The Roof, Thursday Afternoon

[seveninchmotto]

According to the radio, Isabelle had missed exactly her kind of party last night. While that had caused a little pang of regret in her – because she liked fun, goddammit, and it sounded like there'd been entertainment galore in the common room – it had probably been for the best that she'd missed it. Between her mood swings of late, as well as how last weekend had gone, she was still easing herself back into being social.

And clearly sitting on the edge of the roof and looking out over the town was an important step in that process. But she actually had a map of the town on her lap, and was marking some of the things she could see on it. And just marking places she thought seemed particularly vulnerable.

No reason.

Except there was totally a reason, and it was something her mother had said during one of their conversations over the previous weekend. Homes and protection. They were a thing.

[ooc: Open roof post, omg!]

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[flickofthewrist]

Flick wasn't sure why he was up on the roof but he was. And he wasn't sure how long he'd stay but he needed something to do with himself.

So, he wandered up, saw who was already there and came over to lean his elbows on the roof's ledge beside her quietly.

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle did not look very surprised to find him there, when she glanced up from her map and over at him. Her hearing was excellent, and the sound of his footfalls was familiar to her.

"Hey."

[flickofthewrist]

"Hey," he returned, looking over at her. "How's it going?"

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle shrugged. "Fine." There were really no other answers to that, although at least this time it was more or less true. She was better, at any rate. "Nothing special."

[flickofthewrist]

"Good," Flick said, clasping his hands together and looking out over the town. "Okay."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle's gaze returned to the map on her lap.

She was in the middle of scribbling a note next to the north gate of the school campus.

[flickofthewrist]

Flick sighed and looked down at the ledge, not sure if maybe he was interrupting her and should leave. He looked back up out at the town again.

[seveninchmotto]

"Why are you sighing?"

The question kind of got posed to the map, but that was because she just needed a second more to finish this note.

[flickofthewrist]

"No reason." There were reasons but he didn't really feel like sharing. "It's just a sigh."

[seveninchmotto]

"Okay," Isabelle replied.

She put her pen down and looked out over the town as well. Quiet and calm.

[flickofthewrist]

Well, wasn't this a talkative encounter so far. Flick nodded and stood up, tapping the ledge and already considering turning around and giving her space.

[seveninchmotto]

Well, he'd shown up without initiating conversation, so she could've just argued she was following his lead! She probably wouldn't, though.

But she looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

[flickofthewrist]

"What?" he asked because he could feel her eyes on him.

[seveninchmotto]

"Going already?"

Well, might as well cut right to the chase.

[flickofthewrist]

"I just stood up," Flick pointed out. "I haven't gone anywhere. Bending's bad for my back."

Or something.

[seveninchmotto]

"Uh huh," said Isabelle, like she wasn't sure she believed him. "Whatever you say, Flick."

This was going well.

[flickofthewrist]

Well, he was sighing once again.

"I stood up, Isabelle," he said, sounding a little prickly now. "If I'd wanted to leave, I would have left."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't very helpful, but this whole interaction was perhaps showing her how she wasn't very ready to deal with people yet.

She picked up the pen and twirled it between her fingers.

[flickofthewrist]

"All right, now I'm going to go," Flick said because this was irritating him and he didn't want to put that on her right now. "I'll talk to you later."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle's voice was pretty quiet, maybe even a touch resigned, but she didn't try to stop him.

"Okay, baby."

[flickofthewrist]

And the change in her voice was something he definitely heard. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Okay, so...this is your chance to stop me," Flick told her, trying a different tactic one more time.

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle looked up at him. Her hands were back on her lap, one with fingers curled around the pen, one, with them splayed against the map of their fair island.

"So, stay."

[flickofthewrist]

"Do you want me to be here, Isabelle?" Flick asked quietly.

[seveninchmotto]

"Well, I don't want you to go away." Especially not in an awkward way. Because she didn't like dreading seeing him again. "So yes, I want you to be here."

[flickofthewrist]

"All right," Flick said, turning around and leaning against the ledge. He crossed his arms. "I'll stick around."