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.

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[codeswitchcraft]

Siobhan stops in her tracks.

"There's a second book?" she asks, blinking. "Does Bella come to her senses and flee to Jacob's tribal lands?"

Her tone is one of cautious hope. It's too bad she's probably going to get disappointed.

[shakenit]

"...I didn't actually read it that closely, but I kind of doubt it. I got - sidetracked."

The book in her hands is still open to one of the blank pages, labeled only with a month.

[codeswitchcraft]

Siobhan sighs. "I suppose it was too much to hope for. I do not understand the woman who wrote these books."

[shakenit]

"I'm just not sure why she seems to think staying in high school for eternity is so great."

[codeswitchcraft]

"I had tutors," Siobhan says. "Is high school really that bad?"

[shakenit]

"It... has its ups and downs, like most things." Which is a delicate way of saying 'Sumire literally wasn't herself for most of her high-school experience thus far, and given what happened the month before she started, it wouldn't have been a very typical experience anyway.'

"But you're generally not considered an adult until after you've finished. I can't understand why anyone would want to be stuck at 'needs parent's permission to do anything' indefinitely."

[codeswitchcraft]

"Oh," Siobhan says. "That I do understand. I was stuck under my father's command for far too long. Luckily, I had just turned twenty-one when I fled the wedding he had attempted to arrange for me, so the law ought to be on my side."

[shakenit]

"That would be why you feel so strongly about Bella needing to run away, I guess?"

[codeswitchcraft]

"Yes," Siobhan admits. "It is, after all, what I myself did. Though I will admit that my intended wasn't completely without mercy or honor—but as he was my father's tool, I could not wed him."

[shakenit]

Sumire nods. "It's not a position I've been in myself, but from what Haru-senpai's said about the guy her father tried to marry her off to, I'm glad for that. I definitely can't blame you for leaving."

[codeswitchcraft]

"Thank you," Siobhan says, sincerely. "Laina was able to give me shelter for a time, before I left to travel to the home of my allies and my mother's."

[shakenit]

"I'm glad you had somewhere safe to go."

Unfortunately, Sumire doesn't have much faith in Bella having that kind of sense.

[codeswitchcraft]

"So am I," Siobhan says. "I think I would have stayed if I could, but I had other quests to complete."

(Which is how she ended up in Hikaru's company.)

[shakenit]

"Do you enjoy what you're doing now?"

[codeswitchcraft]

"I don't know if it's a question of enjoying it so much as making sure what needs to be done is done," Siobhan says, thoughtfully. "But I do like the people I've met along the way."

[shakenit]

"Good people do make up for quite a bit." Her friends were helping her pull through before she even consciously realised that's what they were doing.

[codeswitchcraft]

"They do," Siobhan agrees. "Hikaru and all his friends from home... they have made a difference for me. I miss the rest of them."

[shakenit]

"Tell me about them?"

And she can try to explain the Phantom Thieves in turn, though she doesn't know how well she'll do.

[codeswitchcraft]

"Hikaru, you have already met, I think." Siobhan smiles fondly just thinking of him. "A more clever man I have yet to meet, with a kind and caring heart. There is Deedee, who is a cleric of Sylphan and a healer and fighter alike. She is smart and good at listening, but sometimes she doesn't notice obvious things. There is Sekhmet, who is a rogue and a trickster. She likes her life on Mundus better than the one she left on Earth. There is Alesha, who is a paladin of Aurora and is all things courtly and honorable. She is searching for her daughter, who was left stranded in another city.

"And finally there is Ace Striker," Sioban finishes with a soft sigh. "She is the only one I am still a little hesitant about, due to things she said when in a berserk state during a recent fight. Still, Deedee loves her and the rest of the party likes her, so I will do my best to trust in her good will."

[shakenit]

"They sound like good people-- left Earth?"

[codeswitchcraft]

"Many of the people on Mundus aren't Mundane," Siobhan explains, "but people from Earth who have had Mundane bodies made for their minds to inhabit while they go on adventures there. My friends are such people."

[shakenit]

"...Oh."

That's. A technology gap Sumire can't quite get her head around.