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

[codeswitchcraft]

She laughs. "I was the older twin in Montica," she reminds him, "if only by an hour. But since you are most assuredly older than me now, what with being a father on your own and to a child old enough for armor, not to mention very much taller... I will accept it." She leans against his leg. "I think I will like having a big brother. You do have my esteem, you know. I think both you and F— Guilliman to be good men at heart, no matter how your own father might be."

(Sorry. Guilliman's said just enough that she's decided she does not like the Emperor.)

[angel_of_baal]

"Age means nothing with experience and wisdom. You've had many experiences that neither I nor my brothers have had." His wings riffle at her sudden pressure against his leg, before settling back, soothed. "We do our best."

[codeswitchcraft]

"Not as much as you'd think," Siobhan says, with a sigh. She doesn't think he'd say that if he knew that she'd only been alive for a few months and everything before that was just the story she'd been in. "But... I've had enough in the last few months to make up for the rest of it, I guess."

She'd talked to gods, met the man she'd been written to love (and fallen in love for real), traveled from Salzstadt to the Beauforte to Viacruz to Vinyedo, fought a sea monster where it shouldn't have been, met Hikaru and fallen in love a second time, been drawn into the library...

When she thought about it that way, she'd really done a lot, hadn't she?

[angel_of_baal]

Right? So like...all of that, basically. "If that's the case, well, you've handled it with more grace and skill, both in the Story and here, than I have." He makes a sad smile. "After the first story, I was so distraught I almost hurt the one person who knew me best." Sure, it was because Curze had tried to kill Tsang the entire story but that...didn't matter.

[codeswitchcraft]

"When we first got back here from Montica," Siobhan says, "I ran out into the garden and wept for what felt like an hour. The only reason I was less distraught for the first Story is that I was myself and running on pure rage and adrenaline for much of it. And even then I still fell to weeping on Hikaru in the garden in the aftermath. If I do not end up weeping on him in the garden after the next, I shall be very surprised."

[angel_of_baal]

"I isolated myself this time, also in the garden." So, great minds think alike! But he did it for fear of hurting others. "The only brother who came to me, ironically, was the one I had hurt last time." Huh. He wonders if she knows him. "Do you know him? He calls himself the Night Haunter." Project Curze is a Nice Person Despite Himself: underway.

"I feel the same. I wonder..." Oh is it Suspicion O 'Clock? "In my world, there are...creatures. That feed on the pain and suffering of living things. I wonder if the Library itself is similar."

[codeswitchcraft]

"I don't think I've met him personally," Siobhan says. "But you've already said such good things about him, that I should fix that before the next story."

(And indeed, she is going to defend him based on your words earlier to your very own son not so long from now.)

She's quiet for a moment after that before she says, "Before the story happened, Hikaru says he said this to the man called X: I will gladly sacrifice Romeo and Juliet on the altar of reconciling the Montagues and Capulets and avoiding blood in the streets of Verona if that is actually necessary, but I would not start with the assumption that two teenagers needed to die for the sins of the fathers."

Her imitation of Hikaru's deep, plummy, and somewhat monotone voice is very good—but then she did just admit earlier that she and he are lovers.

"And then the very next story found me in Juliet's role with him in no way my Romeo—and with enough reflected and distorted from my own life that I wept so. So yes, I can believe your theory about the library feeding off of pain. For surely just between the three of us, it has already supped on more than enough to feed it."

[angel_of_baal]

Haha! Victory! Or at least a start. "Do not be put off by his dour appearance." Or smell. But feel free to tell him to bathe. Please. "But he feels things, very deeply, and has very few he share with."

His mouth makes a variety of shapes as she talks, none of them particularly happy. "That," he says, after a moment, "suggests a darker meaning to these 'recommended readings'. That we are overheard, and, possibly, plotted against. I had spoken to Kaiisteron, about the possibility that our placement in the story, as those who retain ourselves or are in the body and mind of others--as you and I were in Montica--is not random happenstance, but controlled by...some intelligence."

