Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
libraryassistants) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
unfinishedlibrary2025-11-28 06:38 pm
libraryassistants) wrote in unfinishedlibrary2025-11-28 06:38 pm
Entry tags:
- blade runner: kd6-3.7,
- bram stoker's dracula: mina harker,
- dracula: jonathan harker,
- original: festival,
- sonic the hedgehog (film): shadow,
- the murderbot diaries: murderbot,
- the rising world: kaiisteron,
- the wonders of mundus: hikaru aozora,
- warhammer: konrad curze,
- warhammer: sanguinius,
- ~take a load off
I'm not saying that it's aliens - TAKE A LOAD OFF, LOG 2
Who: Readers and Actors
What: Beta Story final log
When: November 28 - December 11
Where: Woodhurst (UK) and the SS Radiance (in space!), 2019
Content warnings: Please tag warnings in comment headers!
In Woodhurst:
There is quite a bit of confusion in the village as the weeks pass by- by now it is clear that some people are very much not themselves, and there are multiple theories as to why. Aliens, obviously- the really weird bit is that it’s not just certain edgy teens purporting this theory, but since there’s been some (alleged) activity previously, maybe they’ve come back! Some tourists (and perhaps some locals) have made signs of the ‘Take me with you!’ variety, mostly loitering in the town square or in the park, whenever they get chased out of one or the other.
Suffice it to say, those people aren’t being taken seriously by those in charge- though even they have to admit that something strange is going on. Prevailing theories amongst officials are ‘gas leakage’ and ‘water contamination,’ neither of which are suitable explanations but no one seems to want to think too hard on it. As a result, the friends and families of those acting out of sorts are in a strange position. Do they try to seek medical help? Wait and hope it sorts itself out? Or do they join the crowds bidding welcome to their potential alien guests, demanding their real loved ones return?
Visitors of all stripes might find themselves a bit more scrutinized, as a result. Didn’t a bunch of weird people show up just as people seemed to start changing? Readers and aliens alike had best be on their most normal behavior, or it’s possible they’ll get cornered by someone asking what’s happening, or… a fanatic who wants to be taken up into their spaceship. Some of whom have some weird questions about probes. Good luck figuring out what that’s about.
On the IMW Group Supply Ship: Radiance
Things are not all well further up in the atmosphere, either. The staff have had to deal with much more pushback than they were expecting, including some people who seemed to not enough understand the concept of mental health (which was not in the briefing- shouldn’t they have at least heard of it before?). A few cases also seem to be quite severe, involving a level of intervention that they weren’t really prepared for- but of course, they’re here, so they’re going to do the very best they can to get all the humans the help they need! Hopefully legally.
Most alarmingly, however, it seems there have been some kidnapping attempts! …Kidnapping attempts that didn’t involve them! Someone, or multiple someones, have managed to get the patients off the ship without first filling out their discharge paperwork, and that simply will not do. As a result, security is ramped up on the ship… sort of. There’s very little in the way of a security crew, after all, and it’s not like they can call in reinforcements. So mostly this means that there are some very tired counselors who have been put on hallway shifts, and everyone has been assigned a little name badge that they MUST wear at ALL TIMES.
(There are actual people guarding the shuttles now, but again… there’s only so much security. The real question is, do you really want to beat up the aliens who are just trying to help?)
To their credit, the various Group members are trying to listen to the concerns of the patients who are here… less than willingly, and are beginning to filter some cases back to the planet by request. But they are going to do it properly, which means the proper forms. A wrap up visit with their counselor, a form agreeing to be finished with treatment, a politely worded request to maybe not tell people about the aliens (it’s not an NDA, because the Group has never needed those, it’s really just a form asking if they’re going to talk about it so management can figure out how badly this is going to go). Oh, and would you mind filling out this survey about your experience?
Of course, not everyone is in a hurry to leave- or at least needs something to do while waiting for bits of paperwork to approve. All the regular classes and sessions are still going, and they even retrofitted one of the spas to have water instead of… whatever it was before. Now certified safe for humans!
