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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:35:16 GMT -6
There were only so many ways to entertain herself during the name training though, especially with the speed Soak seemed to have picked it up. She tossed in similar words, but soon the only thing she might catch him with were ones that started the same way as his name, and that felt like it was pointlessly confusing for the small sarane. He did not squeak or complain when she used one of those similar words but then ignored him, so she did not correct him with a ‘no’ for those times. Better that he start paying attention to her for a brief instant at the starting sound than not bother paying any attention to the full one.
But she kept talking. Sometimes she would be silent for a bit, then start talking about the river, or her plans for the sarane without saying his name at all, sometimes it would be the first thing said and only a prompt response would earn him a treat or a copious amount of praise.
49 ((Soak Name - 4))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:36:16 GMT -6
That he started to respond almost as well to the praise as he did to the treats was a welcome surprise, with the way he leaned into her hesitant attempt to give him a scratch even more so. “Well Soak,” he twisted his head to look up at her and she gave him a scratch that flaked off a bit of mud, “looks like you aren’t as stupid as you pretended to be. Though I guess that could change at any time. Name’s the easiest item on the list anyways.”
After being fairly certain he had it, she walked back to her fishing rod to ensure all was still in working order, and watched as the bobber floated on the surface of the river. There would be more things to catch in there if the can and flood of earlier that day were anything to go by. And even if they had somehow cleaned out that section of river, there was other things she could teach the sarane while they waited.
Using:
50 ((Soak Name - 5 End? Soak - 10.0/10.0))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:36:27 GMT -6
Her interest in staring at the water and taking whatever it gave her waned as the sun moved through the sky, and soon the rod was again put down to focus on the blue sarane. He had been busy while Alma had been fishing, having stalked and dug up several small holes on the bank, one of which had contained something small and furry that had squeaked not too differently from the sarane before a crunch of bones ended its cries.
“”Oi, Soak,” Alma called out as she walked over to him, the little sarane looking up from the matted red thing he had been bouncing between his claws, “time to do a batch of training. And all of them are related to each other if I remember them right.” She was pretty sure she recalled just what was in the basic training challenges the guild had put out even if she had never bothered to complete those. “Soak, stay!” She held up a hand to emphasize her point, and when the sarane did not move from his spot, she tossed him a minnow.
51 ((Soak Stay - 1 Start))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:36:41 GMT -6
A few minnows in, and the puzzled sarane had not moved from his spot, the piece of whatever he had killed rolling away and forgotten in the wake of thrown minnows. Alma nudged it a bit further with her boot, and then stepped away from Soak with a final “Stay.” After a moment without any minnows or direct attention from Alma, the sarane stood up and took a step towards his toy, only for Alma to swoop back between him and it to hold up a hand and remind him to stay. He stopped, as much for the recognized ‘no’ as Alma standing in his path, and he waited for what amounted to fifteen long seconds as she stepped away again. Alma counted the seconds in her head, watching the sarane fidget as he looked at her and at the bloody mess, and then she tossed him a minnow with a “Good boy” thrown in. He ate the minnow, and she nudged the toy back to him, grimacing at the smear it left on her boot.
52 ((Soak Stay - 2))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:36:59 GMT -6
She was back shortly after dealing with her lines, standing a short distance away from Soak as she called for him to come over. She rewarded his prompt arrival with a minnow, then simply watched him. When he realized there were no more treats or attention forthcoming, the sarane turned away, and she gave the order for him to stay. He stopped, turning his head back to look at her, then looked back at the toy lying only a short distance away. He took a step and this time she made no move to stand between him and the toy, only giving a curt “no” that made him flinch and halt his advance. After thirty seconds of him remaining still, she gave him a treat and praise, then gave him back his toy.
He roamed around the area a bit with the toy, but, at random intervals determined by Alma growing bored of staring at placid, muddy water, he would be called away from his toy and told to stay in the new spot.
53 ((Soak Stay - 3))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:37:10 GMT -6
Once he no longer fidgeted as much, the time he was expected to stay in one spot began to increase. It was always in small amounts, just a handful of seconds more, with other commands thrown in to break the monotony every once in a while because, as Alma stated, “You need to know when I want yah to do something, and when yah need to do nothin’. Doesn’t make this whole bit any less boring though.”
