[ As he's making his way back, it's fortunate they didn't go very far, but this time it seems farther away. But he can follow the footsteps in the dust and find his way back, coming upon the sight of Ashlyn, staring at ... well. Nothing.
But her leg is definitely still stuck on a spike. So I guess good luck with that. Overhead, something creaks. ]
[he can guess what 'something' is, and seeing ashlyn stuck...
oh no.
he hurries over to her, checking out the situation. how hard it's going to be to free her. because he has a feeling they're about to need to get out of here very fucking quickly and that's! not happening! with her stuck on a spike!!
mathis looks down at her leg, then gives her a helpless sort of questioning look, like. should he. should he help do this? do they just pull her off of it to free the leg?? he feels a little sick.]
[ Yeah this does seem like a real doozy of a situation! yucky. it probably hurts a whole hell of a lot! Freeing her is probably just a matter of uh. Yanking. It's not stuck in except by being Pointy. But that's probably enough.
Overhead, it appears your friend The Librarian is back, slinking across the bookshelves. So far, you're being nice and quiet though, so it's more interested in the whispers coming from down the lines of shelves, where the Rare Books are. ]
[there is an urge there to go see who those whispers are coming from, try to quiet them before the librarian gets to them, but.
but. ashlyn just got a spike through her leg. he offers her his arm, if she needs help getting up, then glances up where the librarian is slinking by...
and then back to her. she gets to decide what they're doing right now because he is uninjured and her LEG. was SPIKED.]
[ she decides just staying here doing nothing in a panic is not going to get them anywhere.
so she. yanks her leg off of the fucking spike, grinding her teeth hard to keep from screaming. but this hurts a fucking lot so then she just immediately doubles over uselessly, still clinging to mathis' arm.
[ There is a terrible amount of blood. It slicks across the library floor, and soaks into the bottom of one of the shelves. If anything, you've brightened up the place a tad - it feels slightly warmer, more alive. wonderful.
You're lucky. It doesn't seem as if the Librarian has noticed, focused too much on the direction of those whispers. Hovering overhead. Good luck. ]
[as she clings to him, he manages to make an executive decision about things for once in his life.
she's smaller, but he is still a twink. so. he gently eases them both down, kneeling in front of her, gesturing for her to drape her arms over his shoulders and hold on. she has three limbs so between the two of them they can manage the ashlyn backpack maneuver, he... hopes. he hopes!!
if she manages to climb on, then he'll carefully get to his feet and head toward the whispers.]
[ it's fine she just has to shut off part of her brain about it!!!
she's too pragmatic not to take the offer, so she will help get herself up on his back. he may be a twink but she's tiny and a twig so. this seems doable. to the whispers we go. ]
As they round the corner, they'll see an alcove, finally, labelled RARE BOOKS. Just inside, two figures stand hunched over another display case - backs to you. One is a young woman, blonde with hair cut close to chin length, and the other is a teen boy. Also blonde, fiddling a knife under the lip of the display case and trying to wiggle it open, shooting a smile at the girl. He fumbles the knife, slicing open a finger and making a pained hiss as it nicks him.
[hey cola you remember how you were like i don't want to bully people into my choices
this is a choice being made for her in a hurry unless she wiggles off of mathis: he's grabbing a book and flinging it off in another direction, away from both them and the figures, trying to create an opportunity to distract the creature; if it works, then he's just hurrying right over to them.
no. get away from them. leave her alone, she has to live.]
[ her leg is really in no state to be getting down so she will go with this, even though she doesn't think the librarian is BLIND. like she thinks it will probably be mad that it just clearly saw mathis throw a book and will now follow them to these people??? ISN'T THIS WORSE???
but it's more important to act in unity than to fuss about what's happened, even if she has to bury her face in mathis' shoulder for a second to keep from saying something bitchy.
then she whips her head back up and reaches towards the boy with the knife in a 'give me that' motion. hey. hey give me that. ]
[ the book sails through the air of the quiet library and lands with a loud thunk against the ground - the librarian's hiss rises to a shriek as it turns towards the noise. This startles the woman and the boy, who had their backs to these approaching newcomers.
They both seem surprised to see these two - probably as surprised as Mathis and Ashlyn are. They're in rags as well, barefoot and clearly have been digging around this alcove for a while, trying to find something important. Papers are across a desk, and the cabinet is almost wiggled open. Ceres tries to gently push Mathis out of the way, and as Ashlyn reaches out, Aiden does start to hand over the knife - his smile dropping. ]
"Ash--!"
