Who's Being Trained?

Amaryllis had, by luck, gotten a Stellaram earlier this week. She named it Aurora. Aurora and Maria the Uniqor got along, but Amaryllis had to buy a new fancy pet bed. Not a big deal. She was just happy her imps were good with each other.

She was on her way to Quince’s shop, Maria and Aurora on her shoulders. She reached up and carefully petted her imps. They both nuzzled her. She had told them they would be meeting friends today. It was not a lie, but she was also bringing them for some things Quince had set up.

She entered the shop and was surprised by how quiet it was. Aurora made a chirp-like sound. She recognized the area where she first got to play with the bun. Amaryllis went to the back, where she found Quince.

The taller doll smiled brightly as the goth entered. She walks over and is followed by her own imps. She was happy the bookish bun had come, though not surprised as Amaryllis had always kept her promises.

“I see you brought Aurora and Maria,” she said casually. “Shall we get started?” With Amaryllis’ nod, Quince led the woman and the four imps out the back of the shop into a training yard. Quince had finished setting it up only hours ago.

“So, we are going to work on basics today with Aurora, Mademoiselle, Maria, and Peach. Stay, walk, and heel. I have prepared treats to use as rewards, incentives, and obstacles,” the imp trainer said, her voice chipper.

“Sounds like a full day!” Amaryllis grinned. Maria looked at the two buns, the imp was sure that this was crazy. She would much rather be in her bed at home. If this turned out to be the torture she thought it was, she would make her owner regret it.

The other three imps looked excited. This sounded like an easy day to them. The course was what they dreaded. The three made various excited noises. Hearing this, the Succubuns looked to the imps. They guided the four imps to the emptiest part of the yard.

“Let's start with ‘walk’ and ‘heel’ first. They are usually easier commands,” Quince explained, putting leashes on each imp. “We’ll say ‘walk’ and move forward with the imps. Say ‘heel’ and stop. We give treats each time they respond correctly, keep treats away when they do not. The goal is to have them respond to the command, not to the tug of the lead or our movements. We will work one at a time first, then move onto getting them to walk and heel together.”

“Who do we work with first?” Amaryllis asked.

“Maria and Mademoiselle. Maria will likely take the most time to get this down as Aurora has had a little training on this. Mademoiselle has been worked with the most, so she will be a good example for Maria.”The smaller bun nodded. The larger moved to put Peaches and Aurora on runners before removing their leashes. She returned and took Mademoiselle’s lead in her hand. Amaryllis gently took Maria’s leash in her hand. She looked to the larger bun, who smiled and nodded.

At the same time, they said ‘walk’. Mademoiselle moved immediately, in time with her owner. Maria hesitated until Amaryllis took a step. ‘Heel’ was obeyed in much the same manner. Treats were rewarded then the commands repeated. Over and over. Maria got better with each repetition.

Once Maria seemed comfortable with the commands, Amaryllis and Quince switched imps out. They didn’t need to do as many repetitions with Aurora or Peach as Maria had needed. After a few, they grabbed the tandem leads, attaching their two imps to each. This time there were more repetitions. Maria kept trying to play at first, which wasn’t surprising. After a while, she stopped and began to obey the commands.

The buns continued until they knew the imps, especially Maria, had the commands down and didn’t get distracted. They had been working for a while, so they gave the imps a break. The women sat down. Almost immediately their laps were full of imps. They gently pet the imps, letting them rest before the next command training.

The imps loved the attention of their owners, even as the smaller bun leaned on the larger bun’s shoulder. The goth sighed softly. She did like walking, but her legs felt a bit weary from training the imps already. She knew that the stay command would involve her and Quince going out of sight of the imps after a while. Maria would be very mad.

After thirty minutes, the women carefully moved the imps then stood up. Amaryllis looked to Quince. The larger woman was smiling. The smaller smiled in turn. The two let the imps curl up together as they discussed the next part of training.

“For ‘stay’, we will work with all four at once. Peach and Mademoiselle have been well trained for this. We will start Aurora and Maria on the long, stationary leads. We will have a bowl down with a treat they like, one they seem to be unable to resist. I made something special that I know Peach, Mademoiselle, and Aurora love. We can let Maria try a little bit of it,” Quince spoke as  she led Amaryllis inside again. She pulled a pudding from the fridge.

Amaryllis nodded before they went back outside. They took a small bit of the pudding in a smaller bowl and had Maria try it. The imp loved the pudding and tried to get to the bowl in Quince’s hand.

With a laugh, Amaryllis put her imps on the leads. Quince put the bowl on the low platform. With both owners saying ‘stay’, they walked just out of their imp’s sight. They could see the imps.

Aurora and Maria were trying to get to the bowl. Mademoiselle and Peach stared intently at the pudding. After a moment, Aurora stopped and just looked as well. Maria continued to struggle. After a few more minutes, Amaryllis and Quince returned. They rewarded Mademoiselle, Peach,  and Aurora with treats. Amaryllis then gently coaxed Maria back to the position she had started in.

Another ‘stay’ command. The two women again walked just out of sight of the imps. Quince’s two imps kept their same behavior with Aurora just staying in place and watching as well. Maria once again struggled. Their owners returned, rewarded and restarted again. They knew the goal would be to have all of the imps off the lead and following the command.

The next time they returned, they removed Aurora’s lead. They gave the proper rewards and set the imps up again. Once out of sight. Maria still struggled, but stopped after she saw the other three imps just staying still, watching the food. Amaryllis and Quince returned after a few minutes and all four imps got rewards.

They sat the four imps up again and gave the command before stepping away again. Maria didn’t move this time or the next. When they took the leash off, she still stayed. They did this three more times, the owners not really watching closely. When they returned and saw the imps hadn’t moved at all, they released them from the command and let them have the pudding.

The women sat down again, watching the imps. Amaryllis leaned into Quince. Today was good for training the imps and she would happily repeat the process again. It seemed especially easy with imps that were already trained. She knew she would have to keep up these commands at home too, and she knew she could do it. Maria made great progress today, and it would stick with consistency as quince explained yesterday when they had first discussed training Aurora and Maria. Amaryllis couldn’t help but feel this had also been training for herself.