unfinishedlibrary | for all the world's a stage

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for all the world's a stage - LIBRARY LOG

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.

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A smile. "Yes, revisionist. Whatever that means."

Hopefully it means he can just draw big red X's on things. Which he might do anyway -- he thinks, having not seen the action part of the stories yet.

His eyes widen and a low whistle of approval. "Quite impressive Mei. Yeah... it's not meant to be done by one person." He thinks over the play written by Simeon they all did, fond memories, a little mixed, weird times all around. "Tsk please pretend you didn't hear this from me, but should an angel called Simeon ever show up, tell him I highly recommend you as a lead role actress so please ask him to show you his works. He writes plays." Good ones. Nope, can't bring himself to admit it. Such is life! It's the one thing Levi has on Lucifer. He was unabashed in his adoration of Simeon's writing chops. "Want a counterpart so you don't have to take over both sides, or is this also endurance training?"

Despite the currently languid wolf posture, he has actually done acting before, after all. More than once, because Lord Diavolo was also low-key obsessed with getting him on film. Again, Lucifer blames Simeon.

"If Prospero pleases, by all means," she says, bowing in the way of theater kids pretty much everywhere.

"Of the ones I've read so far, this and Midsummer are my favorites." For reasons that perhaps surprise Lucifer not one whit. Powerful servants bound to irascible masters? Why, whatever could Mei find interesting about that?

He nods and hops up.

"Admittedly I'm overly fond of this one: the Tempest," Ariel herself is based on one of his favorite (former) archangel sisters making Mei playing her part even better as far as he's concerned, and such things are all over the play in references (not too unlike what Simeon did with the 7 brothers and his smash series the 7 Lords), especially accounting for the GrecoRoman mythos overlap to anything Western religion (much like Shinto translates/correspondingly). "Hamlet, and Timon of Athens especially whenever I want to strangle Mammon." A rich dude gives all his money to idiots around him to party and then they don't pay him back, so he dies alone in a cave hating humanity. The end. "They keep telling me it's not a comedy, but I'm pretty sure they're wrong." Is he joking? Is he for real?

"Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?" Like a man possessed, rattling eagerly at his cages, thirsty for revenge!

Argh, he gets almost embarrassingly into it. It's definitely like Simeon's play all over again where no one could decide if he and Diavolo were really fighting or not. Archangel (albeit very VERY former!) things, he basically just flips the switch and he's all in, forever incapable of half-measures.

"To every article." There is a pregnant pause. It seems someone has taught her already the way to read the lines-- as verse, counting meter like a rhythm instead of blasting through it.

"I boarded the King’s ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin..."

While she has the spirit, the tone, the gestures might be a little suspect-- she has not been taught to cheat out, for all she has been taught to recite. It is as if she is giving the report to Lucifer, Prospero direct, rather than explaining for the audience.

And yet, for all that, her gestures are wide and wild, for an audience, at least.

Lucifer wonders in the back of his mind (multitasking, as always) what she does theater in, and is it relevant that it's not part of her geas when almost everything else does seem in there. He'll have to make a mental note to ask her about it.

If Simeon WAS here, he'd be directing her about her blocking and projection, as severely as Lucifer usually does everything else, but unless specifically asked, when Lucifer is acting, he can't mentally see both from inside the perspective and 4th wall perspective too well. A similar problem Diavolo had. Besides, between humans using microphones, and film techniques, and demons using magic, the both probably compensated in weird ways, or didn't.

"My brave spirit!
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reason?"

Lucifer's elocution is intense, as you might expect. The academy famously cherished his speeches, and Mephisto was always salty because not only did he win, but often even beat Lord Diavolo who would come in second.

She lives in Osaka and made a hobby of Downtown manzai. She's also had to lie to everyone about who she is. Keeping a straight face in the face of wild comedy routines... and this? Perhaps not so different.

But she's letting herself be animated, in the name of learning the plays. A kind of freedom, where her curses do not interfere. "... The King’s son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring— then like reeds, not hair—
Was the first man that leaped; cried “Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here!""

And, well. Aren't they?

A shadow pools in the dark corners of the projection room, but seems content, yet, to watch the play.

