Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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unfinishedlibrary2025-12-12 07:10 pm
libraryassistants) wrote in unfinishedlibrary2025-12-12 07:10 pm
The real alien abduction... LIBRARY RETURN LOG
Who: The Editors, and the Assistants
What: Library Return!
When: At the end of the Story
Where: The Library
Content warnings: Please put content warnings in the headers!
It’s been an eventful month in Woodhurst! The alleged alien abductions have caused tourism to absolutely boom. What was a small, peaceful town a few weeks ago has turned into a bustling hub. There are claims that the local bookstore has been run by an alien for the last 20-odd years - met only with mutters from the locals about having heard that one before - and a plethora of people taking to the internet to tell the stories of their own abductions.
With the return of most of the humans to Earth, the Wellbeing Group have recalled their agents to the SS Radiance. With a few exceptions, almost everyone should be back to where they were on that first day - November 14th, 2019. It turns out that the humans of Earth just aren’t ready for the Group’s efforts. Perhaps there’s something to be said for following protocol and allowing First Contact to be established… well, first.
Amongst all the chaos of reunions and goodbyes, Editors may miss the signs of the Story ending. It starts slowly, ramping up over a matter of hours. The smell of old books tickles at their senses, and the rustling of pages reaches their ears. There’s something like the scritch of pen on paper, like a bookmark being placed.
And then, between one slow blink and the next, Woodhurst and the SS Radiance begin to fuzz out of view. Like rubbing your eyes after a dream, the Stacks take shape around them; and with the thud of a hardcover closing, the Story comes to an end.
Welcome back, Editors
For some, recovering from the effects of the Story might be as easy as turning a page. For others, there might be a lot left to unpack. Readers - those who had remained themselves during the Story - will likely find it easier. Those who were Actors, fully absorbed in living another life, may need a minute to sort themselves out.
The Library itself seems to have some trouble shaking off the Story in full. Here and there are the same floral arrangements that had been on the Radiance, the scent of them much weaker now. There’s an echo of soothing music in the air, faint as if it’s fading out. And wherever these flowers can be smelled or the music can be heard, there’s an urge that is felt – a lowering of one’s barriers, a soothing sense of safety, and a compulsion to express oneself. So go on. Ask and answer the question. How does that make you feel?
The customary tea cart is set up in the Lobby again. It looks like it’s just recently been put out, with weak tea still only starting to steep. The coffee is as terrible as ever. Mismatched creamers and sugar packets sit in a neatly organised box, with a tin of butter cookies nearby. Paper cups have been replaced by ceramics with matching saucers, dainty napkins just waiting to be used.
Notably, there is no phone provided. Instead there is a sign:
Please direct all complaints to the Help Desk.
The Help Desk itself is along one wall of the Lobby. The large window, previously closed and locked, is now open. The ‘back in 5’ sign is gone, replaced by one that instructs you to ‘please take a number’. A stack of cards with bold numbers printed on them sits beneath it.
And behind that window, sitting at the Help Desk, is someone whose voice may have only been heard over the phone until now. He will not be assisting anyone who approaches out of turn, so you should get comfortable mingling while you wait.
Perhaps in the hopes that some people will get distracted and wander away, there is a poster next to the Help Desk window.
Skills 101
Learn from the best the Library has to offer!
Join the study group in Meeting Room 1.
No food or drinks permitted.
In case anyone would like to avoid the Assistants as much as possible, or would like something else to do after yelling at them, there is another display that can be found periodically outside one of the doors of rotating locations. It says ‘Seed Library’ and, as the name implies, has little packets of seeds that are available! When seen outside the door, it will always lead to the garden. Time to get your hands dirty!
Interestingly, it seems the garden seems to follow the same general rules as the rest of the library- whatever someone expects the weather or season to be is what will be reflected in that outside space, with a sunrise/set pattern to match. When two or more people with different ideas of what it should be occupy the space, however, it gets… muddled.
And for those with hands just itching to express themselves with violence… the Safe Zone awaits. The Library’s safety mechanism triggers as damage is registered, whether to an Editor or a piece of the Library. As if in anticipation of some long stays, the previously-empty yacht does now have a few creature comforts. Food, drinks, a place to rest. Just try not to extend your stay too long or your more peaceful friends might start to wonder where you’ve gone.
What: Library Return!
When: At the end of the Story
Where: The Library
Content warnings: Please put content warnings in the headers!
