Welcome to Gaia! ::

Although it was already midday, the chill that the wind brought with it made Hazeline wrap the scarf about her neck a little closer. Placing her hands deep within her pants pocket, the guardian gave her white frei a glance. Xiu seemed unaffected by the cold weather much; opting to equip himself with only a pair of gloves to ward off the nipping of the cold wind. Perhaps it was because he had been lucky enough to be born with a set of warm looking clothes. Either way, Xiu seemed contented to float beside his guardian as she walked past the row of shops aligning the streets. Stopping in front of an antique store, Hazeline peered in through the dusty windows.

“Want to take the look, Xiu?” asked Hazeline turning to her raevan. “There seems to be lots of interesting old things in there,”

“I’d rather not, thank you,” replied Xiu politely but with a firm shake of his head.

“Why? Is there something you dislike about antiques?”

“They are old,” the white raevan replied with a shrug. “Some of them have seen death,”

Hazeline blinked. Xiu’s explanation was queer at best and it left the young woman baffled. “Well….they are antiques, they are supposed to be old. The older they are, the higher the price, Xiu. Obviously the older ones would have changed hands some, if they are truly antiques,”

Xiu nodded. “I know that Hazeline but…why would anyone want to possess such old things? The newer ones are cheaper and…new.” The white frei shifted his wings uneasily. Was it alright to tell Hazeline that it made him feel uneasy as well? Seeing so many mementos from the past congregated in one place gave the white frei a stifling feeling. It made him edgy. Rather like being close to a graveyard thought Xiu to himself before taking Hazeline’s hand and tugging it gently. “Let’s go Hazeline,”

Both Xiu and Hazeline stared as two familiar figures walked past them and into the antique shop; both seeming unaware of their presence. “Well…I like that,” said Xiu looking indignant. “We were right next to them,”

“Well, Xiu, you can hardly expect them to notice us with the way the both of them are occupied with each other,” said Hazeline with a shrug. “And anyway, it’s done. The next thing to do would be to either…walk away or…meet them,”

Xiu gave Hazeline a peculiar look. “We are meeting them of course! What kind of people would we be otherwise?”

Hazeline laughed. Xiu’s reply was expected and the guardian was already pushing the door to the antique shop open. Stepping in, the guardian called out to the other. “Ebony? Cordelia? We saw you out back and thought we’d say hi,”

Xiu nodded. “It’s been a while. How have you been?”

Although the white frei was smiling, Xiu was feeling tensed. The closed space, old artifacts and chilly atmosphere did nothing to ease the white raevan’s dislike of the place and Xiu couldn’t help casting a longing look to the streets outside. Out there, the sun seemed bright and with all the living people enjoying their day out…

“We are fine. Had a rather quiet holiday this year but with all that’s been going on, I guess no one’s complaining,” said Hazeline with a chuckle before glancing at the purple haired woman. Ebony looked as fit as the day Hazeline had first seen her. Hazeline wondered what sort of job Ebony did to enable her to achieve such a figure. Their previous encounter, although certainly not brief, was chaotic enough to not warrant the guardians enough time to get to know each other better.

“So umm…you seem to have an interest in antiques?” said Hazeline wondering if perhaps Ebony was an antiques dealer of some sort. It must be interesting, searching for rare antiques that occasionally appear in small stores and selling them to a willing buyer.

While the two guardians were conversing, Xiu was content to give his attention to the dark frei before him. As stunning as ever, Xiu watched with some amusement as Delia greeted him in a manner that was similar to their first meeting. Gently taking hold of Delia’s hand, Xiu marveled at how smooth its texture was. “Haha, it’s great to see you again, Cordelia and...you are talking now aren’t you? Congratulations,”

“My interests in them are sadly limited to just admiring them from afar,” said Hazeline with a small shake of her head as she followed Ebony’s gaze to an intricate looking vase. Hazeline wondered if it was expensive and if so, just how old was it?

At the mention of a curse however, Hazeline looked up interested. “I do not know, Ebony…I mean…well…I wouldn’t try risking myself with a jinxed object,” ventured Hazeline slowly, not wanting to offend the other. “Some people are just superstitious like that,”

Xiu smiled softly as the other sighed and shook her head; nodding slightly in understanding. He too had trouble grasping the human language when he was just born and guessed that it took longer for some than others. Flicking his wings to mimic the other, the white frei made a small wave with his hand before looking questioningly at Delia as though asking her the purpose of her visit to the antique shop.

“N-No, not really,” said Hazeline with a shake of her head. “I guess my family, well, mom’s side at any rate, are a little more superstitious than most. Many I know wouldn’t care all that much. Although, yeah, the raevans, they are amazing, aren’t they?” said Hazeline as she gave both Delia and Xiu a glance. They seemed to be getting along alright. Xiu seemed to be gesturing at something and Cordelia was replying with a gesture of her own as well. Were they playing a sort of game then?

