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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:19:46 GMT -6
He registered her presence by baring his teeth at her. It seemed that they were back to that again.
“I have brought you your meal, but…” She tried to find the words for what she wished to say. “It seems that you are occupied. I will leave this here.” She set down the food, refilled the water, and left.
Rabbit did the only thing she could think of, which was to consult Aster on the matter. “Huh,” said Aster, when she had provided him with all the facts. “I guess he’s recovered enough to start feeling energetic, is he? Sounds like he overestimated himself a bit.”
Rabbit reflected on his words. It was true that the creature had not been in very good health at first, and even now, she wouldn’t have called him entirely recovered.
His wounds had mostly closed over, and were healing as cleanly as they were going to.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:20:41 GMT -6
There were a few that would likely scar, mostly due to having been left untreated for longer than the others or being more severe, but Rabbit’s handiwork was as good as it could have been under the circumstances.
He was filling out too, but this was a more gradual process. Aster had cautioned against feeding him too much too soon, so Rabbit followed a regimen of slow increases to his food portions. As for his energy levels… Rabbit couldn’t think of ever having seen him move around a great deal. But then again, he had been restrained until very recently.
“What were the conditions of his keeping when you found him?” said Rabbit.
“If you’re asking whether his muscles have atrophied,” said Aster, “then I’d say ‘probably’, with how he was looking when we got him. He needs to work his way up to whatever the hell it is he was trying to do.”
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:21:25 GMT -6
Aster toyed idly with one of the feathers in his hair, pensive. “My first suggestion would be to just walk him around, if he’ll let you… But the trouble might be keeping him calm if he’s getting antsy.”
“What do you suggest for that?” said Rabbit.
“Read to him? Play music? Maybe a guided meditation would help,” said Aster, in a tone that didn’t sound particularly serious.
“I will try it,” said Rabbit, nevertheless.
She was as good as her word on that front. The next day saw her at the barn with an old tape that Aster had found in the attic. The creature greeted this with mild interest, but more puzzlement than anything else. Perhaps he had not seen its like before. Rabbit thought it was fairly likely, especially as she herself had not seen its like either until earlier that day. It was not, as she was given to understand, very common.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:21:44 GMT -6
She brought it forward, her movements still slow but not as much so as they had been before. His mobility had granted the creature some greater sense of security and control, and he no longer treated her with the same caution that he once had.
Then, she pressed the activation button, and the little machine came to life.
It was not so much music as it was a cacophony. The creature’s head jerked up, and a moment later, the noise abated--- he had smashed through the offending thing with his tail. As the two of them looked at the destroyed object between them, the creature made a low warning rumble, and swept away the detritus with the blade of his tail.
“So you do not care for music then. Very well,” said Rabbit.
“My bad. Guess I should’ve read the label a little more carefully,” said Aster, when Rabbit brought him the remnants of the machine and gave her report of how things had gone.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:22:30 GMT -6
He looked... amused, almost, though there was a certain chagrined air to the way he smiled as well, which suggested a little guilt. “Screamo Metal Greatest Hits… I think this must have been a leftover from whoever had owned this place before.”
“That makes it old indeed then,” said Rabbit.
“You could try reading. It seemed to like you talking just fine,” said Aster.
“You do not have any guided meditations?” Rabbit asked.
“If you think it’s gonna let you take another tape player anywhere near it after this, your programming wasn’t worth what I paid for it,” said Aster. The laugh took the bite out of his words, however. Not that Rabbit had any feelings to hurt, but all the same.
Thus began a series of experiments. Rabbit would bring a book with her each time she went to visit the barn, which was mostly limited to once a day, with the food and water.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:23:01 GMT -6
At first, the books inspired little enough interest from the creature, after the creature worked out that it was nothing more than a bound stack of paper. When Rabbit opened the book and began to read, the creature went back to pacing around the barn. Rabbit did not stop him, as she might have interfered if he had been doing something more strenuous, but she did keep watch over him.
He never did walk for very long. He always had to settle down after a while, his sides heaving more than they ought to have. Perhaps the fall he had taken that day had driven home the realities of his own limitations, and he was taking some measures to condition himself. At least nothing so dire happened again, which was just as well. Rabbit had only just retired from bandaging his wounds, and now she was having to splint his wing.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:23:36 GMT -6
He took that treatment with ill grace, though Rabbit had grown used enough to him to guess that his resentment was more for the reminder of the injury, and his own hand in causing it in the first place, and less for her own practices in addressing it. This one had, after all, been self inflicted.
But perhaps boredom was a stronger factor than Rabbit had given it credit for. She persisted in her efforts to read aloud to him, even if he did not seem terribly interested at first. After all, he had not had an aversive reaction to it either. And after a time, she could begin to see him do something like pay attention. At the very least, he did not make much noise when she read to him.
Given the lack of protest on his part, Rabbit continued with the practice, and after a while it became a part of their routine.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:23:55 GMT -6
(Start: Swim)
For his part, the creature’s endurance improved under his own ministrations. The reading gave Rabbit an excuse to keep an eye on him for longer stretches, and she could see that he didn’t need to rest as often or for as long, as the days went by. But she also had the sense that he was pushing himself rather aggressively; his breathing was often labored when he did rest, and sometimes when he was walking himself too.
