Welcome to Gaia! ::

He had gone home after talking to her, back to ‘regular’ Ashdown so he could prepare. He’d honestly started heading towards the strange ‘other’ Library, but changed his mind. He’d opted instead for heading back to prepare better.

He’d been stuck once, he didn’t mean to be unprepared if he got stuck again. He also wanted a few extra things, though he wasn’t at all sure if they would help once he entered the strange building with its… internal sky and floating islands.

He was sitting at a bench in the park, having spread out the contents of his bag save for a few items. He’d made sure that Mogget was safely tucked away, because he didn’t want to risk his small friend.

On the table though were a few boxes of ‘energy’ bars, he’d grabbed flavors that weren’t too sweet sounding in case he got stuck eating them and the flavorless food in Other Ashdown, He had a couple rolls of twine, two boxes of sidewalk chalk, his notebook and its testimonies so far on people’s visits to Ashdown, now including his own.

He also had a small disposable camera and a spare ‘portable charger’ for his phone, basically an expensive battery that could recharge his phone.

Having worked with Jer on trying to learn the basics of Magic he thought maybe he could charge it himself, but why risk the chance of accidently blowing up his own phone if he could bring a more mundane mean of making sure he had means of taking hasty photos.

“Err.” He answered with utter eloquence, looking not unlike a deer caught in the headlights, “Ah, er…” he offered a sheepish grin.
“M-maybe?” He offered. “I um, I’m going to the Library, in um, other… you know.” He felt his cheeks heat because it really did sort of look like he was preparing for the apocalypse.

“I’m looking for a book there, and it’s kind of… odd inside so I thought maybe if I prepared for it like I was heading into a maze with a Minotaur since things don’t always go where you think they do.”

“Uh…” He leaned slightly away from her, the loom was surprisingly ominous and shockingly intimidating for someone so slender.
“Um…” He managed. “We-well, I mean I can’t just.” He started to protest. If he got lost In there he couldn’t just ask someone to get lost WITH him.
“Well, I mean I was going to tell someone I was going!” He protested, lifting his empty shoulder bag like a shield.

“By note.” He admitted.

He made a small-strangled sound of protest. “But, but… If it’s dangerous then YOU could be hurt too!” He protested waving at her.
“I’m serious! If you got hurt I couldn’t forgive myself!”

He yanked at his braid distressed. “…When Autumn got hurt, I just… and it was my fault. I… I just don’t want my friends to get hurt because I’m trying to do something!”

Except the look on her face said her mind was more than made up.
“You’re absolutely not listening to me are you.”

“… Now?” He said looking apologetic. “But you promise me something alright? If something happens, you…RUN, you get out as fast as you can because you are under orders to get home SAFE.” He waved his finger at her trying to look stern.
“Mogget wouldn’t forgive me if something happened to you alright?”

He gave her a quirk of a smile, a small sigh and reached out and patted a hand to her arm.
“Well, follow me then.” He gave a shake of his head like he couldn’t really believe they were actually doing this together.


“If you um, if you know anyone else who knows, maybe text them while we search for a way in though ok?” He added. “…just not Mister Mercer, or my Boss at the bookstore, um… or Maybe Autumn. Actually for right now lets not worry anyone else and hope for the best, we have each other’s back right?”

He really; really didn’t want to think anything bad would happen, BUT.

He shoved his things back into his bag and shouldered it.

“Alright, let’s go find an entrance!”

Zac reached into his bag and pulled out the umbrella, and handed it to her.

"With... perhaps alarming skill." He admitted. It was easier the longer he was in this place, the more he learned. He assumed it had something to do with exposure, but there really wasn't anything he could use for comparison.

He had a hoodie at least, and seeing as she wasn't prepared he could use that, and she the umbrella till they tried the door to the eerie library.

--

A short-ish wander later, they did indeed find a way into the misty, rainy otherworld. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" He asked her as he shifted his hood up to keep the rain off. He wasn't going to take that umbrella back even if she smacked him with it, he somehow felt that it was not out of the realm of possibility.

"There... up there." he nodded. "The thing is, I'm not sure if we can get in or not, I guess it sort of has a mind of its own."

He worried at his lip as they moved towards the steps and the doors.
He might have said a silent prayer that the doors would open. He had a book to find, a memory bound in leather for Heliodora.

"

“I’m not sure that would work honestly.” He admitted and followed her up the steps. She could manage a slightly longer stride than he, and was getting irritated at a bootlace that had come undone. It was making little wet slap sounds against his galaxy-painted boots.

He grinned at her knock as he drew up to the doors as well; sliding his hood back he tried the door handle.

At least this way they had their bases covered right?