15. A Trip to the Library
General Summary
Full Scene
As they descend, the stairs level off and meet a T-intersection. The facing wall is a panel of some kind of dark, smooth-polished wood. The floors are the same, smoothed to a warm glow. It's lit, as well, a warm glow that belies the place's subterranean placement.
The ceilings are apparently very high in here - twelve feet at least. The stairway down is the same height, but Mirage expected a more normal-sized doorway at the bottom.
Cypher's walking ahead, and he turns around with unabashed excitement as they reach the bottom of the stairs.
Down the hallway in both directions the walls are bookshelves, they steeple above, meeting at a peak somewhat obscured by floating dust motes. Right at the foot of the stairs, where the wood panel interrupts the shelves, are two shining brass signs fastened to the wall. One is labeled TRUTH, the other LIES. Each has an arrow pointing down the hall in its direction.
Cypher stops between them, holds up his arms to indicate the decision
"Where do you wanna go first?"
Mirage looks to Cri, who is looking up at the towering stacks. With her owlish vision, she can see they meet about fifteen feet up in a triangular joining, with books stuffed right up to the top.
"Truth, I think." Cri says.
A snap-to-fingergun point. "Excellent, my favourite."
He heads off in the indicated direction, which is to your left if you're facing the signs. The boy is vibrating with energy
Mirage is smiling in spite of herself.
As you move along the bookshelves, you can see no particular order to the volumes that fill them. You see newspapers alongside treatises on philosophy and city planning. The author's names aren't organized by any alphabet you know, nothing has a label, it's an absolute hodgepodge by all appearances. Mirage skims, looking for books on decryption, but sees none.
Pretty soon they meet a branching path. The way ahead is labelled ABOVE, the corridor branching to your right is labelled DANCE.
Cypher turns, talking over his shoulder at Cri as he does so, "I know you wanted the star charts Cri and we'll get there but first I really want-"
"What is this place" Mirage blurts.
He stops, then laughs. "I told you, its the Library. Here." He holds out a hand, not like "grabbing" but like, in a "give me yours" gesture, and for a fraction second after he's done so there's this flash of absolute panic in his face that's brushed away like blinking, and he sticks with it
Mirage slaps her hand in his pretty quick. To her, touch is instinctual.
He startles, freezes a second, then gently lets go like he's handling something made of blown glass, and guides her wrist over to a shelf to press her palm against it.
"Why are you - what are you doing? It's a shelf, Cypher"
To say he's flustered is a massive understatement but he still manages to hold up a finger ina "shh" gesture.
She shushes, but she's looking at him confused, and he knows she's probably only going to be quiet for a short time - milliseconds.
He's silent, and a smile has found its way through the fluster.
"Do you feel it?" (soft)
she's giving him a weird look now like what the fuck are you talking about.
He laughs "I'm not actually crazy, you know. Just focus. For a sec. Listen."
She humors him. Concentrates.
At first, nothing, then the tiniest of movements in the wood. Soft, rhythmic. Like a breath, or a heartbeat.
she gasps, lifting her hand.
"Like I said," Cypher smiles, "It's the Library. With a capital "L." It's a living place. These halls weren't built, they were grown. Don't ask me where the books came from because nobody brought them down here."
Mirage looks back at Cri, who has an indecipherable expression on her face.
"This PLACE is alive? What the fuck?" she doesn't look distressed just like, flabbergasted. It's not a concept she'd ever entertained.
His answering grin would look smug if he wasn't also so genuinely pleased and excited.
"Still think it's boring?"
He does the "c'mon" headjerk as he turns and starts heading down the hall labeled DANCE again.
She curiously follows after him.
Cri is just like "These two I swear to all the gods," but I think she brushes her wings against the shelves and listens really hard, in a way only she can. She gets more than just the movement, she can feel its warmth, its peace, its desire to share, to shelter, to teach. she feels kinship with this place.
"Anyway like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Cypher snarks.
Mirage sticks her tongue out at that
"Cri, there is an astronomy section, but I want to show you something else first. It might be a little presumptuous but, well I think you'll like it."
"I'm excited to see more of this place, Cypher. Lead on." She murmurs
He leads them to another intersection, three branching paths labelled HANDS, TONGUES, HEARTS
He turns down Tongues. It's opening out into a room ahead.
The girls follow, and the three of them move forward into a room. There are not many actual books here, though shelves protrude from the walls at seemingly random points.
There are seats here, with small tables, mostly arranged in twos but some with up to six. It's empty at the moment, except for your party.
On the tables are masks. Cypher walks to the nearest one and picks one up. He's facing away from them, tying it on.
"Cri, if you'd be so kind as to remind me how your name is said. Properly said."
Cri says her name, an Aaracokran cry impossible to frame with lips.
