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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:15:16 GMT -6
And flying would, Aster was sure, help Rhys if he ever found himself in trouble, especially with a bigger creature. That was his foremost priority, for now.
So they worked on it this way: having Rhys fly for longer periods, holding out until Aster gave him the signal to land. As the sessions wore on, Aster added destinations to the mix. “To me,” he said one day, motioning to himself.
Rhys was currently perched on a table. He inclined his head, judging the distance, then leaped off from the edge of it, flapping his wings hard at first, then more gently, as he eased into something more like a glide. He had become much more adept with controlling himself in the air with practice. Now, he alighted on Aster’s upper arm and shoulder, as Aster had held out his arm for Rhys to use.
{Is this a new game we’re trying?} Rhys said.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:15:30 GMT -6
Aster nodded. Flying and landing was one thing, but it would be good to have Rhys practice flying to a specific destination too. And rather than moving a particular goal post around the house, he felt that it was easier just to use himself.
{You’re going to stand farther next time, aren’t you?} Rhys said. He had already guessed some of what Aster had intended. That got a laugh out of Aster, who could hardly deny it. {That’s okay. I’m confident this time!} Rhys gave his wings a hearty couple of flaps, which ended up with him slapping Aster in the face with them.
“Okay, okay, easy. Here,” he said, setting Rhys down on another convenient piece of furniture. He walked further away this time, just as Rhys predicted he would. “To me,” he said again.
Rhys flew to him easily. Indeed, the ease with which he did so surprised Aster, but then, they were indoors at the moment.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:16:04 GMT -6
Fly: End; Location: Aster: Start
The distances he could manage while inside the house were, admittedly, not great. So he took Rhys outside, set him on a fence post instead, and ran quite a distance away.
“To me,” he said.
It was a little harder this time, but not very much. When Aster saw the confidence with which Rhys managed it, he began to think that maybe he didn’t really need to keep practicing with Rhys like this anymore--- not as far as flying went, anyway.
But the ‘game’, as it were, did give him another idea.
The next day, Aster headed out of the house by himself. It was the TROD, Rabbit, who approached Rhys this time.
The Felusine looked up at Rabbit's approach. The two of them hadn’t interacted much thus far, their duties thus far separate and unrelated. Aster had introduced them briefly, but it was by no means a close acquaintance.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:34:03 GMT -6
“I have been asked to tell you to go to Aster,” said Rabbit.
{Go to him?} Rhys said, briefly confused. {But he went out. I don’t know where he is.}
“Yes. I am told that is the purpose of the exercise,” said Rabbit. After a moment, she added, “I suspect it will be easier from aloft.”
{Oh,} said Rhys. With that, he flew up, and Rabbit obligingly opened a window for him so he could escape the confines of the house and search for Aster.
Finding him wasn’t as much of a challenge as it could be. Aster’s hair, if nothing else, made him stand out against the landscape. Rhys made a beeline for him, and Aster had only a little warning before Rhys landed on his shoulder.
“So you’ve found me,” said Aster, sounding pleased enough.
{I’ve found you.} Rhys echoed him in satisfaction. {Will you go somewhere else again?}
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:34:55 GMT -6
Location: Rabbit: Start
“Yes, but first you should go to Rabbit this time,” Aster said.
{Oh, it’s that kind of game, isn’t it?} Rhys caught on to the idea quickly, though Aster wouldn’t necessarily have called it a game himself if he had been describing it. But if it made it easier for Rhys to learn if he thought of all this as playing, then Aster was hardly going to argue with him about it.
In truth, he felt that it was important for Rhys to learn to go to the two of them when asked in case there was ever any trouble. Aster already had Rook as far as messengers went, but Rhys had a different kind of role to play. A simple written message could only convey what was there on the paper. Rhys, on the other hand, could answer questions, think on his feet, make requests and changes of his own as the situation demanded.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:35:30 GMT -6
And sometimes, it would be easier for him to go and fetch someone than to deal with something he was facing by himself. A little Felusine, even one with his powers, could only do so much.
But Aster could explain this in due time, and for the moment it was more important to get Rhys familiar with the idea, and the process, of finding himself or Rabbit to begin with. So Aster sent Rhys away with a, “Go find Rabbit,” and let him get to it.
Rhys thought finding Rabbit was going to be easier than finding Aster. Aster had been outside, after all, and he had been with Rabbit just a moment before. But Rabbit turned out not to be where Rhys had left her, and so he had to go looking around the house, from room to room, to see where she had gone to in the time that he had been away.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:35:58 GMT -6
Even then, however, it wasn’t such an ordeal to find her. The house was big, but it wasn’t as though she was difficult to spot, with her silver coloring and glowing red panels. He flew to her shoulder when he found her too, though it was a little harder to get a decent grip, considering how much metal she was wearing.
“Good,” said Rabbit. She seemed to be in on the game that they were playing, but then, she did say that Aster had tasked her with this when she’d spoken to him before. “Now you are to go to Aster again, please.”
{Back and forth?} Maybe this was flight practice again after all. Rabbit nodded. {Okay,} Rhys said. He was nothing if not obliging, even if he didn’t always see the point of it. And it wasn’t like this game was without its share of fun.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:37:11 GMT -6
It was fun, for example, to guide Rabbit over to another window and have her open it for him so he could fly out of it. It was even fun to fly around looking for Aster, so long as he didn’t have to look too long.
When he found Aster, Aster had a treat waiting for him. “Here,” Aster said. “Keep your energy up.”
Rhys took it gladly, and ate quickly. Aster laughed, patting him on the head. Once he had eaten and rested a bit, Aster held him up again. “Go to Rabbit,” he said.