A longwinded way of saying 'sounds like this place overheard you two and decided to fuck with you', only, you know, diplomatically worded, and thus sounding less insane.

He risks brushing a finger against her hair, as an attempt to soothe. "I would be disconsolate, if I had been either party, in that circumstance." Crying for an hour in the garden? Reasonable! "I, however, have no sorcery to confront it, or confirm it, so it is only speculation," he sighs. No sorcery at all. His weapons are entirely in the materium.

[codeswitchcraft]

"Hikaru thinks it is a coincidence," Siobhan says. "That stories just tend to assume these shapes. But I cannot be certain." And her lady agrees.

She leans against that finger, sighing softly.

"Some kind of intelligence or perhaps some kind of automated process that sorts us without thinking about it. Neither is very good, I think."

[angel_of_baal]

"He might be right." He sighs. "I honestly hope he is, my sister. But it is something we might want to gather data on before we decide." And with that knowledge, those who might want to go home (say, to alter their timelines) would be able to.

"Do you have a theory about those who have disappeared?" Because he does, also. They're all terrible.

"Neither is good. But at least," At least, he snorts to himself, "some enter the stories as themselves. If we could find a way...." To mark each other, know each other...something. "It might stay our hands if, in a story, we would be set against each other."

[codeswitchcraft]

"I do not," Siobhan admits. "I've been hoping that they are elsewhere in the library, sleeping on couches and chairs, but I understand that is very unlikely. I've also hoped that perhaps they get to go home. It would be nice for them if that was the case."

She looks thoughtful. "Hikaru said that Sumire figure out how to use the journals they give us to communicate with each other even when we can't get to the bulletin board. I do not know what method she used, but she and Hikaru and his armsman Ser Duncan all did it during the Story, he says. So if one of them is Reading during the next story, perhaps we can all get in contact in that way. And perhaps more people can learn how. That could help couldn't it?"

[angel_of_baal]

There's a secret third option, that he will...keep to himself: that the Library devours them. And it could take any of them at any time. But he would keep that dark thought to himself. For now. She and her closer-than-friend Hikaru have enough weight without that worry.

"I will choose to hope they go home and that their return is to a good place." He shifts his weight. "I would return to calamity, but perhaps I would be better able to handle it." Perhaps he has learned things that would carry him better. He wished he had asked Guilliman more questions.

"That could help, if we are able. We can organize to keep our dear ones safe, as much as we can." He could handle safety from physical danger. She could probably handle the emotional part better.

[codeswitchcraft]

"I would return to what is more or less an on-going crisis," Siobhan admits, "but there are things that I have confided to Hikaru and Laina here that I had not before we were all taken, so perhaps them knowing these things will help. I hope that they do. And I trust Hikaru's judgement in what to tell our friends and allies once we are back on Mundus."

She's quiet for a moment before saying, "If I am Acting again... if there is another woman named Sigrid in the story who looks a little like I did as your sister, that may be me. Because Sigrid is the name I was born with, even though I am Siobhan now."

[angel_of_baal]

"That is a hope I have, as well. That the things we learn here might change our futures when we get back." At least a little bit. Else why do this at all? "Curze--the Night Haunter," he corrects himself oops. "He feels the future is preordained and unchangeable, but, well, time will tell."

"It is a terrible thing to live thinking it is all a machine in lockstep, with no choice or will at all." No wonder Curze was always so dour.

"If I am able, I will look for her. You." Listen, it's hard to keep this stuff straight. "When did you change your name?" He's always been Sanguinius, even before he could speak.

[codeswitchcraft]

"Not yet two months before I was drawn into the library," she says. "So not yet a year ago. Before that, my name was Sigrid von Verdholtz. I suppose my surnames are not so different even now: Verd-holtz just means 'green wood' in two different languages."

