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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 14, 2020 18:09:23 GMT -6
The equillion accepted it gratefully, crunching loudly on the vegetable. Fiera looked at the bottle- it was definitely paler than before, less opaque. She probably didn’t have much of the strange gas left in it anymore, and would have to hope that he got the idea with this next try, as she didn’t think to bring more than one. When Andante was done with that piece of carrot and the other was stored safely in her pocket, she held the bottle out again, trying to make sure it blew downwind. She didn’t exactly want to be ‘euphoric’ for the rest of their training session, after all. When it cracked open and the gas seeped out, Fiera gave the command. “Andante, vapors!” She said, and his ears perked up as he smelled the strange scent from the bottle. This stuff was approved for people to take out of the mansion, so it had to be safe for pets, right?
Fiera 1
Andante 5.1/5.1
Euphoric Vapors 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 14, 2020 18:09:42 GMT -6
As before, Andante’s mane and tail flared up, becoming even more like smoke and spreading out around him in a halo. It wasn’t a lot though- Fiera wouldn’t even know what he was doing if she hadn’t been looking at it. Hopefully that was enough for him to get the command, though. She went to bottle up the strange gas from the mansion again, but realized that the bottle was completely empty now- she couldn’t get a whiff of the strange smoke even if she stuck her nose right in it. She sighed and tossed it in the general direction of her bag, hoping that that was enough. “Anyway…” she said, turning back to the equillion. “Good vapors, Andante!” She said happily, and offered him the other piece of carrot. He nickered happily and reached out to take it, and the vegetable was gone in a heartbeat. Fiera appreciated his eagerness, and hoped that the lesson stuck.
Fiera 2
Andante 5.2/5.2
Euphoric Vapors 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 14, 2020 18:09:58 GMT -6
Fiera was admittedly a bit nervous as Andante finished up his trat. Had she done enough for him to get the command? Or would he look at her blankly when she gave the order and she’d have to find some other way to get him to carry out the trick? Still, Andante was done chewing- it was time to open the box that Schrodinger’s cat was in. She snapped her fingers to get his attention, and then gave the command. “Andante, vapors!” She said, and held her breath. The equillion looked at her for an agonizingly long moment, and then a ripple spread through his mane. She could just barely smell a sweet scent too, which made her think of a far away and pleasant place… she shook her head! He had done it! Sort of. It was a pretty weak attempt, but he had managed to connect the command to the action.
Fiera 3
Andante 5.3/5.3
Euphoric Vapors 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 14, 2020 18:10:14 GMT -6
Andante’s euphoric vapors may not have been battle ready yet, but so long as he got the basic idea Fiera figured it would be easy enough to ramp up the difficulty. First, she praised him for the action he had already done and gave him a small piece of carrot. Then she stood back and got ready to give the command again, with the equillion watching her warily. He probably had an idea of what she was going to say. “Ok Andante… vapors!” She said. As expected, Andante flicked his tail and tossed his mane, and a wave of vapors spread around him. Fiera covered her nose and mouth with her shirt to prevent as many of the effects of this as possible, but she couldn’t help but notice that it was stronger now. Which meant that he’d get a bigger treat. “Good vapors, Andante!” She said, and tossed him a whole carrot this time.
FIera 4
Andante 5.4/5.4
Euphoric Vapors 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 14, 2020 18:10:30 GMT -6
The equillion snatched it out of the air, excited to have a larger treat than before. Hopefully he’d now know that the bigger his response, the more food he would get. Fiera gave it one more try- “Andante, vapors!” She said. Andante seemed to focus, and then his mane and tail flared out, filling the area surrounding him with a sweet mist. Fiera’s head went foggy despite her efforts to keep it out, and when she came to, the equillion was standing over her expectantly. She looked up at him and dragged the bag of carrots over to her weakly. “Alright, alright. Take it.” She said, tossing out a couple while she coughed as hard as she could, trying to clear her lungs. The equillion happily ran after them while Fiera took deep breaths. Ugh. Not the most pleasant trick she had ever taught, but at least it was done now.
