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Post by Tayl on Sept 15, 2016 23:33:55 GMT -6
More likely than not, you've gotten here through one of Meridian's many inconveniently-placed portals. "Here" happens to be the front of a library that's clearly seen better days. First of all, it's in a part of town that's clearly mostly abandoned, what with all of the boarded-up windows and graffiti. The library is hardly better off, and the only way you can tell it's a library at all is by the sign. It exudes a feeling of unease, and even a staunch realist would have a hard time not feeling like it was clearly haunted just with a glance. ...Still, what else are you going to do? You entered this thread for a reason, you know! The inside of the library is dimly-lit, dusty, and smells vaguely of mold, but otherwise it looks better than the outside. Not that that's hard to accomplish. It's a pretty small library, but the shelves are so tall and so chaotically organized that you feel like you could get lost in here anyway. Two things of note: that calendar over there seems to indicate that the year is 1986, which would explain why you're not getting any cell service. Two, there's quite a bit of yelling going on somewhere in the labyrinth of shelves. "Hal, no! You can't eat that! Come on, let go! If you rip this up I'm gonna get fired!"The girl's voice was followed by excited... barking? Apparently dogs are allowed in here. There doesn't seem to be a librarian at the desk, so this is your chance to steal a bunch of books!! Or not, you monster. Don't you have any respect for the law? Just read and get a library card, you jerk. Or wait for the librarian to get back from fighting a dog so you can ask if that's just a REALLY old calendar.
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Post by Exuro on Jan 11, 2017 2:13:10 GMT -6
"Hey, need any help back there? Meaning to check out some books, but it sounds like your hands are a little full."
As a general rule of Meridian, where there's libraries, there's black-robed secrets deities to be found. Having pulled down his hood to look a little less threatening, Black peered out from behind a row of bookshelves, balancing a load of thick, dust-covered tomes in one hand. Where exactly he grabbed them is a mystery, much less how he got in there in the first place, but who's to question it?
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Post by Tayl on Jan 11, 2017 4:44:37 GMT -6
{{ damn look at that beautiful image i definitely didn't just steal off of google }} Black would find himself witness to the greatest battle ever waged: before him was a girl in her early 20s struggling to pry an undoubtedly priceless book from the fangs of a fearsome puppy. "Hal, come onnnn..." she mumbled, frustrated. The puppy refused to listen to reason, his tail only wagging more and more excitedly. For the girl, this struggle was one that would define her fate forevermore. For Hal, this cosmic game was merely playtime. He was finally slain by the sound of Black's voice, which caused his ears to twitch and jaw to loosen. The girl successfully recovered the book - "Demonic Contracts and You: Selling Your Soul for Beginners" - from the maw of the beast, too distracted by the existence of an actual customer to inspect it for damage. "Ah! Um!" she hastily clambered to her feet, brushing off her sweater and praying her nerves weren't too visible, "I'm so sorry about that! I, um... I apologize for the wait! Let me help you check those out, then!"She laughed, but only the kind of laugh you find buried deep within the pits of despair. Her laugh was that of a dead woman walking. Hal backed up slightly, warily lowering his body and perking up his ears - though whether that was because of Black's presence or out of second-hand embarrassment that transcended species remained to be seen. "Did you find everything you needed?" she hastily tacked on, as if it were an obligatory company slogan. She felt a little out of her element; aside from the incident with Hal throwing her off, she wasn't used to customers actually speaking to her. Black fit the bill appearance-wise - tall, spooky dark robes, indescribable aura - but he was unexpectedly friendly. Normally she just silently checked them out and told them to have a nice day, trying her best not to make eye contact. To add on to her stress, another animal presented itself, perching itself on a bookshelf not far from Black. This one was decidedly less normal-looking than the Puppy of Terror, what with all the eyes and intensely demonic aura. This is kind of a weird library.
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Post by Exuro on Jan 14, 2017 5:20:21 GMT -6
"Please, no need to hurry on my behalf; I'm in no rush to be anywhere anytime soon. I actually found a good amount of what I was looking for, though I was hoping to stay for a bit and peruse the rest of the collection here. Pretty impressive numbers-wise, I have to say."
