Star
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May 18, 2022 4:25:12 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:25:12 GMT -6
IgorLevel: 11, 7 Stamina: 4 Strength: 1 Resistance: 2 Dexterity: 3 Mentality: 10 Special Abilities: Fly, Light Sensitivity x2, Acid Immunity, Shadow Resistance, Magical Moves: Bone Shift, Chilling Aura, Nether Claw, Plague Breath Knows: Bite (2), Claw (2)
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Star
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Posts: 136
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Lessons
May 18, 2022 4:26:20 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:26:20 GMT -6
It was not easy to convince such a large creature to follow me to the park, but I managed to accomplish the monumental task with a bit of old-fashioned bribery. Golossle, it seemed, were not that much different from anyone else. Offer them a treat and they’d be willing to put up with a surprising amount in order to get it. I couldn’t blame them, of course, as I could easily be tempted by the right amount of sparkle, myself. Speaking of sparkle, Velvet was by far one of the shiniest creatures I had ever met. Her carapace glimmered and shifted hues in the light, as if she were the largest fiery opal imaginable. Certainly this is what drew me to her in the first place, but she was also a fascinating creature once I was able to learn a bit more about her. The more creatures I meet, the more I have appreciation for all of their differences, and their similarities as well. [14.5, 0.2]
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Star
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Posts: 136
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May 18, 2022 4:26:53 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:26:53 GMT -6
Something I was surprised to learn about the Golossle species was the extent of their immense strength. Apparently, a creature as small as an ant could carry dozens of times its own weight with little effort, and somehow the same could be said of one of the largest creatures I had ever seen. I hadn’t yet tested her, but I had no doubt that Velvet had a lot of power, even for a creature of her size.
It was time to teach Velvet some lessons in utility, which is why I led her into the park in the first place. She would be learning how to pull a cart full of goods for me. Given her size, I was sure that it would be no trouble for her to pull along a full load of gemstones, or whatever else I had to lug around. I was also interested in seeing if I could find out just how much she could pull, if there was such a limit at all.
[14.6, 0.4]
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Star
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Posts: 136
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May 18, 2022 4:27:46 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:27:46 GMT -6
It was tricky to test something like a creature’s strength or endurance, as pushing them to a limit was also cruel. As curious as I was, I did not want to hurt anyone or cause them any actual distress. That would be absurd. Whatever tests I conducted would have to be fair and account for exhaustion, which didn’t sound too difficult.
Before we got to any of that, we had to work on tethering her to the cart and getting used to the feeling of it being pulled. Velvet was a shockingly intelligent creature, especially for an insect, but I wasn’t sure how she would react to the cart chasing after her everywhere she went. She wasn’t a prey animal, so perhaps she wouldn’t find it alarming at all. Though I had no doubt it would be a bit weird or uncomfortable at first. I certainly wouldn’t appreciate being strapped to a strange device that I didn’t have any say in.
[14.7, 0.6] [Pull Buggy - 1]
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Star
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Posts: 136
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May 18, 2022 4:28:12 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:28:12 GMT -6
I made a gentle clicking sound and reached out a claw for Velvet, so that she could see I was about to touch her before I actually did. It was interesting to interact with creatures who couldn’t speak or understand my speech, but I got used to it pretty quickly. If I wanted to raise the strongest and most beautiful creatures, I would have to learn how to speak to them in their language, as it were.
Velvet watched me as I moved with curiosity hidden in her impossibly dark eyes. Though her carapace was shimmery and bright, her eyes were fully black with a glimmer of light reflecting off of them. I considered her eyes to be one of her more beautiful features, as they looked like gems of their own.
While I knew that Velvet had a great capacity to learn based on her actions during the short time I had known her so far, I had never had to put it to the test before. Due to her intelligence and unusual stature, it was hard to tell if the usual methods of creature training would be effective on her. Were the things used to motivate other creatures appealing to her? That was all part of the assumptions I was looking to test today. There was no better way to do so than to get started.
