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Entry 161

Sunny and Bronwen struggled up the last bit of trail, dropped their packs on the pebbled beach, and sat with their feet in the cool blue-green water.

Neither spoke for a while.

"I suppose we have to set up the tent soon," Sunny said after a while.

"Mum, how am I going to even get in the tent?" Bronnie flexed her wings; they felt stiff from being folded forward to get the pack on.

"The tent's a backup plan, Bronnie. We are going to sleep under the stars."

"What?"

"This whole next little while, I have no intention of being human-shaped any more than is absolutely necessary. You can join me in that if you like." Sunny hugged her daughter tightly, shuffled herself out of her clothes while Bronnie looked away, embarrassed, and shifted.

Sunny stretched, pleased, and nudged Bronnie with her nose. "Come on," she pleaded. "I don't see you dragon-shaped nearly enough."

She waded into the water with all the delicacy of a moose. Bronnie watched her mother for a moment, then broke into a grin.

The pain was intense, but she was soon limping after Sunny on all fours.

Entry 163

Bronnie and Sunny stumbled into the kitchen, exhausted, and collapsed into chairs after dropping their packs on the floor.

Ray peered around the corner. "Oh. It's you."

"You! Lemonade! Us! Now!" Sunny gasped at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're dying, I'm sure." He poured out the lemonade anyway, and slid the two glasses across the table. "Have fun?"

"Yeah," Bronnie said. Sunny grinned.

Babysitting

"I showed you where Airyn's bottle is, right?" Ghlyssa wrung her hands nervously. "And the baby food? And where the diapers are? You don't think you'll have too much trouble with that?"

"You showed me, Glee. Really." Bronnie tilted her head, a little perplexed at all this fuss. "And I think I can manage a diaper. It's not that hard."

"But... but... the..."

"We'll be fine," Bronnie said confidently. Really, it couldn't be that hard. "Airyn and I get along okay, right?"

"Ahbadee. BwraaaAH," Airyn burbled, scooting over to Bronnie's tail, eyes wide in fascination.

"Thanks for helping," Riven said, smiling shyly at Bronnie as he floated into the room, before turning his attention to Ghlyssa. "Airyn will be fine, love... don't worry. We're just going to go eat and go for a nice, long walk. Alone." Riven beamed at her. "Come on." He fluffed one wing over Glee's shoulders and led her towards the door.

"Ahbababah," Airyn mumbled, watching as her parents left, then grabbing for Bronnie's tail.

Bronnie waved after them, and peered down at Airyn.

Well.

"Oh, man, I don't know anything about babies..." She screwed up her face. "I don't know what--HEY." She jumped a little when Airyn grabbed her. "That's my tail..." Bronnie made an attempt to wriggle her tail free from Airyn's grip.

It WIGGLED! Wow, that was neat. How did that work? Airyn tugged harder on the wriggly thing and groped one set of fingers up it, reaching as high as she could go up the length of the tail, trying to see where it ended up.

"Ow ow ow OW." Tears reflexively sprung to Bronnie's eyes. "Don't DO that, Airyn. That hurts." She reached down to try to detangle her tail from Airyn and pick the kid up. "Oh, geez. Too bad you don't understand that, huh. C'mon up, you."

"Ahbooh?" Airyn frowned and patted at Bronnie's face with one hand, then pulled it back and peered at the dampness of tears before licking at it. She wrinkled her nose at the salty taste. "Phtbbbbbt," she said, drooling.

"Ew." Bronnie wiped irritably at the tears--good thing no one was around to see that, but it had hurt. "Yuck, Airyn. That's so gross..." It occurred to her that even with all the things that Ghlyssa had made sure she knew where they were, she wasn't sure where a tissue or something might be.

And then she'd have to use her sleeve or something to wipe Airyn's face, and then was just way too gross.

"I guess we can go look in the kitchen for a dishcloth or something..."

"Bwrrrrah," Airyn burbled amicably, stuffing most of her left hand in her mouth and sucking on it happily, in the absence of a teething ring or other convinient object. She clung onto Bronnie, occasionally removing the hand to wave it enthusiastically at one object or another.

