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Post by Emery on May 13, 2024 10:21:33 GMT -6
Emery had taught Argos how to hold and drop items, but she wasn't out of the woods with simple tricks yet. She still needed him to know how to grab particular types of object for her, instead of just whatever she held in front of him. After all, her end goal was for him to use this knowledge down in the mines so he could help her with mining. It didn't do her much good if he could only hold onto items she handed to him. She was going to need his help with finding particular types of item. So for now, she would teach him to get gemstones for her. "Argos." She said, beckoning him closer. Then, she reached in her pocket and pulled out a moonstone- one of the few gems she had left after her recent trip to The Underground to make some money. It would do for this purpose.
Emery 1 Argos 19.1/19.1 Get (Gems) 1
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Post by Emery on May 13, 2024 11:31:32 GMT -6
"Argos, hold." She said, holding it out for him. Once he was holding it, she set up the actual command. "Argos, get gem." She said, pointing at the gem in his hand. She held her hand out for it. Tentatively, he handed it back. "Good job." She said, and tossed him a treat. He chewed it thoughtfully, and when he was done, Emery held the gem out again, gesturing to it the same way she would when she asked him to hold something. "Argos. Get gem." She said, now using the new command word. It took a few moments of him thinking about it, but slowly he reached out and took it from her palm once more. "Good." Emery said, and handed him another treat before taking the gem back. He tilted his head- no doubt the new information here was percolating in his head. She held the moonstone out again.
Emery 2 Argos 19.2/19.2 Get (Gems) 2
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Post by Emery on May 13, 2024 12:43:48 GMT -6
They repeated that a few times, back and forth, back and forth, until it looked like Argos understood the basic idea of taking the gem from her when she gave the command, and then giving it back when she told him he was done. Once he got the hang of it, Emery then took out some more gems she had gleaned from the mines on her last trip. She held one out- a nice amber colored jasper. "Argos, get gem." She said. Tentatively, he took it, and then handed it back to her in their usual swap. She repeated this with several kinds of gems. A chrysacola, a quartz. He got more and more confident with it, realizing that she was probably referring to a category of object as opposed to a single discrete item. Soon she could hand him just about any kind of gemstone and he'd happily take it and return it.
Emery 3 Argos 19.3/19.3 Get (Gems) 3
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Post by Emery on May 13, 2024 14:46:18 GMT -6
Then came the hard part. Next, she took out a rock and held it in one hand, and then a gemstone in the other. "Argos. Get the gem." She said, presenting him with both. He looked back and forth between them. He lifted a hand, hesitant, before grabbing the rock. "No." Emery said firmly, and he flinched back as if struck. "Argos. Get the gem." She repeated, looking at him intently. He glanced between Emery's screen and her hands again before moving to the gem, picking it up. "Good. Thank you." She said, accepting it back again and handing him a treat. She repeated this several times as well, varying the type of gems and the types of rock- size, shape, composition. After several repetitions of this, the runic gargoyle could easily differentiate between valuable gemstones and worthless plain stones, picking up the gems and handing them back to her each time.
Emery 4 Argos 19.4/19.4 Get (Gems) 4
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Post by Emery on May 13, 2024 14:50:43 GMT -6
The last test she had for Argos took a while to set up. While he waited (ordered to stay, of course), Emery scattered all of her stock of rocks and gems on the ground, spreading them out somewhat evenly on the flat surface. Once they were there, Emery went back to her spot near the large pile of rocks she had been using as the centerpiece for Argos's training and leaned against it. "Argos. Get the gems." She said, and gestured to the field of stones. He didn't need to be told twice. It took him a while- he wasn't particularly fast- but Argos dutifully walked around the field of stones, examining them quickly to determine their identity before either picking them up or ignoring them. Every gem he picked up and held in his hand or under his arm, and every rock he left alone. Then he returned to Emery, looking up at Emery. "Perfect." She complimented.
