libraryassistants: (Default)
Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account ([personal profile] libraryassistants) wrote in [community profile] unfinishedlibrary2026-04-10 07:09 pm

They say the gods never give us more than we can handle - Library Log

Who: Editors, with a guest Assistant or two
What: The Library begins to change once more
When: The two weeks leading up to the next Story
Where: The Library, obvi
Content warnings: Please add content warnings to threads!

Once again, the Library begins to change. The wooden floor becomes more like cobblestone (complete with ‘the ability to trip you up easily if you’re not watching your step’), and there’s some little flags that look like the kind of things you’d get handed at a festival. As the week goes on, little carts and stalls pop up around the Library - most don’t have anything, but there are a few where some familiar ‘faces’ pop up to offer their wares. It’s mostly rocks. Some of them are shiny, at least?

The customary ‘Back In 5’ sign is now missing from the assistant's desk, and in its place sits one of said Assistants. Additionally, there is the now expected sign on the circulation desk: “This week’s Recommended Reading: Paladin’s Grace!” Unlike the previous readings, it seems this one is fairly straightforward in that there’s no mix-up of copies or alternate forms of media. However, on request, it does seem that there are some sequels available for reading as well.

Available are also an assortment of other books, such as What Kings Ate And Wizards Drank by Krista Ball, Livre de Chevalerie by Geoffroi de Charny, and Life In A Medieval Castle by Frances and Joseph Gies. There is a waiting list pinned by these; the intention is clearly to share and not squirrel them away. Off to one side is The Forme of Cury, which the Library is NOT automatically translating into something more legible; some may have to ask for help to riddle out its many, many recipes. Religious symbols of countless faiths sit on walls or propped on top of bookshelves and even in the kitchenette and sleeping area, from a set of ornate old-fashioned merchant's scales to the Eye of Horus and even ... a colander full of spaghetti … ?

There's a new door added to the rotating locations, a scrawled note taped to it reading "Stop breaking things!" This door leads directly to an endless forest, with a cheerful clearing, soft grass and pleasant birdsong. Some lucky souls will recognize it as the current iteration of the Safe Room, now freely accessible from inside the library; coming and going is now effortless! That is, unless someone's sent there via destruction of property or injuring someone else, at which point they must wait out the usual duration. The day and night cycle remains, but now and again the sky clouds over, and pleasant spring rains sweep across the forest. These same rain showers are a regular occurrence in the garden for the next two weeks, at a rate of one every two days or so, lasting a little while before fading back to the usual climate and "weather".

The kitchenette is offering a change in food items; there's now a variety of hard cheeses, breads and salted meats to pick from, as well as dried fruit, pickles, eggs, river-fish, porridges of assorted forms, and uncooked roasts. Unfortunately things to actually cook the roasts with, like ovens or even a fire, haven't been provided alongside them. Drinks have changed to a small selection of rustic wines and extremely watered down ales. (Water is of course freely available.) The Laundry has acquired a large wooden tub and a washboard.
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

Safe Room

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-13 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Mei can probably hear Charlie coming before she sees her. There are definite upper limits to how fast someone can run, but one way around that is not to run, but rather to jump, and so the young heroine moves through the forest like an unholy cross between Tarzan and a pinball, leaping from tree to tree and hurtling through the air as she lets herself really cut loose.

Spotting the other young woman up in a tree, she slows her progress as quickly as she can, coming to a stop hanging onto a convenient branch in a tree near Mei. "Heya! You needed to get out and do something too, huh?"
birdchasingecho: (Still Fighting)

Re: Safe Room

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2026-04-13 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)
"... Yeah, yeah I did." She pauses and sits down on the secondary she'd been using as a standing perch.

