It's a beautiful day in the village - TAKE A LOAD OFF, LOG 1

[libraryassistants]

Who: Readers and Actors
What: Beta Story Start - At the start of any particular Story, characters will be drawn to a section of the Stacks. Those inclined to resist will find themselves there anyway, through the shifts and changes inherent to the Library's structure. The Story manuscript will be laid out neatly on a side table, its pages lit by a faint aura that draws focus and beckons insistently to the Editors. Touching it will bring them into the Story.
Characters can either voluntarily touch the Story to enter it, or the Librarian will eventually sweep them in. Regardless of how long it takes them to enter, everyone will arrive at the same point in time.
When: November 14- November 27
Where: Woodhurst (UK) and the SS Radiance (in space!), 2019
Content warnings: Please tag warnings in comment headers!

In Woodhurst

It’s another Monday morning in Woodhurst, and as is often the case for the United Kingdom in the fall, it is raining. It is, all in all, a rather typical Monday morning. People shuffle off to work, dropping by the various cafes and shops for their morning caffeine. Polite (if meaningless) greetings are exchanged, vague comments about the weather are made. Heads down, trudging along, just keeping things going.

By midday, it’s clear that this Monday is a little bit… different. There are some people who seem especially cheerful and helpful. Perhaps you’ve just been served a free upsize of your morning coffee. Or a stranger held an umbrella up for you. People keep talking about the benefits of yoga? And it’s not just a bunch of people seeming to be having an especially good day and paying it forward (that would be strange enough). Some of your friends and loved ones aren’t acting like themselves, aside from being remarkably cheerful. They don’t seem to remember basic things, don’t know their normal rituals, and are generally just very off. You think one of them might have blinked sideways? Whatever it is that’s happened, it doesn’t seem right.

As for those ‘friends and loved ones’… The novices from the Interstellar Group are largely inexperienced with such a thing as covert operations. Fresh off the ship and with no frame of reference, their human disguises may have a few significant flaws.

However many fingers it is they have, they’re keen to help - perhaps a little too much so. Whatever it takes to make these human lives easier, whatever they can do to help them relax - the Group are on it! Hopefully they’ll catch on quietly.


On the IMW Group Supply Ship: Radiance

No plan survives contact with the enemy, is how the saying goes. But within the Interstellar Mindfulness & Wellness Group, the concept is usually applied to patients. Patients are, almost entirely across the board, unpredictable creatures - and while the science behind wellness is robust, there’s simply too much individual variation for a standardised approach. That being said, this particular plan seems to be going… rather more poorly than expected. It starts to break down once the word ‘kidnapping’ is brought up. It’s such an ugly word to use. The Group tries to avoid it. But in some of these cases, the humans need the Group’s own facilities! The idea was to convince the humans to follow them to a very not suspicious space capsule, or to get them to touch this particularly strange teleportation device, and they’d be on their way to recovery. However, most if not all the humans seem to be reacting… quite negatively to that. It’s almost like they don’t understand that this is for their benefit!

The ship is very nice, and perfectly designed to relax and comfort (--for the species the Group are familiar with, at least). Soothing music plays along the spaceship’s halls, which are lit in a soft violet glow. Potted plants are artfully displayed, though none of them are recognisable as any species found on Earth. For those with a sensitive nose, the flowers give off a bright, delicate scent; not unlike that of lavender and lemon myrtle. An entire stretch of glass is dedicated to the view outside, the Earth looking so serene from this distance; stars shining in the space around it.

For those Aliens aboard the mothership, maybe you’re delivering this hour’s yoga session. Maybe you’re leading a group chant or meditation. Are you perhaps talking humans into resting in the healing spa, or - for those so inclined - are you delving deeper, forming a connection, and really getting to know these humans? For the humans… well, at least the spa looks really nice, right?

[Space Spa Features:
Yoga - you’ve been herded into a room where a flexible alien encourages you to breathe deeply; holding it in your stomach and feeling your heart beat before letting it out in a big sigh. The routine is not very different to yoga on Earth, except… well, if you can’t find your proboscis, maybe that particular pose won’t work for you.
Sauna - the heat promotes circulation, but the temperature in here seems to be a little off.
Spa - you know what a spa is. Or, you thought you did. It looks like the aliens aren’t quite on the same page. Where there would normally be cucumbers, there’s a strange pink fruit. Where you’d expect water, there’s… a viscous fluid, gently rotating through a myriad of colours, that seems to soften and soothe your muscles as you soak in it.
And Others - the aliens have no shortage of remedies for what ails you! Since this is their first time experiencing humans, results may vary.]