[
oopsie. The librarian is quicker than you could imagine, as it snatches them out up in a flash of teeth and blood and then retreats with a shriek, and then.
echoing silence. You are alone again. The knife is left on the floor. The cabinet has fallen over and is open now, and there are papers across the desk. ]
[ sorry but she's not faring that much better. did you think she's some kind of apocalypse survivalist child who is used to death??? because she is not. watching her friends die is traumatic and actually...... perhaps........ cumulative........
but she also isn't as prone to freezing up, because that shit will get you killed, too. so despite being incredibly shaken (and shaky), she will stupidly try to get down from mathis' to grab that knife.
listen. priorities. give her a second to compartmentalize what just happened and she'll be able to start searching. just. a second. alright. ]
[ well now she has an emotional support knife, so I hope that soothes the pain a little. It's perhaps not as shiny as the beautiful one in the case from earlier, but it's certainly a nice knife. has a good heft to it. Some of her friend's blood is still on it and everything.
Apart from that ... silence. and of course the contents of the case and the papers around. ]
the cabinet fell over and is open, right? great. he can peek into there while he's on the floor because that's where he is, now, sinking to his knees without a word after ashlyn starts trying to slide off his back. hard to say if he's letting her get down or if the movement just means he can't keep standing up straight anymore, after seeing that.]
[ she reaches out and gives mathis a very quick squeeze on the shoulder. but then she needs her hand back so she can hold onto this knife like a lifeline.
if mathis has the tipped cabinet covered, she'll hold onto the desk with her free hand, using it as leverage to stand back up so she can look at the papers. just gotta. keep going. it's fine. ]
in the cabinet is a magical stave - you just get the strong feeling if you pick one element, this staff will fire off spells of just that nature and you don't have to think too hard about spells. It's just magic. There is also a ring with a little pictograph on the signet that looks like a tiny guy flying through the air.
Ashlyn, on the desk there are a few things. One is a stack of papers ripped out of books that seem magical in nature - runic inscriptions and chants written on them. These are spell scrolls, and if you read what's on them, it will cause that spell to happen. You have Ice Storm and Banishment. These only work once, so use them wisely.
In addition, there is a scribbly handwritten note:
PLEASE NOTE: Contracts of newly acquired souls are being processed with Zariel's little lackey in the Sitting Room. We've gotten some last minute additions (RON, LENNY, MATTHEW, ASHLEY ... ?) that will need to be delivered to complete the process, make sure they don't leave them behind! ]
okay cool we love magic... that strong feeling is still a little weird, because he himself is not so familiar with it, but. it's not hard to catch on.
mathis gathers up the staff and the ring, then uses the staff as an aid to get back on his feet and help ashlyn go through anything left to look over.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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is the spike still going through my leg? because removing it will be a whole thing. ]
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But her leg is definitely still stuck on a spike. So I guess good luck with that. Overhead, something creaks. ]
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oh no.
he hurries over to her, checking out the situation. how hard it's going to be to free her. because he has a feeling they're about to need to get out of here very fucking quickly and that's! not happening! with her stuck on a spike!!
mathis looks down at her leg, then gives her a helpless sort of questioning look, like. should he. should he help do this? do they just pull her off of it to free the leg?? he feels a little sick.]
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more importantly what's that noise? ]
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Overhead, it appears your friend The Librarian is back, slinking across the bookshelves. So far, you're being nice and quiet though, so it's more interested in the whispers coming from down the lines of shelves, where the Rare Books are. ]
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but. ashlyn just got a spike through her leg. he offers her his arm, if she needs help getting up, then glances up where the librarian is slinking by...
and then back to her. she gets to decide what they're doing right now because he is uninjured and her LEG. was SPIKED.]
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so she. yanks her leg off of the fucking spike, grinding her teeth hard to keep from screaming. but this hurts a fucking lot so then she just immediately doubles over uselessly, still clinging to mathis' arm.
there is probably so much blood. ]
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You're lucky. It doesn't seem as if the Librarian has noticed, focused too much on the direction of those whispers. Hovering overhead. Good luck. ]
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she's smaller, but he is still a twink. so. he gently eases them both down, kneeling in front of her, gesturing for her to drape her arms over his shoulders and hold on. she has three limbs so between the two of them they can manage the ashlyn backpack maneuver, he... hopes. he hopes!!
if she manages to climb on, then he'll carefully get to his feet and head toward the whispers.]
