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Cordelia Hunt

Age: 24

Western Zodiac: Libra

Eastern Zodiac: Rabbit

Appearance: long straight black hair to her mid-back, wide green eyes, red jacket, black jeans, white tank top underneath, black slippers (think Deadly Little Miho's shoes)



Personality: sweet, kind, easily worried, eager to please, concerned with "doing the right thing," doesn't like being alone, scatterbrained, gullible, overprotective. Middle child to a family of lower middle class means, Cordy graduated high school early, but has yet to enroll in college. She works at her local library.

Name Meaning: "daughter of the sea"; first used by Shakespeare for one of the daughters of King Lear

RP log

10/29/06: Cordy gets Elizabeth, 6th Post

11/22/06: Cordy and Elizabeth meet Will, Akuma, and Rukia, 7th post

11/23/06: Will and Akuma visit Cordy, Elizabeth, and Will (the monkey)

11/28/06 (posted, takes place after Cordy gets Elizabeth, before Lizzy gets the monkey): Cordelia and Elizabeth watch "Pirates of the Caribbean"

Growths

Cordelia gets Elizabeth:

Foggy mornings at the lab were always exciting. People could walk up and you wouldn't see them until they were about to walk through the courtyard. Except people rarely did walk up on foggy mornings.

Little Elizabeth was kneeling on one of the benches, peering out the window. She was leaving a ring of vapor on it with her breath, which was only something she could do if she really tried because breathing was optional, to make her a little more human-seeming.

And... she was singing.

"Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me..." she chimed, still staring out the window. She had to breathe to sing. That was how her vocaliser worked. So the ring of fog on the window got bigger.

It was a peculiar song, all about pirates. Somehow she felt it pertained. Even if she knew very little about herself. Mother had vanished, that warm presence from so long ago. The new mover into the house had found her and brought her back to the lab. She'd still been a chip then, and it was very foggy.

Doc had not told her anything about who she was supposed to be.

She wiped the fog off the window with a small metal-dotted hand and peered out. There was someone coming up the path. Elizabeth leapt off the bench and ran towards the door for a better look.

"A woman! A woman! There's a woman in the courtyard!"


Cordelia Hunt shivered as she approached the courtyard of Doc. Albert's lab, adjusting the dark scarf she had tied around her neck. For a moment, she wondered at the weather: foggy and cold, certainly not uncommon considering that it was nearing the end of October, but definitely not her favorite weather phenomona. As she passed the threshold that led her onto the grounds, her stride faltered and her steps slowed, as she, uncertain of herself, suddenly questioned what she was doing here.

And the answer?

She was getting lonely. After so many years of sharing a house, it was strange to adjust to an empty home so suddenly. So when her friend phoned to say that there was a Kybernetik whose owner had, apparently, disappeared and that the poor thing was looking for a home, Cordelia couldn't begin to refuse. Being lost and alone was a feeling Cordelia was becoming accustomed to, and so it was no surprise that her bleeding-heart went out to the abandoned Kybernetik.

As she approached the glass doors, Cordelia could make out a small dark figure standing at the barrier, and she had the feeling that whatever it was was staring at her. Cordelia paused, wondering if she was able to take on the responsibility of being, for all intents and purposes, a mother. But then she squared her shoulders and pushed on the opposite set of doors from the figure to open them.

Which, apparently, they weren't made to do.

After struggling for a few seconds with the door, Cordelia switched to the other one. She opened this one carefully, not wanting to hit whoever it was behind them. When she stepped in, she was surprised to see that the figure was a child. Or what looked marvelously like a human four year old girl.

Wondering if this was the "Elizabeth" she had been told about, Cordelia tried to smile as nicely as she could and said, "Erm....Hello...."


Elizabeth jumped back from the door as it opened and watched the woman step inside with wide eyes.

Usually when people came to the lab, it was because Doc had someone to give them, or because they had one of the other children. Maybe this woman had a little girl waiting for her on one of the worktables, waiting for a chip?

Elizabeth had been a chip once. It had been cold and dark.

Was the woman talking to her?

"Hello," she squeaked in surprise and with a fairly audible British accent. "The Doctor's in his lab, if you want him."


Actually, Doc was on the other side of the lobby and approaching quickly.

"Cordelia?" he called with a smile, coming to a halt behind the little girl and placing a hand on her shoulder. "And I see you've met young Elizabeth already. Are more formal introductions needed?"


