Among old friends (Open)

[Hadrian]

“You spend too much time in books” the voice only he could hear exclaimed. “Get out of the library once and a while. Join the guild I’m in or even just come out to say hi.”

The way Cloe and Hadrian had met seemed to be completely random. It never dawned on Alex that he would have met someone in the game that he knew in reality. She was one of just a few that had made it onto his friend’s list. Even then she was the one who always contacted him for mundane conversation. Alex was never surprised; Cloe was the same way in reality. The older sister of one of his classmate’s and adjunct professor at his university. The two had toyed with more than friendship a few times but it never panned out. In the game however Cloe never mentioned their fun filled life before calamity. It seemed she just needed a connection to reality even if she only talked about the game.

“I’m a scholar after all… it can’t be helped.”

“A level nine scholar… nine Marc. All you do is sleep there. That subclass level isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Didn’t Buddha once say the greatest prayer is patience?”

“You totally misquoted that… listen, I’m about to go dungeon diving. I’ll drop a line when I’m out. Meet up later ok.”

“… what no I’m… hello… hello…” Alex wasn’t ever sure how to deal with Cloe whenever she barked out an order and then disappeared.

The London Library was its usual desolate self. Large enough and post-apocalyptic enough to always feel alone even on the rare occasion there had been other visitors. His current nook was the second floor, a pile of broken book shelves were used to lean his back against while he sat on the floor. The book which had been put on the side during the conversation was now back before his eyes. A small work of… non-fiction for lack of a better word on the history of Londinium. It was nice to spend some time after the recent spout of grind for xp adventures just sitting among the smell of written words.

By now he had read countless books and none of them really helped provide a hint of why adventures had been absorbed into the game. It’s not like he could crowd surf ideas the way Alex had once used the game’s forums to do. Not to mention it was hard to trust others even if they had been useful as group members. From what he found to many simply either went mad in the world or seemed to prefer being in the game. Any mention that he hoped to find clues to leave may put him on some sort of blacklist. For now he needed as few enemies as possible. Luckily his personality played perfectly towards that goal, despite how much he tended to find it an annoyance.

WC: 489
Tag: Open (Noticed a lack of open threads so I thought Id fix that)

[Mokusu]

With a brown bag tucked under his arms, the Fox Tail rubbed his hands together before again examining it. “Maybe I should buy a glove?” He wonder silently looking at his scratched hands, he knows that this body of his was an adventurer body which means he can heal small wound just as easily as summoning his followers but still he had to wonder, the pain was still there and maybe with the gloves it’ll be less hurtful when handling rough edges of the woods. With a sigh, the Fox Tail grabbed the brown bag, which was filled with the newly purchase old glue, a few nails and four apples and, hugged it as he start his journey back to the Windsor Greatwood, wondering what to craft next. 

“The orchestra perhaps…?” Again his mouth moves as he wonder, crafting the orchestra it is then but other than the flute and the violin, he does not know any other instrument that made an orchestra. Stopping his tracks, he looks around to find… a book store! “Well… that was convenient,” He comments on his findings, forgetting he was in the production district of London before entering the shop. A friendly welcome can be heard from the back as the bell door finishing ringing as the Fox Tail let the door close on its own. 

Looking around the shop, Mokusu was slightly mad when he saw that the shop was only selling scribe-related crafting materials and finish product of empty books, quilt and ink bottle, there was no sign of already filled information book, except for maps. Letting out a sigh, he marched to the back of the store and found a human cleric, an adventurer just like himself, and possibly a scribe, judging by the contract and partly finish map filling up his table. When the human saw the Fox Tail approached him, he rose up from his chair and greet the customer with a warm smile and a “How may I help you?” 

“Yeah, um… do you have any books on orchestra? Or musical instruments in general?” 

“No sir,” His smile still fixed on his face, “Even though our shop is name ‘Book Store’ we do not sell any published materials.” 

Figures. “Then do you know any actual book store?” 

“There’s a few just around the corner, but I don’t think they’ll sell the books you are searching, my best bet visit the library.” 

“The… Library?” The bright orange Fox Tail asked, tilting his head slightly to the left. 

“Yes,” Taking a piece of parchment, he drew out a small map and hand it to the Fox Tail, “the London Library” 

“Oh… Thank you,” Playing with his interface, Mokusu placed 10 gold at the scribe’s table before exiting the premises. 

Following the map, he easily found the library, a brownish-grey old concrete building with plants growing from every crack it could found, some of its windows has been smashed and again plants seems to grow out of them. Going up the five stair steps leading to the door, Mokusu can’t help but touch the highly crafted wooden door and wonder if he one day could craft a door as well-made as the one he is caressing before entering the building. The first thing he saw was the security locker which he rushed towards to put his brown bag in. He doubt the locks still works but still he open one of the small boxed locker and stuffed his bag in and closed with an accidental loud bang which echoes into the building. “Esttt!” The Fox Tail said, closing his eyes before repeatedly saying sorry to anyone that may hear him. Looking back up to inspect his surrounding, he was relieved at the lack of people present around him and then enters the main building area. 

