2019-12-18 - Enter the Library

It's a crisp, cool Autumn evening. All those who currently hold possession of a one of the strange books finds themselves faced with a portal. On the other side one can clearly see it looks like some kind of fancy library. The carpets are a lush, velvet red, the shelves are hardwood. There's a smattering of odd looking humanoid creatures that must be reading because they're just staring down at the books.

Once they have crossed into the portal - either willingly or via being sucked in - they will find that they are holding the book they have come in contact with. Even if they weren't holding it before. The library is quiet aside the soft hum of a timer ticking somewhere in the near distance. The group finds themselves in a sitting area, within sight of the other sitting area where a scan few humanoids are staring at their books.

The timing couldn't be worse, because August was in the process of getting ready for bed.

Okay, that's not true. Thirty minutes from now would have been worse. Right now, he's shirtless, shoeless, but blessedly in a pair of loose, dark purple, UW sweats, holding his strange, other-worldly book, The Sleeping Giant. "Yeah. Okay. We need to do literally everything fully clothed from now on, I guess," he says to Eleanor, who is, probably to her own chagrin, with him, with her own book.

He's a bit scarred up here and there, and his back is covered by two rather large tattoos. And wow, does he look annoyed.

Eleanor was getting ready for bed, and in the middle of brushing her teeth, when she and August were sucked into the portal to the Veil Library. She's standing beside her boyfriend, wearing nothing but his flannel shirt that falls to mid-thigh, black boy shorts, and fluffy bunny slippers, with a toothbrush stuck in the corner of her mouth, glasses perched on her nose, and her red hair bound in a braid draped over one shoulder. Her book is tucked under one arm, where it definitely wasn't a few moments ago when she walked into the bathroom.

Blink. Blink. Blink. "WHAT THE FUCK!?" is blurted out of the usually composed coffee shop owner's mouth, toothpaste flying this way and that before she yanks the brush out of her mouth. "What is it with this side of things wanting to see me naked!?"

Elias is a night owl, though that hardly precludes him from being naked. However, he is not naked. Whatever he was doing at the time, he was doing it fully clothed, though his clothes are a bit rumpled, and his hair is a bit tangled, and it's anyone's guess what exactly was going on before he got pulled into this library-like place with, oh look, it's the cowboy book, the one he'd tucked away in the back room of the shop and forgotten about entirely for a while. He glances over at Eleanor and August and both brows raise just a little bit. He runs his fingers through his hair, pushing it back a little and says, "Oh, hey."

On the one hand, wandering through strange portals is almost by definition not a wise plan. On the other, as portal destinations go, that one's appealingly intriguing. Vyv has always appreciated both a good library and a well-put-together room, and that plus curiosity as to whether the visuals go both ways has him rising from the chair where he was, well, reading, and heading toward the thing to take a look. Not to go through, mind. Not until it Insists, and he finds himself standing there suddenly no longer alone, and not holding the book that was in his hand a moment ago. The current one looks much more at home in this room than the previous novel; he does not. Though he is, at least, far better and more neatly attired than the others, in an unrumpled tweed suit, so that's nice. And library-appropriate.

"...ah. This," he murmurs a touch uneasily, looking at the book in his hands, then glancing up and over the others, August and Eleanor in particular. "Poor scheduling, mm?"

August rests a hand on Eleanor's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. We're...okay. I think." He tries to sound convincing, but ruins it by making a face as he looks around them. Elias and Vyv's arrivals give him pause; he notices the books in their hands, raises his own. "Guessing this is why we're here?" At least Vyv's dressed for the occasion. So he can do all the talking.

Eleanor gives a full-on sulk regarding the inconsiderate timing of the portal and flails about a bit wondering where to safely store her toothbrush. It goes back in her mouth after weighing all her other options. She's not going to be terribly chatty as a result, which is probably a good thing, from the dirty looks she's no doubt getting for her outburst in a library. She leans against August, between them they have one complete outfit!