Cordelia had opened her mouth to reply to the little girl when the doctor spoke. Jumping slightly at this unexpected presence, she quickly turned to see him walk over, position himself behind the child and identify her as Elizabeth. In answer to his question, she said, "I suppose not...." She smiled nervously and looked down at Elizabeth. The child stared back in inquistive wonder. Cordelia knelt before her and smiled, no less apprehensive, but brightly and genuine. "I'm your new mommy, Elizabeth....You'll be staying with me for...well...a very long time...." She inwardly cringed, knowing how trite and patronizing that sounded, which were things she swore never to be. She extended a shaky hand. "Elizabeth, would you like that?"


"And leave the lab?" asked Elizabeth, pondering it. Leaving the lab was something the other kids got to do. Why shouldn't she?

Grinning, she took the woman's hand and, unsure what to do next, dantilly shook it. That was what a lady would do, her processors insisted.

Elizabeth fixed her eyes on Cordelia and studied her. She looked young, but rather tired. Was this what her real mother would have been like? It wasn't worth pondering. Maybe doc would tell her about the woman who had first brought her out of the lab someday. But for now, this would be an excellent adventure of the highest order.

Maybe they'd even meet pirates.

That would be rather exciting.

Cordelia looked down out of her bedroom window on the second story when the car pulled up in front of her house. She smiled to herself and quickly walked down the stairs to answer the door. When the wood panel swung open, it revealed Akuma and her kybernetik son, Will.

There was a knock at the door, but Elizabeth wasn't paying attention. She was paying attention to the minature monkey attached to her hand. The little thing was staring at her, the product of a trip to the Pet Store a week before. He was very good, as compared to the monkey in the movie she and Cordelia had watched that had sparked her entire interest with him, but nothing could let Elizabeth let Will (she had fullfilled her promise to name him Will) farther than her wrist. That was part of the purpose of the visitors at the door. During said trip to the pet store, they had had a ferret that nearly scared Elizabeth out of buy the monkey. It had leapt on her and the sensation was not an easy one to forget. So while Will was allowed to sit on her hand, he wasn't allowed anywhere else. She was giving him the hand signal (from the book the nice cashier had provided them) for jumping onto the living room coffee table when a certain dark haired boy entered. "Will!" Elizabeth enthused, running to and almost tackling him as she threw her arms around him for a hug.


"Glad to see you too Elizabeth," said Will as he tried to remain balanced and return Elizabeth's, at the same time blushing furiously. {He still wasn't used to such contact from almost complete strangers.}

Akuma watched the two kybers and began to smile, "I will never let him live this down," she thought to herself as she walked over toward Cordelia.
"Thanks for inviting us over. By the way how did you get a hold of our digits," asked Akuma.


Oblivious to his embarresment, Elizabeth let him go and called, "Hey, Will, look!" As fast as lightning, the pygmy monkey ran over and leapt into her hands. She almost dropped him, but held him up to Will's eye level after some frantic juggling. "It's your namesake, Will! See, I told you I would name him Will! And so I did." She grinned up at him. "I rather think he looks like you." She turned Will (the monkey) around and set him on Will (the kyber's) shoulder. "Look mummy! It's Will squared!" And giggled.

Cordelia meanwhile had responded to AKuma, "I just asked the Doc. I thought it'd be good if the two of them saw each other again. ELizabeth's been asking after Will. Seems to have gotten it in her head that she broke him. She just wants to show off her monkey."


Will now had a monkey sitting on his shoulder and was wondering "Oh great she actually named the monkey Will."
"Is it immortal," he asked just from curiosity.

"Don't worry about it Will is just fine, no damage except for the a short in his arm," said Akuma as she didn't want Elizabeth to think she had did it.


Elizabeth's eyes grew wide. "You watched that movie too?" She clapped her hands together and Will leapt off of Will and into her hands. "How positively lovely! No, he isn't immortal. I don't think. Mummy won't let me throw him off the roof to experiment. He might break."

"I told Elizabeth that--or, words to that effect. I don't think she believed me, though. She wanted to see for herself." Cordelia paused. "Do you want anything to eat? I know it's past lunch, but is anyone hungry?"


"Yeah, I watched it and I thought it was so cool," said Will as he laughed at Elizabeth's reply of wanting to throw the monkey off the roof.

"No, Will and I aren't hungry. We ate before we left, but I wouldn't mind something to drink," replied Akuma.


"It was!" She enthused. "Hey, look at what Will can do!" She held out on hand with Will attached to it and with her other hand made a circular motion. Immediately, the monkey dropped from Elizabeth's hand and hung upside down from her finger using his tail. He looked at Will with wide button eyes and chittered at him, swinging this way and that. Elizabeth giggled. "Will's so cute, isn't he?" She didn't clarify as to which Will she was asking.

