Welcome to Gaia! ::

Her hand hung hesitantly before the door. It felt so odd being back here again after so much time had passed. Though the house on the outskirts of Durem looked fairly the same, everything had suddenly felt very different. For one, the last time she'd come here, Ebony hadn't left things on the best of notes and was only now remembering her anxiety at seeing Isikoro should he be home. She'd never admit it out loud, but the boy had a knack for making her feel like their roles were reversed and she was the child, not him.

The second most significant difference from now and then was that the Brit was now a full fledged guardian. Silver eyes slide over to her side and took in her Cordelia thoughtfully. She'd been very quiet the entire drive here and it made Ebony uneasy. Ever since she'd learned to speak English, the girl rarely allowed a chance to talk with others escape her. Only now when she was upset somehow did she go back to her silent ways. So what was bothering her today?

"Cordelia? Are you all right?" Aphismet might have been expecting them, but if her charge wasn't feeling well...well then the chef would just have to understand. Gently, the woman pushed the snake's dark sweeping bangs out of her eyes so she could see her face properly.

Quickly the girl swatted her hand away and matted her bangs back in place. "I'm fine." she whispered, not fine at all as she refused to look up, staring at the bottom of the door instead. In her hands, Cordelia gripped a tiny white gift bag. Would he like it? Would he like her?

With a sigh and shrug, Ebony rapped her knuckles loudly upon the door. A house this big, loud was the only choice else no one would hear, yet the sound made Delia jump slight. Ebony hoped she'd be all right and that Rivener wouldn't try to pick another fight with her today. They all needed to try and get past this virus ugliness finally.

Her eyes widened significantly when Aphi was suddenly right there in front of her brandishing pleasantries and all in all hurriedly ushering them inside. What was up? Why was the man so high strung today? And then she saw. Right there sitting on the couch practically giving her the death glare was Rivener. Now she knew the scorpion well enough now to know he was easy to anger, but honestly, she hadn't even said a word yet to entice such a look. But then she noticed his normally impressive wings were all bandaged up. The Brit blinked slow. Today was going to be a long day.

"Good morning Aphismet...Rivener. That is great to hear, and thank you for having us. It has been quite a long time indeed. So much so that..." With a sheepish, yet smug sort of smile, Ebony lifted her hands to showcase the bags she carried, wrapped presents just beyond the thin paper. "We missed exchanging gifts during the holidays."

Meanwhile Cordelia was slowly floating after her guardian, using her more of as a shield than anything. She'd never felt so unsure and self-conscious in her life. Ebby's white haired friend was flailing around like a fish out of water and eying her like she'd burst into flames at any moment. And though he'd complimented her, it did little to subdue her nerves as she saw the Sigel glaring at them from the other room.

Delia leaned into her guardian's back and hid her face between the woman's shoulder blades. Maybe if she stayed quiet and pretended like she wasn't there, they'd forget about her. Her plans were foiled by Ebby of course. "Cordelia, Aphismet has addressed you. Don't be rude." The violet haired woman shifted so as to get behind the dark Frei and push her slightly forward.

Damn her for not having feet in which to stop her forward momentum! And then her guardian had to go and lecture her on her bad behavior in front of these practical strangers. Sharp wings drooping in shame, the basilisk answered quietly in that smokey voice of hers, yet didn't quite look the man directly in the face. "S-sorry. Thank you for having me..." She didn't really know what else to say, so she just swayed from side to side quietly.

"Don't be absurd." the woman snorted, nose lifted in a huff as she was appalled at his notion. "These are gifts. Christmas gifts. I didn't get them for want of anything in return Aphismet. More as...thank you." Ebony allowed that last part to past her lips soft and low, hoping it wouldn't prompt any questions or that rather he would just know its meaning and leave well enough alone.

She clenched the bags slight, but didn't want to get in to tug-o-war with the man, so allowed him the wrapped items. Looking between them all, Delia and Riv especially, "Are you sure you don't want to deal with them now?" Ebony's grey eyes shifted silently, yet deliberately between their charges. Would he understand?

The basilisk felt the warmth pool into her cheeks, a faint blush developing when Aphi continued his prodding and staring. As only a child could, Cordelia lifted the tiny gift bag in front of her face to hide its unusual condition. "I'm not...shy...I just...remember things..." Bad things, things that never should have happened, but did nonetheless. How could she face them without some shred of remorse in her actions?

Much like her guardian, when tears started, Delia didn't want anyone to see and thus suddenly thrust the bag at the Sigel's man before floating hurriedly right back out the front door. "I'm sorry!"

