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Ravina Loki
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 4:22 pm


	Blowout The ride home was stifling in its silence. The engine hummed en route; now and again the blinker would make that telltale 'click click click' sound but beyond that there was nothing. Silence. Not even the radio. Out of the corner of one arachnid eye Anya saw Zeke shift in his seat and she watched him turn his focus once more to her reflection in the rear view mirror. His eyes were red and his face was paler than normal, the usual flush in his cheeks still not have returned. She focused harder on pretending to stare out the window. After a moment he diverted his nervous gaze back to the road and again a grimace crossed his features. They drove on. When they finally pulled into the driveway Anastacia was out of the door before Zeke even got to think about cutting the engine. She made a beeline for the door, throwing it open and making like a shot for her bedroom. Altair's dopey face was ignored as the pup bounded up the hall to greet her but the Samoyed served as a perfect speed bump in the path of Zeke, who was hot on Anya's nonexistent heels. He was only able to catch sight of the ends of her long hair and the very tips of her wings just before she slammed her bedroom door shut behind her. For the next half an hour she remained in there, steaming and fretting and feeling damn near sick to her rune. The situation that had occurred just hours before replayed in her head like a movie. Iorek covered in an almost comical amount of bandages. The removal thereof while the Gargoyle told them of what led to their occurrence. The reveal of Cesc's disappearance. Anya's shock. Then her anger as Zeke revealed he knew the whole time. Then Iorek's...goddamn. She had taken on the Gargoyle years ago in the jungle, when a rogue Essence had warped and twisted them into shadows of their former selves. He had been the embodiment of rage then; bared teeth and slashing claws, roaring and snarling and bleeding and horrible. Granted she had been very much the same at that time but tonight he seemed to come right up to that line and toe it, with Zeke as his target. He hadn't gone over it though. Instead he whipped around out of the blue, grabbed his things, apologized to her and taken off for...home? She hoped so. She really, truly did. A groan left the Widow as she pulled her phone out of the bag she had simply tossed on her bed in favor of taking up pacing, unlocking it and looking for any sign of the Gargoyle in the form of a text, snap, anything. As with the other times before when she had checked there was nothing. She picked his name out of the small group of text messages her phone had on it, fingers hovering over the keypad as she tried to figure out what to say. What could she say? 'Are you okay?' No. He wasn't. He was injured from a fireworks show gone wrong and more than likely still burning with the anger that had flared up at Zeke. 'Where are you?' came to mind, but where would she go from there with it? She couldn't exactly suggest he come here and besides that it was still winter. She couldn't venture out on her own. I she put the letter down then immediately erased it. I what? She what? Anastacia tossed her phone on the bed, where it bounced once and came to rest against her pillows. Anya watched it go, tempted to do much the same with her own person right now, but knew she couldn't. How could she, when she had so much of her own vitriol burning inside her waiting to be unleashed? For the umpteenth time so far today, the Widow clenched her fists. She turned toward her bedroom door, just knowing her Guardian was past it in the house somewhere. Iorek had been a hurricane to be sure, but did Zeke know what storm was coming for him now? She had told him she would save what she had for him when they were home and now with what had happened with Iorek on top of it all she had more than a few things to get after him for. Well...They were definitely home now. Get it over with, she told herself as she floated to the door, give him the piece of your mind he deserves to get. He hid Cesc's disappearance and that's unforgivable!!! She pulled the door open and there he was, arm raised as though about to knock and a look of surprise on his face to see her there. "Oh...I..." "You," the word was said with such acidity that the vet instantly flinched. Anya didn't stop there, floating forward with her wings spread and the anger she had shown at the Lab rising into her face. Zeke backed up in a hurry but she kept up with him, sending him walking backward down that short span of hallway into the living room and right up against the arm of the couch. "What is WRONG with you?!?!" Hurt mixed with the anger and her eyes started to sting again like they had before. She threw up her arms and leaned forward - wings and crown wide - which sent Zeke sprawling back with his hands up and his palms out to her. "Anya I...I can explain!!!" "You hid what you knew about Cesc from me! What explanation can you have for that?! He's my friend, Zeke, and he's been gone for MONTHS and I had no idea about it! He could be hurt or worse and I would have never known about it! Would you have even told me if he turns up dead?!?" Her face was forever pale and her eyes forever free from the wetness of tears but what she couldn't physically show she could do just fine with verbally. Saying that final question brought the thought into reality. What if he turns up dead? What if he is right now, somewhere cold and dark and alone, never to be found again? What if he is found and he's nothing but bones? It made her pause, fear in every one of her eyes as for a brief, terrible moment she looked through her Guardian and not at him at this horrible train of thoughts, which gave Zeke the opportunity to speak up. "Anya...I'm sorry, I truly am. I never wanted you to..." He looked as though he hated himself right then and there, pinching his eyes shutting and making that pained face again. "I never wanted you to find out that way. I never...I never wanted you to worry." The spider queen bristled. "What do you think I'm doing right now?" If she had a stomach she was sure it would be what humans described as 'churning'. "I'm worried and I'm angry and I'm upset and I'm scared because now not only is Cesc missing but Iorek's run off too and I know for a fact he's hurt!" Zeke winced at the mention of the Gargoyle's name, casting his eyes down to his hands which he balled together in his lap. "I know. I know you are and you have every right to be upset with me." "Then why did you do it, Zeke?!" She flared her spindly bits wider, demanding an answer that had damn well better be good enough. "Because you're my daughter and I mistakenly thought keeping this from you would keep you safe and sound and free of the stress of knowing." He looked up from his hands, his mouth set in such a way that she couldn't read him. His eyes betrayed his expression however and she saw the pleading in them. "I thought that by not telling you that you wouldn't go back to what happened after the jungle because he's missing in the middle of winter and you can't exactly go out and search. I thought...It's Cesc. He's not some spring chicken and he's not exactly dumb either. I thought...I thought he wouldn't still be missing two months later and I thought wrong." The look in his eyes deepened. It had no effect on her. "So because I'm your daughter you think you can keep important information like this from me? I'm NOT a child, Zeke! I don't need to be protected from the world! I've seen bad things and worse things and even terrible things! I've listened to the news, the radio, hell, I've lived things Zeke!!! I'm almost SEVEN for crying out loud! I'm NOT a little girl!!!" "I know." His voice was a whisper under the weight of the truth she spoke. "I know you're not a child. You've never been a child. It's just that no matter what I want to keep you safe and free from harm. I knew telling you would hurt you but--" "But you didn't think that someone might come along and happen to tell me themselves like Iorek just so happened to have. That I might find out some other way. I don't exist in a bubble, Zeke. I would have found out eventually and guess what? I did. No matter what that doesn't excuse anything." She was shaking, but only a little. "I'm sorry," "You say that, but I don't know if you mean it or if you're just trying to blow this all off." 'Aghast' couldn't even begin to describe the look on his face. "Of course I mean it! Anya, Christ! I never meant for things to turn out this way but they did and I want to apologize for it! I want to make amends. I...I want to earn your forgiveness." The Widow folded her arms but kept her other appendages held wide. "Is that so?" "Of course it is! I'm in the wrong. You're completely and utterly in the right about everything. I should have told you from the moment I found out and kept you in the loop thereafter. I'm at fault and you have every right to be mad at me." "That was then, this is now." "I...What can I do?" She left him sitting there for a long, insufferably drawn out minute while one of the wall clocks in the condo ticked away at the time. The vet fidgeted. She kept her eye on him and was impassive. "Anya, please. Please believe me. What can I do to earn your trust?" "You think it'll be easy to do that after this?" She pumped her wings and around her face her crown scuttled. Her eyes were hard, her mouth an equally hard red line cutting across above a sharp jaw and below an arrow straight nose. "You think I'm just gonna say 'oh buy me a thing I want and we're good'? Hell no. It doesn't work like that, not this time. Not when Cesc's life is hanging in the balance and Iorek's health too." "I never said...Look, I know it's not going to be easy and dammit I don't care if it's not! I ******** up. I'm wrong. You're right. What else can I say to make you believe me?" Suddenly she was closer to him than she had ever consciously been. Their noses were a breath apart. Her lavender eyes bored into his brown ones and as she jabbed her index finger into his chest he would feel her nail dig in hard. "You are going to promise to never, ever hide anything like this from me again. My friends, the Lab in general, whatever it is I get to know about it. No hesitation, no 'oh I'll tell her later', the moment after you know, I know. No waving me off or saying it's not important either. You want me to trust you? You keep me in the loop with none of this 'daddy's little girl' or 'my daughter is a precious snowflake too delicate to handle this s*t' bull. I'm not delicate." He was gaping, floundering for words. Suddenly he was nodding and fervently at that. "Yes. Of course. You got it, Anya." "That's not good enough! Say it! Say 'Anya I promise I will never hide anything from you again!'" "Anya I promise I will never hide anything from you ever again." She pushed that finger into his chest one more time before pulling it and herself away from him. Anya turned her back on her Guardian, floating as if she were going back to her room before stopping and turning around. She didn't get up into his face again, but by the way she hovered before him Zeke knew then and there he was going to start making good on that promise right now. "Good. If you want to prove you really mean that then you can start by telling me eh-ver-ee-thing* you know about Cesc's disappearance."

