Memory 10: the Hall Library
Dec. 15th, 2019 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wontforbidtherain[CW: body snatching, murder, mention of dubious consent in the notes]
They are in a set of two cars parked outside a college building in winter. Mister Spector picks up a black woman. She can Caleb flirt by speaking different languages to one another — Miss Dawson is along because she speaks Russian, and Caleb speaks R’lyenh to her. Aphra can follow Caleb’s end of the conversation, happy that her brother is actually having a good time.
They arrive on another school campus, one that seems to be for women only based on the students walking about. Charlie falls on the stairs due to ice, and they get him inside. Spector notices Charlie when the other car arrives and comments about how only he and Miss Dawson know first ai — since Miss Dawson speaks Russian, Spector volunteers to go seek wraps and a cold pack.
Aphra has an awkward conversation with Miss Dawson where she tries to apologize about something that Miss Dawson is shutting down[1]. Before Aphra can dig herself deeper, the group is led to a private room, with a pile of notebooks and one of the published books. They are going to review the notes; the books are cited in them. This librarian is clearly a helpful research badass to have put this together.
The librarian asks about Aphra’s family; she knew someone named ‘Asenath Waite’[2] and wanted to know if she was related to Aphra. Aphra gets the librarian’s story: Asenath and she were are school together, Asenath was intense and driven, Asenath left school to get married, and it ended badly. Aphra asked if Asenath offered the librarian saltwater, which Aphra ascribes ritual and religious significance to.
Aphra does hear how the librarian thinks the story ends: either Asenath’s husband, Mister Derby, or their friend, mister Upton, murdered her, and Upton killed Derby and blamed Asenath. Upton was locked up in an asylum because he was raving about body swaps. The librarian treats this as ‘men are terrible’. But it’s one reason that the librarian is trying to help; Aphra is a distant cousin of her friend.
Mister Spector and Caleb were listening — Mister Spector, because a cop tends to pay attention when someone talks about murder, and Caleb because the name Waite is infamous in Innsmouth. Caleb supplies an old skip-rope and keep-away rhyme about Old Man Waite. Apparently the true story was that Asenath’s father, Ephraim Waite, stole her body (presumably killing his original body with her in it) and fled. When he married Derby, he swapped bodies again and killed Derby-in-Asenath’s-body. Upton then killed Ephraim-in-Derby’s-body. The person the librarian knew was actually Ephraim. The fact Upton was still alive meant that since Aphra’s group is researching spotting body theft, he’s a useful source.
Things Cat Learned:
* Well, that’s some disturbing bits of local history.
[1] Context that Cat won’t get: Miss Dawson’s boss, a dean at Miskatonic University, pursued an affair with her. Miss Dawson’s other boss is the US government (who figured out which administrators were likely to be in compromising positions with their staff) and the government is blackmailing the dean about his affair to get Aphra’s group on campus for research.)
[2] For reference, this is the short story The Thing on the Doorstep by HP Lovecraft. Cat would be quite willing to believe that someone would take a true story and dramatize it to make her town look bad, if you want to break the 4th wall.
They are in a set of two cars parked outside a college building in winter. Mister Spector picks up a black woman. She can Caleb flirt by speaking different languages to one another — Miss Dawson is along because she speaks Russian, and Caleb speaks R’lyenh to her. Aphra can follow Caleb’s end of the conversation, happy that her brother is actually having a good time.
They arrive on another school campus, one that seems to be for women only based on the students walking about. Charlie falls on the stairs due to ice, and they get him inside. Spector notices Charlie when the other car arrives and comments about how only he and Miss Dawson know first ai — since Miss Dawson speaks Russian, Spector volunteers to go seek wraps and a cold pack.
Aphra has an awkward conversation with Miss Dawson where she tries to apologize about something that Miss Dawson is shutting down[1]. Before Aphra can dig herself deeper, the group is led to a private room, with a pile of notebooks and one of the published books. They are going to review the notes; the books are cited in them. This librarian is clearly a helpful research badass to have put this together.
The librarian asks about Aphra’s family; she knew someone named ‘Asenath Waite’[2] and wanted to know if she was related to Aphra. Aphra gets the librarian’s story: Asenath and she were are school together, Asenath was intense and driven, Asenath left school to get married, and it ended badly. Aphra asked if Asenath offered the librarian saltwater, which Aphra ascribes ritual and religious significance to.
Aphra does hear how the librarian thinks the story ends: either Asenath’s husband, Mister Derby, or their friend, mister Upton, murdered her, and Upton killed Derby and blamed Asenath. Upton was locked up in an asylum because he was raving about body swaps. The librarian treats this as ‘men are terrible’. But it’s one reason that the librarian is trying to help; Aphra is a distant cousin of her friend.
Mister Spector and Caleb were listening — Mister Spector, because a cop tends to pay attention when someone talks about murder, and Caleb because the name Waite is infamous in Innsmouth. Caleb supplies an old skip-rope and keep-away rhyme about Old Man Waite. Apparently the true story was that Asenath’s father, Ephraim Waite, stole her body (presumably killing his original body with her in it) and fled. When he married Derby, he swapped bodies again and killed Derby-in-Asenath’s-body. Upton then killed Ephraim-in-Derby’s-body. The person the librarian knew was actually Ephraim. The fact Upton was still alive meant that since Aphra’s group is researching spotting body theft, he’s a useful source.
Things Cat Learned:
* Well, that’s some disturbing bits of local history.
[1] Context that Cat won’t get: Miss Dawson’s boss, a dean at Miskatonic University, pursued an affair with her. Miss Dawson’s other boss is the US government (who figured out which administrators were likely to be in compromising positions with their staff) and the government is blackmailing the dean about his affair to get Aphra’s group on campus for research.)
[2] For reference, this is the short story The Thing on the Doorstep by HP Lovecraft. Cat would be quite willing to believe that someone would take a true story and dramatize it to make her town look bad, if you want to break the 4th wall.
