[Nexus LOL] Technomagic was Never meant to work like this

[chocolatechipbadass]

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood Nexus. A really beautiful day.

Six-winged birds singing, flowers blooming everywhere one looks. From far off in the distance on the other side of the Nexus people wandering the Plaza will hear a sudden loud noise and feel a very minor shake but there's no invading force. No colossal calamity to be bested. Now for the poor sod who used to own the internet cafe that's just been blown to smithereens in a cascade of firework trails raining down it's a very bad day. Tina's still swearing about Aimbots and cheaters while waving around a game controller that isn't plugged into anything while the fire burns. She's not going to stop when the potions shop next door catches flame either.

But alllll the way back in the plaza? There's no sign of trouble. Maybe the faintest glimpse of fireworks. The smell of gunpowder mingling with a bitter herb and a touch of...ozone? Honestly with all the pollen in the air it's difficult to tell. Precisely Because it's the Nexus the fallout from this ill conceived haze may not be easily noticed at first.

A flicker of a little symbol over someone's head while they're reading a book. People cutting off mid conversation to glance at their conversation partners. Or rather, over their heads. So many little 😮 popping up over heads as confusion starts to spread only to rapidly dissipate into a myriad of other little pictures when people seem to realize that whatever the flavor of the day weirdness is, it's not seemingly dangerous. Is there a rhyme or a reason to them? What could it mean? Are you affected?


[Please refer to THIS POST in the OOC comm for an explanation of what's going on. The TL;DR to this Nexus LOL is that a character's innermost thoughts will be visible to anyone who is observing them whether they're speaking or not, but they will exclusively be communicated via Emojis. The OOC post has some guidelines for using these emojis in tags and some rules so please check there before posting in. Threadhopping and mingling are required for this post as there is no real Question Asker so Have fun!]

Comments

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Matt Murdock is sitting at one of the little cafe-style tables in the Plaza, his laptop and Braille reader set up to review some legal documents while enjoying the warm sunshine and the fresh air, so much cleaner than back home in Hell's Kitchen. He seems to have recovered well from his injuries during the winter, bones mended and scars healed over, and the spring weather seems pleasant enough that he's not afraid there'll be a sudden repeat of the storm anytime soon.

The explosion catches him off-guard, louder in his sensitive hearing than most of the humans around, and his head snaps up as the Braille under his fingertips is forgotten. There's a crackle of flames and... a swearing child? What's even odder than that is the sudden murmur of what sounds like everyone suddenly enabling text-to-speech on their phones, a cacophony of emotions and symbols being read out in the most dull, dry tone imaginable.

Above his own head, unbeknownst to Matt, a few symbols begin to appear in rapid succession.





[OOC note: Because Matt is blind, he will perceive emojis as text-to-speech instead of visual images. His own emojis are visible to everyone else.]

[chocolatechipbadass]

Amid all of the text-to-speech droning that's going to be threatening to deafen poor Mister Murdock (and really that would just be cruel since he's already blind) the strange combination of smells will get stronger from a certain direction. He'll hear a child's footsteps against the sidewalk and the sound of plastic being drug along the ground carelessly as it catches and tumbles on every bump and crack.

Tina's still sulking when she wanders into the Plaza dragging her broken controller by the cord out behind her. She's in a bad mood and the Plaza has only one thing that interests her. Over her head there's only one thing on repeat, spammed over and over until it fills the entire little space above her head.

🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

There's usually free food in the plaza and this sulky Young lady demands a snackrifice.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

If nothing else, she has his attention solely because it is the same thing over and over again, a constant bland beat of cookie cookie cookie like an annoying stuck record. That aside, he's pretty sure this is the same child he'd heard swearing up a storm in the middle of whatever exploded.

and pop up over his own head, rather quickly, and are followed somewhat belatedly with a .

"Are you all right?" He can't smell blood, or hear broken bones, but that doesn't mean this child is fine.

