Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Priscilla     The Warpgate that, for one reason or another, takes you not where you had meant to go, but to The Nothingness, shunts you from the point of light that bears the mysterious text (world map?) and into the seemingly infinite void of whispers and hostile shushing,indistinct verses of a shade one iota lighter than black scrolling across the endless dark, and strange, jaggedly fractal floral patterns that emerge around the only dots of light here. You're propelled across the plane of nothing toward it, inexorably, thrust across space that exists outside of space, and engulfed by another white light like the one you'd just emerged from.

                ---ZONE 2---


    It's not raining here. For once, you're able to emerge into clear, plain sunlight, lukewarm on the skin, as if it can't commit to being spring or summer. The sky up above is such a clear, bland, grey-white, so diffuse with its light that neither blue or sun can be seen from below, but that's fine. Everything's fine. Everything is . . . calm.

    Just as usual, everything around you is essentially monochromatic. At another edge of the vast ocean, quietly sloshing waves of pale white liquid plastic lap at sheer shores of squared, mineralized earth, bright pink in colour. Everything here is pink. Extremely pink. It's just short of eye-searing, but has a certain subduedness that makes it more of a non-threatening and cozy sort of pink, like a blanket. The ground doesn't so much as crunch under your feet here; it's like metallic or ceramic sand so fine that it feels like artificial turf at an indoor soccer field. Even the railings here, responsibly erected at the coast, look like metallic fencing, but appear to be soft rubber to the touch.

    Unlike Zone 1, the place before you is heavily built up. Even from the little strip of coast you arrive at, before a floating red cube with the symbol of a crab this time, simple rectangular buildings stretch up to the height and breadth of fancy apartment blocks, crammed together into a solid wall of slightly varying cityscape, and bridged together up above with arches beneath. There are faintly smoking chimneys, entire grids of perfectly square windows with round, soft edges, but no lights on --it's the middle of the day, so maybe that's not unusual.

    A signpost, styled like an old wooden trail marker, but clearly cheap plastic when touched, claims in big, old-timey font, that . . . well it says BISMARK, and has a couple of helpful hands pointing in directions. The first points directly ahead, and says Center (Library), and the other points back the way you came, and says Lower Part.

    Beyond that, the central part of this place is perfectly easy to identify for what it is, as a single building rises like a skyscraper out of a plaza, surrounded by buildings on all sides (still a perfect square, no complicated shapes or arrangements here), helpfully emblazoned with the word 'Library' over the door, and set with an odd double arrow symbol. It branches off to the east, west, and north, where you can catch faint glimpses of pale people in white clothing, but not hear anything. From them, and just anything in general. It's extremely quiet, as if the Zone as a whole is trying not to wake a baby.
Starbound Flotilla     George doesn't join the group at (world map?), no matter how early you are or how late you arrive in this particular warpgate interception. He, for his part, isn't here right now, but perhaps you can run into him soon. In order to find a wandering, doddering old man, one need only wander and dodder themselves; that sort of path only ever has one conclusion, after all.

    But the hospital-like smell of his cigarettes is on the air.
Thomas Alva Edison Edison stands in front of the library, having moved through to the next area, and then along the trail towards the town itself.  He looks up at the nearly impossibly large building, already wondering about it.  Of course, he could think of ways to make it work, but this just seems more and more similar to the point of view of someone who couldn't comprehend the heights the building went.  

"Hm," Edison says, now less hesitant about the mission.  If the Spectres are a threat, and they corrupt the people and the guardians...then it stands to reason that the only way to save this place IS to kill the guardians.  Still, there is a lingering sense of something in the back of his head, his mind thinking of every angle it can.  Such as, what happens to a Zone without its guardian?  

Still, it's not helpful to have these thoughts NOW...they are already here and right now they have to do what good they can.  "This...is a very tall place.  The largest Library I have ever seen...I wonder if all of the floors are full of books.  Perhaps they can shed more light on this place and its history," Edison continues.  

"Well, I guess no reason to stand out here.  Let's go in." Edison says and walks towards the front door.  
Doctor Strange      Doctor Stephen Strange steps into the lukewarm sunlight, looking up into the grey-white sky with his mouth slightly open. He looks at the portal behind him, a hole burnt or perhaps cut into reality as if by an arc welder. The other side of that portal is a stately study with the smoldering remains of a fire in a fireplace. He looks again at his surroundings, and the corners of his mouth turn up in an amused smile.

     "Neat." A flick of his wrist dispels the portal. It's not where he meant to go, but he's got all the time in the world. Might as well see what this place is about, right? "Pepto-Bismol dimension." He looks down and kicks curiously at the fine sand. "Oh, wait--'Bis/mark./'" He chuckles, pointing affably at the sign. "I like that."

