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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.
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At her mention of romance as undesirable - or impossible - Hikaru frowns. "Are you saying you would rather not, or that you can't?" he asks. "Because I both would very much love to see, and dread the thought of, an unstoppable will grappling with an inevitable plotline..."
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And she really doesn't want to break his heart by telling Kaneko Ichigo otherwise.
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"...did you intend," he says at last, "To imply he is mistaken?"
And if so, what on Earth or Mundus do you hope to achieve by humoring him? remains unsaid, because the implications of any good answer to that horrifies Hikaru.
"In either case, I am not sure the plots would care," he says. "They certainly didn't care that I'd largely resolved the very same crisis they wanted me to relive."
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She puts her head in her hands. "I dunno what to do if it's a romance."
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"I am glad that you understand the problem, Torioi Mei." He bows, sweeping his hat off his head. "Call me by my nom de guerre of Aozora Hikaru, please."
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ah. so this is what it's like to be on the wrong end of compel +hard.
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Fuck it. At this point her friend was less than shy about what she had gone through.
"...I Woke Up As My Kitsune Healer From An MMO And I Don't Want To Change Back, featuring me as main character Deedee Yeowoo's sometimes mentor and The Smart One in our band of five plus one outsider."
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"Bet my last Sheaf and HP that it was Mundane Phantasy Historia, in the original English. But you understand my point, I trust."
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Stands up, pours herself a ladle of mulled wine, sits back down, and lets out a long, quiet, but heartfelt, "Shiiiiiiit."
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And then he sighs. "...and since I have you at a disadvantage," Hikaru says, "Ask me anything about myself and my circumstances and I will answer either honestly or not at all."
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"So. T' start with, maybe some history's right. I told you 'bout the Long War and how I got here, 'least the broad strokes." She flips on her laptop again and starts to write more notes.
She crosses out the old title on the notes in a form of markdown, and instead writes beneath it on the text file:
INVESTIGATION: UNFINISHED LIBRARY
Sub-investigations to come: "Editing"
Figure out what genre I am
"And you mentioned the 'Screamin' Twenties'. I take it that cooler heads did not prevail in the face of what, at first, was thought to be an alien bioweapon, and later turned out to be a home-grown coronavirus."
ah yes, there's a thought to help someone sleep at night, Mei.
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"Quite," he says. "Absolutely no evidence of it being anything but a natural mutant strain but that didn't stop anyone using it as an excuse to demonize China. That wasn't the worst of it but it was when the screaming started."
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"I won't speculate on what made it louder. Enough to know it was loud for decades. And... so escape became necessary. And because it was necessary, it got sold."
"Quarter century later, you got MMOs that use interfaces we'd only use on mecha, and the programs to run 'em."
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"Games such as The Wonders of Mundus: Mundane Phantasy Historia, a classic MMO in the mode of Swan Song or Dragonsaga with a painstakingly researched age of sail world."
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She looks at Hikaru's clothing. "Y'get by pretty good, looks like. Get fancier clothes at least, and ones that 're better quality than anything you could print out fer a few hundred en at UNIKOKORO. But the 'how' and the 'why' eat at ya."
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He steeples his fingers together over his mouth.
"...and my Siobhan came to love me because I wished to understand her and her world as none of the others did."
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"Some change back, but a lot don't." Her smile goes slightly wry. "... Siobhan is here, and that beau you mentioned. I'll keep it in mind."
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He looks at Torioi’s notes, and considers.
“I am debating,” he says, “on whether or not to tell you the answer to your question.”
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“God, that would have made things simpler for you. No.”
Hikaru looks Mei in the eye.
“Yours is a story of rejecting the genre others would define you by, and fighting to rewrite your own fate.”
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She takes a long pull of the wine, emptying the cup in one movement. She coughs, uncomfortably...
2/2
She shakes her head, bemused at her own naivete. "Of course not. But now I know I will become a problem. And that? That is a beautiful moment."
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