Emery 5 Argos 20.0/20.0 Get (Gems) 5
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Post by Emery on May 13, 2024 19:31:13 GMT -6
Being able to hold gems and drop them in her hand was one thing. Being able to tell a gem and a rock apart was another. But those were only two pieces of the puzzle for Emery's quest to teach Argos to help her mine. After all, Emery was pretty weak. She tired easily, and thus didn't have the energy to be wandering around, constantly looking for gems. So it would be very helpful to her if Argos knew how to do it for her. She had even already taught him to dig for them. But Emery couldn't always be there babysitting him, looking over his shoulders. He'd need to learn how to search on his own- and for that, Emery could help him. First, she repeated a few more rounds of Argos getting her gems, just so it was fresh on his mind. Then, she rustled around in her bag, looking for some more training tools.
Emery 6 Argos 20.1/20.1 Search 1
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Post by Emery on May 14, 2024 6:39:17 GMT -6
There we go- Emery had unfoldable, flat pack boxes. It took her a while to get them all set up, but it wasn't too physically strenuous. After a few minutes she was done. Then, she kicked the rocks and gems around, scrambling them up again before going around and setting the boxes on top of them. Argos's head flicked back and forth, but he couldn't keep track of what box went over what stone and where all of the gems were. Soon, every last gem and most of the rocks (Emery didn't have THAT many boxes) were hidden under the boxes. Emery gestured to the field of now hidden treasures. "Argos, search." She said, giving him the new word he'd need to learn this trick. "Get the gems." She said, trying to hint at what she needed him to do. He looked at her and then the field of boxes before slowly approaching it.
Emery 7 Argos 20.2/20.2 Search 2
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Post by Emery on May 14, 2024 6:46:00 GMT -6
Slowly but surely, he tipped over a box. Under it was a plain rock. He looked at Emery expectantly. "Argos, search." She said, trying to encourage him to keep going. "Get the gems." She said. Unfortunately, this one wasn't a gem- he was going to have to move on if he wanted to get this right. He stared at it for a few more moments, as if trying to will it into a gem, but eventually moved on. He didn't seem to be looking too hard, just kind of walking between the boxes, but eventually knocked another one over on accident. Underneath it was a tiny but bright red carnelian. Emery had been repeating "search" and "get the gems" for a while now (the latter of which was a command that he already knew), so he didn't waste time in snatching it up and carrying it over to Emery, holding it up proudly.
Emery 8 Argos 20.3/20.3 Search 3
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Post by Emery on May 14, 2024 6:52:43 GMT -6
"Good job. Good search." Emery said, accepting the gem and handing Argos one of his treat rocks as a prize. He chewed it quickly, and Emery hoped this meant he was getting the hang of it. Unfortunately his expressions were pretty hard to read, so she couldn't tell if he was thinking hard about it by looking at his face. After he finished eating however, he turned around and returned to the field. "Argos, search for gems." Emery said, making sure he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. Sure enough, he tipped over a few more boxes. It was slow but at least purposeful this time, like he had an idea of what he was supposed to be doing. The next few boxes were only full of rocks, but as time went on he managed to find all of the ones holding gems and brought them back over to Emery.
Emery 9 Argos 20.4/20.4 Search 4
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Post by Emery on May 14, 2024 6:57:53 GMT -6
Once Emery had all of her gems back, she set up a much harder course for Argos. First, she threw her coat over her head so he couldn't see what she was doing. He was too phlegmatic to bother taking it off and instead simply stood there silently. Then, she went and hid all of the gems in nooks and crannies around the central rock pile they had been training around. They were hidden simply under boxes this time- he'd really have to dig for them. Then, she took the coat off his head. "Argos, search for gems." She said, giving the command. Sure enough, he immediately began looking around. With no boxes this time, he tipped over rocks, and looked under ledges. Finally he found one, wedged between two leaning rocks. Then another. Then another. As time went on he searched faster and faster, finally getting the hang of it. It took a while, but finally he had a big pile of gems to show for it- and Emery knew he could be trusted with this task in the future.
