|
Post by Noa on Jun 23, 2021 17:55:42 GMT -6
Noa had him go through it a few more times to pick up speed, before he and Rhys tightened the space even more.
Nightshade navigated this third arrangement in a similar manner as the second, though he took a little more time to adjust, possibly because he was tired. By the time that he had grown comfortable with it, the allotted time for their session was drawing to a close anyway. “That’s enough for today,” Noa said, after giving Nightshade his last round of pets. He drew some water for the Wiurn to drink, while Rhys busied himself with the process of taking down the poles. It wasn’t really a two person job -- it was just that having two sets of hands, for a given value of hands in Rhys’s case, made the work go a little faster. But as Noa was currently legitimately occupied with other things, he didn’t feel too bad leaving it to Rhys.
Well, he never did, even when he himself had nothing better to do, but still.
Once Nightsade had had his drink, and the poles were all packed together for carrying back home with them, Noa made ready to leave.
10
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:29:11 GMT -6
After a series of business trips to the Canyon, even gym training seemed like something that was almost pleasant in comparison. Noa didn't usually enjoy it, since it was repetitive and often boring; there was only so long you could watch a creature going through the same exercise before your mind started to wander, and you started to itch to do literally anything else. But today the sight of the gym building greeted him almost like a friend, and he breezed past the Mammalian woman at the desk with a smile. He didn't stop to chat with her, of course; he wasn't in such a wonderful mood that small talk seemed appealing. But it was certainly more than he usually did, especially since he had had to book an appointment for this time slot too. Maybe it helped that this wasn't first thing in the morning. He generally didn't feel much like smiling until at least late morning, and generally into the afternoon. This time he didn't take the long way around to the back area where the big creatures were trained, but instead headed for the indoor space for smaller companions. It was the little feathered creature's turn today. 1
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:29:35 GMT -6
Noa supposed they ought to give it a name one of these days, but thus far it hadn't been terribly necessary, and part of him wanted to hold off until he knew what it would look like as an adult. Theoretically it should grow into one, with enough time and care, though presently he was beginning to have his doubts. It didn't look very much bigger than when he had first acquired it, and it didn't display much in the way of any new talents either. Judging by the size and feathering of the wings, Noa doubted it was even capable of flight at the moment, and he dearly hoped that would rectify itself with time.
Still, gym training was something that ought to be started as early as one tolerably could, if only because it was such a long process, and gym sessions weren't quite as easy to get ahold of as they used to be -- or maybe it was just that Noa was engaging in gym training with more creatures, and thus he felt the pinch of it. They may as well do some now, and if things didn't work out, well, there were other options for... disposal.
2
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:30:27 GMT -6
Maybe some other interested fossil creature collector would take this creature on as a purchase for their collection.
Rhys was accompanying Noa as well, sitting in his usual spot. He had been useful enough the last time, and anyway he accompanied Noa almost everywhere. {Are we doing the cups again?} said Rhys.
"We may as well," Noa said. He hadn't, in the meantime, come up with any new exercises for the little feathered creature. He wasn't used to working with anything so small, and wasn't really in the habit of coming up with regimens tailored for them. It was possible for him to research the subject further, and draw on the knowledge of those who worked with smaller creatures on a regular basis, but he didn't think he would have occasion to do this very often. What he had would suffice for now, and if he found that the little feathered creature was outstripping the exercise he had managed to devise, then he would come up with another when the time came.
Rhys began setting up the obstacles for the training, while Noa got the little feathered creature warmed up by having it run back and forth, chasing after a mealworm.
3
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:30:53 GMT -6
The little feathered creature was still very much a food motivated individual, so it was easy enough to direct its movements by guiding it with the promise of a treat. With the rate at which it ate, one would have thought that the little feathered creature would be a good deal bigger than it was now, or growing at a much more rapid rate. But so far it had only gotten a little bigger. Noa had done the measurements, and they had been inevitably disappointing every time.
With Rhys working alone, it was some time before he was able to finish setting up the whole space with the various weights and other obstacles that were available in the room. But at length he was done, and they could begin the work in earnest. Noa wasted no time in handing over the direction of the mealworm to Rhys. With his telekinesis, the Faeron could pilot the mealworm with greater precision between the different cups. Noa, at his size, couldn't comfortably fit inside a course that was meant to challenge the little feathered creature, and even if he had used something like a string, it wouldn't have afforded him the same level of control.
