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: (pic#17968992)

Oh it will be terrible

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2025-12-14 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
It's true: Tsang did not truly deserve any of this. Which didn't stop it from happening. But if there was any power in its human costume big innocent eyes looking like helpless prey, because what could Tsang do? It had tried to fight before, to save a patient, and the only tools in the studio were art supplies.

Tempera paint and safety scissors weren't going to get him out of this.

"Yes." There's something filtering through Tsang's memory, like someone else's thoughts. "As long as one can think, and feel, one can change." That was the point of feelings, after all, to guide one to be better.
unsheathedfromreality: (wandering among the ghosts)

They can also bond(???) over Curze nearly murdering them

[personal profile] unsheathedfromreality 2025-12-14 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
Silly little bit of puffery Tsang might be, something authoritative hides behind those words. Or at least -- they're said with confidence enough to convince.

"One out of two. Not nothing, at least." Because the feeling part is a damned high hill to surmount.

He looks around the room again -- really looks at it, this tidy little place created for patients to express themselves through art. Not somewhere he's meant to be -- not somewhere made for the problems he presents.

Not somewhere he should maliciously destroy, whatever the itch climbing his spine says. However much he thinks these methods can't work for anyone.

"I don't think anything you have will help me," he finally says. "May I speak to your superior?"
angel_of_baal: (Default)

The club of curze murder survivors is pretty elite.

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2025-12-14 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"The question is, do you want to feel? Or are you afraid of feeling?" Because fear itself is a feeling, sooooo gotcha?

But sure, art therapy is not for everyone. "Perhaps you would prefer a more somatic approach. I can take you to Kaiisteron." Do you want some YOGA, big guy? Also please put him down.
unsheathedfromreality: (wandering among the ghosts)

Yeah he only fails what like 0.0001% of his murder attempts? 0.00001%?

[personal profile] unsheathedfromreality 2025-12-14 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
The question is actually enough to get Illarion to put a hand to his face -- finally releasing Tsang from his hold -- and breathe out a long, stale breath. "I don't know," he finally admits. "It's all words to me."

He can't feel so nothing can feel significant and insofar as wanting required emotions to place one want above another he couldn't want things.

He's operating on instinct. Or habit. Or something that isn't wanting or feeling that still keeps him from shutting down completely. "To Kaiisteron," he echoes, to get away from the -- less solvable problem. "Yes. Please. That will do."
angel_of_baal: (Default)

Tsang escapes merely with trauma!

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2025-12-15 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
Tsang has to restrain itself from giving a hug--it had just been released from a very scary grip by a very big person and perhaps physical contact was, well, unwelcome.

But the thought was there, stranger!

That was a positive sign. "You will like Kaiisteron. He is very knowledgeable and his yoga classes are very powerful." Prepare to be EMBODIED, friend. "We can go check his schedule now!" Follow the bouncing manbun!