Lucifer's absolute favorite line! He breaks character just enough to add lowly, "Well, not yet. But soon." With a wink stage side like they're actually in practice, if not full on performance. To be fair, contextually it being about the depravity of humans over even devils is why it's Lucifer's favorite, but he loves the joke too.

"Why that's my spirit!"

Pride begets pride, so it's probably not surprising all told Lucifer gets really into the part. It'll all but break him to do the slavery/bondage angle. Something to use his pride on, Father's plans be damned. He'll do what he wants, though he can't tell the difference between manipulation and his own thoughts right now. At least he knows defiance of hierarchies and slavery is never freedom.

"Ariel, my charge!
Exactly is perform'd. But there's more work!" The workaholic is never finished.

And now, her voice takes a fevered pitch yet-- her eyes seeming to shine in that moment with an inner blue fire. "Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains,
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,
Which is not yet performed me."

Of course, acting this part, she would burn to be free.

Oh yeah, this is the part he was waiting for. Not even the hardiest NON-method actor would be able to do this without amplifying their own feelings in intensity!

He feigns surprise, coyly, like Mammon whenever anyone tries to get him to pay his own fucking bills. This time he himself is more directing at the (non-existent? 4th wall existentially???) audience, as if in a wink and nod, and clearly the guilt averting his gaze from Ariel/Mei. Lead by example.
"How now? moody?
What is't thou canst demand?"

"My liberty!" and she cheats out just that little to match him and slams her foot down to emphasize.

Edited 2026-01-14 01:19 (UTC)

"Before the time be out? no more!"

Humans and how they always try to find loopholes.

Different, obviously, when it's not a curse they entered willingly.

She almost runs over his line to make sure she takes the place in the meter. "I prithee
Remember I have done thee worthy service,
Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise
To bate me a full year!"

Which is to say, take a full year from the promised service. Whether this is a year's vacation, or a year off the time Ariel is to remain bound, is not quite clear from the text, but context seems to say the latter.

Edited 2026-01-14 02:59 (UTC)

Indeed.
Though it reminds him too much of Lilith's descendant. The reason he couldn't bring himself to get the least bit emotionally attached until literally the night before they left (after their first year in Devildom. Though they returned, he still would go crazy with how much the rest of his brothers missed them. Vocally. Loudly. Oh so annoyingly, like lemon juice and salt in open wounds!)

He gets nearly lyrical about this, using all his speechcraft skills. He wonders if Mei's blocking technique is because of how little there'd been in her previous stage theater.... or maybe it's just the running back and forth to look at the script, even with the cheats.

"Thou dost, and think'st it much to tread the ooze
Of the salt deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the veins o' the earth
When it is baked with frost."

He was practically made for those lines, ice cold by nature emotionally, and sharp and dark.

Still, he has to call for a "break, please." Holding his hand up and breaking scene to join her more closely. There's no way he can call her a slave without hurting himself, truth told, but if it'll help her work some things out, maybe with the geas, he'd try. "This next part is overwhelmingly intense. Not just for you, but even me as well. Ariel is the archangel of the environment, and while I've not spoken to her for millennia," the fall, "The feeling of humanity constantly harming her with their ignorance is a rather--" he closes one red eye, "Let's just say, if I hadn't fallen long ago, Susano-o wouldn't have been the first one lashing out at humanity for the outrages to the environment." A huff. "Even beyond that, it is--" he can detach himself mostly, but even then, he puts too much of himself into everything, that's who he is, how ALL angels are, and it's worse for the fallen who have to contend with the sins as well. "Quite heavy, even by my standards."

Lilith, her descendant, weighty all around. Not the least of which, how many demons felt like the pacts were binding them to slavery; and while Lord Diavolo and Lucifer could (and did) do everything in their power to prevent that, he would have to willingly lose part of himself to portray how fucking monstrous he found Prospero to be even while pretending to be him. It's a lot, and he's not sure how well he can handle actually going more evil than humanity already found him, even to just highlight a horror that, if the devil thinks it's beyond his level of evil, it's really really bad. And the main reason Lucifer himself ONLY had two pacts, one with Lord Diavolo, and one with Lilith's descendant (both circling Lilith, how about that.) Because he would never allow himself to be a slave, though Lilith's descendant did plenty more with her pact on him than he'd expected, or truly wanted.

