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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:49:52 GMT -6
Tin sniffed around the plot, first visiting the fence posts to find the scents of those who had been here. She sniffed each for roughly half a minute before moving onto the next, travelling in a counterclockwise pattern as she did. There were only a few new scents she did not recognize, a good amount being that of her own and the master who had brought her there, the most and the most recent however belonging to the moving food. Having eaten her fill back in the kennel before they left for the park, Tin was not so interested in the moving food. That did not stop her from sniffing at the holes she found.
Haix tried to find a spot that was the furthest from any of the tunnel mouths for what she had in mind, the bone she currently held being tapped against her side. She would not need the grubbles immediately, but it was better to start with a good spot regardless. ((Tin-27.0 Hai-194.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:50:08 GMT -6
Tin pawed at one of the holes she found, curious if the moving food would come out to play with her. She waited then next to it, laying down as she watched it for any sign of life, but the moving treats did not come out to play, or even make a single funny squeak.
A good spot was found, the holes not so numerous near one of the fence walls, and she stabbed the bone into the grass and dirt so it resembled a long blunt tooth. She looked over to where the houluh was laying down, staring at something intently that was hidden from Haix’s sight by the grass. Haix called the houluh over to her, and the creature hopped up to make her prancing way over to Haix. To the bone staked into the ground she showed little enough interest at first, her focus only on the ssashirk.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:50:24 GMT -6
Then Haix pointed at the bone and made a new sound that the houluh had not heard before. The ssashirk took a few steps away from the bone as she repeated the command, jabbing her finger in the direction of the bone. Tin crossed the small patch of grass separating her from it, sniffing it briefly before turning back to Haix with her head tilted in confusion. Now, with the houluh’s back to the bone as she stood in between it and Haix, the ssashirk gave her a treat but no pats.
The treat was caught and eaten easily enough, but, when she took a step towards Haix for the customary head pats, the ssashirk hissed and shook her head. Unsure as to what she had done wrong, Tin stood still and waited for something else to happen. This was nothing like any of the other games they had played so far.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:50:34 GMT -6
Haix pulled out another piece of meat, waving it to catch the houluh’s eye. When Tin was clearly staring at it and nothing else, Haix began to circle the bone and the houluh. Tin did not initially move from the spot she stood, only turning her head to keep the treat and the ssashirk in view as Haix circled her. As the ssashir slipped behind her, she turned to find the bone in the was, and slowly stepped around it, waiting to be scolded for moving but not knowing what else to do.
Instead, as she once again put the bone behind her and the ssashirk in front of her, Haix tossed her a treat and a few words of praise. Any attempt to move closer after that was received with a hiss. This continued three more times, Tin being tossed a treat when she moved onto the other side of the bone to stare at Haix, and being scolded if she attempted to move any closer than that.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:50:46 GMT -6
The next few were with the treat held just out of her reach, Haix less than a foot away from the houluh. The order was given and, after the houluh had completed one circuit around the bone with Haix, the treat was given as well.
Haix did her best to make sure the houluh was always between her and the bone, though she doubted that the creature had figured out why she was doing so even after she pointed at the bone and told the houluh to guard. Making sure the houluh at least had the general idea of what to do now would help with the next portion, though she knew the houluh would not do anything yet if she reached for the bone. Not that she intended the runt to ever snap at her or deny her from grabbing something that she owned, but she had no one to play the part of thief.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:51:05 GMT -6
When she finally reached over the houluh for the bone, the runt did nothing more than wag as she tapped the tip of the bone. Pulling back from it to look at the happy houluh, she pulled out another treat and waved it just in front of Tin’s face. With another order for the houluh to guard the bone, she reached the treat towards the bone. The houluh hopped onto her back legs, reaching out with her paws to grab her arm and take the treat. That earned the houluh more praise, and she let her take the treat from her hand before pulling back. They repeated this a few more times until the houluh would jump at her arm every time she reached for the bone. Tin tin nothing more than tap her arm with her paws though. It was a far cry from the barking and snarling she wanted of the creature, but it was a good start.
((Tin-28.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:51:21 GMT -6
The next portion was roughly the same, the command given and the bone reached for, but now Haix did not hand the treat over so easily. Now when the houluh tapped at her arm with tiny paws, she waited until the runt had curled her paws over the arm to drag it down, nose pressing against the hand to get at the treat before opening her hand. After repeating it a few more times, the houluh would now drag her arm down with the command even if there was no treat to be had, tail wagged furiously when she praised the houluh.
Now might have been a good time to start the second part of the training, the part where she taught the houluh to stop guarding with another command that hopefully she would not obey from random strangers. She decided to put that one on hold as she saw the head of a grubble poke out of the grass nearby.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:51:44 GMT -6
It was alone, or else the others of its kind had flattened themselves under grass and hidden behind the sack as she had turned to look. She had thought that the sack would have done a better job at hiding the scent of what she had brought with her for Tin to get her first real taste of guarding something that others would be after, but this grubble’s nose was apparently keener than she expected, sharpened by hunger and fear of those who would use it to sate their own.