It was then that an elderly gentleman stepped in and enquired if they needed help. Hazeline shook her head and took a step back indicating that Ebony was the interested party not her. “No, nothing Ebony. I was just…ah, dropping in I guess,” said Hazeline sheepishly as the elderly gentleman turned his gaze in her direction. “I’ll just…browse or something,”


Xiu’s face fell when he saw that his gesture was causing some misunderstanding with the female Basilisk. Already the other’s wings were flicking themselves in an agitated manner and the femme’s facial features were contorted into that of anger. Backing away a little from Cordelia with his hands upraised in a yielding gesture, Xiu was glad that the Basilisk seemed to have calmed herself down a little.

“Sorry, Cordelia,” said Xiu softly with genuine concern. “I did not mean to offend you and I am truly sorry that I did,” said Xiu offering his hand to the frei. “Perhaps…if we could start again; on the right foot this time?”

Cordelia had then pointed to her guardian and Xiu momentarily shifted his gaze to eye the Brit. He and Hazeline appeared to be talking to an old man. Did Ebony bring Cordelia out with her on this antique hunting trip then? Cordelia did not look particularly pleased being out here and…judging by the amount of clothes she wore, Xiu guessed that the frei preferred the warmth of home rather than the chilly bite of the outside. But…this shop was only moderately warmer than the streets and once again the white frei found himself looking longingly at the bright world outside.

An idea suddenly popped into the white frei’s head as he eyed Cordelia. “Hey, Cordelia, would you…like to step out of this shop for a moment? It’s simply stifling here,” said Xiu pointing to the shop’s exit. “We won’t go far. I just…need some fresh air,”

At Ebony’s invitation and Hazeline’s own curiosity about the supposedly cursed mask, the guardian chose to stay by the purple haired woman’s side. It was not everyday that you were shown an antique with nasty story to it. Well, at least not in Hazeline’s line of work.

Tilting her head curiously, Hazeline watched as the elderly gentleman led them into the back of the shop where a back counter stood. The man had then bent over and picked up a rather mysterious looking box with metal locks attached to it. Deftly, the man had opened the locks and in it, was a mask.

Hazeline blinked. There was nothing particularly astounding about the mask. True, it was a detailed piece of art but…Hazeline had seen similar designs from cheap souvenir stalls. Perhaps it was her lack of knowledge in this field but…the mask did not exactly…take her breath away. What is did though, was give Hazeline a slight chill. Somehow, the guardian found herself thinking that the mask was creepy. Wanting to know of Ebony’s feeling, Hazeline gave the Brit a glance.


Xiu watched as Delia gave him a perplexed look before glancing down at their ribbons before realizing that the other had taken the meaning of ‘foot’ quite literally. Shaking his head a little, Xiu smiled. He remembered a time when words such as these stumped him as well. Has it been more than a year already?

The wrapping of Delia’s arms around his own brought Xiu out his musings and the frei was surprised to see the Basilisk clinging onto him as though the very thought of going out into the open was a terrible thing to endure.

“Umm…well, if you’d really rather not go out,” said Xiu softly as he took hold of Delia’s shoulders and giving the Basilisk a gentle smile as he did so. “I won’t force you, alright Cordelia? We can stay in here if you want,”

It was then that the white raevan began feeling really uneasy. If his uneasiness was anything to complain about before, the disappearance of his guardian and Cordelia’s into the back of the shop was enough to warrant some internal alarm system within the white raevan. “Hey Cordelia, I guess…we won’t be going out after all,” said Xiu with a slightly worried tone of voice. “Let’s go see…where our guardians are, alright?”

Thus saying so, the white frei gently took hold of the Basilisk’s hand and together, the two of them made their way to the shop’s back.

Ebony’s reaction towards the ‘cursed’ mask was about as easy to read as an open book. The Brit was totally infatuated with the ancient thing and Hazeline found herself giving the mask a second glance as if to confirm if the mask that they were looking at had some hidden design she had missed on her first glance. It was also around this time that Ebony had reached out to examine the mask when the case was rudely snapped shut in the Brit’s face. The manner in which the old man had behaved clearly irked the purple haired woman, if her flaring and twitching nostrils were any indication.

Feeling an instant sense of camaraderie for Ebony when faced with such a crafty seller, Hazeline found herself playing along with the purple haired Brit. If the seller wanted to play it hard, they, as the customers could play it harder. Having grown up with a grandmother noted for her haggling capabilities, Hazeline guessed it wouldn’t hurt to put some of her techniques to use. Tapping her finger against her chin lightly, Hazeline pretended to consider the other’s question. It was best that did not show too much interest in it for the time being.

“It depends,” answered Hazeline vaguely. “After all…we have only discussed the possibility of acquiring it, we have yet to make a decision,” said Hazeline hoping her lackadaisical attitude would instill some seller’s urgency to not lose a prospective customer. After all, antiques were merely old items given value and never a necessity.

Xiu gave Delia an apologetic smile as he led the Basilisk deeper into the shop towards Ebony and his guardian. The white raevan’s apprehension as they neared the back counter grew with every step they took. The claustrophobic feeling only amplified as they made their way past rows of ancient antiques, their ‘energy’ stale from bygone years. The feeling of earlier dread however had decreased and Xiu wondered at this. Floating up to his guardian, Xiu watched the match between buyer and seller with some interest.