let's make a monument for our love / closed

Simon was acting strange, he had been for quite sometime now. That was the conclusion that Ella had come to as of late. While she hadn't been living with her mother and older brother for very long now, she and her mother didn't exactly see eye to eye so, when her grandparents offered to pay for her to attend this private school upstate she took them up on their offer almost immediately. When she wasn't away at school for ten months out of the year, she made sure that she was home as little as she possibly could be.

Though, as of recently, even though she wasn't exactly home 24/7, she was able to pick up on her brother's sudden change in behavior. There was certainly something off about him. He was jumpy sometimes...more on edge, and spent a hell of a lot of time being rather secretive. She knew that, more often than not, he was spending time with Clary, but that didn't really explain his sudden change in behavior at all. If anything, Clary seemed to be a staple in Simon's life. The two had been friends since they were six and, even though Ella wasn't there to witness it as often as she used to be, she knew that her brother was still constantly pining over the redhead.

As she exited her room, having decided that she wanted a cup of coffee or maybe tea...yeah, tea sounded good actually, her brother nearly ran her over as he started toward's the front door. "Where're you off to in such a rush?" She crossed her arms, punctuating her words with a raised eyebrow.

---

Simon was horrible at this. Not so much the whole being a vampire thing. The real problem was keeping it all a secret from his mother and sister Ella who suddenly seemed to be around much more than she used to be. Just his luck too. He didn't have to worry about Rebecca, who had a family of her own, and Ella had never really been much of a concern, seeing as she was normally off doing her own thing, avoiding their mother, or away at school for ten months out of the year, but that didn't seem to be the case anymore. Of course it wasn't. Now, on top of keeping this from his mother, Simon had to worry about his sister snooping around his room when he wasn't home. That was freaking great. Just plain wonderful.

As he exited his room, being sure to close the door behind him, he hoped that Ella would respect his privacy and that she wouldn't go snooping around in there, he nearly ran right into said sister as he started towards the front door. The last thing he needed right now was for his sister to find the stash of blood he kept in there. He was planning on meeting up with Clary, they were actually meeting up with Isabella, Alec, and the new girl Kora at Taki's, no Jace as far as he knew, though now it seemed as though a session of twenty questions was about to begin. That was always how it was with Ella though. It was never a simple question and answer, it was question after question after question. "Just getting lunch with Clary." He said nonchalantly, giving his shoulders a shrug as he silently prayed that she'd just take that for an answer and leave him be.

Jace heard his phone chime when he stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel and drying off quickly before reaching for his phone. His phone buzzed in his hand in a succession of texts, all following the first that was the creation of a group chat. Alec, Izzy, Clary, Simon, him, and the new girl Kora were all included, and they all were chattering about wanting to go to Taki's. Clary's message stood out before it was followed by several emojis from Isabelle, Come eat lunch with us, Jace!, and he quickly typed out a reply that he would come. Even though he was intending on getting time in for training for most of the day today, he figured he could spare some time at Taki's. There was a new pixie waitress in training that giggled and glowed pink when he smiled her way, and how could he ever pass up a classic past time of theirs?

He made his way out of the bathroom, grabbing jeans and a black tshirt from his dresser before slipping them on along with his boots. Jace slipped a knife into his belt before shrugging on his leather jacket, pocketing his phone and leaving the room after. As he was walking down the corridor out of the Institute, he pulled out his stele and quickly burned a glamour rune on his opposite arm, lazily holding up the edge of his jacket to get at his wrist. He sunk his teeth into his lip as the tip glowed and he fluidly drew the mark, finishing and pocketing the stele as he stepped out the door. Jace shoved his hands in his pockets as he flowed easily into the crowd of people on the main part of the sidewalk, making his way towards Taki's.

---

Kora shimmied into a loose fitting tshirt dress, letting her wet hair from her bath settle against her shoulders as she clasped and settled a few necklaces at her throat and slid on some rings. Her phone kept buzzing where it sat on her bed, and she didn't bother with makeup as she threw on a jean jacket and grabbed her bag. She threw her phone in and started to make her way out of the Institute, excitement bubbling in the pit of her stomach. This was her first outing that she had been invited to with the whole group that she's slowly been trying to affiliate herself with over the past few weeks. She had been transferred from the London Institute, having coming to the age where her family wanted her to experience different demons and cultures on the other side of the world. Even though it stung to be so far from her parents, she was having the best time in a new world, at least that's what it seemed like to her. The New York Institute and it's members had a different way of doing things and interacting that intrigued her.

As she half walked half ran out of the Institute, she happened to see the blonde head of Jace taking strides in front of her. She called out his name and he turned, giving her a dazzling smile which she returned with one of her own, and asked for him to escort her to Taki's, as she didn't quite know where it was, being new and all. He agreed and offered her his arm, which she happily took and let him chatter on about how moody Church had been lately as they made their way to the restaurant.

