Welcome to Gaia! ::

Finding a parking space outside was at least easier than the drive over had been. Cordelia didn't particularly like driving, but she accepted it as a necessary evil when it came to getting from point A to point B at times that didn't line up with the schedule for public transportation and didn't require paying extra for an Uber. It meant that her proverbial feathers were ruffled more often and she spent a decent amount of time cursing in the car by herself.

She tucked her keys into her purse after making sure her car was locked up, adjusting her ponytail as she made her way to the cafe. She'd worked a smile back onto her face by the time she spotted Luc at the outside table, honestly happy to see him. "Thank you for picking brunch over breakfast... There were more people still lingering around at Last Call last night than any of us were expecting and it took about an hour longer than it usually does to clear everyone out and clean up after the show."

"I made enough in one night to cover half of next month's rent, so I guess that counts for something." She laughed as she settled into a seat across from him after returning the hug. It was good having family around that she could reach out to again-- not that having friends who doubled as family wasn't good, or hadn't been enough, but... She couldn't explain how much of a relief it was to have Luc back in town to stay, to be able to share parts of her life with someone who had known her as long as she'd been alive again.

"It's nice that the owner only requires us to claim up to a certain amount for taxes, and most of us add a bit in to the jar that gets split between the bartenders on duty for the night. Sleeping in this morning, though? Best thing I've done all week." A grin had lit her lips as she spoke, head tilting slightly as the waiter returned to their table with the drinks Luc had ordered.

"Oh, thank you... What did you order so I've got an idea as to where to start on the menu looking for breakfast?"

"It usually is... And the patrons that come to the Paw really are a different caliber than what I would have expected." If she was going to work anywhere that made use of her assets she was at least relieved to be doing somewhere that insisted their staff were treated with the utmost respect, no matter how they were dressed.

She paused to take a look over the menu before ordering a slight variation on her usual brunch platter, requesting a small dish of fruit be brought out as an appetizer for them to pick at as well. Handing her menus over she looked back to her cousin while wrapping her fingers around her coffee cup.

"I have been trying to drink a little bit less coffee-- makes it easier to sleep at night." Provided she could keep herself from overthinking...

Having trouble sleeping still? Or again?

That was right... The two of them really hadn't had a chance to sit down and talk since the Gala. Not about anything of importance, at least. It meant that she hadn't let him know that at some point the scales she'd thought were balanced had teetered and tossed her off. She hadn't let Luc know, and maybe he hadn't noticed, that she'd withdrawn again.

He's busy. I don't want to bother him.

She had been too self absorbed and caught up in taking care of her own healing so that she could get back into the fight that she hadn't reached out to Fiona to make sure that she was alright after the events at the Power Plant. She had assumed... She had assumed that all was well, and that if it wasn't she would have heard something, but assumptions regularly made asses out of people. They rarely made good friends.

Cordelia had been spending time on Corvus; setting alarms now when she went to her home world to keep track of hours just as much as she was relying on Eta to remind her when it was time to go back home. It was getting harder and harder to-- Harder and harder to....

Breathe.

There was also the matter of Fritz and his impromptu trip back to England-- a trip she wasn't entirely certain he had any intentions of returning from, given everything in her life. Any time someone gets too close...

Slender fingers drew the cup of coffee up to her lips so she could take a slow sip. Her eyes had closed before that and she had nodded. "I need to pick up some more of the sleep aide I've been taking. I ran out and just... Haven't made time to head back to the store. I'll probably head there today once we're finished up."

"I know what the meetings are supposed to be for, Luc." Her nose wrinkled, the expression lingering on her face as her fingers flexed around her cup before drawing it up to take another sip. She didn't want him to worry. She didn't want anyone to worry, really, and she had no intentions of letting herself slip as far off the path as she had in the past.

"I'm just trying to make sense of things. There is a lot going on all at once-- a decent amount of work goes into renovating and it takes up a considerable amount of time and energy as well, you know that." She set her cup down, glancing up as the waiter brought the assortment of fresh fruit over, setting it between them along with a small dish of a sweetened dip. Cordelia thanked them as she reached for a strawberry, lightly dragging it through the dip.

"Did you have fun at the Gala, Luc? I know you were there on business taking photos, but... Arin had mentioned attending as well. I'm assuming the two of you met up at some point." Their mutual friend had been more outgoing as of late and that seemed to be rubbing off on her cousin as well-- a good thing, as far as she was concerned. Arin might have irritated the hell out of her when they'd been teens and he'd been Rikard, but she'd never disapproved of his friendship with Luc.

"So you brought him along to carry your equipment and fetch you drinks? Sounds like a fair trade for getting him into an upscale event. I'm sure he cleaned up nicely." Cordelia had intended to seek out her cousin and their friend at the Gala, but things that evening had taken a different turn. If she was being honest with herself in regards to them, her head was still reeling.

She did catch what her cousin said about the night turning into something more interesting, but she didn't press it beyond watching him with a slightly raised brow as she popped her strawberry past her lips. She wouldn't push Luc to far, trusting him to share what he was willing to. He wouldn't have brought it up if he hadn't wanted to talk about it, at least.

She sucked on the end of the strawberry before biting into it, enjoying the flavor as she chewed and then swallowed. "For the record? I do know that you're going to worry more if I'm not talking, I just... Need a bit of time to process things. I promise I'll talk to you when I'm ready? Fair?"

"Arin has never been one for fancy, formal affairs. Not even when we were children, honestly. Too restrictive, too confining. I'm sure he tried to toss every sort of excuse at you." Cordelia shook her head slowly as she reached for another piece of fruit from the plate, lips pressed together while she pondered her words.

"I-- No, Fiona hadn't mentioned it. We..." She set the slice of apple down on her plate, reaching for her napkin to wipe off her fingers before snagging a lock of hair that had fallen out of her clip, twirling it around her finger as she worried the end. "I haven't spoken with her much, as of late. It's my fault, honestly. My fault entirely. I just..."

Saying that it was entirely her fault wasn't entirely true. They had both been busy. She knew, through talking to Arin, that Fiona had taken on another tenant-- another young man that had been rescued from the darkness. She knew that her friend had started to dedicate more time to her studies, learning things about medicine that could help them when things would be too difficult to explain to healthcare officials. Fiona was getting things done and Cordelia?

I didn't want to be a bother.

Cordelia flinched as she completed the thought in her head, twirling the strand of hair off of her finger so she could reach for her coffee. "It took him that long to move in with you? He's been crashing at your place a good bit, hasn't he? I mean... Before moving in with you, right?" She glanced up across the table to her cousin. "Did you just realize that he'd moved in?"