Room 512, Thursday Morning

[doesnotkneel]

It had struck Edward that he looked somewhat out of place here. The clothes he wore, especially. So he had gone to the bank to trade what little coin he had on him for the local tender - which was not enough, but he was trying to remain on the right side of the law instead of defaulting to a brief fascination with pickpocketing from his youth.

It had taken some haggling - they had insisted they did not haggle, but that just meant you had to haggle harder - but he had at least managed to buy a shirt... and now that it was the next morning and he had to get dressed, he was giving the shirt a decent examination. It had a hood, that much was familiar, and it was white-- but he couldn't tell what kind of fabric it was made of.

He cast it back onto the bed and contemplated his choices: look a bit silly with this odd shirt pulled over his breeches, or look a bit backward - and rather smelly, for a place like this, which was just ridiculously pristine - with his old clothes.

That this meant he was standing shirtless in front of the open door, he didn't particularly care about. It was warm in here anyway.

[[ open post, open door ]]

Comments

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle waved a hand again and smiled magnanimously.

"It's okay. Not a lot of people reach my standards, anyway." Seriously, it was probably just... Jace. "You'll just have to impress me in other ways."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward hummed thoughtfully. "Any chance you might give me some idea of what 'other ways' entail?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Well, I'm impressed by expensive dinners," she quipped, "but you already disclosed that's a little outside your price range."

[doesnotkneel]

"I'll work on it," Edward said, because oh look, there was his pride. "Anything else?"

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle had a tendency to get people's pride to react. "I'm also very partial to compliments," she suggested, finally pushing away from the door frame. "And you haven't told me how splendid I look today yet."

She always looked fabulous in her own opinion, but she never tired of hearing about it.

[doesnotkneel]

"Then I've been remiss," Edward said, his mouth curling into a bit of a smirk. "Aye, you look even more gorgeous than first time I laid eyes on you. The days treat you kindly."

[seveninchmotto]

"Why thank you." Isabelle was not a blusher, no, but she could fake a playful coy look with the best of them. "Thank you so much for noticing."

Yeah, she had no problem acting like she hadn't specifically asked for compliments. It was kind of like how playing with the chain of the ruby that hung against her chest – and yes, she was doing that right now for funsies – tended to draw attention to her cleavage: it was just a nudge in the right direction.

[doesnotkneel]

"It would be hard not to notice," Edward replied, because well... it wasn't. Especially not with that thing with the ruby she was doing. "So can I welcome you into my abode, or will you be passing on?"

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle smiled brightly. "I thought you'd never ask! I don't have anywhere to be at the moment. The salle's already seen me for today."

She was flighty and girly and had still managed to put in some training already this morning.

[doesnotkneel]

"The salle?" Edward echoed, with equal parts confusion and curiosity.

[seveninchmotto]

"Mm hmm," she confirmed as she waltzed into the room. "Kind of a training room for fighter types. Or people who have something against wooden dummies."

[doesnotkneel]

"You're a fighter, then?" Edward... hadn't heard that one before; then again, there were ladies down at the pub who could throw a mean swing when cornered.

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle smiled impishly.

"You could say that, yes."

You could also say she'd been brought up in a war, as a warrior, and that under her dress she was wearing a dagger in a thigh sheath that went perfectly with her outfit.

You could say a lot of things, really.

[doesnotkneel]

Edward sat down on his bed. Now there was an odd one - he wasn't sure what to make of it, really. Then again, there was little around this strange little island that made any lick of sense, and he was adapting well enough.

"How'd that start?"

[seveninchmotto]

She shrugged. "How does something like that usually start? Someone or something needs protecting, so fighters come into existence."

She was being vague but, well, she assumed he wasn't part of the Shadow World. Most people who could see the Marks would have said something about them by now.

[doesnotkneel]

Talk to Edward when he was just stumbling out of bed in the morning, and she might change her mind about that - but not now, no.

"And what did you need to protect?"

[seveninchmotto]

"People."

The world, really, but she was keeping some of her smugness at bay for the moment.

[doesnotkneel]

Right. "You fancy yourself a woman of great mystery, don't you?" Edward asked, not sure whether he was curious, amused, or intrigued. Or all three.

[seveninchmotto]

"Not really, I'm far too much of an open book for that."

Elsewhere on this floor, Flick was probably laughing right now for no good reason. Or because that was such an obvious lie.

"But I do think it's good to keep some traces of mystery intact."