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[b]Monday, Spring 1 | 6:05 AM | ☁ [/b]
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[i]Her grandfather once told her that she was born during a thunderstorm. He saw it on television, he said. They were reporting about the freak thunderstorm that raged down in the metropolis she was born in, thunder and lightning and rain crashing violently around the newscaster as he braved the streets. He went off on a tangent after that part, rambling about how dirty the city streets looked and how lucky he was to be living in a peaceful town, until she prodded him to finish the story. There was a big smile on his face as he picked up where left off, telling her this was the best part. He got a call from her mom, you see, the first one he'd gotten since he learned about her impromptu wedding. The reception was bad because of the constant bouts of thunder, and the call had gone in and out, but there was one thing he could hear clearly. 

"As soon as you cried, I saw in the news that the thunder started to lull and the sky started clearing up." At this point, he'd jumped up from his seat in excitement and gestured wildly at the ceiling. "I kept telling your mom, that you chased that darned storm away."

Izzie was pretty sure her grandfather made up about eighty-five percent of the story, but she likes to think it was all true. It sounded pretty awesome, didn't it? And besides, she's had a strange fascination with storms ever since she was little, and having that sort of backstory as an explanation made it cool. [/i]

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Ever the heavy sleeper, not even the incessant and violent howling of the wind through the window, carelessly left open two nights in a row now, managed to rouse the sleeping Izzie. Strong gusts bit at her exposed skin and tussled her long blonde locks wildly, but still she remained in deep sleep, the small smile on her face indicative of the happy dream she was having. It was about the grand tale of her birth, as fantasized by her grandfather, nonsensically mixed in with an action movie she had watched the day before. Izzie lay sprawled across her plush bed, limbs contorted in what could probably be a yoga pose, half of her body teetering at the edge of the mattress. If she moved even an inch to her left, she would be joining her blanket, kicked off the bed after only being asleep for two minutes, and find herself in a more intimate relationship with the carpeted floor. It wouldn't be the first time it happened. She can't even count how many times she had woken face down on the floor, back too sore to move and a small bruise forming on her forehead, but suffice it to say, it sucks.

Izzie's room was a sight to behold, looking very much like the aftermath of a tornado. Gaku was lucky he didn't have to clean her room, or he would probably cry from all the work that needs to be done. Strewn along the length of her room was foliage brought by the wind, twigs and leaves and dust decorating nearly every inch of her room. Papers (mostly sheets of music and sheets of hastily scribbled song lyrics) that used to be on her desk danced across her room, and at least one or two must have gone out the window. 

It was only when the sky began to rumble that Izzie began to stir. As thunder roared, like a proud lion prowling the gray skies, her blue eyes shot open and a huge grin spread across her face. Excitedly, the blonde jumped off her bed and ran to her window to look out at the sky, with nary a concern at the chaotic state of her room—it's been through much worse. Without so much as a second thought, she quickly slipped on her slippers and bolted right out of the room, still dressed in her sleepwear, a set of matching pink shorts and sleeveless top. Her room was right next to Gaku's, and she passed by Robert Starr on her way out, laughing as she heard him banging his fist on the door to wake Gaku up.

After stepping out of the inn's entrance, Izzie was slightly disappointed to see no rain accompanied the thunder. She paced along the front of the building, head tilted up as she hoped even the slightest hint of a drizzle, and smiled as she caught sight of the streak of white that lit up the sky. This was unusual as far as storms went, but Izzie still reveled at the clap of thunder that followed. It was a shame that the storm vanished just as abruptly as it had appeared.

"Isabelle!" 

Izzie turned at the familiar voice of her boss, who she realized was just across from her, standing outside the café as she checked out the weather. She hadn't noticed her there at all, and she had automatically flinched at the use of her full name. Her boss had taken to calling her by her whole name whenever she was about to scold her, so she developed a certain wariness at the sound. Izzie waved and grinned sheepishly at the older woman in an exaggeratedly cutesy manner, hoping to appeal to her friendlier side, but she wasn't having any of nonsense as usual.

"Stop fooling around and get dressed." Rebecca told her curtly, hands on her hips in a manner Izzie was more than accustomed seeing. "You have the morning shift today, don't you?"

"Roger, ma'am," Izzie said, playfully saluting before she did as told and ran back into the inn. She knew better than to get on the cafe owner's nerves so early in the morning.

The lobby was no longer empty upon her return, but she was surprised to see that it was neither Rob nor Marie manning the counter. They must be doing some work on the inn, because they usually don't let Gaku handle the counter so early. Peering up at the boy, she couldn't help but laugh at the obvious grogginess that crossed his features. How very typical of him. She had half a mind to sneak up behind him and give him a friendly (and super helpful, of course) scare to wake him up, but someone else had approached him before she could. Eli, who she liked to think as one of her prime targets (a rather elusive one, at that) in her quest for fun, arrived at the lobby around the same time she had, but she ran off immediately after handing Gaku her dues. Izzie hardly got a word out before the other blonde disappeared out the door, leaving a bit of awkward tension in her wake. Amused and just the slightest bit confused, Izzie approached her friend at the counter, leaning against the desk as she playfully bopped the older boy's nose in greeting.

"Hey there, lazy," Izzie said, grinning widely. "You're up early~"

Then, gesturing behind her with her thumb, pointing to where Eli had just scampered off in a hurry, she narrowed her eyes teasingly and leaned in conspiratorially. "So what did you to Eli?"