for all the world's a stage - LIBRARY LOG

[libraryassistants]

Who: The Editors
What: The Library changes once again...
When: January 9- January 22
Where: The Library
Content warnings: Please put them in the comment headers!

The Assistants have vanished into their backroom once again, leaving only the increasingly unbelievable “Back In 5” sign on the Help Desk, but at least they have attempted to impart some knowledge on the Editors before departing (or… attempted to do anything but, depending who you ask). The customary tea cart with drinks and increasingly stale biscuits is parked in its usual spot, though it seems that the quality of the tea at least has improved some. (Still waiting on coffee improvement.)

There’s a new crafting setup in the Maker Space, a table with an iron and machine for making vinyl designs, along with the instructions on how to use it, and a stack of t-shirts in various sizes. Usually there’s something in the correct size, but, well, mistakes happen. While this addition to clothing is a boon, there is the problem that the t-shirts can’t be taken out of the room until some sort of design is put on them. Get creative! Show off your style! Or maybe just steal one of the shirts that are there for display purposes. It’s fine, the Library can make more.

In the second week as the Library begins to change once more, the Lobby’s wooden floor shines with extra polish. The walls make an odd creaking sound as they shift, warping into brick covered with velvet drapings in a rich, dark red. Gold thread twinkles in the stitches, a sense of opulence woven through. The sound of ballroom music drifts by and, while in the Lobby, characters will be taken by the unusual impulse to dance.

Outside, in the Garden, the day/night cycle has paused firmly on a cloudless night. A full moon hangs in the air - literally. About the size of a basketball, it follows the first person who enters the Garden; hovering a couple of meters above their head. A white aura spreads from them, powered by the moon, and those who are caught in its light will find themselves unable to speak anything but the truth.

When the person to whom the moon is attached leaves the garden, the moon and its aura will leave them; and the moon will attach to the next person to enter instead.

On the circulation desk, there is a sign: “This Week’s Recommended Reading: Twilight!” The accompanying sign up sheet waits next to it for those wishing to check it out- though some will receive the movie instead of the book, with no particular rhyme or reason to it. Periodically someone might also receive something else entirely. Whoops? The Assistants at least will fix that quickly. Richard will be embarrassed, while Phillip will be trying not to cackle.

While not advertised, various iterations of different stories will be available throughout the Library. In particular, someone seems to have left the projector in one of the meeting rooms running, with a variety of different recorded plays. These range from professional productions, to parodies, to what appear to be high schoolers (of which one production features a sixteen year old version of Phillip running around being an absolutely nuisance.

Comments

Toot toot all aboard the headcanon train

[keytarheroine]

“We liked it. I tell you about the band cover story, back when Magica Riot needed a cover story?”

She regards the delinquent oni with a small smile.

“…Hana and Nova were more into toku than the rest of us but we all grew up with the Power Rangers. Discovering the OG Super Sentai was a revelation.”

Re: Toot toot all aboard the headcanon train

[birdchasingecho]

"Ichigo got us into them very early. The three of us, I mean-- Myself, Ichigo, Naoki." She pauses, and mutters, "has it really been six years...?"

"But putting that aside, you were going to tell me about your band's cover story?" She says, a genuine smile on her face.

Re: Toot toot all aboard the headcanon train

[keytarheroine]

“Riot girls. Punks and delinquents. Queerer than a three dollar bill, one and all,” she says. “Sara on guitar and vocals, Cass on acoustic and harmony, Nova on drums, Hana on base, me with my keys, doing songs of anger at injustice, women’s liberation, radical genderqueer anarchy.”

She grins, and sings. And if Mei notices the song is dedicated to her, all the better.

“That girl thinks she's the queen of the neighborhood,
She's got the hottest trike in town,
That girl, she holds her head up so high,
I think I wanna be her best friend, yeah!”

Use No Magic, Speak No Holies

[birdchasingecho]

Mei can't literally hear the band, but she can feel it from her heels, the whine of the pickup, the driving beat, the way her heart jumps, the electric feeling on her arms and legs.

The subtle feeling like she's waking up, like all those images of her mother holding a bat and archive photos of her work in Jupiter-5 all clanging together.

She doesn't know how she's able to work the rhythm but she does, like it's been in her bones the whole damn time.

She finally registers what the lyrics are saying, and her eyes fly open, looking into Clare's.

[keytarheroine]

Kissing her on the lips,

…Feels unearned at this point, but Claire will meet the gaze with a smile and a wink. She did that on purpose and wants Mei to know it was on purpose.

“That was just a Bikini Kill cover,” she says. “Which we’ve been known to do.”

[birdchasingecho]

Listen. She is blushing deeply and trying to maintain her composure and utterly failing. She can't even laugh.

And then it's like someone letting go of the sword they've been holding for years, stiff, arthritic fingers and all. She leans on the table and, like everything else in the library, creaks a little, but holds like a champion. "... I know you just answered this, but... what was that pulse...?"

