I suggest you run (tag Isaac) on Labyrinth Gardens

Cleo James

July 18, 2019 9:09 AM

I suggest you run (tag Isaac) by Cleo James

The summer hadn't exactly gone to plan. Cleo had always known her daddy was wary of the idea of her being around boys, and she supposed she had been too, but she hadn't realised how that would translate when confronted with a boy she actually liked. She had taken his dislike to be of boys in the abstract, of not trusting people too easily. She hadn't assumed that someone she trusted would still be a problem for him. However, it clearly had been. When they had got home from the concert, her daddy had asked if any of the boys who were always hanging around her had expressed an interest in being more than friends or, worse still, tried to make any kind of advances on her. She had tried to stress that Isaac had been nothing but polite and respectful but daddy had still not been impressed. He didn't think she was old enough to have a boyfriend. Given that she was sixteen (admittedly, fifteen when the concert had happened but sixteen by the time they’d had the umpteenth rerun of the conversation) and he'd been unable to answer how old she needed to be, she suspected that there was never going to be a 'right age.' It felt like he thought the best course of action was for Cleo to simply never to date anyone. She hadn't been sure about that herself, admittedly, but she had enough of the typical human teenager about her that being told she couldn't do something firmly cemented her ideas that she definitely wanted to.

He had allowed her to invite Isaac to her birthday party, along with Parker, Jasmine, and Cleo's friend Anna from back home. It had just been a small event, mostly an excuse for cake and hanging out. She had always thought that daddy was just gruff because he was shy, and whilst it was true that he was still quiet with most people, leaving her grandma to do more of the hosting, she had noticed that he seemed more so with Parker and Isaac, and he glared at them quite a lot.

She was surprised Isaac hadn't run a mile, but he had made good on his promise to try and see her during the holidays. They hadn't been allowed to go out anywhere, but Isaac had been allowed to come see her at home, with her daddy being willing to retreat as far as the kitchen so long as they kept the living room door open. The apartment was pretty small, and it was hard not to feel like he was breathing down their necks. It had been far from romantic, even if it had given them a chance to talk more - a lot of which had consisted of Cleo apologising, as she felt Isaac had stuck around for nothing, and she had probably ruined his summer. After all, he'd missed going to Korea and seeing the rest of his family.

She was not really sure what to do about all of this when they got back to Sonora. Her daddy seemed to realise that he couldn't control what went on at school and stopped short of totally banning her from dating Isaac, but he also clearly thought it was a terrible idea, and that Cleo either wasn't responsible or in control enough or that Isaac couldn't be trusted. It was something of a dilemma, because she had never gone against her daddy's advice before but everything else suggested he wasn't being fair or rational about this. Virginia thought it was fine, and her grandma thought it was fine, and Cleo... Cleo wasn't sure if she thought it would be fine but she really wanted it to be. She certainly thought that Isaac could be trusted, it just still felt like she couldn't really vouch for herself. It had also raised a lot of her doubts again about what he saw in her - surely any sane person would be running a mile, and she sort of felt like he would be better off trying to go out with someone far less complicated.

She had spent a long time trying to look nice without looking like she was trying to look too nice, but equally not look like she had made no effort either. This was a little bit hard when her clothes fell into two extremes - grubby and baggy gardening clothes and her prim and proper outfits for any times she had to look presentable. Neither of these seemed to her to be the same thing as looking good, or looking ready for a… whatever this was. She had made sure her nails were free from dirt, and put some cute floral barrettes in her hair. She had paired one of her better fitting plain t-shirts with her smart skirt. And then, remembering her daddy’s irritating behaviour with her butterfly dress at the concert, had engaged in an act of open rebellion and shortened it. It was still pretty modest by most standards, sitting just above her knee rather than below it, but Cleo felt… different to how she usually looked, at least. She wasn’t sure if it was good or bad, but it was something.

