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Old, Dusty Books (w/Monika)
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 12, 2022 13:40:05 GMT
The Terminal Library was massive, it put most national libraries to shame just by the sheer nature of its architecture. Massive cresting towers that lead to and inner space so full of glimmering natural light and endless perfectly organized rows that one could be forgiven for thinking they're stepped onto a university campus in the far future. Digimon studied quietly at the tables, milled about through the halls and chatted idly at the bars and couches that made up some of the more central social hubs.
In short? Ollie was in heaven.
"See, this is why I didn't want to come here first thing. I knew the second we walked in the door I'd totally lose you." Procopius said, the Black ToyAgumon having to steer Ollie with a blocky hand on one of the human's arms to keep him from blundering into every shelf, table and Digimon that they passed. The boy simply wasn't watching where he was going, sparkling eyes rolling along every floor that spiraled upward from the central reading area, looking almost to glow under the light of the skylights above, diffusing a comfortable illumination through every visible foot of floorspace. His eyes scanned over every shelf they passed, making notes of tome after tome of Digital knowledge, more than once having to be gently pulled away from them so that Procopius could keep him focused on the task at hand. "Hey! Yo! Ollie!" Procopius said, clapping his plastic claws in front of Ollie's face, the sharp clacking actually seeming to shake the young man out of his revelry as they approached the back of one of the library's wings. "Focus. What are we here for?" Procopius said as they walked underneath one of the upper floors between a lane of shelves to find an entrance to a much less populated, much more heavily stuffed area full of more dusty, catalogued reference books.
"Umm, it's umm...Maps of the Folder Desert and Kilobyte Oasis and umm...Folder Tombs: Records of the Desert's Buried Treasures." Ollie said, referring to the note he had taken after speaking to the nice Digimon at the front counter of the library. He had asked for books about navigating the Folder desert around the oasis on Procopius' insistence, as well as ways to find what treasures might be buried beneath its sands.
"That's right, because I don't want to be wandering around sand dunes for the rest of what would end up being a very short, unpleasant life." Ollie said, legitimately shivering at the thought of getting lost out there under the beating sun with god knows what else surfing the sand around them. He couldn't tell what would be worse as they moved along the shadowy, tightly placed shelves, trying not to let Ollie's backpack knock over the shelves like so many dominoes as he approached the location of the books without looking, being alone out there in the sand while totally lost? Or NOT being along out there in the sand while being totally lost.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 15:07:45 GMT
Thus far, Monika had been using resources at her school to answer all the numerous burning questions, she had ever since she found this world. It had proven a valuable resource, since the Digital World seemed to have a set of rules onto itself.
For example, a week in this world, was in-fact equivalent to just one day in her own world. This made it simple to figure out when she should return home as to not raise suspicions on her new activities. She didn’t think her father would agree with anything she had been doing for the past month. However, the constant swapping of planes did raise difficulties in the long run.
As it was the weekend, the principal had been granted Monika, a single day's leave, to travel via train into what was known as the Digital Core. The central point of the Digital World. Terminus City stood here, the capital of this world. Mainly due to its intense size, vast population, and protective capabilities for all who dwell within the tall walls, encircling it. Also, as it stood in the center of the Digital World, which made it a perfect connecting point for all other nations surrounding it.
Following at her heels, was her partner, whom she had nicknamed Fenrir. A Digimon chosen by the world itself to protect and serve Monika. Although, she did not yet understand this connection and why it proved important for some humans and the digital monsters of this world to work together and others not. Her partner was a wolf-skinned dressed lizard monster by the name of Gabumon. Rather shy and conservative, preferring to steer as far away from dangerous scenarios as she was.
Visually, a lot of the monsters who passed her on the streets were large, intimidating, and likely brimming with battling potential. She also, noted a possibility that all the Digimon were restraining themselves within a large populous, such as this. Unsure if Digimon within the walls of this world acted equally as pleasantly when offered more freedom and less security. There was no time to focus on theories right now, as she needed to focus on the point of this trip.
Monika paused at a very large, circular building – one that most seemed to be avoiding – but not her. Behind this door lay what she considered the ‘holy land’. Monika pushed the door open and she stepped inside. Fenrir, two steps behind.
