Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well this is strange, when is it suddenly Christmas in July? And since when did Christmas include thunderstorms, hail, wind, and all manner of bad weather travesties? Like a certain other passageway, this path through the maze doesn't seem to realize (or care) that it's supposed to be a lovely summer's day out. Rain, hail, wind, ice, and snow are all going on at the same time in this place and it makes the path you walk a MESS! Good luck staying dry and remember - lightning tends to strike the tallest thing in the open first!

Looking up, Zuri could see ahead the lovely swirl of something cool and white breathing around the edge of a corridor. And Delia was right, the temperature was dropping drastically. It felt positively delicious to Zurine, and she drew in a deep breath. The cold braced her, perking her right up. "Yes, it is," she agreed. "I'm glad -- oh, but... will you be okay?" Suddenly, though, a cracking lance of lightning bit deep into the seemingly-invincible shrubs to one side of her, and Zurine nearly screeched, the sound oddly birdlike and high.

"It doesn't look like we have a choice. Let's hurry!" Sleet and snow began to come down torrentially, glazing the ground with creeping ice and riming them with cold. "Here, take my hand and we'll go together!"

It was a little horrifying to see that Cordelia was having such trouble -- Zurine felt fear tighten her chest. Oh no, what in the world should she do? As much as the icy frei was enjoying the frozen weather, her new friend was clearly not. What were those strange puffs of smoke coming off Delia? And why did they make her so afraid? She hastened back, and grabbed hold of the basilisk's arm, tightly, to drag her as quickly as she could through the storm. She could see clear space ahead, and if she could only get Delia through this, they'd have time to worry about any injuries afterward.

Cordelia could already feel herself draining quickly as the water and cold began seeping into her clothes, making them and herself heavy. She tried to ignore the biting pain in her skin after the first initial drops and flakes had hit and follow after Zurine, but eventually the owl girl was literally dragging Delia through the mud as the snake couldn't find the strength to float along anymore. Ebony was going to be furious about that once pristine white dress she'd just bought for the girl.

Cordelia sighed in relief as the bombardment on her smokey self was abruptly halted and the holes began fixing themselves. Although she was still feeling pretty weak energy wise, so long as it wasn't as cold anymore, she'd be better in no time. It was a good thing she'd feed right before coming into the maze. She'd have to thank Lazarus at some point for that.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She leaned back on the bench and closed her eyes. Actually she wanted to dry off or at the very least attempt to wring out her damp hair and dress, but couldn't find the energy to do so then. Suppose she'd just deal with it for the moment.

Opening one grey eye, Delia tilted her head slightly to the side to view her new friend. "How about yourself? I bet that was exactly the thing you needed right about now huh?" Though obviously tired, she still attempted to smile.

The girl sighed and relaxed as much as she could what with feeling like what she'd imagine a drowned cat would feel like. She could sort of do without Zuri fanning her as it was only helping to keep her cool longer, but it looked like the owl Frei needed something to do to feel helpful towards Cordelia so she didn't mention it. "Yeah, staying here for a little while would be great."

Even though she tired her best to relax it was still proving quite difficult with being so wet. It wasn't sizzling like when the drops first made contact, but as they slid down her skin they still burned pretty badly. The only good thing was that her clothing was soaking them up pretty quickly and that made her happy. The dampness wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as the actual contact, though the coolness there wasn't really welcome, yet Cordelia would take what she could get for the time being.

Smiling pitifully, "If you want to scout ahead that's fine with me. Not like I'm going anywhere fast soon."

Cordelia didn't say anything since there really wasn't anything an ice Raevan could do for her right then. She was sort of wishing Laz or Zul was there so she could warm up and dry off faster than she was, but obviously she'd just have to deal with it. Carefully the basilisk shook her arms in hopes of getting the water off. Some of it came off, but otherwise it did little to remove the dampness encompassing her person. Frustrated Delia shook her arms harder, but it only made her tired. Sighing heavily she just gave up and leaned back into the bench. If only she could escape.

A light bulb went off just then. In the past whenever she'd felt the need to "escape" anything that was when her smoke ability would kick in. With that thought in mind, the want of escaping, would she be able to purposely summon it herself? Cordelia bit her bottom lip in doubt since she'd never really tired to before. Still it was worth trying if it could somehow allow her to escape the water she was drenched in.

Taking in a deep breath, Delia tired willing herself to become smoke. At first nothing happened, so she tried concentrating harder. She felt a bit of a tingle of a familiar pressure building within, yet it wasn't quite right. It would build and then lose power before fizzling out completely. Only after a couple tries did the snake stop as it was draining what little energy she'd just gained. Cordelia pouted, more put out than she already was. What was the point of having this supposedly amazing ability if she couldn't use it when she wanted?

Annoyed, Delia sighed and called out to Zurine. "Did you find a new path Zuri?" She was really wanting to leave this maze as soon as she could.