[Grim] Tricks for Treats 1

The box that Hutch had sent over basically ensured that Grim was stocked up in black sesame treats for quite some time. However, even if imps didn’t need to breathe, that didn’t stop Ante from being very keenly aware of where the treat bags were. The purple bun made sure to store them in an upper shelf cabinet, but the Impup had been watching him the whole time, letting out tiny whines and whimpers as its white blank eyes were glued to the bag.

“Even if you’re not allowed to eat, you still need to practice moderation.” he gave the imp a little pat on the head before ensuring that the door was firmly shut. The bun then went to check on Paroli, who was no longer as angry with him as before, but was still clearly bothered by the new imp running around the house.

Ante had tried to befriend the Sceil, but so far it hadn’t even been able to stay within a couple of feet from the older imp. If Paroli was more nimble, Grim imagined that it wouldn’t even want to be in the same room as the pup, but it was a snake, so it would often ask its owner to get it to certain shelves. 

“Paroli?”

The Sceil peeked from the shelf, still mostly wrapped up in itself.

“Want to come down?”

It looked like the imp thought about it, but when it spotted the Impup wagging its tail, standing near Grim’s leg, it narrowed its eyes before curling up and hiding from the bun’s line of sight.

Suppose that was a no, then.

“Ante, want to practice a bit before we meet up with Hutch?”

The Impup let out a happy bark, waiting and trotting behind Grim to another part of the living room. He actually kept a few treats out for training, to which he was thankful that Ante hadn’t tried to chomp through the bag just yet. The bun had to watch a couple more videos to see what tricks were common with Impups, as since they had four legs, they could perform a number of other more visually recognizable feats.

One of which was to sit.

According to the buns online, the first step was trying to get the Impup to note the connection between the action and the keyword. This involved (once again) a bit of bunhandling, needing to gently push Ante’s butt down to the floor and saying the word ‘sit’. The imp would actually stay sitting on the floor for a couple of seconds before it would stand up again, moving closer for pats.

Was he doing this right? He tried to say ‘sit’ without doing anything else, but Ante just wagged his tail. Letting out a thoughtful hum, Grim reached into the treat bag and decided to try motivating him a bit more with the biscuit in hand. That immediately got its attention, standing to attention.

“Ante, sit?”

Grim would stumble upon information later on that detailed how he should be firm when giving commands, but that was not what he knew at that moment. Thus, the Impup continued to stare at the treat.

He gently pushed its back down on the floor and repeated the keyword.

“Sit.”

Ante barked and stayed in that pose, wagging his tail. Was that progress? Well, he broke a part of the treat and gave it to the Impup anyway.

“Good boy.”

He paused for a moment before waving the biscuit a little, making the pup stand up again.

“Sit?”

A head tilt, but the imp did back up a bit. Grim let out a sigh and once again pushed the hind legs down. “Sit.”

Ante let out a small whine, but didn’t seem all that bothered. He decided to give it the other half of the treat. Maybe he should wait for Hutch to give him more specific instructions on what order to do the training.

He pushed himself up and grabbed the bag, walking back to where Paroli was hiding. The Sceil was awake, as evidenced by its head peeking out from the shelf.

“Paroli, come?”

He didn’t really expect for the imp to respond, but with an outstretched hand, the Sceil uncurled itself and slithered down his arm, moving to his shoulders and staying there. To say that Grim was pleasantly surprised was an understatement.

“Oh, Paroli! I take that this means you’ve forgiven me?”

The imp gestured to the bag of treats that the bun was holding, and Grim immediately understood. Opening it, he pulled another black sesame biscuit, broke a part of it, and handed it to the Sceil to eat. That clearly made it happy.

“I guess that’s technically a trick I can show Hutch, but maybe it’ll be better if I video it rather than bring you there, huh?”