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 1:05 pm


	Fancy That Participants: Anya, Ethiriel, and Henry Location: The Durem Mall Type: {PRP} Status: VOID --- Summary --- Anya happens upon Ethiriel while at the mall. Ethiriel has quite the surprise in store for Anya!

Ravina Loki
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Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:57 pm

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:00 pm


	Pawsitively Purrfect Playdate Participants: Anya, Claire, Lorin, and Zeke Location: Claire and Lorin's House Type: {PRP} Status: Underway --- Summary --- Anastacia and Lorin meet for the first time after Claire and Zeke arrange a special birthday surprise!

Ravina Loki
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 7:31 am


	In Your Wildest Imagination Participants: Reuben, Ryder, and Zeke Location: Lab 305 Type: {PRP - PICK UP} Status: Underway --- Summary --- Ryder is born!

Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2017 7:51 am


	Reunion Participants: Anastacia and Cesc Location: Vermillion Bakery Type: {PRP} Status: Underway --- Summary --- Anya visits Cesc after his return and discovers that he's grown to Valsaros!

Ravina Loki
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:56 pm


	One Last Birthday Wish On this particular morning Anastacia woke up to disappointment. She opened her eyes, ripped off the covers, and saw what she always had been - a body that ended below her bust line and the rune and ribbon beneath it. While if asked she would make up a fitting lie or say otherwise if the person doing the questioning was particularly on the nose, Anya had been silently hoping and praying that by some miracle she would have grown right on time for her seventh birthday. It seemed that was not to be the case although after a few moments of scrutinizing and furrowing she allowed herself to think that perhaps it would happen during the day if obviously not before. Unfortunantly, that too was not to be the case. She spent the day out with Brad and Zeke being catered to and surprised suitably befitting the auspicious day. A particularly summer-like spring day was spent at the beach in Gambino then in Durem's ritzier avenues before culminating with dinner (more for her Guardians than for her but she enjoyed the restaurant's ambiance all the same) before heading on home. The Widow had enjoyed herself fully and the boys had done a wonderful job in taking her mind off of pressing waking thoughts but such things had a way of returning, especially when one caught a glimpse of themselves in a full length mirror after the fact. Anya flitted before the mirror in her room, turning this way and that as a crease between her brows appeared and slowly deepened. After a time she turned back to her bed, pulling one of the many dresses she had gotten today from the bag it had been packed in and holding it up before herself. She turned back to face the mirror, trying to imagine the length of it filled out and finding it hard to do so when one such as herself had nothing to fill it out with. The crease disappeared with a resignated sigh and a slump of her shoulders. Anya neatly folded her new dress back up and tucked it away from whence it came. Just outside her room there was a laugh and some shuffling, unmuffled thanks to her having kept her door ajar. She looked toward the sound which came from the living room a short ways down the hall. Her Guardians had been finishing up a movie and it seemed they were now going to call it a night. The Widow looked at her bed and considered doing so herself - why stay awake with such thoughts with nothing to really distract her with? - but as she neared the door to close it fully she instead pulled it wide open and floated through it. "Zeke?" She caught the men just as the vet mounted the stairs and both looked at her with curiosity as she drew closer to them. The colorful one of the two gave her a smile and cocked his head as he regarded her but before he could ask and she could stop herself she came right out with it. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" His smile turned curious and perhaps a little shocked but he was quick to hide the latter. "Sure! Ah...I'll be up in a minute, keep the bed warm for me, yeah?" He chuckled and the men shared a quick kiss before Brad rumbled an affirmative to his other and a second 'good night' to Anya. She returned the sentiment and as Brad went farther up she spun in the air and floated off toward the kitchen. Zeke's footfalls were close behind. For some reason she was keenly aware of how the sound they made changed when going from the wood flooring to the tile. "So what's up Anya? What can I do for you?" The Widow pivoted as she passed the island counter top in the center of the kitchen and settled somewhat behind it. Zeke was on the other side and his expression was still warmly curious as he took up a stool. Despite what she was feeling inside it seemed that she didn't show it outwardly as the only change his face made was some puzzlement after she didn't immediately answer him. "I..." She started but immediately stopped, struggling with the words. She had asked him this before hadn't she? Or had she? Suddenly Anya was uncertain which only made her nerves mount. She folded her hands on the counter top then unfolded them only to fold them back again and squeeze. Why is this so hard? It's a simple question! "You okay, sweetheart? Is something the matter?" "No it's...well...yes there is something the matter but..." Anastacia bit her lip, making herself look at the man she had oh so suddenly pulled away from his nightly pre-bed routine for something she wanted to ask him. "I'm sorry I just...it's dumb I really shouldn't have pulled you away for this." "Hey, what? If there's something troubling you it's not dumb! It's never dumb! And you didn't pull me away from anything I can't take care of after the fact! So c'mon Anya what's up? If there's something going on I wanna know!" "You sure?" "Positive. I'm your Guardian aren't I? It's what I'm here for!" Sometimes she really hated how chipper and positive he always was. Other times it wasn't so bad. Looking at him now - shirtless and with his hair down, smile on his face even as he was clearly chomping at the bit to know what her deal was - this time was clearly the latter. Anya took a deep breath. "Okay. So...I was wondering...If maybe you had any idea why I haven't grown yet?" It was so hard to keep looking him in the eye. Every part of her was screaming to just get up and run and just pretend she hadn't said what she had but she kept herself there. She squeezed her clasped hands together hard and made herself stay. She had to know and she had to watch him and listen to him to know. "Oh." He looked a little surprised at first but shortly thereafter his face seemed to take on a look of consideration. Anya didn't need to be a mind reader to guess he was thinking 'well I should have expected this' or something similar. "Well, Anya, you know every Raevan is different and--" "I know that Zeke and I'm sure you've told me that before but...Zeke I'm seven now. Shouldn't I have grown a long time ago? Don't most Raevans grow before they come anywhere close to this age?" His eyes softened considerably as he looked at her. His smile shrunk along with them and he sighed as he looked down from her to his hands. "Quite a few do, it's true." He flexed his fingers a few times before looking back up. "Most, I'd say, yeah. You're one of the few who haven't although trust me, you're not alone in still being a Frei while also being older." "Iorek," she offered as one of those unlucky few and Zeke nodded. "But I just want to know...is there a reason I haven't grown? Is my luck just that bad or is there something wrong with me? You told me Cruz grew a long while ago. Ethiriel has become a Sigel. And Cesc...He's younger than me and I've seen him go from Frei to Sigel and now he's got legs, Zeke! Legs! I haven't even gotten a stomach yet and he's able to walk around!" She had been so happy for him, both times she had seen him after the fact. Ecstatic, delighted, awed - every positive word and synonym under the sun and it was genuine! He was her friend, she would forever be happy for his accomplishments, but those accomplishments had only shown a light onto her own shortcomings and made them plain and obvious for her to see. It hurt. Then and now. "Cesc said...or maybe it was you, I don't recall, but I remember hearing that a Raevan's growth is tied into the experiences they've had? I know I've been through a lot. I mean...I went through hell a few years back! Doesn't that count, Zeke?" He had steepled his fingers while she spoke and was looking at her over the peak they made. With his mouth obscured, she couldn't read him. After what felt like an eternity, he exhaled the breath he was holding. "Anya...Of course it counts. You went through something most people can't even imagine and you came out on the other side stronger than ever. As for something being wrong with you, of course there's nothing wrong with you! You're the picture of health! And I know it's hard to see one of your friends grow all the way to Valsaros while you're still a Frei, but no one - not me, not Cesc, not anyone - thinks any less of you because of it!" "I know you don't. I know THEY don't but..." "But you feel like you're lagging behind." Anya drew a shaky breath. "Ye-Yeah. I do. I really, really do. It feels like every time I turn around there's someone else I know sporting a stomach and the kicker is that they're younger than me. I'm seven and they're four, three, two..." She trailed off, all six of her eyes burning. The Black Widow made to rub at her lavender pair and her hands shook while she did so. "I just feel like the odd Raevan out and I hear you saying that there's nothing wrong with me but it's so hard not to feel that way when this has happened before and keeps happening!" She pulled her hands down and looked away from her Guardian, but even in profile the hurt was plain on her face. "You've sat on this for awhile." His words were murmured but his heartache was plain to hear. She nodded. He rubbed his bearded jaw. "I'm sorry baby girl. I know you brought this up before in the past and back then I figured 'hey it'll happen when it happens!' because it DOES just happen out of the blue, Anya. For every Raevan. I'm sad to say there's no special incantation you can say to suddenly make you grow or some series of steps you can do that are a surefire way to make it happen..." She deflated, shrinking into herself, wings and crown falling with her spirits right along with them. "But I DO know that if you feel this strongly about it I can't rightly sit around not doing everything in my power to help you get the answers you seek." The Widow whipped her head in his direction and her lavender eyes were wide. Zeke chuckled, holding his hands up to her, palms out and fingers splayed. "I know you're still not entirely comfortable with going to the Lab so I'll speak to Dr. Kyou about this on your behalf. Even if Raevan growths are a 'best guess' kind of thing all around, speaking to their creator will provide a bit more insight into the matter, I think. Besides, he's the magic scientist guy whereas I am but the humble secretary at the end of the day. He's definitely the one to go to on this matter." He winked at her but didn't have to say much more after that. Anya immediately perked up at Zeke's words; wings and crown lofting again as she nodded to each syllable that fell from his lips. Dr. Kyou; of course! Why hadn't she thought of that herself? Then again - and her feelings on the Lab aside - she hadn't much dealings with the enigmatic wizard before now and creator or not she wasn't exactly on familiar terms with him. Zeke was the more comfortable party to deal with and now use as a go-between. "You'll really speak with him? When?" "Sure will! I thiiiiink...I should be able to swing by the Lab tomorrow after work. We don't wanna put this off any longer than we have to right?" There was a twinkle in his eye and a quiver to the corners of his lips as he fought hard not to smile. He failed, naturally. "So tomorrow, the earliest, provided he's available. If not, then as soon as possible after that. Is that okay with you?" "Yes, of course! I mean...I wish it could be right now but I can wait! I-I've waited this long haven't I?" Zeke beamed. "That's my girl! And who knows, maybe in the time between now and when I am able to pick his brain something amazing will happen! I mean...not to get your hopes up or anything but stranger things have happened!" He was bouncing in his seat and she was finding him awfully amusing for the first time in...ever. The corners of her eyes crinkled and with a flick of her wings she was rounding the counter to join him on his side. She rested one hand on his shoulder and slipped the other into his own, stopping his happy movements immediately and stunning him quite nicely indeed. "I doubt it but...Thank you, Zeke. From the bottom of my heart I appreciate it, really I do." As she spoke the Widow leaned in and pressed against his arm. Anastacia stayed there for a lingering moment in time before pulling away and floating toward the kitchen doorway, looking back over her shoulder at the man she left gawking at her in her wake. "Good night, Zeke. I'm sorry again to have kept you up." "Ah...Uh...G'night Anya. And hey...S'okay! Really, it's more than okay!"