Fiera 5
Andante 6.0/6.0
Euphoric Vapors 10
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:12:28 GMT -6
With the battle knowledge out of the way, Fiera decided to move on to the rest of the tricks. Andante had proved amenable to learning so far, but she couldn’t trust him to stay like that forever. Pure equillion were usually snooty creatures, and she had the feeling that they’d end up butting heads at some point. Fiera obviously liked her pets listening to her while she was trying to train them, so she’d have to fix that up first. Only one of the tricks that she had been asked to teach Andante was disciplinary in nature, so she’d train that one first. If he kept learning as fast as he had been, it would probably be easy. Or at least, Fiera’s sense of wishful thinking was telling her that it would be. “Ready for the next trick?” She called to Andante, getting his attention for what was coming next.
Fiera 6
Andante 6.1/6.1
No 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:12:42 GMT -6
She unzipped her jacket a bit- she’d need it in a moment. Then, Fiera went and grabbed a couple of carrots from the bag of treats. The bag was zipped up in her regular training bag, so the equillion couldn’t get at them normally. She stuffed the tasty treats in her jacket and zipped it up again, so the equillion could neither see nor smell them over Fiera’s own scent. Then she walked over to the equillion, who seemed quite intrigued by all of this so far. “Okay Andante, you ready?” She said, and pulled out a carrot. His ears immediately flicked up into an interested position, but Fiera pointed at the carrot as she held it in front of her. “Andante, no.” She said, maintaining her grip on it. She knew he wouldn’t understand the command though- why would he? She hadn’t used it at any time before this.
Fiera 7
Andante 6.2/6.2
No 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:12:56 GMT -6
As a result, he had no reason to believe that Fiera didn’t want him eating it, other than her tone of voice. Still, he didn’t respect her enough yet to know what she wanted on tone of voice alone. So when she gave the command, he almost immediately leaned forward to grab the carrot, despite what she asked. Fiera snatched it away before he could grab it, repeating the word ‘no’ and shoving it in her jacket. Andante looked surprised and flipped his ears back down. He sniffed at her jacket but couldn’t find the carrot, despite his efforts. Fiera waited a moment, until he stopped looking for it and trying to get at it. When he finally looked away, annoyed, she pulled it back out again. “Good no, Andante!” She said, putting it in front of him. He looked at her, and then leaned down to accept his prize.
Fiera 8
Andante 6.3/6.3
No 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:13:09 GMT -6
That was one repetition down. Now she just had to keep going until Andante stopped what he was doing when she said ‘no’. Easier said than done though- she’d just have to keep working at it. When Andante was done with that carrot, she got another one out of her jacket. She had to keep her other arm awkwardly pinned to her chest to keep the rest from falling out of the bottom of the coat, but it worked out well enough. She held this carrot out too and repeated the command. “Andante, no.” She said, gesturing to the vegetable again. To her relief, the equillion seemed to take pause this time, as if mulling over his options. After a few moments though, he leaned out lazily, opening his mouth to take a bite. “Andante, no!” She screeched, pulling the carrot back again and hiding it behind her back. Andante huffed, but didn’t go after it.
Fiera 9
Andante 6.4/6.4
No 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:13:24 GMT -6
After a few moments, Fiera took it back out and praised him again. He was getting the hang of this… slowly. When Andante was finished crunching through it, Fiera took out a third carrot. “Ok Andante… no.” She said. Andante’s ears pressed against his head, and he seemed to dislike the command heavily… but he stayed put. Fiera waited, sweat dripping down the back of her neck as the seconds ticked by, but he didn’t lunge out again like before. After a few moments, she sighed happily and tossed it to him. “Good no, Andante.” She said, and to his surprise, he caught the carrot in midair. It took him a bit to put his pride aside and listen to her, but it looked like he had figured it out. Andante’s training was going well- they just had to build some mutual respect. With any luck, they’d be able to get a lot done in the future.