Ella gave her brother a weird look. "I asked if you wanted to grab something earlier, and you said you'd already eaten and it's nearly time for dinner now..." She said slowly. She could tell that her questions and scrutinizing words were getting to her brother. She wouldn't be at all surprised if he started getting defensive or snapped at her. She doubted that he wanted to stand there and answer a ton of different questions that she posed, and she normally wouldn't care what her brother did with his life, but Simon had just been acting so strange lately. Part of her wanted to joke and say how she thought that she was the weird child, but something told her that he wasn't really in a joking mood. Not with her anyway.

But now his stories weren't adding up. He always came up with excuses, not that spending time with Clary was an excuse because he was almost always with her, but there were just certain aspects of what he was telling her that just didn't make sense. And it wasn't like this was the first time it had happened either. Ella hadn't been home very long, but she'd been home long enough to pick up on Simon's change in demeanor and secretiveness.

---

"Yeah, well, I'm hungry again." Simon responded quickly, maybe even a little too quickly. That was something that he mentally cursed himself for doing. Ella was smart, she wouldn't let that one slide, and he could tell quite clearly based off of the expression on her face, that she wasn't going to let him leave until she got out of this conversation what she wanted. That was just how his sister was. He was honestly starting to think that he'd much rather her be away at school. Things were a hell of a lot easier when she was.

"Well, can I come? I really don't want to sit here and eat dinner with mom. Things are already awkward and tense when we're all home." Simon knew what she was talking about. He knew that Ella and their mother didn't really see eye to eye, and though he tried making excuses to not sit down for dinner with them, it was one thing that he couldn't weasel his way out of. So, he usually sat there, pushing food around on his plate that he never actually ended up eating, however, if he wasn't home for dinner at all, then he wouldn't have to worry about it. But that didn't mean that he wanted Ella tagging along with him.

Sure, Taki's served mundane foods, but that wasn't the problem. Isabella, who he actually got on pretty well with now, Alec, Kora, and now Jace, were meeting he and Clary there. And he knew that Ella would ask why she'd never met those four. She'd probably have another twenty questions to ask then too.

"No!" He said much too quickly again and again he mentally cursed himself for not being more stoic about this whole thing. "I mean...uh, I don't think you'll like where we're going...?"

That earned him another look. "Are you sure that you're not just saying that so I won't come with you?" Ella asked, punctuating her words with a raised eyebrow. "Are you ashamed to be related to me? Are you embarrassed to be seen out in public with me or something, because I'm pretty sure that you're the weird one in this family." Her tone was light and teasing, though it was obvious that his sister thought that he was acting strange.

"What? No, I just---do you really want to be seen out in public with me? I thought you deemed that social suicide or something a while back." Simon said, giving his shoulders a slight shrug. It was the best excuse that he could come up with. He knew that answering a question with a question, though socratic in nature, wasn't the type of response that his sister was hoping for. She was probably hoping that he'd give in and spill the beans or something, but he wasn't going to. Not yet anyway.

"A girl can change her mind." Ella countered, still not moving from where she was standing. It was clear to Simon that wasn't going to back down on this. He knew that she didn't necessarily want to go with him, she was simply being a pain in the ass. Something that she took pride in doing.

After a few moments of silence, Simon let out a sigh of defeat. "Alright, fine. You can come." He knew that he wasn't getting anywhere with this conversation. At least, with his sister with him, he knew that she wouldn't have the opportunity to snoop around his room or anything like that.

Jace guided Kora to Taki's, already seeing Clary, Alec, and Izzy already sitting in the booth. He grinned and waved as they all started making a fuss and waving wildly to get them to come over and sit. They both fit into the booth, and Clary started chatting excitedly with Kora about something they he didn't really pay attention to. He nudged Alec, who was stoically sitting in the corner and stirring his straw around in his water, and tried to see what he was thinking about. Their parabatai bond felt strong now that they were in the same location, and he could feel the ebb of a mood pulling at him, like something was bothering him, and he felt it like a tangible air around them. Alec wouldn't budge with the knowledge, however, and Jace was momentarily distracted by the waitress who came over asking if the new additions wanted drinks. He smiled at her and ordered some coffee, not really sure what he wanted to eat yet.

---

Kora thanked Jace when they arrived at the restaurant for guiding her, sitting down next to Clary, which she had developed a really good relationship with since she had arrived. She had always kept going on about her best friend Simon, who she hadn't been able to catch and meet yet. They were always off and doing things together, and she knew of how he had become a recently turned vampire as she had been spending time helping him acclimate. Clary always talked of him so fondly and with great confidence, so Kora had always assumed that they were kind of a thing. It confused her how much Clary wanted them to meet, however, but she smiled as Clary made another complaint to how late he was to not even get there before Jace and her did. Kora watched as she opened her phone and sent a series of where are you???? texts to him, and looked up when a waitress, skin pink and fair with curling green hair appeared. A hint of wings appeared as she felt the glamour peel away from her slowly as Kora's eyes adjusted, and she ordered a water to be safe. She had heard that ordering some of the food here could make one a little crazy.