[14.8, 0.8] [Pull Buggy - 2]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:28:34 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:28:34 GMT -6
“Hello Velvet,” I said in my softest voice. Creatures liked to be spoken to, and it didn’t really matter what I said. It was nice, really, not having to be so careful with my words. I reached up to touch her gently, but I realized that I wasn’t sure how she would like to be touched, or even if she would like it at all. I pulled my claw back a bit and looked from my hand to her scythe-like front limbs. She probably wasn’t big on shaking paws, I figured.
To my surprise, Velvet made a clicking sound and moved a bit closer to me. She was a large creature, and every time she moved when I wasn’t expecting it, it felt strange to me. This must be how smaller, prey creatures felt when they were approached by someone of my size. I had to keep that feeling in mind so that I might better empathize with them in the future.
[14.9, 1] [Pull Buggy - 3]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:29:02 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:29:02 GMT -6
Her antennae began to twitch around and I could see her turn her head one way, and then the other. Was she investigating me? I stood very still so that she might get a better look, though I must admit that it made me uncomfortable. As much as I liked being admired, this felt more like being sized up. I resisted the urge to puff myself up and let her do what made her more comfortable. It was best to build a good rapport with her so that she would trust me when we began our lessons.
She leaned her head down as though she was accepting my touch. I still felt unsure, but the gesture looked familiar to me, so I instinctively reached out and gave her a pat on the head. She seemed pleased, and clicked her mandibles at me, which I assumed was a gesture of good will. I made a soft sound to her in return and tapped gently on her shell.
[15, 1.2] [Pull Buggy - 4]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:29:31 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:29:31 GMT -6
“I can see you are ready to get started,” I said. The gear needed to pull the harness was stacked neatly nearby. It was fairly expensive to get enough material to fit a Golossle, but I was able to order it and get it sorted fairly easily. I supposed that living in a city like this made such things possible.
I was glad that Velvet was a calm, patient creature overall, as it took me a bit of time to set up all of the gear needed to pull the buggy. I wanted to make sure that everything was perfect, and that she would not be uncomfortable each step of the way. Given her unusual anatomy, I also made sure that nothing would catch or pull in a way that I wouldn’t expect for a more typical quadruped.
“Good job,” I told her again, as I had many times as I tied knots and buckled straps together. It wasn’t a lot of equipment, but every time I had to reach over her or tug on something to make sure it was right, I reassured her. She often clicked back in response, as if she was saying ‘I’m listening.’ What a fascinating creature she was.
[15.1, 1.4] [Pull Buggy - 5]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:29:55 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:29:55 GMT -6
Now it was time to attach the cart. It was currently empty, but that was fine to get her used to it. I had plenty of rocks to fill it up with to get her used to the weight of gems in the future. I carefully tied all of the knots and pulled on all of the straps to make sure that they would hold. It would be an absolute disaster if Velvet started running off and the cart just flopped over. I could picture it so clearly in my head that I checked everything twice.
“You’re doing very well, Velvet,” I told her. Now that my claws were free, I pulled a treat out of my bag for her. It smelled gross to me, but I was assured by the person who sold it to me that she would love it. I turned my head away so I didn’t have to watch and held out the treat at arm’s length. Velvet quickly snatched it and I continued to look elsewhere as she chewed.
[15.2, 1.6] [Pull Buggy - 6]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:30:18 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:30:18 GMT -6
It was good news that she liked the treats, as they were involved heavily in my plans. I hopped a fair distance away and swiveled around, holding out another treat for her. “Velvet!” I called out to get her attention.
As I was the only thing nearby making noise, she looked right at me as expected. She could see the treat, and she immediately took a tentative step forward to grab it from me. However, when she felt the resistance, she paused and stood stiff. She rubbed her side with her scythes as though she was trying to remove something.
“No no,” I said, trying not to sound too harsh. “Don’t worry about that, it’s okay,” I reassured. I shook the claw with the treat to distract her again and she seemed determined to come toward it. She took a few steps forward, each time pausing to feel what was pulling on her. Unfortunately she couldn’t easily see the mechanism that held the cart to her body, or else she might have understood sooner.
