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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:23:57 GMT -6
It was possible. If that was the case, then she supposed her instruction really wouldn't be very helpful to him. To rectify that, she approached him, which was perhaps not the reaction he was expecting. He backed up a step, eyes wide, more with surprise than real alarm, then hurriedly lifted a claw. All but the innermost digit were curled, with the last pointing towards her, in more or less a mimicry of the human gesture.
Rabbit pointed to herself as well, if only to confirm his meaning. The creature nodded, a motion that looked a little more unusual on him than something with a humanoid anatomy--- mostly a shorter neck. But it was recognizable as a nod, just as his last gesture had been recognizable as pointing.
"You… wish for me to do it? A demonstration?" Rabbit said. It was the best she could guess from his limited communication.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:24:21 GMT -6
The creature nodded again, more quickly this time, as if pleased that she had picked up his meaning so quickly.
Picked up his meaning she might have done, but following through on his request was quite another matter. "No," she said, and could immediately see his ears going back. "My anatomy does not map well to the motion. My legs are too long, and my body is not the right length. It would make a poor reference for you to follow."
The creature made a displeased noise in his throat, and adopted an expression that Rabbit could only interpret as something akin to sulking. She was not prepared to see it. He had never, to her knowledge, done anything quite like it before, even in her presence. But it was also true that she was continually discovering more facets of his personality, as it were.
The novelty of it did not, however, make her more amenable to his request.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:24:40 GMT -6
She continued with her own idea of it, which was to move him into the right position herself. To that end, she braced his hind legs. "Keep them here," she said. "When the time comes, do not bend them."
The creature continued to look put out by her refusal, but it did not make any move to act outside her instructions, so she merely ignored this and continued. Moving towards the creature’s front, she picked up one of his forelegs. “Place your feet here,” she said. “Lower your body so that you stretch out as far as you can reach in this direction.” She pulled the foreleg that she held, and in doing so, drew his body forward. It was a slightly awkward, ungainly endeavor as he attempted to keep his back feet anchored like she had directed, and she could see his eyes widen slightly as his balance was momentarily compromised. He took a step forward to catch himself, and she let him, waiting as he figured out how best to redistribute his weight.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:25:00 GMT -6
The hind foot went back to where it had been, and at length they achieved something like the position that Rabbit had specified.
This really would have been easier with an example, but they had achieved it in the end. The point was moot now, except possibly for future reference. She disliked that it lent some credibility to his request, but fortunately the rest of the stretches she had in mind for him wouldn't require anything like that.
"Do you feel the pull on your muscles and ligaments?" she said. The creature let out a low noise in response. She chose to take that as an affirmative. She directed him to hold the position to the count of fifteen, before releasing him from it.
The creature shook himself off, and looked to her for the next instruction. He was aware enough to know that a fifteen minute stretch could hardly be the end of what she wished him to do.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:25:15 GMT -6
In fact, from his perspective, it had best better be; warming up the other way took so much longer, after all. Rabbit walked around him until she had reached his hindquarters. The creature's head snaked around on his long neck to follow her, which was interesting, because this was more or less the basis of a different stretch she intended for him to do… But that one would come later. First, she wanted him to have a go at stretching his legs.
To that end, she took hold of one of his hind legs. The creature's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Do not be alarmed," she said, "but also please straighten your neck. This works best when your spine is straight."
He did nothing of the sort, merely huffing a slightly incredulous dismissal of her request. Rabbit waited a moment longer, to see if he would acquiesce, and when it became obvious that he wasn't, she let the matter rest.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:25:32 GMT -6
He likely just wanted to see what she intended to do with his leg, which she could hardly fault him for. Once he had seen it, and experienced the extent to which he would or would not be made uncomfortable, then he may yet be convinced to adopt the proper posture. It was faster than arguing with him about it would be, and would create less resentment.
"This is designed to stretch the ligaments in your leg, as well as to better align your knee," she said. As she spoke, she lifted the lower portion of the hind leg, and drew it out behind him until it was nearly straight, as though he had just finished executing a particularly reaching kick. She did this slowly, so that the creature would not startle at her movements, or at her movement of his limb. It was also better to ease into a stretch, rather than going as far as one could all at once.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:25:52 GMT -6
And she had hoped by doing this that he would be able to adjust his balance a little easier, though as she did so, he still had some trouble. Being on three limbs, and his lack of knowledge as to what she intended to do, must have hampered him.
When he did wobble, she held still, and pushed no further as she waited for him to stabilize. When he did stabilize, she deepened the stretch once more, until he was placed to her satisfaction. It was a short process, one that took barely a minute, but in that minute she had had to pause twice.
She had him hold this stretch for fifteen seconds, which made that minute seem like a disproportionately long time to get there. But when she eased him out of the stretch, she did not release him all at once, instead opting to go slowly.
"And now your other leg," she said. The creature was flexing the claws on the hind leg that had been stretched.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:26:05 GMT -6
It must have felt somewhat strange. She suspected that he had not had to do anything quite like this in his life, which made sense; on what other occasion would he have had to do it?
She was still the only entity he allowed to have contact with him. He might walk into the city with her, but city folk generally looked at him and stayed well away, and he was not above warning those who did not.