Granted witches did do plenty odd terrible things, and he can just show her the lines best to skip ahead to. (Though Lucifer threatening all manners of punishments was hardly unlike him!) He's personally most comfortable skipping over the hag's torture, the threatened promise (though again, it's easier than breathing for him to do) to promising to release her in two days.

But first -

"What is your normal theater background? You're clearly too talented to not have honed this greatly."

Not an idle compliment, he REALLY is genuinely critical of theater and acting, even if he's incapable of mentally playing a role and watching critically as a reviewer until after the fact if it's on film. That's an angel skill he lost in the fall.

It also helps that for him, he's memorized this play. All lines and cues. Listen, he's old. But his memory is the best outside of his Father, and consequently, it gives him at least that little extra edge to do more. He should also see if -- "What tricks do you use for memorizing large blocks? Prop cheats?" For holding the script, easier with a stage audience, impossible on film but also unnecessary as one could practically freeze time there. "I noticed you got the meter down well." Shakespeare's own favorite trick. The math and rhythm of poetry and music to help even with humans who neither were visual, kinetic, nor auditory learners. It would also help to know if which Mei herself specialized in, because if kinetic, then he could improve her memory tenfold.

.... Somehow he can almost swear he can hear his father's jubilation, and he doesn't know why. Damn it.

She nods, about the environment. "Yeah. Yeah, I can see why that'd be a major thing. Heck, turns out Sun Eater and Star Grazer have that same kinda long view and got mad at human countries for it, but they've been quieter lately. It's... Well, you don't go to world-ending threats for fifty years without losin' a lot of people. but we got by. Somehow. Rebuilding's gonna be goin' on past my generation."

Besides, she has to go over the script again, mouthing the words at first, and then quietly looking to listen to Lucifer.

To the questions:

"I live in Kansai. The entire region has a buncha stage traditions; I worked improvisational manzai most of the years I was in school for things like cultural festivals, but I've attempted rakugo and such." Rakugo, a form of traditional storytelling, which involves memorizing entire short form, or even long-form, tales without use of prompts. "And yeah, yeah, I know Downtown's not manzai to the stuffed-shirts, Downtown-style's still the most popular, and I been doin' bits with my friends for years while we're walkin' home.

"As for memorization tricks... It's like with rakugo, or memorizing a song. Everything's got its poses, right? You make the movement part of the memory, it gets easier."

Edited 2026-01-14 04:36 (UTC)

Ah yes, improv. Perfectly sensible. And maybe he should switch over to doing that later, it's been ages, usually he can really only rely on Leviathan for it, and Leviathan had a habit of getting deeply derailed with esoteric knowledge that made Lucifer feel somehow even more ancient than otherwise. He'd love to do that again! HAH Lord Diavolo would be VERY jealous indeed.

As for stuffed-shirts -- Lucifer laughs quietly, and then into a full chuckle. "Oh humans," he can't help it. "Still with the classism divides even in culture?" A headshake. "I shouldn't be surprised, but after that many apocalypses, I'd think you'd just treasure everything that survived!"

To be fair, Mephistopheles could be completely like that, he hated Lucifer for being not-demon-born, but he's a demon so of course he is!

He gently rests a gloved hand on the top of her head.

"Listen well, Mei. Manzai is quite easily my favorite aspect of all Japanese culture." Not that improv acting was unique to Japan, but that was part of why, because he considers it the purest form of art! The most inspired, just doing it because the feeling takes you over and you can't resist! Again, Levi totally understood that better than the others. But Levi sort of half did it 24/7 just because it was an easier way to deal with people with the improv as a buffer, and the quotes making it something Levi could use to process everything with (emotionally/mentally). "The only reason I can't indulge in it more is the only brother I have capable of it, uses so many anime and manga references, I can't hope to keep up." A giant beam and he withdraws the hand.

"I'd be honored if you indulged me sometime."

He nods about the - "Kinetic memorization, yes. All sports athletes have this memory style. It can be trained, of course," all learning styles can be, "But even more than just 'muscle memory' by setting yourself into specific poses, stands, and movements with the words, not only do you remember those words better, it is the most early basic form of time travel."

