[Grim] Training Montage 1

“Oh, thank you, good customer! Actually, can I have your name? I’m trying my best to remember all of the buns that decided to help me with this team event to show that jerk the right way to raise imps!”

Grim twiddled his thumbs. He once again found himself in a situation that he could’ve just ignored. Actually, that wasn’t correct–he happened to get himself caught in the middle of an argument between two passionate buns, so there was little leeway for him to escape without being rude. Though it wasn’t like he was alone, there were a few buns around as well, and one of them had the grand idea of how to settle their squabble: let the imps decide, they said.

And that was when the division began. Customers who were present at the time were asked where they stood on the issue: were sweets good or bad for the imps? Should imps stay as they were or be transformed thanks to a bun’s hand? Frankly, Grim had only sided with Hutch because one, he already knew him, and two, Paroli’s favorite snacks were the Black Sesame Dango specifically. He actually hadn’t tried to feed him much else, and the Sceil was actually somewhat picky.

When he told the Imporium owner about this, it only seemed to fuel his assurance that see, imps shouldn’t be fed sweets because they don’t like it! So Grim didn’t have the heart to correct him since he figured that was Paroli’s specific preferences. In any case, it led him to joining ‘Team Sesame’, and now he was being invited to bring his Sceil to the shop for some training, which is something that Grim had never done before.

How was one to train a snake to do tricks? They couldn’t jump, and speeding up was a little bit difficult for them. Complete an obstacle course, he supposed? Hutch had let out a chuckle and said that there was more to tricks than being able to move around quickly or dexterously. Why not try to make your Sceil mimic you or do something artistic?

So Grim had to return to the shop another day with Paroli in a carrier. Hutch fawned and cooed over the Sceil, holding him up and praising that he looked perfectly healthy (and black, free of any of those terrible mutations). The imp looked confused, but took it with stride, glancing at its owner every once in a while.

“Have you thought about what trick you’re going to teach Paroli?” the Imporium owner asked; his eyes sparkling.

“Uh, I suppose? I wondered what would count as a trick and who would the target audience be, and since online videos on social media are common nowadays, maybe Paroli looking cute?”

“But Paroli is already cute!”

“Well, cuter. It seems to understand that making cute poses can get it more treats.”

“As it should! Sometimes I have a hard time restraining myself because of how adorable they are, but even if they do not eat, they must not be fed in excess, since it’s easy for them to gain an overdependence on these treats, and it can make them harder to control…like this one time with Sesame…”

And then Hutch started to ramble, to which Grim didn’t know how to interrupt. The Phloof also seemed to be enjoying the attention anyhow, and the Sceil was placed back on the counter for it to slither back to the purple bun’s side. They listened semi-attentively to the story about how Hutch’s imp cleared through the storage of treats after not paying attention to how much he had been feeding it. Do imps get fat? It only seemed that overfeeding them would be a drain on one’s wallet.

In any case, Hutch eventually managed to get himself back on track and focus on Grim’s idea. It was simple, really, Paroli would just curl itself up into a blob of Sceil on command and then stick his head through the folds, showing a cute face. It was a sleeping position that the imp took on every now and then, but the challenge here was to make it do it based on a keyword.

First, Grim gently moved Paroli’s body around into the circular-shaped pile he would often see. The Sceil was rather confused about this, especially since its owner didn’t often manhandle it in such a way. Still, it seemed to tolerate getting repositioned until it got the memo and curled up on its own. After that, the purple bun asked for a treat from Hutch, to which he was handed a bone-shaped sesame treat.

“This is what I normally use to train my imps instead of just plain sesame seeds.” the Imporium owner said, noticing the confused look from Grim. “It’s easier to hold and for them to eat! See? Paroli is already eyeing it.”

Sure enough, the Sceil was poking through the folds with big ol’ eyes, gazing at the treat in Grim’s hand.

“Guess I’ll be buying a pack of these once this session is done.” he muttered, “Paroli, I want you to do that when I say ‘bundle up’, alright?” the bun placed the treat somewhere on the side before gently unraveling the snake. He then slowly pushed the body back into its curled up position, to which the Sceil did almost instinctively. “Bundle up.”

And then he gave a piece of the treat to his imp.

They repeated that a few more times, though Paroli would sometimes poke its head out from outside of the folds, or in other times, it wasn’t really happy with being fiddled around with so much, even with the treat. Grim would keep repeating the keyword with Hutch watching closely, but when there was no clear progress being made, the Imporium owner placed a hand on the other bun’s shoulder.

“Hmm, it was worth a shot, but I think Paroli needs to get more used to being handled before we keep trying this. It looks like it might bite you at any moment.”

“Oh.” upon closer inspection, it did look like the Sceil was now glowering at him.

“It’s okay! Training a trick isn’t meant to be completed in a day. It takes lots of patience and love, and sometimes even with those things you encounter setbacks. It was a good try! Why don’t you give it the rest of that treat? I don’t think you should give it a pat though. Maybe give it some space after.”

Grim nodded before holding the treat close to the Sceil’s mouth. It stared at the biscuit for a moment before tentatively taking it. After that, it slithered towards the direction of the carrier. Ah, he supposed that it was ready to go home and be left alone for a while.

“Aww, I do think Paroli is a wonderfully even tempered Sceil, though. I feel like other Sceils would’ve tried biting your hand a long time ago, to be frank!”

Grim wasn’t sure how to take that comment, but he supposed it was meant to be a compliment for the imp.

“Oh! And before you go, I was thinking that if Paroli really doesn’t want to do tricks, I can give you another little guy that you can practice with!”

“Eh?”

Hutch had already run somewhere (to one of the other pens) before coming back with a differently shaped imp. “An Impup! Perfect for beginners. What do you say?”

“Err, I don’t really see myself taking care of another imp?”

“You’ll be fine! I’ll help you with costs! Please? I really need to have more buns help me show that natural colored imps are for the best…”

The Impup wagged its tail while it was being held from under its front legs. Well, it already looked more friendly compared to Paroli, but wouldn’t another imp stress it out?

“Don’t worry, this Impup is housebroken! Though if you have a spare room, it might be best to keep it there for a while.”

Grim let out a sigh. Well, if he didn’t see himself backing out of this imp scuffle, he supposed he could at least spare Paroli the bother. “Alright alright.” he took the pup from Hutch’s hands and it didn’t squirm around at all. If anything, it seemed happy to be held and wanted to snuggle up. He had to admit that the pup was cute.

“Great! See you this weekend then for more training?”

Grim balked. “I’ll check my schedule.”