2023.4.22: Sir and/or Madam, this is a Library
| 04.22.23 Sir and/or Madam, this is a Library | |
|---|---|
| A test of skill for the local tricksters. | |
| IC Date | 04.22.23 |
| IC Time | Morning |
| Players | Pandora,Trey,Jack Morrison, Irsa (ST), Jackie (Post-Convo) Rhapsody (Post-Convo) |
| Location | Prospect Public Library, D-Street Branch, Harbor District ; Sept of the Enduring Spirit |
| Spheres | Garou, Bastet,Kinfolk |
Blue: Irsa/ST
Red: OOC ST Notes
Purple: Mistseekers pack link chat.
Prospect Public Library, D-Street Branch, Harbor District:
Once a shining jewel in Prospect's crown of civic works, the D-Street branch has endured much with the passage of time. As businesses left the area one by one and the area began the inevitable downward slide, the library's funding was subjected to a number of budget cuts. Now, the library's grand exterior has shifted from a brilliant white to a dingy tan, and the immaculately-kept grounds have given way to overgrowth. One of the stone lions guarding the museum's main entrance has been vandalized, and the repairs that were made to it make the statue look more like a mutant bull-dog than anything even remotely feline.
The library is divided into three sections, with the central area housing the main entrance and foyer, the help desk, reading room, and the bulk of the library's collection. The south wing contains a small coffee shop and cafe, as well as the restrooms and a secondary entrance. The north wing houses the children's collection and story time area, and the library's special collection.
It's a lovely Saturday morning, and Irsa has contacted each of you to meet her near the D-St Branch Library. It's early, not long before the library is about to open, and she's waiting for you all about a half-block down the street from the place, tucked in a stairwell nook away from the eyes of passing humans. "So, yeah, like ya'll know, I got a lotta Rage for a theurge," she says to the group. "I gotta get inside that place t' do some research, but! I'll stand out, and with this skin? For sure I'll have th' cops called on me. So, need you lot t' find a way in for me, and distract th' humans long enough for me to get inside." She eyes Trey's pants and stabs a finger at him. "You, don't go wild with those things. If shit goes sideways, y' don't want humans rememberin' the mad flash mob dance out front just before their collection got raided. Any questions?"
Pandora comes along and she hands out snacks to everyone. She looks over at the library, then back at Irsa and she leans against the wall. "No questions from me."
Trey sighs and pretends to be put-upon. "You never let me have any fun." Then he grins sunnily. "No, don't worry, I'm not going to do the dance party today, I figure we can just keep people busy with questions, or something like that." He considers this. "Pandora would probably be the best choice for finding a good way in. Mike and I... we can figure out things to do to keep people busy."
"Yes." Jack says while raising his hand, "I've got coupons for a chinese place. Can we get our eggroll on after this?" He's got the important questions, man! "Oh also, say the SWAT team shows up and we all have to flee for our lives, where's our rally point?" Asking like a gamer. He offers a nod to Trey and says, "I am not a badass with locks, but I will damned sure fail my way to eventual success if need be."
Irsa sips from her coffee flask. "Uh huh. Well, if ya don't die, I'd say egg rolls could be had. As far as th' rest..." she shrugs. "Run, and don't die. Ya'll have fun now!" she says cheerfully.
Pandora glances down the road and then at her companions and there's a nod. "Yeah, I can open whatever door." She smiles at Jack and Trey and offers an arm to each of them. "We're off to see the wizard. I'll let you know, Irsa."
Trey nods, "Egg rolls sound good. Shrimp toast, too." He looks to Jack and says, "Uh oh. I was hoping you were, because I'm not." His gaze moves to Irsa and he raises both brows. "We expecting a police raid or something?" He pauses, checks his skin color, and winces. "Let's fuckin' hope not," he mutters. He takes Pandora's arm happily, and grins. "We'll get this done."
Jack links his arms with one of Pandora's, and while he doesn't have a clue how to do the Dorothy skip, he can do a jaunty little hop walk, so there's that! "So whatter we thinkin?" Jack asks while they approach their target: The Library. "There's like side doors n' shit, right? Or maybe the front's like super dead and we can just chat up the um. Book lady." He lost the word just like he lost the ability to make solid decisions without his brother around.
"Solid," Irsa says, bumping fists with her packmate. Back she goes to sipping her coffee, making no comments on shrimp toast rewards, the big meanie.
But of course, it's not a PRP unless complications arise, and of course they happen when the group approaches the library. The main entrance and south entrance doors open, and city workers begins carrying out folding tables and chairs, shade covers, and plastic tarps. Vehicles begin to arrive, disgorging more humans carrying clothing, food items, and dozens of other items. Someone, somewhere -- probably some jerk on the city council or a wide-eyed clerk at city hall trying to breathe some life into this dinosaur of a place -- decided to hold a swap-meet outside the library.
Pandora doesn't stand out with her bright pink hair or anything, so THAT at least is a good thing. "Are they open? Are we going to have to sneak US in too?" She leads the two away from the main entrance, deciding to go in a long, swooping sort of circle so they can get a better look at the place before they head up toward the door itself.
Trey groans and says, "Well, what the actual fuck," with a sigh as punctuation. "It's a library, not Value Village." Which would be a plus for him, but he likes libraries even more than VV, and that's saying something. "Hrm. You know, this could work to our advantage," he says, thoughtfully. "If we could get a safety vest and a hard hat, we could get one of us in there moving shit around, nobody'll even question..."
