2452/OMG its full of books!

OMG its full of books!
Date of Scene:	14 June 2015
Location:	Njorun Station - Infinite Library
Synopsis:	James runs into a couple of girls in the library... literally in one case.
Cast of Characters:	425, 438, 802

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James Rogers (802) has posed:
James has heard of physical books -- he's read about them in electronic books as he grew up after all -- but even after in the Multiverse for a week and a half he hasn't seen one. So he has decided this morning to sate his curiosity by heading to the 'Infinite Library' he was told about during his recruitment orientation. His hope is to find a book that will help him show the computer in the house he was given how he wants the interior to be layed out.

James is in his uniform but has left his obvious weapons -- including his shield -- locked in his house, due to the understanding that they should not be necessary here at Njorun Station.

As he approaches the library he believes he is beginning to get a sense of how unprepared he is for the interior by its impressive facade. Then he enters it and realizes how wrong he was.

"Wow," is all he can say at first as he tries to take in the sweeping sight of the library's interrior.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    This is of course a great place for someone who likes books. For someone who LOVES books, well, you could simply disappear inside here. Not that Rosamarie's in any real danger of that. She downloaded a step-retracer app just so she could be sure she wouldn't get lost. That, and so she'd know how to return to an interesting section once she found it and tagged it in the relational coordinate note database she's compiled.

    Not that there's anything wrong with ebooks or any other source of information. Still the girl DOES tend to get a bit absorbed when she comes in here. It's not a lending library after all. Not a place you can take books out of. So when she gets leave and she's not spending it with family, she comes here. Retracing steps to her favorite hangouts, collecting whatever books she hasn't read that aren't currently in-use by others, then retreating towards a nook where she can read until unconsciousness threatens from either fatigue or starvation.

Natasha (425) has posed:
Of course Natasha likes books as well, and she's not that familiar with technology so she tends to stick with physical copies. She's in the Infinite Library because it's one of the few libraries she knows that has a decent fireproof section of books. It's a good thing she doesn't need to eat or drink because she can get lost in a good book for hours.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
After his initial intense sense of awe fades to a general feeling of subdued wonderment, James approaches the front desk and asks for general guidance. After the librarian reviews the rules -- incluiding the fact that you cannot remove the books from the library under normal circumstances -- he also asks for a map. The librarian chuckles and hand sketches a rough map of the stacks close to the front of the library and makes some notes about deeper parts as well.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosamarie might well be a sight here, what with her arms full of books and her eye covered by a monocle. Well, not an actual monocle. Just a display piece mounted over one eye that gives her visual directions on her step-retracing program. Not typical library gear, but not exactly supertech either. She's not terribly near the front entrance now, making her way through the stacks in a somewhat haphazard meander, trying to keep as close to her own recorded movements as possible so she doesn't risk the step analyzer's inaccuracies sending her down an entirely wrong turn and getting her lost.

Natasha (425) has posed:
Natasha doesn't really care if she gets lost or not. She can always just stop and asking someone for directions right? She notices someone with a display piece over her eye. She figures it some kind of robotic eye or something. "That must help in finding books faster!" She has to stop and read the titles manually.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"Thank you, si- um, ma-...." unsure how to address the non-human librarian, James goes to a safe option and just repeats himself by saying, "Thank you very much," before heading out into the stacks.

Obviously unsure of where he is going despite the map, James is walking briskly though the library looking at the ubiquitous lables and signs as he tries to navigate to the architectural section. Unfortunately, this means he isn't paying very much attention and is 'collision bait' for other patrons who also may not be paying much attention.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    While not exactly timid, Rosamarie is a quiet girl much given to introspection, and not at all expecting to be addressed during the quiet-time of the library. She never got along with 'normal' people her age, who always were sensing something slightly unnatural about her even if they didn't recognize it for what it was. The slight air of literal weirdness she bears probably isn't going to even be noticed by elites however.

