social experiment #2

[tempustemporum.livejournal.com]

Characters: Ienzo and YOU!
Setting: Floor 19, aka The Creepy Library.
Format: Either one. I'll follow you.
Summary: Ienzo rather likes this new library, save for the minor issue of HALF THE BOOKS BEING MISSING. He is not standing for this.
Warnings: None, so far.



Well, Tower, there’s a new library!

Now take a wild guess who’s the first one in it.

Yup, anyone who sets foot in the library will likely fiend Ienzo already traipsing around. Perhaps ‘traipsing’ is not the right word, though — he’s moving clearly as if he has an intent in mind, the intent being finding where all of the other books went. He doesn’t terribly care if this library is much more ominous and threatening in its ambiance, of course, though someone else might. So who knows? A small creature with a grave expression and a swooshy white coat might appear just slightly unnerving in this half-lit and half-stocked library.

Comments

[xbludjunkie.livejournal.com]

Sam had spent a lot of time in the old(?) library, and had found absolutely nothing about the history of the tower; or anything at all really. So, on some small chance that this new library did have what he was looking for, Sam decided to check it out.

And let's just say it was a bad time to find anything swooshy and white in a half-lit library. Sam had heard about a ghost being in the tower not too long ago, and so immediately the movement he caught in the corner of his eye had him on edge.

The only thing that probably saved the stranger from being attacked with a bag of salt was the fact that Sam decided to take a closer look. "Hey."

[tempustemporum.livejournal.com]

Hey Sam, welcome to the 'suddenly library illiterate' club.

And why yes, the ghosts simply love this tower now. It was terribly hard to leave the dormitory levels at night because they're always stalking around, looking for someone to feed off of. (Though he wasn't exactly inclined to leave the dorm level in the first place -- the last time he had run in with one of those things Didn't End Well. This placed the ghosts on the very, very small list of things that could seriously scare him.)

Ienzo turned around only when Sam addressed him. "...Yes, can I help you?" In case you're wondering, he's speaking in the usual deadpan and staring hard at Sam. Way to make yourself look less threatening and ghostlike, Ienzo.

[xbludjunkie.livejournal.com]

Ah yes. Those ghosts were definitely something Sam was going to look in to. For now though, Sam's focus was on figuring out what was in this new library, and how it got here in the first place.

And the deadpan and the hard stare. If Ienzo looked closely, he could probably detect some surprise, but for the most part Sam tried to look curious and interested. "Do you work here?"

[tempustemporum.livejournal.com]

Ienzo looks closely. He always looks closely.

"No," he responded. He didn't bother to ask whether this other person did -- if he needed to ask, he really didn't know. So instead he gave the stranger another question, no more expressive than the first time around. "...Who are you?"

[xbludjunkie.livejournal.com]

Feeling how observant this stranger was made Sam feel like he was being studied. Which, as expected, was unpleasant. He had to fight not to shift awkwardly and give himself away.

"Sam." He turned his eyes to the books now, almost noticing immediately that some shelves were almost completely void. How odd... but then again, this was probably one of the most tamest things Sam had every seen inside this tower if he was to be completely honest.

Unfortunately, Sam was willing to bet those that were missing were the very same books he was looking for. That was consistent to how cruel lady luck normally treated him, however.

[tempustemporum.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, Sam; you're not the first and most definitely won't be the last. Ienzo makes mental note of this man's name, as well as the color of his collar; he's been doing so for the quite a while now, in order to make a decently comprehensive list. Patterns, of course, could show up in the data, and they needed all the help they could get.

He did notice Sam glancing over at the almost vacant shelves. "...Almost the entirety of this section has been removed," he said quietly. "Bits and pieces from the neighboring sections are missing as well, and 'history' is completely empty... the books here are obviously more advanced than in the other library, but..." Once again the question popped up of why this had happened, and what it meant.

[xbludjunkie.livejournal.com]

"Of course it is," Sam couldn't stop himself from muttering in frustration. Sam had his ideas, but with no evidence to support them...? And unfortunately, it seemed question people was not an option either, because they all knew just about as much as he did; nothing.

"Our kidnapers seem to like keeping us in the dark," Sam replied. Unknowingly answering the unspoken question between them. "They can't just expect us to sit here contently without any information though."

Seriously, Sam felt like reaching inside his skull and scratching. Frankly, he would be satisfied with knowing something small at this point, because at least he would know something about what was going on.

[tempustemporum.livejournal.com]

Ienzo nodded in agreement to Sam's observation. They were keeping everyone in the dark, and they knew they were... but of course, pointing it out would result only in them saying that they gave an excuse already, thanks very much, take it or leave it. And worse still, the possibility was that they were right; the worlds could have all been destroyed, for all he knew, and this really was the only community of living beings in the universe.

"...No, they don't..." He eyed the bookshelves once again. "...but they're having us do it anyway..." It was agitating everyone, he knew, even him at times. Life without knowledge was, to him, foreign and utterly intolerable. And when so many gaps were missing in the common knowledge base, it was a wonder that anyone here even slept at night.

[xbludjunkie.livejournal.com]

Well, Sam felt the others pain. And he would be damned if he was going to accept living obliviously. What he could accept, was that he had no leads now and without any there was no use in loosing sleep over it. "They can't keep it a secret forever."