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!]

Comments

[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."

[flickofthewrist]

"Practice?" he asked, frowning. "What's this practice for?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Everything," she said. "Strategy and planning are important in many areas of life. Although in my case, actual battle strategy is obviously the most important thing."

[flickofthewrist]

"Yeah but...why now?" He didn't disagree with her but the timing seemed strange.

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle looked at him like she didn't know why that was even a question.

"Why not now?"

[flickofthewrist]

Flick shrugged, rubbing his cheek against his shoulder. "It's just strange timing since you've been here for awhile now. It just came out of nowhere, it seems."

[seveninchmotto]

"Flick, you live in Fandom," Isabelle pointed out with a little sigh. "Does this really count as strange?"

[flickofthewrist]

"If it's what you want to do, you can do it, Isabelle," he replied, shaking his head. "It just came out of nowhere, in my opinion."

[seveninchmotto]

"Well, your opinion is off." Through no fault of his own, though, so she didn't sound particularly accusatory. "Besides, it's in my nature to pay attention to these things. Some would say it's in my blood. Just because you haven't seen me do it so concretely, doesn't mean I haven't been doing it at all."

[flickofthewrist]

"I never said you haven't been doing it," Flick muttered, shaking his head again. "Never mind, Isabelle. You're free to do what you want. I was just curious and confused."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle shrugged again. Apparently it was the best that she could do.

"And I'm a little confused about your confusion."

[flickofthewrist]

"It was just unexpected," Flick tried again. "I hadn't seen this level of it before after so long. But, you explained it so okay. Fine."

[seveninchmotto]

"I'm going to be here another year," Isabelle pointed out, looking down at her map again. "I should protect the place."

There... may have been something there.

[flickofthewrist]

"I get that sentiment," Flick told her, nodding. "I understand. So maybe you should bring other people into this plan and not just yourself. People here are capable and I'm sure they'd help."

[seveninchmotto]

"I know that." She just hadn't gotten that far yet. Maybe once she was out of the portion of this that was basically therapy. (No, she would not admit that that was it was. As he'd probably noticed already.) "But it's not really a plan yet. I'm just... scouting. I'm noting ideas I have."

[flickofthewrist]

"Okay," Flick said, nodding and looking down at his feet. "Well, when you're ready. Just ask."

[seveninchmotto]

"Okay. I will at least consider it." Was that a joke? Maybe. Maybe not. She sighed as she looked at the map. "I can't believe they don't at least have wards around the school."