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 Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:53 am
Who: Anastacia, Cordelia, Ebony, and Zeke
When: Wednesday Evening; about 6pm
Where: A Durem garden center
Weather: Summer-y but mild
"So what do you say? Would you like a window-box or two in your room?"
Zeke had just pulled into the parking lot of the local Durem gardening center and was waiting for an answer before he finally shut his car off. Instead of looking through the rear view mirror, the vet was looking right at his Raevan, smiling mildly and watching for her any sign of a yes or no on her face.
Anastacia remained impassive in looks, but was in fact debating whether she wanted such a thing or not. Zeke had gone on about window boxes (last year's attempt had been a "bit" of a failure but her man was keen to try again this year) and was gung ho to let his ward have one in her room if she so chose. If not, that was okay too, but he was of the vocal opinion that her room could do with a bit more color in it.
"How about this," he said after a moment with no word nor sign, "if you do say yes, you can pick what goes in there. It'll be yours and yours alone. How does that sound?" Let her flex her creativity and all, as well as give him some insight into what she thought would make for a pretty bouquet.
The Raevan took this into consideration. She did like the sound of that. Zeke had already said he would do the set up for her if she wanted him to - which she did - and had told her taking care of plants would be easier than taking care of Nel. Well, she couldn't say that was true, given she could hear Nel talk to her but she didn't raise that up. She told him once already. He knew. But letting her pick what she wanted...That was pretty sweet. How could she say no? She nodded.
"Okay."
"Awesome!" Zeke grinned. "We have plenty of time to look around and stuff so let's do this!"
She needn't to be told twice. The spider queen unbuckled her seat belt and waited for Zeke to open her door as per usual. He was quick about it, which gave him a brownie point for the day, and once the door was open Anastacia floated out.
What hit her first was the smell. Flowers, herbs, trees, damp soil...In the warm summer air it all mingled together in the air and was pushed right up her nose by the slight breeze. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, but it was almost overpowering. In fact, she almost missed the thin scent beneath it all and it was the sort that piqued her interests and made her rune flicker with hunger.
Sickness. Something in here was sick with something tasty...but where? That smell of everything plant and everything to do with plants masked it too much. But she had to have it, whatever it was, wherever it was and she intended to find it. She started to move toward the open air garden that stood before the greenhouses and main building of the center. Only Zeke's voice made her pause.
"Anya! Wait up!"
She looked over her shoulder once she reached the sidewalk, lips twitching as they threatened a frown. They almost did fall as the vet made his way over, but the Frei kept her composure.
"Eager huh?" He had no idea. Zeke chuckled as he rounded his Raevan's side and stood before her, watching her with interest now. "I guess you want me to let you go off by yourself, huh?"
Anastacia nodded. She wouldn't be able to concentrate and locate the source of that sickness if he was hovering around, gabbing, and trying to draw her attention to every plant he passed. Besides, he always let her wander around and she was old enough to pick the plants she wanted.
"Well I intend to," he stated with another of his smiles - reassuring and full of trust toward his Frei. "But you should know the boxes we have can only hold about five or six plants each, okay? So try to keep your picks below six."
"Under six," she repeated offhandedly, lavender eyes flicking and trying to focus through the fog as she tried to pinpoint where in the open area before her that viral scent was coming from. She was getting antsy now - she hadn't eaten at all at the clinic and was now realizing how hungry she truly was. Zeke would have to move soon or else she would push right past him.
"Right. Now I'm gonna be in there for a bit," and he pointed at the main building that would hold the cash registers and gardening supplies like hoes and shovels that Anya didn't even so much as glance at. "If you find anything you want to show me, try looking in there first, okay?"
"Okay." Her rune dimmed and flickered. Hungry. Feed yourself already. You know his drills, now go get it. She moved forward and Zeke easily slid out of her way.
"I'll come find you a bit later!" The vet called to his ward's back. Anastacia didn't hear him. Now was the time to find and dine. Everything else - even picking her own posies - would come after that. She cleared the short wooden fence that surrounded the open air garden and went right to searching. It was here, and it would be dinner.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:30 pm
As they made their approach towards the gardening center, Delia couldn't stifle her giggles as she watched her guardian practically float about humming the chorus to some upbeat tune that was playing on the radio as they'd left the car. A current song no less, one not remotely close to being classical in any sense. The giggles became flat out girlish laughter when the violet haired Brit spun her dark ward around and actually sung the last bars of said chorus.
"Ohhh and everybody get happy..." Ebony raised a brow towards Delia's laughter as she grabbed a cart outside the doors and pushed it inside the building. "What's so funny?"
Cheesy grin and all, Cordelia floated after, "You. I don't think I've ever really seen you this way before. It's...odd." She chuckled again.
The woman's brow extended higher, "Oh really? Well maybe I'll just stop right now then if it's so odd. Wouldn't want to offend anyone now would I?" Though she huffed and tipped her chin up as if outraged, Delia caught that mischievous, yet playful glint in her stormy eyes as well as the slight smirk that lightly traced the corners of her mouth. It was something the basilisk came to see more and more if she watched closely enough. Ebby wasn't always as angry and cold as others may have thought, she just wasn't much of an exhibitionist in the ways of her emotions. But they were there in subtle ways even if Ebony didn't know it herself.
"Cordelia, where are you heading off to?" As if the woman needed to ask. There was only one place in this whole store that would really fancy the snake's interests, the greenhouses. And as expected, her ward failed to give her a proper answer. Only grinning and waving as she floated away. Well Ebony supposed lounging around in the warmth was less trouble than anything else she could get into around here and thus let her be. She'd go get her when she was finished shopping.
