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Post by Noa on Jul 14, 2019 22:06:46 GMT -6
Start: Stalk
“Let’s keep this game going instead of doing this start and stop that we've been doing so far. Now you’re going to learn to stalk. Try to avoid letting me see you. I’ll move around looking for you, and you don’t have to stay hidden in plain sight either. Anything goes. You can stick to staying behind me, standing in my blind spots, if that’s what works.”
[Like an ambush, huh? Do I get to pounce on you too?] the drake said, amusement coloring his voice.
“We’re going to skip that part, since you already know how to do that,” Aster said. And he was glad for it too; after their last bit of training, he wasn’t exactly eager to offer himself up as target practice again. “Just get close, and tap me where you would jump on a real opponent.”
[You’re no fun,] Avander said, but he didn’t make a point of it.
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Post by Noa on Jul 14, 2019 22:08:02 GMT -6
“I’m not here to be fun,” Aster said. “You ready? Alright, stalk.” They got to work with the new rules in place, and the ‘game’ began in earnest.
The change in rules did make it more interesting, even if it also made things harder. Aster could feel Avander beginning to focus more closely on what he was doing, and on what Aster was doing too, for that matter, with something like genuine interest rather than just doing as he was told.
The increased amount of movement made it harder for him to stay quiet, but giving free reign over how he hid also made him more effective as he got used to the kind of mindset he needed to keep to do it. At first it was easy to spot him because he was still adjusting. Aster called out as soon as he saw Avander, and the drake gave up with a low rumble of disappointment.
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Post by Noa on Jul 20, 2019 19:33:53 GMT -6
But he wasn’t so invested in it that it took him very long before he was game to try again.
“Alright Avander, stalk,” Aster said. The drake sank into the grass, and Aster turned around before starting to look for him in earnest. Already there was some improvement; he couldn’t hear as much noise, though maybe that was just Avander not moving. Then again, patience was part of the skill, so Aster didn’t chastise the drake for that.
Five minutes passed, during which Aster began to cast around in earnest, and eventually managed to find Avander. But the drake had evidently moved, since he turned up soemwhere different from where Aster had last thought he was.
“You didn’t get me, but that’s better. Let’s try again. Stalk,” Aster said.
After just a few more rounds, Aster had to rely more on their mental link to keep track of where Avander was. Even then, Avander got in a good deal of taps.
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Post by Noa on Jul 20, 2019 19:35:36 GMT -6
[You know that’s cheating, right?] Avander said, once he had cottoned on to what Aster was doing.
“That’s why I don’t call you out when that’s how I spot you,” Aster replied. “It probably makes your tells a little easier for me to spot, but hey, you’re getting better, aren’t you?”
And since he was getting so much better, the two of them moved to a different setting again, this time a scrubby area where most of the cover came in the form of large rocks. They began by having Avander practice taking cover and moving quietly first, so he could get used to the new environment. Once he had gotten a bit more familiar with what he was working with, and could comfortably take cover and move quietly, Aster began having the drake stalk him again.
The challenge herein, Avander soon discovered, was the timing of when to change places.
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Post by Noa on Jul 20, 2019 19:36:45 GMT -6
Keeping track of what Aster could and couldn’t see from his vantage point, while still keeping track of Aster’s movements, was a secondary challenge. The rocks were solid, and while they weren’t hard to get behind, there was virtually no cover between these hiding places, so he had to wait for opportune moments and move quickly.
The ground underneath was soft though, and so were Avander’s feet, and he'd had some practice beforehand to help acclimate him. Noise wasn’t the thing that betrayed him this time around, thanks to all of that working to his advantage.
They played several iterations of the hiding game, over days and weeks, changing locations as Avander managed to adapt to each one. They revisited the copse, and even tried having Avander hide among buildings, though there wasn’t very much of that to go around--- just the stables and a few sheds, clustered loosely around the main house of the estate.
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Post by Noa on Jul 20, 2019 19:38:38 GMT -6
End: Cover, Silence, Stalk
The different locations called for adjustments in strategy, but Avander adapted more quickly to each one, having by now come to grips with the general principles behind what he was doing. It took him less time to find places where he could hide himself, and now moving quietly took much less effort for him than it had done previously.
It was a relief, after all that, to finally be able to pronounce all of it finished. “That’s it. We’re done with that portion of it,” Aster said, after a last iteration of their game of 'stalk'. “No more hide and seek, or at least not with me.”
[Let me guess. You’re going to be letting me at some Murps again?] Avander said.
“Well, that’s more a matter of what you’ll be able to find. But we’ve got a couple more things I’d like to work on before I let you loose on something live,” Aster replied. Everything in due time, and all that.
(Exit thread for now)
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 20:14:01 GMT -6
The transformation was... a lot to take in, to say the least. Aster hadn't been prepared for how dramatic it would be.
In some ways, Avander was much the same as he had been. The number of limbs, certainly were the same four legs, and a pair of wings on top of that, but Aster had been adamant that they maintain that much, at least. He hadn't wanted Avander to have any trouble moving, if they could avoid it, and the right number of limbs felt like a good place to start.
And the general structure of the body was pretty similar. Wiurn, while not true 'dragons' according to the available information on them, nevertheless could look fairly draconic. They were large and reptilian, and Avander, at least, even had a pair of horns not dissimilar to the ones that he'd had as a Sarane, in the same color-though these were much larger, and imbued with magic to boot.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 20:14:20 GMT -6
And he was... more or less the same color, green with a yellowish underbelly.
But the similarities ended there. As a Wiurn, he'd traded his dappled green hide for a more bluish shade the scales pronounced and darker toward their edges. His wings, previously unmarked, now had streaks and spots of color that reminded Aster of a butterfly as much as anything. And on top of everything else, he now sported a thick, silky mane which extended down his neck, along his spine, until it veritably consumed his tail in a plume of fur.