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she's too pragmatic not to take the offer, so she will help get herself up on his back. he may be a twink but she's tiny and a twig so. this seems doable. to the whispers we go. ]
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As they round the corner, they'll see an alcove, finally, labelled RARE BOOKS. Just inside, two figures stand hunched over another display case - backs to you. One is a young woman, blonde with hair cut close to chin length, and the other is a teen boy. Also blonde, fiddling a knife under the lip of the display case and trying to wiggle it open, shooting a smile at the girl. He fumbles the knife, slicing open a finger and making a pained hiss as it nicks him.
The librarian starts a low hiss at the noise. ]
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this is a choice being made for her in a hurry unless she wiggles off of mathis: he's grabbing a book and flinging it off in another direction, away from both them and the figures, trying to create an opportunity to distract the creature; if it works, then he's just hurrying right over to them.
no. get away from them. leave her alone, she has to live.]
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but it's more important to act in unity than to fuss about what's happened, even if she has to bury her face in mathis' shoulder for a second to keep from saying something bitchy.
then she whips her head back up and reaches towards the boy with the knife in a 'give me that' motion. hey. hey give me that. ]
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They both seem surprised to see these two - probably as surprised as Mathis and Ashlyn are. They're in rags as well, barefoot and clearly have been digging around this alcove for a while, trying to find something important. Papers are across a desk, and the cabinet is almost wiggled open. Ceres tries to gently push Mathis out of the way, and as Ashlyn reaches out, Aiden does start to hand over the knife - his smile dropping. ]
"Ash--!"
[
oopsie. The librarian is quicker than you could imagine, as it snatches them out up in a flash of teeth and blood and then retreats with a shriek, and then.
echoing silence. You are alone again. The knife is left on the floor. The cabinet has fallen over and is open now, and there are papers across the desk. ]
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this isn't what was- supposed to happen. he was trying to save her. she's the one who's supposed to live, not him.
the good news is that he doesn't scream or cry out. the bad news is he is just sort of standing here now, shaken.]
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but she also isn't as prone to freezing up, because that shit will get you killed, too. so despite being incredibly shaken (and shaky), she will stupidly try to get down from mathis' to grab that knife.
listen. priorities. give her a second to compartmentalize what just happened and she'll be able to start searching. just. a second. alright. ]
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Apart from that ... silence. and of course the contents of the case and the papers around. ]
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the cabinet fell over and is open, right? great. he can peek into there while he's on the floor because that's where he is, now, sinking to his knees without a word after ashlyn starts trying to slide off his back. hard to say if he's letting her get down or if the movement just means he can't keep standing up straight anymore, after seeing that.]
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if mathis has the tipped cabinet covered, she'll hold onto the desk with her free hand, using it as leverage to stand back up so she can look at the papers. just gotta. keep going. it's fine. ]
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in the cabinet is a magical stave - you just get the strong feeling if you pick one element, this staff will fire off spells of just that nature and you don't have to think too hard about spells. It's just magic. There is also a ring with a little pictograph on the signet that looks like a tiny guy flying through the air.
Ashlyn, on the desk there are a few things. One is a stack of papers ripped out of books that seem magical in nature - runic inscriptions and chants written on them. These are spell scrolls, and if you read what's on them, it will cause that spell to happen. You have Ice Storm and Banishment. These only work once, so use them wisely.
In addition, there is a scribbly handwritten note:
PLEASE NOTE: Contracts of newly acquired souls are being processed with Zariel's little lackey in the Sitting Room. We've gotten some last minute additions (RON, LENNY, MATTHEW, ASHLEY ... ?) that will need to be delivered to complete the process, make sure they don't leave them behind! ]
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okay cool we love magic... that strong feeling is still a little weird, because he himself is not so familiar with it, but. it's not hard to catch on.
mathis gathers up the staff and the ring, then uses the staff as an aid to get back on his feet and help ashlyn go through anything left to look over.]
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it looks like our outfits have a. belt? a rope? string? thingy? so she's folding the spell scrolls and tucking them into that.
she's also picking up the handwritten note and wordlessly holding it out to mathis to take and look at. she disgustedly mouths 'ashley?' at him. ]
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you have items! are you gonna leave...]
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he's lingering for a moment to look at the spot where the librarian ATE THEIR FUCKING FRIENDS, though.]
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