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Angela	Malkuth had given out a broad call for assistance, so it must be pretty bad in the Library right now. There is in fact a bit of an issue getting to the location. Namely, unless you can teleport directly over, the usual method of arrival of Angela sending over an invitation isn't available. And there's usually a barrier surrounding the Library. Fortunately, Malkuth is willing to meet people outside of the barrier and bring them in with one of the spare invitations but she isn't willing to travel too far outside of the barrier which means a trip through the City to get there or using whatever teleportation you've got at your disposal to pop over quickly. Mist obscures the streets and walls of long abandoned building and as one gets close to the barrier of golden light, Petra will notice that the barrier seems thinner lately. It could be for any number of reasons. Perhaps Angela's control over the Library has weakened and so has its protections, or perhaps it is a side effect of Angela absorbing the Light to free herself. It's thin enough that the dark forest beyond that the Library's sphere of influence has reached out to is vaguely observable from the outside. White, of course, will know that Harriet the Spyder is doing her job of keeping an eye on Angela. Angela still seems to be sleeping, more or less peacefully. At some point, a book labeled SCORCHED GIRL appeared in her hands. Hokma, the only real on-site expert in Angela's design, has run some basic examinations to ensure her systems were functioning properly but has been stymied by the fact that Angela's body no longer makes any sense as either a human or a machine and has ultimately settled for fretful observation, and putting on some soft jazz on a record player set up on a desk to try and soothe whatever dreams she might be having. Right now he has moved out of the way over to the desk, sitting himself down and looking positively miserable. White could skip all this and teleport all the way over to Angela's room if she wanted though it might mean missing some exposition. Malkuth looks harried, and has some ash clinging to her uniform. "Thanks for coming. It'll be real bad if the books caught fire. Tiphereth's been handling greetings, but at this point it's been difficult dissuading our guests so on that front it's been business as usual other than the fires. As for what's starting them--well, seeing them will paint the picture. We shouldn't take too long, but any quick questions before I pull you in?" Once everybody is ready, Malkuth will use the invitation to bring the group to the Library in, predictably, a flash of light. And they appear in the lobby. Tiphereth is standing there, wearing the EGO Gear of the King of Greed. One can observe numerous piles of ash and pieces of burnt wood surrounding her. She says, "Welcome to the--Oh it's you people." Despite the bluntness, she's visibly relieved. "Don't know if it's safe to use the elevator with all the fires but--if you see any matchstick people running around, if you can dispatch them while moving on up, I'd appreciate it. Roland and the other Librarians are already working on that. Malkuth and I need to watch the lobby in case we get guests." To frequent visitors, the air does feel warmer than usual, even without any immediate fires to see down in the lobby. The librarians have been very diligent in cutting down any escaping 'matchsticks' judging purely by the number of ash piles around Tiphereth herself. Malkuth summons the Queen Bee EGO equipment around herself, looking a mix of frustrated and concerned.
Ember	Ember has to make his way from the nearest warp gate to the Library.  Fortunately for him, he can fly with the help of Garuda, the Guardian of Wind.  While it might raise some eyebrows, he embodies the guardian, transforming into a befeathered creature with claws and wings.  Taking off, he flies over The City.   He's never seen a city so... crippled by systems that he hated.  He does his best to ignore the problems, because ultimately he'd be helping someone who, in theory, held a deep-seated hatred of the people he would.  It breaks into abandoned buildings the closer he gets, and eventually, he lands.  The transformation disbursing with it in a strong gust of wind the moment he lands.   Malkuth is there to greet him.  For Ember, this would be the first time he's met her, and he offers a small wave of greeting to her as she explains the situation.  As for questions... "How long has this been going on?  When Roland first talked about Angela being asleep, he did not mention the fires." Though he really didn't have any other questions, most everything that had been explained had been explained enough for his understanding.  The bright light takes them into the Library itself for them to run across another librarian.  Ember, of course, politely waves to Tiphereth and listens to the concern on her breath about the matchstick people.   "So where do we go from here?" he asks, having never been to the Library before, nor does he know where the book in question that is causing all of this mess is.  But to the idea that there might be a problem on the way there, he checks his knives and nods.  "That shouldn't be a problem." He also summons another guardian.  Titan, guardian of the earth, manifests before disappearing, and Ember's form becomes more golem-like, his skin taking on the shape of rock and earth rather than skin, and his eyes have a yellow glow to them now.  "This will help with the flames, should we run into them."
Kukuru	Fortunately for Kukuru, she is capable of teleporting directly where she needs to be! Considering the circumstances, she doesn't really wait for the usual method, either, since she's heard enough from Malkuth to make sure she shows up sooner rather than later. She appears at the Library's main entrance from one of her usual teleportation clouds with her usual cooler full of assorted meals, snacks, and drinks in tow, bringing with her an uncharacteristically high number of vegan-friendly options. There's also plenty of ice and bottled water inside, too, although that's likely to pale in comparison to any fire extinguishers that Malkuth had already mentioned earlier. "Of course we'd come, Malkuth. All those books catching on fire would be reeeeal bad for all of you, and we can't have that." She asserts with her usual drowsy tone, although there's a bit more haste in her tone than usual thanks to the general fire threat. "The guests should be understanding about this, at least.. It'd be real bad for them, too, and if they don't get it..." She pauses to tap her chin thoughtfully, then makes a pinching motion in the air. "We have permission to throw anyone rowdy out, riiiight?" As far as questions go, Kukuru doesn't have any that come to mind until the group encounters Tiphereth. "IF the elevator's unsafe, it'll be good for us to be the ones to find out instead of someone else. We can just whoosh everyone to safety, and then we can put up a sign to let everyone else not to go that way." Clapping her hands together with a pleasant hum, Kukuru does indeed feel the warmth in the air, and she's already prepared to dump ice cold bottles of water over the head of anyone that asks for it. Otherwise, however, she brings out one of her claws to get ready to smite any matchsticks that the group encounters. She's quick to move, too, even though said movement just involves her stepping through a portal to teleport into their path and intercept with a quick downwards slam straight across the entire body.
White	To be frank, this isn't a good situation for White to handle. Waking up Angela when she finally managed to experience sleep at long last wasn't something White was happy to consider a solution to the situation, but at the same time she's *incredibly* badly suited for dealing with random outbreaks of fire. She can take out matchstick minions as she finds them, but her water magic isn't very powerful, and using black magic to destroy whatever catches fire before it spreads is *really* counter to the actual goal of putting the fires out in the first place. Once the fires get big enough, smothering them with silk stops working and turns into fuel instead, too...      All the same, she has her own memories of her own homes (nests, more like) getting burned down, and this isn't the kind of thing she can just brush off. So, she's there before the others, having teleported into the Library to mitigate what fires she can, even if only with the mere impact of a normal person with a washtub and a store-bought fire resistant blanket. It's with those important pieces of Common +0 equipment under her arms that she joins the group outside when Malkuth goes to meet them, wanting to be there for whatever planning is done before they all head back inside. Her hair and clothes, white as they are, are obviously smeared with soot. She's understandably a little restless looking, shifting on her heels periodically while the group discusses their questions, and the only one she immediately has is, "Are we going... For the book... Now? Or... Is there more 'triage'... To do first?"      Barring other topics outside, once they're in the lobby with Tiphereth White does at least note, "... We don't... Need the elevator... I can move us. Tell me... Where to start."      Ember is new to her, and she spends a moment examining the blatantly elementally-derived summoned creature he creates and merges with, making a mental note and trying to slot them into the proverbial deck of cards she's aware the group provides for the situation. He didn't summon a water-element beast, so maybe his selection is limited? Or maybe he's just really wary of getting hurt and wants the (assumed) personal defense buff? Hard to say, but it's not a silver bullet for the situation so she's quick to drop her curiosity after a couple moments of thoughtful staring.
