|
Post by Morgan on Dec 29, 2021 19:04:00 GMT -6
The repetition was always the most important part of training any creature any behavior, even though some of them were smart enough to need (or even Want) less of it. Kaodie and malii in general were always right on the cusp of that- very smart, but also smart enough to cause trouble if they weren't highly motivated. Luckily for Morgan (or perhaps unluckily) Kaodie had a bit of a further vested stake than most critters had in their masters. He worked diligently, not even seeming angry that Morgan was causing paper-cut-like harm to him in order to teach him the behavior. He didn't seem to be bothered at all, once he licked the wound clean it disappeared nearly immediately anyway.
They worked on it diligently, with Kaodie getting less hesitant with it and better each time until finally Morgan was certain that he'd gotten it. They were quite thankful that he had, too- as it had began to sleet. They took Kaodie with them and practically ran for home in a rather undignified fashion.
[15] - [End 'Lick Wounds']
[The pair have went home. Level half counted with '30' mark at the Mansion this month.]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 16:58:44 GMT -6
Morgan was taking Kaodie on a walk past the park whenever they stopped to look towards the spot where they had found the old abandoned playground to train him. Everything was all covered in snow. Kaodie followed Morgan at a close clip until they stopped, and then he looked over towards where Morgan was looking out of habit, and then looked back up at them very specifically. Then, Morgan glanced down at him (also out of habit) and saw that his tail was wagging as he was looking at the playground. Morgan glances up at the fading light of the wintry afternoon, to see if they had enough time for it. Then, they turned towards Kaodie and nodded to him. The little malii took off running, tail flipping around super fast, towards the playground equipment. Morgan couldn't help but shake their head watching him. They didn't have a lot of time for him to play, but they figured that they would let him play.
[1] - [1/5 Posts to count for Morgan's level to even out the Mansion]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 19:25:13 GMT -6
Morgan trailed behind Kaodie as he ran towards the slide. They trudged over the powdery snow with their boots, stopping near the slide. Kaodie wasn't the best at climbing, but he was able to hop from platform to platform since the slide was attached to a sort of play-house or jungle-gym type thing, he had an easier time with it than he would have had climbing up traditional thin steps (he might not have even been able to do that). Morgan wrapped their arms up around their chest and huddled their hands beneath their armpits for warmth as the malii got to the top of the slide and looked down at them expectantly. "N-no, it's okay Kaodie, you can go down if you want." They murmur, but Kaodie mostly reacts to their slight nod of 'go on'. He stuck his tongue out in enjoyment as he pushed himself to the top of the slide's downturn.
[2]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 19:28:35 GMT -6
Kaodie went down the slide at that, taking a small shelf of snow that had accumulated on the slide (with ice at the underside of it) down with him. It didn't hurt him at all, since he was at the top of the sheet that slid down- and it ended with him on top of a little pile of snow at the bottom of the slide on the ground. He turns to Morgan as if asking permission again, and Morgan nods to him. Might as well let him go down a few more times. Creatures like malii were rather clever and could come up with their own tricks sometimes. Morgan felt like they remembered reading a book about a similar sort of creature learning to slide down snowy rooftops on top of a makeshift sled out of a plate; something that sounded quite fantastical. Kaodie seemed to be more interested in playing than anything else- a shame sometimes.
[3]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 19:40:00 GMT -6
If Kaodie could actually put his mind to other things than playing (and stealing things, which Morgan was beginning to realize was a little bit of a problem) then he could really be a wonder; as it stood, it took Morgan leading him like a fine-tuned pen to help him be really useful. They could theoretically go searching out for one of those cunning increasing items- they were rare but rarity didn't really stand a chance to the sort of money that Morgan had to back; but they really didn't... Want to. Kaodie was fine the way he was, even if sometimes he was a little bit of a dingus. They could remember what happened to Waar whenever they introduced the item to him; he was still a sad sort of guy. Morgan hoped to help make him happier in the future, but they weren't entirely sure How. They wouldn't want something similar to happen to Kaodie.
