Here Again?

Daina

Daina looks a little sheepish at least and nods "Right, I'll do better" she promises with a slight smile. "Still this place looks wicked right now.. like.. lights and there are words where there aren't" She goes on to describe the place as she sees it.

Slavina

Slavina blinks. "Whoa whoa whoa." She holds up a hand as if trying to slow Daina down. "When did you find time for a joint, and why didn't you share?!"

Daina

Daina snorts softly. "I found time in the back corner over there with the books about.. I think it was corn propagation?" she shakes her head "I didn't share cause I was being so sneaky I could only sneak myself.. it was next level" she nods sagely.. then gives Slavina a nice tightly rolled joint.. "for later"

Slavina

Slavina waves away the joint and shakes her head, smiling. "No, I was just teasing. I'm not on the clock."

Fate

"That entirely depends on what you're doing with the singing," says Krissie, in response to Aaren.

But then the conversation gets out of hand. Before it can get too much further, the I-Am-A-Kindergarten-Teacher mantle settles firmly over Krissie's shoulders and she covers the joint in Daina's hand with her palm. "No more smoking here," Krissie decrees at patiently measured and deliberate cadence. "It's not allowed. If you want to smoke, you can do it outside the Repository and come back in when you're done."

Daina

Daina tucks it behind her ear and shrugs one shoulder light in a 'your loss' sort of way. Though she glances to Krissie. "Oh right.. sorry" she mimes smoking a joint and then drags her hand along a level line at her throat while shaking her head. Daina folds her hands behind her back and examines the library as they make their way to the destination. Sort of keeping an eye out for anything massively interesting but otherwise following along.

Aaren

"Looking!" Aaren chirps, reassured.

Slavina

Slavina bounces along behind Aaren the whole way to the fourth-floor stairwell, occasionally flitting off to "ooooh" over some artifact before quickly rejoining the group.

Fate

"Thanks." Mollified, Krissie relaxes and glances Aaren's way. "Okay." Then she looks to Kelly. "You doing alright?"

He stops in his pacing, then hums a mildly cheerful-sounding affirmative.

That settled, Krissie indicates to Aaren that she's ready to move on.

Daina

Daina glances to Kelly and makes an effort to compare notes.. did he see a glowing sigil hovering over that one book.. and like a firey one on the case over there.. etc etc.

Fate

After some discussion, it's clear that what Kelly sees is not at all similar to what Daina sees. (Unsurprising, given how Daina has yet to find any sort of hallucinogenic substance that grants her Kelly-vision.)

Daina

yet being the key word

Fate

Finally properly corralled, the group makes it to the Fourth Floor. It's noticeably cooler than it had been on the ground floor. There's another lobby, this one much smaller, with different halls marked with signs that say "Wings A-D", "Wings E-H", and so on. It stops at "Wings AM-AP".

In the lobby there's a group of people who clearly belong to the Repository, bustling through or around the other small crowds who bear various colors of stamps or ribbons. These bustlers are headed down the last hall, with haste. There is a circular booth in the middle of the room, unmanned at present, over which a sign hangs reading "Curator Center".

There's a gentleman currently waiting at the Curator Center, a fellow with long dreadlocks bound back by a bandana, with another bandana covering his face from below the nose down. His clothing is otherwise eclectic, with different elements from different places—but he's covered from wrist to ankle. He leans against the edge of the booth, idly people-watching, elbows casually propped on the desk to support him.

Slavina

Slavina slips over to the Curator Center and leans her forearms on the counter. She looks up at the guy in the bandana and smiles. "Hi!" She says. She cranes her neck around to check for any sign of a curator and, finding none, asks, "I don't suppose you're the curator of this center?"

Aaren

Aaren swoops over to the bustlers, singing loudly. "Excuse me! Could one of you direct us to wing AX? We're supposed to pick something up."

