December Library Catch-All [ OPEN ]

[aimsforknees]

WHO: John, Harold, and anyone who might find themselves at the Library
WHEN: December
WHERE: The Library!
WHAT: The Library is here and open to all! Come borrow books, find a comfy chair to relax in, or snoop around.
NOTES\WARNINGS: Will be added as they come up

The Library is a five-story neoclassical building of terra cotta, brick, and stone. And the inside is, in fact, a library! And rather clean and organized too. There's no dust, no muddy footprints (apart from your own), and all the shelves are organized by Dewey Decimal, subject, and author. All literature is something you might find in a 2010 New York City library: various forms of fiction, children's and teens' sections, history, science, cooking, gardening, the list goes on. There's even small sections of audiobooks on compact disks and of DVDs ranging from old classics to history shows. The first floor has a reading/study room, a comfortable space with deep armchairs and tables with chairs; the fifth floor has some smaller tables clustered under a skylight. Part of the second floor is abruptly closed off by a door with a biometric scanner that denies entry to anyone who isn't John Reese or Harold Finch; the walls surrounding this section are soundproofed, so even a keen listener won't hear anything from inside. Otherwise, it's a perfectly normal library!

Comments

[aimsforknees]

To Shaw's detriment, John has actually secured the windows in the library. And since it's the middle of winter, no one has accidentally left one unlatched. The only real difference she'll discover when breaking in is that the space that used to be simply gated off now has a fancy biometric scanner. However, despite the fact that people come and go the library is generally a quite place, so John does hear the window break. It's not a subtle sound and John is always on alert, even when reading in the library; people have been proving to use the space irresponsibly. He's up in a flash, leaving his book behind and drawing his gun. He'd rather not have to shoot it in the library but he's confident no one has walked through the front door for a while, meaning it's likely that someone is breaking in, and anyone who isn't willing to use the door might need a little extra persuasion.

It doesn't take long for him to find the spot of the break in and the direction of the glass confirms that it was a break in after all. Gun still drawn, John starts quietly prowling the area.

[cactusy]

Shaw has no interest in exploring the whole building - she's after the section of it that they'd actually used. Unfortunately for her, this means she's immediately stymied - not to mention confused and frustrated, because what the hell is some fancy-ass scanner doing here? This kind of thing belongs on a military base, or in a lab, or--

Her hand reaches up to rub at the spot behind her ear, searching for scarring or any other sign of Decima's control chip - a habit she's only just started to break, now roaring back. Gritting her teeth, she forces it back down to her side.

[aimsforknees]

John's silent sweep of the library takes him to the entrance of their living area and stops when he sees the figure. Even with her back turned John recognizes her. It hasn't been that long since he last saw her, just a couple months, but he hasn't forgotten. Some part of him wonders if this is a trick, if this is like when he saw Jessica in the night, but after a moment of consideration he decides to put his gun away again. It would be pretty creative of Etraya to construct a fake Shaw to lure him into complacency.

"Shaw," is all he offers by greeting.

[cactusy]

She spins, hand on her own hip holster - and when she sees who it is, her face only registers the barest flicker of surprise. He'd been dead, probably, or else so far underground that it might be ages before she heard from him again. No news is no news, she'd told Fusco, and she'd meant it. She'd come to terms with the idea that she might never find out what happened to him or Harold.

And now here he is: standing in front of her in an off-kilter reproduction of their old hideout, on a patchwork mish-mash of an alien planet (or a simulation; she's not throwing that theory out just yet). The sense of relief is faded and thin, but it settles over her shoulders like a blanket all the same.

"Reese. The hell have you done with the place? There's people in here."

[aimsforknees]

That's Shaw alright. John isn't fully convinced yet, but her reaction has gone a lot way to proving she is who she is. She won't have the same priorities as him so far as things like keeping Harold safe go, but she is an ally and a dependable one at that. John thinks back to his conversation with Carver about how it's good for everyone else that he doesn't have his allies here; he and Harold will need to fill her in on the connections they've made, the potential allies and threats they've scouted out so far.