Fiera 10
Andante 7.0/7.0
No 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:14:08 GMT -6
With ‘no’ out of the way, Fiera didn’t need to teach Andante much more in the way of discipline. He didn’t have anything else on the list for battle knowledge either. Instead, it looked like the rest of the equillion’s training mostly had to do with teaching him how to accept a rider and know the commands associated with it. In fact, it was all about riding commands. That made perfect sense to Fiera. Granted, she hadn’t trained an equillion before, but she knew how popular they were as mounts. They were practically ‘the’ species for riding here in the labs, and she could see why. Fast, elegant, and smooth were all descriptors you could use for a ride on an equillion. Andante was completely unbroken for such a task though, which was where Fiera came in. She was quite skilled as a trainer, though maybe not for this species.
Fiera 1
Andante 7.1/7.1
Tack Up 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:14:35 GMT -6
That wasn’t to say she didn’t have any experience teaching riding at all, though. Her thundergug, Desert, was fully and perfectly trained in this, and he was a member of a far more stubborn species than Andante. Even if pure equillion were a little snooty, she was sure that she could handle it. First, she needed to get him used to riding tack. She had a couple of pieces of equipment that were ideal for this already. She had a face harness that was normally used to lead pets around, but was about the same shape and tightness as a bridle, and a soft saddle to get him used to the sensation of something wrapped around his back. She went ahead and got those out, laying them in front of Andante. He wandered over to them, interested in the new things that had appeared, and gave them a quick sniff.
Fiera 2
Andante 7.2/7.2
Tack Up 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:14:55 GMT -6
Fiera gave him a piece of carrot for his interest- any positive interaction with these objects was to be rewarded, after all. When he sniffed the halter and lead, she picked it up and gently pressed it against his snout. When he didn’t immediately shy away from the sensation, she gave him another slice of treat. Baby steps were the key here. Slowly but surely, she got it closer and closer to his face before finally slipping it on loosely. She let him shake it off a few times, and rewarded him each time he kept it on longer than the last time. Finally, she was able to close the clasps and let it sit on his face properly. She gave him an especially big chunk of treat for that, and let him walk around for a bit with it on before moving on to the next piece of tack he had to learn to wear.
Fiera 3
Andante 7.3/7.3
Tack Up 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:15:17 GMT -6
The saddle would probably be a little harder for Fiera to put on him, as it was bigger than the halter, but it was also a lot comfier. The air was still a little nippy today as well, so he might be more accepting of it anyway, if just for warmth. As with the halter, Fiera let him get a good whiff of it first, before picking it up and carrying it around in his vicinity. At first, slightly spooked by the strange object, Andante shuffled away. With enough treats though, Andante was soon fine with Fiera moving it close to him and even brushing it up against his pelt. Finally, Fiera draped it over his back. He jolted a little, but she bribed him with enough food that he couldn’t help but stand there and take it, or else risk losing his new snack. After he finished eating, she moved back to the saddle.
Fiera 4
Andante 7.4/7.4
Tack Up 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Apr 15, 2020 18:15:34 GMT -6
She quickly reached under him to secure it and make sure it didn’t slip off. To Fiera’s relief, he didn’t fidget or kick out at her, and she quickly stepped back before he decided otherwise. She let him just wander around wearing it for a while then, letting him get used to the feeling of riding equipment on his body. Every so often she’d throw him a bit of carrot to keep him interested and patient, but otherwise she stopped messing with him. After about ten minutes from that, she went and fiddled with the equipment some. She adjusted the halter’s straps and sizing to make it fit better, and made sure that the saddle was on straight. To Fiera’s relief, he just sat there and took it- it looked like he was fine with the equipment now, as fine as Fiera was with wearing a shirt and pants. Now she could move on to more… interesting riding tricks.
Fiera 5
Andante 8.0/8.0
Tack Up 5
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