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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 0:18:56 GMT -6
Time went by as the pair worked on the technique. Eventually, Morgan moved from using the RoT, to using a few of the random items that they kept in their pockets. They tied them onto the dummy using twine, and then began to slowly wean Kaodie off of Morgan having to point at the items. If the 'foe' had multiple items, stealing one at a time would have to do the trick, and they guessed it really didn't matter which one overall. Morgan continued the repetition part of the training by giving the command the same way each time, and whenever Kaodie did the correct thing (figuring out how to remove all sorts of items from the foe from all sorts of angles using his tongue) they always played tug of war with him for a few moments as a treat. Eventually, Morgan was convinced that he'd be able to pilfer items off of foes fairly reliably.
[15] - [End of 'Snitch'] - [Note to self, counting this as a character level with the 'extra' from the quest last month]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 17:28:12 GMT -6
After all of that work, Morgan was ready to teach Kaodie something that was a little simpler- and a little easier on his tongue. When their father had first gotten him for them, they had loved the fact that the looked so much like the drawing that they'd drawn for him (which had disappeared from the honored place on the refrigerator a few weeks prior; Morgan had looked everywhere for it!), but soon they were quite concerned about how to keep Kaodie from being an absolute nuisance with it. That had taken a while.
Now they were trying to come up with creative techniques with him to make the best out of the odd trait. They figured that it might be easy to teach him how to 'surprise' others by flashing the tongue in an enemy's face. They had a pretty good idea about how to get him to do it for the first time, as well.
[1] - [Start Surprise!]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 18:25:13 GMT -6
Morgan brings the whistle to their lips again from where it hangs from the chain around their neck and immediately Kaodie's eyes are on them. He knows that whenever the whistle comes out, that a command was going to be given. The command that Morgan gave at that point was not one that the malii understood in the slightest, but he does listen to it anyway. At this, Morgan points up, and Kaodie's eyes follow that movement. He doesn't see anything... But whenever the human gives that one command that he does know- the whistle to use his sticky tongue, he doesn't really see a target for it! He is confused for a moment, looking back down to Morgan again to figure it out, and then back up again to whatever the human was pointing at.
He didn't understand, not when Morgan gave him another command, and another... Finally, he sticks his tongue out into the sky anyway.
[2]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 18:39:42 GMT -6
"Good boyo!" Morgan calls out, whenever Kaodie finally sticks his tongue out into the air. Kaodie was very confused, they could tell, whenever he turned around to look at them, tongue all back where it belonged. Morgan gives him a good couple of minutes worth of tug of war as a treat for him, to let him know that he had done well. Then, they step back again and give the command for the shocking a possible foe technique again. Kaodie tilts his head, looking at Morgan with alert in his features. Once again, Morgan painted to the sky and then gave the command for him to use his sticky tongue on the 'nothing' there. The malii looks up again and repeats the 'good' thing that he had done earlier; sticking his tongue out up into the air.
"Good boyo!" Morgan repeats. Kaodie tilts his head again as he trots back over. They play another game of tug of war as a treat.
[3]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 18:51:08 GMT -6
Morgan was hoping that the malii would get it, but they knew that it was going to take a lot more repetition in order for him to really cement the command with the action. As soon as they had the chance they turned back and repeated the command again, and pointed up. They had to repeat this part several times (with Kaodie needing the 'sticky tongue' command each time to actually release his tongue) with Morgan always giving him praise and playing tug of war to shwo that he was doing well before they finally had a breakthrough. This time whenever Morgan gave the command for the surprise technique that they were trying to teach him, he stuck his tongue out as soon as Morgan pointed up; they didn't have to give him the command to use his sticky tongue this time!
"Good boyo, Kaodie!" Morgan calls out to him, before playing another short game of tug of war with him as a treat for doing the right thing.
[4]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 18:58:25 GMT -6
Morgan was sure that they were getting somewhere quickly. Now, they were just going to have to continue to repeat the training technique until Kaodie really committed it to memory. Morgan continued to give the whistled command, and then point to the sky whenever Kaodie hesitated. Each time he did correctly, Morgan gave him another short round of tug of war as a treat. Kaodie required a few more repetitions of this than normal to finally start associating the new command with simply flicking his tongue out quite quickly, but as soon as he did Morgan was sure to give him some extra time with tug of war and give him lots of praise!
Morgan still continued to repeat the command until they were certain that Kaodie would stick his tongue out each and every time he heard that particular call. Because he was trying to get to the tug of war games, he was even doing the quickest of flicks- which was actually perfect for the technique!
Finally, they were certain that he'd gotten it.
[5] - [End of Surprise]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 19:05:34 GMT -6
Morgan didn't really want to get Kaodie confused about the commands that had to do with his tongue, so they figured that they would put some time in between working on this and another idea that they had as an application for Kaodie's tongue. Whether they wound up working or not, Morgan wanted to try them out anyway! They decided that they would work him through the commands again later to make sure that they really cemented anyway. Morgan waved the malii over. "C-c'mere Kaodie!" The Malii trots after Morgan until the human gets to a small brook. They bent down to put their fingers in it, too see if it was too cold...
It hadn't really gotten all that cold yet that fall, so though the water wasn't warm by any means, it wasn't too cold either. They figured that Kaodie could take the little bit of cool water, since he didn't have any fur.
[6] - [Start of 'Swim']
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 19:16:33 GMT -6
Morgan hops across the brook (a relatively easy feat sine it was so narrow and shallow at that specific point) and then calls Kaodie to come over. The Malii looks down at the water, his head tilted. Morgan wanted to teach him to swim while they still had non-freezing water, so that they didn't have to wait until summer to work with him on it. It would come in handy if Morgan ever decided to take him fishing (it might be a good idea to teach him how to get his own food in the future, just in case... But not today), and it would do very well as a break between all of the other more combat-heavy training that had planned for this afternoon.