     The Cloak of Levitation billows out behind him as he gently takes to the air, flying towards the LIBRARY. That should be the first stop of any self-respecting wizard. "I hope so," says Strange in response to Edison as he arrives at the library. He enters, and looks for a front desk. Or a librarian.
Tina Natsumi     Where's the next location today? Pinkland. Tina's squinting slightly as she emerges in the otherwise comfortable field of artificial grass, following Edison towards the library. "Y'think? My bet's on the books bein' all... Empty or summat. Or just full of indecipherable BS like all those codes and... Procedure rules."

     She raises an eyebrow at Strange's emphasis on the 'mark'. "You catch something interesting, pard?" She smirks and checks the arrow symbols before taking note of the branches it's pointing at, then the oddly dressed people.

     It's too quiet. It'd be terrible if someone broke the silence. Stepping slightly off to the side so she might not be immediately identifiable with the rest of the group, Tina takes a deep breath, then bellows. "Howdy, y'all! Anyone here know where I can find some books 'bout those spectres?!"
Aoko Aozaki     "Don't you start too, this place is bad enough on its own," Aoko says to Strange, as she actually reaches out to pet his cloak.

    That is not a normal reaction to cloaks, probably, but she really liked his cloak. And about every other shiny thing in his Sanctum, for that matter.

    "You should give it a cool name, by the way."

    What's personal space, really?
    Not something she acknowledges, that's for sure.
Septette Arcubielle      Where had Septette intended to end up, if not here? Somewhere that bloodied clothes are much less unmannerly. She looks like, having failed to open a jar of pasta sauce via reasonable means, she instead cracked it under intense violence and suffered the high-pressure consequences.

     It's not the work of more than a moment to clean up. Her hands make peculiar sizzling sounds, and she sweeps them back over her face as if splashing it with cold water to clean all that unpleasantness away before proceeding towards the LIBRARY.

     There's no way her clanking footsteps are going to be grumpy-librarian-compliant, so let's hope there aren't any of those.
August Kohler Dressed in a thick coat, gun and knife concealed, a red-haired young man mills about with the rest of the group. The pink is...new, as is the lack of rain. This place seems nicer than Zone 1. August stays close to the Batter at first, if he's here, looking to see if he has any scent or sign of spectres, before continuing forward. George isn't here...

But the telltale sign of his cigarette smoke is. Which means he /was/ here. August doesn't want to split off from literally everyone looking for him, so he journeys into the library as well. Perhaps the scent lingers in here as well.

If anyone was going to smoke in a library, it's George.

As he does so, August speaks to the others, approaching. The others are disrespecting the quiet, so... "George was here and went on without us. Can smell his cigarette smoke. He say anything to any of you?" It might seem kind of like 'I'm worried about my friend' but there's a hint of something else there. Healthy suspicion, after what happened with Albert in Zone 1.
Priscilla     Entering the plaza, you quickly notice that the face of the building with the door and the word LIBRARY above it is mirrored on all four sides. Going around it at all is disorienting in the extreme, as it feels like you've just wandered back around to the same perspective regardless, save that the double downward arrow is replaced by some other permutation of oddly styled arrow. The signs pointing to what might as well just be called the west, north, and east, go Park, Commercial Area, and Residential Area respectively.

    In each direction, you can see people. Pasty white. Bald. Slightly square heads. They're all wearing white business shirts with starched collars and black ties, alongside pleated black pants and polished black shoes. All of them look both exhausted and nervous, with visible shadows under their beady little eyes.

    They're exactly the same people as Zone 1, yes. All eerily near-identical. These ones however, rather than exhibiting varying levels of extreme anxiety and stress, appear somehow sedated, like the perfect regularity and conformity of the place, the lukewarm sun and soothing pink, the soft ground and rubber and plastic structures, achieve some kind of tranquilizing effect that makes them spaced out and quiet, if still looking eerily tired and ailing.

    The inside of the library, by contrast, is deep, royal blue, like one would expect from a museum exhibit about underwater creatures, with all the lighting that implies. Here it isn't just calmingly quiet, but dead quiet, and yet the air about it is slightly unsettling. The acoustic properties of the place, despite it being narrow and square, oddly seem to muffle echoes, yet the noises you make seem to stand out even more by comparison, like hearing them with microphone gain up.

    One pasty man in a suit is talking to another pasty man in a suit exactly like him across the library desk, flanked by two huge staircases and a door to either side beyond them. The pair converse in near identical voices that have an uncanny, exhausted wheeze to them, but neither seems to pay much note.

"You shouldn't lend any more books to that man." says the visitor.
"Why not?" asks the ostensible librarian.
"He tears out the pages. It's almost dangerous." says the client, as if he were discussing having seen someone hacking up a body.
"Yes." is all the librarian has to say, tiredly.
"I'm going back upstairs." the other one says, concluding the odd exchange by doing exactly that.

    When Tina goes to open her big fat mouth, she finds a hand slapped over it from out of her blind spot, with a surprisingly strong grip stopping her from yelling. Looking to the side, she finds a man in a white and black pinstriped batter's uniform, with a black billed cap, a baseball bat signed ~Emmanuel~, and a still transcendentally at-peace expression.

