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Skyfall (12) : Giant walls of clouds hover low above Destiny City, as if weighed down by the immense amount of water they are carrying. The air is cool, electric, and ominous, churning more like the ocean than the sky. And then, the clouds seem to collapse under their own weight. Dark masses spill from the sky in great, twisting columns of mist, stretching down towards the streets below. They descend like hands stretching from the heavens, enormous enough to swallow half a city block. Anyone caught within the descending clouds will find themselves surrounded by a frigid mist and powerful winds pushing down upon them. Visibility drops to almost nothing. The clouds spill over you, around you, like a waterfall, tugging at clothes and disrupting all sense of direction. Most people stumble out cold, soaked, and disoriented--and, sometimes, they don't even come out at the same place they went in. More than once, someone has disappeared in the cloud, only to wind up across town. Within minutes, the cloud pillars shrink, twisting like dying tornadoes, and drift back into the sky as though nothing happened at all.
The clouds were moving again. Ally watched in siklence, one brow rising in suspicion as water vapr moved above their head. Weird things happened every Statr Festival, every Halloween, and, every winter now, and Ally was getting desensitized to the entire process. Really, it was all a lot of stupid bvullpsah-- anyhow, it was stupid, and Ally snorted, sighing as they resumed walking. They’d recently invested in a few biunders and was getting used to them properly. Qhile Afon’s binder was magic and suited for activity – magic was weirdd – mundane binders were not.,Ally had casual binders and exercise binders and it wasaLways a choice. Plus binding safety… Well.
Ally was distracted when they saw clouds slowly dewcend, curling for the earth like great, lazy fingers, and one brow arched with the kind of look Ally reserved for especially entitled customers. Theuir mom owned the coffee shop… Or.. some family member. Ally had jopb security, they could, in fact, challenge the Karens. Seeing a cloud thus decide to do it’s best Karen impression did little for the ciuvilian, and Ally stared intensely.
“Oh you son of a b***h.” Ally growled, low. The clouds continued to descend, and Ally’s eyes narrowed further. “Don’t you ******** Kawren at-=-”
The clouds, being just water vapor and whatever else it was that wascausing abnormal behaviour, chose that moment to engulf the block in a frosted, cold mist and limited visibility, and Ally felt their response next was val;id.
“Son of a ******** b***h!” Ally yelled angrily, taking a good few minutes to swear at the sky before huffing. Right. Cxold. Mist. Time to prepare for some maddening event that othercities seemed to escape, and Ally began walking, muttering wiuth disgruntled bitterness. Realkly, Ally was so tired they wanted to just get home and resumed walking. It was cold and they were soaked now.
“Stupid g—” Ally continued. The clouds roiled around them lazily as if mocking Ally’s discomfort at being cold, wet, and soggy, and frankly, Ally was in a foul mood for all of it. The sidewalks seemed to twine and wind like serpoents,coiling and confusiiong, and Ally realized they were getting disorientated as they walked, muscles tensing as they tried to find their way home. The wall clouds curled and rolled, not spinning but simply responding like smoke and mist – although really, they were clouds.. Likely the magical kind. Ally finally huffed.
“Ugh, I hate this.” They ranted to nobody in particular., “Can we just stop with the Silent Hill-tier stupid crap already?!
It was said in irate coimplaint really, but Ally kept walking. Cold. Soggy. Lost. Angry. Very angry, almost ready to power up and fight the clouds, really. It was absoilutely tempting – but Ally didn’t lash out. They keoptmoving as the skyaround kept them cold, wet, soggy, and miserable. They hated this, they-- they saw the start of hope above as they walked, the sun beginning to shine through at it did when it was the end of the current storm, and Ally paused, not looking directly *They learned that lesson as a kid) but as the heralding of sunlight yawned through the sky, light slowly beginning to buirn and melt the clouds away. The wind began to blow, uppter atmospheric winds poushing the storm itself away that bred the horrid clouds.
The sun broke and the clouds faded, evaporating to recoalesce elsewherew and Ally faltered when they recognized the neighborhood. They hadn’t lived here since they were achild, with uncaring people who mistreated them. But. Theyswallowed. No, no, the people Ally remembered positively likely moved as adults,and Ally took a step to start for the bus when the voiceof a man caught them, offguard.
“Holy hells Ally, is that you?!”
Ally blinked, and spun. Oh, oh. He definitely had hit adulthood since they last met, but… Ally knew that face. And the difference from….
“Byron!” Ally gasped in delight, and Byron grinned wide, sprinting to give his childhood friend a hug before grunting.
“Ew, you’re wet. Let’s get you inside. Can’t help the pants, will let you have one of my shirts at least.” Buyron soothed, and Ally nodded, clinging with a warm hug.
Their old friend still lived here. Maybe the Karen Clouds werenb’t entirely horrid after all.
