Gray skies..

[Xenon]

"Do you really need to do that?" The white gryvern remarked, cringing beneath a leaf that was far too small to cover him completely, the torrential rain hitting the ground with such force that it leapt back in the air, dirtying his clean nose. The storm rumbled around the area, concentrated with such precision that it was not a natural event. The clouds seemed to rotate around a central point, and that point was a gray and blue tsume standing nearby.

The cloud-marked tsume smirked, grinning back at the gryvern with a low chuckle. "It's all in my nature, you've gotta understand." he spoke with an odd accent, words flowing into one another in a soothing way. The clouds on his shoulders floated easily, drifting away from his body and dissipating, seeming to add to the tempest brewing around the two. "Best way to find a lady, surely you understand."

The gryvern flushed, then blushed deeply. "I-I do not understand, I assure you!" he rubbed at his snout with a paw, trying to brush a raindrop away and only smearing the mud further across his coat. The tsume raised an eyebrow at this display, slate gray eyes widened comically. "You've got one, den? Aniol my friend, when will I meet her?"

"No! Not like that." Aniol seemed to become more and more flustered as time went on, his tail flipping in the mud. "I just.." he hesitated, tail waving as if helping him find the right words. "I fear such a storm will be more successful in chasing all the, erm, 'ladies' away." He cringed as a flash of lightning darted through the trees, hitting the ground nearby.

"You're a bachellor like me, Aniol. You came to me for advise, yeah?" the Gryvern nodded. "Den you should trust me!" the Tsume grinned widely, showing a row of pearly white fangs, and the rain began to die down to a slight mist.

[Sera]

"Gisele, Gisele!" a grey gryvern came tearing through the woods, trying to find her Air friend. The blue-toned gryvern lifted her head, whiskers flicking as golden eyes caught sight of the other Explorer far too late to stop the sudden collision of the pair.

"Gisele! There's this huge storm right over there and it's HUGE but it's not, it's all sticking together and it looks so cool and let's go already!!!"

The Eastern gryvern flicked her tail slightly, glancing upwards at the lanky form draped across her. "Zefiryn," she replied calmly. "You'll have to get off me first, and then we can go see your unusual storm."

"It looks so cool!"

"Okay."

Another few minutes saw them separated and Zefiryn leading the way excitedly towards the area of the storm.

As they approached the storm cautiously but with curiousity, Zefiryn stopped suddenly, staring and blinking through the rainy/misty air in absolute shock. There. Was. No. Way. . . .

Gisele stopped as well, turning to glancing worriedly towards her friend when the grey female suddenly charged at full speed.

"AAANNNNIIIOOOLLL!!!!!!!!!!" and, with this, she glomped her brother.

crest.vagueinsanity.net/zefiryn.html
crest.vagueinsanity.net/gisele.html

[Xenon]

Aniol's ears panned slightly, sure he heard someone coming. He looked around, and the odd tsume blinked at him. "Hear something?" he remarked in the casual way that seemed second nature to him, and at that moment the two gryvern burst into view.

The white gryvern felt as if his heart would leap into his throat, and he gave out a loud shout of joy, charging with equal excitement towards his sister, tackling her to the ground and landing in a tangle of long limbs. He was laughing and, to his ultimate suprise, crying, completely overwhelmed by this unexpected reunion. Oh, blessed day, he had thought he would never see her again!

In a moment, it seemed as if the tsume was forgotten, and Gisele was not even noticed. The tsume flared his wings, and in a flash, a torrent of rain began to fall once more, soaking the happily reunited siblings.

[Sera]

Gisele blinked in surprise and, perhaps, a little embarrassment for the pair, but they seemed so oblivious to all else that it was a wasted emotion. Green eyes shifted to the strange other who was watching the siblings as well. After a moment, she hesitantly moved towards the tsume.

"Greetings," she offered quietly. "I am Gisele."

"Where have you BEEN, Aniol?" Zefiryn growled as she playfully tugged at his ears. "I've been trying to find you for AGES."