But Soak seemed to pick up on what stay meant rather quickly, and, as Alma kicked the now coagulated ball of fur and blood back to him after he had stayed still for a good five minutes, she itched to move on to the next thing, something that was not watching the sarane for any sign of movement from his current spot. “Didn’t think this could get much more boring than staring at the water,” she said, turning back to look at the water.
54 ((Soak Stay - 4))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:37:37 GMT -6
Alma fidgeted with her line as she made Soak wait for an even longer time, tying a new hook in place and casting it in a new spot as the little sarane waited in the mud for her to tell him to do something else beyond stay. She dug through her supplies, ‘accidentally’ dropped a minnow just out of reach of the sarane, but the dried fish was less alluring than the toy he already had been forced to stay away from, and after his neck proved to be not long enough to reach it, he ignored it.
“Good job, come on over here, Soak!” The sarane was off like a shot the moment the command was given, and Alma gave him a pat and a treat. She then turned back to her rod, letting him eat the earlier dropped minnow, mud and all, before he returned to gnaw on his toy. She could only hope the other training for that day would be a bit more entertaining than watching mud dry.
Using:
55 ((Soak Stay - 5 End? Soak 11.0))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:37:50 GMT -6
After spending a short time actually fishing, during which Alma swept the net a few times in the muddy water by the bank as if to prove she really intended to continue fishing, Alma returned to where Soak was currently snorting at a hole in the mud. She got his attention with his name, then had him come back up to the somewhat drier rocks as she thought about how to train him to sit on command. She had a general idea of how to train the trick, but Soak was no dog, and she rather fancied keeping all of her fingers intact.
“Well, let’s give it a shot.” Alma held up a minnow just out of his reach, and slowly raised it over his head, belatedly giving him the command to stay as he backed up to follow the path of the treat. She tried again, giving the new command to sit as the young sarane turned his head to watch the passing treat, and, as he attempted to keep it in sight as she moved it to the other side, he reared up on his hindlegs, Then his legs slipped, his fluttering wings unable to catch him, and he sat heavily upon the stones. Alma dropped the treat and praised him as he ate.
56 ((Soak Sit - 1 Start))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:38:01 GMT -6
The second attempt went much poorer.
“It wasn’t a pity treat.” Alma pressed the knuckles of her treatless hand to her forehead as she closed her eyes, leaving a smudge of dirt as she pulled it away to look at the proudly rearing sarane. He squeaked, fluttering his wings and clawing at the air with his front legs, a miniature, hilariously proportioned version of the many drakes she had seen in the pit. He held the pose for as long as he could, then fell back down onto his front legs, his rump never so much as grazing the ground as he waited for his treat.
“That’s not-”
The sarane interrupted her with a squeak, and tilted his head to the side as he looked at her. “There’s no treat for that.” He recognized one of the words and his wings and head drooped, but his rear stayed infuriatingly high. She tried one more time, and he reared again, pumping his wings as hard as he could to sustain the pose even after she removed the treat.
Alma crouched down next to him as he dropped back down to all fours, saying “Sit” as she roughly reached out and pressed his hindquarters into the ground.
57 ((Soak Sit - 2))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:38:12 GMT -6
The panicked squeak of the sarane was matched by a snap at the air near the hand holding him down, then an instinctive snap at the air as a dried minnow was tossed to him. Alma pulled back her hand as she watched the sarane crunch the fish up, Soak seemingly more concerned by the sudden presence of food in his mouth. He stood as he swallowed, staring at Alma.
“Right. That wasn’t for biting at me. That was for sit.” She stressed the command, raising the next treat above the head of the sarane.. When she saw his spindly forelegs tense and his hindlegs bend in preparation to rear up, she reached out and squashed his butt back into the ground, the sarane merely squeaking as another treat was given to him.
She repeated this for a while, having to swap hands on occasion as the little sarane turned to watch the rump-pressing hand with a threatening squeak before trying to rear up to snare the treat. Then, as he glared at the hand that was not above his head, the command word said as it had been so many times before, he sat as it twitched.
58 ((Soak Sit - 3))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:38:24 GMT -6
That earned the sarane a minnow and the most praise-filled tone Alma could muster after having been at the game for a while. The next attempt saw his front limbs shake, his hindlegs slightly bent as he opened his wings, then he slid into the sitting position. When that earned him praise and a minnow, and the next, slightly faster attempt earned him more praise, he sat at the command only after a second of hesitation on the third. Alma gave him the minnow and praise, and had him sit several more times before she stopped pulling the treat over his head.
