Post 5: Enrichment & Discipline

I had planned for this section to be about enrichment: toys, puzzles, little outings. Then, on Tuesday night, during the worst thunderstorm Region 5 has seen this year, enrichment rather happened to me.

At 2:14 in the morning, precisely as the guards were changing on the east wall, Ginger managed to knock out one of the maids bringing her dinner, snuck off into another room that didn’t have electric windows, went out the guest bathroom window, down the drainpipe, across the kitchen garden, and into the woods. She took the crackers. She took the dried meat. She took a carving knife that I had not realized was missing. She even took some of the jewels I had gifted her, but she did not take the luxury bed blankets.

The sigil should have stopped her. I can only assume that the commanding word "stay" falls within the forty percent that cannot be forced. It was my mistake to think that the blood sigil would 100 percent prevent this.

That is why I am writing this. Human pets can be quite cunning. But little do our human pets know that a sigil works a little in both directions, like a string between two cans, and I felt it pull thin. That’s how I knew she had left the boundary of our home.

Now, I do not usually transform in front of my servant staff. It is undignified, but it was raining, she was fast, and I was, I will admit, somewhat annoyed.

For the newly turned, a lankin is superior. We have our human-like forms. But we also have our true forms as we were born in the otherworld. My arms, already too long, grew longer, the claws slid out, my wings opened, my jaw unhinged along the line where my mouth was always a little too wide, and my chest opened to reveal yet another mouth full of sharp teeth.

I caught up with her in the woods. She is a clever one, it must be why she survived in the wilds for so long. She dropped down when she heard me swoop close to catch her. I had to force myself to land.

She turned around and every inch of me, lit by lightning, dripping, my second mouth open and breathing.

Most humans scream at this point. She did not.

She quickly looked around and picked up a big wooden stick, and stood against me. One hand held the knife she stole from the kitchens, and she shouted something at me with such ferocity.

I did not understand a word. I did not need to. I have been alive for nine hundred years, and I know what a creature sounds like when it is telling you to stay back.

I want to stress that this is not normal pet behavior and should not be expected. I also want to stress that I respected it immensely.

Despite her fierce demeanor I could smell the fear in her blood.

With much patience, I transformed back into my more human-like form. Slowly, as to not startle her further. Then I sat down in the mud. We stayed like that for some time in the rain: one very wet vampire, and one very wet human.

She had some scrapes on her. I could smell it. I want it noted in the permanent record of this forum that I did not eat my pet. I would like a commendation.

Eventually she said something else. Quieter. Her tone lifts up slightly at the end, in the way when one asks a question.

I had no idea what she had asked, so I told her the truth. I said, "You were expensive."

She could not have understood me. But she looked at me, nine feet of soaked, sulking monster sitting in a puddle, and she laughed. It was a short, ugly, surprised sort of sound. It was the first time I had heard it. I can only assume she understood the joke. I have been thinking about it more than is strictly necessary for a guide like this.

Then she dropped the big stick and I held out my hand to her. She lowered the knife and took it. I carried her home.

I was so proud of her that I couldn't help but sniff her neck. Hoping that maybe she would let me have a little drink. But she pushed away and it was then I realized that her fear never really left. She said one word the whole way, over and over, and by the time we reached the door I could say it back.

"No."

That is the second word of Human I have learned. I have had a great deal of practice with it since.

ON DISCIPLINE

Many of you will tell me I should have punished her. Fortified all the windows to be electrical, withheld food, or perhaps drink her into exhaustion to remind her how grateful she should be to be a pet and not food.

I did not do any of those things. Here is my tip.

TIP: You cannot build a cage strong enough to hold something that has already decided to leave it. You can only build a house it does not want to leave.

The next evening I could tell she was afraid I would punish her since I did not last night. Instead, I had a pot of coffee brought to her room. After that we walked in silence along the pathway to the east garden and I brought her to the library. When she didn’t respond I brought out a lankin child's book. Pointing and telling her the words in my own tongue and pointing at the pictures. She even repeated some words back. She did not sleep on top of the wardrobe that night. She slept on the bed for the first time, which is definitely progress.

REPLIES

GuRl_666 wait she SAW the chest mouth and DIDN'T SCREAM??

xX_RedRum_Xx ok that's actually kind of hard

~PaWz_n_FaNgZ~ oh honey you need to condition your pets! I use the shock function on the collars, it gives Just a little zap for ONLY when they try to stab you or claw at your face or go somewhere they are not supposed too. she had a KNIFE?? ZAP!. She goes to a restricted room. ZAP! It works every time. 💕 i'll send u my collar supplier!! You can even bad-dazzle them with charms!

xXBloodyWristsXx @~PaWz_n_FaNgZ~ That will not be necessary.

MagicalRaven39 i'm really glad you didn't hurt her

LaDy_of_darkNess How very interesting. A human who doesn't scream. You know how the Council adores interesting things, Seventh. Do bring her to the Equinox Gathering.

xXBloodyWristsXx @LaDy_of_darkNess That won't be necessary.

LaDy_of_darkNess It wasn't a request.