"Cordelia!" the Brit yelled after her disappearing Frei. With a huge sigh, Ebony laced slender digits through her violet hair. "I'm sorry about that, she's..." The woman bit her lip. How to explain? "She remembers things from when she was sick. Hazy as the memories are, it upsets her to know she hurt people. Hurt you." She didn't specify which you or if it was intended for both man and Raevan, but it was a safe bet that Ebony had meant for most of it to be intended for the scorpion.

"We were all innocent once..." she muttered more to herself than them as she shut the door. Though she was sure it looked like bad guardianship on her part, Ebony knew her charge and that running after her right now wouldn't do any good. She'd go and sulk far away from an audience, get the tears out of her system and return with a silent pout, but wholly better for the most part. Sometimes Ebony truly wondered if that soul bottle had taken a piece of her soul and bestowed it upon her dark ward, they seemed too alike in their ways.

She narrowed her eyes slight at Rivener and his rude behavior. Was he still thinking her to be the Bandit? Honestly she'd hoped he'd all but forgotten that chance encounter they had not so long ago. Though a part of her wondered if perhaps some of what she'd said even penetrated that thick skull of his. Judging from the shape of his wings...Ebs would guess not.

Ignoring his lack of concern for her troubled Frei and averting her curious gaze from his wings, the Brit dug deep into one of the bags she'd been carrying. Pulling out a rather large crimson colored box, "I wasn't sure what you'd like, but I saw it and thought of you. I hope it fits. You've grown a lot since I last saw you." Couldn't hurt to try and stroke his ego right? "Oh Aphismet, that bag is his too. Cordelia picked it out special for him." 'Not that I think he really deserves it right now...' she thought silently to herself.

While Ebony played Santa inside, Cordelia played guilty outside. She hadn't gone far since this place was utterly unfamiliar to her and the basilisk would be damned if she got lost here. Thus she circled the home once before floating back to 'sit' on the porch. Quietly she stared out into the empty vastness of the land surrounding the Delaran homestead, a finger tracing nothing on the ground near her smokey ribbon. If only she could figure out how to turn into her essence again. Then she could disappear for awhile and not think of the horrible things she'd done.

She watched and waited patiently as Rivener's icy mood slowly thawed. When it'd seemed she'd finally won, Ebs shared a victorious smile with Aphismet before quickly sliding back into her normal uninterested expression. The scorpion wasn't the only actor there after all, and although the Brit was elated inside, she just couldn't give the Sigel the benefit of that knowledge right now. Perhaps if he'd simply been polite earlier and at least said hello despite his justified reasons, Ebony might have felt more open towards him. Stubborn was quite abundant in these parts.

Stepping over to the opened box, Ebony gingerly dusted a few specks off the lust after jacket before carefully packing it back up for the Raevan. Wouldn't want something to happen to it just after he got it, would she? "You can do whatever you please Rivener. I'm merely a guest in your home." This time she did smile at him, but only slightly. It was sort of creepy, like a warning in disguise. "But please, do be mindful that she is still very young and doesn't always know any better than you. I hope...you can at least understand that part if nothing else."

"Meanwhile, I'll make sure Aphismet here isn't tempted at trying on your jacket before you get the chance." She gave a smug smile before jabbing Aphi playfully in the ribs. "Don't think I didn't see those bright browns giving it a yearning glance."

If there was one thing Cordelia was good at, it was finding a distraction from her miseries. Carefully the snake slid her fingers down the length of her charcoal ribbon until she felt it give and poof to smoke at the very end. How odd was it that it was the only part of her that did that? And why was that exactly? Without thought it constantly remained in a state of half vapor, half solid. Could she mimic that like she had back at Christmas with Zul? Did she want to? She remembered how not too soon after it had occurred did she feel faint and cold. The memory made her half formed spine shiver in remembrance. Delia hated being too cold.

With a sigh she fell backwards, her head peering out into the drive where their car was parked, the view now flipped upside down though from her vantage point. Those soulful greys caught sight of movement in the grass and a small smile graced her dark lips then. A snake was slithering quickly through on its way somewhere.

"Hello friend! Where are you off to in such a hurry?" she hissed excitedly, it wasn't everyday she got to speak her native tongue. Although she might not get the chance today either as the snake utterly ignored her and went about its business without reply.

With an outraged huff, the basilisk crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her tongue out at the slowly departing serpent. "Stupid belly slider..." Cordelia muttered in English.