She had sent Isaac a note, asking if he wanted to go for a walk, and unsure what kind of response she would receive. Whether he wouldn’t show at all, or whether he would but in order to tell her this wasn’t worth it. Or to tell her she still was, in which case she had to either conclude that he was totally insane or probably agree to be his girlfriend, both of which were kind of scary. She made her way out to the front steps, looking out across the gardens - not being the most observant of people, or never really having given much thought to the entrances of other houses, she still expected Isaac to come from inside the school, and glanced over her shoulder whenever any of the footfalls from within seemed like they were getting close to the entrance. She preferred looking outwards, because looking at the gardens made her feel calm, and she still wasn’t sure what she was getting into, or whether it was a good idea.

13 Cleo James I suggest you run (tag Isaac) 389 Cleo James 1 5

Isaac Song

July 18, 2019 9:47 PM

I am definitely thinking about it by Isaac Song

Though his mom was upset that Isaac didn't go to Korea with them over the summer, he'd had a blast living with his uncle and going out with his group of best friends almost every day. Naturally, he told them all about Cleo, leaving out the magical bits, and they advised him against going out with her. As Manny had bluntly put it, they didn't think she was worth it just for one year together and there would be tons of girls once he graduated and went to college. That thought did stick in Isaac's mind as he returned to Sonora. He liked her, and he had been driven by his feelings up to this point, but when he looked at it from a different perspective, he could see why his friends thought he was a little crazy. They didn't fully understand, of course, but their advice was definitely applicable.

He had only spent a week with Cleo during the summer, but it was enough to make him rethink his advances towards her. It was nothing that she had done, and for the most he had enjoyed her small birthday gathering, but he'd had a lot of time to think about their relationship with a nearly empty house and his non-magical friends to consult with. Cleo came with a lot of baggage, though it wasn't her fault, and Isaac didn't know if he could deal with that especially since he would be graduating soon and hopefully moving on to college somewhere else. He wanted to have fun dating, especially in his first relationship, not have it be riddled with too many rules and overbearing father figures.

Cleo had sent him a note to meet her when they returned to school, and Isaac couldn't help the warm feeling he still got whenever he talked to her. However, this time it was followed by the heavier weight of his experience with her dad during the concert and the summer, and it didn't feel so good. If he and Cleo could just stay in their own little bubble, things would be perfect. As of now, though, he was unsure where he wanted this relationship to go: to either keep going on dates and eventually ask her to be his girlfriend or to remain just friends.

Isaac replied in his own note that he would meet her, of course, and took a few minutes to get his hair just right before leaving his common room. He was coming behind her since his common room was within the labyrinth, and he imagined creeping up behind and scaring her. If she'd been a family member or any of his friends, he would've done it, but Isaac didn't know how Cleo would take it. So, instead, he walked past her and smiled.

"Hey," he said. After getting to know her a little more during the summer, he thankfully felt less nervous around her. She looked especially pretty today and he couldn't help smiling bigger. Isaac wanted to give her a hug, as he normally would if he was meeting up with a friend, but didn't know how she would react to that, so he just stuck his hands in his pockets. "How's it going?"

19 Isaac Song I am definitely thinking about it 375 Isaac Song 0 5

Cleo

July 20, 2019 8:10 AM

Oh by Cleo

“You were already out for a stroll?” Cleo commented, as Isaac emerged from the labyrinth. She couldn’t say she blamed him, after all she spent so much of her time outside. It was just so relaxing, being out in the fresh air, close to plants and, more often than not, further away from people.

He asked how things were going, which should have been a simple enough question. She supposed it was, perhaps, only small talk and not something she was expected to answer honestly, though she found herself more than tempted to… Isaac wasn’t someone she wanted to run into the labyrinth and get away from. The fact that she was willing to give him an honest answer really said a lot. She was still a little bit scared about what might happen by being around him, but she also didn’t really want him to go anywhere.

“It’s not great,” she admitted, “But it just got a little better,” she added, giving him a soft smile, which disappeared quickly into staring at the floor as she became aware just how much like a cheesy movie she sounded. “Thanks for agreeing to meet me,” and now she sounded like a job interview. “I wasn’t sure you’d…” she trailed off, not really sure how much to bring that up.

“Last year, you suggested we go find a sunset. Still up for looking?” she asked, nodding towards the gardens.

