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 Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:22 pm
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:37 pm
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Solo Journal Entry
~~~~~~
The happy mood that had previously been occupying the Shade household was nowhere to be found as of now. In its stead was whispered concerns and silence. The minute they had gotten home from Durem Cordelia ignored both her humans’ attempts at questioning her on what exactly had conspired during her time out and barricaded herself in her room. For a good time the snake simply hugged a pillow and cried herself to sleep.
Days went by and although Cordelia’s tears had finally dried up, she had yet to come out of her room or speak a word towards her guardians. The dark Frei was usually such a chatterbox that it was hard for her to keep quiet for too long, thus this highly extended bout of silence from her was more than enough for concern. In fact it was starting to drive Ebony crazy.
“Dad I can’t take it anymore!” the purple haired woman barked, a bit of coffee sloshing out of her mug as she had set it down roughly in frustration. Even more irritated by this new development, Ebony set to work fetching a towel to clean up the mess. “I’m going up there right this minute and demanding to know what happened!”
Adrian paused in his feeding of Poseidon, the family’s fox-fish, of whom was not pleased by this momentary deviation and began trying to stretch himself up to meet the man’s somewhat out of reach hand which held the tiny fish he so desperately wanted. With his free hand the elder Brit rubbed his chin and made a contemplative sound. Finally dropping the fish for the aquatic pup, Adrian climbed down from the stairs they’d installed for feeding the pet. “Ebony…I know how you feel, but don’t you think if she’d wanted us to know she’d have talked to us by now?”
“That’s even more reason for us to go up there and force her to talk to us! It’s been what, a week? Over a week?” the woman tried to count the days that had passed since bringing Cordelia home that night, but quickly lost interest in it. “Whatever, the fact is that it has been far too long. Normally she would have said something to us by now, anything! Hell she would have at least been out of her room once since then if it wasn’t exactly a “big deal” or if she’d simply “gotten over it.”
Pouring his own cup of coffee, “Did you contact Rivener again? What did he have to say?”
“Absolutely nothing! That damnable scorpion swears he only found Cordelia wandering about in the rain at night alone, that she was crying and simply took her home. I know he knows more. Those two are very close, like brother and sister, he thinks he’s protecting her by staying quiet or she’s instructed him not to say anything, if I had to guess it would be a combination of both.”
“You’re probably right.” her father replied before taking a long sip of his hot beverage. It was a moment before he added, “I still don’t think barging in there is going to do much good. If you’ve noticed her crying has finally stopped. We go in there guns at the ready, she’s likely to go right back at it again.”
Ebony frowned, she hated to admit it, but her father had a valid point. With a defeated sigh, “Then what do you propose I do?”
“Well for one, we agree we need to get her out of that room for starters, correct?” his daughter nodded. Adrian smiled slyly, a devious glint in those blue eyes, it was evident he had a clever plot spinning in that head of his already. “All right then, first things first, you need to go back to work today.”
“What?! Dad I can’t-“
Adrian held his hand up to stop her protest, “You can and you must. For one, you’ve been off too long now, two for my plan to work you can’t be around.”
Feeling a headache coming on, the woman held a hand to her head, “Okay fine, though I’m sure I won’t get much of anything done at the office. That being said, can you at least tell me what it is you have planned?”
~ ~ ~
The brokenness of her heart had settled at last and what was left was a hollowness the likes of which she had never experienced before, far worse than the empty feeling she had for now she knew exactly what had been there and what she had lost. Cordelia laid staring blankly up at the black canopy of her Victorian styled bed of which seemed to reflect her mood. She couldn’t cry anymore even if she wanted to, the well had long since dried up. All she could do, or more like all she felt like doing, was lay there and smolder in her melancholy.
Slowly the snake turned her head to the side as she heard the garage door open from downstairs. She wasn’t really sure of whom it was that was leaving, but having at least one less person in the house some how made it more bearable to be there, like the air was less heavy. So much so that even the thought of finally leaving her room was raised in her mind, but dashed the moment she realized someone had stayed behind. Was it Ebony? Was she going to march right up here and tear that door right off its hinges to finally get the answers she so rightly thought were owed her?
Cordelia stared that door down, every moment agony, waiting, just waiting to see who would come. But funny enough, no one came. No one even gave a tap at her door even though she’d heard footsteps in the hall. Nope, they had simply walked on by as if nothing were there, as if Cordelia weren’t there. The Frei couldn’t help but feel somewhat annoyed by this development. It wasn’t that they needed nor deserved any sort of answers from her really, yet…the idea of not being hounded from what was suppose to be her family made her feel even more lonely than she felt right that moment. For this, new tears welled up in her silver eyes and dropped softly to her satin sheets. It was quite ludicrous for her to cry over something like this. After all it was her fault that they had stopped trying.