Reflecting her guardian's good mood, Delia hummed a song as she wasn't as versed in singing as the other and snaked her way happily towards one of the glass buildings. Anya wasn't the only Raevan looking for a meal at the moment, though Delia's was more of a snack than a real meal, as something smoke based would have to be involved for that. But heat was that vital other half she needed on a constant basis to keep her energy up.
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:01 pm
Zeke had been left in the dust, but Anastacia was far from forgotten or out of eyesight. The sun was still out and the weather was nice enough that plenty of people had decided to visit this particular garden center today. More than a fair few hung about the open air pen Anya had entered, milling about the plants and bags of mulch. However, once the Frei floated over the fence on her hunt for the source of that earthy, viral scent it seemed all eyes drifted up and landed on the Frei at one point or another as she passed. The owners of openly gawked the female that looked partly human but lacked vital parts to make her completely so as said Raevan made her way through the general public.
Though it was most unlike her, Anastacia ignored every glance. Her mind was set on one thing and until she had it, she would be on a singular track. Despite that track, she did stop to pause every so often and first did so in front of a crop of rather pungent roses. At any other moment she might consider the scent nice and maybe even think about the flowers being one of the ones she'd put in her window-box, but right now the smell was a distraction and masked the already thin trail of the illness. She frowned and looked around almost as though the scent would pop up as a colorful line leading her right to its source. It didn't happen of course, but a girl could still hope. Casting a sour glance to those overpowering blooms, she moved on, weaving through shelves of everything from flowering plants, to herbs, to even cacti.
It was only when she neared the greenhouses did she reclaim that smell and noted it was stronger here. The doors to one were open and kept in place with a stopper. She didn't need a second glance to the open area to know that inside was where she needed to be and floated right in.
Now where...? There was no breeze in the greenhouse, but contained humidity gave everything in here a damper smell than everything outside. She was able to pick the smell up again quickly - it was stronger now - and zipped into the nearest aisle with only a mumbled and quite offhanded "Pardon me" thrown back to a startled clerk who passed by right then.
I don't want heat, she grumbled to herself as that familiar tingling arose in her extremities the farther she moved from that set of doors. She wanted what was close at hand now. She wanted real food. A full meal; not a glorified snack. Her body paid her desires no mind and continued to greedily soak up the heat from the air. No! She didn't want that, dammit, but knew she had no control over it. The only option was to get to the sickness before the heat filled her up and over. Mind set on this, Anya picked up speed and entered an aisle lined with tall, thick, and tropical-looking shrubs. To her left and right she was blind to anyone in the aisles that flanked the one she was in and it was because of this and her fervor that she damn near crashed into Cordelia.
She reached the end of the aisle, listened as her sense of smell told her to go right, and threw herself around the corner. The fog that covered her distance past a few feet was compromised as the Basilisk seemed to rush right through it and it took the spider queen aback even more than her presence did to those outside in the open air garden. Immediately Anastacia hit the brakes; arms and wings both going forward in an attempt to throw herself back. Her crown expanded outward in an added display of alarm and a gasp even left the spider queen's painted lips. She came to a stop, but not before the tips of her saber-like, web lined wings almost touched the shoulders of the female before her. Anya was left panting, starting to recover as quickly as she was thrown through a loop but neglecting for the moment to notice the woman hovering before her was one of her kind.
"Watch it!" Her tone wasn't a concerned or a friendly one - it was a snap.
Inside the center's main building, Zeke had long since gotten his cart and was merrily making his way through the aisles, doing so with a very cheery "Wheeeee!" as he coasted with his feet up on bar between the cart's two back wheels. Of course, he was mindful to do so in the aisles that were vacant save for himself. If an aisle was indeed populated, he instead went about happily pushing the cart along with nothing more than a light whistle leaving his lips.
As he neared the end of the aisle he was presently in, the vet dropped a foot and dragged himself to a short, neat stop. A goofy grin was on his pierced face even as a squat, elderly woman carrying a handbasket full of solar garden lights gave him a shocked and then disdainful glance.
"Good evening, ma'am." Zeke said with a polite nod of his two-toned head before he zipped off to the next set of aisles. His smile didn't even so much as flicker and he seemed quite oblivious to the latter look the old woman gave him, even as he took off to his next cart racing track. He left her looking puzzled and with the coattails of his white physician's jacket billowing out behind him.
"Let's see," the vet said with a cluck of his pierced tongue once he cleared another empty aisle and glided right out into the main one between the merchandise and the store front. "What do I get first?"
He had a mental list of things to get to help his little project hopefully not be a failure for the second summer running and that included indoor plant-type food and, of course, a watering can.
"Maybe two, he mused as his thoughts settled on the latter, "one for me and one for Anya." And hey, why not? Her plants, her can; it'd be a way to really give her some more responsibility. A learning experience, and Zeke liked that idea. All he had to do was just find the right aisle and figure out what color she might like best. "Maybe black or red..."
He turned his cart and pushed off, acting the part of the mature adult that he was and keeping his feet on the ground as he walked the main passage in the store. There was a bounce in his step all the same and even though he was being good now, he still got the obvious looks. It wasn't every day most people saw a pierced, hairdyed man strolling around in slacks, a dress shirt, and a tie! Zeke merely chuckled to himself each time he saw a head turn, and kept on pushing his carriage, head turning to look down each aisle he passed. All the "hardware" of gardening and yard care was in stock, but none of the shelves he passed held what he was searching for at a glance. Without second thoughts the young man pressed on, walking past aisle after aisle until he had to do a double take and back up when he thought he saw a familiar face in silhouette in aisle three.
