|
Post by Kadin on Oct 23, 2020 12:39:37 GMT -6
Well, regardless, Kadin continued following Kunzite down the tunnels, Elk not far behind. As long as the familiar was acting so desperate it was probably best to go with whatever it wanted for now. Elk didn't seem to mind. He was sticking really close to Kadin in the tunnels, at least, probably nervous with how hard it was to see down here in the mines. It took a while for the pets that weren't used to the tunnels to get used to that. There was an absolute darkness down here, underground, that you couldn't really find up above. Even at night, there were stars and the moon. Even when the moon wasn't full, there were still stars. But down here there was nothing besides Kadin's flashlight between them and darkness. Only Kunzite was at home.
It was sure that this tunnel, so often used, was probably traveled down rarely due to all of the side tunnels. The human seemed interested in going down some of them, just further proving its point to itself. It stubbornly refused to go anywhere the human seemed interested in going, only wanting to go further an further down this tunnel in particular to see where it lead to.
155 *level up
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Oct 24, 2020 10:26:05 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 24, 2020 12:42:53 GMT -6
While they were walking, Kadin figured that it wouldn’t hurt to at least start teaching Elk his name. Since the houluh was sticking so close to him it wasn’t like it would be difficult to get his attention with it, either.
“Hey, Elk.” Kadin said, trying to get the houluh’s attention. It didn’t really work at first, since he was so distracted trying to sniff literally every rock they came across. Really, what was it with houluh and sniffing rocks? Oh well. At least he was entertained.
“Elk!” Kadin tried again, pleased when the volume had the houluh looking up at him, surprised. “Good!” He said, giving him a treat. Elk wagged his tail, pleased to be getting a treat! He spent some more time sniffing at Kadin’s hands, looking to see if more treats were forthcoming.
It had started again. Kunzite was beyond annoyed, although it had figured that this would have happened eventually. The human was so easily distracted, in some ways even more easily distracted than any of the pets he brought with him. No matter what he brought down here he always felt the compulsion to try and teach them things. Kunzite wished that he’d just cut it out.
Name: 1
156
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 24, 2020 12:43:23 GMT -6
When it looked like none were, the houluh simply huffed and went back to sniffing around at the rocks. He seemed really into it for some reason. Kadin shook his head and tried again.
“Elk!” Again, nothing at first. The houluh was completely taking with sniffing around, looking for nothing. “Elk!” He tried again, shaking the bag of treats. THAT got Elk’s attention, if nothing else. He seemed to suddenly realize that Kadin had treats and turned around to look at him. Kadin shook his head with amusement. “Good.” He praised, giving Elk another treat. Now just to keep practicing this until it stuck.
“Elk!” Kadin tried again once Elk’s attention was elsewhere once more.
Didn’t he know that the most important thing to do down here was to find gems? But no, there the human was, distracted with his houluh and saying words at it. It was probably trying to teach it the word it needed to respond to. But, no! Kunzite would not get distracted by this too! Kunzite at least knew that it was here for a purpose. It was here to find gems, down in the deep and dark where no one else looked!
Name: 2
157
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 24, 2020 12:43:54 GMT -6
It took a minute for him to get his attention again, but eventually he did get it. The houluh looked up at Kadin and then at the bag of treats, watching it expectantly. But Kadin wasn’t about that. He waited until he had Elk’s attention, not the treats, before praising him and giving him another treat. “Good, Elk.” He said, wanting to make sure he knew that he was looking at him. Kadin. Not the treats. Not when he was trying to get his attention.
Figuring that they needed a little distance to help Elk remember what they were actually doing, Kadin started walking again, looking for Kunzite and following after the familiar for a bit. Every now and then, he’d call Elk’s name to try and get his attention.
At least the human kept walking even though it was distracted. Small blessings. They kept making their way down the same deep, dark tunnel. There was so much to see and explore down here, Kunzite kept them on a course that was aimed right into the very depths. The tunnel had been surprisingly straight so far, too, other than the other tunnels that branched off of it.
Name: 3
158
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 24, 2020 12:44:16 GMT -6
It took a while. After first, they kept running into the same problems. Elk would be looking at the treats and not Kadin. Or Elk wouldn’t pay any attention at all. He was always close by, of course, but he was just a pup and seemed easily distracted by literally anything and everything.
Kadin kept trying, though. Whenever he felt as if Elk’s attention was elsewhere, he’d call out his name. When Elk looked at him and seemed to focus on him, only then did the houluh get praise and treats. He needed to reinforce the correct behaviors for this so that there would be no mistake that Elk knew what he was supposed to do when Kadin called his name.
It felt certain, down in its core, that the tunnel would become more narrow soon. They just had to get to a part where less humans had been to dig out the tunnels. Deeper down, to where only the tunnel worms and other deep creatures where, to places that it wanted to explore and find and just. Know more about. But even the journey could pose fruitful. As they were going on, Kunzite began to sense gems again.
Name: 4
159
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 24, 2020 12:44:45 GMT -6
They kept at this for quite a while, Elk going off and having his attention elsewhere. Slowly but surely, when Kadin called his name he’d put his attention on the human instead of whatever it was he was doing. Kadin would give him praise and a treat for it, then let him go off on his own thing again. Elk started paying more and more attention to Kadin and not just to the treats that Kadin had. He also started sticking close to Kadin in general, probably hoping for free treats. After a while of Elk responding without fail, Kadin figured he probably knew his name by now. He still practiced a few more times, just in case.