“Stay close,” Monika whispered to Fenrir, taking several steps deeper into the largest library, she had ever been in. Larger than both the library, her manor home and the school, combined. A seemingly endless stretch of shelves, each with a book of currently unknown origin.
Unsure where to start, she climbed the stairs to the second level and then back down to the floor below. Walking a slow stroll down the line of shelves, only to take note of the ornate gold-embossed lettering on each of the leather spines. Fenrir was heeding her words, making sure to keep exactly two steps behind her at all times. His eyes darted from side-to-side as other Digimon stepped near him or Monika.
Slowly, they passed under a series of arches which raised the upper level, and into a second area with shelves upon shelves of ancient and worn books. “There is a lot I wanted to know about this world. More than the school could offer me. Maybe within one of these books are the answers, I seek...” |
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 14, 2022 13:09:01 GMT
"Oh I'm sure it's around here somewhere, it might just have gotten misfi-oops!" Ollie said, not looking where he was going, having inevitably found at least a half a dozen other books he was interested in while searching for the one that still eluded him. The stack came up to almost his eyeline, making it very hard for him to see where he was going, or the fact that Monika had just walked right into his path of travel as he put his foot down and blundered the stack of books right into the young woman, knocking them both over and sending Ollie sprawling onto his rear end.
"You alright there, champ?" Procopius said with his normal half sarcastic attitude as Ollie yelped and rubbed his butt where he had landed on his tailbone, the stack of books he had been holding scattered around him in a field by the light impact between the two. Ollie groaned and sat up, coming face to face with Monika and her Gabumon partner.
"Oh my gosh I am so sorry!" Ollie said, pushing himself to his feet, brushing his hands on the side of his pants before reaching out to offer Monika help back to her feet. "I wasn't watching where I was going at all and I blundered right into you, really I must just offer you my deepest apology for my lack of awareness." He said as Procopius waddled back and forth, picking up the books as best he could and stacking them on top of the flat surface of his head, as stable as a hardwood coffee table even with his waddling, sliding walk. "My name is Ollie, this is my partner Procopius we were just looking through the archive here for some old books on the Folder Desert." He said, the corner of his eye catching something as he half turned toward the shelves. There was a very clear gap in the books there, right around where he had been planning to look. Not just a gap, but a layer of fine, beige sand that stretched back into the gap.
"Would you look at that. I knew some of these tomes were dusty but I never thought they'd get THAT dusty." Procopius said as Ollie's sense of mystery made him perk up like a pointer dog catching a scent. he reached back, disturbing the sand and making some of it trickle to the floor, pulling out a folded note written on glittering gold leaf. Ollie shared a look with Monika as he folded the note open.
"In a search for knowledge you shall find the first of seven golden signs. They click together, seeker true, to unlock knowledge that you're due. To find the first and brave the trap, look behind me, find the map." Ollie read the note out loud and bent down, peaking in the gap where he had found the note, gasping before pulling his head away. "Look!" he directed Monika to look inside, just visible in the shade cast by the other books was a classical treasure map, carved in the wood at the back of the shelf, even counting the paces that they would need to get from where they were right now to whatever second clue awaited them. "I mean...how can I say no to a treasure hunt?" Ollie said, a grin growing across his cheeks that was simply beaming with a young excitement and a twinkle in his eye.
"Very easily if you were at all normal but since I know you're not, let's see if we can't go find this thing." Procopius said, turning slightly to the duo that were now involved in whatever this strange thing was that had captured his tamer's imagination.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2022 11:26:39 GMT
Slowly, Monika wandered down the line of dusty and clearly more ancient shelves. Hundreds of books of all sizes; each one hidden by a differently colored hardback shell and gold-embossed lettering with titles such as, “Terminus City,” followed by a subtitle of “How it rose from nothing to capital.”
So focused on the gold-embossed lettering, she failed to notice the boy, standing right in front of her. To Monika’s defense, it had looked like a stack of books, hovering across the room. Monika fell backwards as the books rained over her. Fenrir stepped forward, attempting to stop the books from falling over his master. Then, she heard a voice, muffled by the bangs of books hitting the wooden floor at their feet.
