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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!]
dreamquestion: (Oh shit for real?)

Welcome!

[personal profile] dreamquestion 2025-10-23 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
[Well he doesn't recognise the young woman, but the name is certainly familiar, and a smile breaks on Randolph's face before he can help himself.]

Ah, my deepest apologies, Mrs Harker. [His own accent is New England, very nearly Bostonian but a little more tempered, and his voice is kind in the face of her plight.] But I haven't met anyone by that name, or even of a sickly bearing just yet myself. Though I shall gladly keep you company, with all properness- [And a wink, almost paternal.] -until his safe reappearance.
starandhope: (026)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-10-23 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the kind offer, sir.

[ It brings a feeling of - well, it's as close to relief as she's felt since waking up here. His manner of address feels more familiar, and his almost paternal air almost puts her in mind of Doctor Van Helsing. ]

My apologies for being so abrupt - I'm very glad to meet you, Mister -?
dreamquestion: (A nice old man)

[personal profile] dreamquestion 2025-10-23 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
Randolph Carter. [He lifts a hand to tap the brim of his trilby in a light bow.] And while I know it may be of limited assurance, I have experience with these sorts of... unreal, otherworldly locations. It's something of an expertise of mine, in fact, this and all manner of beings that typically reside within them.
starandhope: (006)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-10-23 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
It's far more assurance than I was expecting.

[ She glances around her again, at the seemingly-endless stacks. ]

Is that what this is, then? Some - other-world?

[ Perhaps it's strange, that she is so ready to accept that explanation. Or perhaps not so much, given her own recent experiences. ]
dreamquestion: (Oh shit for real?)

[personal profile] dreamquestion 2025-10-23 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
Not one that I'm personally familiar with, but that can be said for a great many places despite my adventures. [He shakes his head lightly.] No, I'm afraid this one is unfamiliar to me, but that by no measure means it is hostile. Something like bloodlust or a history of death tends to hang in the air like a smog, but this place, beyond both our natural worlds, I feel nothing but, at worst, contentment and busyness.
starandhope: (014)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-10-23 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ Mina takes this into consideration, her mouth curving slightly in a frown as she takes it all in - not just the physical surroundings, but the way this place makes her feel.

She's had a shadow hanging over her heart, for weeks now. It's not gone, but it isn't significantly increased just by being in this place, however strange it might be. ]


No, I think you're right, Mr. Carter. I feel no danger for myself. I only fear for those I've seemingly left behind.
dreamquestion: (You see?)

[personal profile] dreamquestion 2025-10-23 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
Ah well, the perks of the places I'm familiar with - all and every one of them in the Dreamlands, admittedly - is that time passes more strangely within them than without. Perhaps here it might well be hours, or days or even weeks - but in our own worlds mere minutes might have passed.

[Though of course the opposite might well hold true as well, but he's not here to make her feel worse.]
starandhope: (019)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-10-23 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I may have to believe such a thing, if only for my own peace of mind.

[ If she can believe that her world is frozen in time, that Jonathan won't have to endure the shock of finding her missing, then she can surely endure whatever this trial is. ]

What, pray tell, are these "Dreamlands" of which you speak? A world of dreams?
dreamquestion: (Just /listen/--)

[personal profile] dreamquestion 2025-10-24 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
In as many words, though the difference is more that with the right preparations, one could step through to the Dreamlands as easily as one might their own parlour.

[And there's some small excitement in his voice despite himself at the chance to explain it without sounding mad.]

Although the lands themselves have trappings more in line with the less lucid dreams of all manner of being - humans are but one of many in the universe, and far from the most prolific.
Edited 2025-10-24 07:02 (UTC)
starandhope: (026)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-10-24 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds like it could be incredible - or horrifying, depending on what sort of dream one found oneself in.

[ Her own dreams have been dark, recently. ]
dreamquestion: (Default)

[personal profile] dreamquestion 2025-10-24 12:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Pieces of both, in unpredictable measure. Though the lines between them are often less blurry than our dreams themselves - more like continents on an impossible map.
starandhope: (024)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-10-24 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
It seems like a very... esoteric form of inquiry. May I ask what brought you to it?
dreamquestion: (Just /listen/--)

[personal profile] dreamquestion 2025-10-24 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, the answer is far simpler than the topic at hand. I found a key to the Dreamlands when I was a boy, and learned something of the art of prophecy. So for my entire life I've been to some extent one with the esoteric order of things, and the course of unnatural and eldritch magics.
starandhope: (017)

[personal profile] starandhope 2025-10-24 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
How very romantic, turning a childhood fancy into a lifelong calling. It seems many of the greatest scientists and artists have done so.