He repeats it back. It's not perfect, but it's a LOT closer than a non-beak-haver should be able to get.
He turns, cocking his head to the side. The mask is simple and wooden, and looked flat when he picked it up, but it's morphed, birdlike. "Did I get it right?"
"You did wonderfully." She smiles
He removes the mask, grinning, pleased.
"What is that?" Mirage asks
"It's a translator," he says, "Or, I guess a pronunciation aid? This is Tongues - it's the spoken-word branch of Dance, which seems to be Language in general, far as anyone can tell.
"You know how Draconic's a pain in the ass because the original speakers didn't really have lips so your face gets all tight and sore trying to do the fricatives?" He indicates the mask, "This compensates for that. It lets you explore spoken language your anatomy wasn't meant for."
Mirage grabs a mask and try to wrap her mouth around Cri's name. It doesn't bestow her with fluency in Cri's language, but she can pronounce it, it's simple repeat-and-adjust, like learning to say any foreign word.
she gets distracted playing with - throws out a few Ignean words Asmira taught her, tries to repeat a couple Infernal words she heard Cypher say, just to hear what it sounds like
Cypher's mostly watching her have fun. But while she's messing with it, he'll move to stand by Cri and offer that, even if he can't do it outside this room, he'd be honoured to learn any part of her language she cared to teach. Quiet, a private offer.
She's truly touched. Her eyes light up and I think she'd be really enthusiastic teaching him a few phrases, a few of her favorite words to say, and some she just wants to see him make the attempt
"These masks are marvellous, and you have a good ear!" She'd say warmly to him, "May I try?"
"Of course!"
She takes one of the other masks, and tries to say hello to the Library.
The Library doesn't have a spoken language in the audible sense. But it definitely has a language. Cri doesn't any sound with the mask, but it allows her to feel back in a way the Library can understand. And she feels recognized, welcomed, greeted in turn with equal parts surprise and pleasure.
Cri wants to just have a chat with the Library. It doesn't communicate in ways that directly map to these statements; it's kind of like the impressions Nimbus sends Mirage sometimes.
Who are you - it is itself. It is the Library. It is the place that holds, preserves, shares, spreads, opens, celebrates understanding.
How are you - pleased. Busy. So much to do, but no hurry to do it. Reaching itself out further; new branches, new sections, always growing.
My name is Cri - this knowledge is added to the treasure hoard, preserved, accepted with appreciation and respect. It is only called the Library.
Chatting with the Library is like someone letting you look companionably over their shoulder while they work. The library is constantly growing, shifting, connecting and disconnecting, sorting an infinite mass of knowledge in every form imaginable. Mostly books. It likes books. But there is music here too. Art, sculpture, movement.
She can also tell that this place is enormous; bigger than the city it sprawls under. It is immediately obvious that when Cypher talked about wanting to visit the Library entrance in Fort Zahria, he was referring to a different entrance to the same place.
while Cypher and Cri are doing this, if Mirage is moving around the room she can see the books on the odd shelves are translation guides, dictionaries, etc. There are two exits from this room, one unlabeled, presumably an extension of the section you're already in, the other labeled BETWEEN. no decryption or code manuals, but stuff that feels nearby the realm of it.
Mirage would point it out, "Is this where you do all your coding stuff?"
He looks up.
"Yes, I've been teleporting here every watch for the last three years." deadpan.
"No, asshat. I meant, is this where you learned to code? Or whatever it is that you do."
"'Decrypt.' Sort of?" He looks around, eyes lingering on the unlabelled exit. "There's books on encryption/decryption here, if that's what you mean. But I was into that kind of thing before I started here. I guess this place gave me my first proper methods, though. I just kind of scrambled stuff before. Spelled stuff backwards, talked without consonants, that kind of thing." He shrugs. "You ever have like, a secret language when you were a kid? Stuff like that."
She nods "Cool"
"I mean, it's no secret I think so, and um, not that I'm complaining but why the sudden interest?"
She looks away, and shrugs. "When in Elysium..."
He seems to accept this. "Anyway, Cri, you want to keep going here or head for Astronomy?"
"Oh, I was just chatting with the Library. Such an interesting soul."
His jaw drops.
"Have you two never talked? You should sometime."
When he recovers (which takes a second), he'll just whisper "well don't let me interrupt" with a kind of reverence.
"The library mentioned a section full of music, I would like to see that as well at some point."
"Oh! Yeah, 'ears,' It's pretty cool. Sound-sealed, too. Astronomy first, though? Unless it's moved again, that'll be in 'Above.'"
He starts heading back the way you came in, leading you back to the first corridor where you turned into the Dance/language section.
"Wait does that mean the section on dancing actually involves dancing?! Or like, manuals on how to dance." Mirage seems excited at the idea.
He looks over, lil half-smile. "Yes. Why?"