That first time without the treat being held overhead made him hesitate, requiring a second repeat of the command before his rear sunk slowly to the ground. Soon the young sarane was sitting down whenever she told him to, and she altered between rewarding him with just praise and a combination of minnow and praise. “Doing great, Soak. Going to be a lot easier to hop on your back if I ever break you.”
59 ((Soak Sit - 4))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:39:11 GMT -6
The final section of the sit training had Alma hold off giving the sarane a treat immediately after sitting, correcting him with a “No, sit” whenever he tried to stand back up sooner than she would have liked. Much like the training for stay, she had him wait longer and longer for the treat and praise, though Alma could not bring herself to stand and watch him sitting for longer than a minute before tossing him the treat and going to check on the river in case something like a pliathor happened to be swimming past. When she failed to find a monstrous water-beast slithering through the shallow river, she tied a new hook to her rod, and added a worm for good measure, and returned to test Soak one last time. And he did sit as she said the word, planting his rear in the mud and receiving a treat as she praised him for doing so, grateful that they could move on to something else.
Using: 60 ((Soak Sit - 5 End? Soak - 12.0 Alma-267.0))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:39:47 GMT -6
“This next one even has a bit more movement to it,” Alma said, smiling at the sarane and privately wondering how many dried minnows the little dragon could eat before he ran out of space in his belly. Probably a great deal more than there was room for tricks in his head. Alma chuckled, then told the sarane to sit and stay, walking a short distance away across the mud. When she turned back to him, he still sat there, though his attention had been taken by some fluttering bug weaving in the air just above him.
“Soak!” He tore his gaze from the bug to look at her. “Come!” He stood and walked to her quickly, barely sliding on the mud at all. When he had just about reached her, his eyes looking up to the minnow protruding from her glove, she said “Follow,” and started to walk back up to the supplies, the minnow kept in plain sight. He paused at the space she had been standing, quickly sniffing at her boot imprints as she stopped and said “Come” once more, repeating follow when he drew near enough and she started to walk away.
61 ((Soak Follow - 1 Start))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:41:16 GMT -6
When she saw him hesitate at the space she had stood more recently, she waved the treat in the air until she saw his head swaying to follow it. “Now, follow me!” She jerked it through the air to emphasize her command, and he came trotting after her, reaching out for the low-held treat as she backed away from him. When he walked past the rocks slippery with fresh mud from her boots and followed her, or rather, the treat for a few steps, Alma tossed him the treat. “Great work, boy. I can see where you get confused with the c-word,” Alma shrugged, then pulled out a new minnow, “but we’re already getting somewhere. Right Soak?” He looked up, seeing the minnow treat as she waved it again, and showed no hesitation this time in walking alongside her when she told him to follow and began walking herself. A few minnows later, and Alma told him to stay again, backing away slowly to ensure he kept his eye on the treat.
“Follow!” she said, but this time the sarane stayed where he was, staring at the minnow.
62 ((Soak Follow - 2))
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Post by Alma on Jan 1, 2023 15:42:13 GMT -6
Alma laughed. “Should have suspected somethin’ was up. Going just a bit too smooth this time. And we can’t ruin the training we’ve done so far, too new to stick if we do.” She looked around the river as though she might find the answer hidden in the few brown reeds still clinging to the mud. When the dead plants were not forthcoming she looked back at him. “Come,” she started, backing away as the sarane neared her, adding “follow” with a generous amount of swooping from the dead minnow to entice the sarane to do just that. She rewarded him and set him to stay again, only to find him reluctant to move himself for the new command when she stepped away.
“Could probably just get away with the one, honestly,” she muttered, gesturing with the treat and repeating a louder “follow” for his ears. When he still refused to move, she resorted to come, inserting the new command before he could trail after her. This set the pattern for times to come, the young drake never moving until the earlier taught command was given. She rewarded him for that one randomly, and for every time he followed her after she gave the correct command. Any attempts to follow her without the command were met with disinterest or a quick “no” should he feel entitled to snapping the minnow out of her hand.
And then, without any warning, he moved from a stay command as she told him to follow.
63 ((Soak Follow - 3))
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