2019-11-29 - Unreliable Narrations

Eleanor went through the whole hostess thing, since this was Itzhak's first time at her home. She showed him around, offered him and August beverages, and now it's time to take a look at those books. She leads the two men into her spare bedroom-turned-office, which is where she does her research on the weird stuff. She uses a magnet to unlatch a little hidden hatch in the floorboards, opening it, to reveal a floorsafe.

The safe is opened, and a bag holding the two books is drawn out and handed to August. "Set them on the desk I guess? Is everyone ready for this?" she looks between them.

Itzhak accepted coffee out of politeness. He doesn't seem happy. In fact, he seems pretty cranky and withdrawn, dark circles around his eyes, his hair only given a token amount of wrestling into behaving. But he's here, trying to act like a civilized person, sorta. "Yeah, 'm ready," he says briefly, halfway through the mug of coffee. He looks between Ellie and August and...tries to pretend like he really is ready.

August plainly noted Itzhak's mood but made no comment on it, just gave him a glance of wry sympathy. 'We can drink about it later, if you want' that look says. Business first; anyways, he'd just get crankier, and then things would continue to go south.

For now, he sips from a root beer, sets it aside on a coaster once they're in the office. He handles the two books carefully; one is hardbound in gold-colored cloth and bears an image of a mountain, the other in a textured, maroon binding, with an image of an island. He places them on the desk, side by side. "Ready as I can be," he says. "Let me just...do a little something first here." He takes a deep breath and lets it out, flexing his fingers. The tell-tale ripple of Glimmer passes through him. "Okay. Preferences on which one I try first?" He taps the gold book. "This one was about a mountain which was an Earth elemental coming alive. It was pissed off about something." Now the maroon one. "This one was an action thriller on a jungle island."

"The island book was found first and pulled me in. So let's see if it feels different for you to inspect that one first?" Eleanor offers. She has her own cup of coffee as she settles into a chair by the desk. She has her hair pulled back into a bun, and her glasses on, making her look more studious than usual. "And should we, I dunno, hang on to you while you do it, so if you get pulled in maybe we go with?"

"S'notta bad idea." Itzhak hooks his fingers into August's belt. As for getting grabsy with Ellie...he lets August handle that part. "Yeah, open the jungle one first. That sounds fun." 'Fun'.

"Good point--start with the one I didn't find." August moves his hand back to the maroon book, laying his palm out flat over the tooled image of the island. He arches an eyebrow at Itzhak grabbing his belt, holds out his other hand to Eleanor with a smile. "Here goes nothing."

First, he tries to sense the book's history before he found in the forest. How it got there, who had it last. He reads it not by opening it, but with the mind Gift, asking it simply, where are you from?

Eleanor hangs onto August's hand tightly, twining her fingers with his so as not to be easily drawn apart. She sets her coffee on the desk as well, because a lap full of hot coffee is never a good thing if they get pulled in somewhere.

For several seconds August stands there, expression distant, eyes unfocused. Presently, he says, "There was some kind of, bookshelf. Over There. Like in a store, or a library. Somewhere people looked through it. And something made it come across the border, some kind of...event." His voice is distracted, like he's barely remembering to speak. Another minute of staring, then he blinks, looks down at the book. "Here we go," he says, and opens the cover to the first page.

"I think it's maybe just a book," Itzhak says, getting interested despite whatever's got him so down. He drains his mug (the finest coffee in town cannot go to waste) and leans over the open pages. "Over There style, I guess?"

The world shifts and twists around them, and Itzhak stiffens. "Aw, cripes," he mutters, looking around, alarmed. "Fuck. Fuck!" He interprets this setting as prison...of course.

Ellie huhs at the mention of the bookshelf over there. She will have to look through her files on the Veil and see if any of them mention a library or bookstore or archives of some stripe where these books may have once belonged.

Then August is reading and she watches his features go slack, before she's drawn in too. She pats herself down, gauging the new pajamas with a frown. "Last time I was some sort of secret agent," she mutters. Then she recognizes one of the other teens.

"Walter, you're Walter Haven, patient 4520." She looks to the others. Agent K and Agent A were searching for him after his escape," she whispers to August and Itzhak.

August remembers the sensation of being pulled, wills himself to stay calm when it happens. It's a good thing he's done that, because being in patient whites and hearing the word 'doctor' and being in a common area has the hairs on the back of his neck on end and him looking for an exit to make use of.

But Eleanor speaks, and then Itzhak does, and it grounds him. Not a hospital. Not that hospital. August reaches out and takes Itzhak's hand. "It's okay," he says. "This isn't that." It's for both their sakes. He looks at Eleanor, then 'Walter' and Ezra. "What's the Doctor up in arms about?" he asks, just to buy some time for him and Itzhak to calm the hell down.

Itzhak breathes fast between clenched teeth, his pupils visibly dilated with fear. He grabs August's hand hard and squeezes his eyes shut. "It's just a ...book..." he mutters. Wetting his lips, as they've gone dry, he hazards a glance at Eleanor, who's the only one who didn't have an immediate visceral bad reaction. "But...he ain't escaped yet? We're earlier in the story?"

Eleanor nods slowly to Itzhak and tries to give him a reassuring smile. "Yes, I think that must be it. He has some sort of powers, energy related, based on his mood. I think he cause a bad storm and earthquakes last time I was in the story. This is a psychiatric facility to hold, I think, powered people, run by some shady organization like the Men in Black or something."

