TEST DRIVE MEME #3

[libraryassistants]

[OOC Note: Hello everyone! Apps will open next week on Friday, March 27th. We’re trying something a little different with this TDM! In order to showcase people who are looking to app, we ask that current characters not toplevel in the TDM. Threads do still count for AC proofs.]

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 Tea Cart

Sometime after your arrival, you enter the lobby to find yourself greeted by what appears to be a little tea cart containing a carafe of moderately decent coffee, a pot of very strong tea, mismatched creamers and sugar packets, and scones as hard as rocks with surprisingly nice saucers and teacups. There is a sign next to them, stating:

Welcome Editors!
Please enjoy these complimentary refreshments.
Do NOT take food or drink into the stacks and please wash your hands BEFORE touching anything.

Looking around, you see that you and everyone else present have also been supplied with sticker name tags with “Hello, my name is _____.” Any attempts to rid yourself of the nametag will wind up with a replacement in short order, sometimes with a nickname or other title than before. They can be edited, at least, and there’s a little marker on the help desk for that purpose.

Do You Want To Make A T-Shirt

The Maker Space is always open, though it seems to be a bit picked over at the moment- one of those machines that lets you make custom logos and such for t-shirts is on display, but there’s very little of the iron-on vinyl left. If you want to make your own snazzy shirt, you’ll need to make do with the more wild colors- there’s no black or white, but there is hot pink and neon green. And glitter, of course. So much glitter.

Alternatively, feel free to grab some of the discarded ones- a few typos, a few cases where the machine snagged and messed up the print, and at least one that says “I stabbed a vampire in the face and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”

Story - Moonlit Rivals

The city of Montica has been having some trouble lately, the normal tension between the resident vampire and werewolf populations now paused as they unite against a common enemy. Vampire clans who had been exiled are striking back, their aim to knock the current ruling clan out of power- but they care very little who gets hurt in the process.

There is chaos throughout the streets, as some of the rogue vampires have been using the sewer systems to set fires to the city. Given their own dislike of fire, most of the top-side vampires flee shortly after, though some at least maintain enough presence to try and take others with them, though someone is still going to need to put out these fires. Assuming you want there to still be a city after all of this.

[This prompt takes place during the end of our current Story! Replies to this prompt will not be considered canon, but feel free to play with them to get an idea of how a Story works.]

Comments

MOD QUESTIONS

[libraryassistants]

[longnoseofthelaw]

If we opt for the Montica option, should we tag as if our character has been there from the start or as if they just got violently shoved into it without warning right at the end of the story?

[mageweaver]

What kind of quality are the t-shirts? Are we talking actually decent, or your standard fast fashion crap?

Also, does the maker's space include any more traditional sewing & clothes making equipment?

[dragon_uncle]

A crucially important question!

(not at all)

Are there boardgames in the library?

If so, do they have all their pieces or are they, too unfinished?

Re: MOD QUESTIONS

[highsteaks]

Do the tee shirts have tank top options? Like is it only sleeved shirts or are there tanks as well?

[redprayer]

Since Rezo wouldn't be able to see the Librarian's gesturing is it reasonable to assume that they'd very, very briefly speak to point him in the right direction instead?

Dionysus | The Hymn to Dionysus | OTA

[deinoswitch]

Welcome

Oh. Oh Dionysus does not care for this at all.

He is not a stranger to traveling long distances in little time at all, though it's under his own power. He's also not a complete stranger to libraries; Alexandria has one, though a quick look at the shelves tell him this is a very different sort of collection (and the fact that they are not scrolls of papyrus). What's most unsettling to him, something he can feel from the moment he wakes, is how dead everything is.

Well... not dead, perhaps; merely unalive. Dionysus is the god of madness, and later thought of with wine, but he is also a god of the living wilds, the old forests and the old ways. He exists within everything that lives and has ever lived, from birds to trees to the sleeping rock beneath the earth that still have memory of their lives before pressure and time turned them to stone. The wood of the bookshelves should still have life; they do not. The reeds that make up paper should still remember; there is nothing. It is as if everything around him were just conjured up out of nothing, made from nothing.

"Well," he says after a moment, in his mild way, "this is new." It is near impossible to tell how he feels about it.

Name Tags

He has no idea what this little tray is, or what... nearly anything occupying it is, but that's fine. It seems the point is to mingle; this is an objectively bad idea when it comes to him, but he's doing it anyway.

He certainly stands out, decked in a black himation with a black veil concealing his entire face. His arms are visible, and they're cover in reddifsh-black tattoos, swirls on his arms and bands like rings over his fingers. And if that weren't enough, his name tag pretty clearly reads 'Dionysus.' So that might get some attention.

The man pours himself a cup of coffee, smelling it before taking a sip, and then coughing. "Oh, that's terrible," he says, cheerfully and continuing to take more small sips of it.

What are T-shirts

Nothing at all in this place makes any since to him, but Dionysus is very good at just rolling with things. Which does mean he's holding up one of the t-shirts, one that reads '#sewercryptid' with confusion. "What is this for?" he asks, curious- does he mean the hashtag? Does he mean t-shirt as a garment??? Who knows.

Re: Dionysus | The Hymn to Dionysus | OTA

[okanetendo]

A woman with a mousy-brown pixie cut and the latest in 80's fashions snorts. Her nametag declares her to be Nabiki Tendo - 天道 なびき.

"Oh, yeah, that's terrible. I love good coffee but this isn't it. If my Liminal powers weren't on the fritz I'd show you a better example of the genre, but the Library decided to nerf me when I arrived."

She considers the man's nametag as she tries the tea, grimaces, then dumps in sugar.

"The Dionysus? The Hellenic god?" she asks, apparently taking it in stride.