Black set his stack of books aside for a moment and knelt down to offer an outstretched hand to Hal, only briefly glancing back at the blatantly-demonic crow with a knowing look. Regardless of whether or not Hal accepted the offer of head scratches, Black then turned his attention back to both his books and the librarian, collecting up his stack while shooting a curious glance at the pupper-chewed tome in the girl's arms.
"Interesting choice of books your dog has, huh? May as well add that one onto my stack to get it out of harm's way."
The aforementioned pile of books, if the girl was paying it any attention whatsoever, would do a pretty good job of suggesting that her new customer had zero need of a crash course book on demonic contracts... especially considering that not a single title amongst the collection was written in a language that hadn't been dead for centuries, if not completely otherworldly.
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Post by Tayl on Jan 16, 2017 5:43:16 GMT -6
Hal hesitated at first, but his pupper instincts burned strongly... his tail started wagging very slowly, and after a cautious sniff he accepted the coveted head scratches. Success! "Ah! Um, yes, we do have a pretty large collection, don't we? Here you go! It doesn't really look like Hal did any damage to it, but... I'm really sorry about that," she said, handing over the book and trying not to make her curiosity at Black's collection obvious. "I promise it's not always like this here, it's just that the owner is out of town and insisted someone be watching his pets at all times, so...! It's a little unorthodox, I know, but! I hope it's not causing too much trouble for you," she apologized, wringing her hands. The bird, meanwhile, glared back at Black. "Don't think you're fit to stare, worm," he... spoke...? Yeah, that bird just talked. And rudely, at that! "Oh, Qamar, not you, too! Please don't squawk at customers!" the librarian scolded, as though the bird hadn't just spoken human words right in front of her.
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Post by Exuro on Jan 16, 2017 6:19:23 GMT -6
"Again, no need to worry! Places such as this have an overwhelming tendency to be... unorthodox, as you said. Speaking of, Qamar there certainly is a talkative one, hm? I bet he's an absolute handful, nothing compared to ol' Hal here, I'm sure."
Black trailed off for a moment, patting Hal's head a few more times for good measure as he shifted the weight of his tome pile to one hand. He definitely had a few more questions in mind to ask the librarian, but he wasn't about to get an apparently mundane employee in any kind of trouble, work-related or otherwise. He pointedly cast an ever-so-slightly smug grin back towards the antagonistic hell raven, just to be sure his message went through clearly, before carting his books up to the front counter.
"I'm sure there's more to the collection here that I'd love to peruse, but I get the feeling some of them might be restricted on your employer's approval..."
Black's gaze briefly drifted off towards the household DIY section, for reasons that Agatha would most likely know. How did he even know about that section in the first place, anyways?
"...So I'm good with what I have for now."
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Post by papes on Feb 2, 2017 1:19:40 GMT -6
Would you look at that. SPEAKING OF ADDING ON TO THIS POOR LIBRARIAN'S STRESS- wait no nevermind it's just Bug. We're all safe. Her Pupper Senses upon initially entering the library wound up leading her to another fellow pupper! Her tail wagged in excitement; new friend? ? New friend. Nevermind the bird. She is Determined to make friends with this pup. Of course, someone else entered the library too. It's been years since he's stepped into a library. Other than the necromantic vibes, which Black may or may not be able to pick up on, the man... really didn't seem that threatening. He was browsing through the books, then all of that happened. All he could do was quietly watch from the background, really. He honestly wasn't sure how to react to the presence of a demonic-looking bird. "Ah, is this a bad time? I was planning to check out a few books as well, though I can't seem to find..." Oh, damn it. What WAS he looking for, again? Nikolai got so distracted from watching events unfold that he couldn't remember what he was looking for. "...oh dear. Er, nevermind. I seem to have forgotten already." Is he even okay, he looks like he might be feeling a little out of it. It should be noted there's a ghostly presence in the library. This could've possibly been a partial reason for why the man wasn't 100% in focus at the moment. "Pssst, hey. Nik. Remember to ask where they have the plants section." Was... was that a ghost. She appears to be familiar with Nikolai. It's become more evident in the man's expression that, well, it looks like he's slightly frustrated over forgetting something. Really though that's just because of the ghost currently pestering him. This library's getting weird already
