a dream is a wish your heart makes

"I'm good," she said, eyeing the brunette as they moved around the kitchen. Something was off. Completely off. Asher considered herself a masterful observer, a skill that had helped her navigate through her youth as sanely as possible. Her ability to note mannerisms and tells allowed her to know when to insert herself into a conversation, when to retreat, and when to remain passive. This was not a passive moment at all. Yasemin was clearly in some form of distress.

It would have been easier to have something to busy herself with, whether it was pouring a glass of wine or something else to distract her from having to confront the current situation. At least for a brief moment she was able to put off saying anything as she moved through the kitchen to put away her wine bottle. Not wanting to be a rude hostess, she took out an assortment of snacks to start setting out, pushing them over towards Asher with an enthusiasm, figuring that if their mouths were full eating then there would be far less time to have to speak.

Shocking that her ex-husband would befriend someone quite so dramatic. Either Saul was more upset about the divorce than she possibly could have imagined or there was something else bothering Yasemin. It was extremely irksome. Thalia eyed the other woman. She had never been the type to offer comfort though. Most believed she wasn't even capable of it. "Be that as it may, at least I have the tact to not act like a teenager upset at a school dance." Her tone didn't change from the usual civility she provided to everyone except those few she was close with. Anyone who saw them likely wouldn't be able to see any alterations in Thalia's exterior. Internally, she was growing more upset. Many people who knew Saul were upset about Kathleen being the most bitter person alive. Thalia was almost always left out of the equation.

It wasn't an untrue statement, Yas was acting out in a relatively childish manner, but she also didn't particularly care to change it. She had no relationship with Thalia, barely knew the woman outside of anything Saul had mentioned about her, so if there was going to be anyone on the other side of her current mood, it may as well be someone like Thalia. "Oh, sorry, I was just following suit with how your sister has been acting. I just assumed that was how we handled things," she shot back with an airy shrug of her shoulders. Thalia herself hadn't done anything particularly offensive, but she could at least grasp at straws and blame the behavior of Kathleen for her own current actions.

availability / @yasdogan setting / the beach outside the villa del palmar resort in cancún, mexico.

For as long as Yasemin could remember, she had done everything for herself and it was rare that she ever had someone else step in to do something for her. When Saul had not only spent the day with her at the festival trying to cheer her up, but then followed it up with the surprise of a weekend away at a beach resort, Yas hadn't known what to do. From the moment it had been offered, she'd been nothing but effusive with her thank yous to Saul, going out of her way as much as she could to make sure that he was having just as good of a vacation as she was. It was easy for Yas to separate from everything back home, to focus on nothing more than the beach in front of her and the endless supply of margaritas that the cute cabana boy was delivering with perfect timing.

Thalia absolutely loved plants. Kathleen joked that instead of her maternal instincts growing into the desire for a child, Thalia took Little Shop of Horrors too seriously. But what was originally a pleasant trip to pick up something new for the yoga studio turned immediately tense. This was yet another instance where Thalia was annoyed at how charismatic her ex husband was. In her own home town. "Hello Yasemin." Thalia inclined her head slightly and continued to approach. She didn't believe that Saul was spreading lies about her. Waxing poetically about the evil sister-in-law, sure. If Yas wanted to fight though, it would be better to not pick somewhere Thalia was comfortable. "Do you need assistance with choosing a flower?"

There was nothing that would inherently give Yasemin the impression that Thalia was a bad person, but none of that really mattered. At the end of the day, Thalia was still a reason for a good friend being upset and that was enough to bring the curl of distaste to Yasemin's lips as Thalia approached. "Oh, that won't be necessary, I think I can choose my own flowers," she replied, pausing just for a moment before the rest of her words tumbled out. "If I was going to ask for help, I'd probably ask someone who makes better choices." As far as Yasemin was concerned, anyone that would choose to leave her friend was someone that made terrible choices. It wasn't normally the type of comment she'd bite out with off the cuff, but with her own swirling emotions from her drama with Sage, it felt good to snap back for a change, to not always be the nice one.

Closed: @yasdogan - Checking in with her best friend.