Into the kitchen. Yes. Okay.

Bronnie found a cloth and went immediately to wipe Airyn's face, and discovered the situation had worsened. "Oh, man, Airyn." Were all babies this gross? She wiped at Airyn's face carefully around the hand in her mouth.

"Eeahbah." Airyn grabbed at the rag, removing her hand and trying to shove the rag in instead. The soft cloth felt good on her sore gums and newly-emerging teeth. "Brrrwaba," she mumbled through the rag, beaming stickily at Bronnie.

Bronnie made a face. What was she supposed to do here? That cloth was clean, right? It better be. It was certainly clear she wasn't going to get Airyn's face wiped off.

Airyn squirmed. "Ahwabee," she told Bronnie, wriggling and waving her arms in the vague direction of the floor. "Daaawwdawwdaw." The rag fell out of her mouth and came to rest between Bronnie's arm and Airyn's stomach.

"Ewww." Bronnie took the cloth between thumb and forefinger, and dropped it in the sink. After a bit of thought, she turned the water on. First thing she did, when she got home, would be to have a shower to wash off the baby drool.

Airyn leaned forward, fascinated by the water. "Ahboooh. Baaaa. BAAAA!" She wriggled energetically and managed to get enough leverage to force her hands under the spray.

Bronnie sputtered as she got sprayed. She made a wild grab to turn the water off again, pawing uselessly at the faucet for a moment before succeeding.

"Great. Now, I have a drool and a wet T-shirt to deal with. I guess I like you, Airyn, but you're awfully messy."

"Brrrrlllb." Airyn beamed and clapped her hands awkwardly a few times, then squirmed to be let down. "Dawwdawdaw."

There was a small rustle of metal against moss, then, and Biome came around the corner. The gizmoh's ears flattened when they saw Bronnie, then slowly rose again as they realized she wasn't a stranger. "Hello, missmiss Bronwen,," they said, politely. "You are taking carecare of the little one?"

Airyn let out a small happy shriek at the sight of the Fandangle, then wriggled harder.


Bronnie blinked for a moment at Biome. "Um. Yeah, I am." As weird as it was to be suddenly accosted by the fandangle, they were really neat looking. Really damn cool.

Was it bad to be thinking swear words around Airyn?

Bronwen let Airyn down on the ground, and leaned back against the sink, wiping vaguely at her shirt.

Airyn flailed at Biome, but the twin gizmohs merely smiled and slipped past, murmuring "We shall notnot trouble you," in Bronnie's direction before leaving the room, having successfully evaded Airyn's grabs for their whiskers.

"Nyah. Nyananana," she burbled at Bronnie, scooting merrily along the smooth wood floor of the kitchen.

"Nah, trouble me..." Bronnie muttered. "I don't know what I'm doing, anyway." She followed after Airyn, her tail twitching thoughtfully. "What are you doing, anyway?"

"Nyahnah!" Airyn moved with more purpose now, towards the small toy basket nestled near the couch. Finally, she tugged herself up to it and pushed it over, a variety of small toys spilling out onto the moss 'carpet'. "BuuuuuuAH," she squealed, waving one of several toy bunnies at Bronnie. "Paapaaaway."

"Uh. Okay. We can play." Bronnie settled herself down on the moss next to Airyn. That was so weird; who ever heard of a moss carpet? She reached for one of the bunnies, wondering what the heck she was supposed do to with it.

"Ahbah!" Airyn burbled and scooted over to clamber awkwardly into Bronnie's lap, dragging one of the bunnies with her.

Bronnie grinned. This wasn't so bad. "Two bunnies." She bounced her little bunny across her knee, had it jump over to kiss Airyn on the cheek, accompanied by appropriate sound effect, and settled on her shoulder.

"Hi Airyn!" said the bunny in a voice which sounded suspiciously like Bronnie's pitched an octave higher. "I'm Mr. Bunny and I came to see my friend Mrs. Bunny! Do you know where she is?"

Oh, man. If anyone ever found out about this, Bronnie would never live it down. She would die.