It’s been an eventful month in Woodhurst! The alleged alien abductions have caused tourism to absolutely boom. What was a small, peaceful town a few weeks ago has turned into a bustling hub. There are claims that the local bookstore has been run by an alien for the last 20-odd years - met only with mutters from the locals about having heard that one before - and a plethora of people taking to the internet to tell the stories of their own abductions.
With the return of most of the humans to Earth, the Wellbeing Group have recalled their agents to the SS Radiance. With a few exceptions, almost everyone should be back to where they were on that first day - November 14th, 2019. It turns out that the humans of Earth just aren’t ready for the Group’s efforts. Perhaps there’s something to be said for following protocol and allowing First Contact to be established… well, first.
Amongst all the chaos of reunions and goodbyes, Editors may miss the signs of the Story ending. It starts slowly, ramping up over a matter of hours. The smell of old books tickles at their senses, and the rustling of pages reaches their ears. There’s something like the scritch of pen on paper, like a bookmark being placed.
And then, between one slow blink and the next, Woodhurst and the SS Radiance begin to fuzz out of view. Like rubbing your eyes after a dream, the Stacks take shape around them; and with the thud of a hardcover closing, the Story comes to an end.
Welcome back, Editors
For some, recovering from the effects of the Story might be as easy as turning a page. For others, there might be a lot left to unpack. Readers - those who had remained themselves during the Story - will likely find it easier. Those who were Actors, fully absorbed in living another life, may need a minute to sort themselves out.
The Library itself seems to have some trouble shaking off the Story in full. Here and there are the same floral arrangements that had been on the Radiance, the scent of them much weaker now. There’s an echo of soothing music in the air, faint as if it’s fading out. And wherever these flowers can be smelled or the music can be heard, there’s an urge that is felt – a lowering of one’s barriers, a soothing sense of safety, and a compulsion to express oneself. So go on. Ask and answer the question. How does that make you feel?
The customary tea cart is set up in the Lobby again. It looks like it’s just recently been put out, with weak tea still only starting to steep. The coffee is as terrible as ever. Mismatched creamers and sugar packets sit in a neatly organised box, with a tin of butter cookies nearby. Paper cups have been replaced by ceramics with matching saucers, dainty napkins just waiting to be used.
Notably, there is no phone provided. Instead there is a sign:
The Help Desk itself is along one wall of the Lobby. The large window, previously closed and locked, is now open. The ‘back in 5’ sign is gone, replaced by one that instructs you to ‘please take a number’. A stack of cards with bold numbers printed on them sits beneath it.
And behind that window, sitting at the Help Desk, is someone whose voice may have only been heard over the phone until now. He will not be assisting anyone who approaches out of turn, so you should get comfortable mingling while you wait.
Perhaps in the hopes that some people will get distracted and wander away, there is a poster next to the Help Desk window.
Learn from the best the Library has to offer!
Join the study group in Meeting Room 1.
No food or drinks permitted.
In case anyone would like to avoid the Assistants as much as possible, or would like something else to do after yelling at them, there is another display that can be found periodically outside one of the doors of rotating locations. It says ‘Seed Library’ and, as the name implies, has little packets of seeds that are available! When seen outside the door, it will always lead to the garden. Time to get your hands dirty!
Interestingly, it seems the garden seems to follow the same general rules as the rest of the library- whatever someone expects the weather or season to be is what will be reflected in that outside space, with a sunrise/set pattern to match. When two or more people with different ideas of what it should be occupy the space, however, it gets… muddled.
And for those with hands just itching to express themselves with violence… the Safe Zone awaits. The Library’s safety mechanism triggers as damage is registered, whether to an Editor or a piece of the Library. As if in anticipation of some long stays, the previously-empty yacht does now have a few creature comforts. Food, drinks, a place to rest. Just try not to extend your stay too long or your more peaceful friends might start to wonder where you’ve gone.
no subject
"...Charles Rowland, was it? Or is that not a name you go by anymore?" he asks.
His voice is an octave deeper than that of Akira Tsukuda's - Mitch's - but recognizable as it aged twenty to thirty years.
no subject
But then he was speaking, and Charles had enough people he'd known who'd aged around him, so was more than familiar with the way those years would alter a voice. It clicked quickly, eyes widening as he stopped dead.
"Mitch?" A startled huff, a shake of his head. "No wait. Hikaru here, yeah?"
