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Post by Noa on May 16, 2021 13:34:47 GMT -6
Noa distracted them as quickly as he could if he saw them starting to get tense about Azalea’s presence again, and doing his best to keep them occupied for longer stretches of time.
That first session was a little bit messy, simply because they both needed so much distracting, and there was only one of Noa and two of them. By the end of it they had both seen a little improvement, but Noa could see that this would be the work of several trips.
At least when he checked his fishing pole at the end of it, by some coincidence a fish had given him a bite. It was quickly hauled in, and Noa went home feeling that he had accomplished something.
They returned the next day for more of the same… And the next day, and the next. It got easier with time, especially with Nightshade. Once he had gotten over the worst of his attitude towards Azalea, Noa could keep him occupied with commands. It gave the Wiurn something to do, which helped distract him from actively focusing on Azalea being present, and Noa could issue them vocally while leading the pup around with a treat in his hands.
As for the Houluh pup, she progressed much the same way she had with the darkened cavern. Once Noa could get her moving around, she did better. It seemed that her body being active helped change her state of mind too, and slowly she began being able to relax around Azalea.
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Post by Noa on May 16, 2021 13:35:01 GMT -6
In the end, the one that made the faster progress was actually the pup. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was younger, and thus her mind was more malleable, more open to learning new things. By the time Nightshade could finally relax around Azalea, the pup was already running circles around the Pliathor as if she was simply some large playmate… Or maybe a large playground would have been more accurate, considering their respective differences in size.
But either way, after some time, they both got to the point where they could at least function in Azalea’s presence without seeming to be impeded by it. And if they could do that with her, Noa was sure that they would be able to do the same against, say, Grunty, or those monsters in the Pit. And that was something, to be sure.
It was something he considered fairly basic, but nevertheless he did have to teach it anew for every creature he began a training regimen on. He had gone through it so many times that it felt silly now that any creature had to go through the process at all. After all, he lived with two such beasts, and he knew there was nothing to fear - or at least no more than from any other creature. And freezing at the sight of them definitely wasn’t going to do anyone any good.
But then, maybe it was easier to say when you weren’t the one doing the fighting.
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Post by Noa on May 16, 2021 13:40:52 GMT -6
And familiarity did breed a certain level of contempt, so there was that too. Actually, the training was simply a matter of him trying to breed that same level of contempt into new creatures, so in that sense... Well, never mind. At last it was done, and they could move on to other things. More interesting things, hopefully.
Noa set up his fishing equipment upon their arrival to the riverbank, the way he had done for the last few days. It felt as if the knowledge was coming back to his muscles - what of them there were, considering the general state of his body and his physique - the more he did it. Not that he had ever been so woefully rusty at this that he couldn't make a proper cast, but now he had to think about it less. Once he had the hook in the water and the pole propped up, he turned around and considered his companions.
The pup was simply out here to get some air, and to let it get used to being around Noa. He had no real plans to do much with her. But as for Azalea and Nightshade... Who to train, and what to train them in first?
Nightshade already knew a fairly powerful attack, so maybe it would be best to teach him how to fly... On the other hand, neither of them could dodge attacks the way Avander could, so maybe it was better to rectify that one first, considering how useful it was.
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Post by Nadia on May 17, 2021 7:14:47 GMT -6
After that initial flood of fish, it seems the waters have fallen quiet.
[Nothing happens.]
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:26:19 GMT -6
Maybe it would be best to work with Azalea, come to that. In the fight against that Golossle, she had been done in by her own inability to attack from afar as much as the Golossle’s actual attacks. Azalea could take a hit, but there was a limit to the amount of damage she could sustain before she became unable to fight further.
And it wasn’t for an utter lack of ability to do so in the first place. If nothing else, she had an electrical injection to call on, and Noa knew for a fact that she had some electrical abilities that were more inborn as well. It was just a matter of… teaching her how to use them.
Noa decided that he may as well give Nightshade and the pup both a break from being on the hook for training. Teaching Azalea to use electricity was going to be an endeavor in and of itself, for which he was almost certainly going to need to devote his whole attention. “Azalea,” he said, walking up to the Pliathor. She picked up her head at that, regarding him with one large dark eye. He laid his hand on her nose and rubbed gently at the skin there. “I’m going to teach you something. Alright?”
{Okay,} she replied - as if she would say no, Noa thought to himself. Azalea wasn’t really the type to grumble and protest, unlike a certain green Wiurn he knew, or even Rhys.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:27:00 GMT -6
Smiling, he said, “Good. Now, this might feel a little uncomfortable… But concentrate on how it feels here for a moment.” After having said that, he concentrated on his own hand, and channeled just the barest amount of electrical energy into it. He had recently gotten his hands on a Chaos node, and so it wasn’t terribly difficult to do - though it wasn’t mindlessly easy either. Controlling the amount of power was actually the hardest thing about magic, and so using a very little was at least as difficult as using a lot at once. But he didn’t want to hurt Azalea; he only wanted her to feel the tiniest zap of electrical energy he could muster.