She'd grab both their hands and say, "Come dance with me!"
Cypher's eyes become saucers. He can't seem to speak, a red shade suffusing his cheeks.
She'd grab both their hands and say, "Come dance with me!"
"I- but-!" sputtering. He shoots Cri a "Save me!" look
Mirage speaks before she can answer it. "Come on nerds. Let's go."
He's towed towed along. Mirage can find her way back without a guide easily enough, since they passed EARS on the way to TONGUES.
"Tongues" was just an open doorway, like the corridor widened into a room. But this section has a door. It's unlocked, and makes no sound as it opens.
Inside, you see a fan-shaped room like an amphitheatre, very large, with all manner of instruments arranged around it. The shelves that crowd the walls are packed with sheet music, musical theory, even memoirs of musicians. There's a door on the opposite end labeled 'HEARTS.' It's quiet at the moment, but lacks the passivity of disuse. There's an air of expectancy, of waiting
She lets go of Cypher and Cri once it's apparent they're not going to bolt and starts looking around, trying to figure out the mechanism for starting the music. She's thinking of it in terms of a trap - what needs to be triggered here? She's unconsciously swaying, like she's so ready, eager. Waltzing by herself.
Cypher's hesitating at the entrance where she left him, torn between very pleased to see Mirage excited and having something she wants to explore here, and being utterly dismayed that of everything, it's dance. But, she's so excited, her vibrance is lighting the dimmed room and, ugh, fuck it,
what's the worst that could happen?
He heads over to a bookshelf of like, spiralbound sheet music.
"Any requests?"
"Ooooooooo something fun! You pick. No ballads, nothing dark or brooding." She gives him a teasing eyebrow raise at that.
Fun. Okay. Fun is low-pressure.
"Fine, but if I pick the tune, you pick the instrumentation."
"Deal."
He kind of flips through a bunch, then pulls out a folder, looks at it, and brings it over to the conductor's stand. Places it carefully down, then steps away.
He gestures to all the instruments that are stored along teh walls. "You can just touch the ones you want."
She runs over like a kid in a candy store. Mirage has definitely had music lessons but they were also BORRRRING she's thinking big and brassy, big band, swing, fun, jazzy. She touches trumpets, trombones, percussion, just brushing her fingers over it and skipping along
Cri is doing her listening thing again, head cocked to the side, and Cypher's suppressing a heart attack. He's thinking about how Mirage probably knows how to actually dance, like she's trained, and its not that he doesn't dance, it's more that he's self-taught; an improviser, pattern-finder. He's probably going to look like a clumsy idiot, its twisting his gut into a knot.
As Mirage activates the instruments, they kind of hover in place a second before they start playing, joining the harmony. The accoustics are. PHENOMENAL. The light brightens a little, matching the springy, toe-tap mood of the music. The style is somewhere between swing and salsa.
"ALL LIBRARIES SHOULD BE LIKE THIS" Mirage calls as she whirls toward the centre.
He laughs, it's reflexive. She's having so much fun.
Mirage outstretches her hands toward Cypher and Cri.
"Come dance with me!"
Cri chuckles, rising on silent wings to swoop circles around Mirage, riding the waves of sound, caught up in her joy.
Cypher's approach is not nearly as graceful, or as confident. He's conscious of every inch of his own skin, every movement of a step feels deliberate in the worst way.
Mirage isn't staring, she's spinning and shimmying, laughing into the orchestra, having fun. A moment later, she finds her hand clasped, and whatever she was doing is turned into a spin-out.
She follows the movement with ease, her face lights up.
"Look at you! Somebody's got moves."
An attempted smile. At the end of the spin, arm outstretched, I think the natural move is to draw her back toward him, a spin in that ends with her back to his chest, arms crossed in front, hands clasped at her shoulder and hip.
His voice comes from over her shoulder. It doesn't have the ease of someone who's feeling relaxed or confident, but he can't resist the opportunity to snark on this particular opener.
"I told you, didn't I? Just because I don't use them..."
And turn her out into a decent but too-careful-to-be-fully-fluid spin
She flushes, nods her head in a play "point taken" kind of way and look at Cri, who's also smiling.
I think with the situation framed as, 'it is fun to make you go to pieces a little bit' he can start to relax a little more. dancing sincerely with someone who's not only way better at it than him but whose opinion he values that much? STRESSFUL. Snarking at Mirage to get her all blushy? Ooh, favourite game.
When the song ends I think Mirage is out of breath, but she'd say, "Thanks for taking this detour with me, guys. We can go back to the books, if you want, I just needed to move for a bit."
"Fair." He's also a bit out of breath, but its clear despite his trepidation, he enjoyed himself too.
"A lovely arrangement," Cri pipes up, "We'll have to come back here sometime."
Report Date
02 Feb 2025
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Plots
Related Characters