Stephanie's Heart: The Archive

[reading_rainstorm]

In your dreams you are in a thick and foggy forest. It could be mistaken for the woods around Tributary if you don’t know your plants. You are on a trail leading into a clearing, in the center of which is a simple, concrete structure with a single door. A chaos star has been spray painted on it with a stencil.

You approach the structure. Looking over your shoulder you see a large shape lurking in the fog, obscured by the foliage. Two shining Feline eyes peer at you from the brush. You feel your heart rate spike as you turn the knob and find an old fashioned elevator tucked neatly inside with an accordion grate standing between you and the ornate, gilded interior. It creaks open as the presence behind you steps into the clearing. It is a sphinx, an eight foot tall lioness with the face of a woman and the large brown wings of an eagle on her back . The feminine face and olive skin tone of a Greek woman from antiquity smiles as she readies herself to to pounce, the wings on her back stretching and give a few readying flaps.You back into the elevator and close the gate with shaking hands as the sphinx leaps at the elevator. Her claws twisting and shearing the metal of the grate slowly, but she is too late. The elevator springs to life and you descend.

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A small light above flickers on as it illuminates your view outside the exposed elevator as you sink into the concrete structure. You descend for a few moments before an opening in the concrete gives you the view of an observation deck on a hill, looking down on the sprawling suburbs and campus of a college town. The elevator continues downward. The concrete gives way to old, dusty marble as you continue sinking. You see a vast maze stretch far and away that gets nearer and nearer. This has to be it, right? Your destination? No. You plunge further down, past the walls of the maze and the marble is replaced again by well polished wood. Beautiful stained mahogany rises past you as your descent finally starts to slow. You are greeted by another grate that creaks open for you. Entreating you to enter.

Comments

[morel_support]

Oh, no, it was me being absentminded, Mistress Spiros. No need to apologize.

[And with that, he'll nod a farewell and head for the stairs - although he'll take a moment to look through the loose books and papers on his way.]

[reading_rainstorm]

The loose papers appear to be the pages of a journal noting the progress on some magical projects. They are written in Stephanie's fine handwriting.

"Inability to do magic when I feel still stands as a major hurdle to the location spell. Naoki's progress is good, should touch base again. Rowan's mist making pulled on what was around her, should ask Zoya if her weather magic depends at all on present conditions. Lark Much and Mithrun's curse breaking was a great success. Much said mine could be dangerous as it relates closer to my soul. Need to think of more ways to ensure it's a safe operation " So on and so forth over a few pages.

The books here are Curses and Curse Breaking, Myth and History of the Sphinx, Transformation of Body and Mind, Effects of Vampirism, Storm Calling and other Weathermagic, Gods of the Pathfinder, Wayfarer and Traveler, Telepathy and other Psychic Phenomenon. There's something sticking out of Myth and History of the Sphinx.

[morel_support]

[Certainly an eclectic line of research... but Stephanie is a woman with very particular concerns to deal with. He straightens the notes, making sure none of them have been knocked on the floor.

Then he picks up Myth and History of the Sphinx and lets it fall open to the marked page.]

[reading_rainstorm]

The marker in the book is a tarot card, The Hermit. The page marked by it has a highlighted section about the differences between how sphinxes were depicted in the ancient world, the androsphinx being a male protective figure in Egypt and the gynosphinx being a malevolent figure in Greece.

"According to the men who are attributed for recording the canonical myths of Greece, the gynosphinx is a daughter of one of the mothers of monsters in their pantheon. A demon of bad fortune, and described as having gore and rotting flesh in its teeth and talons."

The page continues with information on sphinxes and sphinx like figures of cultures outside the mediteranean.

[morel_support]

[Ah, one of the missing cards. Much takes it, and takes a moment to read over the page.

Is there any blank paper here among the journal pages?]

[reading_rainstorm]

There is. Scratch paper for taking notes and jotting down ideas.

[morel_support]

[Good. He takes down a few notes about what he knows of his own world's sphinxes - immortal, divinely created monsters set by the gods to guard secret knowledge and holy sites and let only the worthy pass, neither innately good nor evil but bound by their own code of law to their duty. Haughty androsphinxes, setting trials of valor and might, and cunning gynosphinxes testing the intellect and integrity of supplicants.

He places this page of notes in the book as a marker to replace the tarot card.]

[reading_rainstorm]

Placing the page into the book, the writing becomes printed text and the page binds itself to the book, as though it had always been there. There's a sense of warmth and appreciation as you close the cover.

[morel_support]

Hah. If I'd known it would work that well I might have been a little more careful with the formatting.

[Moving on, then, up the stairs. He'll pause at the top for a moment to catch his breath and look out over the lower floor - human sized stairs are always a little bit of a chore.]

[reading_rainstorm]

The upper balcony gives a wonderful view of the library hall. Now that you're up here though...all the books and papers have been removed. Did Harmony clean up so quickly? The shelves around you are just as tightly packed with books as the one below. The signposted corridors stretch away beyond them at either end of the balcony.

[morel_support]

[Cleaned up, or just Heart Logic. He supposes he'll just have to trust that Stephanie still knows where everything is.

