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Rowan found him already seated, and she quickly made a beeline over to him. Since meeting randomly in the cafeteria six months ago or so, Rowan had made it a point to see him every couple of weeks when she could. She felt he was the kind of person who needed a friend, and one who wasn't going to pry more than was wanted. Rowan had never really been great with people but Apollo seemed to weirdly understand her on a level she wasn't quite expecting. It was nice. Ilija was great, and he'd been there for a lot of her life, but honestly it was kind of nice to know someone who wasn't there for her loss, someone who didn't see how much she'd changed or known the person she was before all of it. She kind of felt that was about Apollo too, she didn't know a lot about who he was before, so she knew who he was now and it was nice to have that to share in the way that they were. She held out the hot chocolate to him as she approached, July weather still drove her crazy, and she was trying to forget it was her birthday today. That was why she was at St Mungo's though, she had an appointment in an hour or so that she didn't want to miss. "Hey, Apollo," she said, sitting across from him, dropping her head slightly onto the table. She was tired, sometimes she would have preferred if her appointments were later in the day than so early in the morning. It was annoying. "do you have any marshmallows today?" She didn't lift her head, but the question was loud enough.​

TW: plot id #114718 - history of depression, therapy, and childhood trauma mention.​

Therapy will continue to be on the top of Apollo Vasilakis' to-do list. While he retired from his Quidditch career, he aspired to become a personal trainer and help people find their inner strength from somewhere. Apollo still had the same personality as he did in school, but a lot healthier. He never saw a stranger. He could and would make anyone into a friend. New Zealand felt somewhat better with his parents giving up and moving away. He still saw his siblings, but he paid for them to come to him, and not the other way around. He was seated in the cafeteria of Saint Mungo's, and smiled at Rowan Baros as she gave him a hot chocolate. She was a nice woman, he would never lie about that. She had gone through a lot, and kindred spirits appeared to find each other, one way or another. "Morning, Rowan," Apollo greeted, and noticed her behavior. Head down, but it wasn't like he was smiling and acting all bright either. Therapy could really take it out of someone. "I always carry some marshmallows on days like today." Apollo reached in the pocket of his coat and dropped a bag on the table, and opened it. "Isn't it your birthday today?"​

She didn’t bring Percy with her when she came here, call her sentimental, but if she could avoid it, she didn’t believe that a hospital was the best place for a baby. And she needed that space, away from everything that her life provided, to get herself together enough to be what she needed to be for Percy. She would never let him see her stumble. Without lifting her head up, she moved her hand in the direction of where she’d heard him drop the marshmellows and plucked a handful out before dragging them back to slide into her mouth. Mmmm, these were so good for making her feel better after a bad morning. “Yeah, but I don’t celebrate it much, I haven’t in a long time and it feels weird to start again,” losing Elsie had changed everthing, and she didn’t think she could ever really be the same again after that. She didn’t know what the therapy part of her life was supposed to help, but people told her it was working, so she supposed she had to believe them. She lifted herself up, trying to be a little more poised as she dumped the rest of the marshmallows in her hand into her hot chocolate. Bitter cocoa with Almond milk. It had been a long time since she’d allowed herself any nut alternatives. Being with Elio had made her near paranoid about it, but she’d stopped worrying so much after they’d broken up. Now with Ilija, she was always willing to try new things, or make him try new things as it were. “I have about an hour before I have to go though, so maybe you can spend my birthday with me.”​