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

[aetherweaver]

"Of course. Whenever you're up for it." His tail swishes happily. He's just glad to be able to help out.

But finishing the books... "I think they'll need many more people for that. I doubt just our meager crew can do that many books. Even if we were all authors, it would take quite a long time."

[starandhope]

"I doubt we're meant to finish all of them," Mina amends. "Perhaps certain specific stories. Perhaps that is the reason why we've been brought from so many different worlds and times."

[aetherweaver]

"Perhaps. We do seem to have a variety of skills, though there are a good few of us with knowledge of the magical arts. I wonder if that will come in handy?" He certainly hopes so. He'd rather dig into an equation - he's a bit tired of adventures at the moment.

[starandhope]

“I’ve noticed that as well,” Mina says. “Though I don’t count myself among that number. So what use I will be in this endeavour remains a mystery, for the moment.”

Apart from, y’know, all those useful skills she does have.

[aetherweaver]

"Nonsense." He puts his hands on his hips and leans towards Mina a bit. "For one, making sure everyone is fed is a vital role - there's a few here that I worry don't know how to cook at all. For another, magic isn't everything. Just because some of us can blow things up doesn't mean that's all we're meant to do. I'm certain there are things that only you have experience with that will come in handy."

[starandhope]

"That's very kind of you," Mina says, ever modest. "However, if we were brought here to finish these unfinished stories, I'm not sure how I might contribute to that. And if that is somehow the key to returning home..."

[aetherweaver]

"Well, you never know. I'm not sure where all of your skills lie, but everyone has the capacity for great things within them." He shakes his head. "I know you're here for a reason."

[starandhope]

"I'm sure we're all here for some reason," Mina says lightly. "I'm not sure what it is, however. Hopefully nothing sinister."

But they were kidnapped. So.

[aetherweaver]

"We are. Though one person's sinister kidnapping can be another person's desperate bid for help, from experience."

He's not still a little angry at that, no. Why would someone think that?

[starandhope]

“I have a difficult time imagining anyone choosing this, even if we’re somehow meant to be here,” Mina says, her mind drifting as it has been for several moments.

(She is dancing with a man, the quiet strains of a waltz barely audible over the rustle of red silk, and he speaks, his voice thickly accented - a different accent than Mina’s.

“You dance as one meant to grace the most glittering royal courts in the world.”

His gaze is intense, and she can only meet it with her own, almost as if losing herself in it.

“How can that be?” she asks. “I’m the orphaned daughter of a clerk and a governess.”

“There are some whose spirits shine so brightly, they transcend their origins, their place, their time,” he replies, as the music comes to a gentle close. He takes her hand in his, bringing it to his lips. “You are one of those spirits, Madam Mina.”)

[aetherweaver]

He feels the buzzing sensation fill his head and puts his hand on the counter to stabilize himself. The Echo overwhelms him and he rests the heel of his free hand against his forehead. Here? Now?

But the Echo comes whether he wants it or not, and his eyes close as he opens them in his mind, looking at Mina dance with someone else. Her partner? Or someone else? As the pain fades along with the vision he lets out a long breath.

"... My apologies. I... have an ability I cannot control and it gives me... visions of the past. Places, people... it is invasive, as it responds to the echoes of another's soul." He breathes quietly for a few moments. "I saw you in a red dress, dancing with a man. ... You don't need to tell me any context if you do not wish to."

[starandhope]

Something happens, very suddenly. It looks as if he’s about to collapse, and she instinctively reaches for his arm, to help steady him.

“Are you hurt?” she asks, concerned, only gradually registering the rest of his words.

Dancing. A red dress. Her Prince. He saw her Prince.

A tremble goes through her at the thought. Not of fear; of longing, and of guilt.

[aetherweaver]

"No... no, I'm all right." He looks at her in concern. She's trembling. ... He has no real context, but it's clear it was something important.

He finds a spoon on the counter and pokes at it idly, if only to focus on something real in front of him. "It's painful as it's happening, but I've grown to recognize when it's coming so I at least don't collapse anymore. Usually."

[starandhope]

"Are you sure?" she asks, genuinely concerned. "I'll make some more tea. Don't get up. I wish we had some brandy here."

Brandy really is the Victorian cure-all.

As she stands, bustling around the kitchen, she takes a deep breath.

"What you saw..." she trails off, biting her lip. "It was private."

Not a terribly good response, but she's trying to find an explanation for it that doesn't paint her in a shameful light.

[aetherweaver]

He's not going to get out of this, so it's fine. It reminds him a bit of Tataru... he leans against the counter and only looks up at her when she speaks again.

"... They usually are. Which is why I have a policy of only revealing what I see if it becomes necessary to ensure the safety of another." Or if it's not something that's private, like a historical event or something like that... in any case he at least tries to be discreet.

[starandhope]

She busies herself with the tea things - it's easier than meeting his eyes. She's not sure she wants him to see the conflicting emotions churning in her chest at the memory.

"I appreciate your discretion, then," she says quietly. "The memory endangers no one, and - it would only cause sorrow."

That is truthful enough, at least, so far as she knows. She turns, offering Nara'a a fresh cup of tea. "He's someone I will never see again, you see," she offers. It cracks something in her soul to even admit that, and she feels a fresh wave of guilt - for keeping it from Jonathan, and for the pain she's sure she caused to her Prince.

