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.

code

Comments

[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.