The Library of Fandom

[Frostborne_PrettyGirl]

For once in his considerably long lifetime, though no one knew his real age, he had been caught off guard. "You do know how to get us inside don't you," Esteban said, standing. "If not, I can get us in there with little to no problem," he said as he put his hand against the DINER emblem.  

[silentdraconis]

The Emblem he touched was really more of a hastily (but neatly) fashioned paper sign denoting the closed-down Library as New Diner territory and no longer a clan in its own right. The sign also had an apology to would-be guests saying that the Library would re-open once its pest problem was under control. Aside from rowen and the Doctor, the grounds were eerily quiet.

Die walked up while Esteban was suggesting he could break in. "That won't be necessary, Doctor. I have the key." She slipped between the two men to the door and slid an old fashioned brass key into the lock. Her lips moved, but no sound came out as she breathed her words out. The large ornate doors to the Tenth Sea Library swung inwards without so much as a squeak. The entry hall was wide and round, more like the reception area to a business than a place of learning, and floored in cream marble. A pattern done in darker marble ran across the floor, but it was clear that it was meant to be seen from higher up. Across the room, a massive dark wood desk sat empty and desolate, and the shelves that ran behind it looked forlorn despite their burden of books.
Die stepped through the door, beckoning the other two to enter as well. "Welcome to the Tenth Sea Library, gentleman, the last remaining monument to one of Byako's greatest and most terrible clans..."  

[Frostborne_PrettyGirl]

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Esteban said as he entered into the eerily dark library. "Shall I give us some light," he said, placing his briefcase close to the doors. He took a step forward further into the Library and held out a single, closed hand. "You see, I can't remember if this place has electricity or not."  

[Rowen McNeill]

"Uhh..." He turned an instant before Die spoke, but didn't move until she had put the key in. He had thought Esteban had a way in, and the man's proposal didn't really appeal to him.

Blowing up library doors wasn't his thing. Though, if need be... he probably could do it...

"You know, it was considerably less creepy when I took out Good Omens, and..." He walked in, taking in the floor, the walls, the desk... "And I remember this guy..." his wings began to peek out of slits under a flap on the back of his duster, but the young man shook his head, and they retreated. "But I guess that was a while ago, wasn't it? Time flies when you're making... sandwiches..."  

[silentdraconis]

Die shook her head. "It hasn't been that long, actually. The Leader of the Immortal Clan went missing shortly before I was given Diner. He'd had his... own agenda, though, for a month or two before that so someone else was running it. They vanished along with most of the staff, and the building was closed as a public hazard with no one to contain the monsters in the upper levels." She ran a hand over a metal plaque that bore the first rule of the library--'There shall be no fighting on the first or 100th floors.' She sighed and strode across the smooth flooring to the desk and began poking around.
"This place has lighting of its own, I just need to get it working. You might be better served going to the card catalog and looking for that book's location. You've got limited time, and we have a lot of ground to cover. This place is over a hundred stories tall, including the basements, after all."
A few moments later, the light of the afternoon coming through the door was augmented by warm glows from orbs floating around the entry hall.  

[Rowen McNeill]

Rowen snapped his fingers, and a blue flame appeared at the tip of his thumb, as if he was holding a match. When the orbs showed up, however, he dropped his hand, and the light went out.

"Huh. Shows you how much attention I pay to the current events of Byako." He walked up to Die, and stood next to her. In the lights of the orbs, the shadows of his wings were apparent... Even though the wings themselves were not. "You want me to stick with him in case something happens, or...?"

He was used to being dragged and pushed around, but didn't really mind.

He was in the library.  

[Frostborne_PrettyGirl]

"Yes of course," he said as he walked over to the card catalog. Outstretching his arms, a sudden force of energy all of the different catalogs began searching for the desired tome. "It shouldn't take long to find it," he said as the pages and cards kept flipping through. Every few seconds a catalog would stop searching as it either found the reference or came to the end. As the last catalog came to a stop, Esteban looked up. "It looks like there are five different sources all on different levels of the library."  