[4]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 19:49:06 GMT -6
Kaodie runs up and bounces from platform to platform on the playground equipment to go up to the top of the slide again, and he slides back down. Morgan watches him as immediately he turns back around to go do it again, and again, and even again. He was having quite a bit of fun, they could tell. It was almost infectious. However, Morgan continues to hang back. They were no longer a child, and in some ways Kaodie always would be. It was both really bittersweet and a little alienating. They felt very raw, all of a sudden- though perhaps it could have been the windburn that was starting up on their face. After a single moment of melancholy viewership, Morgan's voice rings out-
"Come on, Kaodie. T-time to go." And of course with that the obedient little malii comes running to Morgan to continue the walk, not even looking back twice to the slide.
[5] - [5/5 Posts to count for Morgan's level to even out the Mansion.] - [The pair leave for home.]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Feb 5, 2022 22:17:41 GMT -6
It is a fairly unnaturally warm day in Vakrah whenever Morgan finds the time to take little Kaodie out to the park. Seasonal Depression was Rife among the populace this time of year- so naturally as soon as there was a sunny day with any amount of warmth meeting the upper fifty degrees (in Fahrenheit) in winter people flocked to the park in droves. This was actually a good thing; Normally Morgan would take Kaodie to the farthest and creepiest reaches of the park to avoid the crowds. People tended to avoid this supposedly haunted little set of children's playground equipment quite strongly, so that was where Kaodie's training sessions had taken place for the most part.
The creature is more than a little worried when Morgan makes a beeline for a park bench near where a large crowd was taking walks up and down the main concrete walkway in the park.
"D-don't worry boyo." Morgan's voice is even and calm to try to console the little creature. "I know you know I d-don't like people. It's okay."
That was actually the reason why they were here today, after all.
[1]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 10, 2022 14:37:12 GMT -6
Morgan wasn't entirely sure where they wanted to start today. There were several different behaviors that they wanted to impress on Kaodie today, and though he was a quick learner (as most malii tended to be, with their relative intelligence in comparison to usual creatures), Morgan had never really taught any of these behaviors before and they weren't entirely certain how to go about it. They'd done their research, but there was always the small chance that they would not be able to do it correctly.
Either way, they decided that the first couple of things that they would start on with the malii- to circle them when in a crowd (which would help them in any future press conferences- not that they tried to do any of them theirself) and to help distract them whenever they had any anxiety tics present (Something that commonly occurred when they were in front of a lot of people).
[2]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 11, 2022 13:32:25 GMT -6
Morgan had already decided that the commands for any behavior like these needed to be quick hand signals that could be seen easily by Kaodie but might not be as easily noticed by those around them. Usually Morgan trained Kaodie to a whistle, but they had before trained behaviors that used hand signals for Kaodie before, so they were certain that he'd catch on quickly. None of the people in the area seemed alarmed or to pay any attention to them at all, since it was in such a busy part of the park and at such a busy time of the day.
"Alright Kaodie, let's start with... uh t-the circling behavior." That sounded like the easier of the two to start on. They had a good idea of how to get him to do it. They had already trained him to follow them, so that part should be easier. They figured that they would also use his rope toy to show him about the distance to be used to circle them. They would start away from the crowd a bit, off to the side, and then hopefully test it in the crowd to make sure that he got it when the time came.
[3] - [Start 'Circle']
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 11, 2022 13:50:19 GMT -6
As soon as Kaodie hears Morgan's voice, his ears perk up and he pays complete attention to them. He'd gotten quite used to the rigors of training, and he knows about what is expected of him by Morgan. The human couldn't help but be glad that he was so eager to please. It made training easier, at least. They decided on a small twirl of their pointer finger as a hand signal for the circling behavior, and then they also reached into their pocket to grab the rainbow rope toy that Kaodie loved so much. At this, they stood and moved a bit away, out in the grass nearby the group of people walking on the concrete. "Alright Kaodie..." Morgan murmured, not even noticing that they were speaking.
