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The night had been fun so far, but Tibbie was starting to feel an oncoming headache - everywhere she looked there were people, talking and laughing and being loud and pretty un-ignoreable in general. For someone who was used to spending most of her time in solitude, this was a strange new land (in more ways than one, really), very, very exciting and also just slightly exhausting.

Which was why she'd retired to a random hallway, finding a cozy alcove with a bench where one almost couldn't hear the sounds of people and otherbeings milling about.

Taking a seat, she wished she could take off her mask and give her temples a massage, but with what had been said in the scarlet foyer that probably wouldn't be a very good idea. It would probably, in fact, be one of the worst ideas in her life. Especially for just a temple-rub.

"Zac?" Her voice was quizzical and Isobel blinked quite a few times in disbelief over the figure before her. He looked, well, like he belonged at the party; the outfit was beautiful and on someone else might have looked showy, but she thought he pulled it off. "What are you doing here?" She put a hand on his shoulder, more bold than she usually was but needing to be sure he was actually here and not just someone pulling a prank on her. But he was solid and he looked like Zac - no-one else had hair those pretty colours, that she'd ever seen.

And he'd asked a question. "Yes, I'm fine... just a small headache." Her voice still held the air of bafflement. "I didn't think you'd be here." She hadn't thought anyone she'd know would be; not because she didn't wish them magic, but rather because it simply hadn't occurred to her.

"'Other' Ashdown...?" There was a wealth of questions in Isobel's tone but she took his hand gratefully, giving it a gentle squeeze. It felt good to have a lifeline to hold on to after a night as baffling and fantastical as this, and in her hair the buds of her flower crown started blooming. "Åh! You mean this place? The magic place? I've never been here before, um, honestly I still can't quite believe that I am now. It's all so weird and wonderful except-" her voice caught, but carefully she smoothed it out and continued on- "except for the murders thing."

To his advice about the masks, she nodded seriously and gave his hand another squeeze. "I've heard, but thank you. Some of the other, er, humans here were talking about it earlier in the scarlet foyer. I'm glad you still have your mask too." Her eyes traced his mask, absently noting its fine make and- oh! "What happened to your eyes? They look different."

Isobel Penrose || 25/25 HP || attempting to wrap her head around everything

She turned the idea of other Ashdown over in her head. "That... sounds very strange," she replied after a while. "Is that where we are now?"

She couldn't quite grasp the danger he spoke of, though. "I'll keep you safe too - we can watch each other's back, like in the movies." It was said with an encouraging smile as she leaned towards him. The thought of there being cops here did ease the slight worry she had over what he spoke of - and it wasn't that she didn't believe him; she thought Zac the closest thing to a friend she had and if he told her he was Cleopatra reincarnated, she would unquestioningly believe him. But Isobel had never faced anything more dangerous than loneliness in her entire life and the idea that there might be something honestly life-threatening in this other Ashdown was hard to truly understand for her.

"Hmm, maybe," she eyed him intensely, trying to figure out this small mystery. "I don't think so though - you don't have anything layered over your eyes, right? It just looks like... well, your eyes, but not like normal. They're black, with pinpricks of blue - like a night sky?"

Furrowing her brow beneath her fancy mask, "but..." That didn't seem fair, not at all - and how could she just not try to protect the only friend she had? That seemed rather impossible to her. "Okay," she finally conceded out loud, vowing internally to still do her best to protect Zac.

His eyes seemed to be causing him some concern though and worried she bit her lip, gently patting his hand with her free one. "It's very pretty - did you not feel the change at all? Maybe one of the people here did something to you; but if your sight's the same, then perhaps it's not harmful? Just... changing." Or maybe it could be some sort of magical poison, an even more worrying thought that she didn't voice out loud. Still... "Do you know anyone who might know what it is?"

Isobel Penrose || 25/25 hp || (✿ ♥△♥)

"Yes alright, I trust yo- wait, you mean... like magic? Real, honest magic?" There were proverbial stars in Tibbie's eyes and she unconsciously squeezed his hand out of excitement. "That, that's amazing! Your friend - Autumn - she can really heal people? Not like a doctor but like, magical healing?! And you can summon fairy lights?" She was practically buzzing with enthusiasm, free hand twisting in her voluminous skirt. "Can you- can you show me? Please?"

Isobel Penrose || 25/25 HP || grabby hands

"You would?" Isobel grabbed his shoulders in excitement, practically vibrating with emotions. "Really?" Then she registered the rest of what he'd said; "yes of course, that's fine!" Anything at all for the chance to learn some magic - he could have told her to walk on her hands for the rest of her life and she would have gladly done it. Waiting a little bit when she'd already waited her entire life was nothing!

"Sounds perfect," she grinned.