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Sub Dio
Sept 8, 2021 15:15:17 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 8, 2021 15:15:17 GMT -6
For now though, he could only conclude that the injection had some fascinating effects. "Good strike, Quinn!", the leopard praised, trying his best not to get too caught up in thought. The faeron perked up and looked at him, seeming both excited and curious. This was something good that it did, it seemed! She might not have understood what the goal was here, but her previous concern was washed away now in favor of having fun and getting praised for it. Once the faeron backed away, the dummy's arm could be moved freely once more. Fascinating.. Xentus waved it around a little just to verify that it was truly freed. The motion captured the faeron's attention again, her eyes snapping to the wavering shape on the ground. Part of her seemed to want to wait for the leopard to give the word.. But another part of her screamed to just pounce! "Alright, Quinn! Strike!"
Shadow Strike - 5
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 17:17:56 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 17:17:56 GMT -6
The pent up, excited energy of the faeron was released as soon as the leopard spoke, hardly waiting for the proper command. She may have jumped the gun a little, but he really enjoyed her enthusiasm! The tiny dragon lurched forward and attacked the dummy's shadow with her claws, giving the dirt a small nip while she was at it. Sequinn quickly discovered that shadows, in fact, did not taste very good. "Good job, Quinn! Good strike!", the man praised while marveling at the odd phenomenon of the unmovable dummy-arm. It really didn't budge as long as Sequinn kept her weight on the shadow. Curiously, the man let go of the dummy entirely, watching most of its body slump while its arm hung in the air. And out of further curiosity, he turned off his lantern, letting the darkness of dusk wash over the area. The training dummy fully dropped to the ground with a soft thud.
Shadow Strike - 6
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 17:26:15 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 17:26:15 GMT -6
Good to learn how that worked. The leopard figured this trick would only work with enough light to do so, but it was still very fascinating. He turned the lantern back on and returned to watching Sequinn for a bit to see if she was still feeling up to this little game. The tiny dragon's stare flicked between her keeper, the lantern, and the training dummy, as if she was trying to figure out what game they were going to play next. "Alright, Quinn. One more time, okay?", Xentus chuckled, seeing that she seemed pretty into this. He propped up the dummy once again, giving it a good wiggle in front of the light to entice the faeron to action. The dragon's stare now focused on the shadow moving along the ground, waiting.. "Strike!" And with that, she sprung into action, yipping excitedly as her claws sunk into the intangible form before her.
Shadow Strike - 7
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 17:39:47 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 17:39:47 GMT -6
"Yes! Good strike!", Xentus praised, happy to see that it seemed Sequinn was pretty intent on this little game. She went for the head this time, seeing that it was the closest. But the resulting effect was still the same - the dummy was effectively stuck in place. The leopard found that the arms and fingers might still move a bit, but he couldn't figure there would be much anything hit by this could do in retaliation. After soaking in the satisfaction of a good catch, the faeron let off the dummy's shadow and looked to her keeper expectantly, tendrils quivering. "This one is proud of you, little Quinn", the leopard purred, reaching to strike her crest, "You catch on quickly!" The faeron closed her eyes and soaked in all this well-earned affection, chittering quietly. Xentus smiled at the sight; she was pretty cute. Ah, how monstrous of him to pit her into battle.
Shadow Strike - 8
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 17:56:31 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 17:56:31 GMT -6
But, at least now she could probably hold her own instead of being shiny bait. They were building up a fine set of commands! Overall, the leopard regarded the tiny dragon as more of a support role on the team, rather than being a damaging combatant. And now she could support the team while adding in her power too! He hummed in delight at that idea while petting the dragon, feeling high in hopes of this all working out as he'd planned. Sequinn, Mashiik, and.. Mira? Astaroth? Perhaps Astraea. He hadn't given too much thought to the last member of the party he wanted to assemble. There were a handful of creatures in his menagerie that he wanted to see in action. Surprisingly, he was much more excited to see the prowess of the 'weaker' ones of his menagerie. The unassuming beasts could be the most powerful. The mosca of his ended up reigning as champion of the tournament, for example!