    It makes her a little shy however, and in this case prone to being startled. "Wh-what?" she stammers, bringing her arms up protectively before her unconsciously, a reflex more of hiding than one of martial arts. Or at least it WOULD be one that would help avoid notice if she weren't currently carrying a mass of books. Net result, she's fumbling and trying not to drop books all over the place. "Eeep!" she adds, a startled sound of dismay that might bring any nearby white knights running. It's quiet, but then the library's quiet.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Your artifical eye, that must help you find books faster." Natasha does her best to try and remain quiet as she suddenly remembers she's in a library. She's assuming her statement wasn't clear enough the first time. "Do you need help with those books?" It's pretty clear that the girl's struggling with them.

Of course as she's trying to help Rosemary out she's not paying too much attention to James. The fire elemental doesn't weigh much and the sudden impact is unexpected. As she finds herself going flying into the closest bookshelf and is buried in a pile of books.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
While the impact with Natasha had no truly observable effect on James physically, it is obvious that there was an effect -- as seen in his redeening cheeks and his fumbling halt in is step. For a moment he looks back and forth between the pile of books at Rosamarie's feet and the pile covering Natasha and just sighs.

"I am /so/ sorry," he says, "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going while trying to find where to go...." He focuses his attention first in Natasha's direction, "I didn't hurt you did I?"

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Ouch!" Natasha's head pops out of the pile of books. She has a few bruises on her face, but thankfully she didn't get cut. Spilling her blood here would be quite bad. "Try to watch where you're going!" She does her best to try her temper under control, but she's clearly a bit annoyed at what happened. After a bit of digging the rest of her emerges from the pile. "Wow, what a mess."

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosa's eyepiece isn't so much an artificial eye as a gadgety add-on, but it's clearly tech rather than something so mundane as eyeglasses. Natasha's quite right that it's data-enabled, even if she mistakes its details.

    "Oh no." the girl says, sighing as she sees James run straight into Natasha, and Natasha run straight into the stacks. Her own books, for the moment at least, are completely forgotten.

    Bending swiftly, she puts her own books down in an untidy pile before hunching her way over to help Natasha. Well, not to actually help Natasha as it turns out. She's there to help the BOOKS, reaching down to grab them and try to restore them to the shelves before anyone notices that they've fallen or, worse yet, become damaged.

    As Rosa does this all, she pushes her lens up onto her forehead to better see without distraction. "We are SO in trouble if any of these are damaged!" she hisses quietly. Not uncaring about the fate of mere mortals who just happened to be run into here, just ... having different priorities.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
James kneels down to help 'dig' Natasha out of the pile as well, handing the books to Rosa and -- once the other redhead is free enough -- standing and offering her a helping hand up if she wants it. "I hope they are all ok then," he says softly regarding the books. "And you also of course, miss?" he asks again of Natasha.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    One might imagine Rosa to be the type who likes books more than people. This isn't true; she likes people just fine. Books are just easier to get along with, not to mention quieter.

    She accepts the books James hands to her, looking them over critically before shoving them back onto shelves in an array that's probably not what it was before the collision. Close enough, probably. At least if someone wants to find one, they won't have far to search.

    As the collection of books gets mostly sorted out, she shrugs and finally answers Natasha's question. "Not really." she explains quietly. "It might if the book index was available, but my world's internet doesn't access here. And the recognition software's not good enough for me to pull up book titles unless I already know exactly what I'm looking for and where to look. There's just too many books to browse." she complains, not sounding as if the complaint is anything particularly vexing to her.

Natasha (425) has posed:
Natasha takes the offered hand, "I wouldn't worry too much they don't keep the books that aren't replacable out here." She wonders why Rosemarie is making such a big deal about books. "I'm pretty sure none of these are really people or anything." She helps her get the books back on the shelves. "I'm pretty sure they have computers here for looking up certain books, I mean it would be pretty hard to keep track of them all right?" She can't imagine doing so.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"Wow, you're hot!" James exclaims after helping Natasha to her feet -- and there comes the blush again as he realizes how that sounds. "Wait I don't mean... I mean you are, but..." He clears his throat and says, "I mean your skin is really warm." He glances about for something else to do in his embarassment and finds a book out of Rosa's reach to pick up and hand to her and asks, "Do they keep a copy of every book published here or something?"

