[Silver]

“Think you can do it again?”

Nimbus spent a while walking around the paddock with treats in his hand. He repeated the command over and over while brandishing the treat. Slowly he began to phase out the treat so that he came without the expectation of getting something in return. He was a bit more reluctant at first, but before long, he was willing to play along.

“Good job,” he said. He hugged the cavillion around the neck affectionately. Mallow didn’t used to like being touched like that, but he had been fed enough treats today to be accepting of it. The more time they spent together, the more he would come to favor such displays of affection.

[Silver]

“Nyx,” Nimbus called. He clicked his tongue a few times to emphasize what he was saying. Nyx cheerfully trotted over to answer his call. She had long since learned these sorts of things, so it was really second nature to her.

“You’ve done a lovely job today,” he said. Though what exactly he was referring to was unclear. She really hadn’t done much, but she accepted the praise nonetheless. It really did seem like Mallow was more agreeable with her around. If for no other reason than to prove that he was the superior one.

[Silver]

Mallow was annoyed that the attention was no longer on him. Most of the time he was capable of ignoring that she existed, but not when she was getting his praise. He lowered his head and stomped his hooves. He was going to charge.

“Wooooah,” Nimbus said. He stood as tall as he could and raised his hands over his head. Anything he could do to make himself appear larger and make him take a step back.

Nimbus had stopped many charing creatures by now, but it didn’t look like Mallow was going to be one of them. He seemed determined to give the other equine creature a nasty prick with his horn. Nimbus was clearly very worried about her.

[Silver]

“Knock it off,” he shouted. He gave Mallow a meaningful shove. Though he was small and the shove itself didn’t really do much to the much larger cavillion, Mallow did pick his head up and stopped his attempt to charge.

“What is wrong with you?” Nimbus grumbled exasperatedly.

Nyx was blissfully unaware of everything that had just occurred. She couldn’t see that she was about to be charged, so she didn’t make any attempt to move out of the way. That was part of the reason Nimbus was so upset in the first place. He knew he had to protect her, especially after he agreed to let her participate in their lesson.

[Silver]

One thing she did notice, however, was the upset tone in Nimbus’ voice. She really didn’t care for that, so she leaned down to see if she could help him. She rested her huge head against his shoulder, nearly knocking him over. She breathed out a puff of air that sounded like a contented sigh.

“It’s okay, I don’t think he’s actually going to hurt you,” Nimbus said. He considered what would happen if they actually got in a fight. He didn’t think that he was biased when he thought that she would definitely win that fight. She was strong, well armored, and highly magical. Though he honestly had no idea whether or not Mallow was hiding some kind of freaky magic, too.

[Wild Pet Found]

[Silver]

“If you’re ready to stop being so rude,” he said. “Then I think we can get started on the next lesson.”

Nyx was pleased that he seemed to be in a better mood. His tone picked up and he sounded cheerful again. She lifted her head and took a few steps back to give him some space. Then she absentmindedly grazed on the grass around their feet.

Mallow still looked irritated, but not enough to charge. He had a lot of pent up energy in him. That’s why Nimbus wanted so badly to start teaching him. The more he learned and worked, the happier he would be. The hard part was convincing him to get started before they could see some results.

[Silver]

“Here, this is a carrot, you like carrots,” Nimbus said. He held out the stubby carrot at arm’s length. He was closer before, but he wanted to build up some trust again before closing the gap.

“There, I knew you liked them.” He watched as Mallow slowly pulled the carrot out of his hand and loudly chewed it. “We’re friends again, right?”

Nimbus reached out and gently touched Mallow’s side. He smoothly worked his way up and along the cavillion’s mane, all the way to his nose. Mallow liked the patting and scratching so much that he didn’t even notice at first that there was a hand on his face. When he did, he took an abrupt step backwards.

[Silver]

‘He’ll get used to you eventually,’ Nimbus thought to himself. He knew that Mallow was going to be a tough one to train, so he was trying not to let it get to him. Usually animals took to him so well that he nearly forgot what it was like to work with a difficult one.