Fate

"Sorry, Miss, but nope." There's a distinct dead drop in the dreadlocked fellow's voice, and the cadence of his speaking is slower than the usual Bakersfieldian manner. One side of the guy's face crinkles up like he's half-smiling. "You're... like... not a curator either, right?"

Silence settles around Aaren, sweeping through the lobby in short order. The bustlers who have not yet disappeared down the final hallway all come to a chaotic, accordion-like halt to stare at Aaren with expressions that range from startled to incredulous to puzzled to alarmed to...

Then one sets her load down and straightens, speaking up. "Um... I'm sorry, Miss, but that's being cordoned off currently until the Guide we hired arrives."

"Yeahp, that's me," says the dreadlocked fellow, lifting two casual fingers to indicate himself. He offers a farewell wink to Slavina and pushes off the booth to head over to the collection of curators.

Daina

Daina watches this and then grins a bit at the fellow with the slower elocution. She just hangs back and listens real hard.

Aaren

As he walks past her, Aaren pulls a handful of seeds out of one of her voluminous pockets. "You're malnurished." She sings demandingly. "Eat these, please."

Slavina

"No, but I play one on stage," she gives him a half-wink. Slavina trails along beside him with kind of swooshy motions to her steps. She spins around to walk backward so she can talk to him better. "Ah... that's way better than a curator."

She squints at him a little, then pops her eyes open wide and smiles again, clasping her hands to her chest in enthusiasm. "Casey, right? I can't believe it!"

Fate

Kelly asks, "So... does that mean we can pick our thing up, then?"

Helpfully, Krissie presents the Pickup Card they'd received upon entry to the curator who had spoken to them. She takes it and examines it, brow furrowed.

This time both sides of Casey's face crinkle up as Slavina follows him. Then he pulls up short at Aaren, mildly surprised. Then he says, "Right on," and takes the seeds, stuffing them all in his mouth under his bandana. It's an awkward motion which briefly reveals a glimpse of a long goatee. He doesn't seem to notice, however, and the curators have more pressing things on their minds than being accidentally flashed.

At Slavina's recognition, the mild surprise grows just the slightest bit less mild. "Mmmfh?" he asks around his mouthful.

Slavina

Slavina squares her shoulders and shifts her posture and lowers the pitch of her voice in an impression of Bozydar. "Bozco?" She taps a finger on her chest. "Although I go by Slavina now. I can't believe you don't remember me!" She teases. "It's only been a decade, and you were only about twice as stoned as you are now."

Daina

That earns a faint snicker from Daina as she takes a few leaves from another pocket and chews the minty mixture.

Fate

Casey chews, swallows, and then chuckles. "Yeah... I was, like... into a lotta stuff when I was younger." He narrows his eyes. "You weren't the one who, like, found me stuck in that banyan tree with nothing except my, like, boxers over my face and a glove on my cock, were you?"

While he seems completely unfazed, the curator eyes this fellow with an eye that's growing increasingly critical. There's a range of discomfort and amusement and exasperation from the rest, too.

"You're the Guide," she says, completely bowling through the conversation between him and Slavina.

"Yeahp." Casey reaches into his shirt and pulls out a harmonica, briefly playing the Guide ditty. (Luckily this time he employs more care in not flashing the group.) Clearly that's meant to give him credibility.

It works, apparently. The curator takes a breath, straightens, then quickly organizes the rest to stand by. "Alright." That done, she looks around the group as a whole. "Let's get going, then." Then she takes another breath, adopts a more customer-friendly demeanor, and says, "I'm Vanessa. I'll be your curator for today." She motions them onward down the last hall, which is supposed to end at Wing AP.

Daina

Daina sort of glances to Krissie and shifts her eyes towards the departing group, she puts her hands up by her head like bigger ears and then does a four legged walking motion with one hand.

Slavina

"No, 'fraid not," Slavina says, and after a beat she adds, "never too late for a second chance, though." She turns back around to face the direction they're walking, and hangs back quietly while he talks to the curator. Once that's done, she asks, "Vanessa, do you always hire a guide for pickups? Or are we just special?"

