Closed Can we teach a new dog old tricks? [Nikomas]

[Lorelle]

Afternoon of the 15th day of spring, 513 Outside of Snowsong Hold "Eva, you want to go outside?" Lorelle asks the little red pup that sits at her feet with her head tilted to the side. The pup lets out a sharp, excited bark at Elle's words and starts wagging her puffball of a tail furiously. Elle laughs at these actions. "Well I will take that as a yes," the Vantha woman says with a smile as she slides her gloves on. Lorelle makes her way out of the snowsong hold, Eva following close behind. The little pup hardly ever leaves her side. The two easily find their way out into the snow. Eva goes crazy, jumping on imaginary objects and acting very pup-like. Elle rolls her eyes. "Eva, Come." Lorelle gives this one simple command. Eva complete ignores her. She starts digging a hole in the deep snow. Elle groans. "Eva, come!" Elle tries again. The pup pops her head up out of the snow and looks at Lorelle, a pile of white snow on her coal black nose. Elle hates herself, but she smiles at this cute little thing her baby has pulled off. Eva barks and starts trotting away. Elle groans and starts walking after her. "Eva, come back here!" she calls after her. The pup ignores her and keeps walking, her nose up in the air sniffing for whatever she is following. Elle continues to follow her, not really paying attention to her surroundings.

[Nikomas]

Falda Snowsong was in trouble. Yep. When Nikomas found her - and it had better be sooner, rather than later - she was going to get an earful. How dare she invite him to her Hold, only to be "out and about" - according to a fellow Holder - upon his arrival? How dare she! "Just you wait, Falda," he spat as he kicked the remains of a particularly large icicle, which had recently broken free from the overhang above the entrance of her arvinta. "This guy is not your toy to play with as you wish," he continued to mutter, growing angrier by the moment. Okay, maybe he was overeating. So she wasn't home? So what? It wasn't the end of the realm. Was it? Well, on second thought, maybe it was. After all, he had only just recently admitted to their mutual best friend, Varik, that he sort of, kind of, well, liked Falda more than just as a friend. Was it possible he told her? "Great!" he exclaimed to no one in particular. "Just great!" Now he had two sets of ears to berate with unkind words. This was not the day he had planned when he awoke. Not at all. Storming along the beaten path between Holds, Nikomas felt his blood really begin to boil. Had both of his friends turned against him? Were they off somewhere together making fun of his feelings? He knew he shouldn't have trusted... "Awwww, who do we have here?" he suddenly found himself uncontrollably remarking as the cutest little puff of fur on four legs came trotting toward him. "Huh? What's your name, little guy?" he now gushed as he bent to pet the rambunctious pup. "You...you lost, little one? Huh? Where's your master? Huh?" Oh well. So much for foul-weather friends and bad moods. Nikomas' heart was currently bursting with joy as the pup began to playfully nuzzle and nibble the hand he offered as a sign of goodwill. His once lavender saturated eyes were now two deep pools of sparkling, sapphire blue.

[Lorelle]

Lorelle is not happy. Actually she is quite the opposite. She is very, very angry. Her eyes are colored a dark, deep shade of sea green. A color that they hardly ever turn. Normally she skips the whole anger phase and goes straight into longing for revenge, which turns her eyes a hot crimson color. But thus, that is not the case at the moment. No, now she is just angry. "Eva Snowsong! You get your furry tail back here or I'll ... I'll..." Elle's threats are cut short as she cannot think of anything she could do to her pup besides scold her. She loves Eva much to much to really hurt her. Eva, does not respond to her half threat. This is no surprise, except that now that Elle has decided to pay attention, she doesn't see Eva anywhere. Panic swells within the female Vantha's throat as her eyes shift from sea green to a mix of dark blue and silvery grey colors."Eva?" Lorelle calls out in a now worried tone of voice. The girl continues to move forward as she does not know what else she can do. She continues to call out her pup's name every so often, but she gets less than no answer. This continues awhile when finally, Elle's luck shifts when she hears another voice out in the snow. And accompanied with it there is a bark. A very familiar bark, one that melts all the fear and worry from Elle's face and eyes. Her eyes now become a gold and black color as she runs towards the spot where she knows she heard a bark. She turns and sees not far off, her little red ball of joy nuzzling someone she has never seen before. Joy fills her eyes and she very clumsily makes her way over to them. "Eva!" she exclaims as she reaches them and instantly swoops the pup into her arms, completely ignoring the man in front of them. Eva wiggles in her arms and lets out a few sharp barks of protest as her owner coddles her. The small dog is able to get her way and she wiggles her way out of Elle's arms, bringing a frown to the girl's face. Lorelle is very confused as she watches her dog run over to the man who found her and starts trying to make him play with her, a man Elle is just now noticing fully. Her eyes grow big as she realizes how rude she must look right now. "I'm sorry she usually isn't like this. I don't know what has gotten into her today," Elle tries to think of something to say, now that she has sort of missed her opening. Her eyes shift between a sort of pink color and greyish silver color."Thanks for finding her and well ... stopping her," Elle says with a small smile, trying not to seem tense and awkward. Even though that is very much how she is feeling. Lorelle's arms fall to her sides, her hands pressed nervously against her thighs as she has run out of ideas for things to say."I am Lorelle," she blurts out for lack of another idea and then calmer she says,"Lorelle Snowsong. Her eyes drift down and watch as Eva continues to try and make the man play with her. This brings a small smile to Elle's lips."She likes you. She likes you a lot. I have never seen her do that with anyone but me," she comments, somewhat in awe and shock. She then becomes quiet and she waits and hopes that the man has something to say and doesn't think her a complete fool and is scared off.