Airyn giggled and kicked her feet up and down, leaning back into Bronnie's chest., then waved her own bunny at the other toy. She smushed it awkwardly into Mister Bunny's face. "AhbahhhNEE."

"Oh, hi Mrs. Bunny!" squeaked Mr. Bunny. "I've been looking for you everywhere!" Another smooch noise. "Were you playing hide and seek? It's my turn to hide!" It disappeared underneath Airyn's legs. "You'll never find me!"

Totally embarassing. No one must ever know about this.

Airyn shrieked and kicked again, pummelling poor Mister Bunny with her tiny feet, but she was giggling. "AhbabahbahEEEEEEEEE," she squealed, trying to grab at Mister Bunny's ear and not doing a very good job of it, she was so excited.

Mr. Bunny peeked out from his hiding place. "Oh! You found me! You're good at this game, Airyn! Oh no! Where is Mrs. Bunny? I can't find her!" He looked from side to side in dismay, apparently not seeing his friend in Airyn's free hand.

"EeeBAH!" And Airyn chucked the other bunny as hard as she could into Mister Bunny, squirming with glee.

"Mrs. Bunny! Hi! I was so worried! I couldn't find you anywhere." Bronnie has to stop and clear her throat before she can continue in the bunny-voice. "Thank you Airyn! You are so helpful!"

Airyn leaned forward and grabbed Mister Bunny, pulling him in and stuffing most of his face in her mouth. "Mwabeewah," she mumbled through the fuzz.

"Uh." Bronnie blinked, momentarily confused. "Well, so much for Mr. Bunny. What a way to go." She glanced at her watch. "Oh, we gotta get you something to eat. That sound good?" She stood, scooping Airyn up in her arms.

"Mmmmrr," Airyn drooled, clutching tight to Mister Bunny with hands and gums as Bronnie picked her up. She didn't wriggle very much for being put in the highchair, though, and proceeded to bang her little fists and the sodden bunny on the tray. "Ah-bah-ah-bah-ah-bah," she sang to herself.

Bronnie peered through the cupboards, wondering what she was supposed to pick for Airyn's meal. "Um. Here's some mushed carrots. Do you like carrots, Airyn?" She dug around in the drawers until she found a baby-sized spoon, opened up the jar, and sat herself down next to Airyn. "There you go. Yum?" She held out a spoon of orange goo for Airyn to try.

Airyn leaned forward and nearly dipped her nose in the spoon before righting herself, but she did open her mouth to accept the carrots.

"Mmmrpbbbth." And out the carrots came again, with Airyn continuing to bang on the tray, unconcerned with the mushed food on her chin.

That wasn't right.

"Come on, Airyn. Carrots are good, right?" Bronwen tried to offer another spoonful of carrot goop. "Yummy carrots. I have the jar open and everything."

Airyn turned her head away from the spoon, and kept turning away no matter how the spoon was moved.... she didn't seem irritated about it, though, just determined. "Ayayanaaah," she mumbled, finally swiping at the goop on her face.

"No carrots, okay." Bronnie leaned back, discouraged. She left the jar on the counter, and found another jar. "Strained peaches. Yuck. But maybe you'll like them." She washed off the spoon, sat herself down again, and tried again.

Airyn wrinkled her nose at the incoming spoon, then opened her mouth and accepted the peaches.

A moment of perfect silence followed.

"Abahaya," Airyn told Bronnie solemnly. It seemed she'd actually swallowed that time.

Success! ... right?

"Oh, you actually like that? Okay." With a small laugh of relief, Bronnie held out another spoonful. "Mmm, yummy."

Airyn accepted the next spoonful, and the one after that, and the one after that.

But the one after that... Airyn spit that one out, and hard, too, accompanied with a sudden shriek that left her looking just as startled as Bronnie.

Bronnie peered at the baby food all over her hands. "Oh. Oh, yuck," she said vehemently. "What the heck's with you? You don't want any more? You can't be full... Come on, eat up, Airyn. Please?"

The spoon was wiggled in Airyn's general direction.