13 Cleo Oh 389 Cleo 0 5

Isaac

July 20, 2019 1:48 PM

But I'm easily swayed by Isaac

Isaac wasn't sure what to say when she assumed he had already been out. They weren't supposed to tell anyone where their common rooms were, and as a Prefect he definitely didn't want to break that rule. "Yeah," he said. "It's nice out. I forget how clean air feels outside of LA." Though he loved Los Angeles, he was also very aware of how nasty it could be sometimes. He lived in a pretty clean and higher-income neighborhood, but city smog didn't discriminate areas.

He wanted to ask what was going on that Cleo didn't think things were great, but she threw a little remark that made his heart squeeze. She was just so dang cute Isaac couldn't help his fuzzy feelings. "Of course," he said, if maybe a little too enthusiastically. "Your dad is kinda scary," he admitted, "but I like spending time with you." He thought it would be a good idea to be honest from the get-go, wherever their relationship went from this point.

"I love catching sunsets," he said with a smile. "Let's go." He glanced at her and then offered his hand, blushing a little. "Um, not to be awkward, but I didn't want to assume you'd want to hold hands either." Isaac was a touchy person, but he had grown up learning that it was always better to ask even if it made things awkward.

"My favorite place to watch sunsets is on the beach," he said. "I had a few bonfires with my friends over the summer and watching the sun go down over the water never gets old. I made time to see sunsets here during my first year when I missed home, but not since then. I'm not really sure where the best place to watch the sunset would be." He started looking around the garden for a higher open space that would have a good view. "Do you get to see a lot of sunsets in Colorado?" he asked.

19 Isaac But I'm easily swayed 375 Isaac 0 5

Cleo

July 21, 2019 12:49 AM

Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore... by Cleo

“Normally he’s not,” sighed Cleo, when Isaac described her daddy as scary. Okay, he had never been the most open and feelingsy person, but he had never skimped on the bedtime stories or tucking her in. He had never made her feel anything less than loved. And he still wasn’t, she supposed. He loved her so much that he wanted to keep her away from the big bad world. But Isaac wasn’t either of those things. It felt so strange to hear someone call her daddy ‘scary’ as it was the last thing she’d ever expect him to be to anyone, even if she could see where Isaac was coming from on this one.

“Holding hands is good,” Cleo smiled, slipping hers into his. She felt awkward about it until it was done. The offer, and accepting it, and trying not to think about everything that might happen next, all felt embarrassing or overwhelming, but the actual feeling of slipping her hand into Isaac’s made her feel somewhat better. He was neither going anywhere nor about to make her make a really serious decision. That felt much more comfortable. She had worried when she had asked him to meet that it was almost ultimatum time. They had been dancing around this thing for a while, and she knew that ‘leading boys on’ was a bad thing to do and made people get annoyed, and she had been worried about being put on the spot about what this was when she still didn’t know. She hoped that taking it slowly didn’t count as leading him on if it didn’t really work out, but for now they were just able to keep going as they had been.

“Hmmm, I’m out at sunset a lot, but I’m not sure that’s the same thing. It’s something that happens to me more by accident than on purpose, though I try to stop and appreciate it when it’s a nice one,” she answered. She saw them a lot because she was out gardening, which was something she did with her daddy. She avoided saying this though, because Isaac probably knew this already and because it half felt like a bad topic to bring up. Although someone she loved and cared about suddenly being this subject that she couldn’t mention didn’t sit comfortably.

“Hey,” she began, hesitating slightly, “I know… I know it’s not really the same situation exactly, but do you ever wonder how different you’d have turned out if your dad had been around more?” she asked. “Is that too personal?” she added anxiously. Which was perhaps an odd thing to ask of someone with whom she was holding hands, but emotional intimacy was just as foreign to her as physical, and she wasn’t ever quite sure how much to ask of others or to invite them in with herself.

13 Cleo Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore... 389 Cleo 0 5

Isaac

July 22, 2019 7:08 PM

You have a way with me by Isaac

Rather than letting it remain awkward or pulling away, Cleo slipped her hand into his. Isaac was ecstatic, but he tried not to let it show. Something as simple as holding hands felt embarrassing but comfortable at the same time; casual but momentous. Isaac grinned at her, unable to help himself, but didn’t say anything in reply. He was glad she wasn’t asking him or hinting at labeling their current relationship. While initially he had wanted to have Cleo as his girlfriend, right now he didn’t know what he wanted. Maybe his motivation before was just to catch up to his friends back home who had dates, crushes, and girlfriends just like any normal teen. Now, he felt a little clearer-headed, but ironically seeing the situation better just made him feel more confused.

