Kissing was very distracting, specially so when the one you were was trying to hide half their behind their hand. It made finding a position tricky but he didn’t mind because she was warm and soft and tasted like sugar and spice and he liked both those things.

He wasn’t sure when but at some point Isabel’s hand wasn’t in the way anymore because she was using it to grip his shirt and the other to hold his shoulder as she pull herself closer and for a moment Zephyr wondered if she’d even cooled down at all because it really didn’t feel like it, but then he was distracted again by more kissing and he kind of wanted to know what he tasted like because Isabel really seemed to like it.

Asking that question was going to be hard though because he was kissing Isabel and his head was half buried in a pillow so he wasn’t sure how to stop and… why did he want to stop again?

Then Isabel was pulling back and not kissing anymore which made remembering a little easier until it actually wasn’t, because she was leaning over him again but wasn’t wearing clothes this time and she hadn’t stopped swaying which made thinking really hard, so he tried to use his hands to help her hold still-

He blinked as something tugged at shirt, looking away from Isabel’s bare bust he saw her hand tugging at his collar like a kitten with a ribbon.

Then he realized she was talking.

"Why'd I gotta be mossly not dressed and you don't tha'sso nofair."

“Fair?” He paused, trying to scramble his head into something that made sense as he looked down at himself. Having just one of them not naked wasn’t fair no, and it was too hot to be wearing a shirt anyway. But… Isabel wasn’t just missing a shirt so he should make things fair for both of them right, that made sense?

Why had things become so hard all of a sudden?

Looking back up at Isabel and somehow managing to make eye contact he nodded to her. “No, s’no fair.” The air surrounding them shimmered for a brief moment before it faded and what remained of their clothes fell at the foot of the bed. “Much better. Too hot to were t’ings nyway”

It really had been, even now just laying here it was almost like he’d run a mile but he wasn’t tired even if he was breathing harder, and Isabel was same. He could feel her heartbeat in his hands as it danced to a racing tempo and the heat pouring off her just from where she was sitting on him was almost tangible.

Circling his hands to the girls back Zephyr leaned up and began placing a slow trail of kisses back to her lips as his fingers trailed down her spine until they reached her backside and then…

Then the night became far more interesting.

Her head hurt. Why did her head hurt so very badly? It felt like her skull was trying to split from one of her temples to the other and then some. Maybe it had something to do with how bright it was in the room, even with her eyes closed. She felt like the room was probably very bright and it was horrible and unnecessary. She was also very hot and her muscles were all sore and what the hell was even the reason for so much nonsense?

She was in bed, that much Isabel could determine without having to move very much and also very tangled up in blankets and something else. That something else felt much too much like another person and good god what was going on why was she sharing a bed with someone what the hell had she done yesterday?

...Drinking. She had done drinking yesterday and had apparently done a lot of it. As her brain was slowly waking up she was starting to remember having run into another young woman and taken her to a bar for some heavy drinking. Mission accomplished, it would seem. It was a lot harder to remember a whole lot after a certain point, but there were bits and pieces trying to fit themselves together. But there were more pressing matters to attend to first. Like sharing a bed with someone. Seriously what the hell?

Untangling was much too difficult and it made her head throb and swim when she tried to move too quickly but she at least managed to get her hands to herself so she could pull the edge of a blanket off of her face as well as the hair that had falling across it. Her poor ribbon was a knotted mess and her hair wasn't much better. It would need a good washing and brushing to get all the tangles out.

She could only crack and eye open after some mental preparation because everything was very much too bright and trying to focus on anything only aggravated her headache, but she couldn't lie in bed all day long, especially when it was already occupied and also very hot. Why did she have so many blankets on the bed there were way more blankets than was necessary.

A groan escaped when he finally braved a look around the room. This was definitely not her room or her bed, nor did she recognize either of them. She had no idea where she was. But the person she was sharing a bed with was all too easily recognizable. And also very naked from what she could see of him.

Why was it always Zephyr? This was the second damn time she'd been out drinking and wound up in bed with him except this time was worse because there was nakedness involved and not just his. It had taken a while, but it had finally registered that she also wasn't wearing anything other than the blankets. What the hell? What the hell? This was so bad and wrong and more pieces from the previous night were starting to fall into place in her head and holy hell what had she gotten herself into?