The tears didn’t last long since the girl wasn’t quite recovered from her most recent bout, but that still didn’t mean she wasn’t incredibly hurt by her humans’ lack of caring or rather what she thought was not caring. Once she calmed down again, Delia figured out it must have been her grandfather who had stayed home since most of the shuffling about seemed to be coming from his room across the hall. That and she highly doubted Ebony had suddenly developed a deep male voice that complained about getting too old and whatnot. Then again…stranger things have happened. Finally getting bored with hearing for things outside her room, most especially since those things seemed not to care a bit about her, Cordelia rolled over and settled into her blankets. All this crying had finally caught up with her and she felt it was time for her to get some real sleep.
Her eyes weren’t shut for more than a few minutes before loud thuds and a crash had them snap straight open. She listened intently for a moment. No sounds whatsoever. Worries filling her mind and heart stuck in her throat, Cordelia sat up and watched her door again. Still no sounds came from the other side. Finally she mustered up the courage to speak up. “Gr-granddad?” The dreadful silence was all that answered. Quick as a bullet she was out of bed, flinging her bedroom door open so haphazardly that it bounced off the adjoining wall, leaving cracks in the paint where it had hit.
“Granddad?” Cordelia looked about before looking down the staircase. She saw a cardboard box full of books, tools and tech gear just strewn about the stairs and the floor below. But next to it was the most horrible sight she could have imagined, Adrian laying there, eyes closed and not moving. “GRANDDAD!” The basilisk flew down the stairs in a heartbeat and took to cradle the elder Shade in her arms. “Ohgodohgodohgodohgod…please please please! Granddad are you okay? Please say something!”
Slowly the man stirred and his faded blue eyes looked upon his granddaughter’s distraught face. He gave a shaky breath before bringing her head closer to hear him speak. “I’m…glad you came out of your room finally.” Adrian whispered with a smirk before getting up and dusting himself off, perfectly fine.
Cordelia sat there dumbfounded for a moment. What…what had just happened? It wasn’t until she saw her grandfather quickly picking up things and stuffing them back into the box that she figured out that she’d been duped. “GRANDDAD!” she screeched. “How could you do that to me?! I thought…I thought…” the smoky Frei just started sobbing again at the thought of possibly losing him. “That’s the most horrible thing you’ve ever done!”
Adrian raised a brow at that comment. In all honesty, he could and has done far worse, but it was best not to get into the semantics of that. After all he had succeeded at drawing the girl out of her room finally. Sighing heavily, “Well you really didn’t leave me with much of a choice now did you?” Kneeling down to be level with her, Adrian spoke softly and patted her head gently. “Now now, there there. I’m quite all right as you can perfectly see. Fit as a fiddle. It’s you that’s a complete mess. How about you finally tell ole granddad what has been bothering you this whole bloody time, eh?”
Though she was downright grateful that nothing was wrong with him and obviously nothing close to angry as possibly her guardian would have been, all Cordelia could do was shake her head at him. It wasn’t an easy thing to articulate especially to a human. What would he or anyone of them know of being a Raevan? Hell it was hard for her to tell Rivener and even he hadn’t really been able to understand. Suddenly in that moment she wondered, were there other Raevans like her that remembered some of the life they had before or was she, for whatever reason, the exception? The thought made her feel like she was absolutely alone in this world once more and thus she threw herself at Adrian and clung to him tight, desperate to make the feeling go away.
For Adrian, it was heartbreaking. He didn’t know what had happened and it seemed he might not be able to fix it completely even if he did. But he hoped that just by getting her out of her room he might be able to help her get past it somehow, whatever it was. Sitting down, the old Brit wrapped his arms around the girl and hugged her back. “Okay, I get it, you can’t talk about it now. That’s all right. You just take all the time you need. When you need me, I’m right here okay? Ebony too.”
Sniffling and cuddling closer, the Raevan couldn’t help commenting on her guardian’s tenacity. “She won’t stop will she?”
Her grandfather gave a light chuckle, knowing exactly what the Frei was asking. He knew full well that when his daughter wanted to involve herself with something, Ebony could be quite relentless in her pursuit. “Probably not, but I’ll see what I can do.”
With that no more was said on the subject nor about what had happened that night in Durem, and for that Cordelia was eternally grateful.
~~~~~~ |
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Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2013 11:34 pm
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Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:18 pm
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:55 pm
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Solo Journal Entry
~~~~~~
“UHHH! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” hissed the Basilisk as she floated angrily through the Shade’s front door almost slamming said door on her guardian.
Shoving the door back open as she stepped inside before promptly slamming it shut herself, “Because you are not acting anything like yourself!” Counting off with her slender digits, Ebony continued. “You’re moody, anti-social, secretive-“
Delia couldn’t help giving a loud, laughable scoff, “So basically I’m acting EXACTLY like YOU! What a proud moment this all must be for you.”
