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Post by Kadin on Oct 28, 2020 5:00:55 GMT -6
That was it. Kunzite was not going to be giving this human any more of its finds. Not after all of that. Not after the betrayal! It slunk away to go pout in the shadows about all of the injustice that had been done to it, upset and hurt and betrayed that the human apparently had other familiars now. It had only just gotten him to get rid of another one that had been in his care! He hadn’t even know about it!
Kadin figured it wouldn’t hurt too much to teach him to actually do it on command. Elk, of course, thought that this was the best idea in the world. He had no idea what he’d just done in order to earn a treat, but he was very pleased with himself for whatever it had happened to be. Kadin held out another treat for Elk to look at. He looked up at the human with big, big eyes and let out a soft little whine, just wishing and wishing that he could earn another treat. “Beg!” Oh, hey, the human said something! “Good beg, Elk.” He said and gave him another treat! Great! That was just what he had wanted!
Beg: 2
165 *level up
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Post by Nadia on Oct 30, 2020 15:10:53 GMT -6
It almost looks like a cherry!
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Post by Kadin on Oct 30, 2020 15:39:58 GMT -6
Kunzite slunk around in the shadows, halfheartedly turning over any of the rocks it came across. It didn’t actually want to find any gems right now because it would be tempted to give them to the human. The human who had other familiars now. The human that had accepted another familiar with enthusiasm, even. Could you tell that it was upset? It wanted to make sure you could tell that it was upset.
Elk was sure to wag his tail a LOT so that the human knew how happy he was to get another treat! He still had absolutely no idea what he’d done to earn it, but he sure was happy to get one all the same. And, Kadin did the same thing again. He held out a treat and waited to see what Elk would do about it. This time the houluh leaned back on his hind legs again, paws up in the air curly, and whined. The most pitiful whine in the universe. The ‘why would you do that to me’ whine. The type of whine that would absolutely tug on the heartstrings of someone who didn’t even like houluh. Perfect. Elk was going to be the most annoying houluh in existence.
Beg: 3
166
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Post by Kadin on Oct 30, 2020 15:40:11 GMT -6
After an acceptable (ridiculous) amount of sulking, Kunzite finally fell out of its funk a bit. After all, there were still gems calling to it out in the darkness. Kunzite couldn’t spend all of its time just sulking around when there were gems to still find. It was its nature, after all, just like its nature had, in part, drawn it to the fire crystal the other familiar had had in its possession. Not that it was at fault for Kadin finding the other familiar.
“Beg! Good beg.” Kadin praised, offering Elk another treat for all of his efforts of being super, super annoying. He’d have to train him some things that were cute later, too, just so that he didn’t start to get so annoying that it was obnoxious.
And so they continued much like that. Kadin would show Elk a treat, wait for him to beg for it, then mark the behavior with the word ‘beg’ and give him a treat for it. Kadin repeated this for a while, wanting to make sure that Elk got used to the word before he tested it out by itself. Elk sure didn’t seem to get bored of being annoying (aka begging) either.
Beg: 4
167
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Post by Kadin on Oct 30, 2020 15:40:24 GMT -6
No, he had taken it entirely upon himself to accept another familiar! And it was still upset about that! But it was also in its nature to look for gems. So, even half heartedly, it started wandering around in the darkness, seeing where its sense might take it and seeing what it could find. It wouldn’t give the human its gems right away anymore, though. Oh no. It would hoard them as much as it could!
Every time Kadin showed him a treat, he’d either sit up or whine. Kadin kept asking him to beg until he’d sit up AND whine every time. Once he got that ultimate combination of annoying down by just seeing a treat, Kadin figured that it was probably time to ask him to beg on command.
This time, Kadin didn’t not show Elk a treat first. Instead, he simply said, “Beg!” Elk tilted his head, looking at Kadin in confusion. Holding back a sigh, Kadin took out a treat and showed it to him. Then, Elk immediately knew what he was supposed to be doing, sat up, and did his beg behavior. It continued much like this for a couple times before Elk seemed to get it.
Beg: 5
168
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Post by Kadin on Oct 30, 2020 15:40:34 GMT -6
It was the familiar, after all, and the human should feel honored to get a share in whatever gems it chose to share with him. That resolved, Kunzite felt a little bit better and started looking for some gems with a bit more enthusiasm. It was sure that there were more around here, somewhere, and even if it didn’t want to share them it still wanted to find them. There wouldn’t have been other familiars here if there weren’t more gems.
He forgot sometimes, but when Kadin said the ‘beg’ word after several practice tries, he started to sit up and do his beg on command. Once Elk was able to perform the trick on command every time without needed additional prompting by seeing the treat, Kadin figured that was a trick trained and it was time to move on to the next one.
Next up was dance. Elk seemed to be pretty good at getting up on his haunches, but now Kadin wanted him to dance for his meal (figuratively). Kadin held out another treat and dangled it above his head, not giving it to him when he begged for it this time. Instead, he waited, tempting Elk to come up higher to get it.
Beg: 6 Dance: 1
169
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Post by Kadin on Oct 30, 2020 15:40:50 GMT -6
All it had to do was know where to look. It slunk off into the shadows and started looking in the small, dark places of the earth. There was plenty of places here and there where it could search for gems, but it didn’t see the point in looking in spots that had already been picked over thousands of times before. Instead it wanted to look in any freshly disturbed rock, in places where things had fallen over, new places where gems might be freshly exposed.