He stood at the mouth of the alley the shelving made, leaned forward slightly, and squinted as the woman he thought he knew stood farther down from him than he would have liked. She stood out, of course, even without leaning and probably just as much as he did. Purple hair, tanned skin...Her clothing was of course different from the last time they had met, but he was as sure as sunshine that it was indeed:
"Ebony?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:10 am
By now Cordelia was well use to strangers staring, gawking, pointing and even whispering to one another where ever she went. It had taken much time for the idea of her being a rarity/oddity to take root in her mind and heart, so it didn't bother her as much as it use to. She hardly noticed now and it made life so much easier when she could easily ignore the things she disliked. Thus whatever commotion was brought to life due to her mere presence (or even the presence of another of her kind) was simply overlooked as she wandered leisurely down the many aisles of a greenhouse.
She wasn't really taking anything in that she saw, merely basking in the warm lingering glow of the slowly setting sun. It was easily her most favorite time of year, summer. Little rain and nothing but blessed heat all day, everyday. Too bad it always had to end and never for the best, but she supposed it made her appreciate these days more because of it.
Perhaps Delia should have been paying more attention to where she was going rather than floating about in that dream like state she was in. Or maybe she should have just found a nice spot to curl up like she'd planned to. Yet it was all too late for that now as something black and purple came whirling right into her personal space far too quickly than she would have liked. Mirroring the other Raevan's startled flailing, Cordelia tried to stop her forward motion as well but with little effect all the same since it was really hard to just stop on a dime when you had nothing anchoring you to the earth to do so.
There was this moment like everything had slowed down for her and Cordelia could plainly see those long, sharp appendages coming right for her. There wasn't time to react or even dodge, Delia just cringed and waited for them to pierce her. They didn't of course, but not because of the way either of them had thought. Yes it seemed as if Anya's wings were just mere centimeters away from slicing through the snake's scaled vest and straight through her shoulders, but on closer inspection one could see that the tips had indeed stabbed her. It was slight, yet should have still hurt her, but Cordelia couldn't feel anything.
Quickly she pushed her self away from the other and inspected the spots curiously. There were two small holes, but they were swirling with smoke and quickly reconstructing about the parts that seemed to be damaged. Or perhaps they hadn't been damaged at all. Perhaps they'd just made room for the abrupt intrusion? That strange ability again. The same one that had gotten her out of tight spots before like when Lucia had tried to burn her.
Poking at the now solid spot on one of her shoulders, Delia would have greatly like to contemplate this more if it hadn't been for Anya's sudden crisp outburst. Grey eyes flashing, Cordelia whipped her head back at the other Raevan of which she hadn't realize was a Raevan just yet.
"Excuse me?!" she hissed at this lavender haired stranger. If it weren't for the girl's utter attitude towards her just then, Cordelia might have thought she was rather pretty. "You're the one who bumped into me! The least you could do is say you're sorry!"
Leaning against her shopping cart, it rolled back and forth slightly as she gently tapped the tip of her shoe against the store's cool linoleum. Ebony was mulling over her shopping list (a physical one as opposed to Zeke who seemed to have much more faith in his memory of miniscule things), trying to decide where to start and whether she really needed one item or another then.
In response, the British woman automatically pushed the long strands of hair (down today for once) from her eyes and tucked them over an ear as she turned to face whom had addressed her. Normally she'd possess any one of her many scowls at anyone having know her anywhere usually, but today was a rare good mood day.
Ebony managed a genuine smile at seeing the lab worker then, recognizing him almost immediately. It was hard to forget someone as colorful as him. "Ello Zeke. Fancy meeting you here. How have you been?" Almost as an after thought, the woman's smile faded some and she added, "How's the lab?" Ebony couldn't remember the last time she'd heard anything about the status of the structure's repairs and whatnot.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:36 am
As the other female backed up in a similar manner to herself, Anastacia's wings recoiled but did not fold back over her shoulders. Instead, the long pinions crossed over her chest, creating an impromptu shield that would likely not be lowered until the situation diffused or she was able to get away from the dark haired Raevan.
"Excuse me," she retorted hotly, a few legs of her crown twitching as they were raised just past their fullest, most comfortable display. All of Anastacia's eyes flashed, hunger still prevalent though room was being made for affront. She didn't see the slight swirl of smoke that came from where she pierced the basilisk. Her eyes were on Cordelia, and it seemed she herself didn't even realize she had actually come into physical contact with her. All she knew was she was about a foot or two away from someone who was hissing at her in a vile tone of voice and that she didn't like that one bit. Sure, she did almost bump into this woman, but in Anya's head Cordelia was the one who had come out of nowhere!
Cordelia demanded the apology, but Anya remained silent with her lips pressed in a hard, thin line. A corner of her mouth twitched, not out of agitation, but out of that need to feed and the uncontrollable feeling of heat soaking into her skin. She made a sudden movement - not to grab the older female - but instead to slap her right hand to her upper left arm and rub at it vigorously. Floating still here like this she had unintentionally allowed the tingling to blossom as her skin sucked up heat like a man lost in a desert lapped up water from a spring. It damn near itched now and she visibly flinched as friction made that spot on her upper arm and palm start to burn.