"Ah-YA!" Airyn flailed at the incoming spoon, and although she wasn't coordinated enough yet to actually hit it, she came close a few times. It was obvious she didn't want any.

Instead, she made pleading noises at the jar of carrots.

"... now you want the carrots. Okay."

Dutifully, Bronnie cleaned off the spoon again, as well as her hand, and swapped jars. "Carrots now, okay."

Spoonwiggle.

Airyn lunged at the carrots, then coughed as she ended up with a mouthful of spoon, too. "NyaaaaAAAAAAAH," she squealed, then pulled back so hard that the spoon went flying.

"Mrf." The carrots were swallowed, and then Airyn stuffed Mister Bunny in after. "Nyanyanya."

Eyes wide in a mild panic, Bronnie, for the moment, ignored the flying spoon. "Airyn! Oh, god.... well... at least you seem okay..." She set the jar of carrots on the table while she went crawling around on the floor looking for the spoon.

Airyn seemed utterly unconcerned, now, and waved the bunny solemnly at Bronnie.

After emerging with the spoon, Bronnie washed it off, again, and sat down, again. She sighed. "You're not making this easy. You're really not." She offered another mouthful of carrots. "Come on. You have to eat something."

Airyn accepted the carrots this time, although she kept making noises as though she was going to spit them out. Fortunately, she never actually did, and soon the jar was mostly empty.

Finally, Airyn turned away from a spoonful and stuffed Mister Bunny back in her mouth again. "AhBAH," she told Bronnie, firmly.

"You eat messy, you know." Bronnie got a cloth from the sink, and wiped off Airyn's face and hands. "Poor Mister Bunny... C'mon up." She lifted Airyn out of the high chair.

Airyn cuddled into Bronnie's shoulder once she was free of the highchair. "Ahbaaah," she said, then burped. She rubbed her face on Bronnie's hair.

Well, this wasn't so bad. This was downright nice. "You're pretty cute," Bronnie admitted, "when you're not spitting food all over the place. I think it might be bedtime for you..."

Airyn responded with a yawn, then poked with interest at one of Bronnie's earrings, with one finger. Carefully. She'd learned from Mama and Dada that if you grabbed shiny things from people's faces, they got mad.

Bronnie winced a little. "Don't touch those, don't touch. Please," she pleaded as she took Airyn through the house to the nursery. That would hurt a lot, if Airyn decided to pull.

Note to self: dangly earrings and babysitting don't mix.

Fortunately, Airyn did not pull. Instead, she yawned again and kicked a bit.

... hm. Something smelled down there.

.... Oh oh oh that was not good. Not good at all.

Once in the nursery, Bronnie laid Airyn on the changing table and dug around with one hand for a fresh diaper.

This was going to be so gross.

Airyn waved the bunny at Bronnie, then pulled it in to her chest and hugged it, eyelids drooping. She didn't much seem to care what Bronnie was doing down south.

Yuck.

Yuck yuck yuck ew yuck.

The old diaper was dropped into the appropriate receptacle with all of the disgust Bronnie could muster. The new diaper was set aside while Bronnie grabbed one-handed for wipes, then--finally, the clean diaper.

"I think I might like you better when you're toilet-trained," Bronnie confided to Airyn as she swept her across the room and into the crib to be tucked in.

Airyn settled happily down into the crib, and waved one little hand at Bronnie. She kicked her feet a few times, sucked on Mister Bunny's ear, then slowly fell asleep without a sound.

Bronnie gave a little sigh of relief as she left the nursery. That had been... well, an "experience," as her mother would put it.

She cleaned up the kitchen, washed her hands thoroughly for a minute or two, and flopped down in the living room with a book.

After about an hour had passed, the trees suddenly rustled. A few moments later, the door opened and Riven and Glee came in. "Hi," Riven said with a grin, his wing still fluffed around Glee's shoulders. "Was she good?"

"She was... um. Pretty good." Explaining the dinner difficulties seemed unnecessary.

Ghlyssa poked around in a drawer for a bit of money, and used to this to pay Bronnie. "There. Um. I hope that's enough."

