Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sweet aroma of oven-baked goodness waft through the home as the air stirred with the lulling notes of strummed strings as well as the erratic movements of a smoky ribbon. Loyally it chased the dark half being around the kitchen as she franticly mixed milk, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl, desperately trying to succeed at using one of the many recipes she’d gotten from Aphismet. After the icing looked smooth and consistent, Ebony lightly dabbed the tip of her finger into the bowl before popping it in her mouth for a quick taste. She immediately regretted the action, practically choking on the far too sweet concoction.

The buzzer for the oven sounded then, alerting all to the finished baking of the cake inside, as if the delicious scent that engulfed the room hadn’t already been enough. The woman sighed as she mitted a hand and approached the hot appliance, “This would be a lot easier if I could tell what I was tasting was correct or not.” Placing the chocolate cake on the counter, Ebony eyed it closely. It didn’t look half bad. It wasn’t crumbling or bubbling or well…anything, so that was a plus, right? “Well I guess Cordelia will have to tell me whether it tastes all right or not.”

As if on cue, the purple haired girl came walking in with a look far too Ebony-like that the Brit was caught off guard by it, thinking she was viewing herself truly for a split moment. Delia’s brow cocked in that quizzical manner, “What’s that…” she began, but was soon cut off.

Quickly shaking the vision, the Frei came flying around the island counter, waving her arms about madly. “Nononono! You’re not suppose to be here now! I’m not finished!”

“Finished with what?” the girl asked curiously as she tried to get a better view of her guardian’s experiment, as that was the only thing it could be called since Ebby wasn’t exactly Julia Childs when it came to cooking.

“Um, well…” Ebony stalled looking back at the cooling cake. “Just let me put on the finishing touches okay?”

Cordelia sighed, but nodded and waited patiently as her guardian speedily slathered white on top the dark dessert. She could see how frustrated she was at having to rush, for some reason this cake had been particularly important to the woman. The basilisk curiously wondered why. Normally when Ebby tried her hand at something in the kitchen on her own, she didn’t try as hard, not like when Aphi was teaching her. And of course it would end badly and that would be it, no finishing and no caring. What was even more odd though was that it was a chocolate cake and not something “healthier.” Strange indeed.

The girl was roused from her ponderings with a small ‘ta-da’ and the furnishing of said cake, complete with iced top and a huge flaming candle in the shape of a number one. Cordelia was silent as she stared un-blinking at the dessert, not sure what the proper response was to an action such as this. Again Delia was reminded how weird humans were.

Maybe it was too much for Ebony to ask, but she was hoping for something a little more than utter blankness. Perhaps stunned silence or even a quiet awe, but not this nothing. That’s when she’d realized it wasn’t the snake’s fault, but her own. With renewed hope, the woman smiled, “Happy birthday Dove!”

“Ha-ppy…birth-day?” Delia mumbled, even managing to c**k her head to the side in confusion. She was aware of the annual day that humans celebrated in honor of a person’s birth, yet the girl had never thought Raevans would or could be included in it. After all, she wasn’t born, but created. Weren’t those two different things entirely? “Why?”

“Why?” Ebony repeated with a similar confusion. Really she couldn’t blame Cordelia for acting like this. She’d never had a birthday before and it wasn’t like the Brit ever truly celebrated her own. Sighing, the woman turned Raevan placed the cake back down on the kitchen counter before addressing her charge. “Cordelia, today’s the day you came into this world. It’s your birthday, and I see no reason for not celebrating that.”

“But birthday means day of birth, the day a person is born. I wasn’t born.”
“Perhaps not in the uh…traditional sense, but you exist. I want to celebrate the day that happened, a year ago today.”
“But-“

Delia didn’t get to finish as a finger was mashed hastily to her lips. Another sigh as Ebony pulled her finger away to free the girl’s mouth. “Look Dove, I don’t know what sort of nonsense you’ve gotten into that head of yours about not getting a birthday because you weren’t “born,” but I’m the adult here and I say you and everyone else out there gets a birthday, all right?”

Flabbergasted by her guardian’s tenacity on the subject, the girl simply nodded in compliance. Whether she truly agreed or not wasn’t the case here anymore. Ebby said it was her birthday and no matter of arguing was going to change that. Besides, she did go pretty out of her way to make this day a special one; it would be rude to dismiss that on such a silly notion of proper definition.

Happy, the woman’s face softened and she floated back behind her most recent trial at baking. She really did hope it tasted as well as it looked, though Ebony thought it could have looked much better if she hadn’t been rushed. “So, how about you blow that candle out and make a wish, hm?”

Sometimes Delia just didn’t understand her woman. She always had to be top dog, the authority, a strong, serious type. And then there were times, mostly here at home where no one else could see, when the Brit’s defenses seemed to roll back a bit and the basilisk could see a spark of child-like whimsy mixed with a devote, but loving mother figure. This was another of those things she’d seemed to notice and understand more the longer she was in this body. There were times where Cordelia felt like her mind was literally expanding to accommodate all these new concepts and ideas, though not exactly unpleasant, it did unsettle the girl some.

