Games for dummehs 08 interlude: Journal entries [by Ainbur]

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Day 1: Keeping this log to track Boris’s progress. Will include new entries for future fluffies of interest.

Boris seems to understand the house rules. No complaints about food or litterbox yet. Requested to sleep in bedroom. Refused request to see reaction. Seemed reluctant but ultimately agreed to sleep in safe room. Intentionally kept Boris awake until midnight for better sleep schedule.

Day 2: Woke up early (6am) to ensure Boris would not get up before me. Boris did not wake till noon. Not sure if it is normal for fluffies to sleep in 12 hour cycles. Perhaps it was the comfortable and safe area provided. This could also be a quirk of fluffies living in a house. Would certainly make keeping them easier.

Played simple cup game with Boris for breakfast. Little of note.

Boris was given a much needed bath. I was careful to set the temperature right. Even then he was reluctant to enter the water even with the promise of good smells. Eventually decided to play the cup game for it. Had to bribe him with a whole bowl of spaghetti to get him to risk the bath. He seems to consider water synonymous with death. Ended up rigging the game because I don’t want his stench in my furniture. He was far more complacent after the loss. Added bubbles and suds to try and make the experience more pleasant. Fluffies are far easier to bathe if you obscure the water’s surface with bubbles.

Day 3: Visit to the vet, Boris calls the carrier a “sorry box.” Opted to let him ride without it.

Boris is completely healthy. Ferals essentially age quicker in the wild but Boris seems to have eaten well as a foal, and is still quite young (estimated age of 4 months.) He should live the average kept fluffy’s lifespan. Used cup games to get Boris to accept shots.

Have turned dinner into a game with a fail state. Spaghetti, kibble, or nothing. Intentionally use the phrase “play for it.” I will try to do this more going forward. Repetition alone seems ineffective, but fluffies still have some capacity to learn.

Day 4: Boris loses cup game for dinner and gets nothing. No complaints despite my eating spaghetti in front of him.

Boris seems fully adjusted to the house. Didn’t mention before but he’s had a few accidents. Made him sit with me while I cleaned and punished him if he tried to blow me off. I think this was a test. Fluffies try this type of thing with new owners. He isn’t doing it anymore.

Day 5: Boris enjoys having his ears scratched.

Backyard trap is finished.

Day 6: Construction of 2nd area begins. Area is in front of the house out of earshot of the other area. I think. I don’t actually know how well fluffies can hear.

Boris seems comfortable with basic cup game. Fails far less and seems to take losses a little better. Could be my imagination.

Day 7: Nothing to report.

Day 8: Discovered Boris could be tricked into thinking he’d lost a leg with a band and some slips. Useful for punishment, and for gambling. Boris didn’t give any consideration to the cost of the game. Must keep this in mind for future games to see if he’s learned his lesson. Maybe increase difficulty to make Boris more cautious about losses.

In the subsequent game Boris asked if he could play to get his leg back. Unprompted he asked for the use of a sorry stick in the case of a loss after offering to take the cold water. He can negotiate and maintain focus on goals. This is good news. Also disturbing to know that even ferals know what a sorry stick is. This matches references to sorry box on day 3. Thinking about it, Boris was able to pull the word sorry stick as collateral he could wager in a game. Could there be some utility in this?Something to keep in mind.

That aside, Boris never got used to his missing leg. Body awareness on fluffies seems poor. Humans will often move as though amputated limbs still exist, but I don’t think they do this if the limb is simply bound. I wonder what else you could trick a fluffy into believing about its own body.

Finally, Boris showed concern for my well being despite the potential immanent harm. This on top of the fact that I had taken his leg. Boris’s smarty streak is also a point of mystery… Is this universal to fluffies? This is something I must test at a later date.

Day 9: I have begun baiting herds. Chased off a pack of wolves. I don’t actually know how well a fluffy’s nose functions or if the spaghetti is really doing anything just sitting in my yard.

Switched metrics of games. 4 rocks, light punishment. Boris shows a lack of competency when he fails. Will need to find a way to diminish this problem. Will also check for behavior in future fluffies.

Have begun watching Disney movies with Boris. Tonight was Sleeping Beauty. Boris doesn’t like dragons or fire. Showed interest in the prince’s horse. How do fluffies view regular ass horses?

Day 10: Was busy affixing lights to outside habitats. Left food for Boris but he responded poorly. Food was his usual neutral prize but he seemed upset that he hadn’t been made to play a game for it. Disciplined Boris with the sorry stick. Spoke harshly, Boris responded as a regular smarty syndrome fluffy. Started saying dummeh daddeh even after being hit. Coercion via punishment seems ineffective.

Boris’s actual name might be Ball-less. Not sure what to do with this information but it might be important at some point. Opted to not watch a movie tonight.

Day 11: Day was unremarkable.

Watched The Aristocats. Fell asleep. Woke up next to a snoozing Boris. No idea what he thought of the film. Whoops.

Day 12: Have finally bought proper cups for the game. Will begin training Boris on cups that have different colors on each side (red/blue.) I spin the cups as I switch them. Boris is unable to keep on a cup if I spin it mid switch.

Successfully trained him to keep track if I spin the cup first, then move it.

Day 13: Day of herd capture. Notes will be kept separately on general herd information.

Boris showed interest in joining the new herd. I will have to correct this preference and move him more towards animosity. Challenged Boris to a game and he chose to remain with me. I suspect the choice to remain was made by accident rather than done intentionally. I probably got lucky. If the choice was an accident it is remarkable to watch Boris reinvent the memory. I must use this more.

