|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:00:18 GMT -6
Once they had actually established some sort of leadership, Aster expected not to have to interfere with them too much, because at that point he also expected them to have established some sort of solidarity among themselves. But prior to that point, he knew he had to do some of the legwork of keeping them together and making their decisions for them. He landed somewhere between a shepherd and a provider of food, which wasn't exactly a one to one with the role of a proper Sarane parent, but captive husbandry sometimes necessitated some changed and improvisation along the way. That was what Aster told himself, anyway.
But right now he could hardly leave them to their own devices. The three of them didn't seem as though they'd stick together at all, and in particular he sort of didn't trust Velvet to... well, move. He didn't know, again, whether it was just because she happened to be a baby or what, but she didn't seem very keen on getting any exercise whatsoever. Aster hadn't seen her make any particular overtures to try and explore, unlike the other two. She had seemed briefly interested in the squashed bug, but in retrospect Aster wondered if she had simply been drawn in by the commotion, and if he had mistaken brief curiosity for anything that went even a little deeper than that.
It was funny. He couldn't remember having had a lazy Sarane before. He wondered if it would make her easier or harder to deal with.
47
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:04:04 GMT -6
He hoped, of course, for easier, but somehow he didn't think that was necessarily going to be the case. He thought to Grunty, and the mixed bag of blessings that the Thundergug posed, and wondered how it would be if Grunty wasn't even motivated by food. Sure all the whelps were hungry now, but that part of them tended to be tempered out by the time that they had reached their full growth, with a few exceptions. Some of them stayed highly food motivated for life, but it wasn't a guaranteed thing like it tended to be when they were younger. After the breaking, you had to sort of feel out the creature you were left with, and how much they were still the half grown whelp you knew before they hit their final growth spurt.
... Well, at least hens didn't have such a dramatic transitional period. Aster had the luxury of finding out more slowly with Velvet. Tier three hens were a different matter, and frankly Aster wasn't looking forward to having to deal with Abelia, but that was a question for another time. She still hadn't hit her final growth spurt yet, and gods willing, she would give him at least a little more time.
The two female whelps protested a little to the shepherding, but eventually they fell in line, and wandered unsteadily in the same general direction as Havoc. Whether they understood what Aster was aiming for with this was, of course, a different matter entirely.
48
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:07:35 GMT -6
Aster was rather of the opinion that they didn't, since they were so young and, excuse his reckoning, but not very clever, particularly at this age. He definitely wasn't seeing even predatory craftiness in any of them yet. And short of when they bumped into one another, they also didn't seem very aware of each other, even when being made to follow the lead of one, as they were doing now. It was, if one would excuse the metaphor, really not unlike herding cats. Cats that weren't even interested in seeing one another, and who went on as though going this way was merely their own idea, and not a limitation being imposed on them by a bumptious human. Yeah, right.
... Though, if they had been cats, they probably would have had a good deal more grace than this. The whelps were still whelps, wobbly and ungainly, and whatever measure of exercise they got wouldn't be very rigorous. But still, it was better for them to have the opportunity to be outside, to chase bugs even if Aster wouldn't let them eat any, and to develop some of that muscle strength and coordination that would be so important to their development. Aster wasn't trying to raise any duds, after all, and so it was vital for him to give them this much exposure, at least.
"On you go. Go on, shoo," Aster said. It was tempting to nudge Velvet with the toe of his shoe, to see if that would get her moving.
49
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:11:05 GMT -6
He didn't do it, of course, since that seemed a little cruel, but it was really very tempting. And he held back only because it was kind of in bad form to kick a baby, even if he did it very gently, and even if the baby was a baby Sarane. In the end, with a sigh, he settled for bending over and giving her a shove with his hands instead. She hissed at him, and scooted forward a few steps, then went still again.
Rici had at least sort of gotten the memo, and was toddling along in more or less the same direction as Havoc, though very clearly behind. Aster didn't know if she was giving him a wide berth because he had tussled with her earlier, or if she just happened to be avoiding him in the way that the three whelps had thus far been vaguely ignoring each other. It did have the added benefit of not causing another fight to break out, which Aster supposed was a boon in its own way. He was having his hands full enough trying to get Velvet to come along. "Don't make me break out a collar for you. I'll do it, you know. There's nothing more undignified than being dragged around by your neck. Come on." Not that he would really resort to this, since he hadn't done anything resembling leash training with Sarane, and didn't really know whether that kind of thing would work for the problem he had.
50
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:25:22 GMT -6
If this sort of problem persisted with Velvet though, he might have to look into it... Though honestly he suspected it would have been more useful to try other avenues first, like leading her around by the nose with a treat. The only trouble with that strategy was that he had two other whelps to fend off, who were much more active at the moment than Velvet was, and who would certainly make a try for the treat while she was still bumbling along.
