Blue World, Cirrus and Megaera~

[✧ CIRRUS]

Ah, the ocean. Strong wind currents and fresh air really made a cloud feel alive out here. Cirrus zipped along the ocean winds, her attention set not on the churning waters below, but on the mass of cloud that was slowly taking shape before her. Travelling over ocean not only offered some of the fastest winds to ride, but also provided plenty of time to practise her craft. She hummed, wondering how she could take the large cat shape she'd already created, and add enough detail to make it look like a tiger. It was a challenge, even for herself, but one she strove to overcome. She pictured a tiger in her mind, and tried her best to make that image shine through in the clouds.

Over and over she tried, different techniques being invented, discarded, and re-invented as Cirrus tried anything she could think of to produce the effects she wanted. She didn't seem discouraged whenever something failed, simply 'erasing' the shape of a tiger from her clouds and starting again. Another benefit of practising over the ocean, was that nobody could see her mistakes, meaning she could make as many as she wanted. With a limitless spirit of adventure, Cirrus took that bull by the horns and could wrestle with it for days at a time, until she got it right or hit land and had to move on.

Oh, but maybe she'd gone and reused this cloud a few too many times. Too many wisps had been discarded, and she was now left with around half the mass that she'd started with. Even the mother of clouds couldn't fight their nature forever, and she let it go on its way. Brown eyes scanned the horizon, picking out a new area with fresh clouds to gather into a new 'canvas.' Gently, she bent the wind current, just enough to alter her course and bring her into the new field of clouds.

Humming to herself, she started swooping between clouds, her fingers spread wide as she glided through her children, not even touching them but stringing them all along behind her as she passed. They naturally clung together to form one large cloud that travelled in Cirrus' wake, and through her thoughts, still focused on her tiger problem, she didn't notice the impostor until she had already passed it. She slammed on the brakes suddenly, and her trailed mass of cloud simply continued on through her and beyond, but it was forgotten as she spun to face the cloud that didn't answer.

She got closer, hands on her hips as she glared at the cloud in question. Her glare turned into a perceptive stare, closely examining the cloud. "You're not one of mine," she said at last, leaning in to take a few sniffs, before recoiling back and holding her nose. "Definitely not!" she sneezed out small puffs of foreign cloud. "So who made you..?" she wondered aloud, tiger project forgotten in the face of this new mystery.

CARMA

[✧ MEGAERA]

shadows WHO WILL SAVE YOU NOW? The electric crackle of frustration shocked across the swirling black cloud, the black cloud which was not one among the sky’s creations at all, but merely wore this veil as a means to remain undetected. Megaera had now long accepted her fate - that as a Fury, she was free to her task, free to punish the damned and let their hearts weep in agony until they had faced judgement. But that freedom had come at a cost; her middle sister, Tisiphone of Rage, had attacked their once-allies, the Nightmare King’s forces, and now they three faced the war as enemies to both sides - after all, the Guardians would not stand to defend those who tormented the souls of the crooked, even if they were only acting upon the laws of their world. As a thunderous cloud, she ran relatively undetected by both parties. Of course there was always the swarm, but a cloud of locusts tended to draw attention when it was out of its natural environment; as a black cloud she merely drew a sense of ominous worry that she would halt over a city or town and unleash a flood. Fortunately for those onlookers, she did not possess any rains at all - the blackness of her clouds was not formed by the presence of heavy water ready to drown the people below, but simply existed to further the frightful illusion; in the past, this form was used to strike terror only - a black cloud which captured prey inside its whipping windy walls, thunder and lightning crackling and churning around them, the horrible voice of the witch-woman screaming in their ears...now, she used it as a disguise. Truly it was an insult. But, no longer did she blame Tisiphone. Her actions had been made out of frustration; attacking the Nightmare King’s forces….it was what they all had wished to do - however only Rage had the foolish audacity to do it. Vengeance and grudge were reactive, not proactive; still, her sister could have used a little more thought before acting. Now all three kept their presence veiled through some manner or another. It seemed, however, that this time, she had been spied. She had noted many clouds on her way by - though paid them as little mind as she did the humans far below. It was not until the cloud changed course, suddenly transforming into a young girl, that Megaera took cautious intrigue. She did not approach, of course, continuing on her way….at least, until the female creature addressed her directly, sniffing at the billowing blackness. At once, the cloud stopped. Then it expanded, the blackness growing to swallow up the girl - though there was no billowing wind within; the cloud, for now, was still. At least until a woman appeared from within the cloud, her figure hazy - an illusion of sorts; she could only project a hazy image of herself from inside the cloud, it was easier simply to shift forms. But this way, she maintained her secrecy to outside observers. Within the cloud, a tall, silver-haired woman with billowing black wings that merged with the cloud stared down upon the strange creature that had intruded upon her. ”I was made by Gaia. And what are you, then?” CIRRUS Grumpy cloud