"Sorry." says the Batter. "        wanted me to do that." he continues.

    It might be obvious why. Even Septette's loud clanking footsteps seem to unsettle the couple of clients on the first floor unduly, fidgeting and glancing as if someone were revving up a chainsaw in their general direction, instead of just *walking*. The librarian greets you.

"Hello. Welcome to the library."
A pause. Uh . . . I should point out that the upper floors are inaccessible because of the spectres." he adds.
Starbound Flotilla     George is chilling out in the library. Stunk this place up with his weird cigarettes, undoubtedly. Just obnoxiously taking up one of the staircases, he looks like a punk delinquent and also an old man at the same time. "Gonna be honest." He says to the librarian. "I don't think ghosts can read. When was the last time you saw a specter reading? In fact," He gestures blandly at the Batter. "You ever seen a specter /listening/ to anyone? I've seen so many haunting movies and those guy are practically deaf. Maybe you kinda lose the hearing after enough people scream. Or you don't get to keep your conversationalism when you're intangible."

    As some of the group enter, he speaks up, raising an index finger and saying just one short thing. "'Win-GARB-ium Leviosa.' You know, if you ask me." What? Well, now that the others arrive, he lights up a new cigarette and waves to the Batter. "Hey Bats. Hey gang, was wondering when you'd be here. Hey Sept! Didn't know you joined the Choir. Kinda perfect for it, if you ask me." He cants his head a little bit, indicating upwards of the stairs. "Not a bad place to do what you usually do."
Doctor Strange      Strange notes the effect that Septette's walking seems to have on the library patrons. Accordingly, the Cloak carries him an inch or two off the ground, his arms resting at his sides for now. "Thank you," says Strange to the librarian.

     He wrinkles his nose in distaste at George's reference. "Stop," he says with annoyance. Harry Potter fans are almost as bad as Star Wars fans.

     The wizard turns his attention back to the librarian, and attempts to keep his tone level and dry as he speaks. "Which books have had their pages torn out? I can fix them." He pauses. "Do you have any books about the spectres specifically?"
Thomas Alva Edison Edison listens to the goings on, making mental notes.  The Person controlling the batter and watching the groups movement seems to want to keep the people from being TOO stressed.  Was it a desire to keep the peace, or because they know something?  Could the issue with the spectres be somehow influenced by their environment?  If he could take a live spectre out of here...

However, when they are told there is a spectre problem, he looks towards the Batter.  This is usually when he introduces himself and makes his declaration.  However, Edison decides to ask about something else.

"You were talking about a man that rips the pages out?  Who is he?  What does he look like?  You know, in case we run into him.  Gotta keep our books safe, right?" Edison says with a smile towards the Librarian.  "Knowledge is very important."
August Kohler As they step in, there's more...'people'. If August's video game theory is right, and he's not too sure any more after the weirdness of Dedan being so much like a person, they're basically just NPCs as far as he can tell. Either way, they're not that important to him...except where they bar the way. But they seem way calmer here. Their guardian must not be as much of an overworking asshole?

August approaches the librarian, not too loud. "Don't worry. We're here to purify the spectres." He jerks a thumb to the Choir and the Batter. "Just let us up there and we'll get rid of them fast. We already helped out Zone 1." He neglects to mention that they killed Dedan.

August's not too worried if the group has a warrant for their arrest or something, because who's going to deal with them? These guys? Otherwise, August falls back into place near the Batter.
Aoko Aozaki     "Dunno, Dedan sure was hearing us. Not sure he was LISTENING to us, though," Aoko answers George as she walks in, before going back to being entirely too hands-on with Strange's cloak.

    "So heeeeey, Deathblade, on a scale of one to ten, how interested would you be in trading that old Doctor Supreme for a loose cannon magus who doesn't play by the rules?"

    She grins. It is not a serious grin in the slightest, and merely an attempt to fill empty moments with noise.

    To the librarian, she eventually asks: "Oh, hey, who's the Guardian of this Zone, by the way? Shouldn't they be helping you out with your Specter problem? Too busy? Not their style?"
Septette Arcubielle      "On the contrary, I've still yet to cultivate a knack for singing," Septette replies as her path takes her past George. She says it with the sort of slick-oblivious air that makes it tricky to drill down and find exactly how many layers of affectation she's on. With a snap of her fingers, a trio of small spherical drones materialize in the air around her and swoop off among the shelves, flash-skimming multiple books at once to give her a scattershot idea of the library's contents as a whole.

     She's not pressing on upstairs until the others are ready, though she does test the sturdiness of George's staircase by leaning on it. "And anyway-" her hand brushes her shawl, fussing at a few residual blood specks- "I'm not sure what it is you think I usually do. I'll have you know I am a very three-dimensional person with a wide variety of interests."