Morgan gave a whistled command, the one they wanted to use to tell him to swim, and then waved to try to get Kaodie to cross the water. The malii hesitantly steps into the shallow water, and crosses over to them at Morgan's bequest.
[7]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 19:35:49 GMT -6
Just getting him to the water was going to be a big help. "Good boyo, Kaodie." Morgan tells him, pulling the tug of war toy out to give him a quick game for doing properly. At this, Morgan hops back over the little brook and scoots down towards a slightly deeper (but no less narrow) point in the brook. At this, they gave the whistled command that they had chosen to get him to swim again. Kaodie tilts his head and looks over at Morgan, and then at the wider point in the brook that he had followed Morgan to. He obviously didn't really want to cross. "Oh come on you chicken, y-y-you don't even have fur." Morgan complains to him. They wave to try to get Kaodie to come over.
Finally, Kaodie dances back and forth on his front legs for a moment before stepping down into the water. He goes up to his neck in it, and then emerges on the other side next to Morgan.
[8]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 20:00:52 GMT -6
Morgan nods to him whenever he makes his way over to the brook bank they were standing on. "Good job, boyo- good job." They coaxed him, while taking the tug of war toy out from their pocket to play with him to give him a nice round of tug of war for his troubles. They still weren't really close to getting him to actually swim, but this was all part of the process. At the conclusion of the short tug of war game, Morgan moved to a deeper part of the brook; this one would be over the malii's head easily.
Most creatures that had four legs had enough of an instinct in water to 'doggy paddle', but getting them to not panic and to actually try it was another thing altogether. Morgan hops the narrow stream and then gives another whistled command for him to swim, while trying to wave him on over. Kaodie makes a soft hesitant noise, but he steps into the water anyway, slowly trying to trudge across.
[9]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 20:09:19 GMT -6
The malii begins to slow as he pushes forward toward the deeper part of the stream, and Morgan waves him over, trying to encourage him to come over even though he was extremely hesitant. Be it due to their bond or loyalty or simply that Kaodie really wanted to play that game of tug of war- he dips into the deepest part of the brook and is momentarily submerged over his head. Morgan is prepared to quickly jump down to try to fish him out whenever Kaodie pushes up and off of the bottom of the river using his hind paws and he breaks the surface of the water for a breath. "G-good job, Kaodie, c'mon." Morgan coaxes him, and then they give him the command whistle they'd chosen for 'swim' as well, intermixing it with the coaxing. Each time that Kaodie went below the water he pushed off of the bottom of the river to get another breath of air.
[10]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 20:35:11 GMT -6
"Come on Kaodie, you need to keep kicking." The bespectacled human murmurs as they try to coax Kaodie on. Kaodie struggles a bit, continually sinking and then immediately breaking out of the water again. Finally he begins kicking while in the process of sinking instead of just off of the bottom of the brook, and after panicking and dropping beneath the water a couple more times, he is finally able to just barely keep his face above the water as he crosses the rest of the way over the river. "G-good job Kaodie!" Morgan tells him as he hauls himself out of the water. The bespectacled human gives the malii and good game of tug of war (that Kaodie was a little too tired to really do much during) and then a treat. "You're doing good, K-Kaodie." Morgan said to him to really drive it home.
As soon as the malii stopped panting as hard, Morgan hopped over the brook again, and gave the command for Kaodie to swim over to them again.
[11]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 20:42:52 GMT -6
Kaodie didn't need Morgan to wave him over this time. He knew what Morgan was wanting, but he really wasn't looking forward to it at all. Kaodie was a little hesitant again, but then he enters the water again, this time pushing off of the bottom when it began to get too deep and paddling the best he could. His cadence wasn't that great, but he was just barely keeping his head above the water now. As soon as he got onto the bank at the other side, Morgan gives him another short tug of war game (he was too tired for anything too vigorous) and then a treat for his troubles. "You're doing it, Kaodie. J-just keep it up." They murmur to him.
From that point on, they just needed to repeat the process again and again until his cadence was perfect. Morgan hopped across the brook each time and then gave the command whistle they had chosen for 'swim'; and Kaodie swam across the best he could until finally, Morgan was sure that he had gotten good enough to be able to swim on his own without worry.
[12] - [End of Swim]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 20:47:42 GMT -6
After they worked for another thirty minutes, Morgan was certain that Kaodie was a little too tired to continue working that day. They took him home, carrying him most of the way. He was tuckered right out and fell asleep on the way home! They came back the next day, and though it was not quite as fair a day (about five degrees cooler than the day before and a little on the cloudy side), Morgan wanted to continue to put Kaodie through some training while the mood was fresh. They had the time to do it, between their busy schedule, so they took advantage of that. Kaodie was feeling much better, so it was time to get to work!
The next thing that they wanted to teach him was another tongue-related technique. It was one that they weren't sure would wind up being too useful with such a small creature, but they figured that it might come in handy if they decided to teach him to fish someday.
[13] - [Start 'Constrict']
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Post by Morgan on Dec 16, 2021 20:52:33 GMT -6
They had the dummy set up again, and they went ahead and tied a few different things to it so that they could warm Kaodie back up on the commands they had worked on the day before. Morgan grabbed their whistle from about their neck and then put him through his paces; calling out for him to work on the different techniques they'd already worked on. One command for an attack with his tongue and an additional bite to the dummy's leg, another command to snatch one of the items (he was a little rusty but that was why they were doing this after all!) and then another command for him to flash his tongue to the sky.
After they worked him through these commands a few times, they moved him closer to it and then gave the new whistled command that they had chosen for the new technique that they were going to teach him. The malii perks his ears up at the noise of it.
[14]
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