"Ok, do you want a soda?" Cordelia led Akuma to the fridge. "Kool-Aid?...Tea? Sorry, we don't have any beer or anything like that. I don't drink much."


"Excuse me," Will asked confused at who she was talking to. "But were you referring to the monkey or me?

"Tea, will be just fine," replied Akuma.


Elizabeth just smiled, and didn't answer. It was better that he didn't know.

"So Will, how do you get so used to animals crawling up you?" She asked. She wanted to be strong, like her friend and not flinch every time Will the monkey tried to crawl up her leg. She guessed that he had Rukia scampering all on him and that it had happened so many times, it no longer scared him. But something repulsed the animals from Elizabeth. She couldn't help but shudder whenever she felt their little claws digging into her skin. Maybe Will could help her with that.

"Ok then." Cordelia poured water into the teapot she had bought upon hearing of her kyber's fondness for tea. Turning on the stove, she put the pot on to boil and then got a mug, a spoon, and a tea bag. Then, they had to wait for the water to boil. Cordelia turned to face Akuma and, as she leaned against the counter, asked, "So, Akuma....Any finer points to raising a kyber I should know?"


"Well, I'm still not to fond of it. My prosessors tell me to get it off, but I fight it and let them finish. To me it just sheer will power, to overcome it. Just remember that the animals will let you know if it doesn't like you, and so there is nothing to be afraid of," said Will.

"Just a few, the major one is understanding the energy system. Did doc explain that," askes Akuma.


Elizabeth's eyes went wide. "Am I to understand that I have to allow him to crawl all over me? At this very moment? And keep letting him on me?" She wanted a simple, quick solution, so she wouldn't mind so much, but the thought of actually letting them on her right then was rather unnerving.

A bit abashed, Cordelia said, "No....Not really....We didn't have time to talk much. I just took Lizzy and left."


"Pretty much. But if you want some boundaries lay them out, don't be afraid to tell them no," said Will to make matters a bit better.

"Anyway the energy system is basically carbohydrates are converted by their bodies into electricty, which is stored in the internal battery. Proteins and fats do nothing for them, so they should be avoided. Stick to fruit, chocolate, grains... stuff like thay. They need to sleep for it to work, though; otherwise they'll slip into the mechanical equivalent of a diabetic coma. No high-fat foots, either, their bodies can't break it down," said Akuma thinking back to what Doc said.


"And how do I lay them out?" Elizabeth asked apprehensively. "Bat him away?"

Looking surprised and slightly guilty, Cordelia said, "Oh...ok then...." And resolved to never feed Elizabeth Pixi Stix again.


"You can do that or tell him no," said Will as he tried to clear everything up with Elizabeth.

"Just overall just remember to treat Elizabeth like you would your real child," said Akuma.


Elizabeth thought this over, then pulled Will (the monkey) into her hands. "I'll do it." She said, determined. "But you'll take him off if he doesn't listen to me, right?"

"Oh...well....I did....I do....But apparently I'm doing something wrong?" The pot sang out that it was ready and Cordelia quickly took it off the stove, turned the burner off, and poured the water out for Akuma. She put the tea bag into the mug and held it out to her. "It's probably hot." She cautioned.


"Yeah I'll grab him, if he doesn't behave," said Will nodding to Elizabeth.

"What do you think your doing wrong," asked Akuma who was determinec to help this mother out.


Elizabeth inhaled deeply, bracing herself. "Ok." She set Will the monkey on her hand and then let go of him. CHittering, the monkey tentatively began exploring, slowly moving from Lizzy's palm to her wrist. Elizabeth shuddered, but said nothing. Then, he moved up a little more, to her elbow. In a show of great bravado, he leapt from her arm and towards her shoulder. Elizabeth didn't like that. With a half scream, half whimper, she jerked away, out of Will's flight path, and dropped to the floor, covering her head. APparently, she had forgotten Will's instructions with the suddeness of the monkey's actions.

"I mean, I apparently can't feed her right, I never know what she wants, and...look at my hair! Still purple! She accidentally did it while I was sleeping...and it isn't the first time, and I don't know what to do." Cordelia slumped into one of the dining room chairs, feeling thoroughly depressed now.

"That works too, but try not to show that you are afraid of him. Animals don't like fear, they respond negatively to it. No and other actions reinforce, while jumping and trying to avoid is bad and doesn't help," said Will as he grabbed the monkey with one hand and pulled Elizabeth up with the other.