[Xenon]

The tsume watched the approaching gryvern with a hint of amusement on his face, bowing his head. The rain cleared in a patch around Gisele, and everywhere else it began to fall harder. "Gisele?" her name slid off his tounge in a curious fashion, and it was obvious that wherever he was from, he was not used to some of the sounds. "I'm Makani." he grinned slightly, straightening. "Your friend dere seems to be pretty happy to see Aniol."

Aniol returned the growl, pawing at his sister's head and messing up her forelock, tossing his own out of his eyes. "Around. Mostly at the Orchard, trying to protect a trance named Havrani from her psychotic mate. You know, the usual."

He let out a very feminine shreik as the rain increased, shaking himself to free himself of the water and succeeding only in drenching Zefiryn.

[Sera]

The rain didn't seem to bother the other Air and she pounced her brother again, knocking him into a conveniently placed puddle. "Are you sure -you- weren't the psychotic one?" she teased, even as her bright eyes scanned him for signs of injury or abuse. Kya, her crazy brother! It was a wonder he wasn't dead.

"Greetings, Makani," the Eastern gave him a small smile then turned to sit near him so she could watch her friend and sibling. "Yes, Zefiryn has been searching for Aniol for a long time now."

[Xenon]

Aniol leapt immediately from the puddle, shaking again. "Eugh! Such a mess you make!" the excitement of finding his sister slowly fading into a joy that filled his heart, he glanced around to look for Makani. When he saw the gryvern sitting next to the tsume, however, his eyes widened slightly and he slid to his sister's side. "W... who is that?" he whispered, tail curling around his legs tightly enough to trip him, should he attempt to take a step.

Makani burst into musical laughter at Aniol's response to Gisele, looking at her for a moment and beaming. "My friend, he seems to like you." The rain began to die down a bit, making it easier to hear voices.

[Sera]

Zefiryn turned to look, tilting her head at the strange tsume she spotted. "I don't know who that is," she replied, eyes on the interesting looking creature. Were. . . were those clouds coming off of his shoulders?

Gisele couldn't help a small, soft laugh of her own, before calling out lightly, "I think he was referring to me, Ryn."

"oh. . . OH! ANIOL! You have to meet my friend!!!" She grabbed the tuft of his tail and dragged him towards the other gryvern. "Aniol, this is Gisele. Gisele, this is Aniol. Now. Be mates!"

Gisele flushed and looked away at that, offering a shy, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Aniol. Zefiryn has told me much about you." She was desperately ignoring the 'mates' comment for now.

[Xenon]

A sudden heat filled Aniol's cheeks, the vivid color obvious under his pale coat, eyes wide at his sister's comment. "Ryn! W-wha.. I.. bu.." he seemed to be utterly speachless, staring at Gisele with wide eyes, his mouth opened slightly. "Gisele... The pleasure is mine." he finally managed to say, voice extremely soft, quiet with a shyness he didn't know he possesed.

The tsume seemed deeply amused by this exchange, and chuckled, a deep an infectious sound. From his accent and his mannerisms, anyone with a passing familiarity with tsumes would know that he was not from the Hills. He looked over Aniol at his exciteable sister, a spark of interest in his eyes. "You wished to know me?" he asked, an eye ridge raised in an oddly humanlike expression.

[Sera]

The Eastern didn't seem much better off, but she was gradually growing used to Zefiryn's abrupt and blunt outbursts and she had known for awhile wot the Air's plottings had been over. Faced with Aniol in the flesh, however, it was harder to simply laugh off the obvious ploy. Aniol was a lot more handsome than she had first assumed, and it was difficult to hear the teasing words now when she found she rather wished they would be true.

"Did I wished to or do I wish to now?" Zefiryn replied boldly, watching the eye ridge move with obvious interest. "That was really cool. Wot's coming off your back? I've never seen anything quite like you; you look cool. Who are you and how do you know my brother?"

