Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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unfinishedlibrary2025-10-31 06:42 pm
libraryassistants) wrote in unfinishedlibrary2025-10-31 06:42 pm
Entry tags:
- !library,
- blade runner: kd6-3.7,
- bram stoker's dracula: mina harker,
- dracula: jonathan harker,
- hades: thanatos,
- original: illarion,
- sonic the hedgehog (film): shadow,
- the murderbot diaries: murderbot,
- the rising world: kaiisteron,
- the wonders of mundus: hikaru aozora,
- to be hero x: x,
- warhammer: sanguinius
Careful of the stacks - LIBRARY LOG
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!]
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!]
no subject
"Well, I do thank you for such kind words." The smile not moving before he chuckled a little, a touch embarrassed. "You think too highly of me, sir. Mina gets the credit there as well; she is the best of all women. My childhood friend, my companion, and my brilliant wife. I would have been a fool to not have proposed as soon as I could afford to."
As much as he enjoyed talking about his wife, he had to stop, a look of curiosity and a touch of shock passing as he listened to Hikaru. "How did you end up in the other world before this one? I can also confirm you are correct; it was the 6th of November 1893 for myself." He would not forget that day ever.
no subject
“There is a device in my time that can be used to project the images, sounds, even textures and tastes of another place, real or imagined, into the mind of someone wearing it. It allows one to meet others in a virtual space when we cannot meet in person - something that became vital in the wake of a pandemic turned endemic. This is why my time is called ‘the virtual ‘40’s’ - this fascination with virtual worlds as meeting places.”
All this time, he’s speaking as clearly as he can, and trying to gauge how well the Victorian mensch follows.
no subject
He was wrong.
He was very, very wrong.
The confusion started slowly as he listened, and all of it sounded like some fantastical story, but he knew it wasn't. After Hikaru said meeting places, the shock shifted to a touch of embarrassment. "I do apologize; I only understood a very little of that. But I would like to learn in time."
no subject
“I… it must sound a lot of nonsense,” he says. “My hobby back home. Suffice it to say that there was an attack on innocents, and a veritable legion of those in danger were sent to Mundus in an attempt to spare us. But they didn’t have time to ask permission, or even warn us, and we were changed to better fit in with the locals - the Mundanes. Sometimes this meant a drastic change in form.”
Hopefully that much is clearer.
no subject
He nodded softly. The hobby leading to it aside, it was more understandable. "This hobby, somehow, marked you as one to be saved and changed to fit into the new world you were taken too." He translated back how his mind was processing it.
Looking over Hikaru a moment, he offered a kind smile, like the ones he hadn't used since going on his trip. "Even if it is drastic changes, this is the you that I am acquainted. I think you are a very fascinating fellow, and I look forward to getting to know you better, Mr. Aozora."
no subject
He takes a deep breath, and with a snap of his fingers -
“Creo lux.”
- the red crystal at the tip of his staff starts shining with warm light as strong as a good lantern’s.
“- allowed me to learn some fantastical tricks.”
no subject
"That is quite astonishing." The truth of his words was in the tone, as the taller young man leaned close to the staff but didn't try to touch it. "What other kinds of tricks have you learned in your second world, if I may ask."
no subject
One day he will earn the trust for Hikaru to clarify that he helped Deedee adjust to suddenly having the right body for the first time in her life.
“I’m an evoker, an elementalist. I found employment in a free company of mercenary monster hunters, where conjuring flame, frost and thunderbolts allowed me to act as artillery peice and seige engine against owlbears, dragons, the undying and worse for coin.”
no subject
He didn't need to know them to understand that must have been a difficult change.
Again, Hikaru's world sounds fantastical, but his eyes at least aren't glazing over this time. "So you can control the elements?" Thinking of Dracula presently before reminding himself, this person before him has done him no wrong. "What is an owlbear? And is undying like the undead?" He knew what a dragon was from storybooks at least. Though to be honest, his eyes did light up at the word dragon. Even Dracula couldn't ruin that one. "Please do tell me to be quiet if I ask too many questions."
no subject
And start transitioning for real, instead of this assigned-female-at-character-creation witchcraft.