Ella knew that it wouldn't take her very long to get her brother to give in. She could be extremely persistent when she wanted to be, and this was one of those instances of overly-persistentness. She knew that she was kind of being a pain in the ass, but she was curious. Simon had been acting strange, and she was determined to figure out why that was. Sure, she highly doubted that he would have agreed to let her come with him if he'd joined some super secret cult or something and he was heading to one of the meetings, but maybe if she spent some more time with him, she could get to the bottom of this. That was her logic behind all of this anyway.

"I knew you'd give in." She said smugly as she moved out of the way and finally let him walk past her. She headed into her room to grab her shoes, though not before receiving a warning look from her brother. She simply rolled her eyes and continued into her room, slipping on her shoes before walking out, a smile on her face. "Alright, where are we headed?"
Simon knew that this whole conversation would drag on forever if he didn't do something about it so, to save himself the time and energy, he caved. He knew his sister, and he knew that she could be as persistent as hell when she wanted to be, so he knew better than to argue with her for too long. The direction, and end, of the conversation was a clear one, so he figured that it wasn't even worth his while to argue with her for too long. "I only gave in because you wouldn't have given up until I did." He said, shooting a look his sister's way as she headed into her bedroom, probably to put on some shoes.

Letting out a sigh, he waited for her to come out. Part of him was tempted to just leave without her, but he doubted that that would end well for him. She was just as conniving as she was persistent, so he was sure that she'd come up with some crazy story to tell their mother if he did leave without her, and he really didn't feel like dealing with that right now. He already had enough on his plate, like keeping his mother and nosy sister from finding out that he was a vampire. Yep, that was definitely pretty important.

"Just to get a bite to eat with Clary, like I said." He said as he started out the door. "A few of our friends are supposed to be meeting us there too." He guessed he could say that he and Isabelle were friends, he didn't know about Alec, though he supposed that the shadowhunter liked him more than he liked Clary, Jace was another story altogether, and he hadn't met the new girl yet, but still.

"And, before you ask, no, you don't know them." That earned him a glare, though there was no smug or snarky comment this time around. He hoped that things would stay that way. It didn't take too long to get to the restaurant, there were no delays for any of the trains or anything like that, so, before he knew it, they had arrived. "Try not to embarrass me, alright?" He told Ella as they entered the restaurant. "Me? Embarrass you? I can't believe you'd even suggest something like that!" Simon knew that she was smirking without even looking at her. Definitely conniving and persistent.

Jace saw Clary perk up and he figured it was probably Simon that she saw, and a moment later she was calling out his name and beckoning him over. He didn't bother looking over, as it was just Simon and while he didn't hate him, he didn't have much interest in him, either. He took a sip from his water and thought about the whole whirlwind of a situation that they had been placed in ever since Clary had arrived at the institute. Kora had definitely come at an interesting time. When Simon slid into the booth next to the new girl Kora, Jace looked up when he felt the booth dip next to him, seeing a girl that he hadn't seen before, but looked familiar. She was beautiful, and it took him a moment before he figured out it was probably Simon's sister. Jace gave a bit of a half smile, looking away from her and back over to Simon and seeing a resemblance.

Kora looked up when she heard Clary call out Simon's name, and she smiled at she saw quite an attractive boy come in with a girl that kinda looked like him by his side. Clary introduced Simon and his sister to her, to which she gave them both a nod with a bright smile, "It's so nice to meet you! I've heard so much from Clary,", she said as they sat down. She could instantly feel the cold emanate from his body and the distinct smell of vampire instantly clued her in, but as for his sister, she could only sense that she was mundane. Kora had heard bits and pieces of the story, but she didn't say anything.

Ella knew exactly what her brother was thinking. He was probably already regretting bringing her along and thinking about how conniving and persistent she could be. It wasn't that hard to figure out and, even though she hadn't been around very much until recently, she liked to think that she knew her brother pretty well. Of course, she didn't realize just how much had actually happened as of late. Sure, she'd noticed her brother's strange behavior, but she would never suspect what was actually going on with him. Usually the first thing a person thinks of when a family member or friend starts acting a bit off was drugs or maybe even alcohol, but vampirism wasn't included on that list now, was it? "Don't embarrass me." Simon repeated moments before Ella heard a familiar voice shout her brother's name. Following the direction that the voice had come from, she spotted Clary seated at a table with four other people, two guys and two girls. She didn't recognize any of them. "I guess you're right, I don't know them." She said, following Simon over to the table.