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosamarie could probably be forgiven for assuming this suddenly turned into an outtake from her old school, what with guys saying girls are hot. Not about Rosa herself of course. No one's ever called her hot. The word 'cute' might apply, but she's never had that sort of thing sent her way either... not when there's someone like Natasha around, certainly.

    And then James is handing her a book. One of her own books, she recognizes. Oh, good. She clutches the book like it's a life preserver. Not because she's actually afraid, just unused to socializing. Especially with people more or less her age. She smiles slightly at the comment about books being people, nodding a gracious acceptance of the rebuke. "Right. Of course. You're okay, I hope?" she asks, showing reasonable concern to both people. "Only I don't want to get kicked out! I just GOT here!" she whispers furtively. "I don't know about every book, but there's more books than I'd ever be able to read even if I didn't have to worry about deployments!" she claims.

Natasha (425) has posed:
Natasha laughs at that, "I get that a lot." She's not too embarrassed by it. "Relax, they're not going to kick you out for something that happened on accident. Besides you weren't even involved." She doesn't know what Rosemarie's getting so worked up about. "Yeah, I don't think I would be read all the books here in a billion years! Of course they're getting new ones all the time. I think they even have books here that weren't published." She wouldn't be too surprised by that.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
James chuckles nervously for a moment and then looks concerned for a moment about the risk of being kicked out. "I sure hope they don't kick us out," he says and adds, "She's right though, it /was/ just an accident!" He then asks, "Do either of you know how to find the architectural section?" as he remembers what caused the accident to happen.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Okay, Rosa supposes they aren't going to kick her out for an accident. She's perhaps a bit paranoid, but it's not like this sort of thing happens every day! So she goes back to her little pile (okay, maybe not so little) and is about to pick it up when James asks about architecture.

    She puts her recently-returned book back on the stack of other books and pulls out a phone. Tapping and gesturing at it a moment, she shrugs. After a moment she pulls her eyepiece back down over an eye. "What kind of architecture?" she asks. "Historical, classical, modern, structural engineering..." she pauses, scrolling down. "Oh man, there's a lot of stuff here." she muses. "Ummm... not that I can pull up locations here, but you've got to know what you're looking for right?" she says brightly. She's not opposed to helping out a fellow nerd, not that she uses such terms... but then what else would you call someone who's interested in architecture?

Natasha (425) has posed:
"You mean like buildings and things?" Natasha knows what the word means but not much about the subject. She likes to read but more along the lines of fiction. "I'm not really sure where that would be? Oh yes, I'm Natasha." She just realizes she never did introduce herself. Of course she's still a little out of it from having books fall on her head.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"Well, the Union gave me a home and...." James trails off for moment as the only other time he's been the focus of more than one girl's attention at a time they were (effectively) his sisters. "So, this home is extremely configurable. I'm trying to settle on a layout and interior decoration."

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    "So more like decorations." muses Rosamarie, tapping and fingerwaggling more magic at her phone screen. Not literal magic of course. "Or layout. or..." she pauses, considers.

    "You know, you should probably just go online." Rosa observes, gesturing with her phone to make her point. "That way if you find something you like, you can just continue looking at similar things without having to go back for a huge library index." she adds, her tone dry but her face showing a hint of a smile. Books are great if you're going to be reading, but tech is better if you're doing research. "Oh, I'm Rosa. Rosamarie Alba." she says, voice dropping a noticeable lilt as she says her name that's obviously different from her normal extremely west-coast USA accent.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Yeah, I think they have programs for that sort of thing right?" Natasha remembers hearing some like that before. "Plus. it could take a while to find what you're looking for if you're not sure what you want to begin with. Nice to meet you Rosemarie!" She offers a hand to the other girl as she says that.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"I'm James, James Rogers," he says as introductions are being made. "That might work also. Its just I've never had to make decisions about layout like this before."

