Day 27: Library

[not_rly_fai]

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be.  Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information.  Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in.

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet?  They'd all been fairly close

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[mylackofeffort]

Quatre was curious about which books the library would hold, but his mind was too clouded to concentrate on reading. He wandered around the shelves for a moment, his pale hand touching some of the titles that he knew as classics. If fact, all of these books had been written hundreds and hundreds of years before he had been born, before even the Colonies had been created.

He frowned slightly. He wanted to find out what year the hospital said that it was, and more information about where they were supposed to be. He was still having trouble accepting it was an entirely different world... but the alternative could be admitting that somehow the colonies had been destroyed.

The thought was terrifying.

[roger_hug]

Bridget thought that the 'Sun Room' sounded boring and asked the woman leading him there to go to the library instead. She'd smiled and agreed and, for once, didn't ask him to give up his bear. He grinned. She was learning.

Roger hugged tightly to his chest, he looked around. Not quite as large as the library back home, but still... He was happy to be in something familiar at least. About to go wander the shelves, Bridget stopped. A flash of blond, a boy that looked his age, his height... He could only see the back of his head but....

He slowly walked over, almost hoping he was wrong, feeling bad for wishing he was right. "Brother?"

[mylackofeffort]

Quatre stiffened and turned around. He had nearly thirty sisters and he didn't know many of them personally. Each other them was stationed at different satellites. He looked at the person in front of him though and frowned.

Something didn't seem right to him. He didn't think this person was one of the women he was related to. In fact, he wasn't even sure that they were a woman at all. He wasn't going to say anything, though, in case his impression was incorrect. There was nothing to support the theory, other than a hunch. They looked completely feminine, even as their arms hugged a stuffed toy.

"Excuse me?" he asked, frowning.

[roger_hug]

Bridget's shoulder sagged, both in relief and dejection. "I'm sorry," he said, looking down with embarrassment. "You looked like my brother from behind, and I thought maybe..." His arms tightened around Roger. "I'm really sorry to bother you."

He was glad that his twin brother wasn't here, but it would have been nice to see someone familiar.

[1imited_edition]

Ah, more time amongst her lesser cousins. Reinforce was supposed to meet that interesting Nobody-person, but she left it to Larxene to find her. She wouldn't skip library-time for anything.

Last time she'd just been cavorting around the stacks, at least until she'd run into that disrespectful little girl, but that was done. Now it was time for the slower, more refined enjoyment of actually reading them.

She picked the first title to catch her eye, which was as it happened the Divine Comedy. The others needn't worry about her haphazard method of selection. She'd get to them soon enough~

[divineglutton]

The goddess hadn't spent as much time as she'd have wished with those she had already met before.

Indeed, it had been several nights since she had last seen Reinforce, and as the goddess wandered into the library, she decided to stop for the girl and make sure that everything was all right. At the least, Reinforce seemed physically well, but that wasn't the whole story- if anyone knew about how a pleasant exterior could hide a festering wound, it was Okami Amaterasu.

So she walked up to Reinforce... then paused. If she was reading, then it would be rude to interrupt, wouldn't it? Such a dilemma for the mother of all!

[1imited_edition]

Fortunately Amaterasu's magic was as distinctive as ever to Rein, and her approach registered unmistakably. Even if her vision began and ended with the words on the pages before her, there was no way she could miss or mistake it. The page atop her index finger idled mid-flip, and her eyes brightened as they rose to meet the goddess'.

It wasn't the word Rein would have chosen, but she was very much a fangirl for this one.

"Ah, Amaterasu..." She began, then paused for a second as the sudden thought intruded that she might better have waited for the other to speak before addressing her, or at least used a title or some more formal greeting or done something more than address a god (and one deserving of the title) as though she were no more than a casual acquaintance. But she already had, so there was nothing to do but continue on. At the very least she should not be staring slack-jawed at her while she tried to backpedal. "How have you been?"

Sad that it was a question that bore asking even to such a being.

[divineglutton]

Indeed, it was saddening that Amaterasu could be asked such questions; she who had fought against the source of all darkness was now only as strong as any mortal.