There had never been a point in life where Yas had been the type of person to lock her doors when she was home. They stayed open just in case a friend was passing by or a neighbor needed something. The moment she heard it swing open and could sense the familiar footfalls of her best friend, however, there was a clench in her chest and a thought that perhaps her open door policy needed to be amended. She hated to admit that she'd been full on avoiding Asher since things with Sage had once again blown apart, but she had been. It had been easier than trying to explain the constant wallowing and complete one eighty from her usual self. Even if she'd been a phenomenal actor, Asher knew her too well. She would pick up on it in an instant and thus, Yas had opted instead to just make herself scarce.

Despite having extended an invite to practically every single person he knew in Providence Peak, he never would have expected even half as many to actually show up to his grand birthday party. Family, of course. Close friends, too; the handful of people he could count on coming to support him no matter what. Yas, obviously, was on that list, having always proven over the years that she could make time for him regardless of whatever she was up to in her personal life. He appreciated that more than he could currently say at the moment, so inebriated that any real thoughts about anything couldn’t exactly manifest themselves. He could, however, express that in other ways — like the way his face lit up when he saw her approach him and take up the empty space beside him. He leaned into her and hummed loudly. “Ruuuude. None of my friends are crazy, ‘cept Pablo — he’s like, a little bit.” He held up fingers to signify his point, knocking his head into hers. “Why? Are you tryin’ to like, get freaky on my birthday? ‘Cause I can dig that. We can —” he hiccupped, “— find you the perfect person, dude.”

The best part about being at a big party with a lot of inebriation was that no one cared to talk about anything serious and even if they did, it wasn't as if much of it would be remembered later. For Yas, this was a chance to just loosen up and enjoy herself in a way that she hadn't in weeks. "Ohhhh, Pablo. Is he the one that's wearing the elephant trunk thing at his waist?" she asked with a snort of amusement, pretty sure that was the name that the guy dropped. He'd been the loudest of the bunch of people so far so it stood to reason that he was probably the crazy one. "But, no! No, I don't - when you put it like that, absolutely not." Yas protested with an insistent shake of her head, even if, perhaps, that was exactly what she'd been looking to do that night. She paused then, head resting over on Seb's shoulder for a moment as she thought about it. "If you have anyone in mind, though, I mean...give me the roster, what are we working with? Top three candidates, go."

dominic glanced over at the other as she spoke and almost immediately shook his head. he was never the type to let anyone pay for him, no matter who they were but he did enjoy sharing his wealth whenever he could with the people involved in his life. "come on, i can't let you pay. if i do, that just means you're going to have to let me buy something for you next time." he paused and smiled over her, "it's nice to see you too. i feel like it's been a while since we've been able to stop and have lunch together. kind of sucks we can't take our time, you know, since you have all those meetings or are you done for the day?"

"I can live with that. You get next time, I've got today," she agreed with a brighter smile. Yas was never one to worry about who was paying for what, figuring that things usually evened themselves out over time. "I know, it's been way too long. Gosh, I can't even remember the last time I saw you." It was probably some work event or industry meeting that she'd seen Dominic at last, but she couldn't put to mind where it had been. "I've got enough time aside right now, nothing until later. I think I have a cocktail hour with a new attending and then a dinner meeting with a potential new neurosurgeon." Luckily, Yas didn't mind meeting people and talking business, so being asked to take people out and woo them over to the hospital was an occasional nice change of pace from the daily grind. "What else have you got going on for the day?"

closed starter for @yasdogan

The weeks since she'd found out about Sage and Gia had been filled with nothing but ups and downs for Yas. Some days she felt almost normal, the days where she was fully caught up in work and didn't have time to think about anything else. Other days, like today, when she had more down time than she was used to, it was harder not to let thoughts of the woman seep into her mind. Luckily, the plans she'd made with Cleo offered a brief respite from it all. "I'm...holding up okay. I don't know. A lot of staying busy at work and bottles of wine," she admitted with a soft shrug. She hadn't talked much about things with Sage, usually the type of person to suffer in silence rather than talk things out. "It is what it is, you know. How about you, doing okay?"