[Xenon]

"I believe you wished to." he chuckles, slate gray eyes filled with mirth. "I did hear you speaking with Aniol over dere before.." as if in reply to her staring gaze, the clouds on his shoulders seemed to swell, hanging around him in an elegant haze, swirling in the slight breeze. It was obvious that he was showing off just a little for the female.

"I'm Makani, a Rain tsume." he nodded as he spoke, glancing at Aniol again. "Hmm, Aniol? I met him when I first arrived here. He looked so stressed out, I decided I'd keep an eye on him, make sure he took some time off of whatever busy life he lead."

Aniol looked at his paws. "Gisele. I.. wow. I never knew my sister would have found a travelling companion, and it really is a pleasure to meet one who is such a good friend to her." he lifted his head again, the wild bangs trailing in his eyes. "You're beautiful." he blurted out suddenly, then looked as if he wanted to flee as fast as possible in another direction. Always running his mouth..

[Sera]

"Well, I couldn't have wished to before now," Zefiryn replied tartly, teasing in her gaze. "Because I only saw you a few moments ago. She wanted to poke at the cloud-looking things. . . . rrreeaaalllyyy bad. Wot did they feel like? How did that work? "Aniol is always stressed out," she concurred. "He's stressed out right now because he likes Gisele." She looked -very- pleased with herself over that one.

Gisele gave another small flush, watching the white gryvern out of the corner of her eye. He was very cute with his wild hair and the smudges of dirt and mud that streaked him. Some of it had been washed away by the rain, but Ryn had made certain to dunk him in that puddle and the overall effect was simply adorable. "Thank you, Aniol." Despite her embarrasment and fascination with him, she still sounded calm. Though her cheeks were still stained with that blush. "You are quite nice to look at as well." Her face heated up with an added flush. "Well. . . " Definitely time to change the subject. "How did you meet Makani?" That seemed a safe enough topic.

[Xenon]

"You're a clever one!" Makani exclaimed, flaring his wings. "I like dat. You're also much more lively dan your bruddah." he motioned toward Aniol, grinning from ear to ear. His personality was infectious, everything he did seemed so carefree. "It wasn't like he was stressed about one ting, either. It was like everyting, no matter how small, got to him." The tsume hesitated, glancing again at the two. "I came to de same conclusion as you, I tink. I decided he needed a lady."

"He, erm.. I think he decided he could find me a.." he stopped, shaking his head to search for the right word. "I believe he wanted to find me some female company. Seemed to think I was stressed or.. something." he laughed lamely, feeling oddly pathetic in front of this female. Oh, how he wished he had some way to impress her!

[Sera]

Zefiryn gave a pleased toss of her head, "Of course I'm more lively than he; I'm spunkier." She let her gaze flick fondly to her brother and her friend. "And he didn't need a lady, he needs Gisele. They're perfect for each other." She gave a definite nod of her head. She also decided she liked this Makani fellow; he was funny and easy to talk to. "Are you the one who made it storm?" Besides spunky, she seemed unable to stay on a single topic for too long.

Okay, not a safe topic! Gisele laughed softly, even as she flushed again. But she was still curious, even if she briefly felt as though she were supposed to be some sort of bait. She was going to talk to Aniol because she wanted to, not because of Ryn or Makani's machinations. "Are you stressed?" a hint of concern coloured her tone.

[Xenon]

"Dey both look pretty similar," Makani remarked, glancing at them again. "Personality-wise, at least. A little too down-to-earth for dey're own good, though. I tink I'd be interested to see how dis pans out." He sat suddenly, looking at Ryn with a curious expression, ears raised. "I did. Did you like it?" the clouds on his shoulders were rather distracting, always drifting and floating before dissipating into the air around them.. They were like a separate entity.

"I.. suppose you could say that." Once again, a lame answer from a lame gryvern. "Sometimes it seems that trouble finds me wherever I go. The first gryvern I met when I came here ended up being hunted by her, erm, mentally unsound mate. And she was with pups." Aniol was very careful with his words, it seemed. It was like everything he said was rolled in his head, tested, and then spoken as clearly as possible. It would be pretty clear to her that all the hesitations in his speech were quite unnatural.