fluxscape | Research Party: BYOB | OTA Except Blonde Jocks Who Can't Read

While researching, please note that the people of Driftcrest will be dropping off food for people to eat while they try to end the problem of the Unseen once and for all. The captain of the guards will also ask that people please bring him all research once things are said and done and to please bring a plan. He is also okay with people helping to end the Unseen menace once and for all.

What will be discovered while researching:

The creatures are not from this universe. They're Ether Beings/Ether Monsters and the legends around that is they got trapped in this universe. How isn't said. There are references to a great disaster that trapped them, but legends have conflicting information there. Some legends say the disaster is an earthquake. Some say it's a drought, a flood, whatever natural phenomena can be considered a disaster, that's what the legends argue about.

People will discover that Driftcrest is said to be 200 years old, but history books don't go past the last five years, which seem to be when the Unseen first started appearing. Anything further back than that and the pages become impossible to read. The words move, flicker in and out of existence, hurt to look at. The name of the town changes, too, from Driftcrest to Wechester to Beachville.

There's a memorial book with all of the names of people who are ice statues, but the odd thing there is the older names will be crossed out, a final sort of gesture. And those crossed out names won't be found in the garden under a statue, but on a large plaque with plenty of room for more names. This might seem to indicate they really are gone and there's nothing to be done about it.

Somehow, somewhere, in a very few pieces of information, it's theorized that the Unseen hide during the day because that's when they're at their weakest. Meaning that's when they're tangible. There's also a journal, leather bound and old, that references an old mining cave a few miles out of town, but the coordinates on the map are blurry and smudged.

Thankfully, there's a picture in the book that looks like a fairly bad drawing of where to possibly find this cave. If someone finds a good map of Driftcrest and everything outside of it, they might be able to work out where. Much like everything else people are looking at, the map seems to fluctuate a bit. Never really looking the same twice. Except for a small location a few miles out of town.

The Box:

This will be referenced heavily, but the notes on it will be hard to read. What people can read will hint that it's a keeper of souls, keeper of essences and the box always has room for more, because souls fade away in it.

This is the box from the nightmares. Anyone who's seen that box in the dreams this week will instantly know that's what it's talking about.

Get to researching. Form a plan. Save your friends.

Kieran would protest that this was too early for him to be awake. He'd gotten used to sleeping in until the sun wasn't even a hint on the horizon anymore, so all of this was...less than ideal. But he'd said he'd help with research and besides, what else was he going to do with himself until this huge mess was sorted out? He wanted to be able to go out at night without risking being attacked by things. He doubted they had any kind of monster code of ethics, where monsters didn't attack other monsters and thus rendering him safe. Besides, if he was one of the only people out at night, that wouldn't be any fun.

His stomach gurgled as he entered the library, making his way to...wherever. Now that he was there, he realized he didn't know where to start or what to actually do. On top of that, he hadn't eaten since before getting kidnapped, so the hunger was faint but there, a distraction. He had, at least, a notebook and a pen and a positive, though sleepy, attitude.

It's hard to say when Nieve pops into the library but she can be found rather suddenly, casually reading through a book and muttering to herself as she flips through the pages. Her brownish hair is partially pinned back from her face with a couple of clips and she looks comfortably dressed in a red sweater over a plain black skirt. She finishes the outfit with a pair of stockings and...well, her shoes seem to be missing. Not that she notices as she wanders around, reading.

After a little bit, she puts the book away and picks up another one, her brows drawing together as she reads the text. Then, quite randomly, she looks up with a frown. "Does anyone know if the great disaster mentioned was actually an earthquake? Or was it a flood? The books I've been reading can't seem to decide."

"I've read a great fire," says Eugene, sitting on the table. On. He's antsy and feeling claustrophobic. What do you want from him?

"I've also read mudslide, land wars...and the name keeps disappearing from the books. Just for a moment."

It might be making him a little nauseous.