[Information on what's available on the ship is in the first log; info post is here.]
What: Beta Story final log
When: November 28 - December 11
Where: Woodhurst (UK) and the SS Radiance (in space!), 2019
Content warnings: Please tag warnings in comment headers!
In Woodhurst:
There is quite a bit of confusion in the village as the weeks pass by- by now it is clear that some people are very much not themselves, and there are multiple theories as to why. Aliens, obviously- the really weird bit is that it’s not just certain edgy teens purporting this theory, but since there’s been some (alleged) activity previously, maybe they’ve come back! Some tourists (and perhaps some locals) have made signs of the ‘Take me with you!’ variety, mostly loitering in the town square or in the park, whenever they get chased out of one or the other.
Suffice it to say, those people aren’t being taken seriously by those in charge- though even they have to admit that something strange is going on. Prevailing theories amongst officials are ‘gas leakage’ and ‘water contamination,’ neither of which are suitable explanations but no one seems to want to think too hard on it. As a result, the friends and families of those acting out of sorts are in a strange position. Do they try to seek medical help? Wait and hope it sorts itself out? Or do they join the crowds bidding welcome to their potential alien guests, demanding their real loved ones return?
Visitors of all stripes might find themselves a bit more scrutinized, as a result. Didn’t a bunch of weird people show up just as people seemed to start changing? Readers and aliens alike had best be on their most normal behavior, or it’s possible they’ll get cornered by someone asking what’s happening, or… a fanatic who wants to be taken up into their spaceship. Some of whom have some weird questions about probes. Good luck figuring out what that’s about.
On the IMW Group Supply Ship: Radiance
Things are not all well further up in the atmosphere, either. The staff have had to deal with much more pushback than they were expecting, including some people who seemed to not enough understand the concept of mental health (which was not in the briefing- shouldn’t they have at least heard of it before?). A few cases also seem to be quite severe, involving a level of intervention that they weren’t really prepared for- but of course, they’re here, so they’re going to do the very best they can to get all the humans the help they need! Hopefully legally.
Most alarmingly, however, it seems there have been some kidnapping attempts! …Kidnapping attempts that didn’t involve them! Someone, or multiple someones, have managed to get the patients off the ship without first filling out their discharge paperwork, and that simply will not do. As a result, security is ramped up on the ship… sort of. There’s very little in the way of a security crew, after all, and it’s not like they can call in reinforcements. So mostly this means that there are some very tired counselors who have been put on hallway shifts, and everyone has been assigned a little name badge that they MUST wear at ALL TIMES.
(There are actual people guarding the shuttles now, but again… there’s only so much security. The real question is, do you really want to beat up the aliens who are just trying to help?)
To their credit, the various Group members are trying to listen to the concerns of the patients who are here… less than willingly, and are beginning to filter some cases back to the planet by request. But they are going to do it properly, which means the proper forms. A wrap up visit with their counselor, a form agreeing to be finished with treatment, a politely worded request to maybe not tell people about the aliens (it’s not an NDA, because the Group has never needed those, it’s really just a form asking if they’re going to talk about it so management can figure out how badly this is going to go). Oh, and would you mind filling out this survey about your experience?
Of course, not everyone is in a hurry to leave- or at least needs something to do while waiting for bits of paperwork to approve. All the regular classes and sessions are still going, and they even retrofitted one of the spas to have water instead of… whatever it was before. Now certified safe for humans!
[Information on what's available on the ship is in the first log; info post is here.]
no subject
But they were free now, and sooner or later he'd find a way to acquire the attention of the Imperium. "Courtiers outrank knights?" Why would some fancy noise-maker-- eh. Different cultures. It's meaningless, noise. Let others worry about the details of alien ways. "..Yes and no. I do not use them for such a purpose, but they can be. They are a research tool, to unravel what I already know but haven't understood." A card is turned over, likely already seen by elf not-eyes: the ace of wands. "Discordia, especially this card, is a warning. Unforseen consequences. Things are not what they seem. It keeps reappearing."
