The Forgotten Zodiac

"Yeah, that sounds okay." Rush nodded. "Verdi, wanna fly around a bit?" He smiled.

"Sure," The Moot hopped from Manny's shoulders to Rush's arms, smiling. He was still in a sour mood, but mostly towards those who had taken him from Foamalought in the first place. Bermuda, Aries, the witches...he seethed with almost hatred towards them, not letting them touch him or anything of the sort.

Israel smiled at Rush and Verdi in turn, then called up to the others. "Rush and I will catch up with you later, okay? We're going for a fly. See you, Verolen!" With that said, the Siren jumped off the bridge and lifted into the air, hovering for a moment so that Rush could follow.

"Hurry back!" Verolen called. Rush took off after Israel, holding Verdi close.

"So, shall we make a bed out of the clouds?" He chortled.

"Ohh, I wanna snuggle down in a cloud! But won't we get wet?" Verdi blinked.

"Probably. But who cares?" Rush grinned.

"I don't mind wet!" Israel said, lifting himself higher into the sky. "Is that what we want to do? That sounds fun!" he said. He looked back over his shoulder at Rush, then swooped down to the Chimera. "Verdi, can I hold you?" he asked.

"Sure," Verdi braced himself, tensing up, and then jumped into Israel's waiting arms. Rush didn't seem to mind, though he wore a grumpy look again, not really directed at anything.

"Yeah. Sure. Cloud beds." Rush snorted, even though it was his idea. He flew up high and returned with a cloud, magically manipulating it to make it a little more solid to contain the gasses inside. It retained its fluffiness, but they would be able to use it as a platform.

"That is so cool how you can do that, Rush," Israel said, touching down lightly. He allowed Verdi to stay on his shoulder in case the little moot did not trust the surface - the siren himself kept his wings out and tensed, in case he needed to use them again, but he sat down. "This is really cool!"

"I can teach you. You just have to focus your magic on it, and imagine a big blanket wrapping around the cloud..." Rush murmured, landing softly on the cloud and getting comfortable.

"Huh," Verdi slid down to Israel's leg, sitting on his boot. He pawed at the surface, then stepped out onto it. "It's so soft..."

"And wet, you were right," Israel said with a grin. He then looked to Rush. "Oh, I don't really have any magic ability, I just sing, you know? And, really, I'm out of practice, so I can barely do that..."

"Gladyrs are powerful. And extremely helpful to the group. You should get back into practice. I'll help you." Rush smiled a bit.

"It's bouncy, too!" Verdi found himself jumping up and down, giggling happily.

"Do you know some?" Israel asked, then watched Verdi for a moment with a smile. "I mean, I know Bermuda does. He's been muttering something about the Spell of Black in his sleep recently, and I know that that one's nullified when sung to the tune of the White Gladyr, because he muttered that, too..."

Rush shook his head. "I don't know any. The Library does, though. Gladyrs that could make your throat sore if you tried to sing all of 'em. I'll write some down for you, and help you learn their melodies. Not too hard, right?"

"No, that doesn't sound so hard," Israel agreed. "And it sounds fun, in fact! Verdi, maybe you could play your flute along with us, and we could be like bards or something!"

Rush laughed. "Bards in battle! Most amusing. What would we call ourselves? The Terrible Trio?"

"I don't have a flute anymore. Ela was cleaning it and I never got it back." Verdi said stiffly.

Israel scooped Verdi into his arms and gave him a squeeze. "Is it really bouncy?" he asked, standing up and taking a few light steps around. "Rush, this is really, really cool."

Rush smiled slightly. "I'm glad you like it." His smile slowly faded, and he began clenching and unclenching his scaled hand. "I'm glad..."

"It's super bouncy," Verdi nodded. "Try jumping."

Israel smiled and jumped up and down, holding Verdi still. "This is so much fun! Can we get some of the others up here? You think they'd like it?"

"Maybe." Rush shrugged. "You can do what you'd like."

"Let's take Sylas up here," Verdi grinned. "He'd scream a lot."

"Oh, but screaming wouldn't be fun. It'll hurt his vocal chords and then he couldn't be a bard with us," Israel pointed out.

"Sylas can't sing to save his life, you know that," Rush chortled. "It's a good idea, Verdi. Let's try it." He dove off the cloud, already searching for the human.

"We'll wait for you here!" Israel called, settling back down on the fluffy, bouncy cloud. He stroked Verdi's ears gently, smiling at the Moot.