Playing with Animals [Training/Solo]

Lexi was so happy to be home, safe, with her brother and Leo. They had yet to find their tribe, but the weather had been nice. Leo enjoyed pouncing through the tall grass, flushing out prey for her to hunt, or just to play. He was getting larger every day. She loved the tiger and wondered if she would be able to ever have another pet like him, someone to hunt and play with her.

Each time they stopped to camp, Ari would go off by herself for a couple of hours, leaving Leo at the camp with her brother. She would find someplace quiet to sit and then meditate and wait. She found the longer she was still and quiet, the more creatures would approach her, curious to her presence in their environment. She slipped an eye open as she felt a small weight on her shoulder and smiled to see a tiny bird fluttering there. With slow, steady motions, she carefully raised an arm with her hand outstretched, waiting. The bird became curious and moved to rest on her finger, twittering towards her face. Typically, the bird would avoid anything with feline features like her ears and spots, but the bird sensed no threat and hopped from Lexi’s finger to her arm, cautiously moving closer. It took longer for Lexi to be able to pet the creature without it becoming frightened and flying away.

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The next day, they camped near the woods and Lexi found herself feeding a small deer that had nosed its way over to her. It took what seemed like hours, but she was finally able to get the deer to eat grain from her hand and allowed Lexi to pet the silky soft fur. Using the food as incentive, Lexi was able to get the deer to follow her around. She chuckled as it tried to follow her back to the camp only to dash off when Leo raised his head. The tiger took off after the running deer, returning in a short period with the body in his mouth, looking proud. Lexi frowned, never having wanted to harm the deer, but it was true that they were in need of food, so she could not scold the tiger. She made a mental note to make sure nothing else followed her back to camp the next night before helping Onyx to clean the kill.

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The next day of their travels, Lexi sat in the woods, teaching the squirrels to play fetch. They were playful creatures and the first few just ran off with the small nuts she was using, but their greediness brought them back. It took a few fake throws with rocks for them to begin bringing her the rocks with angry looks, as though demanding real food. She would reward them with a treat and they would disappear. They never brought her back a nut but she did manage to get one to bring her the same rock several times in a row.

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The next day, there were wolves nearby and Leo was restless from the howling, sensing the other predators. It took much more to get him to stay behind this time, but she managed to sneak off alone for a few hours. The wolves were easier to tame, the creatures used to human presence from the nomadic tribes. When one tried to follow her to camp, Leo came pouncing out of the brush, scaring off the wolf with a loud roar.

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After a week of traveling, Lexi had been able to gain a better understanding of what it took to calm or even tame several creatures, some even taking to an informal type of training for simple commands. She made plans to integrate this into Leo’s training, knowing the tiger was fiercely loyal but wanting to make sure she could count on him to obey her commands. Meanwhile, the search for their tribe continued.

[650/500 Dom Training D to C]