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

[st_opsummoningme]

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

Comments

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty's smile persisted. It felt almost like being at a school fair or something, encouraging people to learn anything that they were interested in. Which, in itself was an interesting thought. One to consider later. Right now...

"Would you want to start with a general history or is there some field you're particularly interested in?"

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

"My mother was a healer, perhaps the healing arts over the centuries." It was a connection, perhaps a continuation of her interests. Adrian would never be a healer, but it would be something his mother would have been interested in. It was a step.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty nodded and thought through that for a minute. "Okay. Well, Kashaw is from a culture that doesn't have modern medicine but does have healing magic. Pike, too. Either of them might be able to teach you about herbal healing and pre-modern medicine and talk about the magical kind.

Her mouth twisted slightly, like she was wringing the information out of herself. "Jackson's from an early modern era, so he could probably teach a history of Earth medicine to that point. And then Butters--" She pointed to the pathologist, just checking out the library. "Is a medical examiner. I think he has some experience with the supernatural and he also has a modern medical degree."

She relaxed back a little and laughed. "I haven't actually talked to any of them about teaching, but this is pretty informal. We all want useful things to do. So there's nothing stopping you from asking them yourself if you want."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

Adrian, of course, didn't know who any of the people were that Kitty spoke of, but he did put their names to memory. He glanced over to where Butters stood, "I will ask." He didn't have a problem with approaching strangers.

That thought brought up the thought of Caroline and some of the odd words that she'd used. "Is there someone I should speak to that would help me understand the modern language?" He didn't mean English, but slang.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty put her finger to her lips, hmming thoughtfully. "We could probably put together some kind of guide to common idioms, if that would help. Although you're more likely to identify the ones you need than we are. Maybe that would be better, if you undertook the project?"

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

"I could write down the words that confuse me." Adrian began, "but I would not know their definitions." He thought about some of the vocabulary he didn't understand. "I am also not sure if some of the confusion comes from trying to translate in my mind from English to Dacian." He could speak English, thanks to his father's travels, but he read in Latin much quicker.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Right, yes." Kitty nodded. She hadn't meant he should figure out the words, but that maybe he could ask. "I work in the bar at least five shifts a week. You could just come in with your list of phrases that didn't make sense and I could explain?"

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

"Thank you. I will appreciate the help in learning some of the phrases. Caroline has been kind, but there are times I do not understand what she and others are trying to say." Adrian was grateful for the help Kitty and others have given him in trying to adjust to this modern world.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty leaned closer as though to engage him in a conspiratorial whisper. "Don't tell anyone, but even I don't always understand what Caroline is saying." Which was true, but went more to the fact that sometimes Caroline used people as a sounding board for things that went in one ear and out the other than to any massive difference in their colloquialisms.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

Adrian threw back his head, his white blond hair falling back but he was careful that she didn't see his fangs still. The way she said it reminded him of how he felt about Trevor at times. "I have a ... teammate, I feel sometimes I don't understand all of what he says either."

He'd paused over the word teammate as it was both a new feeling and a new word that didn't exist in his time.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"A teammate? What do you do?" Kitty did notice the unusual pallor and the long white hair, but there were plenty of pale people around the inn. Alcuin, Fenris, Percy, Sunny, Lillith. She noted that he wasn't albino, and that was about all the thought she gave it.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

"I recently joined a Hunter and a Speaker to go against a demon." His father wasn't technically a demon but he did have a demon army. Adrian had learned that many in this time had not heard of Speakers and he was a little saddened of that fact. So, he added to his explanation, "A Speaker is what some might call Bards but they are also magical. They pass along the oral traditions and histories of the area."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Are you a Speaker?" He'd want to meet Curnen if he was. And Coby. They were the only people who sang that she knew of. No one else seemed even a little musical. But honestly a Speaker sounded more like a Rabbi than a Bard.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

"No, just a warrior." His corner of his lips curved upward, "though some thought I was a sleeping messiah. I was in a healing sleep for a year before I awoke and joined the fight."

Adrian had deliberately used the phrase healing sleep because most people assumed that he'd been recuperating through medicine rather than magic.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

In this place, Kitty assumed very little, or tried to. "I spent some time in a healing stasis myself once. Not fun." Of course, she'd been intangible at the time, but she was perfectly happy to let him take it however he wanted for now.

"If you're looking for people to train with to stay in practice, it would help to know your weapons and fighting style."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

Adrian cocked his head to the side looking at her. She wasn't a vampire, those he could sense. He wondered about her healing stasis but he didn't ask. That was her story to tell, if she so wished.

"I fight with a sword." Amusement was clear in his tone, though it probably seemed out of place until he added. "I thought my entrance into the Inn might have added to the .... gossip here." Adrian thought he had used the unfamiliar word in a correct manner. "I thought the glass doors were magical and I drew my sword to fight."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Six months ago, that would've made the rounds in less than twenty-four hours. Now, you have to be bleeding to death or be someone's mother to rate a mention," Kitty said lightly, teasing. Ordinarily, she would have heard about it though. She must've been busy with Illyana.

"What kind of sword is it? I'm trained with a katana."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

Katana didn't need translation for Adrian, that he understood. He had never seen one, but it was a weapon that his father spoke of in his journeys.

"I use a long sword." He didn't know any other word for it besides that one. "It's a family heirloom." It also allowed him to strike behind an enemy with its magical component.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

One long sword recalled another, and Kitty immediately found herself thinking of Illyana's Soulsword. There was no reason to think it had similar powers, but she couldn't help suspecting it might.

Instead of opening up a Limbo pocket of worms, Kitty nodded and said, "You'll probably be glad to have something from home after awhile. It gets to be hard not to have connections."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

Adrian had never been without the familiar so he's not sure how being in the Inn will affect him. So far, he'd been handling it all right, but he suspected it was connected to not wanting to deal with the death of his father.

"I can imagine that would become more difficult, to not have some connection to the familiar of home. I have also seen some here who have companions from their home and others that do not. I would think that it would be difficult on those that don't have that to see the reunions of others as well."

For him, it wouldn't have consequences, he didn't have anyone that he had close ties to. He was used to being on his own, though now he was truly alone, both at the Inn and in Transylvania.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Maybe a little," Kitty replied, interested that a newcomer would've thought of that. "So far, most of the time, we're all pretty happy for each other. We're a pretty close-knot community, since there are so few of us."

She shrugged a little. It sounded pretty idealistic and probably would especially for someone from a couple hundred years ago when things were a lot more volatile. "I think it helps us believe we'll see the people we love again. But it can hurt, too, I guess."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

"Being happy for others doesn't mean you don't feel the pain." Adrian said. "It raises hope, but it also has farther to fall." He looked at Kitty with a wry expression, "forgive me. It is a residual of high hopes being placed on my ability to win a battle that I might come across as quite pessimistic." Or pragmatic.

The hopes of the Speakers had been placed on the right man. Or right trio for he couldn't have defeated his father alone.

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"No apologies necessary." Kitty offered a friendly enough smile. "I've had plenty of experience with peoples' expectations. You don't seem pessimistic. Just realistic. I've been here long enough that it's a habit to make play down the hard part until people get settled."

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_paladin]

"That is a very good strategy." Adrian said thoughtfully. "It would be difficult enough to adjust to new surroundings without learning the 'hard part' of it. It could be overwhelming to some." Then curiosity overcame his politeness, "how long have you been here?"

Re: Adrian & Kitty

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"More than a year, now," Kitty answered freely. "I was one of the first to arrive. Only four preceded me." She wondered if he, like so many of the newcomers, would suggest now that he would find the way out where she had failed.