Night Reading (OPEN)

[Shiloh [192]]

There was something here. There was always something here. But where?!

A brown doll with a maroon-colored shawl pushed a book away rather moodily, only causing it to skid an inch or so. She'd read all of these books! The doll sat there silently for a few moments before throwing her arms up in frustrated defeat and allowing herself to fall over backwards, just sort of splaying on the broken-tiled floor.

Shiloh was a normal here at the library. The Saviors had begun to prevent her from entering when it became sort of annoying - she had a tendency to go binge reading and never, ever cleaned up her mess or put the books away. They'd only relented and allowed her back after she officially took the title of a Savior. It was just as well.. when she wasn't at Ezra's, she was here.

After some seconds of just laying there prostate on the ground, Shiloh sat up stiffly and gazed around herself, lidding her optics. Usually there was at least one other doll here; some Savior guarding the place, or another person doing some sort of research. But it was entirely empty except for her. The doll grimaced a little, having grown used to being around others.. it felt weird.

"Alone."

[[NPC] Machine]

What a lovely night for some hunting.

Not only was the moon out, but the skullbeast had found a small hole in the Saviors border and slipped through. It was the perfect opportunity to snatch a doll or two for the Fabricator and his experiments.

It wasn't a unique skullbeast. It was the size of a rat, with the appropriate skull, and modeled otherwise after the Cat. It scuttled a bit more clumsily than its siblings, but at the same time it was nimble enough to keep from crashing into things and cause a ruckus.

The beast found a well-traveled stitchpunk path and stuck to it, following at a small distance from the actual path so it wouldn't cause alarm to any wanderers. Soon, though, it had arrived at the Library. Little sound came from the building and it settled itself a few yards from the entrance, perched upon a car hood, to scope out the doorway for any possible prey.

[♕ Rime]

Rime

At any other time of the year, white was a color of considerable conspicuousness. Take a step into the world in a pale garb, and you caught attention like a sun in an ebony-black sky. In wintertime, however, anything white became as immaculate as the snow that painted the landscape like cold, cold milk.
To the rest of the world, she was invisible, save for a painted face and the wooden horns that pierced through the top of her hood. Her elegance was refined to the terrain, and her footfalls muted in the snow. What an intoxicating freedom!

The statues were each suited with a little white hat when she finally stepped into the courtyard, and she felt a smile slip onto her concealed lips. Despite her lax attitude, Rime had approached the library for a much more serious matter. It was said that newspaper clippings and important documents were stored in this very building - perhaps she could find worthwhile information on the weaknesses of her Factory-dwelling enemies. The Fabrication Machine would be craving the destruction of herself and her followers now that they had made themselves known.
Speaking of which, Rime stilled at the sight of a shape perched on a car hood - surveying the Library entrance. Silently, she made her way around to the other side of a statue to survey the scene. If there was a machine guarding this place, could that mean there was something vital to the Fabricator on the other side of those walls?
She had to see.

Glancing around, Rime parted the snow beneath her feet to retrieve a couple of pebbles that had flaked off of the statue over time. She tossed these toward the other side of the courtyard, causing them to clang against a metal railing in an obvious din that could most likely be heard far past the limits of the courtyard.

[Shiloh [192]]

Rime's noisy attention-getting act worked better than she'd probably expected - Shiloh, even inside the Library, heard its echoes. Oh, thank goodness - perhaps she wasn't so alone after all. It took only a few seconds of thought for her to decide what to do - she was alone right now, and she'd been reading for hours. A Study of Jurassic Parasite Nomenclature could only keep one interested for so long before one needed a well-deserved break. The brown-and-maroon she-doll pushed herself up onto her feet, her movements, as always, a loose and playful gesture. It did well to reflect her personality when she wasn't in a darker place. Such a place hadn't been visited for many, many months.

The she-doll left her books where they were, and she headed directly for the library's main entrance. It seemed like the sound had come from just outside it. It never really occurred to Shiloh's happy-go-happy brain that it might be someone dangerous, or a machine even. After all, this was Savior territory. What on earth could possibly be dangerous here?

