The Great Library of Dollet, In the Process of Renovations, Thursday Night Fandom-Time (NFB)
There were at least forty-seven things Rinoa hated about being back home. Near the top of the list was the bowing and scraping.
"We didn't find anything," the library assistant said. "We're so sorry, your Ladyship."
"It's Rinoa," she sighed. She looked up from her pile of scrolls and made a face. "Really? Nowhere in the archives?"
"No, your ladyship," he said. "It seems most of the archives are ... missing."
Of course. Whenever there was a Sorceress War -- and those seemed to happen regularly every thirty to forty years -- people got angry and purged all mentions of Sorceresses from textbooks and memoirs and everything else. So stories of nice, ordinary, non-crazy and trying to end the world Sorceresses just didn't seem to exist.
"Thank you," she said. "I'll keep digging here."
"Of course, your ladyship," the man said, bowing so low that she wondered he didn't hit his head this time.
"It's Rinoa," she called. Holy shit, was he actually backing out of the room so that he didn't turn away from her? That was so utterly creepy.
About the only thing worse than the people who were randomly terrified of her were the ones that were getting the sucking up in now, so that when she went evil and took over the planet, they'd be in good standing.
Rinoa rubbed her temples and looked at the manuscripts around her. Somewhere in here had to be an unpurged mention of a Sorceress. Any Sorceress, at all. That was half the reason she was working so hard to restore the Great Dollet Library. (The other half being that it was a library; who wouldn't want it restored!??)
Out of force of habit, Rinoa picked up her cell phone and dialed one of the numbers she still knew by heart. It had been over a year, now, since all the portals had slammed shut. Since they'd returned for a simple weekend trip and discovered that Fandom had disappeared from the map entirely. Since she or Squall had been able to so much as call any of their school friends.
The first week, she'd tried calling three times a day. It had faded down to once a day by the time the first month was over, and now, it was one every few weeks. It didn't matter; every single time, she heard the same tone, the same automated message: We're sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try again.
She braced herself as she lifted the phone to her ear ...
... and heard a dial tone.
"It's ringing!" she called, to no one in particular. So what if it was a library? They could all just deal with it. "It's actually ringing!"
Maybe it was only ringing as a way of tricking her? Maybe the message was going to --
"Hi, this is Jono Starsmore's phone. Please leave a message and he'll get back to you. Thanks!"
"JONO!" Rinoa shouted. She got to her feet with some difficulty -- no stepping on the priceless manuscripts -- and couldn't stop a happy wriggle. "Jono, it's me! It's Rinoa! Jono, please pick up the phone!"
Nothing? Really? Okay maybe he was busy but this was kind of important here.
"Jono, seriously, we were stuck and I don't know what happened but I finally got you! That's why you need to PICK UP THE PHONE!"
If he was screening her calls, she was going to stab him in the face. After she hugged him hard enough to crack a few ribs.
"Dammit, I don't know how long you -- look, we went home just for like a weekend? And everything was shut and now I'm in Dollet? At the library? The portals might be open now, so I'm gonna see if we can figure out what's going on? How is everyone??? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU AREN'T THERE. This is so not fair!"
Rinoa sighed. Okay. He wasn't there. Fine. Ugh. Totally not cool.
"Okay, listen, we're gonna investigate and maybe we can figure out what's going on? You still have our numbers, right? Because Squall --"
And that was when the machine beeped.
Rinoa could have screamed, but that was seriously inappropriate for a library. She considered it, anyway.
She did, however, have the presence of mind to send a text to her Knight, soulmate, boyfriend, and favorite person ever.
PHONE GOT THROUGH portals may be up we're going back y/y???????????
Packing. There was so much packing to do. Someone was going to have to clean up these scrolls. Surely one of those suck-up weirdos wouldn't mind.
(ESTABLISH-A-MUNDO. furnaceface was cool with the phone call, yo.)
"We didn't find anything," the library assistant said. "We're so sorry, your Ladyship."
"It's Rinoa," she sighed. She looked up from her pile of scrolls and made a face. "Really? Nowhere in the archives?"
"No, your ladyship," he said. "It seems most of the archives are ... missing."
Of course. Whenever there was a Sorceress War -- and those seemed to happen regularly every thirty to forty years -- people got angry and purged all mentions of Sorceresses from textbooks and memoirs and everything else. So stories of nice, ordinary, non-crazy and trying to end the world Sorceresses just didn't seem to exist.
"Thank you," she said. "I'll keep digging here."
"Of course, your ladyship," the man said, bowing so low that she wondered he didn't hit his head this time.
"It's Rinoa," she called. Holy shit, was he actually backing out of the room so that he didn't turn away from her? That was so utterly creepy.
About the only thing worse than the people who were randomly terrified of her were the ones that were getting the sucking up in now, so that when she went evil and took over the planet, they'd be in good standing.
Rinoa rubbed her temples and looked at the manuscripts around her. Somewhere in here had to be an unpurged mention of a Sorceress. Any Sorceress, at all. That was half the reason she was working so hard to restore the Great Dollet Library. (The other half being that it was a library; who wouldn't want it restored!??)
Out of force of habit, Rinoa picked up her cell phone and dialed one of the numbers she still knew by heart. It had been over a year, now, since all the portals had slammed shut. Since they'd returned for a simple weekend trip and discovered that Fandom had disappeared from the map entirely. Since she or Squall had been able to so much as call any of their school friends.
The first week, she'd tried calling three times a day. It had faded down to once a day by the time the first month was over, and now, it was one every few weeks. It didn't matter; every single time, she heard the same tone, the same automated message: We're sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try again.
She braced herself as she lifted the phone to her ear ...
... and heard a dial tone.
"It's ringing!" she called, to no one in particular. So what if it was a library? They could all just deal with it. "It's actually ringing!"
Maybe it was only ringing as a way of tricking her? Maybe the message was going to --
"Hi, this is Jono Starsmore's phone. Please leave a message and he'll get back to you. Thanks!"
"JONO!" Rinoa shouted. She got to her feet with some difficulty -- no stepping on the priceless manuscripts -- and couldn't stop a happy wriggle. "Jono, it's me! It's Rinoa! Jono, please pick up the phone!"
Nothing? Really? Okay maybe he was busy but this was kind of important here.
"Jono, seriously, we were stuck and I don't know what happened but I finally got you! That's why you need to PICK UP THE PHONE!"
If he was screening her calls, she was going to stab him in the face. After she hugged him hard enough to crack a few ribs.
"Dammit, I don't know how long you -- look, we went home just for like a weekend? And everything was shut and now I'm in Dollet? At the library? The portals might be open now, so I'm gonna see if we can figure out what's going on? How is everyone??? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU AREN'T THERE. This is so not fair!"
Rinoa sighed. Okay. He wasn't there. Fine. Ugh. Totally not cool.
"Okay, listen, we're gonna investigate and maybe we can figure out what's going on? You still have our numbers, right? Because Squall --"
And that was when the machine beeped.
Rinoa could have screamed, but that was seriously inappropriate for a library. She considered it, anyway.
She did, however, have the presence of mind to send a text to her Knight, soulmate, boyfriend, and favorite person ever.
PHONE GOT THROUGH portals may be up we're going back y/y???????????
Packing. There was so much packing to do. Someone was going to have to clean up these scrolls. Surely one of those suck-up weirdos wouldn't mind.
(ESTABLISH-A-MUNDO. furnaceface was cool with the phone call, yo.)