"No way man, you be the construction guy, I'lll be the cop, and she can be the cowboy." Jack says, hooking a thumb at Pandora. "We go back and get Irsa, she can be the biker, got a couple more people and we can get *in*!" He may or may not be joking. While heading to the cafe entrance with the pair, he says, "They wouldn't be closed though, right? I mean... It's a library! They don't close! Probably. God when was the last time I was even in a library...?"
And now the food trucks begin to turn up. Truly, Gaia has a sense of humor this fine day. Enticing smells begin to drift across the way, summoning passing humans and potentially even Shifters to partake in the tasty goodness. Alas, the Village People weren't invited to this party. There's not even a band for entertainment, the cheapskates at city hall hired a ballon-animal making clown and a harried-looking stage magician. Pandora spots, and likely points out, a fire exit to the rear of the building, not far from a very small dock. A good dozen or more vehicles are parked here, and more workers mill around the place.
Trey is perplexed. How are there so many people working on a weekend, all at once, here in a city-run... oh, right. Time-and-a-half. Which means, he supposes, that they do things in half the time they usually do? The moment of vapor lock trying to figure out what that means make him sure there's no way to just walk in with boxes. So now what?
Jack just looks at this, this TRAVISTY. What the actual fuck, who hires balloon animal clowns and magicians! What is this, a five year old's birthday party?! He takes a deep, DEEP breath, *willing* himself to go forward, not to succumb to his urge, nay his DESTINY, to *rock* sad crowds across America for the good of all man kind. "We need to get inside quick." he tells the others with the same tone one would use when trying to alert their friends that they're being hunted by hungry raptors. "Scope that shit. Awwwwww fuck they have *corndogs*! I *love* corndogs! *Fuck!*"
More humans begin to gather outside the library, just waiting for the swapmeet to kick off. There's mostly family types and students from UC Prospect, eager to dive into the festivities and maybe find cool new stuff inside the library itself after they raid the food trucks. So many distractions! But the group is lucky: Trey spots some crates that look empty, right at the foot of the dock.
Trey says, “Oh, awesome, crates." He motions toward the crates subtly and says, "Jack, we can probably grab a couple of those, act like we're loading them inside. Hell, if we could get a dolly, we could just set Irsa up in the crates and wheel her right in like a lady in a sedan chair.”
"...Are you suggesting that we stuff Irsa in a crate and wheel her in to the library?" Jack asks, grinning. This is *so* fucking dumb and he *loves* it. Seriously, this is how you spend a Saturday. And Irsa's over there down the street just having a coffee and expecting a little head down slip in to go read a book, but NO! This is way better, and he's here for it.
Trey notes, archly, "It works when Bugs Bunny does it." A pause. "Plus... I mean, all we gotta do is look like we know what we're doing. She can direct us, no problem." He hrms and says, "Okay. Think you can scrounge up a dolly somewhere? Got one in the truck, maybe?"
Not a bad plan, but Irsa is six-five and weighs something like 240. There's not a crate out there that would hold her. There's one that could conceivably hold a much smaller person, if they smooshed themself inside. There's a resounding cheer out front, as someone barks over a bullhorn that the first monthly swap meet is officially open.
"Oh I fuckin *look* like I know what I'm doing." Jack says with a sage nod. He believes that! For his Confidence Merit tells him to. As does his Over Confident Flaw. But he does bring up the issue, "But I tell you what I'm not, is strong enough to haul that big badass lady around on a fuckin dolly. Keep that on the back burner though, if we cant find an alternative." he says, and eyeballs those corn dogs again.
Trey hrms, and looks over at the pink-haired lady, and smiles. "I think we could manage someone a little smaller and more compact, yeah?" He motions to Pandora and asks, "So, can we pick you up, stuff you into a box, and wheel you in on a dolly to find a good route?"
"Can't we just...." She pauses and looks at Trey and her brow arches a little bit. "I mean, you COULD.. but can't we just walk in? Is the library open?" SHe isn't sure what these two are planning and Gaia.... is SHE the grown up here? Oh good god.
Trey says, “Well, originally my idea was to stack a few and get Irsa inside but..." He shrugs helplessly. "I think the laws of physics make that one a nonstarter.”
Jack tries REALLY hard not to laugh, but he cant manage it. "I'm pretty sure it's open, yeah." he agrees at Pandora while they are presumably heading to and into the library, "But it'd be funny, you can not deny how funny that would be."
Pandora rolls her eyes at the boys. "Then let's just go INSIDE and we'll find a way to get her in. DO NOT let go of me. I KNOW it's all interesting, but let's get the boss lady INSIDE and then you can go play."
The adulting pays off, how weird! Not only is the library open, but a steady stream of humans begin to head into the swapmeet and the library itself. Some are workers, but most are patrons. Pandora is likely distracted by her raggie and raggie-lite wrangling, but Jack and Trey do take note that there are NO security guards in this place. And there's not a single camera in sight.
Jack lets out this HUGE sigh, going half boneless while walking and says, "GOOOOOOOD MOM! You're so LAAAAAAAAME!" If she's adulting, then he's teenagering, that's just how it works. And it DOES work because he literally is a teenager. He notices the security lack, but like it's a library, so he's not shocked or anything. "Hey did she say where in here she needs a book from? Like we hittin the Harry Potter section, or like state law reference material?"