He should explain it a little better. "Time Travel, when not just remembering is more like re-living, or seeing your alternate timelines and options, so you can actively choose which one to be in in the moment." He demonstrates by standing different ways with dramatic, albeit regular for Lucifer so crossed arms, angry at Mammon, and then more relaxed etc. "By syncing each time," he repeats them. "You are more than just re-living them, you are carving them into existence, so you access them again in the future with your memories, but bring about the emotions of it as well. Because 4th dimension," time, "doesn't take place here," the physical realm, "you have to access it," he taps his temples with two fingers, "In here. You set it up, thinking of how to access that place, and what your future needs of this moment, and you can go back to it, standing there, wanting the same."

A shrug. He has no idea if she's ready for THAT level of development, but you never know if you never try. And Lilith's descendant showed him, humans were FAR more capable of understanding it than he'd have EVER given them credit for. And perhaps if he'd shown the human transfer student the trick, she either wouldn't have done something incredibly stupid, or she would have at least warned him before she did. Oh well, forever forward. It was a memorization trick he'd never showed his siblings, now that he thinks of it, but also they'd never asked. Besides, while not ALL the archangels (before falling or after) surely employed it, they all had other ways of doing things anyhow, and it wasn't the only step to either time travel nor his incredible memory.

"Shakespeare always made sure to leave a lot more room for his actors to add their own touches than most other playwrights, even those that followed long after him. He understood theater is not a medium of a commander giving orders to their actors who relay it as dictated to an audience, but one wherein the actors breathe life into the story. That's why there's always so many widely varied renditions with Shakespeare, because most understood he was presenting outlines and letting others make true art with it, rather than the way of so many before, and after him, demanding others understand his own vision and methodology."

It's clear why Lucifer has STRONG FEELINGS about that, yes? (see also: His Father, and "my way or Hell" etc.)

"He was definitely visionary. He understood not only the abject evils of slavery and indentured servitude long before the rest of the Western hemisphere, but he even realized to apply it to spirits, at a time when humanity was losing sight that we even exist." It helps him to say it, to give him a buffer for the fight between Prospero and Ariel, hopefully her too, with context. "It's true, many witches do think of spirits and pacts as simply property. To use, abuse, and neglect." He points her through the lines about what the witch did to Ariel, not too unlike Mei's mother in law. "That is one of the many reasons Lord Diavolo and I worked so hard to establish better working relationships with human governments, and create RAD. Demons also had to start proving their worth beyond the worst of the worst."

"... Time travel as memory travel is an interesting conceit, but I'm not quite sure I have the power yet. And yes, it's true, I've been an athlete for some time. Even considering my archery, there's also the judo and gymnastics cross-training I've put my time into." The gymnastics had been mandatory, but she'd taken to it surprisingly well. "Weapons work and bajiquan, of course. Because what's a bodyguard without bajiquan, apparently. Why not just let me use my--"

Sadly, this is definitely 'just bitching', and not 'learning' or 'teaching', so Lucifer gets to see her get a warning pinch on the neck fetter, and a choked noise. "gonna find that lord fuckshit one day..."

She breathes a moment, recovers her composure. "Still, if I did time travel... Well. There's only one day I'd go. And it would change everything, and I don't know if it's for the better." Her hands gripped, bitterly, in ready to draw position, then extended a hand, as if to find her name on a list.

The day of her results for high school entrance exams. She recalled it, even if she wasn't there, physically, she could go there mentally, easily as breathing. She'd placed highly, high enough that she could have gone to public school, high enough to be in the top track of university preparation, handily. So was Ichigo. She had wondered if Naoki had made it, too. It would be so good to be back together again!

... And then...

Her hand closed. "You're right. Let's get back to discussing the matter at hand."

"Stagings left carefully ambiguous-- was that unusual for the time, or did he simply elevate it to a higher art?" she asks. "There's also that he wrote it in plain verse-- it's more difficult to sit the verse if you're interrupted every two or three lines by stage directions. Throws off the rhythm."

Still, she taps the side of her cheek. "As for the history-- I am not surprised. I... Am not up on the history of enslavement as much as I should like; the fact is that in our history classes, we were much more interested in the history of our own country and world affairs as they mattered to us. The slave trade touched us distantly, and late; a benefit to an island nation is that it was easy for us to close our borders to ideas the one in control did not like.

