maybe if i knew all the things it took to save us

[activations]

WHO: activations and suppressions Sinclair
WHAT: Gwen is graduating top of her journalism class and is ecstatic. Artie flunked engineering due to constant illness and is less so.
WHERE: Bellingham, Washington State, USA.
WHEN: Mid-1991; the twins are 21.

Gwen couldn't stop grinning as she moved down the street toward her brother's flat, just barely able to keep herself from

Comments

[suppressions]

Arthur had not had a good day. Not only had he missed the first hour of class due to a throbbing headache forcing him to sleep longer than he had intended (straight through his alarm, too!), but when he had gotten to school, well...

Bah humbug.

Shannon, who had been twining herself around his legs, startled at Gwen's entrance and bolted to the far side of the room to sit herself under the kitchen table. The kitten was getting better about the sudden-noises-thing, but Art still had his work cut out for him. He looked over in response to the unannounced entrance, shifting to place the sheaf of papers on the coffee table and underneath the textbook he had left there.

"Oh, yeah, Gwen, hi. Let yourself in," he said in exasperation, waving a hand before flopping back into the couch. Atmosphere: broody, with hints of upset.

[activations]

"I will, thanks." She stopped and closed her eyes, lips pursing in a grimace at the weight of the apartment's air and automatically (resignedly) reaching out mentally to feel for twinges of pain before pulling back. Maybe if she went into the bedroom ...

No. Artie would know what that was for.

"But I'm starting to wish I hadn't. Did you miss class again today?" She dropped her handbag on the table, turning a full circle, taking a deep breath and not lowering her barriers to get the whole story. He hated that, and if she was already feeling it now, he was too broody to brook an 'invasion' of privacy.

Instead she dug in her handbag for a tin and knelt on the linoleum, beckoning at Shannon. "Hey, girl, c'mere. Got some tuna for you." Hey, the sister had to be in the brother's pet's good books, right?

[suppressions]

Shannon lowered her head, stretching her neck out toward Gwen in curiosity. She gave a rumbling mrraow and took a half-step forward. Wary, as cats tended to be until thoroughly satisfied, yet not entirely disinterested.

"Sky's still blue," Art replied. His patience was there, but running thin. If it had been anyone else, he would have already snapped at them for the question; current mood aside, his headache was making him sick and grouchy. The fact that he missed class so often was the norm, but he had worked his ass off to make sure he could make up for it. Or so he'd thought, anyway.

[activations]

Gwen peeled open the tuna tin and left it on the floor for Shannon to investigate at her will. Automatically brushing off her hands, she rose, rolled her eyes at her brother and made for her big handbag again. "Then why aren't you taking something for it?"

She didn't bother to ask why he'd missed them. As he'd said, the sky was still blue.

Yanking out a satchel of tea-leaves, she made for Artie's kettle, filled it with water and turned it on, then went searching for a mug. She had something special for him, this time. It took a lot to get payapa tea-leaves from the Motherland, a lot of money and a lot of effort, but he'd always refused to use it when their parents tried to give it to him. Just one reminder of where they 'came from', Gwen supposed. Hopefully he wouldn't think to ask her what sort of tea this was.

[suppressions]

"I think I've built up an immunity to aspirin." It was only half-joking. He shifted to the end of the couch so that he could see Shannon padding up to the tuna can and slowly beginning to devour the tasty treat. After a moment, he turned to Gwen.

"Behind the bowls," he supplied, since the mugs had been shuffled behind everything else in their disuse. He didn't drink much that required them other than when Gwen came over.