"Dammit," she muttered under her breath, recovering from that flinch and instead resting her eyes right back on the other female. That moment of tending to herself cleared her head just a little, and it allowed Anastacia to see that the being hovering before her was one of her kind and one she had never met before even at that accursed beach party last year. Though Cordelia was dressed in the same color as she was and had wings that - while shorter - were greater in number than her own Anya found her awfully plain. Black, tan, and gray in contrast to her own black, lavender, red, and hidden touches of dark blue in her extra eyes. This Raevan also looked somehow boyish or even masculine which struck the younger Frei as rather odd despite the plainness. Even if she wanted to, she didn't focus on that curiosity long because the next thing she noticed was that the female hadn't cleared off and was also looking damn near expectant of her. She felt her mood - already lowered because of the hunger and this sudden happenstance - drop some more. Oh this was just great.
"What?" Anastacia straightened her posture, dropped her arm, and raised her chin up to accent the angles of her face and make the slowly dying light glint off her chitinous parts. Proud, regal, and quite clearly the no nonsense type, however, she would be tersely polite and humor the vest-clad Frei for a brief moment. This Raevan femme would ask what she wanted right then and there or be like Zeke and left in the virus Frei's dust. Her meal would not wait for anyone, not even one she had quite clearly offended.
The moment he was likewise greeted, Zeke wasted no time in pulling his cart back, around and down the aisle the Brit was in.
"Hey!" He said. "Long time no see!"
Being who he was, the moment his cart came to a stop and he removed himself from behind it his arms opened wide to offer Ebony a hug. Whether she wanted it or not was her choice, because he was still respectful and knew he was still on an acquaintance-level relationship with this woman. Still, it didn't stop him from looking delighted at seeing her again.
"I've been good! Great, really. Busy and that whole schtick. Got a lot on my plate, but I'm taking it all in stride." He waved a hand airily, good feelings abound. It was still quite the same from the last time they met - regular job on weekdays, Lab on weekends, online college classes too - but unlike last time he had that certain someone in his life now. "How have you--" The question was one he should have expected, especially since he was one of the few who would know for sure. There was no bad news to report, so Zeke showed no signs of sheepishness or unwillingness to reply as he gave his answer.
"It's just fine, Ebony. Everything's in full swing and last I checked, everyone's happy and healthy. There were some slight bumps in the beginning after what happened, but everything's just fine. It's the same Lab you know and love." And he couldn't be happier for that. Alex had recovered, Zul had shocked them all with his growth into a Sigel, Isi and Eiry were just fine, and Laz and Dr. Kyou...Well, he hadn't seen them around too much but if anything was wrong with either of them he was sure he would have been told of it by now. Also the tanks that held growing Raevans were just dandy as well. He still wondered over Anita's crocodile and checked on him and the others regularly but as with Kyou and Laz, if anything had gone wrong, he knew he would have been made aware long ago.
"Everything's just fine, he repeated, and hoped that cleared her head of any lasting concern. "But as I was saying...How have you been? And how's Delia?" It didn't take him long to notice that she wasn't with the Brit today.
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 12:20 am
Cordelia gave a curious frown towards the spider Raevan. Though the girl had apologized, it wasn't exactly the same as it should have been. Most people would have said something along the lines of 'I'm sorry', but this one had decided on a roundabout way of apologizing, a way that made the words sound bitter and meaningless. It was like she hadn't even apologized at all, merely repeated a phrase she'd heard time and time again of which she was bored of and it ticked her off just to have to say them now.
It was there, as the two Freis faced off silently, that Delia had finally come to notice that the other one was a Raevan herself. Taken aback some by this new revelation, Delia’s expression softened some. The other girl had quite an interesting look to her, delicate and strong at the same time. Delia didn't know whether it was the hair or the chilled indifference, but Anya came off a lot like Ebby in mere presence alone. For some reason it both unsettled and annoyed the basilisk.
Cordelia became guarded once again when Anya raised a hand as if to strike. It settled quickly down when the intended strike hit the girl’s arm instead. The snake raised a brow in question. She was use to oddities when it came to friends like Basil, but he was odd all around and it just seemed to fit, this did not. The way this Raevan looked and acted now seemed vaguely reminiscent of Lucia when she was possessed, borderline crazed. Though she didn’t know one thing about this purple haired Raevan yet, Delia had that all too familiar feeling of being face to face with another predator. One she may have to physically defend herself against this time. At least, that’s how it felt to the smoky girl then.
Annoyed by Anya’s clipped question, Delia took on a similar stance to the spider femme. With chin tilted up and arms crossing over her chest, “Nothing, just…you’re a Raevan I’ve not seen before. Who are you?” The question was just as demanding sounding as Anya's had been.
Ebony’s face took on a ghastly expression when Zeke came about with arms wide open for an obvious invitation to a hug. She couldn’t be more mortified at the prospect being as they were technically still strangers to one another. Signs of affection were never things the Brit took lightly and had been only reserved for those closest to her, which in these days would only be Cordelia. Yet…Ebony couldn’t offend the bi-colored lab member, especially when he looked so over the moon at seeing her again.
Ever so quickly, the lavender haired woman gave Zeke a quick squeeze in greeting before retreating to what she considered a proper distance. Feeling awkward and embarrassed now, a soft blush left her cheeks pink, revealing to all her uncomfortable status. Though at his recount of what had become of the lab, Ebony breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t realized she was holding in until now. “I’m glad to hear that Zeke, truly I am. As I’m sure Cordelia will be when she finds out. Speaking of, she’s doing fine. Probably lounging about in one of the greenhouses at the moment. She just can’t get enough of that darn warmth you know.” She peered about, hoping that maybe the snake had decided to come back her way and thus could say hello to Zeke. But alas, no sign of the black clad Raevan. “And I’m doing well as can be. We’ve had some up and downs lately as can be expected, but for the time being we’re dong fine.”