Petra Soroka	Petra isn't here as a contracted hire, nor does she need exposition. She's here to do her job as the Patron Librarian of General Works, and, more metaphorically, the inheritor of the Scorched Girl's burden. Unfortunately, with Angela asleep, it's a bitch and a half even for *her* to get into the Library, without her constant supply of personally tailored Invitations to teleport right there, so she has to slog it with the rest of the Elites this time.     She's just wearing her plain General Works suit as a uniform, monochrome black with a white outline on the fabric. In her pocket is a golden chain that secures the compact mirror locket to her belt loops, but by the time she's at the Library's barrier, she's openly drawn Fourth Match Flame and has the blade resting on her shoulder. "Thanks for coming."     "Ange's alright so far?"     Of course that'd be her first question. Obviously, she's come by to check on Angela's sleep several times ever since it began, and though she eventually worked herself down from being stressed about it, the existence of danger in the Library calls the sleep into question again.     "Has anything about the Library been destabilizing besides this? Any of the previously treated Abnormality books getting weird? Guests, invitations, books staying where they're meant to?" Petra shifts the sword on her shoulder, ash flaking off of it to fall to the ground. "Nothing like that time at the end of the war?" "Don't know if it's safe to use the elevator with all the fires but--"     "Don't," Petra agrees, wearily. "This might be the only place in the City where fire codes exist but that doesn't mean we should ignore them. It's stairs time, baby. Have they gotten much higher than Control-- History?"     Petra takes the Silver FullBottle out of her pocket, flipping it open with her thumb as she heads towards the stairs up. A blob of it slaps onto her lower face, gripping around her jaw and contorting into a metal respirator that prepares her for the smoke and distorts her voice with a slight static haze. "So where do we go from here?"     To Ember and to the other Elites, Petra jerks her head in the direction of the big spiral staircase. "History is just one floor up from the lobby. If F-01-02-01's gotten out of hand, we'll probably have to do a quick sweep down from General Works to contain them, but the book's just up here."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel doesn't like travelling the City streets, so this time he's just stayed completely invisible, levitated very fast to the edge of the Library's foggy barrier, and shuffled in quickly with a spare invite.     He loosens his tie and sheds his jacket the minute he's in. "Pyrokinetic effects..." He mutters. "I'll crunch any matchsticks I can find. You said there's a book here, connected with this, you have the location? You probably don't need me for the astral projection side of things, but I need to get in there, or I need to see Angela herself, I know all these books have an intense astral link with her. Doesn't matter what kind of physical shape she's in, if she's *thinking* at all then basic braining applies. Are we running containment first, or the book, or splitting?"     Ready to find this, ready to dive. He's even gotten the psychoportal from his discarded jacket's pocket to bring to Angela if necessary, but that's plan B. Plan A is the book. Despite the seriousness of the initial batch of words, he winds up wiping his brow and beaming much more happily. "This is practically sitting dead-center of the Psychonaut wheelhouse. Comatose girl connected with mysterious pyrokinetic fires? *Classic*. I wonder if she's even got the classic dream where she's wandering in a huge blizzard bringing warmth to various important figures from her personal history. We use that one as a killhouse for the hyper-lethal counter-dream-induction-psychoterrorism training." He's on his way to the staircase.
Sarracenia	As has so often been the case regarding Angela, Sarra debates whether to respond. She eventually settles on yes since it is the heroic thing. Losing people because she was too stubborn to help would be very bad.      And also she can hold it over Roland's and Angela's heads.      Sarra is used to taking various transportation methods around the City by now. She takes the nearest train before flying the rest of the way via Bullet Bill. She lands by Malkuth, already with an ice flower in hand. She's told seeing the fires will paint the picture, she only asks one question. "How many have been lost?"      She does greet a few of the others though. Kukuru receives a hug. "Kukuru! It is lovely to see you!" Flamel receives a friendly wave. "Hello Flamel!" White receives a curtsey. "Lady White, it has been too long!"      Petra almost doesn't receive a greeting, but recent events at least get Sarra to offer her a slight, awkward wave. "Hello Petra."      Sarra has not met Ember in person before, but when she hears the voice she looks him over suspiciously. She does not greet him or introduce herself. Maybe if he figures it out or someone else mentions her name.      Once they are teleported, Sarra offers the others an ice flower as well. "These may help with fire-fighting. They are ice flowers. Use one, and you will be able to throw ice bolts about."
Angela	Malkuth doesn't recognize Ember but she recognizes his voice. "This is a relatively new development. At first we weren't even sure it wasn't just librarians being careless with their cigarettes, but then Mikey caught sight of one of the Matchsticks and screamed bloody murder up in Art." ''It'd be real bad for them, too, and if they don't get it.'' Malkuth grimaces. She's a Nest girl ultimately and she has a little bit of bias against the people of the Backstreets. She lived in a nice area. But at the end of the day, she is doubtful that most people in the Backstreets would give two shits about the books burning. "Hopefully. But--you can leave any guests to us. I'm guessing you don't want to deal with any 'Bookings' yourself and the fire's a much bigger issue right now. One little mistake there and the whole Library could be subsumed in fire. This place is filled with flammables." She frowns more deeply as the realization there is a floor with lava in it. She blames Bowser and Eggman for this. All that talk about supervillainous decor. ''Ange's alright so far?'' "She's fine as far as she can tell but her body's reached the point where it's mystifying to Hokma, he can't do the basic maintenance anymore, but she's not even twisting and turning in bed. We've gotten better at keeping track of the new books and the old books. Everything's more or less in order, though Netzach's been slacking off again so who knows about the Art department, but we haven't seen any traces of any other Abnormalities yet. But if this is because of Angela losing control of her EGO, it's only a matter of time before Abnormalities start escaping their books. Or who knows? Maybe even the guests." Malkuth looks to Flamel. "We need help with containment first. Once the fires are down to a manageable level, you'll want to do your thing. Hopefully once you start engaging the Abnormality on its home turf, it'll focus on protecting itself in there rather than burning everything around out here." Once they get to Tiphereth, she has a little more to say on the matter. ''The book's just up here.'' Tiphereth exhales, "Just before you got here, actually, Hokma told us that the book of Scorched Girl is in Angela's hands right now. I don't know if she summoned it to her side or if the EGO is acting on its own but--well, that might be good news actually. You don't have to go digging through shelves." She looks to White and adds, "Teleporting will make this a lot easier. As you might expect, the FLoor of Language has a lot of Matchsticks running around there but you don't have to worry about that because Gebura's there. The other big floors that are being hit, though, are History--that's right above us--Art, because it's more disorganized--more easy for fires to get out of hands. And the Floor of Religion, right by General Works. Roland's handling General himself. I doubt each Floor needs all of you at once, actually splitting up a little might be a good idea between those three Floors. Since White can teleport you all around..." "Yeah that's a great idea!" Malkuth chirps with the energy of an upbeat shift manager.
Angela	Holding something over Roland and Angela's head is a motivation that Malkuth can understand so she doesn't question Sarracenia's presence, though Tiphereth is uneasy about having what she considers to be an unpredictable element possibly running around in Angela's head. Still, she doesn't feel comfortable REFUSING her help because ice flowers are definitely a useful thing to have in this circumstance. "Just be careful to not hit the books with those, water damage isn't good for books either." Still one doesn't need to teleport to go to History. If Petra still elects to use the Stairs to get to History rather than the White express, she's going to see numerous creatures with APPLe-like stick figure limbs running about, their bodies are lit matchsticks. Occassionally they explode, spreading fire, and sometimes they just use their own heads to more slowly light things on fire at the expense of not killing themselves. Since this Floor didn't have Malkuth helping fend off the Matchsticks, it's probably worst here unless the Art department has truly gotten out of hand.
Flamel Parsons	Flamel grabs an ice-flower, half to keep himself in good mental focus and half because he wants to see what its deal is. "Wow," He rambles. "We usually only see these *inside* minds." Whatever that means. "Thanks!" And White's teleportation is a wonderful option. "Oh, thank goodness, I wasn't looking forward to having to take all those." Says a man who can levitate. "Get us where we need to be, I'll start snapping sticks."     Flamel's many telekinesis-hands array around him as he adjusts his sunglasses and plants two fingers on his temple, quickly slipping the iceflower behind one ear. Instead of iceballs, he's making ice-hands! It's good psychic crossover. "Unless the wood they're made of is narratively reinforced, I should have the thermal resistance and the telekinetic oomph to snap them fast." He'll be taking White's routes, flickering wherever he needs to be taken, and swarming the breached anomalies with those fast-moving hands to engage in vigorous melee that also, thankfully, ought to be precise enough to leave any books unharmed.