She consulted Aster again, and Aster sighed. “This is the trouble with dealing with the smart ones,” he said. “They have their own ideas, and some of their ideas are…” He shook his head, as if to clear it, or to dismiss the words he was about to say. “You’ll want to start him on some proper physical therapy then. He’s letting you touch him now, right? Might as well. We have this pool out near the stables, you know the one… I’ll tell Azalea to stay out of your way.”
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:24:38 GMT -6
Thus began her undertaking of teaching the creature how to swim. She hadn't intended it that way, but that was what it amounted to, and in retrospect, it was at least somewhat of a useful skill to have.
In theory, the idea had plenty of merits to recommend it. Swimming was less strenuous on one’s bones, and it was used to rehabilitate many creatures for a wide variety of problems including obesity. The creature in question wasn’t exactly obese, but based on the nature of its captivity--- from what Rabbit had guessed, based on what she had observed--- muscle atrophy was a relevant problem. The buoyancy provided by the water would alleviate some of the issues presented by the creature’s own weight, and therefore, the strain of holding himself up. In addition to that, the water would provide resistance against his movements, which would make the exercise more efficient in redeveloping muscle mass.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:25:50 GMT -6
Aster did warn that the activity, and the coolness of the water, would likely increase the creature’s caloric intake, but food provision wasn’t an issue within the confines of the property. Aster kept many large carnivores, and providing for one more wouldn’t impose. He also had plenty of advanced warning, so he could prepare.
The trouble was more with convincing the creature to do as she wished. This was, of course, the fundamental problem posed by all their interactions in which she had an objective to achieve. In fact, one could say it was the fundamental challenge associated with training creatures in general, which was the purpose that Rabbit had originally been created for, even if it was not the one she was generally applied to in practice. But now she was given an opportunity to fulfill that purpose, and she was obliged to at least give it her best effort.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:26:03 GMT -6
She could see the refusal on the creature’s face as soon as she approached it with a lead in hand.
What ensued was something like a chase around the old barn. Rabbit did not go very quickly, partly to avoid startling the creature into doing something aggressive, and partly because she knew he couldn’t keep a good pace for very long. It would defeat the purpose if she tired him out completely before they had a chance to go out to the pond at all, and it would be counterproductive to hound it into straining himself even more than he already had. But what this meant was that it was not a very effective chase, and that it ended much as it had began: with the creature on the opposite end of the barn from Rabbit, staring balefully at her, as if daring her to try and proceed with what she had in mind.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:26:26 GMT -6
“Very well,” she said, and dropped the lead. Perhaps this was what was aggravating him. It might have occurred to her sooner if she had given it a little more thought. After all, the creature had just come from a situation where he was forcibly restrained against his wishes, and she could imagine that he was not eager to find himself in similar circumstances again.
The tension in the creature’s posture eased slightly, though there was still something of a challenge in his gaze. Slowly, Rabbit put up her hands. “If you do not wish to, I will not use it,” she said. “But will you come with me?”
There was no response. Rabbit waited a moment, then went to the door of the barn, pushing it all the way open. Normally she only opened it enough to allow room for herself to enter; not that this would have kept the creature in if he really meant to escape, given his apparent affinity for fire, but nevertheless.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:26:52 GMT -6
This time, she opened it fully as a deliberate demonstration that she wanted him to come out with her, out of the barn and into the world outside, in case her words didn’t manage to convey her meaning to him. And she wasn’t sure that they did. Perhaps he had only been reading the tone of her voice, such as it was, in those moments when he seemed to comprehend what she was saying.
Not that there was very much tone to read either. Perhaps he had simply managed to intuit something of what she was thinking.
The creature inclined his head, his long neck drawn up. He normally appeared quite fierce, even in his current state of… disrepair, but this stance softened his impression somewhat.
“Will you come with me?” Rabbit said again. After another pause, she went on. “You are trying to gather your strength again. I wish to help.”
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:27:26 GMT -6
She still had no conclusive proof of how much the creature did and did not understand, but he chose that moment to take a step toward the door, and then another. He went slowly, and while he did not exactly hesitate at the threshold, his pace quickened only once he was past it, as if he had crossed some critical... well, some critical threshold, she supposed.
Curious. Rabbit did not think he would feel any attachment to the barn. Did he think of it as a place of safety after all? It was true that no harm had yet come to him there, but it had only been a few days. Given what had happened when they had brought him here, she had assumed that he would remain hostile and distrusting of his new situation for far longer.
Perhaps he still was, and she was merely misreading his signals. That was a possibility too.
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Post by Noa on May 5, 2019 11:28:02 GMT -6
But he didn’t immediately begin panicking or doing anything else untoward as he stepped out, and Rabbit found that he followed her, more or less, even if he took a meandering path about it so that it did not exactly look as if he were following. Fortunately, the walk to the lake was not very far, or else she might have worried for the state of his endurance. It was better than it had been, but this was not saying very much.
They continued in this manner until they reached the water’s edge. Rabbit stopped there, and scanned the pond. It wasn’t a natural pond, but more of a pool, though one that was designed with a more natural look in mind. It was cleaned every so often to maintain the quality of the water. Much of it had a shallow shore, which allowed one to ease into its depths.
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