[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

[not_the_question]

The Doctor smiles in return. "Thanks. I don't need to eat often, but it's good to know there's tasty food about when I need to."

He finishes off his meal and smiles. "It's pretty good. Probably the best of the Nexus, though I haven't tried much around here yet."

[outpostcook]

😃😃😃

"No problem. I'm flattered that you think my food's the best of the Nexus. Really, that means a lot to me. I always try my best to make my customers happy at Kinner's Kippers."

The little cook's scarred face is postitively glowing. He's very pleased with himself.

[not_the_question]

Okay. Enough of that, the Doctor won't be giving such obvious compliments in the future.

"Stop that. Don't be smug. Smug belongs to me."

[outpostcook]

"Oh, all right." Kinner's smile fades a little, but he's still happy. "Back home, folks sometimes made fun of my cooking. So I'm genuinely glad people like it here."

"On a different note, I'm sorry Blair talked your ear off. He's like that sometimes. He gets very into his research. Bob's much quieter. They're an interesting pair."

[not_the_question]

"Bob never gets a word-in with with amount of talking Blair does."

He shrugs. It's neither here nor there. "It's fine. Humans have a habit of doing that. Most talk, few listen, and even fewer understand."

[outpostcook]

Kinner knows what the Doctor's talking about. "Blair's still got a lot of learning to do, but he's not a bad man. He did something very foolish, though."

Kinner knows a bit more about the friendly Thing. "Bob prefers to pretend to be a normal dog, so people don't get scared of him. I've only seen him in his true form a few times. It's a bit unsettling to a human."

[not_the_question]

The Doctor bites his thumb as he listens. "Fair enough, but I'm not human."

[outpostcook]

Kinner nods. "He's got tentacles, blue skin, and four red eyes. Not a kimd of creature we were used to seeing on Earth."

If the Doctor isn't human, Kinner guesses he'll have an easier time with Bob. "You'll have no issue with him, then. He talks using telepathy, not speech. His species can only use speech if they assimilate humans, and he won't do that."

[not_the_question]

"Looks don't put me off. I've seen living brains plant themselves into people. But if he's telepathic, I'll have to try that."

He's telepathic as well. So has all sorts of defenses that humans don't have.

[outpostcook]

"Things have very powerful telepathy. As I said, it's how they hunt. When I was attacked, I wanted to fight it off and cry out for help, but I couldn't. Last thing I remember before everything went black is a dull pain. I think its skin was starting to fuse with mine. Bob said they also use it to talk."

The Thing wanted Kinner quiet so it could eat him and make a copy without being interrupted, giving itself away. He had no defenses against a predator like that, and he was dead as soon as the creature grabbed him, converting his cells into more Thing cells.

[not_the_question]

"You're thinking like a human. Which is fair enough, I suppose."

But this won't help the Doctor further. Things aren't the problem here. The Fallen are.

"There are many telepaths in the universe and what you call 'very powerful' is child's play to others."

[outpostcook]

"I'm willing to bet there's other creatures out there with the same powers Bob has," Kinner says. "Thinking like a human's what I'm used to, but meeting other intelligent species helped with that."

It's all he's ever done, but he's willing to try looking at things from other perspectives, too.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the fish, and I'm happy I could help." The cook puts the dishes away. "Hope to see you again. If you see McReady or Blair, tell 'em Joseph Kinner said hello."