[ota] since you've been gone

[maskofhearts]

Hadyn was back, after nearly two weeks away. He honestly didn't know if going had helped him determine anything at all aside from the fact that when he was gone he missed being here. Or maybe it was that he missed certain people. Either way, what started out as a head cold in Paris that waned and seemed to go away had since evolved into something

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[headfollowheart]

"You look terrible." Zoe's voice is blunt and right behind him - she's there for her daily injection of caffeine, of course. "Is Paris under an epidemic?" Though it was hardly the first time Hadyn had been ill this year; he'd been losing his gift for just brazening through minor viruses since, well.

This summer.

[maskofhearts]

The grand result of not taking care of ones self, he is sure they would say. Looking back at his sister, Hadyn just sighed a bit and shook his head. "No, but apparently I have become ever so prone to illness."

Or rather he was just unhappy enough with his life that it seemed to latch on and never let go. He could just hear Nico saying as much.

[headfollowheart]

No doubt every single one of them would. As it is, Zoe has to resist the urge to do some mothering herself. She limits it, mostly, to handing him a bottle of orange juice.

"It's the acting, I imagine," she said, a little dry as she poured sugar into her coffee. "It probably breeds dramatic fainting spells or something."

[maskofhearts]

"The acting does lend itself to dramatics, don't blame me for it." He said, smirking a little. "Vacations aren't my thing anyway. I figured getting sick was a good excuse to crawl home."

[headfollowheart]

"I'll just join the Blame Henry Club." Apparently she's spent enough time around Elisha to hear muttering. "You were gone a long time, anyway. I don't think I've ever been Outside for longer than a week." She hadn't ever been out by herself, really; she'd even taken her impromptu birthday trip the year before with Dafydd Spencer.

"You are going to actually go home and sleep, right?"

[maskofhearts]

"Popular club, I hear my boyfriend is the President." He said a bit ruefully. "Not really Henry's fault that I get sick though, now is it?" There were a lot of reasons one got sick, after all. "And I was....soul searching or something. My uncle thought it would do me good."

But then he shrugged and moved to the counter to order his water and something light to eat. "I was planning on it." He said, giving her a curious look. "Contrary to what everyone seems to think- I'm not out to make my life miserable."

[headfollowheart]

"Mmhmm. With rallies and ice cream socials and everything." She shrugged, though, tipping her head to one side as she sipped her coffee.

"I don't think you're out to make yourself miserable. I just think you prioritize your responsibilities over yourself a lot of the time." Which she wasn't immune to, either, though she supposed that her slightly softer upbringing was part of what kept her from pushing too hard. Or maybe she pushed too hard and she just hadn't started showing cracks yet.

"Did the soul-searching do anything?"

[maskofhearts]

"Easier to work on a goal than yourself at times." He offered with another shrug. "We all can think that way a bit." He wasn't along in it, at least. Elisha was, in his own way, just as bad...yet pointing it out was likely to lead to a long, exhausting argument.

Most things of that nature did.

"Not really- aside from realizing out there is the last place I want to be, really."

[headfollowheart]

She wrinkled her nose at that, but probably because it was something she could agree with far too easily. And Elisha was that way, Victor was to a degree, too. Most of them were, truthfully.

"I've never really wanted to live Outside," she says. "Or understood Evan McCartney's constant need to be away. The Deck's home." Which was probably why she worried so much about the current...problems. "You didn't miss much," she adds. "Except snow and some more house and trees popping up."

[maskofhearts]

"Elisha kept me informed." So yes, he was cheating on his soul searching, keeping in touch as he was. But it was neither here not there, he thought at the end of the day.

"I guess some people just have a desire to be somewhere other than where they are."

[headfollowheart]

She just laughed a little at that, and shrugged. The trip to Paris had been worth a shot, of course, but she hadn't been all that sure about it when Hadyn had told her, right before leaving. It seemed like finding yourself wasn't quite that straightfoward.

"I guess," she said, and sighed. "We should have lunch once you've kicked this. I've been told I need to get out of the office more for things that aren't wedding planning."

[maskofhearts]

"Weddings are so droll, darling. You should just elope and skip all the other details." He offered with a smile before laughing a little. "Just imagine the potential from just skipping it and jumping right to the marriage- oh wait..."

He was going to politely side step her before she decided to slap at him.

[headfollowheart]

"Oh, wait, I did that already." It's too bad he was fast enough to get out of kicking range, she thought as she eyed him over the edge of her coffee cup. Oh, well, she'd get back at him later. "But then Elisha wouldn't get to wear his kilt. I heard he went with purple."

[maskofhearts]

"I don't know what color he went with- I try not to encourage too much as I have to live with you and Victor. He can skip off and never see either of you again if he wants." Which was not going to happen, that was true, but it could.

"Is your dress ready?"

[headfollowheart]

"He went with green, according to Eden." Why she knew was not a question Zoe was going to ask, in case it involved sighing on her part.
"It's almost done. They're working on finishing the lace and adding straps to it, and then it's finished. Blythe and Sophie's dresses have a little left, though." Still, it was coming together, and she shouldn't worry about it as much as she was quietly worrying about it.

"I need to find a sash. And a veil for the church."