Laurel Thicket The littlest dragon

An angel.

For once, it was good that Kjell could not read his mate’s mind, for surely he would have lost his one remaining eye in the ridiculous roll that would have ensued. No child of his was any sort of angel, no doubt. Even Bennet, his niece, had her own special brand of fire – he hoped the girl was alright, at least, wherever she was. Her father’s sins were not her own, after all, and frankly, no child deserved to see their parent brutally murdered before their very eyes.

It seemed his boy was just as keen on proving the thought (and thankfully, dragging the older dragon away from his more morbid ones). Aegir might have tipped himself over, but the little sea dragon seemed to be just fine to tumble around – idly, he wondered if the boy needed siblings. But shit, he and Kjors ended up pretty wretched. The kid was probably better off without. If he got bored, there were plenty of other pups rolling around.

(This pack was in utter chaos.)

“Yer awful clever,” he hummed proudly, his boy chattering some of the phrases he heard. “Think you can say ‘ma’? Ma?” Kjell looked pointedly at Pip, wondering if the pup was old enough to draw the connection yet. “Ma.”

Teaching Demonstration 1/3

(This post was last modified: Aug 04, 2017, 02:14 AM by Kjell.)

Pip experienced a delightful thrill when she heard their son's tongue trip over his first almost-word. Her tail thumped quickly in approval while she beamed proudly at the boy. A smarter pup did not exist! The mute army-crawled over to where father and son stood to lick at @Aegir's face in encouragement. She shared a private smile with her mate, wishing every day how she could tell him all that the pair of them meant to her.

As @Kjell began a lesson, Pip's ears perked high on her head. Upon realizing what word he intended to teach the boy, her eyes welled with happy tears. She was left wondering again - something she assumed she would wonder for the rest of her lifetime - just what she'd done to deserve him. Either of them.

The little sea wolf nodded to the pup in the hopes that he would try and even mouthed it along with him. Though she had no way to help provide an auditory cue to help, at least she could provide a visual one. She wondered if with enough practice, Aegir could become skilled enough to read her lips. But first, he needed to master the basics, she supposed, though her excitement at the prospect had not dimmed any.

Aegir might have not understood what he was saying, but oh boy did the Little Dragon recognise praise when he heard it. His butt began to wriggle with such force his whole body shook and once again his tongue flopped out of his mouth in a big ole' grin. He loved this! Loved being the centre of their attention and never wanted it to end. So when the dark big looked over to the small, Aegir frowned a little at the noises that came from his mouth.

What did he want? Aegir wanted to give it to him, to make them both proud but...He was repeating one sound and when Aegir looked to his Mother for guidance he noticed she was moving her mouth in the same way, just like Da did but no sound came out. Not even a whisper.

Oh. When he said that word he looked at the brown big. Oh. It all made sense, or at least it was starting to. Those strange sounds Da made, they actually meant something! And he was finally getting to learn what they meant. It was all so exciting, he wanted to leap and prance with joy but he realised that now wasn't the time. He had something very important to do and if he did it right he'd make his bigs smile so much their faces would get stuck that way.

And so, Aegir squinted with intense concentration, curled his lips and...

"M-Ma!"He yelled, as proud as ever. Spinning to face his Ma- who's name he now knew!- he launched himself up on his hind legs and smothered her snout and jaw with so many kisses! "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma!"

Now that he'd learnt how to say her name, he never wanted to stop!

It didn’t occur to Kjell until after he’d begun the makeshift lesson that there was a possibility his mate did not want their son to speak.  Not for any reasons cruel or unkind, but because that was the way she lived, and maybe she wanted her child to live the same.  After all, how could the one-eyed dragon know what life was like without spoken words?  It wasn’t something they had discussed.

But it seemed, fortunately, that the omega was all rather delighted by his idea – and the gamma allowed himself a small sigh of relief as Signy nodded, urging the pup on.  It didn’t take Aegir long at all – only a moment of thought, in fact – before he was shouting the simple word over and over again.  A smile broke across Kjell’s dark muzzle before he could help himself and he crooned in praised, leaning down to swipe his pink tongue across his boy’s crown.  So smart!  Such a clever thing, their son was!

