Cloudy

Froom Valley was always such a beautiful place, Gemma thought to herself, standing alone on a dirt pathway. Well, she did have her daemon Seneca with her, in the form of a gray tabby cat. She just lacked the company of any other clio.

"It looks like it's going to rain," Seneca observed, looking up at the dark gray clouds in the sky. A chilly breeze blew through the area. "Don't you think we should go home?"

"It's okay, I like the rain," Gemma smiled. Even though she much preferred warm, sunny weather, she was content just being outdoors in the beautiful valley. Maybe she could meet some new clio here! It was a popular place. Plus, the clio who came to the valley must all be nice, because no one ever fought there! But then again...it was the middle of the day, and no one seemed to be there. Because of the weather, maybe? Her smile faltered. "Do you think other clio will come here, even though it might rain? Sen?"

"Hm, maybe," Sen replied, wanting to be reassuring, but at the same time not wanting to get Gemma's hopes too high up. "I guess we'll find out," he added with a sigh as it began to drizzle.

I was dancing. My favorite thing to do in the rain was dance, and Hazel shared my passion. We twirled together, along the tall grasses in Froom Valley, getting dizzier and dizzier.

Laughing, we fell to the ground, getting even more wet than when we were dancing. The rain, which was just drizzling, had gathered on the grass, and soaked into my clothes as I laid on the ground, still giggling.

A while away, I heard another clio. Today, I was in the mood for being friendly. I actually wanted to talk to someone. Feeling even better than I had a few minutes ago, I scrambled to my feet, and my dæmon and I twirled over to where the girl was walking on the path.

Gemma gasped with delight when she saw another clio waltzing (quite literally) towards her. "Hello!" she called to them, waving enthusiastically, acting so excited it was as if this stranger was her best friend.

'Whoa, calm down Gem,' Sen told her. 'You don't want to scare another one off, do you?'

"Wow, you look so graceful!" Gemma exclaimed, clapping her hands together, so awed at the new clio that she barely heard Sen. She just loved meeting new people and getting the chance to make friends. She was already impressed by the graceful demeanor of this clio.

Enthusiasm! I looove enthusiasm! At least, I love enthusiasm at the moment.

"Hi!" I called back as the new clio waved at me, "How are you? Enjoying the rain? I love the rain!" I continued twirling as I spoke.

It looked like I was in a pretty enthusiastic mood myself.

"I love rain too!" Gemma practically shrieked, jumping up and down out of sheer excitement. All of the sudden she stopped and realized she hadn't even introduced herself. She thrust her hand out for the clio to shake. "I'm Gemma!" she announced. "What's your name?"

Sen sighed and shook his head, but he was happy to see that so far this new clio was not totally put off by Gemma's over enthusiasm. He changed into a bird and flew up onto Gemma's shoulder.

I smiled really wide, probably looking like an idiot, but at the moment, I didn't really care.

"I'm Shi," I spoke loudly, taking Gemma's hand and shaking vigorously. "And that right there," I looked down by my feet, "Is Hazel."

Hazel, in the form of a red panda, was still spinning, getting dizzier by the minute. I accidently smeared my mind with hers for a second, and started getting pretty dizzy myself.

I had to laugh, and soon Hazel was laughing with me in her childish way. I took Gemma's other hand, and started spinning with her. The more, the merrier.

Gemma laughed as Shi started to spin with her. They went faster and faster, and pretty soon Gemma found herself getting really dizzy. It was raining harder now...Shi's hands were feeling really slippery...

"Ha ha ha...ha...AIEEE!" Gemma screamed as she accidentally let go of Shi, sending them both flying backwards. She landed on her back and, now soaking wet, immediately jumped to her feet, horrified at what she'd just done. "OMIGOSH! I'm so, so, so sorry!"

She apologized over and over, but worried that Shi would still be mad at her anyways. Why did she have to be such a klutz! Stupid Gemma, she said to herself.

I was on my back in a matter of seconds, and at first, I didn't know exactly what happened. But when I heard my new friend get up and start apologizing, it clicked.

I started laughing like a maniac, I thought it was hilarious! And it was even more fun than the twirling itself!

I smiled wide, and looked up at Gemma. I quickly got back up and grabbed her hands again.

Gemma was shocked. "You're...not mad at me?" she asked, confused, tilting her head to one side.

'They shouldn't be,' Sen told her telepathically. 'You didn't do anything wrong, Gem.'

"Of course not, silly! That was so much fun! We should do it again!"

With that, I started spinning, taking Gemma with me.

At first Gemma found spinning to be insanely fun, but as they did it longer and faster she started to get dizzy, and then even worse; she started to feel sick.

"Ugh...I think I better stop..." she said dazedly, letting go of Shi and staggering around dizzily for a few seconds. Even though she had stopped, the valley was still spinning. She lost her balance and fell over. "...Ow."