Whether out of shock or anger, the smoke Raevan suddenly (and surprisingly) found herself on the back end of a hand slapping her straight in the face. There was a moment of brief silence and utter stillness then. The tension in the room was so thick that a sword probably couldn’t even cut through it if it wanted to. The purple haired Brit immediately regretted her spur of the moment action.
Drawing her hands quick to her sun-kissed lips with a tiny gasp, Ebony quietly mouthed through them, “Cordelia…I’m…I’m so sorry…I-I shouldn’t have…” Though not having been the one getting slapped in the face then, Ebony still held great pain in her silver eyes at that moment. Arms dropping unceremoniously to her side, “Cordelia, I just…I just want to know what’s wrong? I want to help.”
The impact from the slap radiated painfully throughout the Frei’s cheek and traveled out to her sensitive mouth. Cordelia was reeling as the pain there tripled in strength and her vision blurred from its intensity. Cradling her slightly reddened cheek, the dark haired girl gave an almost hysterical laugh. “You want to know what’s wrong? You really want to know?! Fine! YOU’RE what’s wrong!”
At last, the pressure had finally popped the cork off the bottled up emotions and Cordelia could feel all her emotions flood out into the open. With no remorse and no care, the Basilisk threw any caution she had of telling her guardian just exactly what she was thinking and feeling then right out the window.
“You sit around like your queen of the world, like you know what’s best for everyone and everything! As if Ebony Shade could do no wrong! But you’ve done plenty wrong!” One hand held tight to her chest, a sick feeling emitting from her rune as it pulsed sporadically while the other hand drifted up to cradle her pounding head. Her vision was starting to blur even more now. Was she so rage filled that everything should feel like it was on fire? Or was she simply having a heart attack? Rune attack? Was that even possible?
Completely taken aback, Ebony merely gaped at what her ward was saying to her. It was her fault then. She had a feeling that was the case, as it always seemed the Basilisk was at her most annoyed and worst mood when being around the older Shade nowadays. The woman’s hand gripped at her own chest in anticipation and fear. What did the Raevan mean by she had done plenty wrong? Did the girl find out about her having been a thief? Looking back on it now, Ebony felt her time spent as such probably wasn’t the best use of her talents, but silly young people do silly young things when their whole world falls apart. In all honesty, though at first it seemed like an intriguing notion to her to “own” something as rare and valuable as a Raevan, it was actually Cordelia that allowed Ebony to realize she could get out and be better and do better. Long before her father showed back up and urged her to get a different “career”, Ebony had already been trying to figure out exactly how to end it, for her daughter’s sake. Of course there was something probably only Adrian could ever admit to understanding. Even when you’re out, you’re in. Thieving, much like gambling, was a thrilling addiction after all. And most addicts tend to fall off the wagon. She hadn’t yet and that was because she had her family. She had Cordelia.
“Cordelia…” Ebony tried to interject yet the snake girl ignored all the warning signs of danger and continued on with her tirade.
“You lied to me! You’ve been lying to me since the very beginning!” she screeched as high as her smoky voice could reach. Everything thing felt hot and itchy. Dear lord did her arms and neck itch! Scratching at them like a crazy person, “You said I was a snake, but never let on what kind or how you captured my soul! You always just tipped-toed around the subject and like an idiot I let you!”
With Cordelia half crazed now, she no longer took the care she had earlier in hiding her skin condition and was frantically clawing at herself which in turn allowed Ebony full view of the girl’s skin underneath that black hoodie. No longer were the stone-like patches small, now they were enormous sections threatening to overtake her whole body. Eyes widening in horror, Ebony tried to approach the Frei. “Cordelia! Your arms! Your neck! What's wr-“
Cutting the Brit off abruptly, Delia retreated backwards further into the living room. With her hands in fists and lightly knocking the sides of head as it shook, “No, no, NO! I was a basilisk! I had a family and you killed me and trapped me in this form!”
BOOM! Right then Cordelia collapsed to the floor gasping for breath. She could feel her heart racing as her vision started darkening and her body started getting heavier and harder to move. Why? Why was this happening? What was wrong with her?
“CORDELIA!” Ebony screamed as she watched the girl drop to the ground with an audible thud.
A realization flashed across her mind then. She had felt something similar before when she was a basilisk, right before she died. Fear and sorrow engulfing her, Cordelia wept. This was it; she was finally going to die. How fleeting this second life had been.
Dashing across in a panic and sliding onto the floor right in front of Cordelia, Ebony searched for something to do, anything! But all she could see was her daughter crying as that white marble like substance began to come together and takeover what was left of the snake’s bare skin. In complete turmoil and wanting to escape, Delia’s smoke abilities must have been triggered as what was left of her began to lose tangible form and started to wisp away. Obviously the stone had other plans and reacted quickly, trapping the smoke behind a statue replica of the Basilisk.