A hand reached out, grabbing Monika’s forearm and helping raise her back to her feet. A slight headache emerging from one side of her head, where a heavy book had fallen on it.
“It is quite alright. I was at fault, too.” Monika said, bowing her head slightly. Her German accent was quite visible in every word that she uttered.
Her eyes darted to one side as she caught sight of the small Digimon waddling towards them. It looked similarly to a cartoon dinosaur but was made out of blackened blocks. At this point, she was so used to the varying and odd forms these monsters took. It seemed likely that they could take any form.
“My name is Monika Schaeffler. This is my partner, Fenrir.”
Then, she paused, pensively. Focusing on a single phrase. “Folder Desert. I see.” She stepped forward and looked at the nearest bookshelf again, although, she wasn’t really paying any attention to the books this time.
“That may be close to the other schools. I heard a rumor it was on that side of the Digital World. Although, all records of it were removed from the library...” She was talking to herself. Fenrir looked at Monika and then quickly looked away.
“I’m sorry you were saying?" Monika said, turning to Ollie and his partner, once again. He was holding a golden leaf, that glittered in the low candle light that flickered from brackets above the shelves. Ollie read from the note. It appeared to be some kind of clue to a greater treasure that would lead to a map.
Ollie gasped and then pointed to something carved into the wood. Monika held up a caged, candle-filled torch from the table, casting greater light over the shelf. "That is quite interesting.” Monika bowed her head to take a better look at the map. Fenrir looked from afar, quite silently. An apprehensive look had fallen over his face. “I think it might be possible to find this… treasure. Whatever it may be. I believe that we may have a better chance, if we work together,” Monika added, glancing at the diminutive boy before standing up straight. Maybe, if she played this right, she could get her cake and eat it too. |
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Post by ollieandprocopius on May 15, 2022 13:59:38 GMT
Ollie chuckled pensivley at the motion of Monika rubbing her head. He did honestly feel bad about stumbling over her. He should have known better. He was so used to being totally ignored that you'd think he's have gotten used to it by now, especially when his most notable "fashion choices" was one part rucksack larger than he was and usually with a book or books large enough to cover his entire front side from view, like he was almost designed to get totally ignored by anyone whose eyes were simply scanning across a room by covering up as much of his skin and face as he could get away with.
Procopius was getting apprehensive too, looking upon Fenrir's expression. He didn't know what he didn't like abotu it, only that the Digimon didn't seem too especially friendly to the idea of the team up treasure hunt and that made the plastic dinosaur digimon nervous. He inched closer toward his partner with a squeaking shuffle of his plastic block feet. He didn't activley think that this was going to turn out to be physically dangerous for his partner but it didn't pay the former Digimon gangster to be too trusting.
"Yea of course we should work together! Neither of us probably would have found it if I hadn't blundered into you. You can take your "share" of the treasure as...personal injury liability." Ollie actually laughed at that, like he was making an out of court settlement for blundering into her. he took another look at the map in the flickering candle light. "Give me one second." he said, pulling out a notepad and a pen from his backpack and letting Monika and Fenrir watch him work, it was insane what his hands were evidently capable of. Without evne looking down at the page, eyes locked on the map down the small gap in the shelf he was copying it perfectly, from the exact proportions of the dotted lines down to the exact font and handwriting that had been used to mark the various landmarks between this first clue and their second.
"It freaks me out the way you can do that." Procopius said, just looking down at Ollie's handwriting in progress with a sort of resigned wonder as Ollie hummed his way through his work, in only a couple of minutes he had copied the map from the wooden slab nearly etch for etch. In fact, his version looked a good deal cleaner and moree legible than the one that had been sitting in there for god knows hwo long gathering damage and dust.
"Seems like our first stop is a couple of floors directly below us. We're looking for a bookshelf marked with a stone bust of an Angewomon." Ollie said, turning his notepad to face Monika so that she could make note of what he was looking at. The trusting young man didn't want it to come off like he was hogging the map or trying to keep something hidden from his new "partner".
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