Character University

Library

The more and more she heard this argument go on, the less safe Rachel felt. The girl with the sword was indeed somewhat crazy, and judging by her words she just wanted to watch the world burn. Rachel really, really didn't want to be around when this chick got going. If she had no problem with burning the world down, then certainly an infected wouldn't leave so much as a mark on her conscious.

Even scarier was the fact that Rachel could actually somewhat understand what she meant. Things had been going downhill for her ever since the P-virus first broke out. She often wondered what it'd be like to simply give in to the virus and go hog wild like most of the other infected, without a care in the world for the lives of normal humans. Everything the virus was doing to her seemed to be pushing her in that direction, if having hands that seemed to be designed solely for killing were any indication.

However, her problems seemed to be but a blip on the radar compared to what this woman was going through, or perhaps had already been through. At least her infection wasn't leaving her with a desire to mess with things humans weren't meant to know....

On a more positive note, it seemed things were starting to wind down. Yet another girl had managed to find a book that remained unscathed by the torching and seemed to be enjoying it, and everyone else seemed to be calming down. However, she still didn't feel safe here and still wanted to get out before tempers started flaring again.

"Since there doesn't seem to be anything to see here," she said, "I think I'll go find someplace more peaceful. Like a cemetery, perhaps." With that, she started to head towards the door. She decided that she'd be back later to find information on how she got here, when there wasn't some psychopath trying to burn the place down. Peace might have been somewhere on this godforsaken campus, but it definitely wasn't here.

[Library]

Scout slid the steamy romance into her backpack and scuttled to the manga section. Rows of them extended down the area.

"They have manga here? Cool!" She side-stepped down the aisle, scanning for the yaoi.

[Library]

Seeing how the drama mostly died down, Nathan walked away, heading to the Mystery section. He pulled out the first book that caught his eye-A Study In Scarlet. It'd been a while since he read anything Sherlock Holmes related. One more time wouldn't hurt.

Finding an empty chair, he sat down and began to read in silence.

[Library]

Athalia looked puzzled by Scout's comment. "Manga? Sorry, but I've never heard of it. I guess it's something only humans have in their culture..."

[Library]

Raze arrived at the library, and was surprised to see the bunch of people within it. Raze was puzzled, "How did I fail to notice such big gatherings of people?" He felt rather uncomfortable, with his long-sleeved white shirt and black long pants pretty much soaked wet. However, he was certain that his Glock is waterproof. His cellphone, on the other hand, "...Damn."

At the entrance she bumped to a girl, but he politely apologized. "Huh... her hand?" He was tempted to look back, but instead moved forward, "Nah, I'm imagining things; I'm getting a cold tonight, that's for sure."

The man in his late twenties approached the crowd, "Excuse me, did anyone know about the explosion in the courtyard?"

edited 18th Jun '12 3:55:15 PM by LimitRemoval

[Library]

"Hey! It was just getting to the good part." Kit said. Doltur rolled his eyes, and went over the almanac some more. Whoever did it obviously was very good at what he did, so he was looking for ideas.

"Can't say I have either. It's not a half breed thing, that's for sure, and we try to do everything humans do." Kit said.

[Library]

Scout glanced at Athalia. "You're not human?" She smiled. "That's all right. I would be surprised if they had manga on other planets."

She continued trouncing down the room, her fingertips brushing the spines. Maybe they hid the yaoi at the back of the shelves?

Tina overheard Raze. "Uh, it was me, sir. I taped up a Twilight book on that lightning rod, and threw it out the window. Sorry about that!" Tina said to Raze.

[Library]

"Other planets?" Athalia asked, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm from Earth... I'm just not human. I'm not an alien or anything like that."

Peter paused while flicking through the shelves of the manga section to turn towards Tina. "That's right... you did sort of start this, and boy, did it escalate... Well, at least you're sorry about it, but you really come across to me as someone who should know better."

[Library]

Ena laughed at the non-humans' confusion. "Manga is a thing nerdy people read. It's full of people yelling out their attacks, Japanese things like cherry blossoms, curvy women, iron-chested men, and stuff like that. Needless to say, I don't like Manga. No, I prefer pure fantasy novels, like Harry Potter. In fact..." Ena raced down the aisles until she found the book she was looking for, and then returned to where the other people were sitting holding a colorful book in her hand. Reading the cover, Ena said, "'James Potter and the Moonlit Escapade'. Holy crap, a prequel book?!" Ena plopped down on a couch and began to flip through the pages.

edited 18th Jun '12 4:03:22 PM by Collen

"...Twilight?" Raze's face formed a ridiculous expression. "She taped a Twilight book to a lightning rod and sent it flying to the courtyard?"

When Raze was about to comment on how bizarrely appropriate that was, he realized that he had barged in, soaked wet, and inquiring about it in such a way that he was probably mistaken as an authority figure. He formed a slight smile.

"You do realize that it was the university's property, do you?" Raze formed a slightly smug expression.

"There is something wrong with that girl." Doltur said, and returned to his book.

