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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:47:56 GMT -6
The first night was the most annoying, a sharp yelp from the room bringing her rushing in to check on the creature. The whimpering was easy enough to hear just outside the room she had been caged in, alone to prevent any ‘problematic associations’ as the book had put it, but it ceased as she entered, the houluh’ blue eyes locked onto her as she turned on the lights. She examined the pet briefly, glancing around the cage for any sign of why the houlu had screeched, but found nothing.
It started up again a minute after she left the room, but this time she merely closed the door leading to it. The doors were enough to block out the enraged screams of her unbroken sarane, and they certainly were up to the task of hiding the houluh’s crying. She did not open it again until the next day, the houluh staying far away from her as she cleaned the cage. ((Tin-1.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:48:07 GMT -6
That day she replaced a few of the hides with fresher versions, one imperfectly cleaned so that it still dripped and formed a puddle on the floor. She had talked to the houluh as she did so and found the creature not so quick to snarl and snap at her whenever she moved around the cage, occasionally waggling the hides. The creature continued to show no interest in them while she was there, and so she had left to deal with the many other things she had to do that day.
She returned to the houluh several times, still chattering as she cleaned messes and saw that the food and water were filled, obliterating the small dent the runt had made in the former with a shake of the bag. THe hides were removed for a few hours, then returned, drawing enough of the houluh’s attention that Haix slipped out unnoticed.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:48:23 GMT -6
The final time she visited that day saw the creature watching her closely, not approaching but not cringing from her as she ensured the cage was prepared for the night, still talking to the houluh. This time the subject of their one sided conversation was the creature’s name, Haix rather partial to the idea of naming her after a tin can she had traded for with similar colors. The houluh watched her as intently as if the creature was going to chime in at any moment, but no sound save a yawn escaped her mouth.
Haix left the houluh to her complaints as she closed the door and went off to sleep, trying to figure out if there was anyway to accelerate the process the book had recommended. The creature seemed used to the scents by now, even seeming a great deal more used to her, but the book had only said that the training could take a long while.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:48:44 GMT -6
Without any idea of what a long while might have meant, Haix had pushed open the door the next day to find that the newly named Tin was not so still and cowardly as she had been the last couple of days. The houluh had somehow managed to reach one of the hides hanging from the bars above her, and her weight had been enough to rip it free of the bar. She had failed to notice the door opening as Haix entered, so caught up in chewing on the hide clenched between her paws to do so.
When Haix spoke, she did hop up onto her feet, the hide gripped tightly in her mouth as she approached the side Haix stood on. The ssashirk waited to see what the slave hound would do now, what to expect of something dedicated to a godling, but Tin only dropped her front end to the floor of the cage and wagged her tail wildly.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:48:58 GMT -6
Haix had grabbed the hide, that of a lerrel she guessed, and tugged on it. The houluh sprang into action, pulling with such force that Haix had to tighten her grip just a fraction more to prevent it from being torn away. She indulged the creature a little more, testing the strength of the houluh’s legs and jaws a little longer than absolutely necessary. She had to be sure that the houluh did not have any weakness she had missed after only looking over it after all.
The houluh had jolted backwards as she released her side of the hide, yipping as she went to find some rope. She played with it a few moments more upon her return, a sack of supplies hanging from one shoulder as she slipped the make-shift lead over the houluh’s head.
As Haix stood back up, Tin had taken that moment to sprint out of the cage, pressing her nose to the floor to sniff the hard ground. Haix forced her out of the room, the houluh’s claws scratching against the ground as she tried to stay and pick up every scent.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:49:52 GMT -6
And now they were here at the park, the houluh pulling at the lead as if she could drag the ssashirk along faster. She had gone into the pen easily enough, but tried to take off at a full sprint as Haix clanged the gate shut behind them. Rather than reel in the houluh, Haix let go of the rope, watching Tin bound across the plot, ears flapping with every step as if the houluh intended to fly. The houluh seemed so much smaller than a vulticus, and silly with those long ears that could be grabbed and bitten. Well, she could always breed a replacement, she supposed.
She dug into the sack, pulling out the first batch of supplies for that day. Another rope was pulled out, this one much thinner and finer than the one currently trailing the houluh as she, Haix squinted at the space in front of her, chased a fluttering butterfly. It was tied around the second object, a small chunk of meat that wept blood as she tightened the knot. ((Tin-2.0 Haix-184.8))
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:50:12 GMT -6
Tin did not come when her name was called, but the houluh did stop her chase of the butterfly as, once again, her leg found her ear as she turned to look at Haix, rolling head over tail over the soft grass for a few feet before stopping. The sudden roll did not seem to harm her though, and, at the sight of the rope and treat swaying in the breeze, she ran over to Haix.
The treat dropped to the ground in front of her, the suddenness of the movement causing Tin to slide to a stop. She stared up at Haix for a moment, head cocked, then she sniffed the treat, flicking out her pink tongue to taste it a few seconds later. Haix chose that as the signal to start pulling the treat away across the ground, and the houluh yipped and bounced up and down on her front legs as the treat randomly jerked across the ground.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:50:23 GMT -6
Haix crouched down by the treat and houluh, crawling a step back to give herself more room as the houluh barked at the thing she should have been chasing. Thinking back to the book, Haix rose her own pitch and slapped the ground near the treat, to which the houluh responded by spinning in a circle and barking madly, then tapping one of her own feet on the grass by Haix’s hand.