Trey behaves. He walks in calmly, eyes in motion as he seeks security, of which there is none, and cameras, of which there are... none. Hrm! He walks casually, heading toward the stacks, and as he 'casually' walks near Pandora and Jack, he tells them what he found.
Once insider, Pandora eyes everything, but there's too much going on and her poor little Raggy Brain can't quite settle on any one thing. "I have no idea. She said she needed to get inside. As busy as it is, you'd think a hat and scarf would do the trick. Let's see if we can find something other than a fire entrance. Maybe through one of the meeting rooms or something.
Those empty security camera mounts would probably start yelling at those cheapskates at city hall, if they had voices to yell with. It's still early, and most of the humans are staying outside for the swap meet, but there's still a score of humans inside that are here for the library itself. Two librarians are sitting at the help desk, a wide counter that commands a view of the foyer and most of the open space around it. The main stacks for the collection are located here, with a second story above that's open all the way to the ceiling. There's elevators, but of course they both have 'Out of order' signs. Stairs are available though! And much healthier for you.
Jack follows, and keeps an eye out for back doors and security exits. "We came up with disguises as the first idea," he tells Pandora, but he does not elaborate on how those disguises ended up being the Value Village People. "I think we SHOULD smuggle Irsa in a crate one day though. Just, like... Somewhere. Someone'll give us shit about the customs sticker or something and anyone of us with a fedora can yell 'This belongs in a museum!'"
Trey stifles laughter; he's really trying to be serious about this. "Okay, I have an idea." He fishes in his pack and comes up with a sheet of paper and a pen, and writes, "RESERVED - BUDGET REVIEW" on the paper. "Let's grab a meeting room, reserve it with this over the little window, and then get her into it, then we can help ferry books to her."
"Fuck dude, that's a good idea!" Jack says, and offers a high five to Trey. But since Pandora-Mom insisted the kids NOT let go of her, he doesn't, and uses his far arm instead, which is gonna result in a high five right in her face!
Wide corridors lead to the north and south wings, respectively. Jack spots a door marked 'Staff Only' at the back of the main hall, in clear view of the librarians if they happen to turn around. Both are young, bored, and one is currently fiddling with a pen. They might even be jealous of the food trucks outside and cursing their schedules, who knows? They're DEFINITELY not jealous of that stupid clown, with his stupid balloon animals.
Pandora eyes Trey and shrugs. "Just as good as anything else. Let's do it." Where are the meeting rooms? Probably easy enough to find. And then she's got a high five to the face and she eyeballs Jack, then decides she can let them go after all. BUt now there are meeting rooms to be found. Librarians. "Let me go talk to them."
Jack looks left and right when left alone in his stylish flip flops, saying aloud, "I should get a library card. Books smell good, probably better for my eyes than a computer screen. And so he browses! Cause why would you not? He keeps an ear on Pandora and the Librarians though, so he can learn Stuff and Things from their interaction while honestly just kinda getting to know the person in a mundane kind of way.
Trey nods at Pandora's statement, and says, "You got it." He finds something on a bulletin board to look interested in -- there's always some things on the bulletin boards, after all. Oh joy, ladies' book club.
Pandora breaks off and heads up toward the two librarians. "Hey there. I'm Dora, I'm the temp sent to come relieve you guys so you can get some food." Just a temp. See? Totally legit.
The boys find all kinds of interesting stuff, even with their limited browsing. Jack finds a killer novel about even more killer robots that Mike would totally love, and Trey finds an intriguing magazine focusing on the display and mating behaviors of preteen human girls (Teen Magazine). Both librarians look up as Pandora speaks up. "Oh, wicked!" the young woman of the pair announces. "You're a life saver, I owe you one, Dora. Come on, Richardo, let's jet!" And just like that, BOTH humans depart the library to join in on the fun, leaving Pandora in clear command of the library field.
Trey turns, putting down the magazine, and says, "Damn, you're good." He grins with that and says, "Okay, lket's go find a back door out and get Irsa."
Jack snags a couple books, there's a whole job to do and everything, but like... Killer novel about killer robots?? Yes please! He 'rar!'s at Trey while he's checkin out some Tiger Beat magazine. "Um. Can you start me up a library card?" he asks Pandora. He doesn't know, maybe she HAS done temp librarian duty before! Either way, he takes those books with him to accompany Trey in The Great Door Hunt, with the cat's badass sign in hand. Wait, quick back track, he reaches over the counter to snag a couple pieces of tape for that sign.
Pandora winks at Trey. "I"m the best. Someone go see if there's a door back there and I'll be right here, Librarianating." Then she smiles at Jack. "Sorry. This computer's down. But if you go down to the main computer, they should be able to help you there. Just need an ID and a proof of address." She batbatbats her lashes. She can totally be a librarian.
Those librarians will be in so much trouble if they supervisor catches them outside, but too bad! Those are the breaks when sweet-talking Garou are involved. But your ST digresses, there's that amazing staff room door to check out, and whatever lies in the north wing.
Pandora is also totally sexy.
A young human comes up and asks Pandora where the restrooms are while the Star Gazer is sitting at the help desk. She's nine, she's clueless about the deception being practiced here. The staff room door is locked, alas! How will this challenge be overcome?
Pandora is looking around the desk for anything that might be helpful when the little kid comes up. "Bathrooms! Back down the hall and to the right, sweetiekins." There's probably more than one bathroom down the hall and to the right is probably accurate enough. She moves things around the desk, then if Trey comes back to her, Pandora can help with the door.
