16. Reunion
General Summary
Full Scene
What's over there?" Mirage points to the door labelled HEARTS.
"Huh? Oh. Poetry section. We're at the edge of LIES-slash-Fiction right now. It must've grown."
He pauses, cocks his head like he's thinking, and when he smiles, it's got that impish I've-thought-of-something quality.
"Actually, there's some neat stuff in there, too. Cri, you mind if we take a peek at the Astral Sea before star charts?"
Cri shakes her head.
He leads them through the HEARTS door. It leads to a relatively small room with a few chairs decently spaced for private reading. The books here are mostly small chapbooks. It's more of a nook that the corridor continues through than anything else.
They pass through another room-like area with a statue of a knight in plate mail in the centre, holding a sword and shield aloft. Cypher is notably quiet. He leads you through a few discrete and overlapping chambers, connected by short, turning bookshelf corridors.
If Mirage is watching titles, she'll see genre lines blurring and overlapping between sections. the Knight guards a room characterized by heroic fiction, typically featuring knights and dragons, damosels-in-towers optional. There's a shadowy area to one side whose titles leading in suggest horror/ghost stories, and one room with a corkboard and several selections of string and pins, seems to be dedicated to detective novels and whodunnits.
From one shelf you pass, a single sheet of paper slides loose and zips away down the corridor, in flight. Cypher does not remark on this. He glances around, seems to satisfy himself with whatever he sees or doesn't see, and continues on, but his lips are absolutely zipped.
Mirage is absolutely looking at his guy for his reaction, and if he doesn't react, then she won't worry
He definitely saw it, kind of frowned a little, watched it fly down the corridor, looked around the room, and then continued on. The three of them move in silence through the fiction section, and come at last to the Reflecting Pool.
Cypher seems to exhale relief as you step into this area. It's got a long, rectangular pool of very shallow water with a silvered bottom. There's a lectern at the centre of each long edge, and a healthy distance between the pool and the bookshelves built into the walls.
Cypher looks like he's about to say something, then he flinches. "Aw shit, hold on, forgot to grab a damn book." he starts to turn around, hesitates in the entrance, thinking.
Mirage and Cri are watching him curiously.
"Oh sorry, were you using the lec...tern." A voice from behind them at the other end of the narrow room.
At the entrance opposite them is standing an elf. She's got a stack of books under one arm and is looking at your group like she's seen a ghost, but only for a second. Then Cypher turns around and she grins ear to ear.
"Well look who decided to show his fucking face. Guess you managed not to get eaten by manticores. Too bad."
Cypher's face has a similarly cutting smile. "And you're still working here? Damn, hoped you'd have stumbled into an acid pit by now"
The elf is walking toward the group during this exchange. She puts her books down on the lectern and by the time he says this, is in polite speaking distance.
She's pretty short, and almost as pale as Cri's pinfeathers. Her hair's gathered in a thick braid that goes down her entire back. She's wearing a dress of layered dusty-purple and charcoal-grey fabrics similar to some of the Librarians you saw in the Gatehouse. It has the spiral-and-book emblem on the shoulder.
When she gets close she goes for a hug, and is kind of taken a little aback when he doesn't let it land. She recovers quickly, though.
Cypher deflects, indicating the other two.
"Siobhan, these are Mirage and Cri. Some of the people I've been travelling with. Mirage, Cri, Siobhan. Librarian proper?"
She nods, "For a couple years now, yeah. Nice to meet you both." A polite nod/shallow curtsy that Mirage can read as trained.
Mirage returns the gesture with a nod and a murmured, "Pleasure."
Cri nods as well.
"Likewise."
"Shame they didn't throw you in the Bay." Cypher remarks.
Siobhan rolls her eyes. "Ain't he just an absolute sweet?" she says to Mirage and Cri.
"The sweetest." Mirage smirks.
She grins at you, very pleased to have identified a fellow snarker. "Listen I came in here to use the lectern but that was then - it's officially my lunch break now. I want to know everything. For starters, I need all of the secret Mika tea, you know this fucker didn't even write?"
Mirage freezes for a second at that, just a half second. Her gaze is bouncing back and forth between Siobhan and Cypher.
Cypher's also taken aback, visibly startled, put off-balance.
Siobhan seems kind of confused at the reaction. "Geez, come on I'm not actually mad."
Mirage throws out a quick response, "So rude. We just got back from visiting Mossfalls, have you been? There was this awful tower there, had to take care of business."