Tears welled in the violet haired woman’s grey eyes when the cries of her dear beloved child stopped and the house fell deeply silent. “Cor-Cordelia?” Ebony gently reached a hand out to touch the girl. The sensation on her fingers was not that of cool stone, it was slightly warm to the touch and just behind that smooth surface the Brit could feel a tiny pulse, almost like a heartbeat. It was barely there though; as if at any moment it would just stop altogether.
Silver eyes growing large with worry, “Cordelia? Cordelia?! CORDELIA!” Ebony flung herself against the stone girl and hugged her tight. A river of tears traveled down the woman’s tanned cheeks as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.
~~~~~~ |
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:57 pm
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Solo Journal Entry
~~~~~~
‘Where am I? Who am I? Who are you? You don’t know? No, no, no…it’s still not time to wake up. I’m not ready. Why not? I don’t know. Ready for what? Nothing…back to sleep.’
~~~
The Lab said they couldn’t be absolutely sure what was wrong with Cordelia or why exactly she’d turned to stone, but if they could guess they suspected it was due to mental and emotional stress from learning about her soul’s true origin. What they were positive of was that she was still with us as there were signs of her rune still being intact within the protective shell. Although they highly speculated that it was in some sort of distress, as if Cordelia’s soul and fel essence were no longer in harmony with one another, as if the Frei were going through some sort of identity crisis. Since the Raevan was in such a delicate state that could easily spell disaster if disturbed, Doctor Kyou and the rest of the Lab staff agreed it would be best not to move her for the time being.
And there she stayed in the Shade’s living room, silent, unmoving and unchanging. All the while the world outside kept moving forward without her. At first there were quite a few visits and calls, but as time marched on and Cordelia’s condition never seemed to get any better or worse, she quietly slipped to the background of people’s minds. But of course neither Ebony nor Adrian could forget that a member of their family was missing. If things hadn’t been strained between father and daughter before this all happened, it certainly was now. Adrian would try to keep Ebony out of the house as much as possible to get her mind off things, but as days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, the purple haired female’s state of being spiraled further down into despair. It got so bad she eventually just stopped going to work altogether and would just sit and stare at the statue of Cordelia. Day and night she would sit there and when she would finally pass out from exhaustion, Adrian would gently scoop her up and take her to her room to sleep properly in a bed. But of course once she was rested and woke, Ebony would be right back at it again. Sometimes she would utter a few words or so, but for the most part she remained silently staring.
Adrian was finally starting to get to his wits end with his daughter. It was just too painful to watch everyday and made him feel incredibly guilty because it made him think of what he’d put her through when he’d faked his own death years ago. Others might see Ebony as she would want them to, strong and self-reliant, but in truth she was actually very fragile when it came to people she had grown genuinely attached to. It was probably one of the main reasons she kept most people at a great distance. The elder Shade was seriously concerned about what would happen to Ebony the longer Cordelia remained this way. Everyday he prayed to whatever gods above would listen that the smoky Frei would finally come back to them, to no avail. Even now Adrian’s hope was starting to wane, thinking that his granddaughter may just be stuck like this forever. As intelligent as he was it angered him greatly that this was out of his field of understanding and that he couldn’t help his girls. He felt absolutely useless. All he could do was wait and hope.
~~~
‘Do you hear something? It’s nothing. No, you’re wrong, I hear voices. That just makes you sound crazy. They sound sad. Maybe they should be. Why? They brought it upon themselves. Why? They can’t be trusted. Maybe you’re right. Maybe.’
~~~
It finally happened. Adrian did his best to keep close tabs on Ebony, which hadn’t been too hard in recent months as she rarely left the house let alone Cordelia’s side, but allowing himself that kind of complacent thought allowed his daughter to slip away one night and not return. Over and over he tried calling her cell phone, but the same message always directed him to voice mail. With her phone turned off there was no way of him knowing where or what she was doing. Or was there?
Racing down the basement stairs to his makeshift workshop, Adrian roughly pushed several boxes aside. “Where is it?” the man grumbled as he tore into a box labeled ‘Junk’. When he’d moved in Ebony agreed to box up most of her Shadow Bandit stuff and his Silver Fox mementos. Since he’d allowed her to take care of the matter, as she was much more for organization than he usually was, Adrian had no idea where she’d stashed his outfit. Honestly, he never thought he’d ever have need for it again.
“Please, please, PLEASE be here! AHA!” Slender, masculine hands pulled out a pair of metallic arm guards. Slipping one onto his arm, Adrian opened a lid on top that revealed a small computer screen. In the past, when he’d faked his death, this was how he kept tabs on Ebony from afar. It was linked with the nanobots in her body and not only could he hear and see what she was doing, but track her exact location as well.
