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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.]
no subject
Finally, it had camera access. It could see, not just with its own eyes, but all over the ship. And it was clear now that it was on a ship, rather than a facility on the planet.
It could see a number of humans throughout the ship. And...
...Those weren't humans. And there was something large in this ship's feed.
Welcome, it says. I am TherapyBot. Please allow me to best assist you by filling out the Intake Survey.
(The human in front of it is still talking, but it isn't listening anymore. It's too busy internally freaking out.)
no subject
Tsang didn't realize the human wasn't listening until it repeated a question, "Would you like some snacks?" Food helped ground one, right? No response. And again, no response. "Do you not like food?"
Whatever the other is doing, at least the TherapyBot is listening in, and logs that it needs to ask about dietary habits and trauma.
no subject
"No, I don't want food," it says (with an accompanying spike of disgust), having finally devoted at least some processing power to paying attention to Tsang. The rest of its processing power is dedicated to trying to convince TherapyBot that no, it's not a patient, it doesn't need to complete any stupid intake forms, and TherapyBot should really give it access to the passenger list so it can figure out how many humans have been kidnapped...
That information is confidential, TherapyBot says. For the safety of your fellow patients, passenger lists are not available.
For fuck's sake.
"How many humans have you kidnapped?" it demands, on the off chance that Tsang will give it the information that TherapyBot is refusing to hand over.
no subject
Don't they?
Being around strangers is not a time to get anxious, it is a time to get excited, because of all these new potential friends! This was simply a perspective shift and a cognitive framing issue. Very easy to fix.
If only it could get the stranger into the art room...
"Kidnapped?" That's such an ugly term. Really Tsang would have to deploy more nonviolent communication strategies. "It's hurtful when you use accusatory language directed at me. I, we, are not hurting anyone. Quite the opposite!"
no subject
And if Tsang thought that was hurtful, well, it didn't fucking care.
(SecUnit shouldn't be arguing with Tsang. It should just knock him out, and deal with this mess. Except TherapyBot was still stifling its attempts to get into the ship's other systems. It didn't know how many kidnapped humans were here. It didn't have an exit strategy for getting them off the ship, and back to the settlement.
It was unprepared and caught off-guard. And until it had an actual plan, it couldn't afford to let the kidnappers know that it wasn't just a normal human. Which meant it couldn't knock Tsang out.
Yet.)
no subject
Are you happy, SecUnit? Causing an existential crisis under a messy manbun?!?
"I can bring you back, if you want." Why someone would choose to be back on wet Terra in a cobwebbed shed rather than the clean and aromatherapied pastel decks of the Radiance, it has no idea. But if it was going to be ACCUSED it could try to make amends.
no subject
SecUnit's eyes snap to Tsang's; it's the first time its made anything like real eye contact.
"And the humans you kidnapped?" it says, before its eyes flick away. "Will you take them back too?" (It could live with that. If Tsang was going to willingly return everyone, that was fine. Somehow, though, it suspected it wouldn't be that easy.)
no subject
"Everyone is returned safely, of course! Once they fill out their paperwork. And some exercises and follow up journaling." It's really very simple.
no subject
"No. Not after paperwork. Not after exercises," it says. "Now."
(Corporates like paperwork too. They like making promises - sure, they'll send the humans home. Sure, they'll get them their needed food and their medications. Just as soon as you sign their too-long contracts with the hidden clauses and the traps that will have you in debt for life.)
(And there's that anger again. Except it's the kind of anger that burns with a tinge of helplessness and despair. The kind of anger that gets rooted deep within you after a lifetime of mistreatment.)
no subject
In fact, they never did get around to that puppet show!
"But...we don't even have baseline demographics on you yet?" Come on, paperwork is fun! Or it can be, with the right colored pencils. Which of course Tsang has.
"You are...very angry about paperwork." It can feel the anger but one probably didn't need to be an empath to do that right now. "Have you had bad experiences in the past?"
no subject
"No," it says. "You don't get to know about me."
Not its experiences. Not it's fucking baseline demographics, ugh. (Not that those applied to it. It was a SecUnit, it didn't have demographics. Unless 'SecUnit' counted as one.
If you don't like this Plot Twist lmk!
"I am afraid," and it really is, or at least regretful and it's close enough in this strange language, "that you do. The ship's teleporter will not let you go otherwise." It was sure TherapyBot would concur.
It's all good, works for me!
Right. New tasks added: 1. Hack the teleporter, and 2. Have a moment to process the fact that teleporters are a thing now, apparently.
Also, task 3: get the fuck away from Tsang. Talking to him isn't getting it anywhere, and it's already well beyond the limits of social interaction that SecUnit is comfortable with. So, it needs to get Tsang to leave it the fuck alone.
(It could just knock him out. It would be trivially easy to do so. But...TherapyBot is watching. It doesn't want to risk it turning hostile, not yet.)
"...I'm not filling out anything while you're watching," it says.