[keytarheroine]

“Pulse?”

Claire blinks.

“Unless you could feel my heart pounding from singing for you,” because shame is for people who can’t hear the Maidensong, the poor bastards, “I’m not sure what you mean? That wasn’t sonomancy, not deliberately; if it was you’d be seeing a bit more Jimi Hendrix.”

No purple haze, in other words.

[birdchasingecho]

"... Huh. Maybe I just heard it before, then. Could swear I heard a whole song." But now she's confused. "... I'll chase that rabbit later."

"What do you think of all the rest of this, anyhow?"

[keytarheroine]

"I think," Claire says, very seriously, "that there is a very real possibility we're headed for a vampire on werewolf romantic rivalry, not to say we'll necessarily be the objects of affection."

She folds her arms, leaning against the 3-D Printer.

"And if you are forced into a romantic role... I have a hunch, based on my own experiences with mind-altering magic and curses. I'm not sure you'll much like it."

[birdchasingecho]

"Oh, I know I won't like it." She sighs. "But, knowing my luck, I'd probably be shoved in some two-bit servant's role, yellin' ta Juliet to get her clothes back on."

We apologize for this vast disconnect between what she thinks she is and what she actually is. She might get better, at some point.

[keytarheroine]

"Bullshit, you rate at least Tybalt."

She looks up at the ceiling.

"...magic can be suppressed by more powerful magic, even curses. And being forced to play as Bella is an incredibly potent curse. Enough so that if it happened to you, it might suppress anything else, at least for a time."

[birdchasingecho]

She pauses, as she thinks about that, very carefully. "So, I could pick up a bow again, but even leaving aside I'd have a tough row getting back into form for anything that'd matter... I'm stuck in a powerless role. Again." Still, she doesn't say.

But the possibility-- the tantalizing possibility-- that whatever happens there suppresses the shadow, too... Would she get a chance to catch it?

[keytarheroine]

"For now, but not forever. We're Editors. If the script sucks, you edit it. If the mood's bad, change the soundtrack. Riot Girl suits you better than sad and soulful violin."

[birdchasingecho]

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm seeing how this'll work. But a lot depends on things I just don't... actually know. I have some guesses, but nothin' concrete." She pauses. "which brings me to-- have. You seen the shadow around?"

Mei has-- through a scrying pool, admittedly-- but the mere fact that it's here and running around means it must be looking for someone out in the stacks, right?

[keytarheroine]

"I haven't. The one that eats fruit and hits... on..."

Claire blinks.

Claire laughs.

"Holy Maidensong, it's your Shadow. Of course it is."

[birdchasingecho]

Mei's answering look is dubious, but resigned. "What, like that one season of Bishoujou Healing?"

But... if it's smart enough to avoid a magical girl... "But... you're right, it has to have some of me, at least, or it wouldn't have been able to follow me. ... At this point, I'm not sure what'd be better. It following me in, or being suppressed and emerging as soon as we get back."

[keytarheroine]

"I was thinking more the Revelations: Shadows Rising games, but it probably rhymes. Just imagine all the neat shit Ame no Uzume will give you once you hug it out with your shadow. I bet she calls fire."

[birdchasingecho]

"Fire? ... Maybe." She tries to think it out, then just shrugs and asks: "Why fire?"

[keytarheroine]

"More riffing on Ame no Uzume - she who made the dawn come - than anything, but if I'm basing it more on you, it would be fire, electricity, or steel, if I had to pick an RPG element. Passion, tension, resolve."

And Hikaru would be proud of the Shakespearean wordplay there.

"I don't, I just get colorful energy set to music, there are magical girls from my world who have elemental affinities but mostly the Maidensong gives us colors, force, and sound."

[birdchasingecho]

"... Tension, huh..." Wasn't her mom known as the 'Thunder Devil'? Not that she's shared this. "... I guess I'd be tense all the time too, if--"

The joke catches up with her. Oh, a duel of wits, is it? Sure. She's game. Let's see who laughs first. "Ah, so you're all about getting your own heart beating."

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare innuendo war

[keytarheroine]

“Just as long as it’s not the breakbeat. Keytar means I have to do fancy fingering, too.”

Re: 1, 2, 3, 4, I declare innuendo war

[birdchasingecho]

"Fancy's fine," Mei agrees. "Speaking as a judoka, gentleness and strength should go hand-in-hand."

[keytarheroine]

"Of course. Your reach versus my flexibility, is that how it goes? Happy to be your uke any day of the week. Or seme. I can switch like that."

[birdchasingecho]

"I have heard that versatility is a valued asset." She can't quite keep the smile off her face, now. "And so I have endeavored to cultivate it."

[keytarheroine]

"What's your color, oh pure-hearted maiden? What's your preferred instrument? Might be room in Magica Riot for a unique sound who can really hit the high notes when they work the mike."