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Post by Tayl on May 16, 2017 2:23:16 GMT -6
"Ha! That's not too far off!" the librarian laughed, seating herself at the counter. "At least he doesn't make a mess of things, though. He's usually pretty quiet otherwise... but, gosh, he's sure not a people person! People bird? Heh."Qamar squinted at Black. "Ha. Very cute.""Oh, there he goes again! Sometimes I think he can actually understand what I'm saying... for a bird, he sure is sassy," she continued. Black's wandering eyes didn't go unnoticed. The librarian instantly clammed up, glancing back toward where he had just moments before. "Um... are you sure? If you, um... well, anyone who knows about that is technically allowed to go inside, so... you're more than welcome to... Ah!"She jumped at the arrival of more people. Or, rather, a man and... his dog? Well, it wasn't like the owner had any issues with dogs being in the building... "O-Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there! Um, I'll be right with you, please let me know if you need any assistance!" she exclaimed. Hal, meanwhile, was extremely pleased to witness a new pupper!!! After accepting Black's headpats, he ran off and immediately pranced over to Bug, barking excitedly. Qamar, meanwhile, stopped glaring at Black long enough to notice the new entrants. Particularly, the one that was a ghost. It's gotta be wild when you're trying to be all incorporeal and whatnot and some random-ass bird won't stop staring at you.
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Post by Exuro on Jun 11, 2017 6:24:51 GMT -6
"Oh, are you sure? I really appreciate it! It's always polite to ask before perusing around things of that nature and all. I hope you don't mind, but I'm just going to leave my tentative stack sitting up here while I go browse."
Black glanced inquisitively back over at Qamar for a moment, eyes lingering from a brief moment on the phantom conversing with the quite obviously magical individual who had just entered before heading back towards the aforementioned DIY section.
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Post by Tayl on Jul 19, 2017 22:36:51 GMT -6
|| - Back Room - || Agatha assured Black with a slightly nervous nod before turning her attention to Nikolai. Upon arriving in the DIY section, Black would find that it was far from one. The selection of books was a bit disconcerting, to say the least, all appearing to deal with the arcane, terrifying, and empty. There were a few DIY books, technically, but they were all about summoning monstrosities and/or giving your soul over to the void. The rest of the library was a bit dark, to be sure, but this section seemed to be a special collection of books meant to be kept from the eyes of the unworthy. There were a few books that were particularly notable, in that I can make toasts about them: - L'appel du vide by Augustine Mirevoix
- Experiment "Lethe Sillage" by Caelestis Elior*
- Anomalies in Entirety by the Discitus Union
- Collected Reviews of Having Your Soul Devoured by the Discitus Union
- Extra-Entirety Beings by the Discitus Union
- Recovered Documents from Nesthea by the Discitus Union*
- Why Everything is Pointless - A Continuation of Entirety Theory by Ganymede
- The Lurking God and Her Pervasive Glory by Karina Cirice
- Analysis of Subject IPG-00-5 by Monacha Passerine*
- A Guide to Souls (for Children) by Puervus Mirifica (illustrated by Odette Mirifica)
- The Unconscious Universe by Remaelius Opal
- Analysis of Estralian Culture by Theocritus*
- A Close Encounter With the Void by [...]
- I'm 99% Sure I Boned God by [...]
- Operation Guides for Project Recompense by [...] (foreword by [...])
- Organizing Your Void Cult Sect by [...]
* A few of the books seemed to be enchanted more heavily than others, as though the library's suppliers were trying to keep anyone from noticing them. Stolen goods, perhaps?
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Post by Exuro on Jul 21, 2017 1:12:18 GMT -6
Enchanted books? Hell yeah, motherfucker. After a brief perusal and examination of the notable books' enchantments, Black gingerly removed each of the more-heavily-enchanted books from their shelves, along with the copies of Anomalies in Entirety, Extra-Entirety Beings, The Lurking God, and Organizing Your Void Cult Sect, and proceeded over to the closest chair that provided a reasonable amount of privacy from prying eyes. Well, after taking a brief glance at the apparent kids' guide to souls that seemed rather out of place amongst the rest of the books.