Janet was not exactly the type to enjoy researching things, but she wanted to help end the threat to everyone like a hero would do. Which meant sucking it up and pulling an all-nighter. She had barely slept when she started back to reading another book on Driftcrest, hoping to find something that would clue them in to stopping the creatures.

The saving grace had been when one of the civilians that heard they were researching the monsters decided to bring in coffee, donuts and breakfast sandwiches for the would be heroes. It seemed like even the natives were hoping for a miracle.

It was as Janet was taking a sip of coffee that she noticed Kieran walk into the library, immediately recognizing him as the guy she spoke to on the network. They hadn't really introduced themselves, but the stream had been video, so she hoped he still remembered her.

"Hey! Over here!" She called out, completely uncaring of the rule against noise. They were literally trying to save lives, the library workers were just going to have to deal with her loudmouth.

His original plan when getting the job at the library had been with the intent to research Driftcrest and find out why they were randomly getting pulled into the strange city. However that goal quickly changed as the nightmares came and then the news that people were vanishing and creatures were attacking. Then his research turned to trying to find out more about the creatures as well as learning about the city.

The plus for working at the reference desk was having access to the library's computer system so he could look up possible titles that could potentially help everyone willing to read. Of course the downside was that none of the books could leave the building. Not even attempting to sneak them out would work, thus he was forced to read and take notes at the library. Luckily Five was one who could go long stretches without sleep.

So he sat crossed legged on top of one of the tables surrounded by books, while he occasionally jotted notes down in a notebook to his side. Only pausing to take a sip of his coffee that sat beside him. Once in a while he would frown, before flipping to the next page and continuing on.

For a second, he looked around to make sure she was talking to him, then headed on over. The smell of coffee was enticing, too, and he took his hands out of his pockets as he approached. After a second or two, recognition hit him, and he smiled.

"Oh hey, it's you." Pulling out a chair nearby, he plopped down and reached for a donut. It wouldn't help with his gurgling stomach but it sure would taste good. "How's the research going?" And what could he help with? "Oh! Also, I'm Kieran," he added.

"Hi, I'm Janet, but you can call me Jan." She introduced before glancing down at the book she was holding with a slight frown. "It's going. Some of these books are like wise guys or something." She added as she leaned back in her chair and took another sip of coffee.

"A couple of times, things I have read in a book has seemingly changed when I went to write down some notes." She clarified with a small sigh. She dislike researching as it was, but she wasn't ready for the library books to be playing tricks on her while researching. "Oh and the books specifically on this place cannot be taken out of the building at all. It's like some crazy magic spell are on these."

"Nice to meet you," he said politely.

Wise guy books...that didn't make any sense until she clarified. When she did, Kieran scrunched his nose up, taking a bite of his donut while he considered that. Information in books that changed when you looked away and books that you couldn't take out of the library. Weird. He hoped they weren't cursed.

"Like, they literally can't like, if you try they teleport back in or something?" he asked when he was finished chewing. "I'm not sure if that's better or worse than the stuff in books changing when you look away. Maybe they're haunted."

Nieve doesn't seem to think anything of it when she spies the young man sitting on the table. Really, she has found herself sitting in very strange places too when she gets in a certain mood.

"Almost like they can't make up their mind or they don't want to do know. Or maybe one catastrophe triggered another," she muses, setting the book down with a little huff. "Either way, it's very disconcerting when we're trying to figure all this out."

"What else have you found?"

"References to a mine. Several of them. That, at least, isn't conflicting information." He's glad for it. Eugene goes silent for a moment and then stills entirely, lifting the book he's reading closer to his face a bit as he reads and rereads a line over and over.

And then he makes a grab for another book, turning to a page he marked. "Oh, that's good. That's really good and potentially useful."

He's not going to get up to show Nieve what he found, buuuut he might create a small group of angels to carry the books over.

