TEST DRIVE MEME #1

[libraryassistants]

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!]

Comments

thanatos | hades

[tsunatos]

Welcome to the Library

All things considered, a library isn't the worst place for Thanatos to wake up. The problem is that he shouldn't have been sleeping in the first place. He has work to do; an endless, demanding, time-sensitive list of work. But here he is, apparently having slept the day away … and apparently having shifted himself to a library.

Great. Just great.

Sighing, Thanatos straightens his clothes and gathers his power, intending to shift back to the House of Hades. Instead, he finds himself face-to-face with the Librarian.

"… What is this?" he asks, only to immediately find himself shushed. Started (and offended, honestly!), he turns to the person next to him. "Where are we?"

Coffee Corner

Hello, my name is DEATH.

So declares the name tag on Thanatos' robe. So declared the one he peeled off before it, too. And the one before that, and the one before that, and the one before that…

Spotting someone reading the name tag, he pointedly says, "It's Thanatos. Death is what I am, not my name."

One would think a library would get it right!

Maker's Meetup

Thanatos is seated at a table that is too small for him, his knees forced awkwardly to the side. In front of him is a pile of crafting supplies: scraps of fabric, puff balls, buttons, sewing materials, and other such things. The supplies are neatly sorted by kind, shape, and size. (Probably excessively so.)

Exactly what Thanatos is doing with them isn't immediately clear. Watch a while, however, and it may become apparent that he's working to shape them into a small stuffed creature. Is it a mouse? A rat? A cute combination of both?

Looking up, he spots someone watching. He immediately hides his work in his hands, slightly embarrassed.

"What?"

Wildcard

( ooc: come at me with something else! will match prose or brackets )

coffee corner

[fatalis]

"What?"

It's not that Jayce didn't hear them, but the declaration just sort of hits him and then slips out of his brain like water sliding off grease, refusing to stick. His eyes drop down to the name tag, then to the pile of discarded ones, and he nods.

"Thanatos," he repeats, looking around for a marker before he remembers the pen he's got in his pocket. "We could try writing that over... what it does say. Maybe it'll stick."

He's trying to be helpful. That has to count for something.

[tsunatos]

At that seemingly reflexive What? Thanatos nearly resorts to repeating himself, much as he dislikes doing so. He nearly sounds out his name: Than-a-tos, as if that will help make it stick in this mortal's head. But thankfully, he's saved from doing so when the mortal gets it right.

Good. He really does dislike repeating himself.

The offer to help is unexpected. Thanatos stares for a second, then makes a small noise of affirmation.

"Sure. Why not? It can't get any worse."

[fatalis]

Jayce gives him an apologetic look, one he's practiced all his life because he has the tendency to miss pieces of conversations, his brain skipping along and ten steps or leagues away, already thinking about other things by the time the words come in and jam the gears.

"Yeah, hold still." Taking the pen to the name tag, he stops after the first T. "Is it spelled like it sounds? T-H-A-N-A-T-O-S?" Because if he's going to write it out, it should at least be right. Otherwise, he'd just feel like more of an ass.

[tsunatos]

"That's right," Thanatos says, taking a moment to glance at the man's own name tag. "I'm surprised you had to ask. Most mortals already know of me."

That could sound like an incredibly boastful statement. But the way Thanatos delivers the words makes it anything but. His tone is deadpan, his cadence hinting at confusion without outright stating it.

In other words: he has no idea why Jayce has to ask how his name is spelled. Doesn't everyone know the name of Death?

coffee corner

[bashasasdemon]

"Huh."

That's it. That's all the man in front of him says as Thanatos corrects his own nametag, and it's probably pretty clear to him why. Kai is not a god, but he is also very much not mortal- Thanatos might also be able to tell that the body he's in was dead once, but clearly isn't at the moment. He's thought about death, a lot- he fought for years in a war no one thought they see the next day of, much less win. But when people talking about meeting death he didn't pick... this.

[tsunatos]

Thanatos does indeed clue into the oddities of this person's body—Kaiisteron, or so the name tag declares. He can sense that death once touched the man, but has no hold over him now. He can sense, too, that this is no mortal, though what Kaiisteron is instead remains a mystery.

In any case, it's more than enough to get Thanatos' attention. And so he attempts to hold eye contact, searching the man's face.

"That's it? That's all you have to say to Death?"

[bashasasdemon]

Holding eye contact is hard, since there is a black, embroidered veil over the Kai's eyes; demon eyes are pitch black which makes them extremely identifiable to anyone who knows what to look for, and he is already dealing with enough today. If people don't know what demons are, he doesn't want to explain. If they do, he doesn't want to deal with them inevitably putting one and one together to figure out exactly who he is.

Still, he holds the gaze, bringing up his cup of (terrible, now many creamed and sugared) tea to take a drink. "For now," he says mildly. It's weird, to stare down Death like this, but he has to admit there's a part of him that's just thinking bring it on. He's fought Hierarchs, who would certainly like to think they were death incarnate. What's the worst this... whatever he is could do?

At least if he died he's be with Bashasa.

[tsunatos]

"Hmph," Thanatos exhales, sounding some cross between impressed and annoyed. Because it is impressive when someone is willing to stare him down like this, without a taste of fear in the air. On the other hand, it reminds him of a certain arrogant king, and that always gets his hackles up.

"Most people have more to say," he says. "Especially those who have met me before. Or … someone like me."

Because he doesn't recall meeting this Kaiisteron personally. With an attitude like this, he thinks he'd remember.

Maker's Meetup

[aetherweaver]

His first instinct is to make a bigger table, but that's a project that's a bit too complex for the moment. Instead he wanders over and takes a look at the stuffed creature - oh, no. There it goes...