That said, Boris is now requesting other fluffies be allowed into the house. I am not yet prepared for this and I need to be careful about which fluffies I pick. Most likely I will select them from a shelter. I should note that Boris is prioritizing getting a special friend. I’m not sure on how sincerely he wants a herd.

Had Boris test out the plank walking game. He was reluctant. From what I know non-pegasus fluffies tend to dislike high places. He was able to cross the bridge up to level 3 of 6 and i have a good feeling about how he’ll progress.

Dropped him a short distance to the ground to demonstrate that only the pool is safe. Yet again, Boris shows anger over failure and when he succeeds he forgets to collect his prize.

Must remember to stop using expressions with fluffies. They don’t know them. I don’t know why I keep assuming they will. Thinking about it, Boris understands the nickname “buddy” but not “sport.” Christ, I want to meet whoever prioritized their vocabulary. On that note, I wonder if there is a way to remove the word smarty from a fluffy’s vocabulary. Pavlovian tactics seem ineffective. Perhaps I will have to play into it. I doubt this would end well.

Boris still fails to keep track of switches where the cup is spun. Suspect cognitive limit.

Day 14: Boris continues to show interest in Herd. Easily diverted. Should find a way to pin curtain in front of door.

Practiced plank game with Boris, he has yet to clear plank 4.

Boris resisted after several failures. I will see if I can reframe the game tomorrow. Ended session with cup game. Kept them simple so Boris could build back his confidence and get comfortable with it.

Watched Mulan (the good one.) Boris had several questions centered around appearance. Boris seems interested in making himself prettier. Thinking about it, fluffy armor would give him better odds against the herd. I wonder how the herd would react. Simple horn reinforcement would probably be easy enough. Maybe a war helm? Smarty horns can produce sparks, I wonder what encasing it in metal would do. Would it be dangerous? Maybe i should grab a disposable unicorn.

Day 15: Successfully reworked game mechanics. Fluffies understand timers despite not being able to count. I programmed a digital clock to randomly spit out numbers and told Boris to clear the ramp before the timer it 0. He still became frustrated with falling, but after I informed him he still had plenty of time and that he hadn’t actually lost yet he seemed placated. He even rested a few times.

Boris won a whole bowl of spaghetti after clearing plank 4 at 43:28 (clock stopped on breaks.) This was carried out in the morning. I shall try again tonight but will leave this note while it is fresh in my memory.

Boris has cleared the 5th plank. I was unsure of this plank’s effectiveness due to it being visual rather than structural. I wonder if it will vary between subjects. This board was cleared in only 12:03.

Played with cups. Confident in Boris’s ability to play medium speed with multi-color cups.

It just occurred to me that fluffies tend to choose their offspring’s names from objects they know innately. Interesting.

Finished construction of second area.

Day 16: I abducted a member of the herd today. The fluffy’s name is Apple. He’s the red pegasus fluffy with the yellow mane. We played the plank game. Apple enjoys fall more but still treats failure with dismay. He cried on the first fall. Encouragement seems very effective. Didn’t implement the timer and reframing.

His lack of aversion to heights made him adjust to the drop far quicker than Boris. Despite this he took loses the same as every other fluffy so far. He responded very well to encouragement but eventually this became ineffective. Attempted to coerce fluffy into more games by giving it a new unpleasant name. This was effective but Apple almost got stuck with the new name. Distressing a fluffy seems to allow renaming even if they are hostile. I will have to test this more later.

Apple agreed to play more games for lighter punishments and a better reward (4 fork fulls of spaghetti.) He cleared plank 3 before he filled up. He seems to have a more positive view of the game now. I will install the game in the yard tomorrow.

Watched Anastasia. Not Disney I guess? Not much out of Boris worth noting but I do wonder about the pasts of these fluffies. Their own limited abilities means I won’t really ever know. Though I suppose since they’ve been out in the woods that they’re several generations out from any humans.

Day 17: Installed 2nd bridge apparatus in yard for herd.

Boris cleared bridge 6. Past methods of coercion remained effective. cleared in 18:16. Boris received a shallow cut. Even when in a “safe” state, bridge is marginally hazardous.

Day 18: Spent most of my time with the herd. Will record separately

Day 19: Boris seems frustrated with my absence. Took him for a walk. Nothing of note.

Day 20: Long day so I’ll be brief. Vern and Shadow proved to be able to play the competitive cup game. Distractions are a problem. Solution to fluffy depression from loss is putting them against another fluffy.

To elaborate: Fluffies view humans and other fluffies differently. Though I didn’t inflict much pain myself, Shadow showed me no submission, but did so readily when Vern did sufficient damage. It seems I was correct in my thinking.

Breaking a smarty as a human is almost impossible for a list of reasons that to this day remain unclear, but a sufficiently strong fluffy may be able to do it. This is still iffy as Shadow still insulted Vern after taking severe injuries, and was not actually a smarty, at least not overtly. I don’t know if a fluffy who has held the position of smarty can actually return to default if dominated by a better fluffy. Guess we’ll see.

Watched Hunchback.

Important note: Before putting Boris to bed with his knew herdmates I had a random thought and I asked all 3 fluffies if they knew what an apple was. I expected Vern and Willow to mention the toughie but they didn’t. All three told me the object was a red nummie. I asked them what a bubble was. “wawa baww.” I asked them if they knew what a willow tree was. They knew what “tree” meant, but not the specific kind. I kept going trying to remember the herd’s names.

Apple, Bubbles, Leaf, Shadow…. They knew all these words. This is true of every member of the herd whose name I could remember.

All save one.

Lily.

Day 21:

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15 Likes

Good recap, good foreshadowing.