Optional prompts (player-run):
An alien adrift, unsure what task to complete? Seek guidance from your leader.

In Woodhurst, unnerved and skeptical? Drop in at your local seedy bookshop to chat with some alien enthusiasts.

[Have a plan to drive the Story direction? Let us know, and we’ll add it to the list!

Info post can be found here.]

Comments

Murderbot | Reader

[ugh_emotions]

i. Woodhurst - Hiding in the playground
SecUnit had attempted to resist the pull of the Story, but it hadn't fucking worked. One moment it was in the Library, the next moment it was on a stupid planet. Outside.

And there was weather happening.

When a human tried to hold out an umbrella for it, there was only one thing to do: stare at them in horror, flee, and find the nearest place to hide. This turned out to be some sort of weird colourful installation in a park (i.e. a playground). It didn't know what weird tubes and oddly maze-like structure of it was for, but there was an enclosed space at the top it could fold itself up into. There also weren't any humans hanging around here. Hopefully it would stay that way - and with one drone stationed outside the structure, it would know if that changed.

(And while it was here, it was going to make use of the one thing this place had going for it: it had the feed. An archaic, agonisingly slow feed, sure. But still the feed. Now...where were the entertainment channels?)

ii. Woodhurst - Children suck, new hiding space needed
A terrible, terrible thing has happened. Its hiding space was invaded.

By human children.

It's like a switch flipped, and suddenly they were all converging on its hiding space on masse. So now it's been forced to flee, again, and is now roaming the streets of the settlement while it desperately tries to find its next hiding space.

In the air above, three drones undertake a search pattern. Hopefully the local humans will mistake them for birds.

The distance means it doesn't have any drones observing its own face, though. So it doesn't realise that it's wearing a faintly pained expression as it attempts to escape notice.

iii. Woodhurst - Media merchandise
So, maybe it had intended to spend the entire time that it was here hiding in various places, until the whole stupid Story thing was over. But then it noticed an interesting store on the feed map, and...well, it had to go look.

Because they had stores here that were dedicated entirely to like...media stuff. Like little figures of characters from popular serials, or clothing and bags with show logos on it, or little soft squishy plushes.

The only thing the SecUnit had ever cared about owning were its drones, and clothing with lots of pockets that hid its inorganic parts. But it hadn't ever considered that it could own media things before.

...And those plushes are kinda nice. They're soft.

So maybe it's just going to hang around in this shop for a little while. As long as no one tries to talk to it.

ii

[hellandbackpack]

Sorry SecUnit, but you're not the only one prowling around town today. It's Charles! The Library's resident ghost-

Or well, he sure as hell doesn't seem like a ghost now. Not only does he look a few years younger than he had before, he reads alive to any sensors as he closes in on where the other is. No electrostatic, just a pulse, heartbeat, breathing, the whole nine yards. He doesn't seem to recognize it, but he sees the expression on it's face, and can't help but stick his nose in.

"You alright there mate?" Charles doesn't get too close, hands staying in the pockets of his coat as he studies the stranger, brows drawing with light concern. "Look like you tried swallowin' a ghost pepper or sommat."

[ugh_emotions]

It comes to a complete stop. Its drones are currently too far away to get a good closeup on Charles's face, so it's forced to stare at him with its own eyes. (Though it does, of course, avoid looking at Charles's eyes.)

Charles's reduction in age is normally something SecUnit wouldn't actually notice; it's never been very good an identifying how old humans are. The reduction in height is a bit hard to miss, though.

Oh, and there's a few of those other differences too.

"...Why are you breathing," it says, as the pained expression turns somewhat perplexed.

[hellandbackpack]

...?

Charles stops dead at that utterly bizarre question, brows lifting in confusion and a little cautious amusement. Was this some sort of joke he just didn't get?

"...I dunno what to tell you mate," Replied slowly, with a faint shrug. "Kinda need to do that if I wanna keep livin' an all that."

[ugh_emotions]

"...Right," it says, helpless expression.

It's not right. It has no idea what the fuck is going on. Which has been a regular occurrence ever since it came online at the Library, but somehow this moment is still managing to rank pretty high on its list of 'wtf' moments.

(Does Charles not remember it? Has he been memory wiped?)

(Can humans be memory wiped?)

"You're...short," it says. Because apparently it still needs to install a brain-to-mouth filter.