Seeing the vast number of shelves, mostly broken and fallen down, the Fox Tail wonder where to look first, with his leather shoe loudly tapping the floor as he walk, Mokusu decide to search for the music section and possibly take a look in restoring some of the broken shelves. 

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684 | Word Count
Hadrian | Tag
Mind if I join you? =3 | Note

[Estreia]

Curious cat, curious cat, what did they say about curious cats? It'd been so little time since the Adventurers had all suddenly appeared here in the world, some areas of inquiry weren't well known yet. Life here had settled into an odd uncomfortable stalemate for most people. Like new arrivals in an old home, the movements of this world, the sounds and creaks were foreign, so obviously people were still unstable. You had your people who were dying to get home at all costs. There were the people who decided this new Elder Tale was their new big playground and screwed around accordingly. Then you had those people who were mostly neutral about the whole experience and continued to carry on as they had before everything went insane.

Yet back to curious cats. Another person had found herself wandering the streets on this lazy day. Well, by wandering, it was more she was jumping from area to area, lighting from sighs and lantern posts, using her Acrobat-enhanced jumping capability to it's fullest. It certainly made avoiding people easier. It also made it incredibly easy to stalk and hear interesting bits of conversation.

So when her elven ears picked up mention of the old London library as she crouched near a stall, Estreia found herself to be honestly surprised. Most of the buildings that might've been recognizable in the past were in some state of ruin. Why had the library been left unscathed? Was there something interesting to be found there? Maybe something about this world that nobody knew yet. That sort of information still sold these days. At the very least, it might point her in the direction of something to do.

"It beats wandering the streets like a lost fool," the elf girl murmured to herself dryly. She'd been doing that far too much recently. Perhaps this would give her the drive to get off her butt and practice these new skills she was so kindly handed. To that end, Estreia's hazel eyes followed Mokusu as he walked away from the Scribe's stall. Once she judged him to be a fair distance, she hopped from her perch and leisurely began to stalk after him.

She waited a few moments after he entered the building before she too crept inside. She didn't follow any further, though; instead, she chose an aisle at random and tread along it, her nose turning up in distaste as she read what labels she could. So much for unscathed. This place was a wreck.

*Word Count 423*
*Hope you guys don't mind if I hop in?*

[Hadrian]

One of the more relaxing aspects of the library was its relative calm. Low number of adventurers and choice books it was easy for someone to fall asleep given the atmosphere. It was an extreme rarity, therefore, to hear so much noise come from the ground floor. The first loud slam was all well and good but the childish scream that followed seemed excessive. More so the continual apology. Again, not that there were many adventurers. Yet every so often, just as Alex had been ready to get back into a grove he would hear another. Well invested in the side thought of whom the hell keeps breaking the silence, Alex walked over to an edge rail of the floor that overlooked a wide open space in the center of the library. Whether that had been the architecture or a collapse he couldn’t really say.

Further down near the entrance an elf caught his eye, not unusual except she seemed to try and enter rather unnoticed. An oddity since this was after all just a library. “Never a surprise at least ElderTale” he thought since even in a dusty relic of a library he could still be surprised. Since his concentration was more or less broken Alex decided to just take a walk until a new spot to sit and relax in could be found. With book still in hand Alex made his way to what was left of the fourth floor and the usually abandoned music section. From what he could remember it was only once that he came to this particular section to find someone. Never really knew why nor cared to think about it all that often. What he did know was that it was peaceful. From across the hall he could see the Foxtail’s aimless meander through the hollows.

[Mokusu]

From left to right, the Fox Tail only found different books on understanding music, one shelf was filled with different types of musical sheets and after scanning a few of them, he was shocked on the content. Sure he can’t read musical notes – which caused him to picked up a book entitled ‘Understanding Notes’ – but the title of some was familiar to him, is it possible some of the music sheets here are from back home? Well until he can understand the notes, it is impossible to tell. Picking up a few of the sheets, he proceeds further into the music section. 

Disc and record flooded the next part of the music section, some of the shelves holding them seems to fall off, causing some of the discs to literality flood some of the floor, seeing as there was no books here, he proceed even further until the lines of books returns. Again from left to right he search, the Fox Tail found a few that he thinks might have information about orchestras yet to be perfectly safe, he kept searching the shelves that seems to be never ending. Three book at hand, he walked to the next shelves and as if lady luck was standing right there, a book entitle ‘Instruments and how to keep them clean’ was placed up on top on one of the shelve. Setting the books he brought with him down, Mokusu tried and tiptoed to grabbed the thick book, but to no avail, he was a bit short to actually reach that last shelve.  

Taking a deep breath, he jumped but was only able to touch the spine, next he tried climbing the shelves, putting one foot on the base he proceed with his plan and as he forgotten about the old structure of the library, he was able to grabbed it but with a price. He was too heavy for the shelves to support and as the Fox Tail was suddenly dropped to the ground, the books and shelves also follow and with a “Yelp!” He was buried under them and only one thing he was thankful as he buried under the books was that there was only one crash, a cliché domino effect would not only caused his embarrassment, but also caused him to possibly get banned from the free source of knowledge 

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391 | Word Count