status: closed for @steph-anand location: the mermaid inn
It took longer than it should have for the hippocampi to realize that Steph had been avoiding him - but, in his defense, there had been a lot on his mind lately. There was always a battle under the obsidian surface of him, raging between worlds and feelings, a tidalwave kept barely at bay.
Renzie had loosened the dam of Isidore’s thoughts and he’d been haunted more now than ever; new things existed in the water, and they, too, had come to visit his safe haven. Port Vale was looking less and less like the place he’d made home, as more new faces (some new, some old) appeared in the streets. Now, Isidore avoided spending time outside; in the past, he’d always loved as Decemeber dreaded on, enjoying the cold, the silence and peace of it all. Even the uptick in tourists hadn’t been enough to bring down his winter mood in former years, but now, he was holed up in the shop or his apartment, avoiding the outside & the creatures in it.
But not Steph - not any of his humans, not intentionally. They’d all been... distracted, to say the least. Emilia was dealing with her father, Renzie’s plate was piled higher than Isidore thought fair, and Steph- well...
Steph was Stephanie Anand. She was always on something; there was never a moment of peace in her world, and she liked it that way. However, Isidore had noticed something, and a nagging feeling had been growing, clawing it’s way through his barriers and into the anxious part of his mind. Her texts were brief, if she responded at all - and Isidore had even tested this, and sent a ‘meme’.
When he didn’t get a response filled with the enthusiasm he expected, Isidore decided that things were much worse than he thought, and it was time to investigate. He headed to the inn, after ensuring she was there, and tried to silence the fear raising in his chest. Why? Why was she avoiding him, if she was - and if she wasn’t, why was he so sensitive all of a sudden? Lately, the whole world felt it was falling apart under his feet, and Isidore wondered if the moment was coming where he would careen over the edge and into something dark.
“Steph.” Isidore greeted, the singular word, but it sounded almost wounded; accusatory, like he’d caught her doing something she shouldn’t be doing. Hadn’t he, though? This is how they worked - this just did not happen. “You did not reply to my meme.”