A moment passed and a light bulb went off in Ebony’s head, “Oh! Say, did your Raevan emerge from the tanks finally?” Asking this only reminded her as to how long it had actually been since they’d last spoken. Surely his Raevan had been born by now, right?
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Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:31 am
The fact this Raevan before her took a stance similar to her own caused Anya to loft a brow. It was more surprising than it was annoying simply because she had rarely been stood up to like this before. Certainly Zeke had his moments of putting his foot down (and Halloween came to mind at that note), but he was the sort of man who wanted everyone to be both equal and happy and not go to bed angry. It was because of this that she knew while he "ran the roost" he would fall into compromises with her time and again. Not that she was complaining about that. She enjoyed that. But it was clear to her she would be getting no such thing from the Frei that floated before her.
Instead she got questions. A question actually, but when someone started talking to her she expected she was being asked a few things at once with no stopping. The question struck her as odd in its phrasing, but it was straightforward all the same and easy enough to answer. The tone of it, however, was not what she would call proper to use around her and it made her visibly frown in annoyance. Still though, she knew she shouldn't expect others to know her name off the bat even if she did expect them to know what she wanted without speaking a word. What's more, without Zeke here to speak it for her, she'd have to do like she had done few times before and give her own name. Once that was done? Perhaps the vested Frei would leave her be. If not, well, she would still make her own moves to leave and get to where the sick smell was coaxing her and then out of this god forsaken greenhouse.
"Anastacia." Despite the growing itch in all her skin - to which she did the opposite of her motions before and vigorously rubbed her left hand over her right upper arm - and her general unhappiness, Anya's tone was cool, slow, and full of her proper airs as she spoke her own name. She may not like to speak unless she had to or at all, but she did like the sound of her own name in her own voice. It was full, rich, regal. Fitting for her, oh yes and she shifted her spindly crown around to really give off that queenly feeling. Now that her name was out though, would that single word suffice? Anya believed it would. The plain Jane Frei got an answer despite her copied pose and insolent tone and that was all she had asked for. If she wanted to give her own name in return so be it, but Anya could not care less about the other female's name right now as "improper" as that sounded or seemed. "Happy?"
It probably should have been kept internalized, but Anya was past the point of caring. Despite how she said her name, the way she vocalized 'Happy?' was right back to that agitated "I'm ready to leave but you're in the way" tone of voice that wasn't helping her in the long run. But again, it wasn't like she cared.
Though he was ultimately given a squeeze, seeing the expression on Ebony's face when he held his arms out to her and the look she had on her face after made him drop his arms quick. Seeing her looking at him like that made him want to offer an apology. He never wanted to make someone or a situation awkward! Far from it! It made him feel more than a little bad inside, but he did make sure to remember that next time he met Ebony to offer the woman a handshake instead. Despite wanting to give the woman an apology (and he opened his mouth to do so) it seemed that once the topic of the Lab was out in the air Ebony was quick to move on from the little point of discomfort without missing a beat.
"I'm glad to hear she's doing well and that you look like you're doing the same." Last time he had seen the Frei, she hadn't arrived or left on a happy note. Remembering that, the thought then struck him that both Cordelia and Anya were out on their own in the garden center with plenty of time between their arrival and now to have met. Zeke didn't know what to feel on that. Delia wouldn't know who Anya was for now, but he knew his Frei. She wasn't the sunniest woman in the world and that was doubly so when hungry. He could only hope she would be polite if she and Delia did happen to meet. Please Anya, be nice...
“Oh! Say, did your Raevan emerge from the tanks finally?”
He chuckled then, coming out of his slight internal worry and hoping to smile proudly at the woman that stood before him.
"She has. She's over a year old now, in fact." Not the sunniest Raevan, but his all the same. He loved her as his own and was still amazed that a year had passed since Alex had all but dragged his a** out of work and driven him back to the Lab like a madwoman to pick the virus Frei up. As well, stating she was over a year old made him realize how long it had been since he had seen the few Guardians and Raevans he had told about Kyou's idea to turn the Fel Virus into a Frei. He had to wonder when they would all finally meet the descendent of that virus and, of course, how they would take to meeting her. He looked back to Ebony, focusing hard on the face of the woman before him. She had been right in front of Anastacia's tank when he broke the news to her and Delia. Unlike the basilisk and unlike the others he had told, she had taken it rather well and she did trust Dr. Kyou. And hey...If Delia had a chance of meeting the spider queen while they were out and about, why not give said Raevan's guardian the same chance? It was only fair and besides, Anya did need to meet more of the Lab family. He put on a gentle smile and leaned against the bar of his carriage, brows raising slightly with intrigue as he spoke.
"Would you like to meet my Anya, Ebony?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 7:37 pm
"Anastacia..." The basilisk uttered each syllable slow and precise, trying out the name on her smoke laced tongue. Again if the girl hadn't been so rude in the way she spoke to Cordelia (not to mention have actually apologized for bumping into her), the snake might have thought the name to be also beautiful. Yet as it seemed how things were going, Delia would forever associate the name with bossy bitterness.
Turning her nose up in a huff just as her woman would towards anyone she deemed unworthy of her presence, Delia gave a muttering of low hisses, not that she had to being that Anastacia wouldn't have a clue what she was saying anyway.
"Happy?" Cordelia could feel a twitch starting at the corner of one of her scaled eyes. Managing not to lose her temper just yet, the girl responded back coolly, "Not really. But I will be soon enough." With that she effectively removed herself from the unpleasant Raevan's area. Now all Delia had to do was find a nice warm spot to nest in and forgetting about meeting Anya should be a piece of cake.
