[ this is like one of those psas from a terrified adult in your life that's like don't eat the candy it might have razor blades in it. don't hold the door handle, it might have razors in it!!!
rondo pulls his hand back - surprised, letting out a hiss of pain. unfortunately this is not even an unfamiliar ache, because somehow the heart-hand connection is very relevant, though the gnawing awfulness of emptiness is new. he looks down at his palm? this is why he wears gloves. ]
Ah - ow.
[ and puts some pressure on it... ] The door handle's trapped...! [ thank you, genius ]
Edited (thats the icon i wanted) 2024-06-24 19:03 (UTC)
[mathis stumbles behind him, meanwhile, hand clutching at his chest once again.
this isn't how it's felt before, for him, but- it's still worrying. it still makes him wonder, each time, if this is the longest his body could hold out.
he completely misses what rondo says, with that muscle spasm.]
[HE LOOKS AWAY JUST ONCE AND EVERYONE GETS FCKED UP?
Lavi immediately looks at Rondo's BLEEDING HAND and the DOOR RAZOR HANDLE, expression grim as he puts hopefully two and two together. He'll reach out to take Rondo's injured hand in his, and then in a unhygienic way, swipe a finger across his wound, collecting a little bit of blood.]
Sorry. Think we gotta offer something up to get in.
[which sounds bad already, but listen. is it any worse than standing around and getting attacked by their HEARTS.
anyway he'll swipe some of the blood into that rusty-red dish. hopefully this works and rondo doesn't get murdered immediately]
[ a drop of blood? a single drop for the door? tch. cheap ... but fine the door swings open. Once you are all inside, it swings closed behind you ... and then ominously locks.
Welcome to the library! Yay! Learning!
Rows and rows of books are in front of you, tomes of all types and descriptions on expansive shelves. it goes so far you can’t see the end of it, and everything seems settled with a heavy layer of dust. To the left is a desk, scattered with a few things on the top of it and a little nameplate that says LIBRARIAN, but the seat is empty for the moment.
There is a heavy, dull silence in the air. The silence of a baited breath, the space between the tick and the tock of a clock. the silence of a prey animal, eyes fixed upon the tall grass. waiting.
A sign is posted on the side of one of the shelves in front of you. An arrow pointing left says FILING. An arrow pointing right says RARE BOOKS. A hand-written note below the signposting says
‘Return books promptly to their PROPER SHELVES All new artifacts must be taken first to FILING for designation do not remove RARE BOOKS from their section it upsets THE LIBRARIAN please BE QUIET in the library ` ]
[ rondo just lets this happen, yeah. unbothered. though, he does mumble to himself: ] Why is Hell always like this...?
[ TRAPS EVERYWHERE!!!! GOD!!!
anyway it's fine. he gives lavi a little bit of a smile and presses his... gross shirt to his new cut. super hygenic, then works on putting enough pressure on that so it doesn't bleed everywhere. the door is open! and of course, the lock makes him jump, instinctively starting to reach for a sword that he does not have, and then exhales afterwards.
the vibe here is...bad! it's bad. it sure feels like hell. atrocious and heavy, but there's nothing to do but to press on. filing. rare books. instinctively, he lowers his voice down to a whisper. ]
...New artifacts might be a good place to start. [ maybe they've got a tool library what do we know? ]
[libraries are supposed to be more reassuring than this... oooh he hates this.
mathis takes a slow look around, reading over the sign, lingering over the bottom line. okay. be quiet. and an abundance of caution is... probably best, here.
he nods to rondo, then considers a second. holds up 2 fingers and points left, then right, head tilted questioningly. two one way, two the other-?
probably easier to look around without much noise if there aren't 4 of them creeping around in a little pack.]
