Red was very good at focusing, even at only a day old. It seemed that her laser-like focus was an instinct, not something she had to learn, so when it was clear that the scaly thing was making mouth sounds again, she put all of her effort into deciphering them. ‘Dragon,’ the scaly creature said, pointing at itself. Then it pointed at her. ‘Dog.’

Dog? Red was a… dog? That didn’t seem right. Some instinct told her that that wasn’t the right word. Focusing hard, her brows drawn together in concentration, she opened her mouth and attempted to correct the… dragon. “C… Coyyyyyy… woof!” The last syllable had turned into a bark, but it was no matter. She had spoken her first word! Kind of. Wagging her tail happily behind her, she repeated, “Coywoof! Me coywoof! You… dargon!” She’d said that word incorrectly, too, but didn’t seem to notice. She was getting somewhere!

@Asimona

Asimona's eyes lit up with surprise when the dog started to speak. Her wings lifted with happiness and smiled proudly. "Coywoof? A Coywolf? You coywolf! Very good!" She pointed at herself. "Dragon. Asimona. Ah-su-mo-na." She hoped that throwing her own name into the mix wouldn't be too confusing. But the coywolf seemed pretty smart, having picked up on speaking so quickly. And a word Asimona had never heard before as well.

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Red
notes: here

Red was now very confused again. The dragon was happy that she knew she was a coywolf, but now it had thrown another word at her. This one was longer than all the other words. Red tried her best, but it was just too much for her, apparently. “Aaa…” she began. “Azzz… Azzz…” Her brows crinkled together. “Azzzzz…” She huffed, annoyed at herself for being unable to say anything other than the first syllable. “No!” she shouted, indignantly. “You no… no Azzzz… You dargon! You say dargon but then Azzzz! How… how both?” The pup’s green eyes glared up at the dragon, feeling as though she’d been cheated somehow. Later, when she was older, she might look back on this moment and laugh, but right now, this was the most important (let alone the first) conversation she had ever had. She did not appreciate being thrown a curveball.

@Asimona

She knew that she shouldn't have thrown her own personal name into the mix. The wolf was confused and she wasn't sure how she was going to clear it up. Her brow furrowed as she tried to think of a way to help the coywolf learn. Maybe a different approach. She pointed at herself again. "I am a Dragon. Name, Ah-su-mo-na." She turned her claw to point at the coywolf. "You are Coywolf. Name...?" She left the second question open, realizing that she didn't know her name, or if she even had one.

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Red
notes: here

Name…? Oh! Name! Well, that was simple enough! Red suddenly felt a lot less annoyed. But… why was the dragon’s name so long and difficult? She drew her brows together in concentration again. “Azzzzmona,” she said, which was a lot closer than what she had been saying before. It wasn’t quite perfect, but it was better. “You Azmona,” she repeated triumphantly. “I Rrrrrr… Rrred!” Yes, that was it! “Red!” The coywolf’s tail wagged behind her. Talking was suddenly easier, which was good. That meant she could focus on other things, like… like moving around. She knew she could stand, but… she hadn’t yet taken her first steps.

She tested her weight on her twisted ankle and it seemed to hold her, so maybe it was better now. Feeling confident, she glanced over at Asimona and then attempted to put one paw in front of the other and walk in a straight line. She immediately tumbled and fell over, but was unhurt, so she sat up and whine-growled in an irritated fashion. Did everyone have such a hard time when they were just born?

@Asimona

She did it! Well, at least, it was pretty close. And it was definitely close enough. Asimona grinned proudly. "Yes, that's it! Asimona!" And she had a name too. Her name was Red. "It's nice to meet you, Red!" She was very excited and happy with this development. It was awesome to see a newly hatched gembounds learning and growing in front of her eyes.

When Red got up, Asimona shifted, trying not to jump up and help her. She needed to take her first steps by herself. When she fell, she gave a small noise of pity. "Do you need help?"

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Red
notes: here

Red shook her head vigorously when Asimona asked if she wanted help. “I’s do myself!” she said, in a confident tone of voice. She picked herself up off the ground, coming to a stand relatively easily. Well, at least she got that down. Now the hard part was actually figuring out how to move one paw and then the other in the right order — which was kind of hard because there were four of them. Which paw was supposed to go first? It made sense that one of her front paws had to move first, so she moved her left front leg forward a step. Then she moved her right front leg forward, but then her limbs were too far apart from one another and she teetered fell over again. Quickly, she scrambled back up onto her paws. This was a new challenge, like talking, and she would figure it out!

@Asimona

Asimona sat and watched as Red tried to get herself to walk. "Maybe try and move a front paw, then a back paw, then a front, then a back, and then all over again!" That was how she walked and she wondered if Red would walk like that too. She was eager to watch the coywolf learn how to walk in front of her eyes.

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Red
notes: here

Red listened to Asimona’s advice, ears swiveling around to take in the dragon’s voice. Right, okay. Taking a breath, the coywolf began to move again. Front leg, back leg, other front leg, other back leg… And soon, she’d taken a few steps! Her tail wagged in excitement but she tried to hold it back for a little bit while she tried again. Front leg, back leg, front leg, back leg. Hey, this was easy! “I got it!” she shouted happily, turning to face Asimona. “I can walk, see?” And then her whole body wriggled with so much excitement that she fell over, but it didn’t matter. She scrambled back to her paws and began walking in a wide circle around the dragon. The going was slow at first but she grew progressively faster in her movements until she was just about trotting.

@Asimona

Asimona grinned from horn to horn. "Oh, fantastic! You're walking! I'm so proud!" She leaped to her feet and swiveled around as Red walked in a circle around her. This was an experience she had never dreamed of and it was wonderful. Watching a child grow before her eyes, learn and succeed. It made her so happy to watch the young coywolf do so well in the first minutes of her life.

She crouched, playfully, so excited with the pup's success that the playful instinct rose up and burst through. She wanted to play, to wrestle and jump and run, but she knew that she couldn't do that with the wolf. She was much too small. But if she wanted to play too, she could be gentle.

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags: @Red
notes: here