In this present moment, though, being here with Cleo was great. He didn’t want to think about anything. He just wanted to let it happen.

“That makes sense,” he replied to her sunset explanation. “That happens to me too, for sure. Usually I’ll be coming out late from Quidditch practice or studying in the library or something.” That was one of the perks about being in Pecari. Since their common room was in the labyrinth, he had to go outside to get there. More often than not he would linger outside, watching the sunset just as the sun disappeared or sitting on a secluded stone bench past the entrance of his common room and letting the stresses of the day just ease off of him. Just the thought of those walks made him feel relaxed.

That is, until she asked about his dad. Apparently, they were still on the subject.

Cleo’s question didn’t completely stumble him, but it did make him feel vulnerable about his answer. It also required some silent thinking in order to figure out how to answer it. “It is personal, but I guess not too personal,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ve definitely thought about it before.”

Years ago, back when Lauren was still attending Sonora, they would play a game of life ‘what if’s.’ What if Isaac had been born as the oldest? What if Maia had never been born? What if Dad had stayed in California? What if they had all moved to Seoul? It was fun imagining how different their lives would’ve been. Lauren could even vaguely remember what it was like when Dad lived at home, though Isaac didn’t really know specifics.

His dad, Min Young, was very focused and driven just like his mom. Whenever Isaac saw him, Min Young had an easy smile and a charming personality, but he knew that his dad was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He seemed easy to talk to, but after all the small talk and catching up was done, it all felt surface-level. Dad really only seemed to know how to talk to adults, and any talk about feelings or vulnerability was right out—that was more of a ‘female’ thing. Derek, on the other hand, was sociable and athletic, liked kids, and liked to get deep. Talking about feelings was something Isaac practiced regularly at home with him and the women in his family, and it was something he appreciated as he got older. Derek had taught him how to respect women as a man, how to be sensitive and strong, how to balance family and independence, how to fly a broom, play basketball and soccer, and appreciate watching sports. Derek only had sisters too, and Isaac felt really understood whenever he talked to him about life. He really looked up to him.

If his dad had been the man in his life, Isaac could imagine himself learning to bottle up his emotions or express it in some unproductive way. Maybe he would be more traditionally masculine or act more domineering as the only son. Maybe he would be trying to be an accountant or a businessman. It was crazy to think about how different things could be.

“If my dad lived at home, my sisters and I would probably be able to speak Korean fluently,” he said after thinking quietly for almost a minute. “He’s great at English, but he prefers Korean. Or a mix of the two.” That was easy enough to say. “My sister Maia would be at home too. She goes to school in Korea because my dad’s there, so she’s there all the time now.” His baby sister was a whole other discussion, one that Isaac definitely had more thoughts and feelings about but hadn’t divulged to anyone except Lauren.

“My uncle spent a lot of time with me growing up, and he’s more like the cool sporty guy,” Isaac said, feeling his words coming a little easier. “My dad’s more like a nerd, I guess. He’s not that athletic, but he’s great at academics and business. He and my mom always emphasized studying and school, but Uncle Derek taught me to have fun and go with the flow. Maybe I would’ve been more into books and studying and stuff instead of sports.” He took another second before nodding. “Yeah, things would’ve been really different if he’d stayed around, but it’s hard to really imagine. Him being in Korea is all I’ve ever known, you know?”

Sometimes Isaac wished his dad had stuck around, but he wasn’t bitter about it. It was just how things always had been. If he had ever felt a loss or wished he had a dad around, there was always Uncle Derek to look up to and teach him how to be a man. He did remember his mom crying sometimes in some of his earliest memories, but his parents were such independent people that he couldn’t imagine them happily living together. They were married and committed to each other, but just lived very independent lives as they seemed to like it. It was just unfortunate that a whole ocean separated them.