Avander, though not usually a very vain creature, seemed tremendously pleased with the mane. He would swish his tail back and forth, then toss his long neck so that it moved. Aster could feel the self satisfaction radiating from the drake--- no, he was a Wiurn now, Aster supposed. He had to keep reminding himself of it.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 20:18:31 GMT -6
"Well?" he said, to cover his own discomposure. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
{Oh, immensely,} Avander replied. At those words, spoken in the same tone that Aster had known for so many years, Aster felt a wave of relief washing over himself. It was still the same Avander, underneath everything. It was only that he looked a little different.
... And that he could do some different things now. Which was why Aster had taken him out to the fields around the estate--- a little test drive, a little experimentation. And if things went awry, then at least this far out, they wouldn't be blowing up anything important.
But he hadn't been ready for how strange it would feel for him, let alone Avander. The now Wiurn was doing an admirable job of soaking up the experience and having a good time, but Aster was sure there would be kinks to work out there too.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 20:21:59 GMT -6
Aster let him preen a little more, then clapped his hands. "Alright, alright, knock it off," he said. "Let's start with a little review. Things are going to be... different, and if you've forgotten any of what you'd learned, I'd rather we find out now than later."
Avander turned to focus on Aster, and again there was that strange sense of... it wasn't deja-vu, but maybe it was close, that same but different sensation of seeing the mannerisms of someone you knew so well, but coming out of a completely different body. Which was exactly what this was, it was just that Aster had never seen anything like it before, and for the moment, at least, he hadn't managed to adjust quite yet.
But the best way to do that was just to throw himself right into it, right? "Get down," Aster said. Obediently, Avander lowered himself onto his belly on the grass.
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Post by Noa on Feb 23, 2020 20:24:57 GMT -6
"Okay, now crawl. Watch your step, hush up... See if you can get behind cover." So far, it was going pretty well. Aster had thought asking Avander to take cover might end up being a bit dicey, but the Wiurn managed it without too much trouble. His coloring wasn't the same, but it was similar enough that he figured out how to blend in without too much effort.
"Stalk, and I want you to pounce out at me on my cue, alright?" Aster said. A wordless wave of assent came through their telepathic connection, and he nodded in return. he took it as a good sign that he couldn't see or hear Avander out under cover, though in reality, it was entirely possible that Avander wasn't moving. Avander listened, sure, but if there were little lazy loopholes he could exploit, he had never been entirely above at least making the attempt.
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Post by Noa on Feb 25, 2020 15:42:03 GMT -6
Well, Aster supposed he would find out whether or not Avander was taking shortcuts when he gave the order to pounce. He waited a few moments more, trying to determine where the Wiurn was, though invariably he had no luck. But then, that was a good thing; it meant his opponents wouldn't see him either, if it came to this in a fight.
"Alright, I think it's been long enough. Pounce," Aster said. As soon as he gave the signal, a green blur crashed out of the foliage on the periphery of his vision to his right. Aster barely managed to duck out of the way as massive claws raked the earth where he had just been standing. But he could tell that Avander had pulled the blow from the smug and easy look on the Wiurn's face, his tail sweeping from one side to another not unlike some sort of oversized cat.
"Having fun? Aster said.
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Post by Noa on Feb 25, 2020 15:44:17 GMT -6
Sonic Blast: Start
{I can go pretty fast,} Avander said. {I hadn't expected that. I'm bigger now, and Grunty is so slow, you know?}
"Yeah," said Aster, brushing dirt and bits of grass off himself. Grunty... Well, Thundergugs had never been built for speed, but Wiurn were at least more nimble than that. "You seem to be handling yourself pretty well."
{It doesn't feel that odd yet,} Avander agreed. (Ask me to do something else.}
"Give me a roar then," Aster said offhandedly. That one ought to be easy. Aster had seen Wiurn roar before in tournaments, and he figured the mechanisms behind it couldn't be terribly different from those of a Sarane's roar.
And then a funny thing happened. One moment, Aster was standing there, giving Avander the command to roar. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, flat on his back, completely deafened save for a terrible ringing in his ears.
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Post by Noa on Feb 25, 2020 15:45:43 GMT -6
The ringing receded just as his vision filled up with green.
{Oh, good, you're alive,} said Avander, but despite having ascertained this fact, he made no move to back up. It was probably just as well that Aster could hear Avander inside his head, since he wasn't sure he would have been able to hear anything properly at the moment.
"I've survived worse," Aster said grimly, sitting up. Or at least he thought he said that, anyway. The sound was all a bit fuzzy, but he trusted the ribbon to communicate it no matter how garbled the sounds were, which was what Avander was listening to anyway. But the real question was what exactly he survived just now. "I couldn't see what just happened. What did you do?"
{I roared, like you asked.} said Avander. {Except maybe I pushed a little too hard. I thought I'd just surprised you, but then you didn't start yelling, and I thought you might have died.}
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Post by Noa on Feb 25, 2020 15:46:49 GMT -6
Aster considered the Wiurn's response for a moment, then sighed and rose to his feet. "You and I both know what a roar looks like," Aster said. "I think what you did just now was some sort of... I don't know, a sonic blast, maybe. Not quite the same thing, and honestly more useful for laying into something you're fighting." Now that his faculties had mostly returned to him and he had a better idea of what he was dealing with, Aster privately counted himself lucky that Avander hadn't been roaring directly at him. That would have been bad. A little glancing from the edge of the impact was nasty enough; a direct hit like that would probably have sent him straight to the healers'. Avander's concerns about him kicking the bucket weren't actually too far off. But if Aster told him that, Avander was sure to fuss over it, so Aster kept his mouth shut about that bit.
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