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

Kaiisteron | The Rising World series

[bashasasdemon]

arrival

To say Kai reacts badly to his arrival is only a suitable description for those who don't know him- for anyone who would, it is an understatement at best. He goes from waking to hyper alert in a matter of seconds, entire body tense as he takes in his new surroundings. The fact that he wakes up surrounded by books, of all things, is perhaps the only thing that stops him from simply launching himself forward to try and claw his way out. Not out of any particular reverence for books. Mostly just sheer confusion.

That will only last for so long, however, and should anyone come across him in the stacks he rounds on them in an instant, hands in fists by his sides and clearly just holding himself back, not clear who his enemy is and deeply unsettled by it. "Where am I?" he growls, and when he's close it's impossible to not notice that his eyes are pitch black.

scouting

It quickly becomes clear that what they're suffering from is a dearth of information- so, even though it's been a very, very, very long time since he was properly a scout, he tries to remember those skills enough to get an idea of the library. Since it is... well, a building, rather than out in the outdoors with the potential for enemies to be anywhere, it is both easier and harder than he remembers. Easier because, well, it seems like no one is actively trying to kill him (yet). Harder because nothing about this place makes sense.

He growls in frustration as he turns a corner, almost bumping into someone. "Sorry," he mutters, mussing up his hair, a black, embroidered veil covering most of his face, "I swear I've taken the exact same steps six different times and it keeps sending me somewhere different." He hates it. He hates it a lot.

I'm not saying it's aliens...

To be fair, Kai isn't saying it's aliens, because he doesn't know what aliens are. He does recognize the singing bowls, at least- the Enalin have them around, and you can catch him quietly playing one in a corner if he thinks no one is looking. He likes the sound, ok?

It's also possible to find him tearing down one of the UFOs and dismantling it with a frown. "What is this?" he asks. They're plate shaped, but why would you make a plate this flimsy??

Arrival

[curzed]

It is genuinely sheer coincidence that the person that responds to Kai also has solidly black eyes, with no change from sclera to iris to pupil is noticeable. There are probably more pleasant things to run into in a library than ghost-white ten foot tall giants wearing only ratty black pants and a nametag sticker cheerfully declaring him 'Konrad Curze', a book in one hand.

Its cover looks suspiciously like one of those cute animal books normally reserved for young children.

"A library," the stranger rumbles, sounding suspiciously amused. The words are faintly accented, but easy to understand. "The books are not a giveaway?"

[bashasasdemon]

There is so much about this particular meeting that Kai has no idea what to do with. The black eyes should mean this man is also a demon, but the fact that he is ten feet tall confuses that point considerably. Demons are either in mortal bodies in the mortal world, or their original bodies in the underearth. What he's facing is clearly neither.

It's also annoying that the man is treating this like it's funny. Kai's a little tempted to steal some of his life just for that, but he knows that's not productive.

"Which library, where, and most importantly, how did I get here?" he asks, and to his credit he doesn't look the least bit intimated by Cruze. Nor is he really paying attention to the children's book.

[curzed]

Konrad is no daemon, but he's definitely made people question that many times in his life. He'll probably continue to do so until he finally gets himself killed. "Ah, answers I do not have. We are .. hm, far away from home."

It's only funny because it's happening to someone else. It lets him not be as concerned with feeling more or less the same extreme discomfort with finding himself somewhere unexpected, with no awareness of how he's gotten there.

"What I do know, is you are not the only one with such questions, and there is terrible tea to be had elsewhere if you wish it." Nobody's ever accused him of being particularly helpful either.

[bashasasdemon]

"Terrible... tea." He's not sure why his brain decides to stick on that bit of information, but it sure does. Perhaps because it's the only part of what Curze said that is actual information. Useless information, but information.

Well, that's not true. Him saying there are others with questions... "Are you one of the people with the same questions?" He's not sure he trusts it; the man looks too comfortable here, which people should not look like after being kidnapped. But the claim alone is interesting.