“He was pissed that I stayed back home this summer,” he continued. “I guess I didn’t realize how important these family visits are to him, but we talked it out and I had a fun time spending the summer with Uncle Derek.” Cleo had briefly met him when Derek had dropped him off and picked him up again from her place—one of Mom’s ways to keep an eye on him—but Uncle Derek had tried his best to get out as fast as possible and leave them be. Dad probably would’ve tried to network with the whole birthday party.

“Is it weird to say I don’t really miss my dad?” Isaac asked, thinking out loud. "I feel like a bad person saying that. It’s always great seeing him again and sad leaving, but it’s hard missing someone who’s kinda there but not really. My mom works a lot too, but it’s definitely different." Isaac finally glanced at Cleo before looking aimlessly at the path again. "Have you ever felt that way?”

19 Isaac You have a way with me 375 Isaac 0 5

Cleo

July 23, 2019 9:27 AM

Deeper and deeper we go then by Cleo

The idea of studying being a way of accidentally catching sunsets struck Cleo as odd, as it was not an outdoor activity. Still, the library did have pretty big windows, so she assumed Isaac might mean that. Again, she neither considered where Pecari's Common Room might be nor was bothered enough by the slight disconnect to dig into it.

Isaac agreed that her question was personal but not too personal, though she still watched him a little anxiously, afraid she had crossed some kind of line. He was quiet for quite a while but after giving it some thought, he seemed to find the words. Cleo wasn't so used to talking in detail about herself either, and for all that Isaac seemed the kind to just dive into many things, she could understand the idea of taking some time over this.

"You want to be a healer," Cleo pointed out, when Isaac stated how he was more a sports guy than a books guy. "That's really hard. I think you maybe ended up being good at sports and books," she suggested. She was good at neither. She wasn't a dreadful student but it didn't come easy, and she often worried that Isaac was going to think she was stupid, given how academic he seemed. She considered the gifts she had got from her parents instead... Beauty and a general mistrust of everyone's intentions. She wasn't sure she'd lucked out there.

"I'm sorry," she said, when Isaac reported his dad had been pissed about his choices. The tone conveyed that this was definitely apology rather than merely sympathy and it wasn't the first time she had done so, having said it several times over the summer too. Sorry for ruining your summer. Sorry you stayed behind and now this is happening...

"I don't think so," she shook her head when Isaac asked if it sounded weird or made him a bad person to say he didn't miss his dad. "You can't miss something you didn't have. You can feel other things about it. You might feel sad or wonder about what might have been. And you're not a bad person. He chose to leave, you were a kid who didn't get any say in it, so whatever the consequences, they're on him, not you."

He then turned the question back on her, which was fair enough, although she still needed to collect her own thoughts about it, unaware that perhaps she had already partially answered in her response to Isaac, given that there was a strong chance she was projecting there.

"I guess it's slightly different... But what you're saying is still familiar. The only thing I know about my mom is that she didn't stick around. Well, and that she's a veela. The same two things the entire school now knows about her," she added, trying and failing not to sound somewhat resentful about this. Growing up, she had always wanted to know about her mother. She guessed she was living proof of that whole 'be careful what you wish for' mentality. When she had found out about the veela thing, for a while it had felt like it made sense. Maybe veela just weren't good with kids, or not part human ones. But then she'd met Virginia, a veela with a totally normal life... Married, kids, all that. So, maybe being irresponsible wasn't inherently to do with the veela side. Maybe it was just to do with her mom. Either way, that trait was possibly in her though, and she wanted very much not turn out that way.

"Yeah, I wonder what it would have been like to grow up with a mom who stuck around and who cared, but that would have required her to have an entirely different personality, so..." she shrugged. “I guess her function in my life is more as a cautionary tale than anything else. Don’t turn out the same.”

13 Cleo Deeper and deeper we go then 389 Cleo 0 5

Isaac

August 09, 2019 7:09 PM

Deep but not too deep by Isaac

Cleo pointed out that Isaac wanted to be a healer, and it was true that he was decent at both sports and books. He wasn't the best Quidditch player or the smartest kid in school, but Isaac didn't really mind being average.

