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 Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 7:47 pm
Mariel listened intently with both ears facing her teacher in interest and excitement. "I want to learn what will get me those ducks, it sounds like fun! Then later you can teach me EVERYTHING. But first" Mariel looked at the ducks bobbing in the water teasing her with their proximity "Lets get those ducks!" Mariel once again flopped into the water and by nature had a pretty good if ungraceful doggy paddle down. She didnt really consider that swimming but she wanted to show what she could do. Once she was sure he had seen her she stood back up and sloshed closer.
"Thats what I feel like I know how to do, I never learned it but I dont drown so I guess its swimming, but I want to know how to swim for real." Mariel took a stance of interest and readiness she was ready to learn and her tail twitched in anticipation of being able to swim over and get the bobbing ducks. It didnt matter that they werent real, she had secretly been itching to learn how to hunt something so she could try it at home and this was absolutely PERFECT!
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 1:24 am
Orpheus gave a smile, pleased to see such interest in what was a rather enjoyable pastime in his opinion, "Alright, I will definitely show how to go about catching ducks." He said with a bit of a grin then watched closely as she demonstrated her doggy paddled, she splashed around a bit but was able to keep herself afloat which was a good first step he decided.
"Alright, the first thing I will show you are the various swimming strokes." He said, "The one you're doing is the Dog Paddle." He made the motions with his hand, "There is also the crawl which is good for getting around quickly." He showed her that motion, as well as the Breaststroke." He then showed her that one as well, "Those are the basic three, though there are more complicated ones we will get to those later. We will stick with the basic foot motions as well, that just being the normal up and down kicking of your feet." No reason to get to complicated the first time around he figured.
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:23 pm
Mariel watched closely and tried to sear the example images of each stroke into her memory. She needed to know them and possibly practice them. After all if she was ever going to be a pro surfer she had to start swimming so that her mom and Mr.Kuttner would let her out onto the ocean. She imitated Orpheus as he showed her each stroke to get the feel of it and ocne he was done she was ready to try it herself. "Ok....lets see...." Mariel lowered herself in the water and first she started with the kicking motions and added the arm motions one by one. she went back an forth with each movement allowing a few minutes of each. She was ok at everything, and fairly graceful. Her tail even automatically took on a rudder like function and she was able to make very precise turns. She expected her tail would be useful for some fancy stuff later but her mind was so full of duck hunting she couldnt think of any fancy swimming to try at the moment. She found that swimming was very easy for her and this made her like it even more.
Once she was done practicing she came to a stop in front of Orpheus with a huge smile on her face "ok...*pantpant* I think I got it so.....*pantant deep breath* the ducks!" mariel looked up expectantly and full of excitement. This lesson was going extremely well and she was anxious to get to more of it. It seemed like there was no end to what she would learn her today!
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Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:00 pm
Orpheus clapped his hands, "Excellent! You seem to be right at home in the water, I am impressed." He said, pleased to see how well that his student was doing. The water was most certainly her element and she was able to take to it like... well... a duck to water, an amusing thought given what the class was based around.
"Yes, the ducks." He said, "To get to them involves tying together everything that you have learned today. The way you close your nostrils, your swimming strokes, along with one thing! Swimming under the water and coming up under your prey." He explained to her, giving a smile, "The water here is fresh, no harsh chemicals to worry about, so your eyes will be fine if you open them while under the water." He said, not wanting for her to worry about that. The water in the pools were filtered to keep it clean as well as keep it from having to have things like chlorine in it which wasn't good for some of the amphibian students.
Orpheus demonstrated, doing under the water, swimming along the bottom of the pool then pushed up from the bottom so he could reach up and catch a duck. It was slightly cheating on his part since, even in the center of the pool he could reach. Still, he was just demonstrating so it should still show her what she needed to do, "Just like that."
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 4:22 pm
Mariel watched intently and tried to see exactly what it was the teacher was doing so that she could imitate it perfectly. She watched as he swam underwater and then got the ducks from below. It was a slightly new concept to hunt something from below but she found with glee that her mind was quickly able to change its perspective into the 360 degree world that water offered. She waited until Orpheus signaled the finish of his demonstration then started to look around to pick a duck for herself. Her tail twitched in anticipation and her ears darted from one duck to the other. It all served to make her look twitchy but she was carefully picking a duck in her opinion.
All of the ducks floated lazily on the water and Mariel wanted to be sure not to pick one that was to close. That would be to easy. She had to pick one that was far! She finally locked her eyes on one that was a good distance away and she pounced. She let herself sink into the water, closed her nose, and started to swim. She found herself cutting through the water easily and though she didnt know it her body was meant for this and it knew what to do. She closed in on her duck and bobbed down a bit before splashing up and catching her prey with a triumphant "AH_HA!" Mariel held onto the duck and dragged it underwater for good measure before paddling back to a place where her feet touched the bottom of the pool to properly inspect her prize. "I got it! Did you see?! I swam and there wasnt even water in my nose!" Mariel was very excited that she was able to do it and it showed plainly in her happy face.
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:51 pm
Orpheus watched as the girl set to work deciding upon which of the ducks was the one that she wanted to 'hunt' down before she then when under the water, moving forward toward her 'prey' which was bobbing up and down in the water in an oblivious manner. He gave a bit of a chuckle as his poorly made ducks floated along on the surface of the water... and then suddenly the the girl was coming up out of the water to grab hold of the duck and pulled it under the water. It had his laughing in an amused manner, rather pleased both with how much fun she was having as well as how good she'd done in picking the skill upon.
Once she swam back to where she could reach he gave a clap of his hands, "That was amazing, Mariel! You picked that skill up so quickly I am very impressed!" He told her, that she was able to do so without even getting any water in her nose made her triumph over the 'ducks' that much better, "With a bit of practice I am sure you will be catching real ducks in no time." He was sure that the ducks of the world wouldn't be at all amused with having a mink girl grabbing at them from the watery depths but he was sure that they would learn to avoid her when they saw her coming. Until they learned to run when she arrived though he was sure that she would have a ton of fun at their expense.
"You can play around in the pool until it's time to go and continue to practices on the toy ducks if you want to, but you have officially passed your class." He told her, wanting to give her the good news.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 8:56 pm
Mariel was positively beaming to hear that she passed the class. She couldnt believe how much she liked school. She practically bounced in the water "Did you hear mama? Did you hear I PASSED? Cause I got the duck watch I'll get you one too!" mariel leapt back into the water and sped over to the ducks grabbing the first one she could see and brought it to her mother. As she dried off she suddenly had a thought and turned to Orpheus "Its ok if mom keeps a duck right? Right?" Mariel hoped it was ok but her mother who wasnt paying much attention took her hand and started to leave already going over the grocery list. mariel waved good bye and hoped it was ok they took the duck.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 9:07 pm
Orpheus couldn't help but to chuckle, giving a nod of his head, "Sure, you can keep the ducks that you caught if you want them." He said, actually happy that his sad looking, hand made ducks were something that the girl wanted to bring home with her, "Your mother can have the one that you caught for her as well." Might as well let her have them, after all that was two less ducks that he had to fish out of the pool himself he thought. Nothing better then a little less work, as for what he'd do with the rest... well he supposed that he could set them up in his office until another use for them arose.
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