Welcome to Gaia! ::

On the top of a grassy hill, Cirrus was enjoying his favourite pastime of cloud watching. He was resting with his back in the grass, legs folded comfortable in front of him and his gaze following the slow progress of the big white cumulus clouds. As they past overhead he was keenly aware of how they shifted form, moving into various pleasing shapes. Now and then he would remark, ‘Oh did you see that one?’ in a quietly excited tone. Whatever answer he received from the stuffed toys surrounding him seemed quite satisfactory, as now and then he would nod, as if the information they had just shared was of the finest quality. The young Phony would be there, in the same position, for hours… unless of course, something or someone came along to interrupt him.

Cirrus blinked up at the sky, his faze creasing with sudden confusion. It took a very long moment to realize the voice he had heard was a real voice and not one of his stuffed toys being annoying obtuse. He rolled sideways onto his belly, wings fluttering madly to lift himself upright and then around to face Jolly Rancher. When he had finally settled himself down in the right direction, he offered a dreamy little smile to the filly.

“… hello,” he murmured, followed up by the quietly enthusiastic, “oh yes, we are watching the clouds. Would you care to join us?”

Cirrus was smiling broadly; endlessly pleased to have extra company to talk about the clouds with. This girl would surely have some interesting new points of view. He was of the opinion that the current state of the sky pointed to brief showers later on and one cloud in particular was drifting into a rather worrying position. A portent of doom in fact! “Please take a seat anywhere…” He murmured.

“Oh, I see. Snacks! How very thoughtful of you.” He took the basket, placing it carefully in front of him and took a look inside, talking casually to the stuffed toys around him as he did so. “Oh look, chocolate chip cookies. Yes, I know you don’t like them Mr. Snuggles, but you are very picky and I don’t think there’s anything in here that suits your tastes. It’s all very sweet.”

He looked up and smiled at Jolly Rancher. “He doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth you see.”

“It takes someone especially thoughtful to add extra on the off chance they will have company.” Cirrus informed his new cloud watching partner as he took out one of the chocolate chip cookies for himself and placed it neatly on a napkin.

He looked sideways at the stuffed toy, with its black beady staring eyes, and waited for an answer. “No that’s quite alright.” Cirrus eventually replied to Jolly with a dreamy smile. “Mr. Snuggles is very grateful but he had a big breakfast and couldn’t imagine eating anything right now.”

The Pegasus nibbled on the edge of his cookie and looked quite content with the whole situation. How lovely this day was turning out to be.

Cirrus had finished his cookie and was making sure he didn’t have any stray crumbs on him when Jolly spoke again. He instantly turned his head to share a pleased look with Mr. Snuggles before looking back towards the filly. “Of course!” He managed to exclaim the words in a whisper. “I’m glad you asked.”

While he was always happy to impart knowledge upon his peers, he had learnt that many of them did not care for the messages he had to share. “The clouds tell us many things. They are not only beautiful but if you watch you can use them to predict the weather and more.”

“Oh, books and science are never very interested in what the clouds know. It’s very upsetting.” Cirrus shook his head sadly and then nodded towards one of the plush toys, who you could assume had added something poignant on the topic.

“As for more…” He lifted his head proudly. “If you know how to read them, they even can even tell you… the future.” Cirrus watched his new friend’s reaction to his words. This was very important information and he had been laughed many times before.

Cirrus took a moment to just bask in her belief. Her excitement was infectious and his grin grew wider, but he forced his happiness back a step, trying to take up a more professional air. “It can be a terrible burden. But I will pay the price in order to help people know what lies ahead.”

He peered up at the sky, humming thoughtfully. “Knowing what the clouds say is very… difficult.” He admitted quietly. “What they offer is usually very broad. A portent of doom might be given, but for whom, it will not say. For a more personal touch you need to ask the tea leaves.”

Cirrus looked at her hopefully. “I can read tea leaves too. I can do that for you if you like…” Not that they had tea here, which meant an extra playdate with his new friend.

“I can endure.” He assured her, feeling that warm glow of unexpected friendship. “As for the tea leaves, the act of drinking the tea beforehand, it shares part of yourself, and that allows me to take a reading on that one person. The clouds look down on many things; they don’t know how to be specific.”

Cirrus blinked and searched the sky desperately for what she had just described. He saw nothing of the sort. “Oh.” He said after a moment. “What else is there?” It sounded nice to be able to see something to magical. "I like dragons."