"It's fine, Glee." Bronnie grinned brightly. "You're, well, practically my sister, remember?"

"Are you okay to get home?"

Bronnie peered out the open door. "I think I'll be okay."

"Thank you, Bronnie." Ghlyssa smiled as Bronnie attacked her with a hug.

"No problem." Then, after a bit of thought, she added, "Any time. See you, Glee!" And she headed out the door for home.

Entry 166

After painstakingly painting her nails black, Bronnie wandered into the basement. Well, truthfully, it was more of a hobble, since the last thing she wanted to was smudge the enamel on her toes. She was terribly pleased with this new look. It was... edgy. And it matched the scaly greyish skin of her hands and feet anyway. She would probably do this every day. She was headed into the basement for the simple reason that it was cooler down there, and she was thirsty, and there was usually a few cans of pop down there.

There was also Amano.

The tanuki had his own little corner down there; Bronnie wasn't sure what he did with himself all day. Often, he left without anything more than the clothes on his back, and weeks would go by without a sign of him.

This afternoon, he was perched cross-legged upon the back of the ratty sofa, holding a book in his hands. He grinned at Bronnie as she came downstairs. "Hello Bronnie-girl. I am reading."

"What're you reading?" She was surprised; Amano wasn't much of a reader. At least, she didn't think so. She made for the basement fridge.

"It is called... um. Mubby Dyke."

"... what?" She hesitated, her hand on the fridge door.

Amano held up the book, and Bronnie laughed. "Moby d**k," she said. "Okay."

"I don't really understand it. There is a creature called a queequeg, and I'm wondering what a queequeg is like."

Bronnie shrugged. "I dunno. I never read it. Isn't that one of Mum's books? Does she know you're borrowing it?"

"I don't know."

Bronnie rolled her eyes and peered through the fridge. "Damn. Where's the pop, Amano?"

"All gone."

"Did you drink it?" she asked suspciously.

"Nope!" Amano rocked cheerfully and fell onto the sofa cushions; the book went flying. "I have better things to drink. Do you want some?"

Bronnie considered, briefly, what Amano, of all people, would consider as "better things to drink" and guessed that going upstairs with booze on her breath would be a Bad Idea. "Nah, I'm not really all that thirsty."

"Suit yourself. Did you hurt your hands?"

"... what?" she asked, caught off-guard.

"Your nails are all black. Your toes, too." He wrinkled his nose thoughtfully at her. "I've had that happen. Bang a toe, the nail goes all black."

"It's just nail polish," Bronnie protested.

"Ooooohhhh, I see." Amano brightened. "You want to look like you hurt yourself."

"Not... um... not exactly. I got stuff to do, Amano."

Bronnie fled upstairs, and into the bathroom for some nail polish remover.

Entry 167

Bronnie was perplexed. It was indeed her birthday, but she certainly hadn't been expecting presents from people she hardly knew.

But it was so pretty.

She pinned the ruby brooch to her shirt, beaming, and tried to figure out what to do with the other one. She's have to... uh... send a thank you note or something.

"Morning, Bronnie. Happy birthday." Sunny swooped in and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "You're up early. Excited?"

"No," Bronnie lied. "Yes."

Sunny laughed. "Cake. Presents. Other things, hm."

"Mum? What're you talking about? What other things?"

"I'll explain later."

Shop RP

Bronnie came into the clinic for the first time in, well, a while. In a carrier on her back, worn awkwardly because of her wings, was her... niece, for lack of a better word. Airyn was quite happily watching the world pass by from this vantage point, reaching for things with every intention of putting them in her mouth.

Once inside, Bronnie struggled to get the carrier off, removed Airyn, and flopped down onto the couch, exhausted. Babysitting. Bah.

"Gab-alalalalalalala!" Airyn babbled, and squirmed to be let down.



Airyn pulled herself into a sitting position, with a great deal of work, and peered at this new person suddenly peered at her. She blinked. "Ga-baa-baa!" she said, and giggled.

Bronnie opened an eye lazily from where she was more or less dead to the world on the waiting room sofa. That was....? No. That wasn't Elle.

