Interlude: The Library II
"Bong."
"Yeah, seems about right. It's great sight."
Generally speaking, it isn't possible for the Librarians to ever leave their place of work. It was simply a fact of life that most of them had accepted by now. The Library was plenty big, and Angela's domain had a lot of interesting sights.
Such as the Floor of Social Sciences. It was a truly marvelous sight.
At this moment, there were two assistant Librarians staring at the drowned city in the distance. They were sitting on the wooden platform in which they had received so many guests before- the wrecked ship of the floor of Chesed.
One of them- the one with bright red hair- stretches out her hand, touching the window of a floating wreck of a car. She sat alongside a woman with dark blue hair that flowed past her shoulders. She looked up at the car and then at her companion.
The ginger blinked, staring at her companion's eyes. It was like looking at two stars.
She then gently pushes the car away. The wrecked automobile wobbles for a bit, and then floats off into the distance, into the beyond. She then rests her head on the other librarian's shoulder.
"Bong." softly mutters that other librarian.
"...wanna go out for a swim?"
"Bongbong." says the blue-haired librarian, negatively. She is not in the mood for swimming.
Someone screams something from below.
"You girls should come down here! The water's great!"
"Nah, we're going to stay here." says the red-haired girl. "BongBong isn't in the mood."
"Really? You know what, I'm going to go there. It's no fun to go swimming alone." says the person down below. "Throw the rope!"
"Bong!"
The two girls walked to the other side of the platform, grabbing a piece of rope that was tied to its edge. Unfastening it quickly, they simply tossed the lifeline into the waters below.
Or above? Or in the distance? The behavior of the spatial coordinates of the waters in the Floor of Social Science was difficult to understand without a degree in psychology, as they did not move according to things like "flow" or "gravity" like a regular lake or ocean would. The course of these waters was highly abstract and connected directly to the collective subconscious of the minds of the Pale Librarian, the Patron Librarian, his Assistants and the Abnormalities of the floor themselves.
If one knew what to look for, a number of deeply personal things could be learned just from the course of these waters. But the field of water-based E.G.O psychology was unfortunately still in its infancy, so no one could know what exactly to look for in these waters. But rest assured, these were some great mysteries indeed.
A woman, clad in a bikini, slowly climbed her way in a very spatially disorienting way. She didn't seem to be affected much by the distortion of space.
"Ah, thanks." said Tatyana, Assistant Librarian of the Floor of Social Sciences- formerly Captain of the Welfare Team of Lobotomy Corporation. "So, how are you two lovebirds going?"
Louise, former Agent of the Control Team, and BongBong, who had been pretty much on every team before being transferred to Extraction a few weeks before the very end, blushed simultaneously.
Tatyana sat beside the couple, a wide smile in her face.
"Anyway, have you guys heard about the… incident?"
"Bong?"
"What incident, Captain?"
The brunette sighed.
"Well, remember the Turbulence Office reception we had a week ago?"
"It was probably more."
"Bong."
The three wince. That one had been painful- you know it was serious business when they had to spread it over four floors. None of the girls really had good memories of it.
"RATS, RATS, WE'RE THE RATS! WE PREY AT NIGHT, WE STALK AT NIGHT! WE'RE THE RATS!"
"How the hell is this guy this strong- gh!"
"Ha ha, puny little man!"
"Stop fucking shooting me- ow!"
"I can't hit him! He just keeps bouncing around- what E.G.O can we use right now, boss!?"
"I can bring out Harvest- hopefully it'll be enough. Isaac, suppressive fire!"
"Right on, boss!"
"Tatyana, BongBong, the Rat is the biggest threat. Focus him down before he musters another charge-"
"Taste my MUSCLES!"
"He almost punched his head off whatthefuck-"
"D-don't worry! I'm using Tanya's keypage. I- I can take it. Just keep focusing on the Rat before we get cut to pieces. Now go, go!"
"All right- team, let's go! CHARGE!"
"I'm the giant rat that makes all of the- ayo what the fuck? Gh-"
The three wake up from their sudden trip down memory lane, and shudder in unison. Weirdos. Tough-as-nails weirdos with the ability to back up their eccentricity- the worst kind of weirdo.
"So, something happened to them? The boss lady said she was going to get all their pages burned. Did something go wrong?"
"Yeah, the books disappeared after being sent here."