Slowly she worked to extricate the rest of herself from the tangle of limbs. It was much more preferable to curl up under the too many blankets and hope she roasted to death under her spiking temperature. What. The. Hell.

The whole idea had been to black out. Still, it was unnerving to wake up and not be entirely sure what her yesterday had been. Isabel, the infamous Isabel, had taken Ghost under her wing. Because that was a good idea. Especially after murdering a kid with his own laptop at the Mansion.

Oh god. Ghost's stomach dropped out the back of her belly as she sat up from the floor of Simon's bedroom. THE FLOOR OF SIMON'S BEDROOM was not at all where she expected to end up, but she had her clothes on and she wasn't in anyone's shower. It took Maya three tries to get all the way to her feet and the bed was right there. She couldn't be blamed for looking at it when it was right there.

Isabel was... well... that was more of Isabel than Ghost ever had expected to see of the Sanctuary resident. And waaaaaaaaaaay more of Simon than she should have seen... twice.

Maya hurried out of the room, sure that every bit of blood in her body had rushed to her face and every blood cell had fists and they were all knocking on the inside of her skull trying to get out. She banged her shin into a toppled chair on the way to the kitchen sink. Water was her number one priority. Number two was something pill shaped and then... what? The Mansion? Prison?

She growled at the sunlight coming through the windows, but couldn't easily find a way to make it stop. Instead, she pulled out her phone and fired off a quick message to Cafas to ask if anyone had died. No point in naming names. They'd all know if Jiri was wounded beyond what DocProf could fix.

If he was dead, she was walking straight to the nearest police station. If not... maybe coffee. Either way, she didn't want to be here when those two woke up. Ghost fumbled her way out of the apartment leaving yet another disaster in her wake.

Finding himself in the semi lucid state between dreaming and wakefulness Zephyr slowly took stock as he tried to determine what had almost managed to rouse him.

His head ached, but in all honesty that was nothing new and he’d managed to sleep through worse. The sun was up and had been for quite a while judging from how much of the room it had covered but it hadn’t yet reached the bed proper so it wasn’t much of a concern.

Speaking of his bed, it seemed rather warmer than usual which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but it did make him aware of how bone tired he felt when he tried to raise his head. Whatever he’d been doing last night he clearly hadn’t slept enough to recover from it.

What had he been doing last night? He shut his eyes last night as he tried to recall something from the truculent fog of his memories. He’d been downtown, he’d gotten a call? No a text, and there’d been a club; he could still feel the pulse of the obnoxious music and dancing. But who had-

Someone groaned next to his ear, shaking the hessian from his musings as he realized he wasn’t just covered by blankets. There was another body lying on top of him, female… rather distinctly female given what he was feeling as she began to shift and skin moved over skin, but it wasn’t until she lifted her head from the crook of his neck that he managed to catch site of her face-

Isabel.

He was sharing a bed with Isabel Duskmoor.

For a few brief moments panic wrestled with dread in the pit of his stomach before both emotions were blindsided by the immense exhaustion that still held his body and he let out a slow breath as he came to a conclusion.

Yes this was big, and it could be a disaster if he didn’t deal with it properly. He knew that.

He also knew he was too tired to think straight and Isabel herself likely wasn’t much better given how she was trying to untangle herself while desperately trying not to wake even though she looked half dead to the world. No, neither of them were ready to deal with this right now.

So, before Duskmoor managed to get her limbs free he snaked one arm under hers and against her side before giving a groan of effort that his entire body protested as he abandoned any thought of subtlety and heaved so that, rather than on top of each other, they were lying on their sides and staring each other in the face.

“No panicking.” he told her in a bone weary voice, as his arm fell to rest along her spine, not pinning her place by any means but just keeping her close to try and share warmth since he’d just knocked off most of the blankets. “It’s too bloody early for drama. Things happened yes, and we’ll deal with it, but not now.”

Resting his head against hers as his eyes started to close again. “Just relax. We can talk after we’ve gotten some real sleep.”

A surprised squawk was halfway out before Isabel could stop it. She was so not awake enough for grabbing and flipping and it made her aching head swim unpleasantly for a moment. Zephyr's face so close to her face wasn't particularly high on her list of things she was ready do deal with quite yet, either. Apparently she hadn't been untangling gently or quietly enough.