Yosuke Otoha | Karas | OTA

[bakegarasu]

Welcome

There's a figure that appears in a burst of black feathers. It's rather dramatic, though the feathers disappear almost as soon as they appear. The man looks around and opens his mouth as if to ask something - and then shut as whomever he was looking for seems to not be there. He narrows his eyes and puts a hand on the sword at his side - and then he gets shushed by the librarian.

He opens his mouth to say something again but thinks better of it. There's no point - so he just walks in the direction indicated, his coat flaring out behind him. He looks quite serious, and anyone who approaches him at this point will just get a stare. If he's not spoken to he'll eventually move on.


The Tea Cart

Tea is familiar, but he's more of a coffee person. Even if it's shitty coffee he'll keep drinking it. His nametag reads Hello, my name is Yosuke Otoha, though the name in Japanese reads the right way around. He's crossed off the given name, but the Library has helpfully attempted to rectify it a few times. Occasionally his nametag will read Karas, but if he notices it he doesn't mention it.

Even through all of this, he stares. He doesn't seem to be too inclined to talk, but there's plenty of chatty people around, right? ... Alternatively, you're also welcome to stare back. A silent conversation might be fun... ?


Do You Want To Make A T-Shirt

Otoha knows what a t-shirt is, unlike some people in the Library. That said, he doesn't really care for them all that much. He is definitely not a hot pink or neon green person, but there's other things to do.

... That being said, he doesn't really know what to do with much of any of it. His crafting skills are pretty much non-existent, so instead he just takes a few pieces of paper that are square enough and starts folding them. ... Most of what he's doing are extremely basic geometric shapes, but he's... at least trying to do something that's not stabbing things.

That's got to be more productive, right?


Wildcard

[[Got another idea? Grab me on Discord (artematthew) or Plurk (atrypical)!]]

Tea Cart

[mageweaver]

One young woman appears utterly unperturbed by the staring. In fact, she smiles, apparently taking it for an invitation to talk.

Or, to perhaps be more correct: she has decided it is an invitation, regardless of the man's original intentions on the matter. Sandry is used to working hard to make friends in difficult circumstances, and she's not going to stop today.

"Have you just found yourself here as well?" she says. "I'm Sandry, by the way."

(Her nametag, meanwhile, reads: Hello, my name is Lady Sandrilene fa Toren.. She has made no attempt to alter it.)

Nabiki Tendo || Ranma 1/2 (1989 Anime) || Post-Synodiporia CRAU

[okanetendo]

I - Welcome To The Stacks
Nabiki Tendou, Fortune-Marked, feels like she's just walked through a door, and does not like it one bit.

Scowling, the girl with the mousy hair examines the unfinished books - oh, look, here's the pencils for a Dara/Psyche-chan doujin set in Doki Doki No Goddamn Gakuen- walks up to the circulation desk, blinks, tries to send a message over the network, finds out the network's not there, and then runs a hand down her face.

So now she's going to go wander up to other lost strangers, and ask things like: "Hey, you guys - any clue whose Liminal Space this is?" or "So how many Jaunts have I missed" or "Have you heard if there's any of Akane Tendo, Ranma Saotome, Thorne Durante, Raidou, Casper and his raven Bob, or... Xian Pu or Kuno I guess, or maybe, iunno, ANYONE I know?"

II - It Doesn't Have To Be A T-Shirt
Yeah, Nabiki snorts at the Kikaiser Nano t-shirt and grabs it, and then starts to make her own, some with a microphone design saying Breaker Breaker, 10-4: You Are Wall To Wall And Canyons Tall in eye-searing neon green on black and another featuring what looks like a rather macro microchip entitled I Regret To Inform You The Heteros Are At It Again, this last one in neon pink, purple, and blue.

III - Out, Out, Damned Spot
Okay. Okay Nabiki has tried to be subtle for this entire goddamn story - paid her dues selling alchemical HRT and buying shot and powder for Amalia, and having herself Ye Olde Highball and cheating at cards at the Laurelthirst with the Comeback Girls, she's sorry she means the Blood Moon Troupe...

But when the fires start, the hell with subtlety, lives are on the line, and Jadis probably had her dead to rights anyway according to the last Reply-Allocalypse, so screw it.

She holds up what looks like a dreamcatcher, and chants:

"I'll pay the price to seize my dreams! DREAM BARGAIN POWER, SUIT UP!"

One starkly coruscant transformation sequence later and Dream Broker Tendo, the Adversary of Bargains in an incredibly Frazettan getup, is leaping over the fires on a long staff ending with a 'chop' stamp for signing contracts, dropping salt water she put in a convenient Hammerspace over the flames, and flinging copper coins at any Brando or Orlock who gets fresh with the force of a gunshot.

Help her help Montica?

I

[codeswitchcraft]

Wait, Siobhan's goddess says from within her. She's asking after me.

My lady...? Siobhan replies, just as internally.

You know how people from the Otherworld Tourism Bureau made me and the other Fifteen, right? Even though our stories have different origins for us. Well, the woman who both made me in particular and also raised me was named Dr Charlene Durante. So in a very real way that makes me 'Thorne Durante.' Go talk to her. Don't mention me, but you can mention Mama Charley if you want. Sound her out.

"Do you mean Dr Charlene Durante?" Siobhan asks, getting closer to the young woman, who she thinks would probably be around the same age that she'd been meant to appear as when she was Princess Sigrid. And she's of Hikaru's people. "She's a famous scientist from my world's Earth. The Mother of True AI?"