"I'd guess so," Elias says and glances over toward Vyv, a little smile tugging at the edges of his lips, "Ah, the Patisserie owner. I've seen you once or twice. Nice suit." He does have an appreciation for a man in a nice suit, after all. He makes no apologies or excuses for his own rumpled state, however. He then glances around the sitting room. "So, I take it you all ran into these rather absorbing tales?" He wiggles his book a little bit demonstratively.

Vyv considers Elias a moment, and the corners of his lips lift slightly. "The bookshop owner," he replies, "You hosted Mr. Taylor's reading. Thank you." The latter is fairly clearly for the compliment, not the hosting, and comes with a small inclination of the head. A glance down at his own book, then back to the others. "Yes, I'd imagine so," he says, which works to answer both questions at once. "Did yours have you feeling... mm, inhabiting various roles as you read it? Mine involves an asylum, using something like advanced virtual reality to cure patients... or control people, in general. Yours?" An open question.

While the group was talking amongst themselves, the reading patrons didn't stir. Not even when Eleanor shouted did they move. Soon enough they could hear the soft sound of foot fall and not long after a tall, wiry woman with snow white hair and equally pale skin - with a bluish tinge stood before them. Her eyes were blue and oddly snow-flake shaped. "Ah. There you are. Finally." She sounded mildly annoyed with them - as if there was some kind of appointment they had and they were all late. She had a strange symbol on her forehead that glowed faintly.

She held a clipboard and glanced at them all before looking down to the clipboard. "I understand you are all in possession of property that belongs to the Whisper Memorial Library and they are quite overdue." Looking back up to them as if waiting to see what they have to say for themselves.

(( https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a1/83/a6/a183a6fa7131bc35dbbe81ae7ceb2679.jpg ))

August is about to answer Elias and Vyv when the...librarian, arrives. He looks down at the gold-bound book in his hand, back up at her. "Ah, yeah," he says, keeping his voice low. "I mean, we found them, we aren't the ones who checked them out." He pauses there, remembering what he saw when he 'read' the book's recent past. "Seemed like it was taken but there was some kind of...catastrophy? Or event? And it got lost. Mine was in the forest, looks okay though."

Eleanor plucks the toothbrush out of her mouth once more. "Fractured island was mine. It was kind of a X-Men meets Men in Black meets Shutter Island. And I went in twice, once by myself, then the second time I brought August and Itzhak and I was in a different role in the same story."

Then there is a woman approaching them and she gestures at her with her toothbrush. "Oh I don't think so. These books just appeared and we found them. We were trying to find where they belonged and it looks like they brought us here. So how did they get out in the first place?"

"I found this one on the boardwalk," Elias says to the librarian, extending the book that he holds in his hand in her direction, perfectly content with her taking it. "I wasn't sure where it needed to go, so I kept it safe at the book shop until your portal opened up to let us return them. That was quite nice of you, thank you." He's polite, at least. Then on the topic of his book he says, "It was a Western, of a sort. Ranches and shoot outs and that sort of thing. I only explored it once, but it seemed to become a little too immersive, so I decided not to read it again."

"My books are never overdue," Vyv says, not quite as though insulted, but as though this is nonetheless important to establish. "But this isn't my book. It appeared in my bakery case, just beside the last pain au chocolat." He offers it toward her, as well. "Were they all checked out by the same person? Perhaps someone's lending privileges require review." He hesitates for a moment. "Whisper Memorial Library, is it? What sort of whisper is it in memory of? And are all your books like this?"

A few notes are made with a quill-looking pen on to the clipboard. "Mmhm." Half heartedly, like she is begrudgingly taking their answers. "The Incident happened a rather long time ago. There is very little excuse for them to still be in your possession. However, " she lifted her hand and made a sort of waving gesture. The books started to lift in to the air. Forming a circle and slowly rotating in front of the woman so she could inspect the books and make sure there was no damage. "I understand your world doesn't adhere to the same time spectrum. Unfortunately. Always making things difficult, you outsiders." She cuts a glance to them and them waves her hand again. The books go flying off into different directions - supposedly back to their proper shelves.

