793.8.025.110.393 - Entering the Sanctum
Mar. 28th, 2020 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsFirst things first, our intrepid foursome has to figure out how to get inside the sanctum-slash-library. Turns out they definitely needed Topaz along, because the semi-sentient space is in a snit.
"Wifi, hell. I don't think this place has microfiche." Doug craned his neck upward as he and the others walked down the outer hallway that led to the entrance point of the sanctum proper. Even this outer foyer was playing merry hell with the laws of physics - the curved semicircle that arched over them had bookshelves covering every square inch of it, even directly overhead where the books shouldn't possibly be sitting on the shelf instead of falling straight downward. And either it was a trick of reflections, or the shelves continued on below the floor they were walking on somehow.
And among all these books that were not sensitive enough to actually be in the sanctum, not one solitary piece of technology more advanced than incandescent lightbulbs was to be found. "I'm just saying, if we have to wander through an infinite number of hexagons just to find a freaking index, I'm digging up Jorge Luis Borges and punching him in the face," Doug observed.
"You know better than to say that out loud where things can hear you." Marie-Ange said. "How does anyone find anything in this library? This is not a library this is a.. this is a warehouse with ambitions of librarianship. She rummaged in one of the pockets of her coat, and pulled out a small sketchpad and a packet of post-it notes. "I am leaving us paper breadcrumbs, I do not want to end up living here for the rest of my life."
There might have been a vein twitching in Topaz' head. Between the mansion library, the church library, and Avalon she spent about seventy-five percent of her waking hours just organizing and indexing things. "This is a punishment. I ticked off a librarian in another life, and now I'm being punished for it."
"There's that whole 'technology and magic don't mix' bias," Amanda pointed out. "And with this much random magical energy just floating around, I'm not surprised they're having issues." She ran a finger along the spines of the books on one of the curved shelves. "Fuck me. Some of these aren't even supposed to exist and these jammy bastards are keeping them all to themselves. This is why I hate this whole magical factions shite. Everyone hoarding their own knowledge and sucks to be someone who needs it but isn't part of the club."
"Let's hear it for the patriarchy," Doug observed cynically. Drumm seemed like good people, but Wong was questionable and that Ancient One was just entirely too committed to keeping people in the dark, as far as he was concerned. They kept moving forward, but after a few more steps, he came up against...something. Except there was nothing there - no force pushing back against him, no energy holding him in place. It was just like...he couldn't seem to muster up the desire to move his foot past that particular point. He could move along the edge of it, but trying to get through just went nowhere.
"That's a big wave of Do Not Care," Topaz commented idly as she stepped up next to Doug, pressing her hand against the invisible barrier. "It's like the ward those cult blokes put around the airport. Something's subtly pressing the 'what's the point' button in the back of our heads." She took a few steps to the side, tilting her head as she tried to figure out how far it went.
"Lovely. The magically ill library has decided no one loves it and it is going to hide alone in it's room and listen to... " Marie-Ange waved a hand in the air. "Bauhaus. Chamber music. Something depressing from an opera, I do not know. How do we make it stop being depressed so we can go inside and fix it?"
"Considering what's been happening in London the past couple of years, I don't really blame it," Amanda muttered, mostly to herself but the words were picked up and echoed. "Since we don't have access to building-sized antidepressants, I guess we use what's handy." She glanced at Topaz with a slight smirk. "Think you can give it some happy vibes if I make a connection for you?"
"You want me to help cheer up the depressed library?" Topaz almost laughed. The depressed librarian helping the depressed library. There was something ironic about that. "Sounds like fun. Let's do it."
Amanda snorted at the expected reaction and reached out her hand to take Topaz's. "It'll be a pretty weak connection - I don't know what's going on here but I don't want to be the filament in a magical light bulb," she said, before nudging one booted foot into the floorboards. There was a moment's resistance at first, then slowly her foot slid in up to the ankle, like she was dipping it in molasses. "Ooh, someone's sulking," she said after a moment. "Hit it, Topaz."
