Cyril's Books (nU location)

Cyril’s Used Books & More sits in a quiet alley in a quiet Midwestern town that doesn’t even show up on any but the most local maps. It bills itself as a purveyor of unusual texts, specializing in those dealing with occult and mythological subjects. Patrons can browse the stacks, purchase Tarot cards, Ouija boards, and other New Age accoutrements, and even enjoy their new purchases or the company of the like-minded in the cozy little coffee shop at the rear of the establishment. Business is generally slow to moderate, occasionally picking up during the local medieval faire the town holds every summer.

Patrons who ask the right questions or produce tomes or items of “peculiar” significance, however, quickly find themselves being ushered through a door that didn’t seem to be there a moment ago, and down a flight of stairs to a basement level that seems far larger than the modest building above it would indicate. It is here that the Necrommander holds court.

The Deathless Master established the shop as a means of collecting as many items of arcane significance as possible, without the hassle of trekking across the globe to retrieve them, himself. Repeat customers appreciate the ability discreetly unload treasures that most would consider risky to possess, and their enthusiasm is bolstered by the Necrommander’s policy of paying for items using gemstones or precious metals, finding the concept of “cash” to be entirely contemptible. Customers with mystical interests of their own may even find the lich willing to trade, depending on his mood and the relative values of the items being bartered for.

Would-be thieves, swindlers, and righteous crusaders, however, will find their welcome decidedly chillier. Many of these now lurk in the shadows of the dimly-lit basement, serving the dire being they opposed as mindless undead guardians…

Rules

• All standard/CVnU rules apply
• Combat is fine; major damage needs pre-approval
• Shoplifters will be zombified

This sounds like it could be useful. An appearance might be made soon enough.

Twilight entered hastily, a rush of wind resulted when she slammed open the door which pushed the candy colored strands of hair out of order but she quickly fixed this with a simple swipe of her gloved hand "So sorry!"

she walked toward the person whom seemed to be in charge " got a exam on Norse Mythology in six hours and need as many books on it as possible"

@charm_caster:

The very proper-looking clerk behind the counter looked up, a bit taken aback, as most of the shops regulars weren't known to be so...energetic.

"Ah yes, Norse mythology," he answered, regaining his prim composure. "Do you really need as many books as possible, or as many books as one could reasonably read in six hours?"

@necrommander: "The latter, also I wouldn't mind getting the most relevant parts please!"she bowed her head several times in respect to the clerk.

@charm_caster:

"Very well, young lady, give me just a moment..." The lanky figure vanished into the stacks, returning several minutes later, arms laden with tomes. "I have gathered what I feel are the most comprehensive works on the subjects, and put them in the order I would read them, if preparing for an exam." He began punching keys on the store's antique register. "Well then, since you are obviously a student, I am giving you our student discount. That's four hardcovers and one scholarly folio...your total will be $56.97, including tax."

@necrommander: Figures, knowledge has a price Twilight pouted as she reached in her pocket, the gloved hand swayed back and forth in her pencil skirt's pocket until she finally pulled out a wrinkled hundred dollar bill and handed it over to the clerk "Can I get change back?"

@charm_caster: "Certainly." The clerk produced her change before bagging and handing over her books. Noting her expression, he continued, "If money is a concern for you, we are looking for someone to assist us part-time in the coffee shop in the evenings. I do recall the financial constraints of academic pursuits."

@necrommander: This peaked Twilight's interested "I'm interested Mister..?"

@charm_caster: "Vanderbeck," the clerk offered a friendly and his hand. "George Vanderbeck. I don't own this establishment, but I do mostly run it, including making the hiring decisions. You go prepare for your exam; stop by and see me when you have some time to talk."

@necrommander: "Sure thing Mister Vanderbeck" she shook his hand firmly while smiling confidently.

@charm_caster: @necrommander:

"Zan-zan al shaph!" Leena demanded.

"I'm... sorry... I don't speak...?"

The buoyant little imp huffed, narrowing her huge crimson eyes, one tiny fang visible over her bottom lip. Glancing back up at the cafe menu, she inhaled and remembered, once again, that it was necessary to translate what she said for human ears. "Irish creme breve," she chirped finally in her echoing, clipped accent, hovering at counter-level with her head tilted expectantly.