Fate

There's a taut silence (save Aaren's singing) as Vanessa puts together her answer.

"Wing AX is on record has having disappeared back in 103," she says. "We need to see how stable it is before we put it back on record—but more importantly, we need to make sure that it's safe for people to go through."

"Back in 103? Whoaaa. That's, like, way back at the start of the Union Renaissance, right there." Casey stuffs his harmonica back in his shirt. Then he glances to Aaren. "Say, you, like, wouldn't happen to have any more food you'd like to donate to the cause, would you?"

Aaren

Aaren pulls out a hankercheif that's wrapped around a handful of dumblings and hands them over.

"It sounds like the Mother of the Lost." Aaren sings to this Venessa lady, stopping herself from saying 'Lita' just in time. "Do you know if it goes to her library?"

Slavina

Slavina's eyebrows pop up and her mouth makes a surprised little o. She peeks over Casey's shoulder to see down the hallway.

Daina

Daina glances around and spots an urn "I could totally grow you guys a fruit tree right here for snacks" She offers before hearing that .. ooooo .. wolven ears twitch.

Aaren

Aaren brightens at the suggestion. "Oooh, can you bring it with us? He really needs fruit."

Daina

Daina hmmms softly and glances around for some dirt and a portable pot like.. container. investigate? XD

Fate

"You're my savior." Casey takes the dumplings and pops one under his bandana.

"Um... Pardon?" asks Vanessa, completely flabbergasted at this strange singing lady's non-sequitur.

"She can hear the songs of pretty much everything," Kelly explains. "And the songs of the gods too, sometimes. When they let her." Then he motions to Daina. "And she's the Swan Maiden's daughter. She can make anything grow as fast or as slow as she wants."

"Um..." Vanessa is too shocked to comprehend. "Pardon?"

"Trippy," says Casey to Kelly. Then realization strikes, and he looks to Aaren. "Oh yeah! I remember you! And you!" He looks to Daina as he says this. "And you!" He says to Kelly.

Kelly shakes his head and sings the negative song. "I've never met you before."

"Oh," Casey says. "So... you aren't the kid who can see the, like, fabric of one of our realities?"

Kelly stares at him.

"My bad, man."

"No," says Krissie, firm, to Aaren and Daina. (The urn in question that Daina regards is labeled as an artifact from the Old World. To be fair, it's a sneaky label. Apparently whoever was in charge of labeling things just takes for granted that everyone who enters will assume that the entire place is filled with nothing but priceless artifacts.)

Soon enough, they pass a long section of blank wall before standing in the opening to a place labeled "AX". Vanessa looks over to Casey, who steps forward, eyes intent. Kelly, too, has moved to staring at the wing, speechless.

Aaren

Aaren laughs. "Thank you, Kelly. I keep forgetting how completely incomprehnsible I am." She goes on to explain to Vanessa, "The rest of this building sounds as expected. Like," Aaren sings a snatch of the repository. "But the wing up ahead is very different. It's alright if you don't know, I expect we're about to find out."

At Casey's outburst Aaren listens to his song for a moment. "I'm sorry." She sings (in a voice not busy with her converstaion with Vanessa), "You sound familar, but I don't remember..."

Daina

Daina plucks the joint from behind her ear and hands it to Casey. "'ere.. fer later.. no smoking in the library" big smile thumbs up to Krissie

Fate

He takes Daina's joint with an absentminded noise of gratitude.

"You two, an elderly lady, and Bozko," he nods to Slavina, "almost hired me to take y'all to Domochlovek something like a decade ago." His eyes are still on the hallway as he says this, and his next statement is more intent. "Yeah, no, for sure, this place is, like, very not stable."

Daina

Daina hmms and actually turns to pay attention to the goings on... golden eyes narrowing on the area in question. She'd almost gotten used to the words scribed on this that and the other, the faint glow.. would she see something else here?

