Ivy felt a violent shudder rocket down her spine, felt the hairs on her arms and neck stand up at the thought of being trapped in one place for an eternity -- let alone a place occupied by a Jaeger and a corpse, even a well preserved one. Adventure and mystery were all good and well. A slow suffocation seemed much less enticing, inevitable boredom aside. 

But her curiosity was quick in beating out her fear, if it could be called as such. Ivy had always lacked a healthy sense of caution, but the last few days in particular had been...strange. Certainly she would not have been here if it hadn't been for some of her more daring moments. But then she'd probably also still have two functioning arms. 

"It's just the books?" Ivy repeated slowly as she carefully maneuvered off the desk and toward the nearest shelving unit, an unmistakable note of disappointment in her voice. But as soon as her fingers brushed the spine of the first book she found -- a thick red tome with a spine the color of wine and pages delicate as butterfly wings -- her face brightened again. "[i]All[/i] of these are ours now?"

She pulled the heavy book into the awkward cradle of her arm then abruptly sat when she saw that wasn't going to work. Pursing her lips, she took a breath and blew a thick cloud of dust from the cover, which immediate set her to cough, eyes watering. Unperturbed, she squinted through the dusty haze to try and read the symbols on the front of the book. She recognized the letters themselves, but the script and the language made the words almost indecipherable. 

Almost. 

Without even realizing it, Ivy began to mutter to herself, and endless chain of numbers, her brow furrowed, hardly daring to breathe as she began to make sense of the archaic code. 

"What?" she said, distracted first by the layer of dust on her fingertips, then by whatever the books themselves said. 

"Th-thehun...theunt...thunt? No...no...The...The...Hunt...The Hunter's...Bun...Bu...Boun...Bounty! The Hunter's Bounty! A...A Gu..Guild...A [i]Guide[/i] t-to...L...Life...A...after...After D...Dea -- " 

The barge lurched so suddenly and fiercely that the heavy book flew from Ivy's lap as the young Spark tumbled backwards into the desk. Petris, who had managed to break down the globe into two large bowls and a copper stand, immediately abandoned its work to join her as she rubbed her head, frowning. 

"Ow!" she grumbled, too shocked to be truly angry. "What's wrong with this stupid thing, we got the engine running, why -- "

She was cut off by a horrendous screeching that soon forced her to put her hands -- or rather, her [i]hand[/i] -- to her ears. It was the unmistakable noise of metal tearing metal and it served only to frustrate Ivy further. Hauling herself to her feet, she glared at Jötz accusingly, shouting over the ruckus to be heard. 

"What [i]is[/i] that?" she demanded. "I was reading that book, and now -- "

Ivy stopped. The screeching had stopped, and everything had fallen quiet. Very quiet. 

The Spark made a face, now less angry and more curious. "Hey...why'd the engines stop?" 

Her question was answered by an unmistakable, if vaguely mechanic, roar. 

Ivy brightened abruptly. "Hey, are there s'posed to be [i]clanks[/i] down here?"