Over a year old now? Had it really been that long? Wow, Ebony suddenly realized she'd been keeping Cordelia at home far too much. Now that they were back in their own bodies it would do them some good to do some catch up with old friends. Suddenly the purple haired Brit was wondering how the rest of the Lab members were doing then.
"Uh...sure." Ebony had the sneaking suspicion that Anya was short for something else and as it always did, the nickname urked her somewhat. Then again it wasn't her ward, but still she was curious and just had to know. Pulling up her cart next to Zeke's and following him to the next area in hopes of finding their Raevans, "So Anya huh? How'd you come up with that name?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:16 am
While she was displeased by this turn of events and the bump that was preventing her from getting where she wanted to right this moment, it did falter for a brief moment as the serpent Raevan spoke her name. That odd, smoky quality the other femme had to her voice made the spider queen's just seemed to add a certain...hint of loveliness to her already wonderful name. Anastacia did so like that, but of course it was spoiled by the black-haired Frei's attitude and sudden upturn of her nose. How insolent! But as Cordelia had mimicked her pose before, Anastacia mimicked the Basilisk now. She too turned up her nose, following the other Frei with her eyes before turning to watch her depart.
"Oh boohoo for you! I hope your day gets worse, you ugly thing." Lowering her nose and leveling her gaze, the spider queen crossed her arms over her bosom before turning around in her own huff. Feeling as though she got the last word in, she smiled in that cruel way of hers as she gave her long pinions a flick to be on her way, but a jab rose up in her mind and she couldn't resist turning around mid-float to spit it at the older Raevan. "By the way, tell your moron of a guardian to teach you some damn manners!"
Once it was spoken, Anastacia wheeled around again, eyes on the prize and now done with the wretched Basilisk. She felt as though she had won and while the heat made her itch and her rune damn near grumbled for the virus that was just within reach now. This made the spider queen incline her head in a haughty fashion, practically smirking to herself. She had definitely won AND gotten the last word in. All she needed now was that plant and a door and the day would surely be hers, uncouth bump in the road or not.
Although Ebony's reply to his question was a little uncertain, Zeke was happy for it all the same. With a happy "Follow me!" the vet took the lead. Checking to make sure Ebony was behind him, Zeke happily led her from the aisle to the sliding glass doors that opened the way to the greenhouse.
"Well, Anya's just a nickname, he admitted without a shred of insecurity or shyness, "her full name is Anastacia. And...I can't really explain it; her name just came to me."
Looking over his shoulder at the Brit, the vet could only shrug and chuckle. That was it - there was no deep, insightful reason behind it, no preplanned certainty. All there was was a moment of what could only be called Zen that came from a long, drawn out moment of blank awe. Anastacia was what he had uttered without warning and Anastacia was what fit. The vet paused a moment just to see what Ebony thought of that and just as quickly took up walking and pushing his carriage again. With the doors in reach, his mind was on introducing the Frei to Ebony and hoping she had been able to feed while they were apart. Nothing in his mind had warning or prediction that his Frei had met Ebony's and the meeting had not gone over well.
"Let's see..." When the doors slid open, Zeke walked through and immediately started looking for his ward. However, he started on the far left while Anastacia and Cordelia had had their spat on the right and as such, he did not see either Raevan just yet. "Purple, purple, purple...Where'd you go, Anya?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:19 am
Cordelia was not one for hard of hearing, but gladly pretended she did not hear the lavender haired Raevan's last bout of commentary. And just as she was quickly on her way back to peacefulness, rolling her eyes at the others failed attempt to rile her up as she floated away, Anastacia did the worst thing possible then. She insulted Ebony.
The normally happy go lucky Frei was gone, what remained as her sharp wings splayed out wide with a snap, was a basilisk. With surprising speed, the snake girl was right back in front of Anya, this time purposely intruding on her personal space as she got right up in the other girl's face. It was only a wonder of how Delia looked to the spider then, yet to anyone else, they'd probably use the words dangerous and feral. It was rare for Delia to ever get to this level of anger, but when she did it showed on her whole being. The ends of her hair became smokey tendrils that would rise up, looking alive and ready to strike while the pupils of her eyes became the slitted norm of her serpent brethren.
Fangs bare and words laced with smokey hissing, "Look here you bug-eyed minger! Insult me all you like, but you will NOT insult my human! Do I make myself clear?!"
Ah, so Anya was short for Anastacia. She knew it. Somehow it just felt like the vet had shortened it for his own personal preferences. Giving a light chuckle of her own, "Well you might not think there was a meaning when you picked it, but I think it's a bit..." Ebony waved her hand around as she tried to grasp the words she needed to explain herself. "...fated? What I mean is that given the circumstances of her essence, Anastacia or resurrection seems to fit the bill perfectly."
Ebony's smile didn't falter quickly after that as she was still mulling over the name Zeke had picked for his Raevan. She certainly approved of its full version to the nick. It sounded so royal, so prestigious, so elegant. Surely a girl with such a name could be nothing but as well. And surely with such a name to match Cordelia's own royally influenced one, the two were bound to get along yes?
It was just then that while Zeke was searching for his ward, that a sound that seemed like hissing began to wheel the Brit's memory back to when they first learned of the virus Raevan's creation. Cordelia had been so mad then and mad for a good time afterwards. Ebony shook her violet head. That was so long ago now though. Surely Cordelia wouldn't still be against meeting the Raevan? Slowly, Ebony's silver eyes slide towards the right...
