acatalepsy_logs | Library Mingle Log

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Library Mingle Log

Who: Everyone!
Where: The Library
When: Throughout their time in Struxta
Rating: PG, will edit if this changes
What: The Circle gets together for some research on what this place is all about. Please treat this like a mingle log--feel free to put up a starter and tag around!

The Library (hopefully) promises to have the answers that the Welcome Committee and the general robot on the street don't. Characters can access the information by computer, and the Library has just about everything that's happened in Struxta.

That's thousands of years of information to wade through, so get to work!

[ooc: As it says above, please feel free to put up your own starter and tag around! Characters can have heard others chatting about the library or been told about it by the Welcome Committee or have just wandered in. If you come across anything of interest that you'd like me to edit into or link in the main post, please just let me know.]

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[Everything about this place was deeply strange, and the local Struxta version of a library is an entirely new experience for her. Despite the help from other members of the Circle, she was still not familiar with accessing information using the devices that were built so deeply into every part of the daily life of the native Struxtan people.

Rather than looking for something in particular, she's taking her time to explore. Browsing all the information available and looking for things that catch her eye, as much out of whimsy, instinct, and random chance as out of any categorical delving into the depths of the information that must exist here. She had her own thoughts about what would be useful, or what kinds of research should be done, but for now she was indulging herself.

She leans back in her chair with a sigh. The next item she selects looks like a piece of music, and she hums to herself, eyes running over the lines of text on the screen, making a guess at meter and rhyme. The descriptions were...evocative, though still undeniably alien, and she wonders how much of it is lost in translation... and how much of it is by design.]

[There was... much less wandering than Nihuang had anticipated here, unless the thing to wander was the mind. Although Aunt Jing seems to be engaged with the document on her screen, Nihuang has had a fair amount of difficulty narrowing down her... query. She peeks at her aunt again, then leans down to peer at the floating stanzas in her hands.

No wonder she was wearing such an expression. She brings up her own wrist as a test, but,]

... the translator doesn't work very well here, does it.

[She glances over at Nihuang and smiles, shaking her head.] I don't know if it's the translation or the writing itself. Or perhaps there's even more translation in these works than we're assuming to be the case.

I don't know how well the translation that Lady Astoria provides would deal with something written by a non-native in the first place, for example.

[Firo didn't expect that the information unearthed would be anything but troubling--actually, part of him is surprised that the big engine of destruction was "just" plague, if indeed they're getting the whole, true story. He expected something crueler, more personal--and, ultimately, some kind of physical enemy to beware of.

Without any of that, he's more than a little disturbed and more than a little lost as to what to actually think about it. What's their next step? Try to work on a cure in case this thing somehow comes back? Focus on other stuff that's even more confusing?

Restless and irritated, he paces the library until he comes across a familiar face. Of course he'd be glad to see a friend no matter the circumstances, but he's especially glad when he sees Jing because he assumes that she's going to be better at making sense of this all than he is.

He waves and, without any other preamble, asks:]

What do you make of that whole sickness thing?

[Since the winding shape of the past had begun making itself known through the murky depths of archived history, Nihuang's expression had become increasingly blank, her shoulders more stiff. The hospitality of the city feels like a distant thing although nothing has actually changed; its strange, fast-paced liveliness has lost some of its dazzle. She doesn't want to leave her noble aunt to wander even such a peaceful place alone, but neither can she stand to seek more answers just yet.

And so she hasn't voiced the question Firo opens with so casually. She sets aside her homework and drifts closer to hear her aunt's answer, maybe for similar reasons.]

[She frowns slightly in thought, her expression almost contemplative, her eyes glancing elsewhere from the screen.]

Illnesses as virulent as this one seems to have been seldom disappear entirely. I wonder if that is part of the reason why...

[So much of medicine was a matter of trial and error, drawing from past experience to inform future actions. She can't help admiring the almost... terrifyingly efficient way the past incarnations of the hosts had chosen to deal with the problem. If organic life was so susceptible to such frailties, then why not eliminate it altogether?

It was disappointing. It was disturbing. It spoke to so many of the inconsistencies and strangeness they had encountered during their exploration of some of the incidental functions of the society - shallowly, perhaps, but still with enough breadth to come to a conclusion - choosing to bypass problems rather than face them head on.

It made her wonder what else could be found. Would be found, if they chose to pursue this further.]

[Firo lets himself lean against one of the servers as he chews that over. He doesn't really know about the how or what, but he thinks he can try to gather what the effect might be. At least for their purposes.]

...So it's still out there, waiting for a bunch of people like us to show up?

[That's fun.]

If any of us starts to show signs, maybe your power will be the solution.

