Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aphismet was holding the golden shield on his lap, the shield that had probably saved them both who knew how many times. From falling rocks, tumbling coins, basilisk stares... He smiled and looked out the window the whole ride back, enjoying being alive. It was a strange quiet, and Aphi soon realized it was because of the company he was currently keeping. Ebony wasn't the type to sit there quietly and seem so... peaceful. It was rather nice, and fitting, for them to be like this now.

The car pulled in to Aphismet's driveway and he grinned at the sight of his house. Inside was his family. All the things that made him feel he was home. He was back, alive, in one piece, and everything was right with the world! Ebony exited the car slowly and Aphi did the same, hiking the shield on his shoulder and snickering at his teacher's words.

"I dare say you might be right, Ebs. But I don't know if it will be Isi or Rivener who's angriest with you..."

And as they were walking up the stones to the front steps, Rivener opened the door, frowning with a strange expression on his face. He looked horrified as something had dawned on him. "White-lavender-gold hiding beneath the crushing snake, swirling glass eats the stone! Where did you get that thing? Did you fight a giant snake?!"

Aphismet blanched and blinked at the Raevan. "Wha? H-how did you..."

The Scorpion turned a fierce glare at the purple-haired woman. This was all her idea, taking Aphi down into weird places! He could have been killed!

"Rivener, it's okay, I'm fine. Look, is Isikoro around?" The chef smiled sheepishly, trying to diffuse the situation.

When the red and black Sigel came bursting through the door at them, Ebony's body became rigid waiting for the yelling that was to come. And came it did, but not in exactly the way she'd thought. How'd he know what had happened to them? They just got back and haven't even uttered a word. She wanted to ask, but the look etched onto the scorpion's face only forced her lips closed tighter. Now was not the time for curiosity, after all that was what had gotten them in the previous incident in the first place.

One family member down, two to go. Ebony wasn't worried much about the ghostly Eirdirsceol though. No, it was Isikoro she was most worried about. She was right to be worried as he soon joined them after Rivener, adding his own distraught shouting along with that patented glare of his. It was enough to remind her of her father and make her feel younger than the boy then. Normally she would shout back in anger like she tended to do, but she just couldn't find justification for it. It was her fault. Ebony had put a member of their family in danger, someone they loved and cared for deeply. She couldn't and wouldn't defend herself because she would have acted the same if the situation were reversed.

Another pang on top of the shame she already felt. The British woman had realized that Aphismet was the luckiest, the richest person in the world at that exact moment. When she left here and went home, there would be no distressed cries of concern for her well being. There would be nothing. No one to care whether she lived or died. If she'd died, it was more likely people would rejoice.

Quietly, she bit her bottom lip and avoided the accusing looks as best she could. Ebony would not even move out of the way should Isi feel the need to hit her with one of his crutches. He was entitled to it after all as they all were. In a softer tone than she was use to speaking with, the violet haired female apologized. "I'm...very sorry...everyone..."

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU ARE MASTERS AT FIGHTING!" Iskoro blurted, standing firmly beside Rivener, "I care about my brother!" Beside the scorpion raevan, the crippled lad felt the equality of their worry and anger raging in his chest. It wasn't the hatred kind of anger, it was anger caused by worry. There were too many times, too many instances, where Isi feared for Aphismet's health and each instance prompted a frightened and angry reaction from the younger Delaran. Not only was this kind of reaction seen from Isi but also from Rivener, and it was at that moment, that he felt like he and Rivener were truly brothers and not just a raevan and a boy living in the same household.

Clinging tight to Aphismet and tucking his head beneath the cook's chin, Eiry gave little sounds of worry. When the explosion of Isi's retort softened, the minty raevan pulled himself away from the other and screwed his mouth into a tight frown. "Aphi," the minty frei said, "Isi and Big brother are very worryfilled. They explode with so much worry! So much worry."

