Careful of the stacks - LIBRARY LOG

[libraryassistants]

Who: EVERYONE!
What: A bunch of Editors walk into a library...
When: October 31st - November 13
Where: The Unfinished Library
Content warnings: Please add them as needed in the comment titles!

Welcome to the Library, Editors.

As the new residents drop into the Library, they are bound to have questions. Unfortunately it seems no one (except perhaps someone on the phone) appears to have any answers. But there is a nice little cart with a carafe of too weak coffee, a pot of too strong tea, assorted creams and sugar packets, and what appear to be leftover boxed shortbread cookies. There’s a sign inviting people to help themselves but reminding them not to take any food or drinks into the stacks, or touch any of the books with their grubby cookie hands. But aside from this little display and the nametags they’re all given, which do reappear whenever removed for the first week (where do they keep coming from?), the Editors are more or less left alone.

The Library is eternal, or at least it seems that way, unbothered by its new inhabitants. It certainly does not seem like this is anything unusual within its operation. Are there other sections of the Library with Editors, tucked into a different part of the stacks? Have there been Editors here before, and the ones here are simply a replacement? It’s impossible to say, just that the Library seems quite prepared for them. The refrigerators are stocked with appropriate (if generic) foodstuffs, any tantrums in front of the circulation desk are completely ignored, and attempts to set the Library on fire fizzle out before anything can even catch.

However, after a few days, some of the scenery in the Library seems to be changing. Little singing bowls and white noise makers pop up on various shelves and counters, yoga mats appear tucked under the bunk beds (plenty for everyone, somehow), and some of the rooms have started playing relaxing, meditative music over unseen speakers. More confusingly, there are also small UFOs hanging by string from the lower ceilings of the contained rooms, which on closer reflection are revealed to simply be two paper plates glued together and painted silver. In the beginning they’re quite sparse, but by the end of the second week they are everywhere and impossible to ignore.

At the start of the second week, there is a possible hint as to why, for at least part of it. On the table by the circulation desk there is a sign: “This Week’s Recommended Reading: Invasion of the Body Snatchers!” Next to it, there is a sign up sheet: a waitlist to check-out the ‘reading.’ (There is no explanation or apology for it actually being a movie.)

[ooc note: The Library prompts from the TDM can be considered canon to the game. Remember any of the locations listed in the setting are fair game. Have fun!]

Comments

Laina Guthart | Wonders of Mundus

[terraboo]

[Arrival]

Laina Guthart was a library keeper by, actually, most of the time. Cleaning, organizing, and duplicating records - by hand! - was second nature to her.

It had been a nice day in the Gnomonish Monastic Library of Salzberg when she... Well, she'd been working. Then she woke up at a table as if she'd fallen asleep in a way that was certainly, absolutely, most unlike her, and wasn't something she'd been yelled at by the Mother Superior about three days ago! It wasn't like she didn't have her share of the daily work and then some done, sheesh...

The table, however, wasn't one she knew. The chair had a higher back. The floors and shelves she knew were stone, not wood. And, this one was important, no one she knew was in sight.

Before long, she'd made her way to the circulation desk, finding the clearly hastily prepared tea - and no sign of who'd prepared it.

She didn't think to try the phone, even knowing what it was thanks to one of the books she'd read. Instead... She will move around the library, soft shoes keeping her steps quiet, and possibly engage with whoever she runs into.

[Laina's Lair]

Laina Guthart, back home, had a rather small room to herself. A bed, a desk, space for clothes, and bookshelves. Mostly the last thing.

The bunk beds in the dorm area mean she'll have to share a space with someone, which... She'll have to put up with. But that doesn't mean she's not taking some efforts to create at least a little privacy. A desk shuffled in at one end, curtains on the other, and one of these fancy small electric lights to light the otherwise-darkened area create her personal Underbunk. She'll have to learn more advanced solutions later.

Bother her if you dare. (... She isn't going to bite or anything?)

[The Film - Before]

"A recommended reading, huh? It's... Got a time and date? That's. Different."

She looks confused, but does sign up.

[The Film - After]

... Perhaps this wasn't the best First Movie for Laina to watch ever. Sure, she'd managed to figure out the limitations of the special effects a little bit.

But the themes, uh, kind of hit something given things she knew about herself as of the day before she'd arrived here.

She's kind of quietly stepping out of the viewing room, looking more than a little more freaked out, in a way others not from the 1950s might not be. Shaking a bit, and trying to recenter, only to think of emotionless copies of her, and...

Laina's Lair

[monstrous_bride]

For her part, the Bride isn't looking to share. Besides which - bunk beds? Are they completely insane? She can barely fit the damned things! Let alone that she'll probably collapse an upper bunk on top of whoever is below her.

So when the door opens on another area with another person in it, she rolls her eyes and allows an expression of aggravation to escape her.

"Ugh, people again," she says.