{Oh!} Azalea jerked her head back, not in pain but in surprise. A long tongue flicked out and licked the spot where Noa had placed his hand. {That was very strange. Did you do that?}
Azalea blinked rapidly, while Noa shook off his own hand. The electricity was not painful, but neither would he have described the sensation as pleasant. It was not unlike the feeling of having a limb that had fallen asleep. "This is electricity," Noa said. "I can use it. You can use it too."
Azalea didn't say anything in response to his assertion, but Noa could sense the incredulity radiating from her. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. There was a certain element of fun to this kind of training, at least from his perspective.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:27:13 GMT -6
"No, it's true," he said. "You really can. Try it. Remember this sensation, and focus on it. Think of it filling up your body, if you can." He had to guide her through it, feeding her the memory of that mildly unpleasant tingling. It was always strange to meld his mind with one of his non-sentient creatures, but in this case he let their minds bleed together more than he usually would have, so that he could guide her through the mental exercise of it.
As he did this, slowly but surely there was a sense of something building in the air around them too. Even the other creatures that Noa had brought with him began to notice it after a while. Nightshade's tongue flicked out to taste the air, and the tentacles that fringed his jaw first stilled, then went back in unison. He didn't hiss, but it was clear he didn't like what he sensed. Walnut, who didn't really have the sense to know any better, simply began barking. At some point Noa was probably going to have to teach her to stop doing that, but right now he was already occupied.
"And release," Noa said, letting the thought go. Since he was the one who had been sustaining a lot of it, when he let go of the thought, so did Azalea. And the energy that had built with it dissipated too, not as an attack but simply as if it had never been there to begin with.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:28:21 GMT -6
But that had been Noa's intent anyway. It was better to let her get a sense for how it felt to build energy on its own first, before teaching her the much more dangerous aspect of releasing it as a strike meant to harm. Besides which, if she had a better sense of how to build and store energy, then she would also be able to deliver stronger strikes. There were times when it would be preferable to build up power and unleash it in a decisive blow, rather than simply striking twice.
As the energy in the air dissipated, so too did the other creatures quiet down again. Noa figured that after this happened a few times, they would cease to be so put off by it, if only because nothing came of it.
"How did it feel?" Noa said. "Do you think you can do it?"
{I don't really understand what that was,} Azalea said, rearranging her coils, shifting restlessly as she thought over what he had asked her. Turning her head around, she nosed at her own hide, as if to attempt to massage out some lingering sensation with the motion of it. {But it didn't hurt.}
"That's good then. Let's try again, but on my cue this time, alright? Charge." Noa showed her a hand signal along with the word, in case she was ever somehow left without her ribbon. Now that she could no longer hear, he had transitioned all her commands to hand signals.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:29:03 GMT -6
It was a little unwieldy, but it was better than the alternative of being left without a means of communicating commands to her if he didn't have a ribbon present.
After showing her the hand signal, Noa closed his eyes and opened his mind to her again, prompting her with a memory of that tingling sensation. He tried to carry less of the mental weight this time, and let Azalea feel her way into it on her own, relegating himself to merely nudging her in the right direction. Because of this, it took longer, but after some time Azalea did seem to manage it. "Good," Noa said. "Now hold it for a moment... And release."
The energy dissipated again, and after a short respite, Noa showed her the hand signal and they began the process over. Each time it became a little easier, and after a few tries, Azalea was able to manage it on her own. As she became more used to it, she also got faster at it. This initial energy building was in fact a skill of its own, but not such a difficult one to master. And Noa thought it would be best to do something easy with Azalea first, so that she could feel encouraged rather than overwhelmed by what she was trying to do.
Now that they had established that, however, it was time to move on to more intense things, drawing on that energy to do something much more destructive than simply building it up.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:30:13 GMT -6
"This time," Noa said, "after you build up the energy... Instead of letting it go like we have been, I want you to think of it all coming down on one point. Like... that tree there, for instance. Think of it coming down on that tree all at once." It was a little hard to grasp just describing it to her like this, so he signaled for them to start, then went through the process with her, lending his mind to the process as before. Noa himself could already call a bolt of lightning at will, so he was used to the sensation of it. With him directing the built up energy in Azalea's body, there was a sharp crack of something in the air... and then the smell of burnt wood. The tree was split almost perfectly in half, its leaves all charred, and most of the bark blown right off it.
