Bauen: "They are a mix, some are haunts, which makes it easy to remove them from a memory crystal if it is outside of the core. Others possess their memory crystals, these are usually older beasts, and are much more difficult to remove. Drakes are almost always haunts, which is one of the reasons they are able to reproduce so quickly. They multiply by first consuming enough food to expand their body mass to that of two drakes, and then begin splitting, first at the core. Since they affix themselves with a haunt, it is easy to unbind from part of the memory crystal, split it off, and bind a new spirit to the unoccupied crystal.

This is all important for understanding gates. Whenever magic is cast, a minuscule gate is formed that allows only the caster's energy to flow through. This form of gate-creation is instinctual and weak, and none have been successful at making effective use of it simply by, casting harder, or some other unimaginative method. A possession is also a form of gate, but it normally binds itself to a physical mass to maintain the connection.

When shamans use gate magic, we force our spirits to possess a region of space without holding it to physical mass, and use this possession gate to open a portal between the physical world and the otherworld. It is spiritual strength that allows us to do this, not arcane strength that chirop and humans use to cast."
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She's silent for a moment, absorbing your words.

Sanoa: "I can't see that I'm wrong, but I can't make myself believe you are wrong either."

She looks up at you.

Sanoa: "John, you know I hear voices, you've heard them, too.

I can't do anything anymore, not now at least. Prove them wrong, John, prove the voices wrong that things won't end up in chaos. Please.

And, I know it's not in my right to ask anything, but, I need something in my library to be destroyed. A book. You don't owe me anything, but I can't trust Vranhal to do it."
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Tabi: "Hmm? Oh neat, you got it together."

You hand her the box and the screen flicks through several menus.

Tabi: "Oh, I didn't send this pre-programmed."

Ommel: "Is that what this is?"

Ommel pulls a hefty stack of papers out of a crate, three holes punched in one side and twine tied through to hold it together. On the front page reads "Auto-Loom Operation Code"

Tabi: "Oh yeah. That's the code to put into the brick."

Ommel: "How do you put it in?"

Tabi: "There are special character lines at the top and bottom of each page, and when I choose a specific mode on the brick, it does a read of my vision input to search for those lines. Then I just flip through this book, and the brick reads the code off the pages and stores it.

This might take a while. Kleigg, could you help Ommel with the rest of those gears and belts?"

Sounds fair enough, so you let Tabi flip through the code book page by page and move over to the main part of the loom. Gears and rubber belts line the floor in neat rows, and a few schematics are laid open for you to see.

Ommel: "Gotta make sure the gears with the right number of teeth go into the right spots, else they'll jam up and the thing won't work. These pulleys, same thing, except it's length instead of number of teeth."

Seems straight forward enough, so you get to work slotting in gears and rubber belts. Ommel scoots a little close to you, speaking quietly.

Ommel: "So, how did you meet Tabi? Were you guys in the same class?"
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Curator: "Nope, feel free to talk as long as you like."

How's it going in there?

Leviathan: Shout out loud what I say until I say stop.

I am the great leviathan Rauha! I have existed for over a thousand years, slaughtering armies and laying cities to waste, until I was defeated by a weapon designed solely to hunt my kind. Reduced to this small, powerless form without senses, I have only had my thoughts with me, and I have pondered on these thoughts for centuries. I have experienced the world through my body, and I have reflected on my memories many times over, building my true understanding of the world and its denizens. I have sewn the seeds of destruction, and I have been rewarded with its crops of demise. This form is my eternal punishment for my atrocities, and I am content to remain as so, and content if one should obliterate this last remnant of my existence from this world I have entered unwanted.

Stop.

If you shouted that, thank you. I do not wish to repeat myself for the twenty or so people in line.

"A book?"

Also Kebb if you don't answer "Extracurriculars" I swear on me mum

She looks around, even leaning over to look past you at the closed door. When she speaks again, her voice is low, barely audible.