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Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:22 am
Won. Yes, she had won. Thanks to that, it would take her but moments after feeding outdoors to cool her head and push the Basilisk completely out of mind. The plant was in reach - about an arms length away now in actuality - and the door just beyond, so with all that and her bag of chips, the spider queen was of course taken aback by the sudden presence of a livid serpent in her face. A cry of shock and disgust left her lips as the spindly Frei pulled back from the tan-skinned femme once again, wings raising and flipping over her shoulders. However, instead of crossing over her bosom as before, they (like the legs of her crown ) were instead kept aloft, raised in a position of defense and aggression.
"How dare you!" She hissed right back, upper lip pulling back and thin fangs slipping out of her canines as she did so. Now that she had pushed herself away from the initial shock, she was not going to sit back, take this insolence, and just float away. And why should she? She might call fighting barbaric and would justly dub Cordelia as such if the Basilisk struck her, but the spider queen would not succumb to such animalistic tendencies! If - and only if - the serpent femme lashed out would Anastacia take off, but only to fetch her Guardian and make him white knight for her. He was at least good for that much.
As Cordelia spat her words in Anastacia's face, the Frei was again in the mind that she didn't care what the older Raevan was saying. However, the words 'bug-eyed minger' hit first and hit hardest in her books, the insult making the spider queen's lavender eyes widen and her head snap back as though she had been slapped across the face. The first word to go through her head after the verbal backhand was an echoing "What?" that grew in number and resound by the second. Soon her head was full of repeated sounds of 'what' which all came together and exploded into a realization that she had just been insulted. She didn't know what a 'minger' was, but she knew an affront when she heard it. While above physical brawling, the verbal sort was a-okay in the Widow's books. Her hands were balled at her sides and shook, but Anya would cut with her tongue rather than her nails.
"I'll call anyone I want whatever I want you two-eyed tart!"
Had she blood flowing through her veins rather than carefully contained pathogens, the Frei's face would have been splotched with red as she released her first cried assault. As the case was different, her skin was instead free of color and instead pulled, stretched, and wrenched into one of anger. She would NOT come to blows, but dammit all, she would not slink away like a coward!
"It really means 'resurrection'? I honestly didn't know that." Looking back at Ebony as she spoke, the fact the woman knew the meaning of his ward's name was rather amazing to him. Heck, the fact it meant what it meant was amazing to him and the vet had to give a little self-deprecating chuckle as he considered the meaning and how truly tied it was to his ward. "When I said it, the first thing that came to mind was that Russian princess. You know, the one people thought had escaped after her family had been killed back in the nineteen-hundreds?"
Saying the latter part made him pause, smile screwing up as he chuckled. Okay, so maybe Anya's name didn't have the best connotations as far as its most famous holder, but it was still very pretty in full and very much suit the spider queen to a T. He definitely wouldn't change it for the world and would honestly be extremely surprised if his Frei wanted to have it changed later on in life. Apart from his like of the name he had given her, Anastacia adored her name and Zeke knew that for a fact.
Returning to looking, Zeke began to feel a little dismayed that his ward was seemingly not in this place. He figured the greenhouse would be right up her alley as far as browsing went and yet so far in his inspection she was not in sight. However, as his gaze reached the middle of the room and was about to turn right, the hissing of the arguing femmes was heard and Zeke immediately snapped his attention toward its source. With Anastacia's back to him, the vet could only gape in shock as his eyes landed on his ward and the flared winged Basilisk in front of her. His pierced lips started to flap, struggling to get words out due to the alarming nature of the scene, but despite being stuck there, his legs were quickly in motion. Zeke left his carriage before the doors and tore off through rows of flowers, eyes locked on the bearer of that bright red hourglass peeking out from beneath long lavender locks.
"...two-eyed tart!"
"Anastacia!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:49 am
Never. Never could Cordelia ever remember in her short life being so mad at someone that she felt the urge to bite them. The urge was so strong right now to do so to this insolent shrew that her jaw hurt just from holding back as she was now. Hands and jaw clenched tight, Cordelia's wings shuffled upon her back in agitation, looking too much like swords being sharpened for battle.
Eyes a blaze with the fires of anger still, the onyx clad girl managed a condescending scoff. "You call that a come back? It's obvious I have two eyes idiot!" The smoke around her was really billowing now as she circled around the other tightly, giving in to some deeper instinct to make this prey understand its place. A sinister chuckle left her dark lips, "But I guess it can't be helped if you're all looks and no brains."
Ebony's head was just starting to realize it was Cordelia she was seeing with whom she could only assume was Zeke's Raevan when the vet dashed off in their direction. She hadn't quite caught what had happened prior but it was pretty obvious even from this distance that her ward was pretty upset about something. With a heavy sigh, the Brit mimicked her male counterpart and abandoned her cart as to address the current matter at hand. She should have known that the universe would only allow her a moment of peace for a short time.
Arms crossed and face set in a stern expression, Ebony pulled up next to Zeke and asked, "What's going on here?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:06 pm
All looks and no brains? Clearly this Raevan was speaking of herself!
"Oh please! It's obvious you have two, but both must be blind since you don't seem to realize that I have six!" Jokes may lose their luster when they needed to be explained, but insults only only seemed to be powered up by such things. Anastacia felt cruelly confident despite her snarl when she stated her fact and to add to the insult as well as her own ego, she raised one hand to her brow to gesture at the four unblinking navy blues that dotted her brow. All six were trained on the insolent Basilisk and practically glowing with anger, disgust, and that confidence that she had got the serpent Raevan by the ribbon now. Still, she wasn't about to let her guard down and float away with a flip of her hair. She wanted to see how this dull little pissant would react to truly being had!
