Madder Sky (Clair)

[Skylar]

1st of Winter, 510


Skylar had been here before.

He couldn't remember when, and he couldn't remember any details, but he remembered. He had been here before. He was certain that it had been before the Valterrian had wounded the planet, but even that was not a certainty, his mind was clouded. Foggy. Lost. He shook it away. Who cared for some centuries-old memory? The time to concern himself with was the present.

The world had changed, it was true. Some might say awakened. It was an age of restless energy, and the time before could only be recast in the apex of humanity. All around him, Skylar saw the apathetic who had never known anything else lament their lot in life. Skylar wanted to scream at them: Those humans who came before you lamented the same. You will never be content. Apathy was death. Worse than death.

So, he had taken a few days away from the hustle of city life and all of those who claimed residence there. Aloneness. It was a pleasant feeling to once again find himself away from anyone and everything. He felt the cool air pass his lips and he feigned breathing in. Yet he had no lungs.

He sat up and looked around in sudden interest as he heard a noise. Someone was coming. Or something.

[Clair_DeLune]

Clair was the watcher, always the watcher; yet, she seemed to be the one that was caged. Invisible walls that suffocated, and bound her limbs from going anywhere she wished. But, affection was like that.

Affection?

Not really.

Obsession, hatred, lust.

But not affection.

These four walls, that had kept her confined in her home city, had rapidly fallen with the upcoming winter season, and for the first time, she was as free as the eagles of her people; free to circle, swoop and explore the world around her. Aye, these Naive thoughts had brought her to the wildlands, with it's colours, smells and tastes different from what she had grown accustomed to. Bittersweet, she had decided.

The wind, although gentle, pushed her crimson hair over, into her eyes, and caused her beads to clash, so quietly, together; thick leave over head keeping the most of the rain from hitting her.

Amazing.

[Skylar]

Ah, a wanderer.

Skylar remembered when he could be counted among those people. The wanderers. The children of a madder sky. Now, perhaps he was still a wanderer, but old age and a dim thousand years had robbed him of any sensibility to his own station in life.

No, this Inarta was a wanderer, and that made Skylar a devil. She seemed lost in thought, perhaps dwelling over some old injury. And she was so young! What a concept, that they let such mewling babies out to play in meadows where fiends like Skylar plied their unwholesome trade.

He stood up from where he'd been lying up. The rain ran over his mask in rivulets. He walked in front of her. She would have to notice him now. He raised a hand towards her.

"Are you lost, child? Don't worry, you can trust me." He said, lacing a small hypnotic suggestion into his words. She wouldn't even notice the intrusion, but it might not effect her. It was simply a minor geas to smooth things over between strangers.

[Clair_DeLune]

With many conscious nightmares; there came dreams. Dreams of hope, of happiness, ofother things, that may seem unimportant... But, none of those were relevant. Clair was simply pleased that she was allowed to spread her wings, and travel from the protective confines of her home lands.

Rustle, Rustle.

Clair's head snapped towards the rustling of leaves, caused by someone, something, other than herself. Then, something moved in front of her, a figure, a masked being she had been unaware of until it had made it's appearance before her. Funny, she should have been paying attention. Intrigue forced her eyes to study the being's face, hoping to determine danger, or any form of harm that usually left the slightest of scents to linger over the skin. Curious, it was not one she had been used to.

A strange species?

How unusual.

"No-One, can trust strangers."

The reply came, so quietly, it had the impact of a quiet murmur; bird-like eyes glancing towards the stranger.

[Skylar]

"No, that's not quite true, is it?" Skylar said, taking a few confident steps towards the girl. Although there was not a trace of emotion visible through his full face mask, his voice was tinged with an excitement. A kind of rabid and instinctual thought that had gripped him.

"No one can trust strangers or friends. Including you, including me, there is no one in this world worth trusting. Am I wrong? Don't your friends betray you? Strangers distrust you? Family ignores you? Isn't that the way with everyone who has ever walked across the world. Or flew."

