WHO: Astrid and Sable Donovan WHAT: Sisters meet for lunch! WHEN: June 22, 2020 WHERE: Cafe in Wizzywood RATING: None
It was a rare day that Astrid and Sable both had a free day together! Sable was so proud of her sister, working on putting her career back on track, and as for Sable, she jumped from one big role on CR to being on The Scouring which was such a big project too. So, Sable invited her sister out for lunch so they could catch up.
They agreed to meet up at a cute cafe in Wizzywood. It was a beautiful day, and Sable sat at a table outside while she waited for her sister to arrive. Since Sable had started dating Emi, and working on Camelot Rising, she hadn’t spent enough time with Astrid. Sable hadn’t invited her to hang out with her and Emi either! And Sable felt guilty about that, especially since Sable and Emi were living together now, and that would have made it easier. She’d bring it up at lunch today for sure.
It had been a relief to get an invitation to lunch from Sable. Things had been far more hectic on set lately than Astrid liked, and it didn't help that she'd been plagued with persistent headaches almost since the day they'd started production. She already had one this morning, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from seeing her sister. She needed to be around someone more familiar, where she could be herself. It would help, she was sure.
"Hey," she said, a little breathless when she slipped into an empty chair across the table. "I'm not late, am I?" She checked her wrist only to realize she'd forgotten her watch. That prompted a quick inventory of her person to make sure she hadn't done anything dumb like apparate here without pants—which was actually the case, but only because she was wearing a dress. "God, you know that saying about forgetting your head if it wasn't attached? That is so me lately." She laughed a little and reached for the menu card.
“Hi!!” Sable said enthusiastically at the sight of her sister. “No, no you’re not late! I only just got here myself. I just wanted to get us a good table outside,” she assured Astrid. Sable did giggle a bit at her sister looking at a watch that wasn’t there. She didn’t really mean to laugh. Astrid had gone through so much adjusting, but she was doing so much better! She handed over the menu when she looked for it. “It’s so good to see you! We’re getting so busy, it’s so hard to meet up. How are you?”
Astrid took the menu and immediately buried herself in it, face tipped down so that hopefully her lack of a bright smile wouldn't be as obvious. She hated that it was a struggle to answer such a simple question, hated the feeling that she was always such a downer or that she was too attention seeking in her interactions with friends and family. "It has been really busy," she said, eyes roaming over the options without really seeing them. She was sure they would have a club sandwich of some sort—everyone did—so she had her backup if she couldn't manage to focus. "We've had some challenges getting the serial off the ground. Writer's room conflicts, I think." It hadn't directly affected her, but everyone could feel the tension. "Maybe it was like that before, but I was too young to notice it. I don't know. What have you been up to?"
Sable knew that oftentimes she could be terminally pleasant. Sometimes it had been hard to try to cheer her sister up and she didn’t know what to do. “Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. I hope it gets settled. I can’t wait to watch!” Sable said about the writer conflicts. She thought maybe part of what Astrid said was true because Sable never noticed any of those things either… “I’m working on the Scouring while Camlet Rising is on break. I’m kind of more of a secondary villain, but that’s okay. I’m just excited to be part of the project. Lochlan King is a great director! It’s been keeping me busy while Emi is away.”
Astrid shrugged and glanced up to offer her sister a quick, small smile. "It's fine. It hasn't been all bad or anything. It's just not what I expected, I guess." She nodded, both to indicate she was listening and because she was at least aware of Sable's projects, even if she didn't know all of the details about them. "Is it fun playing the villain? Everyone says it is, but I wonder if it would feel too...foreign. I'm not sure I'd like doing bad things, even on screen." She pushed her menu to the edge of the table, giving up on trying to read it. "Where's Emi?"
“It’s not really easy as it sounds,” Sable agreed. She had a much more glamorous idea of what being an actor was like before she started. It was fun, and she did enjoy it, but it was hard work. “Yes! Though I have a bit more fun with Sirae in Camelot Rising. It’s not easy, but it really does mean you are becoming a different person. Elizabeth is a bit different. She’s not evil actually it’s just… well not giving too much away… but she’s under Abigail’s control,” Sable explained. “Emi has a small show, so she’ll be back soon. She’s not gone long, but I still miss her.”
Astrid pretended shock, complete with an exaggerated hand over her mouth. "Spoilers! How dare you?" She laughed, feeling a little more relaxed for it than she had before. Her headache hadn't really gotten better, but it was a little easier to ignore it with the pleasant distraction. "That's kind of disgustingly sweet," she teased. "You couldn't go with her? Or did it overlap with filming? God, I haven't been on a date in ages. The closest I got was Valentine's Day, and I'm still pretty sure I got a dose of those spiked chocolates."
“Only a little bit!” Sable giggled and was happy to see that she made her sister laugh too. That was a relief and helped Sable feel better about asking Astrid to lunch. She blushed at the description of how she missed Emi was ‘disgustingly sweet’. “It overlapped with filming.” Though she wasn’t sure if Emi wanted her to be at all her shows anyway… Sable was still getting used to this relationship thing. “Oh no! What happened with the chocolates? You didn’t tell me that!”