"I opened your gift,"

The sudden voice made the girl jump and she awkwardly fell down the steps with a pathetic hiss. Endless grey eyes peered up at the nonchalant Sigel and blinked slow. During her illness, Cordelia was unable to feel any kind of inferiority towards anyone, but looking up at the much older, bigger and thus stronger Raevan, the snake was feeling much much smaller than she normally did. Or maybe it was just because he seemed so angry still and she knew it was because of her.

Wings drooping as low as they could possibly go, Delia remained silent for a long time just staring up at him. She knew she needed to respond soon, yet she'd all but lost her lips in the few moments Rivener had shown up. Frowning in irritation at herself, the basilisk forced her mouth to speak. Her voice was even wispier sounding than it normally was when she finally spoke.

"You're...welcome." There was so much more she wanted to say to the scorpion, but once again she suffered from lip-lock. It was going to be a long day indeed if she didn't speak. Idly, Cordelia's eyes roamed towards the front door and wondered when Ebby would be wanting to leave. Soon she hoped.

The violet Brit watched that arrogant back turn and leave without so much as an 'okay.' She scoffed just a tad at that snub. The least he could have done was lie to her. Yet heaven help him if he even thought to lay a malicious hand on her Cordelia. Ebony knew full well that the smokey femme could pretty much take care of herself if need be, but the woman's maternal instincts did not want that need to be, plain and simple.

It was good that Aphi was opening his present now otherwise she might be tempted to sneak outside to eavesdrop on the Raevans. She gave a laugh at his enthusiastic outburst of joy, yet as the chef expected, Ebony tensed up just a bit when he pulled her in for an awkward hug. You'd think by now with how touchy feely Cordelia was, that Ebony would have gotten use to hugs, but this was Aphismet. It made her uncomfortable on so many levels, because he was her student, because he was with Alex, and just because he most definitely was not the scaly Frei.

Blushing slight and giving a cough to cover it up, the woman just pretended like nothing had happened. She gave her feet a bit of a rocking and stuck her hands in her front pockets. "I guess so. Glad you like it, though I think Alex's gift was much more impressive. How is she by the way? Are her and Zul working today?" Quickly, Ebony busied herself with swiveling her head around, thinking she might suddenly catch a glimpse of the dark haired woman or her demonic charge.

She was quiet again for a while, trying to pick the right words to describe why she'd gotten him something. Looking down and away from that angry crimson gaze, the smoke Raevan began to doodle circles with her finger along the step in front of her. "Zul says you're the best and he's my friend, so I want to be friends with his friends too. And I...I wanted to say sorry for what I did before when I first saw you. Well...in my head it wasn't really you at the time...sort of, but I guess that doesn't really matter because I still did a bad thing..."

That was probably the most Cordelia had ever said in one breath, ever. But it wasn't like she'd planned on it coming out like that exactly. She just had a lot to say and didn't want to risk locking up again before she got to say it. Finally looking back up to him, totally oblivious to his half sneering at her, "If you don't...want to, I'll understand..."

"Because I watched her buy it for you." Ebony grinned with satisfaction at providing him with this little grain of truth. Was it sad that she wanted to make him squirm a bit at imagining what kind of things the two women had talked about in reference to him? Ebony only thought it playful, but perhaps it could be thought of as mean.

Those thoughts were put aside once the cat Raevan was brought up. Grey eyes wide and absolutely surprised, "Lucia?! S-she's okay then? Yuurei too? I've been calling and calling every since she attacked Cordelia. No one ever answered and no one at the Lab seemed to know what was up..." Ebony quickly trailed off and allowed her mind to wrap around what Aphi had said. With a relieved sigh, "Sorry, I'm just glad to hear something finally. Whatever it is, I'm sure Alex is more than capable of dealing with it. And I hope the best for both Lucia and Yuurei."

"Um..well..." Her mind was still on the whole Lucia thing really and she did want to talk about it more, but it seemed her friend was more keen on keeping the conversation on other things. Ebony wondered why that was exactly, but decided to just go with the flow. "I've been well. Busy, mostly. Cordelia's a full time job ever since winter ended. Apparently snakes and other reptiles usually hibernate in the winter, so that's why she was so out of it for the most part after being cured. But now she's learning and thriving so quickly that it's hard to keep up some times." The Brit laughed remembering all the cute little childish things the snake was prone to doing or saying. "She's too adorable to be what she was that's for sure. I guess snakes are usually very affectionate when they're not feeling threatened." Ebony's eyes shifted to the door just from the thought that spilled out of her mouth then. Well they'd know for certain if something was wrong that's for sure with being so close still. There had been a brief hiss, but nothing else followed so she assumed things were going well? At least she hoped they were.