There was one right ahead of them. It headed forward, faster, eagerly, pleased that its direction was clearly paying off already. It could hear a gem singing in the dark, under this and that, and it quickly swirled over the area to bring the gem into itself. The gem it had found was… blue. Or maybe green. Not that it mattered. It was shiny and valuable and it held onto it tightly, unwilling to even let the human see what it had found.
Name: 5
160 *level up
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Oct 25, 2020 12:41:50 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 25, 2020 13:01:37 GMT -6
Kunzite could feel something else close by, too. It was a familiar feeling, one it had felt before. The warmth of it, the thrumming that echoed through its core. Surely the human could feel it too, because he paused in his training to look over and see where Kunzite was and what it was doing. It moved towards the source of the feel, its shadows growing and swirling around itself when agitation with what it found there.
Gems! A crystal! But that wasn't all. There was a familiar here, too, and Kunzite needed to take a moment to consider whether or not it wanted to fight this familiar over the gems that it seemed to have gathered.
Somehow, this was when the human decided to come over. "Hey." He said, quietly, crouching down next to Kunzite and looking at the familiar. The houluh came up behind him, too, looking at all this curiously. "Haven't seen anything like you down here yet. Are those your gems? Do you want more?"
He asked this of the gem familiar, which Kunzite clearly showed protest towards, but the human ignored it, offering a handful of gems to the strange familiar with the fire crystal. Kunzite seethed silently, not knowing what else to do.
161
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Oct 25, 2020 13:03:55 GMT -6
The wyrm flinches from its sleep to lift its head, leering in your direction. A person...? After the crystal! Trying to steal it! It hisses, but doesn't quite do anything aggressive, especially when noticing that there were more gems to collect. Alright... it will uncoil a little...
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 25, 2020 13:09:29 GMT -6
Kadin remained fairly quite and still as the gem wyrm woke up, watching silently as it uncoiled a little to investigate what was happening. He did shift a little to sit down on the stone floor, still holding out the gems in front of himself.
"Yeah, there you go. We're not here to hurt you." He assured it, waiting and watching to see if the familiar would do anything else. His eyes did glance quickly to the gem sitting next to it, frowning slightly at the feeling that the crystal was... calling to him. But for now he needed to focus on the familiar wrapped around it. "Why don't you hang out with us for a while?" He offered. "We have a lot of gems and we can help keep your's safe."
Kunzite bristled at this, throwing shadows over the human's shoulders in protest to his offered. That was ITS deal with the human, not this wyrm's! If it wanted a deal it could go find another human for it! This one was ITS. It had had the claim first! Elk, meanwhile, wagged his tail and looked at the familiar with large eyes, probably wondering if it would be fun to chew on.
162
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Oct 25, 2020 15:28:25 GMT -6
The wyrm dislikes the look of your familiar. It hisses, and looks as if it would bristle if it had any fur to do so - it does not like that accusatory stare! In fact, it seeks you out for protection, slithering near your ankles with the crystal to escape persecution.
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 25, 2020 15:42:50 GMT -6
"Kunzite." Kadin reprimanded, also displeased with the behavior that his familiar was showing to this new, strange familiar. He knew that it was protective of its gems and didn't like to share them, not even with him, but this was going several steps too far. Kadin moved around so that he was positioned between Kunzite and the other familiar. This probably wouldn't actually do much if Kunzite actually wanted to get to it, considering that the familiar could actually go through him if it wanted to, but it sent a clear message that this behavior would not be tolerated. "I'm sorry about that one." Kadin said to the new familiar, offering it some gems to try and calm it down. "It can be protective of gems and stuff, I'm sure you can relate. Why don't you come with us? When we're all working together, we share in all of the gems we find."
Elk watched this all, having absolutely NO idea what was happening! He felt like he wasn't being included enough, too, which made him sad. But Kadin was trying to get a new friend, which made him happy! So he ended up just sort of sitting there, wagging his tail, with a vacant look on his face.
163
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Oct 28, 2020 4:27:25 GMT -6
The wyrm appreciates your protection! It still seems... wary, of the familiar, but feels secure now you’re showing discontent. It supposes it wouldn’t be too bad to stick around...
[Congratulations, you have successfully tamed the creature!]
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 28, 2020 5:00:38 GMT -6
Kunzite was VERY upset about this recent turn of events. It did NOT want some random other familiar in Kadin’s care. Kadin was its human and not any other familiar’s. It stewed on its anger, glaring daggers from the shadows as the human went about as if everything was normal after that whole catastrophic. He was just going to go around training his houluh again as if he had no betrayed its trust!
Well, it was probably time to teach Elk something new after all of that. Kadin looked down at the houluh, thinking about what sorts of things he’d like to teach him. Elk looked back at Kadin. Kadin held up a treat. Elk perked up immediately. He even went so far as to sit back on his haunches and lift his front legs in the air, staring at Kadin with big, wide eyes, as if he would have to be a monster not to give him that treat. Well. That was one thing that he could teach the houluh. “Beg!” Kadin said. “Good beg, Elk.” And he gave him the treat. This houluh was already a bit of a terror when it came to getting all up in a person’s business.
Beg: 1
164
|
|