[accidental video post]

[mariannethree]

[Marianne stands, hand on an iron-work banister, looking down from the third floor balcony of her Library. Her hair is pulled sternly back from her face, and she looks tired, worn, and worried about whatever she sees on the ground floor.

There are murmurs beneath her and the words "Good evening Madam Delubovoska..." spoken in a reverential tone.

When the Madam speaks, the Library goes mad. The railing beneath Marianne's hand comes alive. The iron-work unwinds, forming a mass of snakes that expand and strike where her hand was a moment before. She stumbles back, hand over her mouth, as around her the snakes grow and writhe, poison dripping from their fangs.

A warm glow surrounds her, and she pulls a small card from her shirt. The warmth it exudes seems to hide her from the snakes' notice, and she crouches behind her desk, holding the card close as the world around her turns into a writhing nest of vipers that fill every space but hers.

Again and again they strike, before finally receding unhappily, leaving the Library looking as if nothing happened. The glow around her fades as the Madam leaves the Library. Cautiously Marianne reaches up to her book and slowly writes her question.]

Book-people? Are you there? I think...I could use some company tonight.

Would you talk to me for a bit?

Marianne Zahma-
Under Assistant,
The Library
Chaos: 582 Order: 703

Comments

video;

[selene]

[ ... H.. uh..? What is that even?! Even if it ended okay enough, all of it looked so dangerous that Usagi can't help but reply, even despite her own problems. ]

A-are you okay?! Those were snakes, right, and.. i.. it looked so dangerous..!

text

[mariannethree]

How could you know about that? It just happened to me, and the book was closed during it...

[Marianne does not fully understand the powers the community has over her...especially when it comes to revealing sensitive information.]

[selene]

A.. ah, I'm sorry.. I guess the community must have shown it without you knowing, but all of it was on video just now..

[ Now she feels a little more awkward. Was she actually invading the woman's privacy now? That feels bad.. ]

[mariannethree]

Oh. But...how could a book do that?

[selene]

It's not the book doing it. .. Well, not exactly, I mean! It's actually the community doing it that's just working through the book, and the community can easily do things like show videos..

[ .. Does she not know that? That would mean she's probably new, but then again, she did say "book people" like she expected them to reply.. ]

[mariannethree]

How...that's very strong magic! It was very difficult for Mr. Grassi to even see me for a few minutes. How could the 'community' see me for so much longer?

[selene]

Ah.. I'm not sure if I'm the best one to ask about that. [ There's people who have been around for longer, after all.. not to mention Usagi knows she herself isn't too bright. ]

But it's really, really powerful, I know that much! The community connects a lot of worlds..

[mariannethree]

True. But still, connecting places is very different from controlling them.

In the last place I was in there were dozens, if not hundreds of such connections, ways of traveling from one world to the next. Surely one could create a community for nothing but communication quite easily with those means, but one that could warp nature and spy without external intent...that is a frightening power indeed!

[selene]

... E.. eh? There's really other places like these where worlds are connected?

[ She didn't know that yet. ]

I thought this was the only one for sure..!

[mariannethree]

Yes. The crossings are less obvious, though. A game, a gate, a certain state of mind...it all depends on who you are and where you wish to be.

[selene]

You've seen so many of them..? It's really weird that you would think the community is that surprising then. I've never seen gates to other worlds or something like that, but I'm used to the community by now..

[mariannethree]

I only half-remember them. It was another who showed me how to move through them. I guess that is what brought me here.

I have been told what is common in my world is unusual in others, so I suppose no other places have crossings like mine.

[selene]

[ Oh, so it's just her world that's weird.. then again, Usagi thought her world was perfectly normal up to a little while ago, so maybe all worlds are weird and most people just don't realise. ]

It's not "unusual" in a bad way, right? What the video showed looked really bad and scary, after all!

[mariannethree]

The things that happened in the video... that was unusual. Most of my life here is boring and hardly dangerous. After all, no one can see me, so its hard to get into trouble unless I intentionally make problems.