"If you don't mind me asking, if your not human, what exactly are you? If I'm prying, let me know, I'm just curious." Kit said to Athelia.

[Library]

Overhearing Raze, but not looking up from her book, Ena said, "Too late to worry about that. I set the entire Young Adult Romance section on fire, as well as the first Twilight book. It was fun."

edited 18th Jun '12 4:05:23 PM by Collen

Hallway outside the Library

On her way out, Rachel bumped into a man who looked like he was in the same situation she was some time ago (an hour? Two hours? She'd lost track of the time, and she doubted there was a clock in working condition here). She didn't think much of it, and simply nodded to show that she accepted his apology.

Now that she was outside the library, where exactly could she go? She heard something about looking for a science lab earlier...actually, that sounded like a good idea. While there probably wasn't an answer to her presence here to be found in a lab, perhaps she could get some questions answered about her infection. As far as she could tell, the P-virus was spread through bodily fluids. Perhaps she could spit into a petri dish or something and look at it under a microscope.

This building here seemed like a good a place as any to start looking. If there was a library in here, there had to be classrooms. With that, she walked down the hallway, looking for anything that might resemble a lab or lead to a lab.

"I know, but I think the University is abandoned." Tina said to Raze. "Other than you guys, I didn't see any teachers, or students at all. By the way, said Twilight book was New Moon."

edited 18th Jun '12 4:06:42 PM by DiurnalBrocolli

[Library]

"I don't care what book it was," Peter said. "You seem like a nice girl, and I'd like it if you proved to not be a stupid girl... I just realised, I didn't actually catch your name, Ms...?"

[Auditorium]

"See me in the shadows..., see me in the shadows..."

A remarkably handsome man sang softly to himself with the voice of a professional musician, plucking upon a guitar, as he wandered the empty halls of the university.

"Songs I will sing, of runes and rings. Just hand me my harp, this night turns into myth..."

The man had piercing hazel eyes and blond hair that fell down to his shoulders. He dressed simply: a yellow waistcoat with a yellow tie, a crisp white button-down shirt, and faded blue jeans. He walked with a skip in his step, an air of roguish confidence and a playful, impish smile. He glanced about himself, taking in everything about this place, but showed no sign of fear, confusion, or worry.

The guitar he played was a black electric guitar, whose solid body left it poorly suited to being played unplugged. But it didn't matter: the musician's voice was strong enough to carry the song alone.

"Nothing seems real, you soon will feel, the world we live in is another skald's, dream in the shadows, dream in the shadows..."

He came upon an auditorium, and soon found its sound system. The impish smirk was replaced by a soft smile of absolute peace as he dragged out and set up a number of amps, cranked them up to their loudest, pulled a guitar pick from his waistcoat, and released a wild storm of riffs a metalhead would recognize as the opening of Judas Priest's Heavy Metal. It was unlikely anybody would hear them far off in the library, on the other end of the campus, but those lost and wandering would now have something to gather towards.

edited 18th Jun '12 4:26:13 PM by KillerClowns

"Romance novels?" Loyce repeated, surprised and disappointed. "Are you kidding me?" He was glad to see Twilight gone, but he'd hoped for something more interesting than a ridiculous romance novel. And besides, couldn't they have thought of a way to ruin stupid books that was more useful than that?

edited 18th Jun '12 4:10:56 PM by YsaSlayerOfSporks

"She's no fun to play with." Raze's smug expression melted as fast as it was formed. "The fact that you burned the worst book in the series entertains me even further." Raze commented before walking toward a chair.

Then he looked at Ena, "Well, I care not even if you burn the entire Fiction department." Raze sat on a nearby chair, "Just don't harm the repository of actual knowledge that is the Non-Fiction section." He continued in his thought.

Raze pulled out his cellphone, "Damn, soaked." He quickly removed the battery. "So much for calling back home."

"Tina. Tina Wei-Moote." Tina said to Peter.

"I'm Peter. Peter Gray," he answered. Motioning to Athalia, he said, "And that's Athalia. She, uh... she doesn't have a last name."

"Well, nice to meet you guys!" Tina said.

Raze began taking apart his cellphone on the nearby table. After he checked, no circuits were fried, so it should be fine after the components were dried.

Now, he just have to wait for them to dry.

Gotta go. Probably I'll back online at midnight.

[Library]

"Finally!" Scout dug her hand far into the shelf and pulled out some yoai. And the guys on the cover looked like her type. Guess whoever stocked the library (who happened to be MIA) remembered to be...extensive.

The other girl that liked manga too was talking to someone else. Tina, her name was. And she tossed New Moon out the window with a lightning rod? She must feel extremely passionate about her hatred of the series. In fact, if she was the one to destroy all those YA books. All those precious books in a fire.

Telling from her backpack's weight, she still possessed that canister.

Scout slid back to Tina and offered her hand. "Hey, you like manga too? I'm Scout."

[Library]

Considering everyone else was making introductions, Ena said, "I'm Ena Neeves, for those of you not in the know. I'll be reading for awhile, so don't bother me."

I'll be gone for the rest of the day.