Ember	Ember listens to the situation, still encased in his elemental form.  Titan seems to be the best choice.  Garuda could, in theory, smother fires, but has an equal chance of spreading them.  Ifrit is straight out; fighting fire with fire would be destructive on a scale that wouldn't be good for his potential allies.   He also does not know many people here.  Petra is at least one person he knows, and she is very much all business.  He suspects something is happening beneath the scene, as Malkuth seemed to want to spare her this assignment.  "Good luck," he says to her as she makes her way up the floors.   He doesn't know Flamel, except by voice.  He is likewise ignorant of White, but he gets the information that she can teleport them.  Equally curious about her, his own eyes glow to try and understand the magic she can employ.  "I'll go to the Floor of Religion then.  If we are splitting up, I can smother fires and crush stickmen there." He also considers Sarracenia.  He actually is most curious as to why she is here.  She seems to hate both Angela and Roland, and she isn't a friend of his either.  He's pretty sure everyone dislikes her here, so being here is a mystery he doesn't like.   Ignoring it for now, he turns to White.  "I'm ready whenever you are."
White	It's a poor time for White's best manners, but Sarracenia's direct greeting by name at least gets her to lift a hand at the wrist from where it's supporting the washtub she's carrying, lightly waving her fingers in lieu of a fully free hand. It has been a while now, come to think. More importantly, Sarracenia has something White can actually make use of for this situation! Since the basin she's holding is empty, White nods firmly and nudges it forward under-arm to invite Sarra to drop an ice flower in it; she remembers seeing these used, so she already has sort of an idea of what to expect.      Malkuth's response to her offer of transportation- and suggestion to split between floors- gets a nod too. White's putting together the expected order of events in her head and quickly starting to decide how the split should look based on her own impressions; sorting people into 'fire extinguishers' and 'other'. One of her spider-agents comes crawling out of her sleeve looking scrunched and anxious, but scampers after Kukuru so she can keep an eye on her location. "Okay. Kukuru and I... Should split. She and Miss Sarracenia start from History, and... Go up from there. I'll take... Mister Flamel to Art. And send Miss Petra and Mister Ember to Religion. If anyone... Wants to split up more... Take a friend. So we can regroup... Faster."      By "friend", she means her spiders again. She's shunted the fire resistant blanket over her shoulder and holding out her hand with a spider in her palm like it's a sandwich.      "Good?" she asks to be sure, aiming it with her gaze in Petra's direction. White hasn't forgotten that Petra's sort of like the upper manager of the place; she'd know best where to send people and what to prioritize. Provided there's no issue, she's ready to teleport the four of them ahead, and ideally have all of this crisis management done in a hurry. She'll use that ice flower immediately after teleporting, hopeful that just *having ice powers* will help with the heat in general. Matchstick-men get smothered with conjured sand and kicked apart when she has to do it herself, but her priority is to use conjured sand dampened with water to smother fires wherever possible without causing too much damage to the books in the process.
Petra Soroka	"She's fine as far as she can tell but her body's reached the point where it's mystifying to Hokma,"     "Eventually, every daughter gets there with their dad. Usually it's around ten years old." Petra, frankly, does not like Hokma poking around in Ange's body at all, so she isn't fussed about that. "But if this is because of Angela losing control of her EGO, it's only a matter of time before Abnormalities start escaping their books."     Petra shrugs. "Could be she's dreaming." What the dream would have to be in order to unconsciously evoke Scorched Girl leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. The moment she says it, she becomes that much more certain that it's at least partially true, because of how unpleasant and uncomfortable it'd be.     She waves her hand behind her as she turns away. "We should make sure she has a notebook or something by the bedside when she wakes up. Who knows if dreams are something she'll remember." "Just before you got here, actually, Hokma told us that the book of Scorched Girl is in Angela's hands right now."     "Oh. Yeah, okay. That does lend a bit of evidence to the dream thing." Somehow, this makes Petra even unhappier. Without looking, she jabs Fourth Match Flame down beside her, spearing a little matchling that was trying to creep towards the shelves. The fiery sword resonates to, instead of absorbing the flame, intensify it into a brief consuming flare-up that turns the match to ash in seconds.     Afterwards, Fourth Match Flame stays ignited. In no tactical sense could this possibly be the best weapon to use in a Library against matchstick threats, but Petra is using it anyways. She's unusually dull and vicious in the way that she executes the spawn of Scorched Girl too, cutting them down without stopping. "I wonder if she's even got the classic dream where she's wandering in a huge blizzard bringing warmth to various important figures from her personal history."     The first real indication as to her emotional state is towards Flamel, unsurprisingly. "You're a real fucking asshole sometimes, you know that?" "Hello Petra."     Somehow, Sarracenia of all people escapes Petra's virulent unhappiness at this situation, getting a flat smile and at least an attempted halfhearted wave in greeting. The ice flowers would definitely be a smarter choice of gear, but she's white knuckling the hilt of her EGO sword, so she doesn't take them. "Good?"     Petra zones out for a second, but White addressing her directly fixes that. Stymied in her advance towards the stairs, Petra's thoughts are all on Angela sleeping awkwardly in her bed, clutching the Abnormality Book to her chest.     "Oh. Yeah. Uh, Religion it is for me, then. And..." A bleak single syllable laugh, "And Ember, yeah."     She sighs, and drags her mindstate back into a productive one. "We'll clear out Religion and make our way down from there quickly. Both Religion and Philosophy are pretty understaffed, and Roland's doing his best already, so if we can cut off the additional spawns that are going up the stairs, that'll help him out and start tightening the perimeter around the breach."
Kukuru	"Tell me... Where to start." "Don't," "Okaaaay. We'll be able to see the matchstick people better if we walk, I guess." Kukuru relents in her suggestion to elevator it up following White's and Petra's comments, slumping a little at the thought of having to walk up all those stairs and forgetting about her own teleportation on the way up. Still, she knows they know better than she would in these kinds of situations, so she easily falls into line and even finds a new silver-lining to go with that extra walk: More time to spend with everyone! Really, she just seems super enthused to be there. "I wonder if she's even got the classic dream where she's wandering in a huge blizzard bringing warmth to various important figures from her personal history." "Eh? I had a dream kinda like that once before..." Kukuru murmurs aloud after Flamel, stroking her chin idly with her claw and tugging the cooler along with the other. "But instead of warmth, I was cooling them down because it was suuuper hot that summer. Is that a terrorist thing, too??" "It is lovely to see you!" Giggling quietly at Sarracenia's affection, Kukuru gives her a light pat on the head that feels way gentler and warmer than a giant metal claw should. "Mhm, it's been a while, dear!" "This will help with the flames, should we run into them." Ember's a new face compared to everyone else, but his earthen form and the claim does make it a little easier for Kukuru to relax. "That's good, mmhm... I can fix everyone up if it gets too hot, but getting burnt still hurts real bad." "I'm guessing you don't want to deal with any 'Bookings' yourself and the fire's a much bigger issue right now." "Hmm... I haven't done that yet before, nope! But you're right, the fires need to stop before anyone shows me how that works." Kukuru replies to Malkuth with a firm nod, although a worried frown eventually settles on her face before long. "Too bad we can't take the book right out of here and get some extra time... Mm. Right?" Hearing that the Scorched Girl book is right in Angela's hands sort of answers that for Kukuru already. "splitting up a little might be a good idea between those three Floors." "Okay. Kukuru and I... Should split. She and Miss Sarracenia start from History, and... Go up from there." "Oooh.... Okay! History, historyyy..." Kukuru nods quickly towards White as she sways on her heels, digging a knuckle into her temple to refresh her mental map of the Library. "That's a good plan, mhm. Once me and Sarra make it all the way through, I can bring us right back to wherever we're gonna regroup at. Then we can really make sure this gets handled eeextra quick." She adds with a content smile at White while slipping an ice flower into her breast pocket for safe and convenient storage. Once the plans are settled, Kukuru waves a hand for dramatic effect, and an inky cloud appears in front of herself and Sarracenia. It'll take them straight to History as suggested, and she'll head in a moment after Sarracenia to make sure they both get through properly. With Sarracenia's ice flowers handling any errant flames, that givesa Kukuru more leeway to go after the singular, powerful anomalies to fight strength with strength, and to dig into them at odd angles to keep them away from the precious and potentially volatile books!
