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Post by Alma on Mar 4, 2020 23:25:54 GMT -6
Then there were no more treats. The houluh still hopped into the water, receiving praise and pats for doing so without the lure of meat to make her jump in.
Then came the last part, making the houluh stay in the water longer than a few seconds. Now that she knew how to swim, the threat general deep waters posed to the houluh was lessened, but Tin had to know when Haix required her to swim and to remain in the water for at least a little bit of time.
So the swim training’s end saw Haix telling the houluh to swim, repeating the command whenever she tried to climb out early. This proved simple, the houluh simply turning back from the stairs to paddle along the edges until Haix called her over to dry land and the ssashirk herself. Hoping the command had stuck with the houluh, but not willing to trust that it had, they repeated the exercise a few more times. ((Tin-10.0 Haix-188))
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:25:15 GMT -6
The creature climbed out of the pool, and Haix gave the houluh one last bit of praise, scratching the fluffy back as she tried to decide what next would be the best to train. The houluh could hunt for herself, a useful little trick that might end with a greater bounty received from the rangers, and being able to swim meant there would be no need to fear her drowning if she was taken to the area near the docks.
The houluh was slow though, the prancing steps she took enough to keep up with Haix if she failed to break into a full out run, and that decided her on the next bit of training. There would be plenty of situations when dealing with feral creatures that the houluh would need to run as fast as possible to avoid becoming an accidental bounty claim, and said claim would never cover the price she had paid for the houluh.
((Run-Start))
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:25:25 GMT -6
Tin shook herself, adding more liquid to the mud closest to the stairs, her paw prints and those of the lizard still clearly pressed into them. Her ears flopped limply around her head as she did so, their tips dragging across the mud with each shake of her head and flinging it on the next. When she had finished with a shake that gradually moved from her head to her body to end at the tip of her tail, she added more paw prints as she walked over to where the lizard stood waiting. She was a bit hungry now after all the swimming, but made it clear that she was more than willing to play as she dropped her still wet chest to the ground, adding a new brown patch to match her ears and paws, and gave her tail a wag.
Haix ignored the houluh, stepping over her to reach the sack waiting by the pool.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:25:39 GMT -6
The houluh was not so easily dissuaded, and she leapt up with a yip as Haix tried to pass her, then ran in a circle around the ssashirk as she stoutly continued to ignore the houluh. The movement of the houluh forced her to check her steps a few times, the bounding creature nearly on the receiving end of an accidental kick as Haix halted mid-step.And Haix was very aware of the houluh’s position, watching her run around her at a speed that would be nowhere near what she wanted of the houluh.
Tin would never be a fast creature, her kind apparently made for little more than breedings and showing off in the nonviolent contests soft-skins held. But a slave hound, a creature dedicated to one of their soft-skin gods would be wasted on only such things. She would find a way to make Tin run faster than the houluh had ever done before.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:25:50 GMT -6
The bag was reached, and Haix crouched beside it. Ignoring the houluh became more difficult as she took this chance to hop onto the ssashirk’s legs, sitting down on the scales as she looked first at Haix, then the sack. Scaled hands, free of anything beyond the empty colored pouch held in one of them, shoved the houluh roughly back to the ground, then the elbows were raised to prevent her from hopping back on. The bag was opened, and a wealth of cubed,waxy meat pieces awaited her, and she shoveled as many as she could into the smaller pouch.
The houluh’s excitement only grew at the smell of the treats, and she hopped and pawed at the ssashirk as Haix sealed the sack and stood back up. From the pouch, she selected one cube of meat, sealing away the rest before dangling the treat above Tin. The houluh watched the treat, mouth dripping with might have been drool or the last remnants of the earlier swim.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:26:04 GMT -6
Haix’s tone was filled with false excitement as she waved the treat in the air, enticing the houluh to greater levels of true excitement as the runt hopped and twirled and, rarely, ran around her. When it seemed the houluh was practically vibrating with want for the treat, Haix called out the new command word, this doing nothing to calm the houluh.
Then Haix took off at a run, and the houluh gave chase. It was not like the hunt training, where she intended for the creature to catch up to her and the string. Now she ran at full speed, shouting occasionally words back to the houluh whose meaning meant less than the tone, urging Tin to greater speeds than the young runt had shown so far. She only risked turning her head just enough to make out the houluh upon hearing a squeal, her pasc slowing as she realized what happened. ((Tin-11.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:26:19 GMT -6
Tin was trying her hardest. She had seen the treat, heard the noises that surely meant it was finally time to play, and ran joyfully after the lizard when Haix started running. She liked running, her ears flapping as she started to catch up to Haix. Then her paw found her ear as it had so many times already, and she yelped at the sudden pain. She yanked up the offending paw, and for that she fell on to the dirt, sliding a foot on her side before she stopped.
Haix had come to a complete stop just in time to see the houluh laying on the ground, a small hill of dirt resting against her back where she lay. Haix stared at the houluh for a few more seconds, then called out to her. The houluh responded with a yip, flailing wildly for a moment before rolling back onto her paws and springing back up.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:26:30 GMT -6
There were only a few patches of fur on the houluh that were not coated in the shiny brown of mud or the lighter brown of the dirt dusting her, and Haix wondered how much longer it would be until the pink and blues of her coat would be completely hidden. Tin wondered no such thing, instead sprinting at her full speed towards Haix as the ssashirk prepared to toss her the treat.