But despite that, Amaterasu smiled as Reinforce looked at her, relieved that the other woman had interrupted her reading and not recognizing the pause for what it really was. "I'm fine," she assured, "and I hope you are, too."

Worry was not a familiar feeling for Amaterasu, but the doubt that wanted to gnaw at the back of her mind when she spoke to Rein was close to it. She knew that there was something there, something beneath the surface... but it didn't feel like a demon. No, she had been reminded of exactly what a demon was like. Rather, joy bubbled up, and she couldn't help but clap her hands as she was reminded. "Ah, wait, I'm better than fine! I found other gods like me last night!"

[undesirableone]

Harry entered the library with a determined expression. The conversation on the bulletin board left him feeling confused but prepared. He had contacted this 'Renji' person and might be working with the man's group sometime in the future. He was still hoping all this 'night' stuff was complete rubbish, but he knew better to discount it completely. There was just one thing to do now.

If he really was written about in a book then he wanted to know what exactly people knew about him. One of the people had mentioned Cho, and just the thought that people only had to read a book to find out some of the most embarrassing moments in Harry's life mortified him.

It felt a little weird to be looking for his own name in a title of a book. He knew (thanks to Hermione) that he was in a couple of Wizarding recent history books, but he had never bothered to read them, and there was a whole chapter dedicated about him in The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore but the thought of that book made his stomach clench. This, however, this was different. He

[totallytheseme]

Normally (and it was always disconcerting when he realized that the shifts in this place were becoming normal) when he was tired during the day, Hikaru would've just chosen a couch to pass out on, but there were so many new "patients" these days that the Sun Room tended to get kind of noisy. So he opted for the second choice--the library. Libraries were quiet. Maybe he could find a remote aisle and lie down on the floor.

That seemed really appealing right now, actually. Maybe he'd to that.

The Host wasn't exactly paying attention to where he was going, and ended up bumping into a guy about his height with unruly black hair, glasses...and an extremely famous scar.

"...You've got to be kidding." First anime and video game characters (and members of the Shinsengumi), now this?!

[truthisntsimple]

[[From here]]

When Severus entered the library, he felt his stomach drop and his heart clench in both anger and fear. What in Slytherin's name was Lily's boy doing in this wretched place. He couldn't help what came next, too many years having ingrained a certain set of responses to Potter's presence.

"POTTER!" He stalked over to the boy, looming as best he could in his ridiculous uniform.

[undesirableone]

Harry turned to look at the person who had bumped into him. He opened his mouth to respond to the other teen. He was going to shrug it away and question him about the books, as there was no other reason for him to respond that way when an all too familiar voice made his freeze.

He turned to the visage of the professor that had taught him for so many years. Anger flooded him. Snape couldn't really be there. That was impossible.

"Who are you?!" he demanded, close to yelling. His hand twitched to reach his wand but it didn't move. He reminded himself that it wasn't there, but hopefully the movement would just look like he thought better of it because of the nurses around.

[usoppsenchou]

The library--it might not be the perfect place to gather information, but at least he could get a little better of an idea of what this world was like.

So immediately he started looking for pirate adventure novels, and... nothing. No The Blackhearted Pirates of Smuggler's Cove or Captain Natt and the Shadowed Sea or I Loved a Pirate Duke or anything. What kind of universe was this?! He'd gotten a few odd looks from others when he'd mentioned being a pirate, but attributed that to the reputation of the pirate. Was this world truly so devoid of pirate culture?

Now that was just unnatural and wrong. What did people do for voyeuristic pop entertainment here, then? There was a weird blend of stories... at least lots of them seemed like adventure stories.

He finally settled on Gulliver's Travels, which sounded a bit like a story from his world only peculiarly devoid of pirates, at least at the start. Well, maybe there would be some pirates later. He sat down to start reading.

Cultural studies, right.

[tsunagari]

When Sai had been pulled away from Lee this time he was more satisfied with the information he'd gotten and chose not to seek him out again. The Library was a good diversion and he found himself walking along the shelves with some actual interest. What sort of books would be kept in a place like this?

