gooseberryhigh | (no subject)

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WHO: Isabelle Sargent & Joanna May
WHAT: As promised, breakfast and a talk.
WHEN: Sunday morning
WHERE: The cafeteria
RATING: TBD. Likely G, or PG at most

Holy hangover. Isabelle, while not someone who hasn't EVER drank, certainly has never had that much in her lifetime put together. Quidpong was not a game she'd ever really played before and was certainly surprised to find out she was kind of decent at it, and continued to be pretty decent at it for many more games than she had originally thought they would get to play. Which lead to a very, very small girl with a very, very low tolerance for alcohol getting very, very trashed. Which then led to another Ebonhide Jr Girls Cabin meltdown.

What happened next was basically a blur, but Issy read through everything this morning and though she did feel slightly bad for getting an attitude with Jo, she didn't feel all that bad. Where was Jo, making sure everyone was good when Charlotte and Ari were bashing her over the journals? Where was Jo when Ari made fun of Issy for asking her out when they were all talking before the pumpkin carving contest? Where were ANY Prefects during these situations? Why was it so okay for Ari and Charlotte to be that way and it was all fine, fine, fine?

Oh, Isabelle, grow thicker skin - don't be so sensitive. Just ignore it, they'll go away? It was honestly frustrating and while she was doing her best to just avoid them the negative feelings were still there. Even Rosy and Casper had only told her how to ignore it, though she did feel confident she could go to them in the future and they would both help her out. It didn't generally make her feel great about things in general, though, and despite the fact that she now had Tristan and she was most certainly happier than she had been in over a year, she couldn't help but wake up feeling depressed.

Maybe that was part of the hangover, though.

Casper had brought her a potion and she finally felt okay to eat, so she rather reluctantly joined Jo in the cafeteria. She was quiet the whole way there, wanting to at least start eating before whatever happened happened. Isabelle had very little trust that this was going to go well at all, and she wanted to be a little bit fed before she went back to sleep the rest of the day in the cabin. When everything was finally gathered and they sat down at a table, Isabelle looked at Jo. "So? Go ahead, give me the rules talk."

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Jo made the deliberate decision, once she had selected her breakfast and put it on its tray, to slide in beside Isabelle rather than opposite, the way she would if they were having a regular conversation. It would have seemed confrontational, she thought, which was the last thing either of them needed. Additionally, with the cafeteria still being quiet at this stage, it would be easier to talk without too many prying Freshman ears. Jo knew she could sometimes be kind of loud.

Picking up her cup of coffee and giving it an experimental sniff, she looked sideways at her dorm mate, eyes peeking over the top of her dark rimmed glasses. "Actually, I have no interest in giving you a lecture this morning. Even with the hangover potion, I feel like you probably feel terrible enough," she replied, giving her drink a sip. Ahhh. That's better.

"I've been reflecting, actually," the smaller girl mused. "Because last night, I was abrupt. And I often am, that's true. My reasoning, though, was that I wanted to be sure I got through to you what I wanted to say. And then when you complied and went to bed, I realised something. 'Hell, Jo, you might have got to say something, but what did Isabelle hear?'".

Another sip of the coffee, its warmth soothing. It was clearly helping Jo, although for different reasons than for some of the more hungover faces in the room at the moment. Her voice, at least, was for once soft. Kinder. "And I realised that, what you probably wanted last night was for your friend to make a safe space in that cabin for you. And sure, what others in the cabin might have thought might not be the same idea, but people get emotional when they've been drinking. It would have been hard for you to get to the same headspace that other people were in."

She pulled her tray closer to her, picking up the knife and fork with which she'd planned to eat her eggs. "Now, what I said last night was true. There are four of you whose needs I have to balance, so I very much doubt we'll all get exactly what we're after. That said, you seemed to be the most vulnerable person in our cabin last night, so it seemed fairer for me to talk to you first. Did I understand the situation with Tristan correctly? That his presence would have been a comfort?"

Isabelle was surprised at Jo's choice of location. She hadn't felt particularly close with anyone in her cabin - so to have Jo sit next to her like a friend and not someone she just... lived with, really, was surprising. Also kind of nice. Issy peered up at Jo over her toast, listening as she spoke.

For once, it felt like someone was actually looking at things from her perspective. Not from their own needs or their warped view of her, but from a perspective that was truly level-headed and fair. She nearly dropped her toast in shock, but instead set it down and focused on her coffee for a minute. She needed a little time to take this all in.

Having a sip brightened her exponentially, and she set the cup down with slightly less anger than she would have just a few moments ago. Finally, when Jo had said her piece and Issy had had a chance to mull it over, she spoke. "Tristan is like, my only friend here. I've known him since we were babies. He was buzzed but not drunk and I've never drank like that before. He was worried I would be sick and something bad would happen so he brought me back and wanted to stay because that's how we've always been for each other." She relayed, explaining. Tristan was brand new to the school, not a lot of people knew how close they were.

"He's like my brother." She added, thinking it over. She took another bite of her toast and shrugged. "Having him there would have made me feel a lot better."

While Issy spoke, Jo was cutting up and taking small bites of her poached eggs. Not looking the other girl in the eye, but clearly thinking and mulling things over. Her mind was one that worked fast, and a neutral spot to look at helped her to focus. When Issy was done, Jo chewed the last bit of egg in her mouth, considering how to phrase what she was going to say.

"OK, good. I think there is something here we can work on." Another sip of coffee, a bite of toast, and Jo's voice slowly went back to its more confident tone, though the softness lingered.