He took a glance behind him to see what Nyx was doing. She was walking around nibbling on the grass. He never was certain that she actually ate it. It didn’t always seem like she did. He wondered if she consumed some weird spirit energy or something. He wouldn’t put it past her.

[Silver]

Even though she didn’t seem to eat much physical food, she always liked to take candy from him. Wasn’t that how she got here in the first place? He considered the fact that she might like being around him more than the candy itself. Unless she just had a sweet tooth. He would probably never know.

Now most of the creatures he kept acted more like Nyx, though few of them to quite the same extent. They were always so happy to see him and enjoyed seeing him happy. It was easy to teach a creature who wanted their teacher to be happy. He found this to be especially true of tali, like his beloved Rhythm.

[Silver]

There was only a rare moment when Rhythm wasn’t in his sights. At the moment, he was sleeping at the edge of the paddock. He didn’t really like to be in the paddock, since his poor sight led him to being kicked a couple of times. Still, Nimbus had no doubt that he’d be there in a second if he called.

Nimbus shook his head and returned his sights to Mallow. One day, Mallow would come to his call just as faithfully as his other creatures. It was honestly a wonder he had time enough to see to all of them. His knack for it certainly helped. If every creature were as difficult as Mallow, he probably wouldn’t be able to get to everyone as quickly as he’d like.

[Silver]

“It’s okay, Mallow. Come here, boy. Come here, Mallow,” Nimbus repeated his name and the command he had already learned a few times. The familiar words might help to soothe him.

Mallow was reluctant for a moment, but he did eventually come to the call. He had learned before that he would be rewarded if he did it. Now so long as there wasn’t any more face touching, he was fine being closer to the boy. Actually, he a little bit wanted more face touching, but not the surprise kind.

[Silver]

Nyx raised her head and began ‘watching’ them as Mallow came closer. She was looking right at him, despite the fact that she literally could not see him. It was quite eerie, though Mallow didn’t seem to think so. In fact, he stared right back as if he was fascinated by her.

“Are you going to come get your treat?” Nimbus asked. He broke the stare the two had on each other, and Mallow trotted over to grab the bit of carrot out of his hand.

Nyx heard the carrot being crunched and bounced over to get some for herself. “Do you even like carrot?” Nimbus asked her. He honestly didn’t know. He held one out for her to take. She grabbed it, held it in her mouth for a moment, and ultimately spit it out onto the ground.

[Silver]

“Guess not,” he said with a shrug. He felt bad for her, though. She did come over here for a treat, and now she didn’t really get one. He slipped a piece of candy out of his stash and offered it to her.

“Shh, don’t tell him I gave you this. If I didn’t make him eat healthy, he would get all fat!” Nimbus started laughing at the mental image of a fat cavillion plodding along on its still thin, spindly legs. Nyx didn’t know why he was laughing, but she added her own joyous clicking sound to the mix.

[Silver]

Mallow carefully watched the two interact. The boy’s body language was so much more relaxed while they were together. It made him jealous, though he couldn’t really understand it too well. All he knew was that he wanted to be praised in the same way. A new feeling for him, surely.

He snorted and pushed his way between Nimbus and Nyx. Nimbus frowned, but Nyx simply backed up politely. She hadn’t realized that she was in the way. She didn’t want to inconvenience anyone.

“See, Mallow, that was rude,” Nimbus said. His tone was short and stern. He didn’t want to make it appear as though what Mallow did was okay.

[Silver]

“Nyx, it’s okay sweetie, you’re not in trouble.” He took a few steps toward her and rubbed her side. She made a contented sound and he smiled. She wasn’t easy to upset, that’s for sure.

“I bet you’re just eager to learn, aren’t you?” Nimbus cooed. It was the same voice people used when talking to babies. He didn’t mean it to be condescending, but if he had done the same to another person, they would surely think it was.

"You'll be a great workhorse in no time," he said. He was laughing at the absurdity of it as he said it. He never treated his creatures like workhorses. He never had a reason to.

[Wild Pet Found]