17704/Nothing interesting ever happens in a Library.

Nothing interesting ever happens in a Library.
Date of Scene:	19 April 2024
Location:	Library - HHCC
Synopsis:	Crush and Phobos wade into the fray.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Xiomara Rojas

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
Alexander had come to the library in the early morning, a stack of books in his arms that did not belong to the Library. Old books that had a serious look to them bound in the skin of uncommon animals. He'd intended to use the space for its quiet, and the likeliness that no one would look for him here.

As the hours wore on he'd become restless, pushing the books aside and staying in the center of the library, looking in the cardinal directions occasionally and almost seeming to seethe about something. The few times the staff approached him, he'd frowned but re-assured them; but could not be moved from his position. Its like something was keeping him there.

And there was.

Something had followed him to the library today, it had establish a perimeter around it, it had posted itselves on the four cardinal directions and waited, obstructing his flight if he had even chosen to run. It was not something humans could see unassisted, but it was a living, and it had intention, none of which seemed good.

Alexander knew he had to wait until the staff and patrons filtered out before he could do anything, before he could risk doing anything, and his frozen position in the middle of the room made him seem beset upon as he waited patiently, staring toward the western window at the sun that would simply not set fast enough.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
The day was coming on to afternoon, and Crush was making her rounds. After graduating from Happy Harbor High School, she had taken on the job as a Security Guard for both the High School and the College. It was rare for anyone to try anything when she was on duty, wearing the official looking jacket with the sleeves taken off. The belt with pouches, radio, and a taser (not that she needed it), and her usual hot pink leather pants and knee high combat boots. Clearly they had come to an agreement regarding the uniform.

Making her way up the stairs and into the library, she pauses at the desk to speak with the librarian then turns and just stands there. She is an imposing figure, and her brow furrowing makes her look a little mean. Most people around here were already used to her, but some of the newer students take pause and stare.

Something wasn't right. She could feel it before she could see anything, and to see it she had to alter how she was looking at the world. The ability to change how she looked was a pain in the ass as a child, it was hard to master seeing the world the way humans did when you weren't human, and had no frame of reference.

Without trying to make it obvious, which was a difficult thing because she was /not/ sneaky, she starting walking up and down the isles. Shifting through the various spectrums, trying to find what it was that send the chill up her spine... nothing did that to her, except the sperm donor.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
Alexander Aaron has handsome but had an air of the uncanny, his eyes could seem to someone that they didn't belong to him or worse that when you looked into them something behind his eyes looked back. They where falsely beautiful, otherworldly wrong, deeply attracting and long gazing. They looked to Lobo's Daughter as she approached. They waited until contact was established, and then his lips parted to speak. "I can't get to the fire-alarm." he explained, despite the confidence in his voice it was low and conspiratorial, and he didn't even seem to think it was a good idea anyway. "And anyway, better if we handle this without risking first responders."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
It was rare for anyone to actually look her in the eyes, so Crush was a bit surprised that this guy did. Usually her six feet and four inches of height, coupled with pure white as clouds skin, and red eyes scared people off. However, upon seeing his eyes, she began to understand at least in part why he didn't have a problem.

"So this is about you," she comments bluntly, and perhaps a touch coldly, or maybe it was just seriously. "I'm going to get the people out of here without the alarm, you... stay there."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
The young man nodded, "Not sure how much time we have left." he said, glancing toward the setting sun. If anyone could clear the place out, she could likely. He watched as she approached and then left, the black and white and red-eyed hulk of a woman. Quickly he returned his attention to the slavering things. The things with elephants trunks for fingers, lamprey teeth wringed eyes, bodies like seething masses of corpulent worms wriggling over themselves in perpetual motion. His perfect equidistant positioning, his poised posture, and his war bread mind working the scenario over and over, all had almost palpable aura. You could taste it in the air, just as readily as you could perceive the reason for it.

"Crush." he said, because he knew her. Knew of her, as most around here did, invoking her to look back at him and meet his eyes with her angry rubies like he was summoning his own demon into the frey.