Scouting

[angel_of_baal]

Sanguinius, too, has been scouting, but from a mix of curiosity and frustration. His stride has something of a caged animal, pacing, to it.

Compared to his brother, Sanguinius is not a dangerous person.
But ONLY compared to his brother. Compared to most humans, he is lethal, but really only dangerous when he is bored.

Which he is getting, now. Bored, and frustrated, and trapped. Because he's had the same issue too--venturing around a floorplan that makes no sense. He and the smaller person mutually jolt to a halt before walking into each other.

"This place does seem to have a sentience of its own." he agrees.

[bashasasdemon]

To be fair, his stride and Kai's are not that dissimilar, only muted on Kai's end from his scouting having been during a war, where being noticed meant death (or, in his case, Unpleasantness. There was a reason the Saredi used demons as scouts a lot). He manages to keep his anger and fear mostly out of his movements, though the frustration is definitely bleeding through as he talks to the very large man in front of him.

"How?" he asks, because that's one of his big questions, "And why? To do this-- I don't know of any magic that would do it, but it would take a lot of power. Why use it on making it impossible to know the floorplan?"

[angel_of_baal]

At his size, and his choice to wear his shining golden armor, stealth was unfamiliar to Sanguinius.

He hopes his frustration, probably palpable, isn't taken by the other as against him. There is no point making enemies needlessly. "I don't know how, either, but I have seen some things, in my world, that defy every law of logic and reality. And yet, they happened." So why not a library consciously befouling their steps. "What seems strange is that I never get lost if I head toward the quarters or the refectorium. Only exploring." SUSPICIOUS? Like he's being watched.

"Have you noticed the same?"

[bashasasdemon]

Kai pauses, considering that. "I haven't tried that," he admits; he hasn't wanted to go back there, not when he could be finding a way out. But he will walk past Sanguinius with that intent in mind, and should the man follow, they will both wind up back at the circulation desk.

The demon stops in front of it for it a moment, the gears clearly turning in his head. "So this is a center location where they want us," he says, "while muddling the rest of it. But-- how can they senses your intention to get here?" He went past Sanguinius intentionally, not retracting any steps. The result was still almost immediate.

scouting

[extrasaltypotato]

"I've noticed that door in particular loves to change where it opens to," Hikaru commiserates. "Can't tell if it cycles through them in any particular order, or it's a roll of the dice, or if there's some trick to choosing the destination. It's frustrating."

Re: scouting

[bashasasdemon]

"What." It's stated in the sort of startled deadpan that one gets when they really don't want to believe the thing you've just said. But also Kai clearly does believe it, even if it makes him even more unhappy about all of this. "How? that doesn't make any sense." Magic doesn't work like that. Or at least, none that he knows of does.

Re: scouting

[extrasaltypotato]

"It's like a tunable Waygate on Mundus," he says, as if those words made sense in that order. "If they randomized, ah, the order in it encoded chevrons, or however it parses what address the other end is linked to, assuming it is random. Or a shorter range personal portal spell - I can't do those yet, but I should be able to soon."

Re: scouting

[bashasasdemon]

Those words do not make sense in any order. What?? There's a moment where Kai just stares at him, which is somewhat counteracted by the veil but his confusion is probably still clear. "...Translation?" he asks after a minute. He's learned so many languages, he's not afraid to admit when he doesn't know what something means, and Hikaru might as well be speaking a new language.

Aliens

[aetherweaver]

"It looks like a spaceship." His voice is a little quiet, but he's still audible. No sense in yelling in a library, after all. "I've seen a creature use one that looks very much like this. Other sorts of craft capable of traversing the Sea of Stars exist, though."

And they look much less silly.

[bashasasdemon]

Thankfully, Kai has already had a conversation with SecUnit Rin so he is, at least, aware that things happen in space. He still doesn't understand it, but he's got the basic idea. "Why?" he asks, and then clarifies, "I don't think I've ever seen a library decorate itself like this. So... what could this be for?"

