[library] - a textuna adventure

[library] - a textuna adventure
#1
[library] - a textuna adventure
The library. The biggest, most fabled building in all of Istopia. The smell of books and the sheer amount of them are the best things about it. And that you can borrow books any time you want? Perfect. The best thing anyone has invented.

On the other hand...

"Majesty."

Majesty, a pale lavender gnosis witha carboard crown, rolls their eyes and ignores their brown gnosis friend. They cross their arms and walk away, purple tail dragging a stack of books.

"Look," their friend says, exasperated. "it's just a book filled with our history."

"No, Kno!" Majesty says, loudly.

Kno sighs. "Knowing a little won't hurt you."

"We are not bringing that in for a story telling session."

Kno rubs the temples on their forehead, and grabs the history book anyway. "Then I'll say it's research."

"It is not research, and you know it!" Majesty insists. "Plus, we've all already read the history books!"

"Not extremely untampered ones."

Majesty groans. "Can we go now? I really want to eat."

Kno slips a heavy, thick book in their inventory with a sigh. "Fine. We'll leave now."

Then they look up at the spaces between the massive shelves, searching for a sign. "Exit here." "Fictional section."

There were none. The lack of which was both extremely disturbing, and annoying. Where were they?

"Uh, Kno?" Majesty waves their hand in front of Kno's eyes. "You've been spacing out for a bit. What's wrong? Is it the idea of food?"

Kno grumbles. "I like eating, thank you. Do you remember where we came from?"

"Sure, it's a left, and then a right, and then, uh, a lot of shelves... Hm." Majesty paused. Their eyes widened. "We're lost in here, aren't we?"

"Unfortunately. It's no easy feat considering this damn thing is.. numbers long." Kno sighs and sits against the shelves. "Do you have anyone's number?"

Majesty brings out their phone and shuffles through their contacts. "Is Clei on shift today?"

Kno shrugs and closes their eyes. "Doesn't hurt to ask."

Majesty opens up the text messaging app.

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Majesty presses play. The audio message plays Clei laughing.

"Turn that down," Kno says.

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"She says it's funny because you're with me," Majesty giggles.

Kno glares at them.

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"She'll be here in fifteen minutes!" Majesty grins and takes a seat beside Kno.

Kno groans. "Well, this will be a dull fifteen minutes."

"Oh, come on. Not that long."

"What do you suggest we do while we wait?"
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#2
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
climb on a shelf to get a good view!
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#3
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
Waiting? Why not skim through the history books and look at any wicked-exciting battle paintings!
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#4
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
Majesty pauses. They lean on the shelf, hand on their chin.

"We could probably try to find a way out ourselves?" They shrug.

"Clei told us to stay put." Kno glared at them. "Do you prefer it if we got lost where Clei can't find us?"

"Well, I don't know!" Majesty huffs. "What do you want to do?"

Wordlessly, Kno raises the thick history book they brought with them.

Majesty groans. "We are not scaling through a history book to pass the time."

"You can just look at the pictures," Kno points out. "You can't deny that they have good pictures."

Majesty grumbles and crosses their arms. "They do, but..."

Kno gives them a smug smile. "But?"

Majesty throws their hands up in the air in indignation. "But no!"

"Suit yourself." Kno opens the book, ignoring Majesty's glares. "This books was created with the help of the Historian's Historical Association, and sponsored by-"

Majesty groans loudly and puts their foot on one of the shelves.

Kno furrows their brow. "-What are you doing?"

"I'm going to scale the shelf," Majesty says with a flat tone.

Kno pauses. "You're going to what?"

Majesty doesn't answer them and begins to climb the shelf. Their high dexterity allows them to do so with very little struggle, and they soon find themselves on top of a 20 foot shelf.

They jump with a grin on their face as they do. That took really long! Ten minutes, maybe. Five? Fifteen? They certainly hope it was fifteen.

They peek out from on top of the shelf, looking around the library. Suddenly, they begin to see.....

...more shelves. This was rather anti climatic. Even worse, none of them have any distinguishing features! It's a good thing they have a friend who works at the library to help them, huh?

They're about to climb down until they hear the scratching of wood. A sound close to them.

Their body tenses up. Their breaths become shallow.

Their eyes look up to search for the source.

Inconveniently, the lights begin to dim. Not good.

The scratching of wood begins to fade. They hear something slithering away.

Maybe it was just their imagination?

They're not sure what to do. They want to chase after the sound or hide away from it, but Kno is waiting for them, after all.

What now?
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#5
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
chase the sound!
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#6
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
> explore where the sound came from.
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#7
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
> Dab before you make a decision.
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#8
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
Throw a book far away and see if something reacts to the sound. Try not to fall off the shelf in a panic
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#9
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
For a moment, Majesty thinks and pauses.

What would Loi do?

Loi would think first. They'd make a plan. They'd tell Fredrick, or maybe not, and then...

That is when they charge headfirst into battle.

Now that they think about it, it would be good to have a plan. Too bad Loi's just a protagonist from their favorite book series. There would be no hidden back up this time.

There was Kno to think about, too. Would they be okay in the dark, alone?

The scratching grows louder once more. Farther, but still on the shelves.

Whatever that was wouldn't go down. It was stuck on the shelves too.

They hesitate.

Staring into the darkness, they briefly recalled a notail tradition they read late at night. It too perfectly encompassed their feelings.

Impulsively, they briefly did a two handed salute, tucking their head in the crook of their arm.

The scratching increases. It sounds like it's coming to them. It's coming closer.

Majesty's breathing quickens. It knew they were there. It knew.

They backed away slowly, ignoring the splinters the old wooden shelf gave their feet. They slowly closed their wings around themselves, hoping that whatever it was wouldn't notice.

Their mind searched for a weapon.

Then they remembered.

Loi raised their book- the book filled with swirling wonder and magic, brimming at the seams- and cast it away. The bright light attracted the fauna around them to it, leaving them and Fredrick safe.

For now.


So they did that.

Trembling, they took out a book from the shelf- a light novel. Whispering a quiet sorry to it, they threw it far in front of them. It landed with a thump on the other side of a different shelf.

The scratching stopped and grew quieter.

Majesty breathed a sigh of relief.

Yet impulsively, they found themselves following the noise. The shelf was cold under their bare feet, but they didn't complain.

It would be a little bit of time before they could reach the source.

They wonder what they would do when they got there.


For now, Kno should not be forgotten. They were seated against the wall, their wings curling around them, cushioning their body like a pillow. Their tail swished back and forth as their gaze constantly went back to the shelf Majesty climbed.

They've checked their phone. It's been fifteen minutes. They wouldn't be surprised if Majesty was still trying to climb the wall, however.

For them, it was complete and utter silence. They've only heard a brief noise every now and then. The silence was unnerving.

Especially in a near empty library which just experienced a black out.

They've been trying to wait patiently for Majesty to come down, but it's growing difficult to occupy themselves with history they can't read.

They stare off in the darkness and close their eyes in thought.

They have several choices.

They could try to follow Majesty. They're not very dexterous as they are, however, and would easily fall. Maybe there's a ladder somewhere.

They could explore the darkness. They're not sure why, however.

They could call Clei and hope they remebered her number correctly.

....Or they could simply wait again, and continue reading.

That, or they could try doing something else.

They sigh. What shall they do?

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#10
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
> Kno: Climb! Climb! Climb! You can always just try again if you fall, after all.
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#11
RE: [library] - a textuna adventure
>Majesty: Yo, try to drop a book on the weird noise, that oughtta teach em a lesson!
Dont have no adventure no more <o/
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