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

[shakenit]

Step one: Pull a change of clothes and some toiletries out of a convenient book, attempt to wash the smell of smoke out of her hair, and feel sorry for herself in the shower. It'd be one thing if Sumire felt like she made much of any direct contribution to things, but she really doesn't. Still, so many others had a much harder time, so she doesn't want to make a big deal out of it, either.

Step two: sleep it off for a while.

After that, she's feeling up to wandering the stacks and perhaps being social for a while. The tamale truck is intriguing, partly because she hasn't had tamales before (the chicken ones, it turns out, are quite good) and partly because she can't figure out how 'man suffering to death' is a definable flavor. (She's not curious enough to actually try one of those, though.)

Eventually, she makes her way to the kitchen. She's still feeling a bit at loose ends, and the best thing she can do about it is cook - but cook what?

[terraboo]

After the first two steps, Sumire may run into a slightly haggard-looking but still smiling Laina.

"Erm. Hi. I don't think we ran into each other while I was. Uh."

A pause. "... How'd you handle amidst all that?"

[shakenit]

"I... don't think we did, no." She can't even recall offhand if she heard about anyone matching Laina's description.

Sumire sighs. "I panicked my way through the masquerade and hardly did anything else of note."

[terraboo]

"I mean... I could take that over what the Orlocks were doing to people," she says with a shudder.

"Best that you're okay, first and foremost, seriously. Your safety matters."

[shakenit]

"There is that, I suppose. And I did help with ingredient prep for some potions, so it's not like all I did was have a bad time at the ball."

Still. She maybe should have realised a masked ball was a little too on-point to deal with just yet.

[terraboo]

"That... Probably saved a lot of lives, Sumire."

Laina's pretty clear about this. "Armin the Fool knew how dangerous the Orlock were. Being able to help people avoid their power... That was a great thing to do."

[shakenit]

"I hope it did." It's not going to stop feeling like hardly a drop in the bucket any time soon... but at least she didn't do nothing.

[terraboo]

"May the next one be easier. I... Mmm. What jokes to make here..."

This is a tricky one, given Sumire's entire situation.

[shakenit]

"I'm not sure how much a joke would really help, overall. It's... I'll be fine eventually."

And she will. It's not like she has to cope with Acting in a role that pushed all of her buttons, so she's already been processing it a little at a time.

[terraboo]

"Fair. It's a bit of a reflex for me. Comic relief type and all that," she observed. "More than that... Thank you for what you did. And don't worry about being 'enough' or whatever. Just try to be true to you as best you can be. Or that seems to have worked so far."

[shakenit]

"I understand." It's like Sumire's apology reflex, only literally programmed in.

"I'm trying. It feels like hardly anything, but it wasn't nothing."

[terraboo]

"A start is great. More than that... You know the flow now. May you be better able to exploit it next time."

[shakenit]

"Maybe."

It'll be easier if it doesn't hit her in fresh 'things she'd rather not think about,' but as there are many of those things, Sumire's not exactly holding her breath.

[terraboo]

"The other question is what you'll do in the meanwhile."

[shakenit]

"Right now? Make lunch about it. I figured out how to get things out of books, so it's just a question of deciding what I want to make."

[dovedive]

When she comes into the kitchen she'll find Nice standing there staring at the appliances as if they held some sort of crazy secret. He looked completely exhausted with some of his hair in his face which was honestly not helping his mood. He flinched when he heard an extra pair of foot steps and turned his head around.

"Ah... it's you...! Ah, hello there~," He tries to blow his bangs upward while giving her a smile.

[shakenit]

"Oh! Hello. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

[dovedive]

He shakes his head with an awkward smile. "Not at all. Just trying to figure out if I'm in the mood to make anything really. Ah- Were you wanting to use the kitchen?"

[shakenit]

Sumire nods. "I haven't decided what to make yet, but there are plenty of cookbooks to choose from in here."

And it'll help her feel less unsettled about having hardly done anything useful in Montica.

[dovedive]

He gives her another soft look before his eyes dart to the kitchen again. "I've never been the best at cooking myself. The most I can make on my own is a rolled egg, but it usually comes out sloppy."

[shakenit]

"I like cooking." And she's better at it than Kasumi ever was. "Mostly, I need something to feel... grounded, after all that."

[dovedive]

Nice nods his head a little. Slowly shifting himself away from the kitchen appliances. "The floor is yours then~ Would you mind if I stayed and watched though?"

[shakenit]

"Not at all."

Sumire pulls a few cookbooks off a shelf, flipping through them in search of something that sounds appetizing.

[dovedive]

"Thanks. I promise I won't get too much in your way. I'll even help retrieve anything you might need."

[shakenit]

"I appreciate it." She can pull a lot out of the books, if it comes to that, but you never know when you might need someone to be taller than you at a shelf or cabinet.