Her headache was loudly protesting her eyes opening so widely so quickly, but as much as she wanted to close them and pretend she was elsewhere it was turning out to be a lot harder to actually do it. Her heart felt like it was in her throat and sounded like it was pounding in her ears. Her brain was still very sleep foggy but it was trying to kick into gear to accommodate the panic attack that was threatening to break through that fog.

Zephyr, on the other hand, didn't seem to be particularly disturbed about the situation. "No panicking. Okay. Alright." That was a lot harder than he made it look but for the sake of her racing heart it was probably not a bad idea. The calm tone and gentle pressure against her head were helpful, though she was a little surprised not to hear any sizzling. She was feeling decidedly toasty again even after the bulk of the blankets had fallen away.

Isabel closed her eyes and let out a slow breath. She was still very tired and more sleep sounded like a good idea, she just had to calm down enough to manage it. Zephyr was pretty good at getting her out of trouble and this was just a more complicated kind of trouble. Much more complicated. But he was right. The panicking could wait until later when she had enough energy for a proper freakout.

-

She had no idea how long she'd managed to sleep once she'd finally managed to drift off, but however long it had been she was feeling at least a little better. He headache had gone from a painful roar to a duller, more manageable hum and it wasn't quite so hard to shake off the brain grogginess she'd felt earlier. Escaping from the bed was also a lot easier when she wasn't lying on top of anyone.

The room looked like a tornado had blown through it. Blankets, pillows, and clothing were strewn all over the place making it difficult to figure out exactly where her items had fallen throughout the night. She supposed she could sort through the mess a little later, though. A shower seemed much more important for finding first and towels were easily found all over the floor and probably also the bed but she was trying not to let her attention drift back there if she could help it. Her muscles were sore, her hair was a disaster, and she was sure her skin could use a good scrub after a messy night of drinking and... other things.

Shower. Definitely shower before anything else. If things went really sour she could always just drown herself under the hot water.

Stirring from sleep at the sound of the shower Zephyr took a moment to simply breathe and stretch before he allowed himself to start focusing on the latest… developments, life had managed to throw his way.

And what a throw it was, just glancing about the bedroom he was fairly certain it contained every stitch of fabric in the apartment which meant the floor wasn’t covered so much as buried. It would take the better part of an hour to sort through it all and he really wasn’t in the mood.

Unfortunately there were a few things he did need to check on; his work was semi legal at the best of times and so he had more than a handful illicit documents and other items. As Isabel was otherwise occupied the elemental took the opportunity to go over the two safes he kept in the apartment and, while one of them looked to have been found neither had been opened and their contents was accounted for.

More importantly he now had his medication, as whoever had torn through his wardrobe and closet had also cleaned out the supply in his bedside cabinet. In all likelihood it was somewhere amidst the mess on the floor but beyond the cursory search necessary to find a decent set trousers and- was that his bathrobe? Regardless, it would do until he had his own shower.

While the thought of sharing one with Duskmoor did have a certain appeal it wasn’t something he was willing to risk until he had a better grasp of the soubrettes thoughts of last night. She may not be able to do him any permanent harm, but she was in his home and he’d rather not pay for any repair bills.

With that said though, he needed to decide how to handle things with her. She wouldn’t be staying in the shower forever, the hot water would only last so long.

Weighing different options in his head the hessian made his way into the kitchen and turned on the stove, feeling a small sense of relief as it looked to have been mostly left intact, even if the contents of the fridge looked to have been resorted.

Collecting some simple ingredients and taking out a frying pan he tried to think things through as he cooked. He’d never planned on becoming… intimate, with Isabel. The thought itself wasn’t unappealing, the girl had posters for a reason after all, and from what he could manage to recall last night had been… enjoyable.

No, the issue was that, prior to last night at least, Duskmoor had always demonstrated what could perhaps charitably be called insecurity or anxiety when it came to displays of affection. He tried to help and encourage her overcome her issues in past and while there’d been some degree of success it was clear she’d still had a long way to go before she comfortable.

