A Good Looking Slav says :I’m wondering about the ball-lights, the desk lamp and the lift — are they powered by electricity ?
Electricity ? Lightning is way too unpredictable and dangerous to be used as a power source. You read some theories that you could use metal as a conduit for it, but that contact with said metal would be hazardous and you could get shocked. No, the lamps (and most other modern appliances) are powered with magic.
You have been studying the school’s power grid for your Spellweaving project, and like most modern buildings, the school has magic conduits running through the walls, floors and ceilings. These conduits transfer energy from the school’s central power source into the rooms. The appliances then use the energy to function.
As a side effect, the ambient energy makes spellweaving, and thus casting, easier in the school.
Jaxamar says :So Yume is an automaton ? Or perhaps a golem ?
Yes, Yume is a specialized golem. She was built three centuries ago to serve as the Library’s living memory : the contents of every last book in the Library are committed to her mind, in case one of them gets damaged and needs to be replaced. She also sorts the books on the shelves under Miss Kiyori’s directions, so she knows where every book is.
However, since she’s a golem, Yume lacks the brainpower and self-awareness to manage the Library herself, or to act as a real person. This is why, while she can check books in or out, she isn’t trusted with the Library keys.
Voidbane says :Did Yume just reach you using the staff elevator ? If they have access, maybe she could let you use it to get upstairs…
This elevator doesn’t go all the way upstairs. It only goes up to the Library’s second floor and down to the basement, where the book repair workshop and the library vault are located. Students don’t have access to the basement, obviously.
Also, if Yume came through the lift, you would have heard it open. It is more likely that she just floated to here.
Bandit Dragoon says :Yume is definitely cute.
Isn’t she ? While many students are creeped out by her emotionless doll features, the smarter ones have learned to appreciate her. The Couture club, for example, adopted Yume as their mascot decades ago ; their big end-of-year project is to design and tailor a new, original dress for her to wear. Yume seems to appreciate the attention.
Dakota says :Explain your dream to her, it can’t hurt to let her know and maybe see what she can say about it.
Dragon Tamer says :Depending on how much of a “paper trail” you want to leave, some subtlety might be in order. Likely Yume will happily tell anyone with authority who asks ‘this one’ what searches were done and by whom. So asking for a specific book may draw attention later, depends on how tight security is at this library. Best to get directions to that dream section, unless we are talking about a section with several hundreds titles just on the topic of dreams.
As you said earlier, the less people know about your nightmares the better. Explaining your dreams to Yume would achieve nothing but putting that information on record, where any staff member could access it. Yume wouldn’t be able to help you with dream interpretation either : while she knows the contents of every book on dreams by heart, she is unable to process the information contained within. So it’s better to just ask for what you need and leave it at that.
“Miss Kiyori lent me the key so I could return a book and check out the two I need,” you answer. “Could you tell me where I could find books on dreams ?”
“Certainly. Please follow this one.”
You follow Yume to the second floor.
As she enters the Psychology section, she floats closer to the ceiling, reaching for the highest shelf.
“This one can find about twenty books whose main subject is dreams, and about sixty whose subject is related to dreams. Could you narrow down your query, Miss Whitering ?”
You think for a second. You would normally enjoy taking your time and browsing through all of these books by yourself… but right now, it’s after closing hours and you feel like you’ve spent too much time in the library already. You don’t want to get Miss Kiyori in trouble after she technically broke the rules for you. Sharing an extra tiny bit of information appears necessary in order to speed things up.
“Do you have a book on general dream interpretation ? Not about premonition or prophetic vision, just something entry-level.”
“This one has a book that fits these specifications.” Yume takes a book off the shelf. “This dream dictionary describes many elements or symbols that appear in dreams, and their most common significations. It was written three years ago by H. F. Quinzel, Cognitomancer of the Arkham University.”
“This is exactly what I need,” you answer. “I’ll borrow it.”
“Please follow this one to the front counter, Miss Whitering.”
Returning your novel and borrowing the two new books goes quickly. You’re so used to the procedure, you’ve literally lost count of how many times you’ve done it.
“Here are your books, Miss Whitering,” Yume announces while holding them out to you. “This one hopes you will find them satisfactory. Please take good care of them, and have them returned within two weeks.”
You can’t help but smile. You’ve also lost count of how many times you’ve heard Yume recite this very same speech.
You thank Yume and leave quickly. Once you lock the door, you’ll go straight to the Administration building, then to the sports fields. You don’t want to keep Max waiting for too lo-
You let out a very inelegant “oof” as you bump into someone and fall back on your behind. That should teach you to look in front of you so next time. Now who… ?
… Miss Howitzer and Headmistress Tsukisame . Uh oh.
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I’d love to know what those symbols on the Headmistress’ cloak and hat mean.
Aaaand we’re back ! I owe you guys an explanation, though. What the f happened ?
Long story short, I started working on this page in June, shortly after posting the previous one. And then, summer funk set in. I’ve always been subject to depressive moods, and summer has always been a particularly hard season on that aspect. I live in a town where 90% of the population is university students, and so the town is quite dead during the summer, to the point that many stores and restaurants just close for 2 months. So when you add that ghost town feeling, to the “everyone but me is on vacation”, to the absence of kid’s laughs from the nearby school, you obtain a sad mood Ethan that doesn’t work very fast.
