i'm pure at heart, it repels the dirt

Isabelle had been away from Idris for almost a month. Not by choice, of course, but because of duties in New York. Specifically, her mother had had to spend a little more time in Alicante.

Which had left Isabelle in charge of the Institute.

Not for the whole month, of course. Just a couple of days at a time, five in a row at most. But, still. It was a responsibility which Isabelle took very seriously, which meant that even when Maryse had been back in New York and in charge, Isabelle had stayed at the Institute, helping her mother and updating her on everything that had been going on. Not to mention learning things for her next bout of temporary leadership.

And to make up for her absence in Idris, Isabelle had of course sent Flick some letters. But, to really make up for it, she'd also made sure to send his phone a whole lot of alluring selfies - from the casually adorable to the downright dirty - knowing full well that he wouldn't see them until he made it out of Idris and to somewhere where mundie tech worked, at which point they would flood to his phone all at once. That was the point, see. To make him want to see her as soon as he saw all those photos that had accumulated over the past few weeks.

Except, there was a slight problem.

Okay, two.

One, Isabelle had no idea when Flick was going to get to come back to New York next.

Two, her version of New York was experiencing a truly outrageous heatwave that was testing even Isabelle's angel-given ability to withstand rough conditions. So she'd been feeling pretty gross for the past couple of days. The AC at their apartment had broken down this past weekend and no amount of threatening phonecalls seemed to be getting it fixed any quicker, while the Institute was starting to get uncomfortably warm as well. So as Isabelle sat behind her mother's desk at the Institute right now, hot selfies were the farthest thing from her mind. Instead, she was trying to find whether she needed anyone's official authorisation to cajole Magnus or another warlock into cooling the building down through supernatural means.

That was how bad this was getting.

[ooc: NFB, but open! This is me dealing with my own weather issues, omg.]

Isabelle had meant to visit Flick at the Academy in Idris today, but something's things just didn't go according to plan. There had been a couple of major incidents of demonic activity in Manhattan earlier in the week, and so Isabelle had ended up doing patrol after patrol (missing her class in Fandom in the process) and staying at the Institute while the Conclave focused on tracking down whoever was causing so much trouble.

So she'd sent Flick a fire message, telling him she'd arranged the portals for him to come visit. And when he'd shown up, she'd told him they were going to be sparring. She was in the mindset for it, and she was curious about what it was like to fight him now, after so long at the Academy.

(Especially because she'd stopped sparring with him before he'd started his studies.)

And now they were in the training room at the Institute. Just the two of them; everyone else currently at the Institute were far too busy elsewhere.

Often, Isabelle trained in gear because she most often also fought in gear and so it made sense, but by Friday, she felt as if she'd been practically living in Marked gear all week, so she'd opted for more mundane workout clothes. You weren't going to see any sports bra/top and clingy exercise pants combos in the training halls of Alicante.

She finished putting her hair up into a bun, then stretched her arms. "You ready for this?"

[ooc: NFB and for the boy lovingly modded here.]

As far as Isabelle was concerned, this was just another regular day. Because she wasn't aware she was supposed to be about a foot taller, a lot more pale, and also covered in scars and runes.

She was, however, very aware that she couldn't find her laptop. Not anywhere. She was going around the apartment, peeking under the bed and into cupboards like maybe she'd gotten distracted last night after she finished working and stuffed it somewhere unusual? Val had asked her to make a thing and well, she'd been working on it way too late and she had a habit of some absent-mindedness sometimes, and ––

But seriously, where was it? It was as if no one lived here who depended on their laptops to get through the day!

(Take a hint, Izzy.)

[ooc: NFB but open for calls/texts/the boy! Why go AU when you can go for an AU from within an AU? Izzy's now an AU version of the version of her from Shadowhunters.]

This morning, in her bed at her father's house in Alicante, Isabelle had woken up to feeling uncomfortable. It hadn't taken her long to realize why. Overnight, she'd become –– well, the wrong shape for pretty much everything she'd been wearing to sleep in. So, right, they were doing this again. She would've assumed Fandom's magic couldn't work through the wards around Idris, but apparently she'd thought wrong. And it'd be complicated to look like Alec here of all places.

Ugh.

So, she'd gotten out of bed with a groan, then gone to the closet to search for clothes that'd even remotely fit her. And that was when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

And immediately went in for a closer look because well hello. She did not look like Alec this time. And that changed everything.

So long story short: she sent a fire message to Flick (Had to go to NY, come if you can, because she'd previously told him she'd stay in Alicante this weekend) and then listen closely until she was sure her father wasn't in the house, before sneaking into his quarters and snagging an old set of gear to wear. Then she scribbled her father a little note as well, about how Jace had asked her to come back to the city.

Fast forward, and she was home in New York. Having far too much fun going through Flick's closet space and modeling things in front of the mirrors. And if some of the modeling was sans clothes, well, could you blame her? She deserved her fun, dammit.

And her phone was filling up with pictures.

