thedeadlymoose

The Courtyard

You dream about walking through a vast library, a library the size of countries, of continents, or maybe just the size of a very large library. Perhaps it depends on your perspective. Your perspective now is that of a dreamer walking the stacks. This is a place for wanderers, and now you are wandering. What price did you pay to come here, even in a dream? Do you already know about the Ways? Do you even know what a Way is? Have you heard about this library before, or do you simply have the small knowledge that comes easily in a dream? However you got here, now you are here.

You stand in a courtyard, filled with stone tables. Hooded figures — librarians — drift here and there, picking up abandoned books.

You become aware of others with you, passing around you, ghostlike. Some meet your eyes, some do not. Perhaps some are patrons, who you cannot see any more than they can see you. Perhaps some are other dreamers.

Yet some of the figures in the courtyard are solid. They greet some of the ghosts — the other ghosts — as they pass. You can go with one of them, you understand, though only one, for now. They will walk with you, and guide you, after their own fashion, if for a short while. Which guide will you choose?

Follow the Sylph. She looks open and friendly. Very unlikely to tear off your limbs. You get the idea she likes the newcomers the best; those who are desperate for knowledge yet possess very little. She knows and loves the Library and the Ways around it. What better guide than this, for one who is new and confused and frightened?
[Maybe written by Moose. Duality: Within/without — stacks/Ways]

Follow the Satyr. Goat-horned and shaggy. You've heard stories about beings like this, but you've never seen one in person. There is something wild about him, a scent of sweat and fertile soil, of death and life. And he's, uh, not wearing pants. From what's swinging between his legs, he really should be wearing pants. He notices you looking and winks. …Wait. Did he just… What? You're not quite certain what you just saw, but you are certain that was an incredibly lewd gesture. Perhaps this isn't such a good idea. Or perhaps it is the best idea.
[Gonna try to get Troy to write this if he's amenable. Duality: Life/death — graveyard/festival.]

Follow the Friendly Man. He looks so ordinary, so human. Perhaps that's what you want. And he does have a very nice mustache.
[This should be written by Mann, and present a more human-oriented angle of the Library & the Hand. Duality: To be determined.]

Follow the Willow-Bark Golem. The least human of the guides. Perhaps the most knowing. Speak of the ways of the world. Speak of the forests of trees and the forests of granite, of redwoods and skyscrapers, of the ant-hills of humans and the cities of ants.
[Gonna try to get Troy to write this if he's amenable. Duality: civilization/nature — city/forest]

Follow the Silver Woman. She is human, or was. You're not sure why you think 'was'. She still looks human, but there's something off about her, something silver; she shines when you look away and see her only in the corner of your eye. Her smile isn't lewd like the Satyr's, but there's something about it that gives you a feeling that is both unpleasant and welcoming. There is the spark of revolution in her eyes, of endings and beginnings. Should you be frightened?
[Maybe written by Moose. This will involve the more revolutionary aspects of the Hand, Library & paranormal world. Duality: Perhaps meeting L.S. & someone else. Could be peace/war, even.]

Follow the Ancient One. This one remembers. She remember the Day of Flowers, when her kind were brought low. She remembers the Re-Foldings. She remembers all that happened and all that was undone. She remembers the ends of the world. She remembers the Garden. She remembers Cain, the Wanderer, and his brother, and his children. She walked the roots of the Library in the inbetween-times. How do you know all this? She looks like just a hairy ape. She looks like Bigfoot — she is a Bigfoot. How very silly. So why are you afraid? Did you read a file in a database, or perhaps a very old book? Did you hear rumors from your stranger friends? Or whispers in a dream? She — how do you know it's a she? — meets your eyes. Is this a challenge? Is she telling you to come closer, or to turn away?
[Definitely written by Moose. …Maybe? This will probably involve fantastical history. Duality: To be determined; perhaps past/future?]

Follow the Witch Child. She's probably about as confused as you are, but she's cool with that. This is, after all, why she's here — she's dreaming herself here, too. You might make a friend. Someday you may need friends. Perhaps someday soon.
[To be determined. Duality: To be determined.]

Follow the Lonely Serpent. L.S.? Can it be? Is that really him? …Or is that a 'her'?
[To be determined. Duality: To be determined. Could actually be between meeting Alison Chao & meeting someone who claims that L.S. is a fiction, both for varying thematic reasons? Or it could be just Alison, and addressing aspects of the Foundation? / Could be LS as a mysterious figure, and Alison Chao/The Black Queen, who tells the reader they will forget her after they enter the Library.]

Follow the Green-Eyed Horror. It follows your eyes with its own, even when you're not looking at it. It knows the secrets on the edge of things, the secret knowledge that you cannot know without madness. Are you quite certain this is a good idea?
[Emphasize the Foundation-y horror angle but from a more fantastical perspective. Duality: To be determined.]

Return to the waking world. There is something wrong here. You will find another way to understand the Library, and the Serpent's Hand. There is too much confusion, here, and confusion is dangerous, even in a dream. Wake up.
[This redirects the reader to the Out of Character Orientation. Duality: None.]

Return to the waking world, and to the Foundation. There is something wrong here. You need to get out before it's too late. Before they find you. Who are you? What is the SCP Foundation? You are a Foundation researcher. You secure, you contain, you protect. You walk in the dark so that others may walk in the light. But you may lose yourself if you go farther. And you are uncertain if you have done something wrong. Perhaps you have. Perhaps it's already too late. Wake up.
[This will direct the reader to a page that switches between iterations, giving a different result on each refresh.]
Result 1: You pull yourself awake. You struggle to remember the details, to write them down, perhaps to report them, but they drain away from your mind like sand through spread fingers. No matter. Some knowledge is best unknown. You have done the right thing. Haven't you? [Link to SCP Foundation]
Result 2: You dream of wanderers gone wandering. You dream of walking a road of still water. With every step, you may sink. You dream of lightning. You dream of a red right hand. You struggle to wake. There are eyes upon you. What do they see? What do you see? [Link to Library-hosted dream version of the SCP wiki database]

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