At the thought of the monsters he fights, Hikaru pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “Owlbears have the body, claws and mass of a grizzly bear and the sound-muffling down, flexible neck, and beak of an owl, combining owlish stealth and ursine ferocity into a very unpleasant package for a peasant to try to drive off with a pitchfork. And undying means undead, yes. Most common are mindless ghouls that burst out of unhallowed and shallow graves, but occasionally you find far more dangerous intelligent kinds, like vampires or liches.”
no subject
The sigh and pinched nose were noted, wondering if he mis stepped before trying to picture the creature. "That does sound like a terrifying creature. Could the peasants kill it with the pitchfork? Or is that a silly question?" No knowledge is useless; who knew maybe one would appear here? He would not want to get close enough to use his kukri on that.
A vampire? Yes.
An Owlbear? No thanks.
"Ah, I had assumed vampire when you said it. The ghouls sound very unpleasant as well."
no subject
Most, but not all. Sekhmet had a hard life on Earth, and that they thought their life on Mundus was easier was... concerning.
"Owlbears are as vulnerable to blades, bludgeons, or fire as any other beast, though it would be a lopsided contest in favor of the owlbear. Though I am curious why vampires would top your list of the undead."
no subject
The curiosity was more focused on the world Hikaru had come from.
"I could certainly see that, yes. Most are not equipped with the fortitude to fight something so unexpected." Looking down at Hikaru, then down into his tea. "I have faced vampires. I would share more, but I feel Mrs. Harker would be best to share that tale." While yes, he had told the two tall ones what happened, Hikaru knew Mina. Knew of her husband from her. He felt it was her place to share, even if he and her Jonathan likely experienced the same tortures. He was wrong; his had been a bit worse. "I only say this as we agreed not to tell one another how the events played out for each of us."
no subject
"Without the benefit of magic or the blessing of the Mundane gods. Without the benefit of a warrior or rogue's training with blades. You fought a vampire, and you both survived."
He already knew that Mina was, as he had said of her before, formidable. His already high estimation of Mina and Jonathan both was now even higher.
"If it would be possible for me to teach either of you some of my slights of Breath, Mr. Harker, for the second round, then I should be happy to try. And to answer your first question..."
He looks up, wistfully, into the roof.
"I had always assumed that would be the price for my return. That I would gain my original - human - form, and lose my powers. It would be a fair price."
no subject
"So, she has already told you? We did what we had to. That creature had to be destroyed, and he dared touch Mina." For a moment those blue eyes almost fill with a rage. He was still not over the fact the count forced his blood on Mina while he was stuck in a stupor. "I would have died to protect Mina. I still would, even if we are not of the same world." Taking a breath, his hand instinctively rested on the kukri at his side, just under his suit jacket.
After that breath, he stood to refill his tea. "Would you care for more?" He asked without moving far, refilling the cup with the tea. "If it were possible, I would say yes." If Hikaru said yes, he would bring him a second cup. Otherwise he returns to his seat with the refilled cup to sit still listening. "It does sound like it would be a fair assessment, but my question was if you would want to."
no subject
The family that slays together stays together, apparently.
His final question is very difficult, so he answers the first one to buy time to think.
"More coffee would be welcome, Mr. Harker... and I would not mind being called Hikaru if you would not mind my calling you Jonathan." For they were of a kind; monster hunters, by necessity if not by profession. "And I will see if the skills transfer, and if I can shape the Breath I take here, I shall need to test if others can anyway."
Speaking of the breath, he takes a deep one.
"...a week before I was taken here I would have returned without hesitation. But now, I wonder if it's worth leaving the Mundanes I've met behind."
An image of blue butterfly wings scaled for a young woman comes to his mind and he sighs.
no subject
He looked at Hikaru a moment when he handed him the coffee, sadly undoctored as Jonathan drinks his tea plain. "Generally etiquette would say no, but I do not mind in the least. If we are to be companions or even friends in time, then I would be honored to have you use my name." He was not so firm on that etiquette, but then again, Mina was the etiquette teacher, not him.
"If it cannot be learned, that is fine. The thought alone is beyond kind, Hikaru." He finally said it, a little odd in that accent, but he would get used to it.
Nodding some when Hikaru answered. "I could see that. More so with ending up here. There are a lot of interesting and kind people I never would have met had I not ended up here. This world is the only thing I can compare it to in my mind. Well, that and life before the Count." If he could go back to not knowing, he still wouldn't. It would leave Mina in danger. He had to suffer all of that to keep her safe and kill that being.