They got Kaodie's attention very easily with the hand signal that they'd chosen. Perhaps it was due to their close bond, or perhaps it was something else, but he seemed to know that this meant something and should be paid attention to.
[4]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 11, 2022 13:55:29 GMT -6
After getting the malii's attention with the hand signal and making sure that it was known that this was a command, Morgan gave Kaodie another command to help them along- the one to follow them. At this, they took the rainbow rope toy and twirled around in a circle with it. They kept their body standing still in one position and turned around only in direction that they were facing. They held the toy out at arm's length. Kaodie seemed to put the 'follow' and the toy together, so he followed the toy. It was a start! Once they made a couple of circles, Morgan cracked a token smile. "Good job, B-boyo, good." They were sure to give him verbal praise and then scritch him behind the ear and play a couple of rounds of tug of war for him to make sure that he knew that he'd done well.
[5]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 13:02:32 GMT -6
Morgan knew that it was going to take a lot of work to get Kaodie to understand this concept, and they weren't entirely certain that they were up to it. They wanted to try their hardest, despite that. After playing the couple of rounds of tug-of-war that were the positive reinforcement that seemed to work best for Kaodie, Morgan restarted the process again. They gave the new hand signal that they'd decided upon earlier and then they offered the tug of war toy again. Kaodie follows the toy around in the tight circles around them, watching Morgan the entire time he does for any new signals. They then gave him praise and a couple of games of tug-of-war again to show that he was doing well. The entire point of this part of the process was to associate the circling behavior with the new hand signal, so Morgan repeated it a few more times to try to get the idea to stick.
[6]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 13:13:57 GMT -6
Kaodie was rather quick on his feet, to say the least. Malii did tend to be a little more on the intelligent side for creatures, though they were not always simple to keep the attention of due to that cleverness. Kaodie seemed to be quite fussy over Morgan even when he wasn't being trained actively, so Morgan had it a little easier with him than they had with some of their other critters. After they ran through the same process several more times, he did begin to associate the new hand signal with the circling behavior. He'd begin the circling behavior even before Morgan began spinning around with the toy, so the next time that they tried the process they simply didn't use the rope toy to prompt the behavior- and Kaodie barely skipped a beat when he began circling around Morgan closely. He may not know the purpose of the behavior (perhaps 'yet' would be accurate) but he aimed to please as he always did.
[7]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 13:27:22 GMT -6
Now that Morgan had managed to get Kaodie to associate the hand signal with the most basic of the movements and expectations, they knew that it was time to do the part that they were not looking forward to, and teach him to do this with people around. They hoped that it would translate over with repetition that this was what the behavior was actually for. Morgan moves Kaodie over to the group of people after they finished giving him a good couple of rounds of tug-of-war. Immediately Kaodie seemed to get a tad nervous and fuss over Morgan, knowing that the people made them anxious (probably because he was quite used to Morgan's body language by this point, Morgan reasoned). Morgan gave him the hand signal that they'd chosen for the circling behavior, and Kaodie moved to circle them, since he knew that this was what Morgan wanted. At first, he tried to avoid the other people around them as well, since that was what he expected was wanted from him. [8]
|
|
|
Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 13:40:57 GMT -6
Morgan did give Kaodie praise for that, which Kaodie did hear despite Morgan trying to be a little on the quiet side now that they were in amongst quite a few different people. They wouldn't dare play tug of war with Kaodie in the middle of all of these people, though for now they were mostly being ignored by the various people going this way and that. Kaodie wagged his tail at the tip just a little bit, and Morgan continued by giving him the command again. The human watched as Kaodie tried to avoid the people around them while circling them. They couldn't help but hope that he'd catch on relatively soon and start being more commanding with his tiny form, to keep people further away from them. Kaodie seemed to catch on to this whenever Morgan gave him another round of praise; he looked at Morgan quite imploringly for a moment.
[9]
|
|