Trey does in fact come back and says, "Are there keys back there" Or can you open the door? That's one thing I haven't learned yet..." He looks decidedly sheepish at that. It's mentally added to his list.
Pandora motions to the seat. "You sit here. I'll get us in the door, okay?" And she pops up to go to open the staff door. Should be easy enough with all those budget cuts.
Trey sits down and tries to look professional, but hey, at least someone's there, right? He looks surreptitiously toward Pandora to see when she gets through. He also looks over the card blanks, but doesn't take them. He knows they need to do something special to make them work; he vaguely remembers from when he got his.
Damn the local Gauntlet, anyway! This could have been super easy, but the Weaver's been one busy Triat lady today. Pandora's attempt to open the door fails, but Jack gets super lucky in the Cliath's luck department and convinces the lock it really, really wants to be a cool bro and open up. The staff room door swings open, revealing... well, a staff room, actually. Anything else would be super weird. This model is fairly large. The front room consists of a break room, with several lockers along one wall. A single office is in the back for the head librarian, one Agnes Daylight. She looks like a nice lady, there's a picture of her on the desk showing a round, elderly woman smiling at the camera while she holds up a chill looking tabby cat. No other exits, alas, but you do find a staff jacket that one of the younger librarians left slung over the back of a chair.
Jack just stands there staring at the door like he doesn't understand why it would be so hell bent on stopping their progress. Why, door, what did we ever do to you? And then Pandora appears and *she* jiggles the knob too, and it's just... just *dooring* at them. He hasn't tried yet, so he does, TOTALLY sure of his success in the matter, and wonder of wonders when he does poke the door knob with his gnosis, it ACTUALLY WORKS! and he opens the door. "Oh. My. God." That's literally the first time that's ever worked.
Trey does the best search he can, as quickly as he can. The lockbox draws his attention, but with no key, he shakes his head and says, "Only if we come up empty otherwise." And there's no door out from here, which makes him frown, and say, "We are gonna have to use the other doors, somewhere else..." as he looks to the others.
"What a *weird* fuckin Ragabash test, I love it." Jack comments while having a look around. He's not gonna rifle through people's stuff or anything, just eyeballing to see if there's anything useful. He snags up Richardo's pass card. In his head he hears, a little Ding! alerting him that he has picked up Blue Key. He can now advance to the next map and Level Up! YEAH! "I'm'a go look down that one hall, cause girly ain't squeezin through there." he tells Trey as he points at the narrow window, in case the dude (or dudette) wants to go with. He can *see* it in his head, the grunting and straining, the fall from the top of the wall, knocking the chair over and causing a huge ruckus. Nope, that's not gonna work!
Trey looks over and says, "Good find, man," offering a chuckle and saying, "Let's see if -- yeah, that would be a good plan. I could grab that jacket but..." He shakes his head. "I'll stand out enough that they'd know I'm not gonna fit in. Let's go find a door." He leaves the lockbox where it is, figuring they have what they need.
Staff room plundered, our heroes pack up their hard-won loot and roll on to the next section of the library dungeon. Behold, the north wing, where a good dozen children are seated in the Story Time section, enthralled by a volunteer reading 'Stella Luna'. She's very good: she does all the voices of the bats and even flaps out the poses they make in the book. No one there is playing any attention at all to the Shifters, so they can slip past with ease. All the books in this area are children's books, but there is one exception. At the back of the room, behind several thick panes of security glass, lies the Special Collection. Another help desk guards the entrance, with a single librarian working here: Agnes Daylight herself.
"I am not having the best fun on the planet," Pandora grumbles. Maybe because she's completely failing at bashing raggies. But she follows the boys anyway! No sour grapes, just .. damn this isn't going her way today.
Trey looks at the other two and then back toward the Special Collection. "This could be... a problem. I mean, I could likely talk my way in, but that's where Irsa needs to go, I think." A pause. "Jack, how do you feel about doing it and texting us what you find?"
Jack, by contrast to Pandora, seems totally optimistic and upbeat about the whole thing. I mean, *sure*, they have thus far failed to find the perfect way to get a gigantic ragey lady into the library that does *not* include simply walking in because it's a fuckin public library, but he's here, he's learning, excercising his gaian muscles and stuff, and he just *knows* they're gonna find the money shot around here somewhere! "Nope, nope, we want south wing, this is the wrong way." Optimistic yes, but buncha kids and a librarian at a locked book prison? "That's definitely not the money shot." He tells his compadres, "Hey, we got this, we're totally not gonna fail this test! We're doing great, and we're totally gonna crush this!"
Trey says, “I have an idea." He looks between the other two. "First we convince one of the kids in the children's library to play with the fire door so they ignore it after the third time or so. Then one of us, meaning probably me or Jack, goes up to Miz Daylight here and tells her the front desks are empty. Unoccupied, rather. Open fire door plus unoccupied desk here equals Irsa gets in with the help of a talen. Then we just make sure she's out of sight inside that room when Agnes comes back to her desk. Getting her out should be easier, we'll just figure out the reverse ploy.”
"I could ask the door nicely not to be loud?" Jack offers, and he's confident but not SUPER confident? He's never highjacked a fire alarm door before!
Trey grins back at Pandora, and then fishes in his pocket for a small vial. "Okay. Jack, go corrupt one of our youth. Pandora, you wanna run this out to Irsa, tell her the plan, and get her to where the fire exit would get her in, and I'll go talk to the lady?"