Mei loved to get outside to help out the community when she could tho it was rare she did enjoy it. Now with the weather becoming slightly warmer, the community has started preparing the garden for spring. Mei was beside Yasmine taking a break from pulling the weeds when she heard her mention a weekend away. As nice as that did sound, Mei wasn't sure how she would feel being away from her wife and kids, even for one night. Though she knew Carmen would let her if she had asked. " That sounds fun. " Mei was happy that her friends were going out to enjoy themselves because damned if they didn't deserve it. " I don't think I will do much of dancing if I go. As of lately, the baby thinks eight is bedtime. " Mei though she was feeling much more like herself as of lately was defiantly becoming more tired as the day went on. " I would have to talk to the wife, but if anything I could do a day trip. " She offered because she would love to go with Yas and Cleo.

It was always different to invite friends away for any length of time when they had a family to worry about. Still, Yas would never want to make plans without at least putting the offer out there for Mei to come along with them. Her eyes softened at the mention of the baby, attention shifting away from the plants she was working with and over towards Mei. "Well, if baby says bedtime is eight, then we go to bed at eight," she affirmed, more than willing to make whatever adjustments Mei needed if she came along. Yas wasn't so old that she had an early bedtime, but also wasn't so young that she needed to be out all night partying either. "We'd love to have you in whatever capacity you want to join us. It's not like any of us can get away for too long anyway, work will always call." The refreshing part about having a group of friends in the medical field was that they understood how it felt sometimes to not be able to take as much time away as other people might have been able to. Yas especially being with the hospital was on call a large part of the time, even when she was away.

He didn’t really know if what he said made any sense, in the grand scheme of things or to Yasemin specifically, but he hoped it would at least help in some way. Ultimately though, CJ couldn’t do much, but he could be there for his friend. “I know, well…kinda. Never, like, walked in your shoes or anything, but I do get about feelings being all over the place.” Of course, his complicated feelings about his overall purpose and if he was pissing his life away with his job was completely different to Yas’ situation, but still, complicated all the same. “Finish ordering then I’ll tell you.” He urged gently, already aware that they had made enemies here in the taco line. By her reaction it seemed like Yas hadn’t heard from Seb, which made it all slightly more…messy. When they were finally out of the line, he shrugged at her question. “We’re getting annulled. It’s just some drunk Vegas thing.” At least she wasn’t yelling…yet. “Um, it’s not like…a big deal.” At least, he and Seb didn’t think so, and they were the married ones after all. 

Whether CJ had been in the exact same scenario that she found herself in or not, feelings were something that most people could relate to. What she felt for Sage was as complicated as their entire situation. She loved the woman, there was no arguing that, but she was also scared to love her. Scared that she was wasting her time, throwing her entire future away for someone that would possibly never want to commit to anything. "Sometimes that's just...kind of life, huh?" she mused with a sad shrug. "It'd be easier if feelings were more...simplistic, easy to figure out. I mean, I should probably hate her, but I don't." It would be easier if she did, but there wasn't a world in which she could even imagine hating Sage. As much as the woman had done to hurt her, the feelings were just too complicated.

"Aw, Yas, don't be silly," Mei chuckled, feeling a warmth in her chest at Yasemin's playful banter. She glanced down at the children, who were beaming with excitement over their day out with Yas. "Well, we're glad to have you spoil us every now and then," Mei remarked with gratitude, her eyes shimmering with appreciation. As Yasemin mentioned her work, Mei's expression softened with understanding. "Your work is so important. I mean just think of all of those cases we have had together and helped. " Mei said earnestly, her admiration for her friend evident in her voice. " Trust me, one day in our lives and you would be so exhausted. I love it though." She offered Yasemin a supportive smile, silently grateful for her friend's dedication to such a noble cause.

"Good. I don't get to spoil people very often, so it's nice when I get the chance," she hummed happily. She did a lot for the people she cared about, as it was just something that gave her a sense of joy. Yas didn't need a lot herself, so being able to share what she had with the people in her corner was always something she tried to do. "Yeah, sometimes...it's hard to justify spending time on things other than work just because I know how important what I do is," she admitted with a shrug. There were definitely times she put her work before herself and her own personal life, something she'd had to learn to shift away from. Times like this, however, where all she wanted to do was stay busy and not think, it was hard not to let herself fully immerse in her job. "Oh, come on, I think I could handle it," she protested with a hand to her chest. "I'm totally ready to be a mom."