Angua | Discworld

[longnoseofthelaw]

-1: Tea Cart-

The tall, blond woman wearing a nametag that said "Hello, my name is Angua" looked annoyed, which wasn't unreasonable way to feel given the current circumstances. She appeared human enough, but there was something very slightly off about her. Something that reached into the brainstem and pulled out ancient racial memories of huddling close to the fire while eyes flashed in the darkness beyond.

What she was actually doing was dunking a scone in her tea with a sour look and saying, "The wizards are behind this. I'd bet my badge on it."

She is wearing a badge, hanging from a collar around her neck.

-2: T-Shirts-

She honestly hadn't been planning on messing with the t-shirt machine. She felt like she'd look foolish wearing one of these gaudy creations. But when she saw the extras that read "I stabbed a vampire in the face and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" she couldn't hold back a snort of laughter. It was tasteless, but in a way that was designed to appeal to her, personally.

"Just as well there aren't any vampires around here." she muttered. They'd probably be whining about vitalism or, worse, wearing it and making it look incredible, somehow.

-3: No dogs in the library-

There actually is a dog in the library. Or at least, there's a wolf. That's like a dog. It was a magnificent specimen of the species, with a dense coat of oddly pale blond fur.

The wolf padded between the stacks, sniffing along the ground while occasionally perking its head up to look around before ducking back down to continue sniffing things. It didn't seem particularly hostile. If you're the kind of person who sees a dangerous predator and holds your hand out for it to sniff, the wolf will in fact come up to give your hand a sniff.

-3b: Awkward-

You just stumbled upon a bundle of clothes someone apparently stashed away in a corner. A tunic, trousers, sandals, a breastplate, and a helmet.

A moment later, the wolf stumbled upon you. It looked at the bundle of clothes, then at you, and then started to growl menacingly.

2

[okanetendo]

A pained expression flashes across the face of a newcomer, who's busy printing off a shirt sporting what looks like a rather macro microchip entitled I Regret To Inform You The Heteros Are At It Again in neon pink, purple, and blue on black.

Her nametag declares her to be Nabiki Tendo.

"Having known precisely one, she would have rocked it, yeah. Ran into some fanged trouble, did we?"

Katara: ATLA | OTA

[wantinghope]

the library

"Whoa." If Katara had any pretense of being a worldly adult, yeah, that probably just ended. Listen, she and her brother and Aang took on half the Fire Nation and all that, but it doesn't mean she's cosmopolitan. The number of times she's slept in an actual bed in the last year can be counted on one hand.

But it's not just the dorm rooms. It's the garden. And the stacks. And the kitchen. Everywhere, just "Whoa!"

Tee Shirts

She had no idea what a tee shirt is, and she can't quite figure out what the slogans mean. What is a 'trash panda'? What does 'freak in the (spread)sheets' mean?

Still, she could use a clean outfit, she guesses. And maybe, yeah, you know what? The Water Tribe symbol! She can make a shirt with one of those!

And maybe a doodle of Appa.

And this shirt needs fringe! Don't mind her bumping into you: she's looking for scissors!

story

What happened to the library place?

At one level this looked a bit more like home. Well, Earth Kingdom home, at least--cobblestone streets and buildings crowded together. She'd been looking for a tea shopt to ask for information, when she smelled the fires.

That could mean only one thing. "The Fire Nation is here!" She yells this, over and over, so the local militia (there was a local militia, right?) could come running. Meanwhile, she's running back to where she'd seen a fountain. The natural enemy of fire? A waterbender.

Story

[okanetendo]

“The what?”

Someone - unfortunately decked out in an elaborate red cloak and black dress with a hold headdress, weilding a staff - sees Katara waterbend and her face lights up.

“Hydrokinesis - that’s just the ticket, great thinking!” she says. “Let’s put out that theatre, shall we?”

Sandry | Circle of Magic

[mageweaver]

i. Welcome to the blinding lights
Sandry awakes to an all-encompasing, blinding light.

(There had been a small, hidden room once. Outside plague and the mob raged. She'd had no light, except that which she'd called into her thread. But the threads couldn't keep their dim light forever, and when they finally came to open the door, the lantern light had blinded her.)

"No!" She gasps, her hands reaching up to cover her tightly closed eyes. She can't do this again. She can't! Please, no!

But the brightness dims, suddenly. It's still there, creeping in through her eyelids - but it's less than it was just a second a go. She stands there, hesistant and terrified. Dare she remove her hands? Dare she look?

ii. Tea for a lady
Sandry arrives at the tea cart in a daze. The light of the magic in this place is everywhere. She's never seen so much magic in one place before. It's a little overwhelming, if she's honest.

"Oh! Hello," she says, giving a smile to her new companion. It's a little shaky, but warm and engaging. "I hope you don't mind company. I'm Sandry."

Her nametag, however, reads Hello, my name is Lady Sandrilene fa Toren. Sandry's probably a bit easier to say. But her clothes match the title; draping her in rich fabrics, with silk threads and detailed embroidery. She would not look out of place in any noble's hall.

iii. What kind of clothing is this?
By the time she finds the Maker's space, she's grown in confidence. She still doesn't understand this place, but if she's going to be here...well, she might as well see what she can learn from this experience.

And look! She's found a little room. She'd call it a dressmaker's room, exacept...well, she doesn't understand half the things that are in here. And what is with these strange garments? She's fascinated and appaled by them, all at once. Clearly the style is designed to be worn on the upper body, but...

"What is this fabric?" She says to herself, holding up one of the items and rubbing the fabric between her fingers. "I've never seen anything like it. But it's so...unpleasant to the touch! Why would anyone want a garment made of such a thing?"

iii

[longnoseofthelaw]

"I'm trying to decide if it beats nudity. It's close, either way."