"Now, obviously we hope that this kind of thing isn't needed too often, but I think it would be a good idea to think of a compromise. I have an idea that might at least be the start of one, if you want to talk about it now. Or later, if you want to decompress. I'm prepared either way."

Jo leaned back a little in her seat, looking more relaxed. Wow. This prefect business really was easier when you were in a situation where you could take off the heat.

Isabelle was sure that, no matter how good Jo's intentions were, there would be no working around it. It was definitely a negative line of thinking, but Isabelle was quite positive that as long as Ari was around and hated her, Isabelle was going to be on the losing end of all cabin arguments.

Still, she wasn't one to not hear someone out, so Isabelle simply nodded her head. "No, I'm fine to hear it now." The potion really did work quite well, and with a bit of food in her system (another mistake from last night) she was feeling like a whole different person already. Or at least, like normal Isabelle.

She busied herself with finishing off her toast and taking another sip of coffee, determined to hear Jo out.

Isabelle might not be fully aware of it yet, but Jo was a stubborn thinker, through and through. If someone was determined that X positive result wasn't going to happen through Y, she would try it through Z instead. It was less about ambition and proving herself right, than making sure that boundary pushing was done safely.

"I'm going to level with you. I'm not a fan of boys being in the cabin overnight. For the full night, that is. It can be a great big can of worms right there. However, I'm thinking around your reasons for wanting Tristan to be in the cabin in the first place, and his reasons for wanting to be there."

She took a bite of toast, mumbling through it a little in the beginning as she counted each fact off on her fingers. "One, male visitors to the cabin are allowed. Within reason, naturally. Two, it's on the prefect to manage any situation where there are visitors. Three, he wanted to check you were safe after drinking too much. Four, while you knew he was there, you felt better."

Jo took out her wand, charming her plate to be a little warmer. If this explanation took a while to make sense, she wanted to still be able to enjoy her breakfast.

"Obviously, in an ideal world I don't want people to be as drunk as some people were last night - but, speaking hypothetically, let's say that it did. Given that it's my job to manage the cabin, I'm happy for him to escort you back to Ebonhide, to make sure you're settled in and so forth. And as long as Greer knows where Tristan is, I'm happy for him to stay for a reasonable amount of time. If you've had some water and you're then asleep, then you're where you need to be," Jo said reasonably, taking another sip of the coffee before her, wrapping her hands around the cup. "If someone gives me the heads up about a situation, rather than just showing up at the cabin, awesome. It's not like Grotto parties are every week. And, given our whole theme here of communication, I can check in with him or anyone else once he's gone back to Ribbonfin so he knows that you're physically well."

What she was aiming for, of course, was for a situation where the girls of her cabin were all comforted and in their damn beds. That wasn't taking sides - that was practicality, given that the Seniors couldn't very well be expected to take in refugees from the Junior class every time there was a party.

"I think that's painting a very negative light on boys. I don't see why a boy couldn't be in our cabin. If Bash had come in, would it be different?" She thought. Her voice wasn't accusatory but remained resolutely conversational. Tristan was a teddy bear and although her perception of him might be skewed given the length and closeness of their friendship, she couldn't imagine anyone disliking his presence unless they just disliked him as a person, in general. Which she often found was very difficult to do no matter how much they disagreed. Not that they did frequently.

Isabelle silently agreed that they wouldn't want people to be drunk as last night - and she certainly didn't ever want to be that way again. She really couldn't fathom why people actually liked to be that drunk. She hardly remembered anything whether good or bad and the entire night now had a hazy feel to it, and she felt like death warmed over this morning. All in all it was an unpleasant experience and the idea of wanting to do that again was... just downright insane to her. To each their own, she guessed, but drinking like that just wasn't for her.

"Well, it's a non-issue now. I'm never playing Quidpong again. Making someone drink FOR you is just as bad and drinking all that when you win isn't great either, which is where the problem really stemmed from in the first place. He would have given better notice but neither of us took our journals to the Grotto and - well I think I was probably pretty difficult to get back to the cabin. Neither of us could have anticipated I would need that much help or looking after. Since I've been here, I've never once gotten that intoxicated at a Grotto party. It was kind of a surprise to everyone, even myself." She added, shrugging. It may resolve future issues that would likely never arise again, but Issy still felt a bit miffed about last night.

She wasn't going to harp on it though. What's done was done, and she was glad that Jo wanted to compromise and make a good plan going forward. "At any rate, that sounds like a good plan."

Jo raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, but didn't mention that it seemed defensive. "Some people are just more comfortable around those of their own gender, and that's cool if it's their business. We're at a boarding school, right? So there's plenty of time to hang out with our male friends. And I'm talking about people spending the whole night, which Bash isn't going to be doing. Quick visits I am A-OK with, and I'll be making that clear to the others as well." Jo wanted to treat all the girls as though they had the same value - which, to her, they did. She couldn't be objective if they had baggage between them.

"I think learning from what happened to you last night is the smart thing to do." Jo being Jo, this came out more blunt agreement than it ever would patronising. "And I'm glad we've all been able to reflect upon stuff. And yeah, it's hard to carry journals around. From my own point of view, though, I am 100% taking it with me everywhere, especially after last year." One of the kidnapees, Jo visibly shuddered. "So, even if it means borrowing someone else's journal, you'll always be able to get hold of me through it if you're in trouble, in danger, or you just want to talk and don't want to look at anyone's ugly mug." She grinned this time, picking up her coffee cup and gently waving it in Issy's direction, as if about to toast.

"And I'm glad the plan is, at least in part, workable. It's not set in stone, by the way, because I'm working on being more relaxed and able to negotiate this year. So you know, between the five of us, we can develop the plan as we need to while things go. Does that sound good?"

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