[ ashlyn thinks rondo is probably right that filing is their best bet. a hammer is an artifact? maybe? but they can cover more ground if they split up into pairs and... she doesn't hear anything dangerous yet. it's just one room, it's not like they're going into different doors!
she points to herself and mathis, then down towards RARE BOOKS. then points to lavi and rondo, then down towards FILING.
she figures if anything happens she can protect mathis (again, older than her and has stabbed), but if they're right about the more pertinent information being in filing, it would be better to send both the stronger ones. she assumes the better information is more heavily guarded? this makes sense to her. no she will not communicate these thoughts outside of pointing. ]
[Lavi immediately makes a face because while he does think splitting up in pairs is a good idea, he's not so crazy about these pairs? Shouldn't he and Rondo take one squishie each??????? He considers arguing, but... well, Mathis has been training, and he's seen Ashlyn's whip quick speed. He'd really rather tell Rondo to go with them, actually. So they can have back-up... but he doesn't think Rondo would leave him alone by himself.]
...Ten minutes, and we meet back here.
[yeah how are they gonna know ten minutes passed lavi WELL listen he can keep a timer in his head??? he'll fcking shout for them if he has to later?????
[ okay mister KEEN MIND brag about your internal clock
anyway splitsies! hooray! off they both go, and I'm going to make individual top levels for organization but before begin.
Rondo and Lavi? You feel a sudden weight on your shoulders, and your mouths feel heavy and dry. the sensation is like all the air has been sucked out of your lungs, but when you cough ... no sound comes out. In fact no sound comes out no matter how hard you try. This will pass after a round of tags.
[ somewhere (redacted) is like fucking finally rondo's silent
anyway. listen. being Silenced is. again. not weird. rondo looks deeply worried - his head tilts back towards the other two before he even actually realizes he's being silenced, because?? HELLO??? WHY ARE WE SENDING THEM OFF ALONE??? IS THIS REALLY A GOOD IDEA???
and then the silence effect hits and that's. fine. painful, but at least not unusual. he pauses before ashlyn and matthis get too far, taps ashlyn on the shoulder. he points to her, and then puts his fist on his palm, thumb up. and then points to himself, and then lavi. if you need help, tell us.
you know. somehow.
anyway. WHATEVER yeah sure! let's go down the hallway. rondo takes a quick look down first - do we see anything? any dusty footsteps? any weird decorations? ominous blood seeking traps? ]
[PUNISHED for SPEAKING... this should happen to Lavi more often, honestly. He immediately tries to speak but no sound comes out, but at least he can still breathe?
He'll stick close to Rondo, but he is also looking around, committing as much to memory as possible, but honestly? the faster they get to filing the better. is it just down the hall perhaps..........]
no, you can. you look down this - i called it a hallway but it's more like a path that's lined with bookshelves. you could probably see over the bookshelves if you wanted, they don't reach the ceiling. but you'd have to climb them and that might be noisy. ahead of you is a simple non-forked path, leading presumably to filing. and wow, what do you know, there are dusty footprints ahead!
huh.
along the shelves as lavi looks, he can find all sorts of books and things. there's several titles penned by charles prickle, which look interesting, but not exactly what you're here for. one or two of them seem to be biographies of some kind, judging by the names.]
no im kidding (or am i). are they normal footprints? cloven? are they of an arguably normal size or are they big or small? walking? running? et cetera.
rondo nudges lavi gently and points down to them, working well enough with the silence effect in its familiarity, and steps around them as they make their way down, following the path with ease.
he'll peek at the shelves on his side, too, to see if anything catches his eye! ]
[imagine if they aren't bare footprints and they'd have to be like 'where'd this person get their shoes'
Lavi will follow behind Rondo as they follow these footprints, though he's also still looking at the shelves on his side, reaching up to touch their spines as he passes -- counting as he goes. he is very into numbers, unfortunately. he thinks of taking a book out but then he'd just have to put it right back in the same spot, which is stupid because they're still moving? his library.... (grief)]
[they actually are bare footprints because you asked if they're bare. they were going to have shoes but now i'm eating all of them. i got so swept up in my shoes anger that i forgot to say they're regular sized human feet, walking swiftly.