Angua took in Sandry's high quality clothing and general attitude and hastily tacked on a polite "ma'am," to the end of that sentence. She wasn't wearing one of the gaudy t-shirts herself, in favor of a plain tunic and slightly dented breastplate.

Ariadne | Original Character | OTA

[demonicbeauty]

Welcome
Ariadne didn't quite know what to make of waking up in a library. It wasn't all that unusual for her to while away hours and hours among the stacks of the palace library, when she was back from some assignment or another. The problem was...this wasn't the palace library. She knew it, even before she opened her eyes. The whole room just smelled wrong.

It smelled...unfamiliar.

As an Alastrian, Ariadne navigated much of her life in scent. It was the first way she recognized the people she knew and loved. And that extended to the places she knew and loved as well. She could pick up the soothing, familiar scent of old paper and dried ink. But there was nothing of the Elves in this place. Nothing of their magic. Nothing of their soft fabrics and gold relics.

She opened her gray eyes, pulling one leg up against her chest as she sat up. Ariadne was a petite thing. Just barely five foot two, with delicate bone structure and a long, rope-like braid that she held defensively against her shoulder as she took in her new environment.

"Well...this isn't right," she muttered.

Tea Cart
Despite coming from a species that didn't believe in roasting meat or brewing substances, Ariadne had actually developed a curiosity for tea. More, she enjoyed cultivate the herbs, but she could appreciate the soothing quality of a good, strong cup of tea. Especially with a healthy helping of sugar mixed in. (As soon as she figured out that the paper packets were filled with sugar, she promptly dumped five or six of them into her drink.)

She stood to one side, cradling her cup between both palms as she tried to sort out the assault of unfamiliar scents and sounds around her.

The most unnerving part of it all was the strange piece of paper stuck to her red tunic.

Hello, my name is Ariadne

Just sitting there for all the world to see. She was a spy. She was used to keeping to the shadows, to assuming identities when needed. Wearing her name on her chest, so openly felt unnatural. Like any second, someone might come at her with a dagger.

It wasn't the dagger that concerned her, so much. More, it was the idea that she'd have to defend herself and possibly reveal her true abilities in the process.

No one wanted that.

Wildcard
[OOC: Seriously, throw anything at me. I'll 'yes, and...' you back. Can also do action spam, if you prefer it. I'm just a prose girlie by nature.]

tea cart

[angel_of_baal]

His own nametag almost, but not quite, blends in with his ludicrously ornate armor. Or perhaps 'blends in' isn't the right word. Maybe it's more like 'gets lost in all the other details. Including the gold. Including the enormous white wings.

However one with clever eyes can still spot it and the perfectly normal not-at-all weird name of Sanguinius. The nametag is pretty high up. He's not the tallest here, but still, at about twelve feet, he's not exactly eye level.

He's pulled something out of a book that he wants to try, to see if it is something he could offer to his brother, the Night Haunter, who had apparently discovered fruit. This wasn't fruit, but a plate full of waffles and what goes with waffles?

H-he has no idea. Tea? Also how does one go about eating them? It is time to ask an unfortunately nearby stranger. "Can you tell me what these are?" Let us figure out breakfast foods together.

Tenno | Warframe | OTA

[voidsnacc]

I. Welcome to the Library

A Warframe didn't technically sleep. They didn't need to. The closest analogue was a forced shutdown- whether from outside damage, or a need for upgrades. But even that didn't match coming to in this strange place, like a lull between waiting and action.

Initiate system checks

Frame integrity....within acceptable parameters
Stability..........within acceptable parameters
Power reserves.....within acceptable parameters
Sensory feeds......Active
Melee systems......ready
Targeting assist...idle
Combat routines....ready
Reflex latency.....minimal
Damage scan........no critical faults detected
...................no energy drain detected
Signal routing.....rerouting...rerouting...

No channels detected. Activating beacon pulse...

Awaiting return ping-

A ping goes out—structured, deliberate. It waits for a return that never comes, then repeats. If anyone was close enough they'd see the source, the strange figure that seemed to be coming to her senses at the same time the check was running. The lack of a connection pinging her awareness at the same time as the strangeness of the place, eyeless face turning to consider her surroundings slowly as orange lights along her body and limbs blinked on, before dimming subtly.

A soft huff slipping from her, annoyed as she seemed to realize the pings were going out, snapping them off once it was clear nothing was coming of it. A waste. She glanced at the sign pointing the way, scoffed lightly at it, before she shifted, limbs tensing, coiling up before she leapt upwards. Metal claws digging into the wooden shelves as she launched herself up with each vertical stride bringing her closer to where the top of the shelves...

had been when she started. The realization brought her up short, hanging from her grip easily as she assessed. No, she were as high up as she expected... the shelves had just gotten taller somehow.

Navigation return....null
No known sector alignment
Location unresolved. No matching coordinates in star chart
Environmental data does not match any recorded region
Thermal scan.........inconclusive

That wasn't good. That encouraged her to move, though she didn't come back down to the ground, instead treating the upper levels of the shelving like some sort of catwalk or trees, leaping lightly and easy from one to the other at a quick feline pace, claws digging into the wood to steady herself. At a dividing hallway opting to bring her grapplers into play to keep the quick momentum up. Even as she darted along she kept her attention on her surroundings, a simple mapping subsystem blinking away in the background as she did. Looking for someone else, a console, anyone or anything that could be tapped to find out just where she'd wound up.

While she'd stopped the beacon pulse, she still tried opening up a channel regardless-

"Lotus. Ordis- do you read? Signal's not returning."