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Post by papes on Sept 5, 2017 1:57:43 GMT -6
"!!!!!!!!"
Bug clearly seemed to be very excited. Her tail was wagging a mile a minute, running circles around the New Pupper Friend before plopping her bum on the floor and attempting to boop this Fellow Pupper. Yissssss new friend
Lyrette found herself getting into a staring contest with this random-ass demonic bird. "Oi. Don't you got anything better to go, four eyes?"
Nik........had to completely ignore the ghost for the time being.
"Actually, I've been meaning to look for some peanut butter recipes. Where can I find them?"
Honestly, Nik was giving off some.... kind of witch-y vibes magic-wise. Maybe Black would have picked up on that as well before he headed off to the DIY section.[/b]
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Post by Tayl on Sept 5, 2017 4:10:23 GMT -6
|| - Back Room - || Because writing out all of those at once would be bonkers, Black would magically choose Analysis of Estralian Culture because I said so because it's the shortest one out of the enchanted ones, probably? Aside from the enchanting, the book seemed pretty normal. There was some professional jargon in the beginning discussing documentation methodology and whatnot - none of which would be unfamiliar to Black, seeing that someone like him had certainly read publications by the Discitus Union before. There appeared to be plenty more content to the book, including several interviews, discussion of the Estralian species and religion, so on and so forth. It's just getting good! Continue? listen fuckers how much do you think i can type at once it's 5 in the damn morning || - Front Desk - || [Agatha] [Pupper Hal] Being booped sent Hal into MAXIMUM PUPPERDRIVE. His tail wagged faster than the speed of light, or at least it seemed like it. He started yipping excitedly, running around Bug several times before returning the boop. Qamar was essentially the exact opposite, ruffling his feathers as a display of displeasure and speaking to her with the same disdain he spoke to Black: "I could ask the same of you, but I suppose the dead are ever prone to forgetting their place."The librarian, meanwhile, seemed a bit confused by Nikolai's request. Peanut butter? Did... did this man know where he was? This library was hidden away in the corner of the city, something even she - an employee - felt she could barely perceive. The librarian feared to let her eyes wander for too long, but everything in the library seemed to be oriented around the morbid and mysterious. Why on Earth would someone assume they would find peanut butter recipes here? "...Ah! I-I see."Of course! It was obvious. That was some sort of code, another subtle way for her employer's associates to ask for what she was forbidden to know. Cooking, DIY... innocent subjects like that in a place like this, clearly this man and the one before him had much in common. "Umm... just follow that gentleman, there... you should find what you're looking for," she answered, gesturing toward the section Black had just gone to and trying to keep her nerves from showing too much.
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Post by papes on Sept 5, 2017 17:03:12 GMT -6
M A X I M U M P U P P E R D R I V E. Bug and this new pupper were going to get along swimmingly.
"Listen, Beaky-" Before Lyrette could continue her roasting, her voice quite literally fell silent. Why can't she speak, what is this?! ....NO. Her husband subtly cast Mute on her!!!! What the hell, Nik?
"Ah, spasibo." With that, Nik headed over to what he assumed was the DIY section the other man ventured over to. Lyrette glared daggers at the demonic bird and flipped him the bird before following along, floaty style.
Meanwhile, Bug was now staring up at Qamar with great curiosity, tail still wagging at near-light speed. Wow, she's very calm compared to Hal.
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Post by Exuro on Sept 19, 2017 22:55:23 GMT -6
Black didn't pay too much mind to Nik's magical aura, all things considered, but he was doing his best to pass himself off as being blissfully unaware of both that fact and the ghost following the man around the library. The less questions people asked him in a place like this, the better.
"Mmmm, been awhile since I've read something published by the DU. Always have appreciated their system of notations and documentation... makes my job a lot easier," Black mused to himself as he rather quickly flipped through the pages. Once finished with his current book, the next on his reading list would be another of the more heavily-enchanted pieces.
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