Then Tin tripped again, and Haix was granted the amusing view of a squeaking houluh hitting the ground with her shoulder, and rolling over and over until she came to a complete stop once more. As Tin struggled back up to her feet, Haix jogged back to the houluh in hopes of preventing a third trip from occurring. She had expected this one to be simple, but the houluh apparently had a running problem that would need to be corrected first.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:26:47 GMT -6
Cursed and linked to their godling of ‘Order’, and the beast could not even run properly. She should have expected something of the like when it came to soft-skins. Did not mean she would stop the training any earlier.
Treat waving in the air to catch the houluh’s attention once more, she said the command and took off as she had before, but this time at a leisurely jog rather than the full on sprint. Tin followed her easily, ears barely bobbing at all when Haix tossed down one of the small treats. Tin snapped at it, missed, and, as her head had been lowered close to the ground, found herself stepping on her ear again. This time, due to the slower speed they had been moving in, the misstep resulted in a stumble rather than a fall, though Tin still fell behind as Haix continued her jog. The houluh picked her speed back up a moment later.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:27:20 GMT -6
There were no further issues during the jog, and both of them slowed to a stop a little while later. Haix fished out slightly less than a handful of treats from the pouch, then took one of them with her free hand to order the houluh to run again. Haix did so as soon as she gave the command, and the houluh followed her a breath later, slightly slower at first as the ears bounced alongside her, then racing to catch up to Haix. She did so easily, then returned to the much easier pace Haix had adopted, staying nearby as she watched the treat.
The treat was dropped a few seconds later, after Haix thought was a good enough starting time for the length of the run. But while Haix slowed down normally, the tail end of her jog turning into a walk, Tin once again lunged for the treat, missed it, and the only part of her that caught anything was her paw catching her own ear.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:27:35 GMT -6
This repeated again and again, the jog, the treat, and the fall. Haix gradually decreased her own speed until she found the fastest that Tin could go without constantly tripping up, and found that it was no more than a brisk walk.
So that was what she started with, calling out for a run only to walk quickly away, the houluh trotting after her. The treat was dropped, and Tin would stumble over her own ears as her head ducked down for the treat, but she never fell alongside it. The stumbling gradually decreased in frequency, until it seemed Tin had finally learned how to walk and eat.
Then came the next part, a slight increase in speed, nowhere near what the command she spat out meant, but enough to cause the stumbling to return. It vanished much quicker this time, then the time after that as the speed increased yet again. ((Tin-12.0 Haix-190.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:27:49 GMT -6
They did this again and again, Haix’s gusto for belting out the command never changing. The houluh stumbled with each new increase of speed, once tripping entirely during the fastest jog they had done so far, but the issues did not last. The houluh was soon running, still keeping up with Haix for each of the sprints and showing no issues with keeping her ears away from her paws.
Still, they practiced over and over again, more to ensure the tripping problem would not return than trying to ensure the command Haix had been spouting during the entire thing was known. A trick that sent her pet stumbling on command into the jaws of something would work better with something cheaper than Tin, which meant she had to be certain the houluh would run properly. Then again, perhaps her ears would shrink if she ever grew older and all the practice would be largely pointless.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:28:03 GMT -6
After a few more all out sprints that left the houluh panting but still upright, Haix decided a short break was in order. Walking over to the pool’s edge found that whatever dirt she and the houluh had dragged into it was long gone, the water clear enough to see the concrete bottom. As Tink lapped up some water and curled into a tiny ball against her leg. Haix looked over the remaining supplies and wondered if she had enough to train anything else after the run command was finally completed.
She ate and drank from the supplies, the waterskin definitely lighter than it had been when she had first pulled it out, and let the houluh rest a little longer, scratching the top of Tin’s head as she thought about the supplies and a better way to finish training the houluh run. Tin’s only response was to snuggle closer against her, tempting her to stand up.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:28:15 GMT -6
Tin woke as the toasty spot she had been leaning against moved, followed by a few familiar noises the lizard made. She stretched out her legs with a yawn, then stood back up, looking up at Haix with a wag in her tail. She was still a little tires, but she was never too tired to play.
Haix had thought it over as the houluh slept, and she had come to the conclusion that the houluh might have thought the command meant to run with her. So she stood there, a treat held down low so that the houluh might catch its scent if not see it, waving it around as she had been doing during the run training so far. Then she called out the command, and threw the treat over the houluh’s head, her feet remaining firmly planted on the ground. The houluh’s head whipped between the still ssashirk and the treat. With a repeat of the command, the tone excited as Haix took a step in the direction of the treat, Tin sprinted after it.
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Post by Alma on Mar 6, 2020 23:28:28 GMT -6
The cube of meat was covered in nearly as much dirt as Tin’s fur, but she snapped up the treat without a second of hesitation. She had proudly turned to face Haix, chest puffed out and head high, only to find that the ssashirk was nowhere near her. A quick sprint back to the ssashirk resulted in a pat and praise, and then the next treat was readied, the command said and the new treat flying in a different direction than the first.
Tin needed no encouragement to chase after the treat this time, bounding after it and snapping it up only a second after it had hit the ground. The throwing of the treat was repeated again and again, then they began to be spaced out, only rewarded sometimes, then never thrown but only occasionally gifted after a successful run. Wrong words were thrown in, earning Tin a scolding from Haix if she sprinted off for them.
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