2019-07-13 - Some Exciting News

Isolde literally comes running into the house. "Alexander! Alexander are you home?!" Calling out as she closes the door. He wasn't home when she left but maybe he came home while she was talking to Itzhak. She was practically brimming with excitement. "Luigi! I did the thing!" Knowing at least the bird was here. "I did it!" Giggling a little. Like someone just found out the best news ever.

Alexander is home! Freshly showered, playing Super Mario Brothers on his Nintendo, with Luigi on his knee trying to take the controller from him. The bird flies off as soon as the door is opened, and Alexander leaps to his feet, dropping his controller with a clatter as he falls into a defensive posture. Mario flings himself off a cliff into a fiery abyss, while Alexander blinks at Isolde in confusion. Slowly, he relaxes. "Isolde. You...seem happy?"

Alexander gets sidelined with a hug. It only lasts for a few seconds because Isolde seems to remember that touching was an iffy thing. Stepping back to give him some space. If he gets any impressions from the touch it's just pure excitement and actual happiness. "I did it!" Still grinning. "The man. With the lights. He lives next door!" There's a beat of pause, trying to calm herself enough to talk and make sense. "He showed me how he could spin a bottle. And I tried! And it wiggled!"

Alexander does not ruin the moment by flinching away, even with being caught by surprise. Isolde is trusted enough that he barely tenses, and he reaches up to lightly ruffle her hair before she pulls away. He still looks confused, though. "The man...ah? The man from the Murray House? Who turned on all the lights? You met him, he lives next door," instant tension there, "and he showed you how to spin a bottle?" He raises his eyebrows, checking that everything is right, and he glances through the walls to the houses on either side. "Who is he?"

"Mmhm! He was mowing the lawn. He has a big lizard named Iris. She's cute." She thought for a moment, trying to take her time and think about the best way to word things. "His name is Itzhak. He said some people call him Izzy too but I don't think he likes that. He had a dream about the house. So did I." Sitting down on the couch, peering briefly at the screen of the television before looking back to Alexander.

"I asked him how he did it. How he focuses. He says he thinks about music or cars." A beat of pause. "It was an empty bottle of apple cider. He made it spin round and round and round. And he had a fiddle. So he played some music for me to see if it would help me focus too. And it did! A little bit. I felt it! And saw the bottle wiggle a little. And knew I did it."

Alexander sits down beside her, picking up the controller and putting it on the table. Luigi zooms in for a skiddy landing on the table, and immediately seizes possession of the controller, pecking at the buttons and chuckling to himself. He is a CLEVER BIRD. Alexander's attention remains on Isolde. "Because nicknames are stupid," he says, in tones of approval. He listens to the rest, thoughtful. "I see. He sounds friendly. I don't know him." That's defensive, concerned. "But you...made a bottle wiggle? I've never done that." That's warm, approving. "That's an interesting gift, Isolde. I'm glad you met someone you get along with. What," a frown, "sorts of dreams are you having?"

"Not all nicknames are stupid." Isolde counters without missing a beat. "I think you would like him. You should try to meet him. He knows the Minerva lady too. She said that burning down the house never worked before." There's a fleeting frown of her own. "But I still might try. We will see what she says at her meeting." Tilting her head. "...I dreamed about the tree Easton hit. It was on fire. And the ghost girl was there. It was...scary. I couldn't breath." Frowning. "Easton is okay though. I don't think he had a dream."

Alexander makes a noise. It's that noise you make when you want to acknowledge that someone has spoken, but would be okay with them thinking that you agreed with them. Alexander's skepticism regarding nicknames continues unabated. But as she goes on, he relaxes into the couch and studies her with dark eyes. "At least hear about any previous attempts to burn down the house. I don't know of any, but Dr. Komisar seems to have made it her life study. If it...hits back when people try that, I'd rather not have you injured." He reaches out, lightly and carefully touches her knee at the recall of the dream. No verbal sympathy, just the light touch.

There was maybe a twitch of a smirk on her lips at the noise he made, but it vanished quickly. "Itzhak said he would help with the house too. So there would be three of us. But," Offering him another smile. "I will wait until after the meeting. The house is a bad thing and I am sure it would try to...hit back like you said. Especially if it has been burned before and is still okay." Raking a hand through her hair and looking down a moment as he touches her. Then focuses back up on his face. "But I counted frogs until I could fall back asleep and it worked. I'm happy it was just a dream dream and not a hurting dream."

Alexander breathes out. "I'm glad it was, too. Not that I want you to have even the regular sort of nightmares. But that's odd. That you would dream of Easton's car crash, but he wouldn't. I wonder why." He hums to himself, thinking it over, then shakes his head. "He was a soldier. He might just have different thresholds. For nightmares. But," that faint smile returns, "you seem excited by the prospect of taking on the evil house, Isolde. I'm glad."

