Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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unfinishedooc2025-12-20 09:27 am
libraryassistants) wrote in unfinishedooc2025-12-20 09:27 am
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME #2
Welcome to the Library
Those who are new awake in the stacks.
You’re not sure when you fell asleep, and the memories of the last things you were doing are hazy at best. But now you’re here, and all you can see is books in every direction, the bookshelves teetering high enough above you to reach to the sky.
A helpful sign points you in the direction of the main circulation desk, and even if you try to ignore it and go in any other direction, the desk is where you will find yourself. A figure sits behind the desk, not even looking up as they sort through books and other media; they look, to your character, to be the exact picture of what they expect a Librarian to be.
Trying to ask the Librarian a question will get them shushed, but they’ll point down a hallway to the side, leading to a kitchenette and what appears to be a dorm room, where they’ll find they’re not alone in this strange place. But once they’ve looked away, when they look back, the Librarian is gone.
The Lobby
Those who are already familiar with the Library will see the Lobby change for the second time. It’s not paper plate UFOs and metal walls this time. Instead there are cheerful garlands strung about, and a stack of books shaped into a Christmas tree taking pride of place. The Help Desk is closed, the ‘Back in 5’ sign once again a bald-faced lie, but there is a menorah sat behind in the window, conveniently just out of reach of anyone who tries to get it. The candles are lit in a… somewhat sporadic fashion, the correct order but with no rhyme or reason to what ‘night’ is being represented. Either time is strange here, whoever’s in charge of it doesn’t know what day it is either, or they simply don’t care. Or some mix of the three.
Those two particular winter holidays are not the only ones represented either; characters will find a smattering of decorations or festive accessories from a great number of holidays, from their own worlds and beyond. There is what looks like a cabinet with instructions to pick your fortune from one of the many drawers. For some reason, there are a number of what looks like a child’s toy ponies placed on and around the cabinet. There are also some posters declaring in bold, decidedly upsetting typeset: “THE GOD-EMPEROR WISHES YOU A FESTIVE SANGUINALIA!” complete with a picture of a certain Library resident in all his feathered, shining glory. (The poster is not remotely shiny, but there are helpful accent lines to show that he should be shining.) And, for some reason, there is also a giant straw goat in the garden now, surrounded by festive strings of lights. Please do not set it on fire.
The Kitchens
It seems the decorations are not the only thing in the holiday spirit. The kitchens, usually bereft of anything but the most basic foodstuffs, are now full to the brim with a variety of holiday foods. There is always a tureen with hot mulled wine and a try of sweet pastries near by it, there’s ham and latkes in the fridge to be heated up, jelly doughnuts, moon cakes, pies, and an assortment of other delicious things. If your character would expect to find a certain thing within the stash, they do, regardless of how niche it may be. Christmas chili? Of course there’s christmas chili!
Oh, and that mulled wine isn’t the only alcohol around either- champagne, sake, hard cider… again, anything anyone might expect to find. Just try not to overdo it too much, alright? Everyone still has to sleep in the same room, and the Assistants aren’t going to show up to hold your hair back.
Crafts and More
What good are holidays without crafts? The Maker’s Space has been specially supplied with anything you might need to make your festive crafts- this includes everything you’d need for a gingerbread construction! (You’d think this would be in the kitchen, but don’t kid yourself- those things are not for eating.) There’s strips of colorful paper rings and instructions on how to make your own, little things of clay and paint and directions on how to craft your own dreidel, ’stained glass’ paper lanterns, and more. Oh, and glitter. Obviously there is a lot of glitter available.
There are also snow globe kits, mostly generic winter themes- trees, presents, and the like. Strangely enough, however, when they’re complete and shaken, they’ll show a memory from the person who shook it- a memory of a holiday, or snow, or generally something that invokes the feeling of the season- light, and hope, and togetherness. It’s fragmented, almost stop-motion in between the falling bits of ‘snow,’ but once it has settled the normal, basic scene inside returns.
Those who are new awake in the stacks.
You’re not sure when you fell asleep, and the memories of the last things you were doing are hazy at best. But now you’re here, and all you can see is books in every direction, the bookshelves teetering high enough above you to reach to the sky.
A helpful sign points you in the direction of the main circulation desk, and even if you try to ignore it and go in any other direction, the desk is where you will find yourself. A figure sits behind the desk, not even looking up as they sort through books and other media; they look, to your character, to be the exact picture of what they expect a Librarian to be.
Trying to ask the Librarian a question will get them shushed, but they’ll point down a hallway to the side, leading to a kitchenette and what appears to be a dorm room, where they’ll find they’re not alone in this strange place. But once they’ve looked away, when they look back, the Librarian is gone.
The Lobby
Those who are already familiar with the Library will see the Lobby change for the second time. It’s not paper plate UFOs and metal walls this time. Instead there are cheerful garlands strung about, and a stack of books shaped into a Christmas tree taking pride of place. The Help Desk is closed, the ‘Back in 5’ sign once again a bald-faced lie, but there is a menorah sat behind in the window, conveniently just out of reach of anyone who tries to get it. The candles are lit in a… somewhat sporadic fashion, the correct order but with no rhyme or reason to what ‘night’ is being represented. Either time is strange here, whoever’s in charge of it doesn’t know what day it is either, or they simply don’t care. Or some mix of the three.
