[C] Please Be Clean

Perhaps this was tempting fate just a little.

Okay, an awful lot.

But Alyosha had begun cooking before he had even thought about how much of a mess Tuzik could make of it.

Thick soup with a lot of chunks in it... He'd picked poorly. But it was something he enjoyed eating himself and he missed the taste of it.

He'd just have to hope that Tuzik could be clean when eating this. He highly doubted he could.

The man poured two bowls and carried them over to the large dining table.

"Tuz. Dinner," he called to the Hound curiously exploring the rest of the kitchen.

Tuz had wormed his way into the pantry without catching Alyosha's notice, he was sure the man would shoo him away from it instantly.

The room was full of things to taste and smell, however most of the best smelling things were higher up where he couldn't reach from his position on the floor.

He did however find one thing that caught his interest.

The hound had weaseled out of the pantry with the stolen good and was currently scattering around on the floor, chasing it as he flicked it away.

When it stopped moving he would pounce on it before pushing it along the floor again and chasing it.

When he was called he looked up, the teabag hanging from his mouth, as if he had just caught a mouse by it's tail.

He gave a please murmur before padding over to the table and crawling up onto his chair, placing his new toy down on the table for after.

He gave a soft impatient whine as Lyo carried the food, didn't his Master know how hungry he was?

He set the bowl in front of Tuzik.

"Spoon," he ordered.

Someday he'd get the Hound acting like a perfect human. He'd get it done if it was his last mission in life.

He'd been teaching the Hound how to use cutlery and so far it was going... terribly, quite honestly. But with time and practise he could improve. Right? Hopefully.

The soup was one of his favourites. Solyanka. An everything but the kitchen sink soup. A good thing to make when you wanted something delicious but easy to make. Filled with meat and vegetables in a sour cream sauce, Alyosha couldn't think of anything better.

The Necromancer tore a chunk of bread up and began mopping up the thick soup. He purred as he swallowed a soaked chunk of bread. That was good.

Tuzik let out a whimper at the mention of a spoon, he didn't like cutlery, what was the point of it? He could eat a lot faster if he just used his mouth.

Still Alyosha had been making him try to use the fiddly bits of metal.

He pawed at the piece he knew to be a spoon, his curled paw-like hands stretching out like the man had shown him, each finger sprawling out long.

He lowered his head as he carefully tried to pick up the instrument between his thumb and index finger. It slid around the table a fair bit before he finally was able to grab it, only for him to drop it accidentally and have it clatter against the ground.

Tuzik gave a soft huff before dropping off his chair and grabbing it between his teeth, placing it back down on the table and starting all over again.

It took a fair few minutes before he managed to get the spoon grasped tightly in his fist.

Now began to process of actually trying to scoop some of the food up using it.

Alyosha watched the Hound struggle with the spoon silently.

It was times like this that he felt bad for trying to push the Hound into learning these sorts of things. Tuzik struggled so much with it.

But it was something that he'd have to learn eventually. Better sooner rather than later.

Alyosha wouldn't be living here forever. They'd move eventually. And when they did, there was a chance they'd move somewhere populated with people that wouldn't understand that Tuzik was just a Hound in a human's body. They'd judge him. Whisper about him.

Alyosha didn't want to Hound to go through that.

"Good boy," he praised with a smile when Tuz successfully grasped the spoon.

He scooped a few large chunks of meat from his own bowl and spooned them into Tuzik's. A reward for doing well.

Tuzik wasn't at the stage that he could understand why he had to learn these things for, he had been told that they were important and that Alyosha wanted him to learn so he tried as best he could.

Most people would be embarrassed about struggling to do such a simple task but he wasn't. Lyo had never mocked or laughed at him for failing, only ever giving him praise when he did something right. He wasn't afraid of failing as long as he managed to figure it out in the end.

Tuzik smiled back brightly, grinning as more meat was placed into his bowl, once he figured this out he was going to eat those up.

Oh so slowly with an unsteady hand he placed the spoon into the soup, he couldn't judge his strength well and it did a little too roughly, splatters of soup spilling over the edge of the bowl.

His face was one of serious concentration as he tried to scoop up a piece of meat, his spoon tilted slightly off which resulted in him simply pushing the meat around in his bowl rather than picking it up.

Alyosha was always a fan of positive reinforcement.

He found that a reward after something good was done far outweighed a punishment if something was done wrong or not done at all.

His lips quirked upwards when the Hound's soup splattered against the table. Of course there'd be some mess. It wouldn't be a meal if Tuzik wasn't able to make some mess somehow.

He just hoped Tuz wouldn't make too much mess.

The Necromancer leaned forwards, gripping Tuzik's hand gently as moving it slowly so the spoon picked up the meat Tuz was going for.

The guidance would help Tuzik learn how to move the spoon properly in the future.

"Like that."

The hound watched intently as his hand was moved to pick up the food.

The spoon only made it just above the bowl before he reached his head down the rest of the way and picked the meat off of it with his teeth instead of putting the spoon in his mouth, chewing it with a purr before his tongue lapped out over the metal and licking off the sauce.

He still didn't like this, it made eating such a slow process, like any canine Tuzik was meant to scoff down as much as he could within a few seconds before walking away from his kill, not spending minutes trying to slowly scoop up food.

The man chuckled softly as he watched the Hound lean down to his spoon instead of bring it to his mouth.

Better than nothing, he supposed.

The more he practise, the better he'd get. The more human the act would look.

"Well done, Tuz. Good boy."

Tuzik tried again, dripping the spoon into the soup, keeping his hand in the exact position that Lyo had put it in.

He didn't manage to get any meat onto it but lapped at the sauce covering the soup eagerly, like all of the man's cooking he happily ate every drop.

