|
Post by Kadin on Oct 25, 2020 15:36:55 GMT -6
He went over to it again and sniffed at it some more. Then he bite at it. Ew! He growled and tugged, even though it was slimy, and dragged it around. It was weird grass! It was green like grass and kinda smelled like it, but also not at the same time. He didn’t know what to make of it! But after having it in his mouth for so long, he decided he didn’t want to eat it.
Once Kadin brought him over, he immediately stopped when he saw what the human was heading towards. He started growling, too, low and deep in his throat like he was an actual adult houluh. That was an estharne! It was one they didn’t know! He couldn’t smell it but he could smell blood and it looked like it was scary and dangerous and wanted to hurt them! It looked real!
Kadin watched Cirrus’ hair stand up on end. The houluh took a step forward, partly putting himself between Kadin and the estharne. Hey! That was pretty good! He’d needed to train Cirrus to be a proper guard down, anyway. “Guard.” Kadin said, marking the behavior. “Good Guard, Cirrus!” He then praised, offering Cirrus a treat.
Accept Scary Sights: 7 Guard: 2
79
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 25, 2020 15:37:34 GMT -6
So he dropped it and snorted, eyeing it warily for another moment or two before walking away entirely. He didn’t need this weird grass in his life! He was going to find something else instead, something more interesting. There were SO many things for him to look at and smell out here, he wasn’t going to spend all of his time on grass. So he started walking along the water again, looking to see what he could find.
Cirrus seemed surprised by that and that surprised knocked him out of the headspace he’d been getting into. He accepted the treat with a cautious tail wag, but then his eyes went back to the estharne, growling and grumpy about it. He didn’t seem afraid of it, at least.
Kadin took a step closer. Cirrus immediately moved to stand between him and the estharne again, growling angrily at it. “Guard! Good guard!” He said, giving Cirrus another treat for the behavior. Cirrus accepted the treat again, but he still didn’t trust the estharne. Kadin watched him fro a while, thinking. This was probably a good start to what he wanted to teach him next.
This time he was walking along the water and saw something gleaming near the surface.
Accept Scary Sights: 8 Guard: 3
80 *level up
|
|
|
Post by Nadia on Oct 30, 2020 15:17:12 GMT -6
What's that, skittering around...? A sandskimmer! It seems to be going about its business, until it sees you and dives behind a rock to hide.
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Oct 30, 2020 15:47:10 GMT -6
Skip was quickly distracted, however, by movement out of the corner of his eye. That was something! Something that he didn't know what it was! He didn't like it! He started barking and running back towards Kadin and Cirrus, then running back towards the THING, barking his head off! He didn't like it! It wasn't good! It was strange! Kadin needed to DO something about it!
It seemed as if getting started on what he was training Cirrus next would have to wait for a moment. Kadin turned to see what the problem was with Skip and just saw some sort of creature's tail disappear behind a rock. Frowning to himself a bit, he gathered up some treats in case it was another crab (or something like it) and went over to check it out. But if the thing was so shy as to run away the moment it saw them, going behind the rock with it probably wasn't an option. So he tossed some treats next to where the rock was in the hopes of luring whatever it was out from behind there. He wanted to at least see it, he supposed, before he tried messing with it any further. What if it was something dangerous?
81
|
|
|
Post by Jack on Nov 2, 2020 20:07:01 GMT -6
The sandskimmer flinched as treats were thrown, but then perked up a little when it realized what they were. Slowly it began to eat, sifting through the dirt to find more, and it peered around the rock to see where they had come from, and if it needed to be worried still.
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Nov 2, 2020 20:11:51 GMT -6
Kadin waited to see what would come out from behind the rock. And waited. And waited. Until, finally, he saw something poking out his head. Oh, that didn't look too bad. It certainly wasn't as intimidating as the crab had been with its big claws. Kadin grabbed some more treats. He tossed them to the sand between himself and the creature. He also sat down in the sand and held out more treats in his hand, holding his hand out to see if the creature would just come up to him on its own if it saw the treats. Hopefully it would see that he wasn't a threat and just wanted to feed it.
