"Gwen, I signed your permission slip. I know you don't want to go, but I think it would be a good idea for you." A figure appeared in Gwendolyn's bedroom doorway, a dark-furred she-wolf wearing a grey t-shirt and stained denim overalls, her golden, work-weary eyes fixed on her studious daughter. She waved a clawed hand at eye level, which held a small slip of paper.
Gwendolyn clacked her beak at the annoyance and scoffed, sitting up cross-legged in bed. She tossed her homework aside and folded her arms across her black T-shirt, pouting slightly. "But Mom, why do I need to be educated about sex? The whole idea of intimacy is disgusting, and I already know about reproduction." She rapped her knuckles on the front cover of Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology, Second Edition. Besides, they had a dial-up modem. She'd seen plenty.
Evelyn sighed, walking across the dark carpet to drop the permission slip into her angsty daughter's lap. "Gwen, honey, it's important. Your body is going through changes, and many more will come soon. I was… similar… at your age, and I think you need to hear about sex from more than just your mother." She paused to look at the posters her daughter had pinned to the wall of her bedroom, which advertised some performance troupe or another. VONIC, Baiaar, AFI... were these names, or incantations? "...And whatever bard is putting music in your ears. Words hold power, Gwen, and don't tell me that they can't enthrall you..."
Gwen rolled her eyes and groaned, dragging her jet-black paws down her beak to stare down her bed. Not this again, she thought. Why did my parents have to come from some far-off fantasy Land Before Time? My friends think it's hilarious, but nobody else at school has to deal with parents who don't know what a Walkman is.
Eve was still talking, though she wasn't looking at Gwen anymore. "...will come a time where you'll feel overwhelming urges you don't understand. And they're perfectly normal. You just have to make smart decisions with your body instead of… ones you'll regret. Who you allow to... get inside you... can affect your future."
"You mean like Hak?"
Her attention snapped back to her smirking daughter, this impudent little facsimile of herself in all ways but one. Eve bristled, her snout curling at the edges. She was never like this as a pup, was she? "Gwen, he may not be your father, but your Dad has always supported you and your brothers and sisters, which is important to me. I wanted a big family."
Gwen narrowed her eyes, watching her mother's expression, arms still crossed. "Because you couldn't get one from a blue dragon?"
Eve's eyes went wide. "What?" she sputtered.
That's it, Gwen thought. "I asked Dad how the two of you met, and he mentioned a good friend of his named Tabra. He said he and Tabra used to visit before Dad moved in with you. It's not hard to figure out. I know I can't be a dragon's daughter, but I bet he would know who my father is." Gwen looked up and stroked the very bottom tip of her beak, feigning thoughtfulness.
Eve's jaw hung loose a second before responding, anger creeping into her voice as her brows furrowed. "Gwen, we're talking about your future sexual encounters, not my past--"
Gwen leaned forward, smelling the blood rising. "So you do admit--"
"--yway sometimes the men you're attracted to aren't the ones who can give you what you want. That's the--"
"So what you wanted was a dragon--"
"--ENOUGH, GWEN. You're grounded. No Mary Manson concert this weekend, or whatever her name is."