"Look, the name of the town changes, right? But the mention of the gold mine...that hasn't moved at all. Each reference puts it to within a couple miles northeast of here. The only thing that changes even a little bit is the distance, but that might be more misinformation and not whatever bull keeps changing the disaster and the name of the town."

She nodded toward the other coffee that was still sitting in the holder. "You can have the other coffee if you want, it's still hot. There should be sugar and creamer in the holder." She told him as put her cup on the table and stretched out her arms. It had been a long night.

"Pretty much, they vanish into thin air and then they are back on the shelf again like they had never been touched." She explained, picking up her coffee again for another sip. "I get the feeling someone just likes to mess with our heads." She added with a frustrated sigh.

"I'm pretty sure I came across some text about the Unseen not being from this universe. So they might be displaced like we are. I'm still trying to find out exactly what they are, but there's a lot to get through."

"You." Ronan stopped as he was passing by and tipped his head a bit, looking a lot like Chainsaw when she was investigating something or someone new. The difference was she looked like a curious Raven and Ronan looked more like a deviant ready to start a fight.

"I know you." He did and didn't. They had only spoken one from what he could remember and it was a long time ago. At least two towns ago?

"Neither can the town." Ronan comments offhandedly while actually reading a book. His boyfriend was attacked so YES he's reading a book. "But what the hell does a great disaster have to do with a changing town we can't leave and monsters' in the dark we can't see."

He drops the book on the table with a satisfied smirk because it's a little loud and he doesn't care.

"Don't try to lump them together or try to figure out which one is right. Look at the details surrounding them. This is the third town since I've been here and everything changes except for a few things so the disaster changes. But what is the same?"

"You like taking notes." Ronan pointed out, noticing the pen and notebook. "Good. We have a few people around the Library doing research, but I hate taking notes so buddy up with someone." Ronan isn't grouchy, he's just short on manners and fucks to give. He was born that way.

Jace had planned to wait and do the whole meeting over coffee thing, but he can't sleep at night and has been trying not to sleep during the day now that he can be out in the sunlight after something like 100 years without it. He's lost count. Being a Daylighter all of a sudden doesn't change the fact that his bodies instinct is to sleep when the suns out.

So he brings the coffee to the researchers. And a box full of bakery items with some cheese and fruit. He's not a delivery boy, but he's learned a thing or two about how to get things accomplished and not everyone responds to threats or sharp objects. Sometimes they respond to caffeine and sweets.

Instinctively Five glanced up from the book he was reading, when he heard someone addressing him. He frowned as he had no idea who the guy was, he didn't look the least bit familiar to Five.

"Sorry, you have me confused with someone else." He replied with a shrug before returning his attention back to the book.

"Oh, thanks," he said, snagging the coffee and sugar and creamer, adding copious amounts of sugar.

"That's really weird." Maybe this whole place was haunted. Or enchanted. Or something. He might have been a vampire but he wasn't exactly versed in magic.

Making a thoughtful noise, he flipped open his notebook and made a note about the Unseen, for his own reference. "That would kind of make sense, I guess. You think they were brought here accidentally? Or maybe they can hop universes by themselves." He was pretty sure he'd read a book or seen a movie like that before.

"I mean. Why show up to a research gathering with nothing to write on, right?" Sure he probably could have borrowed stuff from other people, but it was like classes; bring your own stuff.

"What about you? What're you going to be doing?"

She didn't even bat an eyelash at the amount of sugar he put into his coffee as she was use to everyone having their own taste when it came to the hot liquid.

"It is, but we just have to adapt, right?" She replied, because there was no use in fretting over things they couldn't change. They couldn't take the books out of the library? Well that just meant they would have to stay there and read them.

"That's a possibility that they came in on their own, but then got trapped here. I've come across a few things that allude to the fact that they are trapped, but the information on how is conflicting. There's some references to a 'great disaster', but the accounts on the 'great disaster' are all over the place. So I'm not sure if it was a natural disaster or if someone or something was behind it." Jan replied as she pushed her notebook toward Kieran to show him, what she managed to get so far.

