It is a beautiful day to go to the library and you are a normal person.
The library has been there for 11 years and you've been visiting it since you were a small child. You're no longer a small child.
You're a grown adult with a mortgage and a (cycling-link: "dog", "blind bat", "cat", "snake", "mouse - no actually, a spider sounds better,", "nevermind, let's stick with dog") and a job you (link: "kind of like") [love more than anything in the world] and a favourite person. You still go to the library - you have been going to this library since before the goths sacked Rome.
(event: when time > 7s)[You open the [[door]].]It smells good in here. Like vanilla and sticky children.
[[You go to return a book.]]
[[You go to request a book.]]
[[You go to greet the new staff member at the desk.]]
(if:(history:) contains "vortex") [[You have had enough of the library and go home.->Embarrassed, you return home.]] "Hi."
(event: when time > 5s)[...]
(event: when time > 10s)[This silence is getting uncomfortable.]\
(event: when time > 15s) [Marge is doing (link-reveal: "that thing")[(show:?thing)] again.]
|thing)[ "Marge, I know you can see me."
Marge's voice echoes from an unknowable place. "Oh, it's just you." She sounds (link: "pleased") [terrified] to see you. "Drop it in the box, darling."
You drop the library book in the (link-reveal:"box")[(show:?onwards)]. It rattles.]
|onwards)[
[[You go to browse the science-fiction section.]]
[[You go to request a book.]]]Before you get close enough to say hello, you are magnetically repelled from the new staffer and fall backwards over your (link: "feet") [hooves].
[[You go to browse the science-fiction section.]]
[[You go to request a book.]]
[[Embarrassed, you return home.]]Marlene is looking delectable today. Looking at her makes you (link-reveal: "hungry.") [ It always makes you hungry.]
["Hello."]<greeting|
(click: ?greeting) [ (replace: ?greeting) ["Greetings, exalted one."]](click: ?greeting) [ (replace: ?greeting) ["Good Day."]](click: ?greeting) [ (replace: ?greeting) ["Hi."]]
(event: when time > 10s) [After what subjectively seems like an eternity but objectively is about ten seconds, Marlene (link-reveal:"looks")[(show:?eyes)] up from her computer. [Her eyes are windows into her soul. Or perhaps they are windows into yours. You don't know.
You are here for a reason. Pull yourself together. Stop thinking about how hungry you are.](eyes|
[["I'm looking for a book about human skin."]]
[["Do you have any books about toxic mushrooms?"]]]The scent of children is more intense here, yet there are none in (link-reveal: "sight")[(show:?sight)].
|sight)[Two children appear from behind the L section. They stare at you. You stare at them. There is (link-reveal: "growling")[(show: ?hidden1)].]
|hidden1)[You realise the growling comes from you. In a short minute you will begin to panic and then everything will be over. No more library. No more books about (link-reveal: "cheese") [(show: ?hidden2)]. No more Marge.]
|hidden2)[Wait, cheese. That (link-reveal:"reminds")[(show:?vortex)] you...]
[You turn around and enter the [[vortex]].](vortex|"Darling, you keep doing this. You need healthier eating habits," Marlene tells you, and hands you a book about cheese.
You accept the book. Your dairy intolerance will not stand in the way of cheese. Mmmh, *cheese*.
[[You go to browse the science-fiction section.]]
[[You've got what you came for and go home.->Embarrassed, you return home.]] Phew. It'll be a while before you go back to the library. (link: "Your favourite person") [Your favourite fleshy human] brings you (link: "a drink") [the blood of a newborn unicorn, with ice,] because they're that wonderful. You slide into your (link: "jacuzzi") [pit of boiling sulfur and tears] and put on a Bruce Springsteen record. (if:(history:) contains "You ask politely.") [You lovingly fondle your "borrowed" copy of *Rasputin* and open to the first page: *Ein Sturm rast über Sibirien, ein Sturm von der Stärke eines Orkans...* (link:"X")[*A storm raged over Siberia, a storm with the strength of a hurricane...*]]Marlene's voice echoes in your head. (link: "How is it doing that?") [(show: ?boom)] ["This is a (link-reveal:"n o r m a l") [(show:?boom2)] library."](boom| [She repeats: "This is a P E R F E C T L Y N O R M A L library. (link-reveal:"You")[(show:?normal)] have no errand here."](boom2|
[*YOU?* You're offended of course. You *do* have an errand here. You have a library card, after all.