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:25 pm


	Pearls Before Brine Participants: Bebe, Leigh, and Zeke Location: Lab 305 Type: {PRP - PICK UP} Status: Underway --- Summary --- Bebe is born!

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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2017 1:46 pm


	Hypothesis Participants: Dr. Kyou and Zeke Location: Lab 305 Type: {PRP - GROWTH QUEST} Status: Complete --- Summary --- Zeke brings Anya's concerns to Dr. Kyou and an idea of his own.

Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 7:18 am


	The Fact Of The Matter Check Up April 28th, 2017 "So what did he say?" Anya was at the door the moment Zeke entered. He had been hard to miss from the window even for her and she had been waiting for this moment all week. Half excited and half anxious for what he would retell, Anya floated before her surprised-looking Guardian with her hands clasped together at her chest. "Whoa now! Hold on! Let me get inside first!" The vet put his hands up as he laughed at his ward's eagerness. Shutting the door behind him, he went about his routine of dropping his car keys on the peg by the door, taking off his shoes, and then taking off his belt. Zeke slung his tie over his shoulder just before he pulled his shirt free of his pants and went about unbuttoning it, humming a little note as Anastacia drifted side to side with increasingly jittery nerves. "Oh please stop, you're doing this to mess with me I know it!" "Doing what? I'm just doing my ritual Anya!" But there was a glint in his eye she knew too well and she was doggedly on his heels as Zeke slipped by her on his way to the living room. At the entry to that room he greeted Altair and Dust Bunny in turn; the former dancing around his feet and the latter purring loudly and drooling slightly. "You're not telling me! I've waited all week long, Zeke, stop leaving me in suspense already!" He didn't stop, not immediately. Instead Zeke went about moving the coffee table out of the way of all things, clearing a spot in the living room between the couch, tv, and Brad's recliner. Only after he set the thing down and assessed the space he had made did he finally pivot to face her, grinning from ear to ear. "Okay!" His hands were clapped loudly and rubbed together with that Zeke brand zeal. "Howsa 'bout a physical first?" "A...A physical?" Her tone turned instantly incredulous but she could tell he was serious. It didn't stop her from eying him up and down and giving quite the display of raised brows, then scrunched brows, and finally one single raised brow though. "Why a physical?" "Just a little check up to make sure everything is as it should be. You haven't really had one before you know? And hey, a lot of Freis get one somewhere along the line before they grow!" The look she was wearing didn't exactly stop happening when he said that. "Does it have anything to do with what Dr. Kyou said?" "Maaaaaaaybe~ But either way it's actually something we should have done a long time ago for you. Check ups should be routine and even though I can see you're fine you've never actually been examined since after you were born. Kinda high time we fixed that yeah? But here, to sweeten the deal, while I take a look at you, I'll tell you what Kyou said how about that?" "You can't just tell me and then do a check up?" She frowned at him, pouting as she crossed her arms like a stubborn child. "Two birds, one stone, Anya." Anastacia hunched her shoulders but after a moment sighed and gave her blessing with a nod. It did make sense to do. All the info she wanted and all the things he had to do in half the time. She'd be silly to fight that. "Alright, you win. What do I need to do?" "Just float on over and hover here." He tapped a spot on the floor with his foot then stepped back to allow her to take up that space. "Ah...I might have to touch you during this. Is that okay?" Anya considered him. "Are your hands clean?" "Sure are! But I can wash them real quick if you'd prefer?" She shook her head. "No need, I believe you." "Awesome. And I'll have to ask you a few questions just to cover certain things that I can't physically see--" "Whatever you need to do, Zeke, now quit stalling already!" "Alright, alright!" Her mounting impatience made him laugh. "So first thing is first ah...Have you felt any pain at all recently? Even if it's a minor pain maybe in your joints, back, wings, crown, anything?" Anastacia sighed and gave her eyes a roll. Of course he'd start off with the physical part of this physical instead of cutting right to the meat of it. She did take a moment to consider his question, however, but in the end gave her head a shake. "No, nothing. I mean maybe I stretched and went too far but nothing that would be noteworthy I think." "Even the most minor thing is noteworthy, sweetheart." He was moving around her now, humming a note under his breath as he took in the way she was holding herself in the air, the position of her wings and crown. He went around behind her and padded up her other side before stopping once more in front of her, seeming not to find anything to comment on. "Well if we're talking sudden or long term then there's nothing." No aches, no pains, no discomfort not caused by needing to adjust a cushion. "Alright then! That's a good thing! And you haven't molted recently, have you?" "You know I haven't. Not since September, like always." She gave him a look for asking questions he already knew the answer too. Zeke put his hands up in a lightly defensive way in response to it. "Just asking for the record, Anya. Gotta cover all the bases and consider every possibility. Anyway you don't seem to be holding yourself any differently. Seem to be floating at your usual height as well, good, good..." He turned his attention to one of the side tables and pulled out a small notepad and a pen from inside. He got to jotting his findings down, mumbling what they had just covered as he did so. "Okay, next up--" "Something Kyou said?" "Well, alright, yeah. While I do that, can you maybe flex your wings and crown for me, please? Looking at them stationary is one thing, moving is another." Anya complied. Zeke moved behind her to watch her wings work. "So I brought everything you said up to Kyou and to be honest he pretty much said everything I told you the night you pulled me aside right off the bat." "Really?" Anya stopped actively pumping her wings and instead let them droop along with her tone. She had been hoping Kyou would have said something besides all that! He was the creator of her kind was he not? Surely he had more to say than just 'you're not unusual, don't sweat it too much'! "Yeah, but he also wanted you to consider that maybe Cesc is a particularly fast grower." Anya felt a tug at her left wing as Zeke gently lifted and pulled it out to examine. She fought the instinct that told her to yank it out of his grasp and won. "Raevans grow unusually from other creatures but also from one another, even before they're born. Remember how when it came to the tanks some of the Freis inside would grow really really fast while others took forever to get anywhere?" "It's been awhile but...yeah I can remember." A few hazy rememberings came to mind but it had been a few years since she had paid any visit to the Lab's inner chamber that housed the tanks and all developing Raevans. "It's kind of like that. Cesc was a slow growing tank baby, so maybe his body has been making up for it since he was born." The Widow considered that and was quiet for a moment. "What was I like before I was born, Zeke? Did I grow slowly too?" "You were the opposite, actually. You were speedy." She noted his pause following those words, looking over her shoulder to find him working his jaw noiselessly. The expression on his face was odd but she couldn't exactly describe it if she had been asked. Regardless, when he found his voice, his next words were spoken slower, as if he was weighing each one mentally before adding it to his sentences. "I caught your soul in January 2010 and in April you were born. Four months, plus a couple days if I remember right." "So...you think it's possible that because I grew fast then that I'm growing slowly now?" "It's on the table, yeah." He released her wing and took up the other, but didn't pull it out as immediately as he did the other. Again he fell silent - which prompted her to look at him for his issue - but instead of wordlessly flapping his gums he was instead chewing on his bottom lip and staring hard at the point that made up the very end of her pinion. "Although...there's something else there too." "I'm sorry?" What he had just said he had done so soft enough that she had to crane her head and tilt her ear at him. Zeke coughed roughly to clear his throat, pulling his eyes away from her wing to look at her face. His expression had been odd before but it was downright concerning to her now. "I said that there's possibly something else on the table." "Something that could be--" "The reason why you haven't grown, yes." He nodded as she coaxed the words out of him. She pivoted to face him, waiting, waiting, waiting... "Well? What is it?" If he knew something, he had to tell her. She had made him promise! Zeke seemed to be steeling himself, going through an array of emotions all at once as he balled his hands into fists and straight-leg ambled back over to the couch. "This is...something I theorized the other night when you first brought everything up to me. And before I could bring it up to Kyou as a 'what if' he had the same idea as me right off the bat. This is something that COULD be affecting you, but we have no way of knowing for sure if IT IS." He sat down heavily but immediately seemed to decide that standing would be better. His posture was rigid - a stark contrast to the laid back and chipper man he had been just moments ago. "Zeke, you're starting to make me think I'm not as healthy as I thought I was. It's...it's kind of scaring me." "It's not...It's not a matter of YOUR health so much as it is...ah...public health." "I don't...understand?" Zeke inhaled sharply, hard enough and deep enough suddenly enough that the sound reverberated in the now too-quiet living room. She got closer to him, concern on her own face, her lavender eyes wide and wondering. Zeke's hands were shaking. "This is something I should have told you a long time ago, but I was always waiting for the right time to tell you about it." He looked at her guiltily, eyes already begging her to not be as upset as he was perhaps thinking she would be at this news. "What do you mean? Zeke?" "Anya you know a Raevan is made up of a Soul and an Essence right? And I'm sure you can probably guess what your Soul is, I mean, it's pretty obvious. You're a black widow spider. But have you ever wondered what your Essence is? Was?" She started to nod at the first part of what he had to say but he didn't stop to let her come close to answering the second. "Your Essence is called the Self-Replicating Virus. In its original form to the naked eye it was a small purple cloud only big enough to fill an Essence vial, but in reality it was a massive super cluster of trillions upon billions of pathogenic virons. A few months before I became your Guardian it...broke out. The Fel Virus infected all the Raevans it came into contact with and subsequently caused a lot of harm to them and their Guardians. Kyou was able to come up with a way to stop it but part of that plan involved making sure what occurred never happened again. To do this, he decided to put what remained of the Virus into a Raevan but also put a fail safe in place on that Raevan as well. "When you were developing in your tank, your Essence was sealed away with a spell in order to keep any powers stemming from it unable to emerge. Unlike the other Raevans any abilities you develop are purely from your Soul and your Soul alone. You sustain yourself through your Essence and feed it accordingly but outside of that...nothing else comes into play. And now that you brought up your concerns Kyou and I both think that this magic might possibly be keeping you from growing. It's not confirmed, it's a theory at best, but--" There was a loud crack and a heavy thud as Zeke hit the floor. Anya's hand was outstretched and throbbing from the slap she delivered to the left side of his face, staring down at the heap her Guardian made with wide, stricken eyes and her mouth agape. "You..." Her body shook alongside her voice - wings and crown spread wide and growing wider still as the veterinarian slowly overcame the shock she had thrust him into with that strike. Each one of her eyes burned with tears that would not - could not - come. "You're telling me that I'm...I'm..." She turned sharply from him and paced the length of the set aside coffee table, movements becoming quickly more and more jerky and erratic as everything hit home. "Anya I--" "From the moment I met Zul after being born I knew I was different from the other Raevans! I thought...I thought that made me better than everyone else somehow, that I had something they didn't that I...that I..." She whipped around to face him again, her features now contorted in rage. "And now you're telling me that before I was born I had some tampering done to me just because YOU ALL THOUGHT I would be unsafe for everyone else to be around because a part of what went into me happened to have gotten loose and made people sick?! And to top that all off now this...THING...you put on me is preventing me from growing?! I...You..." She put her hands to her face, digging her nails into her temples and the spaces between her arachnid eyes. Between her fingers the Black Widow made a muffled scream of rage and despair. "AND YOU PROMISED ME!!!" She tore her hands from her face, rushing him as he got to his feet and sending him sprawling again. Zeke threw his arms up in front of himself as she towered over him. His eyes were wide and fearful above the deepening red mark she gave him. She didn't care. She stabbed a finger down at him. "YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULDN'T KEEP SECRETS ABOUT THE LAB ANYMORE! I'M A PART OF THE LAB, ZEKE, AND YOU STILL KEPT THIS FROM ME! FOR SEVEN ****** YEARS!!!" This was worse than Cesc's disappearance. This was beyond next level st. Anastacia spun from him again, bringing her hands to her face once more, then into her hair, clutching and twisting those long locks tighter and tighter and tighter until she felt the pain that told her she was this close to ripping it out of her scalp. She hung in the air, staring at the floor, feeling sick. She wanted to throw up. "I can't. I can't do this." "Anya, please, I-I'm sorry. I'm so sor--" She looked at him with those wild eyes and he cut himself off with a flinch, halfway off the floor again. This time she did not come for him. "I can't ******** do this. I can't. You...I...Agh!" In a burst of speed she didn't know she had in her Anastacia bolted for the front door. She wrenched it open so hard the knob smashed against the wall behind it, leaving a dent. Habit guided her hand to her waiting bag and she yanked it along behind her as she threw herself skyward. She had to get out of here. She had to leave. She had to...to...

Ravina Loki
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Ravina Loki
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Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:38 pm


