[Chuubo's] Fortitude: The Glass-Maker's Dragon IC

[Crinias]

The movements of the system flow with ease, and the cacophony of sounds generated from it fades into a softer hum. The numerous cabinets and shelves slow down even more, and even the breeze of the chasm seems to quiet down.

The room flows back into order, and it quiets. It keeps its wisdom still, for future times. The respect offered to the room’s order has been rewarded; knowledge, imparted.

The room, the world is full of light. Within Miramie’s hands is proof of that.

As one, the group turns, back through the door which closes behind them, through the hallway of the muses and down the staircase, away from the System, which is undoubtedly waiting for the next person that needs it.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Aaand Ritual complete. Phew.

Honestly I’m not very familiar with how filing systems work exactly, and I’m not sure what exact records would be on the cards Miramie is holding, but since your Intention level is 4 it’s guaranteed to be not only done correctly but also effectively, so let’s not worry about details. You find the general location of specific records – of relevant statistics of Outside storms, the general history of Town for comparison and information on monsters and their legends.

On the Dewey Decimal System I suppose the classifications would be something along the lines of this:
551.96 – Outside Storm Records
804 – Town literature
991 – General history of Town
991.63 – Kaiju attacks
991.64 – Mysteries and related information

[Tengu_temp]

That was... Probably the second strangest thing I've seen in a library yet.", Natalia comments when everything seems to return to reality again. "And only because no wild animals were involved."

[Terraoblivion]

"So this isn't a normal part of libraries in the lower world? I thought it was just part of visiting one. What do you do normally, just go find a book on a labeled shelf or something like that?" Jasper cocked her head to the side, looking questioning at Natalia as she heard that. "And what happened with the wild animals that other time?"

[The_Snark]

"That went well. You're a really good dancer," Miramie says to Jasper, admiring. "The filing system isn't always so helpful; usually I can only get one or two references out of it before everything gets too confusing. Here, let's see what it gave us..."

She holds the filing cards out to Natalia and Leonardo for inspection. Only then does she notice the pain in her left hand, which is clenched tightly; blood is trickling through the fingers. She opens the hand to inspect it and finds a shard of night-black glass resting on her palm, wet with her own blood.

"... oh."

Spoiler

Show

Employing Sickly to declare that Miramie has suffered, most likely from Jasper's outside-purifying light. Apparently this is normally an XP Action, which I didn't realize - I'm actually just looking to pick up a level of the Sickness issue here.

Edit - for clarity, the filing cards are in her right hand. They have not turned into evil black glass.

[Geostationary]

"Miramie? What's wrong? Why's that glass there?"
Rinley looks concerned, because one of her friends is bleeding for no discernable reason (I mean, beyond the glass, but what's up with that?) and this is not normal behavior for her. If it were the Principal or something, I mean, sure, but as far as Rinley knows Miramie isn't in the habit of doing this sort of thing.

She moves to take the shard out of her hand and pulls out a strip of cloth to bind her hand for the time being.

Spoiler

Show

I'm going to preemptively claim an XP for getting all up in 'yo secrets. I'll also like to use Connection: Miramie 1 and spend 2 Will to take out the glass and bind up her wound, assuming Snark doesn't refuse me or something. I'm going with the Connection skill with the idea that this is 'working well' or 'acting appropriately' with someone. Or possibly 'resisting the influence of something changing them', seeing as a Sickly action was used.

[Tengu_temp]

"Yes. Magic cabinets dancing with sun's children aren't a common sight on Earth.", Natalia answers to Jasper. It was a pretty dance, though, even if she doesn't want to admit it. "And it was a family of wild boars, which made home in the encyclopedia section of one of the local libraries. Nobody noticed because it was the encyclopedia section, everyone just uses google. But then..." Suddenly she stops, having noticed something is going wrong with Miramie's hand. She approaches, looking somewhat concerned for someone with such a stoic face.
"...Was that supposed to happen? Are you okay...?"

[Terraoblivion]

"Oh." Jasper looked a bit disappointed at that answer. Really, the lower world seemed to dull when people put it that way. Most things stayed where they were and people seemed caught up in doing repetitive tasks for that cash thing. Or maybe Natalia just came from a really boring place, she seemed surprised by everything. That had to be it, really. Nobody else had been all that surprised by the filing system either. Clearly this was normal and it was just Natalia who was weird. "And what's the encyclopedia section and google? And boars don't usually visit the library?"

