2021-01-04 - Demons

Isolde had moved in to one of those nice little Broadleaf apartments. It was perfect for her needs and the rent was affordable now that she had a steady income. The furnishurings and decorations were minimal but there were a couple cute frog-themed things she'd found and put up here and there. It was mostly an open concept with the kitchen, living, and dining area all bleeding into one and a small hallway that held the bathroom and bedroom.

It was late and Isolde should be alseep at this late hour. Nearly 4AM. But she was knee deep in this Key of Solomn instead. She'd just discovered the first set of notes and set the pictures off the Alexander. She was sitting on the couch, hunched over the coffee table - having pulled it closer - and starting to examine the second set of bound pages.

Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a pair of black flannel pants and a white tank top, a pair of frog themed socks on her feet.

It's a quiet, cold night in Gray Harbor. There's no rain, at the moment, and no wind. It's late, of course, so at first she might think that it's just her starting to drift off into sleep when she hears the faint 'tink tink tink' coming from the bedroom.

But before long, the 'tink' becomes the 'tinkle' of breaking glass, and that's definitely not a noise that should be coming from someone's bedroom at four in the morning.

Isolde is preparing the glue solvent to begin unbinding this second set of pages when she hears the tink. Initially she thinks it's just the wind and maybe a tree branching tapping her window. But then the glass breaks! Isolde's heart leapt in her chest. Quickly and quietly she attempts to put the book under a couch cushion and then make her way towards the kitchen to grab a knife.

As she's making her way towards the kitchen, the lights flicker. As she steps over the threshold, near the knife block? They go out, plunging her into darkness broken only by the light filtering through the living room windows. At the end of the hallway, she hears, rather than sees, the soft squeak of the bedroom door opening.

Isolde just barely manages to not make a sound as the lights go out. This was not a good thing. Her phone was still on the coffee table too. She tries to quickly feel around for the knife block so she can pull a knife out. Stay calm. Just. Stay calm. Don't freak out. She tries to tell herself. Grasping one of the knives she starts to pull it while reach out mentally to find the culprit and, if able to latch on to their mind? Create the illusion of the apartment without her in it.

Abilities are treacherous, inconstant things. This time, Isolde reaches for it...and it's not there. Maybe it's her fear. Maybe it's something else. But for the moment, Isolde is alone in her own mind, if not in her own apartment. Whoever it is moves like shadow. She can't see anyone approaching until a shape is outlined against the faint light of the living room windows. She sees it bend at the living room table, and start rustling quietly through her notes, and the supplies for page-unsticking. It doesn't find the book, of course, but the notes are picked up, folded, tucked away into some pocket.

Frustrated. That is what Isolde feels. Frustrated and a little afraid, yes. Because there's a stranger in her apartment and they want to steal the book and what if this is the killer? Surely they would hurt her. She wasn't want to kill someone, that seems excessive. Especially when they could be useful for information gathering. So she tries to reach out again with her mind now that the figure is in sight. Attempting this time, to exert some kind of paralyzing fear on to them as she tightens her grip on the knife and gets low in order to try and stealthily get closer.

Nope. Her mind remains stubbornly singular, without the power to reach out, while the figure turns its attention to the rest of the room. If she's feeling frustration, so is the intruder; it can be seen in increasingly jerky movements as it pushes things around on the coffee table. Then turns towards the couch and starts lifting cushions off. It's the best time to try and sneak up on it, and she gets almost within reach before her foot steps on a part of the apartment floor that gives off a soft creak.

The figure lifts the cushion off the book, but turns at the sound. Something, maybe eyes? Gleam momentarily in the darkness. And then the figure is lunging at her, a blackened knife held in one hand. It hits her square; large enough and strong enough that it's almost certainly a man as it bears them both to the floor.

Isolde grunts as she is tackled to the ground. This is better, really, sort of. At least there's no sneaking involved. She doesn't feel like she's quite in a position to get stabby with her own knife yet. So instead she tries to get the upper hand, one hand flat on the person, one curled into a fist around the knife. And she tries to shock him to help with getting that upper hand!

She is definitely going to get pulled into a Dream after this. She can feel it.

"AUUUGGGGH!"

