[open] suddenly there are clouds all around and the clouds all around her are warm

[likeseggos]

Who: Eleven and you!
Where: Library
When: 11/21
Rating: Probably not more than PG-13 lbr
Summary: Eleven wakes up in Wonderland. It's fine. Everything is fine.
The Story:

[the last thing she remembered was stopping the demogorgon. disintegrating it into nothing … didn't she die? she was so spent, and it took so much of her, she thought that was the only way it could end. but instead of the cold, dark, dampness of the upside down, or simply the nothingness of being dead, she found herself here. wherever here was.

as she takes in her surroundings, she realizes she's surrounded by books. she doesn't really care about books — she can read, sort of, but giving her a proper literary education was never really a priority in hawkin labs. what she does know about books in general though, is that the best ones are big and heavy. and that is why she starts grabbing the lengthier hardcover tomes off the shelf without so much as really glancing at what they are. because in a corner, she's … building a fort out of books??? or at least a sizable small collection. to chuck at people's heads.]

Comments

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper spends a lot of his time in the library. He has even, on occasion, been known to sleep here. Usually not on purpose. He has a bad habit of not sleeping until he collapses with exhaustion. And of picking out a lot of books to read.

When he sees a girl building a fort out of books, he immediately assumes she's a kindred spirit.]

Wow, why did I never think of that? It's like a house you can read!

[likeseggos]

[she stares at him for several beats that probably feel like a small eternity, as she tries to decide if this new person is trustworthy or not. generally in her experiences kids have been okay ... he doesn't seem like as asshole like troy ... so she won't throw a book at his head. for now.]

Safe.

[krmvgivv]

Safe? [He frowns, crouching down.] Safe what? The books? I'm Dipper, by the way. [He holds out a hand.]

[determinedest]

[They end up in the library - less out of any genuine desire to be around books, and more because they just remembered reading books was something they occasionally did before everything happened, and they had their determination drained away.

It's hard to care about a lot of things, still. Like trying to think through the thick muzziness of cotton stuffed in their ears.

There's a stack of books that, as they observe it further, is actually shaping up to be a fort of some kind. At least Frisk still has their memories. They tilt their head to one side and say, in their atypically blank monotone:]

Staying in here isn't very comfortable.

[likeseggos]

[el doesn't seem bothered or put off by how atypical frisk is, but maybe that's because she's not exactly typical herself. in any case, she doesn't feel immediately threatened, so after an assessing pause, she asks]

Here?

["where is here? where else would be safer?" seems to be the implication, but it's all bolstered to the single word.]

[determinedest]

Library. Not good for sleeping.

[Their tone is dull and matter-of-fact, as easily as if they were commenting on the weather. They've never seen this kid before, but they've sort of lost a lot of their observational skills. They've lost a lot of what makes Frisk, "Frisk."

So nothing of value was lost, really. Ha ha.]

[mandrakes]

[It's in looking for a particular book that he finds the girl, and rather than simply taking what he had been searching for, Regis presses one fingertip lightly to the hardback cover and glances at the hoarder with slightly raised eyebrows.]

Would you mind if I borrowed this?

[You know, because it's rude to just take a bit of someone's house.]

[likeseggos]

[she stares up at him with wide eyes and shakes her head after a moment. but she has to ask, because she's not sure what the word means—]

Borrow?

[mandrakes]

It appears to be part of your structure here, I wouldn't like to simply take it.

[He taps his fingernail against the book lightly, just once.]

To borrow it means that I will return it to you. It contains some information that I would like to look at.

[smolmedium]

[ The library is kind of interesting, Norman likes visiting to pick out random books he'd never be allowed to read for school. Of course he isn't really expecting to see a girl building a fort out them when he turns a corner. ]

Um, do you need some help? [ Though he doesn't come too close just because he's never sure how welcome he'll be around new people. ]

[likeseggos]

[at first she shakes her head no, not so much as looking at him before plopping another book onto her wall. but then, she figures, if he's asking that, maybe he knows ...]

Where? [she gestures around them. where is this??]

[harpless]

[Cas thinks it's pretty clever to literally fortify oneself with knowledge. The only thing that concerned him was that it wasn't structurally sound. The angel takes one book off the fort and replaces it with another to balance out the rest of them.]

You should be safe now.

[He pauses, regarding Eleven a moment before crouching to her level. No one liked being talked down to.]

Are you okay? [Obviously not, but he figures it was polite to ask.]

[likeseggos]

[to be fair, she doesn't have much experience in building forts. or anything. she did what she could, okay.

but she appreciates hearing that she's safe. that's something she's never been, it feels like, so she wants to believe it. she replies to cas's question with a nod.]