Also once Flick would hopefully make it out of Idris and his phone would start working, he was going to find several photos on there as well. Maybe he'd enjoy an unknown but attractive young man's (clothed!) selfies coming from Isabelle's number? In fact, maybe he'd even put two and two together and note the Marks and how the backgrounds looked suspiciously like their bedroom in the city. He was a smart boy, he could figure it out.

[ooc: NFB, primarily for That Guy, but can be open for calls/texts as well!]

Since the half-move to Alicante back in August, Isabelle hadn't spent a whole ton of time in New York. Sure, she was at the Institute a lot, helping her mother and using the training rooms with her brothers and Clary, but as the months had rolled on she'd found herself thinking of Alicante more and more as home. Even with the unease of sharing a house with her father.

Guess there was something to be said for being somewhere where everyone was like her. She didn't feel like she was the same as Idris-born Shadowhunters, not entirely, but still. Itwas the same culture she'd lived in within the Institute walls.

And Idris was where Flick was, most of the time. It was a pretty big motivator to stick around, all on its own.

But New Year's belonged to New York. New Year's belonged to the city and the place that was going to become home once more after Flick's Ascension. So she was already here, in anticipation of the holiday. Even if right now, she was sitting by one of the big windows in the living room, with a packet of last night's takeout. It counted as anticipation. And appreciation of New York.

Her father's house in Alicante didn't have this view, and Alicante didn't have takeout.

[ooc: NFB but open!]

There was no real reason for Isabelle to be here today. No anniversary, no holiday, no pressing concern that needed to be dealt with. All she had was a whim. And a bag stuffed with the makings of a picnic, which she'd picked up in Alicante.

Also athe horse she'd ridden to the Academy on. The best transport a person could hope for in Idris. It was either that or walking everywhere – and it was a small country, but it wasn't that small.

She left the horse with a stable guy, then headed inside the Academy to try and find (and surprise) her boyfriend.

[ooc: NFB, for the boy.]

It was about time for Flick to return to Idris.

In fact, he was expected at a portal at the Institute in a matter of a couple of hours. Isabelle wasn't feeling very pleased with it, no matter how proud she was of everything he was doing at the Academy. She'd gotten all too used to him being at home over the break. Their bed was going to feel lonely and empty once he was gone again.

But it was morning, and she was out of bed all the same. Padding barefoot around the kitchen in a silk robe, she was making breakfast. Coffee, eggs and bacon, some pancakes with an interesting take on seasoning them. Flick was about to go back to Academy food, and Isabelle would be damned if she let him go without one last proper breakfast at home.

[ooc: NFB, for the guuuuy.]

Isabelle was in her element. Not only was her boyfriend home – and not just visiting for the day but on actual break – but she was also cooking for him. That's right, their kitchen was a happy mess of various kinds of ingredients and pots and pans with ––

With, well, something cooking in them. It was honestly hard to tell what it was by the smell. Or the ingredients strewn about the counters. Or the way it looked, even. Maybe... maybe it was some kind of stew?

Whatever it was, Isabelle looked happy to be making it.

[ooc: NFB, and expecting a ton of SP, omg.]

Isabelle had been to see Flick's mother today. She'd brought the tastiest cupcakes in the city with her, as well as reassurances that Flick was doing just fine. Working hard to advance and to develop himself, but fine all the same. In exchange, Flick's mother had shared a few small memories of him as a child. Isabelle had not asked too many questions, or prodded for more – but she was depositing each tidbit in her own memory as something precious. It was worth it just to see Beth smile.

Isabelle had wanted so badly to tell her about the engagement. So badly. But, not yet. She hadn't asked Flick if it was okay to say anything, and she wouldn't overstep.

But she'd wanted to.

And no, that had nothing to do with why her whip was covered in demonic gunk right now, and there were fresh blood spatters on her gear. After her visit, she'd applied her Marks and joined Clary on patrol to investigate a report about demonic activity. It had gone predictably well. Meaning there'd been the thrill of a decent battle as well as the joy of swift victory.

Exactly the kind of thing to make Isabelle smile. Yes, even with the blood and the gunk.

She was home now – and yes, home was increasingly more often here in this apartment rather than back at the Institute. She supposed the Institute would always be her home, in its way, but still. This was her place with Flick, even she was the only one here for now. That made it special. That made it hers.

Still, it would've been nice if he could've somehow hurried up and come home already. She might've even trusted him with cleaning her weapons! (And, shh, yes, there were many other reasons to want him here.) But, sigh. Guess she had to do herself, for now.

[ooc: NFB, but can be open should you so wish!]

This was it.

The last of Isabelle's things were packed up. Her vanity table was already on its way to New York. The closets were empty, the floor clear of all her clothing clutter. She'd just finished pushing the beds apart to return the room to the two-person abode it was meant to be, and was now standing in the middle of the room with her arms folded.

It didn't look like her anymore. There were probably residual flecks of glitter that would be sticking around for a long while, but that was all. This wasn't hers, anymore. She was moving back to bigger things. A whole big future and a life of great purpose.

She hadn't expected to feel these melancholy pangs.

Maybe she was actually going to miss this, a tiny bit.

[ooc: Open door, open post which is coincidentally also Izzy's last in Fandom for a while!]