"Right, let's see, kittens and ice cream and cotton candy..."
Her expression was slightly more thoughtful than her words as she closed her eyes. The library wasn't just sulking, although their jokes hadn't helped anything. Yeah, sorry about that. Jokes are kinda how they - we - deal with things when screaming isn't an option.
That got her a wave of resentment. She sighed inwardly, summoning up regret, and digging a little deeper to find some peace to mix in - a reassurance, just like that old book. We're here to help. That's all. If it was sentient enough to know they'd been making fun of it, it was sentient enough to recognize sincerity. They may have been there because they owed the Ancient One and his drones a favor, but they were there to help.
Besides, it could just swallow them whole if they did something didn't like.
An odd buzz ran up her spine, and she frowned slightly, opening her eyes and sticking her foot out toward the invisible border. It was starting to recede. "Further proof I'm better with books than I am with people," she said, lips twitching into a smile.
"Well done." Amanda dropped Topaz's hand and pulled her foot out of the floor, feeling a moment of guilt. ~Sorry not to take you seriously,~ she thought generally library-wards. "After you, Angie."
Marie-Ange reached out with one hand up, palm out, until her arm met where Doug's foot had stopped, and then took another careful step forward. She took another two steps, and then let her arm drop. "Nothing seems to object, and while I do not want to do this, it is certainly me who does not want it, I can resist my own desire to cancel this side trip and go get Doug a magical check-up." She looked around the library entrance, circling slowly. "It is an intelligent library, yes? At least it has emotions? Perhaps it just wants... a make-better. This is all very out of date and unfashionable design, no one could be comfortable working here."
"Make-better? How much Queer Eye have you been watching lately?" Doug had a feeling that Netflix had played a large role in the white noise levels he vaguely remembered while taking various naps. He plucked at his new shirt from their most recent shopping expedition. "Not that I'm ungrateful for whatever inspiration they might have been, mind." He followed Marie-Ange across the invisible border that had been hedging them out, waving toward the interior of the sanctum-slash-library. "Shall we?"
In the distance, a very soft 'ook' sound echoed several times before fading off.
"...did anyone else hear that?"
"Wifi, hell. I don't think this place has microfiche." Doug craned his neck upward as he and the others walked down the outer hallway that led to the entrance point of the sanctum proper. Even this outer foyer was playing merry hell with the laws of physics - the curved semicircle that arched over them had bookshelves covering every square inch of it, even directly overhead where the books shouldn't possibly be sitting on the shelf instead of falling straight downward. And either it was a trick of reflections, or the shelves continued on below the floor they were walking on somehow.
And among all these books that were not sensitive enough to actually be in the sanctum, not one solitary piece of technology more advanced than incandescent lightbulbs was to be found. "I'm just saying, if we have to wander through an infinite number of hexagons just to find a freaking index, I'm digging up Jorge Luis Borges and punching him in the face," Doug observed.
"You know better than to say that out loud where things can hear you." Marie-Ange said. "How does anyone find anything in this library? This is not a library this is a.. this is a warehouse with ambitions of librarianship. She rummaged in one of the pockets of her coat, and pulled out a small sketchpad and a packet of post-it notes. "I am leaving us paper breadcrumbs, I do not want to end up living here for the rest of my life."
There might have been a vein twitching in Topaz' head. Between the mansion library, the church library, and Avalon she spent about seventy-five percent of her waking hours just organizing and indexing things. "This is a punishment. I ticked off a librarian in another life, and now I'm being punished for it."
"There's that whole 'technology and magic don't mix' bias," Amanda pointed out. "And with this much random magical energy just floating around, I'm not surprised they're having issues." She ran a finger along the spines of the books on one of the curved shelves. "Fuck me. Some of these aren't even supposed to exist and these jammy bastards are keeping them all to themselves. This is why I hate this whole magical factions shite. Everyone hoarding their own knowledge and sucks to be someone who needs it but isn't part of the club."