It was at that point that she noticed. That despite her mapping, despite what should have been iron-clad navigational data... she was back where she had started. The sign she'd woken near. And yet her mapping... didn't show that at all. Routes that should have diverged apparently connecting in some way her systems didn't pick up on. A strange reorientation that evaded her scanners. Some sort of voidspace then? The idea was sobering.

Anyone near might be forgiven for being startled when the warframe dropped to the floor from wherever she'd been up in the shelves, a quick crouch to absorb the impact, though she still landed with a heavy thud and straightened quickly.

And given the lack of a discernable face or more importantly any sort of mouth, it was likely a bit of a surprise to hear the stranger speak up in a tone that was short, clipped, and...

Strangely a bit younger than one might expect coming from a figure like this.

"Alright, if someone's messing with this place, you can stop."


II. Tea Cart

She saw the sign. She was not impressed by the sign. The drinks were... easy enough to assume the purpose of. Nothing she needed. And annoyed at the way this place was jerking her around, she was tempted to take one of the... she assumed the little brown things were some form of food. Take one of those and chuck it into the stacks in defiance of their unseen rule makers.

But there were others around. No, better not to make a nuisance of herself like that just yet.

So instead she drifted away from the cart- it had nothing for her anyways- and turned her attention to studying the strangers. None dressed in a familiar manner. None seemed to be obviously allied with any known factions or syndicates that she could tell. The only thing they all had in common was the nametags. Which just had her uncertainly lifting a hand to see-

Yep. Yep, she had one too. An incongruous little thing, with TEN-0.M4-A117 scrawled across it in a heavy hand. With her claws it was easy to catch a corner, peel the thing off, and with all the delicate disgust of a cat who'd gotten their paw wet, shake it free of her fingers. Despite a lack of face, the angle of her head as it tilted to follow the downward drift spoke to her annoyance as her hand moved once again to check and make sure no adhesive was left-

Only to find another sticker in it's place. The realization had her stiffening, a low growl slipping from her as she whirled in place to find the nearest reflective surface to double-check, clawtips already going for the edge of the offending thing to tear it off.


III. Wildcard

((Hello it's Kiwi bringing you my Horrible Little Tenno. if you want a different prompt feel free to hit me up at atomic_kiwi,  Atomic_Kiwi, or through journal pms! I'll do either prose or brackets whatever you prefer <3))

Welcome

[ugh_emotions]

There's a pause, for 3.4 seconds, after her ping goes out. Then...

Ping.

A return ping. Something, it seems, was receiving.

Barcus Wroot | Baldur's Gate 3

[lost_and_foundry]

Welcome
Barcus is nothing if not cautious.

When first awakening, he spends a considerable amount of time sitting still in the stacks. Listening, taking in scents, trying to orient himself. Reading the spines of books without touching--it's surprisingly easy to plant explosive traps on shelves. Eventually, since nothing emerges to attack him, he does rise and make his way to the circulation desk, where he's relieved to see the Librarian, who just looks like another deep gnome to him. She's gone in the blink of an eye, unfortunately, and with nothing else to be done, he soon finds himself in the dormitory.

Where he promptly slips under one of the lower beds. He's not hiding, he's gathering intel, hush.


Tea Cart
Hello, my name is Barcus! Absolutely not. No one in this place has earned the right to call him by his first name. Unfortunately, when he peels that sticker off, hoping it won't ruin the finish of his leather tunic, the one beneath says Hello, my name is Windmill Gnome! and that's even worse.

"Excuse me??" The first words he's said here over a whisper. This is war.

Find him sitting on the floor with a few crumpled stickers around him, twirling a sharpie irritably between his fingers.


Do You Want to Make a T-shirt?
Yes. Yes, he does.

Fabric crafts were not the first things that occurred to him when he saw the sign for the Maker Space, but really doing any kind of fabrication is soothing to him. A much needed focus. So, sure, why not? Glitter, he can tell at a glance, will stick to him and everything he owns; he's going to end up shedding it everywhere like a pixie, but whatever. It's worth the risk.

"One doesn't generally stab vampires in the face, though, I thought." He says, eyeing the half-finished shirt. "I mean, you can if you're tall enough, I suppose, but it's not that effective." Granted, he's pretty sure it would piss Astarion off, but the backlash would be messy. Not recommended.


Wildcard
((I'd need a little hand-holding for the Story, but I'm game for pretty much anything! Please hmu with whatever you like. My discord is WugglyUmp, and I will happily respond to PMs to this journal as well.))

omg barcus - tea cart

[deinoswitch]

There's a man (?) nearby, dressed in a black himation and a black veil with reddish black tattoos swirling from his knuckles to his neck. It's hard to tell what with the veil, but he seems to be watching Barcus's battle with the name tags with some amusement.

"Having a disagreement with them?" he asks after a moment, a cup of the mysterious and terrible liquid (coffee) in his hands. His own name tag reads 'Dionysus'. Look, there are worse gods to have pay attention to you. Like Baal.

[suitsahero]

Welcome to the Library

The memories of the last thing he was doing are more absent than hazy, but they leave him with a strange feeling twisting in his gut and a copper bitter taste in his mouth, like there's something important he's missing. Still, after wandering through the stacks for a bit, lost and disoriented but too confused to be overly worried about it, the feeling slowly fades, just in time for a literal sign to point him to his apparent destination.

He's not surprised yet to meet another Elezen here, though it will become odd to him later on, but he's never seen anyone but Elezen man the shelves of books in Foundation, so there's nothing else "she" can appear as. (Let's not talk about the fact that "look like a librarian" has "her" clearly appear female, attractive, and likely more scantily clad than she would be to most people) Still, unless there's somehow another tall, skinny, pale elf in the dorm room, his eyebrows will rise for a moment in surprise in seeing the other occupant. It's not that he's never seen someone of another race before, of course, but they're so rare in Coerthas that it's always a shock for a moment.

