Let The Chaos Continue

The One Where Joy Babysits

A/N: It's a glorious feeling to laugh over comments because people are so excited and they have no idea what's gonna happen and I do, and it's fun to see how many people are dead on, how many are close, and how many are going to just have their minds exploded.

Rin and Permafrost met up a week later, sitting on a Rainwing platform as the rest of the Rainwings woke up from suntime and headed about their day.

"So," Permafrost began. "Where's Wren?"

"He's with my mother today." Rin explained. Permafrost's eyes widened.

"Unsupervised?"

"....I trust my mom with him."

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" Rin rolled her eyes.

"Hey, my mom raised me and my siblings and we're fine."

"If by fine you mean Ander is on a murder vacation with her boyfriend, and you're you."

"Yeah. Fine." 

"You know she's totally teaching him something WAY inappropriate, right?"

".......If he comes back bleeding, she'll never babysit again."

"Wise decision." Permsfrost thought for a moment. "So, how's Parrot doing with all of this?" Rin smiled.

"He's good. He'd doing a lot better then I thought, actually. But he loves Wren, and he loves spending time with him, so that's good. And we're a lot closer then we usually are, so that's a good sign."

"Have you two talked about marriage at all?" Rin raised an eyebrow.

"Why would we do that?" Permafrost sighed.

"Rin, you have a son together, you love him, he loves you, and obviously wants to be a big part of Wren's life and yours- why wouldn't you two get married?" Rin shrugged, tracing a pattern into the platform.

"I don't know. I mean, he hasn't even mentioned marriage to me at all, and we're in a really good place right now. I don't want to mess that up by moving too quickly."

"But don't you think Wren might find it odd that his parents aren't married? And if you're not even in a serious relationship- what if Parrot starts seeing someone else, and he decides to marry her instead? How are you going to feel then?"

"That will never happen."

"There's nothing stopping him." Rin squirmed. 

"Do we have to talk about this?" 

"Yes, Rin, we do." Permafrost insisted. "You have to think about this kind of thing. You can't just stay where you are forever- you have to decide whether you want to be with Parrot or not, and tell him your answer. Because if you don't want to be with him anymore, then you have to let him go."

"I don't want to do that." Rin shook her head. "If I shut Parrot out, then it'd make everything so awkward, and I don't want that for Wren."

"Things are awkward enough NOW. You may not see it, but everyone else does. Most of us just tiptoe around you guys because we don't know how to approach your relationship."

"What's there to tiptoe around- I love him, he loves me, we have son, but we're not together. The end."

"But WHY aren't you together?" Rin stopped.

"I....I don't know."

"That's what you have to figure out with Parrot. You two need to decide on your relationship, one way or another. For Wren's sake."

"Not everyone who has a dragonet with someone is married to them, Permafrost." Rin objected.

"True, but you need to at least decide where you stand. Are you dating? In a relationship? Separated? Not together? Are you going to marry him, or is he free to date other dragons? You need to pick a playing field and stick with it, Manda."

"Alright." Rin sighed. "I'll talk to him."

"Good." 

"Now can we PLEASE change the subject? What's new with you?" Permafrost smiled softly.

"Well, uh... Stardust and I are thinking of having a dragonet together. Rin gasped.

"Oh my gosh, YES! Have a daughter! Then we could have our children marry each other!"

"Moons, NO. Arranged marriages have caused me NOTHING but trouble....But if we make them good friends, like Shore and Orange were...."

"Well then we just let the romance write itself."

"Is it weird that we dated and now we want our kids to marry each other?"

"No. Look at Rainkeeper and Air. That's exactly what happened with them."

"Air and Rainkeeper DATED?"

"I think they went on one date, and that was it. I know they've kissed though."

"How taboo."

"Nah, it's nothing now. They're just good friends."

"Still. It must be weird for them, seeing Ember and Apple so in love."

"Not really. Air's cool with it, and so is Rainkeeper- although he's just super overprotective."

"Rin, name ONE member of your family that's NOT super overprotective."

".......You got me there."

*~*~*

"Okay Wren!" Joy exclaimed, setting the little dragonet down on the ground. "We're gonna have lots of fun today, alright?" 

"Yay!" Wren cried out, his scales going yellow and pink with happiness. 

"Yay!" Joy echoed. "So, your mommy says you're too young to play with knives or chakrams or stuff, BUT.....You never too young to use a crossbow!" Joy whipped out a crossbow, smiling. Wren's eyes widened.

"Oooooh." he whispered as Joy carefully handed him the weapon.

"Now be careful of the arrow tip," Joy advised. "If you impale yourself with that, Rin will never allow me within ten feet of you." Wren nodded, the crossbow nearly falling out of his talons as he struggled to hold it. The weapon was bigger then he was, after all.

Joy set a pineapple on a stump a little ways away from them, and then rushed back to help Wren hold the crossbow the right way.

"Now, you're gonna try to hit the pineapple," She explained. "So you just aim, and pull the trigger when you're ready. Okay?"

"Otay!" Wren declared. 

"Good, then I'm gonna stand over here. Fire when ready."

Wren shifted his hold on the crossbow, and fired it. He jumped at the recoil, the crossbow flying out of his talons, and the arrow shooting in a very different direction.

Wren's eyes widened with fear as he noted where it hit.

Joy grimaced, and carefully pulled the arrow out of the top of her ear, snapping it in half.

"Okay." She admitted. "Maybe you're too little for a crossbow." She paused, thinking. "But you can't be too young for a regular bow and arrow!"