strangetrip | [GP / EP] Welcome to the Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

Freedom from her bonds had given Illyana more than freedom of movement. It had returned to her the use of her magik and her ability to teleport. These abilities had, in turn, allowed her to finish making ready the library for public use. It was less about collecting books and media from around the premises (and some from Limbo, or donated collections harvested from the Otherworlds) and arranging shelving and seating, most of which had been relatively easily done. It was more a matter of laying the appropriate wards, and negotiating the finer points of the old-fashioned catalog and check-out system, which included odd donated items such as sporting equipment and electronic devices available for rental. Xavin's espresso machine counter necessitated a mini-bar refrigerator, glass-domed cake stands for assorted pastries brought in from the kitchen, and various cafe sundries.

Repurposed from what had been the 'Garden Room,' the library space with its high wooden ceilings, chandeliers, and landscape murals over busy floral carpet still looked somewhat like a touristy banquet hall, yet the area was now also highly saturated with layered magic. The hodgepodge collection of random books and so on were fiercely protected by these magics. When needed and as possible, worn volumes had been restored. The books could not be damaged nor marred from here on out, at least not by coffee spills nor page-tearing or inconsiderate attempts at margin notation. Nor would they leave the boundaries of the library area without proper dispensation, simply stopping mid-air and dropping should the attempt be made at the threshold. Ask at the Desk for Assistance With These Items, prompted the signs on several glass display cases featuring certain perhaps unsettling curiosities within - books in arcane languages, skulls from indeterminate creatures, and artifacts such as a green glowing cube suspended on a chain. At said desk, a gleaming service bell sat waiting, should the staff be needed and not clearly present.

Illyana finished affixing the large engraved plaque to the wall beside the double-doors, and then returned to attend the newly opened library with little fanfare:

Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

Established ~01.25.2018 Earthly Gregorian Calendar

Open All Hours

Volunteer Staff on Duty as Schedules Allow

Classes & Tutoring for Most Subjects Available Upon Request

Donations Encouraged

Disruptive Patrons Will Be Zealously Evicted

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Snow in general preferred it when people didn't didn't wrap things up in bullshit, regardless of how harmless the bullshit was. Smiling wasn't as harmless as people thought. "Answers?"

Despite having age and experience, Dyson wasn't always very good at the bullshit part anyway.

He sighed, devoutly hoping he wasn't about to get himself in trouble with Regina.

"Did your mom tell you about what she did for me?" He would be way less likely to encounter the angry end of a fire ball if she had. And in case his meaning wasn't clear he tapped his chest as he spoke, indicating his heart.

He was growling over something that Mama had done for him, but they were still together so it wasn't a bad thing. Or at least an obviously bad thing. But Mama hadn't told her anything... Snow's eyes narrowed. "What did she do?"

He swore under his breath, then gestured at the chair across form him.

"It's not a short story, you might want to sit." He left it up to her because he knew telling her to sit wouldn't work.

Snow's eyes narrowed even further to suspicious black slits. She approached, sat down, crossed one leg over the other. "What the hell happened?"

"Before I came here," he paused, trying to come up with a concise way to tell the story. "I gave up something precious to save a friend."

Nevermind that Bo had been considerably more than a friend then.

"Essentially, I gave her my heart, my feelings for Bo. And the Norn gave Bo my strength which allowed her to survive a fight. What it meant though was that I wasn't physically capable of loving anyone again. When I arrived here, it was with an emptiness inside me."

It had been why he'd tried to distance himself from Regina, he'd hurt Ciara by not being able to love her and he hadn't wanted to do that to another woman.

But Regina was hard to resist. Even without a heart.

"Regina, fixed it by giving me half of her heart." He looked down at the book he'd been perusing. "But where I come from, magic like that always comes with a price. Saving Bo cost me my heart. It's hard to believe it was as simple as it seemed when Regina replaced it."

Well. That said everything about why she hadn't been told before. Snow had a real and deep horror of any magic having to do with a heart. Except she couldn't quite touch that feeling right now. It was there. But it was like it was on the other side of a window. Perfectly clear, just out of reach.

"Magic's what's left over for the powerless once everyone else has eaten their fill." It had been one of the few lessons Mrs. H had left her that had not been challenged sooner or later.

Not how he would have put it, but not wholly inaccurate. He had certainly been powerless and out of options when he'd gone to the Norn.

What Regina had done was different, but he couldn't verbalize that to Snow.

"My experience with magic has me worried, waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Snow nodded. "If you were meant to survive with half a heart, you'd be born that way."

Mama.

"I survived without one at all," he pointed out. Though obviously it had been metaphorical rather than physical. "But I agree to a point."

And he worried, thus the research.

"Mama wouldn't do something that'd hurt you," Snow murmured. "But she might do something that hurts her if it means she can make up for something."

"Hurting herself hurts me." And not just because he could feel such things now.

"Mama struggles with that idea," Snow answered. She knew. She'd seen it. Because ultimately, deep down, Regina was like her. When people loved her, it was a fluke.

"I know, which is why I didn't ask her." Why he was doing research of his own. Because even if it did cause Regina pain, she would deny it and he knew that. But he needed to know.

"Wish I could help, but I don't know anything about magic," Snow murmured. "Except what my stepmother taught me. And I'd rather forget all of that."

"Take care of you mom," he'd never ask her to try magic, he didn't know much but he knew enough to know he wouldn't ask for that. "And you'll be doing more than enough."

Snow nodded her understanding and agreement. "That I can do."

"Then you're doing more than enough," he half smiled. "We can figure the rest out if something bad happens."

And he was obviously concerned, but based on his own past history.

[GP / EP] Welcome to the Madonna Inn Expanded Public Library

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