With other, paid projects to tackle and limited energy to do so, I kinda put CH on the backburner for a few weeks. And then came the move.
As you may remember, about one year ago the apartment below mine burned down – I since learned that it wasn’t an accident (there were 3 fire starts) and that it may have been done by the tenant to fraud his insurance – and my apartment was thoroughly smoked, which caused me to move to a temporary apartment. Seven months later, making it September, my estate agency unexpectedly called me to inform me that the apartment had been cleaned and was ready for use. Ensued a somewhat rushed move (with no van or truck, only my roommate’s parents’ car >>) that resulted into even more delays for CH. The delays in restoring my internet line didn’t help.
After things calmed down, it was already November. And when came the time to work back on CH, I noticed something : it’s really, REALLY hard to get back to working on such a big project when you have stopped for a while. I simply couldn’t sit down and resume work from where I stopped. To complicate matters even further, I rewrote parts of the script which had grown stale (so to speak) in these months and replaced them with fresher ideas, which added even more delays. So in the end, as days and weeks added up, CH ended up with several months of hiatus.
So I’d like to apologize to you readers for keeping you in this stupid library for so long. The plot is moving forward once again, and today I introduce you to Miss Howitzer and Headmistress Tsukisame. I hope you’ll like where this is going ! 🙂
Whoops. let’s see smooth skin, fin like protrusion from under the cloak, would this be some sort of shark like race? Let’s hope the Headmistress is understandable cuz that Bunny dude… wait, oh is that bunny a lady? Either way doesn’t look happy!
huh so miss Howitzer, does that mean she goes off with a bang? I bet she is head of security or something.
Great to have you back Ethan! We’ve all missed you so much! I look forward to seeing how this story goes.
Let’s see, Tsuki means “Moon” and same means “shark” so. Oh my god is the Headmistress of Chimaera High a MOON SHARK?
You should deffinetly help her up, breaking the rules and seeming rude at the same time is deffinetly not a good idea.
Also welcome back 🙂 I don’t think I commented before as I was so unlucky to run into this around the point the delays happened 😀
It’s good to see this rolling again! Don’t worry about it Ethan, it’s understandable. The good thing is everything’s back on track and you could continue this, which is a great feat.
About the comic, yhey sure look like trouble. Hopefully they won’t take you to detention… or will they?
Apologize and help your headmistress up. Pick up her hat and dust it off as well. Whatever happens next just remember to keep calm and explain your reason for being here should they ask.
Also, welcome back Ethan! XD You have been missed. 🙂
H.F. Quinzel of Arkham University? Is that a subtle Batman reference, or just a coincidence? :3
;3
I can’t believe I missed that…
oh dear, seems this awkward day just wont give you a break. perhaps its best to try to return to your room as soon as you can.
Quickly regain your composure, making sure you have control over the key and books
Thoroughly chew them out for being so rude and inattentive as to not notice a bright red freakin panda in front of them. Yes, definitely the right course of action.
Why does my name keep getting spelled with an ä? There are no umlauts in my name! :C
Well balls, I did not think of that
Apologize and flee! Apologize and flee!
Apologize profusely, then see if you can go without getting scolded by Howitzer (whom I believe would be the rabbit).
While a profuse apology may be excessive, some apology is necessary.
You don’t want to lose control of that key. Perhaps a little flip or swish of that fluffy tail of yours could sweep that key towards you. Gather your things and be out of sight and mind as quickly as possible.
Headmistress Tsukisame appears to be an aquatic species. I wonder how rare would that be?
And it looks like yet another magic library that Able is banned from.
do you have a rappor with these two? the semi-military bunny with a bun does not seem happy to see you
Uh oh, punishment is in order. Let’s hope they go easy on you.
While making up a cleaver lie can save you trouble, an unfounded lie might bite you in the ass in the future. People respect honesty, tell them what transpired and let them know it was of a necessity and the upmost importance that you got those books today.
The least that could happen is that you have to do chores around the school for a week, the worse that can happen is that you get a couple of discipline smacks to your ass, you do kind of deserve it for being tardy
On a side note this interactive comic thing is awesome! Keep it up and I I hope you find the modivation to continue this
welcome back. I say say apologize, help her up and get her hat back and hand it to her. I think it is more of a tail tip then a fin so maybe lizzard. Hope the bunny isn’t hopping mad
So I only just stumbled on this comic. Honestly Im loving it. Im a major fan of “Choose your own adventure” games so I really am loving how you have people comment on what happens next. Really cool idea. Good work.
Since nobody seems to have mentioned it, I’m going to point out the DMFA reference in the last panel.
Do the teleport spell, self-definition be damned.
I know it isn’t related to this page but i have gone back and reread from the start. I noticed that the remembered image of your mom does seem to match the shadow woman in the dark memory. It is possible that you have a younger brother or sister u didn’t know about and the dreams are an attempt to make first contact.
You better excuse yourself!
Apologize profusely
Interesting name. Tsukisame is Japanese for “moon shark”.