[pfsb] silence in the library

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew doesn't check out the Milliways library that often, but there are a few books that a patron left downstairs, and he's volunteered to return them.

The library door's pretty thick; it's designed to be. For better soundproofing.

There's no reason he should hear anything happening inside before he opens the door.

Comments

[semicharmed]

"Make a break for it on three," Matt concurs.

He casts an uneasy glance at their winged buddies.

"One, two ... three."


And you know, karmically, they're probably owed this by now, but the door is in fact unlocked.

It also appears to lead into a closet.

[stilljustandrew]

The winged things set up a high-pitched snarl of frustrated rage, and cluster closely around the border of the shield where it intersects the doorway. It's not letting them in.

"Go, go --" Andrew waves Matt in, holding the door braced open until he's through and then tugging it closed after them both.



Iiiit's kind of dark in here now.

[semicharmed]

Matt barrels in and encounters a wall with his outstretched hand, but luckily it's just a dry, normal-feeling wall. Nothing weird, hazardous and/or eldritch about it.

"Uh," he breathes, in the dark.

"Do we ... still want the shield?"

[stilljustandrew]

"... Maybe let's see if the door can hold them?"

If Matt's shield works anything like the kind Jonathan sometimes uses, it's a massive power-sink.

[semicharmed]

"Sure." He nods.

Matt's shield is one of his most intuitively accessible spells, one he doesn't need much concentration to maintain-- but this one's been modified at least once, and he's underestimated the strain that so many teeny-tiny attacks would put on him.

He's cool for now. And for awhile yet, if need be.

But if he doesn't need to be powering this spell, he thinks he might benefit from a breather. He peers towards the door, eyes having adjusted slightly to the gloom.

[stilljustandrew]

Fumbling with the doorknob in the dimness, Andrew finds a locking mechanism and turns it to (he hopes) the locked position.

"Okay," he says, "let it go."

[semicharmed]

Matt lets out a breath, and lets the shield unravel.

The absence of the spell means a sudden absence of adrenaline, and Matt is even tireder than he realized. He leans back against the wall, a little surprised to find that he needs to steady his breathing-- maybe it wouldn't have been such a hot idea to keep that thing going for hours while their little buddies battered them.

[stilljustandrew]

There's a momentary silence from the other side of the door, and then a scrabbling flurry of noises that suggest several of the tiny monsters attempting to scratch or stab through the door.

Attempting and failing, for the moment at least.

Andrew breathes out in relief. "You okay there?"

[semicharmed]

"Oh," Matt says, "uh, yeah, I'm-- can't really see you. Is there a light in here?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Hang on --"

He digs out his phone, finds the flashlight app, flicks it on.

"That's a little better?"

[semicharmed]

Matt smiles.

"Little bit, yeah. I can grab mine, though it's gonna run out of battery sooner rather than later ..."

He riffles around in his bag, pulls out his own phone, and a few moments later a light turns on.

He murmurs, "Like me, I guess."

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew frowns at that, in sudden concern.

"Like you meaning ...?"

[semicharmed]

"Oh, it's fine," he says, sheepish.

"And if we need a shield again, I can totally do it."

[stilljustandrew]

"So you're not, like ... in danger of burning all your energy to keep the shield up and going into a coma, or anything."

Andrew does not sound convinced.

[semicharmed]

"Definitely not," Matt replies definitely.

At worst, it would be a brief faint.

Honestly, he's probably just gonna need to lie down for awhile and drink something replenish-y.

[stilljustandrew]

"... okay. Good."

His glance at Matt is still a touch worried, but he doesn't press it.

"So I guess it was probably too much to hope that this closet has a secret passage out the back or anything."

[semicharmed]

He considers, sweeping his flashlight around at the small room. Most of the shelves look pretty dusty; they all seem to hold items Matt has no idea what to do with, like spray bottles and paper towels and rubber gloves.

"Well, I haven't looked around for secret passageways yet ..."

It beats heading back out there with the tiny maybe-aliens-- or at least, the tiny maybe-aliens are a known quantity, and they know they suck.

[stilljustandrew]

He reaches up to one of the spray bottles, sniffs at it, winces at the sharp scent of cleaning solution. It would be nice if the monsters were allergic to this stuff, but it doesn't seem likely.

On the other hand, if they do find a recipe for tinkerhell repellent, the bottle itself could come in useful.

"Try knocking on the walls, you think? Or ...?"

[semicharmed]

"Knocking seems like a solid start."

Matt looks down, wondering if there's any chance he put a snack in his bag and then forgot. (Nope.)

He looks back up. And ... blinks.


"Did that wall ... always open onto a staircase?"

An oddly winding, well-lit staircase lined with bookshelves on one side.

[stilljustandrew]

"... well it does now," says Andrew, not without a definite sense of misgiving.

[semicharmed]

Matt glances his way, phone raised.

This seems like it might be a trap, he is only slightly too genre-savvy to say.

[stilljustandrew]

In a much lower voice: "Do you get the feeling we're being, I dunno ... herded?"

[semicharmed]

Matt pauses.

Sidles slightly nearer.

Quiet: "By what? The library?"

[stilljustandrew]

Fervently: "Frith, I hope so. If it's the library, there's a good chance it's trying to help us."

[semicharmed]

"I could run a scan," Matt says hesitantly. "It could tell us whether there's hostile energy here ... though Milliways in general is kind of oversaturated with energy even at the best of times."