so good night unto you all - LIBRARY RETURN

[libraryassistants]

Who: The Editors, one and all
What: The fight is over, the pieces remain... and the Editors head back 'home'
When: Dawn of the Final Day Sunrise after the attack
Where: Leaving Montica, back to the Library
Content warnings: Please make sure to put CW in headers!

By the time morning comes around again, the fires are beginning to die down, thanks to the many efforts of the citizenry to keep them under control. The rebel vampires too have been largely dealt with. These two seemingly insurmountable obstacles were only possible thanks to a combination of factors: the Umbra not being as blind to their human servants as their opposition would have thought, defectors from the Orlocks who were able to counter-act some of their magic, the following Amalia gathered and deployed from Laurelthirst, some suspicious (though welcome) help from suspiciously new arrivals, and of course, House Guildulf throwing their own into the fray to ally with the vampires for this confrontation.

A unity the likes of which Montica has never truly seen.

As the sun rises, there are few left who are able to fight at all; the rebels are beaten, and even the forces built up by both the vampires and werewolves are exhausted or diminished, leaving no one able to take advantage. Citizens of both sides flee indoors, and the remaining rebels are forced to vanish into the woods once more, weakened and unable to strike again any time soon. But there are still repairs to be done, physically and otherwise. Will this unity last beyond tonight? Will young love and youthful hope prevail? Those are the questions that settle over a weary Montica, as light pours into the city once more.

And then, the world begins to fade, static taking over the senses, as the Editors return to the Library.

Welcome back, Editors

It looks much the same as they left it, though the makings of a masquerade are no longer arranged as finely, a few scorch marks here and there, and for some reason there’s some amazing optical illusions on the floor panelling that makes them look like actual manhole covers. Alas, no sewers lay beneath. It may still take Actors a bit of time to shake off the old-new memories, and for some reason the fluorescent lighting seems harsher on the skin than it has any right too. Good thing that the stacks cast long shadows.

The customary tea cart is set up in the Lobby again, and it seems some improvements have been made. The coffee still isn’t strong, but’s far more drinkable than it has been, and there’s an added decaf option now! The tea has still been overstepped, and the stale cookies have been replaced by scones that are hard as rocks, but clearly someone’s getting the message that there are improvements needed. Clearly the tea cart was the place to start.

If someone for some reason doesn’t want stale scones, there’s also a child sized food truck in the lobby, with a sign out front boasting a variety of tamales, including: black beans and cheese, birria, chicken, fire scorpion, man suffering to death via battle wound, and beef. Upon approach, what look like fuzzy puppets pop up to… take your order? They don’t say much, or rather, they make a single noise over and over that seems to be them communicating, but the tamales are good. Just… don’t try to look in the truck. They’ll screech, vanish, and then no tamales for you.

Meanwhile, the bulletin board has a cheerful sign decorated with colorful blocks, declaring: “Join us in the Children’s Area for Lego Club!” Upon locating the room in question, Editors will discover boxes among boxes of legos of various shapes and sizes. There are some ‘how to’ guides for various builds (including a ‘research space ship’ and a ‘vampire’s castle’), but also plenty of encouragement for people to make their own creations! Unlike normal creations, these will actually stick around for a while after they’re finished, and there’s a nice little table where people can display and share what they’ve made.

The Assistants, it seems, are nowhere to be seen: the ‘back in 5’ sign is still in place at the help desk. Still, even without their ‘helpful’ guidance, some facets of the Library may come more easily to some in the aftermath of Montica’s troubles.

[Due to the resolution of the Story, any skills tagged Archivist in the skill tree cost one less skill point (minimum of 1) until the next Story. This can stack with a normal Archivist bonus!]

Comments

Kaiisteron | OTA

[bashasasdemon]

Return

Well. That was terrible.

The Story, all told, ended better than it probably should have. People died, but not the entire city. But the smoke in his lungs, the fighting all around him, and the fact that he'd had to face people he once considered his own-- well. It brought back some of those bad old times that he tries not to think about too much.

Which means, like many others, Kai is trying to find himself a corner to hide in for a bit while he gets his emotions under control. For him, this means curling up in a chair with his veil over his eyes. He's definitely sleeping. So leave him alone.