An uncertain draw of unnecessary breath as he just nodded, letting a smile paint over his features. Unfortunate that after all that, Hikaru was well-acquainted with his 'fake it til you make it' cheer, not that he was thinking about that just yet. "Charles though, yeah."
no subject
"Mutan's ever-changing curves. ...You know, the last time I was really called that was in - well, in my 2021. And I'm from California, really. But that was otherwise a shockingly, rather too intimate, rather too accurate look at who I used to be."
With the question of if that was true of Charles' youth left unstated but implied.
In which Charles can't keep a lid on it
He glanced back at Hikaru, something uneasy in it, in the edges of his expression, as the silence seemed to encourage him to keep going, like the right combination of words would just convince the other that it was fine. “…And it’s not like I didn’t know when I’d crossed a line. You could feel it coming. Tone of voice, the way the room went quiet.”
Doing great, Rowland.
“…I mean,” Charles huffed a short breath as sense seemed to catch up with him, then a crooked smile slotted into place a bit too fast, one hand fidgeting with the strap of his pack, the other tapping restlessly against his leg as he tried to think of how to spin this back to normalcy, to get his shit back under his hat. “I’m not saying it was some big thing. Just… normal stuff you pick up on, yeah? Like learning when a teacher’s about to lose it. You get good at reading rooms. Comes in handy, honestly!”
A brief pause, a hesitation as his gaze skittered to one side, as if avoiding a knowing gaze. A motion he didn't even realize he'd made as the temperature dropped a couple more degrees. “And anyway, that story was exaggerating. Stories always do. They skip the boring bits where you’re fine afterward.”
Another beat before Charles spoke again, though softer now, but still pushing forward. As if afraid of the implications of silence. And because... there was still that part of him that remembered the comfort of being able to talk with the other about this. Hard to shake still.
“…And it’s not like I didn’t deserve some of it. I was a right pain as a kid! Always pushing, always too much.” He laughs, a shade too loud, artificially cheerful. “Anyone would’ve snapped eventually, yeah?”
Re: In which Charles can't keep a lid on it
"I remember too. All of it. Vividly, perhaps too vividly. It was... I must assume it's accuracy to my own life and yours, British upbringing aside."
In other words: I know. Stop digging.
no subject
"Blimey. Wasn't expectin' this place to do that, yeah?" A faint smile that looks slightly more like he's got a grip. "Sorry about that. How about you? That was... a lot they unloaded on your end too."
Avoiding his issues by asking after others? Yeah he could do that!
no subject
Emphasis on choosing. This stinks of magic to him.
"Nothing I haven't lived through before," he admits. "It was somewhat easier in San Francisco than in Woodhurst - that Britain was already starting it's slide towards the fascism of the Screaming Twenties, though it wasn't close yet. But yes, my real name is actually Akira Tsukuda, one character removed from Michiko."
no subject
But the strange compulsions and memory adjustments that had come with the Story? That wasn't encouraging him to want to open up genuinely. So he was more than willing to let Hikaru talk instead.
"Facism? The- You know what?" A faint shake of his head, a light lift of hands. "One thing at a time. Because mate, that sounds like 'a lot' doesn't begin to cover it. But so I got this straight- your real name's Akira. But you go by Hikaru, yeah? Unless I'm missin' a trick that is."
no subject
It seems like a bizzare tangent. It really, really isn't.
no subject
"Not especially. I mean, I had an Atari, but that was about it, and ghosts don't really get along with tech so..." A faint shrug. "I know what they are, we took a case for a client convinced her game was haunted or sommat. Turned out to be a tulpa in the end, but-"
no subject
no subject
You know what? Not the craziest thing he'd ever heard in his life.
no subject
"We were logged in, helmeted in, for the new expansion," Hikaru said. "And then - something happened. A cyberattack, of sorts, that severed our ability to log out... and put our consciousnesses back in our bodies, which was such a minute possibility with the equipment we used in peaceful applications that we didn't even suspect it WAS possible to trap a mind and keep it running."
no subject
Charles wasn't entirely sure what all went into a game like that. There were so many options nowadays, and really he only learned about it from hearsay, or when it went along with a case. So he wasn't sure what exactly Hikaru's game setup was, but the idea of being trapped outside the physical body wasn't new to him.
"Kinda sounds like when someone gets trapped or lost while astral projecting, or sommat like that," He mused, with a tilt of his head. "Kinda wild to think you can do that with tech now."