"It is a library." He could just leave it at that, but this is Shaw and they're all so far from home, so he adds, "this place is lacking in entertainment and it's not possible to keep the library hidden. So."

[cactusy]

"I passed a bunch of restaurants on the way over here."

Is that not entertainment enough, John? She sighs, and drops her hand off her gun holster.

"I heard we're on another planet. Sounds like bullshit to me."

[aimsforknees]

Of course she would think about the food first.

"Be careful of what you eat. There were food trucks when I first arrived and I saw a girl eat at one and become compelled to eat dirt. Recently they were handing out tea that made you want to tell the truth. I don't eat anything I don't cook for myself. Tap water has been safe so far. As for being on another planet, Harold and I believe it so far."

And there's that little drop, the hint that Harold is here. He's waiting to see how she responds to that before he invites her into their living space where Harold is surely working, Bear at his side.

[cactusy]

And indeed, she'd been fully planning on making some sort of disparaging comment about this place running on fantasyland fairy rules from a C.S. Lewis novel, but then--

"How many of us are here?"

[aimsforknees]

"Me, Harold. Now you. You only just arrived?"

John gets out some, but less now that they live in the library. It's a public space now and he feels a certain amount of... ownership of the place. Possessiveness, even. It's technically Harold's library, but John has taken custodianship upon himself. Shaw will have noticed how clean the whole place is; John spends a significant amount of time doing everything from dusting to mopping. But all that time means he's less connected to the ongoings around the apartments and hospital, so it's possible Shaw has been here longer than he thinks.

[cactusy]

"A couple hours ago. The hospital was a dose of nostalgia that I really didn't need."

She says it with the dry, grim humor of someone who just assumes he'll know what she's referencing - and trusts that he won't try to get her to dwell on it despite that.

"What about you? And Harold?"

[aimsforknees]

So he really hasn't missed much if she only arrived today. It wasn't until his third day that he found Harold. Her comment about the hospital throws him a bit. She never should have mentioned something like that. He knows she was studying to be a doctor prior to the career path they hired her out of, but to have her bring it up voluntarily? It's not like her. He'd been about to let her inside but suddenly he's inwardly cautious again.

"About two months. The library didn't show up until recently." And Bear only recently too, but John is purposefully withholding that information now. He doesn't think Shaw will be in any rush to see Harold, but she probably would question about Bear who is behind the door.

[cactusy]

"'Showed up'," she repeats flatly, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning a shoulder against the wall next to the door. She sounds the same, pretty much. But her eyes are dull, and she looks very, very tired. "Just appeared out of nowhere, for no reason? And you're cool with that."

[aimsforknees]

Is he "cool with that"? It's not like he was given a choice, and from what he can tell, that just happens here. It was one of the first things Krouse told him about, the replica buildings. It doesn't make him happy that there's literally magic here, that there's people and things that are so beyond him that his gun might not even matter, but it's something he's learning to live with. It's something he's accepted because it's foolish and unwise to reject it. But it's a lot to take in. He remembers how paranoid he was when he first arrived, how he wouldn't even sleep in an apartment until he took up residence only to be near Harold. He's sympathetic to her look.

"Things happen here that I can't explain. Many of the buildings here are replicas of ones from where we're from. You can request them with 'points' that we earn for indiscernible reasons, but sometimes they show up without a request. Some people here have magic. I know a kid that can teleport." It's a lot to take in, but he's being sincere. Krouse really can teleport.

[cactusy]

Shaw is the type to roll with the punches, and despite the prickly stubbornness she so often exudes, she's remarkably adaptable. Being told Hey, guess what! Magic exists! by someone whose judgement she trusts enough not to question should rock her world; instead, she just scowls, pulling her crossed arms tighter over herself.

"I hate this."

[aimsforknees]

John isn't really one to comfort and Shaw doesn't want that anyways, so he doesn't offer anything for her admission. There's something still nagging him about her, there's something a little more... forward about how she's approaching him. He's not sure how to fish out that information, since this is Shaw.