[Nikomas]

"Nikomas Frostfawn," he replied as he continued to play with the pup. "Forgive me for mistaking her for a he. If I remember correctly, this breed tends to have far more playful males than females. But this little one...well...she's just all worked up now, isn't she? She's just a ball of energy! Aren't you, little girl? Aren't you?" Getting down on his hands and knees now, Nikomas let her nuzzle his neck and lick his face. She was certainly a playful little critter. "As you can already tell, I'm perfectly alright with being attacked by her. It's been a while since I've spent quality time with a...uh...she's a Kalean Spicecoat...right?" Nikomas let the question hang in the air as he was once again nuzzled and licked, nibbled and kissed. By the time a handful of chimes passed, he was covered in doggie drool, as well as rust-colored fur, which was perfectly alright with him. He didn't often publicly admit this, but his love of animals was truly overwhelming at times. He just, well, he...he couldn't always put into words how strongly connected he felt to the wildlife around them, in particular, those who lived as close companions to the Vantha. "How...how old is she?" he asked, not waiting for a reply to his first question. "Has she had any formal training? I'm kind of guessing the answer is 'No,'" he added with a chuckle as she climbed up his chest and then flopped over his shoulder, pawing at his ear along the way.

[Lorelle]

Lorelle laughs lightly as she watches the little dog practically attack this man with licks and cuddles."Yes, I think she is a Kalean Spicecoat. Or at least has a lot of that bread in her," she answers his first question as she crouches down to the ground. Elle has never seen Eva do this to someone else before outside of her family. The pup is usually more clingy to Elle when strangers are around, but apparently she likes this Frostfawn. Elle finds it strange, but also warming to her heart. She is happy that Eva has found a new friend. Engrossed in her own thoughts, Elle doesn't catch Nikomas's questions at first. There is a pause in the conversation before she realizes he was talking to her. Her eyes turn a light shade of pink with her mild embarrassment as she quickly thinks up the correct answers to his questions. "I think she is a little more than a season old," the snowsong answers, watching as her pup climbs on his shoulder,"You would be right, she has had no formal training or really any training for that matter."

[Nikomas]

"Well, with her being so young, it's the perfect time to start. Don't ya think? I mean, I know I would hate to get three or four years in and regret that I hadn't taken the time to shape my rambunctious pup into a well-behaved companion. It will only get harder the longer you wait to start." At this point, Nikomas set her down, which resulted in a series of whimpers and yaps, until she realized that she had an itch down below. So the next thing the two Vanthas knew, she was plopping herself down, lifting her leg, and nibbling at her posterior region. This led to licking, then, out of the blue, a sneeze, followed by her falling over onto her back. She remained like this for a matter of chimes, paws up, tail wagging, tongue hanging, until a bird caught her attention. Then, in a flash, she was up and barking at the poor creature as it sat in a nearby tree. "Yeah, I would definitely start sooner rather than later. If you think she's a handful now, wait until you see her at four times her current size." With that, the pup's attention was drawn to a lovely rock garden and, in particular, a flowering shrub that was gently rustling in the wind. Within a heartbeat, she had a sizable clump in her mouth and in yet another beat she was yanking it from its roots. By the time anyone had a chance to react, she was digging at the garden rather wildly. "Yeah. I would definitely start today," Nikomas mused, with a slight chuckle, as he watched soil and leaves fly through the air.

[Lorelle]

Lorelle listens to Nikomas as she watches Eva be her usual, pup-like self. She tilts her head as she watches the red coated, fluffy creature. She smirks as Eva lays on her back with her tail wagging, shaking her head she looks up at Nikomas. "Yeah your probably right," she says, turning her eyes back to Eva as she barks at a poor little innocent bird. Lorelle winces as Eva's attention is once again torn away and a garden is torn to shreds."Yeah I agree, I need to start her today," the female Vantha agrees. She turns to Nikomas, thinking. "Would you help me?" she asks after a pause of silence, "I don't really know much about training her and I am guessing you might know something. More than me anyway." Elle stops, sighing. She feels as though she is making a fool of herself, her eyes starting to turn pink as if to prove this a fact. As a result of not really knowing what else to say, Lorelle waits in a strange silence for an answer. Her eyes drift over to Eva who has now moved on from the garden to making some snow yellow. Rolling her eyes, Elle turns back to looking at Niko. "As you can probably tell, I need all the help I can get," she adds to all the other words that she has said.

