Open Chronicles A Story of Twins

[Luna Eclipse]

As she turned to take in the view of the room, Luna's eyes went wide in awe and wonder. She was quite the bookworm, finding the ability to learn new things the most fascinating of all. Her eyes couldn't keep up as she tries to take in every sight of the room all at once. From the sheer size of the room to the variety of items on display, she found herself amazed by everything.

She could barely hold back her excitement, her eyes flashing silver and continuously shimmering. She composed herself enough to bow in greeting as the small figure approached, following his skeletal gesture to the tapestry. She had only a single question after reading it, though wasn't quite able to get it out before the figure disappeared.

"Oh, am I able to use magic to... reach... well, guess I'll ask later. I was hoping I could ask if he had anything on our people... but wait, he could tell we weren't part of a people that has been here, but not exactly what we are. He is quite the... curious one, isn't he?"

She stood thinking for a second before she snapped back to, deciding to ask the figure if she saw him again. Instead she turned to Pim to answer her question.

"Um, well, do you know where there could be scrolls? If there is anything in here created by Gemini, it would be on a scroll."

Sol, meanwhile, after reading the tapestry, had gone silent after reading the last two rules a couple times before sliding his hands into his pockets.

 

[Pim]

"Oh don't worry. He'll be back around at some point. Especially if you do something he doesn't like..." Pim looked around, trying to remember where she'd seen scrolls here before. She knew she'd found some old recipe hiding in one at some point. But deciding that she didn't know, she waved to one of the waitstaff wandering around with little cups on trays and asked him.

"They're in the back aisles. If you take a right at poems about ennui, then go past the dragon fandom section, you'll see the scrolls just across from the section featuring artistic sketches of boring things." He pointed.

"Um... thanks..." Pim said, blinking, then turned back to Luna and pointed in the same direction. "That way?"

Past the areas the helpful waiter had mentioned, they found a section of long, narrow aisles crowded with piles of scrolls separated into bins by subject. Glancing down what might as well have been a city street, Pim raised an eyebrow. She turned to one of the bins and briefly examined one of its contents.

"Acronym usage in magic," she read aloud and replaced the scroll, picking another scroll from ten bins over. "Ambidexterity: a comprehensive study."

She replaced the impressively-spotless scroll with a deep sigh. "This may take awhile..."

Luna Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

The Eclipse Twins follow their friend through the library after thanking the worker for their help. Luna had to make sure Sol gave a proper thanks before turning to head after Pim. Her eyes traveled to everything they passed, taking it all in and stopping briefly every now and then when something really caught her attention.

"This place is so amazing. I never expected to find a place like this in the city. I'm glad you brought us here, Pim!"

She stepped into the aisle of scrolls, heading a little farther down from the second bin Pim had grabbed one from, quickly setting it back down.

"Anatomy of trolls. Oh... no thanks. I wonder if they are all in order. I hope so, this is quite a few to look through."

 

[Pim]

With this rather daunting task in front of them, the trio set to work finding the scrolls containing information on the gemini. For its part, the scrolls section was meticulously organized in alphabetical order, and they only had to scour a relatively small portion of the aisle before Pim found where the letter G was hiding.

But even as they all converged there, intent on their search, Pim found herself distracted by a scrabbling noise from one of the bins. A normal person might have dismissed it as a small bookworm infestation or an unusually scholarly rat, but Pim grew curious about the noise's source and followed it.

Pim was sure that the scraping noise was coming from the pile of scrolls stacked in a bin near the floor. She knelt down and slowly removed the front scroll to find a pair of insect-like eyes blinking at her from the darkness. The tiny creature was busy running a small feather duster over the scrolls.

"Oh, it's a quasit!" Pim remarked. Two long ears and a pair of thin horns emerged from its noseless face. "Do you know where we can find a scroll about gemini?"

The demon screeched at her and darted away into a gap between the scroll case and the wall. Pim stood with a shrug.

"I don't know if that's a 'yes' or a 'no'..."

A few moments later, one of the scrolls started sliding out of a bin on its own.

Luna Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

While Luna carefully ruffled through bins as they passed by them to check what they were, Sol simply walked behind the two girls, occasionally peering into a bin without touching the items within. Luna smiled a little as she saw him doing this, knowing he was itching to read some of them.