[chocolatechipbadass]

Tina hasn't really been taking in her surroundings while she came into the plaza properly. She's been completely desensitized to most things from living in her world so the Nexus is one big playground so far as she's concerned. Still, the mantra of 'cookie' is going to stop hella fast when she spies the symbols hovering over Matt's head.

0️⃣🤔

Well isn't that neat. She's never seen someone else who could pull off that kind of thing.

👍

"Me? I'm fine shawty. Lookin' to get me some grub if you now what I'm sayin'. not like, actual grubs though. I bet those taste like broccoli." Which of course taste like butts.

🤢
"

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

What even is happening right now.

Matt is used to having to tune out a lot of junk noise, but this is ridiculous. Where is all this coming from all of a sudden? Why is it happening? A mystery.



Matt frowns in her general direction, trying to focus through the cacophony of nonsense to make sure she's not just bullshitting him. She honestly doesn't sound like she's surprised or traumatized by anything that just happened, though, as far as he can tell. "I... wouldn't think they would."

[fiveofnone]

On his way through the Plaza, Caspar has a single goal in mind, an almost laser-guided focus that might stand out above the other text-to-speech noise that is giving Matt a headache.



This symbol is unwavering, at least until he spots the blind lawyer at the café table. Oh hey, he knows that guy. What's with the weird symbols above his head? Caspar glances reflexively upward and --

Oh great. Another Nexus LOL. The question is, does the blind guy know what's going on? Maybe he should say something.

"Hey. There's some sort of weird magical nonsense going on, you've got emojis floating above your head." There, nailed it. "How's it going? Did you get lost again?"

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

The single, bland declaration of hot beverage does little to grab Matt's attention until he hears someone approaching, and he's paying attention just in time for the mystery voice to tonelessly add weary thinking before Caspar speaks.



He's run into a lot of people here, especially over the winter, but the subtle smells and sounds help narrow down the list. "It's... Caspar, right?" Matt sure hopes that was the name, as they've only run into each other the once, so far.

"So I've heard," Matt says, not without a healthy dollop of irony. "It's all noise to me." Lost, though? "No, I'm here on purpose this time. Thought I'd catch up on some work where it's quieter, though that's sort of backfired on me now."

[fiveofnone]

"Yep. And you're Matt Murdock, the good kind of lawyer." He's not surprised that Matt recognizes him by non-visual clues, but the fact that he's aware of the emojis puts a above his head. How can he...? Oh. "Text-to-speech? It's telling you what emojis are popping up?"

Well, that's awfully thoughtful of the Nexus, isn't it? An equal opportunity annoyer.

"You came here to get some work done?" His expression doesn't change, although the gives his thoughts away rather nicely. "Did New York run out of coffee or something? That's the only good reason to come here. That and the dry cleaning."

Which reminds him of his original task: . A cup for him and a cup for Adia.



Embarrassed, he waves his arms above his head, but they pass through the emojis without affecting them. Dammit!

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Matt sighs, and a pops up over his head. "Unfortunately. It wouldn't be so annoying if it wasn't all the same voice."

He takes the teasing in stride though. "Ah, you say that, but you don't have to smell it. It's warm enough that the dumpsters are starting to get fragrant, not to mention the sewers." He's used to it, obviously, but the chance for a break away from that is very welcome.

Oh, well that's precious. Even if it is incredibly irritating to hear smiling face with heart shaped eyes repeated ad nauseum. Matt does not exactly hide his grin, even if it wasn't above his head in the shape of . "Sounds like it's a very good reason."

[fiveofnone]

"Sounds terrible." "That's the Nexus for you. At least it's only a LOL. Things can get way worse around here."

"Okay, fair enough. Is the trash really that bad, or are you that much better at smelling things?"

Caspar glares at the laughing emoji floating above Matt's head. "My wife. I'm getting coffee for my wife." "The girlfriend I told you about, we got married."

He looks up and sighs. It's irritating to have his thoughts on display, but he can't argue with the choices.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Matt grimaces, but does not dispute that. "You're telling me. I'll take this over last winter, any day." If Caspar was here during that, Matt hasn't heard about it, though he didn't get to know everyone who was stranded here during the storm either.

