[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: Kitty & Moana

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"In the books." But of course, if she were from that distant of a past, she might not have seen a book before. She took one from the stack beside her, opened it, and pushed it across the table toward her. "In here. The marks are words. Do they have books where you're from?"

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana shook her head. "Is that what they're called? No, we don't have anything like this." She picked it up and found it folded open into many leaves, each with the odd markings on it that were in many places in the inn. "How do you hear the words?"

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"You make them inside your head." Kitty thought about this briefly and flipped a page in her notebook. On a blank page, she wrote Moana's name in block capitals.

"These symbols mean 'Moana' in the Common alphabet," she said and rotated the notebook to show the girl.

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_ellarnavigation]

The symbols meant nothing to her, but she focused on the grouping of them, committing them to memory. "Moana." Her eyes lifted back to Kitty. "Everyone here knows how to do this?"

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty tore the sheet from the notebook and on the other side wrote her own name. "These say Kitty," she said and gave the paper to Moana.

"Almost everyone." She couldn't think of anyone offhand who couldn't, except Ignis, and that was different. "In your future, we teach it to children."

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_ellarnavigation]

As before, Moana memorized the shape of the symbols. They were different than the ones that meant Moana, though Moana couldn't have said what that signified. "My grandmother would have loved this. She was our storyteller. The one who held our history. Getting the children to sit and listen was sometimes a challenge." Not for Moana. She'd always been fascinated by every one of the stories.

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"I'm sorry she isn't here to learn it. And to teach me your stories." Kitty might be a scientist, but she was also a Jew. There were more than a few reasons hers were called the People of the Book. "If you want to learn, I can help you write down your stories so they're here in this world?"

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_ellarnavigation]

Moana smiled, her eyes crinkling with warmth and pleasure at the honest sincerity in Kitty's tone. But a bit of mischief lurked there too, a secret that she had. "Well, you'd have to ask her yourself. She's in my room half the time I go in there. And in the sea when I go there. I'm sure she'd love to share all our stories, as often as you want to hear them."

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Your room ghost is your grandmother?" That surprised Kitty. She hadn't heard of any such thing. There had been whispers early on that Regina's ghost had been someone terribly upsetting to her, but she had never been stupid enough to ask.

"I would love to hear her stories." Her own grandparents had...well, there had been many complications there, including the Holocaust and the Nazis. "Would she like to help you learn to write them down?"

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_ellarnavigation]

"You'll have to ask Gramma." But Moana knew the answer. Kitty needed Gramma Tala. There was a longing in her. "I can introduce you...when you're done here."

Re: Kitty & Moana

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty smiled. "That would be great." Maybe Moana's grandmother would teach her Moana's language, too.