Sanoa: There's an old medical book, written by a healer who was executed by the medical guild that he was a part of. It has information on how to heal people, curing sicknesses and mending wounds. Of course, those are useless if one does not know direct magic. The book, it has information on casting direct magic. If it were to fall in the wrong hands, so many things could go wrong. It must be destroyed. It is my greatest mistake that I did not burn it sooner.

Ommel: "A rough but strong, kind man who is anchored to the world by a dear friend he met, and you owe her dinner? Oh. Oh my. There are not many conclusions I can think of to this, but they all lead to yEEEP"

A rubber belt ricochets off of Ommel's back, and she gets back to plugging in gears while giggling to herself.

Ommel: "So, you saved the life of this once travelling, now loyal man who now owes you a meal. I can only imagine what I could experience if I attended a university, the people I would meet, the dangers I would face. So ro-"

Tabi gives her a pointed glance, and Ommel holds a gear between the two of them.

Ommel: "Technical. Look at all these teeth, fitted into that other one and it's a fourty-two-to-five gear ratio. A marvel of precision engineering.
That reminds me, where did you get all this stuff? Did you make it all?"

Tabi: "No, had a friend who was trying to make a loom. Something that you could operate in a home that would produce enough cloth for a large family. This is one of her models that she didn't need anymore, so I asked her if I could have it. She gave it to me, and I managed to get it to work autonomously, and figured the shop could use something like this."

Ommel: "Neato."

After a few minutes more of work, you and Ommel have all the gears and belts in place and Tabi finishes off the last few pages of the program book.

Tabi: "Alright, looks pretty much done."

She hooks the control box to the loom while Ommel plugs in some spools of white thread, and then Tabi pulls a large item out of another crate - some sort of metal box.

Ommel: "What's that?"

Tabi: "Power supply. It has an old, inefficient mana stone the size of a loaf of bread and only fifty units of storage, but there's a drake regenerating stone in there too, so you should be able to run it for the better part of the day and let it recharge on the off time."

She hooks the power supply to the loom, flicks a few switches, and the machine comes to life. The basic operation seems fairly simple - There are two frames, one in front of the other, that lightly hold individual threads. The threads are held in a way that it alternates which frame is a thread, if you look at it from left to right. Back frame, front frame, back frame, and so on. The threads run to the roller in the front of the machine that slowly turns, wrapping what would be the finished cloth. In between the roller and the frames is a mesh formed of just vertical wires that the threads run through, and a shuttle right behind that.

The basic operation machine goes as such - The frames are at different heights, one low, other high, so it forms an opening with the threads alternating height across the machine. The shuttle is quickly pushed through the opening, and once the shuttle is all the way, the frames swap heights, locking the thread left by the shuttle, and the wire mesh pushes the formed weave forward, keeping the cloth tight, and the process repeats.

The machine is run for a few seconds, producing inches of cloth at a respectable pace. Tabi hops up and down while clapping her hands excitedly.

Tabi: "Yesyesyesyes, it works, hahaha! I mean I tested before shipping it, but seeing it work again is great!"

Ommel: "This is amazing! We'll be able to produce clothing much cheaper and compete with those sweatshop-orphanage clothing outlets! Cheap labor, meet automation!"
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Sanoa: It's in the back left corner of the library if you're standing in the entrance and facing inside. Move the furniture off the spot, it's under the floorboard. You'll need a crowbar to pull it off. A tinderbox is under the counter. Just, take it out and burn it as fast as you can.

Don't read it - if you do, the information can be pulled from your mind whether or not you understand it. I... I want to trust you, John.

Rauha: Ah, I am glad I do not have to deal with the 'afternoon rush' today. Asking infuriating questions like 'Are you really a leviathan?' and 'Prove you're a leviathan.' I am a shiny blue orb that only knows the color of my vessel because I was told so, how does one expect me to prove anything!?

Anyways, I sense you are still there. If you wish to know of something in the past, I can help you gain an answer.