	Decision April 28th, 2017 Anya flew until her wings started to ache and even then pushed on a little further, trying hard to put as much space between herself and the condo as possible. She flew from her suburban dwelling right into the city's urban limits, but Zeke's pleads from outside their shared home still burned her ears as she came to a wobbly landing in one of Durem Central Park's tallest and most sheltered oaks. "G-Goddammit..." Her voice cracked and broke and the Widow covered her eyes with her hands as she curled up amidst the newly leafing boughs. The entire flight she had been a whirlwind of wide and wild-eyed thoughts that kept coming and wouldn't stop no matter how much she wished and begged that they would. Rage, sorrow, disbelief, and more - they came and whirled in her brain like her hyperventilated breaths did her lungs. With each inhale every thought and emotion had stung and grown in intensity the longer she flew. Now that she had come to a standstill they mobbed her. She was unable to escape - the ability to fly had all but left her. I'm... God what was she even? By Zeke's words she had been this way even before she was born and what she was was...altered. Tampered. She was less than any other Raevan simply because some humans thought she would be a danger to others. And why was she considered thus? Because one part of her make up had at one time, apparently, gotten loose and made a bunch of other Raevans sick. But then they - Kyou chief among them - had decided the best thing to do with this "dangerous" Fel Essence was to use it in the creation of another Raevan: her. And before she had even started to develop - maybe even before her soul had been captured, now that she couldn't help but think about it - they had decided to seal that part of her away in order to prevent-- Prevent what? 'Another outbreak', is what her mind whispered to her although she couldn't say if it was the rational part or some other part in turn. But even still! Who was to say it would happen? As if she would go around making people ill, if that was a power she was supposedly destined to have by their broad assumptions! "I would never." She hissed the words between gritted teeth, wincing as she snapped her wings open. She hurt all over. Slowly Anya eased her wings down to rest against the top of the tree trunk and leaned heavily against one thick bough, stewing. They had no right to do that to her. Who were they to say that she was going to be a danger to others before she had even taken her first breath or said her first word? They didn't know her! They called a shot before they even fired the gun and assumed that she would be what? A disease-spreading lunatic? A cruel beast who only sought to bring ruin and damnation upon them? An infectious brute? Some sort of monster? I'm NOT a monster. The words were set firm in her mind. She had been down that road and she was not going back, not here and definitely not now. She knew better. She knew how she was and what she was wasn't any of that. But still... Seal or not, why would they make me if they thought I was going to be such a risk? Doubt came in a wave, crashing over her and churning a sick feeling somewhere around her rune. Why didn't they just stop up her Essence up in a vial again and keep it in the most high security of places? Hell, Kyou could magick up a sealing spell to really plug it if that was the concern! From what Zeke had told her, the warlock was pretty damn good at those! So good was he that she was unable to grow because of it, even! Did they only ever intend for me to be a vessel for my "dangerous" Essence? Am I just a living vial? Uncertainty came up next with just as much force as that typhoon of doubt. Suddenly everything Zeke had said didn't make sense. Why would they use her Essence rather than recapture it in a vial and lock that away? How "dangerous" was it really? What had happened during its outbreak to make Kyou and company go this route rather than what seemed to her to be the obvious answer entirely? What about me? The Widow frowned. They hadn't considered her when they decided all this. It had always been about them, not her, and Zeke had even said it was a matter of "public health" when he said the damning things he had a short while ago. Maybe they figured this would have never come about - although Zeke said he had always intended otherwise - but why should she consider that or any of them now? They hadn't considered her, not really. What about what I want? Those feelings of doubt and uncertainty mounted as Anya dwelled. First pulled one way and then another and unable to make heads or tails of the most pressing questions, she determined that Zeke's words couldn't be taken at face value no matter how woeful his tone or pleading his eyes. Maybe this was all some sort of sick, twisted joke or maybe that was just a hope she had. He might have spoken to Dr. Kyou on her behalf and returned with information that he had all the time but...No. The Widow shook her head. Disbelief had time enough to set in and it held fast. After all, Zeke was a man who was often the sort to say one thing and mean another, especially when joking. Aching, emotionally hurt, physically drained, and stretched thin in so many different directions that she was, now to believe any of this Anastacia had to have solid, empirical, hard-copied proof. What did she want? Well right now that was to get to the bottom of this and she knew exactly how to go about it. "I'll have to go to the Lab." Over the din of people milling about in the park below her she could hear the tell tale squeal of a bus coming to a stop. She turned her head toward the sound and heaved a sigh before taking wing and sinking down to ground level. "God, I really hate that place."

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:20 am


	Heist April 28th, 2017 The ride was long but relatively uneventful. Zeke had been blowing up her phone with calls, texts, and voice mails since she had taken off and Anastacia had ignored every one until finally it became too much and she just shut her phone off entirely. There was peace in the rumble of the bus' engine after that. She even went so far as to doze during her trip - head against the window, lavender eyes closed but arachnid ones simply unfocused. It helped; she felt better when she 'reawoke' and found herself even more set in her plan than she had been before climbing on board. The Lab was a short distance from the bus stop, which was both merciful and also a little daunting. Anya just knew Zeke would be blowing up Dr. Kyou's phone as much as he had her own and thus she was certain the doctor would be on the look out for her, if not Lazarus and maybe Jeremy too. Potentially three sets of eyes on the look out for her? The words 'high ground' came to mind and with the trees in Gambino farther along in their leaf growth than the ones in Durem she figured she would be safest among the branches across the street. It was a slow process by her own choice. Her wings were still achy even an hour and a half later so she opted to float upward rather than fly. Once she was on level with the top of the nearest tree the Widow dipped into its branches and half-floated and half-crawled her way through from one to the next until she finally reached the one directly across from the Lab. "Okay..." Now came the "fun" part. She had to plan accordingly for this. "Where to start..." She figured starting at the front would be best which, she quickly told herself, would be a no go. The entrance that led directly into the lobby was armed with a cheery little chime that was sure to go off no matter how slowly she opened it or how stealthily she tried to sneak through even the smallest manageable gap. If anyone was nearby they were sure to hear it and she knew she couldn't rely on the idea that Zeke hadn't called here yet to go with that option. "Too risky." Anastacia shook her head. That was one option down but there were others. A window, for example. The weather was warm and if Zeke had the windows open in Durem, any Gambino resident was sure to be the same. But that plan also came with its own set of drawbacks. For one, most of the offices were unused save for check ups and Frei pick ups and thus were unlikely to be unlocked, let alone open. For another, all the lobby windows were solid panes of glass and thus unopenable. Lastly, if any windows outside of Zeke's office were to be open they would be in the upper floors of the Lab which served as Kyou and Lazarus' residence. She'd be in the belly of the beast, so to speak, and if she managed to not get caught up there, she'd have to worgo down into the laboratory itself before being able to make her way to the front again. That would take far too long and her chances of capture would be greatly increased. "Not gonna chance it." Thus only one option remained, even if there was a chance it was a locked option and would then force her to fall back on the first or second. It was the, arguably, safest and most likely to work of the three choices