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    "Rosa, please." Rosamarie says, taking Natasha's hand. Her mother calls her Rosamarie, and it always makes her feel like she's in trouble. "Oooh, you ARE warm!" she claims, startled. She's not going to make James' mistake and call the older girl 'hot'.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Yes, I'm not making you uncomfortable am I?" Natasha knows some people don't like to be around warmth. "Where did you live before coming to the Multiverse?" She can't help but to be bit curious about that now. "I've never done much decorating myself, I usually stay with someone or are travelling."

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"Well, I grew up in a 'tropical' arctic refuge with my siblings -- Tony set up our bungalows," James explains. "More recently... in a citadel in the Savage Land which came prefurinished so... yeah, no experience picking out furniture or room layouts."

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    "Tropical arctic?" asks Rosa, confused. That's a bit mind-boggling. "My home's in San Diego." she notes. Then, for the potentially geographically-confused, "United States." she adds for those who couldn't pick it out from her accent. "I don't really have any experience picking out furniture or room layouts either." she adds. "On-base, you get a room and you like it. Only you're not supposed to actually like it, just sleep there when you're tired enough." she adds drily.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"So is it like really hot part of the year and really cold the rest of it?" That's what it sounds like to Natasha. "So you're both from Earth then? I'm from a country called Elysium originally, though I don't live there anymore. "Though my family's part of a carnival so I did a lot of travelling when I was there."

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"Actually, it was a domed environment which was located in the arctic unitl it was destroyed," James explains. "Yeah, I tried the barracks. Then asked on comms about more permanent homes and Captain Amalthea recquisitioned one for me."

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosa shrugs a bit self-consciously. "I don't mean the barracks here." she says. She's just an ally, doing occasional work, not a member of the actual Union army. She could rent a place here, but it wouldn't be a good use of her time or money. "I... at Midway base." she finishes. "Back home. When I don't have any shore leave."

    This might be significant, for those who know anything about the US military. Rosa might be nearing the age of recruitment, but she's not there yet. She's got to be rather young for full-on military service, though of course not as young as people like Toph Beifong.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Someone destroyed your home?!" Natasha sounds rather upset as she hears that. "I don't like the cold, but let me know if you want to kick the butt of who did it!" There's a shushing sound as she speaks up again. She certainly knows what it feels like. "Shore leave, are you in some kind of navy, Rosa?" She looked kind of young for that sort of thing, but she knows there's people of all ages fighting in the Multiverse.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
James just nods at Natasha's question but doesn't seem to want to discuss the topic any further. Then, when the topic of Rosa and the Navy comes up he says, "US Navy, right?" as he nods in the direction of her flag patch. "My father was a soldier, he fought in World War II. Are you part of the US Navy from your world, Rosa?"

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosa seems unsurprised by James' comment about his father. No doubt she's heard some of the recent radio drama. She has no real desire to dredge up James' topic either, so she simply answers the question. "It's ... kind of complicated." she says, grinning a bit sheepishly. She fingers the flag patch. Albacore, First Fleet. "I'm not a regular sailor or anything. I'm kind of like a warship." she says, not without a bit of awkwardness. "Smallest warship in the fleet." she adds dryly.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"You don't look anything like a boat, are you a shapeshifter? I wonder if I can turn into a vehicle, I've never tried it before." Natasha's kind of inspired now. She should try to get more flexible with her powers after all. "I mean I can fly and everything, though I don't think I want to turn into a boat." That would be rather awkward for her.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
James blinks in surprise for a moment and then says, "Huh, a warship." He then asks, "Do you actually change size when you change forms?" He seems to just assume the shapechanging and isn't too surpised about it. Then, as his face for a moment shows a dawning realization, he asks, "Are you a person or a machine, Rosa?"