... Maybe he really did need to start getting them to compete for food. It would mean more infighting, but if it got Velvet moving around more... Well, that was something to consider trying, anyway. If it didn't work, it didn't work, and he would just try something else. But anything with a modicum of risk was something he would prefer to try in the confines of the estate, and more importantly, the confines of their enclosure, rather than a big unknown open space like the mansion was providing. So any question of dominance among whelps would have to be settled there and then.
For now... Well, carrying her wouldn't solve the problem, Aster thought firmly to himself, and he wasn't about to give in either. And muttering an empty threat at Velvet, while it had helped vent his feelings on the matter, also wasn't particularly productive. He would just have to settle for pushing her, and annoying her into doing what he wanted her to do for now.
51
|
|
|
Post by Jack on Jun 27, 2020 18:28:36 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:29:49 GMT -6
Maybe if he annoyed her enough, she would pick up on what he wanted and stop fighting him on it. It sounded absurd at first glance, and to be honest maybe it was, but it was a valid tactic when you had nothing better to motivate some creature. The only rub was that they might turn on you instead of complying with what you want, even if you were only annoying them very gently, if they ere belligerent enough. On the flipside, if you didn't annoy them enough to actually motivate them to do anything, then you wouldn't be anywhere closer to your goal than before.
With a larger creature, Aster wouldn't have bothered with this approach unless he was desperate or real confident in his reflexes. Even a Thundergug could outpace a normal human, after all, even though they weren't built at all for speed. But with a Sarane whelp whose claws were still too soft to do any lasting harm? And especially with Velvet, whom he had never actually seen get her claws dirty, so to speak, in an actual spat with another whelp? Aster was willing to try his luck there, at least. What could she do to him, nip his hands a little? He already had so many scars and callouses from years of working this job that this wasn't even really a threat at this point. "Look there, the other two are already that far ahead," he said to Velvet, pointing out Havoc and Rici to her.
52
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:37:18 GMT -6
True to his words, the other whelps were some ways away now. It wasn't the kind of distance that would have given Aster trouble, since he was so much taller than they were at this age, not to mention much more coordinated, but at this point Velvet was going to have to work hard if she wanted to catch up to them. Which he supposed was a lot to ask of her, since she seemed so content to be sedate.
Even he was starting to wonder if it was possible. She wasn't handicapped, exactly, in the conventional source of the word... At least he didn't think she was. Though maybe he just hadn't been checking closely enough.
Hold that thought. He picked her up right then and there, and held her to his chest with one arm, restraining her and keeping her in place as he used his other hand to feel around her limbs for any sign of anything unusual. He didn't think she had a dud limb or anything like that, but it was true that he hadn't given her a particularly thorough inspection for anything of the sort. And if she did have an injury or other physical limitation that was preventing her from doing what the other whelps were doing, then he wasn't actually helping her by trying to push her around like this. It was better to confirm these things sooner than later, since it was hard to reverse damage after it had already been done.
53
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:41:07 GMT -6
And the longer this sort of thing went on, the more dire the damage was likely to be, just by the nature of pushing a creature beyond its reasonable limitations. So if there was a legitimate reason for Velvet's lethargy beyond a simple flaw of character, then Aster had better nip it in the bud sooner rather than later. There were slings and rigs with wheels that he could strap her into to help her get around a mobility issue, if that was really what was happening here.
She didn't like that, of course, but she didn't actually fight him as hard as Rici did either. Was that laziness, or was it just weakness? Aster wasn't so sure now that he was thinking about it this way.
"Just bear with it for a moment," Aster said. He did have to look up to see what the other two whelps were doing, since he couldn't stop monitoring them altogether. It wasn't hard to do, since with her back hugged to his chest and her face and all her limbs facing away from him, Velvet wasn't that hard to deal with. And in a stroke of luck for Aster, Rici and Havoc had actually come to a halt, their attention possibly attracted by the very squalling of their clutchmate. Or at least the whelp that Aster had been trying to establish as their clutchmate, anyway. They weren't really as such, and Rici even had actual clutchmates of hers at the estate, being raised separately.
54
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 18:45:39 GMT -6
But what the whelps didn't know wouldn't hurt them, and they weren't clever enough to figure out the difference. At least, Aster didn't think they were, anyway. The last trio he had raised certainly took to it well enough, after a time, though only time would tell whether that had been a one off stroke of luck for Aster too. If this didn't work out, he could just separate them, but there was a certain something to be said for economies of scale in herding little trios around together when it came to practical care.
Not that he could get away with this once they got older. The hens, maybe, since they were first tier, but definitely not the drakes. On that point, maybe he ought to be raising the girls together, and the leftover boys together in their own batches... But it was a little too late for that, and he honestly felt like it was better to group the trios by age, relatively speaking. Too far apart and nevermind the bullying, they would even be at different stages of growth. That would rob the arrangement of some of the efficiency that Aster was hoping to get by trying this out in the first place.