A few more steps closer until he was standing right in front of her. Looking up to her, as she was easily a head taller than him. She could see his eyes now from the holes cut in the mask. They had a mesmerizing charm to them. A strange beauty.

"The only aspect that we can trust is self-interest. Am I wrong? What is your name, child?"

[Clair_DeLune]

"How is it not?" Her accented voice shot back towards the stranger, audibility loud than what the mere murmur before it had held; with each step the man took towards her, her own were taken back, though smaller, and carrying her less distance than the stranger opposite her. Clair stumbled, her bare foot slipping on a sodden branch that had fallen from the canopy above their heads; but it took only a few seconds to regain her balance, and then, if the man had been taller, would have been almost nose to nose.

"Sure, whatever flies your eagle." Clair muttered, as the few more steps were taken towards her.

"Must you stand so close?" Unease laced the words she spoke, glancing down at the man, the same discomfort glinting faintly in the gleam of her eyes, which directed themselves both left, and right; anything but looking into the unsettling maskes face before her. Wasn't it rude to stare? Clar took another, slower step backwards, tongue slipping from the lips to coat them in a slight sliver of saliva, which, mingled witht he wind, made them cold.

"Clair. Clair De Lune."

And with that, she succumbed to the staring of the mask.

[Skylar]

"Most people call me... Skylar." He said, unblinking eyes meeting Clair's own. There wasn't even the slightest hint of emotion now, that voice that was earlier filled with strange desire had fallen into a monotone. Skylar could tell that he was making her uncomfortable. And why wouldn't she be? Skylar used his hypnotism like others might breath, and he imposed on Clair a calming effect, a feeling of comfort in the presence of this decidedly UNcomfortable figure who was accosting her.

"Does it make you uneasy? How close I stand and... my face? You don't think it looks strange, do you? I hope not, I put a lot of work into it." Another subtle hypnotic suggestion.

He stepped backwards, as though wounded by her implicit rejection of his appearance. The mask was not his face, but the face beneath was stranger. A grey, blanched thing, with baggy eyelids and a bloated, black tongue. He could be forgiven for not wanting to show that first.

"Tell me, Clair, Clair De Lune, tell the monster Skylar what sins you have committed that leave you wandering."

[Clair_DeLune]

"Skylar. . ."

Clair repeated the man's name as if it were spoken in another language - to her native Nari tongue, it technically was another language; spoken from an unknown tongue and into her ears. Unaware of the hypnotisim that was currently being imposed on her person, a sudden sense of calm washed cleanly, fleetingly through her body,and the upright posture she had once held, relaxed, but her back still remained straight. Clair cleared her throat, a slight smile twitching the corners of her lips upwards. "Not your face, just how close you stand. A such a thing is unusual to me," A shrug was given, before she continued, a pale hand extending towards the creature. "It's a pleasure to meet you...Skylar..."

"A lot of work?"

There's something not quite right here...

Her thoughts surprised her, yet, only a little. Clair had plenty of questions she wanted to ask, but her teeth pressed firmly onto her tongue, in an attempt tis silence herself. Where the hell had he come from? What was underneath the mask? Why was he here? And yet, she chose to remain silent, teeth putting more pressure on her tongue until she could taste the metallic bitterwsweet taste of her blood.

Darn it.

[Skylar]

"In choosing it, I mean." The entity known as Skylar said, as he took her hand in his own. Clair could probably tell at first touch that his hand was cool. Not cold like one could expect from someone who'd been standing in the freezing rain, but cool. Like a corpse. Exactly like a corpse.

"When one has a body that just won't. Stay. Still. It's sometimes necessary to give yourself a face that's a little more permanent. Do you like what I've done with it?" He touched the clean lines of his festive mask. His voice sounded like he was smiling, but of course it was impossible to tell one way or another.

"In my culture it was normal for people to stand this close together. Strangers stood close together, and lovers further apart. It was because strangers wished to know each other, and lovers, who had already known each other... had no more need of it. Do you understand what I mean by 'lover', Clair?"

The voice oozed condescension and something darker, but she was young, after all.

Much younger than he.