Daffodils in Bloom

[Cassandra Reeding]

It's nice seeing Gerrit just relax a little. Thank the stars her words didn't come off wrong.


"I'm glad you've stayed. The three of us really are quite the team, if I do say so myself. It's too bad we rarely all end up doing something together. Sometime soon, we should do a movie night and a dinner like we used to. Or, heck, go out and do something together."


His questions about what she's been feeling gives her a little bit of pause. "I keep getting little visions, things about to happen. They'll be things like what I eat for breakfast waking up, or the song we'll work on first in orchestra. Sometimes I try to budge from it, but I realize it just circles back at a different time. Or I feel some kind of budging, as if the course I know about to be taken is supposed to be taken. That I shouldn't veer from it and accept it."


She grimaces a little, "It probably sounds kinda weird. I assume I'm just getting close to being able to read the portents, but I haven't invested any glamour in this that I'm aware of."

[Gerrit]

"Yes, we should do that." Maybe it really would be nice to do something together again. Time will have to tell if their busy schedules would allow it.

He listened to Cassandra and couldn't help but think about his discussion with Rhodes - about the Wyrd and its reach. "It.. doesn't sound weirder than other things we deal with. Those visions are accurate you say? Are you using some sort of Contract maybe?" And if she wasn't: what did this mean? "Keep me posted about this, okay? I mean it seems harmless so far, but one can never know."

[Cassandra Reeding]

It would be nice to hang out again. She's missed their movie nights and dinner get togethers that used to be common.


Cassandra shrugs because she genuinely does not know. "I mean, maybe. Maybe I'm reading the Portents and just don't know it. Omens works funny that way sometimes." She doesn't often think about her namesake, but lately, it's all that's been on her mind. Is she doomed? Will she become a true seer and find herself ignored at every turn? Not that her advice has ever really been priority for anyone in the Freehold. "But yeah, I'll keep you updated." And she can't help but think of the voice in her dream. It was like it was trying to mentor her. Make her take her visions as they are for what they are. What does it mean? She worries she'll never know or the answer will be catastrophic.

"Do you..." she thinks of how to phrase it, "We're fae creatures. Do you think we are doomed to our own fairytales? We were made in an image to fulfill a certain role. Sometimes I worry that whatever mine is is going to catch up to me. Do you wonder about that sometimes too? Or is that just me?"

[Gerrit]

If he weren't so worried about her and noticed the same in the Fairest he might have considered it funny - here sat his friend, worried about pretty much the same thing he had been thinking about ever since he came back. He thought about his answer anyway before talking, since he didn't want to just reheat his personal thoughts on the matter.

"I've been thinking about that for a while. You know, the way I am worried that I might become the monster of legends the Ogres are supposed to be.." He looked down on his hands, those scarred and wounded things that only ever drew his own blood. Not just your own, remember Tobias' Fetch-

That was different. Gerrit realized that he was silent for a few moments, then cleared his throat and continued. "I've also talked to Rhodes about this. He.. well, there is the argument that certain stereotypes and certain stories persist throughout time for a reason. But there also appears to be a degree of control we have over our fate." He didn't want to tell her about the diary, about RHodes' theory that one could influence and steer the evolution of one's Wyrd. It seemed strangely.. personal.
Plus, he didn't think that topic really related to Cassandra's problem at the moent.

He tried a comforting smile. "I would be lying if I said that I stopped worrying about that, but some people think that nothing is written in stone, even for us Lost. We aren't wholly fae, after all." It felt a bit weird: moments prior he thought that he wanted to listen to her worries, lest he treated her like the Cassandra of myths and now this seemed to more or less hit the nail on the head. Was this another sign? "Uh, just to be sure: you feel like you're getting visions without wanting or planning it?" What could he say here to ease her troubled mind? "For what it's worth: I won't disregard a warning coming from you if.. you know."

[Cassandra Reeding]

Cassandra listens, nodding as Gerrit speaks. His words speak to her in a way that comforts her. She's not the only one dealing with it. She does wonder entirely what Rhodes said about it. He can be long winded, but there's always useful knowledge to be found with him. Perhaps it is something she will speak to him about. And perhaps he'd know some about these strange divinations she's been experiencing. Though, John knows some Omen too. Choices.


"Fate is a funny thing, isn't it? One thing that I worry about is that I'll see something I don't like and will try to fix it, causing it to happen all the same. I hope Rhodes is right and we do have more control than it seems." But is fate meant to be tampered with? That's the real question.


He does make a good point though. We aren't wholly Fae. We have been changed to fit that mold, but our natures aren't true to it. That helps her worries a little more. Yet, with her growing abilities, she doesn't know that they'll ever be quite assuaged.


"I'm definitely not planning it. They'll be tiny things. Like, I dreamt I woke up, went downstairs to check the time, and saw Aria staring at me. It was so simple and didn't really seem to have any kind of effect on things, but I still dreamt it right before it happened, you know?" Then there's the voice. But she won't go into that.


"I appreciate that you'll listen. I don't want to find myself in a situation where I could help, but am unable to because people don't want to listen to me." That thought always scares her. At least she has John and Gerrit. She knows they'll always take her words seriously.

[Gerrit]

Gerrit was no stranger to Cassandra's train of thought. "Think of it that way: if you wanting to prevent it causes it to happen then fate actually was set in stone, wasn't it? How would you know if acting on intuition - or visions - will make things better or worse? You can't." A shadow of a frown crossed the Ogre's face. "That's why you can't solely rely on things like that and you need to make decisions you think are right given the information you have. And most importantly: you can't blame yourself afterwards for things out of your control." And wasn't that rich coming from him? He had always been better at giving advice than following it himself.

Her example was almost too.. non-specific to rule out a simple coincidence, but he didn't discredit her experience. That would go directly against what he wanted to promise her. "Even if it was simple, it happened. Maybe you should document things like that - see if they get stronger or worse. I, uh, I'm not really knowledgeable about those things, but I can imagine several different things that could cause this. We better stay vigilant and act if you feel alarmed." Because that was also part of the Ice Law: being prepared for when things go south.

A nod and a smile. "We are family. I don't care what causes you to call for help or assistance. I will be there." And he meant it. He found that, while it wasn't as warm or optimistic as it used to be, there was room for others in his life. And Cassandra and John definitely deserved to be there.