Emery 10 Argos 21.0/21.0 Search 5
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Post by Emery on Jun 13, 2024 6:58:29 GMT -6
Emery had returned to the public park, this time with a much more different pet in tow. Pyrrhos was different from Argos in just about every way. Instead of being made of solid, impregnable stone, he was made of amorphous fire, his limbs and body more of a suggestion than a rule. Argos was dazzlingly intelligent- sapient, in fact- but Pyrrhos was dumber than a box of rocks. He was practically an automaton. But unlike Argos, he had a wealth of incredibly dangerous physical traits. Argos only had his claws and wings- things many creatures shared- but Pyrrhos was unique in that he was made of pure flame. That had its upsides- he would be incredible for battles someday- but it had its downsides as well. He was long past the point of being a harmless little candle flame. Before she could just ignore his more dangerous tendencies. It wasn't like he could do any harm. Emery 1 Pyrrhos 18.1/18.1
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Post by Emery on Jun 13, 2024 7:01:10 GMT -6
Now though, she couldn't ignore how big he was getting- and how much hotter, and how much more dangerous his flames were. He accidentally set something on fire at least once a day now. She needed to teach him how to control his flames and to keep them from burning things- or failing that, to at least teach him better manners and recall so she could keep him away from more delicate things. Like people. And children. For now though he was still happy to follow along after her- though she couldn't help but notice people avoiding them as he burned every patch of grass he walked across as he stepped on it with his strange, wobbling steps. On her list to teach him today then was several obedience and movement tricks along with some moves involving his fire and strange body. That would hopefully make him easier to manage.
Emery 2 Pyrrhos 18.2/18.2
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Post by Emery on Jun 13, 2024 10:17:48 GMT -6
But in order for that to happen, Emery had to find a place where they could train. That was easier said than done. While the public park had areas specifically set up for letting people train pets, pets with his... unique consistency were rare. She had to find an area that would be completely fireproof, not just fire resistant, considering that there was a likelihood that he'd be blasting flames or standing in one spot for quite some time. There weren't a lot of places that fit the bill- most areas for creatures like that had to be custom built to start with. Still, Emery was determined to find something, even if it took a bit of walking around first. It wasn't like Pyrrhos minded the wait. He was content to simply toddle after Emery, getting his steps in for the day. Luckily, the park was wide with a lot of variety.
Emery 3 Pyrrhos 18.3/18.3
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Post by Emery on Jun 13, 2024 10:22:58 GMT -6
After almost twenty minutes of walking Emery had to admit her legs were getting tired, even with her cane to assist. Luckily, she found something even better than a specialized training area- a skate park. The wide concrete bowls were perfect for Pyrrhos. Concrete wasn't flammable for one- he could blast heat at it all day and it wouldn't even crack. Furthermore, there wasn't anything like paint on it that would be damaged by his body. The curves of the walls would also help block any gouts of flame he managed to blast at someone too. Instead of flying off to who knew where and onto something flammable, they would simply be dashed against the walls or, at worst, redirected up into the sky where they would harmlessly fizzle out. Emery couldn't think of a better place to train him, and to their great luck the skate park was empty- no signs of people.
Emery 4 Pyrrhos 18.4/18.4
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Post by Emery on Jun 13, 2024 10:28:35 GMT -6
Emery was sure they would be allowed to "reserve" one of the bowls for a while, and opened the chain link mesh door. It swung open easily, albeit with a few squeaking nosies, and Emery was sure to latch it shut again behind her. Pyrrhos followed her obediently, and looked around idly at his surroundings as Emery fiddled with the door. When she was done, the cyborg ushered him into one of the bowls, a nice wide one with a flat bottom, leaving them plenty of room to practice tricks. Emery set her bag with his treats and various training tools down on the ground near the bottom of one of the slopes, leaving herself easy access to it. It had everything she needed for training him- now all she needed was to get started. As Pyrrhos got comfortable, Emery realized she should probably start with something nice and simple.
Emery 5 Pyrrhos 19.0/19.0
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