The pup and Nightshade, who had both more or less made their tentative peace with whatever it was that Azalea and Noa were doing, startled at this new development. Noa watched them for a moment, then sighed, and decided he had better calm them down first. He left Azalea's side and went to the two of them, soothing them as needed until they calmed down. Maybe this whole group training arrangement wasn't all he had thought it would be... But they were already here, after all. It was easier to try and calm them than to send them back.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:30:55 GMT -6
And for Nightshade, at least, it was better if he was exposed to more things like this, since he was likely to see this kind of attack himself in the future.
Once the other two creatures were calm though, Noa returned to Azalea, showed her a new command and hand signal for the lightning, and began the process once more - building the energy up, then releasing it in a concentrated burst. They targeted the same tree, just for simplicity’s sake. It wasn’t as if it could get any more dead than it was, right? This time, Noa let Azalea take on more of the mental weight behind the release, just like he had when she had been gathering energy, but now he went a little more slowly. This skill was more dangerous, and he wanted to be careful with it. Whatever Rhys might have said about him, Noa didn’t, in fact, have a death wish.
He alternated going over the command with Azalea and having to comfort the Houluh pup and Nightshade, who were understandably still startled every time Azalea called down the lightning to strike the poor tree. They only did it a few times, because it seemed to take a lot out of Azalea in the process. Well, it didn’t surprise Noa that that was the case, considering how powerful an attack it was. A lot of things like this couldn't exactly be used in rapid succession. Avander had some abilities like that too.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:31:42 GMT -6
Noa went through some of the more basic commands with Nightshade, and played with the pup a little bit, before wrapping up the day’s fishing and heading home. When they returned the next day, it was to a different stretch of the river, where there were a few more trees that Azalea could work her way through. Noa asked her to do the energy gathering exercise a couple of times before they started, then went through summoning the lightning with her again.
“But this time we’re going to try and aim it. See that tree on the far left? Concentrate on that one. Think about the energy hitting that one.” He gave her the signal and helped her through, watching with some small satisfaction as the lightning struck the tree he had specified. It wasn’t the tallest one in the mix either, so if they had just let the lightning go, it would probably have struck elsewhere. With Noa’s help, at least, Azalea’s lightning could be guided to a target, which meant eventually she could do it too.
He let her have a little rest before doing it again. Already it was better than it had been yesterday; Noa didn’t have to bear as much of the mental weight of directing the energy as before. Azalea was getting faster at it too, so that she didn’t have to think about it as long, or take as long to gather the energy she needed to make it happen.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:33:47 GMT -6
As a result, the strikes were a little weaker too, but still more than strong enough to blast the bark off those trees - and to sting if they landed on an opponent.
Suffice to say, their fishing trips were a little more… exciting for a while. Neither the pup nor Nightshade liked it, but eventually it happened enough that they didn’t quite have the same reaction that they used to. Azalea, over a process of several days, became more proficient with it too, until she could do it on her own without Noa helping her at all. She couldn’t do it very often, of course, but it was still a potent attack. And now she could strike from range, rather than having to rely solely on brute strength.
Of course, they still had to test it out on a live opponent... But there would be opportunities enough for that when they went to the Pit again. In the meantime, there were other things to do, like fish, or do something to entertain the other two creatures that Noa had brought with him. Thus far, the pup had been getting a free ride, and he was thinking Nightshade could also stand to learn a few more things... But this particular fishing trip had already gone on long enough, and sadly there wasn't enough time today to do much more in the way of training. If he did decide to try and teach Nightshade some new skills, it would have to be next time.
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Post by Noa on May 18, 2021 17:37:34 GMT -6
Right now it was more or less time to go home. And so Noa began the process of gathering up his equipment. As he went to the pole, he caught sight of some movement, and rushed to grab it so he could reel it in. It was a little harder to do without Rhys's help; after all, he didn't have as much arm strength as most people, and Rhys always knew more or less where the fish was, so he could help tug on the line, at least. But he could do it, he had managed it before, so long as he paced himself... A little here, and then a little more...
... but unfortunately, the Houluh pup had other plans. Sensing the excitement, she ran up and began barking up a storm, getting underfoot. Noa held out against tripping for several valiant minutes, but in the end he nearly stepped on the pup, and in trying to avoid doing so, he landed right on his back.
The fish, needless to say, was gone.
"You'd better be careful," he said to the pup. "If you turn out to be more trouble than you're worth, I really am getting rid of you."
But maybe this was a sign that it really was time to pack it in. Noa got to his feet with a sigh, collected his things, and started off in the direction of home, with all three of his companions in tow. They'd come back some other time, and do some other things.
25 (exit)
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Post by Nadia on May 19, 2021 3:18:20 GMT -6
While you were flat on your back in the mud, there was something to be seen...
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