Around this point, Haix was more than slightly lost. She continued the same actions, the words and the slapping of the grass as the houluh moved faster and faster, until suddenly Tin’s teeth were locked around the tied piece of meat and pulling as hard as she could. Haix amused herself with this, standing and lifting the rope higher as the houluh hung from her jaws. The houluh was lowered back down to the ground, and with a few pulls of the rope, free to eat her won treat with praise.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:50:34 GMT -6
The next piece of meat was tied onto the rope, a few pulls on it to ensure it would not slide free, and dropped onto the ground. Tin lunged before it even bounced, and Haix jerked it back just in time to avoid the houluh’s jaws. She praised the critter as much as she encouraged it to continue the chase, spinning in place as the houluh raced after the treat. Miraculously, Tin failed to step on her ears as she ran, even when Haix span the opposite way and the treat sailed over her head.
She caught it the second time that happened, hopping up for the treat and rope to smack into her jaws. Her weight was enough to stop its motion and, with a bit more praise, she was awarded the treat and head pats. She seemed to lean into them, and Haix gave her one last pat-rub before getting up to repeat the game.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:50:52 GMT -6
This time, she did not remain in one spot when the houluh lunged, but ran backwards away from the hound. The treat bounced over thicker patches of grass as it was dragged, and Tin immediately raced after it, head bobbing to keep an eye on it. As fast as she was, Haix was able to keep the trailing end of the rope just out of her reach, reeling it in slightly as she darted in a different direction and the houluh skidding across the grass in an attempt to stay with it. She caught it eventually and pulled, the rope reeled back in with her on it as Haix crouched to untie the treat. Rather than wait for that, Tin let go of the treat and thrust her snout onto Haix’s leg, the lizard absentmindedly patting her and giving a few words of praise as she struggled to undo the knot with one hand.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:51:07 GMT -6
The knot eventually gave away, the meat given to the houluh with one final pat on the head, and Haix moved back to get the next piece of meat. And the next, and the next, leaving the houluh panting by the end.
She stopped the training there, putting out a bowl of water for the houluh, who sniffed it suspiciously before starting to drink, and drinking some of the water from the waterskin she had used to fill the bowl. A few minutes later, Haix finally untying the lead from the houluh in the meantime, Tin had picked up the edge of the training rope and started to drag it with her as she walked alongside the fence. Haix tried to figure out how any of the houluh’s actions were signs that it was favored by a godling as she chewed on a small meal of meat and vegetables, unsure why a creature favored so would, once again, trip over her own ears. ((Tin-3.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:51:40 GMT -6
Then it was back to training. Tin was reluctant to surrender the rope back to Haix’s superior strength, and was subsequently dragged back to the sack. A little bit of pressure from her fingers at the houluh’s jaw hinge allowed the rope to be popped free and quickly wound up and out of the creature’s hopping reach.
The next item taken from the bag was not merely a bloody treat, but one wrapped in a furred hide. This one proved much simpler to tie onto the rope, but when Haix dropped it next to the houluh, Tin did not spring into action as she had so many times before. She merely prodded the hide with her snout, gave it a like, then sat up to stare at Haix. Wiggling the rope alone did not provoke much of a reaction either, so she resorted to the same excited squealing that had enticed the houluh to go after the first treat.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:51:51 GMT -6
Tin batter at the skin with her paw, barked, span, and even make a half-hearted lunge, but she never closed her jaws around the hide. She had to have been able to smell the treat, for even Haix could make it out over the unwashed hide covering it, but it took several minutes before the houluh nipped at the treat.
Or perhaps she had only nudged it with her nose, but the level of praise and the pat Haix gave her could not have been taken back. They continued this for a little while, Haix now throwing in the command to hunt though it might have been a little too early, until the houluh would nudge the skin at the word and look up for the pat. The next time she tried to nudge the treat, it pulled away, and she yipped in confusion. Then yipped again when another such nudge was denied. She lunged after it, trying to catch it with her paws, but it slipped away each time.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:52:06 GMT -6
So she bit it, and the amount of praise Haix gave her then saw her wag so furiously that she dropped the skin. The next time she bit it came a little faster, and so did the next, until Haix could flee from her with a shout, and the houluh would chase the skin down until she held it in her jaws. From that point on, though the praise and head pats continued, Haix tied weaker knots so that the skin would slide out with enough pull. The first time, Tin dropped the skin and stared at it for a few seconds, unsure of what to do now that it was not being pulled away. With a little encouragement, she chewed her way through the skin to the meat.
That happened again and again, until it was time to leave the park, and Haix packed away everything, reattached the lead, and dragged the supplies and houluh back to the kennel.
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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 0:52:16 GMT -6
The next day started where they had left off, with the skins dragged across the grass with a shouted word, and the houluh chasing after it with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. After only a few of these runs, Haix figured it was time for the next portion, and tied the skin-meat onto the rope, swinging it back and forth in the air as Tin’s head turned side to side to stare at it. Then the treat was dropped, and she lunged for it, not stopping to wonder why there had been no shouted command. Not even as she reached the skin, happy to have caught up to it so quickly, only for Haix to screech at her.
The houluh stopped, ears back and tail no longer wagging. She looked back down at the toy and slowly stretched her neck towards it, only to be screeched at again. This time, Tin’s tail pressed down against her stomach and leg, and she flipped onto her side with a whimper.
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