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Post by Alma on Mar 9, 2020 23:53:27 GMT -6
And so they walked for quite some time. As they moved through the park it seemed more and more soft-skins had taken lots, the ones Haix was most interested in were constantly littered with them. She was making her way back toward a lot she had remembered back by the pool lot, one that had looked like something had charred most of the grass to ash that flaked away whenever a strong breeze passed it by. Dead grass would be easier than living when it came time to move it, though Haix had decided to simply pick a grass lot to tear up if a soft-skin had even one foot on the lot.
Then she stopped, the houluh only doing so a second later as the rope pulled taut as she had continued walking. She could see the lot now, and it was empty. She ran to it, calling on the houluh to do the same. ((Tin-36.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 9, 2020 23:53:37 GMT -6
- They ran across the burnt grass, sending flakes of ash into the air behind them to be carried away on the breeze. Haix stopped near a patch that somehow still lived, and so Tin stopped alongside her as Haix dropped the bag of supplies onto the still green grass. The houluh was untied, and from the bag Haix pulled out two bones, one slimy from the houluh’s earlier attentions and the other thicker and dry. The slimy bone was dropped in front of Tin and the houluh leapt on it instantly.
Haix took the second rib a few steps into the dead grass, first kicking at it to force away some of the dead cover. She knelt down besides the area she had cleared, then began stabbing at the earth with the bone repeatedly, calling out to Tin with the expectation that the houluh would just ignore her and continue chewing on the bone. It surprised her a few seconds later to find the houluh walk up to sit next to her, watching her stab the earth. ((Dig-Start))
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Post by Alma on Mar 9, 2020 23:53:52 GMT -6
The houluh had dropped the bone and left it behind to watch Haix break up the earth, trying to loosen what the still somewhat intact roots held. After the bone had been simply stabbed down enough times, Haix started to hook it under the roots and rip them free with a tearing sound as they broke or came away with clots of dirt still grasped tightly. The plan had been to clear out the roots and then show the houluh a treat, burying it below the loose dirt after the houluh had shown sufficient interest.
Tin had apparently decided to do the training a different way, and perched herself to the side of the hold Haix was digging. Her front paws went into the hole and, as Haix halted her stabbing due to the possibility of hitting the houluh, Tin began to shovel out the dirt between her hind legs with her front paws.
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Post by Alma on Mar 9, 2020 23:54:02 GMT -6
No command had been said though, and Haix hesitated to give the houluh a treat for choosing to get in her way. She decided to settle for a kind tone and a few pats to reward the houluh for its initiative, which also served to stop the houluh’s digging as she leaned into the petting.
Haix gave her a few more seconds of attention, then returned to the hole, this time careful to repeat the new command as the houluh turned back to the hole. Now Haix had set aside the rib to use her hands to paw at the earth, scooping out handfuls and knocking the small pile back in with her other hand as she did so. Tin joined in a moment later, Haix repeating the new command word as she dropped her front paws in the hole, and Haix waited until the pile behind Tin had grown visibly larger before stopping the houluh and patting her. At least the slave hound had the instincts to dig.
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Post by Alma on Mar 9, 2020 23:54:34 GMT -6
This continued on until the hole was deep enough to fit the houluh’s entire tiny body, a fact proven when she crawled into the hole and curled up inside of it. Haix chuckled at the sight of the houluh, the creature wagging in return, then she called Tin to come out of the hole. Tin had no need for a grave yet.
Haix walked to another likely spot, this one lacking even the shape of grass held by the fine grey powder coating it. Here she told the houluh to dig, pointing for emphasis. WHen the slave hound hesitated, Haix crouched down, repeated the command, and scooped up a handful of the ash. Tin needed no further prompting, and started digging away.
Haix let the houluh did on its own, watching and repeating the command and taking a handful of dirt from the hole whenever the houluh slackened. She stopped the houluh as the hole reached the size of the first, giving the runt a pat before Tin could slip into the hole.
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Post by Alma on Mar 9, 2020 23:54:46 GMT -6
Then they went around the plot, Haix pointing at random locations and ordering the houluh to dig another hole. At first she had to repeat the command as she had before, one time having to go so far as scooping up some of the earth to make Tin speed up with her efforts when the houluh slowed. But soon she was remaining at each rapidly growing hole until Haix called her off, swapping between rewarding the runt with a small piece of jerky and head pats.
By the end of the practice, the burnt out plot was filled with holes, the amount so great that Haix was starting to be hard pressed to find a new spot for the ash dusted houluh to dig. So she did not, instead walking back to the sack and calling the houluh to her. Seeing the progress it had made was almost enough to make her want to continue training the houluh. ((Dig-End? Tin-37.0 Haix-199.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:42:41 GMT -6
While the ssashirk and newly grown houluh were walking back to the park, Haix had plenty of time to reflect on the previous day’s events.
When she had first heard of the connection between the houluh and the soft-skin godling of order, she had thought to use the beast to somehow track down its lair, or perhaps even lure that godling out into the open to be hunted. Not that she had thought to stand up against even a soft-skin god in combat, but she had hoped to find some weakness while looking over the scrolls that would trap it longer enough for her to steal its heart. The houluh would not be able to be trusted in such a situation, but she hoped to at least cause Tin to hesitate, the training ingraining an obedience that would not be so quickly discarded when the time came. Because of that thought, she had invested time in the houluh.
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:42:51 GMT -6
Tin had been trained to be a hunting hound, her similarity to the extinct species that had been used as such according to some of the written histories she had found hopefully meaning she would take quickly to the role. The training had gone quickly enough, but the creature failed to show any signs of favor from the godling in either strength or manner. The houluh was a weak, tiny creature compared to even the vulticus that they faintly resembled, unable to break a dried out rib bone she had let it have. Had the houluh been unable to kill a grubble as well, unable to break those tiny bones and rip it to shreds, she might have given up on it much earlier.