Agnes is humming to herself, with a sweet, sunny smile on her face as she crochets. She's even stockier than she is in her picture, and looks at least a decade older. She looks up when she spots the group, peering at them through thick coke-bottle glasses. Her eyes are hugely magnified behind them, bright blue eyes that radiate kindness and warmth. "Oh, hello my dears!" she pipes up in the cutest, sweetest old lady voice that ever was. "What can I do for you today?" She titters a small laugh that's fully adorable and infectious.
Trey winces and mutters, "Showtime." He steps out and looks at the lady, offering as calm a smile as he can, and approaches. "Oh, we're just looking at the books, was hoping to find some things for his brother, who's... what is he, nine? Ten?"
Jack looks at the kids over there, silently dreading the idea of getting one of them in trouble, probably steering them to a life of crime that involves a lot of doors. He then looks to the fire door itself down the short little hall, and then back towards the front desk, where people aren't that could potentially lose a job they need. Fuck you, economy! Back to Trey, the kids, the door, then to Pandora. "Hey." he says to her very quietly, "Alarm doors are shut off using a key in the handle." Nudge nudge. He finds a KFC recipt in his pocket and offers, "You could jam that in the thing so the electro magnet cant lock. once the alarm's off." She's got more spirit mojo and is probably way sneakier and can probably get it to work. If it does work? Goal accomplish, youth saved! "YEP!" he announces, trying to kep keep some attention, and being totally honest about his brother's age. "He's very in to robots."
Pandora has a ziploc bag in her pocket too. Her brow arches a little at Jack, but she nods. "Here you go, guys. Ms. Agnes can help for sure." And THEN she turns around and heads back toward the fire door with the KFC receipt too.
"Oh, of course dear! Always happy to help a nice young man." Agnes peers back and forth between Jack and Pandora, finally realizing which one Trey is talking to when Jack speaks up. "Oh, we have all kinds of books like that for a boy his age! Nine, did you say?" she asks, as she sets down her knitting. "Does he like robots that are helpful or is he more into the science of making them?" This head librarian is prepared for any subject, no lie. Except for the killer robot story possibility, but they don't carry Black Dog books in this section of the library. Pandora, who cleverly nabbed that staff jacket, makes it to the fire exit and disables the alarm with no problem. Come on, she had instructions and it's not that hard, or high school kids would never be able to ditch school.
Being a Glass Walker finally pays off with all its random modern day trivia! Assuming it works, otherwise he's going to look like an idiot! See, that's why he dresses the way he does, so the idiot thing is just expected and then the blow of a bad idea is lessened. "Um... He's more into conspiracy theories about how Big Battery is subtly altering a dystopian future's AI to use robots to like Matrix everybody into those battery pods and run superfluous machines on hugely inefficent people BTUs. You know, the kind with a protagonist that escapes, rebellions are formed, total sequil bait all over the place and the over arching question of who's in control of whom." Totally normal 9 year old stuff. "I mean, obviously I'm the one doing all the reading, but still."
Trey just gapes at Jack. "Um... I was just gonna say probably a little of everything, but... yeah, it sounds like you got it covered." He even lost Trey with that beautiful line of BS, and that's saying something. "We wouldn't be bugging you, but we didn't see anyone else up front when we checked, so... maybe they were just in the bathroom or something, I don't know. Or at the water fountain, I figure, it's gotta be thirsty work, checking out books..."
Through the link, Pandora calls to Irsa. <<Hey yo. Around to the (whichever) side. I've got a door propped open for you. C'mon.>> She waits there by the door, sliding the ziploc bag in there, folded up so that it doesn't click closed.
<Mistseekers> Irsa says, "On it, Pan. Good job."
Agnes blinks owlishly at Jack. "Goodness, he certainly is advanced for his age!" she remarks brightly, with no judgement at all. She pipes up happily, "You might direct him to the Modern Mythology section of the library, and our listing of false-flag operations worldwide. Hold on a moment, dear, and I'll get you a list!" Both Trey and Jack see a reservation book on the desk, but only Jack can read the upside down name: Joanna White. "If he doesn't have a library card, dear, they can set you up at the front desk! Those nice young people will be happy to help him." Pandora has no issues with that door, for real. There's no problem with her just chilling there, or coming back out into the main chamber if she likes.
Pandora comes away from the door so she doesn't draw attention, but with her staff jacket, she hovers in the nearest hallway so that she can deter anyone who might come this way, or tell Irsa to wait a second or whatever needs to happen
"Oh he's a genius," Jack confirms, "The other day he built a little robot out of a coke can, it's specifically designed to knock things off my desk and it does an amazing job at it. Solar powered to, and my desk is under a window, so it's just non stop success with that kid. "Yeah actually *both* of us need a card. What about you?" he asks Trey, "You should get a card! And one of those flippy FBI style badge wallets so you can be like Library Police. I'm certain it'll work on kids putting gum under tables, at least. Hey, miss, have you got some literature on like, donations, by the way?" Bullshitting and keeping Agnes busy, yes, but also he really does want a library card and some donation info, and that list on the Modern Mythology stuff cause Mike would fucking loooooove that.
Trey says, "I've actually got a card from another branch, but that should still work here, I think? I mean, as soon as I moved here... who doesn't love free books to read? I mean, sure, you have to bring them back, but it's awesome."
Pandora is just waiting for Irsa.
"He sounds very bright! What a charming little man he must be. You'll have to introduce us when you visit us next. I'll make sure to have a curated section of books, just for him!" What a nice old lady. She's happy to chat with the boys until Irsa turns up, slipping in through the fire exit door. "All clear to th' Special Collections, or do we still gotta get through that part?" she mutters to Pandora.