Instinctively she sat back in her chair with a frown, she knew first hand that some natural disasters could be triggered by powerful beings. She'd seen it done in her world. So she wasn't prepared to rule out the possibility that someone purposely trapped the Unseen in Driftcrest.

"Yeah, that's true. Adapt and overcome and all of that." At least warded books or whatever weren't the worst thing that could happen. They could still read the books and get information from them.

"Hmmm." He pulled the notebook a little closer, peering over what was written. "How would a disaster stop something that could hop dimensions though? Unless it interfered with...uh...like energy and stuff, I guess." But he also guessed that was what they were sifting through books for; to find out what the disaster was and how it affected the Unseen.

"I don't know, but hopefully something in these books will tell us that." Jan replied honestly. She could theorize but that sort of thing wasn't usually her strong suit. Thus she shifted to pick up a new book from the pile she had been working through and held it out toward Kieran.

"I haven't read this one yet, if you want to start on it."

He pushed her notebook back across the table, taking the offered book. "Sure thing," he said. "It's a shame we can't search these books like we can search the internet, you know? Like search for 'Unseen' or 'creatures' or something and find the pages things are on that way."

He was a child of technology, but more than that, being able to search that way sure would speed things up. Oh well; doing things the old-fashioned way wasn't bad, either.

"Oh gosh, yeah that would make things so much easier, if we could just use internet search engines." Jan agreed with a small laugh. While she knew he wasn't exactly cracking a joke, it still felt funny to her. But then given the severity of things, it was probably good to have a laugh once in and while otherwise things would get too heavy.

"This is probably good for me though, I've been pretty reliant on technology to help solve my problems. I forgot what it was like to physically do the leg work."

"I mean, we're kind of on a time crunch, aren't we? People are getting turned into statues and who knows what else, so." He didn't know how long this had been going on, of course, but it sure felt like everyone was on a time crunch now, cracking down on research and getting to the bottom of things.

"Man, sometimes physically doing the leg work sucks. Like, don't get me wrong, I prefer books over tablets and stuff, but." He shrugged a shoulder. "Too bad it's not like in TV shows where everything the heroes need to know is always found online." But even as he said it, he opened his book so he could start looking for actual information.

"That's true, but it's not like we have control over that, unfortunately." Jan sighed as she preferred to keep her focus on getting through this tedious stuff. She already hated doing research but if she started thinking of all the way it could be easier, she'd just end up irritated.

"Honestly I'm use to my smarter teammates taking the helm on stuff like this. Hank, T'Challa and Tony were the ones who could work through research at break neck speeds since they're geniuses." She added, picking up her cup to take another sip.

"It definitely gives me an even bigger appreciation for their contributions to our missions."

"Luckily, you don't have to be a genius to do research." He paused for a moment, realized how that sounded, then added, "I mean for my sake. I'm not a genius. I'm not even used to doing research outside of school. When I was in school, at least."

He shrugged a shoulder. "But you know what they say about desperate times."

Jan giggled, taking no offense to his first statement. She wasn't a genius, so there was certainly no need to feel slighted or anything. She hadn't even considered how his words might have sounded before he was clarifying himself. "Yeah, I get it. I'm not a genius either. I'm more of an action girl myself, but like you said desperate times." She agreed with a nod of her head.

"All we can do is try and get through these books and hopefully find the answers we need to help everyone."

Edited 2021-04-22 00:48 (UTC)

Whew, that was a relief. "Yeah," he agreed. "It'd be nice to feel like a hero." More importantly, it'd be nice to have actually contributed to the solution and have done something. He'd never been anyone's hero before, he didn't think.

Research Party: BYOB | OTA Except Blonde Jocks Who Can't Read

ooc: research info - do not tag this comment please!

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