Adrian frowned deeply after clicking a couple buttons. Well it had been a long time since he’d used it so of course the battery died. Pulling up to his desk, the Brit detached a cord from the guard and plugged it into his laptop. Dead battery or not, he could still find out where his daughter was. His frowned returned though when he tried accessing the live data feed. Everything was offline. But the only way for that to be was if…
”No, no.” Adrian shook his head as if trying to banish the horrible thought from his mind. “There has to be another reason. She wouldn’t…she can’t…” Gridding his teeth as tears began to well up in his blue eyes, Adrian was forced to think the worst.
~~~
‘Who am I again? A basilisk. Are you sure? Of course. But I was sure there was something else. Just your imagination.’
Dragging his feet up the stairs, Adrian solemnly shut the door to the basement behind him. Slowly he’d make his way into the living room and sit gently down in front of the statue of his granddaughter. Clenching his fists to keep himself from breaking down completely, the Brit would quietly whisper, “Cordelia…I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve lost Ebony now too. I fear-“ The man choked on his words. He couldn’t give life to them else it would mean he was acknowledging them as truth. He refused, there had to be another reason.
Sighing, “Cordelia please come back. You’ve been in there long enough. Whatever it was, we can get through it. We're family after all.” Adrian gave a light laugh and smiled weakly, tears glistening in his sapphire eyes. Tilting his head up to the ceiling, Adrian couldn’t help but think this must have been his punishment for making all those mistakes with his life. It wasn’t fair, Ebony and Cordelia didn’t deserve to suffer. Only he should have to be punished. Fate was a cruel mistress.
‘A voice…it sounds different. It still lies. Why? Because all humans lie. Humans lie? Yes, all of them. Am I human? No. Then what am I? A basilisk. You said that before, but wasn’t there something else? Smoke? An abomination. You’re wrong.’
A small crack started to form in the middle of the statue of the Raevan. Inside, the Frei’s dark rune began to slowly pulse back to life, the shadowy wisps of smoke swirling quickly to it like moths to a flame. As the rune’s light grew so did the number of cracks across the statue’s surface. Adrian looked on in utter awe, not knowing how to react to what was happening right in front of him then.
‘You’re wrong. I’m not an abomination. I’m something beautiful and unique. I’m…’
Finally the smoke was powerful enough to shape itself into something more tangible than it had been in many months and broke free of the stone that had kept it trapped for so long.
‘…Cordelia Shade!’
~~~~~~ |
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:14 pm
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 6:43 pm
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Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 6:54 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:17 pm
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Solo Journal Entry
~~~~~~
Cordelia hadn’t been feeling that well and it wasn’t because she was trying to get out of whatever birthday plans her grandfather had. Actually, it didn’t even seem like the elder man had any plans for the day to be frank. He barely mentioned her birthday these last couple weeks. Maybe he decided not to pressure the girl or maybe he thought it best to just let her rest. After all, she was still recovering and was having little set backs every now and then, today being one of those days. Before the incident, the Basilisk barely ever got sick. Yet in these last few months since she’d awoke from her stone slumber, Cordelia would sometimes fall victim to a random fever that would keep her body in flux between corporeal and vaporous. It wasn’t something to be overly concerned about since getting plenty of smoke to eat, keeping warm and sleep seemed to make it go away quicker. They figured it probably just meant Cordelia was pushing herself too hard too quick to get back to a normal life.
But things weren’t normal. The snake grumbled and sighed heavily before popping her dark head from out of her bed covers. Her silver eyes peered across her messy bedroom at a photograph of Ebony, Adrian and herself. It had been taken the day her grandfather had moved in, as was evident by their disheveled appearances and the smiles on both Adrian’s and Cordelia’s faces. Ebony was of course pulled into the group photo and not altogether too happy with it, but the little smirk of a smile she gave proved she wasn’t completely against it either. The Raevan buried her face back into her covers as tears began to trickle down her olive toned cheeks. Where had Ebony gone? It had been months and still no sight or sound from her. Adrian had been forced to finally put in a missing person report of which still went unanswered. They should have found something by now, right? Or at the very least gotten some kind of word from the purple haired female.
In a fit of rage, Delia picked up one of her pillows and began punching and pounding into it until she was completely fed up and just started clawing it apart, feathers flying everywhere. It was her birthday! Ebony always made time in the past for it and made sure they celebrated it properly because it was important. Where was she now?! Why hadn’t she come home already?! Should the Basilisk even care? After all she was the one who…Cordelia could feel the fever spike again as her form gave way some and she was no longer able to hold onto the destroyed pillow she’d been grasping so fiercely then. Taking a deep breath, the smoky girl tried to relax. She wasn’t going to get any better if she kept exacerbating her condition. She couldn’t help it though as tears trailed down her cheeks once more. She couldn’t help thinking that Ebony’s absence was all her fault. She had every right to stay angry and bitter about her guardian’s actions towards her soul, yet the snake couldn’t lie about the pain and longing she felt for the missing human now. Adrian was doing his best to keep things light, but home wasn’t home without Ebony.