"Both," he answers with a chuckle. "There's a lot of trash in a city like New York. But my senses are better than most people's. They say that when you lose one sense, the others become more sensitive to compensate for the loss. Mine sort of... took that up to eleven."

Aww, he's upgraded to smiling face with smiling eyes and three hearts, which is so much longer to hear read out, but adorable nonetheless. "Congratulations! She didn't want to come along, or too busy?" He won't judge, either way. Even before Daredevil began prowling the streets at night, it wasn't uncommon for Matt to spend late hours working.

[fiveofnone]

Caspar frowns, displeased over Matt having been stuck in the Nexus during the storm. Not like he cares or anything, but... okay, the emojis don't lie. It doesn't seem right to be a civilian and blind and be caught up in something like that. "That sucks. You make it through okay? My PINpoint froze me out. Can't say I'm sorry I missed it."

He's heard of that happening to blind people before, so he's unsurprised by the answer. "Sounds like a mixed blessing. Makes me glad my sense of smell is average." He would have appreciated enhanced vision and hearing, but smell?

"She's in the middle of gardening." Sorry, Matt, it's going to be a lot more of the same so long as Adia is part of the conversation. Although, now that Caspar thinks about it, is it really so bad for others to see how much he loves her? "Maybe I should talk her into joining me, though. I think this is a LOL she might like to see."

He pulls out his PINpoint and sends her a quick text. Just as he's putting it away, he catches those last three emojis above Matt's head. Devil punching books? What? That's a weird thing to think. Although it does remind him of something. "How's that vigilante of yours doing, by the way? Still beating the crap out of the bad guys?"

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

"Yeah, most of it. Took a few hard hits on the final raid, but I made it through alive. I'm all healed up now."

Whoops. He's gotten a little too used to people knowing that Daredevil and Matt Murdock are one and the same, it seems.

It's adorable that Caspar wants to share something like this with his wife, he's not gonna lie. Either because it's that sweet, or because he wants her to share in the confusion, although the text-to-speech he's hearing read out support the former rather than the latter. He's smiling when Caspar throws those last questions at him, and then his eyebrows go up, because oops, this is awkward suddenly. "Well... there's been less bad guys to beat lately, but he's still around."

How unfortunate that is right above his head.

[fiveofnone]

It says a lot about how much Caspar trusts his wife, as well, if he's willing to let her see his innermost thoughts on display (in emoji form, at least) and doesn't seem concerned about what might pop up above her head.

Matt's emojis, however, are getting another confused stare. He was injured during the final raid? What was he even doing there? Maybe he had accidentally wandered into the fight? No, that doesn't make any sense...

And then suddenly it becomes all very clear. "Let me guess, Daredevil was here over the winter, too?"

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Busted. Even if he hadn't slipped up, apparently his thoughts being broadcast to everyone in sight would be enough to out him. Matt throws an awkward, slightly nervous smile in Caspar's direction. "Yeah, he was. I'm... really kind of bad at sitting around when there's something I can do to help."



Though he's not exactly close enough to call Caspar a friend just yet, Matt has had some bad experiences with revealing his other side to people, as if they think he should have 'fessed up to it the moment they met. When is the good time to tell your acquaintances that you're a blind vigilante? He's never figured it out.

[rockandrollvampire]

For someone who's used to very strange and supernatural things happening around him all the time, Toby is comically ill prepared to deal with random explosions happening in his general vicinity. He jumps as he looks around to find the source, if only so he can get away from it as quickly as possible. Not terribly possible when so many things are happening all at once? Which might be why appears over his head suddenly as he curses and stumbles backwards into Matt's table.

"Fuck!"

Graceful, Toby. Really. Such an apex predator you are.