She'll latch on to the conversation "Never been! I interned at the Dawnharbour branch in my last year, but that's about it for my globetrotting. You're just going to have to tell me all about it. But somewhere we can get into it properly. C'mon, there's a reading room through Creative Nonfiction"
Cypher is still shaken, but he seems to regain awareness of the conversation at this point. Frowns. "Creative nonfiction?"
"Oh, yeah, it's a new section showed up a few weeks ago. C'mon I'll show you, you'll love it."
She starts to lead the three of you toward the other end of the reflecting room and while Cypher's still a few steps behind she'll kind of lean in to whisper to Mirage.
"Nonfiction's a riot - it's impossible to tell a lie in there."
"Wait really? " Mirage asks, encouraging her to explain more, as much of genuine interest as of running defensive interference for the warlock.
Cri is hanging back with Cypher, having clocked that this was absolutely not a "Oh people don't usually call me that" reaction or a "shoot the guessing game's spoilt now" reaction.
Are you okay" She whispers, almost so quietly he can't hear
"I need a minute." Hes keeping it together on his face, but his hands are shaking.
She nods without answering. He's used to her quiet support. She doesn't force him to talk - ever. It's something he's always appreciated. This is another one of those moments.
A few paces ahead, Mirage and Siobhan are still chatting.
"Isn't it wild? It's like the reverse of the Aura of Fiction hanging over the rest of the section. Honestly I think this and the reading room are the only parts of LIES wher eyou can have a normal fucking conversation. Ope,"
Siobhan pauses at the exit, but I think before that she watches Mirage to see if she needs to explain any of the phenomena she's mentioned or if Mirage already knows about them
Mirage is politely nodding along, but at Siobhan's expression she'd confess, "This is my first time to the library, so if I embarass myself in there, don't hold it against me?"
She stops, delighted.
"Awwww was he giving you the tour?" She looks back over her shoulder at Cypher and Cri, kind of clocks that there's a not-fun vibe going on, has a brief look of concern/confusion, but refocuses.
"The fiction section has an aura of fiction - you can't knowingly say anything True or Factual while in this part of the library. It just won't let you. Here, let me try to say the sky's blue."
She steps backward into the halls of Fiction just outside the reflecting room.
"The sky is a brilliant shade of fuchsia today." she says, with utter confidence, then laughs. "Try it!"
"Oh! Uh, this place is AWFUL." She looks shocked, as that's clearly not what she was trying to say.
Siobhan giggles, "I had no idea," she says, which is obviously not what she meant and just makes her laugh more
Mirage is caught up in the fun of it, and laughs along with her. They continue having fun speaking in opposite-speak around a couple of turns.
At a point, the corridor widens into another nook similar to the start of the poetry section, and Siobhan kind of nudges Mirage with a wink and a nod to the two walking behind them.
"Welcome," she says, turning around to bow as she enters, "To creative nonfiction."
Cypher looks around as he wanders in, skimming titles on the shelves. "Neat. Did Memoirs move in here?"
"Some of them did. I guess the ones the Library deemed too much creative licence for the LIFE section."
While Cypher's inspecting the bookshelves, Siobhan is bouncing foot to foot glancing at Mirage like "do you wanna ask him something or do I go first this is gonna be gooooood," just full of mischief energy
I think Mirage grimaces a little and gives a small headshake. Like, "Not a great idea"
Between that and the weird reaction in the reflecting room, Siobhan frowns, not in a disapproving way but in a "there is something going on and I don't get it and that bothers me" way, and starts to say "Okay, what's going o-" and then she catches herself and is imeeeediately like "Nevermind you can tell me in the reading room because that place is better for normal conversation, come on its just through here"
Cypher's kind of suprised they didn't linger but also there's not any visible doodads or other remarkable stuff here so he just kind of shrugs and comes along.
I think on the way out he'll catch Cri's eye.
she's looking up at him openly.
Quiet, easily overshadowed by the energetic chatter up front. "I think I'll stop by home later, after all."
"You need not go alone." She replies, "You have us now." And she'll give a comforting smile.
He wasn't expecting the offer of company. The composure breaks for a second. "I'd... really fucking hate tha- oh goddamnit." (back in the fiction corridor).
He focuses. "I would. Appreciate that."
Cri just nods.
The four of them arrive in the reading room. It's a large room, spaced out with comfortable armchairs, low tables, couches, there's even a few swinging chairs. There's a sign - not one of the brass ones that seem endemic to the Library, a parchment one pasted up in a frame, reminding visitors that food and drink should not be enjoyed outside this room, and to be respectful of the books.