"Just about," Pandora says. "You're in, so let me get ahead of you. Follow my lead." She can alert Irsa over the pack link as she makes her way toward Special Collections, nice and quiet-like.
Irsa flashes a thumb up to the pack's scout and sweet-talker, perfectly content to gnaw on some fruit leather as she waits.
<Mistseekers> Irsa says, "Nice job on th' door. How're th' new fish doin' so far?"
<Mistseekers> Pandora says, "Better than I was."
<Mistseekers> Irsa says, "That shit always happens. Remember how many times I missed th' big hits with that damn desk durin' our totem quest?"
<Mistseekers> Pandora says, "I remember."
<Mistseekers> Irsa says, "Let me know where ya think they'll need trainin' and improvement. Gotta get 'em up to speed, especially that Glass Walker raggie."
<Mistseekers> Pandora says, "I will. Let's get you through this first."
<Mistseekers> Irsa says, "Solid."
It takes Jack a second to clue in on a couple things, but he leans to whisper quietly to Trey while Agnes is putting together some info, and digs out his phone to start a group chat with Trey and Pandora. "There's a reservation logged for Joanna White if girl wants in that room. Might have to sweet talk a library card without id." There's also a shit ton of emojis in that text.
It takes Jack a second to clue in on a couple things, but he digs out his phone to start a group chat with Trey and Pandora. "There's a reservation logged for Joanna White if girl wants in that room. Might have to sweet talk a library card without id." There's also a shit ton of emojis in that text.
Pandora responds back, ~~Staff jacket. We good. Thanks.~~
Trey motions toward the side of the room where Irsa is not, and asks, "So what is that poster? It's interesting looking... I always wonder where these posters and stuff come from. Do they get donated or something? I mean, how does that work? Do you only take donations during drives or are there regular ones or something?"
"Oh, it's one of my favorites. That's Mount Kilimanjaro, in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira..." Agnes is more than happy to natter along, fulfilling her function on educating young people. Irsa finishes off her snack and rolls her shoulders. "What's th' word?" she mutters to Pandora, seeing that cellphone come out. Agnes continues, "Yes, we gladly accept donations. The swap meet will be giving us a portion of their proceeds today, isn't that nice?"
Trey is perfectly content to engage her in conversation about mountains in general and Kilimanjaro in particular, noting that he was originally from near the Adirondacks, and how much he likes mountains in general, and snow, but the weather here is so nice, and it's also really nice to be near the water, and good lords, does he ever shut up?
Pandora does her best to sneak Irsa to where she needs to be.
(OOC ST Note: Pandora activates her microphone fetish here, to make the sound of a ringing telephone to distract Agnes).
"You know what they need out there," Jack insists, helpless against bringing it up, "Is a *band*. I know I know, libraries are quiet, but it's outside! Do a little mix and match educational music and just fun stuff? You'd sell a looooootta snow cones and second hand clocks!" He has fully fucked off the mission for a second while Pandora handles the sneakery and library ID and stuff, this is about getting his non existant band a gig, and they will rock the house with their non existant performance skill.
Agnes is just as talkative as Trey, and she listens even better. Which is crazy with that vibe she's giving off, but miracles happen even with human beings. Irsa eyes the things Pandora gets handed, and makes a 'gimme' motion at the staff passcard and the staff jacket. Assuming she gets them, she'll slide the jacket on, and tries to slip past the gossiping group. Tries being the key thing here. Agnes turns when she hears the scuff of Irsa's knock-off Converse and looks up at the theurge. A brief flicker of fear crosses the old woman's kindly features, but it fades away in just a moment or two. "Oh, hello dear. I'm glad you finally got here. Can you let Ms. White know that I'm sorry I couldn't keep our appoin--" her voice cuts off as the sound of a phone interrupts her. "One moment!" she says, answering the desk on her phone. Irsa heads into the Special Collections room, quickly looking through the stacks. "That's odd, no one was there," Agnes says, looking up at the group.
Trey huhs. "You know, sometimes those multiline phones have that problem. It's just weird, but they do it. All the time, honestly." He looks as innocent as he can, and just jabbers on, distractingly.
You paged (Jack, Pandora) with ‘That moment of fear from Agnes was genuine, fueled by Irsa's Rage. Her recovery is odd, though. It's like someone soothed her fears.’
"I'll tell her, yes ma'am," Pandora says, scooting through with Irsa, then shooting off a text. ~Watch the old lady. Something wasn't right~~
Jack glances at his phone and then tucks it away. "You headin' out for lunch?" he asks the lady that totally feels like his gramma, "I'll buy you a corndog if you wanna talk about some donation drives with us!" Cause they could sure as shit use that. Also he just really wants a corndog like super bad, and if she's going somewhere then it's a good way to keep an eye on her as asked! A *corn* eye.
"Oh, that's so sweet of you, dear! I'd love a corndog, I haven't had lunch today!" Agnes turns to Pandora and asks, "Can you cover the desk for me, my dear? I'll bring you back lunch, and dessert from the truck!" Agnes gathers up her things, oblivious to events in the Special Collections. Irsa finds what she's looking for, looks around for a moment, and slips back out the door and outside once Agnes is gone.
