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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:49:25 GMT -6
Serkan had grown incredibly large since their last training session, and Fiera was glad for it. He was still just big enough to maneuver around, but he had definitely grown into his body and could handle more serious battle moves- and boy howdy, did Fiera have a lot of those to teach him. She had gotten his basics out of the way when he was young, thank goodness, but he still had a lot to learn before she could consider him ‘battle ready’. She would be glad to get it finished, though- she had so many other pets she wanted to work with! To start out with, it would probably be a good idea to teach him a decent damage dealing move like she’d teach any other pet. His claws had grown long and wicked. As a result, Fiera decided that ‘rend’ might be a good place for them to start.
Fiera 6 Serkan 54.1/14.1 Rend 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:49:39 GMT -6
Needless to say, Serkan was way too large to feed berries to nowadays. Instead Fiera had brought a couple sacks of apples with her instead. Hopefully they’d last long enough for the nyssa to get through the rest of his training. Fiera brought him through the public park to the edge of the tree line. On one side there was grass, on the other there was forest. Fiera figured she’d end up losing him in the woods if she brought him in there, but she could still use some of the objects from the woods like this. Speaking of, she dropped Serkan’s lead and gave him a quick ‘stay’ before wandering into the forest. The nyssa hunkered down obediently, a bright patch of red and black in the pale green field. While he sat patiently, Fiera looked around for something to use to teach him, and eventually found a mossy log.
Fiera 7 Serkan 54.2/14.2 Rend 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:49:52 GMT -6
“Yeah, yeah, bugger off, I’m using this.” Fiera said as a variety of bugs scuttled out from under the log as she dragged it away. This was far more important than their comfort, in her opinion. Serkan sniffed at it as Fiera dragged it over to him, dropping it upside down. Curious, he reached out a branchlike “hand” to flip it over and investigate. Seeing an opportunity, Fiera set the command. “Yes! Rend, Serkan!” She said excitedly as he brought his claws down clumsily, leaving large gashes in the wood as he tried to move the log. Fiera happily threw him an apple or two, which he ate up appreciatively (taking chunks of earth with them). Then she sidled over, gently grasping a claw and guiding it back to the log to reiterate the command. “Rend, Serkan. Rend.” She said, obligating the nyssa to rake his claws across the log’s bark.
Fiera 8 Serkan 54.3/14.3 Rend 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:50:09 GMT -6
Serkan huffed grumpily and yanked his hand out of Fiera’s grasp, taking another piece of the log with it as he pulled away. “Yes, perfect rend, Serkan! Good boy!” She said, and tossed him a couple more apples. He grumbled happily as Fiera backed away again. He was a bit too big for her to do any real manhandling of anymore, so hopefully he had an idea of what to do now. The humanish pointed at the log again, excited. “Serkan, rend!” She said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. He blinked at her slowly before turning to the log and raising his claw. Then he brought it down, leaving massive lacerations in the wood. He likely wasn’t even putting that much effort into it- Serkan’s natural size and strength was all it took to do that level of damage. “Great rend, Serkan!” Fiera cheered, and threw him even more apples.
Fiera 9 Serkan 54.4/14.4 Rend 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:50:23 GMT -6
Hopefully upping the number of treats he got would up the amount of effort that he put in as well. Once the nyssa finished off those apples, Fiera got ready to give the move one last go. She pointed at the log (which was looking pretty rough by this point) again- “Serkan, rend!” The bloodroot nyssa’s leaves rustled as he turned to it once more, and his claws whipped out with surprising speed. Fiera yelped and ducked as half of the log whizzed over her head, practically slapped in two by the force of Serkan’s blow. Stunned, Fiera straightened herself out and looked at where the other end of it landed, several feet away. Yeah, that’d do it. “Good boy, good rend!” Fiera praised when she managed to calm herself down a bit. That was one battle move done- at least she now knew that he could defend himself in a real fight.