Slavina

Slavina sidles up to the cordon alongside Casey. She looks around the halway, paying particular attention to the cracked hourglass in a wall niche and the book with a torn page. "Yeah, we're definitley working with a time limit. But this is definitely the right place! Better not dawdle, right?" She glances at Vanessa encouragingly.

Fate

Vanessa is still completely blown away. "Um... ?"

Krissie draws her calm-and-in-charge manner about her again. She steps just obtrusively enough into Vanessa's line of sight. "This is a pickup on the Tsarbog's behalf," she reminds, pinching the Pickup Card briefly between thumb and forefinger. "Being made by... by Bogatyr, in a lost wing of the Repository." Her tone is gentle. "Would you like to retrieve another curator? Maybe one who has more experience dealing with the Tsarbog?"

Vanessa blinks several times as if clearing her vision and takes another deep breath. "No, ma'am. I... I think I got it."

"Yeah, no, I do not recommend entering this wing at all." Casey looks to the group as a whole. "Like, at all. Got some bad vibes about this place. Like a volcano that's about to blow, y'know?"

This makes Vanessa heavily uncertain.

Daina

Daina pauses "eh.. shouldn't we try to .. uh stop the blowing?" she questions Casey with an arched brow. "I don't wanna scamper off and leave some other poor bastard to such a mess" She smiles some. "Besides I like the heat" tilt imaginary cap forward. "onward?" eyes narrowing "oooo maybe we should go get Stu though.. something is real shifty about this place." grin. "I am so punny" she smirks to herself.

Slavina

"Whoa... you've seen a volcanic eruption? I have got to hear this story. Remind me to buy you a beer when we're done here. Don't worry, Danska, it won't literally explode. It is just metaphysically unstable and may suddenly cease to exist." Slavina spins and bows to Vanessa in a recognizably chlovak way.

"Zdeslava Bozhihostavich Liudzi at your service." Slavina's accent rises to the front a little more - not exactly chlovak, but defintiely not bakersfieldian. "Or more accurately, at the Tsarbog's service. We plan to enter this wing danger or no, but if you would prefer not to accompany us we will be able to recognize our parcel without further assistance." She moves her fingers in the air in a quick shape of a nine-pointed star in respect to the Tsarbog. She then spins back around the rift, sending her skirt swirling and bells tinkling. "Shall we start?"

Aaren

Aaren frowns, "Hold up Slavina. It does sound a little bit like that rift did. Only a bit though. Daina, does it feel like it?"

Daina

Daina hmmms softly and takes a few steps closer her eyes moving over the various writing.. the floor the ceiling trying to see deeper.. to sense .. were the things here.. soon not to be here?

Slavina

Slavina closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "I think it's... ah, excuse me a moment." She holds up a finger for patience from the english-speaking folks, as she switches over to liudzi for the appropriate technical terms to tell Daina and Aaren what's going on in wayfinding terms.

Essentially, she thinks that this place simultaneously is and is not the mother of the lost's library, and at some point that contradiction will resolve itself one way or the other. If it is not the Mother's library, it no longer exists. If it is the Mother's library, it will not have physical form. Either way it won't exactly exist.

Daina

Her brow furrowing as she sniffs a bit and looks back to the others "I .. feel like enough of it is the same that having Stu here could be useful.. " she pauses "It feels like that rift but also then it flares up brighter.. and then fades away again.. I suppose that goes right along with what Slavina was saying right?" She gives a shrug "I mean I'm willing to go on in right now but.. then again I walk through fire soooo let's not count on me to be a judge of a safe situation" she smirks a little.

Aaren

Aaren sings her thinking song, low notes nibbling along the bottom of the hallway. "Let's go in now." She sings, her tune turning to decision. "If it doesn't close when we leave, we'll fetch Stu."
She gestures to Slavina to go first.

Slavina

"Great!" Slavina practically skips in, not looking back because of course anyone who wants to follow will.

