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.]
ugh_emotions: (Annoyed 04)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-18 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Your expressions are weird!" it says, as it does not look at Rakia's expressions.
flantastic: (Sideye)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-18 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, well, you don't see humans pestering me over it." What is keeping up with the pretense of being human? He has largely stopped caring what other people in the library know; there are enough nonhumans there that he won't stick out.

The argument they're getting into attracts the attention of Rakia's Puddinte Gochizo, which creeps out from its hiding spot in a nearby bush. If things really escalate, it'll be needed!
ugh_emotions: (Concerned 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-18 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
It's about to retort back - or furiously stomp off, one or the other - when the drone notices movement, and sends it an alert. Immediately it flicks to the drones inputs, and turns to face the anomaly.

It's...a bot? A weird bot. It's got all these weird bright colours on it, and appendages that appear to be completely useless for practically any potential function.

It turns to stare at it, and sends the bot a faintly puzzled Ping?. One of its drones descends down from above, to get a closer look.
flantastic: (hat)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-18 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
The Gochizo draws itself up and waves around one of its sliced-melon-like appendages at the drone. The energy is not unlike Rakia swatting away a drone with a tentacle. It makes a series of cute babbling noises that still somehow carry the energy of what, you wanna go? for it does not actually know what the drone is and Rakia being keyed up has it a little on edge itself.

Rakia realizes what's going on and sighs. "This sucks." He's yet to interfere. "I told you to stay out of sight." The Gochizo babbles something at him in return but keeps the majority of its focus on the drone.
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 03)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-18 12:24 pm (UTC)(link)
"The bot's with you?" it says, frowning. The bot hasn't replied to its ping. It's making noises, but the language isn't one SecUnit is familiar with.

Ping? it sends again.

(Does it not have a feed connection?)

The drone, meanwhile, just hovers at a space a meter or so above the bot.
flantastic: (Default)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-20 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
"It's not a bot," Rakia says, "but it's with me, yeah."

The Gochizo does not respond to the ping and shows no indication that it even realizes that the ping's been sent, but it's almost playfully jumping at the drone, bouncing up in a way that suggests it might be able to hover too if it really wanted, but it doesn't see fit at this time. It's still trying to figure you out too, drone.
ugh_emotions: (Dubious 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-21 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
The drone continues to remain absolutely locked to one fixed point in space.

"How is it not a bot?" it says, baffled. It doesn't see what else it could possibly be.
flantastic: (another casual shot)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-21 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Rakia shrugs. "It just isn't. It's a Gochizo." Not that the word was particularly descriptive of anything, but that's what the critter was called. He was reasonably certain a proper explanation of the thing's origins wouldn't be believed, anyway.
ugh_emotions: (Annoyed 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-21 10:57 am (UTC)(link)
It considers, for about 0.3 seconds, asking for more information on what the hell that even was. But then it decided that it didn't care, and it didn't want to fucking ask Rakia for information anyway, and it had better things to do.

Like finding a place to hide that won't get invaded by human children.

"Whatever," it says instead. The drone flies back up into the sky, while SecUnit stubbornly starts walking down the road and away from Rakia.
flantastic: (Default)

[personal profile] flantastic 2025-11-23 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
The Gochizo looks up at Rakia, burbling a question.

"Oh, hell no, we're not doing that." He had tried to help. Now, he scoops up the little pudding-thing and heads off in the opposite direction, probably off to get bewildered by British definitions of pudding.