WEEK 1

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 1

[The train wouldn't stop. Not until very early the next morning. The few who might have been awake would be able to exit the train, entering the cool twilight of the dawn. The star is dark, and few stars can be seen in the sky as a cold breeze begins to blow from the mountain beyond. You can see some chunks of rock floating idly nearby, far away from the station that it won't hit trains, but near enough that one can see they are larger than the train they just disembarked.

Lastly, laid out in front of them, the first port of call: Menahoven. The mountain: The Throat of the World.

But which world? Who knows. Not any of yours. Maybe it doesn't matter. Not when you are so far from home. Not when you have no way to get off this rock without the aid of the trains-and they will not let you pass.

It looks like you're stuck here until the Conductor decides to leave. In the meantime, everyone will need to get comfortable.


There are fifteen strangers left in this place.]

Comments

[notthebreakman]

[Doggy!

...Ahem. Now that the embarrassing kneejerk reaction is out of the way, Proto can actually focus on what King just asked him.]

Sorry, nothing substantial yet. Looks like everything that's openly available sticks to the party line of "ancient Egyptian, how exotic, wooooo." [Yes, he waggles his fingers at the end to go with his deadpan delivery.]

Honestly, I'm almost certain that if we want real answers, we'll have to go a little... "extracurricular," if you get my drift.

[unwittingking]

[Don’t worry, at this point in life he’s sort of used to it.]

Figures they’d only dive deeper into their lie then actually be honest in here.

Any ideas where we could find some...“extracurricular lessons”, then?

[notthebreakman]

When the government controls what media is accessible to the public, it's kind of inevitable, unfortunately.

[He glances around to see if any librarians or other staff are within earshot before continuing.]

Well, for some reason the library does have all these mysteriously "Proscribed" books just lying around...

[unwittingking]

Pretty much...

You think any of them might have some good info?

[notthebreakman]

Only one way to find out, right?

We just need to figure out how to get one of those books, or even just a few pages, out of here and on the train without being discovered. I don't think the cameras we have are high enough definition for any photos to be legible.

[unwittingking]

[Hmm...]

Do you think if one of us made a distraction and the other hid a book or two on them, we could get a couple of them out of here?

[notthebreakman]

Possibly, but it might be a good idea to bide our time and find out what kind of security systems are in place before we try anything. I can't imagine we'd be the first to try to pilfer something from here. And we do have the rest of the week to work with.

[unwittingking]

True. We don't need any sort of alarm system going off. Plus, we could tell some of the others to get some help.

[He's not sure who would help, other than Zach, who he thinks may help for the purpose of angering some people (Not bad reasoning, of course, just what King thinks the main reasoning would be)]

[notthebreakman]

We'll also need to make sure whatever we can get our hands on stays hidden from the Conductor. The rules only expressly forbid "salacious" literature, but we don't need to push our luck with her, either.

[Zack would probably be more than enough of a distraction on his own, but maybe they could consult some of the others who had visited the library today. Proto and King can't be the only ones irritated with the lack of substance openly available here.]

[unwittingking]

I can think of a few places to keep them hidden, so long as we tried to be smart about where to keep them.

[Maybe they could hide them in a pillow and sew it back shut? Or under a mattress?

The best people he can think of that may come here would be Towa or Charlotte, considering they were a bit more on the studious side, and be annoyed with this.]

[notthebreakman]

Maybe we could replace the covers with ones from the lounge as camouflage--or would that fall under the rule against damaging the train?

[Yes, and they're both probably earnest enough to keep the librarians distracted by seeking their help in locating books that are conveniently on the opposite end of the shelves...]

[unwittingking]

Not sure. We might need to look over the rules again. See if they're specific enough.

Maybe if they have one of those naturally detachable covers, it'll be okay? I'm sure at least one of those are probably there.

[The ol' switcheroo!]

[notthebreakman]

Too bad we can't ask the Conductor to clarify things without drawing her attention to what we're trying to do.

You mean like a dust jacket? You're right, those would make it much easier!

[All right, they have the beginnings of a plan in motion!]

[unwittingking]

Yeah. The best we can do is read over the rules carefully and see if we can find a loophole to exploit.

Yes, those! And they could even give us a good hiding spot for the new books, with them hidden in plain sight!

[This can actually work! He has some good feelings about it!]

[notthebreakman]

And hope the Conductor doesn't decide to just throw the book at us anyway.

...Sorry, that was a bad pun.

[Questionable wordplay aside, he likes this plan! He's excited to be a part of it!]

[unwittingking]

Don’t worry, I’ve heard worse. Plus, you’re at least a nice about it, unlike...others.

[He can’t help but look to the side and make a bit of a face at that. Bad memories.]

[notthebreakman]

You have experience with people who go out of their way to make puns in everyday conversation? My condolences.

[unwittingking]

It tends to happen when you're my size and the universe seems to enjoy putting you near annoying people, but I appreciate the sympathy.