[hellandbackpack]

Charles does not seem to remember it, no. He's looking at it with a confused, but gently concerned sort of expression though at the oddity of the conversation. He was getting the idea that the stranger wasn't trying to joke with him.

That doesn't stop the entirely teenage response of a huff at being called short.

"I'll have you know I'm a perfectly respectable height for thirteen," A tilt of his head. "Not my fault you're a beanpole, mate."

A pause, a considering look over them. "But for reals, are you alright? Just... seem kinda lost, yeah?"

[ugh_emotions]

SecUnit's face still looks faintly blank.

(Was thirteen old, for a human adolescent? Although there was an even more fundamental question to ask: thirteen years according to what calender? Corporate Standard, or something weird and proprietary?)

(Also, fuck all the questions about ages and years and calendars: why the hell was Charles acting like he'd never met it?)

"I'm fine," it says, awkward in a way that isn't at all believable. (Was this a relative of Charles? Did Charles have relatives? Not-dead relatives?)

iii

[defyingreality]

He had been told so many things - blend in, act like a normal human, do not get overly excited, this is an important mission - on and on until it felt like all his ears had developed scars. Xjaviiass Let the advice and rules go over his head because it was finally finally time to see humans! In the wild! Naturally and not being angry or upset or miserably crying over whatever new yoga position the elders came up with.

So a young alien with his fresh human guise of a roughly late teen with shaggy hair, emo clothing ( complete with a tshirt with a human-designed UFO and the words 'The Truth Is Right There' on the back ) and stompy boots entered the shop and zero'd in on the plushies. They were cute and he wanted three of them for pillows! But someone was standing in front of them like it never seen them before.

"Yo dude," Xjviiison's voice modification was stuck on some American drawl that he couldn't actually turn off but he didn't care. There were plushies to snag! "See any big enough for a pillow?"

[ugh_emotions]

It had seen plushies before! Some of Doctor Mensah's children had them. Just...not so many of them, all in one place. And definitely not any that were media tie-ins.

And it had been enjoying being able to look at all of the plushies, maybe even touching some of them, when a stupid fucking human had to ruin everything by talking to it.

It steps back, and looks at the 'human' as if he were covered in something utterly disgusting. Like digestive byproducts, or the substance that comes out of human noses.

"...No," it says. (That's a lie; there were some really big plushies over to the back. Xjviiison might even see them if he takes a few seconds to actually look. But SecUnit is being snippy and doesn't feel like helping.)

III

[shelloflight]

And here in the same store is an unfamiliar black-haired, pale human of average height for a - either not quite an adult or just became one? - in a long jacket of faux cured hide, blue pants of a durable and coarse fabric, and a cheap cotton shirt in off-white with a depiction of a duel between two unfamiliar classes of single-pilot short range attack craft.

They also wear an elaborate back-mounted rucksack improbably dyed the blue of an oxygenated atmosphere.

For their part, they’ve glanced at Murderbot - with an expression suggesting a threat assessment - and apparently decided they were in little danger from it, for now. They’re currently browsing a rack of scale models of impractically bipedal, colorful weapons platforms in a variety of styles, all with names and specs in at least four writing systems, at least one recognizable as English.

After a moment, they turn again, and seem to think for a while before addressing Murderbot.

“…Any series you like in particular?” they ask.

The relatively high frequency of their voice suggests a female, but human gender is as always bullshit.

[ugh_emotions]

Human gender is indeed bullshit.

The higher voice doesn't mean anything. So it ignores it, of course. Until it acquires more specific data, it's tagging this human's gender as 'unknown'.

(And from the human's perspective, its own 'apparent' gender won't be entirely clear cut. It's tall, and lacking the mammary tissue that's often associated with female humans. Its had humans assume it was male before. But it doesn't have the voice to match, having never had the hormones that would make it drop.)

"...I've been watching Parasol Polytechnic," it says carefully, naming the popular new show about a group of human siblings with unusual abilities and a dead father who made a lot of questionable parenting choices.

(Normally, it wouldn't like having a random human come up and start talking to it like this. But...this one's talking to it about media. So that's okay.)

[shelloflight]

“Oh, you’ve got fantastic taste,” they say, their guarded expression melting away into a broad grin. “Tanya the Black Cello’s an eternal mood. I think I saw some figures of her in the comics section.”

And this bloke enjoying a Webtheatre original suggested either a Webtheatre account or a dab hand at torrenting, so they take a moment, then ask:

“…d’ya like Most Rare Visions?”