Tamales

After he's sulked enough to get himself back under control, Kai will be back out in the Library. The weird... creatures are not the strangest thing he's seen, and while he's not sure what tamales are, the smell is pretty appetizing. ...He'll just stick with beans and cheese, though. He's pretty sure those won't have any potentially people-contaminated meat in them.

Maybe someone tell him he's not supposed to eat the wrapping.

Lego time

As with so much of this place, Kai hasn't a fucking clue what these things are, but after making some of the simple designs... he can see the appeal. There's something very soothing about the way these blocks click together. He's working on something- some kind of building, probably- but he'll look up at someone approaches. "Careful where you step," he says dryly, "These are surprisingly painful."

Return

[aetherweaver]

Nara'a sits down next to Kai - or sits on the floor, at least. He rests his head against the side of the chair. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't have to, not right now. Not unless Kai wants or needs him to speak first.

Re: Return

[bashasasdemon]

Kai will budge up a little on the chair to let Nara'a sit, but he won't say anything for a long moment. He's not sure how long it is that they just sit there, quiet next to each other. It's... nice. He didn't actually want to be alone with his thoughts. He just didn't think there was any other real option.

Eventually, Kai will speak up first. "You ok?"

[aetherweaver]

He moves to sit next to his friend and continues to be silent - until his friend speaks. "... No." He could lie, of course. His instinct is to lie, but he has a feeling Kai will know that he's lying anyway.

"What about you?"

[bashasasdemon]

Kai snorts; there's not any real humor it is, more an instinctual reaction. "No," he says quietly after a moment. It's pretty clear that he considered lying too. But... no. They've clearly moved past that, somehow.

[aetherweaver]

Carefully, he puts an arm around the other's shoulders. "... I don't know how many of us will be, after that."

He swallows hard, letting out a long breath. "... I feel kind of awful."

[bashasasdemon]

Kai tips his head back, trying to look at him even with the positioning making that a bit difficult. "Why?" he asks, puzzled. As far as he can tell, Nero did all that he could-- all that Nara'a would have tried himself to do. Unfortunately, he is also missing some... crucial information.

[aetherweaver]

"Because I was having... relations... with someone who is the partner of someone I care about?" He rubs at his face. "I don't - it feels... wrong. I'm no stranger to doing... those kinds of activities, but not with someone that my friend is seeing.

[bashasasdemon]

Yup, that would be the crucial information he was missing. Also, he's noting the 'relations' thing and is definitely not having any feelings about that.

He winces. "I don't think I've ever spoken to her," he admits, "I didn't realize that. I'm sorry. It's not your fault, you didn't choose that, but I can see why you'd feel that way.

[aetherweaver]

“She’s a friend of Hikaru’s, if you know him.” He lets out a breath. “I know. Nero was older than me but… he acted like he was younger than me.” Less practiced in the real world outside of his family and politics. “You… you were kind to me. Him. Or the you that was there.”

Quietly, he closes his eyes and presses his head against the other’s. “He cared about you very much.”

[bashasasdemon]

"I do." So a check in on Hikaru is probably needed at some point. ...He should probably check in on whoever Kiran was, if he can find them. Sometimes that seems more difficult than others. "I think that might be... a difference in how aging works. He might have been older in years, but younger in terms of what a vampire would have considered their lives to span." Which is definitely not a thing that applies to demons, he's not just an especially cranky young adult, don't think about it.

He's quiet at first, but he tips his head against Nara'a's too. "He cared about you too."

[aetherweaver]

“Yes… you’re not wrong.” He smiles slightly. “… I remember being that young in spirit. Not that I’m an old man now, but it’s different.”

He sighs and pats the other’s leg gently. “… You know I care about you, right?”

[bashasasdemon]

That gets Kai to give out a little laugh, at least. "It is different," he agrees. He remembers that spirit, too. He's not sure if he misses it or not.

He looks at the hand, and then up at Nara'a, a little confused. "Of course I know." So much so that he doesn't ask the question back. It's obvious, right?

[aetherweaver]

He hesitates. Maybe it’s leftover from Nero. Maybe it’s something else. And yet -

“… Can I kiss you?” He just… needs contact. Gentle contact, someone to hold him and care about him. Someone who knows him as Nara’a, not as the Warrior of Light.