Sarracenia	'Just be careful to not hit the books with those, water damage isn't good for books either.'      "Perhaps, but a frozen book can be thawed and dried carefully. A flaming book is much harder to recover." Sarra says.      'Wow, we usually only see these *inside* minds. Thanks!'      Sarra looks a bit confused at the mind part, but smiles at the thank you. "Glad to help!" she says to Flamel.      Sarra is considered by Ember. Sarra has her eye on him as well. She is just waiting for him to say something rude, but instead is ignored...which is almost as bad in her book. She mmphs softly in annoyance and ignores him right back!      Petra waves back! Sarracenia is...a combination of confused and heartened! She wasn't even insulted! But, Petra doesn't take an ice flower. Sarra huffs softly and turns to whoever is going with Petra. "Here. Take a few extra." she says...then realizes it is Ember. She frowns, then huffs and hands over the flowers anyway.      Hearing the list of floors in need, Sarra considers a moment. She was leaning toward Art. Of the options, pretty things are the most valuable to her. But, White suggests History with Kukuru. Sarra drops an ice flower into White's basin, then smiles. "Very well, I will go with Miss Kukuru. Whenever you are ready, Lady White." Once there, Sarra immediately starts seeking out these stick men, using a combination of ice bolts and Silver fletchettes to take out as many as she can while trying to put out fires at the same time and prevent new ones.
Calvin Nash	"Malkuth." Calvin's greeting is short and businesslike, with a firm handshake if she'll accept it. His light pickup is parked not far from the meeting place. The City may not be the most friendly place for cars, much less trucks--this country boy made do. He bothered to grab the shotgun from the rack in the cab. Flanking him are Chernobog and Hell Biker. The former is a towering skeleton clad in a dark gossamer robe and sporting a fungal cap atop his skull. His eerily soundless, gliding footsteps leave a trail of ephemeral mushrooms in his wake.     The latter Flamel knows as the audacious screaming skeleton, a biker in 70s style leathers with a flared collar and a flowing red scarf. Hell Biker sits atop a chopper-style motorcycle whose most notable feature, aside from the lightning-bolt-through-the-heart motif on the gas tank, is the fact that the wheels are on fire. Don't know if it's safe to use the elevator with all the fires but--if you see any matchstick people running around, if you can dispatch them while moving on up, I'd appreciate it.     "Tiphereth. Chevalier Calvin Nash. This here's Hell Biker and that's Chernobog." Calvin gestures towards Hell Biker. "He ain't bothered none by fire," and then towards Chernobog, "And he's real friendly with the cold. What I'm gonna do is, have him," Thumbing towards Hell Biker, "Screen for Chernobog, while me and him take care of them matchsticks and whatever else is tryin' to torch the place."     Any questions?     "No ma'am." He finds a tip of the hat or a stern nod for the people here he's worked with before. Yes, even Flamel. --- If F-01-02-01's gotten out of hand, we'll probably have to do a quick sweep down from General Works to contain them, but the book's just up here.     Petra in particular is someone that Calvin can trust, when it comes to seeing work done, and the authority with which she speaks on the matter speaks to him specifically. "Lead the way." He doesn't just mean 'to the staircase.' 'This is your neck of the woods, I'm just here to help.' Why that is, exactly, can't be inferred just from those three words.     Hell Biker refuses to take one of Sarracenia's ice flowers until Calvin tersely demands that he does. "Just take the damn thing before I crack you like a wishbone."     "Jesus, alright already."     "Calling on me to preserve something? This will cost you later."     "Is that right? Well let me tell you somethin'. If I see you drag your ass even a little bit 'cause you think it's funny, that's gonna cost you a whole lot of leverage when we settle up. Don't be a shithead."     "If I must."     Both Religion and Philosophy are pretty understaffed, and Roland's doing his best already, so if we can cut off the additional spawns that are going up the stairs, that'll help him out and start tightening the perimeter around the breach.     "Got it."
Flamel Parsons	"Please, call me Mr. Parsons. Mr. Flamel was my alchemical influence." Flamel says to White, humbly, his free hand on his chest. "Thanks for the ride, most of the Motherlobe uses psychopneumatic tubes so I'm never used to the stairs."     Petra's biting hostility gets a short frown. "Hey," He says. "I'm trying to socially-emotionally self-regulate the structure of my approach to a situation that will probably be tense and stressful later." At 10% subconscious misogyny, "You need to handle emotions maturely in your adulthood, you know."     Kukuru's question gets a headshake. "Nope. Cryokinetic dream-exploitation is actually weirdly rare! But don't worry, you don't have a lot of psychokinetics to work with anyway, right?"     Anyway. He's off to fight, and his swarm of ice-hands should be a perfectly-suited tool for the job.
Petra Soroka	"You need to handle emotions maturely in your adulthood, you know."     You've asked Petra to regulate her emotions! Let's see what Petra has to say about that!     "I think you should be bitten apart by dogs while I watch."     Uh oh! Try again later! "Just take the damn thing before I crack you"     Out of nowhere, once Flamel isn't in her line of sight, Petra abruptly snickers to herself about something. Calvin being here is a relief in addition to White, once her stupid rotted brain allows her to focus on him via the power of fujobaiting.     She scrubs her face with her palm, both to remove the brief smile from the internal joke and to smear away the dim unhappiness that's suffused her expression otherwise. To Calvin, "Yeah. We'll take White's way up, and then with the five of us, we'll be able to cover more ground quickly. I want to be back down here to Ange's bedroom to check out the book, but we can't do that while the breach is active."
Ember	Kukuru gets a wave, of course.  She's a new face and hasn't slighted or even done much of anything to him.  He remains friendly, or tries to at least.  He doesn't have anything to say right at the moment.  He equally doesn't have anything to say to Sarracenia, but that's more about not wanting to open up hostilities in a place where they have something important to do.   He doesn't like her much because she's a monarch. Calvin is new to him, but the voice isn't.  He remembered that they had an agreement about the Foundation, and an equal exasperation at Lilian about it.  Hell Biker was a certified freak and genuinely probably a problem, but seemed to be on a leash by Calvin.  Summoned creature?  It seems so... He's already getting a feeling there is more to this 'Match girl' than what is being said.  It's also apparent that it's driving Petra into a mood, and her hostility to Flamel is easy to see.  Especially with that comment on dogs.  He considers asking about it, but decides that it might not be helpful.  The fact that she's referring to Angela as 'Ange' tells him that it's probably a matter close to her heart. "Well, you're the expert here, so I'll follow your lead on this then," he says to Petra, trying to at least soothe some of her worries.
