hisdarkmark | Thirty-Seventh Hex

[Hi Luceti. Today if you happen to be walking anywhere in the village, you might notice an overenthusiastic malamute attached to a leash. At the other end of said-leash is a rather disgruntled British wizard, more or less glaring at the dog as he's dragged along.

Stupid Arumat. Of course he had to disappear and shoulder him with the responsibility of yet another life. It was strange knowing that the man, the last original housemate, was officially gone. Not necessarily sad, though there was a hollow feeling he hadn't been able to shake off ever since he'd realized what had happened.

He didn't get much time to reflect on it though, seeing how the malamute has been working him. On their walk today, the dog's busy barking at pretty much everything, trying to pull Draco in all directions to sniff all the things.]

Gods, you're obnoxious, aren't you?

[He wraps the leash around his wrist to make it a tighter hold, using his free hand to make a grab for his journal while Edge is still pulling him along.]

I can't believe I'm asking this...

Dog training. What do any of you know of it? Time's a factor here, I'm half-tempted to toss him into the lake at this point.

[Later in the day, in fact, he will be at the lake. His lake. The South Lake. Edge the Malamute seems to have calmed down, but Draco's sitting up and a bit on edge. His wand's in front of him, and he seems to be concentrating.]

Expecto Patronum. [Nothing.] ...Expecto Patronum! [Still nothing. A frustrated sigh later and he's back to consulting Luceti as a whole. Though the journal's in his hands, he's hesitating for a moment. It'd be much easier if Hermione were still here, but she's not. That's a fact. She won't be returning anytime soon, so he'll have to make do with the resources he has.]

...second question for the lot of you. When do you reckon it's appropriate to give up on something?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For starters, how to make them behave themselves.

Simple enough. Where would you like to begin?

These isn't a solution to make them stop drooling, is there?

Where are we meeting?

[He'll get to you when he gets to you, Draco.]

Think Edge is leading me to the bakery. Dogs aren't supposed to like bread, are they?

Got it.

[He hangs up! There's not a lot of dilly-dallying, with Green. He'll show up at the bakery, expecting an Arcanine or maybe even a Houndoom. He's a little surprised at the size of what he sees. He looks at the grouchy blonde, hands in his pockets casually.]

You're the one who needs training?

[Edge the malamute is a bit overenthusiastic in his dragging. Draco's taken to grabbing the leash with both hands now that his journal can be closed and he almost looks insulted at those words.]

Technically, he does. Not me.

A bad trainer will make a bad pet.

[Without asking or really giving any cue, he takes the leash from Draco's hands and drops it onto the ground, since his training doesn't require such a thing anyway. He's seizing up the intelligence of the creature, but for now he's starting with a simple 'sit' command.]

What are you able to get him to do?

[Edge doesn't exactly respond to 'sit', though he does respond to that leash being dropped by wagging his tail. It might be that the dog is just as stubborn as Draco is.]

Drool, bark and terrorize me and my housemates. So really, nothing useful.

[Stubborn, okay. Green is grasping the dog's general personality, though he's not sure it'll be able to understand most instruction as well as Pokémon do.]

What training methods have you been using?

Mostly yelling. [Because that's the best answer, right?] Some disciplinary tactics as well, but he likes to ignore those. I'm almost certain Arumat just let him get away with everything. [Whether that's true or not...is debatable as well.]

Yelling won't work. You have to keep yourself in check and have control of what you're doing if you want to even think of controlling a living creature.

[Green will try some very basic body language to get the dog to sit. Touches on the nose and hand gestures to get the dog to follow instruction, all while focusing and giving the dog a decent amount of respect. He's not even using verbal commands, trying to see if it's an intelligence or obedience issue.

He's starting a bit more to suspect a trainer issue.]

A trainer that gets frustrated is only going to send mixed messages. A trainer with no patience is a useless one.

Well it's not as though I asked to become his handler. [Edge is going to blink and try to woof when Green's hand reaches his nose, but he falls silent and after a few attempts he actually sits on the ground...for a few moments before he's right back up again. But progress is progress.]

How good of a trainer are you?

I'm the best.

[He shows off one of his Pokéballs. Inside is Charizard, and it can be seen through the red top of the ball.]

I work with much more difficult creatures.

[...what the actual hell is this. Don't mind him, he's just kind of ogling at it trying to figure out why there is what looks like a miniature giant dragon inside this small ball.]

What are they?

[Green will put that Pokéball right back on his belt!]

Pokémon. Creatures from my world. To train a Pokémon, or any animal, you have to have respect for its abilities.

You actually think Edge his abilities? [If chewing on his foot counts, yeah, Edge has loads of abilities.] That doesn't exactly explain...what's a Pokémon?

Even if it has no elemental or attack strength, everything has its talents. The same applies to human beings. And that means that anything can be trained.

[He's still getting a good look over this dog.]

What sort of animal is this? I need to know what its natural abilities are supposed to be before I can train it.

As for Pokémon... they're the creatures that live in my world. They have many different powers. Trainers like myself capture them and raise them for all sorts of purposes, from handiwork to battle. I specialize in training, more than other trainers.

I see. [...right, okay, so little monsters. He gets it.]

Edge? He's a dog. You do know what a dog is, don't you? [...actually that's pretty debatable, he realizes that. People are strange in Luceti.]

I do. I've trained one, before.

[It... was an Arcanine but it's the same concept. Not training for battle, too small to train to be ridden, so the rest is simple pet training.]

What sort of dog, I meant. Most animals have natural talents based on what they are. Is this sort of dog used for hunting, searching, protection, guarding? That affects how to best train it.

I think Arumat called him a malamute. I've never seen one like it before in my life and I've no idea what he's actually supposed to do. Haven't exactly gotten that far. [As far as Draco's concerned, Edge was Arumat's dog and he didn't have to put forth effort until very recently. As in this morning when he realized just because Arumat disappeared didn't mean the dog would.]

Then I'll be meeting you daily to work through training. You'll attend the training as well.

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