There was something about the woman's parents that put Isaac a bit on edge. He liked them, somehow, for their sheer parental enthusiasm--never having had parents of his own, they were exactly as he imagined parents might be. And there might even have been some lingering sense of traditionalism in him after all; it just didn't seem right to be his normal disrespectful self to them. As her mother squealed for him, he even managed a smile on his haggard face.<br/><br/>"Hello, Mrs. Thompson. I'm just fine, thank you, just a long night. Some...cocoa would be great." he added a bit awkwardly, nodding gratefully to her as she bustled off before letting the look drop from his face as he made his way to Clara, his usual focused self once again.<br/><br/>Isaac was never quite sure what to do with the curiosity shop owner. On the one hand, she was probably the only human woman he had anything resembling a friendship with, and she was perhaps the only person he could think of who could do anything resembling understand him and the world he lived in. Professionally their worlds intersected almost at random, two different Venn diagrams of magical services and understanding overlapping here and there on the strangest things... but at least usually on the same side.<br/><br/>On the other hand, he had no idea how to talk to people, less idea how to talk with women, and no idea at all on how to deal with her.<br/><br/>Following after her towards the basement proper, he slid his hands into his pockets and ducked past her into the real part of the store, where the important shit went down. "If you'd done this a week earlier," he said pointedly, "I wouldn't have had to drink my way into rent, so thanks for that. What is it about these rune blades that you find so entertaining, by the way? I've never seen you pass one up."