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Post by Briar on Jul 29, 2022 13:37:19 GMT -6
Over the next two weeks, he practiced those signals with her during their riding sessions. Getting her to speed up faster was mostly the process of annoying her into it. She eventually did figure out that he wasn’t going to stop giving her the signal until she had sped up to his satisfaction, and stopped dragging her feet -- metaphorically, anyway -- on it. More repetition helped her response times in general, and by the end of the two weeks, he could control her using his legs and his weight placement in the saddle quite effectively.
He was surprised that it was... well, not over, not by a long shot. There was still a lot more work to be done with the doe before she could be ridden outside the estate. But he could ride her now, the basics were all there... And he had managed to train her all by himself.
60 (exit)
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Post by Silver on Jul 31, 2022 22:53:32 GMT -6
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:07:37 GMT -6
Briar hadn't expected to come back to the garden to find more Koguma eating the vegetables, but honestly, at this point maybe it was on him for not having a broader imagination. He'd found them often enough over the years. He'd made concerted efforts to try and warn them away, all the while baffled at the idea that he would have to, considering the fact that Noa's creatures lived on the premises and made no secret of their presence. How these bug-like creatures found the courage to come here to forage with the possibility of Wiurn and Sarane breathing down their necks, Briar would never guess.
The Galabex had accompanied him outside, though she froze as she caught sight of the garden's other guests. She had grown less cautious around Briar, and to a lesser degree in general while in his presence; that was probably why she hadn't bolted yet.
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:13:01 GMT -6
But she was still cautious in the way of hoofed creatures, and she wasn't yet familiar enough with Koguma of any sort to disregard them. Briar wasn't surprised at her reaction, though he clocked it and thought that he might put it to use at some point before he started trying to desensitize her to it. It would be useful to teach her to freeze on command at some point, in case he ever found himself in a situation where he needed her to do just that.
For now, however, he had to deal with the issue at hand, which was the Koguma presence. There were two of them to boot. Briar watched them eat for a moment, marshaling his thoughts, and had to resist the urge to sigh. It wouldn't accomplish anything, but he did wish they would stop coming here. Not because he hated them, but because it wasn't safe.
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:16:44 GMT -6
What Briar didn't want to happen was for these Koguma to somehow get wrapped up in whatever Noa was doing, and if they did, it likely wouldn't end well for them. Or maybe Noa would simply notice that there was a pest problem, and that Briar wasn't doing enough about it, and take matters into his own hands -- which would be worse, for everyone. As it was right now, Noa didn't particularly interfere with how Briar took care of the garden so long as he could get what he needed from it, which was a more generous arrangement than Briar had thought possible with everything that Noa had done elsewhere, and his general reputation.
Briar didn't even bother trying to shoo them off. That wouldn't work, and he knew from experience that most of the time they just found their way back, sometimes making an effort to avoid Briar specifically.
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:20:00 GMT -6
The better bet would probably be to get them to stay where the other Koguma were staying, in the woods where they were better hidden. It wasn't an ideal solution, but the Koguma were a sort of on again off again problem, and Briar had found that if they knew they were being fed somewhere, they at least tended to mill around there instead of in the garden. And the bigger creatures didn't like the woods as much, since it was harder for them to get around because of their size, so while it wasn't a perfect deterrent for the likes of Noa's beasts, it did give them better odds for surviving.
With that in mind, Briar went for his stash of discarded vegetables. He harvested most of the garden's food crop for himself and... well, for himself and the Galabex, really. Yeo-reum didn't eat vegetables, and neither did any of the dogs.
4
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:22:50 GMT -6
But some of it was ruined -- half eaten by bugs or other pests, or just too small to be of much use. Briar wasn't picky about whether his vegetables looked nice enough for the table, but sometimes something was just too small to bother with making a meal of it, especially if he already had a lot of produce. It didn't keep for long before it inevitably ended up in the compost, but on occasions like this, he was glad to have a stash of discards.
He approached the Koguma slowly, trying to present himself as something other than a threat. He meandered up to them with his eyes averted, as if he hadn't noticed them, and wasn't really intending to go to them specifically. With a human it wouldn't have been at all convincing, but it was less threatening to creatures... or so he hoped. From a little ways off, the Galabex continued to watch.
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:26:06 GMT -6
She didn't bother trying to follow him, which was good, since he didn't want her competing with them for vegetable scraps. He would have preferred to think that she had better taste, and knew that she could get nicer treats from him later if she really wanted them, but he wasn't yet sure enough not to worry about it. The presence of the strange creatures kept her at a distance, but Briar had the funny sense that she hadn't bolted at least in part because she was looking out for him. What she could possibly have done if things really did take a turn for the worse, he couldn't guess, but the sentiment -- if that was, in fact, what she was doing -- was a sweet one. It made him feel a little worse for what he would likely be asking of her later down the line.