Which still didn’t explain last night. Alcohol could lower inhibitions and make you forget consequences yes but if you were still aware enough to walk (which she had been to get to his apartment), and could still talk coherently (he recalled rather distinctly her enthusiasm about his bed), then it wouldn’t make you do something you flat out wouldn’t consider normally.

That being said his own memory wasn’t the most reliable record at the moment. Mixing pain medication and alcohol was ill advised for a reason. Certain parts of last night were crystal clear, others not so much.

He still had no idea where Maya had vanished to, even though he was honestly relieved not to find her here.

Dismissing that thought with a shake of his head Zephyr emptied the two omelette's from frying pan onto a pair of plates and made his way to the kitchen table as he focused back on the matter at hand. No, troubling as this might be, it wasn’t something he should solve on his own.

Using the air to knock against the bathroom door he pitched his voice to carry over the sound of the shower. “Isabel, there’s warm food in the kitchen, but I can’t promise it will stay that way if you use all the hot water.”

The hot water was a blessing to Isabel's sore muscles, the heat helping to gradually ease the stiffness. There was only so much it could do for her headache, but at least the pain wasn't unbearable. A few more hours rest in the dark and in her own bed would probably help it to dissipate completely. She just had to get there first.

She really wasn't looking forward to the chat Zephyr would undoubtedly want to have with her concerning the events of the previous night and while she could understand why they should talk it over she still didn't want to. It was just going to be one big, awkward, embarrassing chore that would probably leave them with more questions than answers. She was still struggling to wrap her own head around everything and wasn't so sure she could provide any kind of satisfactory information for what he might be looking for. She wasn't so sure she had any answers to give to herself, nevermind to anyone else.

And then there was the matter of that woman Isabel had met at the beginning of the whole mess. Where had she even gone to? Had that poor girl had to deal with the whole mess after Isabel had essentially gotten wrapped up and forgotten about her? God, that made things even worse and approximately a million times more embarrassing than they already were. Isabel would never be able to speak to Ghost again. She might just have to hide in her room forever to avoid the possibility of running into the other young woman. Hiding forever might allow her to avoid Zephyr for the rest of her life, too. It was a win-win. Clearly it was the best course of action once she managed to get out of the apartment.

The sudden knock at the door caused her to startle so hard she nearly slipped, having been fairly deeply stuck in her own head while she'd been combing her fingers through her hair to rid it of any tangles. She didn't even have enough time to debate whether she'd rather drown than leave the bathroom when her stomach growled and made the decision for her. She hadn't stopped long enough to consider whether or not she had been hungry, but apparently she was.

She let the water run for another minute or so before resigning herself to the fact that she would have to let out eventually and that prolonging the inevitable wasn't actually going to help her. Climbing out of the shower she used the pilfered towel to dry off and did what she could to wring out her hair. She wouldn't be able to dry it completely, but she could at least manage to get it to the point that it wouldn't be dripping water all over the floor. She left her ribbon to sit in a crumpled heap on the counter, not wanting to tie it into her damp hair, and wrapped the towel around herself, using a small, pin-like sliver of bone to make sure it would stay secured in place. It was a bit shorter than she'd have liked, but it would do for the time being.

"Your room's kind of a huge disaster. I'm not really sure where my stuff ended up," Isabel offered as a greeting and an explanation for her walking around in just a towel as she tentatively entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table where Zephyr had set out the simple meal. It looked and smelled very good though and served to remind her how empty her stomach felt. She separated a piece with her fork and took a bite.

"Uh, sorry about that mess. I'm pretty sure I did a lot of the trashing last night, though it looks a lot worse now than I remember it being," she added a bit sheepishly once she'd finished chewing. She remembered they had been ransacking the apartment for materials to build a fort, but she wasn't quite sure what had possessed her to throw around absolutely everything she could get her hands on. "I'll help you put the stuff back where it's supposed to be."

Good tea could not be rushed. It was one of the fundamental truths of the universe much like how there was no such thing as a pleasant airport and bureaucracies were never efficient. If he’d learned anything about Duskmoor over the past few years she was probably as keen to talk to him as a water logged kitten looking at an ice bath. Even if the soubrette just wanted to get the conversation out of the way it would take her at least 15 minutes to dry off.

More than enough time to start a pot.