[silentdraconis]

"We'll start with the first of those levels, then, and work up. The elevator remains functioning and secure, as is this floor. Rowen, you've spent more time here than I--you're on point. Doctor, tell him where the books are, he'll get us there. I'll cover the the rear in case we're jumped from behind. Combat..." She looked the Doc over with narrowed eyes, and studied him. "You can do something, I can tell," She told the Doctor. "Arm up as you need. Don't die. Same goes for you, Rowen."
By this point, it might have been clear that this Die Drache seemed more aware than the woman in the Club had, more composed. Her wings had expanded to the size of her torso when folded, and her tail was a heavy additional limb that looked as if it would be painful to be hit with; green scales that waxed from a bright kelly green nearest her pinkish human flesh or the underside of her tail, to a dark forest green that showed closest to her claws, furthest from her body and in a stripe along the top of her ridged serpentine tail spread from their delicate edging to something heavier and larger. Her face had changed slightly too, scales creeping up her neck and over her cheeks and temples, dusting her nose. Her silvery fangs were far more pronounced when she spoke.
She dug in her bag and pulled out large rings that looked to be a mixture of dull iron and bright silver in various sizes. She slid them onto her tail one by one--iron, silver, iron, silver... repeating the sequence until they were gone--hooking them on the ridges to ensure that they would stay.
She looked even more dangerous with her tail thus weighted and armored.
Her bag, though clearly lighter, still held something heavy within it. She slung it over her shoulder and it clanked in protest.
That done, Die went to Rowen and fell in behind him, leaning up to murmur something in his ear, her lips hidden by the curve of her hand.  

[Rowen McNeill]

Rowen walked in step with her maybe five pases, moved his chin up and down once, then took full advantage of his long legs and sped up. He came to a halt beside the card catalog, and tilted his head. He opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it, and stuck his hand out.

"Mind if I take those cards? I know you don't wish to dally any longer than... we... do-- And like Die said, I know my way around." There was nothing but congenial friendliness in his voice, and light green eyes.  

[Frostborne_PrettyGirl]

"Esteban glanced at Die, and her apparent transformation. His eyes lit up briefly before he turned his glance to his briefcase at the entryway, and then back at Rowen. "As I mentioned, there are five different references to this one work. The first, is located in the basement. The second is on the third floor. The third is on the twenty-fifth floor. The fourth is on the twenty-sixth floor." Esteban paused briefly. "The fifth, is on the top floor. It is my hope that the book does not lie there." Esteban handed the cards to Rowen and straightened outs the ruffles and ridges that had formed in his suit jacket. He then turned his gaze back towards Die. "I knew there was something about you, but boy, I didn't expect to see that, Miss Dragonness. Onward I think."  

[silentdraconis]

Die shook her head--she had never concealed her half-dragon nature fully and doubted it could be done--but if he thought that her slight changes were something, he was in for quite a surprise.
"We'll start on the top floor, then. When the Library was functioning, it was the only other floor held sacrosanct from violence. It will also be easiest to search, since it was the reading and viewing room. Ro--we'll want to move fast, because if that area's been breached, it will have been by some of the most powerful creatures in the building." She Made one last sweep with her eyes over the room, and pushed the call button for the elevator.  

[Rowen McNeill]

Rowen took the cards graciously, picked out the one for the top floor, and stuck the other three in one of his back pockets. When the two of them disagreed, he glanced from one to the other, then nodded to die and shrugged at Esteban.

"I hope you don't mind Doctor, but she is the boss-lady." He pressed the button himself, watching the half-dial above the library as it slowly moved from the left, 100, to the right... 1.  

[Frostborne_PrettyGirl]

Esteban shrugged. "It matters not where we start," he said as he walked over to the elevator. "It's just a long way up to start a search. Its 74 floors above the next closest reference. I'd think it be wiser to start at the bottom and work our way up, but as you mentioned Mr. Rowan, Die is the boss. If I remember correctly, the section on cooking and sandwich making is on floor 27 or 28, but I only was able to glance at all the cards." Esteban came to a stop as the doors to the elevator opened. "Up we go then," he said as he walked inside the elevator, pressing the button for the 100th floor.  

[silentdraconis]

Die shrugged--she'd given her reasons for choosing the top floor whether they agreed or not--and followed Rowen into the transport up. The elevator was spacious, built to handle dozens of people or multiple carts of books (or both) at once.
The doors dinged shut behind her and the elevator began to move upwards. Whatever their reasons and whatever the three adventurers thought, the 100th floor was either going to be their easiest or hardest fight, and if it was the latter it was just as well that they were approaching it first and fresh as spring.  

[Rowen McNeill]

Rowen stepped in and looked around the elevator like he was searching for something. It was unclear if he found what he was looking for, but in any case the young man stopped and stared at the door. After a while he began humming something, and fidgeting a bit. He didn't like elevators, especially when there were perfectly good flights of stairs about... but even he knew that 100 stories worth of stairs would be a bit much. Especially given the time constraints.