libraryassistants: (Default)
Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account ([personal profile] libraryassistants) wrote in [community profile] 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.]
flantastic: (Sideye)

Rakia Amarga | Reader

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-16 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
[A - Around Town]
Rakia is himself, which means he's both not human and very practiced at blending in with the humans. As long as no one looks under his shirt, he is good to go. And go he does...not that he has a destination in mind. His first course of business is to get the lay of the land, try to find a place to lay low and ride out this rain even if it doesn't really bother him too much...

...and it doesn't take too long before he's wondering if he has accidentally poisoned anyone because several of them are all too happy. He's pretty sure Sachika didn't have any British relatives as much as he understood human geopolitical divisions, so that rules out the only other option that's making much sense. He's just sidestepping and dodging the overly-happy people as best he can, even if he sometimes gets into brief discussions like "No, I don't want to do yoga, I'm already really good at holding my stomach in," or, if things have escalated past a point he deems acceptable, just, "You suck," and absconding from the area.

[B - Lunchtime]
There is also the matter of proper nutrition, and this is where Rakia knows things might get tricky. He's found a shop with a bin of colorful rocks doled out in tiny drawstring bags for small children, and actually that all looks terrible because the rocks themselves are probably pumped full of dye and small human children have been running their grubby mits through the bin. Disgusting. "This sucks," he mutters to himself while leaving the shop and heading out to the park, where he's...just going to start digging under some trees, hopefully far enough away that no one spots him. Sure, he could've taken some rocks out of a decorative flower bed, but those had probably been sprayed with pesticides to keep the flowers nice, no thanks.

Look, the pudding here is weird and not at all like the pudding he's used to, and he really doesn't feel like trying any more human foods on his own, thanks, that's too depressing. What's a guy got to do to find some good rocks around here?

[C - He's Onto You]
Rakia has quite a bit of experience with beings trying to pass themselves off as human. He's picked up on something going on here, and he is judging. Judging so harshly. Why are these other human posers here? (He is fine, he knows he's not up to no good.) He's identified a human acting oddly--maybe you, maybe someone you know--and he's just going to try to keep an eye on them to see what's going on.

Sure, he might come off as being suspicious himself in the process, but sacrifices must be made especially if on some level you're concerned humans may be getting kidnapped to be used as ingredients in highly addictive candy...again.
fearinahandfulof: (Closeup)

B

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-16 06:04 am (UTC)(link)
"What are you doing?" Cassandra's not trying to sneak up on him, but she's capable of moving a lot more quietly than one might think.
flantastic: (another casual shot)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-16 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
He wasn't expecting that, no, but he's not the sort to jump to hair-trigger attack too much effort, so she gets a bit of a double-take there. He recognizes her, even if the whole being human things means she doesn't look quite like he expected."Digging for rocks," he says. "I'm hungry."
fearinahandfulof: (Shock)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-17 07:16 am (UTC)(link)
Cassandra considers that. "Do you need specific types of rocks?"

And why do you need to eat them, she doesn't ask. Well-educated she is not, but she can read between the lines, such as they are.
flantastic: (hat)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-17 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"Just something better than what's in the flower beds or that gift shop." He sighs. "I guess I could get by on human food, but here it's all different than the human food I've dealt with in the past."
fearinahandfulof: (Dismayed)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-18 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
"What kind of human food was that?" Hopefully not actual humans, but he's not an Awakened Being and she doesn't know how this sort of thing works where he comes from.
flantastic: (hat)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-20 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Pudding," he answers simply. He's had a lot of experience with Granutes taking humans and using them as flavoring, but he never partook of that. The human foods he's concerned with are far more mundane. "The pudding here is..." he trailed off in a sigh. "It sucks. I gave up on it after I saw something labeled 'blood pudding.' I don't even want to know."
fearinahandfulof: (Shock)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-20 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not sure even a yoma would like blood pudding," Cassandra replies, looking thoughtful. "But that's because guts are the only things that taste good to them."

Which is probably more than Rakia wanted to know.
Edited 2025-11-20 04:17 (UTC)
flantastic: (hat)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-21 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
"I saw other things made of guts," Rakia says. "Learned what a haggis is." There's a sigh. "I am not into human food enough for this trip."
fearinahandfulof: (Closeup)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-22 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Haggis?" Cassandra keeps learning new vocabulary.

"I usually just foraged," she admits. "But I didn't spend much time around human settlements."
flantastic: (another casual shot)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-23 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Something with sheep guts?" Rakia shrugged. "Not for me. I've spent probably too much time around humans, but my bunch was more preoccupied with snack food. So that's where my human culinary education lies."
fearinahandfulof: (Shock)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-25 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh." She pauses. "They probably wouldn't like that, then. They only like human guts."

Again, probably more than Rakia wanted to know.

"Snack food?"
flantastic: (Default)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-12-01 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
"Why do so many people want to eat humans," Rakia half-mutters, "they don't even look like they'd taste any good." He sighs. "Yeah, snack food. Like candy, chips, ice cream, that sort of thing. Stuff humans wouldn't take as a full meal, nothing really known for being nutritious."
fearinahandfulof: (Resigned)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-01 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
Cassandra almost shrugs. "Nothing else tastes good to them."

And then she has to stop and think. "I don't know what any of those are," she finally admits.
flantastic: (hat)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-12-05 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Man," Rakia groans, "if my friend Shouma were here and heard you say that, he'd be dragging you off to try everything." There's a bit of a scowl mostly because missing people makes things harder than they need to be and also..."The candy seemed similar enough, if you want to try some of that. It's sweet."
Edited (gotta fix that typo) 2025-12-05 03:29 (UTC)
fearinahandfulof: (Worry)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-06 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Cassandra thinks abut that. "I don't think I would know where to start."
flantastic: (Default)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-12-17 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Rakia stands up and dusts off his hands. "A convenience store would be a good place, probably. They usually have snacks. It would be easy enough to find one here." He's game.