"Let's hear it for the patriarchy," Doug observed cynically. Drumm seemed like good people, but Wong was questionable and that Ancient One was just entirely too committed to keeping people in the dark, as far as he was concerned. They kept moving forward, but after a few more steps, he came up against...something. Except there was nothing there - no force pushing back against him, no energy holding him in place. It was just like...he couldn't seem to muster up the desire to move his foot past that particular point. He could move along the edge of it, but trying to get through just went nowhere.
"That's a big wave of Do Not Care," Topaz commented idly as she stepped up next to Doug, pressing her hand against the invisible barrier. "It's like the ward those cult blokes put around the airport. Something's subtly pressing the 'what's the point' button in the back of our heads." She took a few steps to the side, tilting her head as she tried to figure out how far it went.
"Lovely. The magically ill library has decided no one loves it and it is going to hide alone in it's room and listen to... " Marie-Ange waved a hand in the air. "Bauhaus. Chamber music. Something depressing from an opera, I do not know. How do we make it stop being depressed so we can go inside and fix it?"
"Considering what's been happening in London the past couple of years, I don't really blame it," Amanda muttered, mostly to herself but the words were picked up and echoed. "Since we don't have access to building-sized antidepressants, I guess we use what's handy." She glanced at Topaz with a slight smirk. "Think you can give it some happy vibes if I make a connection for you?"
"You want me to help cheer up the depressed library?" Topaz almost laughed. The depressed librarian helping the depressed library. There was something ironic about that. "Sounds like fun. Let's do it."
Amanda snorted at the expected reaction and reached out her hand to take Topaz's. "It'll be a pretty weak connection - I don't know what's going on here but I don't want to be the filament in a magical light bulb," she said, before nudging one booted foot into the floorboards. There was a moment's resistance at first, then slowly her foot slid in up to the ankle, like she was dipping it in molasses. "Ooh, someone's sulking," she said after a moment. "Hit it, Topaz."
"Right, let's see, kittens and ice cream and cotton candy..."
Her expression was slightly more thoughtful than her words as she closed her eyes. The library wasn't just sulking, although their jokes hadn't helped anything. Yeah, sorry about that. Jokes are kinda how they - we - deal with things when screaming isn't an option.
That got her a wave of resentment. She sighed inwardly, summoning up regret, and digging a little deeper to find some peace to mix in - a reassurance, just like that old book. We're here to help. That's all. If it was sentient enough to know they'd been making fun of it, it was sentient enough to recognize sincerity. They may have been there because they owed the Ancient One and his drones a favor, but they were there to help.
Besides, it could just swallow them whole if they did something didn't like.
An odd buzz ran up her spine, and she frowned slightly, opening her eyes and sticking her foot out toward the invisible border. It was starting to recede. "Further proof I'm better with books than I am with people," she said, lips twitching into a smile.
"Well done." Amanda dropped Topaz's hand and pulled her foot out of the floor, feeling a moment of guilt. ~Sorry not to take you seriously,~ she thought generally library-wards. "After you, Angie."
Marie-Ange reached out with one hand up, palm out, until her arm met where Doug's foot had stopped, and then took another careful step forward. She took another two steps, and then let her arm drop. "Nothing seems to object, and while I do not want to do this, it is certainly me who does not want it, I can resist my own desire to cancel this side trip and go get Doug a magical check-up." She looked around the library entrance, circling slowly. "It is an intelligent library, yes? At least it has emotions? Perhaps it just wants... a make-better. This is all very out of date and unfashionable design, no one could be comfortable working here."
"Make-better? How much Queer Eye have you been watching lately?" Doug had a feeling that Netflix had played a large role in the white noise levels he vaguely remembered while taking various naps. He plucked at his new shirt from their most recent shopping expedition. "Not that I'm ungrateful for whatever inspiration they might have been, mind." He followed Marie-Ange across the invisible border that had been hedging them out, waving toward the interior of the sanctum-slash-library. "Shall we?"
In the distance, a very soft 'ook' sound echoed several times before fading off.
"...did anyone else hear that?"
