[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

[promisedknight]

Why would anyone try to poison you?

[mariannethree]

Because then they would be able to control me.

[promisedknight]

Is there any way you can get away from them?

[mariannethree]

The card Mr. Grassi gave me protected me and I don't think they are going to come back.

[promisedknight]

Do you have a backup plan just in case? A safe place to stay?

[mariannethree]

Well, no. I think the reason the Library was attacked was because I let a book escape. It is even more difficult to get myself out.

[promisedknight]

What kind of library is this?

[mariannethree]

Its...its just The Library. There is only one.

Most of the books are about people's lives, though. That or magic.

[promisedknight]

How did you end up there?

[mariannethree]

I don't know.

At least, not any of the important details. I don't know who sent me here or why, or where I was before. I don't even know if my fractured memories were just invented so I fit better into this place, though if it is the latter the creator of this world was severely mistaken.

[promisedknight]

I don't think it's safe for you there. You might be better off asking for a worldhop and a place to stay with someone in the community. The fact that you don't know how you got there is suspicious enough.

[mariannethree]

I'm afraid that I don't have an option. I cannot leave the Library, much less find a way out of this dreamworld.

[promisedknight]

How are people able to get in, then?

[mariannethree]

They aren't. Or at least, very few from the outside world are able to enter the Library. Mr. Grassi says that only those who have forgotten themselves almost as much as the Librarians can even think of entering it.

[promisedknight]

How can you forget yourself?

[mariannethree]

Its like amnesia. As our books fade, we also fade, until we become like ghosts, floating through our world doing the last things we remember.

[promisedknight]

And this is all you can remember? Is there any way you can recover your book or write it, or...

[mariannethree]

I have my book! As well as Mr. Grassi's. But I've mostly been using it to find a way out of the Library.

[promisedknight]

All right, good. When you manage to get out, if you still need a place to stay, we'll probably figure something out here.

[mariannethree]

I don't think the Library is the end of this world. Even if I escape it, some rules - like the bit about no one being able to reach me - will probably still hold true.

[promisedknight]

All right. Keep us updated, though.

[mariannethree]

Thank you, I will.