"You read about the whole thing, though, right?" Astrid asked. The tainted chocolates had been a pretty big thing around Wizzywood immediately following Valentine's Day, which was really the only reason she'd managed to put two and two together. "Some mix-up with the mix that got the potions in the wrong sweets and with the wrong doses. I don't remember the details. But I went to that singles night you talked me into, and I spent a good chunk of the night flirting with" —she dropped her voice and leaned in— "Lincoln Miller. No joke. When he eventually left I was so sad, which later on I found really strange...and then I saw the article about the chocolates. I don't know for sure, but all the pieces fit."
Sable nodded, and remembered about the incident of the chocolate. She’d been lucky that nothing happened to her (as far as she knew!) Her assistant director had been very nice to her that day, but that was it. Her lips went wide when Astrid told her that she’d been flirting with Lincoln Miller. “Oh my gosh! I had no idea! I’m sorry. I had really hoped that Valentine’s Day could have gone better for you. Have you talked to Lincoln since?”
"No way!" Astrid said with a laugh and duck of her head. The mere idea sent heat into her cheeks. "That would be far, far too weird. We didn't even exchange numbers or anything. I mean, it was nice, but...I don't really feel like I was me. I was, like, an actress playing myself. Not sure if that makes sense."
“No, that makes sense! You weren’t you. So… yeah I get it. I guess I just thought you might have run into him or something. I see him often enough when we’re working on our shows,” Sable said but then she wasn’t encouraging Astrid to do something she wasn’t comfortable with either. “But you shouldn’t let that stop you from trying to date someone else though! But I mean… you should definitely do what makes you happy. I know that I’m happy being with Emi. And it kind of happened when I least expected it. So maybe you don’t need to do anything either, and it just will happen,” Sable said and realized that she was rambling, and started to blush. “You know, it would be really great if the three of us could spend some time together.”
"I don't know," Astrid said softly, at the idea that she should—or even could—start dating again. "I want to, I think. There's been a couple of times when it's felt...I don't know, possible, I guess? When I've met people and I thought maybe. But I keep hesitating, and I'm not sure why."
It wasn't entirely true. She knew why it had started, and it all went back to that big blank space in her memory. But she wasn't sure why it was still a thing. She'd come so far since then. "I'd love to get to know her better! I mean, if you don't think it'd be too...I don't know, third-wheel-ish."
“Well thinking about it is just the first step, right? If you want to date. And then it’s just… meeting someone you’re interested in. Maybe you just haven’t run into that someone else,” Sable suggested. She wasn’t even sure if she was the best person to make any suggestions.
“I promise you won’t be a third wheel! It’s more like…I want to introduce Emi to our family. She’s really important to me, and I want to know if… it’s going to be okay. And you’re less scary than Mom and Dad.” Sable blushed.
"It's not really lack of interest in anyone," Astrid admitted, squirming a little in her chair. A couple of faces even popped into her head, but she couldn't bring herself to name names, other than the one she'd already let slip. It made her feel like a teenager again, and not in a good way.
"Mom and Dad aren't scary," she said, though even she heard how lame it sounded. "But wait, what do you mean I'm less scary? Since when am I scary at all? I mean, of course it's going to be okay! No one could see you blush like that and say there was anything bad about your relationship with Emi. Well, no one worth knowing...."
Sable partly wanted to push forward to find out who her sister might be interested in, but seeing the way she squirmed she decided to back off. Maybe when Astrid felt more comfortable she would tell her.
“They are scary!” Sable disagreed about their parents. She wanted them to approve, but she didn’t want to give them the opportunity to disapprove either. She chuckled though when Astrid caught on that she said she was less scary. “Sorry! That’s not what I meant. I know you’re not scary.” She smiled and probably blushed even more when Astrid pointed it out. “I just want you two to get along. You’re both important to me, that’s all.”
"You're important to me, too," Astrid said, chest feeling a little tight with an emotion that was complicated to identify. There was love for her sister, yes, but a tug of longing, too, to mean enough to another person that they would talk about her like this. Oddly, under both of those, there was a stab of something so much like fear that she shivered. It made no sense. She brushed it aside. "So...we should plan something. We can go out, or we can not. I'm not picky, so you guys choose."
“Great! I’ll talk to Emi!” Sable was excited to plan something for the three of them to spend time together. “We could go out, find something fun to do. Maybe you could come with me to see one of Emi’s shows! Or you could come over to see my new apartment, finally. OR! We can do both!” Sable laughed.
"Okay, yes, all of that?" Astrid said, laughing at her sister's enthusiasm and ideas. It was easier to focus on that than the lingering other emotions. "Maybe let's start with seeing your apartment. I can't believe we haven't managed to arrange that already anyway. Then while we're there, we can discuss other fun stuff to do." It would be good to have the distraction, but especially to feel closer to Sable again.
“Great! You can even come see the apartment tonight if you want! Or tomorrow, or whenever,” Sable said and was eager to spend more time with her sister again. Their discussion was briefly interrupted with the waiter finally came out to take their order.