"Must've been a really good read, whatever that book is," a familiar voice made Katrina turn to see her supervisor Amber Edel standing a few feet away at the end of the shelves. A confused look crossed the librarian's face momentarily, searching Amber's face for evidence of having seen anything strange; Katrina's supervisor held the same look she always had, on the verge of patience, but just over the line with annoyed. 

"Did..." Katrina tried to ask, wondering if what just happened to her actually happened. It could've been an all-too vivid daydream to foster healthy escapism, but the feeling, the glowy feeling she'd just experienced, still made its mark on her, mildly surging through her. 

"Did you forget the few things you still needed to do tonight? So far, it looks like yes," Amber tried to make a joke of Katrina's progress that night, managing to come off condescending as usual.

The way the energy, the language flowing inside her put her above feeling intimidated by Amber's words. So infused with a deeper sense of self, Katrina momentarily questioned if she was still daydreaming, or if the power could provide a retort for Amber. As she stared her boss contemplatively for a moment, the power communicated something she was inclined to acquiesce to, smiling a strange smile as the tome opened up in her hand.

"You're right, Amber, I should be following your example. And we can't lead without learning how to follow..."

Katrina paused as a sensation in her mouth tingled, pleasingly. The language running itself across her throat to the edge of her tongue should've alarmed her, but also she could do is utter a sound, calmly and purposefully. 

_-/-F_O|L|L-=O__W-

Amber looked as shocked as Katrina did when the sound echoed between them, a deafening noise that only produced something audible past the ears. Katrina felt like she repeated something, but in the language that launched itself off of her body into the audible ether; the librarian was fascinated with the qualities of the language, how there was something understandable to read between the lines, layered language commanding multiple things at once. She thought "follow" slipped from her lips, but more obviously slipped out as a part of Katrina felt the script manifesting itself around Amber's ankles and soles.

"Huh....wh-what..what the hell?"

The supervisor took an incomprehensible step forward towards Katrina, failing to stop herself from taking another, and another, and another. Katrina backed up a few steps in utter curiosity, looking to see if Amber would continue to follow suit. Managing to stop herself five or six steps in, Amber shot daggers at her subordinate.

"Katrina, you'd better fucking stop this or-"

//S=I-_L||E|\N|C-_E|

Instinctive words left Katrina's lips, happy to see the foreign script running over Amber's lips, gluing them shut as she still tried to speak words. Exercising external bodily control like that felt intoxicating; watching Amber try to pry her lips open with her fingers looked hilarious, which would have triggered laughter if Katrina wasn't in such mood needing to speak more. 

"Oh, desperate to say something now," Katrina asked, channeling pent-up anger in her growing power trip.

-|A/P\\O<L>>O^G=I__Z<E<_

Angry lips parted ready to spew out whatever was on Amber's mind, but the script moved down her throat to swallow that instinct, inspiring something else itching to be spoken until she couldn't hold back.

"I...I'm.." Amber looked down in horror at what she knew she couldn't stop from leaving her lips, connecting with anything having to do with bossing Katrina around.

"I'm...sorry, Katrina...for..." she tried to stop herself, whispering curses at her between attempts, trying to force a litany of expletives before the requested apology came out in full force, a sincere tone garnishing the latter half.

"...for making you do your job and mine at the same time, for always patronizing and treating you like dirt or less of a person just because you don't come from money, and for never acknowledging how you're the best employee here. And I'm sorry for how much I get off of lording power over you....oh shit..."

Pages of her tome turned themselves and found a new word to speak as Amber looked horrified from the flood of truth she couldn't stop from admitting. Before Amber could attempt to dash forward and tackle, a part of the open page in the tome glowed and flowed to the tip of Katrina's tongue.

_O--_-B-|\\/E->Y__

The shift in Amber's entire demeanor began to instantly change. Uttering a stronger spell than the others, the tome glowed its yellowish-gold as Katrina could feel the powerful lettering invisibly travel across the room. They revealed themselves as a shimmering script across tensed muscles that grew limp, changing a posture that stood stationary but ready. Amber's resistance drowned across her face until she was deeply submerged underwater, under a deep spell. Katrina flushed with internal excitement, seeing for the first time how someone covered in ancient lettering would look, knowing it was an extension of power she could exercise. So focused on the spellbound Amber, she failed to notice the tome glowing and levitating from her hand, a stronger ethereal connection established as the pages turned yet again to highlight something new.

\\I|\N^V-_E_R<>S|I\O//N|

Katrina never realized she'd said it before a circle of the inscriptions formed on the ground around the two women, turning rapidly until they formed a solid ring of light, levitating them up into the ceiling world. Amber remained blankly-focused as Katrina's jaw dropped at the pull towards the alternate world she didn't understand, but felt oddly welcome in as she arrived slowly, gently. 

Gravity shifted to make the ceiling world right-side up, and Katrina and Amber landed safely in the world surrounded by a midnight bluish-tint, mostly alit by the golden yellow from the tome, and the strong feelings Katrina held to this place and to her new subordinate. A packed plethora of normal emotions of fear, confusion and curiosity where contained somewhere deep inside the Librarian, buried under the energy connecting her to the sense of belonging and familiarity. Eyes happily browsed the neatly-organized row of books on the shelves, but noted the identical stack on the table Katrina had yet to put away in her own world.

=S/_H=E^L||V-E-

The script across Amber's body shimmered before it sunk into her skin, shining occasionally beneath the surface as glassy eyes focused on Katrina, the only person she was aware of, and the only person she took orders from. She moved to do as she was told, as Katrina enjoyed watching her do the job she was intended to.

"So nice to see you properly acquiescing. But unfortunately, I sense you finding these books as mere object to justify employment rather than meaningful resources to better oneself. While you're here, I think it would be convenient to become more...educated." A cruel smile played across Katrina's lips as she looked at the selection of books to choose from.