[[NPC] Machine]

A sound. To the right. The rat machine's attention flickered to that direction, red and glowing optics searching for the source of the sound. If it was a machine, it had nothing to fear. If it was a doll, it probably needed to neutralize it fast. It, unlike most of its brothers and sisters, was not large, and was not as powerful. It had to rely on speed to take its prey down and hope that it didn't get too damaged on the way to that end.

But.. the firelight inside the library was so tempting. Someone was in there, and as nothing had been around for many minutes, likely alone. On another hand, the library would serve as some protecting and perhaps a hiding place if whatever had made the noise was large and dangerous.

With little thought past these basic ones, the rat machine turned away from the noise and scuttled towards the library entrance, body clumsy but fast at the same time. It slid/fell down a small incline that led there, and as quick as it did there was a doll in front of it. She was a little taller than the machine was, but in the flash it saw of her there was no weapon to be noticed. It let out a very rat-like screech and jumped at the maroon-clad doll, rodent teeth bared and fore claws aimed at the torso.

[♕ Rime]

Rime

The figure that appeared in the doorway was disregarded at first, due to Rime's extreme concentration on the machine. Watching it closely, she could tell from its shape that it was smaller than she'd first assumed it to be. That was favorable. If she could strike it down without damaging it beyond repair, she could use the body later for the benefit of the Grey.

Rising to her feet to follow the small skullbeast, Rime's attention locked on the doll that now stood in the machine's path - a clear path of attack. Without a moment of hesitation, Rime grasped her heavy scythe close to herself and hurtled out from beneath the cover of night and snow. Moving as hastily as she could, she called out a warning to the doll."You there! MOVE!"
Flinging herself up the steps, she could feel both the drag of the scythe's weight and the power in its blade. He raised the blade once she was in range of the machine and sliced it toward the clumsy shape, no longer caring about how much damage it was dealt. It was attacking a fellow ragdoll, and that was unacceptable.

[Shiloh [192]]

Shiloh had slid to an utter stop at the sight of the smaller rat machine lunging at her face. Despite being a foolishly brave doll and one eager to run into battle with little more than a sword stick, being faced with sudden terrible teeth was not a fun thing. Shiloh made a panicked squeak and fell to the side quickly, her previous momentum making her fall into a sort of slide along the side of the machine as it leapt and snapped at where her head had been a split second before.

The thing didn't seem to fare too well once the scythe made contact. Shiloh kicked out her feet and scooted herself hurriedly away from the writhing thing as it tried to pry itself off of the newcomer's scythe, and the screech it made was horrible.

[[NPC] Machine]

The little doll the rat lunged at was suddenly missing from its view; the machine landed on its hind legs and turned on them quickly, trying to follow the movement of its prey - it was a rat, and rats could hardly be expected to keep tabs on more than one opponent at a time. It was entirely unprepared for Rime's attack and once it felt the metal slice into its side, the machine shrieked and whipped around, twisting and kicking out its back legs at Rime to try and dislodge the scythe from its torso.

Its beady little eyes were the telltale red of a Factory machine, and it locked them on Rime with deadly threat. Shiloh now forgotten, its sights were set on the cloaked stranger that was hurting it.

[♕ Rime]

Rime

The mechanical screech that escaped the rat sent a shudder of triumph up through Rime's system, and she attempted to twist the scythe for good measure. This sick, disgusting machine was a child of the Fabrication Machine, and it had tried to attack an unarmed doll who had just walked out of the library - a peaceful place. No machine should be here.

Grunting, Rime felt one of the rat's legs strike her side, and she allowed herself to fall back, her scythe pulling loose of the rat's metal parts. The moment the rat was free, she planted herself between it and the doll on the ground. She kept her scythe raised in a clear threat, optics not leaving its shape even as she raised her voice to confirm the condition of the doll behind her.
"Are you injured?"