And so Rhys was sent to find Rabbit again. This time it was easier, since she hadn't moved anywhere, though now that he had been expecting her to do it, it also felt like something of a letdown. He tried to angle for a better landing this time, but there was really just no gripping onto her metal shoulders.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:47:36 GMT -6
“Thank you,” said Rabbit, which was a little funny, until Rhys remembered that Aster had asked her to help him with the game. She must have known that he had asked Rhys to find her. Or maybe she was just thanking him for going to find Aster.
{You’re going to ask me to find him again, aren’t you?} Rhys said.
Rabbit nodded. “Go to Aster.”
The game went on a few more rounds, but Aster called an end to it when he could sense Rhys growing tired and bored with it. The basic idea had been established, and the rest they could practice more slowly, more situationally, in the coming days. Rhys seemed to be glad for the break, and went off to explore the house, as he had been doing with increasing confidence. His naps, for instance, were being held in stranger locations every day, and sometimes he turned up in unexpected places.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:48:13 GMT -6
Location: Aster: End; Location: Rabbit: End
From that point on, Aster made a point of using Rhys to fetch Rabbit when he needed her. “Go to Rabbit and bring her here,” he said. Rhys would take off to find her; sometimes, when she was not in the house, Aster might give Rhys a hint as to where on the property to look.
Sometimes too, Rabbit would use Rhys to fetch Aster, or to guide her to him. “Go to Aster,” she would say, then follow behind him if that was what she needed him for. By contrast, she provided no such hints, but then Rhys was generally better aware of where Aster was than he was of Rabbit.
The more they did it, the more it became a habit, and not just for Rhys. Aster and Rabbit became accustomed to asking Rhys for favors in this way, and in seeing him move around the property on his own business.
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Post by Noa on Sept 13, 2019 16:36:06 GMT -6
It was a good way for Rhys to become acquainted with the rest of the property itself too, though Aster generally warned him not to stay outside for too long, and made sure never to send him out when Rabbit was somewhere that might have been dangerous.
They needed more time for that. Rhys needed to be taught other things before Aster felt that he’d be ready.
To that end, Aster supposed it was time that he taught Rhys more about how to deter other creatures. If on the off chance Rhys found himself in danger, Aster wanted him to have a good chance at getting away from it, or out of it, whatever the case may be. Rhys wasn't meant to be a fighter, but that didn't mean he couldn't wind up in trouble anyway.
The session began like this: Aster facing Rhys in a remote part of the estate, and asking him, “How loud do you think you can be?”
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Post by Noa on Sept 13, 2019 16:37:08 GMT -6
Start: Screech
The question clearly caught Rhys off guard. An explanation, perhaps, would have gone a long way. He probably should have started with that, he thought, a little chagrined. Somehow it hadn't quite occurred to him--- or rather, he hadn't really thought it through before he dropped the question he had asked. Well, he could start now.
“Loud noises can be a… strategy for startling other creatures. Admittedly I’m more used to teaching it to a fighter. In a fight it buys you a little time to get a hit in while your opponent’s still gathering their wits, but in your case, you’d use it to get away.”
Rhys seemed to be mulling over Aster’s words. Aster, for his part, had thought that Rhys was thinking about the answer to the question he had posed, about how loud Rhys could be. Thus, the response, when it came, surprised him.
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Post by Noa on Sept 13, 2019 16:37:56 GMT -6
{Couldn't I fight too?} said Rhys. He didn't say it with a particularly warlike manner, but rather like a child asking a question to which the answer should have been obvious, and yet somehow it wasn't, not to them. Aster blinked, surprised for a moment, then shook his head. This was one idea he wanted to put out of Rhys's mind immediately.
"Maybe," he said, "but if I'm being honest, I think it's a bad idea. You're small, and… how do I put this…" Aster frowned. He didn't want to sound patronizing, especially because he felt the importance of handling this carefully. Rhys wasn't, to his knowledge, a particularly mule headed sort, but he understood the inherent appeal that something took on when it was forbidden. "Your abilities center more on healing, not combat. It's an important role, and a medic is most useful when they're… well, still alive. Still conscious. You can't help anyone when you're dead."
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Post by Noa on Sept 13, 2019 16:39:07 GMT -6
All of this was true enough, and he could see Rhys thinking it over, turning Aster's words around in his mind. Troublingly, Rhys didn't look entirely convinced, at least not from what Aster could tell, but Aster told himself there would be more time to impress this upon the Felusine in the future. It wasn't as if the estate was often attacked, after all.
In the meantime, they had work to do.
"At any rate, this is useful to you either way. Why don't you give it a try? Make a… shriek, maybe," Aster said, because he didn't really think Rhys was capable of producing a roar.
{Alright,} Rhys said, the topic of fighting set aside for now as he turned his mind to the new task. He stood on his hind legs, doing no more for a moment than preparing himself. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, he emitted a sharp, piercing whistle.
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Post by Noa on Sept 13, 2019 16:39:51 GMT -6
Aster grimaced and covered his ears, not that it did him much good. He had no warning, and the sound was already fading by the time his hands came up. "That… was pretty good," he said, though it certainly didn't feel like a success for him. It had been a while since he had taught a creature this particular thing, and he had forgotten how unpleasant it could be.
{I did it? First try?} said Rhys, whose elation was readily apparent in his mental voice.
"We'll have to test it out, preferably on someone who isn't me," Aster said, shaking his head to clear it. "And we'll have to make sure you can do it reliably, and immediately. But it was pretty spot on for a first try." After the lengthy effort that had been attempting to teach Rhys to fly, it was nice to see him taking to something so quickly.
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