TEST DRIVE MEME #2

[libraryassistants]

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.

Comments

[angel_of_baal]

"I suppose. There are times we have to don finery for ceremonies and parades." He didn't hate it, partly because it was often the only times he got to see his brothers. And the chains his Legion had made for him, intricate jewels trembling in his wings, connected by glittering jewelry chains, felt like wearing their esteem and value. "But freedom of movement is often a priority, where I'm from."

He of course accepts the offer to feel the textile, and it is fine, soft and light. He makes an appreciative hum.

"I've never heard of that type of vehicle." A gryphon was like a Thunderhawk, or Storm Eagle, right?

[juniorarchivist]

Reasonable answer, achieved! And better yet, it's true! "Gryphons are a kind of winged beast of burden dwarves domesticated .. um, a while ago, I don't actually know how long except it was before the Sundering. They resemble great eagles in the front and lions in the back and are clever enough to be trained in combat by the Wildhammers." If he's babbling a little, it's because he read about this just a few years ago and it's still fresh in his mind! "You can tell what a gryphon's breed is by the shape of their beak and talons! Oh but don't call them a beast of burden or domesticated animal to a dwarf, they'll get upset with you for denigrating their companions."

Hm. This particular kyrian looks rather like the one on the posters. Rio studies the images, then studies Sanguinius, then the pictures again. "I don't like wearing a lot of armor for similar reasons of needing to move. Are you very famous?"

[angel_of_baal]

That's a lot of words and all they tell Sanguinius is that this man is affiliated with xenos. As if the pointed ears didn't point (see what he did there) to the same. "So you ride these creatures to fight into combat?" He would not like being ridden like that into combat, but then again, he's never tried it.

He sighs, following the other's gaze to the poster. "No, I am not. No more than any other of my Father's sons." This was...some joke or trick.

[juniorarchivist]

Not just affiliated, was one! Rio is about as human as that poster is, but somehow they just do better when he's their size and not a twenty-ton predator! "Oh, oh, no not at all, I don't ride ANYTHING into combat!" He looks shocked at the very idea, and more than a little alarmed. "I don't like fighting! I can do it if I have to of course, but ... but on a gryphon? What if it forgets it's supposed to eat the other person and takes a chunk out of me instead??"

This is in fact a rhetorical question and the 'you' here was probably meaning dwarves and not archivists. "Just because it's domestic doesn't mean it won't just.. .. go for whatever tasty meat is available!" Is that true? He has no idea. Is he going to risk it, also no.

The poster is.. almost easier! "Well, that doesn't mean you're not famous, if you don't mind me saying so, just that you have a very public family, perhaps. It must be nice to be associated with Winter Veil, though, isn't it? Everyone looks forward to it, the food and the gift giving and being with friends and loved ones. If it's all the same, I'd rather a nice Kyrian be the face of Winter Veil than Greatfather Winter, orcs just never.. seem all that family oriented to me."

[angel_of_baal]

"I prefer not to, but we do have to get through the atmosphere somehow." That does require something. Drop pods, or Stormravens, or some other method. "Flying above is much better for getting the overall view of the battlefield."

"These sound like their machine spirits are very untamed." Someone needs to address that.

"I suppose. It's not an actual holiday, though. They should have chosen the Warmaster or our Father if they wanted to celebrate hope and brotherhood." He's as proud of his legion as one could be but while he thinks they are the best legion, he's sure every Primarch thinks the same of their own. (except Curze maybe).

"Orks? If they have a holiday, it likely involves violence."

[juniorarchivist]

Rio is reasonably sure even a gryphon wouldn't try to take a chunk out of a Kyrian, even if that Kyrian is oddly.. human colored. "Nothing about a gyrocopter is very tamed," he mumbles, tugging his robes back into order. "I think they explode out of spite."

Can he prove it? No.

There's no surprise at all that Sanguinius knows what orcs are, because surely he's carried some into the afterlife before! "For most orcs, I must agree. They seem to relish violence to an obscene degree, but they too seem to like hope and brotherhood, at least their version of it. Especially this time of year." He can't be too disparaging of an entire species, some weren't that bad. Some were downright ... honorable. "It's a holiday for us, even if it's not celebrated in Bastion," he adds, gently, cautiously reaching to pat an enormous hand; it's about the only thing in reach, Sanguinius is huge. "So there's no harm in celebrating it with us, and remembering the good for a little while. Winter Veil, Sanguinalia, who cares what it's called?"

[angel_of_baal]

Prove it? Why would he need to? "That is an issue for the Adeptus Mechanicus. They can placate your machine spirits." In fact, they should have by now. Something was terribly wrong with this stranger's world.

"I can't remember hearing of Orkish holidays." Who wants to learn more than they are brutal threats to the Imperium, slaughtering entire planets if they get a foothold? The only thing they seemed to celebrate was slaughter.

He shifts his weight at the other's words. "Because it is close to heresy." His Father was not a God, and Sanguinius was not an object of veneration. "No one should be worshipped like this. To exist is to have faults and flaws." Especially the ones Sanguinius has.

But that was edging close to maudlin. "How do you celebrate this Winter Veil?" that has to be better to hear about.