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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:16:50 GMT -6
A deep noise began in his throat, distantly similar to the howl that Fiera had taught him to make just a little while before this, but it was edged with a throaty, menacing growl. His leaves began to rustle ominously even though there was no wind, making it sound like a storm was starting up even though the skies were clear. He opened his jaws slightly to let the sound out, showing off all of the branches and spines that a pet could get caught on if he bit them. He hunkered down, and Fiera suddenly realized that when a nyssa was really, GENUINELY paying attention to you, them making themselves seem smaller instead of bigger was a lot more intimidating than you’d think. Needless to say, it was an absolutely perfect example of everything Fiera wanted Serkan to do. “Good intimidation, Serkan!” Fiera said, tossing him the apple.
Fiera 1 Serkan 57.1/17.1 Intimidate 6
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:17:05 GMT -6
The bloodroot nyssa seemed confused at that, watching the apple roll to a stop at his feet. But… hadn’t she eaten this already? Where had it come from? And yet… Serkan wasn’t the type to waste good food. He relaxed immediately, and leaned down to eat up the apple that had so conveniently appeared before him. Fiera gave him a bit to finish it, and then held up another one. Hopefully it would work even better this time. “Okay Serkan, intimidate!” She said eagerly once she was sure she had his attention, and pretended to eat the apple just as sloppily as before. As expected, Serkan got upset again, hissing loudly at Fiera and trying to make himself look at scary as possible as revenge for eating his food. Fiera knew that he wouldn’t actually hurt her, so it took a lot of effort to not chuckle at his “scary” appearance.
Fiera 2 Serkan 57.2/17.2 Intimidate 7
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:17:27 GMT -6
It was scary, of course- to a creature that didn’t know him personally, his countenance would likely be enough to make them piddle and run. As a reward for that, Fiera tossed him another apple- or more specifically, the one that she had been hiding. “Good intimidate, Serkan!” She said, and it was as if a switch had been flipped. He went back to his usual chill mood, and scooped the apple up off of the ground. It looked like he was starting to get the hang of this, though obviously she didn’t want to have to pretend to eat an apple every single time she needed her nyssa to be scary. Hopefully he knew the command well enough now that she could just give it and he would obey. To test that theory, she got out another apple and took a deep breath. “Okay Serkan… intimidate!” She ordered.
Fiera 3 Serkan 57.3/17.3 Intimidate 8
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:17:42 GMT -6
Serkan looked at her for a moment, not reacting. “...Intimidate!” She said again, sweating a little bit. It took another moment, but something seemed to finally click in Serkan’s head. He hunkered down again and growled softly, puffing out his leaves to look scary. Fiera was relieved- he DID know the command! Granted, his response time was a little lacking, but she was sure that with a bit more effort that would clear up. “Good intimidate, Serkan!” She said happily, and tossed him the apple. He ate it as quickly as a creature his size could, and Fiera reached into her bag to grab another. With just a little bit more practice, he would likely have this ability down pat. “Okay Serkan, intimidate!” She said once he seemed ready. This time, she hid the apple behind her back- he wouldn’t even know he was getting a treat for this one. It was all on him to remember.
Fiera 4 Serkan 57.4/17.4 Intimidate 9
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 12, 2020 16:17:58 GMT -6
To Fiera’s delight though, he responded quickly. He spread his front feet, showing off his dangerous looking coloration, and let out a long, low snarl that she found quite familiar by this point. She was especially happy with how fast he fell into it, though- there wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation between her order and his response. “Excellent intimidate Serkan- good job!” She said happily, and tossed him the apple. He perked up and lunged toward it, his scary face completely forgotten. Fiera couldn’t help but chuckle at it. He was a sweet creature when you got to know him… though she didn’t want her competitors to know that. As she watched Serkan eat a large chunk of dirt trying to get at the apple, she made a mental note to… maybe not bring any treats to the tournament. It likely wouldn’t end well, if his tendency to eat dirt was any indicator.
