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unfinishedooc2025-12-20 09:27 am
libraryassistants) wrote in unfinishedooc2025-12-20 09:27 am
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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
Good enough. "Or didn't have the paints. Figured I'd pretty him up instead, if I was bothering." This is a very flashy look, if you're an elf.
"So you can see high violet." He hadn't been ... totally sure, even though the fellow's own markings -- more elaborate than the usual freckling and random splotches most humans had -- hinted at a species who derived meaning from that spectrum.
The description of the Word Bearers gets a grunt of acknowledgment out of the shrike, as he files this all away. If there's already two of the Emperor's vastly oversized sons in the Library, there's likely to be more, and it might come in useful later to have a grasp of all these divisions. He pauses to study what he's done to the poster -- then adds just one more chevron to a single primary, taking the composition from relatively balanced to less-than. Imperfection -- that'll keep it.
He caps the pens, turning away from the decorated poster in immediate disinterest. Job's done, and now he has something else to chew on -- the notion sacredness and divinity can be disentangled that way. "My w," mm, "I know a priest who'd fight you on that. Sacredness not needing the divine -- but I'll take it as a premise." ... The pens go in his pockets. He might find more posters to vandalize. Maybe he can do Sanguinius' right markings on the next one so everyone else can enjoy them.
"Whatever your father's intention, he set himself up for failure there. Language bends thought."
no subject
An innocent suggestion. Totally harmless.
He can see more than ultraviolet! But other than a slight incline of his head in acknowledgment, he doesn't further clarify. He wasn't even sure his brothers shared that particular quirk of genetics, or if his were shaped by Nostramo's black depths as much as any other on that planet. "I can't claim to understand the methods to this madness myself, but it is not my place to. Only to enforce his edicts. It's simple enough a rule to follow. He is not a god, he wishes to not be called a god, do not call him a god. And yet."
Curze gestures at the now heavily modified poster. "This sort of thing. And propping Sanguinius up as some sort of holiday icon. That at least I can understand, he is the darling of every pict as much as Fulgrim."
no subject
Fortunately for the primarch's ambitions to give his brother a hard time -- such as they are -- Illarion isn't their dad. The notion is -- would be -- hilarious to him, though he does have to make sure of one thing before he does it. "He's not promised to anyone, is he? Those," a jerk of the thumb back over his shoulder, "are courting colors. Wouldn't want him sending anyone the wrong message."
Yes, he did just paint Sanguinius as
one of his French girlsan incredibly eligible elven bachelor. What of it?Then he turns a studying sidelong glance on his conversation partner again. "He made you to help him conquer and shape your whole -- galaxy, not so? Spread the Empire across the stars. Is he not interested in your thoughts on his plans and methods?"
Or has this particular one of the man's sons exempted himself from that, for personal or other reasons? The steady drumbeat of this is the law, and it must be followed is hard to miss. Was that inborn? Learned? If learned, why did that trend toward rule-following not extend to social rules as well as the lawbooks?
(He puts a pin in asking about whether this "Fulgrim" has feathers, too. Is it important that the most popular of the Emperor's sons be attractive in an elven fashion?
Well. He might be a future collaborator in pulling elves safely under the aegis of this particular empire. It wouldn't hurt if parallels could be drawn.)
no subject
In all honesty he's pretty sure all Sanguinius would have to do is show a little ankle and half the Imperium would be lining up to make their case. Including Illarion, perhaps.
"Some of us are certainly meant to provide opinions and strategies," he allows. "I am not one of them any more than you might ask your knife what its thoughts are on governance." And yet he does, and will, govern when he must. And do a reasonably decent job at it, to the surprise of anyone who knows his reputation. "The brother you are so artfully seeing to the courting colors of on the other hand, is one such advisor."
Sanguinius' opinions matter much, for all love him! Curze not so much. "I am not disquieted by the difference. I have ever loathed audiences and their necessities, leaving that in better hands than mine is a welcome relief."
no subject
"A knife that could answer me would be a thing out of stories," the shrike counters, "and it's never wise to ignore anything that can speak." At least, not until one had listened long enough to know the character of the speaking thing, and when and where its counsel might be appropriate.
"You wouldn't even feel it your place to resolve a contradiction or hole in your father's law?" He could understand, at least, the desire to leave governance in other hands. It's been a long time since he'd felt that way -- since he'd found his stride as a Warlord, and more recently stopped feeling entirely -- but he could remember it.
no subject
Which might in retrospect be decrying his own status a little. Oh well.
"What grand hubris it would be to think I, at my hundred and sixty-odd years, could hope to teach father something about his own laws, at well over thirty-thousand." Humility? Not.. quite. But it's close. He had stood in the glaring light of the Emperor's power and never forgot the weight of aeons of knowledge. "Everything I am is merely the smallest fragment of what he is capable of. What hole or contradiction could I find that he has not already measured and chose to leave in place?"
no subject
Is ... that meant as an answer to the primarch's possible denigration of his own worth? Maybe. A little.
The mention of actual ages has Illarion straightening, just a little -- taking more notice. Those ages are -- comprehensible on the elven scale. Normal, even. (He'd expected the Emperor to be much older.)
"He's not Generation," Illarion points out -- then quickly amends, "he's not a god, your father, by his own admission. Not a little one and not the Author of the universe, either. If he's not, he doesn't know everything -- can't measure everything -- and you might still see something he'd miss.
"My own Prince was of an age with your father -- "
Older, actually, by a good bit. But this wasn't a "my dad is older than your dad" contest and it's not useful to turn it into one.
" -- and he still listened to me, even when I was your age. I wasn't him -- which meant I could think of things he couldn't. You aren't your father." And so ...
no subject
Doubts were best saved for other things. "Allow me to make an amendment. He has advisors, companions, those who's purpose it is to find flaws in things and make them right." The Custodes. The likes of Dorn and Guilliman. Even Horus and Lorgar and Sanguinius. "And they are very good at their task. They are meant for those tasks."
Curze isn't about to tell Magnus how to work a spell, just like none of them would dare tell him what the letter of the law was. "But there are no contradictions. No loopholes. Nothing that would require my brazen efforts to prove in some way I am superior to him." He shakes his head slightly, bemused. "The only one I may question is one I can't verify has actually been made law."
no subject
Considering it from that angle -- considering that the primarch's creator asks to be called Father (or at least permits the title) -- would set Illarion's teeth a little on edge, were he living. It's vastly different from the situation and reasons for his own hatching, but the parental expectations of a useful tool are similar enough to cut close to bone.
Still. No use fighting that one now. (Not when he has a newly personal appreciation of exactly how well the other man understood all points of law. He'd rarely known anyone but a lawmage who could write a contract so tightly.) "Needn't be loopholes," he does say, "or contradictions. Simply places the law's not doing what it's intended.
"Which one do you question?"
no subject
That's not one of the Emperor's laws, though, and how it remains on the books after twenty-eight thousand years he didn't know. There isn't even an ocean close enough to that part of Merica to hunt from if they did exist. "There is a certain very flexible weapon in our arsenal that's been used for some few hundred years, perhaps for much longer, I don't use it so I don't pay attention. It is used by mortals and by the astartes, by the Emperor himself with some regularity. One of my brothers is designed to be its master. It has been, potentially, banned from all use."
Is he describing it in detail? No. It isn't necessary. "Because it's 'dangerous'. To us, not to our targets. Every weapon we have is dangerous. This argument makes little sense, especially during a war. But I can't verify its veracity from here."