     Her enormous left armblade chooses that moment to unfold creakily, seemingly of its own accord. She hastily stuffs it back into her forearm.
Starbound Flotilla     "Dedan, God rest his soul," George says, "Was the kind of guy who has lived here since he started being Dedan. I want you to keep something in mind when you're thinkin' about him. He wasn't too different from these fine folk, at the end of the day." He gestures to the local "drones". "It just wasn't possible for a man like that to be happy around here in this world, so he wasn't ignoring you, it just wasn't possible for you to be something that could make him happy as far as anyone could tell. Same as everyone else around here. The people in Zone 1 could only be worried. The Guardian could only be angry. Keep an eye out for that kinda stuff, you know?" He speaks with a sense of casual, cheerful, and somewhat relaxed authority on the topic.
Tina Natsumi      Tina resents having her mouth called fat! She can't really protest it verbally, though, what with the Batter physically keeping her mouth shut for her. She struggles for a moment before sighing lightly and raising a hand in 'fine fine have it your way' sort of waving.

    Also because she likes breathing.

    Once she's freed from the batter's tyrannical grip, the loudmouth keeps her loudness to a minimum as she rejoins the group sans yelling. Turning to George, she nods slowly at his explanation while furrowing her brow slowly. "I think I getcha. Don't hate 'em for doing what they know or... Somethin' like that, yeah? We're the outsiders here and all that."

     She's pretty sure she gets it, at least. "Still, doesn't change that the guy had a mouth nastier than ol' Janine and the whole tryin' ta kill us thing. But if we can avoid gettin' into that kinda situation to begin with..." Tina lets out a low, thoughtful noise from the back of her throat, then taps the bottom of her fist into her palm and turns to the librarian.

     Her brain is on again. "Say. Does tearing-pages guy have any books he ain't returned yet?"
Starbound Flotilla     "Close." George says, to Tina, putting his index finger up. "Don't just not hate 'em. In fact, you /could/ hate Dedan. Shit, I hated Dedan. But most of all, you gotta comprehend that if you see 'delusion' here, where someone acts some way even when it doesn't make sense, it's 'cause they /can't/. Hate 'em aside from the delusions. We're the crazy ones around here."
Priscilla     "Books about spectres?" the man at the desk whispers uncomprehendingly. "N . . . No. Why would . . . ?" At being asked about which pages are torn and who's been doing it, he says "I don't know which ones. The man though . . . his name is Elsen. He looks like . . . about this height." The librarian holds his hand exactly level with the top of his head. "He's very pale . . . and bald . . . and he wears a tie." he concludes. When August insists they've somehow helped Zone 1, the librarian blinks, and blearily adds "Oh. That's good. Zone 1 is where all of our products come from."

    He looks slightly unsettled at Aoko asking about the Guardian. "Ah . . . the Guardian . . . hasn't been around for a long time. They weren't very good, so . . ." He then lets the rest of the thought die with a whimper."

    Septette finds that the staircase is made of solid metal. In fact, she hasn't seen anything so far that wasn't made of metal, plastic, or something involving the two. Her drones fly around the halls, finding that the doors to either side of the stairs loop around the building, providing exits to the west, east, and north sides of 'town', towards the three other districts.

    Scanning the shelves, her drones quickly find that all the books are fake. They're glued down.

    The Batter picks up. "There are spectres in this building?" he asserts for confirmation.
"Uh . . . Y . . . Yes." the librarian replies, suddenly yet more nervous. ". . . Why do you ask?"
"I will eliminate them." the Batter says, simply and without doubt.
"El . . . eliminate the spectres? But . . . uh . . . uh . . ." the librarian stammers. "You know, uh, you . . . you could get hurt . . . and uh . . . there's nothing for you up there. Just walls, shelves, stairs, and an old cat."
"A cat?" asks the Batter, speaking with something almost approximating interest. "We'll go up and purify the upper floors."
"Ah . . . Um . . . good . . . Okay." the librarian finally relents. "Don't be too loud, then."

"But . . . the fourth floor is not really accessible . . . People have torn pages out of the books, so I don't want to go up there. It could be dangerous." the librarian finally adds, after a long, long pause. Afraid of torn pages?

    Yet, going upstairs provides nothing out of the ordinary. Two floors are simply samey rooms of deep blue, filled with identical shelves stuffed with books pushed up against split walls. Between them, there are a whopping four readers actually using the place, though they mostly appear to be standing around rather than actually reading. The floor beyond that is cut off by . . . apparently a pair of blue cubes, with thick, heavy outlines, jutting out of the ground. They're not even big enough to really stop someone from going past, like in Zone 0. It's kind of insulting.

    The Batter goes to one of the shelves, yet says out loud "These shelves are fake. There's a visible socle under the real ones." once he approaches. It's helpful advice, but it doesn't sound like he was talking to you. Again. That happens fairly often, it seems.

    Outside of the four readers, there are a number of shelves that fit the description, but even then, most of the books on those are fake, and only one or two books actually open.

