Hurricane Drunk (Erin), In which "Aura" and "Joy" meet.

[Erin Webber]

"Talk about standing up for what you believe in." Aura said, quirking an eyebrow. "I don't know if I could ever muster that kind of bravery for a cause." she added, eyes glancing down to her lap. Even standing up to her older sister had been nigh-impossible for her. She had no idea how one stood up to the source of all. This woman was stronger than Aura could even imagine.

"So all the old stories are true, are they?" she asked, filling her flute of champagne a second time. "I mean, the Garden was a real place? There was really a paradise here on Earth? I have dreams sometimes about places that I imagine might look something like that. Curra always told me that younger elementals had those dreams sometimes. Something about a fresher, less controlled connection to Gaia."

She took a sip of the carbonated liquid, the corners of her mouth lifting as the bubbles tickled her tongue.

"I had no idea."

[Carole Redding]

Carole shrugged, "It wasn't about standing up, it was about my purpose in life." she took another drink, "As for the garden, don't tell any humans, its part of the ineffable plan or whatever."

She smiled conspiratorially, "The Garden was a real place, though 'paradise' is subjective. It was an experiment, it failed." She shrugged, "Well, I can't say that actually, because I don't know what its purpose was. I was a cherub, and not ranked high enough for that sort of knowledge." She laughed, "And yes, you had an idea, you're connected to the garden more deeply than any other sort of being, because you're part of Gaia."

[Erin Webber]

Aura nodded, staring into her now nearly empty flute of champagne. "I don't really know who I would tell, anyway. I've never had a lot of contact with humans. Not for any real length of time, anyway. Maggie was always the one who had a real knack for dealing with the things." she said, finishing her glass. "I suppose I'll need to get better at that now, though. They're certainly not going anywhere." There was a hint of bitterness in her voice at that, but only very faintly.

"I wish I could have seen it." she said. "The Garden, I mean. I'm sure it was wonderful. Such a pure expression of everything good and gentle in Gaia's nature... I can hardly imagine." she said, her eyes drifting toward the window once more. A small breeze fluttered in from outside, pushing the bangs out of her face. "I don't think I know any Children old enough to have seen it. Were we even around then, in the beginning? I can't imagine that we're a recent event, but Curra was always the one with the real grasp of our formal history. I could never pay attention to the books she gave me."

Aura rolled her eyes at the memory. Dusty old tomes, twice as thick around as she was. Curra had been obsessed with the things, pulling them out of libraries and occasionally the private collection of a sorcerer who had gotten too big for his britches. Those were the old days, though. She hadn't done anything like that in fifty years or more.

[Carole Redding]

Amelia chuckled, "Yeah, history is generally pretty dull." She smiled widely, "Look out the window, at the gardens."

She lead Aura to the window, "One of the reasons I enjoy Versailles is the gardens. The water comes up and tends the plants, the wind carries the scent and the pollen and, though they'd never admit it, when the plants are dead in the late winter, the gardeners will sometimes cleanse the beds with fire to make room for the next batch."

She grinned, "The Garden was a lot like that."

[Erin Webber]

Aura smiled into her glass, slowly lowering it from her mouth. Her tongue darted out to catch a bead of liquid that hovered on her lower lip.

"Sounds like everyone gets a fair turn, then." she said. She remembered when Maggie had argued with a Gnome far out of her territory. Something about "Earth is supposed to stay put," and "Why don't you just go take a nap in the dirt for a while." Her sister had never been the patient kind, though Aura couldn't really call her on her lack of temperance. She let out a small sigh, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

"Maybe it's time that I learn how to deal with people better." she said. "Maggie was always good at it, and it seemed to make her happy." She took another deep drink from her flute, emptying it for a fourth time. The bottle was feeling conspicuously light, now, and Aura could feel a pleasant tingle around the edges of her senses.

"You seem pretty enamored with them." she said, waving her hand toward the open window. The action stirred a small breeze. "Are they worth it?"

[Carole Redding]

"People?" Amelia laughed like summer, "People are the point." She set down her empty bottle, "Sure, they're short-sighted, ignorant and difficult, but, they're children. At most they'll live for what? A hundred years? That's nothing." Amelia smiled wistfully out the window, "But in a paltry century they build great works, they love and laugh and make such music. They're the ultimate heroes and villains. Everyone of them. It's fascinating."

Amelia stretched her wings, disguise dropped since it was just her and the sylph. "They're an experiment, but it's a good one."

[Erin Webber]

"...Maybe." Aura said, the look on her face doubtful. "They're just so, I don't know, limited? You talk to one for a minute and it's so painfully obvious how little they know, you know? I have difficulty keeping my attention in one place as it is. Talking to them seems like talking to a bird. I love birds, but I'd never try to hold a conversation with one. I mean, what's the point, you know?"

She huffed, running her hand through her tangled hair. As Amelia dropped her disguise, Aura took the opportunity to do the same. With a small burst of wind the human guise melted away from the Sylph, revealing the creature of blown glass and luminescent breeze beneath. With a satisfied sigh she leaned back, hovering off the ground in a sitting position.

"Much better." she said, craning her neck from side to side. "Been too long since I was really relaxed like this."

She floated over to the window, hovering beside Amelia.

"I guess they do build some impressive things. Too bad they'll never get to fly. It might do them some good."

[Carole Redding]

Amelia chuckled threw her arms wide in a welcoming gesture, "Of course they're limited, they get what? 80 years at the very maximum?" She grinned as Aura dropped her disguise, it had been too long since she had seen a slyph as they truly were.

Beautiful, swirling wind currents that were just visible danced like textured patterns below translucent not-quite skin. It was song-worthy, it really was. Someday Amelia would have to put it to words.

"The shorter a creature lives, the less time they can dedicate to figuring out life's mysteries, but at least people try. At least they give us philosophers and composers and musicians and writers and jacks-of-all-trades, they're so diverse and so predictable all at once."

Aura was floating just to her side and Amelia offered her a second bottle of champagne, "I wouldn't bet against them, someday they might figure out how to fly."

"I'll be impressed if they ever figure out how to cook their meat." Amelia remembered an old fallen grumbling,
"I'll be impressed if they stop to check if it'll burn their mouths before they try and eat it."

[Erin Webber]

Aura accepted the bottle with a small, airy chuckle. "Them? Fly? Don't be ridiculous. Look at how awkwardly they're shaped! Altogether too topheavy. And besides, they're creatures of water and clay. Only creatures of air and storms and light like us belong up there."

As she spoke Aura rose higher and higher into the air, allowing the currents of the room to softly stir her across the high vaulted ceilings.

"But I suppose that I would be impressed if they managed it." she added, popping the cork on the champagne bottle. The bubbles that escaped the neck of the bottle floated on soft breezes, surrounding Aura with a technicolor symphony of fragile spheres. She took a sip from the bottle.

"This has been grand, 'Melia, but I really can't stick around for much longer. I've got some goals to work toward, and if I'm ever going to understand those ridiculous little crawlers I've got an absolutely unforgivable amount of study to do."

Her words were harsh, but her tone was full of mirth.

"I'm sure we'll run into each other again, though." she said as she floated down toward the windowsill. "You're the type that I just seem to stumble upon every few decades. Nothing quite as interesting, of course," she added with an apologetic smile. "Take care of yourself, yeah? Winds favor you."

And with a small salute and a wide, needle-filled grin, the Sylph launched herself into the stormy sky. For the briefest moment the sun peeking through the clouds caught her form, sending a bath of rainbow beams washing over the town below. Then the clouds obscured the light once more, and she was gone.

[Carole Redding]

Closed.