Fate

Vanessa hesitates by the hallway, then draws that hesitation out long enough to effectively be a decision to not go.

Krissie, on the other hand, says, "If you don't need me, I'll wait for you here."

"Alright. Good luck, y'all." Casey steps away from the opening and leans against the wall, popping another dumpling in his mouth.

Wordlessly, Kelly follows.

Daina

Daina smiles a bit and uses a scrap of napkin to dispose of the minty chewy stuff she had in her mouth, tossing it into a bin or stuffing it in her pocket. Following after Slavina as she hums her 'curiosity/adventure song'.

Aaren

Aaren gives Krissie a hug, hums good-bye to Casey and Vanessa, and then follows her family into the hall. She sings along with Daina, to get into the spirit of the thing.

Slavina

Slavina whirls back around, sprints over to Krissie and gives her a big hug. Then she sprints back up to the front of the group and takes up a harmony with Aaren and Daina.

Fate

There are all kinds of odd things lining the walls here, in display cases or otherwise. The labels are written in an unclear language, or an incomprehensible combination of languages, or entirely in strange glyphs.

Finally, there's one labeled clearly: "For Aaren".

It's a red sash. It's not in a display case, but it is piled on a pedestal. It's wound in such a way that it props up the label. It's a little card.

(To Daina)
This place definitely doesn't look like part of the Repository. Got completely different things about it. And it's... very strange. Like it's not really there, even though it's really there. It's shifting between states, possibly.

Aaren

Aaren listens for a moment, and then steps up to the pedestal and lifts of the sash and the little card.

Slavina

I would like to roll mystery-notice to get an idea of what is special about this sash and if it's actually the Tsarbog-piece

Fate

Go for it.

Slavina

4

Fate

(To Slavina)
It's unclear what's so special about it. But it's definitely powerful, and definitely part of the Tsarbog.

(To Aaren)
On the back of the card, there's more. It says:

Renushya—

This is the sash I wore in the Thrice Ten Kingdoms. It was how I switched between Ban Zoric and Bozena. This was before I could grow a beard, mind you. It remained a symbol for a long time afterward.

Please take care. I cannot see past this point.

Hugs.

—Bozena

Aaren

Aaren folds up the sash and tucks both it and the card into one of her massive pockets. "This is what we're here for!" Aaren chimes. Then she lowers her shoulders, her songs dipping into worry. "She says she can't see much after this, so lets get back."

Slavina

No need to tell Slavina twice... she tears her attention away from the strange glyphs she was looking at and makes a quick line back the way they came.

Daina

Daina glances over "but it could lead to Lita's " she hesitates taking a step forward but looking back over her shoulder.

Aaren

Aaren hesitates. Then she shakes her head. "I don't think it's safe, Daina. This corridor could just stop existing, and we don't want to be in it when that happens."

Daina

Daina digs in her pocket for another joint and lights it up, this was hardly even the repository anymore right, being in flux as it is. She takes a pull and glances to Aaren. "we came in this far to get the thing, what's a few more plains of existence? Tell you what.. you two go ahead.. I'll be right out" she summons Frankie with a quiet request, greeting him with a face full of smoke as she exhales. "How about it .. do you think you can help me walk through those shadows.. I want to see if Lita's place is next door.."

Fate

Frankie swells up before her, his eyes shining like moonbeams. "No."

Daina

Daina hums ... "No you can't help me or no we shouldn't go check it out or no to both?"

Fate

"No, I cannot help you walk through the shadows."

Aaren

Aaren looks at Kelly, soliciting his opinion.

Slavina

"Dainina..." Slavina spins back to face Daina. "Your mission. They need you to finish it, right?"

Daina

Daina tsks a little at that "well that would have been really cool but ah well.. so .. d'you think going down the hall here might .. " She pauses and glances to Slavina. "I .. well I suppose they do but.. I was thinking a visit might be nice.." she murmurs almost defensively.