she saw for herself. Looking toward the side of the Lab where the parking lot was, Anya knew the side yard occasionally used for Lab parties lay just beyond it. And what was attached to that wide open space? The cafeteria. And, namely, the sliding glass door into the cafeteria. She shifted in the tree, squinting to try and make out the parking lot better. This could work. It had to. But before she could put that potential plan into motion she had to make sure it could even get off the ground. Taking a deep breath to steel herself and her already ragged nerves, Anastacia made her way through the trees just a short ways down the street from the Lab before crossing over. She slipped into one of the trees there and waited like a wanted criminal for the coast to be clear before descending again. The parking lot was empty of cars - For now, - but she didn't chance moving so openly just yet. Instead the Widow kept to the treeline, slipping inside of it to reach the gated side yard where the garden party had been held last summer. Looking over what she could see of the quiet stretch of grass and new flowers, she had to wonder about the Essences that had been stolen. Everyone had been tasked with hunting as many as they could down but on the precipice she was currently, Anya had to wonder how many of THOSE Essences could be labeled "dangerous". Surely there had to have been a few, right? But even so...clearly they weren't as "dangerous" as her own if every Guardian and Raevan in attendance had been tasked with recapturing them. The thought made her frown deepen. She'd find out soon enough, wouldn't she? Lingering still by the trees Anya held her breath and waited for any sounds coming from the building before proceeding. Voices, clattering, anything at all that would say that someone was in there or nearby...but there was nothing. She released that breath and struck out, keeping as low as she could and letting her ribbon trail along behind her through the new grass. When she reached the few outside tables just shy of the door she paused again, listening, waiting, and noting that all the windows that bordered the cafeteria walls were closed. Again there was no noise and she dared to get right up against the building itself, back flat to the outside wall as she slid across it to the door. Anya would never say she was the type to pray but she did in that moment before she reached up and pushed against the sliding glass. Please. Please, please, please, please, please... With a soft, short 'whoosh' the door gave and slid ajar. Anya's heart leapt in her throat and she hastily made her way inside. The cafeteria was dark in the sense no electrical lights were on. Shadows crept here and there where the natural light streaming in behind her couldn't reach and her own stretched out before her and touched the door on the far wall that led to the hall. It moved when she did as she made sure to slide the glass door shut behind her. It clicked and suddenly there was no louder sound in the world to her. She froze in place, waiting for Kyou or Laz to leap out from behind one of the counters at her, but nothing of the sort happened. Whew... Phase one was complete. Phase two was now beginning and that meant even more to worry about now. Floating across the cafeteria to the door that led into the Lab, Anya peered out the porthole window on it and softly cursed her poor eyesight for once. All the same, the lack of sound and even the faintest, shadowiest of movements strengthened her assurance that she was alone in this part of the building. Down the hall to the left, Zeke's office is the last door on the right before the lobby door. He hadn't made any comments about moving shop from that room to her best recollection anyway. She could do this. Easy as pie, she'd done it a million times before in the past. The only difference now was that she was probably on a metaphorical wanted list right now. No biggie. On the count of three. One...two...three... Anya pushed the swing door outward and shot through the small gap as fast as she could. There was no time for slow movements - the hallway was open with nothing to call cover. It was do or die now. Her wings twinged as she gave them a flap to push herself along faster, edging along the right side of the hall with that one specific door in her sights. How many doors between the cafeteria and Zeke's office again? Three? Four? Less? More? The light at the end of the hall that marked the lobby door grew closer and brighter until it was suddenly THERE in front of her and Anya dipped hard to the right. Thank god Zeke never locked this door ever in his life. It gave with a press of the latch and her weight combined and she could breathe again as she shut it as quietly as she could behind her. Again the latch sounded Far Too Loud to her ears but it was okay. She had not been pursued. No one had called out and there had been no footsteps. She had made it! Never had she been so happy to see the inside of this one room before but here she was! She allowed herself a moment of delight in the form of a breathy laugh and one of reprieve as she sunk to the floor and took some time to calm her rapid fire heart rate. "Okaaay..." She whispered the word as she looked over the familiar office space from her spot on the floor, eying the vet's desk in particular. He had a bookcase and a few smaller cabinets and such dotting the room but as his main hub everything she was looking for was sure to be in there. She just hoped it wasn't on the computer. She really didn't want to run a noisy printer for any reason whatsoever right now. Slipping back into the air Anya allowed herself to take her time with these next few steps. She floated to her Guardian's desk and slowly pulled each drawer open in turn. Four in all - five if she counted the one that he kept markers and such in right below the desk top itself - each one contained a variety of odds and ends. Top left seemed to serve as the vet's non-refrigerated snack drawer but she rifled through the bags of junk food all the same just to be safe. Top right was reference materials both Lab-related and non including a phone book, spare contact information for new Guardians, and information related to various Souls. There were even a few take out menus in there. Needless to say, she shut both of those rather quick. For the bottom two drawers the left had a couple binders of useless to her information along with a few bulkier office utensils while the right was far more promising. Accordion files were set into this drawer and each one seemed to contain several papers. "C'mon...c'mon..." She hissed the words through her teeth as she flipped through each file in turn. "Oh you've got to be kidding me, it's really out there?" She looked to the door that led from this room to behind Zeke's desk out in the lobby. She knew the vet used this room more as a rec room or lounge than an actual office-office but she had been so sure he would have had copies of all of the Raevan personal files in here too! "Ugh, Zeke." He really had made himself an enemy of her today, but she supposed this couldn't be helped. Things had seemed to have gone a bit TOO smoothly thus far, hadn't they? There had to be one bump along the way and better this than being caught. "Okay. Okay. I can do this. Bottom right hand drawer, right where they've always been. Hopefully." Like before she neared the door with as much caution as she had in her. She pressed her ear to it and waited, listening, praying. No chime. No clattering. And definitely no voices. Good, all good. She took hold of the latch and eased her exit open. The desk was hardly four feet away from her but Anastacia still erred to the side of caution and got low to the floor. The big metal behemoth Zeke used as his proper office was sure to be squeaky upon opening but at this point it didn't matter. She had already decided to take her prize and beat it even with her achy wings sure to protest. This way would be far safer and it would give her more time to read over everything contained in her file in detail without having to worry about any intrusions. Grab the folder and go that was phase three. As expected, the drawer screeched in protest when opened. "Zurine...Zul...Xiu..." The files were alphabetized but in reverse. Biting her tongue Anya wrenched at least a dozen files to the forefront of the drawer in her quest for the A-names and even had to pull the too-noisy drawer out some more to reach in farther. But bless the entire mess in this drawer that her name was third from the very top of the list. She saw 'Ana-' and in a flash had the entire manila folder ripped from its confines. Now it was go time. Snapping her wings wide open and clinging to the file for dear life, Anya threw herself bodily over the top of the desk and bee-lined it for the front door. The word 'go' was repeated over and over in her head as she then barreled through it - with that godforsaken chime sounding off the moment she did so - and took to the sky once more. Holy st!!! She had actually done it!

