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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.]
scienceofthearcane: (pic#18025419)

[personal profile] scienceofthearcane 2025-11-17 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"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."
shelloflight: (are you sure about this?)

[personal profile] shelloflight 2025-11-17 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"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."
scienceofthearcane: (pic#17787602)

[personal profile] scienceofthearcane 2025-11-17 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
shelloflight: (no i don't bloody know why i'm upset)

[personal profile] shelloflight 2025-11-18 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
"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?"
scienceofthearcane: (pic#18094472)

[personal profile] scienceofthearcane 2025-11-18 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
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."

shelloflight: (Default)

[personal profile] shelloflight 2025-11-18 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
"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."
scienceofthearcane: (pic#18025421)

[personal profile] scienceofthearcane 2025-11-18 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
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?"
shelloflight: (love that for you mate)

[personal profile] shelloflight 2025-11-18 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
"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.
scienceofthearcane: (pic#18025427)

[personal profile] scienceofthearcane 2025-11-18 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
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."
shelloflight: (love that for you mate)

[personal profile] shelloflight 2025-11-19 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
"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."
scienceofthearcane: (pic#18025421)

[personal profile] scienceofthearcane 2025-11-22 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"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.