There was a part of him that was afraid that once he graduated Dad would start pressuring him to learn about the company. More than once he had alluded to the job opportunities that would be handed to him if he wanted it. It was different being the only son especially when it came to his dad's business. Though Dad wasn't explicit about his beliefs about male and female roles, Isaac and his sisters knew that he ascribed to the patriarchal way of thinking. Businesses were handed down from father to son, just like it had been for generations on his dad's side of the family. Dad had convinced Lauren to spend a few months in Korea with him after she graduated, probably to show her what daily life looked like for him, but he had never expected her to take over the whole company someday.

On Isaac's end, to make up for this past summer, he had made a deal with his dad to spend the next summer in Korea with him, and, if he didn't get into college right away, then to spend the next six months there. It almost felt like he was agreeing to go into exile or something. Six months might turn into years if he wasn't careful. But, despite his interest in becoming a healer, Isaac thought it might be good to keep an open mind about his future. After all, his interests had always been changing since he was a kid, and he wasn't sure if becoming a healer was just a passing idea just yet. There were so many fascinating things in the world, like fashion or sports or technology, and it was hard to pin down just one. All he knew was that he wanted something that could be translated between the magical and Muggle worlds and he didn't want to stay in Korea. In his family, it sometimes felt like being a man meant that he was supposed to have everything all together and know what to do all the time, but that certainly wasn't the case.

When Cleo said it like that, that his dad chose to leave, it made it sound bad. It was the truth though, and it was a little selfish of both of his parents. One wanted to stay close to her family, one wanted to go take on his responsibility to his family. It was strange to think that in a way both of his parents were selflessly trying to support their families, but were also selfishly pursuing their own personal agendas. He didn't like to think of it that way. It was just easier not to think about it at all.

Isaac hadn't heard much about Cleo's mom, but the way she talked about her sounded a little resentful. "Just goes to show having kids doesn't automatically make a person a good parent," he said. "And yeah, I'd agree with that. We can learn what not to do from our parents' decisions." In his case, Isaac hadn't thought much about what kind of dad he'd be. At the very least, he knew he and Lauren were agreed that they wouldn't want to split up their own families the way their parents had. "Does your dad ever talk about your mom?" he asked. He didn't really know many kids with single parents, especially ones with a parent that had disappeared on them.

19 Isaac Deep but not too deep 375 Isaac 0 5

Cleo

August 10, 2019 1:07 AM

Best be careful. Here be monsters by Cleo

“No, definitely not,” she agreed when Isaac stated that having a kid didn’t necessarily make you a good parent. “It did with my daddy though,” she said quietly, “Or he was a good guy anyway. I know you probably kind of hate him right now, and that’s maybe even fair. He’s being really rude to you. But it’s so weird to see him acting like that. He’s always been a really good guy. And a really good parent.”

She shook her head when he asked if her mom was ever mentioned. When she’d been a kid, she had occasionally asked, or bugged him for more information, but he’d always been reluctant to say. At first, she had been more concerned with why her mother wasn’t there, and from the scraps of gently sugar-coated, age-appropriate narrative she’d got on that gradually formed the impression that any kind of romantic relationship between her parents had been brief to non-existent. As she grew older, she realised both that that was a thing that others would be judgemental about, and that it seemed out of character for her otherwise sensible daddy. She wasn’t sure whether he’d been a bit wilder as a teenager and whether she, the consequences of his actions, had sobered him up, or whether it had been equally out of character when it had happened. Those weren’t the kinds of things you could ask your parent though.

“I found out about the veela thing a year before you all did,” she reminded Isaac, as an indicator of how much the subject had been discussed at home. The rest felt more like her daddy’s business than her own, and she was reluctant to share his feelings and his personal matters with Isaac, because that wasn’t fair.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make everything so heavy and gloomy,” she added, realising that somehow, even out here, when they were supposed to be far away and free, she had made the spectre of their parents loom over their conversation. “I really like that I can talk to you though,” she hesitated, she wasn’t really used to sharing much about feelings, and was still worried she sounded sort of stupid when she did it. And she couldn’t decide whether that was just because it was odd to open herself up and make herself vulnerable with another person, or because she wasn’t really a person - that she was a cold, hard monster to whom soft and gentle things like feelings were an alien experience. And that was why she liked so much that she could with Isaac. It felt like proof that she could indeed be a person, or at least behave like one, and also that this wasn’t just some spell she was putting on him. It felt like keeping the veela side of her in check to let him in on the human side. “Talking, caring about what the other person thinks and feels… It feels like what humans do,” she tried to explain, though she wasn’t convinced that that had been the best way of putting it. She guessed she still needed some practise...

