libraryassistants: (Default)
Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account ([personal profile] libraryassistants) wrote in [community profile] 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.
wirewalking: (no thoughts)

hehe this is good !

[personal profile] wirewalking 2025-12-28 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
While this is all certainly new and foreign information to Alia, she listens diligently to Mei's recount. She grabs an pencil and a half-torn piece of craft paper, and draws out a timeline with practiced penmanship. Though she writes in Russian, somehow Mei should be able to understand it.

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.
birdchasingecho: (masked up)

Re: hehe this is good !

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2025-12-28 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
"... More an all-out brawl, albeit one that took 45 years to finish. It started in 1954, when a nuclear test awoke Sun Eater. At the time, they thought she was an island-- an island they could clear the inhabitants of and, well. Nuclear test. I'm sure you can imagine. Instead, what they got was bones and muscle knitting itself as they watched, and Sun Eater's rage. The aliens started a few years later, but from then on, every year or so there was some invasion or subversion or a fight between two Guardians.

"We call it the Long War."
Edited 2025-12-28 02:13 (UTC)
wirewalking: (can we ever go back?)

[personal profile] wirewalking 2025-12-28 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Alia's expression visibly shifts with discomfort at the description of the nuclear test. She is far too young to fully understand what it means or to clearly picture it in her mind, but somehow, she knows it's something she does not want to see.

"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.
birdchasingecho: (neutral)

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2025-12-28 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
"I've only lived through the one timeline, and I was born after the Long War ended. Born 2003. You'd have to ask the previous generation about living through it, I'm afraid."
wirewalking: (being careful!)

[personal profile] wirewalking 2025-12-28 10:04 am (UTC)(link)
Alia's cheeks start to redden. She feels silly for asking now. It's easy to see that Mei is only a little bit older than her.

"Right, that's true. Sorry for the odd question. "
birdchasingecho: (False Smile)

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2025-12-28 10:09 am (UTC)(link)
"It's fine. I know I c'n sound a bit old-fashioned, between still usin' Kansai-ben outside of jokin' around and, well, I am a bit stiff."
wirewalking: (smile)

[personal profile] wirewalking 2025-12-28 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
Alia offers her a little smile.

"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."
birdchasingecho: (Laughter)

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2025-12-28 10:16 am (UTC)(link)
She snorts, just a little. "Stiff in affect, not stiff in motion. Wanna find an open space around?"
wirewalking: (hopeful)

cute !!

[personal profile] wirewalking 2025-12-28 02:17 pm (UTC)(link)
It seems she may have gotten the meanings of the word mixed up, but the slight amusement from Mei makes her feel less self-conscious about it.

"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.
birdchasingecho: (False Smile)

Re: cute !!

[personal profile] birdchasingecho 2025-12-28 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"You'd know the way better than I. I just arrived today, too."

This is, at least partially, to lead into doing floor exercises at each other.