"Bong!?"
"Eyup, vanished into thin air. Someone stole them."
"Who would steal from the boss lady?"
"And that's not all."
The Captain of Welfare lowered her head, and started speaking in whispers.
"There's been some rumors going on. I heard from the other assistants…" Tatyana says, before hesitating.
"Come on, tell us!" demands Louise.
"Bongbong!"
"The guys in Records said their final Abnormality vanished, too. Plus a bunch of the Abnormalities in storage. And some of the guys who are applying to go to Psychology say that Angela's assembling a team to get them back."
"Wait, WhiteNight vanished?"
"Dead on. And the Dreaming Current, and Censored, and the Poor Screenwriter's Note."
"I don't remember that last one."
"Wouldn't be surprised. Was placed in storage early on. Very low energy productivity for the cost we had to pay. Killed a minimum of one agent every breach and was difficult to keep from breaching."
"What did it do?"
"Okay so. It was like a book? You had to check out what page was open to see the work type it wanted. And whenever it got pissy from people missing the right work, it'd possess the next employee, who'd choose four other employees and go on a killing spree. At the end of it all, the manager would get a bullet to finish off the possessed guy. "
"Sounds nasty, but not really different from, I dunno, The Red Shoes or the Singing Machine. Wait, BongBong, you got possessed by the Machine once, didn't you?" said Louise.
"Bong. Bongbong." said BongBong, nodding.
"Did you kill anyone in that state?"
"Bong bongbong, bongbong."
"Five guys? Damn, what EGO were you using?" asks Tatyana.
"Bong." said BongBong, mimicking eyes opening, opening her mouth and then covering her eyes with her hand.
"Eyes, mouth, blindness? Wait. You were using Twilight?"
"Bong!"
Tatyana whistled.
"That one was sweet. King of Greed's my favorite, though. Great for Alriune."
"Don't even talk about that one. What a nuisance. Got scores of people killed every time it breached- and nobody cared! Said they were "just clerks." Assholes."
"Uh. Anyway, the biggest issue with the note is that it normally didn't generate any energy."
"...what? Was it an even lamer Zayin or something?"
"No, it was WAW-classed, just really fucking shit. It only made energy when you got a work type wrong. It drained energy, even, if it got in a bad mood and no one came into the room to get possessed."
"Ouch."
"Yeah, it wasn't a surprise when the thing got canned."
Louise looked around nervously, before standing up.
"Well, I figure we should get back to the dorms now. Before the bossman comes and catches us taking a swim in his battlefield."
"Come on, Louise. Chesed is a chill guy. He's not a hardass for the rules like Malkuth was."
"I'd… I'd still rather not risk it."
"Bong, bong."
"See! Even your girlfriend agrees! You're with us now! You're a Social Sciences librarian and you still haven't gotten over it?"
"Okay, just let me-" said Louise, before the two other girls grabbed her. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"Taking you for a swim!"
"Tatyana you jerk- wait, Bong, I thought you didn't want to?"
"Bong!"
"See? She changed her mind. Now let's go!"
"Let me go you ass-" said Louise, before the curse was interrupted by the two other girls taking a leap into the waters below, dragging the redhead along.
"Say, did you three have fun?" said Chesed, Patron Librarian of Social Sciences.
The three assistants had long since gotten out of their little trip into the lake. Dressed in their very pajama-like uniforms for the Floor of Social Sciences, they were now enjoying a quite nice cup of coffee- something that their superior was always happy to provide.
"Bong!"
"Well-" said Chesed, placing the coffee powder in the filter. "-we're going to be needing your help now."
"Another reception, bossman? We're taking in the Outskirts populace now?" said Tatyana, before whispering in Louise's ear. "Told you he wasn't a hardass."
The blue-haired man sighed.
"The news of the stolen books and Abnormalities have spread around, haven't they?"
"Yeah."
"Bong."
"Well, as the books of the Turbulence Office were on our floor, I have been responsibilized for their loss~" explained the man. "So we're going to join Roland and some of his own assistants on a road trip to get them back."
Tatyana narrowed her eyes.
"Angela's boyfriend? Didn't he, like, kill us that one time?"
Social Sciences was the second floor to be called, after Tiphereth had fallen in battle against the Suffocating Haze. Though the battle was only finished by Gebura and her fearsome blade, they performed admirably, striking down the smokebeast and defeating the specter of Angelica, before Roland finished them off in his murderous rampage of revenge.