As he let himself go through the motions Zephyr found his thoughts once again going over last night in an effort to come up with a new perspective or catch some detail he hadn’t noticed the first time. Given the patches in his memory though he’d likely have more success finding a needle in a pile of shredded tinsel, during a blizzard.

Dismissing his attempts as a lost cause once the kettle finally began to whistle the hessian simply shook his head and poured himself a cup. He’d likely need the caffeine to make it through the discussion he was about to have.

"Your room's kind of a huge disaster.”

Speak of the devil. Turning to face Isabel with tea in hand Zephyr, found himself pausing and arching an eyebrow as he took in the buxom brunettes choice of attire, or rather, the lack thereof. Still this wasn’t last night, he actually had his wits about him and if he couldn’t deadpan something like he didn’t deserve his heritage.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Though his words were dry the roll of his eyes and gesture for the girl to sit let her know there wasn’t any malice meant in the comment. And to the brunnetes credit she barely even paused at his words before continuing.

“…I'm not really sure where my stuff ended up,"

“Yes, it looks a like a few things got lost last night.” He would need to have a few words with Maya when he found her. Inviting known homicidal characters to your brothers home was generally not a good idea, and while Duskmoors circumstances made her the exception that proved the rule she’d still left him with the quite the mess to clean up.

Literally and, as this conversation would not doubt prove, metaphorically as well.

Neither of them said anything for a short time, Isabel taking refuge in the food while Zephyr considered his tea and how best to broach the subject of last night. Duskmoor tended to be rather well, forthright, about most things but he somehow doubted such an approach would work well here. No he’d have to build some common ground, extend some form of olive branch in order to-

"Uh, sorry about that mess…”

Zephyr blinked, had she just-

“…I'll help you put the stuff back where it's supposed to be."

Yes, yes she had. Isabel bloody Duskmoor had just apologized and done so without threats, bribery or any other form of coercion. Most shockingly of all though, the girl had volunteered to make amends and actually sounded sincere.

Slowly lowering his cup the elemental racked his memory, trying to recall any other time the soubrette had been this genuine even as he gave a single nod and carefully chose his words though he couldn’t entirely keep the surprise from his voice. “I… would appreciate that. Thank you Isabel.”

He hadn’t expected an olive branch from her, still he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Lacing his fingers together he waited until he caught her eye before giving her a diffident smile and continuing. “Before that though I think we need to talk about last night, awkward as it may be.”

“We don’t need to go over everything that led up to it.” He certainly wasn’t about to discuss Maya’s involvement, the moment he did that he’d have to think about where she’d been during last night and that wasn’t a thought he wanted to even start entertaining. “ and I doubt our memories would be up to it in any case, but I think it’s safe to say that by the time we arrived here we were quite some ways from being sober. Does that sound fair?”

After getting the girls agreement and taking another sip of his quickly cooling tea he pushed on. “Now… the fact that we were less than lucid doesn’t automatically mean that sleeping together was right or wrong, good or bad. That’s a decision we have to make ourselves, and since we were both equally involved, it’s one we should make together.”

“As I see it we have a few options.” raising a hand he began to count off. “First we can pretend it never happened, essentially hiding from the issue; I honestly think it’s the least likely to work. We see each other too often to keep up that kind of act but it’s still something we can try.” Not to mention what would likely show up in the tabloids in the next day or two; they’d hardly been subtle in leaving the club after all. Personally the hessian was half expecting the NYPD to try and bring him in for questioning. He kept those thoughts to himself though as they’d likely do nothing but embarrass Isabel further.

“Secondly, we can accept what happened and decide not to do it again. That doesn’t mean we tell everyone what we did, just that we don’t hide from the fact. Things would be a little awkward in the short run but we’ll get back to something like we had before if that’s what we want.” Things would never be exactly as they were of course but it came with the fewest complications and so was the simplest solution, for the moment at least.

“Finally… we can also decide that this doesn’t have to be a one time occurrence and let things develop. Whether as a relationship or just as something we both enjoy is something we’d have to explore. It would more complicated than the other options but that doesn’t necessarily mean bad, just as simple doesn’t always mean good.”

“Still those are our choices as I see them. If you think I’ve missed something I’d be happy to hear it. Otherwise I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter.”