The clerk swallowed. He'd seen some things, man (some stuff too), but the sight of The Crowned Scamp was a bit too alien for anyone to deal with easily right away. "That's... $4.75," he said hesitantly.

"Shan zel an?" Leena clucked, holding her hands about six inches apart -- a tiny golden coin materializing between them in a swirl of violet-red light. "Coin!" she insisted, dropping it casually onto the counter and then repeating herself. "Irish creme breve."

Despite her prior nature as a frutarian, the Midnight Fairy was increasingly... addicted, to dairy. Lattes being among her primary weaknesses.

@necrommander: @circumstance_imp: First day at work, real work after several decades!

Twilight thought as she walked proudly along the streetwalk her arms were swaying up and down enthusiastically "doo doo do doo"she turned around the corner to the entrance of the Coffee shop

"wait my I.D"Twilight pulled out a blank card and whispered in the Origin Language known to most Earth people as Latin "Item Inferorum" the features of the card in the blink of an eye turned into a forged Identification Card.

She pushed the door open with one hand while grinning as she inspected her fake identification and then looked up to see what was infront of her

Oh, come on SERIOUSLY!

Twilight frowned as she immediately pocketed the I.D in her pencil skirt and metaphorically locked eyes like heat seeking rockets on the mystical being wait nobody is running away maybe it's not evil but there's only two ways to find out.

"Aura examines" the pink haired girl whispered again while gently forming her palms into fists, lets seen not dark but neither light so it seems okay... and almost instantly Twilight returned back to her enthusiastic composure.

She walked by and introduced herself to one of her fellow co workers "Excuse me guy I'm the new co-worker, it's my turn to take over"

@charm_caster:

Leena's brow furrowed into a sharp scowl as the boy who was supposed to be taking her order jumped at the presented opportunity to not serve her. Quickly handing his apron over to Twilight and punching out before completing the Imp's order, the man rushed away -- only for Leena's simmering circumstance field to cause him to stumble, falling face-first on his way out of the cafe.

"Coffee," Leena whined, floating upward and sitting her smooth-skinned, pear-shaped figure directly on the cafe counter, draping her tiny frame against it and once again holding up her coin. "Cooooffee?" she chirped suggestively.

@circumstance_imp: Twilight raised one brow as the other lowered but her facial expression remained virtually blank, she turned back to the strange creature for a moment and picked up a staple brand with the white label and black print [COFFEE]

"Coffee"she placed it a pea's width away from the creature on the counter "are for customers that sit on non designated work spaces"Twilight nudged a head tilt towards the stool that was right behind the creature.

@charm_caster:

"Nan al? Shan el an reph san kun?" Leena's eyes flickered open wider, her expression more than a little grumpy and only offset by a pouty expression. Huffing, she floated backwards and hovered to the side of the counter, splaying her arms out to show that she wasn't touching anything any more. "There," she finally said, folding her arms, then pointing back to the menu above Twilight's head. "Irish creme breve. Coin."

Laying the coin on the table, she did a few mid-air somersaults towards the stool and finally perched her tiny frame atop it, assuming another demure pose as she pretended to wait patiently, grumbling to herself in her esoteric little nonsense language.

@circumstance_imp: Twilight smirked as the creature obeyed her command although with out the attitude would have been preferred, it was good enough for this Origin.

"You're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve little one" Twilight batted her eye lashes erotically and placed a palm all fancy like on her own chest while the other hovered above the [COFFEE] "Transmutatis"a small sphere of bright white energy enveloped the cannon and changed its properties on the atomic level before fading away.

It was no longer a metal can containing grounded coffee seeds but a Mug with a Hello Kitty face labeled on the front and back, inside was Leena's requested Irish creme breve nice and hot.

@charm_caster:

Magic...! That explains why I was drawn here. I thought I had detected a fey presence that had brought me to this area... could it be this pink-haired girl?

