Event #2

[psltamod]

WELCOME TO THE BOOKSTORE

Once every resident of the hotel deigns to come out of their room in the morning, they will find a paper taped to the outside of their door explaining that the bookshop is now open for their perusal. Those who take the elevator to it will find ornate double doors that replace the previous glass ones, and they open to a very cozy, almost library-esque shop. Plush reading nooks, an upper balcony, a coffee bar, and walls to walls books, and a record and DVD section.

There are no visible price tags, but all texts will be automatically charged to their room, much like everything else. Everything is ordered neatly easily findable from fairy tales to physics books. Truly those who love to read are not left wanting.

But we all know it isn't that simple, don't we?

❧ At random times opening books of fairy tales, fables, and short stories (fantasy or sci-fi) will absorb the people nearby into a scene of the story itself where they will be slotted into roles with an innate understanding of how the story should go.

❧ Acting out the scene will release the people involved right back where they were. Attempts to subvert the scene will result in it resetting.

❧ Avoiding the bookstore won't necessarily avoid the magical books, as they seem to suddenly be ending up everywhere. Staff can be called to clean them up, but they never seem to stay on the shelves for long. These books also have a habit of falling open and drawing anyone nearby into their worlds regardless.

❧ If someone enters alone, they will be stuck in an uncompletable scene and forced to wait until someone else comes by and ends up in there with them. Or two people. Good thing people don't seem to get hungry in the books! Almost like they're in the same stasis as the story.

❧ No, nobody knows what's going on here. Those from the simulated city will find this familiar, but those with magic affiliation will be able to sense once they're in the story that they're in some sort of magic realm.

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Comments

[oathlantern]

It's not that, I just--[Don't get the chance to finish that sentence, because there's a shift when Flins parts open the book. Illuga feels it before he sees it, everything tilting off as a blinding light envelops them. It's pure instinct the way he reaches for Flins' hand, grip firm to prevent their separation.

His eyes are still closed for a moment as the world settles. When he opens them the first thing he looks to is Flins to ensure he's still there, his grip on his hand still tethering them.]

[glazing]

[ the world shifts, spins and settles. the only thing that flins registers as the centre of his world is illuga's hand, gripped light a little knot in his. his only regret, flins thinks, is that he has brought illuga into the unknown. but there is hardly time for regret, nor would nikita allow him to acknowledge it. flins has always known his oath.

he summons his lantern in his other hand, then peers down at illuga, slow and sure. ]

Young Master, I apologise for the sudden disturbance. It was my oversight. Are you hurt?

[oathlantern]

[There is only one problem with Flins summoning his lantern: his other hand has been taken up with an ornate, carved knife of bone. He may have to do some juggling.]

No, I'm fine. [His brain slowly catches up to the fact that he's holding Flins' hand as if the other man is going to poof out of existence and, with a start, loosens his grip.] Are you?

[glazing]

[ ... flins looks. his lantern never quite comes to hand. the ornate, carved knife sits snug in the crease of his palm as if it's meant to be there. he examines it with the first of what appears to be a frown.

illuga's hand loosens in his. it's flins' turn to grip his fingers, quiet and sure. ]

Normally I would be, but it appear that I've been made to hold this. [ he holds up the knife - up, not down, so illuga may see but not touch. instincts tell him that he cannot let this knife near illuga. ] I don't suppose you are holding the same?

[oathlantern]

[It's pretty, almost reminds Illuga of the blades the Frostmoon Scions have carved over the centuries. It even almost has a salty aroma. His brow furrows as he looks down at his free hand. There is, of course, nothing. Just a hand, lacking his usual gloves as he's dressed instead in a shirt and pants that carry all the finery and silk of royalty.

Well, of course there's nothing from a man who was retiring to his quarters. There's the story of the mermaid who had longed to become human. Who fell in love with a prince and dared to trade her beautiful voice for the chance to be with him.

It's a story that doesn't end well. She fails to win the prince's affections, and in the end must make a choice: kill him to reverse the spell and return to her tail and the waves, or dissolve into seafoam and be no more as the tether keeping her existence together fades.]

[glazing]

[ for a moment, the thread of thought catches on something flammable, a single lit wick tossed into the kerosene of the night. flins frowns again a second time. in the time of the cataclysm, many terrible voices spoke in people's heads, many creatures tore themselves out from the ribcages of the damned as catastrophe tore apart the nascent nod-krai that flins had marked out as his resting ground.

none of those voices sounded anything like this, like knowledge, cool and sure threaded into his old bones. he looks to illuga for a moment in askance, and then, dipping his head, ]

I believe we have a narrator in our midst, Young Master Illuga.