There is a little like, kind of cafe bar at one end? Unmanned, just portioned pastries and things near a table with carafes of coffee and tea and various mismatched mugs that mostly have puns about books, reading, and being a student on them. Everythin'gs clean and steaming hot as appropropriate
Siobhan helps herself to a coffee and a cinnamon bun. Cypher shakes his head at her.
"Its a wonder you've not been spirited away to the winter court yet."
"It's not fey, you superstitious goon." she rolls her eyes. Then, to Mirage and Cri. "Really, it's safe. Help yourselves if you're hungry."
"I do appreciate your understanding that I am far too cool for the summer court, though."
And she plops down in an overstuffed armchair near a table with an appropriate amount of other seats.
Mirage would head over to grab a cup of something warm, and then snuggle into a big chair, but she's quiet, looking at the two of them, trying to gauge Cypher's expression.
He's trying to be relaxed but he looks exhausted instead
Cri is just...being near him. Like you know that pet that just will be social with you but not like, on top of you? Or demanding attention? She's just, quietly there. Stalwart, as always.
Siobhan clocks the quiet vibe and kind of watches you all over her coffee mug.
After a minute, she says "listen, if I said something offensive at some point somebody's gotta tell me what it was - like am I in the way right now?" it's equal parts confusion and concern.
"You're not in the way, Siobhan." Mirage would jump in to assure her "Been a rough few months for us, to be honest."
Cypher will nod, backing her up. "It's good to see you, genuinely. There's just been... a lot going on. It's hard to know where to start."
She nods, but I think she clocks that whatever the 'a lot' is, she lacks the privileges to hear it. This seems to set her back a little.
"Can I ask how you two know Mika?" she'll ask, settling back in her chair and speaking a little quieter than before.
"We met around a year ago, I think. Wait has it actually been a whole year? Wow, wild. Joined the same adventuring party. We've been all over the place, causing trouble, cleaning up trouble. Cri here is the wisest of us and has druidic magic. I...acquire things." She hesitates, smiling.
"OH damn, like actual adventures and shit? No kidding! What's the coolest thing you've 'acquired'?" She is enraptured, absolute star-eyes.
Mirage absolutely takes this moment to launch into a very colorful tale of this very dangerous magical item she procured for the party, only to discover it was cursed (I feel like Cypher was like WHAT THE FUCK MIRAGE, PUT IT BACK!?)
She is absolutely entranced by this story, can't stop with the "No way!" "And then what?" "<gasp> you didn't-!"
It's a fun story, even Cypher in his current state of reeling gets a chuckle out of it.
I think when she really gets going, she sort of hovers above the chair, floating.
Siobhan's eyes widen when she notices. She thinks this is cool as hell but doesn't know if its rude to ask about your racial abilities
Mirage notices the direction of Siobhan's gaze and looks a little sheepish, dropping back down into the chair.
"Oh geez, was I staring? Sorry. I never met someone who can float before"
she's kind of cringing at herself a little
"Oh no, it's okay! I'm sorry, I got wrapped up in the story." Mirage would mention her Mom, why she floats sometimes, answer Siobhan's questions. just a family thing
Cypher has, snarking, suggested tying a string to her ankle and just toting her around like a kite before. Mirage shoots him a look at this, trying to lighten the air a bit.
"That's so cool. I bet it comes in mad handy with the whole" hand gestures "sneaky thing"
"Oh my gosh SO handy!"
Cypher's jumpscare-traumatized-'you-have-no-idea' look
Mirage could talk all day, she launches into another story. The goal of striking up this conversation was to give Cypher a minute to breathe but she's just genuinely enjoying talking to Siobhan, who seems like a willing audience.
As she listens, Siobhan's eyes drift back to Cypher, clocking the way watching Mirage in full storyteller mode is easing the weights off his shoulders, focusing him, stilling the fidgets.
Unfortunately for him, Siobhan is DELIGHTED and not interested in hiding it because letting him realize that she noticed is SO much more fun than tact.
I think at a break, she'll steer the conversation back to the party's presence in town.
"So are you like, back, back? Or just passing through? You going to be in town tomorrow? I'm off work, we should get drinks, I can meet the rest of your party, I know that paladin of yours and I will get along I've got the absolute dankest hookups this side of the canal"
Cypher shakes his head when she asks if he's "back, back" but seems thoughtful about how long they're in town. "I guess it depends how soon we can get a ride on a ship in the right direction" he says. "Sooner, rather than later, though."