[That's a little optimistic. There's a speculative slant to the look Nihuang gives her aunt now.]

And if not, maybe Aunt Jing's... As long as we catch it early.

[Her own thoughts are more than a little distracted, the familiar problem of dealing with an infectious disease combined with the novelty of their very particular and strange situation, her gaze absent as she lets her gaze wander slight in response to her thoughts.]

That may be the case. We have more far more - and much more effective - resources here than at home, even if we weren't also gifted with powers from Lady Astoria. Since our hosts don't seem to be susceptible to this particular illness, and we are all familiar and able to communicate, it wouldn't be hard to prevent it from spreading by isolating -

[It dawns on her, all of a sudden, exactly what Princess Nihuang is implying, startling her out of her original trend of thought.]

I hope there will be no need to resort to something so completely untested.

[She shakes her head, as if to shift her mind back to her earlier consideration.]

I'm still not actually convinced there aren't other things our hosts may be susceptible to. Diseases as we know them may not be a consideration, but there must be downfalls to their inorganic bodies as well.

[Firo smiles thinly at the thought of his power. He'd like to think he could be useful, but with its limits... He supposes he'd have to pick favorites.

And then--untested? Firo's eyes flick from Nihuang to Jing and back again, wondering what he's missing. He makes a note of it but follows the flow of conversation away from that topic.]

They could rust, like the Tin Man in that book. ...But obviously they've gotten along fine long enough. Whatever happens, they probably don't need our help.

But we were brought here for a reason. We're here to help! [She hadn't participated in their last task and has Expectations for their roles as emissaries of the supernatural if not the outright divine. Nihuang's grip on the back of the chair tightens.]

Unless they are the ones intended to aid us in some way. Some kind of warning? If only we knew.

There are very few things that people are given the privilege of truly knowing. But gathering people of so many different background and experiences is surely a way for Lady Astoria to improve our ability to help in the places she sends us.

[A brief, self-deprecating smile.] While I think it's fair to say that the three of us may be somewhat out of our depth here, other members of the Circle are not. And there may yet still be some method for us to contribute, based on any new information that they discover.

It doesn't mean we have to help, though I guess since they put us up we're obligated to.

[His altruistic streak probably isn't nearly as big as the ones these two have.

He absently scuffs at the ground while he considers Jing's words. Maybe they can help out, though the question remains of how that will even be needed.]

I normally don't go around looking for trouble, but I kinda wish things would just hurry up and happen so we're not stuck like this.

Firo! Trouble issues from the mouth. [A man may dig his grave with his teeth. Nihuang subsides just as quickly, looking back at her incomplete homework with disapproval. What was a little while ago only a tedious task is now cast in more ominous light, and she can't help but wonder what someone more clever would make of this situation?]

It isn't that I don't agree with your feelings, [she means: sorry for scolding,] but if anything were to happen, I'm certainly not ready for it. I don't like to think about the sickness. [That's really the problem for her here. It's taken the research winds right out of her sails. To Aunt Jing,] Since the three of us are at a disadvantage, perhaps there is something more useful we could be doing to prepare for the future. Properly testing Aunt Jing's power or developing a secret code. Testing our hosts.

We can only accomplish what we are capable of completing. [She looks down at her screen, with its disappointing results shining back at her almost tauntingly, and sighs, putting things aside and sitting back in her chair.]

And no knowledge gained is ever wasted. [She says it brightly, almost as if trying to encourage herself at the same time.] I can only guess at whether my knowledge of medicine can even be relevant in a place like this, with beings of which I have no prior experience. Since Princess Nihuang has the most experience with campaigns, and Firo has some decidedly unorthodox methods of finding those portions of societies that the prevailing authority may prefer to do without, perhaps pursuing one of those lines of inquiry would be more profitable.

[There have never been words that Firo's needed to hear more than Nihuang's, but they catch him off guard nonetheless.

And Jing too! Sure, she makes it sound like a talent, but he's not sure that's a compliment.]

...I can't help but feel like you're both making fun of me now.

[But if Jing is serious about ferreting out some ne'er do wells--]

Does a place like this even have a seedy part of town to find? If everybody's supposed to be so damn happy with that Consciousness thing.

Aunt Jing would never, [Nihuang promises, straight-faced, although she really means: who would be able to tell?]

But Firo, I think you have a good point. Even though this state has experienced bitter times, as it currently is, it seems as though it is doing very well in a way flesh-people [oh my god] rarely are.

[:\] In the past, we were sent to help, but here, I wonder if perhaps we are here to learn, or to be tested.

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Library Mingle Log

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After the info dump

sorry xinyao

sorry for holding everyone up!

And so am I--I thought I had this tracked! :(

I didn't remind you because I've been super remiss anyway

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