Though in this case maybe it had worked more than he had given it credit for. The whelps were ignoring each other for the most part, but Rici and Havoc did look... unsettled by hearing Velvet's cries. More incentive for him to hurry up, Aster thought.
55
|
|
|
Post by Jack on Jun 27, 2020 18:48:04 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 27, 2020 23:32:54 GMT -6
Though if the two of them came back to Aster out of concern, that would be good too... But somehow he didn't think that was what was going to happen. If, in the wild, you heard another whelp squealing because they got caught by something bigger and stronger than they were, you wouldn't go running towards the source of the trouble, would you? A species didn't survive very long if their instincts were like that.
But then again, Aster had established himself as the provider of food. Maybe this would be more equivalent to seeing a parent discipline a whelp... Did that sort of thing happen? But even then, at least human kids wouldn't go running to a parent in a bad mood either, would they? So either way, it would make sense if the whelps stayed well away.
Aster felt around on each of Velvet's limbs for any abnormalities, being careful not to hurt her as she did. She set up a great and terrible racket anyway, which was surprising since she had been so... unwilling to do anything earlier. Maybe her talent was in protesting her treatment, rather than simply a lack of energy altogether. But Aster knew enough about whelps by now to know he wasn't really hurting her by doing this, and that she was more upset about the indignity, or her inability to struggle out of his grip.
There was nothing wrong with her limbs that he could find though, try as he might to do so.
56
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 28, 2020 17:52:10 GMT -6
And Aster was really putting some effort into it too, so at this point he suspected he was just... not going to find any. It wasn't as if he was utterly unknowledgeable about Sarane anatomy either. He did a bit of reading on general biology, but this was a species he often worked with, so he had studied them more closely than most.
The whelp was perfectly fine, as far as physical abnormalities were concerned. Her problems, if indeed she even had them, would have to be neurological. At present he couldn't rule out that possibility entirely, but the more he thought about it the more he felt like she was probably just lazy after all. A neurological problem... would be more apparent, wouldn't it?
He supposed he could still wait it out. It might become clearer once she got a bit older, and a bit more coordinated. At this early stage, it could still be chalked up to the poor motor skills of a whelp that young, so it wasn't a good time to draw any final conclusions.
But he had the information he wanted now, so there was no reason for Aster to keep holding onto Velvet. "Alright, alright," he said, setting her down. "Don't need to squall my ears off. There you go, run to the others now." Though he rather doubted she would, considering the problem that had been at hand in the first place that had caused Aster to have this train of thought to begin with.
57
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 28, 2020 17:56:54 GMT -6
To his surprise, however, Velvet did just that, scrambling for the other two whelps in an amazing burst of speed as soon as she was let loose from his grasp and had her limbs firmly on the ground. The other two whelps even went so far as to cheep at her, when they had never shown much interest in each other before.
It wasn't the fact that she could do it that surprised Aster. Even at this early age, Sarane were capable of short bursts of speed, scrambling over the ground rapidly on their legs. In fact, it might have been easier to do it when they were younger, which likely had its roots in evolutionary needs. The smaller whelps would be in more dire need of a quick getaway tactic, whereas the larger adults could fare better against a threat if they could stand and fight, especially the drakes. And anyway, drakes had other avenues of escape available to them, namely through flight.
It was just that Velvet had done it. Velvet, who had refused to budge even when Aster had been doing his best to get her to move. He supposed he hadn't been using the right kind of motivation after all... But it didn't exactly thrill him that the one thing that had finally gotten her to do what he wanted was to wrangle her a little. Was she really scared of him now? That didn't bode well for when he would have to work with them later.
58
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Jun 28, 2020 22:01:04 GMT -6
But if she was, the damage had already been done, so he could only work to regain her trust when the time came. Though privately he did hope that she would merely see this as having been manhandled by a parent, or at least a provider of food, rather than a random predator. But the outcome wasn't all bad, considering she was finally grouping up with her so-called 'siblings' now. He could only hope that they continued to stay together.
For the first trio, it had been sorting out their pecking order that seemed to be the catalyst for them to form a proper bond... For these three, he wondered if it would be being terrorized by Aster. After all, he had had to grab Rici too, just now, and she hadn't been too fond of that either. Havoc had been picked up once too, but only to carry him back to the rest. Not that Aster supposed the little drake had enjoyed that either, but at least it hadn't lasted very long, and being picked up had to have been easier to deal with than having your jaw grabbed, or being picked up and your limbs inspected for issues.
Aster sighed. Well, now that they were all together, maybe he wouldn't have to mess with them as much. He kept a slight distance from them, which he was hoping would give them the opportunity to calm themselves down a little. It was the least he could do, so he figured.
59
|
|