unfinishedlibrary | It's a beautiful day in the village

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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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It all started with Viktor waking up in a very strange place. He could remember being drawn to an open book in the library, but that was it. After that, he must have been rendered unconscious somehow because now he was waking up on a padded table that conformed to his body regardless of how he moved. But most importantly, his body was not the same as it had been in the library. For the first time in his life, the first thing he felt when he woke was not pain; it was a slight draft against his bare foot. After he did manage to blink away the muzziness of sleep, he looked down in a state of shocked awe. He now looked like he did when he was younger, although he still had some signs of aging, but most importantly, he was able to breathe. Breathe and stand without the assistance of a cane or a crutch since the birth defect that had affected his leg for as long as he could remember had now become sleek metal that worked as it should. His hand had also been turned to metal, and Viktor did find a way to cover it with a single black glove again. Both of his feet will get covered by socks and shoes, thankfully.

Once he had started to move around, he was informed by a helpful (too helpful, really) alien who looked a bit like someone from Ionia that his body had been returned to health by the Interstellar Mindfulness & Wellness Group, but that they couldn't anchor that health to his body and therefore had to anchor it to an outside source. A singing bowl made of crystal was sitting next to where he woke up on what he supposed was meant to be a nightstand, but ended up just looking like a solid rectangle with rounded edges, so there were no sharp corners. He was told that he would need to stay near the bowl for the positive health effects to remain. Since he was so drastically changed, he tended to believe that. The question was how far was that area of effect? He couldn't very well carry a bowl around that was larger than his head and was made of solid crystal, which is just a type of heavy rock, without struggling.

Supply Ship: Radiance

His first inclination is to test how far that area of effect is, so when the too helpful alien attempted to herd him into a yoga class, Viktor silently walked into the entrance and then kept on walking until he found an exit that would take him in the opposite direction of both the class and the helpful alien.

Now he was wandering the halls of the rest of the ship. He was caught by the spectacular view of Earth as seen from orbit, and Viktor had to stop there for a moment to look at the view with a sense of awe.

Woodhurst

While Viktor perfectly understood that he was meant to have the role of a college professor on this place called Earth, he could also remember the library and everything that came before. The two ideas did not conflict in his mind because it felt rather like an author who was writing a character's story in a novel. But whether he was the author or the character, he wasn't entirely sure.

He also didn't know what to make of his experience on the supply ship. Half of it seemed like a far-off dream, but then he would look at himself in a mirror and suddenly it would become very real. It was a rainy morning, and he had opted for an umbrella this time since he would not have to juggle a crutch and a cup of hot tea. When he did make it into his usual lecture theatre, Ms. Sky Young, his TA, was so unusually chipper. And it may have been just a trick of the light reflecting off her glasses, but he could swear that she blinked sideways.

There was a break in the rain around midday, and partly just to be able to get some space to think, Viktor took his "lunch", which wasn't actually a lunch because he did not eat anything, out into a park. On a park bench, he settled in to silently watch kids who were playing football.

And here is a morose girl in dark hair, a long coat, sailcloth pants, and a thin white shirt with a blue triangle in a blue triangle on it, leaning on the glass and looking out and down at the planet below, searching for something.

She looks up at the person behind her and - blinks, in recognition.

"Looks like they could help you," she says. "Are you alright? You were completely out of it when you got Shunted on board."

"Yes, I'm all right. Surprisingly, more than all right."

Viktor couldn't help glancing at his hand, and it was always surprising to him when he saw that healthy pink color.

"I am not sure how far away I can get from the big crystal singing bowl they told me that my health was attached to."

"I've half a mind to help you find out," she mutters.

Then she stops, for half a second, and decides on offering a hand.

"Mitch," she says, then winces. "Michiko, really but... but Mitch is fine."

Viktor did shake her hand, but also gave her a quizzical look.

"Is there something wrong with being called Mitchiko?"

He spoke perfect English, but his accent was vaguely Eastern European-sounding. It was enough to surmise that he would have had to learn a whole separate language before he could communicate. Pronunciation that was easy on the ears wasn't really a thing for him.

"I - nothing wrong with it exactly, just..."

After a week of actually opening up to Min'a, sh... they've? Been thinking a lot about things they don't like to think about, like why 'Michiko' grated on her as 'Mitch' did not.

"...bit girly, innit? I've never been the girliest girl. Prefer football and bikes and Ad Terra to sewing and ponies and Zodiac Maidens. That's all."

That's all.

"...anyway. About how big is the, uh, healing font or whatever?"

Fortunately for Michiko, Viktor had enough idea of what all of those things from football to bikes were, thanks to Woodhurst, but who knew how long that would last. More and more, it felt like Woodhurst was just a dream. Probably part of why he was having so much trouble understanding that he was healthier now than he had been for years. And given that Michiko preferred not to be a girlie girl, Viktor shrugged a little bit.

"If you would prefer Mitch, then I can just call you that. And it's both fairly large and made of crystal, so it is also fairly heavy. Maybe the size of a kick drum? It's not like it's something I can carry around with me."

"I -"

Blaise acceptance was not what Mitch expected. They'll roll with it.

"- Thanks. So can't carry it on your own. You'd need to... hmn."

They put a hand to their chin.

"I wonder if they have dollies in the cargo bay."

Hey, in the world that Viktor comes from, a lot of people don't even have a surname, so changing a single word that sounds nothing like the original name they had (like Powder and Jinx) wasn't a big deal. You just called someone by the name that they wanted to be called.

"Let's say that there is one. Wouldn't trying to haul around a singing bowl on a dolly be pretty conspicuous?"

"For a human patient, sure."

Now Mitch is thinking, the cogs visibly turning, their mouth slowly ratcheting upward until it pushes up the bottom of one eye.