She straightens up some, finally getting around also to answering questions, starting with Eleanor. "As I understand it - The Incident was caused by a fracture between this world and yours. It moves, and it just so happened to have moved right through the library. Taking a chunk of books with it. " Then to Vyv, "The previous Librarian. Her name was Whisper and she was the Librarian for an extremely long time. So it was decided to rename the library after her." A few more notes are made on the clipboard. "Yes, they are. This library specializes in collecting books like this."

"Any more questions?"

August watches The Sleeping Giant as it zips away to some other part of the library. Well, he might be shirtless and barefoot in front of at least two total strangers, but he's not passing up this opportunity. "What's your policy on checking out books? And, do you have only fiction, or non-fiction too?"

"How do we find the library again if we want to finish reading the stories?" Eleanor asks, hopefully. She links an arm through one of August's. "I was just really getting into that one."

"And are all of your volumes so, ah, captivating?" Elias asks as he glances around at those seemingly completely absorbed in the books themselves. He then looks back toward the Librarian and asks, "Also, you mentioned it took a whole chunk of books. How would one return more expediently if one were to locate more of these books to bring back?"

"Yes, actually," Vyv says, with a small gesture that encompasses the others' questions, to which he adds, "Given the... immersive effect of the books, is it dangerous for people such as us to read them? Might one truly lose oneself in the story? ...and if not, how does one obtain a card, or is it for locals only? Though I suppose the time thing might be an issue for arranging returns." No one wants overdue books, of course. "And where do books such as this come from to be collected?" 'The veil' is probably a simpler answer than he has in mind.

The librarian sighed heavily. These outsiders and their nosiness. "It depends on your definition of captivating I suppose. " She offered , "My name is Ember, by the way." A glance around the library. "If you mean it in the way your friend here just asked - then yes. Extremely, dangerously captivating." She paused a moment in order to absorb the general question that everyone seemed to want to know and organize the best, most efficient answer. "Yes, the books are dangerous if you read them too long. That is why most read them here. We provide a timer," Ember glances to her watch idly, "That signals reading time is over."

She motions for the group to follow her towards the front desk. "I have very little knowledge of your world. The most I could do is issue a library card - which enters you in to a binding agreement that you will return the books on time and - here comes your answer-" is directed towards Vyv, "In the event that you do not read responsibly and do become a part of the story - we are not responsible and your loved ones cannot come seeking reparations." She walked around to her side of the desk and looked at the group, waiting to see if any wanted a card.

"As for where they come from? People write them of course. Some are found - strays from your world that change. But many of them were simply written by citizens." There's a light shrug of shoulders.

August moves to follow Ember, smiling slightly at her name. "Gotcha. Library card." He cuts a look at Eleanor. "Feel like getting one?" It's risky, of course--but maybe if they always team read? If nothing else it'd be good to get one to take back and examine.

August gets a nod and a faint smile. The things she does in the name of research. "I'd like a library card, please," Eleanor declares boldly, still waving her toothbrush around. She's going to need a new one. Who knows what Veil cooties this one has gotten just being over here?

"I would also like a library card," Elias says as he steps toward the desk. "And if I do find any more of these books, I'll be happy to return them to where they belong." Meaning to the library, that is.

"What happens if, due to the time discrepancy, a book does become overdue?" Vyv asks, "And-- there were a few characters, when I was reading, that seemed to... notice me, in a way the others didn't. As if they could tell I was the reader. I wondered if perhaps they were reading other copies somewhere, or similar, but-- would those be past readers who read, mm, irresponsibly?" A glance toward all the shelves of books, and he does move toward the desk. If nothing else, certainly he's intrigued enough by the option to get a card to bother checking out the fine print.