Those two particular winter holidays are not the only ones represented either; characters will find a smattering of decorations or festive accessories from a great number of holidays, from their own worlds and beyond. There is what looks like a cabinet with instructions to pick your fortune from one of the many drawers. For some reason, there are a number of what looks like a child’s toy ponies placed on and around the cabinet. There are also some posters declaring in bold, decidedly upsetting typeset: “THE GOD-EMPEROR WISHES YOU A FESTIVE SANGUINALIA!” complete with a picture of a certain Library resident in all his feathered, shining glory. (The poster is not remotely shiny, but there are helpful accent lines to show that he should be shining.) And, for some reason, there is also a giant straw goat in the garden now, surrounded by festive strings of lights. Please do not set it on fire.
The Kitchens
It seems the decorations are not the only thing in the holiday spirit. The kitchens, usually bereft of anything but the most basic foodstuffs, are now full to the brim with a variety of holiday foods. There is always a tureen with hot mulled wine and a try of sweet pastries near by it, there’s ham and latkes in the fridge to be heated up, jelly doughnuts, moon cakes, pies, and an assortment of other delicious things. If your character would expect to find a certain thing within the stash, they do, regardless of how niche it may be. Christmas chili? Of course there’s christmas chili!
Oh, and that mulled wine isn’t the only alcohol around either- champagne, sake, hard cider… again, anything anyone might expect to find. Just try not to overdo it too much, alright? Everyone still has to sleep in the same room, and the Assistants aren’t going to show up to hold your hair back.
Crafts and More
What good are holidays without crafts? The Maker’s Space has been specially supplied with anything you might need to make your festive crafts- this includes everything you’d need for a gingerbread construction! (You’d think this would be in the kitchen, but don’t kid yourself- those things are not for eating.) There’s strips of colorful paper rings and instructions on how to make your own, little things of clay and paint and directions on how to craft your own dreidel, ’stained glass’ paper lanterns, and more. Oh, and glitter. Obviously there is a lot of glitter available.
There are also snow globe kits, mostly generic winter themes- trees, presents, and the like. Strangely enough, however, when they’re complete and shaken, they’ll show a memory from the person who shook it- a memory of a holiday, or snow, or generally something that invokes the feeling of the season- light, and hope, and togetherness. It’s fragmented, almost stop-motion in between the falling bits of ‘snow,’ but once it has settled the normal, basic scene inside returns.
no subject
Alia does not know where Osaka is, accept that it must be far away since doesn't sound even vaguely Russian.
"That sounds interesting. I'm a student of ley lines," she says, trying to be conversational. Her impression of engineering and economics is that it belongs to the realm of Reason, where humans thrive. Conversely, ley lines fall under a nascent field of study among arcanists, and she is a proud student of her mentor.
"My name is Kiperina. Nice to meet you, Miss."
no subject
The pleasantry thus handled, she turns back to the idea of 'ley lines'. "Geomancy, then? Or harmonious arrangement?"
no subject
"Yes, it's a little bit of both. We do geological surveys and read our maps, and study the arcane energies that influence the lines in particular areas." She hopes she has not let Miss Windsong down with this very rudimentary description.
She lifts up her brass measuring tool, which she'd placed neatly at the foot of the craft table, to show Mei.
"This was a gift from my mentor. She taught me how to use it to measure ley lines."
Ever since arriving here, this instrument has stopped working.
no subject
no subject
"You mentioned Osaka. May I ask where is that, and what year did you come from?"
She has been through enough Storms to expect history to always be in flux, and to never assume that the person she is speaking to comes from the same time as her. She has yet to meet someone who is familiar with the USSR of the 80s.
no subject
no subject
She pauses for a beat, before explaining further. "I came from the 80s, originally. But we deal with an unexplainable universal phenomena called the Storm. At times, it causes time to rewind, and at others, it brings us forward by decades. People who aren't properly sheltered when the Storm occurs get..." It feels like there is a lump in her throat as she finishes the sentence. "...lost."
"But we have never crossed the year 1999."
oh boy she is going to get this completely wrong and I am SORRY
"We're still makin' things, same 's we always made 'em. but... 1999...? 's far 's I know, the main significant thing that happened in Russia in 1999 was Sun Eater destroying Leningrad searching for her second unwanted daughter. And the last night of the War was then, too. Mercury-3, and her pilot, Kisaragi Junko, self-destructed bare kilometers from the Eva Ray Research Center to stop a swarm of alien snakes getting there."
hehe this is good !
70s ---> 80s ---> 90s --> 2021
At each decade, she scrawls out short descriptions of what Mei has described overhead, and then compares with what happened in her timeline underneath.
Alia is after all a young girl who has been forced to sit through countless lectures from Laplace researchers going off on theories to do with the Storm, physics, and other subjects beyond her grasp. She has learned that writing things down and asking questions is the best way to reach some level of understanding.
"This war you talk about, was it to do with the aliens?"
Aliens have always been a hot topic, it seems.
Re: hehe this is good !
"We call it the Long War."
no subject
"The Long War," she repeats. Ever since the Storm started, it's happened so frequently, that a war would not last more than 10 years before time unwound itself.
"... To have time reset and lose everything, or to live through a 45 year war. Which is worse?"
It is the question of a child who is trying to make sense of the cards she's been dealt with. Though she can't help but ruminate on this, she doesn't expect an answer.
no subject
no subject
"Right, that's true. Sorry for the odd question. "
no subject
no subject
"It's been a delight to speak with you, Miss Mei. You mentioned doing gymnastics before, am I right? I wouldn't call that stiff."
no subject
cute !!
"Perhaps the garden, then?" Alia suggests. It's one of the other places she's managed to find in her short time here.
She's not quite sure what Mei intends to do, but will follow the older girl without complaints.
Re: cute !!
This is, at least partially, to lead into doing floor exercises at each other.