A knock came at her door then. “Cordelia? Are you awake?”
Eyes widening, Delia quickly tried to stuff all the feathers from her mangled pillow under her comforter before answering. “Uh, yeah Granddad. What’s up?”
Slowly, the man opened the door a crack and peered in before opening it fully and entering. He walked over to her bed and sat down, pulling a large case with a big red bow on it onto his lap as he did. “Sorry I didn’t really plan anything for your birthday…” He trailed off a bit, looking as if he was trying to find the right words to say at that exact moment. The elder man sighed before sliding the gift over to her. “I wasn’t sure if I should give this to you or not. Ebony picked it out quite awhile back when…well, you know. Anyway, happy birthday Dove.”
Steel eyes looked between her grandfather and the case. When exactly had Ebony picked out a gift for her? Was it during her stone entrapment? Was there a birthday in which the lavender haired woman had hoped Cordelia would awake for finally? Not knowing what to say exactly, the Frei carefully removed the bow and opened the case. Inside sat the oddiest shaped violin she’d ever seen. Curiously, the Frei carefully took the instrument out and looked it over. Despite it’s light looking design, it was a bit heavier than her current one.
Smiling a bit at his granddaughter’s quiet assessment of the instrument, Adrian was quick to input. “It’s an electric violin.” Pointing towards the bottom, “See here? There’s a jack to plug into an amp or to even plug headphones if you want to practice without anyone else hearing. Ebony thought you might want something more challenging eventually. She even thought the unique design might cater to your growing tastes.”
Cordelia gave no comment and merely placed the violin gently back in its case. Adrian frowned at this. “You don’t like it.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s beautiful and thoughtful. I just…” The smoke Raevan felt tears falling from her face again and quickly leaned into her grandfather’s shoulder to hide them.
His anxious demeanor softened as he held her close. “I know. It’s not the same without her.”
It would be a long while before anything was said or done as Cordelia quietly sobbed into Adrian’s chest. She really was starting to hate this time of the year. It only seemed to bring misery.
~~~~~~ |
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 6:13 am
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Solo Journal Entry
~~~~~~
Cordelia’s twitching eye was quite noticeable as she floated silently still in the middle of a large sea of overdressed bodies. The aura that emitted from her then was very obvious to passers-by, thus a gap started widening around her in order to avoid any “accidents”. Looking to her phone once more, the Basilisk just couldn’t believe what had happened.
‘No more parking available for the carnival. Going across town to check out a new tech shop that opened instead. Will pick you up in a couple hours. Love you! Have fun!’
Ditched. She’d been ditched! By her own grandfather no less! After all of his going on about how fun it’ll be to get out of the house and whatnot. Looking down at her attire, Cordelia’s cheeks flushed slight with a blush of embarrassment. He’d even managed to convince her it’d be fun to dress up since it was Halloween and here she was by herself with her Day of the Dead look. What the hell was she suppose to do at a carnival alone?
Making a sudden noise of annoyance, Delia decided she would find her own way home then since her granddad was being a total pain. It would be useless for her to even bother texting him about it since he’d just say something along the lines of her needing to get out and be in social settings again instead of being stuck at home on the computer all day. The snake made a face as she floated around trying to find some form of public transportation she could use to get home. She wasn’t really on the computer ALL day. Though she did have to admit that online games and forums were starting to take up a good part of her week more and more. It wasn’t her fault they were so damn convenient and not to mention more interesting than anything else in her life at that moment. Course one could argue that she was using them as some sort of coping mechanism in order to escape her reality. Whatever, it was fun! And damn if she didn’t need fun in her life now more than ever.
Just when she was about to give up on finding her own way home and call her grandfather to beg him to pick her up, a familiar flash of lavender caught the corner of her eye. Cordelia could feel her chest tighten and her breathing struggle while her brain tried to rationalize what she may have just seen. Could it be?! Was it possible?!
“Ebony…?” she quietly uttered.
Hurriedly stuffing her phone in her purse, Delia swung around quick before rushing back the way she’d just come. So in a frenzy was she, the black Frei didn’t even bother to say sorry to the multitude of people she was pushing out of the way. Finally making her way into a much more breathable area near a large fountain, Cordelia stopped to catch her breath. Silver eyes darted about furiously though, desperately trying to locate that woman with the purple hair. Where was she?! There was no way she could have gotten far… And then she saw it, as a group of happy, laughing humans parted ways with one another, revealing the back of that all too familiar head of hair. A flurry of emotions, the Basilisk couldn’t stop and think clearly of a plan of action as she barreled forward like a snowball rolling down a hill, picking up more momentum as she hurried along. What would she say? What would she do? What would Ebony say? How could she explain the reasoning behind her long disappearance? Why was she even here of all places at a time like this? Did she understand how worried she’d made her and Adrian?