Ravina Loki
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Incredible Flatterer

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Ravina Loki
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:23 am


	Elsewhere... April 28th, 2017 Brad was the first person Zeke called after Anya took off, bawling incoherently into the phone about how he had ******** up and pleading for the other man to come home. Brad assured him he was already on his way, not needing anything more than to hear his loved one in distress to send him barrelling from his worksite with little else than a 'I need to go home; family emergency' to anyone who tried to stop him. Aekea was a couple hours away, but he'd be there as soon as he could, he promised. Just stay put, Zeke, please. Between the call and Brad's arrival Zeke spent the time calling Anya's phone, texting her, and generally speeding around the condo in a panicked pace. His face hurt like a ******** but he was too beside himself to care; his mind going instantly to the worst possible things regarding his ward and her departure. What if she gets hurt, what if something happens to her, what if she never wants to come back? Oh god... The thoughts continued when he called her again and got her voicemail right off the bat. He hung up and tried again to the same result, which only added fuel to the fire in his chest. He gripped the front of his shirt tight, standing stock still in the living room outside of the nervous shaking his body was doing of its own volition. She didn't want to talk to him. Why would she? And what would he even say to her besides begging her forgiveness and asking her to come home? What could he say, even? Zeke paced between the couch and the coffee table he had moved prior to this mess, staring between his phone and the window. This had all gone worse than he could have possibly imagined. He had expected her to be upset, it was only natural. But for her to have hit him hard enough to turn half of his face black and purple, then take off to who knew where? He couldn't have anticipated that. Then again...maybe he could have. Should have. Storming out was a perfectly rational reaction to terrible news, wasn't it? Lashing out at the bearer of the bad news was the reason the phrase 'don't shoot the messenger' existed, right? "Anya..." He had no one to blame but himself. And he still had to tell Kyou. The thought dawned on Zeke and made the man stop pacing and grip his churning stomach with a groan. If he had no idea what he was going to say to Anya when he finally reached her, what on earth would he say to Dr. Kyou? 'Oh hey I told Anya and she hit me and ran off and I dunno where she is now'? The warlock was not going to be happy but at least Zeke couldn't expect a literal slap in the face from him for all of this, maybe. Zeke winced but then consoled himself somewhat with the notion that Kyou and telling him could be put off for awhile at least. He could stay undisturbed and unperturbed with such news until after Brad got home and was filled in on everything he couldn't make out over the phone. Maybe they would find her before then. Maybe she would come home before then. Maybe... Zeke straightened when there was a crunch of gravel outside followed by the slam of a car door. He rushed to the front door in time for Brad to burst through with enough force to damn near take the door off its hinges, eyes wide and searching, coming to rest on the one he was looking for standing facing him in the middle of the hall. The architect's dark eyes got even wider at the sight of Zeke and the tear-streaked bruise that took up half his face, his mouth gaping and then slack with a loss for words. "Zeke, what--?" Zeke stumbled forward, gripped his boyfriend's chest, and burst into fresh tears.

