The Ghost King (of Miscommunication) Ch.18
Part 1-12,Part 13,Part 14,Part 15, Part 16, Part 17
Part 18!
***
Jason stops not three steps into the library, pausing to take it all in.
The room is clearly built for a flight-capable species. The room has an impressive width and length, but the height is where most of the size comes from, ceiling stretching up at least a dozen stories with no ladders in sight to help guests access the higher books lining the walls.
There are normally-sized shelves scattered about the room between paper lanterns, high-tech reading lights, armchairs, and beanbags - all of which range anywhere from normal to large-enough-to-fit-five yetis in size.
Everything but the walls of the room hung in the air at varying heights, a constellation of unmoving furniture seemingly held in place by nothing more than inertia.
Thinking back, he can’t recall seeing anything inanimate floating before - everything at the Far Frozen and the castle had seemed to obey gravity thus far.
Well, everything but the islands themselves. But there was no way to know if there was a landmass below the floating isles or if they were more like planets in space. He was betting on the latter.
A gentle test-nudge against the nearest chair has it bobbing gently back into place like a jostled punching bag. There is no string or stand to merit the stability.
Jason mentally chalks it up to fairy physics; exploring is more important now.
He flies around to try and get a sense for the organization system.
He feels more grounded, now - ironically - after seeing his family, acquiring some bladed weapons, and now being given a gun and meeting someone who could - quite possibly - be an ally. The new (old) body still throws him off, but flight is becoming more familiar.
He feels less scattered.
And he finally has access to the resource he’d been lacking thus far: information.
He’d deemed it best to stick to observation, those first few days. He’d been ordered around with little choice in where he went - it was obvious that his obedience was assumed, so he played into what was expected - only half from how disoriented he was.
After that, things had been changing too fast. There was no time to think, really, and by the time he’d been ready to ask questions he’d thought he was being taken back to Gotham.
Now it was clear that he was expected to remain in the castle indefinitely.
It was also clear that, aside from the presence of Wulf, his ‘security’ was surprisingly lax.
Maybe it was because the guy could no-sell Superman by turning him into a meat suit and completely ignore Martian Manhunter’s psychic attacks - not that the latter was too surprising, given MM also stated he couldn’t sense Jason.
(Jason had heartily blamed it on magic when Flash brought the possibility up. Jason was fine. Magic was the issue, and when Shazam or Zatanna or even Constantine got there they would have confirmed it, Jason is sure.)
But he’d been allowed to go to Gotham. He’d been allowed to go wherever he wanted in the castle - not that he’d gone many places thus far.
And given that Wulf was currently reading - Jason squinted - some kind of graphic novel? He knew the guy could be distracted.
Wulf had never left his side during the visit to Gotham and the Watchtower. Meaning it is still entirely possible that if he can both ditch Wulf and find a portal home, he might be able to hide out long enough to work out what had been happening and how to avoid being re-kidnapped.
Being placed in a library in a dimension(?) whose inhabitants seem to make heavy use of portals, Jason figures there should be at least a book or two on the topic.
He highly doubts he can make portals, but that isn’t what he wants. He wants to know how to find them.
Fairy circles are naturally occuring in the mythos, meaning that there should be portals that just pop up of their own volition. If he can figure out how to find them, then maybe he can find his way home.
-----------------------
The library doesn’t have a classification system.
The library. Does not have. A classification system.
An hour in Jason is about to lose it; the placement of the books don’t make any sense. He found a treatise on crop rotation next to a manual on some kind of hologram wrist watch that’s barely legible.
He could almost believe one of them is misplaced if not for the fact that the entire shelf is like that.
There’s a guidebook to trapping, an introduction to quantum color theory - whatever that means - and some kind of vegetarian cookbook. Everything on that shelf is equally disjointed. They’re all labeled ‘O.’
There are books by the same author on completely different shelves with other seemingly meaningless labels. He finds part 2 and 3 of a series on a different shelf - in an entirely different section - than part 1, but the letters on their spines indicate that’s where they’re meant to be.
Nothing makes any sense.
There is no librarian here, just him and Wulf.
He doesn’t want to risk tipping him off by outright asking where the portal books are, but asking how the place is organized shouldn’t be too much of a risk.
He hates the answer.
They’re organized by emotion.
O is for obsession (Jason was under the impression that was more of an adjective than an emotion), S is for Sadness but M is for Melancholy - Wulf goes on a detailed monologue about the differences between the two when Jason asks “isn’t that the same as sadness?” - and so on and so forth.
It’s a nightmare. Whose emotions? Caused by what part of a book? Just the ending? Books can be roller coasters. Emotions are complex. Possibly the most beautiful library he’s ever seen and the way it's organized makes no. sense.
“It’s all about the vibes,” the answer to his unasked questions comes from behind him. He whips around Wrist-Ray first, finding himself ray-to-face with Danny.
He doesn’t blink, smiling bright-as-you-please despite the weapon in his face. Then the smile turns a bit remorseful.
“I’m sorry for ditching you so quickly after we got back. I’m…not great at delegating things. But Jazz is right; she can handle a bit of party-planning and idiot-stalling, and if the other thing has waited this long it can wait a bit longer! So!” Danny grinned warm and open as he held out a hand, “How about a proper tour of the place?”
The library might have what Jason needs, but finding it would be an exercise in patience (or lack thereof) assuming it was even present. But knowing the layout of the place would definitely come in handy - for future escape attempts and for avoiding any unfortunate surprises.
He also might just want to get out of the library before he gives in to the urge to put the whole thing in a more sensible order.
He lowers the wrist ray and takes Danny’s hand.
***
@kyrianclawraith, @do3y, @someonebored0100 @omegasmileyface
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