Leena drifted up from her stool, holding out her tiny hands to take the mug and dipping her oversized face towards it, sipping away at the creamy top foam before releasing an echoing moan of approval. "It's good," she said lightly, turning her eyes onto Twilight with an expression caught between interest and suspicion. She felt no specific fey energy, nor did she recognize the spell, but she knew she had felt something here... somewhere. "El zu-ka neph-- you do spells?"

@circumstance_imp: Twilight crossed her elbows and leaned over the countertop while speaking gently "Yes, but what I'd like to know is what a good looking Imp like yourself doing in a place like this?"

@charm_caster:

Imp...? Oh, right. Leena glanced down at her distorted body, compacted by the pendulous "crown" she wore on her head. Seemingly long gone was the Midnight Fairy, yet after such eons she could not fully mentally transition to this new body. Her eyes keenly observed the spellcaster, buoyantly hovering beside the countertop and wiping the foam away from her thin lips.

"I wander the humanrealm. Wandering brought me here." The answer was simple enough, though gave no information about how Leena had shattered the Veil and traveled here under her own power, sacrificing both power and form to do so. It also spoke little of how her detection of magical energy had brought her to Cyril's Books... unwittingly to the Necrommander, but more obviously to Twilight and this charming little cafe.

@circumstance_imp: "So get this, I'm fine with you wandering around just don't cause any trouble and we'll get along fine" Twilight stood up straight while brushing some loose hairs back in place with her gloved hand, "My name is Twilight" she reached to the little one for a handshake "what's yours?"

@charm_caster:

"Trouble?" Leena mocked offense, holding both tiny hands to her mouth as if stunned that it could even be suggested that she be troublesome. "El an kun-jan, I'm no trouble. Not one bit."

Reaching out to shake Twilight's hand with one miniature hand and crossing the fingers of the other behind her back, she offered a pleasant, if mischievous, smile. "I am the Midnight Fairy. My name--" it took her a moment, thinking, before simply speaking her name, untranslated. "Lee-na."

@circumstance_imp: Feeling a bit confident she poked Leena's nose with the other hand that was behind her own back "cute name for a cute Imp"

@charm_caster:

"Meep~" she squeaked at the little boop, crossing her eyes to examine the spot that had just been "gotten." It took her a moment to decide whether this was an attack or a sign of affection, eventually using context to decide on the latter. Widening her already-huge mouth into a playful smile, she reached out and counter-booped, her tiny finger like a butterfly's touch.

@circumstance_imp: @charm_caster:

From behind a overloaded and chaotically organized shelf of books, "Vandebeck" listened to the snippets of conversation with preternaturally acute hearing. His master would certainly wish to be informed of this development, both the arrival of the chaos imp and unforeseen arcane abilities of his new hire. He dared not attempt a magical communication with his undead master, however; the risk of one or both of the parties detecting such was too great. Placing the "back in 5" sign on the register, he glanced around to ensure no one was watching before slipping through the hidden door into the building's lower level.

@circumstance_imp: @necrommander: Sakura giggled and then sighed "Is there anything else I can get you Leena?"

@charm_caster: @necrommander:

"Al eph zan-zan kaph-- erm..." the plushie goblin furrowed her brow, pausing and lifting the mug back to her lips, drawing in several deep gulps of the foamy liquid. Not noticing the increasing dilation of her pupils, because how could she, Leena merely held up the mug and said "...Coffee?"

@necrommander: @circumstance_imp:

"Money?" Twilight said as she cocked her head to the right

@charm_caster:

The Swamp Fairy exhaled through her nostrils, taking another gulp from her mug before letting loose a tiny burp. These humans, they were obsessed with money. Money for everything. You couldn't go anywhere, do anything, eat, drink, or sleep, without spending money to do so. And, unfortunately for Leena, nobody seemed to like fairy coins.

They, however, would have to deal with it, since it was all they were getting. Reaching backwards into her copious fiery hair, she withdrew another tiny silver coin, extending it. "Coin."