A male voice screams as the air around him and Isolde lights up. Adrenaline has slammed her abilities back into effect, and she unloads a torrent of electricity into his body. "What the fuck!" His body convulses in shock, and she's able to push him off and roll on top of him as he jitters and jerks. Which is when she notices the second shape jumping over the two of them and grabbing the shadowed shape of the book on the couch. "Help me," the man Isolde's on top of cries out. The second shape doesn't even hesitate; it runs for the hallway, and the broken window in Isolde's bedroom.

Oh no he doesn't!

Isolde gives a weird sort of strangled cry of frustration as the second person comes out of no where and tries to take off with the book. She flings the knife towards him - but this is more coincidence than anything. Maybe it'll hit him, maybe it won't. Her true target is the book! Trying to push her rarely used telekinetic ability out -hoping maybe her hand will act as some kind of antenna even with the way her powers have been working tonight. Trying to target the book and fling it back towards her and out of the person's grasp.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Isolde shouts, giving the first person a shove to try and get out from under him.

Isolde flings the knife across the short interval between the two of them, and it actually hits! Point first, even, and there's a grunt of pain as it strikes the fleeing figure's shoulder. It doesn't stick, but as it hits the ground, the thief staggers into the wall, loosening their grip just enough so that when Isolde pulls, the book comes sailing out their hand and over her head, hitting the wall behind her with a THUMP. "What the fuck!" the other guy cries out, recovering from the shock. He tries to swipe at her with the knife, but Isolde rolls out of the way. "Demons! It's demons!"

The second thief scrambles to his feet and bolts after the first as they race to the bedroom.

Isolde leaps to her feet, scooping up her knife on the way if she can. "And I'll send more after you if you don't give me back what's mine!" She threatens. It's a lie, of course, but stuff has moved and she's shocked them! One of them. Also apparently has some mean knife throwing skills! But the first one still has those notes in his pocket and she wants to try and get those back. Maybe, for minor effect, she causes a couple tiny currents of electricity to crackle from her fingers. Like a prestidigitation!

Lightning sparks from Isolde's fingers, and for a moment her face has a sinister cast. Both intruders cry out...but instead of realizing what she's trying to get back, they just panic and run faster for the bedroom, slamming the door behind them. She can hear a larger smashing sound from within - the window being broken EVEN MORE as two full grown adults jump out of it.

Isolde scowls as they leave, hearing the window break. She exhales out and then hurries back to the table to fumble for her phone and the book. Immediately calling Alexander to fill him in on what just happened.

When Isolde finds the book, and picks it up, something rattles, then falls out onto the carpet. It takes Alexander a couple of rings to answer; 4 AM is a little late even for him. "Mmm, Isolde? What's wrong?" he asks, sleepily.

When Alexander answers the phone, he hears Isolde fumbling around, muttering something in French as she tries not to just throw the book down and retrieve what fell on to the carpet. "Robbers!" She said firmly into the phone, not even apologizing for waking him up. "They broke my window! Tried to take the book! Got one of the notes but I saved the book. There's something. Something fell out. And the lights!" She starts moving towards where she knows one of the switches by the door are, trying to flick it on and off. But they had probably somehow cut the power or something.

The lights are indeed out. On Alexander's end he can be heard rolling out of bed, and standing up. At least he wakes up fast; the unexpected up-side to being dragged into nightmare alternate dimensions most of your life. "Damn. Are you hurt? Do I need to bring my kit? I'll be right over - what's your address?" Some cursing on his end as he juggles phone and clothes.

Her grasping fingers find two tiny pieces of...plastic, maybe? Little rectangles barely larger than her thumbnail.

"Fine. I'm fine." Isolde assures. "Angry. But fine." She rattles off the address to Broadleaf and the apartment number. Will be waiting outside in the hallway. " She hangs up and then gathers up the book before stepping out into the hallway. Hopefully there's lights on out there, but if not? She crouches to the floor, setting the book down and the tiny plastic pieces on top - shining her phone's flashlight on it to see what the pieces are.

The hallway lights are fine. Whoever cut the power to her apartment, apparently knows enough about electrical systems to do so without disrupting all the other apartments. Well. Not with lights out, anyway. Neighbors' doors are opening, and anxious eyes are peering out into the hallway. It's Gray Harbor, so no one says anything. But they watch her. And the tiny plastic pieces prove to be two large-capacity memory cards. They're...probably not from the 16th century. Probably.