Angela	''Malkuth.'' "Calvin..." Malkuth returns the handshake but she couldn't quite hide the surprise on her face when he showed up. "Thank you for coming. Your help with Red Hooded Mercenary is really appreciated as well." "Sounds handy." Tiphereth added to Calvin. "Actually, Chernabog might be real helpful once you get into the book... Story may be hot, but if it isn't it's gonna be real cold." Both Malkuth and Tiphereth seem content with letting the Elites pick where they want to go and settle it amongst themselves. ''Usually it's around ten years old.'' Tiphereth laughs a little, "Well, hopefully he's got the hint now." Tiphereth has never exactly been too keen on the architects of the Smoke War or the experimentation on her brother. There's a sense she reins in her hostility because the one time she didn't it went real bad for everybody but that doesn't exactly mean she's forgiven them either. So instead she puts her mind to other things because dwelling on the trauma drove her mad, before, and she needs to be reliable for everyone who suffered alongside her--and for Angela herself. Malkuth, the one who believed strongest in the plan in the end, has the sense of propriety to bite her tongue but she was in it for the dream and goal more than the bosses. Her lack of a strong connection to them in the end enabled her to still believe in the project all the way to the end. "Good idea. Luckily I always have a notebook and a pen ready." She offers both to Petra but really anybody can take them. ''A frozen book can be thawed'' "I mean YEAH obviously if they're on fire put out the fire." Tiphereth groans. "But don't freeze the books preemptively!" As White is teleporting people around, there is another set of flashes coming into the Lobby, but it's at such the worst moment--everybody's been ported away and around before they could get a good look at who the newcomers are. Guests, perhaps, but Tiphereth and Malkuth did say to leave that to them. HISTORY As noted before, History is worst off. There's numerous fires, some of which are getting quite big in size, and while they haven't hit the books yet--some of those flames are getting close. Malkuth wasn't about to leave her floor entirely undefended, however, and The Magical Girl of Love can juuust about be made out in the smoke, shooting matchsticks with pink lasers whenever they get close to books, but she has nothing to do for the flames. And she is an Abnormality that DOES need to breathe. She can only manage her smaller blasts because the smoke makes it hard for her to complete complex incantations, though that's usually enough to take one out at a time. But there's a lot of matches and she's getting overwhelmed! M.O.M has a fire extinguisher and is working on putting out a particular nasty batch of fire but there's plenty more to worry about. Also two matchsticks run right for Sarracenia, attempting to stab at her with their heads--despite their appearances, the tips of their heads are quite shop--it's like each one is a Fourth Match Flame--if considerably flimsier. A third throws itself at Kukuru, intending to give her a big HUG. And also self detonate off her body.
Angela	ART Flamel and White find few match sticks here, though despite the situation seeming less dire here, The problem is that there are books EVERYWHERE and the all the matchsticks are close to those books. Mikey is crying and beating one to death with a giant paintbrush EGO Weapon and Netzach is herding the little green kodoma away from the matchsticks in what is maybe the least laconic manner anybody's ever seen them. They've grown attached to the little guys. Flamel can detect the kodoma do have minds, albeit very simple ones. They don't seem to have a self preservation instinct, they are somewhere between plant and animal on the consciousness scale, or slightly above a pikmin. But there's also something, he notices, many floors up. Near the top of the Library, or maybe a little above it, that as he moves closer he can notice feels a little familiar. He HAS been to the Library before but perhaps the thinning of the barrier has made something easier to recognize the presence of. The multitude of minds moving about and all the little presences of the kodoma make it a little difficult to pinpoint. But there's a familiar sort of vibe to something he's felt before. "Oh hey it's White. And the guy everybody's always mad at." Netzach isn't mad at Flamel, Netzach maybe doesn't get mad all that easy. "I'm learning maybe I gotta... get real help organizing this place." "I told you after the fifth time I tripped on a book--" Mikey complains. "Hi White, I'm being good, please don't eat me." RELIGION This place also has plenty of matchsticks running around, but it's probably one of the least flammable floors. The floor is marble rather than wood and the books are all very well organized. There is a staircase going up. Motes of Light are more numerous here than on the lower floors and hang pleasantly in the air. Petra swinging Fourth Match Flame at the matches encourages them to explode rather than simply die. It really isn't the most efficient way of dealing with them! But fortunately(?) the bursts of fire are largely centered around Petra rather than on the books so as long as she positions herself appropriately, she can avoid wrecking the whole floor. Justin and Random are here--they seem to have gotten a similar vibe to Petra as they both look miserable. Cinder was on their team too, after all, and Justin joined Petra during the war largely because of his relationship with her, and with Petra. "Hey boss." Justin says. "We were just in General Works but Roland seemed to have things handled so we came down here." He gives a nod to Calvin, apparently deciding that's all the communication he needs with him--less because of a lack of respect and more because he's judging from his immediate vibe that he's trustworthy. He is more hesitant towards the total newbie, Ember, but 'Well, you're the expert here, so I'll follow your lead on this' to Petra encourages him to not worry too much. What he does doubletake at, though, is Hell Biker. He doesn't use Penitence anymore. He can't bring himself to--in fact, he's using a City weapon, a large hammer, rather than an EGO at all. But the fact that there's a guy with a skull for a head here brings his old weapon to mind. "Want us to stay here or move down?"
Kukuru	"Chevalier Calvin Nash. This here's Hell Biker and that's Chernobog." "Oh, you're quite a polite one, aren't you? Hehe... It's good to meet all of you." Kukuru greets the trio cheerfully, not realizing she's about to be hit with some whiplash later. She even lights up a bit at seeing Hell Biker in particular. "Cryokinetic dream-exploitation is actually weirdly rare! But don't worry, you don't have a lot of psychokinetics to work with anyway, right?" "Huh! I don't think so, nope. If I wanna move stuff, I've got to use my hands instead of my..." Kukuru pauses, trying to figure out what psychokinesis is based on context clues from Flamel! "My..." It's going to take her a whgile, and she probably won't figure it out even by the time her and Sarracenia are done in history. In history, there's a lot of ground to cover, and only two of herself and Sarracenia combined! Kukuru's (relatively) quick to get the ice flower out to start putting out the fires. She's even using her brain some, too, trying to cut the flames off from reaching the books rather than just chasing behind the flames with sprays of ice. "Love? M.O.M.? Are you alright over there, dears? Oh, it's getting real smoky in here..." Kukuru calls out while focusing on damage control at first, but she's forced to change gears sooner than later once the matchsticks start coming for her and Sarracenia. She'd usually be happy to take something on in melee range since it means not having to run after it herself, but... Love's in trouble! And she might be in trouble herself, if these matchsticks are willingly approaching! Fighting the urge to hug something to death herself, Kukuru opts for just slapping it down really hard with her claw. Unfortunately, that still means getting up close, explosions and all, and that blast does take her right off her feet for a moment. <<"Oh... These things are mean, mhm! One of them blew up right in my face, so we miiiight be better off freezing them before they do that.">> Calling out that bit of info for Sarracenia and everyone on the other floors over the radio, Kukuru lets her nanites mend the burnt parts of her entire front with a shaky wince before focusing more on using the ice flowers. Even if her aim's not great, she can maneuver somewhat freely with her teleportation, and that means she can try to buy Sarracenia some extra breathing room by spraying the matchsticks down after teleporting in behind them.
Ember	On the floor, the first thing he notices is the choice of weapon that Petra uses to ignite the matchsticks.  He pauses, wondering if that's such a good idea, but the one hurt here seems to be Petra herself, rather than the books.  He decides to stick with his current plan, and that's to use the power of the earth to smother fires and his toughness to smash matchsticks. The next are both Random and Justin.  He gives both a simple wave, "Ember.  I'm new to the Library," he says, but he's sure they can guess as much.  Though he's at least happy that they're not too stressed out about a new person here.  Perhaps what he said to Petra eased some fears. <J-IC-Scene> Ember says, "I can use earth and stone to try and contain the matchsticks.  Or at least round up as many as I can.  If that's your plan to ignite them in one go?" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Yeah. That makes sense." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Be careful of accidentally sparking them when wrangling them, though." <J-IC-Scene> Ember says, "Right.  I'll try larger circles first, before trying to wrangle them into smaller ones.  Trying to get them away from flamable things and the books first." With a plan in mind, he moves past Justin first; the floor being marble helps him, as there is already a natural resource to draw upon.  He, hopefully, also doesn't have to worry about the weight of his extra stone and earth on the floor's carrying capacity.   He gets a good lay of the land first, looking far and wide through the stone.  He dives into the earth itself, gliding through it until he gets what he needs.  Jumping back out, he immediately impacts the ground hard.  Yellow magic works through his feet and into the marble itself.  Across Religion, aiming to first block off access to the books.  Then he starts shrinking the circles, aiming to start corralling the matchstick people into earthen cages.   He's not trying to crush them, but rather form containment circles around them so that people can ignite them all at once, or freeze them in place.  Either way, this leaves him a target while he does this, needing to concentrate on bending the marble pillars being used for this into containment zones.