Fate

Kelly catches Aaren's look. Then he says, "I don't think it's a good idea." He looks down the hall. "If it were that easy to visit, you would've done it by now."

Daina

Daina heaves a sigh "well if it is dangerous you all are in trouble too if it goes bad while you're trying to convince me.. " her shoulders droop a little "let's hit the road"

Aaren

Aaren nods. She takes Daina's hand, squeezing it in replacement for giving her a big hug, since they are, after all, in a hurry. She turns and heads down the hall, back toward the song of where they came.

Slavina

Slavina pulls an arm around Daina's shoulders like a sideways hug as they walk (fast) toward the exit. "I'm sorry Dainina. Maybe next time."

Fate

Like that, the group leaves the way they came. All the same artifacts with all the same labels that they walked by are still there. Nothing appears out of place.

And then they turn a corner and reach the stretch of hallway that directly connects back up with the Repository.

Kelly hisses in a sharp breath.

There's no one there, and the hallway twists around impossibly, as if it had suddenly become a twisted, curlicue churro.

This is Somewhere Else... ? again. There's no doubt about it.

Aaren

Aaren hisses, nostrils flaring. "We're back Somewhere Else."

Slavina

"Oh!" Slavina looks around. "Welp, I guess we don't have to worry about not existing anymore!"

Daina

Daina grumbles "well for fucks sake" as she turns to take in the hall. "Sorry guys guess we shoulda had that talk at the entrance.. " she murmurs. "I never worry about not existing.. I'm to stubborn to be no more." a playful flex of biceps before she resumes seriously looking around them. "any of you have some ideas?" she asks as she reaches out and pats Frankie, taking another toke and squinting down the hall in one direction then the other.

Fate

(To Daina)
There's some weeeeeird fluctuations and shit going on in the warmth behind you...

(To Aaren)
There's chaos in the music behind you.

(To Slavina)
You need to run. Now. Towards the curlicue. (The impulse is powerful, and perhaps indistinguishable from reason.)

Aaren

Aaren sings a sigh. "Find an exit? I'll listen for one. Can you send out some butterflies?"

Slavina

Slavina grabs the nearest two people, Daina and Kelly, by the scruffs of their necks, and forcibly drags them foreward as fast as she can run. "Move move move!"

Daina

Daina nods a bit and from those in Aaren's hair propagates some more. She frowns as a shiver runs up her spine "Somethin' is funny as fuck about the warmth over here," she says as she gets nabbed and pulled into a run. "Gah what the hell Slavina I want to see what's going on" she protests though not fool enough to stand still.

Aaren

Aaren runs after them, singing their running songs.

Daina

or not XD

Aaren

7 For Singing Perception to find an exit.

Fate

(To Aaren)
There are many exits, ahead and behind. But they don't lead back to Bakersfield, that's for sure.

Slavina

Slavina doesn't respond until they're in the weird churro section, and then continues not responding for a few minutes until she can breathe enough to talk. "Sorry Daina!" She says in a very not-sorry tone of voice. "We're good now if you want to look."

Daina

Daina cracks her neck and nods a little. "thanks" she mumbles as she once more sends out feelers for the warmth around them, was it still being weird, was it still there even?

Fate

Kelly doesn't protest in the least. He just runs, using Slavina as a guide, until the strange feeling at his back eases. He recovers much more quickly than Slavina and walks down the hall with uncertain steps as much as he dares to try and see. It doesn't avail him, however. When he rejoins the group, he's taut and hyper-alert.

Daina

Diana wrinkles her nose a little. "Uhg.. this again" she huffs and then once more using a little of her energy creates a squad of butterflowers to help Aaren search. She herself looking for anything that seems.. exit like.

Aaren

Aaren starts singing the calm song for herself. "Any one else want some?" She asks. "I can hear a lot of exits, but I haven't found any to Bakersfield yet."

Daina

Daina hums softly and glances to Frankie "can you get to Bakersfield from here? maybe go get Stu?"