"Yes ma'am. Thank you." Pandora will cover the desk... at least until Irsa's done. She'll even be the best sit in librarian ever! EVER, you hear me? Once Irsa's done though, the place is on its own and she and Irsa can slip out the back, texting Jack and Trey once they're all clear.
Trey is shocked at how well this is going, but he's not questioning it. He stays to cover Irsa's retreat, but lets Jack go off on a nice corn dog run, lucky bastard. Now Trey wants a corn dog too.
Jack just waves Trey to come with him! Get a corn dog, help me pick and spin this beautiful yarn of bullshit that's only partially bullshit because he WILL play for a library band if he can. Confetti explides, gigantic letters pop up saying LEVEL CLEARED! Or well, it does in his head anyways.
<Mistseekers> Irsa says, "Yo, pack peeps. We're meetin' back at th' Tenement, with some Chinese grub."
<Mistseekers> Rhapsody says, "I'll be there when I can!"
<Mistseekers> Irsa says, "Solid. We'll save some grub for ya."
ST Note: We smash cut to a pack house near you, for Chinese food and convo! We return to our non-PRP formatting here.
Tenement - Common Room(#5192RA)
This area is snug and homey, the perfect place for a pack to relax and unwind. The walls have been painted a dark charcoal gray, with a white ceiling and beams framing them to make a pleasant contrast. Pale sandstone flooring compliments the color scheme, with several large colorful, striped rugs to brighten the area. Clever usage of two-foot wide walls running floor to ceiling break the room into two smaller sections. Small inset lights along the ceiling provide the bulk of the lighting.
A sturdy bench thickly padded with green cushions and backed with earth-tone pillows runs the length of the seating area. A framed section of chalkboard-paint scrawled with ever-changing chalk art decorates the wall above it. A large coffee table, an old school fabric-shade floor lamp, and a couple of wireframe pub chairs with thick cushions round out the area. The east wall is dominated by a large Smart TV and sound system.
Past this, a long wooden table flanked by thick wooden benches serves as a meeting/dining area. Framed artwork, bookshelves and collectible shelves line the walls. Far to the back of the room, a small arts and craft studio is tucked under the stairs leading up to the rooftop. A long, narrow horizontal window near the ceiling lends more light to the space. A doorway to the right of the stairs leads to a gaming room containing a pool table, a pair of dart boards, and an old Ms Pac-Man arcade game. To the left of the stairs is the doorway leading into Pandora's kitchen domain. A sign with the words, 'NO BITCHIN IN MY KITCHEN!' hangs above the entry.
Irsa meets the group back at the house, leaving Pandora to kick back when the Bone Gnawer gets up to answer the buzzer to let folks in. "Yo. Hope ya'll ain't too full, we got Chinese here, as promised. And Pandora didn't even need t' make it, on account of that'd be hella rude t' do after she was on a mission bustin' her ass."
Jackie comes in from Tenement - Courtyard. Jackie has arrived.
Trey is happy to help! He says, "Yeah, next time, I need to do a lot more pre-scoping things out..." He shakes his head and notes, "I definitely have room for Chinese. Definitely." Especially egg rolls. Someone has a real liking for egg rolls.
Jack brings the promised discount eggrolls to add to the deliciousness pile! "Fuck yeaaaaaah!" he sings, steppin in and getting down to the business of getting noodle stuffed and comfortable. "That was a crazyass test, girl!" he tells the Gnawer, and then adds, "Also the pond parts we ordered got delivered so we can start work whenever you're ready for us."
Pandora is chillin'. There's always some sort of snacky thing around here and Pandora is ALMOST (but not quite) offended when Chinese is ordered. She is the master of Asian cuisine, but that's okay. She'll pout quietly about it for a while (And eat what was brought home).
Jackie steps in from the back and waves. "Sounds like I missed some excitement?"
Irsa dips into the kitchen real fast and brings out drinks. Beer for the kick-ass crowd, especially Jackie, and water, juice and soda for everyone else. "Hell yeah," she replies to Jack. "If ya come by and I ain't around, hit up anyone in th' pack t' let ya in." She nabs a beer and a plate, and digs into the Chinese food scattered around the table. She's brought along just enough to feed the group, and no more. That way lies unwelcome leftovers, and thrown objects from Pandora's kitchen. "Yeah, Jackie. This lot did a test of cunnin' and shit. But I'll let them tell it, as th' victors here."
Trey takes a turn, digging in, a little of everything winding up on his plate, and snags a soda, atypically. "We had a trip to the library," he says, "And Jack got a corndog." He's so helpful. He grins at Jackie, though, and takes a bite from an egg roll, figuring he'll let Jack take this one.
"Irsa wanted library books and made us sneak her in to get them," Jack adds, and then points a spring roll at Trey, "And also I got a corn dog. It was a areally good corn dog. Hey what was up with that lady though? Was that you, Irsa? That like calmed her down, I mean."
"I'm now officially a temporary librarian," Pandora throws in with a chuckle, getting just an eggroll because she doesn't trust takeout asian food to be authentic. Or even tasty.
Jackie quirks an eyebrow at the piecemeal explanation. "Aren't library cards free?"
Irsa takes a sip of her beer, immediately shifting to her Neanderthal form. "Nope. Wasn't me. Why, what did ya sense there?" she asks the others, leaning back in her seat. She doesn't look alarmed. She shrugs at Jackie. "Got me, I ain't never had one."
