#For the Library

[moodymisty]

First time writing for w40k, please enjoy 🙏

---

Horus is in his office when the news is delivered of your labors. He hears a knock on the door and a voice calls out, "Lady Aurelian's labors are starting."

All thoughts of work immediately flee his mind. This is much more important.

The Space Marine who had delivered the news struggles to keep up with Horus as he strides through the doors and towards the medical ward.

Horus ignores everyone he passes in his haste to arrive at the medical ward, to arrive to you. His hearts are pounding in his chest, and blood rushes on his ears, drowning out the sound of everything else.

Another Space Marine stands outside the door of the medical ward, and the Marine opens the door for Horus as he approaches. Horus steps inside, and his eyes immediately lock onto an Apothecary.

After you had come to be in his care, Horus had ordered his Luna Wolves Apothecaries to research and learn all they could about pregnancy and childbirth. The child you carry is the child of a Primarch, and the baseline human serfs would not be fully prepared to deal with such an important task alone. The medicae serfs would be assisted by the Apothecaries.

"Report." Horus commands the Apothecary.

The Apothecary straightens. "Yes, Lord Horus. Roughly an hour ago, Lady Aurelian reported pain in her abdomen. On the way to the medical ward, her water broke, and she was rushed here. After confirming the child was coming, and getting Lady Aurelian settled, a Marine was dispatched to retrieve you."

Horus nods. "Excellent."

He moves to enter the room the Apothecary was guarding, but is stopped by the Apothecary. "Um, Lord Horus, it's thought to be best if you remain outside the room. Your presence could distract some of the medicae serfs."

Horus grits his teeth. He wants to be there with you. He wants to hold your hand to comfort you, he wants to nod along when you curse at him his brother for doing this to you, he wants to see the life you've been carrying so diligently for so long finally enter the world, he wants to hear the child's first cry together with you.

But this isn't about what he wants, it's about what you need. And you need the medicae serfs to be fully focused on bringing your child safely into the world. So Horus nods, and settles in to wait.

He'll make sure the medicae are used to his presence in the future so that next time, he can be in the room with you.

---

The birth takes hours. Horus waits anxiously in the waiting room the whole time. At first, Horus tries to be productive while waiting. He orders a Marine to bring him some of his work from his office so he can work while he waits. However, his head is empty of any thoughts that aren't you, you, you. After spending half an hour attempting to read a single paragraph, he gives up on working and begins to pace.

Occasionally, the door to your room opens as a medicae or Apothecary enters or exits. Horus smells blood and hears your screams when they do, and his hearts pound faster as he imagines what you must be going through, especially without him by your side.

Eventually, things seem to calm down, as Apothecaries and medicae stop traversing through your door quite as often. Soon, an Apothecary approaches Horus, who stops his pacing immediately.

"How is she?" Horus asks without waiting for the Apothecary to speak.

"Lady Aurelian delivered a baby girl. The child is currently being given an extensive medical checkup to observe and document any differences between her and baseline human babies, due to her status as half-Primarch. Lady Aurelian lost a lot of blood, but she is expected to live. She will continue to recieve the best healthcare possible to guarantee so. The medicae are currently cleaning her up and getting her treatment for recovery ready. Once they finish doing so, then you can see her, Lord Horus."

Horus' hearts clench at the news that you've lost a lot of blood, but he can't stop the giddiness that wells within him at the news of the birth.

A baby girl.

Without even meeting her, Horus already loves her so much. He hopes she takes after you, grows to be as beautiful as her mother. He'll have to beat off suitors with Worldbreaker, once she reaches that age.

Horus waits as patiently as he can to be allowed into your room. When a medicae sticks her head out the door of the room and nods at him, Horus has to hold himself back from bursting through the door and to your side. Instead, he confidently walks into your medical room.

The lights are dimmed. The smell of blood and chemicals linger in the air. Medicae quietly maneuver through the room, consulting charts and whispering to each other. Horus registers none of this, as his eyes are only for you.

Your hair is stuck to your forehead with sweat. There are dark circles under your eyes, and tear tracks on your cheeks. You rest on a large bed surrounded by pillows and beeping machines.

Despite all this, or perhaps because of it, you're the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

His breath catches as he looks at you, and sees the proof of how hard you worked to bring life into this universe. For a moment, he understands Lorgar's religious devotion to you. He would worship you as a goddess as well if he could.

He approaches your bedside as gently as possible, and you stir when he kneels next to you. He smiles as your eyes blearily look at him.

"Lorgar...?"

His smile dims a bit at you calling for his brother.

"No, it's only me, Horus, here."

"Oh..." You blink slowly. "The baby...?"

"A baby girl. She's getting a checkup by the medicae. Perhaps afterwards, we can name her?"

"Lorgar wanted to name a girl Medea. So I'll go with that."

"A beautiful name," he praises, though in his mind he can think of thousands of better names for the darling girl you had brought into the world. He smoothes your hair back and gently grasps your hands.