Of course they did. Ember sighs again, like this is all a very big chore to her. She takes out four sheets of paper and lays them out on the desk with pens. "Fill these out if you want one and it will come to you." For not knowing much at all about how their world worked, she seemed fairly confident about that much. A glance is given back to Vyv. "I suppose so. Trapped in the story - forever having to live it out. Interesting that they noticed you. " Then she backed up a bit. "I guess if it is known one of you has checked it out, an exception can be made. Until you figure out the time difference of course." Like figuring out anything about the Veil was a simple feat.

August accepts the form and gets to filling it out. This is probably a bad idea. But whatever, Alexander can yell at him about it later. A Veil Library Card could be super useful.

Eleanor fills out the paperwork with a kind of giddy enthusiasm for what this could show them with a deeper inspection and some good old fashioned research.

"I'm less interested in actually taking books out at the moment as being able to bring them back should I find one in our world that was part of this incident," Elias admits. He has no intention of taking anything out of the library, it seems, at least not right now. But being able to return would be definitely beneficial if one wanted to do a bit of perusing in a place with a timer, after all. He does fill out the paperwork to obtain the card.

"Of course. And, I suppose, we'll need to sort out just how to find our way to and from the library on purpose. Particularly if we do find other books to bring back." Vyv accepts the form, but seems inclined to actually read it carefully before putting pen to paper. What is the penalty for overdue books... just in case? And, important information for potentially reading elsewhere: "How long do you set the reading timer for, here?" He's inclined to apply for the card, as long as no clauses appear to suggest that just having one creates worrying obligations.

Ember focused on Elias now while the others filled out paperwork. "Well, as the current Librarian, I have a...sort of vague sense of the location of the books. I can not do it often, but I can open a portal now and again from this world to the next - like I did for this time. Ideally, you would just find your way to this side from your side and then come here. It's the...Sawmill is it not? That is a general thin area?" Ember thought for a moment. "A majority of the books have been returned but there are still a couple that have not been found, or found their way back." Ember offered.

Vyv's reading concludes that the penalty for overdue books is...variable. It could be working in the library, it could be handing over something of sentimental value, it could even be a certain amount of a specific item. Nothing really terrible but just that right amount of 'man I don't want late fees'. "The timer is set for an hour. Every other hour. We are in a very stable part of this area. It really shouldn't be too hard to find us again." The library is, in fact, situated in what would mirror not exactly the location for the GH Library, but rather close to it. And significantly smaller.

August listens to Ember carefully as he fills out his form, eyes shifting from the page to her and back. He hands over the sheet when he's done, nods. "Understood." At least, he hopes he understood, but that might turn out to be an overstatement. Here's hoping.

"Peachy keen. Now how do we get home?" Ellie asks, because well, she's half naked and so is her man, and they had plans dammit.

Elias inclines his head to the Librarian and says, "Thank you for your time, Ms. Ember. It was a pleasure to meet you." It seems he has no further questions.

Vyv fills out the form fairly swiftly, a neat and practiced little flourish in the signature once he's fairly sure he's got the small print sussed. "Thank you," he says, as that seems to answer the majority of his questions for the time being as well, "...and yes, a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ember. Vyvyan Vydal, by the way, my apologies for not saying so sooner." A small inclination of the head, and he takes another glance around. Perhaps for portals. Perhaps just the door.

Ember collects the finished applications. "Likewise." That it was a pleasure. It didn't sound super convincing though! But, Ember allows a fleeting smile before making another gesture with her hands. "I'll let you out this time." When they stepped through this particular portal, they would find themselves back in their respective areas - where the portal had first appeared for them if they choose to go through it. Or they could indeed take the longer way home.

When they awake the next morning, there would be a small envelope somewhere near them that contains a n iridecent business-card sized library card. It says 'Whisper Memorial Library' in gold script and on the back is their name and an expiration date of ' 3/9/20401' Which really just begs the question 'How the hell does time work over there??'