Trey looks blankly at Jack and Irsa. "Was what Irsa?" He actually looks confused. "Oh, damn, did I miss something again?" He sighs and takes a forkful of Moo Shu pork. (OOC ST Note: 'pork' was typoed as 'porn' here. I include this so Pandora's clever OOC quip makes sense. And also to harass Trey :)
Pandora squints at Irsa and Jack and then over at Trey. "SOMETHING calmed her down. Irsa freaked her out. Something calmed her down." Pandora takes a little bite of her eggroll. There is no porn on her plate at all.
"Well, I mean, I *think* so," Jack shrugs though, not super sure. "Like she seemed freaked out for a second, but then was just totally chillaxed again. If I tell Mike about this, he'll come up with a super good argument about her being an under cover android." He does not sound like he would disbelieve these claims.
It really is good Chinese food. No way is Irsa going to piss off her resident chef with fake Chinese grub. She downs her first beer as neat as she please, and passes another to Jackie. She knows who the beer champion is here, after the pack house opening. "That was th' Curse at work when she saw me," she remarks. "And you're right, somethin' did calm her down. Did any of ya check out th' Umbra by any chance?"
Trey ohs, and says, "Maybe she's on Xanax or something?" A pause. "That's weird, though... somehow I didn't even notice that. Too busy babbling about mountains, I think, or was I onto beaches at that point? Hell, I don't know." He shakes his head and says, "No, I didn't really think to do so. I wonder if there's something there... ugh, now that's gonna drive me nuts."
"Well yeah, I mean the curse effect, totally expected. It was the rapid calm that I wasn't sure about." Jack says, then shakes his head and says, "I'm a baby Ragabash, and a homid Glass Walker, I have the lowest, crapiest stats possible for doing spirit world anythings." he says. He's not a fourth wall breaker, just a D&D player.
"Just means that we need to go back and check it out later. Not right now. Today was practically a shit show. Almost. If it wasn't for you two, we'd have failed." Again, not sour grapes. It's just true. She was rolling natural 1s.
Jackie finishes off her first beer quickly when Irsa hands her the second, suddenly having to play catch up. "So, what was the goal here? Stealing library books?"
Primal Figure rolls her eyes at Pandora. "Ya did fine. Th' goal was for th' group to succeed, wasn't an individual test of your skills. Ya'll came up with plans an' shit, and not all of 'em went awry." It's like she was there or something, but wasn't. She helps herself to some more eggrolls. "If ya were t' go back in th' Umbra and look right now, you'd see a spirit cuddled up 'round her neck. Small thing, yeah, but it's her protector and guide, and she ain't got a clue." She smirks at Jackie and reaches into her pack, flashing a quick look at a stack of books. "Oh, ya might say that."
"Naaaaah, we wouldn't have failed!" Jack assures Pandora enthusiastically, "It's not in our nature to fail, especially not at weirdly mundane problems. We did *great*! Didn't we?" he asks Irsa, but he already seems to assume she has nothing but glowing reviews.
Jackie looks over the stack, curious about what Irsa had been after. "So this was kind of like a training mission then? Otherwise, the stakes seem kind of low, you know?"
Primal Figure cracks her knuckles. "Somethin' I need to do a gift thing for Mercy," she tells Pandora. "I ain't gonna say more on it here, 'cause it's a surprise for her. I'll fill ya in over th' link. No offense," she says, reaching over to poke the Glass Walker in the room. She waggles her beer at Jackie. "Smart gear head. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. Pandora gets t' evaluate th' boys here, I get t' see 'em in action with th' spirit eye spyin'. Screw Candid Camera."
<Mistseekers> Primal Figure says, "I'm makin' a <OOC ST Note: redacted here to avoid ruining an IC surprise> for Mercy Messenger'rhya's <OOC St Note: also redacted> It ain't gonna be easy, and I need references. Not all of that's gonna be things I can ask 'bout the spirit world, without tippin' her off."
Pandora snorts at Irsa and shakes her head. "Well, if I had KNOWN I needed to watch what they were doing the whole time, I would have let Kitty Kitty take the lead much sooner instead of me fumbling around like a drunk sorority chick." She takes another egg roll and her share of things because she ALSO despises leftovers.
<Mistseekers> Pandora says, "Makes sense."
"No offense taken," Jack assures, "Cause I would hundred percent blab that shit eeeeeeverywhere I bet." He shrugs and decides, "Low stakes, yeah, but like... Some stuff is *way* harder than you'd think! Sneak someone into a place, but like in the day time, with like library guards and stuff? We got a little elaborate in spots."
<Mistseekers> Primal Figure says, "You'd be surprised where visions lead."
Jackie takes another slug of her beer. "Alright, glad to hear it worked out then. Too bad I missed getting to see the fumbling around though."
Primal Figure eyes Pandora. "I was also evaluatin' you. I know ya ain't complainin' about that, yeah? I mean, you lot kicked ass." She looks vaguely disturbed for a moment, but shakes it off. "I gotta consult with Rhapsody, for real." At Jackie's words, she shrugs. "Easy t' fix. If you wanna see it, there's a spirit that can always show ya."
Jackie nods at Irsa with a small grin. "Ok, looking forward to seeing that."
Jack stands up and does a stretch, saying, "I'm gonna go report back to Mike, make sure he knows I didn't get blown up. Pluis I totally accidentally stole a buncha library books so we need to read this shit and get it back quickly." He also SIGHS, and asks, "Will one of you take me to the DMV tomorrow?"
"Me? I ain't drivin' legal. Do I look like a Glass Walker?" Irsa replies, smirking at Jack when he departs.