[ugh_emotions]

"...Yeah," it agrees. Although the reasons it can relate to Tanya may or may not be the same ones this human does. (I.e. anxiety and Problems With Emotions.) "And her music power thing's pretty cool."

(And please, it doesn't have an account. It doesn't torrent. It just hacked Webtheatre and downloaded the media files directly.)

"I haven't seen that one yet," it admits. Mainly on account of the fact that it's only been here a few days, okay. Even it can't have watched everything already.

[shelloflight]

“Oh, it’s brilliant,” they say. “Not just for being wicked horror and perfectly capturing what my folks said growing up in the ‘80s was like, but it’s also the single best depiction of a regular Dungeoncrawlers game me or my mate Leesh has ever seen. Don’t suppose you’ve played?”

They seem to have decided you’re safe to talk to, at least regarding media.

“- oh, where did my manners go? I’m Michiko.”

They bow from the waist, about 45 degrees.

[ugh_emotions]

There's a faintly blank look on its face for approximately 0.6 seconds, while it runs a quick feed search on Dungeoncrawlers to find out what the fuck that is. Oh, right, it's some sort of pretending game. (Which some humans apparently think is...evil? What the hell. Humans were weird.)

"No," it says. "Uh. I'm Rin."

And then they go and...bend at the middle. For some reason. (Fuck, was this one of those weird human greeting ritual things? Ugh.)

"...I'm not doing that," it says quickly. Just in case the human is getting ideas about how it should respond.

II

[flantastic]

Okay, look, Rakia doesn't like this guy (he thinks it's a guy?) but this guy is also familiar and the situation is weird, so he's just going to go right on ahead and approach, looking wary. "Something happen?" It's accompanied by a palms-out, placating gesture. For the moment, Rakia is calling a truce.

[ugh_emotions]

From the wary way SecUnit is eyeing Rakia (or at least, Rakia's general direction), it doesn't particularly trust this 'true'.

It also looks faintly baffled. Why does he think something happened?

"I'm fine," it says. It just...needs to find a better hiding spot. One that won't be invaded by scores of human children.

[flantastic]

"You sure?" Rakia paused, thinking about how he wanted to put it. "You look pretty shaken up to me." The tone's not accusatory; he's just calling it like he sees it.

[ugh_emotions]

"Yes," it says, scowling. And also looking faintly alarmed. (Though now its feeling alarmed about the fact that it's looking alarmed. Shit, is its face doing things again? It thought it had been doing good at keeping it to SecUnit neutral!)

"I am not shaken up," it says, emphatically, just so they can both be very clear about this.

[flantastic]

"Sure." Rakia absolutely does not care enough to press the point regardless of whether or not he believes that denial of being shaken up. "It's still a weird situation going from that library to this place."

In other words, it is okay to be shaken up...even if Rakia himself is perfectly calm about all this because ending up in the human world out of nowhere is just a thing that happens, and this time it didn't happen with his terrible employers jumping him and pulling a bag over his head.

iii

[terraboo]

... SecUnit, you may have spotted this girl back in the library a time or three. Different outfit, but otherwise she seems recognizable.

Also, she's come in and she's looking at the plushies.

"Do I have the money..."

[ugh_emotions]

Seen, yes. Interacted with in any way...no.

(It liked to avoid interactions where it could. This time though, it does do something unusual: it reaches out to speak to her.)

You have a feed connection, it says. Like Siobhan.

Only thing was, it didn't say anything out loud; it spoke through the feed. Or as she would know it, her sendjewel. And from her perspective, there's no visual indication that the person the message came from is the one also looking at plushies; it's still looking at them, not her.

[terraboo]

Oh, clever. Devices translate, then, I presume.

She glances around a bit, but returns to the plushies.

... Gotta figure out if I can get some of these. They're important, I'm sure you understand. Particularly if I can take them back whenever we... Well, I'm guessing return to the library??? That's the logical next step, right? It's not gonna be recursive isekai chaos forever, right??? Right???

[ugh_emotions]

The fabric toys are...important? it says, pausing for an entire 0.6 six seconds in the middle of that statement. They were nice, sure, but...important? How?

(And what the hell was 'recursive isekai chaos'?)

[terraboo]

It's my first chance at anything like this. Proper modern toys. Books are great and all, but this... THIS would complete a ROOM.

So, not THAT kind of important, apparently.

She'd answer if asked about the recursive isekai chaos part.