"Try again," he said as he held the monkey out to Elizabeth.

"You could try asking her what she wants to eat, but for the hair incident you have to put your foot down an tell her no, sometimes its hard but you need to let her know what she did was bad," said Akuma.


Elizabeth looked at Will and then took the monkey from him, resolving to try again. She placed the monkey on her hand. Not wanting to be thrown again, the monkey was even slower this time, preceding up her arm. But once a few moments had passed by and she wasn't batting him off, some of his natural courage returned and her scarmpered up to her elbow. Just as he was about to jump for her shoulder, Lizzy pushed him down a little and said, with all the imperiousness a child such as she could possess, "No, Will. I don't want you on my shoulder yet." The monkey looked up at her, chittered, and tried again. Lizzy only pushed him down again, repeating her commands. This time, he looked at her, chittered, and sat on her forearm, rubbing his hands on his face to clear the fur away. Elizabeth smiled at Will (the boy, this time). "I did it!" She proclaimed proudly.

"I did tell her it was bad, and not to do it again, but she did it again. I mean, she's colored my hair different ways. Chemicals in my hair while I slept, paint in my shampoo bottle...." She trailed off as she tried to think of more. "Well, that's all. But she doesn't mean to. And she's contrite afterwards, and apologizes, and I can't help but let her off with a warning."


"See I told you, you could do it," said Will as he petted the monkey.

"Don't give her just a warning, threaten to take something away. Use punishment or restriction, groundation always works too," replied Akuma.


Elizabeth reveled in his praise and smiled. "So all I have to do is keep doing that and eventually I'll get used to it?" Will the monkey leaned into gentle fingers of Will the kyber, making the monkey equivalent of purring.

Cordelia thought this over and decided that it made sense. But she didn't know if she would be strong enough to follow through and punish her by taking something away.


"No, eventually you'll be willing enough to let him sit on your shoulder. But, after you get used to those little monkey claws," said Will as he continued to pet Will.

"I know it might be hard, because even I had a problem with telling Will no," said Akuma, sipping a bit from th tea.


Elizabeth nodded. "It'll be awhile before I get used to those." SHe looked up at him. "Thank you very much for helping me, Will."

"But...I'll have to be strong, right? For her." She looked to where she could see a bit of their kybers playing together. Both looked so happy and so very very contented. She looked at Akuma. "Thanks for coming. It's nice to feel that some one's one my side for once."


"You're welcome," said Akuma as she glanced down at her watch.
"Oh my sorry, I have to run. My other three should be getting home right about now. Will we have to get going," said Akuma as she bid a farwell to Cordeilia.

"See you later Elizabeth," said Will and he followed his mother out.

It was late when the phone rang. Elizabeth was fast asleep, but woke up to that sound with a start. She was a very light sleeper, though her processors told her it really wasn’t “sleep” at all. Rubbing her eyes, Elizabeth sat up and clambered out of bed, clad only in her blue night gown. She was curious as to who was calling. Before she got to the door, the sound cut off and she paused. Should she go forward to investigate? Or trust Mummy to get it? She stood there for a bit, debating. Then she heard something that made up her mind.

Mummy was crying.

No, more to the point, she was sobbing. Elizabeth could tell that whatever—or whoever—was on the phone had affected Mummy horribly. And Elizabeth couldn’t allow that. She pushed her door open and made her way down the hall, to the room at the end. A light was shining under the door but Mummy’s voice was barely audible now. It sounded like she, realizing the volume of her cries, had stifled her voice in a pillow.

Determined to stop this one way or another, Elizabeth pushed the door open and asked in a sleep-laden voice, “Mummy?”

Cordelia had been dreaming when it happened. She was in the middle of a dark blur of the past only to wake up to the mistakes of the same thing, breathing at the other end of the line.

“Hello?” She asked groggily.

“Sis?” The voice at the other end shocked the sleep from Cordy’s system.

“T-Timon?” Her voice trembled, tripping over the syllables (all two of them) of her younger brother’s name. She was suddenly awash with memories. The two of them laughing. Teaching him how to ride a bike. Standing up to their father when he got angry. Withstanding the blows and nursing each other back to health. Moving out, taking her brother with her. Kicking him out for doing to her what Dad had.

Everything came flooding back, and suddenly Cordelia found herself crying. Sobbing her heart out. Dimly, she heard Timon trying to talk to her, but heard nothing over her own cries. Suddenly, common sense kicked back in. ‘Elizabeth….If she hears and wakes up….’ She pulled her pillow up to her mouth, hopefully stemming the weeping to a more manageable level. This made her able to hear some of her brother’s words.

