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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[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."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle nodded at him. Then she reached out and just lightly brushed her hand against his arm.

It was her way of attempting to start over. Saying hi.

[flickofthewrist]

Flick smiled faintly.

"What are you doing with that map?" he asked.

[seveninchmotto]

"I'm getting to know the island," Isabelle told him, glancing down at the map. "And I know I've lived here for a year, but this is more... strategic."

[flickofthewrist]

"Strategic?" he repeated, frowning. "Why?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Because we get invasions and things," she pointed out. "So I'm figuring out what the weaknesses are, and what the hard to defend places are."

It was something to do and something to focus on.

[flickofthewrist]

"Oh." He peered down at the map. "Do you need any help?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Do you have any tactical insight to offer?"

Serious question. Because she did actually believe he might notice different things than what she did.

Also she hadn't gotten very far yet. She'd circled some particularly high vantage points around town, and written a little note about the possibility for warding runes around the school grounds.

[flickofthewrist]

"Tactical insight?" Flick shrugged. "I just know that when things invade, people cluster on the streets for some reason. Just out in town, all over the place. Kind of makes for a big target for whoever's coming."

[seveninchmotto]

"Really?" Isabelle asked, raising her eyebrows. "Do they at least bring weapons?"

[flickofthewrist]

"Some do," Flick told her, shrugging one shoulder. "Some don't need weapons."

[seveninchmotto]

"Hmm." That sounded smart enough, but maybe Isabelle was still judging a bit. (Not him, obviously. The people.) "And do they have plans? It doesn't sound like they have plans."

[flickofthewrist]

"I would assume sometimes they have plans," Flick said, shrugging. "And sometimes you just go out to and fight something so you're not sitting on your ass. I've done that."

[seveninchmotto]

"Well, it's strategically unsound," Isabelle noted, and scribbled something on one edge of her map. "There should be some kind of a protocol in place on an island like this."

[flickofthewrist]

Flick frowned and glanced down at her map. "Where's all this coming from? You've never really cared about this before."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle shrugged.

"I need the practice."