Another. Nine of wands. "Confusion, madness. Something unseen." A third,three of wands. "Danger from within. Hidden threat." He keeps flipping several more, and they're all the same suit, except for a lone eight of cups. "The warning is clear. What it's warning of, less so."
no subject
He's got pocket change enough he could be something else, and no other use for it. He'll see what happens with these first offerings.
"That's more specialized than I'd thought your brothers would be." Though not bizarrely so. Control of information was the heart of any extended campaign, military or political; libraries were far from the only way to gather and maintain information, but a spymaster or rhetorician or propagandist would want control of them as much as he'd want any other store of it. "Be interesting to see if he shows up."
not that you'll learn anything about it, illarion; the eels will not permit it"Technically two words for the same thing." The members of a Prince's Court could be called either, though "knights" held the more martial connotation. "Courtier above knight's a holdover from a mistranslation." The second-ranked face card had been something closer to duke in the elven tradition but someone had gotten crossed up somewhere along the line and leaned into the theme of Princes and their Courts rather than landed nobility. And that boring little bit of trivia is not one Illarion even wants to waste breath on sharing
, which is why he is not Magnus.He cocks his head as the primarch deals; if he were guessing, this might be the suit of feathers being dealt from, though from what little he remembers of Esfir's foretellings -- what little he's trying not to remember -- that one wasn't so ill-omened. Regardless, the draw mostly being in-suit is unusual enough, if one leaned into coincidence.
"Is that for you, or your victims?"
no subject
"It would be better to think of him as a keeper of knowledge, the obsession with libraries is merely a side effect of this." A little less specialized, when described that way! And doesn't even begin to get into the sheer amount of bullshit the Thousand Sons were capable of, if even half the rumors were true. The idea of that sibling showing up seems to sour his mood a little, and he picks through the other items in offering in a moment of sullen quiet.
It gives time for review. Courtiers and Knights are basically the same; who in Nostramo weren't used to mistranslations and things not quite sounding the way they should when rendered into Gothic?
The cards are picked back up one at a time and slid back into the deck, reshuffling beginning before he pauses, reconsiders, and sets the deck in front of Illarion. "Let's find out. Shuffle, pick seven. Quickly now, don't think too much about it."
no subject
Perhaps he's offered his deal to the wrong member of them -- but one played the cards one had, as it were, and this is the primarch he was to work with. There might be value in appealing to another as a potential intermediary in the future...
But for now, speaking of cards. He accepts the deck as it's set down, picking it up and shuffling it himself -- deliberately focusing on a point just above his hands as he does so, with his eyes and ((eyes)) alike. It's perhaps just superstition that watching the shuffle affects it, when you can see the cards sliding past each other, but it's a clinging superstition all the same. One, two, three, four riffles -- then he turns cards off the top, one through seven, onto the table between them.
"Huh. So ... ?" They're the same. Which of them is it warning?
(Or is it both of them?)
no subject
They're studied through narrowed eyes, gaze little more than black slits, frowning. One of the pieces of fruit in the little box Illarion's brought over is picked up and much like the eggs had been earlier, bitten into whole. Probably not how oranges are meant to be eaten, but it doesn't seem to trouble him.
For a moment or two the flavor is distracting, though. Unfamiliar, sharp, and not at all unpleasant.
"I accept your terms," he concludes, half an orange still clasped in his hands, expression turning thoughtful. "Information on your planet, its defenses, what to expect of this Monarch, and it will be excised. If your people are sincere enough in throwing themselves at the mercy of the Emperor, perhaps he will grant you a measure of grace."
Perhaps they'll be allowed to live. "In return I will not kill you until your usefulness is ended."
That's not what all those warnings are for though. Repeated eight times, now.
He's missing something important. "Often when humanity speaks of fortelling the future they expect a series of events. You know the conclusion, therefore you know how to reach it. The warning is present, surely we know what causes it. And yet..."
That's just not how it works. "The road lies before us, and what is being missed lies waiting to be revealed."