Flamel Parsons	"Understandably so!" Flamel calls out to Netzach. "I tend to do a lot of things and a lot of people don't like them for various reasons, like the things I did, or my personality." He shrugs helplessly, only able to really give the guy a fifth of his focus while he tries to... Save things! There's save-ables? Kodama, and they have enough consciousness to ping on his radar! And something else...     "Huh, getting something familiar a lot of floors up. Hard to pinpoint in all this interference, though..." Flamel says, twisting his two fingers on his temple and failing to dial in a radio signal. "If we can get these guys safe, I'll have a better signal." And that's the goal anyway! Flamel can size his hands fairly arbitrarily, between human-hand-sized and big enough to grab a car, and that means he can be *precise* in his motions. He can cup the Kodama gently like a lightning bug, without compromising on crushing the stickfigures!     "If you're wanting help organizing, I could give you a sleepwalking habit and program it with the Dewey Decimal system!" Flamel calls out, as he urgently works to clear the hazards, and hopefully deliver the Kodama somewhere safer.
Calvin Nash	We'll take White's way up, and then with the five of us, we'll be able to cover more ground quickly.     Calvin nods stiffly at Petra, giving a thumbs-up. RELIGION     Calvin returns Justin's nod. Want us to stay here or move down?     "That's her call," Calvin says, thumbing towards Petra. "She knows this place better'n me. Hell Biker, CB, form up on him," he says. "Get the stragglers into the corral and ice 'em."     Chernobog's robe flutters as the only pretense to his startling dash across the library floor towards Ember. "Be not afraid." The glint of a greatsword terrible in its simple elegance flashes a moment later. The air disturbed by his blink-of-an-eye charge chills to the bone, and before his dark garment has even stopped sifting, the greatsword stops short of a matchstick diverting from Ember's intended path. It's a feint, to get the matchstick's attention and bait it away from Ember.     His body rocks backwards like a dying tree in a strong wind, utterly unlike anything alive. Darting backwards, towards the closing corral, he flows around the attacking matchstick like a loose spider web in the wind.     Hell Biker is hot on his heels, leaning right, braking and then turning hard left. The flame-wheeled bike drifts a protective semicircle around Chernobog. His hand bolts outwards at the apex of his turn, grabbing the matchstick by the bottom half and 'gently' hurling it towards the others, right when he's in between the matchsticks and Chernobog. Bringing the bike back upright, he brakes hard, causing a spinout, which he leverages for extra force on the followup volley of thrown ice-blasts.      Calvin stands watch--any matchsticks that look like they're going to go for Ember get blasted with any incapacitating magic he can make work, be it paralysis, sleep or outright freezing them solid.
Sarracenia	'Just take the damn thing before I crack you like a wishbone.'      Sarra can't help a bit of a snicker at Hell Biker getting threatened and a bit of a smug smirk after which Hell Biker would definitely be able to see, but she manages not to say anything about it.      'I mean YEAH obviously if they're on fire put out the fire. But don't freeze the books preemptively!'      Sarra blinks. "Oh. Alright." she says with a nod. "I suppose I would not want some Abnormality to go 'Rita' on me."      HISTORY      "Oh! Love!" Sarra calls out upon seeing her. "Here, take this!" Sarra pulls out another ice flower and tosses it to Love. M.O.M. has a fire extinguisher, so Sarra almost doesn't throw an ice flower. But after a moment she calls out, "Here! You take one, too!" and tosses one over. Just in time to get attacked by two very sharp matchsticks! Sarra meets their charge with a rain of ice bolts and Silver bolts!      Sarra nods quickly at Kukuru's info. "Agreed!" she calls out, taking advantage of Kukuru's flanking to freeze and destroy matchsticks as fast as possible before focusing on firefighting. Putting out fires won't do much good if these matches just light more!
Petra Soroka	"I suppose I would not want some Abnormality to go 'Rita' on me."     Petra hisses air between her teeth. Despite her grimace, what she eventually says is, "Yeah." "Hey boss."     Petra's smile towards Justin isn't actually all that forced. In terms of just containing the breach, shielding herself with blossoming barriers of Silver from the explosions she causes with Fourth Match Flame, it's practically business as usual, even with Scorched Girl. It's not so much the association with Cinder on its own, but....     "It's still fucked up of you to call me that."     Petra grabs one of the matchlings by the neck, yanking it away from the bookshelf it was trying to climb up. With the cuff of her suit jacket charring, she snaps the wooden stick in half by clenching her fist, stamping out each smoldering half under her boot. The pivot of her heel grinds it into a smear of ash on the marble, as she continues to issue Justin and Random instructions over her shoulder.     "Go down to Philosophy; focus on keeping them from setting any fires rather than exterminating them. Corral them towards the big center area if you can. We'll be down in a sec."     It really is pretty quick. Between Calvin's full troupe of minions letting him split off from the other pair safely, and Ember's earthy prisons, it's only a matter of time before all of the matchsticks in hiding are flushed out and contained. As Ember drags them closer away from the bookshelves and more compactly clustered, Petra fidgets with the crossguard of Fourth Match Flame obsessively impatient. Agitated, she slides a cigarette out of the carton in her jacket, pressing its tip against the heat-glowing blade of her EGO sword to light it.     Once Ember sets up the opportunity, Petra flicks her wrist and scrapes the tip of Fourth Match Flame against the marble floor of Religion. From the spark it kicks up, an arc of flame rips across the ground to shoot towards the trapped matchsticks, blowing them up all at once and splattering soot around the inside of Ember's gaols.     Petra pinches the cigarette between two fingers of the hand that's holding the sword. "Below us is Philosophy, then Social Sciences, then Language. Let's hurry through those two and meet up with Gebura."
White	Flamel is the first person ever to insist she use their last name instead of their first! "Okay. I'll practice." How earnest.      Working with Flamel is becoming almost reassuring, for perhaps the only woman who has never really had to directly deal with him as a problem-causer. The reassurance comes from how well he slots into her expectations, and how little she really has to do to direct him or compensate for what he's doing. Arriving into Art in a flicker of violet-blue amidst the flames with him using his icecrafted psychic hands to precisely smother and crush the matchstick-creatures gives her a clear amount of personal wiggle room. It takes her a second to figure out how to use the ice flower after squeezing, shaking and very cautiously nibbling the bloom doesn't seem to do much while she's still in the realm of assuming a video-gamey powerup will activate when Generically Interacted With. Flamel tucking it behind his ear reframes her expectation; it's *Equipment* then, okay. White's accessory slots for combat have been painfully unfilled for a while anyway! She touches it to her dress and lets the silk re-twine around the flower's stem, and... Her usual color palette is already pretty close to the ice flower's usual, so if it alters her dress at all it probably just replaces some of the pink hues near the bottom of her skirt with more sky-blue. She wraps a small cloth around her mouth to help with the smoke in case she needs to speak, tosses the fire-resistant blanket around her shoulders, and gets to work.      The ice flower's bouncy magic-like bolts are something she's seen before, and after one test shot into a corner she more or less has an idea of how to use them. The basin she brought along is tossed aside in favor of using the ice bolts to freeze the matchstick-creatures, and as she planned she moves through between the shelves while using basic earth spells to create stones from the air, and then she pulverizes them with more advanced spells to create the sand that she then moves with magic to smother flaming furniture and shelves in big grainy heaps. She splashes a bit of water magic over the top of that for good measure, then moves on. Whenever she has completely extinguished a patch of shelving that might re-ignite, she uses the ice-flower power to separate those sections from the ones that are still flaming with a careful burst of bolts.      Flamel is left to do most of the match-snapping himself, but White's Evil Eye does cast some weakening, energy-draining waves across any groups of the things so that he can react to them before they get too feisty, and hit them more easily. The smoke pervading the floor inevitably makes the Evil Eye's effectiveness poorer than normal though, as her eyes sting whenever they're open and the smoke particles add innumerable tiny disruptions to a clear view of her target. She helps him out here and there when she's not actively preoccupied, but he probably doesn't need the help with crowd control as much as she might if she gets too much attention... This kind of heat and the stinging in her eyes make it a lot harder to do much besides aggressively kick and launch ice-bolts at individual matchsticks that have it out for her. % Fortunately for Netzach and Mikey, White hasn't completely disregarded them either. When she has a moment between dealing with the most severe fires, she'll spend a few moments covering Netzach's escort-and-retreat efforts with ice bolts, and when she walks by Mikey on the way to another part of the floor she pauses.
