nexus_crossings | +1 small, superpowered boy

Today is a day Alex is especially glad he brought his pocket notebook with him, as it means he can take notes on the weird PSA. He doesn't seem scared, or even particularly surprised, as he jots down some quick things to remember to ask his dad about later - interdimensional stuff sounds like something out of his dad's sci-fi movie collection - and makes a note to himself to look for the door home after no more than an hour. That's probably enough time to look around around without also being so long his parents will notice and get worried.

Once he's got his notebook stashed away again, he starts off towards the direction he's fairly sure he came from, just to make sure the door is there. After a few moments, he winces and clutches his head. Apparently, headaches could travel across dimensions, too. Biting his lip, he carefully looks around, trying to gauge which adult looks the least likely to be annoyed by a kid. Eventually, when the headache throbs especially badly, he gives up that endeavor to approach the nearest person who doesn't look clueless and asks, as politely as he can manage, "Do you know where I can get some aspirin? My head is killing me and it's been long enough since I took some I can have some more. I think."

If time worked the same across dimensions it would have been easier to tell, but alas.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

An unattended child. That seems like a bad idea in the Nexus. Connor is still in the early stages of collecting data on this place, but he's pretty sure he saw a dinosaur from afar once.

[New Objective: Report Lost Child To Authorities]

... Does the Nexus have authorities? Connor hasn't particularly met any.

[Objective Overwritten]

[New Objective: Escort Child Personally]

The android offers the boy a thin, somewhat awkward smile. "Hello. My name is Connor." That's something of a non sequitur, but he does continue and address the boy's question. "I would be happy to help you find a convenience store in this area. Alternatively, I am carrying generic brand Excedrin currently. It contains aspirin, paracetamol, and caffeine, for treating migraines. But I'm unsure if administering aspirin to someone your age is a wise choice."

Back in his own world, Connor developed a habit of carrying Excedrin for his partner at the Detroit Police Department, Lieutenant Anderson. Hank never took care of himself well and was prone to migraines. Or hangovers, as the case may be.

Briefly Connor hopes someone else is offering Hank pain relievers now.

To be fair, it's not like he was trying to be unattended. He was at home when he got pulled here. Normally, he'd have his parents to go to for this kind of thing.

The idea of finding somebody professional to talk to occurred to him, too, but he's not sure if interdimensional cops or doctors are a thing. Even if they were, trying to find them here seems hard and would only get harder the worse his headache got. The responsible-ish thing is probably to get the headache sorted out first and then go find somebody who can help him get back home.

Being a regularly awkward person himself, Alex smiles back. "Hi Connor, I'm Alex. Um, I'm not allowed to have caffeine. It makes my headaches worse sometimes and messes up my sleep schedule. Aspirin doesn't do that, so that's what I'm supposed to take." Granted, any responsible adult would raise an eyebrow at the dosages Alex's dad let him have it in, but being both eleven years old and not a scientist, he trusts in his neuroscientist dad. If his dad says aspirin is best, then it is.

Besides, he doesn't want to get back and have his dad rush him to the lab for more tests and worry and fret over him. Even if Excedrin is okay, he knows his dad would have a mini-meltdown.

Connor nods dutifully. He will have to trust Alex's own understanding of his needs. Connor isn't particularly built to dispense medicine and besides, here in the Nexus he can't make too many assumptions about how other worlds work anyway.

He will be careful, though. He will pay attention. Surely a child is a child anywhere.

"I'll help you find a convenience store, then," he says. "I've been scouting out this place for a few days now, so I have an idea of some common landmarks. I don't know if you've noticed, Alex, but buildings tend to move around in this place. It can get confusing easily."

His smile grows a little. "But don't worry. I'm a good sidekick."

He winks.

They ought to get going before the boy's headache gets worse. Connor takes in the buildings that have decided to be around today, and decides on the best direction to look for the store he has in mind. He starts walking and gestures Alex on.

"I take it you get headaches often? Do you have a medical condition?" It would be best to know this if Alex is to be in his care, even briefly.

Alex isn't exactly a doctor, but he's listened to his dad discuss his own treatment enough that he knows what to avoid and what's okay. He's pretty sure he can manage a day here or however long it takes for him to get back home. Fiddling with his scarf, he smiles a little at Connor.

"I noticed, yeah. It's so weird I didn't think they were really moving, but I guess what's weird back home is normal here." He snorts, rolling his eyes. "No, I'm the sidekick. The younger person is always the sidekick in superhero movies. That's just how it works." Still, he smile gets a little bigger, and he keeps close to Connor as they walk, careful not to get lost.

He sighs, nodding. "Sort of. My dad's not sure what it is, but I get chronic migraines, a lot of little headaches, and I have sleep problems. Caffeine makes all of it worse, and I'm doing better the more vitamins I have. But it's not anything specific enough to be a condition with a name. Or if it is, we haven't figured it out yet."

Connor gives a vague frown of sympathy.

Alex's health is a little concerning. Connor wonders if there would be more medical information available to Alex back "home," in his own version of Detroit. Maybe even a more reliable treatment option. He's noticed that a number of the people he's met in the Nexus come from worlds or timelines without the scientific resources Connor's world takes for granted. He's already asked himself whether he ought to return and try to provide some of these advancements to the Nexus as a sort of humanitarian aid.

But that would mess with the natural order of things. That's ultimately not in his wheelhouse, and sometimes it's best not to interfere.

And besides. Connor can't go home. That would conflict with his new objective to study the Nexus.

(It could be that adhering so strictly to this objective he wrote is the only loophole he's found for getting to stay and explore this place.)

All that is much too complicated conversation for a child.

"Do you like them? Superhero movies?" he asks, quietly earnest.

The vague frown is actually a pretty familiar expression to him. His mother does that all the time, usually when she's trying not to look too worried in front of him. His condition is a source of concern for most of the people in his life. That's why he tries to downplay it, even to his father, even when it gets bad. Alex doesn't want people to worry about him so much. They're being nice, but he always feels a little guilty for making them so stressed out.

Alex has watched enough sci-fi movies to know that trying to help people from another world or point in time can go wrong, but the nuances of that conversation would largely be beyond him. He's not an expert on science of any kind and he knows it. He's not science-y enough to know if Connor's a robot, android or cyborg, for instance. He won't ask because that's rude and being rude is always bad, regardless of who or what somebody is.

"I like superhero movies, sometimes. The old ones my dad has are a little cheesy, but they're still okay." There is no such thing as a bad superhero movie, to him. "Do you like them?"

+1 small, superpowered boy

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