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 18:02:59 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 18:02:59 GMT -6
Sequinn could be slated for similar triumph and glory.. His true goals were aligned in seeing just how well he could teach his creatures, though. If a tiny dragon, an owl, and a winged cat could bring down a pliathor, he could train a pliathor to bring down some true monster. Probably. After taking a break for rest and food, the two were ready to get back at their lessons. And oddly enough, the goal of this one was to make the faeron sneeze. He'd seen her spit out a writhing shadow from that little muzzle of hers.. It was a curious sight - something like an ember sneezed from a fire-breathing dragon. But instead of flame, it was shade. He wasn't sure how to prompt Sequinn to sneeze again, and resorted to tickling her snout with a feather. "Come on, Quinn. Sneeze! A-choo!", Xentus babbled, hoping to spur something from the tiny dragon.
Shadow Bolt - 1
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 22:52:58 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 22:52:58 GMT -6
Sequinn found this to be more of an annoyance than anything, doing her best to resist the tickling of the feather as it danced around her nose. Her muzzle scrunched up while her teeth occasionally nipped at the offending toy. Her best efforts to resist the man's persistence were faltering. And finally, she couldn't withstand any longer. A sneeze escaped the faeron, unleashing a shadowy flare from her mouth. It almost seemed to have a form, writhing as it shot out into the dark of dusk. Or maybe that was just his imagination. "Yes Sequinn! Such a good sneeze!", Xentus praised excitedly, giving her a pet down her crest, "Good Quinn!". The praise might've seemed a little excessive, but the leopard hoped it would help prompt the dragon to do this again with more ease. The faeron wasn't entirely sure what the commotion was all about, but she wasn't going to let all this attention pass her by!
Shadow Bolt - 2
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 23:02:16 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 23:02:16 GMT -6
The tiny dragon's tendrils lashed happily as she soaked in the praise. She even got a treat! Xentus held another up one for her, trying to tempt her into casting another shadowy ember. "Again, Quinn! Sneeze!", the leopard urged, doing his best to keep up the tempo. He watched as the faeron strained herself trying to figure out what he wanted, her feet doing a cute little shuffle while her eyes looked between his and the treat. "Come on Quinn!" The little dragon whined, still unsure of what her keeper wanted. Her teeth nipped at the air, to no avail. Then she scrunched up her nose, seeing if that was what he wanted. Still not. Then she gave a weak, forced puff of shadow from her mouth with what could hardly be considered a sneeze. "Yes! Sneeze!", the man chimed, "Good sneeze, Quinn!" It was a little funny to encourage the shadowy flare with the word 'sneeze', but it seemed like it was working!
Shadow Bolt - 3
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 23:11:52 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 23:11:52 GMT -6
Who was to judge him for the commands he came up with, aside from himself? Besides, it was cute. He didn't mind teaching something for the sake of cuteness - he'd taught a gigantic, land-dwelling pliathor to give kisses and 'boop' heads. The shadowy flare was in line with teaching a young fire-breathing dragon to spit an ember. Something cute, hardly threatening, but still fun for both him and the creature. Sequinn soaked up the praise, seeming to be elated that she had figured out what the leopard wanted from her with this 'sneeze' thing. And it was far less annoying to force herself to spit a puff of shadow than to have a feather tickling her nose. The leopard rewarded her with her treat, then started to prompt her again. "Sneeze Quinn!", he chimed, trying to keep the energetic dragon excited. His tempo was slowing down, but the faeron was still into it! Especially after seeming to figure this thing out.
Shadow Bolt - 4
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 23:21:43 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 23:21:43 GMT -6
A short breath in, and a puff of shadow out. It was stronger this time; the writhing shadow which spilled from her mouth almost seemed to take on a snake-like shape as it slithered off. It was a bit more.. Animate than the simple ember he thought it to be, but the leopard tried his best to not get distracted by the sight. "Yes! Good sneeze, Quinn!", he purred happily, rewarding the faeron with more pets and a nice treat for her efforts. Sequinn leaned into his touch while noisily chewing on her reward, happy herself to be doing something good. Xentus gave her a moment to settle down before trying this again. He gave her a target to focus on; the poor abused training dummy. "Alright Quinn! Once again, okay?", he started, garnering her attention, "Sneeze there!" The leopard pointed at the dummy, and the faeron trained her sights on it.
