therookery | Crystal

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Mobius and Abby
RECIPIENT: Youse
NOTES: Gentle reminder from your friendly librarians. ITT: Pedant behaviour and idle threats of violence

[There's a small moment of taking a breath, with a sound and tone like a tired schoolteacher.]

I'd like to remind people of some basic library etiquette. The library is for everyone. Don't be loud, rowdy, or obnoxious while in there. If you make a mess, clean it up. Don't run. Don't leave candles burning after you're done with them. Don't reshelve books yourself. Popular books can have waitlists, and said list will be followed, and no, you cannot skip places unless someone decides they don't actually want it after all.

If you must bring food and drink into the library, say for a long research session, [Viktor, Stephen,] be careful about it. Don't eat over a book and get crumbs and jam and grease stains all over the texts. If you spill your ale over it and it comes back in an unacceptable condition, you're getting charged for it. There are old maps, scrolls, tomes, and the like in the library that are invaluable to us, so be mindful of how you handle them. And, accidents happen. If you damage a book, just be upfront about it. A lot of it can be mended, like broken spines, loose covers, and more.

Dog-ears are annoying; bookmarks exist.

[There's a lean forward.]

Do not. write. in. the books.

[And a lean back.]

If you don't return your overdue books, I'll break your arm.

She's joking.

I'm not. Try it.

Abby—

[The crystal clicks off.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You're the one threatening to break people's bones.

Over books.

Books are important.

I mean... yeah.

[ Said in the way a person does when they're pretty sure something is objectively true but they have no personal stake in it. ]

... And I wouldn't actually break somebody's arm for not bringing a book back.

(It's just a bit. Everybody gets that, right,)

I'd just harass them about it every time I saw them.

Verbally.