There is a book with an unreadable title.
There is a book entitled "Tales and Legends."
There is a book entitled "Bismark."
There is a book entitled "The Up Children Down."
There is a entitled "The Cardinal Points."
There is a book entitled "Written by E.S."
There is a book entitled "Explanations."
There is a book simply with no title.

There are four books with missing pages. Each of them is printed on soothing pink paper, pattered with a suit of cards. Someone has specifically ripped one out of these, apparently collecting a set of hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds.
Doctor Strange      'Deathblade' /fwips/ away from Aoko at the very suggestion, as if offended she even brought it up. It also paps Strange on the wrist, presumably for giving her the idea to call it that.

     George says something thoughtful, redeeming his earlier sin in Strange's eyes. The Sorcerer Supreme raises his brow with interest, turning midair to face the captain. "Soooo... the people here can only be what? Settled?" He holds his trembling, scarred hands out and does his best to lay them flat upon the air. The wizard gently gestures behind him to the patrons earlier unnerved by Septette's noisy gait. "For... lack of a better word."

     Though initially loathe to act without all the information, Strange believes he more or less has the gist. Spectres are more-or-less mindless shades, possibly of former residents, who may be killed, but don't remain dead without the Batter's intervention. Left to their own devices, they murder, destroy and pervert, hence the need for a permanent fix. That does seem like a pretty compelling argument for getting rid of them.

     The sorcerer blinks at the librarian's description. "Great," he says with a flat tone and without trace of a smile. "We'll find him in no time at all. Riiight after we finish... purifying." He makes a limp finger-gun at the librarian, nodding in agreement with the Batter. He turns in midair and hovers his way upstairs.

     He kept using the word 'dangerous.' Perhaps 'safe' is a better word for the state of being people want here. Everything is that comforting shade of pink, the slightest change or disorder seems to upset them. Once upstairs, Strange searches for a book with missing pages. With the Batter's advice, he manages to track down the 'real' bookshelves. The sorcerer opens one of the books, flips to the torn page, and opens the Eye of Agamotto.

     Brilliant green light erupts from the amulet upon his chest. A band of emerald energy--congealed time--forms upon his wrist, and he turns it backwards while aiming his hand at the book. Assuming he's able to repair it, is there anything useful there? Or did Elsen really just tear it to collect a suit of cards?
Thomas Alva Edison Edison watches with somewhat interest as the Batter seems to go to several bookshelves to let them know in the same exact way that those shelves are fake.  Hm...is it like a game like August thought?  Or is it just a result of the control from the person they can't see?  He files that away for later.

The books they CAN get to, he starts going through each one, trying to see if these are actually books they can glimmer something from...or if they are actually just part of a puzzle, which he is starting to think that this is what it might be about.

Of course, the missing pages bother him.  "Hm...maybe we need to get the missing pages?  Might help with either moving up or learning more.." Edison thinks.
Tina Natsumi Tina nods slowly as the librarian describes Elsen, the physical description not seeming quite so important compared to his behavior. With few other places to go but the upper floors with the Batter taking the lead, she actually complies with that request to stay quiet!

For now.

Torn pages seems to be a recurring problem here, and Tina makes a mental note to remember that there are indeed four people standing around just before they reach the 'obstacle'.

Said obstacle is immediately ignored in favor of the shelves with the books as described. She furrows her brow while going over each of their titles. "Moving up and down... Up and down, cardinal... E.S... I got it."

A pause, then Tina shakes her head. "I don't got it. I mean, some o' these books got directions on 'em. Up Children Down, Cardinal Points, E.S. bein' east and south... I dunno what direction 'Tales and Legends' or 'Bismark' are supposed to be, though. You got any ideas?"

A beat, and then Tina purses her lips. "... Or am I way off here?"
Aoko Aozaki     "Your cloak is no fun, Strange," Aoko pouts, not entirely seriously. Though she might have liked the becloaked look. It's pretty grand.

    She follows the Doctor Supreme up after hearing the brief description of the Zone's seemingly now-prior Guardian. He wasn't very good? That's odd. She's not sure she'd call Dedan a good Guardian either, admittedly. Kind of rude. Very close-minded, or delusional. She'll stick to that for now, with George being so cagey.

    "Oh, that's right. You weren't around for the first Zone, huh?" she asides to Strange, as he works his magic. "They harvest metal from cows and smoke from mines. Smoke's air, as far as we could tell."

    Her eyes peer over his shoulders (yes she needs to tip-toe for that) at the restored books. "That's a handy trick. I bet if I ask to borrow that amulet you're going to laugh for about ten minutes straight and then say no, huh?" He doesn't need to answer.

    Oh hey a book without a title.
    Aoko checks that one out.
August Kohler As they move on up and check out the bookcases, August is a little weirded out by the guys just standing around 'reading', but doesn't say much. He looks over the books, and replies to Tina in the process. "Check those directional books out - I thought the same thing."

