#also because i think julius and opal would actually be TIGHT if she wasn't. you know. petrified of him.

[words-writ-in-starlight]

I have come up with two COMPLETELY distinct Librarians AUs of the DFZ in the past hour, so hear me out:

ONE

Head Librarian Opal Yong-ae, Guardian Nikola Kos, immortal knight Chelsie, Librarianettes Julius, Fredrick, and Marci, also guest starring Qilin Xian as His Own Damn Self, Chelsie’s long-lost love interest.  Did I come up with Librarian!Opal/Guardian!Nik purely because I like the idea of Nik trying to ride herd on the Chaos Crew?  Yes.  Also because I love their canonical Genius Glass Canon/Determinator Bodyguard dynamic.

This one runs a little more like Parent Trap than anything else.  The gang finds out about Xian during the Apple of Discord episode and Chelsie spends a significant amount of time trying to put them off while they ferret out who she is (she’s hiding in the Library because her geas doesn’t quite work, although it doesn’t quite not work, under its aegis), with very minimal success.  The second they have evidence of Chelsie/Xian (Fredrick is even a descendant!), the entire gang immediately makes it top priority and contrives a lot of reasons to request the presence of the Golden Emperor’s emissary in hopes of finding another excuse to get Xian in a room with Chelsie again.

TWO

Cut the middle man and go straight for Head Librarian Xian, Guardian Chelsie, immortal weirdo Bob, and Librarianettes Julius, Opal, and Marci.  In which Chelsie was Xian’s Guardian some time ago, but after Certain Events (ft the Empress Mother as caretaker Charlene but shitty), she left, and the Library couldn’t call a new Guardian when there was already one knocking around the world resisting the pull.  But when things started to go wrong, and Xian’s safety starts to degrade, Bob picked up on it and arranged to help the Library get around the caretaker in order to get Chelsie back, by any means necessary.  

The real issue is, Algonquin is murdering her way through Librarian candidates, and they end up with the three surviving top candidates.  Julius, who ran away from the Heartstriker family and barely remembers Chelsie except as his fearsome much-older sister, has been hiding his Librarian-level intellect under fake names and a self-effacing smile.  Opal, whose dazzling array of knowledge is complicated by a brain tumor that causes extensive synesthesia and headaches (hello, backlash equivalent!).  And Marci, who is extremely brilliant and also an outstandingly good thief.

This is still kind of a parent trap, as Xian comes back now and then and the Librarianettes try to strong-arm him and Chelsie into working together, but there’s also more focus on Algonquin--and also Algonquin’s pet magically bound warrior, Nikola Kos.  Opal and Marci’s magical talents are dramatically different, but it’s Opal who manages to smash through the geas on Nik and badger Chelsie into letting her bring him into the Library crew.