"Oh Hell! I'm so sorry." The vampire turns around a little too quickly for a human to steady the table and grab a few of the papers he knocked onto the ground for Matt. He doesn't notice there's no legible writing on it as he sets it back down as he turns his attention to the man he almost ran over instead, the and emoji appearing over his head a few times. "Are you all right? I didn't ruin any of your papers, did I?" That would be bad to do to a stranger in a place that doesn't seem to kill him the way his London seems to want to from time to time.

Strangely, though, there's no rushed or fearful heartbeat to go along with the shock in Toby's voice. No sweat on his brow or any of the other usual reactions to fear. Just an obviously panicked voice and a bit of flailing in the vampire's limbs.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Matt has slowly been getting used to the strangely diverse population here in the Nexus, aliens and animals and whatnot, but no matter how oddly they're shaped they usually have some kind of pulse he can track them with, passive indications that they aren't just potential obstacles if he doesn't take care to avoid running into them.

His first thought is, unfortunately, that somehow the Hand have followed him here.

He's on his feet and halfway into a fighting stance when all the swearing registers, and Matt's eyebrows fly up towards his hairline. Okay, no, the Hand would not be concerned about his paperwork. Nor would they be this loud.

"I'm not hurt," he assures the stranger, but he has to take a moment to locate the papers on the table and run his fingers across them quickly, trying to see if any of the raised dots have been smashed down. "I don't think there's any harm done."

[rockandrollvampire]

Maybe he should be immune to all of the weird shit that goes on around him at any given time, but, uh, are those... emoti...moji...con...

Oh for God's sake, he wasn't born in the era of the internet. He has no fucking clue what they're called.

The rush through all of Matt's thought in emojicon form is strange, though. Toby knows all of those symbols, but he's still very confused, both by their order and the... neutral? expression?? about seeing him. Why is he making a face like he's not happy to see Toby standing in front--

...wow. Today is not his day for being observant until he literally trips over a blind man. Well done.

Observant the vampire may not be, but Matt will definitely be able to catch a lot off of Toby's next movements. The smell of expensive cigarettes and Jack Daniel's clings to his jeans and flannel shirt as he runs a hand through his hair and rubs at the back of his neck nervously. He shifts his weight around a few times nervously, revealing the sound of very expensive - and nice, when compared to the rest of his clothes - shoes on his feet as he shuffles them. There's no weapons on the vampire and other than the lack of a heartbeat, there's not much to give away the fact that Toby's not human. Not when he's keeping a respectable distance to keep the whole "he doesn't produce his own body heat" thing to himself at least.

"Still, I'm very sorry. I didn't ruin any of your papers, did I?" He leans over a bit to inspect some of the papers, but he'll be damned if he can read them. His eyesight is good, but no one reads Braille with their eyes.

He pauses for a moment, really looking Matt over for the first time. A man with a face this nice has the short end of the stick to not be able to take advantage of seeing all the lovely people Toby's certain he attracts. What a trick for the universe to pull on someone.

He hesitates a moment longer before asking in a slow, coy tone of voice, "I'm sure you get this a lot, but you all right here on your own? This place is rather spacious for a man unable to see it. Might you be more comfortable somewhere more cozy?"

No. Toby. Don't you dare think about--



Yes, great idea. Flirt with the blind man on your first meeting. Brilliant.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

"They seem okay," Matt assures him, though he's just gonna... take those papers and tuck them into his laptop bag for safekeeping. Despite the fact that he's (obviously) not looking at what he's doing, he has zero problems locating the right pocket and sliding the papers in.

Getting a read on the stranger is weird, to say the least. But Matt has a lot of practice using all his remaining senses, and there's both a strong scent and an odd cold spot for him to focus on, so that helps. Better than trying to rely on just his ears, with all the rambling text-to-speech he hears going on around him.

It takes a moment for it to sink in that he's being flirted with, and Matt's eyebrows go up in surprise and mild embarrassment. "Thank you, but I've been getting around on my own for a while now," he answers politely. There, nailed it. "Are you all right?"

[rockandrollvampire]

Hey, Toby can get around most of London without opening his eyes if he so chooses. Do something enough times - and have heightened senses to help out - and you can do just about anything without looking.