Nothing much really happened at first, of course. Elk continued to beg for the treat, but Kadin kept telling him to “dance” for it instead because he wanted him to do something different. He held the treat right above Elk’s head, wanting to tempt him with it. Eventually Elk did start to get frustrated with not having a treat and seemed to accept that Kadin wasn’t just giving him a treat for begging this time. He whined about it and complained, but then he started going after the treat, hopping up after it when Kadin dangled it over his nose. That was what he had been waiting for. “Dance!” He called, giving Elk a treat for at least sort of looking like he was dancing this time.
Dance: 2
170 *level up
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Post by Silver on Nov 7, 2020 6:17:42 GMT -6
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Post by Kadin on Feb 10, 2021 13:42:23 GMT -6
All things told, Kadin was getting used to being in the dark. For some reason, the shadows never bothered him as much down here. Perhaps they preferred to startled him in the light of day, when one would normally think that they were safe. Perhaps he just couldn’t see them when he was otherwise surrounded entirely by shadow. For whatever the reason, they didn’t bother him down in the mines, and for that he was grateful.
Kunzite was getting used to all of these interruptions in its searches. It did not appreciate them, of course, and would much prefer if the human would just keep them in the mines instead of all of this back and forth and back and forth. But apparently it was too much to ask that he just stay for a while and work on whatever nonsense they were getting up to in the mines instead of wherever else he went.
171
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Post by Kadin on Feb 10, 2021 13:42:50 GMT -6
Today he was here with yet another houluh and Kunzite again, of course. The familiar went right to work, seemingly eager after so long away from the mines. Kadin left it to it, knowing that it would be happiest if he wasn’t interfering in its search for gems and treasures. Instead he focused on the small bundle wrapped in his arms, the puppy he was carrying around. This puppy was one he’d gotten more recently than the others, one that wasn’t related to any of the other houluh he had in his kennels. Or, at least, he wasn’t aware if she was related to them or not. He called her Pepper.
No matter. It wasn’t like Kunzite was trying to find precious gems, or whatever. Or even trying to make sure they all had plenty of gems and other shiny stones and crystals. Nope. If only the human wasn’t so good at carrying what Kunzite couldn’t.
172
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Post by Kadin on Feb 10, 2021 13:43:11 GMT -6
It wouldn’t continue to bother with his constant indecisiveness and back and forth between locations. At least the creature he brought this time was small.
He hadn’t really had a chance to learn about her personality much yet. She was still young, barely heading towards a juvenile, and her days passed by with sporadic bursts of energy interspaced with long, long naps where nothing short of a hurricane could wake her. That’s where they were right now, actually. She was knocked out in his arms, dead to the world, and shows absolutely no sign of moving. Kadin knew better than to believe that meant she was actually going to stay asleep, of course. There was something about puppy energy… once she was up? She’d be up and raring to go.
It didn’t seem as if it would get up to too much trouble. It could deal with something like that, as long as it didn’t interrupt its searching!
173
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Post by Kadin on Feb 10, 2021 13:44:19 GMT -6
As long as it stayed quiet and with the human, Kunzite wouldn’t have a problem with it at all. In fact, if they kept on like this it wouldn’t have any problems for this whole trip. For now, the human seemed content to just follow Kunzite through the tunnels. This was clearly the best way to function.
For now, however, they continued on through the tunnels, following after Kunzite as it lead them from place to place. Kadin didn’t mind carrying all the equipment and the houluh on top of it. He had plenty of time and plenty of patience for wherever they ended up and wherever they were going. Once Pepper was done with her name he was sure that they’d be able to enjoy some training, too. He’d packed some treats especially for that purpose and he was looking forward to seeing what she could do when she put her mind to it.
174
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Post by Kadin on Feb 10, 2021 13:45:47 GMT -6
He hadn’t been disappointed with any of his houluh so far. Either he was just really lucky or the species as a whole tended to have great dispositions. He hopped this luck continued to hold, especially since he seemed to be accumulating houluh pretty quickly. Not as quickly as sarane, of course, but the monsters of the pit were a much different story than the darlings of the contest hall.
Kunzite didn't understand why they ever did anything differently, especially since the human and ALL of the creatures it seemed to bring with it were utterly useless down here. All Kunzite wanted was for them to just keep following it wherever it went so it could collect gems, unload them on the human, and continue on its merry way as they found even more gems. If the human and the creature it had could stay quiet for all that? All the better.
175
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Post by Jack on Feb 10, 2021 19:00:57 GMT -6
The worm hissed as it's nest was disturbed by the strange little yellowy dragon familiar. Eyes narrowed slightly, it was ready to attack it, even though the dragon seemed to be a bit lost. In turn, the dragon whimpered and attempted to run away, instead running right into the man and his animals.
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Post by Kadin on Feb 10, 2021 19:09:22 GMT -6
Things were pretty peaceful in the mines. Nothing much was going on, the human and his houluh were just following along a familiar in the dark. Really, as far as outings went, it couldn't be any more boring.
Oh how quickly that could change.
The next thing Kadin knew, there was a yellow dragon that looked like it was made of gems barreling towards him, followed by an angry looking worm that looked like it was longer than he was tall. How the fuck did worms even GET that big? That was the mines for you.
Still, he couldn't let the yellow familiar get injured just because a worm was feeling crabby. Kadin stepped in front of the dragon familiar, reaching out a hand that wasn't holding a houluh to the worm familiar, too, and said, "Hey there, let's all calm down. I don't know what happened, but there's no need to get so pissy about it. There's enough gems down here for all of us."
Kunzite, meanwhile, ignored everything that was happening to inspect a particularly interesting patch of wall instead of paying attention to the nonsense all around it.
176
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