"Might be understating it a bit." Isabel was pretty sure she was more than just 'quite a ways' from sober the prior evening. Maybe more like miles away. Like a hundred miles, maybe more. She couldn't remember exactly how much she'd had to drink, but it had obviously been way more than enough. She'd been elbow deep in shot glasses at one point and hadn't had any intention of stopping but Zephyr had tried to usher them out of the bar fairly insistently. Or had it been her or Ghost that had taken the initiative to leave? A lot of the details were fuzzy.

Not that how drunk she had been was a very solid excuse if that 'drunk mind, sober heart' thing held any truth to it, which she didn't even want to start thinking about. But it was an excuse she'd cling to for as long as she needed to, however flimsy it might be.

She placed her fork on the plate next to the half eaten omelet and dropped her hands into her lap where she could fidget relatively out of sight. Hungry as she had been it was hard to maintain any kind of appetite when engaged in such an uncomfortable conversation. Not having to trudge through every sordid detail was a relief and she was appreciative that Zephyr seemed to be trying to keep things as straightforward as he could to cut down on the inevitable awkwardness, though she was sure it was as much for his own sake as hers.

Given the options of where they could go from where they currently were, pretending that nothing had ever happened was immediately the most tempting one despite his valid points against it. Ignoring problems tended to be Isabel's go-to solution if murder wasn't an option but she knew an issue could only be ignored for so long before things went sour when there were constant reminders getting in the way. It was a tempting temporary fix, but it wasn't sustainable and she knew it even if she didn't like it.

That left the other two options presented. Acknowledge the problem and either nip it in the bud or fall further down the rabbit hole and see where they landed. It seemed like it should have been a pretty obvious choice but her mind was still reeling and things didn't seem quite so clear-cut anymore.

A relationship with Zephyr wasn't something she'd really ever considered before, most of her energy having been spent trying and failing to get away from him, though admittedly it was more on principle than genuine hatred for him. Being able to hate him would have made everything so much simpler but for whatever reason she just couldn't seem to manage it no matter how hard she tried, which was both confusing and deeply unsettling for her. Though apparently not unsettling enough to stop her from getting herself into trouble one way or another.

"I think maybe the second one is the better idea for now," she offered, making some effort to keep the eye contact that he was trying to establish, but finding it difficult to maintain for any length of time. She was feeling very jittery and sitting still was getting harder. "This is a little too much for me to just ignore even if that's what I'd like to do. I don't know that it's something I can keep doing right now, either. This isn't exactly something I'm used to dealing with." Yeah, her lap was much easier to focus on than his face while she tied to gather and voice her thoughts. The heat rising in her face wasn't doing her any favors, either. Why couldn't she just be angry and stab things? That was so much easier.

"But, uh, what are you thinking we should do?" Like it or not Zephyr had just as much say as she did in this situation. If they weren't quite on the same page then they'd have to figure out a way to meet somewhere in the middle.

Thinking back on it Zephyr could count on hand the number of times he had seen Duskmoor take something seriously. All too often everything that went well for her was treated like a game while those that went poorly were ignored or blamed on the actions of others. Granted this was far from a normal situation, and he was relieved that she was putting honest thought into her answers, but the shift in behaviour really did place the girl under a new light.

Unfortunately he knew it wasn’t likely to last; right now Isabel felt uncertain; vulnerable. So she was reaching out for help, hell he was doing the same in a way. The moment she found her feet and regained her confidence she’d fall back on her old demeanor.

Still there was some silver lining in this whole mess; unless the media had suddenly become inept at reporting mutant related atrocities Isabel had apparently spent an entire night at a non mutant bar getting utterly hammered without killing anyone. What’s more, she’d apparently spent it entertaining perhaps the most caring and gentle person he knew.

Hmm, now that was a thought-

“…what are you thinking we should do?"

Turning his mind back to the matter at hand Zephyr quickly went back over Isabel words. For the most part he agreed with her, though he was honestly surprised at the hesitation in her voice; he’d fully expected the girl to shoot down even the idea of repeating last night yet she almost seemed to be considering it. If he thought the soubrette had even an ounce of tact he’d assume she was trying to let him down gently, but this was Isabel, was she actually entertaining…?