●●

[✧ CIRRUS]

dare me to fly high and i'll go even higher

In hindsight, the black cloud should’ve stood right out to Cirrus, but from above, it simply looked like the shadow of a larger cloud against the ocean backdrop. The strange black cloud stung the nostrils and carried a strange scent, unlike that of any of her clouds. As Cirrus considered it, the black mass was suddenly spreading, engulfing her before she could even do anything. She squeaked, trying to back out of the approaching black, but she wasn’t entirely sure which way she could go, or if she could even get out of this cloud. A hazy figure appeared, upside-down and above, by Cirrus’ orientation. The cloud girl righted herself on the figure’s orientation as the silver-haired woman came into focus just a little more, her edges retaining a rough cloud-like appearance. Was this woman another cloud like her? Why hadn’t Cirrus met her before? She had questions, but it was her turn to answer. ”Gaia!” Cirrus exclaimed, excitement balling her hands into fists, ”I’ve met her! She’s really pretty~” She thought back to her surreal encounter with the earth mother, and how scared she’d been in her presence. ”I’m a cloud, like you! Kinda? I don’t really know, I’ve never met another cloud like me before! Can you change into a human like I can? How about making clouds? Can you do that? Oooh ooh! Do you talk to clouds too?” Everything about this situation should have had Cirrus scared – the ominous black fog andthe grumpy-sounding immortal – but she was overcome entirely by her own curiosity and excitement, because for the first time in her entire life, she had met someone who seemed to live like she did.

coded by blair of shine & ooc

CARMA

[✧ MEGAERA]

shadows WHO WILL SAVE YOU NOW? The strange creature was familiar with mother. And by the tone of her voice, she held the mother of this land in great reverence. Admiration, perhaps. If they had met, then this being was no foe; Gaia, though not affiliated in the war, was hardly an entity to betray the Furies; she was aware enough of the situation, and knew to warn the sisters three. If this cloud-creature had not come up in talk, then she was not a danger to the furies. At that, Megaera relaxed, though only slightly. She was, after all, a creature naturally predisposed to coldness. The cloud child spoke quite loudly, however. It was rather annoying to Megaera, but she was accustomed to flighty types with many words; she bore it with only a slight scowl, waiting until the creature finished her excited spiel, her own hands clasped behind her back as she slowly approached the girl, hair flying in ways that seemed to defy physics entirely - though that was by design. ”You are incorrect to assume me a cloud.” Her voice was not angry, but rather matter of fact, logical. ”This is a disguise worn out of necessity. I am one of the Furies, the Erinyes, Megaera of Vengeance. I do not speak to clouds, nor am I one.” Her shoulders had relaxed, and she was now at a conversational distance away from the girl, the rest of her body still in the frightful form of the cloud. ”Under what context is it you came to meet the mother Earth?” CIRRUS

●●

[✧ CIRRUS]

dare me to fly high and i'll go even higher

Cirrus’ shoulders slumped slightly as Megaera explained herself. Not a cloud, but using them to hide. The act would have upset Cirrus if it relied on binding her clouds to another’s will, but from the scent alone, the cloud mother could tell these weren’t hers. If Megaera made the black clouds herself, then that was fine in Cirrus’ book. ”Well,” Cirrus started, briefly distracted by Megaera’s hair flowing in every direction, ”she came to me, actually. I was just sitting on a mountaintop makin’ clouds and she just… appeared! Poof!” Cirrus made a motion with her hands, trying to emulate the way she imagined Gaia had appeared out of the ground right behind her. ”She startled me so bad I accidentally covered the entire peak with a huge cloud,” Cirrus continued, rubbing the back of her head and giving an embarrassed giggle. ”You were made by her, right? What was that like?” The cloud asked, eager to hear about what it was like to be created. Cirrus had just formed one day, with no obvious creator in sight. Maybe it had been the work of someone like Gaia or Mother Nature, but the cloud simply had no way of knowing. Maybe hearing about how Megaera was made would help Cirrus understand her own origins a bit more.