Not hurt.

[needlebearer]

[Arya doesn't spend too much time in the library, especially not since Joel had managed to set her on fire in there. Today however she finds herself particularly bored, and she's searching for some adventure stories to drag back to her room and read. Having spotted something interesting on a higher shelf, she reaches for a thick tome to lay on the floor and use as a step to grab for it, but just as she does so another girl has taken the volume.]

Hey, I was about to use that.

[likeseggos]

[eleven stares at the other girl, frowning. that was ... kind of rude??? the other person who took a book from her asked to borrow it.]

Use?

[beatupgrass]

[she may have been doing all of that within like five feet of Rocket who is sitting underneath a table with a stack of engineering tomes, easily missed since he's a raccoon ~blending in with the shadows~

she's actually at it for awhile before he finally speaks.] Hey, kid. [once he has her attention, he slides a heavy book across to her.] Your left wall's got an uneven corner, so unless you want the whole thing to collapse, I'd replace it with that one.

[likeseggos]

[she stares at him, not especially surprised that he's a raccoon because she's seen some strange weird shit. she tilts her head slightly, considering his advice, nods, and take the book. and then she plays telekinesis jenga with the books, replacing one of the ones in the left wall with the book rocket offered her without so much as lifting a finger. w/e she does what she wants.]

[mypartnerincrime]

[So Chloe almost never reads. She used to. But ever since getting kicked out of Blackwell, she hasn't been paying them much attention (except for those big, bulky math and physics ones maybe). But after taking a wrong turn on the way to meet up with Max, Chloe winds up in the middle of Wonderland's library. She takes one look at the place, shakes her head and curses her to self, then makes her way back to the exit, when she notices the book fort in one corner. Chloe and Max used to always build forts, mostly with their pillows. But never with books. Their parents would probably have gone nuts if they started chucking their school books in one corner.

She approaches the fort and sees the little girl holding the books, as if prepared to throw them to whoever comes near. Being Chloe of course, she doesn't pay attention.]

Hey, cool fort kid!

[likeseggos]

[with wide eyes, she looks down at the fort, looks up at chloe, and then points to herself. not that there are other people around that she could also be talking to, but ... well, she doesn't know.]

[canofwhoopass]

[She's not even in the library to read; she's mostly curious just how big the dang thing is. Also, to be totally fair, heavy books are good for things, like crushing. Or just stacking to see how high they can go. Or--

Hey, that girl's making a fort. Now there's an idea.]

Dude, see, that's a plan with books. You've totally got the right idea.

[likeseggos]

[she almost smiles a little at the praise, and gestures to the fort]

Safe. [she's making a safe space.]

[walkingheroin]

Oh no, they're multiplying.

[Why must it always be children? There are too many of them already, and they all think they're adults and it's going to eventually drive him up a wall.]

I hope you do realize that this isn't your own personal play pen! Some of us are trying to actually read.

[Spoiler 1: He's not actually reading. Spoiler 2: He's shouting and being far more disruptive. Such a winner.]

[likeseggos]

[oh ... it's her time to shine. she knew this day would come. jk she didn't, she's talked to enough people in her book fort now to assume that most people here are generally ok and not dickheads like the kids bullying mike or literally out to get her like the hawkins lab people. but then she had to meet this guy. :'| he's not being very nice right now ok. she doesn't like being yelled at.

so she telekinetically throws a book at his head.]

[chocolatepudding]

[ Dustin does use the library, but today is more of a 'let's see how fast he can ride his bicycle in the hallway without anyone yelling at him' day, so it's just a quick jaunt. Lack of parental supervision is awesome, even if he misses his mom and dad quite a lot.

What are the adults in Wonderland going to? Send him to his equally awesome room? And even then, they'd have to catch him. Suckers.

He does make a hard turn into the library--and actually gets off because he'll never admit it, but he's sort of scared of some of the staff here--and it's when he's leaning his bike against a bookshelf and going on his usual search for cool things to horde. It's kind of hard to concentrate when there's a super kick-ass fort in one of the shelves, and--

Wait. Is that...? ]

El?

Holy shit.

[ Excuse him, he's rooted to the spot, trying very very hard not to smile. ]

[likeseggos]

[!!!!!

!!!!!!

her face is basically a giant exclamation point. while this place didn't seem immediately dark and threatening like the upside down, she didn't have very much hope of seeing the handful of friends she'd made in indiana here. but here ... was dustin???]

Dustin. [she even smiles a little, a rarity.]