[Nikomas]

"You know what...yeah, I would like to help you!" he cheerfully offered as he removed his long coat, slung it over a nearby fence, and then proceeded to roll up his sleeves. "What's her name again?" he inquired as he crouched a little to be at the pup's level. "Eva! Come here, girl," he began to call once he was reminded of her name. "That's right, come here," he continued to speak to the playful creature as she trotted over. Hmm, so far, so good. She seems to know her name, he thought as he ruffled the fur at her neck. "Okay. How about we start with some basics? Something simple like...sitting or...maybe even fetching," he announced aloud as he now stood. However, as he stood Eva took it upon herself to jump at him, clinging to his legs in an effort to climb up into his arms. "No, Eva. Down," he firmly informed the pup as he motioned with his hand toward the ground. A bark and a tail wag was all he received in return. "Eva. No. Down," he repeated as he pushed her from his legs. More barking. More tail wagging. "Eva. No. Down," he said once more as he bent, grabbed her by her waggly rump, and pushed it toward the ground. "Sit." The pup was having none of this. In a flash she was up and jumping on his legs again, barking and clawing at him. "Eve. No. Down," he repeated for the fourth time as he also repeated the actions of placing her rump firmly upon the ground. "Sit." And, yet again, she was up, but this time she trotted off, clearly frustrated with not getting her way. "Well, I guess this is going to take a few bells," he informed his companion as he proceeded to walk off after Eva who was now trying to pull his coat from the fence he had slung it over. "No. Eva. No."

[Lorelle]

A slight smile touches as Lorelle's lips as Nikomas agrees to help her out. She really knows very little when it comes to things like this and a little help is always welcome in her mind."Sounds like a plan,"she comments, shrugging off her own coat and putting it next to his. She then crouches down and watches his first attempts at trying to get Eva to sit. The pup is more than disobedient, she is almost haughty as she does the exact opposite of what she is told. Though she is playful at the same time. She just doesn't want to do as told. Which, quite frankly, does not make Lorelle happy. The Vantha sits back though and watches as Nikomas work with her for a few chimes. She stands up though when Eva goes over to the male's coat and starts tugging on it. She sees the pup's teeth have a tight grip on the coat. A growl of irritation utters from Elle's throat. She isn't really mad at Eva, just embarrassed by her actions and lack of training. Elle feels as though it is a reflection on her, which it is. Lorelle walks over to her and crouches down next to her, becoming eye level with the pup."Eva, no," she says with a stern, authoritative voice. The tone in Elle's voice makes Eva stop for a moment and look at her. A whine escapes her throat before she goes back to tugging on the coat. Elle rolls her eyes. She takes her hand and preforms a trick her father taught her. She wraps the hand over the top of the pups mouth, her thumb on one side and her four fingers on the other side. She then squeezes lightly, but enough to make Eva notice. The pup instantly releases and goes over to run and play with something else. Lorelle stands and looks over to Nikomas. "Sorry about your coat. I will pay for any damage that needs to be fixed," she offers. She then turns to Eva. The pup is busy digging a hole in the deep snow. "Eva, come," she orders. Eva peeks her head out of the snow before letting out a small yip and strutting over, her tail wagging. Elle rolls her eyes but cannot help but let out a small laugh. She crouches down and pets the pup gently to let her know that she isn't to mad. After trying to calm Eva down a bit, Elle looks up at Nikomas."You wish to continue?" she asks

[Nikomas]

"Oh, don't worry too much about the silly coat. I'm a leatherworker. I can fix whatever mess she's made. It will give it that rugged, lived-in look so many people instantly desire when they buy a new garment," Nikomas mused, even though inwardly he was dreading to see the damage. The coat, after all, was one of the few things he had from his parents. Well, they would save that particular moment of truth for later. There was a puppy who needed to be trained! "So, uh, yeah, let's continue!" he agreed as he came to stand by the two of them. "What would you like her to learn? I believe we may only have time to achieve one or two things, such as, come and sit or fetch and stay or come and fetch or, well, as you can see the combinations are endless! However, I think once we get down a good foundation, the rest will fall into place. So, what's it going to be?" Crouching now, Nikomas ruffled the fur of the pup's neck. For the most, she seemed good-natured. She was still very much a puppy and until she was trained better, she would continue to behave as if she lived in the wilds, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as, as an owner, one didn't mind finding the occasional kill on their doorstep.