9:23:11 GMT -6
"Let's start with letters. You guys probably already know what these are, but..." "I don't really have the memorized." Alice pointed out. Fiera flicked a pencil nub over to each of them before opening up two of the notebooks. They were blank, except for a single letter Fiera had written at the top- A in upper case and lower case. Amber lifted the pages, checking the others- sure enough, the rest of the alphabet was written on the next two dozen pages, with the rest being blank. "I'll let you guys practice writing in these. But to start with- this is the letter "a". Like most letters, it represents a sound in spoken language. Specifically, this noise-" And so Fiera made a couple of noises that the letter a could sound like sometimes, and she internally hoped that no one else was listening in out of context, or else she would look rather silly right about now. "When written, it looks like either of these... but we'll focus on the second one for now, the one we call "lower case". We can worry about upper case later. Here, trying writing it." She said and gestured at the paper. The twin sisters picked up their pencils and began writing.
Fiera 7
Amber 26.2/13.2
Alice 23.2/10.2
Literacy 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 9:45:17 GMT -6
Their first efforts were shaky, and focused on the wrong parts of the letter- such as very long legs, but almost entirely forgetting the crossbar. Fiera nudged them in the right direction however, and soon their hands got used to the shape of the pencil, allowing them to make more confident strokes. Soon Fiera moved on to the other letters, sounding them out and noting their shapes and when they were used in words. She explained the differences between vowels and consonants to the best of her ability, and when they were used in words... or weren't. The silent "e" was an especially tough concept, but it was one they had to come to terms with eventually, considering that Alice had one in her name. Soon they were familiar with and were able to make passing copies of all of the letters, and within an hour or two they had the alphabet song down pat. Fiera let them take a break for a little bit after that, just freestyling as they drew a couple letters on their own and had some snacks and water. After all, letters were the easy part- now Fiera had to actually teach them to read.
Fiera 8
Amber 26.3/13.3
Alice 23.3/10.3
Literacy 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 9:49:39 GMT -6
"Okay guys... let's start you off with something easy, eh?" She said, holding up a book. It had a picture of a little cartoon vulticus on it, with the word "Spot" written over it in big, chunky letters. "That looks like... something for children." Amber said dryly. "Yes, that's because it is. Sorry, but I'm afraid they don't make beginner books for adults. You'll just have to live with it. Now." She said, placing the book on the table and opening it to the first page. The vulticus stood in the center, with large letters under it. "Use what you know about letters- what does that say?" She said, pointing to the word. "Sound it out." She clarified. The pair leaned in. "S... p... ohhh... t?" Alice said, before something clicked in her head. "No, that doesn't sound right. Spawt? Spot?" She said. Fiera nodded. "T and an h... that's that, uh. "th" noise, right?" Amber asked. Fiera once again nodded. Soon they were slowly but surely making their way through the sentences, seeing spot run and dig and hide and all sorts of things like that. It was slow going, but soon they picked up on the patterns of how words were meant to be pronounced, even if they hadn't seen that specific word before.
Fiera 9
Amber 26.4/13.4
Alice 23.4/10.4
Literacy 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 22, 2022 9:56:33 GMT -6
The fact that they already knew how to speak common really helped them out in that regard- they knew that the written words were meant to match up with ones they already knew, so if they pronounced it and it didn't sound like anything, they knew they were saying it wrong. After a few hours they had managed to get through all of the baby books and had managed to get through a decent chunk of a younger reader's chapter book. By that point however, it was getting late, and they had to pack up their things and leave. Over the next few weeks however, Fiera caught the pair reading at any given opportunity, scribbling down words that they didn't know and even learning how to look them up in a dictionary later. After a certain point, they didn't even need Fiera's guidance at all. Their knowledge was great enough now that they could look things up on their own and independently study- and that was just how Fiera liked it. As usual, her goal with all this was to give them more independence such that they could be their own people outside of Fiera. Now that they knew how to read and write, they were that much closer.
Fiera 10
Amber 27.0/14.0
Alice 24.0/11.0
Literacy 5
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