He didn't like to admit it but he enjoyed the occasional read.

Luna looked over as she heard Pim announce she found the G bin, clapping lightly as she waltzed over. She got distracted almost immediately as she began pouring through the bin. She wasn't even sure what exactly a Gemini scroll would look like, knowing only the few she's made herself.

The question didn't go through her for too long, however, as she had tilted her head to look at a scroll in her bin before she almost smacks her head into the scroll being pushed out. She curiously takes the scroll and pulls it out to see the quasit looking at her.

"Oh! Well hello there. Thank you for your help."

She gave the small demon a quick smile before turning to the other two and holding the scroll up, her voice excited at first as she read the name of it but soon fading off.

"Gemini: A Traveler's Encounters. Oh... hmm, guess not. Though, maybe it can tell us where to look."

She opens the scroll and glances through it's contents, angling it so Pim could see. It was simply a scroll detailing certain facts about the Gemini, such as how to identify them by their blood or Gemini Mark.

"Hmm... maybe not. Doesn't seem to mention anything about where to find Gemini. Oh! But... of course, how could I forget!"

She pointed to a section at the near bottom, written in a manner than the rest, though the handwriting was the same. It detailed the language of the Gemini, simply called Auric.

"The Gemini language is silent, even without an actual written alphabet. We use manipulate of our aura to speak and write in out language, and on paper it translates to images, though you would need to know the language to understand the full meaning. Which means the scrolls wouldn't have a title just written in it. It would look like just some pictures magically imprinted on the scroll."

 

[Pim]

"Surely there is a miscellaneous section. Maybe at the end?" she was already jogging down the aisle, but stopped short as she thought of something. She turned back to the twins, a curious expression on her face.

"Wait - aura speaking? Does that mean you also communicate your emotions with your words, even if you don't want to?" She imagined a sad gemini trying to say 'good morning' to a friend and making them depressed instead. Or what might happen if one tried to write a polite letter while angry at them...

She supposed finding these scrolls was the best way to find out.

Luna Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

Luna turns, watching her friend go down the aisle only to turn again. She tilts her head at the question, never having thought of such. For some reason she was surprised how little she thought of such, but answered after a small giggle as she walked towards Pim.

"I actually can answer that one. Unlike some, our emotions are kept completely separate from out magic. I mean, think about it. Gemini are made out of magic. If our emotions were linked to our magic, our form itself would constantly change. Glad Knossis thought of that, at least."

She laughs a little again and walked past Pim, looking for such a bin. She wasn't aware of what it would look like, but for some reason she was feeling good about the Trove. Maybe because it was the first place they had found ANYTHING pertaining to the Gemini.

"Oh! I know, where's that cute, little quasit? It was helpful before, maybe it will do so again."


Pim

 

[Pim]

Snorrzt was the name of the quasit who had been diligently dusting the scrolls when Pim found him. Snorrzt was his name to other quasits, on account of the sound he made when rudely awakened from a nap. The paper-snooping, word-spewing flesh giants called him many things - including heiyu, aggggh, deemin and felah - all of which he found too confusing to keep track of. The giants also seemed confused, because they called his cousin those things too. And his mother.

Snorrzt wasn't quite as lazy or malicious as most of his kin. He actually enjoyed the dusting, and he found the fleshy giants to be quite intriguing in their hideous nature. Not that he would tell grand-matron Vex about that! Not even Horgl, who was generally too dull to figure out which end of the duster was for holding and which was for dusting. No, Snorrzt was content to finish his work unheckled-

-until one of the flesh giants poked her nose into the cubby he was working in and asked about a scroll concerning something called a gemini. He didn't know what a gemini was, but he had an inkling that he'd dusted that word sometime today. So he cheerfully scampered off to the bin and pushed a scroll out for them.

Snorrzt was quite pleased with himself for helping the giants. Also curious, because not a lot of them came back here, and two of them were quite shiny. He didn't think he'd seen a shiny giant before. Well... the dusting could wait a bit longer. Master Kin'Kenny would be busy inspecting his curse inventory by now, and the grand-matron was settling in for her second or third mid-afternoon nap. There was no harm in him following a few giants around for a bit.