"Okay, but if you guys are still in town tomorrow, drinks? The Naiad? I'm buying."
Mirage turns to Cypher and puts her hands together like she's praying, pleading, big puppy dog eyes on full display. She holds a finger out like, "One drink"
He gives her a "Dude, you know this house is dry" kind of look but under sustaind puppydog pressure he will make an evasive concession of "Yeah all right. If we're in town we can meet you there."
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Siobhan." Mirage states. "I'm looking forward to hearing all of YOUR tea, too."
"Oh honey, why wait? You've given me so much. I never thought this nerd would catch a ride with such actual badasses. No wonder he hasn't been home" She grins, taking a literal sip off her coffee while the blood drains from Cypher's face. "Ask me anything"
Mirage hesitates, curious, but she can't do this in front of him, as tempting as it is.
"Here's what I want. Newest friend Siobhan and heroic Librarian, we're going to finish our tea and then go nose around the Astronomy section. Cri's a brilliant astronomer, you know. And either this evening or tomorrow - depending on schedules and availability - we're going to meet you at the Naiad for a drink, on your oh-so-generous dime. By that point, you will have thought of several really hilarious and wonderful stories to share of our boy here, who is actually a secret badass all by himself, I'll have you know. Definitely carries the singular brain cell of this team most of the time. And then, over beverages and food, you will tell us all the sordid details of your oh-so-dramatic past with this guy (gestures to Cypher). Sound like a deal?"
She looks genuinely surprised at that last bit. She points a thumb at him, incredulous, and mouth the word 'badass??' back at you.
Mirage gives Cypher a genuine smile and nods, saying, "Boy can make moves when he wants to. You'd be surprised."
A tilted eyebrow in the warlock's direction, then she puts out a hand to clasp yours with so much enthusiasm. "Deal!"
the party finishes their tea (except Cypher who refuses to try a single morsel of the "godsdamned fey trap"), then Siobhan has to go back to work. She gives a warning that there's been a bunch of paperstorms lately, to which Cypher says that he'll keep an eye open. She gets the name of their inn because she wants to take the girls party-clothes-shopping before drinks. Then they part ways.
As you're heading out, I think he just kind of shakes his head
says something about how it's good to know some things never change
Given how much of a game Mirage has made out of the name thing he's watching her out the corner of his eye, wondering if she's going to say something.
He definitely noted that she purposefully did not use his name at all, saying things like "our guy here" "this dude" "this one over here"
if he didn't volunteer the information of his current name, she wasn't going to share it on his behalf, so he didn't have to explain anything
I think its deeply appreciated
On their way to the star charts, she'd quietly mentions, "You get to choose what people call you, always. But for what it's worth, it's a really pretty name." Genuine smile.
Cri is in earshot and hums in agreement
Slow inhale, decisionmaking face, then he cracks a smile. "Game over, I guess. Sorry."
"Fret not. I'll find new and exciting ways to get on your nerves, I promise."
He chuckles. "If it cheers you up, I do have other names"
'Oooh like Consuela? Or Eberhard? How about Roquefort, you look like a Roquefort."
He laughs, "Isn't that a fishing town??"
"I dunno, probably."
He shakes his head. "You're Oh-for-three."
"I am brilliant, and magnificent, and a badass - did you hear what Siobhan called me? Called us? BADASSES."
She throws her arm around Cri's shoulder
He rolls his eyes, "Maybe Shiv's easily impressed"
Mirage snorts"Is one of your other names Bob? I'll be so disappointed if you had Bob in your name this whole time and none of us guessed."
Cri tilts her head like she just realized something. "Do you have a family name, Cypher?"
"I am wealthy in names the lot of you are and shall likely remain clueless about. Chult kids get four. Two given names and a surname from each parent, but I only use dad's so I'm easy mode. But you couldn't even get one of them in a whole year, so y'know, good luck."
"Challenge accepted." Mirage smirks
He smiles, then pauses, then says, hesitantly, "If it's all the same to you two, though, I think I'd rather keep things as they are with the others for now. Names-wise."
"Sure thing, Juan." An honest smile, despite her joke. "Jorge? No, Enrique!"
He doesn't seem able to stop smiling as she keeps guessing.
"Cri, you gotta start helping me here. Roberto!"
Report Date
09 Mar 2025
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