"Nothing. I just thought that it looked really cute..." He smiles at the taller man and nods. "I like creating things like that too."

[tsunatos]

For a second, Thanatos visibly struggles for words, more embarrassed than ever. Why did this man have to call his project "cute," of all things! After a moment, he uncovers the little mouse-rat in all of its half-finished glory.

"It's not meant to be 'cute,'" he says. "It's meant to represent a fierce enemy."

It's absolutely adorable.

[aetherweaver]

"Can't those be cute too?" He sits down nearby and smiles a little bit. "I've seen plenty of enemies that are adorable in my travels." Taking a bit of a closer look at the mouse-rat he nods.

Plenty cute, in his opinion.

"It's very well-made, too. Even in this unfinished state... ah, sorry. I have a side profession as a crafter, so it's hard to not analyze every craft I see..."

[tsunatos]

"Enemies aren't adorable," Thanatos objects, though he doesn't protest as the other man takes a seat. "That goes against the definition of the word."

Whose definition? His, maybe!

He looks down at his project, which he's no longer bothering to hide. Frowning slightly, he plucks off a stray thread, then smooths down some fabric.

"It's nothing, really. I'm an amateur at best."

Coffee Corner

[angel_of_baal]

"It's likely a translation error. Different xenos have different languages and some things don't translate." Says the guy named Sanguinius. Who is, in fact, a blood drinker. HUH.

[tsunatos]

The blood drinking is … unusual, for sure. Thanatos' eyes linger on the liquid for a second before returning to Sanguinius' face.

"Different what?" he asks. Because speaking of translation errors, he's interpreting that to mean 'stranger.' Which makes no sense.

[angel_of_baal]

What? It's just a little snack. Trust him, it's for the best.

"Different xenos. Alien races, not from Terra." See? Right here! A translation error!

maker's meetup;

[loong]

Thanatos is not the only one hard at work. Dan Feng is.. attempting to make a dragon, but it is coming out.. well. Not ideally. He would not claim to be a craftsman in any way - certainly not in this way, at least. While he can weave cloudhymn magics beautifully and pluck the strings of a guqin with little effort, this is very different. He has no talent for it.

Nor any patience.

A heavy sigh, and Dan Feng frowns down at his little creation disdainfully, before glancing around to the others at work, his gaze settling on a dour looking man who seems to be constructing some sort of plush toy. He arches a brow.

"This is a public space. Am I not permitted to look?"

[tsunatos]

It is, indeed, a public space. But that does nothing to assuage Thanatos' embarrassment, nor his annoyance that someone was peeking at his project. It's nowhere near ready to be seen!

"Shouldn't you keep your eyes on your own work?" he asks pointedly. Then, spotting the work in question, "What are you making, anyway?"

Look, it's different when he's the one peeping. Dan Feng looked first!

[loong]

He's not peeping, don't make him sound like a creep!! He was simply looking, here, in a public open space!! Pls.

"I am hardly a machine." So his eyes wandered, sue him!! Anyway, he sighs and glances down toward his little pipe cleaner friend. ".. it is a dragon."

Is that not obvious? No, no it is not.

Coffee Corner

[blitzno]

Blitzø nods like that makes perfect sense. "Oh yeah, I'm an assassin too. They got my name right though, mostly." He had to cross the 'o' out himself. He holds out a hand. "Blitz. The 'o' is silent."

[tsunatos]

An assassin "too"…? That word catches Thanatos' attention more than the rest, and he frowns slightly.

"I didn't say I was an assassin."

Then he just … stares at the offered hand for a moment, like he has no idea what to do with it. When was the last time someone offered to shake his hand? When was the last time he accepted?

Slowly, he extends a hand and takes the offered one, giving it a … sort of shake. Ish. Mostly, he just seems confused by the whole thing.

[blitzno]

Blitzø shakes with enough enthusiasm for both of them, then glances up, quirking a brow. "What, do you work in a morgue or something? Or robbing graves?"

Coffee Corner

[hellandbackpack]

This is not the first person Charles has seen struggling with their nametag, so he's already got the sharpie out of his pocket strolling over with a smile to offer a hand.

The smile gets a little forced when they speak up though.

"Well, luckily for you mate, I can just write over it-" Just gonna hold the sharpie up like nothing is wrong. He's totally not a ghost, he's totally not been dodging Death for literal decades back home, this is just a Normal Teenage Boy trying not to look Suspicious to this Death while he's in effectively a locked Library with him. He'd normally just turn and walk right away somewhere else but he's been seen and spoken to- it'd be weird and noticeable if he ran now.

[tsunatos]

As soon as Thanatos makes eye contact with the Normal Teenage Boy, he can tell something is off. It's not as though he's looking at a shade—not quite. But he can sense something different. Something that speaks to him. Something that tells him this boy knows death.

Not himself, perhaps. But death nonetheless.

So he stares for a moment too long before answering. "All right. Go ahead," he intones, watching all the while. Taking a glance at the boy's name tag in turn, looking to see if it rings any bells.

[hellandbackpack]

Nope nothing is wrong. Charles is just your average teen, nothing strange about him. Nothing to consider or think too much on, everything is totally fine.

But since it'd be weird to make the offer and just run when it's accepted he'll just be uncapping the sharpie, carefully scrawling out 'Death' and replacing it in careful letters underneath with 'Thanatos' and adding a little skull doodle to one side just... because. His own nametag read Charles which likely wasn't helpful as there were a lot of Charles in the world, but he'd wound up doodling a ghost to one side.

"That should do it, yeah?"