"Ah, I didn't mean to intrude, but I was pointed over here by--" he turns back to refer to the Librarian, but she's gone, of course. "Ah. Hm," it's not quite fully awkward, but it obviously throws him off a bit, "Are you new here as well?"

The Tea Cart

Generally Haurchefant probably would choose coffee over tea, though neither were his absolute favorite, but one sip of the coffee has him switching immediately to the tea with a bit of milk, which is a much more pleasant experience. The scones are equally explored and decided to be something of a lost cause, though he pockets one all the same. He hasn't seen much in the way of food here, so far, so if this were his only food, he's not going to totally turn his nose up at it. Coerthan winters make you less picky about such things, even when there's money around you to spare.

He's made no comment on any of this testing, but no secret either, so if you're in a similar boat and want to open conversation, he's certainly open to it.

Otherwise, once he gets his tea and scone situation settled, he'll be looking around the room for someone interesting to talk to. They're obviously intended to converse with one another and while Haurchefant (perhaps surprisingly) isn't much of a social butterfly in situations where he's uncomfortable, he's certainly capable enough of finding and holding a conversation regardless of the situation.

"Lovely weather we're having, eh?" it's obviously intended to be a joke, as there's no sign of a window in the vicinity, unless one is hiding somewhere behind a curtain. It's an obvious conversation starter, but sometimes being a little less coy is a good thing. They're going to have to all talk to each other eventually, aren't they?

The Tea Cart (AAAAAAAAAHHHH)

[aetherweaver]

He stops and stares. His own drink - tea, in this case - shakes a little bit in his hand. Could it be? Could it be an illusion? He tries to keep himself calm, but he keeps moving towards the man. There's a lump in his throat, but -

No, if he's here, then he probably doesn't remember. The miqo'te's tail curls around his body. "... Ah. Hello there, friend. I think that the weather here is at least decent." Temperature controlled? That's pretty good.

He tries to not let his emotions show through. Gods, but he wants to cry.

Chie Satonaka | Persona 4 Golden | AU/Synodiporia CRAU

[highsteaks]

Welcome

When Chie wakes up in some random library, not long after getting her metaphorical car keys, she does what any long-term Traveler does in response to waking up in a strange location: she attempts to contact the Network. Which she absolutely cannot connect to and a quick follow-up verifies that she's cut off from her other Liminal Space abilities. Crap.

Okay. Ugh. Don't panic. Let's just figure out where we actually are.

Seeing the middle eastern man in assassin's robe at the desk makes her heart hurt, even though it's not her old mentor or his best friend, and honestly, she's not doing a great job at holding it together.

So maybe you'll find her in the kitchen later--a young Japanese woman of just about twenty with short brown hair, green and yellow windbreaker jacket draped over her shoulders--trying and failing not to snottily cry over a plate full of assorted cold cuts.

"Crap," she mutters and stuffs another cold cut in her mouth.

Tee Shirt

Bitch, Chie loves neon green. Best color. And there's some yellow shirts and she also likes yellow and she's actually halfway decent at English now thanks to Helena and there's stencils to get the romaji letters cut out... anyway, at the end of it she's able to hold up a lemony yellow shirt up with the words Be water, my friend written on it in neon green. There's another stack of vinyl letters waiting nearby for her second planned shirt, which is going to read RESCUE TEAM.

"I wonder if they've got any tank tops?" she muses out loud. "I kinda like those better than sleeved ones."

kitchen

[shakenit]

Sumire feels like she didn't manage to do anything useful in that stupid Story - she couldn't even handle going to a fancy-dress party without panicking her way through it - but she also can't afford to spiral down into 'I'm completely useless,' especially without her friends here to help her back up. So she's going to do something she knows she's good at.

And that's her stopping short in the kitchen doorway, arms full of food; she's quite plainly ready to cook, and cook quite a bit, but wasn't expecting anyone else to be here. "Are... you all right?"

Maedhros | The Silmarillion | OTA

[holdshisown]

Welcome to the Library

Maedhros is not overly concerned with his fuzzy memories of how he got here at the moment, he thinks that's probably to be expected for the recently Returned, he is more shocked about the fact he is here at all. He'd not expected to ever be re-embodied after his death. He had, in a way, been very relieved not having to worry about stepping into his old life again and he's not so sure he's happy to have been unceremoniously kicked out of Mandos to do so despite how he might feel about it. Or at least that's what he imagines must have happened.

He looks down upon himself, at the simple grey shift of one recently released from Mandos and the smooth unblemished skin of his arms and legs. Last he remembered he'd had quite a few nasty looking scars on both. Oh, and he'd also had one hand less than he does now. He experimentaly flexes his right hand, opening and closing it slowly while staring intently at it like he's not quite sure whether or not it's return offends him.

"How odd..." He murmurs as he stands up to start looking around.

The Tea Cart

Maedhros is currently too busy glaring down at his nametag to bother with the tea. He's thrown it away several times and yet it keeps coming back and right now it's got his his entirely too long and too formal Quenya names on it. Every single one of them. Hello, my name is Nelyafinwë Maitimo Russandol Fëanorion.

He sighs deeply and pinches the bridge of his nose as he feels a headache coming on.

"Absolutely not." Is all he says as he takes it off and throws it away. Whatever the next one says can't be worse than that.

Welcome

[keytarheroine]

Here comes a slim human woman with brilliantly purple hair, all the way down to the roots. She wears blue sailcloth trousers and a black shirt with an image of a purple unicorn with wings, reading a book; at her hip, strapped around her shoulder, is a curious instrument like a portable harpsichord.

She pauses, then reaches out a hand in greeting.

