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Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account ([personal profile] libraryassistants) wrote in [community profile] unfinishedooc2025-10-21 06:46 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

Welcome To The Library

You 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 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.

Welcome to the Unfinished Library

Coffee Corner

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 very weak coffee, a pot of very strong tea, mismatched creamers and sugar packets, and assorted cheap boxed shortbread cookies alongside small paper plates and cups. (For some reason, there also seems to be a pile of coupons for a free yacht ride.) 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 _____.” Take it off, and it will magically be replaced by a new one. It seems it’s time to mingle, or perhaps try to get anywhere but here.

There is also a phone set up on the desk, with a small sign labeling it as the “Assistants’ Line.” Give it a try, and you might get someone to talk to.


Between the Stacks

While exploring the labyrinthine sprawl of the Stacks, you find a door tucked between the towering bookshelves. Opening it, you see the impossible: a community garden, fresh produce glistening with morning dew and ripe for the picking. The open sky stretches welcomingly overhead, the warmth of an unseen sun warming the soft grass underfoot.

A large fence spans the generous perimeter of the garden. No matter how high you go, the fence follows with you. Those trying to get a peek on the other side should make a plan.

When the room is no longer in use and the door is closed, the garden will disappear; rotating out of cycle. The next time the door opens, maybe it’s a computer lab - decked out with technology from… some planet and century. Or maybe it’s a meeting room, complete with someone else’s handouts scattered across the table. Closing and reopening the door will reveal a different room each time. What's your pick?


Maker’s Meetup

There’s a cheerful, if not generic, poster on the bulletin board by the help desk, declaring:



The Maker Space in question is, for the moment, easy to find, a few nice and similarly formatted signs with arrows helping leading the way through the stacks. As promised, there are a number of machines and tools related to crafting and making things, including a table that, for some reason, just has construction paper and safety scissors.

It seems the materials for the room have been recently stocked, too; there’s a little pile of fabric (mostly scraps, but a lot of larger pieces that can be made into something without needing to piecemeal it together), some sheet metal of various sheens, and bits of wood that could be shaped into something maybe as large as a small bowl. There are also some more generic arts-and-crafts materials (on a separate table from the scissors); puff balls, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and other sorts of things.

There doesn’t appear to be anyone actually around to teach the use of the machines, but it can’t be that hard… right?


Transition In - Prepare for Dheekis

In the Lobby, things begin to… change.

The tiled floors have started to fuzz along the grout, the colour and texture slowly bleeding out into cool grey metal. The change continues to flow up the walls, coloured strips of lighting dividing sturdy steel segments. What few doors there are shimmer, an overlay of automated mechanisms clinging closely to them. Hydraulic pistons pump as if pushing the doors open when you approach, but alas - these doors remain sadly hand-operated.

Within a few moments, gravity in the Lobby seems to decrease. Steps are lighter; a jump turns neatly into a bounce, leaving you hanging weightless in the air for a few long moments. The furniture remaining in the lobby begins to float, as do any items that have been left loose. If it’s not nailed down, consider it airborne.

The effect spans only the space (ha) of the Lobby. Exiting to another room will bring an unceremonious return to the Library’s usual gravity, and please note: the success of your landing is not guaranteed. Please proceed cautiously.

After some time - maybe it's days, who's to say? - you begin to feel it. A pull that tugs you to the Stacks, drawing you step by step closer to the next Story to unfold.


The Difficulty with Dheekis

On the SS Covenant, things usually run pretty smoothly. Usually. Unfortunately, there was an… incident at the last stopover at the Eternis Station. One of the crew members became utterly besotted with one of the little creatures the Eturian ambassador carried them with, called dheekis, and the ambassador was more than happy to gift them one. Unfortunately, the reason they were so willing to do that is that the fluffy little creatures, somewhere between a bunny and a rodent, are very prolific breeders, and additionally can procreate asexually when there’s only one of them around. Which means that after a week in space, it was no longer possible to keep them hidden.

Since then, it has been a game of trying to capture and contain the little pests, shoving them into boxes so they’re packed tight- dheekis only stop reproducing when there is literally no more space for them. And they are trying very hard to fill up the void space on the ship; they’re under beds, in rafters, engineering nooks, forgotten corners, you name it. How long will it take to get rid of them all? Can you get rid of them all? Because if you have one dheeki, it won’t stay one for long.

[This is a free-form ‘Story’ prompt and cannot be considered canon to the game; since there’s no information post, feel free to make up whatever details you like!]
hellandbackpack: (pic#18068782)

Coffee Corner

[personal profile] hellandbackpack 2025-10-26 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
Charles couldn't help but be fascinated by the way that the stickers just keep coming. If Edwin were here, he'd have three different theories on how that little trick was done, but this particular ghost doesn't really have the same head for books and magic that he does. What he does see however, is her clearly growing frustration, so he'll just dig the sharpie out of his pocket he'd used to add a little cartoon ghost to his own nametag set just under a mess of pins on his lapel. (That hadn't been his sharpie to begin with, but well it was now!)