After a little of looking at the daylight filtering through shadows, she says, "Whatcha make of the little shrines in the lobby?"
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

Re: Safe Room

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-13 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
When Mei takes a seat, Charlie swings herself up and onto the branch she'd been hanging from with the ease of practice and musculature that can lift a car. "I think we're probably going to be dealing with weird god bullshit in the next story, between all those and the book we got to read," she says, once she's settled. "And we're gonna be running around dressed for the renfaire, which, ugh."
birdchasingecho: (Thinking)

Re: Safe Room

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2026-04-13 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
She pauses. "I got spooked because there's a shrine to Inari in among the others. I paid my respects to her, but..."

She tries to think about how to put this, and, for a moment, fails.
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

Re: Safe Room

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-13 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
"You have complicated feelings about gods?" Charlie asks. "Or just that particular god?"

If Charlie's voice sounds like she feels a bit out of her depth, it's because most of her experience with religion has been punching villains using the names of various deities. Faith is not something she's thought a lot about.
birdchasingecho: (neutral)

Re: Safe Room

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2026-04-13 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"They... Coulda picked any kami. Picking Inari is strange," Mei says. "Inari is not someone to pay calls to lightly. -- None of them are, really, but Inari especially. It'll always be strange. And yet, the white fox messenger is right there."

"Whatever other god things will be going on, you can be guaranteed, it will not be normal. That's what that says to me." She pauses. "And so, I've been tying myself up in knots trying to figure out how."
Edited 2026-04-13 21:15 (UTC)
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-13 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"I dunno if we have enough information to be figuring that kind of thing out, honestly," Charlie says, turning around on her branch and then leaning back to hang upside down by her knees while still facing Mei. "So, maybe just assume things are gonna go weird once we're in the story and keep your assumptions loose, rather than stressing out trying to game out something you don't even know the rules for yet?"
birdchasingecho: (Thinking)

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2026-04-13 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"... Yeah. I'm just used to planning everything out, as much as I can. A schedule like an iron chain." Because it was the only way she knew to avoid, even a little, the specter of Kaneko Chou messing with her daily life. "And promises like a pact."
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-13 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"So, this may be my own trauma talking here," Charlie says, "but in my experience, 'a schedule like an iron chain' is kind of an awful way to live."

She rocks back and forth from her branch, remembering. "It took six months for my therapists to convince me that them not planning out every bit of my day wasn't a trap after I got out, but once I got used to it? Don't get me wrong, plans are great for a lot, but having things as tight as I did in the creche again? You couldn't make me go back!"
birdchasingecho: (Big Shock)

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2026-04-13 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
For a moment, her mask breaks. She's terrified-- did she say too much? Was her curse going to start choking?

She holds her breath. ... Nothing.

"Perhaps it is miserable," Mei admits, "but at least I am doing it to myself."
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-14 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
Charlie's quiet for a long moment after that. "I think I stepped into stuff I didn't mean to there," she says finally, as she clambers back up to look at Mei right-side up again. "I'm sorry, you don't need me getting up in your business."
birdchasingecho: (Iconic)

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2026-04-14 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
"You. Weren't wrong. And-- being clear. If just killing the people responsible could get me the justice I want, I would have done it already."

She grips the branch. The bark shreds, almost immediately, under her fingers. "Those things shouldn't happen to anyone."
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-14 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
There's another moment of silence between the two.

"Well," Charlie finally says. "Not that it's likely to mean anything, but if I'm around and you find a way to get the justice you deserve with some extra muscle, let me know. Not that you're likely to need that extra muscle, but still. Stuff like that's what heroes are for."
birdchasingecho: (acceptance)

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2026-04-14 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
"... I wish that was true. A whole daibatsu with a lovely military industrial complex, just ask it, as huge as any such."

she leans back, rolls over the branch, and drops on to her feet, stumbling backwards a bit from the rotation. "There's so much I'll need."
not_a_weapon_not_a_boy: (Default)

[personal profile] not_a_weapon_not_a_boy 2026-04-14 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
Charlie pushes off from her branch as well, landing on her feet like she's just stepped off a high step and not a serious drop. "I dunno what a daibatsu is, and who knows if we'll even make it out of this text library, but hey. Sounds like a challenge."