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    "Oh no no no!" Rosa says, shaking her head and smiling. "I'm not a shapeshifter or a machine or anything like that!" she says, half amused, half dismayed at the reaction to her misleading claim. "Just... you know, normal schoolgirl who wakes up one day to find aliens invading her home. And hears a spooky voice offering her the power to fight!" she shrugs.

    Okay so it wasn't exactly like that. There was a lot of terror and a heck of a lot of destruction. Helplessness was involved, and a burning desire to fight back. And Albacore... Rosa shivers. "It's all magic, and no I have no idea how it all works. Apparently I have magic and no idea how to use it, and Albacore has knowledge but no power of her own." she shrugs, looking a bit self-conscious. "It's kind of complicated." she finishes lamely.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Well, I was a normal schoolgirl once too but even then I was able to use magic. Have you ever tried to figure out it works? I mean I certainly would be curious about it. Then again I'm not quite fully sure about I changed either...so I kind of know the feeling." Natasha can kind of understand what Rosamarie means.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
While James doesn't actually move he metaphorically takes a step back, letting the girls discuss magic, a topic he really can't discuss with any sort of clarity. Instead he just watches the conversation for a while.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosa hmmms and nods slightly. "Well I did figure out a little bit." she says, somewhat reluctantly. What she'd figured out was enough to give her some control over the nature of her power, but it gave little actual answers. "Magic is kind of new to us. Other than the Fleet Maidens, there's no magic in our world. There WAS, maybe. There's old stories and legends and people getting burned as witches, but lots of that are just stories that most people don't really believe." she explains. "So, there's no one that can explain, and the ghosts are only interested in the war. Once we win... well, I guess I go back to being an ordinary girl." she says, a bit unconvincingly.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"So how do you win? Defeat all the aliens?" That sounds difficult to her. "I can't go back myself." Natasha doesn't sound too bothered by that, she's expected it by now.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
Aliens is something James can discuss so, he asks, "What kind of aliens are your people fighting?"

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosa carefully composes her face, masking her expression into one of complete and utter immobility. "Aquatic magical space elf nazis." she says, as blandly as possible.

    "I guess we win when they're all gone." she adds, her face and voice relaxing somewhat. "They make it pretty clear they think humanity's worthless and they're going to destroy us all." she explains. "Because we're not magical like they are. And yet they're always amazed when a Fleet Maiden comes along. We don't have their ability with magic, but a few of us have more firepower than one of their warships. I suppose we might one day convince them to go away and leave us alone, but I can't see how that'll work when they still get amazed we can outfight them." she shrugs.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Aquatic magical space elf what..." Natasha's not that familiar with that last word. "Though we don't have elves where I'm from either. But I've actually heard of those before. So are they weak against fire?" Why else would they use warboats to fight them after all.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"I'm sorry... that, sounds weird." James isn't sure what else to say on the matter. Any one of those descriptors he's heard of or encountered before but... the combination is decidely odd to him.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosa's entirely aware of how weird that combination sounds. There's a reason why she had to compose herself to say it. "They're not very nice. They live underwater. They come from space, or maybe from some other dimension. And they do absolutely everything using technomagic, so far as we can tell." she explains, slightly wearily.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"That does kind of strange, so why did they come to your world?" If they're already that advanced, Natasha wonders what they could want.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"Sometimes attackers are simply out to cause an extenction of the species." When James says this there is a hint of darkness in his voice, as if this is something he is... unfortunately... quite familiar with.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    "They want our world's magic." Rosa says, shrugging. Again, more of what she's been told rather than what she's learned. "At least, that's what some people think. To them we're vermin because we don't do magic. They want to exterminate us." she claims. Again that awkward little shrug. "If I had a vermin problem I wouldn't go live in a sewer full of them, so maybe the people are right that they want what our world has. And since magic's so important to them, it's got to be magic. Or maybe it's living space instead. The world's like seventy percent water, right? Or is that the human body's seventy percent water?" she asks rhetorically.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"I guess being mostly water would make more sense, I don't think they would go after magic if there's only a few people with it right?" At least that what Natasha's thinking. "So you're not quite sure which reason though?"