White	"Hi White, I'm being good, please don't eat me."      White might be frowning, but her face is partly covered behind that silk rag she's wearing. And maybe she was already frowning? Hard to tell. More crucially, she's distracted enough to think about whether to say anything back, can't come to a satisfactory conclusion, and gives up on words; almost dismissively, she reaches out to put a hand on Mikey's head. She second-guesses the idea to scruffle his hair, pulls her hand back, and takes the blanket off her shoulders to toss over him instead, then walks off deeper into the smoke to get back to fire-fighting. She immediately wishes she hadn't, as the sting of the flames has full access to her skin and eminently flammable hair and dress again. But, you can't just take that kind of thing back, that's messed up! She'd lose so much social cred. She'll just have to deal with bits of her hair or the hem of her dress igniting now and then, and keep up with repairing them as she goes if the ice flower doesn't fully shield her. Flamel's suggesting he might accomplish something if they get the kodama out, now, and she reluctantly sends out another 'agent' to Flamel's side. The poor thing looks like it's having a horrible time and might die of heatstroke in minutes or less, but it struggle-skitters close behind Flamel and begins locking on a mass teleport spell for the Kodama and Netzach all at once. It's going to take time, since locking on to this many critters at once is basically as hard as teleporting an equal number of *people*, and White herself has to split her focus to do this at all since she's the source of the teleportation anyway; she might have ten minds up there in her head, but teleportation is focus-intensive work! She might get sneak attacked for once in her life. Which would be... Bad for the ice powers she's currently spamming while she does everything else she's doing.
Angela	HISTORY Throwing Love an Ice Flower helps her out a lot, though she does insist on saying, "Crystal Prison Flash!" with each use of the Ice Flower, spinning it around like a wand and occassionally coughing and ooghing, but each blast helps put out fires and helps prevent more--the smoke is still sort of hanging out there but if someone opens up the windows it should dissipitate eventually. "I'm *cough* hanging in there, Kukuru." M.O.M manages. "Things got real bad once Malkuth went down to fetch you." More matchsticks try to detonate off of Kukuru but she's able to catch them with the ice flower when they get close, as can Sarracenia when they try to stab her. All in all, they're more a hazard to the environment than they are to Elites. So long as you shut them down, it shouldn't be a huge issue and soon the matchsticks are cleared out. ART "Oh that sounds awesome. If I can sleepwork I don't have to work when I'm awake." Netzach reasons. "Maybe we can chat about that later, right now I gotta keep these little guys from bursting into flames. They don't mean harm to nobody." Netzach assures Flamel. They do pause at the mention of 'something familiar' up there and say, "Well, I hope it's nothing too scary." "Of course it's going to be scary." Mikey grumbles. "Everything is scary." This might explain his request to White that she not eat him entirely based off her being a spider god maybe? He freezes up like a statue when White puts a hand on his head and then the fear is effectively disarmed by White throwing a blanket on him. He blinks, confusion winning out over terror. Will he feel bad about this later? He might! He might be capable of character development! But Netzach isn't afraid of White, finding her to be pretty laidback and thus kind of in their whole vibe area. They say, "Hey thanks," to White helping them escort the little guys away from danger while Mikey occassionally bonks away a matchstick. Somehow this guy keeps surviving. The world is unfair sometimes. The Ice Flowers are really effective. They disarm the fire and prevent them from exploding. They don't poof into smoke or anything, but they are well and solidly disabled and nonfunctional. Flamel can feel the mental energy animating the matchsticks fade away when they're effectively frozen or killed through other means. The Evil Eye proves instrumental in slowing down any Matchsticks that aren't immediately frozen so they don't have time to burst and set off an inferno in the most flammable floor of the building right now. Once the kodoma and Netzach are gathered up, White can teleport them wherever she wants to teleport them. They're also totally unaware that White is going to do this, so it'll probably be pretty funny too.
Angela	RELIGION ''It's still fucked up of you to call me that.'' "It's more true every day." Justin says, offering a tired smile of his own back. "Definitely managed it better than I ever did." Random's own smile is even more tired but that seems to be because they're exhausted from fighting. "Sounds like a plan, if nothing else hammers are good for sending these things flying." Justin adds, giving a nod to Random to indicate they should follow him. "Nice to meet you, Ember." Random tells him, kind of in awe of his Titan form but quickly moving after Justin. "You too, sir." This to Calvin. "Then we'll see you soon. Nice to meet you, Calvin." He's so used to Abnormalities running around now that he just kind of gives the same sort of nod to Hell Biker and Chernabog before moving down to Philosophy. Calvin incapacitating the matchsticks definitely makes them easier to dispatch. They don't explode on their own (unless they are struck with Fourth Match Flame) but even when the other matchsticks stubbornly detonate, Ember is quick to contain the fire and smother them out with his earthen cages. It doesn't exactly kill them on their own, but they do that for Ember when they try to explode anyway and the flash of flame is quickly snuffed out. The savvier matchsticks are finished off with Fourth Match Flame and forced to explode, quickly smothered away in turn by Ember's cages before they can do serious damage. At this point, clearing out the rest of the Matchsticks--or at least enough of them that the Librarians don't need much further help becomes even easier. Most of the other floors only have one or two lingering Matchsticks around and some have already been dealt with. The worst floor is Language because it's already full of heat and lava, making the flames spread all the more quickly, but Gebura is also there and she mostly just needs help containing the fire, not dealing with the little monsters. Surprisingly, she looks pretty winded after all that and has to sink down in a chair to recover. She's inhaled a lot of smoke while fighting so many of the matchsticks. "The Floors seem to be pretty well situated right now. You should be clear to check on Angela."
Angela	GENERAL WORKS Once everybody reaches General Works to reach Angela and the Scorched Girl book, the interference of all the tiny minds and intense emotional energy fades enough for Flamel to see the forest for the trees. The motes of Light are thick here, even if they stick to the air and are focused on moving even further up to Angela's room. Flamel knows the Light is formed out of a long period of gathering intense mental and emotional energy. Flamel can surmise that the release of this Light is what caused the Distortion phenomena across The City. He knows that Angela has been taking the Light back through a method that also so happens to gather intense mental and emotional energy. He knows that Carmen indicated that she considered the project a success despite Angela and Petra disrupting the whole thing and he knows that Distortions tend to happen when someone is undergoing a lot of intense mental and emotional stress. He also knows that he gathered up huge amounts of psitanium for a project of his not too long ago to open up a gate. He knows one of the side effects of his gate was a lot of psychic phenomena sliding over to the real world, just like is happening in the Library right now despite being previously 'filed away' into their proper spots. He knows ultimately that the Library is, essentially, an externalized expression of Angela's mind and also he knows that Angela somehow agreed very quickly, for Angela, to his idea of using the Library to work on his Psychogate project. The Library is not unlike a fledling Psychogate. Angela is the Psitanium that's powering it (no wonder she can't leave!). And up there, about two story ups, is a locked gate. And behind that gate is what the people of the City would call the River but it's a River that's bigger than an ocean. Outside of the City, most people would call it the Collective Unconciousness. And the more Light Angela absorbs, the thinner that barrier is becoming. It's been unclear whether Angela sabotaging the project created the Distortion phenomena or whether Carmen succeeding created it. And the answer is yes to both.