[oathlantern]

So you heard that too. [It comes out as a whisper, as it wasn't quite words so much as an understanding.] Is that... the story in the book we opened?

[glazing]

If I had to hazard a guess, we are under some sort of spell. [ says flins. he gently lowers illuga's hand, and slowly begins to let him go. ] I am not an expert on curses by any means, but an echoing voice and a blade in my hand has the sort of connotation that we must be careful of.

Have you heard of that story before? The one of the mermaid who longed to become human?

[oathlantern]

[Illuga shakes his head.] I haven't. Not before right now.

[And as the sentence catches up to him, a thought occurs. He narrows his eyes at Flins.] Do you feel any different? Physically?

[glazing]

[ how is flins to say to illuga, with his narrowed red-stained eyes, that the physical changes mean so very little to him. rather, it's the changes to the soul.

flame was never meant to thrive in the sea. flins hums. ]

I do not believe I have sprouted fins, Young Master. [ he says, kindly. ] Or would you like to check my feet for yourself?

[oathlantern]

There wouldn't be fins if the mermaid looks like a human. But I don't feel any less human than I did before, so I don't think I'm the mermaid. Wouldn't you notice if you were something you weren't before?

[Are you secretly a mermaid, Mr. Flins. He will figure this out.]

[glazing]

I will know without a shadow of a doubt. [ flins says this firmly. ] However, if this is a curse, then I would not be nearly as sensitive to it.

If you do not feel less human, then that is a boon. My worry for you, as always, is immense.

[oathlantern]

Would it kill you to take this seriously for once? [Because the other thing is that, if Flins is the mermaid...

No, he can't think like that now.] Forget it, let's just find a way out of this place.

[Which, to Illuga, means turning to march to the door.]

[glazing]

[ flins looks. and then, with a quickness borne from instinct alone, his free hand conjures up his spear. it blocks illuga's way to the door. ]

Please, Young Master. Have care. The simplest solution is often one that hides the deepest shadows.

[oathlantern]

[Illuga takes one step back and shoots Flins a look.] There isn't a lot in this room. What, do you think we should go out the window instead?

[glazing]

Perhaps. That remains to be seen. [ flins bows, just once. ] Allow me to take a look first.

[ flins' spear vanishes from his hand. it will be his hand upon the door first, to see where it leads. ]

[oathlantern]

[Illuga still hovers very close so that Flins doesn't get the idea of running through it and leaving him behind.

Not that they'll be doing any running. On the other side of the door is just the wall. Seems the only way out really is the window.]

[glazing]

[ a mere wall, flins thinks. a single flame could pass through it with ease. but flins would never allow illuga to be left behind.

he turns and nearly runs into illuga. ]

Ah. You are on my heels, Young Master, so to speak.

[oathlantern]

[Illuga is promptly met with a face full of Flins' chest. He lifts his hands up to brace himself before his face meets it instead and staggers back.] It's a small room and not a lot of space to see. Is it really just a wall?

[glazing]

So it seems. [ flins steps aside with reluctance so that illuga may see for himself. he shakes his head. ] Unless, of course, you wish for us to attempt to break through it. I see no fault with such a plan, but must caution you - sometimes, when a story goes astray, it is the actors that are punished.

[oathlantern]

But this story doesn't have a happy ending if we play along. [He turns and crosses the room to peek out the window. It's a very long fall into the churning waters below and not much else.]

[glazing]

[ flins looks, and follows. ]

Do you believe in happy endings, Young Master?

[oathlantern]

I think... we make our own endings. And if we want them to be happy, then we do what it takes to ensure it.

[glazing]

And if those actions cannot bring about a happy ending, no matter what?

[oathlantern]

We haven't even tried. [Fury boils in his chest as he looks up at Flins, expression firming into resolute stone.

The answer is obvious besides. If they can't both have a happy ending, then Illuga will give his up so Flins can live.]

[glazing]

[ flins thinks of durin and the frantic flapping of his wings. he thinks of the cataclysm and the darkness that swallowed the world whole. he thinks of his unending rest in the sea. no matter which direction one must swim, if none of it matters, then why not drown?

illuga would not accept such an answer. suddenly, the blade in flins' hand makes sense. ]

If it is your wish, Young Master, then it is my honour to try alongside you. However, you must promise me one thing.

[oathlantern]

... What is it? [He trusts Flins. But he also knows that Flins' tendency to wheedle this and that to get what he wants.]

[glazing]

Promise me that you will choose to live, even when it is the more difficult option.