She blinks a few times and then adds, "I think I can shapeshift. Maybe. This character can at least."

Reading minds is similar to something August can already do in his own life, similar enough that when he realizes what the new source of mental pressure is he stops listening. Yeah, no, he doesn't want to know what everyone's thinking about. Not right now.

A psychiatric facility to hold powered people? Well that didn't sound familiar or anything...

He looks from Eleanor to Itzhak. "Are we doing this? Or do we want to try and get back out." Of the book, he means; if he and Itzhak have to do another prison break he's not sure how well that's going to go. Especially if one or the other of them is supposed to die in this attempt, or something.

Controlling machines isn't new to Itzhak--but that he can hear the electricity whispering in the wires, now that is new! "Oh," he says, distracted from fear and anger and depression by what's going on there. "Guys. Guys, the electricity. I can hear it." He tips his head. "I bet I could make it go through a computer or something." Or...a security system? A camera? Possibilities spring into his mind. He glances at Ellie and August. "Shit, why not. I'm in. Let's raise hell and turn it up." All those negative emotions swilling around in him really lower the activation threshold on his bad-decision-making!

"We're here to investigate the nature of the books, not play them out. The first time I was in, it became increasingly harder to remember myself, and get back out," Eleanor points out. "So I think following through with Walter's breakout would be a really bad idea. Plus the Agents have some serious tech and weaponry."

August can feel Itzhak wanting to dive into it head first; in truth, he and Eleanor might be the only reason he hasn't hopped to this whole distraction thing. "She's right. The longer we stay in here, the harder it'll be to get back out." He shudders at the emotions coming off Itzhak. "It's just a book. We should stop reading it," he says, voice firm. He grips Itzhak's hand, gives him an apologetic look. "If we're not main characters that means we could be on the chopping block. I'm not watching one of you die."

Itzhak quivers like a plucked violin string, ready to do violence in G major. But Ellie and August are both urging him to caution, and he growls in Yiddish, then shuts his eyes again for a moment. "...Okay. Okay, ya right. Let's get outta here then."

Even though Ellie REALLY wants to try to shapeshift because that would be so epically cool, she nods and hangs onto August's hand. "Walter, they will find you if you take the ATVs. Just saying." Because she knows K will follow that path. She works on concentrating on herself in the real world. "Just close the book, August."

August takes a moment to look at Ezra and Walter. In any other situation he'd want to help them. His recent prison break attempt with Itzhak is still fresh in his mind, a wound still healing. But he can't do it with Eleanor and Itzhak at risk; not without knowing if death in here is death for certain. "Good luck," he says, and concentrates on simply shutting the book.

Itzhak finds a more standard reality reforming around him, and he sighs shakily in relief. Yeah he was ready to fuck up some NPCs, but this is the wiser choice by far, and he knows that. He just goes ahead and sits on the floor, his narrow ass going 'thump' as his knees a little bit give out. Just a little bit!

"I know where that book wants to live," he says, voice a little wobbly, too.

Eleanor lets out a relieved breath. She wasn't sure if it would be harder the second time around for them, but so far it seems like if they don't stay long, they can maintain control. "So. My guess is, if and when we DO want to play out these stories further, and that's a big IF, we need someone to stay behind in this world who doesn't look at the book at all, who can close it after a set time for us, so we don't get lost."

She peers closer at the book and points out, "It says Library on it. There must be one on the other side, where these books belonged."

August looks down at the book as they all find themselves back in Eleanor's office. He wavers a bit, almost goes down with Itzhak as he sits. He grips the side of the desk to stay steady. Taking a second to steady himself, he says, "A library, on the Other Side?" He kneels next to Itzhak, hands between his knees. "Think you can find it, then?" He looks him over, brows drawn together in concern.

Itzhak nods, rubbing his fingertips together compulsively. "Yeah. Pretty sure I can find it. Remember the Exorcist? Kinda like that." Well...it makes sense to him. He tucks his hands under his arms and starts rocking in place. "Uh, don't mind me, just gonna get this out," he mutters, flushing, knowing he's acting autistic af on the floor of Ellie's office.

"Take all the time you need," Eleanor says in a soft tone. She gets it. She freaked right the hell out the first time too, and she was all alone in her office at Espresso Yourself. She moves immediate to jot down some notes on her computer, starting a search of her weird occurrences database for any mentions of a Library or library-like place on the other side.

"I know we have somewhat of a mirror of downtown on the other side, if my records are correct. Maybe there is a version of the Library over there?" she offers.

"Don't worry about it," August says, gentle. "We'll go check out the trees for your violin in a bit, okay? Maybe get some drinks." Maybe talk about things they probably really need to talk about.

He stands moves next to Eleanor. "Stands to reason--it seems like everything here around the city Over There is a little more, stable, I want to call it, than further out." He snaps his fingers. "Speaking of which." He takes out his phone, swipes at it a bit. "There. Emailed the two of you that map of the Pond and the labyrinth Isabella and Anne and I put together. It's just a starting point, but it's better than nothing."

"Excellent," Eleanor says to August's little map. "I'll get it entered into my database and copies put on file. It's more than we had to begin with," she notes with a smile.