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 Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:50 pm
The Basilisk frowned. She knew what he was saying was logical. That Ebony had only ever wanted what was best for Cordelia at any given time and that maybe she felt by her not telling the girl about how she'd obtained her soul, that somehow she was shielding the Raevan from whatever imaginary enemies the purple haired Brit had conjured up in her mind. Though Cordelia could understand this, there was still a part of her that didn't want to accept it.
"I...never really gave it much thought..." Her frown had morphed into that of slight astonishment and revelation. Lorenzo's question sounded so simple, yet complex at the same time. How did she think Ebony got her soul? It was a question almost every Frei probably was bound to ask at some point, but why hadn't Delia? Why had she waited to question until it was too late?
She gave an expression then that seemed like she was disgusted by whatever thought had crossed her mind. "Back then...I dunno, I guess you could say I was stupid and naive. If Ebby said I had a snake soul, that was good enough for me. She never gave me a reason to think I should ask more questions on the topic." The smoke girl sighed as she ran slender digits through her obsidian locks. "I guess...I just assumed she came across any ole snake that was dying or something and that's how I came to be."
The vague memory of her previous incarnation's death appeared in her mind's eye then. It had come quick and without warning, Delia's hand gripping her chest in pain as her hair began wisping into light smoke tendrils. She'd been frantic, fueled by a deep maternal need to protect her unborn children from the intruders. There was a flash of lavender, the glint of golden light reflecting and then...The Basilisk managed to snap out of it when she realized tears were streaming down her cheeks. Her hair immediately settled back into a solid state as embarrassment took hold of her. Cordelia furiously rubbed her sleeve across her scaled eyes, "S-sorry...I don't know what came over me."
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Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 8:56 pm
"H-hey," Vesna said gently as Cordelia started to cry. "It's okay! Let me get you some tissues." She floated off down the hall, and came back with a patterned tissue box. "Help yourself!"
"As Vesna implied, this is a safe space to speak freely," Lorenzo reassured, "But if it's too hard for you, you shouldn't feel pressured to press forward. Plenty of undead people also become emotional when speaking of their past lives- even people who have been fully resurrected have difficulty speaking about dying even though they lived to tell the tale." He sipped at his tea and continued, "You must learn to be easier on yourself. Assuming that you were simply a snake isn't an indication of a lack of curiosity or intelligence, especially if that is the story you were given by someone you trusted. It's also the sort of question that doesn't often occur to the very young."
He cleared his throat. "If you feel all right with more questions- and that is an open ended 'if', may I ask you now, how strongly do you feel connected to your soul? And have you always felt as strongly connected as you may or may not do now?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:50 pm
It was hard to get the tears to stop as quick as she'd like them and that only made Cordelia even more frustrated with herself and produced more hindrance to her crying. She was just starting to get a hold of herself when Vesna floated back in and offered her a box of tissues. "Thank you..." she quietly said while accepting the box and trying to avoid direct eye contact with the Rusalka. Using a single tissue, Delia gently dabbed the corner of her eyes. She really hoped this little moment of weakness wouldn't completely change the younger girl's impression of her.
The snake blinked slow. Another easy, yet difficult question she had yet to ask herself. "I guess...I've always been pretty strongly connected to my soul?" It sounded more like a question than an answer. "I mean, I've always been able to understand and speak Parseltongue. Also I'm most definitely cold-blooded as I constantly need to keep warm. And as I said before, it wasn't until recently that I was able to do anything with my smoke abilities willfully."
As she spoke, things were starting to finally make sense. It was almost laughable that she hadn't figured it out until just then. Before becoming stone, Cordelia's whole identity had been overshadowed by that of her basilisk soul that her smoke half had almost been completely suppressed. "I'd say I'm still strongly connected to my soul, but I feel like I can sense the presence my essence more now than I ever could before. If that even makes any sense."
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:16 pm
Lorenzo paused to consider her answer, then dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. "I don't want to apply too much of what I know from my studies as a necromancer to this situation, since it is, fundamentally, different, but what you're saying does make sense to me." he said. "Often, having survived a dangerous situation can redefine the way we experience things, or even how we interact with the world around us. In the case of many undead people in recovery, the loss of fine motor control and such obliges them to learn to interact with the world differently, as well. However, the change you've experienced seems to be more subconscious."