Miramie's compliment on the other hand was met with a bright, beaming smile. "Thank you. It just seemed appropriate to something like that. It's a dance created in honor of my mother. There's a story about one of the names they gave her on Earth where she hid in a cave and it was used to lure her out." She'd heard another version too, but surely that couldn't be it.

The smile faded quite quickly as the older girl revealed the shards of glass in her hand, being replaced by a look of intense concern. "That isn't common to the filing system, right?" She rummaged around her person, trying to find some way of dealing with it before pulling what looked like a very expensive silk ribbon off. "I don't really know much about wounds, but...People seem to tie them up, so you can use this to do so. If anybody knows how, I mean."

Spoiler

Show

And taking an XP for theorizing about the lower world.

[The_Snark]

"No!" Miramie snatches her hand away, closing her fingers carefully over the glass before Rinley can touch it. More quietly, she repeats, "No. Thank you, but... no. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Here." She gives Rinley the file cards. "I'm going to go dispose of the broken glass, and wash the blood off, and find some disinfectant so nothing gets infected, and then I'll bandage it. You can look around in the meantime, as long as... You'll be fine. Just be careful."

Spoiler

Show

Going from 'Innocent' to 'Suspicious' and claiming XP for the Art Shop and Garden quest.

[Terraoblivion]

"Ah, I see...If you need to do something first, that's probably a good idea." Jasper gave Miramie an encouraging smile, trying to cheer her up, as she retied the ribbon. Whatever was up with that glass had somehow hurt her beyond the hand, but she had no idea how or what she could do about it. "Do what you need and we'll be here when you get back."

[Crinias]

The night-black glass feels cold and harsh in Miramie's hand. It brings back some unwanted memories, like how it felt to be lost after she broke. It's going to take more than cleaning the wound and bandaging it to forget that feeling.

A bit after Miramie disappears out of sight, there is a brief moment of silence. Said moment is almost immediately ruined when a voice coming from one of Leonardo's pockets swears in startlement, much to everyone's surprise.

Spoiler

Show

By the way, Snark, don't forget to add a +1 MP to your sheet, along with a point of Sickness.

That voice would be your Outside-Measuring Caliper, Sanguine.

[Geostationary]

Rinley takes the cloth she was going to use to bind Miramie's wound, makes it into a makeshift bandanna, puts it on, and prepares to do something, when she is interrupted by the swearing.
"Leo, your pockets are shouting. I had a cousin once whose pockets shouted. He fed them apple slices every day after school. And then he disappeared! Point is, you should probably check it out and make sure it has nothing against apples."
"Now, where was I?..."
Rinley strikes a pose, taking advantage of a nearby skylight, and flourishes the file cards.
"Let us set sail to knowledge! Leo, you can be the navigator. Natalia, you'll be the first mate, and Jasper, you can be... how about the bosun? So, what do you and your shouty pockets make of these file cards, Navigator Leonardo?"

Spoiler

Show

Would 'Claimed by the Sea' help me with navigating ship-like things and vaguely aquatic analogs? How about more generic nautical things?

[Sanguine]

The outburst came as a surprise to the young scientist, for he had completely forgotten that he had brought such a device with him. Pulling the caliper out of his pocket Leonardo begins to examine the readings. To an outside observer it appears as if he is merely squinting at the dials while mumbling to himself; but I assure you there is some serious science going on.

I've never gotten readings like this! This was not good, not good at all. A massive upswing in Outside corruption at the same time Miramie is mysteriously injured. It can't be a coincidence, Miramie is in danger. Not that I care about her or anything.

Putting the caliper away Leonardo turned to the group and said. "I'm going to go after Miramie, after all we can't find our way around this place without her."

See, my interest in protecting her is purely selfish.

[Tengu_temp]

Natalia watches Miramie go in silence, then tries to answer Jasper's questions. It's hard to deal with that girl, but she tries her best at providing exposition.
"Oh right. I forgot there's no internet in this place." Natalia is too nice to say "backwater", but she's not too nice not to think it. "Explaining what a search engine is might take some time if you never used a computer before. Have you? I am surprised you don't know what an encyclopedia is, considering we're in a library right now. It's a book filled with definitions and descriptions of various objects, places and people. Usually brief and insufficient in the age of information, but better than nothing. And no, the only sapient animals on Earth are humans, and sapience is required to use libraries. Not that most of them come to a library more than once in a blue moon anyway."