@circumstance_imp: Twilight talked to herself "It's a good thing I have plenty of mana to spare" Twilight pointed her finger at the mug "Effingo" a wisp of pink energy in a smokey form floated away from the cup's vessel as Twilight pointed at a clean spot next to Leena there the pink smoke formed in the shape of the same mug Leena had in her possession

The smoke solidifed and changed colors the spell had essentially duplicated the drink.

@necrommander: @charm_caster:

Finishing her first mug, Leena didn't pause before tackling the second, quickly raising the question of how she was able to keep so much liquid inside of her tiny body. Even if she had a stomach inside of her enormous head, it still wouldn't be enough.

Plopping back down onto the stool, the Imp straddled her mug and sipped from it, her tiny feet beginning to sway back and forth as the caffeine started taking its toll. Perhaps more noticeably, her voluminous orange hair began to extend itself and spasmodically sway, forming bizarre, shapeless little puppets and increasingly beginning to meddle with the surrounding cafe -- as if developing a mind of its own, or at least being directly affected by Leena's increasingly-jittery subconscious.

@circumstance_imp: Twilight turned back and picked up a bottle of water and spoke as she opened it "Watch your hair Leena"

@charm_caster:

Looking up from her mug, she let out a little chirp, her hair swirling into chaotic little tentacles and now starting to pick up and clumsily utilize various objects all at once. "Hair?" she murmured, seemingly not noticing it.

@circumstance_imp: "Yes" she gestured "it's acting all weird"

@charm_caster:

Glancing behind her, she grinned, letting out a metallic little laugh. "It does that," she giggled, her hair-tendrils freezing but not entirely retreating back towards her helmet.

@circumstance_imp: Twilight stared at Leena as she slowly pulled up the bottle of water to drink.

@charm_caster: @circumstance_imp:

This was a unique opportunity. Confident that his presence in this establishment was yet undetected, he decided that there was no better way of assessing the power of these two unique individuals than a direct test. Ordering his obedient clerk to remain out of sight, he dispatched three undead shadows, beings that were immune to physical assault but whose merest touch drained the life force from living creatures, upstairs to assault the pair.

The necromantic slivers of sentience slunk up the stairs, sliding beneath the crack in the hidden door and stealthily slipping between the stacks of book, until they were close enough to burst from hiding, reaching towards their targets with insubstantial claws.

@necrommander: @charm_caster:

Shrugging playfully, Leena didn't even notice the wraithlike shadows that were approaching from behind. Increasingly twitchy and tranced-out at the same time, she leaned in slightly to take another sip from her mug -- just enough for the claw extending towards her to go over her head entirely. As she leaned back, her hair-tendrils started to retract, rearranging the various items they'd picked up and, for the most part, putting them places that they didn't at all belong.

@necrommander: @circumstance_imp: Twilight looked behind Leena as she heard a slight woosh sound And I was just about to take a sip of water, "Um Leena"Twilight cautiously pointed out at some weird demon shadows "are those friends of yours?"

@charm_caster: @circumstance_imp:

With a malevolent hiss, the creatures now attacked in unison. The one who had already missed Leena renewed its assault, shadowy claws extending towards the small creature. The remaining two converged on Twilight, slipping around both side of the bar to come at her from both directions at once.

@circumstance_imp: @necrommander: Twilight somersaulted over the counter instinctively once she saw the beasts block her left and right sides in a attempt to harm her, the jump was made just in the nick of time allowing her to avoid the attack unscathed.

"Leena, we got to go now" she reached for Leena and attempted to pull the Imp away from the beast's reach before it could harm her.

@necrommander: @charm_caster:

"Jal-an?" Leena squeaked at the sudden question, turning around just in time to see the frustrated shade lunge at her more fully. Using her natural buoyancy to push herself backwards, she narrowly avoided the creature's enervating grip, her hair compiling itself and quickly forming into something more comprehensible -- a hand. "What is this?" she chirped, floating backwards and keeping the hand in front of her, the palm forward as a sort of shield. Unsure whether or not to attack, she certainly wasn't going to let that thing touch her, since obviously it wanted to way too badly.