But now Tin could guard and hunt and fish, Haix having trained it with the expectation that god-touched meant something. That the houluh would turn out to have some special ability that would make it worth training as she tried to find out how to best exploit its god connection.
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:43:09 GMT -6
Haix had known that the connection made the creature more willing to ‘follow the laws of man’, which had left her wondering if the creature would obey her in the first place. She had almost hoped it would have refused her, for that would have made the eventual dismemberment a great deal more fun when she sacrificed a creature of order to her own gods.
Then she had found out what purpose houluh had been made for, what so-called blessing that linked the species to the soft-skin godling. So it would breed without the lab? So could sarane. But from what she had heard, while sarane had to fight and have intense blood lust that was satisfied to seek a breeding, these were like the other breeding creatures she had seen around the labs. And the price of that blessing was to ensure the slave hound was obedient, well trained enough to amuse a buzzing swarm of soft-skins so that it could grow to breed.
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:43:20 GMT -6
She doubted now that the godling called Order would care what was done to any houluh. Sure, she might sacrifice Tin in the name of gods that would revel in taking something bound to another, but was it truly a bond or something the labs had made up? The creature was probably worth no more in that aspect than a bwee.
Then there was that she had trained Tin for something more than a quick sacrifice, the cost in worthless coins to purchase the slave hound in the first place. So she had instead taken Tin to amuse the soft-skins, following that path as the godling had possibly dictated so that Tin could grow and she could find some other use for the thing. The idea that all of that training might have been wasted sat poorly with her, as she so rarely trained anything. When she had found out about the other thing houluh were to be known for, she was content to try for it.
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:43:35 GMT -6
There was to be a contest in which houluh would be shown to soft-skins to be judged.
She had already been to one such showing, a minor one with a different name that had served as the only way to grow the slave hound to its slightly larger form. This upcoming one, likely to be filled with soft-skins and slave hounds that had been trained all of the most interesting moves possible, would grant points to be spent in the shop attached to the main building. She had stopped by said shop on the way out, curious to see if it contained anything interesting or useful like the pit shop had. It had not surprised her to find, so soon after learning of the primary use for houluh, that what it sold was mostly shiny, useless things and creatures that could be described the same way ready to reproduce. One of the items claimed to be magical, a quiver stocked with brightly fletched arrows that would magically refill itself each day. ((Tin-38.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:43:52 GMT -6
There were only a handful of arrows in her own quiver, arrows that might one day snap in the hide of some fleeing beast, or strike a rock and crack the head, or even vanish into the trees themselves, never to be found again. Still, she rather take that gift of the godling than the houluh’s ability to produce puppies.
As for obtaining the points required to be redeemed for such a thing, she had to enter contests and, lucky for her and Tin, the houluh was specifically made for them. Now, she did not assume she would stand a chance against the soft-skins that had trained their slave hounds for show, but, if Tin was allowed to show off her hunting skills, they might net a few points.
And that hope of winning a few points was why they had returned to the park, as there were a few minor problems to be addressed before she would bother trying for the points. Namely that the houluh was currently trotting in front of her but several feet up in the air, the leash tied around the houluh’s neck taut and keeping the creature from walking into the sky. ((Land-Start))
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:44:12 GMT -6
Haix went for the first open plot of land she would find, trying not to stare at the air-walking houluh. If the rope failed and the beast vanished, their godling so insulted that it called Tin back, there would not be much Haix could do about it.
When they reached the center of the plot, Haix dropped the sack of supplies on the ground, careful not to lose her grip on the rope as she started rooting around inside with her free hand. From its depths she removed a treat, all of her actions so far ignored by the slave hound prancing on the end of the leash as Tin looked at the world from her new view. The treat was held up to Tin, the leash tugged on to get her attention as Haix told the houluh to land. The last action was not one Tin knew to react to, but the leash and the treat combined to make her face Haix once more.
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:44:22 GMT -6
The zephyr houluh was trotting in place as she looked at the treat, watching it be waved around with the same intensity as she had when she was smaller. Unlike those earlier times in which Haix had held the treat just above the houluh’s reach, now she held it under the creature’s paws. Tin bent her head down, still walking in place on nothing but air, and sniffed. Then, as Haix repeated the command and slowly lowered the treat, the houluh followed.
The treat descended just a tiny bit faster than the houluh, the slave hound still a good foot in the air when Haix had dropped into a crouch, pressing the treat to the ground. She was not far behind though, and Haix willingly gave her the treat as the grass was crushed underfoot. She petted the slave hound too, praising Tin both for the work done so far and to keep the creature distracted and firmly planted on the earth.
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Post by Alma on Mar 12, 2020 0:44:32 GMT -6
When she stopped giving the houluh attention, ignoring the slave hound as Tin pressed a cold, wet nose against her palm, it did not take much longer for the creature to find something else to catch her interest. A passing insect with bright wings fluttered by, and Tin, without a command to stay put, took off into the air after it.
The houluh ascended into the air faster than Haix had expected and, despite the hounds strength being less than hers, her arm was nearly pulled from her socket as the creature dragged her a few feet. Snarling the new command, she yanked downwards just as the houluh stopped her chase and turned to face the ssashirk. Tin slid downwards with a yelp, then her paws seemed to land on something solid as her body jerked to a halt in the air. A treat was produced then, Haix not wishing to drag the thing out of the sky, and once again it was lowered to the ground as the houluh followed.
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