Play@YSDC

1d%40%

OOC:   Highly unexpected Critical Success.

INT roll: 80%

1d100

INT (65%) 1d100

INT roll

"I'll take that as a compliment to my reading ability," says Jordan. "Well, Caroline has wanted encores before, so why not? She always falls asleep before I do. Well, almost always." He reads the story aloud a second time.

INT roll (70% stat) after reading the story:
d%

While Jordan reads the story a second time, the rest of you ponder on what to do next.

It is clear that Saffron would not be happy to see the children’s section moved back into the basement, whilst the genius loci will want a story on a weekly basis at least.

As for the mess… someone as neat and fastidious as Nightingale would require the place to be tidied up, but it will take all night to put the books back, even with your combined efforts.

While Skipper takes Ernie out for a wee, it suddenly hits him - what if the genius loci could be persuaded to reverse the mess it’s caused?

As she considers different options, Izzy suddenly has an idea.

"Maybe we can make a deal? What if we try and get Saffron to agree to host a book reading session down here on a regular basis? She won't want to move the books back again like before, but she might be okay with keeping a space down here just for reading sessions at least.

"Oh, and we can't just keep calling it 'it', or using the full title. This thing needs a name." She ponders for a moment. "How about... Dewey?"

It's not a library, but the implication is clear...

… … to everyone except Des.

”Dewey?” she asked. ”Wot? Like de duck?”

"Brilliant, Izzy!" Leo grinned. "Now that we know his taste in literature..." Leo paused. Clearly, the shunning of Dinosaur Bob bothered him, but he remained professional. "But making a promise of regular stories being read down here might not fit Saffron's schedule. Or preference. Before we make any promises that we can't keep to..." Leo spoke slowly and firmly. "Errol..." clearly thinking that the superior name. "Perhaps we should get the okay from Saffron. We wouldn't want to piss off Errol."

Leo thought for a moment, turning to the open space. "Or maybe...you might be more of a Librarian. Let's see... Oook? Oook oook?"

"Ah, Discworld," says Jordan. "I suppose that makes us the Watch."

"Not the duck, no..." Izzy says to Des, though she doesn't clarify further. Instead, she considers the other names from Leo, good choices as well, and nods as he mentions checking with Saffron first. "In any case, we should probably head up there while it's a bit quieter and make the call to Nightingale."

She smiles at Jordan's understanding of Leo's references. "A fellow person of culture, huh. I suppose I always thought of myself more as an Angua, but I think my friends would call me more of a Sally..."

She tries to think who the others would be. Des, probably Nobby Nobbs, and Skipper maybe a Reg Shoe. Could Jordan be an Igor? If the boss and Peter were Vimes and Carrot, and you called out the Faceless Man as Carcer, then who could Leo match up to...?

Skipper returns with the relieved Ernie. "I had a thought. What if we can strike a deal with our friend here." He waves generally at the basement level of the bookshop. "Get him or her to put the books back for us. And Saffron. The lemon squeezy way to tidy up. Obviously, we will need to offer something in exchange."

"Don't worry, Des, I'm not talking virgin's blood here."

”Just as well!” snorted Des, her eyes sliding in Leo’s direction…

"Oh, I'm Lady Sybil, for sure," he laughed. "I look a-MAY-zing in a dress..."

"Yeah, I guess any deal that we make with Errol on Saffron's behalf will be followed through. Any reasonable deal. And we're all reasonable people here, right?"

He looked at Errol. "Right?"

"I'd be Detritus, then," says Jordan. "I'm built like him, and while I am highly intelligent, trolls can be too if the temperature is low enough."

Slightly mouth agape, Skipper looks at Jordan. "Whut?"

"I was going to suggest the big guy here," gesturing at the said Jordan, "Offer to read ten kiddies books. Or one whole Harry Potter. But we might need to reassess because it sounds like big guy's has a stroke."

At Skipper's words, Izzy tries to hide a slightly worried look. She knows that he's just kidding, but considering some of the more dangerous cases the Folly takes on, she decides she'll need to look up the exact definition of "virgin's blood" in the Folly archives. Does it mean virgin in the strictest technical sense? After all, she's a young woman, she's certainly had physical relationships before, but since men aren't her particular calling... she doesn't exactly relish the thought of going against her entire preference just to meet an arbitrary condition. Hopefully the rules of magic take a more modern meaning of what sex entails...

Returning to the topic at hand, she nods at Leo. "I'd say we're pretty reasonable. Just need to figure out what that deal might be."

Turning to Skipper, she continues. "He's just referencing Discworld. Not really aimed at kids though, so we probably don't want to be reading the entirety of The Colour of Magic to this... to Errol. But I like the offer. It should work for here and now, but what do we do in the longer term?"

Des looked around, wandered over to the shelves and picked something up. ”Wot ‘bout dis?” she asked, holding up the CD of an audiobook.

She looked at the back of the case. ”Sez it runs f’ two ‘ours,” she said.