If they were from the 16th century, Isolde feels like there are many more things that would have to be worried about. She gathers everything back up carefully, giving a bit of side eye to the neighbors she barely knows. "Everything is fine." She assures them before keeping her focus down the hall for where Alexander would come from. Or should come from. She's also keeping an ear towards her door just in case the would be thieves decided to make a second attempt.

Doors closed quickly when Isolde says that. Either everything is fine, and it's none of their business. Or everything is not fine, and they'd really rather it stay not fine over there, and not in THEIR apartments. Alexander's been lent a car, so he arrives a lot faster than he usually would, and it's only a few minutes before there's the sound of tires outside the building, and Alexander enters the hallway, a knife held in one hand. He sees Isolde and rushes towards her, giving her a really obvious once over. "God, Isolde. Are you all right?"

Isolde looks perfectly fine! There may be a light bit of bruising on one of her shoulders from the initial tackle come morning light but over all? She's no worse for wear. "I'm fine." She nods. "I..." She looks around briefly and then opens the apartment door to lead him inside. "Careful, the power is out." Once the door is closed, she elaborates. "There was two of them. One of them tackled me, but I shocked them. Then the other tried to take a book. But I threw a knife at him and also made the book fly against the wall." She puts the flashlight of her phone on to lead him to the living room area. "They thought it was demons. Did you get the text I sent you? With the notes? They got those...I couldn't get them back."

She seems remarkably calm and collected about all of this. Maybe she just hasn't fully processed everything. Or is waiting to do so.

Alexander follows Isolde inside, frowning at the darkness. By habit, he feels on the wall for a light switch, stopping only when Isolde says that the lights are out. He reaches for his phone, instead. Checking his texts. "Ah, here it is. Sorry. I was asleep." Then turning on the flashlight app on his own phone to add to the light as he follows. "So. Not Gray Harbor natives, then. Did you recognize either of them?" He's looking at Isolde in the darkness. His voice softens. "That was very brave. I think we should do a sweep of the apartment. Make sure they're gone. Or I can do it, if you'll wait here. Whatever's best for you. And you're staying at my place the rest of the night. The couch misses you," he adds, dryly.

"I am pretty sure they jumped out the window." And Isolde hopes they twisted their ankles or something. "No...I...didn't get a good look at them." She frowns. "It was dark, not a lot of light to see. But oh!" She carefully opens the inside cover of the book. "These fell out of the book. When I was on the phone with you." Shining her light to show him the memory cards. "You do the apartment search I...will pack up my laptop and and we can look at things at your place?" She seems to have no issues not staying here tonight at least.

"Are those...memory cards?" He shines his phone flashlight directly on them. "...fascinating. I--" right, burglars. Alexander forces himself to look away. "Okay. I'll go ahead and take a look at things. You pack up. Be right back." A flash of a smile, and then he starts prowling through the tiny apartment, phone in one hand, knife in the other. He pauses at the closed door to the bedroom, opens it slowly, and disappears inside. It's empty, of course. But while he's there, he takes pictures of the broken window, and examines the area. Going to one knee, he cuts up a small piece of her carpet that's soaked up a drop or two of blood. This is put carefully in one of the little baggies he carries around with him, before he leaves to return to the living room.

"Maybe it has the blackmail stuff on it." Isolde pondered but then she too went to work. She picked up her backpack, slipping the book and laptop inside, then tucked the memory cards safely in a smaller flap so they wouldn't get lost. She waits until Alexander has finished sweeping the bedroom before retrieving a change of clothes for tomorrow and her giant stuffed frog. A final stop for her toothbrush and then she summoned up a smile towards Alexander. "Okay...I think I'm ready. Will call the maintenance people tomorrow so they can fix my lights."

Once she's ready, Alexander offers her a hug. "Okay. We'll go. These assholes would be idiots to break into a house with three people. Especially when the three of us can fuck them up." His smile is meant to be reassuring, before he leads the way out to the car, keeping a watchful eye on anything that might be lurking out in the dark, burglar or otherwise.