“Good job,” he rumbled, watching Aegir attempt to smother his mother in tiny puppy kisses.  Was that enough for the day?  Or should they try one more?

He waited for the cub to come back down, clearing his throat before lifting his paw.  Referencing himself was difficult, though Kjell did his best.  “Da.”  That was him.  “Da.”  He made the awkward point a second time. “Da.”

Teaching Demonstration 2/3

(This post was last modified: Aug 04, 2017, 02:15 AM by Kjell.)

Jeez, sorry guys. Next time, just punch me or skip me if I take that long.

Tears sprang readily to Pip's eyes and her tail wagged madly as Aegir proudly shouted her name to any and all who would listen. The little mute returned his kisses in kind, happy to smother as she was being smothered by hot, sweet puppy breath. Over @Aegir's head, she met her mate's eyes and projected as much love and gratitude as she could into her gaze. @Kjell was a marvelous father and while their packmates may have had their doubts, Pip knew there was no reason for them. Her mate was noble and kind and so brave and gentle when he needed to be, fierce when he had to be.

And her pup, their son!, was the most darling thing in existence. Tilting her warm, sunset eyes down once more, she nuzzled the boy and butted his young body with her muzzle with affection.

When Kjell cleared his throat and lifted his paw, Pip's brows drew down in confusion before silent laughter lightened her eyes as understanding dawned. In encouragement, she nodded to Kjell and nudged Aegir toward him so he would pay close attention to his lessons. That her mate thought to do this in the first place was simply another reason while she loved him. While being surrounded by the pack could help the pup learn all the faster, it felt right that it should be Kjell giving the first real lesson. Setting her head on her paws, she watched them with contentment.

Bleeeh, meh post but I wanted to keep it movin

Trust your heart if the seas catch fire

Aegir Sørenson

This was so very important, Aegir had to get it right. His bigs were waiting on him, expecting him to do good and make them all proud and smiley. This talking milarky was tough but he'd do anything to make his bigs happy. Except maybe waking up early, that seemed a little too much in his eyes.

To say that Aegir revelled in his parent's encouragement would be a wild understatement. He adored it, it gave him strength and the drive to try try and try again, even if he failed. Squinting, Aegir went over the sound over and over in his mind. It couldn't be so hard, it sort of sounded like Ma...But it wasn't the same either. That noise at the start, it was weird and heavy and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Nudging back into the quiet big, he stared up at the other dark big. His...

"D-d-da!" He yelled triumphantly and began to dance and prance about once more, his excitement as infectious as a pandemic. "Da Da Da, Ma Ma Ma!"

He did it! And it'd been so easy, effortless like he'd been able to do it all along. Well, maybe he was exaggerating a little but who cared? Not Aegir. He was on top of the world and it was damn obvious too. Jumping over to his Da, Aegir reared up on his hind legs and began to smother him with lots and lots of puppy kisses. He'd given plenty of them to his Ma, so it seemed only fair to give him some as well.

Great Merciful Mother above, but this kid really was smart, wasn’t he? And sure, most parents probably said that (or thought it proudly to themselves, because it was the best they got), but Kjell was pretty sure his son was a damn near genius, picking up so quick on words like that. The dragon rumbled loudly – it was almost a serpent’s purr, his heart fluttering like great, big dragon wings as he nodded, making his approval as evident as possible. What a good son! A perfect son.

The only one he’d ever need, really.

And shit if he wasn’t smiling one of the biggest, stupidest grins he’d worn in ages. Damn. Ægir was really ruining his image with shit like this. “Good job, kiddo,” he rumbled, rumbling again as the dark cub swooped in to give his father affection this time. It wasn’t like he minded sharing with Signy – she’d done all the hard work in making the little guy, after all – but Kjell didn’t mind getting his share of affection, either. He pressed his pink tongue to his son’s crown, lavishing him with quiet praise and affection in turn. So good. So smart! Never was there a father prouder than he.

Fade.

Teaching Demonstration 3/3
@Aegir @Pip -- Archiving so we can collect our LP!

(This post was last modified: Aug 04, 2017, 02:15 AM by Kjell.)