I Live to Serve - Chapter 3
I'm so sorry this took so long. I have been procrastinating pretty badly but I really had no excuse with this chapter, as it was done when I uploaded the last part. I knew this would happen, but oh well! ^^' Things will hopefully improve from here. This entire chapter is almost nothing but exposition, and in trying to outline the entire life of this character, that's probably going to happen a few times throughout the whole story. That said, there are important details in this chapter and I hope you guys enjoy it!
Two months had passed, and the five month winter the region typically experienced was already well settled in, snow packed a few feet high, confining Master and Nanani to the house for days at a time on occasion. More play, but even more training. A training that most Pokemon wouldn't undergo, but of course, she was a special case. The two primary focuses were her ability to walk on her hind legs, and communication. Being so specifically bred, she had a jump start on both (almost literally for the former). Though it wouldn't be her primary method of mobility, Master instilled the importance of standing upright for tasks later in life, and as the days wore on, she began to comprehend with more accuracy. Unlike most Eevee, her hocks weren't near as defined, if present at all, and her hindpaws much more able to flatten and provide a steady support for the rest of her body. It was more or less like teaching a human toddler, though she caught on much more quickly.
Communication was a bit more difficult, both for the trainers and the breeders at the laboratory themselves, having to work through hundreds of generations to hit the mark as closely as possible. The ability to speak as humans do. For the first few days she couldn't even muster anything but a bark, and for any normal Pokemon, it would be expected. He was patient with her, fortunately enough, and eventually she was able to spout single words in short bursts, justly rewarded each time she did so. It was simple at first, single-syllable words were all that came from the start, such as "eat", "play" and "hi". But being a Pokemon, the learning curve was much steeper, and after the eight weeks, she was able to say "Master" as well as even her own name (though occasionally even sputtering there). Complete sentences would come in time, and patience on both their parts was necessary. She truly was an intelligent little Eevee, though, and she made a conscious effort with nearly everything he threw at her, which was the most he could ask for.
Of course, at the end of every lesson, he would sit her down, and repeat the same rules he told her from the start. He is Master, they work together, she is never to leave on her own, and she will be happy. These she had down pat already.
On this day, in the back yard after a hard day's work, Nanani was bounding through the snow (or rather, hopping to and from any patch that she didn't think she would sink into) after a chew toy, one Master was tossing around to keep her heart rate. Another thing he wanted was perfect health. He ensured activity and exercise every day, and fed her nothing but the most high quality of foods a Pokemon should ever consume. Easily disguised, of course. The meals were delicious, and the exercise was nothing but fun! As if it mattered any to her. The current sight was actually quite a riot. From time to time, her leaps wouldn't go as planned, and she would be face first in the snow, two hind legs and a fluffy tail poking straight out of the frost, and the scarf she was wearing all tangled up in the mess. This of course made Master laugh plenty, before he hurried over to help her out, and of course she shook it off without a second thought, happily returning to the chase, until she had retrieved the toy. This went on for several minutes, until it was obvious she was becoming a bit winded.
"You sure like the snow, don't you?" he asked her as he carried her back into the house, to which she eagerly returned a "Yes!"
"That's good. Very good. You'll need to get used to it, because we get a lot of it in this town."
She knew no "I know" or "I can see that", so she only added another yes. Once he had stripped of his outdoor attire and removed her scarf, they moved to sitting beside the fireplace with a hot drink, he had coffee, while she had cream. Something she didn't notice, was that while she lapped away at her dish, he made a few efforts to start a sentence, before backing off and re-wording. Finally he came to speaking terms, his more serious tone returning, one he hadn't truly had since the day after she was brought home.
"Nanani, I need you to listen to me for a moment."
Her head lifted from the bowl with an anxious expression to hear whatever it was he had to say.
"Everything that... " he hesitated a second, again pondering how best to word this "...I do for you, I do for us both, okay? I want you happy, but you need to remember that you are mine."
Her head cocked slightly, not out of confusion as to what this meant, but rather why he was telling her this. Why else would she call him Master?
"No matter what happens. You are mine, and you are to obey me, and only me." The conversation felt almost awkward, as he was so severe in his mannerism, that she couldn't help but lighten things up with another bouncy "Yes!" He was quick to speak again, however.
"Nanani. I mean it."
Was he scolding her? Did she do something to make him feel like she didn't already know this? Realizing the gravity of what he was trying to ensure, she put on a more dour expression of her own.
"Yes. Master." she uttered to the best of her ability with a nod.