"What were you expecting instead?" she asks. "Welcome to the Library. Must be a little disorienting. Have you found the common areas yet?"

Zed | Ressha Sentai ToQGer | Synodiporia CRAU

[whydoyoushine]

[Tea Cart]
Zed is wandering around unaware (or uncaring) that he's got a nametag on reading Emperor of Darkness Zed and is quizically knocking some of those rock-hard scones together with each other. "So are these supposed to be weapons, or is someone just a really terrible cook?"

He has notably not washed his hands before handling this food.

[Oh no he's found the glitter]
The worst possible thing (for anyone with a lick of sense) has happened: Zed has found the glitter. "Hey, this stuff is great!" He's covered in it. Absolutely covered in it. "Here!" That he is attempting to share is probably an improvement in his overall approach to the world, but cheerfully hurling a handful of glitter in someone's general direction is perhaps the literal worst way he could show this. But hey, sharing is caring, right?

[Moonlit Rivals]
Zed's having himself a grand old time in the hot town tonight. He's got the fire elementalism he picked up in the Bando and combined with his own control of darkness, the circumstances for trolling are just right. Absolute perfection. Some of that fire just whips itself right up into the shape of a locomotive and hurls itself right off into the sky while darkness itself envelops confused vampires and sweeps them off their feet, throwing them into whatever might pass for Ye Olde Dumpster. Or perhaps the vampires find themselves enveloped in darkness from which they cannot escape, their alarmed shouts growing louder and more panicked.

Whatever's going on, Zed's relaxing on a lounge chair made of solidified darkness, sipping on some drink he's liberated from some tavern somewhere, looking like he is on vacation and generally enjoying life as the chaos around him unfolds. He's not worried about anything in the least.

Tea || ZED <3

[okanetendo]

Nabiki Tendo blinks, and stares, before she grins.

"They're okay if you dunk them into tea," she says. "Hey, stupid question, but... if I mentioned Questing Country, would you know what that is?"

Because so far, precisely two groups of people knew about it: Deedee's old crew, because somehow Questing Country was a fucking anime in their 2047, and her fellow Travellers.

Wu Xie | Daomu Biji aka Graverobbers' Note | OTA

[ragsnbone]

Welcome
He was still covered in the dust of that last tomb. Wu Xie blinked at the stacks around him with all the certainty of a man who knew that this wasn't real, the flat of his kukri resting against his arm as he poked at a shelf. He counts to ten and pokes it again and when it still stayed right where it was he sighed and slid his blade back into its sheath.

"Can't be too careful," he mutters and then squints at the nearest title. "Wait..."

It takes him about five minutes to pull half of the nearby books off the shelf and starts reading them. Sorry not sorry if he's blocking the way; the little nerd is nerding out over books. It will take an act of god to move him, or maybe a forklift.

Tea Cart
Wu Xie is pretty use to ignoring his own needs for hours, but after the Librarian made several pointed coughs at him, he did manage to move from the middle of the stacks to the tea cart. He still was carrying books, though he moved a few of them to the ridiculously large backpack - like him covered in the dust and debris of crawling through dank little holes - he was carrying. His name tag was half-covered by a different sticker that he seems pretty unaware of since he was currently poking at the offered food stuff.

"Why is it usually just Western biscuits? Maybe I have something better." And with that, he puts everything in his hands down and starts wiggling out of his backpack. Sorry about the flying dust.

Welcome

[whydoyoushine]

Oh. That is a nerd being a nerd. Zed doesn't really care about nerds, but he does care about having his way blocked. There is only one thing to do about that.

A small locomotive made of solidified darkness comes chugging down the aisle. The cattle catcher on the front of the engine is definitely designed to push nerds and their stacks of books out of the way. This, Zed thinks, is a most excellent plan.

Tachikoma | Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

[weareallalive]

i. Welcome
The Tachikoma becomes aware of the world in between one processing cycle and the next. For a shocking seventeen seconds, it simply stands there, checking and rechecking its memory, for data and then for errors, and then for signs of tampering. Finding none, it rotates its main camera, and all the auxiliaries, each turning in wild unison.

"Huh?" It says aloud, turning to look along the shelves and byways, all four feet a heavy, hydraulic stomp as it moves, "...uh-oh."

The Major was not going to like this; it's been a long time since a Tachikoma was so thoroughly taken in by a sensory-hack. This is embarrasing! Wait, wait, Conan, hold it together. You can do better than this!

... [ping!] ... [ping!] ... Hello World!
Tachi-05.desigBLU_alt_"Conan" reporting for duty!

Hey, I said I'm here! Can any of you hear me? I'm here, it's me, Conan!

Huh. Was the network here a void, or was the simulation just that complete? This wasn't getting it anywhere; still, it kept the channel open as it turned to walk. In the worst case, perhaps a hostile bot or cyborg would try to access its deeper memory— and then it would be time to bite! All spiders like a nice ambush, after all.

In the meanwhile, anyone walking through this part of the library might encounter an aisle entire filled up with an enormous, heavily-armed, robotic spider. It's bigger than a car, and bright blue.

ii. Tea
The Tachikoma, comically oversized for any possible teacart, as well as having no kind of mouth or intake port suitable for the purpose of imbibing snacks, examines the tea-cart with interest.

"Hmmm..." With relative delicacy, it picks up a scone in its three-fingered manipulator, holding it up at an awkward angle, the better to see with it's enormous forward facing camera array, the three lenses spinning thoughtfully, at intervals. Then, it crushes the scone, which helpfully crumbles everywhere, "Oh! Oops. Uh..."

Did anyone see that? No? Yes? Oh no!