Navigating the system of tunnels, alleys and elevators behind the bookshelves, Snorrzt made his way to the top of the scroll shelf where he perched along the edge. It was a good vantage point to watch the shiny giant spew words at the half-giant.

He thought he heard one of those names the giants liked to call him, so he ventured,

"Sneeee.......?"

Luna Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

Luna had barely spoken the words when she heard the demon's questioning noise, peering around as she wondered where he was. Sol found him first, pointing up to the little creature with a gloved hand. A small chuckle would escape him before he spoke.

"Seems he's sticking around. Make another new friend, Luna?"

Luna would follow her brother's finger and smile as she saw the quasit peering over the shelf. Even if she couldn't understand anything it said, she did indeed hope what her brother said was true. Maybe it was just her kindness, her inability to not want new friends. She wasn't sure, but she knew she could at least ask for this one's help.

"Mmm, maybe. Guess we'll see. For now though... " She smiles up at the small demon before speaking. "Can you show us where scrolls without words are? They would look like... oh well... how can I describe it."

Behind her, the sound of tearing paper could be heard as Sol tore out a page from his journal and handed it to Luna, who took it with a wordless thanks. It had been quite some time since she wrote in Auric, but thankfully it was something a Gemini couldn't forget.

She held the paper in front of her, holding it by the sides of the sheet. Her eyes would flash a brighter silver than it had before, her palms issuing a similar but softer glow. From where she was holding the paper it would begin to change, a solid line of magic spreading steadily across the paper. Where the magic spread was turned to a shimmering sky blue, the magic itself remained weaving along its surface as though one were underwater looking at the surface. The center of the paper was covered by an elegant, vibrantly colored picture of what one could only guess was Luna and Sol, as the images were simpler in design despite the appearance.

Once she was finished she held it up to the quasit with a smile, her eyes slowly returning to their original shade. "The scrolls would be like this, shining and bright. Well, hopefully bright."

Pim

 

[Pim]

Snorrzt was mesmerized by the image that shimmered into being at Luna's will. He hadn't seen anything that shiny since old Vex got a hold of one of Kin'Kenny's magical thingies. That had been the most exciting thing in the very short span of quasit history. But he was sure he'd seen something similar.

Snorrzt rather liked the attention he got from being helpful; and maybe - maybe - if he was helpful enough, the master would reward him with an extra coffee break! No quasit could resist the allure of the dark, mystical beverage.

He motioned with his tiny claws in the manner the fleshy giants did to convey they wanted to show someone something. If anyone decided to follow, he would dart away into the aisles of the library on a quest to find the shiny scroll.

----------
​

Pim followed the cheerful little demon, though she was too focused on her own thoughts about Luna's magical writing to be paying much attention to the quasit. This 'aura magic' was a puzzle to be figured out, an enigma which buzzed around her brain like a bumblebee in one's face. Was it a type of minor conjuration magic? Was it a magic that bent light beams into something more physical? Or closer, say, to the rare sort of empathy magic mentioned in old writings, taking feelings and somehow turning them into a physical manifestation?

She mumbled something sort of like an apology after bumping into a artifact stand. She always was a little clumsy when she was trying to catch a particularly distracting thought. She caught herself just before tripping over the quasit, who was holding something in front of her. It was some sort of gleaming blue crystal.

"No, that's a mineral," she explained to the dismay of their helper. "We need a scroll."

Luna Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

Luna let out a gleeful, but quiet, cheer as the quasit took off, following behind Pim. Sol remained where he was, looking at the scrolls through the aisle while making sure not to burn any. He didn't want to lose this aisle, just in case.

Luna had no such worries, deciding to believe in the small demon. She herself stopped to make sure the stand didn't fall after Pim knocked into it, chasing after immediately after and soon almost falling over Pim as the chase suddenly stopped.

"Well, at least he gets the bright part. Hmm, let's try this... "

She holds the paper in her hand again, this time the only thing changing was the image, now showing the basic look of a scroll except bright and shimmering like the rest of the parchment.

She points at the picture as she shows it to the creature. "Do you know where a scroll like that might be?"


Pim

 

[Pim]

Snorrzt had to pause for a moment to think when Luna displayed the shifting picture. Then he bobbed up and down excitedly before darting off again towards the scrolls.