Over and over again he dipped the spoon into the soup, splashing it against the surface until he managed to get something onto it.

It turned out to be a messy affair as he leaned down he would accidentally splash himself in the face or lean down too low and get the ends of his hair in the bowl.

Eating made a mess of Tuzik, but there was, thankfully, very little mess on the tabletop.

He could easily dunk Tuzik in the bath after they finished eating.

Well, not easily. Tuzik still tried to evade having baths when he could.

But, with a few firm words he was sure he could get the Hound reluctantly into the bath so he could clean him up.

Tuzik gave a whine as he licked his soup splattered lips, looking down at the soup longingly.

It was taking so long to eat, he had barely managed to get in a few mouthfuls.

Trying to eat like a person was hard, he still didn't understand why they did it like this when there was much easier ways.

He gave a soft whine before simply leaning down and taking one of the large pieces of meat out of the bowl with his teeth and chewing it eagerly, his spoon still clasped tightly in his hand.

Lyo sighed softly, shaking his head with a fond little smile when the Hound leaned down and picked up a piece of meat with his teeth.

"Spoon," he reminded him with an arched brow.

He knew it was difficult, but this was something he wanted Tuzik to learn.

The Hound would learn it eventually, even if it took Lyo years to teach him how to use cutlery properly.

"Hungry."

The hound whimpered with furrowed brows as he looked up at Lyo from his bent position above his bowl.

Using the spoon was difficult and his stomach was grumbling for food that wasn't getting in his mouth fast enough with the use of his shaky, clumsy hands.

Still he tried again, scooping up another small amount of food with the spoon and nibbling what he could off of it, whining as bits of meat fell off of it and back into the bowl.

"Please, Tuz."

He knew this was slower than his usual way of eating.

He knew he was hungry and not getting food fast enough for his liking but this was a life skill that he had to learn, unfortunately.

Alyosha didn't like forcing things on the Hound if he didn't need to. He wasn't a cruel person.

The hound gave a soft huff before refocusing, Lyo said he had to use the spoon so he was going to try as best he could, if not for his Master than for himself, the faster he learned how to do it, the faster he could eat.

He dipped the spoon into the bowl yet again, this time managing to get a large amount of food onto it.

Tuzik grinned softly as he looked down a it, proud that he managed to scoop up so much in one go, now he just had to try and eat it without dropping it all back into the bowl.

He lowered his head again as his unsteady hand rose from the bowl. His mouth opened up as wide as it could go before closing around the food, spoon and all. He purred happily as he pulled the spoon from his mouth and started to chew.

Lyo grinned widely, his chest swelling with pride for the Hound.

He'd done it. He had used s spoon the way it had been intended to be used.

"Well done, Tuz. Just like that."

He rewarded Tuz with another chunk of meat being spooned into his bowl.

He'd get Tuzik to learn how to use cutlery yet!

The Hound preened as he was praised, putting the spoon in his mouth made eating much easier, at least chunks of meat weren't falling back into the bowl and causing the soup the splash all over his chest and the table.

He wasn't accustomed to doing anything with his hands except for walking on them, using them to grip and trying to work out how to properly use his thumbs was hard, being a dog the notion of picking up anything without the use of his mouth was completely foreign.

Even now after only eating for a short while having to grip and use his fingers for an extended amount of time made his hand hurt slightly.

Still he carried on, clumsily picking up spoonfuls of food at a time and placing them into his mouth, his head was only a inch over the bowl but the initial motion was there.

He managed to get through the bowl, spilling quite a few pieces over the edge of the bowl and onto the table, the rest ended up over his chest, soaking into his hair and in his lap or running down his hands and arms.

So much for cleanliness.

Now he'd have to clean up the kitchen thoroughly and coax the Hound into the bath.

That was way easier said than done.

Tuzik, for all his great qualities, still hated baths more than life itself. He would have to do a lot of coaxing to get the Hound into the bath.

Well...he knew he was definitely going to have an eventful night.

Tuzik gave a contented whine now that his tummy had food in it, he was pleased with his effort with the spoon, even if he had made a huge mess.

The hound liked his lips as he looked over at his Master, grinning softly before looking down at the empty bowl.

"Thank you, Alyosha."

He muttered, he was grateful for the food and he had been taught to use manners.

"Bone?"

He asked, looking up at him hopefully, he really started to enjoy the bones his Master had brought him that were made of hide, they tasted good to chew on.

"You're welcome."

He was so pleased that the Hound was such a sweet thing. He never forgot his Ps and Qs. Lyo felt that reflected on himself. He was raising the Hound right. Teaching him to be polite.

Alyosha grinned.

Bargaining tool.

"After your bath you can have a bone."

Hopefully an effective way of getting him to come quietly. He didn't want to cause a huge fuss over a bath.

He gave a low whine as the 'b' word hit his ears, that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

Tuzik really did hate having to take a bath.

"No bath, bad."

He replied, he didn't like having a bath at all, swimming was fun but having a bath wasn't fun at all.

"No bath, no bone," the man replied with a careless shrug.

This was the only way he could get the Hound to do what he wanted.

Bribery wasn't above the Rus. He was quite capable of using bribery to get what he wanted from the Hound.

Even at the risk of a grumpy Tuzik later on.

"Do you want bone, Tuz?"

The hound gave another whine, if he had a bath then he could have a bone.

It was a difficult deal, he really didn't want to be bathed but he really wanted a bone, those treats lasted hours of him chewing on them and he didn't get them very often.

"Promise?"

He asked, if he was going to give in then he wanted to know that he would definitely get his treat.

Lyo chuckled softly.

He went through this same thing every time he bribed the Hound. Tuzik always had to know that he was definitely getting his treat before he did what he had to.

"Yes. I promise."

Tuzik would definitely get his bone if he had a bath.