the story so far…
Cormac Returns (part -I)
Cormac Returns (part -II)
…Petunia was responsible for his son Eric’s comatose state, yet, old pacts had to be revived, and who better than Cormac the Invincible.
(to be continued…)
Gisele’s Dream
That's the strangest dream Gisele has ever had. As she reminds herself that Eric is a figment of her imagination, her phone flashes - 23 unread messages and 10 missed calls from Aurora. Their bake sale fundraiser is tomorrow, and Aurora tends to over prepare. She reminds herself that she’s on track with her to-do list and heads to brush her teeth. “Shampoo day today,” says the unicorn themed post-it on the mirror as she brushes her teeth.
She wonders whether she is overdosing on her beliefs of the Dark Feminine, and is Eric her soulmate, possibly a result of that Goddess Circle she attended last Christmas. Or maybe her brain is overproducing Serotonin, and she is hallucinating, is there such a thing as Serotonin overproduction like insulin overproduction or some shizzles (like diabetes), and no, she doesn’t want to go back to the psychiatric ward after that one time her summer fling led her to unnaturally dark consequences. Last year’s Goddess Circle reminded her of a closure of sorts, for her getting off of the psychotropic medication, but Eric’s shadow had been looming over her head for over two months now. Who is Eric? What new hell of healing is this? Everyone on Instagram seemed to know about her and Eric, but where the hell is this Eric? God knows she could do with a soulmate? Or at least a boyfriend, for goodness’ sake. Aurora’s WASP (Wear A Sustainable Product) project had totally taken over her life, so while eco-feminism had been great for her mental health, she was nowhere close to a relationship. Living alone felt really lonely, and the voices in her head called it solitude now, but she knew a part of her was really lonely.
As her 1 minute timer for brushing started ringing annoyingly, she mindlessly replied to Aurora’s text without reading her messages - “See you at 10 to sort out details!” Did she actually have all those thoughts in 60 seconds or more? How much of it could she share with her therapist? Aurora would spend about 5 minutes talking about the traffic, and she’d then retreat to her phone to check all the notes she’d been making over the weeks. Gisele had it all sorted out in her head, and knowing Aurora’s predictable behaviour helped tons with not worrying about the nittygritties. Aurora was an INTP on the Myers-Briggs scale, and that helped with her being the face of the campaign. They’d both taken the test, since Aurora insisted, and Gisele was an ISFJ - although dichotomies seemed to be a very limited way of typecasting people, it helped with not sharing too much about herself with Aurora. Aurora had a habit of feeding off of her energies, and that didn’t work out too well for Gisele The WASP campaign had been her idea, and she had started it as a movement to empower women stuck in consumerist cycles - she wanted to enable them so they could get their fair share - the Clean Clothes campaign had been quite the fundamental change in the fashion industry, and a lot of human rights violations had come to the forefront. As she turned on the ignition and reminded herself to focus on the road and signals, she reminded herself that she was probably overreacting to the bake sale idea, which seemed pretty random to Gisele. How much money could they raise by selling croissants and cupcakes?
The drive is just a 2 minutes car ride, she reminded herself. As she parked her car in the space The Outpost Bistro reserved for her, she reminded herself she could handle Aurora’s over-planning, and the barista knew her coffee order - a hot pour over with the Cereceste roast. She’d developed a weird habit of judging people by their coffee, and Aurora always ordered a cappuccino, or a flat white, and that coffee didn’t need milk or sugar was an overstatement! Aurora had been raised American, and Gisele was her only friend in Copenhagen.
“Hi Gisele”, Aurora shouted with an excitement that overrode all her other thoughts and she hugged Aurora back, before settling down in their reserved spot. Both of them loved The Outpost Bistro for its warmth and unpredictable menu. It was being run by an artist who curated the menu based on whatever was available at the weekly farmer’s market. The cookies and cakes were always delectably delightful - pumpkin oatmeal cookies, raspberry cheesecake, banana bread, lime tarts, dill chicken sandwiches - the bistro always had a pleasant surprise in store.
Aurora complained about traffic for the first 5 minutes and took out her little notepad to talk about the upcoming bake sale. This was Aurora’s first event in Copenhagen, and she reminded herself that all would go well. She always wondered why Gisele chose this hole in a wall cafe for their meetings, it was out of the way for her, and she wasn’t sure she’d get the clientele she wanted to work with, but as she had the day’s special, Fall Pumpkin Spice Latte, the gentle aroma of it wafting through from the barista counter, she reminded herself she needed Gisele on board to keep her sane.