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 3:14 pm


	Seeing Really IS Believing April 28th, 2017 She was really happy with her decision to toss two extra dollars down for the all-day bus pass. After pushing herself three blocks from the Lab with her prize in hand she was ready for a break from flying for the next six months. But still, even though she was clear of the scene of her heist and eager to see just what this folder had inside, she knew she couldn't just open out here on the street. She'd need a quiet place to do such things, somewhere where she wouldn't be bothered or have to worry about prying eyes. Vermillion came to mind but she quickly put it out of there when she considered Zeke and his potential for many phone calls in a manner of the hours she had been gone and also because, well, she wasn't so sure of them right now. Cesc was always welcoming and she liked him greatly but Vivi and Shep were suddenly unknown variables in this equation. Did they know about her? Did Zeke tell them what her Essence was? Well, if they didn't know before they were sure to know now if her Guardian broke the dam on them as he had her. And he would, she knew. Set him off and he was nigh impossible to stop and if he was looking for her, well, he'd give the whole story if it meant finding her, wouldn't he? With that taken into consideration, it also negated all of her other Gambino-dwelling friends as well. Damn. She tucked the file into her bag and floated down the sidewalk, thinking hard. If not a friendly residence then perhaps a cafe. Busy enough that she wouldn't be noticed among other patrons would be ideal, but a corner cafe in a largely residential area like this one would be a needle in a haystack to find. And with daylight sure to disappear sooner rather than later, Anya had to think fast. As she milled near a bus stop one rolled up and hissed to a stop. She looked up as the doors opened. "Getting on?" "Ah..." She looked around her then back up at the driver with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "Wh-What's your next scheduled stop?" "Gambino Public Library." "And how long will it take to get there?" "S'bout twenty minutes out so long as I don't have to pull over." "That's...perfect. That's just where I want to go!" --- The library didn't compare to the one in Durem in terms of size but it was on par when it came to the silence that pervaded it. A librarian greeted her on sight to which the Widow simply bobbed her head in return. Other than the one - who disappeared into a room behind the counter she had been making her way around - the place seemed to be otherwise unoccupied. This was a good place to be. Anya floated to the directory and gave it a once over. As vacant as this floor appeared to be upstairs contained the children's book area and she was sure there would be a few up there now. She'd linger down here, for now at least, and opted to try the room off the main lobby which by this directory was home to the research books. Oddly fitting, the Widow thought to herself as she found a short, squat chair and a coffee table in one corner of that research wing and set her bag down upon the latter. She turned and squinted to look at her surroundings. The chair faced the archway she had entered through but the direct route from there to here was hindered by three tall and very full shelves of old-looking books. She could hear and eventually see anyone coming but they wouldn't be able to see her until they came out of the shelves. This would do nicely. "Okay..." She turned to face her bag again and immediately felt the jitters. Confirmation was literally a page flip away and now she found herself almost unwilling to do it. If it was a terrible, horrible joke or some mishap of her hearing then hooray for her, she could go home, chew Zeke out for being a p**k and after doing that could then maybe consider the whole 'slow born, fast growing/fast born, slow growing' idea he had given her. But if Zeke was telling the truth? What then? Get a hold of yourself. You went through all that trouble to get this and there's no way you can take it back now.* She pulled the manila folder out of the bag and put it on the table. Taking a seat in the chair before it, Anya still found herself hesitating. She looked at it; noted her name and Zeke's own written tidily on the tab that jutted out from the back cover. She scrutinized it. Was it thicker than most other files she had seen? Well depending on what's inside it might have a reason to be... She reached for the cover and then sat there for what felt like eternity, heart hammering and temples aching. Indecision marred her features but then suddenly the Widow took a sharp, deep breath and pulled it open. The contents inside were innocuous and familiar. The final documents that Zeke handed to every new Guardian to sign before they could take their Freis home detailed her name, his name, the day of the signing - her birthday - and her make up. She flinched when she saw it. Soul: Black Widow Spider Fel Essence: Self-Replicating Virus So Zeke hadn't been lying or playing around about that. Anya sighed and felt a kernal of upset immediately pop up in her chest, but she did well to keep it at bay for now. He might have been one - for - one currently but she had a ways more to go as far as reading. Anya skimmed through the legal jargon that littered the following pages and found no mention of what Zeke had said in that particular document. No remarks about responsibility for a trapped hell beast, no 'abandon all hope ye who sign here', no mention of what had happened to her at all upon that particular set of forms. It was all very 'same s*t, different name signed on the dotted line'. She pushed those off onto the top cover and went to the next. Like Zeke's drawer for all the Raevan files it seemed he worked in reverse when it came to filing papers. Newest or last set of papers on top, older on the bottom. Still, Anya made sure to read through each paper in turn on the off chance one of them mentioned something before she got to the very end. She got to the first set of forms a Guardian signed upon release of their Essence and empty Soul Bottle and by that point her hands had started shaking. Her fingers trembled as she once again laid eyes on the bare truth of her Fel Essence but she quickly flicked her eyes down the page to see if anything out of the ordinary jumped out on the top page. Nothing again. "Next page maybe..." She whispered the words through tight lips, pinching the bottom corner of that page between her fingers before flipping it over. "C'mon..." It was all very same hat all over again. Responsibility this, promises that, explainations about the program and blah blah blah. Frustration made a crease between her arachnid eyes appear as she continued down the page and she was getting closer and closer to just flipping the entire thing shut until she reached the very bottom. Once again there was a date and Zeke's name both signed and printed as neat as he could manage and Alex's too. But beneath that, not on any line and written rather than typed, was something else in very unfamiliar penmanship. This Raevan has special circumstances surrounding their birth. Please see related documents regarding this Raevan If she had blood it would have gone cold. Her rapid-fire heartrate suddenly stilled in her chest and all time seemed to stop moving entirely. All of Anya's eyes were wide and it was almost as if her hand moved of its own accord when the page turned and a new - final - set of papers was revealed to be behind the very first forms her Guardian had ever put his name to. The so called 'related documents' behind started off with a sheet written out by hand by the person who had jotted the note down on the previous page. On October 17th, 2009 an Essence was accidentally released during routine cleaning of the Lab. This report details the incident that followed as a result of this mishap incl. what occurred to cause the Essence's escape, who was affected, the symptoms suffered by the afflicted, and the subsequent reclamation of the Essence in question. Officially the outbreak is considered ended on December 14th, 2009 - three months after it began - with the curing of Tariel. She turned the page. October 17th, 2009. Lazarus and Dr. Kyou were cleaning the latter's office while Alex Vizcatti-Falcone was overseeing a Frei Pick Up (Cordelia; Guardian: Ebony Shade) and a Check Up (Xiu; Guardian: Hazeline Lee, also in attendance). Dr. Kyou left to use the facilities, during which time Lazarus attempted to bring a stack of papers into a cardboard box across the room. By his account the papers started to spill and in trying to stop them, accidentally knocked two Fel Essence vials off of Dr. Kyou's desk. He recounts that the vials fell to the floor and smashed and that after a few seconds following this he began to feel "weird". Dr. Kyou returned to his office following the sound of the Essence vials smashing to find Lazarus floating amid the scattered papers and bits of glass. He reached out to Lazarus when he failed to respond and found the Sigel to be burning hot to the touch. After reaching out to him, Lazarus seemed to regain consciousness but then forced Dr. Kyou to the floor and exited the office. From there he made his way to the group accumulated down the hall from the laboratory whereupon he assaulted Alex Vizcatti-Falcone, Hazeline Lee, and Cordelia Shade. He was then confronted by Zul (Guardian: Alex Vizcatti-Falcone) and Xiu before being contained by Dr. Kyou and the group. From here it can be established that the Self-Replicating Virus (henceforth referred to as the 'Fel Virus') transferred itself into Cordelia, Xiu, and Zul through contact with Patient Zero - Lazarus. Unfortunately instead of being quarantined the three were allowed to leave the Lab under the supervision of their Guardians and thus the Fel Virus Outbreak began. Symptoms for the three infected by Patient Zero did not immediately appear as they had with Patient Zero. In the days that followed symptoms began to appear (detailed in following pages alphabetically by Raevan's name) but not before they had contact with other fellow Raevans causing transmission rate to increase. In all, thirteen Raevans were infected with the Fel Virus and all displayed congruent symptoms associated with it. Name: Cordelia Shade Guardian: Ebony Shade Soul: Basilisk Fel Essence: Lingering Smoke Date of Infection: October 17th, 2009 Date of Cure: December 2nd, 2009 Symptoms Shown: Anastacia read through each one in turn. Each name, each symptom displayed. She knew when they were infected and she knew when they were cured. She knew what they had done. What damage had been caused. Who they had hurt in the process. All because of a part of her. In an effort to contain the Fel Virus it has been decided to use it in the creation of a Raevan. In doing so it is believed that this would be the safest method of containing it esp. when taken into consideration that Dr. Kyou has opted to use a curse to restrict the Fel Virus from being able to manifest itself through that Raevan. It will support the Raevan but no more than that and thus any abilities he or she develops will derive strictly from their soul. "He wasn't lying." She slumped back against the chair, staring at the ceiling but not really seeing it. Her right hand stung in a painful reminder of the slap she had cracked across her Guardian's face in the heat of the moment. "Oh god he was right." Her voice wavered. Her hands twitched as she brought them to her face and covered it. A low moan climbed into a whine and the Frei curled forward to sob against the table top. "No no no no no..." Why did it have to be true? The outbreak, the curse, her being cursed...it was all as Zeke had said it was and more. They really had locked a part of her away all because Lazarus was clumsy and Kyou was dumb enough to put two vials on the edge of a desk. She lay there for a time, whimpering and whining, before that kernel of upset burst into fresh anger again. "This was all his fault." The words dripped with vemon as she shot up from the desk, gripping the edge hard between her fingers and squeezing as if she were about to flip it clear across the room. Take away the symptoms, the infected, the fallout from it all, and every single thing that had happened then and now was clear cut in its causation: Dr. Kyou. Had he never allowed the outbreak to occur she wouldn't be in the position she was in now, cursed and unable to grow because of it. It was right there in black and white: Kyou let three Freis go after exposure and thus allowed her Essence to go about and do its thing; the thing it was born to do naturally, not maliciously. Her curse? Dr. Kyou's way of trying to get out of the blame of it all, she knew it. Put the blame on the Essence, lock it away to make it "safe" for everyone to accept, and then coast for the rest of his life because, according to Zeke, he never meant for her to find out about it at all. That ******* style="color: slateblue">It's a part of me. He had no right. It's not my fault OR my Essence's fault; it's his. It's always been his." Kyou's actions on that fateful day cast the die. And then it was Kyou's choice to put the curse into play, so say the file, to punish her for his own transgressions. Alex had been told after he had decided upon it. Zeke, after. Them not trying to dissuade him made them accomplices but he was the main culprit. The mastermind. Her reason for being stuck for seven goddamn years with no end in sight. She took up the file, flipped back through to where the curse was first mentioned. Her vision tunneled as she looked for the word through the rest of the pages - curse here, curse there - but nothing mentioned what the curse was or how to break it. Well of course there wouldn't be a way to break it in here. Apparently he's smart enough for THAT at least.* He wouldn't want her to do that, now would he? He was afraid, obviously, but without reason outside of himself. Essences become a part of the Raevan they go into. The Fel Virus is my Essence; it's a part of me. That means I can control it. I can control myself, obviously. Like I would ever let something like that happen! They'll see. They'll see that they're wrong; that I'm not or never will be some maniacal sickness-spreading monster like they seem to think I would be! She slammed the cover shut and thrust the entire folder into her bag as she got up from her seat. There was resolve in her eyes and a firm directness in her movements as she moved from the dusty old book section back into the lobby. She went right up to the directory and poured over it with new purpose. Curses were magic and magic could be undone. All that was needed was the proper know-how.