A familiar nose drew his attention away momentarily and he put on a more honest smile before making his way to the pirate's side. Things should be discussed before nightfall.

"Usopp," he addressed him without the usual honorific, as that was common among friends. "What are your plans for tonight?"

[usoppsenchou]

"Oh, Sai!" Usopp looked up from his reading, smiling back in response to Sai's expression. "I was kind of thinking of staying in my room for most of tonight, to start working with some of the supplies we gathered last night. But guess what? I found a bunch of my crewmates from back home!" Well, two might constitute a 'bunch'... it was twice as many as he'd had around before, anyhow. More than twice if they counted by mass.

"Zoro's got short green hair and is grumpy, and Sanji's got blond hair and curly eyebrows and likes girls a lot. They're both really reliable in a pinch, though, if you meet either of them." Actually, now that Usopp thought about it, he didn't know much about Sai's own teammates, the ones who couldn't recall Sai's existence. "So I think, if you tell them you're friends with me, they'd probably be willing to help you out, unless they're busy fighting." Sai had first come to Usopp and Luffy because he felt he needed allies, right? Usopp closed his book, using his thumb as a bookmark. "So, do you have

[tsunagari]

"That's good that you've found them," the ninja smiled back. In reality, it was probably best if they hadn't actually shown up there, but Usopp was too happy for him to want to mention that.

"And no. I didn't have much planned... but I need to get your supplies to you," he reminded the pirate. He still had the flour, chili powder and pans that he hadn't managed to get to Usopp's room the night before. If those were important to his friend at all he assumed he'd want them as soon as possible.

[jurisfictional]

Thursday's nurse had attempted to dissuade her from entering the library. She wouldn't give a reason as to why, exactly, but Thursday got the impression that she supposedly had - delusions of a sort about books in general. But Thursday had been especially polite and subdued (though that was more due to the sedatives than anything else) and the nurse had at last relented.

So she stepped through the door, feeling slightly apprehensive. It was a library, for GSD's sake; if this had been Goliath, there wouldn't have been anything even remotely resembling the written word within arm's reach of her. As it was, she wasn't sure whether to feel pleased or suspicious - what she'd read on the bulletin board about suppressed powers worried her. Bookjumping was a natural ability; how the hell would they have managed to restrict that?

She decided to settle for suspicion when she saw the book titles. Almost all of them were classics - was this some sort of a sick joke? Still, a little of her apprehension melted away as she pulled Alice in

[jurisfictional]

Thursday must have dozed off at some point, because it was the noise of a nearby argument that woke her some time later. She straightened, rubbed her eyes, looked up, and stared.

It was one thing to chat to Harry Potter over a bulletin board, but it was quite another to see him dressed in that ridiculous uniform, arguing loudly with - oh, GSD, was that Snape? How many of them were there?

She forced her eyes back down to the books in front of her. This was a lot more serious than she'd originally thought, and she'd originally thought it was very serious indeed. It was best if she concentrated on her own business for now - namely, trying to get out of here.

Alice in Wonderland first. If anyone could help her, Cat could. Opening the book to Alice's first encounter with him, she cleared her throat and quietly began to read aloud

[hajike_tobiume]

[from here.]

Momo entered the library, her eyes flickering over the many occupants as she passed through the shelves. She spotted Reinforce and smiled at her, but decided to leave the weaponwoman in piece with the books she seemed to be taking joy in reading. She passed another stack and stopped, her eyes widening as she saw Byakuya

[jurisfictional]

Thursday started slightly at the hand on her shoulder, then peered blearily up through her fingers at the young lady kneeling next to her. At least it wasn't a nurse - GSD knew she'd probably have gotten herself sedated again or been told off for being delusional or something.

She relaxed and managed a slightly shaky smile. "Thanks," she said faintly. "The guys on the bulletin board said something about powers being repressed. Didn't think it'd be quite this bad." She grimaced. "Guess I should've listened to them."