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Ordinarily Genie would have been hesitant to allow the cobra to go shopping by himself... Everything about the idea had just seemed fraught with disaster if the past was any indication, dreading that first phone call to inform her of what havoc he'd wrought upon unsuspecting civilians. The lights, the music, the people, the general excitement; so many things that could upset him. And yet, given some time to examine the situation, it did help her to feel better knowing he would be with Cordelia, as she seemed to calm him in a way that very few things could. And so far as she was there to guide him, with the help of the Basilisk's guardian perhaps, there was still a slim chance that everything would be fine, and that was sufficient enough for her to give Basil her blessing.

After all, if she had given in to her first impulses, she would have kept him under lock and key in the apartment until all the excitement was over, if only for his own protection. But giving it some thought, she had no doubt of how terrible she would feel to deny the fresh face his first encounter with Christmas and all it entailed, even taking the risks into consideration. She could only hope that he would be able to curb his idiosyncrasies long enough to truly enjoy the traditional Christmas activities with some degree of normalcy. Drive him out to the country to spend the holidays at her father's house. Introduce him to the family, put up a tree, sit at the table, play in the snow, and maybe, just maybe, even have him deliver grace at the dinner table if her father allowed. Surely she was romanticizing the idea far beyond it's actual likelihood, but it was still nice enough to give her some peace of mind. And so, she had dressed Basil in his warmest sweater, hugged him tight, and sent him with fifty dollars to the Durem inner-city.

It hadn't seemed all that long ago that Basil and Cordelia had been huddled in the parking garage of this very same mall after a night of tragedy... And until now, Basil had only ever known that aspect of this wondrous place, where everything was glittering and bustling and smelling of soft pretzels. He had not stopped smiling since they had come through the automatic doors (of which startled the unsuspecting Basil, but not so badly that he could not be consoled.) It took all of his self-restraint not to wander off the first chance he got into this flashing wonderland, if not for Genie's very strict, very explicit instructions that he stay by Cordelia at all times, no matter what. And surprisingly enough, he was willing to comply...

Basil had grown better at articulating himself in the time since he had seen Cordelia last. After his initial "changes", he was strangely brighter now, less uneasy, although there was still a certain "sickness" about him that he would likely never be rid of... Regardless, he had found it was easier now for him to point things out, and make observations-- hold his own in a conversation! All things he had been working very hard towards achieving. Every word he spoke felt like gold to him, and a warmth filled him knowing that for the very first time in his life, he was feeling normal.

It had never occurred to Jezabroux just how easy it was to lose someone in this kind of a crowd, and then how difficult it was to find them again. He had looked back every few steps to make sure his ward was following. And after spotting the Frei each time, he had continued to move forward. Except, this time when he had turned back to check on his ward, Luka was no longer part of the crowd. Towering above most of the holiday shoppers, Jezabroux had a vantage point. Even then however, the bicolored haired man could not spot his ward.

Anxiety. Worry. Fear.

Those were just a few of the emotions that were beginning to course through the acupuncturist's veins. The first question was: had Luka wandered off on his own or had someone enticed him to follow? Not quite human, Luka's unnatural appearance had a tendency to pique any observer's interest. Secondly, how would he gain contact with his charge? He hadn't considered the possibility of being separated from Luka. It had completely escaped his mind to give the Satyr a cell phone or even coins and a number to reach him by if the two got separated. Giving the crowd one last cursory look, Jezabroux bit his lip. It was a mall. Malls had PA systems. Maybe he could get the help desk to do a building wide call for the Frei. It was a start.

Taking wide brisk strides, Jezabroux began to make his way towards the customer service desk.

Flaring out his bilayer wings, the Frei floated a few feet higher off the ground than usual. The satyr's ribbon was coiled tightly into a spring, reflecting the tension he was under."Elai?!" He shouted, ignoring the looks he received from the mass of bodies. Wringing his wrists, the Frei continued to watch the crowd of shoppers carefully for his guardian.