Isi took a sigh. He was overreacting, his raevan was right. It was a habit he had developed since he was younger, and he had to try and stop for Aphi's sake. Taking a few wobbling steps forward, Isi came close to both Aphismet and Ebony. His volume decreased. His livid face attempted to soften, but his frown still twitched and squirmed on his cheeks. "Aphismet. Ebony. You had the entire family worried! We had no idea where you were, you didn't even bother to leave a note to tell us where you were going! We're just...Frustrated." Isi took a heavy breath and tried again to roll back his tense shoulders and will his grip loose on his crutches. He turned to Ebony, and released a sigh. She looked as if he had just sentenced her to the guillotine or something. Was he and Rivener really that intimidating? He had to say something to lighten her up. "We're not...Forever angry with you. We don't hate you or anything." he said, struggling to choke out words that didn't sound so angry, "You just really worried us. We're infinitely thankful that you've come back with your limbs still attached and unhurt, but still...If we can help it, we don't want to see any of you hurt. Not you, Aphi, and not you, Ebony."

"Just...Next time, stay on the guided tours of caves if you can help it," Isi said, taking a step back. He had said what he needed to say. Now that he was done, he glanced again towards Ebony, his movements tired, like someone who was far older than their body revealed.

"....You say you captured a soul...?"

Aphismet smiled sheepishly as Isi exploded at him once again, nearly screaming his head off. The chef winced in sympathy for Ebony; she was probably not enjoying getting yelled at. Eiry's snuggling soothed Aphi somewhat and he patted the minty hair, sighing. "I know, Eiry. I know."

Isi seemed to calm down then, walking forward and thankfully taking the hint to change the topic for now. If they wanted to yell at the white-haired man, then they should do it later when no one else was around. "I'm really sorry, guys," Aphi added one last time before Ebony and Isikoro began talking about the bottle, which swirled with a familiar pattern. Aphi recalled his own bottle, once filled with dark red and black smoke. This one, however, was green.

"It was a beautiful creature, I think," Aphi offered with shy enthusiasm, hoping he wouldn't be setting off another bout of screaming. "I didn't see much of it until after it was dead, but still. Beautiful. Your Raevan will no doubt be a gorgeous one, Ebony."

Rivener was still bristling, still angry. Mostly at himself. Had he known how to understand what the stars said, Riv could have stopped this. He could have gone along, or at least WARNED these two to be careful or something! Rivener crossed his arms and decided that he'd HATE Ebony's Raevan, simply out of spite. The red eyes flicked to the side, refusing to look at Aphi or Ebony (especially not Ebony!) for a while.

It was sweet of Aphi to try and make her feel better about the inadvertent soul she'd just captured, but Ebony couldn't hold the same level of enthusiasm in her heart. What should have been a joyous moment was tainted by the emerald fog rolling about in that bottle now. How would the end result turn out? Would they end up creating more of a monster than what they'd just laid waste to? Again she was reminded of her thoughts back in the cave and wondered if she could be as good a guardian as the ivory haired chef and his brother.

Immediately the lilac woman nodded her agreement and offered a meek, "Thank you, Isikoro." Ebony stood there awkwardly for a moment in silence, unable to give voice to the words she wanted to tell the family. She must have decided it best to leave her thoughts unspoken. Instead just heading back to her car, giving her student no chance to keep her here any longer. Feeling she'd already out stayed her welcome. "I should really get going. I'll...I'll talk to you later Aphismet." Though there was no guarantee to how soon that would actually be.

"I am already there!" Eiry piped in response to Aphismet. The wild haired raevan was the first to duck within the home, opening the door from the other side for the rest of the family to enter.

Isi watched with conflicting feelings as Ebony quietly retreated away from the porch of the Delaran home. While he felt a small pang of guilt rattle the lower ribs of his ribcage, he held no regrets for the words he spoke to her. What rebuking she received was well deserved, or so Isi thought. Dragging Aphismet into danger like that...And she was the supposed teacher! Isikoro was traveling the tender middle years of teenagers, but that didn't mean that he didn't know what responsibility meant. From his view, she had done anything but. Pursing his lips as she entered her car, he cradled the bottle carefully in his arms.

Isi hoped that by the time whatever was in the bottle gained a body of its own that Ebony would learn a little bit more about responsibility. If not, the new raevan would surely teach her, of that, Isi was certain.

Turning awkwardly on his crutch, the boy shifted his weight from foot to foot and stumbled back without the house without another glance over his shoulder. In his arms, Ebony's future waited, swirling in hues of green and black.