"We can't let any of these things...get away."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush has turned to walk away, but him speaking did in fact have her turn back to look at him. "Trust me dude, they won't," she replied, then canted her head. How he knew her name, she had no idea, but at the moment it didn't matter.

Pulling the radio off her belt she, turned back toward the rest of the library as she lifted it to her lips, "Hey Kyle, I need a practice fire alarm sounded for the library, right now... and I'll explain it later."

Stepping around one of the shelves, just enough for the head librarian to see her, she gives a specific hand gesture that the woman can see, then she is already turning around to walk back toward the guy in the corner. Only thirty seconds later the bell sounds, three rings, pause, three rings, pause, three rings... indication that people need to leave the library as if there is a real fire, but that there isn't a real fire. This isn't high school after all, where they just make you leave in panic and find out later it wasn't real.

Once she's back in range of the guy she asks, "What we dealing with here?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
Alexander spoke in hushed tones to her, "I don't know." he said, but keeping his eyes north he tapped the book on the table that was open to a page with some cryptic language and diagrams, and a small winged demon with a prehensile tail that was depicted choking a man to death. "But one of those attached itself to me in the middle of 5th avenue last night, tried to make me look like I was walking myself into oncoming traffic."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Moving closer to the table, Crush takes a glance at the book and the creature in it. This was more of that magic shit she had no idea about, but if the things were punchable...

"Okay, first we deal with these things," she says a little more quietly, finally able to get a sense of where they were in the room. "Then I suggest ya look up the Justice League Dark to get it unattached."

Taking another scan around the area she lets her eyes settle on the guy again. "Sun down, right?" She then asks before adding, "You got a name?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
Alexander Aaron replied after switching his gaze east, "Alex." he explained. "I think maybe Hellfire Club. Gotta get the other side of this thing to the bargaining table, see what the fuck they want." he wet his lips, noting they where alone now as the main door closed softly in the distance; you could hear a pin drop in this place. "They definitely want something." he remarked, there was a lot here to unpack but someone was expending resources and that much was obvious. The sun was setting now, a few minutes left to talk perhaps, whatever these things where they were unwilling to risk the exposure.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Removing the jacket and tossing it onto the table, Crush cracks her neck one way, then the other. She had no idea what the Hellfire Club was, or what he was talking about, which was her usual position in situations like this. She rarely has any information from anyone before the fight begins, but she was always willing to punch things.

"Well, whatever it is they want, they ain't gonna get it," she replies, then cracks her knuckles. A walking wall of white muscle, these little flappy things didn't stand a chance. "FYI, they can't hurt me... so don't worry about me. You do you, I'll do me, we'll destroy these things."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
Alexander clenched a fist and pounded it to her white skin, knuckles rapping in affirmation. "Life expands and contracts in proportion to ones courage." he said, quoting the artist Anais Nin. He reached then back toward the stacks of books, reality convulsing under the imposition of his will until it seemed to shatter and fall beneath the floor. A momentary view of an idealized world lofted into the cloak of starlit night appeared in its place, supplanted by a majestic mountain and a Parthenon of sandy stone. From between the columns, the twinkle of a star, and then screaming towards him a blade of steel across time and space and dimensional gap. Now, firmly gripped in his hand the library stacks returned, the glow of the weapon infused his body, caressed his features out of existence with its light until he was just idealized human form that could no longer be directly viewed, only seem from the corner of the eye.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
If Crush wasn't prepping to kick some ass, something she /loved/ to do, his touch would have probably sent her into a small rage and he would have ended up at the other the end of the fist. Thankfully she was distracted by the prospect of punching something more deserving, thankfully for Alex that is.

"Okay, well that was way fuckin awesome," she mutters, even more glad that she didn't punch him. She'd never seen a person of power summon a weapon like that, or at all for that matter. Most of those she'd came across already had their weapons or were weapons like she was.

Looking back toward the location where she'd seen the first signs of the little flappy things, she licks her lips before grinning rather broadly and announcing, "Alright ya little bastards, let's do this!"