"Winny?!" she sputtered in disbelief.



"Her name's Airyn. I'm just babysitting. She's Glee and Riven's daughter... so I guess I'm her aunt." Weird. She was too young to be an aunt. Way too young. Bronnie sat up hurriedly. "I haven't seen you in so long, Winny..."

Airyn giggled, squealed, and squirmed ticklishly, and made a wild grab at Winny's hand. "LalaLALAla-gababa!"



Airyn squealed loudly. New friend! Weird hand-walking! This was the bestest day ever. Since yesterday. She reached for Winny's nose with outstretched fingers.

"I'm... doing pretty good," Bronnie said after a moment. "Mostly, anyway." She scratched the back of her neck idly. "I mean, I'm not turning into a dragon by accident anymore. Not much, anyway."



"Neeeeee!" Airyn waved her arms clumsily and changed her aim for Puppy; it was just like her bunnies and things at home! All of which, though, had rather chewed ears. "Lananana BO."

Bronnie blushed. Darkly. "Yesssss," she admitted slowly. "Um. Cyrus and me... um..." Although she hadn't actually seen him in a little while. He must be around, but... he was a little hard to get ahold of.



Airyn laughed and reached, babbling excitedly. Her eyes did not leave Puppy, not for a moment. This was all too exciting.

Bronnie sputtered. "Winny! ... we haven't gone to the movies. Okay?" Last time she ever discussed her... uh, "love life" with people younger than her.



"I dunno. We just haven't." Bronnie flopped down onto the couch again, the tip of her tail twitching. "We should."

There was a Puppy on Airyn's head! Unable to see it, Airyn tried to follow the toy up, tilted her head back, and wobbled backwards a little. Unfazed by this, she tried to grab it, though it was still on her head.



Bronnie blushed darkly. "Winny! I mean... um..." She sputtered. "I don't think that's any of your business." She wrinkled her nose.

Airyn giggled hysterically, squirming, her arms flailing. This was great! She leaned forward and tried to bite Puppy, because this was the ultimate test for all things that she liked: edibility, or at least chewability.



"Okay, we haven't. Fine. Are you happy?" Bronnie hunched her wings awkwardly.. She peered at the stuffed animal for a moment, curious. Had she seen...? Nah. Couldn't have been.

Airyn munched for a while, then spit Puppy out with a cry of "NAH mamamama." It didn't have the familiar chewed-on quality of her own toys, and it clearly wasn't food. It wasn't even her mother's sleeve. She did give Puppy a happy pet, though.



Airyn giggled and squealed. "Gabadadada."

"Yeah," Bronnie agreed. "I haven't seen you in ages.... maybe soon again, Winny." She was clearly very hopeful. "Hurry, though. I don't want you get in trouble 'cause of me and Airyn."

Entry 170

Bronnie walked into the living room and took a long look at her mother, curled up on the couch with an egg and a book.

"Mum?"

Sunny blinked up at her daughter for a moment. "Come see!"

Bronnie sat down, and Sunny put the egg into Bronnie's lap. "This is your new brother or sister."

Blink. Blink. "Mum?" She poked at it.

"I'm completely serious." Sunny beamed, as though this were a normal, everyday occurrence. "It's a goose-person-thing. Yeah. It needed me."

Bronnie ran her hand over the egg. It was warm and smooth. "A goose?"

"Yeah. Some sort of Canada goose person." Sunny shrugged; she was a little unclear on the details. "I like geese. I really do. I... um. Can I let you in on a secret, Bronnie?"

"What?" Bronnie rearranged her wings.

"I don't know what Canada geese eat. Or, I didn't. I was looking it up." Sunny picked up the book again. "'The diet of this goose consists mainly of vegetation. It grazes along the shore to feed on grass, rushes and water plants; however, it will also move inland to feed on corn and wheat. During breeding season, they feed on worms, insects, snails, crustaceans, and even small fish. While in the water, they feed in the same manner as ducks.' Lots of salad. Maybe you'll get along with Glee, then, when she comes to visit." She poked the egg happily, and laughed.