Welcome to Gaia! ::

A frustrated sigh escaped as Aphi shooed her away from the mess, plopping back so her bottom was resting atop her feet in her kneeling position. It was a moment were one should have laughed at the silliness of her being annoyed at not being allowed to help clean up, yet Ebony only bit her bottom lip again as her nose twitched a little in tune to her uncomfortableness.

"Aphismet..." His name came softly rolling off her British tongue. Fists balled lightly on her lap, "You have so much to hear already. And from people that truly need it. There's no reason for you to get mixed up in all my stupid little problems."

"Okay! I will!" And the smoke Raevan would while Ebony would most likely curse Rivener's name for the weeks of endless Disney madness that was sure to come of all this.

Her dancing slowed to swaying back and forth now as a memory replayed in her head. It was a little fuzzy since it was one during her infection, but the girl could remember Ebby dressed colorfully, dancing with a dark haired man. Her woman moved with him, so skillful and full of fire and passion, it had been breathtaking what she could remember. She'd been dancing with someone too...they bared a certain resemblance to the night Sigel, the parts of him that were red.

Testing the waters more with the nick she'd bestowed him, "Riven...do you know a Raevan that's all red? A Frei, like me?"

It was the wrong time to laugh or even think of laughing, but Ebony found she couldn't suppress it. Aphi was being so serious about all this and yet, it was funny. So she wasn't the only stubborn mule within the Lab's ranks. Somehow this made her feel better for whatever reasons. Perhaps because it made her feel connected with people again.

Laughter dying as a finger wiped away a rare tear of joy, "I'm sorry Aphismet. You must think me a loon now." The British woman smiled gently before patting his hand. "What you said just made me...feel better somehow. And it's not easy for me to just open up, but for you I will honestly try. I give no promises though that it'll be easy." She titled her violet head just so as to give that certain arrogant air to the last of her words before allowing it to fade away.

"I worry that I'm not doing a good enough job with Cordelia. If you haven't noticed, I'm an utter perfectionist, so to not be good at something or to not do it right urks me far more than I let on. And with her, I can't be sure what I do is correct." Once the words were out, they just seemed to continue to pour without her direct permission exactly. "All I have to go by is my birth parents abandoning me as a baby and then my adoptive father's upbringing. He was a brilliant man, but stern and very direct in what was deemed proper for me. I don't want to control Cordelia, but if I don't..." She trailed off there, the possibilities of what horrors could happen filling her mind and possibly the cook's as well with her stopping mid-sentence.

Delia frowned in concentration. The name Prajna did sound familiar, but was it the one from the dance? She couldn't be sure, so many things fuzzy and forgotten now. When Rivener returned the favor with a question of his own, the smoken femme floated a little closer to the ground, a look of remorse and shame crossing her scaled face.

"You're not the only one I tried to hurt." she replied, her smokey voice more of a wisp on the wind. "When I was sick...it was the red that made me want to fight you, all of you. It made me think you were him, Lazarus."

Delia turned away to look out over the area engulfing the Delaran homestead. Her grey eyes gave off that far away look as she tried to remember what happened so long ago. "Ebby...Ebby said he did something bad to me, when I was born. I don't really remember what, but I remember warmth...then pain." She frowned and rubbed her neck where the incubus had sucked and left a throbbing piece of the virus. It wasn't there anymore, but the memory was still fresh even in her muddled memories.

To be fair, she had been listening to his response, but there was one particular glaring thing that was another one of those urksome things the Brit disliked. Heaving a large sigh, Ebony narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the white haired man. "Not you too. Are you sure you haven't been speaking to my Raevan behind my back? Cordy indeed." She huffed the butchering of the beautiful name she'd given Cordelia. Of course had the basilisk been within ear shot, she'd be tickled pink at someone referring to her so fondly.

Ebony gave a loud defeated sigh and pushed aside the whole nickname business, for it was unimportant really. "I suppose you're right though. Yet I know I won't be able to control myself. Ironic, I know." At the mention of parenting books, the purple haired woman looked appalled and gently pushed the other away in only slight disgust. "Oh haha. Yes and I'm sure one of them has a chapter on raising a half formed torso just waiting to be read? Really Aphismet." Though she mocked his silly suggestion, in her head, Ebony was contemplating its usefullness.

"Of course he didn't mean to!" Cordelia said loudly as she spun back around, her eyes steeled to defend her friend. "He came and apologized to me! He's very nice and warm! It was that stupid virus!" The serpent's expression grew dark and angry, "That horrible monster they said was gonna be a Raevan! Like us! After what it did?! It's...it's...WRONG!"

Cordelia's wings were rattling a bit in agitation as her breathing labored in her anger, tail ends of her hair lifting slight in smokey-ness. She hadn't meant to get so worked up about this, but she felt it had to be said. To protect Lazarus and put the blame where it rightfully sat. Besides, what right did a virus that worked against them have to be one of them? It was macabre and morbid in her mind.