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"Seventy precent sounds right," James says idly adding: "I think people are a bit less than that normally." He then asks, "Have you ever asked them? Or are they not the type to have conversations with really?"

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    "I think our world's full of magic." Rosa says. "Well, I mean, I don't know. But do I *use* magic, or do I *have* magic?" she asks. This too is one of those things discussed a lot without real answers. Rosa frequently signs in - semi-anonymously - to the discussion forums, but rarely does anyone give definitive answers. "Anyways we're not really using the ocean, so if all they wanted was the water, why kill us all? Except... you know, all the fishing, all the whaling, all the oil spills. I guess why wouldn't they?" she shrugs, looking a bit despondent. "They don't talk with us. They only order us to submit or die, that sort of thing. Brag about who they are and how much they'll rule." the girl says. "I mean... would you talk to vermin? Have a serious discussion about how much better they could be if only they were nicer and stopped eating garbage?"

Natasha (425) has posed:
"You shouldn't consider someone vermin just because they're different!" Natasha's getting fired up by this discussion. Maybe the library isn't the best place to have it. "I wouldn't treat anyone different depending on if they have magic or not. Besides there's a lot of ways you can fight even without it." She's certainly learned that living in the Multiverse. "They don't like pollution or hurting the enviroment?"

James Rogers (802) has posed:
James puts a finger to his ear and frowns. "Sounds like my sister got hurt. Which is surprising from what I know of her," he says before stepping away and quietly joining the radio chatter.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Rosa gets a little wide-eyed as Natasha's volume begins to increase. "Shhhh!" she urges. "I didn't say they were NICE space elf wizards!" she hisses quietly.

    She watches as James backs off, looking rather concerned and also pushing an earbud into place. She shrugs, listening with one ear, while she continues. "I guess I don't know what they want, except us dead." she says quietly. "Only that's not quite it either. If they just wanted us dead, they'd send out more ships, more wizards. Instead they fight in small groups, acting independently, then retreating when they face someone too strong."

    Rosamarie sighs. "Sorry, I can't give you any real answers. They're a big mystery to me, and I've sunk more of their warships than I can count." she says. Not bragging, just stating a fact. Understating it, in fact... since she's got the record.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
James' voice is becoming more audible as he speaks into the radio and then he bursts out with a "No!" due to the conversation in his ear.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Maybe they're trying to see how strong you are first?" That's all Natasha can figure out. "So why don't you guys take the fight to them? You don't know exactly where they are?" It makes sense to her to take them out before they can attack.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
    Once again, that little shrug. Rosa can't summon up the dismay at how much she doesn't know, because it's too common an issue in this particular subject. "They travel fast. Many times faster than we can, and underwater." she explains. "We know what waters they move in, and sometimes a submarine can intercept their shipping, but we've never had anyone get close enough to identify a base and manage to report it." she says. "I've tried a few times, and I couldn't find anything. I'm one of the luckier ones... I keep coming back." she explains. "I don't know if they're testing us. Maybe. Some of what they do sounds like a test, but if so it's like a rat in a maze. No idea what the experimenter wants to see."

James Rogers (802) has posed:
James lowers his hand from his ear and steps closer to the ladies again, "Sorry about that, my sister got hurt and... well." He seems to have calmed down from whatever agitated him before.

James Rogers (802) has posed:
"It was great meeting you both," James says, "But I need to go check on my sister." He chooses not to open the can of worms that the phrase 'semi-half-sister' usually opens up.

Natasha (425) has posed:
"Well, I can't go underwater so I can't really help you there. Sorry." Natasha sounds a bit annoyed by that. "Sure, go ahead. Family's more important than anything." She's pretty understand of James having to leave. "Just be careful where you're going." She rubs her forehead, a bit of a bruise forming on it.