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.]
starandhope: (013)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-11-27 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
Min'a stares at her for a moment.

"People are not tools to be discarded," she says frankly.
fearinahandfulof: (Battle lull)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-27 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
"Humans are not tools to be discarded," she corrects, forgetting for a moment that she is supposed to be human in this world, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.
starandhope: (026)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-11-29 03:12 am (UTC)(link)
Min'a raises her eyebrows at that, her antennae twitching a little in - surprise? Amusement? Both?

"Is that so? You are not human, and therefore you are disposable?" she asks.
fearinahandfulof: (Resigned)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-11-30 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"I was created to be disposable," Cassandra replies. There's no point in hiding it now, is there?
starandhope: (013)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-01 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Min'a is just going to roll with it - everyone they picked up in Woodhurst was supposed to be human, but clearly that is not the case in practice. Just one more thing that hasn't gone quite to plan. But she's not human, herself. So, there's no reason not to keep going, as far as she's concerned. This person is still her patient, after all.

"And yet, you seem to have free will," she points out. "So, you are free to have an opinion about that? You are free, perhaps, to decide otherwise for yourself?"
fearinahandfulof: (Battle lull)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-01 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
To have an opinion, yes. To voice it? "If you wish to be hunted down, yes."
starandhope: (024)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-01 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
“Hunted down by whom?” Min’a asks. “No one here is going to do so. Nor will I be informing anyone of any opinions, thoughts or feelings that you express to me in this room.”
fearinahandfulof: (Resigned)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-03 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
And there's no telling if she'll be able to return to her actual world, although she is pretty sure she'd be killed on sight. Surely it would work the fourth time, wouldn't it? And Dae is dead, so he can't drag her back kicking and screaming from her grave again—

—Wait. How does she know Dae is dead? She hadn't seen him since he'd unleashed them on the rebels. And yet she's sure of it. Strange.

"I don't know," she admits. "I don't even know what will happen when I leave here. If I leave here."
Edited 2025-12-03 05:28 (UTC)
starandhope: (007)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-03 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
“You’ll be returned to Earth in a few days, along with everyone else,” Min’a says with the air of someone who has been repeating this statement to many people. “There is no need to fear for your safety or your future.”
fearinahandfulof: (Missed)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-05 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
...Earth?

"It is a difficult habit to break," Cassandra notes dryly, "when one has always had to fear for one's safety or future."
starandhope: (013)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-06 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Is there anything I can do, to help?" Min'a asks gently.
fearinahandfulof: (Battle lull)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-06 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"...I don't know."
starandhope: (024)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-06 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"...Well, while you're here, you're welcome to try any number of things, to see if any of them help you to feel more relaxed, more in balance, more prepared to face your daily life," Min'a says, recovering admirably from that vague answer. "Yoga, or meditation, art therapy or a spa day! And if there is anything I can do to assist, all you need do is ask. I will do whatever is in my power."
fearinahandfulof: (Huh?)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-08 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
"What is a 'spa day'?" Or any of the rest of it, really.
starandhope: (016)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-10 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
"It's where you can get a massage, or skin treatments, manicures, that kind of thing," Min'a says easily.
fearinahandfulof: (Worry)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-11 10:15 pm (UTC)(link)
She knows what some of those words mean, but... "I don't know what those are."
starandhope: (012)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-12 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
"In that case, you should definitely go and find out!" Min'a says enthusiastically. "You won't regret it."
fearinahandfulof: (Cautious)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-12 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
Cassandra's eyes narrow. "What do they entail?"
starandhope: (026)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-12 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"As I said," Min'a says with a sigh. "A massage - someone rubs your back, your shoulders, working the tension out of your muscles. Skin treatments could be any number of things. Lotions, oils, mud masks. Getting your nails trimmed and painted. You can go and find out what they entail for yourself! It could be pleasurable for you."
fearinahandfulof: (Missed)

[personal profile] fearinahandfulof 2025-12-12 01:12 pm (UTC)(link)
She absolutely will not be exposing her back. That way lies knives.

But Cassandra suspects this might be a polite way of saying Please get out of this room, so she doesn't comment. "Will I be allowed to leave after that?"
starandhope: (026)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-12-13 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
"Everyone will be leaving, in a few weeks," Min'a says. "Our time here is limited."