[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.]

[outpostcook]

Kinner notices the explosion first, but returns to work, a 🎣 symbol floating over his head. Then he starts noticing the strange symbols over the people around him. The Nexus is being weird again, but at least this time it's harmless. Better than the Anti-Violence Field going on the fritz again. He doesn't recognize them as emojis. Emojis aren't a thing where Kinner's from. Cell phones weren't even invented yet in 1938. He makes note of the symbols he sees.

And it's spreading, too. He probably has one. Kinner sighs. Apparently a few weeks' peace is too much to ask for in the Nexus. He needs a drink. And then, sure enough, a 🍺 appears over his head. Kinner continues to observe his customers' symbols. They aren't going away.

Where had they come from? The strange symbols only appeared after the explosion. Kinner puts two and two together, a floating 🤔 over his head all the while.

"Ha ha, very funny." He smiles slightly, trying to get a look at the symbol over his head. Nobody got hurt at least. If these strange pictures aren't going to last, he can try and have some fun with this while they do. "Okay, what blew up? I gotta say, this is a real good one. Well played." He's wondering what was in that explosion, anyway. Nothing normal.

[contrivings]

All right, so Penelope was out getting some thread for weaving (she needs to work with her hands as it's a good distraction for what's going on in Ithaca) when the explosion occurs.

It's a little strange, to see the fireworks, and smell the smoke, but Penelope tries to remain calm, despite her confusion. After all, she's unfamiliar with the smell of gunpowder. She sniffs the air briefly, before carrying on with the hunt for thread.

Unbeknownst to her, a few symbols appear above her head:

❗😕 🤔

[iamnotagun]

The Giant hears explosions and is immediately worried. He hopes humans aren't getting hurt! They seem to have a tendency to get themselves into bad situations.

He looks up at the sky, then around him, searching for intruders.

Giant (and we mean giant) symbols appear over his head. He's blissfully unaware.

😬 😟

[readvondaniken]

Palmer's been hard at work at his shop downtown, but he's not too out of it to notice the explosion. He jumps, then relaxes. Well, it looks like things just got interesting around here, the mechanic thinks with a smile. A 😏 appears above his head. Palmer likes excitement...just not the kind where he gets shot at.

If he ever bumps into the person who did this, he'll personally thank them. No, he isn't a good influence.

Well, he didn't do it, he thinks as he rummages underneath his worktable for his wrench, symbols hovering over him. Though he won't say it was a bad idea. The Nexus could use some harmless livening up.

❓🔧

[not_the_question]

The Doctor is taking a shower when the TARDIS rocks slightly. Most humans would have passed off such an event as a large truck rumbling by, but this was the TARDIS and such things rarely causes problems. He exits the cube and towels off. He feels squeaky-clean, which he hasn't in awhile, if he were honest. Then looks into the mirror debating if he was going to need to shave or not which is when he noticed something above his head: ✨.

He scowls. And the shape changes: 😖

Both River and Bill had tried to teach him to use emojis, and of course encountering the Vardies had definitely taught him a thing or two about them. "No! Not again! There's not even a badge! The least you could do is give a badge!"

He hears the TARDIS giggle softly in his mind. "Don't you start!"

He quickly finishes dressing and decides that he had mostly fooled the Vardy, he could pull this off. After all 'wet-brains/dry-brains', tricking humans was far easier. So unless the speaker can distract him well enough, the Doctor's emoji will be reminiscent of the image from his encounter with the Vardy:


He exits the TARDIS and looks around. He notices a lot of other people have them too. "The Nexus is far more human than anyone realises. Emojis. Communications on easy display. This is the utopia of vacuous teens."

Yes, he did just insult everyone. Get used to it. He's more than a little displeased to be facing this again. The only thing he wants to do is figure out if the Vardy are involved - and if their emotions will lead to their deaths. But either way, sort it as quickly as possible. He hates how hard he has to work to confuse whatever power it is that displays such things.

[control_the_fear]

He should not be here without Forrest's say-so. Jack knows this. He agreed to it. Because he wanted to run right off and find Cricket as soon as he heard he was alive (ish?) somewhere, but Forrest was very very firm with his No. You Stay Put, and after watching him recover from not one but two terrible near-death experiences (one of which was at least partly Jack's fault), he's gained a new appreciation for his older brother.

Forrest seems solid as the mountains themselves, but that doesn't mean he ought to be taken for granted. Even mountains can crumble and collapse.

The thing is, Jack's pretty sure by now that Forrest doesn't intend to ever give him permission to come here, and after hearing a whiff of how the winter went here, and packing all kinds of food to take to Cricket, he can't stand it any longer. He's got to see him.

Boy, did he pick the wrong damn day.

The first thing that pops into his head when he hears the explosion is shit, did someone's still blow up?. Such things happen with relative frequency in the world he comes from. He doesn't notice when the Nexus helpfully translates his inner monologue to 🥃 💥 🔥 ⁉️

It may take him a minute to pick up on the floating emojis. He's never heard of an emoji and this is his first exposure to Nexus strangeness.

[iwillcatchup]

When Peter hears the sudden loud noise ... he takes a second to investigate the cause. Doesn't look like anyone needs saving this time.

So he heads back to where he started, a little 💣 floating over his head.

And a few 🤔 🤔 🤔 🤔 🤔 over his head. But those are quickly replaced by 🤨 😲👌 👌. And those are just as quickly replaced by 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️.

[betashiftblues]

Of all the days to go shopping in the multiverse.

Norn doesn't arrive until well after things have started to calm down ever so slightly. He can hear more chatter than normal in the plaza but no one's panicking or running for their lives. Nothing that would indicate any real threat. Just busier than normal. Not ideal for the introverted officer but hardly anything to worry about.

At least until the little holo images catch his attention. At first he'd just assumed they were adverts or the like but there are so many hovering over just about everyone as far as he can see. How are so many people just okay with this? Does this just kind of happen in the Nexus? Unbeknownst to the Andorian he's not at all immune to the effect. 💊🤦‍♂️ have been lingering over his own antennae for several seconds but they change once he starts walking again.

🍻✨🧙🗺️

If he can find an answer to this then he should probably try but his motivations are more clear to others than he's realizing.

[andshesaid_i_amnotapuppet]

There is, strangely enough, suddenly a 😴... near a tree? More particularly, just above a shadow of a tree.

But nobody appears to be sleeping there? Or if they are, they're good at hiding.