4
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:31:07 GMT -6
Rhys didn't mind though. Well, not that he would have refused either way, since he generally didn't say no to Noa's requests in his capacity as Noa's familiar and assistant. But this task wasn't one that he would complain about either. Noa could feel the enjoyment radiating off the Faeron as Rhys wiggled the worm enticingly in front of the little feathered creature.
"If you lose the worm, I'm not giving you a replacement," Noa said lightly. Rhys glanced at him for a moment in shock, and in that shock he stopped moving the worm around. The little feathered creature saw its chance and made a truly impressive leap for it, snatching it out of the air. Noa laughed as Rhys's ears drooped in dismay, before Rhys wheeled on him.
{Hey! You did that on purpose,} said Rhys, wheeling on Noa, who didn’t bother to hide his own amusement at the turn of events. The Faeron’s tail lashed back and forth unhappily. {That wasn’t nice,} he said, but if that was all the admonition he could muster at what Noa had done, Noa would take it in stride.
“I’m not very nice,” he pointed out. “I don’t know what you expect from me.”
5
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:31:41 GMT -6
He expected Rhys to make some sort of comeback, but when he glanced at the Faeron, Rhys seemed almost… sad, for a moment. Noa frowned, then dug around in his pocket and fished out another mealworm for Rhys. “I wasn’t serious about not replacing it,” he said. Rhys couldn’t have believed he was. Otherwise how were they going to accomplish any of the training that they had come here to do?
The little feathered creature livened up immediately at the sight of more food, recognizing the worm instantly for what it was. Rhys seemed to come back to himself a little more too, though there was still something a little subdued about him as he took the worm. Had Noa really gone too far? He pondered the possibility, but try as he might to re-examine what had happened, it had really been no worse than what he generally did around Rhys. And Rhys had stuck with him for this long, so surely it couldn’t be an issue of the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Well, whatever it was, if it was really important he figured Rhys would tell him at some point, sooner or later.
6
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:31:52 GMT -6
For now it was more important to get moving with the training. They were only allotted so much time at the gym now, after all, and it would be a shame to waste any of it.
Noa had been slightly concerned that what had happened might affect Rhys’s ability to carry out his assistance with the training, but on that front it turned out that his worries were unfounded. Rhys moved the worm around as the little feathered creature followed, and after some time the strange mood that had overtaken him briefly dissipated as if it had never been present in the first place.
For its own part, the little feathered creature was rather slow to start. It had been some time since they had last had any occasion to do this, and it didn’t remember clearly how to navigate the kind of course that they had set up for it to run through. But this was no longer the first time that it had been exposed to the exercise, and so it picked things up -- if not quickly, then at least more quickly than it had done the first time. Any improvement was something to be glad for, Noa supposed.
7
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:32:02 GMT -6
And it wasn’t as if it had a difficult time moving around. Given its size it was quite maneuverable -- though maybe it was only so maneuverable because it was so small to begin with. Noa hoped it wouldn’t lose that aspect as it got older. Creatures were generally more useful if they were agile, no matter their size. Noa had worked with a variety of big beasts, and on the one hand you had creatures like Azalea, who were lightning fast even with their bulk, to the point that even he was surprised at how fast she could move sometimes. Avander was no match for her on land, but he had at least the advantage of being able to fly, and in the air he fared better than she did, just because it offered him the chance to put distance between himself and his foe, and a wider variety of angles to choose from when it came to striking.
… He really did hope the little feathered creature could fly once it had reached its full growth. As it was, he had seen it hopping and fluttering about, not unlike a fledgeling bird, but he didn’t know if that guaranteed anything.
8
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:32:26 GMT -6
There were things that lived in trees that only ever fluttered and hopped and glided about, and never achieved true flight, and it was too early in this creature’s development to know whether it would become one of those or not.
The little feathered creature was going faster now that it had gotten more used to starting and stopping. Occasionally it did still bump into things, which stopped it cold for a few moments, as it took some time to recover. Traveling at the speed it was now, the collisions were disorienting as well as unexpected, and it seemed to struggle to regain its bearings and figure out what happened. But the fact that they were unpleasant served as its own deterrent, and the little feathered creature acted much more carefully after that. But Rhys kept the worm out of reach, and gradually the little feathered creature would accelerate again.
As the process repeated, it bumped into things less and less, and indeed seemed to almost expect to find its way littered with obstacles. Noa began to time its progress from one end of the room to the other as it made fewer and fewer mistakes in each of its runs.