[aetherweaver]

"It's all right. ... I understand the pain of never seeing someone again." There are many such cases he can think of, but he's got to move on.

He turns to face her a bit more fully. "... Are you all right? It feels like I should be the one getting tea for you."

[starandhope]

"I am fine," Mina says, though she does seat herself at the kitchen table, cleaning up a bit, making things tidy. "I'm just - weighed down a bit, with grief, I suppose." She'll take any excuse to distract him from the memory he saw. "I'm newly-married, but my husband has had a terrible experience that has left him very ill, and my best friend was killed. And now I'm here, unable to care for my husband as I ought."

[aetherweaver]

"... Ah." He sits down across from her, his gaze soft. "I'm sorry. That sounds like a lot to deal with. ... If it makes you feel any better, we are at least removed from time while we're here, according to the assistants. As in, time at home should not be passing. So he will not be any worse off than he already is, when you return."

As for the friend... "Losing someone important to you is always hard. And the grief never really goes away, it just gets more distant. And it will hurt for a long time... so please be gentle with yourself when you can."

[starandhope]

"Yes, I've received much the same information from Mr. Durand," Mina says. "A relief, as far as it goes, though it doesn't make it any easier to be apart from him."

She stares down at her hands for a moment, on the table. "Lucy was like a sister to me. She was so young, about to be married herself. It was so senseless."

[aetherweaver]

"... Death often is." And he knows it from the other side - how many Garleans has he killed, without knowing anything about them? 'It was a war' is an excuse, but a flimsy one.

His ears flick back a little. "I've lost someone who was like a brother to me. It's not the same, and I don't know the circumstances for you, but it's... I know some of the pain. No one deserves that pain if we can help it."

[starandhope]

Mina smiles a little sadly. "I think grief is both unique to each of us, and a common experience. Will you tell me a little, of your brother?"

Perhaps that's a fair exchange, for seeing her memory.

Major Heavensward Spoilers

[aetherweaver]

Hm. How to describe him? "Haurchefaunt was... a knight and a noble man, if not a nobleman. Considered a disgrace in some ways, a man born out of wedlock, which to me is not so much of a problem. He, however, still wore the bearing of his noble house, carrier of their surname or no. His people were in the midst of a thousand year war, enabled by the anger of the dragons and the machinations of their Church. The city he was from, Ishgard, was closed to the outside world."

He pauses, letting that sink in. That background established, he continues. "Me and my friends, my... organization, I suppose - we had done some work with him at his post. And then we were accused of regicide. Several of our members stayed back to fight, several to flee in their own directions, but myself and two others had nowhere to go. We went to him, cold and afraid, and he welcomed us. He brought us into his protection and allowed us into the city. He was the... the light we needed in that dark time." He wipes at his eyes with his glove. "He fought for us, with us. Protected us. Brought us to his father, who welcomed us to his home and to his family. He was always there for us."

Nara'a takes a deep breath, trying to push away his feelings enough to continue. "And as we were chasing down the leader of the Church, learning the truth about the war and of the Church's aims... one of the Heaven's Ward, the twelve knights that protect the Archbishop... he attempted to kill me, spear me through. Haurchefaunt took that blow instead of me... and it was too grievous. There was a magic on it that prevented healing, and... and he died. He sacrificed his life to protect me. I know a knight lives to serve, to protect people... and I know I had a different calling. But some days I wonder... why him? A father lost his son, and a family mourned. Friends mourned. I couldn't save him. I've saved others... why couldn't I have pulled us both away, or - or done something?"

He hunches low in his chair, trying to get a hold of himself. "I know most deaths aren't as dramatic as that. I know that every life cut short is a life that could have changed the world. But because the deaths of our friends are so shocking and close to us it hurts more. ... I'm so sorry you've had to go through that. I'm - I'm here if you ever want to talk. About her, about anything."

[starandhope]

That is definitely a story. Mina merely listens, her hands folded demurely in her lap. She can’t fully grasp all of it - she wonders if she will ever stop being thrown off by all these different worlds and their strange societies.

But she understands the heart of it: a beloved friend, sacrificing himself for others. A terrible loss, indeed.

“I’m sure your friend could have wanted no nobler way to die,” she says finally. “But that does not diminish the sorrow at his loss. And I can understand your feelings of guilt, and helplessness.

“My dear Lucy was ill for weeks. Or, so we thought. And I could do nothing to alleviate her suffering. All I could do was watch her waste away. The memory is all the more bitter now that I know it was no natural disease that took her, but a monster that was preying upon her.”

[aetherweaver]

"I'm sure, but... yes." He swallows hard and listens to Mina, his ears swiveling forward in attention. ... A much less grand but no less tragic story. He's heard of various monsters preying on people, but that doesn't make it any less difficult to deal with. The helplessness... the shock... and the knowledge that if you had known earlier you could have saved them.

"Mina... I'm so sorry... were you at least able to find the monster? I know vengeance doesn't mean much in the end, but..." To prevent more Lucys from happening... "I am sure your friend knew how much you cared about her. You seem very kind."