the books seem to almost shiver as lavi runs his hands over them. there's little whispers that settle in his head when he does. are you real? one of the biographies murmurs to him. is there anything in you that's worth it? just a cover, an empty shell. there's nothing inside.
rondo does not hear this. does he touch the shelves as he passes? because otherwise mostly he just sees the same sort of thing, biographies, manuscripts, that sort of thing. one of them reads RAPHAEL - RESPLENDENTLY RAVISHING and another reads THE BLADE OF THE FRONTIERS... every so often there's a case displaying some sort of cool jem or jewel, a wand, things like that.
and as rondo walks forward, around the corner ahead of him he sees a slight flash of white fabric. a cape, maybe, heading around out of sight.]
[before heading off, mathis spares a glance back behind them to the locked door, a little anxiously-- then nods to ashlyn and makes his way off toward rare books along with her, keeping his steps quiet.
he is not, like, a rogue but he IS small and tends to step lightly anyway. if they pass open aisles on the way, his gaze flicks that direction to make sure they're not getting jumpscared, he's got his head on a fuckin swivel in this quiet creepy place, but.
otherwise he's just making his way right over to those books! he wants to see the books. he will remember not to move the books out of their section.]
[ ashlyn is also not a rogue because what the fuck is a dnd class. but she's small and used to sneaking anyway, so here we go.
she's actually looking for anything in this area besides books. they are not here for books. maybe there's something secret tucked on the shelves... secretly... ]
[ the door remains very locked. at least, that is the vibe it is giving. locked. emotionally closed off. this door doesn't date much.
they are shoeless and trying to sneak, I'd say they're probably doing okay on the quiet front. it is so quiet they can, in fact, hear something like soft voices in the direction of the rare books. someone is breaking the rules, it seems. for now though, no jumpscares in this general vicinity.
These books are instructional self-help. `How to Cultivate Leadership`, `How to Make Friends and Influence People`, `How to Build a Shed`, `How To Find Yourself.` that kind of thing.
As for non-book things ... yeah, actually. Along the path there are a few display cases. Some the glass is so fogged over and dusty it's difficult to see within, but others are clearer. Jewels and treasures, mostly. Shiny, tempting things. ]
[okay, well, he could use some self-help, but. he is not currently interested in these when they have bigger fish to fry, though he does glance over the covers to see what they are...
he's not really looking at the display cases as they go, too focused on the volumes on the shelves as he keeps an eye out for anything that might help them. anything that might mention this place, or that mysterious hammer, or otherwise contain helpful information.
with those soft voices, he's also keeping an eye forward, glancing that way every so often as they get closer, and if they're able to begin making out words then he'll pause to eavesdrop a little.]
[ i'm glad she's not looking at the books because one of those might catch her eye. luckily, no! she's looking at these display cases.
none of these are a convenient plot-relevant hammer, right? she cares not for riches and jewels. but if what they want isn't with the books and isn't in this display case, maybe whoever they're hearing knows where it is?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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rondo pulls his hand back - surprised, letting out a hiss of pain. unfortunately this is not even an unfamiliar ache, because somehow the heart-hand connection is very relevant, though the gnawing awfulness of emptiness is new. he looks down at his palm? this is why he wears gloves. ]
Ah - ow.
[ and puts some pressure on it... ] The door handle's trapped...! [ thank you, genius ]
no subject
this isn't how it's felt before, for him, but- it's still worrying. it still makes him wonder, each time, if this is the longest his body could hold out.
he completely misses what rondo says, with that muscle spasm.]
Wh- what? Is something...
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so she also misses what rondo says, but once she recovers is just looking at his hand in alarm? ]
What? What happened?
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Lavi immediately looks at Rondo's BLEEDING HAND and the DOOR RAZOR HANDLE, expression grim as he puts hopefully two and two together. He'll reach out to take Rondo's injured hand in his, and then in a unhygienic way, swipe a finger across his wound, collecting a little bit of blood.]
