Tricks for Treats

Andi kept a hand on the treat pouch she wore at her hips while she gestured to Wave, twirling her hand in a circle.  “Dance,” she commanded her impup.  Wave had picked the command up in imitation of Quince’s Stroodle, Mademoiselle, a while ago, and since it was cute, Andi was trying to keep up with it and help Wave get better at it.

Wave bounced onto her hind legs, doing her best to spin in a circle and bounce.

She’d definitely been getting better at the trick since the first attempt.  Her balance especially was much better, and she struggled less to make a full rotation.  When she was better able to finish that one rotation, Quince had suggested that Andi could add a second one, but for now, Wave just wasn’t there quite yet.

When the impup had finished her dance, Andi crouched to give her a few pets, before producing what she knew Wave really wanted - dango.  Since the trick was more complicated than the other ones Wave had learned, she got two dango balls for it, and she was more than eager to absorb them.  Her tail wagged furiously as her form expanded to absorb the two dango balls, and once it had retracted to her normal shape, her tail was still wagging.

Of course, no imp is above wanting more, so she nosed at the treat bag at Andi’s hip, giving her a Look.  There was definitely more dango in there - what would she have to do to get all the dango?

Andi laughed and scooped Wave up as she stood, giving her forehead some smooches.  “Those are for after we go to Quince’s,” she said, depositing Wave on her shoulder, where the impup liked to ride.  “You’re always more motivated when you think you have to compete with Mademoiselle, after all.”

Wave sulked through part of the walk to Quince’s shop, but eventually she was distracted by the smell of dango as they passed by Dan’s Dango.  Try as she might, though, the little impup just couldn’t manage to launch off of Andi’s shoulder.  Why was there a hand on her back?  She whined sadly as they passed the store, giving pleading eyes towards the storefront in hopes of Shibani rescuing her.  Alas, it was not to be - instead, they soon arrived at Pedigree Pets.

Quince relieved Andi of her whiny impup.  “What’s got you so sulky this time?” she asked, laughing as she saw Wave’s face.

“Dan was making dango as we passed, she was trying to launch herself at the shop even when we were well past it,” Andi said, grinning and shaking her head.  “I still have dango in the treat pouch, silly.”

Wave gave her owner a sulky expression, though her tail started wagging again as Quince offered her some raspberries, which she eagerly absorbed.

“Poor little impuppy, it’s such an indignity to have to do things besides go on runs, isn’t it?”  Quince gave her some pets before leading Andi over to the spot she used for training.  “How’s the dance trick coming along?”

“Pretty good, she’s getting through with only a bit of wobbling now.”

“That’s good - she’ll get to two rotations about the time Mademoiselle can do three, then.  It should keep the competitive spirit alive for her.”

Mademoiselle stretched as she heard her name, rising from the little bed she slept in at the storefront window.  She jumped down, trotting over to Quince to sit in front of her, giving an expectant look.

Laughing, Quince procured a cherry for her.

Mademoiselle gave her an unamused look, which only made her owner laugh harder, while Wave whined at the attention no longer being on her.

“You know you don’t get a whole parfait bar for just coming and sitting,” she told the stroodle.

With a disappointed sigh, Mademoiselle engulfed the cherries, immediately returning to staring at Quince, not faltering even as the bun set Wave down next to her.

Wave looked eagerly between the two buns, suddenly all alertness.  She’d developed a great deal of jealousy towards the other imp over the course of the last few weeks of being trained together, and was completely oblivious to the fact that jealousy was being used to give her motivation to work more at her tricks.

At Quince’s command to dance, both imps jumped onto their hind legs, each spinning around and bouncing.  Mademoiselle’s floppier ears had their own cute bounce as she spun, but both were very cute doing it.  Wave did the first rotation fairly well - but seeing Mademoiselle keep going, she tried to wobble her way through a second, not wanting Mademoiselle to get more rewards than she did!

Andi and Quince both couldn’t help laughing as they saw that, and Andi selected another dango ball from her treat pouch, to reward the impup with three dango balls, while Quince selected one of her parfait bar treats from her own treat pouch.

Both imps eagerly devoured the treats before turning expectant gazes on the two buns - there were many more treats to earn, they knew.