"...ahh, yeah, I suppose you get used to it after a while." Wait what. Matt's turning him down? But he was so smooth. How is it he keeps running into people in the Nexus who aren't drawn in by his charms? It can't be his technique, because several centuries of practice means he's flawless at that, so is he just... not... the general Nexus' type?? What has his life become?

Setting that kind of thought aside with a large mental push, the vampire finally takes a moment to look himself over. He brushes off his jeans and shirt, checks his pocket for his cigarettes, and shrugs. "I seem to be. All in one piece still." Except for his pride. Ugh. Cue an exasperate sigh and a pout as he sulks about it.

"Little weirded out by all these emojicons floating about your head, though. Is that normal for you?" He motions vaguely in the direction of Matt's head. People here are strange in ways he never imagined could happen back home. "I've never seen anything like that before. You always been this way?"

If Matt's guessing that Toby doesn't realize his own thoughts are on display in the same manner, he would be correct. Focused as he is on the man he almost fell into, Toby's quite distracted from what's happening above his own head.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Right now, Matt is actually going to be pretty grateful for the ongoing LOL, because without a heartbeat to read the stranger's mood, this would be a lot harder otherwise. And wow, that is one dramatic response to being turned down. Doesn't happen to this guy often, Matt is guessing.

"This is visual for you?" Well, that explains why he hasn't heard anyone griping about all the noise that Matt is currently being bombarded with. "I'm hearing it ready out loud, myself." He gestures in the general direction of the stranger. "You're doing it too, actually."

[rockandrollvampire]

Oh, right. Blind man won't be able to see the emojicons. Yeah... right. He knew that.

"Yeah, they're floating above your head." "Been there since I got here."

...hang on. They're above his... head... too... Toby looks up and sure enough, there's the question mark showing off his confusion.

"Shit." Well. Matt has certainly heard all of his thoughts now, hasn't he? That's embarrassing. Or whatever it is that he gets that's like being embarrassed these days.

Sighing, Toby shakes his head and draws his cigarettes from his pocket, fiddling with the package to give himself something to do with his hands for a moment as a distraction. "I take it this is an unusual occurrence around here? I've only been a handful of times, so I don't know it all... works from day to day." He huffs a laugh as he pokes a smoke between his lips but doesn't light it. "Am I making a lot of noise? I've been told I'm not good at keeping my thoughts to myself."

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Matt is so very very glad this is such a harmless thing, whatever it is, because this would not be nearly as funny otherwise. "Well, this is the first time this place has done that since I've been visiting, so I hope so."

He was going to put it more diplomatically, but the symbols above his head kind of ruin that whole approach. "A little, yeah. Though if I'm honest, I might not have known you were there otherwise." Yeah, okay, so it's playing into stereotypes a little, but he really is curious about why the hell he can't pick up this stranger's heartbeat.

[rockandrollvampire]

At least Matt's thoughts are being honest. Toby appreciates the lack of subtlety when it comes to mortals, at least in situations like these. Who needs subtlety when the emojicons give everything away for you?

Though that last set of symbols is unexpected. Heart... not... sound? That's what all those are, right? Why would Matt think those things? Did Toby miss something about how hearing works over the years? Or is it that a blind man will hear things differently than everyone else?

God he hopes that's what it is, because the last thing he needs to do is spring the whole "I'm a vampire" thing on someone new.

...shit. Moving on! Hopefully before Matt catches that!

"You mean my bumping into your table and shuffling around didn't give me away? Or are those kinds of sounds not loud enough for you?" he asks with a laugh. He certainly feels loud enough with everything he does these days.

[he_put_the_devil_in_me]

Sorry buddy, too late. There's an annoying scramble of text-to-speech going on everywhere, but vampire in such close proximity is something that Matt can't exactly ignore, and his eyebrows shoot up above the rims of his glasses.

"I mean besides that," he amends. "I'm usually pretty good at keeping track of people around me before they run into my stuff."