Haix absently reached for the bone again as she watched it, allowing the houluh to drag her arm down as she wondered whether or not she should just grab the bait and let Tin prove how well she could guard. If there was one grubble moving towards it already, the tiny thing flattening itself so that only the rustling grass gave its movements away, there could be more. 12
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:51:55 GMT -6
Their teeth would make short work of the bag, and once they got into it, there was a very good chance they would swarm and claim it, forcing her to leave the park to fetch more and risking that they would no longer be hungry enough to be useful.
That decided her. She walked over to the sack, hissing back at Tin when the houluh tried to follow her and leave the bone unguarded and ignoring the grubble that stared at her with beady eyes. She grabbed the sack and walked back, the vermin scurrying behind her to where the sack had once sat, searching it for any sign of what it had smelled. It could not find anything.
But it would notice where the bait had gone soon, so she would only have a little bit of time to do this. The sack was upended, a small parcel spilling out in front of the houluh.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:52:12 GMT -6
The sack and what remained in it were hung on the fence, and Haix hissed at the houluh as the runt licked the sweating parcel. Tin recoiled as Haix came back, ripped the bone free of the ground before Tin could react, and pointed it at the wrapped cheese. Haix commanded the houluh to guard the package, Tin obliging by hopping up to put her paws on Haix’s arm when she reached for it. The treat was given, and Haix backed up a few spaces away, again pointing at the cheese and telling the houluh to guard it. Thankfully Tin seemed to have no interest in eating the cheese, only staring at Haix and waiting for her to reach for it.
Haix’s attention was on the holes. Was that a flat furry face poking up from one of them, sniffing the air for the cheese? Or the rustling of that patch of grass caused by something more than a breeze?
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:52:45 GMT -6
At where the sack had been, the first grubble pawed at the ground, then lifted its short snout to the air, clearly unsure what had happened to the smelly thing that had lured it out. It made no connection between the sack the had been there before the lizard took it and the lack of food that it now found. Then it caught the scent again.
This time it scurried faster, not caring as much about remaining hidden as it was eager to find the food. It had been days since the recently established colony found more than a few worms and beetles, the meager fare not nearly matching what the bloated feeder pets were used to. It scurried towards the source as the scent grew strong, finding itself face to face with a giant beast that stood in front of it. Too hungry to care, it moved forward, the shout from the side meaning nothing to it.
((Tin-29.0 Haix-195.0))
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:53:05 GMT -6
The grubble had almost slipped past Tin when she had barked out the command yet again, the houluh content to do nothing more than watch as the grubble scurried past. Now she seemed to remember their earlier game, and she slapped at the grubble with her paws to pin it in place. Being just as gentle as she had been when nosing at Haix’s hand for the treat, she nudged the grubble with her nose as it squirmed and squeaked, trying to break free.
Grubbles were simple creatures, and this one was no exception. When it was hungry, it looked for food and ate it. When it was tired, it slept. And when it was trapped and threatened by some horrible predator, it bit.
Tin did not so much yelp as squeal as she jumped back, a thin trickle of red dripping down her nose,. The grubble remained frozen for a moment longer, staring at the houluh, then continued on its way to the cheese.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:53:16 GMT -6
It had almost made it when Haix barked the command again, the houluh turning her dripping nose to see that Haix was pointing at the cheese and the thing that had hurt her. It’s hand-like paws scrabbled ineffectively at the packaging, just about to take a bite out of the cheese with its teeth as something smashed into it, snapping its neck and ending its hunger. The houluh stood there with the corpse in her mouth for several long seconds, dropping it after a treat Haix tossed her bounced in the grass nearby. Haix gave her some more praise from a distance as the houluh finished the treat and began to lick at her nose, unaware of the many heads now emerging from the holes.
Haix did not see all of the incoming grubbles, but the few poking their heads out of the holes between hear and the houluh were enough for her to repeat the command.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:53:33 GMT -6
That was all the warning she gave Tin. To her credit, the houluh did seem to forget about her bleeding nose immediately, moving to stand over the cheese just as the first few grubbles reached it. This time there was no playful pouncing but a long growl as they drew nearer, the first time she had ever heard such a sound from the houluh. One of the grubbles wavered, but the other two pressed on so it followed them closer to the cheese. The growl continued, and Haix hoped it would prove to be more intimidating when the houluh grew older.
When the grubbles were almost in biting range, Tin changed plans. Now she barked wildly at them, and this was enough to scare the hesitant one down a nearby hole. The other two ignored the noise however, the pair splitting so that one would go on either side of her.
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Post by Alma on Mar 8, 2020 18:53:45 GMT -6
This did not save them. With one last bark, Tin turned and tore into the first one, the tossed its bleeding body back through the air to land in the grass. The other one was bitten in its legs, dragged away from there it had been chewing through the paper to be thrown towards the other.
The houluh’s lips were curled up and back, face locked into a snarl as she challenged the other grubble that had slowly been moving towards her when Haix threw her a treat. This landed by her paws but was ignored as the sound of chewing came from behind her. Having stepped only a few feet away to deal with the grubble who had approached her from the front, sheran to the other side to find a grubble half-buried in the cheese. With a strangled bark, she ripped it free and dropped it, crushing its head a moment later with her jaws.
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