What Laina will make of the rather sudden appearance of a 6'5'' woman clearly stitched together...well, that remains to be seen.

Re: Laina's Lair

[terraboo]

"S-sorry," Laina responds.

She actually seems relatively ready for a figure like this. Tall, clearly something different... She doesn't seem too concerned with that, surprisingly. Almost like she's used to a wider array of varieties of people than just Andrax - oh, uh, humans.

"I think all the rooms are two beds, sadly. Thus trying to create as much of something like a space for myself as I can. Not sure the rooms even lock, actually. Should probably check that."

[monstrous_bride]

"We'll see about that," she replies, "I think I can successfully threaten most people away. And they had better lock - a woman needs her alone time."

Finally, though, she pays proper attention to the other person in the room.

"Good on you for doing some 'requisitioning.' I approve of rampant theft from whoever or whatever our new jailor is."

[terraboo]

"I... Hmm. I'm not sure this place has a person behind our kidnapping. It's not impossible, of course, but, I think for a person to have done this... I mean, we're not on Mundus. I doubt a mortal could pull an unwilling person entirely off of Mundus without drawing the attention of Io... And a prompt, aggressive response."

She sighs. "You probably can threaten people away, yes. But is that the right way to do it? I mean. The loner's the archetype, but I suspect that to get out of here, it'll be a lot easier with more pairs of hands, right?"

Maybe not the best way to word that, Laina, but the sentiment is likely clear.

[monstrous_bride]

She can make some quick guesses based on what the other woman says to her. Mundus, though?

"Oh, I can and will threaten people. It's better than what I'll do otherwise, which is throw them out headfirst. I don't do friends."

But she pauses at what the woman had said earlier.

"And wait - are you talking about a god?"

[terraboo]

"Yep. I'm a Priestess of Gnomon the Archivist. Where I'm from, the gods have direct power, which we can channel into divine magic. Soooo. Yeah. Looks like at least what I've tested of my magic still works here, too. Summoning little lights and stuff; I'm not going to break out combat magic casually, I'm sure you understand."

... That is a rather large poleaxe at her side. Not unreasonable for her, but enough to say 'this girl knows how to fight'.

"I'd still say that trying to work with people's likely to go better. Then again, I guess I'm used to being the weirdo for all the stuff I've read, soooo, maybe I'm not one to talk."

[monstrous_bride]

"Depends what you're reading," she says, absently, still thinking that over. So they have beings that at least masquerade as gods. Her atheism is strong, and she won't take a claim like that laying down. But never piss off a believer with a giant poleaxe unless you're absolutely certain you want to start a fight.

She's been stabbed or sliced enough times, over the many decades.

"A priestess. Well, if you can summon things, make yourself useful and summon me up some sacramental wine or something - I haven't found any bloody alcohol in this place, and it's upsetting."

Ok, so she can't quite avoid being herself - but it's not said in anger, at least.

[terraboo]

"... If only I could. Our monastery's specialty was berry liqueurs. I've heard about conjuration magic that's on the right level to pull that off... Sadly, most of what I have is more on the level of magical healing and cleaning. Which is inferior to a shower or better yet bath, but sure beats nothing."

The Film - After

[wontforbidtherain]

Movies were something Aphra was familiar with, though the idea of watching them on one's own whenever one wanted, like reading a book, was new. The date was... slightly alarming, as it was three decades in her future. While Aphra knew that knowledge could filter from future to past -- mostly as a byproduct of the Great Race of Yith -- a physical artifact is a different matter. And she can't think of a way to reconstruct a film, short of memorizing the entire thing and re-filming it.

(This was cementing her theory that the Librarians were something akin to the Yith, but the ability to move physical matter... well, that was the sort of magic that quickly drove you insane where Aphra comes from, so she's not thinking about that. )

She had only seen the title, which was slightly unsettling, given she'd been recently hunting for mentions of body-swapping before she was pulled here, and not anxious to see another war movie, but it seemed relevant.

Laina's expression coming out of the viewing room was not reassuring her about the movie. "Are you well?" Awkward to ask of a stranger, but they were all stuck in the same situation here.

Re: The Film - After

[terraboo]

"... That was my first time seeing a film properly instead of just reading about it, for one," she said. "And... Copies of people that exist only by consuming the original... It's. A bit too adjacent to my situation before I got here."

Laina sighs. For her, film was literally centuries ahead if she understood technology advancement. But reading about it, it should have felt almost old hat. Except, of course... It didn't. Seeing recorded fiction actively like that...

Even reading this story like she'd though it'd be when she first signed in might have hit hard. But the imagery instead...

Re: The Film - After

[wontforbidtherain]

Films weren't new technology for Aphra, though the ones of her youth were set to phonographs or a live pianist's performance, and she remembers the impact of sound and color.