@circumstance_imp: @charm_caster:

The shadows continued to hiss, sounding like some unholy combination of serpents and punctured teapots, as they recoiled and prepared to renew their assault. Judging the element of surprise to be gone, they slid into the shadows cast by the encroaching bookshelves, lurking out of sight and waiting for an opportunity.

@necrommander: @charm_caster:

"Han-an el? Flee? The Midnight Fairy does not flee." Leena's normally-playful expression grew fierce at mention of running away from the battle -- after all, she was an entity of endless power, one who had created and shaped worlds in the past. Her single hair-hand divided into two of slightly smaller size, currents of deep red energy flowing along their lengths and giving them a fiery, "charged" appearance as she lifted herself higher into the air. Despite having the body of a gremlin, she held herself like a goddess, her scarlet eyes sharpening with wrath as she rushed towards the crouching shadows, massive hands raking across the shelves where the shades hid.

@necrommander: @circumstance_imp: "Come on Leena" Twilight said in a hopeless tone "you're not going to really kill them that way" the pink hair colored girl sighed and face palmed.

@charm_caster: @circumstance_imp:

Whatever the energy that Leena had charged her hair with was, it was clear that the undead beings did not care for it. They slid deeper into the darkness, one continuing to hiss loudly, in an attempt to keep the Imp's attention focused upon it, the other two silently slipping around the sides of the room in an attempt to catch the duo unawares.

@necrommander: @charm_caster:

"Chal-chal rin kun? Am I not?" Leena roared back at Twilight, her "hands" moving more erratically now, the caffeine in her un-adapted system starting to cause her to lose focus. She clearly missed the shade maneuvering around her, but continued her rampage in the direction of the one that had remained behind as a target. Her hair snaked around objects and obstacles, both energized palms finally appearing on either side of the shadow and slamming into one another, aiming to squash it between them.

@charm_caster: @necrommander: @circumstance_imp: February, in a country town, lost in a valley somewhere. At first step into the town The Gecko Prince followed a pregnant housewife through side streets. His skin tone in time taking her appearance and his flat stomach palette expanding to a gut. Within those minutes a pickup truck five feet off the pavement sped by with pollution gasping from it's pipe sped down the sideroad narrowly missing a dimwitted human spawn, causing it to trip on the curb falling side to a mid-aged human carrying a binder at it's side. With a scan of reaction leading to a brick establishment, a red neonic sign reading the bright letters of OPEN on the tinted windows. Though thought to be the last thing in a waste of material such as this settlement, it was a knowledge establishment. Or rather a book store in a lesser voice. Ulysses stepped across the very street still smelling of auto pollution and fossil fuel with the small scent of a nosebleed from the wailing spawn. He bent down grabbing the binder from the sniveling humankind, stashing it under his own arm before pulling the door to the merchant as the sign would state, OPEN.

Even more unlikely than books in a backwater town was the sight of an pudgy creature expanding elongated hair through the works of the shelves with her brightly haired companion urging her to depart. Making it blatantly obvious the need to disguise was no longer necessary. The view of a pregnant female glowing away from his scaled skin allowing him to retrieve a standard height to return. He'd rise from the floorboards scattered with slight coffee stains to the natural color to a single inch from the ground. His crimson eyes scanned the shelves at entrance. Simple works for simple people, the binder under his arm carried textbook copies, two engineering and one for history. Far too simple to keep. The Scholar approached the two Earth dwellers feuding in the storefront. His crimson stare darted between them, particularly the small bubbly creature. With an ignorance of the red haired humanoid appearing being beside it he questioned.

"Small one. Who possesses claim over the establishment we dwell inside? I wish to extend this scripture to their grasp."

@_ulysses_: @charm_caster: @circumstance_imp:

Hmm...a newcomer. Escalation is called for.

With the beckoning of one clawed, boney hand, the undead owner of the shop summoned another of his dire creations, silently ordering it to join the fray above. With an ungainly shuffling, a massive form stirred within the shadows...

A sickly-sweet odor of rot preceded the monstrosity's emergence from behind the counter, as it's rotting eyes glared at the three occupants with equal malevolence. "Cloooosing Tiiiime..." it slurred, lurching forward, with wrecking-ball-like fists swinging.