Just a little Glorybringer for ya

Strange Occurrences Of The Rainforest

It had been days since the fiesta, and Air and the others had gone home. Joy walked alone in the forest, on her way back from the Nightwing village. As she neared her home, a dragon appeared in the trees above her. 

"Hello," he said slyly. 

"Hi," Joy greeted him, walking on. The rainwing followed her. 

"You're Princess Joy, aren't you?"

"Yes." Joy replied, her voice suggesting that she didn't want to have this conversation.

 "I'm Macaw." he said proudly. 

"Good for you." Joy said sharply, still walking.

 Macaw, she noted, was around her age, possibly slightly older. He was ugly if you asked her, but some other dragon might find him handsome. But the thing that irked her the most was the way he was eyeing her. It made a dragon want to squirm and check themselves for bugs. 

"You know," Macaw began, the look on his face seriously unnerving. "You're pretty hot. For a hybrid I mean." Joy stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around to glare at him.

 "What did you just say to me?" she hissed, her teeth bared. He looked her up and down and sighed. 

"My father says that we're destined to be together. Shame, really. I was hoping you'd have better hearing." he explained. Joy let out a growl and grabbed Macaw by the neck. 

"When I'm through with you," she began. "You'll be wishing you had more limbs."

Elsewhere in the forest, Rainkeeper was climbing a familiar tree, wondering if he had finally managed to beat Pear here. No such luck. The rainwing was sitting elegantly on a branch, tossing berries at Tree-Bud. But there was something wrong. Rainkeeper frowned at her. She had fresh scratches, as usual, but this time she also was sporting a black eye. 

"What happened to you?" he asked. Pear's eyes widened. 

"Oh, you know. Clumsy me," she stammered. "Fell out of a tree again." 

"Trees don't give you black eyes." Rainkeeper retorted, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "What really happened?" 

"Guess I caught a branch just right then," Pear suggested nervously. Rainkeeper walked over to her and sat down on the branch. 

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" he questioned. Pear nodded. 

"I know. It's nothing Rainy, really. Don't worry." she assured him. His eyes widened as a possibility went through his head. He brushed his talons against her eye gently.

 "Did- did someone..." he asked, shocked at the very chance. "Did someone hit you?" Pear recoiled. 

"No! Of course not! Absolutely not! No one would- Rainkeeper that's- I-" she stammered. That only confirmed it. Rainkeeper's talons clenched in anger. 

"Who?" he demanded. "Pear, who did this to you?" Thoughts slammed in his head and he wanted to smack himself. "That's what's been happening the whole time! Hasn't it? You never fell out of a tree, did you?" Pear stared at the ground. 

"Please don't be mad," she begged. "You're all I've got Rainy." 

"I'm not mad at you!" he insisted. "I'm- I'm mad at who did this! I'm mad at myself for letting this happen and being to stupid to see it sooner! I just....Tell me who did it Pear, please. I just want to help you."

 "NO!" she yelled. "I can't tell! Cause then you'll make a scene and he'll get angry and it'll only get worse! I'm not supposed to be friends with anyone, let alone you."  

"Oh Pear," Rainkeeper said in shock. "I can't just let you go back." 

"Well too bad." she insisted. "I've got no other choice. And going back is the safest option. If no one else gets involved, then no one else gets hurt.....You won't get hurt." 

SMACK! Nightflyer paused at the sound. From further into the forest, he could hear humming. This humming was followed by another sound. SMACK! There it was again. As a curious dragon, Nightflyer went towards the sound. He found Joy, humming to herself with a smile on her face, hitting something as it swung around a tree. It looked like she was playing tether-ball. But the ball seemed to be moving.

 "What are you doing?" he asked. Joy glanced up from her game and grinned. 

"Playing Tether-dragon." she offered. "Wanna join?"

 "What the heck is tether-dragon?" he questioned. 

"It's basically tether-ball," she explained, smacking the 'ball' again. "Except that instead of playing with a ball, you tie a dragon up with their tail, string them on a rope, and use them as the ball." Nightflyer was momentarily horrified. 

"And what poor dragon are you using as the ball?" he asked nervously. 

"A little bitch named Macaw. He says that I am destined to be with him." she replied. 

"Oh, big mistake dude." Nightflyer agreed, talking to the 'ball'.  

"Wanna play?" Joy asked again. Nightflyer shrugged. 

"Sure, why not?"