This monologue is interrupted by Leonardo's strange, swearing device. This grabs Natalia's attention - what kind of weird science is this?
"This device. What does it detect? And... do you need someone to come with you? I don't think our ship can sail without its navigator, anyway."

[Sanguine]

Leonardo glares daggers at Natalia and exclaims. "Who says it detects anything? Maybe I just built a device that swears at random intervals! And no I don't need someone to go with me. What I need is for people to stop asking stupid questions and just stay out of my way! And I don't do boats!" Turning away from the group Leonardo marches off, intent upon searching for Miramie by himself. Not because he was trying to protect the others, of course not. He was going off on his own because he was an irritable young man, and that is the only reason.

[Geostationary]

Rinley looks at her collective crew grimly.
"Well ladies, it looks like we're short a navigator. I'll have to take it upon myself, unless one of you is fit for the job. Bosun Jasper, does being the Sun's child help with navigating, perchance? Anyways, any questions before we set sail?"

[Terraoblivion]

"Encyclopedias are a lower world thing. I think. Maybe we had them in heaven too and I just forgot." Jasper smiled a bit sheepishly at Natalia's explanation. She could understand why the girl would be irritated by everyone not knowing things that were basic to her, but did she really have to be so rude about it? "Also, Earth sounds so weird. None of the animals talk, really?"

However, she was quickly distracted by Leonardo's outburst. But rather than pry or give him a big beaming smile or a look of incomprehension, she seemed to...just understand. She gave the young scientist a small, encouraging smile, motioning for him to follow Miramie, even if it wasn't quite apparent if he had time to see. Really, even without understanding the device or what had happened to Miramie, it was pretty clear what was going on.

And then Rinley dragged her back to the present. "I don't think I do, I mostly just learned to be a proper daughter for my mother and I don't think being able to eat everything is going to help." And without knowing any navigators, she couldn't really lend the power of someone to learn about it. "But I have one question...What is a bosun?"

[Geostationary]

"Well, they're basically the people in charge of the deck, sailors, maintenance, and whatnot- like a supervisor! I suppose you'd need to know more about ships, but seeing as we don't have one at the moment I don't see how that would impede your job. You'd also be in charge of the sailors, but as we have no crew either, that's also not a problem. Though, should we find some crew members later you'd be in charge of them. Really, at this point I guess you'd be able to act as the grizzled old sailor of the crew and get to blow your bosun's whistle at appropriate times. I'm afraid I don't have one on me though, so you'll have to find one later."

"Also, you can eat anything? Neat."

Spoiler

Show

Boatswains! They're in charge of aspects of ship maintenance and supervise the crew's work on the deck. They also have a whistle used for issuing orders and ceremony. As none of our characters are qualified for any of these jobs, they'll just have to make things up as they go. Except Natalia, because Prodigy. And that was your random nautical trivia of the day!

[Tengu_temp]

Natalia watches Leonardo storm off with a first neutral, then focused expression, as if trying to comprehend his motives.
"Tsundere.", she finally says mysteriously. And then she turns towards the other two.
"A bosun is someone whose job is to make sure ordinary sailors behave, follow the captain's orders and do their job instead of slacking off. With beatings, if necessary. But don't worry, that won't happen here. And... I can take over the navigation, if necessary."
What am I talking about? There's no boat, it's just an extended metaphor! I got caught up in games again. But... Games aren't bad from time to time, I guess...?

[Terraoblivion]

"I think I could manage the crew. If we had one. Or any use for one. I'm not going to act like an old, grizzled sailor though." Jasper nodded, her expression still beaming, though, just maybe there was a hint of sarcasm in there. "And, yes, I can eat anything. Even things like light or concepts if I can find some way to swallow them. It was kinda odd to learn that humans couldn't. Although, given how tasty human food is, there might not be much of a point in being able to eat anything else."

Natalia's mysterious expression and comment on the other hand, got a somewhat stern look for a few seconds before it became clear that she wasn't going to meddle.

[Geostationary]

"Well, at least we have that sorted out. What are your thoughts, First Mate Natalia?"
Rinley motions Natalia over to examine the cards from the filing system.

Spoiler

Show

So, what do the cards look like? I take it they don't settle for Dewey.

[Tengu_temp]

"I'm not sure what brings you here - weather records, was it? - but what interests me should be under 991.63 and 991.64." Natalia pauses for a second, looking at the cards. "And perhaps 804... Either way, we can look for your books first, mine second. Let's go."
She certainly doesn't want to just find some local books to read, no sir.