The good news was that the Koguma didn't startle either.
6
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:28:58 GMT -6
They let him approach, though as soon as it became clear to them that he was traveling in their general direction, they stopped what they were doing to study him. That they didn't seem alarmed was a good sign, at least for what Briar wanted to do, though it made him wonder whether they'd been getting handouts elsewhere, or if people were just more lax about their gardens than his previous masters had been. There were Koguma there too, once in a while. Not very often, since that garden had been almost entirely ornamental plants. But there was no practical place to hide them, so Briar spent his time trying to chase them off. When he wasn't successful, they called exterminators, or else just set their dogs loose on them.
Repressing a shudder at the memory, Briar held out the bag of rejected vegetables. If he could just coax them into taking some...
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:54:44 GMT -6
The Koguma didn't seem to cotton on to what he was trying to do at first, which made Briar reconsider his earlier suspicions that they were used to handouts. If they were, then they'd be old hats at this by now. But it was better that they weren't; that way they weren't likely to leave for another garden and come back as they please. Or maybe it would be better, if only they realized his offerings weren't as good as the stuff they would find elsewhere. But seeing as that wasn't possible, well... Briar waited; being patient was something he'd had a lot of practice at, as was staying very still. It didn't even take the Koguma that long, in the grand scheme of things, to take an interest in the vegetables. One of them stayed nibbling on what it had already found, but it kept an eye on the other.
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 0:57:42 GMT -6
And that other Koguma was closing in on the vegetables. It picked up a discarded strawberry, its antennae moving animatedly about. Perhaps this was a favorite treat. The strawberry was gone in a flash, and then the other Koguma joined its fellow, nearly shoving its face into the bag in its eagerness to get at the goods.
Briar let this go on for a few moments longer, just so he knew he had them. Then he moved the bag away a little, slowly, to see if they would follow. There was a moment of confusion, but then they did just that. Briar breathed an inward sigh of relief, and began the gradual task of leading them where he wanted them to go. Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see the Galabex meandering around, and if they moved far enough from her position, she would follow for a ways before stopping again.
9
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Post by Briar on Dec 26, 2022 1:01:06 GMT -6
That was a relief too; this way Briar could keep an eye on her to make sure she also didn't get in trouble while he was occupied with relocating the Koguma.
He led them to the spot that he'd set up in the woods for the other Koguma that he had tentatively dubbed as being 'in his care'. He had to pace himself, never going so fast that the Koguma would lose interest, but also not going so slowly that they caught up to him too often. Every once in a while, he'd toss them something from the bag, just to keep them engaged; if they thought there wasn't any chance of getting to eat something good, then they'd give up following him. He never did test how far he could lure a Koguma with empty promises before they tired of it, but better safe than sorry.
Eventually he got them where he wanted them, and once they were eating from the feeding station he'd set up, Briar let himself relax a bit. With any luck, they'd keep coming here instead, and he could manage them like the rest of the Koguma he knew living on the property.
10 [done]
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Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2022 20:06:18 GMT -6
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Post by Briar on Jul 28, 2023 14:04:00 GMT -6
In the winter, the garden was quiet. Sometimes it was the only place where Briar had any peace and quiet. He had invariably thought of the garden as a sanctuary from Noa and everything else that was happening in his life, but it hadn't always felt like he was fleeing to it, the way that he did now.
Unfortunately, he also had less excuse to find himself here. There was not much to tend, no winter crops, and the perennials didn't require much care past the preparations that he had taken in late autumn. Briar, who had never liked cold, might otherwise have been glad for that, but this year he stared out from the windows of the great house of the estate with a wistful expression at the snow-covered beds.
Ironically, the only times he came here anymore were to give the Galabex a little exercise and change in scenery.
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Post by Briar on Jul 28, 2023 14:04:10 GMT -6
He had expected her to become slow and reluctant in the winter, but instead, as soon as her winter coat came in, she was just as happy to be out of doors as she had been in the warmer seasons. If anything, she had more energy now; perhaps it was that she was well fed, or easier in Briar's company. Or perhaps it was because there were fewer things running around in winter to give her pause.
Or at least, there were supposed to be fewer things running around. But on this particular day, that didn't seem to be the case after all. Briar and the Galabex had been in the garden not fifteen minutes when some noise made the Galabex's head go up, ears forward, her whole body gone still.
It didn't take long to determine the source of the sound. The Kogumas weren't bothering to hide themselves as they roved about the garden.
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