Fiera 5 Serkan 58.0/18.0 Intimidate 10
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 7:43:17 GMT -6
Okay, this was going well. Fiera still had a few tricks left on the list, but they were making major progress. “Okay Serkan, ready for the next one?” She asked, not even sure herself what the next one was. Perhaps an easy one, that last ability had taken some time to train. She ran through the list with one finger, looking for her next victim… ah, crunch. That would do. Biting things really hard, she could see a lot of ways that could come in handy in the fighting ring. Besides, she could think of at least one trick that she could build off of it. And it wasn’t like Serkan couldn’t perform like that anyway- with those big beefy jaws? This would be a piece of cake for them. She just needed to get his… victims, so to speak. Specifically, a group of a dozen or two bright orange pumpkins.
Fiera 6 Serkan 58.1/18.1 Crunch 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 7:43:35 GMT -6
It had been a little hard bringing them along (she had to hide them in Serkan’s leaves when he wasn’t looking, as she hadn’t taught him to pull a cart or anything like that yet.), but she had managed it. They were a lot bigger than Serkan’s apples (which she had been using as treats before), and harder to crunch through as well. They gave him a lot more space to maneuver around and manipulate which would help with this, and were harder to destroy as well. Not to mention- they were tasty. She had covered them in a blanket after getting them down off of him so he couldn’t see them, but now that she had rolled one out the nyssa had wandered over, clearly interested in the bright orange fruit. She was happy to let him have it- biting was the name of the game, after all.
Fiera 7 Serkan 58.2/18.2 Crunch 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 7:43:56 GMT -6
“Serkan, crunch!” She said, pointing at one of the gourds enthusiastically. Serkan sniffed at it and nibbled at it slightly, just testing it out. Fiera couldn’t help but huff a bit- that wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but it was a start, she supposed. “Good crunch, Serkan!” She said, and threw him a single apple for his… “effort”. Serkan moved and quickly grabbed it, but immediately went back to the pumpkin- clearly he was more interested in this than the treats Fiera was giving him. That was a good thing. Fiera watched as sniffed the pumpkin even louder and popped it into his mouth, biting down. She could see large tooth marks being left on the flesh of the pumpkin, even if it hadn’t broken completely yet. “Oh, good crunch, Serkan! Good crunch!” She said encouragingly as he chewed on it. Hopefully he’d manage to get a bite with some decent force behind it in soon…
Fiera 8 Serkan 58.3/18.3 Crunch 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 7:44:15 GMT -6
Serkan kept mouthing and soon she heard a resounding crunching noise emit from his mouth. She cheered. “Good crunch, Serkan! Good boy!” She said, and tossed him several more apples as a treat. He didn’t really need them, considering he just got a whole pumpkin as a reward, but she figured it was the thought that counted. He happily scooped up the apples anyway, which gave Fiera time to get out the next pumpkin. When it was rolled out, he paused. Good- that would let her test whether he’d do this on command. “Okay Serkan- crunch!” She said, pointing at it. He reared up and immediately lunged at it, scooping it off of the ground in front of Fiera’s eyes. A moment later, she had to dodge out of the way to avoid the rain of pumpkin guts. Yep, that’d do it. “Good crunch, Serkan!” She called up at him, though he doubted that he could hear her over his own chewing.
Fiera 9 Serkan 58.4/18.4 Crunch 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 7:44:38 GMT -6
Now for the grand finale. This took some searching on Fiera’s part, as she had to do some digging through the woods to find another log. Pumpkins were nice- Serkan would eat pumpkins all day, she knew full well. But for this trick to work, she’d need to get him to munch on something that wasn’t necessarily good to eat, considering she needed him to use this on different pets. Soon she returned to the field, dragging another half-rotted log behind her. She dropped it in front of Serkan, who looked bemused. “Okay Serkan, crunch!” She said, pointing at her find. There was but a moment's hesitation before the nyssa leaned down and slammed his jaws against the log, making Fiera jump. There was the sound of squealing and cracking wood, and then the log was in pieces on the ground. Serkan looked at her expectantly. “...Yep! Good job, Serkan!” She said, a little surprised. That went better than she thought!