Sorry. Think we gotta offer something up to get in.
[which sounds bad already, but listen. is it any worse than standing around and getting attacked by their HEARTS.
anyway he'll swipe some of the blood into that rusty-red dish. hopefully this works and rondo doesn't get murdered immediately]
no subject
Welcome to the library! Yay! Learning!
Rows and rows of books are in front of you, tomes of all types and descriptions on expansive shelves. it goes so far you can’t see the end of it, and everything seems settled with a heavy layer of dust. To the left is a desk, scattered with a few things on the top of it and a little nameplate that says LIBRARIAN, but the seat is empty for the moment.
There is a heavy, dull silence in the air. The silence of a baited breath, the space between the tick and the tock of a clock. the silence of a prey animal, eyes fixed upon the tall grass. waiting.
A sign is posted on the side of one of the shelves in front of you. An arrow pointing left says FILING. An arrow pointing right says RARE BOOKS. A hand-written note below the signposting says
‘Return books promptly to their PROPER SHELVES
All new artifacts must be taken first to FILING for designation
do not remove RARE BOOKS from their section it upsets THE LIBRARIAN
please BE QUIET in the library ` ]
no subject
[ TRAPS EVERYWHERE!!!! GOD!!!
anyway it's fine. he gives lavi a little bit of a smile and presses his... gross shirt to his new cut. super hygenic, then works on putting enough pressure on that so it doesn't bleed everywhere. the door is open! and of course, the lock makes him jump, instinctively starting to reach for a sword that he does not have, and then exhales afterwards.
the vibe here is...bad! it's bad. it sure feels like hell. atrocious and heavy, but there's nothing to do but to press on. filing. rare books. instinctively, he lowers his voice down to a whisper. ]
...New artifacts might be a good place to start. [ maybe they've got a tool library what do we know? ]
no subject
mathis takes a slow look around, reading over the sign, lingering over the bottom line. okay. be quiet. and an abundance of caution is... probably best, here.
he nods to rondo, then considers a second. holds up 2 fingers and points left, then right, head tilted questioningly. two one way, two the other-?
probably easier to look around without much noise if there aren't 4 of them creeping around in a little pack.]
no subject
she points to herself and mathis, then down towards RARE BOOKS. then points to lavi and rondo, then down towards FILING.
she figures if anything happens she can protect mathis (again, older than her and has stabbed), but if they're right about the more pertinent information being in filing, it would be better to send both the stronger ones. she assumes the better information is more heavily guarded? this makes sense to her. no she will not communicate these thoughts outside of pointing. ]
no subject
...Ten minutes, and we meet back here.
[yeah how are they gonna know ten minutes passed lavi WELL listen he can keep a timer in his head??? he'll fcking shout for them if he has to later?????
for now he'll go left to filing with Rondo.]
no subject
anyway splitsies! hooray! off they both go, and I'm going to make individual top levels for organization but before begin.
Rondo and Lavi? You feel a sudden weight on your shoulders, and your mouths feel heavy and dry. the sensation is like all the air has been sucked out of your lungs, but when you cough ... no sound comes out. In fact no sound comes out no matter how hard you try. This will pass after a round of tags.
You get the feeling this is a warning. ]
ARTIFACTS
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anyway. listen. being Silenced is. again. not weird. rondo looks deeply worried - his head tilts back towards the other two before he even actually realizes he's being silenced, because?? HELLO??? WHY ARE WE SENDING THEM OFF ALONE??? IS THIS REALLY A GOOD IDEA???
and then the silence effect hits and that's. fine. painful, but at least not unusual. he pauses before ashlyn and matthis get too far, taps ashlyn on the shoulder. he points to her, and then puts his fist on his palm, thumb up. and then points to himself, and then lavi. if you need help, tell us.
you know. somehow.