"His car wasnt' there. Which was weird. Just the tree he hit, on fire. And the girl was in the tree giggling...said 'we miss you'." Isolde wrinkled her nose again and sighed, but brightened up a little. "Yes, maybe. I don't know if anyone else besides Itzahk had dreams too. But his sounded scarier. If others did then maybe the house is trying to scare us." She shook her head. "I am! I want it gone. Because if we can start to get rid of the bad things maybe the good things in this town will start to win."

"Maybe," Alexander murmurs. "At least, that would be nice. If we could." He rubs at his face. "We miss you. That sounds like a challenge. A taunt. Not like the house is trying to scare you away, but trying to make you come back. Don't go there alone, for any reason, all right?" A quick, stern look in her direction. "Take at least one person with you. Dark things don't like to be beaten. They tend to come for a rematch."

"Perhaps..." Isolde thought for a moment. "I won't go alone. I promise." She assured him. "I know the shadow thing wants to rematch Itzhak...or something. He said his dream was about the Murray man. He had killed his family. Accused him of stealing his kid - but Amelias wasn't his..." Isolde sighed. "It's all very confusing and potentially dangerous. I will be careful." Repeated.

Alexander frowns. "Huh. If he damaged the house, that would make sense. That'd be personal for whatever is infecting it. Infesting it? Possessing it?" An exasperated sound. "I don't know what to call it. But basically, he hurt it, and that pissed it off something fierce. I'd imagine. But he seems capable of hitting back, if he needs to." He watches Luigi push the controller around. "I might come to the meeting. I'm curious about the house." He raises his hands. "I won't butt into your house burning or whatever you decide to do. But I'm curious."

"I would like you to be at the meeting! Minerva said she has ideas. You have good ideas a lot too. And you're more familiar with strange stuff. So maybe you will have some ideas to offer too." Isolde agreed. "If you want to help burn down the house you can too. The more the merrier! If I do it. If I don't think any of the ideas are good I will still do it..." She leaned forward a little towards Luigi. "What do you think Luigi? Should we burn the house down?" Giving him a little whistle too before relaxing back into her seat.

Alexander gives Luigi a very serious sort of look. It is the look that says 'don't encourage arson, Luigi, because you are a sensible bird and should know better than that'. It is a look that Luigi completely ignores. He cocks an eye up at Isolde and whistles back at her like he thinks burning evil houses is a great idea.

Alexander sighs. "Well. Keep that as an option. But perhaps the good doctor will have some other options. And if those don't work, gasoline is not likely to run out for the next couple of decades, at least." He looks back through the walls of the house, adding casually, "Which house did you say Itzhak lived in, again?"

Isolde giggles as Luigi whistles, and grinned. "I will keep it in my back pocket." She agreed, looking back towards Alexander. "That one." Pointing in the direction of where number 15 would be. "He lives in the apartment attached to it. So I don't think he owns the house or anything." Giving a little shrug. "He did blow a hole in the floor of the house too. He said he had done the light stuff before, but never the hole thing. I think that was just the heat of the moment."

Alexander hmms. Just a little suspicious, although he's trying to hide it. He's not good at hiding things, really. Finally, he says, "If he's strong enough to manipulate electricity, there's a good chance he's strong enough to manipulate emotions. I'm not saying he would," he adds. "Just that he could. You're likely to be able to sense him, these days, so just be alert." He looks back to her, and smiles. "But he seems like a friendly enough sort. I'll have to go by and say hello. I think you're supposed to take cookies. Or something."

Isolde studies Alexander curiously, seeing that something was on his mind and just patiently waited. She was going to chime in and ask him what was up but then he said it. Brow furrowing briefly. "Oh. I don't know...I hope he wouldn't. I don't think he is a bad thing." She tapped her chin. "But I will be cautious. I hope you like him." There was a pause and then she laughed. Giving another grin. "You should buy the cookies. The casserole worked but, I'm sorry, I don't know if we can make cookies yet."

There's this brief moment, where Alexander wants to defend his nonexistent cookie-making prowess. How hard can it be, after all, when he has conquered the mighty casserole? Then reality sets in, and he laughs, softly, along with her. "You are wise. Store bought cookies. I heard about a French patisserie that just moved into town. Everything is likely to be ridiculously expensive, but perhaps we'll indulge. One day." He smiles. "But I think Itzhak will be content with grocery store brand until we know him better."

Isolde nodded her agreement. "I think so too. And maybe apple cider. We will see!" She reached over slowly to swipe the controller from Luigi. "Show me how to play?" The Mario game was colorful and looked fun! And she hadn't played proper video games in a forever long time.

BETRAYAL. Luigi growls, actually /growls/ when Isolde reached for the controller, before Alexander reaches out and taps him firmly on the beak. Then he just stalks away, wagging his tail and turning his shoulders to them both. Alexander ignores this temper tantrum. "Sure. Here, just a sec." He reaches out for the controller, taking it just briefly to reset the game back to the very first level. Then he hands it back. "Okay. It's pretty simple. You just run, jump, and eat fire flowers or mushrooms." And he's happy to walk her through all of that for the rest of the evening, and not talk about evil things.