"Not to say this was a good thing overall, and I am fairly sure there was indentured servitude of some sort right along, but..."

"You'd be surprised. It's more like lucid dreaming, just setting things up for the future to tell you things when and where you are. Your spirit can do more, the more you exercise it, but to physically be in more places, you'd have to use gates or else you're creating paradoxes."

And ow, that looks painful. He gets it, Lucifer STILL get migraine headaches, stress, yes, and also whenever he crosses line HE KNOWS better than to do. He tries to figure out if there's a way to help her, to protect her from something inside out like her own immune system, but maybe moving on is for the best.

"Very unusual. The time, before, and after. The verse is smart, but a little traditional with GrecoRoman play traditions. But letting the actors have more say in the characterization? Unheard of. I'm pretty sure it's why he found such longevity. Homer's plays and Oedipus Rex were strictly controlled, the actors were more like puppets, meant to be seen, but not expressive. That was standard, they were supposed to be invisible almost, in order to not overshadow the writing and production. Shakespeare made it for the actors, and they returned the favor making him immortal in legacy. He was confident his writing could stand on its own, and the gamble more than paid off."

Of course if they are going to talk about slavery and theater, they will be here FOREVER. Lucifer has big powerful emotions about both. Add in his brothers and he might just kidnap her on accident to talk to nonstop!

"It was a lot more common in England. Preventing the slave trade kidnapping Japanese is why the Tokugawa dynasty closed its borders, especially to the budding New World empires, as that is where most of the Europeans found active use in slavery."

Even when he tried to sell her on torture is a reasonable method to deal with human men, he was not even a fraction as murderous or menacing as now. The only sign he's not about to do something exceptionally scarier is that he hasn't sprouted his wings and horns. Yet. But damn if he doesn't ooze fallen angel do not expect kindness critical failure death vibes that cowed even his giant three-headed dog.

"The worst slavery in Japan was--"

No no no no no, he is not going to launch into a big rant about the barakumin and their later enabling yakuza, or WW2 and Japan's relationships with other South Asian nations, or MAGICAL SLAVERY because too many just thought it was a game, or geisha culture or anything else. And especially not how it ties in through Shintoism, the fallacies in any religions, OR ANYTHING ELSE. Not today ~~Satan, Father, Universe, Fate~~ humans!

Give him a moment.

Lucifer just drags a gloved hand down his face. He's got this. It's fine.

"So about here?" he points to Prospero's line about only asking her help for two more days. "Unless you're really into the rest. But since you didn't list method acting, it might hurt. More than humans give it credit for." Emotional wounds are the worst according to the low-emotional threshold devil.

Good, because she is painfully aware of that. Her father was Kurokawa Haruto, a family of metalworkers and blacksmiths going back some ways, before he married Torioi Hifuumi, a mountain girl from a farming village in Kobe who was a mecha pilot. And what were they supposed to do?

"... I could keep going, but... You're right. I would burn the entire time."

So, he HARDLY needs to lecture her on it! It's getting far too ahead of himself, he barely has tenable relationships of mutual understandings with human governments yet, fucking around with trying to get them to stop being evil would only backfire while everyone sees HIM as the greatest evil of mankind. However further advanced her humanity is, it's not like either of them are in positions to fix those kinds of things yet anyway.

An actually gentle smile, "Humans are better at being open and direct with your emotions, but the cost is too many of you underestimate the pain and actual cost you are giving of yourselves so freely." A hand wave. "Acting, art, music, pacts," sex, he isn't going to say that no one can make him! "And so on. It's important to set up boundaries. Not just to keep you safe, but even just those you work with." Imps or coworkers alike, but even the audience, as would be the case in Satan's acting. A shrug. "Not that I know much it is true here," without faerie magic enhancement in the literal air. And other things at play. "But it was a universal constant in mine."

"Well. One may say that, but I'm familiar with the exhaustion of attempting to change." Ah. A drawback of her iron soul.

"... However, if we're both agreed on these points, I think..." She takes a sip of water. "It is nearly time to return to it."

"Agreed," a firm nod as they continue onward!

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for all the world's a stage - LIBRARY LOG

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