For his own contribution, August moves to try and read through Explanations. Maybe it, in fact, has some explanations for them?
Starbound Flotilla     "Elsen. You ever been to Elsen Station in Zone 1?" George says. "Nice place. Not this time of year, don't go visiting. But other times." George heads up with the gang. Whenever he wanders the floors, he chainsmokes, as if it's just a natural part of being indoors. He heads down on occasion, and seems to take a break from his smoking (a smoke break, if you will) while he does. He'll likely join anyone who chooses to view the area around the library when they do, but he does get upstairs around about the time any of the spectral foes show up.
Septette Arcubielle      Rather than pester everyone with her drones to browse through through the real non-glued-down books, Septette does something she may never have done before in her life: she 'accidentally' steps on someone's foot. One of the readers, to be precise- she just distractedly bumbles by, and then stomp.

     It isn't a genuine accident, of course. She never does anything except on purpose. And the weight that ought to have crushed a normal human's bones is subtly modulated to 'merely deeply bruising', with reactive adjustment to avoid injury in case these inhuman humans' flesh proves exceptionally fragile. "Oh! Oh, I'm terribly sorry," she says, immediately moving away from the poor man with a helpless little apology-wave...

     And very carefully watching how he reacts. How do these people factor into her ethical calculus? Do they outwardly express suffering?
Priscilla     The books are, like everything else here, strange. The four distinct 'reading' men, two on each floor, look at them nervously as they remove the books. Glancing sideways at one, he just says "I'm not doing anything wrong . . . I'm just staring at the wall." nervously, before turning and doing exactly that, as if trying to disappear. When you start pulling books out, one nervously pipes up with "Don't turn the pages . . . It makes too much noise . . . O . . . Okay?"

    As if you really could. When you open each book, you find that they only open in one spot anymore, giving you a whopping two pages per book, though they're numbered as if there are at least a hundred in each. The text on them is so tremendously faded and worn that they give the impression of being ancient --no, they must be. It's not intentional fading, or from damage, but literally having the ink rubbed off the pages from being handled for uncountable years and years.

    Each one is a unique sort of perplexity. An enigma in of themselves.
Priscilla Tales and Legends provides exactly one tale and/or legend on pages 16 and 17. It's called "The Toad King". It goes: "A long time ago, lived an evil king. His face was so repulsive that he was nicknamed the Toad King. One day, a masked man met the King during an audience. He said the following words to him: "Greetings, wretched monarch. Leave this land at once, or perish at the tip of my blade." The King replied: "I am the king and you are my subjects. You are not to go against my will." And so the Masked Man slew the King with his mighty sword. The End." That's it. That's all there is. It's one of the least read, though seemingly due to its frightening content less than any unpopularity.

Bismark is barely legible. The first words clearly say "For she chose Three Guardians to rule some of the Zones. The Fire Bird was chosen as the Lord of the second Zone. The Eternal City of Bismark." but the rest is an exercise in intense squinting and imagination.

The book with the Unreadable Title is a diagram of a flower. Orchids, specifically. Several kinds of Orchids. You've not seen a single flower, plant, or living thing asides cows and office workers this entire time, outside of the named characters. Do flowers exist in a world where dirt and water seemingly don't?

Explanations looks promising. It opens to an index on page two, containing: "-Introduction. -The Creation of the Modern World. -The Guardians. -The Queen and her son. -The Four Zones. -Zone 0. -The Toad King and the Merchant. -Annex. -Glossary. -Author's Note." However, no pages have been written past the index.

Written by E.S is entirely in French. Someone would have to speak it to understand it. It appears to be fiction, at least, though names are all inked out.

Cardinal Points shows the various arrows you've seen around town, and explanations about them. The book is upside down, however. No matter how much you try, the book is always upside down. You just can't get it to be right side up.

The Up Children Down is a horrid mess of almost unintelligible mixed font. Some of it is barely readable, and contains such disturbing content as "And in the belly of the world, seven hundred thousand children of the sin gnawed at the justice put in place by the Queen during her peaceful reign. They are the physical manifestation of evil deed released upon the world. Forever lost in their seething madness, they are unchageable and immortal. Only the Queen herself, at the time of the final confrontation, will have the power to annihilate the tainted power of the Worm Child." It continues to a Chapter 2: "Of Apocalypse and Black Liches" saying something about souls in exile being tortured for eternity by the "Llegion of the black Liches". Just reading it feels . . . uncomfortable.

Finally, the Untitled Book opens to a blank page, and one more that says, simply, "I have run outof oxygen", with a long trail coming off the edge of the page, as if the writer had slumped over and fallen while penning it.
Priscilla     Septette steps on someone's foot, and he immediately begins howling and panicking, dancing up and down on one foot and grabbing his shoe with both hands, freaking the absolute *fuck* out as if he'd just seen his own guts spilling all out of him over the pavement. He immediately begins hyperventilating in paroxysms of panic, and then, bug-eyed and dizzy, he passes out from lack of air, falling over unconscious.