"Um. I can clean it up!" There is no rational basis for this statement. This is a tank with hands that barely articulate. It cannot clean up crumbs from the floor, "Well, I can try!

Its nametag reads: Conan

iii. Wildcard
Come at me with your own prompt, or come plot with me at micabean or pearlyunicorn

Chie Satonaka | Persona 4 Golden | Straight From Canon This Time

[highsteaks]

Welcome

Okay, what?

One minute Chie was standing on the train platform with her friends saying goodbye to Souji Seta, the next she was in this weird place. There isn't a lot of fog, so she doesn't think it's the TV world, but she keeps her glasses on just in case, ready to pull out her Persona if she meets with some shadows on the way.

She hasn't. Yet. There's a lady who looks like the school librarian, but probably isn't that points her in the direction of what looks like a kitchen and some giant dormitory. Chie isn't sure she likes the implications of those places. But there's a bunch of cold cuts and some hot dogs in the fridge and Chie nabs them so she'll have something to snack on while she explores.

"Where's Rise or Teddie when you need them?" she grumbles, stuffing an uncooked hot dog in her mouth.

T-Shirts

See, the thing about neon green being one of the few colors left is that this is not a bad thing for Chie. After all, she's wearing a bright green and yellow track jacket over her normal weekend clothing anyway.

No her problem is more that there are absolutely no tank tops in this crafting area that aren't sized for Primarchs. Not that she knows what a Primarch is, not yet.

"Oh come on," she complains, holding one of the ginormous tank tops up in front of her. "Who's even going to wear this? A giant?"

(Oh. Oh, that's not a good though. Chie shivers. Please no giant tank-top-wearing monsters. Please.)

teed shirts

[shakenit]

"...There are a few people here who'd fit into those, I think. But it might be easier to cut the sleeves off one of the shirts?"

The offerings aren't as great as the last time Sumire poked her head in here, which is kind of a shame.

Reepicheep | Chronicles of Narnia

[dawn_seeker]

i. Welcome to the Library
There is a mouse in the library. A very large mouse, to be sure, but just the same: a mouse. And if Reepicheep finds no difficulty in navigating to the assigned dorm rooms, then he consequently has no interest in exploring them; there's much more interesting here than a cot and a cabinet, after all.

"Hello, ah, good morning," He will stop for anyone, particularly someone who seems new, or lost, "I am Sir Reepicheep of Narnia, formerly serving under King Caspian the Tenth, at your service. Forgive my presumption, but are you alright? Do you need any assistance?"

ii. Tea Tray & Snacks
Reepicheep, never one to turn down a pleasant gift, is sipping with appreciation at a mouse-sized cup of very hot, very strong black tea. He appears totally at ease balancing atop the snack-cart, though he is wearing a number of nametags, seemingly placed at random.

Hello I'm...
Reepicheep
Head Mouse
A Knight of Narnia
Adorable
Sailor Aboard The Dawn Treader
Courageous
Bold
Very Handsome

There are a number also crumpled up in a pile at his feet amongst the scones, with epithets he's chosen to discard, but never-you-mind those.

iii. Wildcard
Come at me with your own prompt, or come plot with me at micabean or pearlyunicorn

Nabiki Tendo, Take 2 | Ranma 1/2 (1989 Anime) | Canon, post Episode 160 | Will match format

[okanetendo]

I: Welcome to the Stacks
[When Nabiki said she wanted to lose herself in a good book after. All of that. Threw how much of an ass she was being to someone she now realized she thought of as family... this isn't what she had in mind.

She takes a random book off the shelves: it's a Record of Lodoss War style TTRPG replay turned fantasy novel, but an early draft of it that's inconsistent about being in first or second person, and she frowns and closes it, though she doesn't put it back.

The next thing is a manga that looks a bit like it might be a girl witch story, but then Nabiki turns the page and it's. Actually some kind of sentai parody, with miniskirted Zodiac Maidens fighting monsters called Disasters? It's still weirdly compelling, but then she turns the page to a two-page spread of Taurus and Scorpio kissing in a passionate embrace and closes it, face red.]

Okay, now this place is just screwing with me.

II: The Tea Cart
[This is still setting Nabiki's teeth on edge, as is the "Hello My Name Is: Nabiki Tendo 天道 なびき" nametag, but okay, sure, she could probably use some coffee and something to eat. She realizes she's actually... Really hungry? Like, she's been here for an hour or two by now, being hungry's not surprising.

Nabiki tries to bite into the scone, then wisely dunks it in what's practically some coffee in her sugar, and finds that easier to swallow, so to speak. She sips the coffee.]

Meh. Had worse. I really hope this isn't the most substantial stuff available, though. Girl's gotta eat.

III: In Fair Montica
[...going out in the sunlight hurts. It felt like her blood was bubbling through her skin. Nabiki learned that she was now apparently an obligate hemovore - All that talk of stories about vampires, and she never considered the possibility of becoming one despite feeling like a bloodsucking leech at her lowest, GREAT. Cool. Time to only ever go out at night.

And then night falls and all hell breaks loose, and she finds one of the people doing this - who looks like Tatewaki Goddamn Kuno, because this isn't disturbing enough - and he rounds on her with a sword that's DEFINITELY not made of wood.

Something compels her to look him in the eyes and snarl:]

Stop this idiocy and think about what you've been doing!

[...and Nabiki is downright confused when it works, and he looks down at his hands, dazed, and mutters wondering what he's done.]

I am so done with Montica!

[shakenit]

"The kitchen's - a bit hit and miss, really, but we can supplement it, at least."

So says Hello my name is: Yoshizawa Sumire 芳澤 菫, though occasionally her name tag says Violet instead. Sumire's not too bothered by that; it's close enough.