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unfinishedlibrary2025-11-14 08:20 am
libraryassistants) wrote in unfinishedlibrary2025-11-14 08:20 am
It's a beautiful day in the village - TAKE A LOAD OFF, LOG 1
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.]
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.]
Cassandra the Dust-Eater | Reader
Cassandra does not like any of this.
She can deal with the weather; she's had to deal with much worse than this on Awakened Being hunts. But it's very clear that this world is far more advanced than her own. There are weird metal wagons - machines, she assumes - seemingly everywhere, some of them quite large and many of them emitting reeking smoke. She sees multiple people looking at - or talking at - small rectangular things she doesn't recognize. Absolutely nothing looks familiar, and it's all very loud. Cassandra wonders if the Holy City is this loud; she suspects not.
To make matters worse, her sword has been drastically shrunken and turned into a pendant, which will do her no good at all if they run into trouble. She's also a bit worried about it being lost should the chain it's on snap, but if she wears it under her shirt it'll just aggravate her incision - or worse, get tangled in her stitches. And she doesn't currently have any string on hand to repair those.
Just standing here certainly isn't going to help her, so after a moment, Cassandra sighs, picks a direction, and commences mapping the place out, while doing her best not to attract any undue attention. This, unfortunately, is rather difficult, because Cassandra is quite tall, extremely pale, has silvery eyes, doesn't know what anything is, and is otherwise a little too obviously Not From Around Here (and looks quite a lot like an adult Midwich Cuckoo, not that Cassandra would have any idea what a Midwich Cuckoo is). In short, she's the exact sort of person who might be mistaken for an alien despite not actually being one.
II. Woodhurst:
HidingInformation GatheringEventually she finds herself in a tavern, where she figures she might as well have something to drink and think for a bit. She doesn't really need to eat much, but it'd probably help her blend in slightly more, so she studies a menu until she finds something that looks somewhat familiar to her and orders that along with something that turns out to be whisky.
The whisky should probably be getting her drunk, especially once a suspiciously friendly person starts ordering her more. Too bad her body automatically neutralizes poisons - including alcohol. On second thought, maybe this was a bad place to try to blend in. Maybe there's a library somewhere? Or even a church? Cassandra hates churches, but maybe she should make an exception.
Maybe she should leave now.
III. SS Radiance
Inevitably, after a few weeks she ends up being mistaken for human by a well-meaning alien, and suddenly she's... elsewhere. Specifically, she's somewhere above the planet, which would be less of a problem if Cassandra had any idea what a planet was. Which she doesn't. Her sword remains useless, but she has more than enough yoma energy to augment her own strength and speed. This doesn't help her escape the ship, but it does leave a few well-meaning captors with a number of bruises, and possibly a few bite marks. Fortunately for said captors, she'd only used ten percent of her yoma energy, enough to turn her eyes gold but not enough to give her a maw full of sharp, jagged teeth. That would have gone poorly.
She's eventually left in a room by herself, where she forces herself to calm down; maybe she can learn something while she's stuck here, and hopefully find a way to get away. She can't really do that when she's terrifying her captors... who still let her explore the ship, which makes them some of the most incompetent captors she's ever seen. They do seem willing to answer questions, at least, even if the answers make no sense to her. Which is good, because she has a lot of questions.
A lot of questions.
IV. SS Radiance: Attempted Wellness
The music from nowhere is really starting to irk her. It was terrible in the library, and it's no better here. The view from the window is pretty, at least, so long as she doesn't let herself think about the concept of planets. That twists her brain around in ways she really doesn't like, especially when she tries to apply it to her own world with its single island.
She has no expectations about the spa, because she has no idea what a spa even is. The yoga isn't terribly challenging - she's already very flexible, courtesy of Dust-Eater - and the breathing exercises just make her very aware of her incision in ways she would rather not be. The sauna also proves less than helpful, because her automatic response to uncomfortable temperatures is to adapt her system so they're not uncomfortable. And the spa is just weird; she really doesn't want to soak in whatever that is, because she hates it when water or other substances pass through her stitches.
Maybe there are books? Cassandra's not the best reader, but surely there's something useful she can learn somewhere...
SS Radiance: Attempted Wellness
Unfamiliar hands all over his body? Thanks but no thanks.
Clinging to the priestly robe he has been assigned to, he's trying to make his way out of that place and possibly move back to a less... 'demanding' part of the ship. Looking at the planet from above was nice after all.]
Excuse me?
[His clothes may be wet and his hair may look like a mess, but at least it looks like only the bottom of his robe came in contact with the viscous... thing in the pool.]
Please, tell me you know how to get out of here.
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This man seems to be having a worse time than she is, though. Which is saying something.]
Out of this place - [she gestures around the spa] - or back to the... planet? I can do the first, but I haven't found a way to do the second.
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Or, well, that's what he was taught since he was a child. Be modest, always be properly clad in robes and don't bring shame to your people!
There's a big frown as he looks around at the spa.]
... both? But I would be more than glad to be out of this specific place to begin with.
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This way.
[She starts off then, slowing her gait until she knows he can keep up. Eventually, they should wind up in a hallway.]
II - The Tavern
He had noticed someone very nicely offering Cassandra more and more whiskey. His sunglasses were up in his hair, so the dark-haired young man ate quietly while having a strange feeling about that. Was anything bad happening? No, but he couldn't shake the feeling. Maybe it was the fact she was from the library that caused it, but he didn't recognize her.
Even he looked different from his usual put-together Victorian look. To that of a normal young man his hair its natural dark color again.
Only once he had finished his food and the pint was mostly finished did he stand, moving over to stand at her other side and ordering a new pint, just to find a reason to speak. Looking to Cassandra, then he finally spoke. "You seem familiar, but I cannot place your face at all."
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She didn't recognize the newcomer, either, but she hadn't seen everyone who'd been brought into the library either. Then again, she couldn't be sure he was from the library, either. "I'm... not from around here. Originally."
The awkwardness came with or without the alcohol. Cassandra hadn't spent much of any time around other people in her life, human or no.
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Like her, he looked different as well than he looked in the library, which didn't help at all. "Nor I, I am passing through, at least I hope so." He replied as the person sent another whiskey over to Cassandra. "I'm Jonathan Harker." He offered Mina had befriended enough people that he hoped if this person was of the Library, his last name might help. Sadly, he had no idea who his wife of another world had spoken to and not spoken to.
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She sighed quietly as yet another drink was brought over. Surely her 'benefactor' couldn't afford to keep doing this, could they?
His last name wasn't familiar, but his claims of "passing through" caught her attention. "Me too," she answered, and then: "Cassandra."
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"Ah, yes. Have you been to any libraries lately?" He had met another from the library who asked him the same. It seemed a good way to ask. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cassandra."
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She almost takes the question at face value, but he used a plural, and as far as she can tell this town only has the one, which she hasn't been brave enough to go into yet. So instead, she nods. "It was... larger than I expected."
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SS Radiance: Attempted Wellness
Ap'ra isn't sure the humans are supposed to be wandering around, but it would cause them stress to confine them. Still, there were parts of the ship that were crew-only for a reason.
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