Fiera 10 Serkan 55.0/15.0 Rend 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:52:06 GMT -6
Now that Serkan knew how to damage an opponent’s body with rend, Fiera figured that it might be a good idea to go for their mind as well. That sounded awfully dramatic, of course. Nyssa weren’t exactly known for their psychic powers, but that wasn’t what Fiera had in mind either. Most people knew that nyssa were a pretty quiet species made up of gentle giants. They grumbled, they snuffled, but they didn’t make much noise otherwise. Not bloodroots like Serkan, however. Fiera had done her research. As it turned out, bloodroot nyssa were a LOT more vocal than their cousins, and were capable of producing terrifying howls and roars despite their humble appearances. With a bit of effort, Fiera had the feeling that that would scare the pants off of any pet (and their owner) foolish enough to try challenging Fiera in the arena in the upcoming plant fighting tournament.
Fiera 1 Serkan 55.1/15.1 Howl 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:52:27 GMT -6
She just needed to get him to make a noise now. As it stood, Fiera was pretty sure that bloodroot nyssa normally howled for communicative purposes. Serkan’s breed wasn’t actually more aggressive than most nyssa despite appearances, so there was no reason to make the intimidating howl they were known for if they weren’t trying to scare prey. Instead, they likely used it to communicate with others of their species or breed over a long distance… or at least, that’s what Fiera was theorizing. If her calculations were correct, that meant that if Serkan heard another bloodroot nyssa howling, he’d be tempted to reply with a howl in turn. Then, Fiera could work on getting him to do that on command… if it worked. Still, she had the recording of a nyssa howling on her phone and some speakers she could plug her phone into, so she might as well.
Fiera 2 Serkan 55.2/15.2 Howl 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:52:42 GMT -6
It took a bit of fiddling (as Fiera wasn’t the BEST with technology), but soon she had the various devices set up. Without further ado, Fiera hit play on the recording. Almost immediately, a deep noise began emitting from the speakers, somewhere between an elephant’s trumpet and a tuba. It was grating enough that Fiera’s tail puffed out, and she could see why this would stun creatures that came into close enough vicinity to the real thing. Fiera was excited to see her pet show interest however, as Serkan slowly crept forward until he towered over Fiera. He sniffed at the device and Fiera gently held the wire down with her foot to keep it from flying into his nose. “Come on Serkan, howl!” She said encouragingly, as she could hear a rumbling starting to build in his throat. Finally he let loose, raising his head to the sky as he let out a great honking howl.
Fiera 3 Serkan 55.3/15.3 Howl 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:53:04 GMT -6
The sound of it made Fiera’s ears ring before she clamped her hands around them. She couldn’t tell if the ground was shaking with the force of it, or if she was just shaking that hard. When the sound finally died off, Fiera threw Serkan a couple apples, aiming them right into his still ajar mouth. “Good howl, Serkan!” She said, her own voice sounding quiet and distant after his resounding shriek. She sighed and got ready to give the command again, when she realized that the video had been playing this whole time- and it was on loop. The sound started up again from her speakers, and Serkan raised his own head in response. Crap, that was faster than she thought. “Yep, howl Serkan! Good boy!” She said as she scrambled for the phone. He started up again with that alarm-like wail, and Fiera grit her teeth as she yanked the speaker cord out of her phone.
Fiera 4 Serkan 55.4/15.4 Howl 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 10, 2020 18:53:20 GMT -6
She covered her ears again until he died down and looked at her expectantly. Yeesh. “Good howl, Serkan.” She said weakly while tossing him another apple. She didn’t want him to lose focus after all, even if she wasn’t feeling one hundred percent anymore. Now that she could prepare herself though, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if he would do it without the video- he needed to be able to do it on command, after all. This time, she held her hands over her ears BEFORE she gave the order. “Okay Serkan- howl!” She called. A deep grumble, the precursor to the howl built up in his throat and Fiera braced herself. Soon he opened his jaws and that bone-shaking howl resonated around her again, seeming to last forever until the volume finally fell off. Fiera took her ears off and sighed with relief. With him being able to do it on command, that meant that she wouldn’t have to listen to it anymore.
