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.]
angel_of_baal: (Default)

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2025-11-29 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
"No one has been kidnapped!" Well, okay, except perhaps this one but it was a mistake because it was acting so strange and trapped, and Tsang is allowed ONE mistake, all right? Nobody's perfect and expecting perfection is a trap that Tsang had already worked through.

"Everyone is returned safely, of course! Once they fill out their paperwork. And some exercises and follow up journaling." It's really very simple.
ugh_emotions: (Annoyed 08)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-29 07:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Uh huh, just like I wasn't kidnapped?" Yeah, right. The chances of all the humans on this ship being here willingly was really, really not high.

"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.)
angel_of_baal: (Default)

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2025-11-29 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"You're the only one who has complained?" True statement. The Festival person had enjoyed the craft activities very much! A little, er, too much, but definitely wasn't complaining about being brought here or the activities.

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?"
ugh_emotions: (Annoyed 08)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-30 07:18 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe it was a true statement. But it wasn't one SecUnit believed.

"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.
angel_of_baal: (Default)

If you don't like this Plot Twist lmk!

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2025-11-30 02:27 pm (UTC)(link)
See, this is why this stranger needed to develop empathy! Then it would realize that Tsang was speaking the truth and understand its earnest honest intentions.

"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.
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 03)

It's all good, works for me!

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-12-01 10:57 am (UTC)(link)
SecUnit is absolutely checks with TherapyBot. Who - ugh - confirms.

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.