anyway. WHATEVER yeah sure! let's go down the hallway. rondo takes a quick look down first - do we see anything? any dusty footsteps? any weird decorations? ominous blood seeking traps? ]
no subject
He'll stick close to Rondo, but he is also looking around, committing as much to memory as possible, but honestly? the faster they get to filing the better. is it just down the hall perhaps..........]
no subject
no, you can. you look down this - i called it a hallway but it's more like a path that's lined with bookshelves. you could probably see over the bookshelves if you wanted, they don't reach the ceiling. but you'd have to climb them and that might be noisy. ahead of you is a simple non-forked path, leading presumably to filing. and wow, what do you know, there are dusty footprints ahead!
huh.
along the shelves as lavi looks, he can find all sorts of books and things. there's several titles penned by charles prickle, which look interesting, but not exactly what you're here for. one or two of them seem to be biographies of some kind, judging by the names.]
no subject
no im kidding (or am i). are they normal footprints? cloven? are they of an arguably normal size or are they big or small? walking? running? et cetera.
rondo nudges lavi gently and points down to them, working well enough with the silence effect in its familiarity, and steps around them as they make their way down, following the path with ease.
he'll peek at the shelves on his side, too, to see if anything catches his eye! ]
no subject
Lavi will follow behind Rondo as they follow these footprints, though he's also still looking at the shelves on his side, reaching up to touch their spines as he passes -- counting as he goes. he is very into numbers, unfortunately. he thinks of taking a book out but then he'd just have to put it right back in the same spot, which is stupid because they're still moving? his library.... (grief)]
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the books seem to almost shiver as lavi runs his hands over them. there's little whispers that settle in his head when he does. are you real? one of the biographies murmurs to him. is there anything in you that's worth it? just a cover, an empty shell. there's nothing inside.
rondo does not hear this. does he touch the shelves as he passes? because otherwise mostly he just sees the same sort of thing, biographies, manuscripts, that sort of thing. one of them reads RAPHAEL - RESPLENDENTLY RAVISHING and another reads THE BLADE OF THE FRONTIERS... every so often there's a case displaying some sort of cool jem or jewel, a wand, things like that.
and as rondo walks forward, around the corner ahead of him he sees a slight flash of white fabric. a cape, maybe, heading around out of sight.]
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RARE BOOKS
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he is not, like, a rogue but he IS small and tends to step lightly anyway. if they pass open aisles on the way, his gaze flicks that direction to make sure they're not getting jumpscared, he's got his head on a fuckin swivel in this quiet creepy place, but.
otherwise he's just making his way right over to those books! he wants to see the books. he will remember not to move the books out of their section.]
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she's actually looking for anything in this area besides books. they are not here for books. maybe there's something secret tucked on the shelves... secretly... ]
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they are shoeless and trying to sneak, I'd say they're probably doing okay on the quiet front. it is so quiet they can, in fact, hear something like soft voices in the direction of the rare books. someone is breaking the rules, it seems. for now though, no jumpscares in this general vicinity.
These books are instructional self-help. `How to Cultivate Leadership`, `How to Make Friends and Influence People`, `How to Build a Shed`, `How To Find Yourself.` that kind of thing.
As for non-book things ... yeah, actually. Along the path there are a few display cases. Some the glass is so fogged over and dusty it's difficult to see within, but others are clearer. Jewels and treasures, mostly. Shiny, tempting things. ]
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he's not really looking at the display cases as they go, too focused on the volumes on the shelves as he keeps an eye out for anything that might help them. anything that might mention this place, or that mysterious hammer, or otherwise contain helpful information.
with those soft voices, he's also keeping an eye forward, glancing that way every so often as they get closer, and if they're able to begin making out words then he'll pause to eavesdrop a little.]
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none of these are a convenient plot-relevant hammer, right? she cares not for riches and jewels. but if what they want isn't with the books and isn't in this display case, maybe whoever they're hearing knows where it is?
she'll try to follow the voices. ]
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