[angel_of_baal]

"You changed your name yourself?" He's always been Sanguinius. "In my world, one receives a name at birth. Some take a new name when they join the Legions, to mark that they are a new person, forever different from who and what they had been." Having a family name when you will outlive your family by centuries was just...awkward.

[codeswitchcraft]

"I did," Siobhan says, solemnly. "Thought it helped that Laina and I had contacted her god by ritual, so that my new name could be entered onto the great scroll of Gnomon the moment I renamed myself."

She looks up at him. "It's not strange for people in my world to take a nom du guerre if they decide to engage in the adventuring life. But I think I might keep Siobhan Greenwood for good after this."

[angel_of_baal]

"It suits you, your name. It must have felt good, empowering, to choose your own." He always just...knew his name.

But..."Are gods not evil where you're from?" Because Guilliman told him about the Gods of Chaos.

translation: mundane gods are real and created by humans; edmund is mundane jewish

[codeswitchcraft]

Siobhan shakes her head. "No. Not the Fourteen. Not even the Fifteenth, I have been told by the highest authority, although she pretends to be so, in order to draw out those villains would would follow someone who is everything she appears to be. And not the Creator, Edmund tells me—ah, that is the mysterious god who the Ro'im say made the Fifteen. Well, I have been informed by one who would know that a human woman of Earth created the Fifteen to care for Mundus, but also that the Ro'im's Creator made Earth and her, so they were very close to being right. But the point is... they are not evil. All of them are helpful, benevolent. I am not so sure about the Creator, as I have not been able to talk to him the way I have a few of the Fifteen... but I must believe Edmund when he says that the Creator is trying to be, at least."

She's quiet for a moment before adding, "I am sorry if the gods of your world are evil. But please believe me that not every god is."

[angel_of_baal]

"You have spoken to gods?" There's no way that's not impressive. His father suggests gods were just coalescences of human need and emotion, something to have faith with outside themselves because they did not believe in themselves enough. But, well, his father had not mentioned daemons Maybe he knew of gods, too, then.

"I had thought when I arrived that we were all from Terra, but from different places in time." That held true for his brothers, at least, which was what had started it. "But many are from places I've never heard of. It stands to reason that they are different."

"Just as someone spoke of daemons in his world. They are not the same as mine." He'll just quietly omit the name.

[codeswitchcraft]

"I have," Siobhan says, quietly, "and so has Laina. She was given a ritual that let she and I talk to our patrons among the gods of Mundus. We used it to ask them questions we very much needed answer to as to the state of our world, which we soon found had been attacked. But those were the gods of Mundus that while much greater and more powerful than Mundanes or Terrans were still originally made by humans to care for our world."

She pauses, partly so that she can speak with the fragment of a god within her head.

"There are other worlds than these," she says. It has a feeling of a quotation. "Yes. I do not think we're all from the same stories. For whether or not we are from a real and tangible book or movie, every universe, every reality is and has its own story. Or so Gnomon tells us."

[angel_of_baal]

"Where I am from, if my brother--Roboute." His brother...whatever Siobhan might call him...."speaks of four gods, of Chaos, who seek only pain and suffering, blood and destruction."

"We have no gods that are benign." Which isn't to say she's wrong just that...it sounded a lot nicer than his world. He sounds, if nothing else, almost wistful. 'Other worlds' makes sense. "Is Gnomon the name of one of yours?"

[codeswitchcraft]

"It is and one of the two I have spoken to, although Gnomon is not my particular patron," Siobhan says. "They are the god of writing, of memories, and of time. All our names are written in their scrolls. Laina is their cleric—she serves at the Great Library in Salzstadt. And Gnomon is also Hikaru's particular patron among the gods, though he is also favored by my own patron, Thorne, the Fey Warden of the Wylds. She is the god of hunters and of beasts and the wild places of the world. And she was the other god that I spoke to—Laina as well. We spoke to them together."