Chewing on his lip, he frowned when strangers began to point at him. Yes, his lack of legs was certainly a strange sight, but Elai had also taught him that pointing was rude. Suddenly feeling irritated with the whole situation, the Frei's eyes flashed into a flecked tawny color and he snapped at the next person to gesture his way. "Stop stare! Lady is rude, very rude. Bad manners. Stare and point at store instead." Flaring out his wings in an attempt to make himself seem larger, Luka bore down on the lady in a threatening manner.

She shook her head with a bemused chuckle. Honestly, if it were anyone else gnawing on their sleeve Delia had right of mind to stray as far away from them as possible, but...this was Basil and she had already long ago decided to accept him for all his little oddities. After all, it did make things all that much more interesting. And speaking of such, Cordelia looked to the man the younger Frei was pointing at.

"Ummm, I don't think that's what Genie meant. You can't just go up to anyone and offer to buy whatever's near them. You have to go to a specific store and buy things there. Besides, I'm pretty sure that chair belongs to the mall and I don't think they wanna sell."

To be completely honest, Cordelia had been trying to ignore the loud shouts, just figuring it to be some stupid, whiny kid who was pitching a fit about gifts or something. She was trying to think of a good place to start their shopping when Basil tugged greatly on her arm. Grey eyes giving a painfully slow blink, "See what?"

At first she'd thought it was Zul and who could blame her with just the mere glimpse of white hair and horns. Yet on closer inspection it proved not to be the illustrious baphomet, but a different Frei altogether, one she'd never seen before. Although the prospects of young humans were one she could do without, young Raevans were a completely different story.

Gently removing Basil from her arm, Delia hissed, "Wait here." Slowly she approached the scene, splaying her sharp wings out just enough to force others back least they wanted to get sliced or skewered. To disperse them more permanently, the basilisk gave a low menacing hiss and just for the hell of it, a little rattling of her wings for effect. It made her smile when the humans got the message and quickly began finding something else to distract themselves with. The smile broke into a big ole goofy grin when she'd float up to Luka.

"I always wanted to do that." she giggled. And just like she'd seen Ebby do so many times before, Cordelia politely held out her hand in greeting. "Hi! I'm Cordelia. And that's..." she pointed over to Basil, but then waved him over to join them. "Well that's Basil."

Without Cordelia to hold him steady as she had been for much of the late morning, Basil abruptly felt almost weightless without her form to lean against. In order to assist the horned creature, she had left him to his own devices in a seething crowd, and growing aware of the general excitement of the mall without a buffer to diminish it, it was doing well enough a job of making him very nervous. His lip twitched and his jaw clenched, although he made the effort to quell his uneasiness by keeping his eyes to the floor. He used his now free hand to grasp the hood of the jacket Genie had lent him for the day. It smelled of cigarette smoke, but when in close quarters with the naturally rich and smoky odor of his companion, he had found it rather indistinguishable.

Curious as to what was hindering the Basilisk's swift return, his eyes came up from the tiles long enough to witness Cordelia effectively dispersing the crowd with a vicious display, both admirable and frightening, clearing a respectable circumference of space between herself and the surrounding strangers. Turning in place in an excited spin, he held an expression similar to victory, as if wordlessly cheering Cordelia for a job well done. No longer as anxious as he had been only moments ago, it was now a much easier task for him to remain in place until she would return for him. Life had become so much easier for Basil now that he was more receptive to instruction, although it did now lack a certain adventurousness that he had grown accustomed to anticipating...

After a moment of waiting, he had heard his name, and at this, he was conditioned to focus intently on the speakers. There was now a flurry of gestures he was only semi-familiar with, from Cordelia's friendly beckoning, to the new Frei's confident wave. Knowing little else, he chose to mimic his Delia's behavior in a perfunctory exhibit. From a distance, he hissed in a low and resonant tone, flaunting long, narrow teeth that abruptly folded inward as it waned. Although his display had lacked the certain menace behind Cordelia's, given that it immediately gave way to his own hapless smile. Drawing closer to them of his own accord, as opposed to an understanding of Cordelia's beckoning wave, Basil joined them, pushing errantly through throngs of people with little regard to their space or their path. He arrived beside the Basilisk, and remained silent.