"Well, that's closer to what we're looking for..." Pim commented on the scroll he'd pointed out to her and Luna. It did have images on it - ancient drawings of some magic or other - and it was shiny from gold filigree around the edges, but it didn't look like anything made by the gemini's aura magic.

Snorrzt was not doing very well at this finding game. He had to admit that he had no idea where in the Trove to find this shiny scroll of theirs. But he knew someone who might... if she'd be willing to give him that information. With a series of snarling hisses that would have translated roughly to hold that thought... be right back! if anyone could have understood him, Snorrzt ran back to gather up his precious duster and sprinted off through the shelves.

Pim started looking around the area, hoping that there were other scrolls containing only images nearby. "Images of the gods (we think). No. Music in picture form. Pretty, but no. Drawings of... I'm just going to put that back now."

------------
​

Vex's lair was a deep burrow between the romance section and horror section. It was an impressive lair by quasit standards, bordered on one side by a tremendous tome that no one had ever opened and the remaining walls a collage of torn pieces of old book pages. The old quasit mother had collected much over the years. In the middle, a pile of papers and fabrics had been arranged into Vex's nest-slash-throne, from which she ruled over her kin. Thankfully for the other quasits, she was generally too lazy to wield an iron claw.

Snorrzt steeled himself as he made his way past the gleaming trinkets and odds-and-ends that dangled along the sides and ceiling of the lair. He hadn't brought Vex a gift, not even a single coffee bean, so he had to hope that the grand-matron was in a good mood.

"What's this that squeaks in my lair today? Tell your want and go away!" A scratchy voice came from the nest as a leathery, battered old quasit sat up and stretched. Vex narrowed her glaring black eyes on the little quasit before her, her gnarled claws scratching an itch on one tattered ear.

Snorrzt did his best to explain his desire to find the shiny scroll. He left out the part about him helping fleshy giants - Vex found them smelly, loud and well... vexing. They were only useful for creating the magical beverage known as coffee.

"I care not for scrolls that gleam. Let me get back to my dream!" She retorted, her toothy jaw opening for a drawn-out yawn.

Snorrzt persisted in trying to persuade the grand-matron that this was a quest important to him -- no, important for all of quasit kind! The shiny scroll was the key to enlightenment, the apex of all knowledge on the great mystical drink, the ultimate answer to -

"Alright!" Vex roared and held a leathery palm towards him. "I'll call the lads to find your scroll. Just leave me now! You've grown quite droll!"

A rallying cry broke out in the library, calling the quasits to Snorrzt's aid. Somewhere behind a red door, Kin'Kenny looked up from what he was working on.

"Oh no. Not again."

Luna Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

Luna waited patiently, even grabbing the gem the quasit had shown them just to inspect it. Most likely something everyone who entered here felt, she was impressed with the collection here. She made up her mind to come here when Sol needed information she didn't know, and just for her own downtime as well.

"Little demons that help keep a magic library and love shiny things. Wonder if I could learn to communicate with them?"

It was as she was setting the gem back down when she heard the rallying cry echo through the shelves. Her eyes went wide as she looked around. She knew nothing of the quasits, so wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing.

"Um, Pim? Did we just summon a hoard?"


Pim

 

[Garrod Arlette]

And lo, there in the that pit,
But sweet familiarity,

I found a kindness,
Bitter in all its tenderness
sharp does it plunge,
to let free,

a cold cutting kiss,
warm and wet without.
half left to see,

thee, before me, ​

The pen's fine metal nib came to a stop, the raven's feather, stiff spined, shook, but just a bit before the bright point of the instrument tapped against the parchment page in idle thought.

"To write more, or to end there," Garrod asked as he sat up at the tables within the trove. A copper kettle coffee contraption set before him, a small privilege he had earned, and a cup of dark and still steaming drink there too. He set his pen down against the ink stained rag that was laid before him, and set down his journal. He took up the cup of coffee, and sipped at it idly.

It felt like ages since the War of the Beans. In fact, that whole thing sort of felt like a dream when he stopped to think about it. But, it couldn't have been, could it? He still had his voucher, and the privilege of a whole pot for his table, whenever he came in.

Garrod blew on his cup. "How's that cup treating you?" he asked his table-mate,

"Mild, yet sweet, with a hint of berries and chocolate," the large two headed ogre replied, cramped as he was sat beside the table, in a chair far too small for him. It made Garrod wonder how the thing still stayed in one piece.