    Strange finds that the Eye causes something to glow, slipped between false books in an adjacent shelf, and then pulls a page stuffed carefully between the cracks, causing page 33 printed in clubs to fly over to the book he has and insert itself neatly next tp page 32. He can make out the words "This is the story of three Guardians chosen by the Queen to rle over the Zones, islets of life lost in the Netherworld. The First Guardian, Dedan, was filled with anger. Thanks to his strong determination and his body made out of Steel, he ruled his Zone with an iron fist." The rest is faded to hell and near-unintelligible.

    The other books are . . . all ripped at page 33. Specifically page 33. They all begin the same way too, all repeating the same two pages, but faded in different spots, still no more helpful about the other two Guardians, or something about "dark legends". When he goes to fix the diamonds book however, he finds the page in one of the bald men's pocket, which he quickly claps down, desperate not to let it escape.
Thomas Alva Edison Edison shakes his head at Tina, as he reads through, of course, he is frowning.  He's actually not even sure these are books.  They are, in all likelihood, either there to mess with the reader or part of the clues to the puzzle.  Even as he, almost excitedly opens up Explanations...

To be thoroughly disappointed upon realizing it is only an index.  Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.  It goes against all reason that this place would have a written history.  Though, something did catch his eye.  "The queen and her son," he says aloud.  This causes his mind to work again, but right now he puts it away.

When Septette steps on the guy's foot and he freaks the fuck out, he looks at her.  "Well...good to know that they respond so poorly to accidents.  I'd hate to think what'd they do if you did that on purpose," he says, apparently taking her at her word.

"Hm...I can't read French," he says, putting that book down.  
Doctor Strange      Strange's affable, extremely helpful answer to Tina is as follows:

     "I dunno!"

     It is, at least, more than Aoko gets. As she predicted, her request to borrow an Infinity Stone is not dignified with a response. He does turn to offer a thought on Zone 1, only to see that Aoko is checking out one of the books. The sorcerer nods slightly in approval of this.

     He allows his characteristic frown to falter when page 33 flies into the book. "Heyyy," begins his quiet praise of his own ingenuity. It stretches on as he observes the victim of Septette's foot going bugshit. "yyyyyikes." The sorcerer clears his throat and reads. Okay, not helpful. Maybe the others will have something useful. He turns back time for the rest of them, but no dice.

     Not until one of the people here appears to have it in his pocket. One hand ventures behind his back, and there is a sound of steel creaking. The stairwell which leads downstairs is now a floor, rather than a stairwell, cutting off Elsen's escape--or at least, the man Strange presumes to be...

     "Elsen?" The sorcerer hovers closer to the fellow clasping his pocket. The corners of his mouth twitch slightly upwards. "Whatcha doin'?"
Septette Arcubielle      Oh, shit. Did anybody else see that? Everybody heard that, right? Is square-head-dude dead? Fuck.

     Septette glances around furtively before placing a finger on the side of the downed man's neck, making sure he still has a pulse. Yes? Yes. Fantastic. She quietly* and sneakily* drags him behind some bookshelves, lays him in an ergonomic position, folds his hands over his chest, and places his open book pages-down over his eyes like an improvised sleep mask. Definitely just taking a normal nap. Yes sir.
Priscilla     Strange approaches the man and calls him by Elsen. The man blinks back at him, and then asks "Do you mean me?" He looks to either side, as if expecting someone else to be beside him. Rather than start to vibrate or panic though (like a lot of Zone 1 people did (or else explode into Burnt)), he placidly states "I have no fear." as if under a sedative, like the people outside --those not accosted by the terrifying sounds of pages turning. "I know how to stop being scared." he says, repeating "I am not afraid."

    "Do you want to know how?" he asks, in almost the exact same tones someone had used when breaching the subject of kamartaj with Strange for the very first time. "Come a little closer, and I'll tell you . . . if you're not afraid." He pats his pocket. "This page has enlightened me. I'm not afraid now. Do you want to be free from fear?"

    "Give me 100 credits, and I'll give you the page."

    So he's actually just hustling him now.
August Kohler August takes a picture of the index for Explanations with his phone. And then, he glances around, ignoring the book in French because he knows like six words at best, and sees Strange repairing books and finding clues. August moves to approach him, right as he finds and corners Elsen. "Hey, find anything in those books?" August asides to Strange, before moving to look at Elsen.

"Are you...really trying to sell a book page? I mean, we've got the cash, if it's that important." He reaches for his wallet, moving to open it. 100 credits is a little pricy, but...

"Wait. You guys use credits? What do you...buy with them?" August squints at Elsen. What the hell?
Starbound Flotilla     "Sometimes the credits aren't just credits." George wanders over to August and Strange. "Hey, Bats. Does         need to cover this one? The cost, I mean. I dunno if this guy has the same economic savvy as Zacharie." He calls back to the Batter. He's gotten into the habit of using a pause just as long as the Batter does; he can't say exactly the same word, but the Batter usually gets the idea.
Priscilla     "I want to go to the mall." the bald man says. "There's a sale." he adds, very flatly.