A shake of her lavender colored head and the candle’s flame went out.

Already starting to cut a piece for her charge, Ebony asked, even though she knew she wasn’t suppose to, yet she just had to know. Perhaps it was something they could buy at the store later. “So what’d you wish for?”

The girl took a stool at the counter and laid her head gingerly on the marble surface with a sigh, not really interested in the aspect of eating right then. “I think you know.”

Ebony briefly stopped mid-cut and viewed her downcast ward. Yes, it was painfully obvious to see what it was that the girl wanted, something they both wanted which couldn’t be easily obtained at the local mall. Silently, the woman finished slicing a wedge of cake and put it on a plate with a fork for Cordelia. “I’ll find a way. I promise.”

With a grunt of physical effort, Ebony pulled the wheelbarrow she’d been pushing to a stop right in front of the house. Somehow one of the bushes on the Shade property had gotten a nasty case of wood rot and needed to be removed immediately before it spread to the rest of the yard.

Cordelia sighed as she followed up from behind with a box of various gardening tools, “Why are we doing this Ebby? Couldn’t you, ya know, just call one of those guys from the tele to do it instead? They’d probably do it better anyhow.”

The purple haired human frowned as she dusted her hands off. “Cordelia that’s a horrible attitude to have. Money shouldn’t always be an end all, be all solution. Besides it’s good to do things yourself. You never know when those extra skills might come in handy.”

“Right…” Delia exhaled heavily as she handed over the box to her guardian. It might be right, but the smoky girl didn’t really want to admit that. The girl liked it better when her woman spent lavishly on things with little thought to it at all. Yet there were times when even Ebony felt she needed to be frugal. Or maybe it was more of an independence thing, Cordelia wasn’t quite sure and really didn’t care cause she thought it was kinda stupid. Money was meant to be spent and if you had plenty of it, why not?

Rummaging through the tools, the British woman groaned a little. Placing the box on the ground, “The gardening gloves must still be in the green house. I’ll go find them. You can just stay here if you want. Be right back!”

As her guardian disappeared into the house, Delia rolled her eyes. Looking towards the sky, the Frei couldn’t help thinking of the millions of other things she’d rather be doing than this right now. A side-glance towards the sickly bush had the girl cringing and she quickly moved away from it. While she waited for Ebony’s return, the Raevan leaned against one of the trees in the front yard, the one furthest away from the house and that bush. She supposed she could just lock herself in her room or something, but then that would just make Ebby mad and she’d be punished for it later. Delia sighed and resigned to her fate. Well at least the weather was nice and warm today like she liked it.

It couldn’t have been more than a couple minutes that the snake was laying there peacefully before a male voice addressed her. “Nice weather we’re having today huh?”

Slowly the blackened girl sat up and blinked. The voice belonged to an elder gentleman with graying dark hair and clear blue eyes. Though he was older, much older than her woman that was for sure, his physic spoke otherwise. He was tall and lean, but held a strong, sculpted build. A build much like Ebby’s in fact. Actually that wasn’t the only thing that seemed familiar as the man also held a similar accent to her guardian’s.“I’m sorry?”

The man merely gave a charmed smile before replying, “The weather. I was just commenting on how nice it’s been today.”

“Oh…yes it is nice today.” There was an awkward moment of silence then. Cordelia wasn’t sure who this man was or why he’d suddenly appeared to ask her about the weather, but somehow she felt it rude to ask. Yet wasn’t it even ruder of her to just float there and stare?

Another moment passed before the Frei asked, “Uh, not to be rude, but um, do you, eh err, well what I mean to say is can I help you with anything?” If the girl’s biology had allowed, her cheeks would have been a much deeper shade of red then as the elder gentleman was making her nervous just standing there with that utterly pleased expression on his face, as if merely being next to Cordelia was an exquisite treat.

The man’s smile faltered at last only to be replaced with a look of serious contemplation, “Hmm, why yes, yes you can help me with something today. You see I’m looking for my daugh-“ He never got to finish as his sentence was suddenly cut off then.

“Cordelia?! Where did you…” Ebony’s voice stopped mid sentence as her grey eyes swept the front lawn for her ward and it froze on the pair.

The wind blew light as a silence fell upon the grounds around them. Delia couldn’t help feeling a tension brewing in the air as it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. At first she wasn’t sure what it was as her eyes glanced back and forth between the two humans. But then she saw it. Ebony’s face was slowly contorting into an almost indecipherable expression, something mostly caught between horror and straight out anger though there were obviously signs of other minor emotions present. The lavender haired woman’s eyes flashed with a level of madness the Raevan had never seen in her guardian before, like something had cracked in that perfectly cultivated mind of hers just then.