“Please, sis, I…I…please, just, let me say—”

Cordelia froze as she heard a young girl’s voice from behind her. Turning, she saw Elizabeth gazing at her. This was not something Cordy wanted her charge to hear or see. Gathering her thoughts, she summoned enough strength to say, “I can’t talk right now. My daughter’s calling me.”

Timon’s voice became confused. “Daughter? Cordelia, when did you—”

His words were hung up on. Taking a moment to wipe her eyes with the blanket, Cordelia looked up at Elizabeth. She patted the spot in bed beside her, waiting as Elizabeth obliged and climbed up beside her. Before she could ask, Cordelia began, “Lizzy….Sometimes….people will hurt you. And they may love you, but they’ll hurt you too. The person who called hurt Mummy. He didn’t mean to, and he didn’t want to, but he did.” She looked at Elizabeth, who was staring up at her with wide dark eyes, pensive expression on her face. With a fresh sob, Cordelia flung her arms around Elizabeth. “Oh, Lizzy, you have no idea how he hurt me.” She pulled back, and looked at her. “But I don’t hate him. That’s the important thing. We shouldn’t hate the ones who love us and hurt us too. We have to understand that that’s what people can do. They can hurt one another. But we have to forgive them. We can’t hurt them back, just to—to punish them. We have to realize that they can’t help it sometimes. And we need to help them when they can’t do it themselves.” She put the heels of her palms to her eyes to stem the flow, but couldn’t. She hadn’t heard her brother’s voice since he had gotten the last of his belongings. It had unlocked so much, so much she thought she had thrown away already.

A tiny hand took her palms from her face. Elizabeth said, “Then why waste time on it? He hurt you, Mummy. But he’s not here now. You’ve got me…for a very long time. I won’t hurt you. I promise, Mummy. Please stop crying.” She wiped at her Mummy’s eyes, knowing that that’s what she would have wanted: someone to wipe away the tears. She held Mummy’s arm, leaning against her. “It’ll be ok.”

Cordelia stared at her daughter’s head, deeply touched at the kyber’s concern. That evoked more tears, but of a different kind. She laid her cheek on top of Elizabeth’s head. “Okay,” she agreed.

Elizabeth shot up suddenly. “Wait a tick!” She exclaimed and disentangled herself from Mummy. She climbed out of the bed and ran out for a few minutes, Cordelia watching in confusion. She returned with a DVD in one hand and the cage with sleepily awake Will the monkey inside in the other. She put Will’s cage on top of the head board and struggled back up with Mummy. “Here.” She handed Cordelia the DVD: Pirates of the Caribbean. “I know you like it. We can watch it together. Will that make you stop crying?”

Cordelia sniffed, knowing Elizabeth wanted so badly to cheer her up. She had done the same thing for her own mother many years before. “I think it will.” Cordelia took the case and set up the movie quickly, since she had her own TV in her room. After pulling the phone from the jack, Cordelia settled in next to Elizabeth, snuggling to get comfortable in order to watch the movie. She placed a kiss on Little Lizzy’s head. She wasn’t alone. Not any more.

Journal Entry #2

Dear Diary,

Oh dear. One night was definitely too much time for Elizabeth to get in trouble. While I was asleep, she went "pirate hunting" in the cabinets and found some marvelous chemicals. She tried to show me, but I was, of course, asleep, so she decided to leave me a little surprise for me. And now...I have blue hair.

And while my boss is really lenient (she gave me a maternity leave, of sorts, to take care of Elizabeth), I don't think she'll take kindly to a hair color change that isn't even natural. I've been in and out of the shower the entire day, trying to get it back to it's normal black and am so wrinkled like a prune. And not a hair is the right hue.

*mental sigh* Well, at least she didn't drink it. I would have felt infinitely worse. I feel bad with the sweet, apologetic look Elizabeth keeps sporting whenever she walks in to watch me wash my hair. She looks so forlorn....I can't help but feel bad. Maybe we could go out for some ice cream or a movie or something for a pick me up.

I just wish this color would come out! *scrub scrub scrub*

--Cordelia


Journal Entry #2

Mummy didn't like her present. She is in the bathroom trying to wash it out right now. She's been in the bathroom for a very long time. She didn't get angry at me, but I know she wasn't pleased. I wonder what I could do to make it up.

...

Well, at least Mummy's hair is a pretty blue color now.