"I never really think much about my essence," Vesna chimed in. "Dad's all rusalka this, rusalka that."
"Certainly, in the case of most raevans, I imagine the soul would have a stronger influence," Lorenzo countered. "That's just my hunch as a necromancer- a soul is a powerful and forceful thing. However, since you've experienced this change, Cordelia, it might be worth exploring it. Do you feel any anxiety when you think about the influence of your essence becoming stronger? What about your soul? Now that you know its origin isn't quite what you assumed it was, do you feel more pressure to live your life a certain way to make up for that sacrifice? Or do you simply think about your soul more consciously than you did before?"
"I think about my soul a lot," Vesna added. "I kinda can't imagine not thinking about it. I think if I just found out all that stuff about being a rusalka all of a sudden, it'd be super weird for me." She realized something, and waved her hands, "N-not that this is about me or anything!! I just thought maybe my point of view could be helpful, too... But you're older than me, so maybe you've thought of all this stuff before, yeah? Let me know if I'm being annoying, because this is Delia-time!"
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:16 pm
She was with him for a time, nodding as she sort of understood where he was getting at. That was until the necromancer began his onslaught of questions. With her head spinning, Cordelia replied, "Uh, maybe? I dunno..." Feeling like a headache was oncoming, Delia closed her eyes and placed her face into her palm. "I'm sorry. This...may be too much for me to process right now." She just had never thought that deeply about her soul or her essence before so it was hard to answer suddenly.
Lifting her face up to look at the other Frei, Cordelia gave a warm smile. "Vessie, you're too cute to be annoying. Besides, I think I'd like to hear what your thoughts are on the matter. I clearly never gave it much thought, despite being older." Though she did wonder, did all Raevans actively think about their soul and essences a lot?
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Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2017 3:57 pm
"That's fine," Lorenzo encouraged. "Take your time, and we can start out smaller."
"If it's okay with you, then I can talk while you think, and that could help, maybe??" Vesna offered, bolstered by Cordelia's positive feedback. She glanced at Lorenzo, who nodded. "Like, if it was me, I guess, I'd just be interested in learning more about my soul. Not because it's cool, although basilisks are, like, totally cool, but, like, just to try to understand the new facts. Plus, like, basilisks are still kinda... dangerous? So I'd wanna make sure I wasn't gonna accidentally hurt myself or anyone else again. I don't know... I don't have many cool powers, but I always worry about, like, what if I have some scary rusalka power I haven't tapped into yet or something? I guess we're kinda in the same boat because both of our souls are, like, scary myths." She smiled weakly. "But we're different from our souls, so I dunno, I'd like to think we don't have to be controlled by them or defined by them, or anything. I know I don't wanna just be a sad undead lady. I wanna have fun like a normal teen and stuff!"
She bit her lip. "I only really feel connected to my essence in, like, annoying ways. Like how I can't decide not to eat reflections and stuff. I've never really thought of it as an equal part of me, but if I had a different essence... I would kind of want to connect to it more than I would to my soul." She blushed and looked guiltily at Lorenzo, who was diplomatically focused on his tea. "Living smoke seems cool. Like, sort of like a ninja essence...? So if you're starting to feel more connected to that, I think that's pretty awesome."Ebony Shade I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG.....