"Or even one of the alien therapists. But not everyone's a therapist on this orbital tug. They've got janitors and spacers and... and all sorts of petty officers who haul barrels of sauna goo or crates of Health Drink Mix across the ship, right? Can't just shunt it all place to place, that's a waste of energy."

Unfortunately for everyone Mitch has a plan.

Viktor had a suspicion that this might not be a good idea for a plan. He gave Mitch some serious side eye.

"In theory, any working ship would need ways in order to keep everything clean and in working order. I'm not sure that would mean keeping a dolly in the cargo bay, though."

"Can't hurt to check, can it?"

It worked on Ad Terra, surely an action sequence from the 60's is a good model for a plan in real life, right?

"We'd also need uniforms and - do the security guards have blasters? If not this might be easier."

"If you plan to steal something, make sure that you don't get caught doing it."

Not don't do it. Viktor was perfectly comfortable with all sorts of various crimes. He also planned to follow Mitch's lead on this since the other had been able to look around the ship a lot more than Viktor had.

Not far down the same corridor, K was standing in front of one of the viewports and also admiring the view the orbiting ship afforded of the unfamiliar planet. A version of Earth, apparently, but it was about as foreign to him as it probably was to Viktor — whose drastically altered appearance was met with a look of surprise when K noticed him.

"Viktor," he said by way of greeting. It was nice to see a familiar face up here, especially one who no longer looked like he was hanging on by a thread at death's door. "You look— better."

Had the Group helped him?

...Was it inappropriate to comment on his appearance?

Viktor noticed K at another viewport, then glanced down at one of his healthy pink hands.

"I have not looked this way for many years. But I have never been what you might call healthy."

Which included now, but at least he was not coughing up blood. He looked back at K with a small smile.

"It's a pity that I can't be the perfect balance of inorganic and organic, too."

Perfect. The comment caused an odd fluttery sensation to pass through him and he mentally chided himself to not be ridiculous. It was a compliment for his creators, if anything, for designing a quality product.

"They healed you? Is it permanent?" K wondered. Was it even real?

Considering how he was brought here, he'd been thinking that there was a good chance it was all a simulation. But now, for Viktor's sake, he found himself hoping that whatever was happening — be it technological in nature, magical, or something else entirely — was indeed real. Hopefully that might also mean that the beings who brought them to the library in the first place were invested in keeping Viktor alive.

Actually, the comment was meant to be about K personally. Viktor was of the opinion that it was K, himself, who was a perfect balance between organic and inorganic.

Viktor would also never know it, but the library itself was invested in keeping him alive. For a given definition of "alive" anyway. It was the Interstellar Wellness group who had been responsible for the extreme change in his health.

"I don't know if it's permanent. I hope so? I was told that I needed to keep within 500 ft or less of a specific crystal singing bowl. The trouble is it's massive and won't be easily transported."

If the benefits were dependent on being within range of the device, it probably wasn't a permanent change, K thought. Too bad. But at least they'd been able to help Viktor in some way while he was stuck here.

"So the effects may be lost once you leave this... place," K said, referring to how they were apparently within one of the unfinished stories in the library. "Is there a way to make it more portable so you could take it with you?"

Viktor just shrugged a little at K.

"It is a large bowl made of solid crystal. Technically, I could take it to other places, but trying to carry it around with me is not something I can manage without looking like a weirdo with a bowl."

So it was possible that he would be able to keep it outside of this particular Story, but doing so was going to be difficult.

"It sounds unwieldy," K agreed, the gears in his head turning. "Like you're not meant to carry it with you. Maybe they want to keep you tethered here."

True altruism was such a foreign concept to him that he couldn't help but assume such assistance came at a cost Viktor wasn't yet aware of.

"There would be much easier ways to keep me tethered here if that is what they were going for. I mean, they could have just not done anything at all, and let nature take its course."

Viktor didn't know it, but he would have been kept alive, yet always in that sickly state. The wellness group really was about improving health.

K tilted his head in acceptance of that point, but remained reluctant to trust the Group.

"But then they might've considered you less useful to them. Have you been asked to do anything?" He cast a brief glance down the corridor before looking back to Viktor, offering, "I haven't." A beat. "Other than the yoga class I was asked to attend. But I had the impression that was a suggestion, not an order."

Which for him was probably the most unusual aspect of being here — not being expected to serve and obey. Yet. But he'd opted to attend the yoga class as though it were an order, to be safe.

"I've only been told that I need to complete one therapy session in order to go back to Woodhurst."

And Woodhurst was its own set of confusing memories that were conflicting with Viktor's memories of the library. Call it a messed-up result of the weird magic that both wove Viktor into this Story but didn't incorporate him fully. The memories of Woodhurst were like trying to remember a dream, and they were becoming more vague the harder Viktor tried to focus on them. But, for right now, Viktor frowned at K.

"Are you expecting to get orders somehow from these aliens?"

Therapy. That was harder to reconcile with his mistrust, though not impossible. The therapy session could be a front for something less wholesome... For Viktor's sake, he hoped it wasn't.

The question seemed to surprise him.

"I'm not sure why else they'd want me here."

For his entire short life up until this point, his worth had been measured by how useful he was to others, and by how much could be taken from him. It was difficult trying to wrap his head around the thought that maybe not all societies were going to treat him like a tool to be used.

Now the frown deepened as Viktor was feeling a sense of quiet alarm. Viktor already thought that K, as an android, was the perfect mix of organic and inorganic. But was K used to being thought of only as a servant?

"Do you measure your worth by how useful you can be to others?"

Viktor (Reader) | OTA

Supply Ship Radiance

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Supply Ship: Radiance

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