"Its good, yes yes, nutty," the other head replied, eyes squinted with pleasure, and a wide toothy smile beaming brightly from his round and soft features.

"Nutty?" his sharper tusked head replied. "No, Gron, you are certainly, positively, without a single shred of the most miniscule doubt-"

"Nutty, Aggie, taste it, all sippy like," Gron raised the dainty cup, made to look all the daintier pinched betwixt broad thick fingers, to his lips and sipped it with a sharp inhilation. He swished the drink about his mouth, features moving in a dramatic fashion, and then he passed it down, and smiled happily. "Like that, Aggie, like that,"

Aggie scowled. "Fine," he raised the cup up to his lips. "I shall only try your method so that I may more thoroughly cite how erronious your observations are, Gron, and point out how drastically astray you have lead our friend Garrod from the truth with such foolhardy claims," he drank the coffee, the same was as Gron had.

As the drink streamed from his inhilation, his eyes widened large, and his brows raised so high they raised the purple cap that covered his head. He swished the drink about, and passed it down. Looked down at cup, and then looked over at Gron, who but went on smiling.

"Well," Aggie announced, as he shut his eyes and huffed. "Maybe there is... a hint of nuttiness after all,"

Gron's attention was elsewhere, tracking the comings and goings of quasits at work. "Squirrels..." he said blissfully.

Garrod smiled, and drank from his own cup. A soft clink. The handle broke and the coffee spilled onto his plainclothes, and he sprang back out of his chair. The cup fell and broke against the floor, and drink stained his chamise. "Shit," he cursed quietly.

Aggie and Gron both looked on with minor worry. "Bad luck," they said in unison.

The hunter shrugged and grabbed up a napkin and began to dab up the mess. "Not as bad as the last mess we had to clean up," he said easily.

The ogre heads nodded as they put down their cup, and moved their big body to help.

Pim Sol Eclipse Luna Eclipse

 

[Pim]

Pim could only shrug in response to Luna's question as the dull roar of tiny quasit voices resounded through the library.

"It does sound somewhat like a battle cry... or possibly a funeral wail. Maybe one of them died?" she asked with perfect analytical dispassion and continued the sisyphean task of sorting through scrolls.

Whatever the call's purpose, it was bringing a veritable horde of quasits into the scroll aisles. It was like the opening hour of a flea market, sans most of the pushing and shoving. Pim dropped the scroll she was holding in surprise when one of the demons poked its head out of the bin and tried to snatch it from her with a snarl. Other scrolls all around them rustled and unfurled in a noisy storm of crisp paper.

"Snee!" The little voice had come from Snorrzt, who was standing by Luna and holding up his tiny duster in greeting as if it was a banner. He hissed and snarled and gurgled something, looking quite pleased with himself. At least up until a voice boomed with some degree of annoyance,

"What is going on here?!" Kin'Kenny had seemingly just appeared in the aisle's entrance, the flickering flames of his eyes whirling around in their sockets at the sight of the quasits rifling through the shelves. His demand was undeniably aimed at Snorrzt, whose ears drooped a bit. Through some sort of sixth sense that troublemakers often get (whether or not they intend to make trouble), Pim felt Kin'Kenny's inquisitive glare fall on her.

​

"Snee..." said Snorrzt.

"Um...." said Pim.

Luna Eclipse Sol Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

Luna couldn't help but laugh as the tidal wave of miniature demon's overran the scroll aisle, making sure not to step on any if she moved. She hadn't expected such a response, that was for sure. She found herself hoping the scrolls would be fine as the noise of the paper grew louder.

She turned as she heard the original demon standing at attention with his duster, giggling in amusement. She dlowly lifted her hand to give the small demon a pat just before she heard the voice echoing through the aisle they were standing in.

Luna hadn't been sure what to think of Kin'Kenny when they first met, but now saw the man demanded a certain respect within the library as the noise ceased. Luna heard the hesitant answers of Pim and Snorzzt and realized this might not have been the best way to find the scrolls.

"Blame me, sir. I had asked this little guy for help to see if there were specific scrolls in your library. I... think they might have gotten a little too excited, though."