[The_Snark]

The stairs in the Archive spiral upwards at haphazard points, as if each floor were built by a different architect with no knowledge of the other floors. Miramie crosses the building at least twice as she ascends to the fifth floor. The grinding of the crankshaft and hum of the filing system grow fainter and fainter until the air is hushed and still; the colors, in contrast, grow brighter, as if walking into a children's picture book.

The chill of the glass sinks into Miramie's palm and settles in like an old friend, the ache creeping slowly up her arm. It isn't the glass, really. That's just… a symptom, like the bleeding. It isn't Jasper's fault, either, or the filing system's - nobody else was hurt like this. No, she's pretty sure it's her fault. There's a kind of wrongness in her, or maybe an empty hole she can't fill no matter how hard she tries. And oh, she's tried; how many hours, days, weeks has she spent up here, carefully picking out the bits of self she doesn't want?

Long enough that they line the hallway as she approaches her hidden room: beguiling and sinister, jagged and pristine, black as night and clear as broken glass. This is where she keeps the sharp edges of Melanie Malakh, the things she doesn't want anymore, but which are too dangerous to just leave lying around. An unpleasant reminder she has to pass through whenever she retreats to her hidden room.

Sometimes she thinks she did that on purpose, to keep herself from coming here too often.

Miramie glances longingly towards the far end of the hall. It would be really easy to go in there and stay awhile, fix herself until the emptiness stops gnawing at her bones and she can forget. The others might miss her, but she won't have to explain to them if she doesn't go back. Easiest that way. She isn't really looking forward to going back downstairs and deflecting questions, pretending everything is normal and okay. But... the easy way out probably isn't the right way. She's only just met Jasper and Leonardo and Rinley and Natalia. She likes them, mostly, and thinks they like her okay (maybe?), but if she vanishes now she's not sure she'll ever manage to get any closer. And it would be nice, wouldn't it, to have some friends outside her 'family' here at the Archive? It gets lonely here.

Miramie places the shard of glass on a shelf and tucks it behind a book, careful not to look too closely at anything else, and turns to go.

[Crinias]

It’s easy to appreciate the filing cards as Rinley looks them over. Written on the firm cream-colored cards, in a neat and easily readable handwriting, are various notes on books and entire sections of the Archive. Still, the cards appear to be a bit eccentric, not only delivering the necessary information on the books, the general information of some subjects and where to find them in the Archive, but also some notes and suggestions on related writings.

You suspect that this is because Town’s Archive isn’t like a regular library – it doesn’t hold just common books and records of events, but also obscure and eccentric information. Gossip in the form of journals and diaries, personal notes from distant relatives on how to make a great apple pie, anecdotes made by amateur writers – the Archive has it all. The fact that some of these records are difficult to classify has clearly influenced the way the filing system works. Still, whoever made the filing cards wrote them so in a clear, comprehensive manner, and obviously didn’t mind this dissonance.

On the general subject of Town’s history, the notes suggest looking well into the writings of Vladimir Lebedev, a one-time assistant of Alexandrel Celdinar from before the arrival of Jade Irinka; they also suggest more recent entries. Regarding Kaiju and Mysteries, the cards respectively refer to the recorded exploits and adventures of Rosanna Benedict and Akane Oyama for accurate, if badly-paced, information. As for Town’s literature, there’s a plethora of information, and no particular author is highlighted. Surprisingly, there’s a relatively large amount of records as far as Outside phenomena is concerned – professional and amateur meteorologists alike wrote much on this particular topic.

You can't help but feel that the knowledge of the locations of the books might be more useful if you could find a map of the Archive…

Spoiler

Show

Argh, a few hours turned into a few days, I suck at being responsible. I’m not even sure why I took so long, and I can’t say I had any particularly good excuse, either.

I’m taking some many a lot of liberties regarding how filing cards actually look like in general.

[Tengu_temp]

As they fruitlessly navigate the chaotic archive, Natalia slowly grows annoyed, even if her face barely shows it. Libraries should be places of order, not whimsy! Are they going to spend the whole day here?
"I don't have time for this."
With a serious expression she approaches the closest cabinet and pulls out a pen and notebook out of her bag. Using the cabinet as a desk, Natalia starts to write - and isn't it something to observe! The pen is dancing over the paper at a ridiculous speed, covering it with complex mathematical equations and sketched layouts of the parts of the archive they've been to already. Probability is a great tool once you know how to use it, and Natalia certainly does - she will use the data already available, the parts of the Archive she knows, the general layout of the building, and the filing cards, to find a pattern in chaos, to estimate where the shelves that interest them are.
"Done." She finishes with a dramatic stroke, that may or may not be accompanied by a flash of light from the closest window. Natalia rips out a page and gives it to the other two - a very rough sketched map, with a path they're supposed to take, is drawn on it.
"I can't guarantee this is 100% accurate. But it should be good enough."

