Training Montage!

“...What do you even train these things to do?”

The question her partner had just asked was something Merrit had already been pondering. While Kane could have asked it in a slightly less disgusted tone, they were both on the same page regarding training her phloof, Darjeeling, at the moment.

Merrit stroked the soft fur on one of her ears thoughtfully as she looked down at the small, fluffy imp, which was at the moment lazily waving his tail up and down and following its movement with intense focus. For a moment she wondered if she could train it to do things like get the mail or fetch snacks from the pantry… Remembering that her imps were just as, if not more slothful than she was quickly pulled Merrit from that thought, however. Maybe it’d be better to start small…

“Hmm… Maybe I can train him to do some simple tricks?” Merrit wondered aloud, hoping for some sort of helpful input. “Flips, hops, and the like.”

“You can certainly try,” Kane replied. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to start or help you do it, though.”

Not exactly the most helpful input, but Merrit appreciated the reply. She didn’t need help - she had actually just remembered she had bought a manual for teaching imps tricks not too long ago! Now she just needed to remember where she put it… She hurried for the bookcase, running her finger along the line of books until she spotted the one she needed.

There it is! Imp Training for Dummies! Merrit didn’t really appreciate the pejorative in the title, but that wasn’t something she needed to get hung up on. She pulled the book from the shelf and flipped around until she found a page for a trick that seemed beginner-friendly enough.

“Okay, hmm.. For this trick, it looks like I’ll need imp treats, positive reinforcement, and potentially a lot of patience.” She once again began rummaging around, this time in various drawers, before finally finding what she was looking for. She held up a slightly crumpled bag of imp treats and wiggled it around, the crackling noise of the packaging managing to tear Darjeeling’s attention away from his tail. He hopped over to Merrit’s feet and looked up at her with big, wide, admittedly-soulless eyes. “You ready to learn, little one?”

Kane, who hadn’t really been paying attention, decided to interject with his own question. “What kind of tricks are in that book?”

“Oh, there’s a wide variety… I decided to start with a simple ‘spin’ sort of trick.” Merrit pulled a few imp treats out of the bag and held them up, Darjeeling’s attention immediately locking onto them. She held the book up with the other hand, reading over the instructions, before snapping it shut and setting it aside. “Right… Let’s go.”

Holding the treat close to the phloof’s face, just far enough that he couldn’t snatch it, Merrit pulled the treat slowly around him in a counterclockwise direction. Having no neck to speak of, the imp was forced to spin around alongside the treat to keep it within sight. After spinning in a complete circle, Merrit cooed praise to the creature before allowing him to devour the snack.

“He didn’t do it on his own… Are you really supposed to reward him for that?” Kane once again decided to involve himself, despite his previous statement of not knowing how to help. He wasn’t helping, sure, but he had definitely become unintentionally invested in the process. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be asking questions.

“It’s to teach him positive associations. If he spins around, and gets a treat from it, he’ll associate the motion with being rewarded,” Merrit began to explain. “He needs to be prompted to perform the trick in the first place… Hence the motion of pulling it around him.”

“...Right. It takes time, then, I presume.” Kane was certainly invested at this point, much to Merrit’s amusement. “Carry on, then. We’ll see how long it takes for the training to stick.”

Giving her partner a smile, Merrit returned to training her phloof. She repeated the same motions two more times before finally deciding to move on with the training. The next step was to introduce the command word, ‘spin.’ She simply had to repeat the last steps, telling Darjeeling to ‘spin’ before directing him to. It went off without a hitch, Merrit repeating the steps a few more times. She was about to move on to the next step in the training manual before remembering that it had advised you only practice for at most 5.minutes at a time.

“Okay, little thing… You’ve earned a break.” Merrit patted Darjeeling on his head. Glancing at the clock, Merrit decided she would start the training again in about twenty minutes. She sat herself next to Kane, who had been observing her from their couch for the duration of the training session. Darjeeling settled himself in her lap after she sat.

“Break time already?” Kane asked, resting his head on Merrit’s shoulder. “That wasn’t a very long training session.”

“Well, he was spinning… He could likely get dizzy if I kept making him do it nonstop.” Merrit responded. “I’ll start up again soon. We’ll get the trick down in no time.”

“Mmm, alright.” Kane placed a hand on Merrit’s shoulder, gently tugging her toward him. “While you’re here, c’mere.”

He leaned in to give her a kiss, running his fingers along her neck. Merrit reciprocated the kiss, though she broke away before it could get even slightly heated. Kane looked a bit disappointed as she did.

“Let’s save distractions for later,” Merrit whispered. “I don’t want to lose track of time and forget to continue the training.”

Kane pouted slightly, but pulled away regardless. “Okay… I’ll bug you later, then.”

Merrit chuckled softly and pulled Kane close with one arm, petting Darjeeling with the other. They sat together for the next twenty minutes, chatting about nothing in particular, until it was finally time to continue training. She picked Darjeeling up and set him down in the middle of the room, grabbing several more treats in the process.

Picking up training again after a break, Merrit was supposed to repeat the previous steps a couple times to verify Darjeeling had retained what he had been learning. It took several more training sessions, with fifteen to twenty minute breaks in between each, but eventually it was time to move on with the training.

“Darjeeling…” Merrit held a treat directly in the phloof’s line of sight. “Spin.”

It took a few tries… But soon, Darjeeling spun around all of his own accord. Merrit had to stop herself from jumping with joy - if only to prevent their downstairs neighbors from getting mad again. She handed the phloof his treat, and once he finished it she leaned down and picked him up.

“Darjeeling, you did it…!” Merrit was absolutely giddy, hugging the imp close. “Oh, I’m so proud of you!”

Even Kane was inclined to join in on the celebration, approaching Merrit and patting her on the back. “Wonderful job, darling.”

Darjeeling, however, did not seem too giddy about the situation, struggling against Merrit’s grasp. She let him go and he darted away.

“Aw. Looks like you hugged him too tight.” Kane observed.

Merrit felt a little downtrodden after that, but the pride of succeeding in a task in such a short time made her feel wonderful. She actually managed to do something she was interested in!

Of course, the couple had to celebrate! Kane and Merrit pulled out the liquor and drank several toasts to Darjeeling’s new skill, Kane making sure to pamper his beautiful wife after all her hard work. After a night of indulgence, however… all motivation to keep training Darjeeling melted away, the imp soon forgetting he was ever taught how to spin.