The other leg was easier, mostly because the creature knew what to expect now, and a little more about how to balance himself. He still wobbled, but not as much, nor as dramatically, as he had before. For all that she was not rushing this, this meant that it went somewhat faster than the last leg had done.
"Good. These are the stretches for your back legs," Rabbit said. "Now we will do something similar with your front legs."
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:26:23 GMT -6
The creature lifted one of his front feet, and Rabbit went obligingly to the side that he had indicated. With one hand beneath his elbow and the other placed on the back of the front leg above that joint, she pushed his leg up and out, much as she had done with the hind legs, only this time moving so that it extended in front of him rather than behind.
Whatever thoughts he had on the sensation or the effectiveness of this stretch, at least the creature had an easier time maintaining his balance this time around. He was used to lifting one or another of his forelegs, whether to claw at something or to try and manipulate an object with one of his claws. Given that he already did it so often, it was much easier for him to do it now.
She went slowly anyway, just in case, but she moved his leg into position without trouble, and there she held it until the count of fifteen.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:26:45 GMT -6
She released that leg and went to his other one, stretching that out too, until the fifteen seconds were over.
"We will stop there for stretching for today, but as time goes on, we will be doing more of them to improve your flexibility," she informed him. While she had been guiding his body through the stretches, she had been taking note on how far he could stretch before she met with resistance. The results were not… promising. He needed more development in that area too. It would take time, but his physical therapy, such as it was, was going well. With time, she hoped to undo the detrimental effects of his lifestyle, whatever it had been, up until now.
The creature shook himself off again, and made his way over to the poles, the ones that had been set up vertically to facilitate weaving. She hadn't specified which of the courses they would be using, but she supposed there was no harm in letting him choose.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:26:57 GMT -6
Still, she was glad that he hadn't chosen the horizontal ones, which necessitated jumping. She thought they were a little too strenuous to attempt as a first exercise, and on their first day here too, no less.
The weaving poles were a much more acceptable alternative, though she wouldn't necessarily have called them easy either. As it was, she was going to have to make sure he could actually go through them. There were little grooves in the floor where one could change the placements of the poles, specifically to accommodate for the wide range of creature sizes and shapes in this area, and Rabbit went to inspect them now.
The creature watched her, and in following her gaze, he too noticed the grooves. He stuck out a single claw and worked it into one experimentally, then retracted it and gave it a passing inspection. As he did this, Rabbit was taking stock again of the creature's proportions and how it compared to the poles.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:27:21 GMT -6
She would need to widen their spacing a bit, perhaps take some away. She came to this conclusion, then set about doing just that. The mechanisms for moving the poles were thankfully not complicated, though a few were a bit stiff, since they were designed to hold the poles in place even when a creature's weight was leaned against it. Especially when a creature was first learning to go through them, or when one was going quickly, that sort of thing was often unavoidable. Of course, if a Thundergug put their weight against it for any length of time, the pole would most likely snap anyway, but generally one hoped this didn't happen.
The creature accompanying Rabbit wasn't a Thundergug, but he was big enough on his own. She did not doubt that he could cause quite some damage if he put his mind to it. Fortunately he did not seem to entertain the idea, and in that case she was hardly going to speak it aloud, in case doing so would change that.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:27:36 GMT -6
But she also hoped that he would not be so clumsy in his first attempts that he broke the equipment purely by accident.
To help him succeed, she spaced the poles out so that there was room for him to stand, roughly from his nose to the base of his tail, between any two poles. At first, when he wasn't used to weaving, even this much distance ought to provide something of a challenge. He was still unable to walk in a straight line, and would instead have to go from side to side.
The preparations took some time, but eventually she finished them, and all that remained to be done was to teach him how to navigate through them.
She looked at the creature for a moment, then said, "The object of this exercise is to move your body between these poles, alternating which side you are on. You will take a winding path through them, like so."
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:28:04 GMT -6
She walked between the poles in the same weaving pattern that he was to do when he was to begin his attempts, swerving this way and that rather than maintaining a straight line. But Rabbit did not go quickly, nor was there much difficulty involved for her, both because of her pace and her smaller, bipedal form.
The creature followed her movement with his gaze, though he had no more reaction than that, for the moment. When she felt that she had demonstrated the concept well enough, she stopped, and walked back to him. "You should go slowly at first, until you grow used to the movements." Moving slowly would also give him an opportunity to warm up, so that he didn't immediately attempt something more strenuous before his body was limbered up enough for it. But she suspected that even if he did attempt to rush it in his first few attempts, he wouldn't get very far.
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Post by Noa on Jun 8, 2019 18:28:36 GMT -6
The creature moved to one end of the line of poles, gave them a last bit of scrutiny, then began moving through them. Perhaps he knew this too, or perhaps he simply decided to take her advice, but he did as she advised and went slowly. He did not, as Rabbit thought he might, run into any of the poles or stumble very much over them, but it was immediately apparent that this was only because he was being very meticulous about how he moved.
It made him even slower than he otherwise might have been. She thought she could see him holding in some frustration from the way he tensed, ears flat back, when he was forced to stop and readjust himself to prevent himself from losing balance or making an ungainly move. But it was a little harder to tell whether he was upset than usual. The most common cue of it, the lashing of his tail, was something he couldn't dare to do here, while he was between poles.
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