Something is still wrong with you [Cad & Gwyn]

That afternoon, when Cadmus walked through the front door to the apartment, it was with a pocketful of cash and the first sense of relief he had felt in a week. It would take a while before his savings got anywhere near what they had been before his last meeting with Acheron, but at least he was no longer broke. He greeted the people playing a board game at the dining table, before heading to his room to put away the money in the hidden compartment of his desk. It was then that he noticed a notepad lying open in one of his drawers; beneath absentminded pen strokes, Cadmus recognised the notes he had taken almost a week prior at his meeting with Gwyn. Had it really been almost a week?

Taking up the notepad, he shut the drawer and leaned back against the window for better lighting. No memories before the age of six - why? Something about this being related to her lack of powers? Shit – with everything else going on, he had forgotten all about Gwyn and her struggles. Was he supposed to have read up on anything? Done anything? He could not remember, but it didn’t look like he had written down any reminders to himself. That’s always something. Besides, Gwyn had had an eventful weekend too. Probably equally enjoyable. It was not as if she had been sitting about idly, wondering if he had forgotten about their next meeting. That he was supposed to help her. He had also not gotten around to talking with Dominic; everything had been about the article. And his black eye.

He winced, letting the notepad fall back down on the desk with the memory of the blow; and his own idiocy. Everything was fine. Probably. For now.

Since he had no plans for the afternoon – or evening, he thought he might as well check in with Gwyn. He scratched his neck – realised that he was still wearing a jacket, and went to hang it in his closet. Hadn’t she been in the living room when he came in? The plan was to locate some early memories and try to figure out if there was anything surrounding them, and perhaps talk about some dreams? If she had had any. Worst case she might not have anything for them to work with, and he could check in another time.

During the small trip from his bedroom back to the living room, he decided that she would probably appreciate it; after yesterday; and the day before. Just to let her know that she was welcome here – she really did not have anywhere else to go; in that regard she was just like the rest.

The same group of people were playing the same game; but Gwyn was seated in a chair by the windows, knees to her chest, looking out.

Wondering how to approach her this time, Cadmus went straight to the kitchen instead. At their talk last week, she had not had any coffee, but she had mentioned something about tea? He put over the kettle before addressing her. “How are you Gwyn?” He asked, to get her attention. When he thought he had it, he continued: “I thought it was time for a follow up – to last week?” He got a couple of mugs and sent her a smile; “I am also making tea, in case you want a cup?”

Things had changed a bit, and yet they hadn’t. The sun shone through a thin layer of clouds and some of the light seeped through the blinds, slightly warming her face. Gwyn spent her day in the same chair and the same way as she had done the past two weeks but the atmosphere felt different since her fight with Dominic.  

With her knees to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs and her cheek resting on them, Gwyn had her face turned towards the window with her eyes closed. Soaking up the watery sunshine, she replayed the moment when she had gone up to Dominic after their meeting had finished. Despite the fact that she had been in the room during the meeting, she barely heard what they had been talking about. It might be a special talent, to crawl in one’s head so deeply that you can drone out a group of people talking, because Gwyn was pretty sure that that whole meeting wasn’t meant for her ears.

However it was her brief interaction with Dominic that stuck to her somehow. After her talk with Idés the day before she had realised that she needed to apologise for the things she had said to him in her own anger. So when she had walked up to him after noticing people moving around, with an underlying fear that he would turn her away, she had told him just that. Gwyn guessed that Dominic had accepted her apology, as he hadn’t dismissed her and apologised for things he had said too. Neither of their apologies felt forced – at least she hoped she hadn’t forced Dominic to apologise by doing so herself, but there did linger an awkwardness around them. There had been a brief silence between their spoken words and the moment that Dominic left.

That was the last time she’d seen him too.

Like any other day, Gwyn was the last one to go to sleep and one of the first to wake – or be awoken. So unless Dominic had sneaked out and in while she had been asleep, she hadn’t seen a glimpse of him yet today. It shouldn’t gnaw on her,  but it did just a little bit. The thought that sometimes floated through her head was absurd, there was no way that Dominic was avoiding the living room simply because she was there. He was bigger than that, and Gwyn was nothing but a measly thorn in his side that could easily be ignored.

Letting out a deep sigh, Gwyn shoved her thoughts aside and opened her eyes. A thicker cloud was drifting in front of the sun, dimming the sunshine enough so that she didn’t have to squint as she looked through the window. She heard someone rummage in the kitchen, the kettle being placed onto the stove after it’s been filled with water. Gwyn didn’t think much of it, until her name was being called.

Lifting her head and turning it towards the voice she was somewhat surprised that someone was addressing her. Gwyn saw Cadmus standing at the stove, his attention on her. She swore that some of the refugees in the room looked between the two of them too, because this might be the first time that someone had asked her how she was doing, and held somewhat of a conversation that wasn’t too formally formatted.

She must have looked a bit dumbfounded, her brain trying to catch up with the words that Cadmus spoke. Follow up to last week? She had to dig a little, but then she remembered. Cadmus had approached her last week to talk at Dominic’s request, and she still could feel the panic she had initially felt when Cadmus had approached her. In the end it had been about her not-there-but-still-there power, her lack of memories from her early childhood and that Cadmus might be able to help her with her magic. Afterwards her brain had reeled with all the information Cadmus had given her, and Gwyn felt ashamed that she had somewhat forgotten about the whole thing until now.

Gwyn had dutifully written down any dream she could remember when she woke up, and to her slight disappointment there had only been two written down in the journal she had borrowed from Cadmus. One had been a nightmare, the other a useless yet oddly serene dream. As for her earliest memories, she hadn’t really thought about them too hard and wrote down anything that sprung to mind after she left Cadmus’ room. Being in her grandmother’s kitchen. A friend’s birthday party. Watching a thunderstorm with her father after it had woken her up in the middle of the night. She hadn’t texted her mother, though. Partially because she had forgotten, and partially because she was afraid of questions she couldn’t answer.

Returning to the present, Gwyn nodded when Cadmus inquired if she wanted a cup of tea and followed it up with a verbal confirmation in the form of a ‘yes, please’. Getting up from the chair she was seated in, Gwyn took a step to the side so she could reach her stuff that had been planted in the corner. She retrieved the journal before making her way over to Cadmus and joining him in the kitchen.
‘’Thanks for making time,’’ Gwyn said to him as she clutched the journal to her chest. Even though she recalled that Cadmus said that he wouldn’t read anything she had written down there, she didn’t mind if he did if it would help the process.