Furious now, all Delia could do was bark the name ‘Ebony’ as she forced the purple haired woman to face her. Yet, it all melted away in an instant.
“C-c-can I help you?” asked the shaky voice of the girl who was obviously not Ebony. Instead of the uppity know-it-all smirk and condescending tone she knew and loved, there was this frightened human that looked as if she’d never even seen a Raevan before now. Cordelia felt terrible, for more reasons than one.
Clearly embarrassed, the Frei waved her hands about, “Uh, no no! Sorry, I mistook you for someone else. I’m really sorry!” Laughing awkwardly, Cordelia quickly backed away and floated as far as she possibly could then. The girl simply watched, confused as the unusual being disappeared.
Once she was sure she was out of sight, the snake gave a heavy sigh. What was wrong with her?! Why’d she go all crazy like that? This was Gaia! Of course there would be all kinds of other people running around with similar hair! Placing her hand over her closed eyes, Cordelia couldn’t contain the amount of embarrassment she felt then. Not only had she totally humiliated herself in front of a complete stranger, but she was also starting to realize more and more how much she hated being alone like this. No, she hated how much she was missing her guardian then.
Delia visibly stiffened as a hand came to clamp down upon her shoulder suddenly and without warning. Somewhat annoyed and somewhat surprised, the Frei started to flair her wings, but hesitated when she noticed the figure was dressed in a full black robe, the hood hiding their face. For a moment, she thought Death had come to claim her finally. Instead a male voice told her to ‘buck up’ and handed her a flyer before gliding off to hand more to other passersby. Confused, she looked down at the piece of paper. Apparently there was some rock concert playing nearby with some local bands. Annoyed, Cordelia crushed the advertisement with her hand and tossed it in a trashcan close to her before taking her phone out once more. She stopped mid dial when a couple of girls walked by gushing over the concert flyer and how they had to hurry to get a good spot. Biting her bottom lip, Delia reconsidered. Her grandfather was most likely either going to ignore her calls for awhile claiming something along the lines of not having service or just plain tell her to go make friends for a couple hours before he’d agree to pick her up. A little peek at this concert wouldn’t hurt and if she got bored she could always just leave.
When she arrived at the stage, a band had just finished up and another was starting to take their place. As such, the area began to clear out while it took a few minutes for the new band to set up. At first Cordelia wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Since she was alone there was no one to idly chat with until the band started up and any other person there was either already with a group or was busy working or leaving. The snake sighed heavily. Perhaps she should just go home. It was then that the familiarity of a certain unique language hit her ears as a group of lively men walked by. She hadn’t really heard what it was they were saying per say, but she couldn’t help jumping in mid-sentence.
“Umm, excuse me…” she managed to squeak out in her parseltongue.
All four men stopped and gawked at her then as if seeing her for the very first time. There was a quick, quiet exchange before three of them continued on towards the stage area. The one left behind shifted to be directly in front of her, his golden gaze sizing her up and down before testing that they had indeed heard her correctly. “You here for the concert?”
A light blush dusted her cheeks as she replied, “Uh, yeah. Someone handed me a flyer earlier.”
The guy nodded his head as he swept the middle part of his hair that wasn’t buzzed back over from where it had fell out of place. “Cool. You should stick around afterwards. Love to chat with ya more. Name’s Seth by the way.” Something in his tone and stride said he was deeply satisfied as he hurried off to catch up with the rest of his band mates.
“Cordelia…” she uttered as Seth dashed off. A hand clutched her chest tight as her heartbeat quickened. The excitement was starting to set in as she realized she’d spoken with someone in parseltongue who either wasn’t a Raevan or a snake! Maybe tonight wasn’t going to be all that bad after all.
~~~~~~ |
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Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 6:33 am
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 8:09 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 8:25 pm
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Solo Journal Entry
~~~~~~
With a battle of the bands on the horizon, the four members of the Medusa Brothers were swamped with school, part-time jobs and non-stop rehearsing to spend any real free time with Cordelia. But she didn’t mind hanging out while they practiced, in fact they’d given her an opportunity to help out by trying to manage their online presence on social media as well as promote their upcoming gigs. It was this she was busy at work on while the brothers were busy with their current practice. Hunched over a laptop, Cordelia gave a huge sigh before clacking away on her keyboard once more.
Hearing the sigh as the band took a break, Evan looked towards the Raevan and raised a brow in concern. “Cordie’s really been down in the dumps lately, huh?”
Grabbing a bottle of water from their cooler, Seth replied, “What do you mean?”
The other three guys immediately stopped what they were doing just to glare at their brother. Feeling their intense gaze on him, Seth frowned and grumbled, “What?”