The rest was was not the answer she expected to get, but... well, Aphra had watched World War II movies in an audience of largely Japanese immigrants and their descendants. 'Relating to the monsters' was not a new sentiment to her. "Can I ask how, or is it too personal to discuss with a stranger? We can go get a cup of tea and a snack."

Re: The Film - After

[terraboo]

"I..." Laina paused.

"I'm Laina Guthart, from the world of Mundus, setting of the hit online role-playing game, Wonders of Mundus. An NPC designed to toss memes at the playerbase. Scripted, you get the idea."

"A day or so ago, I learned about this. That my entire life was... I'm not even sure if 'a lie' was the word. So, at what point does the design written for me end, and the girl begins? Like, I still have all the freshest and dankest of memes, plus a literal personal library of classics."

She sighs. "... So yeah, the 'pod people' thing maaaaay have gotten to me a bit. Like a nightmarish reverse of my own situation. I think I'll be fine?"

Re: The Film - After

[wontforbidtherain]

"I'm afraid I don't get the idea," Aphra said. "Some of those words you used were unfamiliar to me, or in unfamiliar ways."

Re: The Film - After

[terraboo]

"R-right. Can't assume tech levels when I'm from the Renaissance but read stuff from the Internet Age. Basically, though... Imagine I came into existence from something closer to... Uh, is an 'automaton' a usable word maybe?"

... Laina seems distracted by a thought for a moment or two.

"So, yeah. Seeing people who are less than themselves in a key way..."

Re: The Film - After

[wontforbidtherain]

Aphra recognizes that Laina is struggling for words, and she's met enough people to sympathize. "It is. So you existed in an incomplete form, but then... woke up as a full person?"

Not necessarily a human, though Laina appears to be something close enough to one now. "And now you see a film about aliens who think that the incomplete form is preferable to being fully human?"

Re: The Film - After

[terraboo]

"I.. I guess that communicates the idea. And. Yeah, that's sorta the idea. Plus them full on killing people to replace them. That's not a great addition to it."

After Film Aftershocks

[extrasaltypotato]

Hikaru finds the actual viewing of a film after signing up somewhat anticlimactic, after expecting... some sort of flexing of the Librarian's power over this place, though he must admit it's a classic for a reason - and buttered popcorn with it, nostalgic.

All that goes out the window when he sees how shaken the Mundane who found herself here is at the film, and after a moment's thought, he thinks - with a sinking feeling in his belly - he might know why.

He is there in a moment with his arms open, ready to speak assurances as soon as Laina is ready to hear them.

Re: After Film Aftershocks

[terraboo]

"... Ah. Hikaru. Right. Hi."

She is... Trying to feign being a bit recovered, but it's pretty easy to tell this hit her.

[extrasaltypotato]

"I take it a horror film was not the best choice for your first cinematic experience," Hikaru deadpans. "Especially not... existential horror."

After a moment, he starts to sheepishly put down his arms, thinking his implied offer of a hug rejected. After all, Hikaru figures, she is a woman of the cloth and married to the scriptorum - was it an inappropriate gesture to offer?

[terraboo]

... "Oh. Wait. You were trying to offer a hug, huh? That... I could use that, yeah. Sorry."

Oh. She'd spaced out entirely.

"Existential horror, that's the name for it, huh? I... Mmm. It's not like I remember years of just being a dumb NPC on a precoded script or something, but... That's kinda the reality, wasn't it? Least as far as many of the adventurers know."

[extrasaltypotato]

Well. In that case, he’ll close the distance.

And try to angle his head so that it doesn’t rest anywhere inappropriate, which is a danger Hikaru’s pixie ass has learned to look out for.

“I don’t think it helps that Mundus’ enemies have long practice using NPC as a dismissive insult, like anyone speaking about basic decency is doing so by rote, from a script.”

Fucking Gamergate-ass Griefers. If Laina hasn’t yet met Sara “Strawberry Shortfuse” Dreschner and her Sour Patch Kids, she still probably knows the type.

“Whatever you were, you are a true Namer now,” Hikaru says with conviction. “A Psyche guiding your Anima and Aura. The proof of that is too evident for anyone not a Griefer to ignore.”

[terraboo]

"... 'Griefer', huh? Guess that works to describe... Well, I mean, haven't met any yet. But the type, I'm aware of."

Right. She's from a bit before the actual Awakening.

"So yeah. This 'pod people' thing... Not great as an experience. Hopefully we can find some other film stuff in time. It... Was kinda neatoid. There's other genres, after all."

[extrasaltypotato]

"There are, and you'll get the chance to see them," he says. "If I manage to find any of the Kikaiser series..."

Yes, throw her in the deep end of the toku pool, that's a great idea.

[terraboo]

"I think I recall seeing something about that in one book," Laina shared. "Would be interesting if we found it, I think."

She sighs. "... Thanks. I'm just. Still adjusting to all this. Having a time of it, as it were."