[aetherweaver]

"I have no idea. I can't see any of the libraries I know decorating like this." Never mind the fact that the library might be decorating itself... "Maybe it's trying to tell us something? But I can't imagine what that might be..."

[bashasasdemon]

It's possible that someone has come out and put this up when no one was looking. Kai isn't sure which of the options is more likely. "Me neither," Kai admits, though he picks up a stress ball that's on one of the stacks, passing it between his hands and squeezing it experimentally, "Especially with... the rest of it. They don't seem to go together, do they?"

scouting

[starandhope]

The person he nearly bumps into gives a startled sort of cry, but quickly suppresses it. Mina is not of a particularly hysterical disposition, though a quick glance at her face - eyes a little red and puffy - makes it clear that she's been crying.

"The fault is mine," she says hastily, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. "I've been here long enough to know this place affords little privacy. I wonder if perhaps it wants us all to be bumping into each other like this."

Re: scouting

[bashasasdemon]

Oh no. Kai is not very good with people who are crying. Luckily it seems Mina doesn't to be perceived crying; that means he can just ignore it and both of them can be happy.

"How long have you been here?" To be fair, very little time is needed to learn that, but so far it seems most everyone he's met arrived at about the same time.

[starandhope]

Yes, she would rather he ignore her obvious distress. It's simply unbecoming of a lady to act like that in front of a stranger!

"Only a few days," she admits. "But it didn't take more than a few hours to realize that the, ah, geography of this place is very... changeable."

And not to be trusted when one wants some privacy.

[bashasasdemon]

Now that she's more masking her distress, she might be getting some... confusing to Victorian gender sensibilities from the man in front of her. His dress, to her, probably appears more towards the feminine- he's wearing the Arike style of clothing, which for men is a belted tunic with a skirt, his having split sides for ease of movement. The veil of his face conceals most of the contours of it, but his voice is definitely masculine. For his part, he has no idea what it is she's wearing, but frankly some parts of the world get Especially Weird about gender (the Arike are more rigid about it than the Saredi ever were- he might not understand what the Enalin's fourth gender is but he has never cared for how strict the Arike are about it all) and that's before adding in all the weirdness of this place.

"True," he agrees easily enough, looking around, "I've been trying to map it out with basically no success." He sounds cross to admit it, because he is, but there's little point in concealing that information.

Scouting

[monstrous_bride]

The irony of a lack of information while being held in a library. It'd be funny if she weren't so aggravated by it. Unknown kidnappers? Being held against her will? Again? Oh, she has strong feelings about this, too.

So when he nearly thuds into her, she's not in the best mood - but at least he said sorry.

"Welcome to the party," she practically growls. "Some assholes apparently don't want us finding our way out of it."

What he'll make of the 6'5'' zombie stitched together from different bodies is...well, she'll have to see, won't she?

Re: Scouting

[bashasasdemon]

Kai snorts, looking up at her. His own un-humanity is hidden by the veil, but he admittedly doesn't quite know what to make of her. The stitching together reminds him a bit of amalgamations, but she looks reasonably human and seems to be able to talk- there's the off chance that an expositor could be controlling her, but he hasn't sensed one, so that would also make her sentient. Interesting.

"Well, they went through all the trouble of getting us here," he says dryly, "I suppose they wouldn't want us getting out easily." Or at all, but he's still got hope. He knows that can be the most dangerous thing, after all.

[monstrous_bride]

"Still, you'd think they'd go for a more direct cage if that were the case, wouldn't you?"

She shakes her head.

"Something about this is entirely too subtle. Or maybe a bit like making a painting of something you've only heard described."

[bashasasdemon]

"Maybe," Kai says, considering it, "Unless they want something from us that relates to this place." He has no idea what that is, but it's a possibility. "Or they don't want us to feel trapped even though we are. Maybe they think we'll fight it less that way."

It is clear from his tone that he will not be fighting it less.