"They seem to let us write on 'em," He commented, holding the capped marker up between a pair of fingers, tilted her way with a sympathetic smile. "If you wanna just cross it out or write 'sod off' on it or something."
monstrous_bride: (neutral conversation)

[personal profile] monstrous_bride 2025-10-26 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
She takes the sharpie with a raised eyebrow. She's suspicious of such a friendly greeting - people should be a lot more intimidating of the tall zombie of multiple bodies bolted together, thank you - but it's a practical help.

And thus she scratches over the name, substituting "Shove It" before handing the sharpie back.

"Well aren't you just the spirit of helpfulness."
hellandbackpack: (pic#18111477)

[personal profile] hellandbackpack 2025-10-26 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Charles was never an especially cautious sort to begin with. Being dead? Well his reasons to be wary dropped like a rock. And besides that, no matter how she looked, the worst she'd done is be annoyed at her nametag that he'd seen so far.

He huffs a short laugh at the new appellation to her name tag, accepting the sharpie back, giving it a twirl between his fingers, more just to have something to do with his hands.

"Seems like we're all stuck here together, yeah? If this place isn't as quaint as it's comin' off as, I'm bankin' on not makin' a bunch of enemies right out the gate."
monstrous_bride: (curious)

[personal profile] monstrous_bride 2025-10-26 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Seems it," she replies. "And I wouldn't trust this appearance at all. Anything that has the power to bring us here can make the place, or itself, look any way it likes."

She sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"I just hope it's not freaking magic. A few days without its nonsense would be lovely."
hellandbackpack: (pic#18068793)

[personal profile] hellandbackpack 2025-10-26 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
"I'll just be glad if it's not demons. Or Fae." A wry grin and a shake of his head. "Miserable at dealin' with the Fae, mouth always gets me in trouble, or I'm pickin' up what I shouldn't and it ends up bein' a whole thing."

The sharpie then goes back in his pocket, and he sobers slightly, something sympathetic because while magic could be great? It could also be a gigantic nightmare, so he gets it. "Unfortunately, this is probably a magic situation. But if we don't let on that we're on to them, they might not start flingin' curses?"
monstrous_bride: (Default)

[personal profile] monstrous_bride 2025-10-26 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
She pats a hip where one of her handguns is visibly holstered.

"Well, if it's the Fae, we'll just have to test how much they enjoy steel-jacketed rounds. If I remember the stories right, the answer will be 'not much.'"

As for the rest.

"Maybe. Granted, the last witch I met I kicked her right in the fork, so." She shrugs. Who knows what to expect.
hellandbackpack: (pic#18111254)

[personal profile] hellandbackpack 2025-10-26 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
Charles also isn't a fan of iron, so he's just going to... make a mental note not to get his stupid ass shot by the badass green lady anytime soon.

And at the mention of witches, Charles makes a face. "Nah. Nah, I've had enough of witches to last me a lifetime. Got put through a wall by the last one, right nutter of a bird, was prattlin' on about eatin' little girls or feedin' them to her snake or somethin?"

A huff, as he gave his lapels a brief tug to bring himself out of that train of thought, grin a little stern. "Some of 'em are fine, but when they go wrong, they don't dabble halfway, that's for bloody sure."
monstrous_bride: (negative conversation)

[personal profile] monstrous_bride 2025-10-27 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Fucking witches," she replies, by way of agreement. "Last one turned my arms into goddamned inflatable tube dancers then threw me off a castle. Still owe her for that one."

"And story of my life. Nothing half way."
hellandbackpack: (pic#18111328)

[personal profile] hellandbackpack 2025-10-27 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
"No shot?" Charles couldn't help but make a sympathetic sort of face at the idea, brows scrunching in a grimace. "Blimey, just gettin' tossed would be bad enough, let alone with transformin' parts willy-nilly like that."

A thought, a stupid thing that sometimes niggled at him but he never tended to think of it at a good time to try and ponder the quandry.

"Lot of witches and the like, ghosts, demons, monsters, all like to just kinda-" A light swing of his arm, mindful not to wing her in the process. "Send you flyin' in a fight. Usually into some sorta wall, or crates, or out a window... you notice that? Or issat just me they're doin' that to?"
monstrous_bride: (negative conversation)

[personal profile] monstrous_bride 2025-10-27 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"Thankfully, I heal quickly. Because I've been in fights with most all of those things over the decades. Most things that have acquired supernatural power know how to fight. Most people, too, when you get right down to it."
hellandbackpack: (pic#18111187)

[personal profile] hellandbackpack 2025-10-28 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, at least you've got that," Charles knows how much healing sucks, and is quite glad for that side of ghost-traits- no injuries to speak of unless something's gone very wrong. "Me I just get knocked silly, but it doesn't actually hurt or nothin. Other than my pride, but that never hurts for a little prunin' sometimes, yeah?"