    George goes towards the Batter, standing by the door, waiting with infinite patience for the Choir to perform their corner of the triangle in the Sacred Mission. Apparently watching and listening in on August with that same tranquil expression and slightly holier-than-thou bearing, he pauses for just a second, and then says. "You're right. Here you go.", handing George a number 100. It's 100.
Starbound Flotilla     George doesn't really entirely comprehend what he's holding, exactly, but George really doesn't comprehend most things if we're being honest. George is a master of improvisation. So he doesn't worry too much about what he's holding 100 of and just hands it off to the Elsen, covering for his two pals, one of whom can't deal with the material world (though if anyone could produce the pure number One Hundred, it would probably be Doctor Strange) and one of whom is technically-speaking a professional terrorist knight without a reliable salary. "Thanks tons, Bats. And        ! Here ya go, guy." He says. "Give me that good fearlessness enlightenment. Hope the sale's still going. We might join ya later!"
Tina Natsumi      For someone who claims to not be great at academic stuff, Tina sure is taking a while reading through everything! It's all rather creepy stuff, too, and the warning to not turn the pages would go unheeded if not for the books being so page-y in the singular.

Of course, spending more time reading the same stuff doesn't necessarily mean comprehending the content as a whole. "So this Explanations book has... Well, Explanations? Kinda, and there's an order to this all.. Sorta. But gettin' 'em all sorted out is..."

This is getting to be a bit too much for Tina. She'll just settle for the option that lets her play the fool while still possibly being useful: Examining the CARIDNAL POINTS. She looks up when someone starts howling, though, glancing towards the Batter to see if he'd shut the guy up before noticing that said guy has already knocked himself out.

     And gotten dragged off by Septette. She opens her mouth to say something, then shakes her head with a snicker before propping the book up and tilting sideways.

     A moment later, and Tina's standing on her head. She has to be thorough about this! "Yep. These are directions alright. Good thing they're all different, or you'd never know which way is north from south or whatever."

     For better or for worse, though, the rush of blood to head might actually be helping. "I don't think I'm ever gonna get any of this." With that revelation made, she topples over onto her side, then sits right back up and peers over towards where Elsen is trying to sell his stuff. "How many pages you got over there, anyway? Just the one, or you got more stashed away somewhere?"
Aoko Aozaki     "Rude, couldn't hold his breath long enough to finish writing this one," Aoko says of the untitled book, to bring levity to the fact she is likely holding a dead man's journal. Which can't be opened to any page except the last. Because of course.

    When her head pops out of her intense reading of a single line, she notices the bald seller and the sudden commotion. People seem to have it handled though.

    So Aoko starts using books to build house the same way you'd make a house of cards. Just with books. Books are, predictably, a lot more stable.

    This is not appropriate conduct in a library.
    It is pointedly done in view of people.
Doctor Strange      "Fear is just a consequence of desire," says Strange to the bald man. If he's talking about going to the mall, and it's not just an odd allusion to something else, then this man clearly still has that. It's not as if he's above it, personally, but it does strike him as a bit disingenuous to sell a cure for fear. The sorcerer looks over at George, who has acquired a 100 to pay for the object. His mouth opens in a silent 'oh' of sudden interest and understanding. Neat!
Priscilla     "Just one." he says to Tina, and then "That makes sense." Elsen says to Strange. "If you didn't desire to be safe, you wouldn't be afraid. I like being safe, though. Safe is good."

    When George pays up, he says "Here, I'll give you the page." but then refuses to actually touch it. He stands around and waits for George or August to remove it from his pocket themselves. When one of them finally does, he heaves a long, faltering sigh of relief, slumping as if ready to fall into bed. He then says:

    "The risk of getting a paper cut has gone . . . I'll never fear again."

    He then walks off and leaves you with a fourth textually identical playing card page. Indeed, he certainly did know how to stop being afraid, but . . .

    Well, somehow nobody has noticed the screaming man that Septette KO'd. The walls and shelves are bizarrely soundproof, but there's no way they didn't hear it. Rustling pages makes them all nervous, but it's like the terrified wailing was just . . . ordinary. Not worth enquiring about. Maybe it's the desire to keep their heads down and shut up and try not to get involved. Better him than them, and all.
Doctor Strange      "It's hard not to want that," says Strange with a rare bit of empathy and a meaningful nod towards Elsen. As he leaves, the doctor sighs through his nose. Wait a second... he did something. Oh, right. The stairwell reappears, the floor folding into itself and allowing Elsen to leave.

     "Alright..." He rubs his scarred hands together.

     Strange moves over to the passed out individual, and gives him a cursory examination. He's not sure if these guys are meant to be close to human, but he nevertheless checks for pulse, even breathing, and, if applicable, dilation of pupils. There's also a brief check for broken bones or other injuries possibly caused by his fall.

     He stays with the passed-out person until he comes to, and if necessary, channels dimensional energy through his hands to heal and mend.