Meanwhile, he also motioned for Cirrus and Skip to stay back. The houluh both stuck close to him, but they didn't go towards the weird creature on the sand since Kadin seemed like he didn't want them to. That was something, at least. Skip seemed mostly concerned with what Kadin was doing and why he wasn't paying attention to him, anyway, while Cirrus was more curious about the creature and what it might be doing. Still, as long as the both stayed back, he wasn't going to discourage some healthy curiosity.
82
|
|
|
Post by Jack on Nov 2, 2020 20:16:00 GMT -6
It continued to eat along the line that had been made by the treats until it got to the man, when it balked a little. It wasn't sure what to do here, it didn't like what it saw, but it wanted those treats. Shifting from leg to leg to leg, it shook a little, trying to decide.
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Nov 2, 2020 20:31:13 GMT -6
Kadin didn't dare move around too much while the creature slowly made its way over to him. He didn't want to spook it too badly. Luckily it seemed pretty food motivated, so he only had to wait for it to come to him. Once it did come to him, however, it seemed pretty unsure about what it wanted to do. Kadin hummed to himself and placed his hand down on the sands, treats all there for the taking. Now he just needed to wait and see what the creature would do about it. He also gestured behind himself, getting the houluh to back off a bit, too, not wanting them to intimidate it too much. He was worried they were part of what was making it nervous.
Skip backed up just fine, although he didn't leave distance so much as he moved directly behind Kadin and leaned against his back. He wanted to make sure he stayed close just in case! He always felt better when he was with Kadin! Cirrus, meanwhile, huffed a bit and wandered off, losing some interest since it wasn't like he was allowed to interact with the weird thing. He sort of WANTED to, but Kadin kept claiming the space and he wasn't going to challenge him for it or something.
83
|
|
|
Post by Jack on Nov 2, 2020 21:05:56 GMT -6
It shifted around a little more before slowly moving forward to nip at a treat in the man's hand before scooting back to where it had been a moment before. While it wasn't sure what to do, maybe this guy wasn't all that bad... At least if he had food. It wasn't going to trust him just yet though, it figured as it eyed the two Houluh warily.
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Nov 2, 2020 21:15:09 GMT -6
"Good job." Kadin said softly to the creature. He dropped a treat in front of it to reward it for being brave enough to go for one of the treats in his hand. Then he put his hand down again, treats still there and available for the creature if it wanted to take any. In the meantime he also started talking to it in a low, hopefully soothing tone, "There, that isn't so bad. No one is going to hurt you here. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, we just want to offer you treats. Don't worry about it if you're nervous, it's all ok, no one is going to hurt you." Hopefully the creature would get used to him sooner rather than later and see that he wasn't a threat.
Skip, meanwhile, stayed behind Kadin and started idly chewing on the lapel of his jacket, not having anything better to do with his time, apparently. At least he was calm as long as he was with his person. Cirrus, on the other hand, had made his way back down to the water to sniff around the banks and see what he could find down there.
84
|
|
|
Post by Jack on Nov 2, 2020 21:35:12 GMT -6
The sandskimmer shifted again before slowly crawling onto the man's hand and rubbing gently on one of the treats. It laid there for awhile as it ate, content with this life, and as long as it got treats, it would go with him, at least it supposed so.
[Congratulations, you've tamed the creature!]
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Nov 2, 2020 21:41:48 GMT -6
After working it out with that creature, Kadin was eager to get back to training Cirrus. But in the meantime, he wanted another pup around to train after he was done with Cirrus. He felt like it'd be good for Skip to have another houluh to get to know, especially since he was mostly by himself while Cirrus was training. The one that he ended up choosing was Elk, seeing as Elk got along with basically everyone who didn't hate him on principal. So it seemed like a good enough compromise to bring him in to make sure that Skip had a buddy he could keep training with.
It was shiny! He couldn’t really tell what color it was, but he sort of wanted to chew on it. He ran to the water, splashing through the shallows to try and see what he’d found. It was weird! It sort of looked like a ball, only it had a funny pattern on it. He couldn’t smell it through the water so he stuck his face in the water to grab it in his mouth. Proud of himself, he pranced to the shore with his prize and dropped it on the sand.