Spoiler

Show

Using my Prodigy power to navigate the Archive perfectly. The map is just a tool to help with that.

[Terraoblivion]

"...That's not a normal human thing, is it?" Jasper curiously looked over Natalia's shoulder as she began the flurry of writing and calculations, work that was far beyond her own ability to understand. "But it's really impressive even if it is." She bit her lip, thinking a bit about it...No, she was pretty sure that even borrowing math or navigation skill from someone would put her far behind that.

[Tengu_temp]

"Depends what you consider normal. It's just math; all people have the potential to use it like this." Natalia closes her notebook loudly. "It's just that few reach it."

[Sanguine]

It wasn't difficult to follow Miramie, the little droplets of blood along the floor made sure of that, it was however tedious. As much as Leonardo loved the Archive, he was fairly certain it was never intended for human habitation. That was the only explanation for it's insane layout.

The young scientist was almost about to give up when his Outside-Measuring Caliper let out another shriek. Reinvigorated, Leonardo ran through the now slightly unreal hallways as fast as his legs could carry him. Under normal circumstances he would have loved to study this strange phenomena of the Archive fading into the Outside. But now was not the time, right now he needed to save Miramie.

Leonardo ran as fast as he could through the halls every ounce his attention focused on the trail of blood, and that is why he did not see Miramie until he had knocked the two of them to the floor.

Spoiler

Show

I'm not completely happy with this post. But it's something at least.

Also I shall claim story XP for stumbling upon the hidden portion of the Archive's upper floors where it fades into the Outside.

[The_Snark]

"Oof!"

Miramie is used to thinking of this place as hers and hers alone: Kiri and Sakura usually avoid the more obviously Outside-tinged parts of the Archive, the Professor keeps to his study and the lower floors most of the time, and Danny's never made it past the fourth floor without getting lost, and most visitors don't come up this high (and couldn't find the stairs even if they wanted to). So she is caught completely off-guard when the young scientist bowls into her.

There's a moment where she isn't even sure what happened - a moment ago she was thinking about glass, then suddenly she's on the floor? - and then she recognizes that the weight atop her is person-shaped. "Excuse me, that was rude," she says, or tries to say. "You should watch where you're going more carefully, and what are you doing up here anyway?" It comes out as a wheeze instead. Oh, right; breathing.

She coughs, gasping for air.

[Crinias]

Led forth by the intrepid Rinley and navigated with ease by Natalia, the group set forth, with a barrage of nautical references and minor clarification of terms all around. Around a wall of cabinets they walked, down a staircase, weaving their way around bookshelves, taking care to follow the map and not get lost, taking a sudden U-turn around a column of books, up a staircase…

A few minutes later Natalia found herself pleased to find the relevant section for Town’s literature on the way to the storm records, and with ease obtained some of the books that she had been indicated about Mysteries and related stories, nonchalantly enough that Rinley and Jasper did not notice her pause.

Soon thereafter they found third floor’s west wing, and under section 551, near meteorology, they found several volumes and records of storm records. Without much fuss they chose some of the more clear and relevant ones, and set off once again.

It’s soon after they begin to navigate the Archive again that the group realizes where they are, more or less. In the same section as Outside storm records, seismic activity of Old Molder, Big Lake’s hydrology and related studies, is Theoretical Geology. There between a pair of bookshelves was clearly open the entrance to a room, and clearly visible in it was a man sitting in front of a desk, reading a heavy tome with keen interest. He doesn't appear to notice the group.

Spoiler

Show

I get the impression that I’ve also caught Writer’s Block, but I’ll try to remedy that as soon as I can.

[Sanguine]

It takes Leonardo a moment to register what just happened. One moment he was hot on the trail of Miramie, the next he was on the floor, albeit a surprisingly soft floor. Except he wasn't on the floor, there was definitely a person underneath him.

"Miramie! You haven't been eaten by a giant glass dragon! That's great! ...Wait? Why are you gasping for air?" Leonardo turns bright red as he realizes exactly what happened. "Umm, I'll get off of you now."