He gave no response by word of mouth, but rather took another sip of his latte, maintaining eye contact all the while. He seemed sort of intimidating now. It was so strange as he never behaved this way before. Carefully and meekly she returned to her dish of cream, wanting nothing more than to avert her gaze so as not to feel anymore uncomfortable. For Master, seeing this was enough to know he'd driven the point home, and he returned his focus to his drink. They sat in silence for a while, allowing the mood to settle. Once he had finished his cup, however, he brought a hand to her head, scratching the same spot he always found behind her ears, and the tension quickly withered away.
And so the days wore on like this, usually ending on a lighter note. All the while her speech progressing at a steady pace. Several days passed, and she was able to complete a sentence. Another few days and she no longer had any trouble with her own name, or most other triple to quadrisyllabic words. In this time, Master also began to work in other activities to "train her" as he said. The first of these was dusting. Getting the hang of grasping the swiffer handle was never easy. Even though she had already grown quite a lot since being brought home, such objects were still so awkward to handle. But of course, they continued to make an effort. Her split forepaws allowed her to cradle tubular objects at the very least, first managing with both paws to perform the necessary actions. As she balanced on her back ends, he instructed her in cleaning a fairly elevated surface, one she could barely see at all. This took countless tries, but she never gave up. Some would say it was comical watching this Eevee stand like a human, practically turned around, hoisting the swiffer up and over her head to clean the surface behind her the best she could. Technique would come, as would the ability to carry something in one paw. All future goals.
She took to figuring out a few tricks on her own, especially whenever Master shut himself away to work. Turning on the television was the her very first success. Not the upstairs television, as she couldn't yet reach it on its mounts. But the smaller television on the main floor was much more convenient for her anyway. Balancing to reach for each of the buttons, she couldn't read the labels, but she knew what each one did by trial and error. The lowest one turned it on and off, and thank goodness it being the easiest to reach. Just above that came the buttons that seemed to change whatever flashing lights and colors came on. The two above that changed the volume. She once out of purely mesmerized astonishment held the button until she realized it was far too loud for anyone's liking, and quickly shut it down in a panic.
Another desire of hers was to open what Master called the "refrigerator" or "fridge", the latter of which she tended to call it. She knew what was kept in there, and she wanted to learn how to get to it. The entire unit had two handles, and upon yanking open the one she could actually reach, she quickly learned that this was not the same thing. It was way too cold in there. The other handle required her to hop up onto the counter beside it. Most pet owners would do all in their power to ensure their animals never did such a thing, but Master practically encouraged her. Challenging her even, to open up the fridge (she frequently talked about how she almost did it that day). She found the method that seemed to work best was, from the counter, to aim herself at the protrusion and leap, pushing with all her might. The slight suction fought her every time, though, and she usually ended up lying on the tile below, defeated. Then one day, it came to her. Instead of a push, she decided to grab on this time, and use the weight her momentum carried to pull. If anything it would at least prevent her from falling hard onto the floor. With the angle, it all made sense, and on the first attempt, she had it. The door swung open with her attached, to reveal all the delicious contents within. She let herself drop with much more control this time, landing nicely on all fours. She admired her handiwork with such a proud, even smug smile. Then, with a hop she shoved at the open door, which shut with no problem whatsoever, leaving her to strut off with a newfound sense of accomplishment.
As time went on, they could feel it very gradually beginning to warm in temperature. Though the entire city remained half-buried in snow, for the most part, it was coming to an end soon enough. And while still cooped up inside, the older and the more Nanani grew in size, the more the lessons increased. Master even spent a few hours one day giving her a crash course in silverware, cooking products and basic human meals, such as macaroni and cheese and what a sandwich is. By the time the snow had really begun to melt, she could speak pretty fluently, very rarely having to pause to compose herself. Using the duster was also no longer an issue, learning that keeping a paw around the knob of the handle allowed her the best grip and the most control. She had also learned the purpose of each cleaning supply, and even how to use a spray bottle (this required both paws whether she liked it or not, at this moment in time). Her most proud achievement, though, was overcoming her brief fear of the vacuum, as loud as it may have been, even enough to use one of the tubes to reach those hard-to-get spots around the baseboards. She certainly couldn't push it yet, however.
Along with the snow melt came walks. Every day, in fact. After reiterating over and over that she was to never ever leave his side when they were out, they would head into and through the city's center, and off to a spot to the west. They came across a large, mesmerizingly beautiful crystalline stone. The first time they encountered it together, Nanani spent what felt like an hour simply staring in awe. He had no problems with this, in fact, he enjoyed seeing her so enthralled. It had a point to it, after all. This repeated each afternoon, sometimes switching things up with a light jog, or even an occasional sprint.
This all continued well into the summer, which certainly began late for this region, temperatures hardly exceeding seventy degrees fahrenheit until mid-June. She was growing nicely, and he was happy to see it, as he had a plan in place for her. One he would be implementing very soon.