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Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:06 am
Cordelia was slightly taken aback by Vesna blurting out the word 'basilisk' as if it were the most natural, everyday thing that could be said, like commenting on the weather or what was for dinner. Had she even mentioned the fact that her soul was a basilisk? The snake thought back, but couldn't recall. She shrugged the thought off thinking they must have been briefed by the Lab before she decided to come. Though that opened up another train of thought; of how the Lab must have known about her soul this entire time. Alex, Zeke, the Doctor...they all had known and had never once mentioned it to her. Hell who knew how many others were in on it too! It was a thought enough to make her seethe with anger and betrayal, yet she had to remember, it really wasn't the Lab's job to inform her about all the little details involving her birth. That job had belong to Ebony and Ebony alone. Delia sighed. The dark Frei sat in contemplative thought for a moment before answering. "You make some pretty valid points Vessie. It's important that I look into my soul, more for reference than anything since it was something rather dangerous. And I think you're right about not having to be defined by it." That idea actually put Delia more at rest than anything else. Her life then was not her life now. She was something new and different, she didn't need to feel guilty or resentful about what had happened to someone else. Though things that happened to her now in this life would probably be harder to get past since it was what she knew as opposed to the other. "You know, you're pretty insightful for a baby Raevan." Delia teased before easing into a soft, but grateful smile. "Seriously though, thanks, I kinda wish I'd been like that when I was younger. Ignorance is bliss as they say or whatever." Her grin grew wider when Vesna complimented her essence. "It is kinda badass now that you mention it. Or at least less of a pain since I can sort of control it now. So I guess if you think your essence is annoying at the moment then maybe you just need to wait and see what it becomes. Yet, hopefully in a way less dramatic way than mine."Looking towards Lorenzo again, "You know, I was sort of hating the idea of coming here, but now I'm actually glad I came. I feel a whole lot better than when I first got here."
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Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 9:20 pm
Vesna brightened up as Cordelia complimented her. "Thanks! I guess I've just had a lot of practice, since my soul is kinda scary, too? And Dad makes me do exercises and stuff to deal with things in case I'm, like, too undead or whatever." She shrugged. "And I guess I like reading books about, like, mythology and stuff? All the rest of Dad's books are boring."
Lorenzo cleared his throat pointedly. "You are, of course, always welcome here Cordelia, if you ahve any questions or if you just need a break- Vesna and I are both quite aware of how hard it is to adapt to the kind of change you must be going through, even if the circumstances are slightly different from what we're used to." He smiled faintly. "Considering your circumstances, though, I'd say you seem to be doing quite well. Don't push yourself too hard in the coming months. Recovery takes time and patience, and you have plenty of people supporting you, even if, I'm sure, you're not quite sure how to feel about things yet."
Vesna nodded enthusiastically. "I have a ton of games and stuff if you need to get away from things! Oh!" She floated back into her room and came out with a bunch of game cartridges that she dumped unceremoniously on the table. "Do you have a 3DS, Cordelia?? You can play these if you want! I finished them." She pointed to a few and blushed, adding, "Most of them have some, uh, dating... stuff... Since I'm kind of practicing that kind of thing? N-not that I really want to date anybody yet! I'm just, you know... dealing with creepy soul stuff, too."
Lorenzo reached over, sorting the games into a neater pile. "Recovery looks different for everybody," he affirmed, picking up a cartridge at random. "For Vesna, it seems to involve Moon Saga 4: Romantic Twilight."
"I think recovery should be fun," Vesna insisted, flashing Cordelia a shy grin.
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:57 pm
Was Lorenzo really that worried about to what extent Vesna's soul played a part in her everyday that she had to do specific exercises? She looked the younger Frei up and down. The girl looked perfectly healthy for a Raevan. In fact, Cordelia couldn't even see any mention of this so called "creepy" soul that the other kept going on and on about. She was just simply adorable and that was it. The snake nodded at Lorenzo's recommendations of taking things slow for now while she recovered, but raised an eyebrow as Vessie suddenly darted out of the room. It wasn't long to wait and see why the girl had left so suddenly as she shot back in and dumped a whole load of games on the table in front of them. Cordelia blinked in slight confusion at first, but then couldn't help giving a good laugh as she watched the necromancer and the rusalka do their little back and forth. It really was like watching her younger self and Ebony, well if Ebony had been a man that was. "Sorry. You two just remind me so much of when I use to bicker with Ebby." She didn't want to admit it out loud, but she sort of missed that. Gathering the games up, "I don't have a 3DS, but that's not a problem to get one, so thanks for the games Vessie. I'll be sure to let you know what I thought of them. Oh! We should probably exchange numbers then." Shifting everything around, the Basilisk took out her phone and handed it to the other Raevan. "Go ahead and add your contact and I'll text you mine." The dark Frei was all smiles now instead of the gloomy sort of put off girl she had been when first arriving.
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