9
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 7, 2021 12:32:48 GMT -6
After five such runs, he began comparing the results of this session with the results from their previous trip to the gym with the little feathered creature. To his surprise, the improvements were actually quite marked. It didn’t register to him, possibly because the creature was so small, and the improvements in speed didn’t look as dramatic when the scale was reduced. Noa was, after all, used to working with much larger creatures. But after doing some math to compensate for the difference in size, he could see that the little feathered creature really had come a long way.
When it began to slow down, Noa recognized it for the sign of weariness that it was, and called the session to an end. The little feathered creature was allowed to eat its snack, and Noa took over the task of helping it cool down, this time by pestering the creature until it walked around to Noa’s satisfaction. Rhys took care of most of the clean up, though once the little feathered creature had walked things off to Noa’s satisfaction, he also helped pitch in with the lighter objects to put away.
So wrapped up their gym session with the little feathered creature.
10
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 11, 2021 18:50:25 GMT -6
They had taken a break from the gym to do some other things, but Noa was pretty sick of being outdoors by this point, and it seemed that the little feathered creature had also gotten its share of rest. The thing to do, then, was to drag themselves back to the gym for another go at it. They’d worked on speed already, and Noa felt that this was probably as fast as the little feathered creature was likely to get until it grew a little more, so… well, the next thing to work on was stamina, wasn’t it? At least, that was the way that it generally went with Noa’s gym training, though frankly he was still not sure whether it was going to be a sound investment in the case of the little feathered creature. Sometimes Noa changed his training regimen to better play to the strengths of the particular creature he was training, but with the little feathered creature being as small as it was, it was kind of hard to tell what those strengths even were. In which case, he supposed falling back on his default scheme was as good as doing anything else. 1
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 11, 2021 18:51:00 GMT -6
It wasn’t as if more stamina ever did anyone any harm, right?
Rhys was here too, of course. Noa needed his help to set up whatever they were going to do for the little feathered creature… probably. Actually, Noa didn’t even know what they were going to do. It couldn’t be another obstacle course, could it?
Noa looked at the facilities and sank deep into thought. The little feathered creature was standing by and waiting, more or less. Actually what it was doing was wandering around the floor, investigating places to its heart’s content, but Noa felt that he could afford to take his eyes off it with Rhys serving as a second lookout. After all, if it tried to do anything risky, Rhys would let him know, or better yet, stop the creature himself. And if they managed to lose it somehow, Rhys could scan for it telepathically and at least get some sort of sense of where it was.
Noa mulled over of all this, and thought that he had done very well bonding Rhys as his familiar. The Faeron was really useful for so many things, from the magical to the practical errands.
2
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 11, 2021 18:51:13 GMT -6
Coming up with a training course for a small creature to improve its endurance was really not one of them, but at least Rhys could buy him time to think of one, which was definitely better than nothing.
It wasn’t that there weren’t facilities enough, but the problem was that the little feathered creature only seemed to have two speeds: staying still and going at full throttle. And Noa’s training in terms of stamina and endurance generally involved speeding up and slowing down over a longer period of time, rather than running full tilt until you were too exhausted to go on.
And the way that Noa had been getting the little feathered creature moving so far had been to give it worms to chase after. It would definitely be running full tilt if a treat was on the line.
As Noa mulled this over, Rhys piped up. {Sometimes it moves when you chase it,} the Faeron said. {Why not just walk behind it when you want it to go slow?}
Noa blinked. He hadn’t actually thought of that, but after Rhys pointed it out, he realized that Rhys was right. Sometimes Noa did take to herding the little feathered creature around like that.
3
|
|
|
Post by Noa on Aug 11, 2021 18:51:26 GMT -6
It did work, even if it wasn’t necessarily what he had in mind when he came out here… And even if it did seem a bit of a hassle. Still, it seemed more plausible than anything he had come up with as of yet, and it wasn’t as though any better ideas were coming to him. “I guess it’s worth a try,” Noa agreed.
For the purposes of stamina training, to start with Noa figured just a track was fine. There was no need to set obstacles on it, at least not right now. That might change later, but he wanted to keep things simple at first. He lured the little feathered creature in with the promise of a worm, then, had it run after the worm for a short distance before letting the little feathered creature have it as a reward. Then, when it was finished eating, Noa walked behind it and herded it along. It didn’t move as quickly, because there was no prize, but it did move when Noa pressured it from behind… though he did occasionally also have to nudge it with his foot, which was a bit awkward to do without kicking it outright.
4
|
|