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Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account ([personal profile] libraryassistants) wrote in [community profile] unfinishedlibrary2026-03-27 07:21 pm

so good night unto you all - LIBRARY RETURN

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!]
curzed: (pic#18124557)

[personal profile] curzed 2026-03-29 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Especially since they were supposed to have melanchromatic abilities on par with the rest of their brothers, such as Vulkan. By all rights Sanguinius should be a statue of gold and obsidian, not marble. "I don't understand it." There's a twitch of lean shoulders, almost a shrug. "But it's how humanity is."

They can be taught, at least. Leashed and brought to heel and trained on how to be civilized. How to treat each other well, on pain of retribution.

"...No. Not to the Father I have interacted with." He leans a little against the trunk of the cherry tree, brow furrowed. The Emperor was not a kind man, a loving man. He doubted their vaunted Father would extend a hand to save them, never mind exact bloody retribution for the offense of even trying to harm them. "The Guildulf lord seemed to love his pack very much. The things he would do for them were considerable. Our father, I suspect, will shed no tears when we are all red ruin."
angel_of_baal: (let's be sad at the Eternity Gate)

cw: stuff on baal sucks esp for kids.

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2026-03-29 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"What we would have done on Baal, with such abundance." He risks a glance over, gold eyes lighing on his brother in the false twilight. "Or Nostramo. What might we have become, brother?"

He had seen sorrow in Montica, but no mother wailing over her mutant child. He had seen poverty, but none of it the bird-bone thin desperation of some of the tribes of the Blood. He had lifted them from that, as much as he was able, but he still remembered.

"He did love, perhaps, but it felt, at least, conditional. And the conditions felt impossible." That much was familiar. "But yes, he seemed to show...real affection." To his sister, to Jadis. "Perhaps with age, our Father has had such feelings wither."
curzed: (pic#18264596)

cw: more horrible childhoods

[personal profile] curzed 2026-03-29 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)
He shakes his head, curtain of dark hair swaying with the motion. "There's no point in dwelling on what-ifs, brother. It was not, and cannot be." Had he wondered, many times, growing up what it would be like to have a family? Of course. What it would like to not be so ravenously hungry that rats and garbage were a fine meal? Of course he did.

But it changed nothing. That wasn't who he was. "Baal might be terraformed into a paradise, but would it be the same? And Nostramo.." Nostramo will die, crisscrossed in molten golden cracks-- It's forced away with difficulty. "Will never be a garden world."

If it was true that Roberte Guildulf's love was conditional, Curze didn't know it. He wasn't sure he'd know the difference. "I provide no excuses for our vaunted Sire, or suppositions of his purposes. As for Guilliman and his lupine counterpart, I found them similar enough to recognize it, once I understood what I was looking at. You .. you were much more troublesome." He says it like it's something to be proud of.
angel_of_baal: (Default)

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2026-03-30 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
"There is no point dwelling, perhaps, but I do mourn it. Not for myself but my people. All the suffering that might not have happened." He sighed. "You're right, though. Harsh as it was, Baal is my home. It would feel like betrayal to wish it changed."

"I do not hold Guildulf reponsible as a reflection of our brother in any way. You do not know, but when you are...in one of those stories. But I remember it all now, all the things I never had to try." He shrugs. "That is why I am so disoriented. It will pass, brother. Have no fear."

Not that Curze did fear, really. "Was I?"
curzed: (pic#18155868)

[personal profile] curzed 2026-03-30 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
He has his concerns, with how long the last effects had lingered. Might linger even now, in fact, merely hidden better by a measure of experience. "A world for recruiting our legions from that grows soft and decadent will not produce the sons our duties require either. Let it stay a dream. Or perhaps, not even that."

It's the best counsel he can offer. What-ifs caused too much trouble. Seeded too much doubt. "To be taunted so with a life you cannot have seems terrible cruelty. I'm not sure I approve of this sort." A master of all forms of terror, but melancholy? No.

"Mm. Much like the last time, there was no sight, or smell or sound that identified you. Very troublesome." The great angel is given a sidelong look. Was there some instinctive knack for being sneaky buried in there somewhere? "Some are effortlessly spotted but you.. you hide well."
angel_of_baal: (i mad)

[personal profile] angel_of_baal 2026-03-30 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Do not let Guilliman hear such talk." It's a weak attempt at a joke, but it's an attempt at least.

"I wonder, my brother," since Curze is one of the few he has told of his curse, "if the Thirst that afflicts my sons is in part from that. If they would be more resistant if they had had a slightly kinder life." Probably not, but maybe. Maybe something would have soothed Nassir Amit's fire without blunting his edge.

Perhaps not.

"I did not hide intentionally. Especially this life." Less embarrassing than last time, but more distressing.
Edited (12 HOURS later i see the typo orz) 2026-03-30 13:59 (UTC)