Fiera 5 Serkan 56.0/16.0 Howl 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:13:23 GMT -6
With at least one fighting move down, Fiera decided to try something a little different. Serkan was good at being big and intimidating, but she doubted that that would be enough against other nyssa. They were well known for being beefy fighters after all, so Fiera had the feeling she’d see a lot of them in the tournament. As a result, he’d really need to play up the ‘bloodroot’ aspect. He was supposed to be dark! Spooky! Terrifying! And not trying to reach an itch on his back right now! “Come on Serkan, you can at least TRY to be scary!” She shouted as he tried bending yet another way to reach the itch. Fiera sighed as he didn’t respond and rubbed her face. Yeah, that wasn’t exactly scary. He was really going to need a leg up on the competition, so she’d have to come up with SOMETHING involving that.
Fiera 6 Serkan 56.1/16.1 Intimidate 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:14:09 GMT -6
Dragging her hands off her face, Fiera had a thought. Bloodroot nyssa… weren’t scary. They ate more bugs than other breeds, but that was about it. Their scary reputation came from their tendency to move through graveyards to get at that… freshly fertilized dirt. Her tail prickled at the thought, but her logic knew better. They weren’t actually dangerous, they just looked scary and had an intimidating appearance. But… her opponents didn’t have to know that. If she could just get Serkan to ACT scary, that might be enough for them to pull ahead. The gears in her brain were now moving in full motion, and she had a good feeling about this. There was an ability she had heard of called intimidation. If an opponent was particularly hardy then it didn’t really have an effect, but how many people would bother with that? It would be better to teach it to him than to not.
Fiera 7 Serkan 56.2/16.2 Intimidate 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:14:43 GMT -6
So how to teach him to be intimidating… hmm. Well for that, she’d need another pet for him to practice on, but she could worry about that later. For now, she just wanted to work on encouraging “scary behavior”... in a controlled fashion. She didn’t want him to go around snarling and biting at anything that moved, after all. But if she could get him to do it on command, that would be ideal. For that to work though, she’d need to… well, tease him a bit, admittedly. She got an apple out of the sack she brought with her and held it in her hand. With any luck she’d be able to play keepaway with him, letting him get upset enough with her in order to growl or grab at it, at which point she’d set the command word and reward him for it. With that in mind, she began to approach her pet.
Fiera 8 Serkan 56.3/16.3 Intimidate 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:15:12 GMT -6
“Hey Serkan, look what I have!” She said, tossing the apple from hand to hand. The nyssa noticed it as quickly as his slow, bulky body would allow and turned to face the humanish, sniffing loudly. “Aw yeah, you like these.” Fiera said, letting the light reflect off of it enticingly. The nyssa rumbled in agreement and began to approach her, but Fiera merely backed away. “Nuh uh! You’re going to have to be more intimidating than that!” She said, dancing away as he moved his head toward her. He merely kept walking toward her though, as if he didn’t realize that she was purposefully taunting him. Yeesh. Where was this enthusiasm for treats when she was teaching him come? As he kept coming closer and Fiera kept skipping away, it began to dawn on her that she might need to take even greater methods to aggravate him.
Fiera 9 Serkan 56.4/16.4 Intimidate 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:15:31 GMT -6
“Alrighty, you don’t want to act scary?” She said, holding the apple close to her face, watching as his eyes trained on it. “What… if I… just… ate it?” She said, and raised it to her mouth. She saw some of the branches near Serkan’s head raise up as she did, as if he was shocked that she’d eat a treat clearly meant for him. She smiled slyly, knowing that she had him now. Not wanting to hesitate any longer, Fiera jammed the apple against her mouth while making overly dramatic munching and slurping noises, before finally hiding it behind her head and bringing it down behind her back. Serkan couldn’t see the apple anymore, so he had no choice but to assume that she really ate a treat that was for him. Apparently, that was exactly what it took to upset him, as Fiera began backing away.
Fiera 10 Serkan 57.0/17.0 Intimidate 5
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