Shadow Bolt - 5
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 23:34:18 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 23:34:18 GMT -6
Sequinn spit out a shadowy form at the dummy at her keeper's command. The shaded ember had evolved into something slender and writhing, impacting against the dummy without a sound. The training dummy didn't budge, seeming unaffected by the bolt aside from a shallow scratch on the leathery surface. The shadow seemed to crawl along the surface of the dummy, leaving another scratch before disappearing into thin air. Xentus mulled for a brief moment, trying to decide what he thought of the sight. Weird. And kind of cool. Sequinn was still pretty cute doing this too. "Yes, good sneeze Quinn!", the leopard praised again with a grin, "Such a good sneeze!" The faeron seemed to swell with pride at the man's words, happy that she was doing something good! Whatever this was. The faeron hardly understood for herself what these new powers of hers were. But if using them got her praise, she'd use them!
Shadow Bolt - 6
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Sub Dio
Sept 11, 2021 23:44:51 GMT -6
Post by Xentus on Sept 11, 2021 23:44:51 GMT -6
Xentus was fairly satisfied with the faeron's performance today. Smart, quick-learning, and so excitable! The leopard hummed happily as he stroked along her crest, which was constantly rising despite his pushing it back down. The tiny dragon seemed to glow even brighter with all this affection. It turned out to be fairly interesting to explore these injections, just as he'd hoped. Something to give them an edge in a battle. Something interesting to simply observe. He considered the faeron to be a light oriented creature, given the bioluminescence and her ability to flash in a sudden brightness, and adding a touch of shadow made her something like a beast of darkness and light. Balanced. Or so he'd decided in his mind. That was enough lessons for the day. There were still some things he planned to properly teacher her, but those would need to wait. "Time to go home, Quinn"
> Exeunt Xentus and Sequinn (36)
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Post by Xentus on Aug 6, 2023 1:04:33 GMT -6
> Xentus, accompanied by... The summoning gave him a bout of thrill every time. It was a simple ritual: find a large empty stretch of land and speak the command..
"Yawë"
With a shimmer and blast of wind, the serpent appeared out of thin air. A massive coil of scales and furs, seemingly with no beginning and no end. Xentus called the beast's name excitedly, rousing it from its comfortable slumber. From within the tangled mass, a brilliant mane of red emerged, followed by a head adorned with long, golden horns. The beast looked sleepily at its master, taking its time to perk up. Xentus let it take its time - he was in no rush here. Slowly, the coils straightened and the serpent extended its full length along the grass. He was up and ready for whatever was going on.
'Good morning Basa!', Xentus greeted it through their mental link, inner voice full of enthusiasm. He was eager to get started. 'Alright Basa, lift those legs and jump!'
Jump - 1
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Post by Xentus on Aug 6, 2023 1:24:24 GMT -6
Basantai was not nearly as enthusiastic as its master (and still quite groggy besides), but did his best to process the man's words. {Morning}, the reply came slowly. Then a few more seconds passed before the beast processed the command. Lift legs. A massive front paw lifted from the ground and settled in the air. Then the next. And then one back leg... And this was already not quite what the leopard was after. He needed coordination. And for the beast to not linger in the air as he was wont to do. With all that bulk, there was an ever-present breeze about the beast that it used to support its weight in place of water.
'Basa, all legs at once. Basa can jump, yes?', the man teased mentally. A deep rumble was the serpent's initial reply. All legs. Jump. Simple enough. It beared down against the ground then pushed. A jump, yes, though perhaps the most stiff and awkward looking one the leopard had ever seen.
Jump - 2
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Post by Xentus on Aug 6, 2023 1:34:04 GMT -6
The pliathor seemed to float into the air and threatened to stay there. Definitely not the powerful, full-body leap he was hoping to see out of the serpent. Perhaps he set his expectations a little high. He excused the rough start with the fact that the serpent was recently brought to the world of the waking and needed to shed off the grogginess. 'Down now, Basa', he gently instructed. Moments later, the softest landing a gigantic land-pliathor could make was made. "A-ah.. Yes! Yes, good jump Basa!", Xentus stammered aloud, clasping his hands together. It was something. Something workable too. Another deep rumble escaped the serpent's throat, this time sounding pleased. Praise was good. It felt accomplished.
'Again, Basa. Jump - all legs, up and down', its master instructed with full detail. A long, wide yawn was loosed first, then it was go time. More coordinated and a bit quicker this time did the pliathor jump in place.
Jump - 3
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