You yawn. "I'm tired," you mumble, watching him through half-liddled eyes.

"Then sleep," he says, bringing your hands to his mouth and kissing them. "I'll be right here with you the whole time."

Bro I am salivating, I am yearning, I am uncontrollable.

Him being like ‘I need to prepare the medicae for the next time she gives birth’, to him not wanting to name the girl what Lorgar wanted but not wanting to upset you more, I am crying.

Thank you for making this ima go read it a few more times before going to sleep brb

[chaoswrites]

GUYS I GOT AN INTERVIEW

[velartis]

Franz Kafka, 1912

[criminalizegolf]

> read library book

> it's good

Thank you library

[fatimazainab]

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

[sadgirlautumn]

“kids spend too much time on their devices” well what else are they supposed to do? there’s no corner shops with pinball machines in them on every corner anymore. there’s no malls or stores in small towns for teens to hang out in without being suspected of shoplifting or kicked out for loitering. sidewalks are too broken for them to ride their bikes and there’s no bike lane in the street to make it safe for them. i just don’t understand where they expect these kids to go when they keep taking places away from them. and yes having no safe public places for them is what leads a lot of teens into addiction if they end up at a place where people aren’t truly looking out for them.

[doctorslippery]

[oliviawhen]

Happy National Library Week!! A great time to ask everyone you know if they have a library card.

[victusinveritas]

All of this is correct. No notes.

[septemberkisses]

the fact that i'm no longer the same age as the protagonists of novels and films i once connected to is so heartbreaking. there was a time when I looked forward to turning their age. i did. and i also outgrew them. i continue to age, but they don't; never will. the immortality of fiction is beautiful, but cruel.

[mossworth]

Guys, queers. Specifically my fellow queers.

I work at a library. We do this thing where, every so often, we weed the collection. It hurts to see books go, but it's necessary to make sure there's room in the library for new materials.

I have seen so much support for the library in text, and I've seen folks pass around those beautiful "queer your library" flyers. Keep doing that. That's great. Nothing wrong with that. But you HAVE to turn your words into action. We MUST remember to actually go to our local organizations and libraries and actually, with our own fucking hands, interact with these materials we want to see more of.

My branch is medium-sized for a library, maybe a little small. We don't have as many materials as I'd like, but we have fundamentals. Tell me why, even with all the verbal support I've gotten from my local community for the library as a resource for our LGBT+ community, every single trans biography and a good chunk of our vaguely queer theory books were on the list. This isn't a scheme to take the books off the shelves, it isn't another bigoted American governmental push. The only thing we look at when we weed is how long it's been since the last time the item was checked out.

Three years.

No one in my community interacted in any meaningful way with the few books on trans life and history we physically had on the shelves for three fucking years.

I promise you the materials you want and need are there, but this isn't a horde. This isn't a static safety net. You have to use them. You MUST use them or, in the future, maybe in three years, they *won't* be there anymore.

This isn't a vague post, there's no one person I'm hinting at or calling out. I'm not even talking directly to anyone who's directly in my line of sight. I just want everyone to hear this. Big library, small library, whatever. Doesn't matter. Please, we cannot be losing our shelf visibility like this.

[allsortsoffuckedup]

Hey hey, as a librarian, can I just say don’t pace yourself at the library. I get a lot of customers saying “oh I shouldn’t get too many books out at once” but like you should!!!! Max out your card, take everything we have on a subject you’re interested in, make a book fort in your home. We love that shit! It doesn’t matter if you read them or not; just take them for an adventure and bring them back whenever they’re due!

For public libraries, one of the ways we secure funding year to year is lending. Governments don’t want to fund more books if they’re not being used and the way we measure use is by issues. Regardless of whether you read it or not, whether you have it for a day or a month, if you issue it to your library card, we get the stats! It makes the library look good!

Help your local library; get books out even if you know you can’t read them all!

[velartis]

“what radicalized you” bro EMPATHY

[novella-november]

Do you have the Libby library app?

If not, download it to your phone, and under "Add library card" select the button to search for a library and start typing in "queer"...

Sign up with an email, no actual address required, and you are good to go 🏳️‍🌈

[ID: A screenshot of the Queer Liberation Library Libby main page, showing 6 titles, one of which is an audio book. The titles displayed are the Trans Teen Survival Guide; Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the next); We Will Be Shelter: Poems for Survival; Tomboy Survival Guide; A Burst of Light and Other Essays; and Saving Our Own Lives: A Liberatory Practice of Harm Reduction. End ID]

(thank you @teddypoi-qd for the ID!]

EDIT: Here is the Queer Liberation Library's donation page!

[9fruit]

Started using phone time to read library ebooks instead of scrolling and it’s made me back into the crazy voracious reader I was at age 12. i’ve been averaging a book a day this week. everyone delete your social media and get your ass on libby