reconnect (dominique)

[potter]

In spite of the fact that they lived in the same apartment complex, Elliot hadn't been able to see her cousin Dominique in quite some time. Though in her defense, her life had been anything but easy of late. Work was beginning to crush her in the form of twelve hour or more days, constant missions, and stacks upon stacks of paperwork. And when she wasn't doing that, she was working tirelessly for the Order. Natalia, who was essentially Erik's little sister, was still missing. Not to mention her severe backsliding on her anorexia which had resulted in her collapsing at work a week ago... Truthfully, Elliot felt that her life was a complete wreck.

Though through all the stress, Dominique had managed to find happiness. Her cousin had delivered her son not too long ago, and Elliot had finally found a window of time in which to see him and Dominique. Or more like mandatory leave. Elliot had gone in early, before the sun had even risen, only to be turned away by her boss. The man was increasingly jumpy around her, needless to say the news of her collapse had spread like wildfire through the department. Everyone seemed to think her fragile, it was exactly what she had been afraid of. They didn't even know she was anorexic, and yet they still babied her.

But she had to admit, having the day off was nice. After being sent home Elliot had indulged in some much-needed sleep before taking a leisurely bath, and then choking down breakfast. She was honestly trying to eat, but at that point it had gone from "won't" to "can't." Days like these a cup of coffee and a quarter of unsweetened grapefruit was success, lately she hadn't been eating anything before lunch. Though she did feel better after getting in a few extra hour's sleep, she just hoped she didn't look too rough as she stepped up to Dominique's door and knocked twice.

Outfit

[dominiqueweasley]

Domi was in her element. There wasn't a single part of being a new Mother she didn't like, it was all surprisingly natural to her. So her fears before Archer's birth, whilst normal, had been completely unnecessary, she'd taken to Motherhood immediately and she loved it, Hayden was a complete natural as well. Their little family was perfect to Dominique, she couldn't imagine ever having her life be any other way. Archer was less than two weeks old, and every day Domi found something out something new and exceptional about her baby boy. There were no words to describe how much she loved him, like Hayden, here in their home she could simply exist in their own, private little world and remain blissfully ignorant to the goings on outside.

Though there was no denying how much more nervous she felt. The world outside was dangerous, more so now with attacks happening everywhere, and as a Mother she felt that fear all the more. It made her physically sick, and hurt to think of Archer being in any kind of danger, though she knew without even thinking on it, she'd easily give her life for her son. Really here and now she was simply enjoying being a Mother, she had a long while yet before she was due to return to work so when Hayden was out on a hunt it was her and Archer alone. Just like today, it was a beautiful day outside but instead of heading out, Domi still feeling a little reluctant to go out without Hayden with Archer, she'd opened the balcony window, allowing the fresh air to invade her home.

What she wasn't expecting though was a knock on the door and when she heard it, Domi frowned, looking up from her book, to Archer in his moses basket, to the door. Biting down on her lip she laid down her book, double checked her son was still sleeping, grabbed her wand and headed towards the door. After all one couldn't be too careful nowadays. Pausing a moment, with her hand on the door handle, she gripped her wand tightly and finally pulled the door open, only to come face to face with someone from her family she hadn't seen in a long time. Then again she hadn't seen any of her family in such a long time, even with the arrival of Archer. "Elliot?" she was sure the confusion in her voice was clear but she'd been unable to help it. Taking a step back, she waved, "Um...come on in..." she said softly, not knowing what to expect, but hoping that even if they hadn't spoken in forever, her cousin wasn't going to judge her, she had enough of that from her parents.

Sure she'd moved fast with Hayden, but there wasn't one second of it she'd change, he was her soul-mate, simple as. Closing the door behind her cousin she walked deeper into the apartment, laying her wand back down. Slightly nervous she turned to face Elliot, immediately noting the difference in the girl, something was slightly off and she couldn't pin point what it was but she wouldn't pry, at least not unless she thought she could. "Have to admit I didn't expect to see you...any of you really..." she said softly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Outfit

[potter]

While she waited for someone to answer the door, Elliot cautiously adjusted her dress. It was from the previous summer, and since she had recently backslid and dropped weight again, it was about three sizes too big. Not being the best at household-y spells, particularly sewing ones, she had pinned it the best she could, though it was still baggy. Though honestly, it worked in her favour for it to be a bit big, it hid how thin she had become, and with the jean jacket to cover her bony, diminished shoulders, she looked just about normal. Or as close to normal as a supposedly recovering anorexic could get.

Elliot figured she ought to have worn jeans instead, however, the dress, which might have been a mini on someone taller, just dusted the tops of her knees, and her legs had grown decidedly twig-like. What if Dominique were blasting the air conditioning because of the unseasonably warm weather? She'd freeze. Elliot mentally told herself to stop worrying, she'd kept it secret from her family for this long, and even before she had gotten sick she'd bordered on underweight. Surely she wouldn't notice, even if Dominique always had very keen senses, been good at reading people.

And the only people who had ever figured it out were healers... No. She needed to stop thinking like that, she'd get herself nervous all over again. If Dominique asked she'd blame it on the stress, it wasn't necessarily any secret that she'd been under more than her fair share of late. Elliot smiled as her cousin answered the door, though without her newborn son, leading her to believe that the boy must be asleep. Archer was his name, wasn't it? Elliot had only heard it a time or two before, most of their family wasn't on very good terms with Dominique after her surprise marriage.

Elliot herself hadn't formed an opinion, she knew that her cousin's husband didn't exactly have the greatest reputation, but she'd never come across his name at work, so she figured he couldn't be all that bad. She stepped over the threshold when she was invited inside, turning to her cousin as she turned to lock up the door. "I have, um, mandatory leave today, apparently they're paying me too much overtime," said Elliot, smiling a little uneasily, "it's not a bad time, is it?"