Wings still raised and crown still expanded in that aggressive pose, Anastacia didn't have the luck to immediately see the fallout of her oh so smart comeback. At that moment, Zeke's voice managed to pierce the buzzing bubble of sound that had been void of anything but her own voice and Cordelia's. Immediately after was the sound of his footsteps drawing closer to her and her adversary. Although he would intrude and ask questions and thus continue to be a nuisance as normal, the spider queen didn't feel entirely against this happening. Yes she was in the right, but Zeke would take her side. He always did. She just had to say what happened and voila - two on one. And as with most things - including eyes - more was better.
"Anya, Cordelia...What the hell?!" The vet's footsteps came to a stop just short of the two defensive Raevans. Like back at the cart he had to gawk, wanting to separate the two yet aware he likely couldn't get between them without getting stabbed, hit, bitten, or otherwise harmed.
"Zeke," the Frei greeted in a terse voice between her teeth, keeping all her focus on Cordelia and ignoring his question. The vet might be here now and thus she was safe from any sort of barbaric action on the part of the Basilisk, but she wasn't going to just drop everything and call this quits in favor of giving her side of the story. She was still angry and offended after all and would hold her ground until the other backed off...or was whisked away, as a new voice joined the buzzing bubble. Had meeting the Basilisk gone any other way, she might have found Ebony's accent intriguing, perhaps even pretty. Given things had gone awry, the Brit's lilt to her words was annoying. Rather fitting, given the woman's charge was also as such.
Ebony might have spoken, but unlike with her Guardian, Anastacia did not welcome her into this. She felt the urge to tell the woman to teach her horrible charge some manners, but held back on the notion that saying so would make her look like the bad guy in all this. She wasn't, and thus that would be counter intuitive.
With no response out of Anya past the tight way she said his name, Zeke posed his question again - this time mimicking Ebony, except with less stern calm and more aghast concern that he was trying hard to make level.
"What's going on? What happened?" Anya had her wings up, Cordelia's were flared, people in the greenhouse were keeping their distance...what had happened to cause this? In the pit of his stomach the vet felt a sickly, sour fizzing - a sign of unhappiness that the Widow had not hit it off well with the Basilisk and that his hope of showing Cordelia that there was nothing to hate about the Virus Raevan was dying. The feeling also encompassed worry in regards to the latter, which grew as he rested his eyes on the dark-haired femme. She knew who he was and he knew she was a smart cookie. It probably wouldn't take but a moment or two for her to recall their last meeting and also realize the Frei she had gotten into a tiff with was his. With that realization on the Basilisk's part, he was certain things were not going to get any better from here on out.
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:45 pm
The dark femme merely rolled her stormy eyes at the younger girl's new failed attempt at trying to insult her. Honestly her first one about Ebony was probably the best seeing as it had struck the basilisk to her core. These were just pathetic. To Cordelia, it was like watching a fish out of water flopping about gasping for breathe. And most people knew how the smoke Raevan felt about any aquatic creature.
Just before Zeke pulled up, Delia was able to hiss out a quick retort, "That's why I called you bug eyed...pfft, barmy bint." It really was a shame that Ebony hadn't come up sooner than she had for she would have easily been able to know what the snake was calling Anya and wouldn't be too pleased with the girl, nor would she have been too pleased with herself for allowing her ward to overhear her using such words and thus learning by example.
It took only a moment for Cordelia to connect the dots with the appearance of the brightly colored Lab worker and his casual use of a nickname for the unpleasant Frei, not to mention his overly obvious concern for her. Eyes widening and wings rattling slight, the girl floated further away from the other that she now knew as the virus Raevan. The basilisk felt even more threatened by the fact that she knew what this girl was and thus the idea that Anya thought she was safe from physical harm now merely because their humans were around was sadly mistaken. One wrong move, just one and Cordelia wouldn't hesitate to defend herself or her woman from this abomination.
When Zeke's questions fell on deaf ears, the violet haired Brit quickly turned to her own ward for answers. "Cordelia?" she asked with an impatient 'I'm waiting' added on purely by the inflection of her voice and body language.
Delia barely kept her eyes off of Anya now, too worried about what would happen if she did. The only acknowledgement that she gave her guardian was that of a couple quick looks to her (again eyes still trained on the virus) while slowly inching closer to her woman.
Eyes narrowing in dissatisfaction of not getting an answer and frustration from the horrible crowd they were starting to attract, Ebony grabbed Cordelia by the wrist and said, "Fine. You don't want to answer here, then you can do so on the car ride home." Turning towards the others, "Zeke, Anastacia, we'll be taking our leave now. My apologizes though for whatever my Cordelia has said or done to offend you."
"Ebony..." the basilisk hissed a warning through gritted teeth, abandoning her normal cheery nickname for the other. She didn't want to be disrespectful towards her woman, but she also didn't want to show any sort of weakness in front of this...this thing!
"Oh so now you're willing to speak?"
Delia avoided eye contact and bit her bottom lip to keep from saying anymore. A fight with Ebby now would just play into the virus girl's hands. At least that's how Cordelia thought, and she wasn't having any of that.
With a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head, Ebony replied, "Exactly as I thought. We're leaving. Now." Cordelia didn't put up a fight and allowed herself to be lead out, eyes still squarely on Anya. Just in case that stupid girl got any stupid ideas of attacking them as they left.
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