“What…” the younger Brit started as she stormed towards them. “What is the meaning of this?! How dare you. HOW DARE YOU! COMING HERE AND LOOKING LIKE THAT! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! IS THIS SOMEHOW FUNNY TO YOU?! HUH?! WELL ANSWER ME IMPOSTER?!”

Imposter? Delia looked towards the elder gent once more, but this time with a look of obvious confusion. For the short time they had spoken he seemed like a perfectly nice old man. But then for Ebby to get this emotional…the snake’s brows pulled in tight with suspicion, who was it that he was supposedly mimicking?

All through the violet haired woman’s yelling, the elder Brit remained as calm and composed as when he’d approached Cordelia just a moment before. When Ebony had finally allowed, the man gave a solemn sigh before replying. “Quick to anger as always eh? Though I suppose I should have expected as much coming about like this.” He gestured to himself as a whole before continuing. “Can’t blame me though as if I had written or called you surely would have tossed it out or hung up on me. Still I must say I am rather touched by your reactions Dove.”

“EXCUSE ME?!” Ebony shouted again, so loud that the few neighbors they did have, if home were probably watching now and ready to call the police. Suddenly the tears that the woman had been trying so desperately to keep at bay wouldn’t or rather couldn’t be held back any longer and began to stream down her tanned cheeks profusely. Voice quieter now, it still held the same bite of bitter anger and pain in every syllable she spoke. “Don’t you…don’t you DARE call me that! Not looking like him! Please leave!”

Tears began to well up in the man’s own sapphire orbs as he felt the pain he was causing her, “Ebony…I…”

“I’m sorry, but she asked you to leave.” Though Cordelia was burning to know what exactly was going on here, she felt compelled to protect her guardian’s well being first and foremost. Floating between the two humans, the basilisk flared her wings in a fashion as if to shield Ebony from the other. “I think it best you respect her wishes.”

He realized it wasn’t just a suggestion, the smoky Raevan was actually threatening him as well, whether she knew it or not. Thus the man nodded in agreement. Before leaving though he removed something from his pocket and handed it to the girl. “I understand, but please, take this. It’s the contact for the hotel I’m staying at. I’ll be there for as long as it takes, but really, I only wanted to talk, to…explain myself to her. She doesn’t have to come in person, but I would like it if she at least called to hear me out.” Trying to look around the bladed wings to the purple hair beyond, the man pleaded, “Please call me Ebony.”

“Fine, whatever.” Cordelia hastily agreed, taking the card from him. She probably would have agreed to cluck like a chicken if it would have gotten him out of there fast enough. She could feel Ebony sobbing into her back, unable to control the flow of emotions practically spewing from her then.

When the man was finally a good ways away from them and the house, Cordelia carefully turned around and hugged her guardian. For the life of her, she couldn’t ever recall a time where she’d seen Ebony react to something like this. Sure she got plenty angry from time to time and sure she cried some, but never could Delia remember her just breaking down like this. Like someone had opened a scar of hers and was pouring salt into the wound.

“Come on, let’s go inside.” The day’s task forgotten, Cordelia lead her currently fragile woman into the house. Very carefully, the floating girl made her guardian some tea and joined her on the couch. She watched quietly as Ebony drank and began to finally calm down.

After several minutes of silence, Ebony finally sighed and placed her half empty cup in her lap. “I’m very sorry about that Cordelia. I’m sure you have many questions right about now.”

“Well yeah, but they can wait.” She was rather curious to whom this mysterious man was and why her woman had fallen apart at the seams just from the mere sight of him, but she also didn’t want Ebony to push herself either.

“If ever a best time, why not now?” she scoffed light, both wanting to tell her, yet at the same time to take her kind gesture and leave today’s miseries in the past where they belonged. Ebony sighed and began what she felt to be a very long story.

“You know that my adopted father, Adrian, died quite a few years ago yes?” Delia nodded and her guardian continued. “Well that man that showed up here today was basically the spitting image of him, so that’s why I lost my composure as I did.”

It all made sense now. Seeing that man was almost like seeing her father’s ghost, something that would bring anyone to hysteria as Ebony had been. But the man wasn’t a spirit from beyond. As far as the basilisk could tell he looked to be as much flesh and bone as she or anyone else was. “Okay well what I don’t understand then is that if Granddad Adrian is dead, who’s that guy? And why’s he look exactly like him?”

Ebony shook her head as she got up to wash out her now empty cup, “I don’t know and I don’t want to know. If he comes by again Cordelia, call the police.”

Delia could see the great deal of pain her woman was in right now and though the British woman had made her words final, the smoky Raevan couldn’t just leave it there. This was a mystery of the highest caliber, one she aimed to get to the bottom of if not for Ebby then to quell her own curiosity.