“Dude, you are like the total worst.” Cameron retorted, cracking open his own bottle of water to drink.
“Huh?”
“I concur.” said Gideon as he fiddled with his bass.
“WHAT?!”
Being the type of person who loved messing with his older siblings, Evan smirked and said, “How on Earth did you not notice Seth?! You spend the most time with her out of all of us! You should have been the first to notice something was up. Hell even Cameron noticed before you did!”
“Watch it you little turd.” threatened the band’s drummer. He was usually a laid back kind of guy, but he wasn’t the type to take s**t from anyone let alone the youngest of them.
Obviously not threatened by Cameron’s little response (in fact he was secretly basking in the fact that he’d pissed the guy off), Evan continued on with his teasing of Seth. Hopping off the speaker he’d been seated upon, the young demi-gorgon made like he was going to go to Cordelia then. “Whatever. If no one else will, guess I’ll just have to go and cheer her up myself!”
Before the boy could even get a foot past his brother, Seth grabbed Evan by the face and pushed him back then proceeded to stomp off towards Cordelia.
“Hey!” Evan exclaimed as he fell back. Rubbing his face with a sigh, “Seth’s so easy, but he’s really gotta work on that attitude.”
“Tch, you’re one to talk.”
“Agreed.” replied Gideon though to what part of the conversation, neither one was really sure.
~~~
Cordelia sighed again. It was really hard to concentrate on what she was suppose to do today. She’d come to hang out with the guys hoping to distract herself, but it didn’t seem like it was working all that well. Closing her eyes, the snake frowned deep and rubbed her face. It wasn’t long before she was snapped out of her funk, taking in a deep breath and flinching back as something cold and wet touched her forehead. Silver eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and anger as well as some embarrassment, the Raevan couldn’t help giving Seth a bit of a death glare. “What’s the big idea?”
Pulling the bottle of cold water away from the Raevan’s head, Seth couldn’t help a small laugh. “Sorry, I thought you could use a break too.”
Rubbing her forehead with her sleeve, Delia grumbled, “You could have just as easily said something.”
“And where would the fun in that be?” the singer mused as he set up shop next to her. Finally opening his water, Seth took a quick swig before continuing. “So…you gonna tell me what’s bothering you or do I gotta drag it out of you?”
The Basilisk’s cheeks flushed pink. How did he know?! Was it really that obvious?! And here she was thinking she was doing a great job of at least hiding it from him. But oh how wrong she could be. Yet still, couldn’t Seth have a little more tact in how he addressed delicate situations? Really, it wasn’t much to ask. She took a few moments to debate on what to say while she avoided eye contact with him and tried to quell her flurry of emotions. “I’ve just got a little something on my mind. Nothing for you all to worry about really.”
His bottle of water stopped right before his lips as he raised a brow at Cordelia. She did this a lot. Trying not to bother other people with her own problems. That in itself was seen as a bother to be perfectly honest. “You know, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know. Everyone’s concerned about you, so you might as well just spit it out already.”
Delia gave a bit of a pouty frown. She both liked and hated Seth’s brutal directness. Mulling it over once more, the snake finally conceded and sighed. “It’s my guar-“ she began but remembered of whom she was talking to and started again. “It’s my mom. Her birthday’s the fifteenth.”
“That so…” Seth breathed before drinking more water. He remembered her saying something once before about how her mother was missing. Him and his brothers could relate. Their own mother up and abandoned them one day too. He was too young then and could barely remember her now, but Evan was just a baby and had no real memories of her. What really made things worse was that they knew she was still kicking around because she always managed to send all of them birthday/holiday cards every year, but conveniently always had the return address left blank. Seriously, worse mom or what right? “Your gramps find out anything from the cops yet?”
Shaking her head sadly, Cordelia replied, “There are still no leads.”
The two sat in silence for quite awhile. It wasn’t necessarily an awkward silence, but more like one where two people of whom were conversing just slipped into their own trains of thought, momentarily forgetting the other. Seth was the one to break it first by asking ever so nonchalantly, “Do you want to go on a Valentine’s date with me?”
Delia couldn’t help gawking at the singer then. What was he asking so suddenly out of the blue? Had she heard right? Was Seth actually asking her out? On a date?! ON VALENTINE’S DAY?! Her head was spinning now. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t even a tiny bit interested in Seth, but up until this point, the Raevan had thought it only a one-sided thing. Never had she ever thought that maybe Seth liked her back in the same way.
Her flushed cheeks always reminded him of budding peonies. With a bit of a smile, Seth began to walk back to his brothers. “Break’s over. We’ll talk more later.”
Finally getting her head together, Cordelia blurted out, “The battle of the bands is a week away! What about practice?!”
Flashing her a sly smile, Seth hissed his reply. “What about it?”
~~~~~~ |
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