>>5860537>Play with it! This is the first dragon you've met. And it's not prey. This is a prime opportunity to socialise with something outside your family unit.Stepping closer, you lower your front limbs in preparation to pounce. Your tail wags rapidly, in anticipation of a wrestling match with this stranger. Your vocalisations are sharp and high, and as you approach, it seems to relax as well. You both open your minds to each other, revealing friendly intent. The hatchling leaps forward to collide with you, and you both tumble into the soil. The smooth, large scales of your playmate seem to allow soil to wick off easily, while your rugged scales trap all manner of dirt. Their paws rise to bat at your face, but vines reach out to restrain it. This one knows how to socialise and play-fight, so it must be part of a family.
Your battle ends in your victory, for it seems like their experience doesn't include battling grasping vines. They chirp softly, then lead you towards a little creek, where you both splash in the water. To your surprise, your new friend jams their face straight into the mud, beginning to rifle about beneath the shallow water. Their jaws emerge with a brown creature struggling between them. Its shell reminds you of the beetles you hunted with your youngest sibling before their death. One bite later, the animal is gone, and the red dragon is looking at you expectantly.
You dig into the mud, but your snout isn't as long as theirs. It'll be many more years before your skull elongates to the length of your parents'. You can't reach deep enough to seize the tiny mental presences within the dirt. Your companion thrusts their face in again, seizing another one. They swing their head sideways, throwing it at your face, and you open your mouth to catch it.
<span class="mu-i">Crunch.</span>
It's delicious! The shell is hard, and you don't like that shards jam themselves between your teeth, but the meat is soft and sweet. It's much better than the beetle.
Eventually, you learn to use your vines to dig them up, impressing your companion greatly. The two of you eat until you're sated, each grateful to be in the company of a new friend.
~~
You're so engrossed with your new companion that you fail to notice mother calling out for you. The two of you are only reminded of your curfew when thunderous footsteps make their way across the undergrowth. Your friend turns to run, but mother's familiar mind batters against the both of yours, paralysing your friend in fear. You chirp in alarm as they bury their head in their paws, and their tail hangs low in submission.
Mother emerges from the foliage, her colossal head beholding the both of you, and the little stream that now lies pockmarked with crab-holes. You feel instinctual aggression rising within her, and vines uncurl as she sees the other dragon. A sense of alarm passes over you, and you consider for the first time that she might not take kindly to other dragons being so close to your family.
