lost things always can be found

[buildstherobots]

Who: buildstherobots and the Librarian
What: Dist has been meaning to ask his boss a few questions, and it's looking like now is a pretty good time for it.
When: Midday July 31
Where: The Library
Warnings: We'll see



Dist liked working the front desk. It was monotonous, but it gave him free time to sketch out designs for things and, on less important days, actually work on projects.

Today, though, he had something more important to do. Mayfield was wavering; he'd gathered that much information. It wouldn't do to wait any longer.

It didn't take him long to track down the head librarian, and when he did, he put on his best, most normal-looking face. Well, normal as Dist can be.

"Could you help me? I've been looking for something and I can't for the life of me find it anywhere."

Comments

[mayfield_mods]

The Librarian's head jerked in his direction when he spoke, and she jumped slightly. "Oh. I, ah, yes, of course. What is it that you're looking for, dear?"

[buildstherobots]

"Just a definition. It's not in the dictionary and I thought you might know." Dist turned around a notepad he'd been holding. On the page is a word that he had been very careful to memorize, as well as a note underneath. He also held a pen in the same hand.

Ubezhishche.

Use the notepad to answer if you have to.

[mayfield_mods]

The Librarian stares at the notepad for a good long time before looking back to Dist.

"Wh... Why?"

[buildstherobots]

Dist used the notebook to answer her; he wanted to be able to answer freely, without any unwanted listeners. Could they tell what he was writing? Maybe, but it had long been believed that text was the safest communication, and he didn't want to get droned in the middle of this.

Because I think we're on the same side, and I think Mayfield is dying. A man named Grigori was executed for predicting this. I need to know as much as I can about Project Ubezhishche, and you're the only one I feel like I can even begin to trust enough to ask.

[mayfield_mods]

The Librarian was looking not at Dist, but at the notebook with several different emotions flitting across her face. Fear, suspicion, and something like nostalgia.

"N-No. That's not true. It isn't like that. He wouldn't let that happen. We-"

She swallowed, and it was only then that Dist could see the tears glimmering in the corners of her eyes. "We aren't that lucky," she whispered.

[buildstherobots]

Zemeckis?

I've been paying attention. I know it's bad out there; we've seen Westport, Maipole, all of it. But we're not going to stop trying to escape until we have a reason to stay. If Mayfield doesn't break by itself, we'll find a way to do it. Trapping people here and keeping secrets isn't the way to keep it stable.

I won't reveal where I got any information you give me. You have my word on that.

...Do any of you actually want to be here? The man we knew as Officer Grady seemed to hate it and us.

[mayfield_mods]

She shook her head in awkward jerks. "It doesn't matter if you reveal it. He can make you tell. And even if you don't, he'll... know..."

At Grady's name, however, her eyes go wide. "Evan... y-yes. He was always so very grumpy, he-" She pauses to wipe a tear from her eye. "-but he was always such a good person, I could tell. How is he doing, now? Is he happy?"

[buildstherobots]

He doesn't know we're having this conversation here, right now, and what he doesn't know won't hurt us. I can stay anonymous.

Dist sighed in exasperation a little when Olney's name came up.

He treated us prisoners terribly, no matter how good he was before the simulation. He's dead now, permanently. He shot Jane Doe - I don't know her real name - and then was found dead floating in the pool.

That would likely end the conversation and cause the woman to fall into hysterics, so he wrote another question to distract her.

What is this building even for? They have you, obviously conscious and obviously evading my questions, guarding it, while other places are manned by drones or other prisoners. There's something here, you know what it is, and I'm not leaving until I figure this out.

[mayfield_mods]

The Librarian stared at Dist's words for a solid minute without saying anything. If he were to look closely, he might see her eyelid twitch ever so slightly.

A crooked grin crossed her face, and it didn't reach her eyes. "I- I think you should leave now." One hand clenched into a fist, then unclenched, then clenched again rapidly. "It's better... it's better if you don't fight. You think it's bad, but it... it can get worse. Much worse. I don't want to remember."

[buildstherobots]

I've seen worse. This town's tricks don't scare me any more. So what is this building for?! Answer me!

[mayfield_mods]

Even for someone as loopy as the Librarian, the rage building in Dist's face wasn't hard to miss. She stepped away from him, fear in her eyes. "Nothing! It's not for anything! Leave me alone!"

[buildstherobots]

"Then why are you here?" It's hissed, but still spoken; Dist's hand was starting to get tired and his guard was starting to drop as he got angrier. Almost casually, he starts pulling on books, just about halfway out of the shelf before replacing them again. It was a long shot, but wasn't 'pull a book out of a shelf to reveal something' pretty standard?

At the same time, he holds out a typed copy of a document he'd received over a year ago. "This is happening, isn't it?"

[mayfield_mods]

The Librarian's entire body shook as she read the words on the document. "No..." she murmured. "No, this isn't true. This isn't- yes it is." The words came out of her mouth in a fierce hiss, and her eyes widened in surprise- as if the voice speaking was not her own. "It's true, it's all true, it's falling apart, it's-"

The words kept coming, but Dist could hear no more: the Librarian clamped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide with shock and horror. She sunk to the floor, rocking back and forth like a scared child as a muffled tirade streamed forth from her lips.

[buildstherobots]

Yes. This was what he'd wanted. Empathy, if Dist could muster up any, would have to come later.

Dist dropped down into a crouch, grabbing the Librarian's wrists and trying to wrench her hands away from her mouth. "Stop it; we need to hear this!"

[mayfield_mods]

NO!

The word didn't come from the Librarian's lips, and it didn't land in Dist's ears. It reverberated in his mind, a foreign thought that overwhelmed his own like a tidal wave. At the same moment Dist was blown back as if by a gust of wind, slamming into the nearest bookshelf and toppling it over. There was, for the briefest of moments, an odd look to the air in the Library- a look that anyone who had visited the carnival and seen its cracked sky would find more than a little familiar.

The Librarian herself stood, looking less like her occupation than she ever had. Blood trickled from one eye as if she had burst a blood vessel, and a look of primal fear and anger was etched on her features. The shrieked words, when they came forth, seemed to issue both from her throat and from the air around her. "I won't answer your questions and I won't fight anymore and I won't let you make me remember I don't want to remember I won't! I don't want to be hurt anymore! I don't want to wake up! You can't make me leave the Library! I won't let you!"

There was a dangerous charge in the air; the look in the Librarian's eyes was that of a wounded animal, snarling and desperate. "Get out! GET! OUT!"

[buildstherobots]

Dist was frozen in place on the floor, where he'd fallen after knocking over the bookshelf, with a look of complete shock as she screamed at him. In that brief, electric pause, he could have sworn time stopped.

And then he was getting out, using the fallen bookcase to both stand and stumble into a run from the start. He could, and would, boast all day, but by the end of it Dist the Rose was just not made of strong enough stuff to stand his ground in a situation like this. He barely stopped at the desk to grab his things and didn't look back until he was safely outside and several yards away from the building. Paper, a few of his dropped letters, trailed on the ground behind him, but he didn't bother retrieving them; he wouldn't be walking any closer towards the Library today.

[mayfield_mods]

As soon as Dist was out of sight, the Librarian retreated to her private office, shutting the door tight behind her. Anyone passing by might have heard the faint sound of a woman weeping, as if from very far away.