“I do think a relationship would be good for you.” He replied carefully, pausing to take another sip of tea even as he kept an eye on her increasingly crimson features. “But it’s not something you should rush into, nor does it have to be with me. We both have our own issues at the moment that would make a relationship… difficult, so I agree it would be best to hold off. If things change in the future well, we can always change our minds.”

“Honestly though, even if the only thing that comes from last night is your friendship with-” He paused again, trying to recall if Maya had shared her name? He knew Isabel had called her by her moniker at least once, best to be safe “Ghost, than I’d consider that something you should be proud of.”

Isabel couldn't help pulling a face at Zephyr's suggestion that a relationship might be beneficial for her eventually. She didn't really agreed with the sentiment. Relationships weren't exactly a bright spot in her history and she wasn't all that eager to give them another shot. Getting him involved on top of it just sounded like it could be twice as much trouble. More so than dealing with him already was. Even if he didn't seem all that opposed to the idea, but that was a whole other can of worms that she didn't want to open just yet.

But in spite of his opinions on her dating habits, or lack thereof, at least they seemed to be relatively on the same page for the time being. They could acknowledge the issue but not push it any further and she supposed she could handle that much. She wasn't going to be making any promises that she wouldn't pretend she couldn't hear him if the subject came up in the future, but she could manage not to deny it completely.

And then there was the issue with Ghost on top of everything else. Isabel dropped her face into one of her hands at the mention of the other young woman. So much for being best sistypals or whatever it was they'd been calling themselves all night. At least she didn't have to involve the woman in the current conversation. That would have been way more awkward and embarrassing.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna be seeing her again," she said, completely at a loss as to how exactly she could manage some kind of friendship after the events of the previous night. "She's nice and fun to drink with and stuff, but I'm pretty sure after having to deal with... everything last night it's gonna be sort of super awkward if we run into each other again. Kinda puts a damper on the whole possible friendship thing." She didn't have a while lot of luck with friendship kind of relationships either and the trend seemed to be continuing. At least Ghost had been smart enough to beat an escape when she'd gotten the chance.

Letting out a rueful chuckle at Isabel’s words Zephyr lowered his cup and regarded the soubrette with an arched eyebrow. “I didn’t realize friendships were never allowed to be awkward. I must have missed the memo.”

Seeing that the brunette wasn’t less than convinced he eventually continued. “Ghost has dealt with embarrassment before as have you. Yes it’s uncomfortable but that will fade with time, it doesn’t mean you have to cut all ties.”

Not after they’d already been seen in each others company anyway. He’d have to see if there were any bureaucratic strings he could pull to help ensure Maya was left alone. He doubted anything would come of an investigation on her but there was no need for her to deal with that mess if it could be avoided.

“I know her well enough that if she hadn’t wanted to spend time with you she could easily have left, but she chose to stay; don’t you think that means something?”

He did hope he was getting through to her. Now that they’d already been seen together he really had little to no reservations about a friendship. Like himself Ghost numbered among the rare few Isabel was incapable of killing with her mutation, furthermore his sister was more than capable of not only weathering Duskmoors childish mien but, if past experience were any indication, would be perfectly capable putting the buxom brunette in a much needed time out.

It wasn’t that he was trying to make his sister Isabel’s designated babysitter; it had already happened. He was just taking advantage of it.

Somehow Isabel doubted that Ghost's past embarrassing moments could quite compare to the events of the previous night. There didn't seem to be a whole lot that she could think of that would compare. The possibility that the awkwardness would eventually fade didn't make the initial discomfort any more bearable, either. She may have to dig her heels in and postpone and future meetings until the embarrassment wasn't quite so overwhelming, which would probably be never.

"It means the drinks were nice and strong." she replied, dropping her hand back into her lap and rolling her eyes. She couldn't help but grin a bit in spite of herself, though. Spending time with the other woman had admittedly been a lot of fun and she wouldn't be opposed to another outing eventually somewhere way down the line in the future possibly. Maybe. Preferably with alcohol involved. But not Zephyr because apparently that was just a downright dangerous mix. So, so dangerous.

"Well, anyway," she said, starting to get up from the table, careful that the towel stayed in place. "As much fun as this awful conversation has been, I'd really like to have some pants on now." She'd just have to find them somewhere in the disaster room.