Ravina Loki
Crew

Incredible Flatterer

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Ravina Loki
Crew

Incredible Flatterer

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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 2:41 pm


	Research April 28th, 2017 For what the Gambino Public Library lacked in size it made up for with a robust selection on magic. Anya took the elevator to the second floor, skirted her way through the children's room and made her way into a large room lined with books covering topics from agriculture to animals to gardening and the topic she was most currently interested in. Filled with new determination the Frei marched right up to that section and starting grabbing books left and right. When she had a considerable stack she found an unoccupied desk and dumped them there before going back for more. Only when the table was filled did she finally stop, going to the unoccupied attendant's desk to pilfer a pen and a couple sheets of printer paper. She was ready. Time passed as it did when one was researching something - slowly but for Anya not in the dragging kind of way. She engrossed herself in each book that proved to have a section on curses and counter curses via their table of contents and wrote down every measure of countering a curse she came across. Some were laughable, others questionable, and others still laughably questionable but regardless of her opinion on the method she made sure to make a note of it. There was one, however, that gave her pause. "A practical but highly unadvised countering measure would be to kill the caster of the curse, as magic is linked to life and further still the spell to the one who casts it." The Frei scrunched her face up in distaste at those words. She was angry as hell and Kyou deserved a punishment for his deeds but she was no monster. She would not stoop to such lows. Anya read further, wrote down a bit more gleaned information, and then shut the book in order to look over the list she had compiled. There were spells she could chant, things she could burn, activities she could do, and even items she could procure to help her break or otherwise ward off her curse. Even the laughable ones held some sort of promise - although she had to squint once again at the 'think positive' one book had suggested her - and just looking them over again made her feel something akin to hope. This was good. She had options and one or more were sure to work. Before she could start to think of where to start, a librarian came into the room and caught sight of her. "Excuse me, miss, but we'll be closing in fifteen minutes." Anya's eyes went a touch wide and she turned to look out the window behind her. The sky was darkening to the east and streetlights below had already come on. "Oh, uh, yes. Sorry. I got...caught up." The librarian was satisfied with that and departed, leaving Anya to her own devices. The Widow collected all the books she had pulled from the shelves and set them on the attendant's desk next to the 'returned books' tray that had been left out. She then gathered her things and made her way downstairs, now feeling a touch worried. "I can't go home," she told herself as she got outside and floated up the sidewalk to the street. Anger redirected to the proper target or not, she couldn't face Zeke or Brad tonight. Or not even tomorrow. If they caught wind of what she was planning, they would try to stop her. She couldn't have that. "Damn." She dug into her bag for her phone and turned it on. After the start up screens filtered through her phone began to chirp incessantly as all those missed text messages and voicemails started coming through. The name Zeke flashed up a million times and then a few titled 'Brad' started popping up in between. She opened up the chat belonging to the big Italian and scrolled through his messages. "I'm fine and I can't come home," she said aloud to the words on the screen. "And I can't tell you where I'm at either." She went through Zeke's next and the vet was saying the same things Brad was, with the addition of a billion apologies. If she called or texted they were sure to get into contact with Kyou to get to her before they got there. She could see it now - the "good doctor" would send Lazarus after her and then from there they'd get into it and if he managed to get her back to the Lab it'd be a long talking to complete with every single reason under the sun why he thinks she shouldn't and couldn't go through with what she was ******** that. Kyou had no say over her and her Guardians would NOT be able to change her mind. But where was she to stay? Again 'Vermillion' came to mind but again she had to push it out of play for the same reasons. She could trust Cesc but she couldn't trust Vivi and Shep not to tip the others off even if she made them promise. And she couldn't find it in herself to ask Cesc to smuggle her in and hide her. He didn't deserve to get into trouble for her, even if she felt like he would agree to help her in the long run with this. So now what? The April air was cooling but it wasn't cold enough to cause her alarm. A few button presses later and she was looking at the weather report, which called for clear skies and warming temperatures all weekend. I guess I could sleep outside... It wasn't ideal, but if she had to then she supposed she could. She'd slept outside before albeit with a tent overhead so this would be more like...open air camping. Sure. All she had to do was find a suitable spot and get as comfy as one could without a proper blanket or a pillow or a tent or-- She eyed the park across the street from the library and made her way in. The pleasant weather meant plenty of people were making the most of the evening already; in the distance she could hear dogs barking, children laughing, and more than once both heard and saw a firework go off in the sky in a big red burst. The paths were lit with pretty and stylized lamps that cast a white but soft light. If she chose a spot near one, it wouldn't bother her too badly, she supposed. When debating between ground or tree, Anya stuck with the latter. The ground would get damp with dew overnight while at the very least the tree would give her the high ground and keep her better obscured from prying eyes. She spent time trying to find the perfect one and opted for another oak just off the main path. "This'll do." She set her bag down and took up the spot beside it. Cover was a go but a blanket was lacking, especially when a little breeze blew through the branches. Anya shivered and dug into her bag to see what she had to help. Ever prepared for a dull moment she had a hank of yarn and some knitting needles in there, but the project she had been idling away on as an "I'm bored" pastime was in its infancy and would need time to form into something to cover herself. That'd take all night for sure. She hadn't the time nor the patience nor the drive. This had been an exhausting day already. With knitting a blanket out of yarn out of the question, Anya tried looking outward for inspiration. She up and out of her perch, squinting in the dark at the surrounding trees. True to the stereotype of Gambino, the park was littered with palm trees. In the fast fading light they stuck out as skinny, wafting giants over the tops of the other, less tropical trees. Anya went to the closest one and eyed its leaves. They were fan-like in appearance but broad and - most importantly for her - long. She could cover herself with those! And if I maybe just tie a few together I can fashion a better blanket. Just one would let the breeze right in. She pulled away a few leaves from the tree and used her wings to hack and cut the particularly stubborn ones off. When she had her arms full she carried them back to base. When she got there her phone was ringing. Zeke's name was on the screen but before she could get to it the call it disconnected and the 'missed call' alert popped up. A ding followed shortly thereafter as another voicemail was left in its wake. She sighed and reaffirmed her stance on not going home. Zeke wouldn't let her out of his sight if she went home now. That would not do. Twenty minutes later and by the light of her phone's flashlight Anya gazed upon her handiwork. The leaves were pretty fan-like and borderline feathery to be sure, but the spaces in between were easily minimized by lacing and weaving two leaves and tying them together with some yarn. Take those joined leaves and tie them to the other woven leaves and she had a passable blanket that doubled as a bed if she folded some of it beneath her. Tucking her bag under her head to serve as a pillow, Anya did her best to get comfy. She had to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow she would start trying some of these counter curse measures out and she'd need every ounce of strength for that. Before she closed her eyes, she made sure to set her phone's alarm. 8am sharp I'll start, she set it down and turned away from the faint glow of both the phone and the path lamp, and I bet by 8pm tomorrow night I'll be rid of this curse and rubbing it in everyone's faces when I come home as a Sigel. They'll see. She yawned and hunkered down deeper into her makeshift blanket. They'll all see.

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Gaia Guilds

Lab 305

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