Pale downy feathers on the base of his wings rose in mild alarm as Basil hissed at him. Unsure of how to react, he turned back to Cordelia. "Del-ia. Like better. Cor-dealia. Del-ia better." Giving the basilisk a nod to assert his point, he smiled at the older Frei. "Please meet you." When Luka spotted the Cobra coming over to join him, he crinkled his nose and floated closer to Cordelia. The basilisk would hopefully protect him if Basil decided to attack.

Staring at the two serpentine Raevans, Luka couldn't help but notice a strong sense of kinship between the two. "Sister and brother?" He questioned, liquid gold eyes flitting between the two. The color of their hair to the color of their clothing, and even the pattern on their clothes, they were reminiscent of each other. The Satyr couldn't help but feel a little envy towards the two. Where was his look alike?

The Forsaken Light twiddled with the ends of his side bangs for a moment. "Excite? What is excite? Is excite mean no attack?" Eying the cobra suspiciously, Luka slowly held out his hand. He was ready to pull back the moment he spotted Basil's sharp teeth again."Luka. Pleased meet you Bay-sil."

Where she held no patience for human children, somehow, someway the smokey elder of the two boys had developed a great bit for that of her own kind. Cordelia gave a fond smile towards Luka's acceptance of her preferred namesake and the mention of her most obvious likeness towards Basil. She rather liked the idea of having a little brother and already thought of the cobra as something of such. Yet something kept her from voicing it, perhaps afraid of the glass Raevan's rejection of the claim.

"Excited means..." she trailed off some while she quickly thought how to explain such a complex emotion. Grey eyes gazing upward as a sharp finger lightly touched her dark lips, "It means to be really happy. So happy you can't help but bounce and move around a lot." Was that right? Boy she hoped so. "But yes, no attack."

Delia watched carefully as her "brother" circled about the rather boyish looking Frei with uncomfortable closeness. Or at least uncomfortable perhaps to others. She herself was not one to adhere to society's rules of personal space so it was expected when she so readily giggled at Basil's assessing of the newer Raevan. He must have thought him good or perhaps non-threatening since Basil lowered his hood, something she hadn't seen him do a lot when out and about.

Notorious for being less than a perfect listener, Basil heard the satyr's story with only a mild interest, frequently looking away or brushing his forehead as he spoke. While easily distracted, he had noticed one thing, however. That the boy spoke disjointedly, much as Basil had, and still did on occasion. He spoke pointedly, and factually, but at the very least, it made it easy to interpret his situation from the context. Looking back on it, Basil could hardly believe he had made the progress that he had...

He took his time replying, unconcerned by the boy's saccharine-sweet expression that plead for help. Basil was a pleaser by nature, but not one that was easily pandered to by others.

Looking away from an especially festive light display, he met the sad and sorry face, an unruly lock of black hair resting across his left eye. He suggested in a voice that was not quite callous, but did not imply much besides, "I don't know. Walk from this part of mall to the other part until you find Elai? What would we look for?" And he raised a good point. Basil could not even be sure what an Elai was, much less how to find it on the behalf of a person that was distracting them from their original quest. Was it an animal? An item he had lost? Was it the name of a store? What if Elai was tiny, like a coat button? Hiding under a bench or a store display or a thousand other places! It was a fool's errand! As she normally held the answers where there was doubt, he thought it best to consult Delia with a glance over his shoulder.

"Elai is a person, not something you buy? Like my Genie?" Feeling a biting chill waft across his ears as the double-doors reopened to allow a fresh crowd of people inside, Basil promptly drew his hood again to cast his face in the usual gloom. Faster than he was willing to wait for her to provide an answer, an idea came to the cobra that he thought might prove a solution to their problems. He returned to the satyr, leaning in close to him so as to prove his confidence in a dark and secretive whisper, "Elai knows how you talk, yes? You go that way, I go other way, I call for Elai, and maybe Elai find me." In demonstration, he eagerly took on the voice of the new Frei as easily as he would have done to draw a breath, "Elai find me?"