He casts a slightly wistful look at the shelves - but it seems more productive to check the signposted locations for missing cards before he dives into the stacks. Much could, happily, be in there for days.

He'll go investigate the Diorama Hall next.]

[reading_rainstorm]

The Diorama Hall is a more dimly lit corridor, with the light mainly spilling out from alcoves which have a few scenes being portrayed by skillfully carved wooden figures. Only a velvet rope separates the hall from the dioramas. Only three scenes are on display: two adult male figures in a dorm of some sort holding books in front of a drum with a fake fire glowing within it, a woman opening the door to an empty storefront with Stephanie standing st the center, and two cloaked women embracing in a kiss in a brightly lit office. The last alcove doesn’t have a velvet rope. From here you can tell it seems to be a diorama of a landscape in a large glass case, instead of the scenes like the others. The path further into the hall is blocked by a velvet rope which seems to be guarded by a young woman with strawberry blonde hair sitting in a chair by the rope. She is reading a book on astronomy and barely looks up when you enter. There’s a pair of under arm crutches leaned against the wall beside her.

[morel_support]

[He raises a hand to wave an acknowledgement to what little notice she takes, but moves on to look more closely at the dioramas, starting with the closest to the entrance.]

[reading_rainstorm]

That would be the two men in the dormitory.

Focusing on the diorama, it seems to gain depth and width beyond the bounds of its alcove. The first figure is dusty and poorly maintained; he is an anxious looking man with dark hair and glasses staying off to the side, observing with a grimace you have seen on Stephanie's face before. The other figure seems to have been defaced, chunks chopped out of it in places. It holds Stephanie's journal above a fire that looks a lot more real than it did a moment ago. His gaze seems to meet yours with a smug satisfaction. He stands rigid and upright, dressed in well pressed dress shirt and slacks with a stole over his shoulders. The stole has a symbol of eyes with crosses for pupils at its ends. The room is lit with buzzing fluorescent lights, a row of child sized bunks stretch to the end of the room. The bunk behind the men is in disarray, the cot has been removed from its frame and lays on the floor in a heap.

The velvet rope barring you from the diorama falls.

[morel_support]

[What scale is the diorama built on? Life-sized, dolls, etc...?]

[reading_rainstorm]

Life sized dolls...though if you lean in the scene seems to shrink to more gnomeish proportions.

[morel_support]

[Under his breath-]

Well, that's an unconscionable breach of record-keeping, on top of being cruel.

[With the velvet rope out of the way, he glances briefly back at the girl who seems to nominally be supervising the exhibits, and then steps forward into the diorama, circling carefully toward the damaged figure with the journal.]

[reading_rainstorm]

Speaking of cruelty, once you step in you notice a third figure. A child, watching in horror. They tear at the hem of their shirt as tears flow from. Their eyes, a child like voice fills your mind.

"May 2007: Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I’m so stupid. I should have known they would find my books. Especially after that tattle tale Caleb saw me reading in class. Now they are all gone along with my journals. Even the one mom made special for me. Dad didn’t even try to stop Father Renvo. It’s clear he doesn’t love me anymore. He’s too obsessed with his new wife. I can’t believe he’s forgotten mom so quickly.
Father Renvo went easy on me, though. A week of no breakfast, and I have to pray for forgiveness for holding blasphemy in my heart in front of class tomorrow. I need to not cry this time or the teacher is going to hit me again. I hope god is not confused by the prayers they make me do and the ones I do myself."

[morel_support]

[He pats the child mannequin on the shoulder.]

I don't know how much you're paying attention to this, Steph, and probably you know this at least a little by now, but losing a rigged game doesn't mean you're stupid. It means they cheat.

[He circles around the fire - and how real does the fire seem now? Pretty real? - and taps a finger against the imperiled journal.]

For example, destroying evidence that they know a neutral arbiter would not agree justifies it's own destruction, nor starving and humiliating a child? Cheat behavior.

[reading_rainstorm]

This close? Very real. There's something sticking out of the journal too.

"You tell 'em Prof."

The girl in the chair seems to have been listening in.

[morel_support]

[He carefully pulls the journal out of the figure's hand - and then for good measure, casts the "extinguish a candle or campfire" version of prestidigitation on the fire.]

I'm going to assume that wasn't meant to actually be burning? I mean, I appreciate the drama, but open flame in a library's a bad idea.

[reading_rainstorm]

"It's only real fire if you get close to it. Kinda makes it hard to spread."

The fire goes out and the energy from the scene drains away. Gene's face looks more regretful instead of angry, and the smile is gone from Renvo's face leaving a cool anger.

[morel_support]

[He opens the journal to look at the marker as he steps out of the diorama again - although he also glances over at the young woman.]

Sorry - I don't think we've been introduced?

[reading_rainstorm]

"Ava Burnett. Junior Librarian."

The marker is The Emperor. The entry marked is a day Steph's father took her to a museum.

[morel_support]

Much Eikenboom. It's a pleasure.

Say, I don't suppose you know tarot symbolism? I was never any great authority on the talis deck as anything other than a game set, and some of the trumps are different anyway.