Angela	Roland is there, wielding Frost Splinter and having cleared out the Matchsticks on this floor on his own along with Parker who gives Petra a smile and a wave, but she's pretty tired too. Red Hooded Mercenary has also been lending a hand and gives Hell Biker a small nod. "Seems like...everything's fine." He reaches to an earpiece and says, "Everything settled down there, Tiph?" He pauses. "Tiph?" It's at about that point the doors to the elevator open. An old man with a zweihander in his hands, smoldering with flame, and a grey coat steps through the elevator. Next to him is a young man with dirty blonde hair and glasses holding a slightly bloody keycard for the elevator that he hurriedly shoves back into his coat pocket. And following the two from behind is a woman who might be familiar to Flamel as she had once brought Meika to Whispering Rock ages ago: Yuna. On her back is a guitar case with a butterfly pattern on it. There's a flicker of recognition in Roland's eyes but he steadies himself to give some 'orders' of his own. "Looks like they aren't bothering doing a normal Reception. Since Angela's not here to enforce it." Roland looks to Petra. "We--probably don't want to fight these guys while Matchsticks are constantly spawning, so leave 'em to us, and you focus on waking Angela up." The old man rushes forward, and Roland steps in to intercept him with Durandal, their blades clashing. "To think I'd be fighting against you, Salvador..." Roland says. "Do you know me, young man?" Salvador asks. "I suppose I have a bit of a reputation. But you seem to be a Fixer like myself, why have you thrown in with this monster that eats life?" "...Pay's pretty good." Roland smiles, lyingly. "You all seem exhausted." Salvador smiles, visibly relieved. "It seems this was a good time to make our move. How fortunate. My superiors want this place burned to the ground and I remember...this isn't the first monster I've had to dispatch in this District. Philip. Yuna. Handle the others." Roland visibly shudders at some old memory. The other two Fixers ready their weapons, Philip a sword of his own and Yuna her guitar case but before the situation can stabilize down here, Angela has to be woken up and she's just one floor up.
Ember	The earth moves enough to encircle and keep the matchsticks contained long enough for others to ignite them safely.   'Be not afraid.' "You saying that only makes me question why I should be afraid," Ember says as a joke.  However, he's grateful for the screening from Chernobog and Calvin.  He nods once to each of them and focuses on his part of the plan until the matchstick people are all rounded up. Once they are done, he releases the channeled titan with a burst of earth magic that harmlessly dissipates around him.  Ember's skin returns to normal, and the glow from his eyes fades.  He takes this time to swig a strange liquid from a blue bottle.   GENERAL WORKS "What are these lights?" he asks, his eyes glowing to try and identify what they are and to see what, if any, magic is happening around him.  Regardless of what his senses tell him, he does see Roland.  He raises a hand in greeting and speaks up.  "I'm Ember, nice to actually meet you in the flesh." Of course, their greeting is cut off by... 'We--probably don't want to fight these guys while Matchsticks are constantly spawning, so leave 'em to us, and you focus on waking Angela up.' This gives Ember some pause.   He's also not wrong about the spawning of more matchstick people.  More than anything, there are enough agents and Roland there to handle this incursion.  He also wouldn't mind fighting some agents of capitalism, but at the moment, Angela is the most important thing.   "Don't die or get hurt; we'll handle the problem," Ember says evenly, and moves toward the next floor.  There isn't much time for concern, and hopefully, once Angela is away, she can take care of the intruders.
White	Getting through Art without getting snuck up on while multitasking this much is a welcome stroke of fortune. White had only really meant to teleport Netzach and the Kodama to the entrance of the floor or a relatively clear part of the stairs; given the situation is well in hand (badum-tsh!), it probably isn't actually necessary in the end. Rather than waste the effort, she cancels the spell and heads for the door to move on. The other floors are getting manageable, so she heads for General Works; anyone who needs a pickup can get a teleport from her courtesy of the spider-agents accompanying their groups, so that the gang isn't all trickling in separately. White doesn't stop for a breath on the way there. Mid-stride she's removing her makeshift mask, wiping her eyes, magically mending burnt parts of her dress, regenerating her skin and hair where needed, anything to get herself a bit more back in-order.      She barely gets to make eye contact with Roland or Red before the elevator's dinging to open. Peering through the door early in confusion, White sees nobody she knows and immediately raises an arm to prepare her magic. While she's inclined to keep the intruders at proverbial gunpoint, agitated by the surprise... Roland is clear. She could probably reason her way around to a more granular distribution of effort that doesn't sound so much like a 'I'll hold them off, you go on ahead!' trope, especially since she could surprise a couple of strange fixers who assume she's worn out, but...      She only actually hesitates a moment before turning away. She reaches back without looking and releases the single Black Spear she'd bothered to prepare during that momentary holdup- a broad and heavy siege-bolt of dark pseudomatter wreathed in flesh-eating aura- in the direction of the next person after Salvador to exit the elevator, before they can cross the threshhold and have total freedom to evade. Her one, cheap shot aimed out of spite just so she can feel like she's done something other than leave Roland behind immediately. Without other spells or tricks, it's not impossible to dodge but it'd take a really good piece of steel to actually stop or deflect it; if it doesn't hit someone and embed in them, it's probably going to take out the elevator behind them instead.      Maybe that's symbolic, or something? No... Maybe she just wants them to still be here when she gets back. "Mister Parsons... Miss Petra." she says, quietly, to get their attention as she tilts her head toward the stairs ahead of her. She's already set priorities; those two have the most relevant skills and knowledge to help Angela wake and resolve what's happening in the book. She'll be right behind them, but she'd be lying if she claimed she didn't plan on being a bit mean if Yuna and Phillip really do commit to the chase.
Sarracenia	Sarra appreciates Love's use of 'Crystal Prison Flash!' even during such a situation. Remaining true to oneself is important! The smoke is definitely a problem though, and by the time they are getting the matchsticks and the fire under control, Sarra is coughing quite a bit herself. She passes out cloths and water bottles as they work on finishing off the fire, and pours some water on hers before using it to cover her mouth and nose as they work.      GENERAL WORKS      Sarra makes her way to General Works with the others. Just in time for some 'visitors' to arrive. Sarra freezes. She stares silently as they start fighting Roland. Should she try to help them? She slowly reaches into her purse, pulling out a bob-omb. But...would that be pushing too far into hindering an ally? Not to mention...this is basically an honor duel if everyone involved knows the stakes. Or perhaps it is the beginning of another war and this is the first battle. It seems to confirm what Director Xiao said in their mock interrogation.      Sarra blinks as she hears what their goal is, though. "No!" she exclaims, approaching the fight. "You should leave! If you succeed, countless people will be lost! If you fail, you will be lost! There is nothing to gain here at this time!" She doesn't try to stop the fight directly, but maybe she can save both the Fixers and the people now trapped in the Library.      Or be horrified if that bolt from White hits its target. "Wh-white!" she exclaims. The princess certainly isn't fast enough to intercept a shot from the spider commander.
Flamel Parsons	The task is done, the vulnerable are kept safe, and...     Flamel eventually reaches what he's after. His answer for Ember is a bit opaque. "Convergent." He mutters. "We wound up being *convergent* on the core concept. This is Light, the energy of a truth that has reconciled one's self and the world. It's part of the Truth Phenomenon. " He reaches his hand out, swirling motes of light around fingertips. "She had some of the same ideas I did. More developed, more fuel to work with, but..." He closes his eyes, grasping for a sensation of a door opening. All the doorframes in general works rattle once, like a particular disaster from ages ago, but nothing start.     "Wow. And... The barrier is getting thinner." He pinches a mote between his fingers once, letting it sear his fingertips. "The dam holding back the Truth Phenomenon, the River, is starting to get..." Then the elevator dings. Flamel's interrupted. "Hey!" He says, in that perpetually-cheery tone. "Library's currently closed due to personnel illnesses! I'll have to ask you to please leave, but I'll see if I can get you in touch with the manager." He tilts his head at White, nodding an acknowledgment of her unspoken request. He'll focus on what needs focusing on.     He vanishes. With the barrier so thin here, with the Library being such an extension of Angela, maybe he can access her mind here. Maybe he can surge past and get up the stairs quick before he can get drawn into a whole *encounter*.