He certainly was correct in them not being babies, for no mere human baby was able to adapt and grow as quickly as the Raevans seem to. Cordelia had been so slow to learn at first, but as soon as the snow thawed, so did the snake's learning curve. And as winter progressed into spring and now with summer's fast approach, it left the lavender haired Brit wondering how quickly her little bundle of smoke would change even more by autumn's end. This train of thought had only served to sadden Ebony. She'd grown so close and accustomed to her charge now that even the tiniest thought of Delia leaving the nest so soon was utterly unbearable. 'There's plenty of time still. Plenty of time...' was the running mantra in her head. But, was there really?

Accepting his offered hand, Ebony quickly joined Aphi in making herself presentable again. "Thank you. For everything. You've certainly given me plenty to think about Aphismet. And I'll have to pass on that. Think it might be about time Cordelia and I head home. She's likely talked Rivener's ears off by now."

He paled and gave a shudder at the knowledge of hearing the virus was being granted rebirth as a Raevan. This made the basilisk smirk with pleasure. Good, someone else was on her side for once. The humans (mostly Ebony) all thought this a fair idea and were taking it all to calmly for her tastes. Of course they wouldn't understand, them not being Raevans. But Rivener was! And he'd even experienced the added pain the illness had dealt, making him all the more able to understand her revulsion towards this joke of a being they were creating.

Cordelia's mood began to sour though when the Sigel tried to give false comforts of future possibilities as her woman had. A very cold and sinister look was shot at him, indicating she was not buying it, and thankfully the scorpion had decided at that point it wasn't even worth the effort. That meant he doubted much as she did and that was enough for Delia for the moment and calmed down enough so that her hair wasn't doing that freaky smoke thing anymore. Although, her wings still flicked a tad in irritation towards this obviously sore subject she'd unintentionally brought up.

Trailing after her elder kin, the snake slithered her arms in and around one of the night Sigel's strong arms and hugged it close as they floated back towards his house. She was really glad that she'd come now, finding a new friend in 'Riven'. "That's fine. I'm getting kinda hungry." Her black rune throbbed a bit as if in response to her words.

"Thank you for having us. And yes, they did. I'm glad. Cordelia's far too social for her to be content with only me as company." Ebony laughed as the two ribboned beings came floating in, as if they'd known it was time for farewells. She blushed though when Aphismet explained the odd scent in the air, still fresh from her little accident. Technically it was the scorpion's fault, but...looking at how content Cordelia was then with her new friend...Ebony hadn't the heart to chew the boy out.

"What's beer?" She tilted her head from side to side, taking a whiff of the air as well, her tongue slightly glossing over her dark lips as she did. Delia crinkled her nose a little at the sour like smell. If that was it then well, she didn't want anything to do with it.

When Riven mentioned eating, the snake's face lit up with remembrance. "Oh yeah! Ebby?" the basilisk cooed before abandoning the Sigel's arm for her guardian's. Laying her head on the Brit's shoulder, "Can I have some of the incense again? Please?"

Ebony chuckled and nodded to her ward who in joyful response squealed low and hugged the woman tight. "She feeds on smoke. So I have to burn things for her, which you can imagine gets troublesome when there's nothing to burn. So we've been experimenting with incense lately."

The smoke Frei nodded enthusiastically, "Ebby doesn't like the smell of smoke. Can't see why, smells delicious to me." The girl grinned, her mouth almost salivating to the thought of a meal soon to come. "But! The incense are great too! Each one tastes so different!" Delia giggled.

"Aphismet, you shouldn't-" Ebony warned but was effectively cutoff by her floating charge.

Eyes as wide as quarters and just as shiny, Cordelia gave a delighted sound before loudly announcing, "PEARBERRY! I like pearberry incense the best! It smells like the winds at home and tastes like, um..." Her excitement dwindled a bit as she searched for the word to describe the taste of her meal, but of course having little experience with any physical food, the basilisk lacked the right verbiage to express it correctly. "Um...it tastes like...happy? Mmm, yeah happy."

Ebony gave a sighing laugh, "I tried to warn you. She adores presents of any kind. Cordelia's likely to try and get one out of you every time she sees you now." This of course prompted a tongue being stuck out at her playfully by the smoke Raevan. "But yes, we are leaving now. It was lovely visiting you two and please, don't think nothing of the presents, overdue as they are. And don't be afraid of calling yourself. We need to do better at this...friendship thing." The word was odd and almost foreign feeling on her tongue, but Ebony found she didn't completely object to it nor the emotions it invoked, a slight swelling in her chest as her heart warmed to the idea.

Rivener was indeed wise for putting a counter between him and the overly affectionate serpent as she was looking for a way around to give the Sigel a proper parting. Unfortunately being escorted the other way played well in the Scorpion's favor and Delia had to settle for a simple wave, frustrating as it was. "Bye Riven! Come over some time okay?"