RoM: Chickens, Chickens Everywhere

Damien stretched his arms above his head, as he walked with the three tokis beside him. Lover and Hanuta were strolling along happily next to him, while Tori growled at a few birds that were flying above them. Today the tokis were to have their merit test. Damien had booked them for livestock cutting, but he didn’t know which animal they’d be herding. But as he’d marked them down as tokis, he figured they’d go with something of a similar size or smaller. Lover looked up at him when they spotted the large pen that had been booked for them. “That’s the place right?” the toki asked. “Yea that’s it.” Damien nodded. “Looks like we’re the last ones here.” Hanuta said, seeing the judged had already arrived and were setting up their things. As they waited for the go ahead to start, Damien sat down next to the tokis by the fence. Lover and Hanuta were as calm as one could be, while Tori looked as stiff as a board. Damien was just about to ask him what was wrong, until he saw the movement in the pen. “This might be a problem.” he muttered, seeing the chickens as they wandered around picking at the ground.

Hanuta and Lover looked up at Damien, having come to the same realization as the man. He turned to Tori, who looked like he might explode at any second. “Tori. Calm down. Deep breaths.” he said, putting his hand on the tokis head and stroking it gently. A very low growl came from the toki, as his eyes followed one of the chickens intently. Taking Tori’s head in his hands, Damien turned it so the toki was looking directly at him, no matter how much the toki squirmed to look away. “Listen Tori. No matter what, you can’t hurt these chickens alright? If you do, you’ll fail the test.” Damien said, his tone gentle yet stern. Lover and Hanuta looked at the two, hoping that their friend would listen. After a few moments, Tori seemed to have calmed down, at least by a little. “I know you want to complete this test. So just focus on your breathing, and take it slow.” Damien said as he let Tori go. As if on cue the judges waved for them that they could start whenever they were ready. “Good luck guys.” Damien said as he opened the gate to let the tokis walk into the pen.

Lover and Hanuta looked over the area, it was fairly big, at least from their viewpoint, and there were a lot of chickens wandering around. None of them paid any mind to the three tokis and went on their business picking and scratching at the ground looking for any worms that might be hidden there. The two looked at Tori, and felt bad for him. Tori looked like he might break apart at the slightest touch of the wind. “Remember what he said Tori. Deep breaths.” Lover said softly to the trembling Tori. “We’ll help you if you need it.” Hanuta offered, but he knew that both himself and Lover might get their share done before that as having to help the stressed Tori might take a while. Sure they had just started and had plenty of time, but the sooner they got their own done, the sooner they could help him. Giving him a confident look, Hanuta started to walk up to the closest group of chickens, who looked up at him curiously before resuming their activities. “We’ll be right back to help you.” Lover said, giving Tori a gentle nudge.

Tori stood still for a couple of minutes, trying to collect his breath and slow down his heart or it might jump out of his chest. It took all of his willpower to not start hunting the chickens. In the corner of his eye he could see the judged exchanging a few words, and as he turned his head a little bit, he saw Damien giving him an encouraging look along with a thumbs up. Damien believed in him, but would that be enough to break his habits? He didn’t know, but he took a few shaky steps towards the chickens nonetheless. Lover stopped beside a group of chickens, the birds ignoring him pretty much. Lowering his head, he started to nudge one of the forwards. The bird looked at him as if it was insulted by it, but did nothing when he did it again. Starting to get the idea of what the strange creature wanted it to do, the chicken started to move, and a few others followed after it. Hanuta trotted up to the group he’d picked out and gave a soft bark that startled a few of them. As they settled down, their attention was fully on him. When he took a step towards them, they’d shuffle back a couple of steps.

Hanuta moved in a steady pace towards the chickens, getting them to walk away from him. If he needed them to turn he’d go to the side of the group, making them change the direction they were headed towards. This seemed like the most effective way to move them, at least in Hanuta’s mind, and he saw Damien smile at him. Lover kept pushing the one chicken until it started to move beside him and follow his every step. The others that were following the chicken did the same in turn, and he soon had a neat line of chickens moving along after him. Tori looked at the two as they moved with the chickens, both in their own way. It didn’t look that hard. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the chicken closest to him. Walking up to it, he looked at it when it turned to look at him. It seemed so carefree and not at all like the birds he’d hunt. Lowering his head he sniffed it before pushing it with his nose. The chicken seemed puzzled but backed up a few steps. Finding it to be effective, Tori kept pushing it with his nose, until it moved fully on its own.

What Tori hadn’t seen coming, were the other chickens coming to join the one he’d been pushing. Soon he had a small group in front of him, moving to mirror his own movements. They weren’t like the ones that Hanuta were herding, but did like he did. If he started to go left, they’d go left, and so on. Damien had to hold back his laugh, when he saw how puzzled Tori looked, and he caught one of the judges snickering. Lover had gotten to the back of the pen, and walked into the second pen, where the chickens would enter for the test. Sitting down by the gate to the pen he looked on as the line of chickens went into it one after one. He smiled at his own accomplishment, and turned to look at Hanuta who were coming towards him slowly with his own chickens. As to not be in the way Lover moved away from the gate to let Hanuta pass through with his group. With both of them having gotten their own groups of chickens into the second pen, they turned and were about to start helping Tori, but were surprised to see him coming towards them with yet another group of chickens.

Tori wasn’t even sure what was happening, but he wasn’t going to question it. If this somehow worked, then he wouldn’t complain. Seeing Lover and Hanuta beside a gate, he figured that it was there that the chickens needed to go. Turning in that direction, he started to lead the chickens there, still surprised that they were following his movements. Damien felt proud of the toki, to have suppressed his urge to hunt birds and successfully herd a group of chickens. That wasn’t a small fear. As Tori stopped before the gate and the chickens wandered into the pen, he looked at Lover and Hanuta, surprise still evident on his face. “Great work Tori.” Lover smiled, tail wagging behind him. “You did great.” Hanuta congratulated him. Hearing Damien call them, they trotted across the pen to the gate where the man was waiting for them. “You all did very well. I’m proud of you.” Damien smiled, as he crouched down and petted the tokis. “You behaved perfectly.” he added, as he scratched Tori behind the ear.