"You'll get used to it. Just be glad you weren't here for the kittens or screaming eggs." He offers no explanation for either. Innocent incidents he can reference, not like chasing after Jessica's ghost in the fog on Halloween. He'd rather keep that one to himself if he can.

[cactusy]

"But I still have to deal with their demerit system."

That doesn't sound very fun to her, John. She may not be much of a cat person, but she's still pretty sure she'd take the kittens.

"Look, I gotta ask. I know simulation-spotting is my thing, not yours, but what are the odds that we're in one right now?"

[aimsforknees]

Simulation-spotting? Since when is that something they have to consider? This is just another thing that doesn't quite add up. It hasn't even occurred to him that this might be a simulation, though at some point he had considered it might not be real in some way. But Harold had said—

"Harold believes that we are ourselves." That's not exactly the context of the conversation they were having, but John is trusting to believe in that. Nothing he's seen from Harold has seemed at all out of the ordinary, Shaw is the one who is acting strange. No, John trusts his instinct that at least Harold is real. And he's sure it goes without saying that Shaw will understand his faith in Harold, he doesn't need to mention that his trust.

[cactusy]

A shadow of uncertainty crosses Shaw's face, and she lifts a hand to rub at her temples. She trusts Harold's morals implicitly, and she'll ultimately defer to his judgement, both because he's her boss and because he's someone who she respects - but that doesn't mean she always believes in or understands those judgments, and she has no idea why he's apparently so sure that this is legit. And a simulated Harold, she knows, would believe whatever he was programmed to believe.

Her internal It has been [X] days since Sameen Shaw questioned her reality clock resets back to zero, and god, she's exhausted.

"Okay," she says, because what the hell else can she say? At least John and Harold are here. Shaw may not get lonely in the same way that other people do, but she trusts her team to have her back, and there's a comfort in their familiar presence. Things would, she recognizes, be worse if they weren't here.

"Don't suppose you guys still have a killer whiskey stash anywhere."

[aimsforknees]

Now is the time to invite her in. The door is right there, all he has to do is say "Come on in" and open it for her, but he's still hesitant. Something is off about her, something that makes him question... what? He's not sure, just that he wants to get to the bottom of it before he lets her near Harold. It's stupid, he should trust her, but he doesn't know something.

"Why did you ask about the simulation?" That seems like a good place to start and he's not going to get anywhere without playing his hand a little. It's just— it's just Shaw. He doesn't like this.

[cactusy]

"Still crazy, I guess," she says - a dry, tired attempt at a joke. "Too bad I didn't get to kill Greer myself; that might've helped."

[aimsforknees]

That's not a name John recognizes, and one she clearly expects him to. There's a gap between them, something missing, something that would explain why they're missing each other's meaning like this. The likely issue suddenly springs to mind.

"What's the current date?"

[cactusy]

"Uh, shouldn't I be asking you that?" she asks, shooting him a weird look. "November 2015, last I checked. Why, what is it up here in space?"

[aimsforknees]

That answers it. "Harold and I are from 2013. After Timothy Sloan and Jason Greenfield. When Root kidnapped you."

That's more than two years that Shaw has on them. What has transpired during those two years? John decides pretty quickly that he doesn't actually care. Finding out won't change what he does, how he conducts himself. He'll live with whatever choices he's going to make.

[cactusy]

"Two thousand-- what?"

It's not that she doesn't believe him, it's just that this is somehow more Does Not Compute than anything else she's heard so far. Otherworldly kidnapping, multiverses, magic powers - that's all weird, but it's also removed from her. Harold and John aren't, and the idea that they're from two thousand fucking thirteen...

"Reese, I swear to god, if you're messing with me."

She doesn't know how to finish that threat, so she just ends it on a full stop.

[aimsforknees]

John wishes he were messing with her. But.

"I don't know who Greer is, and I don't know anything about simulations." Those are the two things that stick out to him right now, two things she's mentioned which seem significant to her and hold no meaning to him.