Staring Marlene down, you have (link-reveal:"two choices") [(show:?choices)].](normal|
[[[You enter the trap door in the floor on the right.->You enter the trap door.]]
[[You tell Marlene: "Sweetheart, I know you have the book. Give it to me."->You ask politely.]]](choices|
<div class=vortex>(if:(history:) contains "You go to browse the science-fiction section.")[(event: when time>3s)[You float alone in the universe for a while.]
(event:when time>6s)[It's beautiful.]
(event:when time>10s)[[[You can't stay->Embarrassed, you return home.]].]](else-if:(history:) contains "There's another trap door in the floor.")[(event: when time>3s)[You float alone in the universe for a while.]
(event:when time>6s)[It's nice here.]
(event:when time>10s)[Eventually you decide to go back to [[the room with the trapdoor->There's another trap door in the floor.]].]]</div>Actually you don't know why you made this choice, but Marlene was looking a bit scary.
You (link-reveal: "look around")[(show:?room)] for a bit. Might as well, since you're here. [It's a small room. Completely bare. Weeping walls, dust bunnies, abandoned cobwebs. But there's [[another trap door->There's another trap door in the floor.]] in the floor.](room|Marlene challenges you to a duel. Because you are a dumbass and also really want the book, you (link-reveal:"accept")[(show:?duel)].
[You (link:"whip out your ornate 18th century sword which you won one night playing cards with Lord Byron's 3rd boyfriend")[unroll your tentacles, genetically inherited from stardust and probably some bits and bobs laced with arsenic, you don't actually know and have stopped asking at this point,] and charge at (link-reveal:"Marlene") [(show:?Marlene)].](duel|
[Undeterred, Marlene steps neatly aside like she's the frigging Winter Soldier (your favourite movie(click-append:"your favourite movie")[ (no really)]) and you crash into the (link-reveal:"desk")[(show:?crash)].](Marlene| [Ow. That hurt. And the desk is in pieces...and there, among the pieces, you see (link-reveal:"something")[(show:?item)].](crash|
[You reach out for it. It's shimmery and purple and it's...(link:"incomprehensible to a rational mind. What the fuck.")[an eggplant wrapped in a pair of lovely silken pantaloons? What.] Marlene (link-reveal:"screeches")[(show:?defeat)].](item| |defeat)["You weren't supposed to see that!" Her face flushed scarlet, she grabs the (link:"thing")[eggplant-and-(link-reveal:"pantaloons")[(show:?credit)]] and runs away.
You are left (link-reveal:"alone")[(show:?idk)] in the debris of the desk.] [You stand up and fix your appearance. With your enemy thus disposed of, you find the book you want in the forbidden section behind the desk. You don't bother checking it out (Marlene should really have guarded it better) and go [[home->Embarrassed, you return home.]].](idk|
<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
|credit)[Credit goes to Julie and Monica for supplying me with the eggplant wrapped in a pair of lovely silken pantaloons when I told them, without context, that I needed an object for my interactive narrative. They're the true MVPs.]This room is even smaller than the first. Cosy. Very hot. Reminds you of (link:"home")[the fiery pits of agony you rose from eons ago].
It's surprisingly cluttered. The walls are covered in maps and newspaper cutouts and photos and arcane scribblings. There is a [[small chest->vortex]] in the centre of the room. Bookshelves cover one wall and upon closer inspection you realise all the books are about cat breeding. None of them have library stickers on the spines.
(if:(history:) contains "vortex")[The room is even hotter than it was before. [[You go back to the lobby->door]], slinking past Marlene.]