He didn’t seem actually scared of the estharne, just defensive and protective about it. Perhaps that wasn’t something he was actually afraid of or a fear he needed to get over, after all. If Kadin had seen something like that, he’d freak the fuck out, but houluh saw the world differently than humans did.
Guard: 4
85 *level up
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Nov 2, 2020 21:42:46 GMT -6
Elk seemed to fit in right away, although he didn't exactly go right up to Skip ask Kadin had kinda hoped he would. Not that it was any matter, he had other things to work on before he'd really worry about getting Elk and Cirrus working together. Instead, Elk seemed to be FASCINATED by the sand. He started at it under his paws, not sure what to do about it at all.
NOW he could smell it. It smelled… fishy? And it had spots on it. He licked his lips and then he licked it, not sure what to make of it. It wasn’t soft. It was really hard and when he bit it it didn’t break easily. He could chew on it, but since it was round like a ball it was awkward in his mouth. Huh. He didn’t like this either! He snorted at it and growled at it, but it didn’t disappear for fear of how scary he was.
Bloody estharne weren’t something to fear, but something to fight. Huh. Good to know.
Kadin walked a bit away from the estharne. Cirrus went with him, but kept giving it nasty looks every now and then. He watched the houluh for a bit, then took a step closer. Cirrus moved with him, once again trying to keep his body between Kadin and the estharne.
“Guard.” Kadin said. “Good boy, Cirrus, good guard.” He gave Cirrus some treats for his efforts, encouraging the defensive behavior in response to a threat.
Guard: 5
86
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Nov 2, 2020 21:43:02 GMT -6
The sand was just so... sandy! He tried walking on it a little, but he had to pick up his paws REALLY high each time to make sure that he was stepping on it right! It was weird! He wasn't sure if he liked it or not. Whining to himself, Elk wandered back over to where there was grass, snorting at the sand and growling a little just so it knew how he felt about it.
Not having anything better to do with the weird hard ball, he picked it up in his mouth and decided to bring it over to show to the human. Maybe the human would know what to do with it? It wasn’t food and it wasn’t a toy so Skip sure had no clue. It seemed like the sort of weird thing that humans like to have though. It was a good thing he decided to come over here, too!
He kept doing that same thing for a while longer, wanting to get Cirrus used to the word. He’d go close to the estharne, encourage Cirrus to get between him and the cat, tell him the word, and praise him for performing it. He repeated this for a while, getting closer and walking away, until Cirrus seemed to get the message and would get in front of him whenever he said the ‘guard’ command. He kept this up for a while until he was confident that Cirrus at least knew the word.
Then Kadin decided he needed to get Cirrus to guard other things, too.
Guard: 6
87
|
|
|
Post by Kadin on Nov 2, 2020 21:43:13 GMT -6
Kadin brought over Skip. He figured that’d be the easiest, having another living thing for Cirrus to practice guarding. He kept Skip on a leash for this and, although the puppy seemed sort of confused about what was happening. Kadin told Cirrus to ‘guard’ and watched as he put himself between Kadin and the estharne again. Kadin moved over a bit, arranging it so that Cirrus was in front of Skip instead, pointed at Skip, and said ‘guard’. Cirrus didn’t get it at first, of course. He kept trying to get in front of Kadin, worried that his human was in danger! But Kadin kept pointing to Skip and telling him to guard the other houluh instead.
The sand, obviously, did not respond. Elk walked back over to the edge of the sand, sniffing at it again a little bit. He'd never walked on anything like this before! It was new! All of the other houluh seemed to be fine with it, too, when he looked over at them. That made him even less sure what do do about this whole thing. What if he was the only one would could see that something was wrong?
It looked like the human needed him for something! Skip was very proud that he could help the human by being there for him. The human had been working very hard with Cirrus on something and Skip had felt very left out, but now he’d be able to make sure that Cirrus was doing whatever he was supposed to be doing right.
Guard: 7
88
|
|