Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jul 24, 2023 15:49:05 GMT -6
( Validus, Fly: 13 )
At quite the height, the agate stopped and remained hovering, holding the cheeky out towards the ground. Be it instinct or just habit, but the rushing air had already extended the cheeky's wings, though he didn't really use them for much else. Here we go, get ready..
And the agate.. let go.
Down on the ground, the sphinx tracked the green dot above them, hands ready as wind subtly danced around the fingers, a spell ready to be used at a moment's notice should something go wrong. For the first few seconds, the gallor didn't seem to really understand what was happening, gliding gradually in still air but when he made the mistake of absent-mindedly folding his wings and sharply dropping, it kicked quite a few survival instincts into quite shark gear.
The drop turned into another glide, which turned into unsteady rudder work as he tried to angle himself right, which briefly turned into another drop before the wings were fully extended again. Each drop might as well have been an ice-cold stone added to the pit of the sphinx's stomach.. but despite the scares, Validus was managing quite well, all things considered. Far from a perfect flight, but he was descending on relative control, until finally reaching the grass and landing with a springy hop.
(28) Darky: 28 Validus: 4 (3/5) Mear: 161 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jul 24, 2023 15:49:32 GMT -6
( Validus, Fly: 14 )
Darky breathed a sigh of absolute relief, the wind around the fingers subsiding. "Thank the spirits.."
The agate landed next to her shortly after, Quite impressive, for someone who hasn't flown before.
"Yeah, well, I'd like to say we're done, but not quite," Darky smiled tiredly, little breezes starting to roll between fingers again. "Up for a few more drops?"
It was a rhetorical question, but such was their dynamic. On Validus' end the mammalian was afraid he might be scared or panicked, but instead found the gallor to be filled with an odd sort of chitter energy. One could guess adrenaline really did do wonders for creatures as much as humanoids.
To make use of his amiable nature, while it lasted, the agate took the cheeky up for a couple more drops, this time hovering nearby as he descended to give an extra bit of safety cushion, and to also entice the gallor into trying to gain altitude as much as he was trying to negate losing it. With twirls and chirps of his own, it was short work to make it into yet another fun game of the day, though Validus' 'chase' on the matter was more like awkward aerial stumbling.
(29) Darky: 29 Validus: 4 (4/5) Mear: 161 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jul 24, 2023 15:50:07 GMT -6
( Validus, Fly: 15 )
Still, despite the fears, the cheeky steadily improved with each drop. The wings grew stronger, the balance better, and he even started realizing that turning comes much easier if using one's tail. There came a point where the tat-lung even tried lifting off from the ground without holding him first, by means of enticing him to take off on his own. That one took a couple of tries to perfect, since Validus' mind had largely been focused on the whole 'don't crash' part, but once the agate resorted to using a piece of fruit 'stolen' from the mammalian, the lift-offs were merely a few attempts away.
It was a solid three-four hours of rather anxious, but rewarding work, but eventually the gallor was able to take off, fly from point to point, and land without the sphinx needing to fear that a spell was necessary to cushion a fall. Which there were also some real close threats, though thankfully none that came to pass.
Lastly, for the final bit of the fourth hour, the mammalian worked on training in the command for the flight, with Mear standing in as another example. Validus might not have known Common, unlike the agate, but he was a quick learner, and realized that the tat-lung got a 'treat' every time he was told "Fly!" and taking into the air.
And when Validus himself started doing it, well.. lets just say the mammalian might have underestimated the amount of treats she was needing that day..
(30) Darky: 30 - (added) Validus: 5 (0/5) Mear: 162 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
|
Post by Darky on Jul 25, 2023 14:22:53 GMT -6
( Validus, Scamper: 1 )
There was just one last thing on the agenda that day, and that was defence. While the cheeky was sure to avoid most obvious hazards he might encounter on any one messenger route, it still helped to train in a bit of extra precaution in case he needed to avoid any unexpected ones. To that end, the sphinx brought him over to the middle of the yard and stood a couple of steps back.
"Let's see if your instincts are just as good at avoiding trouble as sometimes creating it," she smirked, and brought out a small ball. When she tossed it towards the gallor, it rattled oddly, as the different sort of seeds and stone shards bounced around inside. What would have been a toy under normal circumstances suddenly because something entirely 'else', and the gallor quickly scampered backwards, away from where it landed in the grass.
"Good, Validus!" the sphinx beamed.
(31) Darky: 31 Validus: 5 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jul 25, 2023 14:23:17 GMT -6
( Validus, Scamper: 2 )
"Let's try that again, shall we?" she walked over and picked up the ball, the rattling of the contents causing the gallor to already take a few preemptive steps away from her. This novelty caution wasn't likely to last, the sphinx knew, and she would have to step things up with a few different options anyway, just to get the core of the idea down.
But for now, she lightly tossed the ball again and watched as the gallor jumped a few steps backwards. This time around he was also a bit quicker to get back towards the ball, which was a good enough indication that the novelty might not be lasting nearly as long as the mammalian hoped.
Still, she made sure to reward him with a treat, ample praise for a danger well-avoided, and a scritch of the cheeks when retrieving the ball, before trying it a few more times.
(32) Darky: 32 Validus: 5 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jul 25, 2023 14:23:40 GMT -6
( Validus, Scamper: 3 )
They key was making sure the action and reaction didn't end up necessarily associated with her. Otherwise that was as likely to teach the gallor to avoid her as anything else.
With the initial throws setting up the baseline of the training, she switched to another item (this time a soft rubber ball sprayed with something not quite so nice) and began to also incorporate the phrase, "Scoot, Validus!" into each throw. With each new trick or learned piece of training, teaching the command part was likely to get easier. However the trick always remained in making sure which words the gallor should follow, and which not.
"Stand!" the sphinx called and threw the ball close, but not as close as the other times, easily missing. Validus still reacted the same as before, as if nothing had changed. As a result, he found himself short of a treat, a first, in truth, much to his confusion.
(33) Darky: 33 Validus: 5 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jul 25, 2023 14:24:05 GMT -6
( Validus, Scamper: 4 )
"Not quite," the sphinx smiled, picking up the ball, "But let's keep trying, shall we?"
It took a couple more variations of words until Validus began to understand the importance of 'Scoot' and the non-importance of.. well most others. Perhaps some of them might still come into play sometime in future, but in the here and now it was all about keeping a distance, and so 'scoot' was king.
The mammalian also swapped things up with the different things that could be considered a 'threat' to avoid, upgrading balls to plush toys, and eventually even to a somewhat beat-up wooden sarane dummy. There was no motorization within it, but a little bit of arcane push was still enough to cause it articulate, move and in general present a sort of threat much close to anything that could happen in reality than any plush toy would (short of the Lab ones, that is).
(34) Darky: 34 Validus: 5 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Jul 25, 2023 14:24:27 GMT -6
( Validus, Scamper: 5 )
This also presented the sphinx with the opportunity to distance herself from the trick, since the spell could be cast at a range. She could be on the other side of the fence, call "Scoot!" and still make whatever object was within the yard present a scenario where the gallor had to do a quickstep of safety. And along the way, make Validus understand that threats to be avoided can come from a number of things, though in this case generally something more in front of him.
Between each trick, a proper treat, praise and more scritches, much to Validus' delight. While the process was still repetitive, it didn't require nearly as much time as the flying attempts for the gallor to be pretty easy and comfortable in his springs.
"Good job, Validus," the sphinx congratulated him on one of the last attempts, and received happy chittering in return as the gallor pushed his head into her hands. "That's it for now, so you'll be able to enjoy some rest."
(35) Darky: 35 Validus: 6 (0/5)
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