coded by blair of shine & ooc

MEGAERA

[✧ MEGAERA]

shadows WHO WILL SAVE YOU NOW? This creature did not have an unjust bone to her body….if she had bones at all. Corruption was a potent thing, a putrid stench that drove Megaera mad until it had been given due punishment - but the being before her was clear of darkness; that, combined with her apparent familiarity with Gaia...for as strange as the creature was, she was not the enemy. However that did not make her an ally; for the moment, it made her annoying. She was a….sociable thing. She did not return the child’s laugh - she would call this little one a child until her behaviour indicated anything beyond the mentality of a small human - as she spoke of her irresponsible clouds. If startling her resulted in an entire mountain being covered in a cascade of fog...the child needed to learn greater self control. She eyed the bright and curious child, curious…...no, probing, that was a better word. Asking such personal questions...questions to which she surely did not want the honest answer. So, Megaera would give her the softened version, leaving mentions of Cronus and his horrors to a far more downplayed nothingness. ”I and my sister Furies were created by Gaia’s bitterness, her rage, her vengeance. What it was like…..” She blinked, giving the cloud-girl a strange look. ”To me it was birth. That is all I know to call it. Birth to me is not the same as you and your kind. I was not….and then, moments later, I was. I simply began to exist. I believe the first that I felt was anger. I was born to punish the wicked, and so wickedness I saw. The world I was born to was bleak.” She stopped then, realizing she had said too much too fast. She turned the dialogue elsewhere. ”You were not born the normal way, were you. What was your beginning?” @CIRRUS

●●

[✧ CIRRUS]

dare me to fly high and i'll go even higher

Cirrus’ smile faltered, the other woman’s story not at all what she’d expected. To Cirrus, to create was to bring something new into the world, love it, support it, and be proud of it. From the sound of things, that wasn’t Megaera’s experience. Cirrus tried to imagine what her clouds would feel like if the first things they felt were those mentioned by the woman in front of her. It broke her heart just thinking about it. That was an awful way to be brought into the world. Cirrus’ remembered that her first feelings had been confusion, and a sense of purpose. It hadn’t been a happy birth with a loving parent, but at least she hadn’t been born into a bleak world of hate like Meg apparently had. The cloud’s smile disappeared entirely. ”That sounds awful,” she said quietly, regretting asking the question not because she didn’t like the answer, but because she’d forced Megaera to think of it again. If that had been her own birth, Cirrus wouldn’t want to think of it at all. Yet, they stilled shared one thing in common. ”It sounds like our births were pretty similar, actually,” she stated, wondering what exactly Meg had meant be ‘you and your kind.’ Did she assume Cirrus to be a human? Or maybe the fury had met more clouds like her before? The idea excited Cirrus, though her presence had been met with enough confusion to make the possibility seem rather small. ”I was not, and then I was,” she echoed, even if it wasn’t entirely right. Cirrus only held a few vague memories of the time when she was just a regular cloud, but they were definitely there, meaning she had existed before she’d formed as she was now. In a way, it was just like Meg’s birth, as the cloud that Cirrus once was no longer existed, replaced by what Cirrus was now. ”Only, I didn’t have a creator. Not an obvious one, at least. I just fell out of the sky one day with a singular purpose.” She’d really come a long way since then, finding her own way in the world, making friends where she could, and generally enjoying her life. As long as she listened to her instincts, acting when she needed to act, she just did whatever she wanted. ”Well, I’m glad that purpose wasn’t to punish the wicked. I don’t think I could handle that,” she said, trying to lighten things up with a little laugh. ”So what brings you out over the ocean?” Cirrus asked, curious about how Meg had said her black cloud was meant as a disguise. What was she hiding from that she would need a disguise way out in this expanse of blue? She also wanted to get away from the topic she’d brought them into, realizing that if she spent too much time pondering it again, she’d just get herself all confused like she had when she’d met Gaia.

coded by blair of shine & ooc

@CARMA aaand she's backpedalling. noping out of that conversation lol