[15.3, 1.8] [Pull Buggy - 7]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:30:37 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:30:37 GMT -6
Slowly, we worked our way around in a wide circle, taking a few steps at a time at first, then eventually walking smoothly with the cart bumping along behind. Once she got used to the feeling of the cart straps touching her, Velvet was able to pull it along without much effort at all. It was like she had completely forgotten it was even there. Given her immense size and strength, I’d be surprised if she could even feel the resistance.
It was time to add a bit of weight to the cart, so that it would be more representative of actual use. Pulling an empty cart was a fine enough trick, but she would need to be fine with pulling it while it was full and heavy. Even given her size, I think she would find the experiences quite different, so it was time to test that as well.
[15.4, 2] [Pull Buggy - 8]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:31:52 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:31:52 GMT -6
Before bringing Velvet over, I had someone help me to select and move some heavy rocks and branches into a neat pile so that they would be easy to load into the cart. Sadly, I would have to do that part for myself. I sighed lightly to myself and picked up the first rock, slowly but surely filling the cart with objects until it weighed enough to be significant. Though it wasn’t nearly full yet, I felt like that was enough, and not just because I didn’t want to lift any more myself.
As I worked, Velvet kept trying to turn around and watch, causing the cart to shift away from me. After the first three times, I caught on and altered my stance so she wouldn’t catch me by surprise again. It really seemed like she was doing it on purpose after she saw how much it interrupted me the first time. Whether or not that was true, only Velvet would know for sure.
[15.5, 2.2] [Pull Buggy - 9]
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Star
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May 18, 2022 4:35:39 GMT -6
Post by Star on May 18, 2022 4:35:39 GMT -6
It was time to test the heavier load. I moved back into the same spot as before and got Velvet's attention. Then I pulled out another treat for her so that she would pay attention to me, and come to investigate like she had before. As she approached, I walked backwards so that she would continue to follow me in pursuit of her reward. This time she had a similar reaction to the first time we tried it, in that she paused when she felt resistance. With a bit of encouragement, however, she quickly got over it and tugged the buggy along effortlessly as she had when it was empty. What good news for me.
I gave her the treat and took the time to add the rest of the weight to the cart. I ran out of things to put in it before it was entirely full. I asked Velvet to come around in another wide circle with the heaviest load I could have managed to stack, and again she acted like nothing had changed. I wasn't wrong about her incredible strength after all. Given the successful test, I shared the rest of my treats with Velvet as we headed home with her pulling the now-full buggy all the way to the edge of the park.
[15.6, 2.4] [Pull Buggy - 10]
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Star
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Jul 22, 2022 22:43:41 GMT -6
Post by Star on Jul 22, 2022 22:43:41 GMT -6
I was quite pleased with my performance in my first ever contest. Velvet and I had taken first place! I knew she would be the strongest creature there, and I was proud of us for taking the win. I was glad that the judges were impressed by her strength in the same way I was. That said, there were more contests to train for, and I was determined to enter as many as possible. The contest hall had recently announced a magic show. I was a bit apprehensive when it came to entering something with such an abstract premise. While a strength show had an obvious path to victory - the strongest pet would win - a magic show required a bit more planning. Well, that was a solvable problem. I surveyed the creatures I had and picked out the most magical looking one - a Nebuli named Ingway. Ingway was a ghostly creature of unknown origin, and he certainly looked the part. [16.3, 0.2]
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Star
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Jul 22, 2022 22:44:03 GMT -6
Post by Star on Jul 22, 2022 22:44:03 GMT -6
All I had to do now was figure out how his magical abilities worked, and teach him a routine. Velvet’s routine had come together somewhat naturally, as my desire to enter her in the contest was directly inspired by my choice to train her as a cart puller. As strange as she was, Ingway was even more unusual.
I had come across many unique and interesting creatures living in this city, and Ingway was no exception. I wasn’t sure of his origins, exactly, because I had purchased him from a strange individual in the market. The store was full of peculiar items and creatures from all around the city and beyond, and it was run by an odd person in a cloak.
I had my theories on who he was, but I had sympathy for his desire not to face the public. I sometimes wondered if I could do the same, whether or not I would. Probably not. I was too proud and beautiful to hide from everyone.
[16.4, 0.4]
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