---

Simon really hoped that Ella wouldn't embarrass him or anything like that. Having his sister around was like dealing with a toddler sometimes. Actually, scratch that, a toddler was more well-behaved than Ella was on most occasions. And that was usually when she was on her best behavior too. Alright, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but his sister was pretty bad most of the time! Simon often wondered if that was why their mother had sent her off to school upstate. Maybe it was a boarding school or reform school or something. He didn't really know, but he wouldn't be surprised if that ended up being the case.

After repeating his earlier words, and sending a warning look his sister's way, he didn't get much else in before hearing Clary call his name. Following the sound of her voice, he spotted her seated at a table with the others others. Walking over to the table with Ella in tow, he smiled, giving Clary a hug when she stood. "Hey." He greeted everyone before sliding into the booth next to Kora. She was really pretty. He sent a smile her way when she spoke to him. "Yeah? All good things, I hope." He joked, letting out a slight laugh. That's when he noticed take the empty spot next to Jace, and he realized he hadn't introduced her to any of them. The only one who knew her was Clary. He was surprised his sister hadn't made some sort of a smartass comment. Normally she would have. "Oh uh this is my sister Ella. Ella, this is Kora, Alec, Jace, Isabelle and you already know Clary."

Jace nodded when Simon said his name, looking over to her as she seemed a bit quiet since she didn't know anyone. "You'll get used to all of them being crazy after awhile," He told her, smiling, and leaned in a little bit towards her. "I'm probably the easiest to get along with though, and it's not just because I'm pretty to look at it, though it's a nice perk, I've been told," Jace said with a little wink before leaning back against the booth and moving his attention away from her. His gaze wandered over to the rest of them, talking and laughing, and Alec typing away furiously on his phone. He sighed and decided it was probably Magnus, and left him alone. Kora seemed to be fawning all over Simon, which was a little unexpected but her happiness seemed to radiate across the table. Even though he was friends with everyone present, he still managed to feel a little out of place.

Kora laughed at Simon's comment, following it up with a greeting when he introduced his sister. "Clary never stops talking about you, but it's always very nice," She said when there was a lull in conversation to Simon, in which Clary heard and playfully pushed her towards him. "He's like my brother!" Clary exclaimed, and Kora laughed, balancing herself with a hand on Simon's arm so she didn't fall over into his lap.

Ella honestly wasn't at all surprised that the only person there that she recognized was Clary. She wasn't home very often, so of course she wouldn't really know if her brother had made any new friends while she was gone. They honestly didn't seem like the type of people that Simon would normally hang around with though, and Ella was beginning to wonder where he'd met them. Clary seemed to know them as well, as she carried a conversation on with her brother and the others.

Her attention shifted over to the blonde, Jace as her brother had stated moments before, as he spoke to her. She mustered a small smile at his words and nodded. "I don't doubt it." She said simply in response to his words. She normally wasn't this quiet, but the only people here she really knew were Clary and her brother, and they were carrying on their own conversation entirely.

---

Simon noticed Jace say something to Ella and his sister respond back quietly. He didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. Maybe it was neither nor. Either way, at least, hopefully, that meant that his sister would be too busy talking to him that he wouldn't be eavesdropping on his conversations or trying to embarrass him, both of which had the potential of being bad. Not that they'd be talking about his recent vampire status or anything like that in front of his sister, but, knowing Ella, she'd use something that she heard against him because she could be evil and conniving when she wanted to be.

His attention wasn't on his sister and the blonde shadowhunter for very long though. His attention returned to Kora as she spoke and he smiled at her words. He didn't doubt that Clary would be saying good things about him. His comment had been a joke, and thankfully it had come across that way too. He was glad that, so far, he hadn't made an idiot out of himself in front of Kora. He had a tendency to ramble and act super awkward around pretty girls, and that was precisely what she was. A pretty girl. He hoped he wouldn't be kicking himself for jinxing himself in some way, shape or form later on. He let out a laugh when Clary shoved the brunette in his direction. "How are you liking New York?" He asked Kora curiously, shifting the conversation away from him entirely.

Jace looked over at Ella again, noticing how quiet she was being and deciding that he couldn't stand sitting by two people and not talking to at least one of them. "So this is the first time that I've seen you around. How come Simon hasn't brought you to hang out yet? Though we wouldn't be cool like him?" He said with a bit of a laugh, trying to get her to talk.

Kora moved herself back up and shoved back a little playfully at Clary before turning her full attention to Simon. She hummed before answering, "I haven't really seen much of it, I've mostly just been training and hanging around the Institute. I'm a little scared to go around New York on my own," She said with a laugh, brushing some of her hair out of her face. "I'm really enjoying it though. It's so different than home," Kora added on.