BongBong had managed to break his shoulder with a hammer, though, and she was still quite proud of that. Every time the Patron of General Works crossed paths with her, she made sure to tap the splintered part to remind him.
"He did, yes. I trust that we'll be able to work together, despite that~. Do any of you have any problems with going?"
"Bong." said BongBong, negatively.
"Nah." said Louise.
The captain let out an exhausted sigh.
"Well, we did frequently work together with Red Hood and the Queen of Hatred, even if they did the same thing. I'll go. So okay boss, where are we heading to?"
Chesed shrugs.
"I don't know, really~. Angela said she was close to finding a way to track the thieves down with the Purple Tear's abilities. We won't know until we get there~"'
"How are we getting out, though?" said Louise. "I thought we were made of Light and couldn't leave?"
"Bongbong."
"Ah, Louise, BongBong, don't worry. Angela figured out a way, involving the pages of our guests. All we are going to need is… a very small magic trick~. So I'm going to need you guys to grab the pages we need, okay? Me and Isaac are going to be making sure everything stays in order while we're out."
The aforementioned Isaac- a white-haired man in his forties- walked into the room, with two other Patron Librarians in tow.
Roland- the Black Silence, patron of General Works, and Tiphereth, patron of Natural Sciences.
The young teenager looked around the room, scrutinizing the bookshelves for any sign of disarray. The truth was- while Chesed and Roland were off, someone would have to do their jobs. Considering how the Library hadn't taken many guests since the recent… happenings with the Turbulence Office, there wasn't too much of a workload. And as such, Tiphereth and Hod had gracefully accepted to take on their tasks for a while, with Netzach being wrangled against his will into doing the same.
"It's not too much of a mess- unlike your floor, Roland." said Tiphereth. "Isaac, are you sure you don't want to go?"
"Nah." said the assistant Librarian. "I've had enough of death and battle for quite a few lifetimes. The girls can handle themselves. I'm happy just helping you organize books- it's not too different from the retirement I always wanted."
"Okay then," said Roland. "At least someone's happy here. Did you give the news to your assistants, Chesed?"
"Ah, hello, Roland." answered the blue-haired man. "I just told them. Would you like some coffee while they make preparations?"
"Wouldn't be too bad."
The three assistant librarians that would go off in this hunt stared at the man in the black suit, before nodding to each other and walking out of the room, heading out to grab their own Keypages and whatever else they'd need for the trip.
"Looks like they don't like me a lot…" muttered Roland.
"I'm surprised you don't recognize them." spoke Tiphereth. "I'm pretty sure BongBong was the one who smashed your shoulder with a smoke hammer, remember?"
"You recognize her? Weren't there, like, a lot of agents in your facility?"
"There were, but BongBong was always one to excel~ It's difficult to forget about her once you get acquainted." mentioned Chesed.
"Pretty much." finished Tiphereth, before the man behind the counter handed a cup of coffee to her and to Isaac, who looked more nervous by the second.
"My newest blend- it's a bit of an experiment, you know~"
"What, you're using us as your lab rats now, Chesed?" asked Roland.
The assistant librarian still in the room drank his entire cup in a single gulp, before, looking at the Patrons at his side.
"Uh… boss, I'm heading out to the storage. Thanks for the coffee."
"It was nothing~"
"Could you show me around, Isaac? I don't know much of this place. I'll need to, if I have to work here, right?" asked Tiphereth.
"Oh. No, no problem. Come, it's through this door."
And with that, Roland and Chesed were left alone in the room.
"So- Angela's calling?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"So, let's just wait, while my librarians get ready~. Where are yours, by the way?"
"Chiyo and Paul are already done. Just waiting in Psychology."
"We'll be taking a detour through Angela's mysterious floor? I haven't been there yet~ might be an interesting sight."
"It's very… cybernetic, actually. And old-timey, at the same time."
"I'll be seeing for myself soon~. What did you take for the trip, might I ask? Angela told me to bring my team's keypages- she would handle things like supplies~"
"The creepy death guy- you know the one with the gallery? He, and…" the Fixer pauses, before letting out a sigh. "Philip."
"Well, here is the coffee~. Why don't you take a sit before drinking?"
"Thanks, Chesed."