Sol, meanwhile, would appear a few feet behind Kin'Kenny, hands still in pockets as he raised an eyebrow at the sight within the aisle, a low whistle escaping his lips.

Pim

 

[Pim]

A whistle appeared out of Kin'Kenny's pocket - which itself had appeared from his robe that, at first inspection, looked completely devoid of such useful stitching. The whistle was made of ivory and had a small decorative skull carved on one end, and when he blew it everyone in the vicinity wondered if a tiny banshee had been let loose somewhere.

How someone without any apparent facial structure was able to do this became the immediate question on Pim's mind. This got the immediate attention of every quasit in the Trove too. They halted their search to stare blankly at the whistle-blower. Even Snorrzt went, as pensive as a child when asked to write anything to do with math in front of a class.

Kin'Kenny lowered the whistle once the rustling gave way to silence.

"A scroll, you say? Curious... tell me of what you seek," he said and looked between the two gemini, once again friendly. The quasit before Luna relaxed and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Gemini scrolls!" Pim blurted. "The ones written with their aura magic, rather than the ones written about them." She beckoned to Luna to present the strange pictograph again.

The lich paused for a moment, apparently in thought, before his hollow voice responded. "Ah, yes. I know of what you speak, and I believe I know where to find the scroll you are seeking. Come with me."

Sol Eclipse

 

[Luna Eclipse]

Luna covered her ears as the whistle rang out, looking around to see the quasits all calming down. She hoped none of them were in trouble for this. It was her who had asked for help, so she felt she was responsible.

That was why she felt a sense of relief as Kin'Kenny asked his question instead of getting on anyone. She holds the piece of parchment out to show the small man as Pim explained what they were looking for.

"I'm glad to hear you know of them. Not many really know of the scrolls, since they're not any actual writing to read."

She found herself following him Sol trailing behind them as Luna kept talking. "Besides our own writings, we haven't found anything from other Gemini, and when Pim spoke of this library we thought it would be a good place to look. Glad to know we were right."

Pim

 

[Pim]

Kin'Kenny led them beyond the pleasant-smelling area with the coffee tables - beyond the gentle bustle of the quasits at work and patrons at play; well beyond the front wall that might just have been the only thing anchoring the Trove to the city outside. Into the muted heart of ancient tomes that laced the still air with musty odors of old paper and leather.

Beside a section of theoretical writing so dense that it probably had some sort of gravitational pull on nearby small objects, the lich cast aside a thick grey curtain and ushered the group into a lamp-lit hallway. Pim entered the room with astonished curiosity; she could have sworn the curtain was just a section of un-remarkable wall only a moment ago. Though she supposed that a secret door in a library with a secret rune-locked entrance was a fairly mundane thing. The more important question, by her estimation, was this: How many other secret doors were to be found in the Trove? Did any of them contain cookbooks?

Their host was quiet as they passed down the wooden-walled hall, which looked like a displaced arm of a mansion that had gotten stuck here quite by accident. Beyond the hallway was a heavy wooden door that opened into what looked like someone's private study, complete with carved wooden walls, plush chairs and a tidy, unlit fireplace. Glass-fronted cabinets and bookshelves were as ubiquitous here as in the rest of the Trove, but their contents were sparser. The lack of quasits made the room feel strangely quiet and orderly.

"This is my private collection," Kin'Kenny declared proudly, sweeping one short bony arm around the room as if Sol and Luna and Pim were contest judges ready to hand out an award for 'best kept secret library'.

"I collect curiosities. Arcane curiosities, to be precise. I have amassed quite a few in the course of my existence; the rarest and the most dangerous, I keep in here." He whirled around and shot a glare at each of them in turn, his voice rattling like dry bones tossed down a staircase. "While it should go without saying -- do not touch anything!

"Unless you would like to become the subject for my latest curse," he added hopefully. Pim shook her head with a sideways grin and put her hands behind her back.

"No? Alright then."

Kin'Kenny wandered up to one of the shelves, which were much taller than he was, and reached upwards. A scroll slid out of the bin it had been neatly tucked into and floated down to his waiting hand.

"I believe this is the scroll you are looking for?" he said as his skeletal hand offered Luna a rolled scroll with yellowed paper and tattered edges.

Luna Eclipse