Fiera 10 Serkan 59.0/19.0 Crunch 5
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 14:59:22 GMT -6
Serkan’s next trick was… mm, well. Fiera had a lot of things that she could teach him next, but considering that she had just taught Serkan ‘crunch’, it would probably be better to follow up with this one. Still, she had the feeling that it was going to be quite difficult to teach- she had never taught anything like this before. Serkan had been a real trooper with his training so far, but she couldn’t blame him if he got confused sooner or later. It wasn’t like nyssa were known for their big brains. She’d do her best, but… she had the feeling she’d have to spend a little longer on this trick in order to teach it, even if it should be a little instinctual to learn on Serkan’s part. At least she had all of the supplies for it on hand already, though it would take a little bit of time to set up.
Fiera 1 Serkan 59.1/19.1 Sap 1
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 14:59:34 GMT -6
The move in question that Fiera was trying to teach was “sap”, a move that was pretty exclusive to plant creatures. At the very least, she hadn’t heard of any other types of critter learning it. She rolled her eyes though, knowing that SOMEONE out there had probably managed it on some custom or another. Still, ‘sap’ involved a creature getting a good grip on an opponent- something that Serkan could do now with crunch- and let them ‘drain the vitality’ out of their foe.It was a move that was the exclusive territory of the bloodroot nyssa (which Fiera had in front of her here), with no other members of the species able to learn it. Hopefully, teaching Serkan how to use it would give her a real advantage over her opponents… if she could get him to stop being lazy and soaking up the sun long enough to learn.
Fiera 2 Serkan 59.2/19.2 Sap 2
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 14:59:50 GMT -6
She still had plenty of pumpkins left from teaching him crunch- that would do for now. Then she also brought with her a cage, thick and made of steel, but still capable of folding up for the purposes of transportation. She usually used it to transport her… less agreeable pets to their veterinary appointments to avoid nipped fingers and struggling. It could hold up to just about anything you threw at it- meaning that Serkan wouldn’t be crunching through it any time soon. If he was lucky, his teeth would be able to lightly scratch whatever was inside, but wouldn’t be able to go any further. She did want him to bite the contents, but brute force wasn’t the name of the game this time. He’d have to get more clever with his techniques this time- hopefully figuring out how to drain the pumpkin’s life force in due time.
Fiera 3 Serkan 59.3/19.3 Sap 3
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 15:00:17 GMT -6
After a few minutes, Fiera had the cage set up nice and sturdy. Disappearing for a moment under the blanket that she was using to hide the pumpkins from her nyssa’s greedy eyes, she rolled an especially large one out and managed to maneuver it into the cage with a bit of effort. “Alright, there we go.” With the apparatus for the move set up, she called over her student. “Serkan, come!” She said, and the nyssa obeyed. When he saw the setup in front of him, he sniffed the cage experimentally. “Okay Serkan, crunch!” She said, pointing at it. He looked at her for a moment quizzically, but… he COULD smell the pumpkin in there. Might as well give it a try. He opened his jaws wide, and Fiera instinctively took a step back, even though she knew this bite wasn’t meant for her. Then he clamped down on the cage.
Fiera 4 Serkan 59.4/19.4 Sap 4
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Post by Fiera Ferella on May 13, 2020 15:00:33 GMT -6
As expected, his fangs only just barely hovered above the surface of the pumpkin, and Serkan gave a growl of frustration. “It’s okay, Serkan! Sap! Sap it!” Fiera said encouragingly, even though he hadn’t figured out what he was meant to do yet. Still, she could see him adjusting himself and could hear him grumbling with irritation- he wasn’t about to give up yet, that much was clear. When it became apparent to him that he wasn’t going to be able to get through the cage however, he stilled. Fiera leaned over, trying to get a better look at what he was doing. “Uh… sap?” She asked again hesitantly, and saw the wooden ‘teeth’ in Serkan’s mouth (really just branchlike spikes when you looked closely) begin to shift and change before her eyes. They seemed to lengthen, to reach out. Soon, they were long enough to touch the surface of the pumpkin through the cage bars.
Fiera 5 Serkan 60.0/20.0 Sap 5
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