13 Cleo Best be careful. Here be monsters 389 Cleo 0 5

Isaac

August 19, 2019 5:38 PM

Monsters shmonsters by Isaac

Isaac nodded when Cleo told him that her dad was a good guy and a good parent. He could believe that. He believed his mom was a good parent too even when she came off pretty strict and set in her ways. She loved them and cared for them, and that's what really mattered. Even though he didn't like Cleo's dad, he was sure her dad cared a lot about his daughter too.

It sucked that Cleo had never known her mom was a veela beforehand. Isaac would've been so mad at his mom if she had kept that from him. He thought her dad was a coward for never bringing it up to her as soon as she was old enough to understand, but then again Isaac was kind of biased against him. He didn't really need to know anything more about it except Cleo's point of view and feelings towards it, so he didn't pry any more.

"You are partly human too," he reminded her. It was weird to think that Cleo wasn't fully human. He had never thought of it that way even after hearing that she was part veela. "And I don't really think of you as anything else but human," he added honestly. "You might have your veela side come out once in a while, but you're still the same Cleo." He smiled at her. Not that he'd really known Cleo well before this, but he highly doubted her personality had changed when her veela powers came to fruition. "And I like that I can talk to you too about deeper things." He squeezed her hand and smiled at her.

It looked like they had arrived at a good place to watch the sunset. The sky was starting to turn orange. Isaac turned to her. "Do you want to sit here and watch it together?" he asked. He looked around. "Ah. I didn't bring a blanket or anything. I probably should have. Maybe I could find something I could transfigure into one."

19 Isaac Monsters shmonsters 375 Isaac 0 5

Cleo

August 21, 2019 7:53 PM

That's a good argument by Cleo

"Thanks," Cleo smiled at Isaac’s assertion that he thought of her as human. Perhaps it wasn’t ideal, however well intentioned the comment - it was an aspiration that could never be reached, and she had to learn the ways in which she was different and how to deal with them. But Cleo had enough internalised distaste for the monstrous side of herself that being told she seemed human to someone else seemed like a good thing. It meant she was keeping the worst part of herself from showing. She was getting things right. And Isaac was dangling a very powerful temptation, the one she hadn’t believed in since finding out; that she could actually just have a normal life. Walking hand in hand with a cute boy… That was what girls her age did, and here she was, doing it too. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she really could just be like everyone else.

"That sounds nice. It looks really pretty from here," she nodded, when he suggested conjuring up a blanket from somewhere. She settled herself down once he had done so. She felt a little self-conscious, trying to work out how close to sit, how to transition from walking along hand-in-hand to sharing this space together. It felt less scary than she had imagined though. She slipped her hand back into Isaac's, seeing as that had been how they had been, but it felt more intimate than it had done before, now that they were staying still, bodies side by side. When you were walking along, holding someone’s hand felt a bit like keeping them with you - it stopped you wandering off in different directions. Now no one was going anywhere. Simultaneously though, it didn’t feel like quite enough. Now they were sitting here together, that meant things had taken a more romantic turn. Maybe she was supposed to do more. She thought about cuddling into Isaac, and that wasn’t exactly a terrible thought…

"So," she smiled, finding she was watching him more than the sunset, "Um…” she began, not sure how to ask, or what exactly she wanted to ask “We're good at talking,” she changed tack, “I mean, I like talking to you, and you like talking to me... So, things between us are... good?" she checked, still finding that hard to believe. It seemed too easy to think that - that after the summer, that with everything that was going on, it had been fixed that easily. After all, what had she really done except complain? It made no sense that Isaac would be doing anything right now except running a mile. But he was still here.

13 Cleo That's a good argument 389 Cleo 0 5