Return: NO PEACE FOR KAI

[angel_of_baal]

Sanguinius....agrees. Wholeheartedly. It was terrible in ways he had never even imagined. The death, the killing, that was fine. That was normal, for him.

But he had had...something like a family. And he had done things because he WANTED to, not because it was a duty, obligation or responsibility.

Kai probably feels the scale shift as someone of Sanguinius's size arrives to fuck up the comfortable chair, as he settles down across from him, pushing a bowl of what the book told him was 'Chicken soup' which is apparently 'good for the soul'. Many, many books in the library insisted on that.

Get SOUPED?

it's fine, he definitely doesn't want peace

[bashasasdemon]

Kai glances over as the chair suddenly becomes more like a lounge to him. It's oddly... comforting, to see the man; he hadn't been aware of him during the Story at all. Then again, he feels like he was aware of less than he should have been.

He glances down at the bowl. It's clearly some sort of broth with... noodles? "What is that?" he asks, ignoring the any other possible and more informative conversation topics they could go over.

no peace only book soup.

[angel_of_baal]

The whole story had Sanguinius a little cotton-headed himself, but taking care of his Legionaries had always helped when he had thoughts he couldn't not trace to completion. Looking for someone else who needed something was an absolutely fitting form of repression. Emperor approved, even.

"It is chicken soup. It is supposed to have soul-salving qualities." Magic soup? Not a single eyelid blinked in the Imperium. Of course magic soup would exist. Why woudln't it?

[bashasasdemon]

Kai would scold him for it, but it would very much be the pot calling the kettle black. Not that that will necessarily stop him. But for now he eyes the soup and picks it up. There is something kind of familiar to it, one that makes him a little homesick for his youth with the Saredi, the kind of thing one of his older aunts or uncles would whip up for an ill child.

He takes a sip of it, mostly just the broth- how do you even eat noodles in soup. "It's not bad," he says after a moment, offering the bowl to Sanguinius. ...He still eats normal food, right? Not just blood?

[angel_of_baal]

It might be interesting to be scolded, for the novelty of it.

He's never had the soup himself, but it seems like some sort of Terran specialty. Historical merit! "I found it in a book." So, you know, relieve your mind of the fear that Sanguinius had Attempted a Cookery. He had not.

He takes a spoonful of the soup as well. "Do they have this where you're from?"

[bashasasdemon]

Oh, Kai will almost certainly scold him at some point or another. It just seems likely, to him.

Kai shakes his head. "Nothing exactly like it, anyway," he says, "It reminds me of some of the basic soups they'd give someone who was ill, but... in a good way?" A comforting way. Like you were being looked after.

[angel_of_baal]

To scold Sanguinius, he'd have to catch him first!

"It seems to me that that's not a bad choice for right now." His wings riffle in discomfort. "I was once again not myself."

[bashasasdemon]

"Neither was I," Kai says with a sigh, "I don't think I saw you. Then again... I guess if you'd looked like yourself you would have stood out a lot." What with the... everything about him. Sanguinius can almost certainly ping that they did talk, in hindsight.

[angel_of_baal]

"I was, once again, not myself, and yet two of my brothers were." It still feels like a moral failing, some flaw that made him weak and susceptible to this sort of mental hijacking. "I was the son of the werewolf patriarch."

[bashasasdemon]

Kai frowns, not sure why that bit about his brothers was relevant. He'll wait to see if Sanguinius elaborates at all. "Then I think we did talk," he says after a moment, "At the Masquerade, briefly." He'd recognized the name when introduced, after all. Hard to think it was the same man that was now towering next to him.

He sighs. "I don't know how to feel about the roles they put us in." For him, this one hit... closer to home than the previous.

[angel_of_baal]

"Oh." So much had happened since then: coming home, thinking he had done his family name proud, only to have missed the entire assault, absent when his family needed him. "It feels like an innocent time, all things considered." The scars on his body were still fading. Soon, they would be gone, as all injuries to him did.

"There are," settle in with that soup because he has Theories, "two possible options: one that it is random, and one that it is not. The latter requires some higher intelligence able to perceive us and sort us into roles." Which was more disturbing? "It is impossible to tell since my attempts to meet with the Chief Librarian have been dismissed.